Full text of "Markers"
MARKERS XX
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Edited by
Richard E. Meyer
Markers XX
Annual Journal of
the Association for
Gravestone Studies
Edited by
Richard E. Meyer
Association for Gravestone Studies
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Copyright © 2003 by
Association for Gravestone Studies
278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301
{"The Woodmen of the World Monument Program" © Annette Stott]
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-878381-13-X
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 illustration: Gravestone ofBetsie C. Nickerson, Congregational Church
Cemetery, Harwich, Massachusetts. Photograph by James Blachowicz.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
The Woodmen of the World Monument Program 1
Annette Stott
Mourning in a Distant Land: Gold Star Pilgrimages 30
to American Military Cemeteries in Europe, 1930-33
Lotte Larsen Meyer
Eighteenth Century Gravestone Carvers of the 76
Upper Narragansett Basin: Gabriel Allen
Vincent F. Luti
Do-It-Yourself Immortality: Writing One's Own Epitaph 110
Karl S. Guthke
The Thomas Foster Mausoleum: Canada's Taj Mahal 154
Sybil F. Crawford
The Old Gravestone 192
Hans Christian Andersen
The Origins of Marble Carving on Cape Cod, Part II: 196
The Orleans and Sandwich Carvers
James Blachowicz
'... do not go and leave me behind unwept ...': 280
Greek Gravemarkers Heed the Warning
Gay Lynch
Poets Among the Stones 302
Kenneth Pobo
Mormon Temple Reproductions on Cemetery Markers 312
Jacqueline S. Thursby
The Year's Work in Cemetery/Gravemarker Studies: 333
An International Bibliography
Richard E. Meyer
Contributors 391
Index 395
in
MARKERS: ANNUAL JOURNAL OF
THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
EDITORIAL BOARD
Richard E. Meyer, Editor
Western Oregon University
Gary Collison, Assistant Editor
The Pennsylvania State University, York
Jessie Lie Farber Julie Rugg
Mount Holyoke College University of York (United Kingdom)
Editor, Markers I
James A. Slater
Richard Francaviglia University of Connecticut
University of Texas at Arlington
Dickran Tashjian
Laurel K. Gabel University of California, Irvine
Barbara Rotundo David H.Watters
State University of New York University of New Hampshire
at Albany Editor, Markers II-IV
Wilbur Zelinsky
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park
More than a decade has now passed since I first assumed the
editorship of Markers, marvelous years for me, filled with joys, discover-
ies, and immense satisfactions. With the current issue I shall bring this
period to a close, as new editor Gary Collison begins his duties in prepa-
ration for the publication of Markers XXI. I feel both privileged and hon-
ored to have had the opportunity to work with this journal and the
splendid organization which stands behind it. Over the years I have ac-
cumulated a massive debt of gratitude to the many who have helped
and assisted me in this task, from the technical support of persons such
as Fred Kennedy and Patti Stephens, to the meticulous evaluative efforts
of the members of the editorial board, to the scholarly and creative ef-
forts of those dozens of contributors whose work has graced and en-
iv
hanced these pages. And above all, let me say one last time, as I have so
often before, that it is Lotte Larsen Meyer, my wife and closest friend,
who has provided the love, the inspiration, and the emotional support I
have found so critically essential to my work. I thank you all more than I
can ever say.
Markers XX represents, in my view, all the very best of which this fine
journal is capable. In its pages you may travel from the American mili-
tary cemeteries of France and Belgium to the funerary landscapes of an-
cient and modern Greece, explore, respectively, the fraternal and religious
iconography of Woodmen of the World and Mormon gravemarkers, ex-
amine the work of gravestone carvers from two seminal periods in the
history of American memorial style, marvel at the splendor of a truly
unique example of mausoleum architecture, and experience in a variety
of ways the creative element in funerary literature. It is such diversity,
underscored by the very highest standards of research and creativity,
which has made and continues to make this annual journal unique among
scholarly publications.
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 jour-
nal may be found in the "Notes for Contributors" printed at the conclu-
sion of this issue. Address queries concerning publication in forthcoming
issues to: Gary Collison, Editor, Markers: Annual Journal of the Association
for Gravestone Studies, Penn State York, 1031 Edgecomb Avenue, York, PA
17403 (Phone: 717-771-4029 / E-Mail: glc@psu.edu). For information con-
cerning other Association for Gravestone Studies publications, member-
ship, and activities, including the Annual Conference, write to the
Association's offices, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301,
call 413-772-0836, or email info@gravestonestudies.org. Readers are urged
as well to visit the AGS web site at www.gravestonestudies.org.
R.E.M.
Woodmen of the World
Mm
A WOODMAN MONUMENT.
On and after Aug. 16, 1892, such a
monument is to be placed upon the
grave of every beneficiary member of
the order who was in good standing at
the date of his death.
Fig. 1. The Pacific Jurisdiction Woodmen of the World
announced its new monument program in 1892 with this
standard draped-urn Woodman marker.
VI
THE WOODMEN OF THE WORLD MONUMENT PROGRAM
Annette Stott
Introduction
A fair amount of attention has been paid to the large number of stone
trees scattered among real ones in Nineteenth-Century cemeteries. Au-
thors have noted in passing that many of these monuments carry an
inscription to the Woodmen of the World and owe their existence to that
fraternal organization's commitment to marking the graves of its deceased
members.1 A fuller exploration of Woodmen of the World monuments
reveals a wide variety of forms, and imagery rich in symbolic and social
significance. Because these markers were not erected to heroes and fa-
mous people, but to everyday workers in towns and cities throughout
the country, an examination of the Woodmen of the World monument
program provides a clearer understanding of one of the roles that sepul-
chral sculpture played in the lives of ordinary people at the turn of the
twentieth century. Such a study also provides the opportunity to focus
on an aspect of gravestone studies too often taken for granted - patron-
age. This is the story of what was perhaps the largest corporate patron of
cemetery sculpture in the United States at the turn of the century.2
Any serious discussion of Woodmen monuments must take into con-
sideration the complex history and organizational structure of the
Woodmen of the World. In this article I have chosen to focus on the
oldest regional branch of the order, the Pacific Jurisdiction. By studying
the archives of this Denver-based branch and analyzing the monuments
it produced, a solid understanding of Woodmen patronage and of the
social and cultural function of the monuments emerges.
History
Joseph Cullen Root, a dedicated fraternalist, was already a member
of the Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and similar broth-
erhoods when he started a new fraternal order in 1883. After hearing a
sermon about the pioneers chopping down trees to build cabins for the
protection of their families, he named his organization the Modern
Woodmen of America. Its main purpose was to protect families through
a life insurance plan, and most of its symbolism derived from the image
of the pioneer woodsman. Neither it, nor its successors, had anything to
do with the lumber industry.
Woodmen of the World
Within the first decade, a divisive struggle for power emerged be-
tween Root and the order's Head Physician, both of whom were eventu-
ally expelled from the Modern Woodmen of America. In addition, the
state charter granted by Iowa prohibited the organization from spread-
ing beyond specified states in the West and Midwest. Early in 1890, Root
met in Denver, Colorado with F.A. Falkenburg, an active organizer of
the Modern Woodmen in Colorado, to discuss the creation of a new or-
ganization that would eventually be called the Woodmen of the World.
They conceived of it as a worldwide fraternity that would absorb the
Modern Woodmen of America, thus giving Root back control of his or-
der and overcoming the legal restriction on growth that the Modern
Woodmen faced.3
The Woodmen of the World incorporated at a meeting in Omaha,
Nebraska in June, 1890. 4 They planned to have 12 regions, or jurisdic-
tions, in the United States, with others abroad. Each region would be
financially and governmentally independent, but tied to the Omaha head-
quarters, known as the Sovereign Camp, through shared rituals and com-
mon goals. The first region to organize was the Pacific Jurisdiction, with
its headquarters, or Head Camp, in Denver.5 F.A. Falkenburg assumed
charge, as Head Consul, of this region that embraced the states of Mon-
tana, Wyoming, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California, and Colorado,
and the territories of Utah and Idaho. The Canadian region was orga-
nized in 1893, and the Woodmen began operating in Mexico two years
later. No other regions were ever chartered. The Head Camp, Pacific
Jurisdiction claimed 10,000 members by 1895, while the Sovereign Camp
in Omaha, which included all the rest of the United States and Mexico,
numbered only twice that many.
The Woodmen of the World, like other fraternal orders, was orga-
nized into local camps that held regular meetings filled with secret ritu-
als. Membership was limited to white males between the ages of 21 and
50, who were encouraged to purchase life insurance for the protection of
their dependents.'1 Upon the death of any beneficiary member, the en-
tire membership of the jurisdiction was assessed a payment to fulfill that
insurance obligation. In this way Woodmen were meant to be like the
pioneers, ensuring the support of their widows and children after their
deaths through neighborly aid. The Sovereign Camp Woodmen of the
World went a step further by including in its 1890 constitution the state-
ment that every member would also receive a monument at his death.
Although the Pacific Jurisdiction did not amend its constitution to fol-
Annette Stott
low suit until two years later, it too decided that a monument should be
part of the ritual of remembering members.7
The Monument Program
Delegates from each camp throughout the Pacific Jursidiction met in
an annual Head Camp Session to revise laws and discuss the growth of
the order. The official record of the 1892 Head Camp Session in Pueblo,
Colorado makes it clear that Falkenburg and the delegates intended to
implement the same monument plan that the Sovereign Camp was us-
ing. The Jurisdiction announced in the next issue of its paper, The
Woodman: "On and after Aug. 16, 1892, such a monument (Fig. 1) is to be
placed upon the grave of every beneficiary member of the order who
was in good standing at the date of his death." The same illustration had
appeared earlier that year in the Sovereign Visitor, the journal of the Omaha-
based Sovereign Camp. It depicted a draped urn monument on the grave
of Sovereign Camp member William Leeds Graham, in Ontario.8
Despite this beginning, the Pacific Jurisdiction monument program
rapidly took a different direction when a Denver monument business
approached Head Consul Falkenburg with a proposition. The firm of
Helmbrecht and Farrington suggested that they provide a monument
valued at $100 for every deceased member, including shipping and set-
ting anywhere in the territory. They offered to provide one free monu-
ment for every ten purchased, so that members who had died before the
constitutional amendment could also be recognized with markers. In
return, the Pacific Jurisdiction Woodmen of the World would give
Helmbrecht and Farrington its business and a free advertisement to run
in The Woodman for as long as the contract remained in force. According
to Helmbrecht's proposal, each camp would be allowed to choose be-
tween two different designs: a six-and-a-half-foot monument consisting
of a shaft surmounted by a draped urn "of same stone and style as erected
by the Sovereign Jurisdiction," or a seven-and-a-half-foot tree trunk with
the Woodmen of the World emblems carved in high relief (Fig. 2). The
Head Managers authorized the contract and appropriated $1,500 for the
first fifteen monuments.9
This contract removed each camp's power to work with a local stone
carver and limited its choice to two designs, but the Head Managers be-
lieved that their contract with Helmbrecht and Farrington would ensure a
consistently higher quality of carved monuments.10 The end results, they
stated, justified any deviation from the letter of the constitution, and their
Woodmen of the World
W. R. FARRIVCTON & CO.,
Successors to
DELMBRERHT & FARRINCTON,
Dealers in
MONUMENTS &. STATUARY.
All Kinds of American and Importe
Granite, Marble and Oolitis Stone.
1533- 1539 TREMONT ST
Opposite the Court House,
TEL. 624, DENVER, COLO
Fig. 2. When Helmbrecht and Farrington received the
Woodmen monument contract, they added the option of a
hand-carved tree trunk as depicted in this advertisement in
The Woodman. Note that the typesetter incorrectly set
Henry Helmbrecht's last name in the advertisement.
Annette Stott
Fig. 3. Robert H. McKelvey tree trunk monument, 1893, limestone.
Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.
Woodmen of the World
plan remained within its spirit. Thus, the Sovereign Camp, Woodmen of
the World was the first fraternal group to provide a monument for each
member upon his death, and the Pacific Jurisdiction was the first to man-
date a specific provider and to offer the tree trunk option.
Helmbrecht and Farrington erected the first draped-urn and tree trunk
monuments between February and June of 1893. By all accounts, the mem-
bers of the local camps receiving the monuments were thrilled with the
beauty of these memorials." The Robert H. McKelvey Monument (Fig.
3) demonstrates the high quality of the early work. The bark is rendered
as a believable texture; the ferns at the base of the tree stump stand out
clearly; and the insignia of the order are carved in such high relief as to
be nearly full round. McKelvey had died of apoplexy at the time of the
second Head Camp meeting. Delegates were informed by telegram and
appropriate remembrances were spoken, but because he died before the
delegates had voted on the monument program, he did not automati-
cally receive one. Instead, his was the first free monument provided by
W.R. Farrington & Co., successors to Helmbrecht and Farrington.
Camps of Woodmen throughout the Northwest reported their de-
light with the impressive carved stones as the first monuments were
shipped to them. However, there were some concerns with the proce-
dure. Many camps counted a carver or monument dealer among their
members and wanted to allow him to design and create memorials for
their members. The first official change in procedure occurred at the
Head Camp meeting in August, 1894, when the program was two years
old. That year the constitution was amended to allow local camps to
erect a monument through their own choice of monument firms, pro-
viding that the widow or family agreed. Upon seeing proof that a monu-
ment worth at least $100 had been erected, the head office would
reimburse the monument maker. This policy change resulted in a greater
variety of designs, and monument companies from Portland, Oregon to
Boulder, Colorado now advertised in the Pacific Woodman}2 But the
struggle among central administration, local camps, and heirs for con-
trol over the monuments continued.
In 1896, a group of delegates to the annual meeting requested that all
money for monuments be paid directly to the local camps and that, when-
ever possible, the camps engage a local carver. Instead, the constitution
was changed to give the widow or heir decision-making power over the
choice of provider and design. The local camp continued to order the
work on behalf of the family.13 Sometimes dissatisfaction with the pro-
Annette Stott
:*ALKEl*Btm£*
-..
****.,! 4&V/ -i 2#:~
Fig. 4. F.A. Falkenburg monument, 1907, bronze and granite.
Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado. The base was originally
decorated with a relief carving of a man chopping down a tree.
Woodmen of the World
Fig. 5. Duane McKercher's small granite marker (top)
was designed to match that of his wife (bottom).
Annette Stott
cess resulted in both family and Woodmen putting up a monument. Ironi-
cally, this was the case when Head Consul Falkenburg died. His daugh-
ter erected a sarcophagus monument to the memory of both her parents
in 1906. The Woodmen erected a life-size bronze statue in the same cem-
etery in 1907 (Fig. 4). Falkenburg was buried in the family plot at the
insistence of his daughter, who was angered by the order's refusal to
allow her to be buried with her parents in the Woodmen plot where the
bronze memorial stands.
As families became more involved, and inflation reduced the value
of a $100 monument, adjustments were made to accommodate the de-
sire for bigger and better memorials than the Woodmen's $100 appro-
priation could buy. Soon the monument program was functioning in
many camps as a subsidy to the family's purchase. For this reason, the
wording required on the monuments changed in August, 1898 from
"Erected by the Woodmen of the World" to "Here Rests a Woodman of
the World."
Fig. 6. The elaborate relief carving on Jonathan Schaeffer's
large monument cost considerably more than the
$100 contribution made by the Woodmen of the World.
10 Woodmen of the World
Examples of the wide variety of Woodmen memorials that resulted
from this loosening of the procedures can be seen in the McKercher (Fig.
5, top) and Schaeffer (Fig. 6) monuments.14 Duane McKercher and
Jonathan Schaeffer died within two weeks of one another in 1902. Both
of their monuments were provided by the Denver Marble and Granite
Company, one of the oldest monument makers and dealers in Denver.
McKercher 's wife had predeceased him, so his mother received his
Woodman insurance benefit and it was probably his mother who or-
dered the low granite draped-urn marker to match that of Duane's wife
(Fig. 5, bottom). Jonathan Schaeffer's widow, Anna, ordered a more am-
bitious design for her husband, a man who had for eighteen years been
foreman of Hallack & Howard Lumber Company. The die of this large
granite sarcophagus-style memorial is nearly covered with a relief carv-
ing of the interior of a carpenter's shop. On the back wall, the Woodmen
of the World seal is joined by the seal of the Brotherhood of American
Yeomen. The high relief table holds a saw, plane, chisel, and hammer,
while lumber is piled under the table and in a corner of the room. Both
monuments are unique. The Schaeffer relief references the fact that
Jonathan was a woodman by profession as well as fraternal affiliation.
Other monuments erected by the Woodmen of the World assume a
variety of popular forms. The George A. Pullen monument (Fig. 7) is a
large granite stone with a rock face treatment giving way to the refined
carving of a corner column entwined with roses. It is further decorated
with a cross, crown, and lily. This nationally-known design was especially
popular in Denver's Fairmount Cemetery. The Pullen monument is inter-
esting because the inscriptions all appear on the back. Under the notice,
"Here Rests a Woodman of the World," are the names of George and (so
far) eleven other members of his family. He died in November, 1908, more
than eight years after the Woodmen had mandated that this inscription
and the order's seal must appear on the face of each monument.
The emphasis on representing the order on the face of the memorial
came about owing to a desire to advertise. When Falkenburg first argued
for the monument program in the fall of 1892, he had declared that per-
manent memorials carved with the name of the order would help build
up membership. Thereafter, the Woodmen regularly cited its monuments
as a major factor distinguishing it from other fraternal orders and from
mainline insurance companies.15 But an Idaho Woodman complained
that the required inscription "looks too much like advertising to be at all
in place ... If there is any place where a violation of good taste strikes
Annette Stott
11
one more glaringly than elsewhere, it is on a gravestone ... I would as
soon advertise the Woodmen of the World on my gravestone as the Ma-
Fig. 7. George A. Pullen's family erected this elaborately
carved granite marker in 1908, placing the Woodmen inscription
on the back. Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.
12 Woodmen of the World
sons, or Pear's Soap."16 Cemetery superintendents in Denver pronounced
a ban on names appearing on monuments for the purpose of advertise-
ment at the same time that the Woodmen mandated a more prominent
location for their name.17 The cemeteries lacked a means of enforcing
the ban, however, so inscriptions and insignia continued to appear on
Woodmen memorials.
By 1905, the Pacific Jurisdiction Woodmen of the World had erected
2,385 stone and zinc monuments throughout the Northwest. During that
time the program evolved through a variety of rules and procedures as
its constituent groups struggled for control, but the most influential as-
pect of the program in determining the appearance of Woodmen sepul-
chral sculpture was the organization's attention to the financial bottom
line. One hundred dollars, no more and no less, would be appropriated
for each monument throughout the thirty-six-year existence of the pro-
gram. This adherence to a single price resulted in a steady decline in the
size and complexity of the monuments.
Ironically, the Pacific Jurisdiction Woodmen of the World based many
of their decisions about the monument program on their desire for high
quality. The 1892 agreement with Helmbrecht and Farrington had been
justified on the grounds of maintaining control over quality. In 1896,
when questions arose over the value of a monument erected by the Bills
Brothers company in Florence, Colorado, the head managers sent one of
their number to investigate.18 The claim was paid, but the managers'
ongoing fear that camps were not getting their money's worth led to
another change in procedure. Thereafter, the head camp requested that
builder's specifications and a drawing be sent to Denver headquarters to
prove that each proposed monument would be worth one hundred dol-
lars. Monument proposition forms were provided by the head camp for
this purpose. In addition, the head managers required that officers of
the local camp inspect each monument in the cemetery for quality and
report to the head finance committee before any payment could be made.
The awareness that these memorials would be seen by visitors to the
cemetery and would represent the order to the world underlay the de-
sire to present only the highest quality
Despite the popularity of the monument program, it was an economic
burden almost from the start. The officers had never called an assess-
ment for the monuments, but had attempted several times to initiate a
special fee. Finally in 1913, new members wanting the monument ben-
efit were required to pay a small monthly sum into a monument fund.
Annette Stott 13
The benefit from the fund could be put toward a monument or toward
funeral expenses. After 1928, no insurance certificates were issued with
a monument benefit, and in 1932, with no new money going into the
monument fund, it was decided to distribute to each member still hold-
ing a monument agreement the exact amount that they had paid in, plus
interest. That ended the program.
Stone Trees
By the 1894 head camp meeting, Helmbrecht and Farrington and its
successor, W.R. Farrington Co., had erected twenty-four monuments, two
of them free ones for members who died before the monument program
was started. Since the monuments are scattered throughout the nine states
of the Pacific Jurisdiction, it is difficult to determine which of the two
Helmbrecht and Farrington designs was more popular, the draped urn
or the tree.
In any case, the tree stump model was a particularly fortuitous sym-
bol of the order, suggesting both the name "Woodmen" and the notion
of woodcraft. Woodmen of the World dedicated themselves to a creed of
self-improvement and neighborliness that included these objectives, ac-
cording to the 1890 constitution: "to promote true neighborly regard and
fraternal love; to bestow substantial benefits upon the widows, children
and relatives of deceased members; . . . and to comfort the sick by neigh-
borly ministrations in times of sorrow and distress." Woodmen referred
to this creed of moral development, charity, and good works as Wood-
craft.
Adolph Munter, a member of a Pacific Jurisdiction camp, delivered
a speech in 1896 entitled "The Stump of the Tree, An Emblem of Wood-
craft." He likened the growth of an acorn or pine burr into a beautiful
and mighty tree to the growth of an infant into "beautiful womanhood
or mighty manhood," and noted that "it therefore behooves us, in view
of this stump, this emblem of our order, to pledge ourselves to cultivate,
by correct lives, the grain in our moral development and growth, per-
mitting no knot holes and no rot."19 Monthly Woodmen rituals, held
around a tree stump in the middle of the meeting house, were part of the
means of teaching woodcraft. So were the unveiling rituals held around
the funerary monuments.
One of the earliest examples of a Woodman tree trunk monument,
erected for Andrew H. Lamb in 1893 (Fig. 8), demonstrates the high qual-
ity of the carving and materials in the first monuments. The Indiana
14
Woodmen of the World
Fig. 8. Andrew Lamb tree trunk monument, 1893, limestone.
Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.
Annette Stott
15
Fig. 9. This detail of the Lamb memorial reveals the
intricacy of carving on the earliest Woodmen markers.
16 Woodmen of the World
limestone was intricately carved with a detailed ivy vine winding up one
face, three fern fronds spreading out from the base, and rough bark. On
the face of the tall tree trunk, a high-relief still life reveals the insignia of
the order: the axe, beetle (mallet), and wedge are carved from a single
block of stone to look as if stuck into a log placed crosswise on the tree
trunk (Fig. 9). As was most common on these early tree trunks, the carv-
ing mimicked bark peeled away to reveal the inscription carved into the
"wood." No two monuments are exactly alike in their details, but all
follow quite closely the general design published in The Woodman. Henry
Helmbrecht was a dealer, not a carver, and it is almost certain that the
first tree trunks were carved in Indiana and shipped to Colorado.
By 1895, a change in the quality and design of the stones can be seen.
It is not clear whether this was due to Farrington's use of a different
supplier or simply a different grade of stone. Unlike the Lamb tree, the
William E. Carter memorial (Fig. 10) shows considerable erosion and
flaking. Enough remains to reveal that the still life arrangement of axe,
beetle, and wedge was carved on a much smaller scale and in a different
position than on the earlier examples. Tree bark is peeled above and
below, and the tree branches are treated differently as well. Farrington
was a trained carver, but no evidence has yet surfaced to reveal whether
he or his staff carved any of the Woodmen monuments he supplied. Lime-
stone was not yet readily available in Colorado, but there were a few
sources, and other local stone carvers imported limestone and sold it
wholesale. A few feet away from the Carter monument, the Robert C.
Seymour tree trunk (Fig. 11), also erected in 1895, has eroded so badly
that all inscriptions and much of the bark are obliterated. What remains
suggests the same hand as the Carter memorial.
By the end of the century, Helmbrecht and Farrington's original tree
trunk design had been replaced by much shorter, "stumpier" models.
The three-foot granite example erected in 1904 for Clayton Tammany is
fairly typical (Fig. 12). The inscriptions are carved into the stone's smooth
top surface and a smooth rectangle below, instead of attempting the illu-
sion of peeling bark. An incised seal replaces the high-relief still life of
earlier monuments, and uniform, stylized, shallowly-carved bark replaces
the realism of earlier efforts. The greater hardness of granite, as opposed
to limestone or marble, combined with the rising cost of labor, meant
that monument makers had to cut costs in order to meet the Woodmen's
price of $100. This resulted in the smaller, simpler designs and shallower,
less detailed carving.
Annette Stott
17
Fig. 10. William E. Carter tree trunk monument, 1895, limestone.
Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.
18
Woodmen of the World
Fig. 11. While trees, water sprinklers, and other factors play a role
in erosion, they cannot explain the severe deterioration
of this tree trunk memorial for Robert C. Seymour.
It stands a short distance from the Carter and Lamb stones.
Annette Stott
19
Fig. 12. Both the harder composition of granite and changing
economic conditions caused the monuments of Clayton Tammany
and his contemporary Woodmen of the early Twentieth Century
to assume the shape of short, shallowly carved stumps.
20
Woodmen of the World
As the Woodmen organizations grew, so did the demand for tree
stump tombstones. Statues in the form of cut and stacked logs, some-
times carrying a globe, sometimes supporting a tree stump, also became
popular. Stone carvers' manuals typically included instructions for carv-
ing the Woodmen of the World seal, and all the major monument com-
panies carried one or two designs for Woodmen monuments. It should
be noted that the official seal of the Pacific Jurisdiction (Fig. 13) varied
from that of the Sovereign Camp, and both changed over time. The Sov-
ereign Camp also regulated the appearance of their monuments more
rigidly. For example, they specified in their 1907 Constitution that the
circles and letters of their seal must be carved with a "V"-shape cut not
less than one-eighth of an inch deep, and that the image of the stump
must be raised not less than three-eights of an inch.20 The Pacific Juris-
diction, while concerned about quality, did not go to quite such lengths
to ensure uniformity. In both cases, however, variations on the official
seal appeared as carvers created their own interpretations. In general,
neither local nor national monument companies understood the differ-
ences in the two Woodmen monument programs' requirements.
- ."' ..,^<*^"" V---, \'". ■-":■■ ;>\ :" ■
'•" m s :"#8bl»* ~; - l'* # 't*'^^"1^
Fig. 13. The Pacific Jurisdiction seal can be seen in this
detail from the Tammany marker.
Annette Stott
21
THIS STURDY, GRAND TRUNK OF A TREE FOR $28.75
AND UPWARDS
Catalogue Nos. 22P900 to 22P905 See opposite page for full description.
Fig. 14. The rectangular shape of the original stone block can be
seen by examining the base of this Sears, Roebuck and Co.
carved tree trunk, where it meets the square base block.
22 Woodmen of the World
In 1902, Sears, Roebuck and Co. advertised a tree stump monument
in three sizes, ranging from a four-foot blue marble stump for $28.75
(Fig. 14) to a four-foot ten-inch white marble stump for $48.57. Carved at
a quarry in Rutland, Vermont, the Sears, Roebuck monuments represent
the ultimate reduction in quality and price in order to accomplish a demo-
cratic distribution to people of lesser means. Unlike the Helmbrecht and
Farrington tree trunks, mail-order company sculptures tended to retain
the shape of the original block of quarried stone. These tree stumps of-
ten look more rectangular than cylindrical. They did not meet the
Woodmen criteria for quality, and would not have been accepted for
reimbursement.21 They do, however, represent the widespread popular-
ity of rustic monuments among the general populace.
Tree stump funerary sculpture carried associations with the tree of
life, a symbol recognized by most world religions as signifying conti-
nuity of life after death.22 The majority of Woodmen were Christians
and Jews, whose religions invested in the symbolism of the tree of life.
The family tree, an image of particular importance for Woodmen, with
their well developed sense of family obligation, was referenced in some
monuments as well. Names of individuals were sometimes carved onto
individual branches and, though rarely used, the opportunity existed
to suggest a branch of a family tree cut off and other such genealogical
notions. These significations, together with the general turn toward na-
ture seen in the change from churchyard and secular burial grounds to
rural park-like cemeteries, had made tree stumps popular motifs in
cemetery sculpture well before the Woodmen of the World existed.23
As a contemporary landscape gardening manual pointed out, "cut stone
is more permanent and needs less care than shrubs and flowers, which
are not only difficult to select to-day, but liable to perish to-morrow."24
Stone tree stump monuments furnished the cemetery with imperish-
able botanicals. Tree stump monuments gained popularity for all of
these reasons.
The Woodmen invested these popular tree trunk sculptures with the
additional meaning of the central enterprise of their order. Carved with
the name Woodmen of the World, the tree trunk monument was meant
to suggest the basic premise that men must die and leave unprotected
their widows and children, unless they joined together fraternally for
mutual aid and the protection of their family obligations after death.
Each time the woodmen gathered at a cemetery to carry out the Woodman
funeral rites, they were reminded of this special meaning of the tree stump
Annette Stott 23
in the words of the camp's Adviser Lieutenant, whose duty it was to
recite:
Like the trees of the forest our Neighbor has sprung into life - a prattling
babe, a tiny shrub - has grown to be a man, like the vigorous sapling, around
which the ivy and the vine have loved to cling and find a safe protection, and
now, like the tree, he is cut down and the ivy and the vine feel the crushing
blow. The tree can never on earth be their support again; but in that better
life, toward which we cast our longing eyes: there shall be no parting there.25
One might wonder how a widow and her children felt at the burial, be-
ing referred to as clinging ivy without support, but no doubt the image
of the man as a solid tree trunk was a comforting one to the deceased's
fellow Woodmen. It certainly embodied late Nineteenth-Century defini-
tions of masculinity. Historian Mark C. Carnes has theorized that a ma-
jor purpose of fraternal ritual was to reassert manliness in an era of change
and doubt.26 The stone trees of the Woodmen accomplished the same
goal.
The tree stump allowed for all kinds of additional references. F.A.
Falkenburg once gave an address entitled "The altar of Woodcraft is a
Stump," in which he stated that:
a plain, old-fashioned, every-day, North American stump . . . fitly symbolizes
the fallen neighbor who is carried to his last resting place by loving hands,
but it also means much more ... It was from that platform, the stump, that
the Puritan Father spoke. It was from that rostum that was first announced
upon this soil, under the silent skies, the inalienable rights of man and his
absolute equality with his fellow man.27
Such patriotism also suited the Woodmen's notions of moral fiber and
American manhood.
Women of Woodcraft, the female auxiliary of the Pacific Jurisdiction
Woodmen of the World since 1898, also maintained a monument pro-
gram.28 Woodmen who purchased additional insurance through the
Women of Woodcraft were expected to place the emblem of that organi-
zation on their monuments, along with the Woodmen of the World in-
signia. Women of Woodcraft also erected monuments to their sisters, of
which the Bertha Wolff monument (Fig. 15) is a strong example. It is not
as tall as the earliest Woodmen trees and bears a seal rather than high
relief emblems. While tree stump monuments erected by Women of
Woodcraft for their sisters could certainly reference "perfected wood-
craft," all association with masculinity or support of women and chil-
dren was obviously lost in these monuments.
24
Woodmen of the World
Fig. 15. The Bertha Wolff monument of 1906 is a good example
of the monuments erected by the Women of Woodcraft. They
assumed the same forms as those of the Woodmen of the World.
Annette Stott 25
Social Significance
Although the tree stump and other Woodman memorials stand si-
lent and largely forgotten today, they once played an active role in the
life of the community. On June 4th, 1900, the Rocky Mountain News re-
ported:
Every person in Denver knew that yesterday was Memorial Sunday for the
Woodmen of the World. Four thousand followers of woodcraft marched
through the business streets in the afternoon, accompanied by bands and
flags and flowers and later the cemeteries were thronged with members of
the camps decorating the graves of over 150 deceased neighbors of the order
who sleep in Mount Olivet, Fairmount, and Riverside. There are fourteen
camps and 5,300 Woodmen in the city. Nearly every member of the order
appeared with his comrades to pay respects to the dead.
The streets of the business section were crowded with spectators and the
long procession was greeted frequently with applause. At Fourteenth and
Champa streets the parade was reviewed by Governor Charles S. Thomas,
Mayor Henry V. Johnson and the resident head officials of the Pacific
Jurisdiction of the order . . . The parade, headed by a platoon of police under
Sergeant Means, formed at Sixteenth and Welton Streets . . . followed by the
Denver City band. Denver Camp No. 1, which included 1,400 members,
followed, the drill team uniformed in attractive suits of black and scarlet,
leading the way with its handsome silk banner, which they won as champion
team of the city. A second team of Camp No. 1 was resplendent in white
duck suits trimmed in red. Rocky Mountain camp No. 7 was followed by the
drill team of Colorado camp No. 13, whose uniforms of white duck trousers
and caps with red military blouses were especially pleasing to the spectators.
At this point Lohmann's band furnished music for the marchers . . .
This parade, which had grown every year until it reached the major event
described above, was merely the prelude to the primary activities of the
Woodman's Memorial Day, the unveiling and dedication of all monu-
ments erected since the previous June and the decoration of graves. While
the woodmen paraded through the streets and struggled for an hour at
Union Station to get loaded on the rail cars that would take detachments
of them to the cemeteries, the Women of Woodcraft and families of the
deceased had gone ahead to the cemeteries with additional flowers.
When a procession arrived at a cemetery, it went to each new monu-
ment in turn to perform the unveiling ritual. The Woodmen formed a
wedge shape encompassing the monument at its point. Only officers, a
designated orator, the camp quartet, and relatives were allowed to stand
inside the wedge. After the quartet sang an appropriate hymn or
Woodman song, the Consul Commander of the camp recited a speech
reminding everyone that what they did now was "the fulfillment of an
26 Woodmen of the World
obligation which all Woodmen have taken, to protect the good name of
each other while living and mark well his grave when dead." More mu-
sic and poetry preceded the unveiling of the monument, which had pre-
viously been draped in a black cloth or the American flag. Finally, the
Woodmen dedicated the monument with a series of rituals involving
tree branches, salt, oil, water, and recitations.29 Every year thereafter, the
Woodmen would revisit the grave, decorating it and the monument with
flowers. The magnitude of the Woodmen Memorial Day and the pomp
and ceremony surrounding the unveiling ritual suggests the important
role the monuments played in the lives of Woodmen.
The motto of the order, Dum Tncet Clamat, appeared on each monu-
ment and was referenced in the unveiling ritual. Usually translated
"though silent I speak," the motto also bears testimony to the impor-
tance of the monument as a silent representation of what the Woodman
stood for in life. One part of the ceremony proclaimed: "The passer-by
will pause and read the name of a good man and a true Neighbor. It will
be an inspiration to emulate his life, that the passer-by may become wor-
thy of such a tribute."30
While the motto and the monument were silent, the ritual was not.
Not only were thousands of Woodmen descending on the cemeteries at
once, but these parades attracted crowds of followers. It was often im-
possible to avoid trampling a wide path across other graves in attempt-
ing to gather everyone around the monument to be dedicated. By the
end of the century, cemetery superintendents in Denver had joined to-
gether in an effort to ban fraternal rituals at the gravesite.
When in a speech Falkenburg had likened Woodmen to "plain, old
fashioned everyday North American stumps," he evoked an image of
middle-class America. Some Woodmen were leaders in their communi-
ties - doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Most were blue collar workers,
not the people to whom society normally erected public monuments.
Membership in Woodmen of the World made ordinary people special. It
lifted them through ritual and display to become the focus, for a short
time, of the community. The monument marked the graves of ordinary
people, testifying to their character and to their worthiness of remem-
brance.
As a patron of cemetery art, the Woodmen of the World sponsored
visual symbols of the community values it espoused. Each monument
served as a memorial to an individual, an advertisement for the order,
and the physical embodiment of Woodmen beliefs, upon which those
Annette Stott 27
beliefs were reaffirmed annually through rituals. The Woodmen of the
World attempted to promote high quality in their sepulchral art through
centralized administration of the program, but they were ultimately foiled
by the economics of their endeavor.
NOTES
I am very grateful to Mr. David Wilson, President of the Woodmen of the World of Denver, to
Mr. Frank Hegner, President of the Fairmount Cemetery Association, and to the Omaha
Woodmen of the World Insurance Association for allowing me to examine their old journals,
records of annual meetings, and other documents. Without such generous access, this article
would not have been possible. Figure 14 is reproduced courtesy of the Winterthur Library,
Printed Book and Periodical Collection, whose staff was wonderfully helpful with my research.
All photos of monuments in situ are by the author.
1 . See, for example, Warren E. Roberts, "Notes on the Production of Rustic Monuments in
the Limestone Belt of Indiana," Markers VII (1990), 173-193; Susanne S. Ridlen, "Tree-
Stump Tombstones: Traditional Cultural Values and Rustic Funerary Art," Markers XIII
(1996), 44-73; and Susanne S. Ridlen, Tree-Stump Tombstones: A Field Guide to Rustic
Funerary Art in Indiana (Kokomo, IN: Old Richardville Publications, 1999).
2. Other major patrons of cemetery markers include the U.S. government, which places
simple (rarely sculptural) markers on the graves of military personnel, and the Roman
Catholic Church and its orders.
3. Early accounts vary on the events leading to the creation of the Woodmen of the World
from the Modern Woodmen of America, but all cite Root's own account about the sermon
reference to pioneers inspiring the names. See W. A. Northcott, The Woodman 's Handbook:
A Comprehensive History of the Modem Woodmen of America (Modern Woodmen of
America, 1894); Modem Woodmen of America, The Complete Revised Official Ritual (Chicago,
IL: Ezra A. Cook, 1925); Este E. Buffum, Modem Woodmen of America: A History, 2 vols,
(n.p.: Modern Woodmen Press, 1927); Leland A. Larson and James R. Cook, The Woodmen
Story: Our First 100 Years (Omaha, NE: Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society,
1991); Alvin J. Schmidt, Fraternal Organizations (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980);
"The Woodmen of the World," a brief history included in all early issues of Tlie Woodman
(1890-1891). Woodmen of the World never absorbed the Modern Woodmen of America
entirely, although the latter eventually went out of business. The take-over effort was
more successful in the West than elsewhere. In Colorado, all but two camps of MWA
joined WOW at its inception.
4. When the new group first organized in Omaha, it called itself the Sovereign Camp of the
World, Modern Woodmen of America. Threat of a legal battle with the Iowa group led it
to change its name to Sovereign Camp, Woodmen of the World.
5. The Pacific Jurisdiction, Woodmen of the World was authorized at the same meeting as
the Sovereign Camp. For more information, see Woodmen of the World, Fundamental
Laws of the Woodmen of the World for the Government of Head and Local Camps (Denver,
CO: W.W. Slack, 1890).
28 Woodmen of the World
6. The age requirements later changed, but this was the rule recorded in Fundamental Laws,
p. 11. Many high-risk occupations were prohibited from membership in order to make
the insurance scheme feasible.
7. This constitutional change is recorded in Proceedings of the Second Session of the Head Camp,
Pacific Jurisdiction, Pueblo, Colorado, August 11-16, 1892 (Denver, CO: Merchants Publishing
Company, 1892): 18; 54; 97-98.
8. The Woodman 2 (1892): 2. "Unveiling a Monument," Sovereign Visitor 2 (1892): 1.
9. "Meeting of the Head Managers," The Woodman 3 (1893): 5. The article reproduces part
of the contract proposed by Helmbrecht and Farrington.
10. See articles in The Woodman 3 (1892): 3; and 3 (1893): 5. See also the Proceedings of the
Third Session of the Head Camp, Pacific Jurisdiction, Woodmen of the World held at Portland,
Oregon, Aug. 14-21, 1894 (Denver, CO: Merchant's Publishing Co., 1894),18; 46; 60.
1 1 . Descriptions of monuments and grave side ceremonies regularly appeared in Tlie Woodman
(after 1894 called The Pacific Woodman). Typically, Sequoia Camp of Sacramento reported
that the monument erected for Ernest Rupa "far surpassed the expectations of our
members, who were one and all delighted with it.": 5: 4 (1895).
12. Between 1894 and 1896, the Head Camp recorded 90 payments for monuments, about
one third of them to D.B. dinger, successor to W.C. Farrington. The rest went to
monument companies throughout the jurisdiction. About one-third of eligible
beneficiaries were also reported as not having ordered a monument, many because they
had not yet decided whether to accept the $100 monument or build a more expensive
one. See The Pacific Woodman 5 (1895): 2; and Proceedings of the Fourth Session of the Head
Camp, Pacific Jurisdiction, Woodmen of the World at Helena, Montana (Denver, CO: The
Merchants Publishing Company, 1896), 82-84.
13. Proceedings of the Fourth Session, 179-181; and Constitution of the Head Camp, Pacific
Jurisdiction, Woodmen of the World . . . adopted at Fourth Biennial Session, August 20, 1896 at
Helena, Montana, 62. After the fifth Biennial Session in San Francisco and after executive
council amendments in 1898, the constitution went even further and required families of
deceased members to file application for monuments.
14. When each member died and the membership was assessed, the notice of assessment in
the Pacific Woodman carried his name, age, camp, date of original membership, date and
reason for death, name of attending physician, beneficiary, and the amount and date of
insurance payment. Schaffer [sic] and McKercher both appeared in "Assessment No. 142
for the Month of May, 1902," Pacific Woodman 12 (1902): 4. Payment for the Shaeffer and
McKercher monuments to Denver Marble and Granite is recorded in Pacific Woodman 12
(1902): 4; and 13 (1903): 7.
15. The Woodman reported that the eleven Denver camps had chosen a plot at Fairmount
Cemetery and were incorporating the Woodmen Cemetery Association in order to provide
burial space at no cost to members. "This, in addition to the beautiful monument which
the head camp erects upon each neighbor's grave, completely refutes the charges of old
line life insurance companies, that the Woodmen of the World is nothing more than an
Annette Stott 29
insurance organization." 3: 8 (1893): 1. For unknown reasons, the Woodmen Cemetery
Association was never incorporated, and Fairmount has no record of its plot.
16. J.M. Aldrich, "Respecting Monuments," The Pacific Woodman 8 (1901): 3.
1 7. Rule #85, "Monumental firms and others are prohibited from placing their names on any
work with a view to advertising": Rules and Regulations Governing the Cemeteries of
Fairmount and Riverside and Suggestions to Lot Owners (Denver, CO: n.p., 1900).
18. The dispute over the Wetmore monument was reported in The Pacific Woodman 7 (1896): 4.
19. Adolph Munter, "The Stump of the Tree, An Emblem of Woodcraft," a speech delivered
July 27, 1896 at Camp 99 and reported in The Woodman, 6 (1896): 3.
20. Monumental News 25 (1913): 54.
21. Sears, Roebuck and Co., Tombstones and Monuments (Chicago, IL: 1902), 56-57.
22. For a general overview of the tree as a sign in world cultures, see Roger Cook, The Tree of
Life: Image for the Cosmos (London, England: Thames and Hudson, 1974). Of course, each
use of the tree as a monument carried its own symbolic significance and it would be a
mistake to assume that all meanings applied in any instance.
23. Some of the earliest imagery on tombstones and mourning pictures of the late Eighteenth
and early Nineteenth Centuries was the weeping willow. Although an image of a tree, it
carried different signification than later tree stump monuments. The weeping willow
was meant to evoke emotions of grief and mourning; it did not reflect the tree of life or
the family tree. It also did not suggest moral fiber or manly support of women and children
the way later Woodmen tree stump monuments did. Weeping willows had lost popularity
in sepulchral imagery by the 1860s.
24. Samuel Parsons Jr., Landscape Gardening (New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1891; 1900),
303.
25. Ritual of the Pacific Jurisdiction Woodmen of the World (Omaha, NE: Beacon Press, 1897),
79-80. '
26. Mark C. Carnes, Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 1989).
27. F.A. Falkenburg, "The Altar of Woodcraft is a Stump," The Woodman 11 (1900): 1.
28. C.C. van Orsdall, The Story of Woodcraft: Women of Woodcraft (Leadville, CO: Leadville
Publishing & Printing Co., 1903), 5-23, tells how the Pacific Circle Women of Woodcraft
became officially recognized at the 5th Head Camp Session in San Francisco, August 26-
September 2, 1898, after a 5-year history.
29. Ritual of the Pacific Jurisdiction, 63-72.
30. Ibid.
30
Gold Star Pilgrimages
^yVftS- *3 s^4» "it Ix^oU^. 4^U^ Ltw^ fen, (j /u + |wv»«-i|
iMU«^i'««r; ;q(/. 5*4, "U* j^o, **^ J|H«{« ;\
~U Xl* Qjinr**r^"<flj*^ *H*ej»* Cv*\^>\ *W-J>,^ ^ ctAf"^
A-A-^-^H
I OtXljvV^ £.«•*.
^»v
Fig. 1. Marion Brown's diary entry, August 11, 1931,
during her Gold Star Pilgrimage to France.
31
MOURNING IN A DISTANT LAND: GOLD STAR PILGRIMAGES TO
AMERICAN MILITARY CEMETERIES IN EUROPE, 1930-33
Lotte Larsen Meyer
Looking at her husband's grave in northern France for the first time
on August 11, 1931, Marion Brown wrote in her diary (Fig.l), "The most
beautiful spot on earth . . . row upon row of marble crosses each exactly
like the other. The order and simplicity make for it's greatest beauty."
Facing his grave, she copied the words inscribed on his cross, " Louis C.
Brown, 1 Lieut, 7 Engineers 5 Div. Ohio Oct 18, 1918," and went on to
describe the landscape she saw to the right, left, and opposite of the
grave. And she noted, "the government gave each a wreath for grave.
Pictures taken."1
Background
Marion's trip from Shreveport, Louisiana to the Meuse-Argonne
American Cemetery, located near the village of Romagne-Gesnes, was
part of an unprecedented and emotional journey of mourning called the
Gold Star Pilgrimage. U.S. Congressional legislation passed in March,
1929 invited 16,486 unmarried widows and mothers of American sol-
diers, sailors, and marines interred in American military cemeteries in
Europe to travel abroad between 1930 and 1933 as guests of the United
States government.2
Their final destination was the grave of a son or husband located in
one of the eight World War I American military cemeteries in Europe
(see Fig. 2) : six in France, and one each in England and Belgium. A few
women were also escorted to isolated graves in Sicily, Romania, Ireland,
Gibralter, and southern France. Over $5 million was appropriated ($850
per person) to cover transportation, lodging, meals, medical needs, and
touring costs of the four-week round trip from New York (including rail
expenses from a woman's home town) . The U.S. Army's Quartermaster
Corps, which had gained considerable experience supplying, transport-
ing, and providing logistical support for the American Expeditionary
Forces (AEF) during the war, was directed to organize, guide, and man-
age the Pilgrimage.
Widows like Marion in their 40s, and mothers, mostly in their mid-
605, formed a community of mourners on a unique tour that took them
from the far corners of America to Europe. Over a period of four years,
32
Gold Star Pilgrimages
6,674 women from all walks of life, with varying health problems, some
of whom had never traveled before or who spoke no English, shared
seasickness, sightseeing, and new foods, roomed together in first-class
accommodations, stood at the grave (Fig. 3) of a son/husband for the
first time, and took away a wide variety of memories. For each woman
it was a personal mission, and for the government that funded it, and
the Army that directed it, the first opportunity to showcase their nearly
completed war cemeteries and monuments overseas to a large group
of civilians.
Marion's diary entries, along with letters, scrapbooks, and souvenirs
from Bessie Shellenbarger, a Nebraska stepmother, and Alvaretta Taylor
and Caroline Short, mothers from Washington and Oregon, shed light
on how women recorded the Pilgrimage. Together with thousands of
other women's voices recorded in newspaper stories, magazine articles,
congressional testimony, government reports, and photographs, these
materials capture a largely forgotten chapter in Depression-era history
.ENGLAND
Aisne-Marne
i(flL Jfa Meuse-Argonne
St. Mihiel
Fig. 2. Map of WWI American military cemeteries
(marked with crosses) in France, Belgium, and England
visited during Gold Star Pilgrimages, 1930-1933.
Lotte Larsen Meyer
33
Fig. 3. Caroline Short by the grave of her son, Lloyd Short,
at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery,
near Fere-en-Tardenois, France, July, 1930.
34 Gold Star Pilgrimages
about how the nation commemorated its war dead in an organized Pil-
grimage and how the pilgrims themselves reacted to it.3
Gold Star History
Marion Brown was a Gold Star Widow, but more than 95% of the
pilgrims were Gold Star Mothers, so subsequent references in this essay
to "Gold Star Mothers" will mean both mothers and widows. "Gold Star"
meant that a husband, son, or daughter died serving in the American
armed forces. The idea originated with the Women's Committee of the
Council for National Defenses, who suggested to President Woodrow
Wilson in the Fall of 1918 that a gold star be added to the traditional
black mourning armband to honor those who had made the supreme
sacrifice for their nation. The gold star complimented the already exist-
ing blue star service flag which hung in home, school, and business win-
dows to indicate that someone was on active duty in the armed forces.
As soldiers died, the gold stars replaced blue ones on the service flag. In
1919, it was the image of a Gold Star Mother that the Victory Liberty
Loan Committee chose for a fund-raising poster (Fig. 4). Praying to her
service flag (which in this instance depicted his grave as well), she im-
plored the nation to make sure "that that boy, and those other thou-
sands, shall not have died in vain."
Between 1918 and 1929, mothers of living, deceased, or disabled vet-
erans founded organizations to remember their sons' heroic actions, care
for the disabled, and promote the needs of their mothers. Groups such
as American War Mothers (AWM), Gold Star Association of America
(GSAA), and American Gold Star Mothers (AGSM) promoted the erect-
ing of war monuments in the United States and encouraged the care and
maintenance of American military cemeteries overseas. Veterans orga-
nizations such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars
supported the work of all these groups, and during the Pilgrimage they
gave mothers hundreds of wreaths to place on France's Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier on behalf of Legion chapters. Mothers were honored
when Legion or VFW chapters chose their son's name, if he had been the
first soldier from their city killed in the war, for post names (such as, for
example, the Delbert Reeves Post of Silverton, Oregon).
Various commemorative activities were sponsored in the 1920s by
war mothers, as members of these groups were often called. Doughboy
statues and other war monuments were erected across the country by
AWM chapters, such as one in Salem, Oregon (Fig.5), J. Paulding's "Over
Lotte Larsen Meyer
35
otwr of the Gold Stars
"My star — that turned to gold when my
boy laid down his life to defend his
mother, and all mothers. My golden star
that my old eyes will always see shining
in God's sky. And always when I lift my
face to ask the Heavenly Father for
strength to bear my burden, 1 see my
boy's face smiling back to me across
the grave.
"He did his duty! And how I prayed
God that he might be strong even to
the end."
Oh, Americans, make sure, by your self-
sacrifice, that that boy, and those other
thousands, shall not have died in vain.
Do your duty, too, in an overwhelming
subscription to the Victory Liberty Loan.
I vl* lirv. «*»
VICTORY LIBERTY LOAN COMMIT
Fig. 4. 1919 Poster, "In Honor of the Gold Stars/
for the Victory Liberty Loan.
36
Gold Star Pilgrimages
Fig. 5. Doughboy statue, "Over the Top to Victory/
Salem, Oregon. Sculpted by J. Paulding.
Lotte Larsen Meyer 37
the Top to Victory." Dedicated on Armistice Day, November 11, 1924,
the names of Marion County's war dead were engraved around the ped-
estal. Surrogate gravestones, these statues became community grieving
places, draped with wreaths and flags on Memorial Day and Armistice
Day. The mothers of Delbert Reeves and Fay Walling, two of those named
on the pedestal, went on the 1930 Pilgrimage, along with several other
Marion County mothers. In May of 1925, AWM began it's annual tradi-
tion of commemorating Mother's Day by laying a wreath at the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, and the following
year they were given the right to fly a service flag, with a blue and gold
star, over the U.S. Capitol on Armistice Day. During the same time pe-
riod, District of Columbia Gold Star Mothers decorated the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day (Fig. 6). The GSAA raised funds in
1924 to rebuild a school in Bony, France (Fig. 7) in memory of the sol-
diers that had fought or died in the 1918 Somme offensive (many of whose
remains lie nearby in the Somme American Cemetery). In 1925 they or-
ganized a tour for 15 Gold Star Mothers to see American cemeteries and
battlefields in Europe.
Pilgrimage Legislation
The Pilgrimage bill enacted in March,1929 (Public Law 592) ended a
decade of congressional debate on the topic. From 1919-1927, represen-
tatives from New York and Pennsylvania (where large numbers of Gold
Star Mothers lived) introduced several different bills in the House Com-
mittee on Military Affairs, most of which died in committee for lack of
consensus over questions of need, costs, who to include as pilgrims, and
whether the Red Cross or the Army should organize it. The success of a
bill introduced in September, 1927 and passed in March, 1929 owed ev-
erything to timing. Testifying in 1928, one mother urged that the Pil-
grimage not occur " 'till all the marble crosses are up in place."4 By early
1929, when the legislation was passed, work and landscaping on the eight
American military cemeteries, which had begun in 1920, was nearly com-
plete; unfinished were non-sectarian chapels at each one, on which the
names of the missing in action were to be engraved on interior walls.
Cemetery property was located on the same battlefield grounds Ameri-
can troops had fought and died on, and the nearby eleven war monu-
ments, honoring particular campaign victories, were well along in their
construction, though not all were completed. From the government's
point of view, and probably most importantly from the Army's point of
38
Gold Star Pilgrimages
view, since it had predicted ten years earlier that overseas battlefield
cemeteries would become pilgrimage sites, the Pilgrimage was not only
about visiting cemeteries. It was equally a pilgrimage to see the battle-
fields themselves, as was noted on the back of the Medal given to moth-
ers when they sailed to France, and about honoring and paying respect
to the mothers of fallen heroes.
The names of Mathilda Burling, Ethel Nock, and Effie Vedder are
long forgotten, but they were eloquent spokeswomen for AWM and GSSA,
lobbying Congress relentlessly for a decade to fund a trip for all moth-
ers, like themselves, who had left a son overseas, many of whom were
too poor to afford European travel. The trip was cast as a debt the nation
owed mothers for having saved taxpayers millions by not repatriating
bodies, and for the suffering, sacrifice, and sorrow mothers endured in
the name of national defense. Burling testified that "it was the mothers
who had won the war. America would not have had men and women . . .
to go forth if it had not been for mothers."5 Mothers were curious about
Fig. 6. District of Columbia Gold Star Mothers shown
placing wreath on Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
Arlington National Cemetery, Memorial Day, 1927.
Lotte Larsen Meyer
39
what the country their sons had fought for looked like, and they be-
lieved that their presence, together with the war mothers of France, would
be a powerful catalyst for peace and the improvement of foreign rela-
tions with France.
Mothers who had already been abroad testified as to their feelings.
One recalled that, upon seeing her son's grave, "I felt sorrow drop from
me,"6 while another noted that when "I looked at those 14,000 crosses of
young men, I thought surely our country must have been purified by
their sacrifice, and I believe every mother will feel that."7 In 1924, Mrs
Vedder pointed out "the mothers see all the time in the papers about the
graves not being taken care of," and testified that they needed to verify
that the government had not "broken faith" with them in caring for the
graves of their sons. Congressmen vowed that the trip shouldn't be a
"junket," and in response to that point Mrs. Vedder suggested a very
simple itinerary: "I would like her to rest two nights at the cemetery and
to have one night's rest in Paris, and then be brought back again. They
do not care about the fine things of Europe; they never heard of them,
most of them."8
Fig. 7. School (now the City Hall) built in Bony, France with funds
raised by the Gold Star Association of America in 1924.
40 Gold Star Pilgrimages
Outnumbering widows, Gold Star Mothers clearly saw themselves as
the rightful beneficiaries of a pilgrimage. Mrs. Nock questioned whether
remarried widows remained loyal to the memory of those who had died,
and stated "... widows are not worthy. They married at the last moment.
I fear that many of the widows are going with the thought of Paris."
Explaining why widows had been left out of the 1924 bill, one congress-
man implied that wives' relationship with husbands "paled by compari-
son with the ones mothers had with their sons."9
These derogatory remarks about widows reflect the continuing influ-
ence in America of the "cult of motherhood." When Mother's Day be-
came an official holiday in 1914, mothers were raised on a pedestal, and
their stature only increased during the war, as motherhood and patrio-
tism were linked in numerous ways. Many popular wartime songs - e.g.,
"I'll Return Mother Darling, to You" (1917), "A Mother's Prayer for Her
Soldier Boy" (1918), etc. - stressed the importance of mother love, and
General John J. Pershing reaffirmed the sanctity of motherhood by or-
dering all 500,000 AEF troops to send a Mother's Day letter home in
1918. Even the organizational names of AWM, GSAA, and AGSM stressed
mothers (not wives, parents, or families), and their special observances
at Arlington National Cemetery on Mother's Day (and later on Gold Star
Mother's Day) connected mothers and war dead.
Restrictions in the 1929 bill disqualified remarried widows, anyone
who had traveled to the grave before, fathers or those in loco parentis,
and the families of aviators, army nurses, and the unknown and "miss-
ing in action" who died on land or were buried at sea (in ships that were
torpedoed). The servicemen must have served in the American Expedi-
tionary Forces and died between April 5, 1917 and July 1, 1921 (corre-
sponding to the wartime service dates used to calculate WWI veterans
benefits). The mother of American war poet Alan Seeger, who died in
1916 fighting with the French Foreign Legion at the Battle of the Somme,
was ruled out of the pilgrimage by these means. Amendments passed in
1930 and 1931 added most of the disqualified groups back, though not
remarried widows.
Cemetery Construction
Never before had the U.S. Congress paid for relatives to visit the dis-
tant graves of servicemen. Until the First World War, servicemen who
died abroad were routinely returned to the United States for burial. In
1919, however, the War Department gave families of the 78,000 U.S. war
Lotte Larsen Meyer
41
^■^gnW
Fig. 8. Bronze plaque on gravemarker of G.R Cather,
East Lawn Cemetery, Bladen, Nebraska.
Note the gold stars flanking the portrait.
42
Gold Star Pilgrimages
dead a choice between repatriation or final burial overseas, resulting in
a spirited national debate between the two factions, often referred to
respectively as the "Bring Back the Dead Soldier League" and the "Field
of Honor Association."10 Between 1919 and 1922, 46,000 (or sixty per-
cent) of the fallen were returned and reburied across America, with the
government funding all repatriation costs, estimated to be between $500
and $1000 per body. Gravestones erected by families for repatriated bodies
in hometown cemeteries ranged from simple to considerably elaborate,
as for example the granite and bronze monument (Fig.8) for G. P. Cather,
cousin of author Willa Cather, who served as the model for the hero,
Claude Wheeler, in her Pulitzer Prize- winning 1922 novel about WWI,
One of Ours. The monument for Cather, the first Nebraska officer to be
killed in action, features a large bronze plaque with a bust of Cather in
uniform, inscribed with specific information about how and where he
died.
Families chose to let the other 30,792 (forty percent) remain overseas,
often citing former president Theodore Roosevelt's decision to let his
son Quentin's body remain in a French field where he died when his
Fig. 9. Memorial Stone for Private Charles J. Moser, Riverview
Cemetery, Portland, Oregon. Moser's body is buried in the Meuse-
Argonne American Cemetery, near Romagne-Gesnes, France.
Lotte Larsen Meyer
43
Fig. 10. Marble crosses at Suresnes American Cemetery,
near Paris, France, as seen in the 1990s.
44
Gold Star Pilgrimages
airplane went down, saying "where the tree falls, let it lie." His grave
became a pilgrimage site to returning veterans, and later to the Gold
Star Mothers.11 Though a body was left overseas, many families still
erected memorial stones in U.S. homeland cemeteries (e.g., Fig. 9), indi-
cating how important it was to have a designated, accessible spot for
mourning and remembrance. Edith Moser, mother of the fallen soldier
commemorated in Figure 9, ultimately made the 1930 Pilgrimage to his
real grave in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.
The "beautiful" cemeteries (e.g., Fig. 10) that the Gold Star women
visited in the 1930s took ten years to complete. Work was initially carried
out by the Army's Graves Registration Service (GRS), a division of the
Quartermaster Corps. Between 1919 and 1923, 2,400 hastily erected battle-
field cemeteries were consolidated into eight, each grave marked by a
wooden cross painted white (see Fig. 11). In 1923, the American Battle
Monuments Commission (ABMC) coordinated the final design, construc-
tion, and administration of the military cemeteries and nearby war monu-
ments. Ranging in size from the largest with 14,000 graves
(Meuse-Argonne in northern France) to the smallest with 366 (Flanders
Fig. 11. Wooden markers, painted white, that were adopted
by a French woman (standing right). Suresnes American
Cemetery, near Paris, France, Memorial Day, 1919.
Lotte Larsen Meyer
45
Fig. 12. Upright tablet gravemarker for WWI soldier in Fort
McPherson National Cemetery, Maxwell, Nebraska.
46
Gold Star Pilgrimages
Field in Belgium), they serve, in the words of General Pershing, as a "per-
petual reminder to our Allies of the liberty and ideals upon which the
greatness of America rests."12
Seeing rows of "pure white crosses" left a dramatic and indelible image
upon the pilgrims, who had never seen any cemeteries like these before.
Initially, the ABMC had planned to use the upright tablet design of the
type used to mark war dead in domestic U.S. military cemeteries (e.g.,
Fig. 12), but, under pressure from various groups, in 1924 they selected
the cruciform shape. This configuration was deemed appropriate for its
strong symbolic value, both patriotic and religious, denoting sacrifice,
suffering, resurrection, and redemption.13 The crosses (Fig. 13), or, in the
case of Jewish soldiers, Stars of David, were over three feet high and
carved from white Carrara marble, with known graves inscribed with a
set of uniform information and the crosses of unknown dead inscribed
with the phrase "Here rests in honored glory / An American solider /
Known but to God."
Care and maintenance of the graves was the responsibility of the GRS
until 1923, after which date it was continued by the ABMC. At the same
time many graves, especially at the Suresnes American Cemetery near
Fig. 13. Cararra marble crosses, with Star of David marker behind
to the left. Suresnes American Cemetery, near Paris, France.
Lotte Larsen Meyer 47
Paris, were "adopted" by French women (see Fig. 11), schoolchildren, or
whole towns. In 1920, a non-profit group in Paris, the American Over-
seas Memorial Day Association, began soliciting funds to decorate over-
seas graves and monuments with wreaths and flags. Nevertheless, as
Mrs. Vedder pointed out in the Congressional hearings cited earlier, con-
cern about cemetery neglect was a very real worry for relatives far away.
Throughout the 1920s, Gold Star relatives visited the cemeteries
(which until 1930 would have been in various stages of construction and
reburial), obtaining exact burial plot and location information from the
Paris headquarters of the GRS: seven decades later, their database of war
dead can be accessed on the ABMC website (www.abmc.gov). Doing
research for her novel One of Ours in France in 1920, Willa Cather photo-
graphed her cousin's grave ten miles from Cantigny, so that his mother
could see the location before his repatriation. She stayed in a home reg-
istered with the Society for French Homes, a group which helped Ameri-
cans find lodging in areas where there were no hotels.14 The Paris branch
of the YWCA, concerned that American women would be fearful of trav-
eling alone and unable to find lodging in rural France, offered their ser-
vices as guides and operated several lodging facilities, called rest houses,
near the cemeteries; these also served light meals.
Certain visitation similarities existed in the case of other Allied na-
tions following the war. British relatives made numerous pilgrimages to
the graves of their war dead, all of whom had been interred in a large
number of small cemeteries near where they fell. They were aided by the
St. Barnabas Society, founded in 1919, which ran inexpensive hostels near
cemeteries and drove pilgrims to and from graves. A 1928 tour led by
the British Legion, attracting 10,000 mothers and widows, was one of the
largest.15 The French veterans ministry provided free transportation for
any French war mother or widow to see the graves of their loved ones.
Pilgrimage Concept
As early as 1919, the War Department predicted that the new Ameri-
can military cemeteries in Europe would become "... a shrine which will
be the object of pilgrimages for thousands of Americans now living."16
But early pilgrimage bills used the phrase "transport for mothers," or
called on the Secretary of War to "arrange tours," and not until 1927 did
"to make a pilgrimage" become part of the language of the bill. Shortly
before the legislation was introduced, the term "pilgrimage" was widely
used in conjunction with the 25,000 American Legionnaires who came
48 Gold Star Pilgrimages
to Paris in 1927 for their annual convention. General Pershing called it
"the greatest good will pilgrimage in history," while others termed it a
"pilgrimage of remembrance."17
The pairing of the word "pilgrimage" with Gold Star Mothers added
religious and patriotic associations that "transport" and "tour" lacked.
In articles, speeches, photograph captions, and editorial cartoons, the
Pilgrimages were often called "holy" or "sacred "; the graves were
"shrines" or "sacred dust"; soldiers were "heroes"; and the cemeteries
were "hallowed" or "consecrated" grounds. The noble mothers were
"pious pilgrims" in "solemn procession," on a "journey of devotion" or
"journey of hope." More importantly, "pilgrimage" captured the notion
of quest and longing.
War grave pilgrimage, according to Tony Walter, is "less a religious
experience and more an emotional catharsis."18 But the preceding ex-
amples show that war graves and military cemeteries do take on sa-
cred overtones, a form of "civic religion" honoring the sacrifices of the
war dead. Pilgrimage implies a powerful longing to see something, a
separation and journey away from home, a shared experience and wid-
ening of horizons in a foreign setting, and a catharsis or relief that heals
the longing. Individually, each mother just wanted to see a grave, but
collectively, in a community of mourners grieving for soldiers who died
in an Allied victory, she represented much more to the nation. In this
sense, mothers were pilgrims "remembering and honoring" the fallen
heroes.19
The Pilgrimage occurred in three stages: (1) departure by train to
New York and ocean voyage to France; (2) arrival and realization of the
quest via sightseeing in Paris and visiting cemeteries and battlefields;
and (3) return home. As it was intended to be a "pilgrimage of remem-
brance," the army insured that throughout the trip ceremonies would
honor and remember all the fallen heroes of the United States and France,
and also that itineraries would include sites associated with the war and
show how the war was being commemorated by the U.S. and France for
generations to come. Except for Brookwood (in England) and Suresnes
(just outside of Paris), all the cemeteries lay in the former battle zones, so
each group was able not only to see the spots where their sons or hus-
bands fought and died, but also places such as Verdun, The Sacred Way,
and the battleground of The Lost Battalion, legendary WWI pilgrimage
sites in northern France. The primary goal was always remembrance and
honoring the dead, individually and collectively, with sightseeing sec-
Lotte Larsen Meyer 49
ondary. But in the way the trips were organized, the two became inter-
twined and blurred, so that sightseeing formed a necessary step in mak-
ing the Pilgrimage.
Pilgrimage Itineraries
In February of 1930, Congress appropriated more than $5 million for
the trips. A random drawing by President Herbert Hoover's wife deter-
mined which state delegations would leave first, and the Quartermaster
Corps began final preparations for the pilgrimages to begin May 7, 1930.
First-class accommodations in trains, hotels, and passenger liners were
booked, and more than fifty army officers, drivers, interpreters, guides,
nurses, and doctors were specially selected for tact, courtesy, and pa-
tience to accompany the groups.
All pilgrimages followed the same itinerary. State delegations trav-
eled by train from their hometowns to New York City, where they en-
joyed a day of sightseeing. They were combined with other state
delegations to form parties of 100-250 pilgrims and boarded passenger
ships, owned by the United States Lines, that sailed from Hoboken, New
Jersey to Cherbourg, France (or Southampton, England, if going to
Brookwood). In 1930, ships left the U.S. every two weeks from May
through August. At Cherbourg, trains took them to Paris, where they
were divided into smaller groups of 14-30 based on cemetery destina-
tion. Five to seven days of ceremonies, sightseeing, and resting in Paris
were interspersed with five to seven additional days spent visiting cem-
eteries and battlefields. Returning by train to Cherbourg, they boarded a
ship back to New York, and from there caught trains home. Not count-
ing train travel in the U.S., the trip lasted about one month. Twenty pil-
grimage trips, also called parties or contingents, and identified
alphabetically A through T, were taken in 1930; succeeding years had
fewer trips as fewer women participated.
Tender, loving care went into packing treasured objects that would
be left at the graves. Advised in advance that cemetery regulations did
not permit artificial flowers, many mothers brought flowers with them,
knowing they would wither and fade, but would be a reminder of some-
thing "from home." One brought flower seeds to plant, only to be disap-
pointed later upon learning that cemetery regulations prohibited grave
personalization in this way. Some mothers also took letters from their
sons' former girlfriends, or framed mottos and photographs, and women
from Minnesota brought tiny boxes of state soil, as did pilgrims from
50
Gold Star Pilgrimages
Florida. One widow brought a flask of water from her husband's favorite
swimming hole.
The women became celebrities in their hometowns. Local papers gave
substantial front page coverage to their departures and returns, and of-
ten published their pictures standing at graves. At bon voyage parties,
sponsored by groups like the American Legion Auxiliary, they received
travel gifts, such as diaries and money to purchase additional flowers
for graves. In her diary, Marion Brown noted the gifts she had received -
money, several flower bouquets, fresh fruit, a wristwatch, stationary, and
a "box of gifts to be opened each day from the 'Goldfinch Club.'" Women
in Minneapolis were advised at a luncheon on what to wear, and to bring
cameras, keep diaries, and save souvenirs.
Wearing special Gold Star identification badges (Fig. 14), mothers
boarded trains for New York, embarking on the first stage of the Pil-
grimage. Many were accompanied by younger relatives - daughters,
daughters-in-law, sweethearts of their sons - who paid their own way.
Alvaretta Taylor noted that "twelve of us mothers from Spokane occu-
pied one sleeping car ... and we enjoyed every bit of scenery."20 Marion
Fig. 14. Gold Star Pilgrimage ID Badge (left),
and commemorative medal (right).
Lotte Larsen Meyer
51
Fig. 15. Floral anchor wreath honoring all servicemen lost at sea,
dropped in the Atlantic ocean May 30, 1930 from the S.S. Roosevelt.
52
Gold Star Pilgrimages
Brown described how "the city of New York gave each one of us - one at
a time - a small silk American flag."
The week-long ocean voyage to France was filled with entertainment
and ceremonial occasions. Marion described how each woman was pre-
sented with a medal (see Fig. 14), a gift from the U.S. Lines, with the
words "Mrs. ... it is an honor to present you with this medal." Designed
by Tiffany, the front of the medal shows a gold star above a ship sailing
between the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel tower, as well as the year of
the pilgrimage. Wording on the reverse side reads, "Gold Star Pilgrim-
age to the Battlefields of the World War." Earlier Marion had sung hymns
such as "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "Holy Holy" and listened to
prayers and a bugler playing taps at a ceremony honoring all service-
men lost at sea. "Impressive" was Alvaretta's reaction to the same cer-
emony on her ship, and she saved a photograph (Fig. 15) of the
anchor-shaped poppy wreath that was dropped in the ocean by the old-
est mother. Many mothers missed activities because of seasickness, but
w?%
Fig. 16. Gold Star Mothers at the wreath-laying ceremony at
France's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Paris, 1933.
Lotte Larsen Meyer
Fig. 17. Completed in 1923, the Memorial Cloister in the
American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris
commemorates the services of all Americans who served in WWI.
54 Gold Star Pilgrimages
others enjoyed concerts, masquerades, movies, and festive dinners with
the captain.
Disembarking at Cherbourg for a train to Paris, they began the sec-
ond stage: ceremonies, receptions, sightseeing, and cemetery and battle-
field visits. On the train through Normandy, Caroline Short was amazed
that the "scenery was beautiful, so unlike anything I had seen" and that
she got "glimpses of the red poppies."21 Bessie Shellenbarger received a
picture of her party laying a wreath at France's Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (Fig. 16) on behalf of the Gold
Star Mothers of America, a ceremony repeated by every party.22 Marion
Brown described the ceremony: "we stood in a rectangular formation
while it was done ... everything was very quiet and dignified." At an
official welcoming reception at Cafe Laurent, where Alvaretta Taylor says
"French war mothers met us," each mother was given a tiny parcel of
French soil wrapped in flags of the United States and France. Caroline
wrote that various American and French dignitaries "spoke to us with
touching gratitude of our boys." Speakers, including General Pershing
and the American ambassador, thanked them for leaving their sons and
husbands overseas, reassuring them that graves were well cared for, and
that the Pilgrimage would bring France and America closer together,
thereby echoing themes aired at earlier hearings for the Pilgrimage.
In addition to the cemeteries, the tour itinerary was carefully selected
to promote understanding of America's role in the War, and to illustrate
the long-standing Franco-American friendship. They saw the railway car
near Compiegne where the armistice was signed, the Hall of Mirrors in
Versailles, where President Wilson signed the Peace Treaty, and they
toured restoration projects financed by John D. Rockefeller,
Fontainebleau, Rheims Cathedral (which had been heavily damaged in
the War), and Versailles. In Paris, they were given a tour of the Memorial
Cloister (Fig. 17) at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, viewing
the plaques dedicated to all the American troops and volunteers who
had served in WWI, and they were driven past a monument that sym-
bolized the beginning of Franco- American friendship - Bartholdi's 1873
statue of General Washington and General Lafayette shaking hands.
About Paris, Bessie wrote: "Paris is great - no wood buildings ...
Everything is lovely ... but everything here is strange and any way it
isn't home." Like their sons and husbands before them, as tourists the
mothers saw all the major sights, but as Alvaretta lamented, "we just
had two hours" at the Louvre. Caroline's complaint that "they don't serve
Lotte Larsen Meyer
55
our kind [of coffee] in France. I can't drink it" was very common, leading
to one headline which read, "U.S. Mothers can't Stand Paris Coffee."23 In
Rheims, located in the center of the Marne Valley's champagne-produc-
ing area, both Bessie and Marion walked in the champagne cellars, but
since the Pilgrimage years occurred during Prohibition, many other
women rejected the champagne tour, as they did wine and desserts laced
with rum. However, as had been predicted in the hearings, the sights
and shops of Paris were not really important: as one mother put it, "I'm
not here to buy clothes. I came here to see the grave of my boy ..."24
Seeing that "special" grave was the highlight for most of the pilgrims.
Organized into small groups of 14-30 mothers whose sons were buried
in the same place (Fig. 18), they were driven by cars (accompanied by
nurses, guides, and army officers) to the American cemeteries whose
names they had long been trying to pronounce: Oise-Aisne, Suresnes, St.
Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Flanders Field, Somme, and Aisne-Marne. Stay-
ing in hotels near their cemetery destination, each mother was given
Fig. 18. Gold Star pilgrims who accompanied Bessie Shellenbarger
(far left, second row) to the Somme American Cemetery,
near Bony, France, in 1933.
56 Gold Star Pilgrimages
four to five visits to the cemetery. Afterwards, tea or lunch was served at
hostess houses constructed at three of the cemeteries or at a nearby cafe.
Some towns, like St. Quentin, near the Somme cemetery, held receptions
for each group and presented each mother with a souvenir certificate
such as the one Bessie pasted in her scrapbook (Fig. 19). Besides seeing
their "special" graves, most groups visited several other American mili-
tary cemeteries, and many were driven to the village of Chamery, where
they picked wild poppies and placed them on Quentin Roosevelt's iso-
lated grave.
Arriving at the cemetery for the first of several visitations, an officer
gave each woman a complimentary wreath, saying to her, "I have the
privilege of presenting you with this wreath in the name of the U.S. gov-
ernment in honor of the services of your son," and then escorted her to
the appropriate grave, which already had been decorated with French
and American flags. Camp chairs were available to sit by the grave.
Mothers paid for subsequent wreaths or used those given to them at
receptions. Bessie's group, for example, was given flowers by the King of
Belgium, and her group "asked to have the flowers from the King placed
on some of the unknown graves." Each woman was photographed at
her grave as a souvenir, and these photos appeared in numerous U.S.
newspapers. Aside from photographers, and nurses and officers dis-
creetly standing in the background, women were left alone to pray and
place treasured objects from home upon the grave. The multiple visits
were appreciated because at the first visit they were overcome by grief,
but in subsequent visits were better able to appreciate the time spent
there. The bittersweet nature of the last visit was noted by Marion - "our
last trip to the Argonne Cemetery" - and Bessie - "it's hard to think it
would be for the last time - which it will - for the most of us."
The superintendent at each cemetery gave a tour. At the Meuse-
Argonne Cemetery, Alvaretta learned that "at present trees and shrubs
are planted among the graves, but when the Pilgrimage is all over, they
are going to remove them, for fear that the constant shadow might cause
the marble to turn grey." In 1931, Marion saw unfinished chapels " where
all the names of the unknown [i.e., those missing in action] will be in-
scribed, " but by 1933 Bessie saw completed chapel walls (e.g., Fig. 20)
"with the names of the unknown soldiers carved in gold on the walls."
"A part of each day," Alvaretta noted, "we spent driving over some
of the battlefields, viewing shellholes, trenches, and dugouts. We saw
acres of land with the barbed wire entanglements still up." Bessie wrote:
Lotte Larsen Meyer
57
H
omm;
*S£
1917-1933
i a i .trt rrS"
" hi lit WE .fA'A"
;uix (jrolcl Otar JVLothers
an J WicI
O W5
M".
<Je leur pawaje . Saint.Q«
;^ a&aai£ a. . ..
jet.vur Jit:,- Heb.
Fig. 19. Bessie Shellenbarger (top) at grave of her stepson,
Abraham Shellenbarger, in the Somme American Cemetery,
near Bony, France. A certificate (bottom) was presented
to her by St. Quentin's City Hall.
58
Gold Star Pilgrimages
Fig. 20. The names of soldiers missing in action engraved
on the chapel wall at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery,
near Belleau, France.
Lotte Larsen Meyer 59
"passed by the battlefield yesterday where Abie [her stepson, Abraham
Shellenbarger] was killed, saw the monument erected in honor of First
Division. His name is on the monument." Marion described driving past
the place where her husband had been mortally wounded: "Captain Lake
told me just where Andom Creek is and knew all about the work of the
7th Engineers on October 16, 1918 [two days after her husband was
wounded, and two days before he died] . . . that bridge [where he had
been wounded] was in Romagne near the road we traversed."
