Gravestone of Independence

Patriotically named Independence Booth was born on July 4, 1776 in Enfield, Connecticut, to Captain Joseph and Mary Hale Booth. Perhaps Independence (did she have a shorter nickname?) got her name because her father Captain Joseph Booth was a patriotic soldier. His grave in Enfield, Connecticut, includes the information that he "served in the French and Indian Wars from 1755-1762 and the War of the Revolution from 1775-1777 and received his commission as Captain Mar. 21st, 1777."

Independence married twice. Her first husband Danforth Charles, whom she married in 1802, died prematurely in 1807. They had a daughter Hannah, who was born after her father's death. Independence married a second time to Lewis Barber in 1817. Her grave can be found in Ludlow's Fuller Cemetery at the corner of Church and Center Streets.

Independence had several gravestone carvers in her family, including Enos Booth, who signed a stone in the Fuller cemetery–a rare find made more unusual as the signature appears on the back of the stone. Cousin Enos didn't carve her stone, though, nor her cousin Hanan Cooley, who also has a signed stone in the same cemetery, since they both pre-deceased her. A third carver, Herman Newell also signed a stone in Fuller Cemetery; he is a possible carver for her stone.