Obituary of Dr. Christopher FitzSimons by T.G.B. — opening leaf
Book 1, Page 276 ·1866–1866
Transcription
Manuscript obituary — opening leaf
Departed this life on the 17th May 1866 Dr. Christopher FitzSimons aged 49 years and three months.
No community which values true manliness of character can fail to recognize in the death of such a man the loss of an element of its strength. It is pleasant to believe
inat least to hope that in spite of the troubles of these days which are upon us, in spite of the selfishness and indifference engendered by necessitous times, there still remains with the
AI Notes
Opening leaf of a multi-page handwritten obituary/eulogy of Dr. Christopher FitzSimons, who died 17 May 1866 aged 49 years and three months. Written in faint cursive on lined paper, with a small blind-embossed stationer’s vignette at the upper left of the sheet. The writer opens with the death notice and then reflects that despite the troubles, selfishness, and indifference engendered by ‘necessitous times’ in the post-war South, a community that values true manliness of character must still recognize the loss. Continues on subsequent scans (277, 274, 278) and closes with the signature ‘T. G. B.’ (Theodore Gaillard Barker).
A small blind-embossed stationer’s vignette appears at the upper left of the sheet. Manuscript continues on the next scan.
The deceased is Dr. Christopher FitzSimons (the 3rd, 1828–17 May 1866) — the compiler Amy’s paternal grandfather — killed at his Moss Grove plantation when a tornado collapsed the building he had sheltered in (full account on page 279). The signature “T. G. B.” at the close of the obituary on page 278 is Theodore Gaillard Barker (1832–1917), the deceased’s brother-in-law: Susan Milliken Barker’s elder brother, a Charleston attorney, and the wartime adjutant of Hampton’s Legion under Wade Hampton III.