The John and Ida Grow open book tombstone can be found in the Beech Grove Cemetery, in Bedford, Indiana. The open book is a common symbol found on gravestones. The motif can represent the Word of God in the form of the Bible or, likely in this case, symbolize the Book of Life with the names of the just registered.
This small tree-stump tombstone of 33-year-old Melia Baxter Roberts in the Knightsbridge Cemetery in rural Bloomington, Indiana, represents a tree not fully grown in width or height. This tree-stump tombstone is a metaphor in limestone, representing a life that has been cut short.
In both tombstones, three fern fronds are twinning up the front of their gravestones. Numbers are significant in the Bible and the number “three” may represent the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The fern itself is a plant that thrives in shade underneath trees and wooded areas. The ferns in both cases are secondary to the main gravestone symbolism—the open book and the tree-stump. The fern, often not first noticed in nature, represents humility, solitude, and sincerity.
We don’t often think of the classical orders—Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—as having gender, but the ancients did.
Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh
The Doric Order, associated with the Greek god of Apollo, represents masculinity which can be seen with its sturdy columns. The height to diameter ratio of the column is an average of 7 to 1, giving the column a stout robust appearance. The capital consists of a simple square abacus—top plate—and a rounded echinus which is a cushion shaped element directly below the top plate. The shaft is often plain but if is fluted it traditionally has 20 grooves per column running vertically. The column sits directly on the stylobate without a base.
Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis
The Ionic Order, associated with the Greek goddess Athena, represents femininity which can be seen with its more slender columns. The height to diameter ratio of the column is 9 to 1 giving the column a delicate appearance. The most distinctive feature of the Ionic column is that it is topped with a scroll-shaped volute on either side, connected by a horizontal band called the canalis, often decorated with an egg-and-dart motif. The volutes were inspired by natural forms such as seashells and ram’s horns. The fluted shaft has 24 grooves per column running vertically. Unlike the Doric column, Ionic columns rest on a base.
Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati
The Corinthian Order, associated with the Greek god Asclepius, represents the young maiden which can be seen with its even more slender columns. The height to diameter ratio of the column is 10 to 1 giving the column an elegant appearance. The most distinctive feature of the Corinthian column is that it is topped with a highly decorated capital featuring intricately layers of carved acanthus leaves among other floral motifs. The fluted shaft has 24 grooves per column running vertically. Like the Ionic column, Corinthian columns rest on a base.
The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut sent out enterprising door-to-door salesmen armed with a catalog to show customers the full range of “white bronze” markers the company produced. These grave markers came in a wide assortment of sizes and shapes and were somewhat like grave marker erector sets. The more elaborate markers had a shell of sorts and then various panels could be bolted on according to the tastes of the family ordering the grave marker. In this way, each marker could be “customized” to the tastes of the individual. Though the company billed the markers as “white bronze” they were cast zinc. The markers are distinguishable by their bluish-gray tint. Many of the designs mimicked designs that were commonly found carved from stone. The company set up their first subsidiary in Detroit, Michigan. Others followed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, St. Thomas, Ontario, Des Moines, and Chicago.
Another way to order a gravestone was directly from the Sears Roebuck catalog, which was mailed directly to households across America. Founded by Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck in 1893, the company, the Amazon of its day, offered a wide array of household merchandise and became one of the largest retailers in the country, even offering a large selection of gravestones. The company mailed separate catalogs featuring their wide array of gravestones to order at relatively inexpensive prices, plus shipping, of course.
Michelangelo once said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” The great artist was merely helping the sculpture emerge.
The Schulze monument in the Hermann Sons Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas is an example of an “emerging gravestone.” That is, the gravestone is not finished being carved with part of the stone still rough cut. The entire sculpture beneath has not been completely revealed. Here, however, the unfinished stone is not waiting for the sculpture to be completed but is actually part of the message. Emerging stones are often believed to mirror the unfinished life of the person for whom the stone is dedicated, perhaps an indication that their life was cut short.
The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut published a 127-page catalog of their designs in October 1882. The company’s range of grave markers are depicted along with their height and cost. The Jennie Poland marker, in the Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York, a highly ornamented 12-foot 10 inch “bronze” monument, can be found on page 57 costing a whopping $340, which is estimated at slightly more than $11,000 today.
The catalog also included a list of “Bas-Relief Emblems, such as we will cast solid on the monuments WITHOUT ANY COST to purchasers…” On page 5 of the catalog, that list included “Kneeling Angels, right and left.”
That emblem appeared on Jennie Poland’s grave marker, along with the epitaph, “Gone to join the Angels.”
The exact meaning of two praying angels is difficult to discern for certain and can vary is commonly understood to symbolize intercession and guardianship. Here the angels most likely serve as protectors against evil.
