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MARKERS XII
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Journal of the
Association for Gravestone Studies
Markers XII
Journal of
the Association for
Gravestone Studies
Edited by
Richard E. Meyer
Association for Gravestone Studies
Worcester, Massachusetts
Copyright ©1995 by
Association for Gravestone Studies
30 Elm Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-878381-05-9
ISSN: 0277-8726
LCN: 81-642903
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Cover photo: Bruno Grandelis, 1905, Metuchen, New Jersey.
Photograph by Richard Veit.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
'A Piece of Granite That's Been Made in Two Weeks':
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers from New Jersey and New York,
1875-1930
Richard Veit 1
Adam and Eve Scenes on Kirkyards in the Scottish
Lowlands: An Introduction and Gazetteer
Betty Willsher 31
The Adkins-Woodson Cemetery: A Sociological
Examination of Cemeteries as Community
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummell 92
The Joshua Hempstead Diary
Ralph L. Tucker 118
Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths: Milestones of
Our Path through Pain to Joy
Gay Lynch 144
'Best Damm Dog We Ever Had': Some Folkloristic and
Anthropological Observations on San Francisco's Presidio
Pet Cemetery
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 160
The Year's Work in Gravemarker/Cemetery Studies 206
Contributors 220
Index 222
m
MARKERS: JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION
FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
EDITORIAL BOARD
Richard E. Meyer, Editor
Western Oregon State College
Theodore Chase Barbara Rotundo
Editor, Markers V-IX State University of New York at Albany
Jessie Lie Farber James A. Slater
Mount Holyoke College University of Connecticut
Editor, Markers I
Dickran Tashjian
Richard Francaviglia University of California, Irvine
University of Texas at Arlington
David Watters
Warren Roberts University of New Hampshire
Indiana University Editor, Markers II-IV
Wilbur Zelinsky
The Pennsylvania State University
Readers of Markers XII will find that, once again, the individual essays
presented in its contents represent a wide range of time periods, geo-
graphical locales, and scholarly techniques - in short, the type of broad-
based and balanced examination of gravemarkers, their makers, and the
places where they are found which is coming to be characteristic of the
best recent work in this specialized area of Anglo-American folk art and
material culture. Markers thus continues its leadership role in establishing
the standards and defining the boundaries of what has been termed by
some an important and emergent "microdiscipline."
Any scholarly publication's merits are determined largely by the qual-
ity of its manuscript submissions and the subsequent efforts of its editor-
ial review board, and in both these regards my work as editor has been
greatly aided by the high standards and conscientiousness displayed by
contributors and members of the editorial board. I thank them all, and
iv
hope that readers with scholarly projects in mind will consider submitting
their best work for publication consideration in future issues of Markers.
Others deserve thanks as well, in particular Western Oregon State
College, which continues to generously support this publication through
numerous forms of indirect financial assistance; staff members - most
especially Fred Kennedy - at Lynx Communication Group, Salem,
Oregon, and Patti Stephens of Philomath, Oregon, all of whom, through
their design and production skills, make my job a lot easier and this vol-
ume a lot more handsome; the officers, board members, staff, and gener-
al membership of the Association for Gravestone Studies, who make it all
possible in the first place; and, finally, Lotte Larsen, who helps me keep it
all in perspective.
Articles published in Markers are indexed in America: History and Life,
Historical Abstracts, and the MLA International Bibliography. Information
concerning the submission of manuscripts for future issues of the journal
may be obtained upon request from Richard E. Meyer, Editor, Markers:
Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, English department.
Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361 (Phone: (503)
838-8362 / E-Mail: meyerr@fsa.wosc.osshe.edu) For information about
other AGS publications, membership, and activities, write to the
Association's Executive Director, Miranda Levin, 30 Elm Street, Worcester,
Massachusetts 01609, or call (508) 831-7753.
MIDDLESEX COUNTY
Union County
\
GARDEN
STATE
PARKWAY
/
Monmouth County
Mercer County
N
Miles
Fig. 1 The circled area in the center of the map
represents the part of Middlesex county. New Jersey,
where the majority of terra-cotta gravemarkers are
found. Staten Island, New York, located to the east of
Perth Amboy, also has a few terra-cotta gravemarkers.
Map reproduced, with modifications, from the
tercentenary edition of The New Jersey Almanac (1963).
VI
'A PIECE OF GRANITE THAT'S BEEN MADE IN TWO WEEKS':
TERRA-COnA GRAVEMARKERS FROM NEW JERSEY
AND NEW YORK, 1875-1930
Richard Veit
Introduction
In 1948, Peter C. Olsen, President of tlie Federal Seaboard Terra-Cotta
Corporation, described terra-cotta as "A piece of granite that's been made
in two weeks. "^ This essay examines the colorful terra-cotta gravemarkers
that were created in both Middlesex County, New Jersey, and Staten
Island, New York, between the 1870s and the 1930s. The markers are
found within a roughly ten mile radius of Perth Amboy, New Jersey (see
Fig. 1), the small coastal city which was the center of the Middlesex
County clay industry. The manufacturing of these often ornate monu-
ments reflects both the skill of the multiethnic terra-cotta workers who
made this area their home and the local importance of the clay industry.
Additionally, the markers provided new, and often impoverished, immi-
grants with an inexpensive, attractive, and lasting alternative to tradi-
tional stone monuments.
Most studies of gravemarkers in the Middle Atlantic and New
England regions have tended to concentrate on either the gravestone
iconography of the colonial period^ or the ornate monuments and mau-
soleums of the Victorians.^^ This is also true of New Jersey. While the 17th-
and 18th-century gravestones of the region have been actively investi-
gated,^ little attention has been paid to the vernacular gravemarkers of the
late 19th and early 20th Centuries. In a number of regional cemeteries
established within the last hundred years or so, unusual gravemarking
traditions brought from Europe^ or associated with regional industries^
flourished. These largely unstudied fin de siecle markers have the potential
to enhance our understanding of the lives of immigrants in this region.
The present study's emphasis upon one of those traditions, the terra-cotta
gravemarkers of the Raritan River Valley, seeks to demonstrate this poten-
tial through examining the development, production, iconography, and
meanings of these unique markers.
The terra-cotta gravemarkers are concentrated in about a dozen late
19th- and early 20th-century cemeteries in northeastern Middlesex
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
County. A small number have also been found in western Staten Island.
Many of the gravemarkers are located in the small Catholic burial
grounds which once served the region's varied ethnic groups (see
Appendix). The largest concentration of markers is found in the least
expensive plots at Alpine Cemetery in Perth Amboy: a Victorian product
of the rural cemetery movement, Alpine contains a total of 67 terra-cotta
markers. While such markers were never the dominant form of grave-
marker, even in this region, they were nonetheless, for a short time, an
important alternative to marble and granite monuments.
Alternative Gravemarking Traditions
Terra-cotta was one of a number of materials other than stone which
were often used to make gravemarkers in the eastern United States. Cast
iron markers, for example, are scattered all along the East Coast. For a
short period, at the end of the 19th Century, monumental bronze (white
zinc) gravemarkers made in Bridgeport, Connecticut were popular.
Italian- Americans and other southern European immigrants often created
homemade concrete gravemarkers. Germans and eastern European immi-
grants, not only in the East, but also on the western plains and in Texas
created fanciful iron crosses, both cast and wrought.^ The Southeast - par-
ticularly Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama - is home to a variety of
ceramic gravemarkers,^ a tradition which may, at least in part, have
African antecedents.^
The study of these vernacular memorials holds great promise and
deserves further attention before the markers are destroyed by vandalism
and weathering. Generally, ceramic gravemarkers - when left undis-
turbed - have long lifespans. However, both mechanized lawnmowers
and vandals pose a serious threat to their continued existence.
Methodology
This study was carried out in two parts. First, during the summers of
1993 and 1994 I visited most of the 19th- and early 20th-century cemeter-
ies of eastern Middlesex County and western Staten Island in search of
terra-cotta gravemarkers. This reconnaissance revealed 128 terra-cotta
gravemarkers concentrated in a dozen cemeteries near the terra-cotta
works. Others certainly exist. In the early Twentieth Century, small tubu-
lar terra-cotta markers were used to mark indigent burials in some
Middlesex County Cemeteries: these are not included in my calculations.
Richard Veit
Terra-cotta borders for grave plots and corner posts for grave fences were
also noted. The gravemarkers are found in the communities of Perth
Amboy, Woodbridge, South Amboy, Metuchen, New Brunswick, and
Sayreville, New Jersey, as well as those found in western Staten Island.
In addition to the field survey, several individuals were interviewed in
an effort to learn more about the production of terra-cotta gravemarkers.
Vincent Alba, a Perth Amboy senior citizen knowledgeable about the
terra-cotta works, was particularly helpful. I also interviewed by tele-
phone staff members of the Danish Home for the Aged in Edison, New
Jersey (Danes made up a large percentage of the workforce at the terra-
cotta works, and many used terra-cotta gravemarkers). Research to estab-
lish primary and secondary documentation was undertaken at the Perth
Amboy Public Library, Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage
Commission, and the Special Collections and Archives at Rutgers
University's Alexander Library.
Middlesex County's Clay Industry
Central New Jersey was home to some of the most productive clay
banks in the state. These clays were part of a large deposit stretching
across the narrow waist of New Jersey and on into Staten Island. In
Middlesex County, the clay was most accessible near the mouth of the
Raritan River. In some areas there were seventeen distinct layers of clay,
which at times ran as deep as 347 feet below ground.^° Many of these clays
were of extremely high quality, suitable for firebricks, pottery, and terra-
cotta. Soon after the region was settled in the late 17th Century, brick-
making began." Throughout the 19th Century, potteries making
stoneware, yellowware, and rockingham used the region's clay.^^ By the
end of the 19th Century, the area was home to some of the largest brick-
works on the East Coast.
The Terra-Cotta Industry
The manufacture of terra-cotta in New Jersey was begun in 1877 at A.
Hall and Sons' Terra-Cotta Works. Hall, who had begun making fire brick
and yellowware in Perth Amboy in the 1850s, experimented with terra-
cotta during an economic slump.''' His experiment was a success, and
soon several other terra-cotta works were established nearby. The facto-
ries lined the Arthur Kill and the Raritan River, "their enormous beehive-
shaped kilns resembling so many ancient temples." '"* In 1888, Karl
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
Mathiasen and Otto E. Hansen, Danish immigrants, opened a small terra-
cotta plant on Catherine Street in Perth Amboy which would later become
the New Jersey Terra-Cotta Company. In 1890, the Standard Terra-Cotta
Company was incorporated, also in Perth Amboy.^^ The year 1897 saw the
founding of the Atlantic Terra-Cotta Works on Staten Island, operated by
former craftsmen from another New Jersey operation, the Perth Amboy
Terra-Cotta Company. ^^ By 1920, there were eight terra-cotta works just in
Middlesex County. ^^ One of them, the aforementioned Perth Amboy
Terra-Cotta Company, employed between 400 and 600 hands. ^^ During
the 1920s the industry continued to grow, and in 1928 the Federal
Seaboard Terra-Cotta Corporation, a conglomerate, was formed from sev-
eral of the larger local companies.
Soon thereafter, the Depression slowed the expansion of the industry.
In a letter dated June 30th, 1937, Peter C. Olsen, then General Manager of
the Federal Seaboard Terra-Cotta Corporation, noted that "normally Iwe]
employ 750 to 800 men in our 3 plants but at present with 2 plants shut
down, employ 200 to 240 men."^^ During the Second World War, the terra-
cotta plants made practice bombs from terra-cotta for the Air Force, as
well as bathroom fixtures. Following the war, changing architectural
styles combined with high property taxes and increased suburbanization
brought an end to the clay industry in the region.^^
Uses of Terra-cotta
Terra-cotta means simply "baked earth."^^ The term is generally used
to refer to large blocks of molded and burnt clay. While very similar to
brick, it has a finer texture and can be molded, sculpted, and glazed to
form a variety of architectural ornaments.
Most of the terra-cotta produced in Middlesex County and Staten
Island was made for architectural uses. Among the many noteworthy
structures built of local terra-cotta were the Woolworth Building in New
York, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Terra-cotta was also used as interior tile and in swimming pools. Statues
and decorative urns were often produced. Gravestones apparently made
up only a small part of the terra-cotta plants' production. While catalogs
and style books exist for Perth Amboy's Atlantic Terra-Cotta Company
and the Seaboard Terra-Cotta Corporation, they do not mention grave-
markers.^^ Vincent Alba, a Perth Amboy resident whose uncles were
sculptors at Seaboard Terra-Cotta, confirmed that gravemarkers were one
Richard Veit
of the sidelines of the terra-cotta plants.^-' He beheves that some were
mass produced, while others were special orders.
The Raritan Valley's terra-cotta gravemarkers are actually a relatively
recent manifestation of a long history of ceramic gravemarkers. During
the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), a Chinese emperor was buried with an
entire army of terra-cotta retainers.^'* The ancient Greeks, Etruscans, and
Romans also made considerable use of terra-cotta. 2'' During the
Renaissance, particularly in Italy, it saw extensive use for architectural
ornamentation and sculpture. By the 16th Century, enterprising English
potters were making terra-cotta gravemarkers.^^ In the 18th Century, a
terra-cotta-like material called Coade's Stone (after its inventor, a Mrs.
Coade) appeared in Great Britain.^'' A variety of mass-produced monu-
ments were made from this material between 1770 and 1820. Many were
simple urns, but some were quite ornate, including the gravemarker for
Captain Bligh, of Mutiny on the Bounty fame.^^
In yet another cyclical revival, terra-cotta again became popular in the
mid-19th Century, first in Great Britain and then in the United States. This
terra-cotta was used in place of stone in architectural settings. The first
type produced in the United States dates to the mid-1 9th Century and
resembled brownstone, or reddish brown sandstone.^'' Later, other types
of terra-cotta appeared: these included fireproof construction terra-cotta,
ceramic veneer, and glazed architectural terra-cotta. While a variety of
terra-cotta was made in New Jersey, most of the gravemarkers were made
from glazed and unglazed architectural terra-cotta.
Making the Gravemarkers
No contemporary descriptions of the manufacture of terra-cotta
gravemarkers are known to exist. However, the process can be recon-
structed from contemporary newspaper articles and secondary sources.
First, the clay was mined from the local clay banks and aged.
Sometimes the clay was mixed with grog, a combination of ground up
fragments of old terra-cotta and brick. This mixture was then kneaded in
large iron mills. ^° Some of the earliest manufacturers in Perth Amboy
kneaded the clay in horse-drawn pug mills, like the local stoneware pot-
teries.^^ The softened clay was then forced out of the mill as "long wind-
ing serpents" which were cut into loaf-shaped pieces.''^ This process was
repeated until all the impurities had been removed from the clay. The
large squares of kneaded clay were then delivered to the molding room.
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
There they were worked into carefully prepared plaster molds.
Complicated shapes were sculpted by hand.^^ In an 1890 newspaper arti-
cle, an anonymous journalist described seeing a "boy carving in the soft
brown clay the inscription for a memorial plaque."^"* This casual remark,
embedded in a description of the sculptor's studios, is the only known
published contemporary reference to the manufacture of terra-cotta
gravemarkers.
After they were sculpted or molded, the wares were carefully dried at
a controlled heat. Some were dipped in a solution of soluble glaze. Colors
were applied to the terra-cotta in the glaze. The gravemarkers show a
variety of matte and glossy finishes in many different colors: white, blue,
red, brown, and yellow are especially common. The glazed markers
exhibit a smooth glassy surface. However, the finishes seen on the mark-
ers represent only a sample of the many varieties once available.
According to a brochure of the Federal Seaboard Terra-Cotta Corporation,
an unlimited variety of waterproof, fade-proof colors, including poly-
chrome and noble metal finishes, were available.^^ Textured surfaces were
also possible, which allowed the terra-cotta to imitate many types of
stone, including sandstone, limestone, and marble. Imitation or "faux-
granite" gravemarkers were also popular. These can only be discerned
from granite markers if they are chipped or if imperfections in the glaze
are visible. Terra-cotta was truly granite that had been made in two weeks.
After glazing, the terra-cotta was fired in immense kilns, a process
which lasted ten days or more.^*' Sometimes pieces shrank during the fir-
ing process. To reduce distortion, large pieces were often built up from
several smaller ones.^^ Many of the terra-cotta gravemarkers were also
made from several pieces in this way, a practice which has unfortunately
proven to be a liability as the pieces separate, facilitating both vandalism
and weathering.
Marker Typology
As previously noted, during this study over one hundred terra-cotta
markers were examined. Many of their forms are similar to other late 19th
and early 20th-century monuments. None of the markers examined are
signed. However, the Bruno Grandelis gravemarker in Metuchen, New
Jersey (Fig. 2), a stunning piece of statuary, bears an inscription on the
reverse in Italian which reads "Tuo Padre Fece." Loosely translated, this
means "Your father made this." Only one gravemarker bears the mark of
Richard Veit
Fig. 2 Bruno Grandelis marker. Hillside Cemetery, Metuchen, New
Jersey (1905). The marker is made from several pieces of terra-cotta.
Though it exhibits severe spalling, the marker was originally made
from white glazed terra-cotta and depicts young Bruno (1901-1905) in
the arms of an angel. The sculpture was probably executed by the
boy's father.
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
Fig. 3 J.H. Longley marker, Alpine Cemetery, Perth Amboy, New
Jersey (1902). An example of an architectural feature, in this case a
finial, inscribed and used as a gravemarker.
Richard Veit
a firm, in this case the Perth Amboy Terra-Cotta Company. Vincent Alba
noted that some gravemarkers were also produced at the Federal
Seaboard Terra-Cotta Corporation in Perth Amboy.^^ Apparently the
markers on Staten Island were the products of the Atlantic Terra-Cotta
Company's Tottenville Works, which were located on the island. Many of
the region's terra-cotta factories may in fact have made gravemarkers, but
without marked pieces the products of the various works cannot be dif-
ferentiated.
The terra-cotta gravemarkers were produced in a variety of forms.
These include tablets, crosses, pedestals surmounted by urns, obelisks,
and statues. Some were simply made, while others were lavishly decorat-
ed. Of the 128 markers examined in this study, 55 appear to be unique,
while as many as 73 may have been mass-produced (mass-produced
means, in this case, that more than two examples of a particular form of
marker were noted). In New Brunswick's Elmwood Cemetery, mass-pro-
duced terra-cotta tubes, at least one foot long and roughly three inches
wide, were used to mark indigent burials. The tops of the tubes were
closed and stamped with identification numbers. They were apparently
buried in the ground so that only their numbered tops showed. Some
were made from red unglazed terra-cotta, while others were made from
white glazed terra-cotta. In yet another variation, architectural details
were sometimes recycled as gravemarkers (see Fig. 3).
The gravemarkers vary greatly in size. Some of the tablets are less
than six inches tall, while other gravemarkers reach seven or eight feet in
height. One of the largest markers combines a central portion made from
brown sandstone with red and yellow terra-cotta details for a stunning
effect (Fig. 4).
In general, the markers are very colorful. This is true of both the
unglazed ones (which are often red or gray) and the glazed pieces.
Occasionally the lettering or decoration of the markers is accentuated
with color. White or gray markers sometimes have black or gold letter-
ing, and gold, red, or blue details (see Fig. 5). Documentary sources note
that reddish-brown colored terra-cotta was the first type manufactured,
and it was not until 1894 that glazed terra-cotta was invented.^^
A graph showing the distribution of gravemarkers by decade and
form illustrates certain trends (Fig. 6). The earliest gravemarker dates to
1870, but displays a faux-granite finish and thus may be backdated. A sec-
ond marker, dated 1878, is in fact probably the oldest. If so, it indicates
10
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
mmmmm
■nHanmBi
k
T
T
^TB
4-.
*•>"
Fig. 4 Ellen Falvey Royle marker, St. Mary's Cemetery, Perth
Amboy. A brown sandstone core combines with terra-cotta details
for an unusual effect. The cross and roof of the marker, as well as
the bands on the columns, are made from unglazed yellow terra-
cotta, while the columns and pediment are unglazed red terra-cotta.
Richard Veit
11
Fig. 5 Uninscribed marker from Holy Trinity Cemetery,
Woodbridge, New Jersey. The border and the chi-rho are in white
glazed terra-cotta, the background in blue glazed terra-cotta.
12
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
Dated Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
1870-1939
■ 1870s
HI 1900s
1880s
1910s
■ 1890s
m 1920+
Fig. 6 Distribution graph of terra-cotta gravemarkers.
that terra-cotta gravemarkers were being produced very shortly after the
first factory opened. The gravemarkers gradually increased in popularity
until 1920, then precipitously declined. The latest gravemarker noted in
this study dates to 1935. Unique monuments w^ere more common before
1900, and w^ere supplanted by mass-produced markers after the turn of
the century. Unglazed gravemarkers w^ere also more common before the
turn of the century than afterwards.
Crosses are by far the most common design. They were produced in a
variety of styles. Some were made in the form of Orthodox crosses, a few
resemble tree trunks (Fig. 7), and others imitated granite. Many of these
crosses appear to have been mass-produced. The prevalence of cruciform
markers may be linked to the popularity of terra-cotta gravemarkers
around 1920 with eastern European immigrants. Most of the terra-cotta
gravemarkers in the region's cemeteries associated with eastern European
immigrants are cross shaped (e.g.. Fig. 8), and the popularity of this form
has strong European antecedents.^^
Aside from the crosses, two other terra-cotta types of gravemarkers
Richard Veit
13
Fig. 7 Owen Revell marker, Alpine Cemetery, Perth Amboy
(1912). The marker was made from unglazed tan terra-cotta
and was "Erected by his sorrowing relatives and friends of
Lambeth, England." As Lambeth was a center for pottery
making in England, one might speculate that Revell was a
terra-cotta sculptor.
14
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
Fig. 8 P.L. Novak marker. Holy Trinity Cemetery, Woodbridge, N.J.
(1921). Cross on unglazed white terra-cotta tablet with four bright
red flowers. The marker has been repaired with concrete.
Richard Veit
15
IN MEMORY
OF
JCMfN HALBERT
80RN JUNE.25,
1859
DIED OCT. 18,
1318
AND
MARY HALBERT
BORN DEC. 25,
1864
DIED DEC. 22,
ISIS
REST IN PEACE
'•*^,
HALBERT
Fig. 9 John and Mary Halbert memorial, Alpine Cemetery,
Perth Amboy (1918). The marker has a faux-granite finish.
The lettering is highlighted in black, and the cross on top
is glazed metallic gold terra-cotta.
16 Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
appear to have been mass-produced. One group consists of small buff-col-
ored tablets embossed with the initials "DBS." These are associated with
the Danish Brotherhood in America, a fraternal order founded in 1882 by
Danish Veterans of the Civil War.*^ This organization provided its mem-
bers with an array of benefits including life insurance, help in old age and
sickness, and burial aid. In 1893, an accompanying Danish Sisterhood was
founded. The DBS terra-cotta gravemarkers are associated with local
chapters of these organizations.^^ In actuality, they are supplementary
markers used in conjunction with gravestones, much like the metal
plaques issued by other fraternal organizations.
Also mass-produced were tall obelisks, occasionally topped with
golden crosses. These often have their lettering accentuated in black. They
appear, at first glance, to be made from gray granite and to be typical
turn-of-the-century markers (see Fig. 9), but they are not. Instead they are
examples of how closely terra-cotta can mimic other materials, in this
instance granite. Popular just after the First World War, they are much less
conspicuous than the more colorful markers. The lettering was apparent-
ly incised after the markers had been molded. They are occasionally
accompanied by small faux-granite tablets.
As mentioned earlier, several terra-cotta gravemarkers appear to have
been fashioned from recycled architectural details (see Fig. 3). These are
often located in the areas of cemeteries set aside for indigent burials, lead-
ing one to speculate that they may have been made by terra-cotta work-
ers for members of their families or for friends who were unable to pur-
chase traditional gravestones. Representing the other end of the econom-
ic spectrum are several terra-cotta embellished mausoleums in Perth
Amboy's Alpine Cemetery. One marks the grave of Karl Mathiasen (died
1920), the First President of the New Jersey Terra-Cotta Company.
Several particular markers are also noteworthy. Also in Alpine
Cemetery there is an arched marker inscribed in Danish for Oluf E.
Thulesen (Fig. 10). The reddish colored terra-cotta from which it is made
was the first type of terra-cotta produced, and it is quite possible that
Thulesen was either a terra-cotta worker or a relative of one. One of the
most interesting gravemarkers, referred to briefly earlier, dates to the sec-
ond decade of the 20th Century (Fig. 7). The marker consists of a rustic
cross surrounded by ivy, lilies, and ribbons. It was made from several
carefully-fitted pieces, with a base made to simulate stone. On an unrolled
scroll, sculpted from terra-cotta, appears an inscription noting that the
Richard Veit
17
Fig. 10 Oluf E. Thulesen marker (1888). This finely decorated artifact,
inscribed in Danish, was made from bright red unglazed terra-cotta.
18 Tenra-Cotta Gravemarkers
marker was "Erected by his [Owen Revell's] sorrowing relatives and
friends of Lambeth England." This is particularly interesting because
Lambeth, England - like Middlesex County, New Jersey - was a center of
ceramic manufacture, thereby perhaps providing an indication of both
Revell's immigrant status and his connection with the terra-cotta trade.
Possibly the most spectacular terra-cotta monument, also mentioned
earlier, is that of Bruno Grandelis in the Metuchen Cemetery (see Fig. 2).
This marker, which dates to 1905, was executed in white glazed terra-
cotta by a highly-skilled craftsman, quite likely the father of the deceased.
It depicts a casket with lid ajar, set between two truncated pillars topped
by lit torches. From the casket an angel is rising, carrying in her arms a
young boy - probably four year old Bruno - dressed in a sailor's suit. The
sculpture is very well executed and shows great skill on the part of the
artisan, as well as the innovative combination of several Victorian motifs.
Despite such spectacular examples, many of the most interesting
markers are undecorated and undated. The lack of inscriptions in these
cases is puzzling: perhaps, one might surmise, such gravemarkers were
mass-produced for inexpensive sale.
In summary, the terra-cotta gravemarkers found in the study area vary
from well-executed sculptures to modest, undecorated forms to recycled
architectural details. They were produced in a variety of colors and
designs, crosses being the most popular.
Why Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers?
The question remains as to why these terra-cotta gravemarkers were
made. In some regions, a lack of workable stone leads to the development
of alternative gravemarking traditions. However, the Raritan River Valley
had been well supplied with gravestones since the late 17th Century.^-^
Several factors acting together probably led to the production of terra-
cotta gravemarkers in this area: these include ethnicity, economics, crafts-
manship, and ideology.
As already noted, terra-cotta gravemarkers had a long history in cer-
tain parts of Europe, particularly Great Britain. A careful review of United
States Patent Office Records from 1865 to 1920 reveals that three 19th-
century inventors had patented terra-cotta gravemarkers. In 1879,
William Payne Loyd and William Dickinson Loyd of Itawamba County,
Mississippi, took out a patent for a tombstone made from potters clay
with incised lettering and colored glaze.'^'* Similarly, in 1872, Collins C.W.
Richard Veit 19
Morgan of Holly Springs, Mississippi, patented both terra-cotta coffins
and gravecovers."*^ Despite these fascinating antecedents, there is no indi-
cation that New Jersey's terra-cotta workers were aware of their southern
counterparts. Closer to home, between 1810 and 1820 potters and glass-
blowers in southern New Jersey had made an occasional ceramic grave-
marker for family members and friends. These markers are very rare and
seem to have been the unique products of certain inventive individuals.
The Raritan Valley's terra-cotta gravemarkers appear to have been inde-
pendently invented and, for at least a short period, were quite popular.
Surprisingly, considering the mass-produced appearance of some of the
markers, they do not appear to have been patented.
The use of terra-cotta gravemarkers would have been a pragmatic
decision for the people of Middlesex County. According to contemporary
advertisements, terra-cotta was as durable as stone, more attractive, easy
to clean, inexpensive, and lasted forever.'^^ As Charles Davis, a 19th-
century authority on clay products, noted: "In beauty of color it has
advantage over stone, for by the use of chemicals any color can be pro-
duced. "^^ For a short while, terra-cotta seems to have been considered a
sort of super material.
Perth Amboy was also home to a highly skilled workforce which took
great pride in its products. This pride is evident in the incredibly ornate
and imaginative terra-cotta architectural details found throughout Perth
Amboy, as well as in the colorful, proud promotional literature of the
time.^^ Many of the Danish, Italian, and English immigrants to the region
were highly skilled artisans. Nels Ailing, perhaps the most talented of the
area's terra-cotta sculptors, had studied at an academy of art in Denmark
and received medals from the Danish king before emigrating to Perth
Amboy. "^^ He came to New Jersey in the 1880s because he had "heard that
top-flight workers in terra-cotta could earn as much as 55 cents an hour,
which was a fantastic sum of money.""""
While gravemarkers were certainly not the primary field of work for
these talented artisans, they were easily within their reach. Working in the
terra-cotta industry. Ailing sculpted several impressive statues, including
a life-sized rendering of George Washington. The skill of workers like
Ailing was apparently a source of great pride for the citizens of Perth
Amboy. The accomplishments of the terra-cotta factories, including the
Chrysler Building, the United States Supreme Court Building, and the
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, were all chronicled by local newspapers.^^ In
20 Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
1932, reporters estimated that 10,000 people had viewed the newly-com-
pleted Perth Amboy terra-cotta pediment for the Philadelphia Museum of
Art, then on display at the Atlantic Terra-Cotta plant.^^ Even today, this
small city, which was once the leading producer of terra-cotta in the
nation, displays some of the finest and most unusual terra-cotta in the
United States. Ornaments as diverse as race cars, lobsters, and a miniature
Statue of Liberty, complete with torch, decorate local buildings.^'^ The
quantity and quality of these decorations has been attributed to the skill
and competitiveness of local craftsmen,^^ traits which apparently also led
them to experiment with gravemarkers. Perhaps, one might surmise, the
local fascination with terra-cotta contributed to the acceptance of it as a
material for gravemarkers.
It is quite possible that the terra-cotta workers made a number of
gravemarkers on their own time at the end of the day. This may have
occurred with or without the foreman's tacit approval. The skilled glass-
blowers of New Jersey's Pine Barrens are known to have produced whim-
sical pipes and canes at the end of the day. Supposedly, much of this activ-
ity was carried out after work and during breaks and came to be called
"end of the day" or "tempo" work. The products of these skilled artisans
were much sought after. ^^
Two other factors which may have influenced the decision to use terra-
cotta gravemarkers were ethnicity and economics. The influence of both
these factors on gravemarker choice in other contexts has seen substantial
study. ^'^ According to Lynn Clark, an archaeologist, ethnicity both limits
and expands consumers' choices, in either case providing them with a
range of options not available to non-ethnic populations.''^ The use of
terra-cotta gravemarkers appears to have been one of those options.
The terra-cotta gravemarkers of Middlesex County were most popular
with new immigrants and strongly reflect the ethnic diversity of the area
during the early 20th Century. Many of the terra-cotta gravemarkers are
inscribed in foreign languages such as German, Hungarian, Italian,
Russian, and Danish. Often those with English surnames list foreign
places of birth, including Tipperary, Ireland, Lambeth, England, or even
places in Hungary and Denmark. According to the 1920 census, 35% of
Perth Amboy' s population was foreign born, and 47% had at least one for-
eign-born parent.^^ The three best represented immigrant groups were
Hungarians, Russians, and Danes, and it was these same groups which
often chose terra-cotta gravemarkers.
Richard Veit 21
Many of the immigrants found work in the clay industry: Danes and
Itahans dominated the terra-cotta plants. ^^ Similarly, Hungarians provid-
ed the backbone of the region's brickworks.^° Coming to America for a
variety of economic and social reasons, these immigrants gradually
assimilated with the region's population.^^ Their assimilation, it seems
reasonable to assume, may correspond with the disappearance of terra-
cotta gravemarkers in this area.
Ethnicity and socioeconomic status are often interlinked, while status,
like ethnicity, is hard to define. According to historical archaeologists
Sherene Baugher and Robert Venables, an individual's status may depend
not only on income, property, and political and military offices, but can
also be linked to marriage, name recognition, participation in societies,
ethnicity, and one's physical appearance and behavior. ^^ These factors can
be hard to quantify. The socioeconomic status of the individuals who
chose terra-cotta gravemarkers is unknown. While some of the terra-cotta
workers, such as Nels Ailing, considered themselves well paid, many of
the new immigrants were probably quite poor.^-^ Strikes for better wages
are known to have rocked the region in the first decades of the 20th
Century.
Randall McGuire, studying Broome County, New York's cemeteries,
noted that from "the mid-1 9th Century through the first two decades of
the 20th, the Broome County cemetery clearly reflected the status and
social position of the people who were buried in it."^* In a general way the
trend seen by McGuire is also evident in this region's cemeteries. Large
sandstone - and later marble - monuments marked the graves of promi-
nent citizens of English and Dutch descent. New ethnic groups not only
lacked such ostentation but often created their own cemeteries or were
relegated to the margins of already established burying grounds. Many
rest in unmarked graves.
Linked to the question of the status of the individuals who chose terra-
cotta gravemarkers is the issue of cost. Terra-cotta could simulate stone,
could be molded into a variety of forms, decorated in vibrant colors, and
was significantly cheaper than stone. Mark Nonestied of the Middlesex
County Cultural and Heritage Commission recalled hearing of terra-cotta
gravemarkers which were made during the Depression and replaced after
World War II with stone monuments.^^ Many individuals may have ini-
tally chosen terra-cotta gravemarkers based on cost, thus linking the
markers to socioeconomic factors. Nonestied first noted the simple, num-
22 Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
bered ceramic gravemarkers used in Elmwood Cemetery in New
Brunswick, New Jersey, to mark indigent burials. These markers date
from the turn of the century.
A sizeable portion of the terra-cotta gravemarkers are located in ethnic
cemeteries. The main exception is Alpine Cemetery in Perth Amboy,
which represents the closest Perth Amboy comes to a Victorian rural
cemetery. Its 60 terra-cotta gravemarkers are, however, concentrated in
the least expensive plots, next to a block of free graves used for victims of
the 1918 influenza epidemic.^^ In many of the ethnic cemeteries, the terra-
cotta gravemarkers were only one of a variety of vernacular gravemark-
ers, which included cement, wood, and metal markers used in place of
traditional gravestones. Only infrequently do these unusual markers
appear in prestigious locations in cemeteries. To some degree, status -
both social and economic - appears to have influenced the choice of terra-
cotta gravemarkers.
In addition to reflecting ethnicity and socio-economic status, terra-
cotta gravemarkers may have represented an ideological statement. The
terra-cotta gravemarkers in the study area are not associated with any
particular ethnic group but with new immigrants in general. As such,
they may indicate a counter-hegemonic trend on the part of the people
who used them. Perhaps, one might argue, the cultural heritage of these
immigrants led them to prefer these distinctive, colorful, and conspicuous
gravemarkers.
