THE DELAIGLE CHALICE: A FAMILY MYSTERY
DeLaigle Memorial Chalice now at Saint Paul’s Church
The chalice had been on our dining room buffet for years. Our house and much of what’s in it belonged to my in-laws, so I never wondered why. One day in early December 2018 I was dusting and decided to really look at the chalice.
On the underside I found this inscription:
In Loving Memory of
Carrie Clark de l’Aigle, Born Dec. 13, 1860, Deceased Feb. 22, 1863
Marie Emma de l’Aigle, Born Sept. 11, 1865, Deceased Dec. 6, 1873
Remember these, O Lord, when Thou comest to make up thy jewels.
My late father-in-law, Gale Shields, was an Episcopal priest who moved to Augusta in 1980 to serve at Christ Church on Greene Street. After he retired, he assisted at Church of the Good Shepherd, All Saints (Beech Island), St. Mary’s, and St. Augustine’s. He died November 9, 2001. I don’t know why he had the chalice, but I knew St. Paul’s would be a more appropriate place for it than our house. So I took it there.
A Gorham Manufacturing Silver Mark
Local silver expert Susan Verdery determined the chalice was made of gilded silver by Gorham Manufacturing Company in the early 20th century. Ms. Verdery did an excellent job of restoring it to its intended beauty, so that it was ready in time to be used for Christmas 2018 Eve services at St. Paul’s.
The DeLaigle family (the spelling has varied over the past two centuries) has been part of life in Augusta since the early 1800s. In 1808, Nicholas De Laigle established brickyards in Augusta which provided bricks to Augusta’s building trade for 75 years.
The father of the girls memorialized on the chalice was Louis Nicholas DeLaigle, an attorney in Augusta until the Civil War. Their mother was Mary Stedman Clark. Nicholas and Mary DeLaigle were married March 17, 1858 at Saint Paul’s by the Reverend Edward E. Ford. Mary Clark DeLaigle was confirmed May 10, 1863 by Bishop Stephen Elliott, also at Saint Paul’s.
On December 18, 1864, Major DeLaigle was badly wounded at the Battle of Marion in Virginia. He never recovered his health and died in January 1868 at 37. His burial was conducted by the Reverend William H. Clarke. Louis’s widow, Mary Clark DeLaigle, outlived her husband by more than 50 years, but never remarried. She died in 1922 in Wilmington, NC.
The index to St. Paul’s parish register lists the burial of Carrie Clark DeLaigle and, a few lines below it, that of her father. Marie Emma DeLaigle’s birth is recorded, but not her burial.
Interesting information about the parents and family of these young girls memorialized on the chalice can be found at the following links; such as, a fascinating narrative regarding a duel fought over Mary Clark DeLaigle in 1875.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/
84085096/mary-stedman-delaigle
84084581/louis-nicholas-delaigle
90901683/charles-dawson-tilly
We don’t know the who, when or where of the donation of the chalice, but the family is in our parish register so I truly believe it is “home” at St. Paul’s.
Text by Cindy Shields
Photo by Catherine Stuckey
