Turning to Wikipedia we find the following note on the article pertaining to the vampire hysteria in New England:
Dr. John Clough of New Ipswich, reported in “The Influence of the Mind on Physical Organization” in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal Volume XXI (1840): “In connection with [these superstitions], I cannot omit to mention a circumstance which occurred in this town (New Ipswich), not thirty years since, and similar occurrences probably occurred in many other towns in New England. This was disinterring a human body, which belonged to a family all strongly predisposed to consumption, for the purpose of removing the heart, which was burned, the ashes of which were considered a sovereign remedy to those of the family who were still living, and might be afflicted with the same disease. This only illustrates the fact that those elements of character which held such a magic sway over the minds of men in ancient times, have not ceased altogether to influence the community in our comparatively enlightened day.”
We are not given a name for the resident that was exhumed and as a time-frame we can place the event as taking place sometime around 1810.
The picture described is similar to that of the other cases from the vampire panic in New England.
As with other cases from that region, we are talking about an outbreak of tuberculosis where the first family member that dies from the disease is exhumed because he was labeled a vampire and the community rallied together in order to save the remaining members of the family.
The rituals are performed in the dead of night and no further details are provided with respect to this case.
๑۞๑ Related:๑۞๑
† Superstitions
† Legends
† Vampire Accounts