Disappearance of the Terra-Cotta Markers
Between 1915 and 1925 terra-cotta markers reached their highpoint,
then rapidly disappeared. This is surprising since the terra-cotta compa-
nies survived the Depression and lasted until the 1960s, albeit in much
reduced form. Again, no single reason for the disappearance of terra-cotta
gravemarkers is known. However, several convergent hypotheses present
themselves. First, many of the immigrant groups who used the terra-cotta
markers had been in the region for 30 to 40 years by 1930. They may have
experienced a fair amount of assimilation through schools, work, and mil-
itary service, and chosen traditional gravestones instead of terra-cotta
gravemarkers. Adding to this is the fact that many cemeteries discour-
aged the use of unusual gravemarkers.^^ Additionally, the formation of
larger conglomerates from the original small, family-owned terra-cotta
companies may have reduced or eliminated the production of terra-cotta
Richard Veit 23
markers.^^
Another factor in the disappearance of the terra-cotta gravemarkers
may have been the reahzation that terra-cotta, if improperly installed,
could decay and was hard to repair. Finally, the 1920s were a period of rel-
ative economic prosperity. Individuals who might in earlier decades have
chosen terra-cotta gravemarkers may have now been able to afford gran-
ite or marble gravestones.
While the conclusions presented here are impressionistic, it appears
that Middlesex County's terra-cotta markers show the influence of both
socioeconomic and ethnic factors. The presence of small, unlettered mon-
uments, some of which are simply pieces of recycled architectural deco-
ration, may indicate a minimal expenditure on gravemarkers, while the
large number of ethnic groups and languages represented by the markers
shows their popularity with several ethnic populations.
Conclusions
Analyses of gravestones, like other material culture studies,^^ com-
monly focus on the form of the object. What is distinctive about the arti-
facts which have been the basis of this study, however, is not their forms
as such but rather the material from which they were made. These terra-
cotta gravemarkers mark both the graves of numerous inhabitants of the
clay region and the home of what was once the world's largest terra-cotta
works. More importantly, they document the emergence of a parallel but
counter-hegemonic gravemarking tradition which, along with wood,
cement, and metal gravemarkers, provided new immigrants and indus-
trial workers in Middlesex County with a distinctive, colorful, and
vibrant alternative to the homogenous white and gray markers selected
by the majority of the population.
NOTES
Several individuals provided valuable help in the preparation of this article. Mark
Nonestied of the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission shared his extensive
knowledge of terra-cotta gravemarkers. Vincent Alba's recollections of the terra-cotta indus-
try proved invaluable. Thanks also to Dawn Turner, who introduced me to Mr. Alba. Bonita
Grant of the Special Collections and Archives at Rutgers University's Alexander Library
helped with source material, as did the staff of the Perth Amboy Pubhc Library. Barbara
Rotundo and Laurel Gabel of the Association for Gravestone Studies shared the information
in both their personal files and those of the AGS with me. Dr. Don Yoder in the
Folklore/ Folklife Department at the University of Pennsylvania encouraged my interest in
24 Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
this topic and suggested worthwhile resources. The staff of the Danish Home for the Aged
discussed the production of DBS markers with me. Ohvia Lo, Dr. Richard Meyer, and sev-
eral anonymous reviewers provided valuable editorial guidance. Thank you to all of these
individuals and organizations. Any errors of fact or interpretation remain, or course, my
own. All photographs in this article are by the author.
1. "Federal Plant was Organized 60 Years Ago," Perth Amboy Evejiing Neivs (4 December
1948).
2. See, for example, Harriette M. Forbes, Gravestones of Early Nezv England and the Men Who
Made Them, 1653-1800 (Boston, 1927; rpt. New York, 1989); Allan I. Ludwig, Graven
Images: New England Stonecarving and Its Symbols 1650-1815 (Middletown, CT, 1966);
Dickran and Ann Tashjian, Memorials for Children of Change: The Art of Early New England
Stonecarving (Middletown, CT, 1974); James Deetz, In Small Things Forgotten: The
Archaeology of Early American Life (Garden City, NY, 1977); Emily Wasserman, Gravestone
Designs: Rubbings and Photographs from Early New York and New Jersey (New York, 1972).
3. See, for example, Edmund V. Gillon, Jr., Victorian Cemeterx/ Art (New York, 1972);
Thomas Bender, "The 'Rural' Cemetery Movement: Urban Travail and the Appeal of
Nature," in Material Life in America, 1600-1860, ed. Robert Blair St. George (Boston,
1988), 505-518; Peggy McDowell and Richard E. Meyer, The Revival Styles in American
Memorial Art (Bowling Green, OH, 1994).
4. e.g., Richard F. Welch, "The New York and New Jersey Gravestone Carving Tradition,"
Markers TV (1987): 1-54; Richard Veit, "Shadows of a Changing Culture: Middlesex
County, New Jersey Gravestones, 1687-1799," Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of New
Jersey 47(1992): 41-48.
5. For more on this theme see, in general, Richard E. Meyer, ed.. Ethnicity and the American
Cemetery (Bowling Green, OH, 1993) and, in particular, the essay found therein by
Thomas E. Graves, "Keeping Ukraine Alive Through Death: Ukrainian-American
Gravestones as Cultural Markers," 36-76.
6. Richard Veit, "Iron Gravemarkers in the New Jersey Pine Barrens," Newsletter of the
Association for Gravestone Studies 17:2 (1993): 10-12.
7. See Nicholas Curchin Vrooman and Patrice Avon Marvin, eds. Iron Spirits (Fargo, ND,
1982); Terry G. Jordan, Texas Graveyards: A Cultural Legacy (Austin, 1982).
8. E. Henry Willet and Joey Bracher, The Traditional Pottery of Alabama (Montgomery, 1983);
Jerry C. Oldshue, "Ceramic Gravestones of Northeast Mississippi and Northeast
Alabama," Newsletter of the Association for Gravestone Studies 11:2 (1987): 17; Samuel D.
Smith and Stephen T Rogers, A Survey of Historic Pottery Making in Tennessee (Nashville,
1979), 142-43; Charles G. Zug, Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina
(Chapel Hill, 1986).
9. John Michael Vlach, The Afro-American Tradition in the Decorative Arts (Cleveland, 1978;
rpt. Athens, GA, 1990).
Richard Veit 25
10. Heinrich Ries and Henry B. Kummel, The Clays and Clay Industry of New Jersey,
Geological Survey of New Jersey, vol. 4 (Trenton, 1904), 195.
11. Harry B. and Grace M. Weiss, Early Brickmaking in New Jersey (Trenton, 1966).
12. M. Lelyn Branin, The Early Makers of Handcrafted Earthenware and Stoneware in Central
and Southern New Jersei/ (Rutherford, NJ, 1988).
13. John Wall and Harold E. Pickersgill, History of Middlesex County, Neiv Jersey (New York,
1921), 271.
14. Charles De Kay "What Terra-Cotta May Do," Harpers Weekly 39 (1895): 655.
15. WiUiam C. McGinnis, History of Perth Amboy, 1651-1962 (Perth Amboy, NJ, 1962), 11.
16. Charles L. Sachs, Made on Staten Island (Richmondtown, NY, 1988).
17. W. L. Richmond, Richmond's Directory of Perth Amboy, Woodbridge, Sewaren, Fords, and
Keasbey: Middlesex County, Neiv Jersei/, 1920 (Yonkers, NY, 1920).
18. RL. McPartlan, Perth Amboy, New Jersey: Facts and Figures Concerning its Rapid Groivth
and Unequalled Advantages as a Manufacturing Center (Perth Amboy, NJ, [1910]).
19. Merion E. Rigney, Secretary to Mr. PC. Olsen, Vice President of the Federal Seaboard
Terra Cotta Corporation, to the Perth Amboy Public Library [Letter describing the oper-
ations of the Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Corporation], 30 June 1937, Perth Amboy
Public Library.
20. Gary F. Kurutz, Architectural Terra Cotta of Gladding McBean (Sausolito, CA, 1989), 10;
Malcolm M. McHose, Clay Deposits in the Woodbridge-Sayreville-Perth Amboy Area: Facts
Our Citizens Should Know (Perth Amboy NJ, 1960).
21. Heinrich Ries, Building Stones and Clay Products: A Handbook for Architects (New York,
1912).
22. Several undated [circa 1930] terra-cotta catalogs are on file at the Perth Amboy Public
Library, Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
23. Personal communication, Vincent Alba, April 9, 1994. Two of Mr. Alba's uncles were
sculptors at the Seaboard Terra Cotta Corporation. He is a senior citizen and long-time
resident of Perth Amboy.
24. Robert J. Wenke, Patterns in Prehistory: Humankind's First Three Million Years (New York,
1990), 446-47.
25. Harley J. McKee, Introduction to Early American Masonry: Stone, Brick, Mortar, and Plaster
(Washington, D.C., 1983), 54.
26 Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
26. Katherine A. Esdaile Eyiglish Church Monuments, 1510-1840 (London, 1946), 56.
27. McKee, 54.
28. Allison Kelley, Mrs. Coade's Stone (Upton-on-Severn, England, 1990), 243-45.
29. McKee, 54.
30. "American Industries: the Trenton Fire-Brick and Terra Cotta Works," Frank Leslie's
Illustrated Neivspaper (24 April 1875), 1.
31. "Terra Cotta is Popular Field for the Danes," Perth Amboy Evening News (5 May, 1932),
2.
32. "American Industries," 1.
33. Ries, 320.
34. De Kay, 655.
35. Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Company, Architectural Terra Cotta and Wall Ashlar Catalog
(New York, 1937). Brochure found in Perth Amboy Public Library.
36. "American Industries," 1.
37. Ries, 323.
38. Vincent Alba, personal communication, April 9, 1994.
39. McGinnis, 11.
40. See Graves, 36-76.
41. See Varick A. Chittenden, The Danes of Yates County: The Histori/ and Traditional Arts of
an Ethnic Community in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State (New York, 1983).
42. Staff member of the Danish Home for the Aged, Edison, NJ; personal communication,
April 2, 1994.
43. Veit, "Shadows of a Changing Culture," 41.
44. William Payne Loyd and William Dickinson Loyd, Improvements in Tombstones from
Potter's Clay. Patent No. 214-427, 10 June 1879.
45. Collins C.W. Morgan, Improvements in Terra-Cotta Grave Covers. Patent No. 132-851, 5
November 1872.
46. Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, "Cleanability: a Factor in Choice of Building Materials,"
Atlantic Terra Cotta XI (1932): 3.
Richard Veit 27
47. Davis, 480.
48. See, for instance, Michele J. Kuhn, "The Treasures of Perth Amboy: Art Legacy a Look
Away," The Home Nezvs (1 August 1993), A-1, C-L
49. "History of a Statue," Perth Ainboy Evening Neivs (22 June 1959), A-6.
50. Ibid.
51. "Federal Plant was Organized 60 Years Ago," Perth Amboy Evening Nezvs (4 October
1948); "Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Marks 70th Birthday," Perth Amboy Evetiing Nezvs
(19 April 1958).
52. "Great Crowds View Pediment," Perth Amboy Evening Nezvs (13 October 1932).
53. Kuhn, A-1.
54. Ibid.
55. See Rita Zorn Moonsammy, David Steven Cohen, and Lorraine E. Williams, eds.,
Pinelands Folklife (New Brunswick, NJ, 1987).
56. See, for example, Lynn Clark, "Gravestones: Reflectors of Fthnicity or Class?", in
Consumer Choice in Historical Archaeology, ed. Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood (New York,
1987), 383-95; Richard E. Meyer, "The Literature of Necroethnicity in America: An
Annotated Bibliography," in Ethnicity and tlie American Cemetery, ed. Richard E. Meyer
(BowHng Green, OH, 1994), 222-38; Randall H. McGuire, "Dialogues with the Dead:
Ideology and the Cemetery," in The Recovery of Meaning: Historical Archaeology in the
Eastern United States, eds. Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Jr (Washington, D.C.,
1988), 435-80.
57. Clark, 384.
58. Department of Commerce, Fourteenth Census of the United States, Taken in the Year 1920,
Vol. IX (Washington, D.C., 1923), 652.
59. "Terra Cotta is Popular Field for the Danes," 2.
60. Ruth Wolk, The History of Woodbridge, Nezv Jersey (np, 1970).
61. For more information on ethnic groups and theories of acculturation, with specific ref-
erence to New Jersey, see Paul A. Stellhorn, ed., Nezv jersey's Ethnic Heritage (Trenton,
1976); Giles R. Wright, Arrizml and Settlement in a New Place: Nezv ]ersei^ Ethnic Life Series
3 (Trenton, 1986); Alan M. Kraut, The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society,
1880-1921 (Arlington Heights, IL, 1982).
62. Baugher and Venables, 37.
63. "History of a Statue," A-6.
28 Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
64. McGuire, 451.
65. Mark Nonestied, personal communication, 1993.
66. Ibid.
67. John Matturi, "Windows in the Garden: Italian-American Memorialization and the
American Cemetery," in Ethnicity and the American Cemetery ed. Richard E. Meyer
(BowUng Green, OH, 1993), 30.
68. McGinnis, 8.
69. C. Kurt Dewhurst and Marsha MacDowell, "The Conduit Tile Buildings of Grand
Ledge, Michigan," Pioneer America 15:3 (1983): 91-103.
Richard Veit
29
APPENDIX
Cemeteries with Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
Name
Municipality
Markers
Alpine Cemetery
Perth Amboy NJ
67
St. Mary's Cemetery
Perth Amboy NJ
16
Bethel M.E. Cemetery
Staten Island, NY
8
Holy Trinity Cemetery
Woodbridge, NJ
8
Saint James Cemetery
Woodbridge, NJ
7
Hillside Cemetery
Metuchen, NJ
5
St. Stephen's Cemetery
Woodbridge, NJ
4
Cavalry Cemetery
Woodbridge, NJ
3
Our Lady of Hungary Cemetery
Woodbridge, NJ
3
St. Peter's Cemetery
Perth Amboy, NJ
3
Christ Church Cemetery
South Amboy, NJ
1
Our Lady of the Most Holy
Rosary Cemetery
Woodbridge, NJ
1
Calvary Cemetery
Sayreville, NJ
1
St. John the Baptist
Greek Catholic Cemetery
Perth Amboy, NJ
1
Total number of markers
128
This table does not include terra-cotta corner posts, uninscribed urns, or
borders.
30
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 1 Distribution of Adam and Eve scenes on
kirkyard monuments in the Scottish Lowlands
31
ADAM AND EVE SCENES ON KIRKYARDS IN THE
SCOniSH LOWLANDS: AN INTRODUCTION AND GAZEHEER
Betty Willsher
PART I: INTRODUCTION
Before the reformation in Scotland, the prestigious and the wealthy
were buried inside churches and chapels, and were commemorated on
mural monuments, chest tombs, altar tombs, and slabs. Commoners were
buried outside the church or chapel in unmarked graves. After the
Reformation, there was an edict that no further burials should take place
inside churches, so gradually the upper classes raised, over their kirkyard
family burial lairs, those same types of monuments which had previous-
ly been erected inside the churches. The grand early 17th-Century exter-
nal mural monuments in Greyfriars, Edinburgh, are examples of this. In
the 18th Century, a degree of prosperity among tenant farmers and
tradesmen in the Scottish Lowlands led to commissions for an increasing
number of such memorials for the graves of ordinary folk. Whilst the
churches were stripped of Popish emblems and ornaments, and the newly
built post-Reformation churches, with a few exceptions, were strictly
plain, the Church did not object to the kirkyard monuments being carved
with sets of emblems which promoted the new ideology.
These emblems of mortality and immortality were taken from the
emblem books which were so popular in the 17th and 18th Centuries, par-
ticularly Francis Quarles's Emblems Divine and Moral (1635) and
Hieroglyphics of the Life of Man (1638).^ The emblem books drew heavily on
Cesar Ripa's Iconographia (1603).- The source of almost every emblem in
the range may be traced back to an earlier usage in Greek, Roman, and
other cultures, but the significance was changed to suit each new religious
philosophy. The two main emblems were the winged head, taken from
ItaUan Renaissance art (but stemming from an earlier source), represent-
ing the soul of the deceased, and the death's head, the selected condensed
symbol for death. In addition, it was permissible and popular to display
emblems of the appropriate trade, and to decorate the monument with
motifs taken from Renaissance art and architecture, such as volutes, car-
touches, and pediments. The stones in the kirkyards were cut by local
masons, who were usually employed in other types of mason work: only
32 Adam and Eve Scenes
rarely, in places where demand was high, did masons specialize and serve
customers in several parishes. Carved kirkyard monuments are found in
England, Northern Ireland, New England, and in the Protestant areas of
Germany, as well as in Scotland. In other Reformed countries, such as
Switzerland and The Netherlands, the practice has been to remove or
recut old stones regularly, so few monuments of this kind have survived.
In addition to the emblems, English and Scottish masons in the 18th
Century carved biblical scenes on memorials, along with relevant texts
from the scriptures or with rhyming epitaphs. The masons very rarely
signed their work (a signature was probably in most instances not con-
sidered necessary, for the mason would be known locally), but many of
the cutters in England and New England have been identified. Such doc-
umentary research has yet to be done in Scotland, where the distinctive
style of an 18th-Century carver may nonetheless be recognized in two or
three adjacent parishes.
By far the most popular type of monument was the headstone. An
agreement between mason and customer would determine the type of
memorial - the shape, the decoration, and the emblems selected from the
range. In Scotland and New England (and in some regions of England),
the local mason used all the possible permutations in order to give each
family a unique stone. These carvings were part of a widespread tradi-
tion. At the 1978 Dublin (New Hampshire) Seminar for New England
Folklife, one of the principal themes which ran through the papers pre-
sented there was the question of whether early American gravestone art
can be construed as folk art. There were the usual associations between
crude technique and folk provenance, but Lance Mayer convincingly
argued, from his study of Connecticut Valley markers, that the carvers
were part of a larger folk tradition because they shared a vocabulary of
"plebeian" motifs used by folk and native artists everywhere, in particu-
lar 17th- and 18th-Century Europe.^
Scotland
Carved stones appear in areas where a level of prosperity in the local
population created a demand, where there was a local source for stone
which was suitable for cutting, and where there resided a mason capable
of carrying out such work. In his early 20th-century studies of kirkyard
memorials in the Scottish Lowlands, David Christison recorded 24 with
scenes of Adam and Eve carved on them."^ In the course of my own field-
Betty Willsher 33
work I have recorded an additional 34. Their distribution stretches from
Kincardineshire in the northeast through most of the southern counties
and as far southwest as Kirkcudbright (see Fig. 1). Such is the extent of the
loss of stones from our graveyards that it is likely there were once many
others. One of the most distinctive characteristics of headstone monu-
ments in Scotland is that it was usual to carve them on both faces, a prac-
tice which allowed more space for these biblical scenes. Most of the scenes
are in fact on headstones, the dates of which range from 1696 to 1799.
However, as can be seen from the map, there are certain areas where
Adam and Eve scenes do not appear. In the Lothians, where 18th-Century
stones are heavily carved, the preferred biblical scene was that of the
Sower and the Harvester ("As ye sow so shall ye reap"). In Renfrewshire,
Dunbartonshire, and Stirlingshire (excepting Polmont and Holy Rude,
Stirling), kirkyard monuments are relatively plain. In addition, in all of
these counties, as well as in Clackmannanshire, Kinross, and west Fife,
there was a tradition from the 17th Century of setting up stones to identi-
fy lairs which had been bought. Such "marker" stones are often plain,
with only initials and dates, and bearing such legends as "Holds three
lairs" and "This is the property of ." Among them may be found a
minority of "monument" stones, usually set up to signify people of
importance. Travelling from west to east, the ratio of "monument" to
"marker" increases, as does the incidence of carvings. A "marker" was set
up when the lairs were purchased: a "monument," on the other hand, was
set up after the death of a family member, when full information was
inscribed and the stone embellished with carvings.
Why was the subject of the Fall of Man so popular in Scotland? It is
certainly in line with the other messages which the graveyard carvings
convey. Memento Mori is the most usual inscription. Epitaphs, emblems,
and scenes all warn that death is inevitable, but for those who seek grace,
that indestructible part of man, the soul, may attain a place in Heaven.
Religious fervour was stronger in 17th- and 18th-Century Scotland than
in England, and great stress was laid upon sin, death, and the
Resurrection. So it is not surprising that there were constant reminders of
original sin, of the Temptation by the Devil, of the fall of Adam, and of the
expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. God did not intend that there
should be death: death and suffering were brought about through Adam's
fall. A typical epitaph runs:
34
Adam and Eve Scenes
•«^i<3|»-«
Fig. 2 Detail of the Farnell Pictish stone, Montrose Museum
Betty Willsher
35
By Adam's sin death enter'd in
All mankind to devour
Who to this day will stay alway
Be subject to the power.
There is reference to Christ as "the second Adam": through His death he
set man free, giving to him the choice of salvation. The portrayals of
Adam and Eve in Paradise, of the Temptation and the Fall, and of the
Expulsion are reminders and warnings. The winged souls on these stones
are messages of hope. In addition, the scene carved may have been a bul-
wark to strengthen faith which was wavering in the face of the loss of
loved ones, particularly children. The scene was a reminder that death
was not the fault of God. Dates of death on a third of the stones are inde-
cipherable: of the dated ones, 19 were erected in memory of children - a
significant proportion.
Christison refers to earlier carvings of such stones - for example on a
Celtic cross on lona and on the Pictish stone (Fig. 2) which was removed
from its site at Farnell, Angus, and set up in Montrose Museum.'' The
stone has recently been repaired and cleaned, allowing for a clearer
Fig. 3 Detail of chest in Rosslyn Chapel, Midlothian
36 Adam and Eve Scenes
inspection of its details. Two dumpy human figures standing on either
side of the tree may have served as models centuries later, but the two
huge serpents making a frame to the picture were not copied. From a
much later date, Christison provides an illustration of the ceiling of the
Skelmorlie Aisle, built and painted for Lord Montgomery of Skelmorlie in
1636-38, found in the old church at Largs.^ Although many carvings and
paintings in churches were effaced after the Reformation, some may have
survived long enough for their iconography to be copied, and may have
contained scenes of the Temptation and Fall. There were other examples
of the familiar scene readily to hand - in illustrated bibles and religious
books, in school primers, in chapbooks, on funeral broadsheets, on pot-
tery, and on furniture (Fig. 3 illustrates the scene on a Flemish bog-oak
chest in Rosslyn Chapel). Traditionally, Adam stood left of the tree (to the
onlooker) and Eve on the right (i.e.. Eve was on Adam's left). The serpent
appeared coiled up the tree trunk, emerging with its head looking down
at Eve. Perhaps from diffidence, the mason usually carved fig-leaf aprons
for the couple, although if the scene is of the Temptation before Adam ate
of the apple, this is, strictly speaking, anachronistic.
England
In England, churchyard memorials with scenes of Adam and Eve were
identified some decades ago by Frederick Burgess.^ They were carved by
two late ISth-Century schools of masons, one based in Suffolk, Kent, and
Essex, the other in the West Midlands, in villages around Evesham. These
stones were signed, as was more often the case in England at the turn of
the 18th Century. Three biblical subjects appear to be common to both
England and Scotland: The Sacrifice of Isaac, the Fall and the Redemption,
and the Expulsion from Paradise. The latter two, which fall into the gen-
eral category of Adam and Eve scenes, are found on gravestones at South
Littleton (Worcs., 1804), Child's Wickham (Glos.), and at Church Langton
(Leics., 1777).^ The Church Langton scene shows Adam and Eve, dressed
in leafy skirts, standing on either side of the tree with the serpent coiled
round it. Adam stands slightly higher than Eve and is on the left of the
tree as we look at it. Below a figure of the risen Christ, an angel admon-
ishes them while Death directs his dart at Adam. Adam and Eve face
away from us, but their heads are turned to look at the serpent. The scene,
charmingly set in flowing arabesques, is very small and at the top centre
of a tall stone. Burgess describes the carvings of this school of masons as
Betty Willsher
37
"sumptuous": indeed, their work seems quite sophisticated compared
with that found in Adam and Eve scenes on Scottish stones, where the
cutters were parish masons (or may even have worked in some other
trade, such as that of wright).
North America
Three scenes on memorial stones in North America, which have been
described and illustrated by Deborah Trask, closely resemble the work of
Scottish masons.'' Exemplifying the strength of this tradition of carving,
they are as follows:
(1) St. Paul's Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Mary (d. 1775) and Freke (d.
1796) Bulkeley, head panel of tablestone (Fig.4). This depicts Adam and
Eve on either side of the tree, but here Eve is standing on the left (to the
onlooker). The two are rather alike in appearance, with short bob hair
styles and wearing what resemble swimming trunks. The couple face for-
ward, with their feet turned inward towards each other. Adam holds an
Fig. 4 Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1775/1796, Mary and Freke Bulkeley
38
Adam and Eve Scenes
apple in each hand: Eve has one in her right hand, and seems to be taking
another from the serpent, which is in exactly the same position as on most
of the Scottish stones. Trask reproduces an illustration - with its accom-
panying verse, "In Adam's Fall / We sinned all" - from The Child's Guide
(printed in London in 1725) which presents an Adam and Eve scene sim-
ilar to that on the Bulkeley stone. ^°
(2) Catholic Burying Ground, Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia
(now in the collection of the Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax): No name (c. 1795),
end panel of tombstone (Fig. 5). This is surely by the same cutter as the
Bulkeley stone, but here Eve is on our right, the usual stance in Scotland.
With her right hand she takes an apple from the serpent. Here Eve has
long hair, though both she and Adam wear apparel which closely resem-
bles that of their counterparts on the previous example.
(3) East Burial Ground, Bristol, Rhode Island: Sarah Swan (d. 1767), tym-
panum of gravestone (Fig. 6). Both figures are clad in short leafy aprons.
Again Eve is on the left (to the onlooker) and is about to take an apple
Fig. 5 Fragment of tombstone. Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax
Betty Willsher
39
from the serpent, which is hanging downwards round the trunk, as at
Biggar in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Inscribed to the left and right of this
scene are the words "For as in Adam all die, even / so in Christ shall all
be made alive." The work has been attributed to the carver Stephen
Hartshorn."
A Cause for Concern
As in America, The Adam and Eve scenes in Scottish kirkyards form a
distinctive collection of folk art sculpture, reflecting the religious philoso-
phies and social history of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Moreover, these
stones are only a part of the valuable art collection which survives in the
graveyards of every parish. The importance of churchyard memorials has
been recognized in those areas of the United States where such mason
work is to be found. There, the Association for Gravestone Studies has
been the inspiration and guide to local and statewide groups to record
graveyards and to put them in order, resetting loose and tilted stones and
Bock
V wiWHaSF Ji^tilJilu.^ ImL. sssbw? js.^BBHK fc-^ tsonv tmitmm ■■iiii'i'^ ■ I- c,\& tniw Ish
Fig. 6 Bristol, Rhode Island, 1767, Sarah Swan
40 Adam and Eve Scenes
recovering those which have been removed. The Association also acts as
a pressure group to bring about the introduction of state laws which make
encroachment on cemeteries illegal and which impose severe penalties on
vandalism and the theft of stones. Historians and art historians, among
others, have carried out a considerable amount of research. In Scotland,
various local societies have made complete recordings of graveyards.
Even so, a local authority, despite objections, recently granted permission
for an old churchyard (in Paisley) to be turned into a car park. The move
to turn churchyards into "gardens" is also a threatening one. Builders are
interested in developing neglected city cemeteries in which may be found
some fine work by 19th-century sculptors.
Staring us in the face is the fact that most of these stones have a short
future, as the carvings and inscriptions are flaking. Some of the stones
recorded by Christison (or by earlier researchers) have disappeared. There
is constant loss. Through an annual grant from the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland, and at the request of The Royal Commission on the Ancient
and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), I, along with Doreen
Hunter and Jess Nelson, have made sample records of the best carved
stones in each parish in the Lowlands (excepting Aberdeenshire and
Renfrewshire). The photographs are held in the National Monuments
Record of Scotland.
In 1901, David Christison, then Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland, strongly recommended that the unique Faith, Hope, and
Charity stone in Greyfriars, Perth, be taken into a museum. Ninety years
on, all plans have been agreed upon to set up a small museum, opening
onto the graveyard, to contain that special stone and a representative sam-
ple of several others. It will be done as soon as money is available. The
same measure could be taken in other graveyards, using an adapted
watch-house or mort-house, or a shed, as at Abdie, Fife. A simpler method
to protect a stone in situ would be to erect a small roof over the top of it, as
rain followed by frost causes flaking. Where stones lie against the kirkyard
dyke, and the carvings on the face are thus hidden, it might be considered
feasible to select one or two for preservation in the church porch, in the
church itself, or in the local museum. In the United States, an increasing
number of fibre-glass models are being made for museums, or to stand in
place of the original stone which goes to the local museum. Funds for this
are raised by local groups. Scotland should take note. Our District
Councils should be made aware of the significance of gravestones, and
Betty Willsher
41
they should not agree to their removal from graveyards. If local societies
can record churchyard monuments, at least there will be data for further
research and for the management of this part of our heritage.
PART II: GAZETTEER
There follow descriptions, and in many instances illustrations, of
Adam and Eve stones in the Scottish Lowlands, quoting as appropriate
from Christison. The stones are grouped geographically, broadly from
northeast to southwest, and, where convenient, chronologically. In some
cases where stones have deteriorated to the point where photography
yields inadequate detail, drawings have been made by Rex Russell. I have
been unable to find the stones reported at Farnell, Angus, at Tarbolton
and Dunlop in Ayrshire, and at Dalbeattie (Kirkpatrick-Juxta). In stones
for more than one person, the date given is that of the first burial listed.
Dun and Tannadice (Angus); Cargill (Perthshire)
Dun (1): 1696, James Erskine, aged 28, and Agnes Burn, aged 25. On the
long panel of a tablestone are incised the scene of the Sacrifice of Isaac
Fig. 7 Dun, Angus, 1699, Robert Paterson
42
Adam and Eve Scenes
accompanying that of the Fall of Man. Adam and Eve stand under a tree
which has thin, stick-like branches bearing apples (not unlike the tree seen
in Fig. 2). They face outward in rigid stances, and an active serpent pre-
sents an apple to Eve. This scene is half hidden, and the carving is worn.
Dim (2): 1699, Robert Paterson, aged 48, and his wife, Margaret (Fig. 7).
On the end panel of a chest tomb we have a close-knit, symmetrical tree
with roots. Eve is passing an apple to Adam's outstretched hand, while
each has placed the outer hand on the stomach. It is interesting that
masons often carve the hands thus - as if to indicate (as in a comic strip)
the anticipated relish. The Dun carvings constitute two of the three earli-
est recorded Adam and Eve stones.
Tannadice: 1715, no name (Fig. 8). This stone, now built into the wall of a
house near the churchyard, has been reused. It bears the inscription "AS IN
ADAM'S FALL WE SINNED ALL" and the date 1715. The mason may have
been the cutter of Dun (2), or may have been influenced by that depiction.
Fig. 8 Tannandice, Angus, 1715
Betty Willsher
43
Cargill: no date, no name (Fig. 9). This is a loose panel lying on the ground
(there is also a panel with a carving depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac). The
rendering bears some similarity to the Paterson scene at Dun, though Eve
has long hair.
Logie-Pert and Stracathro (Angus); Fettercairn (Kincardineshire)
Logie-Pert (1): 1742, John Prestack, aged 72, and Margaret Scott, aged 56
Fig. 9 Cargill, Perthshire
44
Adam and Eve Scenes
(Fig. 10). Christison notes:
As if to typify the readiness of Adam to accept the
fatal gift, one arm with open palm is stretched
towards Eve. A rose springs from Eve's right and Adam's
left ankle, and on the outer side of each figure a
conventional but elegantly foliaged single-stemmed rose
tree with a large flower at the top completes the design.'^
The roses are significant: they stand for Perfection, and therefore for
Paradise. The mason who carved all the stones in this group, and many
others in the area, embellished his scenes with roses, often a single rose or
a lily springing from a plant pot. The figures on his stones are delightful
- small-bodied with short legs and very square shoulders, large-eyed, and
with neat hair in a rope, coil, or long or short bob. At the top of the legs,
a curved line, like the bottom of a vest, avoids embarrassing details.
Logie-Pert (2): no date, no name. This tablestone support (loose) was not
seen by us in the field, though Christison reports that:
Fig. 10 Logie-Pert, Angus, 1742, John Prestack
Betty Willsher
45
The serpent descends the tree but with no apple in its
mouth, and our first parents stand with hands clasped
in front as if still able to resist the tempter's wily
tongue. Above Eve ... is inscribed Homo Damnavit.'-^
Adam and Eve have similar hairstyles, and their feet are turned inward to
the tree.
Logie-Pert (3): 1743, Anna Annandal, aged 29 (Fig. 11). Christison summa-
rizes the scene as follows: "Adam and Eve in primitive innocence, appear
to be walking in the Garden of Eden."^"* This may well be the monument
to the wife of the cutter of these five stones, i.e., James Annandal, who
died in 1754 at the age of 65. The shield on the other side of this, their fam-
ily stone, carries the mason's tools of trade. As seen on this side, identical
square-shouldered figures are clad in bikini-like pants. Each rests one
hand on the stomach and holds up a rose in the other hand. A huge lily
growing in a pot is placed in the centre of the scene.
Stracathro: 1730, Margaret Will, aged 59 (Fig. 12). This stone was described
and illustrated early in this century: even then it was in poor condition
and mended by a metal clamp. ^^^ Here we meet the wide-eyed gaze of
Fig. 11 Logie-Pert, Angus, 1743, Anna Annandal
46
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 12 Stracathro, Angus, 1730, Margaret Will
familiar figures resembling those at Logie-Pert.
Fettercairn: 1737, Margaret Dickie, aged 75, and three infant children (Fig.
13). As Christison points out, the resemblance to the Prestack stone,
Logie-Pert (1), is indeed striking.'^ Consider, for example, the trees: at the
end of each bough are two leaves with an apple between, looking like a
sycamore fruit. Also note the roses springing from ankles of Adam and
Eve. Beneath is the inscription:
ADAM AND EVE BY EATING THE FORBIDDEN TREE
BROUGHT ALL MANKIND TO SIN AND MISERY.
Dundurn [near Comrie], Clunie, and Methven (Perthshire)
Dmidurn Burial Ground, Comrie: 1729, Cathrine Dewar. Under the spread-
ing wings of a large soul effigy, Adam and Eve, hand in hand, walk in the
Garden of Eden. Adam is on the left (facing): he has short bobbed hair,
while Eve has long hair. They are clad in very short leafy aprons. Each
grasps a lily, and two roses are carved between them. The east face of the
stone bears a tree, possibly the Tree of Life.
