George Rhodes Battey was born in 1835 to Russell Battey and Sarah (Thornton). His father died when
George was 22 and he spent the rest of his life residing with his mother until her own death in 1886.
During recruitment for the Civil War, George was deemed to have a mental deficiency. He went on to work as a farm laborer and, due to his technical abilities, went into the business of clock repair. To supplement his household income, he also delivered mail. In January of 1901, George was leaving the property of 56-year-old George Vickery, the local postmaster, when he slipped on the stone
steps in the yard and his body hit the ground with a thud. Although no bones were broken, the immediate pain was so severe, it took several minutes before the 66-year-old man was able to get back on his
feet.

Three months prior, George had suffered a slight paralytic shock. Whether the fall was a result of
that, or a reminder of worsening health issues, he didn’t prosper in the months that followed. Before
long, he had become almost helpless, confined to bed in the very old, dilapidated house on Auburn Street in Warwick where he had lived alone since his mother’s death five years before. In April, it was decided by those concerned for his health and safety that he be moved to a hospital where proper care could be assured. The following month, on May 17, he died at the Emergency Hospital in Providence due to the effects of paralysis caused by his earlier stroke. George was laid to rest in his family lot, which was situated upon the old Doyle Farm, west of Irving Road. There, almost forty souls already
slept peacefully, including members of the Chace family, the Chipmans, Coggeswells, Hollises, Remingtons and Slocums. The Battey family tomb, George’s mother, Revolutionary War soldiers and interments from as long ago as the 1700s filled the small burial space. It should have been a place of eternal
peace. But it wasn’t.

In April of 1905, just four years after George’s burial, residents contacted Town Council members to
report a horrific event. Some local boys had broken into the Battey family tomb and stolen several
skulls and bones. Following their grave-robbing spree, they were reportedto have been kicking the remains around in area fields. The Town Council instructed the Superintendent of Health to collect
the scattered remains and return them to the cemetery’s tomb. He did so on April 28. Since that time, the cemetery, now known as Lakewood Burial Ground, has gone through additional destruction and suffered neglect. The final resting place of George Battey, on that old rural farm, had not provided the peace that death promises.

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island
columnist, lecturer and author.