Zion Churchyard

Little Neck (Douglaston), County of Nassau, New York State

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The Zion Episcopal Church's burial ground contains several Havilands who lived in the area of Little Neck (now Douglaston) in Queens, Long Island, New York. In this peaceful oasis surrounded by the hustle and bustle of modern Queens lies the final resting place of one Bloodgood Haviland Cutter, a "gentleman farmer" who inherited a large amount of wealth, and had an insatiable need to rhyme. He was a kind, social person who was very proud of his poetry and would read it to any audience he could find.

Serious critics of poetry in his day did not think much of him, and critics today draw blanks when asked if they know of him. In fact some have called him probably the worst poet in American history. And yet, unlike so many would-be poets in the world, Cutter's work was published, and he can now be found in some encyclopedias.

What little fame he achieved might not have even been that great had he not taken passage on a tour ship called The Quaker City in 1867. He wrote about his adventures in a collection called The Long Island Farmer's Poems published in 1886. One of the other passengers, as it happens, was author Mark Twain, who also wrote of this excursion in his book The Innocents Abroad. Both writers said a little about the other.

Of Twain, Cutter wrote:

One droll person there was on board,
The passengers called him 'Mark Twaine;'
He'd talk and write all sort of stuff,
In his queer way would it explain.

Mark Twain found himself surrounded by a host of colorful characters to write about, and poked fun at most of them, including Cutter. He did not refer to them by name, but by nickname. Cutter was called "The Poet Lariat"—a play on words. (A "Poet Laureate" was an official poet in Britian whose duty was to write commemorative odes and verse for the king. A "lariat" is a lasso.) In his notes for The Innocents Abroad, Twain described Cutter as such:

He is 50 years old, and small for his age.* He dresses in homespun, and is a
simple minded, honest, old-fashioned farmer with a strange proclivity
for writing rhymes. He writes them on all possible subjects and gets them
printed on slips of paper with his portrait at the head. These he will give to
any man that comes along, whether he has anything against him or not.

*Cutter weighed less than 100 lbs.

This became something of a distress for many of the passengers, as the poems were not received with much acclaim whether anyone admitted it outwardly, and Cutter would even submit poems to officials in the countries they visited on behalf of the ship's crew, as its self-designated "Laureate." For instance, this was Cutter's passage upon viewing the Egyptian pyramids:

'Such a wondrous pile I never saw,
No never in my life before;
'Twas wonderful I can truly say,
In its magnitude in every way.'

Finally Twain and some of his circle had had enough. Twain wrote:

Our poet has been rigidly suppressed, from the time we let go the anchor. When it was announced that we were going to visit the Emperor of Russia, the fountains of his great deep were broken up, and he rained ineffable bosh for four-and-twenty hours. Our original anxiety as to what we were going to do with ourselves, was suddenly transformed into anxiety about what we were going to do with our poet. The problem was solved at last. Two alternatives were offered him—he must either swear a dreadful oath that he would not issue a line of his poetry while he was in the Czar's dominions, or else remain under guard on board the ship until we were safe at Constantinople again. He fought the dilemma long, but yielded at last.

Bloodgood Haviland Cutter left behind a sizeable monument, seen below with me and my son, his 5th cousins 5 and 6 times removed, and despite his artistic reputation, this gentle poet's humble admirers.

Photos by Christopher Sirmons Haviland. You may download and use any tombstone photograph at this site as you wish.

Bloodgood Haviland Cutter b. 5 Aug 1817, d. 1906 son of Richard Cutter & Mary Bloodgood Haviland Pictured with Christopher Sirmons Haviland & son Forest Sirmons Haviland (age 1).
Roe Haviland "Jr." b. 10 Sep 1798, d. 9 Nov 1856 Son of William Haviland & Elizabeth Alburtis Husband of (1) Mary Bloodgood Haviland (Daughter of Roe Haviland & Mary Bloodgood; widow of Richard Cutter) and (2) Julia Ann MacDonald	Roe Haviland b. 15 Sep 1767, d. 1 Mar 1844 Son of Joseph Haviland & Abigail Roe Husband of (1) Mary Bloodgood (2) Unknown
Julia Ann MacDonald b. 21 May 1822, d. 30 Mar 1909 wife of Roe Haviland, m. 22 May 1841	Caleb Haviland b. 21 Nov 1826, d. 29 Oct 1854 son of Roe Haviland & Mary Bloodgood Haviland
William Roe Haviland b. 25 Aug 1830, d. 8 May 1881 son of Roe Haviland & Mary Bloodgood Haviland	Mary Elizabeth Haviland b. 15 Nov 1828, d. 28 Dec 1892 daughter of Roe Haviland & Mary Bloodgood Haviland, wife of John Hicks John Hicks b. 14 Sep 1821, d. 18 Feb 1895 husband of Mary Elizabeth Haviland It is not certain how or if this John Hicks is descended from the Hicks family that Mary's ancestor William Haviland allegedly married into. There is a John Hicks, age 27, in the 1850 Census, as head of household in Flushing, Queens Co., NY. In that same household is a Ruscom Hicks, 24. If they were brothers, then John may be the son of Thomas Hicks and Sarah Swett (or Eliza Sweet).
Another view of the John Hicks - Mary Elizabeth Haviland Monument

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