John Greenleaf Whittier - Amesbury, MA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

“For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”
- John Greenleaf Whittier (from the poem Maud Muller)

John Greenleaf Whittier had humble beginnings on a small farm in rural Massachusetts. Unable to attend school and too frail and sickly for farm work, he busied himself with reading and writing, dabbling in poetry. His first poem was published without his knowledge when his sister submitted it to a local newspaper. This eventually led to further education and jobs editing and publishing various pamphlets and periodicals.

In the 1830s, Whittier became heavily involved with the abolitionist movement in America. He spent the next several decades wholly devoted to the cause, writing prose and poetry, editing publications and getting involved with politics including participation in the founding of the Liberty Party which eventually morphed into the Free Soil Party before merging with the Republican Party. Whittier was so tied up in the abolitionist cause that with the end of the Civil War and the passage of the thirteenth amendment, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He spent his final years writing poetry about his native New England, nature and rural life.

John Greenleaf Whittier died in 1892 at the age of 84. He is buried in Union Cemetery in Amesbury, Massachusetts, not far from the place where he was born.
(Source: wikipedia.org, nps.gov)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 12/17/1807 Date of death: 09/07/1892 Area of notoriety: Literature Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: none Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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