with a disturbing image in between an empty skull and a lively soul. Other motifs from this era include imps of death depicted as small evil demons bearing the arrows of death. They are particularly associated with the Charlestown grave carver Joseph Lamson, who carved imps either pallbearing or adorned with imagery of death and decay such as scythes and hourglasses. Cherubs Continuing the evolution of winged death heads, cherubs (or "soul effigies") are skull shaped effigies with distinctly human faces, that are intended to represent the soul of the deceased. Some are placed in an enclosing motif, such as a solar symbol or a tree. Others retain the angels wings commonly seen in the death head. The use of cherubs rather than death's heads only became commonplace in the Boston area in the mid-18th century, and was more commonly found in southern rather than northern parts of New England like Rhode Island and Connecticut where the majority of headstone designs from the beginning of the 18th century were of Cherub or Winged Soul effigies. Some of the cherubs have individualized faces, and may contain elements of portraiture. In Eastern Massachusetts, those on headstones marking male graves tend to have hair shown with a downwards curl, while those marking female graves show an upwards curl. The inclusion of Boston Region cherubs mostly dates from the mid 18th century until around 1810, and has a direct lineage to earlier funerary art, often showing a living human arched by wings. The John Stevens Shop of Newport began using Cherub effigies as early as 1705, and carvers in the Merrimack Valley region were using soul/cherub designs starting in the 1680s. One such carver, John Hartshorne of Rowley, Massachusetts began carving graves around 1680 in the region, until around 1710 when he moved to Franklin, Connecticut and continued carving until his death in 1737, thus introducing the cherub design to the region. Soon carvers such as Obadiah Wheeler of Lebanon and Benjamin Collins of Columbia began adopting soul effigies and other designs inspired by Hartshorne's work. This is just one example of how regional designs spread among carvers during the colonial era. Urn and Willow The rise of secularism during the Federalist Era, roughly lasting from 1790 to 1820, saw the prominence of urn and willow in headstone imagery. During this period, the imagery turned even more away from English influences, in favor of