Photographs and drawings of Gold Star Mothers standing or kneel-
ing at crosses became the dominant image associated with the Pilgrim-
age. Even on the covers of contemporary sheet music, such as that for
the 1930 song, "Gold Star Mother" (Fig. 21), the image appeared, and in
this instance it was repeated in the lyrics, sung by a deceased son to his
mother: "Mother of mine, kneel beside my cross and whisper love as of
old."25 Numerous editorial cartoons published either in early May at the
beginning of the Pilgrimage, or near the Memorial Day weekend, also
depicted solitary kneeling mothers at a cross, or in some cases a group of
standing women approaching crosses with wreaths in their arms.
As the hearings had predicted, the Pilgrimage brought about renewed
pleas for peace. The sight of so many crosses led many mothers to urge
women everywhere to visit the cemeteries to understand the devasta-
tion of war, and they felt that the acres of graves were a statement for
peace. Alvaretta was shocked by what she saw: "No one has any idea
what those French people suffered unless you go and see. My heart ached
for them." Seeing crowds of French war mothers weeping at Cherbourg
when they disembarked helped Gold Star Mothers realize a common
bond. Two poems, published in newspapers near Memorial Day, 1930,
also included peace themes. Edward Markham's "Our Pilgrim Mothers
in France" ends with the lines "swear now that battle bells shall cease /
swear in his name, whose name is Peace!" Another poem, "To Kiss the
Cross," concludes with a couplet emphasizing the same pair of rhymed
words: "And on all lips a silent prayer that war's grim toll shall cease /
that men will tend with watchful care the precious doves of peace."26 For
others, the Pilgrimage was a signal for isolationism. As one Memorial
Day editorial stated:
... too many acres of white crosses ... .too many mothers ... each mother
must come home leaving there her son killed in a quarrel America did not
start in a war that was not our war . . . our country wants no traitorous nonsense
60
Gold Star Pilgrimages
about 'guaranteeing the peace of Europe' which could mean killing the sons
of other American mothers in the quarrels of foreigners.27
OSIARP1R
WORDS AND MUSIC
RUSSELL BRUTTEQ
Fig. 21. Sheet music cover for song
'Gold Star Mother", written in 1930.
Lotte Larsen Meyer 61
Even before the War was over, crosses and poppies had become inex-
tricably linked as symbols of the soldier dead with the lines "In Flanders
Fields the poppies blow / between the crosses, row on row" from John
McCrae's famous 1915 poem. Familiar with the poem and the paper
"buddy poppy" sold on Memorial Day since the early 1920s to benefit
disabled veterans, mothers were delighted to actually see real poppies.
Caroline saw them from the train, as did Bessie, who noted: "nice fields
of poppies everywhere - no wonder they call this Flanders Field." At
cemeteries, they picked poppies to take home as pressed souvenirs or to
place on Quentin Roosevelt's grave, and during the battlefield tour
Alvaretta noticed that "wild poppies abound throughout this section of
the country." Those mothers that left home before Memorial Day wore
paper poppies on their coats, were given poppy wreaths by delegations
that met their trains, watched airplanes drop thousands of paper pop-
pies over the first ship to depart on May 7, 1930, and laid poppy wreaths
from hometown veterans organizations at France's Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier. Inevitably, newspaper headlines such as "Row on Row, They
Await the Pilgrims" linked the Pilgrimage with the poppies as well.28
For a few, the quest was not to be realized. Some died on the way to
France, or were hospitalized immediately after arriving, returning home
without having visited the cemeteries. One mother's last wish was
granted: before falling into a coma and dying, she told doctors she hoped
to die in the country where her son lay. Even for those who achieved
their goal, a few had heart attacks or died within days of seeing the grave,
while others fractured bones and ankles. Supported by a nurse and an
officer, one woman visited her son's grave the day after a heart attack.
Return and Aftermath
The return voyage marked the final Pilgrimage stage: review and as-
sessment of what the experience had meant. Sailing back, mothers fre-
quently distributed and read poems about what the Pilgrimage had meant
to them, and Caroline saved an untitled poem (Fig. 22) that someone in
her group had written. Just before returning, she wrote to a relative,
"I'm so glad I came and so is everyone else they did."29 At the same time,
like most tourists after a hectic tour, Alvaretta reflected: "we had seen so
much . . . were eager to be home again, just to rest, we were so tired."
Treasured souvenirs were carefully unpacked. From gravesites they
took away pressed flowers, grass, stones, soil, and flags. All received
official photographs taken during their visit, and many, like Caroline,
,,-> Gold Star Pilgrimages
Written for the
Gold Star Mothers of Group K., No. 11.
As a band of Gold Star Mothers
We crossed the deep blue sea,
To view the spot of our loved ones
Who sleep in France so peacefully.
Our boys were ours for a few short years
They were so manly, true and brave,
Strong minded, alert and quick to perceive
Their help was needed, our Country to sa-
As the cry of war rang o'er our land
Our hopes and fears within us grew,
We prayed alone to God above
That he might spare our boys so true.
We watched them in their eagerness
To volunteer to go and fight,
To save the homeland, which they loved
From cruel power as dark as night.
And as we neared the sacred spot
Of those we held so dear,
We prayed to God to give us strength
And help us now our grief to bear.
We placed a wreath of lovely flowers
Upon the sod which covers o'er
A youthful form in memory
Now gone from us for evermore.
As we leave behind us beautiful France
The land where the Poppies grow,
Our hearts and minds will ever be
With the people there, we learned to know
This Pilgrimage was planned for us
By the courtesy of Uncle Sam,
And we want to thank him heartily
For all the eggs and bacon and ham.
So let us be joyful, as home we go
Remember our boys used to say,
" We'll go Over the Top with a big hurrah
For the proud old U. S. A."
Poetry written by
Mrs. Sophia Harrison York, Pine River, Minnes
Gold Star Mother.
On Board
S. S. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
Fig. 22. Untitled poem, "Written for the Gold Star Mothers
of Group K, No. 11," by Mrs. Sophia Harrison.
Lotte Larsen Meyer 63
brought back a packet of postcards from the places they had seen. In
Paris, they might have purchased a souvenir doughboy tin hat that said
"Souvenir of the Gold Star Visit." Marion's souvenirs included her diary,
unidentified flowers she pressed in her diary, and a postcard from Verdun
where she had stayed (Fig. 23). In the diary she listed gifts she bought in
Paris for friends and relatives - twelve handkerchiefs, two spoons, five
bottles of perfume, and two dolls.
Grateful mothers returned home to write thank you letters to Presi-
dent Herbert Hoover (and President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933), the
Quartermaster Corps, and the Secretary of War about their "wonderful,
unforgettable, and grandest time of my life" experiences. Marion's hand-
written letter to Secretary of War Patrick Hurley speaks for them all:
I cannot refrain from expressing my thanks and appreciation individually.
Nearly three months have passed since our return ... I realize more the
benefits - both to my spirit and health - received from that sacred journey.
Those of you who planned and executed it all made it ever delightful and
interesting beyond my greatest expectations ... I should like to . . . praise . . .
the officers of our army who were our escorts . . . they left nothing undone
for our welfare and seemed always alert to do all possible for our interests
and pleasures as well.30
Eager to share their memories, they were featured speakers at chap-
ter meetings of AWM, and submitted articles to the organization's
monthly magazine, American War Mother. Local newspapers, anxious
to cover local heroines, published numerous accounts. One of the few
mothers to be personally escorted to a remote grave in southern France
was Mrs. Mary Walling. Her son, Fay, whose name is inscribed upon the
Salem, Oregon Doughboy monument (Fig. 5), had married a
Frenchwoman and was buried in her town. Mrs. Walling's "wonderful
but sad " trip, as recounted in a local newspaper, "was all very new and
very strange ... there was much sadness in it all ... [France] is so far
behind us ... I would rather live in Oregon."31 Mrs Fred Reeves, whose
son's name is also inscribed upon the base of the Salem Doughboy, was
pleased at "seeing the places in France which in her imagination she had
so often pictured," and the cordial reception where "[we were] received
with open arms and tears of love from a kindred sorrow in the hearts of
mothers of France ,.."32
Participation and press coverage dropped dramatically afterl930. Of
the 6,674 women that went on the Pilgrimage, 3,600 went in 1930, 1,766 in
1931, 566 in 1932 and 712 in 1933. In 1930, only those whose sons had an
64
Gold Star Pilgrimages
Fig. 23. Souvenirs from Marion Brown's 1931 Gold Star Pilgrimage:
postcard from Verdun, and unidentified pressed flowers.
Lotte Larsen Meyer 65
identified grave participated; but beginning in 1931, eligibility rules
changed to allow for mothers whose sons had no marked graves (the miss-
ing at sea or on land) or whose aviator sons were buried at the Lafayette
Escadrille monument to aviators. Of the total eligible for the Pilgrimage, a
greater number declined than participated, and it is interesting to specu-
late as to why 9,812 women chose not to go. Factors might have included
health, not wanting to reopen painful memories, and economic issues such
as not being able to afford a month away from a job or being the primary
breadwinner or caregiver for older husbands or disabled sons.33
The Pilgrimage was not without protests and complaints. Just as black
soldiers had been segregated during the war into separate divisions, their
mothers suffered similar treatment. Of the forty-eight individual pilgrim-
ages, six were made up exclusively of black mothers. The Army's deci-
sion to transport, house, and give them "separate but equal" tours
damaged race relations and led to many cancellations, a protest petition
to President Hoover, and considerable press attention and criticism. The
situation inspired black poet James Weldon Johnson to dedicate a new
poem, "St. Peter Relates an Incident at the Resurrection Gate", to the
Gold Star Mothers. In the poem, St. Peter discovers that the Unknown
Soldier buried at Arlington National Cemetery is black.34
Critics of the Pilgrimage charged that mothers could have repatri-
ated bodies like everyone else, and during the 1929 hearings called it "a
flagrant misappropriation of public funds," arguing that "Our govern-
ment should not attempt to perform so sentimental and questionable a
service which is highly objectionable to American ideals."35 In 1930, one
mother said, "many of us feel that we would be better off if we just had
the money instead or part of it," alluding to a failed suggestion to give
$850.00 to mothers who chose not to go.36 Other failed amendments would
have included trips for Gold Star Mothers whose loved ones were bur-
ied in distant graves in the United States or for mothers of disabled vet-
erans to compensate them for their loss. The Gold Star Mothers who
brought their sons home - and who greatly outnumbered the ones who
went on the Pilgrimage - received no compensation whatsoever. In let-
ters to the editor, writers condemned money spent on mothers instead
of disabled veterans, and in 1933, at the height of the Depression, asked,
"Is there no way to stop this squandering of public funds? Many of us
are actually hungry and insufficiently clothed."37
The Gold Star Pilgrimages ended in 1933. That summer the phenom-
enon was reexamined through the lens of Hollywood. John Ford's film
66
Gold Star Pilgrimages
Fig. 24. Peace Monument dedicated to the Gold Star Mothers,
Greenwood, Wisconsin. Sculpted by Ernest During.
Lotte Larsen Meyer
67
Pilgrimage, adapted from a 1932 short story with the same title, showed,
in soap opera fashion, how the Pilgrimage transformed and redeemed
one Gold Star Mother's life.38 In 1936, Congress designated the last Sun-
day in September as Gold Star Mothers Day, allowing members of the
AGSM to continue the commemoration they had held unofficially since
1930 of placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arling-
ton National Cemetery on behalf of the Unknown Mother. Residents of
Greenwood, Wisconsin dedicated a Peace Monument (Fig. 24) to the Gold
Star Mothers in 1937. When the U.S. Postal Service issued the Gold Star
Mothers stamp on September 21, 1948, to coincide with Gold Star Moth-
ers Day, some first day covers recalled the facts of the Pilgrimage on a
gold star service flag (Fig. 25). Two new organizations, The Blue Star
Mothers of America (1942) and Gold Star Wives (1945), were founded to
address constituencies without organizations. However, by the 1990s
membership in AWM and AGSM had dwindled to 850 and 2,000 for the
respective organizations.
Conclusion
Besides being pilgrims, the mothers had been tourists, much like their
sons were "as much tourists as soldiers . . . "39 Just as Mrs. Wheeler, the
fictional Gold Star Mother in Willa Cather's One of Ours, learned from
her son's letters that "France [was] better than any country can ever be,"40
1
GOLD STAR
A pilgrimage for mothers and widows
of soldiers, sailors and marines now
interred in the cemeteries of Europe
was provided by Act of Congress,
March 2, 1929. Under this act the
mothers and wlve4 of service men
who met death Hj the World War
and whosfcj^^fiCJi^aJWaK^hurled In
Europe were'en',i*l«d to 90 there as
guests of the UdrUtf Stites government
and visit the sravei in which the
fighting men<' lie. OT the 11,630
mothers and wives invited about
5,500 actually went. The cost to the
government averages $840 for each
person. The last Sunday In September
Is designated Gold Star Mother's Day.
MOTHERS
qiMHi.STfflBBS
srr \ srXn
"■— '.MuiTTi.Ttb
'^* f MOTHERS '• ■
Sa'Ss^ss^-
corn
STAR
MUTHIKS
EfoMgfl EfaaSfl
Fig. 25. First day postal cover for Gold Star Mothers
commemorative stamp, issued Sept. 21, 1948.
68 Gold Star Pilgrimages
real Gold Star Mothers like Bessie Wells of Portland, Oregon first learned
about France from her sons letters: "... The French worship the Ameri-
cans ... I can speak enough French to get a good square meal ... last
night I had a delightful time ... investigate^] a beautiful chateau ..."41
Twelve years later, Mrs. Wells discovered France on her own in the 1930
Pilgrimage.
"The most beautiful spot on earth." Over and over, words similar to
what Marion Brown had written were echoed by other women in other
WWI American military cemeteries. "This cemetery," said one, "so beau-
tifully and carefully tended, is worthy of the government for which he
died. I want to send a message to all Mothers in America that I am proud
of the place where my son lies."42 It is important to remember that most
mothers had never seen a cemetery anything like St. Mihiel (Fig. 26) or
any of the other American military cemeteries overseas. The "order and
simplicity" that Marion noted did make them stand out as dramatic state-
ments. Back home in America, cemeteries were a visual hodgepodge of
gravestone designs and types of stone, and while marble stones were
common, they were seldom carved in the form of crosses. Nor were lush
green lawns and carefully planned landscaping and fountains always
found in American small town cemeteries. Comparing the cramped rows
of tightly packed thin wooden crosses, laid out in rows back to back at
Suresnes American Cemetery in 1919 (Fig. 11), with the spacious layout
of marble crosses in the same cemetery in 1930 (Fig. 10), it is clear that
had the pilgrimage bill passed before the cemeteries were complete pil-
grims would not have been impressed nearly so much.
The "wonderful, though sad" act of finally standing at graves they
had longed to see for twelve years or more brought solace, and satisfac-
tion that their sons were not forgotten and would receive perpetual care
in a dignified setting. And, it provided relief, in the poetic words of Sophia
Harrison (Fig. 22) "to let us be joyful as home we go." The Gold Star
Pilgrimages of the 1930s were, from the pilgrims' point of view, a stun-
ning achievement, ending a decade-long quest. Both the concerns and
desires aired in the Congressional hearings were dealt with. What moth-
ers said to reporters, wrote in diaries, or put in thank you letters to the
government showed that they returned relieved that the cemeteries were
"in lovely shape," as Bessie Shellenbarger put it, that the government
had not "broken faith" with them, and that, by seeing France, they were
satisfied to know where a son's last months or years were spent. As pil-
grims had done for centuries, they achieved their quest by seeing, walk-
Lotte Larsen Meyer
69
»i. JRthtei American (Eemeieru
> c_ >->
The American Battle Monuments Commission
Fig. 26. Brochure for the St. Mihiel American Cemetery,
Thiaucourt, France.
70 Gold Star Pilgrimages
ing, meeting new people, and being tested. They saw the waste of war,
and many monuments commemorating their sons' heroic victories. All
the mothers walked to the graves of their sons, and were tested by strenu-
ous scheduling, new foods and beverages, seasickness, different sur-
roundings and customs, endless ceremonies, and by being surrounded
by strangers in a land many of them called strange. While having satis-
fied the desire to see a grave, the pilgrimage would never erase the pain
of having lost a loving son or beloved husband.
As unifying symbols of a country, flags played an important sym-
bolic role throughout the Pilgrimage. In New York, flags were lowered to
half mast when the mothers arrived at City Hall to receive tiny silk Ameri-
can flags. Official photographs on board the passenger liners show all
mothers waving large U.S. flags. Arriving at Cherbourg, they noticed
buildings and train stations decked with French and American flags and
bunting. The Cafe Laurent in Paris, where all mothers went for their first
official reception, was "flag draped." As they arrived at each cemetery,
mothers would have seen an American flag flying on a central flagpole,
and the grave they walked to was marked by French and American Flags.
When Oregon's Mrs. Reeves returned from the Pilgrimage, she, like oth-
ers, sent a form to the Quartermaster Corps to receive an eleven by five
inch complimentary U.S. flag.
"All honor to the mothers of victory"43: General Pershing's remarks to
the Gold Star Mothers at the first official Paris reception combined three
words that reflected the government's goals during the pilgrimage -
honor, mothers, and victory. Since 1919, the War Department had wanted
to design overseas cemeteries that would honor the dead, recognize
American victories, and attract pilgrims, and in the Gold Star Pilgrim-
ages they realized their goals of showcasing their achievements for the
first time to a large audience. And credit should be given to General
Pershing, who like most of those in the Army opposed repatriation, and
who, by moving from being Commander-in-Chief of the AEF to Chair-
man of the ABMC, played a large role in shaping the War Department's
dream. In another speech at the same reception, the mothers were prom-
ised that "Our government, rendering homage to the sacrifices that you
have made . . . wishes to do all in its power to make your welcome wor-
thy of your noble efforts."44 The government showered the pilgrims with
gratitude for the sons and husbands who had died in a victorious war, in
a multitude of ways that made them feel like special dignitaries: through
speeches like those cited above that recognized the sacrifices the moth-
Lotte Larsen Meyer 71
ers made; by including the word "honor" in official ceremonies; by hon-
oring their fallen sons or husbands with impressive cemeteries and monu-
ments; through the provision of first-class travel arrangements; and by
providing, courtesy of the Quartermaster Corps, the highest quality of
attentive care. The French also honored the women, telling them over
and over how grateful they were that their sons or husbands had helped
to save France.
Although Congress never introduced another pilgrimage bill, the legacy
of the Gold Star Pilgrimages continues, albeit not to see graves, since over-
seas military burial has not been practiced since the aftermath of World
War II. Working with the American Gold Star Mothers, various private
donors, including many Vietnam veterans, have financed trips, such as
Operation Gold Star, to allow a small number of Gold Star Mothers to tour
Vietnam or visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.
Though Marion, Caroline, Bessie, Alvaretta, and all the other Gold
Star pilgrims died long ago, their words, descriptions, and souvenirs
have remained, allowing them to share with generations to come a story
about an unforgettable Pilgrimage. Together, these women formed a
unique community of mourners in a distant land - pilgrims from cities
and small towns all across America who came together to stand beside
the graves of their loved ones who had died in this country's first large-
scale commitment to a war waged upon foreign soil.
NOTES
This article is dedicated to my husband, Richard Meyer, whose work on and travels to World
War One cemeteries in France and Belgium inspired my own interests in the Gold Star
Pilgrimages, and to the Gold Star women who carefully recorded their observations and saved
valuable souvenirs of an unforgettable experience. I am deeply appreciative of Richard's
unwavering support and enthusiasm for turning what began as a conference paper into a
lengthy research article, his generosity in locating source material such as medals, sheet music,
and posters, and his thoughtfulness in making me aware of the diary owned by Sam Harper,
all of which have been critical in expanding and developing my focus. The author wishes to
thank the following individuals or institutions for their permission to quote from or use
photographs from the Gold Star Pilgrimage diaries, scrapbooks, letters, and other materials in
their collections: Sam Harper of Tullahoma, Tennessee, for Marion Frost Brown's diary and
letters of her 1931 Pilgrimage, shown in Figures 1 and 23; Arleen Weaver of Salem, Oregon,
for Bessie Shellenbarger 's scrapbook of her 1933 Pilgrimage, shown in Figures 16,18, and 19;
the Norwegian-American Historical Association (St. Olaf College, Northf ield, Minnesota), for
Caroline Short's letters and photographs of her 1930 Pilgrimage, shown in Figures 3 and 22;
the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture / Eastern Washington State Historical Society
(Spokane, Washington), for Alvaretta Taylor's typed "My Trip to France May 23, 1930" and
the photograph shown in Figure 15; the American Battle Monuments Commission, for
72 Gold Star Pilgrimages
photographs and brochures shown in Figures 11 and 26. Thanks as well to Richard E. Meyer
for his photos shown in Figures 5 and 17, and for permission to use the Gold Star Mothers
sheet music, poster, and first day stamp cover from his personal collection. I am indebted to
Sue Payton of Western Oregon University's Instructional Media staff for her excellent work in
producing a number of the photographs associated with these materials. All other photographs
are by the author. I would also like to recognize the kindness and attention that all the
Superintendents of the American Military Cemeteries in France and Belgium showed me in
the Summer of 1995 during tours of their cemeteries. Gabrielle Mihaescu, Administrative
Assistant at Suresnes American Cemetery, was especially thoughtful in locating a photograph
that showed French women at their adopted American graves (Figure 11). Earlier versions of
this article appeared as conference papers at annual meetings of the Popular Culture / American
Culture Association (1996) and The Association for Gravestone Studies (2000).
1. Entry of August 11, 1931, from Diary of Marion Brown (Shreveport, Louisiana) of her
1931 Gold Star Pilgrimage to France. All subsequent references to Marion's words are
from the same diary.
2. Several good summaries of the Gold Star Pilgrimage (and its legislative history) are
available. See for example, Charles A.F. Hughes, "Pilgrims," Quartermaster Revieiv (May-
June, 1931), 29-40; John J. Noll, "Crosses," American Legion Monthly (September,1930),
14-17; G. Kurt Piehler, "The War Dead and the Gold Star: American Commemoration of
the First World War," in Commemorations: The Politics of National Identify, ed. John R.
Gillis (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984), 168-183; William Stevens Prince,
"Gold Star Legislation," in Crusade and Pilgrimage: A Soldier's Quest, A mother's Pilgrimage
and a Grandson's Quest (Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society Press, 1986), 73-85; Louis
C. Wilson, "The War Mother Goes 'Over There,"' Quartermaster Review (May-June, 1930),
21-25.
3. In addition to the four primary sources cited above in the acknowledgments (at head of
Notes section), other sources consulted include Records of the Office of the Quartermaster
General, RG 92, National Archives, College Park, Maryland; and Henrietta Llaug's Gold
Star Mothers: A Collection of Notes Recording the Personal Histories of the Gold Star Mothers
of Illinois (Brussels, IL, 1941). Newspapers browsed for the yearsl930-33 included Billings
(Montana) Gazette; Ironwood (Michigan) Daily Globe; Minneapolis Journal; Minneapolis
Tribune; New York Herald (Paris edition); Neiv York Times; (Portland) Oregon Daily Journal;
(Portland) Oregonian; (Salem,OR) Capitol Journal; (Salem,OR) Oregon Statesman; Seattle
Times; Seattle Post-Intelligencer; as well as the issues of American War Mother.
4. The final bill, referred to as Public Law 592, passed March 2, 1929. Testimony made at
U.S. Congress. Senate Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs, To Authorize
Mothers and Unmarried Widows of Deceased World War Veterans Buried in Europe to
Visit The Graves: Hearing. 70th Congress, First Session, May 14, 1928, 9.
5. Statement read by Mathilda Burling: Ibid., Second Session, February 12, 1929, 26.
6. Testimony by Mrs. John Gallagher: Ibid., First Session, May 14, 1928,10.
7. Testimony by Ethel Nock: Ibid., 9.
Lotte Larsen Meyer 73
8. Testimony by Mrs. Effie Vedder: U.S. Congress. House Committee on Military Affairs,
To Authorize Mothers of Deceased World War Veterans Buried in Europe to Visit the Graves:
Hearing. 68th Congress, Second Session, Feb. 19, 1924, 15-16. Neglect at U.S. military
cemeteries was cited in numerous 1923 documents, including a letter published in the
U.S. Congressional Record, March 3, 1923, 5521-5523, and several newspaper stories:
"Belleau Wood Cemetery" [editorial], New York Times (October 7, 1923), II, 6; "War Graves
Well Tended," New York Times (October 24, 1923), 32; and "Few Flowers on Graves of
Dead in France," New York Times (November 4, 1923), IX, 6.
9. Testimony about widows by Ethel Nock: U.S. Congress, Senate Subcommittee of the
Committee on Military Affairs, To Authorize Mothers ... Hearing. 70th Congress, First
Session, May 14, 1928, 10. Additional anti-widow remarks cited in Piehler, The War Dead
and the Gold Star," 177.
10. For a summary of arguments over repatriation see Mark Meigs, "A Grave Diggin' Feelin'
in My Heart': American War Dead of World War I", Chapter 5 of Optimism at Armageddon:
Voices of American Participants in the First World War (New York, NY: New York University
Press, 1997), 143-187; 241-245, and Piehler, "The War Dead and the Gold Star."
1 1 . After Qu en tin's older brother, Theodore, Jr., died during the 1 944 Normandy invasion,
Quentin's body was reburied next to his brother in the Normandy American Cemetery at
Omaha Beach. The stone that marked his grave in Chamery, seen by many Gold Star
mothers, was moved to the Roosevelt Home at Sagamore Hill, New York.
12. For an excellent summary of the creation of WWI cemeteries see Richard E. Meyer,
"Stylistic Variation in the Western Front Battlefield Cemeteries of World War I Combatant
Nations," Markers XVIII (2001), 188-253; General Pershing's quote is found in "Leave our
War Dead in France, Advises General Pershing." New York Times (August 21, 1919), 15.
13. The cross controversy is summarized in G. Kurt Piehler, Remembering War the American
Way (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Insitution Press, 1995), 101.
14. Cather's trip is cited in James Woodress, Willa Cather: A Literary Life (Lincoln, NE:
University of Nebraska Press, 1987), 311.
15. Further information on British pilgrimages can be found in Tony Walter, "War Graves
Pilgrimage," in Pilgrimage in Popular Culture, ed. Ian Reader and Tony Walter (Basingstoke,
England: Macmillan, 1993), 63-91; and Jay Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The
Great War in European Cultural History (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press,
1995), 52.
16. "France Bars Moving all Soldier Dead," Neiu York Times (July 30, 1919), 15.
17. Pershing's remark is cited in William Pencak, For God and Country: The American Legion,
1919-41 (Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press, 1989),98; the other remark is found
in "Legionnaires Guests at Farewell Lunch," New York Times (September 24, 1927), 3.
18. Walter, "War Grave Pilgrimage," 82.
74 Gold Star Pilgrimages
19. Civic Religion, as part of a "cult of the war dead," is discussed in Antoine Prost,
"Monuments to the Dead," in Realms of Memory: Tlie Construction of the French Past: Volume
II: Traditions, ed. Pierre Nora (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1997), 328.
20. The account by Alvaretta Taylor (Spokane, Washington) of her 1930 Pilgrimage was typed
as "My Trip to France." All subsequent references to Alvaretta's words are from the same
account.
21. The handwritten notes and letters by Caroline Short (Portland, Oregon) of her 1930
Pilgrimage. Unless noted otherwise, all subsequent references to Caroline's words are
from the same notes.
22. The scrapbook/diary by Bessie Shellenbarger (Beaver City, Nebraska) of her 1933
Pilgrimage included many photographs and postcards saved from her trip. All subsequent
references to Bessie's words are from the same scrapbook.
23. "U.S. Mothers Can't Stand Paris Coffee," Seattle Times (May 17, 1930), 1.
24. Nancy Mattox, "Mother Recounts her Experiences in Reaching Paris," New York Herald
[Paris Edition] ( May 18, 1930), Section II, 1.
25. "Gold Star Mother," lyrics and music by Russell B. Rutter (Uniontown, PA, 1930).
26. Poems published in newspapers during the Pilgrimage, as in the examples quoted here,
frequently touched on peace themes: Edward Markham, "Our Pilgrim Mothers in France,"
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (May 30, 1930); Isabel Rothrouk, "To Kiss the Cross," [Portland]
Oregonian (May 25, 1930), Magazine Section, 1.
27. Editorial, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (May 30, 1930), 26.
28. "Row on Row, They Await the Pilgrims," New York Times (May 1 1, 1930), 5:4.
29. Caroline Short, letter dated July 20, 1920.
30. Marion Brown, letter to Secretary of War Patrick Hurley, dated November 24, 1931.
31 . '"Wonderful, but Sad' is Description of Visit to France by War Mothers," [Salem] Oregon
Statesman (August 5, 1930), 5.
32. "War Mother Given Flag," Silverton [Oregon] News (October 10, 1930), 3.
33. The number of eligible pilgrims varies in different sources from 11,000 to 17,000. 1 have
cited information from the Quartermaster Corps final figures printed in "War Pilgrimage
Ends," New York Times (August 25, 1933),18. The initial document of eligibility, Pilgrimage
for the Mothers and Widozvs of the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines of the American Forces now
Interred in the Cemeteries of Europe, as Provided by the Act of Congress, of March 2, 1929
(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1930) listed 11,000, but figures cited in
1933 total 17,389, so between 1929 and 1933, more eligible pilgrims must have been
Lotte Larsen Meyer 75
located. In addition, not all women who said they would go during a specific year actually
did. For example, many sources say that over 5,000 would go in 1930, but only 3,600
actually went.
34. Two articles focus on the trip made by a black mother: see Constance Potter, "World War
I Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimages, Part I," Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives 31:2
(1999), 140-145; and Constance Potter, "World War I Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimages,
Part II," Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives 31:3 (1999), 210-216.
35. U.S. Congress. Senate Subcommittee of the Committee On Military Affairs, Hearing.
70th Congress, Second Session, February 12, 1929, 23.
36. Giving mothers $850.00 if they didn't want to go was raised by an Oregon mother in
"Gold Star Mother Starts on Trip to Grave of Son," Woodburn [Oregon] Independent (July
17, 1930), 1; the issue was also raised in a Boston Post editorial that was inserted into the
Congressional Record (April 9, 1930), 6765.
37. Letter to the Editor, "War Mothers Pilgrimage," New York Times (January 17, 1933), 18.
38. Pilgrimage, directed by John Ford, 20th Century Fox, 1933; adapted from the short story
by I.A.R.Wylie, "Pilgrimage," American Magazine (November 1932), 44-47.
39. Soldier tourism is discussed in David Kennedy, Over Here: the First World War and the
American Society (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1980), 205.
40. Willa Cather, One of Ours (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1971), 390.
41 . Mrs. Frank Wilmot, Oregon Boys in the War (Portland, OR: Glass and Prudhomme, 1918),
63.
42. "Mothers Kneel at Graves of Sons in Belleau Wood," Neiv York Herald [Paris edition]
(May 22, 1930), 9.
43. "Mothers of War Dead Bow at Unknown Soldier's Tomb," New York Herald [Paris edition]
(May 18, 1930), 10.
44. Ibid.
76
Gabriel Allen
Frontispiece. Joseph Lake, 1770, Newman Cemetery,
East Providence, Rhode Island.
77
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY GRAVESTONE CARVERS OF THE UPPER
NARRAGANSETT BASIN: GABRIEL ALLEN
Vincent F. Luti
Biography
Gabriel Allen was born of George and Mrs. Sarah Spring in Rehoboth,
Massachusetts (now East Providence, Rhode Island) on April 20, 1749. ]
Soldier, merchant, stonecutter, public official, he died a respected mem-
ber of the Providence, Rhode Island community on April 3, 1824.2
The first reference to Gabriel Allen in the Providence/Rehoboth area
that I could find was that a Gabriel Allen served in Major Peck's Com-
pany in 1762 during the French and Indian Wars.3 If this is the same
Gabriel Allen who was to become a stonecutter, then he was only thir-
teen years old at the time. No other Gabriel Allen appears in records of
this area of the Narragansett Basin during the Eighteenth Century. There
was a Gabriel Allen in Connecticut whose son's stone, oddly enough,
was probably carved by Gabriel Allen of Providence. At best, these two
Gabriels might have been cousins. The Connecticut Gabriel was born in
1753, making him but nine years old in 1762. I think the 1762 Gabriel
was, indeed, the Rehoboth, Massachusetts figure serving, perhaps, not
as a fighting soldier but in some other hometown capacity. Gabriel Allen,
the stonecutter, did lead a distinguished military life in later years.
The next appearance of Gabriel Allen in public records is on May 11,
1771, when the following advertisement appeared in the Providence
Gazette:
The Subscribers beg leave to inform the Public, they have just set up, and are
now carrying on, in all its Branches, the stone-cutting Business, at the Sign of
the Stone-Cutter's Arms on the West Side of the Great Bridge, in Providence
. . . Gabriel and William Allen.
Apparently they did not deal solely in stonecutting, for on June 6, 1772,
in the same paper, they ran an advertisement as follows:
Gabriel and William Allen at the shop on the West side of the Great Bridge,
in the House of Samuel Butler Esq.: a compleat Assortment of English India,
and Hardware . . . Goods, which they are determined to sell . . . NB said Aliens
carry on the STONE-CUTTING BUSINESS, as usual . . .
Gabriel's father died January 20, 1774, leaving no will. On October 14,
1774,4 Sylvester Allen relinquished his part of the inheritance to his broth-
78
Gabriel Allen
ers, including Gabriel, and sister; and they in turn sold off all the land
and buildings of their father to Humphrey Palmer on April 27, 1778. 5
Beginning on June 16, 1774, when he is listed as a member of a Mili-
tary Club,6 Gabriel Allen shows up in many military records: 1776, sec-
ond lieutenant; 1776, first lieutenant; 1778, captain; 1781, ensign;7 and,
according to a biography of 1860, a commission of major in the state
militia.8 Curiously, he does not appear in the Revolutionary War Pension
Records in the National Archives, but these records were destroyed by
fire around 1800 and apparently his widow, Nancy, did not have them
reconstituted as was the case with other pensioners and their widows
after the fire.
In the Congregational Church Records "of the West side of the River,"
we find a listing of Gabriel's marriage to Nancy West, daughter of Ben-
jamin West, December 17, 1775.4 This Benjamin West was a prominent
figure in Providence, postmaster and amateur scientist. Gabriel Allen's
name also appears on tax records, deeds, birth, death and marriage
records, and in a good number of probate records in Providence and
Warwick, Rhode Island, and in Bristol County, Massachusetts he is listed
as receiving payments for gravestones.10 On April 26, 1787, he placed an
advertisement in the Charleston (South Carolina) Morning Post, in which
city he had opened for two months a temporary shop to take orders for
all kinds of stoneware, including slate tombstones and gravestones (of
which there are extant a fair number).11 In 1802, at a time when his grave-
stone production dropped off, he was appointed Assistant Postmaster
Fig. 1. Harriet Allen, 1790, Swan Point Cemetery,
Providence, Rhode Island.
Vincent F. Luti 79
in Providence under his father-in-law, Benjamin West, Postmaster. In 1813
he became Postmaster himself.
A son, George, was born and died in 1776. Another son, George Wil-
liam, was born in 1780 and died in 1814. 12 Six children lived only months,
as their gravestones' death dates attest in Swan Point Cemetery, Provi-
dence: Benjamin, 1783; infant, 1787; Harriet, 1790 (Fig. 1); Polly, 1791;
Sally, 1792; Maria, 1794. Gabriel Allen was outlived by his wife, Nancy,
and his daughter, Nancy, wife of Christopher S. Carpenter. His grave-
stone, carved by David Bolles, is in Swan Point Cemetery. His obituary
appeared in both the Providence Gazette and the Providence Journal.13
The Work of Gabriel: Laying to Rest "G. Allen"
There are a good number of gravestones in New England, and a few
elsewhere, that are signed "G. Allen." No one has yet found a stone where
this "G" is spelled out, yet any number of scholars, following Hariette
Forbes blindly, have not hesitated to assign the name "George" to the
"G." George Allen (Senior) did sign three of his markers with a "G," but
after his death the "G. Allen" continued to appear on stones.14 Forbes
did find a probate payment for gravestones to George Allen, Jr. From
this she must have deduced that all "G. Allen" stones thereafter referred
to George Allen, Jr. What she didn't know was that George, Sr. had an-
other son called Gabriel, another "G," in fact. There are at least fourteen
stones that bear the name Gabriel Allen in probate payments. Upon
checking closely the work on these stones, we find they are identical in
style and execution to all the stones signed "G. Allen," those attributed
by Forbes to George, Jr. If father and two sons were all carving, why is
"G. Allen" sufficient to identify the carver to the populace of the time?
My answer is simply that only one was living and carving at any given
time, hence no real confusion could arise. The only possibility of this
arises between 1770-1774 when George, Sr. and Gabriel were both alive
and carving (George, Jr., I believe, must have been dead or removed
from the scene). But the father was now seventy-five years old and carv-
ing very little. It is also most likely that those stones signed "G. Allen"
between 1770 and 1774 were carved by Gabriel after the death of George,
Sr. and backdated, hence not causing any confusion at all as to whom
the "G" referred to in the minds of the public of the time.
So, what about George Allen's other son, George, Jr., for whom there
is one gravestone payment and one general payment in probate records?
My calculations are that George, Jr. most surely died about 1764 (see V. F.
80
Gabriel Allen
Luti ms. paper on "The real George Allen Jr."). So after 1770-1774, "G.
Allen" was an understood in the Providence community: Gabriel Allen.
Was he just a middleman? No, for in his biography of 1860 he is called
"stone cutter" (see Appendix A).
Style
Gabriel Allen had what amounts to only two effigy designs. There
were also a few other designs, and at the end of his career some very
elegant urn work. His work is very easy to identify given so many spe-
cific and general probate payments, at least twenty, and a good number
of signed stones (see Appendix III). That might be the sum total and end
of it were it not for the disconcerting fact that another carver produced
what appears to be the exact duplicate of his effigy II designs. This was
Levi Maxcey of Attleboro, Massachusetts. The connection between the
two men is still to be explained, as is the reason Maxcey would duplicate
another carver's work. Fortunately, Maxcey did not copy Gabriel Allen's
very fine, elegant lettering style, which helps, but not in every single
case, to make attributions. Did Maxcey buy Allen's cut effigies and then
do the lettering himself? The fact that he apparently copied other carv-
ttfll
" ' l|f|Mjjp^H)ry of
Fig. 2. Nathaniel Metcalf, 1775, Swan Point Cemetery,
Providence, Rhode Island.
Vincent F. Luti
81
ers' work, besides Allen's, adds to the mystery. Further research on Levi
Maxcey has been undertaken by Laurel Gabel and Theodore Chase.15
Effigy TlJPe I
When we look at the late work of George Allen, Sr., we see the details
of a new effigy design emerging, which might be collaboration with an-
other hand (see Frontispiece). Someone was working with him, prob-
ably Gabriel, who was then about twenty-one years old. It is quite possible
that his elderly father, in his seventies, initiated or helped initiate a new
effigy type for his son, for when Gabriel does go into business for him-
self, his design is fully realized and fixed for mass production and unlike
his father's.
We might describe George Allen, Sr.'s work as baroque in its dra-
matic realism and aggressive relief style. The Type I effigy of Gabriel
Allen is a complete reversal: stylization as opposed to naturalism, low
relief as opposed to deep relief, etc. His rather classical disposition of
stylized, low relief detail on a flat architectural surface suggests the term
rococo. I'm sure Gabriel's work appeared very modern for the time and
sold well. It has a cold, formal look today. The Type II effigy that comes
Fig. 3. Jamima Carpenter, 1775, Dexter Street Cemetery,
Cumberland, Rhode Island.
82
Gabriel Allen
later would considerably change this character. These later stones have a
charming, cherubic face in high modeling.
Type I effigies were mass produced in the decade of the 1770s and
hardly vary in detail. The Nathaniel Metcalf stone, 1775 (probated 1775),
represents them all, stylized in every aspect: the tight, coiled peruke, the
upswept eyebrows, the severely cut, almond-shaped eyes with button
pupils, the triangular nose, and the pinched mouth (Fig. 2). The wings
usually sweep out from a feathered neck collar. The border panels for
the Metcalf stone represent a typical column design, entwined with a
floral vine. An even better example, though not probated, is the 1775
marker for Jamima Carpenter (Fig. 3).
The most popular border design, however, was a floral scroll with
"carrot" flowers in the axils. Sometimes this scrollwork is richly described
with relief and etch work; other times it is very flat, plain and stylized, as
on the 1773 stone for Stephen Rawson (Fig. 4). Rarely, a remarkably skilled,
■fyin the tfo.r#r -XpJT ° H
7
Fig. 4. Stephen Rawson, 1773, Oakland Cemetery,
Cranston, Rhode Island.
[its ^^'c
Vincent F. Luti
83
Fig. 5. Elizabeth Thurston, 1776, North Burial Ground,
Providence, Rhode Island.
Fig. 6. Molly Manning, 1770, Swan Point Cemetery,
Providence, Rhode Island.
84
Gabriel Allen
raised stippling fills the tympanum background (Fig. 5). I know of no
other carver except Gabriel's father who achieved the skill for this ex-
traordinary texture. A few tympani are filled solely with a bound acan-
thus spread (e.g., Fig. 6). The lettering on these stones is always
exceedingly well done, with the most delicate, slanted, slightly hooked
serifs (sometimes just barely) that are best observed in rubbings, since in
photographs or first hand observation they can be all but invisible. This
is where the work of Levi Maxcey critically differs. His lettering is very
square, mechanical, and always has flat serifs.
In the early 1780s, there appeared signs of change in the effigies: softer,
rounder cherubic qualities in greater relief, and new wig types of less
severe design. Examples may be seen in the signed stones for Mary Parker,
1781 (Fig. 7) and Rosabellah Chace, 1781 (Fig. 8), both in St. John's Cem-
etery, Providence, as well as the 1785 marker for Mary Handy in Newport's
Common Burial Ground (Fig. 9).
Wsv Type u
From 1782 to 1804 the dominant design from Gabriel Allen's shop in
Providence is a cherubic effigy often highly modeled, with softer, plumper
Fig. 7. Mary Parker, 1781, St. John's Cemetery,
Providence, Rhode Island.
Vincent F. Luti
85
Fig. 8. Rosabellah Chace, 1781, St. John's Cemetery,
Providence, Rhode Island.
Fig. 9. Mary Handy, 1785, Common Burial Ground,
Newport, Rhode Island.
86
Gabriel Allen
#
wfC"
...f -$Lm
N3OTJnWj»ftJ
ft; > .:;.":
Fig. 10. Sarah Hunt, 1799, Newman Cemetery,
East Providence, Rhode Island.
Fig. 11. Elizabeth Godfrey, 1793, St. John's Cemetery,
Providence, Rhode Island.
Vincent F. Luti
87
Fig. 12. Joseph Bucklin, 1790, North Burial Ground,
Providence, Rhode Island.
X?Js!a&.\i&
Fig. 13. George Corliss, 1790, Bluff Street Cemetery,
Cranston, Rhode Island.
88
Gabriel Allen
:>z*
0 ' jF'
!/
li m
ii
i><
■w?
Fig. 14. Parssis Bacon, 1795, Oakland Cemetery,
Cranston, Rhode Island.
Fig. 15. Nathan Miller, 1784, North Burial Ground,
Warren, Rhode Island.
Vincent F. Luti
89
P
t:
Fig. 16. Chad Brown, 1665 (stone erected in 1792),
North Burial Ground, Providence, Rhode Island.
90
Gabriel Allen
1/. > /^IBS
flip
%iMM
\^y
f. .-A
h iii !'V)|fen May ^Hi||J
Fig. 17. William Checkley, Esq., 1780,
Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island.
-A
&
.-. YY
Fig. 18. William Corliss, 1789, North Burial Ground,
Providence, Rhode Island.
Vincent F. Luti
91
fAUl McnWy of SyK-kjM '
lilallyviton arid Mrs.
Ifi'llpBeii his. w)fc)|ft*
Fig. 19. Sylvia Blackinton, 1790, Woodcock Cemetery,
North Attelboro, Massachusetts.
Fig. 20. Thomas Andrew, 1769 (backdated),
Pontiac Cemetery, Rte. 5, Cranston, Rhode Island.
92 Gabriel Allen
features, livelier, somewhat more naturalistic eyes, and natural looking
hair in bangs. Quilting is often seen in the space where the wings join at
the chest. Examples are provided by the signed 1799 stone for Sarah
Hunt (Fig. 10), and the markers for Elizabeth Godfrey, 1793 (Fig. 11),
Joseph Bucklin, 1790 (Fig. 12), George Corliss, 1790 (Fig. 13), and Parssis
Bacon, 1795 (Fig. 14). In the latter instance, note the reversion to Type I
style and the zig-zag in the wings.
On rare occasions he turns the head rather credibly to a slight three-
quarter position, as may be seen on the 1784 stone for Nathan Miller
(Fig. 15) and, as well, on the 1792 marker for Seth Paine in Brooklyn,
Connecticut. Border designs are the same as in previous work.
The next most common design in this period is a tiny, exquisitely
detailed rising sun (see Fig. 16). There are also a few rose sprig tympani,
including one on a signed 1793 marker for Mary Crowell in West
Yarmouth, Massachusetts. There is one very handsome 1780 heraldic
stone (see Fig. 17) for William Checkley, Esq. in Swan Point Cemetery,
Providence, Rhode Island; another elaborate one for Richard Atwell, 1767
(backdated), in Attleboro, Massachusetts; and yet another for David
Cheesebrough, 1782, in Stonington, Connecticut. The 1789 William Corliss
stone is a good example of his elegant urn and fauna design (Fig. 18).
The unique 1790 Sylvia Blackinton stone (Fig. 19) should probably be
attributed to Gabriel Allen based on the lettering and skill of the design
work, an interlaced, trellis grapevine running up the borders and filling
the tympanum.
A follower, apprentice, or even son, produced a Gabriel Allen Type II
cherub, but with much less elegance and with very peculiar nostrils cut
as circles. The wing feathers often have zig-zag veining (Figs. 20 and 21).
They occur rarely, mostly in the immediate Providence area from 1790-
1802. No work, as far as I know of, has been done on this carver.
William Allen
In this light I would like to address the question of whether William
Allen, son of George Allen and brother to Gabriel, born March 27, 1752,
was a stonecarver. He is not to be confused with another William Allen,
contemporaneous and living in Rehoboth, who died in 1791 and is the
probable author of the fine account book in the Rhode Island Historical
Society library. The William Allen who died in 1815 is listed as "gen-
eral," which suggests a military career parallel to his brother Gabriel's,
Vincent F. Luti
93
and his obituary in the August 19, 1815 edition of the Providence Patriot
and the Columbian Phenix says he continued his service up to the "resto-
ration of peace," suggesting he was occupied in that service rather than
carving stones, even though earlier in 1771 and 1772, as we have seen,
his name was associated with Gabriel's in two newspaper advertisements
for the manufacture and sale of gravestones along with dry goods. He
was also sheriff of Providence County for a while. In the account for
estate number A 1546, Providence, 1795, a William Allen is listed as re-
ceiving payment for funeral charges, and on another paper of 1797 in
the same account, Gabriel is listed in connection with funeral expenses.
In any case, William's name is quite often linked with Gabriel's in
what was apparently a partnership relationship, as indicated in the two
advertisements and various deeds dealing with business properties in
Providence. However, no stone is ever signed "W. Allen" or "William
Allen," and no probate payment for gravestones bears his name, nor is
his name included in the South Carolina advertisement. I suspect from
all this that his function in the partnership was reserved for the dry goods
or stoneware part of the business. If indeed William did have a hand in
Fig. 21. Unknown (stone damaged), 1796,
Manton-Tripp Cemetery, Johnston, Rhode Island.
94
Gabriel Allen
_ . \S.^^L^^^mL^J ^
^S tf /^~ QZP f*r- W^O '/3rn^-
- r~\ 0' ' / a J~l
/, ^ —
'/A
:—s?6~
m
r * _ ^r-~— /ft**-*- ~
c?
4-2/ i^^-
c
/y/^/-^/^:^-^i)/f
" ~ iMV&rcD
"O ;'"""
a
05,/ 4 >r£Ui ci*> ^ %orr, PU ■- ^// -//- /fc^' 9 - 3 " ^
QtuiJCaA'L i^ttuAl j
/A
"/"
■to .
Fig. 23. Gabriel Allen's invoice to Nicholas Brown
for family gravestones.
Vincent F. Luti 95
the gravestone production, there is not a shred of evidence to indicate
what it was he did.
Conclusion
Special mention should be made of the number of Gabriel Allen stones,
many signed, in the cemeteries of South Carolina and Georgia as docu-
mented in Dianne Williams Combs' dissertation (see Note 14) but unfor-
tunately attributed to a mythical "George Allen, Jr." Effigies, urns, floral
designs, borders, etc. are just as in the work described above, but in
some instances quite elaborately done, more so than in the New England
versions. Otherwise, Gabriel Allen's stones are distributed mainly in the
cities and towns around the Narragansett Basin, with a major concentra-
tion in Providence. Others have been reported in eastern Connecticut.16
Gabriel Allen's work is in great part done on fine-grade gray slates
and is mostly in very good condition, though not always. He did try to
introduce marble to his clients, and there are documented examples ap-
parently beginning as early as the 1780s. Others are probated for the
Aborn family at the Arnold Cemetery in Warwick, Rhode Island, and
some are billed to Nicholas Brown, Providence (see Fig. 22). 17
NOTES
This paper was originally delivered in abbreviated form at the 1984 Association for Gravestone
Studies Annual Conference, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. Photos are by the author.
1. Rehoboth Toivn Records, 2:190.
2. Gravestone in Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, RI.
3. H. M. Chapin, List ofRI Soldiers and Sailors in the old French and Indian War, 1755-1762
(Providence, RI, 1918), 26.
4. Bristol County Deeds (Taunton, MA), 60:320.
5. Ibid., 60:317.
6. Publications of the RI Historical Society, 3:187.
7. Bartlett, Colonial Records of Rhode Island, 8:79, 404, 408, 512; 9:399, 404; 10:24; and Benjamin
Cowell, Spirit of '76 in Rhode Island (Baltimore, MD,1973), 356.
8. See Appendix II.
96 Gabriel Allen
9. James Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, Town and Church (Providence, RI: Narragansett
Historical Publishing Co., 1898), X:197.
10. See Appendix III.
1 1 . The advertisement reads:
The subscriber respectfully informs the public, that he has for sale, at his
shop, no 92 Meeting Street, Charlston, a variety of Slate and Marble Slabs,
suitable for hearth stones and tables, printers, painters, curriers stones, and
also, a few Slate Tomb Stones and Gravestones, of an excellent quality, which
he will finish with inscriptions only, or ornament with coats of arms, crests,
or other sculpture, in an elegant manner, and on reasonable terms. And having
lately discovered a new quarry of fine marble, consisting of black, white
variegated and dove colored, is ready to contract for any sort of inside or
outside work for houses, as well as every kind of monument to be done in
any of the above stone. Constant attendance will be given at his shop for two
months from the date hereof, for the purpose of receiving orders and finishing
the above work. G. Allen April 26th, 1787. [Note that it only says "G. Allen,"
not George or Gabriel]
Amanda Burdan in her paper, "In an Elegant Manner and on Reasonable Terms: Gabriel
Allen's Gravestones in the North and South" [ms. sent to this author], reports another
advertisement in the Charleston Morning Post, 31 March 1786, and the Daily Advertiser,
31 March 1786, of a similar nature but dated from his shop "Providence Rh. Island, Feb.
1786," i.e., before he left for Charleston.
12. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island (1903), XIII:114.
13. Providence Gazette, April 7, 1824:
Died in this town Gabriel Allen Esq. Postmaster, in his seventy-fifth year. He
was a patriot of the Revolution and a highly respected member of the
Cincinnati Society. For fourteen years he discharged with approved fidelity
the duties of Postmaster in this town. In private life he was deservedly beloved
and respected for his many virtues.
14. Harriette Merrifield Forbes, Gravestones of Early New England and the Men ivho Made
Them 1653-1800 (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1967), 98-99. Dianne Williams Combs,
in Eighteenth Century Gravestone Art in Georgia and South Carolina (Emory University,
1978, dissertation) elaborates on Forbes' error even further by compounding it with
another from Alan Ludwig, Graven Images: New* England Stonecarving and Its Symbols,
1650-1815 (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1966), 322-325. All the
biographical information and attribution work is seriously flawed in all three authors.
Unfortunately, all the documentable evidence exists and is readily available, but none of
these authors apparently sought to dig it out, simply relying on each other or their
imagination. It is also unfortunate that Forbes' important pioneering book has no citation
or documentation to bolster many other conclusions, particularly regarding Narragansett
Basin carvers, neither in the book itself nor in her notes collection at the American
Antiquarian Society Library, Worcester, MA. For the life and work of George Allen (Sr.)
see V.F. Luti ms. paper "George Allen."
Vincent F. Luti 97
15. Theodore Chase and Laurel K. Gabel, Gravestone Chronicles II: More Eighteenth-Century
Nezo England Carvers and an Exploration of Gravestone Heraldica (Boston, MA: New England
Historic Genealogical Society, 1997), 434-495.
16. By 1774, a brother, Sylvester, was living in Voluntown in eastern Connecticut, as indicated
in Bristol County Deeds, 60:320. Further evidence of trade with Connecticut is seen in
Genealogies of Rhode Island Families from Rhode Island Periodicals vol. II (Baltiimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983), 846, footnote 1 7: "Gabriel Allen of Providence Rhode
Island who learned the gravestone trade from his father, that superb 'sculptor' of Rehoboth
made the horizontal tombstone for the grave of Godfrey Malbone, Jr." A bill in the
Malbone Papers shows that the cost of the stone was £50-10-04, plus £4-00-06 for crating
and transportation charges from Providence to Pomfret, Connecticut. The Providence
Sunday Journal of 9 November 1947 shows a picture of this tomb in an article entitled
"Church built by Godfrey Malbone."
17. Lance Mayer, "Gabriel Allen of Providence and the Beginnings of Marble Gravestone
Carving in New England," paper delivered 23 June 2000, Association for Gravestone
Studies Annual Conference, Brown University, Providence, RI. Mayer's research also
turned up a sillouette profile portrait of Gabriel Allen which does, indeed, bear a
resemblance to George Washington (see Appendix II). The Aborn probate is at the
Warwick, R. I. town hall in Wills:182. 1 am indebted to Amanda Burdan and to Robert
Emlin, curator and senior lecturer at Brown University, for the copy of Allen's bill to Mr.
Nicholas Brown (Fig. 22) for family gravestones, the John Carter Brown Library, Brown
Family Papers, box 846, folder 10. It is reproduced here by kind permission of the John
Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
18. It is almost certain from a probate record to deduce that Asa Fox was an apprentice or
helper in Gabriel Allen's shop. In the Providence City Hall Archives, case #A1363, the
account of John Foster, Esq., died 1791, is registered. In the probate papers of John Foster,
July 25, 1795, Asa Fox is paid for "one pair of Grave Stones for Mrs. Rachel Fox 4-16-0."
Another entry says "1795 cash paid to Grave Stones and Setting . . . 4-3-9." John's stone is
a Gabriel Allen cherub, Rachel's stone (by Fox) is a pallid Gabriel Allen imitation, probably
erected upon John's death.
19. Chase and Gabel, Gravestone Chronicles II, 434-495.
98
Gabriel Allen
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Vincent F. Luti 99
APPENDIX II
An account of the Seventy-first Anniversary of the Providence Association of
Mechanics and Manufacturers, held Feb. 28, I860, prepared by Edward M.
Stone (Providence, RI: Anthony Knowles & Co. printers, 1860), 58-59:
Gabriel Allen was the son of George Allen, who emigrated from England to
Boston, at the age of about 21 years, and opened a writing school. He
afterwards removed to Seekonk, and practiced stone cutting. He also engaged
in a project to produce perpetual motion. He died and was buried in this last
chosen home.* Gabriel came to Providence from Seekonk, and established
himself in the business pursued by his father. He married a daughter of Dr.
Benjamin West, and acted under him, as assistant postmaster. After Dr. W."s
(sic) decease, in 1813, the office was given to Mr. Allen, which he held until
his death. Mr. Allen became a member of the Mechanics Association
December, 14, 1789, and in 1795, was chosen Secretary. In person, he was tall
and commanding, and is said to have borne a strong resemblance to
Washington. He was a man of active habits, and took a prominant part in
political affairs. He held the commission of Major in the State militia. His
death occured April, 3, 1824, in the 75th year of his age.
A writer on the Journal of April 5, says:- 'He was one of the few surviving
patriots of the revolution. He was an honorable and highly respected member
of the Cincinnate Society, and for about 14 years past he held the office of the
postmaster in this town, which, like the many offices of importance which he
held during the revolution, he has filled with honor to himself, and fidelity to
his country ... By his death, the loss of an affectionate husband is deeply
lamented; an only surviving daughter is deprived of a kind and provident
father, and society mourns the departure of one of its brightest ornaments
and most valuable citizens
This Seekonk was originally, in Allen's lifetime, part of Rehoboth, Massachu-
setts, only to become, eventually, the modern city of East Providence, Rhode
Island. Part of this state land swapping is still called Seekonk, Massachusetts.
100
Gabriel Allen
APPENDIX III
Documented Stones
Signed "G. Allen" stones (sometimes with word "sculpt")
Name
Moses Cohen
Mary Munro
Hannah Spalding*
Nathaniel Sessions
Ebenezer Lamed*
Esther Wayne
Elizabeth Angell
Mary Parker
Rosabella Chace
Mary Dagget*
Anne Hopkins
Benjamin Cady*
Mary Smith
Jane Postell
John Savage
Seth Paine*
Mary Crowell
Mary Smith
Daniel Trowbridge*
Sarah Hunt
Richard Savage
Richard Warham
Chloe Wilkinson
Died
1762
1770
1771
1771
1779
1780
1780
1781
1781
1781
1782
1783
1785
1786
1789
1792
1793
1795
1795
1799
1789
1779
1795
Location
Old Jewish Cem., Charleston, SC
New London, CT
So. Killingly, CT
Pomfret, CT
Putnam, CT
St. Philips Churchyard, Charleston, SC
No. Burial Ground, Providence, RI
St. John's Cem., Providence, RI
St. John's Cem., Providence, RI
Tower Hill Burying Ground, Edgartown, MA
No. Burial Ground, Providence, RI
Putnam, CT
Prince George Cem., Georgetown, SC
St. Philips Churchyard, Charleston, SC
Congregational Churchyard, Charleston, SC
Brooklyn, CT
West Yarmouth, MA
Congregational Churchyard, Charleston, SC
Abington, CT
Newman Cem., E. Providence, RI
Congregational Churchyard, Charleston, SC
Congregational Churchyard, Charleston, SC
Swan Point Cem., Providence, RI
•■from Sue Kelly and Anne Williams, " And The Men Who Made Them': The Signed Grave-
stones of New England," Markers II (1983), 1-103.
Probate Payments to Gabriel Allen for gravestones
Name
Died/PP
Location
Nathaniel Metcalf
1775
1775
Swan Pt. Cem., Providence, RI
James Brown
1775
1775
Oakland Cem., Cranston, RI
Joseph Olney
1777
1784
No. Burial Ground, Providence, RI
John Bucklin
1791
1791
Newman Cem., E. Providence, RI
John Bullock
1788
1791
Little Neck Cem., E. Providence, RI
Johnathan Ellis
1785
1794
Swan Pt. Cem., Providence, RI
Joseph Comstock
1795
not located
Sebelah Olney
1796
not located
William Dexter
1796
not located
Samuel Aborn
1761
1801
Arnold Cem., Warwick, RI
Thomas Aborn
1763
1801
Arnold Cem., Warwick, RI
Vincent F. Luti
101
Name
Phebe Aborn
Sarah Rhodes
Mary Aborn
Co. Samuel Aborn
Samuel Warren, Jr.
Died/PP
1770 1801
1777 1801
1797 1801
1801 1801
1803
Location
Arnold Cem., Warwick, RI
Arnold Cem., Warwick, RI
Arnold Cem., Warwick, RI
Arnold Cem., Warwick, RI
not located
Unspecified probate payments to Gabriel Allen
Ebenezer Fuller
1773
1775
William Dexter
1778
Gov. Nicholas Cook
1786
Family stones
George Allen
1774
infant daughter
1787
Harriet Allen
1790
Polly Allen
1791
Harriet Allen
1792
Maria Allen
1794
Palmer River Cem., Rehoboth, MA
not located
not located
Newman Cem., E. Providence, RI
Swan Pt. Cem., Providence, RI
Swan Pt. Cem., Providence, RI
Swan Pt. Cem., Providence, RI
Swan Pt. Cem., Providence, RI
Swan Pt. Cem., Providence, RI
Gabriel Allen's bill to Nicholas Brown (see Fig. 22) lists stones for:
Hope Brown
Chad Brown
Joanna Brown
Moses Brown, Jr.
Rhoda Brown
Jenckes Brown
Nancy Brown
John Brown, Jr.
Nicholas Brown, Esq.
102 Gabriel Allen
APPENDIX IV
List of Gabriel Allen stones documented for this study
It should be borne in mind that among the Type II effigy stones I am
attributing to Gabriel Allen's shop that are not documented, there is the
very real possibility that Levi Maxcey had a hand. He was born in 1770,
in Attleboro, Massachusetts, a short distance north of Providence, the
city in which Allen had set up shop around 1770. Not until 1782 did
Allen develop his Type II effigy that Maxcey would copy. If Maxcey ap-
prenticed to Allen, it would be in 1782 at the earliest, at age twelve. Maxcey
opened his own shop in Salem, Massachusetts, a good distance away, in
1792 at age twenty-two. If Maxcey carved Allen "fakes," they would ap-
pear, probably, only after the late 1780s the period in which attributions
would become uneasy, especially where the stone did not adhere to the
well documented stereotypical work of Allen.
However, I am assigning Type II effigy stones to Allen, no matter
who actually carved them, if they have: a charming, soft-contoured, che-
rubic effigy with bangsy hair; elegant slant serifs on very well done let-
tering; no use of "ye;" and, other than occasional border columns or a
design taken from his father's work, a flat, low-relief, cyma curve of coil-
and-spray foliate material in the side panels. There are ample documented
stones of this description to make further detailed analysis unnecessary
as no other carver did work like Allen's, except Maxcey (and one bland
documented imitation by Asa Fox for Rachel Foster, 1784, Providence,
Swan Point Cemetery).18 Maxcey's Salem period work in the manner of
Allen is hard and metallic in the effigy and lettering (see Chase and GabeP
for further biographical material and production).
Around the solid body of Allen stones there is a fringe of a number of
stones that have Allen-like effigies not up to what one would expect of
him: distortions of facial features, flat-ruled serifs, border designs not
remotely his or his father's, and an occasional "ye." Perhaps these are
Maxcey's or another apprentice in Allen's shop, or some unkown copier.
For the sake of demonstration, I am listing a few of these Type II
effigy stones that defy clear-cut attribution to either Allen or Maxcey,
along with some annotations. Oddly enough, all the towns are nearer to
Maxcey's North Attleboro than to Allen's Providence:
Vincent F. Luti
103
Smith Maxcey
Nathan Tyler
Hopestill Corbett
Nathan Adams
Ezekiel Adams
Silvanus Braman
David Razey
Sarah Emerson
Thomas Rawson
1791 North Attleboro, MA
1790 South Attleboro, MA
1768 North Bellingham, MA
(back-
dated)
1794 Medfield, MA
1777 Medfield, MA
(back-
dated)
1782 Norton, MA
1783 Cumberland, RI
1778 Cumberland, RI
1802 Mendon, MA
face not cherubic
huge flanking frond coils in the
tympanum that are startlingly
non-Allen
effigy is clearly Allen, border
design is a copy from George
Allen, Sr., but it's the flat-
ruled serifs that are troubling -
Maxcey's hand?
the little border trees are
foreign to any Allen work
beady-eyed face, not cherubic,
and text contains a Maxcey "ye"
(deduced from his Salem
production)
beautifully done face, but
squashed and metallic looking,
borders unusual but can be
traced back to a George Allen,
Sr. design, serifs flat-ruled as in
later Maxcey work
beady-eyed face, not cherubic,
serifs flat-ruled, Maxcey "ye"
beady-eyed attempt at 3/4 view
with mashed face, Maxcey "ye,"
flat-ruled serifs
beady-eyed non-cherubic face,
weak lettering neither Allen nor
Maxcey
An aforementioned and illustrated beautiful small stone with grape
trellis borders and grape arbor tympanum for Sylvia Blackinton, 1790,
North Attleboro, Massachusetts (Fig. 19) is unique. A nearly duplicate
border grape trellis is found on a stone by Allen's father, George, for
Mary George, 1730, South Attleboro, Massachusetts. I would easily at-
tribute it to Gabriel Allen for its conception, handsome lettering and,
especially, its tiny grape clusters made of meticulously raised, rounded
dots (the same dots used as raised background stipling on known Allen
work), except for the disturbing "ye," but not the Maxcey type. How-
ever, in Allen's much earlier Type I effigy period it does occur a couple
of times, after which it is dropped entirely for "the." For now, the lovely
Blackinton stone can provisionally be attributed to Gabriel Allen, until
further evidence to the contrary comes to light.
104
Gabriel Allen
A number of factors could account for these "impure" Allen-derived
stones: Allen himself having a bad day or trying a design element of
someone else; some other young carver apprenticing in his shop (Asa
Fox comes to mind); or collaboration on a stone with an apprentice-carver.
There's even the very remote possibility that his brother, William, did, in
fact, do some carving. It's unlikely we'll ever know the answer to these
questions.
Died Name
1760 JabezLyon
1761 Samuel Aborn
1762 Moses Cohen
1763 Thomas Aborn
1 763 Mary Waterman
1 763 Elizabeth Ormsbee
1765 Hannah Martin
1765 Nancy Bacon
1 765 Samuel Westcot
1 767 Alexander Black
1767 Richard Atwell
1768 Hope Brown
1768 Hopestill Corbett
1 769 Sarah Goulding
1769 Thorn. Nightingale
1 769 Mary Mawney
1770 Phebe Aborn
1 770 Gordon Ledyard
1770 Deborah Richmond
1770 Molly Manning
1 770 Benjamin Mason
1770 Thomas Peck
1 770 Elizabeth Kingsley
1770 MaryMunro
1770 Mary Brown
1770 Nath'l Gladding
1771 Jerusha Trowbridge
1771 Isaac Cushing
1 77 1 Nehemiah Ward
1771 Nancy Bennett
1771 Nathaniel Sessions
1771 Elisabeth Sabin
1771 Robert Stonehouse
1 771 Hannah Spaulding
1772 Henry Paget
1772 Eunice Hills
1772 Abigail Angel
1 772 Cyprian Sterry
1772 Alice Page
Town
Woodstock, CT
Warwick, RI
Charleston, SC
Warwick, RI
Providence, RI
Warren, RI
Swansea, RI
Cranston, RI
Providence, RI
Cranston, RI
Attleboro, MA
Providence, RI
Bellingham, RI
Midway, GA
Charleston, SC
Providence, RI
Warwick, RI
Groton, CT
Little Compton, RI
Providence, RI
E. Providence, RI
Swansea, RI
Swansea, RI
New London, CT
Providence, RI
Providence, RI
Abington, CT
Providence, RI
Cranston, RI
Westport, CT
Pom fret, CT
Providence, RI
Providence, RI
So. Killingly, CT
Providence, RI
E. Providence, RI
Providence, RI
Providence, RI
Providence, RI
Cemetery
Arnold
Old Jewish
Arnold
No. Burial Ground
Kickemuit
Old Baptist
Oakland
No. Burial Ground
Oakland
Peck
No. Burial Ground
Oak Hill
No. Burial Ground
Arnold
Commons
Swan Point
Newman
Old Baptist
Old Baptist
No. Burial Ground
Swan Point
No. Burial Ground
Oakland
No. Burial Ground
St. John's
St. John's
Newman
No. Burial Ground
No. Burial Ground
No. Burial Ground
Vincent F. Luti
105
1772
Thomas Westcot
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1773
Mary Hoppen
Cumberland, RI
Dexter
1773
Stephen Rawson
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1773
Ebenezer Fuller
Rehoboth, MA
Palmer River
1773
Joanna Child
Warren, RI
Kickemuit
1773
Rebecca Demount
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1773
Abigail Crawford
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1773
Sarah Comstock
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1773
Elisabeth Westcot
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1773
Barbara Frothingham
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1774
Mary Taylor
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1774
Benjamin Bacon
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1774
Samuel Watson
W. Thompson, CT
-
1774
George Allen
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1774
Joseph Carpenter
Charleston, SC
St. John's
1775
Sarah Creighton
Charleston, SC
St. Philip's
1775
Jamima Carpenter
Cumberland, RI
Dexter
1775
Nathaniel Metcalf
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1775
James Brown
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1775
Mary Millard
Rehoboth, MA
Burial Place Hill
1775
John Brown
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1775
Aaron Walker
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1775
Mary Bacon
E. Woodstock, CT
—
1776
Nathaniel Chace
Providence, RI
St. John's
1776
Elisabeth Thurston
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1776
Mary Angel
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1776
Sarah Semple
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1776
Ephraim Hunt
Rehoboth, MA
Village
1776
Sarah Waterman
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1776
Timothy Balch
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1776
Lydia Jackson
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1777
Sarah Rhodes
Warwick, RI
Arnold
1777
Joseph Olney
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1777
Amey Ellis
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1777
Zeriah Bucklin
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1778
Sarah Emerson
Cumberland, RI
Abbott Run
1778
Thomas C. Wayne
Charleston SC
—
1778
Martha Brown
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1778
Chad Brown
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1779
Sarah Mathewson
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1779
Martha Jacobs
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1779
Sarah Howland
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1779
Samuel Rhodes
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1779
Anne Greene
Warwick, RI
Cem. #66
1779
Ebenezer Larned
Putnam, CT
—
1780
John Dexter
Lincoln, RI
Spring
1780
Elisabeth Angel
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1780
William Checkley
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1780
Esther Wayne
Charleston, SC
St. Philips
1780
Thomas Wayne
Charleston, SC
St. Philips
106
Gabriel Allen
1780
Mary Smith
Providence, Rl
Swan Point
1780
Lucillah Barton
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1781
Joshua Bicknall
Barrington, RI
Prince Hill
1781
James Hawkins
Cranston, Rl
#36
1781
Mary Parker
Providence, RI
St. John's
1781
Rosabella Chace
Providence, RI
St. John's
1781
Keziah Angel
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1781
Patience Thurber
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1781
William Cranston
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1781
Mary Daggett
Edgartown, MA
Tower Hill
1782
Sylvanus Braman
Norton, MA*
—
1782
Anne Hopkins
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1782
Samuel Wiswall
Edgartown, MA
—
1782
David Chesebrough
Stonington, CT
Wequetewock
1782
Polly Mathewson
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1782
Betsey Jones
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1782
Coomer Haile
Providence, RI
St. John's
1782
Sylvanus Martin
Rehoboth, MA
Burial Place Hill
1782
Henry Tillinghast
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1783
David Razey
Cumberland, RI
Abott Run**
1783
Amy Russell
Providence, RI
St. John's
1783
Freelove Winsor
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1783
Benjamin Cady
Putnam, CT
-
1783
Israel Stillwell
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1783
Samuel Angel
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1783
Nancy Brown
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1784
Uranah Thompson
Lincoln, RI
Great Rd.
1784
Ruth Allin
Barrington, RI
Bay Spring
1784
David Kennedy
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1784
Sarah Brayton
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1784
Nathan Miller
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1784
Mary Smith
Georgetown, SC
-
1784
Benjamin Bowen
Providence, RI
St. John's
1785
John Carr
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1785
Gardner Gibbs
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1785
Polly James
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1785
Stephen Jenks
Pawtucket, RI
Mineral Spring
1785
George Gray
Providence, RI
St. John's
1785
Gilbert Deblois
Providence, RI
St. John's
1785
Hannah Green
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1785
Ezra Ide
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1785
Mary Handy
Newport, RI
Common Burying Gr.
1785
Mary Smith
Georgetown, SC
Prince George
1785
Jonathan Ellis
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1785
Joanna Brown
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1785
Sylvanus Gladding
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1785
Asa Lyon
E. Woodstock, CT
-
1786
Abigail Winsor
Gloucester, RI
#33
1786
Jane Postell
Charleston, SC
St. Philip's
1786
Nathaniel Gladding
Providence, RI
Swan Point
Vincent F. Luti
107
1786
John Cross
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1787
Ann Handy
Providence, RI
St. John's
1787
Allen infant
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1787
Alexander Sessions
Brimfield, MA
—
1787
Rhoda Brown
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1787
John Carpenter
Providence, RI
Swan Pt.
1787
Wm/Mary Sutton
Charleston, SC
—
1787
John Angell
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1787
Polly Cross
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1787
Mary Gibson
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1787
Mrs. Russell Hoskins
Providence, RI
St. John's
1787
Ann Handy
Providence, RI
St. John's
1788
John Bullock
E. Providence, RI
Little Neck
1788
Mary Salsbury
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1788
Stephen Westcot
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1788
Sally Bowen
Providence, RI
St. John's
1789
William Corliss
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1789
Samuel Smith
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1789
Mary Taylor
Newport, RI
Central Burial Ground
1789
Richard Savage
Charleston, SC
Congregational
1789
Charlotte Allen
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1789
Christopher Smith
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1789
Freelove Bozworth
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1789
Anna Thurber
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1789
Robert Carr
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1789
John Savage
Charleston, SC
Congregational
1789
Metcalf Bowler
Providence, RI
St. John's
1790
Harriet Allen
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1790
Mary Remington
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1790
Joseph Bucklin
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1790
Sanf ord Mason
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1790
George Corliss
Cranston, RI
Bluff St.
1790
Martha Westcot
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1790
Sally Richmond
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1790
John Bucklin
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1790
Phoebe Hoar
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1791
Josiah Love
N. Attleboro, MA
Woodcock
1791
Polly Allen
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1791
Elisabeth Allen
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1791
Moses Brown
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1791
Thomas Quarterman
Midway, GA
-
1791
Anne Andrews
Cranston, RI
#34
1791
Hannah K. Smith
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1791
Betsey Gladding
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1791
James Warner
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1791
Sarah Gibbs
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1791
William Allen
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1791
Ann Graves
Providence, RI
St. John's
1791
Jerusha Trowbridge
Abington, CT
-
1792
Sally Allen
Providence, RI
Swan Point
108
Gabriel Allen
1792
James Hull Allen
Westport, CT
—
1792
Mary Smith
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1792
Israel Stillwell
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1792
Harriet Arnold
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1792
Gregory Dexter
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1792
Charles Freeman
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1792
Priscilla Jenckes
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1792
James Holroyd
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1792
Israel Sheldon
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1792
Seth Paine
Brooklyn, CT
-
1793
Molly Humphrey
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1793
Sarah Bently
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1793
Susannah Pell
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1793
Edward Dexter
Providence, RI
St. John's
1793
Benson Mitchell
Providence, RI
St. John's
1793
Andrew Thornton
Cranston, RI
#34
1793
Lydia Tillinghast
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1793
Deborah Paget
Providence, RI
St. John's
1793
Elisabeth Godfrey
Providence, RI
St. John's
1793
Lydia Dexter
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1793
Sally Low
Warwick, RI
Carder
1793
Marcy Crowell
W. Yarmouth, MA
-
1793
Abijah Learned
Putnam, CT
-
1794
Nathan Adams
Medfield, MA
**
1794
Maria Allen
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1794
James Sayles
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1794
Thankful Penniman
Medfield, MA
**
1794
John W. Low
Warwick, RI
#28
1795
Esther Bowen
Providence, RI
St. John's
1795
Daniel Trowbridge
Abington, CT
—
1795
Reuben Winslow
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1795
Mary Smith
Charleston, SC
Congregational
1795
Sally Arnold
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1795
Mary Vanderlight
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1795
Sabrina Hunt
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1795
Parssis Bacon
Cranston, RI
Oakland
1795
Josiah Bowen
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1795
Phillip Carr
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1795
Daniel Trowbridge
Abington, CT
-
1796
Harriet Allen
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1796
Joshua Winsor
Gloucester, RI
#33
1796
Lydia Carr
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1796
Huldah Arnold
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1797
David Franklin
Huger (?), SC
—
1797
Mary Aborn
Warwick, RI
Arnold
1797
Martha Townsend
Newport, RI
Common Burying Gr.
1797
John Gibbs
Providence, RI
Swan Point
1797
Pardon Bowen
Warren, RI
No. Burial Ground
1797
James Arnold
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1797
Joseph Arnold
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
Vincent F. Luti
109
1797
Lois Bacon
Sturbridge, MA
—
1798
Sally Gladding
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1799
Sarah Hunt
E. Providence, RI
Newman
1799
Thomas Rawson
Mendon, RI
Old Burial Ground
1800
Jemima Field
Providence, RI
St. John's
1801
Col. Samuel Aborn
Warwick, RI
Arnold
1801
Whitmore
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1801
Mary Everett
Norwood (?), MA
—
1803
Sarah Low
Warwick, RI
BPOE
1803
Benjamin Gladding
Providence, RI
No. Burial Ground
1804
Abigail Wakeman
Westport, CT
-
1806
John Hunt
E. Providence, RI
Newman
The lettering is definitely Levi Maxcey, and the effigy?
**Maxcey?
110
Writing One's Own Epitaph
Fig. 1. Marker covering ashes of Carl Sandburg, Galesburg, Illinois,
with epitaph "... for it could be a place to come and remember."
Ill
DO-IT-YOURSELF IMMORTALITY:
WRITING ONE'S OWN EPITAPH
Karl S. Guthke
Many reasons make it necessary for the wills of deceased persons to be literally
observed, tho' some instances of this kind do little honour to the deceased.
Samuel Richardson, Familiar Letters, no. 155.
Let no man write his epitaph.
Gravemarker of Will Kemna,
Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary
I
"It is always Judas who writes the biography."1 There must be some
truth in Oscar Wilde's quip, or else autobiography would hardly exist.
Much the same may be said about the epitaph, that "seed of biography,"
as the Atlantic Monthly called it long ago.2 Old-fashioned biographies,
whether of writers or of statesmen, tend to culminate not in the descrip-
tion of the death scene, as modern life-writing seems to prefer, but in the
citation of the epitaph featured on the subject's grave, suggesting that it
is the last word on the life described.3 No wonder, therefore, that since
the dawn of time, or shortly thereafter, thoughtful examplars of our spe-
cies have written their own epitaph and done their utmost to get it chis-
elled on their gravemarker. There is, to be sure, an inherent contradiction
in this effort to secure the precise nature of one's own survival after death.