The Niver Family monument in the Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York, depicts a mourning figure—in this instance, an angel. We know it is an angel by its wings. Christian art began depicting angels with wings in the fourth century. Before then, angels were represented in several different forms–sometimes in human form, but they were also represented as a doves, or even as a hand reaching down from Earth from the Heavens. Beginning with the reign of Constantine, angels began being portrayed with wings, as is this figure, sullen with its eyes cast toward Heaven.
The angel here is seated and holding a passionflower. The passionflower was so named by Spanish Christian missionaries because they saw the flower imbued with religious symbolism and identified the parts of the flower and associated them with the passion of Jesus Christ.
Then ten petals represent the ten faithful disciples. The two apostles who were not considered were St. Peter, the denier, and Judas Iscariot, the betrayer.
The filaments that circle the center of the flower represent Christ’s crown of thorns.
The curled filaments represent the whips used in flagellation of Christ.
The white color was equated with Christ’s innocence.
The styles symbolize the nails.
Flanking the name plate are poppies. In cemetery symbolism the poppy represents eternal sleep.
Many organizations were founded in the later part of the 19th Century that required the prospective members demonstrate that their ancestors had been in the United States before a certain date or that their ancestors had served in a war. Examples of these organizations are Sons of the American Revolution (1889), The Daughters of the American Revolution (1890), The Daughters of the War of 1812 (1892), The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (1896), The National Society, Colonial Daughters of the Seventeenth Century (1896), The Mayflower Society of Descendants (1897), and The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America XVII (1915).
The National organization of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861 – 1865 (DUV) was founded May 30, 1885, by Olive Howard, Harriet Knapp, Eva Merwin, Frank Merwin, and Bertha Martin. On June 3, 1885, the first meeting was held at the home of Eva Meerwin, 419 First Street, SE Massillon, Ohio, with the purpose of preserving the history of the Civil War.
The organization accepts all females, eight years or older, who can document lineal descent from an honorably discharged soldier or sailor who served in the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Revenue Cutter Service during the Civil War (1861 – 1865), and those who died or were killed while serving in the armed services of the Union between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865. The organization maintains a museum and library dedicated to preserving the history of the war at their headquarters at 503 S. Walnut, Springfield, Illinois.
The Daughters of Union Veterans organization’s motto is, “Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty. Their mission is, “To spread widely the teachings of patriotism, that those who dwell in this broad of ours will so live that, in peace or in war, there shall be no stain on “The Flag Our Fathers Saved”.
The metal marker is a replica of the organization’s insignia, a laurel wreath, surrounding the intertwined letters D U V. The laurel is a traditional symbol of victory and military glory from as far back as the times of the Romans.
Just as the women of the North had founded an organization to honor the service of their soldiers, so did the women of the South. The organization was founded in 1894, by two women, Caroline Meriwether Goodlet and Anna Davenport Raines. The purpose of the UDC is to preserve the history of the Confederacy, honor the memory of those who served, and to preserve and mark historical locations. Their motto is, “Love, Live, Pray, Think, Dare.”
Any female 16 years of age or older who can document direct lineal or collateral descent from a soldier who served honorably in the Army, Navy or Civil Service of the Confederate States of America is eligible to join.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy maintain a library at their headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. They preserve and house a collection of rare books, letters, diaries, and other papers relevant and important to the history of the war. The UDC also awards a scholarship for original research about Confederate history.
The metal marker is a replica of the emblem of the UDC. A laurel, gathered together with a ribbon with two dates 61 and 65, the beginning and ending of the war, surrounds a Confederate flag and the intertwined letters U D C.
Gravely Speaking and Syngrammata have decided to dig deep into our photo collections in order to bring you pairs of images drawn from our many years combing through American cemeteries. Each pair will be linked by a theme which we are free to interpret. Suggestions of future themes to follow are welcome in the comments! This week’s theme is all about dogs.
Gravelyspeaking writes:
Gone to the Dogs!
FRANK E.
Son of
J. C. & H. F. SHY
DIED
Oct. 29, 1879
We Loved Our Boy
Riverside Cemetery and Fairmont Cemetery in Denver vied for the title of premier burial ground for Denver’s elite. Riverside, however, was the older of the two and from the beginning had less restrictive codes for monuments erected in the cemetery in its early days. Fairmont had laid out their rules early on in its development. Riverside hadn’t and therefore, the cemetery had a hodgepodge of markers made of many different kinds of materials, including “white bronze” which was actually zinc. The zinc markers were expressly forbidden in the rival Fairmont Cemetery.
According to Annette Stott, author of Pioneer Cemeteries: Sculpture Gardens of the Old West, published by the University of Nebraska Press, Fairmont Cemetery was the larger of the two cemeteries. Fairmont … had a fairly strict list of what kinds of monuments were acceptable, “No footstones … only gravestones and monuments made of granite, marble, or real bronze … no monument or grave marker will be admitted which is cut in imitation of dogs, cattle, or any grotesque figure.” The implication being that these types of monuments which could be readily found in Riverside, “were inappropriate, perhaps even in vulgar taste.”
