Data set in stone: How cemeteries are still very much alive | Katie Goodsell | TEDxTrestleViewPark
The speaker argues that cemeteries function as invaluable, accessible outdoor museums containing rich historical and cultural data on individual lives. She proves this by detailing her research at Fairfield County, Connecticut, where she analyzed 159 cemeteries and 14,000 gravestones to study premature mortality rates. The speaker concludes that this data reveals profound details about past lives, suggesting gravestones should be preserved for future study.
## Speakers & Context
- Katie Good Salt, goes by "the gravestone girl."
- Presented the talk to peers after completing her senior undergraduate research.
- Developed the habit of introducing herself with her nickname to elicit a reaction that sparks deeper thought.
## Theses & Positions
- Cemeteries are not merely places of rest but are *"outdoor museums"* full of information hidden in plain sight.
- Gravestones function as data sources capable of revealing historical and cultural information about past lives.
- Cemeteries are *"very much still alive"* because the data etched on the stones can be analyzed to answer questions about life and death.
- Preserving gravestones is crucial because prior to the mid-1800s, civil records were not kept, meaning records can be permanently lost.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Cemetery:** A place that can hold information; more planned and organized than a graveyard.
- **Graveyard:** Typically associated with religious housings or communities.
- **Gravestones:** Physical markers that can encode data like names, birth/death dates, marital status, and artwork, even when worn.
- **Data Set:** Information derived from gravestones that can be analyzed to reveal demographic and life-span patterns.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Data Collection Process:** Walking through a cemetery, taking photographs of each gravestone in the Georgian and Victorian eras, and manually categorizing the data.
- **Data Points Analyzed:**
* Names and gender identification.
* Birth and death dates.
* Marital status (if indicated by husband/wife/son/daughter).
* Artwork/sculptures used to estimate carving years or life events.
* Wear patterns on the stone (noting that sandstone wears quicker than granite).
* Town-specific mortality rates.
- **Correlation Analysis:** Correlating death rates with variables like gender, marriage, disease, and season to hypothesize causes for longevity variations.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **Childhood Fascination:** Visiting historical cemeteries in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, every summer.
- **Undergraduate Research:** Started at Western Connecticut State University.
- **Discovery Event:** Stumbling upon Sarah Osborne’s gravestone in the old burying ground in Fairfield, Connecticut.
- **Research Period:** Three years dedicated to analytical research across Fairfield County, Connecticut.
- **Data Scope:** Visiting 20 towns and 159 cemeteries.
- **Era Focus:** Analyzing stones from the Georgian and Victorian eras (approximately 1714 to 1901).
## Named Entities
- **East Sandwich, Massachusetts:** Location where the speaker started her interest in cemeteries.
- **Sarah Osborne:** An 18-year-old woman who died 265 years ago.
- **Lothrop Lewis, Seth Osborne:** Parents/husband related to Sarah Osborne.
- **Western Connecticut State University:** Institution where the speaker conducted her undergraduate studies.
- **Fairfield, Connecticut:** Location of the old burying ground where the pivotal discovery occurred.
- **Huckleberry Hill Cemetery, Brookville, Connecticut:** Example of a cemetery where stones were removed but the graves remained.
- **Elizabeth Rowland:** Female resident buried in the same cemetery as Sarah Osborne.
- **Mabel:** Woman who remarried after Sarah's death.
- **Bones and Drones:** Title of the young adult novel the speaker plans to write.
## Numbers & Data
- Sarah Osborne's Age at Death: **18 years old**.
- Time gap for Sarah Osborne's stone: **265 years ago** (relative to the time of the talk).
- Sarah Osborne's Birth Date: **June 28, 1735**.
- Sarah Osborne's Death Date: **July 2, 1753**.
- Stones categorized: Just under **14 thousand** gravestones.
- Number of towns visited: **20**.
- Number of cemeteries visited: **159**.
- Target analysis period: **1714 to 1901**.
- Target group: Over **50** people who died before the average age of **42**.
