Death Staying the Sculptor's Hand

The Milmore Monument is known as Death Staying the Sculptor’s Hand, and is considered to be the masterpiece of Daniel Chester French. This memorial celebrates the lives of sculptor Martin Milmore (1844-1883) and his brother Joseph (1841-1886), a talented stonecutter who taught the art of carving to Martin. The beautiful allegorical figure of the Angel of Death gently lays her hand on the sculptor’s hand, as a reminder that she has come to usher him away. In her other hand Death carries a bouquet of poppies, which holds the promise of eternal sleep. The sculptor, wearing his work apron and holding his tools, is surprised, bewildered and seemingly unwilling to be interrupted. Martin Milmore was a native of Sligo, Ireland and a tall man with large dark eyes and unruly long dark hair; he was said to be “a picturesque figure” by his sculptor friend Daniel Chester French. He cut a dashing figure in his signature black broad brimmed hat and cloak and his “appearance was striking, and he knew it.” Milmore’s soul inspiring statues and monuments to the Union dead served as models for a generation of sculptors. The Milmore Monument was originally at the triangular lot bounded by Poplar Avenue, on the left, and Cypruss Avenue, and was beside the Hanley Family Mausoleum. The monument was moved in 1943 at the request of the Milmore family to its present site, near the Gateway on Forest Hills Avenue, and the lot landscaped by Arthur Ashael Shurcliff and Sidney Nichols Shurcliff.

Adolph Kraus' "Grief"

The Randidge Monument on Fir Avenue commemorates George L. Randidge (1820-1890) and was executed in 1891 by sculptor Adolph Robert Kraus, with the enormous plinth base designed by the Boston architectural firm of Fehmer and Page. The bronze seated figure of Grief in classical robes leans in sorrow on an inverted torch; bronze funerary urns decorate the four corners of the base, which was designed by noted architects Carl Fehmer and Samuel F. Page. Said at the time of its unveiling the “whole monument in its chaste correctness and simplicity, its rich low color, a peculiar brownish granite polish, is a model for emulation in our cemeteries.” Adolph Robert Kraus was the sculptor of Grief, which is a poignant and somber rendering of a mourning maiden, resting her head on her hand which grasps an inverted torch which symbolizes death. Kraus was a well-known sculptor who also did the Jacob Wirth Memorial Fame and the bust of Karl Heinzen that surmounts his monument.

General Taylor of the "Boston Globe"

General Charles H. Taylor (1846-1921) was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the 38th Massachusetts Regiment. After working as a reporter for a few years, he purchased the “Boston Globe” in 1877, which had been founded five years previously, and set about creating the ideal of the modern newspaper of the Victorian era. Taylor began to publish an evening edition, a morning edition as well as a Sunday edition as a family newspaper, thereby pleasing the entire household while increasing its coverage for all of New England. Taylor was also the pioneer of the ten-cent magazine known as “American Homes.” Taylor had served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as editor and publisher of the newspaper, which included three generations of his family. The Taylor Family Lot is on White Oak Avenue, and is dominated by a large hammered stone with a bronze tablet to Charles H. Taylor and Georgianna Davis Taylor. On either side of the lot are upright limestone crosses for members of the Taylor Family, all of which is encircled by large mature rhododendrons

Mayor Lewis of the City of Roxbury

George Lewis (1820-1887) was the last mayor of the city of Roxbury before it was annexed in 1868 to Boston. A merchant in Boston, he served in various capacities as an alderman of Roxbury, a director of the Roxbury Gas Light Company and treasurer of the Granite Railway Company. He served as a trustee, commissioner and treasurer at Forest Hills Cemetery. His white marble bust, sculpted in 1868 by Martin Milmore, is in the collection of Forest Hills Cemetery. The Lewis Family Lot is on Cherry Avenue. Elijah Lewis (1773-1858) and Elizabeth Sumner Lewis (1791-1874) chose a white marble four-sided Gothic inspired monument, which is also the resting place of Mayor George Lewis (1820-1887,) the last mayor of Roxbury before it was annexed to Boston in 1868, and of his wife Susan Minns Lewis, and their descendants.

Martin Milmore: Noted Sculptor

Martin Milmore (1844-1883) was a native of Sligo, Ireland. A tall man with large dark eyes and long dark hair, he was said to be “a picturesque figure” by his sculptor friend Daniel Chester French. With his brother Thomas Milmore, he was one of the most influential sculptors of the mid nineteenth century and was mentor and friend to a generation of artists who continued his vision after his untimely death at the age of 39. The Milmore Monument is known as Death Staying the Sculptor’s Hand, and is considered to be the masterpiece of Daniel Chester French. The memorial celebrates the lives of sculptor Martin Milmore (1844-1883) and his brother Joseph (1841-1886), a talented stonecutter who taught the art of carving to Martin; the Milmore Family were Irish immigrants who settled in Boston in 1851. The beautiful allegorical figure of the Angel of Death gently lays her hand on the sculptor’s hand, as a reminder that she has come to usher him away. In her other hand Death carries a bouquet of poppies, which holds the promise of eternal sleep. The sculptor, wearing his work apron and holding his tools, is surprised, bewildered and seemingly unwilling to be interrupted.

Fanny Davenport: Actress

Fanny Lily Gypsy Davenport (1850-1898) was a well-known actress in the late nineteenth century. Born in London to parents who were noted actors, she was educated in Boston, and first appeared at the Howard Athenaeum in Boston, as the child of Metamora. Davenport was eminently successful as an actress, with a wide spectrum of roles that went from Shakespeare to French melodrama; she achieved fame by obtaining the American rights to the dramatist Victorien Sardou’s highly emotional plays. This photo from c.1880 depicts her as the spendthrift Lady Teazle in the comedy of manners “School for Scandal.” The Davenport monument is a white marble tree trunk on Arethusa Path.

Lucy Stone: Womans' Rights Activist

Lucy Stone (1818-1893) was a leader of the national women's rights movement and referred to as "the morning star of the woman's rights movement." She was an organizer of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, the first Massachusetts woman to receive a college degree (Oberlin College in 1838,) the first married woman to keep her own name (wife of Henry Browne Blackwell,) and the founder and editor of the Women's Journal. She was the first person to be cremated in New England, which was at the Massachusetts Cremation Society, now the Forest Hills Crematorium, where her ashes are deposited in a large urn later co-mingled with those of her husband and daughter, and placed in a prominent niche in the Columbarium.