Elizabeth Masser Thorn

Elizabeth Masser and Peter Thorn emigrated from Germany and were married on September 1, 1855, the same day the cornerstone was laid for the Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse. After Peter was appointed superintendent of the cemetery in 1856, the Thorns became the first family to live in the Gatehouse. When Peter joined the Union Army, Elizabeth took over his duties and served as caretaker from 1862 to 1865. In the weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg, with the help of her elderly father and while six months pregnant, she dug graves in one of the rockiest parts of the cemetery and buried ninety-one soldiers amid the heat and stench.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania · United States