... recalling the past...

 
Last night I was working on some research and I casually read a poem by Margaret Junkin Preston because it's called "A Grave in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond (J.R.T.)" and I laugh because I immediately believe I recognize the initials because JRT isn't common at all, right!

As a little back story, I often walked by his marker reading the epitaph and wondering, “Who are you John R. Thompson?” It’s an obelisk much like the others surrounding it in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery; yet, the inscription always made me stop and read it again. 

John R. Thompson

Born in Richmond, VA. 23, Oct. 1823,

Died in New York, 30. April 1873.

To the graceful poet, the brilliant

Writer, the steadfast friend, the

Loyal Virginian, the earnest and consistent Christian.

This monument is erected

As a token

Of admiration and affection

By his

Northern and Southern Friends.

As an English professor, I love stumbling upon writers and poets who are no longer in the literary canon. John R. Thompson is one example. In 2017, I wrote a blog post on Thompson and his grave. Just a quick recap, John Reuben Thompson was born in Richmond and by 1847, he purchased the Southern Literary Messenger and became its editor. You might recognize that paper because of Edgar A. Poe who had been the editor a decade earlier. Also, happy birthday to Poe! Tomorrow he turns 212!

Unlike many Virginians of his time, Mr. Thompson did not take part in the Civil War citing health reasons. Ironically, many of his works are considered “war-poems.”

Margaret Preston, who is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Lexington, Virginia wrote for the Southern Literary Messenger during the editorship of John R. Thompson. I know this thanks to 1872 biography.

Just to be sure that JRT is who I think he is, I checked the preface to Poems of John R. Thompson and there's Preston’s name mentioned. A little more digging reveals they wrote letters to one another so unless there's another poet with the same initials from the same time period, I'm done with my bit of sleuthing. 

But wait, just a few minutes ago I discovered that John R. Thompson endorsed that collection the 1872 biography was in. That would have been a year before he died.  

I love imagining what Hollywood Cemetery looked like when Margaret Preston walked by Thompson's grave and then decided to write a poem about her experience.