ied in 1650.]

Tombstones in the seventeenth century were real memorials, often giving
parentage of the deceased, the name of wife or husband and the number of
children. Furthermore, there was, as aforesaid, a eulogy of the deceased
and, for men, an account of public service rendered.

With a great deal of pride in family background, those Englishmen in
Virginia, whose families were entitled to bear arms, invariably had
these cut upon the stones along with the lengthy inscriptions. The
stones were ordered from England. As previously mentioned, Mrs. Sarah
Yeardley, in 1657, directed that her executor sell her jewels and
purchase in England stones for herself and her second husband. Her son,
by the first husband, Adam Thoroughgood II of Lower Norfolk County, was
equally zealous that proper memorials be placed and directed his
executrix (wife), in his will, dated 1679, to have his body interred in
the Church at Lynnhaven, and "cause a tombstone of marble to be sent
for, with coat of arms of Sir George Yeardley [his wife's father] and
myself." Unfortunately, these tombs together with the site of the old
Lynnhaven Church, have been washed beneath the waters of Lynnhaven Bay.

The tombstones bearing coats of arms of George Read deceased, 1671 and
his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nicolas Martiau, uncovered during
excavations at Yorktown in 1931 were removed to the graveyard
surrounding Christ Church. The inscriptions, badly worn, were recut with
information then in hand; however, the dates since have been found to be
slightly in error. The tombstone of William Cole II, Secretary of State
for the Colony, 1690, erected after his death, 1694, at "Bolthrope,"
bore the Cole coat of arms, accompanied by a lengthy inscription,
reciting in part that the deceased was "unspotted on the bench,
untainted at the bar." Unfortunately, when the graveyard lay neglected
for many years and overgrown with vines, other ancient stones, placed
there, were broken and portions of them, from time to time, carried away
by fishermen to be used as mooring stones for their boats.

Theodorick Bland, deceased, 1671, was buried in the old churchyard now
adjacent to the garden at "Westover." The inscription in Latin on his
tombstone recites that it was erected "by his most disconsolate widow, a
daughter of Richard Bennett Esq." Lewis Burwell, deceased 1653, was
buried at his plantation, "Fairfield," in Gloucester County, and the
tombstone erected to his memo