A Virtual Visit to a Quaker Burial Ground in Pennsylvania on Vimeo.
Gravestone Dedication for Quaker activist Edna Buckman Kearns, plus her parents May & Charles Buckman. Plymouth Meeting, PA (Germantown & Butler Pikes).
The burial ground installation was made possible through the support of Tara Bloyd, Joyce Rouse, Tom Armstrong and Friends from Plymouth monthly meeting.
Joyce Rouse has contributed a video of her song, “Standing on the Shoulders” to celebrate my “homecoming” to the Quaker Meeting of my childhood. I worship with Friends at Plymouth Monthly Meeting in Plymouth Meeting, PA by way of Zoom.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: Why a gravestone burial ground ceremony now?
A: Because unmarked graves were acceptable in 1913 for May and Charles Buckman, Edna’s parents. At the time of Edna’s death, however, a gravestone was out of the question. The surviving Kearns family members in the Philadelphia area went bankrupt in their nursery business during The Great Depression. The bank foreclosed on their home, Echo Dale, near Norristown, PA. The intention was to purchase a gravestone after Edna’s passing in 1934. As it turned out, “later” turned out to be 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Q: Were all three family members—Edna, May, and Charles— involved in the early women’s rights movement in the United States?
A: Edna and her mother May Begley Buckman were involved personally in the early women’s rights movement. Edna Buckman Kearns had a high profile in New York State, and later Pennsylvania. Charles Harper Buckman stood firmly behind his wife and daughter in support of their women’s rights activism. Find out more about Edna Buckman Kearns on this web platform that has been publishing since 2009.
A memoir and family history by granddaughter Marguerite Kearns is scheduled for publication in June 2021 from SUNY Press (State University of New York). The book, “An Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women’s Rights” highlights the family activism of Kearns family members over several generations.
Q: What other information is available about the author, Edna Kearns, her husband Wilmer, and other Quaker ancestors and family members?
A: Check with SuffrageWagon.org that has been publishing since 2009 about Edna Kearns and her “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon that is on permanent exhibit at the New York State Museum in Albany, NY. Sister web platforms include SuffrageCentennials.com
Marguerite Kearns & her Special Programs Online on Vimeo.
Suffrage Wagon News Channel has been publishing since 2009.
SuffrageCentennials.com is a sister suffrage history site.