Betty Willsher
47
oraitNDS ON Ej^sth kifrain from tears
"vtrra PLEASURES j«w we aie elest
IN RICHES TREE FROM 0«E3 ANC FEARS
TO EVERLASTING REST
O U S BREATHLESSODKPS THONPV YOU St f
ALL COVERTD OERVITH BUST
S HALL L I V e: AM) CKOWVU. WITH CLOKY BI
AND SEALl MIIGN-VTTH THE JUST
«.-».J^Sc-~^
HERE L>fS MARGARET DICKIE IK
TIME: SPOUSE TO JAMES LAW." m
CHAPELTOWI OF ARNHAL :VHOiYED
MAY THE 28 1737 AGED 75 YEARS
AMD THOSE HER CHILCBEM ROEEET)'-<C
JAMET JSOBEL LAAfc'SVHODYEI.IHmmNOJ
Fig. 13 Fettercaim, Kincardineshire, 1737,
Margaret Dickie (after Christison)
Clunie: 1742, James Dog, aged 73. This stone is so worn that it is impossi-
ble to distinguish more than the usual format of tree, figures, and serpent.
Methven: 1748, John Watt's young children (Fig. 14). The mason, John
Watt, who may have cut the stone, stands above the scene wearing his
mason's apron; his tools, with freemason emblems, are displayed in the
shield. The style of the carving does not match with any of the other
scenes. The figures, wearing short pants, are dumpy, and the heads seem
to be fixed to the bodies with no necks. The tree, with long thin branches
and tiny apples, is not unlike that seen on the Erskine stone (Dun 1).
While the serpent proffers the apple temptingly, Adam and Eve seem to
be doubtful and pondering, each with hand to chin. As often occurs, the
scene is set so that the figures and tree stand on a ledge. Here we find the
only epitaph which places the blame directly on Eve:
All.ye people .that.pas.by
on.thes.ston.youl.cast.your.ey
This.was.the way. that sin. began
woman.she.beckoned .unto.man
48
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 14 Methven, Perthshire, 1748, children of John Watt
Collace, St. Martin, and Logiealmond (Perthshire); Lundie (Angus)
Collace: 1742, John Gardner, aged 66. On a tablestone panel, the figures of
Adam and Eve face inward, in the same position as at St. Martin (see
below), and may represent the work of the same cutter.
Betty Willsher
49
St. Martin: 1750, Janet Ritchy, aged 20, spouse to James Mitchell, and their
children who died young (Fig. 15). This rendering is different from any so
far described. The figures are presented sideways and facing inward to
the tree and to each other: each places a hand over the private parts. But
their faces are turned towards us and wear guilty, anxious expressions.
The serpent holds an apple immediately above Eve's head. The open
books are inscribed (in Latin): "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive." The scroll below bears the words Fate Manent
Omnes.
Logiealmond: 1764, James Nockel, age not decipherable (Fig. 16). The
mason here seems to have used the St. Martin scene as a model, but being
less skilled the carving is clumsy, albeit striking. With an inspiration of
great originality, he has made the shape of the tree long and thin and
undulating, with the boughs above Eve terminating in a serpent's head.
The scroll is inscribed with the familiar Memento Mori.
Lundie: 1759, the five Ritchie children (Fig. 17). This resembles the St.
Fig. 15 St. Martin, Perthshire, 1750, Janet Ritchy (Mitchell)
50
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 16 Logiealmond, Perthshire, 1764, James Nockel
Betty Willsher
51
Martin carving in that the figures face inward. Adam holds an apple, and
Eve stretches out a large greedy hand to the serpent, which has an apple
in its mouth. Although the figures are positioned sideways, they are pro-
Fig. 17 Lundie, Angus, 1759, Ritchie children
52
Adam and Eve Scenes
vided with covering leaves which are the size of fig leaves (many of the
aprons in other scenes look as if they are made with an apple tree leaf or
anything but the usual shape of the fig leaf). The most interesting feature
here is that the serpent's tail ends in a dart of death. The tree is fuller and
more graceful than that found on the St. Martin stone. The caption reads:
"The serpent beguiled me and I did eat." On the reverse side of this stone
is a carving of the Sacrifice of Isaac - the only headstone known to carry
both scenes.
Little Dunkeld and Logierait (Perthshire)
Little Dunkeld (1): 1744, John Burry, aged "about 60" (Fig. 18). Christison
Fig. 18 Little Dunkeld, Perthshire, 1744, John Burry
Betty Willsher
53
describes the stone as depicting "Eve holding an apple just received from
the serpent, and Adam holding out his hand as if willing to take anoth-
er." ^^ A new feature is the very long aprons (or skirts) worn by Adam and
Eve.
Little Dimkeld (2): 1762, John Campbell, aged 35 (Fig. 19). According to
Christison:
The subject is treated in a totally different manner
from those formerly described. [There is] a 'Memento
Mori' ribbon, above the middle of which Eve, clothed
in an apron and a kind of mantle, is sitting in the
Fig. 19 Little Dunkeld, Perthshire, 1762, John Campbell
54 Adam and Eve Scenes
background under a tree, and points to Adam, who, also
wearing an apron, stands forward with one hand on his
stomach and the other stretched towards the tree. Between
them, and in front of Eve, the serpent crawls along the
ground towards the tree. The attitude suggests that Eve
is asking the serpent to fetch an apple for Adam, who is
quite ready to receive it.'^
The Burry stone was reported to Christison as being at Dunkeld, and the
Campbell stone as at Birnam. The two actually stand side by side in the
churchyard of Little Dunkeld, which is at Birnam. It seems strange that
someone would report one without the other - or were the stones at that
time not sited as now?^^ As Christison remarks, the treatment of the
Campbell stone is "grotesque," but it is amusingly in line with children's
drawings, particularly in one feature: the boughs of the tree spring from
the same place at the top of the trunk, as if they were twigs in a deep vase.
Some features have been copied from the Burry stone - the exceptionally
long leaf aprons, Adam's stance (except that the hands are reversed), and
the form of leaves on the tree. Both stones also feature a full-faced skull.
Logierait (1): 1769, John McLaren, aged 22 (Fig. 20). This small stone pro-
vides a scene similar to that found on the Burry stone, but is embellished
with flowers and angels, and the tree is fuller and more artistic. On the
reverse face there is a small head portrait in an oval frame, just as may be
found on the Burry stone, and the lettering seems to be by the same hand.
Logierait (2): 1784, Margaret Connacher, aged 56 (Fig. 21). In Christison's
words:
The figures stand within an archway, and on the arch
is inscribed 'THE SERPENT DECEIVED EVE.' The serpent
is coiled round the tree, on either side of which stand
Adam and Eve, wearing aprons of fig-leaves, and Eve
displaying an apple in her hand.^*^
Christison gives the salient features of all the stones in this group. The tree
is alike in each instance - small, compact, and composed of leaves, with
six to nine symmetrically placed apples. In keeping with the tradition of
mason work, there are slight variations from scene to scene. The objective
in the customer-mason agreement was to produce a unique memorial for
Betty Willsher
55
each family, while using a set range of subject matter. This was accom-
plished by playing on permutations. Thus it is very rare to find two stones
which are identical (except in central Scotland). This particular mason
usually gives us figures with neat hair styles (rope band style, long or
short bobs), broad foreheads, and slightly pointed chins. Adam and Eve
face forward, but there are differences in the positions of their feet. The
captions on the arches vary slightly. The Connacher stone was recently
accidentally broken, but was skillfully restored and set up facing north
and south. The cleaning has revealed that Eve has been given long hair by
mmsm
:^i
V-
r^
•^ V'
Ok^'
*i..
i:> \
*v
~-4
Fig. 20 Logierait, Perthshire, 1769, John McLaren
56
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 21 Logierait, Perthshire, 1784, Margaret Connacher
Betty Willsher
57
Fig. 22 Logierait, Perthshire, 1781, Margaret McLaren and Ann Steuart
58
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 23 Logierait, Perthshire, 1784, mother of William Husband
Betty Willsher
59
a shock of incised lines. Was this, one might ask, added by the cutter at
the request of the customer, and after the completion? One can imagine an
argument, for the addition is not in keeping with the style of carving.
Logierait (3): 1781, Margaret McLaren and Ann Steuart, first and second
wives of Peter McFarland (Fig. 22). Presumably, Margaret died young
(Ann died at the age of 28). The death of yet a third wife was added later.
Here the figures are cut short at the waist, as the scene is found at the bot-
tom of the stone. The inscription reads "The Serpent Beguiled Eve."
Logierait (4): 1784, William Husband's mother (no age given) and two
young children (Fig. 23). This carving seems obviously by the same hand.
Dowally and Lagganallachy (Perthshire)
Dowalli/: 1782, John and James (aged 26), sons of William Douglas (Fig.
24). This resembles the Connacher stone closely and has the same caption,
though with a spelling mistake.
Lagganallachy: 1764, George Black, aged 73 (Fig. 25). The tree here is simi-
Fig. 24 Dowally, Perthshire, 1782, John and James Douglas
60
Adam and Eve Scenes
lar, but the skull in the row of death emblems is not the same type as on
the stones above, which bear a very distinctive profile skull with rimmed
eye sockets and a cranial line.
Fig. 25 Lagganallachy, Perthshire, 1764, George Black
Betty Willsher
61
Greyfriars Perth, Kinfauns, St. Madoes, and Caputh (Perthshire)
Grey friars Perth: 1782, John Cameron and Janet McLaren, the parents of
Daniel Cameron, gardener (Fig. 26). The unusual feature here is that the
tree springs from a globe of the world, on which are inscribed the usual
Fig. 26 Greyfriars Perth, Perthshire, 1782,
John Cameron and Janet McLaren
62
Adam and Eve Scenes
tools of the gardener - spade, rake, measuring reel - and something not
seen elsewhere, two marker flags. The Adam and Eve figures are attrac-
tive, and the tree and serpent well formed. The monument is of red sand-
stone and, standing under a tree, is deteriorating rapidly.
Kinfauns: 1782, the parents of James Morrison, gardener. Here we have
two almost identical stones, cut by the same mason.
St. Madoes: 1785, Gilbert Layell, aged 55 (Fig. 27). Although in the parish
adjacent to Kinfauns, this probably represents the work of a mason who
cut his own family stone at Kinnaird. Both are of red sandstone, and each
features an identical depiction of Father Time. Here at St. Madoes, how-
ever, he sits on top of the oval frame, which holds the Adam and Eve
scene. The tree is composed of a staggering array of very small apples,
and, parting the boughs, one sees an angel of a very primitive cut.
Caputh: 1809, David Robertson's young children. Here there is simply a
Fig. 27 St. Madoes, Perthshire, 1785, Gilbert Layell
Betty Willsher 63
carving of the tree with apples and the snake coiled around it, while
underneath is a large-winged soul effigy.
Falkirk, Polmont, and Campsie (Stirlingshire)
Falkirk: 1750, Christian Lauder. Christison summarizes the scene thusly:
Eve receiving an apple from the serpent in the tree,
and apparently handing another across its stem to Adam.
They both wear girdles of fig leaves. The roots of the
tree spring from a thigh bone.^'
This a superior and pleasing carving. The tools of Christian Lauder's hus-
band, a gardener, are depicted in the side panels and under the scene of
the Fall of Man. The stone disappeared from Falkirk, either before the
clearance of the graveyard or at that time. Many of the stones from this
site were used for bottoming at Polmont.
Polmont (1): 1796, IS IG (Fig. 28). This stone is loose and is propped up
against the north kirkyard dyke beyond the church. It is not possible to
see the inscription face further than the date 1796. This surely must be
the work of the cutter of the 1750 Christian Lauder stone (see above), but
it is an unusually long date gap. The design of the face has been varied,
so that the roses and tools are in different positions, but all the ingredi-
ents and the style of presentation tally. It is possible that this stone was
cut between 1750 and 1775 and not actually used until 1796. There is a
splendid array of carved stones at Polmont, and it may be that the three
gardeners' stones were the work of Robert Hart, who erected a monu-
ment to his young children in 1766 and died in 1775. This particular
monument has Adam and Eve supporters clad in leafy sashes which end
in large fronds.
Polmont (2): 1754, TS EC, and a revised inscription (Fig. 29). It was cus-
tomary to take over a stone and carve a revised date and inscription.
Fortunately, the original date was left in this case. This stone represents
the third of the group. All bear the inscription "Solomon in all his Glory
was not arrayed like one of these."
Campsie (1): 1799, CC AMcF. On the main panel of this small stone a book
is set over a winged soul effigy: on either side are two dumpy figures with
64
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 28 Polmont, Stirlingshire, 1796, IS IG
Betty Willsher
65
leaf aprons, outer hands placed on stomachs and inner hands touching
the tips of the soul's wings. On the open book is inscribed "GEN. 3.8 &
JOB 2.26."
Campsie (2): 1799, GC AMcF (Fig. 30). This is a variation of the previous
example, with a different soul effigy, striated pilasters, crossbones, and
skull. To mark the second family, another stone was set up, this being a
feature of Stirlingshire graveyards.
Fig. 29 Polmont, Stirlingshire, 1754, TS EC
66
Adam and Eve Scenes
yj^gpBfc
Fig. 30 Campsie, Stirlingshire, 1799, GC AMcF
Betty Willsher
67
Kilchousland (Argyllshire)
Kilchouslartd: 1720 (Fig. 31). This stone was reported by Robert Rodgers in
1983.^^ Adam and Eve are depicted as if cUmbing in the boughs of trees -
an extraordinary and a very pleasing picture, perhaps meant to represent
their freedom in Paradise.
Fig. 31 Kilchousland, Argyllshire, 1720
68
Adam and Eve Scenes
Biggar and Hamilton (Lanarkshire); Uphall (West Lothian); Lyne
(Peebleshire)
Biggar: 1713, Bertram, aged 28 (Fig. 32). According to Christison:
The treatment . . . has the peculiarity that Eve is
nude while Adam wears a loincloth, . . . and that the
apples immediately above their heads take the form of
skulls.23
In my photograph it looks as though Eve has a drape by her left leg. She
holds her left hand in a concealing position. The appearance of skulls and
Fig. 32 Biggar, Lanarkshire, 1713, Bertram
Betty Willsher
69
doves is a feature of scenes found on stones in Kirkcudbright and
Ayrshire. The tree is composed entirely of large apples and bananas. Both
Adam and Eve have long hair, and the serpent is in a new position: apple
in mouth, it hangs upside down on the tree trunk. Gazing ahead. Eve
rather furtively holds her right hand ready at her side.
Hamilton: 1717, James Telfer. A report by John Traynor (Ardrossan) notes
that:
The stone is about 20 in. (0.5 m) high with ADAM and
EVE carved above the figures themselves. As you face
the stone both figures (Eve virtually obliterated apart
from the head) are to the right of the tree.
Fig. 33 Uphall, West Lothian, 1733, James Reid
70
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 34 Lyne, Peebleshire, 1712, Janet Veitch
Betty Willsher 71
Uphall: 1733, James Reid, aged 49, tablestone end panel (Fig. 33). In
describing the tree found on this stone, Christison remarks that:
It is remarkable for the extraordinary load of large
apples. Both figures have cloaks or drapes: again Eve
takes the apple from the snake, and Adam stretches out
a greedy hand.'*
The drapes here resemble sashes.
Lyne: 1712, Janet Veitch, aged 16 (Fig. 34). According to Christison:
The treatment of Eve is exceptional, as she faces the
tree and seems to stretch her left hand towards the
serpent which seems to be licking it, while she takes a
huge apple bigger than her head from the tree with her
right. Both she and Adam wear skirts or aprons, and
her flowing hair is elaborately dressed.'^
This small scene is at the top of the panel, and a transparent covering has
been utilized to protect it: the carving is in excellent condition. The accom-
panying text reads:
LIFE IS THE ROAD TO DEATH
AND DEATH HEAVEN'S GATE MUST BE,
HEAVEN IS THE THRONE OF CHRIST
AND CHRIST IS LEFT TO ME.
Bowden (Roxburgshire); Dryburgh Abbey (Berwickshire)
Bowden: 1697, Basil Bonitone, in the hollow of a pediment of a tablestone.
Alan Reid has described this tiny carving, noting that the figures are 4/4 in.
(113 mm) high, the breadth of the grouping is AVe in. (117 mm), and the tree
is bVi in. (166 mm) high.^'' This is a compact tree with a mass of apples.
Adam leans forward and is turned towards Eve, an arm outstretched. Eve
(rather strangely) has both her hands lifted to her left.
Dryburg Abbey Graveyard: 1745, William Pringle, aged 69, and Agnes
Guldilock, aged 75 (Fig. 35). Christison comments:
This example is more artistic, the figures being well
proportioned and the tree more like a tree. Eve has
her hand on her head as if in doubt.^^
72
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 35 Dryburgh Abbey, Berwickshire, 1745,
William Pringle and Agnes Guldilock
Betty WiUsher
73
Fig. 36 Straiton, Ayrshire, 1705, John and Agnes Mure
74
Adam and Eve Scenes
Fig. 37 Kells, Kirkcudbright, 1706, McNaught children
Betty Willsher 75
The frame of Jacobean scrollwork, the styhzed leaves, and a rose above
help to make this an elegant scene. This is one of the rare occasions when
Adam and Eve are naked yet face forward. The stone is loose and has
been taken into the Abbey ruins for protection.
Straiton (Ayrshire); Kells and Kirkandrews (Kirkcudbright)
Straiton: 1705, John and Agnes Mure and their children (Fig. 36). The top
part of the stone bears a shield with flowing sprigs of greenery above and
on either side. The shield seems to sit on top of a very small tree, out of
which pokes the small head of a serpent. Adam and Eve's hands meet
over the top of the tree as she gives him the apple. Each rests outer hand
on hip.
At Kells in Kirkcudbright there are four early stones with similar depic-
tions of the Fall, all by the same mason who cut the Mure stone at Straiton
in Ayrshire. The characteristics are pleasingly plump-limbed childish fig-
ures who wear girdles of leaves. Eve with flowing hair, Adam with thick
parted locks. The tree is composed of stubby boughs bearing leaves and
small apples. In the trees there are carvings of the skull and the dove. The
serpent has a small undifferentiated head and long sinuous coils.
Kells (1): 1706, the McNaught children (Fig. 37). This portrayal is similar
to that in the Straiton scene, though some differences are apparent. The
positioning of hands, arms, and even feet are altered, and in the Kells
scene Adam and Eve are depicted as standing on bones.
Kells (2): 1707, Agnes Herese and nine infant children (Fig. 38). On this
stone, which is in quite good condition, a dove surmounts the tree, and a
large skull, turned inwards and sideways, looms over Eve's head. Adam
hangs on to a bough as if to hold himself back from sin.
Kells (3): 1718, Annable Chambers. This is almost the same as the Herese
scene, but the tympanum is more steeply domed, the skull has been
inserted between Eve's body and the tree trunk (instead of above her),
and on Adam's left side is a bone. The stone is broken in three places.
Kells (4): 1702, Margaret Jardine and two children (Fig. 39). On this small
stone by the same cutter we find a very truncated version of the Fall: aside
76
Adam and Eve Scenes
from secondary iconography, the only references to the Adam and Eve
scenario are the apple tree with the serpent coiled about it.
Kirkandrews: 1790, the McMonies children (Fig. 40). This stone is obscured:
it is difficult to distinguish Resurrection scenes (in which the dead rise
naked from the grave) from those which portray Adam and Eve without
Fig. 38 Kells, Kirkcudbright, 1707, Agnes Herese
Betty Willsher
77
apple tree and serpent. Here (and at Alva Old, Clackmannan, on a slab
dated 1700) the two figures cover their private parts as if ashamed. It is
possible that the one at Alva is intended to be Adam and Eve, but the
Kirkandrews example is so similar to two other scenes on headstones at
Borgue and at St. Johns Dairy, Kirkcudbright - both Resurrection scenes -
that it leads one to suspect that this is the intent of the depiction here. The
marked difference in heights, as well as the fact that the taller figure
Fig. 39 Kells, Kirkcudbright, 1702, Margaret Jardine
78
Adam and Eve Scenes
stands upon a skull and the other upon a coffin, point to their represent-
ing William McMonies, who died 25 March 1790, aged five years, and his
sister Mary, aged one year, who died two days later.
Tundergarth, St. Mungo, Kirkconnel, Repentance, and Hoddam
(Dumfriesshire)
Tundergarth: 1711, James Johnston, aged 39 (Fig. 41). This very tiny scene
Fig. 40 Kirkandrews, Kirkcudbright, 1790, McMonies children
Betty Willsher
79
at the bottom of the stone face presents an aln^ost token tree: huge leaves
sprout from a centre and alternate with apples. Adam and Eve hold their
outside hands behind their backs, their inner hands stretching towards
the tree and each other.
St. Mimgo: 1737, John Bell, aged 71 (Fig. 42). The Fall scene, depicted on
the lower portion of the stone, is in the same style as seen on the
Tundergarth example: here we also find a tiny tree, while the snake seems
to be delivering another apple into Eve's hand. The figures wear small
drooping pants. The serpent is coiled round the base of the tree, its head
at the level of Eve's waist, and is turned towards her. An inscription
beneath reads:
HERE STAND ADAM & / EVE TREE AND ALL
WHICH BY HIS FALL / WE WERE MADE
SINNERS ALL
Fig. 41 Tundergarth, Dumfriesshire, 1711, James Johnston
80
Adam and Eve Scenes
In the upper portion of the stone, portraits of John Bell, his spouse Janet
Irving, and a child surround a shield which bears three bells.
Kirkconnel: 1768, William Garioch (Fig. 43). Of this carving on a tablestone
Fig. 42 St. Mungo, Dumfriesshire, 1737, John Bell
Betty Willsher
81
support, Christison says:
Across the stem [of the tree] Eve's right hand nearly
meets Adam's left, but no apple is to be seen either
there, or where Eve's other hand touches the serpent's
mouth.^*
This resembles the relationship between Eve and the serpent on the Little
Dunkeld (2) stone and the scene at Lyne. The serpent is in dreadful con-
volutions at the base of the tree.
Repentance: 1768, George Douglas, aged 100 (Fig. 44). Christison describes:
A tree with half a dozen apples and as many leaves.
Eve seems to be aided by the serpent in handing an
apple to Adam, whose folded arms indicate he has not
yet fallen.^^
The serpent has similar convolutions to those at Kirkconnel. Huge vines
flank the scene. It would appear that several of these stones have a com-
mon source.
Fig. 43 Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, 1768, William Garioch
82
Adam and Eve Scenes
Hoddam: 1777, James Wightman and children. Christison suggests that
this is a Tree of Life.^° It cannot be placed under the category of Adam and
Eve stones because the two figures on either side of the tree are not the
first couple but men in 18th-Century costume.
Fig. 44 Repentance, Dumfriesshire, 1768, George Douglas
Betty Willsher
83
Riccarton, Craigie, Dundonald, Colmonell, and St. Quivox (Ayrshire)
The ten Ayrshire Adam and Eve stones are reported by Christison, except
the Straiton scene aheady described with the Kells group, and the
Dundonald stone (see below). ^^ They are a disparate group, each seem-
ingly the inventive creation of different masons.
Riccarton (1): no date, no name (Fig. 45). On this stone, as Christison notes:
The tempter is not the serpent but the woman. Adam makes a vigorous
resistance. He is represented fleeing from her . . . The design is quite pecu-
Uar in one respect. The figures, instead of standing with their heads
towards the top of the stone, are placed horizontally. Eve stands firmly
with clasped hands as if piqued by his refusal, but resolved to conquer. ^^
What a wonderful departure! The trunk (not shown in Christison's draw-
ing) is squashed in between the figures, and at the sides are two superb
specimens of Green Men."*^ At the very top of the stone, a skull spews out
greenery, which droops down to either side of a framed portrait head. We
were unable to decipher the inscription.
Fig. 45 Riccarton, Ayrshire
84 Adam and Eve Scenes
Riccarton (2): date and name not given by Christison, who does tell us
that:
Adam and Eve, robust figures, stand on either side of the tree, which
has a very small head. No details of leaves or apples visible, neither is
there any sign of the serpent.-'''
From Christison's accompanying illustration, it would seem that Eve
stands on the right of the tree and Adam on the left. We were unable to
find this stone, but it may have sunk so that the figures are no longer vis-
ible. On both these Riccarton stones the figures are naked.
Cragie: 1692 ("given as the earliest date but obviously cut later" )^^, no
name. Christison provides a good description of this stone and his illus-
tration is reproduced here (Fig. 46). Apparently the stone was removed by
the family who owned it. Never was there a more closely packed tree. The
little winged soul effigies below the tree are of the style to be found in the
Dreghorn/Dundonald area, with two upswept wings, but here only one
wing shows because of the angle of the head. Adam is naked, while Eve
has a loincloth.
Dundonald: no inscription deciphered. This headstone is very worn. The
dumpy figures stand either side of the tree, long arms stretching towards
each other. The other hands cover their nakedness. The serpent is not
apparent on the sturdy tree trunk, but may be in the boughs. There is a
faint impression of a dove in the tree.
Colmonell: 1758, Andrew McKissock and Maram McNiellie (Fig. 47). In
Christison's words:
A monstrous fat serpent trailing on the ground offers the apple in its
mouth to a bold-looking, robust Eve, who takes it with one hand
while grasping with the other the hand of a poorly developed and
reluctant Adam, whose abject terror seems to cause his limbs to give
way under him.-'''
As at Riccarton (1), the woman is shown as dominant. The two wear short
aprons: above are angels on either side of a skeleton, and at the bottom of
the stone appears the familiar Ayrshire ploughing scene. Adam seems to
stand on one of the team of animals. Eve's hair lies on her head like a wig,
and the goodman flourishes his goad.
Betty Willsher
85
Fig. 46 Cragie, Ayrshire, 1692 [?] (after Christison)
i
86
Adam and Eve Scenes
St. Quivox: 1766-84, James McCalla, his wife, and their children (Fig. 48).
Christison's description informs us that:
Here the tree with its fruit is depicted, with the
inscription 'In the day thou eatest of it thou shalt
surely die.' Above is a shadowy outline of another
tree which Mr. Wilson took to be 'the Tree of Life, on
which the hapless pair are turning their backs as they
go forth from the garden.'-^''
This is perhaps the most appealing of all the Adam and Eve scenes. Eve is
on Adam's right - a departure to be found only in Ayrshire. They are long-
legged, which gives them a certain grace, and they look forlorn. The thin
trees tower above them: the incised tree in the centre seems to have had
apples, and may have been a branch from the tree on Adam's left.
Damage and wear at the top centre of the stone have almost obliterated
the inscription.
Fig. 47 Colmonnel, Ayrshire, 1758,
Andrew McKissock and Maram McNiellie
Betty Willsher
87
Fig. 48 St. Quivox, Ayrshire, 1766-84, James McCalla
Adam and Eve Scenes
NOTES
A slightly modified version of this article originally appeared in Volume 122 (1992) of the
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and we are grateful to the Society for per-
mission to reprint it here. As a number of the carvings treated in this article are poorly pre-
served or otherwise difficult to photograph, 1 am extremely grateful to Rex Russell for draw-
ing these for me: they are reproduced here as Figs. 12, 16, 25, 26, 31, 39, 43, and 44. With the
exception of the photographs in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 - which were taken by Daniel and Jessie Lie
Farber - all photographs are by the author. A number of these - Figs. 2-3, 7-10, 20-23, 27-28,
30, 33, 35-37, 40-41, 45, and 47-48 - were taken for the National Monuments Record of
Scotland, and I am grateful to RCAHMS for permission to publish them in this article. The
distribution map (Fig. 1) was drawn for publication by Margaret Finch and was funded by
a grant from the Society's Angus Graham Bequest. Finally, my thanks go to Doreen Hunter
and Jess Nelson for all their help with the fieldwork.
1. Francis Quarles, Emblems Divine and Moral [published with] Hieroglyphics and the Life of
Man (London, 1777).
2. Cesar Ripa, Iconographia (Padua, 1603).
3. Lance R. Mayer, "An Alternative to Panofskyism: New England Grave Stones and the
European Folk Art Tradition," in Puritan Gravestone Art II, ed. Peter Benes (Boston,
1978), 5-17.
4. David Christison, "The Carvings and Inscriptions on the Kirkyard Monuments of the
Scottish Lowlands," Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 36 (1901-02): 280-
457; "Additional Notes on the Kirkyard Monuments in the Scottish Lowlands,"
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 39 (1904-05): 55-116.
5. Christison, "Carvings and Inscriptions," 328.
6. Ibid., 339.
7. Frederick Burgess, English Churchyard Memorials (Cambridge, 1963).
8. For illustrations of the South Littleton stone, see Burgess, 194 and Plate 6.
9. Deborah Trask, Life How Short, Eternity How Long: Gravestone Carving and Carvers in Nova
Scotia (Halifax, NS, 1978), 61-68.
10. Ibid., 63. To the south of Nova Scotia, a virtually identical verse and image was used to
illustrate the letter "A" in the famous New England Primer.
11. Vincent F. Luti, "Stonecarvers of the Naarragansett Basin: Stephen and Charles
Hartshorn of Providence," Markers II (1983): 162-68. For additional discussion of the
Swan stone, see Harriette Merrifield Forbes, Gravestones of Early New England and the
Men WJio Made Them, 1653-1800 (Boston, 1927; rpt. New York, 1989), 105, 117; Allan I.
Ludwig, Graven Images: New England Stonecarving and Its Symbols, 1650-1815
(Middletown, Conn., 1966), 85; and Dickran and Ann Tashjian, Memorials for Children of
Betty Willsher 89
Change: The Art of Early New England Stonecarving (Middletown, Conn., 1974), 181-84,
274.
12. Christison, "Carvings and Inscriptions," 313-14, Fig. 32.
13. Ibid., 314-15, Fig. 33.
14. ft/rf., 313, Fig. 31.
15. See Alan Reid, "Memorials at Dalmeny, With Notes on the Churchyards of Edzell,
Lethnot, and Stracathro," Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 49 (1914-15):
300, Fig. 11.
16. Christison, "Carvings and Inscriptions," 341, Figs. 55 and 56.
17. /fc/rf., 341, Fig. 54.
18. Christison, "Additional Notes," 83, Fig. 28.
19. In another apparent confusion, only one of the four Logierait stones discussed in this
article was reported to Christison. Perhaps, one might speculate, it was thought they
were identical.
20. Christison, "Carvings and Inscriptions," 340-41, Fig. 53.
21. Ibid., 342, Fig. 57.
22. Robert H. Rodgers, "Carved Headstones of Eighteenth-Century Scotland" (Diss.,
University of St. Andrews, 1983).
23. Christison, "Carvings and Inscriptions," 343, Fig. 58.
24. Ibid., 343, Fig. 59.
25. /bid., 344, Figs. 60 and 61.
26. Alan Reid, "The Churchyard Memorials of Abercorn, Bowden, and Carrington,"
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 44 (1909): 63-64, Fig. 11.
27. Christison, "Carvings and Inscriptions," 345, Fig. 62.
28. Ibid., 345-46, Fig. 63.
29. Ibid., 347-48, Fig. 64.
30. Ibid., 348-49, Fig. 65.
31. Christison, "Additional Notes."
90
Adam and Eve Scenes
32. Ibid., 85, ¥ig. 29.
33. For more on the Green Man emblem, see Betty Willsher, "The Green Man as an Emblem
on Scottish Tombstones," Markers IX (1992); 58-77.
34. Christison, "Additional Notes," 86, Fig. 30.
35. Ibid., 86, Fig. 31.
36. Ibid., 88-89, Figs. 32 and 33.
37. Ibid., 87.
Betty Willsher
91
APPENDIX
Adam and Eve Stones in Scotland, Arranged by County
ANGUS
LANARKSHIRE
Dun
T
1696
Biggar
H
1713
Dun
T
1699
Hamilton
H
1717
Farnell
H*
nd
Lundie
H
1759
PEEBLESSHIRE
Pert
H
1742
Lyne
H
1712
Pert
H
1743-54
PERTHSHIRE
Pert
H*
nd
Strachathro
H
1730
Caputh
H
1809
Tannandice
T
1715
Cargill
Clunie
Collace
T
H
T
nd
1741
1742
ARGYLLSHIRE
Kilchousland
H
1720
Dowally
Dundurn
H
H
1782
1729
Little Dunkeld
H
1744
AYRSHIRE
Little Dunkeld
H
1762
Colmonell
H
1758
Kinfauns
H
1782
Cragie
Dundonald
H*
nd
H
nd
Lagganallachy
H
1764
Dunlop
Riccarton
H*
H*
nd
nd
Logiealmond
Logierait
H
H
1769
1769
Riccarton
H
nd
Logierait
H
1781
St. Quivox
H
1766-84
Logierait
H
1784
Straiten
H
1705
Logierait
Methven
H
H
1784
1748
Tarbolton
H*
nd
Perth, Greyfriars
H
1782
St. Madoes
H
1745
BERWICKSHIRE
St. Martins
H
1750
Dryburgh
H
1745
1
ROXBURGHSHIRE
DUMFRIESSHIRE
Bowden
T*
nd
Kirkconnel
T
1768
Lockerbie
H*
nd
STIRLINGSHIRE
Repentance
H
1739-68
Campsie
H
1799
St. Mungo
H
1737
Campsie
H
1799
Tundergarth
H
1711
Falkirk
Polmont
H*
H
1750
1754
KINCARDINESHIRE
Polmont
H
1796
Fettercairn
H
1737
WEST LOTHIAN
KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE
Uphall
T
1733
Dalbeattie
H*
nd
Kells
H
1702
Key
Kells
H
1706
T
Tablestone Panel
Kells
H
1707
H
Headstone
Kells
H
1718
nd
no date known
Kirkandrews
H
1720
»
no longer to be found
92
Cemeteries as Community
Fig. 1. Outline map of Illinois depicting the location of Coles County.
93
THE ADKINS-WOODSON CEMETERY:
A SOCIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF CEMETERIES AS COMMUNITIES
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
Introduction
Cemeteries, as cultural landscape, show patterns of change over time
and store cultural insights^ though the way they are read varies by acad-
emic discipline. The preponderance of cemetery studies have come from
the fields of history, genealogy, art history, anthropology, religion, folk art,
commemorative art, historic preservation, folklore, cultural geography,
English, historical archaeology, landscape architecture, and philosophy.^
As sociologists, we find our own discipline conspicuous by its
absence, though sociology has not been completely dead to cemeteries as
a data source. Kephart used cemetery data to assess social status-^, Warner
treated cemeteries as expressions of community values and structure"*.
