Tag Archives: Epitaphs

One of the Strangest Deaths in New York’s History

Girls Chase A Boy to Give Him Birthday Kisses… and He Dies

Woodlawn Cemetery Is The Final Resting Place of George Spencer Millet Who Had One Of The Strangest Deaths In New York’s History

Woodlawn cemetery 1909 Gravestone of George Spencer Millet died while evading girls kisses on his birthday at Metropolitan Life Building

There is a book called Woodlawn Remembers: Cemetery of American History by Edward F. Bergman (North County Books, 1988.)  The book is mostly comprised of beautiful full page color and black & white photographs of monuments, tombstones and mausoleums with one page of text describing each person profiled.  The cemetery is located in the northern part of the Bronx. Woodlawn is on my shortlist of recommendations of unusual places to go for New York visitors.

The book is fascinating to be sure. It covers many of the interesting and important historical figures at Woodlawn. But one story not mentioned, is the life and death of George Spencer Millet (misspelled as George Millitt by The New York Times in the story at the end of this article) who is interred at the cemetery.

Millet’s story is briefly recounted in Permanent New Yorkers A Biographical Guide To The Cemeteries of New York by Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall (Chelsea Green 1987.) This book contains photographs too, but has more detailed biographies than Woodlawn RemembersPermanent New Yorkers also covers the entire New York area, not just focusing on the two most famous New York City cemeteries. Woodlawn and Greenwood. I highly recommend both of these out-of-print books.

It was February 15, 1909 and Millet was a good-looking boy. Because when the girls he worked with at The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company found out that it was his 15th birthday, they all insisted on giving him a kiss. Continue reading