06/16/2024
Aspinwall, Panama 1864
Good heavens! Has it truly been four years since I wrote in my journal? (Probably not, but this journal is new.) So many things have occurred, I hardly know where to begin. We left Manaus in March of 1864. We leave behind two of our daughters, Emma and McClaren. One the victim of a boa constrictor, the other unfortunately drowned upon the rapids of the Rio Madeira. Brazil is a largely Catholic country, so burial for my lovely, lost children in their cemeteries was not permitted.
For Emma, we needed to improvise, as it were. A dear German friend in Santarem permitted us to bury her in their family’s plot. A great comfort to know we could, and can still, visit her upon occasion while in Brazil. I remain in regular correspondence with Mrs. Wengert and am assured a posey of flowers is placed upon her grave every month.
McClaren’s burial, a few years later, occurred in Manaus. There is a large British population, and hence, Protestant graveyards. It is a lovely place and her headstone has a darling little angel carved upon it. Most of our family back in the United States were appalled that we chose to leave our children behind us when we left Brazil, but they are at rest now. It is love of Emma and McClaren, which we carry in our hearts, that matters, not earthly remains decently interred.
If any of our relatives insist upon commenting further, I can apprise them of various Amazonian tribal customs when it comes to the treatment of their dead and ask which would have been their preference for the girls.
Sigh. One can’t please everyone.