For, on the one hand, it is a time-honored conviction that a person's true
self is revealed only at the very end of life, when, as we like to think, its
pattern has been completed and the self has fully come into its own;4
hence any self-devised epitaph would almost by definition be prema-
ture and therefore inaccurate. Yet, on the other hand, this conviction has
been accompanied throughout by that ubiquitous, peculiarly and touch-
ingly human desire for survival after death in the form of remembrance,
recognition, fame, or "immortality." One of the earlier voices testifying
to this urge is Cicero's, who, in his Tusculan Disputations, relates it to burial
monuments and epitaphs (1.14.31 - 1.15.35). Benedick in Shakespeare's
Much Ado about Nothing took the cue: "If a man do not erect in this age
his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the
112 Writing One's Own Epitaph
bell rings and the widow weeps" (V: 2, 79-82). Thomas Gray's "Elegy
Written in a Country Church- Yard" is a prime exhibit, and in the Twen-
tieth Century, Paul Tillich has reminded us that the fear of death is at
bottom the fear of being "eternally forgotten."5
Be this as it may, the contradiction between a widely shared convic-
tion and an equally common desire has not stopped all future-conscious
individuals from formulating their epitaphs well before their last words.
Some have given this project all the serious attention it deserves. After
all, as Jonathan Swift warned, "it is dangerous writing [epitaphs] on
marble, where one cannot make errata, or mend in a second Edition,"6
except perhaps after Resurrection, when, of course, it would hardly matter
much longer. This finality has, however, its brighter side, which in turn
reinforces the endeavor to articulate one's epitaphic legacy with abso-
lute accuracy, completeness, and perfection of style. That is the histori-
cal fact, which humanity must have been aware of since a very early
date, that we are, more often than not perhaps, remembered by our epi-
taphs. The genre of anthologies of epitaphs, flourishing ever since An-
tiquity, is ample proof of this; everybody knows some epitaphs of the
great and good and famous, be it Thomas Jefferson or John Keats,
Jonathan Swift or John Gay, Robert Louis Stevenson or William Butler
Yeats - all of whom, incidentally, composed their epitaphs themselves.
And with how many general readers would the neo-Latin poet Giovanni
Pontano ring a bell if it were not for Dr. Samuel Johnson's quoting his
self-chosen epitaph ("I intreat thee to know thyself") in The Rambler.7
Articulating, in the more fortunate cases, the sum total of a life's charm
and wisdom, epitaphs tend to become quotable quotes, "winged words":
it is not uncommon for collections of familiar quotations - reference
works, after all - to contain a section on epitaphs.8
When in 1631 John Weever published his magisterial collection of
British epitaphs, Ancient Funerall Monuments, in an effort to preserve es-
sential documents of national history, he included in his lengthy intro-
duction a discussion of "the reasons wherefore so many have made their
owne Monuments in their life-time" - monuments being inscribed
gravemarkers of one sort or another.9 Oddly enough, the reasons Weever
cites do not include the fear of being buried without an epitaph - which
for some might be the ultimate curse (as it was assumed, to cite just one
example, after the restoration of the monarchy, in a Royalist ditty wish-
ing Oliver Cromwell "this Epitaph; that he has none").10 For others, to be
Karl S. Guthke 113
sure, the missing grave inscription might be the ultimate blessing: Irish
Revolutionary Robert Emmet's remark in his speech on his conviction
for treason in September, 1803, is by now proverbial:
Let there be no inscription upon my tomb. Let no man write my epitaph. No
man can write my epitaph. I am here to die. I am not allowed to vindicate my
character; and when I am prevented from vindicating myself, let no man
dare to calumniate me. Let my character and motives repose in obscurity
and peace, till other times and other men can do them justice.11
Though Weever, then, ignored the possibility of the absence of an
epitaph (which in our days seems to be growing in popularity with the
increasing frequency of ashes being scattered to the winds, on the sea or
flower beds), he nonetheless had the motivation for "Let no man write
my epitaph" in mind when he stated what he believed had since time
immemorial been the primary reason for devising one's own grave in-
scription: fear of misrepresentation by posterity. "Persons of especiall
ranke and qualitie," he says, have set up their own tombs and monu-
ments "because thereby they thought to preserve their memories from
oblivion" (p. 18). Absalom is his earliest "case," but Absalom is only an
example, as "every man like Absolon desires a perpetuity after death" (p.
18). Weever cites Tertullian as his authority for this view and refers to
the mausoleum-building of Roman emperors as well as to King Henry
VII, who built "that glorious faire Chappell at Westminster, for an house
of buriall, for himself, his children, and such onely of the bloud-royall,
as should descend from his loynes" (p. 20). Unfortunately, however, his-
tory teaches, Weever reports, that trusted heirs and executors will "interre
both the honour and memory of the defunct, together with his corps:
perfidiously forgetting their fidelity to the deceased" (p. 19). In support
of this worldly wisdom, he cites no spiritual authority but, among oth-
ers, the more down-to-earth testimony of an "old inscription depicted
upon a wall within S. Edmunds Church in Lumbard-street, London":
Man, the behovyth oft to haue yis in mind,
Yat thow geueth wyth yin hond, yat sail thow fynd,
For widowes be sloful, and chyldren beth vnkynd,
Executors beth couetos, and kep al yat yey fynd.
If eny body esk wher the deddys goodys becam,
Yey ansquer
So God me help and halidam, he died a poor man.
Yink
On yis (p. 19)
114 Writing One's Own Epitaph
This is followed by examples of sepulchres erected, according to their
inscriptions, during the life-time of the persons interred in them, some-
times with the stipulation, chiselled in stone, that their wives or heirs
should not share the last resting place with them: the self-chosen epi-
taph will have no rivals.
Weever does not quote any of the self-chosen epitaphs of the high
and mighty who successfully warded off post mortem misrepresentation.
No doubt he thought that the need for such precaution was self-evident
and that the fashioners of their own (and reputable) immortality were
not necessarily paranoid. For deprecation was not unheard of at the time
on gravemarkers written by survivors, and the practice was to continue
for centuries, as any representative anthology of epitaphs will demon-
strate all too embarrassingly. Some of these collections will gather such
nasty if probably truth-loving parting shots in separate chapters, where
they function like an avalanche burying, if that is the word, all belief in
the justice of history. (One example is Ernest R. Suffling's Epitaphia [Lon-
don: L. Upcott Gill, 1909], with its chapter on "Denunciation and Invec-
tive"). In other anthologies, epitaphic deprecations of the dead are spread
over the entire volume, where they form islands of possible truth in a sea
of sepulchral eulogy, or else sand banks of egregious viciousness in set-
tling life-long accounts. Only rarely are such epitaphs tempered with
what may pass for humor. Here is one example of posthumous denun-
ciation that did not make it onto a gravestone but illustrates the motiva-
tion for do-it-yourself epitaph-writing all the more persuasively. It comes
from Nicholas Rowe's "Account" of the life of Shakespeare, prefixed to
his 1709 edition of Shakespeare's Works and then reprinted by several
Eighteenth-Century editors of Shakespeare. Among the gentlemen in his
Warwickshire neighborhood whose friendship Shakespeare enjoyed,
Rowe tells us, there was a certain Mr. Combe, "an old Gentleman noted
thereabouts for his Wealth and Usury," with whom he "had a particular
Intimacy":
It happen'd, that in a pleasant Conversation amongst their common Friends,
Mr. Combe told Shakespcar in a laughing manner, that he fancy'd, he intended
to write his Epitaph, if he happen'd to out-live him; and since he could not
know what might be said of him when he was dead, he desir 'd it might be
done immediately: Upon which Shakes-pear gave him these four Verses.
Ten in the Hundred lies here ingrav'd,
'77s a Hundred to Ten, his Soul is not sav'd:
If any Man ask, Wlio lies in this Tomb?
Oh! ho! quoth the Devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe.
Karl S. Guthke 115
But the Sharpness of the Satyr is said to have stung the Man so severely, that
he never forgave it.12
It is not known whether the hapless Mr. Combe saw to it that his
eventual funeral monument proclaimed that his methods of acquiring
his wealth were god-fearing and his soul worthy of heaven. But among
the many who did ensure their posthumous reputation in this lapidary
manner there are some rare birds indeed. Some of the more telling cases
have been saved for posterity by an anonymous historian of human self-
perpetuation and self-delusion, in an article entitled "Preparing for the
End/' published in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature in 1872. Not
one of these insurers of their posthumous reputation takes to heart the
quizzical admonition of an epitaph one finds in this or that anthology:
"Prepare to be forgotten." On the contrary, they take the normal desire
for memorable closure to an extreme that may strike some as flirting
with absurdity:
Sure of his reward was William Huntington, the once notorious "inspired
coal-heaver": when he felt the end drawing near, Huntington took his pen in
hand and wrote: "Here lies the coal-heaver, who departed this life in the
year of his age; beloved of his God, but abhorred by men. The Omniscient
Judge, at the Great Assize, shall ratify and confirm this, to the confusion of
many thousands; for England and its metropolis shall know that there hath
been a prophet among them. - W.H., S.S." and these vain-glorious words
were duly placed above the resting-place of the Sinner Saved at Lewes.
Job Orton, son of the inventor of Stilton cheese, an innkeeper at
Kidderminster, put up a tombstone in the churchyard there, inscribed:
Job Orton, a man from Leicestershire,
When he dies, he will be buried here.13
Apparently Mr. Orton took it for granted that the world would always
know that his surname is inextricably linked to one of the few delights of
British cuisine. And then there was:
a worm-doctor named Gardner [who] built himself a tomb in the churchyard
of St Leonard's, Shoreditch, on which passers-by could read "Dr J. Gardner's
last and best bedroom." Those who saw it naturally concluded that the doctor
was taking his last long sleep there, and he soon found patients grow scarce
in Norton-Folgate. This was paying too dearly for his joke, so he set matters
right by amending the inscription by the addition of the word "intended."
Pat Power of Kilkenny, we suppose, had no customers to lose, when, confident
in his prophetic instinct, he chose his grave in the chapel-yard, and set up a
116 Writing One's Own Epitaph
headstone, twelve months before date, upon which appeared: "Erected in
Memory of Patrick Power, of Maudlin Street, Kilkenny, who died in 1869,
aged 73 years. May his soul rest in peace. Amen!" Pat paid regular visits to
the place to say his prayers over his own grave; but whether his presentiment
was fulfilled, or whether he lives to laugh at it, is more than we know. The
poor Irishman's simplicity excused his folly; but there was no question of
simplicity in the egregious absurdity perpetrated by one who was a statesman,
if filling offices of state entitles a man to be so called. This vain specimen of
humanity had his monument put up in the church of St Helen's, Bishopsgate,
four years before his death and sculptured thereon a deed, signed and sealed,
running thus: "To all Christian people, to whom this present writing shall
come, know ye, that I, Julius Dalmare, alias Julius Caesar, Knight, Doctor of
Laws, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, and one of the Masters of
Requests to Queen Elizabeth; Privy Councillor to King James, Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and Master of the Rolls, have confirmed or granted by this
my personal writing, that I will, with the Divine assistance, willingly pay my
debt to nature, whenever it shall please God. In witness whereof I have set
my hand and seal. Dated the 27th of February 1635." (p. 231)
Not all such best-laid plans do succeed, unfortunately, or fortunately:
Farrazine, the shrewd button-maker of Ghent, who, in 1697, took the
quartering and provisioning of Marlborough's army off the hands of the
troubled authorities of the city, to their immense relief, and the making of his
own fortune, had a soul above buttons, his ambition taking the unusual shape
of a desire for posthumous rather than present honour. He erected a
magnificent monumental tomb for himself in the church of the Capuchin
Friars, and when it was finished, Farrazine resolved to rehearse his obsequies,
so that there might be no mistakes or shortcomings when they were celebrated
in sad earnest. For a handsome consideration, the holy brotherhood consented
to act their share in the mock ceremonial. The button-maker provided a
sumptuously adorned coffin, for which the friars found bearers in their
novices, while they themselves marched in solemn procession before it. It
was a proud day for Farrazine when he took part in his own funeral rites,
amidst a profusion
Of velvet, gilding, brass; and no great dearth
Of aught save tears.
Tears were necessarily lacking: the hero of the hour, although officiating as
chief-mourner, was too elated to shed them, as he walked triumphantly to
the tomb and saw his coffin deposited in the place it was intended to occupy
when a more serious performance came off. Alas for the hopes of vanity!
Farrazine had not measured the rapacity of his Capuchin friends aright; and
although he did not forget them in his will, the legacy he bequeathed fell so
mu ch below their expectations, that, in angry disgust, the brethren demolished
the monument, and bundled coffin and all out of their church; refusing even
to perform a single mass for the poor fellow's soul, whose body, after all his
pains, found a grave in the yard of an obscure chapel, (p. 231)
Whether contaminated with involuntary comedy or not, all such sto-
ries about efforts to ensure meaningful closure point to a distinguishing
KarlS.Guthke 117
and not ignoble characteristic of our species: the desire for a personal
final assessment and for the preservation of that assessment "forever."
This is indeed not only a significant facet of the culture of homo sapiens
but also a feature of popular culture - then and now. Writing epitaphs
for oneself "before need/' as a more or less serious literary exercise, must
have been well established by the Middle Ages, at the latest. Francois
Villon, famously, wrote a poem purporting to be his "Epitaphe": "Ci git
et dort en ce solier / Qu' Amour occit de son raillon / Un pauvre petit
ecolier / Qui fut nomme Francois Villon [...]". (Here in this place lies and
sleeps one whom love killed with its arrow, a poor little scholar named
Francois Villon). Not surprisingly, Humanists took up the convention of
preparing one's own grave inscription, sometimes drawing on classical
antecedents.14 Nor was it uncommon in orthodox (or at least god-fear-
ing) Christian circles to seal one's life with a self-chosen (sometimes self-
important) epitaph (see Note 55), though much care was normally taken
to expire with a pious last word as well.
In Restoration England, on the other hand, writing one's own epi-
taph became a parlor game, a frivolous, if witty, sport.Yet considering
how undignified and unmemorable a closure real life, or rather real death,
would so often impose, even on the deserving, there may have been some
seriousness behind the facade of levity. "In some cases, [...] the compo-
sition of personal epitaphs was considered as necessary a task as writing
a will"15 in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The fashion of
writing "Premature Epitaphs"16 for oneself continues to this day. Discre-
tion is required about spirited conversations in the faculty clubs of vari-
ous respectable universities, but one may surely mention the universally
known cases of Dorothy Parker ("Excuse my dust") or Franklin Pierce
Adams ("Pardon me for not rising"). These have the ring of the party-
game about them, and a party-game epitaph writing surely was, in some
circles, in the Twentieth Century:
For a long time Hollywood has been the centre of America's glittering society
life and hostesses there have spared no expense to entertain their guests.
During the 1930s one bright, twittering society dame thought up the idea
of amusing her guests by commissioning a witty author to compose humorous
epitaphs for them. The hostess, who had been an actress herself and much
married, set the ball rolling by having her epitaph written. As it was read out
by the author at one of her famous parties, however, the hostess's face was
seen to change colour for he had written:
At last she sleeps alone!17
118 Writing One's Own Epitaph
A potentially significant feature of present-day culture, popular or
otherwise, is the habit, widespread at least in Anglo-Saxon countries, of
asking the old and the young and those in between not only about their
prospective last words but also about their preferred epitaph. Sometimes
a press interview does not seem to be complete without an answer to
that question.18 More seriously, American school-children are nowadays
required in some schools to write their own epitaphs (also wills and even
suicide notes). This caused a considerable stir on the Internet in 1999/
2000 when it was related to the terrorist shooting spree in a high school
in Columbine, Colorado.19 But the worthwhile educational purpose of
the exercise, at least of writing one's own grave-inscription, cannot be
denied:20 it amounts to a self-assessment of one's individuality, which
must be salutary and constructive at any age. How better to become aware
of one's unalienable selfhood than by looking at oneself from the ulti-
mate perspective. Indeed, even other people's gravemarkers may have
the educational function of opening one's eyes to one's own life pattern
that one would so dearly like to see completed. "There are epitaphs we
would choose for those we know," says William Henry Beable about his
ramblings among the graves, and then there are "epitaphs we would
perhaps like to have inscribed on our own tombstones."21 This brings up
the delicate question of whether stealing someone else's epitaph is theft
- or a sort oifiirtum honestum, like lifting a passage out of the Bible (which
still leaves us with the quandary of whether the theft of a Gideons' Bible
from a hotel room is lawful or not). Alexander Pope, master extraordinaire
of the premature epitaph, stumbled upon this problem in a letter to Henry
Cromwell: "I fear I must be forc'd, like many learned Authors, to write
my own Epitaph, if I wou'd be remember 'd at all; Mons. de la Fontaine's
wou'd fitt me to a hair, but 'tis a kind of Sacriledge [. . .] to steal Epitaphs?"22
II
Be this as it may, what has been said about the role of epitaph-writing
in popular culture suggests that a more important distinction than that
between first-hand and second-hand epitaphs (original and "stolen")
should be made. That is the distinction of status: epitaphs written upon
oneself in the spirit of a party-game or conversational culture cannot be
mentioned quite in the same breath as those self-designed epitaphs that
actually do appear on gravestones (where, of course, the epitaphic "I" is
not necessarily that of the deceased himself). More often than not, to be
sure, the author of his own epitaph may in fact not have control over the
Karl S. Guthke 119
wording that appears on his gravestone, especially if his chosen text
should be somewhat unconventional, or (God forbid) humorous, or even
offensive to others (who, in the worst-case scenario, might prefer a form
of deprecatory commemoration). Epitaphic legacies and even deathbed
requests are known to have been ignored. Conversely, a self-chosen epi-
taph may be revoked, reduced from public to private, or from authentic
to literary status (Matthew Prior specifically ruled out one of his epi-
taphs on himself as the text for his actual sepulchral marker.)23 It was Dr.
Johnson who perceived the larger problem of private vs. public com-
memoration involved here. In his essay on John Gay's self-chosen epi-
taph that was actually inscribed on his sepulchral memorial in
Westminster Abbey, Johnson said:
Matters of very small consequence in themselves are often made important
by the circumstances that attend them. Little follies and petty weaknesses, of
no moment in common life, may, when they enter into the characters of men
in high stations, obstruct the happiness of a great part of mankind. A barbarous
inscription or disproportioned busto deserves no notice on account of the
statuary who carved it or the writer who composed it; they were only private
follies in the study or the shop; but erected in a temple, or engraved on a
column, they are considered as public works, and censured as a disgrace to a
nation. For this reason I have been often offended with the trifling distich
upon Mr Gay's monument in Westminster Abbey:
Life is a jest, and all things show it;
I thought so once, but now I know it.
[...]. If I might be indulged in making conjectures on a question of such weight,
I should conceive it to have been a drunken sally, which was perhaps, after
midnight, applauded as a lively epigram, and might have preserved its
reputation had it, instead of being engraved on a monument at Westminster,
been scribbled in its proper place, the window of a brothel.
There are very different species of wit appropriated to particular persons
and places; the smartness of a shoeboy would not be extremely agreeable in
a chancellor, and a tavern joke sounds but ill in a church, from which it ought
to be banished, if for no other reason, at least for that which forbids a drunken
man to be introduced into sober company. [...]
A childish levity has of late infected our conversation and behaviour, but
let it not make its way into our churches. Irreligion has corrupted the present
age, but let us not inscribe it on marble, to be the ruin or scorn of another
generation. Let us have some regard to our reputation amongst foreigners,
who do not hold either fools or atheists in high veneration, and will imagine
that they can justify themselves in terming us such from our own monuments.
Let us therefore review our public edifices, and, where inscriptions like this
appear, spare our posterity the trouble of erasing them.24
120 Writing One's Own Epitaph
Literary auto-epitaphs or authentic ones, private or public
memorialization - the matter comes up in our own days whenever a
recently deceased prominent person is said to have expressed a wish for
a particular epitaph. In The New York Times of 15 May 2001, for example,
Robin Pogrebin reported the passing of Jason Miller, the playwright and
actor, in a lengthy article which did not spare the reader this tidbit:
The Associated Press reported that Mr. Miller described his own epitaph last
year in an interview with Electric City, a free entertainment weekly, for the
Pennsylvania Film Festival: "On my tombstone I'll put, 'It's all [only?] a paper
moon.' All the philosophies and all the -isms and all the religions are contained
in that."25
Interesting - but was the text (a widely known popular American song)
eventually put on his gravestone, if any? Did it remain private and liter-
ary, or did it become public and authentic, a part of cultural life and the
cultural heritage? In some cases one does know. Let us look at the nega-
tive answers first. For they too, have their light to throw on this curious
facet of cultural history - the do-it-yourself epitaph designed to guaran-
tee custom-made immortality.
Not on the gravestone were most of those self-chosen memorial texts
(usually witty) that certain anthologies of epitaphs will feature, some-
times in a special section.26 It would be humorless to check whether Em-
peror Joseph II really got his supposed wish for an epitaph realized: "Ich
wunschte, man schriebe auf mein Grab: 'Hier ruht ein Fiirst, dessen
Absichten rein waren, der aber das Ungliick hatte, alle seine Entwurfe
scheitern zu sehen'" (I would like to have written on my gravestone:
"Here rests a prince whose intentions were pure, though he had the mis-
fortune to see all his plans come to nothing") or whether Baudelaire was
immortalized in stone with his couplet "Ci-git qui, pour avoir par trop
aime les gaupes, / Descendit jeune encore au royaume des taupes" (Here
lies one who for having been too much in love with streetwalkers, de-
scended into the realm of moles at a young age). Nor does Lloyd George
sleep under his suggested
Count not my broken pledges as a crime,
I MEANT them, HOW, I meant them at the time.
(There is, incidentally, no inscription at all on the huge boulder that serves
as his tombstone on the bank of River Dwyfor in the village of
Llanystumdwy). And, of course, neither did George Gershwin or Michael
Arlen or Jacob Epstein get their jocose epitaphs realized:
KarlS.Guthke 121
Here lies the body of
George Gershwin
American Composer.
Composer?
American?
Here lies
Michael Arlen
As usual.
*****
From life's grim nightmare he is now released
Who saw in every face the lurking beast.
A loss to All', say friends both proud and loyal,
A loss', say others, 'to the Cafe Royal'. (Epstein)
Still, these humorous self-epitaphists who failed to perpetuate them-
selves - Dorothy Parker, buried in the Memorial Garden at the NAACP
national headquarters in Baltimore, is another one, of course, as is Gloria
Swanson ("She paid the bills") - are not all that unfortunate: their unre-
alized epitaphs "live" in the epitaph books of popular culture. Famously,
the most enduring lines of Eighteenth-Century dramatist and satirist
Alexis Piron are "Ci-git Piron qui ne fuit rien, / Pas meme academicien"
(Here lies Piron, who was nothing, not even an academician): they made
it into the Oxford Book of Death, but they did not adorn his grave.27 This
failure is shared by many renowned authors who wrote (and rewrote)
well-known, thoughtful, and often poetic or witty last words for their
gravestones: Ariosto, Thomas More, John Donne, Andreas Gryphius,
Robert Herrick (whose grave is unknown, anyway), Alexander Pope,
Walter Savage Landor, H. L. Mencken,28 etc., etc., and, in a sense, even
Thomas Gray (Gray was buried in the family vault in 1771 and com-
memorated by an unobtrusive tablet on the exterior wall of Hastings
Chapel in the Stoke Poges churchyard; a hundred yards outside the
churchyard, a monument, erected in 1799, features verses from the "El-
egy," but not from its concluding "Epitaph"29).
Some cases of "opportunity spumed or missed" by posterity are more
poignant than others. Joshua Scodel, in his standard work on the literary
epitaph (see Note 4), discusses the epitaph that Robert Grosseteste
(Groshead), the renowned scholar and bishop (t 1253), "commanded [...]
to be engraven on his Tombe," according to William Camden's Remaines
Concerning Britaine (1605). It was "Quis sim nosse cupis? Caro putrida, nil
nisi, vermis; / Quisquis es, hoc de me sit tibi scire satis" (You want to know
122 Writing One's Own Epitaph
who I am? Nothing but rotten flesh for worms; whoever you are, this is all
you need to know about me) - the very model of Christian self-effacement
(p. 56). All the more shocking the sorry truth which Scodel does not need
to reveal, since his is a purely literary study: Camden confides that the
searcher for anonymity was actually buried (in the south-east transept of
Lincoln Cathedral) under a gravemarker recording his full name (p. 43).
But even if one succeeds in reverting to self-chosen epitaphic nameless-
ness in death, the epitaph may flaunt the anonymity so intriguingly or
teasingly that, sooner or later, the identity will be revealed, even in an-
thologies. Beable (see Note 21) discloses that the anonymus buried in 1713
in Shottesbrooke, Berkshire, under the words "Hie Jacet Peccatorum Maxi-
mus," as he had stipulated (Here lies the greatest of sinners), was "a Mr.
Francis Cherry" (p. 229); and he also tells us that the famous self-chosen
"Miserrimus" in the Cloister of Worcester Cathedral, immortalized by
Wordsworth's poem, was (if only allegedly) "a Rev. Thomas Morris," a
staunch Jacobite (p. 228). Queen Elizabeth I fared little better. Of course,
she could not very well have hoped for anonymity, nor would she have
seriously wanted it. Still, in 1559, more than forty years before her death,
she concluded her first speech to Parliament with a request for an even-
tual epitaph: "And in the end, this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble
stone shall declare that a Queen, having reigned such a time, lived and
died a virgin." She was in fact commemorated as a mother, on her £765
monument in Westminster Abbey, ordered by James I: the Latin inscrip-
tion calls her "the mother of this her country, the nurse of religion and
learning; for perfect skill of very many languages, for glorious endow-
ments, as well of mind as of body, a prince incomparable."30
The most celebrated American case is the nearly proverbial one of
Benjamin Franklin. Sixty-two years before need, the printer in him wrote
his famous and frequently imitated epitaph by which he is universally
remembered:
The body of
B. Franklin, Printer
(Like the Cover of an Old Book
Its Contents Torn Out
And Stripd of its Lettering and Gilding)
Lies Here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be Lost;
For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More
In a New and More Elegant Edition
Revised and Corrected
By the Author.
Karl S. Guthke 123
But when he died in 1790 at the age of eighty-four, he was buried in
Philadelphia's Christ Church Burial Ground, his tomb bearing the unas-
suming wording he provided for in his will: "Benjamin and Deborah
Franklin: 1790."31
However, the non-plus-ultra in reductive brevity must be Bertolt
Brecht's "Bertolt Brecht" on the rough boulder marking his burial place
in Berlin's Dorotheen-Friedhof, where he had wanted to be interred.
Whether he had wanted the simple, even dateless, inscription, is another
question entirely. In a poem of ca. 1926, "Verwisch die Spuren," he opted
for total anonymity, rejecting a tomb that "verrat, wo du liegst / Mit einer
deutlichen Schrift" (reveals where you lie, in clear lettering). On the other
hand, his proposed epitaph, written shortly before his death in 1955,
runs in its final, much-revised wording:
Ich benotige keinen Grabstein, aber
Wemi ihr einen fur mich benotigt
Wiinscbte ich, es stunde darauf:
Er hat Vorschlage gemacht. Wir
Haben sie angenommen.
Durch eine solche Inschrift waren
Wir alle geehrt.32
I need no gravestone, but
If you need one for me
I wish it would say:
He made suggestions. We
Accepted them.
Such an inscription
Would honor us all.
In these and similar cases, whatever message the deceased had hoped
to perpetuate as a lasting memorial to beliefs or achievements is cat-
egorically negated. Brecht's actual inscription even anticipates or exem-
plifies the withdrawal of epitaph-writing into that silence and
non-communication that is believed to be a striking feature of present-
day cemeteries. Contrary to his final - modest - wishes, there is not even
a hint of that celebration of human values that constituted the classical
epitaphic heritage, which was ignored during the Christian Middle Ages,
only to be revived by the Humanists and finally placed on the pedestal
of epitaphic propriety by Dr. Johnson. Johnson did not fail to pronounce
on the moral impact that a properly epitaphed forbear might have on
the living:
124 Writing One's Own Epitaph
The design of epitaphs is rational and moral, being generally to celebrate the
virtues of the dead, and to excite and awaken the reader to the imitation of
those excellencies which he sees thus honoured and distinguished, of which
kind almost every sepulchral monument affords us an example.33
Ill
But what about the luckier ones among self-epitaphists - those whose
self-formulated wisdom of a lifetime did in fact end up on their
gravemarkers? Alexander Pope, already mentioned, may serve as an in-
troduction to the complexity of what might otherwise seem to be a
straightforward state of affairs. Throughout his life, Pope wrote numer-
ous poetic epitaphs not only for friends and associates but also for him-
self: "epitaphic self-portraits"34 inspired by concern for a posthumous
image undistorted by slander or flattery. But when it came to dying, Pope
preferred to have none of these engraved on his tombstone. He directed
instead in his will that his body be interred near the monument to his
parents in Twickenham Parish Church and that the only commemora-
tion, apart from his death date and age, should be an "et sibi" (and to
himself) to be added to the epitaph of his father and mother, and in due
course this was done:
D.O.M.
ALEXANDRO POPE, VIRO INNOCUO
PROBO, PIO, QUI VIXIT ANNOS LXXV, OB. MDCCXVII.
ET EDITHAE CONJUGI INCULPABILI, PIENTISSIMAE,
QUAE VIXIT ANNOS XCIII OB. MDCXXXIII.
PARENTIBUS BENEMERENTIBUS FILIUS FECIT, ET SIBI.
To God the Creator and best of Beings, / To Alexander Pope, a Gentleman of
Honesty, Probity and Piety, Who Liv'd LXXV. Years, died M. DCC. XVII. /
And to Editha, his Excellent and truely Pious Wife, who lived XCIII. Years,
died M. DCC. XXXIII. / To his well-deserving Parents the Son erected this,
and to himself.35
Scodel comments: "Pope proclaims to the public that no matter how
they might define him, he will affirm unto death his humble role as a
dutiful son."36 However, in 1761, seventeen years after Pope's death in
1744 at the age of fifty-six, William Warburton, bishop of Gloucester,
had a medallion portrait and the following lines placed on a monument
to Pope on the north wall of the Twickenham Parish Church:
For One who would not be buried in Westminster Abbey
Heroes, and kings! your distance keep:
In peace let one poor Poet sleep,
Who never flatter'd Folks like you:
Let Horace blush, and Virgil too.37
Karl S. Guthke 125
Early biographers unanimously condemned the verses as a prime ex-
ample of episcopal "bad taste," adding that "parading these careless and
petulant lines on the walls of a church, near the poet's grave, is too glar-
ing to require comment. Any such inscription was a direct violation of
the wishes and feelings of Pope as expressed in his will."38 This condem-
nation is a little curious: was it not known that "Epitaph. For One who
would not be buried in Westminster Abbey" is one of Pope's several epi-
taphs on himself? Pope published it in 1738. Scodel discusses it exten-
sively with a view to its literary merit, its covert references to the literary
English epitaph culture of the time, and its reaction to the classical liter-
ary heritage (pp. 264-274). But as a literary historian he does not need to
point out the fact of interest to the cultural historian: that these lines
appear near the poet's place of burial, thereby establishing an image of
Pope that is, in effect, somewhat different from the self-effacing one of
the dutiful son and modest parishioner that he ultimately chose for him-
self. Habent sua fata epitaphia. There is no modesty in those presumptu-
ous lines; how would Pope, given his will, which was surely not written
as an exercise in false modesty, have felt about this poem, which "was
never allowed by the poet to be a self epitaph," being paraded as "the
last word?39 Here, then, we have the sorry case of refusing one's own
epitaph and having it, too.
From here it is only a small step to burial under an epitaph com-
posed not by the deceased but at his suggestion. This was what the neo-
classical poet Matthew Prior requested in his will, made out shortly before
his death in 1721. Much to the satirical delight of his contemporaries, he
left £500 for a sepulchral monument in Westminster Abbey which was to
bear an inscription by Dr. Robert Freind - a florid accolade that tourists
can still cringe at as "a sad instance of pride beyond the grave" (Samuel
Richardson). It is this text that Pope probably had in mind when he wrote
his near-proverbial
Friend! For your Epitaphs I'm griev'd,
Where still so much is said,
One half will never be believ'd,
The other never read.
Prior's enduring document of vanity is all the stranger as Prior was an
accomplished epitaphist himself. He had even composed more than one
sepulchral last word for himself, including the amusing, if arrogant lines
that may have inspired Pope's own "Heroes and kings":
126 Writing One's Own Epitaph
Nobles, and Heralds by Your leave,
Here lyes what Once was Matthew Prior,
The Son of Adam and of Eve,
Can Stuart, or Nassaw go higher.40
By not having this self-appraisal engraved on his tombstone but direct-
ing someone else to heap fulsome sepulchral praise on him, Prior con-
trived to achieve on his own what was accorded to Pope contrary to his
expressed wish.
Pope's posthumous misadventure may give us the cue for a brief
excursus on those writers who rest under lines from their own works
without having expressly chosen them as their epitaph - which obvi-
ously raises questions about how appropriate posterity's choice was. There
is, famously, Heinrich Heine in Montmartre Cemetery, Paris, whose white
marble monument of 1901, topped by his bust, features his poem "Wo?":
Wo wird einst des Wandermiiden
Letzte Ruhestatte sein?
Unter Palmen in dem Siiden?
Unter Linden an dem Rhein?
Werd ich wo in einer Wiiste
Eingescharrt von fremder Hand?
Oder ruh ich an der Kiiste
Eines Meeres in dem Sand?
Immerhin! Mich wird umgeben
Gotteshimmel, dort wie hier,
Und als Totenlampen schweben
Nachts die Sterne iiber mir.
Where?
Wander-weary, where will I
Find that final rest of mine?
Where the Southern palms soar high?
Under lindens on the Rhine?
Will I die in some wild land
Buried by a stranger, or
Will I rest beneath the sand
Of some distant ocean shore?
Well, no matter? God's same sky
Will be round me, there as here,
And at night the stars on high
Will be lamps to light my bier.
On Willa Cather's simple white tombstone in the old cemetery at Jaffrey
Center, New Hampshire, there is a sentence from My Antonia (1918)
(which she had finished in her beloved Jaffrey): "That is happiness; to be
Karl S. Guthke 127
dissolved into something complete and great," identified as "from My
Antonia." Thomas Wolfe, in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, North Caro-
lina, is buried under two citations, one from Look Homeward, Angel: "The
Last voyage, the longest, the best," and one from The Web and the Rock:
"Death bent to touch his chosen son with mercy, love and pity, and put
the seal of honor on him when he died." Karl Marx lies under an impos-
ing monument in London's Highgate Cemetery proclaiming: "Workers
of all Lands Unite" - rather too obvious a choice perhaps. Carl Sandburg
was a great oracle of folk wisdom, but the words on the rock marking the
interment of his ashes (Fig. 1) in his birthplace in Galesburg, Illinois,
though taken from his novel Remembrance Rock, are somewhat disappoint-
ing: "... for it could be a place to come and remember." Emily Dickinson,
in the West Cemetery in Amherst, Massachusetts, was "Called back,"
according to her headstone - words from her last letter, to her cousins
Louise and Frances Norcross. In their original context, the words do not
appear to be in any way symbolical ("Little Cousins, Called back. Emily"
is the complete text of the letter) - unless one wants to assume that the
writer had the title of one of her favorite books in mind, a novella by
Hugh Conway, with the reclusive protagonist of which she is believed to
have identified. Such a private allusion would, of course, make the in-
scription doubly esoteric and inaccessible. How much wiser the choice
of "Quand meme" (all the same) for Sarah Bernhardt in Paris' Pere
Lachaise: it was her motto, "a phrase her stationery also bore." How
much more telling also the words chosen for Ralph Waldo Emerson: his
rose quartz tombstone in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery features
the lines from his poem "The Problem": "The passive Master lent his
hand / To the vast soul that o'er him planned" - which his biographer
Ralph L. Rusk called "fitting symbols of only two of the many discor-
dant elements which [...] were harmonized in Emerson." The list goes
on and on: Edith Sitwell, T S. Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paul Robeson,
etc.41 Sometimes a favorite quotation will do better than an excerpt from
the deceased's own writing; after all, the quotation was self-chosen, if not
as an epitaph, and may therefore be considered to be of equal rank with
a self-chosen "last word." Thus Klaus Mann, Thomas Mann's son, was
buried, in exile in the south of France, under a biblical quotation he was
fond of citing in defense of suicide, which was his way of leaving the
world. And Martin Luther King, Jr. is commemorated on his sepulchral
monument (Fig. 2) with lines from the slave spiritual that was the culmi-
nation point of his most famous speech.42
128
Writing One's Own Epitaph
Before turning to the cases of well-known intellectuals who expressly
penned the lines for their burial monuments, one more aspect of the
complexities of posthumous self-perpetuation needs to be considered.
Some of the best-known epitaphs adorning the graves of truly major
figures cannot be shown with absolute certainty to have been authored
by the persons commemorated, nor can their wish to have that particu-
lar text on their gravemarker be documented by anything more than
time-honored hearsay.
Let's start with a local celebrity, Dr. John Caius, co-founder of Gonville
and Caius College, Cambridge, a self-assured Humanist who died in 1573.
Fig. 2. Monument of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Atlanta, Georgia, with epitaph, "Free at last, Free at last, /
Thank God Almighty / I'm Free at last."
KarlS.Guthke 129
Nikolaus Pevsner reports in his volume on Cambridgeshire (London: Pen-
guin, 1954) that Caius's epitaph on his monument in the college chapel -
a lapidary statement of almost unChristian pride harking back to an-
cient times: "Fui Caius" (I was Caius), accompanied by "Vivit post funera
Virtus" (virtue lives on after burial) - was "chosen no doubt by Caius
who was always more interested in honour than in humility" (p. 66).
"No doubt," because Caius was known to be a proud man and therefore
likely to be interested in his survival after death in a classical rather than
a Christian sense? Scodel is probably right in transforming Pevsner's
conjecture into a statement of fact: Caius died "after designing his tomb
and composing his inscription." "The audacity of this brief epitaph [noted
around 1600 by the Society of Antiquaries] lies in its implication that
Caius's name alone is praise enough, that nothing more specific need be
said about him since the passerby will know upon reading 'Fui Caius'
just how much greatness was lost and how much glory remains upon
the death of this very successful academic" (p. 53-54). In Cambridge,
this may be true to this day, but was it Caius himself who was so self-
assured about his afterlife?43
In any case, Caius would have been flattered to know that he shares
such vagaries of posthumous fame with the greatest of the great: Virgil,
Petrarch, Shakespeare. Virgil's ashes were buried along a roadside out-
side Naples, as was the custom at the time: his tomb and the road have
long since subsided and slipped into the sea; but the epitaph is recorded
in his biography known as the Vita Donatiana, which is the source (based
on a lost account by Suetonius) of all later biographies, and it is beyond
dispute:
Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
Parthenope; cecini pascua rura duces.44
Mantua bore me, Calabria tore me away, Naples now
Holds me; I sang meadows, fields, leaders.
At issue is whether this distich, whose concluding words sum up the
poet's three main works (including the Aeneid, which he wanted de-
stroyed), was authored by "some friend"45 or by Virgil himself. "The se-
pulchral distich Virgil is said to have composed himself"46 is as far as
scholars are now willing to commit themselves. Not a word on whether
the poet wanted it on his sepulchre.
Petrarch, foremost among post-classical writers to emulate
Antiquity,was destined to a similar posthumous predicament. When he
died in 1374, he was first buried in the parish church of Arqua; six years
130 Writing One's Own Epitaph
later, his son-in-law had a sumptuous tomb built just outside the church.
It bears the hexametric inscription which was still legible in the early
Twentieth Century:
Frigida Francisci lapis hie tegit ossa petrarce
Suscipe virgo parens animam sate virgine parce
Fessaque iam terris celi requiescat in arce.47
This stone covers the cold bones of Petrarch.
Receive his soul, virgin mother; forgive it, [Jesus] born of a virgin;
And may it, weary of the earth, rest in high heaven.
But is this Petrarch himself speaking from his grave? C.L. Fernow in
1818 would merely concede that the inscription "was said" to be his own
words (p. 311), which of course leaves moot the further question of
whether Petrarch wanted them to be on his grave, no matter who might
have composed them. Another early biographer does not even mention
an author, but it seems unlikely that he would attribute to the master
those "bad Latin lines, the rhyming of which is their greatest merit."48
Somewhat more recently, however, at least one biographer has flatly stated
that the triolet on Petrarch's grave monument was "composed by him-
self," though he too did not seem to think much of its "jingling Latin."49
Still, two later life-writers revert to "presumably written by Petrarch,"
without commenting on the quality of the verses.50
Finally, Shakespeare. He was honored with what is generally agreed
to be one of the most distinguished literary epitaphs in the language, by
John Milton:
What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones,
The labour of an age in piled stones?
Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid
Under a star-ypointing pyramid?
Dear son of memory, great heir of fame,
What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?
Now in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thyself a life-long monument.
For whilst, to th' shame of slow-endeavouring art,
Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart
Hath, from the leaves of thy unvalued book,
Those Delphic lines with deep impression took,
Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving,
Dost make us marble with too much conceiving;
And so sepulchred, in such pomp dost lie
That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.
"Piled stones" the bard did receive, or at least one, the slab (not marble,
though) in the chancel by the north wall of Holy Trinity Church in
Karl S. Guthke 131
Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was laid to rest. It proclaims the much-
quoted preventive malediction:
GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE,
TO DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE:
BLESTE BE YE MAN YT SPARES THES STONES,
AND CURST BE HE YT MOVES MY BONES.51
As for authenticity, a popular anthology of familiar quotations may con-
fidently state that the words were chosen, though probably not written
by Shakespeare.52 Scholarly caution, however, advises no more than "Sev-
eral reporters in the late seventeenth century affirm that Shakespeare
himself devised this epitaph, and ordered it to be cut on his tombstone,"
and "whether or not actually written by Shakespeare, the malediction
has effectively accomplished its purpose, for no sexton, clerk, or crank
has moved the bones enclosed there."53
IV
Turning now to the successful organizers of their own posthumous
fame or image, one quickly notices that not all of them chose a personal-
ized "last word" worth enduring. Popular culture yields its share of quaint
examples that may be of passing "human interest." They include Ameri-
can poet Sara Teasdale's wish that her marker should read "Sara Teasdale
Filsinger," as it indeed does on her grave in St. Louis's Belief ontaine Cem-
etery, even though she had divorced Ernst Filsinger four years before her
death in 1933 on grounds of extreme cruelty.54 Minor players may speak
interestingly to us effusively from their gravestones,55 while historical fig-
ures do not necesssarily see the writing of their own epitaph as an oppor-
tunity for originality. Thus, Alcuin, the renowned master of Charlemagne's
palace school, was buried underneath a bronze tablet engraved with a
Latin epitaph of his own creation which hardly differs from the standard
Christian sepulchral sentiments of the time.56 Among later high-ranking
dignitaries, Sir William Temple, the statesman and patron of Jonathan Swift,
may come to mind. He stipulated in his will that he be buried in the west
aisle of Westminster Abbey, alongside his family, "with this Inscription,"
which merely states that he had this monument erected:
Sibi suisque charissimis [sic],
DIANAE TEMPLE dilectissimae Filiae,
DOROTHEAE OSBORN conjunctissimae Conjugi,
Et MARTHAE GIFFARD optimae Sorori,
Hoc qualecunque Monumentum
Poni curavit
GULIELMUS TEMPLE, Baronettus.
132 Writing One's Own Epitaph
Not much to write home about, or is the implication that posterity's
memory will not need to be jogged to remember in perpetuity who Sir
William was? In any case, his instructions were followed meticulously;
the memorial was set up exactly as specified in 1722, after the death of
his sister, Lady Giffard.57
Other famous statesmen did appreciably better, notably Thomas
Jefferson, as is well known on one side of the Atlantic. He left a note,
preserved among the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress, in which
he expressed his wish to be buried under an obelisk, with "the following
inscription, and not a word more," "because by these, as testimonials
that I have lived, I wish most to be remembered":
Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom
and Father of the University of Virginia.58
Jefferson's request was honored. The epitaph can still be admired in the
family cemetery on the hillside at Monticello. As most American school
children know, the most interesting aspect of this self-assessment is that
Jefferson did not bother to mention that he served twice as President of
the United States. This curious circumstance makes it appropriate to
mention Sherwood Anderson in the same breath. For he, too, when it
came to summing up his life in his Memoirs, failed to mention what is by
common consent his greatest accomplishment, his novel Winesburg, Ohio.
The paragraphs entitled "For the End" in his unfinished Memoirs char-
acterize his career, in which he had been "panned and praised by crit-
ics," as "what has seemed to me a very good life." This comes as a surprise
from the man who for decades after Winesburg, Ohio bedevilled himself
with the fear, fuelled by critics, that he was "finished." The final self-
assessment focuses instead on his having been "healthy and strong,"
enjoying "thoroughly my friends, women, food, drink, sleep," indeed
"persistent youth." It culminates in: "When I die I would like this in-
scription put on my grave: LIFE NOT DEATH IS THE GREAT ADVEN-
TURE." By the time Anderson died - suddenly and in the prime of life,
in Panama in 1941 while on a good-will tour of Latin America - he would
not have wanted to change a word of this legacy. It was duly engraved
on his tombstone in Round Hill Cemetery in Marion, Virginia.59
Not unexpectedly, poets can be less prosaic about such consequen-
tial business. Several conveyed their wishes for a memorial in poems in
Karl S. Guthke 133
which their own grave, complete with epitaph, is described in sufficient
detail to leave no uncertainty in the minds of friendly survivors about
what had to be done - even though there was no formal testamentary
request. The poem was the "last will." A famous "botanical" example is
Alfred de Musset's entreaty, in his poem "Lucie:" "Mes chers amis, quand
je mourrai, / Plantez un saule au cimetiere" (My dear friends, when I die,
plant a willow in the cemetery). The request was honored in Pere Lachaise,
Division 4, even though the sandy soil there is unsuitable for willows, so
that the struggling tree has to be replaced periodically. But even this
mismatch has been thought to be eminently fitting, on a symbolical level.
"De Musset certainly never got anything that he wanted in life," Willa
Cather has written, "and it seems a sort of fine-drawn irony that he should
not have the one poor willow he wanted for his grave."60
The least problematic case among those testamentary poems that
specify text, rather than vegetation, is the well-known one of Robert Frost.
His poem "The Lesson for Today," published in his collection A Witness
Tree (New York 1942), ends with the testamentary lines:
And were an epitaph to be my story
I'd have a short one ready for my own.
I would have written of me on my stone:
I had a lover's quarrel with the world, (p. 52)
The final verse appears indeed on the slab marking the resting place of
Frost's ashes in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Vermont (Fig. 3). Of
course, a lover's quarrel is a spat that is quickly made up with hugs and
kisses. So those of Frost's biographers who felt that he was a "monster"
might snicker; but there are others, and Frost may have had the last
word after all.61
The grave of the prolific satirical poet Charles Churchill, famous in
his lifetime and then largely ignored after his death, is a more intricate
case in point. His final resting place, the "humblest of all sepulchres," is
perhaps remembered from Lord Byron's poem "Churchill's Grave" (1816),
with its quotable final lines on the transitoriness of renown: Churchill's
was a life "in which there was Obscurity and Fame, / The Glory and the
Nothing of a Name."62 His gravestone, in the churchyard of St. Mary the
Virgin in Dover, where he was buried in 1764 after his short life was
ended in Boulogne by "a military fever," bears an inscription to suit his
libertine life and writing (if not his earnest political pursuits articulated
in his poetry): "Here lie the Remains of the celebrated C. Churchill. Life
to the last enjoy'd, Here Churchill lies."63 As the epitaph rather academi-
134
Writing One's Own Epitaph
MARJOR1T: FROST fRA^RR I
MAR. 29. 1909 — NA/\Y 2,1954
CAROL FROST
MAY 27, 1902 — OCT. 9, 1940
ELLIOTT FROST
SEPT. 26, 1.8-96 - JULY 2o, 1900
ELINOR BO UNA fRQSt
JUNE 20, 1901 ,U
. .0, \0C)T
uu
A k
i
J
'
Fig. 3. Grave slab marking ashes of Robert Frost (and also
commemorating others of his family), Bennington, Vermont,
with epitaph "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."
Karl S. Guthke 135
cally reminds the forgetful, the second sentence is a line from Churchill's
poem The Candidate (1764), a satire on a Cambridge University non-event
in which he anticipates his own sepulchral glorification by proposing
that these words be his epitaph.64 The text stands in striking contrast to
Churchill's reported, but also disputed, last words, "What a fool I have
been!"65 - thus demonstrating the sorry truth that one cannot choose
one's epitaph too late! Even more embarrassing is the context: the epi-
taphic line "tells only half the story."66 For poor Churchill's vanity, un-
derstandable enough in one so idolized, raises its ugly head in the lines
that follow "Here Churchill lies" in The Candidate; they in effect mandate
Churchill's immortality: "Whilst (O, what joy that pleasing flatt'ry gives)
/ Reading my Works, he [a passer-by] cries - here Churchill lives." Still,
who would look up the context?
Robert Louis Stevenson was rather more circumspect in his testa-
mentary poem, "Requiem," written ten years before his death when he
was seriously ill:
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me;
"Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."
When he died on Samoa in 1894, he may well have considered his life as
well-rounded and well-achieved as the "Requiem" anticipates. The two
stanzas are indeed to be found on the plinth that was placed on his grave
on the summit of Mount Vaea three years after his death.67 For the man
who roamed to the ends of the earth in search of a congenial life and
habitat and who let his imagination roam farther still, the notion of com-
ing "home" to a remote island far removed from his homeland is a poi-
gnant final word indeed. And it generated a touching echo. A second
plaque on the plinth bears the words of Ruth to Naomi, in Samoan, "thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest, will
I die" - a welcome to "Tusitala," as Stevenson was called in Samoa, from
the destination of this memorable homecoming (Ruth 1:16-17).
One of the most famous testamentary poems in the language is W. B.
Yeats's "Under Ben Bulben," written on 4 September 1938, less than half
a year before he died, and revised as late as "two days before death"68:
136 Writing One's Own Epitaph
Under bare Ben Bulben's head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!
Yeats died in the South of France on 28 January 1939. He was buried
there, in Roquebrune, though there was never any doubt that he would
eventually find his final resting place in Drumcliffe Churchyard. But it
was not until 1948 that, in a national ceremony, his remains were re-
interred there, in his ancestral ground in County Sligo, under Ben Bulben's
head.64 His epitaphic legacy was duly carved on his gravestone. A strange
epitaph it is. Instead of the expected "Stranger, stop and cast an eye, / As
you are now, so once was I,"70 that is, instead of the usual appeal to a
"viator" to stop and read the epitaph, to mourn the deceased and appre-
ciate his merits or, for that matter, to use the occasion for a contempla-
tion of mortality, Yeats addresses a horseman. He thereby evokes the
noble and "heroic past"71 of his literary world, the "heroic centuries" of
"Under Ben Bulben." More importantly, he chooses an admonition that
inverts the "conventional phrase": do not remember, he implies, "pass
by!" The paradox, then, of Yeats's epitaph, self-chosen through the word-
ing of his testamentary poem, is that it presents the poet as one who
wants to be remembered as not wanting to be remembered. If this is a
final withdrawal from the vulgar world of the "pedestrian" present
("Scorn the sort now growing up" [line 70]), then it is, perversely, also a
very public withdrawal - which does communicate something memo-
rable, in spite of "pass by!"
Other major writers did not resort to the medium of poetry to indi-
cate their wishes concerning their epitaph. Fulke Grenville, Jonathan
Swift, John Gay, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Edward Fitzgerald,
Rainer Maria Rilke, and Nikos Kazantzakis, among others, all chose more
straightforward, but equally effective directives for the wording of their
epitaphs. Testamentary statements saved them the need to write testa-
mentary poetry. The result ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, or
at least to the would-be humorous.
Karl S. Guthke 137
To start with the latter, Will Rogers, whose sense of humor made him
a national figure, was entertaining until the last. The Boston Globe re-
ported his wishes on 16 June 1930:
When I die, my epitaph or whatever you call those signs on gravestones is
going to read: 'I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never
met a man I didn't like.' I am so proud of that, I can hardly wait to die so it can
be carved. And when you come to my grave you will find me sitting there
proudly reading it.72
His final resting place, in the Will Rogers Memorial, in Claremont, Okla-
homa, bears the inscription: "I never met a man I didn't like." Marcel
Duchamp, of "ready-made" art fame, was predictably more sophisti-
cated and intriguing. His ashes lie in the family vault in Rouen's Cimetiere
Monumental. He "wrote his own epitaph, which appears on the flat head-
stone: "D'ailleurs c'est toujours les autres qui meurent" (Besides, it is
always the others that die).73 One would have expected no less from the
master of puns and double-entendres who often elevated wordplay to
the very substance of his works and revelled in paradox, such as the
two-way door in his rue Larrey apartment which was always both open
and closed. Others die, but the dead Duchamp lives in his works: not for
nothing was he obsessed during his final years with the preservation,
distribution, and optimal accessibility of his works, with his posthumous
life, in other words. More notorious, indeed near-proverbial was John
Gay's previously mentioned announcement from his sepulchral monu-
ment in Westminster Abbey:
Life is a jest, and all things show it;
I thought so once, but now I know it.
It raised more than a few eyebrows, not only on account of its lack of
piety but also because of its "buffoonery" or "childish levity." Thus the
criticism of Dr. Johnson, who felt such frivolous lines to be more appro-
priate for "the window of a brothel" than for "temples and [...] tombs"
where we would expect to have our thoughts turned to solemnity and
epitaphic wisdom.74 Yet, the levity is Gay's own, a levity mixed with bit-
terness, to be sure - which may make it worthier of the author of The
Beggar's Opera. For when Gay wrote to Alexander Pope several years be-
fore his death, asking him to see to it that these words would appear on
his gravestone, he was dejected about his failure to secure a satisfactory
position at the court.75 Pope was a reliable friend, but he must have fore-
seen the embarrassment. So he added an epitaph of his own to Gay's
138 Writing One's Own Epitaph
monument, which, as Scodel has shown, attempts to forestall criticism
by presenting Gay as a man of "Simplicity, a Child," fully deserving the
esteem of "the Worthy and the Good." Even so, it is curious that critics
should have been so harsh on "self-inflicted" levity at a time when satire
and downright buffoonery on epitaphs was entirely acceptable.76
If Gay appeared to his contemporaries to be too lighthearted about
such grave matters as one's own epitaph, Jonathan Swift was taken to
task at the time for being too severe in his judgment of both himself and
mankind in the epitaph he carefully crafted in his will and "desired" to
be "deeply cut, and strongly guilded" on "a black marble" to be "fixed
to the wall" near his grave under the great aisle of Dublin's St. Patrick's
Cathedral, "on the south side."77 What caused offense in this inscription,
written some five years before Swift's death in 1745 and still to be seen in
St. Patrick's, was the very "indignation" about life and mankind that,
according to a Cambridge undergraduate in one of Yeats's plays, makes
it "the greatest epitaph in history":78
HIC DEPOSITUM EST CORPUS
JONATHAN SWIFT, S.T.P.
HUJUS ECCLESIAE CATHEDRALIS
DECANI,
UBI SAEVA INDIGNATIO
ULTERIUS COR LACERARE NEQUIT.
ABI, VIATOR,
ET IMITARE, SI POTERIS,
STRENUUM PRO VIRILI LIBERTATIS VINDICEM.
Or, in W. B. Yeats's free translation:
Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveller; he
Served human liberty.
In an analysis spelling out the subtle references to Swift's passionate fight
for freedom, his classical satirical heritage, and his moralist persuasion,
Maurice Johnson (see Note 77) has shown the complex ways in which
these widely familiar lines are a sincere "epitome" of the author's career
and life-long concerns. While Gay, as at least Pope saw it, through his
posthumous flippancy missed his chance to do justice to himself, Swift,
a man of many moods, not all of them pleasant, succeeded in formulat-
ing a monument to himself that preserves what was worthiest about him
- without that mendacious flattery that is so endemic in epitaphs writ-
Karl S. Guthke 139
ten by survivors. At the same time, the final, no doubt bitter lines make
his life a legacy to posterity: "imitare, si poteris." Surely a fitting closure
to a life well (if not always admirably) lived.
Swift was a man of the cloth, buried in his church - yet one would be
hard pressed to hear any specifically Christian overtones in his epitaph.
The opposite is true of three writers who, like Swift, wrote the epitaphs
that appear on their graves: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edward Fitzgerald,
and Edith Wharton, none of them a cleric, of course. Coleridge, with
whom theology was no more than the passing obsession of his earliest
student days, took great interest not only in the design of his own tomb-
stone but particularly in the lines to be chiselled on it. "Aware, with the
strange clairvoyance that he seemed to possess, that this would be his
last winter,"79 he composed them on 9 November 1833. He died the fol-
lowing July, and his "epitaph can now be found gravely incised on a
memorial flagstone in the nave of St Michael's Church, Highgate [Lon-
don], where it is regularly walked over by numerous schoolchildren, a
circumstance which would have surely pleased him."80 The surprise is
that the man of "this world," to whom humility did not come naturally,
chose devoutly Christian sentiments for his summing up:
Stop, Christian passer-by! - Stop, child of God,
And read, with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he.
O, lift one thought in prayer for S.T.C.;
That he who many a year with toil of breath
Found death in life, may here find life in death!
Mercy for praise - to be forgiven for fame
He ask'd, and hoped, through Christ. Do thou the same!
The self-effacement is remarkable, unless, of course, "life in death" would
also refer to the afterlife of his writings - which would be Coleridge's
own afterlife, comparable to that of Duchamp, whose epitaph left dying
to "the others" (the delicious ambiguity of "for" in the penultimate line
- meaning "for" or "instead of" - may suggest that the worldly-wise
Christian had it both ways).81
A similar surprise is offered by the pointedly religious signet over
the grave of Edith Wharton, who had made her mark as a novelist fea-
turing an unambiguously worldly society. She was laid to rest in the
Cimetiere des Gourds at Versailles in 1937 under a self-designed marble
cross bearing the self-chosen inscription: "O crux spes unica" (O cross,
my only hope). Grace Kellogg alone among biographers is not "baffled
as to [the words'] meaning":
140 Writing One's Own Epitaph
They had nothing to do, I think, with her exploration into the dogma of
Catholicism.
We may perhaps tie them in with something Grandma Scrimser says in
The Gods Arrive - that final novel which contains so much of the author's
own inner experience.
The old lady has always preached the doctrine of not trying to evade
pain. On her deathbed she is left alone with Vance, who has come many miles
to bid her farewell. As he kneels by the bed, his face on her hands, her voice
comes, hardly audible, "Van, there's something I wanted to say to you . . .
Maybe - we haven't made enough of pain - been too afraid of it - don't be -
afraid of it." It is her last word. I think it was Edith Wharton's last word.
It was the note which the writer had sounded repeatedly in her fiction. In
the woman's long and self-contained life it was the dominant one. Suffering
courageously borne - the only hope for human beings. This is, I believe, the
true interpretation of her epitaph.
O crux spes unicaF-
Edward Fitzgerald, one might extrapolate from his spectacularly suc-
cessful translation of The Rubdiydt of Omar Khayyam (1859), would be likely
to sleep his last sleep under an exuberant admonition to drink and make
merry. But the words that greet the viator to his grave in tiny St. Michael's
Churchyard in the village of Boulge, Suffolk, is even more self-effacingly
Christian than Coleridge's at least seems to be. Like many others, rang-
ing from Charles Lindbergh to Ellen Glasgow,83 the man whose fame
rests on what are, strictly speaking, not his own words, chose someone
else's words, rather than his own, for his ultimate testament in stone. It is
the third verse of Psalm 100, engraved on a granite slab: "It is He that
hath made us, and not we ourselves" - a text "which had always ap-
pealed forcibly to [Fitzgerald], and which he often used to quote."84 In
fact, Fitzgerald - a modest man of simple tastes, relishing his retired life
in the country, whom only posterity draped in the garb of the sophisti-
cated libertine - "not long before his decease [in 1883], expressed a wish
[to his friend Francis Hindes Groome] that if any text were put upon his
tombstone, it should be one which (as he said) he did not remember ever
to have seen similarly used," whereupon he quoted the lines just cited.85
As one stands at Fitzgerald's grave in austere East Anglia, one wonders
about the relationship of the self-willed image of pious modesty to the
icon of cultured hedonism that Fitzgerald had become in the minds of
his readers.
Less surprising, in fact strikingly consistent with his lifelong icono-
clastic attitudes, is the Cretan novelist Nikos Kazantzakis's self-chosen
and self-composed epitaph. It is engraved on a starkly minimalist rect-
angular slab marking his grave on the ramparts of the imposing fortress
Karl S. Guthke 141
above Iraklion: "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free." What could
be more fitting for the man (tl957) whom the Greek Orthodox clergy
refused a funeral mass, whose novel The Last Temptation (1955) was put
on the Index of the Roman Catholic Church, and whose Zorba the Greek
(1946) was an exhilarating experience of liberation for millions of read-
ers and movie-goers.86
The ultimate in such consistency in life, death, and epitaphic afterlife
may be Rainer Maria Rilke's self-chosen inscription on his gravestone by
the old church in Raron, in the Swiss canton of Valais. On 27 October
1925, over a year before his death, he penned a testamentary statement
in which he requested, among other things, that on his gravestone, an
"old" one as he specified, the following lines, previously unknown, should
appear, along with his name and the Rilke family crest:
Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust,
Niemandes Schlaf zu sein unter soviel
Lidern.
Rose, oh pure contradiction, delight
in being nobody's sleep under so many
eyelids.
Taken as a legacy, this poem has been analysed most extensively. It does
indeed bring together key words of the poet's life-work, where the image
of the rose functions as the "comprehensive symbol of his poetry, his
being, and his world." No more fitting summary of Rilke's poetic exist-
ence, and its enigmas, could be imagined.87
What Kazantzakis and Rilke (and many others) share with most of
the successful self-epitaphists discussed in this essay is the urge to shape
their posthumous image. In a sense, Yeats is the exception: he chose the
paradox of wanting to be permanently remembered as wanting not to be
remembered, an unspoken "Prepare to be forgotten" hanging eerily and
provocatively about his boulder in Drumcliffe Churchyard. The para-
dox is, in fact, not as unusual among self-epitaphs as one might assume.
Sir Fulke Greville, first Baron Brooke (1554-1628), was not only a re-
spectable poet but also a major figure at the courts of Elizabeth and James
I, as well as a satellite of the stars of cultural life, such as Bacon, Sidney,
and Camden. Such prominence has earned him a considerable entry in
the Oxford Companion to English Literature - complete with the citation of
his epitaph (which is a rare distinction indeed, in any reference work).
Some three years before his slow death from a stab-wound inflicted by a
servant, he had had a modest tomb built in St. Mary's Church in Warwick,
142 Writing One's Own Epitaph
a stone's throw from his castle, and "his last piece of writing was the
brief epitaph on his tomb," which, as a recent biographer tells us, "sum-
marized the vision of his life."38 One would expect as much of a self-
written epitaph, of course. But a strange epitaph it is:
FVLKE GREVILL
SERVANT TO QVEEN ELIZABETH
CONCELLER TO KING JAMES
AND FREND TO SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
Etched in "a sombre and weighty black stone," these words capture "the
most illustrious relationships of his earthly life." Fair enough, but they
are followed by "TROPHAEVM PECCATI" - a monument (or indeed a
trophy) of sin. The two words are a verdict on a life epitomized by the
lines preceding them: a statement of glory, power, and accomplishment
on the face of them, these lines are taken back forthwith in the spirit of
Christian "omnia vanitas." This, then, is summing-up at its severest, a
reminder of the transitoriness of life and its putative triumphs, and yet
the self-congratulatory wording was carefully planned and executed to
last forever. Conceptually, the epitaph on the monument is a self-de-
structing artifact, but materially, it is a permanent marker of the self-
confessed sin of vanity. A contemporary of Greville got it right: "The
inscription condemneth the tomb, the words despise the deeds."89
John Keats' well-known self-willed epitaph, also recorded in the
thumbnail biography in the Oxford Companion to English Literature, is
comparable in its paradox. True, it does not feature a similar internal
contradiction in so many words; rather, the paradox rests in the con-
trast between the message and its medium: "Here lies one whose name
was writ in water," engraved in the stone of Keats's sepulchral monu-
ment in Rome's Protestant Cemetery. Hard to say whether the poet, as
he lay dying in the house at the foot of the Spanish Steps, "listening
night after night to the constant play of water in the fountain outside,"90
actually intended the paradox when on 14 Februaryl821, a little over a
week before his death, he asked his friend, the painter Joseph Severn,
to ensure that this line be engraved on his tombstone in the camposanto
that he knew would be his final resting place.91 To be sure, Keats had
apparently also told Severn that he did not want his name on his tomb92
- but is one really to believe, and could Keats really have believed, that
his nameless tomb would not be known as his? Only if this question is
answered in the affirmative would the teasing paradox be non-existent
- Keats wishing to be remembered as the non- remembered. Be this as
Karl S. Guthke 143
it may, the inscription placed on the gravestone by Severn two years
after Keats's death runs as follows:
This Grave contains all that was Mortal of a Young English Poet, Who on his
Death-Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart, at the Malicious Power of his
Enemies, Desired these Words to be engraven on his Tomb Stone
"Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water."93
No name - but the paradox is there for anyone to see; the implied chal-
lenge to inquiry does not go unheard. Had the desire for anonymity been
uncompromising, it might have occurred to the dying poet to have his
ashes scattered over the sea or in the campagna. As it is, Keats's paradox
remains one of the most intriguing and moving indications of the power
of a poet's words to survive time and place against all odds.
V
If awareness of mortality is the defining characteristic of homo sapi-
ens, the desire to circumvent the inevitable is a trait that is just as consti-
tutive of human nature. Such attempts to outwit death take many forms.
Most prominent among them, and of great interest to the historian of
(popular) culture, are self-written epitaphs, whether they actually ap-
pear on gravestones or not, which, as some of the "case histories" indi-
cate, occurs more often than the unsuspecting morituri imagined. On the
other hand, if self -written epitaphs do appear on gravestones in Western
cultures, there is often a nagging doubt whether they were in fact either
self-composed or intended - and intended when? - to be chiselled in
stone, or both. Many, to be sure, succeeded at epitaphic self-commemo-
ration, some well-known figures of Western cultural history among them.
What, then, are their "last words"? A summation is usually intended,
and posterity may be delighted by the "truth" of such self-assessment
from the ultimate perspective - or surprised by the unexpected self-im-
age. One way or the other, the final summing up should be an incentive
to look again: what is it that really mattered in a life that ends with the
chosen, and surely well-considered, last words?
144 Writing One's Own Epitaph
NOTES
The photos used in this essay are by Richard E. Meyer.
1. Quoted in Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde (London, England: H. Hamilton, 1987), 170.
The second motto quoted above is from Nancy Millar, Remember Me as You Pass by: Stories
from Prairie Graveyards (Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Glenbow Museum, 1994), 66.
2. "Epitaph and Biography", Atlantic Monthly 97 (1906), 430.
3 . Compare, for example, the older Pope biographies cited in Note 37 with Maynard Mack's
compendious Alexander Pope: A Life (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986), or
Ralph L. Rusk's Emerson (see Note 41) with Robert D. Richardson, Emerson: The Mind on
Fire: A Biography (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995).
4. Karl S. Guthke, Last Words: Variations on a Theme in Cultural History (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1992), ch. 2. Joshua Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph (Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1991), 251-252, cites Samuel Johnson and Alexander Pope
on this point - which explains why last words will not infrequently appear on gravestones.
5. Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now (London, England: SCM Press, 1963), 24. On Cicero, see
Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 355.
6. Letter to Philip Chamberlain, 24 May 1731: The Correspondence of Jonathan Swift, ed. Harold
Williams, vol. 3 (Oxford, England: Clarendon, 1963), 469.
7. No. 28; I owe this information to Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 343.
8. One example: Franklin Pierce Adams, FPA Book of Quotation (New York, NY: Funk and
Wagnalls, 1952).
9. John Weever, Ancient Funeral Monuments (London, England: Thomas Harper, 1631), 18-
20.
1 0. I am indebted to Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 209, for this information.
1 1 . Emmet's words may be found in most dictionaries of familiar quotations. Robert Southey's
poetic paraphrase is entitled "Written Immediately after Reading the Speech of Robert
Emmet on his Trial and Conviction for High Treason, Sept. 1803" (Poems, ed. Maurice H.
Fitzgerald [London, England: Oxford University Press, 1909], 396-397).
12. Shakespeare, Works, ed. Nicholas Rowe (London, England: J. Tonson, 1714), vol. 1, xxxvi-
xxxvii.
13. Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, no. 433, 13 April 1872, 229.
14. Iiro Kajanto, Classical and Christian: Studies in the Latin Epitaphs of Medieval and Renaissance
Rome (Helsinki, Finland: Suomalainen tiedeakatemia, 1980), 50; Richmond Lattimore,
Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1942), 227-
228. These are cases of inscriptions on grave monuments erected during the lifetime of
the future occupant of the grave.
Karl S. Guthke 145
15. Raymond Lamont Brown, A New Book of Epitaphs (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England: Frank
Graham, 1973), 78. See also John McManners, Death and the Enlightenment (Oxford,
England: Clarendon, 1981), 329. Among the better known instances is Charles II's playful
epitaph on himself, written in reply to Rochester's (Geoffrey N. Wright, Discovering
Epitaphs [Princes Risborough, Bucks., England: Shire, 1996], 76). Entire monuments, too,
would at that time be "set up by the people commemorated or in accordance with their
detailed instructions" (Ralph Houlbrooke, Death, Religion, and the Family in England, 1480-
1750 [Oxford, England: Clarendon, 1998], 369); cp. Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 16;
Nigel Llewellyn, Funeral Monuments in Post-Reformation England (Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), 118-119. The practice dates back to Antiquity (see,
e.g., Hieronymus Geist and Gerhard Pfohl, Romische Grabinschriften [Munchen, Germany:
Heimeran, 1969], 17; cp. Note 14 above). Philippe Aries claims it was still very much
alive in the mid-1900s (The Hour of Our Death [New York, NY: Random House, 1981],
600).
16. This is the title of a volume of fictitious, "literary" epitaphs on the famous still living at
the time, by a joker who called himself Kensal Green, subtitled "written mostly in malice"
(London, England: Cecil Palmer, 1927); the victims are an odd lot: Churchill, Lady Astor,
Charlie Chaplin, Theodore Dreiser, Mussolini, Albert Einstein ("Here Einstein lies; / At
least they laid his bier / Just hereabouts - / Or relatively near," 31), Calvin Coolidge of "I
do not choose" fame ("His name was Calvin. / What would you expect / From one whose
namesake / Was of God's elect?", 22), the Bishop of London ("Here Dr. Ingram lies
removed / From all he so much disapproved," 13). The volume concludes with "Kensal
Green, his skin to save, / Here takes refuge in the grave" ( 63).
17. Raymond Lamont Brown, A New Book of Epitaphs, 82.
18. Royal Gazette Magazine (Hamilton, Bermuda), Nov. 1999, 14. The classic case is that of W.
C. Fields, who was asked that question by a writer for Vanity Fair ("Here lies W. C. Fields.
I would rather be in Philadelphia"); see John Francis Marion, Famous and Curious Cemeteries
(New York, NY: Crown, 1977), 71.
19. www.google.com: "Epitaphs and suicides."
20. Abraham Blinderman, "My Students Write Their Epitaphs," Humanist XXXVIII: 2 (1978),
4-5.
21. William Henry Beable, Epitaphs: Graveyard Humor and Eulogy (New York, NY: Thomas
Y. Crowell, 1925), 7.
22. The Correspondence of Alexander Pope, ed. George Sherburn, vol. 1 (Oxford, England:
Clarendon, 1956), 87 (17 May 1710).
23. Francis Bickley, The Life of Matthew Prior (London, England: Isaac Pitman, 1914), 283.
24. Samuel Johnson, ed. Donald Greene (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1984),
51-53.
25. www.nyfimes.com/2001/05/15/obituar. ..
146 Writing One's Own Epitaph
26. An example is Raymond Lamont Brown's A New Book of Epitaphs (see Note 15), 78-84,
from which I am taking the epitaphs (cited in this paragraph) on Lloyd George, Gershwin,
Arlen, Anderson, and Epstein; Joseph IFs comes from Eduard Burckhardt, Kaiser Joseph
der Zweite in seinem Leben und Wirken (Meiben, Germany: F. W. Goedsche, 1835), 399
(Joseph's tomb in the Vienna Capuchin Vault merely identifies him); Baudelaire: see
Oeuvres completes, ed. Claude Pichois (Paris, France: Gallimard, 1961), 198. See also E. K.
Shushan, Grave Matters (New York, NY: Ballantine, 1990), 193-204. As early as 1712 Andre
Francois Deslandes complained about the "mauvais gout" of Persian king Darius, who
on his deathbed asked for this epitaph: "J'ai pu boire beaucoup de vin & le bien porter"
(Reflexions sur les grands hommes qui sont mort en plaisantant, nouvelle edition, [Amsterdam,
Netherlands: Wetstein, 1732], 110). One of the probably very few cases of self-willed
epitaphic humor that actually made it to the gravestone is that of Major Charles Childe-
Pemberton, whose punning ("It is well with the child") is, to be sure, of biblical inspiration.
See my discussion in "Laughter in the Cemetery," Fabula 43 (2002). Beable, Epitaphs, 11:
"Perhaps the best pun - a touching and beautiful pun - ever achieved in a self-epitaph is
that on a grave in South Africa. On the night before Spion Kop, Child, of South African
Horse, gave instructions that when (not if) he fell on the morrow the words 'It is well with
the Child' should be graven on his tombstone."
27. The Oxford Book of Death, ed. D. J. Enright (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1983), 324; Paul Chaponniere, Piron (Geneve, Switzerland: Jullien, 1910), 104.
28. Ariosto: Renaissance Latin Verse: An Anthology, ed. Alessandro Perosa and John Sparrow
(Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1979), 182: "never inscribed on
A.'s tomb," which is preserved in the Biblioteca Communale of Ferrara. Mencken: Marion,
Famous and Curious Cemeteries, 235.
29. Robert L. Mack, Thomas Gray: A life (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), 7; 15.
For a photo, see Douglas Greenwood, Wlio's Buried Wliere in England (London, England:
Constable, 1999), 244.
30. Elizabeth's wish is cited from Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 53; for the epitaph in the
Abbey and its cost, see Paul Johnson, Elizabeth I: A Study in Power and Intellect (London,
England: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974), 441.
31 . Benjamin Franklin: His Life as he Wrote It, ed. Esmond Wright (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1990), 274-275. His well-known literary epitaph is preserved on a tablet
near his burial site; for a photo, see Jean Arbeiter and Linda D. Cirino, Permanent Addresses
(New York, NY: M. Evans, 1993), 150.
32. Bertolt Brecht, Gesammelte Werke in 20 Bdnden (Frankfurt, Germany: Suhrkamp, 1967),
vol. 8, 268; vol. 10, 1029. For a photo of Brecht's grave, see Marianne Resting, Bertolt
Brecht in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (Hamburg, Germany: Rowohlt, 308.-315.
Taus., 1983), 148.
33. Samuel Johnson, "On Gay's Epitaph," in Samuel Johnson, ed. Greene (see Note 24), 52.
Similar statements are found in Johnson's "An Essay on Epitaphs" of 1740.
34. Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 252; see Scodel, ch. 8, for Pope's lifelong concern with
epitaphs.
Karl S. Guthke 147
35. Ibid., p. 257; translation: Pope, The Prose Works, II, ed. Rosemary Cowler (Oxford: Blackwell,
1986), 505.
36. Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 257; 259.
37. Alexander Pope, Minor Poems, vol. 6 of the Twickenham edition, ed. Norman Ault and
John Butt (New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 1954), 376. For the circumstances of
the poem's appearance on Pope's gravemarker, see George Paston, Mr. Pope: His Life and
Times (London, England: Hutchinson, 1909), 697; Robert Carruthers, The Life of Alexander
Pope, 2nd ed. (London, England: Bohn, 1857), 403-404.
38. Carruthers, The Life of Alexander Pope, 404; cp. Paston, Mr. Pope, 697: "tasteless."
39. Pope, Minor Poems, 376.
40. Bickley The Life of Matthew Prior, 281; Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 273-274; Samuel
Richardson, Familiar Letters on Important Occasions, ed. Brian W. Downs (London, England:
Routledge, 1928), 211.
41 . Wolfgang Hadecke, Heinrich Heine: Eine Biographic (Mlinchen, Germany: Hanser, 1985),
531-532; translation: Heine, The Complete Poems, A Modern English Version by Hal Draper
(Boston, MA: Suhrkamp, 1982), 806; James Woodress, Will a Cather: A Literary Life (Lincoln,
NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1987), 505; Nancy Eills and Parker Hayden, Here Lies
America: A Collection of Notable Graves (New York, NY: Hawthorn, 1978), 7 (Wolfe);
Arbeiter and Cirino, Permanent Addresses, 134 (Sandberg; confirmed by "The Carl
Sandberg Birthplace," Galesburg); An Emily Dickinson Encyclopedia, ed. Jane Donahue
Eberwein (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998), 38, and Letters, ed. Thomas H. Johnson
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), vol. 3, 1046; Alfred Habegger, My
Wars Are Laid Away: The Life of Emily Dickinson (New York, NY: Random House, 2001),
625-626;Tom Weil, The Cemetery Book (New York, NY: Barnes and Noble, 1993), 56
(Bernhardt); Emerson, Works, The Standard Library Edition (Boston, MA: Houghton
Mifflin, 1883-1893), vol. 9, 17; Rusk, The Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson (New York, NY:
Scribner's, 1949), 508; Lynn F. Pearson, Discovering Famous Graves (Princes Risborough,
Bucks., England: Shire, 1998), 84, 97 (Sitwell, Eliot); Robert B. Dickerson, Final Placement:
A Guide to Deaths, Funerals, and Burials of Notable Americans (Algonac, MI: Reference
Publications, Inc., 1982), 73, 200 (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robeson). Other cases include Arno
Holz, who is buried under a stone inscribed with the final lines of his Phantasus: "Mein
Staub verstob; wie ein Stern strahlt mein Gedachtnis" (Stadtischer Friedhof Heerstrabe,
Berlin; see Klaus Hammer, Historische Friedhofe und Grabmdler in Berlin (Berlin, Germany:
Stattbuch, 1994), 173). George Du Maurier's gravestone in Hampstead's St. John's
churchyard features the closing lines of Trilby (1892), the novel he is famous for: "A little
trust that when we die / We reap our sowing! And so - good-bye." See Michael Kerrigan,
Wlxo Lies Where? A Guide to Famous Graves (London, England: Fourth Estate, 1998), 273;
see ibid., 371 for Felicia Hemans's grave in St. Ann's churchyard, Dublin ("Calm on the
bosom of thy God . .."). On Walter Benjamin and Heinrich von Kleist, see Karl S. Guthke,
"Epitaphs on Suicides," Grenzgdnge: Festschrift fitr Hans-Jorg Knobloch, eds. Helmut
Koopmann and Manfred Misch (Paderborn, Germany: Mentis, 2002), 433-459.
