The influenza pandemic overwhelmed the world’s population in 1918, 1919, and into 1920, during which as many as 500 million were infected and an estimated 50 to 100 million lost their lives. Unlike seasonsal flu that disproportionately kills infants, children, and middle-aged and elderly adults, owing to their weaker immune systems, this variant of the virus triggered an overzealous immune response in young adults that ravaged their bodies and caused rapid progressive respiratory failure.
Two brothers-in-law, unbeknownst to each other, succumbed to influenza on the same day, Tuesday, October 1, 1918. After a double funeral that was officiated by Reverends Charles H. Elder, William D. Thatcher, and J. Wesley Wainwright, they were borne to their graves by the same pallbearers and interred on the same day, Saturday, October 5.
Twenty-four-year-old Leonard Leroy Ford (1893-1918) was employed as a chauffeur by the F.S. Katzenbach and Company, hardware merchants.
The Great War and the Longmore Brothers
One can only imagine the heartbreak of Richard Longmore and his wife Cecelia on the loss of their two sons to the Great War in the span of just four months.
James Brook Longmore (1888-1918) of Co. 37, 153rd Depot Brigade, died from influenza at Camp Dix on October 8, and his younger brother Harry Francis Longmore (1891-1919) of Co. M, 348th Infantry, died on February 4, and is listed as having “died of disease” in the three-volume Soldiers of the Great War (Soldiers Record Publishing Co., Washington, D.C., 1920) and of influenza on his casualty card.
James Longmore is interred behind the family monument in Section L, Lot 10, here at Riverview Cemetery, but the ledger marking his grave is also inscribed with a cenotaph noting that Harry Longmore is “Buried in Carbon-Blanc Cemetery France.”
James Brook Longmore (1888-1918) of Co. 37, 153rd Depot Brigade, died from influenza at Camp Dix on October 8, and his younger brother Harry Francis Longmore (1891-1919) of Co. M, 348th Infantry, died on February 4, and is listed as having “died of disease” in the three-volume Soldiers of the Great War (Soldiers Record Publishing Co., Washington, D.C., 1920) and of influenza on his casualty card.
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| James Brook Longmore (left) and his brother Harry Francis Longmore New Jersey State Archives |
James Longmore is interred behind the family monument in Section L, Lot 10, here at Riverview Cemetery, but the ledger marking his grave is also inscribed with a cenotaph noting that Harry Longmore is “Buried in Carbon-Blanc Cemetery France.”
February 28, 2018: 160th Anniversary of the Incorporation of Riverview Cemetery
Today marks the 160th Anniversary of the Incorporation of Riverview Cemetery Corporation.
Jacob M. Taylor, “late [a] farmer” and director of several companies, conceived the idea of establishing a cemetery in Trenton on the highlands above the Delaware River at the southern edge of the city sometime in 1857. He presented his plan to William M. Force, a merchant; John K. Smith, a retired iron manufacturer; Isaac Stephens, a merchant; David Witherup, a carpenter by trade and an incorporator and superintendent of Mercer Cemetery; and William S. Yard, a blacksmith and railing maker; and they together founded Riverview Cemetery on January 16, 1858.
The Riverview Cemetery Corporation, a stock company, was incorporated by an act of the state legislature on February 28, 1858, and the newly formed Cemetery immediately set about constructing avenues and pathways on the grounds, then but a few acres that encompassed the Friends’ Burying Ground, along with the planting of trees.
From these modest beginnings, Riverview Cemetery is today comprised of some 40 acres that are beautifully landscaped with trees, shrubs, and flowers, all of which complement a fine collection of 19th and 20th-century funerary art and architecture.
Jacob M. Taylor, “late [a] farmer” and director of several companies, conceived the idea of establishing a cemetery in Trenton on the highlands above the Delaware River at the southern edge of the city sometime in 1857. He presented his plan to William M. Force, a merchant; John K. Smith, a retired iron manufacturer; Isaac Stephens, a merchant; David Witherup, a carpenter by trade and an incorporator and superintendent of Mercer Cemetery; and William S. Yard, a blacksmith and railing maker; and they together founded Riverview Cemetery on January 16, 1858.
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| A portion of the “Sixth Ward of the City of Trenton” map published by Everts and Stewart, Philadelphia, in 1875. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress |
The Riverview Cemetery Corporation, a stock company, was incorporated by an act of the state legislature on February 28, 1858, and the newly formed Cemetery immediately set about constructing avenues and pathways on the grounds, then but a few acres that encompassed the Friends’ Burying Ground, along with the planting of trees.
From these modest beginnings, Riverview Cemetery is today comprised of some 40 acres that are beautifully landscaped with trees, shrubs, and flowers, all of which complement a fine collection of 19th and 20th-century funerary art and architecture.
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