Meet Robert Browning, the cat buried in one of Hampton’s old cemeteries

As you drive around the Seacoast, you have probably seen small cemeteries in some of the oddest places, whether a Starbucks parking lot or an overgrown field.

These are remnants of a time when burial was likely to be at the family farm or homestead rather than in a town center, such as Hampton’s Ring Swamp or High Street Cemeteries. Hampton has seven of these small plots, and one contains two unlikely but obviously well-loved creatures.

Sanborn Cemetery is one of these private cemeteries, located off Exeter Road. Simon Sanborn was the original owner of this land; the cemetery is located at the back of what was once one of his fields. Various members of the Sanborn family rest in this plot, with the earliest internments dating from the early 1800s. But two markers differ from the rest. They are for Robert Browning and Little Lady Pitapat.

Robert Browning, as stated on the gravestone, was Miss Stanton’s cat. It can be assumed that Little Lady Pitapat, who died in 1913, was also hers. Their carved stone markers speak to how highly they were regarded by their owner.

Abby Ellen Stanton was born in Hampton in 1834. Her father was a mason and moved often. She was well educated, and in 1871 would join the staff of the Wheaton Seminary, a women’s academic institution outside Boston. She was a French teacher, having lived for a time in Paris. Miss Stanton’s hiring faced some opposition because some trustees viewed her as “not Christian enough” to set a good example for the students. But the principal and others were able to get her approved. Miss Stanton must have flourished there since, in 1880, she was named principal.

Miss Stanton was popular with the students. She was stern but also fair and had “modern” ideas.

Contemporaries described her as tall and distinguished, wearing stylish clothing and having a keen mind. One student later described her as always looking like a “grand, although gracious lady.” She abolished some of the trivial rules and instituted more self-government among the students, which also added to her popularity. She also increased the size and quality of the faculty and established courses of study not previously available.

Miss Stanton’s time at Wheaton was a challenging one. Wheaton Seminary was founded in 1834 when there were few institutions granting advanced degrees to women. But by the late 1800s, it was facing increasing competition from schools such as Radcliffe, Smith and Mount Holyoke. Miss Stanton realized that the changing environment needed new leadership, and the trustees reluctantly accepted her resignation in 1897.

Miss Stanton would return to Hampton in her retirement and live not far from the Sanborn farm on Exeter Road. She would die in 1924, and her funeral in Exeter had The Reverend Doctor S. V. Cale, president of the newly named Wheaton College, officiating. She is buried with the rest of her family in Manchester.

As for Robert Browning and Little Miss Pitapat? Anyone who has lost a pet can understand Miss Stanton’s grief and her desire to memorialize them. Since the time of the ancient Egyptians, humans have honored their dead pets, and today, pet cemeteries offer a formal way to bury and remember the animals that mean so much in our lives.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald. Reporting by Mary Ann Nelligan