Newsletter of the Association for Gravestone Studies

NEWSLETTER

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 14 NUMBER 1 WINTER 1989/90 ISSN:01 46-5783

CONTENTS

MORE ABOUT GRAVESHELTERS 1

GRANITE CARVERS HONOR THEIR OWN 3

CEMETERIES ON THE MOVE 5

GENEALOGICAL PUBLICATIONS 6

RESEARCH 7

Forbes Material at the American Antiquarian Society 7

Questions and Answers 8

Illinois Project 10

LEGAL ISSUES 11

OLD STONES 12

STATE CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS 14

MEMBER NEWS 15

Charleston & San Francisco 17

With Appreciation 18

PRESERVATION NOTES 20

ASSOCIATION NEWS 22

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 23

MOREABOUTGRAVESHELTERS

by Betty Marie Bellous, 407 N Third, Mar-
quette Ml 49855

Shelters for the spirits of Indians are much
in evidence inthe Upper Peninsula of Michi-
gan. In this remote wilderness area lived
and roamed the Chlppewas and Ojibways
(branches of the Algonquin Nation). Al-
though Sault Sainte Marie, on the eastern
tip of the Peninsula, was founded early on
by French missionaries, the balance of this
peninsula remained Indian country until the
late 1840s when expeditionaries discov-
ered iron ore in the Marquette area. Thus,
the history is much more recent than that of
the Midwest.

Some Indian burial grounds I have visited in

<-K

AGS Wi-89/90 p 1

the Upper Peninsula are located in the eastern Penin-
sula in Bay Mills, Chippewa County; in the middle of the
Peninsula in Assinins, Baraga County on the Keweenaw
Bay; and an unnamed cemetery near the town of
Baraga.

The Bay Mills cemetery had deteriorated
badly when visited in 1973 and later was
closed to the public. In contrast, the un-
named Baraga cemetery has been main-
tained beautifully and no signs of vandalism
are in evidence here. Both of these locations
are truly Native American in that they do not
show signs of Christian customs. However,
Indian burial grounds do disclose a belief in
the immortality of the soul. The body of the
deceased was dressed in his best clothes
with new moccasins on his feet. Wrapped in
a new blanket and then birch bark, it was
placed in a crude coffin with a medicine bag
under his head. In the coffin were placed his
drum, axe and hunting tools, a pipe and
some tobacco. If it was winter, then a canoe
or an oar. All were intended to assist the
spirit on the journey to the happy hunting
ground.

Conversely, the Assinins cemetery, founded
in the 1850s by the famous "snow shoe
priest", Frederick Baraga, is a Catholic burial ground.
No shelters stand here but rather hundreds of white
crosses mark the gravesites of unnamed Indians and
hundreds of stones mark later graves. The photograph
of the Crebassa family stones shows white crosses in
the background. Peter Crebassa was the second white

Assinin's Catholic Indian Cemetery , Barago Co., Michigan, on shore of Lake Superior, Upper Peninsula

AGS Wi'89/90 p 2

man in charge of the furtrading company. It was he who
lured Bishop Baraga to the area and convinced him to
build a Catholic mission. A land patent dated February
1 , 1 849, and signed by President James R . Polk granted
certain parcels to Baraga. On July 2, 1863, for $150.00
Baraga sold the church properties to Edward Assinnise,
Chief of the Catholic band of Indians residing in the
Township of L'anse. Fourteen acres were set aside for
the building of the Church and a cemetery. Today, the
old orphanage, school and a newer church stand on the
south side of the cemetery.

I feel that the Indian grave shelter was replaced by the
tombstone when the natives were Christianized. There-
fore I do not believe that the white men whose grave
shelters were found further west had copied the Indian

traditions. These men, for the most part, were God-
fearing and would not have accepted a pagan tradition
easily. Perhaps it would be safe to assume that these
men married Indian women and that on their deaths
their widows would have buried them according to the
Indian tradition.

I have photographed and transcribed the stones in the
Assinins cemetery as well as all of the old stones found
in the abandoned Marquette Catholic Cemetery in use
from 1 853-1 900. I would be glad to help anyone wishing
more information about pioneer families in the Mar-
quette County area or who has a question about Indian
burial grounds in the Upper Peninsula.

Hopefully, this information will present new ideas to
those wondering about grave shelters.

for previous references to grave shelters, see AGS
Newsletter Fall 1987, p. 7; Winter 1987, p. 25; summer
1989, p. 19.

GRANITE CARVERS HONOR THEIR OWN

Barre, VT— On Oct.—, 1 903, Elia Corti, an Italian stone
carver lured to Vermont by its abundant supply of
durable but soft-toned granite, walked into the local
Socialist Hall only to find himself in the middle of a
violent dispute between the socialists and a group of
anarchists. A gun was drawn, a shot was fired and Corti
slumped to the floor, mortally wounded. Thirty hours
later, Corti, 34, was dead. Then his brother set to work.
From a single block of stone, William Corti brought forth
the lifesize form of his dead brother, exquisite in detail
down to the smallest fold in his clothing. Today Elia
Corti's cold stone eyes gaze languidly across the grave-
studded landscape of Hope Cemetery, where Vermont's
Italian-American artisans buried their loved ones be-
neath painstakingly sculpted monuments of their own
making.

Carved from big blocks of creamy granite quarried from
hillsides just a few miles away, many of the grave-
stones, like Corti's, tell stories or portray scenes. A
realistic, lifesize rendering of Guerino Bettini's favorite
chair reminds mourners of the empty place left by his
passing. A larger-than-life soccer ball, precise in every
detail, is a token of another family's loss. A stone couple
lies in bed, hand in hand, their long, gray grave covers

^ rtss^y^^W^

stretching out from a granite headboard bearing the in-
scription, "Set Me As ASealUponThine Heart For
Love Is Strong As Death".

AGS Wi'89/90 p 3

"What we do is something that connects who's left in this
world with who's gone," said Alcide Fantoni, 49, one of
a handful of native Italian sculptors left in Barre today.
"We are right in between," said Fantoni. "We are
touching the living and we are touching the deceased."

With about 6000 graves on 65 acres, Hope Cemetery
has become a unique showcase of the area's geologi-
cal and artistic assets: only Barre granite is allowed in
the cemetery, and no monument can be duplicated
there.

In the 1800s, Barre's granite, now famous for its dura-
bility, color and carving characteristics, was commer-
cially exploited. Today, Barre's $65-million-a-year
granite industry employs 1500 local residents, and
pieces from "the granite capital of the world" can be
found in cemeteries and on town greens across Amer-
ica. Along the way, however, Barre paused to memo-
rialize the workers who hoisted the granite, block by
block, from the ground, and to honor the artists who
conquered its unyielding hardness to put a final stamp
of meaning on the lives of those they memorialized.

At the Brusa monument, a grieving woman cradles the
lifeless body of her husband — one of many carvers

felled in their prime by the lung disease silicosis, caused
by inhaling the thick granite dust that rose from the
stone they carved. Today, the use of dust collection
equipment has largely solved the problem of silicosis.
But economic factors are now whittling away at the
numberoftrue sculptors left in Barre. Cemetery crowd-
ing, a a trend toward cremation and the upwardly
spiraling cost of precious Barre granite have conspired
to reduce the demand for the one-of-a-kind works
produced by artists like Fantoni. Now, most of the
markers cut in Barre are simple headstones that can be
produced by machine, and Fantoni's delicate Italian
calipers, handed down to him by his teacher, may even
eventually end up as museum pieces.

Fantoni said insurance regulations, labor laws and
union rules make it virtually impossible for him to take on
an apprentice, and he believes that the art of ornamen-
tal stone carving is "almost dead". "Ten years ago, you
could have gone into almost any shed and found an
expert carver, an 'ornatista'." Fantoni said. "But today,
they're gone. This skill is lost forever."

from a UPI article by Steven Bredice, in the Woburn MA
Daily Times Ciironicle. May 19, 1988.

The Barre Granite Association, 51 Church St. , Box 481 ,
Barre VT 05641 , puts out a quarterly magazineBarre
Life. Also available from the Barre Granite Association
are a number of videotapes which sell for $25. apiece,
including: "Artistry in Granite", (a look at beautiful Barre
gray granite monuments); "Quarrying and fvlanufactur-
ing", (the making of Barre monuments) and "The Story
of the Barre Granite Industry" (the fascinating history of
the Granite Center of the World).

This grave markerdraws many visitors to Green Hill Cemetery
in Bedford IN. It marks the burial plot of Louis Baker, a worker
in the Lawrence County limestone industry. When Baker
died, other workers in the stone mill carved a limestone replica
of Baker's work bench just as he had left il.

from tf\e Indianapolis Star. January 3, 1 9S9
AGS Wi'89/90 p 4

©ElMETE^DES ©IMl TME MOWE

Is the relocating of graves for more profitable land
use the way of the future?

FROM GEORGIA

The Edwards-Attaway Cemetery will soon be no more.
A ruling issued JanuaryQ, 1990 by JudgeGrant Brantley
of the Cobb County (Georgia) Superior Court paves the
way for removal of more than a dozen graves along
Ernest W. Barrett Parkway, about one mile west of
Interstate 75, approximately twenty miles northwest of
Atlanta. The quarter-acre side dating from the mid-
nineteenth century is part of a 73.4 acre parcel that will
be the home of a dozen automobile dealerships in the
near future.

C.V. Nalley III, owner of the tract, has agreed to pay for
all costs of relocating the remains and headstones to an
undisclosed site that he will maintain, but deed over to
descendents of those interred. He said that the layout
of the new cemetery will match that of the old.

Controversy began in September when Nalley leveled
and graded most of the parcel, leaving the cemetery
atop an embankment twelve feet above its surround-
ings. Rezoning of the parcel was approved last year
with the stipulation that the cemetery not be disturbed.
When access to the cemetery was made virtually im-
possible, relatives complained to the county commis-
sioners and the latter obtained a temporary restraining
order against Nalley. At the recent hearing family
members told Judge Brantley they found acceptable
Nalley's proposal to create a new cemetery for their
loved ones.

contributed by Dr. David Paul Davenport, Associate
Professor of Geograptiy, Kennesaw State College,
Marietta GA 30061, from articles in the Atlanta Journal
& Constitution. Oct. 10, 1989, and tfie Marietta Daily
Journal. January 10, 1990.

FROM ILLINOIS

In Chicago in May 1 989, developers unearthed portions
of an old cemetery that contains the remains of 38,000
people, including victims of the 1871 Chicago fire. The
20-acre site was once the location of the Cook County
poorhouse and a state mental hospital. Developers of
a housing complex unearthed the site and must have
the bones reburied before building can continue, a city
health official ruled. "There's no specific health or
disease problem at this point; it's basically just respect
for the dead." Most of the land slated for an adjacent
industrial development doesn't conflict with the ceme-
tery.

from the Cf}icago Sun Times. May 6, 1989, sent by Jim
Jewell, Peru IL; the Milwaukee (WD Journal. May 7,
1989, sent by Phil Kallas, Stevens Point Wl; and the
Chicago Tribune. July 3, 1989, sent by Jim Jewell.

FROM VIRGINIA

In Arlington VA the Arlington County Board stepped in
to mediate a tug-of-war between local businessmen
who wanted to move an abandoned family cemetery to
allow some development and a south Arlington civic
association that wanted to keep the cemetery in the
neighborhood. At the heart of the debate was the
Travers family cemetery of between 1 4 and 23 graves,
some of them dating back to the 1830s. Developers
bought the property todevelop two single-family houses.
They offered to move the graves to the Oakwood
Cemetery in Falls Church, saying the cemetery would
reduce the marketability of their development. The
County Board feels a compromise is possible.

from the Washington Post. May 4, 1989, sent by Davyd
Foard Hood, Historic Fredericksburg VA

An article titled "Family Prays to keep Asphalt off VA
Cemetery, Virginia Wants to Move Family Cemetery for
Lee Highway Widening Project" describes a similar
situation, wherethe Virginia Department of Transporta-
tion wants to plow through a 200-year old cemetery
sandwiched between a highway and a shopping center.
Money was 'a primary factor' in the state's decision to
disrupt the graveyard instead of the Exxon station on
the opposite side of the road. By not touching the Exxon
station, the state would save about $600,000. The
Transportation Department has offered to pay $4000.
for each grave it removes. While the state contends
there are only about 1 0 graves on the grassy knoll, the
family claim that 1 00 family members have been buried
there.

from the Washington Post. March 3,1989, sent by
Davyd Foard Hood, Historic Fredericksburg VA

AGS member Brian Conley, a librarian for Fairfax
County, Virginia, Public library, has been coordinating
the survey of Fairfax County cemeteries. He writes:
"Fairfax County covers 399 square miles and is located
in northern Virginia directly opposite Washington DC
and is one of the fastest growing and most densely
populated regions in the state. Our population in 1980
was 596,000, as of January 1987 it was 705,000. As
you can well imagine, this explosive growth rate is
creating a high demand for both residential and retail
development and is endangering many of this areas
historic sites." He sent along an article on the "myste-
rious disappearance" of an old family cemetery in the

AGS Wi'89/90 p 5

wake of residential development, and another which
deals with the "careless (an attitude that is very preva-
lent in this area when speaking of cemeteries) actions
of a building contractor". From Centreview. Feb. 2,
1989; and June 16, 1988.

FROM CALIFORNIA

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors awarded
a $699,000. contract to have 3519 bodies removed
from the San Joaquin County Cemetery to make way for
a new jail. After the bodies are exhumed, they will be
cremated and stored at Lodi Memorial Park.

from the Modesto (CA) Bee. March 25, 1989, sent by
Virginia Marsh ofSacremento CA who comments: "I am
mystified by the callousness of responsible people. "

The data has been recorded exactly as it appears on the
records. Names, dates and spelling are preserved to
keep original entries intact.

Where additional information concerning an individual
appeared in the records, it is included in a separate
section titled "Remarks."

A section called "Miscellaneous Genealogical Informa-
tion" contains data that appeared in a section of the
original records listing the lot owners and location of
burials.

The book has a paper cover with spiral binding and
costs $22 plus $3 for postage and handling. Order from
Karen Anklin, 3810 Sadler Road, Skaneateles, NY
13152.

All profits from the book are to be used in the restoration
of Burrows Memorial Chapel in the cemetery. The
chapel was originally designed by the architectural firm
of Carl Haug and Sons of Little Falls and constructed by
Valentine and Purchase of Syracuse as a memorial gift
to David and Ellen Burrows by their son, Charles H.
Burrows.

from hierald American Stars, Skaneateles NY, October 22,
1989

GENEALOGICAL PUBLICATIONS

Lake View Cemetety burial records compiled

Lake View Cemeterv Burial Records. 1796-1988.
Skaneateles. Onondaga Co.. NY. compiled by Karen
Anklin and Barbara Spain, is a useful reference tool for
genealogists, historians and family researchers. The
result of two years' work, it is now available to the public.

Because the only copy of Lake View Cemetery's burial
records is faded, yellow and brittle, Anklin approached
the Skaneateles Village Board of Trustees for permis-
sion to preserve the burial records by computerizing
and publishing them. Permission was granted and work
began.

The text includes a history of Lakeview Cemetery ; a part
devoted to burial records arranged according to sec-
tion, lot, name, with birth and birthplace, death date and
last residence where available; an alphabetical index
listing all names of those interred, with section and lot
number; and a plat map of the cemetery in which family
names are inscribed.

Directory of Cemeteries from Ontario, Canada

A vital tool for researching ancestors in York County is
now available in a comprehensive guide to over 300
cemeteries, a 100-page, soft cover book, Directory of
Cemeteries in the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto
and the Regional Municipality of York. Toronto Branch
members of the Ontario Genealogical Society have
done the research, covering family burial plots, church
and churchyard burials, religious, community and
commercial cemeteries. Vital information about each
entry is listed — location, dates of operation, religious
affiliation, etc. All cemeteries are located on fifteen
specially-drawn maps of the areas. Each entry also
includes information about the availability of transcrip-
tions. Appendices include guides to the cemetery
transcription holdings of the National Archives of Can-
ada and the Archives of Ontario. Cost is $1 5 plus $3.25
postage and handling for Toronto Branch members and
$1 7 plus $3.25 postage and handling for non-members
(US and overseas customers please pay in US funds to
cover extra postage costs). Cheques or money orders
should be payable to "OGS Toronto Branch" and mailed
to Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto Branch, Box
147, Station Z.Toronto, ON CANADA MSN 2Z3.

AGS Wi'89/90 p 6

RESEARCH

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula, an AGS member who lives
in Germany, recently contributed an interesting
pamphlet to the research files. The twelve page
illustrated booklet is entitled "The Jewish Cemetery of
Worms". Worms is one of the most ancient towns in
Germany and was a center of Jewish intellectual life
during the Middle Ages. The Jewish Cemetery there is
considered to be the oldest in Europe, with surviving
stones dating from 1 076. The booklet is designed as a
guide for a walking tour of the old cemetery. The text
and small photographs outline pertinent Jewish history,
explain some common customs and illustrate a few
symbols seen on the stones at Worms. If you would like
to borrow this short pamphlet through the AGS Lending
Library on a "first come, first served" basis, please send
$.65 in US postage stamps (to cover cost of first class
postage and the correct size envelope) to:

AGS Lending Library

Laurel K. Gabel

205 Fishers Road

Pittsford NY 14534

Please return the borrowed pamphlet as soon as
possible so that it can be sent on to the next person.

FORBES MATERIAL AT THE AMERICAN ANTI-
QUARIAN SOCIETY, WORCESTER MA

In 1977, Harriette Merrifield Forbes' granddaughter
donated some of her papers to the American Anti-
quarian Society in Worcester MA. Here is a list,
prepared by Ralph Tucker of Georgetown ME, of the
material which may be of interest to students of
gravestones.

American Antiquarian Society, Worcester MA
Forbes, Harriette Merrifield, Papers, 1887-1951
5 mss. boxes

of interest to students of her work on gravestones:

Box3-Folder3:

Vital Records on Emmes family, and some corre-
spondence about her book.

Box 4-Folder 1 :

8 pps on violet slips. Notes on 1 645 Lady Fenwick
stone in CT, and notes on carver Matthew Griswold.
2 pps on blue slips. Re Matthew Griswold, a carver
form England.

5 pps on pink slips. List of 52 stones she attributes
to William Mumford. [these should be in Folder 3]
7 pps on green slips. List of 57 stones she attributes
to Joseph Lamson. [these should be in Folder 3]
5 pps on gray slips. List of 22 stones she attributes
to J.N. [these should be in Folder 3]

2 pps on blue slips. Notes on Griswold and CT.

3 pps of notes on Lamson inventories.

13 pps on rose lips. Alphabetical list of stones
mentioned in John Steven's Book.

1 1 pps on green slips, excerpts from "John Stevens,

His Book".

1 pg on green slip. Notes on the Stevens family.

Box 4-Folder 2:

5 pps on gray slips. Note on Stevens.

7 pps on gray slips. Note on Stevens.

3 pps on gray slips. Bennington County notes. 1792
Thomas Carson pd for gravestones 2.12.9.

18 pps. Plymouth County notes with probate ex-
tracts.

4 pps on canary slips. CT probate extracts.

1 pg on purple slip. Shaftsbury CT probates.

2 pps on green-blue slips. Hartford CT probates.

3 pps on yellow slips. Windham and Lebanon CT
probates.

pps on green slips of Middlesex Co. [MA] probates

from Vol 1-78.

pps on buff slips of Essex Co. [MA] probates from Vol

301-365.

Box 4-Folder 3: [THE MOST USEFUL MATERIAL]
Slips listing stones by carver, A-M & S-Y

Box 4-Folder 4:

Red notebook listing stones alphabetically that she

had photographed.

Box 4-Folder 5:

Misc. notes on kinds of slate, quarries, etc.

Notes on advertisements in "Boston Newsletter"

relating to stonecutters, mostly the Geyers.

CT stones listed by towns.

List of "portrait" stones A-C.

Box 4-Folder 6:

Notes on furniture.

List of 51 stone photographs sent to the Metropolitan

Art Museum.

Notes on George Allen and on Rehoboth MA.

Misc. notes.

14 pps on green slips. Members of the Ancient &
Honorable Artillery Co.

List of membersof "Gen. Society".

Box 4-Folder 7:

Suffolk Co. [MA] inventories & wills. Vol 2-97.

AGS Wi'89/90 p 7

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Barbara Rofundo, of Laconia NH, writes that she is
pretty sure that the wrought iron "cage" structure in
Hope Cemetery, Galesburg IL, (AGS Newsletter. Fall
1989, p. 8) is "just an arbor forvines or climbing roses.
I've seen a structure of the same design except for the
canopy top, but I can't remember where! It's probably
in some historic garden. Ms. Robison should inquire of
the Winterthur Library to see if they have catalogues of
cast and wrought iron garden structures from the nine-
teenth or early twentieth centuries, when cemetery lots
were treated as private gardens with garden furniture,
and for many years having the grounds kept by the
family gardener, ratherthan cemetery groundsmen, as
now.

HOT OFF THE PRESS! ! !

MARKERS VII Now Available

281 pages, 158 illustrations, index. The jour-
nal opens with a trilogy of articles on cemetery
gates and fences. Gravestones and monu-
ments in Boston's historic graveyards, colo-
nial tidewater Virginia, and among Canada's
Tsimshian Indians are described. The work of
VirginiacarverCharles Miller Walsh and stone-
carvers of Monroe County, Indiana are high-
lighted. Articles on the tree stones of the
limestone belt of Indiana and Celtic crosses
round out the volume. $15 members; $17
others postage included.

A/HVV

T'iUlSjSx-'.

Nita R. Spangler, 970 Edgewood Road, Redwood City
CA 94062, is looking for information and assistance on
a Civil War statue in that city:

This Union Soldier was placed in Union Cemetery in
Redwood City in 1889. Heislifesize, made of zinc, and
stood guard until 1 969 when he was vandalized. Once
mended, he was again placed on his pedestal only to be
knocked off again by vandals. His pieces are now
hidden in a Redwood City garage until we can better
identify what we have and decide how best to treat him.

If he can again be mended, should he be returned to the
cemetery which is now undergoing renovation as a city
owned historic site, i.e. park? Should he go into a
museum? Did he come from the Monumental Bronze
works, orfrom Mullins in Salem, Ohio? Is there another
like him extant?

I believe Civil Warsoldier statues are unusual in Califor-
nia.

The organization of the Union Cemetery Association in
1859 resulted in the first legislation on cemeteries in the
State of California. In 1963 Union Cemetery was
named a California Historical Landmark (#816) and in
1 983 it was placed on the National Register of Historic
Places. It is the pioneer cemetery for the early lumber-
ing and shipping community which gave Redwood City
its name. There are more than 40 Civil War veterans
buried there in a GAR plot. The most frequently asked
question since the renovation began has been "Is the
old soldier statue going back up?"

AGS Wi'89/90 p 8

I n the Fall 1 987 issue of the AGS Newsletter, Fred Boughton asked about the Supreme Royal Circle of Friends.
In reading a report on an archaeological dig of a Black church cemetery that was being washed away by the Red
River, Barbara Rotundo of Laconia NH found this information;

Social life in the community centered around the church and, in the early part of this
century, around a lodge called the Royal Circle. The organization of groups which
provided burial insurance as well as fraternal associations was a common practice in
Black society of this period. These lodges gave the Black community a measure of
independence and stability at a time when segregation had been legalized and racially
motivated violence was high.

The Supreme Royal Circle of Friends of the World was a fraternal and benevolent society
organized at Helena, Arkansas, in 1909 by Dr. R.A. Williams. By 1918 it had 25,000
members in five states and was especially strong in the Red River Valley, possibly
because W.T. Daniels, the Supreme Secretary, lived in Texarkana. According to church
members who remember the Royal Circle, it cost $5 to join and the the dues were $1
every two months. The Circle had separate organizations for men, women and children
which had meetings and socials, and the children got special buttons to wear. As a
benevolent society, the Circle paid hospital bills and burial expenses.

Figure 9. Reiocatecf tombstone of Jeff Davis Richards
(AAS 808221)

Figure 10. In situ tombstone of Minnie WilKerson, after
inttta! Site discovery, June 1980 (AAS
803S45)

This report comes from Gone to a Better Land, edited by Jerome C. Rose for the Arkansas Archaeological Survey
Research Series. The book was no. 28 and was published in 1985.

AGS Wi'89/90 p 9

ILLINOIS CEMETERY PROJECT PROGRESSING WELL

"Illinois Cemetery Project Completes Second Phase "by Floyd Mansberger, Coordinator, published in HIS TOPIC
ILLINOIS, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield, IL, April 1989.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency initiated the
Illinois Cemetery Project in December 1986 to evaluate
the current status of cemeteries within the state. The
original objectives were to inventory Illinois cemeteries,
assess their state of preservation, and evaluate Illinois
statutes relating to cemeteries. During the initial phase
the project intended to document all of the cemeteries
in the state, ranging from well-known large urban sites
such as Chicago's Woodlawn Cemetery to small, rural
family and pioneer plots that all too often are no longer
maintained — or worse yet, completely erased from the
landscape.

The survey began when the Cemetery Project Coordi-
nator mailed survey forms to local interest groups and
county historical and genealogical societies. Respon-
dents were asked to record the location of the cemetery,
type of ownership, number of burials, types and styles
of tombstones, and general condition of the cemetery.
Information on nearly one thousand cemeteries repre-
senting almost every county in the state was gathered
during the first year.

However, it became clear that to assess their state of
preservation, a new approach was needed. A sample
of Illinois counties was identified that would make it
possible to quantify the number of known cemeteries
and make generalizations as to the total number within
those counties and their degree of preservation. Con-
clusions cou Id then be drawn about cemetery preserva-
tion throughout the state. As a result, the second phase
of the Illinois Cemetery Project resulted in a more inten-
sive survey of a select number of counties.

First ten counties were selected in the northern, mid-
section and southern portion of the state for which
detailed survey information was available. Based on
the intensive inventory of these cemeteries, three cate-
gories of cemeteries, representing different degrees of
preservation, were defined. The three categories are
active, abandoned, and despoiled. An active cemetery,
for the purposes of this research, is one that has
received a burial during the past 30 years and is being
actively maintained. An abandoned cemetery is a
cemetery that is overgrown (not maintained) and has
not received any burials within the past 30 years. In
contrast, a despoiled cemetery — best described as
"only a memory" — is a cemetery that not only has been
abandoned but also has lost all of its above-ground
A landscape features (tombstones, ornamental plantings,

fences, etc.) that distinguish it as a cemetery. Although
despoiled cemeteries are usually not identified as
cemeteries because their landscape features are gone,
they often retain their below-ground significances in the
form of human burials.

The number of cemeteries in eight selected counties
(two were not used for this portion of the project since
the survey of those counties had not recorded any
despoiled cemeteries) were recorded, averaged, and
applied to the entire state. Generalizations about the
state of preservation were drawn and the differences
between the pressures on the urban cemetery and the
rural cemetery were noted.

Most early Illinois communities generally had a small
cemetery (whether municipal or secular) as well as
many family plots located near the edge of the commu-
nity. As the small Illinois village expanded, it gradually
incorporated surrounding lands within the city limits. As
the population increased and land use practices
changed, the less desirable lands within the city core,
(such as cemeteries), became more valuable. Gener-
ally, cemeteries were moved to a more distant location.
Andreas Simon, in 1 893, said of Chicago's experience:
"It became necessary to dig out the remains of those
laid to rest there but a short time before and to transfer
them to cemeteries furtherdistant-the dead had to give
way to the living."

Urbanization promoted the abandonment and "reloca-
tion" of early urban cemeteries to larger urban cemeter-
ies located on the fringes of the more developed com-
munity, in Illinois, this process began during the 1 840s
and 1850s and continued throughout the nineteenth
century. By the 1880s, most urban areas had a large
private or municipal cemetery on their outskirts where
the remains of thousands of individuals were reinterred.

Although early cemeteries were often "relocated", the
standards for relocation were not as stringent as they
are today. Due to incomplete caretaker records as well
as haphazard methods, human remains from small
urban cemeteries often were not completely removed.
It is not unusual for human remains to unexpectedly turn
up in an urban setting where there was once a ceme-
tery, even if that cemetery had been "relocated".

Rural Illinois cemeteries are predominantly of two types-
-churchyard or family. Rural cemeteries and their

AGSWi'89/90p 10

associated burial grounds were once fixtures in rural
areas. Many were established fairly early, predomi-
nantly in the period 1810 to 1870. But with improved
transportation and changing dynamics of the agricul-
tural community, the rural church and cemetery is
quickly becoming a vanishing landscape feature. Once
a rural church has been abandoned or demolished, the
cemetery is often maintained only at a minimum leve.
Those rural cemeteries also are often at high risk for
vandalism. And with a shift towards larger urban
cemeteries, the rural cemeteries are often abandoned
and become overgrown.

Many rural cemeteries were established for the burials
of particular families. But after the passage of two or
three generations, that family may no longer be living in
the area. When some family members do remain in the
community, often they no longer own the land associ-
ated with the cemetery. Often farmers use as much of
the land as they can, plowing closer and closer to the
cemtery's edge, and sometimes removing all vestiges
of the cemetery and planting over it.

Both rural and urban settings appear to have had an
equal amount of active cemeteries. The contrast is in
the number of abandoned and despoiled cemeteries
within those two contexts. In the urban environment,
the abandoned cemetery is nonexistent and is com-
pletely overshadowed by the despoiled cemetery. In
contrast, in the rural setting, the percentages of aban-
doned and despoiled cemeteries are almost equal.
Traditionally, with the demand on land not as a great in
the rural setting as in the urban, the abandoned ceme-
teries have survived longer. However, with the chang-
ing land use patterns in rural areas, more and more
abandoned cemeteries are being despoiled each year.

Current laws protecting Illinois cemeteries focus on
active cemeteries; protecting the abandoned and de-
spoiled cemeteries are not as stringent as they might
be. The plight of the abandoned and despoiled ceme-
tery rests in the hands of local governments, specifically
the township and county. Next, the Illinois Cemetery
Project will address potential changes in Illinois statutes
that will further protect human burial sites.

LEGAL ISSUES

Providing for Private Cemetery Care
When No Family Members are Living

A recent issueof the /4GSA/ews/efferraised the question of how one might provide perpetual care for a private
or family cemetery when no members of a family are living. Martha Wren Briggs of Williamsburg, VA suggests
solving the problem by including provision for the cemetery in one's will. A lawyer has suggested the following
wording which Martha shares with us:

The writer of the will should first ascertain if such a provision is permitted by the laws of the state in which the
cemetery is located.

The will may direct that a certain sum of money be set aside as a fund for the perpetual maintenance of (name

of cemetery — i.e. Smith Family Cemetery) located (i.e. on the Smith farm) in Magisterial District,

County, State. The Executors shall have the power to name one or more trustees (preferably a family

member or the spouse of a family member) and shall pay said funds to the trustee (ortrustees) who shall hold,

manage, and invest same, using $ of the income from said fund for the maintenance, upkeep and

preservation of said cemetery, the access thereto and all improvements, including the grave markers therein.

The trustee or trustees appointed by the Executors shall have the power, in turn, to appoint their successor(s),
such appointment to be made by writing duly acknowledged and to be affective as provided in the instrument
making such appointment. Any such appointment may be revoked in the same manner prior to becoming effective.
If at any time there shall be no trustee in office, appointment of same shall be made by the Judge of the Circuit

Court of Countv. State. The person writing the will desires that this trust be administered to the maximum

extent possible free from judicial control. It is also directed that to the extent that such control shall be required,
same shall be under supervision of the Circuit Court of County, State wherein said cemetery is situated.

contributed by Martha Wren Briggs, Williamsburg VA

AGSWi'89/90p 11

OLD STONES IN VIRGINIA

The following article, "Old Tombstones Give a Peek into History" by Parke Rouse, a well-known historical writer
in the Williamsburg VA area, is reprinted from the Hampton. Newport News VA Daily News. October 29, 1989.

Tidewater is full of old cemeteries, but the tombstones
are flaking away, and most of the 1 7th century ones are
illegible or gone altogether.

Hampton VA has eight of America's oldest grave-
stones— four unreadable and the other four identified
by copper markers of recent date. They are located
within a low brick wall at the foundations of the third
church of Elizabeth City Parish on Pembroke Avenue
near LaSalle Avenue. I suspect they're the oldest
marked graves on the Peninsula, except for those at
Jamestown.

The oldest of the Hampton stones marks the remains of
Vice Adm. John Nevill of the Royal Navy, who died on
board the HMS Cambridge in Virginia waters on Aug.
17,1697.

Nearby is the stone of Peter Heyman, collector of
customs for the colony, who was killed while pursuing
the pirate Louis Guittar on Chesapeake Bay in 1 700.

Heyman's valor was originally marked by a stone tablet
with a full inscription, now illegible. It told this story:

"In memory of Peter Heyman, Esq., grandson of Sir
Peter Heyman of Summerfield in the county of Kent. He
was Collector of Customs in the lower district of James
River and went voluntarily on board the King's ship
Shoreham in pursuit of a pirate who greatly infested this
coast. After he had behaved himself seven hours with
undaunted courage, was killed with a small shot the
29th day of April, 1 700. In the engagement he stood
next the Governor [Francis Nicholson], upon the quar-
terdeck, and was here honorably interred by his order."

Near Heyman's grave is that of Thomas Curie, "Gent.,
Born Nov. 24, 1 641 , in Surrey England. Died May 30,
1700."

The fourth marked Hampton grave is that of the Rev.
AndrewThompson of Scotland, presumably thechurch's
rector, who died in 1719.

Hamptonian Eugene Stevens tells me the inscriptions
on the other four stones are too faint to read, but, he
writes, "They must have been very important people, as
each has a crest."

made an inventory of the graves at St. John's church-
yard in Hampton and at Bruton Parish's churchyard in
Williamsburg. Rector Richard May of Bnjton tells me
that some of the Bruton inscriptions have already be-
come invisible in the 13 years since Bishop Bentiey
made his census.

A new program at Bruton has re-opened the churchyard
to cremated burials. Fees charged will be used to
preserve the historic tombstones in the churchyard.

Elsewhere, the Association for the Preservation of
Virginia Antiquities and local societies have restored
some tombstones. Other restorations have been paid
for by descendants. At Abingdon Church in Gloucester,
I have often admired the beautiful Bunnell family table
tombs that were brought from rural plantations and
reburied in Abingdon's well-kept churchyard. Family
members paid for this upkeep.

Maintaining gravestones is expensive. Talented stone-
masons to repair or replace the beautiful monuments of
Colonial times are few. Their work seldom matches the
artistry of the originals, however.

Genealogists, who have a field day in Tidewater's
cemeteries, often find 1 7th and 1 8th century burials that
have been moved from their original farm or plantation
sites to a central churchyard or graveyard. A Virginia
law in the 19th century encouraged this practice, al-
though isolated graves can still be found in fields and at
abandoned homesites. Williamsburg's Historic Area
has a dozen or more family graveyards apart from
Bruton. The city cemetery, Cedar Grove on South
Henry Street, was started in the 19th century when it
was feared that furtherin-town burials might spread epi-
demic diseases.

Our 17th and 18th century forefathers created flat,
horizontal tombstones, often embellished with crests
and sculptured decorations from England. Scholars,
such as James Blair, buried at Jamestown, received
Latin epitaphs, while important planters, such as the
Burwells, were usually dignified by table tombs, rising
four or five feet above ground.

Clergymen and notables were often buried within the
church, as at Bruton.

Fortunately, the late Bishop John Bentiey of Hampton

AGSWi'89/90p 12

Vertical tombstones became almost universal in the
19th century. In Victorian cemeteries, like Smithfield's
Ivy Hill or Richmond's Hollywood, you'll find such con-
ceits as obelisks, classical temples and sculptured
iambs, hearts and ruined pillars. The poetic tributes
there are touching.

Sadly, however, everywhere I look in Tidewater, I find
gravestones fading into illegibility. Sometimes they split
or fall over. Occasionally vandals desecrate them. We
who value history should preserve the old tombstones.

contributed by Christine Sheridan, Brevard NC.

WHERE IS THE EARLIEST DATED GRAVESTONE
IN NORTH AMERICA?

Some time ago, Chris Sheridan of Brevard NC, pro-
vided the Newsletter with a copy of a letter from J . Pau I
Hudson. Hudson had retired after 30 years or more as
curator with the National Park Service in Virginia, and in
the letter he discussed the locations of some of the
oldest stones in Virginia — notably the Major William
Gooch stone at the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve Training
Center at Yorktown ( 1 655) .

Ransom B. True in his booklet "Jamestown: A Guide to
Old Town", published in 1983, writes about the burials
at Jamestown in the churchyard and outside the church:

Since there is little natural stone in tidewater Virginia,
tombstones were rare in the seventeenth) and eight-
eenth cemturies. Almost all had to be imported,
usually from England. Many of the people buried
here afterthe 1690s were wealthy and their families
could have afforded tombstones. Nineteenth cen-
tury reports indicate that many did and the graveyard
contained many tombstones. Sadly, most of these
have been lost, stolen or destroyed by the ravages
oftime. Onlytwenty-five remain. Some of these are
not really tombstones, but merely gravemarkers
erected in 1901 whentheA.P.V.A.conductedexca-
vations here and found the graves.

Hudson goes on to say that "in my opinion, the oldest
dated grave extant in Virginia today is that of Sir George
Yeardley, who was buried in the chancel of the
Jamestown 1 61 7 church in 1 627. His tombstone was
once ornamented with brasses, but they were stolen in
the eighteenth century.

The Fall, 1988 issue of VOCA NEWS contained a letter
to the editor by Lynne Cassano of Bennington VT in

response to a question on where the oldest inscribed
gravestone in Vermont is located:

The oldest cemetery in Vermont may be the
Bennington Centre Cemetery. In 1935, when
the Vermont Legislature declared the cemetery
"Vermont's Colonial Shrine", they said "The
burial ground. ..is the first and oldest in the
state." The oldest stone there is that of Bridget
Hanwood, who died November 10,1 762.

The following may also be of interest, and is
quoted from an article written by Avon Neal:

The earliest dated stone discovered thus far in
New England was carved for Sara Tefft of
Warwick, Rhode Island, who died in the same
year the town was settled, it is a rough field-
stone which reads: HERE LIETH THE BODIE
OF SARAH TEFFT 1 642. Since the 1 860s this
rare specimen has been housed in the Rhode
Island Historical Society in Providence."

If you l<now of an older stone than 1627, orifyouwant
to discuss the oldest stone in your area, please drop a
line to the Newsletter— a photo of the stone in question
would be nice (you will get it back, eventually).

AGSWi'89/90p 13

STATE CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS

From time to time we list the addresses of contact persons in tiie several state old cemetery associations for
the benefit of researchers using graveyards in those particular states.

Maine Old Cemetery Association

Clyde G. Berry, Cemetery Records

RO Box 971 , Bangor, ME 04401

Vermont Old Cemetery Association
Arthur L. Hyde, President
RD 1, Bradford, VT 05033

Wisconsin State Old Cemetery Society

William H. Krause, President

1562 North 1 19th Street, Wauwatosa, Wl 53226

New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association

Louise Taliman, Records Clerk

PO Box 364, Rye Beach, NH 03871

Southern Rhode Island Old Cemeteries Association

Valerie Felt, President

PO Box 383, Saunderstown, Rl 02874

Ye Rhode Island Olde Cemeteries Association, Inc.
Mrs. M. Michelle Clapham, Director
PO Box 1205, Westerly, Rl 02891

NEWS FROM VERMONT OLD CEMETERY ASSOCIATION

VOCA is conducting a statewide survey of all cemeter-
ies and burial grounds which is nearly conipleted. Their
Board proposes to have the information compiled and
published in booklet form in time for the Vermont

Bicentennial in 1991. The booklet will have maps of
each town, showing the name, location, period of use,
and approximate number of burials in each cemetery.

Barney E. Daley of South Windsor CT has provided
more information on the "frugal Yankee" stone illus-
trated on p. 4 of the Fall 1987 issue of the Newsletter.
"Here is the almost unbelievable tale of a woman who
wouldn't lie about her age. Hepzibah Sadd, daughterof
Thomas Sadd and Delight Warner, was born June 3,
1 786, and married John Stoughton December 20, 1 809.

She died December 1 8, 1 828, age 43. The carver cut
her age upon the stone as 33, and the stone was re-
jected. In 1831 the Rev. Henry Morris, preacher at the
Wapping church in South Windsor, resurrected
Hepzibah's stone, turned it around and upside down
and used it to mark the grave of their son Henry.

AGSWi'89/90p 14

MEMBER NEWS

The September 7, 1989 issue of the Dunkirk Observer.
NY carries a story by Kathy Metzger about AGS member
Rebecca Jo Rosen of Jamestown, NY, an anthropolo-
gist currently working to record the 1 35 public cemeter-
ies in Chautauqua County and the gravestones from
1800 to 1865 which they contain.

Ms. Rosen is concerned about the heavy damage
caused by vandalism, so she visits Jamestown schools
and county historical groups, dressed in Victorian garb.
"I try to get the students to feel what it was like to grow
up in the 1 9th century, when death was a part of reality,"
she says. "Children need to be taught that cemeteries
are really outdoor museums and they deserve as much
respect as regular museums."

Although she has always been interested in local his-
tory, especially the 1 9th century, it was a field research
project for an archaeology course at Fredonia State
University College that began her gravestone study.
She intends to place the results of her complete study,
including photographs, rubbings and documentation
forms in the local history room of Reed Library at
Fredonia State University College. She also intends to
publish a field guide book in about two years. In March
1990 she will have an exhibit and presentation of rub-
bings at the Fenton (NY) Historical Society.

Ms. Rosen is also concerned about restoring the broken
stones, but funding and New York legal requirements
that descendants must be contacted before restoration
can be done are obstacles she hopes to overcome.

Sent in by Wayne A. Mori, Dunkirk, NY.

The August 27, 1989 SACRAMENTO BEE article by
Patty Henetz entitled "Archivist looks after long de-
ceased" reports that AGS member Virginia Marsh is
about to complete registering and indexing the New
Helvetia graves in the City Cemetery archives. A
project occupying most of her waking hours for nearly
four years will be completed when she has resolved the
final discrepancies between the data on the head-
stones and that recorded in the archives. These are
graves of the city's first settlers that were moved from
their original site to make room for a school in 1956.
When the indexing is done, Mrs. Marsh will get to the fun
part of her job — researching the histories of these
misplaced pioneers, a task that grew from a search for
the history of her husband's father into what has be-
come her post-retirement occupation.

Mrs. Marsh has also arranged with the Sacramento
Archeological Cooperative to probe for grave markers
that may have been buried over the decades. One such
probe last winter uncovered a carved marble angel on
the grave of a former Sacramento saloon owner whom
Marsh said was stabbed to death by a spurned suitor as
she sang at her piano in 1857. "You just don't see
cemeteries like this anymore," Marsh commented.

For more information on this project, see the AGS
Newsletter. Fall 1988, p. 16

HAYDENJNDIANA CEMETERY PROJECT

New AGS member Rodger Ruddick of Hayden, Indi-
ana is chairman of the Trustees for Six Mile Cemetery,
the earliest cemetery in Spencer County, Indiana. In
recent years, the trustees have placed 140 bronze
name plates at the base of markers that have faded to
near-illegibility, preserving the name and dates of the
deceased. Fifty more will be installed this year.

"Mormon Gravestones: A Folk Expression of Identity
and Belief" is an article appearing in the Winter 1989
issue of DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON
THOUGHT, Vol. 22, No. 4. Written by AGS member
Carol Edison of Salt Lake City, Utah, and illustrated by
her photographs , the article discusses the implications
of the frequent use of the clasped-hand motif on 19th
century Mormon gravestones and the temple motif's
popularity on 20th century stones. Ms. Edison has also
written "Motorcycles, Guitars and Bucking Broncos:
Twentieth-Century Gravestones in Southeastern Idaho"
which appeared in IDAHO FOLKLIFE READER:
HGMESTEADSTOHEADSTGNES.editedby Louis W.
Attebery, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press,
1985.

Established as a private family burial ground for the
Maynard family in 1 809, before Indiana was a state, it is
the resting place of 14 Civil War veterans. Former

AGS Wi'89/90p 15

Indiana governor Edgar Whitcomb has ancesters bur-
ied there, including his great-great-great-grandfalher,
Jesse Whitcomb, born in 1773, who traveled from
Stueben County, New York to settle at Six Mile in 1830.
There are areas of the yard where no markers are
found. The association assumes these were graves
marked by wooden or creekrock stones that have,
deteriorated through the year. There are 216 grave-
stones.

In the fall of 1989, the Six Ivlile Cemetery Association
gave its approval to a coordinated restoration and
landscape project for its cemetery. Mr. Ruddick has
contacted the Southern Regional office of the Indiana
Historic Landmarks Commission and AGS for available
information on carrying out such a project.

New member Anne Stewart, of Comfort TX, has written
about a recent development in her local cemetery:
Comfort Cemetery, a predominantly German-Texan
cemetery, founded in 1854, is an unincorporated com-
munity. The cemetery is the responsibility of our local
cemetery association and the families who own lots. In
the last 4 or 5 years, a new solution has been found
which solves several problems common to rural ceme-
teries. People are taking medium-size honeycomb
rocks (limestone rock with irregular holes formed by
water pressure) and inserting artificial flowers or other
decorative items into the holes. This is a no-cost way to
keep the wind from blowing grave decorations away
and keep the container from being broken by wild-life.
As honeycomb rocks are easy to find, the decorative
container is not stolen or vandalized.

Besides placing the bronze plates beside deteriorated
gravestones, tfie association is surveying the existing
markers, leveling and repairing some of the broken
stones.

Genealogists with roots or branches in Indiana may be
interested to know of Mr. Ruddick's publications. In
1981 he published History of Havden and Spencer
Township. It has since sold out and is being reprinted.

In 1986 a history of Spencer township residents who
participated in the Civil War was published titled. From
the Hayfields to the Battlefields. It includes a collection
of 81 letters to and from some of the 200 soldiers who
fought in the war.

BETTY WILLSHER CONFIRMS 'GREEN MAN' IN
CANADA

Harvey Medland, of Toronto, Ontario, writes: "On
reading Betty Willsher's description of "Green Men" in
the Fall 1 988 issue of the AGS Newsletter, I recalled a
small gravestone which 1 had photographed nearGuelph,
Ontario, an area settled by Scots in the 19th century.
The four sides of the marker were identical. There was
no written information, just a head with pointed ears,
sunken eyes, beard and projecting tongue. A print was
mailed to Betty Willsher in Scotland.

His latest work will be a revised and expanded history
of Hayden and the township, with information and
photos that were not available to him earlier. Publica-
tion will be sometime in 1990. For more information
about the cemetery project orthe books, contact Rodger
Ruddick, Rt. 4, Box 118, North Vernon, IN 47265,
telephone 81 2/346-7779.

In November she confirmed that the image was a
'Green Man': 'There's no doubt, that is what it is.' She
also suggested that it may be a footstone due to its size
and the lack of information. We tried to follow-up on her
idea, but could not due to winter's first blizzard. We'll try
again in the spring, and will keep the Newsletter in-
formed!"

AGSWi'89/90p 16

REPORTS OF DAMAGE IN CHARLESTON AND SAN FRANCISCO

CHARLESTON

AGS member John Meffert, Executive Director of The
Preservation Society of Charleston, reports that the
cemetery art of Charleston did not fare well during the
onslaught of hurricaneHugo. "In my churchyard alone,"
he writes, "over 100 stones were damaged by the 35
trees that fell. This is typical of all the graveyards. We
are now working on assessing the damage citywide and
in the low country and hope to begin to repair the
damage. It will be a long, slow process."

Funding for restoration is being explored. Says Meffert,
"There is some hope of FEMA assistance on the resto-
ration of stones as part of our 'tourism resources.' The
insurance industry has also been responsive to some
extent. We have learned a great deal about what an
insurance policy does or does not do in a very brief
period of time!"

Ruth Miller, of Charleston, sent the Newsetter a copy of
a lettershe wrote totheeditorof the Charleston Evening
Post about insured gravestones (see p. 20). "Mean-
while," she writes, "I still have a leaky roof and uprooted
trees to deal with at my house."

SAN FRANCISCO

Dale Edwyrd Suess writes from Oakland that he es-
caped with a bit of minor damage and very frayed
nerves. Dale is Historian for the Neptune Society
Memorial Columbarium.

Jo Hanson of San Francisco reports her house was
unharmed in the 1 906 earthquake and survived this one
unharmed as well. However, the words "shook up" have
taken on new meaning.

New member John H. Siegfried is

the operations manager at Mountain
View Cemetery in Oakland. Although
the cemetery is only 5 miles from the
Bay bridge it had no damage. Other

cemeteries in the area also escaped damage, but the
people in the area report frayed nerves. The cemetery
administration building janitor was getting supplies from
his van outside the Administration building when the
quake hit. He says when he looked up at the building at
that moment, it looked like it was breathing! John invites
all AGS members to visit Mountain View Cemetery at
5000 Piedmont Avenue in Oakland when you are in the
area. Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead in 1 863, its
200 acres encompass a garden cemetery with many
ties to New England and Midwestern families who went
West during the Gold Rush. Grounds and office are
open 365 days a year.

Timothy Bindner in Richmond, CA writes that he and
his family "wobbled and shook" in the quake as did their
house, but they escaped serious damage. Not satisfied
with that, Timothy volunteered to be part of one of the
rescue teams that crawled through the debris of the
collapsed freeway searching for survivors. Timothy
writes of this experience:

"It has always been a lifetime dream for me —
to save another person's life. So, crawling between the
decks of the shattered freeway, looking for survivors, I
knew I was, possibly, living adream inthe midst of death
and destruction. I was also as scared as I have ever
been, knowing even a small after-shock could bring the
whole thing down on me. Several other people and 1
helped pull an injured man out of a smashed car. Two
people in the same car with him died.

"Last week (the man) called me to thank me.
This phone call added an element of completeness to
my life's endeavor that I may not experience again
. . . Life's uncertainty and tragedy has helped form a
philosophy of love which I am trying to live. The eyes of
little long-ago children looking out
from photos on ceramic memorials
in Catholic cemeteries make my heart
cry, but also give me a simple mes-
sage: Love while we can. Touch
while we can."

AGSWi'89/90p 17

U>VTH AWPJECXAJIOT^ . . .

Many AGS members across the country have had the experience of searching out small, remote, hidden,
abandoned, burial sites and can relate to the poems below written by our Tucson, Arizona member, Joe Schmalzel,
a sculptor. The first, "I Bide My Time" is about his great grandmother who lived on a small ranch near what is now
Patagonia AZ. She wrote a poem just before her death in 1893, excerps of which Joe has incorporated into his
poem. He hikes in to that small ridge where she is buried at least once each year.

The second poem, "Los Reales Graveyard"describes a graveyard near Tucson where strangers lie forgotten , their
graves untended. He asks, "will it matter?," a question haunting many of us. Our sensibilities impell us to answer,
"Yes!", and we continue our work to save, protect, repair, restore what we can.

BIDE MY TIME

(with comment by Emma Levina,
1843-1893)

Ten years earlier, with map,
A photo of the old ranch site
And a little help from Blane
We finally stood by their graves
The graves of Emma and Katie.

That ridge near Harshaw Creek
So steep we went on knees
Like Pilgrims to Guadalupe.
Over paths not passed in summer
When spirits and snakes will wander,
Ground hard clay and rock
And shovels unable
To fill the sunken place.

Red Rock in the distance.
Three crow miles from Crittenden,
C. C. and boys rode, mined,
And carried supplies by wagon,
Leaving the girls behind.

"I bide my time whenever shadows

darken

Along my path I do but lift mine eyes-

I bide — I bide my time."

The ridge, beyond the well.
First bore Emma's daughter.
A barren spot, red clay and rock,
Posts of mesquite, also
Marking the minister's plot.

Katie loved her trip to Gardner,
The twenty some miles to their place.
Climbing ladders and single ropes:
". . . oh, it was a grand cave,. . . "
Said Kate in a letter.

Dry years, lean years, Indian years.
Thirteen children years.

Little did she know.

When a Great Great Aunt,

She'd have a namesake near.

"This drop of rapture in a cup of pain.
This wear and tear of body and brain, —
I bide — I bide my time."

Just a stroll east to the ridge:

On April Fool's they dug

That hard rock clay for Emma,

Thankful it wasn't summer.

And a distant paper read:

"After long suffering of the wife and mother . . . .".

"Let come what may I'll life my eyes and cry

I bide — 1 bide my time."

Three after Katie, then three after Emma,
The ranch, bare and sold.
Only wooden markers when
Albert ordered the fence
From someplace in Chicago
Then Elwyn set a granite stone
For both his sister and mother
That cleariy says:
WATKINS
EMMAL. KATIE L.

1843-1893 1875-1890

What do I learn

From a ridge-top grave?

Who will remember the place

And how can we know

Where rapture began?

Who will have a walkabout

To follow their ancestor's journey.

To visit their favorite place,

To celebrate the hundredth

And show that graves

Have friends about them?

AGSWr89/90p 18

Surviving Emma is clearly spirit

But are other things

Buried there with them?

Who owns that micro site

Where history shouts for existence?

I find it a suitable place
To induce a mood,
To order feelings and thoughts
About our desert family.
And sitting on that ridge
Looking at what was there
I feel a rock and wonder
If Emma or one of her boys
Also felt it and wondered.

Joseph Schmalzel
May 1989

And this poem by a member appeared at the 1989
AGS conference:

INMEf^ORYOF...

Walking through the graveyards
Gazing at the stones
I read the chiseled epitaphs
Above the dust and bones

Wondering what that man was like
This woman and her son
Were they happy in their lives?
Had they any fun?

Here lies buried Captain Leach
Born across the sea
At Concord fought the enemy
To keep his new land free

LOS REALES GRAVEYARD

Graves, aesthetic issues
drive my mind to where
lie forgotten ones;
neither ancient nor recent.
The screen door lady
with drifting chile pointed
and two crypts torn,
a twisted cross of iron,
a hundred mounds found.

Bones are bones
that have no name or epitaph,
no kin to guard them,
the memory chain broken
and no one has the money.
We have a kind permission
to dig the ancient ones,
respectfully trim the recent
but muddle about Reales.

For you, forgotten,
just a genealogy,
marker gone, a spot,
mounding no longer required,
will it matter?

Joe Schmalzel

10 September 1989

And there's Deacon Phineas Rowe
His marker standing tail
Did he keep his flock in tow?
Cound he save them all?

Zachariah Proctor
A name that sounds so fair
Was the village doctor
Practiced love and care

And here's Stacy Wilkinson
He helped the colonies
Was a lawyer of renown
Fair and just was he

In the cities and the towns
On the hillsides or flatgrounds
Where our Yankee fathers rest
You will find our nation's best

So, stop and read along with me
Of our early history

AGS Wr89/90 p 19

PRESERVATION NOTES

New Book Available

The Historic Tallahassee Preservation Board
has recently published Florida's Historic Ceme-
teries: A Preservation Handbook. Written by
AGS member Sharyn Thompson with a special
chapter on "Preservation and Restoration" by
Lynette Strangstad, the 50-page book is de-
signed to educate Florida citizens about historic
cemeteries. Other chapters include "Florida's
Cemeteries as Historical Resources," "Identifi-
cation and Surveying,"and Research and Docu-
mentation." Appendices include information
about the Florida Master Site File, cemeteries
that qualify for the National Register, and Flor-
ida statutes affecting protection of cemeteries.
While it is written for Floridians, it will be helpful
to those in other states as well. The book is
available for $7.95 postpaid from Historic Tal-
lahassee Preservation Board, 329 N. Meridian
Street, Tallahassee, FL 32303.

This letter from AGS member Ruth M. Miller, Char-
leston, SC appeared in the Letters to the Editor column
in the Charleston Evening Post. November 18, 1989.

Letters to the Editor
INSURED GRAVESTONES

I would like to pass on some information which will help
one of the silent victims of Hurricane Hugo — the ceme-
teries and gravestones in the hurricane's path.

Some standard homeowner's policies carry an entry
which reads: $1,000 on gravemarkers.! I am sure any
burial ground with damaged markers would be glad to
hear from families which have insurance money desig-
nated for restoration.

Ruth M. Miller

169 Manchester Road

Charleston, SC

MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES

Of special interest to those studying Afro-American
gravemarkers is the Afro-American Historical and
Genealogical Society annual conference to be held
May 3-5, 1990 at the Holiday Inn-Capitol in Washington,
DC. Its theme will be "Exploring the Past to Appreciate
the Future." The program will include a full day work-
shop on beginning genealogy and sessions exploring
ancient African civilizations, how to organize a family
reunion, collecting African American memorabilia and
genealogical sources in the Caribbean. A special
session on The Underground Railroad features Charles
Blockson, author of Black Genealogy and The Under-
ground Railroad. For more information, write to the
society at PO Box 73086, Washington, DC 20056-
3086.

AGS Wi-89/90 p 20

In a recent issue of the English NATIONAL TRUST
MAGAZINE, an article, "Statues and Surgeons," by
Anna Pavord describes the statuary workshop, headed
by Trevor Proudfoot, created to maintain the vast col-
lection of statues owned by the Trust scattered around
nearly 200 castles and country houses. Some of the
restoration techniques being used there may interest
those of you who are preserving gravestones.

"The workshop is housed at Cliveden in the old fives
court and some outbuildings of the hospital set up by
Nancy Astor during the First World War. Today mute
patients are ranged along the walls between dust ex-
tractors and electric drills. . . victims of vandals, storms
or thieves.

Other pieces are in for geriatric care, needing cleaning
or a consolidant to prevent the stone surface from
flaking away. One piece is swathed in cotton-wool. The
carving, in Tadcaster stone, was suffering aftertwo and
a halfcenturies of English weather which had eroded its
surface. It is being treated by a new technique that
Trevor Proudfoot heard about in Italy a couple of years
ago. It had been very successful in treating the Arch of
Septimus Severus in Rome. A solijtion of acrylic is
suspended in lime water and applied to the carving on
wads of cotton-wool. As the stonework becomes satu-
rated it consolidates and hardens the carving without
upsetting the supporting matrix of stone.

Their research has helped them to find a treatment for
the collection of Gandharan sculptures at Antony House
in Cornwall, carved between the first and sixth centuries
AD from a green-grey schist. These were mounted on
an outside wall and a combination of salt spray and chill
winds had affected the surface and caused the stone to
shear like slate. Eventually the friable stone was treated
with a mixture of salin and epoxy resins, developed for
completely different purposes by Ciba Geigy and Union
Carbide.

White Clover Graves

John Brown was the grave-digger of a Scottish parish.
He had his own ways, — like most Scotsmen, — and one
of them was to sow the graves of little children with white
clover. The new minister of the parish had noticed
John's loving care of children's graves, and one day
came upon him trimming the small resting-place of a
child buried a few days before. The conversation which
followed is reported in a volume of Scotch anecdotes.

"John," said the minister, "why are you so
particular in dressing and keeping the graves of chil-
dren?"

"Of such is the kingdom of heaven," answered
John, looking at the sky.

"And on this account you tend them with so
much care?" remarked the minister, slowly, as if musing
on John's answer.

"Surely, sir," said the grave-digger, pausing in
his work, "I canna make overbraw the bed-coverin' of a
little innocent sleeper that is waiting here till it's God's
time to wauken it, and cover it with the white robe. When
sic grandeur is awaitin' it yonder, it's fit it should be
decked out here. I think that He will like to see the white
clover sheet spread above it; dae ye no think sae tae,
sir?"

From MADISON OBSERVER, Morrisville, Madison
County, NY, February 5, 1896 (paper found in an
antique shop by John Alden Haight).

One of the most important projects on which the statu-
ary workshop is currently engaged is the conservation
of the classical sculpture collection at Petworth House,
work that could take ten years to complete. A statue of
Dionysus posed a number of interesting problems for
the workshop team. Among others, the torso was bad ly
stained with rust. Poultices of sepiolite and Dygon
(magnesium silicate with sodium hydrosulphite) were
applied to the stained shoulders and thighs and re-
duced the disfiguring iron stains.

For the entire text, contact the AGS Newsletter.

Sent in by Barbara Rotundo, Laconia, NH

"Instead of being stuck in a cold cemetery where few
people visit, the deceased will be surrounded by friends."
British tavern owner Colm O'Rourke, explaining his
company's new offer to bury deceased patrons in pubs
for an $8,000 fee.

From "Overheard," NEWSWEEK, January 15,
1990.

AGS Wi'89/90 p 21

ASSOCIATION NEWS

mEO

mmE<QT©E

ll@Tl(gO

At the October 29 meeting of the Board of Trustees,
Executive Director Rosalee Oakley gave notice of her
intent to conclude her work with AGS effective no later
than December 31, 1990.

Citing a personal desire to move on to a different job and
the Oakley's plan to move out of New England in the
near future, Rosalee stressed the opportunity her leav-
ing affords for the organization to grow in new direc-
tions. "It will give AGS the opportunity to develop a more
professional image by having a permanent office loca-
tion. It gives us an opportunity to try to get the Archives
under the same roof as the office, giving the archivist
and the membership better access to the materials in
the collection. It has the possibility of providing new
opportunities for programming and services to the
membership which are difficult to develop in the cramped
quarters of a house office," she said.

"A change in personnel is also a good time to re-
evaluate procedures and programs to determine what
is most productive, and to coalesce our energy in those
areas, dropping what are proven to be less effective
aspects of our work in the office." The timing of
Rosalee's departure will afford her successor the ad-
vantage of working with the current President at least
six months before a new President takes office in June
1991.

PLANNING COMMITTEE SEEKS OFFICE SITE

up a list of organizations to approach with an initial
inquiry, to be followed up with a formal proposal if there
was interest on both sides. These organizations are
located in New England in towns generally at a center
for most of the Trustees. Worcester, Northampton,
Deerfield and Springfield, MA, and Hartford, CT. With
first priority given to the consideration of historical
societies or museums, groups with similar historic pres-
ervation interests to our own, other possibilities to be
considered are universities and churches. Should no
facilities be found, it will be necessary to seek a new
Executive Director who has the capability of housing the
office and considerable inventory in his or her home.

The 1990 Budget is being drawn up to include neces-
sary funds for transition costs and rent.

Once it is determined whether there is a possibility of
locating the office in a specific site, an augmented
Personnel Committee will begin seeking applicants for
the position of Executive Director, either in the geo-
graphical area near the office site or, in the event the
new director must house the office in his/her home, the
geographic areas of western Massachusetts and Con-
necticut are most desirable locations.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

Early evidence shows that members are accepting the
challenge to recruit new members. A number of new
member applications bear the names of our recruiting
members thus qualifying them for a reduction in next
year's membership fee. If you want to do some recruit-
ing, you can always get more brochures from the AGS
office!

For the past six years, the AGS office has been located
in the Oakley's home. We have had the good fortune
through this period of having no expense for rent or
utilities. However, with the need to seek a new Execu-
tive Director, we also have to find a new office location.
To provide AGS with a more permanent base, the
Planning Committee suggested to the Board in a spe-
cial report that the first priority be to seek an established
institution with a building where space would be avail-
able for us to rent, possibly entering into negotiations to
share basic operational expenses, equipment and/or
clerical staff.

The Trustees voted to authorize the Planning Commit-
tee to investigate and negotiate the terms of an alliance
with a host organization, subject to the approval of the
Board.

During December the Planning Committee met, drew

WATCH FOR SPECIAL MAILING

A change in the By-Laws at the last Annual Meeting
makes it possible for all AGS members to vote on the
candidates forTrustees. A Special Mailing will be along
after March 1 with a ballot to be returned to Lance
Mayer, Nominating Committee chair. Please exercise
your voting privilege.

Also included in the Special Mailing will be the confer-
ence registration forms and information. Your confer-
ence staff has worked hard to keep costs down and
even though our costs will be higher, the cost to confer-
ees is only $5 more than last year for full conference
participation — $205 per person double, $220 for a single.
We hope to see you all there.

AGS Wr89/90 p 22

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

The lovely classical figure ornamenting the Smith family
monument in Waterbury CT was stolen in early Octo-
ber, 1 989. The life-size bronze figure was made about
1 885. There is a reward offered for information leading
totherecoveryofthe figure. Contact: Robert Garthwait,
(203) 574-2100 (days).

from the Maine Antiques Digest. February 1990.

LINGUISTIC TRENDS IN THE CEMETERY

After more than a decade of study in graveyards across
South Texas, AGS member Scott Baird, a professor of
Englishat Trinity UniversityinSan Antonio, believesthe
dead speak very clearly about the state's linguistic
future. "What we're seeing is a spread of Spanish
northward, with parallel indications that English-Span-
ish bilingualism is here to stay. That's what the tomb-
stones tell us."

There are morethan 500,000 recognized cemeteries in
Texas, according to state officials. Mr. Baird acknowl-
edges that his research hasn't extended to anywhere
nearthat number, but he has read enough tombstones
to see a cultural pattern being broken. Increasingly,
Hispanic Texans state their deepest feelings of grief
and loss in English, not Spanish. But they are not giving
up the language of their ancestors, unlike other immi-
grant groups in Texas. As other non-English speaking
immigrant groups — German, Czech, Polish, Chinese —
settled in Texas, they began writing tombstone inscrip-
tions in English as they assimilated into American
culture. Wilhelm became William. Ruhe in Grieden
became Rest in Peace. Such a shift is not seen on the
tombs and graves of Spanish-speaking resident, says
Baird. Insteadthenumberof bilingual tombstones has
increased dramatically.

In San Antonio, where Hispanics make up more than
50% of the population, San Fernando Cemetery No. 2
on the west side has been the final resting ground for a
wide range of ethnic groups since 1924. "In mortuary
terminology, it is a "live cemetery" because there is still

room for burials. A count of tombstone inscriptions at
San Fernando, conducted by Mr. Baird and his student
researchers, showed that90%of the headstones raised

in 1 924 were inscribed solely in Spanish. English-only
inscriptions amounted to 6% and bilingual 4%. How-
ever, a cou nt of those raised 60 years later showed that
Spanish-only dwindled to 58% while bilingual inscrip-
tions rose to 13%. English-only rose to 29%.

Mr. Baird also cites his findings to all-Spanish tomb-
stones in Round Rock, north of Austin, dated 1985, and
in Bee County near Temple, dated 1968, as evidence
that English-Spanish bilingualism is moving northward
up the state from the border regions, creating a 200-
mile-wide cultural cushion. "You have roughly 300
million Spanish-speakers on the same continent with
200 million English-speakers. There's a cushion where
these languages come together, and that cushion is the
size of France. Spanish is moving northward and
English is holding its own in this 200-mile-wide cush-
ion," says Baird. "It's a prime example of what linguists
call a diglosic, a region where two languages live
together."

Mr. Baird calls his research social linguistics, a school
of study that examines the sub-conscious connections
between language and daily life. He studies grave-
stones for linguistic trends because they represent
people's deepest emotions and, this, give the most
accurate picture of their values.

fromtlie Dallas TX Morning News. March 19, 1989, sent
by Sybil Crawford, Dallas TX, and the Miami Herald.
April 1 6, 1 989. Scott Baird will be presenting a paper at
the American Culture Association, Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers Session, March 7-10, 1990, in Toronto,
Canada.

AGS Wi'89/90 p 23

MORE ON THE SEDGWICK PIE

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula, of West
Germany, writes that it was with interest
and amusement that she read "The
Sedgewick Pie" (in spite of, as she points
out, the typing error of an extra "e" in the
title) in the Fail 1 989 issue of the News-
leller:

I visited the Stockbridge cemetery in
1 986 and was captivated by the atmos-
phereof the Sedgwick section, which to
me seemed enchanted rather than
gloomy. How lovely to get a (prospec-
tive) insider's view of the place! John
Sedgwick stresses the exclusive char-
acter of this family circle, the "club"
(which, interestingly, includes the dog,
but not a cousin's companion-nurse). It
should be pointed out that the Sedgwicks
did open their circle for a housekeeper,

a former slave, in the nineteenth century. Her epitaph,

on a simple marble marker, reads:

ELIZABETH FREEMAN
known by the name of MUMBET
died Dec. 28 1829.
Her supposed age
was 85 Years.
She was born a slave and
remained a slave for nearly
thirty years. She could nei-
ther read nor write, yet in
her own sphere she had no
superior nor equal. She nei-
ther wasted time nor property.
She never violated a trust, nor
tailed to perform a duty.
In every situation of domes-
tic trial, she was the most effi-
cient helper and the tender
friend: Good motherfarewell.

The daughter of African-born slaves, Elizabeth Free-
man and her sister were the slaves of Col. John Ashley
of Sheffield MA. After one particular instance of physi-
cal abuse by her mistress, Elizabeth ran away and
asked lawyer Theodore Sedgwick in nearby Stockbr-
idge to claim her liberty at court. Having heard of the Bill
of Rights and the new State Constitution, she consid-
ered herself free and equal to any individual. The jury
agreed to her claim and ordered her former owner to
pay her 30 shillings damages, thereby marking the
abolition of slavery in tvlassachusetts. She worked as
a housekeeper and nurse for the Sedgwicks for several

years. (Rayford W. Logan, Michael R. Winston. Diction-
an/ of American Negro Biography. NY: 1982)

AGS Wr89/90 p 24

THE HERITAGE OF HADLEY

by Jim Jewell, Illinois Valley Community College

On June 14, 1988, something happened that probably
has never occurred in Lake Township, Allen County,
Indiana, before or since: two individuals were photo-
graphing in the tine Hadley Cemetery on the Yellow
River Road east of Areola IN. One was L.C. Blessing,
of Yuma, Arizona, who was searching for his grandpar-
ents'graves. The other was this correspondent, return-
ing to the cemetery that probably started it all — the
cemetery where, thirty-four years earlier, he and his
schoolmates used to play, being careful not to damage
any stone. We hid behind them, dashed around them,
and pretended we were burying each other.

The town of Taw-Taw IN had its named changed to
Areola in 1858, eight years before the village was
platted by Benjamin Meiser, John L. Peabody and
Patrick Ney. Located at the crossroads adjacent to the
Peabody Steam Sawmill (established in 1 853) and the
Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad (1855), Areola is
known for its rich farmland. Championship-calibre
crop- and cattle-judging teams were commonplace at
Areola High School, which was consolidated with nearby
Huntertown High to form Carroll shortly after the cen-
tennial of Areola's platting.

The Hadley Cemetery is located four-tenths of a mile
west of the Hadley Crossing, the railroad intersection at
which Yellow River, Bass and Hadley Roads meet,
about five miles west of the Fort Wayne city limits
(Spring Street extended becomes Bass Road.) Most of
the stones are dated from the 1 860s through the end of
the century. Before the burial of Dale Lytle in 1 962, the
most recent interment had been that of Mrs. M . F. Ander-
son (May7,1882-February 11, 1910).
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: A stop at Hadley in the mid-1 960s
indicated that Lytle was indeed buried there; subse-

quent visits reveal that the stone is gone, suggesting
that Lytle was probably moved.)

After introducing ourselves, Mr. Blessing and I began
searching through six to eight feet tall weeds for his
family's graves. Eventually, we located them near the
cemetery's south border, the closest gravest to the
crevice. Blessing wasn't sure his camera could get
clear pictures. Mine did, however; and 1 sent two nice
shots of the small stone to him. In his note of ac-
knowledgement, he wrote, "Our meeting with cameras
in the cemetery must have been a first."

Thankfully, it wasn't the last graveyard encounter in
Hadley. Almost a year later. Chuck Bragg, a former
school superintendent who runs a management con-
sultant firm in Fort Wayne, noticed a fallen Civil War
markeras hedrove past Hadley. He returned with tools
to stand the marker, as he had done with over fifty other
similarly neglected Civil War markers. Bragg, whose
work was featured in the May 29, 1989, Fort Wayne
News-Sentinel, has been a Civil War student since
childhood.

Hadley Cemetery may be overgrown and neglected;
but with enthusiasts like Chuck Bragg around, it won't
be forgotten. Nor will the four Civil War veterans buried
there.

AGS Wi'89/90 p 25

The photos on this page were provided by Donald F.Maclean of Halifax NS who took them in June 1989 in Vienna's
Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery). He writes that '1he cemetery is one square mile in size and is the largest in
Austria. It was opened in 1874, although numerous people who died prior to that date are buried there. Among
these are, for instance, Beethoven, 1827, Gluck, 1787, Mozart, 1791 and Schubert, 1828. Mozart's grave is a
commemorative grave only, for the precise location of his burial is unknown."

Beethoven 1770-1827

AGS Wi'89/90 p 26

AGS member Michael Cornish of Dorchester MA re-
cently sent the following letter to Sam Pennington,
editor of the Maine Antiques Digest, which was pub-
lished in the February 1990 issue:

DearlVlr. Pennington:

The advertisement on page 34-D of

January's Maine Antique Digest for a

"folksycast-irongate"evidences a disturb-
ing trend I have noticed at recent shows
featuring Americana, folk art, and architec-
tural fragments. These iron gates are from
cemetery plot enclosures, and the majority
have not been procured legally. Motifs
such as willows, lambs, and doves are
typical, with the family name and plot es-
tablishment date sand-cast in the design.
Cemetery gates are not, by any sane defi-
nition of the word, "folk art". Collectors with
aconscience should condemn items of this
nature from coming into the market.

Similarly, I have noticed other decorative
portions of monuments offered for sale,
among them the iron tassels from chain
swag plot fences and marble doves taken
from atop obelisks and urns. The latter are
identifiable by the sockets from bronze or
iron rods that held them in place.

There was a heated exchange of letters in
these pages some while back (see AGS
Newsletter, Fall 1985, p. 19-21) with re-
gard to collecting colonial gravestones, in
which I participated and do not wish to
revive, but I fear these less obvious ex-
amples of fragmentary sepulchral art are
escaping the same rightful stigma. I doubt
very much that satisfactory provenances
can be provided for merchandise stolen
from graveyards.

SILENT CITY on a HILL

Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount
Auburn Cemetery

by Blanche Linden-Ward

is now available from Ohio State University Press

180 Pressey Hall

1070CarmackRd.

Columbus OH 4321 0-1 002

400 pages, 324 illustrations, $49.50
ISBN 0-8142-0469-4

J/

WASHINGTON STATE DIRECTORY

The state of Washington's estimated 1 ,000 cemeteries
will soon be listed for the first lime in an unusual
directory. "I've been getting information from little old
ladies who've been crawling around on their hands and
knees in cemeteries for 25 years," says Judy Barnes,
who for the past five years has been computerizing
huge amounts of cemetery data. The state centennial
cemetery project began when Barnes was a clerical
workeratGreenacres Memorial Park, Ferndale, where
she also did part-time work for the State Cemetery
Board. "Often we'd get phone calls from people asking
if we knew where their mother or some other relative
was buried," says Barnes. "So my boss and I decided
that it would be nice to spend our spare time putting
together a directory."

The directory is a volunteer centennial project spon-
sored by the Washington Interment Association and the
Washington State Funeral Directors Association. Some
states, such as Oregon, have passed laws that man-
date such a state cemetery survey. (Oregon's law was
passed in 1 977, and carried out by the state's transpor-
tation department.) Coordinating the Washington proj-
ect is B. David Daly, president of Evergreen-Washelli
Cemeteries and chairman of the Washington State
Cemetery Board. He and Barnes are soliciting informa-
tion from sources including the state's funeral homes,
cemeteries and genealogical societies.

