Headstone in Coupeville's Sunnyside Cemetery on Whidbey Island, WA
with the inscription in the Irish language in Old Gaelic type

Click the photo to enlarge

The inscription in the Irish language in Roman type:
Fúr  /   Máire Barrot  /   bás ann so Ap 9 AD 1861  /   do bhí  /   aon bhlighian dheug air fhíchid  /   daos aici  /   rugadh ann Níneath Eirínn  /   bean meacáinte Sam'l Maylor  /   phóiseadh íad ann LIVERPOOL  /   ann sa Teampall Padair 21 d 1856  /   bhí trí mic aca  /   Paul Tamás B agus Mairion S  /   Do bhí a hathair Oin Barrot  /   Trailíghe  /   A mathair Clara Page  /   Luimneach     /        Rís
Our Translation (Do you agree? or Want to see a higher-resolution copy?):
Máire Barrett died here April 9, AD 1861. She was 31 years of age. She was born Nenagh Ireland, beloved wife of Samuel Maylor. They were married in Liverpool in St. Peter's Church 21 December 1856. They had three sons, Paul, Thomas B and Mairion S. Her father was Eoin Barrett, Tralee. Her mother Clara Page, Limerick.    Arise.

On the back of the headstone is inscribed in English:
Mary, we love one another still.

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STORY OF THE HEADSTONE:
In 1853, two Irish-born brothers, Thomas & Samuel Maylor, staked their claims in present-day Oak Harbor on the peninsula which is still called Maylor’s Point on Whidbey Island in Washington State near Seattle. When Sam’s wife Mary died in 1861, Sam returned to Ireland with their three children where he had a headstone sculpted and inscribed in old-style Irish Gaelic for Mary’s grave. He also married again in Ireland and then the family traveled back to Whidbey Island via ship around Cape Horn, a 5-6 month journey back then. He brought Mary’s headstone back to Whidbey Island with him and had it erected on her grave on Maylor’s Point.
In early 1941, the Maylor family sold Maylor’s Point to the Navy to build what became the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, but the family brought the headstone from their grandmother’s grave with them. In 1973, the headstone was given to the local historical society which erected it in the Pioneer section of Sunnyside Cemetery beside a wooden blockhouse that dates from the 1800s.

Read AN HISTORICAL SKETCH Of The Life Of Samuel Lindsay Maylor written in 1947 by Juanita Maylor Bonnelle.

Below are photos of the Headstone and the Blockhouse that was built in the late 1800s to ward off Indian attacks!

The Location of the Headstone in Sunnyside Cemetery, Coupeville, WA

The Location of Coupeville on Whidbey Island, WA

RETURN TO IRISH HERITAGE CLUB HISTORY PAGE!