HERE’S a photo of the webmaster and my good friend, Doctor of Theology and author Dawn Eden Goldstein, in a 2007 outing in front of James Leeson’s gravestone in Trinity Cemetery in Manhattan’s Financial District. It’s the oldest cemetery on Manhattan Island and even has a smattering of burials from the 17th century. I chose this spot because Leeson’s tombstone is unusual in that it contains a coded inscription.
In January 1957, in his New York Times column, Meyer Berger revealed the curious code displayed on the top of James Leeson’s tombstone in Trinity Cemetery at Broadway and Wall Street. Leeson, who died in 1794, left behind an elaborate stone on which are carved Masonic symbols such as a compass and hourglass. (The “G” on Masonic symbols stands for “geometry;” some say it stands for God) At the top of the stone are a series of boxes and partly-rendered boxes, some with one dot, some with two, and others blank. For over a century, the significance of these marks was debated…was it a secret message or just ornamental filigree?
First, to find Leeson’s grave. When you’ve got your handy-dandy Valentine’s Manual of New York, printed in 1922 by the Henry Collins Brown Company, it’s a snap. It has a foldout color plate of Trinity Cemetery and a list of those interred; you’ll find Leeson to the left of Soldier’s Monument near Broadway in the north end of the cemetery.
Berger reported that in 1889, the Trinity Record (Trinity Church’s newspaper of the period) announced that they had solved the mystery, and it was fairly easy to figure out. Simply set up three tic-tac-toe boards, nine squares each, and place the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I in the first, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S in the second, and T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z in the third. Then, place one dot on each letter in your first tic-tac-toe board, two dots in your second, and none in your third. (Count I and J in a single square: in colonial-era orthography, the two letters were the same.) Using this system, Leeson’s final dispatch is spelled out quite clearly.
“I’d rather be in Philadelphia”, or “To know him is to love him,” perhaps? No.
The inscription says, “Remember Death.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get this photo today, not without getting hassled by Trinity security. Fencing has been placed along the park paths so people cannot stray onto the grassy areas. Either the grass was getting trampled in a more consistently drought-y era, or the graves were getting vandalized by miscreants. In any case, you can’t just walk up next to the tombstones anymore.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop. As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
11/7/25
3 comments
Supposedly, the UK comedian Spike Milligan’s epitaph is, “I told you I was sick.”
Oscar Levant, TV/radio personality of the 1940’s through 1972 (his death) whose “legit job” was as a concert pianist, did say he wanted that as an epitaph, but it wasn’t followed through on. So this is why Milligan, who died in 2002 (thirty years later) may have wanted to do so.
I’m curious on what inspired Dawn Eden Goldstein to convert.
As a Catholic, she’s very active, writing articles, books, giving lectures, a mighty contributor to the Church.
I’d say ask Dawn herself, just tell her I sent you. She has been very expansive about it in two memoirs.