148 Writing One's Own Epitaph
42. On King, Harry Harmer reports: "On his gravestone were the words of the old slave
song, the words with which he had concluded his most eloquent speech: 'Free at last, free
at last; thank God Almighty, I'm free at last'" (Martin Luther King, [Stroud, Gloucs.,
England: Sutton, 1998], 101); the speech is the address at the Lincoln Memorial given as
part of the March on Washington in August 1963. On Klaus Mann, see Guthke, "Epitaphs
on Suicides."
43. For a similar (if witty, rather than ponderous) case of humanist pride expressed in a
"probably" self-written epitaph (John Marston), see Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph,
57.
44. Vergil, Landleben [...], Vergil-Viten, ed. Karl Bayer (Miinchen, Germany: Heimeran, 1970),
224; transl.: Theodore Ziolkowski, Virgil and the Moderns (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1993), 28.
45. Tenney Frank, Virgil: A Biography, (New York, NY: Holt, 1922), 193.
46. Bayer, ed., Vergil-Viten, 674.
47. Ugo Dotti, Vita di Petrarca (Rome, Italy: Laterza, 1987), 439; C. L. Fernow, Francesco
Petrarca, ed. Ludwig Hain (Altenburg and Leipzig, Germany: Brockhaus, 1818; rpt.
Amsterdam: Netherlands: Gruner, 1972), 311. "Still legible": H. C. Hollway-Calthrop,
Petrarch (London, England: Methuen, 1907), 303.
48. Thomas Campbell, Life of Petrarch (Philadelphia, PA: Carey and Hart, 1841), 406.
49. Hollway-Calthrop, Petrarch, 303.
50. Ernest H. Wilkins, Petrarca's Later Years (Cambridge, MA: The Medieval Academy of
America, 1959), 271; Dotti, Vita di Petrarca, 439: "che si vuole dettati dallo stesso poeta"
("presumably dictated by the poet himself").
51. Samuel Schoenbaum, William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life (New York, NY:
Oxford University Press, 1977), 306.
52. Adams, FPA Book of Quotations (Note 8), 296.
53. Schoenbaum, William Shakespeare, 306; 307. R. W. Ketton-Cremer, "Lapidary Verse,"
Proceedings of the British Academy 45 (1959), 242: "May not the modest quatrain have
been Shakespeare's own? Need we suppose that when it was time to contemplate his
own tomb, he felt like composing another exercise in elegiac sophistication like The Phoenix
and the Turtle, or another melodious lyric such as the dirge in Cymbeline? May he not have
rejected the splendours of 'defunctive music', and written something perfectly plain and
simple - commonplace perhaps, but perhaps a cry from the heart? I think it may be so;
and indeed it was pointed out, by that fine scholar John Semple Smart, that the lines
agree perfectly, in rhythm and cadence and rhyme, with the epilogue to The Tempest, the
last lines of Shakespeare's last play."
54. William Drake, Sara Teasdale: Woman and Poet (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1979),
259; 293. For other cases, see John Gary Brown, Soul in the Stone: Cemetery Art from
America's Heartland (Lawrence, KA: University Press of Kansas, 1994), 20; 36; 129; Frederic
Karl S. Guthke 149
W. Unger, Epitaphs (Philadelphia, PA: The Perm Publishing Company, 1905), 163; Bertrand
Beyern, Guide des cimetieres de France (Paris, France: Le Cherche midi, 1994), 201; Willi
Wohlberedt, Verzeichnis der Grabstdtten bekannter und beriihmter Personlichkeiten in Grob-
Berlin und Potsdam mit Umgebung, 4. Teil (Berlin, Germany: privately publ., n.d. [1952]),
preface and 368; see also Klaus Hammer, Historische Friedhofe, 148. In the Cimiterio de
Staglieno in Genoa, there is the sumptuous monument erected by a peddler, Caterina
Campodonico, with the following inscription, in the Genoese dialect:
By selling my wares at the sanctuaries of Acquasanta,
Garbo, and St. Cipriano, defying wind, sun and rain
in order to provide an honest loaf for my old age I
have also put by enough to have myself placed, later on,
with this monument, which I, Caterina
Campodonico (called the Peasant) have erected while
still alive.
1881. Oh, you who pass close to this my tomb, if you
will, pray for my peace. (Marion, Famous and Curious Cemeteries, 34).
55. The self-written epitaph of Anthony Kingscote, who "fell a sleepe in the Lord" in 1654,
on his sepulchral monument in Kingscote, Gloucs., reads:
Mistery of Misteryes, thou art hee:
Whose like was not, nor ere shall bee:
That Maiesty divine was ioyned in
With loathsome carkess of sinn:
That God of glory dayned to take
Curse, death and torments for our sake.
Hee did refuse the Angells state
And Abrahams seed upon him take.
To dye for enimyes and those
Who were becomde his utter foes:
To dye for us to make us good
Who all in curst corruption stood
To rayse us out of graves and hell
With him in light and life to dwell
Tremble with joy to thinke upon
This most misterious union
Glory to God mercy to man
Is Heavens proclamation
Anto: Kingscot
So thought
So wrote
Which doth declare his faith and prove
His part in God's eternall love:
Quoted from Kenneth Lindley, Of Graves and Epitaphs (London, England: Hutchinson,
1965), 165. For other cases, see Llewellyn, Funeral Monuments in Post-Reformation England,
118-120 (1566, 1623); Wright, Discovering Epitaphs, 85 (1927); Maeve Friel, Here Lies: A
Guide to Irish Graves (Dublin, Ireland: Poolbeg, 1997), 60; 209; 224 (1845, 1889, 1798);
Silvester Tissington, A Collection of Epitaphs and Monumental Inscriptions (London, England:
Simpkin, Marshall, 1857), 495 (1837); Thomas F. Ravenshaw, Antiente Epitaphes (London,
150 Writing One's Own Epitaph
England: Joseph Masters, 1878), 132; 174 (1689, 1793); Charles L. Wallis, Stories on Stone
A Book of American Epitaphs (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1954), 225 (1891);
H. P. V. Nunn, Christian Inscriptions (New York, NY: Philosophical Library, 1952), 29 (ca.
150).
56. Translation:
Here, I beg thee, pause for a while, traveler,
And ponder my words in thy heart,
That thou mayest understand thy fate in my shadow:
The form of thy body will be changed as was mine.
What thou art now, famous in the world, I have been, traveler,
And what I now am, thou wilt be in the future.
I was wont to seek the joys of the world in vain desire:
Now I am ashes and dust, and food for worms.
Remember therefore to take better care of thy soul
Than of thy body, because that survives, and this perishes.
Why dost thou look for possessions? Thou see'st in what a little cavern
This tomb folds me: Thine will be equally small.
Why are thou eager to deck in Tyrian purple thy body
Which soon in the dust the hungry worm will devour?
As flowers perish when comes the menacing wind,
So also thy flesh and all thy glory perish.
Give me, I beg thee, O reader, a return for this poem,
And pray: "Grant, O Christ, forgiveness to thy servant."
I implore thee, let no hand profane the holy rights of this tomb,
Until the angelic trumpet announces from Heaven high:
"Thou who liest in the tomb, rise from the dust of the earth,
The Mighty Judge appears to countless thousands."
My name was Alchuine, and wisdom was always dear to me.
Pour out prayers for me when thou quietly readest this inscription.
From Luitpold Wallach, Alcuin and Charlemagne (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
1959), 264-265. For the original Latin, see 256-257; for the tablet (now lost), 255.
57. The Works of Sir William Temple, Bart, in Tivo Volumes. Volume the First. To Winch is prefixed,
The Life and Character of Sir William Temple. Written by a Particular Friend (London, England:
J. Round, 1740), vol.1, xii.
58. Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson (Baton Rouge,
LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1987), 349.
59. Sherwood Anderson's Memoirs: A Critical Edition, ed. Ray Lewis White (Chapel Hill, NC:
University of North Carolina Press, 1969), 560; Arbeiter and Cirino, Permanent Addresses,
123.
60. Quoted from Weil, The Cemetery Book, 51 . On the willow on the grave, see Bertrand Beyern,
Guide des tombes d'hommes celebres (Paris, France: Le Cherche midi, 1998), 141.
61 . See the account of the vicissitudes of Frost's image in Jay Parini, Robert Frost: A Life (New
York, NY: Holt, 1999), 449-458. An amusing instance of using the epitaph as the last
Karl S. Guthke 151
word in a longstanding controversy is that of American poet John A. Joyce (t 1915). Even
though Ella Wheeler Wilcox had published the much-quoted lines "Laugh and the world
laughs with you / Weep and you weep alone" in her poem "Solitude" in 1883, Joyce
claimed priority of oral authorship. He had the text engraved with the by-line "Joyce" on
his tombstone in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C., well in advance of his demise.
See Eills and Hayden, Here Lies America (Note 41), 38-39.
62. Byron, The Complete Poetical Works, ed. Jerome J. McGann, vol. 4 (Oxford, England:
Clarendon, 1986), 2.
63. Wallace Cable Brown, Charles Churchill: Poet, Rake, and Rebel (Lawrence, KA: University
Press of Kansas, 1953), 196; Raymond J. Smith, Charles Churchill (Boston, MA: Twayne,
1977), 13.
64. The Poetical Works of Charles Churchill, ed. Douglas Grant (Oxford, England: Clarendon,
1956), 355.
65. Ferdinand Putschi, Charles Churchill: Sein Leben unci seine Werke (Wien, Austria, and
Leipzig, Germany: Braumiiller, 1909), 20.
66. Brown, Soul in the Stone, 216.
67. Frank McLynn, Robert Louis Stevenson (London, England: Hutchinson, 1993), 505. On the
date and circumstances of the composition of the "Requiem," see Rosaline Masson, The
Life of Robert Louis Stevenson (New York, NY: Stokes, 1923), 223-224.
68. I cite the text from The Variorum Edition of the Poems ofW. B. Yeats, ed. Peter Allt and
Russell K. Alspach (New York, NY: Macmillan, fifth printing, 1971), 640. Yeats dated the
poem himself, thereby making the date an integral part of the text. On Yeats's revision of
the poem shortly before his death, see A. Norman Jeffares, W. B. Yeats (Dublin, Ireland:
Gill and Macmillan, 1996), 273.
69. Keith Alldritt, W. B. Yeats (London, England: Murray 1997), 356-357.
70. As seen, for example, with recognizable variants, on literally hundreds of gravemarkers
from the Seventeenth Century onwards. See, as well, e.g., Shushan, Grave Matters, viii.
G. Walker Jacobs entitles his "Guide to Gravestones" Stranger Stop and Cast an Eye
(Brattleboro, VT: Greene, 1973). One thinks also of Nancy Millar's title Remember me as
You Pass by (Note 1). Closer to Yeats is an epitaph in Kersey Churchyard, Suffolk:
Reader pass on nor waste thy time
On bad biography or bitter rhyme
For what I am this humble dust enclose,
And what I was is no affair of yours. (Kerrigan, Wlio Lies Where?, 145)
A similar one is recorded by Wright, Discovering Epitaphs (note 15), 85; yet another by
Janet Greene, Epitaphs to Remember (Chambersburg, PA: Alan C. Hood, 1993), 34.
71 . Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 410.1 am indebted to Scodel's discussion of the inversion
of the conventional epitaphic pattern.
152 Writing One's Own Epitaph
72. Bryan B. Sterling and Frances N. Sterling, Will Rogers and Wiley Post: Death at Barrow
(New York, NY: M. Evans and Co., 1993), 267. For the actual epitaph, see Dickerson, Final
Placement, 204.
73. Calvin Tomkins, Duchamp: A Biography (New York, NY: Holt, 1996), 450; ill.: Beyern,
Guide des tombes d'hommes celebres, opp. p. 133. On the next sentence, see Tomkins, 3;
221; 231; 461, and (concerning the door) 277; 395; 400.
74. Samuel Johnson, ed. Greene (Note 24), 51-53 (see the citation, above); Scodel, The English
Poetic Epitaph, 302, n. 94, on contemporary criticism of the epitaph, which includes Myles
Cooper's "Be never merry more than wise" (Poems on Several Occasions [Oxford, England:
W.Jackson, 1671], 23).
75. Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph, 301. The letter is from 1727 or 1729 (Scodel, 301-302,
n. 90); Gay died in 1732.
76. See Karl S. Guthke, "Laughter in the Cemetery," Fabula 43 (2002).
77. Maurice Johnson, "Swift and 'the Greatest Epitaph in History,'" PMEA 68 (1953), 814-
827; the will: 818; criticism: 818; 820. 1 quote the epitaph from 818, Yeats's "translation"
from The Variorum Edition (Note 68), 493.
78. William Butler Yeats, The Words upon the Window-Pane, in Wieels and Butterflies (London,
England: Macmillan, 1934), 45.
79. Walter Jackson Bate, Coleridge (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1968), 235. On the date, see
James Dykes Campbell, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Highgate, England: Lime Tree Bower
Press, 1970), 276. On Coleridge's interest in his tombstone, see Richard Holmes, Coleridge:
Darker Reflection, 1804-1834 (London, England: HarperCollins, 1998), 556.
80. Holmes, Coleridge, 557.
81 . Ibid.: "For all his self-doubts, Coleridge had some confidence that his work would now
endure." This, however, is not offered as an interpretation of the epitaph. The "Epitaph"
is quoted from The Complete Poetical Works, ed. Ernest Hartley Coleridge (Oxford, England:
Clarendon, 1912), vol. 1, 491-492. Commenting on the penultimate line of the epitaph in
an undated letter to J. G. Lockhart (5 November 1833), Coleridge wrote: "N.b. - 'for' in
the sense of 'instead of." See Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Earl Leslie
Griggs, vol. 6 (Oxford, England: Clarendon, 1971), 973, Note 2.
82. Grace Kellogg, The Two Lives of Edith Wharton: The Woman and Her Work (New York, NY:
Appleton-Century, 1965), 308.
83. Lindbergh, a meticulous planner of his funeral and his burial place, chose Psalm 139:9:
"If 1 take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea." The
words appear on his marble tombstone in the Kipahulu Churchyard on Maui, Hawaii (A.
Scott Berg, Lindbergh [New York, NY: Putnam's, 1998], 557). Ellen Glasgow chose as her
epitaph the lines from Milton's "Lycidas": "Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new"
(Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA; see Susan Goodman, Ellen Glasgow: A Biography
[Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998], 250).
Karl S. Guthke 153
84. Thomas Wright, The Life of Edward Fitzgerald (London, England: Grant Richards, 1904),
220; see also Alfred McKinley Terhune, The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, Translator of The
Rubdiydt of Omar Kayydm (London, England: Oxford University Press, 1947), 345.
85. John Glyde, The Life of Edward Fitz-Gerald (Chicago, IL, and New York, NY: H. S. Stone,
1900), 314.
86. On Kazantzakis' wish for his epitaph, see Peter Bien, Kazantzakis: Politics of the Spirit
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989), xxiv.
87. For the "testament," see Rilke, Briefe an Nanny Wunderly-Volkart, vol. 2 (Frankfurt,
Germany: Insel, 1977), 1192. For the actual gravestone, see Rilke, Werke, ed. Manfred
Engel et al., vol. 2, (Frankfurt, Germany: Insel, 1996), 853; for critical analyses, see ibid.,
853 and 772-775. Quotation: 774 ("umfassende[s] Dichtungs-, Daseins- und Weltsymbol").
Translation: Donald Prater, A Ringing Glass: Tlie Life ofRainer Maria Rilke (Oxford, England:
Clarendon, 1986), 383.
88. Ronald A. Rebholz, Tlie Life ofFulke Greville, First Lord Brooke (Oxford, England: Clarendon,
1971), 317 (date of the tomb); xxv ("last piece"); 312 ("vision"). The wording of the epitaph
is taken from Rebholz, 318; the quotations following the epitaph are from 317.
89. Quoted by Rebholz, Ibid., 318, from a ms. among the Greville papers.
90. Walter Jackson Bate, John Keats (London, England: Oxford University Press, 1967), 694.
91. Robert Gittings, John Keats (London, England: Heinemann, 1968), 428; Douglas Bush,
John Keats (London, England: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966), 198. On the possible sources
of the wording (Elizabethan, ancient Greek), see Tlie Keats Circle, ed. Hyder Edward Rollins
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1948), vol. 2, 91, N. 72, and Oonagh Lahr's
note in the Keats-Shelley Journal 21-22 (1972-73), 17-18.
92. Bate, John Keats, 694; Andrew Motion, Keats (London, England: Faber and Faber, 1997),
564-565. Like Gittings, both of these authors state that Keats wanted only the by now
famous line. This may be implied, but is not explicitly stated in Severn's letter to Charles
Brown of 14 February 1841, which is the "foundational" text in this respect (The Keats
Circle, vol. 2, 91); but this is apparently not the only version of this letter (The Keats Circle,
vol. 2, 89, n. 69).
93. Bush, John Keats, 200. Bate, John Keats, 694 summarizes the controversy among Keats'
friends about the wording. For a photo of the grave, see Motion, Keats, fig. 72.
154
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
Fig. 1. Thomas Foster Memorial, Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada,
as viewed from entrance gates.
155
THE THOMAS FOSTER MAUSOLEUM: CANADA'S TAJ MAHAL
Sybil F. Crawford
Introduction
Unless forewarned, first-time visitors to the Uxbridge, Ontario coun-
tryside will have little reason to suspect they are about to see a mauso-
leum (Fig. 1) that has emerged as a veritable tourist attraction for which
visitors are willing to pay an admission charge. Located approximately
75 miles from Toronto, the mausoleum is situated on property adjoining
Zion Cemetery, where its rural location belies its metropolitan grandeur
(Fig. 2). Driving eastward from Toronto on Highway 401, north on High-
way 38, and east again on Highway 37, motorists will reach Uxbridge.
Turning north on Durham Regional Road 1 and driving about 6.5 miles
in the direction of Leaskdale, the dome of the mausoleum will soon be
glimpsed above the treetops to the right.
The mausolea of such tycoons as F. W. Woolworth, Louis Sherry, and
the Getty, Belmont, and Wainwright families (to name but a few) have
long been publicized as architectural gems, yet they seem relatively un-
ostentatious and somewhat dwarfed when compared with the mauso-
Fig. 2. Panoramic view of the Foster Memorial
and adjoining Zion Cemetery.
156
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
leum of the lesser known Foster (Fig. 3). Researching memorials (simple
or grandiose) leads to the discovery of how, when, where, and why per-
sons were memorialized as they were - and by whom. While descrip-
tions of memorials, their material, size, ornamentation, and symbolism,
have their place, determining if there is any correlation between the
"man" and the "memorial" can be a far more fascinating exercise. Dis-
section of a personality often leads us toward an answer, as is the case
with Thomas Foster, whose memorial, at first glance, contradicts almost
everything known about this complex individual.
The Man
Born near Toronto on July 25, 1852, Foster spent his early years in
Scott Township, York County, where his father and a brother ran the
Leaskdale Hotel.1 After the death of his mother, the young man was sent
to live with an uncle in 1867. For three years, he served an apprentice-
ship at the butcher shop of Richardson Brothers in Toronto, then opened
his own shop. Learning quite by accident that the owner of the property
was about to sell it, he bought his own building - a fortuitous introduc-
tion to the opportunities abounding in real estate. After eighteen years
in the butcher business, he retired at age 39, a rich man, and entered
Fig. 3. Close-up, angled view of the mausoleum.
Sybil F. Crawford 157
politics at the municipal level. In 1893, at age 41, the comfortably-settled
Foster married Elizabeth McCauley. The couple's daughter, Ruby, their
only child, died in 1904 at age 10.
Foster's "Honest Tom" nickname, earned during his butchering days,
resulted from his reputation for fair-dealing with shop customers. It
stayed with him for the balance of his life - no small feat for a politician.
First elected a Toronto alderman in 1891, the year of his retirement
from trade, he appeared at his initial City Council meeting in formal
evening attire - striped trousers and white tie - at 10 a.m.2 While this
was almost certainly rented garb, he is known to have owned a short, ill-
fitting velvet coat for wear on state occasions. This coat disappeared some-
what mysteriously (or was discreetly withdrawn from service) after the
Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee celebrations of 1897, perhaps prompted
by a stinging reference by Alderman O. B. Sheppard to "Solomon in all
his glory."3 Foster was described as "a vain man, keenly conscious of his
success." As a young man, he had an unusually luxuriant head of hair,
made even more noticeable by the great quantities of hair oil he applied.
His desire to be noticed was also evidenced by his use of what has been
described as a "flaming red" silk handkerchief flowing casually from his
breast pocket.4
He was frequently elected alderman from 1891 until 1909, when he
returned to City Hall as Controller, serving from 1910 to 1917. During
this time, he was involved in countless civic debates, not the least of
which was the May, 1913 debate concerning the granting of more Cana-
dian civil knighthoods. On a less exalted plane, he was in favor of day-
light savings time and suffrage for women! A great supporter of
hydro-electric power, he quite rightly recognized cheap electricity as being
an important requirement for promotion of Ontario's industry.5 Closer
to home, one of his most valuable contributions to Toronto's growth was
his promotion of a street-paving program.
Moving up in the political world, he was elected to serve as East York's
representative in the Federal House of Commons and served there from
1917 (as a Conservative) until 1921 (when he was defeated as an Inde-
pendent). After his wife died in 1920, he sought solace in outside activi-
ties and, with the federal service behind him, he returned to Toronto,
serving as Controller for another three years. In 1925, Foster ran a suc-
cessful first race for the mayor's post and served in that capacity in 1925,
1926, and 1927. Given Toronto's role as one of Canada's major cities, the
mayoral post was not insignificant.
158 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
In his capacity as Toronto's mayor, Foster was often called upon to
take a prominent part in the visits of dignitaries such as the Prince of
Wales or the homecomings of sports figures such as George Young, the
marathon swimmer hailed as a hero upon his return from a swimming
victory at Catalina. A social faux pas which gained considerable public
notice occurred when Viscount Willingdon paid a visit to Toronto. Greet-
ing the Viscount, Foster asked quite bluntly and with a total disregard of
his pronunciation, "Are you the vice-count?" We can only wonder if he
was unaware of proper dress, conversation, and protocol or was know-
ingly making "newspaper copy"6
Frugality, learned in his youth, was one of his lifelong traits and gives
rise to a bit of oft-repeated Foster lore. He had been saving money for
quite some time when a circus came to town. Rather than treat himself
to a circus outing, as might be expected of any typical teenager, he and
three friends (Will Ryrie, Jack Reid, and Johnny O'Neill) invested their
savings in a peanut stand near the entrance. Shortly after setting up the
booth, it was knocked over by a rampaging loose elephant and the entire
stock of peanuts eaten.7 This was said to be his first and last "foolish"
investment. (Like Foster, his three young friends would later enjoy suc-
cess. Ryrie would become a famous Canadian jeweler, Reid a prominent
lumberman, and O'Neill a prospering manufacturer and hotelier.)
Foster's penchant for thrift, which began at home, would eventually
make him famous, and stories of his penny-pinching are legion. When
butter was required for home use, Foster walked more than a half-mile
to a dairy, insisting on purchasing a half-pound only. The dairy oblig-
ingly catered to his whim, refrigerating the other half in anticipation of
his return when more was needed.8
Sam Lee, his houseboy of many years, worked for $40 per week, but
had his wages cut to $35 during the 1930s, "hard times" being his
employer's excuse for doing so.9 A 1959 newspaper article claimed that a
former chauffeur had an even less pleasant experience and, in 1947, sued
the Foster estate for back wages.10 If taken at face value, it is difficult to
envision the tight-fisted Foster having a chauffeur in his employ, and
our instincts would be correct. After investigation of the Foster estate
records, it is clear that the newspaperman gave only half the story and
was somewhat less than accurate in his reporting. The "chauffeur" was,
in fact, Foster's nephew, Robert Foster, Jr., and he filed a $25,000 claim
(not a suit) against the estate. The claim, later withdrawn, outlined ser-
vices young Foster rendered his uncle from 1914 until his death. While
Sybil F. Crawford 159
an essentially simple document, a reading of the claim is valuable for the
additional insights it offers.
By 1914, Foster had purchased an automobile of his own, and his
nephew taught him to drive that year. Robert, Jr. drove his uncle about the
City of Toronto on many occasions during his campaigning days and also
distributed election literature and posters. On occasions when Foster was
absent from the city, he collected rents and mortgage money, but was never
paid for doing so. For a period of fourteen years (1920 to 1934) Foster was
frequently driven to his nephew's farm, always returning home with great
quantities of fruit and vegetables. As construction of the Memorial got
under way, Foster made frequent visits, and his nephew claimed that he
drove Foster to Uxbridge on no less than twenty occasions each year for
the next ten years. As age began to take its toll, Foster placed his car in
storage and nephew Robert acted as his driver, using his own automobile
and bearing all the expense of gas, oil, tires, and general wear and tear on
the vehicle. A single reimbursement is evidenced by a receipt for $163 "on
account of automobile expenses in 1943." We might at first suspect that
Robert, Jr. was a favorite nephew, as he accompanied Foster on various
outings over the years and was in constant attendance, day and night, at
the time of his uncle's last illness (of seven weeks' duration).11 This is not
supported by the terms of his uncle's will, however, as young Robert seem-
ingly fared little better than his siblings and cousins.
Not one to waste money on a rental agent, Foster collected the rent
from his many tenants himself. If plumbing problems or the need for a
paint touch-up were reported on such occasions, he stepped out to his
car, located the appropriate tools, and handled the matter personally
and on the spot.12
His frugality was quite as much in evidence in public life as in his
personal enterprises, and during his three years as mayor it is said that
his economies saved the city $2,000,000. Annexation was a pet peeve,
and none occurred during his term of office, probably because he fore-
saw it as a drain on city resources.13 One of his ploys was to have all
municipal vehicles boldly marked with "City of Toronto" to ensure they
were not used for non-business purposes. During one of his campaigns,
he was accompanied by a singer who chanted, "He's a daisy, he's a daisy,
he's a watchdog just now."14 Whatever its obscure meaning, the phrase
somehow seemed to send a positive message to the voters.
In spite of all his saving ways, Foster was never predictable. When
Toronto City Hall was new, it lacked a flagpole, a shortcoming he rem-
160 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
edied out of his own pocketbook "and hang the cost." A gift of $1,000 to
a war widow was another of his unexpected generosities, made after the
woman's claim for her husband's city insurance was disallowed. As he
wrote the check, he noted that "the poor woman has had enough troubles
and litigation." He was no stranger to litigation himself and, paradoxi-
cally, had just been awarded that exact amount in a libel action.15 C. Alfred
Maguire, an ex-mayor of Toronto, observed that on a trip to New York
City to inspect its harbor, Foster bought expensive cigars and entertained
members of the delegation "lavishly."16 If true, it was certainly most un-
characteristic.
For one who appeared to be a product of this none-too-kind world
and continually obsessed with money, many were surprised to find that
he had quite another, gentler side. During his days as Toronto's mayor,
his office was almost always fragrant with bouquets of fresh flowers from
Allan Gardens. A snip of geranium (his favorite flower) was seldom ab-
sent from the buttonhole of his coat. When the pavilion at Allan Gar-
dens burned, he was quick to push for rebuilding it as an elaborate
greenhouse. He is also credited with being the promoter of the Royal
Winter Fair.17
Life was never dull if Foster was around. He had an unsuspected flair
for showmanship and publicity, and even the most ordinary occasion
could be turned into a newsworthy event. The ideas were ostensibly his
own, as he did not have a public relations man (nor would he have paid
the price) to think up quirky attention-getters. When he took his first
airplane flight in September of 1927, not content to simply enjoy his lofty
view of the city below, he dropped ten $1 bills with Union Jack flags
attached. Persons finding these bills were instructed to return them and
have them redeemed for a brand-new $5 bill.18
A Toronto City Clerk, James W. Somers, recalled Foster donning a
cowboy suit and wide-brimmed hat and riding on horseback from the
Canadian National Exhibition grounds to City Hall with performers from
a visiting rodeo in tow. The horse was ridden up the City Hall steps and
back down before Foster dismounted and placed a wreath on the City
Hall Cenotaph.19 Another Somers recollection tells of a journey the two
took to Ottawa on official city business, with Foster carrying his "ward-
robe" in a paper sack (he apparently believed an ample supply of throw-
away celluloid collars made a change of shirts unnecessary). A slip-on
tie was another of his inexpensive time-savers and, until he became mayor,
Sybil F. Crawford 161
Foster never owned a suit of formal wear.20 Somers was on this same trip
vigorously upbraided by the mayor for booking two separate rooms,
thereby doubling the cost of the stay.21 For his later international travel,
he made the slightest of bows to convention and carried a single piece of
luggage. His few items of travel apparel included two hats - a black
derby for land excursions and a peaked cap for wear at sea.22
Always expecting to reign victorious and accustomed to having his
own way, he could become belligerent if thwarted. On one occasion,
during his stint as City Controller, he was fined $20 for assaulting an
alderman (after calling the alderman a liar, Foster invited him to step
outside the Council chambers for an exchange of fisticuffs).23
Foster's political ambitions and promotion of civic frugality were
greatly aided by a newspaper photo taken by a Telegram reporter show-
ing W. W. Hiltz, the incumbent mayor and seeker of another term, with
his long, sleek, city-furnished limousine and liveried chauffeur. Hiltz was
an ardent temperance advocate and Foster let it be known that he him-
self was somewhat more flexible on the liquor question. Given his stand
on these two issues, Foster's appeal to the electorate and his election to
office were assured.
"Fighting Sam" McBride was Foster's opponent in his 1928 (and
fourth) bid for the mayor's post, and what a contest it was! The Telegram,
backing Foster, deftly drew public attention to a judicial inquiry into the
sale of $296,000 worth of lumber to the Toronto Harbor Board by Samuel
J. McBride Lumber Company while McBride was a City Council mem-
ber. The Star, on the other hand, supported McBride, making Foster's
refusal to increase the size of the police force a major issue. During the
1920s, when Toronto's municipal politics were in disarray, Foster led a
businessmen's revolt against such an increase, suggesting tongue-in-cheek
that it would be far less expensive for the city to reimburse individuals,
banks, or businesses that were robbed than to add further to what he
perceived to be the city's already bloated law enforcement payroll.24 There
was one element of the citizenry that may actually have been pleased
with the shortage of police officers. A Star staff writer of later years, John
Brehl, reported that there was no tally of how Toronto's mobsters voted
in 1928, but McBride nevertheless won by 15,500 votes. In describing
Foster's last day in office, the Star relented a little and generously pro-
nounced Foster an imposing figure, "looking like a retiring Roman con-
sul giving his valedictory to the conscript fathers ..."2
162 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
The Inspiration
Defeated by "Fighting Sam" McBride in his 1928 bid for the mayor's
post, and finding his life empty, Foster surprised his friends by announc-
ing that he intended to seek escape in travel. In 1931, he made the first of
three trips around the world. The trips, made when he was in his late
seventies and older, included a visit to India's Taj Mahal. Located on the
Jumna River in Agra, the famous structure was built by Shah Jahan, who
succeeded his father as Mughal emperor and ruled from 1652 to 1658, as
a mausoleum for his beloved and favorite wife.26 One of the world's most
stunning buildings, it is said to represent the throne of God in Paradise.
Although construction was begun in 1631, shortly after his wife's death,
it was not completed until seventeen years later and required the work
of more than 20,000 laborers. It soars some 187 feet from its platform,
featuring domes and high portals.27 Its pure white marble contrasts pleas-
antly with its red sandstone neighbors, and the mausoleum's beautiful
proportions and lush landscape obviously caught Foster's eye. With a
fortune at his command, he promptly decided he wanted a similar me-
morial for his wife and daughter, both of whom were originally buried
at St. James Cemetery, located on Parliament Street in Toronto. His devo-
tion seemingly called for something on a grand scale, and upon his re-
turn to Toronto he wasted no time in making the vision become a reality.
The Planning and Construction
The principal architect for the project was J. H. Craig (1889-1954),
who worked with architect H. H. Madill (1889-1988). Classmates at the
University of Toronto's School of Architecture, from which both received
degrees in 1912, they later formed the architectural firm of Craig & Madill.
James Craig was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, rendered service in World
Wars I and II, and was president of the Ontario Association of Architects
in 1931 and 1932. He succumbed to a heart attack at age 65. Henry
Harrison Madill was born in Beaverton, Ontario, and, like Foster, grew
up in the Uxbridge area. Later moving to Toronto with his family, he,
too, served in World Wars I and II. As second head of the University of
Toronto's School of Architecture, he taught there for 23 years, until his
retirement in 1957, aged 68. Madill was still alive and a wonderfully alert
97-year-old when the mausoleum was rededicated in 1986. 28 The original
architectural drawings for the Memorial, once believed lost, have been
found and the Friends of the Thomas Foster Memorial plan to repro-
duce them (suitable for framing) and sell them as a fund-raiser.29
Sybil F. Crawford
163
#? «.
Fig. 4. Central floor design, a mosaic depiction
of the mythical River Styx.
Fig. 5. Gold-lettered inscription on
shaded blue mosaic field encircles dome.
164
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
General contractors for the Memorial were Messrs. Witchall and Son
of Toronto,30 and firms and residents of the local area were employed
whenever possible - a boon to the lagging economy.31 Constructed over
a three-year period, the Memorial cost approximately $250,000. The origi-
nal estimate had been $100,000, but Foster's frequent add-ons quickly
escalated the cost. When interviewed years later, Madill laughingly said
Foster "wanted everything" but did not want to pay for it. One scholarly
study of the archaeological significance of mausolea has stated that the
cost for pre-1930 mausolea ranged between $15,000 and $25,000.32 The
cost of the Foster mausoleum (a product of the mid-1930s) obviously
exceeds these figures many times over, and is made even more impres-
sive by the absence of inflation during this Depression period. When
compared to the "averages," the cost itself suggests size and ornamenta-
tion far exceeding the norm. If built today, it has been estimated that the
Memorial's cost would range between $4,500,000 and $5,500,000. At the
same time, we must also recognize that it would be virtually impossible
to secure craftsmen capable of workmanship equal to the original.33
While the Taj Mahal's beauty was appealing to Foster and the archi-
tects, they felt its Mogul architecture was not suitable to the Ontario lo-
Fig. 6. View into dome, showing pendentive
heavily decorated with floral and geometric designs.
Sybil F. Crawford 165
cation, and it was translated into something more Christian, employing
forms of the Byzantine Empire, with an all-new and original design. Both
interior and exterior were accorded equal attention, although true Byz-
antine architecture tends to downplay the importance of exterior ap-
pearance and enriches the interior. While the architecture of the Foster
mausoleum may be Byzantine-inspired, faint traces of the Taj Mahal can
nevertheless be perceived even by the untrained eye.
More than a private mausoleum, the structure was planned to serve
as a community chapel for funeral services as well. The enduring mate-
rials of the Foster Memorial were intended to express the beauty and
permanence of the Christian faith, and the Indiana limestone exterior is
beautifully complemented by a white marble interior.
The Interior
Steel-reinforced doors covered with tile were chemically treated to
produce a permanent green surface, and the floors, of terrazzo and
marble, are embellished with symbolic designs. Visitors entering the
mausoleum find themselves crossing a mosaic depiction of the River
Styx, treading lightly over water-lilies and lily pads (Fig. 4).
Circling the lower part of the dome, above the arches, the words "Take
this my body for it is done and I have gained a new life, glorious and
eternal" are inscribed in gold letters on a field of shaded blue mosaics
(Fig. 5). Under the great dome, the Greek "Alpha and Omega" letters
flank "IHS" (standing for "In Hoc Signo [Vinces]" and used as a Chris-
tian symbol and monogram for Jesus). Translating into "By this sign thou
shalt conquer," it takes its meaning from the story that before the Battle
of the Milvian Bridge, just north of Rome, in 312, the Roman Emperor
Constantine claimed he saw a cross in the sky emblazoned with this
inscription. When he was victorious in battle, he took it as a sign that he
should free the Christian religion in the Roman Empire. The Edict of
Milan in 313 gave Christians rights of worship, and the sign is, therefore,
essentially a symbol of the cross. The central motif is enclosed by a laurel
wreath, perhaps representative of victory over death. The mosaic tiles
were handcrafted by Italian artisans commissioned to produce them
specifically for this job.
A handsome dado of Bois-Jourdain marble, shot with red and inlaid
with gold mosaic, surrounds the interior. The pendentives under the dome,
soffits, and returns of the arches feature glass mosaics in floral and geo-
metric patterns executed in brilliant, harmonious colors (Figs. 6 and 7).
166
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
Fig. 7. A soaring pendentive, flanked by
multi-colored marble columns.
Sybil F. Crawford
167
The marble altar and pulpit (Fig. 8) are approached from the raised
apse by three travertine steps and add to the temple-like qualities. The
marble reredos, emblazoned with gold cross and "IHS," is a departure
from the canopied altars of early church forms, but more appropriate to
present-day services. The pulpit of Rochester marble features a carved
frieze and inlay of gold mosaic. The southern transept contains three
crypts, holding the remains of Foster, his wife, and his daughter (see Fig.
9). Above each crypt is a window bearing a modest memorial shield.
The ceilings, with exceptional acoustical qualities, are azure blue. It
is this feature that has made the mausoleum so appropriate for present-
day classical music concerts and is not the only such acoustical master-
piece credited to the architects Craig and Madill. Toronto's Canadian
National Exhibition Bandstand is their work as well and was constructed
at about the same time as the Foster Memorial.
The mausoleum's original pump organ remains in place, although an
electric organ has since been donated by Uxbridge's lady mayor, Gerri-
Lynn O'Connor. Manufactured by Heintzman and Co., Ltd. in Toronto,
the pump organ is identified as their "Vocalion" model.
Fig. 8. Marble altar and pulpit backed by
marble reredos and emblazoned with gold cross.
168
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
Fig. 9. Marble crypt of Ruby, ten-year-old daughter
of Thomas Foster, in south transept.
Fig. 10. Temporary storage crypts in mausoleum's sub-structure.
Sybil F. Crawford 169
There are no light fixtures on the exterior of the mausoleum and, as
a consequence, outdoor evening events are seldom scheduled. The in-
terior was wired for lighting at the outset, the 60-ampere system call-
ing for 300-watt bulbs with bases having a diameter of nearly 1 3/4
inches. With the passage of time, as bulbs burned out, it became diffi-
cult, and then impossible, to find replacements. It was eventually nec-
essary to adapt the original large sockets to accommodate modern
large-base 100-watt high-intensity bulbs. One of the few old 300-watt
bulbs that was salvaged whole is said to be a prized memento of an
electrician who worked on revamping the light sockets. In updating
the electrical system, some of the building's original commercial-grade
copper wiring has been replaced. Decorative rood screens such as were
used in medieval times were intended to divide the areas designated
for the general public and the priests and dignitaries. These designs
were adapted in brass to cover the old-style bulbs above the interior
arches.34
Harsh Ontario winters often prevent immediate burial, and six un-
der-floor crypts (see Fig. 10) were included in the plan to accommodate
temporary storage. Three removable floor slabs facilitate the lowering
and raising of the caskets from the main floor. There is, however, an
entrance to the sub-structure which provides an alternate access from
the outside. A cable and pulley system, operated from this area, permits
opening and closing of the windows in the dome.35
The mausoleum is heated throughout the winter season, but, because
of its naturally pleasant summer temperature, air-conditioning has never
been considered necessary. A unique air circulation system keeps the
temperature constant within the mausoleum: air slots (about the size of
today's conventional air registers) are connected behind the walls of the
building from the basement upward to the top of the dome.36
Not intended to be simply ornamental, the Memorial was designed
to be used, and so it has, although until recently relatively few local resi-
dents had ever been inside. The wooden rush-seat chairs are the origi-
nals, the attached kneelers adding a "high church" touch. For concerts
and similar public events, there is a seating capacity of approximately
155. If a performing group requires an unusual amount of up-front space
on the main floor, chairs can be added in two raised areas just off the
front entrance and in the north transept37 (the three identical Foster fam-
ily crypts, with the names and dates incised thereon, are situated in the
south transept).
170
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
The Heraldic Devices
Under each of four great arches, a marble screen separates the cross-
ing from transepts, apse, and nave. Sixteen marble columns, four to each
screen, support the arches with pierced marble tympana above. The col-
umns of vari-colored Italian marble have carved Devon stone capitals.38
H.H. Madill stated that the marble used atop the columns was imported
from England and hauled from the Uxbridge railway station by oxen.
Each capital is unique, utilizing the heraldic symbol of a Saint or Apostle
(Fig. 11). Among the Memorial's archival documents is a listing of the
heraldic devices and their symbolic meaning.39
Simon Peter is symbolized by two keys crossed in the form of the
letter "X." The keys take their meaning from a promise made by Jesus to
Simon Peter in Matthew 16:19, "I will give you the keys of the Kingdom
of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." One key is
gold and the other silver, the two keys representing the power to bind
and absolve (loose). They also represent the spiritual authority of the
church, as referenced in Matthew 18:18.
Fig. 11. Columns are topped by Devon marble capitals sculpted
to depict symbols of various Saints and Apostles.
Sybil F. Crawford 171
Symbolizing Phillip is a cross with two loaves of bread on each side.
The cross is representative of his successful missionary journeys among
the barbarians in Upper Asia and Phrygia, where he spread knowledge of
Christianity and the cross of Christ. The loaves of bread (as noted in John
6:5) recall a remark made by Phillip to Jesus when confronted by a hungry
multitude, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?"
Andrew was a fisherman, as was his brother, Simon Peter. The
martyred Andrew was bound to a cross, rather than nailed, in order to
prolong his suffering. The most common symbol of Saint Andrew is a
cross shaped like an "X," and two fish with their tails turned upward are
often placed thusly to form the design. Illustrations frequently show
Andrew with the two fish in his hands, identifying him as a fisherman,
and it was he who asked the boy with two fishes and a loaf of bread to
give them to Jesus. After being blessed by Jesus, the two fishes and single
loaf were multiplied sufficiently to feed five thousand in the wilderness.
Thomas is symbolized by a carpenter's square and a spear. He is said
to have built a church in India with his own hands and was later perse-
cuted there, killed with a spear wielded by a pagan priest.
A Bible and flaying knife are the symbols of Bartholomew. According
to Biblical tradition, Bartholomew won the King of Polymus of Armenia
to Christianity, but so angered the king's brother that he had him flayed,
crucified with his head facing downward, then beheaded. The flaying
knife refers to his martyrdom, and he is often pictured with an open
Bible and a flaying knife pointed upward.
The symbols of the writers of the Gospels have received attention as
well: Matthew, the evangelist, is portrayed as a winged man, it being
thought that his Gospel dwells more on the human side of Jesus than
those of the other Gospel writers. Mark is symbolized by a winged lion.
The lion, as king of the beasts, represents the royal character of Jesus and
refers to the opening verses of the Gospel according to Saint Mark. The
eagle represents John, soaring heavenward to the throne of God. Because
Luke's Gospel opens with the sacrifice of Zacharias, he is symbolized by
a winged ox, emphasizing the sacrificial death of the Savior.
The Stained Glass Artist
The drum of the dome features twelve magnificent stained glass win-
dows through which the light filters brightly. Unlike what one might
expect, the windows are handpainted and fired leaded glass, not con-
ventionally crafted colored glass. An east window is particularly fine,
172
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
taking the form of a gold cross on a rich blue ground. Because of their
situation within the dome, more than fifty feet above eye level, few pho-
tographs are available of the windows. Both these windows and the
mosaic floors utilize various symbols as decorative features. The mas-
sive, compartmented stained glass window above the entrance doors
features geometric designs with a striking use of red (Fig. 12).
Yvonne Williams, designer of the Memorial's windows, was born in
Trinidad, where her parents were in business. A graduate of Ontario
College of Art, her early emphasis was on sculpture but she later turned
to stained glass. While a student, she was awarded the Governor General's
Gold Medal for excellence in drawing and design. Finding instruction
unavailable in Toronto, the twenty-two-year-old set off for Boston, where
she studied in a glass studio for two years. Upon her return to Toronto in
1930, she set up a studio on her own and enjoyed great success. Some
150 churches and chapels in Canada feature her work. Still alive in 1986
when the mausoleum's 50th anniversary took place, the octogenarian
remained active and was experimenting with the effect of light through
layers of glass and the possibility of promoting its thermal qualities for
commercial purposes. "Church Windows," designed by Williams, was
Fig. 12. Stained glass windows above main entrance doors bear
strong red and turquose geometric designs on an opaque field.
Sybil F. Crawford
173
used by Canada Post in 1976 for its Christmas stamp.40 Assisting the
artist in the leading of the windows was George London.
The Exterior
"Built for the ages," the Memorial has a reinforced concrete frame,
clad in limestone. Laid in a 17V2-inch-wide course, the main blocks are
33 to 50 inches wide and range from 83A to 17 inches deep.41
Viewed from the outside, the eye is first drawn to the domed cupo-
las, roofed in patterned copper, a product of Anaconda Brass Company
(Fig. 13). A curved, segmented ladder was cleverly designed for storage
within the roof area, allowing workmen easy access to the finial which
tops the dome. Local residents whose memories extend into the distant
past seem to recall that the finial was once topped by a gold-plated ball.
If so, it has not yet been located.42
The Memorial's octagonal terrace, upon which the building rests, is 87
feet wide and 92 feet long. The building itself is 55 feet wide and 60 feet
long. From the ground below the terrace to the top of the finial on the
central dome is a height of 60 feet (as a frame of reference, it is about one-
third as tall as the Taj Mahal). The inside diameter of the dome is 23 feet.
Fig. 13. Domed cupolas are roofed in patterned copper,
weathered to a soft green patina.
174
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
Foster did not hesitate to offer suggestions or make his opinions
known. An entrance arch was designed, originally intended for place-
ment at the main entry to the Memorial property. Foster was quick to
veto this location, anxious that nothing detract from the building's ini-
tial impact upon visitors. The arch was instead erected at the southwest
property corner (Fig. 14).
The Public's Reaction
Dubbed "Foster's Folly" by vocal critics, its expense was ridiculed by
those who felt the money might have been better spent to meet a com-
munity need - notably a hospital - and some are said to remain embit-
tered to this day. Shortly after the Memorial was completed, perhaps
about 1937, a now-deceased Toronto resident (and one of Foster's fel-
low-Presbyterians) visited the Memorial with his family. A son recalls
that his father labeled it "sheer lunacy." There were others, however,
who were extremely grateful for the employment opportunities the Me-
morial offered, particularly those engaged in manual labor and the class
hardest hit by the depressed economic conditions of 1935 and 1936.43
Fig. 14. Decorative fencing and cast iron arch,
originally intended for use at main entrance to the property.
Sybil F. Crawford
175
The Dedication
On Sunday, October 25, 1936, the Memorial was dedicated at 3:00
p.m.with more than 2,000 in attendance.44 In planning the program, a
large number of local clergymen were involved. The invocation was given
by Rev. P. T. Meek, followed by a hymn, "O God Our Help in Ages Past."
The chairman's address by Rev. P. G. Powell preceded a scripture read-
ing by Rev. W. Murray and a prayer offered by Rev. E. S. Bishop. Foster,
then in his eighties, made a brief address before a second musical selec-
tion, "O God of Bethel." The dedicatory address by Rev. John Gibson
Inkster, B.A., D.D., climaxed the activities of the afternoon. The corner-
stone (Fig. 15) reads, "This stone was laid / by Thomas Foster / October
22nd, 1935 A.D." A third and final hymn, "Abide With Me," preceded
the benediction by Rev. J. C. Robinson, closing this well-attended event.
In 1986, the fifty-year-old Memorial was rededicated.
The Community Effort
In the years immediately following its dedication, the Memorial was
left unlocked, open to visitors at all hours and entirely without supervi-
sion. After Foster's death in 1945, the Memorial fell into a state of gradual
J
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1 1
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7
J
V
I
^G
J ! i-
m
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J v I J Li -
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Fig. 15. Mausoleum cornerstone set in place on October 23, 1935.
176
Thomas Foster Mausoleum
disrepair and, as funds dwindled, maintenance was sharply curtailed.
The doors were then locked and remained so for several decades. By the
1980s, however, the public's awareness of preservation tactics and resto-
ration technologies was growing, and it was this knowledge that kindled
the desire of local preservationists to step forward boldly and save this
national treasure.
In 1992, the Township of Uxbridge assumed stewardship of the Me-
morial, the property on which it was built, and the adjacent Zion Cem-
etery, from the trust company Foster entrusted with funds for their
maintenance. The cemetery, though small, remains in use for occasional
burials. A handsome iron fence, with a fleur-de-lis motif decorating the
top of each slender post, divides the Memorial and cemetery properties.
Restoration of the cemetery and the fence were paid for by Foster during
his lifetime. "Thomas Foster Memorial Cemetery" appears on current
signage (Fig. 16). The $80,000 legacy he made for maintenance of the
Memorial must have seemed a very large sum at the time, but inflation-
ary pressures were at work in the years following his death and this
amount seriously underestimated the cost of its upkeep in perpetuity.
When the interior of the dome required attention in the early 1990s, it
jFo0t*r
CEMETERY
Decoration Day 3rd Sunday July
for information call 905 852-5423
Fig. 16. Current signage at Zion Cemetery,
adjoining the Thomas Foster Memorial property.
Sybil F. Crawford 177
was discovered that the trust company's funds for that purpose had been
depleted. Friends of the Thomas Foster Memorial was subsequently or-
ganized (in 1993) for the purpose of raising funds for repairs. By the end
of 2002, the Friends had spent more than $150,000 on repairs, with
signficant additional expenditures anticipated. The community has been
quick to respond to the organization's call for monetary assistance, and
in-kind gifts have been welcomed as well. A precast concrete company
donated attractive stone planters for the site, and a merchant donated
the soil and plants. Two matched iron candelabra add a touch of warmth
to the interior, contributed by a local gift shop.45
In spite of years of disuse, the interior was in remarkably good condi-
tion. Roof leakage was first believed to be the cause of discoloration of
the domed ceiling, but upon investigation proved to be the result of con-
densation. This was, fortunately, a less serious and far easier problem to
remedy. Master craftsmen employed to handle needed repairs are up-
holding today's high standards of building preservation. More mundane
work was required as well. The original oil furnace was inefficient, and
lingering soot and oil odors have since been eliminated.46
Working toward making the Memorial self-sufficient, the Friends now
produce revenue from private functions, weddings, and classical music
concerts. The latter are held on Sunday afternoons, tastefully handled
and well attended. There is a standard charge (as of 2002) of $150 plus
deposit for use of the chapel for weddings. Rules have been established
for such occasions, forbidding the use of nails, tacks, or any materials
not in keeping with the ambience of the surroundings. Special events on
the landscaped mausoleum grounds, sponsored by the Friends, have
included strolling minstrels, chamber music ensembles, artists painting
and sketching, and the act of a magician (in top-hat and tails) has been a
great favorite with both children and their elders. Reasonable admission
charges make it possible to attract a large audience. The organization's
outreach has been accomplished with minimum cash outlay and all-vol-
unteer help. When a "festival" was held by the Friends in 1994, Members
of Parliament (Federal) and Members of the Provincial Parliament
(Ontario) were invited, and 200 invitations sent to architectural firms
alone.47
Open for general visitation on the first and second Sundays of June,
July, August, and September, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., there is a small ad-
mission fee for adults ($2 in 2002); children are admitted free if accom-
panied by an adult.
178 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
On September 21, 1996, the mausoleum received a special historical
designation, with the Local Architecutral Conservation Advisory Com-
mittee (LACAC) unveiling a plaque from the Province of Ontario that
focuses on the mausoleum's uniqueness.
On December 31, 2000, a "Time Capsule Program" was held at 2:00
p.m., sponsored by the Friends. As at the 1936 dedication, music was an
important part of the program. The processional was piped by Deborah
Clements and Jason Stewart and Todd O'Connor served as drummer, all
members of the Royal Canadian Legion Pipe Band, Branch 170, of
Uxbridge. Town crier Bill McKee alerted the guests to assemble for the
official welcome by Sylvia Robb. The assigned crypt (located in the sub-
structure) was opened by Brad Shortt and Howie Herrema for storage of
the memorabilia. Three youngsters - Brigitte Herrema, Mathew Jones,
and Derek Gould - placed the box of memorabilia into the millenium
time capsule, which was then placed in the crypt. The three have prom-
ised to remain in touch with Uxbridge Township and preside at the
capsule's opening on December 31, 2050. After remarks by Uxbridge's
mayor, Gerri-Lynn O'Connor, the time capsule was closed and she placed
a plaque thereon. Elsie Wood pronounced the benediction, and an offi-
cial toast, offered by Uxbridge Township Councillor Beverly Northeast,
brought the ceremony to a formal close.48
The Last Years
After Foster's retirement from public life, he gradually dropped from
sight, and by the 1940s the name was no longer familiar. His scrimping
ways were no secret in the neighborhood but, until his death, when his
will was made public, few of even his closest neighbors knew that he
was once Toronto's millionaire mayor.
There is a prevalent theory among cemetery and gravestone research-
ers that the deceased's memorial (in size, magnificence of materials, and
ornamentation) often mimics the residence he occupied in life. In Foster's
case, his Victorian-styled eight-room brick residence at 20 Victor Av-
enue in Toronto's Riverdale area was entirely adequate for his family's
needs but certainly far from mind-boggling.49 The 3,465 square feet of
living area were spread over three floors. The lots in Toronto's middle-
class neighborhoods of the early 1900s were woefully small and the
cramped Foster homesite failed to showcase the home's few distinctive
features (several bow windows and a turret) to best advantage. His me-
morial obviously makes a far bolder statement than his residence. His
Sybil F. Crawford 179
neighborhood, where the Don Jail is located, was (and is) far from styl-
ish. In his last years, he would spend no money on the house and it
became something of an eyesore. Draperies faded in the sun, wallpapers
were soiled, and springs and stuffing protruded from the upholstered
furniture. He constantly argued with his Chinese houseboy about the
high cost of food and urged that he purchase in sufficiently large quan-
tities to assure the best price. Those who had known Foster when he was
in the public eye no longer recognized him when he made one of his rare
appearances on the street in his patched clothing, his trousers held up
with the aid of a huge safety-pin.50
Ill only briefly, Foster's death occurred at his home on Victor Avenue
on December 10, 1945. The funeral was held from the Ralph Day Funeral
Parlors on Danforth Avenue, Toronto, on Thursday, December 13, at 1:30
p.m., conducted by Foster's long-time friend, Rev. John Gibson Inkster,
pastor emeritus of Knox Presbyterian Church, Toronto.51 Foster's will
had called for Inkster and Rev. F. E. Powell of St. Barnabas Church (Epis-
copal) to officiate, but Powell predeceased Foster, leaving Inkster to act
alone (receiving $50 as an honorarium). The will called for the funeral to
take place from Foster's residence, but it was undoubtedly so dirty and
shabby by the time of his death that it was not considered fitting to honor
his request. The simple service was attended by civil officials, friends,
and four former mayors. The dark mahogany casket was then transported
to Uxbridge and placed in the Memorial's waiting crypt in the presence
of a small group of family and friends. Listed among the chief mourners
were Robert Foster (a half-brother), nephews Robert Foster, Jr., William
R. Foster, and Frank Foster, and a niece, Mrs. Myrtle Kellickey. Also seated
with the chief mourners was Foster's houseboy, Sam Lee. Pallbearers were
either kinsmen or close friends: William R. Foster, Gus Poynton, Albert
Kellickey, Percy Dallimore, A. L. Smoke, and W. D. Robbins (a former
Toronto mayor).52
The Amazing Will
The reading of Foster's will is said to have evoked a variety of re-
sponses - laughter, tears, and considerable celebration.53 The will was
described in an undated newspaper clipping as "not the work of an ec-
centric," but "legally sound and carefully scripted." Executors named
were Canada Permanent Trust Company, represented by W. L. Knowlton,
Manager, and Arthur L. Fleming, K. C.,54 of Smoke, Fleming and
Mulholland. This same newspaper source states that the will was writ-
180 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
ten by Foster just eight weeks prior to his demise, a statement contra-
dicted by the recorded copy of the will itself, which bears the date of
May 23, 1939, some six years earlier.55 It would seem that a careless re-
porter confused the issue by mistakenly referring to the date of a codicil
executed October 4, 1945.
When probated, the estate was inventoried at slightly in excess of
$1.5 million. While not a great deal in today's dollars, it was a truly im-
pressive sum at the time. To better understand this figure in present-day
terms, an Ontario historian has suggested that the inventory valuation
might be multiplied by twenty, translating into an estate of $30 million.
Given the fact that much of his estate consisted of real property, subject
to inflationary spirals, he further speculates that this multiplier is likely
far too conservative.56 The estate consisted of $191,000 in mortgages held
by the deceased, $571,000 cash on hand and in the bank, $404,000 in real
estate, composed of sixty-five properties (most in Toronto's East End),
and $1,600 in book debts. For reasons not clarified, the Foster Memorial
was assigned a market value of $1. Certainly, if added even at its book
value, the inventory valuation would have been significantly higher.
It is Foster's will, perhaps more than any other single document or
action, that tells us most about the man, his priorities, and varied inter-
ests. Its provisions are well worth noting.
Thirty-seven family members were remembered with modest be-
quests, a total of $175,000 in all. Half-brother Robert received $5,000;
nephew Robert, Jr., $5,000, plus $500 per year for overseeing mainte-
nance of the Foster Memorial; other of Robert's children (including niece
Myrtle Kellickey) received $1,000 each. Frank and William Robert (sons
of the late George Foster, another half-brother) received $5,000 each. The
will makes mention of unnamed living children of two sisters, Eliza Blythe
and Susan Foster, who were to receive $5,000 each, but does not indicate
if the sisters were still living. The children of brother John T. Foster were
left $5,000 each, with the exception of nephew Russell, whose share was
$1,000. No reason is given for the uneven hand with which he made gifts
to the nephews and nieces. Possibly some had received gifts during
Foster's lifetime and the smaller legacies simply equalized the distribu-
tions. Also to receive $500 per year for monitoring maintenance of the
Memorial was the son of his oldest friend, the late William Percival
Dallimore. Gus Poynton, a special friend, received $2,000. Sam Lee,
Foster's Chinese houseboy was not mentioned in the will, perhaps hav-
ing been provided for previously in some alternate manner. In his usual
Sybil F. Crawford 181
no-nonsense fashion, Foster directed that any individual who contested
the will would be automatically disinherited (no one did so).
During Foster's lifetime, the younger Dallimore performed numer-
ous unreimbursed services for him, and a claim for $4,500 was presented
to the estate on August 22, 1946. He had often driven the latter's automo-
bile or his own and acted as secretary-treasurer and a trustee of the Tho-
mas Foster Memorial Cemetery during Foster's lifetime. For serving in
this latter capacity, he was promised $500 per year, but his claim indi-
cates that 1939 was the only year in which he received such a payment,
although additional payments were continually promised.
The remaining bequests ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous,
but none was quite such an oddity as the cash award to be given to the
Toronto woman bearing the most children in a decade, with the winner
receiving $1,250. Prizes of $800 and $450 were stipulated for the second
and third place contestants, respectively. Most of the winners produced
either nine or ten infants in any given ten-year cycle. Echoing his sense
of morality, the births had to be formally registered and the children
were required to be born "in lawful wedlock." Called a "Stork Derby" by
detractors, the event attracted much attention. Although the idea was
not new, this was seemingly his way of encouraging an increase in the
local birthrate, Canada's population having dropped significantly dur-
ing the World War II years. Awards were given in 1955, 1958, 1961, and
1964, in compliance with his wishes. While one would guess that Foster
intended the prize money to add a bit of sunshine to the winning mother's
life, one winner reportedly used the proceeds (perhaps with a little coer-
cion) to purchase a gravestone for her recently deceased mother-in-law.
Other gifts are more easily understood, and he clearly wanted to re-
member the people of Toronto, a city that had been good to him. As
though he felt compelled to explain his gift-giving, he states in his will
that the bequests were "to mark my appreciation of my citizenship in
Toronto and to place in the way of some citizens or their children oppor-
tunities for health and advancement which might not otherwise be
theirs."57
Thousands of dollars were given to various churches and Sunday
School classes, often with unusual provisos and attendant confusion.
Gifts of $5,000 each were made to an Anglican and a United Church.58
The will called for sites for both the Anglican Mission for Eskimos and
the Northern Ontario United Church Mission to be selected by Dr. W. J.
Cody (an Anglican) and Dr. J. G. Inkster (Presbyterian). No one could
182 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
quite understand why the locations for Anglican and United Church
missions were to be selected with the assistance of a Presbyterian minis-
ter, but Dr. Inkster speculated that Foster "was just trying to be funny."
He found little humor in it personally but it was he who had the last
laugh as he died before it came time to make the site selection. The An-
glican mission was ultimately built at Tuktoyaktuk, an Arctic settlement
northeast of Aklavik. The United Church mission, built in 1948, was lo-
cated at Virginiatown in Ontario's Larder Lake District.59
Set aside for pupils of the Presbyterian Church Sunday School at
Leaskdale, near his birthplace, was $2,000, to be doled out as "the Tho-
mas Foster Prizes ... to be distributed after a short address describing
how and by whom the said prizes have been provided."60 Every child
who attended Sunday School at this church was given a Bible as a Christ-
mas gift, each with Foster's name stamped therein. It should by now be
evident that Foster wanted the provenance of all his gifts, of whatever
nature, to be made known publicly and, whenever possible, with his
name attached, inscribed, or stamped thereon.
Some gifts did not find ready takers. The executors had great diffi-
culty finding boys at Toronto's Knox Presbyterian Church on Spadina
Road who were not theology students, were over 18, regular church at-
tendees, and methodically memorizing scripture passages. There was
also an unexplained lack of interest on the part of the city's newsboys in
the money available to them for setting up a business. These funds re-
mained untouched in 1958. 61
The $5,000 Elizabeth McCauley Foster and Ruby Foster Scholarship
was created in memory of Foster's wife and daughter to provide educa-
tional training in domestic or household science in the vocational or tech-
nical schools of Toronto. Scholarships for public school children were to
be funded by a $15,000 trust, with prizes to be presented by Toronto's
mayor and the Chief Inspector of Public Schools.
Each of Foster's forty-two tenants who had been on his rent roll for
five years or more received one month's free rent. He made it clear that
this was a perk intended for month-to-month tenants only, not those
occupying their premises under a lease agreement.
A fund of $3,000 was left to be divided among the charwomen who
cleaned Toronto's office buildings at night. Recipients were to be selected
by the Toronto branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society, regardless of
race, color, or creed, yet we sense a mixed agenda in his add-on that "not
less than 50% shall go to gentiles."62
Sybil F. Crawford 183
A gift of $500 was made to the Canadian Red Cross Society, Toronto
Branch, without any restrictions as to its use.
The Riverdale Salvation Army, Canada East, located on Toronto's
Broadview Avenue, received $500 to buy or repair musical instruments
for their band.
A man somewhat ahead of his time, Foster obviously had some envi-
ronmental priorities: a gift of $5,000 was made for the feeding of Toronto's
wild bird population, administered by the Toronto Humane Society at
the main feeding grounds on Centre Island and the Toronto lakeshore. A
$500 gift to this same organization was given without restrictions as to
its use. Money from the $15,000 wildlife fund established by the will was
intended to prevent wanton destruction of wild animals, wild birds, and
game fish. Some of this money was spent for the counting of woodland
caribou and, by 1960, part of the money was being used to pay Indians
for collecting information on the movement and habits of these animals63
(the survey indicated their numbers to be on the increase). The Jack Miner
Migratory Bird Fund was given $2,000, entirely consistent with the donor's
wildlife interests.
Many of the trees seen today along Highway 401 can be credited to
Foster, purchased from a $100,000 trust fund. He thought it important
that visitors enter and leave Toronto with a good impression of "his"
city. Who else would have gone so far as to designate the precise species
of trees to be planted and exactly where? Foreseeing that some trees would
be lost, he even made provision for replacements.
There is good reason to believe that children held a special place in
Foster's heart and his philanthropies to local orphans knew no denomi-
national bounds. The Loyal Orange Lodge's True Blue and Orange Home
at Richmond Hill received a $500 gift accompanied by a meddling sug-
gestion that they reconsider their policy of refusing to place their wards
in foster homes64 (the Loyal Orange Lodge, an organization unfamiliar to
many non-Canadians, had some subtle religious and political overtones
dating back to the days of William of Orange). A like sum was left to the
Catholic Children's Aid Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Toronto.
Toronto's Central Technical School was remembered with a 45-foot
wooden flagpole at a cost of $3,500. He ordered that it be constructed of
Canadian timber of the best and most permanent quality "with a suit-
ably inscribed plate attached thereto." In spite of being known for his
great attention to detail, he was seemingly unaware that the school did
not have a flag.
184 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
A gift of $10,000 to the Toronto Hospital for Incurables (Parkdale) was
for the purpose of providing automobile outings, motion picture projec-
tors, radios, and similar entertainment for its patients. Independent him-
self, Foster encouraged independence in others as well. A $5,000 gift to
this same institution was slated for division among patients without in-
come, stipulating that the money "be spent as they may, in their absolute
discretion, see fit."65 Known locally as the "Home for Incurables" at the
time, being condemned to go there was regarded as a death sentence.
Today, this institution is called Queen Elizabeth Hospital, evidencing con-
siderably more sensitivity to the feelings of patients and their families.
A $25,000 trust fund was created for the maintenance of Thomas Fos-
ter wards in a Toronto hospital, exclusively for the treatment of con-
sumptives. The ward was to have a minimum of 250 beds, available to
such patients at no charge. If no hospital of this sort existed at the time,
such wards were to be maintained in the interim at Toronto Free Hospi-
tal for Consumptives, Weston.66
The "Tommy Foster Picnic" for Toronto school children is still an
annual affair. He made a specific plea that Toronto's mayor or a clergy-
man be there whenever possible to make the principal address, a re-
quest the mayors continue to honor. They were instructed to explain "by
whom and in what manner" the picnics were provided. Perhaps recall-
ing a bleak childhood, he asked that the picnic event include ice cream,
hot dogs, milk, music, clowns, and pony rides, all to be paid for from a
$100,000 trust fund. In conjunction with the picnic, he requested that a
10-mile race be run, the winner to receive a "Foster Memorial Cup."67
While a joy to the children, no doubt, these picnics could not have been
popular with the city's Parks Department personnel who were respon-
sible for the advance preparations, monitoring of the event itself, and,
worse yet, the massive cleanup.
The first of the annual picnics for Toronto school children (both pub-
lic and parochial school students) were, in fact, held before Foster's death,
and he always made it a point to be in attendance. At one such event,
Foster's fragile ego suffered some slight but unintentional damage when
City Clerk James W. Somers playfully suggested that the youngsters try
to guess their host's age. Foster was hoping they would think him to be
about 40: the more generous pegged his age at 55 or 60; some thought
about 90; others supposed that he was 100. This picnic was reportedly
shorter than customary.68 The 1953 picnic was held at the Canadian Na-
tional Exhibition grounds and attended by over 5,000 children, trans-
Sybil F. Crawford 185
ported to their destination in fifty chartered street cars paid for from the
trust fund. Because of the city's heavy school enrollment, students from
different sets of schools were invited each year.
A trust fund of $1,000 was set aside for the Royal Canadian Humane
Association's use in providing medals for honoring persons who had
saved a human life.69
Foster instructed that the balance of his estate (approximately $600,000
and his largest single bequest) be granted the Banting and Best Institute
at the University of Toronto to fund a search for a cancer cure. In 1958,
the $600,000 fund was throwing off approximately $20,000 in income
per year and $250,000 had already been expended for research purposes.70
Like all mankind, hopeful that a cancer cure was imminent, he stipu-
lated that any funds remaining after such a discovery be directed to the
Canadian Medical Association or a similar medical body for educational
training of doctors and nurses in the more remote parts of Canada.71
The Assessment
Having considered the Memorial, its component parts, and Foster
himself, we have to ask, "Why?"
Perhaps not nearly so eccentric an individual as he has been charac-
terized, Foster was one of those persons seldom plagued with indeci-
sion. Fortunate enough to know exactly what he wanted, he also had the
means to bring his dreams to fruition. Living nearly another ten years
after the Memorial's dedication, he doubtless derived a sense of pleasure
therefrom. This might also serve as a reminder that placement of a me-
morial is not necessarily something that need await our demise.
The Memorial is a very visible embodiment of the Foster enigma.
Was his love for his wife and daughter so great that only the very best
would do, or did he crave the Memorial's splendor for his own aggran-
dizement as well? After Elizabeth's death, he did not marry again, but
does that necessarily signify ongoing devotion? Given his disinclination
to spend money, he may have considered a second marriage a luxury he
could easily forego. Had his wife lived on, would she have tempered the
eccentric spending habits of his later years? We observe that his penuri-
ousness was countered by generosity, particularly toward those less for-
tunate. Outside of the not unexpected bickering with political adversaries,
he was seemingly loved by all. Did his hardened outer shell enclose a
gentle heart, just as the Memorial's limestone exterior gives little hint of
the hidden beauty within?
186 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
Grandiose, the Memorial was constructed with an eye for economy.
A beautiful structure, it was built with the intent that it also be enduring.
Though economy was his lifelong trademark, at his death he was "moved
to generosity both by caprice and design."72 It could not have been said
better.
Both the man and the Memorial defy easy explanation but, whatever
his rationale for desiring such a lavish memorial, how many individuals
are still remembered kindly and often 150 years after their birth? The
Foster Memorial, his monumental legacy, has kept his name alive, and
generations yet unborn will continue to wonder at his singular story.
This may, indeed, have been the old gentleman's intent.
NOTES
Special thanks are due Dale Armstrong for all of the photographs accompanying the text. A
graduate student at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, his work has appeared in a
number of Canadian journals. Beverly Northeast, an Uxbridge Town Councillor and a leader
in the Friends of Thomas Foster Mausoleum effort, was generous in sharing her considerable
knowledge. Ruth M. Burkholder of Stouffville, Ontario, a friend and professional records
researcher, cut through a mass of bureaucratic red tape in securing a copy of the Foster will
without delay. Knowing of my long-time interest in gravestone studies, it was Dr. Fred. H.
Armstrong, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Western Ontario, London, who first
brought the Thomas Foster Mausoleum to my notice. He later directed my attention to printed
materials in various Toronto library collections and took time from a busy schedule to critique
the preliminary manuscript. Two very useful sources for biographies of Canadians who lived
in the first half of the 20th century are sets of scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings. One
was kept by William S. Wallace, who was for many years the librarian of the University of
Toronto and one of Canada's most respected historians. Originally called "The Wallace
Necrology," it is now maintained in the Reference Room of the Robarts Library at the University
and designated as "Canadian Biographies." The second set, known as the "Biographical
Scrapbooks," was kept by the Toronto Public Library staff and is now maintained in the Baldwin
Room of the Metropolitan Toronto Library (MTL) on Yonge Street. Both collections are
accompanied by a card index, a fortunate circumstance as the order in which the clippings
were mounted is not readily apparent. In three or four instances, the quality of the microfilming
made newspaper issue dates illegible. Despite what would appear to be a common purpose
and a reliance upon the same Canadian newspapers, the two collections are surprisingly unlike,
and neither pretends to be complete. As an aid to future researchers, the conventional endnote
material which follows is accompanied, where appropriate, by the location of the individual
entries.
1. Star (Toronto), undated clipping. Scott Township became part of Uxbridge Township in
the 1970s.
2. Globe and Mail (Toronto), 1 2 Dec 1 945, Vol. 31, p. 1 20. (Robarts)
3. Star Weekly (Toronto), 5 Jan 1925, Vol. 5, p. 657. (MTL)
Sybil F. Crawford 187
4. Ibid.
5. Globe and Mail (Toronto), 12 Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 662. (MTL)
6. Star (Toronto), 1 Feb 1966, Vol. 51, p. 143. (MTL)
7. Star (Toronto), 5 Jan 1925, Vol. 5, p. 657. (MTL)
8. Weekly Globe (Toronto), 18 Apr 1958, Vol. 19, p. 355. (MTL)
9. Telegram (Toronto), 28 Jan 1959, Vol. 19, p. 359. (MTL)
10. Ibid.
1 1 . Exhibit "A" to the affidavit of Robert Foster, Jr., filed with Surrogate Court of the County
of York [Ontario], 23 Aug 1946. The claim was abandoned in its entirety 18 Oct 1946.
12. Star (Toronto), 12 Dec 1945, Vol. 31, p. 120. (Robarts)
13. Star Weekly (Toronto), Dec 1945, Vol.. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
14. Star Weekly (Toronto), 3 Feb 1968, Vol. 53, p. 257. (MTL)
15. Star Weekly (Toronto) Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
16. Globe and Mail (Toronto), 12 Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 662. (MTL)
17. Globe and Mail (Toronto), 12 Dec 1945, Vol 31, p. 120. (Robarts)
18. Star Weekly (Toronto), Dec 1945, Vol 3., p. 659. (MTL)
19. Ibid.
20. Star Weekly (Toronto) Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
21. Star Weekly (Toronto), 1 Feb 1966, Vol. 51, 143. (MTL)
22. Globe and Mail (Toronto), 12 Dec 1945. (MTL)
23. Star Weekly (Toronto) Dec 1945. (MTL)
24. Star Weekly (Toronto), 29 Jun 1953, Vol. 3, p. 661. (MTL)
25. Star (Toronto), 3 Feb 1968, Vol. 53, p. 257. (MTL)
26. 1995 Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia, Version 7.0.2; Keyword: Taj Mahal.
27. Illustrations of the Memorial and brief descriptive text available at:
http://www.uxbridge.com/org/tfosterc.html
188 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
28. Uxbridge Times-Journal (Uxbridge), 16 Jul 1986, p. 39.
29. Letter dated 6 Mar 2001 from Beverly Northeast, Township of Uxbridge Councillor, Ward
1, to author.
30. Uxbridge Times-Journal (Uxbridge), 16 Jul 1876, p. 39.
31. Details, a Friends of Thomas Foster Memorial handout, Special Edition, 18 June 1994, p.
4. Employed in their various areas of expertise were: Heritage Consultant - Ian Woods,
FRICS, a principal of I. K. Woods & Partners, Inc., Chartered Surveyors, Unionville,
Ontario; Historical Consultant - Allan McGillivray Curator, Uxbridge Museum; Uxbridge,
Ontario; Roofing Coppersmiths - Heather & Little, Ltd.; Stonemasons - Everett
Restorations; Electricians - Paynel Electric, Ltd.; Fencing - Doug Woods; Coating and
Paint Consultant - Craig Bell of Sherwin-Williams; Property and Landscaping- Parks
and Works Department, Township of Uxbridge.
32. J.B. Richardson III and R. C. Carlisle, "The Archaeological Significance of Mausoleums,"
Markers I (1980), 162.
33. Details, p. 4.
34. Letter dated 6 Mar 2001 from Beverly Northeast, Township of Uxbridge Councillor, Ward
1, to author.
35. Details, p. 2.
36. Letter dated 6 Mar 2001 from Beverly Northeast, Township of Uxbridge Councillor, Ward
1, to author.
37. Ibid.
38. A detailed description of the interior and exterior of the Foster Memorial appeared in an
unidentified newspaper, the clipping dated Uxbridge, 22 Oct 1936 (at the time of the
Memorial's original dedication).
39. A copy of the referenced listing accompanied a letter dated 6 Mar 2001 from Beverly
Northeast, Township of Uxbridge Councillor, Ward 1, to author.
40. Undated clipping from unidentified newspaper under Isobel St. John by-line (based on
content of the article, it was almost certainly from an Uxbridge newspaper and dated just
previous to the 1986 rededication of the Memorial). St. John is mentioned as being an
Uxbridge resident and a relative of the Foster family.
41. Details, p. 2.
42. Ibid., p. 3
43. Star (Toronto), 11 Jul 1986, p. 9.
Sybil F. Crawford 189
44. Star (Toronto), undated clipping, but, based on content, after 1993 formation of "Friends"
group.
45. Donors: Newmarket Pre-Cast Concrete, Uxbridge; Canadian Tire Store, Uxbridge;
Presents, Presents, Presents Gift Shop, Uxbridge.
46. Details, p. 3.
47. Uxbridge Weekender, 11 Jun 1994, p. 12.
48. A booklet entitled "Thomas Foster Memorial Time Capsule Program" was distributed to
attendees on 31 Dec 2000; Uxbridge Tribune (Uxbridge), 5 Jan 2001, p. 3. Robb, Wood, and
Northeast, participants in the Time Capsule Program, were all members of the Friends of
the Thomas Foster Memorial executive committee. Directors identified in the printed
program were Maureen Mayr, Hilary Balmer, Barbara Johnson, and Faith Neumann.
49. The size of Foster's Victor Avenue residence was reported variously in the press: in the
inventory and valuation of his estate, signed by the executors, Foster's personal residence
was described as consisting of eight rooms.
50. Star (Toronto), undated clipping.
51. Star (Toronto), Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
52. Globe and Mail (Toronto), 15 Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 660. (MTL). The "Kellickey" surname
appears in some records as "Kellackey."
53. Weekly Globe (Toronto) 18 Apr 1958, Vol. 19, p. 355. (MTL)
54. For non-Canadian readers who may not be familiar with the term "K.C.," it identifies the
individual as an attorney with certain special rights to practice and stands for King's
Counsel. When a Queen reigns, as at the present, such persons are designated as a "Q.C."