Young analyzed graveyards as reflections of social structure^, and Durand
used tombstone inscriptions to estimate life expectancies in the Roman
Empire during the First and Second Centuries.^ While Thomlinson offers
historical and methodological cautions'', there are no disciplinary reasons
for the exclusion of sociology from cemetery research. Kephart wrote in
1950: "... for sociologists interested in the general field of folkways,
mores, and social origins, the customs and precedents which exist in the
category of 'after death' [including cemeteries] present virtually an
untapped source of information."^ Yet, nearly a half-century later, little
has been done within sociology to make use of this material, perhaps
because, as one commentator has noted, "... scholars in the social sciences
. . . have failed to realize the potential of the cemetery as a data base."^
Rather than extracting from cemeteries only a single datum (e.g., rep-
resentative stones of a particular carver, gravestone motifs, or the ceme-
tery customs of a particular ethnic group), we view cemeteries as "com-
munities of the dead,"^° alive with sociological data reflecting past com-
munities. "'Community,' as distinguished from 'the community,' empha-
sizes the common-ties and social-interaction ...,"" delineated less by
locale and more by "... personal intimacy, emotional depth, moral com-
mitment, social cohesion, and continuity in time."^^ In this sense, a grave-
stone "... conveys a life and that life's love, anger, happiness, and place in
family, community and society." ^^
94 Cemeteries as Community
To an extent, the cemetery as community has been recognized.
Vidutus and Lowe note that "... the cemetery . . . can be analyzed and read
as a cultural text containing information about the social, religious, and
aesthetic expectations of the community that maintains it."^'* Similarly,
Young states that "Cemeteries are public, quantifiable artifacts that extend
back into time ..., useful to students of community structure."^^ Much
research on cemeteries has been done in the context of ethnicity,^^ and the
ethnic enclave as community is significant in sociology. "In fact," notes
our authority, "ethnicity has rivaled class as a major preoccupation of
community researchers."^^
Church cemeteries certainly reflect past communities. Those buried in
them shared similar lifestyles, common religions, and all that accompa-
nies such mutual experiences. Many interred in the same church cemetery
knew one another, knew the families of one another, interacted with many
of the others buried there, called them by name. Moreover, many large,
municipal cemeteries are organized into fraternal and ethnic sections
where the buried knew one another in life, sharing interests and commu-
nity. Those who lived in the same time period shared a common history
and notion of the world.
Only a few cemetery types cannot legitimately be approached as com-
munities of stone. Municipal cemeteries that merely survey, number and
sell lots are no more communal than a Holiday Inn. Like vacationers in a
motel, individuals and families buy and take up lots with no knowledge
of those next to them. Military cemeteries might also be excluded as com-
munity, for while those interred there may have shared many common
(military) experiences, they had a wide diversity of backgrounds - differ-
ent ethnicities and religions, residences, and degree of commitment to
military service. Conversely, battlefield cemeteries do reflect elements of
community in that those interred shared friendships, battles, campaigns,
fears, hopes, and - ultimately - death.
What might a census of these communities of stone reveal? Meyer pro-
vides this challenge to the researcher: "Far more than merely elements of
space sectioned off and set aside for the burial of the dead, cemeteries are,
in effect, open cultural texts, there to be read and appreciated by anyone
who takes the time to learn a bit of their special language." ^^ The buried,
in fact, constitute populations to be described demographically.^^
Engraved stones yield a variety of social characteristics, including gender,
ethnicity, age, seasonal fertility (conception and birth) patterns, seasonal
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel 95
mortality patterns, marital status and other familial relationships, and,
occasionally, migration and occupational data. Inscriptions may provide
insight into the character and demeanor of the person buried there.
Finally, one must remember that, in many instances, people are not buried
randomly, but interred in particular (e.g., church) cemeteries because of
particular (e.g., religious) affiliations.
The potential for such research is intriguing, particularly for historical
sociology when data are not readily available in other forms. Would com-
paring homogeneous cemeteries (e.g., church cemeteries of different
denominations, ethnic cemeteries of different groups, public /municipal
cemeteries of varying community size) from the same historical period
reveal differences in life expectancies, sex ratios, infant and childhood mor-
tality, the ratio of marked to unmarked graves, and so on? Would such
indices from any single cemetery differ significantly from more conven-
tional census data? What windows into community can be opened by a
cemetery census? Can we read the story of an entire cemetery, and not mere-
ly one gravestone? While such considerations are rather beyond the scope
of this pilot study, we examine a single cemetery to illustrate the potential.
The Adkins-Woodson Cemetery
The Adkins-Woodson Cemetery is located in Coles County, in east-
central Illinois (see Fig 1). The first Euro- American settlers began entering
the area shortly before the creation of Coles County in 1830. The earliest
cemeteries were family plots, later replaced by church cemeteries, which
were, themselves, substantially replaced still later by public cemeteries.^°
Most Coles County cemeteries, including the Adkins-Woodson
Cemetery, have an east-west burial orientation (the feet to the east), con-
forming to the Christian belief that the dead will rise to meet the dawn on
Judgment Day. All cemeteries in Coles County were surveyed in the 1930s
by the Sally Lincoln Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution. The survey recorded all gravestone inscriptions and noted as
well all graves marked by uninscribed stones. In 1979, the Coles County
Genealogical Society updated the survey, publishing the first two vol-
umes in 1984 and 1985. All told, 88 public, church, and multi-family, and
21 family and "pioneer" cemeteries were surveyed. ^^
The Adkins-Woodson Cemetery was selected for study because it
seemed typical of rural church cemeteries, and it was convenient and
accessible to our inquiry. Initially, it was a family cemetery. Subsequently,
96
Cemeteries as Community
^;*"*T^
Fig. 2. An overview, facing west,
of the Adkins-Woodson Cemetery in late Spring.
one acre was deeded to the Separate Baptist Church on May 29, 1865,
though no record ever places a church structure at the cemetery. Several
small Separate Baptist congregations still present in the vicinity, with
cemeteries contemporaneous to the Adkins-Woodson Cemetery, have no
recognition or collective memory of Adkins-Woodson as a Separate
Baptist cemetery, and no written reference, other than the 1865 deed trans-
fer, has been located.
The Cemetery is situated at the edge of a wooded ravine, and mea-
sures about 220 feet square (see Fig 2). It is generally organized by family
(surname) sections. Maintenance, provided by the township, typically
consists of several quick, and often incomplete, mowings each summer
On Memorial Day, 1993, only two graves (spouses) were decorated with
floral baskets by an elderly couple. On Memorial Day, 1994, these two
graves and a third, unrelated grave were decorated. Hence, except for the
political mandate of minimal maintenance, the Adkins-Woodson
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel 97
Cemetery, as community, is virtually deserted.
A Profile of Cemetery as Community
There are a total of 110 graves within the Adkins- Woodson Cemetery,
102 (92.7%) with inscribed stones, and 8 (7.3%) with unaltered field
stones. The cemetery spans ten decades, the first burial occurring in 1847
and the last in 1944, though terminus decades (1840s and the 1910s
through the 1940s) involve only one to four cases each. We did not exam-
ine a random sample of the burials, but rather the entire population of the
Adkins- Woodson Cemetery. As a result, our statistics are not inferrential,
generalizable to a population, but are descriptive of the population of the
Adkins- Woodson Cemetery (as community). Thus, while the precise pat-
terns discerned (e.g., of male dominance) are specific to the Adkins-
Woodson community, quite predictably all cemeteries will manifest their
own expressions of such patterns.^^
Births
Most cemeteries are archives of births, though these data are often
overlooked, perhaps because it is no small contradiction to learn about
the beginning of life by studying the end of life. Of the 110 people buried
in the Adkins- Woodson Cemetery, 81 have birth months identified, allow-
ing us to extrapolate months of conception (see Table 1).
Table 1
Frequencies of Conceptions and Births by Months
Month
Conceptions
Births
January
4 (4.9%)
8 (9.9%)
February
5 (6.2%)
7 (8.6%)
March
9(11.1%)
7 (8.6%)
April
8 (9.9%)
6 (7.4%)
May
7 (8.6%)
10 (12.3%)
June
7 (8.6%)
5 (6.2%)
July
6 (7.4%)
5 (6.2%)
August
10 (12.3%)
4 (4.9%)
September
5 (6.2%)
11 (13.6%)
October
5 (6.2%)
4 (4.9%)
November
4 (4.9%)
5 (6.2%)
December
11 (13.6%)
9(11.1%)
98 Cemeteries as Community
Table 1 shows monthly frequencies of conceptions and births. While
no unequivocal patterns emerge, sufficient variations suggest patterns. If
conceptions /births were evenly distributed, there would be about 7
(8.6%) per month. However, the frequency of conceptions is above the
mean for four months (March, April, August and December), reflects the
mean for two months (May, June), and is below the mean for six months
(January, February, July, September, October and November). Births are
above the mean for four months (January, May, September, December),
reflect the mean for two months (February, March), and are below the
mean for six months (April, June, July, August, October, November).
Many factors might account for these less-than-random variations.
Considering conception, March and April, two high months, bring the
end of dreary winters, and the optimism of another farming season.
August, as a high month, is the lull after a summer of farming activities
and before the hectic pace of harvest. December, though the dead of win-
ter, is fraught with the seasonal celebrations of Thanksgiving, Christmas
and New Year. Any reason for high-spirited chivaries or a break in the toil
of seasonal life might inspire amorous exercise!
Considering births, two of the highest months (December and
January) are the dead of winter, placing the last trimester, the most
uncomfortable period of pregnancy, after the heat and humidity of sum-
mer. Similarly, May, one of the four high-birth months, places the last
trimester before the discomfort of summer. These three months account
for 33.3% of all births. This interpretation suggests more pregnancy plan-
ning than probably occurred, and is compromised by September, the sin-
gle highest birth month, which would place the last trimester precisely in
the three summer months. Hence, while the same statistical pattern exists
for conceptions and births (high and low months, 46.9% v 35.8%), we are
more persuaded by the interpretations of conception. This seasonally-dri-
ven conception interpretation is bolstered by our tentative examination of
conceptions by ethnicity (English and Germans, the two distinguishable
groups by surname). Both groups exhibited the same pattern of concep-
tion, removing cultural /group influences and suggesting that more
broadly-based community factors were influencing conception. Further
study of larger n-sizes may yield more definitive patterns and interpreta-
tions.
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
99
Sex/Gender
Of the 102 marked burials, 55 (53.9%) are males and 47 (46.1%) are
females, yielding a sex-ratio (x males per 100 females) of 117. This sex-
ratio is comparable to two extremes found by Dethlefsen's study of near-
ly 100 colonial cemeteries, showing "... an improbable preponderance of
men ..."^^ However, the preponderance of males may not be so improba-
ble. Frontier areas attract a disproportionate number of men,^'^ and Coles
County, originally part of the public domain, was not completely settled
until about 1880.^^ Thus, for the first thirty years of the cemetery's exis-
tence. Coles County was a magnet of opportunity, perhaps attracting a
disproportionate number of men. Graph 1 depicts the age-sex distribution
of the cemetery population.
Considering mean age at death by sex, the mean age for males was
27.5, and for females 24.8. The higher, average age for males is historical-
ly consistent, though Dethlefsen found that the average length of life for
Age/Sex Distribution of Burials
Graph 1
CD
O)
<
0-4 aM^tMMMWtMMMMm^amtmwmttmttW m
10 15
Number of Burials
20
25
Males
Females
100 Cemeteries as Community
Table 2
Average Age at Death by Decade"
Decade
Males
Females
Overall
1850s
22.3
16.5
19.8
1860s
6.8
12.3
9.1
1870s
26.5
22.8
24.7
1880s
30.5
14.1
25.0
1890s
29.3
19.9
24.0
1900s
28.6
42.0
36.9
^Terminus decades (1840s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s) were excluded
because each involved fewer than 5 cases. The 1860s emerge as an
anomaly. Of 12 deaths in the 1860s, only 2 were adults and 10 were
children, 2 years of age or younger. The temptation to invoke Civil
War hardships is countered by the fact that half of the deaths
occurred after the War (1866-1869).
females began to surpass that of males around the turn of the Nineteenth
Century.^*' Our data (Table 2) show that females did not generally outlive
males until about the turn of the Twentieth Century. Conceivably, this
100-year lag is due to a frontier effect.
Seasonal differences in death (Graph 2) show deaths peaking in late
summer, following fewest deaths in mid summer. The pattern of female
deaths remains flat across all twelve months, but the pattern of male
deaths replicates the overall pattern, indicating that it is male driven.
Attempting to explain the tangential valley /peak pattern of male deaths
evokes reference to "the lull before the storm" of agricultural harvest. As
shall be discussed later, we found a strong tendency for younger deaths
to occur in late summer, and the disproportionate number of very young
persons buried in the cemetery (see Graph 1) contributes to the late sum-
mer peak.
Any socio-historical consideration of gender must address inequali-
ties. Male dominance can be expressed in a variety of ways, as suggested
by the following hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1: Females are more likely to have familial relationships
identified on their gravestones, an expression of male dominance/own-
ership. Of the 102 marked gravestones, 69 (67.6%) indicated some famil-
ial relationship to another person. Of these 69 cases, 28 (40.6%) were
males (27 sons, 1 father), while 41 (59.4%) were females (22 daughters, 17
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
101
Number of Deaths by Season
Graph 2
Dec-Jan Feb-Mar Apr-May Jun-Jul Aug-Sep Oct-Nov
Season
Total
Females -^^ Males
wives, 2 mothers). Thus, while only 28 (50.9%) of the 55 males buried in
the cemetery had relationships identified, 41 (87.2%) of the 47 females had
relationships identified.
With this tendency to view females as possessions comes the corollary
tendency for fewer females to be identified by surname. Of the 55 males,
29 (52.7%) had their surnames given on the gravestones. Of the 47
females, only 9 (19.1%) had surnames given. More commonly, they were
identified by some combination of first and middle names or initials and
a relationship to an adult male, with his surname given (see Fig. 3).
Hypothesis 2: Male gravestones will reflect greater status and prestige.
Commemorative gravestone inscriptions represent additional cost and
confer additional status. While only 17 (16.7%) of the 102 gravestones had
inscriptions, 12 of these (70.6%) were males and only 5 (29.4%) were
females (see Fig 4). Thus, 21.8% (12) of the 55 males buried in the ceme-
tery, and only 10.6% (5) of the 47 females, had stones with inscriptions.
Prestige is also conferred by stone size. However, no gender differ-
ences were found in gravestone height, partially a result of many married
102
Cemeteries as Community
Fig. 3. The gravestone of an adult female identifies the deceased by
stating her relationship to an adult male, with only his surname given.
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
103
III , An mtsh '^^^gi^^ili^^LmJmut
Fig. 4, A male gravestone in the Adkins-Woodson Cemetery
was more likely to have a commemorative inscription,
conferring additional status.
couples sharing a single stone. Also, no significant differences were found
in the number of letters cut in the stones for males (62 letters) and females
(59 letters), partially due to the greater tendency for females to have rela-
tionships expressed.
Age Status
Of the 102 inscribed burials, 99 (97.1%) can be identified by age at
death, revealing a bi-modal age structure (see Table 3). Infant/toddler cat-
egories, spanning only three life years (birth-three), account for 42 (42.4%)
deaths. Adult/elder categories, spanning 50 life years (ages 31-81),
account for 43 (43.4%) deaths. Child /teen /young adult categories, span-
ning 26 life years (ages 4-30), account for only 14 (14.1%) deaths. This sug-
gests that if one survived the first three years in the 19th Century
Midwest, the chances of surviving beyond young adulthood were quite
good.
104 Cemeteries as Community
Table 3
Deaths
by Age 1
Status
Status
n
Deaths
Infants
26
(26.3)
Toddlers
16
(16.2)
Children
4
(4.0)
Teens
5
(5.1)
Young Adults
5
(5.1)
Adults
31
(31.3)
Elders
12
(12.1)
For analysis, we collapsed infant/toddler/child/teen categories,
yielding 51 cases (51.5%) in a single, subadult category; young
adult /adult /elder categories were then combined to yield 48 cases
(48.5%) in a single, adult category. These latter categories are comparable
to Dethlef sen's study, though he sometimes defined subadult through 16
years of age^'' and sometimes through 19 years of age.^^ However,
Dethlef sen's data preceded our data by about 100 years, and our popula-
tion only had one case between 17 and 19. Since infants and children are
probably under-represented in cemeteries because of gravestone
expense,^^ and since the eight unmarked graves in our study are probably
those of children (based on contextual evidence), our subadult population
is probably nearer 55 percent. Other expressions of differential treatment
and inequality which may exist are tested by the following hypotheses.
Hypothesis 3: The gravestones of subadults are more likely to express
familial relationships (see Fig 5). Children are generally regarded only
completely as persons in their relationships to others. "Age and sex,"
notes Vander Zanden, "are master statuses in all societies."^° Hence, the
master status of children (age) is constructed as the daughter or son (sex)
of . Of the 68 gravestones that indicated both a relationship and age,
45 (66.2%) were subadults and 23 (33.8%) were adults. Thus, out of the 51
subadults, 88.2% (45) were identified in the context of familial relation-
ships, while only 47.9% (23) of the 48 adults were identified in such a con-
text.
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
105
Fig. 5. The gravestone of a child identifies the deceased
in the context of a familial relationship.
106 Cemeteries as Community
Accompanying this tendency to define children within famihal rela-
tionships is the tendency for substantially fewer subadults to be identified
by surname. Of the 38 burials identified by some combination of first and
middle names or initials and surname, only 9 (23.7%) were subadults.
Thus, out of the 51 subadults, only 17.6% (9 cases) had surnames given,
compared to 60.4% (29 cases) of the 48 adults. More commonly, subadults
were, like females, identified by some combination of first and middle
names or initials and relationships to adult males, with the adults' sur-
names identified.
Hypothesis 4: Subadults will have smaller gravestones, a function of
expense, just as Dethlefsen noted that under-representation of child mor-
tality in cemeteries is a function of gravestone expense.^^ The mean height
of subadult gravestones was 2.4 feet, while the mean height of adult
gravestones was 3.3 feet. Further, while only 30.4% of all subadults have
stones that are 3 feet or taller, 71.7% of all adults have stones that are 3 feet
or taller. Further measures of stone expense are the number of letters and
the presence of commemorative inscriptions. The average number of let-
ters reflected no real differences (subadult stones had an average of 62.6
letters, adult stones 62.1 letters), partially a result of the tendency to iden-
tify subadults in the context of relationships. Little difference was also
found with respect to the presence of commemorative inscriptions. Of the
17 commemorative inscriptions in the cemetery, 8 (47.1%) were on
subadult stones and 9 (52.9%) were on adult stones. Thus, 15.7% (8) of the
51 subadult stones and 18.8% (9) of the 48 adult stones had inscriptions.
Considering age and season of death, Dethlefsen found "... a strong
tendency for younger deaths to occur in late summer . . .," and while older
people do not show such a strong pattern, "... older people died most fre-
quently in late winter."-^^ Seasonal death patterns of our adult and
subadult categories are consistent with Dethlefsen' s findings (see Table
4).^-^ The increased likelihood of younger deaths occurring in late summer
(fall) coincided with such water-borne diseases as malaria and cholera,
exacerbated by the poorly draining prairie of northern Coles County prior
to the 1880s,^^ and it is likely the older population segment may have
acquired some resistance to such diseases. Late winter (spring) deaths of
older people most likely reflect respiratory diseases and influenza which,
to this day, afflict seniors more virulently.
Overall, average age at death was 26.1 years. Dethlefsen studied near-
ly 100 colonial (1720-1820) cemeteries in New England and found that the
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
107
Table 4
Deaths by Season
(nionths expressed numerically)
Winter
(11-12-1)
Spring
(2-3-4)
Summer
(5-6-7)
Fall
(8-9-10)
Total
Subadult
10
(20.8%)
10
(20.8%)
8
(16.7%)
20
(41.7%)
48
(100%)
Adult
10
(24.4%)
12
(29.3%)
9
(21.9%)
10
(24.4%)
41
(100%)
Total
20
(22.5%)
22
(24.7%)
17
(19.1%)
30
(33.7%)
89
(100%)
average age at death, by cemetery, ranged from 29 to 45 years.'*'' While our
average age at death - for a later time-period - is lower, Dethlefsen also
found that rural agricultural communities had a higher proportion of
subadult deaths because there were more subadults present, relatively
speaking, which deflated the average age.^^ In that Coles County was
rural, agricultural, and part of a developing frontier, our average age at
death is then more interpretable with Dethlefsen's findings.
Ethnicity
Encouraged by the substantial ethnic studies based on cemetery
data,^"^ we generated ethnic hypotheses, based on our previous research,
and we identified ethnicity by surname, as we had done in that research.-^^
This yielded 91 English (including Scots and Irish), but only 12 Germans.
Moreover, the cemetery data offered no insight into place of birth, so it is
possible that the Germans had been in the U.S. for several generations
and were thus "Yankee-ized," mollifying ethnic patterns. While the num-
ber of Germans in the Adkins- Woodson population is small, the patterns
(of percentages) profile the community. Ethnic research, at least in rural
and agricultural contexts, suggests that Germans, compared to English
and Yankees, were more traditional and conservative,^^ tendancies reflect-
ed in the following hypotheses.
Hypothesis 5: Germans, manifesting greater commitment to agricul-
ture, will have larger families (more children). Two-thirds of the German
108
Cemeteries as Community
burials are sub-adults, compared to roughly half of the English burials.
Either Germans were more likely to live in unhealthy conditions which
elevated risks to their young, or there were more young to be victims of
the statistical probabilities of an early death on an early frontier. The lat-
ter seems more convincing to us.
Hypothesis 6: Germans, placing greater emphasis on frugality, will
have smaller stones and fewer letters in their inscriptions. With respect to
stone size, while only 9.0% of all Germans have gravestones that are 3 feet
or taller, 28.6% of all English have gravestones 3 feet or taller. Further,
while no German stones were over four feet, 16.6% of all English stones
exceeded this height. Eighty percent of the German burials offer no
inscription of birth year, and 90% omit birth month. These omissions sug-
gest frugality. On the other hand, all German burials provide date of
death, while 11% of the English burials omit this datum. Exact age at
death (i.e., 10 years, 2 months, 3 days) is also more likely to be reported
on German tombstones. These two patterns suggest greater conservatism
and traditionalism among Germans. A pattern contradicting our hypoth-
Number of Burials per Decade
Graph 3
1 840s 1 850s 1 860s 1 870s 1 880s 1 890s 1 900s 1 91 Os 1 920s 1 930s 1 940s
Decades
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
109
esized frugality of Germans is the fact that only 13% of the English buri-
als had inscriptions, while 42% of the German burials displayed some
inscribed sentiment. However, English burials were more likely (68%) to
specify the family relationship of the deceased than German burials
(50%), again perhaps reflecting greater frugality among Germans.
Familialism and Community Decline
Though the cemetery spans 100 years, its real growth occurred from
the 1850s through the first decade of the 1900s, followed by a very rapid
decline (see Graph 3). Despite the cemetery's designation as Separate
Baptist in 1865, by the 1850s it was already more than a family cemetery.
The first burial occurred in the 1840s. In the 1850s, fourteen burials
occurred, representing six separate surnames, and in the first half of the
1860s, before being deeded to the Separate Baptist congregation, there
were an additional six burials with six different surnames. Hence, prior to
May 29, 1865, when it was deeded to the Separate Baptists, there were
twenty-one burials (19.1% of all burials), accounting for ten different sur-
16
0)
Q
0)
E
Number of Deaths by Decade
Graph 4
1 840s 1 850s 1 860s 1 870s 1 880s 1 890s 1 900s 1 91 Os 1 920s 1 930s 1 940s
Decades
Adults
Subadults
110
Cemeteries as Community
names (30.3% of all surnames), suggesting that the cemetery was already
serving a community or congregation.
Spatial examination suggests the cemetery was not used to capacity,
but remains about half vacant. Hence, the rapid decline in use after the
first decade of this century cannot be attributed to a space shortage.
Conceivably, the public cemetery movement in the county seat, and in a
nearby major rail-line town, may have impacted the Adkins-Woodson
Cemetery. However, these public cemeteries have been operating since
1862,^° and thus provide no particular reason for the substantial decline
after the first decade of the 1900s.
The cemetery's rapid beginning and swift decline is most likely more
indicative of the boom-bust cycle, a community development pattern
common to frontier settlement.*^ Graphs 4 and 5 support this interpreta-
tion. Graph 4, detailing the number of subadult and adult deaths by
decade, shows the number of subadults declining and the community
"running out" of subadults three decades before its demise, and any com-
munity without children is certainly dying. Graph 5 shows a dramatic
Mean Age at Death by Decade
Graph 5
1 840s 1 850s 1 860s 1 870s 1 880s 1 890s 1 900s 1 91 Os 1 920s 1 930s 1 940s
Decades
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel
111
increase in mean age during the final decades of the community, indicat-
ing that only elderly members remained at the end. The Separate Baptist
congregation, like any congregation, probably started with optimism
about opportunities offered by a land just being settled, but by the early
1900s the congregation, as community, was declining, marginalized by
larger and more prosperous denominations.
Young has employed person /name ratios (the number of people
divided by the number of surnames), garnered from cemetery data, and
with appropriate cautions, to reflect the relative importance of kinship in
community.'*'^ If the number is large, kinship importance is greater, mak-
ing community more homogeneous. "If small, it reflects declining . . . kin-
ship importance, a trend . . . associated with certain changes in the econo-
my and mobility of the population.'"*^
Thirty-three different surnames are found in the cemetery (1 surname
accounts for 31 individuals; 1 surname for 11 individuals; 1 for 9 individ-
uals; 1 for 7 individuals; 1 for 5 individuals; 6 surnames account for 3 indi-
viduals each; 7 surnames for 2 individuals each; 15 surnames for 1 indi-
vidual each). The fact that only 5 surnames (15.2%) account for 63 indi-
(0
cc
c
o
(0
k_
0)
CL
I
CD
E
(0
Name-Person Ratio by Decade
Graph 6
1 840s 1 850s 1 860s 1 870s 1 880s 1 890s 1 900s 1 91 Os 1 920s 1 930s 1 940s
Decades
112 Cemeteries as Community
viduals (57.3%) partially suggests the strength and centrality of kinship in
the community. However, this is offset by the remaining 28 surnames
(84.8%) accounting for only 47 individuals (42.7%).
Calculating person/name ratios by decade (Graph 6), excluding ter-
minus decades - the 1840s and the 1910s, 20s, 30s and 40s - because of rel-
atively few cases, reveals almost a unilinear decline from decade to
decade. The name-person ratio is highest for the 1850s, progressively
decreasing to a low of 1.44 in the first decade of the 1900s, with a single
anomaly in the 1860s. The patterned decline supports the perspective of
community in decline, i.e., the bust end of a cycle.
Also of relevance are those buried alone (i.e., with no other person
having the same surname interred in the cemetery). Out of the 102 iden-
tified burials, only 15 (14.7%) are buried alone, each surname appearing
but once. These burials span the decades of the 1860s through the 1900s.
Those buried alone have fewer letters per stone (an average of 56.7 letters,
V. 62.4 letters) and smaller stones (an average height of 2.3 feet, v. 3.0 feet).
Only 33.3% of those buried alone have gravestones three feet or taller,
compared to 57.7% of those buried with others of the same surname.
These data suggest some marginalization of those buried alone.
Of the lone burials, eight are males and seven are females. Eight are
children (less than 7 years old), one is a teenager, five are adults (ages 33
to 59), and the age of one is not known. Seven of the eight children died
in the 1860s, 70s, and 80s. Since the cemetery was used for another half-
century, and since the parents of these children were not buried with
them, this again suggests a community in decline. After these children
were interred, their parents apparently left the community (congrega-
tion), and since the cemetery was never filled to capacity it would appear
that those who left were not replaced by new members, again supporting
the perspective of a community in decline.
Conclusions
Dethlefsen and Deetz have noted that "Little is known about popula-
tion composition or mean life span for any part of the world prior to the
present century."*'* However, the data required to begin filling these voids
are as near as the closest Nineteenth-Century cemetery. There, quite liter-
ally, is sociology under foot. Clearly, we have achieved more unique
insight into the Adkins-Woodson "community" than we could have
developed using virtually any other data source. We do not diminish the
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel 113
value and importance of written records in extending, substantiating, and
corroborating findings and inferences derived from the material culture,
but merely illustrate the extent to which cemeteries can speak for them-
selves. Moreover, the task of profiling community birth and conception
patterns from more traditional records seems arduous, if not nearly
impossible. Whether or not our conception pattern /interpretation stands
in future research, we are convinced that such historical voyeurism holds
tremendous potential for revealing community /life rhythms of the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, and might reflect contrasting pat-
terns between rural and urban populations.
The preferential expressions reflected in gender and age status affirm
historically predictable patterns. However, our exploratory research
focused on a single, congregational community of Separate Baptists, and
it would not be unreasonable to place it on the conservative end of the
conservative-liberal continuum. Hence, the differential treatment of
women and children hypothesized and found in this study is certainly a
function of historicity, but quite likely it is also partially a function of the
Separate Baptist congregation constituting a very traditional, conserva-
tive community, even a century ago. Conceivably, a comparative study
examining different denominations may detect a conservative-liberal
range, as reflected by expressions of relationships, defrocking the mythi-
cal homogeneity of conservatism historically.
Considerations of ethnicity further illustrate the cemetery as a rich and
diverse archive. We generated hypotheses of ethnicity intersecting (a)
agricultural commitment and family size and (b) frugality. In this sense,
cemeteries reflect community life histories, not death histories. Indeed,
much of our focus, employing data exclusively from a cemetery, is -
somewhat paradoxically - upon life activities, e.g., commitment to agri-
culture, family size, frugality, conception and birth, and familial relation-
ships of women and children. Such a focus on life amidst those departed
is fitting and consistent. Ultimately, cemeteries are made by the living, not
the deceased, and they inventory the commentary the living offer about
the lives of those buried there rather than about their deaths. Cemeteries
are thus communities of the dead which embody life histories.
American scholarly treatment of cemeteries has generally failed to
pool the diversity of perspectives and modes of critical inquiry of a vari-
ety of disciplines to achieve a more comprehensive, multifaceted assess-
ment.^^ This failure should not be compounded by holding the sociologi-
114 Cemeteries as Community
cal approach in disciplinary isolation. Rather, a focus on social variables
legitimately and broadly intersects the more traditional foci of cemetery
studies. Those with substantive expertise in gravestone styles and deco-
rative motifs might find significant correlation with variables of age, eth-
nicity, gender and social class. As Meyer reminds us, the "... ultimate
emphasis, irrespective of immediate focus or particular analytical tech-
nique, is upon the illumination of the discrete cultural values which inter-
fuse these sites and artifacts.'"*^
NOTES
A version of this paper was preserited at the 16th annual meeting of the American Culture
Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 1994. We are grateful to Richard E. Meyer for his encour-
agement and to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and criticisms. All pho-
tographs were taken by Richard L. Hummel.
1. Richard E. Meyer, "Introduction: 'So Witty as to Speak,'" in Cemeteries and Gravemarkers:
Voices of American Culture, ed. Richard E. Meyer (Ann Arbor, MI, 1989; rpt. Logan, UT,
1992), 2. See also Richard V. Francaviglia, "The Cemetery as an Evolving Cultural
Landscape," Annals, Association of American Geographers 61:2 (1971): 501-509.
2. Meyer, "So Witty as to Speak," 5; Association for Gravestone Studies, membership
application brochure (Worcester, MA, nd); Richard E. Meyer, ed.. Ethnicity and the
American Cemetery (Bowling Green, OH, 1993), backcover.
3. William Kephart, "Status after Death," American Sociological Review 15:5 (1950): 635-643.
4. W. Lloyd Warner, The Living and the Dead (New Haven, CT, 1959), 280-320.
5. Frank W. Young, "Graveyards and Social Structure," Rural Sociology 25:4 (1960): 446-50.
6. John D. Durand, "Mortality Estimates from Roman Tombstone Inscriptions," American
Journal of Sociology 65 (1960): 365-73.
7. Ralph Thomlinson, Population Dynamics: Causes and Consequences of World Demographic
Change (New York, 1976), 82.
8. Kephart, 635.
9. Thomas J. Hannon, "The Cemetery: An Aid in Cultural Research," paper presented
before the Society for Historical Archaeology (Albuquerque, 1980), 1.
10. See Paula J. Fenza, "Communities of the Dead: Tombstones as a Reflection of Social
Organization," Markers VI (1989): 136-57.
11. Jessie Bernard, The Sociology of Community (Glenview, IL, 1973), 4.
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel 115
12. Robert A. Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition (New York, 1967), 47.
13. Aaron Russell Ursey, Introduction to Folklore Field Collecting Project (Western Oregon
State College, Monmouth, Oregon, June, 1986), cited in Meyer, "So Witty as to Speak,"
5.
14. Ricardas Vidutis and Virginia A. R Lowe, "The Cemetery as Cultural Text," Kentucky
Folklore Record 26:2 (1980): 103.
15. Young, 447.
16. For example, see Meyer, Ethnicity and the American Cemetery, and therein his "The
Literature of Necroethnicity: An Annotated Bibliography," 222-37.
17. Bernard, 55.
18. Richard E. Meyer, "Strangers in a Strange Land: Ethnic Cemeteries in America," in
Ethnicity and the American Cemetery, ed. Richard E. Meyer (Bowling Green, OH, 1993), 3.
19. For examples of such approaches, see Edwin Dethlefsen and James Deetz, "Eighteenth-
Century Cemeteries: A Demographic View," Historical Archaeology 1 (1967): 40-42; Edwin
Dethlefsen, "Colonial Gravestones and Demography," American Journal of Physical
Anthropology 31 (1969): 321-34.
20. Coles County, Illinois, Genealogical Society, Cemeteries of Lafayette, Paradise and Pleasant
Grove Townships (Charleston, IL, 1984), 1-2.
21. Ibid., 2-3
22. Methodologically and conceptually, generating a random sample from cemeteries to
represent some larger population is confounded by considerations of cemetery type
(e.g., specific denominations), time period and even locale /region. For example, if our
research focus had been pioneer cemeteries or pioneer communities as reflected by
cemeteries, and not a single cemetery as community, a random sample would have to
confront the issue of comparability in terms of type, time, and place. Alternatively, if the
research focus had been an extremely large cemetery, a random sample representative
of that cemetery's single population could be appropriately employed.
23. Dethlefsen, "Colonial Gravestones," 328.
24. James W. Vander Zanden, The Social Experience (New York, 1988), 520.
25. Charleston and Mattoon Bicentennial Commissions, History of Coles County, 1876-1976,
Coles County, Illinois (Dallas, 1976), 14.
