Willie, Mary and Charlie

Willie
Sept. 12, 1849
2 years 7 mos. 14 days

Mary
Sept. 16, 1849
9 mos. 23 days

Charlie
May 2, 1856
2 years 8 mos. 23 days

The Flickr member who shared this photo notes the above information. She doesn't indicate whether the information is engraved elsewhere or how she comes to know the precise ages that she quotes. Nevertheless, I had to ponder on the information for quite a while. It would seem that something like an accident or illness must have happened to both Willie and Mary together since they died within four days of each other. But then several years later, if that weren't enough for their parents to cope with, they also had to add Charlie to the tomb when he too was a mere toddler. illness? accident? Whatever the case, I can't help but be severely stricken over the losses that some people have been called to endure in this life. Such a grand monument, and yet what even grander sorrows for the hearts of Willie, Mary and Charlies' parents.