Not every cemetery I visit merits a minimum of four posts, but in the case of Saint Michael’s Cemetery in Pensacola, Fla., it’s more than justified. Today I’m featuring three women. They likely never knew each other, I don’t know. But all of them died young in the 1880s.

There are times I come across something written on a grave marker that just makes me come to a complete halt. This happened to me when I wandered into the D’Alemberte/Humphrey family plot at SMC. My photo of it isn’t the best, for which I apologize.

Haunting Words

It’s not to say that the marker for Anne Drysdale “Nannie” Humphreys D’Alemberte isn’t amazing in itself. I stopped because it was so beautifully carved. Her footstone is attached at the bottom, too.

Born in 1854 to Major Frederick C. Humphreys Sr. and Sarah Gates Drysdale Humphreys in Saint Augustine, Fla., Anne Drysdale “Nannie” Humphreys had several siblings. One was her younger sister, Maidee. Although a native of Massachusetts, Major Humphreys was a decorated Confederate veteran.

Nannie married Willoughby Augustus D’Alemberte on June 6, 1878. The bride and groom were both 23. The son of railroad builder William D. D’Alemberte and Emma Louise Walker D’Alemberte, Willoughby had lived in Pensacola since he was 12. He eventually became partner in a drugstore with Dr. H.C. Cushman after learning the trade of druggist from him.

Willoughby and Nannie had two children together, Clinton and Harry. But their happiness was not to last. Nannie died at age 27 on Jan. 4, 1882. I don’t know what her cause of death was, perhaps it was childbirth.

The last line of her marker’s inscription is haunting:

“Would You Miss Me.”

What does it mean? Did Nannie worry that her sons would forget her? Or her husband? It puzzles me to think of why those words are there.

Married Her Sister

Willoughby remarried on May 31, 1883 to Nannie’s younger sister, Maidee Louisa Humphreys. She was 26. Maidee and Willoughby would have several children together: Eddie, James, Sadie, and Willoughby Jr. Sadly, Sadie and Willoughby Jr. died in infancy. They are buried in front of Nannie and her mother-in-law, Emma.

It appears that Nannie and Maidee’s parents were living in the D’Alemberte household up until their deaths. Major Humphreys died of malarial fever in the D’Alemberte home on Oct. 5, 1899 at 76. Sarah Humphyreys died on July 13, 1902. They are both buried in the D’Alemberte/Humphreys plot.

Maidee passed away at age 56 on June 30, 1913. She had been in poor health for a year prior.

Willoughby D’Alemberte did not remarry, dying at age 65 on Jan. 30, 1920. His death notice in the Pensacola News Journal noted that he “died at 3 o’clock Saturday morning at the Pensacola Hospital after several weeks painful illness resulting from the amputation of his right leg.”

He is buried in between Maidee and Nannie.

This brings me back to the words on Nannie’s grave marker: “Would you miss me.” Did she somehow sense that Willoughby might marry Maidee if she died? Such things were fairly common in those days. You might recall I even wrote about a pastor who wed THREE sisters over the course of his life.

Or was it more of a plea from a father to his young sons to remember their mother?

I don’t doubt Willoughby loved Nannie. She’s on his right in the plot and to the left of his own mother, Emma, who died in 1884.

But it does make me wonder.

“The King of Shadows“

The death of the next young wife haunts me, but for different reasons.

Annie Washington Blount, born in Alabama in April 1854, was born to Alexander Clement Blount and Julia Elizabeth Washington Blount. Two brothers, Frederick and James, were doctors, and two others, William and Alexander Jr., were judges.

It may have been William and Alexander’s profession that brought Annie into the acquaintance of Judge Walter Tate. Born in 1834, he was widowed with five children when they married in 1883. The judge’s first wife died in 1880. His oldest son, Sterrett, was only nine years older than Annie.

The couple had a child that died on Jan. 9, 1885. Its gender is unknown. But the memorial for the baby is unlike any I have ever seen.

It was only seven months later on July 7, 1884 that Annie, too, would die. Her cause of death was scarlet fever. She was 31 when she died. She was buried beside her baby.

More than one Pensacola newspaper wrote about Annie’s death. A death notice in The Pensacolian on July 4, 1885 noted:

The king of Shadows, seemingly with an unwarranted right, entered that sanctuary of marital happiness and severed at one fell blow the silken chain that bound heart to heart, soul to soul, and created a void that may be filled only where the night of death is changed into the morning of life.

It’s my belief that the two markers were made at the same time.

Judge Tate did not remarry. He continued on in his work until his death at age 70 in 1904. He was crossing the street in front of the Hotel Escambia in Pensacola when he was struck by a wild horse that was running loose. He died of his injuries two days later on April 19, 1904. He is buried in nearby St. John’s Cemetery with his first wife, Sally.

“A Stranger in a Strange Land”

Our final young lady was from Denmark and lived in Pensacola for less than a year. But her life was cut short during her stay.

Born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1866, Petrea Thiesen had four brothers and one sister. Eldest brother Christen emigrated to America in 1882 and married in 1884. He and his bride, Emilie, were living in Pensacola. After losing two children in infancy, Emilie had just given birth to a son, Jack. They invited Petrea to visit them, perhaps to help in tending to the new baby.

Petrea sailed by herself from Copenhagen on a ship called Geiser, arriving in New York City on Oct. 29, 1886. The voyage would have taken about two weeks. I don’t know if Christen met her there, or if she took a train or ship to Pensacola from there.

I can imagine Pensacola was quite a shock to Petrea, used to the cooler climate of Denmark. But she likely enjoyed getting to know her new sister-in-law and baby nephew, and reuniting with her brother.

“Our Sister”

But tragedy was waiting. Petrea contracted typhoid fever and died a few days later on June 11, 1887 (which happens to be my birthday). She was 21. There is draping across the top of the marker along with a flower wreath with the words “Our Sister”.

On the base of Petrea’s grave marker is this epitaph:

Weep not! Oh, weep not kindred dear, for her whose last remains lie here.

For Jesus she on earth did love, and now she wells with Him above.

I cannot imagine the sorrow her brother Christen felt when he had to contact his parents to tell them their beloved daughter had died. In 1890, when Emilie gave birth to a daughter, she and Christen named her Petrea in his sister’s honor.

I’ve got one more post to go in this series to wrap up the loose ends. I hope you’ll hang on for it.