26. Dethlefsen, "Colonial Gravestones," 327.
27. Ibid., 328, table 6.
116
Cemeteries as Community
28. Ibid., 325, table 5.
29. Ibid., 323-24, 326.
30. Vander Zanden, 90.
31. Dethlefsen, "Colonial Gravestones," 323-24; 326.
32. Ibid., 329.
33. Dethlefsen's discussion implies a consideration of frequencies, but his discussion is
based on graphs (p. 329, figs. 4 & 5) depicting seasonal differences in mean (average) age
at death. While this is not necessarily inconsistent, means, as a measure of central ten-
dency, are quite sensitive to extreme scores, and since Dethlefsen does not provide fre-
quency data, we are not sure if his graphs reflect greater frequencies (of younger and
older deaths), as he suggests, or if the means are being influenced by a few extreme age-
scores. Hence, his graphs actually show that the average age (not a greater frequency) of
those dying in late summer was younger, and the average age (not a greater frequency)
of those dying in late winter was older.
When we calculated seasonal differences in mean age at death, like Dethlefsen we
found younger deaths occurring in late summer, but unlike Dethlefsen we found older
people dying in mid-summer, not in late winter (see Graph 7). In our data, the high
Mean Age at Death by Season
Graph 7
Dec-Jan Feb-Mar Apr-May Jun-Jul Aug-Sep Oct-Nov
Season
Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummel 117
mean age of mid-summer deaths was inflated by a few extreme age-scores. To avoid this
sensitivity, we analyzed the frequencies of older and younger deaths by season (Table
4), and found a pattern consistent with Dethlefsen's.
34. History of Coles County, 7-8; 20-21.
35. Dethlefsen, "Colonial Gravestones," 323.
36. Ibid.
37. For example, see Meyer, Ethnicity and the American Cemetery.
38. Gary S. Foster, Richard L. Hummel, and Robert L. Whittenbarger, "Ethnic Echoes
Through 100 Years of Midwestern Agriculture," Rural Sociology 42 (1987): 365-378.
39. Ibid. See also Sonya Soloman, "Ethnic Communities and the Structure of Agriculture,"
Rural Sociologij 50 (1985): 323-40; Richard H. Shyrock, "British Versus German Traditions
in Colonial Agriculture," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 26 (1939): 39-54; Jan L.
Flora and John M. Stitz, "Ethnicity, Persistence, and Capitalization of Agriculture in the
Great Plains During the Settlement Period: Wheat Production and Risk Avoidance,"
Rural Sociology 50 (1985): 341-60.
40. Coles County, Illinois, Genealogical Society, The Prairie Sleeps: Cemeteries of Mattoon,
North Okaiv and Humboldt Townships (Charleston, IL), 65.
41. Nels Anderson, The Urban Community: A World Perspective (New York, 1959), 71-73;
Robert L. Heilbroner, Beyond Boom and Crash (New York, 1978).
42. Young, 448-49. It should be noted that some individuals may share a surname but claim
no relationship, though this becomes less probable with small, integrated groups.
Further, person /name ratios do not denote conjugal family size since extended and
nuclear family cannot be distinguished by surname alone.
43. Ibid., 448.
44. Dethlefsen and Deetz, "Eighteenth-Century Cemeteries," 40-42.
45. For more on this notion see Meyer, "So Witty as to Speak," 2.
46. Ibid.
118
The Joshua Hempstead Diary
Fig. 1 John Fox, Jr., 1711, New London, Connecticut
119
THE JOSHUA HEMPSTEAD DIARY
Ralph L. Tucker
Introduction
Despite a vast amount of critical analysis on the artistic products of
17th and 18th Century New England stonecutters, there is really little
known about how they actually worked. Aside from what may be
gleaned from the surviving gravestones themselves, a limited selection of
probate records, a few quarry marks, and other such evidence, one finds
very little in the way of hard facts. One of the rare bits of documentary
evidence is represented by the diary of Joshua Hempstead (1678-1758),
who wrote from 1711 to the year of his death about his daily activities in
and around New London, Connecticut.^ The diary has been reprinted by
The New London County Historical Society in a large volume of more
than 700 pages.^ The majority of Hempstead's entries concern the weath-
er and various activities unrelated to his involvement with gravestones.
It takes a bit of weeding out to get to his tombstone activities: having
excerpted for easy reference all immediately relevant selections from the
diary (i.e., those related to coffins and gravestones), it may then be argued
that the primary purpose of this brief article is to put before the reader a
body of information which may be analyzed in greater detail by those
wishing to understand more of the types of daily activities engaged in by
stonecarvers in colonial America.
Of particular interest is Hempstead's transition from a carpenter mak-
ing coffins to a middleman engaged in selling gravestones, all of which is
fully documented in the diary. While all the stones he worked on do not
appear in the document, enough are mentioned to give an idea of the
manner of his trade in them. His usual practice, it appears, was to pur-
chase a number of gravestones for his stock, already carved except for the
inscriptions, which he would then letter himself after he had sold the
stones. Upon some occasions, when time allowed, he would have the
original carver also do the lettering.
Most of the gravestones Hempstead purchased were made by Lt. John
Hartshorne, his sister's uncle by marriage, who came to Connecticut
about 1720, a competent stonecutter then around 70 years of age. The let-
tering of Hartshorne is distinctive and easily separated from that of
Hempstead. Before the arrival of Hartshorne, Joshua had purchased
120 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
stones from other area carvers such as WiUiam StancUft or one of the
Johnson family, whose styles are not easily confused.-^
Hempstead's gravestones were sold in pairs - a headstone, generally
displaying a carved image, carved borders, and inscription, and the
accompanying footstone, usually bearing only the name and initials of the
deceased. The stones that Hempstead supplied are found in the New
London and Groton areas of southern Connecticut, near where he lived,
while Hartshorne generally distributed his stones somewhat to the north,
closer to his home in Lebanon.'*
The diary of Joshua Hempstead begins in 1711, when he was 33 years
old. At this time he had seven children, with two more soon to come. He
records his efforts as a carpenter working on local ships, and there are fre-
quent references to his fields and to the crops which he raised as a farmer.
Active in town and state affairs, he later became a surveyor, a justice of the
peace, and a judge of probate, in which connection he was active in set-
tling bounds, writing wills, and acting as a lawyer.
From 1711 to 1720 he records over thirty coffins that he was called
upon to make. At about that date he rather abruptly ceases making
coffins and begins on a regular basis to supply gravestones as a middle-
man. These transactions continue to be reported throughout the diary to
the very end of his life, when he was 80 years old.
As early as 1712 he had ordered (from the Stanclift Shop in
Middletown, Connecticut) a pair of completed gravestones for John Fox,
Jr. (see Fig. 1). In 1721, he begins to record a long series of transactions
involving gravestones that he ordered which were already carved with
the exception of the inscription. These he subsequently lettered himself.
It was also about this time that the elderly gravestone carver John
Hartshorne arrived in Lebanon, Connecticut, from Massachusetts.
Joshua's sister Lucy, then of Norwich, had married Hartshorne's
nephew, thereby establishing a family connection. There are a number
of references in the diary to "brother Hartshorne," i.e., Lucy's husband,
both before and after John Hartshorne arrived in the area. Although
Lucy and her husband later removed to Maryland, they maintained
communications with Joshua. There are numerous references in the
diary making it clear that Joshua Hempstead went to Lebanon from time
to time in order to purchase partially carved gravestones from John
Hartshorne, paying for them, on various occasions, in wool or bluefish
as well as cash.
Ralph L. Tucker
121
Hempstead frequently notes that he was "Cutting gr. Stones" or "cut-
ting letters/' and later refers to "marking gravestones" and, by 1734,
"Engraving Stones." Such references would indicate that he was in the
practice of taking gravestones already carved and simply adding the
appropriate inscription. In 1729 and 1733, Hempstead records "blacking
gravestones": this somewhat cryptic comment may refer to a process of
preparing the stone prior to lettering.^ Though most of his precarved
stones were purchased from Hartshorne (see, for example. Fig. 2), he uti-
lized other sources as well. In 1723, for instance, we find recorded a pay-
ment of "18-1/2 lb." of wool to a Mr. Johnson of Middletown (most like-
ly the stonecarver Thomas Johnson of that town) for "2 pr. gr. Stones &
flax," and in 1724 an order of gravestones from the aforementioned
William Stanclift, a well known Middletown stonecutter. As late as 1753,
he went to a quarry near Middletown and purchased gravestones "of one
Edwards."
It is interesting to note that, while the date of John Hartshorne' s death
is unknown, Hempstead's diary records that he went to Lebanon in 1739
to "See after gravestones and could get none at present," perhaps an indi-
Fig. 2 William Latham, 1732, New London, Connecticut
122 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
cation that the then 89 year old Hartshorne was in fragile condition and
no longer able to work.
A sufficient number of Hartshorne gravestones have survived so that
if one examines the inscriptions on his stones near upstate Lebanon his
unique lettering style is evident. His stones in the New London and
Groton area, on the other hand, bear a different style of lettering, which
may be designated as that belonging to Hempstead. In this same area we
also may find stones made by other carvers which had been purchased
and then lettered by Hempstead.
Hempstead's diary as a whole is repetitious and makes extensive use
of abbreviations, two somewhat annoying tendencies which make it a bit
awkward to read. For example, each Sunday generally has the notation
"adm pr a d," referring to the fact that the Rev. Mr. Adams preached all
day (i.e., both in the morning and in the afternoon on that day). Other
facts emerge as well: the number of deaths listed will undoubtedly startle
anyone not familiar with that age, and the amount of time Hempstead
records as digging rocks out of his fields is astonishing. His few trips and
meetings are interesting, as are his infrequent comments upon events out-
side of New London. Of most interest to readers of Markers, however,
should be the many references to Hempstead's work with coffins and,
especially, gravestones, to which we may now turn.
Excerpts from the Diary
1711
p. 5 (Dec) Tuesd 11... I was wth Jno Fox all day he was very ill: I
stayed wth him all night also.
Wedensd 12... I was at uncle Fox's all day. John Died
about 10 Clock morn. I came to town to get my tools to
make a Coffin & began itt. I Lay their all night.
Thursd 13... I finished Jno Fox's Coffin: & Stayed to his
funeral.
Saturd 22d...I went to help Lay out Thomas Way Junr
who Died at Griff ings sick but 6 days. I made his Coffin
& found bods & nils,
p. 6 Thursd 27. . . I went in ye morn to fetch ye Black Cloath
thence to help Carry out ye Coffin & so to my aunts
funeral.
Ralph L. Tucker 123
1711/12
(Jan) (Tuesd 1st). . . I finished Jno Lesters Coffin & yn I went to
his funeral &c.
p. 7 Sund 77 ... Benja Lesters wife Died about ll:clock morn. I
went out att night to make her Coffin. I worked almost all
night att Isaac fox's & taryed theire.
Mund 28... I finished Ann Lesters Coffin & tarryed all
day to ye funeral,
p. 9 (Apr) Tuesd: 15... 1 was att home all day Pruning aple trees &
making a Coffin for Eliza Latham who died Last night.
1712
p. 10 (May) Sunday 4th... Brothr Plumbs Child was buried to day. I
made ye coffin,
p. 11 (June) Monday 2d. . .went to Jno Morgans to & made a Coffin for
his mother.
Tuesd 17....Woyats daughter Bijah Brumfield died about
Sunset.
wedensd 18... I was att home made a Coffin for Woyett.
p. 12 (July) Thursd 17... I went into town in ye forenoon to Carry a
Letter & Mony 25s to Send for a pr Grave Stones for Jno
foxes grave,
p. 13 Tuesd 29... I went into town to get ashoar Jno foxes
Grave Stones whch Jno Christophers brought down from
Midletown. Cost 24s Od.
Thursd 31... toward night I went wth ye boys & horse
into town & gott hands to help us Load Jno fox's grave
Stones. I Sett ym in &c. [See Fig. 1]
(Aug) fryd 8... in ye forept of ye day I was making Nath
Chapells Coffin who died Last night about midnight,
p. 15 (Sept) Mond 29... I was at home till one of ye Clock Making
Shorts Coffin who died Last Saturday before noon, mr
Woiet helped me al day.
1712/13
p. 20 (Feb) Sund 15... in ye aftern I went to make a Coffin for
Hannah fox who died Last night.
124 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
p. 21 Mond 23... I workt at home most of ye day & yn I went
to make goodee Lesters Coffin...
Tuesd 24... I was in ye neck making ye Coffin & att ye
funeral till ye midle aftern...
1713
Sunday March 1 . . . Benja Lesters Son Andrew Died about
11 clock. I went out to make his Coffin.
monday 2d... I was finishing ye Coffin & at ye funeral,
p. 22 (April) Mond 20. . . I was at work at home & Ebe making a Coffin
for Goodee Way who died this morn,
p. 23 (May) Thursd:7:... I made a Coffin for Anne Waterous wife of
Jacob Waterous who died Last night. I found 1 /2 lb nailes
& 1 barll Lamblack. I Stayed to ye funeral,
p. 27 (Sept) Wedensd 9... I was att home all day making a Coffin for
Ms Stratton who died Last night.
1714
p. 39 (Sept) Mond 27... Richd Brewster Died. I workt at ye vessell al
day & made Richd Brewst Coffin at night wth Richd
Attwill.
p. 40 (Nov) Sund 21 ... I was out at Amos Tinkers & Josh. We made ye
Coffin for his Mothr. Very aged woman of 85 years to a
day. She was buried between Meetings.
1714/15
p. 42 (Jan) Mond 31 . . . I was at home & made Mary Ingrems Coffin
& thn at funeral.
(Feb) Saturd 12. . . & yn I came home to make a Coffin for Jonat
Hills 2d son who died last night about 9 year old whose
name was William,
p. 43 Monday 14... I made a Coffin for Jonat Hills Son
Jonathan thn I went to the funeral of both Jonat &
William (Hill) who were buried in one grave.
Tuesd 15... Jonathan Hills Daughter Ruth about 7 year
old died.
Wedensd 16... I made a Coffin for Jonat Hills Child &
Ralph L. Tucker
125
went to ye funerall.
Sund 20th... In ye foren I was helping Roff finish ye
Coffin for Sarah Dennis, we began it Last night.
Mond 21 . . . I went to Deacon Douglas's to make a Coffin
for his wife who died this morn.
Tuesd 22... I finisht ye Coffin & was at ye funeral.
1715
p. 44 (Mar) Saturd 26... & yn went to begin a Coffin for Samll
Douglass who died in ye morn.
Mond 28. . . I finisht Samll Douglas's Coffin & at ye funer-
al in ye forept of ye day . . .
p. 45 (May) fryd 6... Doctr Stephenson Died.
Thursd 7th. . . I was at home & made ye Docters Coffin &
yn at his funeral & began a Coffin for Nicholas Darro's
Child which died this day about 2 year & 1/2 old.
1715/16
p. 52 (Jan) Sund 15... uncle Robert Douglass Died this Morning
Suddenly.
Mond 16... I made ye Coffin & went to ye funeral of
Uncle Douglass.
1718
p. 74 (Mar) fryd 14th. I was at home in the foren finishing a Coffin for
Isaac Fox's wife.
1719
p. 90 (July) Saturd 25. . . I made the Coffin for Mary Truman. . .
1720/21
p. 106 (Feb) Thursd 2d... I was at home al d. Cutting 1 pr gravestones,
p. 107 (Mar) Wednsd 15. I was at home made a Coffin & went to ye
funeral of R Prentf's.
1721
p. 113 (Sept) Saturd. 9... I was most of the day Cutting a pair of Grave
126
The Joshua Hempstead Diary
Stones for Mr Arnold.
1722
p. 121 (June) Mond .11... I was all day Cutting Letters in Ms Willsons
grave Stones,
p. 124 (Sept) Mond 17... I was att home in ye foren Cutting gr. Stones
letters for James Rogers.
Tuesd 18. . . I was att home foren Cutting gr. Stones letters.
Wednsd 19... in ye foren I went to Poquoyog & drawed
up 1 pr Gravestones,
p. 127 (Nov) fryd 16... 1 Cut 1 pr gravestones for Mr Wm Wheeler.
(Dec) Saturd 1 ... 1 was att home all day Cutting gr Stones.
Saturd 8th. 1 went to Mr Wheelers to get directions to
Cutt gravestones.
1723
p. 134 (Sept) Tuesd 10... after ye meeting I cut Some Letters in ye
grave stones of Capt Rogers's & Mr Picketts wifes.
p. 136 (Oct) Wednsd 16: 5-1/2 lb [wool] to Mr Johnson of Midletown
wch was due to ym & 18-1/2 lb to buy 2 pr. gr. Stones &
flax,
p. 138 (Dec) Saturd 28... 1 markt a pr of gr. Stones for G: Havens his
child.
1723/24
p. 139 (Jan) Saturd. 4... I was at home all day Cutting gr. Stones.
Tuesd 7... I was at home al day Cutting gr. Stones.
Wednsd 8... I was at home all day Cutting gr. Stones.
Thursd .9... I was at home all day Cutting letters.
Wednsd 15... I was at home al day Cutting Letters.
Mond 20... 1 was att home all day Cutting letter &c.
p. 144 (June)
p. 148 (Oct)
1724
Thursd 25. . . I dd 8 lb of wooll to Wm StancHff for a pr of
gr: stones he Sent me last week.
Wednsd 21... I bot of Jno Hartshorne 10. pr. of
Gravestones. 1 Small foot Stone is wanting, price for [ ]
Ralph L. Tucker 127
Pound & I am to pay uncle Hartshorne all the money as
fast as I can make money of them, to get him .l.bb blue
fish if I can & Send to [Norlwich. if I can get 2 bbs he will
Take them,
p. 149 (Nov) Tuesd 10th... I was at home Marking gr. Stones.
Thursd 12... I set out for Stonington in Jos Coits
Longboat with Stephen in order to fetch Cydar. I caryed
10 pr gravestones. 7 for Wm Wheeler .1. for Ebe Wms &
2 pr Not Sold, ye Wind was high about W S W & a great
Sea tht I dare not venture Round Long point. I put in for
Mumfords. but got on the flatts was forced to put most of
the Stones overbord & yt got a Shore. Lay out al night
under a Hay Stack, fry day 13 fair. In ye Morn wee went
up to Mumfords on Mr Winthrops farm Stayed for the
Tide to Rise got ye Stones in about 2 Clock & got up with
them about 6.
1724/25
p. 154 (Feb) Saturd 20... I was at home most of the day blocking &
Cutting gr. Stones, toward night at the funeral of Ja.
Daniels.
Tuesd 23... I was at home all Day Cutting gr. Stones &c.
p. 155 (Mar) Tuesd 9th... I was at home all day Cutting gr. stones &c.
Saturd 13... I was at home all day Cutting gr. stones for
Roger Dart.
fryd 19... I was at ye farm all day Excepting I cut Some
Letters in Wm Wheelers grave Stones.
1725
p. 156 Mond 29th. . . Sold G. Smith 1 pr Gr. Stones & Reed 25s in
full.
Wednsd 31 . . . I finished Cutting the gravestones (6pr) of
Mr Wheelers. I have 3 pr their not Cut. 2 Red & 1 black.
p. 159 (July) Tuesd 13. . . I markt a pr grstones W M.
Tuesd 20... a pr of gr. Stones for Sister If I out live her.
p. 160 (Aug) Thursd 12... I markt a pr of Gr. Stones for Sister Patience
Hodsell yt was began yesterday. [See Fig. 3]
Saturd 14... I was at home al day Marking gr. stones &
128
The Joshua Hempstead Diary
-1^-"^
nil
LY
Fig. 3 Patience Hodsoll, 1725, New London, Connecticut
Mending fence.
Wednsd 25. . . I went to Norwich. I bot a pr of Gravestones
of Jno Hartshorne for wch I pd 20s p pr. ye Rest to be pd
in wool.
Ralph L. Tucker 129
p. 161 (Sept) Mond 27. . . I kept house al day though I did Something to
marking a gravestone.
Tuesd 28... I finisht marking the Stones.
Wednsd 29... I markt a gr stone in part.
(Oct) Saturd 2. . . I was at home al day Marking Gr. stones.
p. 162 Thursd 21 . . . I was at home aftern Cutting gr Stones.
p. 163 (Nov) Mond 29. . . I went to Norwich to buy Gravestones.
Tuesd 30... I went up to Lads & agreed with Mr
Hartshorne for 10 pr of gr stones 3 pr Large of about 20s
price & ye other 10s 12s & 15s & I am to pay him in Wooll
to Lett him have 100 lb & to take itt out in Stones.
(Dec) fryd 3. . . I was at home al day Cutting gr stones.
Thursd 9... In the morn i dd Jonat Bradley 1 pr gr. stones
for his grand mother & 1 pr at the burying yard for his
grandfather [ ] pd I ]. I dd 5 pr more their. I Cut 1 pr to
day.
1725/26
p. 165 (Jan) Tuesd 25... I was at home al d. Cutting gr. Stones.
Wednsd 26... 1 was at home al day Cutting gr. Stones &c.
Thursd 27... I was at home al day Cutting gr. Stones &c.
p. 167 (March) Tuesd 22... I went to Lads to See after gravestones & yn
back & over to uncle Larobees.
1726
p. 168 (April) Thursd 21... aftern I Set out for Norwich in my whale-
boat to find gravestones & to carry Mother.
Saturd 23... I came home from Norwich foren... brot
home 13 pr gravestones.
Mond 25... yn 1 put a pr of gravestones for Jno
Christophers on bord Capt King to go to Easthampton.
p. 169 (May) Mond 9. . . 1 was most of the day Cutting Grave Stones for
Thos Douglass's.
fryd 13 ... I blockt 13 pr of gravestones.
Mond 16... I was at home al day Cutting gr. stones.
Thursd 19... I Set up Mr Dennis & Rackets gr. Stones
p. 170 (June) Thursd 9. . . 1 was at home all day Cutting gr Stones &c.
Mond 13 ... I was at home Cutting gr. stones & at
130 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
Hallams Childs funeral.
p. 171 Tuesd 28th... I was at home al day Cutting gr stones &c.
(July) fryday 1 ... I was at home marking gr. stones, aftern I Set
up a pr for Ms Arnold & Reed of Thos Fosdyck 20s in part
of pay.
Wednsd.6... I was most of the day home Cutting grave-
stones.
Thursd .7.... I was at home al day Cutting grstones till
near night.
fryd 8th... In the morning Sett up 3 pr gravestones 1 for
Deacon Douglass & 2 for Thos Douglass & his Son . . .
p. 173 (Aug) Wednsd 3... I went up to Samll Lads to breakfast. I car-
ried 60 lb of Wooll for Mr Hartshorne & bot of him 9 pr
Large grave Stones for £8 & yn to Windham. . .
Tuesd 16 ... after I had fetched 9. pr Gravestones from
Douglasses wharf brot from Norwich p. Wm Whitney. I
pd him 7s 6d & trusted him 2s 6d. ... I began a pr gr stones
for Samll Harris Junrs Child.
Wednsd 17... toward night I was marking gr stones.
Thursd 18 ... I sent 50 lb of wool by michel Rood to Mr
Jno Hartshorne at Norwich.
Saturd 20th ...I was at home Cutting gravestones...
Mond 22... 1 finished cutting gr. stones for old Ms
Christophers.
p. 174 (Sept) fryd 2... 1 was most of the day visiting and with Mr
Wheeler to put up grave stones.
p. 175 Thursd 22 ...I Reed of Capt Christophers 40s for a pr. gr.
Stones & 8s of Jno Huntley & 10s of Danll Dishan in full
of all accots.
1726/27
p. 181 (March) Mond 13 ... 1 was at home al day marking gravestones.
Thursd 16 . . .1 was at home Cutting gr stones & yesterday
for Ms Arnold & Wm Davise. [See Fig. 4]
fryd 17... I Set up 2 pr gravestones for Ms Arnold & 1 for
Wm Davise.
p. 182 Wednsd 22. . .1 Returned home & blacked 6 pr gr stones . . .
Ralph L. Tucker
131
III HE ■ D/Ey.#;.-^.aii)§^4;{
,#.■
'^. ' , ^' J, "&*•
,/X.-
/it- '';^^i>J;i
Fig. 4 William Davise, 1725, New London, Connecticut
1727
Mond 27 ...I was at home Cutting Letters...
p. 186 (July) fryd 7 ...1 was al day helping draw up ye Courthouse
Step Stones & Tombstones for Richard Christophers Esq.
2 Lo[ad] & 1/2 was ym in all 11 L[oad]...
fryd 14. . . 1 dd to old Mr Hartshorne 62-1 /2 of wool. I am
to send it up to Norwich to Whitneys.
p. 188 (Sept) Thursd 14 ...1 was at home all d. Marking gravestones &
132 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
pulling hops,
p. 189 (Oct) Mond 2. . . Markt Gr Stones for Samll Fox Senr ye Junr he
hath pd Mr for ym 40s & £3 12s Od for apprizing &
Dividing &c & all Ballanced.
Tuesd 3d ...1 was at home al day Cutting grstones for
Wm Lathams wife.
Wednsd 4 ... I was at home foren Cutting gr Stones...
Saturd 5th... I was at home all day Cutting gr Stones...
fryd 6... I was at home all d. Cutting gr stones...
Saturd 7... 1 was at home all d. Cutting gr stones,
p. 190 (Nov) Saturd 4 ... I Set up grstones for Samll Fox.
p. 192 (Dec) Saturd 16 ... I was home al d. Cutting gr stones for Lt
Hallams Child.
1727/28
p. 193 (Jan) Saturd 6. . . I was at home al day about gr stones.
Thur 11 . . . I was at home al day making a Map & Cutting
Letters.
Saturd 13 ... I Cut Letters ...
Wednsd 17 ... I was at home al d. Cutting Letters.
1728
p. 200 (July) Saturd 13... I sent 81 lb of Wool by Mr Whitney for Mr
Hartshorne.
p. 202 (Sept) Thursd 19... I was at home al day Cutting Gravestones.
fryd 20... 1 was at home al day Cutting Gravestones.
Mond 23d. . . I was at home al day Cutting gr stones.
Wednsd 25... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
p. 203 (Oct) Wednsd 9... I cut letters in ye aftern for Capt Conklins
Mothers Gr. stones.
Tuesd 15... 1 was at home al day Cutting Letters.
Wednsd 16... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c I
went to the funeral of Ms Codner toward night.
1729
p. 209 (April) fryd 25... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
p. 213 (Oct) Thursd 2... in the morn I fetched home 7 pr of gr. stones
Ralph L. Tucker 133
brot down from Norwich by Whitney. I pd him 10s.
p. 216 (Dec) Tuesd 16... I was home most of the day blacking grave-
stones.
Wednsd 17... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
Thursd 18... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
fryd 19... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
Saturd 20... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
1730
p. 225 (Sept) fryd 4... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
p. 226 fryd 11 . . . I Cut Some Letters in a Tomb Stone for C. C.
Wednsd 30... I was Cutting Letters in C. C. Tomb Stone.
(Oct) fryd 2d. . . aftern Cutting letters C. C. Tomb,
p. 227 Thursd 8. . . Cutting Some letters &c.
fryd 9. . . I was about home in Town Cutting Letters on C.
Crs Tomb Stone.
1731
p. 234 (April) Wednsd 28. . . I Cut Some Letters in Tomb Stone.
p. 237 (July) Saturd 10. .. I cut Some Letters.
Tuesd 13... I was home most of the day & Cutting Some
letters in a Tomb Stone for R. Christophers Esqr.
p. 243 (Dec) Mond 20. . . I was Cutting Letters in ye Tombstone of R. C.
1731/32
p. 246 (March) Wednsd 22... I was at home al day Cutting Letters in gr
Stones.
1732
Mond 27. . . I was at home al day Cutting Letters,
p. 248 (June) Tuesd 6... aftern Cutting Letters in a Stone.
Mond 12... I finished Cutting Letters in the Tomb Stone
of Richd Christophers Esqr.
p. 252 (Oct) fryd 6... aftern I was at home Cutting Letters.
Saturd 7. . . I was at home most of the day Cutting Letters.
Mond 9th. . . I finisht Cutting Letters in gr Stones for Capt
[ ]
134 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
Tuesd 10... I was at home most of ye day Cutting gr
stones...
p. 253 (Nov) Saturd 11 . . . I was at home al day Cutting Letters,
p. 255 (Dec) Wednsd 27... I cutLetters in a grave stone.
Thurd 28... I was at home al d lame Cutting Letters.
1732/33
p. 256 (Jan) Thurd 18... I was at home al day Cutting Letters.
1733
p. 264 (Oct) Wednsd 3d... I Reed of Jasper Latham 1 £5 Bill Society
mony to pay for grave Stones for William Latham [see
Fig. 2] if I can put it off Else he to take it again & 1 20s bill
good for a Small pr.
p. 266 (Nov) Mond 19... aftern at home Blacking gr Stones &c.
p. 267 (Dec) fryd 21 . . . I was at home al day Cutting Letters.
Saturd 22... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
Thursd 27. . . I was at home al day. I carted down 5 pr Gr.
Stones to ye water side for Groton.
Saturd 29... I was at home al day Cutting Letters.
1733/34
(Jan) fryd 4... I was at home al day Cutting Letters,
p. 268 Mond 14... I was at home al d. Cutting Letters &c.
1734
p. 277 (Aug) Mond 5. . . I was at home al day Engraving &c.
Saturd 10... I was at home al day Cutting Letters &c.
Mond 12... I was at home al day Engraving Stones.
Tuesd 13... I was at home all the foren Engraving.
Mond 19... I was at home al day 2 Courts & also
Engraving.
Tuesd 20... I was at home al day Engraving.
Thursd 22... I was at home foren Engraving,
p. 280 (Oct) Tuesd 22. . . I finished Cutting Letters in Gary Lathams Gr.
Stone,
p. 281 (Nov) Wednsd 13... I was most of the day at the burying place
Ralph L. Tucker 135
Cutting Letters in Justice Prenttis's Tombstone.
Mond 18... aftern at the burying place Engraving.
Tuesd 19... I was most of ye day Engraving at the Tomb
of the Late Jonat Prenttis Esqr.
fryd 12... I went to Norwich & went to Ladds & bot 10 pr
of gr. stone for £8 to be pd when I Sell them. I pd £3 7s Od
that was due before. . .
p. 282 (Dec) fryday 20... I was at home al day Cutting Letters in a pr
of Gr Stones for Lt Samll Sterry 81 Letters ys day & night,
p. 283 Mond 23. . . I was at home al day Engraving &c.
Tuesd 31 . . . I was at home al day Engraving Stones.
1735
p. 290 (July) fryd 4... 1 was at home forenoon Engraving Stones.
Mond 7... 1 was at home al day Engraving...
Tuesd 8... aftern at home Engraving.
Mond 14... I was at home al day. Engraving aftern.
p. 297 (Dec) Saturd 13... I was at home al day Engraveing.
Tuesd 16... I was at home al day Engraving.
fryd 19... I was at home al day Engraving &c.
1736
p. 305 (June) fryd 25... In the morn 1 went to Joseph Coits Wharff on
bord of Jno Knot & bot 3 pr of gravestones of Danll
Brewer of Midletown for 14s Id p pr. I pd him 15s and
gave a Note for 28s 6d for 3 months.
(July) Mond 5... I was home al d. Engraving.
Tuesd 6... I was at home al Day Except about 3 hours at
the burying place Engraving Tombstones.
Tuesd 13. . . I finisht Engraving gravestones for old Justice
Smith of Groton.
p. 308 (Aug) Wednsd 25. . . aftern Engraving Tombstone at the burying
place.
(Sept) fryd 10th... aftern I was Cutting Letters in Deacon
Plumbs Tombstone,
p. 309 Thursd 30... Richd Christophers buried vizt put into the
Tomb. Mr Seabury pr a funeral sermon at the Church &
Read over the prayers (ordained by the Church on such
136 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
occasions) at the Tomb before he was put in. the Pall bear-
ers were all Churchmen.
1737
p. 320 (May) Tuesd 24... I was at home all day. I helpt Dung Corn &
markt Gr stones.
fryd 27... I was at home al Day Cutting Letters for Ms
Davise Deed of Groton Mr Davis's first wife Daughter of
Ens Wm Morgan.
(June) Tuesd 7. . . Engraving.
1739
p. 357 (Oct) Thursd 11... I went to Lebanon to See after gravestones
and could get none at present.
1741
p. 381 (Aug) fryd 21 . . . 1 finished making a pr of Gravestones for Natt
Larabee & began one for Jno Wood. 1 Reed 45s of Mr
Wood for Sd Stones.
Saturd 22... I was at home all Day Engraving...
(Sept) Thursd 3d... I was at home all Day Engraving Stones.
1742
p. 391 (April) Saturd 3. . . I had 4 pr of gravestones from Wm Stancliff p
Eprh Dones. I pd ye freight 15s Od.
1744
p. 423 (April) Wednsd 4. . . I was at home all day. I finisht Tim Foresyths
Gr Stones,
p. 424 fryd 6. . . I markt Gr-stones for Samll Lee.
p. 426 (June) fryd 8... aftern at home Engraving,
p. 436 (Dec) fryd 28... finisht Engraving gr-stones for Shackmaple.
1744/45
(Jan) Thursd 3... I was at home all Day Cutting Letters in a
Stone of Wm Newport, finisht 81.
p. 437 Tuesd 22... I was at home all Day Engraving Stones.
Ralph L. Tucker 137
p. 438 (Feb) fryd 8... I was at home all day Engraving.
(Mar) Tuesd 5. . . 1 was at home all Day Cutting Letters &c.
1745
p. 444 (June) Saturd 22... I was at home all Day Engraving Letters for
Wm Newport.
Wednsd 26... 1 was at home foren Engraving. Joshua
Carted up 7 pr gravestones & broke one yt was for Ms
Richds. the head Stone.
Thursd 27... I was about home all day Engraving Stones
for Ralph Stodder ye 2d.
p. 445 (July) Thursd 4... Iwas at home all Day Engraving Stones.
p. 453 (Dec) Mond 30. . . 1 was at home all Day Engraving Stones.
1745/46
p. 454 (Jan) Saturd 25... 1 finisht marking grave Stones for Frank
Poveddo Powers's negro man.
p. 466 (Feb) Saturd 8... night over took me at Mr Powers's where 1
stopt & Reed £3 10s Od for his Negro boys Gr. Stones.
1746
p. 458 (April) Tuesd 22... aftern I went to Stonington to Send Some
money by my Son minor for Gravestons.
1746/47
p. 477 (Mar) fryd 6. . . I was at home all day Engraving.
1747
p. 485 (July) Mond 27. . . An Negro Wooman Servt to Mr Powers, Wife
to old frank Poviddo was buried. She died yesterday &
the Negro men 4 of them came for Gravestones for young
frank. Carryed only ye head Stones ye foot Stones Not
be[ Inged one.
p. 491 (Nov) Wednsd 4th. . . I went to Capt Johnsons att ye upperhous-
es & bot 3 pr of Gr Stones for £3 to be pd if 1 have them.
138 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
1747/48
p. 497 (Mar) Mond 7. . . I was at home all day Engraving.
1748
p. 498 (April) Tuesd 5. . . I was att home all day Engraving &c.
