Canadian doctor Samuel Bean created a curious tombstone for his first two wives, Henrietta and Susanna, who died in succession in the 1860s and are buried side by side in Rushes Cemetery near Crosshill, Wellesley Township, Ontario. The original stone weathered badly and was replaced with this durable granite replica in 1982. What does it say?
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Cemetery caretaker John Hammond decoded the inscription in 1947, some 80 years after the women were interred. The message begins at the I just west of the center; it starts in a counterclockwise spiral but then begins to zigzag:
IN MEMORIAM
HENRIETTA 1ST WIFE OF S BEAN M. D.
WHO DIED 27TH SEP 1865 AGED 23 YEARS 2 MONTHS & 17 DAYS
& SUSANNA HIS 2ND WIFE
WHO DIED 27TH APRIL 1867 AGED 26 YEARS 10 MONTHS & 15 DAYS
2 BETTER WIVES 1 MAN NEVER HAD
THEY WERE GIFTS FROM GOD BUT ARE NOW IN HEAVEN
MAY GOD HELP ME S. B. TO MEET THEM THERE
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