A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading a recently published book, titled: “have a little faith.” It is a true story written by Mitch Albom. In the book there is mention of a “second death.” I had never come across that term before. So it was a coincidence that shortly after putting the book down, I read one of the articles on the history of Eddyville, on this website, which was written by the Library Lady. The article was about Richard J. Scarrem and why he is buried at the Highland Cemetery in Eddyville. Here was an example of someone who was very fortunate to have been saved from the second death. (More about that, later).
Who is Richard J. Scarrem? Most of you will not recognize his name unless you had read the Library Lady’s article about him. He was born in 1759 and lived a long and undistinguished life of 97 years. He had fought in America’s Revolutionary War when he turned 18. After the war, he traveled southward from Vermont through New Jersey and Pennsylvania and eventually ended up in Iowa. According to Eddyville’s late historian, O. H. Seifert, “it is unclear how Richard’s life travels brought him to Mahaska County. It was thought that he was a wandering sort of fellow.” At his old age he was an indigent veteran, and Mahaska County paid for his keep on the Jerry Linderman’s farm which was located a few miles northeast of Eddyville. Some of the local people referred to Scarrem as the “Old Revolutioner.” It is not clear from the different accounts of his life if he was buried at the Linderman farm or at “an old cemetery” in Wapello County.
Around 1940, O. H. Siefert learned that Richard Scarrem was buried near Eddyville, and he made it his own personal mission to have the war veteran’s remains moved to the Highland Cemetery so that the “Old Revolutioner would always be remembered." Veteran organizations and other interested groups in Eddyville and Mahaska County became involved in the drive to dedicate a memorial site to honor the “Old Revolutioner." According to the late Mahaska County genealogist and historian, Dorothy Clark, “The State of Iowa appropriated $500 for a fitting marker for this grave. The County Memorial Day Committee suggested to the Eddyville American Legion that they complete and dedicate a marker. The following year they did so.” In describing the ceremony, Clark wrote that “An estimated 2000 persons attended this Memorial Day service on May 30, 1941 when this marker was dedicated. State, District, and Local officers and members of the American Legions, Daughters of the American Revolution and Boy Scouts gathered in honor of this memorial to Mahaska County’s only Revolutionary War Veteran.” A seven-ton granite stone marks his grave and embedded in the stone is a bronze tablet which is engraved with the following brief description: “1759-1856 – Richard J. Scarrem fought in the American Revolution with the Vermont Volunteers who defeated Burgoyne at Saratoga and in other battles of the war. Dedicated to the memory of this service to his country.”
When Richard Scarrem died in 1856 there may have been a couple of members of the Linderman family and possibly some of Richard’s fellow elderly indigents who attended his burial service. His death went unnoticed by the general public. When someone dies at age 97 they have outlived most of their friends and it is commonly accepted that their time has come. Perhaps there was a small ceremony and a few prayers for his soul but there would have been little or no mourning.
No one back in the year of 1856 could have possibly conceived that there would be another ceremony for Richard, 85 years later, and that 2000 people would attend his memorial service. Even today, people visit his gravesite to honor him. It has been 153 years since Richard Scarrem died, but he will not be forgotten and his name lives on through history.
Earlier, I had mentioned the term, “second death.” The memory of those who die will live on for a period of time – this is the first death. But as years go by, the family members and friends of the deceased will also die, and the memory will fade away into oblivion. The gravesites and headstones of those who passed away many years ago will be located in the “old” part of the cemetery. There will be no visitors, no tears shed, no flowers, and the engraving on the headstones will become weathered and unreadable. Some of the headstones will have fallen or will be overgrown with vegetation. Those souls in the “old” graves will have been forgotten – this is the second death.
In the book, “have a little faith,” there is reference to a verse from the Thomas Hardy poem, “The To-be-forgotten.” In that poem, a man is in a graveyard talking with some spirits or souls who had been buried in recent years. They were distressed that they too would soon be forgotten as the older souls who were buried many years ago:
“They count as quite forgot;
They are as men who have existed not;
Theirs is a loss past loss of fitful breath;
It is the second death.”
Sometimes, due to fame or fate, a person will be remembered for the ages and they will escape the second death. Such is the case with Richard Scarrem.