Who Is This?

I received this e-mail from Betty Burdan.  Betty sent me the 3 pictures I have linked to below.  The 1st is the marker for  Virginnie E. Compton (b.1-1-1860 d. 4-25-1893).  The other 2 are of the St. Paul's church in Orange Co., NC.  Thanks Betty for the photos.  I hope they will help someone connect a few pieces together.

Photo #1 - Headstone of Virginnie E. Compton (b.1-1-1860 d. 4-25-1893)

Photo #2 - St. Paul's church in Orange County, NC

Photo #3 - St. Paul's church historical marker

Date: Wed, 01 Jul 1998 17:11:47 -0700
From: bjburdan <[email protected]>
Subject: Compton

Hi John,

I live in Berks Co., PA but recently visited NC, where my brother lives. I happened to come across St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Orange County and got this digital photo of a Compton headstone that I thought you might be interested in.

In case you can't read the full inscription on the Compton headstone, I wrote it down when I took the picture. Here it is:

Virginnie E. Compton (b.1-1-1860 d. 4-25-1893)

"Dearest sister thou hast left us here thy loss we deeply feel,
But its God that hath bereft us he can all our sorrows heal"

My daughter was with me and she's an art historian who does studies in "tombstone art", which is why we wrote down the inscription on a headstone for someone we don't even know. The headstone was particularly insteresting from an art view and poetry on headstones is a field all it's own.

Since I noted your address was California I wondered if you ever saw St. Paul's church in Orange County, NC so I'm sending you two more photos. One is St. Paul's as it looks today and the other is the historical marker for the church. We take these shots so we can document where the tombstones were found.

Betty Burdan