55. Archives of Ontario, York County Surrogate Court, Estate File #11292, probated 15 Mar
1946, Thomas Foster (Microfilm #MS 584, Reel 628).
56. Dr. Fred. H. Armstrong, Emeritus Professor, History, University of Western Ontario.
57. Globe and Mail (Toronto) Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 662. (MTL)
58. The United Church of Canada was the result of a 1925 merger of all of Canada's Methodists
and Congregationalists, and some Presbyterians (the latter being far from unanimous in
their support of union).
59. Weekly Globe (Toronto), 18 Apr 1958, Vol. 19, p. 355. (MTL)
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid.
190 Thomas Foster Mausoleum
62. Star Weekly (Toronto) Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
63. Star Weekly (Toronto), 5 Mar 1960, Vol. 19, p. 360. (MTL)
64. Star Weekly (Toronto) Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
65. Star Weekly (Toronto) Dec 1945, Vol 3, p. 662. (MTL)
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Star Weekly (Toronto), Dec 1945, Vol. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
69. Ibid.
70. Star (Toronto), 18 Oct 1958, Vol. 19, p. 357. (MTL)
71. Star Weekly (Toronto), Dec 1945 , Vol. 3, p. 659. (MTL)
72. Star (Toronto), 18 Oct 1958, Vol. 19, p. 357. (MTL)
Sybil F. Crawford
191
APPENDIX
Important to a proper understanding of ecclesiastical architecture are
the meanings of a number of terms which appear in (or relate to) the
foregoing text.
Apse a projecting part of a building (as a church) that is usually
semicircular in plan and vaulted.
Chancel the part of a church containing the altar and seating for
clergy and choir.
Clerestory an outside wall of a room or building that rises above an
adjoining roof and contains windows.
Frieze a sculpted or richly ornamented band (as on a building or
item of furniture).
Nave the main part of the interior of a church and, more par-
ticularly, the long, narrow central hall in a cruciform
church that rises higher than the aisles flanking it to form
a clerestory.
Pendentive one of the concave triangular members that supports a
dome over a square space.
Reredos an ornamental or stone screen or partition wall behind an
altar.
Rood a crucifix on a beam or screen at the entrance to a chancel
of a church.
Soffit the underside of a part or member of a building (as of an
overhang) or an interior curve of an arch.
Transept the part of a cruciform church that crosses at right angles
to the greatest length between the nave and the apse or
choir.
192
The Old Gravestone
Old gravestone, cut in half and used as step, Ebeltoft, Denmark.
Photo: Richard E. Meyer
193
THE OLD GRAVESTONE
Hans Christian Andersen
In a house, with a large courtyard, in a provincial town, at that time
of the year in which people say the evenings are growing longer, a family
circle were gathered together at their old home. A lamp burned on the
table, although the weather was mild and warm, and the long curtains
hung down before the open windows, and outside the moon shone
brightly in the dark blue sky.
However, they were not talking of the moon, but rather of a large, old
stone that lay below in the courtyard not very far from the kitchen door.
The maids often laid the clean copper saucepans and kitchen vessels on
this stone, that they might dry in the sun, and the children were fond of
playing on it. It was, in fact, an old gravestone.
"Yes," said the master of the house, "I believe the stone came from
the graveyard of the old church of the convent which was pulled down,
and the pulpit, the monuments, and the gravestones sold. My father
bought the latter: most of them were cut in two and used for paving
stones, but one stone was preserved whole and laid in the courtyard."
"Anyone can see that it is a gravestone," said the eldest of the chil-
dren. "The representation of an hour-glass and part of the figure of an
angel can still be traced, but the inscription beneath is quite worn out,
except for the name Treben/ and a large 'S' close by it, and a little far-
ther down the name of 'Martha' can be easily read. But nothing more,
and even that cannot be seen unless it has been raining, or when we
have washed the stone."
"Dear me, how singular! Why that must be the gravestone of Preben
Schwane and his wife."
The old man who said this looked old enough to be the grandfather
of all present in the room.
"Yes," he continued, "these people were among the last who were
buried in the churchyard of the old convent. They were a very worthy
old couple. I can remember them well in the days of my boyhood. Every-
one knew them, and they were esteemed by all. They were the oldest
residents in the town, and people said they possessed a ton of gold, yet
they were always very plainly dressed, in the coarsest stuff, but with
linen of the purest whiteness. Preben and Martha were a fine old couple,
and when they both sat on the bench at the top of the steep stone steps in
194 The Old Gravestone
front of their house, with the branches of the linden tree waving above
them, and nodded in a gentle, friendly way to passers by, it really made
one feel quite happy. They were very good to the poor: they fed them
and clothed them, and in their benevolence there was judgement as well
as true Christianity. The old woman died first. That day is still quite viv-
idly before my eyes. I was a little boy, and had accompanied my father to
the old man's house. Martha had fallen into the sleep of death just as we
arrived there. The corpse lay in a bedroom, near to the one in which we
sat, and the old man was in great distress and weeping like a child. He
spoke to my father, and to a few neighbors who were there, of how lonely
he should feel now that she was gone, and how good and true she, his
dead wife, had been during the number of years that they had passed
through life together, and how they had become acquainted, and learnt
to love each other. I was, as I have said, a boy, and only stood by and
listened to what the others said: but it filled me with a strange emotion
to listen to the old man, and to watch how the color rose in his cheeks as
he spoke of the days of their courtship, of how beautiful she was, and
how many little tricks he had been guilty of, that he might meet her. And
then he talked of his wedding day, and his eyes brightened, and he seemed
to be carried back by his words to that joyful time. And yet there she
was, lying in the next room, dead - an old woman, and he was an old
man, speaking of the days of hope, long passed away. Ah, well, so it is:
then I was but a child, and now I am old, as old as Preben Schwane then
was. Time passes away, and all things change. I can remember quite well
the day on which she was buried, and how old Preben walked close be-
hind the coffin."
"A few years before this time the old couple had had their gravestone
prepared, with an inscription and their names, but not the date. In the
evening the stone was taken to the churchyard and laid on the grave. A
year later it was taken up, that old Preben might be laid by the side of his
wife. They did not leave behind them wealth; they left behind them far
less than people had believed they possessed. What there was went to
families distantly related to them, of whom, till then, no one had ever
heard. The old house, with its balcony of wickerwork and the bench at
the top of the high steps under the linden tree, was considered by the
road inspectors too old and rotten to be left standing. Afterwards, when
the same fate befell the convent church, and the graveyard was destroyed,
the gravestone of Preben and Martha, like everything else, was sold to
whomever would buy it. And so it happened that this stone was not cut
Hans Christian Andersen 195
in two as many others had been, but now lies in the courtyard below, a
scouring block for the maids, and a playground for the children. The
paved street now passes over the resting place of old Preben and his
wife: no one thinks of them any more now."
And the old man who had spoken of all this shook his head mourn-
fully and said: "Forgotten! Ah, yes, everything will be forgotten!" And
then the conversation turned to other matters.
But the youngest child in the room, a boy, with large, earnest eyes,
mounted upon a chair behind the window curtains and looked out into
the yard, where the moon was pouring a flood of light on the old grave-
stone - the stone that had always appeared to him so dull and flat, but
which lay there now like a great leaf out of a book of history. All that the
boy had heard of old Preben and his wife seemed clearly defined on the
stone, and as he gazed on it, and glanced at the clear, bright moon shin-
ing in the pure air, it was as if the light of God's countenance beamed
over His beautiful world.
"Forgotten! Everything will be forgotten!" still echoed through the
room, and in the same moment an invisible spirit whispered to the heart
of the boy, "Preserve carefully the seed that has been entrusted to thee,
that it may grow and thrive. Guard it well. Through thee, my child, shall
the obliterated inscription on the old, weather-beaten gravestone go forth
to future generations in clear, golden characters. The old pair shall again
wander through the streets arm-in-arm, or sit with their fresh, healthy
cheeks on the bench under the linden tree , and smile and nod at rich
and poor. The seed of this hour shall ripen in the course of years into a
beautiful poem. The beautiful and the good are never forgotten: they
live always in story or in song."
196
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
LU
Fig. 1. Josiah Sparrow II, 1847, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Carved by Oliver N. Linnell.
197
THE ORIGINS OF MARBLE CARVING ON CAPE COD,
PART II: THE ORLEANS AND SANDWICH CARVERS
James Blachowicz
In Part I of this study, which appeared in Markers XIX (2002), I exam-
ined the work of William Sturgis, his son Josiah, his son-in-law Jabez M.
Fisher, and his grandson William S. Fisher. These men, as well as Ebenezer
D. Winslow of Brewster, established the marble carving industry on Cape
Cod. I now move to the nine carvers who emerged in Orleans and Sand-
wich, Massachusetts in part because of Sturgis' influence. Although the
work of these carvers settles into rather undecorated conventionality, it at
least affords us a more complete picture of the directions in which mid-to-
late Nineteenth-Century designs were proceeding. Further, we shall find
more evidence of important changes in the stonecutting trade itself.
Introduction
In the 1830s, Cape Cod was divided into three carving zones, with
Nathaniel Holmes of Barnstable taking the lion's share in the center,
Ebenezer D. Winslow established to the near east of Holmes (Brewster
and beyond), and William Sturgis, for a time, providing stones to the far
east (Orleans) and the far west (Sandwich, Falmouth). By 1850, there
were still more or less three zones, but with somewhat different bound-
aries and different proprietors: the Fishers now occupied the middle (but
based at Yarmouth, not Barnstable), with Winslow's clientele now claimed
partly by the Fishers to the west and partly by a new group of carvers in
Orleans to the east, and Sturgis' former customers now served partly by
these Orleans carvers and partly by the Sandwich monument shop which
succeeded him in the west.
In the late 1840s and early 1850s, there were no fewer than thirteen
carvers on the Cape, some ending their careers and some just beginning.
This was in sharp contrast to just forty-five years earlier, when the Cape
had no resident carvers at all. With growing populations, some towns
acquired their own carvers where before they had none; and some could
now support more than one shop, or at least more than one carver in a
given shop. Under these new circumstances, we begin to find true com-
petition, not only among stonecutters from neighboring towns, but be-
tween local carvers and the larger firms in more distant towns such as
Boston, Providence, and Taunton. We also find a growing sharing and
198 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
standardization of design, stretching across wide regions of New En-
gland and extending west into the younger states. We find, in short, a
commercial situation increasingly like that which had enveloped other
trades earlier and which has much more in common with Twentieth-
Century business than with the craft system of earlier times. Beyond the
scope of this study lies an even later stage of this development - the
growing dominance of very large manufacturing firms in the largest cit-
ies and the decline of local production.
The Orleans Carvers
Josiah Sparrow II: Biography
Josiah Sparrow II was born in Orleans on December 28, 1817, the
eighth of ten children of Isaac Sparrow and Mercy Snow, who were mar-
ried in Eastham on December 31, 1801. 1 Isaac, who may have been Josiah
Sturgis' agent in Orleans for a time (it may also have been Josiah's brother
Isaac), died in 1843, and Josiah Sparrow bought part of his father's estate
from his sister Emeline.2
Josiah Sparrow II is listed as a "tombstone cutter" in both his mar-
riage and death records. On February 3, 1842, he married Lucinda Linnell
in Eastham. She was the daughter of Josiah Linnell and Elizabeth
Nickerson and a younger sister of Oliver Nickerson Linnell, another carver
whose work I shall consider shortly. Lucinda died nine months after their
marriage, however, and Josiah remarried three years later, to Hannah S.
Stephens, on June 7, 1845, in Orleans.3
It was in October of 1844 that Josiah Sparrow ran his ad for his
stonecutting shop in East Orleans and Chatham (see Part I, in Markers
XIX, Fig. 28). His competition with Jabez Fisher, as we have seen (Part I,
Fig. 29), lasted a brief three years before Josiah Sparrow died "of con-
sumption" in Orleans on October 22, 1847, not quite thirty years of age.
Two months before his death, he sold a portion of the upland abutting
his own property to an Azariah Snow; this record lists his occupation as
"wheelwright."4 His gravestone in Orleans, carved by Oliver Linnell, is
broken and lying flat on the ground (Fig. 1). The year after his death, his
property was sold at auction.5
Josiah Sparrow had owned one-eighth of a grist mill in common with
a Daniel Higgins and some others. This may be the father of Daniel
Higgins, Jr., another Orleans carver who died at an early age (to be dis-
cussed below). The 1858 Wallings map of the Cape shows a "marble shop"
on the west side of Monument Road just south of Uncle Vicks Way (on a
James Blachowicz 199
modern map). Just north of this marble shop is the property of a D.
Higgins - perhaps the Daniel Higgins mentioned in the deed. This may
have been the location of Josiah Sparrow's shop.
Simeon Deyo's 1890 history of the county reports that Sparrow's busi-
ness was continued by Thomas A. Hopkins.6 Hopkins in turn sold the
shop to Winthrop M. Crosby in 1862 (Deyo, p. 762), and Crosby later
passed it on to his son Orville. Yet Oliver N. Linnell must have played a
part in this story - a part about which Deyo is silent.
Josiah Sparrow II: Gravestones
I uncovered three probate records with payments to Josiah Sparrow
for gravestones: the first two, dated 1844, are for stones in Eastham and
Yarmouth, and the third, dated 1848, is for a marker in Harwich. In ad-
dition, I found two signed stones (see Appendix Ha).
I have not been able to determine exactly when Josiah Sparrow began
carving. It was certainly by February of 1842, for his marriage record of
that year records him as a "tombstone cutter." One of his probated stones,
for John F. Anderson, is dated 1835, but this was a full nine years before
the probate settlement. Anderson died in Boston and it may have taken
some time to settle his affairs; and so the stone is probably backdated.
The modest willow and urn (Fig. 2) are cut rather shallowly, and with
the encrusted lichen it is not easy to make out all the details, but the
lettering is at least consistent with what Sparrow was to provide on later
stones.
Early on, Sparrow cut a few reddish slate stones, such as his signed
markers for Jeremiah Newcomb (1842) and Hannah Freeman (1844). Some
have solitary willows and others feature small urns as well. In the later
(1843) probated stone for Joshua P. Atwood (Fig. 3) in Eastham, how-
ever, we find the very palpable influence of William Sturgis. Besides the
obvious debt we see in the urn, compare the drapery on this stone with
that on Sturgis' stone for William J. Freeman (1840) in Sandwich (Part I,
in Markers XIX, Fig. 19). Sturgis had placed at least twenty-three grave-
stones in this area of the Cape (Orleans, Chatham, Harwich) dated be-
tween 1825 and 1841, and so Sparrow could have simply picked up
Sturgis' style from what he had observed in these burial grounds, but it
is more likely that he was trained by Sturgis. One of these twenty-three
Sturgis stones was for Josiah Sparrow's older brother Richard, who died
in 1830, when Josiah was thirteen; and there are two other Sturgis stones
for other members of the Sparrow family.
200
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 2. John F. Anderson, 1835, Chatham, Massachusetts.
Early stone probated to Josiah Sparrow.
James Blachowicz
201
Fig. 3. Joshua P. Atwood, 1843, Eastham, Massachusetts.
Probated to Josiah Sparrow; carved in the style of William Sturgis.
202
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
1 • J^fT t-< i t'r 11 rfrtr t- J'Vf t» r'j)
:'i i T it i fn #t ft ^i" ' . t'7 i <■ -t-jT'f't 7 '
% \ . J 7-> ft ■ 7 jVrW ji i -f>tf) 'fjfjjfli 1
-7> rjirrrffji: J ft* »** tr "7- if»-tt 1 W,
US
Fig. 4. Mulford Kendrick, 1846, Harwich, Massachusetts.
Probated to Josiah Sparrow.
James Blachowicz
203
mm
1
:l
X -S3 it
FeK G. |ii|i
a>
V ..{Kit* r>t * ni"V Ft-* •■» rl <. isrryt j^iyffc f><> i- n» " ■
"Put*!*".' rrcfrr-mYT fv>w > »j^ ju*ii *»<:* :
Fig. 5. Isaac Sparrow, 1843, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Carved by Josiah Sparrow for his father.
204 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
We should recall at this point that when Josiah Sturgis advertised his
Harwich shop in 1839, he included as his Orleans agent Isaac Sparrow -
either Josiah Sparrow's father (who would have been sixty-four) or his
brother (who would have been thirty-one). Further, a property transac-
tion between Jabez Fisher and William Sturgis in 1840 lists William as
"of Orleans." It was during this brief stay in Orleans that William Sturgis
probably taught Josiah Sparrow to carve. Sparrow was already twenty-
two in 1839, only eight months younger than Josiah Sturgis. Josiah Spar-
row may even have been Josiah Sturgis' real agent in Orleans, acting
under his father Isaac's name. It would have been natural for him to
have been tutored by Sturgis rather than Holmes: Holmes was the
slatecarver; Sturgis worked in marble, and marble was obviously the fu-
ture of the business.
The third probated stone we have for Josiah Sparrow, the 1846 marker
for Mulford Kendrick (Fig. 4), shows a plainer style.
It is difficult to ascribe very many more stones to Sparrow before
1847, the year of his death, because they are so much like the early stones
of his brother-in-law Oliver N. Linnell. While they undoubtedly exist in
greater numbers, I have not attempted a more comprehensive survey of
Sparrow's body of work. We are probably safe in giving to him, however,
the two markers for his parents, Mercy Sparrow (1846) and Isaac Spar-
row (1843) (Fig. 5). We have the Sturgis-type drapery again, but this time
hanging over a nicely carved branch. Josiah Sparrow's mother, Mercy,
died in December of 1846; Josiah himself was to die less than a year later.
Oliver N. Linnell: Biography
Oliver Nickerson Linnell was born in Orleans on August 5, 1816, the
second of eight children of Josiah Linnell and Elizabeth Nickerson.7 Josiah
was listed as a carpenter in the 1850 U.S. Census. Oliver married Adaline
G. Rogers, the daughter of Freeman Higgins Rogers and Margery Crowell,
in Eastham on November 30, 1843. They had nine children.8 As we have
seen, Oliver's sister Lucinda married Josiah Sparrow II in January of 1842,
but she died the following November. It is after Josiah Sparrow's death
in 1847 that Oliver Linnell's gravestones begin to appear. It is not clear,
however, whether Linnell had any part in his former brother-in-law's
business, for Deyo (1890) tells us that it was Thomas A. Hopkins who
continued Sparrow's business after his death (p. 762) and Sparrow's wife
(Linnell's sister) had died five years before. While it's possible Linnell
may have learned carving from Sparrow, it seems more likely that he
James Blachowicz 205
had learned with Sparrow from William Sturgis. In any case, Linnell ul-
timately opened a shop of his own in South Orleans.
I uncovered twenty-one probate payments for gravestones to Oliver
Linnell: one in Dennis, seven in Harwich, including the earliest, dated
1849, and the other thirteen in Chatham, the last dated 1867 (see Appen-
dix Ha). I did not search these records past 1870. A sales receipt for an-
other stone (in Chatham) is in the possession of the Chatham Historical
Society. In addition, I found thirty signed stones, dated 1845 through
1875. His house (and his shop as well?) is shown on the 1858 Wallings
map of the Cape in Namequoit, in South Orleans - today on the east side
of Rte. 39, about a quarter of a mile south of the junction with Rte. 28.
Although he lived in South Orleans, Linnell's clientele was concentrated
in Chatham. The 1852 Massachusetts Register lists a "Geo. Linell" as a
marble manufacturer in South Orleans: this is either an error or perhaps
a reference to Oliver's younger brother, George Washington Linnell, born
March 17, 1824. George married an Elizabeth Kelley and died in
Olneyville, RI. Perhaps Oliver let his younger brother run the shop at
this time. But in the 1855 state census (p. 4), the 1856 Massachusetts Busi-
ness Directory, the 1865 state census, and the 1871 New England Business
Directory, it is Oliver who is listed as a marble-worker.
Oliver was involved in a controversy in 1884 concerning the han-
dling of his brother Josiah's remains after his death. Josiah, who was two
years older than Oliver, had died on December 1st in the town almshouse
after having resided there for twenty years. The selectman Freeman Doane
informed Oliver of the arrangements for his brother's funeral, but then
changed the time because of another funeral that had been scheduled.
Doane's notification of this change was sent to Oliver in the mail, but
Oliver did not collect it in time. The Cape Cod Item of December 19th
published a letter from Oliver and two others complaining of the town's
neglect. Selectman Doane responded by explaining the circumstances,
wondering where Oliver had been while his brother's remains were be-
ing prepared and, more generally, "where has he been for the last twenty
years that he has not made at least one visit to the almshouse to see that
his brother was properly cared for and made as comfortable as possible
in his unfortunate position." Oliver responded to Doane a week later,
noting that his brother Josiah traveled freely from the almshouse, and
had visited Oliver once and sometimes twice a week.
Oliver Nickerson Linnell died (of cirrhosis) in Orleans on May 4, 1892,
not quite seventy-six. His son, Oliver Herbert Linnell, who was executor
206
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 6. Oliver N. and Adaline Linnell, 1892, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Obelisk possibly carved by their son, Oliver H. Linnell.
James Blachowicz 207
of his father's estate, was also a marble-worker. Deyo's (1890) history
records that Oliver Herbert was born in 1849 and took up the trade in
1869. There are three stones, dated 1864, 1871 and 1872, signed "Linnell
& Son," indicating that he and his father were in business together for a
time (the first stone is probably backdated). Oliver Herbert opened a
shop in Wellfleet in 1873 (Deyo, p. 820) and is listed as a marble- worker
in his marriage that year to Augusta Knowles. I found four stones signed
"O. H. Linnell"; one of these, dated 1879, includes "Orleans" after his
signature. But he moved to another location in Wellfleet in 1879, adding
an undertaking business (Deyo, pp. 806-7). In 1885, he bought a new
place of business, which was still in operation in 1890. He signed the
thick, sculpted marble marker for Thankful Snow (1883) in the Method-
ist Cemetery in Truro; and perhaps he carved the marble obelisk for his
father and mother that marks their graves in Orleans Cemetery (Fig. 6).
Oliver N. Linnell: Gravestones
As was the case with Josiah Sparrow, I have not determined exactly
when Linnell started to carve gravestones. He was a year older than Spar-
row and might have learned to carve at the same time, perhaps also
from William Sturgis. He carved Josiah Sparrow's own 1847 gravestone
(Fig. 1) while still in his twenties. We can see how close his design and
lettering are to those of Sparrow: compare his stone for Sparrow to
Sparrow's marker for his father Isaac Sparrow (Fig. 5). Although it is not
very evident on these two stones in particular, one subtle difference be-
tween Sparrow's and Linnell's draperies may be in the space each carver
allows below the left and right rings: Sparrow tended to straighten out
the left and right drapes, that is, resume a vertical line, earlier than did
Linnell.
Besides what looks like a tree branch, Linnell also used a more plant-
like (ivy?) sprig for his main decorative feature, as on the 1851 probated
stone for Lumbert Nickerson (Fig. 7). Note also the curved serif at the
top of the "1": this is also helpful in distinguishing Linnell's from
Sparrow's lettering, where a straight serif is used.
Linnell's large 1854 stone for Lusha Snow (Fig. 8) in Orleans is ini-
tialed (Linnell would initial or sign many of his stones). Besides the very
carefully carved features and long epitaph, it bears a rather simplified
Sturgis-style urn, a plain willow, Linnell's characteristic drapery, and a
rectangular panel for the deceased's name which has a border that re-
sembles stitching.9 This border is a common feature on his stones, but
208
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 7. Lumbert Nickerson, 1851, Chatham, Massachusetts.
Probated to Oliver N. Linnell.
James Blachowicz
209
Tlian hfi.fi, lr.fi, nr.Wnl hr. rf aa.rli ?m n rliinrA,
ft ml, fi rrtl of'f Jillrr f.lt.ttlJii'i.th-m fii/r r< iirT- •
1 hi tieh n in-Iiir.w.i'fiR fi,1,1h]i rlvpm-ltrvclilirerli
lh a 1 1 Jiff tf 7 rff i*.t «■/ Ti Tlfjh.i. r.ir.tfwplr. ruifl a,*
n i-j'jir F.1j-i>n,fTn'*ti'i44i1v1il\tnnif._itiliif.i't>. n «
i-ii'lr /) ff n rf fi )• /irf.j .' Ji i,i«i/f rrrn roni rjf«ti«
i:/ifi-f l/imi f.ii-t fifrr. f'i'4i%it f.(ii'r(ni]i«ni i
mi.rl, rl.rnili ,ir I 7l.ly rji/il*lav 11 nil? sf»j'« ur f fl
Di.rrifi no i< Hi. fir nr,n,rli ilfiilJtp jji n l-itin.tifjftflhr
i-r t is.vi-c.r iifi 1 1, rivruzii rtf. frill, <> IJl <??: i4i,fiiC.ri,iw ti,.
frfiiir. ri'ntin rt.lt ri. ni i ,.^f. 11'1,'n'if, riiilf
If. th^ll wJlrfailc,:<lf;JJy,rti.:
Tf"h,iT,r. rtfj,i,-i-l,if'r.!?:ffl.ti'i'W<'tji<'t^
JtMTi^ii*imiihT,i<'r*'<1ilT,,hJi\'i<i,iilAi:}>
T1trii:<nli4, Jn/Jq;itiii';f1i^fi/)' n.
'*;%:
Fig. 8. Lusha Snow, 1854, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Signed (initialed) by Oliver N. Linnell.
210
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
;,;.;-::„,i;c
BBH
&
5? *
? *N f?T> n*Ht*r7,rjh
r > > r-A
Fig. 9. Esther Nickerson, 1851, Chatham, Massachusetts.
Linnell stone with positive-relief lettering.
James Blachowicz
211
Fig. 10. Abner Rogers, 1878, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Late Linnell willow.
212
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
m
X
Fig. 11. Cecelia Lewis, 1848, Chatham, Massachusetts.
Probably carved by Oliver N. Linnell.
James Blachowicz
213
Fig. 12. Augustus H. Eldridge, 1864, South Chatham, Massachusetts.
Probably carved by Oliver N. Linnell.
214 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Thomas A. Hopkins also uses it. We saw that Jabez Fisher carves a simi-
lar urn and willow on at least two stones around 1839; while I assume
that Linnell was here imitating Sturgis' style directly, it is not impossible
he was under Fisher's influence.
It is difficult to distinguish Linnell's work from that of Thomas A.
Hopkins, as we shall shortly see. What may be a help is the horizontal
device Linnell uses to separate the date from the epitaph on the Lusha
Snow stone as well as on many others.
On a great many of his gravestones, Linnell does not chisel out the
lettering, but chisels the stone away from the letters, leaving the entire
inscription in high (positive) relief, such as on the 1851 stone for Esther
Nickerson (Fig. 9) (William Sturgis had produced a few such stones as
well). This certainly produces a distinctive effect, but it also involves
considerably more work - which may explain why he abandons this tech-
nique later. We can also note the nice symmetrical willow he places on
this stone, another Sturgis-inspired design. He uses this willow frequently,
even on some differently-shaped later stones, such as that for Abner
Rogers (1878) (Fig. 10), which he carved at the age of sixty-two. The shape
of this marker closely resembles that which Jabez Fisher had used in the
1850s, such as on the 1857 stone for Samuel S. Crocker (Part I, in Markers
XIX, Fig. 43). We also find this type of tree on the 1857 marker for Daniel
Higgins, Jr. (see Fig. 16). Linnell shares with Jabez Fisher the distinction
of having carved the gravestones for at least two other stonecutters:
Holmes and Sturgis in the case of Fisher; Sparrow and Higgins (and
possibly Winslow as well) in the case of Linnell.
From time to time, Linnell used additional decorative devices in his
work: he has a quite realistic human hand on his 1848 stone for Cecelia
Lewis (Fig. 11), an American flag with six stars (but no stripes) on his
1864 marker for a Civil War soldier, Augustus H. Eldridge (Fig. 12), and
a flag on the signed 1864 stone for Benjamin F. Bassett, another Civil War
casualty, in Chatham. He may also be responsible for the fine masted
sailing vessel on the marker for Capt. Samuel Eldridge (1850) in Harwich.
His final stones into the 1880s, however, tend to be plain, with fewer
decorative features.
Thomas A. Hopkins: Biography
Thomas Arey Hopkins was born in Orleans in 1826, the third of at least
four children of Elisha Hopkins and Sukey Arey, who were married in
Orleans on March 2, 1815. 1() Thomas married Ezildah Taylor11 in Orleans
James Blachowicz 215
on December 11, 1848.12 They had at least three children.13 Deyo tells us
that Hopkins continued Josiah Sparrow's marble factory after Sparrow's
death in 1847 (p. 762). Hopkins would have just turned twenty-one and
was ready to assume principal responsibility for his own business. The
1850-51 Massachusetts State Directory, the 1852 Massachusetts Register, and
the 1856 Massachusetts Business Directory each list Thomas Hopkins as a
marble manufacturer in Orleans - the latter two entries specifying "East"
Orleans. In the 1855 state census, Hopkins is a "mechanic."
It is strange that Deyo does not also mention Oliver N. Linnell. The
fact that Linnell's style is so close to both Sparrow's and Hopkins' sug-
gests a professional relation among these three men. Since Hopkins' de-
signs owed much to Linnell, it may have been Linnell who took over
Sparrow's shop rather than Hopkins, at least at first. Perhaps Deyo, writ-
ing forty years after the fact, did not quite get the whole story.
The 1858 Wallings map of the Cape shows the house of T. A. Hopkins
on the south side of Tonset Road, about an eighth mile west of the junc-
tion with Hopkins Lane. In 1861, however, Thomas Hopkins bought an
acre of land with a house, barn, and other buildings from his father for
$2,100 - today just south of Main Street and about an eighth mile south-
east of Tonset Road.14 This was probably the family homestead. It was in
1861 that Hopkins also served as town clerk, according to Deyo (p. 759).
In the 1860 U.S. Census, Hopkins, listed as a marble- worker, is shown
as living with his wife and his children Eldora and Nathaniel; in this
household as well is Winthrop M. Crosby, aged twenty, also a marble-
worker (Deyo, p. 874). In 1862, Deyo reports (p. 874) that Hopkins sold
his marble factory to Crosby. Although my sampling of Hopkins' mark-
ers was not very large, it is perhaps significant that the latest of his stones
I have listed is dated 1860. Hopkins may in fact have given up stonecutting
altogether after he sold his shop to Crosby.
In 1865, Thomas Hopkins mortgaged his home for $1200. 15 This was
only about a quarter mile north of the marble shop shown on the Wallings
map. In 1866, he appears to have mortgaged it again to a Reuben
Chapman,16 and the same year yet again to James F. Eldridge,17 selling it
outright to Eldridge in 1899.18 In this last transaction, Hopkins signed
the documents in Brockton, Massachusetts. I have not determined
whether he was residing there at the time.
Thomas A. Hopkins died in 1909 at the age of eighty-three and is
buried with his wife beneath a granite monument in the newer section of
Orleans Cemetery.
216 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Thomas A. Hopkins: Gravestones
I found eleven payments to Thomas A. Hopkins in Barnstable County
probate records through 1870 (see Appendix Ha). Five of these stones
were in Orleans, four in Truro, and one each in Brewster and Wellfleet.
These records are dated from 1849 through 1862. I was able to find eight
of these stones, and located ten signed stones as well.
It is apparent that Hopkins' work is very much like that of Sparrow
and Linnell. Hopkins was ten years younger than Linnell, however, and
may not have been old enough (thirteen) in 1839 to have had a chance to
learn stonecutting from William Sturgis. Yet I think it was probably
Hopkins who carved the stone for Joanna Smith (1842), which is very
similar to his probated stone for Knowles Smith (1849). The Joanna Smith
marker features a symmetrical willow very like Linnell's and lettering
that could be either Sparrow's or Linnell's. It seems almost too well carved
to have been made by Hopkins in 1842, when he was sixteen; perhaps it
is backdated.
Hopkins' membership in the Sturgis-Sparrow-Linnell school of de-
sign is obvious, however, in his probated 1854 stone for Sarah Doane
(Fig. 13). Besides the drapery, the urn and willow seem almost a copy of
Linnell's work on his 1854 marker for Lusha Snow (see Fig. 8), dated the
same year - suggesting that Hopkins worked most closely with Linnell.
The same features reappear on Hopkins' 1853 probated stone for
Archelaus Smith (Fig. 14). The squared-off bottom of the "7" here is also
found in Linnell's work.
The very close similarity in their styles of carving and lettering is evi-
dent from a comparison of Linnell's probated Lusha Snow stone (Fig. 8)
with Hopkins' probated Sarah Doane stone (Fig. 13): without the probate
documentation, one would easily judge both stones to have been the work
of the same man (of course, it is also possible that one of the two carvers
lettered a number of the other's stones). One small element that might be
used as a means for distinguishing Linnell from Hopkins is the horizontal
design element each carver uses beneath the date: on most of Linnell's
stones (such on the Lusha Snow marker), this device is made up of a drill
point flanked on the left and right by a kind of horizontal tear-drop; on
Hopkins' stones (such as on the marker for Archelaus Smith), on the other
hand, we find two small diamond-shaped incisions connected by a hori-
zontal line that extends both left and right beyond the diamonds.
Hopkins also used the symmetrical willow Linnell favored; we find it
James Blachowicz
217
Fig. 13. Sarah Doane, 1854, Wellfleet, Massachusetts.
Probated to Thomas A. Hopkins.
218
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 14. Archelaus Smith, 1853, Truro, Massachusetts.
Probated to Thomas A. Hopkins.
James Blachowicz 219
on two of Hopkins' signed stones. In general, Linnell's willow is wider
(squarer) than Hopkins', with thicker branches.
Daniel Higgins, Jr.: Biography
Daniel Higgins, Jr. was born in Orleans on May 6, 1837, the youngest
of four children born to Daniel Higgins and Elizabeth Sparrow.19 Daniel,
Sr. appears in a few records as a carpenter, but in the 1855 state census
(p. 12) he is listed as a farmer, and Daniel, Jr., aged eighteen, is listed as a
marble-worker. Daniel Jr. did not marry and died on October 8, 1857 -
the only fatality among the twenty-two passengers aboard the schooner
Harriet Maria, which was rammed by the steamer Niagara in Boston
harbor. The Boston Herald of October 9th reported the incident (see Fig.
15). Daniel was twenty years old. The Jesse Sparrow who was also a pas-
senger on the schooner may have been Daniel's brother-in-law, who
married Daniel's sister Betsy; and Elisha Hopkins was probably either
the father or brother of the stonecutter Thomas A. Hopkins. The Orleans
record of Daniel's death lists his occupation as "stonecutter." His grave-
stone in Orleans Cemetery (Fig. 16) was carved by Oliver Linnell.
Daniel Higgins, Jr.: Gravestones
I uncovered a single probate payment to Daniel Higgins for grave-
stones - this, despite the fact that he was under twenty-one at the time
(unless it was his father who was being paid for his work?). I also found
three signed stones (see Appendix Ha).
The 1855 probated stone for Thomas Watkins (Fig. 17) bears no deco-
ration. His signed 1855 marker for Thomas Higgins (Fig. 18), dated only
about one week after the Watkins stone, is more carefully carved. Note
the shape of the rectangular panel in which the deceased's name is in-
scribed and compare this to the panel used by Thomas Hopkins on his
stone for Sarah Doane (Fig. 13). All of these stonecutters were living in
Orleans. It is quite likely that young Daniel Higgins, Jr., only eighteen in
1855, had studied with Linnell and/or Hopkins. Higgins signed the fairly
large marble obelisk for Lottie M. Howes (1856) in Chatham. While the
monument itself is fairly simple, there is a mourning drapery carved in
high relief on one of the sides of the base.
Winthrop M. and Henry T. Crosby: Biography
The 1860 U.S. Census records that Withrop M. Crosby, then twenty
years of age, was living in the household of Thomas A. Hopkins; and
220 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
AFFAIRS ABOUT HOME.
Bad At^ldont la the Harbor*
On* Mah Dhowhed ato Tytzsty-owr Res-
cued. Tb* schooner Harriet Maria, Capt. 8. N.
Smith, from this port yesterday afternoon for
Orleans, Capo Cod, was struck amidships when
wlCbip a mile of the outer light, by the steamer
Niagara, on 1«jt way to thiB port from Halifax,
causing her to Biuk in a few minutes. There
were twenty-two persons on board the schooner,
all of whom, with the exception of Mr. Daniel
Higginfc, of Orleans, wcro saved. The names of
those saved are Jonathan Higgins, Elisha Hop-
kins, Jonathan Young, Rev. Mr. Atkinson,
Je6sc Sparrow, Josiah Knowles and wife, Jesse
C. Snow, and Jesse C. Snow, Jr., all of Orleans;
Mrs. Lucy Snow and daughter, and Henry
Knowles, of Eastham; Solomon Croby, stew-
ard; Sylvanus Freeman, seaman; and David
King. They saved nothing but what they stood in.
At the time of the collision the passengers, for
the most part, were in bed, and the shock threw
them violently from their berths. Isaac Lcu-
nell, mate of the schooner, immediately lower-
ed the boat and took them all aboard. It is said
that Capt. Smith had no light out at the time of
the disaster. His vessel was about 05 tons bur-
then, ami two years old. She was owned by
various parties at Orleans, and was not insured.
The cargo was valued at $5000, and was unin-
sured. The steamer did not see the schooner
until quite upon her. The engines wero at once
reversed, and every effort that the circumstances
required was made.
Fig. 15. Notice of the shipwreck which took the life
of Daniel Higgins, Jr., 1857.
James Blachowicz
221
Fig. 16. Daniel Higgins, Jr., 1857, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Carved by Oliver N. Linnell.
222
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
<m
m
Fig. 17. Thomas Watkins, 1855, Truro, Massachusetts.
Probated to Daniel Higgins, Jr.
James Blachowicz
223
■•Mii^r^
" ' •*» '
^ AT
^\e rl (Yrt. K;'.tS,~.-:
Fig. 18. Thomas Higgins, 1855, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Signed by Daniel Higgins, Jr.
224 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Deyo, as we have seen, reports that Thomas A. Hopkins sold his
stonecutting shop in Orleans to his apprentice Crosby in 1862 (p. 762).
At the time of the sale, Hopkins would have been only thirty-six, while
Winthrop would have been twenty-two and his brother Henry seven-
teen. Winthrop was born in 1840, the eldest of at least three children of
Joshua Crosby and Thankful Baker, who were married on November 3,
1829.20 Joshua was born November 22, 1809. According to Deyo, his fa-
ther and grandfather were also named Joshua - the father having served
with Commodore Perry on Lake Erie. Winthrop Crosby married Etta
(Marietta) F. Ryder, who was born in 1846; as of 1890, according to Deyo,
they had one son, Orville W. (p. 768), who was born in 1867.
Winthrop Crosby had been in the marble and granite business in
Orleans, Deyo says, since I860,2' that is, from the time he was living with
Hopkins. Perhaps Hopkins took Winthrop on in 1857, when Winthrop
was seventeen, in order to replace Daniel Higgins, Jr., who had died tragi-
cally that year at the age of twenty. Crosby lived near Hopkins, buying a
right-of-way across Hopkins' land in 1870 from the same man Hopkins
had earlier mortgaged his property to.22
Winthrop Crosby remodeled the shop in 1886 and it was still there in
1890 (the year of publication of Deyo's history). We also learn from Deyo
that Winthrop served as town selectman from 1882 through 1891 and
that he passed on his marble shop to his son Orville (p. 759). Winthrop
Crosby died in 1912 at the age of seventy-two and is buried in Orleans
Cemetery.
Winthrop's younger brother, Henry Thomas Crosby, born in Orleans
on September 21, 1845, was also a stonecutter. In 1873, according to Deyo,
he moved to Harwich and opened a marble and granite shop, a business
in which he was engaged since 1866 (pp. 850; 870). The Harwich shop
was located on Great Western Road a little west of the lane that runs
north into Island Pond Cemetery. It is still in operation today at 672 Main
St. and still bears the name "Henry T. Crosby & Son" on its front.
Henry married Eliza Doane Snow in 1870 and had three sons: Wilfred
Henry, Bertram D., and Orwell S. In 1896, Henry mortgaged for $1,800.00
a property in Harwich that included a lot with a house and other build-
ings, a second lot that included his marble shop, a cranberry bog, and a
third lot in the village of Whitman.23 Henry Crosby died on March 7,
1915, not quite seventy, and is buried in Island Pond Cemetery in
Harwich.24 There is a payment for his monument in his probate papers
to his son Bertram, who himself became a stonecutter.
James Blachowicz 225
There is a stone dated 1876 which is signed "Crosby Bros., Harwich"
(see below): this does not necessarily mean, however, that Winthrop had
come to join Henry in Harwich. They could still have been partners run-
ning two shops, one in Harwich and one in Orleans.
Winthrop M. and Henry T. Crosby: Gravestones
I found four probate payments to the Crosbys, three to Winthrop and
one to a "B. Crosby," probably Henry's son Bertram, for the monument
for Henry's own grave. One of the first three probated stones is also signed
by Winthrop; this is the 1861 marker for Capt. Stephen Collins (Fig. 19)
in the Methodist Cemetery in Truro. I also found fifteen other markers
signed by the Crosbys - enough to get a fairly good idea of their work.
Henry Crosby signed the stone for George W. Nickerson (1864) in
Chatham; this features a nicely sculpted anchor. Henry must have carved
it at about the time he turned twenty-one. There is a rather plain 1874
marble stone for Levi Long (Fig. 20) in the burial ground adjoining the
Congregational Church in Harwich which is signed "Crosby, Harwich"
- evidently the work of Henry. This features an Old English letter "L"
within a medallion at the top - the same device used on the 1876 marker
for Albert F. Wixon in Dennis Port's Swan Lake Cemetery. But the Wixon
stone is signed "Crosby Bros., Harwich." Henry also signed the marble
obelisk for Capt. Davis Wixon (1875) in Harwich and the large granite
monuments for Nathaniel Doane (1895) in Harwichport and William
Handren (1897) in Dennis Port.
According to a late Nineteenth-Century advertisement for the Or-
leans Monumental Works in a celebratory volume for the town, Winthrop
was responsible for the large Civil War monument (a bronze statue of a
soldier) erected near the town hall in Orleans in 1883 (Fig. 21). No doubt
he fashioned only the large stone base, and was not responsible for the
bronze. The business, the ad informs us, is now run by Orville W. Crosby,
Winthrop's son.
I only recently came across three marble markers signed "E. E. Crosby"
in Harwich and Chatham. Two of these signatures, on stones dated 1863
and 1878, designate "H. Port" (no doubt Harwichport), while the third,
dated 1879, shows "Orleans." There was an Elijah E. Crosby born to Elijah
Crosby of Chatham and Emeline Taylor after 1841 (Deyo, p. 611), but I
have not determined whether this is the carver or how he might be re-
lated to the earlier Crosbys.
226
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 19. Capt. Stephen Collins, 1861, Truro, Massachusetts.
Signed: "W. M. Crosby, Orleans".
James Blachowicz
227
Fig. 20. Levi Long, 1874, Harwich, Massachusetts.
Signed: "Crosby, Harwich"; probably Henry T. Crosby.
228
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 21. Soldiers Monument, 1883, Orleans, Massachusetts.
Stone base made by Winthrop M. Crosby.
James Blachowicz 229
The Sandwich Carvers
James Thompson: Biography
A "}. Thompson, Sandwich" signed the stone for Abby P. Linnell (1851)
in the Congregational Church Cemetery in Centerville, on the Cape.
Another stone in Centerville shows "J. T., Sandwich." There are also thir-
teen probate citations, dated 1851 through 1866, which pay James Th-
ompson: eight in Dukes County records are for stones on Martha's
Vineyard, three in Barnstable County records are for stones in Falmouth,
and two in Plymouth County records are for a stone in Plymouth
(Chiltonville) and another in Kingston (see Appendix Ha; as we shall
see, however, not all of these stones were carved by Thompson himself).
The 1856 Massachusetts Business Directory includes a listing for a marble
shop in Sandwich belonging to James Thompson. Other records con-
firm that this was the James Thompson born in Kingston on September
5, 1826. His younger brother Harris was also a stonecutter, but he died in
Kingston in 1849, having just turned twenty-one (he is included in my
discussion of the carvers of Kingston, which appeared in Markers XVIII).
James and Harris were the fourth and fifth of at least eight children of
Solomon Thompson and Harriet Thompson (same surname), who were
married in Halifax on November 2, 1817.25 Harriet was the youngest child
of the Middleboro carver Isaac Tomson/Thompson and the sister of the
carver George Thompson. She gave birth to twins in 1833; they died two
weeks later, and Harriet died three weeks after that. Solomon Thompson
remarried less than a year later, in Plympton, on July 20, 1834, to Mary
MacLauthlen, widow of Peleg Simmons.
I have not determined from whom James and Harris Thompson
learned to carve. It may have been from their uncle George Thompson
in Middleboro; but as far as I can tell, the brothers were residents of
Kingston. It is quite possible, therefore, that Hiram Tribble of Kingston
was their teacher.
The fact that Harris signed a stone in Kingston (dated 1848, but prob-
ably carved in 1849 just before he died), despite being only twenty-one
and two years younger than James, indicates that James had already left
for Sandwich in or shortly before 1849. This is confirmed by James' prop-
erty transactions in Sandwich, as we shall see. Yet James is still shown as
officially residing in his father's house in Kingston in the 1850 U.S. Cen-
sus (where he is listed as a "stonecutter"; p. 49). He would not legally
transfer his residence to Sandwich until 1852. It is possible that James
was accompanied by some or all of his family: his younger sister Harriet
230 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
would marry in Sandwich in 1856, and his older sister Maria Louisa would
die there in 1903. Or perhaps they joined him later.
It was also in 1849 that the New England Mercantile Union Business
Directory included a listing for "John Sturgis & Co." in Sandwich - the
only listing for a marble shop in the town. As we saw in Part I of this
study (Markers XIX), it was William Sturgis who had a marble shop in
Sandwich from about 1840 through 1845. William's son John and John's
partner Elisha Eveleth of Bridgewater probably took possession of this
shop (or at least its stock) afterwards, but neither man very likely re-
sided in Sandwich. It was probably James Thompson who first ran, and
then bought, this shop. Some weak evidence for this is found in the fact
that the stone for Elisha Gifford (1849), while it bears a Sturgis-type urn,
perhaps carved by William, is nevertheless probated to James Thomp-
son. There is a transaction dated December 3, 1849 in which James Th-
ompson ("of Sandwich") mortgages for a year to the firm of Hyde, Fuller
and Hyde of Castleton, Vermont, 125 marble slabs ("all the marble in the
shop used and occupied by me in Sandwich").26 This transaction was
witnessed by Elisha Eveleth, more evidence that Thompson was run-
ning the Sturgis/Eveleth shop. Although he does not appear on the Sand-
wich tax rolls until 1852, he could have been operating the shop in
Sandwich as an employee with no taxable land of his own.
Nye's (1920) description27 of the Dexter Grist Mill on Mill Pond
(Shawme Lake) in Sandwich adds one more important fact to this ac-
count. It mentions the erection in 1800 of a woolen mill (the "old fuling
mill") on the east side of the grist mill. This was taken down in 1830; but:
. . . later somewhere about 1849 the present building was erected on the site
of the old fuling mill by James Thomas [sic] for marble works. In the basement
large blocks of marble were sawed in shape for tombstones and polished and
lettered in the room above. This discontinued about 1859 or 1860. After a
short time it was leased to L. B. Nye who carried on the business of a
wheelright. (p. 7).
The 1858 Wallings map of the Cape shows this "marble shop" at the
junction of Grove and Water Streets, at the northernmost point of Mill
Pond, just north of the old burying ground, and near the town hall. This
account also affirms that Thompson built the marble shop, no doubt
bankrolled by John Sturgis and Elisha Eveleth. This implies that William
Sturgis may have earlier had only a modest shop in Sandwich (at an-
other location?).
James Blachowicz 231
James Thompson married Abigail T. Faunce in Sandwich on April
29, 1852; this is also the first year that he appears on the Sandwich tax
rolls. Abigail died in Sandwich two years later, on May 8, 1854. It was
also in 1854 that James Thompson was taxed for one half of a "marble
factory": he had apparently by this time become able to buy half of the
Sturgis/Eveleth property. In 1855, James mortgaged to his cousin Zebulon
Thompson in Rochester (for $600.00) "my shop for working marble with
the waterwheel and machinery connected therewith."28 This money ap-
parently enabled James to open the shop under his own name, for the
following year, he was taxed for the entire property, having acquired the
rest of it, most likely, from the other of the two partners. Zebulon was
himself a marblecarver, as we shall see.
From October 20, 1855 (six months after the mortgage), James Th-
ompson advertised himself in the Cape Cod Advocate and Nautical
Intelligencer as a "manufacturer of Tomb Stones & Monuments, and Dealer
in American & Italian marble, near the Town House, Main St." The ad
continued through 1857. He also ran an ad in the (Martha's) Vineyard
Gazette in 1855, informing its citizens that he had "taken a Shop near the
Steamboat Wharf, in Edgartown, where he is prepared to furnish all kinds
of Monumental work of the best of Italian marble." He notes that orders
may be left at the shop, or with his agent, S. L. Pease. It is possible, there-
fore, that this "shop" was more than just a contact point for shipping his
work from Sandwich.
James' younger sister Harriet may have come down with him to Sand-
wich when she was eighteen in 1848. She married Joshua T. Faunce,
brother of James' deceased wife, in Sandwich in 1856. Joshua came to
work in his brother-in-law's shop. In the 1856 Massachusetts Business Di-
rectory, the only marble shop listed for Sandwich belongs to James Th-
ompson. He remarried, to Lucy Hyde Bassett, in Sandwich on June 26,
1856. He appears on the Sandwich tax rolls as a resident for the last time
in 1857. On August 11, 1857, James and Lucy, "now or recently of Sand-
wich," as well as some of Lucy's siblings, sold a number of small tracts of
land in Harwich that they had apparently inherited from Lucy's mother,
Lucy Fessenden Bassett.29 James and Lucy signed this document in Bristol,
Rhode Island on September 1, 1857. They must have either just moved
or were in the process of moving to New Bedford, Massachusetts, for
their first child, Harris, was born there about a month later. Their sec-
ond and third children were also born in New Bedford, in 1860 and 1865. 30
232 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
In each of these three children's birth records in New Bedford, James
Thompson is listed as a marble worker. He is also listed as such in New
Bedford city directories for 1859 and 1865 and in the 1860 U.S. Census
for New Bedford (p. 710). The census entry includes his wife, his young
son Harris, a John Bassett, hatter, aged seventy-six (probably his father-
in-law), and an Isaac Carlton, aged nineteen, who is listed as a "marble
worker's apprentice."
He continued to advertise his product late in 1859 to the residents of
Martha's Vineyard with almost the same language as in his earlier ad in
1855, including a reference to his Edgartown "shop." After three years
in New Bedford, James Thompson finally put his Sandwich marble works
up for sale. In an ad placed on January 21, 1860 in the Cape Cod Advocate
and Nautical Intelligencer (Fig. 22), he invites any interested party to con-
tact Joshua T. Faunce, who was apparently operating the shop at the
time. This ad is also noteworthy in that it describes the size of the build-
ing and the power of the water wheel which drove the marble saws. He
notes that the machinery had been in use "about 6 years"; this would
date it back to about 1853, that is, to the time James Thompson began to
be listed on the Sandwich tax rolls. Had the shop been built in 1849, and
then refurbished with new machinery in 1853?
Foe sale at a Mgain !
■Thv.au b.-rri her oilers lor &uks *>n the mot
/avoW^le term*, the valuable properly i a
Mijg/i iil.i«i'c*Vf4 Saiuiwu-h, Uht,d a* a Mkrbte iWan-
i if a e tor y , v o n*i >'t uig v f a b ill J d t it g J tt e out p I e t e
onh r, iit'hy ^f^-f.vv it h water whirl of 8 hwm
power, The .wheel I'tuiii other j>rop*vMy is in good
working ottier, having ouly beeu in use about C
yc a ?&"'■*■■ /.-.,. ' .. . "■-'."-% y
■ For rvtrth^^rUj^lii^ Yrtquire of JOSHUA
TV44VW \ V ft* mr t lie-:prtryioi>Ty;>,or /C
r-r, ■*^^Ttt(naPS0N7 '
New IKdford, : J"«n. 21:1999; mM
Fig. 22. James Thompson's advertisement
for the sale of his Sandwich marble shop, 1860.
James Blachowicz 233
Early in 1861, Thompson issued a new ad in the Vineyard Gazette, list-
ing his address as "the corner of William and Bethel Sts., New Bedford."
His ad in the Gazette in 1863 and 1864 is headed with "Steam Marble
Works/' at the same location. Finally, he announces: "From this date,
April 17, 1865 [three days after Abraham Lincoln's assassination], I shall
sell all kinds of marble work at reduced prices." By April of 1868, a T. W.
Cole informs the residents of the Vineyard that he has taken over
Thompson's New Bedford shop.
James Thompson's carving career in Sandwich lasted only about eight
years; and he had apparently spent about the same number of years in
New Bedford afterwards. A cursory examination of New Bedford cem-
eteries did not reveal his signature on any gravestones. His move there
was probably not very wise: he arrived at about the same time that oil
was discovered in Pennsylvania, a development which would lead to the
end of New Bedford's whaling industry. He and his family would move
on to western New York shortly after 1865. He is not listed in New Bedford
city directories for 1867-68.
Lucy Bassett Thompson died in Evans, New York (now "Evans Cen-
ter," on Lake Erie, about twenty-five miles south of Buffalo) on June 19,
1876. Her obituary in Sandwich's Seaside Press reports that she was the
wife of James Thompson, "late of New Bedford, and formerly of Sand-
wich." One of Lucy's brothers, Gustavus Bassett, was listed as a resident
of Buffalo in the deed in which they sold their Harwich properties; per-
haps it was Gustavus, twelve years older than Lucy and James, who in-
vited his sister and her family to western New York, an area that had
developed quickly after the opening of the Erie Canal. James Thompson
may have worked at the Gates Marble Works in Evans. I have not deter-
mined whether he carved any gravestones there.
The obituary in the Sandwich Independent for James Thompson's sister
Harriet Faunce, who died in Sandwich on April 16, 1909, reports that
she is survived by a "brother James, of Chatham." Thus, James had ap-
parently made his way, shortly after 1865, from New Bedford to Evans,
New York, and then, sometime after 1876, from Evans to Chatham, Mass-
achusetts. According to the town clerk's records of Chatham, he died
there (a resident of the town) on October 5, 1909 of "apoplexy" (stroke)
at the age of eighty-three. This record confirms that he was a marble-
worker and that his parents were Solomon and Harriet; it also states that
he was buried in Kingston, his birthplace.31 His name appears below his
parents' on the stone which marks his family vault in Kingston's Old
234
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
E-Vk V i;fe«.-,t^, t C i
It«itm 0, i.^o.l
M?ftS'fV¥V^^M^ -:l <•
Fig. 23. Elisha Gifford, 1849, Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Willow and urn probably carved by William Sturgis;
probated to and probably inscribed by James Thompson.
James Blachowicz 235
Burial Ground. A stone on the opposite side of the vault door, which
James carved, commemorates his brother Harris.
James Thompson: Gravestones
There is a problem in identifying Thompson's work. I suspect that
another, younger man working in his shop, Edwin B. Nye (to be dis-
cussed below), may have been responsible for most of the gravestones
the shop produced, even most of those probated to (and signed by) Th-
ompson. There is also some question as to whether Joshua T. Faunce,
who apparently took over Thompson's shop briefly after Thompson left
for New Bedford, was himself a carver, as we shall see.
We can probably attribute to Thompson the inscription on the 1849
stone for Elisha Gifford (Fig. 23), probated to him. Although Thompson
might have imitated a Sturgis urn here, this marker was most likely carved
by William Sturgis and then left behind when he went back to Lee. This
part of William's stock was no doubt acquired by his son John when he
and Elisha Eveleth formed their partnership and began their Sandwich
operation. But the letters are not William's; that it was James Thompson
who carved the inscription is made more likely by the resemblance be-
tween the few letters on this stone and those on the 1849 marker for
James' brother Harris Thompson (Fig. 24) in Kingston, one which James
no doubt carved himself. These two gravestones are dated only a day
apart, and James Thompson probably carved them at about the same
time. We find a characteristic uneven spacing of some of the letters and
numerals, and a "2" which differs somewhat from that of some other
contemporary carvers. These features are also present on two other stones
probated to Thompson, those for Francis Johnson (1850) in Kingston and
George Bramhall (1853) in Plymouth. Neither of these markers bears any
decoration. This is precious little, of course, on which to establish a style.
The later, probated stone for Frederick Davis (1862) in Falmouth is also
undecorated. Since Thompson was in New Bedford well before 1862, it
is likely that the Davis stone is the work of Edwin B. Nye, with Thomp-
son (still the owner of the shop in 1862) being paid for it. I located four of
the eight stones on Martha's Vineyard for which Thompson was paid in
probate records: three of them may well have been carved by Edwin B.
Nye (and the fourth may not be the stone for which Thompson was paid).
Even Thompson's signed 1851 stone for Abby P. Linnell (Fig. 25) in
Centerville is suspect. The letters here do resemble those on the other
two Thompson stones mentioned above, but the panel containing the
236
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 24. Harris Thompson, 1849, Kingston, Massachusetts.
Probably carved by James Thompson.
James Blachowicz
237
Fig. 25. Abby P. Linnell, 1851, Centerville, Massachusetts.
Signed: "J. Thompson, Sandwich."
238 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
"ABBY P." in positive relief closely resembles a type Edwin B. Nye used
later, such as, for example, on Nye's signed stone for Sylvia L. Quinnell
(1851). While it is possible Nye executed the panel and name, and Th-
ompson completed the inscription, I will keep it in Thompson's column.
Thompson's other signed stone, dated 1849, also in Centerville, displays
a leafed flower - again, of a type Nye was to execute many times later.
But the Abby Linnell stone was signed by Thompson. Why should
we suspect the authorship of a signed stone? As we move to the mid-
Nineteenth Century, a signature on a stone may serve more as a shop-
manufacturing mark: that is, the man who carved the stone may have
been working in the shop of the man who signed it. Such vicarious attri-
bution sometimes occurs in the case of probate payments (seven stones
carved by the Kingston carver Bartlett Adams in the 1790s, for example,
were probated to his master Bildad Washburn); now we seem to see it in
the case of signatures - even where the man who carved the stone is over
twenty-one. There was the similar case of Josiah Sturgis signing a stone
carved (and perhaps inscribed as well) by his father William - that for
Walter Baxter (1838) in Hyannis.
We face another problem with the 1850 stone for Sylvanus Hammond
(Fig. 26), probated to James Thompson. It is difficult to relate the letters
here to those on Thompson's other stones since they are block-capitals
and italics with no Roman lower-case letters at all. But this marker does
have a distinctive upward-pointing hand. Very much the same sort of
hand appears on at least six other stones in the area.32 The lettering on
the later four of these six stones closely resembles that on Edwin Nye's
signed stones. And so I suspect that the hand on the stone probated to
Thompson may have been carved by Nye, even if Thompson did letter
this stone (which is itself not certain).
Note also the series of dots (or drill-points) at the very bottom of the
Hammond marker. I found this device on three other stones - those for
Prince L. Dimmick (1850), also in Falmouth, and for Lois Swift (1850) in
Cedarville and Elisabeth Quinn (1851) in Sandwich. The decoration on
this last stone, which features a Catholic "IHS" and cross, is the same as
that on the marker for Susan McAlinney (1856), nearby, which displays
unmistakable Nye letters. I would guess, therefore, that this entire set,
including the Hammond stone probated to Thompson, was really carved
and lettered by Nye. This must remain, however, an unconfirmed hy-
pothesis.
James Blachowicz
239
Fig. 26. Sylvanus Hammond, 1850, Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Probated to James Thompson.
240 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
The stones of Edwin B. Nye are rather numerous and easy to spot around
Sandwich: his lettering is fairly distinctive. The same cannot be said for
Thompson, for whom I was unable to find any stones with lettering simi-
lar to that on the two or three markers we can attribute to him. There are
also two or three Nye stones in James Thompson's home town of Kingston:
is it possible that Nye was also responsible for the Kingston and Plymouth
stones that looked to be safe for Thompson? Nye was about sixteen when
the earliest of these stones was carved - perhaps old enough.
Thompson continued to be listed as a marble worker even in New
Bedford. But when such listings may indicate little more than that the
man mentioned owned or ran a shop, it becomes difficult indeed to in-
sure that the products of that shop were the work of the owner/operator
and not his employees.
Joshua T. Faunce: Biography
Joshua T Faunce was born in Sandwich on October 21, 1833 to James
H. Faunce and Mary Tobey, who were married in Sandwich on October
27, 1828.33 He would have been sixteen in 1849, when James Thompson
built and ran the new marble shop (still partly owned by Sturgis and/or
Eveleth); perhaps that is when he joined Thompson as an apprentice. As
we have seen, Thompson had married Joshua's sister Abigail in 1852,
but she died in 1854. Joshua married James Thompson's sister Harriet
Marinda Thompson in Sandwich on October 23, 1856. He signed the
stone for James P. Lawrence in Falmouth, dated the same year. Joshua
and Harriet had at least three children, all born in Sandwich between
1859 and 1864.34
Joshua Faunce is listed as a marble-worker in the 1855 state census;
Faunce's father and brother Robert appear as masons in this census (p.
19). It is Faunce who is still operating the shop in 1860, the year that
James Thompson advertizes it for sale and refers prospective buyers to
Faunce "on the premises." Yet it is only Nye and not Faunce who is listed
as a marble-worker in the 1865 state census and in an 1871 business di-
rectory. In the 1870 U.S. Census, Joshua Faunce and his father James are
both listed as masons (#332).
The 1880 U.S. Census lists Joshua, his wife, his son Robert, and also
his father James and aunt Mary Bourne Faunce all living with him. Joshua
T. Faunce died in Sandwich on December 9, 1893, at the age of sixty. His
wife Harriet, buried with him in Sandwich's Old Burying Ground, died
on April 16, 1908.
James Blachowicz 241
Joshua T. Faunce: Gravestones
The only stones that could possibly be ascribed to Faunce are his
signed 1856 marker for James P. Lawrence (Fig. 27) in Oak Grove Cem-
etery in Falmouth and his probated stones for Isaac Ewer (1861) and his
two wives in Osterville. But there is practically nothing on these stones
to suggest that they had been carved by anyone but Edwin B. Nye. I
think the explanation may be the same as before: because it was Faunce
who was apparently running Thompson's shop between 1857 and I860,
it was his name that appeared on the stone and in the probate records,
even though it was probably Nye who was the actual carver. Although
two of Nye's fourteen signed stones are dated 1851, the remaining twelve
are dated 1861 through 1869. It is possible, therefore, that the first two
are backdated and that Nye didn't really sign any stones until 1860, the
year that Thompson put his shop up for sale; it was this move, perhaps,
that took Faunce out of the picture and allowed Nye, finally, to sign his
own work in his own shop.
Edwin B. Nye: Biography
While I didn't find any probate payments to Nye in Barnstable County
records, I did find fourteen gravestones signed "Nye, Sandwich" or "E.
B. Nye, Sandwich" (see Appendix lib). He is listed as a marble- worker in
the 1855 (p. 15) and 1865 Massachusetts state censuses (in the latter, he
and his family are shown as living with his parents), as well as in the
1871 New England Business Directory. He is also listed as a stonecutter in
two of his children's birth records.
Edwin Bourne Nye was born in Sandwich on August 25, 1834, the
eldest of four children of Lemuel Bourne Nye35 and Eliza Sears.36 He
married Susan M. Woodward in Sandwich on October 21, 1856, and they
had at least three children born between 1858 and 1871. 37 Susan died in
1885, and Edwin remarried to Susan M. Gale of Wareham.
James Thompson erected his marble works on Shawme Lake, beside
the old mill, in 1849. The fact that it is only James Thompson who is
listed in an 1856 business directory as having a marble shop in Sand-
wich suggests (as I said earlier) that both Joshua T. Faunce and Nye, who
were each listed as marble workers in the 1855 state census, were em-
ployed in Thompson's shop. Faunce would have been only twenty-three
and Nye only twenty-two. Nye, like Thompson, acquired one of William
Sturgis' late stones and inscribed it in 1856.
242
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 27. James P. Lawrence, 1856, Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Signed: "J. T. Faunce, Sandwich"; but possibly carved by Edwin B. Nye.
James Blachowicz 243
Thompson's shop was apparently discontinued sometime after he left
the area in 1857. The Sandwich source that reports this fact, as well as
Deyo's history of Barnstable County, both agree that this building was
later leased by an L. B. Nye - Edwin's father Lemuel - where "he carried
on wheelwrighting and pounding clay for the Cape Cod Glass Works
until 1871" (Deyo, p. 270). It is likely that Edwin retained some part of
this building for stonecutting, for in May of 1870 he advertised his marble
shop in the Cape Cod Gazette as "near the Town Hall," which is where
Thompson's shop was located. He advertised again in The Weekly Review
in February of 1882 (Fig. 28), his location once more given as "near the
Town Hall." However, in 1874 (between these two ads) a Howard K. Swift,
who had himself recently dissolved his partnership with Robert Clark of
Plymouth, their Plymouth shop having been advertised from 1871
through 1873, announced that he had taken over the shop "formerly oc-
cupied by E. B. Nye." Does this mean that Swift and Nye were simulta-
neously in business at different shops, or had Nye left the stonecutting
business for a time, giving his shop (the former Thompson shop) over to
Swift, only to get it back again in the late 1870s or early 1880s?
Edwin B. Nye died of "consumption" on October 25, 1889 at the age
of fifty-five. His obituary records that he lived on River Street in the
village of Sandwich.
E. B. JTYBr "
MARBLE WORKER,
S^Ali THE TOWN HALL*
Bftndwiohj Mats*
Monument*, Headstones, Tablets, and all kinds
of Cemetery work furnished at short notice*
btonca Cleaned, Reset, and Lettered at the yard,
tiMisfaction guaranteed. Terms Cosh*
Fig. 28. Advertisement for Edwin B. Nye's marble shop, 1882,
Sandwich, Massachusetts.
244 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Edwin B. Nye: Gravestones
The most interesting of Nye's fourteen signed stones is his 1860 signed
marker for Lott Crocker in Hyannis (Fig. 29). The sculptural, almost three-
dimensional modeling of the flower recalls similar stones of Jabez M.
Fisher of Yarmouth: they point ahead to a style of marble funerary art
that was to develop in the following decades. The flower here is a bud,
since the stone was for a three-year old child. A fully bloomed flower
appears on the 1855 stone for Mary Hatch (Fig. 30) in Falmouth, which is
also probably Nye's work. Jabez Fisher had also placed a few stones in
Hyannis with similarly sculpted flowers.38 Three of these are contempo-
raneous with Nye's stones and it is somewhat difficult to tell them apart.
I have relied on the following clues: Nye's leaves are rounder; Nye ends
the strokes on his "2" and "5" with a curl, whereas Fisher ends them
with a drill point; the top serif on Nye's "1" is horizontal, whereas Fisher's
usually has a slight curve; the "ear" on Nye's "g" is positioned more at
the top center of its upper loop; Nye's lettering also seems a bit shorter
vertically (more squashed) than does Fisher's. These features also sug-
gest that it was Nye who lettered the stone for Daniel Weston (1856) in
Sandwich, whose decorative features - a bible and two small willows -
appear to be the work of William Sturgis. Nye no doubt acquired this
stone from Sturgis' old stock (through Thompson).
Nye also has two stones which feature doves bearing cut flowers as
their principal decorative elements.39 He carved and signed the family
obelisk for Maj. Charles Chipman (1864), which bears a sculpted Ma-
sonic symbol. Among other decorative features found on Nye's stones
are lilies on the stone for Sarah Freeman (1852), an upward-pointing hand
on the markers I've already described, and a Catholic "IHS" with cross
and heart on the stone for Susan McAlinney (1856). The majority of his
markers, however, appear to be undecorated.
Nye's first signed stone is probably the one dated 1860 (the two 1851
signed stones are very likely backdated), when he was already twenty-
six. Yet he was, as I have already explained, probably responsible for
many stones in the area from the early 1850s, including the stone pro-
bated to Joshua T. Faunce and the stone signed by Faunce, as well as
most of the stones probated to James Thompson.
Although I found no very late signed stones, Nye's newspaper adver-
tisements indicate that he continued carving through the 1880s, up to
the time of his death.
James Blachowicz
245
lOTTi
son of
§t&*£vlx Crockett
diet! "'Srpt.ilO.IS'fiO.:
S*/rrn >. n rleni Loft if jiu'J twite f ft.y j^xK
(.•-,rV rnff«w' .lir- ftonio .1* I Vo ««.,'» f .f S'Vif:
T7irr« i.i"f'i 7/>v v.\Nr »n lu-ivfii tatin^ff.'
' I'll it i II ' i ■>' cletlJT.sl iiiir f~?rr t,-o?f .
Fig. 29. Lott Crocker, I860, Hyannis, Massachusetts.
Signed by Edwin B. Nye.
246
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
m&Jv
.
. ■ . • • . *«% ■■•■■■■»■
■^6
Fig. 30. Mary Hatch, 1855, Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Probably carved by Edwin B. Nye.
James Blachowicz 247
Other Thompson Family Stonecutters
There are two probate records in Plymouth County, dated 1830 and
1833, that pay a James Thompson for gravestones. These are too early to
attribute to the James Thompson born in Kingston in 1826. One of these
probated stones (1824) was for Eunice Bumpus (Fig. 31) in the Little Neck
Cemetery in Marion. The letters on this stone can be linked to those on
many others in the area from Rochester to Falmouth, as well as to many
we find on Nantucket in the 1810s and 1820s. At present, I attribute a
total of 175 stones to this carver (there are undoubtedly more): about
fifty are on Nantucket, and about seventy-five are in the Rochester/
Wareham area. This work is of high quality, with fine lettering, nice deco-
rative features and some imaginative components including anchors, an
upward-pointing hand, two very detailed doves,40 and in four instances,
including the 1817 stone for Judith Folger (Fig. 32) in Nantucket's Old
North Cemetery, a willow and urn and a large flying angel with an open
book. Especially important in identifying his lettering style are the "i,"
"y," and an occasional, unusual ampersand in which he places a "v"-like
sign within a small circle.
Because these stones seem to disappear in the late 1820s, and many
are found on Nantucket, it is tempting to identify the carver as the James
Thompson born (according to his gravestone on Nantucket) on March 1,
1782. According to property records, Lakeville was the location of his
family homestead. He moved to Nantucket, perhaps with his brother
Isaac, in about 1815. He died on Nantucket at the age of fifty on April 23,
1832 and is buried there in Prospect Hill Cemetery.41 1 have not been able
to determine his lineage beyond his parents. He was probably a brother
both to the Nathaniel Thompson III who married Joanna Tinkham in
Middleboro in 1805 and to the Isaac Thompson II who married Sally
Robinson in Middleboro in 1808. Four other siblings were probably
Samuel, who died as a child, Amasa, and two unmarried sisters, Phebe
and Sarah. These seven were most likely all children of the Nathaniel
Thompson I who married Phebe Jones in Middleboro in 1767. Although
it may seem unlikely that these Thompsons would not be part of the vast
Thompson family whose members lived mostly in Halifax and
Middleboro, neither Charles Hutchinson Thompson's (1890) comprehen-
sive genealogy of this family nor Wood's (1996) more recent account con-
tains any of these nine individuals, and vitals records in the area contain
none of their births.42 Perhaps the loss of records from the church in that
part of Lakeville known as Precinct accounts for these gaps.
248
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 31. Eunice Bumpus, 1824, Marion, Massachusetts.
Probated to a James Thompson, but possibly carved
by Isaac Thompson, Jr.
James Blachowicz
249
Fig. 32. Judith Folger, 1817, Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Possibly carved by Isaac Thompson, Jr.
250 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Despite the apparent good fit between this James Thompson's vital
facts and our mystery carver, there is powerful counter-evidence. There
is another stone that is part of this body of work, that for Silence Burt
(1818) in Rochester, whose probate pays an Isaac Thompson for grave-
stones. Further, the second of the two stones for which James Thompson
is paid in probate records, that for William Boles (1827) in Marion, was
carved by George Thompson of Middleboro. To make matters even more
complicated, there is another stone probated to Isaac Thompson, that
for Salsbury Blackmer (1825) in Acushnet, which was also carved by
George Thompson. Although, as we shall see, there is some evidence
from Isaac Thompson's estate record that he was a stonecutter, more
research will be necessary to determine whether it was he or James Th-
ompson of Nantucket who was responsible for this substantial and sig-
nificant body of work. I should add that George Thompson himself is
not a candidate, for he can be tied through many probated stones to an
extensive body of work that is closely related to the stones in question,
but is distinct.
The Isaac Thompson cited in these records was most likely not the
Isaac, brother of James of Nantucket, but the Isaac, brother of George of
Middleboro. This latter Isaac, who came to settle in Rochester and
Fairhaven, was the son, the brother, and the father of gravestone carv-
ers. His father was Isaac Thompson, Sr. (1746-1819) and his brother was
George Thompson (1788-1865), both of Middleboro.43 Isaac, Jr. was born
in Middleboro on November 7, 1781; he was thus only four months older
than James Thompson of Nantucket. He married Abiah Haskell in
Middleboro on November 30, 1808. Isaac and Abiah had at least eight
children between 1809 and 1824. Their third child was Zebulon Haskell
Thompson, born (either in Middleboro or in Rochester), in February of
1813. Zebulon would later become a very productive carver in the Roch-
ester/Carver area. Isaac Thompson, Jr. died in Rochester on March 26,
1835, not quite fifty-four, and is buried in Rochester's Center Cemetery.
The inventory of his estate (#20564) includes "four hundred seventy feet
of marble" valued at $170.00 (the most valuable item of the estate). The
estate also includes a "slate" valued at $5.50 and a payment to "Richard
Gurney for freight of marble: 22.50." This entry, and his concrete con-
nections with other family stonecutters, probably makes Isaac, Jr. a bet-
ter candidate for our mystery carver than James Thompson of Nantucket.
I have not, however, been able to identify any marble stones that may
be Isaac, Jr.'s work. It is possible that, by the time of his death in 1835, his
James Blachowicz 251
son Zebulon, who would have been twenty-two, had already taken some
major responsibility for the family business. Zebulon appears to have
carved exclusively in marble. Or perhaps Isaac, Jr. helped supply his
brother George in Middleboro: George's marbles are widely distributed
over the region. Although Isaac, Jr. was the older brother, it seems that it
was George who inherited his father's clientele in the Middleboro/Carver/
Wareham area, while Isaac, Jr. supplied stones mostly to Rochester,
Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.
I cannot discount the possibility that James Thompson of Nantucket
was involved in some way in the stonecutting business. He was, after all,
paid for gravestones twice in probate records, even if he didn't carve
them (I should note that I found no other James Thompson living in the
area who could have been a recipient of these payments). And there is
also the fact that many of these gravestones - and the most intricately
carved ones at that - are found on Nantucket. James died in 1832 and
Isaac, Jr. died in 1835; whichever of them was the carver of this signifi-
cant body of work, his death opened up the markets on the islands and
allowed William and Josiah Sturgis to establish themselves there.
Isaac, Jr.'s son Zebulon, of course, filled the vacuum left in the Roch-
ester area. Zebulon is listed as a marble-worker in Rochester in the 1850
U.S. Census44 (p. 265), and as a marble manufacturer in Rochester in the
1852 Massachusetts Register and the 1856 Massachusetts Business Directory.
He was a first cousin to young James Thompson, the Sandwich carver,
through James' mother, and, as we have seen, had some financial deal-
ings with James as well. I found twenty-six probate payments to Zebulon.
His marker for Charles Bonney (1834) in Rochester features an open bible;
those for Huldah Thatcher (1836) and Elnathan H. Haskell (1845) have
willows with rather thick boughs; and his probated stone for Samuel
Shaw (1858) displays a broken-obelisk figure. According to a short his-
tory of Fairhaven (Spinner Publications, p. 61), Zebulon in turn trained
an Edward Greenleaf Spooner, who moved to Fairhaven in 1885 and
opened a marble works at Middle and Bridge Streets.
Table 1 shows the relationships among the nine known stonecutters
of the Thompson family. I include the branch of the Thompsons, not yet
connected to the main family, which contains James Thompson of Nan-
tucket; I also include Cephas Thompson, later a prominent portrait
painter, who inscribed the stone for Robert Strrobredge (1790) in Lakeville
with "Cephas Tomson, sculpt."
252
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
John Thomson (1614-1696); Plymouth/Middleboro
John (1649-1725); Middleboro/Middleboro
Shubael (1686-1733); Middleboro/Middleboro
John (1717-1766); Middleboro/Middleboro
Isaac (1746-1819); Middleboro/Middleboro
Isaac (1781-1835); Middleboro/Fairhaven
Zebulon (1813-1896); Middleboro/Rochester
George (1788-1865); Middleboro/Middleboro
Harriet (1795-1833); Middleboro/Kingston
James (1826-1909); Kingston/Chatham
Harris (1828-1849); Kingston/Kingston
Harriet (1830-1909); Kingston/Sandwich
Jacob (1662-1726); Plymouth/Middleboro
Caleb (1712-1787); Attleboro/Middleboro
William (1748-1816); Middleboro/Middleboro
Cephas (1775-1856); Middleboro/Middleboro
William H. (1807-1837); /Savannah, GA
Cephas Giovanni (1809-1888); Middleboro/
Charles F. (1816-1839); /Effingham Co., GA
Nathaniel II (1750-1833); Middleboro/Rehoboth
Caleb (1752-1821); Middleboro/
m. Mary Cooke
m. Mary Tinkham
m. Susanna Parlour 1713,
Middleboro
m. Lydia Wood
m. Lucy Sturtevant 1774,
Halifax
m. Abiah Haskell 1808,
Middleboro
m. Deborah P. Clarke 1826,
Middleboro
m. Solomon Thompson 1817,
Halifax
m. Abigail Faunce 1852,
Sandwich
rm. Lucy Hyde Bassett 1856,
Sandwich
unmarried
m. Joshua T. Faunce 1856,
Sandwich
m. Abigail Watsworth 1693,
Middleboro
m. Abigail Crossman 1736,
Taunton
m. Deborah Sturtevant 1770,
Halifax
m. Olive Leonard 1802,
Bridgewater
m. Mary G Ogden 1843,
Bridgewater
m. Hannah Thomas 1775,
Middleboro
m. Mary Perkins
(this branch perhaps related to the above)
Nathaniel Thompson I ( -aft 21 Aug 1815)
Samuel (1773-1774); /Middleboro
Sarah (aft 1774-aft 1815)
Phebe (cl777-1850); /Middleboro
Nathaniel III (cl 778-1 856); /New Bedford
Isaac II (1778-bt 1840/1850); /Nantucket
Amasa (aft 1774 - )
James (1782-1832); /Nantucket
m. Phebe Jones 1767, Middleboro
unmarried
unmarried
m. Joanna Tinkham 1805,
Middleboro
m. Sally Robinson 1808,
Middleboro
rm. Deidamia Elliot 1811
m. Diana Clark Gibbs 1813/1814
Different generations are in different columns; those mentioned as stonecutters in various
records are in bold; places of birth and death follow birth and death dates; not all siblings are
shown.