The state directory will list the various names of each
cemetery, its location, whether it's abandoned or active,
who has the records and control of the property, and
snippets of miscellaneous historical information to show
each cemetery's place in the community.

For more information, contact Judy Barnes at 384-
6492, or Carolyn Farnum, 1 6822 S.E. 2nd PI., Bellevue
WA 98008.

from the Seattle Times. August 15, 1989, sent by Margaret
Jenks, Richardson TX

A group of professional historians and interested citi-
zens have formed the Arlington National Cemetery
Historical Society. The group's goals are educating the
public on the historic significance of the cemetery and
the contributions of America's veterans as well as
raising funds for preservation activities. The group held
its first meeting in July, 1989. For more information,
contact the U.S. Capitol Historical Society at (202) 543-
8921.

sent by Anne G. Giesecke, Arlington VA
AGS Wi'89/90 p 27

LOGO IDEAS

The AGS Board is considering changing the AGS Newsletter masthead,
and, while they're at it, the AGS logo as well. The logo of any organization
is the symbol which identifies it to the world. There is some feeling that the
AGS logo, taken from the Elizabeth Smith stone, Williamstown MA 1 771 , no
longer clearly symbolizes the purpose and goals of AGS. It was chosen by
the membership in 1 977 to reflect the broad appeal of gravestone art. At that
time, they wanted an emblem that would not be tied to any location or period
of stone art. If you have any ideas for a new logo, or thoughts on how AGS
should be represented, please contact the AGS office!

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The
membership year begins on the date dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership en titles
the members to four issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership Is current.
Send membership fees (individual $20; institutional, $25; Family $30; contributing $30) to AGS Executive Director Rosalee
Oakley, 46 Plymouth Rd. NeedhamMA02192. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from Rosalee
Oakley. The goal of the Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning grave-
stones, and about the activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes
suggestions andshortcontributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intendedto serve as ajoumaL Journal articles should
besenttoTheodoreChase, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St., Dover
/W/4 02030. Address Newslettercontributions to Deborah Trask, editor. Nova Scotia hJluseum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova
Scotia, B3H3A6, Canada. Order Markers (Vol. 1 $18; Vol. 2, $16; Vol. 3, $14.75; Vol. 4, $14.75; Vol. 5, $18; higher prices
for non-members) from Rosalee Oakley. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road,
Way land MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Rosalee Oakley.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
46 Plymouth Rd.
Needham MA
02192

NON PROFIT ORG.

U. S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410
Worcester, fvlass.

NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 14 NUMBER 2 SPRING 1990 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

TEN DAYS IN SCOTLAND

a graveyard tour itinerary 2

STONES RETURNED!

two success stories from Vermont and New York City 6

Tale of a Churchyard Sleuth

by Michael Olmert 8

A Millstone Marks His Grave

by Helen Arbuckle 9

Tree Stones 10

Life and Death in the "research triangle" area of North Carolina

essay by Peggy Hull 1 1

EXHIBITS

Cemeteries of New Orleans - photos by Robert Wright 1 2

BOOKS 1 4

NEWS FROM OLD CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS 1 8

MEMBER NEWS 19

RESEARCH 2 0

History of Congressional Cemetery 2 1

Some Grave Understandings, by George Kackley 2 2

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 2 4

Ritchie stone, Lundie, Scotiand, 1 759, east face

TEN DAYS IN SCOTLAND

Want to go? Here is a gravestone tour of Scotland,
designed for Dan and Jessie Farber by Betty
Willsher, co-author of Stones, 18th Century
ScottistiGravestones(Nevj York: Taplinger, 1979)

Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth, 1 774

Last summer, when Betty Willsher was in the
United States to accept AGS's Harriette M. Forbes
Award, my husband and I discussed with her our
eagerness to see and photograph Scottish grave-
markers. As a result, Betty developed for us a 1 0-
day tour of Scotland designed to introduce us to her
country's early stones, and until recently it was
our intention to fly to Scotland this summer and
follow her suggested route.

Now we find we will not be able to make the trip.
This is a disappointment, as Scotland's early stones
are among the most interesting anywhere, and we
feel this custom-designed tour for gravestone
enthusiasts should not be wasted. Betty has
suggested that we share it, and so I am using
the Newsletteras a means of making the plans
available to AGS members.

The plan assumes arrival and departure at
Prestwick and pre-booking car rental and
bed-and-breakfast reservations. (Betty did
not recommend our looking for overnight
accomodations along the way.) Scotland's
weather is mild up to December, but good
sunlight is not dependable. She recommends
June through early September dates.

DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY

Day 1 : Early morning arrival at PRESWICK
(there will soon be international flights ar-
riving and departing from Glasgow) and rental car

pick-up there. Drive through GLASGOW on the
Glasgow Motorway, making a 2-hour stop to visit
the Burrell fvluseum (somewhat like the Gardner
Museum in Boston, in a wonderfully designed
building with a cafe in the park). On to St. Andrews
via the Kincardine Bridge Motorway; 1 1/2 - 2
hours. Relax the balance of that day in ST. AN-
DREWS.

St. Andrews, Fife, 17-?

Day 2: ST. ANDREWS. Fine 17th-century
stones at the cathedral, under shelter, and much
else to see in this small medieval city (where golf
was first played).

Day 3: Take A91 to Dundee and A92 and B962 to
KIRKTON ON MONIKIE (1 2 miles) wherethere
is a parish churchyard with mostly east-facing
stone carvings. Back on B962, cross A92 to
IWONIFIETH on the coast with a churchyard of
mostly west-facing carvings. Return to Dundee on
A930. There are photogenic sights in Dundee,

Kirl<ton of Monikie, Angus, 1 744

AGS Sp '90 p. 2

including Scott's "Discovery" in the dock by the
bridge and the ancient ship "Unicorn". (The tall
ship "Discovery" was built in Dundee tor Captain
Scott's expedition to the North Pole in 1912.) On
the way back to St. Andrews, if there is time, turn
off the main road onto B945 for a 3 mile swing
through TAYPORT for some good west-facers.
(One could stay the night in Dundee instead of
returning to St. Andrews, in which case you might
visit Tayport in the morning on your way Ifi
Dundee.

a few resurrection scenes.

Leaving Ivleigle, take A94 to GLAMIS, which has a
wonderful graveyard and is also the site of Glamis
Castle, the Queen Mother's old home and one of the
most interesting castles in Scotland. (A tour of the
Castle takes 3 / 4 of an hour, and there are tearooms
and shops.) Leave Glamis on A94 and drive to
PERTH, "the Fair City" (25 miles) for a two
night stay. Good restaurants.

Day 5: In the centre of PERTH visit Greyfriars
Burial Ground (open during office hours,
Monday through Friday), which has hundreds
of 18th-century stones, and an old monastery
garden. A mirror is needed for morning pho-
tography there. Then drive to KINNOULjust
overthe river. A key, available at the Council
Offices, High Street, Perth, must be obtained
to enter either Greyfriars or Kinnoul church-
yard. From Kinnoul, drive to OLD SCONE (2
miles). Permission is required to take a car
up into the graveyard, which is in the Scone
palace grounds. If the weather is poor for
gravestone study, one could, instead, take a
tour of the Palace and its art treasures.

Lundie, Angus, 1710

Day 4: From Dundee, take A923 (Coupar-Angus
Road), turning off it onto a country road to L U N -
DIE (8 miles). After visiting the churchyard in
Lundie, continue on to A927 through Newtyle to
MEIGLE. Vistithe Pictish stone museumwith its
very small and wonderful 7th-, 8th-, 9th, and
1 0th-century folk art stones. The graveyard has

Meigle, Perthshire, 1764

Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth, 1 778

Day 6: Drive from Perth south on M90 to E D -
INBURGH(1 1 /2 hours, maximum), stopping
on the way to see the lovely collection of stones
at CRAMOND, just outside Edinburgh. (The
Edinburgh International Festival is in prog-
ress for 3 weeks beginning mid-August.)
Greyfriars Burial Ground in EDINBURGHhas
^° a great 17th-century mural, and its grave-
'^ stones are the grand prototypes, the earliest
dated 1603. The prize yard is in TRANENT, 9
miles east of Edinburgh on A1. Excellent! You

AGS Sp '90 p. 3

Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth, 1 745

might want to stay the night there in one of the
places by the sea.

Day 7: Four miles south of Tranent on B6371 is
PENCAITLAND. After visiting the churchyard
there, take A68 south through Lauder and Earlston
to MELROSE ABBEY just off A68 on B6360 (23
miles); it is the finest of the ruined Scottish
abbeys. The museum has some good "green men:",
and there are 3 stones of interest in the church-
yard. Then take B6359 to BOWDEN (4 miles)
where there are about a dazen very good stones.
Then to the churhcyard in SELKIRK (4 miles) on
A699, with about 4 good stones.

the Queensbury family. From Durisdeer
continue south on A702 through Thornhill to
DALGARNOCK, where there are full figure
portrait stones. Then to AYR.

Days 9 & 10: in AYR see Ayr Auld Kirk with
its curios stones; then ALLOWAY on B0724
just outside Ayr; then KIRKMICHAEL, a
shrot drive south on B742. (In Kirkmichael
you must climb over a wall if the yard isn't
open.) Iftheweatherisbad, CulzeanCastleon
the coast nearby is worth a visit, but do
return to Kirkmichael. The Ayrshire yards
are a MUST. There are several more in a ten-
mile radius of Ayr; it would be a great pity to
miss any of them.

Day 1 1 : Leave Scotland from PRESTWICK.

Betty reminds us that Scottish stones are
usually carved on both sides and that a mirror
is therefore a great help in reflecting sun-

Xtti

If 1

Day 8: Lovely drive southwest on A708 to St. Mary
Loch; and through Moffat to A74 (22 miles); go
north on A74 to A702, then south on A702 to
DURISDEER with itw few fine stones and the
wonderful Durisdeer marbles, the monument to

The Faith Hope & Charity stone. Greyfriers, Perth. 1651

AGS Sp VO p. 4

light for viewing or ptiotographing the unlighted
side. A flash will help make a photo-record if there
is no sunlight. June, July and August are the best
months for good light'.

If anyone reading this decides to consider making
the trip, I believe Betty would be please to try to
help you, and with this in mind I shall include her
telephone number (dial 011-44-0334-73023;
at noon here is is 6 pm in Scotland). However, she
is a busy person, and I suggest you make inquiries
as specific as possible; and, unless she suggests
otherwise, that you refrain from asking her to
answer a letter.

A good map showing highway numbers is The Scot-
tish Touring Map, available for $8.95 in US book-
stores.

Even if you do not expect to travel to Scotland, it
seems appropriate to mention here that AGS
members who do not know the handsomely illus-
trated book. Stones, 18th Century Scottish
Gravestonesby Betty Willsher and Doreen Hunter,
will find it fascinating. It was published in 1979
by Taplinger, New York , and was most recently
available at Highly Specialized Promotions, 391
Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11217. The accom-
panying illustrations are from this publication.

OldCalton, Edinburgh, 1756

contributed by Jessie Lie Farber, Worcester MA.

Kirkton of Monikie, Angus, Scotland, 1 778

^ ENGLAND

AGSSp '90 p. 5

STONES RETURNED!
TWO SUCCESS STORIES

Long Search Results in Gravestones Going
Back IHome

by Charles Marchant, Townshend VT

More than once in my capacity as Secretary of the
Vermont Old Cemetery Association (VOCA) I have
been asked why a gravestone which is not in a
cemetery is in the particular place it is. Grave-
stones have a habit of showing up on people's
doorsteps, in their cellars as part of the floor, in
a foundation, a stone wall, and on and on. I have
investigated a gravestone counter top and also a
gravestone coffee table. In all of these cases there
was a duplicate markeror replacement stone in the
cemetery.

On several occasions I have been the visitor at a
house and have commented to the owners on how
nice their marble gravestone walk looks. If they
don't already know, they look at me in disbelief
until they go get a shovel or bar and turn the piece
over. I have never been wrong. What usually
happens next is a search to see where the stone
belongs. It has become a hobby and a challenge.

Sometime in the mid-70s one of my students
brought a rubbing to me telling me that it came
from a gravestone in a neighbor's backyard. The
rubbing looked interesting. Even though I was a
local cemetery commissioner, I wasn't into rub-
bings. For some reason I thought this stone was
part of a small private cemetery, and at the time
the town wasn't much involved with those.

them with the intention of finding their true home.
He agreed, and the two markers went to my yard.

My search began with a letter to David Watters of
AGS asking for help and ended with the return of the
stones to Freehold NJ, where they had come from.
The return wa completed in the fall of 1989.

One look at the stones in detail told me that they
didn't come from Townshend VT. They were much
earlier (1785) than any carved stone in the
Townshend area. They were of red sandstone — a
material not used for gravestones locally. Finally,
the carving was unlike anything around the area
where I live.

The search involved several people besides David.
AGS member Bob Drinkwater helped pin down that
the stones came from New Jersey. Joanne Nichols,
a genealogist from Brattleboro VT and a member of
VOCA, put a query in "Branches and Twigs" asking
for information about the Clayton family. The two
stones were for David and Esther Clayton. Mr.
James Bellartsof Hillsboro, Oregon, answeredthe
query and that pinned the stones down to Freehold.
Finally, with the help of New Jersey people in-
cluding Joe Wiswall, Elise Prayzich, Elizabeth
Bowman and Ivars Perterson, the stones were
returned.

I forgot about the rubbing until the Fall of 1983
when another student told me there were two
gravestones lying on the ground in a local
contractor's storage area. One was the stone I had
the rubbing of. By this time, the town, and myself,
were much more interested in documenting all the
local cemeteries. VOCA was also doing a state-wide
survey of all Vermont's cemeteries and this one
wasn't on my list.

What I discovered was not a cemetery, but two
stones piled behind a shed. The contractor said they
had been removed from a job. One had been a step
and the other was in afield. He brought them to his
shop area because he didn't think burying them
was the right thing to do. I asked him if I could take

For all intents and purposes, these stones were
"stolen" to save them from development. The
Freehold Township Historical Commission now
has the job of repairing one of the stones and
finding a suitable place for them. VOCA has done its
job.

I

umM

AGS Sp '90 p. 6

INSTEAD OF LOOKING FOR A LOST CHILD,
THE FIRST PRECINCT IN MANHATTAN IS
LOOKING FOR A FOUND CHILD'S HOME

In a new twist on an old story, Beverly Barone, of
the First Precinct, 16 Ericson PI, New York City,
was searching for the home of Orlando Kimble,
deceased 1866, aged 2, whose gravemarker was
left at the police station last October by a man who

claimed he found it in the street. Barone recog-
nized the historical value of the Victorian stone.

which is signed by its sculptor, J. Keeley, of Mt.
Holly, New Jersey. Aided by Lts. Heegan and
Dignon of the precinct, she waged a valiant battle
to keep the marker from being deposited in the
City's Lost Property Room, until she could find an
expert to examine it, and assist in returning it to
its real location.

Roberta Halporn, Director of the Center for Tha-
natology in Brooklyn (and a member of the AGS
Board), was called in to examine the piece, and
stated that it was a very fine example of a Victorian
marker, and that the efforts to locate the original
site could also provide information on a local
gravestone artist not previously known to her.

She called several colleagues, and AGS member Pat
Miller provided the name and address of Elizabeth
Marren Perinchief, a certified genealogist in Mt.
Holly. Perinchief has been able to identify Orlando's
family, the cemetery in which he should have been
interred, and has provided a vast amount of infor-
mation on the stonecutter, Jackson L. Keeley.

There is just one small mystery left. Ms. Per-
inchief informs us that there was no standing stone
for Orlando when the Burlington County Genea-
logical Club charted the cemetery in 1978. One
wonders where the little lost boy's stone has been
for more than twelve years.

contributed by Roberta Halporn, Brooklyn NY

'^i^

SAVE OUTDOOR SCULPTURE!

The estimated 50,000 outdoor sculptures in the
U.S. suffer from neglect, vandalism and environ-
mental pollution. Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!)
is a nationwide inventory of outdoor sculpture to
determine the number, location and condition of all
outdoor sculptures in the United States. At the
completion of this three-year project, data will be
added to a permanent, ongoing computerized data-
base of indoor and outdoor sculpture in the United
States. Municipal governments and civic and cul-
tural organizations will receive guidelines forthe
care and maintenance of their outdoor sculpture

andsuggestionstoinvolvetheircommunities. SOS!
is a joint project of the Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of American Art and the National
Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Prop-
erty. To add your name to the SOS! mailing list,
contact SOS!: National Institute for the Conserva-
tion of Cultural Property, 3299 K Street., Suite
403, Washington DC 20007; 202-625-1495;
FAX 202-625-1485.

from the Newsletter of the American Association of
Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, #185, May 1990,
sent by George Kackley, Baltimore MD.

AGS Sp '90 p. 7

TALE OF A CHURCHYARD SLEUTH

by Michael Olmert

Reproduced from ARCHAEOLOGY, March-April 1990.
(Contributed by Marjorie Fuller, Wellesley, MA.)

Schleimann I'm not. Nor am I Leakey, Petrie,
Woolley.oranyof therest. Indiana Jones? Hardly.
Still, what I did on my summer vacation put me
within hailing distance of their league.

I teach Shakespeare, but poetry was the last thing
on my mind in France last year. I was there to study
Romanesque architecture. What I came back with,
however, was a literary footnote, a few lines of
tiny six-point type that will appear on, say, page
70 of every edition of Romeo andJuliet even to the
edge of doom.

It all started one afternoon in a tiny village church-
yard near Poitiers, at a crossroads hamlet called
Fenioux along the pilgrim road from Paris to
Compostella, Spain. The twelfth-century Roman-
esque church was interesting enough, but my at-
tention was drawn to the adjacent cemetery with a
narrow, 35-foot-high, limestone tower in the
middle of it. Bees and midges darted in front of my
face as I made my way through the weedy and
overgrown churchyard toward the tower. Accord-
ing to my Blue Guide, the structure was a lanterne
desmorts, a lantern of the dead. It loomed over the
cemetery like some misplaced minaret. Atinydoor
at its base led to a dank and dreary cavity inside.
There was just enough room for me to squeeze
myself up a stairway to the top. From the pinnacle
I could look out over the countryside, and down the
narrow roadway toward Compostella, along which
centuriesofpilgrimsonce trudged. Inturn, Icould
be seen from the road. Then it occurred to me: a
lanterne des morts is like a bell tower, except that
it's silent. It illumines the way from church to
final resting place. Funerals took place at night.
The Latin funus and funebris have to do with dark
and forbidding processions led by torchlight. So
the light acted not only as memento mori, it con-
soled the living as well.

Up in the lantern, however, no light switched on
inside my head. That happened two months later in
my Shakespeare class. Then lux facta est. Surely,
I reckoned, my old Fenioux tower must have been
the sort of lantern Shakespeare had in mind in
Romeo and Juliet (V.iii. 83-84):

/'// bury tfiee in a triumphant grave.

A grave? Oh no, a lantern, slaughtered youth.

Romeo says this in a cemetery, just after he's
killed the unfortunate County Paris, a man who
was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Oddly enough, every edition of the play that glosses
"lantern" does so as if it were an architectural
lantern atop a building, designed to let air and light
into the upper floors. Even the brand new Oxford
Complete Works interprets lantern as a "win-
dow-turret." We're familiar with these in Amer-
ica as the cupolas on Tidewater of Palladian build-
ings. But that can't be the right reading. Romeo
feels so sorry for Paris' death that he'll build him
not just an ordinary grave, but a lanterne des
morts. He's talking gravemarkers. The one at
Fenioux soars over the churchyard, just the way
Romeo would havewantedCounty Pariscommemo-
rated.

Romanesque lanterns were common enough to have
been known by Shakespeare and his contemporar-
ies. (They were not, apparently, constructed in
England.) In 1970, roughly a hundred lanterns
were still standing in France, Germany, and Aus-
tria, and some few remain in Switzerland, Eastern
Europe, and Italy — yes, the land of Romeo and
Juliet. Such towers would still have been the most
imposing monuments in any Renaissance ceme-
tery, occupying venerable and holy spots often
associated with the graves of local saints.

ForShakespearians, it would appearthe old archi-
tectural interpretation of lantern should be dropped
(it's been with us since George Steevens's 1773
edition of the plays). The scene, after all, is in a
cemetery. Question is, why did that senseless
rooftop lantern hang around so long? Probably
because we are familiar with only two kinds of
lantern. Since this clearly wasn't the kind Dio-
genes used to find an honest man, it must have been
the kind that sits on a building. End of discussion.

If Shakespeare had written "Oh no, a pyramid,
slaughtered youth," there would have been a mad
scramble to get to the bottom of it all. As someone
(not Shakespeare) said: "It's not what you don't
know that hurts. It's what you know that ain't so!"

Michael Olmert teaches at the University of Mary-
land and wrote the Guidebook to Colonial Wil-
liamsburg.

AGS Sp '90 p. 8

A MILLSTONE MARKS HIS GRAVE

by Helen Arbuckle

On a grave in Oak Hill Memorial Park, San Jose,
California, the state's oldest secular cemetery in
constant use since 1839, stands a granite mill-
stone inscribed:

STEPHEN HOBSON

Dec. 5, 1800

June 18, 1885

THIS STONE USED BY

STEPHEN HOBSON

IN YADKIN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

FROM 1820 TO 1870

It was placed there in the early 1940s by the
youngest of Stephen Hobson's ten children, Ivan
Benbow Hobson, who found it while on a visit to the
old home in North Carolina, lying near the mill
site, useless and forgotten. It occurred to him to
have it converted to a monument for his father's
grave. With family approval, the stone was shipped
to California, inscribed, and placed in position.

It is unique in that it is the only one of its kind in
Oak Hill, and probably in any other California
cemetery. Yet, on the eastern seaboard in colonial
days, the use of millstones as gravestones, "for an
unfortunate miller 'killled at his mill'," was
fairly common. Millstones involved in a fatal
accident were considered unlucky and often retired
from milling.

Antiquarians have uncovered millstones dated as
early as 1636, which were used as cornerstones
forfarm buildings in Massachusetts and Connecti-
cut. Many discarded millstones have ended up as
stepping stones.

Millstones in literature and Scripture symbolize
exceptional traits of character but, in milling
parlance, "hard as a piece of the nether millstone"
refers to the bed stone or stationary block against
which the millstone turned.

Patterns or dresses were cut into the grinding
surface of both stones and varied according to the
product being ground. The pattern, identical in
both stones, consisted of furrows extending from
off-center to the outer edge, so that a shearing
effect was obtained when the stone was in motion.
Millstone dressing was usually done by itinerant
craftsmen with a knowledge of stone-cutting and

milling. To dress a pair of stones required two or
three days.

In 1632, five Hobson brothers came to America
from England. Their progeny spread southward,
between 1725 and 1775, from New England,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey into Virginia and
the Carolinas in search of religious tolerance for
themselves in the Society of Friends.

About 1 820, Stephen Hobson acquired some 8,000
acres of land in Yadkin and Surry Counties in
northwestern North Carolina, which included iron
mines, sawmills, grist mills, and good farmland.
Plantation life to the south and east of him was
geared to slave labor. As a Quaker, Hobson found it
difficult to reconcile his beliefs with prevailing
customs. To maintain his integrity, he employed
only free men, buying slaves he thought were being
mistreated and paying them to work for him.

Such practice made him great difficulties with the
Confederate government when the War between the
States came on. He was even charged with treason
and sentenced to hang. The sentence was commuted,
as the Confederacy needed the iron from his mines.
During the whole Civil conflict his ironworks ran
day and night. After the war he turned his back on
tensions, sold his holdings for a fraction of their
worth, and moved to Indiana.

By now his family had increased considerably. He
had married four times, first to Miss Mary Bond,
subsequently to widows with children. Altogether,
including his own, Stephen had the responsibility
of 23 children.

Not finding Indiana to his liking, he moved to
California in 1873. His eldest son, David, had
joined the Gold Rush in 1850, and invested his
findings in farmland in Santa Clara County. Stephen
bought land adjoining David's property; there he
lived and farmed until his death.

Though Stephen Hobson never engaged in milling in
California, his headstone symbolizes an era when
east-west personal ties were very close, and speaks
for the thousands of "everyday" men, strong in
character, resolute in faith, and capable in achieve-
ment, whom destiny chose to populate the new and
shining West.

From THE SPINNING WHEEL, July-August 1966,
sent by Ton! Cook of Soutti Bend IN.

AGS Sp '90 p. 9

Frankfort IN Times- April 7, 1975. This article
appeared in a regular column "The Hoosier Farm
Wife Says:" by Mrs. R. F. D., pen name for Mrs.
Rachel Peden who is now deceased.

STONE CARVERS
MONUMENTS

DEVISED TREE-LIKE

"They were all mechanics and dreamers and in-
ventors" said 86-year old Erskin Hoadley with a
gentle smile. His hair is white, silken and sparse;
his blue-grey eyes are kind, showing flashes of
humor or even anger at times; his voice is firm,
young-sounding and pleasant to listen to. He was
telling the story of his grandfather and great uncle,
and of his father and three brothers whose monu-
ment shop in Gosport produced the gravestones
representing tree stumps. In Erskin, these same
family characteristics cropped out in architec-
ture and machine-improvement. By profession he
was an engineer.

William and John Hoadley, in England, were ap-
prentice machinists and not satisfied. They came
to America and for a while stayed in New Orleans
making steamboats. Then they came to Indiana to a
little place called [Mt. Tabor] that was on the verge
of becoming a thriving town. The brothers had a
sawmill and grist mill there, separated by a dam.
"They cut logs all over the valley and floated them
down to the sawmill," said Erskin. "They hauled
logs from the other side on carts pulled by four
oxen. Eventually they married local girls and each
man had a big family."

William's sons were: William (who became
Erskin'sfather), Cyrus, Sylvester, Claude and Ed.
His daughter Maggie married James Goss of nearby
Gosport.

As steam mills began to compete, the Hoadley mill
business dwindled. Also when the railroad was
built through Stinesville instead of Taber, that
ended [Mt. Tabor's] prosperity. From their mill
the Hoadleys had hauled lumber enough, on horse-
drawn log wagons, to build three houses in Gosport.
The elder William and his wife and unmarried sons
lived in one, which Erskin calls "the home place."
When John Hoadley started a stone mill in nearby
Stinesville, William Hoadley was its superinten-
dent. From this mill, which eventually burned,
came the stone for the Soldiers' and Sailors'
Monument in Indianapolis. John and his family
moved to another stone area. William's branch
bought Clayt Dyer's monument shop in Gosport,

then began the stump gravestone business. Having
been lumbermen they knew wood and appreciated
the beauty of trees and so chose the stump as a
design for honoring the dead.

Erskin said, smiling, "My father was the only
brotherwith sales ability. He soldthe monuments.
He was also an artist. When he sold a monument he
learned the individual habits and characteristics
of the person, so he could add special, expressive
touches to the decorations." (Such as the spinning
wheel and stack of books to one; the closely en-
twined vines on another for a notably devoted
couple; the bread-giving hand on the stone for a
markedly generous person.)

"Syl was the best carver," said Erskin. "He
particularly liked to carve birds." He added,
smiling, "A stone carver is just a stonecutter with
an education." Syl was also an inventor. His self-
computing scale, patented in July 1990, was
manufactured and sold by the brothers for several
years. Erskin has one in his basement. Stones for
the stump monuments came, in 3-ton chunks,
hauled on horse-drawn log-wagons, from Big Creek
quarry. They were taken to the cemeteries for
placing by the same means and young Erskin often
went along. "I got so a cemetery has no dread for
me," he said. The brothers didn't make a lot of
money from the monuments. "That's what gave
them pleasure, creating something," explained
Erskin. "It didn't take much to live then. They had
grapevines and gooseberries. They had a garden, a
cow, two or three pigs. One year my father's
income was $300." He paused, then added quietly,
"We lived on it."

The four brothers (Cyrus didn't like stone work
and had gone to Indianapolis to work) worked
harmoniously. When time came to settle up there
was no argument, nor in fact even any comparison
of accounts. In away, therefore, the stump grave-
stones are also a monument to a family of pioneer
stone men who worked creatively and happily
together. — Mrs. R. F. D.

Sent by Billy A. Stillwell, Stillwell Monumental Sales,
Frankfort, IN

Notefrom Warren E. Roberts, Bloomlngton IN: — "Notice
that she uses the term "stump" In referring to the
monuments because they are always called "tree-
stump" gravestones by the people who made them and
for whom they were made. This is reason enough for
me to call them the same." Dr. Roberts has collected
more information about the Hoadley brothers and
photographs of the stones they carved which will be
included in his forthcoming book, now in progress.

AGS Sp '90 p. 10

AGS member Mary L. Dexter, of Carrboro NC, sent an item from a weekly newspaper from ttie
"triangle" area of North Carolina — Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. RTP is the Research Triangle
Park, "an area surrounded somewhat by the three cities and their various universities. Large national
and international companies have their 'think-tank' complexes located here and draw on university
brain trust and facilities in the area. " Mary writes that this is "one of those articles that you read and
then read again put it down and days later read it again".

RTP: LIFE AND DEATH

by Peggy F. Hull

The building I work in is one of those new ones on
the edge of Research Triangle Park. It's a box of
gleaming glass and brick, surrounded by neat
plantings with pine straw spread aroundthem, and
of course, BMWs and Saabs in the reserved parking
spaces nearest to the front door. Everything is
climate-controlled and all the windows are sealed
forever shut, so the only breezes we feel are blown
from vents in the ceilings.

Since we moved into the building, I have been
intending to take brisk walks during my lunch
hour. But I found it hard to get into the habit of
walking, until I discovered the cemetery. I found
the cemetery behind a construction site. It's
actually in the middle of a parking lot, on a little
hill between two banks of cars. There are only four
gravestones and a few trees. I climbed up to see it
closer and read the tombstone on the left:

Nettie Mae

wife of CB Green

July 28, 1877

Aug 28 1907

Sfie was the sunshine

of our home.

Then my eye went to the smaller one next to it, and
I think I knew what it was before I read it:

John p.

Son of CB Green and NM Green

Aug 14, 1907

Sept 15, 1907

Our loved one.

My heart sank as I realized that Nettie, 30 years
old, died two weeks after giving birth to her son.

who died two weeks later. Did she she labor long on
a hot August evening, on a bed in the front room?
Was a granny midwife there to help? Was a doctor
fetched, coming on horseback from Durham or
Chapel Hill, with a black bag in hand? My thoughts
ran inevitably to my own childbirth experiences:
the white hospital sheets, the stirrups and the
gowns, the doctors and the nurses and the interns,
the fetal monitors, the ultrasound and the antibi-
otics.

Irrepressible images swirled in my head: ourtiny
baby in a plastic isolette, with tubes from her nose
and mouth, surrounded by machines. Our Sally,
who lived only four now-hazy days. At least little
John was surely held and rocked and sung to by his
family during his short life. The only time we were
able to hold Sally was when it was all over and her
tiny body was disconnected from the machines at
last. Fortunately, I found a crumpled kleenex at
the bottom of a pocket. Usually I manage to avoid
these outpourings by staying away from baby
showers and the baby products aisles of super-
markets.

I feel a strange kinship with these people who lie
here surrounded by this parking lot. There aren't
many people these days who share my experience
with infant death, who know this ache that never
goes away. When I go for walks by the cemetery
now I no longer feel overwhelmed by my sad events.
In fact, it's kind of nice to think about these pals
sleeping beside the gleaming new office building. It
gives a new meaning to my lunchtime walks, and
when I come back to my building and the phones are
ringing and the computers humming, I am sure
once again what's important and what is not.

AGS Sp '90 p. 11

THE CEMETERIES OF NEW ORLEANS

essay and photographs by Robert A. Wright, Madi-
son Wl, from an exhibition at the UWM Art Mu-
seum, University of Wisconsin-Milwaul<ee, March
21-May 20, 1990

The funerary art and
architecture of New Or-
leans is more diverse than
anywhere in America. Be-
cause the water table is
very close to the surface,
below-ground burials are
not possible there. So, for
two hundred years, all
interments inthe city have
taken place in above-
ground tombs, many of
which are elaborate and
interesting.

In 1986 I made my first
trip to New Orleans spe-
cifically to photograph the
cemeteries. I subsequently
made three consecutive
annual trips: in 1987,
1988 and 1989. Although
Louisiana photographers
have often depicted these
extraordinary cemeteries,
I believe I viewed them
with a fresh perspective
since I am not a local resi-
dent.

I first became aware of
these remarkable places in
1976. During my studies
as an art major at Kenyon
College in Ohio, I discov-
ered the book, Clarence John Laughlin: The per-
sonal Eye, an Aperture monograph published three
years earlier. The range of subject matter in this
book, loosely defined as Americana, is widely varied.
Although many of the images are evocative, the
photographs Laughlin made in cemeteries during
the 1940s and 1950s especially captured my
attention. The compelling frontispiece image,
"The Unending Stream" (1941) presented a
hauntingly beautiful scene that was unlike any-
thing I had ever seen. A number of photographs in
this exhibition were made in that same cemetery,
Cypress Grove.

Cypress Grove, 1987

In 1979 I had the opportunity to visit New Orleans
for a family vacation. During my brief stay as a
tourist, I shot one roll of 35mm film in an easily
accessible cemetery. Although I realized Laughlin
lived on Jackson Square, I was too timid to call on
him. Two years later, as a graduate photography
student at the University of Oregon, I found myself
unexpectedly writing a paper about Laughlin to
fulfill the requirements for an art criticism
seminar. Clearly, his work was etched into my
visual memory.

AGS Sp '90 p. 12

After my resettlement to the Midwest in 1983, I
became seriously engaged in phiotographing ceme-
teries. A teacher had provided me with a name of
another photographer who had a similar passion. I
wrote to Harold Allen in Chicago. Luckily for me,
Allen turned out to be a widely respected retired
photography professor who had taught many years
at the School of the Art Institute. Since demands on
his time were not extreme after his retirement, he
graciously offered
to become my men-
tor. My photo-
graphic abilities
improved greatly
under his guidance.
He also encouraged
me to photograph
the unparalleled
wealth of funerary
art and architec-
ture in New Or-
leans, because he
had traveled there
several years ear-
lier to photograph
glorious Egyptian
tombs for his own
monumental ar-
chive, and he knew
other riches

awaited me.

The skills I learned
from Allen

strengthened my
devotional passion
to photograph
cemeteries. 1 em- '
barked by car on an
exciting solo jour-
ney to the "Cres-
cent City" with a

road atlas and my 4x5 camera gear, bursting with
enthusiasm. It was 1986, a decade after I had first
seen Laughlin's cemetery photographs. He had died
the previous year, so sadly, I never did meet him.
My original intention was to document aestheti-
cally significant tombs and statues which are pre-
cariously unstable because of their accelerating
deterioration. However, I soon began to explore
visually my intense personal response to the ceme-
teries. To me, they represent much more than just

a material repository of that city's culture. Rather,
I believe the cemeteries of New Orleans superbly
express the universal human longing to transcend
mortality.

Fortunately, artists produce work that reflect
their own personality. At the beginning of the
project I was overly concerned that my vision
would mirror Laughlin's and Allen's work. This

fear proved unneces-
sary. Once inside the
cemeteries, my pho-
tography became di-
rected by my own
unique vision. 1
quickly discovered 1
could not duplicate
theirwork even if that
had been my purpose.
However, 1 want to
gratefully acknowl-
edge the role each of
these two photogra-
phers has had on my
artistic development.

The exhibit at the
University of Wis-
consin-Milwaukee
Art Museum this
Spring was a repre-
sentative sample of
the many hundreds of
4x5 negatives 1 made
during the last four
years. After careful
editing, this archive
will yield a substan-
tial body of work that
1 want to publish as a
book.

Metairie, 1989

Robert A. Wright is a frequent contributor to the
AGS Newsletter, and to Stone in America, the beau-
tiful, glossy, monthly magazine of the American
Monument Association.

AGS Sp '90 p. 13

BOOKS

CEMETERIES OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY,

ILLINOIS

A Location Guide with Plat Maps

compiled by Fonda D. Baselt and Josephine F.
Moeller; available from Fonda D. Baselt, 707 Park
Lane Drive, Champaign IL 61820, $12.50 plus
$1.00 postage and handling (Illinois residents add
6% sales tax).

a review by Jim Jewell, Illinois Valley Commu-
nity College

A visit to the Champaign County in Illinois would
make an interesting stop on any travels in the
Midwest. The University of Illinois, one of
Academia's more prestigious institutions, is lo-
cated there; and there is always something going on
at one of the many auditoriums at its Krannert
Center for the Performing Arts. Lake of the Woods
County Park is nearthe county's west border. The
award-winning Centennial Theatre Company usu-
ally has productions going on. And, there are one
hundred and eleven cemeteries in the county's
thirty townships!

The cemeteries on Highways 57, 72 and 74 as well
as those on State Roads 10 and 130 are easy to
locate; but those on some of the back roads and side
streets are often less obvious. Therefore, the
gravestone enthusiast would be wise to have a copy
of Cemeteries of Champaign County. Illinois along
for the trip. Fonda D. Baselt and Josephine F.
Moeller have compiled a useful location guide
complete with plat maps.

The book begins with a county map that has rather
small lettering and road numbering, but each of the
township maps is easily readible. The townships
are alphabetically arranged; and all thirty are
included, even the three — Raymond, Scott and City
of Champaign — that have no cemeteries within
their boundaries. Historical data, including deed
information, transcription dates, and earliest
interments are included in each description.

Layout maps of each cemetery are also included,
but these will be useful only if the visitor knows
where he is and who he is looking for. Visitors who
find something interesting on a day, say, when they

forgot their camera or had bad weather could mark
the location on the plat maps for future reference.
These do give a good idea of the sizes of the ceme-
teries, and give better indications of size and shape
in the larger, newer cemeteries.

There are photographs of al least one cemetery
from each township, usually a long shot including
the entrance and sign. I would have preferred
photographs of the cemeteries' more interesting
stones, but since the book is geared for genealogists
and historians, this is a minor criticism. The
photographs did not always copy well; but some are
quite nice, expecially the striking Mattingly stone
with an angel on a cross in Champaign Township's
St. Mary's Cemetery and the lovely Greek columns
at the entrance to Woodlawn in Urbania Township.

The authors also include known former burial
sites in the county, many on private property, and
give information on reburials. These references
provide historical data of the area. Many of these
sections include genealogical data of the families.

One interesting cemetery included is the Homer
G.A.R. Cemetery in South Homer Township. The
authors state that "this is the only G.A.R. cemetery
in the state and probably. ..in the United States
which is operated by an American Legion Post." An
impressive Civil War statue dominates the ceme-
tery, and it appears to be a stopping place any Civil
War buff would enjoy.

The book includes informative sections on ceme-
tery research tips, a check-list for research,
cemetery record forms, and a bibliography for
Champaign County research. This is a volume of
primary interest to Illinois researchers, and
possibly other midwestern cemtery visitors. But
it is a good volume for others to emulate. If other
counties in other states provided such a volume, we
could have a national network of guides, which
would make our AGS endeavors easier, and save
time as well!

AGS Sp '90 p. 14

Silent City on a Hill, Landscapes of Memory and
Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery
by Blanche Linden-Ward

Ohio State University Press, 1989; hard cover
$49.50

Silent City on a Hill, Landscapes of Memory and
Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery by Blanche
Linden-Ward is a richly illustrated history of the
founding and early development of Mount Auburn
Cemetery, the nation's first rural cemetery, and
of the intellectual, social and aesthetic movements
from which it sprang. The author examines the
role of the rural cemetery movement in the United
States and its effect on the growth of landscapes up
and down the eastern seaboard during the late 19th
century. Linden-Ward looks back to England and
France and explores the ideas lying behind both a
new way of commemorating the dead and the crea-
tion of quasi-public open spaces for the living.
Hundreds of black and white illustrations accom-
pany the text, including historic engravings,
contemporary photographs of Mount Auburn and
photographs of related sites around the world.

from the Newsletter of the American Association of
Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, #185, May 1990,
sent by George Kackley, Baltimore MD.

Edgar County IL Genealogical Records
Available

Mrs. A. Joyce Brown of Brocton, IL has written
indicating publications of burial records which
are available from her and from the Edgar County,
Illinois, Genealogical Society. She has for sale a
book on the Edgar Cemetery compiled from origi-
nal burial records, not tombstones, an index to
Edgar County estates and wills (1823-1963),
and an index to Edgar County miscellaneous pro-
bate records (1823-1963). The Edgar County
Genealogical Society has for sale records of Cook's
Funeral Home (1892-1902), Edgar County
marriages (1823-1877), and Prairie Township
Chapel Cemetery. Mrs. Brown will do genealogical
research in Edgar, Clark, Coles, Douglas Counties,
Illinois and/or Vigo County, Indiana. For more
information, send a SASE to Mrs. A. Joyce Brown,
RR1, Box 165, Brocton, IL 61917, tel. 217/
884-2277.

DATA DICTIONARY AVAILABLE

The Nova Scotia Museum has developed a guide and
standards for the computer entry and use of data in
a graveyard inventory. Use of this dictionary by
those intending to establish newgraveyard inven-
tories, will aid in understanding the database and
ensure that the graveyard information is main-
tained in a standard and consistent form. The field
definitions have been constructed such that these
fields could be used for any cemetery or graveyard
related inventory. The fields used in this inven-
tory and their corresponding field definitions are
based on standards set by the Canadian Heritage
Information Network (CHIN).

In 1984, Deborah Trask, of the Nova Scotia Mu-
seum staff, adapted the "individual marker record
card" explained in the AGS publication Markers I
("Recording Cemetery Data" by F. Joanne Baker
and Daniel Farber, field tested by Anne Giesecke),
for one cemetery recording project. This was later
refined for typical Nova Scotia cemeteries, and is
currently in use in recording projects around the
province organized through county historical or
genealogical societies. Now these groups want to
computerize their data, and so the NS Museum has
developed this Inventory Guide and Data Diction-
ary.

The database structure defined in the data diction-
ary provides a comprehensive system for the
recording of graveyard inventory information.
Graveyard inventories can be developed using all
or only a portion of the defined fields. In this way,
a database system can be custom tailored to fit the
requirements of individual institutions. Most
commercially available computerized database
management systems (DBMS's) will allow easy
development of the fields described in this guide
and permit the data type and indexing require-
ments specified. The index classes assigned have
been chosen based on which fields are most likely
to be frequently searched in routine use of a
graveyard inventory.

For more information, contact:

Paul Collins

Registrar

Nova Scotia Museum

1747 Summer St.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

B3H 3A6

Canada

(902) 429-4610.

X

1

/taaaaa^

AGS Sp '90 p. 15

THE FAIRFAX COUNTY CEMETERY
INVENTORY

by Estella K. Bryans-Munson

Walking through the woods on a sunny afternoon,
you stumble upon a small collection of grave stones
nestled amongst the trees. You wonder if any one
else knows that this cemetery exists. Upon re-
turning home, you call the library in search of
further information. This is your lucky day,
because one of the best sources for information
about Fairfax County cemeteries is Brian Conley,
a librarian in the Virginia Room of the Fairfax City
Regional Library. Since 1986, he has informally
been keeping an inventory of cemeteries in the
county, the purpose of the inventoryis to preserve
the historical record which cemeteries represent.
When he began to keep the inventory, there were
174 known cemeteries in Fairfax County. As of
February 1989, the total had jumped to 266. The
increase in the number of known cemeteries has
resulted largely from citizen reports.

Interest in local cemeteries is not a new phenome-
non. In the 1920s, Carrie White Avery surveyed
cemeteries in various southern states. Two of her
four notebooks, now at the Library of Congress,
deal exclusively with Virginia, and one of these
includes a section on Fairfax county. In 1977,
Jane Kirkpatrick Wall surveyed a total of ninety-
four Fairfax cemeteries. Finally, in 1986 Terry
Middleton, then an intern at the Heritage Re-
sources Branch, used information from the inven-
tory to create a database to assist Heritage Re-
sources staff with land use planning.

Wall's 1977 survey forms the core of the ceme-
tery inventory. Additional sites have been located
through the examination of county tax maps and
U.S. Geological Survey maps, local histories, the
Virginia Historic Landmarks Inventory, and the
1936 Historic American Buildings Survey. Ar-
chaeologists from the Heritage Resources Branch
of the Fairfax County Office of Comprehensive
Planning have located about fifty additional ceme-
teries.

What happens when a cemetery is located and
reported? First, the report is checked against the
list of inventoried sites. If the cemetery is already
listed, information on file about it is shared with
the informant. If the cemetery is not on the
inventory, Conley records any information which
the informant can provide. The location of the

cemetery is especially important.

For each cemetery on the inventory, a file is
created, the ideal file would contain the precise
location of the cemetery on the County quad map, a
description of the location, the name of the ceme-
tery (if known), a description of the cemetery, an
inventory of al known graves in the cemetery, a
brief history of it, a chain of title for the land, the
name of the person who first reported the site,
copies of any published references to the site, and
photographs of the cemetery. The Heritage Re-
sources database is also updated with this infor-
mation. Unfortunately, few files of this caliber
actually exist.

Whenever possible, field surveys of newly re-
ported cemeteries are conducted. This allows
Conley to determine whether or not the reported
location is correct, to record the condition of the
site, to record information from grave markers,
and to photograph the site. Conley prefers to
survey in the fall and winter, when defoliation of
deciduous trees and seasonal die-back of ground
cover allows better access to sites. Such seasonal
conditions also make it easier to assess the condi-
tion of a cemetery, as some features (broken grave
stones lying flat on the ground, for example) are
more easily located with less vegetation present.
In some cases, survey reveals that the site is
actually much larger than reported, as only a
small portion of the site was visible at the time of
"discovery." Size differences usually are the
result of the presence of unmarked graves.

The size and location of cemeteries, as well as any
inscriptions on grave markers within a given
cemetery are especially important to historians
and anthropologists because of the information
they can relate about local populations. Marker
inscriptions contain a variety of information that
is useful to both genealogists and historians. This
information ranges from simple names and dates to
more complex narrations of family connections,
major accomplishments of the deceased, and brief
inspirational messages. Location and size of ceme-
teries can tell us when and where various families
were living in Fairfax County, and can also tell us
how those families interacted within a specific
area of the country. This information is essential
to genealogists and helps us to understand social
relationships and community interactions. Within
cemeteries, the condition of grave markers can
tell us about the economic position of families over
time. For example, a cemetery with a large central

AGS Sp '90 p. 16

marker surrounded by a number of individual
markers, such as the Talieffaro Cemetery, is an
indication of greater wealth than a cemetery where
the graves are either unmarked or marked simply
by pieces of field stone. Changes to family fortunes
over time may be indicated by the condition of the
markers, such as those at the Mason Cemetery at
Gunston Hall Plantation. The layout of cemeteries
and the orientation of graves within a cemetery
often reflects our religious and cultural heritage.
A cemetery which is well maintained is generally
indicative of the continued presence of family
members within the community, while a cemetery
which is abandoned may indicate the disappearance
or financial decline of that family.

limits his or her activity to breaking, uprooting,
and scattering grave markers. The second group
does that and more. The line between relic hunting
and grave robbing is an extremely fine one. Re-
gardless of what the activity is called, the Code of
Virginia (Title 18, sections 2-125 through 2-
127) classifies "violation of a sepulcure" as a
class four felony, "trespass at night upon a ceme-
tery" as a class four midemeanor, and "injuries to
cemeteries, burial grounds, etc." as a class one
misdemeanor. Unfortunately, the state code is
difficult to enforce since the "willful intent" of
the offender must be demonstrated. This is a
problem which will grow along with pressures to
develop Fairfax County.

Conley is especially concerned about the recent
increase of vancalism and willful destruction of
cemeteries in Fairfax County. Cemeteries are
non-renewable resources, and once disturbed,
lose the potential to educate or serve as community
landmarks. The case of the Saint Timothy's ceme-
tery, as reported in the CentreView newspaper is
but one example. Although weather and time take
their toll on cemeteries, especially when graves
are marked with soft stones such as marble or
sandstone or with perishable materials such as
wood, the main agent of cemetery destruction is
people. Generally, cemetery vandals seem to fall

into two groups; those who vandalize for "fun,"
and those who are unscrupulous souvenir and/or
relic hunters. The first sort of vandal usually

As a citizen, you can take an active part in combat-
ting ignorance and increasing our knowledge of
local history. Several local historical societies,
including the Fairfax Genealogical Society and the
Historic Centreville Society, are currently sur-
veying county cemeteries. Finally, if you know of
a cemetery that should be placerd on the cemetery
inventory, you can help by contacting Brian Con-
ley at (703) 246-2123.

FAIRFAX CHRONICLES, Vol. XII, No. 4, 1989, A
history, archaeology and preservation newsletter
published by the Heritage Resources Branch of the
Office of Comprehensive Planning, Fairfax County,
VA. The author is a historian with the Heritage
Resources Branch.

Brian A. Conley, Librarian at the Fairfax City Regional Library, Fairfax, VA, and AGS member, has sent
two items for the Archives. One is the draft of a Guide to the Cemeteries of Fairfax, Arlington and Al-
exandria, Virginia. This is scheduled to be published by the end of 1 990. The other is Senate Document
No. 31 , "The Problems of Small Community Family-Type Cemeteries," a report of the Department of
Historic Resources to the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia.

THE BORN LOSER

Jl COOLQk L£T(a4AIM
OMA600PPEAL6<©^

AGS Sp -90 p. 17

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© (L© ©

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MOCA Publishes Update of Maine Cemetery
Laws

The Maine Old Cemetery Association has published a
six-page paper describing some of the state laws
pertaining to cemeteries in Maine. These are current,
having been revised as of April 12, 1990. Major
headings pertain to maintenance and repair of burying
grounds, their protection and preservation, the use of
unoccupied interment spaces, burglary and criminal
trespass, desecration and defacement, illegal posses-
sion or sale of gravestones, sentences of imprison-
ment, and fines.

Additional sub-chapters are listed which deal with
some general provisions for burying grounds, opera-
tion of public cemeteries, and the supervision of
mausoleums and vaults.

For a copy, send a self addressed, stamped envelope to
MOCA President Otto W. Siebert, PO Box 823, Au-
gusta, ME 04332-0823.

FRIENDS OF ABANDONED CEMETERIES OF
STATEN ISLAND RECEIVE GRANT

Last year F. A. C.S.I, received a monetary grant from
the Staten Island Council on the Arts, Inc. to document
early gravestones that have lost their inscriptions to
erosion or vandalism. The work has been carried out
during the past year and now nears its conclusion.

Their goal was to photograph approximately 700 early
gravestones and to mount the prints into hard cover
books. A 1923 work done by local historians who
copied all gravestone inscriptions in cemeteries they
feared threatened provided the illegible inscriptions
from the photographed stones. Each inscription has
been mounted with its proper photograph, thereby
providing full data for the researcher. Since the entire
work is indexed, it is possible for any person attempt-
ing to locate a particular gravestone will not only be
able to recognize that stone in its present state but will
have the inscription in hand.

Marge Johnson and Fred Crane located, identified and
photographed well over 1,100 eighteenth and nine-
teenth century white marble and brownstone grave-
stones in ten abandoned and operating cemeteries.
Janis Kiernan has typed the inscriptions for each. The
book is nearly completed and will soon be available.
For more information write F. A. C.S.I, 140 Tysen
Street, Staten Island, NY 10301.

Fromthe F. A. C.S.I. Newsletter, Vol. 7, No. 1 , Jan-Mar
1990. Several AGS members belong to FACSI.

PROJECT TO LIST RECORDED CEMETERIES

New member Martha Reamy, previously from Mary-
land and now from Waipahu, Hawaii is launching a
cemetery project which she would like to publicize and
issue an invitation to AGS members to assist.

The purpose of this project is to document, in the form
of a bibliography, the U.S. cemeteries which have had
their gravestone inscriptions and epitaphs recorded,
both published and unpublished. The data on the ceme-
teries is arranged by state, thereunder by county; so
that persons doing research can easily ascertain
whether or not a cemetery in the area they are
researching has ever been recorded and where they
can get a copy of the documentation. The data listed is
the author's name, specific name of publication, city
published, publisher's name, date published, number of
pages and if indexed. Also a short description giving
names of cemeteries included and other data contained
in the publication, such as mortuary, church or obitu-
ary records. In the case of periodicals, the name of the
periodical, where published and the volume and page
numbers where the records are given.

How can you help? Many cemetery readings have been
published in various local society newsletters overthe
years. Most of these records are not easily available
to Martha. Anyone with access to such newsletters
could be helpful. If you wish to dispose of old catalogs
or any periodicals containing this type of data, please
send them to Martha who will reimburse you for the
postage required. Please write to her first to deter-
mine that she does not already have them. When
Martha finishes with them, she will donate them to a
society which will put them on the shelf.

If you know of a similar project being done for a
specific area, Martha would appreciate your contact-
ing her with that information as it would help her avoid
duplicating work already being done.

Please write to Mart ha Re amy, 94-106 Man awa Place,
P-204, Waipahu, HI 96797, giving the geographical
location of the area you can help with or the kind of
materials to which you could give her access.

AGS Sp W p. 18

MEMBER NEWS

OPPORTUNITIES

Donna LaRue, Somerville MA, lead a session for the
Boston Adult Education Program on April 21 . She
showed her slide program of the Old Burial Ground
at Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA and followed it
by a walking tour of Granary and King's Chapel
Burying Grounds.

Cornelia Jenness, Spofford NH, was a speaker at
the annual meeting of the Association of New
Hampshire Historical Societies on April 28 in
Keene, NH. She spoke on "Compiling a Cemetery
Book."

Toni Cook, South Bend IN, was speaker in May for
the Indiana Genealogical Society. Her topic was
"Cemetery Sleuthing."

Dr. Blanche Linden-Ward, Assistant Professor at
Emerson College led a walking tour on May 5 at
Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge MA. The
tour was titled "The Cultural History of Mount
Auburn's Landscape."

D. Lindsay Pettus, President of the Lancaster County
[SC] Society for Historical Preservation, reports
that the society conducted a historic cemetery
preservation seminar on March 17, 1990 at the
Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church in Lancaster,
South Carolina. AGS member Lynette Strangstad of
Stone Faces in Charleston was the principal speaker
on a program of information regarding the repair,
documentation, and long-term preservation of the
area's historic burial grounds. Attendance was
open to those responsible for maintaining older
cemeteries throughout the county.

The Lancaster County Society is responsible for
and has ownership of a Community Cemetery and
the former Presbyterian Church building in Lan-
caster. Since 1976 they have been maintaining
and gradually restoring this site which is on the
National Register of Historic Places. A Society
member, Andee Steen, chairof the LancasterCounty
Historical Commission, has made a plant survey in
the cemetery, listing all the various wild plants
found growing there. Fifty-four varieties were
listed in the fall of 1988 and spring of 1989.

The Foundation for Field Research in Alpine CA
invites interested people to join them as field
assistants working closely with scientists on
worldwide expeditions during 1990 and 1991.
Lodging and meals, ground transportation, most of
the field gear, a grant to the researcher, admini-
stration costs, preparatory booklet, and a final
report from the researcher are included in a tax-
deductible contribution cost. Airfare is not in-
cluded, yet is tax-deductible in many situation.

Some of the projects include:

the excavation of a Roman grave site located
in the fertile German farmlands,
the historic excavation of a unique commu-
nity in Connecticut once populated by a
seemingly disparate group of outcastsf rom
mainstream Early American culture,
excavation on the island of Grenada, West
Indies at one of the Caribbean's oldest and
largest archaeological sites,
an architectural survey of the Romanesque
crypt which lies underneath the Gothic
cathedral in Chartres, France,
the excavation of a 15th century vessel
which shipwrecked off the Oregon coast and
now lies buried in a sandbar —
and much, much morel

For a 48 page catalogue listing all expeditions
through 1991 send to Foundation for Field Re-
search, PO Box 2010, Alpine, CA 92001 or call
619/445-9264.

QUERIES

Catherine Andrews is researching stone walls —
the dating of stone walls, the construction tech-
niques that were used in various parts of the
country and at various times in history, types of
stone, etc. If you have any material on or interest
in this topic, please contact her at 71 Ardmore
Avenue, Providence, Rl 02908.

Sybil Crawford reports she is traveling to London
in the Fall and hopes to purchase a copy of Victorian
Valhalla if it can be had. If any other AGS members
would like her to pick up a copy for them, she will
try to purchase several. Write: Mrs. Thomas E.
Crawford, 10548 Stone Canyon Road - #228,
Dallas, TX 75230-4408.

AGSSp '90 p. 19

RESEARCH

The Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum in Roch-
ester NY has recently acquired the approximately
one thousand post-mortem photographs and
mourning-related objects which make up the
Walter Johnson Collection. Johnson, who for-
merly taught photo history and photography at
Ohio State University, compiled a nationally known
collection of mourning materials that document
this country's nineteenth and early twentieth
century's attitudes about death.

This collection provides us with an intimate look at
mourning practices of the past. Contrary to today's
"Forbidden Death" attitude, these photographs
represent an era in which death was romanticized
and dramatized. Often, these images were the only
means of preserving a beloved family member's
likeness. The Johnson Collection of posthumous
portraits, memorial cards, mourning jewelry,
advertisements and prints is now available for
study. Contact curator Deborah Smith at the Strong
Museum for further information.

THE AGS RESEARCH CLEARING
HOUSE

The AGS Research Clearing House has been coordi-
nated by Laurel Gabel for a number of years. As
time has gone by, she has accumulated various
kinds of records. AGS members should be aware of
the excellent resources that are available through
a simple call or letter to Laurel. To reach her
write 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford, NY 14534,
telephone 716/248-3453.

1. The Farber Collection

This is a photographic resource provided to
Laurel by Daniel and Jessie Lie Farber of
close to 1 5,000 photocopies of mostly pre-
1820 New England and East Coast grave-
stones with a sampling from Virginia,
Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey,
North and South Carolina, and Nova Scotia.

These are indexed by name of deceased,
date, location and carver, if known.

2. File of articles on gravestones, death and
dying, burial customs of the 17th, 18th
and 19th centuries.

3. Computer data base of more than 7000
records from four Boston, MA burying
grounds (Kings Chapel, Granary, Copp's
Hill and Eliot in Roxbury). Soon to be added
are additional Boston yards, Salem, New-
ton and Charlestown, MA.

Every gravemarker is recorded with ge-
nealogical information on the stone. Epi-
taphs are on the original inventory but
seldom part of the computer report.

4. A list of known carvers of the 17th,
18th, and 19th centuries. Retrieval by
name, date, place of the signed stone, and
additional data when known. These are
from around the country, not just New
England. This is an ongoing collection. If
you have information to add, please contact
Laurel.

5. Fraternal organizations — pictures or
descriptions of fraternal, military, and
occupational society emblems found on
gravemarkers. This is a new file, so addi-
tional information is always welcome.

6. A list of people with research in prog-
ress and their subjects. If you have not
recorded your research subject with Lau-
rel, we hope you will so she can put people
with similar subjects in touch with each
other or engage your expertise when in-
quiries come in relating to your subject.

Markers editor, Theodore Chase recently dis-
covered some more things at the Massachusetts
Historical Society which may interest members.
The Society has a small quatro volume containing
both drawings and epitaphs of Watertown (1858-
9) and Waltham (1867) done by Frank W. Bige-
low. Are there epitaph collections much earlier
than this?

There is also a monograph on the gravestones in
Boston and vicinity by Charles Allerton Coolidge
done in Boston in 1919 and consisting of about 10
typed pages and a collection of perhaps 175 4"x5"
photographs of 17th- and 18th-century stones,
including selected pictures at King's Chapel, the
Granary and Copp's Hill in Boston, North Dorch-
ester, Cambridge, Phipps Street in Charlestown,
Pylmouth, Concord, Salem, the Old Ship Church in
Hingham and many others.

AGS Sp '90 p. 20

History of Congressional Cemetery

ing the funds for the construction of a new fence.

Congressional Cemetery was established by a group
of private citizens on April 4, 1807. The founders
enclosed the square, appointed a sexton, and began
selling sites for $2.00. Free of debt in 1812, it was
ceded to the vestry of Christ Church, Washington
Parish, and became known as Washington Parish Burial
Ground.

From the beginning the cemetery enjoyed a close
association with the Capitol and its environs. The first
interment -April 11, 1807-was of WilliamSwin ton,
regarded as the finest stonecutter in Philadelphia, who
had been recruited the previous August by Benjamin
Latrobe to work on the Capitol Building. On July 19,
1897, Sen. Uriah Tracy of Connecticut became the
first legislator to be buried here.

In 1816, as a gesture of good will, the vestry set aside
100 burial sites for the interment of Members of
Congress. Later the privilege was extended to their
families and to heads of departments and their fami-
lies. Periodically, other sites were donated to or
purchased by the government, eventually totaling
924. Generally, those sites were used for the inter-
ment of officials who died in office. Other dignitaries
lie in private plots scattered throughout the cemetery.

In 1835, a receiving vault was built to hold remains
until either the gravesite could be prepared or trans-
portation arranged to another city. The bodies of
Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Quincy
Adams, and Zachary Taylor and First Ladies Dolley
Madison and Louisa Adams were held here pending
removal to their home states. Journals of the nine-
teenth century are replete with accounts of funeral
processions from the Capitol which conclude at the
Public Vault.

With the increased use of the cemetery by the govern-
ment, it became more commonly known as Congres-
sional Cemetery. Although unofficial as the resting
place for Members of Congress, some Members were
re inter red here from other cemeteries as far away as
New York. Over each grave the Congress erected a
monument designed by Benjamin Latrobe, architect of
the Capitol. For those Members who died in office and
were buried elsewhere, the Congress erected ceno-
taphs, or "empty tombs," of the same Latrobe design
to commemorate their service.

From time to time, application was made to the Con-
gress for funds for improvements to the cemetery. It
provided for a brick wall, a keeper's house, a receiv-
ing vault, and other repairs and improvements. In
1857, a request for the transfer of the fence sur-
rounding the Capitol grounds to the cemetery was
denied as the cemetery was not public ground. Instead,
the Congress purchased 500 sites for $5, 000, pro V id -

By 1876, advances in transportation had made it
easier for Members of Congress to be returned to their
home states for burial; the construction of cenotaphs
was deemed too costly and the Congress' participation
inthecemetery was greatly diminished. Few Members
have since been interred on government ground, al-
though some have been buried in private family plots.

In spite of its private and unofficial status. Congres-
sional Cemetery can be considered the first national
cemetery. It is more diverse than most in its inclusion
of non-military citizenry among the 60,000 inter-
ments which continue to this day.

In addition to the elected Members and officers of the
Congress, there are many who rest here who contrib-
uted to the building of the Capitol and to the operation
of the Congress. Here are architects and carpenters,
artists and stone masons, clerks and pages.

The names listed in this brochure, while significant,
represent fewer than 200 of the 60,000 people in-
terred in Congressional. Peoplefrom all walksof life —
Cabinet members. Generals, merchants, indigents;
native Americans and foreign diplomats; from the
earliest residents of the city to the present day, all lie
here side by side. Most numerous of all are the
children: with the high infant mortality of the 19th
century, there are more children here than adults. For
more information about interments not listed here,
please contact the Congressional Cemetery Associa-
tion at the address below.

In 1 976, The Congressional Cemetery Association was
formed to administer whatthen was acemetery nearly
abandoned and bankrupt with 33 acres in great disre-
pair. Gradually, the Association has been able to
upgrade the grounds and to restore the Chapel. The
Association, independent and nondenominational, re-
lies on individual contributions to provide it the means
to maintain and improve this historic site. Tax-
deductible contributions are gratefully accepted
by:

The Association for the Preservation of

Historic Congressional Cemetery

1801 E Street, Southeast

Washington, DC 20003

Telephone (202) 543-0539

from a booklet entitled "The Congress of tfie United
States Congressional Cemetery. In addition to the
brief history of the cemetery, there are lists of
/Members of the Senate and House of Representatives,
and officers of the Congress that are interred in the
cemetery, and a list of cenotaphs. This was sent to us
by Toni L. Cook, South Bend, IN.

AGS Sp '90 p. 21

SOME GRAVE UNDERSTANDINGS

by George Kackley

An article in the New York Times about Mozart's
gravel reminds me that my experience as super-
intendent of a 19th century garden (or "rural")
cemetery offers some understandings that I might
share with other "diggers". The article tells us
that:

The persistent legend that his body was thrown
into a mass grave is disproved by documen-
tary evidence. The composer actually re-
ceived what was known as a third-class bur-
ial, meaning individual interment with a mini-
mum of ceremony, such as was accorded to the
poorest. (Mass graves were dug only in times
of epidemic or war.) When the grave-digger
was questioned much later he could remember
only that Mozart's coffin was lowered into a
shaft near a lilac shrub.

It seems probable that an old gravedigger of Vi-
enna, confronted by awed and important pilgrims,
would cover up more than the body, by saying a
coffin was lowered into the shaft. It is equally
probable that he did not use the word "coffin" and
is misquoted. If he did, he was just clothing
Wolfgang with a little needed dignity.

Continuing the urge to add respectability, a re-
porter tells us that l^ozart's was an "individual"
interment, so we are led to think of him in a grave
site that contains only one body. The contrast with
enormous mass graves leads us to think of the
antithesis, one body in a grave. The shaft graves in
urban cemeteries were not that kind of mass grave
we see at those [Moscow and Leningrad necropolises
of World War II. Notice that Mozart "was lov;ered
into a shaft".

Americans are apt to think of there being only one
body in one grave site. This could be done in rural
and suburban America, where there has been ample
space. I made possible an ideal of one marker for
each person. This has not been the practice in
crowded countries and in urban burial grounds
that fill up very quickly.

For centuries, there have been various tactics to
make the burial grounds take more bodies. One,
used for the common people (the "poorest") was
to stack a dozen or more bodies in one grave shaft.
The first body was lowered into the deep grave.
Lime was shoveled over it; then a thin layer of

earth. The deep grave was left open, and (soon
enough in an urban cemetery) the next body came
with more lime and another thin layer of earth;
etc. Such a grave could take more than one body for
each foot of depth (not counting the top one or two
feet). I have heard of such graves dug twenty feet
deep; howeverthe problems of raising the soil and
avoiding cave-ins make me question the efficiency
of that depth. I have accomplished digs twelve and
fifteen feet deep.

There are a good many people today who want their
bodies to decay and become a part of the earth. The
profits in metal and unbiodegradable caskets and
grave liners, with laws and cemetery regulations
requiring them, bother these people, because they
do not allow the body to return to the earth. Some
of the most dignified burials I have witnessed have
had the wrapped body, without casket or hearse,
carried by the bearers on a stretcher to the grave.
These were in Greece. I feel sure that Mozart's
body was buried sans casket, in the same reverent,
unsentimental manner. Its burial scene helped
make Amadeus one of the great movies.

I am equally sure that a third-grade burial was
into a shaft that took a number of bodies, for that
was a common and honorable expedient in city
cemeteries long before Mozart died and much later.
After all, these members of the community could
not afford individual graves, caskets, grave lin-
ers, monuments and careful record of who lies
where in the cemetery office. They are, in death,
very much as they were in life, getting services to
which they were accustomed.

* * * *

Now, where is the "documentary evidence" of the
New York Times article? After reading and pon-
dering AGS publications, one gets the idea that the
only records of old tombstones is on the stones
themselves and in probate archives, plus a few
surviving letters and newspapers. Cemeteries
kept detailed records of who went where (though
sometimes only the whos of proper importance)
and who set markers where. Such records evi-
dently exist for St. Marx2 Cemetery in Vienna.
That is the place for the cited documentation.
Unfortunately, cemetery management often hides
these records and denies their existence, to avoid
being bothered by AGS types and genealogists. AGS
members should be tracking down these records,
which sometimes include much information about
markers and often correct information on the

AGS Sp '90 p. 22

markers. Don't believe cemetery offices when
they tell you they don't have the records you
need. Reason with a management that might
welcome an opportunity to buck to us their un-
wanted burden.

*****

This matter of Mozart's grave points to another
problem in gravestone studies: a "marker" does
not always mark the place of burial. There is a
marker for ivlozart — a nineteenth century work —
at approximately the site of the burial. Isn't
that "appropriately" just as apt in many New
England cemeteries? — where stones have cer-
tainly been moved for one reason or another, to
turn the stew of Puritan burial ground into a
more ordered place, to facilitate mowing, etc. '
The New York Times photograph of the Ivlozart
grave shows a bronze plaque and a marble angel,
both pointing to the burial site, a definite burial
site, usually strewn with flowers. No one really
pretends that it is definitely the right spot. Does
it matter?

1 . "Where Mozart Made Music and a Life in Vienna: Ahead of
the Bicentenary of His Death, Visiting the Composer's
Haunts", by Paul Hofmann, New York Times, Sunday April
19, 1990, section XX, pages 19, 31, illustrated.

Gregory Hazelden, an art history student at Skid-
more College, Saratoga Springs NY, served an
internship with the Saratoga Springs Preserva-
tion Foundation (SSPF) last summer. Among many
tasks he completed during his internship was
research on the lives of early Saratogians buried
in the Gideon Putnam Burying Ground in downtown
Saratoga Springs. The city's first municipal burial
yard, the Franklin Street plot is being rehabili-
tated as a public green space and outdoor classroom
for the study of local history. Hazelden used an
1878 county history and personal reminiscences
found in local libraries to construct a map of the
cemetery, plotting gravesites from the 1820s to
1 840s. Also, he wrote accounts of the tradespeople
buried there: blacksmiths, grocers, a milliner,
and servants. From these materials, Hazelden
worked with SSPF staff members to produce three
curriculum units on local history for third- and
fourth-grade students.

from the Skid more College alumni magazine ^KM::
more Scope. April 1990, sent by Evelyn Hansen,
Southampton NY.

Mozart memorial in St. Marx Cemetery
2. Sic. as with Karl before it!

George Kackley, Baltimore MD, is a former cemetery
superintendent and a frequent contributor to the AGS
Newsletter.

Janet Bartow of Woodbury, CT writes:

Last year, I discovered an abandoned burial ground
in Southbury, CT. In it was a table stone to the
memory of Thomas Solley erected by his descen-
dants in 1912. The epitaph read thus:

Thomas Solley - First ancestor of the
Connecticut branch of the Solley family in
America.

Born in England, Aug. 14, 1759. Died in
Southbury CT, June 1, 1829.
Captured when aged 19 with other lads at
sport by the royal press-gang of King
George III. He was sent with the British
Army to America to suppress the Revolu-
tionary War

Deserted and enlisted in Washington's army
in 1781, where he served 2 years and
seven months.

Advanced to rank of Sergeant. Revolu-
tionary War pensioner."

I informed the Southbury Historical Society of its
location. A group of members inspected the long-
neglected plot. John Holland, a Boy Scout of
Southbury, took on the project of reclaiming the
cemetery, doing rubbings of the stones, clearing a
path and other repairs. This project went toward
his Eagle Scout badge.

AGS Sp '90 p. 23

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

An article titled "Mississippi officials ponder
grave case", originally published in the Jackson
MS Clarion-Ledger, was spotted in the Atlanta GA
Journal and Constitution, February 18, 1990,
and sent to AGS by David Paul Davenport of Mari-
etta GA:

George Thompson was walking around the Univer-
sity of Mississippi Medical Center campus when he
saw them in a gully: broken slabs of marble and
granite. "There's just tons and tons of debris
dumped back there," says Mr. Thompson, who has
talked to 25 people in government agencies to try
to solve the mystery. He suspects he discovered
headstones from an old cemetery shoved aside to
make room for new medical center buildings.
Michael Beard, a state historian investigating the
case, believes the stones could be part of a ceme-
tery attached to the old State Insane Hospital,
located on the site through 1935.

Archives department records call the cemetery
Asylum Cemetery or Old Mississippi State Hospi-
tal Cemetery. The cemetery also is described as a
paupers' field in Ttie Old Cemeteries of Hinds
County MS from 1811 to ttie Present, a book by
Mary Collins Landin of Utica. Ms. Landin thinks
the stones represent people whose families could
afford to buy markers — most likely patients who
died at the tuberculosis hospital also located on the
site. She says most of the tombstones still were in
place as part of the marked cemetery, on higher
ground above the gully, when she conducted her
survey in 1979. She was able to copy inscriptions
from the only five stones, the oldest one of which
was dated 1888. At least three of those now lie in
the dump.

"We're trying to find out if the burials were
moved," Mr. Beard says. A permit could be ob-
tained through the county coroner's office to move

a grave, he explains, but the stones' historical
value was destroyed when they were toppled.

An "Across the Atlantic", regular feature in the
Halifax NS Ctironicle-Herald, by Michael Cope in
London, June 2, 1990, titled "Turning Karl Marx
into a tidy profit" featured Highgate Cemetery.

It has been a hallmark of Margaret Thatcher's long
occupancy — 11 years now — of the British prime
ministership that everything publicly owned should
be privatized, or denationalized. Even the ceme-
teries.

Not too many feathers were ruffled; municipal
authorities for the most part were not sorry to get
rid of the maintenance costs to private developers
and charitable organizations which have made
something of a killing (pun intended!) selling
burial plots and exacting ongoing service charges
for keeping sites trimmed and tidied.

There is even a modest bonus for those running the
Highgate cemetery in north London where Karl
Marx is buried: those who want to view the
ideologist's ostentatious grave (surmounted by a
bigger than life-sized sculpture of his head and
shoulders with the exhortation "Workers of all
lands unite"), are now required to pay $2 to gaze
upon it.

Marx died in London, where he spent the last 33
years of his life, mostly impoverished, in March
1883 and his grave has since become a shrine for
socialists of all hues, especially communists, as
well as a powerful tourist attraction for the curi-
ous but politically uncommitted. Hundreds still
flock there each week, mostly foreign visitors,
who the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, the chari-
table organization set up to take it over six years
ago, see as a steady source of income.

The Maine Old Cemetery Association (MOCA) Spring
1990 A/eivs/effer mentions two articles of inter-
est, both about Skowhegan ME. One article relates
the work done by volunteers in the Bloomfield-
Weston Cemetery. They cleaned, righted and re-
stored the stones, smoothed paths and encouraged
new grass. It relates the beginning of the town by
Eli Weston and Isaac Smith. Eli's father, Joseph
Weston, assisted the soldiers of Benedict Arnold's
expedition in 1775. Skowhegan taxpayers set

aside $15,000 for each of the past two years for
help in the reclamation project.

The second article is about an art exhibit of the
work of Algis Kemezys, former resident of Skow-
hegan. Kemezys has been working for over six
years, photographing all the important cemetery
statuary in North America. This is his way of
preserving the many beautiful objects with which
our ancestors decorated their graves.

AGS Sp -90 p. 24

May 23, 1962 The Daily News. Tarrytown, NY

COUTANT CEMETERY: WAR PROMPTED ITS
FOUNDING

In the year of 1776, British troops were advanc-
ing rapidly on New Rochelle after the Battle of
Pell's Point. As a result the Coutant Cemetery in
New Rochelle was begun. Mrs. Isaac Coutant Sr.,
mother of Isaac Coutant, the cemetery's founder,
died in October of that year and had to be buried on
the Coutant farm as military regulations forbade
the use of the public cemetery. Later Isaac Coutant
permanently established it as a family cemetery.

