Pioneer Cemetery in Samoa
On Sunday evening, close to sunset we headed up to the tiny, gated Fagali'i Cemetery. This is one of the things we wanted to do while in Samoa. We have come here to remember the sacrifice of some remarkable people.
The gate keeps out the pigs, but not the chickens. On one of the cement grave markers lies an egg, which makes me smile. The cemetery is well trimmed and cared for. We gather around graves of young wives, husbands and babies.
The gate keeps out the pigs, but not the chickens. On one of the cement grave markers lies an egg, which makes me smile. The cemetery is well trimmed and cared for. We gather around graves of young wives, husbands and babies.
The oldest is the grave of Sister Katie Eliza Hale Merrill. She and her husband had only been on a mission for three months when she took sick and gave birth to a premature child. The child died the next day, and after saying that she ‘could not stay because they had come for her', she talked with her husband, kissed him goodbye, and all was over. The mother and baby boy were buried in one coffin.” After his mission, Brother Merrill took the remains of his wife and infant son back to Utah for burial
Richard pulls out a letter to Sister Sarah M Hilton, written by the George Albert Smith(a former Prophet of the LDS church). The air is quite and still, like only truly humid air can be. I'm afraid to break it. I inadequately read,
"Dear Sister Hilton:
"Just as the descending rays of the late afternoon sun touched the tops of the tall coconut trees, Wednesday, May 18th 1921, a party of five stood with bowed heads in front of the little Fagali'i Cemetery in the midst of the old "German" plantation, a few miles out from Apia. Mr O.F. Nelson, who remembers you and your busband with esteem, had driven us to the place in his spacious automobile. The others in the party were Pres. Hugh J Cannon, Pres J.Q. Adams, Sister Thurza Adams, and I. We were there, as youi will remember in response to a promise I made you before I left home.
The graves and headstones are in a good state of preservation. That you may feel assured that the lettering is unimpaired, I reproduce here with a copy I made as I stood two feet or more outside the stone wall surrounding the spot.:
Janette Hilton George Emmett Hilton Thomas Harold Hinton
SLC Utah Born Oct 12, 1894 Born Sept. 21, 1892
Born Sept 10, 1891 Died Oct 19, 1894 Died March 17 1894
Died June 4, 1892 "Peaceful Be Thy Slumbers" "Rest on the Hillside Rest"
"Rest Darling Jennie"
As I looked at those three little graves, I tried to imagine the scenes through which you passed during your young motherhood here in old Samoa. As I did so , the little headstones became monuments not only to the little babes sleeping beneath them, but also to a mother's faith and devotion to the eternal principles of truth and life! Your three little ones, Sister Hilton, in silence most eloquent and effective, have continuted to carry on your noble missionary work, becun nearly thirty years ago, and they will so continue as long as their are gentle hands to care for their earthly resting place."
"By loving hands their dying eyes were closed,
By loving hands their little limbs composed,
By foreign hands their humble graves adorned,
By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned."
"Dear Sister Hilton:
"Just as the descending rays of the late afternoon sun touched the tops of the tall coconut trees, Wednesday, May 18th 1921, a party of five stood with bowed heads in front of the little Fagali'i Cemetery in the midst of the old "German" plantation, a few miles out from Apia. Mr O.F. Nelson, who remembers you and your busband with esteem, had driven us to the place in his spacious automobile. The others in the party were Pres. Hugh J Cannon, Pres J.Q. Adams, Sister Thurza Adams, and I. We were there, as youi will remember in response to a promise I made you before I left home.
The graves and headstones are in a good state of preservation. That you may feel assured that the lettering is unimpaired, I reproduce here with a copy I made as I stood two feet or more outside the stone wall surrounding the spot.:
Janette Hilton George Emmett Hilton Thomas Harold Hinton
SLC Utah Born Oct 12, 1894 Born Sept. 21, 1892
Born Sept 10, 1891 Died Oct 19, 1894 Died March 17 1894
Died June 4, 1892 "Peaceful Be Thy Slumbers" "Rest on the Hillside Rest"
"Rest Darling Jennie"
As I looked at those three little graves, I tried to imagine the scenes through which you passed during your young motherhood here in old Samoa. As I did so , the little headstones became monuments not only to the little babes sleeping beneath them, but also to a mother's faith and devotion to the eternal principles of truth and life! Your three little ones, Sister Hilton, in silence most eloquent and effective, have continuted to carry on your noble missionary work, becun nearly thirty years ago, and they will so continue as long as their are gentle hands to care for their earthly resting place."
"By loving hands their dying eyes were closed,
By loving hands their little limbs composed,
By foreign hands their humble graves adorned,
By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned."
I wonder, how can anyone be asked to give so much? Then I wonder, how many lives have been touched by these babies over the last 130 years? Member's of the church still come to care for these graves, even 100 years after this letter was written. How can the impact of their sacrifice be measured?
We spent another 30 minutes studying each of the grave markers. Two girls, next to each other, about 20 years old when they died, had the same names as my two nieces that were there with us. Lily and Amelia. I don't even now know what to think about that. The chances of that are impossible.
As it was getting dark we opened the gate to leave. A mamma pig and her little babies were crossing the road. The role of mother Eve crosses my mind. She gave up Eden for her children. The sacrifices of mothers fills my heart. What will it take to stand next to these amazing women?
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