At the Cenotaph
Posted on by Marty Luster
Published by Marty Luster
I'm Marty Luster, a retired attorney and politician. In 2010 my wife, mother-in-law, dog and I relocated from Central NY to Gloucester. I hope my photographs and poetry(?) reflect my love for this place and her people. My picture-poem posts can be seen at http://matchedpairs.wordpress.com and selected black and white images can be found at http://slicesoflifeimages.wordpress.com View all posts by Marty Luster
Good Morning Gloucester 
For a while, I didn’t know what a cenotaph was, so I looked it up. I think Gloucester’s cenotaph should be referenced by Merriam Webster and Wikipedia.
From Merriam Webster.com: cenotaph noun (Concise Encyclopedia)
(Greek: “empty tomb”) Monument, sometimes in the form of a tomb, to a person buried elsewhere. Ancient Greek writings tell of many cenotaphs, none of which survives. Existing cenotaphs of this type are found in churches (e.g., in Santa Croce, Florence, where there are memorials to Dante, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Galileo). The term is now applied to national war memorials.
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My great-great grandmother’s second husband (Joshua Arey) is on the wall. She (Eugenia) married Joshua Arey, a widower from Maine. Joshua was a master mariner, so it was logical for him to seek work in what was then New England’s pre-eminent fishing port. In January 1887, Joshua was the captain of the schooner Augusta H. Johnson when a storm washed him overboard on Georges Bank. He left a widow and four children who ranged in age from 16 to 3 years old.
John Fulton
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Hi John. On my one trip to Thacher Island the lighthouse keeper was Russell Grubb. Probably prior to your time there. Great guy. It’s so great that you have this history of your family. Both my grandfather (Fred H.) and great uncle (Henry) were torpedoed in the North Atlantic during WW I. Fortunately, they both survived, and I got to know them both in my younger years.
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Russell was before our time and we never had the opportunity to meet him but I have read his book. My great-great-great grandfather (Isaiah Barbour 1861-1872 and 1873) was a keeper on Curtis Light in Maine so being a keeper is in my blood line. For the past ten years my wife and I have been the August Keepers on Thacher Island and this year we found out about my family history with Gloucester. It was quite a thrill.
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