Since then, burial in this cemetery, located at
Eastchester Road and Webster Avenue, has been
restricted to direct descendants of fvlr. Coutant and
their husbands and wives. To date, more than 200
of these descendants have been buried in this two-
acre cemetery. In the last 20 years, burials have
occurred about once a year.

Those eligible for interment number almost 100
and are scattered throughout the nation. Known as
proprietors, they elect five of their number every
five years to see to the care and maintenance of the
grounds. Of these five, three are elected officers.

In 1 928, the Huguenot Heights Association, a neigh-
borhood improvement group, erected on the outer
wall of the cemetery a bronze tablet with a his-
torical inscription. Unfortunately, they did not
get theirfacts straight and some errors are appar-
ent.

Isaac Coutant, called "The Huguenot" in the in-
scription, was not a French religious refugee. It
was his grandfather, Jacob, who escaped from
France and settled here. Another error is the date,
"Circa 1700-1780". It is inapplicable to either
the person buried, Isaac's mother; the house,
property or cemetery. A third mistake is the
statement that Isaac's homestead stood near the
cemetery. Actually, it was nearly two blocks west.

After the burial of Mrs. Coutant Sr., Mrs. John
Hudson, Isaac's daughter, was interred in 1778.
Memorial stones for both were put up in the
cemetery late in the 19th century, long after the
cemetery had been permanently established.

This clipping, first published in Westchester newspapers
in 1 962, was sent by Victor Dupont from the archives
of the Tarrytown NY Daily News.

Power Company Takes Responsibility for
Historic Site on tlieir Property

From the Woodsdale Generating Station newsletter
put out by the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company,
March 1990, we learned of the company's plans to
build the Woodsdale Generating Station on a site
where there are several historical resources that
are part of a National Register of Historical Places
Thematic District. These resources were part of
the first Amish/Menonnite settlement in Butler
County, founded by Christian and Katherine
Augspurger. The Augspurger family cemetery,
summer kitchen, house (circa 1874) and bank
barn still stand on the generating station site.
CG&E is currently investigating what can be done
with each of these historical resources.

It has already been decided that CG&E will clean up,
protect, and maintain the Augspurger family
cemetery. Currently, the cemetery is overgrown
with weeds, part of the fence is broken down, and
a large portion is not even enclosed in the present
fence. This was discovered when an archaeologist
who studies historical sites used a special instru-
ment to determine the boundaries of the cemetery.
They plan to place a new fence around the cemetery
and leave a buffer zone of trees and grass to
separate it from the remainder of the property.

Care of the structures is also being explored. They
have been inspected by a building inspector spe-
cializing in historic structures who found the
summer kitchen to be in unsalvageable condition.
An architectural record will be made (consisting
of photographs and building measurements). The
barn and house, however, may be able to be re-
turned to a useful purpose. The house has been
cleaned out, windows boarded up and the roof
temporarily repaired to keep out the rain. A new
furnace has been installed to keep a low level of
heat in the house which will help protect the
plaster and foundation from cold winter weather
damage. Security measures have also been taken to
protect the buildings from further vandalism.

According to Thomas F. Stander, an AGS member in
Hamilton, Ohio, the special instrument used to
determine the boundary of the cemetery was a
Geonics EM-38 Earth Conductivity Meter. For
more information on this equipment, contact Mr.
McElfresh at 513/632-3885.

We commend Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company
for their sensitivity in taking responsibility for
the preservation of these historic artifacts.

AGS Sf:) '90 p. 25

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

A VERDANT LAND WHERE VICTORIA STARES
AND STARES

Amid the many gracious temples of CJiiang Mai, still
one of the most charming cities of booming Thailand,
there is a bit of consecrated ground presided over not
y the Buddha but by an equally plump representation of
a more earthly suzerainty, Queen Victoria.

Her bronze statue stares out over the Chiang Mai
Foreign Cemetery, a verdant triangle of land whose
occupants commemorate the British imperial impulse
and the American missionary one. The impact of both
has been dwindling, but the lives of those buried here
are a testament to the sacrifice called forth, mostly
not in vain and hardly unmixed with pleasure.

They number teachers and ministers, soldiers and
spies, diplomats and bureaucrats, infants and eccen-
trics, come to what was a remote market town held by
the Burmese until 1774, and essentially independent of
a distant Bangkok for another 100 years, when Thai-
land began to be opened up to foreign trade. The
foreigners followed, with the American Presbyterian
Mission opening in 1867 and a British Consulate in
1884, serving the interests of the British companies
and subjects who dealt mostly in teak after the British
conquered the reaches of Upper Burma.

The forests had their dangers, with fever, malariaand
dysentery, and by 1898, King Chulalongkorn,

Rama V, had granted the British Consul General
custodianship in perpetuity "for the burial of the
bodies only of foreigners".

When Queen Victoria herself died in 1901, the British
her — "Her loyal subjects of every race", as it says on
her plinth — commissioned this memorial statue to be
cast in England and shipped to Bangkok. From there, it
would come up river 500 miles or so, ideally in time
for the traditional Christmas meeting of the timber
companies.

When it became apparent that she would not arrive in
time, a telegram was sent asking that the statue be
unloaded in Rangoon, from where she journeyed by rail
to a northern terminus. Then, by porters and ele-
phants, she was hauled through the Shan states to
arrive in Chiang Mai for a ceremony outside the
consulate in December 1903.

There she stood, on the banks of the Mae Ping River to
the eastof the original walled and moated city, until the
British Consulate wasclosed in acost-cutting measure
in 1978.

Major R.W. Wood, who fought with the Burma Rifles in
World War II, is the author of an affectionate and
instructive tribute to those buried in the cemetery,
"De Mortuis".

from an article by Steven Erlanger in thie New Yori<
Times. January 27, 1990, contributed by Robert Van
Benthuysen, Long Branch NJ.

PATIO STONES

An AP story from New London CT reports that the use
of tombstones for patios or walkways is illegal. Carolyn
O. Brotherton says she likes having part of New
London's history outside her house. But police say
even though its not her fault, the history she's got
there is illegal. Brotherton's patio and a walkway
leading to it are made up of more than 50 19th-century
gravestones.

The stones were put in place sometime in the 1 930s by
a prior owner. A state law passed in 1984 makes it
illegal to possess or sell grave markers. Now police
are in the unusual position of investigating a 50-year
old case in which no one appears to have done anything
wrong, even though there is a violation of the law, Det.
Lt. William C. Gavitt said. Although police do not plan
to charge anyone, they have a duty to return the stones
to their graves if the graves can be located, Gavitt
said. Police are working with historical officials to
determine where the stones came from and what

should be done with them.

The tombstones have been traced back to a man named
Asa Goddard who moved into the home in 1931.
Walking around his property one day shortly after-
ward, he found a bunch of old tombstones lying scat-
tered on the edge of Cedar Grove Cemetery, said his
widow. He decided they would make a good walkway
in his yard and carried the brown stones back one by
one. Cemetery officials no longer wanted the stones
and were aware that he took them, she said. Mrs.
Goddard understood that the stones came from an old
cemetery that was moved to Cedar Grove. The stones
marked the graves of people who no longer had family
members to care for the gravesites, and so they were
discarded.

from tfie l-tartford CT Courant. May 7. 1990

AGS Sp '90 p. 26

The Vandalism of Cermak's Crypt

by Jim Jewell, Peru IL

A recent series of acts of vandalism at Chiicago's
Bohemian National Cemetery has focused interest
on Mayor Anton Cermak. Coincidentally, the acts
commenced on January 30 — the 108th anniver-
sary of the birth of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Elected mayor of Chicago in 1931 , Cermak began
a cleanup of the system of spoils politics that had
permeated the city. The process was short-lived,
however, as Cermak was shot by a criminal anar-
chist, who was attempting to assassinate President
Roosevelt, in Miami, March 6, 1933. Cermak was
interred in a crypt at the Bohemian Cemetery
(5255 North Pulaski) in Chicago.

On January 30, 1990, the cemetery's office was
broken into and a camera and other pieces of

equipment were taken. On February 6, the gate-
house was broken into, locks were cut off the metal
grating doors of six crypts (including Cermak's),
thecrematoriumwas vandalized and severalgrave-
stones were overturned.

Police charged an eighteen-year-old Chicagoan
with the vandalism after a snapshot of the youth
and another suspect was found. The alleged vandals
were unable to open Cermak's coffin after break-
ing into the crypt. The suspect admitted that he and
his companion wanted to take photographs of each
other with the late mayor's remains.

Police speculate that neither youth knew who
Cermak was or his significance in recent history.
This makes the coincidence of the dates even more
amazing. Had Cermak's murderer been more ac-
curate, the course of history over the past fifty-
seven years could have been significantly altered.

<^fe2)

CORRECTION

Dr. Tom Malloy, AGS member at Mount
Wachusett Community College in Gardner MA
writes in response to the article "More on the
Sedgwick Pie" AGS Newsletter. Winter 1989/
90, p. 24: "A source in the article states that
the slave Elizabeth Freeman won a suit
'thereby marking the abolition of slavery in
Massachusetts'. I would like to point out that
historians agree that it was the Quok Walker
case that set the precedent for the abolition of
slavery in Massachusetts. Quok (sometimes
spelled Quock) Walker was a slave in Barre,
Massachusetts, who sued his master for his
freedom in 1 783. When the court agreed with
the suit, Massachusetts, the first of the thir-
teen colonies to legalize slavery, became the
first state to abolish the institution.

It is not known where in Barre that Quok
Walker is buried. However, the grave of his
son Prince Walker has been identified, about
one half mile off Hubbardston Road in Barre."

from the Gardner (MA) News.

f.

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AGSSp '90 p. 27

CALL FOR PAPERS

The "Cemeteries and Gravemarkers" Permanent Section of the American Culture
Association is seeking proposals for its paper sessions scheduled for the ACA's 1991
Annual Meeting, to be held March 27-30 in San Antonio, Texas. Topics are solicited from
any appropriate disciplinary perspective. Those interested are encouraged to send a
250-word abstract or proposal by September 1, 1990 to the section chair:

Richard E. Meyer

English Department

Western Oregon State College

Monmouth, Oregon 97361

(503)838-8362

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone
Studies. The membership year begins on the date dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one
year membership entitles the members to four issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS
conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees (individual $20; institutional, $25;
Family $30; contributing $30) to AGS Executive Director Rosalee Oakley, 46 Plymouth Rd. Need ham bAA 02192.
Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from Rosalee Oakley. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning grave-
stones, and about the activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask,
who welcomes suggestions and short contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve
as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Theodore Chase, editor of Markers, the Journal of the
Association for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St., Dover MA 02030. Address Newsletter
contributions to Deborah Trask, editor, Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H
3A6, Canada. OrderMarkers (Vol. 1 $18; Vol. 2, $16; Vol. 3, $14.75; Vol. 4, $14.75; Vol. 5, $18; Vol. 6,
$18; Vol. 7, $1 5; higher prices for non-members) from Rosalee Oakley. Send contributions to the AGS Archives
to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Rosalee Oakley.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
46 Plymouth Rd.
Needham MA
02192

NON PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE

PAID
Permit No. 410
Worcester MA

NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 14 NUMBER 3 SUMMER1990 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

"Death Mask" Cemetery in Alabama 2

by Ed Williams

Catalog of Landscape Records Seeks Information 4

CONFERENCE '90

Abstracts of Papers 5

Forbes Award to Ted Chase 7

Tours , 10

Annual Meeting 1 4

President's Report 1 5

Executive Director's Report 1 6

Treasurer's Report 1 7

1990-91 Board of Trustees 1 9

Special Contributions 2 0

BOOK REVIEWS

Silent Cities 2 2

This Silent Marble Weeps 2 5

Best of Gravestone Humor 2 5

EXHIBITS & TOURS 2 6

Generations - Family Fun! 2 7

from left: Tom Graves, Phil Kallas and Joe Edgette inspect
Benjamin Goddard stone, Newport Rl, June 22, 1990,
photo by Jim Jewell

AGSSu'90 p.1

"DEATH MASK" CEMETERY

by Ed Williams

Stopping for directions at the combination post
office/grocery store off County Road 15 in lower-
most Clarke County, [Alabama] is the best way for
the unacquainted visitor to find what is perhaps the
most unusual cemetery in southwest Alabama, if
not in the state. And curious motorists do some-
times stop at Joan Thompson's "Country Store" in
Carlton seeking directions to "that cemetery we've
heard about with those faces on the tombstones."

Mrs. Thompson, who also serves as postal clerk to
the 109 boxholders and rural route customers of
this sparsely populated community nearthe Tom-
bigbee River, says she obligingly directs the way
down the winding dirt road that makes several
twists before it narrows and finally dead ends at
the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church.

Before the final turn leading to the isolated wood-
frame church is a sign pointing the way, mis-
spelled "Mt. N-e-i-b-o Baptist Church." It is the
cemetery adjacent to this rural black church in
south Clarke County near Jackson, Alabama, that
attracts the occasional sightseers who say "they've
never seen anything like it," says Mrs. Thompson.
"I've never seen anything like it myself." Carlton
folk call it the "death mask cemetery."

Fewer than 40 members, most of them elderly,
attend the Mt. Nebo Church weekly services, and
not much is known about the nearby tombstones
except that they were made by a Carlton native, Ike
Nettles, who died in Detroit a number of years ago.
Several tombstones in Mt. Nebo's cemetery carry
the mortar faces, or death masks, of the deceased.
The eerie faces mark a lasting tribute to Nettles, a
man who was "making history," according to a
relative.

"Ike was a smart man," said 80-year-old Hilda
Jackson, a lifetime resident of Carlton whose
mother was first cousin to the mask maker. A
member of the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church since
childhood, Mrs. Jackson said she recalls stories
from her mother and grandmother that Mt. Nebo
started as "nothing more than a brush arbor in
slavery time." "I knew Ike well, but how he got the
idea of making the faces on the tombstones I don't
know," said Mrs. Jackson. "He was just making
history, I guess."

On one of the tombstones are the faces of a woman

and her two young daughters. "That's Ike's wife,
Cora, and theirtwo girls, Clara and Poilene," said
Mrs. Jackson. Time has taken its toll on Nettles'
handiwork. Another grave was once a full-figure
statue of his mother, Celina, whodiedin 1940. The
statue has long since crumbled to the ground, but
the cracked face of Celina Nettles is recognizable
even today, said Mrs. Jackson. "That mask of
'Aunt' Celina looks just like her — it was the first
one that Ike ever made," said Mrs. Jackson. "Other
folks saw it and wanted one, too. ike kept right on
making them."

statue of Nettles' mother, Celina, has fallen to the
ground (all photos by Ed Williams)

Celina Nettles' mortar arms and legs are missing,
supposedly kicked off by deer ambling by and
stopping to back scratch. The headstone at one time
was said to be graced by the deceased's own hair,
but the birds long since have used it to build nests.
"Celina was a big woman, and she used to look so
natural out there in the cemetery," Mrs. Jackson
said of the portly mortar statue. Celina was "so
large that she could carry a five-gallon bucket of
water on her rump and never spill a drop."

Another headstone carries the likeness of Estella
"Sis Dollie" Netties, a relative of the death mask
maker. The headstone of Manul Burrell, who died
in 1946, is marked with the inscription, "He is at

AGSSuWp.2

Manul Burell, who died in 1946, requested the
'death mask' marker

much myself, even though my daddy and mama are
buried there."

It has been said that the "folks around Mt. Nebo are
a very superstitious lot — that they never go near
the cemetery, only to bury one of their dead,"
according to Kay Nuzum of Spanish Fort. IVIrs.
Nuzum, an authority on the history of nearby
Baldwin County and surrounding area who has
researched the f^t. Nebo Cemetery and Carlton
area, said that two death mask headstones, also
made by Nettles, may be found in the "quarters
cemetery" of the nearby Payne Plantation.

Were the dead really buried face down in Mt. Nebo?
Church deacon Arsaw Fuller believes he knows
how that tale originated. "I remember one time
when I was a boy, before I was married or even
thought about getting married," the 87-year-old
Fuller recalled as he ambled through the cemetery
one day. "Being a young boy, I was being taught by
the men how to dig a grave. I^y shovel hit a rotten
coffin, and I dug into some bones. The skull was
facing down ... let me tell you that I come out of that
hole quick!" Fuller now believes the bones may
have been those of an Indian.

rest." "Old l^r. Manul wanted Ike to make himthat
headstone," said Mrs. Jackson, "and Ike asked if he
could make me one." It was an offer Mrs. Jackson,
a young woman of 21 at the time, said she fearfully
refused. "Ike would make the masks from cement,
paper and wire while you were still alive," she
said. "It scared me when he said I'd have to press
my face in a box of sand to make the impression for
the mask. I knew I couldn't stand to put my face in
that sand. I thought I might smother."

Superstition abounds concerning the Nebo Ceme-
tery, where strange happenings have been re-
ported. Teenagers from nearby Jackson High School
and Jackson Academy consider it an adventure to
travel the long dirt road after dark to visit Nebo.
Voices are reported to have been heard coming
from the graves.

Mrs. Jackson believes that story probably evolved
from an incident that is said to have happened some
years ago. "A man's wife had just been buried
there, and he went to the cemetery one night soon
afterthe funeral. He heard hollering coming from
her grave, he thought." The bereaved husband
rushed home for a shovel, intending to excavate the
grave, "but the sounds had stopped when he re-
turned," said Mrs. Jackson. "It was nothing but
his imagination, I believe. But I don't go there very

Nettles' wife, Cora, and their two daughters

AGSSu'90 p.3

Nothing new, death masks have been found on
Egyptian mummies. Belief in an afterlife was
widespread in many parts of the world, and death
masks often were placed upon the faces of the
deceased to preserve the personality and help the
soul on its travel.

What could have been Nettles' reason for making
the headstone masks, for which he received no
monetary compensation? Some say that if the
Lord, looking down on the Mt. Nebo Cemetery, could

see the faces of the deceased they would be recog-
nized and get into heaven much faster. Others
believe that Nettles fashioned the homemade head-
stones for relatives and friends who simply could
not afford conventional cemetery markers.

Ike Nettles, the death mask maker, who was "making
history" when he gave friends and loved ones a bit
of immortality in mortar, is also burled at Mt.
Nebo — in an unmarked grave.

Originally titled "Cemetery Art", this article is reprinted from EnviroSouth. Vol. 9, No. 4, Fall 1985,
with permission of the author. Ed Williams is Assistant Professor of Journalism at Auburn University.
Alabama.

The Catalog of Landscape Records in the United States Seeks Information

The Catalog of Landscape Records in the United
States is the cumulative index to all documentation
for landscapes, past and present. It describes the
scope and content of public and private collections
of landscape records in this country. The Catalog
is the first national finding aid for landscape
records. It is a project of the American Garden and
Landscape History Program at Wave Hill in Bronx,
NY.

landscapes), for the initial phase of the project,
principle emphasis is on designed landscapes.

Goals of the Catalog include serving as a national
clearinghouse for information on the location of
landscape records and the publishing a quarterly
Newsletter which will announce findings, circu-
late inquiries, and report on current research and
activities in the field.

Records of cemeteries are also included in this
collection. They have asked that we inform our
membership of their organization and their desire
for any landscape records we may possess or know
about.

What are "landscape records?" They may be
graphic or written documents. They are maps,
personal correspondence, drawings, plans, slides,
photographs, film, diaries, postcards, advertise-
ments, plant lists, paintings and prints, govern-
ment records, oral histories. . . Forthe purpose of
the Catalog, information is primarily sought on
documentation of designed, manipulated or man-
aged landscapes in the United States: from small
private gardens to national parks; from parkways
to college campuses; from urban parks to private
estates; from earthworks to historic restorations;
from planned communities to reserved lands.
Although the Catalog accumulates information on
all documents or collections that relate to land-
scape (including rural, vernacular, or cultural

AGSSu

All leads to the location of landscape records are
welcome, but to be most helpful, the following
should be included:

- Full name and address of repository or
private collector

- Name of collection(s) in which landscape
records are located

- Check lists or finding aids to the
collection(s)

- Staff contact person

You are invited to include more information if you
have it. All contributions to the Catalog are greatly
appreciated. Send information orcontributions or
write for further information to Karim Tiro,
Wave Hill, 675 West 252nd Street, Bronx, NY
10471 (212-549-3200).

90p.4

CONFERENCE '90

ROGER WILLIAMS COLLEGE, BRISTOL Rl
June 21-24, 1990

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

ELIA, Richard J.

"Silent Stones in a Potter's Fieid: Grave
Mariners at the Uxbridge Almshouse Burial
Ground in Uxbridge, Massachusetts"

Gravestonesfrom the Uxbridge, Massachusetts Alms-
house Burial Ground are described and analyzed within
the social and political context of 19th century poor
relief.

FREEMAN, James A.

"Strangers In a Strange Land: The Protes-
tant Cemetery In Florence, Italy"

British and Americans buried in the Protestant Ceme-
tery of Florence, Italy, have monuments that defy
standard motifs and illustrate conventional Anglo-
American attitudes toward Italy. Travel books, jour-
nals and paintings of the time demonstrate how Flor-
entine grave markers confirm certain widespread
cultural pre-suppositions that also inspired colonial-
ism.

GABEL, Laurel K.

"Bostones: A Computer Aided Analysis of
6868 Gravestone Records Based on Data
Abstracted from King's Chapel, Copp's Hill,
Eliot and Granary Burying Ground Invento-
ries— An Ongoing Study"

The computer can be an invaluable tool for processing
and evaluating the enormous amount of information
commonly available on early gravestones. It enables
researchers to define statistically significant trends
over time and to combine many variables to provide a
more complex picture of a given burying ground.

GARMAN, James C.

"'Faithful and Loyal Servants': The Reflec-
tion of Pre- and Post- Emancipation Attitudes
in Newport, Rhode Island's Material Culture
of Death"

The clients for gravestones in the African-American
cemetery at Newport were at first the slave owners;
after emancipation, the freed slaves themselves be-
came the clients. What are the differences and simi-
larities in African-American gravestones before and
after Rhode Island abolished slavery in 1 787? To what
extent do the changes reflect changing African -Ameri-
can and white cultural attitudes about ethnicity, as-
similation and identity?

GRAVES, Thomas E.

"Work, Politics, and Art in Contemporary

Ukrainian-American Gravestones"

Besides language and ethnic images, Ukrainian-Ameri-
cans use several means to display on contemporary
gravestones what it means to be a Ukrainian and the
importance of keeping their heritage alive. These
include information on occupation, personal attributes
and military accomplishments. Further, many mark-
ers are designed and signed by contemporary Ukrain-
ian artists.

LUTI, Vincent F.

"An Overview of Narragansett Basin 18th

Century Carvers"

To prepare conferees for the Saturday Bus Tours,
some of the carvers whose work will be identified on
the tours will be discussed, highlighting their biogra-
phies and showing slides of their gravestone carving.

AGS Su'90 p.5

NORRIS, Darren A.

"Nineteenth Century Gravestones In Upstate

New York"

Upstate New York gravestones would presumably echo
the wave of New England migrants' material cultural
norms in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries; and secondly, as a crucible of American
innovation, radical experiment and avant garde taste,
upstate New York could be expected to spearhead
shifts to nineteenth century taste. Both these assump-
tions will be explored.

REX, Donald

"From Gravestone to Monument: Evolutions

In Shape, Material, and Technique"

Donald Rex comes to us from the Rex Monument Works
in New Bedford. He has been the subject of many
articles relating to his interesting monument commis-
sions and is exhibiting several contemporary grave-
stones at the 1990 AGS Conference.

ROMOTSKY, Jerry and Sally

"Temple in the Garden: The Huntington

Mausoleum"

Erected at the highest area of the Huntington Library,
Gallery and Gardens, the mausoleum of Henry E. and
Arabella D. Huntington, designed by John Russell Pope,
is integrated into the previously existing architecture.
This memorial blends classical garden motifs with a
beaux arts interpretation of an ancient temple.

VOSE, Margaret L.

"Empty Tombs and Moby Dick: Cenotaphs In
the Seamen's Bethel, New Bedford, Massa-
chusetts"

The marble slabs in the Seamen's Bethel are the only
markers for the watery graves of many New Bedford
whaling mariners. This paper explores the epitaphs on
them and the context in which they occurred.

WATTERS, David

" Folk Elements of New Hampshire Grave-
yards"

Grave markers in the settlements on the New Hamp-
shire side of the Merrimac River took on a distinctive
ethnic identity with the arrival of the Scotch-Irish
immigrants beginning in 1719. This paper examines
the relationship among gravestone designs, epitaphs,
and other features of early graveyards that bolstered
the ethnic identity of these settlements.

WRIGHT, James R.

"Resurrection Men, Anatomists, and the
Rise of the Cemetery Movement in the Early
Nineteenth Century"

Burke and Hare were murderers and took pride in the
acknowledged freshness of their product: corpses
from the cemeteries for medical schools. The case of
Burke and Hare in the early nineteenth century con-
tributed to the modern cemetery movement and illumi-
nates attitudes toward death.

THE HARRIETTE MERRIFIELD FORBES AWARD

At the first annual conference of The Association for Gravestone Studies, it was resolved that an
award should be made periodicallyto honoreitheran individual or an organization in recognition
of exceptional service to the field of gravestone studies. This award, known as The Harriette
Merrifield Forbes Award, recognizes outstanding contribution in such areas as scholarship,
publications, conservation, education, and community service.

Past honorees are:

1 977 Daniel Farber

19 78 Ernest Caulfield

19 79 Peter Benes

19 80 Allan I. Ludwig

1982 James A. Slater

1983 Hilda Fife

19 84 Ann Parker & Avon Neal

1985 Jessie Lie Farber

1986 Louise Tallman

1987 Frederick & Pamela Burgess

1988 Laurel Gabel

1989 Betty Willsher

AGSSu'90 p.6

1990 Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award

Presented by W. Fred Oakley, Jr., President

The award being presented tonight commemorates
the work of Harriette Merrifield Forbes, the pio-
neer in New England Gravestone Studies, whose
book Gravestones of Earlv New England and the Men
Who Made Them, published in 1927, marks the
beginning of contemporary gravestone study and
research.

This occasion is special in our corporate life. It
sustains our spiritual and emotional connections
to Mrs. Forbes and it recognizes people whose work
continues to advance the understanding and appre-
ciation of this unique art form.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to
the Association for Gravestone Studies, I am pleased
to announce Ted Chase as this year's Forbes Award
recipient.

Early on, Ted Chase developed an appreciation for
art in its many forms. His introduction to grave-
stone art followed an experience in England while
rubbing brasses. Apparently this brought the
genie out of his knowledge lamp and gravestone art
claimed another proponent. Returning home he
quickly developed an interest in Colonial grave-
stones here in his native Massachusetts.

as a Trustee. It was a crucial time in AGS's
corporate life. His sensitive, competent leader-
ship pulled the organizational structure together,
elevated its goals, and put it on the stable track it
enjoys today. It is possible that his leadership at
the crucial seventh year of a non-profit volun-
teer-run organization's life has brought us to our
present, recognized standing in the field of grave-
stone studies.

Following his exemplary three-year presidency,
another opportunity arose, that of editing our
scholarly Journal, Markers. All of us can appre-
ciate the serious work produced by our authors
simply by reading the articles. Few of us, though,
are even vaguely aware of the immense sustained
effort necessary to produce this journal. Ted has
been tireless in soliciting materials and standard-
izing their journalisticformat. Working with his
editorial board which demands voluminous corre-
spondence, he has caused to be produced one volume
in each of the last three years and currently has
three more volumes in the works. His philosophy
regarding Markers is that when all is said and
done, the lasting legacy of the Association will be
these volumes of Markers still on the shelves of li-
braries across the country.

Ted's professional life as a lawyer has been im-
mense benefit to the Association. He worked on the
original By-Laws, drafted model legislation for
protecting cemeteries and has advised the Trustees
on numerous occasions regarding legal matters.
Moreover, his former law firm has responded on
several occasions with pro bono services for the
Association.

Additionally, as a Trustee of New England Historic
and Genealogical Society, he was instrumental in
negotiating the storing of our Archival material in
their facility where it receives the same care as
their collections.

Ted served as President of AGS during his six years

Ted's latest achievement is co-authoring with
Laurel Gabel a just-printed book. Gravestone
Chronicles: Some Eighteenth Century New Enland
Carvers and their Work. This work is being
published by New England Historic Genealogical
Society.

Beyond the visible evidence of his scholarly works
Ted has given unstintingly of his time and accumu-
lated knowledge to others, members and non-
members alike.

For these many reasons the General Membership
and your Board of Trustees are honored to present
the 1990 Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award to
Theodore Chase.

AGSSu'90 p.7

TED CHASE'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Thank you, Fred, for your generous remarks. I am
delighted to receive this award, particularly in
view of the distinguished company I now join.

Let me comment on some aspects of my connection
with AGS that Fred has mentioned.

Three things stand out in recollecting my 3-year
presidency from 1983 to 1986. The first is the
fact that, immediately after my election, the Treas-
urer resigned and since there would not be another
board meeting for three or four months to fill the
position, I had to undertake the responsibilities of
the Treasurer. In those days all dues came in at the
same time, and this was the time. So I had to devote
many hours to making entries in the checkbook,
making deposits in the bank and sending out mem-
bership cards. There was no responsibility for
handling an endowment in those days, because
there wasn't any endowment.

The choice of my successor as President readily
fell upon Jessie Farber. This had all been arranged
when I received a telephone call from Dan Farber.
Could he come and see me? I thought I knew what
was coming. Sure enough, Dan said that Jessie
really didn't feel uptothe job (not at all like her!).
However, Dan realized the position that her deci-
sion put us in and offered to take on the job for one
year. This was surely the greatest example of
conjugal sacrifice I had ever known!

Dan and Mike Cornish and I were appointed a
committee to choose an Executive Director, filling
a new position created by a generous gift made to
the Association for that purpose. We talked with a
number of people, and then Laurel Gabel suggested
a lady who lived in Needham who was interested in
genealogy, was very competent and might take the
job, though she had no demonstrated interest in
gravestones at that time. When we interviewed
Rosalee Oakley, of course we all fell in love with
her. I think that Rosalee's appointment was cer-
tainly the most important event for AGS that has
occurred in the last seven years. She has been
gracious, efficient and beloved by all who have had
any contact with her, which means practically
every member of AGS. When Fred joined her as
President, it made the marriage a perfect mar-
riage of board and staff — and so far as 1 can see — it
has not damaged their marriage as husband and
wife!

Jessie Farber brought out the first issue of Mark-
ers, an expensive and handsome volume, so pupo-

lar it has been reprinted. David Watters built a
solid foundation of scholarly writing in the next
three numbers. I brought out Markers V. VI and
VII. the last published by AGS itself instead of by
the University Press of America. It is the longest
and glossiest issue so far, handsomely produced by
the Heffernan Press — but far more expensive than
our more modest arrangements with UPA had been.

We are now working on Markers VIII and \X. VIII
will be a collection of all of the Caulfield papers —
some 1 6 or 1 7 articles — edited and updated by Jim
Slater and including Jim's earlier work with Dr.
Caulfield and the papers edited by Peter Benes.
Markers IX will return to the earlier format —
eight or nine articles on a variety of subjects. This
will be my last effort as editor.

I have enjoyed this work: seeking out authors and
coaxing them to submit articles; the joy of receiv-
ing a good submission; helping new authors with
their work; and sometimes the satisfaction of
improvements which I like to persuade myself I
have made. I have worked with an excellent and
helpful Review Board, with Rosalee and with Carol
Davidson, who has done the secretarial work and
the layout for each of the volumes.

Editing has its discouraging aspects too. Articles do
not flow in as they may to The New Yorker. Authors
have to be found and coaxed. There is the disap-
pointment of an occasional poor manuscript. There
is the problem of translating my views and the

AGSSu'90p.8

views of the Board in diplomatic fashion to the
authors, some few of whom are sometimes out-
raged at our suggestions. Most of all, I wish that
Markers had a wider distribution. I wish that
every member would buy a copy for $15 or so.
Better still, I wish that Markers would come to
every member as part of his or her membership,
like the National Geographic or the New England
Historic Genealogical Society Register, although
unfortunately and inevitably that would mean an
increase in ourdues. For, as Fred has already said,
I like to think that in the long run Markers will be
the most lasting and useful of all of the accom-
plishments of AGS.

My interest in gravestone studies started, I sup-
pose, with brass rubbings made in England in the
early 1950s, a technique which I was quick to
transfer to New England gravestones. But it was
Laurel Gabel who got me interested in AGS some ten
years ago. She described the circumstances of our
meeting delightfully when she receivedthis Award
two years ago. During those ten years we have
written seven articles, five of them already pub-
lished in various shcolarly magazines and all to be
included in a book soon to be published by the New
England Historic Genealogical Society. This book

was inspired by Ralph Crandall, the Director of
that Society. We had a number of articles pub-
lished in the Society's Register, and Ralph sug-
gested that when we had collected six or seven, the
Society would be glad to publish them. So that is
what is happening. The book will be available this
summer and I hope that each of you will buy a copy!

For me, perhaps the best part of AGS has been the
preparation of these studies: visits to hundreds of
New England graveyards, to town clerks' offices
and to Registries of Deeds and of Probate in every
New England state; the interest of people who have
helped us like Vincent Luti, Michael Cornish, and,
of course, the Farbers; correspondence with gene-
alogists and other members of AGS; the fun of
writing and editing; the digging to make sure that
footnotes are accurate.

And always there has been the anticipation that we
might discover something new and interesting.
And sometimes, perhaps rarely, the excitement of
discovery. This, it seems to me, isthe very essence
of gravestone studies!

Thank you.

«»«••»»«

NOMINATE YOUR CANDIDATE FOR THE FORBES AWARD

At the April 1989 Board meeting, the Trustees
voted to open the nominations of the Forbes Award
recipients to the general membership.

Nominations must be made in a typewritten or
handwritten paragraph of not more than a half-
page. The person doing the nominating must indi-
cate how the nominee fulfills the requirements of
the award (see requirements below).

The award is not made in absentia and no award will
be made if the person chosen by the Board cannot be
present at the last minute. So it is important for
the nominator to ascertain whether the nominee
would be able to be present at the conference to
accept the award in person should they be chosen as
the recipient. The conference in 1991 will be held
at Keene State College, Keene, NH, June 27-30
with the award being presented Saturday evening,
June 29.

Please send your half-page nominations to the AGS
Office, 46 Plymouth Road, Needham, MA 02192.
Deadline for nominations to reach the
office is January 1.

These are the requirements for the Forbes Award:

The honor is given to an individual
or an organization in recognition of ex-
ceptional service to the field of gravestone
studies.

The award recognizes outstanding
contributions in such areas as schoiar-
ship, publications, conservation, educa-
tion, and community service.

The recipient must be present to
accept the award on Saturday, June 29,
1991 at Keene State College, Keene, NH.

AGSSu'90 p.9

CONFERENCE TOURS

Two excellent tours of the Naragansett Basin area
were planned for Saturday, June 23 for the 1990
Conference at Bristol Rl. Vincent Luti, author of
the /AGS Regional Guide #1, Naragansett Bay Area
Graveyards was the Tour Chair. He also led a
mini-tour on Friday to: Bristol East Burying
Ground, Juniper Hill, Kickemuit Cemetery in
Warren, Old Baptist Cemetery in Swansea, and
Burial Place Hill in Rehoboth.

SATURDAY BUS TOURS

TOUR A

Tour A stopped first at the Newman Cemetery in
East Providence, which has hundreds of stones
from the late 1 660s on; some work of the Stevens',
a number of interesting John and James New works
including the only probated stone to John New, a
few Hartshorn works, but the bulk of the stones
come from the hand of George Allen (d. 1774)
whose shop was a mile up the road. His famous Lt.
John Hunt stone, 1716, has been removed to the
Town Hall for security. People on Tour A had the
opportunity to file past some startled bureaucrats
and librarians to view the fabulous Hunt stone.
Lunch was at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence,
followed by a slide talk and drive-through tour of
this fine example of a 19th century garden ceme-
tery. The last stop was at the North Burial Ground
in Providence.

TOUR B

SOME INTERESTING EPITAPHS SEEN ON
THE TOUR

provided by Vincent Cherico (1!)

From the North Burial Ground,
Providence Rl:

IN MEMORY

CF

MRS LUCY HASKELL

WIFE OF

MR CHARLES HASKELL

AND DAUGHTER OF

PERO AND PHILLIS BROWN,

SHE DIED IN MAY 1812

AGE 32 YEARS

Tour B went to Newport to the huge 18th century
Common Burial Ground. Optional walkbys of the
Stevens shop and home, and Governor's Cemetery
were mapped out. Lunch was served at the 1699
restored Quaker Meeting House in Newport, fol-
lowed by a bus trip to the small rural Platform
Cemetery in North Kingstown and the Platform
Meeting House of 1707 and its cemetery in
Wicksford. Torrential rains did impede this tour,
a bit!

Vincent Luti (Vincent I) was ably assisted as tour
leader by Vincent Cherico (Vincent II) of Cranston
Rl.

A PROFESSED DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST:

SHE LIVED IN THE PRACTISE OF HIS PRECEPTS,

AND DIED IN HOPE

OF REAPING THE REWARDS OF GRACE IN HIS KINGDOM.

WHERE EVERY (COMPLEXION) WILL UNITE

IN PRAISING HIM WHO HAS WASHED THEIR ROBES

AND MADE THEM (WHITE) IN HIS OWN

BLOOD

IN MEMORY OF
SILVANUS SON OF STEPHEN

HOPKINS ESOR & SARAH

HIS WIFE WAS CAST AWAY

ON CAPE BRETON SHORE &

INHUMANLY MURDERED

BY CRUEL SAVAGES ON

THE 23 OF APAEL 1753

AGED 18 YEARS 5 MONTHS

AND 23 DAY

THINK NOT BY THIS:

MY GRAVE IS SHOWN.

HARD FATE DECREED.

I SHOULD HAVE NONE.

AGS SuVOp.lO

PATIENCE BORDEN,

COMMONLY CALLED STERRY,

A FREE WOMAN OF COLOUR, AND

HUMBLE DISCIPLE OF JESUS,
SHE GAVE TO THE FIRST BAPTIST

CHURCH IN THIS TOWN,

OF WHICH SHE WAS A MEMBER,

230 DOLLARS, AS A FUND FOR THE RELIEF OF THE POOR

OF COLOUR

OF THAT CHURCH;

SHE DIED

APRIL 1ST, 1811,

IN THE 53D YEAR OF

HER AGE.

IN MEMORY OF

HOPE BROWN,

FIRST DAUGHTER OF

NICHOLAS BROWN ESQR. AND

MRS RHODA HIS WIFE.
SHE DIED AUGUST 29, 1768

AGE 4 YEARS

THIS BABE WAS DROWNED.

HER INFANT PRATTLE DELIGHTED HER FOND PARENTS.

UNKNOWN SHE LEFT THIS HOUSE,

AND UNSUSPECTED FELL, INTO A WATERY GRAVE;

AND WENT TO GOD.

THE PARENTS SAW, THEY FELT, AND WEPT.

"O' HOW FAMILIARLY."

THEIR TEARS WERE DRIED BY HIM WHO SPAKE

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

NO MOTHERS TEARS WERE SHED AROUND THY TOMB,
NOR FRIEND TO SA VE THEE FROM AN EARLY DOOM.

from North Burial Ground, Warren Rl:

SACRED

TO THE MEMORY

OF

MR JOHN CROADE,

WHO DIED MAY 25, 1806.

IN THE 52D YEAR

OF HIS AGE

THE RITUAL STONE WHICH HERE WE PLACE

O'ER THY RESPECTED DUST,

ONL Y PROCLAIMS THE MOURNFUL DA Y

ON WHICH OUR FRIEND WE LOST

FAME SHALL CONVEY THY VIRTUES DOWN

TO AGES YET UNKNOWN:

TIS NEEDLESS, SINCE SO WELL THEY'RE KNOWN,

TO CROWD THEM ON THIS STONE.

IN MEMORY OF

MRS LYDIA CARR

WIFE OF

MAJOR ROBERT CARR;

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE,

ON THE NINETEENTH DAY

OF FEBRUARY,

AD. 1796.

AGED 51 YEARS,

AND 10 MONTHS.

CAPT.

THOMAS GREEN HULL

BORN AUG. 17 1832.

LEFT NEW YORK FOR BALTIMORE.

DEC. 21, 1864.

AND ON DEC 30, 1864, WAS FOUND

LASHED TO THE MAST OF HIS

SUNKEN AND ILLFATED VESSEL

AGE 32 YEARS, 4 MONTHS

AND 4 DAYS.

SACRED

TO THE MEMORY OF

MR SANDARS PITMAN,

GOLDSMITH,

WHO FINISHED A LONG AND

USEFUL LIFE ON THE 15TH DAY

OF AUGUST, AD. 1804,

IN THE 74TH YEAR OF HIS

AGE.

HIS WORKS WERE USEFUL STANDARD WEIGHT & PURE;
BUT STILL HIS VIRTUES WERE APPLAUDED MORE.

from Kickemuit Cemetery, Warren Rl:

GEORGE G. KENNICUTT

SON OF MR. HEZEKIAH

& MRS. LYDIA KENNICUTT.

DIED AT ST. CROIX JUNE 21 ST,

1801. AGED 20 YEARS.

NO ANGUISHED PARENT HUNG AROUND THY BIER,
NO LOVING SISTERS TENDERNESS WAS NEAR,

LYDIA, THY GRACEFUL PERSON HERE DOTH LAY,

YIELDING TO DEATH, WORMS, DUSTS NATIVE CLAY

DISCHARGV FROM THESE WE HUMBLY HOPE THY SOUL

INSPIRV WITH LOVE MAY SING WITHOUT CONTROLE

ABOVE THE SKYS; WHILST ENDLESS AGES ROLE.

Eloise West, rubbing at North Burial Ground, Provi-
dence, piioto by Jim Jewell

AGSSu'90 p.11

NARRAGAI.'SETT BASIN only
Quick Reference of helpful hints to the carvers: 75^ efficiency

dates of
ma.ior work

EFFIGY SKULL FOLLIATE WIG EYE KDUTH LETTERS #'s MISC.

AILW
Georg^e
1730-1770

MTyOiS-

I cense
cyma
very
skilled

I.
ielicatt

:"ealistj

always 0'\

7 5

early *1 .

rollscroil

tabMtures
for info

ALLEN
George Jr

1760-63

double

eyma as
above
not as
skilled

as
above

tb

5Dofy
mSUtit

•^ 5

ALLEN
Gabriel

1772-1800

no

flat
cyma

I.ti#Tt
coil

II. soft

page

<E><

janch-

purse

skilled
elegant

delicate
slant

serifs

small
elegant

ALLEN
FOLLOSffiR?
after 1790

zigzag
webbing

loop nostrils

ANGEL

John

Anthony

17^7-1756

none

helnrat

ally -"iT^iii^j-^ rose
button r^^ ring ^
acanthus/lipped crimp

BiroQue
curve

T,

?!li!lt:

folliate

BIG-0/
SQUARE-
SKULL
cajrver

1722-1736

W

O^ 7^22

I. flinty
black
slate

II. gray

BOSTON
MASTER
carver

1715-1721

High
relief
Boston
style

squint
pin)Ch

crook
ed

<5
O

elisions

BULL
John

1750-1790

i^^y

upswe
reverse w

or

.ng effigii

FISHERY
FARRIHGTON
school

1760-1790

flinty stare squii^t

^

<*==*>

AGS Su'90p.12

HARTSHORN
Stephen

1765-1787

LUTHER
Seth

1750-1780

A

sweet
■{;q^^-^ ch erubi c

o

button
eye

broad (irillholes
airy

lettering

elaborate
us

intense
owleyed
effigies

y^ P-

cryptics

NEW

John &
James
shop
1775-1790

any any
effigy male
with wigged
bonnet effigy
(not New

])ort)

comma
profusion

number
super-
scripts

mooniace
often in
arch

fiOPECOIL
carver of
Newport

1731-173^

HA

grainy
stone

STEVETfS
John I

1705-1724

^cM

incised
lines

yam

knobs

owl
.ey,e

KnoDS ev(
II. heavy relief

I

^1^

0

flinty

black

slate

STEVEKS
John II

1724-1776

wigs:
rare
or
Plain

cap

:ql.

o

f^^8^'

II. ^-~~^

exothaSiuc

^

truncated

STEVEi:S
John III

I765OI8OO

early work
like late work
of John II:
frontal "exothalmic

II. 3/4 view portraits
exothalmic eyes

many

signed
J.Stevens Jili
J. Stevens
J.S.

STEVEKS
V/illiam

1729-1775

II. Ill
low scoop

dense
cyma

fig &
thistle

a. bald

b. coil

c. rope

d. cap

^^^

I.

II.

■^ full
belly

THROOP
William &
Jr.

1770-1800

quiffle

thick
crude

folliatc
cyma

5ady _
buttoneye

with! .
Wm. Jr//

bullneck.brillo pad

TURANDOT
carver

Wrentham l]a

1790-!.1800

^^U'

90

AGSSu-90 p.13

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

June 24, 1990

President, Fred Oakley, called the meeting to order
at Roger Williams College, Bristol, Rhode Island
on June 24, 1990.

A quorum was declared by the Secretary pro tem at
8:35 AM.

Minutes of the 1989 Annual Meeting, published in
the Summer 1989 Newsletter and included in the
Annual Meeting and Agenda material provided to all
conferees was declared accepted there being no
additions, corrections or changes desired by
members present.

President Fred Oakley called attention to his writ-
ten report included in the meeting materials.
Additional comments focused on the need for vol-
unteers to assist Conference '91 Chairperson
Cornelia Jenness in planning, organizing and
managingthe event scheduledforKeene, N.H. Other
comments related to the effect on the budget when
moving to rented office space and the effect on
member services when office hours are limited to
staff availability.

Executive Director Rosalee Oakley called attention
to her written report included in the meeting
materials. Additional comments focused on AGS
acquiring technology (Macintosh 512 ) and desk-
top publishing software to provide "in-house"
capability for publishing the Newsletter. News-
letter Editor Deborah Trask was commended for
herwillingnessto learn and usethenewtechnology
and master Pagemaker software which led to the
change in Newsletter format this past March.
Deborah Trask's effort was recognized with sus-
tained applause. Other comments related to the
consideration by the Board of a new logo design
which would represent a more common bond to ail
our members — not just New England. The one being
used is found on only one New England stone.
Rosalee expressed sincere thanks to the Trustees,
the President and the entire membership fortheir
support.

President Oakley called attention to two correc-
tions that should be made to the Treasurer's Re-
port. In the section titled Comparison Of Fiscal

Years 12/31/89, '88 And '87 all entries on the
line Net Operating Income should be in parentheses
like that shown in the column marked FY '89.

Ralph Tucker moved to file the report until an
audit could be made and subsequently withdrew it.
Fred Sawyer moved to accept the Treasurer's
report; seconded by Barbara Rotundo. The report
was accepted with one negative vote.

Vice President Bob Drinkwater reported for the
Nominating Committee the results of the Trustee
election. This year a ballot was used instead of a
proxy, with the ballots due by June 1. Two new
trustees were elected for two years and seven
others were re-elected to additional two year
terms.

President Oakley introducf J Trustees that were
present.

Dr. James Slater, retiring after six years of
service as a Trustees, was recognized "in absen-
tia." (He was absent due to a recent operation.)
Fred Sawyer moved that we convey our condolences
to Jim and wish him a speedy recovery via a letter.
Seconded by Ralph Tucker. Carried by acclama-
tion.

Other Business

Deborah Trask, Newsletter Editor, was invited to
address the meeting. Deborah explained how the
new equipment enabled her to work at home on the
Newsletter. She receives news items from mem-
bers by mail as well as from the AGS office on
computer disk. She expressed concern about
complaints received on the newsletter content.
While everyone would like to see something ap-
pealing to their interests on every page, this is
impossible to provide. She does try to include as
broad a variety as possible from across the coun-
try and beyond. She explained that she does not
actively solicit articles — all are sent in voluntar-
ily so it is up to the membership to provide the kind
of articles they want to see in the Newsletter.
Deborah makes the final decision for the articles
and graphics used. Any articles not used are sent

AGS Su'90 p.14

to the Archives. Jessie Farber commented that
often the only comments received by an editor are
pointing out a mistake. She encouraged members
to correspond with Deborah even if only to say they
enjoyed the newsletter.

in recognition of this being the last Annual Meeting
she will attend as Executive Director, Rosalee
Oakley made a farewell statement. In October
1989 she informed the Board she would be con-
cluding her work by December of 1990. In her
seven years as Director she stated that AGS has
gradually outgrown their home office space and the
impending change in directors gives ACaS an oppor-
tunity to seek office space in a compatible institu-
tion which offers more programming possibilities
than a home office can. She gave a final challenge
to all to return home with the enthusiasm gained
here at Conference to finish the many projects we

have all started so as to contribute to the pioneer-
ing work being done at this stage of our develop-
ment.

Roberta Halporn introduced the following resolu-
tion, seconded by Laurel Gabel, which was adopted
by acclamation: To formally extend our apprecia-
tion to Rosalee for all her patience, work, and
support on behalf of The Association For Grave-
stone Studies.

James Jewell moved to adjourn.

Adjournment declared at 9:26 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Lorraine Clapp
Sec pro tern

PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL REPORT

This has been a very active and productive year.

Your Association has been represented at two major
national conferences that were held in Boston: the
Monument Builders of North America in February
1990 and Partners for Sacred Places in June
1990, the latter hosted by Historic Boston, Incor-
porated.

Promoting the work of our Association and Confer-
ence '90 involved numerous trips to Rhode Island,
principally to participate in state and local his-
torical society programs. An all day conference in
Providence sponsored by the League of Rhode Is-
land Historical Societies provided a major oppor-
tunity to publicize our activities to in-state his-
torical, preservation, genelogical and similiar
organizations.

Three mini -conferences were planned, staffed and
managed in the interval since our '89 Conference.
These mini-conferences had two primary objec-
tives. The first was to train volunteers; the second
wasto develop a replicable model. We have learned
a great deal from these three events. One major
learning experience is that any type workshop
involves a great deal of time and some financial
risk.

Progress was made on the project to re-design our
Newsletter. Long desired changes in format, har-
bored by our Newsletter Editor, are being imple-
mented. The support of these changes by your
Trustees relieved some anxieties. A September
1989 meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia involving
the Editor, Executive Director and President was
helpful in resolving several critical issues which
paved the way for the transition. All comments
received on the new format have been positive.

Staffing for Conference '91 in Keene, New Hamp-
shire, is nearly complete. Long Island or the
Upper Hudson River Valley are being investigated
as possible areas to site Conference '92. For
Conference '93 we must seriously consider a loca-
tion outside the New England. Chicago has good
potential for attracting our mid-western and
Canadian members. We would forfeit participa-
tion by some members residing in the Northeast
but those who do go would be amply rewarded with
a variety of different carving styles and several
ethnic cemeteries.

Our product inventory has been enlarged with the
publication of Markers VII in February 1990.
Photocopied materials and kits have been updated
and their appearance improved. As soon as we get

AGSSu'90 p. 15

a new address, we will print them on a laser
printer further enhancing their appearance and
readability. We are now selling video cassettes and
slide shows of our program "Early New England
Gravestones and the Stories They Tell." Several
additional media products are being developed and
thought is being given to producing and selling
"how to" videotapes on such subjects as rubbing,
documenting, cleaning, resetting and mending
stones.

The financial condition of the Association is good as
attested to by the Treasurer's Report.

Two major issues will dominate your leadership's
activities in the coming six months: locating
affordable office space and employing a new execu-
tive director and administrative assistant. These
are daunting issues. They will be successfully
managed given the excellent support and coopera-
tion of our Trustees and members.

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.
President

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT

The AGS office has been a busy place all through
this past year. Our membership statistics show us
at 934 members at the writing of this report with
240 new members joining during the year from
June 1989 through the present. In the Fall a
Membership Drive was launched, encouraging the
present membership to find new members, moti-
vated by the financial reward of deductions at the
next renewal time. Seventeen people took advan-
tage of the offer and 21 new members have joined
as a result. One new member persuaded three
others to join and has received a year's free
membership for his efforts. This activity, while
gaining new members, cost about as much as will
be yielded in first year membership revenue.
Experience indicates we can expect 1 0 of these new
members to renew and therein lies the economic
value.

Our correspondence over the year has shown a
great deal of interest in the restoration of neglected
or abandoned graveyards. Several magazine,
newsletter and newspaper articles listed AGS as a
resource for information regarding restoration.
This resulted in a flood of inquiries requiring a
response but few memberships were realized. Of
course, during the process, we have spread the
word that AGS exists, that it has helpful materials
to offer, and that it can make referrals to stone
conservation professionals.

The activity taking the largest block of the 25
hours per week alloted to your Executive Director,
both in planning and executing, is the Conference.
We are now able to design all our announcements,
program books, annual report, nametags and most
handouts on our own computer which lowers the
conference typesetting costs considerably. Plan-
ning for the Teaching Workshop accounts for an-

other block of preparation time. In addition, our
conference publicity this year has entailed nu-
meroustripsto Rhode Island and aroundthe Boston
area to speak to historical societies promoting the
conference and to attend planning meetings with
the conference staff.

Sales of our publications, especially the newest
f^arkers and the Primer, and rental of our slide
show and video on "New England Gravestones"
have been steady. Fifteen video rentals and five
video sales took place during the year and eleven
rentals of the slide show. One slide show has been
purchased to date.

As you know, last October I informed the Trustees
that I would be concluding my work as Executive
Director no later than December 1990. As the
Planning Committee began to work on the task of
locating possible sites for the AGS office, at times
I have been asked to participate. This has involved
trips to Worcester and Springfield with other
committee members to view available office space
and discuss the needs we have for storage of sales
items and our Archives. This fall the move will be
made to one of these sites, and when a new Executive
Director is selected, there will be a period of time
during which I will work as a consultant to ensure
that services continue smoothly.

The Trustees have been most supportive and en-
thusiastic throughout the year. 1 wish to thank
them all for their collective and individual efforts
throughout the year on behalf of the Association.

Rosalee F. Oakley
Executive Director

AGSSu'90p.16

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Statement of the income, expenses and changes in fund balance for the year ending December 31, 1989.

OPERATIONS

INCOME

Memberships

Contributions

Publications/Sales

Conference

Media

Interest

Miscellaneous

Office rent/utilities - non-cash

TOTAL INCOME

$17,687

2,126

10,179

24,494

476

3,151

144

2,000

$60,257

EXPENSES

Staff salary

Administrative expenses

Membership

Publications/Sales

Pre-publication

Media Development

Conference

Miscellaneous

Witholding

Payroll deposit

Office rent/utilities - non-cash

TOTAL EXPENSES

NET OPERATING INCOME (LOSS)

$12,000
6,825
6,368
6,857
2,257

440

17,1 14

1,273

(751)

576
2,000

$54,959

$5,298

FUND BALANCE

Beginning 12/31/88
Ending 12/31/89

CORNELIA JENNESS, Treasurer
May 10, 1990

BALANCE SHEET

December 31, 1989

$27,558
$32,857

ASSETS

CASH
CD

CD

Needham Shawmut Bank

Bank of New England

Matures 5/13/91 at 8.72%

Eliot Savings Bank, Needham

Matures 11/08/90 at 8.65%

Assets Totaled

Fund Balance (above)

AGSSu'90 p. 17

$ 4,857
20,000

8.000

$32.857
S32.857

COMPARISON OF FISCAL YEARS ENDING 12/31/89. '88 AND '87

FY '89 FY '88 FY '87

Income 35,763 41,332 37,648

Expense ' 37,845 51,201 41,498

Net Operating Income (Loss) (2,082) (9,869) (3,850)

Conference Net 7,380 4,958 6,362

Excess of Income over Expense 5,298 (4,911) 2,512

Fund Balances 32,857 27,558 32,469

RECOMMENDATIONS REQUESTED
FOR BOARD OF TRUSTEE CANDIDATES

The Nominating Committee invites your recommendations for nominations to the Board
of Trustees. We are looking for candidates who have the ability and willingness to take
leadership positions within AGS, and are available to serve at least one term of two years.

A member may recommend him or herself, or may recommend another member if that
person is contacted first to confirm his or herwillingnessto serve if chosen as a nominee.
We also ask that both the person making the recommendation and the person recom-
mended send a brief statement describing the candidate's experience and abilities, and
how that person could contribute to the growth of AGS and its programs.

The Nominating Committee reserves the right to interview recommended candidates, and
to limit the number of nominees and/or indicate the Committee's recommendations for
certain candidates when the names of the nominees are published in the Newsletter.

Please send recommendations to:
C. R. Jones, Chair
Nominating Committee
NYSHA
PC Box 800
Cooperstown, NY 13326

Deadline for these recommendations Is January 1, 1991.

It is once again possible to purchase AGS bumperstickers. This time they are blue and white with the
words "1 BRAKE FOR OLD GRAVEYARDS" above and Association for Gravestone Studies below. They are
available from the AGS office for $1 . We hear many stories about members with bumperstickers being
approached by people who ask about the sticker and indicate their own interest in graveyards. So keep
a supply of AGS brochures handy in the glove compartment!

AGS Su'90p.18

1990-1991 AGS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Lorraine Clapp

1693 John Fitch Blvd., So. Windsor, CT 06074

Tel: (h) 203/289-9026

Michael Cornish

195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125

Tel: (h) 617/282-3853

Robert Drinkwater (Vice-President)

6 Village Hill Road, R. 81, Williamsburg, MA 01096
Tel: (h) 413/268-7920

Dr. J. Joseph Edgette

509 Academy Avenue, Glenolden, PA 19036

Tel: (w) 215/499-4341

Daniel Farber

31 Hickory Drive, Worcester, MA 01609

Tel: (h) 617/755-7038

Jessie Lie Farber

31 Hickory Drive, Worcester, MA 01609

Tel: (h) 617/755-7038

Alfred Fredette

PO Box 37, Scotland, CT 06226

Tel: (h) 203/456-8582

Jo Goeselt (Archivist)

61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland, MA 01778

Tel: (h) 617/358-2155

Roberta Halporn

391 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217-1701

Tel. (h) 718-858-3026

William Hosley

Old Abbe Road, Enfield, CT 06082

Tel: (h) 203/627-5508 (w) 203/278-2670

Cornelia Jenness (Treasurer)

HCR10, Box 643, Spofford, NH 13462-0643

Tel: (h) 603/363-8018

C. R. Jones

Nysha, PO Box 800, Cooperstown, NY 13326

Tel: (h) 607/547-8151 (w) 607/547-2535

Lance R. Mayer (Secretary)

Lyman Allyn Museum, 625 Williams Street

New London, CT 06320

Tel: (h) 203/464-9645 (w) 203/443-2618

W. Fred Oakley, Jr. (President)

46 Plymouth Road, Needham, MA 02192

Tel: (h) 617/444-6263 (w) 617/455-8180

Dr. Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4, Laconia, NH 03246-

9803

Tel: (h) 603/324-1092

Frederick W. Sawyer III

8 Sachem Drive, Glastonbury, CT 06033

Tel: (h) 203/633-8655 (w) 203/275-5956

The Rev. Ralph Tucker

Box 414, Georgetown, ME 04548

Tel: (h) 207/371-2423

Jonathan Twiss

230 Farmington Ave., A-1, Hartford, CT 06105

Tel: (h) 203/278-6958 (w) 203/273-4667

William Wallace

40 Central Street, Auburn, MA 01601

Tel: (h) 508/832-6807 (w) 508/753-8278

Richard F. Welch

55 Cold Spring Hills Road, Huntington, NY 11743

Tel: (h) 516/421-5718

Gray Williams Jr.

32 Gray Rock Lane, Chappaqua, NY 10514

Tel: (h) 914/238-8593

Harvard C. Wood III

6400 Baltimore Avenue, Lansdowne, PA 19050

Tel: (w) 215/622-0550

Ex officio members

Theodore Chase (Markers editor)

74 Farm Street, Dover, MA 02030
Tel: (h) 508/785-0299

Deborah Trask (AGS NEWSLETTER editor)

Nova Scotia Museum Complex,

1747 Summer Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3A6

Tel: (w) 902/429-4610

^w^'Tf^'Tf^

AGSSu'90 p.19

THANK YOU TO OUR SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS

The following firms and individuals gave exceptional financial support to AGS during the period June
1989 to May 1990. They contributed funds over and above the basic membership fee which are
exceedingly important to AGS. We extend our appreciation to these special contributors:

CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS

Barre Granite Association, Barre, VT

Ellen H. Bennet-Alder, Natick, MA

Brian K. Blakeley, New Haven, CT

Alice Bunton, Bethany, CT

Center for Thanatology Research, Brooklyn, NY

Theodore Chase, Dover, MA

Vincent V. Cherico Jr., Cranston, Rl

William Clendaniel, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge,

MA

Mary M. Cope, New York, NY

Dedham Historical Society, Dedham, MA

Mary R. Dernalowicz, Newport, Rl

Robert Drinkwater, Williamsburg, MA

Empire Granite Corporation, Richmond, VA

Josiah M. Fowler, West Roxbury, MA

Laurel K. Gabel, Pittsford, NY

Thomas E. Graves, Orwigsburg, PA

Ellis B. Hayden, Jr., Norfolk, MA

Daniel A. Hearn, Monroe, CT

Davyd Foard Hood, Plymouth, NC

William Hosley, Enfield, CT

Janet G. Jainschigg, Darien, CT

Dr. Gregory Jeane, Birmingham, AL

Cornelia P. Jenness, Spofford, NH

James C. Jewell, Peru, IL

Mary-Ellen Jones, Orinda, CA

William B. Jordan, Jr., Portland, ME

Phil Kallas, Stevens Point, Wl

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula, Rodermark, W. Germany

Miriam W. Lewis, Scotia, NY

Lance R. Mayer, New London, CT

Cynthia I. McQueston, Haydenville, MA

Robert H. Mohr, Apollo Beach, FL

Nat'i Cemetery Restoration Fund, Steamboat Springs,

00

New Hampshire Old Graveyard Assn., Rochester, NH

Oak Woods Cemetery, c/o Bruce Holstrom, Chicago, IL

Oldstone Enterprises, Boston, MA

Carol A. Perkins, Fairport, NY

Kenneth A. Perry, Greenwich, NY

Stephen Petke, East Granby, CT

Diane Psota, Sebastopol, CA

Richard Thomas Purkins, Manassas, VA

K. H. Reeson, Remco Memorials Ltd., Regina, SK,

Canada

Rex Monumental Works, Inc., New Bedford, MA

Lawrence D. Riveroll, San Diego, CA

Nancy Porter Rothwell, Marblehead, MA

Harriet R. Ryan, Middletown, Rl

Edwina Seeler, Waban, MA

Michael Selvaggi, Stratford, CT

Otto W. Siebert, Augusta, ME

Silbaugh Memorials, Ron Silbaugh, Shrewsbury, PA

Miriam S. Silverman, New York, NY

Deborah A. Smith, Rochester, NY

Martha Smith, Carrboro, NC

Gaynell Stone, Wading River, NY

James Tibensky, Chicago, IL

Ronald Tracy, Chicago, IL

Margaret Vose, Mansfield Ctr., CT

William D. Wallace, Auburn, MA

Richard F. Welch, Huntington, NY

Eloise P. West, Fitchburg, MA

Wilbraham Historical Commission, Wilbraham, MA

Mary Z. Williams, Northport, NY

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS

Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN

American Inst/Commemorative Art, Grand Rapids, Ml

Amite City Cemetery Committee, Amite, LA

Archaeological Research Consultants, Inc., Raleigh NC

Archival Services Branch, Raleigh, NC

Benton County Historical Museum, Philomath, OR

Bergen Co. Div./Cult & Hist Affairs, Hackensack, NJ

Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA

Bostonian Society, Boston, MA

Bradford Derustit Corp., Clifton Park, NY

Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY

The John Nicholas Brown Center, Providence, Rl

Burial Sites Preservation Program, Madison, Wl

Richard T. Burton, Burton's Monument Shop, Inc.,

Waterbury, CT

Center for Historic Preservation, Frederickburg, VA

John W. Chaveriat, Chicago, IL

Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT

Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT

Conservation Library of Fine Arts, New York, NY

Daily Industries, Kent, OH

Dakota Monument Company, Fargo, ND

Dept. of Archaeology, University of York, England

Division of Historic Preservation, Fairfax, VA

Ralph B. Draughon Library, Auburn Univ., AL

Dukes County Hist. Society, Edgartown, MA

Erickson Monuments, Denver, CO

Essex Historical Society, Inc., Essex, MA

Mr. & Mrs. Dale D. Evans, Wagner Memorial Co.,

Hutchinson, KS

Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT

Vance Ferguson, Benton Harbor, Ml

Fort Hamilton Hist. Society, Brooklyn, NY

Geortia Dept. of Nat. Resources, Hist. Pres. Sec,

Atlanta, GA

Georgia Genealogical Society, Atlanta, GA

Georgia State Archives & Records, Atlanta, GA

Rev. Msgr. John L. Gerety, St. Mary's Church, So,

Amboy, NJ

AGS Su'90 p.20

Glenmount Memorials, Inc., Pt. Colborne, ON

Gwinnett Historical Society, Lawrenceville, GA

J. Wynne Harl<less, Rippowam-CisquaSchool, Bedford,

NY

Healdsburg Historical Society, Healdsburg, CA

Hist. Blandford Gem. Foundation, Petersburg, VA

Hist. Florida Keys Preserv. Bd., Key West, FL

Historic Burying Grounds Initiative, Boston, MA

Historic Charleston Foundation, Charleston, SC

Hist. Deerfield Lib., c/o Sharman Prouty, Deerfield,

MA

Historic Oakland Cemetery, Inc., Atlanta, GA

Historic Resources Branch, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

ICCROM Library, Rome, Italy

Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington, IN

Knox Co. Old Gray Cem., Knoxville, TN

Lancaster Co. Hist. Society, Lancaster, PA

Lancaster Co. Society/Hist. Pres, Inc., Lancaster, SC

Lancaster Mennonite Hist. Soc, Lancaster, PA

Landmark Commission-Twp of Hanover, Whippany, NJ

Landmarks Committee, Randolph Township, Randolph,

NJ

Rufus Langhans, Town Historian, Huntington, NY

Library of Michigan, Lansing, Ml

Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA

Mahomet Twp. Cem. Trustees, Anita Hodge, Chairman,

Seymour, IL

Mantor Library, Farmington, ME

Mashpee Historical Commission, Mashpee, MA

McFall Monument Company, Galesburg, IL

Middletown High School, Middletown, CT

Middletown Historical Society, Middletown, Rl

Ministry Library, Municipal Affairs, Recreation &

Culture, Victoria, BC, Canada

Mississippi Dept. of Archives & History, Jackson, MS

Mount Holly Cemetery Assn., Little Rock, AR

Mountain View Cem. Assn. , Oakland, CA

Mus. of Amer. Folk Art, 61 West 62nd Street, New

York, NY

New Milford Youth Agency, New Milford, CT

NSDAR Library, Serials Librarian, Washington, DC

Ohio County Hist. Society, Rising Sun, IN

Ohio Historical Society, c/o Tom Starbuck, Columbus,

OH

Old Burying Ground Foundation, Halifax, NS, Canada

Parish of Trinity Church, Archives, New York, NY

Parks Canada, Halifax, NS, Canada

Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation, Ltd.,

Rockville, MD

Preservation Soc. of Newport Co., Newport, Rl

Queens Borough Public Library, Jamaica, NY

Ridgefield Graveyard Committee, Ridgefield, CT

Riverside Cemetery, c/o Cecil R. Coke, Jr., Macon,

GA

Sandwich Historical Commission, Sandwich, MA

Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, Saratoga

Springs, NY

Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester, MA

St. John's Epis. Church, c/o Neill E. Goff, Richmond,

VA

St. Paul's Nat'l Historic Site, Mount Vernon, NY

St. Raymond Cemetery, New York, NY

Wm. Smith & Son Monument Co., Ashtabula, OH
State Hist. Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wl
SUNY/Stony Brook Library, Stony Brook, NY
Stoneham Historical Commission, Stoneham, MA
Thistledo, Inc., Dick & Becky Strachan, Columbia, SC
Toronto Branch, Ontario Gen. Society, Toronto, ON,
Canada

Town of Yorktown Museum, Yorktown Heights, NY
University of Illinois Library, Urbana, IL
Vermont Hist. Soc. Library, Montpelier, VT
Wakefield Historical Commission, Wakefield, MA
J. S. Warner, Dundee, IL

Winthrop Cemetery Association, Deep River, CT
Wood County Genealogical Society, Bowling Green, OH
Yarmouth County Museum, Yarmouth, NS, Canada

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

These people made special contributions above and
beyond their annual dues:

$5-£49

Brian Blakeley

Center for Thanatology Research

Charles E. Chambers

Lorraine Clapp

Dorothea E. deZafra

Barbara Dudley

Irene Forbes

Laurel Gabel

Joseph W. Glass

Paul Glatzer

June Goemer

Richard & Jo Goeselt

Geraldine Hungerford

Thomas F. Kane

John Kaufold

Peter Krell

Virginia Marsh

Pat Miller

Caroline S. Morris

Rosalee Oakley

Roberta Palen

Floyd and Beth Rich

Margaret Vose

Wheaton Wilbar

$50-$150
Dr. Gregory Jeane
Michael Selvaggi
Ralph Tucker

OVER $150
Theodore Chase
Fred Oakley
Barbara Rotundo

Matching Gifts

CIGNA

New England Telephone

Duval Fund
James Tibensky
Selma Trauber
Betty Willsher

AGSSu'90 p.21

other Gifts of time and kind

Theodore Chase - hours spent editing Markers

Deborah Trask - hours spent editing the Newsletter

Cornelia Jenness - posting of AGS books and preparation of financial reports

Jo Goeselt - cataloging AGS Archives acquisitions

Laurel Gabel - managing the AGS Research Clearinghouse and Lending Library

Fred Oakley, Vincent Luti, Dan Goldman, Rob Fitts, Barbara Rotundo, Edwin Connelly - Conference '90

Committee

Board of Trustees - personal expense, time and support at Board meetings

The Nova Scotia Museum Complex, Department of Education, Province of Nova Scotia - postage, photocopying,

and telephone expenses, Macintosh SE computer, and other materials related to the preparation of the

Newsletter.

BOOK REVIEWS

Review of S//enf Cities by Jackson and Vergara
from The Philadelphia Inquirer, f^ay 27, 1990

THE DYING VALUE OF OUR CEf^ETERIES

by Thomas Hine

Inquirer Architecture Critic

The manager of a small Western Pennsylvania
borough was explaining how the stores in his
central business district were competing suc-
cessfully with a large mall only a few miles away.
"We keep the sense of community strong," he said.
"Why, we're the last town in our area that still has
a Memorial Day parade."

That statement woke me up. Although I haven't
participated in a Memorial Day parade in more
than 20 years, I had, I suddenly realized, been
assuming that small towns all over the country
were keeping the tradition going.

As the speaker unfurled his zoning map, I lapsed
into a reverie of Memorial Day parades past. I was
wearing my high school band uniform, made of
heavy blue material festooned with gold braids,
with a plumed hat that was too small. As I pretended
to be able to walk and play the clarinet at the same
time, I marched with the band up Boston Street,
delaying those who were on their way to the first
beach day of the season.

We arrived at the town cemetery, a high spot in the
salt meadows, where there was a small clot of

elderly people with flowers to decorate the graves,
and there were men in ill-fitting military uni-
forms who seemed to welcome this occasion to shoot
off rifles in public. It ended with the playing of
"Taps,"which was answered by a bugler, a member
of our band, who had been dispatched outside the
cemetery walls to play among the cattails. Much
against my will, I was moved.

Lest this sound too nostalgic, I should note that I
hated Memorial Day parades, and only now, decades
later, feel grateful to have participated in so
profound and endangered a ritual. I thought at the
time that it was for those old soldiers, little
realizing that it was designed to make mean Ameri-
can. Its lesson is that our lives are not neatly
arrayed as products on shelves but involve deep
and horrible sacrifices. Teenagers don't like to
think about death, but Memorial Day made us do it.

But at the same time that it was a symbol of
inclusion in the community, it was also a demon-
stration of separateness. The ceremony was held at
the town cemetery, which, as a Catholic, I thought
of as the Protestant cemetery. Catholics or Jews
might play in the band and die in wars, but the band

AGS Su'90 p.22

would never march to their graves on Memorial
Day. The pretense of pluralism disappears in
death, as cemeteries are segregated by religion,
race and income. Today, we no longerdiscriminate.
We forget the dead, all of them, and banish mortal-
ity from our minds.

But earlier ideas of life and death, the persistence
of memory and fleshly decay continue to be ex-
pressed, in every city, town or hamlet in the
country, in the form of cemeteries. A recent book.
Silent Cities by Kenneth T. Jackson and Camilo
Jose Vergara (Princeton Architectural Press)
surveys the diversity and complexity of American
landscapes of death. Unlike other books on the
subject, which tend toward a Deathstyles of the
Rich and Famous approach, this one included
ethnic cemeteries, ordinary urban cemeteries and
places such as New York's Hart Island, where the
indigent dead are interred by convicts.

Jackson, a professor at Columbia University, is
best known as a historian of post-World War II
suburbanization, while Vergara, who took the
book's 350 color photogrpahs, has been working
for many years to document the contemporary
urban ghetto. They are thus, in a sense, experts on
the ways in which our culture has broken its
connections with itself.

The decline of a sense of family tradition and
responsibility, of community and of the apparent
power of religion has brought a decline of the
places that express such values. But they remain,
often sufficiently neglected and picturesque to
appeal to romantic sensibilities.

The general deterioration of old cemeteries is
obvious enough, as is the utilitarian character of
newer burial sites, which are designed for quick
burial and easy mowing rather than visitation,
contemplation or decoration. (The Vietnam Veter-
ans Memorial in Washington is the one great fu-
nerary monument of our time, and impersonal as
it seems, it attracts individual tributes. Perhaps,
despite our millions of memorials, we have only
enough psychic energy left for one.)

We may live in a post-cemetery time, but Jackson
and Vergera remind us that there was also an era
before cemeteries were recognized as community
institutions and richly adorned. Indeed, on one of
the first pages of the book, there is a quotation
describing the burial place in the very town where
I used to sweat through Memorial Day parades. In
1800, my town's graveyard was called "an un-
kempt section of the town common where the

graves and fallen markers were daily trampled
upon by people and cattle."

As the quotation indicates, people were buried
before there were cemeteries, and the sites of the
graves were close to everyday life, but not monu-
mentalized. Although the book does not state this
explicitly, it shows an evolution from a view of
death as an everyday event, to an occasion for
exalted contemplation, and finally to something
we'd rather not think about at all.

Many of the earliest tombstones illustrated in
Silent Cities show images of death and decay,
including such grisly motifs as winged skulls,
with inscriptions that offer pointed reminders to
the viewers that they will be in the ground them-
selves before too long.

By the mid-1800s, the art and architecture of the
more privileged cemeteries were becoming grander
and decidedly more optimistic. There were clas-
sical motifs: temples, free-standing columns and
columns that had been broken to symbolize inter-
rupted lives. There were Egyptian motifs, recall-
ing the grandest and most persistent of funerary
architecture, including the forest of obelisks at
Philadelphia's Laurel Hill, and the pylon gate of
New Haven, Conn.'s Grove Street Cemetery, which
was founded in 1 796 and was, the book says, "the
first cemetery of the modern genus."