- Comparative death rates: Around **56 years old** in the Victorian era; median age for under-40s in both eras was around Sarah's age.
- Gender statistics: In the Victorian era, male and females were at **50%** (with females leading by **13 deaths** in the overall count).
- Marriage rates: Only **18%** of catalogued gravestones stated the person was married.
- Disease spike correlation: Evidence of dysentery outbreak in New England and Fairfield County during **June and July of 1753**, aligning with Sarah's death.
## Examples & Cases
- **The Near Miss:** The speaker walking into a low tree branch and narrowly missing landing on Sarah Osborne's gravestone while dropping a cell phone and a strawberry donut.
- **Sarah Osborne's Record:** Learning only basic details: Born June 28, 1735; Died July 2, 1753; Daughter of Lothrop Lewis, wife of Seth Osborne.
- **Disease Epidemic Correlation:** The documented outbreak of dysentery in New England/Fairfield County during June/July 1753, correlating with Sarah's death.
- **Family Data:** Sarah’s immediate family, including her mother and siblings, died before the average age of mortality.
- **Life Reconstruction:** Piecing together that Sarah's life can be partially understood by linking her gravestone data to historical epidemic records.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- Cell phone (used in the fall).
- Strawberry donut (dropped during the fall).
## References Cited
- The specific documentation/records regarding the dysentery outbreak in New England/Fairfield County during June and July 1753.
- Records of the average age of mortality for Georgian and Victorian eras.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Gravyards vs. Cemeteries:** Graveyards are usually associated with religious communities and scattered burials; cemeteries are more planned and orderly.
- **Data Preservation:** The risk of records being lost due to the lack of civil records before the mid-1800s.
- **Research Variables:** Investigating multiple variables (gender, marriage, disease, season, town) rather than relying on a single metric.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The initial data points on life expectancy are highly correlated but do not prove absolute causation (e.g., correlation between early death and the year 1753 dysentery outbreak).
- The speaker admits she still could not determine Sarah's favorite color or if she liked broccoli.
## Methodology
- **Qualitative/Quantitative Research:** Combining physical archival data (gravestones) with scientific data analysis (epidemiology, population growth trends).
- **Systematic Comparison:** Analyzing mortality trends by age group, gender, and seasonality across two historical eras (Georgian/Victorian).
- **Deductive Inference:** Using patterns (e.g., high death spikes in specific months/diseases) to hypothesize the circumstances of an individual's death.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- To preserve history, one should visit a cemetery, read the surrounding history, and pick up trash.
- To help document the past, visiting a local Historical Society to learn how to record gravestones is advised.
- The speaker plans to write a young adult novel, *Bones and Drones*, and a coloring book to normalize cemeteries for children.
## Implications & Consequences
- The act of data collection turns the burial site into a continuous, evolving historical record, allowing future generations to reconstruct forgotten lives.
- The process suggests that every gravestone holds a narrative waiting to be unraveled by combining multiple data sets.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"It's a pretty good icebreaker right."*
- *"cemetaries don't have to be creepy they can be beautiful."*
- *"cemeteries are outdoor museums where I can walk up and touch history with the own palm of my hand."*
- *"I can't touch history at the Louvre can I"*
- *"I suddenly didn't care about my phone or the donut I cared about her who was she why did she die at my age"*
- *"data that could possibly answer that question that I asked"*
- *"I was getting frustrated because so many people died around my age"*
- *"graveyards are usually associated with religious housings or communities and the burial pots sometimes are scattered because we bury people once they die while cemeteries are a bit more planned and organized"*
- *"If you made it to about 20 years old you did pretty well but the younger you were the older you were unfortunately"*
- *"I'm a question purse"*
- *"I have a hearty test"*
- *"I decided to read a gravestone this is data that needs to be preserved for future generations"*
- *"I hope to encourage how cemeteries are really amazing places by writing a young adult novel named bones and drones and a coloring book as well to show kids that cemeteries aren't scary it can be awesome"*