Table 1. The Thompson Family
James Blachowicz 253
Other Cape Carvers
There were, of course, a number of other carvers working on Cape
Cod independently of the traditions established by William Sturgis and
his family. I have already mentioned Ebenezer D. Winslow of Brewster,
who came to the Cape from Berkley in about 1814. I provide an account
of his life and work in a forthcoming, more comprehensive treatment.45
A few others, such as the five I include below, either carved very few
stones or worked well beyond 1870, which is the chronological limit of
my study.
In Yarmouth, there is a very plain stone in Woodside Cemetery for
Prince Howes (1841), probated to an Edward Hallet. He may also have
carved the three other similar stones for other members of the Howes
family nearby, the latest of which is dated 1851. 46 This may have been
Edward B. Hallet, born in 1798, the oldest of nine children of Ansel Hallet
and Anna Eldridge. Edward married a Rebecca and had nine children of
his own, dying in Yarmouth in 1878.47 This man advertises his hardware
store in the Yarmouth Register in 1857; still, as we have seen in other cases,
stonecutting may have been a sideline. I doubt that the Fishers had much
competition in Yarmouth once they opened their shop there in 1844. In
Hyannis, there is a J.W. Macy, who advertises his marble shop in the
Barnstable Patriot in 1873.
In West Dennis, James H. Jenks, born in Providence in 1832, operated
a marble shop just off Main Street, from at least 1866.48 The stone for
Paulina B. Edwards (1864) in Swan Lake Cemetery in Dennis Port is signed
"J.H. Jenks, Prov." - indicating that he was working in Providence as late
as 1864. Among a number of other stones in the area, he signed the 1869
marker for Betsie C. Nickerson (Fig. 33) in the Congregational Church
Cemetery in Harwich. James Jenks died in 1915. His son J. Harvey Jenks
(that is, J.H. Jenks, Jr.), born in Providence in 1858, continued his father's
shop. Although most of the stones signed by the Jenks family carvers
have only the word "Jenks," there is a stone in the same Dennis Port
Cemetery for Elizabeth Howes (1878) signed "H. Jenks, Jr., W. Dennis" -
a stone made, perhaps, as the son turned twenty-one. Deyo (1890) tells
us that in 1889 J.H. Jenks, Jr. was postmaster of West Dennis (p. 532) and
secretary of the Odd Fellows (p. 533). He died in West Dennis in 1933.
J. Harvey Jenks, Jr. in turn came to employ Robert Clinton Baker,
born in West Dennis in 1867; it was either Jenks or Baker who was re-
sponsible for the Civil War obelisk in Chatham Green.49 Baker and Jenks
are pictured in their workshop in about 1890 in a family photograph
254
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Fig. 33. Betsie C. Nickerson, 1869, Harwich, Massachusetts.
Signed by James H. Jenks.
James Blachowicz
255
Fig. 34. J. Harvey Jenks (right) and Robert Clinton Baker (left)
in their West Dennis, Massachusetts shop in about 1890.
256 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
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James Blachowicz 257
(Fig. 34) supplied to me by Robert Clinton Baker's great-grandson, Bur-
ton Derick. Robert C. Baker's father was Nathan Foster Baker, a sea cap-
tain, but, according to Derick, Robert loathed the sea and preferred
working with his hands. Robert C. Baker married Hattie Barstow in 1887
in Harwich; he died in 1956 and is buried in West Dennis, his grave
marked by a gravestone he had cut himself.
It is significant that in Swan Lake, a post-Civil War cemetery in Den-
nis Port, there are no fewer than eleven gravestones signed by the Jenks
family carvers, but there are eighteen signed by "Burt" or "D. A. Burt" of
Taunton - as can be determined from Burton Derick's (1993) detailed
record of Dennis Cemetery inscriptions.50 Burt's signed stones are in fact
found throughout the Cape; they are a sign that, with improved roads
and railways, local carvers who had faced limited competition from dis-
tant marble shops in previous decades needed to be alert to market de-
mands as the century drew to a close. The elaborate nature of an
advertisement (Fig. 35) placed by J. H. Jenks, Jr. in the Yarmouth Register
in December of 1898 is evidence of the predicament of these later marble
shops which had to deal with greater competitive pressures.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study, presented over the last two issues of this
Journal, has been twofold: First, to bring to light the remarkable contri-
bution of William Sturgis to the development of mid-to-late Nineteenth-
Century marblecarving in eastern Massachusetts. This man, in a period
of only ten years, as he aged from sixty-two to seventy-two, directly in-
fluenced both the careers and carving styles of no less than eleven sub-
sequent stonecutters on Cape Cod. Secondly, to uncover, in the Sturgis
family and in the development of the distinct regional marble shops it
affected, evidence of important changes in the nature of the stonecutting
trade. There are at least four aspects of this development that can be
distinguished:
(1) The transition from slate to marble gravestones.
(2) The move from tablet-shaped gravestones (first slate, then marble)
to monuments with more three-dimensional modeling. We find this not
only in the obelisks of the Fishers' Yarmouth shop, but also in those
smaller stones which were inscribed and/or sculpted on both front and
back.
(3) A growing standardization of design. Willows, flowers, pointing
hands, and other common decorative motifs seem to be less and less
258 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
individualized as we move past the 1850s. Further, many if not most of
these stones bear no decoration whatsoever. This may indicate a decline
in creativity in part caused by the rise of very large gravestone manufac-
turing centers in the largest cities. More study will be needed to confirm
this possibility.
(4) Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we find in the period from
the 1830s through the 1850s evidence of the transformation of the nature
of labor itself, with the craft apprentice system giving way to more rec-
ognizably contemporary forms of business activity. It is probable that
neither John Sturgis nor Elisha Eveleth actually worked at the Sandwich
marble shop they established; their partnership was apparently directed
toward ownership and profit without any hands-on operation. Further,
we found at least two and perhaps three cases in this study of signatures
on gravestones in all probability representing not the man who actually
carved the stone, but the man who owned and ran the shop in which the
carver was employed. That is, the more abstract concept of ownership
was coming to replace the older concept of mastership as the directing
force of the trade. Owners no longer needed to be craftsmen involved in
the physical operation of the business. It was no longer the stone arti-
facts but the marble-carving shops themselves which became commodi-
ties, to be quickly bought and sold - tokens in a game of shifting and
often brief "partnerships." Business in a contemporary sense was thus
forming at a level distinctly above that of the manufacture of the mate-
rial product: the medium of the businessman was not so much the prod-
uct itself as the process of marketing, supplying, and expanding. Earlier
craftsmen made artful objects; businessmen made sales. And because it
was in sales that real money was to be had, it was inevitable that busi-
nessmen would ultimately hold the real power in manufacture.
The logic of business becomes more entrenched, of course, as cen-
tralized suppliers begin to dominate the stonecutting trade. Toward the
end of the century, customers were even able to obtain their monuments
from Sears, Roebuck and Co. through mail catalogs. By 1905, according
to David L. Cohn, Sears and Roebuck's "tombstone business was already
so important that its memorial department issued a special tombstone
catalog, while gravemarkers were listed in the general catalog."51 "As we
have often seen on other occasions," Cohn continues, "the catalog and
the local dealer indulge in violent battles, and now we find them wres-
tling for life in the cemeteries of the dead."52 I found no such advertise-
ments in the 1897 Sears catalog, but in the 1902 catalog Sears informs its
James Blachowicz 259
customers that "We offer you the handsome Marble Markers shown on
this page at half the prices you can buy them at your nearest marble
dealer" (p. 809). These monuments were all sent via rail from Sears' quarry
in Vermont and the buyer could select four different kinds of stone ma-
terial. The catalog also emphasized that its monuments were made, not
on a piece-work basis, but by "day labor," that is, not by independent
contractors, but by workers employed as needed by the company. In the
1910 catalog, the competitive language is fierce: "A revolution in prices
and a revelation to you, telling you how memorials in granite and marble
have heretofore been a fat field for profit for those doing business under
the old fashioned selling methods, with their large selling expenses and
long profits, who for a century past have found the highest of high prices
to be essential to their methods."53
I have not explored this phenomenon in the present study. These larger
manufacturers were corporate businesses in a more contemporary sense,
and no doubt were able to supply markers to individual customers and
local retailers at reduced cost, undercutting the local shops. If this prac-
tice followed the same pattern we have witnessed in more recent history,
where local pharmacies, bookstores, clothing and hardware stores have
been forced out of business by the more efficient larger chains and fran-
chises, then we should expect to see fewer independent monument shops
as we move into the Twentieth Century, as well as a marginalization of
local craftsmen. This, as well as new production methods, such as the
introduction of the stone-planer in the 1890s, no doubt significantly re-
duced the number of stonecutters or at least caused their numbers to lag
behind population growth.
But there is another side to the marginalization phenomenon. Truly
individualized and creative stonecutting could survive by providing what
mass-production methods could not - more elaborate and uniquely
sculpted marble monuments, which would only be available, however,
to wealthy customers. This is also true today, of course, where "designer"
fashion and "hand-crafted" jewelry, pottery, furniture, and architecture
are marketed to those select few who can afford to pay for them. In this
context, the artisan is less a local craftsman serving a town and more an
artist with a wider upper-class clientele. While some aspects of this phe-
nomenon were also present from the earliest times in the American colo-
nies, there were always colonial craftsmen marketing their goods to a
fairly broad economic spectrum of society. Mass-production methods
had not yet reduced their number and the variety of their designs.
260 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
It is in search of some relief from both the homogeneity of the stan-
dardized products of Twentieth-Century manufacture and the "art" of
the privileged classes that many of us have looked to the past, to the
historical study of earlier crafts - even the craft of gravestone carving.
For here we can find more diverse and individualized forms of human
design whose excesses were kept in check by a more democratic market.
NOTES
My acknowledgment of various individuals who contributed to this study was provided at the
beginning of the Notes for Part I in Markers XIX. However, because Part I had gone to press, I
was not able to include my thanks to Ernest Rohdenburg III of the Chatham Historical Society,
who located three stones signed by Oliver Linnell in the Union Cemetery of Chatham, a fourth
in Peoples Cemetery in Chatham and a sales receipt paying Linnell for another Chatham stone.
And I am grateful to Bonnie Snow of the Orleans Historical Society for the information she
provided both on the houses owned by some of the later Cape carvers and on a published
controversy involving Oliver N. Linnell. Photo in Fig. 34 with permission of Burton Derick.
All other photos in this installment are by the author.
1 . Orleans vital records have these children, all born in Orleans: Marcy (25 Nov 1803 - ?);
Mercy (25 Jul 1806 - ?); Isaac (15 Apr 1808 - ?); Isaac (16 Mar 1810 - ?); Mary (11 Aug 1812 - ?);
Richard (26 May 1813 - 30 June 1830); Phebe (2 Nov 1815 - ?); Emeline (13 Sep 1820 - ?);
Susan (12 July 1823-?).
2. $54.00 from Thomas S. and Emeline S. Snow; Vol. 41, p. 482. This involved part of the
Sparrow homestead in Orleans as well as a woodland in Brewster.
3. Orleans vital records.
4. Vol. 43, p. 319.
5. Vol.66, p. 179.
6. Simeon L. Deyo, ed., History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1890 (New York, NY: H.
W. Blake & Company, 1890).
7. Other children, all born in Orleans: Josiah (29 Oct 1814 - ?), married Naomi Allen Harding
in 1840; Elizabeth (16 Feb 1819 - 5 Jan 1838), married Franklin Gould in 1837; Lucinda
(17 Jun 1821 - 24 Nov 1842), married Josiah Sparrow in 1842; George (1823 - 1823), died
as an infant; George Washington (17 Mar 1824 - ?), married Elizabeth Kelley, died in
Olneyville, RI; Julia Maria (24 Aug 1827 - Dec 1910), married Warren Dill in 1846, then
Alden Rogers, died in Maiden MA; Jerusha (Elizabeth) (20 Nov 1830 - 1909), married
Franklin Skinner in 1853, died in Boston (this information gathered from Orleans vital
records and from Burton Derick).
8. Lucinda Adelaide (29 Sep 1845 - ?), married Zebena Harrison Higgins in 1862 and lived
in Boston; Hercelia Gibbs (11 Oct 1846 - 5 Nov 1848); Israel Mayo (19 Sep 1848 - 8 Oct
James Blachowicz 261
1848); Oliver Herbert (28 Sep 1849 - ?), married Augusta Knowles of Wellfleet in 1873;
Cecilia Marie (21 Mar 1852 - ?), married Alberto Sylvester Nickerson in 1871 and lived in
New Bedford; Adelaide Elsie (20 Aug 1854 - 30 Jun 1861); Walter Chester (25 Aug 1856-4
May 1898), married Laura Merrick Rogers in 1877; Arthur Ellsworth (11 Jul 1862 - ?),
married Eva May Snow in 1881 and settled in Quincy; and Addie Bell (21 Apr 1864 - ?),
married Weston Linnell Taylor in 1882 (from Orleans vital records and Burton Derick).
9. Similar urns and willows are found on Linnell's stones for Ezra Nickerson (1837), Mary
Ann Taylor (1854), Patrick McDonald (1858), and Amanda Kelley (1860). I assign these
to him rather than to Fisher because of the lettering - the curved serif on Linnell's "1," for
example.
10. Orleans vital records. Other children: Elisha, Jr. (ca. 1822 - ?), married Mehitable Walker
in Orleans in 1847; John M. (ca. 1825 - ?), married Catharine Snow in Orleans in 1848;
Silvester (19 Jul 1833 - 2 Oct
1 1 . Daughter of Bangs Taylor and Olive (Orleans vital records).
12. Orleans vital records.
13. Eldora Josephine (27 Jan 1850 - ?), who married Dean Taylor of Boston in 1871; Irene
Thomas (19 Jul 1853 - 2 Jul 1858) (these two listed in Orleans vital records); and Nathaniel
W. (ca. 1856 - ?), listed in the 1860 U.S. Census.
14. Vol. 86, p. 311.
15. To an Ensign B. Rogers; Vol. 86, p. 312; Vol. 89, p. 157.
16. May 14th; $1500.00; Vol. 90, p. 454.
17. June 5th; $1200.
18. November 19th; Vol. 241, p. 428.
19. Orleans vital records. Daniel Higgins, Sr. married Elizabeth Sparrow in Eastham on
January 3, 1826. Besides Daniel, Jr., their other three children were: Eliza H. (23 Aug
1829 - 22 Sep 1858), married a Crosby(?); Mary B. (10 Feb 1832 - 1890), married Edmund
Crosby; and Clara Ann (14 Sep 1834 - ?). Another sister may have been Betsy S. (ca. 1827 -
11 Dec 1852), who married Jesse Sparrow in 1848. Elizabeth Sparrow Higgins died on
January 15, 1839 (gravestone in Orleans), and Daniel, Sr. then remarried, to Mercy Smith
in Eastham the following April 12th. Mercy died December 27, 1869. Although the records
for Daniel, Jr. and the other three children mention Mercy as their mother, she was their
stepmother. Daniel Higgins, Sr. died on February 19, 1876 at age seventy-six (gravestone
in Orleans).
20. Besides their sons Winthrop and Henry, they also had a daughter, Abigail, born October
25, 1842. The Crosby brothers' grandfather Joshua was born in Orleans on January 6,
1779, and married Sally Freeman; their great-grandfather Joshua had married Thankful
Cole.
262 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
21. Marietta Crosby died in 1926. Winthrop and Marietta's son Orville married a Celia H.
(1868 - 1948) and died in 1929. Much of this vital information was provided by Burton
Derick from cemetery records of Orleans Cemetery.
22. Barnstable Co. Deeds, Vol. 126, p. 402. This was obtained from Ensign B. Rogers for $50.00
on September 3rd.
23. Barnstable Co. Deeds, Vol. 221, p. 412. The four-year mortgage was to Lenora P. Crowell,
wife of Emmett H. Crowell of Dennis. The mortgage was paid off on January 12, 1905
(Vol. 270, p. 218); Lenora Crowell then a resident of Taunton.
24. Henry's wife Eliza was born June 16, 1845 and died July 4, 1923; she is also buried in
Island Pond Cemetery, Harwich. Their son Wilfred was born January 2, 1872 and died
August 18, 1937 (also buried in Island Pond). They also had another son, Ray Causten,
born October 24, 1890 (when Eliza was forty-five) and died the following April 11th
(buried in Island Pond). This information, taken from cemetery records of Island Pond
Cemetery, Harwich Center, was also provided by Burton Derick.
25. Other children of Solomon and Harriet, besides Harris, James, and Harriet were: Maria
Louisa (13 Aug 1818 - 8 Nov 1903), unmarried, who died in Sandwich; Elvira (29 Aug
1821 - ?); Albert (26 Nov 1824 - ?); and the twin girls Lucy (13 Aug 1833 - Aug 1833) and
Lydia (13 Aug 1833 - Aug 1833).
26. For $200.00; Chattel Mortgages; Vol. 1, p. 352. This information uncovered by Barbara
Gill of the Sandwich archives.
27. Provided me by Barbara Gill of the Sandwich archives.
28. Barnstable County deeds; Vol. 57, p. 446. This mortgage, dated March 2, 1855, also
mentions that James Thompson was leasing the land occupied by his shop.
29. Barnstable County deeds; Vol. 66, p. 100. These properties were sold to William Fessenden,
who was probably Lucy Fessenden Bassett's uncle.
30. Lucy was born in Sandwich to John Bassett and Lucy Fessenden on July 26, 1826. The
New Bedford Clerk's office has Harris born in "October, 1857" (no day), a female born
October 8, 1860, and Frank, born December 26, 1865. The Mormon Church IGI database
lists three children of James and Lucy, namely, Harris (3 Nov 1857 - ?), Helen Maria (8
Oct 1860 - ?) and Franklin Herbert (26 Dec 1865 - ?); but their birthplace is incorrectly
listed as Sandwich. There is no record of these births in the Clerk's office at Sandwich.
31 . The informant for this record was a Gertrude P. Thompson of Hopedale, Massachusetts
(about twenty miles southeast of Worcester). Perhaps she was a granddaughter. I have
not determined with whom James Thompson may have been living in Chatham.
32. Prince L. Dimmick (1850) and Hannah Hammond (1854), near the probated Hammond
stone in Falmouth, and those for Hatsel K. Handy (1851) in Hyannis, Shadrach Freeman
(1854) in Sandwich, Thomas Richardson (1855) in Hatchville, and Fear Jones (1861) in
Falmouth.
James Blachowicz 263
33. James and Mary's other children were: Abigail Tobey (3 Jan 1830 - 8 May 1854); married
James Thompson; Elizabeth (8 Aug 1831 - 22 Jun 1833); and Robert T. (11 Jan 1836 - 5
Mar 1857).
34. These were: Robert H. (17 Jan 1859 - 25 May 1908), who was a physician; Abby T (16 Jul
1860 - 16 Jul 1860); and Lucy A. (21 Nov 1864 - 18 Jul 1866). This information from
Sandwich vital records and the family tombstone in Sandwich's Old Burial Ground.
35. Lemuel Bourne Nye was himself the son of Levi and grandson of Thomas Nye.
36. His siblings: Sarah Delia (May 12, 1837 - ?), William Lapham (15 Sep 1839 - ?), and Levi
Stephen (26 May 1842 - ?), who married Martha Ann Bracket in 1867. This and other
genealogical information was gathered from A Genealogy of the Nye Family, 1907, compiled
by George Hyatt Nye and Frank E. Best, edited by David Fisher Nye and published by
Nye Families of America Association.
37. William E. (5 Sep 1858 - ?), married Annie M. Heffernan in 1886; Franklin H. (17 Jan 1862 - 21
Aug 1862), who died in infancy; and Lizzie A. (4 Sep 1871 - ?).
38. The signed stone for Mary Bearse (1844), and those for Sophia H. Bearse (1850), Sally S.
Hallet (1852), Nella P. Baxter (1854), and Eliza H. Hallet (1857).
39. Elizabeth Baker (1855) and Eliza Baker (1859).
40. Anchors adorn the stone for Mary Swain (1810), the hand is on the stone for Irad Jenkins
(1820), and the doves are on the marker for Priscilla Stubbs (1822) - all on Nantucket.
41 . His gravestone is now broken in half. His death in Nantucket is reported in the Nantucket
Inquirer. The Columbian Centinel (erroneously?) reports his age as 46. He died intestate
and his estate was administered by his widow (Vol. 13, p 325). Three years after his death,
she also petitioned the court of probate to allow her to sell "several pieces of meadowland"
in Polpis and Pocomo (Vol. 14).
42. Charles Hutchinson Thompson, A Genealogy of the Descendants of John Thomson of
Plymouth, Mass. (Lansing, MI: Darius D. Thorp, printer and binder, 1890). A more recent
update can be found in Ralph V Wood, Francis Cooke of the Mayflower: The First Five
Generations (Rockport, ME: Picton Press, 1996).
43. Peter Benes provides a very brief discussion of the these two men in The Masks of
Orthodoxy: Folk Gravestone Carving in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1689-1805
(Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1977).
44. Besides his widowed mother, Abiah, this census includes two other individuals living in
Zebulon's household: John C. Dexter and John C. Scott, both eighteen years of age, and
both listed as marble-worker apprentices (Dexter born in Rochester; Scott born in
Charleston, SC).
45. An American Craft Lineage: The Gravestone Carving Traditions of Plymouth and Cape Cod:
1770-1870, forthcoming.
264 Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
46. These other stones are for Prince and Abigail Howes (1832, 1833), Patience Howes (1834),
and Capt. Ebenezer Howes (1851).
47. Yarmouth vital records. This Edward B. Hallet was born March 16, 1782 and died
September 9, 1874 (gravestone in Woodside Cemetery, Yarmouth).
48. James H. Jenks, son of Stephen B. and Cynthia Jenks, married Emeline Crowell in Dennis
on February 8, 1855. He is listed as a marble-cutter in an 1856 Providence city directory.
His son, J. Harvey Jenks, was born in Providence in 1858. He apparently did not reside in
Dennis until at least October 15, 1866, when his son was born there. His son, James H.
Jenks, Jr. (or J. Harvey Jenks), married Clara A. Crowell in West Dennis on June 30, 1881;
he is listed as a "marble worker" in the marriage record. All this information, taken from
Dennis vital records, was provided to me by Burton Derick.
49. Burton Derick reports that his great-grandfather Robert Clinton Baker often pointed out
the Chatham obelisk as they rode past it, proud of what was the most challenging carving
he had executed up to that time. Yet the money for this monument was appropriated in
1869 (when Baker was only two years old), and it is signed by Jenks. Still, if it was erected,
say, eighteen years after the appropriation, it is just possible that Baker did carve it.
50. Burton Derick, Cemetery Inscriptions of Dennis, Massachusetts (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books,
1993).
51. David L. Cohn, The Good Old Days: A History of American Morals and Manners as Seen
through the Sears, Roebuck Catalogs: 1905 to the Present (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster,
1940), 233.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid., 134-135.
James Blachowicz
265
APPENDIX I
Relevant Burial Grounds
All are in Massachusetts.
For locations of burial grounds on Cape Cod, see Marjorie Hubbell
Gibson, Historical and Genealogical Atlas and Guide to Barnstable County,
Mass. (Cape Cod), 1995, (Falmouth: Falmouth Genealogical Society).
NOTE: These burial grounds are numbered differently from those in
Appendix I of Part I (in Markers XIX).
Hyannis (Universalist)
Kingston (Evergreen)
Kingston (Main St.)
Orleans (Meeting House Rd.)
Osterville (Hillside)
Plymouth (Chiltonville)
Provincetown (Old)
Sagamore
Sandwich (Bay View)
Sandwich (Freeman)
Sandwich (Mt. Hope)
Sandwich (Old)
South Chatham
South Harwich
Truro (First Cong. Ch. & Snow)
Truro (Old North)
Truro (Methodist)
Truro (Pine Grove)
Wellfleet (Duck Creek)
West Harwich (Baptist)
West Tisbury (West Tisbury)
1.
Brewster (First Parish)
23.
2.
Cedarville (Herring Pond Rd.)
24.
3.
Centerville (Beechwood)
25.
4.
Centerville (Congregational)
26.
5.
Chatham (People's)
27.
6.
Chatham (Seaside)
28.
7.
Chatham (Union)
29.
8.
Chilmark
30.
9.
Cotuit (Old Mosswood)
31.
10.
Dennis Port (Swan Lake)
32.
11.
Eastham (Evergeen)
33.
12.
East Harwich (Evergreen)
34.
13.
East Harwich (Union)
35.
14.
East Sandwich (Cedarville)
36.
15.
Edgartown (Westside)
37.
16.
Falmouth (Oak Grove)
38.
17.
Falmouth (Old Burying Ground)
39.
18.
Forestdale (Rte. 130)
40.
19.
Harwich (Cong. Ch.)
41.
20.
Harwichport (Mt. Pleasant)
42.
21.
Hatchville (East End)
43.
22.
Hyannis (Baptist)
266
Origins of Cape Code Marble Carving II
APPENDIX II
Probated and Signed Gravestones
The entry after each name is the volume and page number of the
probate record, followed by years of death and probate settlement. If
the date of death is not given, the stone was not located.
^Records which specifically mention gravestones.
(a) The Orleans Carvers:
Josiah Sparrow II:
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
*Joshua P. Atwood (61:511; 1843, 1844),
Eastham
'John F. Anderson (61:528; 1835, 1844),
Yarmouth
Signed:
Jeremiah Newcomb (1842), Wellfleet
"Mulford Kendrick (77:143; 1846, 1848),
Harwich
Hannah Freeman (1844), Wellfleet
Oliver N. Linnell:
Documented: (sales receipt in possession of Chatham Historical Society)
*Lt. Franklin D. Hammond (1864), Chatham
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
'John Bassett (77:210; 1848, 1849), Harwich
Jesse Nickerson (77:306; 1848, 1850),
Chatham
*Sabina Nickerson (77:365; 1841, 1851),
Chatham
'Benjamin Nickerson (77:460; 1850, 1852),
Chatham
Lumbert Nickerson (77:518; 1851, 1853),
Chatham
'Nathan Rogers (85:87; 1853, 1854), Harwich
'Christopher Smith (85:131; 1854, 1855),
Chatham
'Enoch Smith (85:194; 1854, 1856), Chatham
'Enoch Bassett (85:199; 1854, 1856),
Chatham
'Susan Berry (85:370; 1856, 1858), Chatham
'Sylvanus Chase (#4072; , 1861), Harwich
'James Baker (#4392; , 1862), Harwich
'Benjamin G. Bearse (#4538; 1862, 1863),
Chatham
'Jacob Crowell (#4560; , 1864), Harwich
'James Hawes (#4592; 1862, 1864), Chatham
'Mary A. Chaffee (#4845; 1865, 1866),
Chatham
James Blachowicz
267
Signed:
(infant) Nickerson (1845), E. Harwich
Stephen Turner (1848), E. Harwich
Eliza Tripp (1852), Harwich
Nathan Rogers (1853), E. Harwich
Edmund Long (1854), E. Harwich
Lusha Snow (1854), Orleans
Benjamin B. Smith (1858), Chatham
Polly Chase (1859), Harwich
Rhoda Crowell (1859), E. Harwich
Woodbury Norcross Gardner (1859), E.
Harwich
Flora Jan Tripp (1860), Chatham
Otis Allen Cahoon (1861), E. Harwich
Benjamin G. Bearse (1862), Chatham
'Benjamin F. Bassett (1864), Chatham
Elijah Lincoln (1865), E. Harwich
'"Linnell & Son"
Mabel C. Cahoon (1866), E. Harwich
Deborah Nickerson (1867), E. Harwich
James F. Gould (1868), Chatham
Henry Leonard (1868), Chatham
Patia Nickerson (1868), E. Harwich
Job Kelley (1869), Dennis Port
Polly Ann Baker (1870), Harwich
Martha W. Gardner (1870), Chartham
'Josiah F. Linnell (1871), Chatham
'Joseph A. Taylor (1872), Chatham
Charles E. Gross (1873), Chatham
Gershom Jones (1873), Chatham
Sylvanus Baker (1875), Harwich
Isaiah C Basset (1875), Chatham
Abijah Crosby (1875), Chatham
Oliver H. Linnell:
Signed:
Elisha Howes (1853), Chatham (Seaside)
Joseph Whorf (1872), Truro (Snow)
Anna Higgins (1879), Eastham (Soldiers)
Thankful Snow (1883), Truro (Methodist)
Thomas A. Hopkins:
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
*Fanny Crosby (77:247; 1821?, 1849),
Brewster
*Franklin Hopkins (77:362; 1851, 1851),
Orleans
Joshua Small (77:486; 1850, 1852), Truro
*Sarah Doane (85:113; 1854, 1855),
Wellfleet
*Archelaus Smith (85:118; 1853, 1855),
N. Truro
*Atkins Dyer (85:210; 1854, 1856), Truro
*Knowles Smith (85:240; 1849, 1856),
Orleans
Henry Kingman (97:180; , 1860), Orleans
*Matthew Kingman (#4132; , 1860),
Orleans
*Allen Hinckley (#4300; 1861, 1862), Truro
*Solomon Hurd (#4305; , 1862), Orleans
Signed:
Capt. Thomas W. Shaw (1831), Truro
Mehitable Anderson (1851), Truro
Abijah Gill (1853), Eastham
Chloe Kemp (1853), Wellfleet
Ephraim D. Rich (1853), Truro
Matilda K. Atkins (1854), Truro
Capt. Isaiah Cole (1854), Wellfleet
John N. Kemp (1854), Wellfleet
Samuel Kemp (1856), Wellfleet
Volney Rider (1858), Truro
268
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Daniel Higgins, Jr.:
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
Thomas Watkins (85:317; 1855, 1857), Truro
Signed:
Thomas Higgins (1855), Orleans
Lottie M. Howes (1856), Chatham
Thankful M. Newcomb (1856), Wellfleet
Winthrop and Henry Crosby:
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
'•Stephen Collins (#4408; 1861, 1863),
Truro
'Elnathan Snow (#5118; , 1867),
Orleans
'*Daniel A. Knowles (#5546;
2*Henry T Crosby (#17420;
Harwich
, 1869), Truro
1915),
'payment to Winthrop Crosby
2payment to "B. Crosby," probably Henry's son Bertram
Signed:
Mercy Crosby (1842), Chatham
2Capt. Stephen Collins (1861), Truro
'George W. Nickerson (1864), Chatham
'Thankful Nickerson (1866), Truro
"Polly Doane (1868), Harwichport
'Harriet N. Smith (1870), Chatham
'Sarah Eldredge (1871), Chatham
'"Crosby Orleans"
2"W. M. Crosby, Orleans"
3"Henry T. Crosby"
4"Crosby, Harwich"
5"Crosby Bros., Harwich"
'Essie May Howes (1871), Chatham
'Huldah A. Atkins (1872), Truro
4Cyrus Weeks (1872), Harwichport
4Levi Long (1874), Harwich
5Albert F. Wixon (1874), Dennis Port
4Cambyses Philips (1875), Harwichport
'Nathaniel Doane (1895), Harwichport
E. E. Crosby:
Signed:
Temperance Nickerson (1863), Harwichport [Mt. Pleasant]
Cyrus C. Gould (1878), Chatham [Seaside]
Hannah Allen (1879), Harwichport [Mt. Pleasant]
James Blachowicz
269
(b) The Sandwich Carvers:
James Thompson (of Sandwich):
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
'Sylvanus Hammond (77:356; 1850, 1851)
Falmouth
*Elisha Gifford (85:99; 1849, 1854),
Falmouth
Probated: (Dukes Co.)
'Ephraim Pool (21:252; 1854, 1856),
Chilmark
'Elijah Luce (21:340; , 1856), Tisbury
'Josiah Tilton (21:463; 1856, 1858),
Chilmark
*Shubael Norton (21:537; 1842?, 1858),
Tisbury
''Daniel Fellows (21:551; 1832, 1858),
Edgartown
'carved by William Sturgis
Probated: (Plymouth Co.)
'Francis Johnson (#11482; 1850, 1851),
Kingston
Signed:
Abby P. Linnell (1851), Centerville
"Frederick Davis (#4418; 1862, 1866),
Falmouth
"William Stewart (22:119; 1859, 1860),
Chilmark
"Almira Jernegan (22:146; 1860, 1861),
Edgartown
"Charlotte Norton (22:172; , 1861),
Tisbury
"George Bramhall (#2661; 1853, 1857),
Plymouth
Charlotte Lewis (1849), Centerville
Joshua T. Faunce:
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
'-'Isaac Ewer (#4091; 1859, 1861), Osterville Thomas L. Swift (#4200; 1860, 1862),
3*Wendall Lewis (#4140; 1859, 1862), Falmouth
Barnstable
Signed:
2James P. Lawrence (1856), Falmouth
'payment also for two additional gravestones for his wives
2probably carved by Edwin B. Nye
3stone not located
270
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Edwin B. Nye:
Signed:
Abby B. Nightingale (1851), Cedarville
Sylvia L. Quinnell (1851), Sandwich
Lott Crocker (1860), Hyannis
Isaac Hodges, Jr. (1861), Osterville
Ellis Nightingale (1862), Cedarville
George H. Bearse (1863), Centerville
Maj. Charles Chipman (1864), Sandwich
Joseph C. Scudder (1864), Osterville
Betsey Nye (1865), E. Sandwich
Fanny Nickerson (1866), Cotuit
Capt. Daniel B. Nye (1866), Sandwich
Abby S. Thayer (1867), Sandwich
Zebiah C. Richards (1868), Sandwich
Zenas Nye (1869), E. Sandwich
(c) Other carvers Relevant to this Study:
E. Busby:
Signed:
Capt. Ezra and Sally Nickerson (1837, 1877), Harwich (Congregational Church); "E. Busby,
H-Port"
Edward Hallet:
Probated: (Barnstable Co.)
*Prince Howes (77:370; 1841, 1851), Yarmouth (Hillside)
James H. Jenks and J. Harvey Jenks:
Signed:
'Pauline B. Edwards (1864), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Betsie C. Nickerson (1869), Harwich
(Cong. Church)
Remark Wixon (1870), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Thomas Howes (1871), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Susanna Sears (1874), Dennis (Quivet)
Elizabeth Howes (1878), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Zephaniah Eldredge (1880), Chatham
(Peoples)
Frances Harding (1881), Chatham (Seaside)
2Sarah A. Rogers (1881), Harwichport
(Mt. Prospect)
Elisha Hammond (1882), Chatham
(Seaside)
William W. Cole (1897), Harwichport (Mt.
Prospect)
William T. Handren (1899), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Emma Chase (1901), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Ann Kelly (1904), Dennis Port (Swan Lake)
James Blachowicz
271
Sidney A. Sears (1905), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Mary A. Howes (1908), Dermis Port
(Swan Lake)
Mary Elizabeth Sears (1914), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Emelyn L. Hart (1918), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Polly Chase (1925), Dennis Port
(Swan Lake)
Samuel L. Robbins (1939), Dennis (Quivet)
3[Civil War obelisk, Chatham green]
1 "}. H. Jenks, Pro v."
2 "H. Jenks, Jr., W. Dennis"
3 Signed by Jenks; probably carved by Jenks, but possibly carved by Jenks' assistant
Robert Clinton Baker, according to a family tradition.
George Thompson:
Probated: (Bristol Co.)
"Edward Paull (66:135; 1826, 1828),
Taunton
"Martin Dean (68:260; 1828, 1830),
Raynham
Nathan King (69:296; 1828, 1831),
Taunton
Probated: (Plymouth Co.)
*John Fuller (43:437; 1809, 1811),
Middleboro
*Irad Thomas (43:449; , 1811),
Middleboro
"Israel Thomas (43:449; 1809, 1811),
Middleboro
"Ebenezer Vaughn (43:460; 1810, 1811),
Middleboro
"William Bennet (44:92; 1809, 1812),
Middleboro
*Susanna Cobb (45:246; 1813, 1814),
Middleboro
*Philip Bennet (45:408; 1810, 1814),
Middleboro
"Elisha Cox (45:502; 1813, 1814),
Middleboro
*Martha Darling (45:529; 1812, 1814),
Middleboro
*Nathan Darling (45:530; 1812, 1814),
Middleboro
"Ebenezer Thomson (47:141; 1813, 1815),
Halifax
"Abel R. Caswell (69:218; 1826, 1831),
Taunton
"Joseph Tisdale (72:114; 1831, 1832),
Taunton
"Nathan Weston (47:395; 1814, 1815),
Middleboro
"Patience Tinkham (47:403; 1814, 1815),
Middleboro
"Edmund Weston (48:29; 1814, 1816),
Middleboro
"John Soule (48:391; 1815, 1817),
Middleboro
Jeremiah Bennet (49:100; 1815, 1817),
Middleboro
"Israel Thomas (49:283; 1814 , 1818),
Middleboro
"Joseph Bump (49:360; 1817, 1818),
Middleboro
"Abraham Miller (49:364; 1817, 1818),
Middleboro
"Daniel Darling (49:367; 1814, 1818),
Middleboro
"John Murdock (49:523; 1817, 1818),
Middleboro
Peter Shurtleff (50:251; 1818, 1819),
Carver
272
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
*Hushai Thomas (50:388; 1818, 1819),
Middleboro
*Josiah Vaughn (50:409; 1814, 1819),
Middleboro
*Elisha Thomas (53:84; 1814, 1820),
Middleboro
*George Vaughn (53:194; 1816, 1820),
Middleboro
*Thomas Nelson (53:408; 1819, 1821),
Middleboro
*Levi LeBaron (54:432; 1820, 1822),
Middleboro
*Silvanus Tillson (57:30; 1822, 1823),
Middleboro
*Zachariah Weston (58:59; 1819, 1824),
Middleboro
•Jonathan Phinney (58:100; , 1824),
Middleboro
*Mercy Bennet (63:422; 1826, 1827),
Middleboro
*Greenleaf Pratt (67:431; 1824 , 1829),
Middleboro
*John McCully (69:496; 1829, 1830),
Middleboro
* Alvan Makepeace (76:320; 1833, 1834),
Middleboro
*James Cobb (77:203; 1833, 1835),
Middleboro
*Barnabas Bates (79:191; 1835, 1837),
Wareham
*Ebenezer Leach (79:455; 1834, 1837),
Bridgewater
*Silvanus Thomas (80:146; 1814?, 1838),
Middleboro
*Obed McCully (81:524; 1838, 1839),
Middleboro
*Unite Kinsley (82:162; 1833, 1840),
Middleboro
*Elkanah Cook (83:21; 1839, 1841),
Kingston
^Benjamin Shaw (84:202; 1837, 1842),
Carver
*William Canady (84:355; 1836, 1842),
Middleboro
*Josiah C. Reed (85:317; 1842, 1843),
Rochester
Barnes Jackson (86:205; 1840, 1844),
Middleboro
*Edward Thomas (87:463; 1844, 1845),
Middleboro
*Dr. Joseph Clarke (88:462; 1843, 1846),
Middleboro
*William W. Nelson (89:297; 1844, 1847),
Middleboro
Thomas Steles (89:302; 1835, 1847),
Middleboro
*Francis Atwood (#584; 1853, 1855),
Middleboro
Signed:
Joseph Hale (1813), Raynham
Capt. Noble Canedy (1829), Lakeville
Andrew Cole (1830), Lakeville
Lydia Murdock (1830), Carver
Anna W. Shaw (1830), Carver
John Townsend (1835), Lakeville
Joshua Haskins (1849), Lakeville
Thomas Savery (1856), Middleboro
James Blachowicz 273
Harris Thompson:
Probated: (Plymouth Co.)
* Abigail Lucas (#13313; 1849, 1849), Carver
*Samuel W. McLauthlen (#13852; 1848, 1849), Kingston
Signed:
Samuel McLauthlen (1848), Kingston
Isaac Thompson, Jr.:
Probated: (Bristol Co.)
wSalsbury Blackmer (67:160; 1825, 1829), Fairhaven
probably carved by George Thompson of Middleboro
Probated: (Plymouth Co.)
*Silence Burt (50:129; 1818, 1819), Rochester (old parish, N. Rochester)
James Thompson (of Nantucket):
Probated: (Plymouth Co.)
"William Boles (69:181; 1827, 1830), Marion
JCaleb Cushing (69:490; 1829, 1830), Wareham
2*Eunice Bumpus (74:173; 1824, 1833), Rochester
!probably carved by George Thompson of Middleboro
2possibly carved by Isaac Thompson, Jr. of Middleboro/Rochester
274
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
Zebulon H. Thompson:
Probated: (Plymouth Co.)
*Charles Bonney (78:223; 1834, 1836),
Rochester
* Alpheus Barrows (78:300; 1834, 1836),
Rochester
*Hallett Swift (78:428; 1835, 1836),
Wareham
*Huldah Thatcher (81:417; 1836, 1839),
Rochester
*Galen Bennet (82:393; 1839, 1841?),
Rochester
*Seth Hammond (84:370; 1841, 1842),
Rochester
Samuel Mandall (85:247; 1841, 1843),
Rochester
^Oliver Allen (86:342; 1843, 1844),
Bridgewater
Ebenezer Ellis (87:513; 1845, 1845),
Rochester
*Elnathan H. Haskell (88:144; 1845, 1846),
Rochester
*Achsah Bumpus (88:343; 1845, 1846),
Wareham
*William D. Boodry (89:225; 1838, 1847),
Rochester
*Reuben Dexter (89:478; 1846, 1847),
Rochester
*James Gammons (90:94; 1846, 1848),
Middleboro
Wilson Barrows (#1141; 1853, 1854), Carver
John Bent (#1937; 1853, 1855), Carver
Lucy Sherman (#18154; 1854, 1855), Carver
Joseph Shaw (#17972: 1855, 1856), Carver
John C. Vail (#21488; 1859, 1859), Carver
*Joseph Alden (#290; , 1860), Marion
Lothrop Barrows (#1118; 1857, 1860),
Carver
Rebecca Atwood (#614; 1863, 1864),
Middleboro/Carver
*Samuel Shaw (#18027; 1858, 1864), Carver
Asaph Atwood, Jr. (#575;1864, 1866),
Middleboro/Carver
Elizabeth Colby (#4644; , 1868), Carver
James Blachowicz
275
APPENDIX III
Gravestones of the Orleans Carvers (partial list)
The number in parentheses following each entry indicates the burial
ground (See Appendix 1).
Probated stones are in bold. Signed stones are in italics.
Years in parentheses are dates of probate, not death (stones not
examined).
For stones with multiple burials, the name of the person with the latest
date of burial is listed.
Josiah Sparrow II:
1835 Anderson, John F.
1841 Newcomb, Joanna
1841 Rider, Dea. David
1842 Atwood,
Deliverance H.
1842 Newcomb, Jeremiah
1842 Sparrow, Josiah [son
1842 Swett, Thankful
Chatham (7)
Wellfleet (41)
Provincetown
(29)
Wellfleet (41)
Wellfleet (41)
Orleans (26)
Wellfleet (41)
1843 Atwood, Joshua P.
1843 Small, Huldah
1 843 Sparrow, Isaac
1844 Freeman, Hannah
1846 Atkins, Josiah D.
1846 Kendrick, Mulford
1846 Snow, Joseph
1846 Sparrow, Mary
Eastham(ll)
Truro (39)
Orleans (26)
Wellfleet (41)
Truro (39)
E. Harwich (13)
Truro (39)
Orleans (26)
Oliver N. Linnell:
1837 Nickerson,
Capt. Ezra
1841 Nickerson, Sabina
1844 Hurd, Polly
1845 [infant] Nickerson
1845 Nickerson,
Rebeckah J.
1846 Taylor, Lucretia
1847 Sparrow, Josiah
1847 Wixon, Heman
1848 Bassett,John
1848 Eldridge, Betsey H.
1848 Lewis, Cecelia
1848 Linnell, Hercelia
1848 Linnell, Oliver [son]
1848 Nickerson, Jesse
1848 Nickerson, Simeon
1848 Small, Mercy B.
1848 Turner, Stephen
Harwich (19)
Chatham (5)
Orleans (26)
E. Harwich (13)
Chatham (5)
Chatham (5)
Orleans (26)
W. Harwich (42)
Harwich
S. Harwich (36)
Chatham (5)
Orleans (26)
Orleans (26)
Chatham (5)
Chatham (5)
Chatham (5)
E. Harwich (13)
1849 Crowell, Bethiah
1850 Eldridge,
Capt. Samuel
1850 Hopkins, Walter A.
1850 Nickerson,
Benjamin F.
1851 Doane, Mary Ann
1851 Nickerson, Esther
1851 Nickerson, Lumbert
1851 Taylor, Christopher
[son]
1851 Taylor, Lucretia
1852 Eldredge,
Betsey Ann
1852 Hopkins, Susan J.
1852 Kendrick, Henry
1852 Nickerson,
George H.
1852 Tripp, Eliza
Chatham (7)
Harwich (19)
Orleans (26)
Chatham (5)
Harwich (19)
Chatham (6)
Chatham (5)
Chatham (6)
Chatham (5)
S. Chatham (35)
Orleans (26)
Chatham (5)
Chatham (7)
Harwich (19)
276
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
1853 Batchelor, Lenora
1853 Rogers, Nathan
1854 Bassett, Enoch
1854 Long, Edmund
1854 Smith, Christopher
1854 Smith, Enoch
1854 Smith, Polly
1854 Snow, Lusha
1854 Taylor, Mary Ann
1856 Berry, Susan
1856 Chase, Elizabeth P.
1857 Higgins, Daniel
1858 Harding, Sally
1858 McDonald, Patrick
1858 Smith, Benjamin B.
1858 Taylor, Elizabeth
1859 Baker, Thankful Y.
1859 Chase, Polly
1859 Crowell, Rhoda
1859 Gardner,
Woodbury N.
1860 Bassett, Emily L.
1860 Kelley, Amanda
1860 Small, Melinda E.
1860 Tripp, Flora Jane
1861 Cahoon, Otis Allen
(1861) Chase, Sylvanus
1861 Darling, Lydia
1861 Eldridge, Elizabeth
1861 Eldridge, Joseph F.
(1862) Baker, James
1862 Bearse,
Benjamin G.
1862 Hawes, James
Chatham (5)
E. Harwich (13)
Chatham
E.Harwich (13)
Chatham (7)
Chatham (6)
S. Harwich (36)
Orleans (26)
W. Harwich (42)
Chatham (5)
S. Harwich (36)
Orleans (26)
Chatham (7)
W. Harwich (42)
Chatham (7)
Chatham (5)
Orleans (26)
E.Harwich (13)
E.Harwich (13)
E. Harwich (13)
Harwich (19)
W. Harwich (42)
S. Harwich (36)
Chatham (6)
E.Harwich (13)
Harwich
Orleans (26)
S. Chatham (35)
S. Harwich (36)
Harwich
Chatham (7)
Chatham (7)
1862
1864
(1864)
1864
1864
1865
1865
1866
1867
1868
1868
1868
1869
1869
1870
1870
1871
1871
1872
1873
1873
1875
1875
1875
1878
1881
1885
Winslow,
Ebenezer D.
Bassett, Benjamin F.
Crowell, Jacob
Eldridge,
Augustus H.
Hammond,
Lt. Franklin D.
Chaffee, Mary A.
Lincoln, Elijah
Cahoon, Mabel C.
Nickerson, Deborah
Gould, James F.
Leonard, Henry
Nickerson, Patia
Kelley, Job
Taylor, Christopher
Baker, Polly Ann
Gorham, Martha W.
Linnell, Josiah F.
Rogers, Lucy
Taylor, Joseph A.
Gross, Charles E.
Jones, Gershom
Baker, Sylvanus
Bassett, Isaiah C.
Crosby, Abijah
Rogers, Abner
Linnell, Josiah
Linnell, Solomon
Nickerson, Catherine
Brewster (1)
Chatham (5)
Harwich
S. Chatham (35)
Chatham (7)
Chatham (5)
E. Harwich (13)
E. Harwich (13)
E. Harwich (13)
Chatham (6)
Chatham (6)
E.Harwich (13)
Dennis Port
(10)
Chatham (5)
Harwichport
(20)
Chatham (6)
Chatham (7)
Orleans (26)
Chatham (7)
Chatham (5)
Chatham (6)
Harwichport
(20)
Chatham (5)
Chatham (5)
Orleans (26)
Orleans (26)
Orleans (26)
Chatham (7)
Daniel Higgins, Jr.:
1855 Higgins, Thomas Orleans (26)
1855 Watkins, Thomas Truro (38)
1856 Howes, Lot tie M. Chatham (5)
1856 Newcomb,
Thankful M.
Wellfleet(41)
James Blachowicz
277
Thomas A. Hopkins:
1821 ' Crosby, Fanny
Brewster (1)
1853
Rich, Hannah
Truro (40)
1831 Shaw, Capt.
Truro (37)
1853
Smith, Archelaus
Truro (38)
Thomas W.
1854
Atkins, Matilda K.
Truro (37)
1842 Smith, Joanna
Orleans (26)
1854
Cole, Capt. Isaiah
Wellfleet (41)
1849 Paine, Hannah
Truro (37)
1854
Davis, Apphia
Truro (37)
1849 Smith, Knowles
Orleans (26)
1854
Doane, Sarah
Wellfleet (41)
1850 Small, Joshua
Truro (38)
1854
Dyer, Atkins
Truro (37)
1851 Anderson, Mehitable
Truro (37)
1854
Kemp, John N.
Wellfleet (41)
(1851) Hopkins, Franklin
Orleans
1856
Kemp, Samuel
Wellfleet (41)
1851 Winslow, Chauncey
Truro (37)
1858
Smith, Winslow
Truro (39)
1852 Dyer, Ebenezer
Truro (37)
1858
Rich, Sally
Truro (40)
1853 Gill,Abijah
Eastham (11)
1858
Rider, Volnei/
Truro (37)
1853 Kemp, Chloe
Wellfleet(41)
1860
Paine, Sally
Truro (40)
1853 Rich, Ephraim D.
Truro (40)
1861
Hinckley, Allen
Truro (37)
'probate is dated 1849; stone is weathered; perhaps carved by Ebenezer D. Winslow
Winthrop M. Crosby and Henry T. Crosby:
1842 Crosby, Mercy
1861 Collins,
Capt. Stephen
1864 Nickerson, George W.
1866 Nickerson, Jltankful
1868 Doane, Polly
1870 Smith, Harriet N.
1871 Eldredge, Sarah
1871 Howes, Essie May
Chatham (6)
Truro (39)
Chatham (5)
Truro (37)
Harwichport
(20)
Chatham (6)
Chatham (6)
Chatham (6)
1872 Atkins, Huldah A.
1872 Weeks, Cyrus
1874 Long, Levi
1875 Philips, Cambyses
1875 Wixon, Capt. David
1876 Wixon, Albert F.
18831 [Soldiers monument]
1895 Doane, Nathaniel
1897 Handren, William
Truro (39)
Harwichport
(20)
Harwich (19)
Harwichport (20)
W. Harwich (42)
Dennis Port (10)
Orleans
Harwichport (20)
Dennis Port (10)
'near the Town Hall; identified as Winthrop's work in an advertisement for the Orleans
Monumental Works in a celebratory volume (undated) published by the town. No
doubt Winthrop produced only the elaborate stone base, not the bronze.
278
Origins of Cape Cod Marble Carving II
APPENDIX IV
Gravestones of the Sandwich Carvers (partial list)
The number in parentheses following each entry indicates the burial
ground (See Appendix 1).
Probated stones are in bold. Signed stones are in italics.
For stones with multiple burials, the name of the person with the latest
date of burial is listed.
James Thompson:
18491 Gifford, Elisha
Falmouth (17)
1854 Pool, Ephraim
Chilmark (8)
1849 Lewis, Charlotte
Centerville (3)
1855 Luce, Elijah
W. Tisbury (43)
1849 Thompson, Harris
Kingston (25)
1856 Tilton, Josiah
Chilmark (8)
1850 Johnson, Francis
Kingston (24)
(1858) Fellows, Daniel
Edgartown (15)
1851 Linnell, Abby P.
Centerville (4)
1859 Stewart, William
Chilmark (8)
1851 Norton, Shubael
W. Tisbury (43)
1860 Jernegan, Almira
Edgartown (15)
1853 Bramhall, George
Plymouth (28)
(1861) Norton, Charlotte
W. Tisbury (43)
'probably carved by William Sturgis and inscribed by James Thompson
Joshua T. Faunce:
Although there is a stone with Faunce 's signature and three more for which he is paid
in probate records (see Appendix 1), these stones may really have been carved by
Edwin B. Nye; they are listed under Nye, below.
Edwin B. Nye:
18311 Ewer, Mercy
Osterville (27)
1853 Mayhew, Parnel A.
Chilmark (8)
1836' Ewer, Hannah
Osterville (27)
1854 Fish,Chloe
Forestdale (18)
1837 Baker, Emma Jane
Hyannis (22)
1854 Freeman, Shadrach
Sandwich (32)
1850 Dimmick, Prince L.
Falmouth (1 7)
1854 Hammond, Hannah
Falmouth (17)
18502 Hammond,
Falmouth (17)
1854 Tilton, Joseph E.
Chilmark (8)
Sylvanus
1855 Baker, Elizabeth
Hyannis (22)
1850 Swift, Lois
Cedarville (2)
1855 Hatch, Mary
Falmouth (17)
1851 Handy, Hatsel K.
Hyannis (22)
1855 Richardson, Thomas
Hatchville (21)
1 851 Nightingale, Abby B.
Cedarville (2)
1856 Dunham, John T.
Chilmark (8)
1851 Quinn, Elizabeth
Sandwich (34)
1 8563 Lawrence, James P.
Falmouth (16)
1851 Quinncll, Sylvia L.
Sandwich (31)
1856 Lawrence, Thomas
Falmouth (16)
1852 Freeman, Sarah
Sandwich (32)
1856 McAlinney, Susan
Sandwich (33)
1852 Pratt, Mary T.
Kingston (25)
1857 Swift, Cynthia
Sagamore (30)
1853 Bagnell, Mary E.
Kingston (25)
1859 Baker, Eliza
Hyannis (22)
1853 Hayden,SarahA.
Plymouth (28)
1859' Ewer, Isaac
Osterville (27)
James Blachowicz
279
1859 Winslow, Hattie F.
Falmouth (16)
1864 Chipman,
Sandwich (32)
1860 Crocker, Lott
Hyannis (23)
Maj. Charles
1860 Man waring, Nancy
Falmouth (17)
1864 Scudder, Joseph C.
Osterville (27)
I8601 Swift, Thomas L.
Falmouth (16)
1865 Nye, Betsy
E. Sandwich (14)
1861 Hodges, Isaac Jr.
Osterville (27)
1866 Nickerson, Fanny
Coruit (9)
1861 Jones, Fear
Falmouth (16)
1866 Nye, Capt. Daniel B.
Sandwich (32)
18622 Davis, Frederick
Falmouth (16)
1867 Thayer, Abby S.
Sandwich (33)
1862 Nightingale, Ellis
Cedarville (2)
1868 Richards, Zebiah C.
Sandwich (32)
1863 Bearse, George H.
Centerville (3)
1869 Nye,Zenas
E. Sandwich (14)
'although probated to Joshua T. Faunce, these stones were probably carved by Nye
:although probated to James Thompson, this stone was probably carved by Nye
^although signed by Joshua T. Faunce, this stone was probably carved by Nye
280
Greek Gravemarkers
/. ./■";/ ,.;■;
Fig. 1. Detail of Myceneaen funerary stele
depicting chariot race in honor of the deceased.
281
"... DO NOT GO AND LEAVE ME BEHIND UNWEPT ...":
GREEK GRAVE MARKERS HEED THE WARNING
Gay Lynch
Introduction
Since "the mists of time" gravemarkers and other funerary artifacts
in Greece have articulated the full language of lament ritual practices.
These practices are advocated in numerous literary works. For example,
Elpenor admonishes Odysseus, "do not go and leave me behind unwept"1;
Electra cries out in horror at her mother's crime, "O cruel, cruel / all
daring mother . . . / with all sorrow for him forgotten / you dared bury
your unbewept lord"2; and Margaret Alexiou offers us this modern Greek
proverb, "What is he doing in Hades unwept, and without memorial?"3
Lament ritual is an extremely ancient, rhetorically complex tradition
of funerary practices involving multiple expressions. Among these ex-
pressions are lament poetry, the oldest recorded type of song in Greece;4
emotive techniques of the body; and prescribed funerary rites in a tradi-
tionally-approved sequence. The gravemarker in Greece, from Myceneaen
times to the present, has recorded and, in a sense, has ritually inscribed
these practices. Alexiou has noted that the survival of each funerary act
in this complex tradition has depended upon the collective ritual prac-
tices of which it is a part.5 1 would add that the gravemarker contributes
significantly to the survival of this tradition, for the marker has instanti-
ated these vital practices for 3,500 years. In other words, Greek funerary
monuments themselves not only commemorate, but actually perform
funerary ritual.
Before exploring the visual evidence, it is important to recognize that
at some level there must exist a mutual interdependence between ritual
and eschatology. A characteristic feature of both ancient and modern
Greek eschatology is the belief that the dead are reachable by the living
in the vicinity of the grave. The gravemarker, thus, operates within a
funerary ideology in which the dead are capable of registering ritual acts
addressed to them. These acts assure transition of the soul into afterlife
and ensure the living a reprieve from the wrath of the dead. This is to
say that appropriate funerary ritual practices are crucial for the soul's
safe passage and to the health of the living community. Gravemarkers in
Greece encode these all-important ritual enactments: noble, simple
funerary practices that Aeschylus calls the "heart's food."6
282
Greek Gravemarkers
Fig. 2. Funerary amphora with geometric patterning
and depiction of prothesis, the laying out of the corpse.
Gay Lynch
283
Representative Artifacts
Ancient Greece
Funeral games (agones) are noted in Hesiod, Homer, Plutarch, and
others, but are also clearly depicted in this detail (Fig. 1) from a Myceneaen
limestone gravemarker [1550 B.C.E.]. In the visual assemblage, we see a
man standing in a one-horse chariot: he is stooping and holding the reins,
while in front of the horse a male figure is picking up an object, possibly
a shield. Scholars agree that this is a chariot race, held in honor of the
dead, the public ritual through which the community mourned, valo-
rized, and commemorated the deceased. Funerary rites were the first
occasion for games in Greek culture.7
The open-mouthed amphora shown in Figure 2 served as receptacle of
libation offerings and had a distinctly monumental function as a
gravemarker. "Essential stations"8 of funerary ritual action are spread out
between the two handles of this geometric funerary artifact. In close-up
(Fig. 3), one may see the prothesis, the laying out of the corpse, depicted in
the center, flanked on either end by standing mourning figures. These are
women in the ritual act of lamentation, threnos, iconographically expressed
in the rending of the hair, the two-hand mourning attitude. The four fig-
ures under the bier are professional mourners, as indicated by the figure
with only one hand raised, who is the leader of the chorus. At the prothesis,
the formal lamentation of the dead begins.9 Gudrun Ahlberg notes that
"these scenes were drawn with the purpose that the ritual actions should
be understood by the contemporary onlooker . . ."10 "for whom the under-
lying associations were fresh and active.""
~;v-:;^anu^yxuyvw*^J*^'.*^
Iff ^^^^^KK^^S^Sm
mimmm
lBBmSa
imimm
Fig. 3. Central detail of amphora shown in Figure 2.
284 Greek Gravemarkers
In the Archaic Period [650-500 B.C.E.], the loutrophoros, a vase used
for pre-marital bathing rituals, was also used to mark the graves of those
who died unmarried (see Fig. 4). Lament ritual practice justifies this
marriage vase as a gravemarker, for, like the act of adorning the dead in
wedding garment, the act of pouring from the marriage vase was a ges-
ture of hope for a life of wedded happiness in an unseen world. Both
ancient literature and modern laments develop the analogy between death
rites and marriage rites;12 gravemarkers are inspired by these rites. Al-
though somewhat difficult to distinguish, the detail of the vase's neck
shown in Figure 4 illustrates women by a grave mound topped by a
loutrophoros; the body of the vase shows the coffin being lowered into
the ground.
White-ground lekythoi, oil vessels, served as gravemarkers during
the High Classical Period [460s-410s B.C.E.].13 With a marked uniformity,
scenes on many of these lekythoi gravemarkers (e.g., Fig. 5) are realistic
renderings of funerary ritual practices. In this example, we see the de-
ceased upon the bier, a heavily mantled man who stands at the head of
the bier, and in the center a woman in the two-hand mourning gesture.
Her hair has been cut short as a sign of mourning. The man offers re-
spect and conceals his grief; the woman laments openly. Excluding agones,
since earliest times responsibility for funeral ritual has rested with women.
Note also the ribbons dangling from the sides of the bier, traditional
signs of respect and reverence. The gravemarker presents us with a vi-
sual record of ritual gestures.
The lekythos gravemarker shown in Figure 6 depicts a woman on the
right side of a stele who has fallen to her knees and is beating her breast
with her right hand - kommos - a formalized, ancient ritual gesture of the
body that enables the expression of the inexpressible and states the in-
tensity of relationship to the dead. Ritual laments are encoded with spe-
cific somatic gestures. Gravemarkers, in turn, encode these gestures and
perpetuate them.
Elements of lament ritual are symbolically embedded in a striking late-
Fifth Century sculpted grave monument marking the deaths of a sister
and her younger brother (Fig. 7). The inscription on the epistyle tells us it
was erected by their parents. In this tableau, the sister holds out a bird to
the small, naked boy. Certain genres of lament poetry, as well, narrate
everyday scenes, such as this one, that point to the tragedy of death and
memorialize the sweetness of life. The marker, in this case, like the lament,
poignantly and eternally captures the lost essence of the loved ones.
Gay Lynch
285
Fig. 4. Three views of a loutrophoros, used for
both marriage and funerary rituals.
286
Greek Gravemarkers
Fig. 5. Lykthos (oil vessel) gravemarker
depicting ritual mourning scene.
Gay Lynch
287
Fig. 6. Lykthos gravemarker depicting woman
in ritualized mourning gesture before a stele.
288
Greek Gravemarkers
^^—wrr-r—-- -?.- .- -*•—■"" --■
A P(*s '- ! <
>f
Fig. 7. Sculpted grave monument commemorating
a sister and her younger brother.
Gay Lynch 289
The lekythos illustrated in Figure 8 shows that part of lament ritual is
to beribbon, to bewreathe, and to anoint the gravemarker. These two
women have prepared their reed baskets and are proceeding to the grave.
Of ritual significance are the tubular fillets (on the right) which were
laid, in a circular position, on the base of the stele like a wreath, and the
flat ribbons (on the left) which were wound around the stele and then
tied into a knot or a bow (e.g., see Fig. 9). In the baskets we also see
lekythoi intended for ritual libations. The gravemarker shows us that the
visit to the grave is no "token pilgrimage,"14 but a carefully controlled
ritual enactment.
In the dramatic scene pictured on Figure 9, the woman on the left
dries her tears and presents her offering as she stands before a beribboned
stele. Visible on the right is part of a basket brought by another woman.
In the field, on either side, hang lekythoi. When garlanded and anointed,
gravemarkers, by now, served as objects of ritual devotion, that is, objec-
tive correlatives for the dead themselves, no longer accessible to touch
or communication. Greek gravemarkers convey a treasury of ritual atti-
tudes toward death not articulated elsewhere.
Figure 10 illustrates another lykthos gravemarker upon which we see
depicted a girl holding a hydria in a pouring position by its two horizon-
tal handles. A common image in Greek laments is that of the cool flow-
ing water the dead have left behind. The thirst of the dead is a well known
characteristic of Greek eschatology. As much a part of funerary rites as
wreaths, ribbons, and oil vessels is the offering of water at the grave. The
pouring of water on the ground or on the grave itself plays an important
part in Greek death rituals. As it flows from the world of the living to the
world of the dead it mediates the opposition between life and death.
Modern Greece
The grave has been perceived as the house of the deceased since
Myceneaen times.15 This perception of the tomb as house is implicit in
the earliest Greek epitaphs,16 is stated explicitly by Herodotus in Book 9
of The Histories, and is alluded to in a significant number of laments.17
We know that funerary practices are enduring expressions of cultural
continuity. In modern day Greece, through specific ritual practices,
women maintain the grave as an extension of their domestic realm. These
ritual practices play a notable role in the configuration of the gravemarker.
Today, one often sees the word oikos (house) on the grave monument
(Fig. 11). Women are known to sleep next to it and cover it with blankets
290
Greek Gravemarkers
Fig. 8. Lykthos gravemarker depicting women
preparing for ritual gravesite decoration.
Gay Lynch
291
Fig. 9. Lykthos gravemarker depicting
female mourner at gravesite.
292
Greek Gravemarkers
v^y
~Y— -^
Fig. 10. Image on Lykthos gravemarker of
female mourner preparing to offer water at gravesite.
Gay Lynch
293
3 ^.
x# ♦
■ ■■* > —
Fig. 11. The word oi/cos (house) inscribed on modern Greek
marker identifies the grave as dwelling place of the dead.
294
Greek Gravemarkers
" ■ '™"5i'i«v*
;1 *H-?^*<rQ_
Fig. 12. Example of roofed enclosure as modern Greek gravemarker.
Gay Lynch
295
in cold weather.18 Such behavior supports Loring Danforth's observation
that not only is the grave the house of the deceased, it is also a second
home of the bereaved woman.19 In Greece, the "good death" is marked
by the presence of mourners at this house. Roofed enclosure, in the form
of the gravemarker (Fig. 12), indicates the erection of socialized spaces.
Again, it is also a symbol of the "good death." Women gather to ritually
wash and scrub marble gravemarkers with sponges and steel wool. Since
these items are used with regularity, the markers are often designed with
glass enclosures for their easy accessibility (Fig. 13). Danforth's field stud-
ies have revealed that through these practices women feel they are "keep-
ing the dead company;20 and, on the gravemarker, as in lamentation song,
the dead may speak back to the living (Fig. 14):
Fig. 13. Modern Greek marble gravemarker
with front glass enclosure.
Greek Gravemarkers
w^'
0
i ' - m
$
/
V
<po%
w
V
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VI
c
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Fig. 14. Modern Greek "speaking stone" epitaph.
Gay Lynch
297
Fig. 15. "Sleepless Lamp" - to akimito kantili -
in contemporary Greek cemetery.
298
Greek Gravemarkers
Sto Anthos tis Neotitos
Me arpaxe o Charos
ke tora to kormaki mou
Basta tis Gis to Baros
[In the flower of youth
Death seized me
And now my body
Holds the weight of the earth]
One of the most striking examples of the gravesite as conveyer of
ritual enactment is the "sleepless lamp" - to akimito kantili (Figs. 15 and
16). The maintenance of this oil lamp is a well known ritual in modern
Greece. Some of these are like doll-houses with gabled windows. The
image of light as homecoming has ancient roots in Greek tradition.21 As
she lit the lamp before his gravemarker, this woman (Fig. 16) in Olympia
told me that this was the house of her husband. And then she added, "As
long as we're together in the house, we're together."
Fig. 16. Ritual lighting of the "Sleepless Lamp.
Gay Lynch 299
Conclusion
From the examples surveyed in this essay, we may see the close con-
nection between funerary ritual and gravemarker that has existed in
Greece from the earliest times to the present. Gravemarkers in Greece
concretely and performatively represent ritual acts that are linked to the
oldest and longest surviving of Greek traditions - graveside ritual la-
ment. From this brief survey I hope it has become clear that these funerary
stones or vases do not statically commemorate, but rather actively con-
tinue to mourn the dead. The Greek gravemarker is performative. It la-
ments even when no human beings are present to do so.
Finally, the gravemarker in Greece, since the "mists of time," shows
us that funerary ritual is a primary resource for the creation and dis-
semination of aesthetic form: community; empathy; poetry; a system of
continuous dialogue and the transformation of tears into song - this is
the essence of lament out of which emerges a living oral tradition. The
markers of Greece, whether ancient or modern, show us that death is a
cue for the remarkable achievement of aesthetic creativity.
300 Greek Gravemarkers
NOTES
Grateful acknowledgment is extended for permission to reproduce the following illustrations:
Figure 1 - from National Museum: Illustrated Guide to the Museum, Ekdotike Atheneon S.A.;
Figures 2-4, 6-7, 9 - National Archaeological Museum. Athens, Greece; Figure 5 - The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, Rogers Fund, 1907 [07.286.40]; Figure 8 -
Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, Edna G. Dyar Fund
and Fairchild Foundation Fund purchase [70.2]; Figure 10 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, NY, Gift of Julius Sachs Estate, 1934 [34.32.2]. All other photos are by the author.
1 . Homer, Tlie Odyssey, trans. Albert Cook (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1967),
book xi, line 72.
2. Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers, trans. Richmond Lattimore, in Greek Tragedies, vol. 2, ed.
David Grene and Richmond Lattimore (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1960),
lines 429-433.
3. Margaret Alexiou, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition (London, England: Cambridge
University Press, 1974), 36.
4. Ibid., xi-xii.
5. Ibid., xiii.
6. Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers, line 26.
7. Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), 105-
106.
8. Ibid., 192.
9. Alexiou, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, 6.
10. Gudrun Ahlberg, Prothesis and Ekphora in Greek Geometric Art (Goteborg, Sweden: Elanders
Boktryckeri Aktiebolag, 1971), 286.
11. Ibid., 287.
12. Arthur Bernard Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, vol. Ill (Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press, 1940), 370-396.
13. Robert Garland, The Greek Way of Death (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985), 108.
14. Ibid., 119.
15. Emily Vermeule, Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry (Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, 1979), 48.
16. Donna C. Kurtz and John Boardman, Greek Burial Customs (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 1971), 261.
Gay Lynch 301
17. Loring Danforth, The Death Rituals of Rural Greece (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1982), 81.
18. C. Nadia Seremetakis, The Last Word (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991),
186.
19. Danforth, The Death Rituals of Rural Greece, 133.
20. Bid.
21. e.g., see Aeschylus, Agamemnon, trans. Richmond Lattimore, in Greek Tragedies, vol. 1,
ed. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press,
1960), lines 281-316.
302
Poets Among the Stones
^^P^|^jf^0M_a
eft " */ ' v '
An abandoned, overgrown cemetery, Douglas County, Oregon.
Photo: Richard E. Meyer
303
POETS AMONG THE STONES
Kenneth Pobo
The American poets perhaps most associated with graveyards are
two Edgars: Edgar Allan Poe and Edgar Lee Masters. Many of Poe's po-
ems are informed by a direct confrontation with death - usually that of a
beautiful woman. Poe felt that a beautiful woman's death would inevita-
bly move readers (as if there is more tragedy in a woman's death if she is
beautiful). The presence of death turns reality upside down; the real can-
not be distinguished from the dream, or as Poe says in one of his lyrics,
"Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?" '
One of Poe's gorgeous dead ladies is Annabel Lee, who ends up "In
the sepulchre there by the sea, / In her tomb by the sounding sea."2 What
remains for the bereaved lover is the grave and nature. For him there is
no other reality, nor will there ever be. Love resides in a tomb. As she is
in the grave, he lies down beside it. Only the earth separates them. The
lover can find no comfort by the tomb - but he has no other place to go,
no other life to return to. Nearness to the grave is all he understands.
Edgar Lee Masters lets the dead finally have a chance to speak the
truth about their lives in his collection of poetic monologues, Spoon River
Anthology. Unlike Poe's more formal poetic forms, Masters employs free
verse, which makes the individual poems sound conversational, as if,
somewhat in the manner of the old "Hearken, Stranger ..." epitaphs of
the Colonial period, the dead are directly addressing us. The dead in
this Illinois graveyard are itching for their own truths to come out. If
Annabel Lee is shut up, Master' characters, whose monologues bear their
names, are more than ready to speak. The often sugary epitaphs found
upon their stones need the correction that only the dead themselves can
provide. Life above ground was based on lies and secrets; the cemetery
is their liberator, a place where they can speak without fear of reprisal.
They exist beyond laws, definitions, and roles. In Masters' work, death
isn't the problem. The lives of his characters were marked by appear-
ances; many of them still seethe, even in the grave, unable to rest until
they can reclaim their identities. Ollie McGhee feels "avenged" in death,3
and Amanda Barker in eight fierce lines implicates her husband as the
one who caused her demise.4
Contemporary American poets often remain fascinated by death and
by graveyards. Annabel Lee feels more like a representative beautiful
304 Poets Among the Stones
woman, though supposedly she is based on Poe's wife, Virginia Clemm,
and Masters based many of his portraits on former residents of Lewistown
and Petersburg, Illinois. Many contemporary poets, on the other hand,
are less interested in creating these types of representations than in shar-
ing with readers an intimate and personal portrait of loss - we feel we
are present in the speaker's mourning, present at the grave. And if we
are not present at the grave, we may be present in the graveyard or on
the journey to it. Annabel Lee was in a mythical and unnamed "king-
dom by the sea": more poets today create myths from their personal
situations and observations, constructing kingdoms out of their daily
lives.
Three contemporaries who have woven the cemetery into their work
are Jean Valentine, Gary Soto, and Gregory Orr. While all three prefer
free verse, their approaches to the subject of the cemetery often differ.
The poet discloses his or her feelings without artifice. Traditionally, cem-
eteries are referred to as a final resting place. A picture of a shady place
with mowed grass, flowers, and birds provides comfort, perhaps, for us.
Such an image is preferable to Poe's moody "sepulchre by the sea." Yet
even a graveyard which advances this relaxing imagery may be full of
surprises. Masters' cemetery sound like a final resting place - yet the
dead who reside there are not at rest; they cannot rest without getting
the truth of their lives out into the open.
The visitor to the cemetery knows the dead will not actually speak:
still, it is our fantasy that the people we loved will somehow be able to
speak to us if we visit them there, in their final resting place. Though the
finality of the stone is daunting, we may speak to them, perhaps, in our
imaginations, recreate them, attempt to make them live again, if only
briefly. Jean Valentine describes a visit to her mother's grave. While there,
questions come to the surface. The speaker is not looking for pity; rather,
she feels a need to be there in the cemetery, by her mother's grave, re-
membering, wondering. Gary Soto's poems of efforts required to get to
cemeteries suggest that the cemetery itself is not just a place, but part of
a journey, one that is often not easy, but one which we do not turn back
from. Gregory Orr's cemetery raises other kinds of concerns. Unlike
Valentine's poems with a specific mother and daughter or Soto's poems
where the cemetery is a real presence even if difficult to get to, Orr's
abandoned cemetery helps us to confront our own fears of abandon-
ment in death. If the final resting place disappears, what will happen to
us? At least in Masters' cemetery the dead, angry as they often are, can
Kenneth Pobo 305
speak - they are present, identifiable. This is not the case with the cem-
etery Orr describes to us.
Jean Valentine writes movingly of her mother's end days and her
struggles with letting go in a series of poems found in her 1992 collec-
tion, The river at Wolf. Most of these poems are sonnets in free verse.
Form helps to provide meaning. Only after the speaker visits her mother's
grave is the free verse sonnet abandoned - and then just for one five-line
poem about going through her mother's things. "Death's Asphodel" re-
turns us to the form which returns and fades, returns and fades.
Valentine's subject may move us because most readers feel empathy
for a daughter writing about the loss of a mother. However, her inten-
tion is not to evoke pity. Rather, she is writing to better understand her-
self in relation to her mother - and her mother's death - and the proof of
that death which is the grave. The events which surround her mother's
death come to us almost as photographed moments of the soul: the morn-
ing of the mother's death, the mother's body, the visit to the grave.
"At My Mother's Grave" begins with an unnamed voice: someone
has told the speaker to "Go away."5 Is this her mother's voice? The
groundskeeper at the cemetery? An internal voice which could be tell-
ing her not to be in the cemetery to see her mother's grave? The speaker
does not go away. Instead, she ponders what remains now that much of
her own experience is absence: the mother's voice, the mother's body.
Gifts the mother had given the daughter replace a "dark space on the
road"6 which the speaker figures was a deer. The memory of the mother's
"hazel eyes"7 comes to her by the grave, something to hold on to, some-
thing no grave can remove.
In the third stanza the speaker asks, "What day did she go away?"8
Here, the "go away" phrase reappears from line two. Grief has broken
down the speaker's sense of time. She does not say, "What day did she
die?" "Go away" has a more liquid quality, less final. It is too soon to be
able to let her go.
In the graveyard, the living are unable to lift the speaker beyond the
grief. The experience focuses upon the grave and the speaker: it is as if
no other graves exist or that others could be sorting through similar feel-
ings elsewhere in the cemetery. Pain carves out such isolation.
She turns to three poets, all dead, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson,
and Pablo Neruda, to be present for her. Whitman is described as a visi-
tor, as if he too is visiting the mother's grave with the speaker. Dickinson
offers transportation, "a canoe of light."9 As Dickinson becomes light,
306 Poets Among the Stones
she can now offer others a place in her canoe. Neruda, a "radio flier,"10 is
a transporter as well. The speaker does not ask to be flown out of the
graveyard. Instead, she tells Neruda to fly her in.11 Neruda, Dickinson,
and Whitman are all in the light. That is where the speaker wants to be.
These earlier poets can perhaps offer a comfort that the living cannot.
Their clarity, their words, provide a way in darkness. The cemetery roots
the speaker to earth, to loss, but this triumvirate of poets offers hope -
which comes through movement.
As Valentine's speaker wants to be flown in, Gary Soto's speakers in
"Looking for a Cemetery" and "Who Will Know Us?" are on journeys to
get to the cemetery, which, in the first of these two poems, is tough to
find. To get to the cemetery and then to find a specific grave is like a test.
