Giles C. Harrington, 1798-1826

Bryant Number: 102
Name & Year: Giles C. Harrington, 1798-1826
Type of Memorial: Sandstone monument and base
Stonecarver: Hughes

Inscription:

Erected
to
the memory
of
Giles C. Harrington
Died August
3rd 1826
Aged
28
Years

Stop stranger, stop nor dare presume
Without one silent tear
To tread the earth where lies entombed
The friend – the husband dear.

Hughes

Commentary: Giles C. Harrington was an early Granville settler whose claim to fame was that he drove the first mail coach through Granville, on the route between Columbus and Newark. According to Henry Bushnell’s 1889 History of Granville, Ohio, this delivery run was first established in 1822. Bushnell calls Harrington “the mail contractor,” a role not to be confused with that of postmaster (Sereno Wright, Old Colony gravesite #763, was Granville’s postmaster during this period).

Harrington’s elaborate sandstone memorial was one of some 55 headstones in the Old Colony that were signed by a carver named “Hughes.” Two stone artisans were active in Granville headstone-making in the mid-19th century, the Rev. Thomas Hughes, and Rollin Hughes. Although it seems likely that the Hughes who created the Harrington stone was Thomas Hughes, the attribution is not entirely certain. In either case, the work on the Harrington stone is exquisite, exhibiting stunning design and exceptional craftsmanship in both text and ornamentation. The observant viewer will find Masonic symbols in the border decoration, including the traditional square and compass, and perhaps other Masonic iconography.

That he was a Freemason is one of the few details we know about Harrington. We have no information about the cause of his early death at the age of 28, and it is not even known how long he served as the mail driver, although Bushnell cites his successor prior to 1828. Two and perhaps three infant children that Harrington fathered with his wife Mary are believed to have been buried in the Old Colony, although a headstone for only one child remains (#103). Perhaps our best testimonial to his life can be found in the concluding words of his epitaph, in which the stranger is counseled not to pass, without shedding a tear, the grave of the author’s “friend and husband dear.”

Find a Grave link: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19647709/giles-charrington