The “long s” is an archaic form of the lowercase letter “s.” Resembling an “f” without the crossbar, the f-like s was a tall variant which was often used at the start or in the middle of a word. It appeared most frequently during the 17th and 18thcenturies in English-speaking countries, replacing the single s or the letters in a "double s" sequence. There was no complete list of rules for its use, but examples included an s in the middle of a name or before an apostrophe indicating an omitted letter. This unique symbol can be found on some of the stones at Old Parish Cemetery. Here are a few examples.
Rest White was born in 1699 in Stoughton. She married Jeremiah Kingsbury (1700-1786) on September 22, 1727. They had six children. When Rest White Kingsbury died on December 23, 1789, the carver of her gravestone etched four long esses on her stone (lot137): her name “Rest”, her surname “Kingsbury” (twice), and the word “deceased,” a reference to the death of her husband.
Two of Rest Kingsbury’s grandchildren died during the small pox epidemic of 1775. Moses, who was 16 when he died on October 4, 1775, and Abigail, who was 9 at her death on October 8, 1775, also have examples of the long s engraved on their stones (lots 135, 134).
Ezra Morse, who died in 1755, has a “long s” on his stone (lot 151); Amasa Farrington, the son of Joseph Farrington, has two (lot 239).
A final example can be found on the tombstone of Sarah White (lot 241). The wife of Benjamin White, Sarah Talbot White was born in 1719 and died on March 1, 1786. The long s was engraved on her date of death: March 1st.
In general, the “long s” began to fall out of use around 1800 and in professional printing well before the middle of the 19th century. It can, however, be found in handwriting even into the second half of the nineteenth century.
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