There were monuments and mausoleums in the
Gothic style, which was considered more appro-
priate for Christian remembrance, but had the
drawback of being more expensive than other
styles. And there was figurative sculpture: ge-
neric sculptures of babies; grieving though some-
times voluptuous women and female angels; and
reliefs, busts and standing figures of righteous
ministers and prosperous businessmen.

The book is best when it leaves these familiar
categories and elite cemeteries and moves into
what it calls "the vast democracies of the dead."
These places, open to the vast majority of Ameri-
cans, are remindersthat industrialization enabled
the masses forthe first time to purchase their bits
of immortality. These less opulent places offer
moving, very personal glimpses of ordinary life.

There are, for example, the monuments to mar-
riage, in which wives are shown as fully equal to
their husbands, and sometimes as a bit more vir-
tuous.

Photographic representations of people were in-

AGSSu'90 p.23

corporated into tombstones beginning late in tlie
19tli century, providing a relatively inexpensive
way of personalizing the grave. The book shows an
evolution from formal portraits, made when pho-
tographs required extensive preparation, to more
recent snapshot headstones, including one of a
husband and wife, each of whom is holding a bottle
of beer.

The authors attribute the decline of cemeteries to
many factors, including increased mobility and its
attendant rootlessness. Moreover, photograph
albums make it unnecessary to go to the cemetery
to provoke recollection of the dead. Pepole live
longer lives, which means that the shocking loss of
young people, the most common theme of the most
elaborate and moving monuments, is not nearly so
common.

These are good explanations, but this attractive
picture book raises some very serious questions.
Can our civilization afford to ignore death as we try
to do? Doesn't environmental consciousness at
some point demand recognition that people are
made of the same things as their environment and
are recyclable, dust to dust? In a world where
there is AIDS, shouldn't teenagers be reminded
that they're not immortal?

The cemetery, once a powerful device for commu-
nicating values, is now just a remnant. And the
state of mind, the discipline and the sense of
obligation that made me and my schoolmates, against
our wills, march each Memorial Day, is mostly
gone. But the awareness that life has an end might
provoke people into making sure it has a meaning.
Life's too short to spend it at the mall.

contributed by Harvard Wood III, Lar\sdowne PA

SILENT

CITIES

THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN CEMETERY

KENNETH T. JACKSON & CAMILO JOSE VERGARA

PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

1989

available from Princeton Architectural Press
37 East Seventh St.
New York NY 10003

ISBN: 0-910413-22-3

AGS SuVO p. 24

This Silent Marble Weeps:

The Cemeteries of Stoddard, New Hampshire

Compiled by Alan F. Rumrill, director of the His-
torical Society of Cheshire County in Keene, New
Hampshire, this work should be of interest to
genealogists, libraries, researchers, historical
societies and anyone interested in the town of
Stoddard.

The book contains gravestone records of people
buried in Stoddard's six cemeteries and numerous
private family burial plots. A map of Stoddard
shows the location of each of the cemeteries and
maps of the six cemeteries show the location of
each gravestone. Brief histories of the six ceme-
teries are included and the index covers over 1 000
names. All the legible epitaphs have been recorded.
The book includes photographs of the cemeteries,
selected gravestones, and the town's nineteenth
century horse-drawn summer and winter hearses.

Containing 1 00 pages, this 8x11 softbound book
will be a limited edition of 200 copies. The cost of
the book will be $10.00 plus $1.50 per book for
postage and handling. Make the check payable to
Alan Rumrill. Order from:

Historical Society of Cheshire County

PO Box 803

Keene, NH 03431.

ofGlo=NallianiJl{
/ Sufannaii, Ewns.

W>« Iferi Sep*- ;?I
&23,179S. ledy.
in the •}* year of
her Age- nernfln
in k's Z'^yeat.

From the stone of Henrietta Curtice, New (Stoddard)
Cemetery

"Lo where this silent marble weeps

A friend, a wife, a mother sleeps

A heart within whose sacred cell

The peaceful virtues loved to dwell."

AGS Su'

Best of Gravestone Humor

by Louis S. Schafer, illustrated by Elise Chanow-
itz, 130 pp

Published 1990 by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc., 387
Park Ave. South, New York NY 10016; distributed in
Canada by Sterling Publishing c/o Canadian Manda
Group, P.O. Box 920, Station U, Toronto, Ont. M8Z
5P9; distributed In Great Britain and Europe by Cassell
PLC Artillery House, Artillery Row, London SW1P
1RT, England; distributed in Australia by Capricorn
Ltd., P.O. Box 665, Lane Cove, NSW 2066.
$5.95 paperback ($7.95 in Canada)
ISBN: 0-8069-7274-2

A new publication, Best of Gravestone Humor, by
Louis S. Schafer, has been published by Sterling
Publishing Inc., New York. In the tradition of such
publications as Comic Epitaphs from the Verv Best
Old Graveyards (Mount Vernon NY: Peter Pauper
Press, 1957): The Last Laugh (Kansas City : Hall-
mark Editions, 1968); and A Small Book of Grave
HumourfLondon: Pan Books, 1971), Schafer lists
humorous epitaphs from the English speaking
world. Although the back cover states that the
epitaphs included are "all true, all authentic", no
attempt is made to justify this claim. No one
reading this book will be able to locate any stone
cited with such vague provenance as "found near
Lebanon, Connecticut". These publications make
great bathroom reading. I may sound jaded because
I know my well-intentioned friends knowing of my
interest in gravestones, will seize on this book as
the perfect gift for me. I already have several
copies of The Last Laugh for that very rea.qnn. Oh
well. Best of Gravestone Humor may not be very
informative, but it is entertaining. DT

90 p. 25

EXHIBITS & TOURS

Exhibition Announcement

Conference and Exhibition:
"The Future of Jewish Monuments"

An international conference on the preservation of
historic Jewish sites and structures will be held at
the Brookdale Center of Hebrew Union College -
Jewish Institute of Religion, 1 West 4th Street,
New York, NY, on November 17 (evening) - 19,
1990. The conference is organized by the Jewish
Heritage Council of the World Monuments Fund.

The conference will provide the setting for histo-
rians, architects, preservationists, and members
of the larger Jewish community to address the
issues of preserving monuments of Jewish heri-
tage, and to compare their activities, and learn
from each others' experiences and expertise.

Though primarily focused on the built environ-
ment, there will also be several presentations on
cemeteries and cemetery documentation and pres-
ervation.

An exhibition, held in the Joseph Gallery of the
Brookdale Center will accompany the conference.
Photographs, drawings and objects will be used to
illustrate many of the issues which affect the
preservation of Jewish monuments. The exhibi-
tion will travel through 1991.

Advance registration is $50 (students $30 — proof
of matriculation required). Registration includes
admission to opening reception, closing reception,
and all sessions. Space is limited.

For further information write Samuel Gruber,
Jewish Heritage Council, World Monuments Fund,
174 East 80th Street, New York, NY 10021.

There will be an exhibition of early New England
gravestone rubbings titled "Graven Images" at the
Carpenter Museum in Rehoboth MA from Septem-
ber 8 to December 30. TheMuseumisopen every
Sunday from 2-4 PM orby appointment during the
week. For more information or directions to the
Museum, call Lydia Carswell, (508) 252-9482.

Friends of Center Cemetery

A new group, the Friends of Center Cemetery of
East Hartford CT has enlisted more than 60 mem-
bers and begun to make a photographic record of
the 18th and 19th century stones in the town-
owned burying ground. A first tour in April,
guided byAGS Board member William Hosley of the
Wadsworth Atheneum of Hartford, drew more than
100 persons. The event was supported by the
Connecticut Humanities Council. The cemetery
includes the grave of colonial Connecticut gover-
nor William Pitkin. The group is looking for his
living descendants. A demonstration of gravestone
photography was held during the summer by AGS
Board member Fred Sawyer of Glastonbury. More
tours are planned - for more information contact
Mary Goodwin, secretary, 130 Peach Tree Rd.,
Glastonbury CT 06033 (203)659-2845.

The Elgin (Illinois) Area Historical Society and
Museum is again sponsoring an Historic Elgin
Cemetery Walk, Sunday. September 23, at Bluff
City Cemetery. This is a walking tour/dramatiza-
tion which takes you back in time to hear citizens
from Elgin's past tell their own stories at their
gravesites. Last year, 630 people attended. For
more information, contact Jerry Turnquist at
(708) 888-4226 or the Elgin Area Historical
Society at (708) 742-4248.

CONFERENCE "91 SITE CHANGED

Originally planned for Keeno State College In Keene NH, our Conference '91 site has
been changed due to Keane's withdrawal. Nell Jenness, Conference '91 Chair,
passed this unwelcome news to your President on July 25. Arrangements were
quickly made to visit Northfleid Mt. Hermon School (NMH) in Northfield MA. The
tour of the campus established that ail the facilities we require are available and
in buildings in about the same relative proximity as we experienced at Roger
Williams College. NMH's summer conference schedule of pricing is about the same
as offered at Roger Williams College though we have been assured of some facilities
rate reductions once our requirements are clearer. So, It'soffto Northfield Instead
of Keene!

AGS Su-90 p.26

ATLANTA GA

On Sunday, October 14, .1990 at 12 noon, members of
Historic Oal<land, a support group for Oal<land Ceme-
tery in Atlanta GA will hold SUNDAY IN THE PARK AT
HISTORIC OAKLAND, a Victorian picnic and festivities.
Last year more than 1600 people attended, many
visiting Oakland Cemetery for the first time. Basket
lunches will be sold with a "Turn of the Century"
menu. Lastyeareach picnic basket contained two large
pieces of cold fired chicken, an apple, a slice of pound
cake, 4-6 oz. of cole slaw, a roll and a small chocolate
goodie, all for $5. Much of the food is donated by stores
and restaurants.

In a joint effort between the City of Atlanta, Historic
Oakland Cemetery Inc. (HOC!) and Oakland's Atlanta
Junior League volunteers, a lot needing restoration in
Oakland Cemetery was restored. HOC! raised enough
money through a special project to fund the restoration
of a lot with retaining walls deteriorating and the
coping falling away. The City of Atlanta brick masons
rebuilt the walls and replaced and realigned the coping
that had fallen. Joining the effort were the Junior
League volunteers who, with the assistance of the
Oakland maintenance crew, unearthed the buried cra-
dling on the four gravespaces. After cleaning all the
pieces and grading the lot, the cradling was properly
replaced.

GENEALOGICAL FUN!!

NEWFUNDSETUPFORCEMETERY PRESERVATION

In July, AGS was contacted by LeEarl Bryant of
Richardson, TX who is the creator of the board game
GENERATIONS^": A GAME OF FAMILY HIS-
TORY. Ms. Bryant wants to donate $5 of each
purchase to a fund for cemetery preservation. She
asked AGS to receive and manage these funds and to
guarantee that would be spent for cemetery restora-
tion projects across the nation.

The game is a new one, has only been on the market for
three years, and it will possibly take some timeforthe
game to catch on and the fund to build up to a useable
amount. AGS was delighted to have been approached to
begin such a fund and readily agreed to manage the fund
and to report back to Ms. Bryant the use of such
proceeds when the time comes.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed the board game CLUE ™
will also enjoy GENERATIONS '"'. It is based on the
same methodology of finding information. Only this
time, «ach player is looking for an ancestor, his
birthplace, and either his career or his lifestyle. It is
advertised for2 to 6 players aged 8 through adult. The
players move tokens around the board to seven differ-
ent geographical regions within the United States
searching for hints regarding lifestyle, career, and

kind of person their ancestor was. Deductive reason-
ing is used to create a fictional family tree. The winner
is the individual best able to separate rumor from fact.

GENERATIONS ^"allows for several interesting vari-
ations including playing in teams (especially useful
when a smaller child wants to be included in the fun.).

The game is also available in a classroom edition
(GENERATIONS ED). Classroom teachers have written
excellent reviews after using it with their students as
a free-time activity or as part of classroom history
courses. In the Education version, students draw a
number placing their ancestor in one of five genera-
tions on a Family Tree Chart and three cards containing
"facts" about their ancestor's U.S. region of birth,
career and lifestyle. The Family Tree Chart is filled in
with the names students invent for their ancestors and
with the facts they have drawn for each one. Students
create imaginary stories about each ancestor placing
him or her in the appropriate historical context.

John Franklin, an eighth grade history teacher in
Friendship, TX, introduces GENERATIONS ^"at the
beginning ofthe school year. Heand hisclasses develop
the family tree, adding generation tocover all the time
periods in his U.S. history course. As the year
proceeds, they flash back to the family to examine
their possible reactions to the various historical events
they are discussing. John has students who, from time
to time, return to discuss the family and events in their
lives.

The game is handsomely packaged and includes tokens
representing various professions such as an
artist(palette), farmer (milk bottle), carpenter(gold
hammer), and lifestyles such as a hero (blue star) and
criminal (rat). The game board is sturdy, yet folds for
easy storage. Authentic-looking ancestor charts are
also provided so each player (researcher) can record
results and statistics.

So when you are thinking of holiday giving, consider
who on your list would enjoy a different kind of game
that stimulates imaginations to bloom and turns dusty
history into a fascinating web of intrigue. And know
that part of your purchase price will go into the "AGS
Restoration Fund." The game is available from
Genealogy for Fun, Inc., PO Box 850061 , Richardson,
TX 75085. Cost is $24.95 plus $2 state tax for Texas
residents, plus 3.50 for shipping and handling. Addi-
tional instructions for classroom use may be ordered
for $5.

^^

AGSSu'90 p.27

REPORT ON THE MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

Seventeen members were credited with recruiting
twenty-one new members by the June 1, 1990
deadline. Several recruited two members, earning

deductions on next year's membership, and one,
David Via of Round Hill, VA, recruited three new
members, earning himself a free year's member-
ship. Our thanks and congratulations go to these
resourceful members, and our welcome to the new
people.

I Please inform the office if you plan to move. The Newsletter is sent 3rd |

I class and the post office will not forward 3d class mail. Your Newsletter i

_ is then destroyed and AGS must bear the cost of mailing you another. So .

■ please send in your new address. '

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone
Studies. The membership year begins on the date dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one
year membership entitles the members to four issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS
conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees (individual $20: institutional, $25;
Family $30; contributing $30) to AGS Executive Director Rosalee Oakley , 46 Plymouth Rd. Need ham MA 02192.
Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from Rosalee Oakley. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning grave-
stones, and about the activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah irask,
who welcomes suggestions and short contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not mtended to serve
as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Theodore Chase editor of Markers, the Journal of the
Association for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St., Dover l\/IA 02030. Address Newsletter
contributions to Deborah Trask, editor, Nova Scotia h^useum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H
3A6, Canada. OrderMarkers (Vol. 1 $18; Vol. 2, $16; Vol. 3, $14.75; Vol. 4. $14.75; Vol. 5, $18; Vol. 6,
$18; Vol. 7, $15: higher prices for non-members) from Rosalee Oakley. Send contributions to the AGS Archives
to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Way land MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Rosalee Oakley.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
46 Plymouth Rd.
Needham MA
02 192

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No.

410

Worcester

MA

NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 14 NUMBER 4 FALL 1990 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris

notes from George Kackley 2

Alaska's Old Valdez Cemetery

by Harvey Medland 3

A Morning In Indiana

by Jim Jewell 5

RESEARCH 6

LOST & FOUND! 8

Creative Use of Gravestone Motifs 11

PRESERVATION NOTES 12

Unearthed Cemeteries 16

BOOKS 19

Gravestone Chronicles, reviewed by Michael Cornish 20

EXHIBIT - Almand Rubbings of Texas 22

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 24

=^

BOARD OF TRUSTEES ANNOUNCES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR!

Miranda Levin of Sutton, Massachusetts lias been selected to be the new Executive
Director. She was the top choice of the Personnel Committee which received ten
applications for the position. The Board of Trustees voted to accept the Committee's
choice at its October 27th meeting.

Mrs. Levin is a 1982 graduate of Smith college, Northampton MA. In her employment
as a manager of sales and marketing for Hampton Hill, Inc. of Framingham MA and as
vice-president, operations of Wayfarer Wines, Inc. of Haydenville MA, she has had
experience in managing personnel, finances, sales, advertising and marketing strate-
gies. She is also a freelance writer and has done public speaking in both commercial and
educational settings.

AGSFa'90p.1

MONTPARNASSE
FRANCE

CEMETERY, PARIS,

notes from George Kackley, Baltimore MD

The New York Times of July 8, 1990 had an
article about Montpamasse Cemetery and its lively
neighborhood. It introduces the "second ceme-
tery" of Paris as a quiet respite from the partying
of its area. The article, by Julian More, includes
a map of the 42-acre park, showing nearby streets
and MeUo stations.

The article notes that the cemetery was founded by
the Brothers of St. Jean de Dieu, an ancient order
of hospitalers and was opened as a public cemetery
in 1824, over the objections of the tres gai citi-
zens of RueGaite. (Permanent ParislansleWs
us that the l^ontparnasse Cemetery is known as
Cimetiere du Sud and that it was created from three
farms in 1824).

The New York Times article tells us that we can
get a map of the cemetery, showing location of

Tomb of the inventor Charles Pigeon

graves of the celebrities, from the Bureau de Con-
servation, to the left of the main entrance on the
Boulevard Edgar-Quinet, that the Michelin Guide
is clearer about their positions, and that the gar-
deners are helpful. It does not mention Perma-
nent Parisians, an Illustrated Guide to the
Cemeteries of Paris, by Judi Cuthbertson and
Tom Randall (1986, $15.95: Chelsea Green Pub-
lishing Co., P.O. Box 130, Post Mills VT 05058-
0130 FAX: 802/333-9092) which has a plat of

the Montparnasse Cemetery showing location of
notable burials.

The Permanent Parisians plat shows location
of the graves of Frederic Bartholdi (Statue of Lib-
erty), Alfred Dreyfus, Cesar Franck, Guy de
Maupassant, Constantin Brancusi (his marker
being a major work by him), Camille Saint-
Saens, Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Sartre, Chiam
Soutine, Pierre Laval, Charles Baudelaire, in-
ventor Charles Pigeon, painter Gustave Jundt,
composer Vincent d'Indy, Admiral Dumont
d'Urviile, Andre Citroen, and Honore Champion
(notable only for his tomb by sculptor Paul Albert
Bartholme). The guidebook's text adds the graves
of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, "Father of Anar-
chism", Clara Haskil, Romanian pianist; sculptor
Henri Laurens (with a handsome sculpture by him
as his marker); Tristian Tzara, a Romanian founder
of dadaism; the painter Henri Fantin-Latour; the
astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph le Verrier; critic
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve; painter Gustave
Jundt; and Nicholas Cont6, inventor of the pencil.
The New York Times article makes the following
additions to the list of Permanent Parisians: Simone
de Beauvoir, buried with Jean-Paul Sartre;
Mexican president Porfirio Diaz; the sculptor
Zadkine, who worked at La Ruche (the Montpar-
nasse artists' colony that launched Chagall, L^ger,
Modigliani and Soutine); the eighteenth-century
sculptor Bourdelle; and one J. Ottavi, a Corsican
orator whose noble tombstone states that it was
erected to this "Relation of Napoleon" by his
"Friends and Admirers".

The New York Times article has photographs of
the massive granite double bed containing the in-
ventor, Charles Pigeon and his wife, in bedtime
conversation, and the horizontal inscription on the
grave of the Dreyfus family. The guidebook has
better photographs of markers (including those of
Pigeon, Baudelaire, de Maupassant, Brancusi,
Sainte-Beuve, Laurens and Jundt), with inter-
esting write-ups about these notable persons that
make good bedtime reading.

AGSFa'90p.2

ALASKA'S "OLD VALDEZ CEMETERY"

The community of Valdez, Alaska, has an opportune
location at the north end of Prince William Sound.
Its excellent harbour is now the terminus for both
the Richardson Highway and the Trans-Alaska Oil
Pipeline. Aside from the "old" cemetery, little
remains of the original townsite. It was mangled
and flooded in 1964s Easter earthquake. The
"new" community" was subsequently erected
further west.

In 1896 Valdez did not exist. Two years later,
however, it had a population of 3500 prospectors
struggling across the Valdez Glacier in order to
reach Dawson City, scene of the Klondike Gold
Rush. Very few made it. Many died on the Glacier.
The survivors who returned to Valdez were sick,
destitute and disillusioned. During this tragedy, a
large copper deposit was discovered nearby. It
wan't gold, but it was enough to convince some to
saty in Alaska. They worked the mine, constructed
a permanent town and laid out the "old" cemetery.

Today that burying ground enjoys an attractive
setting amid tall evergreen trees. Its well-main-
tained grave markeres are an assortment of posts,
planks and crosses. A summary of their inscrip-
tions illustrates the worldwide appeal of the Yukon
Gold Rush and the cosmopolitan background of the
founders of Valdez:

- A. Gravelle, born Belgium 1864, died 1924

- J. Erickson, born Norway, died 1928

- F. Gustafson, born Sweden 1877, died 1928

- Emma Nelson, born Sweden 1854, died 1926

- Walter Holland, born New Zealand 1866,
died 1918; Life Member of Igloo #7 Alaska
Pioneers

- John Rueby, bom Switzerland 1870, died
1935

- George Cook, bom Stockton, California 1870,
died 1920

- Dolatmurza Bogoff (bom Russia) died 1918,
age 31 years

AGSFa'90p.3

ALASKA

COOK

Valdez

I

contributed by Harvey Medland, Toronto, Ontario.

ORIGIN OF "POTTERS FIELD"

Barbara Rotundo of Laconia NH writes that she has
several times been asked, including by a group at our
June conference, about the derivation of "Potters
Field" as a name for the burial place of the poor. "I can
now answer authoritatively-nothing as authoritative as
the Bible! The reference given is usually Matthew
XXVII: 6-7 but I think the whole chapter through verse
10 is important because it shows why so many people
were so emotional about not being buried 'by the
town'. It was more than just the disgrace of being poor.

"To summarize: After the chief priests had bound
Jesus and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, Judas
repented and tried to return the thirty pieces of silver,

the price of his betrayal, to the chief priests and elders,
but they wouldn't take his money. Then he threw
down the pieces of silver 'and went and hanged
himself. The chief priests said it was unlawful to keep
the money because it was 'the price of blood'.

V. 7 'And they took counsel, and bought with

them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.

V. 8 Wherefore that field was called. The field

of blood, unto this day. '
The last two verses describe how this was a fulfillment
of Jeremy's prophecy.

All those burial societies, and the priority given to
having money for one's burial, becomes a lot clearer--
those people knew their Bible better than I did."

AGS Fa'90p.4

A MORNING IN INDIANA

by Jim Jewell, Peru IL

With our continual quest for scientific, historical
or academic knowledge about gravestones, it is
often refreshing to realize that the gravestone can
still be an object capable of provoking honest
emotions — beyond intellectual ones.

On a visit to Indiana this past June, I drove out of
my way to photograph the stones of two Hoosiers,
buried in cemeteries less than an hour from each
other. Both died young; both died tragically. Both
have stones that have been both revered and van-
dalized.

James Dean and Ryan White. Jimmy and Ryan.
From Fairmount to Cicero is less than an hour's
drive. From Jimmy's fiery death to Ryan's final
breath is thirty-five years. From rebel film idol
to teenage AIDS victim is a lifetime of change and
redistribution of priorities.

But from a simple stone hidden in the middle of
Fairmount's Park Cemetery to an ornate focal
point along the main road next to Cicero Cemetery
is a short span — almost nonexistent — of emotional
response.

I knelt at James Dean's stone and recalled the
outpouring of grief at his passing in 1955. And,
although I was a few years from being a teenager,
it seemed as if a portion of what I aspired to was
suddenly gone. As it is with all tragic demises, it
was gone without a word, without a sensible rea-
son. In the morning sun — reflected off nearby
polished granite — I wept. I wept for those who left
as suddenly as Jimmy did on a California highway.
I wept for Terry Fullis, my Louisville drinking
buddy. For Linda Varner from my first summer
stock company. For my Uncle George, whose death

on a road near the Mississippi River prevented
him from seeing his four-year-old grand-daugh-
ters grow to be the young mothers they are today.

I^ST'^

It was harder to find the Cicero Cemetery, but
easier to see the White stone than the Dean marker
in Fairmount. And it was easy for the emotions —
for very different reasons — to flood back. Again I
wept. I wept for Matthew Hoffman, my Chicago
designer friend. For Jim Canady, talented musi-
cian and instructor at Indiana University. For
Bobby Duncan, former student and compassionate
friend. I wept for those who left us because of a
senseless affliction as lacking in logic as a car
crash. I knelt in the grass — still damp with morn-
ing dew — and 1 wept. ..for us all.

Jim Jewell is a frequent contributor to the Ne ws let-
ter. His photo of the Ryan White gravestone was
published in the Bucks County AIDS Awareness
Ne wsletter, accompanying an interview with Ryan's
mother.

AGS Fa'90p.5

RESEARCH

AGS member Jennifer Sexton sent several photos
of "head and shoulder" stones found in Winona
TN. She wonders if these are common elsewhere.
If you have seen similar stones in your area of the
country, please contact AGS Research with the
information. (Laurel Gabel, 205 Fishers Road,
Pittsford NY 14534).

Jim Miller, who saw Jennifer's photographs
posted on the Conference Bulletin board, sent in
information from Terry Jordan's book Texas
Graveyards, A Cultural Legacy(\Jr\\\jers\\y
of Texas Press, 1982). The "head and shoulder"
stones pictured in Texas Graveyarc/s were re-
putedly fashioned in the 1840s by a slave artisan
for an East Texas white couple. Terry Jordan be-
lieves that '1he human effigy shape may be of
African origin, since it appears, generally in
wood, among blacks in Texas, Georgia, and per-
haps elsewhere in the South." AGS member Bob
Longcore from Hamburg NJ sent photocopies of
eight head and shoulder style stones similarto the
Winona TN stones that Jennifer Sexton inquired
about. The eighteenth century stones, whose
inscriptions are all in German, are located in
Sussex County NJ, and span the years 1748-
178? If you know of any other "head and shoul-
der" stones, please tell us about them!

Two members have sent drawings/rubbings of
the following emblem found on gravestones in
Tennessee. One example appears on the stone for
a woman who died in 1905. The other is from a
double marker for husband and wife, both of
whom died in 1 927. Although both husbands were
Masons, AGS Research co-ordinator Laurel Gabel
did not find a description of this emblem in Ma-
sonic reference books or histories, nor was it
familiar to researchers at the (Masonic) Mu-
seum of Our National Heritage in Lexington,
Massachusetts. Laurel suspects that the symbol
may represent membership in a local fraternal/
benefit organization, religious circle or women's
auxiliary. Have any other AGS members seen this
emblem on gravestones? Does anyone know its
affiliation or what the letters F.N.D.O.Z.T.K.C and
A.M.R.Y. stand for?

emblem drawing by Carol Perkins

AGSFaVOp.e

Harvey Medland of Toronto, Ontario, writes:

While exploring cemeteries along the north shore
of Lake Erie, we discovered several markers for
British immigrants. Each concluded with,
"drowned in Lake Erie at the burningof theWorfrt-
ern Indiana, July 17, 1856". It appeared that
each of the deceased had been buried in proximity
to where he or she had been washed up on shore
over a distance of twenty miles. In order to learn
more of the Northern Indianalragedy, we contacted
several museums and libraries, but to no avail,
until the University of Western Ontario's Regional
Room advised us to write to the Dossin Great Lakes
Museum — "It's the best resource on Great Lakes'
history."

Several weeks later, "the Dossin" mailed to us a
reproduction of the front page of the July 18,
1856 Detroit Free Press. Its detailed description
of the accident, plus lists of the passengers, crew
and missing served as an excellent resource. One
of the marble markers was in memory of Frank
Akeroyd of Manchester, England. The newspaper
clipping placed his drowning in an even more
tragic perspective. His wife, Harriet, survived
the accident near Point Pelee, but lost her mother,
father, husband and two children.

For anyone wishing information on gravestones
which refer to Great Lakes' mishaps, we recom-
mend you contact the Dossin Great Lakes' Museum,
100 Strand/Belle Isle, Detroit Michigan, 48207.

Dr. Charles Letocha, an opthalmogist from York
PA, wrote to inquire whether AGS members might
be aware of any gravestones which depict spec-
tacles or eyeglasses. He recently visited the
Science Museum in London where they have a
plaster cast of a Scottish gravestone on which two
skulls are wearing eyeglasses. The original grave-
stone, dated 1727, is in Kirkliston, Scotland. Has
anyone seen anything similar? If so, we would
like to hear about it.

6h

AGS member Kevin Ladd, director of the Wallis-
ville Heritage Park in Texas, writes that the
Texas Historical Commission is actively seeking
funding to create a position that would be solely
responsible for historic cemeteries in Texas. If
approved by the legislature, this person would
assist individuals, associations, and county his-
torical commissions that are working to preserve
cemeteries. He/she would also seek to codify laws
governing cemeteries and help to establish a
central clearing house for all information on the
cemeteries in the state's 254 counties. Anyone
wishing to write a letter of support for this
position should address their comments to Mr.
Curtis Tunnell, Executive Director, Texas His-
torical Commission, P.O. Box 12276, Austin TX
78711.

Rare Book for Sale

This rare and unusually fine book will be useful and
interesting to people who study and appreciate
funerary monuments. The page size is 11 x 15", and
there are over 200 full-page plates of highly-detailed
drawings of memorials. Although many countries and
areas are illustrated, the primary focus is on Ireland,
Britain and France. There are extensive sections on
Celtic crosses and cathedral sarcophagii. The book's
condition is as follows: no cover, very slight foxing on a
few pages, no torn or missing pages, original end
papers. This is a beautiful item that should be rebound
or placed in an archival storage box.

$100.00 + $4.00 for packing and stripping

Robert Wright
830 Terry Place
Madison Wl 5371 1

ANCIENT
SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS

CONTAINING

M. LUSTRATIONS OF OVER SIX HUSORRD EX.IMPI.ES

FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES AND FROM THE EARLIEST I-ERIODS

UOUN TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CEMURV

WITH DESCRIPTIVE AND GENERAL INDEX

WILLIAM BRINDLEY
W. SAMUEL WEATHERLEY

VINCENT BROOKS. DAY AND SON.
MDCCCLXXXVIl.

AGSFa'90p.7

LOST

AND FOUND!

Can AGS members help locate the original site of
any of these gravestones?

A badly weathered oak graveboard is currently in
the possession of a Fall River, Massachusetts man
who for the past twenty-plus years has used it for
a coffee table. (He "protected" it with several
coats of polyurethane.) Traces of paint are still
visible and some of the inscription is legible. It
was probably hand made. The inscription reads:
"In Memory of Mary, wife of John Bradley, died_,

1888 ^fever." An epitaph (?) follows. The

marker was given to the current possessor by a
friend, who moved away long ago. Were Mary and
John Bradley from Rhode Island? Massachusetts?
Might a more permanent marker have eventually
replaced this wooden graveboard?

A worn marble gravestone (36" x 12" x 2") for
"Isaac Johnson died January 7, 1819 at 1 .25 Yr.,
1 M, 19 D." This stone was used as part of an
outdoor patio for a Berea, Ohio home. There is no
decorative motif. It appears to have been profes-
sionally carved.

A small (10x7 1/2" x 3") marble gravestone "In
Memory of Kate McCartney, died August 20th,
1884 at age 17 (or ?11) years, 10 mo." This
stone, in the shape of a closed book, was purchased
for $3.00 at a suburban Rochester NY garage sale
by a woman who was distressed to see it advertised
as a Halloween prop. She wants very much to
restore it to Kate McCartney's grave. Can you
help?

-V>",i

Vii^tWi HTOE-v'

from left to right: Patricia Ely, Neptune NJ, Elizabeth Lovell
Bowman, Toms River NJ, and Elise Prayzich of Freehold
Twp. NJ look over one of the stones returned to New Jersey
from Vermont.

A follow-up to the story reported in the Spring issue of
the Newsletter (V.14 #2), p. 6, on the stones from
Freehold NJ found in Townshend VT: Elizabeth Lovell
Bowman of Toms River NJ and Ludlow VT got in touch
with Patricia Ely, a genealogist. Much to Mrs. Ely's
surprise, the stones were for some of her own
ancestors. The next step was what to do with them as
the cemetery is now a housing development. Mrs. Ely
and other descendants decided that the best place for
the stones was the Monmouth County NJ Historical
Association Museum.

from the Asbury Park Press, sent by Elizabeth Lovell
Bowman, Toms River NJ and Ludlow VT, and Janis Ramoth,
Wood-Ridge NJ

An AP photograph, captioned "No stone unturned"
shows Frank Natsuhara of Auburn WA holding the
gravestone of his sister, lyu, who died in 1911 at
age 3 but whose gravestone was stolen in 1945 in
the bitterfinal days of World War II. The stone was
recently unearthed at a construction site and will
be returned to the cemetery.

sent by Dr. James Ramoth, Beach Haven NJ, and from
the Baltimore Sun, July 15, 1990, sent by Jack
Lynch of Baltimore MD.

AGSFa'90p.8

AGS member Barbara O'Neill, chairof the Beaufort
NC Historical Association's Old Burying Ground
committee, (P.O. Box 1709, Beaufort NC 28516)
is trying to locate descendants of a person whose
grave marker recently was found after a severe
storm. The marker consists of two inscriptions,
one on the front and one on the back, which read:
"G.L. Willis, borned 10-15-1860, died 7-27-
30", and "L. Willis, borned 10-15-1863, died
7-10,1927." The cedar grave marker belongs in
the Old Cemetery on the Point in Markers Island,
which is now abandoned. Mrs. O'Neill is in search
of Willis descendants who will accept responsibil-
ity of the grave marker and return it to its original
site. Barbara O'Neill writes: "...the 'lost' grave-
marker is somewhat of a dilemma — I know where
it belongs, but the area is abandoned and really
trashed. The area looks like a garbage dump and
access is limited. I hate to put it back where it
belongs because it will just be either destroyed or
removed again. The area is by a marina and our
local fishermen don't seem to have any feelings
about not littering. I put an article in the local
paperthinking it might stimulate something but to
no avail. Not one call!"

chcr^t/ HtnnQumsamar

This "Lost and Found" has a happy ending

An eighty year old Toledo OH man hit
a buried gravestone while digging in
his backyard this past April. A pho-
tograph of the stone and the accom-
panying newspaper story of its dis-
covery started a far-reaching search
for the gravestone's original home.
The unearthed slate marker was for
Martha Gardiner, wife of Col. Tho-
mas Gardiner, who died February
21, 1793, in the 62nd year of her
age. In the end, more than fourteen
people from five states contributed
to the research project to find
Martha's burial place. The grave-
stone, apparently carved by John
Bull of Newport, will soon be re-
turned to its original site in Rhode Island Cemetery
#92 on Stony Fort Road in South Kingston Rl. It is
still not known how the stone found its way, some-

Stoae ssseartheci >n

time in the late 1960s or early
1970s, from South Kingston to
Toledo OH. Although we didn't know
it at the time, the mystery had al-
ready been solved when AGS mem-
ber Vincent Luti, of Westport Rl,
first heard of it and quickly identi-
fied the tiny cemetery from which
the stone had been taken.

To begin a search for the grave site
when only the name and date of death
are known, family genealogies, lo-
cal histories, census records, vital
records and burial ground invento-
1 ic.kd:) pjgg gre useful resources. A good
photograph or description of the
stone and its recent history can also prove valu-
able, especially if the carver or the regional
carving design can be identified.

AGS Fa'90p.9

AGS member Lance Mayer of New London CT has
provided further information on the "Patio Stones"
issue reported in the Spring 1990 issue of the News-
letter {V. 14 #2, p. 26) based on an article in the
Hartford Courant, and on his discussions with the
police:

TOMBSTONES USED FOR PATIO CONSID-
ERED ILLEGAL

Gravestones have become a topic of controversy in
New London CT, according to an article in the
Hartford Courant on May 7, 1990. A New
London city building official recently visited the
home of Carolyn Brotherton to look into a request
for a building permit, and found that a 10-by-12
foot patio in Brotherton's backyard and a walkway
leading to it are made from more than fifty tomb-
stones. The city official notified police, who cited
a 1984 lawwhich makes it illegalforan individual
to possess or sell grave markers. The police have
investigated and found that the stones were re-
moved from nearby Cedar Grove Cemetery by a
previous owner of the house, Asa Goddard, at some
time during the 1930s. According to Goddard's
widow, Mercia Goddard, the stones had been lying
scattered at the edge of the cemetery, and cemetery
officials allegedly did not object to their removal.

According to police, some of the stones have in-
scriptions which date to the nineteenth century,
but most of the stones are brown and are inscribed
only with names. This would indicate that they are
footstones from the eighteenth or early nineteenth
centuries.

The story has been picked up by newspaper wire
services, and has provoked the anger of descen-
dants of some of the families whose gravestones
have been removed, which include such prominent
New London names as Hempstead, Starr and Coit.

Police say that no one will be charged with a crime,
but they have an obligation to attempt to return the
stones to their proper location. But there is still
confusion about howoreven whether this will take
place. The present owner of the property is
concerned about having her backyard torn up, and
cemetery officials are concerned about the cost of
transporting and re-erecting the stones. Police
have consulted AGS, as well as William Hare of the
New London County Historical Society and Lance
Mayer at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, but police
are reluctant to spend a great deal more time on a
case which will not involve a criminal prosecu-
tion.

More details will follow as they develop.

BOOKS FOR SALE

Here Lies America: A Collection of Notable
Graves, Nancy Eilis & Parker Hayden, New York: Hawthorn
Books, 1978.
out-of-print $20.00

Pioneer Cemeteries of Door County Wisconsin,

text by John M. Kahlerl, photographs by Albert Quinlan,
Baileys Harbor Wl: Meadow Lane Publishers, 1981.

$12.50

Death In Early America, Margaret M. Coffin, New York:

Elsevier/Nelson Books, 1976.

out-of-print, hardbound $18.00

Permanent Address: A Guide to the Resting
Places of Famous Americans, Jean Arbeiter & Linda D.
Cirino, New York: M. Evans & Co., 1 983. $ 8.00

Project Remember: A National Index of Gravesltes
of Notable Americans. Arthur S. Koykka, Algonac Ml:
Reference Publications, Inc., 1986.
Hardbound. Comprehensive, almost 600 pages $40.00

Shipping cost is $2.00 for the first book and $1.00 for each
additional one. Send orders to:

Robert Wright

830 Terry Place

Madison W! 5371 1

New member Jeff Miller, of Huntington Station
NY, spotted Nita Spangler's request for informa-
tion about a civil warsoldierstatue (AGS Newslet-
ter,V. 14, #1, 1990, p. 8). "When I saw the one
pictured, 1 thought 'I know that soldier!' He is
guarding the town green in Chambersburg, Fran-
klin County, Pennsylvania. Here is a photo I took
on a recent trip to Chambersburg. I'm sure you see
the resemblance to Nita's soldier. I really have no
information as to where the Chambersburg soldier
was cast. Perhaps someone in a Chambersburg
Historical Society or something could lend more
insight. 1 know the statue was erected, looking
south, to guard Chambersburg against attack from
the Confederates after the city was burned to the
ground in 1863."

AGS Fa'90 p.10

CREATIVE USES OF GRAVESTONE
MOTIFS

The guidelines forthe Salem witch
trials logo design were clear. "If
you were interested in winning,"
says Sarah Bennett, a Leicester
MA resident who did just that,
"you were supposed to avoid gal-
lows humor and broomsticks."
Bennett played by the rules and
is $1000. richerfor it. Thatwas
the grand prize awarded by the
Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary Committee,
which was formed to commemorate the 300th an-
niversary of the Salem Witch Trials.

The Tercentenary will recall the frenzied summer
of 1 692 in Salem of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
when 1 9 people were hanged at the gallows and one
person was pressed to death for practicing witch-
craft.

wi^

SALEM WITCH TRIALS TERCENTENARY

Three tombstones were used to create the image for
the logo; two provided the dates, and a third be-
longing to Samuel Jenison, who briefly served as
a minister in Rutland in 1721, contributed the
facial image. The logo is now officially the prop-
erty of the city of Salem.

irom Inside Worcester, September 1990

,4..

EH

'l^%.

u I

The logo design competition, which was advertised
in New England Adweek, attracted more than 70
entries from throughout New England. Bennett
says she got the idea for her design, which is a
combination of impressionsfrom 17th- and 18th-
century gravestone rubbings, after visiting the
Old North Cemetery near her childhood home in
Wayland. "I spent a very enjoyable Sunday morn-
ing poking around gravestones at the Old North
Cemetery," Bennett says. "I wanted to get the feel
of the old-style type[face]."

This stone, photographed by Dan Farber in 1974, is
similar to the Wayland stone from which the logo was
derived. It was carved (for himself) by Jonathan
Worster, and is at Harvard MA, 1754.

AGS Fa'90p.11

Gravestone Images In the Christmas
Catalogues!

The molds from which the reproductions were cast
were made in the 1970s by William McGeer, of
Holland MA, author of Reproducing Relief Sur-
faces: A Complete Handbook of Rubbing, Dabbing,
Casting and Daubing (Concord MA: Minuteman
Press, 1972). The Newsletter has learned that
Bill has religuished control over these molds and
someone else [Facsimiles Ltd. of Groton MA] is now
making and selling the reproductions to gift shops,
mail order houses, etc.

No. Fiih 555.00

available from Cahill & Company, A Division of Regn-
ery Gateway Inc., Federalsburg, Maryland, 21632-
0039

C. Gravestone Reproductions.

available from:

W.M. Green & Co., P.O. Box 278/Highway 64 East,

Robersonville NC 27871

PRESERVATION NOTES

The dilapidated family cemetery of a former United
States president will be restored thanks to the
efforts of three Ohio Historical Society staff
members. Architect Theresa Andre, Objects Con-
servator Laurie Booth and Scheduling Coordinator
Melanie Pratt are working together to ensure the
protection of Congress Green Cemetery in Hamil-
ton County OH, the family cemetery of ninth U.S.
president, William Henry Harrison. The ceme-
tery, established in the late 1700s, was last used
in 1903.

Plansforthe site's preservation began with a land
survey of the area and "readings" of the tomb-
stones by Pratt, who spent the summer of 1988
deciphering inscriptions and recording and re-
searching data. Pratt and her co-workers evalu-
ated the condition of each stone and filled out
individual survey forms for each of the cemetery's
more than 100 gravestones. The society's staff

members then recommended measures for clean-
ing, repairing and resetting the stones. In addi-
tion, they developed guidelines for maintenance of
the grounds that will ensure preservation of the
cemetery.

Andre said that conservation experts will be cho-
sen to perform the preservation work, which will
take several months. "The conservation consult-
ants will set up an off-site workshop in order to do
the actual stone repair," she explained. "They
need near-laboratory conditions in order to prop-
erly restore the stones. ..Our project will serve as
a prototype for future conservation work. Local
historical organizations will be able to learn to
conservetheirowncemeteries by using ourplans."

from tfie Ohio Historical Society publication Ectioes,
V. 29 #4, April 1990, sent by C.R. Jones, Cooper-
stown NY

AGS Fa'90p.12

The Phantom In Nunhead Cemetery

AGS's Victorian authority, Barbara Ro-
tundo of Laconia NIH, ^ent tfie following item
from thie Friends of Nunfiead Cemetery
(London, England) Newsletter (#30,
Winter 1989-90). "Tfiis is a kind of
vandalism I've never encountered else-
where. Unlike Highgate, which is run by
the Friends, Nunhead is run by Southwark
Borough, which ignores the many acres
devoted to pre-World War I stones. That
has become the Friends' territory."

On the first Sunday of every month a band of
between eight and twenty Friends of Nun-
head Cemetery (F.O.N.C.) volunteers under-
takes the only maintenance work now car-
ried out in the cemetery (except for the new
burial area). We like to think that the sign of good
maintenance work is that its effects are hardly
visible to the casual visitor — the absence of litter
or rubbish around the entrance or on the paths,
litter bins regularly emptied, a monument previ-
ously broken now repaired, paths overgrown by
brambles once again passable, banks of crocuses,
wood anemones or other Spring flowers appearing
because the grass and bramble were cut the pre-
vious winter, holes in the boundary fence patched
and mended, and so on.

Unfortunately F.O.N.C. members are no longer the
only people working in the cemetery. If you have
visited it recently you may have seen the engraved
lettering on many memorials newly painted in
garish colours — red, blue, orange. This is defi-
nitely not the work of F.O.N.C. For the past 12
months the 'Phantom' has been at work in the
cemetery. At first her was relatively harmless,
only ripping ivy off memorials and hacking at
small trees, leaving them dumped on the path for

photo of Nunhead, "nature invading", from London
Cemeteries, an Illustrated Guide and Gaz-
etteer, by Hugh Meller (Avebury, 1981)

US to clear away on F.O.N.C. workdays. He then
moved on to paint lettering on a handful of monu-
ments with gold paint, and now in the past few
weeks he has run riot with colours.

He only works at weekdays, when the cemetery is
nearly deserted, which is why he is difficult to
catch. One or two members of the Friends have
spoken to him to try to persuade him to work with
us rather than against us but he appears unwilling
to listen.

The greatest harm is often done by those with the
best intentions. The 'Phantom' believes he is a
'friend' of the cemetery and has a deep interest in
all things Victorian. But what he is doing is just as
much vandalism as the more obvious thug who
smashes a stone, orthe antique dealerwho steals an
angel's head to sell in his shop.

GOOD ECONOMIC NEWS!

The cost for attending Conference '91 took a dramatic turn for the better when a
calculation glitch in our Cray Super Computer was discovered. To demonstrate how
superior we mortals are, compared with computers, you are ivited to change the two
entries shown in the CONFERENCE COST column (Conference '91 Special mailing) as
follows:

$260.00 becomes $210.00

$265.00 becomes $225.00
Your president apologizes for the error of his ways.

AGS Fa'90p.13

WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO?

Many people write to the AGS office asking wfiat
tfiey can do wfien ttiey find a gravestone in a cellar
or a burial ground ttiat is being neglected. Here are
two stories illustrating what dedicated people can
do.

During the past year Lawrence Riveroll of San
Diego, CA was given a gravestone that was l<nown to
have been been removed from a particular ceme-
tery in San Diego. His work to return it to its
original location has developed into a significant
cemetery restoration project involving the nearby
community.

El Campo Santo is the second oldest cemetery in San
Diego and dates back to 1 849. Its size is about 1 20
by 140 feet. More than 250 people were buried
there, although to look at it today, one would think
only 15 or 20 people are buried there. It is
situated in a section of the city called Old Town
where thousands of tourists pass by the cemetery
every year. Yet no sign exists to explain its
history. The cemetery has changed hands over the
years from the Roman Catholic Church to the City
of San Diego. Some restoration was done in 1933
by the San Diego Historical Society and recently
the city Parks Department replaced three of the
wooden fence enclosures and repaired a cast iron
fence around one of the graves. However, there is
much more to be done.

Mr. Riveroll began by contacting the Parks and
Recreation Department about returning the grave-
stone to the cemetery. In the meantime, another
gravestone was found and it, too, will be returned
to its original location. Then he got the backing of
the Historical Shrine Foundation, a non-profit
organization which runs a museum in Old Town
known as the "Thomas Whaley House." They have
been helpful and encouraging, and they have pledged
some money for the restorations. Mr. Riveroll
says, "This is the first time the Foundation has
sponsored an outreach program for other histori-
cal projects and they feel honored to help."

A map of the cemetery dating back to 1 933 was re-
cently located by Mr. Riveroll, with many more
exact locations of graves and markers than were
available to him at the outset of the project. There
are now seven markers that he is planning to reset.
These reinstalled markers will be rededicated on
November 2 when the annual "Day of the Dead" is
celebrated. Mr. Riveroll explains, "On this day
families and friends go to cemeteries to visit the

dead. The graves are decorated with flowers and
candles, and there is music and food for the living.
It is a pious way to pay respects to the dead and to
pray for them that they rest in peace."

Mr. Riveroll included two epitaphs from El Campo
Santo. From a marble tombstone:

Sacred to the memory of Edward L. Greerie,

born Nov. 11, 1836, died Nov. 28, 1873

aged38years, native of County Longford, Ireland

Rest, dear husband, rest,

Thy Annie mourns for thee.

But when we meet again, dear one,

From pain and sorrow we'll be free.

Erected by his affectionate wife, Annie L. Greene.

From a wooden slab:
In memory of John A. Dill
a mariner of Boston, f^ass.
died Nov. 8, 1876
aged 26 yrs S 2 mos.

Our second story takes place in Jamaica, New York
in the Borough of Queens. It begins one night when
area resident Amy Anderson, a legal secretary,
was looking for some abandoned puppies in one of
the many garbage-filled vacant lots in the city. As
she and two companions picked their way through
splintered furniture, oldtires and othertrash, the
beam of her flashlight fell on a tire hanging on a
small upright stone.

It was a gravestone with the year 1888 inscribed
on it. Moving on gingerly, Ms. Anderson moved on
gingerly. Everywhere amid the trash and weeds
were old gravestones, some dating to the 1700s.
What she had stumbled on was Prospect Cemetery,
an official New York City landmark dating from the
1660s, now located in a run-down part of town
behind a stone-walled elevated Long Island Rail
Road structure.

The city's chief archaeologist, Dr. Sherene
Baugher, said it is the fourth-oldest surviving
cemetery in the five boroughs. Despite the his-
toric and cultural value that led it to be designated
a landmark in 1977, the four-and-a-half acre
site was carpeted with refuse, thick with under-
growth and weeds up to six feet high, and scarred
by intruders who had vandalized many of the 500
gravestones, nearly half of which are from the
pre-Revolutionary War era.

The problem Prospect Cemetery had is the same as
many early cemeteries — once the cemetery was
filled, no new revenue was raised to continue

AGSFaVOp.U

maintenance. The cemetery's fund produced only
Ms. Anderson was horrified and furious that the
cemetery had been allowed to fall into such decline.
She made more than 300 telephone calls to finally
locate ten descendants of those named on the tomb-
stones. As a result of her perseverence, a new
board of trustees was formed and the cemetery is
in the process of being reclaimed. Henry F. Lud-
der, the Queens borough historian, is coordinating
the restoration effort. Much of the cleanup is being
done by members of the City Volunteer Corps, a
city-sponsored program for people 17 to 20 years
old.

So, if you have a similar situation, know that with
perseverence one person can accomplish a great
deal. Getting city officials, descendants and pres-
ervation organizations involved can provide a base
for making plans, raising funding and recruiting
volunteers. You can make a difference!

from New sd ay, Octobers, 1989, and the New
York Times, December 19, 1989, contributed by
Chris Sweeters, New Yorl< NY.

Newburgh NY - St. George's Cemetery on Washington
St. holds a great many war dead, among other
historically noteworthy people. But that hardly means
the cemetery should look like a war zone, say a group
of St. George's Church members and neighborhood
residents attempting to clean up the site after years of
neglect. "It looks like a Civil War battlefield," remarked
Catherine Kolb, chair of the church's cemetery
committee and organizer of the restoration effort.

The cemetery was founded in 1838 by the Rev. John
Brown and remains in use today. But when Kolb and
others undertook the restoration last fall, the 7.4 acre
site was badly in need of repair and covered with trash.
"We found sofas here, and parking meter heads, and
luggage. ..all sorts of things," Kolb said. The group
also found some 550 tombstones toppled or defaced.

As the historical wealth of the cemetery becomes
increasingly apparent, more and more people have
been contributing to the clean-up campaign, Kolb said.
The results have already begun to show.

Outside the cemetery gate, neighborhood children
have planted red and white flowers, beside which
stand two brightly colored trash cans bearing the
phrase "Let there be peace on earth, not pieces of
litter on the earth." The wrought iron fence around the
cemetery has also seen improvement. Kolb explained
that a bow in the fence was straightened and painted
by a welding class from Newburgh Free Academy.

Perhaps most importantly, many of the tombstones
have been put back upright, thanks to the volunteer
efforts of Warren Trent of Trent Memorials and George
Mocko of Cedar Hill Cemetery.

contributed by Patricia Miller, Cold Spring NY, from the
Evening News, September 12, 1990. Pat 's letter to the
paper thanking them for covering these important issues and
informing the public of availability of help and advice from
AGS was printed September 25, 1990.

There's a scene in the 1969 movie Easy Rider
where Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, tripping on
LSD, cavort amid surreal marble tombs. The
backdrop is a New Orleans graveyard, one of thirty-
one historic cemeteries in the city. The jumbled
maze of elaborately carved brick and marble
mausoleums, built above ground because of New
Orleans' below sea-level foundations, often di-
rectly reflect the city's architectural history.
The trouble is, a lot of them are falling down from
neglect. Now the city's Catholic archdiocese —
along with a local group. Save Our Cemeteries— is
taking advantage of a 1974 law to pressure de-
scendants to restore their ancestors' resting places.
"If the heirs don't take care of theirfamily tombs,
they should go to someone who will," says Bert
Clesi, SOC's president. Under the ordinance,
unmaintained tombs may be resold and their ten-
ants moved to unmarked graves. Over forty de-
scendants have been traced and confronted with
restoration costs that range from $2000 to
$30000 and up. If you don't want great-great-
grandpa's bones put, well, you know, somewhere
else, maybe you could do some of the work yourself.

from Arts & Antiques, October 1990, sent by
George Kackley, Baltimore I^D.

AGS FaVOp.15

UNEARTHING CEMETERIES

A disturbing trend is emerging through the news-
paper clippings sent in by AGS members. Because
AGS is devoted to gravestone studies, the News-
letter has tended top shy away from items on
graves. But more articles are surfacing on the
discovery of graves in land slated for development.
How communities deal with this sensitive issue
will have long-term repercussions for AGS, so
three such articles are included here:

DUNNING DISCOVERY
Unearthing of graves on Northwest Side
raises haunting questlonsabout reverence
and neglect

An article from the Chicago Tribune, Monday July
9, 1990, by Bill Stokes

Chicago's destitute and insane of a century ago,
those disadvantaged souls excised from polite soci-
ety like vermin, have literally resurfaced to taunt
the living. It has been happening for more than a
year now on the Northwest Side, and nothing quite
like it has been seen before.

officially found at the Dunning site were discov-
ered by sewer excavators on March 9, 1989.
Among them was the mummified torso of a man so
well preserved that he showed the handlebar
mustache and ;mutton-chop sideburns of the
1890s. There were other remains: several bas-
kets of bones, perhaps representing the bodies of
several dozen people, according to a pathologist's
report. Thediscovery halted construction of homes
and condominiums by Pontarelli Builders and
Realtors of Park Ridge. It threw city, county and
state officials into a tizzy over how such a thing
could have happened, who was to blame, and what
should be done about it.

Now, more than a year later, many questions
remain. The biggest, of course, is how through the
years city and state authorities could have so
completely lost track of the tens of thousands of
bodies interred at Dunning. (Today, the bodies of
the 450 or so destitute and unidentified men,
women and children who die each year in Cook
County are trucked to Homewood Memorial Gar-
dens near Thornton for burial in a mass grave.)

Barry Fleig, cemetery chairman for the Chicago
Genealogical Society, said that the dead have always
had a knack for getting in the way of the living, and
that when this involves institutional or municipal
cemeteries, records are not always complete enough
to keep things straight. In the draft of a book titled
Chicago and Cook County Cemetery Guide that Fleig
is preparing for fall publication, he details the
somewhat confusing history of Chicago cemeter-
ies.

"It" is the highly awkward discovery of a lost
cemetery that, by one estimate, holds the remains
of as many as 38,000 people. How a community the
size of Chicago managed to forget the final resting
place of so many of its departed brethren says a lot
about the way the living relate to the dead, and to
one another.

The cemetery, behind the Dunning Square Shop-
ping Center at Irving Park Road and Narragansett
Avenue, was used for at least sixty years as a public
burial ground forthe indigent and the mentally ill,
people who tend to be forgotten even before they
die. The graveyard was part of a large piece of land
on which sat a municipal poorhouse and insane
asylum built in the 19th-century that later be-
came known simply as Dunning.

Although rumors of human bones being found during
earlier construction projects have circulated in
the neighborhood for years, the first remains to be

With the discovery of the remains, construction
was halted and various public agencies began to
search for a solution. Rev. William Brauer of
nearby Portage Park Presbyterian Church alleged
that "to ruthlessly rip this burying place apart in
order to cater to purchasers of luxury homes is
hypocritical and contemptuous." Brauer rallied
the Church Federation of Greater Chicago, made up
of 2,1 09 congregations, which wrote to Gov. James
Thompson asking that the state protect the Dunning
cemetery. "Those persons interred there had
precious little of this world's goods when they
passed from our midst," the letter said. "We urge
that their final resting place be exactly that, and
that no further desecration. . . take place."

Loyola University archaeologist David Keene was
hired to carry out some digging tests and to study
old records. "It's a difficult site to sort out,"
Keene said. "The soil has been disturbed and filled
numerous times in some places, and we are not

AGSFaV0p.16

dealing with a typical cemetery situation." Keene
and a crew of diggers worked through the winter
and spring, and submitted a preliminary report to
state officials that locates a five-acre cemetery
straddling the property Pontarelli is developing
and a parcel of land to the north slated forcommer-
cial development but still under the control of the
state's Central Management Service.

John Brataitis of that agency said it has been
suggested that the five acres be sodded over and
made into a memorial park with some type of
marker to designate it a former cemetery. Brauer
said a decision on the land's future could be made
better by a court than by state administrators. He
said the five acres could not hold all the bodies
known to have been buried at Dunning.

Fleig agreed: "There is no way that this five acres
and the five acres of 'new' ground under the park-
ing lot could contain all the burials that we have
documented. If the state takes the position that the
old cemetery is limited to the designated five acres,
it could be embarrassing when bodies start show-
ing up in subsequent development outside this
acreage." Even under the most crowded condition,
Fleig said, no more than 10,000 bodies could be
buried in single graves on a five-acre plot. He
added that county records show the original size of
the Dunning cemetery to have been 20 acres.
Keene said it's possible that burial ground was
used over and over and that this would not be shown
in records.

Fleig's prediction of embarrassing discoveries
came true recently when the remains of 100 to
150 people were unearthed outside the five-acre
tract. Phil Gonet, deputy chief of staff for Th-
ompson, said those remains will be buried within
the designated cemetery site, as will any other
remains unearthed. "It's disappointing that state
records were so incomplete that nobody knew
about the cemetery," Gonet said. "But now that the
information is available, we want to do the right
thing by everyone." He added that the state feels
something of a responsibility to the developers,
who knew nothing about the cemetery when they
bought the land. He emphasized at the same time
that when the state declared the five-acre tract
surplus property and allowed its transfer to pri-
vate hands, it had limited knowledge of the land's
history.

Gonet suggested that a swap in which the state
would give the developer another tract of surplus
land for the property on which the bodies have been
found might satisfy both sides. If a trade is nego-

tiated, he said, the state might convert the burial
ground into open space suitable for public use. A
memorial of some kind would likely be created to
signal the site's history as a graveyard, he said.
Future developers, he said, may have to be given
some assurance that should more human remains
be found, the state would assume some responsi-
bility for their disposition. "And, of course, the
state has some responsibility to the memory of the
people buried there," Gonet said.

Said Fleig: "I don't think anyone is being unrea-
sonable about this. People just want some respect
and dignity to be shown to the dead."

contributed by Carol Shipp, and by Jim Jewell. For
previous references to this on-going story, see AGS
Newsletter Winter 1989/90 (V. 14 #1) p. 5

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG
SECCOMBE SITE

ORDERED AT

by Robyn Kontny, Sun Staff Writer

San Bernardino CA and state park officials have
ordered a three-month archeological examination
of a Seccombe Lake site where six bodies were un-
earthed last August.

City parks and recreation department officials are
preparing to solicit bids from firms interested in
doing the study to determine whether any addi-
tional bodies are buried at the site, believed to have
been a Mormon burial ground. Officials said they
don't know how much the project will cost. The
study will mean plans to complete a second baseball
field at the site will remain on hold, said Annie
Ramos, director of the city's Parks, Recreation
and Community Services Department.

San Bernardino already has spent $6,000 on a
150-page report on the graves conducted by two
Riverside historians. Professor Ronald Tobey and
graduate student Kevin Hallaran of the University
of California, Riverside. Theirwork was commis-
sioned last December and was to take one month.

Hallaran, who conducted the research, had hoped to
determine the size of the cemetery, how many
more people might be buried there, when it was
used and whether it was a family, church or

AGSFa'90p.17

community cemetery or a potter's field. "I didn't
go into the report thinl<ing I was going to identify
ttie bodies," said Hallaran, who graduated from
UCR this year. He requested an extension of the
time limit so he could go to Salt Lake City, Utah, and
research the IVIormon church archives. The skele-
tal remains are believed to be those of members of
a fvlormon colony that settled in San Bernardino in
the 1880s.

Hallaran concluded the bodies probably had been
buried in a potter's field. He speculated the re-
mains were overlooked when other bodies buried
there were disinterred in the 1860s and moved to
Pioneer Memorial Cemetery.

The site at Seventh Street and Waterman Avenue in
the northern part of the park has been a trash
dump, a trolley car yard and a cemetery. The
bodies were found during construction of a ball
field, concession stand, bleachers, restrooms,
scoreboard and fencing, f^/lore than $200,000 has
been spent on the project, which has been delayed
for nearly a year. City officials want to see the
project completed, but state officials are con-
cerned about the long delay.

to complete. That was three months ago.

"That was a naive estimate I made last spring,"
said Jerry Henderson, the archaeologist oversee-
ing the project forthe Department of Highways and
Public Transportation. The task has mushroomed
into a major undertaking that may take more than
a year to complete.

The lot is dotted with patches of transparent plastic
laid over portions of caskets, wooden markers and
gravestones cracked by a backhoe clearing the path
for highway improvements through the heart of
Dallas. The grave count will likely exceed 2,000
by the time the excavation ends, Henderson said.
But she said no more than 500 graves will have to
be moved to make room for the expansion of North
Central Expressway.

The relocation is difficult because most of the
graves are bunched together in what appear to be
families, Henderson said. "We don't want to dis-
rupt the internal integrity of the organization,"
Henderson said. "For example, we don't want to
move the mother right here and then move the baby
over there."

Options for the six bodies include moving them to
Pioneer Memorial Cemetery at Seventh Street and
Waterman Avenue. "I would like to give them a
nice burial across the street," said San Bernar-
dino Mayor Bob Holcomb. "That way they will be
adequately safeguarded and it will be proper to do."

Ramos hopes the archeological study will be com-
pleted on schedule. "After we bid for an archeology
firm, we are allowing 90 days for the work to be
completed to have the whole thing resolved in time
to finish the ball park for Little League season next
year."

Sent in by Frances J. Skalet, Highland CA. From The
Sun, San Bernardino CA, Friday June 29, 1990.

RELOCATION OF BLACKS' GRAVES STIRS
EMOTIONS

The sensitivity Henderson and her crew have dis-
played is one of the reasons the excavation hasn't
sparked a controversy. In fact, local historians
and preservationists say they're excited by the
prospects. "The thing that impresses ;me about
the project is that the people working with it have
gotten some input from the community that has
more of a relationship with that cemetery," said
Harry Robinson Jr., director of Museum of Afri-
can American Life and Culture.

Funerary objects such as shells, ceramic figu-
rines, glass vials, marbles and even a watch have
been found atop some graves. Items unearthed at
the site will eventually be put on display, Robinson
said.

The project will provide more immediate benefit
to a group of youngsters. "This summer we have
a junior archaeological camp where kids will help
to wash the finds," Robinson said.

by Rod Richardson, Associated Press

DALLAS — Archaeologists are toeing a sensitive line
as they prepare to relocate hundreds of unmarked
graves belonging to generations of former slaves
and black settlers. The evacuation was supposed to
uncover fewer than 30 graves and take a few weeks

There is little written record of the cemetery, but
Henderson estimates that most Dallas blacks were
buried there from 1861 to 1925. The cemetery
was converted into a city park in the mid-1960s.

Sent in by Kevin Ladd, Director of the Wallisville
Heritage Parl< in Wallisville, TX. From the Houston
Chronicle, Friday, July 27, 1990.

AGSFaVOp.lB

BOOKS

NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE

New Publications List Now in Effect

Carved In Stone: Cemeteries and Burial
Sites In Manitoba, published by the Manitoba
Genealogical Society is expected to be available in
mid-October, 1990. The book contains an inven-
tory of cemeteries and burial sites within the
Province. Cemeteries and burial sites are listed
by location (section, township and range). There
are more than 1,700 entries, plus maps and
photos. The cost is about $15-$20. To order,
contact fvlanitoba Genealogical Society, Inc., South-
west Branch, PO Box 1332, Brandon, Manitoba
R7A 6N2 Canada.

Cast In Stone: Selected Albany, Rensselaer
and Saratoga County (NY) Burials, by Diane
Snyder Ptak, 1990. This collection of over 120
cemeteries includes thousands of inscriptions from
the following towns: Albany County — Coeymans,
Cohoes, Knox, New Scotland, and Westerlo; Rens-
selaer County — East Greenbush and North
Greenbush; Saragota County — Clifton Park. The
vast majority of these records have been previ-
ously unpublished. Most death dates preceed 1 881 ,
the year in which the formal civil vital records
began in New York State. The text also contains an
every name alphabetical index. The cost is $33
plus $3 postage and handling. A 10% discount is
given for orders of 4 or more copies. To order,
contact Diane Snyder Ptak, 12 Tice Road, Albany,
NY 12203.

Gravestone Records: Village Cemetery,
Bennington, VT. A complete list of all grave-
stone inscriptions in the Bennington Village Ceme-
tery up to March 1 , 1 988. The 2,593 entries are
arranged alphabetically with birth and death dates,
epitaphs, and a location for each. Maps of each
section of the cemetery are included as a finding
aid. Women are cross-indexed by their maiden
names when available. The 8 1/2" x 11", 272-
page book will be bound in two volumes. The price
is $30 including shipping and handling plus 4%
sales tax on orders shipped to Vermont addresses.
Available from The Bennington Museum, West
Main Street, Bennington, VT 05201.

University Press of America and AASLH have raised
prices on our earlier issues of Markers and the
Primer, so we have also had to raise our prices.
The following schedule is now in effect for mem-
bers. Non-members prices for Markers only are
$2 higher.

Markers I -
Markers II -
Markers III -
Markers IV -
Markers V -
Markers VI -
Markers VII

paper $20
cloth $32.50
paper $20
cloth $35
paper $18.50
cloth $33.50
paper $20
cloth $33.50
paper 20
cloth $34.50
paper $23
cloth $36.50
paper $15
no cloth

Graveyard Preservation Pr/mer $1 4.95

We have lowered the price on Early American
Stone Sculpture Found in ttie Burying
Grounds of New England by Avon Neal and Ann
Parker. It is now available for $100 plus $3.50
postage.

Gravestone Chronicles, a new book by Ted
Chase and Laurel Gabel is available for $16.50
post paid.

OurKit of nine Information Leaflets is now avail-
able for $7.50 ($8.50 for non-members). A new
kit, this one of eleven Teaching Resource Leaflets,
sells for the same prices.

The slide program "Early New England Grave-
stones and the Stories They Tell" rents for one
week for $25 and the video cassette rents for one
week for $10. The slide program sells for $65 and
the Cassette for $25.

Bumperstickersare available for $1 .00 mem-
bers; $1 .35 to others. Sets of 8 gravestone note
cards are $4 to members; $4.50 others. Grave-
stone postcards are $.25 each to members; $.30
others.

AGS Fa'90p.19

BOOK REVIEW

Gravestone Chronicles: Some Eighteenth-Century New England Carvers and Their
Work, by Theodore Chase and Laurel K. Gabel, Boston: New England Historic Genealogi-
cal Society, 1990. 262 pp

reviewed by Michael Cornish

Most AGS members are familiar with Ted and
Laurel's reports identifying early New England
stonecarvers, compelling investigationsthey have
shared over the past several years through the
Newsletter, in Markers, and by well-received
presentations at our annual conferences. Those
who keep their library up-to-date will know that
this research team has also published articles in
the New England Historic Genealogical Reg-
isterandXheConnectlcut Historical Society
Bulletin.

Gravestone Chronicles collects these writ-
ings, adding an introductory essay and the impres-
sive, previously unpublished history of the Emmes
family.

At the outset, it must be noted that this volume is
not a general-interest text. Despite its initial
overview, "Why Gravestones?", the reader is
assumed to be fairly well informed on the subject.
The meaning, significance and sculptural qualities
of the carvings, analyzed at length elsewhere, are
generally neglected here. Gravestone Chron-
icles con\a\ns several highly detailed examina-
tions into the lives and relations of some grave-
stone makers who have piqued the authors' curi-
osity, challenging their ability to discover remote
bits of relevant information revealed through
familial connections, painstaking analysis of archi-
val material, and countless visits to early burying
grounds.

As noted by Mr. Crandall in his preface, this book
listsfar more people than one might suppose, They
are related to the carvers through direct family
ties, marriages, employment, legal transactions
and litigation, business dealings, and military,
civil and ecclesiastic service, making it a valuable
resource for the genealogist.

Just the information found in very extensive notes
following each article comprises the makings of
another entire book! Here the reader will find
delineations of ancestry, lists of documented arti-
facts, extensive references to records in private
and municipal collections, and evidences that reveal
traits in these truly obscure artisans that, cumu-

latively, flesh them into knowable characters.

The various articles, however, are not of even
quality. This may reflect the proportional amount
of time spent upon each, or, more likely, the
varying quantities of information existing about
these nearly-anonymous craftsmen. "Seven ini-
tial Carvers" is the weakest entry, because it
remains so tentative and inconclusive. Addressing
only the fledgling period in several stonecarvers'
careers, it includes "J.N.",who coincidentally
initialed several mature examples, in a discussion
of apprentice proving pieces. Strongest, and most
satisfying, are"JamesWilderof Lancaster, Stone-
cutter", and "The Colburn Connections: Mollis,
New Hampshire, Stonecarvers 1780-1820".
These paint sympathetic and fascinating portraits
of their subjects and, especially the latter, suggest
myriad directions for further studies.

Obviously inspired and guided by the pioneering
work of Harriette Forbes, the authors often refute
or question her earlier conclusions and supposi-
tions. As articles like these become more specific
and exacting, the model for scholarly achievement
becomes increasingly sophisticated.

In Gravestone Crtron/c/es, TedChasehastapped
resources, especially in the realm of legal rec-
ords, hitherto ignored by students of early grave-
stones. Some information contained in "The Emmes
Family" becomes almost digressive and tangen-
tial, especially during the discussion of Henry,
Sr., but is ultimately valuable for understanding
the intermeshed family relationships as they af-
fected relocations and the carvings.

The inclusiveness of his notes, roaming through
several generations and connecting key players in
unexpected ways, fully justifies their arcane
nature. They found the basis for conjuring to our
imagination whole, vital people, functioning (not
always successfully) in an imperfect society and
subject to the full host of human foibles. We learn,
for instance, that John Gaud was an alcoholic and
beat hiswifefromformal complaints lodged against
him.

AGS Fa'90 p.20

Laurel Gabel brings to thee articles her methodol-
ogy for extending solid attributions through un-
documented bodies of work by carefully comparing
minute details of lettering and carving. Her knack
for sorting out the homogeneous products of many
Boston shops by searching out the few probated
examples and contrasting tiny discrepancies be-
tween them is a godsend, for no one else has dared
tackle this.

There is no seminal master carver discussed in
this volume; in fact, much of the urban work is
quite mundane, and most of the rural monuments
are blatantly imitative. It is a testament to the
authors' inquisitiveness - and stubbornness -
that these studies have been completed.

The illustrations are quite clear and useful, and
generally well-reproduced. Text and pertinent
illustration are, thankfully, adjacent. However,
rather than assume that the reader will know
where to look for discretely hidden letters in the
designs of rubbings used to illustrate "Seven Ini-
tial Carvers", the authors should have superim-
posed arrows pointing to these critical details.

Some of the art-historical terms used do not seem
to acknowledge conventions of that discipline, and
could be readily exchanged for better choices, but
the authors have happily avoided, in almost all
instances, those colorful, trivializing adjectives
that have compromised the seriousness of other
writings on the subject. And I am delighted to find
the passage subjectively noting "placid bemuse-
ment" on a carved effigy, for many of these crea-
tions are truly emotive and demand the response of
emotional language. Still, I wonder at the credi-
bility of a "cuneiform" background cut by a
"wedge-shaped chisel".

All in all. Gravestone Chronicles is superbly
written, conveying the authors' excitement with
the material and catching the reader up in their
quest to solve these minor mysteries of the past.
How tantalizing to have identified a distinctive
body of work and be stymied again and again from
naming its creator, a in the case of Ebenezer
Howard! Empathy for hapless James Wilder, a
man not "endowed with those facilities through the
exercise of which money is added to the purse",
becomes inescapable as we read of his life. We get
a strong impression of the courage it took to settle
our broad land form the story of Paul Colburn's
family rafting down rivers, trecking through mud,
and finally settling where they found an empty
cabin, being too fatigued to go farther.

Where Forbes evoked the circumstances of these
men's lives vaguely, instinctively, sometimes even
by inference from the quality of their work, Ted
and Laurel have sleuthed out and delivered many
gems of clear-cut evocative detail. These articles
are filled with accounts of reckless mortgaging,
unpaid bills, and half-baked plans, but there is
always affection and genuine admiration for the
old-time stonecutters, because the authors really
love their subject. In fact, "labor of love" was
never applied more deservedly.

r

Order your copy of Gravestone Chronicles:
Some Eighteenth-century New England
Carvers and Their Work, by Theodore Chase
and Laurel K. Gabel, from the AGS office, 30 Elm
St., Worcester I^A 01609, for $15.00 plus $1.50
postage and handling.

cover photo of Chelmsford MA cemetery, by l\Aichael Cornish

AGS Fa'90 p.21

New Book Contributed to Archives

rubbings highlight the beauty of the stones.

Memoirs of the Dead and Tomb's Remem-
brancer, published by Family Line Publications,
Westminster, Maryland, 1806, reprinted in 1989
by Martha Reamy and Marlene Bates. 30 page
index, map of Baltimore showing location of ceme-
teries, along with historical notes about the ear-
liest burying grounds in Baltimore.

The editors of Memoirs of the Dead and Tomb 's
Remembrancersay this is the first work of its
kind to be connpiled in this country. While it was
their intention to record all tombstones in the
state, this would have made the book too large. So
they decided to include a selection of some Balti-
more tombstones and some from rural areas. If the
book becomes popular, the editors intend to issue
a second volume which would include the entire
state.

The introduction provides us with an account of
George Washington's death, a eulogy by l^r. Fox, a
poem by f\/Ir. Paine of Boston, a Portrait of General
Washington by Marquis Chastelleux, and a de-
scription of the funeral procession in Baltimore
and the services at the public square and at Christ
Church.

The book then proceeds with the recording of
epitaphs from Baltimore's cemeteries arranged in
alphabetical order by last name of deceased. Each
epitaph is coded with a capital letter denoting the
congregation in whose burying ground the deceased
is buried, i.e., C for Catholic, M for Methodist.

For those interested, copies of the reprinted book
are available from Genealogy Etc., 2812 Lit-
tiestown Pike, Westminster, MD 21157.

