Samuel Clemens Dies in Redding, Connecticut
On Thursday, April 21, 1910, Samuel Langhorne Clemens died at his home, Stormfield, in Redding, Connecticut. Beside him on his bed lay a beloved book — Carlyle's The French Revolution: A History — and near the book his glasses, pushed away a few hours before. He was in his seventy-fifth year. His daughter, Clara, and her husband, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, and the humorist's biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, had been by the bed waiting for the end. The following day, Clemens's body was placed in a mahogany coffin where he lay overnight in the library at Stormfield. On Saturday, April 23, the hearse was brought to the Brick Church, where a simple service was offered by the Reverends Dr. Van Dyck and Dr. Twichell. Three of four thousand people passe in review. The coffin was then brought to Elmira by rail (from The New York Times, April 22, 1910).
Buried in Elmira, New York
"Under a tent on the grassy slope of the Langdon plot in Woodlawn Cemetery, with rain beating fiercely against the canvas cover, a little group of mourners silently watched as the body of Samuel L. Clemens was lowered into an evergreen-lined grave beside those of his wife and children. Rev. Samuel E. Eastman, pastor of the Park Church and a close friend of the dead humorist, conducted a brief but simple service, and Mark Twain's first pilgrimage was at an end. Tonight he lies sleeping under a grave piled high with flowers, the tributes of loving friends from far and near" (from the Elmira Advertiser, April 25, 1910).
Other Family Members Buried Here
Langdon Clemens (eighteen months) the first member of the Clemens family to be buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, died of diphtheria. He rests near his grandmother and grandfather.
Olivia Susan Clemens (24 years) first of three daughters, passed away unexpectedly of spinal meningitis while Clemens and Olivia were abroad. Of her death, Clemens wrote, "It is one of the mysteries of our nature that a man, all unprepared, can be struck by a thunder-stroke like that and live."
Olivia Louise Langdon, Clemens's wife (59 years) died in Florence, Italy. The reference to "ashes" on her stone is symbolic.
Jane Lampton Clemens, called "Jean" (29 years) suffered from epilepsy from adolescence onward. She drowned in the bathtub on Christmas eve morning.
Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch Samossoud, the only surviving child, married Ossip Gabrilowitsch, a Russian pianist who became the Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Together they had Clemens's only grandchild, Nina Gabrilowitsch. Ossip requested that he be buried at the feet of his father-in-law. Following Ossip's death (58 years) Clara married a French musician, Jacques Sammosoud.
The grand-daughter, Nina (56) never married and died of a drug overdose in Hollywood, California.
Other family members buried here include Charles Jervis Langdon, his family and descendants, and Susan and Theodore Crane. The large Westerly granite shaft depicting the images of Samuel Clemens and Ossip Gabrilowitsch, erected by Clara Clemens and designed by Ernfred Anderson, weights eight tons. The Langdon family monument, central to the plot, contains four religious symbols: Alpha and Omega; the symbol of the Trinity; the monogram meaning "In His Sign;" and a formee cross. Samuel Clemens chose the inscription on the stones of Susy, Jean, and Olivia.
The Woodlawn Cemetery
In 1858, Elmira's leaders saw the need to establish another cemetery for the city. This was during an era when most burials were on church property or private grounds. Officials obtained a $10,000 loan from the state legislature on behalf of the village and purchased three 12-and-one-half-acre plots. The cemetery was expanded in 1874, 1899, and 1920 to approximately 184 acres (from Images of America, Elmira). This area of the cemetery contains many of Elmira's oldest and wealthiest founding families.
Other Twain Sites of Interest
Visit the Mark Twain Study on the Elmira College campus
Visit Langdon Plaza, the site of the Langdon Mansion
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