War in 1838?

As I was perusing my cemetery photos, I came across a couple of a large, bench-oriented monument in Rome Cemetery, Rome, NY.

I took a closer shot of the epitaph for the husband of the pair, and a question came to me...

Our father, patriot War 1838, freedom

of slaves, philanthropist, inventor,

advocate of Maine Law Prohibition.

...what war in 1838? A basic Google search turned up various things, but the last descriptor suggests to me he was involved in the Aroostook War ("war," it was undeclared) between the U.S. and Britain over the Maine/Canada border. Who knew?

Decked

Happy holidays!

(From St. Joseph's Cemetery in Utica)

It's that time...

It's that time of the year/semester in which I am too busy to barely even remember I have a blog to maintain. On the upside, I've already been planning cemeteries to visit when I go back to Texas for Christmas. In the meantime, here's an oversized headstone from Cortland Gibson Chapel Rural Cemetery in NY:

For some perspective, the guy is a little over 6' (1.8m) tall.

Hardly the biggest or the best headstone around-- what I love is how typical it is in every other regard: normal color, uber-traditional shape...just very, very big.