EXHIBITS

A GATHERING OF TEXAS SAINTS— TOMBSTONE
RUBBINGS OF ROBERT ALMAND

Robert Almand's tombstone rubbings of famous
Texas figures are like the pages of a history book.
They remind us of the lives of such persons as
Stephen F. Austin and Texas Ranger "Big Foot"
Wallace, and they offer a condensed history lesson
that may inspire us to learn more.

In addition to supplying information useful to
genealogists, historians, and other researchers
interested in Texas' varied populations, Almand's

Almand's collection Includes stone rubbings of
John O. Meusebach, who founded the German colo-
nies of New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, and
Anson Jones, last president of the Republic of
Texas. A rubbing of the tombstone of Abner Cook,
the famous Texas architect who designed the
Governor's Mansion, also was, until recently, in
Almand's collection. He gave this one away to a
friend, which he will occasionally do. But he will
never sell his rubbings because he considers them
sacred.

Almand has been collecting rubbings of pioneer and
famous Texans on and off for about 20 years, since
his first year as a student at Texas Lutheran
College in Seguin. Almand's collection reflects the
settlement patterns of diverse ethnic cultures In
Texas. Many of the stones are from pioneer Immi-
grants' graves and are inscribed in native lan-
guages, including Spanish, Czech, French, and
Norwegian.

The San Antonio native, who has forsaken big city
life for rural living in the small town of Hochheim
(a few miles west of Yoakum), is most interested
in stones of the Texas founders. He's also inter-
ested in those that employ native material and are
carved locally because they predate the advent of
commercially produced markers and theirdeslgns
reflect unique regional and cultural differences.
Examples of differences include variations In stone
textures, lettering, and carved designs. Protes-
tants, for example, rarely used the shape of the
cross, but Catholics often did. A star symbol on a
German tombstone was meant to ward off the devil
in the afterlife, according to Almand.

A selection of some of Almand's 100 tombstone
rubbings was featured at the Fayette Heritage
Museum in LaGrange last year. The rubbings were
selected from various Texas cemeteries, including
several of markers found in Fayette County. His
show and an accompanying exhibit, which included
a display of stone mason's tools, stone work
samples, and photographs of various tombstone
types and decorations, stimulated an unusual
amount of local interest in Fayette County ceme-
teries, according to Kathy Carter, Fayette Heritage
Museum curator. The exhibit encouraged volun-
teers to help complete an ongoing survey of the
county's burial grounds.

Because Almand's tombstone rubbings and the
Fayette County cemetery exhibit were so popular
with museum visitors, the Fayette Heritage Mu-

AGS Fa'90 p.22

seum is planning a similar show from October 1
through December 31. For more information
contact the museum at 855 S. Jefferson, LaGrange,
TX 78945, 409/968-6418.

From The Medallion, newsletter of the Texas His-
torical Commission, August 1990 issue. Sent in by
AGS member Kevin Ladd, Director of the Wallisville
Heritage Park in Wallisville TX.

GRIZZLY ADAMS

1934

1987

signed "P. Nugent War. ", photo by Harriette M. Forbes, 1934

An item on "Points of Interest" in the Worcester
MA Monthly Magazine mentions the Grizzly Adams
grave, Bay Path Cemetery, Route 31, Charlton
Center. P.T. Barnum ordered the headstone of this
grave commemorating John Capen Adams, the famed
bear-tamer who died after a fatal encounter with
one of his bears. The illustrations are from
photocopies of pictures of the stone made by Har-
riette Forbes and from the Farber collection. Note
the erosion which has occurred between 1934,
when Mrs. Forbes photographed the stone, and
1987, when the Farbers photographed it.

AGS Fa'90 p. 23

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

New York state has the grave of the last survivor
of the Boston Tea Party. George Robert Twelve
Hewes lies interred in Lakeview Cennetery at Rich-
field Springs. The inscription on the tombstone
reads: "George R. T. Hewes, one who helped drown
the tea in Boston. Died Nov. 5, 1840, aged 109
years."

The life of Hewes was buried in obscurity until a
book was sold at a recent New York City auction.
The volume is dated 1830 and entitled Retro-
sped of the Boston Tea Party with a Memoir
of George R. T. Hewes. The author tells of
traveling to Richfield Springs to interview the
aged patriot, then 99 years old. He found the old
soldier with a keen memory. While his education
had been very limited, his intellectual powers
were well preserved. Neighbors swore his integ-
rity to be unimpeachable.

Hewes was born in Boston, September 5, 1 731 . It
seems that his mother had a great uncle whose
Christian name was Twelve and it had pleased her
to add this singular nomenclature to that of her son.
The younger Hewes was excitable and as an ardent
Son of Liberty had engaged in numerous ante-
Revolutionary disturbances priorto the Tea Party.
Heeding the cry of "a teapot tonight," the five-
foot-one Hewes appeared at Boston's Griffin's
Wharf, dressed in an Indian blanket. He reported
to Lendall Pitts and under his command boarded the
brig BeaverXo rip open and drown tea.

Although Hewes with his tomahawk struck the
first blow in the foundation of our national gov-
ernment, so tardy was the progress of Congress
that he failed to receive a miserable pittance of a
pension until he was eighty years old.

While Hewes was fighting our battles in the first
American war, he was faithfully engaged in pro-
viding recruits by raising a family of fifteen. He
supported them by being a fisherman, a shoe-
maker, and a farmer. For more than sixty years
Hewes lived at Richfield Springs. Once, in 1825
when he was 94, he returned to his home town as
a guest of the City of Boston to attend the laying of
the cornerstone of Bunker Hill Monument.

Boston would like to have kept this man who
immersed tea in its harbor. Boston would like to

have his grave today along with those of John
Hancock, Paul Revere, and Samuel Adams. But it
remains for upstate Yorkers to point proudly to the
grave of the last of that illustrious band that
started the fight for independence which we cele-
brate every July 4th.

from information provided by Mary H. Teal of Lyons
Falls NY

Hospital's cemetery a relic of earlier
times

MIDDLETOWN— About half-way down Silvermine
Road, on the east side of the bumpy path, autumn's
leaves dance lightly in the breeze and fall to rest
alongside the worn tombstones of a desolate ceme-
tery.

Row after row, the identical squat brown markers
stand at attention like an army of midget soldiers.
The plots are not marked with flags, flowers — or
names. Here, death has no name, only numbers.
Into each of the 1,686 tombstones, a number has
been carved. Body 663 lies in eternal rest next to
body 664. Next in line is body 665. On and on, a
sprawling sea of mysteries. They are the graves of
patients who lived and died many years ago at
Connecticut Valley Hospital, a state psychiatric
institution. Sent away and forgotten in life, the
patients who lie in the cemetery along Silvermine
Road are anonymous in death.

Numbers were used instead of names to shield the
identity of those who had been driven from their
communities into the cloistered world of a mental
institution — and to protect the families who sur-
vived them from the stigma associated with mental
illness.

"You and I haven't lived long enough to know what
it must have been like," said Edna Jacobs, presi-
dent of the Connecticut Alliance for the Mentally
III. "Then, you weren't talking about state hospi-
tals. You were talking about insane asylums where
people were just shunted off."

The hospital keeps a list of the names that goes
along with the numbers, but guards it from view.
Not many people are interested anyway; few visi-
tors stop by the two-acre cemetery. Dr. Patrick
Lee, a former assistant superintendent, said only
four or five families made inquiries about rela-
tives buried in the numbered plots during the ten
years his responsibilities extended to the ceme-
tery.

AGS Fa'90 p.24

A few exceptions stand out from thie graveyard's
sweeping symmetry. Some families tiave replaced
the anonymous markers with granite headstones,
complete with names and dates. Other patients
have been disinterred and moved to different
cemeteries, some to a veterans' cemetery.

Connecticut Valley Hospital opened in 1868. Inthe
late 19th century experts believed insanity was
caused by riotous living, sunstroke, masturbation
and disappointed affections, among other factors.
The first person was buried in the cemetery in
1878— in plot No. 1.

Before psychotropic drugs and community treat-
ment centers changed the way mental illness was
handled, the hospital was a virtually autonomous
community. Patients farmed and raised livestock;
they made clothing, furniture and rugs. The doc-
tors believed in "moral therapy," a treatment
strategy that involved keeping patients busy. The
hospital was a place where people lived, worked —
and died. Many of the patients were poor; some had
no survivors. A cemetery became a natural feature
of the community.

Overthe years, the role of mental hospitals changed.
Patients were hospitalized for shorter periods,
and towns began to take greater responsibility for
residents who became institutionalized. The last
patient was buried at Connecticut Valley Hospital
in 1 957. Tucked in behind a wire fence and framed
by shady trees dappled with the fiery hues of
autumn, the cemetery is a memorial to earlier
times.

Inventory of American Sculpture Update

In 1986 an Inventory of American Sculpture (IAS)
was begun. It is a joint project of the Smithsonian
Institution's National f^useum of American Art and
the National Institute for the Conservation of Cul-
tural Property. Its goal is to build a database
listing American sculpture hidden in private
collections and little-known repositories as well
as public art.

(In 1988 Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was
created to collect data specifically about outdoor
sculpture which will be added to the IAS database.
It was then that AGS was asked to help with the
inventory. Through the Wews/effer (V. 12 #4,
Fall I988)we encouraged AGS members to par-
ticipate by identifying outstanding three-dimen-
sional sculpture in cemeteries. AGS Trustee Bar-
bara Rotundo agreed to be our interface with SOS!,
receiving all submissions from AGS members and
passing them along.

In 1990, a nationwide corps of volunteers from
service clubs, alumni associations, art and his-
tory courses, historical and preservation socie-
ties and other civic and cultural organizations will
fan out in communities to conduct an on-site in-
ventory of outdoor sculpture. Volunteers will be
trained to assess the sculpture and make observa-
tions about its condition. SOS! will provide guid-
ance for municipalities in caring for and main-
taining their outdoor sculpture. Business and
civic organizations will be encouraged to accept
responsibility for the continuing care of monu-
ments through such programs as adopt-a-sculp-
ture.

from an article by Andrew Julien in the Hartford
Courant, Sunday Oct. 21, 1990, sent in by Freder-
ick Sawyer III, Glastonbury CT

Since 1986 the IAS has collected descriptions of
more than 32,000 sculptures in public and pri-
vate collections. They still welcome all contribu-
tions. They are including on the computer record
the artist, title, date, media, dimensions, foundry
identification, cast numbers, subject or thematic
descriptions, inscriptions, owner, location and
provenance. If you know of an outdoor sculpture
that should be included on this list, please contact
Barbara Rotundo, 48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4,
Laconia, NH 03246, giving as much of the above
data as you have at your disposal. For more
information about the inventory, contact: Christine
Hennessey, Inventory of American Sculpture,
National fvluseum of American Art, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560 (202) 786-
2384.

AGS Fa'90 p.25

OUTDOOR SCULPTUREBROUGHTINTOTHE CLASS-
ROOM

by James A. Percoco

West Springfield l-ligh School, Springfield, Vir-
ginia

As a social studies teacher with ten years of expe-
rience in curriculum development, I have inte-
grated my long-standing interest in outdoor sculp-
ture into the syllabus of my American civilization
class offered to high-school juniors. I teach the
students history, literature and cultural heritage
and, for one month, they concentrate on the outdoor
public sculpture of the late-nineteenth and early-
twentieth centuries. I use slide presentations,
journal entries, films, selected readings and clay
modeling to convey the historical and aesthetic
significance of outdoor sculpture.

I guide the class through a variety of issues per-
taining to outdoor sculpture during our four-week
unit, in addition to studying different artists, the
class focuses on the roles the client, patron and
architect play in creating outdoor monuments.
Other questions we cover include the use of public
space, the function of outdoor sculpture in a de-
mocracy and the role of and need for consensus
when commissioning, creating and maintaining
public art.

I introduce the sculpture unit to the students by
studying several examples of memorials to Viet-
nam veterans. We then compare contemporary
works with post-Civil War era memorials. We
look at the works of sculptors Thomas Crawford
and Horatio Greenough and the outdoor works of
sculptors Clark Mills and Henry Kirke Browne.
The major part of the unit focuses on three of
America's greatest sculptors: John Quincy Adams
Ward, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester
French.

ously-heid notion of "anyone can do that" quickly
transforms into a period of reflection on the genius
of the artist.

A trip to Washington, D.C. culminates our study of
outdoor sculpture. Pairs of students visit a
memorial or monument not studied in class. Using
information learned in the unit, each student writes
a research paperthat includes critical analysis as
well as historical background about the statue.

It is a real treat for me to read about the students'
adventures in locating monuments scattered across
the city. However, I most enjoy hearing directly
from them their discoveries about both them-
selves and outdoor sculpture during the unit. The
deep personal satisfaciton I derive from experi-
encing outdoor sculpture is enhanced by the class-
room success that the students and i share. The
students express their thoughts and feelings in
their journals during the course of the unit. The
remarks recorded in one student's final journal
entry reveal the success of the unit:

In the sculpture unit, I learned about things that
I had seen before, but never understood. I feel
educated when I look at sculpture. I used to not
like sculpture, now I realize that I fell into that
'we don't like what we don't understand' cate-
gory and now that I understand sculpture, I like It.

From SAVE OUTDOOR SCULPTURE! UPDATE, Spring
1990 newsletter put out by the National Institute for
the Conservation of Cultural Property, Washington DC

Percoco has touched on teaching about cemetery
sculpture. Any teacher who has taught students
specifically about cemetery sculpture may want to
sentthe Weivs/effer a similar article about their
course.

The importance of critical thinking is emphasized
when the class views slides of sculpture depicting
different artists' approaches to a common theme.
For example, how is the image of Nathan Hale
portrayed by Frederick MacMonnies and Bella
Pratt? How is the subject of death handled by
Saint-Gaudens in the Adams l^emorial versus
French's memorials to Milmore and Melvin?

From the students' point of view, the highlight of
the unit is the class they call "clay day." The class
members receive one pound of clay and are free to
model an image of their choice. They learn to
appreciate the difficulty of sculpting; the previ-

AGS Fa'90 p.26

ANNOUNCING THE

1991 ANNUAL

ASSOCIATION FOR

GRAVESTONE STUDIES

CONFERENCE & MEETING

June 27 through 30, 1991

Northfield Mt. Hermon School
Northfield, Massachusetts

FEATURING TOURS OF EARLY AND VICTORIAN BURYING GROUNDS IN

VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSfflRE, WORKSHOPS ON RESTORATION AND

TEACHING RESOURCES, SLIDE PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES

General inquiries and exhibit information:

Cornelia Jenness, Conference Chair

HCR10,Box643

Spofford,NH 03462-0643

(603) 363-8018

CALL FOR PAPERS

Proposals for 20-30 minute presentations on any aspect of gravestone art and history, or
ethnic tradition studies are invited.

Presenters must be members of AGS ($20) and will be expected to pay the conference
registration fee as well as other costs associated with full conference or partial conference
attendance.

Submissions of a title that clearly indicates the paper content, a one-page abstract and a short
professional biography should be submitted by January 15, 1991 to:

Robert Drinkwater
6 Village Hill Road, Rt. 81
Williamsburg, MA 01096

AGS Fa'90 p.27

NEW AGS OFFICE LOCATION ANNOUNCED

Beginning November 15, the AGS office will move to its new space at 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01609. This is the home of the Worcester Historical Society which has
contracted with us to provide a space for an office, for storage of our inventory and for
our Archives. Duringthat week, furniture and supplies will be moved from the Needham
office to Worcester and shortly thereafter, Miranda Levin, the new Executive Director,
will begin her work with us.

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone
Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year
membership entitles the members to four issues of theNewsletter and to participation in the AGS conference
in the year membership is current. Send membership fees (individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30;
contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609. Back issues
of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to
present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes
suggestions and short contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal.
Journal articles should be sent to Theodore Chase, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association
for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St., Dover MA 02030. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah
Trask, editor. Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3A6, Canada. Order
Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $20; Vol. 3, $18.50; Vol. 4, $20; Vol. 5, $20; Vol. 6, $23; Vol. 7, $15; higher
prices for non-members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old
Sudbury Road, Wayland MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the
AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01 609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No.

410

Worcester

MA

NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER

OFTHEASSQCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK. ED. VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1 WINTER 1990/91 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

The Story Behind the Stone That Isn't There: Jack Johnson

by James Jewell 2

Cemetery Habitats

by Nancy Hugo 4

Stones Which Need Care In Dating

by Ralph Tucker 5

MEMBER NEWS 6

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 1 0

RECEIVED FOR THE ARCHIVES 1 6

Death Sentence for Graveyards? 1 9

Gravestone Art Given to Museum 2 0

BOOKS 2 1

American Culture Association Abstracts

San Antonio TX, March 27-30, 1991 23

COURSES AND SEMINARS 2 6

"CRUELLY MASACREED"

John Carney, a farmer whose homestead was near
what is today State Road 60, near Brandon, Flor-
ida, was a victim of the Third Seminole War. In
their book Plant City: Its Origins and History, local
historians Quintilla Geer Bruton and David E.
Bailey Jr. write that there were only a few Semi-
noles in Hillsborough County in 1856, but those
who remained were concerned about the growing
numbers of white settlers. The rights of the
Indians, the authors note, were not always re-
spected by the white men. In fact, it was an
uncalled-for provocation by a survey team in
December 1855 that started the third Seminole
War. On April 18, 1856, Carney's "bullet-
ridden body" was found near where he had left his
plow and mule. Eleven Indians were later shot for
his murder. The memorial to this bit of Brandon's
violent history remains where it was placed on the
family farm, now a residential front yard.

from the Tampa Tribune, October 5, 1990, contrib-
uted by Juanita Reynolds, Brandon FL

AGS Wi '90/1 p 1

THE STORY BEHIND THE STONE THAT ISN'T THERE: Jack Johnson

by James Jewell, Illinois Valley Community College

Chicago's Graceland
Cemetery (4001
North Clark) is noted
for its beautiful
memorials: the Pot-
ter Palmer Greek
columns; the Loredo
Taft sculpture
"Eternal Silence"
marking the Graves
plot; Louis Sullivan's
Getty Mausoleum; the
life-size statue of
young Inez Clarke
preserved in a glass
case; plus the graves
of George Pullman,
Louis Sullivan, car-
toonist John T.
McCutcheon, inven-
tor Cyrus
McCormick, Chief
Justice Melville
Fuller, law officer

Allen Pinkerton, as well as two Illinois governors
and three Chicago mayors.

Also interred there are two boxing champions: Bob
Fitzsimmons, whose flat stone is adorned with a
porcelain portrait of the 1897-1899 champion;
and Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight
champion, who reigned from 1908-1915. De-
spite a large family marker, Johnson is buried in
an unmarked grave.

Johnson (1878-1946) won the title December
26, 1908, kayoing Tommy Burns in the four-
teenth round of the championship bout in Sydney,
Australia. Thebout was stopped by police. Within
the first year of the first black champion's reign,
he successfully defended his title against Jack
O'Brien, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman and Stanley Ketchel.

On July 4, 1910, Johnson kayoed former cham-
pion Jim Jeffries, who had come out of a five-year
retirement. Johnson's next title defence was two
years to the day later when he defeated Jim Flynn
in a round stopped by the police. In 1913 he
defeated Andre Spaul (November 28) and Jim
Johnson (December 1 3) — the closest two champi-
onship bouts in boxing history. In 1914 he de-
feated Frank Moran before surrendering his title

the Johnson plot, Graceland Cemetery, Chicago IL
(Etta's marker on right)

to Jess Willard on April 5, 1915, in Havana.
Shortly before his defeat, he is reported to have
said, "The bigger they are the further they fall!"

Johnson later said straight out that he took a dive
to throw the fight in order to get back in the good
graces of those who had hated him. Johnson was the
first black champion in any sport, and the racism
of the time made his accomplishment appear to be
much less than it was. He also fell in love with —
and married — three white women and was once sent
to jail on a Mann Act charge. The term "great white
hope", later the basis for an award-winning play
by Howard Sackler, became common as a search for
a white contender grew.

One of Johnson's wives committed suicide. Fol-
lowing the Mann Act charge, he fled to Europe
where he lived during much of his championship
reign. Following his defeat, the Texas-born Johnson
lived until 1946 and was buried next to Etta Terry
Duryea Johnson, the second of his white wives, in
a plot in Graceland purchased by the family thirty-
four years earlier.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 2

Interest in Johnson peaked again when Sackler's
play won the Triple Crown of theatre : Tony Award,
Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle
award. When a touring company came to Chicago,
news of Johnson's burial there became more
commonly known, as well as the fact that no grave-
stone had ever been placed in his honor. Joe Rein,
executive sports editor of the Chicago Daily News,
wrote in May 1969:

...if you visit Graceland...you find nobody
really cares. Jack's buried there, in a
pleasant lot. ..The place is about the size of a
1 6-foot ring, hemmed in by lilacs with fading
blossoms and guarded by a sentinel maple.
There's a headstone alright. It says
'Johnson', but that alludes to Etta. ..There's
a headstone to mark her grave, but he has
none. Just grass, common grass. ..out at
Graceland Cemetery, you stand around and
wonder.. .What would have happened if Jack
Johnson had been born half a century later?

In November of 1969 the cast of the Chicago
company of The Great White Hope arranged a
ceremony at Graceland in which the installation of
a gravestone (financed by both the Chicago and New

York companies of the play) would finally mark
the champion's grave. Inscribed on it were his
name, his nickname (Li'l Artha), and his birth and
death dates. The eulogy was to be delivered by
Brock Peters, who played the character based on
Johnson in the Chicago company.

Attorney Elmer Gertz, representing Johnson's
heirs-at-large, issued warnings to the cast against
possible possible grave desecration because the
heirs opposed the placing of a marker. "The
family", according to Gertz, "doesn't approve of
making Jack Johnson a hippodrome in the play or
at the graveside."

The ceremony took place on Tuesday, November 4,
1969— but the headstone was never placed on the
grave. And to this day — forty-four years after his
death and twenty-one years after the play was
staged in Chicago — Jack " Li'l Artha" Johnson, the
heavyweight champ who served time because he
fell in love with a white woman, the champ who died
in an auto accident in Raleigh NC, rests in an
unmarked grave among some of the most beautiful
markers in the midwest.

An article titled "Blacks find 'roots' in cemetery"
described the uncovering in Dallas TX of the largest
known graveyard of slaves and freed slaves in
America. When work began in May of 1990,
archaeologists expected to find and move 20 graves
to make way for an expressway-widening project.
Instead they have discovered 1155 graves, and

they're not finished. Burials on the site date back
to 1 861 . The cemetery was officially dedicated in
1869 and closed in 1925. Black leaders in Dallas
are demanding landmark status so that the ceme-
tery will never again be disturbed.

from ffteCfilcago Tribune, October 28, 1990,
contributed by Jim Jewell, Peru IL

AGS Wi '90/1 p 3

CEMETERY HABITATS

by Nancy Hugo

Every July, the Midwestern naturalist Aldo Leo-
pold watched forthe blooming of a single surviving
Silphium plant in a corner of a country graveyard
near his home. As long as the plant lived, he knew
the prairie epoch survived with it, but one July a
road crew had removed the fence protecting his
plant, and he knew his plant, and the part of
Wisconsin's history it represented, would be
mowed away.

"It is easy now to predict the future;" said Leo-
pold, "for a few years my Silphium will try in vain
to rise above the mowing machine, and then it will
die. With it will die the prairie epoch."

That graveyards protect more than the souls of the
departed, biologists have known for years, but
cemetery habitats are getting renewed attention
not only because they sometimes provide habitat
for rare species but also because they represent a
significant proportion of the only open space left in
some urban areas.

Think about it. Not only are cemeteries usually
protected from development, they are often home
to old trees and shrubs. Not for spook value alone
do owls choose cemetery habitats. Even bats in the
belfry, lichens on tombstones, and rare plants that
like the high sandy lawn areas around grave sites
are being studied by biologists. "If people continue
to die, cemeteries may turn out to be a natural
habitat longer than woods and prairies," says the
University of Michigan's W.H. Wagner who has
been searching old cemeteries for rare plants for
years.

Dr. Wagner's friend and colleague Dr. R. Dale
Thomas of Northeast Louisiana University was one
of the first to appreciate cemeteries as valuable
habitats. Thomas, a biologist who also happens to
be an ordained Methodist minister, has spent 25
years searching churchyards and cemeteries for
rare plants. He has spent many an afternoon
crawling on his hands and knees between tomb-
stones to find the tiny 1-2" plants that are his
specialty. His searches have led him to the discov-
ery of extensive occurrences of five species of
adder's tongue ferns and three species of grape
ferns, all previously considered extremely rare.
He found the only known colony of stalked adder's
tongue in Virginia in a church lawn near Norfolk.

"He once told me you could find more adder's
tongues in Baptist cemeteries than anywhere else,"
jokes Wagner. "That's because so many fire and
brimstone preachers are buried there."

Bird-watchers in the Northeast have long been
aware that cemeteries serve as refuges for mi-
grating birds. Two hundred bird species have been
recorded on the wildlife-rich grounds of Mount
Auburn Cemetery near Boston. Mount Auburn, the
Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC and an
increasing number of other cemeteries are ac-
tively managed for wildlife, with mowing heights
adjusted to benefit wildlife and landscape plants
chosen for their value to wildlife. Wildlife biolo-
gist Louise Dove argues that owners and managers
or cemetery lands should be made aware of the
opportunities available to provide habitat for
wildlife in these areas. "With a few changes in
planning and vegetation management," she argues,
"more wildlife can be encouraged without re-
stricting human use of the area."

Researchers have also studied cemetery habitats to
see the degree to which they may function as
"habitat islands". Isolated by the surrounding
city in much the same way that island habitats are
isolated by water, cemetery habitats have been
found to exhibit some but not all of the principles
of biogeography that apply to islands. We can't
expect to find unusual species evolving in urban
cemeteries the way they have in the Galapagos, but
what we can expect, according to Louise Dove, is
for cemeteries to contain some of the last examples
of plant and animal communities that existed
before the city grew up around them. If we can
reduce to isolation of cemetery habitats and con-
nect them to corridor systems allowing dispersion
of plants and animals in and out of these refuges,
cemetery habitats can also help replenish wildlife
populations in other natural areas and accommo-
date species that require large home ranges.

What better way to serve wildlife — and prove
there's life after death — than by inviting rare
plants to grow on our grave sites and songbirds to
perch on our tombstones?

from Virginia Wildlife, January 1991. p. 31,
contributed by Brian Conley, Fairfax VA, and by
hAartha Briggs, Williamsburg VA.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 4

STONES WHICH NEED CARE IN DATING

by Ralph Tucker

When one studies a given stonecarver's work, it
soon becomes evident that the date on the surface of
the stone is sometimes suspect. This may be
because of one of several reasons which will be
dealt with in this article.

BACKDATED STONES

In Many locations where there were previously no
stonecutter and where wooden markers or simple
boulders had been used to mark a grave, the arrival
of a carver in the area was the occasion for requests
for a carved gravestone to replace the old marker.
The carverthen produced a stone dated some number
of years before it was actually carved. One ex-
ample is the William Paddy stone in King's Chapel
Burying Ground, Boston. The stone is dated 1658,
but carved on the footstone is found "erected 1 672".
Another example is that of the John Stevens stone
in North Andover which is dated 1662 and which
was carved by Robert Mullicken, Sr. who was born
in 1 668. It is obvious that Robert did not carve the
stone when he was five years of age (1658??) In
a study of the Lamson family stones one finds the
use of a fig as a decoration begins about 1712, yet
there are a few stones dated twenty or even thirty
years earlier using the fig. Thus by observing the
development of a carver's style one can sometimes
spot a late style stone bearing an early date.

PALIMPSEST STONES

Palimpsest stones are at the opposite end of the
spectrum being stones dated much later than the
date of carving. In other words, they were re-used
stones. This is most often realized where early
stones had the inscription area scraped down and a
new inscription for another person added. The
William Grimes stone in Lexington MA is dated
1766 and in the tympanum the initials "CL" are
carved. This stone is an excellent example of Caleb
Lamson's work, except that he had been dead five
years before the date on the stone. Upon examina-
tion one can still see traces of letters which have
not been completely scraped off, and that the whole
inscription area has been scraped down below the
plane of the rest of the stone. Fortunately the
footstone in this case gives us an additional clue in
that it is a different kind of stone and made in the
style of the Park family of carvers. We must
conclude that we have here a stone carved by Caleb
Lamson that was, at a later date, scraped down and
given a new inscription, and a new footstone made.

Our New England ancestors knew about re-cy-
cling!

OLD INVENTORY STONES

Old inventory stones are stones of an early style
that were used at a later date when their style was
no longer used. It is known that a carver often, in
not usually, had a stock of stones with blank
inscription areas which, if not sold for a consider-
able time, might result in an early style stone with
a late date.

REPLACEMENT STONES

Replacement stones are sometimes found where old
stones have deteriorated and the descendents have
had a copy made. Often the replacements are exact,
but some stones were so far gone that the replace-
ment stones are only rough copies. Usually these
stones are rather obvious misfits in the graveyard
and the new stones are so new that they can not be
mistaken for old stones. A second variety of re-
placement stone is one where the original has been
removed from the graveyard for its protection and
a replica made from a cast is put in its place.
Usually one will find on the rear of the stone a note
to this effect. Depending upon the worker, these
stones can be almost exact duplicates.

I call these examples to the attention of our readers
because several writers have developed theories of
the development of styles found on gravestones
based upon such stones. As in other forms of art,
it is possible to trace the development of an artist
through time. While each artist has recognizable
traits, these vary over time and can be used to see
a progressive development. Care must be used,
however, to avoid errors. Backdated and palimp-
sest stones must be recognized for what they are.

Ralph Tucker of Georgetown ME is a founding
member and past president of AGS . He is continu-
ing his work on the Lamson family of carvers.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 5

MEMBER NEWS

AGS member David Willis McCullough of Hastings
NY writes that the jacket design of his new mystery
novel, Think On Death (Viking Press, January
1 991 ) was greatly influenced by the 1 795 Wake-
field MA stone for Elizabeth Emerson. The design
is by Yvonne Geysurowsky-Stansbury of Ronsav-
ille-Wood, Inc.

Warren Roberts of Bloomington IN sent along an
abstract of an article by his friend Wilbur Zelinsky.
"What the abstract does not say is that GNIS stands
for the U.S. Geological Survey's computerized
Geographic Names Information System; further,
the system (i.e. GNIS) includes most named fea-
tures on all of the maps in the USGS topographic
map series except roads and highways. Anyone who
has used the USGS "topo" maps will appreciate the
incredible amount of labor that went into this
compilation. Finally, Zelinsky used 84,102
cemetery names for his analysis."

ABSTRACT

The recent availability of the GNIS data base makes it
practical to study the names of features throughout the
United States, for example the names of cemeteries.
One way of classification identifies ten categories:
family, location, standard terms, hagiolatrous, bibli-
cal, nationalistic, "upbeat", religious denominations,
ethnic communities, and fraternal organizations. The
first seven of these provide an interesting look at a
significant part of the name-cover in America.

from Namos, Vol. 38, #3, September 1990.

*****

Mary- Ellen Jones, AGS member in Orinda CA is
making a presentation to the California History
Institute, April 18-21, 1991 at University of the
Pacific, Stockton CA. She has shared an abstract of
her paper with the Newsletter:

THE IMPACT OF THE TOMBSTONE CARVER ON THE
CULTURE OF POST-GOLD RUSH NORTHERN CALI-
FORNIA

During the California Gold Rush of 1848-1856,
thousands came to California, abandoning homes
and jobs in their frantic search for gold. Many
perished, some made fortunes and returned home,
and hundreds remained to establish new lives and
resume former careers.

Among those who abandoned mining and settled In
California were numerous stonecarvers who set
up marbleyards and began supplying tombstones
for the rapidly growing state. As a result, the
initial period of the Gold Rush in which no marker
or a crude wooden marker characterized most
burials soon gave way to an era of sophisticated,
contemporary cemetery sculpture. The new Call-
fornians expected to obtain the same kinds of
gravestones they would have been able to purchase
back home. This demand was met more than ade-
quately by craftsmen who had learned their trade
in the Eastern United States or in Europe.

Some carvers remained in the mines, changing
locations frequently as towns declined and new
ones appeared. Several continued mining while
making occasional tombstones when the demand
arose. Others left the mines to set up shop In
established cities such as Sacremento, Stockton,
Marysville and Sonora, becoming successful,
sometimes prominent members of the community.
Wherever they chose to follow their trade, these
stonecarvers had a major impact on the culture of
post-Gold Rush Northern California. To trace the
lives and careers of a few of these carvers-turned-
miners-turned-carvers again is to tell the story
of the establishment and growth of one of the most
vital commercial enterprises of any community.

Pat Miller, formerly of Connecticut, is now in Cold
Spring NY. She writes that she's sorry she had to
miss the last two AGS conferences, in 1990 be-
cause of the too recent loss of her son. "It took me
awhile to enjoy life again— I will be at the AGS
1991 conference or dead!" She notes that there
are old gravestones in her new area (across the
Hudson Riverfrom West Point), but no slates, and
"mostly written in Dutch!" AGS members might
be amused to know she is looking for another
hearse. You can reach Pat at R.R. 1 , Box 20A, Cold
Spring NY 10516.

*****

NOTE!

Pat Miller, Cold Spring NY, followed up on "Grave-
stone Images in the Christmas Catalogues" (AGS
Newsletter, Fall 1990, p. 12) by contacting one
of the mail order companies, W.M. Green & Co.
They get their reproductions from Facsimiles,
Ltd., 1-B Pine St. Ext. N., Nashua NH 03060,
phone (603) 889-8880. Please note the Nashua
NH address, not Groton MA as mentioned in the
Newsletter Thanks to Pat for tracking this
down.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 6

LETTER FROM SCOTLAND

Dear Friends:

I thought of you all in June
during the time of the
Conference and was sorry
I was not with you. I read
the account of it with great
interest. At that time an
exhibition was on at the
local Arts Centre of fifty
of my photographs of Green
fvlen. It is now on a Scot-
tish tour. There is a sud-
den burst of interest from
the south of England in the
Green Man - but not yet of our gravestone ones
here. A new book is coming out by a William
Anderson, and there is to be a BBC TV program soon.
It is called The Green Man, as was the excellent and
very scholarly one by Kathleen Basford. It is
heralded by an article in H'or/dMagaz/ne( Novem-
ber 1990) in which there is some confusion about
sources, and some dubious statements. I enclose
copies of two of Francis Duval's photographs, one

from Duval & Rigby's Early American Gravestones
(NY: Dover, 1978), p. 8. The Green Man is at the
bottom of the tympanum of the Sarah Nisbet slate,
Milford CT, 1698, The other was on a Christmas
card they sent some years ago.

All good wishes,

Betty Wilisher

St. Andrews, Scotland

SEEKS EPITAPH BOOKS

Evelyn L. Williams, 46 Ryders Lane, East Brun-
swick NJ 08816 writes that she is interested in
acquiring books on epitaphs. "If anyone has any
books on epitaphs which they would like to sell, I'd
appreciate hearing from them. I have tried my
local bookstores and cannot get them to order even
the more recent publications." Let her know the
title you wish to sell, and the asking price.

CARVERS' TOOLS

From Robert Emien, Providence Rl, comes a note
from the Maine State Museum Broadside, V. 12,
#1 (Fall 1989) about the recent acquisition by
the museum of a collection of stone working tools,
donated by Morse Memorials, which began opera-
tion in Dexter in the mid-nineteenth century and
moved to the Oakland area in 1909. There is a
sample kit which includes five granite and one
marble sample in a leather case.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 7

MORE GRAVE UNDERSTANDINGS

New England carvers in earlier centuries.

by George Kackley

I have called attention to New England and other
"markers" that no longer mark the site of the
grave, in connection with the calculated guess that
places Mozart's grave in St. Marx cemetery in
Vienna, Austria (AGS Newsletter...). We need to
keep in mind that many people have felt no need to
point to the exact place where a body was put, some
because of sound religious understanding. So, we
might be misleading ourselves and others in our
use of the word "marker".

It was a standard in the nineteenth-century garden
cemeteries that a family lot should have one cen-
tral monument and no "markers" for individual
graves. The rule was all too often honored by its
breach. Still, the "rural" cemetery saw an at-
tempt to avoid marking specific grave sites. The
inscription can very well be on one side of that
monument while the body is at the farthest corner
of the lot, on the other side of the monument. Only
the cemetery's written records know where the
body was put.

There are many "markers" with no burial be-
neath them, for one reason of another. Is that a
problem? Only if we insist on finding "markers".

**********

Have you realized that graves are mounded to
counter the inevitable singing of the soil there? A
great problem for cemetery managers is that of
sunken graves. Soil shoveled back into a grave
compacts slowly, so the top of the grave becomes a
bowl, unless that is countered by the mound. As the
body decays it takes less room, so there is more
lowering of the soil level above. When a casket is
used, it decays and shrinks too; and there is a lot of
air space in the casket, so there is much more of a
sink-hole. Actually there is a cave down there for
decades, with its ceiling shaling off periodically,
until eventually the top layer of soil collapses
during prolonged wet weather.

The garden cemeteries used a tactic to avoid these
sinkholes. They built a grave liner. A brick wall
was laid at the bottom of the grave shaft, just big
enough to embrace the casket (which was made
overnight, like a suit, to fit the measurements of
that body). When the casket was lowered into this
brick structure, sheets of slate were laid on as a
flat roof, supported by those low brick walls. So,
here is continued use of the slate that supplied the

At the cemetery I managed, this type of grave liner
was used until the end of World War II. By that time
we were discovering that the slate tends to give way
after bearing its load for a century, so sink-holes
began to appear, larger because those brick and
slate liners had been built about more air space.
Indeed, that collapse is such that rather large
twentieth-century stones have been known to topple
into the sink-hole and disappear overnight! Such
a marker can fairly well fill the cavern below, and
soil topples in after it, so only the sunken grave is
noticed and repaired with added fill and sod, and no
one quite misses the monument until there is no
longer evidence of the sunken grave.

In many modern cemeteries a double concrete
vault is put into each site, when the area is laid out,
so two bodies go into that site. A practice of the
nineteenth-century that still continues in some
burial grounds is to permit up to three burials in
a site. The first burial in the site could be ordered
at "triple depth". The second burial in the site is
put at "double depth" above it and the third and last
burial in the site goes above that.

Public health concerns that led to the revolution-
ary garden or "rural" cemeteries brought con-
current laws requiring three feet of earth above a
burial. So, it was a rule that a single-depth grave
was dug six feet deep. This accommodated coffin,
grave liner and that three-foot layer of earth
above.

In the cemetery I managed, I inherited mid-nine-
teenth-century rules that a double-depth order
calls for digging a shaft nine feet deep and a triple-
depth burial requires a dig that is twelve feet deep.
Now, the twentieth-century has seen inflation in
size of caskets, right along with inflation of money
and college grades. Those inner-spring mat-
tresses take up space. In the twentieth-century
massive grave liners, made of reinforced con-
crete, have been lowered into each grave. They
have domed tops. Cemeteries are eager to acquire
them, trusting that they will avoid future cave-
ins. They take up much more vertical space. Some
earth is left between the liners, too, to attempt to
seal out odors from below. So the triple-depth
burial was put in at twelve feet, the double depth
burial went in at eight feet, and (perhaps fifty
years later) the single-depth grave is shoe-horned
in at four feet. This leaves a foot or less of earth
above the last burial; and those public health laws

AGS Wi '90/1 p 8

are still in place! This is one of the little tensions
that make a cemetery manager eager to retire,
especially since the sacred mowers are causing
erosion of those few inches of soil over the last
burials.

George Kackley, Baltimore MD, is a former cemetery
superintendent and a frequent contributor to the AGS
Newsletter.

An article in the Fort Wayne IN News Sentinel,
July 21 , 1990 concerns a project where the city
of Fort Wayne wants to move about 40 graves
within a Civil War-era cemetery so that it can
widen a section of road. When a nearby church
moved about 32 years ago the decision was taken to
turn the cemetery over to the lot owners. The
present association of lot owners is interested in
selling the land to raise money to start a cemetery
maintenance fund. All survivors of people buried
in the lots and the cemetery association have to
agree for the deal to be completed.

sent by Jim Jewell, Peru IL

A research project on early Marine Corps uni-
forms led William N. Moss, Officer in Charge,
Marine Detachment 1797, Harvard MA, to search
forthe gravesite of Lt. Jonathan Church. He located
the stone in the village cemetery in (Old) Weth-
ersfield CT, broken in two pieces. The stone is
marble, which Captain Moss feels is a much later
replacement. It was the custom in Wethersfield in
the early 1800s to use brownstone for grave
markers, as indicated by the stones surrounding
the Lt. Church grave. The replacement stone was
likely broken in the 1960s.

Desiring to repairthe stone. Captain Moss secured
estimates from local contractors that were in the
$2300 range. He spoke with AGS seeking guidance
and was encouraged to purchase a copy of 4 Grave-
yard Preservation Pr/merand consider re-
storing the stone himself. After further discus-
sion with AGS, Captain Moss secured appropriate

materials described in the Primer a\ong with
Barre-Pak epoxy and proceeded to mend the stone
himself. It is now back in its original position
with a U.S. Government supplied granite marker
at its base to supplement the marble stone's in-
scription, which is eroded.

The cost, exclusive of numerous trips from
Bedford MA to Wethersfield CT came to $24 for
bonding materials, $10formiscellaneoustools,
$2 for marble dust and $10 for wood framing,
a grand total of $46.00.

Captain Moss documented his work in text and
photographs proving that interested, commit-
ted non-professionals using appropriate meth-
ods and materials can be successful at restoring
grave markers.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 9

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

BAGNI Dl LUCCA

Bagni di Lucca, in northwest Tuscany, in the foot-
hills of the Apuan Alps has been a spa since Roman
Times. By the 1 6th century it was fashionable and
beginning to attract the English and French.
Montaigne spent much time there; Milton was a
visitor. In 1722 James Stuart, Pretender to the
English throne set up court there. From that time
on, there was a parade of well-known people:

Montesquieu and Lord

Josephine Bonaparte

Elise Baciocchi

Shelley and Byron

Talleyrand

Heine

Lamartine

Hugo and Flaubert

Liszt

Sir Walter Scott

Chesterton Dumas

the Brownings

Metternich

Walter Savage Landor

F. Marion Crawford

Wm. Wetmore Story

Tennyson

Mark Twain

Ruskin

the Trollopes

The Anglican Church in Bagni di Lucca, the second
Protestant one (the first is in Leghorn) to be
founded in Italy, was completed in 1840. The
church itself resembles a Venetian palace, having
no steeple or cross. It was sold in 1982 to the town
and has been restored as a concert hall.

The cemetery, about a mile from the church, dates
from the same time. The first burial took place in
August, 1842; the last conducted by an Anglican
chaplaintook place in 1 953. Only a few burials are
dated after 1953.

The cemetery, which is of about two acres, was sold
to the town in the early 1980s "to be maintained
in perpetuity." On a well-traveled road leading to
much visited Italian towns. The Bagni di Lucca
Anglican cemetery has been abandoned and is now
overgrown with many stones dislodged by roots.
Names are difficult to distinguish beneath the
moss. The stone wall around the site is beginning
to crumble and the cast iron gate has rusted off its
hinges.

The Institute Storico Lucchese is willing to accept
responsibility for the upkeep of the cemetery.
There are in the cemetery gravestones of numer-
ous distinguished people; the most beautiful is an
effigy of the British author "Ouida." Many Ameri-
cans also are buried there, including the sister of
Grover Cleveland, President of the United States.

MORE ON SOUTHERN GRAVE SHELTERS

"Made by loving hands at home" is an apt descrip-
tion of the pictured grave shelter. Located in a
black cemetery on Mount Nebo Road, near Dardan-
elle. Yell County, Arkansas, some of the shelter's
construction elements are quite out of the ordi-
nary.

photo by Mrs. George Rose Smith, a member of the
Board of Mount Holly Cemetery Association, Little
Rock Arkansas.

The uprights are metal reinforcing bars of the type
used in concrete work. The corrugated tin roof,
ridge pole and baseboard (for lack of a better
word) were presumably cut with tin snips. Al-
though the materials are crude, construction was
obviously painstaking. There is a single narrow
entrance to the interior of the shelter at the foot of
the grave. A profuse growth of blooming honey-
suckle, both inside and outside the shelter, softens
the harshness of its appearance, but has also made
it impossible to determine if there is any identi-
fication of the deceased inside or on the ground
below the matted vines. A number of World War II
veterans are buried at this site, but there are very
few cemetery markers.

Sybil Crawford, 1 0548 Stone Canyon Road - #228,
Dallas TX 75230-4408, welcomes additional
photographs of grave shelters, accompanied by
date photo was made, location, size and apparent
age of cemetery, any indications of ethnicity, and
shelter construction materials.

Sent by Mrs. Robert H. Brodt (Betty J.), New York NY

AGS Wi '90/1 p 10

MORE ON THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE
BOSTON TEA PARTY!

Mary Teal of Lyons Falls NY has sent more infor-
mation on the last survivor of the Boston Tea
Party, George Robert Twelve Hewes (see AGS News-
letter, Fall 1990, p. 24). She had the stone
photographed, as well as an adjacent DAR bronze
plaque. The stone itself reads:

George R. T. Hewes

one who helped drown

the Tea in Boston 1 770

Died Nov. 5, 1840

Aged 109 Years & 2 mos

The plaque reads:

George Robert Twelve Hewes

member of the Boston Tea Party

born in Whentham, Mass.

Nov. 5th, 1731

Died in Richfield Springs N. Y.

Nov. 5, 1840

Friends of Center Cemetery

38 Forest Lane

East Hartford, CT. 06118

The Friends of Center Cemetery in East Hartford CT
have received a grant from the Hartford Founda-
tion for Public Giving to restore the brownstone
monument of a pre-Revolutionary governor of
Connecticut, William Pitkin.

Pitkin, who died in 1769, belonged to a famous
political family in colonial Connecticut, many of
whom are buried in Center Cemetery. The monu-
ment is a large inscribed tabletop standing on
fluted legs. It is threatened with the erosion that
often damages brownstone, according to Doris
Suessman, president of the Friends. It is hoped to
remove the stone from the cemetery for restora-
tion before spring.

Pitkin became governor in 1766 at the age of 72
after a long career as a legislator, speaker of the
house, judge of the superior court, chief justice
and deputy governor of the colony of Connecticut.
He is described on the monument as"zealous and
bold for the Truth, faithfull in distributing
Justice. ..a Patron of his Country."

The Friends of Center Cemetery were formed in
1989 to promote the preservation of the town
cemetery, whose stones date back to the early 1 8th
century, and recognition of its artistic and his-
toric importance. A systematic photographic record
of the early stones has begun. Membership in the
Friends is open to all interested persons. For
information, write Friends of Center Cemetery,
38 Forest Lane, East Hartford CT 06118.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 11

An article in the November 12, 1990 issue of
Forbes Magazine, sent by Phyllis Laking Hunt of
Falmouth MA, titled "Tale of Two Tombs" com-
pares the condition of the Karl Marx monument at
Highgate Cemetery, London with that of Adam Smith
in Edinburgh:

"This summer was the bicentenary of Adam Smith's
death on July 17, 1790, so Fortoes decided to pay
its respects to the author of The Wealth of
Nations. We found the cemetery in an industrial
area of Edinburgh, which in most respects is one of
Europe's loveliest cities. The air around the
cemetery was sour with the smell of the neighbor-
ing breweries' mash; gulls screeched overhead.
There was only one dead flower and a dead wreath
on Smith's grave. Elsewhere in the cemetery,
walls crumbled, candy wrappers and bottles lit-
tered the paths, a Marks & Spencer plastic bag was
picked up by the wind and rolled across the graves.

We went to see George Bell, Edinburgh's Principal
Cemeteries, Crematorium and Mortuary Officer,
to inquire about this sad state of affairs. Bell, his
shirttail hanging out of his suit pants, said defen-
sively that it cost the state around L2500 (nearly
$5000) to clean up a gravestone, which basically
means scrubbing off the algae.

To prove that his department had done its duty by
Adam Smith, Principal Cemeteries, Crematorium
and Mortuary Officer Bell showed us a letter from
Edinburgh's Assistant Director of Technical Serv-
ices. In 1986 the state had painted the rails,
scrubbed off the algae and laid fresh gravel on Adam
Smith. 'There is a limit to what can be done,"
huffed the bureaucrat."

Karl Marx (1818-83) rests in a different kettle
of coffins. Not far from the great bust of Marx,
glowering above dozens of fresh wreaths and bou-
quets, repose the remains of Charles Dickens'

A sinfjfe (JeOii ureath f<.yr \(h.mi Smith

71l«/Btfter f^cttpltolisiR /taunted h^ rhc s4tate.

family and Queen Victoria's midwife.

The pro-capitalism Forbes author, Richard C.
Morals, goes on to note the perceived irony that
Highgate, which houses Marx' monument, is pri-
vately owned and produces a tidy profit, while
Adam Smith's cemetery is state-owned and is in a
terrible state of neglect. "In death, Karl Marx has
benefited far more from capitalism than has Adam
Smith."

The Last Call

Recent news from London brings an announcement
from the Little Pub Co. This company is offering
eternal rest at the Pack Horse, the Little Tumbling
Sailor or any of its ten pubs in western England.
Customers can have their ashes rest under their
favorite bar stool or beneath the bar where they
bent their elbows. Owner of the company, Colm
O'Rourke says "Instead of being stuck in a cold
graveyard where few people visit, the deceased
will be surrounded by friends who will have a

permanent reminder of the good times enjoyed."
While it is rumoured to be an April Fool's Day
joke, the company's lawyer Jack Haywood attests
to the validity of the scheme. Haywood plans to be
"buried" in the Pie Factory pub in Tipton and he
says "Since my wife always finds me there she will
be used to visiting me there!" Cheers!

from f/7eNewfoundland Ancestor, contributed by
Julie Morris, Halifax NS

AGS Wi '90/1 p 12

Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England

News of an unusual conflict comes to us from Ellen
Glueck of Towanda PA. A friend sent Ellen a
clipping from a Britisfi newspaper, dated Decem-
ber 15, 1990, which features a story about Ben
Lloyd, age 67 of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, Eng-
land.

Lloyd's family have been stonemasons in Great
Bedwyn for two centuries, and many of his rela-
tives are buried in the churchyard of the twelfth-
century St. Mary's Church there. Some years ago,
when the yard's volunteer caretaker moved away,
the yard was neglected and became run-down un-
til, four years ago, Mr. Lloyd retired from his
business and took over the care of the churchyard.
According to the newspaper article, he spent many
hours a week, unpaid, cutting grass, trimming
borders and keeping the stones neat, "an abso-
lutely first class job." But then, "having got it
right, he started making improvements."

The improvements are the root of the present
controversy. Lloyd planted tulips in orderly rows,

which the churchwarden felt were not in keeping
with the feel of the old yard. Lloyd did a wonderful
job removing a fallen cedar tree, but he went on to
severely prune an old yew, again distressing the
churchwarden. Mr. Lloyd is also accused of using
bleach to clean lichen from the stones, discoloring
the stones in the process, and, most seriously, of
painting some gravestones in garish colors. Lloyd
claims there is scriptural authority for painting
the stones.

The churchwarden has now obtained an injunction
to keep Mr. Lloyd out of the churchyard. "We're
trying to stop him doing damage to it," the church-
warden said.

This story Is of special interest to AGS members
who have met Ben Lloyd at the two AGS conferences
he has traveled to the U.S. to attend. While here he
extended open invitations to the membership to
visit St. Mary's -Churchyard, and Ellen Glueck,
Dan & Jessie Farber, and Jim & Betty Slater are
among those members who have subsequently
visited the yard.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 13

Oral History In Ontario Is Source for
Black Cemetery Reclamation and Restora-
tion

by Harvey Medland, Toronto, Ontario

In the early 1 930s, children hanging onto a school-
yard fence across the road from a Black cemetery
watched as a farmer ploughed under more than
fifty gravestones in order to plant potatoes. The
scene took place a few miles west of Flesherton,
Ontario, Canada. One of the boys who witnessed the
desecration was the father of historian-researcher
Les MacKinnon. The elder MacKinnon also recalled
that a few markers had been tossed into a nearby
rockpile and that at least twenty others were
buried under County Road 14.

Adrienne Shad of the Ontario Black Historical
Society estimates that 30,000 Black pioneers
from the United States settled in Upper Canada's
Niagara District in the late 1700s. Among them
was Jesse Hardy, who emigrated to Canada shortly
after 1790 with 5000 freed slaves and United
Empire Loyalists. He may have been a member of
Niagara's Black "C" Corps which fought the U.S.
during the War of 1812. We do know that he later
moved to the Erin-Fergus district before receiv-
ing a land grant for property along the Old Durham
Road near present-day Priceville. Thus the Hardys
moved up the Garafraxa Trail to homestead within
sight of that cemetery.

The 1851 census reveals that "almost every fifty-
acre lot along the Durham Road was settled by a
Black family with parents stating their birthplace
as the United States. Children as old as 17, how-
ever, were born in Canada". Unfortunately, not all
settlers who received crown grants of land subse-
quently fulfilled th "settlement duties" required
for the deed, thus creating problems for Les MacK-
innon.

Howard Sheffield, however, does have the deed of
his ancestor, James Hardy, for property on the Old
Durham Road. During his twenty years of research
into his family's past, Sheffield had developed an
intense interest in Priceville's history. He con-
cluded: "If 350 pioneers lived, raised families and
died in the area, there must be cemeteries."

He shared this interest with Les MacKinnon, who
began the reclamation process of the Priceville
cemetery in 1989. The extent of the 100 foot x
1 50 foot site was determined with a metal detector.
It signalled "myriads of metal fragments in the
soil" which are assumed to be coffin nails. The

burial site was later donated by the landowner to
the co-operative Artemesia township. The Pio-
neer Cemetery Committee then fenced it off and
began to "dig" underthe guidance of archaeologist,
Barry Gray.

On June 1 1 , 1990, fragments of four gravestones
were uncovered in nearby rock rubble. After
piecing the marble markers together, MacKinnon
recognized the engraved names of former Black
residents of the township. The tombstones dated
from 1854 to 1863. The last recorded burial on
the site was dated 1880. One of the four grave-
stones was in memory of the aforementioned James
Hardy, who died in 1863, aged 95 years.

An elated Howard Sheffield was working on the
"dig" at the time and witnessed the recovery of the
treasure for which he had been searching for so
many years. But his quest continues. He hopes to
find the gravestones of his great-grandparents,
whom he believes lived in the same location.

Les MacKinnon speculates that there are six more
Black cemeteries in the area which he hopes will
be found and restored in the future. He stressed,
"I'd like to see them all taken into public domain
and cleaned up. That would give people a better
perspective on the history of this area and give the
dead the respect they deserve."

On October 1, 1990, Lieutenant-Governor Lin-
coln Alexander unveiled a memorial on the ceme-
tery site to perpetuate Priceville's Black heri-
tage. The event was a very satisfying one for
MacKinnon, Sheffield and the Pioneer Cemetery
Committee, but the encouraged researchers con-
tinue their work. They are confident and deter-
mined that with the continued co-operation of the
township executive, the remaining Black ceme-
teries will be restored with equal respect.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 14

so WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

C.R. Jones of Cooperstown NY sent a couple of
letters wfiich were published in the New York State
Historical Association publication Weiv York His-
tory in 1939:

In every community in the state of New York and, in
fact, in all the Eastern States, are found forlornly
abandoned burying grounds that deserve intelligent
care and preservation. A great many people have
given thought to the problem; others have devoted time
and effort to a conscientious endeavor to effect a
solution. Much remains to be done.

New communities not only have few traditions and
little history, but also are lacking in most of the
material reminders of the past which go far to make the
older states settled in their habits; serene in their
out, look and individual in their attractiveness. Among
the relics that every community ought to find worthy
of their careful preservation are their old cemeteries;
sacred acres to which have been consigned the mortal
remains of those who once were a part of the living
fabric of the community.

Aside from the sentimental interest which ought to
attract to all disused burial plots, practical reasons
should move a community to safeguard and care 1or
such places. The preservation of the markers alone
would be worth the time and effort necessary, if, for
no other reason than the evidencethey furnish regard-
ing the family and individuals who once played their
part in the neighborhood.

Now and then a marker of this sort has been sought
diligently, but in vain, by the living members of the
family whose records are complete except for that
link. More than one student of history or biography has
proved his thesis and rewritten the story of the past
by uncovering the blurred inscription of some forgot-
ten headstone resurrected from under a pile of moss or
leaves. The progressiveness of a city or a community
can usually be judged by the care taken of their burying
grounds. (Elizur Yale Smith)

"Cemeteries Suffer,"

Cement urns, metal wreaths and other lawn deco-
rations - if light enough to be portable - are being
hidden under bushes, thrown over walls and carted
off to local flea markets. State associations of
cemeterians in New England have united to ex-
change information on thefts of such cemetery
ornaments.

Inventories, including photographs, are being set
up. New methods of inconspicuous marking are
being tried. The goods, once identified, remain of

My dear Mr. Editor:

In New York Histoky for January, 1939, I notice a communi-
cation from Elizur Yale Smith relalivc to the preservation of old
burial places. This, to my mind, is a matter worthy of the con-
sideration of all, but especially should it be regarded as a duty of
every historical society to work for legislation providing for the
care and preservation of these "sacred acres."

Here in Jersey, the Genealogical Society of New Jersey is doing
a wonderful work in copying tombstone inscriptions all over the
state. They have a group termed the "Tomb Stone Hounds" who,
under the able leadership of Russell Bruce Rankin, of Newark, go
on frequent "Grave Yard Prowls" copying tombstone inscriptions
for the files of the Society. In between times certain ones of the
"Hounds" amuse themselves in their spare time by copying small
forgotten burial grounds in out of the way places, or in checking
work previously done, for meticulous accuracy is Mr. Rankin's
aim before anything is published and the best will make mistakes at
times.

Not every one is "educated" in the technique of tombstone copy-
ing, or has the ability, or, may I say, the mental quirk, to be a good
"Tomb Stone Hound." A real "Hound" goes forth armed for
the fray. He will carry two wire brushes, one coarse and one fine.
He will have a brick of pumice stone and a good supply of white
and blue chalk for rubbing on the face of weather-worn stones to
bring out indistinct inscriptions. He should have a pocket mirror
to reflect light on the face of the stone from dififerent angles, and
a photographic focusing doth to shield the stone from direct light.
Often, by the use of these, a series of meaningless depressions on
the face of a stone may, be rendered quite legible, where the inex-
perienced copyist would have written it off as "indecipherable."

A stout crowbar, a few wooden blocks, and plenty of masculine
brawn are useful where heavy stones have fallen face downward;
and a good stout trowel with which to dig down for the inscriptions
on sunken stones. Several of the "Hounds" have bayonet trowels.

vicious looking instruments of forged steel about a foot long,
strongly reinforced, that can be used with a short or long handle
as desired.

A good strong sickle and a hatchet often come in handy, and of
course there are other accessories which are often useful, such as
leggings and heavy gloves to protect against briars and the ever-
present poison ivy.

Yes, these places should be preserved, but do what we may to
preserve them, their records will be lost by the ravages of time un-
less there are more "Tomb Stone Hounds."

Louis L. Blauvelt,
20 Birchwood Avenue,
East Orange, New Jersey.

-€t:

course the property of the plot owner and
must be returned without recompense. And who
wants to be made into a possessor of stolen goods?

We suggest that all Green Industry firms urge
their clients to insist on (and to keep on file) a
signed, letterhead, bill-of-sale tor any garden
ornament they buy. We think items new from a
manufacturer are safer than old ones bought in tag
sales or at flea markets.

from TREE NEWS, University of Massachusetts Coop-
erative Extension, August 9, 1990 issue, contributed
by Jo fin Slavinsify, Belmont MA

AGS Wi '90/1 p 15

WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO?

RECEIVED FOR THE ARCHIVES

Deirdre Morris of Cambridge, Massachusetts,
writes of tfie successful conclusion of her attempts
to change Massachusetts statutes to protect the use
of unoccupied gravesites and the reuse of occupied
graves.

In the Fall 1988 AGS Newsletter (Vol. 12 #4, p.
8) the account was recorded of Deirdre Morris's
findings of bones, gravestones and coffin orna-
ments in trash bins in the Cambridge burying
ground. Her discovery that the cemetery workers
were reusing occupied graves and disposing of the
previous remains on the site raised little concern
with Cambridge town officials since they felt they
were properly interpreting the Massachusetts
statute covering such activity. Deirdre then began
workon legislation to clarifythe present statute so
that it could not be interpreted as giving cemetery
corporations the right to disinterr bodies and
reuse the graves. The new statute was passed by
both the Massachusetts House and Senate on No-
vember 28, 1990, and was signed into law by
Governor Dukakis on December 10, 1990.

The new statutes stipulate that no cemetery corpo-
ration shall take over ownership of an unoccupied
grave unless a minimum of seventy-five years has
elapsed after issuance of a license for the grave,
and the license holder cannot be located after
making a diligent search. If the license holder is
ascertained, the cemetery corporation shall pay
the fair value of the license to the holder. Also no
cemetery corporation "shall reuse an occupied
grave except: upon the request and with consent of
a relative or descendant of the decedent occupying
the grave, providing no other descendant objects;
to provide for the burial of a relative or descendant
of the decedent occupying the grave; and if the
remains of the decedent occupying the grave will
remain in the grave."

Deirdre concludes: "Now the road of education and
implementation stretches ahead." Congratula-
tions to Deirdre Morris for her perseverence, and
now, success in seeing this legislation passed.

The Newsletter receives mar)y newspaper items
from vigilant AGS members across the continent.
These are not always included in the Newsletter
because of space limitations or repetative story
lines, or because they refer more to the study of
death than to gravestones. All contributions do go
to the AGS Archives, however, and so here Is a
partial list in summary form:

From Sybil Crawford, Dallas TX, an article from
the Dallas f^orning News, c. May 1990, titled
"Looting History, Archaeologists decry 'pothun-
ters' who raid Indian graves for treasure", about
the continuing desecration of Indian graves in
Arkansas. For other references to this widespread
problem, see AGS Newsletter V. 12#1, Winter
1987-8, p. 14-15 & V. 13 #2. Fall1989, p. 22

From the Norfolk VA Pilot-Ledger Star, a May 9,
1990 item "4 Rare Grave Markers Found in
Beach" about cast iron grave markers with side
posts in the shape of castle turrets discovered at
Virginia Beach as bulldozers prepared land for
townhouse construction.

From the American Planning Association journal
Planning, February 1990, an article by Ruth
Eckdish Knack titled "The Ultimate Open Space"
about the fact that cemeteries have not been con-
sidered by the planning profession in the recent
past, but that planners need to be aware of current
trends. "A combination of factors — the aging of the
baby boomers, clashes over land use, a nascent
preservation movement — is reviving interest in
U.S. cemeteries."

From the Halifax N.S. Chronicle Herald, May 14,
1990, two Reuters articles: "French unite in
ceremony of grief over desecration of Jewish
cemetery" and "Israeli graves vandalized; may be
linked with French attack". In the French town of
Carpentras unknown assailants defaced graves with
Anti-semitic slogans and dug up and mutilated a
corpse in one of France's oldest Jewish cemeter-
ies. In Haifa, Israel, vandals daubed 250 Jewish
graves with anti-Israel graffiti, apparently in-
spired by the French incident.

From Pat Miller, Cold Spring NY, a report from
the A/eivs-r/znes about lecturer William Stockdale
entertaining senior citizens of Southbury CT with
anecdotes about famous graveyards he has visited.

Look for more archives contributions in the Spring
issue of the Newsletter. (Yes, I really am cleaning
up! DT)

AGS Wi '90/1 p 16

ALL THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL FOR THE
ARCHIVES WAS CONTRIBUTED BY JIM
JEWELL, PERU IL:

-From the Chicago Sun-Times, May 27, 1990,
"Tales from the Crypt" about a fourth-grade field
trip to Chicago's Graceland Cemetery. Each child
prepared a biographical report of a famous Chica-
goan buried at Graceland, and when the appropri-
ate grave was located the group gathered and the
student gave an oral presentation.

-From the Fort Wayne Indiana News-Sentinel,
July 6, 1990, a report of the discovery of human
bones at a downtown Indianapolis excavation site.
The excavation was on the site of the former Green
Lawn Cemetery, the city's first public burial
ground in the 1800s and early 1900s. An archae-
ologist with the Indiana Department of Natural
Resources said he had been told that all of the
remains from Green Lawn had been moved around
the turn of the century.

-From the LaSalle IL News-Tribune, July 6,
1990, a photo of Larry Carlson of Spring Valley
examining a stone he uncovered while clearing the
Ottville cemetery of waist-high grass and trees.

-An AP item from the July 8, 1990 edition of the
Fort Wayne IN Journal-Gazette, by Leslie Dreyf uss
about plans to landscape the mass gravesite on Deer
Island in Boston Harbor by 1995, the 150th
anniversary of the Irish potato famine. The graves
are for about 4,100 mid-1800s immigrants to
the United States whose American dreams ended in
death.

-An article in the LaSalle IL News-Tribune, July
28, 1 990, titled "Genealogy group traces roots in
graves" about AGS member Carol Shipp and the
Bureau County Genealogical Society project to
transcribe gravestone inscriptions in the county.

-From the Fort Wayne IN A/ewsSenf/ne/, August 1,
1990, an AP item from Silver Spring MD about
animal interments at Aspin Hill Memorial Park,
including 7 of J. Edgar Hoover's beloved dogs and
"Jiggs" the canine mascot of the old "Our Gang"
comedies, who died in 1938.

-A photo in the Fort Wayne IN News Sentinel,
August 1, 1990, shows a backhoe with tackle
assisting in the resetting of toppled headstones at
the New Mount Moriah Cemetery, near Haubstadt.

-A brief note in the Chicago Tribune, August 12,

1990 about teenagers in the Netherlands being
arrested for looting graves for skulls.

-From the Chicago Tribune, September 6, 1990,
a reference to the desecration of 43 graves at a
Jewish cemetery at the cemetery in Horbourg-
Wihr, near the city of Colmar in eastern France.

-From the LaSalle IL News-Tribune, September
7, 1990, an item about a quiet prairie cemetery
west of Mount Palatine IL. "It looks abandoned and
untended, yet a variety of concerned specialists
are interested in its preservation both as a ceme-
tery and a prairie." Naturalists have a list of
almost 80 native prairie plants growing within
this tiny tract. The earliest grave marker is dated
1844.

-An "Outings" item in the Chicago Tribune, Octo-
ber 28, 1990 titled: "Walk among tombstones for
an historical journey" includes an interview with
gravestone "expert" Kathleen Shaughnessy of
Plainfield IL and a listing of local pioneer ceme-
teries.

-From the Chicago Sun-Times, October 30, 1990,
a Halloween story about concerns that the Chan-
ning Memorial Elementary school in Elgin IL is
haunted. The school and park were built on the site
of Elgin's first graveyard. One marked grave, that
of William Hackman, sits in the far corner of the
park, guarded by a low fence. All the graves at the
site were supposed to have been moved to Bluff City
Cemetery when the school was built in 1968.

-A photo of Halloween vandalism in a Griffith IN
cemetery, from the Chicago Tribune, November 2,
1990.

-An article from the Chicago Tribune, November
5, 1990, about the Illinois Pet Cemetery. Pet
owners can have their ashes buried alongside their
pets, but headstones for humans are not allowed.

-A note from the November 6, 1 990 edition of the
Chicago Sun-Times, refers to vandalism of over
80 monuments in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago.
Vandals cut a three-foot hole in a chain-link fence
to gain entry. This item was also contributed by
John Chaveriat, Chicago IL.

-From the Chicago Tribune Magazine, November
11, 1990, a "First Person" article about Bert J.
Gast of Gast Monument Co., Chicago. In addition to
his monument work, he teaches memorial design
through a correspondence course certified by the
Monument Builders of North America.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 17

-An article in the Chicago Sun-Times, November
12, 1990 describes Camp Douglas, a prisoner-
ot-war camp built on Chicago's South Side during
the Civil War. The first Confederate prisoner
passed through its gates in February 1862. Of
about 26,000 prisoners, one in five would die
there. At Oak Woods Cemetery, 1035 E. 67th St.
they get two or three calls a week asking for
information about prisoners of war in the so-
called "Confederate Mound". The mound is marked
by a towering monument of Georgia granite and
aged brass name-plates. On top is a statue of an
unarmed Confederate soldier. Beneath are 4,275
Confederate bodies. Twelve white tablet stones
marking the graves of prison guards, line the
front. In the Oak Woods archives a faded green
ledger lists the dead from "Able, Ezekiel", a Texas
infantryman to "Zollicoffer, J.L.", from Missis-
sippi.

1990, a note that Matt Lamb, chairman of the
board of Blake-Lamb Funeral Homes, donated dozens
of funeral home journals, from as far back as the
1850s, to the Chicago Historical Society. In addi-
tion to Blake-Lamb, the collection includes the
records of C.H. Jordan and John Carroll Sons, two
firms that became subsidiaries of Blake-Lamb.
The funeral particulars of many of Chicago's found-
ing fathers are included in the volumes, including
arrangements for Abraham Lincoln's last train
ride through Illinois. The archives will be avail-
able to scholars only on a selective basis because of
privacy concerns.

-From the Fort Wayne IN News Sentinel, Novem-
ber 14,1 990, an article on vandalism at Lake view
Cemetery, Kendallville IN. Jim Jewell notes that
there has been a real rash of vandalism in Indiana
cemeteries lately.

-From the LaSalle IL News-Tribune, November
13, 1990, an article about a family-owned busi-
ness since 1913 - Mendota Monument Company.

-From the Chicago Sun-Times, November 14,

-From the Fort Wayne IN Journal-
Gazette, December 12, 1990, a note about vandals
charged with felony criminal mischief for alleg-
edly chipping and braking 131 memorials in
Waterloo Cemetery, Auburn IN, causing an esti-
mated $125,000. damage.

l-^^^gH

TEMPUS FUGIT ET MANET: The Stone of
Archie A. Arnold

by James Jewell, Illinois Valley Community Col-
lege

As a reminder of both the flight of time and what
remains behind, the gravestone of Archie A. Arnold
(Oct. 18, 1920-April 21, 1982) in the Scipio
Cemetery (Allen County, Indiana) is flanked by
two parking meters— both with red "expired"
signs prominent.

"You had to know Archie", said Arnold's attorney,
adding that his client always believed in a good
laugh. It was Arnold's last wish for the meter
memorial.

The stone has been featured in Ripley's Believe It
or Not! and has also been photographed for several
national news publication. On the reverse of the
stone is the epitaph "Fear the Lord and tell the
people what you want."

Scipio Cemetery is in Scipio Township, Allen
County, Indiana, on Highway 37, just a few miles
from the Ohio state line.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 18

DEATH SENTENCE FOR GRAVEYARDS?

An article discussing safety in cemeteries in the Canadian province of Ontario. "Death Sentence for
Graveyards?" by Bill Gladstone, appeared in the national edition of the TorontoGlobo & Mall, December 27,
1990. This disturbing "solution" to the problem of falling gravestones was first brought to the attention of
AGS members by Susann Myers in the AGS Newsletter (Vol. 13 #2), Spring 1989, p. 3.

The tranquility of some Ontario cemeteries may soon
be rudely shattered, thanks to Bill 31, an amendment
to the province's Cemeteries Act. The bill has yet to
be proclaimed into law and sources at the Ministry of
Commercial and Corporate Affairs indicate that may
not happen until the spring. Still, heritage groups claim
it has already inadvertently led to the wanton — but
perfectly legal — destruction of several cemeteries.

"I heard of a case where the church just got so worried
that they would be sued if anything went wrong that
they just went out and knocked all the stones down,"
says Dorothy Duncan, executive director of the On-
tario Historical Society. "The bill is very strong on
closing cemeteries, moving or disposing of the stones
and making the land available for other uses," Ms.
Duncan says. "And it fails to do one important thing.
It does not spell out that a cemetery or burial site is
considered to be an educational, historical and sacred
resource. ..it doesn't even allude to that." The histori-
cal society has requested that the bill be withdrawn.

The proposed law was sparked by a coroner's inquest
after an accident in which a young girl named Kristie
Vandescheur, who was playing in an abandoned ceme-
tery near her home near London (Ontario), was pinned
beneath a monument and killed. The bill makes munici-
palities responsible for keeping all abandoned grave-
yards within their bounds in good repair. It also
compels cemetery owners to do "whatever is neces-
sary by way of repairing, resetting or laying down"
tombstones that may endanger public safety.

The consumer and corporate affairs ministry wrote to
every Ontario municipality after the Vandescheur
death, warning that liability for such accidents would
rest with them, says Gail Suss man, a technical advisor
in the heritage branch of the Ministry of Culture and
Communications. "Some cemeteries were bulldozed
right away as a result," she says. "I saw it happen in
Port Hope, and I've heard of it happening in other
places. Today I visited a cemetery and the tractor
marks were still there. Some obelisks were only three
feet high; they had been bulldozed down, and they were
just scattered about like so many logs."

In the past, pressure to close cemeteries came pri-
marily from real-estate developers, she notes, but
now the government seems to be exerting an unprece-
dented force toward closing.

At a cemetery in Markham, Ms. Sussman claims, the
bodies were moved to another site in amannerthatwas
insensitive to archaeological methods and the cultural

and religious traditions of the deceased, as often
happens. In addition, she says, "there was a record of
1 7 people being buried there, but they only moved 13.
Where are the others?"

Ms. Sussman, one of several culture and communica-
tions officials who have been advising the Ministry of
Commercial and Corporate Affairs on heritage mat-
ters, says that municipalities face "tremendous eco-
nomic pressure toward closure." The MCCA, she
adds, usually grants permission to close graveyards
almost automatically.

"There are all kinds of little burial grounds scattered
aboutthe countryside, and Ithinkthey mayjustquietly
disappear, "says Marjorie Stuart, executive director
of the Ontario Genealogical Society. "Many stones say
'rest in peace' but right now, they're not resting in
peace."

The MCCA's mandate is consumer protection. "The
heritage component is something that's brand new,"
acknowledges Gary Carmichael, registrar of the
ministry's cemeteries branch. He maintains that the
heritage concerns can be handled in regulations to the
bill or in the Heritage Act, which is also under review.
The legal responsibility for cemeteries belongs to his
ministry, he explains, owing to a 1955 arrangement
for a fee levied on all burials to go into a trust fund to
provide perpetual care and maintenance for cemeter-
ies. Because no central trust fund existed before
1955, few dollars are allocated to older cemeteries
which were largely filled before then. Also lacking
perpetual care are burial mounds sacred to native
people and early farmyard graves of pioneers.

In recent months, heritage group volunteers have
spent thousands of hours helping draft the regulations
that are to accompany the bill. The Ontario Historical
Society has described the process as "an exercise in
futility". However, since third reading of the bill, the
government of Ontario has changed. It will be a test of
the still-honeymooning New Democratic Party gov-
ernment to see how it responds.

contributed by Dr. Neville Elwood and Allan Dunlop,
both of Halifax NS.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 19

Gravestone Art Given to Museum

An outstanding collection of materials relating to
early American gravestone art has been presented
to the Museum of American Folk Art by Ivan B.
Rigby, professor emeritus of industrial design at
Brooklyn's Pratt Institute in New York in memory
of his late friend Francis Y. Duval, a freelance
photographer and designer. Included in the gift are
approximately 20,000 photographic slides and
prints, some 500 casts of individual tombstones,
and about 1 00 books and articles relating to grave-
stone art.

