Starkey Stone Returned, Ceremony Highlighted in Media

Newspaper headlines highlighted the ceremony and return of the gravestone of Private Augustus A.Starkey on Saturday, November 10, 2007.
The Sunday, November 11, 2007 edition of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle on Veterans Day had a front page article headlined: “On Hallowed Ground” followed by a smaller headline of “Attleboro Civil War Veteran’s grave rededicated in Saturday Ceremony.”
Attleboro Sun Chronicle staff writer Rebecca Keister’s article follows:
“Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds.”
That excerpt from Gen. John Logan’s 1868 address dedicating graves of fallen soldiers-in a precursor to Memorial Day-marked the sentiment felt by many gathered Saturday morning to honor Private Augustus A Starkey with the return of his gravestone to the Old Kirk Cemetery.
A Civil War veteran, Starkey’s grave marker disappeared nearly 80 years and recently was found outside a house in Norton, where it was being used as a landscape stone.
In returning Starkey’s marker to his family plot at the cemetery, a comrade finally came home again.
“We honor his Civil War service,” said Bob Lessard, a military historian who traced the marker back ti its owner, before members of the 28th Massachusetts Infantry of the Irish Brigade, a group of Civil War re-enactors, replaced the grave marker and placed on top of it an American flag.
The day before Veterans Day-which is today- was an especially appropriate time to honor Starkey, in a ceremony that included a 21-gun salute, the playing of Taps and was attended by several military groups and veterans.
Lessard also handed carnations to the few dozen women who attended the ceremony, asking them to follow tradition.
“Women used to decorate the graves with flowers, a decoration day,” Lessard said.
“Take home these flowers, put them in a vase, remember Private Starkey and all the veterans in your family and in your town.”
Private Starkey was a 42-year-old city resident, a carpenter by trade, when he enlisted in the Union Army to serve during the Civil War in 1862. He served until the end of the war in 1865.
He died of cancer in the Taunton State Hospital in February 1894 and was buried in his family plot. The marker was discovered by veteran Chris Wainwright of Middleboro during a salvage job at the Norton house. He shared his finding with Lessard, who traced the stone back to its owner.
Lessard said Saturday’s ceremony was organized to give Starkey the honor he deserves.
Several pictures of the ceremony, including one on the front page, by Sun Chronicle photographer Mark Stockwell, accompanied the article.
The Taunton Gazette also ran a front page story of the ceremony, which was written by staff writer Gerry Tuotti. The Gazette headline said: "Civil War vet gets his tombstone." A front page in color photo of the Oak Point Veterans Association honor guard and others participating in the ceremony was printed. Also, a picture of the Starkey stone was seen.
Attleboro Access Cable System, Inc. filmed the ceremony, which was later programmed to residents.
A printed four- page program of the ceremony was distributed to attendees.
Included in the prgram was a special thanks section for all the individuals and groups who assisted in the ceremony. Those who aided in archival research were: Zeph Stickney, Wheaton College; George Yelle of Norton Historical Society; Susan Hindersmann, reference librarian Attleboro Public Library; Massachusetts Military Records Archives; Paul Provencher, Middleboro Veterans Agent and Taunton City Hall Clerk's Office.
Several more pictures are included in a photo gallery under Starkey Stone Returned.
................. ( Compiled by Post 64 Historian Bob Lessard 2014)