Cloverville Cemetery Stone #35 William Dexter/Harriet Fisher Dimensions: approx. 4’ Inscription: Partially obscured due to lichen growth Left side: In Memory of William Dexter died Jan 25 1888 Aged 78 Y’RS Right side: Harriet Fisher wife of William Dexter died Feb 24 1889 Aged (27?)Y’RS Underneath, the name Anna May is visible. Material: White marble Condition: Lichen growth on the stone makes much of the text illegible. The information existing for William and Harriet Dexter is confusing, to say the least. Harriet’s birth date has been difficult to pinpoint with any degree of precision. In any case, their marriage record shows that William, 48, married Harriet, 17, at Union Center, Lochaber, on the 6^th of April, 1874. The electoral list of 1886 shows him living on Bay Street. The couple had a child named Harriet Margarite, born February 22^nd, 1877 in Antigonish. A death notice in the Aurora states “At Antigonish, 24^th Feb. Harriet, beloved wife of William Dexter, aged 27 years, leaving a husband and four children. An obituary in the Casket contradicts this, stating “At Antigonish, Jan. 25, William Dexter, aged 73, leaving one son and two daughters,” which would be incongruent unless a child died in the interim. The double-headed headstone, with its weeping willow and bible motifs, was a fitting symbol for the ideal of companionate marriage Irene York (edited by Christopher Greencorn) [ Back ]