Wednsd 6... I was at home all day Engraving.
1749
p. 540 (Dec) Tuesd 12... I finisht a pr of Grave Stones for Capt
Jonathan Starr of Groton, his grave,
fryd 22... I was at home all day Engraving.
Tuesd 26. . . I was at home all Day (Engraving) Except one
hour I Went up to the Town meeting which was soon
over, & nothing done.
Wednsd 27... I finisht Engraving a headstone for Samll
Bills wife.
1749/50
p. 545 (Mar) Mond 12... I was about home all d. I Reed 4 pr Gr Stones
p Capt Es[ ] from Midletown Sent p Pierpont.
Tuesd 12... I was at home all day Engraving &c.
Wednsd 14... finisht ye Gr stones & DD them & Reed of
Sd Darrow £6.
p. 551 (June) Wednsd 4th. . . I finisht Engraving a gravestone for Jno
Avery Junrs wife,
p. 553 (Aug) Wednsd 1 ... I was at home all day Engraving gr Stones
for S. Haughton.
Wednsd 8... aftern I went up to Mr Christophers wharff
to Rectifie a pr of Gr stone for Wm Cashkadden. I Cut out
one Line because his name was Spelt wrong. & I blackt it
over &c.
Thursd 9... I was at home most of the day. towd night I
went up to ye wharff & began to Engrave gr Stones for
Wm Cashkadden.
1751
p. 568 (May) Tuesd 1 ... adm fetched home 4 pr Gravestones. Came
Ralph L. Tucker 139
from Mr Brewer of Midletown wch Cost £13. Joshua paid
the Mony for me.
p. 569 Tuesd 21 . . . I was att home all day Engraving &c.
Wednsd 22... 1 was about home all day, Engraving,
p. 571 (July) Thursd 4... 1 was att home all Day Engraving gr Stones.
1752
p. 589 (May) Thursd 21 . . . In the morning 1 went to Receive Six pair of
Gr stones wch came from Daniel Brewer of Midletown.
price £19 & freight £6. 1 also bot 2 pr of Capt Kelly for £8.
I pd him £30. Still due £3.
Saturd 23... markt pt of a gr ston.
Mond 25... 1 was att home all Day Engraving Maples Gr
stones.
Thursd 28... 1 finisht Engraving a pr of gr. stones for Mr
Willoughby.
(June) Thursd 4... aftern at home Engraving,
p. 590 Thursd 11... I was att home all day Engraving &c.
p. 593 (Aug) Mond 19... aftern at home Engraving...
Wednsd 12... 1 was at home all day Engraving...
Saturd 15... I was at home all day Engraving.
Mond 17... 1 was att home foren Engraving.
p. 599 (Dec) Saturd 2... I was att home all day mending Gr stone S
Maple.
1753
p. 602 (Jan) Wednsd 24... finisht a pr Gravestones for Jasper Lathm.
Thursd 25... I was at home Engraving most of the Day.
fryd 26... I finisht a pr Gravestones for Jont Calkin's
grave.
(Feb) fryd 9... 1 Sent 3 pr of Gravestones up to the burying
place by adam in the Cart. 1 pr was for the grave of Lt
Jonath Calkin, 1 pr for Widow Walwort & one pr for the
Grave of Samll Bills wife, these Last were his Stones & I
Engraved them 2 or 3 yrs ago. & now this Day he Died .
aged 1 Supose near 60.
Saturd 10... I was att home all day about Gr. stones.
Wednsd 14... I was at home all day Engraving &c.
140 The Joshua Hempstead Diary
p. 609 (June) Wednsd 27... went with Pierpont a Cross ye River to ye
Quary & bot 1 pr Large gr stones of one Edwards for £4 I
pd him. 4 or 5 pr at 50s p pr wch Pierpt is to pay for me.
p. 610 (July) Thursd 12... in the morning I went with adm & Team to
Capt Coits wharf & brought home Six pr of Gravestones
Stephen Harris brot & pd him £3 12s Od for freight.
p. 611 Mond 16. . . in the morning I bot of Stephen Harris 1 pr Gr
stones & 2 Baggs for 9 lbs 1 /4 of Wool.
p. 614 (Aug) Tuesd 28. . . I was at home all day Engraving &c.
Wednsd 29... I was at home all Day. finisht Engraving T.
Trumans Stones.
Wednsd 28... I was at home all day Engraving.
p. 619 (Nov) Tuesd 20. . . I was att home all day Engraving,
fryd 30... I was att home all Day Engraving.
p. 620 (Dec) fryd 7... I was att home all day Engraving &c.
1754
p. 623 (Jan) Saturd 26... & I paid to Powers before on his acct 53-£118
18s Od & also I pd him £9 before in a pr of Gravestones,
p. 627 (April) fryd 5th... helpt adam Load up 4 pr of Gravestones at
Picketts wharf . . .
p. 635 (Aug) Thursd 22... Molly arived by water with Stephen Harris
who brot me a pr of gravestones for Deacon Lee Deed.
fryd 23. . . In the morn I fetched a pr of Gr. stones fro Capt
Coits wharf,
p. 636 Tuesd 27... 1 was at home all day Engraving.
Wednsd 28... I was att home all day Engraving.
Thursd 29... 1 finisht Engraving Ms Robinsons grstones.
p. 641 (Dec) fryd 6... 1 was att home all Day Engraving &c.
Mond 16... finisht Engraving for Dea. Lee.
p. 642 Tuesd 24. . . 1 was at home all day Engraving.
Satrd 28... 1 was at home all day Engraving.
1755
p. 659 (Nov) Wednsd 19... I was att home all Day Engraving.
Ralph L. Tucker 141
1756
p. 666 (April) Thursd 1... I was att home all day Engraving gr Stone...
going up with adam to ye Burying place with a Jagg of
Gravestones,
p. 676 (Oct) Tuesd 19... I was att home all day Engraving.
Wednsd 20... I was att home all day Engraving Capt
Barbats Stone.
fryd 22... 1 finisht Engraving &c.
1758
p. 697 (Jan) Tuesd 10. . . 1 was about home all day. Engraving gr stones
for Pages.
NOTES
The author is grateful to The New London [Connecticut] Historical Society for its permis-
sion to reprint here the excerpts from the Diary of Joshua Hempstead, to which it holds copy-
right. The photograph of the John Fox gravestone (Fig. 1) is from a glass negative by
Harriette Merrifield Forbes, in the collection of Daniel and Jessie Lie Farber. The pho-
tographs shown in Figs. 2-4 are by Daniel and Jessie Lie Farber.
L Harriette Merrifield Forbes mentions Hempstead in her classic Gravestones of Early New
England and the Men who Made Them, 1653-1800 (Boston, 1927; rpt. New York, 1989), 102-
105. Ernest Caulfield first drew attention to Hempstead's diary in the critical literature:
see his "Connecticut Gravestones XII: John Hartshorn (1650-C.1738) vs. Joshua
Hempstead (1678-1758)," Bidletin of the Connecticut Historical Society 32:3 (1967), rpt. in
Markers VIII (1991): 164-88. See also Allan I. Ludwig, Graven Images: New England
Stonecarving and Its Symbols, 1650-1815 (Middletown, CT, 1966), 373; 377; 425; Peter Benes,
"Lt. John Hartshorn: Gravestone Maker of Haverhill and Norwich," Essex Institute
Historical Collections 109:2 (1973): 152-64; James A. Slater and Ralph L. Tucker, "The
Colonial Gravestone Carvings of John Hartshorne," Puritan Gravestone Art II, ed. Peter
Benes (Boston, 1978), 79-146; James A. Slater, The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern
Connecticut and the Men Wlio Made Them (Hamdem, CT, 1987), passim. For a corollary
example of the usefulness of such accounts (the daybooks of the Stevens Shop, Newport,
Rhode Island) see Dickran and Ann Tashjian, Memorials for Children of Change: The Art of
Early New England Stonecarving (Middletown, CT, 1974), 213ff.
2. Diary of Joshua Hempstead of Neiv London, Connecticut (New London, CT, 1901; rpt. 1985).
The preface to this volume contains much valuable collateral information on Hempstead
and his family, the New London of his times, and the original manuscript volumes of the
diary.
142
The Joshua Hempstead Diary
3. For more on Stanclift and the Johnsons see Ernest Caulfield, "Connecticut Gravestones II:
The Stanclift Family," Bulletin of the Connecticut Historical Society 16:4 (1951) and 17:1
(1952), rpt. in Markers VIII (1991): 16-38, and "Connecticut Gravestones V: The Thomas
Johnsons," Bulletin of the Connecticut Historical Society 21:1 (1956), rpt. in Markers VIII
(1991): 58-89.
4. At the time Hempstead composed his diary, the present day communities of Lebanon,
Franklin, and Norwich were all known as Norwich: thus, Hartshorne lived in what is
now Lebanon but was then a part of Norwich.
5. For collateral information on the little understood process of painting gravestones in
early America, see editor Theodore Chase's "addendum" (pp. 27-29) to Eloise Sibley
West, "The John Dwight Workshop in Shirley, Massachusetts, 1770-1816," Markers VI
(1989): 1-31.
APPENDIX 1
Summary of Gravestone Purchases by Joshua Hempstead
1712 From Middletown for John Fox (made by one of the Stanclifts)
1722 To Poquoyog for a pair of gravestones
1723 A pair of stones from Mr Johnson of Middletown
1 724 A pair of stones from William Stanclift
1 724 Ten pair from Hartshorne
1725 One pair from Hartshorne
1725 Ten pair from Hartshorne
1725/6 Thirteen pair from Hartshorne
1726 Nine pair from Hartshorne
1733 He sends five pair to Groton
1 734 Ten pair from Hartshorne
1736 Three pair from Daniel Brewer of Middletown
1739 To Hartshorne for stones but "none at present"
1742 Four pair from William Stanclift
1745 To Stonington to send money for gravestones - to who??
1747 Three pair from Capt. Johnson
1749/50 Four pair from Middletown, by Capt. Es[ ]
1751 Four pair from Mr Brewer of Middletown
1752 Six pair from Daniel Brewer of Middletown
1752 Two pair of Capt. Kelly
1753 Six pair from Edwards at quarry
1753 One pair from Stephen Harris (for transporting ?)
Ralph L. Tucker
143
APPENDIX 2
Summary of stones "cut," "markt," or "Engraved" by Hempstead
1712 John Fox 1730
1721 Mr Arnold 1732
1722 Ms Willson 1733
James Rogers 1734
William Wheeler
1723 Capt. Rogers
Ms Pickett 1736
child Haven
1724 William Wheeler (7 pair) 1737
Ebe. Williams 1741
1724/5 James Daniels 1744
Roger Dart
William Wheeler
1725 G. Smith 1744/5
W.M. 1745
Patience Hodsell
Jonathan Bradley's grandparents 1745/6
1726 John Christophers 1747
Thomas Douglass & son 1749
Mr Dennis
Hackett 1749/50
child Hallams
Ms Arnold
Thomas Fosdyck
Samuel Harros' son 1752
Ms Christophers
John Huntley 1753
Daniel Dishan
1726/7 Ms Arnold
William Davise
Richard Christophers (Tomb)
1727 Samuel Fox 1754
William Latham's wife
child Hallam
1728 Capt. Conklin's mother 1756
MsCodner 1758
C. Christophers
Capt. [ ]
William Latham
Cary Latham
Jonathan Prentiss
Lt. Samuel Sterry
Justice Smith
Deacon Plumb
Ms Davise
Nathaniel Larabee
Timothy Forsyth
Samuel Lee
Shackmaple
William Newport
Ms Richards
Ralph Stodder
Frank Proveddo's Negro man
Frank Proveddo's Negro woman
Capt. Jonathan Starr
Ms Samuel Bill
Darrow
John Avery's wife
S. Haughton
William Cashkadden
S. Maples
Mr Willoughby
Jasper Latham
Jonathan Calkins
Widow Wallworth
Ms Samuel Bill
T.Truman
Powers
Deacon Lee
Ms Robinson
Capt. Barbat
Page
144
Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
Fig. 1 Gravesite of Andrew Charles Lynch,
Mt. Pamalpais Cemetery, San Rafael, California
145
CONTEMPORARY GRAVEMARKERS OF YOUTHS:
MILESTONES OF OUR PATH THROUGH PAIN TO JOY
Gay Lynch
Editor's Preface
The essay which follows represents in several ways a departure from the type
of article normally found within Markers. For one thing, it is far more intense-
ly personal and contemplative than the generally analytical studies of individual
carvers, gravemarker styles, and other cemetery-based materials and concepts
which the journal has made its mainstay over the years. Wliich is not to say that
this article is lacking in analytical and critical acumen: far from it, as I am con-
fident will become apparent in its reading. Rather, it might be more accurate to
say that this study carries with it - in addition to its valuable critical observa-
tions - an element of personal commitment of the part of the author which ele-
vates both the insights and the writing itself to a level of transcendent power
rarely seen in merely academic prose. As such, I am reminded of the sometimes
spiritually moving works of certain folklorists - John Lomax and Richard Dorson
in several of their earlier efforts, and, more recently, Keith Cunningham in his
American Indians' Kitchen-Table Stories (1992) - who discovered within the
course of their own fieldwork certain truths which profoundly affected, perhaps
even changed, their lives. It is this sort of power which infuses the present study
and which, in some fashion, transfers its essence to the reader.
A second manner in which this essay stands in contrast to most Markers
entries is in its general paucity of illustrations (there are only three photographs,
all of the same monument). This is a deliberate choice: the author could easily
have supplied numerous visual examples of other markers meant to illustrate the
various points she discusses. But these are neither necessary nor desirable, and
this for two reasons. For one thing, despite the article's signally important obser-
vations on the gravestones of youths in general, there is one memorial and one
memorial only which constitute's its spiritual core - that of Andrew Charles
Lynch - and to provide additional illustrations of other monuments would only
serve to dilute that vitally important consideration. Furthermore, by deliberately
choosing not to provide other visual examples (in the manner we have somewhat
complacently become accustomed to) the author is presenting a subtle yet quite
meaningful challenge to her readers - the invitation to get out of our comfortable
armchairs and discover these striking contemporary artifacts in their natural set-
tings, almost always a more poiverfid and revealing experience than merely
studying their reflections within the bound pages of a printed work.
146 Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
In our ongoing efforts to appreciate and understand the beauty and unique-
ness of gravemarkers as crafted artifacts, it is sometimes important that we take
the time to grapple with fundamental questions concerning the equally important
and often complex functions they serve in our culture. In her at times almost
poetic treatment of the contemporary gravestones of young people, Gay Lynch has
provided significant insights into the creation of not only these specific elements
of the cemetery landscape, hut, perhaps even more importantly, the functioning
and purposes of that landscape as a whole.
Introduction
This essay has emerged as the result of a journey, partially physical,
perhaps even more so spiritual, which I undertook in 1993 as part of a per-
sonal effort to understand the manner in which we as a culture attempt to
deal with the loss of young people through the memorials we erect for
them. The course of this journey took me to cemeteries on both coasts of
the United States, to conversations with many people, and, finally, to
what I feel to be at least a partial understanding of the principles I sought
to comprehend. My suggestion here is that contemporary gravemarkers
of youths constitute a distinct genre of memorial - we mark the deaths of
adolescents differently than those of all other age categories - and my
response to these markers has led me to two basic conclusions. Firstly, the
deaths of young persons are extraordinary violations of the expected and
we, in turn, respond with gravemarkers which also violate the expected.
With the same passion of the youth who have been snatched too early, we
create extraordinary monuments in their memory. Secondly, these unique
memorials embody our struggle and brokenness as well as our path to
healing. The examples I have observed display a willingness, indeed a
daringness, on the part of the surviving families to acknowledge and
reveal pain and brokenness in ways that often dramatically set these
memorials apart in the cemetery landscape . As such, these creations are
honest manifestations of intense wounds. But this is by no means all they
embody, for at one and the same time they symbolize a journey toward
healing. Within the darkness, sorrow, and torturing doubt in which they
are created lies the path to joy and transcendency of the self.
Though a number of recent studies have dealt with the denial of death
in contemporary American culture, I have found one of the most useful
treatments to be that of Ralph C. Johnston, Jr.^ Johnston begins with the
work of Philippe Aries, whose general proposition is that humanity's rela-
Gay Lynch 147
tionship to death has become ever more distorted as our society has
become increasingly technological. According to Aries, the "tame," non-
threatening death of primal community-based societies has become "wild"
with the progress of scientific knowledge, for it is the one condition science
can never cure.^ Death has little place in this brave new world.
Following an examination of what he terms the Thanatology
Movement, i.e., contemporary publications and organizations seeking to
change our culture's terror of death which have followed in the wake of
the pioneering studies of Elisabeth Kiibler-Ross,^ Johnston presents his
own program for "taming" death in contemporary culture. In the tradi-
tion of Aries, he calls for the return of "an ethic of community" as a way
of coming to terms with death and removing "the mantle of invisibility"
our culture has cast over it."*
Johnston's ethic calls for connectedness with our dead, integration of
death into our lives, and union with sacred tradition. His assertion is that
these communions, both intrapersonal and interpersonal, are best accom-
plished by travelling the path of brokenness and mourning, and that only in
our struggle with death do we receive a sense of God's mystery and there-
by align ourselves with sacred tradition. This sense is not articulated as a
conclusion but is, rather, revealed and grasped only in the spiritual bar-
renness born of confronting struggle. The journey of loss and lament,
argues Johnston, leads to the fullness of community.^ In short, we "tame"
death by turning toward it.
Johnston's evocation of the path of struggle, brokenness, and mourn-
ing as a means by which to build community in the face of human death
offers us an opportunity through which we are irrevocably changed and
empowered. When we allow ourselves to struggle, to experience broken-
ness, and to mourn, we encounter our creativity, our wholeness and our
joy. When our cries are not voiced, heaven is not moved and history is not
initiated. The result is hopelessness. However, when we do dare to initi-
ate expression, we have a new chance. The distinctive memorials of
youths which are the subject of this essay are born from the experience of
travelling this path. By daring to cast our pain in material form and reveal
our struggle at deeply personal levels, we create extraordinary memorials
as well as build bridges with our world.
One might wonder why I have chosen this particular age category. My
family and I have lost a young person. Our youngest son, Andrew
Charles Lynch, died in his sleep of myocarditis at the age of twenty-one
148 Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
on January 11, 1991. We had no warning: neither he nor we knew he was
ill. Little did we know the steps to the path, the agonizing and ultimately
joyful experience of creating our own young person's memorial, were but
a heartbeat away. Hence this essay is written in the voice - my voice - of
a bereaved parent.
My family found itself resistant to any and all standard, pre-existing
styles of stone carvings. In order to mark an event that we felt nature could
never possibly absorb, we needed to create a memorial that the existing
cemetery landscape would not absorb. We had been handed a tragedy out-
side of the natural order. The only way we could possibly mark it would be
with a memorial that, too, was unnatural. A gravestone that looked like any
other gravestone would not do. To lose a youth is not a normal sorrow: in
order to remain afloat and in the arena of participation and hope, we need-
ed to respond with a memorial that was unlike the others.
We knew our hearts had to do this unimaginable task. The mind does
not tolerate the mystery of such a loss: it is only with the heart that one
can enter such mystery and find relationship to it. While the mind judges
and seeks to impose order on suffering, the heart appreciates and knows
that suffering is the first step of healing. Our hearts needed time to absorb
the pain, the agonizing pain, from within which the memorial would be
created. We waited for months which totaled nearly three years.
Although James T. McCarthy, third generation owner of California's
oldest memorial company, Amador Memorial of Oakland, assured me
when 1 consulted him that parents of young adults spend more time than
any of his clientele in choosing gravemarkers, 1 wondered if our response
was unusual. While our family tormentingly reflected on how to mark an
event every fiber of our being passionately resisted, 1 set out to explore
and discover how other parents mark the death of their adolescents. Thus
began my cemetery wanderings. In my pilgrimage through the stones, 1
was seeking community for my deepest wound.
I discovered that gravemarkers have many ways of talking to us. As
Richard E. Meyer notes in his Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of
American Culture, we hear the voices of these markers not only through
their verbal etchings but, as well, through their size, their shape, their
composition (i.e., type of material), and their location within a cemetery
site.^ On my journey - which even now 1 can see has no ending - I have
encountered distinctive voices far beyond my expectations, and yet they
are voices that are familiar to me. Their pain is my pain. These voices have
Gay Lynch 149
spoken to me as loudly as the silence I hear of those whose lives the stones
represent: on many occasions I have heard them before I was sufficiently
close for my eyes to determine, to confirm the age of the deceased.
This is what I have heard. . .
Inscriptions
Personal Qualities
The gravemarker is our only and our last chance to share the essence
of our beloved young person with the world beyond our own personal
sphere. Our youth has spent much of his or her life putting down roots
and becoming familiar and comfortable with self-identity. They are in the
early stages of the process of expressing unique sensitivities and gifts to
the world. Now that they are dead, we strongly feel the need to etch in
stone those qualities which - though familiar and precious to us - most of
the world will never have the opportunity to know.
While frozen expressions such as "Beloved Father and Husband" or
"Mother We Love Thee" may typically be found on the contemporary
gravestones of adults, or "Ours But a Little While" on that of infants, the
epitaphs on gravestones of young people are, in many cases, specialized
and highly personal inscriptions. Parents, as survivors, need to commu-
nicate and seek to immortalize qualities of the young person so deeply
dear to them, qualities of which the world has now, suddenly, been
deprived: at the same time, there exists the passionate desire to immor-
talize as well their own responses to these special qualities possessed by
the now departed youth. Perhaps - or so it seems - if we somehow man-
age to etch these qualities in stone, the world beyond our own personal
world will understand and enter into a relationship with these gifts of
which our present and future have now been disadvantaged.
He was loving, strong, adventurous, exuberant,
talented, with a big heart and wonderful smile.
He touched so many. We love you so.
A child of love, beauty,
sweetness, laughter and joy.
She taught us the meaning
of love and life.
150
Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
Personal Quotations
Another manner in which the verbal etchings provide unique voices is
through personal quotes of our young persons which serve as the prima-
ry inscriptions on the markers. These utterances, captured here in an
image of permanence, tie us to relationships that are never replaced.
Those widowed often remarry, and younger couples are likely to "try
again" following the death of an infant. As parents of youths, frequently
beyond our child-bearing years, we anticipate the process of transferring
to these young adults our sense, whether real or imagined, of our own
immortality. With their unexpected deaths, we become fixated upon their
living images. Not only do the words and expressions of our cherished
youths live on in us, we somehow find comfort and experience pride in
sharing them with the world.
Catch 'Ya Later
Fig. 2 Detail, Gravesite of Andrew Charles Lynch,
Mt. Pamalpais Cemetery, San Rafael, California
Gay Lynch 151
Don't Worry About It
Where the earth touches the sea,
We will be free and then truly happy.
Noah
Survivor Comfort
Survivor comfort is an important theme among primary inscriptions
found on the gravestones of youths. Neither mortaHty statistics^ nor our
Hfe experience would suggest that we should expect young adults to die.
Their bodies have succeeded in surviving the early stages of life outside
the nurturant womb. Save for chicken pox, injections and vaccines have
eradicated all previous childhood illnesses, especially the great killers of
previous eras. Our young people have managed the integrative process of
social community within family and school structures. They have exhib-
ited their flexibility and strength, both physical and emotional, in reach-
ing their adolescent years. They are about to begin to live their own lives
in their self-chosen ways. Now, suddenly, unexpectedly, their deaths
leave us stunned and confused, our hearts incredibly heavy. We seek com-
fort in order that we may heal, while, ironically, we often encounter pres-
sure intended to cure us. We are frequently surrounded by the naive
notion that having faith somehow cancels our pain and suffering. On the
stones of our young people we inscribe the comfort for which our hearts
yearn.
He thought of all the good things
he had accomplished in his life,
thought of all the magnificent things
he had learned in his relatively brief time
of existence, and was happy within himself.
My love involves the love before;
My love is vaster passion now;
Though mixed with God and nature thou,
I seem to love thee more and more.
Far off thou art but ever nigh;
I have thee still, and I rejoice;
I prosper, circled with thy voice:
I shall not lose thee though I die.
152 Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
Visual Images
One of the most compelling features of the contemporary gravemark-
er is the reemergence of the visual image, particularly when used to
impart a strong element of personalization to what otherwise might
appear initially to be yet another nondescript element in the general
cemetery landscape.^ Nowhere is this more apparent than on the markers
of young people, where increasingly one finds intensely personalized
images which form the visual counterpart to the inscribed personal quo-
tations described earlier. Motorcycles, cheerleaders, musical instruments,
sports figures in action, pets, automobiles, outdoors scenes - these and a
myriad of other images sandblasted or etched upon the faces of contem-
porary markers in cemeteries throughout America testify to the individu-
ality and vital essence of the young persons who graced our existence.
Size, Shape, Location, Composition
The passion, the vitality, and the potential of our young adults seem
too promising to be extinguished. This we announce to the world not only
through word and image but also through the size, shape, composition,
and positioning of the monuments we choose. In San Rafael, California's
Mount Tamalpais Cemetery, at the top of a sloping hillside dotted with
other memorials, sits a round and massive piece of local serpentine. To
stand beside it is to experience being positioned on a speaker's platform.
It boldly announces to the surrounding landscape the enormity of the
experience represented in the loss of the youth it commemorates. Its size
and positioning speak clearly to us: the intensity of the pain feels as if we
were crushed by this immense boulder.
In contrast, the smallest memorial in Oakland, California's vast and
monumentally overpowering Mountain View Cemetery, a bronze marker
measuring a diminutive six and three-quarter by ten inches, nestles qui-
etly in the melancholy shade of a grassy glen, so still and so very private.
I look at the sculpted youthful face captured in the bronze. It hugs the
ground in the shadows of the trees, and I hear the whispering sounds: "I
was too young and beautiful to die."
Back in Mount Tamalpais Cemetery, a large heart shaped monument,
carved of Indian marble, rests upon the green grass of the Sha'arei Shalom
Jewish section. Etched upon its face are somewhat unusual looking Lions
of Judah. For many months the family agonized with the carver over the
expression on the faces of the lions, insisting that they be youthful. The
Gay Lynch 153
artist tried repeatedly to achieve what the family needed, with drawing
after drawing rejected before final approval of the "adolescent" lions
which personalize this stone. This I learned from the young person's
mother one day while I was walking in the cemetery. She did not know
me, nor I, her; yet, I approached her and said hello after watching her
travel from stone to stone. The way she moved reminded me of myself:
her body posture told me that she, too, was searching the landscape for
other markers that might bring community to her struggle.
On America's other coast, a rare metallic gravemarker in Boston's
Mount Auburn Cemetery commemorates a twenty-one year old youth.
Sculpted of shiny and hollow stainless steel by a New York artist, the
monument is suggestive of a door. This holds an even larger and extend-
ed meaning for us, for the gravemarkers of our young people serve as
powerful symbolic hinges between the separate doors of death and life.
To these monuments we return to soften the distance between the doors
and to uncover within ourselves a threshold of knowing that both doors
open to the same reality. Paradoxically, at the same time we renew our
commitments to both realms.
Gardens and Offerings
Researchers and psychologists suggest that the most distressing and
stressful grief anyone could encounter is that of the loss of a grown child. ^
Perhaps one of our greatest challenges as surviving parents is to somehow
complete the past, find meaning in the present, and want to create a
future. But the past is never over for it holds the living memories of our
joy. And our child's death, albeit past, is always both now and new. The
present is different than anything we have ever known: nothing in our
world looks or feels the same. Compassion and empathy for all of life
guide our actions, and we reach all around us to support and nurture
potential. We want to want to create a future and, yet, it is too painful to
look very far ahead. Today is enough of a challenge.
There is another kind of gravesite memorial we create that helps us
through each day. We plant grave gardens. These gardens reassert life
over death and remind us how creation can flower from isolation.
Moreover, they allow us an active participation in their growth and devel-
opment. They become a metaphor for our self-healing wherein we seek to
reclaim our own inner acorn nature. We yearn toward the creative and
restorative powers of the natural world and hope that we, too, as surely
154 Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
as the bulbs sending up their shoots, may blossom again.
But it is not only natural forms we plant. Often these gardens display
a series of little things placed carefully in and around them - a beer bot-
tle, a rubber duckie, pine cones, a comb, a package of chewing gum. Not
only do such offerings serve, in the manner of the previously mentioned
verbal inscriptions and visual images, as surrogates of the departed, they
have an additional and equally powerful function. As Sharon Olds tell us
in her poem "Little Things," these things, these little things, somehow
have a magical way of giving us a sense that we belong to our world:
So when I fix on this tiny image of resin
or sweep together with the heel of my hand a
pile of my son's sunburn peels like
insect wings, where I peeled his back the night before camp,
I am doing something I learned early to do, I am
paying attention to small beauties,
whatever I have - as if it were our duty to
find things to love, to bind ourselves to this world. ^°
Landscapes and Visits
Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday writes in his The
Way to Rainy Mountain:
Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon
the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself
up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at
it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to
dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it
with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds
that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures
there and all the faintest motions of wind. He ought to
recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of dawn
and dusk."
For certain of us, the "particular landscape" to which Momaday beck-
ons is the gravesite of our child. Our rational minds never really under-
stand, but our hearts, broken open to God, consistently direct us to these
spots. These sites are alive, for we keep them alive. The lives of our young
adults are not over in us.
Sometimes we go there to pull up weeds: there are other times when
to pull up a weed is to experience our child die all over again. We water.
We bring birthday cakes, and Valentine hearts, and Easter eggs, and
Christmas trees. We light candles. And we also bring the "little things"
Gay Lynch 155
that bind us to this world and the world of our young persons.
There are many times when we bring nothing but a deep yearning to
sit in silence and feel and listen to the memories. We watch the light; we
are aware of the slightest and most gentle of breezes; no movement of
anything alive escapes our attention: the bough of a branch softly sways;
a lizard makes a sudden movement from one rock to another; a hawk
rides the currents of air above us; a male quail, donning topknot in a crest
of perfection, sits both haughtily and cautiously atop a nearby stone. In
these moments in this sacred landscape all distinction disappears, and we
feel that there is but one heart in all of life and death. Our suffering con-
nects us to a universal rhythm, "an ethic of community," and admonish-
es us of the absolute holiness of our task. Perhaps such an experience
breathes life into Johnston's claim that "redemption and transcen-
dence.... can be born of suffering and sorrow." ^^
These visits revitalize our lives, for once again we lean into our pain
within which we experience our joy. The memorials we have recreated
never forsake us but, rather, invite us to find life in death by encouraging
us to express our understanding of the source of our suffering. Just as they
give voice to the passion which allows us freedom from imagined sepa-
rateness, we hear a Voice speaking from beyond the distinction of life and
death. Perhaps within this sound lies the ultimate "ethic of community."
Conclusion
In his commitment to intrapersonal and interpersonal community in
the face of death as a means of coming to terms with death, Ralph
Johnston suggests "that the sacred can be realized through a web of
shared meanings that transcend the isolated self."^^ The gravemarkers
which 1 experienced in my journey and have discussed in this essay pos-
sess sacred meaning for me. I know the pit of despair and the longing out
of which they were created, and 1 know I am not alone.
In his book Who Dies?, Stephen Levine claims that "the death of a child
is a fire in the mind."^"* The fire must burn its purifying way from our
minds into our hearts. This is the work of a lifetime. This intrapersonal
integrative process is part of the very "ethic of community" Johnston calls
for. For some of us, these gravemarkers are our first and initiatory experi-
ence at allowing the air to kindle the flame. Interpersonal community is
engendered as well: something in us dies that prepares us to love as God
loves when we openly bear and share the unbearable.
156 Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
The voices of the gravemarkers of our youths are caUing to us to inte-
grate death into our Hves. Are we, the surviving famihes of these adoles-
cent deceased, participating in the "taming" of death in our culture?
There seems little doubt that in our bright and beautiful young persons
we have been given the greatest teachers of all. They will not let us get
away with false strength. Each day, and most often when we least expect
it, they remind us that our strength and sense of communal belonging lie
within our willingness to embrace life's sorrows and to be vulnerable to
them.
1 have suggested that mourning is a gown of the process of healing,
and that these unique gravemarkers of youths are material images that
embody this vital and life-sustaining process. Our particular pain has cre-
ated these images, but they, too, provide others with an opportunity to
resonate with their own suffering. The heartache embodied in these
memorials beckons others to participate in this universal experience of
humankind. They stand as invitations for a shared participation in lives
in which wounding has meaning.
The wound itself gets us through. It has its own soul, its own whole-
ness, and its own way of knowing. It is a window, and it is the first step
of healing. Each marker in this sacred landscape of my pilgrimage
through the stones has assured me that to have no more than a thinly
transparent tissue of protective tissue over my wound is not only safe, but
essential if 1 am to be within the range of the Voice which speaks to me, in
its all-embracing unifying wisdom, from beyond the distinction of life
and death.
I bring this essay and record of my journey to a close with a personal
anecdote which perhaps best summarizes all 1 have written and experi-
enced. Recently I was walking in the cemetery where our son is buried. At
the time, the memorial brass marker was not yet affixed to his stone. As I
approached the gently sloping hillside where he lies, 1 noticed an elderly
woman sitting peacefully on the stone. The stone itself is one which I
found in the forest in the Sierras of Northern California, an area most dear
to our son's heart. Its shape and size are such that it provides a comfort-
able seat.
As 1 grew closer to the woman, I said, "Good Morning."
"Oh, Good Morning," she replied.
She hesitated for a moment. "You know, 1 come here often. 1 love to sit
here."
Gay Lynch
157
"You do?" I asked.
"Oh, yes/' she responded.
As she lovingly patted the stone, she continued: "Just look at this
beautiful piece of natural granite. Now, don't you think this was a won-
derful idea? I understand a vital young man is buried here and I imagine
this is just what he would have loved."
For a moment she was quiet before she went on: "And look at this
lovely garden. Do you see the beer bottle snuggled down in the rosemary?
And all the special rocks the family has brought? And look, pennants of
his favorite sports teams. I understand he was very tall and a fine athlete."
Again she paused. "As a matter of fact," she continued, "when my
husband died a year ago at the age of eighty-six I chose his burial site just
a little down the hillside. I chose the site that was closest to where I am sit-
ting. I wanted my husband to be near this youth and this beautiful stone
and this lovely garden. He always loved being in the presence of youths,
for he felt they had such promise."
Together, for some moments, we held her words in silence. Slowly my
body moved closer to her. My eyes glistened with tears of fire which
poured forth from my heart. "Yes," 1 said. "Their promise never dies."
'ff-
. -V
ANDREW CHARLES LYNCH
MARCH 21, i969 - JANUARY 11. 1^^
THANKS POR ALL THE YEARS. ANTrCfPATIONS.
HAPPINESS AND LAUGHTER."
