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Archaic letters

Thorn and long-S are letters dropped from English orthography in the early 1800s. Thorn was almost entirely restricted to the definite article but long S was widely used (See the verses). Þ is a letter in modern Icelandic and long-s is part of the German gothic font. Usage was always mixed. Many stones have both thorn-e and th-e definite articles.

Long-s was usually paired with a regular s by most American carvers following a convention in German gothic. "Chelmsford" illustrates the way carvers differentiated between long-s and f. It appears that the carver almost put the cross bar on the l.

Thorn-t for "that" is rare and somewhat of a collector's item.

The Hallett twins are in Yarmouth cemetery. Thanks to Robert Carlson of Cape Cod Gravestones for this image.

Another example is found in Wakefield MA on the undated Thomas Kendel stone. Notice how the carver has compressed the word "tell" in "tell that powrful voice" making one ascender serve three masters.

The 1777 stone for Seth Newell in Winsor VT has "that" duplicated in the last line of the couplet, "Let Not ye dead Forgoten Lye Least Men Forget yt that they Must Die."