Misc/Families

BURIAL RITUAL

FOR GYPSY QUEEN

Paterson, Dec. 13—While thirty Impulsive, emotional gypsies comprising the Buckland Tribe, walled and moaned, the Rev. Clarence Edward Macartney, pastor of tho First Presbyterian Church, this morning conducted the burial ritual over the body of their dead queen, Betsy Small Buckland, who died, at the camp on the bank of the Passaic River near Highbridge Tuesday morning last of heart failure.

Betsy Buckland was born in Devonshire, England, of a family In private life, surnamed Small. Twenty-four years ago she came to this country and organized the Buckland trlbe, which now consists of five families. She is Survived by her husband, "King", Plato Buckland; two sons, Joshua and' Thomas, and five daughters, Jennie, wife of William Penfold; Carrie,, wife of Sampson Palmer;Kisare, wife of Moses Small; Liza, wife of Charles Cooper, and Carllnia,wife of Robert Ten-ida.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DECEMBER 11 1898

GYPSIES WINTER

BY NO MEANS ONE OF DISCONTENTTHEY ARE ALL COMFORTABLEWHERE DO THEY GO WHEN THE SNOW FLIES SOME FAMILIES HAVE HUTS AND WAGONS AND OTHERS OWN COMFORTABLE CITY HOMES

There is a charm apparent to all in the life of a gypsy in summer Then the roads are good the hedges are green the pasturage on the strips of no man's land and a tent is an ideal shelter.

But when winter comes it is another matter. What do the Gypsies do then ?In Scotland as anyone knows who has read Guy Mannering the Gypsies have villages or permanent camps, to which they resort in the winter and in which for the last century or more they have remained throughout most of the year. But in England & America the Gypsies have no such permanent camps, they shift themselves as best as they can.

There are certain families Costello & Whartons and others who travel southwards as Autumn approaches and pass the winter in Florida or along the Gulf Coast.

 I have met them camped by the Levees of New York They usually stay close to some city to permit of fortune telling and horse trading Here they live much as they would in the Northern States in Summer.

The Gypsies of California and those along the Pacific coast have such mild weather they have no need to travel southwards.

But its the Gypsy who remains in the North who is confronted by a serious problem, which he resloves in various ways, some families there are who by sheer hardihood live through the Winter with no other Shelter than huts & wagons

 Old Plato Buckland a gypsy made famous by the writings of Groome in England passed such a winter when he first visited America, with his family he remained in the Mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania when the snow was up to the hubs of the wagons. He had small portable stoves in the Tents and boards down wherever possible to stop their feet coming into contact with the frozen ground, Paths are cleared about the tents and wagons and a rough shelter is made for the horses, no one complained of the hardship and there was no sickness the hardest problem was hay and feed for the horses this had to be purchased as there was no pasturage.

There are a number of Gypsies families who have grown rich like the Stanleys of Dayton Ohio, the Coopers of Summervile Massachussetts, the Hickes of Holyoke These families own houses which close in summer and take themselves to the roads in luxurious vans then in winter they return to their homes. They are none the less true Gypsies because they own houses and they love the free life none the less because they escape some of the rigors of Winter within Doors.

   HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. - 533

Stanley, (a lamb,) died December 13, 1864, aged two years and two months. She was buried in 1867; born in Urbana; granddaughter of the late queen. Passing north from the Owen Stanley lot-crossing the queen's place-we come to the very graceful marble, erected by Paul Stanley to his young wife. It bears close resemblance to that of Mrs. Richard Harrison; a grave lies along side of hers. "Mazella, wife of Paul Stanley, died April 9, 1871, aged twenty years.

" Ye that mourn a mother's loss,

Ye that weep a wife no more,

Call to mind the Christian cross,

Which a wife and mother bore."

Probably the most touching instance of grief which ever occurred in Woodland Cemetery, was that of the husband and father, Ephraim Joles. Within fourteen months he buried his wife and all his children, six in all. The central tomb, standing near which is a hickory and dogwood tree, where the vault will be opened to contain the queen and her little daughter, and a place is allotted to king Levi, and for Michael, the youngest heir of the house of Stanley. It is seven feet long, six feet wide, three and one-half feet deep in the clear. Here, resting within a case, the queen's casket has remained. The plate bears the name Mrs. Matilda Stanley, aged fifty years, with the date of her death. In the casket was placed her worn Bible with her. The railed enclosure which contains the graves of the first king and queen lies farther west, lower down the hill. The tombstones are plain slabs, the man's on the right, the woman's on the left, and appear like the pages of a tall ledger. That of the queen was the first gypsy grave in Dayton. On the tombstones the following quaint verses appear:

"Our father has gone to a mansion of rest

From a region of sorrow and pain

To the glorious land of the blest,

Where he will never suffer again.

"Whilst in this tomb our father lies,

His spirit rests above,

In realms of bliss it never dies,

But knows a Savior's love.

"Sleep on. father, the work is done,

The mortal pang is past,

Jesus has come and borne thee home

Beyond the stormy blast.

"Owen Stanley was his name,

England was his nation,

Any wood was his dwelling place,

And Christ his salvation."

"Alas! I have left you, my spirit has fled,

My body now slumbers along with the dead,

My Savior has called me, to him I have gone.

Then farewell my husband and children all.

From you a mother's Christ doth call,.

Mourn not for me, dear wanderers, 'tis vain

To call me to your sight again.

" Farewell, dear wife. a short farewell.

We at your loss do mourn.

Oh, may we meet in heaven to dwell,

With our wandering children now forlorn.

"OUR MOTHER"

"Harriet Stanley was her name,

England was her nation;

In any wood her dwelling place,

In God was her salvation.

 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

" She was a tender mother here,

And in her life the Lord did fear;

We trust our loss will be her gain,

And that with Christ she's gone to reign."

The prosperity of these people is interwoven with our own. They are a curious addition to American citizenship. In the prosperous future, old ways and manners will fade out before the new; but revered will the simple lives and kindly influences of Matilda and Levi Stanley ever be. Happy are the people that cleave to the simple, ancient ways of industry and generous aid to our fellows wherever we wander on God's footstool.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~