One such gravestone in the Riverside Cemetery was that of 13-year-old Frank Shy. Sheep ranchers, John and Hannah Shy, commissioned a white-washed marble dog to be placed on their son’s grave. They tenderly inscribed it with the words, “We Loved Our Boy.” This was not an unusual monument as carved dogs began to appear in American cemeteries in the first half of the 20th century. According to Annette L. Student who researched and updated the pamphlet, Walk Through Historical Riverside Cemetery, (page 25), “the Shy Memorial, under a small elm tree, is a white marble monument topped with the sculpture of a dog.” The dog was the pet of Frank Shy, and his parents wanted “their young son guarded in death by the dog he loved in life.”
While the Fairmont trustees may have thought the Shy Memorial vulgar, Riverside had the last laugh when the Hoeckel-Hutchinson family erected a monument featuring a dog no less in the Fairmont
Syngrammata writes:
It is hard to choose a favorite out of the multitude of gravehounds on display! However, I would say that for me, the most interesting dogs are the interactive ones. Put another way, an arf-ul lot of these dogs are, irrespective of their love for their owner or vice-versa, reduced to bit-player decorations. The best I think I’ve seen, though, is the anonymous pooch accompanying the sculpted girl atop the monument of Elizabeth Kennedy in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland (figure 1).
Figure 1. Kennedy monument, Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, MD. Photo: Syngrammata.
The pose strikes one as derived from the observation of real dogs.
But I could be wrong. For a strong claim could be advanced for the Towsey monument. Towsey (the dog, I take it, figure 2), “our sunshine on a rainy day,” interacts with us, the viewers, waiting for us to get in the car and chauffeur him around.
Gravely Speaking and Syngrammata have decided to dig deep into our photo collections in order to bring you pairs of images drawn from our many years combing through American cemeteries. Each pair will be linked by a theme which we are free to interpret. Suggestions of future themes to follow are welcome in the comments! This week’s theme is all about Cats.
Gravelyspeaking writes:
Her Cat, Her Only Friend
There has always been a debate between dog and cat lovers about which furry little friend makes the best companion. I have many friends who have cats galore and swear by them, while others like myself, have dogs and always have. We see dogs as the old bromide tells us, “as man’s best friend”. And it is true—you walk into the room and your dog’s eyes light up, tail wags. Walk out and back again, and he is just as happy, almost like he hadn’t seen you in hours! You just don’t get that reaction from a cat.
Whether dog and cat lovers can agree or not, graveyard aficionados can attest that many more dogs can be found on gravestones than cats. In fact, in my experience, I have seen very few cats adorning tombstones—so when I saw a gray marble cat perched atop the gravestone of Pollie Barnett in the Fairview Cemetery in Linton, Indiana, I was drawn to it. Then I was pulled in further by the following epitaph:
HERE POLLIE BARNETT IS AT REST,
FROM DEEPEST GRIEF AND TOILSOME QUEST,
HER CAT, HER ONLY FRIEND,
REMAINED WITH HER UNTIL LIFE’S END.
Surely, there was a mystery surrounding this gravestone. According to the area legend, Pollie (born September 23, 1836 – died February 27, 1900) had two daughters, one spirited girl named Sylvania. Her other daughter’s name has been lost to history, most likely because she wasn’t the focus of the sad tale. The book, Weird Indiana: Your Travel Guide to Indiana’s Local Legend’s and Best Kept Secrets, says that Sylvania disappeared without a trace. There were several reasons that could have explained the disappearance—she never came home from a quilting bee, she didn’t return to the house from gathering fire wood, or that she ran off with a local boy.
Whatever happened, Pollie never recovered from the loss. She became despondent and made it her life’s mission to search for her absent daughter. For the rest of her life, Pollie traveled the roads in and around Linton, calling for her daughter. According to the book, Pollie kept the search wandering hither and yon for the next 32 years—never giving up her desperate search for Sylvania. Area storytellers recalled Pollie tired and bedraggled carrying her black cat with her wherever she went—often only stopping to sleep in a road ditch or a kind farmer’s barn.
Linton townspeople commissioned a tombstone tribute to Pollie and her best friend—a black cat, which rests with a watchful eye, on top of her gravestone forever looking after Pollie.
Syngrammata Writes:
In West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia, stands the monument of Lee A. Holloway. Above the inscriptions, “More than just friends,” and “They asked for so little but gave so much,” stand the sculpted granite figures of a cat and a dog.
Figure 1. Holloway monument. West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, PA. Photo: author.
Both figures are stylized but imbued with personality. The cat is labeled with the name “Oliver-Boo,” and (like the dog, “Archie”) looks up at the cemetery visitor with a glance they might have shown in life. Oliver-Boo affectionately rubs against Archie, and both have had small offerings laid at their feet.
Figure 2. Holloway monument. Detail of Oliver-Boo. West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, PA. Photo: author.
Gravely Speaking 