Duval and Rigby not only did their own photogra-
phy, but developed a method for making plaster
casts of the tombstones. Sites represented range
from New York City's Trinity Churchyard to grave-
yards of the Bogomil sect in the Balkans, though the
great concentration of the collection is on early
cemeteries of the Eastern seaboard of the United
States. The collection provided the basis for Duval
and Rigby's book. Early American Gravestone Art
inPhotograpfis(N.y., Dover, 1978), andfortheir
numerous periodical articles and contributions to
the publications of the Association for Gravestone
Studies. The collection has also been featured in a
numberof gallery exhibitions. Withthe Museum's
Daniel and Jessie Lie Farber collection of grave-
stone photographs and the Farbers' promised
bequest of the original glass plate negatives of
Harriette Merrifield Forbes, the Duval/Rigby
collection makes the Museum of American Folk Art
one of the nation's richest repositories of materi-
als for this fascinating field of study.

from The Clarion, Museum of Americar\ Folk Art,
NYC. Winter 1990-1991, Vol. 15 No. 5.

On January 2, 1991 , Sue Kelly and Anne Williams
hand delivered their original New England Grave-
stones exhibition to the Museum of American Folk
Art. Sue writes: "We planned this exhibition of
138 rubbings in 1979 with Cordelia Rose and Jay
McLaughlin of Art Resources of Connecticut. The
idea evolved from a show "300 Years of Connecti-
cut Folk Art", to which we contributed a number
of rubbings. This was one of the first shows which
had included gravestones as a form of folk art. Alex
Graves, who curated that show, planted the seeds of
a larger exhibition. The timing was perfect for us,
as we had recently completed our canoe trip all the
way down the Connecticut River, rubbing the his-
tory and character of the valley all the way. So,
"New England Gravestone Rubbings - A Selection"

opened, with catalogue and poster, and did quite a
bit of traveling for a few years - Hartford, Old
Saybrook, New London... and then it was accepted
for travel for another few years with NEFA (New
England Foundation for the Arts). It went to
Virginia, to Greenfield MA, to the Edgar Alien Poe
House in Baltimore, and several other spots. Anne
and I have also used it extensively for talks to
historical societies, libraries and especially
schools. We'd pull rubbings from it to amplify a
certain format of all the things that can be learned
from gravestones. But it has been at rest for a
while in Anne's cellar. We kept musing intermit-
tently as to what we might do so that the rubbings
could be available to be seen and used.

Eunice Marsh, Mansfield Center CT, 1766, from A Grave
Bu»lne»», New England Gravestone Rubbing*, 1979.

Then at the conference last summer, in a conver-
sation with Dan [Farber] we learned that Ivan
Rigby had donated most of his and Francis' collec-
tion to the Museum of American Folk Art in New
York. Dan was in the process of donating a few
things himself and felt they might be interested in
our collection. After many months and much
correspondence, we were pleased to be informed
that they wanted to accept our collection. And so,
it now rests there. We are pleased that it is in a
spot where it will be cared for and where it will be
made available to both the public and to private
researchers. It looks as if the Museum is becoming
somewhat of a central authority and repository for
gravestone work. Our hope is that sometime in our
lifetimes we see our collection on exhibit once
more! It's a bit like shoving a child out of the nest
and off on its own! Lest anyone think that Kelly &
Williams have given away all their rubbings, 1
hasten to add that we still have a few hundred more
in Anne's basement, and are, selectively, still
doing more rubbings."

AGS Wi '90/1 p 20

BOOKS

The Cemeteries of Maries County MO; A

Personal History is a 450-page volume containing
all the information from all tfie gravestones in
every cemetery found in Maries County, spanning
the period from 1811 to 1985. There is a history
and description of 122 burying grounds (public
and private cemeteries, church cemeteries, aban-
doned graveyards and family plots on private land),
along with several pages of old newspaper ex-
cerpts, obituaries, maps, selected references and
a full index. All epitaphs and other writings have
been transcribed from the markers, and all in-
scriptions are listed as surveyed, which will aid
researchers to identify family relationships. Those
studying gravestone styles and their carvers will
also find much of interest here.

The earliest date inscribed in a marker in Maries
County is for Jane Creekpaum who died in 1812.

Offset printed on high quality book paper. The
Cemeteries of Maries County \s illustrated
by 67 photographs and supplemented by an index
of all 11,325 inscribed markers. The book is
divided into sections according to the townships of
the county. A county map showing the divisions of
townships has been included, as has a fold-out
county highway map marking the location of each
cemetery.

Martha Bailey, 1871

Fresh roses in thy hand.

Hasted from this dark land,

Where flowers fade.

I said the dove

I mourn for my love

In Memory of Mary Ann Kidd, wife

of John S. Kidd died Sept 10, 1863

Aged 40 years

The spirit's flown to its future home,

The body's entered here.

This rock was got to keep the spot

Least men should dig too near

hand-carved , 1863, Dry Creek Twp.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 21

The Cemeteries of Maries County is priced
at $25.00 Copies may be ordered from Mozelle
Hutchison, Rt 1 Box 27, Vienna MO 65582 (phone
314-422-3301) or from Gail Howard, Star Rt
3 Box 5A, Vienna MO 65582 (phone 314-422-
3008). There is an additional $3.00 charge for
postage and handling. Proceeds above the cost of
production will go toward the maintenance of the
Old Jail Museum in Vienna, and also for various
cemetery projects throughout the county.

Mozelle Hutchison has donated a copy of The
Cemeteries of Maries County to the AGS
Archives. Look for more on Maries County, Mis-
souri, in the Spring issue of the Newsletter.

*****

Gravestone Art of Rockland County

by (AGS member) Dorothy W. Mellett

From Town Historian Maria Mackay, Orangeburg,
NY: It is with pride that I announce the publication
of a book by Dorothy W. Mellett of Blauvelt NY
entitledGravesfone Art of Rockland County.
Specific to Rockland, the book's contents can be
used in any area.

Dorothy was stimulated by a burning desire to save
part of our heritage which is being destroyed. She
spearheaded a drive to restore two abandoned
cemeteries: Clauseiand in Orangeburg and Sickel-
town in Nauraushaun. It was a request by students
at Rockland Community College that initiated the
writing of this book.

Sixteen cemeteries have been chosen out of over
1 25 burial grounds, to represent the immigration
of the early Dutch, northei-n European, and free
Blacks who signed the Tappen Patent in 1986.
With the use of photographs, rubbings, plaster-
casts, and sketches, each marker is studied in
chronological sequence.

The book can be ordered at a cost of $22.50, plus
$2 for postage through the Hudson Valley Press,
Box 123, Tappan, NY 10983.

*****

BURIAL GROUNDS OF OXFORD, 0HI01 817-
1 987

by Sylvia F. Ferguson, edited by Irene M. Lindsey;
published by the Smith Library of Regional History,
1989.

The 1 60-page illustrated book includes the histo-
ries of Oxford, Ohio's, cemeteries and undertaking
establishments, and lists names of war veterans

buried in the graveyards. There are stories about
the cholera epidemic and the removal of bodies
from the old burial ground when the railroad came
through. Cost is $15.00 plus $4.00 postage and
handling. Checks should be made payable to Lane
Public Library and sent to Smith Library of Re-
gional History, 15 S. College Ave., Oxford OH
45056

LAST POST - Gerald Weland. A guide to the National
Cemetery System with its over one hundred sites.
Provides a brief history of the origins of the system,
and of each cemetery with particular reference to the
reasons for its creation and particular location. Also
includes interesting historical vignettes on famous
(and infamous) people burines in many of the sites.
Appendices provide addresses of all national cemeter-
ies in the system, a list of cemeteries maintained by
the U.S. governemtn overseas, government concern-
ing maintenance of cemeteries, sample cemetery lay-
outs, eligibility requirements, etc. 1989, 228 pp.,
index, illus., paper, $21. SOT #W140

*****

[MORGAN CO. TENNESSEE CEMETERY INSCRIPTIONS -
Lee M. Cross & Larry Spurling. A collection of about
9,700 inscriptions from over 70 cemeteries. 1986,
222 pp., index, paper, $13.50 #C500. FOR MORE
INFORMATION CONTACT: HERITAGE BOOKS, INC.,
1540E Pointer Ridge Place, Suite 106, Bowie, MD
20716 Phone:301-390-7709

From Boston's Historic Burying Grounds Initia-
tive newsletter "Update", Fall 1990, comes no-
tice of several new publications:

The Boston Experience: A Manual for Historic
Burying Grounds Preservation. Summary of
Historic Burying Grounds Initiative planning and pres-
ervation methods. 100 pp. $7.50 (postage included).
Send cheque to Fund for Parks and Recreation in
Boston, 1010 Massachusetts Ave., Boston MA 021 18
[phone (617) 725-4505]

Tour de Graves: A self-GuldIng Bicycle Tour
of Boston's 19 Historic Cemeteries. Guidebook
to the City of Boston's historic cemeteries with maps
and appropriate commentary. 20 pp. $5.00 (postage
included). Make cheques payable to Fund for Parks and
Recreation in Boston, 1 01 0 Massachusetts Ave., Boston
MA 02118 [phone (617) 725-4505]

Here Lies an Important Part of America's
Past: Boston's Historic Burying Grounds.
Brochure. Free.

Places to Remember; Places to Enjoy: Boston 's
Evergreen, Falrvlew and Mt. Hope Cemeter-
ies. Brochure. Free.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 22

AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION

1991 Annual Meeting

March 27-30

Marriott Rivercenter Hotel

San Antonio, Texas

Cemeteries and Gravemarkers Section

Section Chair: Richard E. Meyer
English Department
Western Oregon State College
Monmouth OR 97361

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS/PRESENTATIONS

BAIRD, Scott: Department of English, Trinity Univer-
sity. San Antonio TX 78284

ESCH, Darcy Lynn: Department of Anthropology,
Trinity University, San Antonio TX 78284

"Sex in Cemeteries: Spousal References on
Women's Gravemarkers In South Texas"

English-language gravemarkers in the San Antonio
City Cemeteries employ numerous linguistic variables
in referring to married women. Using as data only
gravemarkers shared by husband and wife, we have
found no correlation between social and linguistic
variables. Maiden names, "Mrs.", "Wife" and the
lack of such terms are unpredictable.

BARBER, Russell J.: Department of Anthropology,
California State University - San Bernardino, San
Bernardino CA 94207-2397

" Cerqultas\n Cemeteries ofthe Mexican Folk
Tradition"

This paper will utilize fieldwork and other research
results to examine the cerquita, a small fence sur-
rounding a grave or family plot in a cemetery of the
Mexican folk tradition, in terms of its origin, distri-
bution, symbolism and relationship to social organiza-
tion.

CLARK, Edward: English Department, Winthrop Col-
lege, Rock Hill SC 29733

"Heraldic Shields/Family Crests on 18th-
century Gravestones: A Transatlantic Phe-
nomenon"

This presentation will compare gravestones using
heraldic shields/family crests occurring in selecting
locations in Northern Ireland during the latter half of
the 18th-century with gravestones using similar
devices cut by the Bigham family of carvers of Get-
tysburg, Pennsylvania, and Charlotte, North Carolina,
during the same time period.

EDGETTE, J. Joseph: Master of Liberal Studies Pro-
gram, Widener University, Chester PA 19013

"Personality and the Pet Epitaph: Correla-
tive Link Between Owner and Pet"

Previous research has shown how epitaphs can reveal
the personality of the deceased. Animals too have
personality. Her a theoretical case will be made for an
existing correlation between the personality of the pet
and owner as revealed through the epitaph created for
the animal by its human counterpart.

ELLIS, Caron Schwartz: Department of Religious
Studies, University of Colorado - Boulder, Boulder CO
80309

"So Old Soldiers Don't Fade Away:
Vietnam Veteran's Memorial"

The

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is our national grave-
marker where survivors mourn the wardead. Vietnam
casualties must be mourned in public, not "to heal a
nation" but to ensure that this nation remains wounded.
By letting the collective wound of Vietnam fester,
misbegotten wars like it will remain unresolved and
unrepeatable.

FRANCAVIGLIA, Richard: Local History Office, Ohio
Historical Society, Columbus OH 43211-2497

"Beyond the Cemetery: The Persistence of
Commemorative Architecture on Main Street"

Traditionally, the cemetery has been one of the strong-
est visible community links between the everyday and
the eternal, but two others — the monument dealer and
the civic commemorative monument — have also been
important factors. Though both might be found on
"Main Street", their roles have differed in significant
ways.

GABEL, Laurel K.: The Association for Gravestone
Studies, 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford NY 14534

"BOSTONES: The Computer-Alded Analysis
of Gravestones from the Early Burying
Grounds of Boston, Roxbury, and Salem,
Massachusetts"

The computer can be an invaluable tool for processing
and evaluating the enormous amounts of information
commonly available on early gravestones. This paper
will highlight the information being generated through
the on-going, computer-assisted study (BOSTONES) of
more than 7000 pre-1 830 markers in Boston, Roxbury,
and Salem, Massachusetts.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 23

GRADWOHL, David M.: Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, Iowa State University, Ames IA5001 1-
1070

HILDENBRANDT. Daniel R.: Center for Intercultural
Studies in Folklore and Ethnomusicology, University of
Texas, Austin TX 78712

"Intra-Group Variations In the Jewish Ceme-
teries of Lincoln, Nebraska"

Jewish settlers arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska, during
the 1870s. Reform Jews established Temple B'nai
Jeshurun and Mount Lebanon Cemetery, while Otho-
dox/Conservative Jews founded Tifereth Synagogue
and f^iount Carmel Cemetery. Cemetery locations and
gravestone inscriptions reflect different historical,
linguistic and theological dimensions within Judaism in
the United States today.

HALPORN, Roberta: The Center for Thanatology Re-
search and Education, 391 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn
NY 11217-1701

"Angels and Broken Blossoms: The Grave-
yard Speaks of Life and Loss" (Video)

This video presentation, developed by the Center for
Thanatology Research and Education as a non-threat-
ening teaching device, presents the subject of death
and dying through the use of memorial artifacts of the
past which may be found in communities across the
United States.

HANNON, Thomas J. Department of Geography and
Environmental Studies, Slippery Rock University,
Slippery Rock PA 16057

"Here and There, Then and Now: Hungarian
Monu mentation In Trans- Dan ub la and the Penn-
Ohlo Area"

Trans-Danubia, or Western Hungary, represents a
major source area for immigrants who came to our
shores early in this century. Man settled in commu-
nities from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. This research
compares monumentation in Western Hungary with
that used for deceased immigrants of the Penn-Ohio
area.

HARDY, Sandra J. Hammond: Department of History,
University of Houston, Houston TX 77204-2091

"Pennsylvania Germans and Their Grave-
stones: Lancaster County, 1770-1810"

One of the largest minorities of colonial America, the
Germans of Pennsylvania, left a rich sculpted legacy
of decorated gravestones. This paper looks at eight of
these stones erected in Lancaster County, Pennsylva-
nia, between 1770 and 1810, exploring their artistic
styling, motifs, and the people for whom they were
created.

"Grave Painting
(Video)

In Southwest Louisiana'

Throughout the Cajun region of Southwest Louisiana
there are specific grave painting traditions which are
centered around the Catholic Feast Day or Holy Day of
Obligation known as All Saints' Day. This videotape
presentation consists of interviews conducted with
practitioners of the tradition in St. John's Cemetery,
located in Lafayette, Louisiana.

HORTON, Loren N.: Field Services, State Historical
Society of Iowa, Iowa City lA 52240

"Cemeteries: Expendable Public Spaces"

Many Midwest frontier towns devoted some land to
public purposes, butfew allotted much for cemeteries.
Early burial places were near churches or business
districts, and, as economic pressures grew, they
were often abandoned and moved to the edge of town.

JEANE, Gregory: Department of Geography, Samford
University, Birmingham AL 35229

"The English Lych Gate: Origin of the South-
ern Rural Graveshelter"

A definitive culture trait of the rural Southern ceme-
tery is the presence of small houses or shelters over
graves. The hypothesis attributing the tradition to
Native American influence is not convincing. The
traditional English lych gate is the closest structural,
and functional, equivalent and is most likely the true
source.

MALLOY, Thomas A.: Social Sciences Department,
Mount Wachusett Community College, Gardner MA
01440-1000

"Last of the Lollipop Markers: The Shaker
Cemetery at Harvard, Massachusetts"

This presentation treats the history and uniqueness of
one of the few Shaker cemeteries remaining in the
United States with individual markers, and the last to
contain cast iron medallions.

MEYER, Richard E.: English Department,
Oregon State College, Monmouth OR 97361

Western

"'Gone to Graveyards Every One': Markers
for Young Americans Who Died In War"

Throughout its history this country's wars have con-
tributed significantly to the population of its cemeter-
ies. Personalized gravemarkers for young men who
died in combat have traditionally featured a number of

AGS Wi '90/1 p 24

distinctive traits, but the experience of Vietnam has
brought a new, heretofore rarely seen, emphasis to
the messages they convey.

RICHARDSON, Robert: Department of Anthropology,
University of Houston, Hpuston TX 77204-5883

"Who's Who in the Cemetery: An Archaeo-
logical Perspective"

it has been claimed that the social persona of the
deceased is reflected in the archaeological record.
This proposition involves several assumptions that
should be tested for validity. This paper presents
original research that suggests mortuary treatment
during the historic period is a complicated and contex-
tuaily sensitive phenomenon.

ROTUNDO, Barbara: The Association for Gravestone
Studies, 48 Plummer Hill Rd., Unit 4, Laconia NH
03246-9803

"Who Controis the Product, Artist or Pa-
tron?"

This paper will use the work of two black Mississippi
folk artists and their gravestone art to discuss the
age-old problem enumerated in the title. The material
should also cast light on the folk artists responsible for
the colonial slate carvings.

SMITH, Bruce: Department of History, University of
Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 46556

"Daniel E. Hoffman:
Maimer's Legacy"

An Indiana Monument

This paper explores the life and work of Daniel E.
Hoffman, a monument maker who practisced his craft
in Winchester, Indiana, from 1858 until 1923. Using
marble in his first thirty, Hoffman switched to granite
when it became more popular, and his signed markers
demonstrate how his work changed over time.

WELLS, Robert V.: Department of History, Union
College, Schenectady NY 12308-2365

"Neighborhoods and Status in the 'City of the
Dead'"

YOUNG, Bradley J.: Departmentof History, Utah State
University, Logan UT 84321

"The Ellis County Volga-German Gravemarl(-
ers, 1876-1920"

This paper examines the emergence, use and discon-
tinuation of gravemarkers as cemetery art by the Ellis
County, Kansas, Volga-Germans from the years 1 876
to 1920. During this time period, these German
immigrants from Russia artistically fashioned iron as
opposed to stone to mark the sites of their dead.

FORUM:
Fleldwork

Experiences In Cemetery

Cemetery fieldwork, in most instances a methodical
and somewhat predictable process, always has the
potential for not only those rare instances of discov-
ery and insight, but also for unique experiences rang-
ing from the humorous to the threatening to the
mystical. The forum elicits a sharing of such unex-
pected escapes from the ordinary.

TOURS: San Antonio City Cemeteries and
San Fernando Cemetery #2

This special tour of some of San Antonio's most
significant historic and cultural burial sites will be
arranged and conducted by San Antonio-based section
members Scott Baird and Lynn Gosnell. Space (on the
tour, not in the sites) is limited: those interested
should contact Baird, Gosnell or the section chair.

tttttttttt

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS!

Vale Cemetery, Schenectady, New York, was founded
in 1858 as part of the rural cemetery movement, and
in 1851 published a list of lot owners. By linking lots
within the cemetery to city directories for the same
year, it is possible to examine whether socio-eco-
nomic stratification continued after death.

Cincinnati Gas & Electric continues to protect and
maintain the historical cemetery and buildings on
our project site (for the Woodsdale Generating
Station) . The Augspurgercemetery has been cleaned
up and fenced in for protection. A buffer zone of
trees and grass has been left around the cemetery
to protect the site and to preserve its historical
setting.

from CG&E, December 1990, contributed by Thomas
Stander, Hamilton OH

AGS Wi '90/1 p 25

COURSES AND SEMINARS

Courses sponsored by the

Institute for Folklore Studies In Britain

and Canada

Preservation and Interpretation

The International Summer School at Harlow, Eng-
land, in conjunction with Memorial University of
Newfoundland, Dept. of Folklore, June 26 to Au-
gust 10, 1991.

Of particular interest to those in gravestone stud-
ies is the course, "Folklore and Folklife of the
Parish Church," taught by Dr. Gillian Bennett.

The Parish Church is one of the glories
of the British heritage which, with Its
graveyard, provides a visible history
of traditional arts, architecture,
customs and beliefs stretching from
the seventh century to the present
day. This course, based on visits and
lectures, will study the effect of
function, materials, and building tech-
niques on the style and structure of
the buildings of succeeding architec-
tural periods and will examine the
interaction of "elite" and vernacular
building styles. It will also look at folk
arts and crafts In the church - brasses,
stone and wood carvings, wall paint-
ings, etc. - documenting techniques
and styles and considering the Inter-
action of Christian and pagan Imagery.

Finally, the course will explore the
functional and ceremonial aspects of
the Parish Church. Focusing on Rights
of Passage, with an emphasis on the
customs, beliefs and material culture
associated with death and burial, we
will look at the folklore of death, dying
and the afterlife, and contrast the role
of the churchyard, as intended by the
religious authorities, with Its folk-
narrative aspect - as a setting for
macabre and supernatural events.

Two courses of interest to students of gravestone
art and historians in general are being offered In
July, as a part of the 44th Annual Seminars on
American Culture. "Setting it Right: The Preser-
vation of Graveyards" will deal with the history
and types of gravestones and memorials and how to
preserve them. It will be taught by C.R. Jones,
Conservator of the New York State Historical As-
sociation. Darrell Norris, Associate Professor of
Geography at SUNY Geneseo, will conduct the
seminar, "Interpreting the American Cemetery"
which will teach systematic inventory and analy-
sis of gravestones, illustrated with case studies
drawn from American settings. For more infor-
mation and catalog, write: Seminars on American
Culture, Dept. GS, The New York State Historical
Association, P.O. Box 800, Cooperstown, NY
13326.

•V'V^;

m

i^V

',"'-'*■ '^"'"^"'-' ""■ --

'.7;?v:'-.;''A'-¥':?rV'

"THRT'S

ALL FOLKS"

MEL

BLANC .

MAN OF 1000 VOICES

BELOVED HUSBAND AND FATHER

1908

— 1989

"Famous Last Words"

A second course, "Foodways of the British Isles"
with Dr. Paul Smith will also be given.

Both courses are offered at the undergraduate and
graduate level. For further details contact: Paul
Smith, Department of Folklore, Memorial Uni-
versity of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfound-
land A1C 5S7 Canada. Telephone: (709) 737-
4434 or 8402.

A five-foot tall marble headstone for Mel Blanc
was unveiled at Beth-Olam Cemetery near Los
Angeles on the first anniversary of his death.
Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky
Pig and a platoon of other beloved cartoon charac-
ters, died in 1989.

The epitaph: "That's All Folks".

from a number of newspapers, July 11. 1990.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 26

A GHOULISH LESSON FOR 3RD GRADERS?
Students learn history, art, writing from
gravestones

Lately, some third-graders at Daniels Elementary
School have been gravely serious about their class-
work. They've been taking field trips to cemeter-
ies, creating their own gravestones, and even
setting up a graveyard inside the school. It's not a
ghoulish post trick-or-treat ritual, though Hal-
loween did have something to do with it, says
Thomas M. Julius, third-grade teacher.

The topic arose unexpectedly. Interest was sparked
by a rash of gravestone-tipping at several ceme-
teries in the weeks before Halloween. Afterteach-
ing all about cemeteries, Julius and fellow third-
grade teacher Judith M. Finkfeel they've stumbled
onto something good. Graveyards bring together
nearly every subject area his class covers, and
puts them into a framework students can under-
stand: math, science, history, art — you name it,
gravestones have it Julius was pleased. Finding a
subject kids enjoy — and one that relates to many
subject areas — is an educator's equivalent of dis-
covering the Holy Grail.

The impromptu but in-depth look grew out of a
lesson on the early history of Keene that Julius
teaches each year. For this year's edition, he made
some rubbings of old gravestones in a cemetery
across from his Gilsum home and brought them to
class. The next day, over half the stones — some
nearly two centuries old — were broken or de-
stroyed by vandals. Students couldn't stop talking

about it, so Julius worked that interest into the
history unit.

"I thought of it as an alternative to the horror
movie image" most kids have of gravestones, Ju-
lius says. The class hiked to a nearby cemetery on
Court Street, and worked on math skills by adding
and subtracting dates to find out ages.

Art teacher Gill Warner had students design mock
gravestones. They worked on reasoning skills by
tracing a family's history and the relationships
between family members in a cemetery, Julius
says. They worked on writing projects about
people listed on the stones. Julius says students
weren't interested in deeper issues of death and
dying, though several had lost their grandparents
or other close family members. "Death is still a
pretty difficult concept for them to grasp," he
says.

For f^elanie L. White, 8, the graveyard field trip
was the first time she'd actually set foot in a
cemetery. "It was fun," she says. But it was a
little spooky when one girl came across a grave-
stone with her name on it; the woman had died on
the girl's birthday.

From an article by Jeff Rapsis in tiie Keene Senti-
nel, Keene, NH, November 16, 1990, reprinted with
permission, contributed by NeilJenness, Spofford NH.

AGS Wi '90/1 p 27

NEW AGS OFFICE HOURS

Miranda Levin, AGS Executive Director, is settling into the new office at 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01 609 [phone (508) 831-7753]. This is the home of the Worcester Historical
Museum. For security reasons, Miranda can only be in the building when the Museum is open,
so her hours have been adjusted accordingly. Please note that the AGS office will be open:
Mondays 9:00 AM to 4:45 PM; Tuesdays 1 2:30 PM to 4:45 PM and Wednesdays 9:00 AM to 4:45
PM. The office will be closed April 15, 1991 (Patriots' Day in Massachusetts), and May 27,
1991 (Memorial Day).

J

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone
Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year
membership entitles the members to four issues of theNewsletter and to participation in the AGS conference
in the year membership is current. Send membership fees (individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30;
contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 0 1 609. Back issues
of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to
present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes
suggestions and short contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal.
Journal articles should be sent to Theodore Chase, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association
for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St., Dover MA 02030. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah
Trask, editor. Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3A6, Canada. Order
Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $20; Vol. 3, $18.50; Vol. 4, $20; Vol. 5, $20; Vol. 6, $23; Vol. 7, $15; higher
prices for non-members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old
Sudbury Road, Wayland MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the
AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01 609

NON PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE

PAID
Permit No. 410
Worcester MA

NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 15 NUMBER 2 SPRING 1991 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

ARTICLES

Who Knows About the Origin of Early New England Markers In Marble?

by William Hosley 1

Mother George 2

The Organ Marker of Parke County, Indiana

by Jim Jewell 3

Gravestone Studies In Maries County, Missouri

by Mozelle Hutchison and Gail Howard 4

Rare Slave Stone in Connecticut 5

Granary Burial Ground

by Susan Wilson 6

PRESERVATION NOTES 10

MEMBER NEWS 16

RESEARCH 20

BOOK REVIEWS

Gravestone Art in Rockland County, New York

review by Jessie Lie Farber 23

Allegheny Cemetery: A Romantic Landscape in Pittsburgh

reviewed by Robert A. Wright 24

Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography In America
Scoring in Heaven

review by Maddy Miller..... 26

Seasons of Life and Learning: Lake View Cemetery: An Educator's Handbook

review by Laurel Gabel and Barbara Rotundo 27

WHO KNOWS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF EARLY NEW ENGLAND
MARKERS IN MARBLE?

by William Hosley

I recently stumbled across this gravestone in the Old Feeding Hills
Cemetery in Agawam, Massachusetts. It is a good early stone marking
the grave of Joseph Flower (or Fowler), dated 1769 and, for those
interested in carvers, a classic example of one of several styles practiced
by the East Windsor CT stonecutter Ebenezer Dral<e (1739-1803). A
stone very much like this (illustrated in The Great River: Art & Life in the
Connecticut Valley) marks the grave of Abiel Grant (d. 1762) of South
Windsor, whose estate paid Drake fifty shillings for a marker made of
locally quarried brownstone. All of that is fine and this might appear to
be just another example of Drake's work except for one thing; it is made
of marble!

Accounts of the origins of the marble industry in New England vary.
Some place the first quarries in the Berkshires of Western Massachu-
setts and others in Bennington County, Vermont. Although Vermont's
first marble quarry was supposedly opened in Dorset in 1785, students
of gravestone art know of many stones by Zerubbabel Collins, Samuel
Dwight and others with dates from the 1770s that were almost certainly
made before 1785. Or were they? Back-dating is a persistent problem

AGSSp'91 p.1

in gravestone studies. But Drake's stone for Joseph
Flower is a double-whammy. Could a stone dated 1769
in a style developed as early as 1760 really have been
made a quarter century later? Drake was still making
gravestones in the 1 790s and it is possible he made this
stone, out of style as it might have been at the time, after
marble became widely available in the 1 790s. More likely
is that Flower or his heirs specifically requested the
material and that Drake did actually make the stone
before 1785. If so, when did New England stonecutters
begin using marble, and why?

Marble eventually displaced all other materials as the
stone of choice for grave markers. Its prestige and
beauty were emblematic of the romantic era ( 1 790-1 850)
and remained the material of choice in most parts of New
England right down to the granite age. It is therefore

worth learning more ab)0ut the origin of New England's
marble industry.

Besides the well-known early Vermont carvers, where
elsecan wef ind eighteenth-century marble gravestones?
Did other carvers use the material for the occasional
special commission, as Drake appears to have done?
Where and who? Where is the earliest dated marble
stone in New England? Where is the earliest made
marble stone in New England? Who was the first New
England carver to make a marble gravestone? Where
was the first quarry? These are just a few of the
unanswered questions. If you have any thoughts or
answers, please let me know. I'll report back in a future
issue of the AGS Newsletter.

William Hosley, Old Abbe Rd., Enfield CT 06082

%:fc:fe:fc:je3ie:fc4c3fe:it

"MOTHER GEORGE"

When Ray Michael read about Fort Wayne IN native Elizabeth
Vermont George's role in the Civil War, he was intrigued. That
intrigue has led him and other members of the American Legion
Lincoln Post 82 to honor the grave of the pioneering woman known
to Civil War fighters as "Mother George".

Mother George was a woman in her 50s who helped local soldiers
fight for the Union in the Civil War. Although there were not yet
nurses in the army, George went out into the field to provide the
troops with supplies and support. At the war's end, George contracted
a serious disease from
soldiers in North Caro-
lina and died, forgotten
or unknown by many.
Not for much longer,
however.

Although there had been
a marker on Berry
Street showing the ap-
proximate location of
Mother George's origi-
nal home, Michael said
there has never been a
marker on her grave in
Lindenwood Cemetery.
He and fellow veterans

petitioned the government to have a veteran's marker placed on her
grave. The headstone was dedicated in a ceremony July 28, 1990.

from the News Sentinel, Fort Wayne IN, August 1, 1990, sent by Jim
Jewell, Peru IL, who notes: "f^rs. George's memorial does NOT mark her
grave — which is several feet away in the plot of Col. Sion Bass. '

AGSSp'91 p.2

Parke County's Organ Marker

by Jim Jewell

Parke County, Indiana, is best known
for its annual Covered Bridge Festival,
which takes place each fall shortly
after the annual Little Italy in
neighboring Vermilion County and be-
fore Homecoming Weekend at Indiana
State University in nearby Vigo County.
But graveyard explorers should jour-
ney to Marshall in Parke County to see
one of the area's most striking and
unusual markers — the Swaim parlor
organ.

Albert R. Swaim was born October 28,

1843, near Marshall, the oldest of

eleven children of John and Amanda FitzAllen Cannon

Swaim. He was considered a "blind musician", as

his eyesight was very bad. Still, he taught music,

played for the Baptist Church, and played at home —

his brothers and sisters, according to a family gene-

organ's rack is "It's So Sweet to Trust in Jesus".
The cost to carve and set the monument was $900. 00.

Today the marker is lichen-covered and darkened
with age. The attention to detail is still evident,

however, and the stone remains an impressive

monument.

Jim Jewell, a frequent contributor to the Newslet-
ter, is on the faculty of Illinois Valley Community
College.

Albert R. Swaim monument, 1893, Bethany Cemetery,
{Marshall IN. Carved by Theodore F. Gaebler.

alogy, "spent many happy hours singing". He drove
his two-wheel buggy throughout the area to give
lessons.

After his death at the age of forty-nine, on January
10, 1893, Swaimwasinterredat Bethany Cemetery
east of Marshall. The family decided that a replica of
a reed organ would make a suitable marker. The
monument was ordered from the Theodore F. Gaebler
dealership in Rockville, Indiana. Using a reed organ
as a model, Gaebler duplicated the exact dimensions,
and the title on the sheet music featured on the

AGSSp'91 p.3

Gravestone
Missouri

Studies In Maries County,

by Mozelle Hutchison and Gail Howard

The majority of the gravestones erected in Maries
County between the 1850s and the early 1920s
were rich in symbolism and expressed sentiment.
Most were made of marble or sandstone and both of
these materials were soft enough to be sculpted.
Even after many decades of being exposed to the
elements, the carving of the symbols and lettering
on these markers is often legible and sometimes
exquisitely detailed.

The designs chosen were usually traditional sym-
bols: the shell symbolizing rebirth and the Christian
symbol for resurrection, the scroll symbolizing
the victorious, spiritual life of the mind, and others
being reminders of the transitory nature of earthly
life.

The clasped hands was an extremely popular sym-
bol, as was the hand with the index finger pointing
upward. They were often accompanied by the words,
"Farewell," "Meet Me In Heaven," or "Gone Home."

In the early days of our county times were often hard
and, either for that reason or personal reasons of
the family, a great many graves are not marked with
an inscribed marker; a field stone was chosen and
placed as a headstone, and often as a footstone also.
Sometimes these rocks were smoothed and shaped,
and occasionally they were inscribed by those same
hands.

The early 1850s saw several colonies of German
settlers in Maries County, and many of the tombstones
they erected contain writing in their native language.
Sometimes German and English will both appear on
the same marker.

Throughout the county can be found evidence of the
ingenuity of the people in the creation of homemade
markers. Most were cast of concrete and embellished
with a remarkable variety of material: bits of
colored glass, sea shells, glass marbles, etc. Mussel
shells from the river beds were frequently used to
decorate the graves, and even after all these years,
many are still there in the cemeteries. A great many
graves in Maries County are marked and beautified
only by nature, their inhabitants long since for-
gotten.

In 1983 when we began our research to make a
record of all the gravestones in Maries County, we
couldn't envision the task that lay ahead. At the end

Mary Ann Kidd, 1863, Dry Creek Twp. Maries County MO
(see AGS Newsletter Winter 1990/1, p. 21).

of three years we had located 122 burying grounds
and transcribed well over 11,000 headstones. It
was a shared learning experience, and a great ad-
venture.

Mozelle Hutchison is a long time AGS member. She and
Gail Howard are a mother and daughter team who
undertook this recording project in 1983. The fruit of
theirlaboris in a book. The Cemeteries of Maries County
MO, which is available from them (Mozelle Hutchison, Rt
1 Box 27, Vienna MO 65582 [phone 314-422-3301] or
Gail Howard, StarRt3 Box 5A, Vienna MO 65582 [phone
314-422-3008]) for $ 25.00 plus $3.00 postage S
handling. A copy was donated to the AGS Archives.

fr

\

The 1991 APT Annual Conference in New Orleans
LA, September 22-28 will feature a training
session by AGS member Frank C. Matero, Asso-
ciate Professor of Architecture and Director of
the Architectural Research Laboratory at the
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of
Fine Arts, and Dennis Montagna, Mid-Atlantic
Regional Office of the National Park Service, and
others. "Intended for managers of public monu-
ments and cemeteries, design professionals, Main
Street managers and contractors; this course
will present a broad overview of cur rent research
and practice In the conservation of outdoor
monuments and ornamental art of stone, bronze
and iron. For more information, contact APT
International, P.O. Box 8178, Fredericksburg VA
22404.

=^

^

AGSSp'91 p.4

RARE SLAVE STONE

MIDDLETOWN CT- Tucked between the railroad
tracks and the Connecticut River, in a locked cem-
etery crowded with history, lies the body of a slave
who died April 24, 1 776. His gravestone is cracked
in half and chipped. The decay is turning the stone
back to the original raw brownstone hacked from the
quarries across the river.

More is at stake than just a squat marker with a
serene cherub on the top. The memorial is one of the
few remaining reminders of the state's black Colonial
population, a group of men and women whose lives
were rarely memorialized in stone. "The guy lived
and he was somebody; he's about ail Middletown's
got in terms of that piece of heritage," said William
Hosley, curator of American decorative arts at the
Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. "If we don't fix
this thing, it will be gone permanently - forever.
That's it. The time is now," he said.

Hosley discovered the marker in a back corner of
Middletown's Riverside Cemetery - the city's oldest
- during a tour. He and Dione Longley, director of
the Middlesex County Historical Society, were
alarmed by the stone's deterioration. The society
decided to restore the stone, using as a guide a
picture taken before time and weather robbed the
stone of its features. The organization has started a
campaign to raise about $2,500 to pay for the
repair. The campaign has its own special problems.
The slave's name was Sambo, a name that originally
came from the Hausa people in Africa, but is now
offensive because it is associated with derogatory
stereotypes of blacks. "We don't want to sugarcoat
history. We don't want to say there were never any
slaves in Middletown," Longley said. "There are
very few traces of that left, so any vestige is im-
portant to pursue."

Sambo, who was about 70 when he died, was owned
by Thomas Hurlbert, who lived across Hartford
Avenue from the cemetery. Hurlbert died a year
before Sambo did and is also buried in Riverside
Cemetery. Slavery was abolished in the state in

1848. Longley said the servant must have been an
important member of the Hurlbert family.
Gravestones were expensive in the 18th century.

and it was rare for slave owners to mark the resting
places of their servants, she said. There are only a
handful of blacks' gravestones from before the 1 800s
in the state, including another at Riverside Cemetery.

The lack of information about the state's early black
community also marks the bias of the times, Hosley
said. "I'm not talking about three or four people,"
he said. "I'm talking about tens of thousands of black
people who lived in Connecticut. They're totally
forgotten." The gravestone is now in the studio of
John T. Zito Jr. and his son, JohnT. Zito 111, Hartford
monument specialists, who are planning to restore
the stone for the society. The Zitos removed it from
the cemetery this fall to prevent further erosion.

from an article titled "Group Tries to Preserve Rem-
nant of Black History," by Andrew Julien, in the
HARTFORD COURANT. December 12, 1990. sent by
Raymond Cummings, Avon CT.

AGSSp'91 p.5

GRANARY
BURIAL GROUND

by Susan Wilson.

In 1816, a bell was hung in
the tower at King's Chapel.
Not just any bell, mind you.
But a wonderfully resonant
bell, the largest ever cast in
the family foundry of Paul
Revere. Two years later, that
same bell tolled a curious
reunion. As it rang three,
then 83 more times, the
beloved patriot himself - 83
year old Paul Revere - made
his way to a soggy little plot
of land off Tremont Street.
There, he joined many of his
prestigious Revolutionary-
era cronies, like John
Hancock, James Otis, Sam
Adams, Robert Treat Paine,
Ben Franklin's family, a pile of Revere relatives,
and the five fellows slain in the Boston Massacre.

The five fellows slain in the Boston Massacre?!
Curious indeed. Until you realize that the "soggy
little plot" Paul Revere came to that day in 1818
was the Granary Burial Ground. The event, of
course - tolled out by Boston's official "passing
bell" - was Revere's own funeral, making him one
of the last of the famed Colonial characters to enter
eternity via this historic downtown graveyard.

The robust Revere's death came so much later than
the others, in fact, that he missed inclusion in his
family plot, and almost missed burial in the star-
studded Granary altogether. The two-acre grave-
yard, opened in 1 660 to accommodate the overflow
from the Puritan burying grounds at King's Chapel,
was evidently filled to the brim by 1738. At that
time, John Chambers and other local gravediggers
complained theywere already burying the dead here
four deep. Despite that unholy glut and an in-
creasingly sickening stench, bodies were lumped
one upon another at the Granary well beyond Revere's
death. Not until 1879 did the Board of Health close
the premises to burials.

Today, as visitors wander through the ancient
Granary's well-worn paths, it's easy to forget
those dismal old days, or that 12,000-or-more
anonymous souls rest below. Despite generations of
neglect and decay, there's still so much to see and
intrigue in this popular Freedom Trail site that

some 3,000 visitors wander in daily during the
busy summer months. There are 2,345 grave
markers and 137tombs still standing -orslumping,
as the case may be - many decorated with cryptic
verse and deathly images of skulls, crossbones,
winged cherubs and urns - intricate vestiges of the
American folk art of stonecarving. Boston City
Rangers offer periodic tours, while informative
plaques guide guests through the graveyard's his-
tory, which includes Revere and his pals, three
signers of the Declaration of Independence, nine
governors of Massachusetts, and even a woman some
call the real "Mother Goose."

Despite the years and its constant use, things are
actually looking better for the Granary, Thanks to
the city's 1985 Historic Burying Ground Initiative
and boosters like the newly-formed Friends of the
Granary, much-needed repairs and renovations to
the site and stones are in the works. In October
1990, Boston Parks and Recreation sponsored its
first annual "Tour de Graves," a day-long bicycle
tour through the city's historic graveyards. The
$15 registration donation went to benefit the city's
$6.1 million program to restore its historic
graveyards.

On Common Grounds - When the Puritans of the
Mass. Bay Colony first arrived to settle Boston in
1630, life was tenuous at best. Survival was a skill
mastered only by the quick. The dead, on the other
hand, were tucked away info the town's first burial
ground. Within three decades that graveyard -

AGSSp'91 p.6

known today as King's Chapel Burial Ground - was
near full. Hence, in 1659 and 1660, two new sites
were opened for Puritan Interment, the first at
Copp's Hill, and the second on the edge of Boston
Common.

I^odern visitors may find it hard to visualize that
this third Boston burial ground, now known as the
Granary, was clipped from Common grounds. Nestled
behind an iron fence and neo-Egyptian granite gates,
off the bustling section of Tremont Street between
Park and Beacon, today's tree-shaded Granary is
penned in by tall buildings on three sides. Imme-
diately blocking the graveyard from the Common,
moreover, is the graceful Park Street Church and
the two-way traffic of Park Street.

During much of the 17th and 18th centuries,
however, none of these barriers or paved byways
existed. Boston Common, opened forthe common use
of local citizens and grazing cows in 1 634, stretched
well beyond today's 48 acres. Modern Tremont and
Park Streets were but primitive pathways to, and
through, the Common. The existence of Park Street
Church next to the Granary, of course, adds another
element of confusion to this setting. Many folks
assume that the church and graveyard - much like
the church and graveyard at King's Chapel - are
related. In both cases, they are wrong.

For early Puritan settlers, death and burial were
adamantly non-religious affairs. Any staunch
Puritan would have rolled over in his proverbial
grave had he known the Anglican King's Chapel
(1688) or the Congregational Park Street Church
(1809) would be constructed here years later.

Some Grave Matters - The two acres borrowed
from the Common for the Granary Burial Ground -
also known, during various eras, as the New, the
South, the Central and the Middle Burying Place -
were not the best of plots for burial purposes. Fed
by underground springs and plagued by poor drainage
and spongy soil, the land was useful in a backhanded
sort of way. Such constant moisture, added to New
England weather, decomposed bodies quickly.
Meanwhile, these wetlands posed some serious
aesthetic and structural problems. Sharing, or re-
using, an existing tomb was always permitted for
family members and friends. Diarist Samuel
Sewall's family tomb at the Granary, for example,
hosted some 40 occupants even before the American
Revolution had begun.

The case of the Sullivan-Bellingham tomb, however,
was not a family matter. In 1782, Judge James
Sullivan expropriated the tomb where the remains

of Gov. Richard Bellingham had lain since 1672. If
a family died out, or could no longer care for its
tomb, Boston selectmen could offer the space to
whomever would provide needed repairs. Alas,
when Judge Sullivan entered Bellingham's tomb, he
found the late governor's remains floating in the
water-soaked vault. Undaunted bythe mess, Sullivan
cleaned up the premises, became governor himself,
and died in 1808. The Tomb of the Two Governors
still bears the name of both Bellingham and Sullivan.

According to City Park Ranger George Bistransin,
the earliest burials at the Granary rarely included
coffins. The dead were merely wrapped in a pall or
linen cloth, with perhaps some lime thrown in on
top. While wealthier families often bought the
tombs or vaults that extend around the periphery of
the graveyard, simplerfolks placed slate gravestones
in the site's central section. The oldest extant stone
here is the 1667 marker of John Wakefield, though
he was hardly the first Granary interree.

Originally, these chiseled slate markers were
randomly scattered about the graveyard's center.
They generally included a headstone and a footstone
- making each gravesite resemble a bed - and were
deliberately placed facing east, so that the dead could
face the rising sun on Judgement Day. The inscription
on the headstone faced away from the body, pre-
sumably to prevent readers from standing atop the
deceased.

Beginning around 1830, the Granary's randomly-
scattered gravemarkers were shuffled two or three
times, ending in the neat little rows we find today.
Needless to say, the interred were not shuffled along
with them, inspiring one eloquent observer to note:
"Epitaphs were never famous for truth, but the old
reproach of 'Here lies ' never had so wholesale
illustration as in these outraged burial places,
where the stone does lie above and the bones do not lie
beneath."

Though many sources suggest this straightening was
necessitated by new lawnmowing devices, historian
Blanche Linden-Ward disagrees. In her book-in-
progress, called "Museums of Memory," Linden-
Ward argues that the symmetrical stone lineup
began as part of a general beautification of the
Granary during the 1830s, which included the
laying of paths and planting of trees and shrubs.
Such finery was in turn inspired by the early 19th
century development of Beacon Hill into a "dense,
elite residential and cultural area," and by the
lavish new garden cemetery that had opened in
Cambridge in 1831 - Mount Auburn.

AGSSp'91 p.7

There Goes the Neighborhood - Today, the area
around the Granary is filled mainly with commer-
cial properties. It's a far cry from the posh resi-
dential neighborhood that flourished there through
much of the 19th century. In the 17th and 18th
centuries, however, this section of Boston had yet
another incarnation: downright dismal. Since the
Common was a public ground - used for everything
from pastureland to public gallows - it was a logical
spot to erect dingy public buildings from time to
time. Hence, during the Granary Burial Ground's
first century, it shared the immediate neighborhood
with an Almshouse for the poor. A "Bridewell" for
the criminal and insane, and a Workhouse for the
dissolute and indigent. The graveyard itself was also
periodically rented out for grazing bulls, cows, or
pigs.

Another public
building that stood
where the Park
Street Church rests
today was the long
wooden Granary,
from which the
burial ground took
its "modern" name.
From 1737 until the
American Revolu-
tion, the building
was used to store
grain, which was
sold cheaply to the
poor. In 1796, the
famous old eyesore
was removed to

Commercial Point in Dorchester, and converted into
a hotel. Although the Park Street Church was
erected in its place in 1809, the name "Granary"
has remained.

Throughout all these changes in neighborhood style,
the Granary Burial Ground remained a beacon of
sorts - an accessible, though sometimes under-
appreciated, outdoor museum of Boston and American
history and folk art. The headstones and tombs alone
provide a telling glimpse of early America's changing
views of life, death, and eternity. During the Pu-
ritan's first century here, for example, life was
especially harsh, and their view of death was bleak.
Hence, death's heads, winged skulls, crossbones and
soul effigies were often carved into these slate
stones, executed by talented local artisans. Linden-
Ward finds the area to the right of the imposing
Franklin family obelisk particularly rich in early
iconography, including the stern skulls and such on
the graves of Deborah Cobham, Lydia Green, Jonathan

..^;»im.

The Mary Goose and child stone, 1690

Belcher and Sally May.

As Boston life became easier, and old Puritan ways
faded, the stonecutters' symbols start to speak more
of spiritual regeneration than physical decay.
Cherub faces and harvest scenes begin to appear on
later stones, while urns and willows - classical
Greek and Roman motifs - tend to emerge in the
"Republican era" that followed the Revolution.

Them Bones Gonna Rise Again - The Granary's
greatest renown comes from harboring the remains
of more famous Colonial-era heroes than any other
Boston burial ground. Countless guides and guide-
books can lead visitors through the tales of elaborate
funeral corteges, crowds of thousands, bold oratory
and general pomp and circumstance that accompa-
nied the funerals of folks like Crispus Attucks, Sam

Adams, or John
Hancock.

Equally interest-
ing, however, are
the tales of who, or
what, is not here,
or might not be
here, as the case
may be. Ben
Franklin is not
here, for example.
His remains lie in
Philadelphia,
though the Grana-
ry's 2 1 -foot
Franklin obelisk
houses his family.
Peter Faneuil of Faneuil Hall fame is here, though
the original inscription on his tomb has been changed.
It used to read, "P. Funel," but was corrected in
lateryears. IvIotherGoose is not here, orat least her
gravestone is nowhere to be seen. Boston's Mother
Goose was Elizabeth Foster (d. 1757), the second
wife of Isaac Goose, or Vergoose. Elizabeth raised
and told stories to 20 children for Isaac- 10 of their
own, and 10 from his first wife, Mary - and may
have had her children's stories published. Still, the
evidence is shaky, and other rhyming "Mother
Goose" contenders existed before her in France, and
perhaps England as well. The gravemarker of Mary
Goose, Isaac's first wife, remains today, and is often
mistakenly noted as "Mother Goose's" own.

The great orator Wendell Phillips (d.1884) was
once buried here, next to his father, Boston Mayor
John Phillips. But when Wendell's widow died two
years later, his body was moved to her gravesite in
Milton. Another migratory corpse was Gen. Joseph

AGSSpVI p.8

Warren, who began eternity in the group grave
where he died at Bunker Hill. Warren's body was
exhumed, then spent 1776 to 1824 in the Minot
family tomb at the Granary. Exhumed again, the
body was brought to a Warren family tomb under St.
Paul's Church, then to a family vault at Forest Hills
Cemetery in 1855.

Legend has it that the remains of John Hancock may
not be all here, since his hand might have been
severed by graverobbers the night after he was
interred in 1793. Others suggest that when his
tomb lay open during some 1 9th century construction
on a nearby wall, someone made off with Gov. Hancock
altogether.

New Life to an Old Graveyard - All of these
stories of exhumation, alteration and graverobbing
point to the fact that American concepts of death and
burial have significantly altered overthe centuries.
Not until the 1830s, in fact - with the advent of
garden cemeteries like the bucolic Mount Auburn -
did Americans begin thinking of cemeteries as places
to memorialize the departed, rather than just dump
the dead.

The look and feel of the old Granary began to respond
to these changes in attitudes in the 1830s and '40s,
though most of its burying days were done by then.

It was after 1830, for instance, that the grave-
stones were neatly realigned, numerous trees and
winding paths were added, a sturdy new iron fence
was built, and a bold granite Egyptian gateway was
constructed at the entrance. The latter is generally
credited to Solomon Willard of Bunker Hill Monu-
ment fame, though Linden-Ward believes it was
instead designed by Isaiah Rogers.

The Granary experienced no major changes or
concerted overhauls in this century, until the burst
of enthusiasm and funds of the past decade, generated
especially by the public-private partnership of
Boston's Historic Burying Ground Initiative. In the
last few years, however, stones have been repaired
and reset, inventories taken, historic markers added,
Ranger tours begun, and a Master Plan developed.
According to Kathy Kottaridis, Boston Parks De-
partment's Coordinatorof Historic Burying Grounds,
the city's $6.1 million program to refurbish its 16
historic graveyards will also renovate walkways,
add wheelchair access, and deal with landscaping,
erosion, and other problems of access and decay.

The old Revere bell at King's Chapel still tolls, by
the way. But hopefully, it will never toll the end of
the Granary Burial Ground, one of Boston's great
historic treasures.

From THE BOSTON GLOBE Calendar. October 1 1, 1990.

CONNECTICUTTOURS

The Connecticut Historical Society is conducting three tours of central
Connecticut graveyards this year:

May 4 Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford

"Death of the Rich and Famous" lead by Peter Grant

September 28 Ancient Burying Ground, Wethersfleld

"The Stone and the Spirit". Price: $6.00 for CHS members, $9.00 for non-
members (transportation to Wethersfleld on your own). Reservations and
payment required by Friday, September 13.

October 31 Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford

"Back From the Dead", a lunch-hour Halloween walking tour with Bill
Hosley. Price: $4.00 for CHS members, $6.00 for non-members
(transportation to Ancient Burying Ground on your own). No reservations
necessary.

Send reservation form and check, made payable to CHS, to: Maxine Kates, The
Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth Street, Hartford CT 06105.

AGSSp'91 p.9

PRESERVATION NOTES

The restoration of the tomb marker of Captain John
Foster Williams, founder of the United States Coast
Guard, was dedicated on July 30, 1990, at the
Granary Burying Ground, on Tremont Street in
Boston.

Captain John Williams, first master of the U.S.
Revenue Cutter, Massachusetts, was born in Boston
in 1743. In 1776 he was commissioned captain of
the Massachusetts State Sloop Republic. During the
remaining years of the American Revolution,, he
commanded several other vessels with distinction.
In 1790 he was appointed captain of the Massa-
ctiusettsby President George Washington. Captain
Williams commanded that vessel until his death on
June 24, 1814.

The Revenue Cutter Service ensured the collection
of custom duties which were vital to the survival
and growth of the early republic. It is from the
period of the establishment of the Service that the
United States Coast Guard traces its origin.

Fannin-Lehner, preservation consultants, were
instrumental in the restoration of the tomb marker
of John Foster Williams. The restoration was
initiated by the United States Coast Guard (observing
its 200th anniversary in 1990) and approved by
the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative, a program
of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.

#fc

the brownstone; and Stephen Striebel of Warwick
Carpenters, who performed the masonry restora-
tion.

Ms. Fannin is chair of the Senate Art Committee
which oversaw the restoration of the Senate reception
room and the Office of the Senate President. She is
also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boston
Preservation Alliance. Fannin-Lehner continues to
be dedicated to the preservation and restoration of
historic resources such as the Captain Williams
tomb.

Fannin-Lehner oversaw the careful restoration
which involved removing the brownstone top, dis-
assembling outer wythes of brick, building footing
for the the tomb, and cleaning and protecting the
bronze plaque. Assisting in the project were pres-
ervation consultant Sara B. Chase, conservator of

from the Massachusetts Historical Commission
Preservation Advocate, Fall 1990, V. 1 7 #3 & 4).

Minxie and James Fannin of Fannin-Lehner are leading
the Restoration Workshop at the AGS 1991 Conference
at yWf. Hermon School, Northfield, Massachusetts, June
27-30.

LODGE AT CYPRESS HILLS CEMETERY
TO BE RESTORED

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has recently
arranged to lease the lodge at Cypress Hills National
Cemetery in Brooklyn NY to the Cypress Hill Local
Development Corporation in orderto restore the building.
The lodge was built in 1887 and was used as the office
and residence of the cemetery director until 1 974 but has
since fallen into disrepair. It will be rehabilitated for use

as a museu m that will focus on the history of the cemetery
and the lives of the 20,000 veterans and family members
buried there.

from the PRESERVATION LEAGUE OF NY STATE PRESER-
VATION NEWS, Winter 1990-1991 contributed by Debbie
Moran, Mount Vernon NY.

AGSSp'91 p.10

The Developer and the Historical Society:
Preserving the Endlcott Burying Ground

by Penny Dumke

The Endicott Burying Ground lies in the section of
Danvers, Massachusetts known as "The Port"
(originally Danversport), the site of the original
land grant from Charles I to John Endicott, first
governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Situated
in the center of a 13 acre plot formerly owned by
Creese and Cook Leather Company, the land had been
purchased by developers planning to build condo-
miniums on the site.

Since there were no longer any Endicott family
members living in the area the burying ground had
fallen into neglect, largely cared for by neighbors
and, periodically, the Town. Though many of the
stones were missing and the iron gates and iron
posts and chains surrounding one of the graves had
been given to the World War II metal drive, William
C. Endicott, Jr. had, in 1924, written a book tracing
the history of the plot, complete with detailed maps
of the gravestones, their composition and inscrip-
tions. In the 1930s, remains of Indian gravesites
were excavated by Massachusetts Historical Com-
mission just outside the high granite walls of the
burying ground. Two British Revolutionary War
soldiers were interred within the walls and the
graves of Endicott slaves are said to lie near the
northerly wall of the cemetery.

The Danvers Historical Society and the Danvers
Preservation Commission (at that time the His-
torical Commission), concerned about the future of
the burying ground in light of the impending de-
velopment, determined to do whatever necessary to
protect the property. Through an Endicott family
member it was discovered that a trust fund had been
established with a Salem cemetery association in
1958 for perpetual care of the burying ground.
Contact was made with the trustees of the cemetery
association, with the help of Theodore Chase of the
Association for Gravestone Studies, and, after
considerable negotiation, they agreed to turn over to
the Danvers Historical Society the original $10,000
plus $12,000 in interest. With the assurance that
the burying ground would not be a financial drain,
the Society entered into discussions with the legal
owner of the plot, whom, it was discovered, was a
granddaughter of William Endicott, living in Maine
and unaware of her ownership. She was, however,
willing to consider deeding the property to the
Society. At present, the ownership still rests with
the Endicott heir, but the trust fund and maintenance
are managed by the Society.

At the same time as the Society was protecting the
property financially and legally, the developers
were preparing site plans for approval of various
Town Boards. A "beam house" approximately 200
feet from the burying ground was a site where toxic
materials in the leather tanning process had been
used and disposed of ; therefore test pits had to be dug
to determine, for EPA purposes, the extent of the
ground contamination. Some test pits were dug in
areas outside the cemetery walls known to have
burials. Notified by the Danvers Historical Com-
mission of the digging activity, Rhona Simon of the
Massachusetts Historical Commission contacted the
developers and acquainted them of the laws regulating
the disturbing of ancient burying grounds and the
possibility of up to two years delay in development
if bones were discovered.

The Danvers Planning Board, and the EPA required
the developers to redraw plans to locate one building
further away from the burying ground. Throughout
the Environmental Impact Study phase, and during
the removal of the toxic ground, the EPA was most
helpful in considering the protection of the Endicott
property.

The Danvers Historical Society, the Historical
Commission, and neighbors of the burying ground
generally favored residential, as opposed to in-
dustrial, development but felt that the developer,
and ultimately the condominium association, should
assume responsibility for maintenance and cosmetic
upkeep. In a meeting with legal representatives of
the developer, members of the Endicott family and
the Society, it was agreed that the developers would
replace the long missing iron gates and plant new
trees both in the cemetery itself and as a buffer
outside the walls. The developers also agreed to the
Society's unlimited access to the site. The agreement
became part of the Planning Board's Site Plan Ap-
proval and is shown on the plans submitted to the
Town by the developer. Unfortunately, the agree-
ment was not legally filed as deed restrictions and,
since the property is as yet undeveloped, and up for
sale, the Society and Commission will have to re-
negotiate withthe new owners. However, the ground
work has been laid, a precedent established and the
future protection of the site assured.

Editor's Note: If you are associated with a cemetery
in similar jeopardy to the Endicott Burying Ground
and would lil<e to talii with someone about the work
of the Danvers Historical Society and Historical
Commission in this regard, you may contact Peggy
Dumke at 774-4732 (home), or 777-2228
(work).

AGSSp'91 p.11

Do you have a Hiker statue In your town?

rtK; llL.cr 1/02-0, fiid-hiirg. Mafs.. he/ore Irnumcni.

An article by Susan Shenwood in the Save Outdoor
Sculpture! newsletter, SOS! Update, (Winter 1 991 , vol. 2
#1), tells of the research on environmental damage to
cultural properties which is being sponsored by the
Preservation Assistance Division of the National Park
Service. In one study, the 51 statues in The Hiker statue
series sculpted by Theodora Alice Ruggles Kitson are
being analyzed to study the effects of acid precipitation
on bronzes. Erected primarily in the eastern half of the
United States, The Hiker commemorates Spanish-
American war veterans. The bronze castings of the
statue were made by the Gorham Foundry in Providence
Rl between 1921 and 1966.

Quoting from the article, 'To study pollution's effects on
bronze, twenty-five of The Hiker statues were photo-
graphed in detail; the surface con-osion characteristics of

twelve statues in New England and the Mid-Atlantic
region were examined closely. Researchers investi-
gated the alloy composition, overall corrosion patterns,
streaking characteristics, chemical composition of the
corrosion layers and the statues' surfaces in corroded
and cleaned states. Surface pitting and metal loss were
determined by casting the surface with a dental molding
material; those surface replicas were examined with a
scanning electron microscope to measure surface ir-
regularities which indicate the severity of the corrosion.
Because the composition of seven statues cast over a
fifteen-year period was confirmed to be the same, corro-
sion variations were attributed to differing environmental
exposure. Corrosion produced by pollutants has ren-
dered some areas of each of the statues black while
others turned various shades of green."

"Specific location was an important indicator of the stat-
ues'condition. TrteH/'/cef statues sited away from streets
seemed to be less corroded than those located in traf-
ficked locations."

Further analysis is still underway. If you would like to
know if one of The Hiker statues by Kitson is located near
you, please contact SOS! for a map of The Hiker statue
locations. Additional photographs will enhance research
findings.

from SOS! Update (Winter 1991, V. 2 #1. p. 3). Save Our
Sculpturelis apint project of the National Museum of American
Art, Smithsonian Institution, and the National Institute for the
Conservation of Cultural Property, Inc. For further information,
contact: SOSI, NIC, Suite 403, 3299 K Street, N. W., Washing-
ton DC 20007. Telephone (202)625-1495; Fax (202)625-1485.

The Spring 1991 issue (No. 41) of the anthropo-
logical journal Man in the Northeast contains an
article by Robert K. Fitts of Brown University titled
"Gravestone Inscriptions as a Source for Colonial
History: A Case Study on the Transition from Puri-
tan to Yankee New England". The abstract
reads:"While scholars have often examined colonial
gravestone icons, gravestone inscriptions have
anthropological linguistics, these inscriptions
received little attention. By using the methods of

provide valuable data on colonial American society.
I nan effort to trace the transformation from Puritan
to Yankee society, Noam Chomsky's rules of syntactic
structure are applied to a sample of gravestone
inscriptions from southeastern New England. A
comparison between inscriptions and epitaphs in-
dicates that a changing grammatical pattern of in-
scriptions represents a shift in attitudes toward
death that developed with the emergence of Yankee
New England."

AGSSp'91 p.12

VANDALISM - OHIO

ON TOMBS, POLLUTION'S TOLL IS
GRAVEN IN STONE

At Painesville's Evergreen Cemetery, she is known
as "Hard Luck Annie." Tiie marble sculpture of a
woman serves as a memorial to Annie E. Gage, who
died at the age of 36 on Oct. 6, 1873, following her
infant daughter and son to the grave. Over the years,
maintenance workers dubbed the statue "Hard Luck
Annie" because of her tough life. Now it seems hard
luck has followed Annie E. Gage beyond the grave.
Vandals recently used a slab of marble from another
grave to lop the head, right arm, and hand off the
117-year-old sculpture, in a random vandalism
spree that caused more than $250,000 damage.

On the evenings of Jan. 14 and 16, 1991 , vandals
went on a rampage through the 34 acre cemetery,
damaging 168 headstones the first night and 111
during a return visit. They toppled and destroyed
ornate, irreplaceable marble and granite headstones,
some more than 100 years old. Norman L. Eager,
superintendent of Painesville's cemeteries and
parks, said the city would now try to notify de-
scendents of original plot owners and tell them about
the damage. He doesn't know how much success he
will have. Eager's office spent some time poring
through records to search out lot locations and grave
numbers for the 279 headstones that were damaged.

Evergreen opened in 1860. More than 17,500
people have been buried there, including Samuel
Huntington, the second Ohio governor; Paul E.
Tillotson, an Indians pitcher and owner of Tillotson
Oil Co.; and Clifton N. Windecker, who was in-
strumental in the development of Diamond Aikalai
Co. In century old, yellowed journals in Eager's
office, each burial is recorded, along with a notation
of the deceased's origin or cause of death: Irish,
whooping cough. American, scarlet fever. German,
cancer.

Repairs to battered headstones and monuments are
the responsibility of the owner, not the city, Eager
said. "There are many that cannot be repaired," he
said. "I don't think we will have any choice in the
matter. We will have to remove the pieces and
dispose of them."

from an article titled "Damage in Cemetery Estimated
at $250,000," by Deborah A. Winston. in THE CLEVE-
LAND (?) PLAIN DEALER, January 24, 1991, contrib-
uted by Barbara R. Moon, Kennebunkport ME.

Ten thousand
tombstones
bear disquiet-
ing epitaphs,
says Univer-
sity of Dela-
ware geogra-
pherThomasC.
Meierding. His
study reveals a
history of air
pollution's
destructive
effects,
t^eierding and
his students
travelled
40,000 miles
visiting urban
and small-
town U. S.
cemeteries.
They found the
worst cases in
the heavily
polluted Ohio
River Valley,
(see illustra-
t i 0 n ) .
Meierding saw
little damage
in the Great
Plains and
Florida but
severe effects

K.FAULD,

• irj.7 ],'

W. ■ "* ''Vi

THOMAS ' MEIEBOING

An eroded 1878 marble stone near Marietta, Ohio,
(foreground) contrasted with a century-old headstone
in Hawaii of the same Vermont marble, which remains
smooth.

in Illinois and western Pennsylvania. Deteriora-
tion increased between 1930 and 1960, then eased
due to pollution controls and the decline of heavy
industry.

He discovered that acid rain, his initial suspect,
dissolved only a thin surface layer. The real damage
came from sulfur dioxide gas — released by burning
high-sulfur coal — which forms gypsum within the
marble and forces the stone apart.

from National Geographic, April 1991 , Earth Al-
manac section, contributed by Chris Sheridan, Brevard
NC

AGSSp'91 p.13

DURHAM CT PRESERVATION PLAN

DURHAM CT - The old tombstone
stands erect, its elegantly carved
surfaces surrounded by rows of
slanted stones that are beginning
to crumble. Nathaniel Sutlief's
1760 marker appears immune to
the weathering and agingthat has
afflicted many of the 18th cen-
tury gravestones nearby. The
lettering is crisp, the crossed
swords and crown at the top still
striking, and two tiny skulls stare
from the base of the stone. But
historian sf ear t he Sutlief marker
- considered one of the finest
examples of Colonial stone carv-
ing in the state and possibly New
England - may deteriorate, leav-
ing at least a small void in history.

To preserve a bit of that history,
Durham Cemetery Co. met in
March to discuss removing some
of the stone markers. The com-
pany, which managesOld Durham

Cemetery and two others in town, also wants to map the
graves and photograph the markers that are there now.
There were more than 900 gravestones at one time, but
some have broken or have sunk into the ground, or their
faces have disintegrated. If the company doesn't act,
many of the ornately carved epitaphs will end up in
chunks on the ground, leaving only a weathered, tomb-
stone- shaped marker with no words on it, no identifi-
cation and no clue to its history.

"I think gravestones are one of the best sources we have
for teaching about traditional art and history, " said
William Hosley, curator of American decorative arts at
the Wads worth Atheneum in Hartford. "They are works
of art that are also historical documents."

The gravestones and their images depict the cultural
beliefs of the time and area, and the social status of
those buried. In Puritanical Boston, a winged death's
head might be carved on a stone; but in the south, where
religious beliefs were more relaxed, the same artist
might have cut a cameo portrait on a marker.

Sutlief's graveyard neighbors are less aristocratic, but
still memorable. Not far from his marker are the
tombstones of six unmarried women, all daughters of
the town's stonecarver, John Johnson. Almira Johnson,
at 82, died after all of her sisters. Her tombstone
simply says, "The Last One." A similar stone overlooking
the fields of Durham marks the grave of one of Yale
College's first graduates, Nathaniel Chauncey. Chauncey,
who was the town's first Congregational minister, lies
not far from Ann Goddard, the wife of a Tory whose
property was taken by the Revolutionary government.

hisSorians. fear it wiH d«^*?nDoit« ai OM iiurh^m Cemetsry,

And at the edge of the cemetery
lies a modest stone marking the
grave of one of the few Indians in
town to receive a stone. In 1770,
the town probably had to vote on
whether to allow the marker for
Ann Cornelius, 10. It reads, "A
Indian Girl."

"These few super examples
should be brought inside. They're
works of art," said James Slater,
author of The Colonial Burying
Grounds of Connecticut and the
Men Who Made Them. The stone-
work represents some of the first
sculpturing done in North
America, "and you had your very
best craftsmen doing this," Slater
said. Morethanfiveaccomplished
craftsmen, each with a distinctive
style, carved the stones in the
Old Durham Cemetery. TheSutlief
stone, one of the finest remaining
in the New England area, was done
by noted carver William Holland,
Slater said.

Cemetery keepers who tend to the Old Durham Cemetery
are wary of yanking the marker from its owner's
resting place. The process probably would be expen-
sive, and would involve duplicating the stone and placing
the copy on the gravesite, as well as contacting any
descendents for permission, said Francis Korn, a mem-
ber of the Durham Cemetery Co. "Hopefully, the stones
can be preserved on site," he said.

Silicon resins tried as preservatives have caused
crumbling. Another preservative is being developed in
England, but the tombstone could disintegrate before a
solution is found. Slater said. Maurice Arcand, presi-
dent of the Durham Cemetery Co., doesn't want to risk
disintegration. "Temporarily, I'd like to see them taken
out," he said. "I think they can deteriorate out in the
weather. The sooner we move on this, the better."

Most of the stones in the Durham cemetery and in
eastern Connecticut are carved of brown sandstone,
most probably from Portland quarries. It is a soft stone
that cracks and breaks off when moisture seeps into the
rock. The stone is not as hard as slate, which was used
for gravestones in the Boston area and in many of
Connecticut's coastal towns. Arcand suggests placing
the better stones in the town Historic Building next to
town hall. But he understands why some people might
not want them moved. "It is someone's headstone,
after all," he said.

from an item titled "Plan Would Preserve Historic
Tombstones," by Linda Loranger. in THE HARTFORD
COURANT. February 19. 1991, contributed by Ray
Cummings. Avon CT

AGSSp'91 p.14

Congregation Charting Its Hallowed Grounds

Thanksgiving brought some surprising news for
Helen Sandifer. When the Fairfax VA resident tried
to get more information on family burials in the
cemetery of Potomac United Methodist Church.,
Edward E. Long, the cemetery's manager, couldn't
tell her how to find the unmarked graves. She was
incredulous. "They just have to know where these
people are buried," said Sandifer, "They have to
have a record somewhere." In fact. Long has plenty
of records, including a detailed log of the nearly 700
burials at the cemetery since 1943. But locating
people interred in preceding decades has long meant
turning to a mishmash of records - ledger books and
card files recording gravesite purchases and tissue-
thin maps of family plots.

"This was a family cemetery," said C. Dixon
Ashworth, chairman of the church board of trustees.
"They didn't have computers in the 1800s." But
they've got them now, and they're using them to
come up with a comprehensive, cataloged list of
who's buried at the l^ethodist burial ground. The
seven acre cemetery is a Potomac landmark. It has
at least 1 ,500 graves, Ashworth estimates. Legend
has it that Civil War soldiers are among those
buried there.

The graveyard is about equally divided between an
older section, which surrounds the church, and a
newer section in back, which opened in 1933. The
church stopped selling plots for the older section
when it opened the new. From the onset, the newer
section has been subdivided by a detailed grid system
that assigns numbers to each plot, making it easy to
find out who's buried where. The other half is a
different story - but maybe not for long.

In an interview, Long and Ashworth described the
church's three year efforts to create a detailed
register of the "old cemetery." They expect to be
finished by next fall. "There is a tremendous effort
being undertaken," said Long, a church volunteer
who has managed the cemetery for five years.

In 1987, a surveying firm grouped and mapped the
cemetery's older half into five sections - complete
with 183 visible family plot markers. The sur-
veyors then divided the old graveyard into a grid of
1 ,373 plots, each measuring 4 feet by 10 feet (the
standard burial site) . Long estimates that half those
gravesites are filled. He and two other volunteers,
Paul Guild and Bruce Hartsworth, have been working
to match the plots with the names. Church records
have helped, but most of the information has come
from hours of field work - recording names and

dates from tombstones and probing the ground for
sunken family plot markers and unknown coffins.

Ashworth is turning that data into an alphabetized
list of people buried at the old cemetery - complete
with newly created grid coordinates. "No other
cemetery that I know of has gone to the efforts we
have to update our records," Long said. With at least
1 ,500 graves - some dating to the 1700s - placed
on seven hilly acres along Falls Road, Potomac
United Ivlethodist Church has the area's largest,
most visible and oldest known cemetery.

From the Potomac Almanac, December 12, 1990,
contributed by Dorothea de Zafra, Arlington VA.

New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind was ap-
palled recently when he learned from a constituent
that a Brooklyn resident was surrounding his private
lot with a fence made of 1 30 tombstones. According
to a newspaper report, "the fancily decorated
monuments are inscribed with the names of the dead
and their survivors," and were placed there to
discourage the dumping of garbage.

Hikind found the use of tombstones for such a purpose
outrageous, and launched an investigation into the
matter. His inquiry revealed that surviving family
members were totally unaware that headstones of
their departed loved ones were being used to fence in
a private lot. They were shocked and full of anguish
that the memories of deceased family members were
being desecrated in such a profane manner.

Hikind brought the issue before Attorney General
Robert Abrams and the Director of the Division of
Cemeteries, Pierce O'Callaghan. Both made in-
vestigations and reported that no illegality had oc-
curred, as there is no legislation at the present time
which prohibits the desecration of unclaimed or
discarded tombstones.

Hikind stated that he is considering drafting legis-
lation which would require the written consent of
family members before a cemetery or stone mason
removes a head or foot stone from a grave site.
Further, in the event that a stone is never set at a
grave site and remains with the stone mason, the
name on the stone would have to be erased, or the
stone be demolished, in order to prevent any dis-
respect to the memories of the deceased.

From Assemblyman Dov Hikind Reports to the
People, November 1990

AGSSp'91 p.15

MEMBER NEWS

Exhibition: IMAGES IN STONE

Photographs and rubbings by Daniel and Jessie Lie
Farber

An exhibition of photographs and rubbings made in
the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague was displayed at
Temple Israel in Boston, Massachusetts from April
14 to May 17, 1991. The public was invited to the
opening on April 1 4 to meet the Farbers and view the
exhibition.

The Farbers visited Prague in the summerof 1989.
The cemetery in Prague is said to be the oldest
Jewish cemetery in Europe, dating from the fifteenth
century and used for over 300 years. Below its
stone-crowded surface lie twelve layers of burials.
The old stones were removed and placed among the
newer ones on each level so that the Farbers were
able to capture venerable stones as well as newer
ones. These IMAGES IN STONE offer a key to un-
derstanding the life and times of a once-flourishing
Jewish community in Central Europe.