The speaker and someone he is with will have to wander for a while;
they can't find the grave too easily. In the "looking" is the quest.
The setting around the cemetery is hardly beautiful, marred by bro-
ken asphalt, barbed wire, and fence posts. This is not the conventional
final resting place image; it is neither a comforting or comfortable land-
scape. The car can't get them to it, so they have to walk on gravel. The
sound of their steps on the gravel comforts them, unlike the bottles, cel-
lophane, and sheet metal around them. Gravel is of the earth. The sound
introduces other images from Nature: birds, and a rabbit.
They believe they are close to the cemetery and continue their jour-
ney. Still lost, they feel "cheated by" their "dollar map."12 The map has
proven useless; to get to the cemetery requires entering a new landscape.
They need to see the cemetery not as something mapped - a place that
exists as much in the imagination as it does in reality. The speaker takes
comfort in the fact that even if it takes a long time to find the cemetery,
"The dead can't get up and just go."13 We may be lost, but the cemetery is
a fixed point for the dead.
Finally, the cemetery appears. Again, Nature gives them a strong sense
of it. Suddenly they feel wind, see a sparkling leaf, and "guess" three oak
trees.14 Manmade objects such as cellophane and maps couldn't help
them. Nature provides clarity.
The last line of the poem, "The grass grew tall enough to whisper at
our thighs,"15 echoes Emily Dickinson's image of two persons who died,
respectively, for Beauty and Truth, entombed but still talking to each
other. What they say cannot stop the moss from ultimately reaching their
lips and covering up their names, the last hold they had on life.16 Soto's
grass keeps growing as they move through it - and into the graveyard.
Kenneth Pobo 307
Its whisper reminds them that they too shall be here, that the journey
they are on today will lead them here for keeps. However, this ending
does not inspire fear or a desire for escape. As before, where the three
oak trees provided location, now grass provides welcome - and a hint
that death is always walking nearby.
Soto's "Who Will Know Us?", written for Jaroslav Seifert, again pre-
sents a journey toward a cemetery. The speaker here is not on foot, but
on a train. The dead are a living presence as they "Breathe through the
grass" - and through the speaker.17 Perhaps this line echoes Carl
Sandburg's dramatic monologue employing the voice of the grass which
covered all.18 No clear dividing line between living and dead exists. Stone
and breath mingle.
The journey in "Looking for a Cemetery" required movement through
the detritus of civilization. The half comical, half frightening images of
the conductor in "Who Will Know Us?" emphasize the speaker's isola-
tion. The conductor has "loose buttons" and a "mad puncher."19 The
speaker realizes that he is not someone who can provide comfort.
The outside world is winter-like, with a "slate of old snow," "icy coal,"
and a "shivering horse."20 Death is everywhere. The speaker describes
his country as "white with no words" and imagines places such as Paris
or Athens. Those cities are far away, while the visit with the dead is here
and now. Also, Paris and Athens have for centuries been the home of
great writers, men and women who worked with words - unlike the
country's white wordlessness.
As he fantasizes of other places and that someday he might "open
like an umbrella,"21 the train reminds him of his journey to the cemetery.
The umbrella image is rich - umbrellas protect from rain and snow, just
as grass protects the coffin in the cemetery. According to popular super-
stition, umbrellas, when opened indoors, can also bring bad luck. And,
they are often black, the color of mourning.
In the poem's concluding lines it is a "Red coat of evil. / We are its
passengers ..."- We cannot get off this train until we arrive at the desti-
nation - the cemetery. The other passengers are on the same journey,
"old and young alike."23 The shape of a train car suggests that of a coffin.
Its movement toward the cemetery, then, suggests the body being car-
ried to a grave.
The reality of death is confirmed once again for both speaker and
reader in the last line. The speaker wonders, "Who will know us when
we breathe through the grass?"24 Soon he too will be like those others
308 Poets Among the Stones
who, in the first stanzas, breathed through the grass. The question he
poses is not a comforting one, as one answer is that perhaps nobody will
know us. The train will move along and we will be forgotten. Other win-
ters will pile up, and we cannot know who will come by to see us in the
cemetery - or if they will have a sense of our own breathing as they visit.
However, the question comes with an element of hope, too. We cannot
know who will know us. Perhaps people we do not or cannot know will
know us. And like us, they too one day will have to pose the same ques-
tion. Everyone gets on board the same train. The destination is certain.
The cemetery in Gregory Orr's "An Abandoned, Overgrown Cem-
etery in the Pasture Near Our House" is more easily gotten to than those
in the Soto poems. Its presence is inescapable since it is so close to the
house. Orr sets the poem in Virginia; the time is March, when Spring is
beginning to sweep in, though the seer of winter still remains. Two parts
separate the poem, each with a single stanza. Cattle "trample" the cem-
etery, which is protected by a "low stone wall."25 Cows are the closest
thing to visitors that this cemetery has.
An abandoned cemetery immediately raises questions. What hap-
pened to it? Did the families or friends of those who were buried there
care enough about it, or had they long ago moved on to new lives, for-
getting those left behind?
In Orr's poem, as we have seen before, the image of the cemetery as a
place of rest may be severely challenged: "... vines cover the five / small
cherry trees; brambles everywhere ..."26 The vine-covered cherry trees
might conceivably be beautiful in a different context - in a garden or an
orchard, perhaps - but here they create unease. No groundskeeper will
come to remove those brambles. The idea of an "abandoned" cemetery
discomforts because of the fear that, in death, we shall one day be aban-
doned, too.
Orderliness in a space for burials suggest respect for the dead, but
Orr's cemetery challenges that desire for order with "... the abyss / with
its lips of weather ..."2V Life abandons us, and what survives is the abyss.
This cemetery brings us to a startling confrontation with that abyss. The
poet implies that years of harsh weather have made it impossible to read
the names on the stones. With the disappearance of those names go the
dead ones' last hold on identity. They are now part of the abyss. The "lips
of weather" metaphor has a sensuous quality, but as these lips kiss, they
also erase. The kiss is without feeling, just as sunlight or rain are without
feeling even if poets often personify them and make them seem to feel.
Kenneth Pobo 309
After the image of the erased names, the first section of the poem,
with no identifiable speaker, is complete. The loss of human names re-
flects the abandonment of the cemetery. Section two begins with a first-
person speaker who is at work clipping stalks by the stone wall. He will
keep his wall neat even if others have let the cemetery become overrun
by vines and brambles.
As he works, he is coming more alive. The act of work rejuvenates
him - and it is work connected with nature, and with ordering that which
has overrun the cemetery. In Winter, the speaker describes himself as a
torpid snake, but now he is getting free of that state. A torpid snake
looks almost dead, but now that Spring is almost here life is returning.
Skin must be shed. The warm day contrasts with the emptiness and aban-
donment of the cemetery.
In work comes discovery: the speaker finds a wren's nest. Like the
dead in the cemetery, we have no idea what happened to the wrens. Did
they too abandon the nest? Abandoning a cemetery, then, resembles aban-
doning a home. Did wind steal it from them? This particular nest is one
from which ghosts drink. The cemetery, before, remains alive. Ghosts
abound. However, this awareness of present ghosts is no comfort. The
ghosts live on human tears. The cup of the wren's nest offers a paradox:
it is both full and empty at the same - just like the cemetery, which holds
the bodies of the dead but lacks visitors. These ghosts only feast on tears.
What is frightening about the end of Orr's poem is the same senti-
ment that frightens at the end of Soto's "Who Will Know Us?" Both po-
ems suggest that abandonment may be our ultimate end. Nothing can
stop Soto's train, and nothing can stop Orr's ghosts from sipping human
tears from a wren's nest.
Valentine asks in "At My Mother's Grave," "So what is left?"28 In her
poem, a daughter remembers her mother. She is left at the grave to re-
member and to answer her own question. Any difficulty in getting to the
cemetery, if indeed there was any, is not spoken of. The dead in Orr's
poem could easily ask the same question. What is left for them is cattle
watching them without any sense of who they were, and a stranger work-
ing nearby on a warm Spring day.
The question of "What is left" informs all of these contemporary po-
ems as well as Poe's poem of the lost Annabel Lee whose death becomes
a definition for the rest of the speaker's life. Masters' graveyard teems
with life. Only in death and joined together in the graveyard can the
dead rout the lies told about them. Valentine swerves us painfully close
310 Poets Among the Stones
to the loss of a mother, inviting us into a private moment. Soto postu-
lates the cemetery as part of a journey, a destination which demands
work to find. Orr's abandoned cemetery suggests that we, like the ghosts,
come to a cemetery, even an abandoned one, because "... it's empty /
always it's filled to the brim."29
NOTES
An earlier, and shorter, version of this essay appeared on the poetry web site,
www.ForFoetry.com.
1. Edgar Allan Poe, "A Dream Within a Dream." in The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar
Allan Poe, ed. Hervey Allen (New York, NY: The Modern Library, 1938), lines 23-24.
2. 'Annabel Lee," Ibid., lines 40-41.
3. Edgar Lee Masters, "Ollie McGhee," in Spoon River Anthology: An Annotated Edition, ed.
John E. Hallwas (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press), line 11.
4. "Amanda Barker," Ibid., lines 1-8.
5. Jean Valentine, "At My Mother's Grave," in The River at Wolf (Cambridge, MA: Alice
James, 1992), line 2.
6. Ibid., line 4.
7. Ibid., line 6.
8. Ibid., line 7.
9. Ibid. ,\meU.
10. Ibid., line 13.
11. Ibid., line 14.
12. Gary Soto, "Looking for a Cemetery," in New and Selected Poems (San Francisco, CA:
Chronicle Books, 1992), line 22.
13. Ibid., line 20.
14. Ibid., line 24.
15. Ibid. ,Yme 26.
Kenneth Pobo 311
16. Emily Dickinson, "449 / I died for Beauty ...," in The Norton Anthology of American
Literature, vol. 1, ed. Ronald Gottesman, et al. (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company,
1979), lines 1-12.
1 7. Gary Soto, "Who Will Know Us?", in New and Selected Poems, line 4.
18. Carl Sandburg, "Grass," in Tlie Norton Anthologx/ of American Literature, vol. 2, ed. Ronald
Gottesman, et al. (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1979), lines 1-11.
19. Soto, "Who Will Know Us?", lines 9-10.
20. Ibid., lines 8, 11, 14.
21. Ibid., line 26.
22. Ibid., lines 37-38.
23. Ibid., line 39.
24. Ibid., line 40.
25. Gregory Orr, "An Abandoned, Overgrown Cemetery in the Pasture Near Our House,"
in Tlie Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets, ed. Dave Smith and David Bottoms
(New York, NY: Quill, 1985), lines 2, 4.
26. Ibid., lines 7-8.
27. Ibid., lines 9-10.
28. Valentine, "At My Mother's Grave," line 3.
29 . Orr, "An Abandoned, Overgrown Cemetery in the Pasture Near Our House," lines 23-24.
312
Mormon Temple Reproductions
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Fig. 1. Salt Lake City Temple. Salt Lake City Cemetery,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
313
MORMON TEMPLE REPRODUCTIONS ON CEMETERY MARKERS
Jacqueline S. Thursby
Introduction
Cemetery visitors and scholars have noted an increasing number of
gravestones depicting Mormon temples (Fig. 1) in the past twenty years.
Though the temple motif has been used occasionally in the Western states
on cemetery markers during the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth
centuries, it is now appearing in cemeteries world-wide with more fre-
quency. Folklorist George H. Schoemaker and other scholars have writ-
ten about symbols in Mormon tombstone art in the Intermountain West,1
but the temple image itself, which has become a presence in many cem-
eteries throughout the world, has received little specific attention. What
does the image of a Latter-day Saint temple on a burial stone symbolize?
Who does it represent? Why the variety of temples represented? Why
are such stones increasing in number? The following discussion will ad-
dress those questions and also examine the historical background and
Fig. 2. Manti Temple with sealing date. Ely Cemetery, Ely, Nevada.
314 Mormon Temple Reproductions
meaning of several other common symbols used in cemetery markers by
members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mormon Memorialization and Symbolism
The presence of a temple on a gravestone has deep significance to
Latter-day Saint families. The temple itself represents eternal relation-
ships and a link between heaven and earth. The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed "Mormons," after the Book of Mormon)
was founded in the United States by Joseph Smith in 1830. It now has a
membership of nearly eleven million worldwide, and the temple is the
location for the central, culminating elements of "Mormon" religious
practice. Mormons believe that ordinances performed in the more than
one hundred temples scattered throughout the world "seal" (Fig. 2)
couples and families together "for all time and eternity."
The intense genealogical research engaged in by Mormons world-
wide culminates in an ordinance performed only in the temple and called
" baptism for the dead." It is believed that vicarious baptisms performed
in the temple provide an option for membership in the Latter-day Saint
faith for spirits already passed from mortal life. Because of the firm be-
lief in an eternal family unit, contracted by covenant through "sealings"
in the temple, the message of hope for eternal family associations is
thought by some members to be symbolized by the presence of a temple
on a gravemarker. While temple stones are neither promoted nor dis-
couraged by the church leadership, the temple image on the stone none-
theless represents eternal links between covenanted family members,
past and present, and it implies that family members "resting' there will
be resurrected in worthiness and reunited with their families upon the
return of Jesus Christ to the earth.
People who choose to have their burial place marked with a temple
stone believe that their faith and commitment to the religion is, there-
fore, clearly communicated to their posterity. The temples represented
usually have various personal significance to the deceased. Perhaps they
received their first sacred instructions there (called an endowment). Or,
perhaps a couple whose names are written on the stone were married in
the particular temple represented (Figs. 1 and 3); that temple would
thereby hold memories held sacred throughout their lifetime.
Though most temple stones mark the grave of deceased couples, there
are occasionally other occasions when it may be used. Children who are
members of the LDS church are allowed to begin performing baptisms
Jacqueline S. Thursby
315
for the dead when they reach the age of twelve. A teen or young adult's
grave may be marked with a stone representing a temple where they
had performed vicarious baptisms. Young missionaries receive their en-
dowments just before the beginning of their mission training. Most young
men of the Latter-day Saint faith serve two-year proselyting missions for
the church beginning around the time of their nineteenth birthday; young
women may choose to go on an eighteen-month mission when they are
"» , TK-
SEPT. 15, 1927
SEALED
nOU. 14,1950
Fig. 3. St. George Temple with marriage and sealing dates.
Milford Cemetery, Milford, Utah.
316 Mormon Temple Reproductions
twenty-one. If the young missionary should die while serving a mission,
the family may choose a monument representing either the temple where
the deceased received their endowment or possibly the temple closest to
where he or she were assigned. Rather than temples, members of the
Latter-day Saint faith who die while in the military are more likely to
have their graves marked with stones or bronze plaques adorned with a
figure representing Moroni, an angel whose figure enhances the central
spire on many Mormon temples (Fig. 4).
Modern technological methods have increased options for memori-
alizing the dead. Monuments ranging from imported marble to durable
granite, in all their varieties, can be etched, engraved, sculpted, hand-
tooled, sand-blasted, and/or photo-blasted to accommodate almost any
request. Computer technology and transportation practices make it rela-
tively convenient to replicate individual monument designs and to ship
a monument almost anyplace in the world. Monument picture books
and on-line advertising have increased accessibility for making choices
and customizing designs. Memorial stones of nearly every material rep-
resenting any of the worldwide temples can be produced and shipped
anyplace in the world. As the LDS membership and the number of
temples increase, it is likely that more and more "temple stones" will
appear in cemeteries throughout the world.
In states where the early populations were predominately Mormon,
cemeteries were usually arranged in a grid-like pattern. Bodies were of-
litlliiHi w^:0w®^
RVJ -!J5 ARWY:
#UG H6 1966 AUG 6:19*85
Fig. 4. Military marker with image of the angel Moroni.
Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah.
Jacqueline S. Thursby
317
ten buried with the heads pointed toward the West so that on resurrec-
tion morning the awakened would rise and face toward the East. Though
some temple stones can be found in the old cemeteries, they are not
common. Most gravestones found there are relatively simple and have a
variety of symbols on them, but there never was a wide use of familiar
Mormon icons (all-seeing eye, beehive, Book of Mormon [although see
Fig. 5 for a contemporary example], seagull, sego lily) on gravemarkers.
Occasionally, on older stones - or their modern replacements - verbal
references to the emigrant experience, along with appropriate visual sym-
bols (handcarts, pioneer wagons, etc.) are prominently featured (e.g.,
Figs. 6 and 16). For the most part, however, the symbols on the older
stones have been similar to those common in the United States as a whole
at that time: rose, open book, cornucopia, wheat sheaf, tree of life, oak
cluster, lamb, willow tree, and most particularly, the clasped hands mo-
tif. The depiction of the angel Moroni, discussed earlier in connection
m
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Fig. 5. Book of Mormon depicted on contemporary marker.
Idlewild Cemetery, Hood River, Oregon.
318
Mormon Temple Reproductions
with military markers, deserves special mention. According to one con-
temporary scholar:
Victorian funereal art in the United States often includes a side view of an
angel flying, although such are not found on Mormon gravestones. Pictures
of the angel Moroni figure used on the Nauvoo Temple show a statue carved
in a horizontal flying position [e.g., see Fig. 7] almost identical to those found
on headstones of the time. Don F. Colvin, "Nauvoo Temple'" in Encyclopedia
of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992),
3:1001-3, claims that this horizontal position was 'doubtless inspired by the
prophecy in Rev. 14: 6-7.' This prophecy refers to another angel flying in
heaven and may well be the origin of the idea of an angel flying, but the
angel Moroni's remarkable similarity to the angel Gabriel (presumably . . .
and angel at least) on headstones of the region may be an equally likely source
for the inspiration of the artist who created the angel on the temple.
Completion of the Salt Lake Temple more than fifty years later was associated
with adoption of a very different view of the angel Moroni, who now appears
in a standing position blowing his trump [e.g., see Fig. 8].2
Mormon Temple Stones
Before 1869 and the arrival of the transcontinental railroad at Promon-
tory Point in Utah, gravestones were locally made and were very simple.
After that time, obelisks, urns, and other more complex markers became
Fig. 6. Pioneer wagon with LDS and emigrant data.
Wellsville Cemetery, Wellsville, Utah.
Jacqueline S. Thursby
319
popular. Richard H. Jackson, a Professor of Geography at Brigham Young
University, has stated that "... with the completion of the St. George Temple
in 1877, temples began to be used as a symbol on Mormon gravestones.
Dedication of the Manti Temple in 1888 augmented the use of temples on
headstones in the southern and central Utah areas."3
Folklorist Carol Edison maintains that "gravestones featuring an im-
age of a Mormon temple . . . began to appear about 1910" and that "the
first temple stones displayed a recognizable Salt Lake Temple, but that
for the next fifty years, aside from an occasional metal plaque, the image
of the temple was not commonly used on gravestones."4 Jackson, in a
discussion concerning the predominance of the Salt Lake Temple on early
stones, suggested that:
Not until the last half of the twentieth century did customizing headstones
with the temple begin to dominate [Mormon] gravestone art. Early
stonemasons used patterns available in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, patterns that depicted traditional Christian funerary art. The early
use of the temple as a symbol on headstones is relatively rare, and each
depiction of the temple is very individualistic.5
Fig. 7. Image of the angel Moroni as used
atop original Nauvoo Temple.
320
Mormon Temple Reproductions
Fig. 8. Image of the angel Moroni as used
atop Salt Lake City and other LDS temples.
Jacqueline S. Thursby 321
Early travel in rural southern Utah was difficult, and it was often
easier to take a train to the temple in Salt Lake City than to attempt travel
to St. George or Manti over unpredictable roads. Therefore, until the
road improvements of the mid-Twentieth Century, many if not most Utah
Mormons went to the Salt Lake Temple for their ordinances and sealings.
Though there are not many temple stones from the Nineteenth Century
and early Twentieth, the most common temple among those depicted is
the Salt Lake Temple.
In the present era, memorialization has become a sensitive part of a
cemetery stone maker's (or memorialist's) repertoire of skills. In an in-
terview with Ryan Walker, a third generation memorialist in Provo, Utah,
I was told that for several decades stones with a temple motif have been,
by far, the most popular style in the Utah County region. Georgia Grey is
the most popular granite, and there are few requests, he said, for un-
usual motifs or even epitaphs.6 When the family of a deceased person
approaches a manufacturer of gravestones, it is usually at an emotional
time, and it is often with concern about the cost and durability of the
marker to be designed or chosen. The memorialist sometimes has a dif-
ficult task in helping the bereaved to represent and honor their dead
appropriately. On some occasions it takes several months for a family to
decide exactly what way is best to memorialize their loved one. Mr. Walker
said people making the decision often spend a long time looking at pic-
tures of stones which represent simple to elaborate styles and also vary
widely in cost. For the most part, he said, they choose simple, durable
stones and generally avoid any custom ordering.
Some, however, do design very personal stones, such as one I saw in
Ephraim, Utah. On one side of that granite marker were the names of
the deceased couple and the Salt Lake Temple and a group of dates. On
the other side, the couple was pictured dancing and there was a picture
of a man on a horse in one corner. In an entirely different vein, there is a
stone in the Provo City Cemetery, literally a large, uncarved rock. The
story associated with the rock is that a farmer, who had spent much of
his life picking stones from his fields, wanted to be memorialized with
one of his own stones.
As regards religious symbolism, one scholar has noted:
Symbols form bridges between the material experiences of the senses and
that which lies or reaches beyond. . . . Religious symbols express a divine or
heavenly reality through things taken from a created world. They possess a
profound capacity to reveal the meaning of something that outstrips our
capacity to frame neatly in words.7
322
Mormon Temple Reproductions
Not unlike belief systems around the world, the Latter-day Saints have
many symbols that extract meaning from a variety of relationships. The
beehive, an ubiquitous symbol in the state of Utah (Brigham Young's
main home in Salt Lake City was named "The Beehive House"), can rep-
resent industry, harmony, order, and/or frugality. It appears occasionally
on gravestones but was never used frequently. The clasped hand motif is
more common in Utah and Idaho stones, but it is also seen in cemeteries
across the United States. There is another, more specific application,
however. The Mormons are a hand-shaking people, and the clasped hands
Fig. 9. St. George Temple with clasped hands motif.
Mountain View Cemetery, Beaver, Utah.
Jacqueline S. Thursby
323
on their gravestones (Fig. 9) can represent covenant-making, wholeness,
completion, and even perfection. The "All Seeing Eye" appears on some
early stones, and it is a representation of an all-seeing/all-knowing God
and a reminder to behave wisely at all times. Also, many markers are
partially covered with a graceful, usually draped, veil. The veil repre-
sents separation and can be interpreted many ways: possibly it repre-
sents detachment of the spirit from the body, the sacred divided from
the profane, truth veiled against confusion, or perhaps it delineates the
afterlife from mortal existence.
It is common to see the words "Families are forever" carved upon
Mormon tombstones (Fig. 10). Again, this is representative of the Mor-
mon belief that the family unit extends into the eternities. Ancient lega-
cies and connections are believed to someday be restored, and huge family
assemblies will become almost like nations unto themselves. When vi-
carious work for deceased spirits is performed, they are the same as or-
dinances for the living: baptism, confirmation, initiatory, endowment,
Fig. 10. Salt Lake City Temple with "Families are forever'
inscription. Elgin Cemetery, Green River, Utah.
324
Mormon Temple Reproductions
and sealing. "In the temple," Richard G. Oman has stated, "we are taught
how we should live."8 And it is through the representations of the temple
on gravestones that the deceased intend to communicate to posterity
that they have attempted to live as they were taught.
There are also cemetery stones in Utah that represent the heritage of
converts to the church. It is difficult to abandon ancient beliefs and tra-
ditions, and converts are encouraged to treasure and preserve the beauty
of their own heritage. Symbols of their past traditions and belief systems
are used in some contemporary memorialization. At the East Lawn Cem-
etery, in Provo, Utah, there are two particularly interesting stones which
represent earlier traditions of converts. On one stone, ancient Asian cal-
ligraphy is combined with the graceful flying seagulls of Utah. The other
memorial stone, elaborately engraved, represents a Jewish convert's de-
sire to express his roots as well as his belief in the restored gospel. On the
upper left the stone says "Judaism is the foundation," on the upper right,
Fig. 11. Logan Temple. Logan City Cemetery, Logan, Utah.
Jacqueline S. Thursby
325
"Mormonism is the continuation." Hebrew lettering above the symbol
of the Menorah reads: "Holiness to the Lord." The Menorah itself has
the names of each of the deceased man's children. The date of his mar-
riage ordinance, performed in the temple, is also engraved on the large
granite tombstone.
As I traveled around the state of Utah and visited cemeteries, I found
many, many temple stones, mostly dating from the 1960s onwards. The
style became more popular as time and the diamond point pneumatic
drill technique advanced and became more accurate. I have seen vari-
ous temples represented: Salt Lake (Figs. 1 and 10), St. George (Figs. 3
*«4
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RLUJflVS
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Fig. 12. Idaho Falls Temple. Ely Cemetery, Ely, Nevada.
-
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326
Mormon Temple Reproductions
and 9), Logan (Figs. 11 and 16), Manti (Fig. 2), Alberta, Hawaii, Idaho
Falls (Fig. 12), Los Angeles (Fig. 13), Provo (Fig. 14), Arizona (Fig. 15),
and Odgen, and I know there are others. The temple most represented,
from Smithfield in the north to St. George in the south, is the Salt Lake
Temple.
Not unlike the ordinances performed on the inside, the exterior of
temples of the Latter-day Saints are richly symbolic. For instance, the
Salt Lake Temple has three towers in the east and three towers in the
west. The east towers are higher and represent the Melchizedek Priest-
hood: those offices are led by the President of the Church, Gordon B.
Hinckley, and his two counselors. The west towers are not as high, and
they represent the Aaronic Priesthood: those offices are held by the Pre-
siding Bishop and his two counselors.9 The Salt Lake Temple also fea-
tures replicas of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) on the west central tower
and also the North Star. There are other heavenly bodies, including the
moon, sun, and stars, carved into granite on the outside of the Salt Lake
Temple. I did see one stone with a sun but I could find no cemetery
stones with the moon or stars represented.
Fig. 13. Los Angeles Temple.
Idlewild Cemetery, Hood River, Oregon.
Jacqueline S. Thursby
327
Boyd K. Packer, one of the leaders of the church, has stated:
Much of the teaching relating to the deeper spiritual things in the Church,
particularly in the temple, is symbolic. We use the word keys in a symbolic
way. Here the keys of priesthood authority represent the limits of the power
extended from beyond the veil to mortal man to act in the name of God
upon the earth. The words seal and keys and priesthood are closely linked
together ...10
Mircea Eliade has further suggested that the temple represents the axis
mundi, the center of the world around which the earth pivots.11 The temple
is thus a place where Mormons believe that heaven and earth, in a sym-
bolic sense, meet. The temple is a place where Mormons go for sanctu-
ary, and the replication of a temple on the cemetery stone also represents
a presence of peace and an absence of earthly anxiety. James E. Faust,
another Church leader, has stated that "... Our temples provide a sanc-
tuary where we may go to lay aside many of the anxieties of the world.
Our temples are places of peace and tranquillity. In these hallowed sane-
Fig. 14. Provo Temple. Logan City Cemetery, Logan, Utah.
328
Mormon Temple Reproductions
tuaries God 'healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds'"
(Psalms 147:3).12
Architectural designs of the temples have changed over course of the
Twentieth Century:
As design concepts and building technologies changed, so did the designs of
Latter-day temples. The most noticeable difference was the absence of any
towers or spires [in temples built in the early Twentieth Century], a design
feature reintroduced in mid-20th Century temples . . . today's temples continue
to utilize the finest in new materials and technologies as they become available.
1 \ R R i t D JU LY 17, )9v'.;
StA'i i \h rr *,. \\, iyt> '.
Fig. 15. Mesa (Arizona) Temple. Kanab Cemetery, Kanab, Utah.
Jacqueline S. Thursby 329
Building materials used in recent temples include reinforced concrete, steel
superstructures, precast concrete panels, and precast fiberglass for decorative
details. In the 1960s escalators and elevators were early signs of new
technology Today new electronic systems for the endowment presentation
are used, and computers prepare ordinance materials, record completed
ordinances, and otherwise simplify record keeping.13
Further, many small buildings are being adapted for use as temples be-
cause of the rapid growth of the Church and the need for the member-
ship to attend local temples.
Continuing Belief
Temple symbols on new cemetery stones of members of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will probably continue long into the
future. Rodney Stark, a sociologist from the University of Washington,
has done studies of Mormon growth from the first six members in 1830
to 4,638,000 members in 1980. Stark (non-LDS) has stated that "... it wasn't
patterns of past Mormon growth that drew so much attention. . . . What
stirred up interest (and controversy) was my attempt to project Mormon
growth, world wide, for the next century: 1980-2080." 14 He suggests that
if the Church continues to grow as it has in the past, by 2080 his high
estimate is a membership of 267,452,000 and a low estimate of 63,939,000.
As stated earlier, the current membership of the Church stands at around
11,000,000.
The presence of temple stones in cemeteries around the world repre-
sent a believing people who want to boldly testify to their posterity, and
to those who happen by their grave, that there is eternal significance in
their religion. These temple symbols in stone represent a view toward
eternity not unlike the mirrors that hang on opposite walls of the sealing
rooms in the temples. "The stunning effect produced by these mirrors,"
it has been noted, "is a reflection that seems to go on endlessly in both
directions."15 The mirrors, and the iconographical replications of the
temple on Mormon gravestones (Fig. 16), are reminders of the eternal
goals of this deeply spiritual and symbolic faith.
330
Mormon Temple Reproductions
"£f^t l*>
I 1 A y-~~
I ( tW -V" ^ ;
• ia rj,-lrvll dlLt ilc, 3
flLEXflilDER
6 DEC '1853-30 DEC, 1919]
■\ :V\
/ / /
J§§
Fig. 16. Logan Temple and pioneer wagon.
Wellsville Cemetery, Wellsville, Utah.
Jacqueline S. Thursby 331
NOTES
All photographs in this essay are by Richard E. Meyer. The drawings in Figs. 7 and 8 are by the
author.
1. See George H. Schoemaker, "The Shift from Artist to Consumer: Changes in Mormon
Tombstone Art in Utah," in The Old Traditional Way of Life: Essays in Honor of Warren E.
Roberts, ed. Robert E. Walls and George H. Schoemaker (Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press, 1989), 130-145; and "Acculturation and Transformation of Salt Lake
Temple Symbols in Mormon Tombstone Art, Markers IX (1992), 197-213. See also Carol
Edison, "The Gravestones of Parowan," Folklore Society of Utah Newsletter 17 (1983), 1;
"Motorcycles, Guitars, and Bucking Broncs: Twentieth-Century Gravestones in
Southeastern Idaho," in Idaho Folklife: Homesteads to Headstones, ed. Louis W. Attebery
(Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press, 1985), 184-189; "Custom-Made Gravestones
in Early Salt Lake City: The Work of Four English Stonecarvers," Utah Historical Quarterly
56 (1988), 310-330; and "Mormon Gravestones: A Folk Expression of Identity and Belief,"
in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 22 (1989), 88-94. See as well Austin E. Fife and
Alta Fife, "Gravestone Imagery," in Utah Folk Art, ed. Hal Cannon (Provo, UT: Brigham
Young University Press, 1980); and "Western Gravestones," in Exploring Western
Americana, ed. Alta Fife (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1988). Also of interest are
Hal Cannon, The Grand Beehive (Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press, 1980); Keith
Cunningham, "Navaho, Morman, Zuni Graves: Navajo, Mormon, Zuni Ways," in
Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture, ed. Richard E. Meyer (Ann Arbor,
MI: UMI Research Press, 1989), 197-215; and Richard C. Poulsen, The Pure Experience of
Order: Essays on the Symbolic in the Folk Material Culture of Western America (Albuquerque,
NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1982).
2. Richard H. Jackson, "Mormon Cemeteries: History in Stone," in Nearly Everything
Imaginable: The Everyday Life of Utah's Mormon Pioneers (Provo, UT: Brigham Young
University Press, 1999), 405-498.
3. Ibid., All.
4. Edison, "Mormon Gravestones: A Folk Expression of Identity and Belief," 90.
5. Jackson, "Mormon Cemeteries: History in Stone," 412.
6. Ryan Walker. Personal Interview. Provo, Utah. 15 January 1997.
7. Steven Epperson, "Symbolic Stones and the Salt Lake Temple," unpublished paper quoted
by Richard G. Oman in "Exterior Symbolism of the Salt Lake Temple: Reflecting the
Faith That Called the Place into Being," Brigham Young University Studies: A
Multidisciplinary Latter- Day Saint Journal (1996-97), 7-68.
8. Oman, "Exterior Symbolism of the Salt Lake Temple," 28.
9. Ibid., 15.
10. Boyd K. Packer, "Temple Blessings: On Earth And In Eternity," in The Ensign of the Church
of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints (June, 1997), 7-8, and Ensign (February, 1995), 34.
332 Mormon Temple Reproductions
11. Mircea Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return; or, Cosmos and History, trans. Willard R.
Trask, Bollingen Series XLVI (Princeton, NJ, 1991), 12.
12. James E. Faust, "Temple Blessings: On Earth And In Eternity," in The Ensign of the Church
of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints (June, 1997), 7-8, and Ensign (May, 1992), 7.
13. Brad Westwood, "Houses of the Lord, " in The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-
Day Saints (June, 1997), 9-17.
14. Rodney Stark, "So Far, So Good: A Brief Assessment of Mormon Membership Projections,"
in Review of Religious Research (December, 1996), 175-178.
15. Paul Thomas Smith and Matthew B. Brown, Symbols in Stone: Symbolism on the Early
Temples of the Restoration (American Fork, Utah, 1997), 173.
333
THE YEAR'S WORK IN CEMETERY/GRAVEMARKER STUDIES:
AN INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Richard E. Meyer
This annual feature of Markers, inaugurated in 1995, is intended to
serve as an ongoing, working bibliography of relevant scholarship in the
interdisciplinary field which is ever more consistently coming to be
known as Cemetery and Gravemarker Studies. Categorized entries, listed
in alphabetical order by author, consist to a large extent of books and
pamphlets and of articles found within scholarly journals: excluded are
materials found in newspapers, popular magazines, and trade journals
(though, as any researcher knows, valuable information can sometimes
be gleaned from these sources), as well as the majority of genealogical
publications (there are exceptions in instances where the publication is
deemed to be of value to researchers beyond a strictly local level) and
cemetery "readings," book reviews, electronic resources (e.g., World Wide
Web sites), and irretrievably non-scholarly books (i.e., things along the
order of the recently published, "revised" edition of a book with the
grotesque title, The Definitive Guide to Underground Humor: Quaint Quotes
about Death, Funny Funeral Home Stories, and Hilarious Headstone Epitaphs).
Revised or subsequent editions of previously published works are noted.
Beginning with Markers XIV, the listing has included a much larger selec-
tion of relevant foreign language materials in the field, formal master 's-
and doctoral-level theses and dissertations (important research often not
published in the traditional manner but nonetheless frequently obtain-
able through interlibrary loan), and, upon occasion, valuable unpublished
typescripts on deposit in accessible locations. In addition, from Markers
XVI onwards, it has included publications on war, holocaust, and disas-
ter memorials and monuments (their essential function as cenotaphs re-
lating them to the general field of gravemarkers), as well as formal papers
presented at academic conferences which are relevant to the major themes
covered by this bibliography. Commencing with Markers XVIII, entries
have been separated into several large categories representing basic types
of publication or other presentation. Commencing with Markers XIX, a
new category has been added for videotaped material.
With its debut in Markers XII, "The Year's Work" attempted to fill
gaps in existing bibliographic resources by actually covering the year's
1990 through 1994 (for work prior to 1990, readers are advised to consult
334
the bibliographic listings found at the conclusion of my Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture, first published in 1989 by UMI
Research Press and reissued in 1992 by Utah State University Press). This
same format was utilized in Markers XIII and again in Markers XIV, add-
ing in each instance previously unreported work from 1990 onwards as
well as the year just completed. Although a few references from the 1990-
1995 period have undoubtedly gone unnoticed, it may at this point be
safely assumed that the bibliographic record covering these years is rela-
tively complete. Starting with Markers XV, therefore, "The Year's Work"
has restricted itself to the two years immediately preceding the journal's
annual publication date (thus, in this instance, the years 2001 and 2002):
previously reported work from the earlier of these two years will not be
repeated (unless the original publication date was in error). To help fa-
cilitate this ongoing process, the editor continues to welcome addenda
from readers (complete bibliographic citations, please) for inclusion in
future editions. Although every effort is made to insure accuracy in these
listings, the occasional error or omission may occur, for which apologies
are sincerely offered. For reviews of gravestone- and cemetery-specific
books and other materials, the reader is invited to consult the various
issues of the Association for Gravestone Studies' AGS Quarterly.
Books, Monographs, Pamphlets, etc.
Aiken, Lewis B. Dying, Death, and Bereavement. 4th Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Publishers, 2001.
Alagoa, Ebiegberi Joe. Okpu: Ancestral Houses in Nerribe and European Antiquities on the Brass
and Nun Rivers of the Niger Delta. Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Onyoma Research
Publications, 2001.
Albery, Nicholas. Progressive Endings: Changing Attitudes to Death, Dying and Funerals. London,
England: Natural Death Centre, 2001.
Alcock, Susan E. Archaeologies of the Greek Past: Landscape, Monuments and Memories. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Sami Awad. Cemetiere musulman en Occident: bonnes jitives, Chretiens et
musalmanes. Paris, France: L'Harmattan, 2002.
Alden, Maureen. Well Built Mycenae: The Prehistoric Cemetery. Oxford, England: Oxbow Books,
2001.
Alfoldy, Geza, and Panciera, Silvio. Inschriftliche Denkmiiler als Medien der Selbstdarstellung in
der Romaschen Welt. Stuttgart, Germany: Steiner, 2001.
335
Amos, Edward. Gravesites of Southern Musicians: A Guide to Over 300 Jazz, Blues, Country and
Rock Performers' Burial Places. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2002.
Angus, Charlie, and Palu, Louie. Mirrors of Stone: Fragments from the Porcupine Frontier. Toronto,
Ontario, Canada: Between The Lines, 2001.
Anstatt, Sandra, and Giegold, Rolf. Wetterfemsehen: Telematische Skulptur der XZ-Gedenkstdtte
Neue Bremm, Saarbriiken 1999-2000. Ostfildern, Germany, 2001.
Aurell i Cardona, Jaume, and Pavon, Julia. Ante la muerte: actitudes, espacios y forrnas en la
Espaha medieval. Pamplona, Spain: EUNSA Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, 2002.
Baker, Margaret. Discovering London Statues and Monuments. Princes Risborough, England:
Shire, 2002.
Ball, Raymond F., and Miller, Kevin. Churches and Cemeteries: History ofMarcy, N.Y. Utica, NY:
Oneida County Historical Society, 2002.
Bateson, Roy. Dead and Buried in Dublin: An Illustrated Guide to the Historic Graves of Dublin.
Kilcock, County Meath, Ireland: Irish Graves Publications, 2002.
Baxarias, Joaquin. La enfermedad en la hispania romana: estudio de una necropolis tarraconens.
Zaragoza, Spain: Libras Portico, 2002.
Beliakov, Vladimir. Rossiiskii Nekropol' v Egipte. Moskva, Russia: Izd-vo "Gumanitarii," 2001.
Bell, Michael E. Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Dead. New York, NY: Avalon
Publishing Group, 2002.
Berman, Judith E. Holocaust Remembrance in Australian Jewish Communities, 1945-2000. Crawley,
Western Australia, Australia: University of Western Australia Press, 2001.
Beverly, Trevia Wooster. At Rest: A Historical Directory of Harris County, Texas Cemeteries (1822-
2001). Houston, TX: Tejas Publications and Research, 2001.
Biggs, F. Susan Brown, and Brown, Shirley Mae. A Location Index for Missouri Cemeteries. Ozark,
MO: Dogwood Printing, 2002.
Bisconti, Fabrizio. Mestieri nella catacombe romane: appunti sul declino dell'iconografia del reale
nei cimiteri christiani di Roma. Citta del Vaticano, Roma, Italy: Pontifica commissione di
archeologia sacra, 2001.
Bishop, Charles Lawrence. Frederick's Other City: Mt. Olivet Cemetery, "Tlie Cemetery Beautiful".
Frederick, MD: Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 2002.
Blaha, Josef. Olomoucke Hrbitovy a Kolumbdria. Olomouc, Czech Republic: Memoria, 2001.
Blanton, Dennis B., and Gary, Jack. Archaeological Investigation of the Ballard Cemetery, City of
Hampton, Virginia. Williamsburg, VA: William and Mary Center for Archaeological
Research, 2001.
336
Blight, David. W. Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory, and the American Civil War. Amherst,
MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002.
Bonacasa Carra, Rosa Maria. La catacomba di Porta d'Ossuna a Palermo. Citta del Vaticano, Roma,
Italy: Pontifica commissione de archaeologia sacra, 2001.
Bondeson, Jan. Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton, 2002.
Booth, Donna J. Alabama Cemeteries: A Guide to Their Stories in Stone. Birmingham, AL: Crane
Hill Publishers, 2002.
Bower, Virginia, et al. From Court to Caravan: Chinese Tomb Sculptures from the Collection of
Anthony M. Solomon. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
Boyd, Michael J. Middle Helladic and Early Mycenaean Mortuary Practices in the Southern and
Western Peloponnese. Oxford, England: Archaeopress, 2002.
Bravermanova, Milena, ans Lutovsky, Michal. Hroby, Hrobky a Prohrebiste Ceskych Knizat a
Krdlu. Praha, Czech Republic, Libri, 2001.
Brocke, Michael, and Miiller, Christiane E. Haus das Lebens: Jiidische Friedhbfe in Deutschland.
Leipzig, Germany: Reclam, 2001.
Brooks, Patricia. Wliere the Bodies Are: Final Visits to the Rich, Famous and Interesting. Guilford,
CT: The Globe Pequot Press, 2002.
Brooks, Philip. Visiting the Holocaust Today. Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library, 2002.
Brown, Adele Q. Wliat a Way to Go: Fabulous Funerals of the Famous and Infamous. San Francisco,
CA: Chronicle Books, 2001.
Brown, Elizabeth A.R., and Sauvageot, Claude. Saint-Denis: la basilique. Saint-Leger-Vauban,
France: Zodiaque, 2001.
Brown, Roger Lee. The Welshpool Churchyards: An Essay. Welshpool, Wales: Parish of Welshpool,
2001.
Buturovic, Amila. Stone Speaker: Medieval Tombstones, Landscape, and Bosnian Identity in the
Poetry ofMak Dizdar. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
Caligari, Pietro. // mausoleo di Giulio Ccsarc nel Campo Marzio. Roma, Italy: Vetera edizioni,
2001.
Carmack, Sharon DeBartolo. Your Guide to Cemetery Research: For Genealogists, Researchers,
and Family Historians. Cincinnati, OH: F & W Publications, Inc., 2002
Castronovo, Russ. Necro Citizenship: Death, Eroticism, and the Public Sphere in the Nineteenth
Century United States. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
337
Chambert-Loir, Henri, and Reid, Anthony, eds. TJie Potent Dead: Ancestors, Saints and Heroes in
Contemporary Indonesia. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
Chisholm, Doug. Their Names Live On: Remembering Saskatchewan's Fallen in World War II.
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina,
2001.
Cinquanaquattro, Teresa. Pontecagnano: 11.6, L'Agro Picentino e la necropoli di localita Casella.
Napoli, Italy: Instituto Universitario Orientale, 2001.
Civil War Sites: The Official Guide to Battlefields, Monuments, and More. Guilford, CT: Globe
Pequot Press, 2002.
Confino, Alon, and Fritzsche, Peter A., eds. The Work of Memory: New Directions in the Study of
German Society and Culture. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
Connell, Mark. The Great War, Memory and Ritual: Commemoration in the City and East London,
1916-1939. Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer, Inc., 2002.
Cooper, Christopher, and Wagner, Nena. Finding Brock's Monument: A Report of the Find on
Queenston Heights. Branton, Ontario, Canada: March Press, 2002.
Cooper, Martha, and Sciorra, Joseph. R.I. P.: Memorial Wall Art. New York, NY: Thames &
Hudson, 2001.
Cortez, Martin L. Stones of Silence: The Architecture of Tombs and Monuments, Their Icons and
Crosses in Louisiana. Raceland, LA: Cortez Books, 2002.
Cotterell, Maurice M. The Lost Tomb ofViracocha: Unlocking the Secrets of the Peruvian Pyramids.
London, England: Headline, 2002.
Curl, James Stevens. Death and Architecture: An Introduction to Funerary and Commemorative
Buildings in the Western European Tradition, with Some Consideration of Their Settings. New
Revised Edition. Stroud, England: Sutton, 2002.
Curl, James Stevens. Kensal Green Cemetery: TJie Origins and Development of the General Cemetery
of All Souls, Kensal Green, London, 1824-2001. Chichester, England: Phillimore, 2001.
Dansel, Michel, and de Lund, Marie-Sophie. Les cimetieres de Paris: Promenade, historique,
anecdotique et capricieuse. Paris, France: Godefroy, 2002.
David, Bruno, and Wilson, Meredith, eds. Inscribed Landscapes: Marking and Making Place.
Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
David, Helene. Paleoanthropologie et pratiques funeraires en Corse, du Mesolithique a I'dge dufer.
Oxford, England: Archaeopress, 2001.
Davies, Douglas James. Death, Ritual and Belief: The Rhetoric of Funerary Rites. New York, NY:
Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2002.
338
Derderian, Katharine. Leaving Words to Remember: Greek Mourning and the Advent of Literacy.
Boston, MA: Brill, 2001.
Donceel, R. Synthese des observations faites enfouillant les tombes des necropoles de Khirbet Qumran
et des environs. Cracow, Poland: Enigma Press, 2002.
Doran, Glen H., ed. Windover: Midtidisciplinary Investigations of an Early Archaic Florida Cemetery.
Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2002.
Dubois, Muriel L. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Mankato, MN: Bridgestone Books, 2002.
Earp, Charles Albert, and Johnston, Peter Lowry. These Honored Dead: A Roster of over 2500
Maryland Union Soldiers Buried in National Cemeteries. Westminster, MD: Willow Bend
Books, 2001.
Echo-Hawk, Roger. Keepers of Culture: Repatriating Cultural Items Under the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum, 2002.
Eckert, Eva. Stones on the Prairie: Acculturation in America. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers,
Inc., 2002.
Edmondson, J.C., Nogales Basrrante, Trinidad, and Trillmich, Walter. Imagen y memoria:
monumentos funerarios con retraltos en la colonia Augusta Emerita. Madrid, Spain: Real
Academia de la Historia, 2001.
Effros, Bonnie. Caring for Body and Soul: Burial and the Afterlife in the Merovingian World.
University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002.
Englehardt, Isabelle. A Topography of Memory: Representations of the Holocaust at Dachau and
Buchemoald in Comparison with Auschwitz, Yad Vashem, and Washington, D.C. Bruxelles,
Belgium: Presses Interuniversitaires Europeennes, 2002.
Escudier, Alexandre, Sauzay, Bridgette, and Thadden, Rudolf. Gedenken im Zwiespalt:
Konfliktlinien Europiiischen Erinnerus. Gottingen, Germany: Wallstein, 2001.
Ex, Nicole, and Scholten, Frits. De Prinsen De Keyser: Restauratie en Deschiedenis van het
Grafinonument voor Willem van Oranje. Bussum, The Netherlands: Thoth, 2001.
Farrell, David. Innocent Landscapes: Sites of the Disappeared in Ireland. Stockport, Cheshire,
England: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2002.
Farrington, Susan Maria, and Farrington, Diana. Sancti Stones: Parish Memorials ofWiveliscombe,
Somerset. Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England: Colden Publications, 2001.
Feraudi-Gruenais, Francisca. Ubi diutius nobis habitandum est: Die Innendekoration der
Kaiserzeitlichen Griiber Roms. Weisbaden, Germany: Ludwig Reichert, 2001.
Ferry, Joseph. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Broomall, PA: Mason Crest Publishers, 2002.
Filmer-Sankley, William, and Pestell, Tim. Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery: Excavations and Surveys,
1824-1922. Ipswich, England: Environment and Transport, Suffolk County Council, 2001.
339
Fiocchi, Nicolai Vincenzo, Bisconti, Fabrizio, and Mazzoleni, Danilo. The Christian Catacombs
of Rome: History, Decoration, Inscriptions. Regensburg, Germany: Schnell & Steiner, 2002.
Fischer, Hans. Grdber, Kreuze unci Inschriften: ein Friedhofin Neuguinea. Berlin, Germany: Dietrich
Reimer, 2002.
Fisher-Carroll, Rita. Mortuary Behavior at Upper Nodena. Fayetteville, AR: Arkansas
Archaeological Survey, 2001.
Francis, Doris, Kellaher, Keonie, and Neophytou, Georgina. The Secret Cemetery. Oxford,
England: Berg, 2002.
Gabrielli, Domenico. Dictionnaire historique du Pere-Lachaise: XVIIIe et XIXe siecles. Paris, France:
Amateur, 2002.
Gannon, Thomas Nelson. A Mortuary Analysis of the Vernon Paul Site (3CS25): Sociopolitical
Organization at a Late Mississippean Site in Cross County, Arkansas. Fayetteville, AR:
Arkansas Archaeological Survey, 2002.
Garcia Huerta, Rosario, and Morales Hervas, Javier. Arqueologia funeraria: las necropolis de
incineration. Cuenca, Spain: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla - La Mancha, 2001.
Garland, Robert. The Greek Way of Death. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001.
Gaugler, William M., Venuti, William J., and Englert, Peter A.J. The Tomb of Lars Porsenna at
Clusium and Its Religious and Political Implications. Bangor, ME: Laureate Press, 2002.
Gilbert, Martin. Holocaust Journey: Traveling in Search of the Past. New York, NY: Columbia
University Press, 2002.
Godbout, Mona. Monuments et sculptures de Tarrondissement du Vieux-Longueuil. Longueuil,
Quebec, Canada: Societe historique et culturelle du Marigot, 2002.
Gonen, Rivka, and Areche, Noemi. Excavations at Efrata: A Burial Ground from the Intermediate
and Middle Bronze Ages. Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2001 .
Goodman, Arnold M. A Plain Pine Box: A Return to Simple Jewish Funerals and Eternal Traditions.
Jersey City, NJ: KTAV Publishing House, 2002.
Graf, John, and Skorpad, Steve. Chicago's Monuments, Markers, and Memorials. Charleston, SC:
Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Grant, Adrian C. Freuchie's Fallen in the Two World Wars. Freuchie, Scotland: Freuchie
Community Council, 2001.
Gwillim, Jean. London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Commemorative Memorials and Plaques.
London, England: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, 2001.
Hagaman, Wallace R. A Short History of the Chinese Cemetery at Nevada City, California: and
Chinese Burial Customs During the Gold Rush. Nevada City, CA: Cowboy Press, 2001.
340
Hammer, Klaus. Friedhofsfiihrer Berlin: Historische Friedhqfe unci Grabmale in Kirchenraumen.
Berlin, Germany: Jaron, 2001.
Hamza, Hani. The Northern Cemetery of Cairo. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2001.
Harding, Vanessa. The Dead and the Living in Paris and London, 1500-1670. New York, NY:
Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Hargrove, Julia. National World War II Memorial. Carthage, IL: Teaching & Learning Company,
2002.
. Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Carthage, IL: Teaching & Learning Company, 2002.
Hart, Melissa, and Tunell, Ken. Patriotic Monuments and Memorials. Westminster, CA: Teacher
Created Materials, 2002.
Harvey, Anthony, and Mortimer, Richard. The Funeral Effigies of Westminster Abbey. Rochester,
NY: Boydell & Brewer, Inc., 2002.
Haywood, Mae B., and Walters, Dinah. Inscriptions in Triumph: Tombstone Inscriptions from the
African-American Cemeteries of Mt. Calvary, Mt. Olive, Fisher's Hill, and Potter's Field.
Bloomington, IN: IstBooks Library, 2002.
Hengen, Elizabeth Durfee, and Cheek, Richard. Life Everlasting: The History, Art and People of
Woodlawn Cemetery, 1850-2000, Everett, Massachusetts. Everett, MA: Woodlawn Cemetery,
2001.
Hockey, Jennifer Lorna, Katz, Jeanne, and Small, Neil, eds. Grief, Mourning, and Death Ritual.
Buckingham, England: Open University Press, 2001.
Hockings, Paul. Mortuary Rituals of the Bodogas of Southern India. Chicago, IL: Field Museum of
Natural History, 2001.
Holloway, Karla. Passed On: African American Mourning Stories. Durham, NC: Duke University
Press, 2002.
Holt, Tonie, and Holt, Valmai. My Boy Jack?: The Search for Kipling's Only Son. London, England:
Leo Cooper, 2001.
Hondo, Leszek. Zydowski Cmentarz w Tarnowie. Krakow, Poland: Wydawn, 2001.
Horton, Jane, and Schmoller, Tanya. Danger and Despair: Sudden Death in Victorian Sheffield.
Sheffield, England: Friends of the General Cemetery, 2001.
Hoskin, Michael A. Tombs, Temples, and Their Orientations: A Neiu Perspective on Mediterranean
Prehistory. Bognor Regis, England: Ocarina Books, Ltd., 2001.
Hoss, Christiane, and Schonfeld, Martin. Gedenktafeln in Berlin: Orte der Erinnerung an Verfolgte
des Nationalsozialismus, 1991-2001. Berlin, Germany: Verein Aktives Museum, 2002.
341
Hughes, Buckner, and Hughes, Nathaniel B. Quiet Places: The Burial Sites of Civil War Generals
in Tennessee. Rnoxville, TN: East Tennessee Historical Society, 2001.
Hughes, Mark. Confederate Cemeteries, Vol. 1. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 2002.
Igoe, Vivien. Dublin Burial Grounds and Graveyards. Dublin, Ireland: Wolfhound Press, 2002.
Ikram, Salima. Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt. Harlow, England: Longman, 2002.
Jacobson, David M. The Hellenistic Tomb Paintings of Marisa. Warminster, England: Aris &
Phillips, 2002.
Jakubowski, Jeanette. Geschichte des Jiidischen Friedhofs in Bremen. Bremen, Germany: Donat,
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Medieval Memories: Men, Women and the Past, 700-1300. Edited by Elisabeth M.C. Van
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Watts, Dorothy J. "The Silent Minority: Women in Romano-British Cemeteries." The
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Weiss-Krejci, Estella. "Restless Corpses: 'Secondary Burial' in the Babenberg and Hapsburg
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Welch, M. "Cross-Channel Contacts Between Anglo-Saxon England and Merovingian Francia."
Burial in Early Medieval England and Wales. Edited by Sam Lucy and Andrew Reynolds.
London, England: Society for Medieval Archaeology, 2002.
Wenk, Silke. "Sacrifice and Victimization in the Commemorative Practices of Nazi Genocide
after German Unification: Memorials and Visual Metaphors." In Sacrifice and National
Belonging in Twentieth-Century Germany. Edited by Markus Funck, Greg Eghigian, and
Matthew Paul Berg. College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 2002.
Wharton, G. "The Role of Conservation in the Design of Conceptual Monuments." In
Monuments and the Millennium. London, England: English Heritage, 2001.
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Whelan, Yvonne. "Monuments, Power and Contested Space: The Iconography of Sackville
Street (O'Connell Street) Before Independence (1922)." Irish Geography 34:1 (2001), pp.
11-33.
White, Stephen. "A Burial Ahead of Its Time?: The Crookenden Burial Case and the Sanctioning
of Cremation in England and Wales." Mortality 7:2 (2002), pp. 171-190.
Whittlesey, Stephanie M., and Reid, J. Jefferson. "Mortuary Ritual and Organizational Ritual
at Grasshopper Pueblo, Arizona." In Ancient Burial Practice in the American Southwest:
Archaeology, Physical Anthropology, and Native American Perspectives. Edited by Douglas
R. Mitchell and Judy L. Brunson-Hadley. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico
Press, 2001.
Williams, H. "Death, Memory and Time: A Consideration of the Mortuary Practices at Sutton
Hoo." In Time in the Medieval World. Edited by C. Humphrey and W.M. Ormrod.
Woodbridge, England: York Medieval, 2001.
Winkel, Heidemarie. "A Postmodern Culture of Grief?: On Individualization of Mourning in
Germany." Mortality 6:1 (2001), pp. 65-79.
Wirsching, Andreas. "Jtidische Friedhofe in Deutschland, 1933-1957." Vierteljahrshefte fur
Zeitgeschichte 50:1 (2002), pp. 1-40.
Wolschke-Bulmahn, Joachim. "The Landscape Design of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration
Camp Memorial." In Places of Commemoration: Search for Identity and Landscape Design.
Edited by Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research
Library and Collection, 2001.
Woudstra, Jan. "Landscape: An Expression of History." Landscape Design 308 (2002), pp. 46-49.
Wouters, Cas. "The Quest for New Rituals in Dying and Mourning: Changes in the We-I
Balance." Body and Society 8:1 (2002), pp. 1-27.
Wust, Raphael A.J., and McLane, James. "Rock Deterioration in the Royal Tomb of Seti I,
Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt." Engineering Geology 58:2 (2001), pp. 163-190.
Yang, Boda, and Li, Brenda. "Han Dynasty Burial Pottery Houses from Henan, Guanzhou and
Sichuan." Arts of Asia 31:5 (2001), pp. 90-101.
Yea, Sallie. "Rewriting Rebellion and Mapping Memory in South Korea: The (Re)Presentation
of the 1980 Kwangju Uprising through Mangwol-dong Cemetery." Urban Studies 39:9
(2002), pp. 1551-1572.
Yockelson, Mitchell. '"Their Memory Will Not Perish': Commemorating the 56th United States
Colored Troops." Gateway Heritage 22:3 (2001), pp. 26-31.
Young, B. "Sacred Topography: The Impact of a Funerary Basilica in Late Antique Gaul." In
Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul: Revisiting the Sources. Edited by R.W. Mathiesen
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Dissertations, Theses, etc.
Anguelova, Vessela Nikolova. "Barracco 201: Marriage Ritual on an Etruscan Funerary Relief
from Chiusi." Master's thesis, Southern Methodist University, 2001.
Atkins, Lara. "The Amazon Sarcophagus." Master's thesis, Flodida State University, 2002.
Barckhaus, Rachel. "Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries During Conversion Period England." Honors
thesis, Brandeis University, 2002.
Bartle, Neville Robert. "Developing a Contextual Theology in Melanesia with Reference to
Death, Witchcraft, and the Spirit World." Master's thesis, Asbury Theological Seminary,
2001.
Baur, RW. "Price Setting in the South African Coffin Industry." Master's thesis, Rand Afrikaans
University, 2002.
Beckett, Jessica Faith. "An Analysis of the Parknabinnia Chambered Tomb, County Clare,
Ireland: Ideology and Ritual During the Early Neolithic." Master's thesis, San Diego State
University, 2002.
Beitman, Michelle K. "Tatham Mound: A Case Study of Mortuary Behavior as an Indicator of
Cultural Patterns." Master's Thesis, East Carolina University, 2001.
Carpenter, Caroline Elizabeth. "Monument to Sentiment: The Discourse of Nation and
Citizenship at the Oklahoma City National Memorial." Master's thesis, College of William
and Mary, 2001.
Cassel, Monika Irene. "Poetesses at the Grave: Transnational Circulation of Women's Memorial
Verse in Nineteenth-Century, England, Germany, and America." Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Michigan, 2002.
Coford, Nicholas Hastie. "Tombstones and Non-Elite Self-Representation in Roman Iberia."
Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 2001 .
Comilang, Susan C. "English Noblewomen and the Organization of Space: Gardens, Mourning
Posts, and Religious Recesses." Ph.D. dissertation, George Washington University, 2002.
Cortright, Kristofer Lee. "Equality at the Viking Age Harbor of Frojel." Master's hesis,
University of Minnesota, 2001.
Davis, Monica Lynn. "Symbolizing the Family: Depiction of Infants in Classical Attic
Tombstones." Honors thesis, College of William and Mary, 2002.
de Sola, Megan Vior. "A Review of Cemetery Preservation Strategies in Boone County,
Kentucky." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2002.
Deyo, Patricia H. "More Than a Burial Ground: The Civil War-Era National Cemetery." Master's
thesis, University of Georgia, 2001.
375
Doubrava, Matthew Ray. "Radiometric Evaluation of the Prehistoric Mortuary Practices of
the Chinchorro Culture in Northern Chile." Master's thesis, University of Nevada, Las
Vegas, 2001.
Driscoll, Elizabeth Monahan. "Bioarchaeology, Mortuary Patterning, and Social Organization
at Town Creek." Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001.
Erdirisinghe, Varunadatta. "Exegi Monumentum: Remembrance of the Dead in Roman
Republican and Imperial Grave Monuments." Master's thesis, Indiana University, 2001.
Evans, Thomas L. "Burial Rites in the Upper Seine Basin Between the Halstatt Finale and the
La Tene Moyenne." Ph.D dissertation, Oxford University, 2001.
Ferry, Fleur. "Espace sacre en devenir profane?: les cimetieres de la region de Quebec des
origines a nos jours." Master's thesis, Universite Laval, 2001 .
Fitts, Mary Elizabeth. "Two Eighteenth-Century Seminole Burials from Alachua County,
Florida." Master's thesis, University of South Florida, 2001.
Flood, Karen Pomeroy "Contemplating Corpses: The Dead Body in American Culture, 1870-
1920." Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 2001.
Frohne, Andrea E. "The African Burial Ground in New York City: Manifesting and Representing
Spirituality of Space." Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York at Binghampton,
2002.
Glasheen, Peter A. "Residence of Memory." Master's thesis, Rochester Institute of Technology,
2002.
Green, Ruth. "Memorial for Flight 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania." Terminal project thesis,
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2002.
Greenhough, Lynn Valerie. '"We Do the Best We Can': Jewish Burial Societies in Small
Communities in North America." Master's thesis, Royal Roads University, 2001.
Gunn, Derek S. "Speaking with the Dead: The Creation of a New Necropolis for Ritual and
Bereavement." Master's thesis, Boston Architectural Center, 2001.
Hanna, Lori. "Louis-Ernest Barrias's L'architecture: The Twilight of Allegory in Pere Lachaise
Cemetery, Paris." Master's thesis, University of Missouri - Columbia, 2002.
Hanson, Annabel Fay. "The Pantheon on Nepean Point?: The Canadian War Memorials
Collection in Historical Context." Master's thesis, Queen's University at Kingston, 2001.
Harris, Sarah E. "Burials and Peer Polity Interaction: A Case Study of Burials at Metaponto
and Taras." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2001 .
Hawley, Thomas M. "Practices of Materialization: Bodies, Politics, and the Search for Soldiers
Missing in Action in Vietnam." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawaii, 2001.
376
Helms-Scholz, Eva. "Das Verdi-Monument in Parma: Hohe- und Endpunkt des Biirgerlichen
Kiiunsterdenkmals." Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat-GH-Essen, 2001.
Henderson, Desiree. "Mourning America: Literature and the Politics of Death, 1765-1865."
Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, San Diego, 2001.
Janney-Lucas, Caroline Elizabeth. "Written in Stone: Gender, Race, and the Heyward Shepherd
Memorial." Master's thesis, University of Virginia, 2001.
Johnson, Leah Danellen. "Mausoleum: Jackson, Mississippi." Master's thesis, Mississippi State
University, 2002.
Kovacs, Julie L. "A Cultural Landscape Report for Historic Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort
Wayne, Indiana." Master's thesis, Ball State University, 2002.
Kuhlke, Olaf . "Body, Nation, and Place: The New Berlin Republic and the Spatial Representation
of German National Identity." Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University, 2001.
Laird, Margaret L. "Evidence in Context: The Public and Funerary Monuments of the Severi
Augustales at Ostia." Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 2002.
Lee, Dong Seon. "A Prophetic Proposal for Cultural and Spiritual Reformation of Korean Burial
Practice." Ph.D. dissertation, Regent University, 2002.
Lerner, Adam J. "The Capital City and Mount Rushmore: The Place of Public Monuments in
American Political Culture of the Progressive Era and the 1920s." Ph.D. dissertation,
Johns Hopkins University, 2001.
Levy, Allison Mary. "Early Modern Mourning: Widow Portraiture in Sixteenth-Century
Florence." Master's thesis, Bryn Mawr College, 2001.
Lohman, Jonathan M. '"The Walls Speak': Murals and Memory in Urban Philadelphia." Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2001.
Martin, Rachel Lee. "Completing the Work of the Guns: Presidential Rhetoric, National
Character, and World War II Memorials." Master's thesis, Texas A & M University, 2001 .
McShane, Kevin. "A History of the Liberty Memorial." Master's thesis, University of Missouri
- Kansas City, 2002.
Newton, Jennifer Isabel Mary. "About Time: Chronological Variation as Seen in the Burial
Features at Ipiutak, Point Hope." Master's thesis, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 2002.
Oliveria, Luisa M. "Memorial at Wissatinnewag." Master's thesis, University of Massachusetts
at Amherst, 2001.
Parlatore, Kacey Harris. "Bird of Pray: Shaman Figure of Paracas Necropolis Textiles." Master's
thesis, University of Florida, 2002.
377
Petrovich, Sophia Nadezhda. "Religious Determinants of the Spatial Aspects of Mortuary
Behavior at the NAN Ranch Mimbres Site." Master's thesis, University of Texas at Austin,
2001.
Pollack, Craig Evan. "Respecting the Wishes of Families: Burial, Mourning, and Politics
Following the Massacre at Srebenica." Master's thesis, University of California, Berkeley,
2001.
Rakita, Gordon F.M. "Social Complexity, Religious Organization, and Mortuary Ritual in the
Casas Grandes Region of Chihuahua, Mexico." Ph.D. dissertation, University of New
Mexico, 2001.
Renaud, Michael A. "Urban Burial Facility for Tampa, Florida." Master's thesis, University of
South Florida, 2001.
Riggs, Christina. "Art and Identity in the Egyptian Funerary Tradition, c. 100 B.C. to A.D.
300." Ph.D. dissertation, Oxford University, 2001.
Roberts, Melissa Augusta. "The American Cemetery: Future Design and Cemetery
Interpretation." Master's thesis, University of Georgia, 2001.
Sandoval Zavala, Zannie Vanessa. "Moche Funerary Practice: Burial Location and Its
Relationship with Sociopolitical Organization." Master's Thesis, UCLA, 2002.
Sarr, Mouhamadou Nissire. "Funerailles et representations dans les tombes de 1'ancien et du
moyen empires Egyptiens: cas de comparison avec les civilisations actuelles de 1' Afrique
noire." Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Hamburg, 2001.
Schaller, Wendy M. "Children Born Aloft: Nicolaes Maes's Ganymede Portraiture and the
Context of Death and Mourning in the Seventeenth-Century Netherlands." Ph.D.
dissertation, Ohio State University, 2001.
Schroeder, David Lee. "Death Matters, or Death, Land, and Landscape Design." Master's thesis,
North Carolina State University, 2002.
Schultz, Lorena Kathryn. "The Seventeenth-Century Memorial Cross-Slabs at the Cathedral
Church of St. John the Evangelist at Brecon." Master's thesis, Southern Methodist
University, 2001.
Seefeldt, W. Douglas. "Constructing Western Pasts: Place and Public Memory in the Twentieth-
Century American West." Ph.D. dissertation, Arizona State University, 2001.
Shumka, Leslie Joan. "Designing Women: Studies in the Representation of Femininity in Roman
Society." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Victoria, 2001.
Simon, Erica Hendelman. "De-memorialization and the Lifespan of Memorials." Master's thesis,
University of Texas at Arlington, 2002.
Simons, Jean. "Celebrating Death in the Catholic Tradition: The Order of Christian Funerals."
Master's thesis, St. Norbert College, 2001.
378
Smith, Timothy Brian. "Shiloh National Military Park: An Administrative History 1862-1933."
Ph.D. dissertation, Mississippi State University, 2001.
Stovel, Emily Mary. "The Importance of Being Atacameho: Political Identity and Mortuary
Ceramics in Northern Chile." Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York at
Binghampton, 2002.
Sun, Yan. "Negotiating Cultural and Political Control in North China: Art and Mortuary Ritual
and Practice of the Yan at Liulihe During the Early Western Zhou Period." Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 2001.
Taylor, Gregory D. "Environmental Impacts on Soils Within Two Northwest Ohio Cemeteries."
Master's thesis, University of Toledo, 2001.
Waterman, Roderick Clive. "The American Monument and Its Audience." Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Virginia, 2001.
Waxenbaum, Erin. "An Analysis of a 'Royal' Cemetery: How Can Importance Be Assessed?"
Honor's thesis, Brandeis University, 2002.
Welhausen, Candice A. "Roadside Crosses in New Mexico." Master's thesis, University of New
Mexico, 2001.
Zerr-Peltner, Sharon Arlene. "Representations of the Unrepresentable in Paper and Stone: A
Documentation of Holocaust Memorials from the Old World to the New World." Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Washington, 2001.
Zhang, Juwen. "Falling Seeds Take Root: Ritualizing Chinese American Identity Through
Funerals." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2001.
Videotapes
"A Tale of Two Hollistons: The Impact of the Rural Cemetery Movement on Burial Practices in
Holliston, Massachusetts." Robert E. Viator and Michal Stump. Holliston, MA: Holliston
Historical Society, Inc., 2002.
"Death and the Journey to Immortality." David deVries. New York, NY: A & E Home Video,
2001.
"Letters to the Wall: A Documentary on the Vietnam Wall Experience." Christopher Davenport
and Wes Carey. Poulsbo, WA: Galloping Pictures, 2002.
"Prairie Crosses, Prairie Voices: Iron Crosses of the Great Plains." Bob Damblach and Timothy
J. Kloberdanz. Fargo, ND: Prairie Public Broadcasting, 2002.
"The Sacred Stones." Sydney, N.S.W., Australia: SBS, 2002.
379
Conference Papers, Other Presentations, etc.
Allen, Michael J. "Naming the Unknown: The Privatization of Memory After the Vietnam
War." Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History Madison, WI, April 4-7, 2002.
Applegate, Shannon, Donovan, Sally, and Meyer, Mirra. "At the End of the Oregon Trail:
Protecting Oregon's Historic Graveyards." Annual Conference of the Association for
Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Armer, Jane. "What Is a War Memorial?" Conference on the Care and Conservation of War
Memorials, London, England, January 31, 2001.
Ashurst, Nicola. "Graffiti Removal and Management." Conference on the Care and
Conservation of War Memorials." London, England, January 31, 2001.
Austin, Ryan F. "Neighborhoods and Necro-Geography: Spatial Connections in a Rural 19th-
Century Cemetery." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile,
AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Baird, Scott. "Gravemarkers vs. Burial Records: Grieving Families vs. Sleepy Clerks." Annual
Meeting of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16,
2002.
Benton-Short, Lisa M. "The Brawl Over the Mall: Politics, Parks and the World War II
Memorial." Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles,
CA, March 19-23, 2002.
Bishir, Catherine. "And the Women Win': Contingency, Conflict and the North Carolina
Confederate Monument." Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians,
Richmond, VA, April 17-21, 2002.
Bodaya, Mary Ann. "Customs and Celebrations: Life in the Cemetery." Annual Conference of
the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Brackner, Joey. "Alabama's 'Day of the Dead': Decoration Day and the Changing Cemetery
Landscape." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile AL,
January 8-12, 2002.
Bremborg, Anna D. "The Dead Body, Public Spaces, and the Professionalism of Swedish Funeral
Directors." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and
Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Brown, Ian W. "Aspects of Life Revealed in Death: A Survey of Cemeteries in Northern
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone
Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Buckland, J. Alexander. "Conservation of Broken and Crumbling Old Gravestones." Annual
Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
380
Byrd, Caroline. "Links to the Dead: A Hispanic Cemetery - 1." Annual Meeting of the American
Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Calidonna, Frank. "Cemeteries, Gravestones, and Kids: Teachable Moments." Annual
Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Carden, Pam. "Both Sides of the Coffin: Spatial Control and the Discourse of 'Dead'." 6th
International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal, York,
England, September 5-8, 2002.
Cartier, Robert R., and Morgan, Christopher. "The Kell Cemetery: An Historic Cemetery in
San Jose." Annual Meeting of the Society for California Archaeology, Modesto, CA, March
23-25, 2001.
Cassaniti, Jarrett F. "American Ways of Death." Annual Meeting of the Northeastern
Anthropological Association, Hartford, CT, March 29-31, 2001.
Chapman, C. Thomas. "The Madison Family Cemetery at Montpelier: A Founding Father's
Final Resting Place." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile,
AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Ciregna, Elise Madeline. "From Artisan to Artist: America's Garden Cemeteries and Early
American Sculptors, 1825-1875." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone
Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Clarke, Anthony O. "The Cult of the Dead in Old Europe and Related Sacred Space in Portugal."
Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles, CA, March
19-23, 2002.
Coletta, Charles A., Jr. "Lakeview Cemetery in the Millennium." Annual Meeting of the Mid-
Atlantic Popular Culture / American Culture Association, Pittsburgh, PA, November 1-
3, 2002.
Collison, Gary. "Pennsylvania German Culture in Transition: Gravestones in Berks, Lebanon,
and Schuylkill Counties, 1750-1850." Annual Meeting of the American Culture
Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
. "They Bury Horses, Don't They?" Annual Meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Popular
Culture / American Culture Association, Pittsburgh, PA, November 1-3, 2002.
Cooley, Francis Rexford. "A Wit and a Merchant: The Gravemarkers of Lemuel Hopkins and
Jeremiah Wadsworth." Annual Meeting of the American Culture Association, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Corbett, Joyce. "The 'Merry Cemetery' of Sarpanta, Romania: Folk Expression, Folk
Phenomenon." Annual Meeting of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
381
Coyle, Kathy, and Krause, Kari. "Providing an Historical Context for Archaeological
Investigations at the Former Locations of the Celeste Plantation and the Braziel Baptist
Church and Cemetery Complex (16IV49), Iberville Parish, Louisiana." Annual Conference
of the Society for Historical Archaeology Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Cutting, Rose Marie. "Links to the Dead: A Hispanic Cemetery - II." Annual Meeting of the
American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Davies, Douglas. "Locating Hope: The Dynamics of Memorial Sites." 6th International
Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal, York, England,
September 5-8, 2002.
Davies, Penelope J.E. "Creating Memory Museums: Dynamics and Manipulation in Roman
Republican Tombs." 6* International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying,
and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
de Giorgio, Joshua, and Mytum, Harold. "Colonist and Native in the Mediterranean:
Commemorative Practices in Gibraltar and Malta." Annual Conference of the Society for
Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Desmond, Jane. "On the Margins of Death: Pet Cemeteries and Mourning Practices." Annual
Conference of the International Society for Anthrozoology London, England, August
20-21, 2002.
Donahue, Katherine C. "Firemen and Bond Traders: Commemoration and the Creation of
Heroes after September 11, 2001." Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Anthropological
Association, Bridgewater, MA, March 14-16, 2002.
Edge, Kay. "The Architecture of Atonement, the Space of Repentance." Conference -
"Apologies: Mourning the Past and Ameliorating the Future," Claremont, CA, February
8-10, 2002.
Edgette, J. Joseph. "Back to 'Titanic': Death Sites of Her Rich and Famous." Annual Meeting
of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
. "Floaters from 'Titanic': Anatomy of their Recovery and Documentation Process."
Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society, Rochester, NY, October 16-20, 2002.
. "Ninety Years Later: The Untold Story of Titanic's Victims." Annual Conference
of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Emke, Ivan, and Hunt, Barb. "'Attention must be paid...': An Artist and a Sociologist Consider
Rituals of Remembrance." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death,
Dying, and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Erasmo, Mario. "The Poetics of Latin Epitaphs." 6th International Conference on the Social
Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Fahey, Kathy. "How to Beautify Your Cemetery Lot: Historic Landscape Furnishings at Mount
Auburn Cemetery." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies,
Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
382
Farbes, Kwali. "Past Potter's Field to Cemeteries in the 'Dins and Shanties of the Suburbs':
Critical Regionalism, Community, and 19th Century Philadelphia." Annual Meeting of
the American Folklore Society, Rochester, NY, October 16-20, 2002.
Fenster, Tovi. "Belonging, Memory and Spatial Planning in Israel." Annual Meeting of the
Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles, CA, March 19-23, 2002.
Flannery, Colleen D. "Let No (Tomb)Stone Go Unturned: Unearthing the Roots and Legacy of
Savannah's Capt. John Flannery." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone
Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Futch-Nash, Jennifer. "Death in the Garden: Bonaventure Cemetery and the Rural Cemetery
Movement." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah,
GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Gabel, Laurel K. "First Person Narratives of Death, Burial, and Memorialization in Colonial
New England." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah,
GA, June 25-30, 2002.
."Fraternal Emblems and Grave Markers." Annual Conference of the Association
for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Gale, Christopher. "Pacemaker Explosions at Crematoria." Annual Conference of the
Cremation Society of Great Britain, Bournemouth, England, July 11-13, 2001.
Galley, Janet McShane. '"If You Lost Everything You Loved the Most in this World': Myths
and Realities of Laurel Hill's 'Mother and Twins' Monument." Annual Meeting of the
American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
George, David R., and Vanwert, Kristin. "Archaeological Testing and Evaluation of the Braziel
Baptist Church and Cemetery Complex (16IV49), Iberville Parish, Louisiana." Annual
Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Godwin, Luke, et al. "Dating of Burial Practices in Central Queensland: Continuity and Its
Implications for Native Title." Australian Archaeological Association Annual Conference,
Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia, December 6-8, 2001.
Goodall, Maggie. "The Friends of War Memorials and Its Work." Conference on the Care and
Conservation of War Memorials, London, England, January 31, 2001.
Gordon, Bill. "Coffin Plates: For the Dead or for the Living?" Annual Meeting of the American
Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002,
Gorman, Rebecca. "Religious Contrasts in Mortuary Behavior and Cultural Ideology of
Nineteenth Century Cemeteries in St. Augustine, Florida." Annual Conference of National
Collegiate Honors Council, Salt Lake City, UT, October 30 - November 3, 2002.
Grainger, Hilary J. "Building the Gates to Elysium: The Architecture of Post-War British
Crematoria." Annual Conference of the Cremation Society of Great Britain, Torquay,
England, July 10-12, 2002.
383
Graves, Thomas E. "Remembering the Unknown: Rural Cemeteries in Central Kentucky."