YOUR DEVOTED FAMILY FOREVER.
MOM. DAD. LINDSAY AND JOHN
:^)
v..
^ J \ i.
Fig. 3 Memorial Plaque, Gravemarker of Andrew Charles Lynch,
Mt. Pamalpais Cemetery, San Rafael, California
158 Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths
Editor's Postscript
Andrew Charles Lynch's memorial (Figs. 1, 2, and 3) is located in Mt.
Pamalpais Cemetery, San Rafael, California. Completed in 1994, and three and a
half years in the making, it is a product of the collective heart of the Lynch fami-
ly - Gay, her husband John, daughter Lindsay, and son John, Jr.
NOTES
Professor Kimberley C. Fatten of Harvard University's Divinity School trusted me in my
struggle and in my need to write this essay Her confidence in my suffering is forever a part
of my healing. The photographs shown in Figures 1 and 2 were taken by John Lynch, Jr., and
that shown in Figure 3 by his father, John.
1. Ralph C. Johnston, Jr., Confronting Death: Psychoreligious Responses (Ann Arbor, MI, 1988).
2. Ibid., 2-7. Aries has discussed this concept on several occasions, perhaps most fully in his
The Hour of Our Death, trans. Helen Weaver (New York, 1981).
3. Especially her On Death and Dying (New York, 1969).
4. Johnston, 55-67.
5. Ibid., 64-67.
6. Richard E. Meyer, "Icon and Epitaph," in Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American
Culture, ed. Richard E. Meyer (Ann Arbor, MI, 1989; rpt. Logan, UT, 1992), 9.
7. Recent figures indicate the statistical probability that someone who reaches the age of
ten will die before his twenty-fifth birthday (i.e., the general age range under discussion
in this essay) is 0.0112, or 1%, a formula including death by accident, which is by far the
leading cause of death among young persons. By contrast, the figure for those between
the ages of fifty and sixty-five is 0.1395, or 14%. See National Center for Health Statistics,
Vital Statistics of the United States, 1989, vol. II (Washington, D.C., 1989), sect. 6.
8. For a more extended discussion of this phenomenon see Richard E. Meyer, "Images of
Logging on Contemporary Pacific Northwest Gravemarkers," in Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture, ed. Richard E. Meyer (Ann Arbor, MI, 1989;
rpt. Logan, UT, 1992), 61-85.
9. See Catherine M. Sanders, Grief: The Mourning After (New York, 1989), 161.
10. In Sharon Olds, The Gold Cell (New York, 1987), 68.
11. N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain (Albuquerque, 1969), 83.
12. Johnston, 65.
Gay Lynch 159
13. Ibid., 67.
14. Stephen Levine, WIio Dies? (New York, 1982), 113.
160
Presidio Pet Cemetery
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Fig. 1 Entrance to the Presidio Pet Cemetery.
161
'BEST DAMM DOG WE EVER HAD': SOME FOLKLORISTIC AND
ANTHROPOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
ON SAN FRANCISCO'S PRESIDIO PET CEMETERY
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
To many, San Francisco's most notable landmark - indeed perhaps its
very symbol - is the Golden Gate Bridge, spanning the entrance to San
Francisco Bay from the Marin County headlands on the north to the
Presidio Military Post at its southern extremity. For more than 200 years
the Presidio's 1,400 acres have successively been the scene of military
activities of the Spanish Empire (1776-1822), Mexican Repubhc (1822-
1848), and the United States (1848-1994). ^ Among the post's historic struc-
tures, now on the National Register, are the enlisted mens' barracks con-
structed in the 1890s around the old parade ground and the Civil War offi-
cers' quarters built in 1852 along Funston Avenue. The fort's burial
ground, in existence from its earliest days, was established as the San
Fig. 2 Rows of uniform gravestones at the
San Francisco National Cemetery.
162
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Francisco National Cemetery on December 12, 1884 under War
Department General Orders which designated 9.5 acres of land (increased
over the years to its present 28.34 acres) for this purpose.^ Contained with-
in its grounds are the remains of veterans from the Civil War to the pre-
sent, in addition to reinterments of American war casualties from other
times and places.
Just down the hill, nestled amidst a stand of Scotch pines beside the
approach ramps to the Golden Gate Bridge, and a mere stone's throw
away from its venerable neighbor, lies a small white-fenced plot of land
which is literally miles apart in its colorful and highly personalized dis-
play of memorialization for an astounding variety of animals who shared
with their owners the peculiarities of a military lifestyle (Fig. 1). In strik-
* ■ iiiiMMJMHH
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Fig. 3 Sign displaying cemetery "regulations.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 163
ing contrast to the precisioned uniformity of landscape projected by the
cemetery up the hill (Fig. 2), where, as in military cemeteries throughout
the world, the ranks of neatly aligned gravestones extend on, ad infini-
tum, each at attention or at least, in a manner of speaking, at mortuary
parade rest, the immediate sensation upon entering the Presidio Pet
Cemetery is one of wild and riotous disarray, a melange of homemade
marker styles and graveside decorations which, in its total informality
and seeming spontaneity, might suggest a relationship to the National
Cemetery not unlike that of base canteen to parade ground. Quite ironi-
cally, one feels in this contrast that the pet cemetery is somehow more
human than its actual human counterpart if, indeed, ingenuity, innova-
tiveness, causative thought, emotion, and a sense of aesthetics are among
the hallmarks of our species.
Despite such obvious and dramatic contrasts, the visitor to the
Presidio Pet Cemetery soon comes to realize that a more subtle type of
uniformity is in fact apparent here, lending to the site a distinctive char-
acter which sets it apart from pet cemeteries in general and leaving no
doubt that, despite its seeming disharmony and lack of organizational
principles, there exists ample evidence to indicate that one has entered a
military pet burial ground. Just inside the entrance, several rudely fash-
ioned signs (e.g.. Fig. 3) are couched in language which sounds oddly
familiar to anyone who has served in the military. Though lacking a
specifically named authority, the tone of command and regulations is
clear, as is the "military vernacular," vis-a-vis spelling and grammar, evi-
denced in the language itself:
Keep graves in line. Place marker, pets name. Stop
stealing & diging flowers up. Heart signs and plain
stones are graves. Please show respect whatever reason
here you may be. Thank U!
Another example, somewhat more closely allied with standard English
and occasionally blending an element of frustrated pleading with its
"command" tone, reads:
This is a military pet cemetery. Keep graves in line.
Use only space necessary and use name and type of pet
please (also dates). Those markers with hearts are
unknown and signify love. Private expenses are high
and limited so please stop stealing my equip, and
flowers. Do not pull up flowers. Only space
164
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 4 Example of "conventional" pet inscription.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
165
Fig. 5 Oscar. Sentry dog, with personnel number
and unit designation.
166
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 6 Sally. Owner's military rank noted on marker.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
167
Fig. 7 Patches. Place of birth signifies overseas duty station.
168
Presidio Pet Cemetery
available is in rear and far left. Please help by
leaving things alone. Thank you. I am doing my best
to keep our cemetery up. No front space available
Many unmarked due to past storms.^
Language provides another indicator of the speciaUzed nature of this
pet cemetery by virtue of the inscriptions found on individual markers. To
be sure, in some instances the epitaphs and other inscriptional data found
here are rather conventional (well, for pet cemeteries at least), providing
virtually no clue as to the distinctive occupational identity of those who
erected them. Thus we encounter Easy, who "was a part of our life from
the day she was born 'till her death," Cindy, "The Dog With The Crossed
Paws," Shilo, who now "hunts in Heaven," and Charlie (Fig. 4), "my
favorite pet I ever had."
A surprisingly large number of the markers in the Presidio Pet
Cemetery do, however, indicate quite clearly that the animals buried here
were the pets of military families. While there is only one example of an
animal who shared a military occupational identity at the most literal
level (Fig. 5), there are many who apparently partook of this experience in
Fig. 8 Herr Bitte Binns. Pet's name signifies German connection.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
169
subtler but no less meaningful ways. Inscriptionally, this is indicated in a
variety of manners. Quite frequently, the owner's military rank finds its
way onto the marker (e.g.. Fig. 6), though here - as often in battlefield and
other military cemeteries - the distinctions of rank blur, with enlisted and
officer pets resting side by side.
Previous duty stations and the mobility of military family life are often
indicated on the markers through the use of place names of birth -
Doggie, for example, in Utrecht, Netherlands; Champagne, in Australia;
Tar Baby and Miss Dusty, in England; Pepper, in Germany; and Patches
the Cat (Fig. 7), who was born in Dachau, Germany, but reached the "end
of the long trail" at the Presidio. The emphasis on Germany, a reflection
Fig. 9 Bird Dog. A world traveler.
170
Presidio Pet Cemetery
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Fig. 10 Navy Doggie. The Presidio was home to more than
one branch of the military.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
171
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Fig. 11 Knuckle Head. Like other recruits, this bird may have
occasionally been advised to 'shape up and fly right.'
172
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 12 SNAFU. An acronym familiar to many veterans.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 173
of both the lengthy U.S. mihtary occupation there and the affiHation of
mihtary spouses, is especially evident and is also reflected in such pet
name choices as Siglund, Liebchen, Muschee Regis, Fritz, Gretchen,
Pfeffer ("Unser Lieber Hund"), and Herr Bitte Binns (Fig. 8). Sometimes
the simplest of descriptors will seem to sum up the entire career military
experience, as in the case of Bird Dog (Fig. 9), the "world traveler."
Besides the evocation of foreign duty stations, many of the pets' names
reflect decidedly non-civilian qualities of one sort or another. Navy
Doggie's marker (Fig. 10) is one of several which serve to remind us that
the Presidio was often home to other branches of the military in addition
to its primary connection with the U.S. Army, while that of Knuckle Head
(Fig. 11) might well reawaken memories of basic training to anyone who
has ever served in the military. Veterans will undoubtedly appreciate the
acronymic associations of SNAFU's name (Fig. 12)^ and one need not be
a veteran (merely a devoted reader of the comic strips) to recognize Sarge
(Fig. 13).^ Skipper's name (Fig. 14), while neither unusual (one of the
authors particularly remembers an ill-tempered cocker spaniel of that
name from his youth) nor necessarily military, is followed by an epitaph -
"The Best Damm Dog We Ever Had" - which, again, partakes of a ver-
nacular strongly associated with the military services.^ Finally, echoing a
phenomenon of military - particularly battlefield - cemeteries every-
where, some of the markers for those buried here are unable to provide a
name at all (Fig. 15).
The connection of the pet to a member of the military is often indi-
rectly or explicitly stated, as in the case of Kitty Hanlon (1990-1991), a
"Lover of the Presidio and an Army Nurse," Wimpy (Fig. 16), who
"Served in the Women's Army Corps," the rather extraordinary Hasso
(Fig. 17), who (with MSgt. C.R. Gleason) served in both the WAC and the
WAF (Women's Air Force), and the touchingly understated marker (Fig.
18) "In Memory of My Army Pet." Other memorials mark the graves of
Chappy Champion ("USAF, Ret.") and Chen ("Semper Fidelis"). In a
rather fascinating blend of material and verbal elements, the marker for
Duke, "Beloved Member of the Hurst Family," incorporates into its sur-
face an actual military identification tag (appropriately known within the
military as a "dog tag") which, as in the case of most commercially avail-
able pet l.D. tags, provides his owner's name, address, and telephone
number.
The material form of the markers and other gravesite elements in the
174
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 13 Sarge. Did Beetle and his friends serve at the Presidio?
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
175
Fig. 14 Skipper. Epitaph couched in military vernacular.
176
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 15 Unknown. An echo of battlefield cemeteries.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
177
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178
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Presidio Pet Cemetery supports both the type of subtle uniformity linked
to the military which we have been emphasizing in this essay up to this
point, and, oddly enough, the wildly disharmonious elements which, in
combination, serve to render it such a striking contrast to the conservative
uniformity displayed by its near (human) neighbor, the San Francisco
National Cemetery/ With regard to the former, a quick glance at the pet
cemetery reveals that a significant majority of the gravesites are marked
by simply cut wooden markers falling within a relatively limited range of
sizes and styles, their surfaces whitewashed and lettered in black through
the use of stencils (e.g.. Figs. 12, 14, 16, etc.). Their form, in short, is oddly
suggestive of the upright, white marble markers found in most (human)
military cemeteries, while the stenciled lettering style inevitably evokes
Fig. 17 Hasso. A multi-service pet.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
179
images of duffel bags and cases of C-rations. We shall return to this point
later.
Such patterns established, it is the exceptions which - as is so often the
case - prove most interesting, and, in this instance, link the Presidio Pet
Cemetery with elements present to some degree in virtually all pet ceme-
teries. Variations on the most common wooden format described above,
for instance, are readily apparent. Large and small polygonal tablets are
relatively frequent, and there are a number of uniquely fashioned wood-
en forms such as the heart-shaped marker for Coco, the bone-shaped one
for Lady, and the memorial for Regina (Fig. 19), carved (sawn?), appro-
Fig. 18 Roman cross on marker for unnamed Army pet.
180
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 19 Regina. Marker's shape reflects name of pet.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
181
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monuments are not oxymoronic.
182
Presidio Pet Cemetery
priately enough, with a crown. Other markers are fabricated, in a more ad
hoc fashion, from at hand or recycled pieces of lumber. Thus, the memor-
ial for Smoke consists of the end of a pyramidal fence post, while pieces
of l"x2" lumber are used to fashion simple cruciform markers such as that
for the cat. Handsome 'Licky Face' Cuevas. Boomer (Fig. 20), a pet of
indeterminate type, is marked by a flower and a truly minimalist monu-
ment consisting of a lettered stick thrust into the ground.
Some of the wooden markers, as well as a few fashioned of other
materials, display painted visual images, a personalization of the type
increasingly found on markers erected for humans. Most frequently, as in
Fig. 21 Ah Sawat. Stylized, hand rendered portraits are found
on a number of markers.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 183
the marker for Ah Sawat (Fig. 21), the image represents a stylized portrait
of the pet rendered in black on white, though other colors (including,
most recently, day-glow paints) are found as well. Other materials may be
combined with the wood or other basic monument substance: the leather
and glass bead collar of teacup poodle Cricket, for example, has been
countersunk into a wooden tablet, while on another wooden tablet a brass
(military) eagle is centered above a plaque which, somewhat enigmatical-
ly, exclaims "Loving Memory. Faith, Hope, Love, was born to Shatawa
Feb. 6, 1992. God saw fit for them to remain little angels. We love you.
Mitze Shirley."
The cemetery also contains a fair number of stone monuments, a few
of marble, more of granite. In some instances (e.g.. Fig. 22), the latter are
virtually indistinguishable from what one is likely to encounter as the
norm in the more than 400 "regular" pet cemeteries scattered throughout
the United States. The dog, Jake O'Connell, is memorialized by a larger
granite monument displaying his photograph and representations of
sticks to run and fetch. Other granite markers of varying sizes, colors, and
surface etchings cover the graves of Yaro Kirk, Piccolo, Teddy Medellin,
and Cally In a few cases, broken chunks of granite have been put to use
as gravemarkers.
Concrete blocks are used with some frequency as gravemarkers in
addition to grave covers and curbs. A painted rectangular block desig-
nates the burial place of Boots, while a cylindrical block marks the grave
of Jason, "The Dancing Dog." Teckel, a dachshund, is memorialized by an
elongated concrete block which perhaps recalls his earthly form. Concrete
blocks of several forms - along with red, white and blue bunting - grace
the family plot where rest Laddie and Princess. A few painted flat metal
markers may also be found in the cemetery, as well as several metal card
holders of the type provided by funeral parlors to serve as temporary
markers in human cemeteries.
Of particular interest are several complex, composite gravemarkers
and gravesite montages. The memorial for Sammi contains a painted tile
likeness of a cat, along with a brass plaque, numerals, drawer pulls, and
door handles, all set into a concrete slab. Vladamier's grave is surrounded
by a sturdy iron fence set into a slab: inside is a pink granite marker, with
the names of his owners scrawled into the concrete support. Dandy is
memorialized with a granite marker, set into concrete and surrounded by
red bricks: chunks of shell pressed into the concrete form an epitaph. The
184
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 22 Tippy. "Human" relationship expressed on granite marker
resembling those most frequently found in commercial pet cemeteries.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
185
most elaborate burial site is that created for the two basset hounds.
Raspberry and Mr. Twister (Fig. 23). Each of the separate granite monu-
ments displays photographs and a long epitaph "signed" by owner Ken's
name within a heart. A postscript on the reverse side of Mr. Twister's mon-
ument reads "....he was the end of my rainbow." The graves are surround-
ed by a low fence within which is a ground cover of white marble frag-
ments. Associated mortuary objects are in abundance - a red, heart-shaped
concrete block, living plants, artificial flowers, two basset figurines, sever-
al small gift-wrapped packages, four mylar balloons, ribbons, strands of
gold beads, and several packets of "Hearty Chews." Such colorful abun-
dance of gravesite decoration is highly unusual in mainstream American
burial practices accorded humans, the only general exceptions occurring in
certain ethnic contexts or in the case of children and young persons.^
Diversity is certainly celebrated in the Presidio Pet Cemetery, and not
just in monument fashion but in the enormous variety of animals buried
there (far greater than one is likely to encounter in the generic "civilian"
pet cemetery). Dogs, as elsewhere, are represented in profusion: included
(i.e., so designated on their markers) are Great Danes, Chinese Lion Dogs,
Cocker Spaniels, Beagles, Water Spaniels, Brittany Spaniels, Boxers,
^I^H -' '-
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Fig. 23 Elaborately decorated gravesite of Raspberry and Mr. Twister.
186 Presidio Pet Cemetery
Miniature Schnauzers, German Shepherds, Dachshunds, Toy Poodles,
other Poodles, Akita-Schnauzers, Basset Hounds, Shepherd /Airedales,
Border Collies, other Collies, Tibet Lhasas, Samoyeds, Scottish Terriers,
and a host of lovable Mutts not designated as to breed. Cats are the next
most common pet burials, and although varieties are not usually listed,
Siamese (somewhat as in life) seem to receive special notice here.
Several rabbits are present, the most interesting of the lagomorph
markers (Fig. 24) being an appropriately colored, stylized carrot desig-
nating the final cabbage patch of Jake. Rodents of various sorts are well
represented: Willie the hamster is here, as are the rats Noah Knoes, T.
Toes, Lupe, Linda, Chocolate, Candy, and Zorah. Bilbo Baggins, a white
mouse, shares a gravemarker with Mr. Bird, a canary. Other markers for
birds are present with some frequency and include those for Frieda and
Phred Finch, Sweet Alyssum ("The Yellow Canary"), the aforementioned
Knuckle Head ("Parakeet to Paradise"), Birdie (another parakeet). Peep
("Pet Pigeon of Johnnie Burke"), Roc (a macaw), and Toby and Unknown
Baby, zebra finches whose final roosting place is marked by a granite frag-
ment and an ephemeral cross fashioned from sticks and vines. Such buri-
als seem logical enough: one of the authors recalls, as a young child, bury-
ing with dignity more than one bird beneath the lilac bushes behind his
house. He also recalls, however, that expired pet goldfish were uncere-
moniously flushed down the toilet. Such is far from the case at the
Presidio Pet Cemetery, where even such humble creatures as these are
interred with decorum (Fig. 25).
Though one is never allowed to forget that they are in a pet cemetery,
the visitor to these grounds finds many analogues to practices and senti-
ments observable in human burial grounds. One instance of this is the fre-
quent employment of multiple markers and "family" plots. The marker
for Shilo (mentioned earlier), though created specifically for that feline
upon his death in 1990, has been amended several times to include memo-
rial testimonies to Mandy ("A Perpetual Puppy") and Dino, who had
"'purr' haps the 'purr' feet purr." The epitaph on the marker for Jane (a
Chinese Water Dragon) reads:
She lived a full life of 10 years. She was the
greatest lizard I ever knew and will be greatly
missed by Emily her owner and friends Randall, Poncho,
Nellie, Mr. Iguana, Lucy Rabbit and the many others
who knew and loved her.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
187
?,. ,<<^, HERE LIES €^1?SJ^^
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Fig. 24 Jake. A carrot-shaped marker designates this rabbit's
final cabbage patch.
188
Presidio Pet Cemetery
SILVER'
1987- 1990
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Fig. 25 Silver. No toilet bowl funeral for this fish!
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
189
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Fig. 26 Puddin Dandridge. Epitaph stresses family connection.
190
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fellow reptile Mr. Iguana ultimately joined Jane in the family plot, as did
her other friends Randy Rat, Nellie (a hamster), and Lucy Rabbit (one pre-
sumes a space has been reserved for Poncho, though such "pre-need"
arrangements are not likely to bring as much comfort and reassurance to
the survivor as they purportedly do in the human sphere).
Kinship and social relationships are frequently stressed here, much as
they are in human cemeteries (and, indeed, in other pet cemeteries as
well). An exceptional example - displaying strong elements of ethnic cul-
tural value as well - is found on a gravestone, carefully inscribed in the
traditional Chinese manner, which in translation declares: "This is the
tomb of Liang, a Xiang, an old man. He is from Yi Xinghui in southern
Canton province, a person from the Ren-ho district of the Liang family
village."^ Other references, though perhaps less exotic, also emphasize
family connections. Ceaser [sic], like a number of the animals buried at
this site, is commemorated as a "beloved member" of a human family.
Even more specific is the reference to Tippy (Fig. 22) as "Daddy's Little
Baby Boy" on the polished black granite monument which also displays
his porcelain cameo photograph. Nearby, the beagle Peppy's marker iden-
■
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Fig. 27 Pfeffer. The use of religious iconography is not uncommon in
the Presidio Pet Cemetery.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 191
tifies him as a "little boy" and the "son of Lucy, people Mom, Bebe." Here
also we find the grave of Spitz, who was Anthony's "best friend and hunt-
ing companion," while other markers indicate the burials of Teufel, "pro-
tector and loving member of the Maxwell family" and "Ole Brown Dog,
pal for 10 years to Bob, Jean, Mike, Lana, Mama and Pop." The marker
for Puddin Dandridge (Fig. 26) not only displays a cute drawing of
Puddin D., but also the epitaph "Mean thing, rotten Cat, but loved and
missed by us all. June, 1985 - Sept., 1986. Daddy, Mommy, Tannic, Skyler,
Carly, Lassie, Trinka, Isis, Marshmello. You'll always be with us." This
insistence upon the cherished pet as friend, trusted companion, family
member, even child, is actually a quite widespread phenomenon in pet
cemeteries, and not necessarily the foolishness it might at first appear to
be. "Intimate bonds among family members and friends," note Vivian
Spiegelman and Robert Kastenbaum:
have become strained by our society's mobile life style,
tendencies toward age segregation, and the whole continuing
pattern of dislocative change that some have described as
post modernization. Within this context, an animal
companion may have an even more important socio-emotional
role to play than in former times. Technology changes:
dogs remain doggedly dogs, and cats can be counted upon
to be cats. Perhaps the pet is the child who does not
grow up and leave home, the familiar face who is always
there, the initiator and enforcer of many reassuring
little household routines.^"
Another element common in human cemeteries but stressed here as
well centers about religious and philosophical views. Above the granite
marker of the aforementioned Pfeffer ("Unser Lieber Hund") is a
Tyrolean-style shrine with a crucifix: Jesus keeps a watch over Pfeffer's
identification tags (Fig. 27). The marker for "My Army Pet," which we
have already seen, displays a Roman cross (Fig. 18). Epitaphs indicate var-
ious beliefs in a supreme being and an afterlife: "Maxine. We love you and
will miss you. Go with God 'til we meet again"; "Muffin Witty. We love
you. We will be with you again someday"; and, in instances noted earlier,
we are assured that Shilo is now hunting in Heaven while Knuckle Head
is winging his way to Paradise. Other epitaphs are animistic, as that for
Quentin, "a native of California and a cat to match its mountains."
Perhaps the wisdom of Zen is expressed in such inscriptions as "Pee Wee.
Dust to Dust, Man to Man"; "God is Love - Backward It's Dog"; and
192 Presidio Pet Cemetery
"Trouble. He Was No Trouble."
To experience the Presidio Pet Cemetery first hand inevitably raises
questions as to its origins and the manner of its continuing upkeep.
Seeking the answers to these questions proved both frustrating and, at the
same time, oddly enlightening in a manner which we had not anticipat-
ed. In the course of attempting to pursue what would generally be the
logical sequence of research procedures to supplement our on-site field-
work - i.e., the consulting of relevant written documentation and the con-
ducting of what one might expect to be rather straightforward informant
interviews - a curious folkloristic pattern surrounding the cemetery, one
quite apart from the material considerations which we have so far been
dealing with in this essay, began to emerge.
First of all, the written documentation was either nonexistent or sus-
piciously ephemeral. Not only that, there were precious few informants to
be found, and none whatsoever of the type we would have been primar-
ily interested in - i.e., the pet owners themselves. Naturally, many had
moved on over time, the even normally mobile circumstances of military
family life having been accelerated in the past several years by the grad-
ual downsizing of the base's personnel in anticipation of its decommis-
sioning in the Fall of 1994. But the cemetery did accept a few new burials
until as recently as 1993. Certainly, it seemed, we ought to be able to locate
at least one or two of the people whose own personal involvement in this
experience might help us to evaluate our own speculations. This, howev-
er, proved fruitless: among its other eccentricities, the Presidio Pet
Cemetery keeps no formal records of who is buried there or of who did
the burying - what you see is thus literally what you get - and attempts
to utilize surnames found in the cemetery as the basis for telephone inter-
views were unrewarding and, in a few instances, somewhat embarrass-
ing. Perhaps selected base personnel, their memories (or files!), might at
least supply us with certain basic elements of background information -
precisely when and by whom the cemetery was founded, how many ani-
mals are buried there, who performs routine upkeep, that sort of thing.
Things now began to get somewhat more interesting.
It rapidly became apparent that answers to the seemingly basic ques-
tions raised above were as difficult to come by as the whereabouts of the
pet owners we had been fruitlessly seeking. On the matter of the ceme-
tery's age, a wide range of opinions exist. One version, repeated several
times in slight variation, contends that the cemetery was already in exis-
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 193
tence at the time of construction of the Golden Gate Bridge (1933-1937),
and indeed had to be moved to its present location when the approach
ramps to the bridge were built. A brochure published by the Golden Gate
National Park Association states that the pet cemetery was "...originally a
burial place for 'K-9' guard dogs and since World War II, the final resting
place for pets of Presidio families,"" a dating which would seem to place
the cemetery's origins somewhere in the 1940s. This is disputed both in
oral testimony' 2 and in at least one written account - supported by dating
evidence on the markers themselves - which has the cemetery established
in 1951 on orders of a general who wished to have a place set aside for
base personnel to bury their deceased pets.'^ Yet another (oral) account
attributes the cemetery's origin to a Major General L.B. "Dutch" Keiser,
who in 1963 wished to create a suitable burying spot for Butch, his
beloved Chinese Lion Dog. Butch's gray granite marker (Fig. 28), looking
very much like the standard military headstones found in the military
cemetery up the hill, is in fact located under one of the site's Scotch pines,
but its' claim for marking the first burial is disputed by both the written
record'^ and a number of markers in the cemetery which clearly predate
it.
Still more numerous were explanations concerning the cemetery's
maintenance. It was evident - at least prior to 1994 - that the site was
receiving frequent and meticulous attention. The enclosure was cleaned
and weeded, the white picket fence painted and in excellent repair, flow-
ers and other decorations adorned the individual gravesites, and, most
remarkably of all, the overwhelming majority of markers - even those
dating from the 1950s - were in splendid condition (many, in fact, repre-
senting replacements of original markers, something obvious to the eye
but also confirmed by informants and, in at least one instance, by the
opportunity to compare the marker for Skipper [Fig. 14] with a photo-
graph of its quite similar predecessor which appeared in a 1981 newspa-
per article'^ about the cemetery). So who was performing this mainte-
nance? Informants at the base public affairs office, the post museum, and
other units were at first rather cagey: they said they didn't really know,
though they had heard a local boy scout troop might be responsible. Calls
to local boy scout organizations in the bay area for confirmation of this
story resulted in nothing other than a rather large phone bill.
What about the explanation found in a walking guide to the Presidio
which says the cemetery is maintained by the post veterinarian?'^ Yes,
194
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 28 Butch. Discredited candidate for the
cemetery's first inhabitant.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 195
informants had heard that one too, although they were dubious as to its
veracity in that the Presidio had been lacking a post veterinarian for the
past 25 years or so. The most widely held theory, they said, was that the
site represented the loving personal project of an old and totally anony-
mous Navy veteran who had "adopted" the place and who, somewhat
incredibly, managed to perform all these ministrations by himself (this
story, too, appears in recognizable form in several other printed^^ and oral
accounts). One amazing constant in all of the explanations was the fact
that whoever was responsible for the cemetery's upkeep - whether
unnamed boy scout troop, departed post veterinarian, or mysterious
Navy veteran - apparently managed to accomplish all their work under
cover of darkness, for no one had ever observed it being done in daylight
hours.
Folklorists might sense a somewhat familiar pattern emerging here.
Traditional explanations, among their numerous other functions, have
been known to exist as screens ("cover-up" seems somehow too harsh a
word here) to obscure a truth which, while widely known, cannot be con-
veniently acknowledged. Such indeed proved to be the case in the present
instance: the truth of the matter, as several informants eventually
revealed, was that the cemetery was being maintained on a weekly basis
by the post engineers, a practice of many years' standing. This, of course,
goes a long way towards explaining the ubiquitous nature of so many of
the wooden markers, including their whitewashed surfaces and the pre-
dominant use of stenciled inscriptions. Much of what one actually sees in
the cemetery - not to speak of the labor involved - is quite literally gov-
ernment issue, from wood to paint to hot house flowers. Such activity, of
course, while it might be fairly common knowledge to base personnel at
all levels from orderlies at the Letterman General Hospital complex to the
commanding general of the Sixth U.S. Army, would of necessity be quite
unofficial and, for that matter, technically unauthorized. Thus the stories
of midnight boy scouts and shadowy Navy veterans.
And so, as we have seen, the Presidio's pet cemetery presents several
levels of anthropological and folkloristic interest, ranging from the testi-
mony of its material artifacts to the traditional accounts and explanations
of its founding and continuing maintenance. The Presidio Pet Cemetery
is, we feel, indeed a very unique and special place, and yet at the same
time it should be remembered that what we see here has broad corollar-
ies with and should properly be viewed within the even larger context of
196
Presidio Pet Cemetery
death and bereavement in general and, even more specifically, the roles
played by funerary activities and memorialization in helping individuals
cope with loss. Every bit as importantly, we would stress that these fac-
tors are as pertinent to pet loss as they are to the deaths of human com-
panions and other family members. ^^ And in this, military families are
certainly no different than families of any sort.
This point is brought home many times within the Presidio Pet
Cemetery, but perhaps nowhere more vividly than at the gravesite of
Molly the Collie (Figs. 29, 30, 31). Here, on the back of an unpainted
wooden German-style shrine marker, carefully lettered in pink and pur-
ple paint, we find the words: "In Loving Memory of Our Collie / The
Carpenters / 13 3 1978 / 9 7 1991." Below the inscription are several
painted figures - a peace symbol, a heart, and a smiley face. In front of the
marker is a rectangular enclosure made from round concrete-with-pebble
stepping stones turned on end, inside of which are found live geranium
and daisy plants. Standing outside the enclosure are a silk geranium bush
and a tiny American flag. Beneath the pitched roof of the marker's front
is placed a cross, while across its base is painted the name "MOLLY."
Fig. 29 Molly. Back of shrine-type marker and gravesite enclosure
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
197
Fig. 30 Molly. Front view of marker, with cross, photograph
and typed 16-line poem.
198 Presidio Pet Cemetery
Propped up within the shrine's protective enclosure is a clear plastic pic-
ture frame containing the somewhat faded color photograph of a man and
woman (in civilian clothing) standing with a black and white Collie,
beneath which appears this typed poem:
ODE TO MOLLY
This passage was written after you left,
Ar\ ode, a eulogy following your death.
Your joy and love chronicled our lives
The 6th member of our family whose memory will always survive.
A soulmate, a guardian, a friend who crossed our paths;
a sister, a teacher, a spirit whose strength never wavered.
We ran, we played together, sometimes taking a bath.
We laughed and we cried, sharing life's labors.
Our hearts merged into one, no line of demarcation
Capturing a bond the Book talks about
before the great separation.
Although you have gone, and our pain will never subside
We feel no absence because our spirits with you reside.
At night, we can see your heavenly constellation.
Knowing that you are well
Shining down upon us, watching over us still.
We miss you, Molly, and love you even more.
THE CARPENTER FAMILY
Molly's touching memorial goes far towards validating the thesis that
the emotional energy we invest in our pets rivals and perhaps on occasion
even exceeds that which we direct towards each other, and, bearing such
sentiments as it does, could as easily have been found in any one of the
hundreds of pet cemeteries located both in this country and abroad. Her
marker reminds us that the animals of the Presidio Pet Cemetery - and,
even more importantly, their owners - are linked spiritually with their
counterparts elsewhere. Yet, as we have seen, the Presidio Pet Cemetery
is clearly no ordinary pet cemetery, indicating at the very least that the
efforts shown here to commemorate a shared experience of very special
significance may indeed represent a primary element in successful man-
agement of the grieving process. This is, in fact, a phenomenon common
to much material memorialization: it is just that only rarely, as in the
cemeteries of certain self-contained mining or logging communities, or
here within the boundaries of one of America's oldest military installa-
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
199
Fig. 31 Molly. Detail of photograph and poem.
200
Presidio Pet Cemetery
tions, do we have the opportunity to see it articulated on a broad scale
and permeated by a common occupational bond.
In some ways, inside the picket fence surrounding the Presidio's foot-
note to its larger National Cemetery, the normal distinctions between
humans and their pets are lost - or at least significantly blurred - to an
extent even greater than may be observed elsewhere, the result of a shared
and deeply meaningful existence within an esoteric occupational folk
group. Whatever the case, two things seem clear. The first is that, as with
virtually all pet animals who were treated with affection, the love offered
in return by these permanent Presidians was seen to be both uncondi-
tional and deeply important to those who mourned and remember them.
Fig. 32 A G.I. Pet who "did his time.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 201
But the second, and equally evident perception is that, in a manner per-
haps even beyond what might be encountered with normal pets, these
members of military families who - like their owners - "did their time"
(Fig. 32) were considered to be very special indeed.
In talking with base personnel during the course of our research, it
was not difficult to sense the sadness and uncertainty they felt for the
future of this beautiful and historic military post as it wound down
towards the date when it would cease to be an active military installation
and would subsequently become a portion of the Golden Gate
Recreational Area administered by the massive bureaucracy of the
National Park Service. The San Francisco National Cemetery will remain
intact under its own administration, but what does the future hold for the
many other features of the Presidio which have made it so unique and so
loved by those who have served or even visited there - its splendid muse-
um, its parade ground, its historic buildings? And what of the Presidio Pet
Cemetery, that colorful and unruly repository of love and esoteric lore
beneath the shadow of one of the world's great bridges, when the post
engineers have become as insubstantial as their surrogate boy scouts, vet-
erinarians, and old retired Navy veterans?
