Did you Know?

That Father Ezra Leonard did not return from the grave to preach his last sermon.

I received an email this morning from Susan, a very observant GMG reader in Granville, NY.  She said: “I live in Granville, NY and read GMG each day online.  I was very interested in your entry regarding the Annisquam Village Church.  One thing I noted was that on Aug. 5, 1880 Ezra Leonard preached the last sermon in the original meetinghouse, but he died on April 22, 1832!  Now, that is not possible!” 

I looked closely at the photograph of the sign I had included in the post, and saw that indeed the date of Father’s Leonard’s last sermon did appear to be August 5, 1880.  I blew up the photo of the sign and found that in fact it says August 5, 1830 (see blown up version here).  This sign appears to have been done by hand, and the first 3 loops up at the bottom, giving it the definite illusion when printed smaller, of being an 8.  The 3 further down doesn’t loop up, so is more clearly a 3.  I was very impressed that a reader looked at the post so closely to pick that up.  In case anyone else had done the same, I just wanted to provide clarification.