Louisa Wells Aikman of Charleston and Premature Burial

Louisa Wells Aikman was born in Charleston in 1755. She was the daughter of Robert Wells and Mary Rowand, who had emigrated from Scotland a couple of years before. Robert was a man of many talents: bookbinder, bookseller, printer of books and Charleston's second newspaper, The American and General Gazette. 

Robert's staunch support for the British government in its dispute with the colonies made his life difficult, and he went to London in 1775. Most of the family followed him early in the revolution. Louisa stayed in Charleston to help her brother John run the family business. In 1778, she was banished for her outspoken Loyalism and left for London. A few months after her arrival in London, she wrote a journal of her experiences, The Journal of a Voyage from Charlestown, S. C. to London. 

Most of the journal relates the story of her circuitous and adventurous journey from the time she left Charleston to her arrival in London. Along the way, she inserts a curious story. involving an alleged case of premature burial. The alleged victim was George Woodrop of Charleston, who had died in 1770 in his early twenties. The burial had been unusually quick. Woodrop was pronounced dead in the evening and was buried the next morning. His uncle, Andrew Robertson, insisted on dispensing with the traditional practice of "laying out" the body in the house for a a few days before interment. 

Louisa's father Robert Wells had been a mourner at the funeral. He had "expressed great uneasiness, and said that the body did not appear like a dead corpse, there seemed to be a bloom on the countenance!" Wells asked Robertson the reason for the hurry in burying Woodrop. Robertson replied, "Mrs. Robertson could not bear to have the deceased in the house as she had so many young children."

Afterwards, a rumor spread that Woodrop had been buried alive. During Louisa's voyage to London, one of her fellow passengers, John Mills, was the sexton of the church where Woodrop was buried. Mills told Louisa and other passengers that the rumors were true. Mills said he had kept silent on the matter until that time because he had promised the Robertsons that he would not speak to anyone about the subject. But now the Robertsons were dead and he felt released form that promise. 

One night Mills was preparing a grave for a morning burial, assisted by "two black boys." While they were digging, the shovel hit and broke off part of a coffin. Mills went down into the grave and discovered "the backbone of a human skeleton." The posture of the body seemed unusual. Aided by the boys, Mills "opened the grave, uncovered the lid of the coffin, and found the deceased lying on its side, with the cheekbone in the palm of the hand!" The coffin cover bore the words "George Woodrop died 1770." 

We may not be convinced by this evidence, or speculate that Mills was spinning a yarn to entertain his fellow passengers on a long and tedious voyage. Louisa Aikman was convinced that it was a genuine case of premature burial and that it was not the only one. The fear of being buried alive (taphophobia) has existed in western society for many centuries but it increased during the late eighteenth century, partly due to changes in burial practices. Another contemporary fear, of disease-causing miasmas emanating from decomposing bodies, led many doctors to urge quick interment instead of laying bodies out for several days.   

One famous Charlestonian who feared premature burial was Henry Laurens.  Laurens believed that his infant daughter Martha had narrowly escaped being buried alive. He had heard the rumors about Woodrop because he knew Robert Wells. Laurens stipulated in his will that his body be burned after death. His cremation on a funeral pyre at Mepkin Plantation inn 1792 is reputed to be the first documented case of the practise in the United States. 

In an appendix to her narrative, Louisa Aiken wrote that the Woodrop case had affected her mind so much that she "never forsook the apparently dead or dying until interment." During the twenty years she lived in Jamaica (1782-1801) she reckoned that her watchfulness had prevented eighteen people from being "sent to an untimely grave." 

She mentioned in particular the case of fourteen year old James Haughton, 1785. He seems to have been suffering from yellow fever -- Louisa mentions "a constant bleeding at the nose." For several hours "Animation was suspended." Two doctors declared him dead. His mother agreed with what Louisa considered a lack of emotion, and went off to dress for his funeral. 

Louisa persevered in trying to save him. With the help of "slaves" she applied the method recommended by the Humane Society. She does not say what they did or who did what. The Humane Society of London was founded in 1774 with the object of reviving people seemingly dead from drowning and other causes. The society's initial recommended method involved a combination of mouth to mouth resuscitation, warming and rubbing the body, purgatives, ointments, and tobacco smoke enemas.

The young man regained consciousness. When his "unnatural parent" returned, "curled and powdered" and dressed in a black silk dress, her son was sitting up "eating sago from my hands." James Haughton was still alive fifteen years later when Louisa left Jamaica. He had married twice and had several children. Louisa moved to Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1801 to care for an ailing daughter. She died at Cowes in 1831, aged 76. Hopefully, was dead when she was buried. 

[Image: The Wells Residence and Shop at 71 Tradd St, Charleston, SC]

Further Reading:

 The journal of a voyage from Charlestown, S. C., to London. 

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