NOTES
This essay is the result of largely independent fieldwork and research undertaken by the
authors in a period stretching from 1991 to 1994, with preliminary findings presented at
Annual Meetings of the American Folklore Society (Meyer/1992) and the American Culture
Association (Gradwohl/ 1993). As one of the prerogatives of scholarly collaboration, we
hereby cheerfully ascribe any errors of fact, interpretation, or omission to each other. We
wish to happily acknowledge the assistance and support of our wives - Hanna Rosenberg
Gradwohl, who, like Muschee Regis, a Presidio pet, was born in Germany and was called by
that diminutive appellation of endearment as a child, and Lotte Larsen Meyer, who,
although born in Denmark, has no known Danske navnefaetter in the Presidio Pet Cemetery.
Our thanks for assistance of various sorts also go to Professor Charlotte Bruner, Dr. Shu-Min
Huang, Dr. Steven E. Gradwohl, Jim Jewell, Lisa L. Mann, Robert Pierce, and a number of
informants at the Presidio who by their own request shall remain anonymous. The pho-
tographs found in Figures 1-2, 4-16, 19-22, 25-26, and 32-34 were taken by Richard E. Meyer,
those in Figures 3, 17-18, 23-24, and 27-31 by David M. Gradwohl.
1. John Martini, The Official Map and Guide to the Presidio of San Francisco (San Francisco,
1992).
202 Presidio Pet Cemetery
2. Dean W. Holt, American Military Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide to the Hallowed Grounds
of the United States, Including Cemeteries Overseas (Jefferson, NC, 1992), 328.
3. The use of the first person singular here would seem to indicate that maintenance of the
cemetery is, or was, the responsibility of a single individual. As shall be discussed later
in this essay, however, interviews with base personnel conducted in 1991 and 1992 con-
tradict such a scenario.
4. In the best tradition of scholarly explanatory notes, we humbly render the translation
of this popular military slang term as "Situation Normal, All Fouled [euphemism] Up."
5. For the benefit of the uninitiated, the somewhat esoteric reference here is to the popu-
lar strip "Beetle Bailey."
6. Skipper is not the only animal in the Presidio Pet Cemetery to be thus linguistically
honored. On the reverse side of a hand- made ceramic marker for one T. Toes ('89-'91)
is found the inscription "Best Damn Rat We Ever Had." As Skipper's date (1967) is con-
siderably earlier, we conclude that Mr. or Ms. Toes' memorial sentiment is the mortu-
ary equivalent of what ballad scholars refer to as a "traveling line."
7. Though the temptation to engage in pop psychological theorizing as to the ultimate rea-
sons for such distinctions proves almost overwhelming at times, we shall show restraint
and leave such matters to those better equipped by training to ponder these mysteries.
8. See, for example, Lynn Gosnell and Suzanne Gott, "San Fernando Cemetery:
Decorations of Love and Loss in a Mexican-American Community," in Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture, ed. Richard E. Meyer (Ann Arbor, MI, 1989;
rpt. Logan, UT, 1992), 217-236; and Paul F Erwin, "Scottish, Irish, and Rom Gypsy
Funeral Customs and Gravestones in Cincinnati Cemeteries," in Ethiiicity and the
America?! Cemetery, ed. Richard E. Meyer (Bowling Green, OH, 1993), 104-130. See also
the essay by Gay Lynch, "Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths: Milestones of Our
Path through Pain to Joy," in this edition of Markers.
9. This inscription flabbergasted our Chinese colleague and interpreter, Dr. Shu-Min
Huang. Even though he had been told the context of the gravestone, he exclaimed "but
this is the tombstone of a human being," thereby independently confirming one of the
theses of this essay.
10. Vivian Spiegelman and Robert Kastenbaum, "Pet Rest Memorial: Is Eternity Running
Out of Time?", Omega: Journal of Death and Dying 21:1 (1990): 8-9.
11. Martini.
12. e.g., interview with Col. Milton B. Halsey, Jr., Executive Director of the Fort Point and
Army Museum Association, at the Presidio of San Francisco, 4 December 1992.
13. Joan McKinney, "Beloved Presidio Pets Have Their Own Memorial," Oakland Tribune
(23Augustl981), C-1.
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl 203
14. The Oakland Tribune article cited above mentions General Keiser's monument for Butch,
but somewhat unflatteringly in the context of attempts to discourage a trend towards
the erection of larger and more ostentatious memorials which began to emerge approx-
imately a decade after the cemetery's founding.
15. Ibid.
16. Presidio Historical Trail Guide (San Francisco, 1980), entry for Station # 16.
17. e.g., McKinney
18. Much thinking and writing remains to be done before we understand these relation-
ships completely. In the meantime, several treatments of this matter deserve mention.
J. Joseph Edgette treated the relationship between pet bereavement and memorializa-
tion quite succinctly in two papers presented at professional conferences, "Like
Human, Like Pet: Parallelism in Gravemarkers" (American Culture Association
Annual Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; March, 1990), and "Personahty and the Pet
Epitaph: Correlative Link Between Owner and Pet" (American Culture Association
Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, March, 1991). For an excellent collection of essays
on this general topic, see William J. Kay et al., eds.. Pet Loss and Human Bereavement
(Ames, lA, 1984). In addition to the scholarly treatment of pet cemeteries by
Spiegelman and Kastenbaum cited previously, a number of very useful stories have
appeared in newspapers and magazines in the past several years: see, for example,
Jerry Adier, "Let Us Pray for the Animals," Newsweek 11 (January, 1988): 53; Christopher
Cox, "Animal Rites," Boston Sunday Herald (3 June 1990), Sunday Magazine Section, 12-
16; Sarah Lyall, "Cemetery Journal: Pet Burials Rivaling Some for People," The New York
Times (1 July 1991), B-3; Alex Vagelatos, "In Loving Memory: Pets Rest in Peace at Area
Cemetery," Ft. Wayne ]ournal-Gazette (2 August 1992), D-1/2; Linda Young, "At Pet
Cemeteries the No. 1 Concern is Peace of Mind," Chicago Tribune (4 February 1993), 7.
An interesting documentary film focusing on a pet cemetery in California is Errol
Morris' Gates of Heaven (1987).
204
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Fig. 33 George. He "accepted us people.'
Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl
205
Fig. 34 Exterior view of the Presidio Pet Cemetery.
206
THE YEAR'S WORK IN GRAVEMARKER/CEMETERY STUDIES
With this edition. Markers inaugurates a feature common to many
scholarly publications, the presentation of an annual bibliography of
works pertinent to its field which have appeared in print during the pre-
ceding year. Since, with the exception of Edward L. Bell's Vestiges of
Mortality & Remembrance: A Bibliography on the Historical Archaeology of
Cemeteries (1994), a comprehensive bibliographical listing of this sort has
not appeared since that found in the 1989 Cemeteries and Gravemarkers:
Voices of American Culture, this first compilation will actually be somewhat
broader in its temporal range and will cover the years 1990 through 1994.
Entries, listed in alphabetical order by author, consist mainly of books and
of articles found within scholarly journals: excluded are materials found
in newspapers, popular magazines, and trade journals, as well as
genealogical publications and cemetery "readings," book reviews, and
irretrievably non-scholarly books (i.e., the "Little Book of Bedside Grave
Humor" sort of thing). Though not included here, it should be noted that
short but valuable critical and analytical pieces are frequently published
in the quarterly Newsletter of the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Since errors of omission are perhaps inevitable, the editor would welcome
addenda from readers (complete citations, please) for inclusion in Markers
XIII.
Ambler, Cathy. "A Place Not Entirely of Sadness and Gloom: Oak Hill
Cemetery and the Rural Cemetery Movement." Kansas History 15:4
(1992-1993), pp. 240-253.
Ames, Kenneth L. Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales of Victorian
Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992, especially
Chapter 3, "Words to Live By," pp. 97-149.
Anderson, Timothy G. "Czech-Catholic Cemeteries in East-Central Texas:
Material Culture and Ethnicity in Seven Rural Communities."
Material Culture 25:3 (1993), pp. 1-18.
Arthur, Caroline. "Place Names: Bury Me Down at Buzzard Roost."
American Demographics 13 (1991), pp. 18-19.
207
Baird, Scott. "Language Codes in Texas German Graveyards." Markers IX
(1992), pp. 216-255.
Barber, Russell J. "The Agua Mansa Cemetery: An Indicator of Ethnic
Identification in a Mexican-American Community." In Ethnicity and
the American Cemetery. Edited by Richard E. Meyer. Bowling Green,
OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993, pp. 156-172.
Barth, Gunther. Fleeting Moments: Nature and Culture in American History.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, especially pp. 123-180
(rural cemetery movement).
Bell, Edward L. Vestiges of Mortality & Remembrance: A Bibliography on the
Historical Archaeology of Cemeteries. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press,
1994.
Blake, C. Fred. "The Chinese of Valhalla: Adaptation and Identity in a
Midwestern American Cemetery." Markers X (1993), pp. 52- 89.
Briggs, Martha Wren. "Charles Miller Walsh: A Master Carver of
Gravestones in Virginia, 1865-1901." Markers VII (1990), pp. 139-171.
Bronner, Simon J. "Elaborating Tradition: A Pennsylvania German Folk
Artist Ministers to His Community." In Creativity and Tradition in
Folklore: New Directions. Edited by Simon J. Bronner. Logan, UT: Utah
State University Press, 1992, pp. 277-325.
Brown, Ian W. "The New England Cemetery as a Cultural Landscape." In
History from Things: Essays in Material Culture. Edited by Steven Lubar
and David Kingery. Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press,
1993, pp. 140-159.
Brown, John Gary. Soul in the Stone: Cemetery Art from America's Heartland.
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1994.
Browning, James A. Violence YJas No Stranger: A Guide to the Grave Sites of
Famous Westerners. Stillwater, OK: Barbed Wire Press, 1993.
208
Bunnen, Lucinda, and Smith, Virginia Warren. Scoring in Heaven:
Gravestones and Cemetery Art of the American Sunbelt States. New York,
Aperture, 1991.
Burleigh, Betty Rose, and D. Reber Dunkel. "Cemeteries as Loci of
Diasporan Memory: The Case of Hickory Hill." Conexoes 5:2 (1993),
pp. 1-5; 15.
Burns, Stanley B. Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America.
Altadena, CA: Twelvetrees Press, 1990.
Calkins, Charles F. "Cobblestone Tombstones in Door County,
Wisconsin." Pioneer America Society Transactions 15 (1992), pp. 49-58.
Caulfield, Ernest. "Connecticut Gravestones I: George Griswold (1633-
1704)." Markers VIII (1991), pp. 9-16.
. "Connecticut Gravestones II: The Stanclift Family (1643-
1785)." Markers VIII (1991), pp. 16-38.
. "Connecticut Gravestones III: Ebenezer Drake (1739- 1803).
Markers VIII (1991), pp. 38-49.
. "Connecticut Gravestones IV: The Glastonbury Lady'."
Markers VIII (1991), pp. 50-57.
. "Connecticut Gravestones V: The Thomas Johnsons." Markers
W// (1991), pp. 58-89.
. "Connecticut Gravestones VI: Joseph Johnson (1698- 1783?).
Markers VIII (1991), pp. 90-100.
. "Connecticut Gravestones VII: The Bat'." Markers VIII (1991),
pp. 101-108.
'Connecticut Gravestones VIII: The Mannings." Markers VIII
(1991), pp. 108-127.
209
'Connecticut Gravestones IX: The Collins Family." Markers
VIII (1991), pp. 128-140.
. "Connecticut Gravestones X: Charles Dolph (1776-1815).'
Markers VIII (1991), pp. 141-151.
. "Connecticut Gravestones XI: The Lambs (1724-1788).'
Markers VIII (1991), pp. 152-163.
. "Connecticut Gravestones XII: John Hartshorn (1650- c.1738)
vs. Joshua Hempstead (1678-1758)." Markers VIII (1991), pp. 164-188.
. "Connecticut Gravestones XIII: The Kimballs." Markers VIII
(1991), pp. 188-203.
'Connecticut Gravestones XIV: The Bucklands." Markers VIII
(1991), pp. 204-226.
_. "Connecticut Gravestones XV: Three Manning Imitators.
Markers VIII (1991), pp. 226-241.
. "Connecticut Gravestones XVI: The Loomis Carvers."
Markers VIII (1991), pp. 242-269.
. "Connecticut Gravestones XVII: The Colonial Gravestone
Carvings of Obadiah Wheeler." Markers VIII (1991), pp. 270- 309.
. "Connecticut Gravestones XVIII: Wanted: The Hook-and-
Eye Man." Markers VIII (1991), pp. 310-337.
Chase, Theodore, ed. "Boston's Historic Burying Grounds Initiative."
Markers VII (1990), pp. 58-102.
Chase, Theodore, and Gabel, Laurel K. Gravestone Chronicles: Some
Eighteenth-Century New England Carvers and Their Work. Boston: New-
England Genealogical Society, 1990.
210
Collins, Bobbie L. "Decoration Day at Higgins Chapel Cemetery in Unicoi
County, Tennessee: A Time to Remember and Celebrate Life."
Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin 54:3 (1990), pp. 82-90.
Colvin, Howard. Architecture and the After-Life. London: Yale University
Press, 1991.
Crawford, Sybil F. Jubilee: The First 150 Years of Mount Holly Cemetery, Little
Rock, Arkansas. Little Rock: The Mount Holly Cemetery Association,
1993.
Crissman, James K. Death and Dying in Central Appalachia: Changing
Attitudes and Practices. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994,
especially pp. 99-155.
Crowell, Elizabeth A., and Mackie, Norman Vardney, III. "The Funerary
Monuments and Burial Patterns of Colonial Tidewater Virginia, 1607-
1776." Markers VII (1990), pp. 103-138.
Culbertson, Judi, and Randall, Tom. Permanent Londoners: An Illustrated
Guide to the Cemeteries of London. Post Mills, VT: Chelsea Green, 1991.
Cunningham, Keith. "The Angel and the Lions: Stone Carving as
Biographical-Cultural Expression." Northwest Folklore 8:2 (1990), pp.
29-37.
. "The People of Rimrock Bury Alfred K. Lorenzo: Tri- Cultural
Funerary Practice." In Ethnicity and the American Cemetery. Edited by
Richard E. Meyer. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press, 1993, pp. 173- 192.
Dimmick, Lauretta. "Thomas Crawford's Monument for Amos Binney in
Mount Auburn Cemetery 'A Work of Rare Merit'." Markers IX (1992),
pp. 158-195.
Ehl, Petr, et al.. Old Bohemian and Moravian Jewish Cemeteries. Prague:
Paseka, 1991.
211
Elia, Ricardo J. "Silent Stones in a Potter's Field: Grave Markers at the
Almshouse Burial Ground in Uxbridge, Massachusetts." Markers IX
(1992), pp. 132-157.
Erwin, Paul F. "Scottish, Irish and Rom Gypsy Funeral Customs and
Gravestones in Cincinnati Cemeteries." In Ethnicity and the American
Cemetery. Edited by Richard E. Meyer. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling
Green State University Popular Press, 1993, pp. 104-130.
Finnell, David Vance. "Fifty Years of Reliability: The Stonecarving Career
of Charles Lloyd Neale (1800-1866) in Alexandria, Virginia. Markers X
(1993), pp. 90-115.
Flanagan, Teresa M. Mourning on the Pejepscot Lanham, MD: University
Press of America, 1992.
Forbes, Harriette M. "Symbolic Cemetery Gates in New England."
Markers VII (1990), pp. 3-18.
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219
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220
CONTRIBUTORS
Gary S. Foster is a sociologist and faculty member at Eastern Illinois
University, Charleston, Illinois. He has published numerous articles in
Sociology, Folklore, and Anthropology.
David M. Gradwohl, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Iowa State
University, lists as his principal research interest the relationship of eth-
nicity and material culture. His published books and articles have dealt
with the prehistory, archaeology, and ethnoarchaeology of the Prairies
and Plains. A past president of the Plains Anthropological Society, he is
currently a member of the Board of Editors of the National Association for
Ethnic Studies. His article on the Jewish cemeteries of Louisville,
Kentucky appears in Markers X.
Richard L. Hummell, a sociologist at Eastern Illinois University,
Charleston, Illinois, has published numerous articles in Sociology, and is
author of the book Hunting and Fishing for Sport: Commerce, Controversy,
and Popular Culture (1994).
Gay Lynch indicates that she is a new member of the Association for
Gravestone Studies. In January, 1995 she will have completed her Masters
of Theological Studies degree at Harvard Divinity School. She lives in the
San Francisco Bay area with her family.
Richard E. Meyer teaches English and Folklore at Western Oregon State
College in Monmouth, Oregon. Besides serving as editor of Markers, he
has edited the books Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American
Culture (1989, reprinted 1992) and Ethnicity and the American Cemetery
(1993) and is co-author (with Peggy McDowell) of the book The Revival
Styles in American Memorial Art (1994). He is a member of the editorial
board of The Journal of American Culture, and since 1986 has chaired the
Cemeteries and Gravemarkers section of the American Culture
Association. His article on Oregon pioneer gravemarkers appears in
Markers XL
Ralph L. Tucker is a retired clergyman who has been involved with
genealogical research and the study of New England gravestones since
221
the early 1960s. He was the first president of the Association for
Gravestone studies, is currently a member of the organization's Board of
Trustees, and in 1992 was recipient of AGS' Harriette Merrifield Forbes
Award for excellence in gravestone studies. He has authored previous
articles in Markers IX, Markers X, and Markers XI.
Richard Veit is a Ph.D candidate in Anthropology at the University of
Pennsylvania, and holds an M.A. in Anthropology from the College of
William and Mary. A historical archaeologist by trade, his research has
focused on New Jersey's Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century grave-
stones. His other areas of interest include the archaeological study of eth-
nicity and the rise of industrialism.
Betty Willsher was asked in 1983 by the Royal Commission on the
Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland to survey graveyards in
the Scottish Lowlands. Since then she has visited, photographed, and
described in detailed notes more than five hundred churchyards in
Scotland and in some English counties. Her books include Stones: A Guide
to Some Remarkahle Eighteenth Century Gravestones (with Doreen Hunter,
1978), Understanding Scottish Graveyards (1985, reprinted 1988), and How to
Record Scottish Graveyards (1985). In 1989 she was the recipient of AGS'
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award. Two of her previous articles may be
found in Markers II and Markers IX.
222
INDEX
Boldface page numbers [in brackets] indicate illustrations
A. Hall and Sons' Terra-Cotta Works 3
Adkins-Woodson Cemetery, Coles, County,
IL 92-117, [96]
Alba, Vincent 3, 4-5, 9
Ailing, Nels 19, 21
Alpine Cemetery, Perth Amboy, NJ 2, 16, 22
Amador Memorial, Oakland, CA 148
Angus, Scotland 41-46, 49, 51
Annandal, Anna 45, [45]
Annandal, James 45
Argyllshire, Scotland 67
Aries, Philippe 146-147
Arnold, [Mr.] 126
Association for Gravestone Studies 39-40
Atlantic Terra-Cotta Works 4, 9, 20
Attwill, Richard 124
Avery, John, Jr. 138
Ayrshire, Scotland 75, 83-87
Barbat, [Capt.j 141
Baugher, Sherene 21
Bell, John 79-80, [80]
Berwickshire, Scotland 71, 75
Bill, Samuel 138-139
Black, George 59-60, [60]
Bonitone, Basil 71
Bradley, Jonat 129
Brewer, Daniel 135, 139
Brewster, Richard 124
Brumfield, Bijah 123
Bulkeley Mary and Freke 37-38, [37]
Burgess, Frederick 36
Burry, John 52-53, [52]
Calkin, Jont 139
Cameron, Daniel 61
Cameron, John, and Janet McLaren 61-62,
[61]
Campbell, John 53-54, [53]
Cashkadden, William 138
Catholic Burying Ground, Halifax, NS 38
Chambers, Annable 75
Chapell, Nath[ ] 123
Christison, David 32-91
Christopher, John 123, 129
Christopher, Richard 131, 133, 135
Clark, Lynn 20
Coade's Stone 5
Codner, [Ms.] 132
Coit, Joseph 127, 135, 140
Coles County [IL] Genealogical Society 95
Coles County, IL, 92-117, [92]
Conklin, [Capt.] 132
Connacher, Margaret 54-55, 59, [56]
Cunningham, Keith 145
Daniels, Ja 127
Danish Brotherhood in America 16
Danish Home for the Aged, Edison, NJ 3
Darro, Nicholas 125
Dart, Roger 127
Davis, Charles 19
Da vise, William 130, [131]
Deetz, James 112
Dennis, Sarah 125
Dethlefsen, Edwin 99, 104, 106-107, 112
Dewar, Cathrine 46
Dickie, Margaret 46, [47]
Dishan, Daniel 130
Dog, James 47
Dorson, Richard 145
Douglas, [Deacon] 125
Douglas, George 81, [82]
Douglas, John and James 59, [59]
Douglas, Samuel 125
Douglas, William 59
Douglass, Robert 125
Douglass, Thomas 129
Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife
(1978) 32
Dumfriesshire, Scotland 78-82
Durand, John D. 93
East Burial Ground, Bristol, RI 38-39
Edwards, [ ] 140
Elmwood Cemetery, New Brunswick, NJ 9,
22
Erskine, James, and Agnes Burn 41-42
223
Federal Seaboard Terra-Cotta Corporation
1, 4, 6, 9
Foresyth, Timothy 136
Fosdyck, Thomas 130
Fox, Hannah 123
Fox, Isaac 123, 125
Fox, John, Jr. 120, 122-123, [118]
Fox, Samuel, Jr. 132
Fox, Samuel, Sr. 132
Gardner, John 48
Garioch, Wilham 80-81, [81]
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA
161-162, 193
Golden Gate Recreational Area, CA 201
Grandelis, Bruno 6, 18, [7]
Green Man 83
Halbert, John and Mary [15]
Hallam child 130
Hallam, [Lt.] 132
Hansen, Otto E. 4
Harris, Samuel, Jr. 130
Harris, Stephen 140
Hart, Robert 63
Hartshorn, Stephen 39
Hartshorne, John 119-120, 126-132
Hartshorne, Lucy Hempstead 120
Haughton, S. 138
Havens, G. 126
Hempstead, Joshua 118-143
Herese, Agnes 75, [76]
Hill, Jonat 124
Hill, Jonathan [Jr.], 124
Hill, Ruth 124
Hill, William 124
Hillside Cemetery, Metuchen, NJ 6, 18
Hodso[e]ll, Patience 127, [128]
Holy Trinity Cemetery, Woodbridge, NJ
[11]
Hunter, Doreen 40
Huntley, John 130
Husband, William 59, [58]
Ingrem, Mary 124
Irving, Janet 80
Jardine, Margaret 75-76, [77]
Johnson family carvers 120
Johnson, Thomas 121, 126, 137
Johnston, James 78-79, [79]
Johnston, Ralph C, Jr. 146-147, 155
Kastenbaum, Robert 191
Keiser, Maj. Gen. L.B. 193
Kelly, [Capt.] 139
Kephart, William 93
Kincardineshire, Scotland 46
Kirkcudbright, Scotland 75-78
Kubler-Ross, Ehsabeth 147
Lad, Samuel 130
Lambeth, England 18
Lanarkshire, Scotland 68-69
Larabee, Natt 136
Latham, Gary 134
Latham, Eliza 123
Latham, Jasper 134, 139
Latham, William 132, 134, [121]
Lauder, Christian 63
Layell, Gilbert 62, [62]
Lebanon, CT 120
Lee, Samuel 136
Lester, Andrew 124
Lester, Ann 123
Lester, Benjamin 123
Lester, John 123
Levine, Stephen 155
Lomax, John 145
Longley, J.H. [8]
Lowe, Virginia A.R 94
Loyd, William Dickinson 18
Loyd, William Payne 18
Lynch, Andrew Charles 144-159, [144, 150,
157]
Maple, S. 139
Mathiasen, Karl 3-4, 16
Mayer, Lance 32
McCalla, James 86, [87]
McCarthy, James T. 148
McFarland, Peter 59
McGuire, Randall 21
McKissock, Andrew, and Maram McNiellie
84, [86]
McLaren, John 54, [55]
McLaren, Margaren, and Ann Steuart 59,
[57]
224
McMonies children 76-78 [78]
McNaught children 75, [74]
Meyer, Richard E. 94, 114, 148
Middlesex County, NJ 1-29
Middlesex County [NJ] Cultural and
Heritage Commission 21
Mitchell, James 49
Momaday, N. Scott 154
Morgan, Collins C.W. 18-19
Morgan, John 123
Morgan, William 136
Morrison, James 62
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Boston
[Cambridge], MA 153
Mount Tamalpais Cemetery, San Rafael, CA
152-153, 158
Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, CA
152
Mure, John and Agnes 75, [73]
National Monuments Record of Scotland 40
Nelson, Jess 40
New Jersey Terra-Cotta Company 4, 16
New London, Connecticut 118-143
New London County (CT) Historical
Society 119
Newport, William 136-137
Nockel, James 49, [50]
Nonestied, Mark 21
Nova Scotia Museum, Hahfax, NS 38, [38]
Novak, RL. [14]
Olds, Sharon 154
Olsen, Peter C. 1,4
Paterson, Robert and Margaret 42, [41]
Peebleshire, Scotland 71
Perth Amboy, NJ 1-29
Perth Amboy Terra-Cotta Company 4, 9
Perthshire, Scotland 43,47-49, 52-63
Pickett, [Mr.] 126
Pictish stone, Farnell, Angus, Scotland 35,
[34]
Plumb, 123
Plumb, [Deacon] 135
Pove[i]ddo, Frank 137
Powers, [Mr.] 137
Prentiss, Jonat 135
Prentt, R. 125
Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco,
CA 160-205
Presidio Pet Cemetery, San Francisco, CA
160-205, [160, 205]
Prestack, John, and Margaret Scott 43-44,
[44]
Pringle, William, and Agnes Guldilock 71,
75, [72]
Quarles, Francis 31
Royal Commission on the Ancient and
Historical Monuments of
Scotland (RCAHMS) 40
Reid, Alan 71
Reid, James 71, [69]
Revell, Owen 18, [13]
Richards, [Ms.] 137
Ripa, Cesar 31
Ritchie children 49, 51-52, [51]
Ritchy, Janet 49, [49]
Robertson children 62-63
Robertson, David 62
Robinson, [Ms.] 140
Rodgers, Robert 67
Rogers, James 126
Rosslyn Chapel, Midlothian, Scotland 36
[35]
Roxburhshire, Scotland 71
Royle, Ellen Falvey [10]
Sally Lincoln Chapter, DAR, Coles County,
IL95
San Francisco National Cemetery, The
Presidio, San Francisco, CA 161-162,
201, [161]
Separate Baptist Church, Coles County, IL
96, 109, 111, 113
Shackmaple, [ ] 136
Smith, G. 127
Smith, [Justice] 135
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 40
Spiegelman, Vivian 191
St. Paul's Cemetery, Halifax, NS 37-38
Stanclift, William 120-121, 126, 136
Standard Terra-Cotta Company 4
Starr, Jonathan 138
Staten Island, NY 1-29
Stephenson, [Doctr] 125
225
Sterry, Samuel 135
Stirlingshire, Scotland 63-66
Stodder, Ralph 137
Stratton, [Ms] 124
Swan, Sarah 38-39, [39]
Telfer, James 69
The Child's Guide (1725) 38
Thomlinson, Ralph 93
Thulesen, Oluf E. 16, [17]
Tinker, Amos 124
Trask, Deborah 37
Traynor, John 69
Truman, Mary 125
Truman, T. 140
Veitch, Janet 71, [70]
Venables, Robert 21
Vidutus, Ricardas 94
Walwort, [Widow] 139
Warner, W. Lloyd 93
Waterous, Ann 124
Waterous, Jacob 124
Watt children 47, [48]
Watt, John 47
Way, Thomas, Jr. 122
West Lothian, Scotland 71
Wheeler, William 126-127, 130
Whitney, William 130
Wightman, James 82
Will, Margaret 45-45, [46]
Willoughby, [Mr.] 139
Willson, [Mr.] 126
Winthrop, [Mr.] 127
Wood, John 136
Young, Frank W. 93-94
NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS TO
MARKERS: JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION
FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
Scope
The Association for Gravestone Studies was incorporated as a non-
profit corporation in 1978 as an outgrowth of the DubHn Seminar for New
England FolkHfe. The first volume of the Association's scholarly journal,
Markers, appeared in 1980. While the charter purposes of AGS are broad,
the general editorial policy of Markers is to define its subject matter as the
analytical study of gravemarkers of all types and encompassing all his-
torical periods and geographical regions of North America.
Gravemarkers are here taken to mean above-ground artifacts that com-
memorate the spot of burial, thereby excluding memorials or cenotaphs.
Articles on death and dying in general or on other aspects of death-relat-
ed material culture would not normally fall within the journal's purview
unless clearly linked to the study of gravemarkers. Particular cemeteries
may form the basis of study if a major focus of the article is on the mark-
ers contained therein and if the purpose of the article is more than simply
a history or description of the cemeteries themselves. While not neces-
sarily excluded, articles dealing with material not found in North
America should seek in some fashion to provide meaningful comparative
analysis with material found here. Finally, articles submitted for publica-
tion in Markers should be scholarly, analytical and interpretive, not mere-
ly descriptive and entertaining. Within these general parameters, the
journal seeks variety both in subject matter and disciplinary orientation.
For illustration of these general principles, the prospective author is
encouraged to consult recent issues of Markers.
Submissions
Submissions to Markers should be sent to the journal's editor, Richard
E. Meyer, English Department, Western Oregon State College,
Monmouth, OR 97361 (Telephone: (503) 838-8362 / E-Mail: Meyerr@fsa.
wosc.osshe.edu). Manuscripts should be submitted in triplicate (original
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As regards articles published in Markers, copyright is normally given
to the Association for Gravestone Studies, though requests for permission
to reprint are readily accommodated. Offset copies of published articles
are not provided to authors: each contributor, however, receives a com-
plimentary copy of the volume.
Gravestone studies in general, and the Association
for Gravestone Studies in particular, lost a dear
and valued friend with the untimely death, on
October 8, 1994, of Jim Jewell. Inscribed upon the
gravestone which Jim designed for himself in
Lindenwood Cemetery, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, are the
words from poet William Blake, 'No bird soars too
high if he soars with his own wings,' to which we
would add, in dedicating this volume, another fit-
ting epitaph seen from time to time over the years:
'There is no death so long
as we live in the hearts
of those who remember us.'
AGS JOURNALS
MARKERS I Reprint of 1980 journal.
Collection of 15 articles on topics such as
recording and care of gravestones, resources
for teachers, some unusual markers, and
carvers Ithamar Spauldin of Concord, Mass.
and the Connecticut Hook-and-Eye Man.
182 pages, 100 illustrations
MARKERS II Signed stones in New England
and Atlantic coastal states; winged skull sym-
bol in Scotland and New England; early sym-
bols in religious and wider social perspective;
Mass. carvers Joseph Barbur, Jr., Stephen and
Charles Hartshorn, and carver known as
"JN"; Portage County, Wise, carvers from
1850-1900; and a contemporary carver of San
Angelo, Tex.
226 pages, 168 illustrations
MARKERS III Gravestone styles in frontier
towns of Western Mass.; emblems and epi-
taphs on Puritan gravestones; John
Hartshorn's carvings in Essex County, Mass.;
and New Hampshire carvers Paul Colburn,
John Ball, Josiah Coolidge Wheat, Coolidge
Wheat, and Luther Hubbard.
154 pages, 80 illustrations
MARKERS IV Delaware children's stones of
1840-1899; rural southern gravemarkers; New
York and New Jersey carving traditions; cam-
posantos of New Mexico; and death Italo-
American style.
180 pages, 138 illustrations
MARKERS V Pennsylvania German grave-
stones; mausoleum designs of Louis Henri
Sullivan; Thomas Gold and 7 Boston carvers
of 1700-1725 who signed stones with their ini-
tials; and Canadian gravestones and yards in
Ontario and Kings County, Nova Scotia.
240 pages, 158 illustrations
MARKERS VI Carver John Dwight of
Shirley, Mass.; gravestones of Afro- Americans
from New England to Georgia; sociological
study of Chicago-area monuments; more on
New Mexico camposantos; hand symbolism in
Southwestern Ontario; an epitaph from
ancient Turkey; and a review essay on James
Slater's The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern
Connecticut.
245 pages, 90 illustrations
MARKERS VII A trilogy on cemetery gates
and plot enclosures; the Boston Historic
Burying Grounds Initiative; unusual monu-
ments in colonial tidewater Virginia; tree
stones in Southern Indiana's Limestone Belt;
life and work of Virginia carver Charles Miller
Walsh; carvers of Monroe County, Ind.; Celtic
crosses; and monuments of the Tsimshian
Indians of Western Canada.
281 pages, 158 illustrations
MARKERS VIII A collection of the pioneer-
ing studies of Dr. Ernest Caulfield on
Connecticut carvers and their work: fifteen
essays edited by James A. Slater and three
edited by Peter Benes.
342 pages, 206 illustrations
MARKERS IX A tribute to the art of Francis
Duval; the Mullicken Family carvers of
Bradford, Mass.; the Green Man on Scottish
markers; photo-essay on the Center Church
Crypt, New Haven, Conn.; more on Ithamar
Spauldin and his shop; the Almshouse Burial
Ground, Uxbridge, Mass.; Thomas
Crawford's monument for Amos Binney; Salt
Lake City Temple symbols on Mormon tomb-
stones; language codes in Texas German
cemeteries; and the disappearing Shaker
cemetery.
281 pages, 176 illustrations
MARKERS X The markers carved by Calvin
Barber of Simsbury, Conn.; Chinese markers
in a midwestern American Cemetery; the
stonecarving of Charles Lloyd Neale of
Alexandria, Va.; the Jewish cemeteries of
Louisville, Ky; four generations of the
Lamson family carvers of Charlestown and
Maiden, Mass.; and the Protestant Cemetery
in Florence, Italy.
254 pages, 122 illustrations
MARKERS XI Fraternal symbolism and
gravemarkers; regional and denominational
identity in Louisiana cemeteries; the carvings
of Solomon Brewer in Westchester County,
NY; Theodore O'Hara's 'The Bivouac of the
Dead'; slave markers in colonial
Massachusetts; the Leighton and Worster
families of carvers; a Kentucky stonecutter's
career; and pioneer gravemarkers in Oregon.
237 pages, 132 illustrations