Sculptor and designer Casimer Michalczyk, of
Glastonbury CT and Oak Bluffs MA, carved a slate
memorial stone in the summer of 1990 to highlight
the 300th anniversary of the GRISWOLD family of
America.. "Something new to go with something old,
it is set next to the stone of Mrs. Edward Griswold -
Margaret - in the Indian Hill Cemetery in Clinton
CT, on the shoreline. Clinton was our home for ten
years, around 1942-1952, and while living there
I recarved lettering, sharpening the letters on old
stones for the Kelsey family. It was a personal and
family pleasure to discover, as genealogical studies
accompany the study of historic tombstones, that
some of my wife's ancestors were Griswoids."
Edward Griswold settled in Windsor CT in 1639,
then founded Killingworth in 1 663, and was a First
Deputy to the General Court and First Deacon of
First Church.

from the Glastonbury (CT) Citizen, November 1990,
and correspondence from Casimer Michalczyk.

AGSSp'91 p.16

On this and the following two pages is a
TRIBUTE TO ROSIE
by Vincent Luti

It will be entered into a book of tributes and memorabelia to be presented
to retiring ACS Executive Director, Rosalee Oakley, at the ACS conference
in June. Members wishing to contribute to the book are invited to send
letters, notes, photos, drawings, etc., to Jessie Farber, 31 Hickory
Drive, Worcester, Massachusetts, 01609.

A VALENTINE to ROSIE who

gave so many years of timeless
and tireless energy...

was never grumpy...

and never said "I give up" and
always had the answer...

AGSSp-91 p.17

and mothered us all with quiet devotion and affection...

while listening with timeless patience to so many tiresome speakers.

and suffering the outrageous slings & darts of fussbudget members.

AGSSp'91 p. 18

^^3^:7"^^^^

still managing a smile in the most grim situations.

the picture of refined couture at all times...

please, in dear affection, accept my humble bouquet!

Vincent (for all of us)

AGSSp'91 p.19

RESEARCH

AGS member John Johnston sent this photograph to
illustrate the very interesting gravestone can/ing done by
his great-great-grandfather, Larkin Johnston, who worked
in Belmont County, Ohio, in the mid-1 800s. Although it
may not be clearly visible here, the carver's signature
appears at the bottom of the sandstone marke r carved for
John Hawn (1 849) : "LARKIN JOHNSTon." John Johnston
has found several other stones signed by his ancestor.
He would like to learn more about Larkin Johnston's life
and work as a gravestone carver. Larkin Johnston was
born in Pennsylvania about 1806 and died circa 1875 in
Ohio. Perhaps significantly, a check of the list of known
carvers turned up an entry for Joshua (or A.J. H. ?) Larkin
who carved gravestones in Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania in the early 1 9th century. Were Larkin and
Johnston somehow related? If anyone can supply further
information about Larkin Johnston or Joshua (or A.J.H.
?) Larkin or can provide examples of their work, please
contact AGS Research. It would be nice to locate more
of Johnston's stones in Ohio and to be able to document
their roots in Larkin's Pennsylvania shop, IF indeed the
two men were connected by more than a name?

HAITI E A.

DAUGHTER OF

R.T. &

ARCANA

GOFF

DEC. 20, 1854

FEB. 20, 1921

F.N.D.O.S.B.
T.K.O.!

Concerning the odd emblem and its cryptic letters
shown and discussed on page 6 of the Fall 1990issue
of the AGS /Veivs/e»er(V. 14 #4) Eric Brock, of
Shreveport LA, writes that although he cannot solve
the riddle, he can add another bit of mystery to it. He
found a stone at Simsboro LA (shown at left).

A biblical epitaph is on the base of the monument in
an italic script. Unlike the stones mentioned in the
Newsletter, there is a slight variation in the letters
on this one, and they do not have the circular device
around them, also they are followed by an exclamation
point. Also, unlike the others mentioned, Hattie Goff
was apparently unmarried as her family's graves
are in the same lot but there is not one for her
husband or children, nor is there any mention of
anyone but her parents on her gravestone.

"I find it especially interesting that this query
should appear in the Newsletter at this time as I
recently came upon this mystery myself and won-
dered what it meant. If anyone knows, please share
your information!"

AGSSpVI p.20

LENDING LIBRARY

origin, since it appears, generally in wood, among
blacks in Texas, Georgia, and perhaps elsewhere in
the South."

Because of the recent increase in postal rates and a
rise in the cost of book mailers, AGS Book Loan
Service will require an additional five cents per
pound for postage. On most orders this will amount
to less than twenty-five cents. The $2.00 order fee
will not change. Members may borrow two books at
a time and may keep them for two weeks from date of
arrival. Sixteen titles are currently available. For
a list of books and mailing weights (members pay
the Library Rate postage), please send a SASE to
Laurel Gabel, 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford NY
14534.

Follow up re:
gravestones

'Head and Shoulder" style

Several AGS members have responded to Jennifer
Sexton's request (AGS A/ews/effer, Fall 1990, p. 6)
for information about "head and shoulder", an-
thropomorphic or discoid style gravemarkers. To
summarize:

Bob Longcore sent photos of discoid shaped stones
from Sussex County, New Jersey. These examples
are all in German and date from the late 1 740s into
the 1780s.

The Texas stones pictured in Terry Jordan's book,
Texas Graveyards. A Cultural Legacy, (sent by AGS
member Jim Miller) were reputedly fashioned in
the 1840s by a slave artisan for an East Texas white
couple. The markers are in a semi-rural cemetery
on the Texas/Louisiana line. Terry Jordan believes
that "the human effigy shape may be of African

The Farber Photographic Collection has many ex-
amples of discoid-shaped markers, the majority
from North and South Carolina. These range in date
from about 1815
through the 1840s
and are mostly of
stone, rather than
wood. Jessie Lie
Farber sent a rub-
bing of one such
stone, dated 1814,
from Liberty,
North Carolina.

Patricia Cooper, an
architectural his-
torian working in
Georgia in 1982,
mentioned her in-
terest in these dis-
coid stones in Vol-
ume6#3oftheAGS
Newsletter. In the
same Newsletter
issue. Marguerite
Carson touches on
similar stones
found along the
Wilderness Road in
eastern Kentucky.
Does anyone know
of subsequent pub-
lications by either
of these two re-
searchers?

Photographs of

two wooden

-"^ "head and

shoulder" style markers from Florida, appear
in Margaret M. Coffin's book. Death in Early
America. And, in a recently published article
by Bradford L. Rauschenberg ("Coffin Making
and Undertaking in Charleston and Its Environs,
1 705-1820" in \he Journal of Early Southern
Decorative Arts, Vol. 1 6 #1 ) a similar wooden
marker is shown, surviving in Beaufort, South
Carolina.

Dr. Maryellen McVicker sent correspondence
and additional information, including photo-
graphs, from her doctoral dissertation, "Re-
flection of Change: Death and Cemeteries in the

' ,a:EK<i>j-o_- CfLl*, I S(A. L.

;:>;ib^t:irv.„

AGSSp'91 p.21

Boonslick Region of Missouri". She reports nu-
merous examples of anthropomorphic stones "along
the Missouri River counties west from St. Louis to
Boone County, Missouri". These stones, which
mark the graves of educated, literate families of
many of the early settlers (including stones for
Daniel and Rebecca Boon), date from the 1820s -
1840s. "Wood does not survive well in our humid
climate and if there were wooden anthropomorphic
markers, they disappeared before the memory of
anyone living, because I talked to elderly people
connected with the cemeteries in which these stones
were found." Like the Boon(e)s, many of these
early Missouri families migrated from Kentucky.
"Beginning in 1819, steamboats plied the waters of
the Missouri and immigration dramatically in-
creased. By 1840 anthropomorphic gravestones
had become passe to the best of my knowledge..."
Maryellen has found no mention of these markers in
probates, county records, early newspapers, etc.

From Sherrie Stokes, Collec-
tions Manager atthe Tallahassee
Jr. Museum, Tallahassee,
Florida: "I have discovered a
type of wooden "head and
shoulders" headboard in my
own studies of rural Southern
graveyards. They appear to be
widely disbursed in parts of
South Georgia and North
Florida. They appear in many
white graveyards and their use
probably dates from the Post
Civil War era to well past the turn of the century. I
personally believe that economic factors deter-
mined the creation of these markers whose form
may have been borrowed from Afro-American
funerary traditions."

Thanks to AGS members who took the time and effort
to document theseunusual markers. It is people like
you that make the AGS network so valuable!

Although these discoid or anthropomorphic style
markers invite a thorough study (on a national
scale), limited evidence suggests that this shape
was more prevalent in isolated, homogeneous areas
of the middle and southern states. They may have
originally duplicated gravemarker styles common
in the settler's home country. Some of these an-
thropomorphic or "head and shoulder" style stones
are inscribed in German; others seem to be for
Scotch-Irish or English settlers; some are obvi-
ously done for and/or by African-Americans. Al-
though most markers that survive are carved from
local stone, a few are made of wood, suggesting the
possibility that there were many more markers in
this style at one time. Additional examples and
information are always welcome.

SYLVIA

AGSSpVI p.22

BOOK REVIEWS

Gravestone Art In Rockland County, New York
by Dorothy W. Mellett

(Hudson Valley Press, Tappan NY 10983
soft-cover, 160 pp., over 180 illustrations
$22.50 plus $2.00 postage and handling)

review by Jessie Lie Farber

Rockland County, New York, is a triangular-shaped
county north of Manhattan, across the Hudson River
fromOssining. It is bounded by the Hudson Riveron
the east, the New Jersey line on the south, and New
York's
Harriman State
Park on the
west. The

Tappan Zee
Bridge cross-
ing the Hudson
from
Tarrytown
puts you into
the county near
the town of
Nyack, and the
Palisades In-
t e r s t a t e
Parkway runs
through
Rockland's
middle.

others will be inspired to help restore and preserve
the stones..." Short chapters include information
about the various burying grounds, the carving
styles of three time periods, the stonecutters rep-

Dorothy Mellett's plaster cast, made from the gravestone for Garrett Bogert, 1777,
Clausland Cemetery, Rockland County NY

In that county, we learn from Dorothy Mellett's new
book, is a rich vein of eighteenth- and nineteenth-
century gravemarkers, including a wealth of par-
ticularly interesting markers carved by eight-
eenth-century cutter John Zu richer, eleven of them
signed.

The book is profusely illustrated with rubbings and
photographs, mostly by the author, and a few draw-
ings. The text is directed to the general reader, "to
review Rockland County's gravestones from about
1700 to the late 1800s. ..and to show how they
reveal the county's history, [in the hope] that

resented (Zuricher, plus eight nineteenth-century
carvers). Other chapters deal with works in metal
(gates, bronze plaques and white zinc monuments),
epitaphs, ethnic stones and restoration. In some-
thing of a tour de force, Ms. Mellett lists 108
abandoned cemeteries, giving for each its location
(nearest town), number of graves, size of the area,
date of oldest and most recent stones, and other
information.

This book is a good-looking, oversize (7" x 10")
publication, made possible in part with publicfunds
from the New York Council on the Arts. Ms. Mellett
is on the faculty of Rockland Community College.

AGSSp'91 p.23

Allegheny Cemetery: A Romantic Landscape In Pittsburgh

by Walter C. Kidney, photos by Clyde Hare
1990

published and distributed by:
Pittsburgh History and
Landmarks Foundation
450 The Landmarks Building
One Station Square
Pittsburgh PA 15219-1170

Price: $34.95, includes postage

reviewed by Robert A. Wright

An exciting handsome large-for-
mat book was published recently
in the field of cemetery studies.
During the last decade, large met-
ropolitan cemeteries in America
have sought to improve public
awareness about their institutions
by publishing lavish books;
Metaire in New Orleans (1981),
Cave Hill in Louisville (1985),
and Woodlawn in New York (1988). Allegheny
Cemefery (1990), however, is clearly the best
publication to date in this genre because it was
executed by an outstanding preservation organiza-
tion with extensive publication experience. It shows.

Walter C. Kidney, a noted architectural historian,
has once again crafted an outstanding text that
combines factual research with eloquent prose into
engaging cultural history. Kidney's rare talent to
embody an academic text full of feeling makes him a
particularly appropriate author for a historical
account of an early "rural" cemetery. His writing
style reflects the pervasive romantic sensibilities
prevalent during the mid-nineteenth century when
"ruraT'cemeteries like Allegheny wereestablished
in rapidly-growing American cities. Since he
previously authored the massive volume. Land-
mark Architecture: Pittsburgh & Allegheny
County (^985), Kidney is exceptionally able to
weave the architectural history of Allegheny
Cemetery into the fabric of architecture in Pitts-
burgh.

Clyde Hare, another knowledgeable person on
Pittsburgh's material legacy, was also engaged by
the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation
to work on the book. Hare, a nationally respected
professional and documentary photographer, was
commissioned to photograph the cemetery. Since
several hundred of Hare's photographs play a vital
role in Allegheny Cemetery, his efforts deserve

Moorhead mausoleum (Louis Morgenroth, architect) 1862, Allegheny
Cemetery, Pittsburgh PA. Photo by Clyde Hare.

attention. Hare's enthusiastic love of Pittsburgh is
evidenced by his staggering output. Priorto editing,
he produced overtwo thousand images for the project!

Hare bounced between pictorial and documentary
styles to provide photographs that serve two distinct
purposes within the book. He chose a pictorial
approach to capture the feeling of the cemetery's
verdant landscape. However, the more objective
approach of a documentary photographer was em-
ployed to provide an extensive record of the vast
number of interesting monuments and mausolea.
Often, in the best pictures, these two styles suc-
cessfully merge. Hare developed this signature
approach in the early 1950s while working for the
legendary photographic project director Roy
Stryker.

Finally, it should be noted the book is well designed.
Allegheny Cemetery commendably avoids the
two common annoying publishing practices of
printing pictures across a book's gutter or bleeding
images to page edges. All photographs, except a few
panoramic images, are printed with plenty of
surrounding white space. This clean layout style not
only respects important visual material, but also
enables a reader/viewer to appreciate the book's
carefully organized visual cohesiveness.

For example, a beautiful double page color pres-
entation appears in the introductory chapter. The
left page shows a cornucopia of richly colored stained

AGSSp'91 p.24

glass windows from various mausolea. On the oppo-
site page, the cemetery's lush landscape is reflected
in mirror-like lake waters. Here, natural scenes
strikingly resemble delicate stained glass windows.
This deliberate juxtaposition underscores the close
relationship between art and nature in the nineteenth
century, a romantic ideal that not only pervades the
sepulchral art and landscape design of Allegheny,
but also reflects a central founding principle of the
entire rural cemetery movement.

Allegheny Cemetery contains five well organ-
ized chapters that unfold in a logical progression.
The opening chapter, "A Look Around", provides an
overview of the cemetery
with an emphasis on its
architectural history.
Kidney pays particular
attention to the two im-
pressive entrance build-
ings that announce the
cemetery to visitors. For
instance, hepointsoutthe
commanding granite Penn
Avenue Entrance Build-
ing (IVIacomb & Dull, ar-
chitects, 1887-89),
fashioned in a Romanesque
style, imitates H.H.
Richardson's seminal
Allegheny Courthouse in
downtown Pittsburgh.

In the book's second
chapter, "Some His-
tory", numerous en-
gravings, maps, and ar-
chival photographs com-
plement the text to es-
tablish a concise early
history of Pittsburgh, the
founding of Allegheny
Cemetery, its gradual

development, and the cemetery's place within the
broader context of the rural cemetery movement.
Kidney also provides an excellent discussion of
advances in stone finishing techniques, the physical
and aesthetic qualities of marble and granite, and a
particularly astute analysis of how these factors
correspond to the evolution of styles displayed by
funerary art and architecture during the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.

"Running a Cemetery", the next chapter, describes
how early rules and regulations, set in place during
the Victorian era, were changed to accommodate the
growing pressures of a modern age, Allegheny

gradually evolved into the multifaceted institution
of today. Kidney explains, "The Cemetery is a
public service, a showplace, a business, a landscape
garden, and a rather complex engineering work. It
has to be solemn and beautiful, but it has to be made
to function."

The last chapter, "A Guide to Allegheny Cemetery",
provides an extensive catalog of the art and archi-
tecture within this venerable cemetery. This im-
portant visual archive contains almost two hundred
examples of the most interesting statues, monu-
ments and mausolea. The staggering array of quality
memorials certainly places Allegheny among the

fine repositories of
funerary art in America.
No doubt, this distinc-
tion reflects the pros-
perity of Pittsburgh as
the center of iron and
steel production in
America for a century.

Next to each photograph
in this section. Kidney
not only supplies im-
portant factual infor-
mation, but also offers
his perceptive impres-
sions about the artistic
merits and deficiencies
of each monument or
mausoleum. For exam-
ple, Kidney notes the
Moorhead mausoleum
(Louis Morgenroth,
architect, 1862)
"...has an unusual fan-
tasy about it, almost as
if some imperial tent had
been reproduced in
sandstone". Kidney's
brand of architectural

Penn Avenue Entrance Building (Macomb & Dull,
architects) 1887-89, Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh
PA. Photo by Clyde Hare.

history is a delight to read

Allegheny Cemetery is an excellent book on

many levels. First, it provides an outstanding local
history of a specific cemetery. Second, the book
enables people to better comprehend the social con-
text of a cemetery within our urban society. Third,
the book makes a significant contribution to catalog
examples of nineteenth- and early twentieth-
century funerary art and architecture. Because
pollution, weathering and vandalism exact a high
toll on America's sepulchral heritage, this impres-
sive effort will become more important with the
passage of time.

AGS Sp'91 p. 25

The book Burial Grounds of Vermont, by the

Vermont Old Cemetery Association, is now available.
It contains just under five hundred pages and includes
a detailed 8 1/2x11 road map of each town or
adjoining towns and a facing page listing all the
known burial grounds with names, approximate
period of use and number of burials, condition and
location with a number on the map corresponding
with the chart. The book includes small private
burial grounds as well as public cemeteries and
lists about 1900 in all. It also has a scattering of
epitaphs and pictures.

Burial Grounds of Vermont is soft bound and is
priced at $20.00 plus $2.50 postage and handling
and may be ordered from Charles Marchant, P.O.
Box 132, Townshend VT 05353.

Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography In
America

by Stanley b. Burns, M.D.

Scoring In Heaven

Photographs by Lucinda Bunnen and Virginia Warren
Smith

But they also spotted a six-foot Styrofoam Bugs
Bunny, a hugecowboy bootfilled with daisies andthe
ultimate in one for the road — tequila bottles.

If many of the Bunnen-Smith pictures suggest a
certain whimsy toward death, the photographs in
Burns' collection are deeply sentimental. The
Victorians took their grieving seriously — and for-
mally. The mourning period for a child, Burns notes
in his absorbing text, was two years and for a sibling
one year. Small photographs of the deceased were
often carried in lockets, kept close to the body for
greater intimacy. Photography was costly, and
these photoswere sometimes the only remembrances
families had of their dead loved ones. In 1846 a
noted Boston photo studio advertised, "We take
great pains to have Miniatures of Deceased Persons
agreeable and satisfactory, and they are often so
natural."

To modern eyes, these pictures are often unsettlingly
morbid. But they are never sensationalistic. In
some ways the images in Scoring in Heaven are
more disturbing. As these long-departed ones faced
the end, did they realize they might become "im-
mortalized" by a gigantic Bugs or have an empty
bird cage placed on their grave or be remembered by
a photo on their headstone taken while they were
feeding the chickens?

These two fascinating books reflect varying per-
spectives on how Americans view death.

Burns, a New York City ophthalmologist, founded
the Burns Archive, a comprehensive collection of
medical photography. His unique book (Twelvetrees,
$40), an album of memorial postmortem photo-
graphs from the 19th and early 20th centuries,
argues that "just as sex was the 1 9th century taboo,
death has become the 20th century taboo." Where
people once used images of their dead loved ones as a
way of confronting their loss. Burns says, we ap-
proach death more indirectly: "Personal (intimate)
death is not a socially acceptable topic."

Bunnen and Smith's book (Aperture, $40) shows
how people use grave ornaments and markers —
from ridiculousto sublime — to lessen theirgrief. It
is the result of a trip the two Atlanta photographers
took through the South and Southwest in 1980,
seeking photogenic grave sites. Scoring in
Heaven takes its name from a 1964 Tennessee
headstone that shows a bowler making a strike, a
mother's tribute to her 31 -year-old son. Bowling,
in fact, was one of the common themes — along with
empty picture frames, empty chairs and beds, hands
and telephones — encountered by Bunnen and Smith.

From an article in People Magazine,
1991, by Maddy l\Jliller.

March 25.

The CenterforThanatology at 391 Atlan-
tic Avenue, Brooklyn announced a photo-
graphic exhibit February 17 to March
17, 1991 . The exhibit was devoted to the
Style-Makers of the Victorian Era, the
architects, sculptors, painters and en-
gravers of Green-Wood Cemetery in
Brooklyn NY, their architecture, their
sculpture, their monuments and their
works which dominate the city landscape.
The exhibitwas sponsored by the Brooklyn
Council on the Arts.

AGSSp-91 p.26

Seasons of Life and Learning: Lalie View Cemetery: An Educator's
Handbooli

VIncetta Dl Rocco Donner and Jean Marie Bossu 19 9 0

review by Laurel Gabel and Barbara Rotunda

Seasons of Life and Learning: Lake View
Cemetery: An Educator's Handbook is an at-
tractive and helpful handbook for teachers put out
by Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland Ohio, with
publication sponsored by the Martha Holden Jennings
Foundation. Dozens of AGS members have used
cemeteries and gravestones in their teaching, have
taught workshops for teachers like those at our
annual conferences, or have given tours in cem-
eteries and graveyards for school children. We all
have our cherished handouts developed with our own
ideas and those borrowed from more experienced
teachers. There are also published lesson plans and
articles that have a specialized focus like botany or
acquainting children with death. But Seasons of
Life and Learning has a full range of lesson plans
and covers most of the topics anyone could imagine.
It is a welcome addition to our tools for teaching
about (and thus helping to preserve) the bounty of
pleasures and knowledge offered by the study of
gravestones and cemeteries. Illustrations and ex-
amples come from Lake View Cemetery, but the
suggestions are easily transposed to other places
and other age groups and may stimulate real devo-
tees like AGS members to think of more projects.

There is much valuable material though the pres-
entation is sometimes uneven. For instance, the
architecture .lessons never give the names of the
architects who designed the two buildings in the
cemetery that are on the National Register of His-
toric Places. But to their credit, the authors
carefully include a woman architect for off-site
study and in other lessons give an Italian-American
sculptor whose work is at Lake View and an Afro-
American writer who is buried there.

At the end is a selected bibliography of general
reference books and titles, both fiction and non-
fiction for younger and older students. (Bossu is a
librarian by training.) Ten categories in the bib-
liography have headings like "Finding Your Roots"
and "Death as a Part of Life". One page gives films
and videos with brief descriptions of contents and
running times.

Unfortunately Seasons of Life and Learnlng\s

in short supply and not for sale at the present time.
It is, however, available through the AGS Lending

Library. A reference copy is also on file at the AGS
Archives in Worcester.

Katherine E. Kohl, Corporate Secretary, The Lake
View Cemetery Association, writes:"This handbook
is currently being distributed to Cleveland area
school systems and I believe it is the first ever
handbook of this kind produced by a cemetery. "

A Hadley, Massachusetts, gravestone is the source of
information about a real-life John Dunbar, the
name of the fictional hero of the movie Dances With
Wolves.

According to an Associated Press release, Eric
Freeman, a high school student in Hadley, took a
break from his research for a term paper about the
Civil War to see the movie. He remembered seeing
a stone for a Private John Brown Dunbar in the
Hadley burying ground.

With the help of local librarians and historians.
Freeman learned that the real Private Dunbar was
the son of missionary parents, grew up among the
Pawnee Indians of Kansas and, afterthe war, returned
there to teach Indian languages and culture at
Washburn College in Topeka.

Curious to learn in Pvt. Dunbar was the model for
the fictional movie hero. Lieutenant John Dunbar,
Freeman wrote to William Blake, the author of the
novel and screen play Dances with Wolves. Blake
responded that his hero's name had been borrowed
from a roster of soldiers who had served at a frontier
in Kansas during the war era. Freeman also learned
that Blake's research relied heavily on a 1968 book
Plains Indian Raiders, based, in part, on books
written by the real Dunbar's missionary father.

So, Pvt. John Dunbar could be, apparently coinci-
dentally,the real-life modelforthe movie'sfictional
Lt. John Dunbar, found via a Hadley MA gravemarker.
There is no mention in the article of how Pvt.
Dunbar came to be buried in Hadley.

from the Worcester MA Telegram & Gazette, April 20,
1991, contributed by Jessie Lie Farber.

AGSSp'91 p.27

CALL FOR PAPERS

The "Cemeteries and Gravemarkers" permanent Section of the American Culture Associa-
tion is seeking proposals for its paper sessions scheduled for the ACA's 1992 Annual
Meeting, to be held March 18-21 in Louisville, Kentucky. Topics are solicited from any
appropriate disciplinary perspective. Those interested are encouraged to send a 250-word
abstract or proposal by September 1, 1991 to the section chair:

Richard E. Meyer

English Department

Western Oregon State College

Monmouth, Oregon 97361
(503) 838-1220, Ext. 362

Tho AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies. 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Detjorah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Theodore
Chase, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St, Dover MA 02030. Address
Newsletter contributions to Detx>rah Trask, editor. Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3A6,
Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2. $20; Vol. 3. $18.50; Vol. 4, $20; Vol. 5. $20; Vol. 6. $23; Vol. 7.
$15; higher prices for non-members) from the AGS office. Sendcontributionstothe AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 OldSudbury
Road. Way land MA 01 778 Address other conrespondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01 609.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
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Worcester MA
01609

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NEWSLETTER

■newsletter

■ OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 15 NUMBER 3 SUMMER 1991 ISSN: 0146-5783~

CONTENTS

1991 CONFERENCE,

Northfield Mt. Hermon School, Northfield MA

Program 2

Mystery Graveyard Contest 4

Presentation of Forbes Award 7

Call for Papers, 1992 10

Annual Meeting 11

Minutes 15

'91 Conference in the News! 16

ARTICLES

Grave Sheds of Chippewa/Ojibway Indians on Madeline Island

by Dr. Maynard Mires 18

A Stonecutter's Sample Stone

by Ralph Tucker 19

NEWSPAPER NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 20

Symmes monument in Hamilton OH 22

Slave stone returned in Topeka KS 23

BOOKS & COURSES 24

NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 25

This issue of the Newsletter is devoted to the 1 991
conference at Northfield Mt. Hermon School,
Northfield (Gill) MA. This fourteenth annual
conference focussed on Upper Connecticut River
Valley stones. Anyone interested in acquiring bus
tour handouts from either the Early Gravestone
Tour or the Victorian Cemeteries Tour, should
contact the AGS office. The conference was co-
sponsored by The Pioneer Valley Historical Council,
The Northfield Historical Society and the Northfield
Historical Commission.

Vince Cherico at Old Bemardston MA. photo by Jim Jewell.

AGSSuVI p. 1

PROGRAM

CONFERENCE 1991

PRESENTATIONS

PANEL DISCUSSION: "GRAVE CONCERNS: THE ROLE
OF STATE OLD CEMETERY AND GRAVEYARD ASSO-
CIATIONS"

Panelistsfrom the Vermont Old Cemetery Association, Maine
Old Cemetery Association, New Hampshire Old Graveyard
Association and Wisconsin State Old Cemetery Society dis-
cuss the work of their organizations in recording, legislation
and restoration.

Dr. Joseph J. Edgette, moderator

Dr. Edgette is Director of the Master of Liberal Studies
Program and Director of the Teacher Intern Program at
Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. He holds a
B.S. in English from West Chester State College, an M.S. in
Instructional Media, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Folklore from
the University of Pennsylvania. He is an AGS Trustee.

Keynote Address: "READING PLACES: ART, ARCHI-
TECTURE AND GRAVESTONES IN THE UPPER CON-
NECTICUT RIVER VALLEY"

William Hosley, Keynote Speaker

William Hosley is curator of American Decorative Arts at the
Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut where he
looks after the famous Wallace Nutting Collection of Pilgrim
Century Furniture. He was responsible for a widely-acclaimed
exhibition marking Connecticut's 350th anniversary, "The
Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley." More
recently he has been involved with the arts of Victorian
America. Hosleyoversawtherestorationofthe 1874Goodwin
Reception Room and in 1 990 organized a major exhibition on
Japanese influence on the arts of Victorian America. He is
currently writing a history of the collections of Sam and
Elizabeth Colt, Victorian Hartford's most colorful couple.

Hosley is a graduate of Middlebury College and the Winterthur
Program in Early American Culture. He has lectured
throughout the country and has written books and articles for
numerous magazines and journals. Bill is an AGS Trustee,
has done extensive research on Connecticut River Valley
gravestonecarvers, and is thecuratorforthe Ancient Burying
Ground of Hartford.

"Case Study: Plight of the Family Burying Ground:
General Fletcher, 1756-1991"
- Charles E. Marchant

Preserving the family burying grounds on private land is an
increasing concern. Given the legal aspects of such pres-
ervation, the realities of time, money and human resources,
■ and the difficulty of accessibility, how far should or can we go
to preserve the private cemetery?

Charles E. Marchant of Townshend, Vermont, is an agent for
the Townshend Cemetery Commission, Secretary of the
Vermont Old Cemetery Association and on the Board of
Trustees of the Historical Society of Windham County. A
graduate of Springfield College, Marchant is a history teacher
at Leiand and Gray Union High School in Townshend. Charles
also leads hikes and cross country ski trips through the
Vermont countryside.

"Marble Trees to Bronze Plaques:
Memorialization, 1830-1930"
- Dr. David C. Sloane

Changing Styles of

Exploring the changing styles of gravestones, individual
markers, family monuments, and "garden features" which
was a 20th century phenomenon of the new memorial parks,
this paper presents the argument that the new styles were in
accordance with changing American mourning customs and
attitudes toward death and nature.

David C. Sloane is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of
History at Dartmouth College and Instructor in Community
Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. He received a B.A.
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A. and
Ph.D. from Syracuse University. His research has focused on
the development of the modern American cemetery, using it
as a window to view important issues in the history of
landscape architecture, material culture, public health, and
social attitudes. This research has led to his recently published
book, The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American
History.

"An Aleatory Enterprise in the Granary Burying Ground"
- MInxle & James Fannin

As Fannin/Lehner restoration specialists worked to restore
the tomb of John Foster Williams, a Revolutionary War hero,
they made some fascinating discoveries to be revealed
during the talk. This paper will describe their work to rebuild
and restore the tomb and its cover as close to its original state
as could be determined by research.

Minxie is Managing Principal and Jim is an Associate in the
Fannin/Lehner preservation consulting firm which has worked
extensively in the areas of National Register nominations,
historic district development and burial ground restoration.
Minxie holds an M.A. in American Studies from the University
of Pennsylvania and currently serves as president of the
Society of Architectural Historians, New England Chapter.
Jim has responsibilityforthe burial ground restoration section
of Fannin/Lehner and participates in other preservation

AGSSu'91p.2

projects. Agraduateof Dartmouth College with an M.S. from
Columbia University, for the past two years he co-led the AGS
restoration workshop in conjunction with t^inxie and other
specialists.

"Calvin Barber (1772-1846), Stonecutter In SImsbury,

CT"

- Stephen Petke

Calvin Barber was a stone mason and public official who
dominated the gravestone market in Simsbury, Connecticut
and surrounding towns from 1 795-1 825. Nearly 200 grave-
stones in the Farmington Valley and nearly 1 00 more elsewhere
can be safely attributed to him or his apprentices. His work
reflects the transformation of imagery from cherub, to urn and
willow, to anonymous slabs of the 19th century, and the
transformation of the craft from artisan to entrepreneur.

Stephen Petke is a Connecticut native currently living in East
Granby. He holds a degree in Business Administration from
Central Connecticut State University and a M.A. in American
Studies from Trinity College. He works in Health Care
Information Servicesforthe CIGNA Corporation in Bloomfield,
CT.

"Reflections of Change:
Cemeteries In Missouri"
- Dr. Mary e lien McVlcker

Romantic, Rural Park-Like

Missouri was the gateway to the West in the first half of the
1 9th century through which every socio-economic class and
culture passed. Nothing showed more the "civilized" effort of
the citizenry than a rural, park-like cemetery in the midst of the
wilderness. Examination of Bellefontaine Cemetery in St.
Louis and Walnut Grove in Boonville reveals much about the
early 1 9th century Midwest.

Maryellen McVicker is a native of the Boonslick region of
Missouri. She holds a B.A. with honors in Archaeology, an
M.A. in Art History and a Ph.D in Art History and Archaeology
from the University of Missouri with a specialty in American
Studies and historic preservation. Her doctoral dissertation
was on Boonslick cemeteries. Aformercollege instructor and
museum director, she is currently the co-owner of Memories
of Missouri, Inc., which specializes in historic preservation
and tours of Missouri.

"Phase One of a Conservation Program for Trinity Epis-
copal Cathedral Burying Ground, Sixth Avenue, Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania"

During the summer of 1990 the first phase of a comprehen-
sive restoration program was implemented at the 18th and
19th century Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Burying Ground in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This paper records and summa-
rizes the first phase of that overall conservation program
involving the documentation, interpretation and conservation
of the site and its markers. Temporary and emergency
treatments to protect those markers deemed endangered,
development and documentation of a fragment collection.

prototypic conservation treatments, conclusions and recom-
mendations for future preservation are discussed.

This paper was prepared under the supervision of Frank G.
Matero and is the combined effort of Frank G. Matero,
Elizabeth A. Bede, Lee Dassler and Derek Trelstad.

"Ritual, Regalia and Remembrance:
Ism and Gravestones"
- Laurel K. Gabel

Fraternal Symbol-

Fraternal organizations and secret benefit societies have
played an important role in the history of our country. In the
years before welfare programs, social security and labor
unions were formally organized, roughly 50% of the adult
population belonged to at least one fraternal or benefit group.
Death and memorialization held special importance in most of
these secret societies. Symbols, which played an important
part in fraternal ritual, appear frequently on gravemarkers.

Laurel K. Gabel of Rochester, New York, is the AGS Research
Coordinator as well as a popular lecturer. She is co-author
with Theodore Chase of numerous articles and the book
Gravestone Chronicles about 18th century gravestone
carvers. She operates the AGS Lending Library and main-
tains files for the Farber Photographic Collection. She is tour
guide for the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester,
a former AGS Trustee, and the recipient of the 1988 AGS
Forbes Award.

"Where Did the Stone In Early 19th Century Indiana
Gravestones Come From?"
- Dr. Warren E. Roberts

In many southern Indiana graveyards stand markers dating
from the first half of the 19th century which are thin slabs of
fine-grained sandstone with no carvings, only inscriptions.
Stones closely resembling these are found in eastern and
other mid western states. The paprar will explore the following
questions and provide tentative answers: Where did the fine-
grained sandstone come from bearing in mind that it is quite
different from the sandstone naturally occurring in Indiana?
Are these markers the work of local craftsmen and were they
ready-made? Why are the lettering styles on stones engraved
by different carvers so similar? Were these craftsmen unusu-
ally good spellers for the time? What does this information tell
us about the pioneer era in the Midwest?

Warren E. Roberts holds a B.A. from Reed College and an
M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University. Dr. Roberts is
Professor of Folktore at Indiana University in Bloomington
and is considered a leading scholar In the field. In his forty
years of teaching folklore courses, he has become interested
in gravestones as aform of folk art, particularly the tree-stump
tombstones and sandstone slabs of the early and mid-19th
century.

AGSSu'91p.3

Either Peji»ck i

ChMiEifield, NH 17S7

THE 1991 AGS CONFERENCE

MYSTERY GRAVESTONE CONTEST

Five photographs of a "mystery graveyard" were posted at the '91 conference, and conferees were
invited to enter their guesses, with their reasoning, concerning the location of the yard. You may want
to make your own guess before turning to page 26 for the answer and the name of the winner.

AGS Su'91 p. 4

"Death's Door: The Iconography of the Victorian
Cemetery" an illustated lecture will be presented by
the Victorian Society in America November 1 , 6:30
PM, in the auditorium of the Paulist Center, 5 Park
St., Boston. Owen Shows, a lecturer at the Boston
Architectural Center, will present the program. For
more information, call (617) 723-3186.

AGSSu'91p.5

INFORMAL LATE SHOW

The late show is an enduring AGS tradition, and as the title
implies it gets more informal as the night wears on. This year
there were at least 16 presentations. Here are outlines of a
few:

Thomas A. Malloy - "Causes of Death in Northern
Worcester County, MA"

An introduction to cemeteries in northern Worcester County
situated directly east of our conference site with special focus
on the causes of death revealed on the gravestones. Twelve
towns are represented, all settled in the early 1700s.

Dr. Thomas A. Malloy is professor at Mount Wachusett
Comm.unity College, Gardner, Massachusetts in the Social
Sciences Department.

Bob Pierce at Old Bernardston MA. photo by Jim Jewell.

Margaret Vose - "Stone Roses"

The rose has been a popular motif on gravestones from the
seventeen hundreds to the present time. The rose motif with
its various symbolic meanings, many dating back to antiquity,
will be discussed.

Margaret Vose is Associate Professor in the Fine Arts De-
partment of Eastern Connecticut State University. She holds
a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Art Ed.
fromthe University of Hartford. Sheiscompletingherdoctoral
dissertation which deals with the design motifs in scrimshaw
that are found in other forms of folk art.

J. Joseph Edgette - "Craft, Avocation, Job, Profession:
Inscribed and Motific Representation"

Adetailed treatment will be presented of the ways in which the
craft, avocation, job, or profession has been indicated on the
gravestone and made a part of the preserved information
about the deceased. Looking at examples across time and
locale, the form of the data, either inscribed or through motif,
will be shown and discussed.

left to right: Phil Kallas, Joe Edgette and Tom Graves at Old
Bernardston MA. photo by Jim Jewell.

Polly SikM tione
Walpok. NH 1800

The person who was to open the Immanuel Church — and
access to the restrooms — ivas late! on the AGS '9 1 Victorian
tour at Bellows Falls VT. photo by Jim Jewell.

AGSSu'91 p. 6

PRESENTATION OF THE 1991 HARRIETTE MERRIFIELD FORBES AWARD
Presentation Speech by President, W. Fred Oal<ley, Jr. to Lynette Strangstad

Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Tonight is very special for us, collec-
tively, ttiose past recipients of the
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award
and of course, our 1991 nominee.

Here at the head table we have four
people whose outstanding contribu-
tions to the Association's goals earned
them this coveted award.

I would like to introduce them to you
and ask you to please hold your ap-
plause until all four have been introduced.

Daniel Farber received the award in 1977
Dr. James Slater received the award In 1982
Jessie Lie Farber received the award in 1985
And Laurel Gabel received the award in 1988.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we salute you.

As many of you know and others are about to learn,
Harriette Merrifield Forbes pioneered the study
of gravestones in New England. Her book, Grave-
stones of Early New England and the Men Who Made
Them, published in 1927, marks the beginning of
contemporary gravestone study and research. The
award being presented here tonight sustains our
spiritual and emotional connection to Mrs. Forbes
by recognizing a person whose work continues to
advance the study and appreciation of gravestone
art.

In recognition of her outstanding contributions to
the Association's purposes I am pleased to intro-
duce this year's Forbes Award recipient, Lynette
Strangstadoi Charleston, South Carolina. Lyn,
please join me here at the podium.

Lyn's selection to receive this award bridges the
scholarly function to the practical application.
Writing a book is a major task which Lynn under-
took with some prodding from AGS members who
saw the need for protecting and restoring the
objects of their research. There was likely some
hesitancy on Lynette's part, for professionals are
understandably fearful of the consequences to
gravestones when untrained volunteers swarm
into the countryside, determined to restore every
cemetery that can be found. The great compromise

is a book entitled, A Graveyard Preservation
Primer that describes the role of volunteers
(hopefully with professional supervision) and
the role of the professional. The Primer has been
a "best seller," and is still in demand attesting to
the author's success in melding the scholarly with
the practical in a grand effort to preserve, pro-
tect, conserve and restore these priceless objects.

Additionally, Lynette is recognized as an outstand-
ing conservationist whose advice and expertise is
widely sought by individuals and organizations
seeking to preserve their cemeteries. Through
her many business activities, she promotes state
of the art techniques and constantly urges her
audiences to hold to high standards in their pres-
ervation work.

Forthis accomplishment and her continuing sup-
port of AGS goals I am honored to present the 1 991
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award to Lynette
Strangstad.

(Framed certificate and a photograph of Mrs.
Forbes were presented.)

Tlie certificate was designed by Carol Perl<ins and
framed by Mictiael Cornish. Accompanying the
award is a picture of Mrs. Forbes for whom it was
named.

AGSSu'91 p. 7

Acceptance Speech by Lynette Strangstad

Thank you, Fred. I am both honored and delighted
to be here this evening and to find myself the
recipient of the Harriette Merrif ield Forbes Award.

I am not exaggerating to tell you I was stunned when
I opened the letter from Fred saying I was to
receive this award.

Now, I am no newcomer to appreciation of historic
graveyards. I spent several years living in Ver-
mont and New Hampshire where I worked, earned
my master's degree and taught. In 1 968 I received
my first book on gravestones. Over Their Dead
Bodies: Yar^kee Epitaphs and History. During those
years in the '60s — when our peers had gone to
California to wearflowers in their hair, my sister
and I had gone to New England to tramp through
obscure colonial graveyards. We would stand in
awe of particularly fine examples of the carver's
art, or particularly early, well-preserved stones,
or personal histories carved in stone which equalled
any fictional account of the courageous and har-
rowing experiences of early pioneers. Then as
now, I am often moved by a poignant inscription or
a circumstance related to the life and death re-
corded on a particular tombstone.

I have been lucky in my years in the field of
historic preservation. I was able to work with the
National Trust for Historic Preservation in their
Restoration Workshop on some of the nation's
finest historic buildings, such as Woodlawn Plan-
tation in Mt. Vernon, Virginia; Lyndhurst, the
impressive Gothic Revival estate of Jay Gould in
Tarrytown, New York; and at Drayton Hall in
Charleston, South Carolina, said to be the finest
Georgian Palladian structure extant in the United
States today. During the two and a half years i was
with the National Trust, I received training in
historic preservation procedures, philosophy,
theory, and practice, taught by leaders in the
preservation field.

The longer I worked in preservation, the more I
became interested in masonry. And the longer I
worked with masonry, the more I wanted to work
with stone. And while working with stone, the
opportunity to work with historic gravemarkers
was offered.

Since I began specializing in the preservation of
historic burial grounds in 1980, I have visited
many graveyards and seen that no two are alike —

and I have learned a great deal about many of them.

I have had many lean years in this business,
believe me, and in the early days in this field I may
have gotten only an occasional call to '1ix a grave-
stone" or "restore a graveyard." I supplemented
this work with architectural restoration. Today I
do little architectural restoration. Today I have a
list of waiting graveyard preservation clients, I
speak at conferences, write for historic preser-
vation publications, offer consultations on site,
and prepare historic preservation plans for burial
sites nearly as often as my staff and I do actual
conservation work at burial sites. Stone Faces has
grown from a company of one to a staff of four, and
occasionally, at a particular site, a dozen. And I
continue to be excited by all that I am learning, by
the graveyards I meet, and the people I see.

Andthe Primer. When Jessie Lie Farber, in 1 984,
asked me to prepare a booklet for AGS on grave-
stone preservation, I'm sure neither of us knew
quite what we were getting into. We went through
many drafts and modifications, each an expansion
of the last, it seemed, and we went from a booklet
to a supplement in Markers to a full-fledged book.
And when it came time to send it off to the pub-
lisher, I wanted to keep it a little longer and
improve it some more, and Jessie said to me,
"Lyn, you can either keep it and work on it until
it's perfect, or you can get it out there where it can
do some good." And so it went. And I'm glad it's out
there and has been helpful and well received. But,
I know it is only a beginning compared to the
information that could be available, the information
we all need in order to make the best choices
regarding historic burial sites.

It is clear to me that since 1980 there has been a
rapidly growing interest in burial sites, their
significance and their preservation. And I have
been lucky to be part of a burgeoning new branch
in the field of historic preservation. I have often
called burial site preservation "the newest fron-
tier" in the historic preservation movement, and
I think the appellation fits. Interest in historic
burial sites has grown rapidly, sites are being
legally protected, and good conservation practices
are becoming more common. And much of that
credit goes to you, and to others like you who have
gotten the word out, or fought legal battles, or
returned a stone to its rightful location, or talked
to the local newspaper about the significance of a
local site.

AGSSu'91 p.8

And I think that brings us to AGS and future
directions. We have all made tremendous strides
in recent years, and we still have so far to go. AGS
has been a major contributortowards disseminat-
ing information about graveyards, their signifi-
cance, and their preservation. AGS has grown
from a tiny organization of gravestone aficionados
to an organization with an international member-
ship. With such growth comes a certain amount of
power, and with that power comes a tremendous
responsibility. It is critical to establish a high
level of professionalism in this newly recognized
branch of historic preservation:

— by developing responsible public educa-
tion programs,

— by advocating comprehensive planning for
burial site preservation based on sound historic
preservation principles,

— by recognizing that preservation of his-
toric burial grounds is a very different discipline
than maintenance of modern cemeteries,

^by recognizing the valuable contributions
made by volunteers and at the same time insisting
on professionalism in areas where it is vitally
necessary,

— and by seeking broader and better legisla-
tion than presently exists.

We need legislation which protects burial sites not
only from theft and vandalism but also from ne-
glect and development, which defines ownership
and responsibilities of owners, prevents unwar-
ranted physical intrusion of any kind (whether
from trinket hunter or archaeologist), protects
all sites including native American and all other
ethnic and economic groups, historic and prehis-
toric.

We need to recognize the interdisciplinary nature
of our work and encourage participation not only
by historians, genealogists, and art historians,
but also by folklorists, historic preservationists,
anthropologists, archaeologists, cultural geogra-
phers, historic landscapers, biologists, horticul-
turists, and others who have professional con-
cerns relating to historic burial site preserva-
tion.

want to belong to an organization that is interested
in studying gravestones just for fun — because
gravestones provide a great hobby. Ofttimes,
however, it is the volunteers who have the drive
and the stamina to spearhead a group to preserve
a yard from a road or a shopping center, orto bring
back from oblivion a fine old Victorian graveyard,
who are often the spokespersons when the legis-
lators meet to discuss the fate of these historic
resources. In so many ways volunteers play a
strategic role in the preservation of burial sites.

That makes AGS a potentially ideal vehicle for
volunteer and professional alike to work together
in the effort to preserve historic burial grounds,
and to recognize proper preservation procedures
including the determination of what areas volun-
teers are best suited, and when and for what
reasons professionals must be consulted.

It is the responsibility of us all to maintain the
highest of standards in what we do and in what we
advocate others do. We have the power to pre-
serve— or destroy — most of the burial sites that
come, somehow, under our influence. I wince
when I see newspaper articles about a group that
is "restoring" a graveyard by laying stones flat in
cement or using other inappropriate repair
methods, or when I hear of a landscape architect
who chooses to redesign a graveyard with no con-
sideration for the historic plantings already in
place, or someone who starts so-called "restora-
tion" work on a site without having first docu-
mented the site as it was found, without under-
standing the need for a long-range plan.

I think the bywords for the '90s for AGS might be
"public education" and "responsibility." If we
continue with sound public education efforts and if
we insist on acting responsibly and encouraging
others to act responsibly, we will have made a real
contribution to the important goal of preserving
America's burial sites.

Burial grounds are being threatened by inadequate
laws, commercial development, vandalism, pol-
lution, and ignorance. If historic burial grounds
are to survive, it is our responsibility to inform
ourselves and to work to protect these valuable
resources, to record and interpret the wealth of
information they contain, to preserve them as
irreplaceable historic sites.

At the same time, we need to recognize the volun-
teers who comprise the majority of the member-
ship here. I know many will quickly tell me they

Our most effective tools include not only conser-
vation, but

— personal and public education,

— legislative protection.

AGSSu'91p.9

— public policy determination,

— and development of an active coalition of
groups to whom the survival of burial grounds is
critical.

broadly recognized as a serious concern, and
building credibility through vigilance In develop-
ing and maintaining high standards in all our
endeavors.

Our goals should include allying ourselves with
the preservation community in order that burial
site preservation and protection may be more

Accelerated stress to burial grounds from both the
natural environment and the political and social
environment requires that we accept that chal-
lenge now.

THE HARRIETTE MERRIFIELD FORBES AWARD

At the first annual conference of The Association for Gravestone Studies, it was resolved that an award
should be made periodically to honor either an individual or an organization in recognition of exceptional
service to the field of gravestone studies. This award, known as The Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award,
recognizes outstanding contribution in such areas as scholarship, publications, consen/ation, education,
and community service.

Past recipients of this award are:

1977 Daniel Farber

1978 Ernest Caulfield

1979 Peter Benes

1980 Allan Ludwig

1982 Jim Slater

1983 Hilda Fife

1984 Ann Parker & Avon Neal

1985 Jessie Lie Farber

1986 Louise Tallman

1987 Frederick & Pamela Burgess

1988 Laurel Gabel

1989 Betty Willsher

1990 Theodore Chase

CALL FOR PAPERS
AND EXHIBITS

AGS Conference '92

June 25-28, 1992 the AGS Conference will be
held at Union College in Schenectady, New York
with Barbara Rotundo as Conference Chair. Plans
are already underway for bus tours through the
New York countryside to see some early burial
grounds and beautiful Victorian cemeteries.

The area around Schenectady, referred to as the
Capital District because Albany, not New York
City, is the capital of the state, includes the junc-
tion of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers and was the
starting point of the all-important Erie Canal.
This meant it was the westward migration route
for New Englanders. For people interested in
gravestones it is also the crossroads for early

carving styles, receiving both from New England
to the east and from New York City to the south. If
you have been doing gravestone research that you
are ready to share, send an abstract to C.R. Jones
by December 15. His address is New York State
Historical Association, P.O. Box 800, Cooperstown
NY 13326. Particularly valuable forthe confer-
ence would be papers on carvers who moved from
New England to the Mohawk Valley and papers
showing other kinds of immigration such as stones
in ethnic cemeteries.

Exhibits including rubbings, photographs, cast-
ings, photographic essays and videotapes of res-
toration work are solicited.

AGSSu'91 p. 10

The Association for Gravestone Studies

1991 Annual Meeting

June 30, 1991

AGENDA

Call to Order - President, W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Quorum Declared - Secretary, Lance Mayer

Motion to Receive Minutes of 1990 Annual
Meeting

Annual Reports:

Treasurer - FYE 1990 - Cornelia

Jenness

Archivist - Jo Goeselt

Editor, Newsletter - Deborah Trask

Editor, Journal - Theodore Chase

Research Clearinghouse and Lending

Library - Laurel Gabel

Remarks:

Executive Director - Miranda Levin
President - W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

"AGS Goes Big Time" - Slide Presentation

New Business

Recognition of Retiring Officers and Trustees

Presentation of Memory Book - Jessie Farber

Announcing Election Results - Lance Mayer

Introduction of New Officers and Trustees

Passing the Forbes Book to New President

Adjournment - Cornelia Jenness, President

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF
MARKERS

Since the latter part of 1987 we have had under
discussion publication of the Caulfield articles as
an issue of Markers. Jim Slater started on ed-
iting the articles early in 1989, using Dr.
Caulfield's notes on the published versions of the
articles which appeared in the Connecticut His-
torical Society Bulletin. Since the appearance of
Markers VII the editor of Markers and Dr.
Slaterworkedtogetherto produce MarArers VIII,
and the result is available at the June 1991
Conference.

During the last year your editor has also been
collecting and editing articles for Markers XI,
which should appear early in 1992. Six articles
are in hand and have been edited, and three more
have been reviewed in draft and should be ready for
final editing in a matter of weeks. Thus Markers
X/will have a varied and interesting set of pieces
runningfromthe Mullikensto Shakercemeteries,
from a discussion of the Green Man to an appre-
ciation of Francis Duval.

After bringing out five issues, the present editor
of Ala rlcersf eels that it will be time to pass on the
torch. I am pleased to report that the Editorial
Board has approved and the Board of Trustees has
appointed Professor Richard E. Meyer of Western
Oregon State College as the next editor. He has been
head of the Cemeteries and Gravemarkers Section
of the American Culture Association, has edited a
collection of essays on the subject, has two more
books in preparation, and has published papers on
a variety of subjects, ranging from the English
poet George Crabbe to American outlaw ballads.

It has been fun and richly rewarding serving as
your editor, and 1 shall treasure not only the
volumes produced but also the many pleasant as-
sociations I have had.

Theodore Chase

AGSSu'91 p. 11

AGS ACHIVES

LENDING LIBRARY

The AGS Archives are a growing collection of
valuable books, manuscripts, photographs,
pamphlets and documents relating to our primary
purpose, the study of gravestones and their
preservation. At present there are approximately
500 items.

They are stored in a climate-controlled envi-
ronment at 30 Elm St., Worcester, and may be
accessed in person through the librarian of the
Worcester Historical Museum during regular
hours. The archives are not a circulating library
but questions may be addressed to the archivist
who may be able, occasionally, to make photocopies
of short articles.

The mail-order Lending Library was started in
December 1988 as a service to AGS members who
may be unable to obtain basic gravestone refer-
ence books by other means. Eighteen books are
currently available through the library; two of
these. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers, and Clasped
hands, were added during 1990. Approximately
twenty-five books were loaned last year. Bor-
rowers pay a $2.00 handling and supplies fee,
plus the special library postage rate. In addition
to this fee, membercontributions have enabled the
lending library to function without cost to AGS.

Laurel K. Gabel

The catalogue is being updated to include all do-
nations received during the recent transition
period. Additions are always welcome. Also
welcome would be offers to help sort envelopes of
newspaper clippings which are donated each year,
into useful categories for easier access.

Jo Goeselt
Archivist

Chnki Sntan lume
Peterborough. NH 1802

AGS RESEARCH OFFICE

AGS NEWSLETTER

During the 1990 calendaryear, the AGS research
office responded to approximately 80 written
requests for information as well as more than 20
telephone inquiries. No two questions were alike!
Members sought information about the use of
specific symbolism, burial customs and
memorialization. Many wished to contact other
AGS members working in their area of interest, or
to make use of the research files, and data base.
When photographic examples could be useful,
members were provided with photocopies from
the Farber photographic collection, a visual re-
source of close to fifteen thousand early gravestone
photographs indexed by carver, name of deceased,
location and date. Indices of other large photo-
graphic collections will soon be computerized, as
well. Compiling a list of eighteenth- and nine-
teenth-century gravestone carvers continues as
an on-going project. Additions, corrections and
inquiries about these resources and information
about your research pursuits are always welcome.

Deborah Trask took the opportunity of the AGS
Annual Meeting to remind members that the
Newsletter is only as good as the quality of sub-
missions from members. There is no lack of
material, but it would be great if more members
could contribute short items of their own, as well
as local newspaper clippings.

She also noted that she became editor of the A3S
NewsletterwWhXhe Fall 1983 issue. She felt that
this was a bit of a monopoly on her part, and as ten
years seems a reasonable time to devote to AGS, she
announced that the Summer 1993 issue will be the
last she will edit. She felt that two years notice
would provide the Association with the time to
decide on her successor.

WANTED!

D. Finnell, 3210 Old Dominion Blvd, Alexandria VA
22305 would like to make contact with anyone doing
research on or collecting Victorian-era gravestone epi-
taphs and verses.

AGSSu'91 p. 12

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT

June 30, 1991

As you all know, this past year has been an exciting
one for AGS. After a lengthy search, a new site was
found for the office in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Located in the Worcester Historical Museum, the
office is convenient and comfortable, with plenty
of storage space and room for expansion. The move
was made from Needham to the new office during
the last two weeks in November.

UnfortunatelyforAGS, this past year also included
the retirement of Executive Director Rosalee
Oakley. 1 began working with Rosalee in the
beginningof December, and, afterworkingtogether
for a month, Rosalee gradually eased out of her
responsibilities. The transition is now virtually
complete, and was, thanks to Rosalee and President
Fred Oakley, as well as the Trustees, remarkably
smooth for me.

To complete the transition, AGS has a new logo,
which better represents the varied interests of its
membership. As a result, we are presently re-
designing the AGS brochures, publications list,
and other marketing literature that AGS uses to
make itself known.

being properly restored and AGS is at least known
as a resource that can be called upon if necessary.

Spring and the beginning of good weather has
brought an increase in sales of the Primer. Sales
have also been good for Gravestone Chroni-
cles, our Teaching Leaflet Kit, and our video,
"Early New England Gravestones and the Stories
They Tell." In the next few weeks we will have our
new publications list which includes several new
items that have been in the works over the past
year, including Markers VIII.

Our year of transition over, I am looking forward
to working with all of you in the months to come.
I have enjoyed my first few months at AGS tre-
mendously, and have appreciated the terrific
support and enthusiasm of the Officers and other
Trustees. I invite all of you to contact me should
there be any way I can assist you with your work.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Miranda Levin
Executive Director

It should also be noted that the AGS Archive was also
moved to Worcester this past winter. It is ready
to receive visitors; arrangements can be made
through the AGS office.

Membership has been steady. As of June 1, 1991,
there were 927 members, which is almost exactly
the same number we had last year (934). While
we are holding our own admirably in tough economic
times, it would be terrific if next year I could
report a membership of over 1,000. Devising
strategies to increase our membership is among
my top priorities for the coming months, and any
member input on the subject would be greatly
appreciated. However, it should be noted that the
highest percentage of new members heard about
AGS through word-of-mouth, which points to the
membership as the best source for finding new
members.

Although 1 have been doing correspondence for
only seven months, it has included many requests
for copies of A Graveyard Preservation
Primer, which was mentioned in several pub-
lications. Although few memberships have been
realized through these inquiries, cemeteries are

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT -
June 30, 1991

(condensed for the Newsletter)

This past year was especially challenging to your
officers and Board members occasioned by the
resignation of Rosalee Oakley as Executive Di-
rector, the termination of Fred Oakley's four year
presidency and thus the need to relocate the office
and hire a new Executive Director.

Guided by a plan developed in our Planning Com-
mittee and supported by a determined Personnel
Committee, affordable office space was located in
Worcester, Massachusetts, and a resident of the
area was employed as Executive Director. Each of
these above actions took a great deal of effort and
the Trustees are very pleased with the results.
The new office location is at 30 Elm Street,
Worcester, MA 01609. Our new Executive Di-
rector is Mrs. Miranda Levin. The Association's
Archives are also located at the above address.

After much debate our Association's logo has been

AGSSu'91 p. 13

changed. The interesting colonial figure from a
stone in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, had lost
some appeal as our identifying symbol as the
Association grew in membership diversity. The
new logo conveys the concept of inclusiveness of all
gravemarkers of interest to members of the As-
sociation.

Markers VIII, (The Caulfield Papers) was pub-
lished incorporating changes suggested by Dr.
Caulfield's field notes and subsequent research.
This volume, by far the largest of the series, is
328 pages with 170 photographs. Concurrent
with the publication of Markers VIII, Ted Chase,
Markers editor for volumes V through VIM, an-
nounced his intention to conclude his work as
editor with the publication of War/cers/X. Richard
E. Meyer, professor of the English Department at
Western Oregon State College has accepted the
position of Markers editor beginning with Markers
X.

Including this report, my fourth and final one as
your President, I want the entire membership to
know that our Association is healthy and growing,
our new Executive Director is very capable and
works well with people, the financial picture is
good. Not exceptional — but improving. Exhibit and
program space are available in Worcester, an
asset that can be developed with volunteer support.
Our 1992 Conference is slated for Union College,
Schenectady, NY. Dr. Barbara Rotundo is the
Conference Chair. Program Chair is C. R. Jones.

To the officers and Board members who have been
so very supportive, to the former and current
Executive Directors who have helped me so very
much and to the general membership who by their
votes entrusted the leadership position to my care
for the past four years, I wish to express my
appreciation for your allowing me to serve you.

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.
President

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT OF
ELECTION RESULTS

In accordance with the By-Laws, the Nominating
Committee invited recommendations for nomina-
tions to the Board of Trustees from the general
membership in the Summer 1990 Newsletter.
Nominations were confirmed by the Board at its
January 1991 meeting and conveyed to the general
membership in the form of a ballot included in a
general mailing in March 1991.

Forty-two ballots received by the June 1 deadline
have been counted. I am pleased to report the
following people have been elected for two-year
terms as Trustees commencing at the close of this
Annual Meeting:

Officers

President: Cornelia Jenness
Vice-President: James Slater
Secretary: C.R. Jones
Treasurer: W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Directors at Large

Rosanne Atwood-Foley

Robert Drinkwater

Laurel Gabel

Elizabeth Goeselt Rosalee Oakley

Barbara Rotundo

Miriam Silverman

Jonathan Twiss

Ralph Tucker

Nominating Committee
C.R. Jones, Chair
Lance Mayer
Robert Drinkwater

Conference Lost and Found

Several items were found at the conclusion of the Confer-
ence.

A pair of glasses (prescription), pink rims.
One silver Egyptian ankh earring
A red plastic rain hat

(available from Rosalee Oakley, 46 Plymouth Road,

Needham, MA 02192)

One large umbrella

(available from Ckjrnelia Jenness, HCR 10, Box 643,
Spofford, NH 03462)

AGSSu'91 p. 14

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

ANNUAL MEETING

June 30, 1991

President W. Fred Oakley Jr. called the meeting to
order at 8:42 AM at Camp Hall, Northfield Mt. Hermon
School, Northfield MA. Secretary Lance Mayer re-
ported a quorum of at least twenty members present,
and declared the meeting duly convened.

Fred Oakley asked whether there were any additions,
corrections or deletions to the minutes of the previous
annual meeting, which had been distributed. There
being none, he declared the minutes approved.

Several reports, which had been previously
distributed, and which are printed in this issue of the
Newsletter, were discussed. A motion by Ralph Tucker,
seconded by Joseph Edgette, that the Treasure's Re-
port be accepted, was approved unanimously. It was
moved by Barbara Rotundo and seconded by John
Wilson that the report of the AGS Archivist be accepted;
this motion was approved unanimously. A motion by
Phil Kallas, seconded by Jim Jewell, that the report of
the Editor of Markers be accepted was approved
unanimously. A motion by Lorraine Clapp, seconded
by Mira Graves, that the report of the Research Coor-
dinator be accepted was approved unanimously.

New Executive Director Miranda Levin was introduced;
she referred to her report (which had been
distributed, and is printed in this issue of the Newslet-
ter) , and said that working with AGS has been a joy and
a challenge, and that she is eager to work for us and
with us. A motion to accept the Executive Director's
report was made by Phyllis VanOsten, seconded by
Carol Perkins, and was approved unanimously.

Fred Oakley referred to his report, and added that in
spite of the many changes in AGS this year, the
transitions had gone remarkably smoothly. A rrotion
was made by Robert Drinkwater, seconded by Gray
Williams, that the President's Report be accepted; the
motion was approved unaninnously.

Deborah Trask asked members to submit more original
material for the AGS Newsletter. She can also use
items on 3 1/2" computer disk (Mac or format ASCII),
and announced that she would like to give up the
editorship of the Newsletter in the summer of 1993.
Deborah has been editor since 1983.

Fred Oakley introduced a slide presentation, "AGS
Goes Bigtime," describing the history of the AGS office

and the recent transition to a space in the Worcester
Historical Museum, and also illustrating many of our
present activities, including the Newsletter, Markers,
the Lending Library, the Board of Trustees, and a
preview of the 1992 conference.

Fred Oakley asked if there was any new business, and
there was none.

Fred Oakley introduced Richard Meyer, who will be the
new Editor of Markers, and an ex officio member of the
Board of Tmstees.

Fred Oakley recognized the importance of Robert
Drinkwater, who will be retiring as Vice-President, and
he presented Lance Mayer and Lorraine Clapp, who
are retiring from the Board of Tmstees, each with a
plaque to recognize six years' service on the Board.

C.R. Jones, Chair of the Nominating Committee, re-
ported the results of the mail balloting for Trustees and
Officers, and introduced the new Trustees and Officers
who were present. Officers are: Cornelia Jenness,
President; James Slater, Vice-President; C.R. Jones,
Secretary; W. Fred Oakley Jr., Treasurer. Directors-at-
large are: Rosanne Atwood Foley, Robert Drinkwater,
Laurel Gabel, Elizabeth Goeselt, Rosalee Oakley,
Barbara Rotundo, Miriam Silverman, Ralph Tuckerand
Jonathan Twiss.

According to tradition, Fred Oakley passed a first
edition copy of Haniette MerrifiekJ Forbes' book The
gravestones of Early New England and the Men Who
Made Them, to new president Neil Jenness. Neil
thanked Fred for everything that he had done for AGS,
and presented him with an automatic power cord,
explaining that he will now be farther from the sources
of power. C.R. Jones presented Fred Oakley with a
"Perpetual Care" plaque (which he assured members
had been legally removed), with thanks for all of the
care that Fred has taken with AGS during his presi-
dency.

A motion was made by Ralph Tucker, seconded by
Gray Williams, that the meeting be adjourned. New
President Neil Jennessdeclaredthe meeting adjourned
at 9:35 AM.

Respectfully submitted,
Lance Mayer, Secretary

AGSSu'91 p. 15

'91 CONFERENCE IN THE NEWS!

Two Springfield MA newspapers carried
Items on the 1991 AGS Conference:

"Cemetery Scholars Set Study," by David A. Valette.
From The Springfield L/n/on-A/eivs, June 28, 1991.

GILL MA- It's written in stone - a gravestone.

More than 150 members of the Association for
Gravestone Studies will comb cemeteries
throughout rural Franklin County and neighboring
New Hampshire and Vermont over the next three
days while attending a conference at Northfield
Mount Hermon School. Arriving yesterday from
as far away as San Francisco and Nova Scotia, the
participants, learning from preservation pro-
fessionals, will record the flavor of the region's
burial grounds.

For some, such as Newland F. Smith of Heath, a sort
of race is on to record the messages and historical
backround of as many stones as possible, given the
deterioration taking place from acid rain and other
factors. Smith proudly shows a book of the the
Heath Historical Society, completed by an army of
volunteers, which lists all of the approximately
1 ,400 gravestones in the town's four cemeteries.
The rural hilltown has just over 700 residents.
The listing has become a tool for genealogists,
including amateurs tracing their own lineage; but
most important to Smith it puts a freeze on the loss
of information. His only lament is that it was not
accomplished sooner.

"There are many blanks" where the inscriptions
had already bowed to deterioration, he said. For
Smith, the association conferences provide a once-
a-year opportunity to rub shoulders with others
with the same concerns.

"It's so great seeing so many people together who
are all interested in the field," he said. For a
modest $225 fee, members are lodging the three
nights in a summer-abandoned dorm, being fed by
the school, and provided buses for collective
cemetery tours to go along with their self -guided
trips.

The cemetery at Historic Deerfield, where the
history of a settlement is recorded on the stones,
is one of theirtargets. Others are the cemetery off
Old Stage Road in Montague Center where the works
of Deerfield stone carvers John Locke and Solomon
Ashley are well represented; the cemetery off
West Leyden Road in Colrain with its examples of

carved marble stones by George Winslow of
Charlemont, and Green River Cemetery in
Greenfield on a bluff overlooking the Green River.

Helping with arrangements are the Northfield
Historical Society, the Northfield Historical
Commission and the Pioneer Valley Historical
Council which is comprised of the 30 historical
societies of Franklin County.

Today'sfarefortheconferees includes a restoration
workshop conducted by Jim and Minxie Fannin of
Concord, which will involve the cleaning and re-
setting of stones in Northfield's Center Cemetery.
Tomorrow, a pair of bus tours will cover both the
early and Victorian-era cemeteries of the upper
Connecticut River Valley.

The early era trip includes Westminster and
Rockingham in Vermont, and Charlestown,
Walpole, and Chesterfield in New Hampshire; while
the Victorian circuit begins in Winchester, N.H.,
includes both Bellows Falls and Brattleboro in
Vermont, and concludes in Greenfield.

"New England Gravestones Deemed Historic Gold
Mine," by David A. Vallette. From The Springfield
Republican, June 30, 1991.

GILL MA - To be a member of the Association for
Gravestone Studies is to be an historian, an art
critic, a researcher and a bit of the fanatic.

When 150 of these gravestone enthusiasts de-
scended on the campus of Mt. Hermon School
Thursday they came for the whole picture of the
Upper Connecticut River Valley. The school was
merely their base of operations. Cars and buses
fanned out into cemeteries from Deerfield to
Walpole, N.H., and they checked out the local
museums, town architecture and anything else
that had bearing on the creation of the unique
burial stones they found. The burial markers
offered stories about individual people, their
families and their communities.

For William Hosley, a curator of decorative art in
Hartford, the upper valley is a gold mine. "There
is an extraordinary collection of historic and
artistic markers here," he said. People in the

AGSSu-91 p. 16

Colonial Period here lived with the constant threat
ot hostility, and many graves tell of the resultant
loss of life. "This was a war zone. . . You had to have
some guts," he said of those who defied the odds to
live in the frontier, and whose deaths were so well
noted by data carved into their stones. "There is
a whole sense of trauma and tragedy right there on
the gravestones."

Among the unique pieces of information on the
stones, largely peculiar to the area, is the listing
of where the deceased had come from - their towns
of origin in southern and eastern New England.

For most of the cemetery enthusiasts, the primary
task is to determine exactly who did the carving
since very few carvers put their names to the
stone the way painters sign their works. They left
signatures, nonetheless, in the form of identifi-
able designs and workmanship, and association
members take a scholarly approach toward iden-
tification. Carvers with surnames of Locke,
Stewart, Baldwin, Soules, Wright, Bartlett,
Phelps, Brown, Winslow and Ashley all worked
the upper valley, and all left signatures which
these scholars can read.

The Association is based in the Worcester Histori-
cal l\/luseum in Worcester.

contributed by Leslie Ann Geist, Wauconda IL, and
others.

Janis Ramotti, on the AGS '91 conference Victorian tour at
Winchester NH. photo by Jim Jewell.

These students of the stone are also interested in
preservation. They spend many hours cataloguing
cemeteries to produce computer and paper records
of gravestone messages. The stones will deterio-
rate but what they had to say is locked in protected
archives. They also promote the physical protection
of cemeteries through community projects.
Charles tvlarchant of Townshend VT has specific
interest in the plight of small family burial grounds
that are on private land now owned by other than
ancestors of the buried family. "These are outdoor
museums. They need to be cared for and access to
them preserved," he said. Marchant urges creation
of local groups to work with landowners to get
their cooperation, rather than see these "muse-
ums" fall by the wayside.

The conference, which ends today, was held at Mt.
Hermon for the first time. One of the organization's
1 3 earlier annual conferences was held at Amherst
College, keeping to a workable pattern of taking
advantage of schools vacant with summer recess
when dorms, dining halls and meeting rooms are
all available and at modest prices.

Next year the conference will be held at Union
College in Schenectady NY; New Haven CT is likely
for 1 993, and Chicago is expected to be the host in
1994.

MEMBER NEWS

Three AGS former and current members have died
recently:

Robert van Benthuysen of Long Branch NJ regu-
larly sent clippings to the Newsletter.

Loring f^cl^illen, Staten Island Borough Histo-
rian, was a member for several years, then he
turned his membership over to the Friends of
Abandoned Cemeteries of Staten Island (FACSI).
He died f^arch 19, 1991, aged 85.

Dr. Hilda U. Fife, AGS Forbes Award recipient in
1983, died in November 1 990, aged 87. Hilda was
the dedicated founder of Maine Old Cemetery As-
sociation (MOCA)in 1968.

Thelma McAlpine-Ernst, 4 Hartford Ave., P.O.B.
4, West Upton fViA 01 587, writes that she attended
the first meeting in June of 1976 and has been an
AGS member ever since. "It would be interesting
to know how many of those attending in 1976 are
still members." Deborah Trask was heard won-
dering aloud at the '91 conference if there are
others (besides herself) who have attended every
conference since 1976. AGS is now old enough to
have its own history and traditions!

AGSSu'91 p. 17

GRAVE SHEDS OF CHIPPEWA/OJIBWAY
INDIANS ON MADELINE ISLAND

by Dr. Maynard Mires, Georgetown DE

an informal version of tfiis article was
presented at the 1991 AGS conference
"late show".

Gravehouses or grave sheds, although
certainly not unique to the Chippewa,
are found in their most interesting
setting in a Christian Indian cemetery
on Madeline Island on the far northern
shores of Wisconsin. To this area of
Chequamegon Bay in the western end of
Lake Superior came the first French
explorers, des Groseilliers and
Radisson, in 1659. They would be
followed by a long line of adventurous
Frenchmen who desired either to trade
with the local Indians for their furs or to bring
them the gospel.

The gravehouse custom is particularly common to
another part of the United States, in a belt stretching
westward from Tennessee to Oklahoma. Appar-
ently of Native American origin, these gravehouses

described such customs in their areas. Of interest
to this author was ivis. Bellous' reference to Fr.
Frederick Baraga, known as "the Snowshoe
Priest", for, before transferring to the U.P., he
was involved in good works among the Chippewa on
Madeline Island. The museum at La Pointe contains
many artefacts of his tenure there in the 1830s.
He was joined by Protestant missionaries
from New England in an effort to educate the
children of the Chippewa and also combat the
evil effects of alcohol sales by the unscru-
pulous American Fur Company.

Throughthecenturiesthe Indians of Madeline
Island have welcomed to their lodges a whole
succession of white men, this intermar-
riage resulting in present-day inhabitants
counting among their illustrious ancestors
various French noblemen. Chief White Crane
and the Warrens of Massachusetts. Cadotte
as a surname is today a matter of pride,
showing descent from a whole line of fur
traders beginning with Jean Baptiste Cadotte,
and liberally interspersed with some of the
above.

were intended to comfort and protect the spirits of
the deceased during its journey to be re-untied
with the Great Spirit. Disintegration of the "house"
is equated with spiritual progress.

Past articles \r\\he AGS Newsletterhy Linda Joslin
(Arkansas), Sybil Crawford (Texas) and Betty
Bellous of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan have

All of these people have been fortunate enough
to be accepted into the Chippewa cemetery when it
came time to meet their Maker. Therefore, the
sign proclaiming this to be the "La Point Indian
Cemetery" does not tell the whole story. Also the
date of 1836 is much too conservative, for burials
occurred here long before then. The cemetery
reflects its diverse origins by containing not only
gravehouses but also a few traditional gravestones

AGSSu'91 p. 18

(Warrens) and two most intriguing wrought iron
French crosses with symbols of the suns rays, a
heart and the fleur-de-lys. Could such represent
the grave of some unfortunate chevalier (or even
comte) who died far from home while serving the
interests of his king?

Maynard H. Mires of Georgetown, Delaware was
educated at the University of Buffalo Medical School
and Harvard School of Public Health. Formerly State
Epidemiologist for the Vermont Department of Health
and the Director of Public Health Services for the New
Hampshire Department of Health and Social Services,
he retired as Directorofthe Sussex County Health Unit
of Georgetown, Delaware in 1989.