Annual Meeting of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March
13-16, 2002.
Greenfield, Marienne. "Gravestones, Cemeteries, and Burial Customs of Iceland." Annual
Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Groce, W. Todd. "Historic Cemeteries of the South: A Photographic Tour." Annual Conference
of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Hailey, Tommy Ike. "Snatched from the Brink of Obscurity: A Comparative Geophysical Survey
of the Sandiferd Cemetery, a Rural 19th-Century Burial Site in North-Central Louisiana."
Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12,
2002.
Hall, Danielle. "Cemeteries and Grave Markers as Historical Documents." Annual Meeting of
the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Hannibal, Joseph T, et al. "Why are There So Many Marble Gravestones in the Midwest?:
Documenting the Rise and Fall of Marble Use in Northeastern Ohio Cemeteries." Joint
Annual Meeting of the North-Central and Southeastern Sections of the Geological Society
of America, Lexington, KY, April 3-5, 2002.
Harmon, Thomas. "Mistakes in Stone: Reflections of Illiteracy in Frontier Era Pennsylvania,"
Annual Meeting of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March
13-16, 2002.
Hanson, Margery. "The Hour of Death and the Victorian Child." 6th International Conference
on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal." York, England, September 5-8,
2002.
Harrington, Susan J. "A Grave Responsibility: Publishing Cemetery Information on the Web
or in Print." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah,
GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Hecht, Lea. "A Walk Through the Cemeteries of Elmira, Concord, and Salem." Annual Meeting
of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Heywood, Janet. "By Their Works You Will Know Them: Professions and Passions on
Gravestones." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah,
GA, June 25-30, 2002.
. "Eternal Images - Stereoviews of Cemeteries." Annual Meeting of the American
Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Hite, Gerron. "Historic Buildings, Historic Cemeteries: Similar Materials and Problems."
Annual Meeting of the Texas Historical Association, Houston, TX, March 1-3, 2001.
Hobbs, June Hadden. "Angels in the Home, Angels in the Cemetery." Annual Conference of
the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
384
. "The Cowboy Cemetery of Kenton, Oklahoma." Annual Meeting of the American
Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Hodge, Christina J. "Meaningful Ambivalence: Mimicry and Appropriation in Late 17th- and
Early 18th-Cenrury Native Christian Burials in Southeastern New England." Annual
Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Howell, Ann Chandler. "Funerary Bronze Portraits of Joseph A. Bailly." Annual Meeting of
the Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture / American Culture Association, Pittsburgh, PA,
November 1-3, 2002.
Hughes, Geoffrey. "Towards a Practice Theory of Salem's [NC] Gravestones." Annual
Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Hughes, Michelle A. "St. Phillip's Graveyard [Salem, NC] as a Reflection of an Ideology of
Slavery." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL,
January 8-12, 2002.
Hummer, Mark A. "The Ecclesiastic Orientation of Churches and Cemeteries in Late Nineteenth
Century Rural Southwestern Ontario." Annual Meeting of the Association of American
Geographers, Los Angeles, CA, March 19-23, 2002.
Hunt, Barb. "Roadside Memorials in Newfoundland: Maintaining 'Living' Links with the
Dead." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal,
York, England,. September 5-8, 2002.
Ingham, Karen. "Uncanny Tomb of Memory." 6th International Conference on the Social
Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Ireland, Tracy, and Mackay, Richard. "The Rand wick Destitute Children's Asylum Cemetery,
Sydney: Issues Arising from the Excavation and Re-Burial of Nineteenth Century Non-
Indigenous Human Remains. Annual Conference of the Australian Archaeological
Association, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, November 17-22, 2002.
Katen, Brian. "Evolution of the Confederate Memorials in America's National Military Parks."
Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, Richmond, VA, April 17-21,
2002.
Kavadias, Dionisious K. "Trinity Cemetery: The Living Necropolis." Annual Meeting of the
Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology, Wilmington, DE, October 17-20, 2002.
Kazmier, Lisa. "A Symbolic Space: Rural Myth, The Great War, and the Growth of Cremation."
Annual Conference of the Cremation Society of Great Britain, Bournemouth, England,
July 11-13, 2001.
Kennedy, Linda. "Markers, Carvers, and Cast Iron of Columbus, Georgia's Linwood Cemetery."
Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-
30, 2002.
385
Krueger, Vanessa. "Mortuary Archaeology and Sociopolitical Boundaries: An Examination of
the Maya Burials at Copan, Honduras." Australian Archaeological Association Annual
Conference, Hervey Bay Queensland, Australia, December 6-8, 2002.
Kunesh, Tom. "A New Old Thing: The Slot & Tab Tombs of Northeast Georgia." Annual
Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Lawrence, John W., Schopp, Paul W., and Lore, Robert. "Raritan-in-the-Hills: Salvage
Archaeology of a Pre-Revolutionary War German Lutheran Cemetery." Annual
Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Leader, Jonathan M., and Marcil, Valerie. "The Buzzard Family Cemetery: Sealed for Eternity."
Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12,
2002.
Leith, Ian. "Monumental Art: A Context." Conference on the Care and Conservation of War
Memorials, London, England, January 31, 2001.
Leonard, Angela M. "Death and Memory at African Slave Gravesites." Annual Meeting of the
Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture / American Culture Association, Pittsburgh, PA, November
1-3, 2002.
Lesniak, Matthew, and Philips, Sharon M. "Forgotten in Life, Forgotten in Death: Rediscovering
an Almshouse Cemetery in Albany, New York." Annual Meeting of the Council for
Northeast Historical Archaeology Wilmington, DE, October 17-20, 2002.
Leveillee, Adam. "Discovery and Rediscovery of a Remnant 17th Century Narragansett Burial
Ground in Warwick, Rhode Island." Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Anthropological
Association, Hartford, CT, March 29-31, 2001.
Liebens, Johann. "Mapping and Managing a Historic Cemetery with the Help of a Geographic
Information System." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology,
Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Linton, Anna. "German Lutheran Funeral Verse for Bereaved Parents in the Seventeenth
Century." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and
Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Loran, Shelby. "Reconstructing Cemetery History at Akwesane." Annual Meeting of the
Northeastern Anthropological Association, Bridgewater, MA, March 14-16, 2002.
Macaya, Maria. "Nadar and Death in Nineteenth Century Paris." 6th International Conference
on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Malloy, Brenda. "Identification of Children in Stone." Annual Meeting of the American Culture
Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Malloy, Thomas A. "What Was Killing the Children in Agrarian New England." Annual Meeting
of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
386
Marchant, Charles. '"Stones and Bones': Using a Cemetery as an Educational Resource." Annual
Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
McCarthy, John P. "African-Influenced Burial Practices: Material Expressions of 'Magic' and
'Religion' in African-American Spiritual Life." Annual Conference of the Society for
Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Meli, Frederick. "Emergency Grave Site Conservation." Annual Conference of the Association
for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Meyer, Richard E. "Oradour-sur-Glane: A Site of Memory in Southern France." Annual Meeting
of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Miller, Hanna. "An Investigation of Mexican- American Graveyards in Santa Cruz County,
Arizona." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA,
June 25-30, 2002.
Mitchell, Michael J. "The War Between the States: Confederate Burial Customs." Annual
Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Murray, Lisa. "A Place of Festive or Pensive Resort': The Nineteenth Century Cemetery as a
Public and Private Space." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death,
Dying, and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Mytum, Harold. "From Grave to Memorial: Similarity and Difference Below and Above
Ground." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL,
January 8-12, 2002.
Nance, Cindy Ann. "Razing the Dead: Cemetery Abandonment and Changing Burial
Traditions." Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles,
CA, March 19-23, 2002.
Newton, Jennifer I.M. "Death at Ipiutak." Annual Meeting of the Alaska Anthropological
Association, Anchorage, AK, April 4-6, 2002.
Olsen, Susan. "The Final Break of the Jazz Greats of New York." Annual Meeting of the
American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Palmer, Mark H. "A Fragment of Kiowa Memory Set in Stone: Interpreting the Monument at
Cutthroat Mountain." Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Los
Angeles, CA, March 19-23, 2002.
Pantzer, Denise. "An Index of Native American Burials in New Hampshire." Annual Meeting
of the Northeastern Anthropological Association, Bridgewater, MA, March 14-16, 2002.
Paraskevas, Cornelia. "Prestige Assignments: A Comparison Between Greek Cemeteries and
Their U.S. Counterparts." Annual Meeting of the American Culture Association, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
387
Pate, F. Donald, Owen, Tim, and Lawson, Ewan. "AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Bone Collagen:
Establishing a Chronology for the Swanport Aboriginal Burial Ground, South Australia."
Annual Conference of the Australian Archaeological Association, Townsville, Queensland,
Australia, November 17-22, 2002.
Patrick, Maureen. "'Gone from Our Home But Not from Our Hearts': Nineteenth Century
Epitaphs from Selected Florida Rural Cemeteries." Annual Meeting of the American
Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Pelletier, J.B., Lowthert, William. "Remote Sensing of the Braziel Baptist Church and Cemetery
Complex (16IV49), Iberville Parish, Louisiana." Annual Conference of the Society for
Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Pfeiffer, Maria Watson. "San Antonio's Old City Cemeteries: The Evolution of Powder House
Hill from Spanish Colonial Lookout to National Register District." Annual Meeting of
the Texas State Historical Association, Houston, TX, March 1-3, 2001.
Poston, Jonathan H. "Commemorating a Broader and More Selective Past: Charleston
Monuments in the Post-Bellum Period." Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural
Historians, Richmond, VA, April 17-21, 2002.
. "The Material Culture of Death in Early Charleston: Tombs, Vaults, and Markers
in Charleston Burial Grounds, 1680-1830." Annual Meeting of the Vernacular Architecture
Forum, Williamsburg, VA, May 18, 2002, and Annual Conference of the Association for
Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Prangnell, Jon, Smith, Tarn, and Rains, Kevin. "University of Queensland Archaeological
Services Unit's Salvage of the North Brisbane Burial Ground." Australian Archaeological
Association Annual Conference, Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia, December 6-8, 2001.
Pravisani, Roberto L. "Reclaiming Death As Part of Life: Rediscovering the Wholeness of the
Funeral Process." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying,
and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Rainville, L. "Relicts, Amiable Wives, and Tender Mothers: Critiquing the Accuracy of the
'Cult of Domesticity' as Illustrated on 18th- and 19th-C. American Gravestones." Annual
Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, LA, November 20-
24, 2002.
Ramsay, Ronald. "The Architectural Legacy of Life and Death on the Northern Great Plains."
Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, Richmond, VA, April 17-21,
2002.
Rice, Julie A. "Battling the Forces of 'Deep Regret': Contemporary Efforts at Memorializing
Wounded Knee." Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Los
Angeles, CA, March 19-23, 2002.
Richman, Jeff. "The Monumental Bronze Company's Cast Zinc at Brooklyn's Green-Wood
Cemetery." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah,
GA, June 25-30, 2002.
388
Riley, Sheila. "Southern Cemetery Highlights." Annual Meeting of the American Culture
Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Riordan, Timothy B. '"Carry Me to Yon Kirk Yard': Changes in Colonial Burial Practices
Through the 17th Century" Annual Meeting of the Council for Northeast Historical
Archaeology, Wilmington, DE, October 17-20, 2002.
Rotundo, Barbara. "Symbolism." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies,
Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Russell, Joy. "English Heritage Grants for the Repair and Conservation of War Memorials."
Conference on the Care and Conservation of War Memorials, London, England, January
31, 2001.
Russell, Matthew A. "Preserving an American Icon: Continuing Research on USS Arizona,
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology,
Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Sabatos, Terri R. "'Poor Baby Is Gone': The Image of the Empty Crib in Victorian Visual
Culture." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal,
York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Sauers, Richard A. "Another December Mourning: The Halifax Explosion." Annual Meeting
of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Schafer, Cyril. "Multinationals, the Funeral Industry, and Funerary Practices in New Zealand."
6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying, and Disposal, York,
England, September 5-8, 2002.
Seidemann. Ryan M., and Seidemann, Ericka L. "Folk Art and Works of Necessity in the
Predominantly African American Indigent Holt Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana."
Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-
30, 2002.
Shlasko, Ellen. "Material Culture and Cultural Memory in South Carolina." Annual Conference
of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Sledge, John. "Cities of Silence: Mobile, Alabama's Historic Cemeteries." Annual Conference
of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, Georgia, June 25-30, 2002.
Smith, Roger. "Savannah's Unique City Plan." Annual Conference of the Association for
Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Stewart, David. "Material Culture and Remembrance in Anglo-American Maritime
Communities." Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society, Rochester, NY, October
16-20, 2002.
Strangstad, Lynette. "Preserving America's Cemeteries: A Case Study. Colonial Park in
Savannah." Annual Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah,
GA, June 25-30, 2002.
389
Stringfield, Margo S. "St. Michael's Cemetery: A Democracy of the Dead." Annual Conference
of the Society for Historical Archaeology Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Thorton, Meg L., and Labadia, Catherine. "A Preliminary Assessment of Mortuary Practices
at the Braziel Baptist Cemetery." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical
Archaeology, Mobile, AL, January 8-10, 2002.
Thursby, Jacqueline S. "Ghost Town Cemeteries in Utah: A Pioneer Legacy." Annual Meeting
of the American Culture Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 13-16, 2002.
Trinkley, Michael. "The Threat to African American Cemeteries in South Carolina." Annual
Conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Turner, Robert. "The Conservation of Bronze." Conference on the Care and Conservation of
War Memorials, London, England, January 31, 2001.
Van Scoy F., Jarrell, J., and Wagaman, G. "Cemetery Preservation and Laser Scanning."
International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia, Berkeley, CA, October,
2001.
Varner, Eric R. "Eternal Rome and the Semantics of Death on a Season Sarcophagus in the
Michael C. Carlos Museum." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death,
Dying, and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2004.
Vastokas, Joan. "St. John's Lithuanian Cemetery Toronto," Annual Conference of the
Association for Gravestone Studies, Savannah, GA, June 25-30, 2002.
Veit, Richard F. "Tn Amerika Komen': lS^-Century German Language Grave Markers in
Northern New Jersey." Annual Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology,
Mobile, AL, January 8-12, 2002.
Volkan, Vamik. "Mourning, Linking Objects, and Monuments: When Does It Become Possible
for a Society to Forgive Its Enemy?" Conference - "Apologies: Mourning the Past and
Ameliorating the Future," Claremont, CA, February 8-10, 2002.
Walker, Joseph N., Jr. "Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust: Human Skeletal Taphonomy at Two
Historic Cemeteries in the Northeastern United States." Annual Meeting of the
Northeastern Anthropological Association, Bridgewater, MA, March 14-16, 2002.
Wayland, Scott. "Funerary Poetry and Changing Conceptions of Life After Death in Early
Modern England." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying,
and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Weir, Daniel R. "No Place to Die: Roadside Death Memorials in Mexico." Annual Meeting of
the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles, CA, March 19-23, 2002.
West, Sharon Cook, and McKerns, Joseph P. "Witch-Hunters and Funeral Directors: The Political
Backlash Against Jessica Mitfords's The American Way of Death." Annual Meeting of the
Southwest — Texas Popular Culture / American Culture Association, Albuquerque, NM,
February 13-17, 2002.
390
Westerhof, Danielle. "Resting in Pieces: The Politics of Aristocratic Multiple Burial in Late
Thirteenth Century England." 6th International Conference on the Social Context of Death,
Dying, and Disposal, York, England, September 5-8, 2002.
Willett, Clara. "The Conservation of Stonework and Sculpture." Conference on the Care and
Conservation of War Memorials, London, England, January 31, 2001 .
Wood, Juliette. "Giants In The Earth: Geoffrey on Monmouth, Strange Burials, and Ancient
Monuments in Welsh Folk Studies." Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society,
Rochester, NY, October 16-20, 2002.
Zipf, Catherwine W. "Perpetual Victory: The Architecture of the National Cemetery System."
Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, Richmond, VA, April 17-21,
2002.
391
CONTRIBUTORS
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), Danish poet, novelist, and pro-
lific writer of tales and sketches, overcame the poverty of his youth to
become one of the world's most beloved and well-known writers. Often
called the "father of the literary fairy tale," Andersen's power of descrip-
tion and sense of fantasy underlie many of his most recognizable tales -
"The Little Mermaid," "The Ugly Duckling," "The Red Shoes," "The Snow
Queen," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Princess and the Pea," and
"Thumbelina," among others - but his interest in the more common-
place elements of life may be found as well in many of his lesser-known
works, such as the selection reprinted in this issue.
James Blachowicz, Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University, Chi-
cago, became interested in early American gravestones during a sum-
mer in Falmouth, Massachusetts in 1972, but didn't discover the
Association for Gravestone Studies until 1994. He has contributed three
papers to the AGS Quarterly, and four of his studies on the gravestone
carving traditions of Plymouth, Kingston, and Cape Cod have appeared
in Markers XV (1998), Markers XVII (2000) (in collaboration with Vincent
F. Luti), Markers XVIII (2001), and the first part of the present essay in
Markers XIX (2002). He has recently completed a book, An American Craft
Lineage, which greatly expands his work on these carving traditions, fo-
cusing on twenty-seven stonecarvers in the two regions active from 1770
through 1870. His book in philosophy, Of Two Minds: The Nature of In-
quiry (State University of New York Press), appeared in 1998.
Sybil F. Crawford has lived in both the United States and Canada. She
attended what is now the University of Arkansas - Little Rock, and served
as documentation coordinator for an international commercial lender in
Dallas, Texas prior to retirement. Her interests have tended to be eclectic.
In 1993, she authored Jubilee: The First 150 Years of Mount Holly Cemetery,
Little Rock, Arkansas. A large number of articles and books have been
published on cemetery/gravemarker, local history, Old West, and fine
arts subjects. In 1993, she received the Arkansas Historical Association's
award for "Best Biography" and placed first in the 2001 F. Hampton Roy
History Award competition for her paper dealing with the faux bois sculp-
tor Dionicio Rodriguez. A completed book manuscript, The Veiled Per-
sona: Memorializing Our Legends of the Old West, awaits publication.
392
Karl S. Guthke is Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture at
Harvard University. Among his books are The Last Frontier: Imagining
Other Worlds from the Copernican Revolution to Modern Science Fiction (1990),
B. Traven: The Life Behind the Legends (1991), Last Words (1992), and The
Gender of Death: A Cultural History in Art and Literature (1999). His most
recent publication is Goethe's Weimar und "Die grosse Offnung in die weite
Welt" (2001), which discusses the growing awareness on the part of cen-
tral Europeans of the non-European "other" around 1800. Having pub-
lished several articles dealing with various aspects of epitaphs, he is
currently working on a book on "Epitaph Culture in the West."
Vincent F. Luti, 1997 recipient of the Association for Gravestone Stud-
ies' Harriette M. Forbes Award for excellence in gravestone studies, has
contributed greatly to our understanding of early gravestone carvers of
the Narragansett Basin area, including studies of Seth Euther published
in Rhode Island History and of Stephen and Charles Hartshorn in Markers
II. His in-depth analysis of the carvers John and James New appeared in
Markers XVI, and he contributed to James Blachowicz's study of carver
William Coye in Markers XVII. His latest major publication (2002) is Mal-
let and Chisel: Gravestone Carvers of Newport, Rhode Island, in the Eighteenth
Century. He is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Massa-
chusetts, Dartmouth.
Gay Lynch completed a Master in Theological Studies degree at Harvard
Divinity School in 1995, the same year in which her article, "Contempo-
rary Gravemarkers of Youths: Milestones of our Path through Pain to
Joy," appeared in Markers XII. She is currently a doctoral Student in the
Cultural and Historical Study of Religion program at the Graduate Theo-
logical Union in Berkeley, California. Her research is in ancient and mod-
ern Greek lamentation ritual and in Greek funerary monuments. Her
dissertation is focused upon showing how ancient Greek ritual lament
practices are directly attested through and vitally encoded by archaeo-
logical remains.
Lotte Larsen Meyer, Associate Professor Emeritus at Western Oregon
University, holds advanced degrees in history and in library science, and
served as a reference librarian and head of university archives for twenty-
two years at WOU. In 1986, she founded the "Protest Issues and Ac-
tions" permanent section of the Popular Culture Association, and has
393
served as chair of the section ever since. Published works include a Peace
Bibliography and an article about the use of Yellow Ribbons during the
Gulf War which appeared in the Journal of American Culture. She is cur-
rently completing a book about the popularity of French Impressionist
painter Claude Monet in the United States.
Richard E. Meyer is Professor Emeritus of English and Folklore at West-
ern Oregon University. Besides serving as editor of Markers for the last
eleven issues, 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 has served as a mem-
ber of the editorial board of The Journal of American Culture, is a former
president of the Oregon Folklore Society, and from 1986-1996 chaired
the Cemeteries and Gravemarkers section of the American Culture As-
sociation, which he founded in 1986. His articles on Oregon pioneer
gravemarkers, San Francisco's Presidio Pet Cemetery (with David M.
Gradwohl), and World War I Western Front cemeteries have appeared
in Markers XI, Markers XII, and Markers XVIII, respectively. In 1998 he
was a recipient of the Association for Gravestone Studies' Harriete M.
Forbes Award for excellence in gravestone studies. Besides his contribu-
tion to material necrology, he has published a wide variety of scholarly
materials in both folklore and literary studies. He is currently in the early
stages of a projected book on America's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
in Arlington National Cemetery.
Kenneth Pobo is an Associate Professor of English at Widener Univer-
sity in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he teaches courses in creative writ-
ing, minority literature, and contemporary poetry. He writes poetry, short
stories, and essays, and his research interests include gay studies, women
writers, and contemporary poets. His most recent (2001) published col-
lection of poetry is Ordering: A Season in My Garden (Higganum Hills
Books): earlier collections include Cicadas in the Apple Tree (Palanquin
Press), Yes: Irises (Singular Speech Press), and Ravens and Bad Bananas
(Oscric Press). An essay on May Swenson appeared in Heaven Bone, and
another on British writer Jeanette Winterson will be featured in a forth-
coming anthology published by Red Hen Press. His poem, "Key West
Cemetery" was published in Markers XIX.
394
Annette Stott serves as Director of the School of Art and Art History at
the University of Denver, where she is an associate professor of art his-
tory. She is the author of the book Holland Mania: The Unknown Dutch
Period in American Art and Culture (1998) and numerous articles concern-
ing Nineteenth-Century American art. She presented an earlier version
of the essay found in this volume at the 1999 Annual Conference of the
Association for Gravestone Studies, and a somewhat expanded version
will become a chapter in her current book project, Sculpture Gardens of
the West: Denver's Early Cemeteries.
Jacqueline S. Thursby, Associate Professor of English and Folklore at
Brigham Young University, has presented numerous scholarly papers
on cemetery and gravestone studies at annual conferences of the Ameri-
can Culture Association. She completed her graduate studies in Folklore
and American Studies at Utah State University and Bowling Green State
University, and has published a number of articles relating to American
Studies and Ethnography. Her first book, Mother's Table, Father's Chair:
Cultural Narratives of Basque American Women, was published by Utah State
University Press in 1999. She is currently working on a book, underwrit-
ten by a grant from the Religious Studies Department at Brigham Young
University, which discusses funerary and burial practices of Utah Mor-
mons, past and present.
INDEX
Boldface page numbers [in brackets] indicate illustrations
395
"A Mother's Prayer For Her Soldier Boy"
(song /1918) 40
"Abide With Me" (hymn) 175
Aborn family 95
Adams, Bartlett 238
Adams, Ezekiel 103
Adams, Franklin Pierce 117
Adams, Nathan 103
Aeneid (epic poem / Virgil) 129
Aeschylus 281
agones (funeral games) 283, [280]
Ahlberg,Gudrun283
Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near
Belleau, France 55, [58]
Alberta Temple (LDS Church) 326
Alcunin 131
"All Seeing Eye" (gravestone symbol) 323
Allan Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
160
Alexiou, Margaret 281
Allen, Benjamin 79
Allen, Gabriel (b. 1749) 76-109
Allen, Gabriel (b. 1753) 77
Allen, George 77, 79
Allen, George (b./d. 1776) 79
Allen, George, Jr. 79
Allen, George William 79
Allen, Harriet 79, [78]
Allen, Maria 79
Allen, Nancy West 78
Allen, Polly 79
Allen, Sally 79
Allen, Sarah Spring 77
Allen, Sylvester 77, 97
Allen, William (d. 1791) 92
Allen, William (d. 1815) 77, 92-95
"All Seeing Eye" (gravestone symbol) 317,
323
American Battle Monuments Commission
(ABMC) 44, 46-47
American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) 31, 40
American Gold Star Mothers (AGSM) 34, 67
American Legion 34, 47-48
American Legion Auxiliary 50
American military cemeteries (WWI) 30-75,
[32-33, 43-44, 46, 69]
American Overseas Memorial Day
Association 47
American Red Cross 37
American War Mother (magazine) 63
American War Mothers (AWM) 34, 67
"An Abandoned, Overgrown Cemetery in
the Pasture Near Our House" (poem /
Gregory Orr) 308-309
Anaconda Bronze Company 173
Ancient Fnnerall Monuments (book /John
Weever/1631)112
Anglican Mission for Eskimos, Tuktoyakruk,
Canada 181-182
Anderson, John F. 199, [200]
Anderson, Sherwood 132
Andrew, Thomas [91]
"Annabel Lee" (poem / Edgar Allan Poe) 303
Archaic Period (Greece / 650-500 BG.E.) 284
Archibald, Alexander [330]
Ariosto 121
Arizona Temple (LDS Church) 326, [328]
Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
38,40
Armistice (World War I) 54
Armistice Day 37
Arnold Cemetery, Warwick, RI 95
Arlen, Michael 121
Arqua, Italy 129
"At My Mother's Grave" (poem / Jean
Valentine) 305-306
Atlanta, GA 128
Atlantic Monthly (magazine) 111
Attleboro, MA 80
Atwell, Richard 92
Atwood, Joshua P. 199, [201]
Bacon, Parssis 92, [88]
Baker, Eliza 263
Baker, Elizabeth 263
Baker, Hattie Barstow 257
Baker, Nathan Foster 257
Baker, Robert Clinton 253-257, [255]
Balmer, Hilary 189
Banting and Best Institute, University of
Toronto 185
"baptism for the dead" (LDS Church) 314
396
Barker, Amanda (fictional character) 303
Barnstable Patriot (newspaper) 253
Bassett, Benjamin F. 214
Bassett, Gustavus 233
Bassett, John 232
Bassett, Lucy Fessenden 231, 262
Battle of the Somme (1916) 40
Baudelaire 120
Baxter, Nella P. 263
Baxter, Walter 238
Beable, William Henry 118
Bearse, Mary 263
Bearse, Sophia H. 263
Bell, Craig 188
Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, MO 131
Belmont family mausoleum 155
Benjamin, Walter 147
Bernhardt, Sarah 127
Bills Brothers Monument Company,
Florence, CO 12
Bishop, E.S. 175
black soldiers in World War 1 65
Blackinton, Sylvia 92, 103, [91]
Blackmer, Salsbury 250
Blue Star Mothers of America 67
Bluff Street Cemetery, Cranston, RI 87
Blythe, Eliza 180
Boles, William 250
Bolles, David 79
Bonney, Charles 251
Bony, France 37, [37]
Book of Mormon 314, 317, [317]
Boston Globe (newspaper) 137
Boston Herald (newspaper) 219-220
Bramhall, George 235
Braman, Silvanus 103
Brecht, Bertolt 123
Brehl, John 161
"Bring Back The Dead Soldier League" 42
Bristol Counjty, MA 78
British Legion 47
Brookwood American Cemetery, near
Brookwood, England 48-49
Brotherhood of American Yeomen 10
Brown, Chad 92, [89]
Brown, Charles 153
Brown, Louis C. 31
Brown, Marion 3-34, 50-61, 63-64, 67, [30]
Brown, Nicholas 94-95
Bucklin, Joseph 92, [87]
"Buddy Poppy" 61
Bumpus, Eunice 247, [248]
Burling, Mathilda 38, 72
Burt, D.A. 257
Burt, Silence 250
Butler, Samuel 77
Byron (Lord Byron) 133
Cafe Laurent, Paris, France 54, 70
Caius, John 128-129
Camden, WiUiam 121-122
Campodonico, Caterina 149
Canadian Medical Association 185
Canada Permanent Trust Company 179
Canadian National Exhibition Bandstand,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 167
Canadian Red Cross Society, Toronto Branch
182-183
Canadian Tire Store, Uxbridge, Ontario,
Canada 189
Cantigny, France 47
Cape Cod, MA 196-280
Cape Cod Advocate and Nautical Intelligencer
(newspaper) 231-232
Cape Cod Gazette (newspaper) 243
Cape Cod Glass Works, Sandwich, MA 243
Carlton, Isaac 232
Carpenter, Christopher S. 79
Carpenter, Jamima 82, [81]
Carpenter, Nancy Allen 79
Carnes, Mark C. 23
Carter, William E.16, [17]
Cather G.P 42, [41]
Cather, Willa 42, 47, 67, 126-127, 133
Catholic Aid Society of St. Vincent de Paul,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 183
Center Cemetery, Rochester, MA 250
Central Technical School, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada 183
Chace, Rosabellah 84, [85]
Chamber's Journal of Popular Literature
(magazine) 115
Chamery, France 56
Chaplin, Charlie 145
Chapman, Reuben 215
Charlemagne 131
(Charleston) Daily Advertiser (newspaper) 96
Charleston Morning Post (newspaper) 78, 96
Chase, Theodore 80
Chatham (Massachusetts) Historical Society
205
Chatham, MA 198, 233
397
Checkley, William 92, [90]
Cherry, Francis 122
Cheesbrough, David 92
Cherbourg, France 49, 59, 70
Child-Pemberton, Charles 146
Chipman, Charles 244
Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia,
PA 123
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
(LDS) 312-332
"Church Windows" (Canadian Christmas
stamp design / Yvonne Williams) 172-173
Churchill, Charles 133, 135
Churchill, Winston 145
"Churchill's Grave" (poem / Lord Byron) 133
Cicero 111
Cimetiere des Gourds, Versailles, France 139
Cimetiere Monumental, Rouen, France 137
Cimiterio de Staglieno, Genoa, Italy 149
Claremont, OK 137
Clark, Robert 243
"Clasped hands" (gravestone symbol) 322-
323, [322]
Clements, Deborah 178
Cody, W.J. 181-182
Cohn, David L. 258
Cole, T.W. 232
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 136, 139
Collins, Stephen 225, [226]
Columbian Centinel (newspaper) 263
Columbian Phenix (newspaper) 93
Columbine, CO 118
Combs, Dianne Williams 95
Common Burial Ground, Newport, RI 84
Compiegne, France 54
Congregational Church Cemetery,
CenterviUe,MA229
Congregational Church Cemetery, Harwich,
MA 225, 253
Constantine (Roman Emperor) 165
Conway, Hugh 127
Coolidge, Calvin 145
Cooper, Myles 152
Corbett, Hopestill 103
Corliss, George 92, [87]
Corliss, William 92, [90]
Craig, James H. 162
Craig & Madill (architectural firm), Toronto,
Ontario, Canada 162, 167
Crocker, Lott 244, [245]
Crocker, Samuel S. 214
Cromwell, Henry 118
Cromwell, Oliver 112
Crosby, Abigail 261
Crosby, Bertram D. 224-225
Crosby, Celia H. 262
Crosby, Edmund 261
Crosby, Elijah 225
Crosby, Elijah J. 225
Crosby, Eliza Doane Snow 224
Crosby, Eliza H. Higgins 261
Crosby, Emeline Taylor 225
Crosby, Etta (Marietta) F. Ryder 224
Crosby, Henry Thomas 219, 224-228
Crosby, Joshua 1 224
Crosby, Joshua II 224
Crosby, Joshua III 224
Crosby, Mary B. Higgins 261
Crosby, Orville 261
Crosby, Orville W. 224
Crosby, Orwell S. 224
Crosby, Ray Causten 262
Crosby, Sally Freeman 261
Crosby, Thankful Baker 224
Crosby, Thankful Cole 261
Crosby, Wilfred Henry 224
Crosby, Winthrop M. 199, 215, 219, 224-228
Crowell, Emmett H. 262
Crowell, Leonora P. 262
Crowell, Mary 92
Cumberland, RI 103
Dallimore, Percy 179, 181
Dallimore, William Percival 180
Dalmare, J. Julius 116
Danforth, Loring 295
Davis, Frederick 235
"Death's Asphodel" (poem /Jean Valentine)
305
Delbert Reeves Post, Veterans of Foreign
Wars (Silverton, OR) 34
de Musset, Alfred 133
Denver, CO vi-29
Denver Marble and Granite Company,
Denver, CO 10
Derick, Burton 257
Deslandes, Andre Francois 146
Dexter Grist Mill, Sandwich, MA 230
Dexter, John C. 263
Dexter Street Cemetery, Cumberland, RI 81
Deyo, Simeon 199ff.
Dickinson, Emily 127, 305-306
398
Dill, Julia Maria Linnell 260
Dill, Warren 260
Dimmick, Prince L. 238, 262
District of Columbia Gold Star Mothers 37,
[38]
Doane, Freeman 205
Doane, Nathaniel 225
Doane, Sarah 216, 219, [217]
Donne, John 121
Dorotheen-Friedhof, Berlin, Germany 123
Doughboy statues 34, 37, [36]
Douglas County, OR 302
Dreiser, Theodore 145
Drumcliffe Churchyard, Drumcliffe, Ireland
136, 141
Duchamp, Marcel 137
Du Maurier, George 147
During, Ernest 66
Dum Tacet Clamat ("though silent I speak")
26
East Lawn Cemetery, Bladen, NE 41
East Lawn Cemetery, Provo, UT 324
East Orleans, MA 198
Ebeltoft, Denmark 192
Edict of Milan (313 A.D.) 165
Edison, Carol 319
Edwards, Pauline B. 253
Eiffel Tower, Paris, France 52
Einstein, Albert 145
Eldridge, Augustus H. 214, [213}
Eldridge, James F. 215
Eldridge, Samuel 214
"Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard"
(poem / Thomas Gray) 112, 121
Eliade, Mircea 327
Elgin Cemetery, Green River, UT 323
Eliot, T.S. 127
Ely Cemetery, Ely, NV 313, 325
Emerson, Ralph Waldo 127
Emerson, Sarah 1 03
Emmet, Robert 113
Emperor Joseph II (Austria) 120
Ephraim, UT321
"Epitaph: For one who would not be buried
in Westminster Abbey" (poem/
Alexander Pope) 125
Epitaphia (book / Ernest R. Suffling) 114
epitaphs 110-153
Epstein, Jacob 120-121
Erie Canal 233
Evans (Evans Center), NY 233
Evelith,Elisha230
Everett Restoration (Canada) 188
Ewer, Isaac 241
Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, CO 5, 7, 10-11,
14-15, 17-18, 25, 28
Falkenburg, F.A. 2-3, 9-10, 23, 26, [7]
"Families are Forever" (gravestone
inscription) 323-324, [323]
FarrazineU6
Farrington, W.C. 28
Faunce, Abby T. 263
Faunce, Elizabeth 263
Faunce, Harriet Marinda Thompson 240
Faunce, Harriet Thompson 231, 233
Faunce, James H. 240
Faunce, Joshua T. 232, 235, 240-242
Faunce, Lucy A. 263
Faunce, Mary Bourne 240
Faunce, Mary Tobey 240
Faunce, Robert (brother of Joshua) 240
Faunce, Robert (son of Joshua) 240
Faunce, Robert H. 263
Faunce, Robert T 263
Faust, James E. 327
Fernow, C.L. 130
Fessenden, William 262
"Field of Honor Association" 42
Fields, W.C. 145
Filsinger, Ernst 131
First Division Memorial ( WWI / France) 59
Fisher, JabezM. 197-198
Fisher, WilliamS. 197
Fitzgerald, Edward 136, 139-140
Fitzgerald, F. Scott 127
Flanders Field American Cemetery,
Waregem, Belgium 44, 46, 55
Fleming, Arthur R. 179
Folger, Judith 247, [249]
Fontainbleau Chateau, France 54
Forbes, Harriette Merrifield 79
Ford, John 65
Fordham, Elijah [318]
Fort McPherson National Cemetery,
Maxwell, NE 45
Foster, Elizabeth McCauley 157, 182, 185
Foster, Frank 179-180
Foster, George 180
Foster. John T. 180
Foster, Rachel 102
399
Foster, Robert 179
Foster, Robert, Jr. 158-159, 179-180
Foster, Ruby 157, 182, [168]
Foster, Russell 180
Foster, Susan 180
Foster, Thomas 154-191
Foster, WiUiam R. 179-180
Fox, Asa 87, 102
Fox, Mrs. Rachel 97
Franklin, Benjamin 122-123
Franklin, Deborah 123
Fraser, Marjorie Frost [134]
Freind, Robert 125
Freeman, Hannah 199
Freeman, Sarah 244
Freeman, Shadrach 262
Freeman, William J. 199
French Foreign Legion 40
French and Indian Wars 77
Friends of the Thomas Foster Memorial 162,
176
Frost, Carol [134]
Frost, Elinor Bettina [134]
Frost, Elinor Miriam White [134]
Frost, Elliott [134]
Frost, Lillian Labatt [134]
Frost, Robert 133, [134]
Gabel, Laurel 80
Galesburg,IL110,127
Gallagher, Mrs. John 72
Gardner, J. 115
Gates Marble Works, Evans (Evans Center),
NY 233
Gay, John 112, 119, 136-137
George, Mary 103
Gershwin, George 120-121
Getty family mausoleum 155
Gifford, Elisha 230, 235, [234]
Glasgow, Ellen 140, 152
Godfrey, Elizabeth 92, [86]
"Gold Star" (symbol of war dead) 34
Gold Star Association of America 34, 37, 39
"Gold Star Mother" (song / 1930) 59, [60]
Gold Star Mothers 30-75
Gold Star Mothers Day 40, 67
Gold Star Mothers stamp (1948) 67, [67]
Gold Star Pilgrimages, 1930-1933 30-75
Gold Star Widows 34
Gold Star Wives 67
Gould, Derek 178
Gould, Elizabeth Linnell 260
Gould, Franklin 260
Graham, William Leeds 3
Gray, Thomas 112, 121
Great Depression 65
Greek gravemarkers 280-301
Grenville, Fulke 136, 141-142
Groome, Francis Hindes 140
Grosseteste (Grosheah), Robert 121-122
Gryphius, Andreas 121
Gurney, Richard 250
Hall of Mirrors, Chateau de Versailles, France
54
Hallack & Howard Lumber Company,
Denver, CO 10
Hallet, Anna Eldridge 253
Hallet, Ansel 253
Hallet, Eliza H. 263
Hallet, Edward B. 253
Hallet, Rebecca 253
Hallet, Sally S. 263
Hammond, Hannah 262
Hammond, Silvanus 238, [239]
Handren, William 225
Handy, Hatsel 262
Handy, Mary 84
Harriet Maria (ship) 219
Harrison, Sophia 62, 68
Haskell, Elnathan H. 251
Hastings Chapel, Stoke Poges Churchyard,
Stoke Poges, England 121
Hatch, Mary 244, [246]
Hawaii Temple (LDS Church) 326
Head Camp, Woodmen of the World 2
Heather & Little, Ltd. (Canada) 188
Heine, Heinrich 126
Heintzman and Co., Ltd. (organ
manufacturers), Toronto, Ontario,
Canada 167
Helmbrecht, Henry 16
Helmbrecht and Farrington (monument
dealers), Denver, CO 3-4, 6, 13, 16, 22, [4]
Heman, Felicia 147
Herodotus 289
"Heroes and Kings" (poem / Alexander
Pope) 125-126
Herrema, Bridgette 178
Herrema, Howie 178
Herrick, Robert 121
Hesiod 283
400
Higgins, Clara Ann 261
Higgins, Daniel 198, 219
Higgins, Daniel, Jr. 198, 214, 219-223, [221]
Higgins, Elizabeth Sparrow 219
Higgins, Lucinda Adelaide 260
Higgins, Mercy Smith 261
Higgins, Thomas 219, [223]
Higgins, Zebena Harrison 260
High Classical Period (Greece / 460s-410s
B.CE.)284
Highgate Cemetery, London, England 127
Hiltz,W.W.161
Hinckley, Gordon B. 326
Hoboken, NJ 49
"Holy Holy" (hymn) 52
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon,
England 130-131
Holmes, Nathaniel 197
Holz, Arno 147
Homer 283
Hoover, Herbert 49, 63, 65
Hopkins, Catherine Snow 261
Hopkins, Eldora 215
Hopkins, Elisha 214, 219
Hopkins, Elisha, Jr. 219
Hopkins, Ezidah Taylor 214-215
Hopkins, Irene Thomas 261
Hopkins, John M. 261
Hopkins, Mehitable Walker 261
Hopkins, Nathaniel 215
Hopkins, Nathaniel W. 261
Hopkins, Silvester 261
Hopkins Sukey Arey 214
Hopkins, Thomas Arey 199, 204, 214-219
House Committee on Military Affairs (U.S.
Congress) 37
Howes, Abigail 264
Howes, Ebenezer 264
Howes, Elizabeth 253
Howes, Lottie M. 219
Howes, Patience 264
Howes, Prince 253, 264
Hunt, Sarah 92, [86]
Huntington, William 115
Hurley, Patrick 63
Hyde, Fuller, and Hyde, Castleton, VT 230
I.K. Woods & Partners, Inc., Unionville,
Ontario, Canada 188
Idaho Falls Temple (LDS Church) 326, [325]
Idlewild Cemetery, Hood River, OR 317, 326
"I'll Return Mother Darling, to You" (song /
1917) 40
"In Flanders Fields" (poem / John McCrae /
1915) 61
Inkster, John Gibson 175, 179, 181-182
Island Pond Cemetery, Harwich, MA 224
Item (newspaper / Cape Cod, MA) 205
Jack Miner Migratory Bird Fund (Canada) 183
Jackson, Richard H. 319
Jaffrey Center, NH 126-127
Jefferson, Thomas 112, 132
Jenkins, Irad 263
Jenks, Clara A. Crowell 264
Jenks, Cynthia 264
Jenks, Emeline Crowell 264
Jenks, Fear 262
Jenks, J. Harvey 253-257, [255]
Jenks, James H. 253
Jenks, Stephen B. 264
Johnson, Barbara 189
Johnson, Francis 235
Johnson, Henry V. 25
Johnson, James Weldon 65
Johnson, Maurice 138
Johnson, Samuel 112, 119, 123-124, 137
Jones, Matthew 178
Joyce, John A. 151
Jumna River, Agra, India 162
Kanab Cemetery, Kanab, UT 328
Kazantzakis, Nikos 136, 140-141
Keats, John 112, 136, 142-143
Kelley Amanda 261
Kellickey, Albert 179
Kellickey, Myrtle 179-180
Kellogg, Grace 139-140
Kemma, Will 111
Kendrick. Mulford 204, [202]
Kersey Churchyard, Kersey, England 151
King Henry VII (England) 113
King James I (England) 122, 141
King, Martin Luther, Jr. 127, [128]
Kingscote, Anthony 149
Kingston Old Burial Ground, Kingston, MA
233
Kipahulu Churchyard, Maui, Hawaii 152
Knowlton, W.L. 179
Knox Presbyterian Church, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada 179, 182
kommos (funerary ritual / Greece) 284, [287]
401
Lady Astor 145
Lady Giffard 132
Lafayette Escradille Monument (World
War I / France) 65
Lake, Joseph [76]
Lamb, Andrew H. 13, [14-15]
Lament ritual (Greece) 280-301
Landor, Walter Savage 121
Lawrence, James P. 240-241, [242]
Leaksdale Hotel, Scott Township, Ontario,
Canada 156
Lee, Sam 158, 180
lekythoi (oil vessels / Greece) 284, [286-287,
290-292]
Lewis, Cecelia 214, [212]
Lewistown, IL 304
Lincoln, Abraham 232
Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, England 122
Lindbergh, Charles 140, 152
Linnell, Abby P. 229, 235, 238, [237]
Linnell, Adaline G. Rogers 204, [206]
Linnell, Adelaide Elsie 261
Linnell, Arthur Ellsworth 261
Linnell, Augusta Knowles 207
Linnell, Elizabeth Kelley 205
Linnell, Elizabeth Nickerson 198, 204
Linnell, Eva May Snow 261
Linnell, George 260
Linnell, George (b./d. 1823) 260
Linnell, George Washington 205
Linnell, Hercelia Gibbs 260
Linnell, Israel Mayo 260-262
Linnell, Josiah 198, 204
Linnell, Josiah, Jr. 205
Linnell, Laura Merrick Rogers 261
Linnell, Naomi Allen Harding 260
Linnell, Oliver Herbert 205, 207
Linnell, Oliver Nickerson 198, 204-214, [206]
Linnell, Walter Chester 261
Little Neck Cemetery, Marion, MA 247
Llanystumdwy, Wales 120
Lloyd George, David 120
Logan City Cemetery, Logan, UT 324, 327
Logan Temple (LDS Church) 326, [324, 330]
London, George 173
Long, Levi 225, [227]
Look Homeward Angel (novel / Thomas
Wolfe) 127
"Looking for a Cemetery" (poem / Gary
Soto) 306-308
Los Angeles Temple (LDS Church) 326, [326]
Lost Battalion (World War I) 48
lontrophonos (vase type / Greece) 284, [285]
Louvre, The (Paris, France) 54
"Lucie" (poem / Alfred de Musset) 133
"Lycidas" (poem/ John Milton) 152
MacyJW.253
Madill, Henry Harrison 162. 164
Maguire, C. Alfred 160
Malbone, Godfrey, Jr. 97
Mann, Klaus 127
Mann, Thomas 127
Manning, Molly [83]
Manti Temple (LDS Church) 319, 326, [313]
Manton-Tripp Cemetery, Johnston, RI 93
Marion County, OR 37
Markham, Edward 59
Marx, Karl 127
Marne Valley, France 55
Marston, John 148
Martha's Vineyard, MA 229ff
Massachusetts Business Directory 205, 215,
229, 231
Massachusetts Register 205, 215
Massachusetts State Directory 215
Masters, Edgar Lee 303ff
Mayr, Maureen 189
Maxcey Levi 80-81, 84, 102
Maxcey, Smith 103
McAlinney Susan 238, 244
McBride, Samuel J. ("Fighting Sam") 161-162
McCrae, John 61
McDonald, Patrick 261
McGhee, Ollie (fictional character) 303
McGillivray, Alan 188
McKee, Bill 178
McKelvey, Robert H. 6, [6]
McKercher, Duane 10, [8]
McKercher, E. Lillian 10, [8]
Meek, P.T. 175
Medfield, MA 103
Memorial Cloister, American Cathedral of
the Holy Trinity, Paris, France 54, [53]
Memorial Day 37, 59
Mendon, MA 103
Mencken, H.L. 121
Metcalf, Nathaniel 82, [80]
Methodist Cemetery, Truro, MA 207, 225
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, near
Romagne-Gesnes, France 31, 42, 44, 55-56
Meyer, Richard E. 71
402
Milford Cemetery, Milford, UT 315
Miller, Jason 120
Miller, Nathan 92, [88]
Milton, John 130, 152
Minneapolis, MN 50
Ministry of Veterans Affairs, France 47
Modern Woodmen of America 1-2
Monticello (VA) 132
Montmartre Cemetery, Paris, France 126
More, Thomas 121
Mormon (LDS Church) temples 312-332
Moroni (angel /LDS Church) 316-318, [316,
319-320]
Morris, Thomas 122
Moser, Charles J. [42]
Moser, Edith 44
Mother's Day 37, 40
Mount Olivet Cemetery, Denver, CO 25
Mount Vaea, Samoa 135
Mountain View Cemetery, Beaver, UT 322
Much Ado About Nothing (play / William
Shakespeare) 111-112
Munter, Adolph 13
Murray, W. 175
Mussolini, Benito 145
My Antonia (novel / Willa Cather) 126-127
NAACP National Headquarters, Baltimore,
MD121
Nantucket, MA 247ff
Nantucket Inquirer (newspaper) 263
Narragansett Basin 76-109
Nauvoo Temple (LDS Church) 318-319
Neilson, Arnold A. [45]
Neruda, Pablo 305-306
Neumann, Faith 189
New Bedford, MA 232ff
New England Business Directory 205
New England Mercantile Union Business
Directory 230
New York, NY 49, 70
New York Times (newspaper) 120
Newcomb, Jeremiah 199
Newman Cemetery, East Providence, RI 76,
86
Newmarket Pre-Cast Concrete, Uxbridge,
Ontario, Canada 189
Niagara (ship) 219
Nickerson, Alberto Sylvester 261
Nickerson, Betsie C. 253, [254, journal cover]
Nickerson, Cecilia Marie Linnell 261
Nickerson, Esther 214, [210]
Nickerson, Ezra 261
Nickerson, George W. 225
Nickerson, Lumbert207, [208]
Nock, Ethel 38, 40, 72-73
Norcoss, Francis 127
Norcoss, Louise 127
Normandy American Cemetery, Omaha
Beach, France 73
North Attelboro, MA 103
North Bellingham, MA 103
North Burial Ground, Providence, Pd 83, 87,
89-90
North Burial Ground, Warren, Pd 88
Northeast, Beverly 178
Northern Ontario United Church Mission,
Virginiatown, Ontario, Canada 181-182
Norton, MA 103
Nye, Annie M. Heffernan 263
Nye, Edwin Bourne 235, 238, 241-246
Nye, Eliza Sears 241
Nye, Franklin H. 263
Nye, Lemuel Bourne 230, 241
Nye, Levi 263
Nye, Levi Stephen 263
Nye, Lizzie A. 263
Nye, Martha Ann Brackett 263
Nye, Sara Delia 263
Nye, Susan M. Gale 241
Nye, Susan M. Woodward 241
Nye, Thomas 263
Nye, William E. 263
Nye, William Lapham 263
"O God of Bethel" (hymn) 175
"O God Our Help in Ages Past" (hymn) 175
Oak Grove Cemetery, Falmouth, MA 241
Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C. 151
Oakland Cemetery, Cranston, RI 82, 88
O'Connor, Gerri-Lynn 167, 178
O'Connor, Todd 178
Ogden Temple (LDS Church) 326
oikos ('house" / Greek) 289, 295, [293-294]
Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, near Fere-
en-Tardenois, France 33, 55
Old Bennington Cemeteiy, Bennington, VT
133-134
Old Burial Ground, Sandwich, MA 240
Old North Cemetery, Nantucket, MA 247
Olinger, D.B. 28
Omaha, NE 2
403
Oman, Richard G. 324
One of Ours (novel / Willa Cather) 42, 47, 67
Ontario College of Art 172
O'Neill, Johnny 158
"Onward Christian Soldiers" (hymn) 52
Orleans, MA 196-280
Orleans Cemetery, Orleans, MA 207, 215,
219, 224
Orleans Monumental Works, Orleans, MA
225
Orr, Gregory 304ff
Orton,Jobll5
Operation Gold Star 71
"Our Pilgrim Mothers in France" (poem /
Edward Markham) 59
"Over the Top to Victory" (war memorial /
Salem, OR) 34, 37, 63, [36]
Oxford Book of Death 121
Oxford Companion to English Literature 141-
142
Pacific Circle, Women of Woodcraft 29
Pacific Jurisdiction, Woodmen of the World
iv-29
Pacific Woodman (periodical) 6, 28
Packer, Boyd K. 327
Paine, Seth 92
Palmer, Humphrey 78
Paris, France 48-49, 54
Parker, Dorothy 117, 121
Parker, Mary 84, [84]
Parks and Works Department, Township of
Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada 188
Paulding, J. 34, 36-37
Paynell Electric, Ltd. (Canada) 188
Peace Monument, Greenwood, WI 67, [66]
Peace Treaty (World War I) 54
Pease, S.L. 231
Peoples Cemetery, Chatham, MA 260
Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France 127,
133
Pershing, John J. 40, 46, 48, 54, 70
Petersburg, IL 304
Petrarch 129-130
Pevsner, Nikolaus 129
Pilgrimage (film / John Ford, dir.) 65
pioneer imagery on gravestones, 317, [318,
330]
Piron, Alexis 121
Plutarch 283
Poe, Edgar Allan 303ff
Poe, Virginia Clemm 304
Pogrebin, Robin 120
Pontano, Giovanni 112
Pontiac Cemetery, Cranston, RI 91
Pope, Alexander 118, 121, 124-126, 137
poppies 61
Powell, F.E. 179
Powell, PG. 175
Power, Patrick 115-116
Poynton, Gus 179-180
Presbyterian Church Sunday School,
Leaksdale, Omtario, Canada 182
Presents, Presents, Presents Gift Shop,
Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada 189
Prior, Matthew 119, 125
Prohibition (i.e., Volstead Act) 55
Promontory Point, UT 318
Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, MA 247
Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Italy 142
prothesis (funerary ritual / Greece) [282-283]
Providence, RI 76-109
Providence Gazette (newspaper) 77, 79
Providence 'Journal (newspaper) 79
Providence Patriot (newspaper) 93
Provo City Cemetery, Provo, UT 316, 321
Provo Temple (LDS Church) 326, [327]
Public Law 592 (1929 / re. Gold Star
Pilgrimages) 37
Pullen, George A. 10, [11]
Queen Elizabeth I (England) 122, 141
Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee (1897),
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 157
Queen's Park Cemetery Calgary, Alberta,
Canada 111
Quinn, Elisabeth 238
Quinnell, Sylvia L. 238
Ralph Day Funeral Parlors, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada 179
Raron, Switzerland 141
Rawson, Stephen 82, 84, [82]
Rawson, Thomas 103
Razey, David 103
Reeves, Delbert 34, 37
Reeves, Mrs. Fred 37, 63, 70
Rehoboth, MA (East Providence, RI) 77
Reid, Jack 158
Remembrance Rock (novel / Carl Sandburg) 127
Re7naines Concerning Brittaine (1605 /William
Camden) 121-122
404
"Requiem" (poem / Robert Louis Stevenson)
135
Revolutionary War 78
Rheims, France 55
Rheims Cathedral, Rheims, France 54
Richardson Brothers Butcher Shop, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada 156
Richardson, Samuel 111, 125
Richardson, Thomas 262
Rilke, Rainer Maria 136, 141
River Styx 163, 165
Riverdale Salvation Army, Canada East 183
Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, NC 127
Riverside Cemetery, Denver, CO 25
Riverview Cemetery, Portland, OR 42
Robb, Sylvia 178
Robbins, W.D. 179
Robeson, Paul 127
Robinson, J.C 175
Rockefeller, John D. 54
Rocky Mountain News (newspaper) 25
Rogers, Abner 214, [211]
Rogers, Alden 260
Rogers, Ensign B. 261-262
Rogers, Freeman Higgins 204
Rogers, Julia Maria Linnell 260
Rogers, Margery Crowell 204
Rogers, Will 137
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 63
Roosevelt, Quentin 42, 44, 56, 61, 73
Roosevelt, Theodore 42, 44
Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. 73
Root, Joseph Cullen 1-2
Roquebrune, France 136
Round Hill Cemetery, Marion, VA 132
Rowe, Nicholas 114
Royal Canadian Humane Association 185
Royal Canadian Legion Pipe Band, Branch
170, Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada 178
Royal Winter Fair, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
160
Rubdiydt of Omar Khayyam (poem / Edward
Fitzgerald) 140
Rusk, Ralph L. 127
Rutland, VT 22
Ryrie, Will 158
Sagamore Hill, NY (Roosevelt Home) 73
Saint Andrew 171
Saint Bartholomew 171
Saint John 171
Saint Luke 171
Saint Mark 171
Saint Matthew 171
Saint Peter 65, 170
Saint Phillip 171
Saint Thomas 171
Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, UT
312
Salt Lake City Temple (LDS Church) 318-
319, 321, 325-326, [312, 323]
Samuel J. McBride Lumber Company,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 161
Sandburg, Carl 127, 307, [110]
Sandwich, MA 196-280
Sandwich Independent (newspaper) 233
Schaeffer, Anna 10
Schaeffer, Jonathan 10, [9]
Schoemaker, George H. 313
Scodel, Joshua 121ff
Scott, John C. 263
Schwane, Martha (fictional character) 192-
195
Schwane, Preben (fictional character) 192-
195
"sealing" (ceremony / LDS Church) 314,
[313, 315]
Sears, Roebuck and Co. 22, 258-259, [21]
Seaside Press [Sandwich, MA] (newspaper)
233
Seeger, Alan 40
Seifert, Jaroslav 307
Severn, Joseph 142-143
Seymour, Robert C. 16, [18]
Shah Jahran (India) 162
Shakespeare, William 111, 114, 129-131
Shaw, Samuel 251
Shellenbarger, Abraham 59, [57]
Shellenbarger, Bessie 32, 54-61, 68, [55, 57]
Sheppard, O.B. 157
Sherry, Louis 155
Short, Caroline 32, 54, 61, [33]
Short, Lloyd [33]
Shortt, Brad 178
Shreveport, LA 31
Simmons, Peleg 229
Sitwell, Edith 127
Skinner, Franklin 260
Skinner, Jerusha Linnell 260
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA 127
Smith, Archelous 216, [218]
Smith, Joanna 216
405
Smith, Knowles 216
Smith, Joseph 314
Smoke, A.L. 179
Smoke, Fleming and Mulholland, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada 179
Snow, Azariah 198
Snow, Emeline S. 260
Snow, Lusha 207, 216, [209]
Snow, Thankful 207
Snow, Thomas S. 260
Society for French Homes 47
Soldier's Monument, Orleans, MA 225, [228]
Somers, James W. 160, 184
Somme American Cemetery, near Bony,
France 37, 55, 57, [57]
Somme Offensive (1918) 37
Soto, Gary 304ff
South Attelboro, MA 103
Southampton, England 49
Sou they, Robert 144
Sovereign Camp, Woodmen of the World 2
Sovereign Visitor (periodical) 3
Sparrow, Betsy Higgins 219
Sparrow, Emeline 198
Sparrow, Harvna S. Stephens 198
Sparrow. Isaac 198-199, 204, [203]
Sparrow, Isaac (b. 1808) 198-199
Sparrow, Isaac (b. 1810) 260
Sparrow, Jesse 219
Sparrow, Josiah 260
Sparrow, Josiah II 198-204, [196]
Sparrow, Lucinda Linnell 198
Sparrow, Mary 260
Sparrow, Marcy 260
Sparrow, Mercy (b. 1806) 260
Sparrow, Mercy Snow 198, 204
Sparrow, Phebe 260
Sparrow, Richard 199
Sparrow, Susan 260
Spoon River Anthology (collection of poems /
Edgar Lee Masters) 303
Spooner, Edward Greenleaf 251
St. Ann's Churchyard, Dublin, Ireland 147
St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada 179
St. Barnabas Society 47
St. Edmunds Church, London, England 113
St. George Temple (LDS Church) 319, 325,
[315, 322]
St. James Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada 162
St. John, Isobel 188
St. John's Cemetery, Providence, RI 84, 86
St. John's Churchyard, Hampstead, England
147
St. Leonard's Churchyard, London, England
115
St. Mary the Virgin Churchyard, Dover,
England 133
St. Mary's Church, Warwick, England 141-
142
St. Michael's Church, London, England 139
St. Michael's Churchyard, Boulge, England
140
St. Mihiel American Cemetery Thiacourt,
France 55, 68-69, [69]
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland 138
"St. Peter Relates an Incident at the
Resurrection Gate" (poem /James
Weldon Johnson) 65
St. Quentin, France 56-57
S.S. Roosevelt (ship) 51
Stadtischer Friedhof Heerstrasse, Berlin,
Germany 147
Star [Toronto, Ontario, Canada] (newspaper)
161
Stark, Rodney 329
Statue of Liberty 52
Statue of Washington and Lafayette (1873 /
Bartholdi, sculpt.), Paris France 54
Stevenson, Robert Louis 112, 135
Stewart, Jason 178
Strobredge, Robert 251
Stubbs,Priscilla263
Sturgis, John 230
Sturgis, Josiah 197-198, 238
Sturgis, William 197, 199, 230, 238, 257
Suetonius 129
Suffling, Ernest R.
Suresnes American Cemetery, near Paris,
France 46, 48, 55, 68, [43-44, 46]
Swain, Mary 263
Swan Lake Cemetery, Dennis Port, MA 225,
253, 257
Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, RI 78-80,
83, 90, 102
Swanson, Gloria 121
Swift, Howard K. 243
Swift, Jonathan 112, 131, 136, 138-139
Swift, Lois 238
406
Taj Mahal (India) 162, 164-165
Tammany, Clayton 16, [19-20]
Taylor, Addie Bell Linnell 261
Taylor, Alvaretta 32, 50-61
Taylor, Bangs 261
Taylor, Dean 261
Taylor, Eldora Josephine Hopkins 261
Taylor, Mary Ann 261
Taylor, Olive 261
Taylor, Weston Linnell 261
Teasdale, Sara 131
Telegram [Toronto, Ontario, Canada]
(newspaper) 161
Temple, William 131
Thatcher, Huldah 251
The Beggar's Opera (play / John Gay) 137
The Candidate (poem / Charles Churchill) 135
The Histories (Herodotus) 289
The Last Temptation (novel / Nikos
Kazantzakis) 141
"The Lesson for Today" (poem / Robert
Frost) 133
"The Problem" (poem / Ralph Waldo
Emerson) 127
The Rambler (periodical) 112
The River at Wolf (collection of poems / Jean
Valentine) 305
"The Sacred Way" (World War I / France) 48
The Web and the Rock (novel / Thomas Wolfe)
127
The Woodman (periodical) 3, 16, 28
Thomas, Charles S. 25
Thomas Foster Memorial, Uxbridge, Ontario,
Canada 154-191, [154-156, 163-164, 166-
168, 170, 172-176]
Thomas Foster Memorial Cemetery (aka
Zion Cemetery), Uxbridge, Ontario,
Canada 176, [176]
Thompson, Abiah Haskell 250
Thompson, Abigail Tobey Faunce 231
Thompson, Albert 262
Thompson, Amasa 247
Thompson, Cephas 251
Thompson, Charles Hutchinson 247
Thompson, Frank 262
Thompson, Franklin Herbert 262
Thompson, Gertrude P. 262
Thompson, George 229, 250
Thompson, Harriet 229
Thompson, Harris (b. 1828) 229-240, [236]
Thompson, Harris (b. 1857) 231
Thompson, Helen Maria 262
Thompson, Isaac 229, 247, 250
Thompson, Isaac II 247, 250
Thompson, James (b. 1826) 229-240, 252
Thompson, James (b. 1872) 247. 250-252
Thompson, Joanna Tinkham 247
Thompson, Lucy 262
Thompson, Lucy Hyde Bassett 231-232
Thompson, Lydia 262
Thompson, Maria Luisa 230
Thompson, Mary MacLauthlen Simmons 229
Thompson, Nathaniel 1 247
Thompson, Nathaniel III 247
Thompson, Phebe 247
Thompson, Phebe Jones 247
Thompson, Sally Robinson 247
Thompson, Sarah 247
Thompson, Samuel 247
Thompson, Solomon 229
Thompson, Zebulon 231
Thompson, Zebulon Haskell 250
threnos (ritual act of lamentation / Greece)
283, [283]
Thurston, Elizabeth [83]
Tiffany, Louis 50
Tillich, Paul 112
to akimito kantili ("sleepless lamp" / Greece)
298, [297-298]
"To Kiss the Cross" (poem) 59
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (France) 34,
54, 61, [52]
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (United
States) 37, 65, 67, [38]
Tommy Foster Picnic, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada 184-185
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 154-191
Toronto Free Hospital for Consumptives,
Weston, Ontario, Canada 184
Toronto Hospital for Incurables (Queen
Elizabeth Hospital), Parkdale, Ontario,
Canada 184
Toronto Humane Society 183
Tribble, Hiram 229
True Blue and Orange Home, Loyal Orange
Lodge, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
183
Tusculan Disputations (Cicero) 111
Twickenham Parish Church, Twickenham,
England 124-125
Tyler, Nathan 103
407
"Under Ben Bulben" (poem / William Butler
Yeats) 135-136
Union Cemetery, Chatham, MA 260
United Church of Canada 189
United States Lines 49
University of Toronto School of Architecture
162
U.S. Army Graves Registration Service (GRS)
44,46^
U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps 30-75
U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. 37
U.S. National Cemetery System 46
U.S. Postal Service 67
U.S. War Department (World War I) 40, 47,
70
Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada 154-191
Uxbridge Museum, Uxbridge, Ontario,
Canada 188
Valentine, Jean 304ff
Vanity Fair (magazine) 145
Vedder, Effie 38-39, 47, 73
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) 34
Verdun, France 48, 63-64
Victory Liberty Loan 35
Victory Liberty Loan Committee 34-35
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington,
D.C. 71
Villon, Francois 117
Vineyard Gazette [Martha's Vineyard, MA]
(newspaper) 231-232
Virgil 129
Vita Donatiana (biography of Virgil /
Suetonius) 129
von Kleist, Heinrich 147
Wainwright family mausoleum 155
Walker, Ryan 321
Walling, Fay 37, 63
Walling, Mary 37, 63
Walter, Tony 48
Warburton, William 124-125
Washburn, Bildad 238
Watkins, Thomas 219, [222]
Warwick, RI 78
Weekly Reviezo [Sandwich, MA] (newspaper)
243
weeping willow (gravestone symbol) 29
Weever, John 112, 114
Wells, Bessie 67-68
Wellsville Cemetery, Wellsville, UT 318, 330
West, Benjamin 78-79
Westminster Abbey, London, England 113,
119, 122, 124-125, 131, 137
Weston, Daniel 244
West Cemetery, Amherst, MA 127
Wharton, Edith 139-140
Whatcott, Jodi Lyn [316]
Wheeler, Claude (fictional character) 42
Wheeler, Mrs. (Fictional character) 67
Whitman, Walt 305-306
"Who Will Know Us?" (poem / Gary Soto)
306-308
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler 151
Wilde, Oscar 111
Will Rogers Memorial, Claremont, OK 137
Williams, Yvonne 172-173
Wilson, Woodrow 34, 54
Winesburg, Ohio (novel / Sherwood
Anderson) 132
Winslow, Ebenezer D. 197
Witchall and Son [contractors], Toronto,
Ontario, Canada 164
Wixon, Albert F. 225
Wixon, Davis 225
"Wo" (poem / Heinrich Heine) 126
Wolfe, Thomas 127
Wolff, Bertha 23, [24]
Women's Committee of the Council for
National Defenses 34
Women of Woodcraft 23, 25, [24]
Wood, Elsie 178
Woodcock Cemetery, North Attleboro, MA
91
Woodman's Memorial Day 25
Woodmen Cemetery Association 28
Woodmen of the World iv-29
Woods, Doug 188
Woods, Ian 188
Woodside Cemetery, Yarmouth, MA 253, 264
Woolworth, W.W. 155
Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, England 122
Wordsworth, William 122
World War 1 30-75
World War I American Military Cemeteries
30-75
W.R. Farrington & Co. [monument dealers],
Denver, CO 6, 13
408
Yarmouth Register (newspaper) 253, 257
Yeats, William Butler 112, 135-136, 138, 141
Young, Brigham 322
Young, George 158
YWCA, Paris (France) Branch 47
Zion Cemetery, Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada
155, [155, 176]
Zorba the Greek (novel / Nikos Kazan tzakis)
141
409
NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS TO
MARKERS: ANNUAL 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 Dublin Seminar for
New England Folklife. The first volume of the Association's annual schol-
arly 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 historical periods and geographical regions, with an
emphasis upon North America. Gravemarkers are here taken to mean
above-ground artifacts that commemorate the spot of burial, thereby in
most instances excluding memorials or cenotaphs (exceptions may how-
ever, be made to this latter prohibition, and prospective authors are urged
to consult the editor if they have any questions concerning this matter).
Articles on death and dying in general or on other aspects of death-
related material culture would not normally fall within the journal's pur-
view 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 markers contained therein and if the purpose of the article is more
than simply a non-analytical history or description of the cemeteries them-
selves. Finally, articles submitted for publication in Markers should be
scholarly, analytical and interpretive, not merely descriptive and enter-
taining. 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 re-
cent issues of Markers.
Submissions
Submissions to Markers should be sent to the journal's editor, Gary
Collison, Perm State York, 1031 Edgecomb Avenue, York, PA 17403 (Tele-
phone: 717-771-4029 / E-Mail: glc@psu.edu). Manuscripts should be sub-
mitted in triplicate (original and two duplicate copies) and should include
originals of any accompanying photographs or other illustrations. Gen-
erally, articles in Markers run between fifteen and twenty-five 8 1/2 x 11
typescripted, double-spaced pages in length, inclusive of notes and any
410
appended material. Longer articles may be considered if they are of ex-
ceptional merit and if space permits.
Should the article be accepted for publication, a final version of the
text of the manuscript must be submitted to the editor in both a hard
copy and computer diskette (3.5") format. Most current word process-
ing programs are compatible with the journal's disk translation software,
which is used for typesetting contributors' articles. Any questions on
this matter should be directed to the editor.
Regular volumes of Markers are scheduled to appear annually in Janu-
ary or shortly thereafter. No deadline is established for the initial sub-
mission of a manuscript, but the articles scheduled for publication in a
given volume of the journal are generally determined by the chronologi-
cal order of their acceptance and submission in final form.
Style/Notes
In matters of style, manuscripts should conform to the rules and prin-
ciples enumerated in the most current edition of The Chicago Manual of
Style, [a notice in earlier versions of this document that the journal
would be switching to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style
configuration commencing with the year 2000 should be disregarded
as the proposed change has been postponed for an indefinite period].
Notes, whether documentary or discursive, should appear as endnotes
(i.e., at the conclusion of the article) and those of a documentary nature
should conform in format to the models found in the chapter entitled
"Note Forms" of The Chicago Manual of Style. In manuscript, they should
be typed double-spaced and appear following the text of the article and
before any appended material. Separate bibliographies are not desired,
though bibliographical material may, of course, be included within one
or more notes. Any acknowledgments should be made in a separate para-
graph at the beginning of the note section.
Any appendices should be placed following the endnotes and clearly
labeled as such (e.g., Appendix I, Appendix II, etc.).
Again, the prospective author is encouraged to consult recent issues
of Markers for examples of these principles in context.
Illustrations
Markers is a richly illustrated journal, its subject matter naturally lend-
ing itself to photographs and other visual material. The journal encour-
ages prospective authors to submit up to twenty photographs, plus any
411
number of appropriate pieces of line art, with the understanding that
these be carefully chosen so as to materially enhance the article's value
through visual presentation of points under discussion in the text. Pho-
tos should be 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 black and white glossy prints of medium-
high contrast, and should be of the highest quality possible. Although
black and white is without question the preferred format, color prints, if
they are of exceptionally high quality, may be submitted. Neither color
transparencies (i.e., slides) nor pre-scanned photographic images sub-
mitted on computer disk are acceptable. Maps, charts, diagrams or other
line art should be rendered as carefully as possible so as to enhance pre-
sentation. A separate sheet should be provided listing captions for each
illustration. It is especially important that each illustration be numbered
and clearly identified by parenthetical reference at the appropriate place
in the text, e.g. (Fig. 7).
Review
Submissions to Markers are sent by the editor to members of the
journal's editorial advisory board for review and evaluation. Every ef-
fort is made to conduct this process in as timely a manner as possible.
When comments have been received from all reviewers, the author will
be notified of the publication decision. If an article is accepted, sugges-
tions for revision may be made and a deadline for submission of a final-
ized manuscript established. All accepted articles will be carefully edited
for style and format before publication.
Copyright
Authors are responsible for understanding the laws governing copy-
right and fair use and, where appropriate, securing written permissions
for use of copyrighted material. Generally, if previously copyrighted ma-
terial of more than 250 words is used in an article, written permission
from the person holding the copyright must be secured and submitted to
the editor. In like manner, permission should be obtained from persons
who have supplied photographs to the author, and credit to the photogra-
pher should be provided in captions or acknowledgment statement.
As regards articles published in Markers, copyright is normally given
to the Association for Gravestone Studies, though requests for permis-
sion to reprint are readily accommodated. Offset copies of published
articles are not provided to authors: each contributor, however, receives
a complimentary copy of the volume.
AGS JOURNALS
MARKERS I Reprint of 1980 journal. Collection of 15
articles on topics such as recording & care of grave-
stones, resources for teachers, some unusual markers,
& carvers Ithamar Spauldin of Concord, MA & the CT
Hook-and-Eye Man. [182 pp; 100 illus.]
MARKERS II Signed stones in New England & At-
lantic coastal states; winged skull symbol in Scotland
& New England; early symbols in religious & social
perspective; MA carvers Joseph Barbur, Jr., Stephen &
Charles Hartshorn, & "JN"; Portage County, WI carv-
ers, 1850-1900; & a contemporary carver of San Angelo,
TX. [226 pp.; 168 illus.]
MARKERS III Gravestone styles in frontier towns of
western MA.; emblems & epitaphs on Puritan mark-
ers; John Hartshorn's carvings in Essex County, MA.;
& NH carvers Paul Colburn, John Ball, Josiah Coolidge
Wheat, Coolidge Wheat, & Luther Hubbard. [154 pp.;
80 illus.]
MARKERS IV DE children's stones, 1840-1899; rural
southern gravemarkers, NY & NJ carving traditions;
camposantos of NM; & death Italo- American style. [180
pp.; 138 illus.]
MARKERS V PA German markers; mausoleum de-
signs of Louis Henri Sullivan; Thomas Gold & 7 Bos-
ton carvers, 1700-1725, who signed stones with initials;
& markers/graveyards in Ontario & Kings County,
Nova Scotia. [240 pp.; 158 illus.]
MARKERS VI Carver John Dwight of Shirley, MA.;
markers of Afro-Americans from New England to G A;
sociological study of Chicago-area monuments; more
on NM camposantos; hand symbolism in southwestern
Ontario; an epitaph from ancient Turkey; & a review
essay on James Slater's The Colonial Burying Grounds
of Eastern Connecticut. [245 pp.; 90 illus.]
MARKERS VII A trilogy on cemetery gates & plot en-
closures; the Boston Historic Burying Grounds Initiative;
unusual monuments in colonial tidewater VA; tree stones
in Southern IN's Limestone Belt; life & work of VA carver
Charles Miller Walsh; carvers of Monroe County, IN;
Celtic crosses; & monuments of the Tsimshian Indians of
western Canada. [281 pp.; 158 illus.]
MARKERS VIII A collection of the pioneering stud-
ies of Dr. Ernest Caulfield on CT carvers & their work:
15 essays edited by James A. Slater & 3 edited by Pe-
ter Benes. [342 pp.; 206 illus.]
MARKERS IX The art of Francis Duval; the Mullicken
Family carvers of Bradford, MA; the Green Man on
Scottish markers; Center Church Crypt, New Haven,
CT; more on Ithamar Spauldin & his shop; the
Almshouse Burial Ground, Uxbridge, MA; Thomas
Crawford's monument for Amos Binney; Salt Lake City
Temple symbols on Mormon tombstones; language
codes in TX German cemeteries; & the disappearing
Shaker cemetery. [281 pp.; 176 illus.]
MARKERS X Markers carved by Calvin Barber of
Simsbury, CT; Chinese markers in a mid western
American cemetery; carving of Charles Lloyd Neale
of Alexandria, VA.; Jewish cemeteries of Louisville, KY;
4 generations of the Lamson family carvers of
Charlestown & Maiden, MA; & the Protestant Cem-
etery in Florence, Italy. [254 pp.; 122 illus.]
MARKERS XI Fraternal symbolism & gravemarkers;
regional & denominational identity in LA cemeteries;
carvings of Solomon Brewer in Westchester County,
NY; Theodore O'Hara's 'The Bivouac of the Dead';
slave markers in colonial MA; the Leighton & Worster
families of carvers; a KY stonecutter's career; & pio-
neer markers in OR. [237 pp.; 132 illus.]
MARKERS XII Terra-Cotta markers; Adam & Eve
markers in Scotland; a sociological examination of
cemeteries as communities; the Joshua Hempstead
diary; contemporary markers of youths; San Francisco's
Presidio Pet Cemetery; & The Year's Work in Grave-
marker /Cemetery Studies. [238 pp.; Ill illus.]
MARKERS XIII Carver Jotham Warren of Plainf ield,
CT; tree-stump tombstones; 50 Years of gravestone
carving in Coastal NH; language community in a TX
cemetery; carver John Huntington of Lebanon, CT; &
"The Year's Work." [248 pp.; 172 illus.]
MARKERS XIV Amerindian gravestone symbols;
ministers' markers in north central MA; a modern
gravestone maker; Charles Andera's crosses; Pratt fam-
ily stonecutters; African-American cemeteries in north
FL; & "The Year's Work." [232 pp.; 107 illus.]
MARKERS XV Sephardic Jewish cemeteries; Herman
Melville's grave; carving traditions of Plymouth &
Cape Cod; Czech tombstone inscriptions; Aboriginal
Australian markers; Kansas cemeteries & The New
Deal; Chinese markers in Hong Kong; & "The Year's
Work." [350 pp.; 166 illus.]
MARKERS XVI Daniel Farber obituary;
Narragansett carvers John & James New; celebration
in American memorials; "Joshua Sawyer" (poem);
Harriet Ruggles Loomis' gravestone; Scotch-Irish
markers of John Wight; murder in MA; & "The Year's
Work." [281 pp.; 142 illus.]
MARKERS XVII Warren Roberts obituary; Italian-
American memorial practices; carver William Coye of
Plymouth, MA; "The Quaker Graveyard" (poem); de-
veloping technologies & cemetery studies; carver John
Solomon Teetzle & Anglo-German markers in NJ; carv-
ers & lettering styles; & "The Year's Work." [253 pp;
150 illus.]
MARKERS XVIII William Quantrill gravesites;
Egyptian Revival at Brooklyn's Green- Wood; "A Cem-
etery" (poem); Kingston, MA carvers; Czech-Moravian
gravestones in TX; WWI battlefield cemeteries; & "The
Year's Work." [301pp; 160 illus.]
MARKERS XIX James Deetz & Ivan Rigby obituar-
ies; samplers & gravestones; Poland's Remu Cemetery;
early Cape Cod marble carvers, pt. 1; Czech accultura-
tion in TX cemeteries; "Key West Cemetery" (poem);
Rule family carvers; flower imagery in Victorian cem-
eteries; & "The Year's Work." [335pp; 126 illus.]