A Stonecutter's Sample Stone

by Ralph Tucker

A number of stones in the Pratt family style have been
found in Freeport, Maine. As the family was located in
Abington, Massachusetts, efforts to identify the carver
were successfully made. It was discovered that Noah
Pratt, son of Noah and grandson of Nathaniel, pur-
chased land in Freeport in 1781, shortly after the
revolution. Here he lived with his wife, having married
in 1 780. The census of 1 790 indicates that he had four
sons and a daughter at that time. When his brother
Robert died in Abington in 1791 Noah returned to
Abington and took up the business there. His son Cyrus
followed in the family business, although he used the
then stylish tree and urn style.

Some years later in the attic of Noah's former house in
Freeport was found a small carved stone 1 4" by 7" with
the typical Pratt style head in the tympanum, part of the
alphabet and the year 1 787 in the inscription area, with
Noah Pratt carved below together with two additional
heads. At first the stone was not recognized for what it
was, but research uncovered the fact that Noah was a
real person and had lived in Freeport and was indeed
a carver.

The small stone is a poor grade of slate, but well
preserved. It is illustrated in the book Maine andits Role
in American Art, 1740- 1825 (New York, 1963).

The local historical society is having all the still-existing
Pratt stones photographed, and a study is being made
as to otherstones made by the variousfamily members.
Harriette Forbes in 1927 identified Noah Pratt as a

carver but has his death as 1731. This was the birth
date of Noah, Sr. who was also a carver. Peter Benes
in his book has a section on the family, and assumes
that Nathaniel was a carver, which in the light of further
evidence does not seem to be the case. Noah Sr. and
Seth Jones Pratt both carvers, removed to the
Skowhegan area of Maine, and Robert stayed in
Abington.

Ralph Tucker is. a frequent contributor to the Newsletter,
presently living in Maine. He was the first president of AGS.

AGSSu'91 p. 19

NEWSPAPER NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

Restoration of the historic cemetery at the Church-on-
the-Hili, Lenox NY, began this summer. Marcia B.
Brown, chair of the Lenox Historical Commission, said
that the project would begin with a mapping and pho-
tographic survey of plots and stones.

Brown said she had 25 volunteers ready to work and
hoped that more would come fonward. County surveyors
had already begun a grid of the cemetery, assisted by
a local architect.

The project will take at least 1 0 years and a lot of money,
according to Brown. Expert direction, supervision, and
training for volunteers will be needed, as well as skilled
labor to do some of the repairs. But she said she hopes
to obtain most of the funds through private donations
and grants. At the top of the commission's list of things
to do is pnjning or removing and replacing overgrown
shrubs and hazardous trees, as well as repairing
gravestones, many of which have broken off at ground
level and fallen down. "Each stone has its problems,"
Brown said yesterday. "Each stone is a project in itself."

The earliest known gravestone in the cemetery, ac-
cording to DPW employee Paul A. Pelkey, is that of 4
month old Elisha Bangs, who died July 3, 1 771 . Pelkey,
who is responsible for the town's three cemeteries, said
the DPW has already done a lot of cleanup work. The
town took over maintenance of the cemeteries in 1 984.
He said he has uncovered two or three stones that
nobody knew were there. However, he and Brown said,
there is much more to be done.

Other items on the restorers' agenda will be resurfacing
the road and parking area, as well as the walkway in the
cemetery. The fine old stone wall that surrounds it and
the fences on Main and Greenwood streets need repair.
So do the Main Street steps, according to the Historical
Commission's proposal. The 3 acre cemetery at the
crest of the hill on Main Street was given to the town in
1 768 by a Connecticut family. It is closed except to
people who already own plots.

Its 2,100 residents include local luminaries such as
Jonathan Hinsdale, the town's first settler, who died in
1811; the Rev. Samuel Shepard, pastor of the Congre-
gational Church for 50 years (1846); Dr. Anson Jones,
last president of the Republic of Texas (1858); and
Serge Koussevitzky, founding music director at
Tanglewood. "It's an outdoor museum," said Brown,
adding that the site draws a continual stream of visitors.
According to Brown, another reason that the project will
take a long time is that it cannot proceed without permits
from the state to ensure that the work is done properly.

She said no gravestones will be moved until the survey
is completed and permits received.

"Restoration of Historic Cemetery a Big Undertaking for
Volunteers, " by Abby Pratt. From The Berkshire Ea-
gle, March 2, 1991, contributed by Wm. Andy Meier,
New Lebanon, NY

JERSEY CITY - City officials and long-time city resi-
dents are trying to block an Egyptian church from
getting the deed of an abandoned cemetery to build a
pathway through the cemetery to their church. St.
George's Coptic Orthodox Church at 835 Bergen Av-
enue wantsto build apathway through Speer Cemetery
for a new entrance on the west side of the church. But
several city residents want the cemetery, lodged be-
tween Bergen Avenue shops and the back yards of a
half-dozen Van Reypen Avenue homes, to remain
untouched.

'This is part of our history. Let's leave it as it is,"
Councilman Joseph Rakowski said, "there are certain
things that are sacred. In order to do what they want to
do they would have to upset the grounds." The City
Council unanimously passed a resolution at its March
13 meeting recommending the cemetery receive state
or national designation as a historical landmark. The
small cemetery, with graves dating from 1 825 to 1 91 5,
is home to the families of Jersey City's early Dutch
settlers, including several Civil War and Spanish-
American War veterans. Rakowski said a historical
designation would protect the cemetery from any intru-
sion.

St. George's Church officials said they want to build a
raised pathway through the cemetery that will not
interfere with any of the 142 graves. With the new
pathway, parishioners will be able to enter the church
from the west, conforming with centuries-old Orthodox
traditions. Church Treasurer Michael Nairn said the
church would maintain the cemetery in the best condition
and allow any descendents of those buried there to visit
the graves at any time.

But some city residents, such as Anthony Fiola, said
they fearthe church will turn the cemetery into a pari<ing
lot for the church's 8,000 parishioners who have diffi-
culty finding adequate pari<ing during services.

From an article titled "Residents Fight Church, " by
Robyn Pforrin The Hudson Dispatch. Contributed by
Thomas B. Moore, North Bergen, NJ

AGS Su-91 p. 20

The following item is an interesting follow-up to the descrip-
tion of the restoration of the Lt. Jonathan Church gravestone
in the AGS Newsletter (V. 15 #1) Winter 1990-91, p. 9:

WETHERSFIELD CT- For years, the gravestone of Lt.
Jonathan Church had been slowly deteriorating in the
Old Village Cemetery. No one knew the former
Wethersf ield resident was one of the first of the "First to
Fight," the U.S. Marines, orthat a painting of Lt. Church
is the earliest existing image of a U.S. Marine, the only
from its era. But, after much research, his gravestone
has been restored, and his grave behind the First
Church of Christ rededicated with much ceremony.

The Marine Detachment 1797, a volunteer civilian unit
involved in educational and historical wori<, found and
restored the gravestone and participated in the
rededication ceremony last spring.

Historical records indicate that Lt. Church resigned
from the military after contracting tuberculosis, and
moved to Wethersf ield in 1801, where he bought the
Church Tavern, said. Nora Howard, director of the
Historical Society. He died in 1 805, and the tavern later
burned down.

American Heritage Magazine found a painting of Lt.
Church, owned by a distant relative in Columbus, Ohio,
Ms. Howard said. After research with the help of the
Marine Corps Historical Center in Washington, the
Marine detachment found that the painting is the only
known existing image of a Marine of the 1797-1803
period. Knowing what Marine uniforms looked like is
critically important to the re-enactment group. With the
painting, Ms. Howard said, re-enactors are "able to
replicate it right down to the buttons." About 80 costumed
re-enactors took part in the ceremony.

William Moss, a Marine Detachment 1 797 officer, noted
that the Continental Marines, fighting during the
American Revolution, disbanded in 1785. The U.S.
Marines formed in 1797, he said. The grave is behind
the First Church near its glass partition. The Marine
detachment repaired the broken gravestone, and placed
a second stone at its base. Moss said.

At the ceremony, the Marine Detachment, through the
United States Artillery Association, posthumously pre-
sented Lt. Church with the Honorable Award of Saint
Barbara, and handed it overto the care of the Historical
Society. The Historical Society also displayed an early
American Marine uniform, donated from the Marine
Detachment.

From an article titled "One of 1st Marines Rests in Town, 'by
Michael Kling, the New Britain Herald^ March 22, 1991.
Contributed by Ray Cummings, Avon CT

In Chicago, AGS member Helen Sclair has uncov-
ered a long-lost cache of 150-year old documents
that, experts say, significantly deepens historians'
understanding of Chicago's fornnative years. Helen's
discovery of the records of a former city cemetery on
the site of what is now Lincoln Park provides scholars
with a better picture of where Chicago's pioneer
settlers came from, as well as a portrait of the kind of
lives they led here.

Sclair made her find in a recently opened state
archive at Northeastern Illinois University, on the
city's Northwest Side. Anrxjng the documents she
uncovered was a demographic gokj mine of under-
takers' reports. They record the passings, month by
month, of Chicago's early settlers, plustheirages and
birthplaces, where they resided and the causes of
death.

In 1 842, the city fathers established a municipal burial
ground on a tract of land, then on Chicago's outskirts,
roughly bounded by North Ave., LaSalle St., Wisconsin
St. and State St. By thectose of the Civil War, though,
residences were being built on nearby North Side
streets. So the city decided to convert the land to a
lakefront park, naming it after the recently assassi-
nated Abraham Lincoln.

Through subsequent decades, txxJies that interfered
with the park's development were moved to outlying
cemeteries such as Rosehill and Graceland on the
North Side and Oakwoods on the South Side. But
Sclair's research shows that some families were still
fighting the rerrusval of forebears' remains as late as
the turn of the century. Indeed, Sclair thinks that all
of the tx)dies may not yet t»e out of Lincoln park.

HAMILTON OH- The restored Symmes Monument,
created in memory of Captain John Cleves Symmes
and his belief that the earth was hollow.returned to its
home in Symmes Park in March. Symmes died in 1 829,
but, according to infonnation supplied by AGS member
Thomas Stander of Hamilton, the stone, attributed to
the monument firm of Horssnyder and Kessling, was
erected in the late 1840s.

The renovations, made at a cost of about $16,000,
involved repair of the monument itself and the fencing
around it, purchase of four new bronze plaques and
casting four new benches to be placed on each side of
the monument. EdgarTafur, a Hamilton resklentforthe
past 20 years and a nationally known sculptor, was
selected by Historic Hamilton to perform the work.

AGSSu'91p.21

Three of the four new plaques are
engraved with the original legends
about Symmes, officials said. One
gives historical information and the
other two state legends about his
beliefs. The fourth plaque is a list of
the major contributors to the resto-
ration and their donations.

While kids nearby shot basketball
at the Symmes Park Playground,
crews with a crane lowered lime-
stone blocks into place, restoring
the monumentto Symmes, an 1 8th-
century Hamilton resident whom
an "Atlantic Monthly" writer once
speculated might someday
be honored alongside Sir
Isaac Newton (who discov-
ered gravity) and Benjamin
Franklin (who proved light-
ning is electricity).

side of the planet over the rim and
down upon the inner side a great
distance before becoming aware of
what happened.

Poe's "Manuscript Found in a Bot-
tle" and "Descent into the Mael-
strom" both were inspired and partly
based on Symmes' theory,
Havighurstwrotein1981. He added
that Symmes was buried in the old
Hamilton Cemetery, which is now
the 3.5 acre Symmes Park, along
the railroad and between Sycamore
and South Third and South Fourth
streets.

Edgar Tafur has been working to restore the monument
created in memory of Captain John Cleves Symmes and his
belief that the earth is hollow.

Occasionally, the large arm of the crane would knock
dead twigs from a tree overhead, sending them to the
ground around the monument - an ironic reminder that
Newton's laws were working while
Symmes' theories were in disuse.
"Watch for falling branches," one
crewman called while the older
stones of the monument -two blocks
of Indiana limestone capped by an
80 pound tunneled-through sphere
of Ohio limestone - were gently low-
ered onto the new limestone base.
In all, the monument stands 9 1/2
feet tall and weighs roughly 2,000
pounds. Its standout feature is
bored-out 20 inch limestone sphere,
representing Symmes' belief that
the Earth was hollow and it was
possible for people to live inside it.

Symmes' theory had a serious fol-
lowing in his time, and inspired writ-
ings by Edgar Allen Poe,
Henry David Thoreau, and
Herman Melville. In 1822
Symmes proposed a polar expedition, which was ap-
proved by President John Quincy Adams before being
cancelled by President Andrew Jackson.

According to a 1981 Journal-News article written by
MiamiUniversityprofessor Dr. Walter E. Havighurst,
Symmes theorized that the world was comprised of five
concentric spheres with a hollow core and polar open-
ings so wide that a voyager could pass from the outer

The older limestone
blocks remain, but have
been sanded, glued, and
cleaned. Graffiti also was
removed from the monument, which had been nicked
by bullets and baseball bats. As workers installed the
monument, they and the sculptor independently dis-
cussed the possibility of future vandalism of the stoic-
ture, which is surrounded by a spiked metal fence.
Vandals have targeted the monu-
ment for more than a century.

When the cemetery was aban-
doned, the Symmes monument
was the only one left standing,
Havighurst wrote. In 1882, the
globe was broken off, and later
found in one of the neighboring
yards. Stander notes that the site
still contains the remains of many
of Hamilton's early settlers. Not all
the bodies were removed from this
site to the new (greenwood) Cem-
etery. Some old records put the
figure at near 200 gravestones
which were laid flat in the grounds
and covered over with a layer of
soil.

7776 restored Symmes monument on its new base.

from information sent by Thomas F. Stander. l-lamilton
OH , including two newspaper items: "Symmes Monu-
ment to Return Soon, "by Alicia Maloney.and "Legacy
Returns to Park, " by l\Aike Rutledge. from The Hamil-
ton Journal, March 5, and March 12, 1991, respec-
tively.

AGS Su'91 p. 22

GRAVESTONE FOR A FREED SLAVE RETURNS

The gravestone of freed slave Nickerson Cowan, found
discarded in Topeka KS earlier this year, was returned
to the Clinton Cemetery in Douglas County in tvlay. The
puzzle began in January when Pam Shelor found the
white marble stone on abandoned property near her
home.

Trying to find Cowan's grave, she phoned area cem-
eteries. For a month, Sarah f^cNeive, a Topeka
Cemetery board member, checked city and county
records, cemetery records, phoned township clerks
and black families named Cowan in Topeka, with no
luck. Searching for a black historical society to consult,
Shelorcontacted AGS member John Mark Lambertson,
a reference archivist with the Kansas State Historical
Society. He checked historical society records and
state and federal census records, with the same result,
until he spotted a photograph of the stone in a book.

Lambertson called l^artha Parker, directorof the Clinton
Lake Museum. When he told herthat a stolen tombstone
had been linked to Clinton Cemetery, she gasped "It
isn't Nickerson Cowan, is it?". In 1975 Parker literally
uncovered the stone when she found it buried under
cedar branches and debris in the cemetery. Parker set
up the stone and photographed it for the book, a
Bicentennial project. Afraid someone would steal it,
she laid it down and covered it again. During a cleanup
at the cemetery later that year, the stone was leaned
against a tree. "Within a month, it was gone", Parker
said. "For 15 years we wondered who took it."

The 1 885 Kansas census helped flesh out details about
Cowan, who was txjrn in Virginia and later was moved
to Mississippi. He didn't come to Kansas until the 1 880s
where one of his sons was living. Unable to read or
write, Nickerson Cowan had athree-acrefarm in Clinton
where he grew corn and potatoes.

Why take so much time to trace Cowan's gravesite?
"Every tombstone is sacred. This one is especially so
because it honors the life of an individual who left very
little in documentation about his life. He was kept in
bondage most of his life and was denied the ability to
read and write. The stone commemorates the most
important thing in his life, the event which made him
free," Lambertson said.

Engraved on the stone is "Nickerson Cowan/ passed /
to the /spiritland /on the /1 7 day of May 1 886 /Aged 87
years./ A slave till Lin/coln's proclamation /on 1 of
January 1863".

from the Topeka Capital Journal, May 11, 1991 and the
Lawrence Journal-World, May 26, 1991, sent by John Mark
Lambertson.

John Mark Lambertson, right, Kansas State Historical Soci-
ety researcher, found the gravesite of freed slave Nickerson
Cowan after Pam Shelor, left, discovered the stone near her
Topeka home.

The Topeka Capital-Journal oi May 26, 1991 carried
a story by Lisa M. Sodders at)out another gravestone
turned over to Lambertson. As Elta Lentz's two sons
were planting some bushes and shrubs on their mother's
front lawn on Mother's Day a stone was unearthed. On
the stone were the words: "John Z. Hunsicker 1801-
1 890". Lentz remembered reading the above story, so
she asked John Mark Lambertson to find the home of
the 70-pound martale Hunsicker stone. He sought help
from the Osage County Historical Society and the
Leiver Public Library. The key to the stone's owner was
the 1 875 State Census Index in which John Z. Hunsicker
was listed along with his occupation of "eating and
sleeping" and real estate valued at $6,000. While bom
in Pennsylvania, he had died at his son John's home
near Osage City, Kansas, according to his newspaper
obituary. He was married three times, outlived all his
wives, fathered nine children and outlived four of them.
Lambertson located descendants in the area who were
able to return it to the gravesite.

AGS Su'91 p. 23

Halifax (Nova Scotia) 's Old Burying Ground has beconne
the first cemetery in Canada to be designated a national
historic site.

Many of the grave markers are "exceptional examples
of grave art and national architectural significance,"
Lawrence Friend, executive secretary of the Historic
Sites and Monuments Board of Canada said in an
interview from Ottawa. The board has not previously
consideredcemeteriesforthe national status but decided
recently to make graveyards eligible under certain
criteria, he said.

The Burying Ground, often referred to as St. Paul's
Cemetery, was founded the day after Halifax was
founded in 1749. The cemetery came underthe control
of the Old Burying Ground Foundation in 1987 after
efforts to maintain the site by St. Paul's parishioners
proved beyond their financial resources. The founda-
tion is composed of St. Paul's parishioners and mem-
bers of the public. AGS member Deborah Trask has
been advisor to this project. Resetting and repair of
more than 700 of the 1250+ stones is now completed.

from the Halifax NS Chronicle Herald, August 29, 1991.

NEW BOOK

Gwinnett County, Georgia, Deaths 1818-1989

Inscriptions from every headstone in old cemeteries,
black and white, in Gwinnett and most of Barrow County
GA, with references to some deaths and burials of
Gwinnett people in other nearby cemeteries in DeKalb,
Hall, Forsyth, Fulton, and Walton counties, plus abstracts
from deeds, estate and guardian sales and adminis-
trations, family information, Sammon undertaker's
records, church and County Commission minutes, court
proceedings, and obituaries. 39,700 individuals in-
cluded. 810 pp. Edited by Alice Smythe McCabe.

Descriptions of where to locate graveyards, when
catalogued and by whom, condition, if vandalized, etc.
Includes inscriptions (not epitaphs) from 407 graveyards
in Gwinnett County and nearby counties where early
settlers owned land, attended church, etc.

To order, send check for $60.00 plu $4.25 postage to
Gwinnett Historical Society, Inc., P.O. Box 261,
Lawrenceville, GA 30246.

The Wilbraham Cemetery Commission and The
Wilbraham Historical Commission have recently com-
pleted a restoration project at the Adam's Cemetery in
Wilbraham. The Commissions have mended the bro-
ken stones dating from 1741-1941 and have restored
them to their original locations in the old section of the
cemetery. There were 995 headstones and footstones
involved in the project. The Historical Commission has
indexed each stone alphabetically as well as listed
them by rows. These two Commissions are to be
commended for their preservation efforts on behalf of
the Adams Cemetery.

COURSE

Heritage Cemeteries

Dates: October 31 -November 2, 1991; 9.00 am
- 4:00 pm

Location: University of Victoria, Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada

Cemeteries are important heritage resources
that are increasingly attracting attention world-
wide from people in many disciplines. This
course will trace the development of cemeteries
in the last two hundred years, and discuss the
ways in which they reflect the cultures in which
they were created. It will deal with the evolution
of cemetery landscape design, and the archi-
tecture and symbolism of grave markers. At-
tention will be paid to inventory and recording
techniques, assessing historical merit, public
education programs, planning cemetery resto-
ration, and the nature of and remedies for van-
dalism. Field visits to Victoria's nineteenth century
burial grounds will illustrate much of the content.

instructors: John Adams, Chairof the Old Cem-
eteries Society of Victoria, and Michael Tripp,
Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Uni-
versity of Victoria.
Fee $200.00 (Canadian)

Further information and registration materials
can be obtained from Joy Davis, Coordinator,
Cultural Resource Management Program, Dlvi-
sionof University Extension, University of Victoria,
POBox3030, Victoria, BC,V8W3N6;Telephone
(604) 721 8426 or FAX (604) 721 8774.

AGS Su'91 p. 24

NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Now that my tirst six months as AGS Executive
Director, including a Conference, the release of
Markers VIII, and just learning the ropes are
over, I am delighted to begin writing about items
that might be of interest to you here in the
Newsletter.

First of all, let me say that my first few months
have been a real pleasure! Now that I have a pretty
good idea of the day-to-day operations, I am be-
ginning to think about implementing some of the
ideas I've been accumulating since I started working
for the Association.

My first priority is maintaining the membership.
AGS has had a steady 900 members or so for the
last few years. However, costs have gone up.
While we are adequately covering these cost in-
creases right now, fewer dollars are left over each
year for other projects. To grow any business,
there are basically two options: you can either
increase your prices, or increase your volume. If
we don't have an increase in membership, we will
eventually have to increase our membership fees.
However, if we can steadily increase our mem-
bership, perhaps we can forgo having to increase
our fees, at least for a while. Now I'm not talking
about a membership explosion here - what I'd like
to see is 1 000 members one year from now. As of
July 9, 1991 we had 932 members. If everyone
made an effort to sign up one new member in the
next year, we could have 1000 members easily.
And, to make it even easier for you, we will be
running an incentive program, with gifts for
every member who brings in a new member,
beginning in the fall. Details will be in the next
Newsletter, but take this opportunity to request
brochures now, so you'll be ready to go when it
starts.

We also have a new Publications List, with several
new items in it. Most notable, of course, is
Markers V///, which is $20 for members ($25
for others). There's also James Slater's The
Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern
Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them^
which is being offered this year as it is a beautiful
complement to Afar/cers VIII. It should be noted,
however, that it is almost sold out at this time, so
order early if you are interested. The price is
$75. We also have a new slide show, "The De-
velopment of the Modern Cemetery and Gravestone
Design in the 19th-century." It is presently in a
slide/script format and is available for rental
only, at a cost of $15. Finally, after many requests,

we now have a listing of Weivs/effer Tables of
Contents. For $1.50, this leaflet gives you the
Table of Contents for each issue of the Ne wsletter.
It's a handy reference guide for the issues you
already own, and is invaluable if you are interested
in purchasing back issues, which, by the way, are
also available at this time. For more information
about these and all of the other items for sale,
please send a SASE to the AGS office.

Speaking of things for sale, demand was so great
for Conference '91 T-shirts that I've ordered a
few more. I presently have T-shirts available in
all sizes (S,M,L,XL,XXL); they're exactly the
same as those at the conference - gray, 98%
cotton, with maroon design and lettering. To
order, please send the size(s) you want, your
mailing address, and $10 for each shirt sizes S to
XL, $1 1 for each XXL, to the AGS office.

Recently, I've had several requests for speakers,
and, not beingfamiliarwithwhointhe membership
does this sort of thing, have had to work at finding
AGS members in the area to speak. AGS used to have
a Speaker's Bureau, and I'd like to rejuvenate it if
possible. If you are interested in helping me out
here, please let me know. I would like to have as
many people on the list as possible. And if you're
feeling uncomfortable about speaking, don't forget
that you can always make use of our slide shows to
help you out.

There has also been some interest in developing a
catalog of court cases regarding historic cem-
eteries, gravestones, etc. as a resource for those
considering going to court, or developing legis-
lation. This is an immense project - is there
anyone out there willing to help out with it?

That's it for now - have a great rest of the summer!

- Miranda

ACS

30 Elm St.

Worcester, MA 01609

(508) 831-7753

Did you have some trouble remembering the AGS
office hours?? Dispair no more - Miranda has
changed her hours and will be working Monday to
Thursday 1 1 :30 - 4:30. To be sure to reach her by
phone, call between 1 and 4 PM (She may be
running errands the rest of the time)

AGS Su'91 p. 25

ANSWER TO THE MYSTERY
GRAVEYARD CONTEST (fromp.4-5)

The contest rules (and the honor system) limited entries
to members who had not seen or heard of this yard.
There were seventeen entries, all so intriguing and
ingenious that each contestant was sent a prize — a
package of Dan Farber's gravestone notecards. Their
reasoned guesses placed the yard in seven New
England locations.

First prize was awarded to David Proper, Memorial
Libraries, Deerfield MA. We sent him a mounted 16" x
20" Farber photo of the Mary Harvey, 1 785, stone in the
Deerfield burying ground.

Here are a few excerpts from "hot" contest entries:

"...These are trick photos of stones superim-
posed on a phony background..."

"...These stones are actually in several different
locations, so they are either copies or someone
has been BAD!..."

'This is a refuge for stolen stones!"

'The yard pictured does not exist. The stones
arefrom4different burying grounds in 3different
states..."

"...They look as if they were cast from
hydrostone...What is a gazebo doing in the
middle of this isolated graveyard...? Sure is
strange!"

The following not-to-be-taken-seriously excerpts are
quoted from an anonymous entry signed, "John
Stevens":

'This is a small abandoned cemetery, lost in the
woods of Vermont. You can see the remnants
of a hunting lodge. .. It must be afamily yard. ..but
since the stones have different surnames, the
obvious conclusion is that descent is through
thefemale line...! would hypothesize, therefore,
that this was an early attempt at Women's
Liberation through the use of
"matronymism"... Those little round Vermont
faces are symlxslic of a sunset falling over the
failed attempt to establish female domination in
a period when the arm was stronger than the
tongue. This yard must be preserved as it is
unique!"

THE WHOLE AND TRUE STORY OF THE MYS-
TERY GRAVEYARD

As about half our entrants guessed, this "graveyard "
does not exist. Or, to be more specific, what you see in
the photograph is not a burying ground, and the stones
are not gravestones. They are rep/Zcas of well-known
gravemarkers from four different New England yards.

From left to right in the landscape photograph,
replicas are of:

the

The John Fosterstone, 1 681 , which stood in Dorchester
MA until it was moved, several years ago, to the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts for safekeeping. It is on perma-
nent exhibition inthe Museum's Department of American
Decorative Arts. A replica stands in the Dorchester
yard in place of the original.

The slate stone for Rebecca Park, 1803, and her 14
children. The original stands in Grafton VT. A replica
of this stone is in the Museum of American Folk Art, New
Yori< City.

The Capt. Anthony Gwyn stone, 1776, which stood in
Newburyport MA until it was moved to the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts for safekeeping. A replica stands
in Newburyport in place of the original.

The Daniel Squier stone, 1 783, which stands in Franklin
CT. This granite stone is pictured on the cover of James
Slater's book, The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern
Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them. Because
the stone was once stolen from the Franklin graveyard
and returned a few years later, a plan was made to put
a replica in the graveyard and house the original indoors.
After a replica was cast the town fathers could not agree
on the plan, so the original is in the Franklin yard, and
the replica was given to the Museum of American Folk
Art.

These four replicas were made by Bill McGeer of
Holland MA, author of Reproducing Relief Surfaces, A
Complete Handbook of Rubbing, Dabbing, Casting and
Daubing. While he was making them, Mr. McGeer was
commissioned to make a second replica o\ each stone
for Dan and Jessie Lie Farber, and the Farbers have
erected their four reproductions in a wooded area near
their home in Worcester MA. It is these "gravestones",
made of concrete, that appear in the photographs
(which were made by Dan Farber).

AGSSu'91 p.26

Standing with the four replicas in the yard is a piece of
flagstone (farrightinphoto)unearthedfrom the Farbers'
garden and erected with the replicas because it looks
like an uninscribed flagstone gravemarker. In the
foreground are several natural rock outcroppings.

Also standing in the foreground of the photo is a
fragment of a small footstone found in the Worcester
house where Harriette Merrifield Forbes lived in 1927,
when she wrote Gravestones of Early New England

and the Men Who Made Them, 1653- 1800. Mrs. Forbes'
family thinks the fragment was probably left with her by
someone who knew of her interest in early grave-
stones. It has remained in the old Forbes house until
recently, when it was contributed by the family to the
Farbers' yard.

The little footstone is the only authentic stone in the

yard. It is inscribed, "Capt. Peleg P k," and it is the

single remaining mystery in the "Mystery Graveyard".

HOME-MADE STONES

Wanted to Share: — Studies of handmade gravemarkers
from comparable mountain areas to find types of ma-
terials used, forms, and geographical extent of use. We
have recorded and photographed 1 94 markers of wood,
soapstone, concrete, and even two glass-fronted, ar-
tificial flower-filled, beehive markers.

The study covers counties in the mountains of western
North Carolina, and reflects the isolation, ruggedness,
poverty, and dependence on people's ingenuity to use
what was available to make a personal memorial to a
loved one.

Chris & Jack Sheridan
15 Friar Tuck Lane
Brevard NC 28712

George E. Smathers/July 2 1873(?) Jan 11, 1957. stones
imbedded in cement. Crawford Cemetery

Thomas L Cane Goodson, died Oct 31, 1936, age 57 y 5 m
28 d. Cement with small pebbles

Cement with insulated black electical wire imbedded in wet
cement to form the name: Emily Lester, Sept 27, 1941 /June
18, 1942.

AGS Su'91 p. 27

CONNECTICUT TOURS

The Connecticut Historical Society is conducting tours of central Connecticut graveyards

September 28 Ancient Burying Ground, Wethersfleld "The Stone and the Spirit"

Price: $6.00 for CHS members, $9.00 for non-members (transportation to Wethersfield on
your own). Reservations and payment required by Friday, September 13.

October 31 Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford "Back From the Dead", a lunch-hour
Halloween walking tour with Bill Hosley. Price: $4.00 for CHS members, $6.00 for non-
members (transportation to Ancient Burying Ground on your own). No reservations necessary.

Send reservation form and check, made payable to CHS, to:
Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth Street, Hartford CT 06105.

Maxine Kates, The Connecticut

J^

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone
Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends oneyear from that date. A one year
membership entitles the members to four issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference
in the year membership is current. Send membership fees (individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30;
contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609. Back issues
of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to
present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes
suggestions and short contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal.
Journal articles should be sent to Theodore Chase, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association
for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St., Dover MA 02030. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah
Trask, editor, Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3A6, Canada. Order
Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $20; Vol. 3, $18.50; Vol. 4, $20; Vol. 5, $20; Vol. 6, $23: Vol. 7. $15; Vol 8
$20; higher prices for non-members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo
Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive
Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester MA

■newsletter

I OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK. ED. VOLUME 15 NUMBER 4 FALL 1991 ISSN: 0146-5783~

CONTENTS

Cemetery Lichen Dyes

by Karen Leigh Casselman 2

Contrasting Aleut Cemeteries of Alaska

by Harvey Medland 4

The Old Sturbrldge Village Cemetery 5

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

Cemeteries and Gravemarkers Section, American Culture Association

March 1992 7

BOOK REVIEWS

Permanent Londoners

review by Mary Cope 10

Our Silent Neighbors

review by Ralph Tucker 11

Tombstones of Your Ancestors

review by Deborah Trask 12

RESEARCH

Local Talent or Unusual Imports ?

by Richard Veil 14

Wanted!

by Laurel Gabel, AGS Research 15

Points of Interest

by William Hosley 18

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Executive Director's Report 21

Received for the Archives 22

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 24

The traveling exhibit, Sentiment, Sorrows Sepulcher,
was developed by John Graf, Curator of History at the
Neville Museum, Green Bay. It explores how society
viewed death and practiced mourning during the last
half of the 1 9th century and the early years of the 20th
century. The exhibit will be at the Wisconsin State
Historical Museum, Madison Wl [(608) 264-6555] from
February 11 through June 7, 1992.

cor)tribut9d by Robert Wright, Madison Wl

The Mother's Grave, Godey's Lady's Book, 1 859.

AGS Fa '91 p. 1

CEMETERY LICHEN DYES

by Karen Leigh Casselman

As the following article indicates, there
are people roaming our cemeteries
who are interested in more than
gravestones. Certainly it is gratifying
to learn that craft organizations such
as the Handweavers Guild of America,
who printed an earlier version of this
paper, are prepared to advocate for
good conservation practices when
removing lichens from stone. We can
all benefit from such sensible co-op-
eration I

Surely, textile craftspeople are in
the vanguard where conservation
and the environment are con-
cerned. After all, are we not those
wholesome folk who raise sheep,
cultivate dye plants, dye, spin, weave and knit our own
clothing? But, are the lichen dyers in conflict with this
image?

At a time of increased global-wide environmental dam-
age, how can we justify using potentially endangered
plants for textile dyes? Lichen collection for dyes can
be encouraged, if it's actually beneficial. That is the
case in most cemeteries, where lichens obscuring
tombstones are regularly the target of groups such as
the Association for Gravestone Studies.

The dyer who collects cemetery lichens opts for plants
already at risk, either from strong chemicals used to kill
them, or from brown bagging, another removal tech-

nique that involves covering stones with burlap sacks
until the lichens die and can be brushed off. These
tombstones lichens are the perfect choice forthe urban
dyer who cannot collect lichens where timber is cut or
where rock-inhabiting lichens are routinely destroyed
by construction equipment.

Some of the most popular dye species are so-called
weedy lichens that tolerate pollution and thrive in urban
cemeteries. Various Physcia spp. are prolific on city
streets and tombstones. Although not often mentioned
in dye books, these lichens may be used for BWM
(boiling water method) dyes. Yellow-orange, orange
and orange-red patches of Xanthoria spp. grow over
and around flat and curved surfaces of stones, covering
the lettering and even finials.
These lichens are much in demand
asan AFfyl (ammoniafennentation
^> . ^slf**'' method) pink dye oxidized in sun-
light to blue.

City memorial gardens are often
fenced in wrought iron, but the
low, random stone walls of rural
eastern cemeteries are often
covered with vigorous, circular
crusts of Xanthoparmelia
centhfuga, X. conspersa or the
more southern and central X.
cumberlandia. All give BWM re-
sults ranging from orange to njst
and brown. Other lichens com-
mon on moist, shaded stone walls
include Ochrolechia spp. and

AGS Fa -91 p. 2

Pertusaria spp., whitish crusts which mal<e AFM red
and purple dyes.

The careful removal of cemetery lichens benefits the
dyer, helps gravestone enthusiasts, and relieves
lichenologists who would rather dyers not take other,
potentially endangered lichens for use as dyes. How-
ever, a word of caution comes from overseas: British
lichenologists urge dyers to first compile a lichen inven-
tory of the cemetery before removing the lichens.
There is always the chance that a rare lichen has found
its way into a cemetery and this should be documented
photographically.

Once the lichens are identified, getting them off the
stones is almost as much of a challenge. There are two
objectives in removing lichens: first to remove all the
lichen; second to leave the stones undamaged. You
must use non-metal tools such as wooden skewers or
popsicle sticks. A narrow, rubber spatula is useful,
especially with lichens such as Xanthoria spp. where
portions of the thallus have already been loosened or
blown away by wind and weather. Wet lichens can
even be removed with the fingers. [Skin contact with
certain lichens can cause dermatitis. Wearing rubber
or plastic gloves and collecting lichens when moist
minimizes exposure to the pesti-
cides used and the dust from the
lichens.] But lichens inside letter-
ing on the stone are another mat-
ter. For this small, flexible probes
come in handy, or the handle of a
fine artist's paintbrush or tooth-
picks. An old bed sheet makes a
suitable work sheet, tucked all
aroundthe base of the stone so no
lichen particles are lost.

Today'sconservation-mindeddyer
does not remove a lichen without
correctly identifying it first. Like
careful lichen collecting, lichen
identification requires effort and
considerable patience. Correct
identification means more than
simply rhyming off the genus name: i.e. "It's orange, it's
crustose, it M UST be Xanfrtof/a!" The ecologically aware
dyer reads biology and learns about lichen reproduc-
tion, lichen acid chemistry, and the role played by
habitat in lichen survival mechanisms. Some of this
information is included in field guides. However, many
classic books are hard to find or are out of print.
Contemporary guides may apply only in another geo-
graphic region. Authoritative books are generally large,

too heavy to take into the field, and expensive, if you're
a lichen novice. Any guide is betterthan no guide at all;
but serious buffs will discover the local library as a
resource for self-education, and it's all free.

Joining a botanical society, like Friends of the Farlow at
Cambridge MA (Farlow Reference Library & Herbarium,
Harvard, 20 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 021 38), or
a field naturalists' organization, can help the lichen
enthusiasts meet others who share their interests.

Once the cemetery lichens are identified, enumerated
and removed, the dyer has a wide variety of dye books
from which to choose a recipe. Lichen acids vary
geographically; dye results from the same species will
not be the same in Boston and Edinburgh. So, the
precise duplication of another dyer's results is an unre-
alistic goal in lichen dyeing.

In a shrinking world it makes good sense to protect the
flora of special places. Help yourselves to the lichens,
once you've identified them, and make that list. As a
bonus, your efforts will support cemetery restoration
and possibly redeem that wholesome image of the
dyer. Be one who works with, rather than against,
nature.

Karen Leigh Casselman has written Craft of the Dyer and
Lichens and Their Dyes: A History and Sourcebook (forth-
coming). She is co-editor of a new edition of Lichens for
Vegetable Dying by Eileen M. Bolton. She is a research
associate at the Nova Scotia /Museum, Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada. An earlier version of this paper was printed in the
Summer 1991 issue of Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot
(Handweavers Guild of America).

AGS Fa '91 p. 3

CONTRASTING ALEUT CEMETERIES OF ALASKA

by Harvey Medland

During a recent trip to Alaska we
had the opportunity to observe two
Aleut cemeteries. We expected to
find a few unique characteristics
shared by the grave markers in the
two sites. What we found however,
was confusing if not unique.

In 1786 Russia discovered large

colonies of fur seals on the Pribilof

Islands located in the middle of the

Bering Sea. To harvest this newly

found wealth they needed a good

source of labour. The indigenous

hunters, known as Aleuts, were the obvious choice.

They were dispersed along the Alaska coastline and

depended upon seals and otters for their livelihood.

The Russians treated the Aleuts as serfs. By the

beginning of the 1 800s the Aleuts were resettling in the

Pribilofs and had established the town of Saint Paul.

Soon they devetoped a dependency upon Russia for

sugar, tea and a variety of foods.

In order to entice the Aleuts into the Russian Orthodox
Church, the Russian government exempted them from
paying taxes forthree years. In time they were learning
the Russian language, adopting Russian names and
embracing the Russian religion. The Aleut language
was discouraged.

After the United States purchased Alaska in 1867, the
Aleuts maintained their Russian language and Ortho-
dox faith.

Today the Russian Orthodox Church is the focal point

Aleut cemetery in Saint Paul, Pribilof Islands

of the community of Saint Paul. The nearby cemetery
contains rows of white, wooden markers with the char-
acteristic diagonal cross. For some reason pills and
vegetables are scattered alxiut the grounds making
one wonder if a few ancient beliefs still linger.

The Aleut cemetery just north of Anchorage in Ekiutna
is of considerable contrast to that found in Saint Paul.
Beside Ekiutna's St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church
are rows of brightly painted spirit houses. We were told
that each family had its own traditional colours. Before
every structure is a small Russian Orthodox cross. But
why the spirit houses? There has been intermarriage
with the Indian community. Are the structures a con-
sequence of the influence of local Indian customs? If
you has any thoughts on this question, please let us
know.

Harvey Medland, 980 Broadview Ave., *1403, Toronto, On-
tario, Canada, M4K3Y1. For another reference to the Aleut
cemetery in Ekiutna, see AGS Newsletter, V. 12 #1, Winter
1987/88, p. 25.

Eknutka Cemetery, Alaska

AGS Fa '91 p. 4

THE OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE CEMETERY

'-■It 1*1 »»«

Old Sturbridge Village graveyard, reprinted with permission
of the Worcester (MA) Te[egram & Gazette. Copyright 1991

Records in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, show that
more than 20 slate and granite gravestonesdisappeared
from two cemeteries there between 1940 and 1960.
For many years since the theft rumors have circulated
in Gilmanton that 18th-century stones stolen from their
graveyards had "surfaced" in Old Sturbridge Village.
Gilmanton is a town of 600 located about eight miles
from Laconia, New Hampshire; Old Sturbridge Village
is the 200 acre "living history museum" in Sturbridge,
Massachusetts.

In the Village, a pillared meeting house that serves as
a focal point for many of the Village activities stands on
a slight hill overlooking the common. A "cemetery"
slopes gently up to the rear of the meeting house, and
about two dozen gravestones are scattered throughout
the side yard. A stone fence surrounds the yard, and
visitors are not permitted inside.

Marion S. Mclntyre, a cemetery trustee in Gilmanton,
spent the last three years digging through New
Hampshire vital statistics records to obtain a list of
names and dates of missing stones to compare with the
names on the Sturbridge Village stones. She then
visited the Village "cemetery", and with binoculars tried
to match names on her list with those in the yard. But
she wasn't able to read the inscriptions from outside the
yard.

It was only afterareporterfrom the News of Manchester,
New Hampshire, investigated her story and obtained

photographs and detailed information from the Village
records that Mclntyre was able to confirm that twelve of
the Village stones did indeed have names and dates
that matched those on missing Gilmanton stones.

Copies of the newspaper story were circulated to the
Sturbridge Village trustees, and Village spokesperson
Michelle Meehan confirmed that an investigation was
undenway. Old Sturbridge Village President Crawford
Lincoln said the stones would be returned if it could be
determined that they had not been obtained through
legitimate means. He denied that they had been
purchased by the Village. 'They were an outright gift
from a Brentwood, New Hampshire, antiques dealer,
Roger Bacon, who is now deceased." he said. He said
Bacon was a reputable dealer and that Village officials
had no reason to suspect anything was wrong, it is not
known how Bacon acquired the stones or whether he
knew they were stolen.

Two of the twelve identified Gilmanton markers are
from that town's Smith Meetinghouse Cemetery, and
these two have been replaced in recent years with
modern markers. Mclntyre said Old Sturbridge Village
will not be asked to return these two originals. The
Gilmanton cemetery trustees do, however, want the
other ten stones, which were taken from the town's
Copp Cemetery.

Before returning the stones, Lincoln said. Old Sturbridge
Village must work out arrangements to transport them

AGS Fa '91 p. 5

safely and draw up legal transfer papers.
The above story was put together from three articles in
the Worcester MA Telegram & Gazette (October 8, 9
and 29, 1991).

It appears to us that surprisingly little interest has been
shown by the parties concerned in the stones as
artifacts. No description was given in the newspaper
articles we saw. We wondered if the twelve identified
stones were slate or granite and whether or not there
was ornamental carving on any of them. In a conversa-
tion with Mr. Lincoln, he said he believes most of the
Gilmanton stones are slate and that they do have
ornamental carving. If this is correct, it is hard to
understand why Gilmanton is willing to leave two of the
original artifacts in SturtDridge. We are further dis-
mayed by the response in Gilmanton to the Village's
acquisition of their gravemarkers. Mclntyre said
Gilmanton off icials aren't blaming Old Sturbridge Village
for putting the stones in their "cemetery". "Old Sturbridge
Village didn't do anything wrong — nothing illegal," she
said, noting that tombstone thefts were common in New
Hampshire for many years when there were no state
laws making it a crime to take them.

But we are shocked that Old Sturbridge Village would
have accepted gravestones from anyone without a
provenance showing precisely how the donor came to
have the markers — even in the 1940s and without
specific laws relating to gravestone theft. "I don't think
anyone knows when or how they were removed," said
Mr. Lincoln.

Finally, we wondered about the origin of the other
stones in the Old Sturbridge Village "graveyard". Mr.
Lincoln (who was not at the village when their "grave-
yard"was set up) believes that these stones are discards
given to the Village by Smith Monument Company in
Westfield MA after that company made replicas to
replace damaged originals (presumably from the
Westfield area). We hope there may be AGS members
who will look into this and report his or her findings to the
Newsletter.

In our conversation with Mr. Lincoln, this story took one
more disturbing turn, which requires comment. He
raised the issue that AGS has no policy concerning the
ethics of taking stones from graveyards and placing
them in museums. AGS has carefully weighed the pros
and cons of saving a unique and threatened stone bv
getting permission to move it to indoor housing in a
reputable museum and replacing the original with a
replica. On this we have not developed a policy. Some
of our concerned tnjstees favor this procedure while
others favor leaving all stones in situ despite threats to
their survival in their original sites. However, AGS is
clear and strong in its disapproval of (1) removal of a
stone without permission of cemetery tmstees and any
descendants; (2) removal of a stone that is not unique
and severely threatened; (3) removal of a stone from its
original site to an insecure site, such as a building that
is not fireproof, or a building managed by an organiza-
tion that has no system for cataloguing its artifacts, or
moving it from its outdoor location to another outdoor
location ; (4) removal of a stone without placing a repl ica
in its original site.

contributed by Jessie Lie Farber, Worcester MA. Jessie Lie Farber is aiounding member of AGS, andiormer editor
of ttie Newsletter.

Ln L-, Ln ta Ln h L-, b L-. Ln Ln L-, L-, b HI

A HAPPY ENDING

Len Messina tias sent a follow up article to thie story
"Rare Slave Stone in CT (AGS Newsletter, Spring
1991, p. )from the July 24, 199 1 issue of the MIddletown
CT Press:

All the money needed to finance the restoration of a
200-year old headstone that marks the grave of a slave
in Riverside Cemetery has been collected. The
headstone, that of a slave known only as Sambo, is
believed to be one of the oldest headstones for a Negro
slave in Connecticut. The Sambo stone wasdiscovered
last year to be seriously deteriorated. John Zito, a
Hartford restorer, said he could do the rescue work for
around $3000., and the Middlesex County Historical
Society hired him, expecting its appeal for funds would
bring the money rather quickly. But for Sambo the
money was slow in coming. However, contributions

f rom a New York policeman andfromadefu net Wesleyan
University clubcombines to make up the final difference.
The cop had read an account of the story. As a boy he
had summered at a family cabin in Haddam and had
loved the area, so he decided to send a check for $500.
A representative of the former Wesleyan club heard a
talk about the stone which convinced him that the
remaining money in the club fund would be well spent
on the Sambo restoration.

A second project at the Mortimer Cemetery, the res-
toration of the headstone of John Danforth II, the
founder of the pewter industry in the U.S., brought a
much smoother solution. The Pewter Collectors Club
of America sent a check for $3000. and promised to
take care of the $600. remainder.

AGS Fa -91 p. 6

CEMETERIES AND GRAVEMARKERS SECTION:
AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION

Section Chair: Richard E. Meyer

English Department

Western Oregon State College

Monmouth OR 97361

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

1992 Annual Meeting
Louisville, Kentucky

The ACA annual meeting will take place in Louisville KY, MARCH 1 8-21 , 1 992. Anyone interested in going on Tour #2 (southern
Indiana cemeteries) should let Dick know as far ahead of time as possible.

ALVRUS, Annalisa: Department of Anthropology, Uni-
versity of Tennessee at Knoxville TN 37996-0720

"Conformity and Individualism in the Gravestones of Knox
County, Tennessee"

Studies of New England gravestones suggest the use of more
elaborate stones in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
with a shift to simpler stones in the early twentieth century. To
determine whether this trend was characteristic of grave-
stones in the mid-South, twelve cemeteries in Knox County,
Tennessee, were studied, with varying results.

AMBLER, Cathy J.: Department of American Studies,
University of Kansas, Lawrence KS 66045

"Oak Hill: A Rural Cemetery in Kansas"

Oak Hill, established in 1 865, reveals the eastern tradition of
rural cemetery design and management that came with the
people who made their new homes in Kansas, but Quantrill's
Raid and frontier town boosterism were other factors that
compelled the city to plan and maintain such a cemetery.

The speaker invited six artists and three architects to select
a subject for a monument or a memorial — and then to create
one. Monuments and Memorials, the exhibition that resulted,
contained works on a broad variety of subjects and in a very
wide stylistic range from classical to completely conceptual.

EDGETTE, J. Joseph: Master of Liberal Studies Pro-
gram, WIdener University, Chester PA 19013-5792

"Pariahs of Cemetery Fieldwork: Animal, Vegetable, Nature
and Human"

Lurking in the foreground, background and all around envi-
rons of a cemetery can be hostile animals, serpents, insects,
rampaging and consuming flora, and negatives acts of God
and man. Presented in this paper are descriptions and
depictions of some of these pariahs and their deleterious
effects upon cemetery fieldwork.

GABEL, Laurel K.: 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford NY 14534

"Rituals, Regalia and Remembrance: Fraternal Symbolism
and Gravemarkers"

BLAKE, Fred: Department of Anthropology, University of
Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu HI 96822

"The Chinese of Valhalla: Patterns of Assimilation and Iden-
tification in a Midwest American Cemetery"

Chinese gravestones in a Midwestern cemetery index com-
plex and dynamic patterns of assimilation, identification and
cultural retention. The analysis focuses on historical changes
in the organization of interments, aspects of the style, linguis-
tic and semantic structures and contents of the gravestone
inscriptions which include both Chinese and Roman scripts.

CASSIDY, Victor M.:2717W. Nelson St., ChicagolL60618

"Monuments and Memorials: An Invitational Exhibition of
Sculptures and Drawings by Contemporary Artists"

During the heyday of fraternalism (1 880-1 920), approximately
half of the adult population belonged to at least one of the
estimated 1000 different secret societies that existed in the
United States. Complex symtxjlism, which played a vital role
in the ritual and regalia of these organizations, is often found
on gravemarkers.

GRADWOHL, David M.: Department of Anthropology,
Iowa State University, Ames lA 50011-1050

"The Jewish Cemeteries of Louisville, Kentucky: Mirrors of
Historical Processes and Theological Diversity Through 150
Years"

In 1 842 Jewish settlers founded congregation Adath Israel in
Louisville. Today there are five congregations: two Reform,
one Conservative and two Orthodox. Others have disbanded

AGS Fa '91 p. 7

and reorganized over time. The separate cemeteries main-
tained by the city's temples and synagogues reflect different
historical origins, theological orientations and ritual practices
within Judaism.

GRAVES, Thomas E.: 100 Pollack Drive, Orwigsburg PA
17961

"The Multiethnic Cemetery: Melting Pot or Tossed Salad?"

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, has been ethnically diverse
since the earliest days of its settlement, with Pennsylvania
Germans, Welsh, Irish, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian and other
groups living in the county in large numbers. Examination of
the cemeteries shows a spectrum of ethnic isolation and
intermingling. Some cemeteries show signs of assimilation.

HANNON, Thomas J.: Department of Geography and
Environmental Studies, Slippery Rock University, Slip-
pery Rock PA 16057

"A Comparison of Monumentation in the Republic of Ireland
and Ethnic Irish Monumentation in Pennsylvania"

The Republic of Ireland has contributed a large number of
immigrants to the United States since the mid 1800s. Many
settled in mining and manufacturing states such as Pennsyl-
vania. The research compares monumentation in the Republic
of Ireland with that used by Irish immigrants or their de-
scendants in selected area of Pennsylvania.

HILLDENBRANDT, Daniel R.: IMedia Centre, The Univer-
sity of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

"The Tongan Way in Burial Customs and Grave Decoration"
(Video)

This videotape examines briefly the colorful and unusual
graves of the Kingdom of Tonga. Featured are the "Faitoka"
or graves of the commoners, as well as the impressive
"Langi", those of the nobles and kings.

HORTON, Loren N.: Field Services, State Historical
Society of Iowa, Iowa City lA 52240

"Language Displacement and Sentimentality in the Cem-
etery"

The ways in which the living commemorate the dead on
gravemarkers can often extend to the use of euphemistic and
clish6d expressions which mask true feelings, magnify per-
sonality traits of the deceased, and emphasize the bonds of
affection among family and friends. This paper concentrates
on examples of such expressions.

JEWELL, James C: Division of Humanities and Fine
Arts, Illinois Valley Community College, OglesbylL 61 348

"The Cemetery as a Plot Device in the Mystery Novel"

No other literary form employs the cemetery in as many
functions asthe mystery novel. This paper surveys mysteries
that employ the cemetery in each of its literary functions: as
scenic background, as necessity, as place for insight, as
location of clues and as integral sphere of action.

LINDEN-WARD, Blanche: Program in American Culture,
Emerson College, Boston MA 02116

'The Cult of Jim : Funerary Fans, 1 985- 1991"

At Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where authorities origi-
nally re-interred LaFontaine, Moliere, and Abelard and Heloise
in orderto create a "cult of heroes", it is particularly interesting
to note that the grave of American rock star Jim Morrison has
in recent years become the focal point of pilgrimage and
gravesite activities.

LUCAS, Jennifer: The Folklore Institute, Indiana Univer-
sity, Bloomington IN 47405

"Gravestone Materials of South Central Indiana"

This presentation traces the different types of stone used in
the making of southern Indiana gravestones from c. 1 830 to
the present. Also considered are the locations and mannerof
extracting these materials from the earth, and the manner in
which southern Indiana's position as "Limestone Capital of
the World" has affected gravestones.

LUNN, Lorie: Department of Anthropology, University of
Tennessee at Knoxvllle, Knoxville TN 37996-0720

" 'Comb' Graves of the Upper Cumberland"

Hidden away in family cemeteries of Tennessee's Upper
Cumberland region one finds a unique style of gravemarker.
Large slabs cut from local sandstone are arranged to form a
peaked roof, or "comb", over the grave. The time span of
these artifacts (mid-1 800s to early 1900s) coincides with an
important period of technological and cultural change in the
area.

MATTERNES, Hugh B.: Department of Anthropology,
UnlversityofTennessee at Knoxvllle, Knoxville TN 37996-
0720

"Modern Expectations and Prehistoric Reality in Western
Kentucky: Historic Cemetery Modification at WiMiffe Mounds"

The removal of a prehistoric cemetery from public display
revealed that the archaeological record had been physically

AGS Fa '91 p. 8

altered since originally excavated. An examination of ar-
chaeological date, oral histories and literature suggests that
these changes resulted from attempts to organize the cem-
etery according to the expectations of a twentieth-century
visitor.

McNEAL, Harriet: Department of Art History, Indiana
State University, Terre Haute IN 47809

"The Ax and Sledge: Woodmen of the World and Tree Stump
Tombstones"

PETKE, Stephen: 8 Cobblestone Road, East Granby CT
06026

"Calvin Barber (1772-1846), Stonecutter in Simsbury CT"

Calvin Barber was a stone mason and public official who
dominated the gravestone market in Simsbury, Connecticut
and surrounding towns from 1793-1825. Over 400 grave-
stones can be documented to Barber or safely attributed to
him or his apprentices. His work reflects transformations in
both imagery and in the nature of the craft itself.

Among the thousands of examples of tombstones in the form
of a tree stump is a group with the symbols and emblems of
the Woodmen of the World, a fraternal order which provided
burial insurance to Its members. An investigation of the
specialized iconography will be illustrated by slides.

McViCKER, l\1aryeiien: 813 Christus Drive, Boonville MO
65233

7s Daniel Boone Buried in Kentucky?"

in 1 845 the State of Kentucky petitioned Missouri to have the
bones of Kentucky's most famous founders, Daniel and
Rebecca Boone, returned, and countless tourists have visited
the impressive Boone monument in Frankfort. But contro-
versy prevails as to whether Daniel is in fact buried there or
remains in the family graveyard near iVIarthasville, Missouri.

MEYER, Richard E.: Department of English, Western
Oregon State College, Monmouth OR 97361

"Literary Graveyards"

The use of the cemetery as a setting for literary works enjoys
a long and diverse history. Shakespeare employed the
device on more than one occasion, as have Dickens, Twain
and a number of more contemporary artists. Several remark-
able instances are seen in works by Thomas Gray, Edgar Lee
Masters and Evelyn Waugh.

SCLAIR, Helen: 849 W. Lill Avenue, Chicago IL 60614

"Chicago's Ethnic Cemeteries"

Chicago's population represents more than 1 00 distinct eth-
nicgroups. Throughoutthecity's history mostofthesegroups
have been absorbed without any external evidence of their
existence. Many of them, however, are very visible through
their burial sites, an examination of which forms the basis of
this paper.

VOLLER, Jacl( G.: Department of English, Southern
Illinois University at Edwardsviiie, Edwardsviile IL 62026-
1431

"Ephemeral Stones: Notes on the Reading of Cemeteries, 11"

We carve our monuments out of the most enduring of sub-
stances, but even stone fails. What happens when the text
that represents the deceased to the world of the living falls
face-first into the grass and becomes covered over? Could it
be that this ephemerality in itself represents yet another facet
of how and what cemeteries "mean"?

WARE, Thomas C: Department of English, The Univer-
sity of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga TN 37403

"'Where Valour Proudly Sleeps': Theodore O'Hara and 'The
Bivouac of the Dead'"

OLSON, Ted: Department of English, University of Mis-
sissippi, University MS 38677-5546

"Buried Alive: Cultural Assimilation in Kentucky Graveyard
Folklore"

Lexington Cemetery is the primary burial site in Central
Kentucky, the first U.S. region west of the Appalachians to be
extensively settled by European immigrants. I'll study this
graveyard's folklore in order to trace the 19th century emer-
gence of the mainstream American frontier culture from
various distinct ethnic groups.

No American artist became so officially identified with cem-
eteries as Theodore O'Hara. Lines from "The Bivouac of the
Dead" have been immortalized in graveyards commemorat-
ing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Reading these
passages as they appear in starkly ranked lines reinforces the
notion of collective military order which follows even indi-
vidual disintegration.

AGS Fa '91 p. 9

FORUM: Moments of Discovery in Cemetery Fieldwork

Cemetery Fieldwork Inevitably yields instances of discovery ranging from the enigmatic to the bizarre, the humorous to the
profoundly touching. Forum participants (i.e. anyone who wishes to) are invited to present and discuss briefly one slide which
exemplifies such a moment of personal discovery in their fieldwork experience.

TOUR #1 Walking Tour of Cave Hill Cemetery

Louisville's Cave Hill Cemetery (1848) is one of the nation's
most important designed rural cemeteries, also reflecting
aesthetic reforms based upon Adolph Strauch's "landscape-
lawn plan." This walking tour, led by Blanche Linden-Ward of
Emerson College, will start inside the main cemetery en-
trance at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, March 18 (maps/other
details available at the conference).

BOOK REVIEWS

Permanent Londoners: An Illustrated Guide to the
Cemeteries of London

by Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall

Chelsea Green Publishing Company, P.O. Box 130

Post Mills VT 05058, 1991

$16.95, paperback, 336 pages, 100 photos, 6 maps

review by Mary M. Cope

The sub-title of this work might more accurately be "a
biographical guide with some pictures to some burial
places in and near London." Almost half the text is
devoted to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, The Tower
of London, Windsor Castle and Frogmore. Aside from
these only eleven of the over one hundred cemeteries
included in Hugh Meller's London Cemeteries (Avebury
Publishing, 1981) are covered.

The biographies, which vary in length from a few
sentences to several pages, are written in a lively, easy
style. Markers are described, but sometinries the ter-
minology isunclear; i.e. "cameo"isafrequent description
- this is certainly not a form in use in monumental
sculpture! Few of the tombs are pictured, and although
sculptors names are often given, rarely do they appear
in the index. A bibliography is arranged by title which
makes locating the source for a biography difficult.

Maps are given for most of the cemeteries as well as
directions for reaching them (it would be wise to check
the directions locally). Like the other works in this
series, guides to cemeteries in Paris, New York and
California, the format is tall and narrow which is easy to
carry and consult.

TOUR #2 Southern Indiana Cemeteries

The cemeteries of Southern Indiana display a number of
unique and interesting regional features, including types of
stone, monument styles and other factors. This tour of
selected cemeteries, led by Warren Roberts of Indiana Uni-
versity, will take place Saturday, March 21 (details to follow).
Those interested should contact the section chair (Meyer).

11 11

AGS Fa '91 p. 10

Our Silent Neighbors: a study of Gravestones In the Olde Salem Area
by Betty J. Bouchard

57 pages, 1991, available from David Butler, c/o Box Shop, Salem Market Place, Salem MA 01970
$4.98

review by Ralph Tucker

This is a convenient and handy guide to the burial
grounds and gravestones of the Salem MA area. Essex
County has an excellent variety of stones that are by
local Salem carvers, urban Boston carvers, and the
very unique mral "Merrimac Valley Style" carvers. Di-
rections are given to the burial grounds so that one can
find these often hidden sites, although the maps in-
cluded leave much to be desired. As a primer for the
casual browser it will enable one to gain an experience
of aesthetic and historic value through an introduction
to the earliest stone work in our country. For the more
interested student, however, it has some notable and
serious omissions and errors.

As Salem is a key area where urban and airal styles are
both found, these carving types should have been
given at least a summary treatment to outline their
unique differences. The remarkable "Merrimac Valley
Style" stones of the Hartshorne, Mulliken and Leighton
families, and of the local Salem carvers Fowie, Ford,
Maxcy, Holliman and the "Marblehead Carver", as well
as the Newburyport and Bradford stones of carvers
Noyes and Marble can all be found here in glorious
profusion. While much has been learned regarding
these styles of carving since 1927 when Harriette
Forbes wrote her seminal book, this pamphlet ignores
most of these carvers and adds little recent data.

The opening section on the early background informa-
tion is necessarily brief, but that is no excuse for several
commonly found en-ors. For example, in the colonial
period the bodies were taken directly from the home to
the burial ground with no clergy or meeting house
intervention; while some bodies were buried on an
east-west axis, most early burial ground orientations
are haphazard at best; the plainness of our puritan
ancestors has been overdone, and even the author
points out the express need for sumptuary laws; and
the use of marble fro gravestones was not common
before the 1770s. Such errors, while minor, cast
questions on more significant matters. Noting six-
teenth century stones at Marblehead is also unfortunate.
These are only samples of the errors found in this work.

In discussing the various carvers, illustrations are in-
valuable and the booklet conveniently has an illustrated
glossary of common carving details as well as numer-

ous photographs of significant stones. One might wish
for better photographic detail, but for the casual reader
they will do the trick. In such a pamphlet photographs
are an invaluable aid in descerning the style of a given
carver. It is too bad that the photographs included are
not clear, and that the carvers of the stones illustrated
are not indicated underneath the photographs. With a
little effort, however, one can do their own cross-
referencing.

As for a listing of carvers, there are significant omis-
sions. Levi Maxcy and Robert FowIe were important
Salem stonecutters whose work is best found in this
area yet they are not mentioned, and Ford is not
recognized as a carver even though his stone is dis-
cussed. William Custin ["WC] and James Gilchrist
["JG'T are significant Boston carvers who left initialed
stones at Marblehead. They are apparently unknown
to the author, as well as Henry Emmes and J.J. Geyer.
As for the "Merrimac Valley Style" carvers — the
Hartshornes, Mullikens and Leightons^heir stones
are noted but markedly confused as to the carvers.
Actually John Hartshorne left no stones in this area and
the author mistakes Mulliken stones for those of
Hartshorne. This is especially unfortunate as much is
now known about these families of carvers. Their work
is not only interesting and different, but also an out-
standing example of rural carving which deserves at-
tention, especially in the Essex County area. Of the
local Salemcarvers, FowIe, Maxcy and the "Marblehead
Carver" are not even recognized.

There are numerous stones with mistaken attributions,
and there are other stones which could have been
attributed to known carvers. John Holliman was a
Salem carver, not from Worcester. There were four
generations of Lamson carvers, and their work can be
found north to Nova Scotia and south to South Carolina
and the Barbados. The Geyers regularly used a distinc-
tive death head and a bust as well as cherubs. Several
Boston carvers used a skull over crossed bones and
they should not all be attributed to John Homer.

The double-dating of the year confuses the author yet
is a basic fact for anyone studying gravestones. This
was caused by the old custom of beginning the year on
March 25 and calling the dates of January 1 through

AGS Fa '91 p. 11

March 24 by the previous year. When New Year's day
was shifted to January 1 , in order to avoid confusion,
two years are noted for January, Febnjary and the first
24 days of March nnonths; thus 1714/5 would be used
for any date between 1 January and 24 March in the
year we would now call 1715. (For a more in-depth
explanation of this, see AGS Newsletter, V. 9 #3,
Sumnner 1985, p.5)

This work should sell well in the gift shops of the Salem
area and may lead to a greater public interest in the
can/ed heritage of our burial grounds. It is certainly too
bad that a more comprehensive and accurate presen-
tation is not available. Harriette Forbes' book Grave-

stones of Early New Er\gland and the Men Who
Made Them, fortunately is still available (reissued for
the fourth time by The CenterforThanatology Research,
Brooklyn NY) and is the best single resource even
ttiough it was written in 1927. The past 60 years have
added much information in the gravestone field which
does not appear in Our Silent Nelghttors. This points
up the need for students of gravestone study to make
the results of their work more easily available, and for
the Association for Gravestone Studies to make such
studies known to its members as well as to the public.

Ralph Tucker is an Episcopal minister living in Georgetown
Maine. He is a frequent contributor to the Newsletter, and an
authority on "TheMerrimac Valley Style'ofgravestonecarving.

**********

Tombstones of Your Ancestors

toy Louis S. Schafer

Heritage Books Inc., 1540-E Point Ridge Place, Bowie
MD 20716, 1991 1 56 pp, no illustrations

review by Det>orah Trask

This engaging little book makes a good
introduction to responsible amateur
study of gravestones. Schafer has
produced a "how to" kind of book for
gravestone beginners. He states that
this t)Ook is "intended to be an intro-
duction to the hobby of tocating, de-
ciphering and collecting gravestone
inscriptions and carvings. It has been
written.forthemostpart, asaguidefor
three types of people: (1) those who
are conducting extensive research into
family geneatogy and history; (2) those
who are simply intrigued by early
American heritage, and (3) thiose who
are in the process of assembling an
extensive collection of curious tomb-
stone poetry and sculpture."
Throughout the introductory chapter,
"Why Collect Epitaphs and Tombstone
Sculpture" the author makes repeated
reference to this collecting of tomb-
stone sculpture — an unfortunate use of phrase, for he
does not advocate collecting gravestones (we hope!).

The book also includes chapters on "How to Locate a
Particular Ancestor's Grave", "Deciphering Epitaphs",
and various methods of reproducing gravestone sur-
faces or making them more legible, all set out in a very

r g - =:^g?^;g--r-^jg=.-JBr;

TOMBSTONES

OF

YOUR ANCESTORS

1'

■I

straight-fonward, yet personable man-
ner, interspersed with personal anec-
dotes. There are no illustrations to
illuminate any of the methods described.
Informatton relating to the history of
epitaphs and American grave markers
is undocumented , despite the inclusion
of a reasonable biblk>graphy, but this is
a common practkie in the writing of
books for popular consumption. The
chapter on 'Tombstone Photography"
while giving very detailed instructions
on how to determine accurate expo-
sures, makes no reference whatsoever
to Dan Farber's Mirror MethKxJ, which is
to my way of thinking, the easiest and
nrvDst accurate method of gravestone
photography, a serious oversight (see
AGS Newsletter V. 10 #3, p. 21).
Thus, to a well-entrenched AGS mem-
ber, the overall approach may seem
superficial. The methods he describes
forreproductbn or legibility are sensible and inoffensive.
Tombstones of Your Ancestors is a readable guide
to "capturing and understanding" gravestone art, in-
tended for neophyte hobbyists.

Schafer also wrote Best of Gravestone Humor, re-
viewed in theSummer 1990 (V.I 4 #3) issue of the >^GS
Newsletter, p. 25.

AGS Fa '91 p. 12

BOOKS AVAILABLE

CORRECTIONS!

Sent in by Mark Esping, Linsborg, KS.

Two books of interest to AGS members are listed in a
recent catalog from a remainder book company, Edward
R.Hamilton, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000. They are:

Folk Art in Hungarian Cemeteries by Erno Hunt, $3.95.
Contains great photos and good drawings. Wooden
cross variations , covered cross variations and especially
the grave posts (Fatonkos fejfak) (Oszlopos fejfak) and
(Kopjafak) are shown in photos and drawings.

Space of Death by Michel Ragon, $9.95, is a historical
survey of social attitudes and how the world deals with
death. Some good areas on devetopment of current
trends are discussed.

NEW BOOK

Burlington Connecticut Cemetery Records by Leonard
Alderman records the names on markers in five cem-
eteries listed in alphabetical orderwith added information
that might be helpful to genealogists. Completed in
August 1990, it has been updated in February 1991.
Maiden names and relationships have been included in
many instances. The booklet is about 70 pages and
costs $20. Available from Leonard Alderman, 1 8 Milford
Street, Burlington, CT 06013.

Those of us who collect cemetery fcwoks may have an
interest in a forthcoming publicatton which was men-
tioned in Hope & Glory (the annual publication of the
Iowa Chapter, Victoria Society in America). Authored
by Jane B. Wilson, a retired librarian and one-time
editor of the Maryland State Library Association's
newsletter, the book is titled The Very Quiet
Baltimoreans. Described as "a book about the historic
cemeteries of the city", it shiould have appeal to those
not wedded to New England interests. The publication
date was noted as "Fall 1991", but no address or
purchase date were given.

contributed by Sybil Crawford, Dallas TX.

Rochelle Balkam of Visions of Thyme — Heritage Inter-
pretation, Ann AriDor Ml, presented a paper "Stories in
Stone"focusing on the preservation of cemetery history
at the Third Congress of Heritage Interpretation Inter-
national. The theme of the Congress, held November
3-8, 1991, in Honolulu, was "Joining Hands for Quality
Tourism, Interpretatbn, Preservatbn and the Travel
Industry".

Martha Asher, of Williamstown MA, points out an error
in the Summer issue of the >4GS Newsletter She writes :
"I am sure other tong-time admirers of Mrs. Elizabeth
Smith join me in regretting her disappearance from the
AGS logo, altlTough we understand and support the
reasoning behind the decision. We are all, however, as
would she be, deeply shocked to learn from the
President's Report {AGSNewsletter\/A5#3, Summer
1991 , p.14 ) that she has been nrioved to Williamsburg.
In our tocation only seven miles from the New Yori<
border, we Williamstownites are extra-sensitive, after
long years of putting up wrth Boston's assumption that
Western Massachusetts means Worcester. I should
hate to have Mrs. Smith's repose disturt>ed by such
political considerations."

former AGS logo, derived from the Elizabeth Smith stone,
1771, attributed to Samuel Dwight (Markers IV 1977pp. 160-
165) still in Williamstown MA.

Editor's note: Sorry for the oversightl AGS members may
remember the 1982 AGS conference in Williamstown where
we had the opportunity to view this interesting stone.

Will all AGS members who own copies of Cemeteries
& Gravemarkers: Voices of American edited by our
own Dick Meyer, please make a correction on page 272
and note 13 on page 290? I said I believed the
reference to a subsidiary in New Orleans was an error.
On the contrary, I'm the one who made the error.
Members Robert Wright and Eric Brock both wrote me
about signed New Orleans stones, but alas too late for
me to correct my essay before publication. The name
itself defeated me. All the other subsidiaries of
Monumental Bronze in BrkJgeport CT had geographic
names: Western White Bronze in Des Moines and
Detroit White Bronze, for instance, but tf>e one in New
Orleans was Coleman's White Bronze, the only one
with a person's name. If you are curious, there's a
singed monument in the center aisle of the oldest
section of Hebrew Rest in New Orleans.

Barbara Rotundo

AGS Fa '91 p. 13

RESEARCH

LOCAL TALENT OR UNUSUAL IMPORTS?

by Richard Veil

As part of the research for my Master thesis in Histori-
cal Archaeology at the College of William and Mary,
Middlesex County New Jersey Gravestones 1687-
1799: Shadows of a Changing Culture, I tried to
identify who carved all of the seventeenth and eight-
eenthcentury gravestones in Middlesex County. While
many stones cound not be clearly attributed to any
particular carver, three unusual stones have raised a
number of questions.

These stones, two headstones and afootstone, mark
the final resting places of Captain Andrew Drake and
Benjamin Hull, Esq. They all date to the 1740s.
Drake's stone is located in the Seventh Day Baptist
burial ground in Stelton, New Jersey, while Hull's is in
the Baptist Burial Ground in Samptown, now South
Plainfield, New Jersey. Both stones are located in
what was, in the eighteenth century, Piscataway
Township.

Captain Andrew Drake, Stelton NJ, 1743

Andrew Drake's resting place is marked by both a
headstone and footstone dating to 1 743 while Benjamin
Hull has only a headstone dated 1 745. All three of the
stones are carved out of a light tan, relatively coarse
grained sandstone. Both headstones depict quizzi-
cally smiling cherubs quite unlike the work of other
local carvers. The two headstones also feature rather
lengthy poetic epitaphs relating to the deceased. For
instance, Squire Hull's epitaph notes that, "Though 1 a
judge did sit, all justice for to give, now from this world

is gone, the same forto receive." The stones are unlike
their contemporaries in a number of ways. The carving
of the cherubs is quite a bit cruder than that found on
other local skulls and cherubs of the same time period.
They are among the earlier cherub representations in
the Raritan River Valley, though by no means the first.
The lettering is comparatively shallow and irregular.
Periods follow many of the words, and the first part of the
letter "w" is consistently inverted. The stones' borders
feature shallow floral decorations, which contrasts with
the deeper, boldercarving of many of New Jersey's early
stone carvers in Elizabethtown and Newark.

The question of who carved these gravestones, and
where, is open to debate. They may be the products of
a local New Jersey carver who produced only a limited
number of stones. This would help account for their
archaic lettering and rather simple style of carving. The
bottom of Andrew Drake's stone displays the crossed
bones motif commonly used by some eighteenth cen-
tury New Jersey carvers. It is possible that they were
made by a local carver who produced a limited number
of stones and then ceased production. He could have
been a local avocational or semi-professional can/er,
who was copying the designs he has seen in neighboring
towns, possibly even carving on pre-cut blanks. It
seems unlikely that they were produced by a semi-

Benjamin Hull, Esq., South Plainfield NJ, 1745

AGS Fa '91 p. 14

skilled apprentice, since they mark the graves of two of
the most prominent individuals in their respective com-
munities.

An alternate hypothesis is that these stones may in fact
be imports from Connecticut, which was an early center
of gravestone carving. Stylistically they seem to share
certain traits with the works of certain Connecticut
carvers, especially in the ovoid face. It is certainly
possible that wealthy members of the Piscataway
Township community imported them. This community
had its commercial outlet at Landing Lane, a small port
on the Raritan River. Piscataway Township is known to
have had strong ties with New England, and a large
number of stones from the Naragansett Bay region are

found in its main cemetery. Contemporaries of these
individuals living in the same township were purchasing
stones from as far away as Rhode Island, as well as
nearby Newark and Elizabethtown.

At this time, conclusive evidence as to the identity of the
carver is lacking. Thew probates, inventories and wills
of these two individuals do not make any mention of
gravestones nor are the stones signed. These particu-
lar stones are just a few of the many unusual examples
of the carver's art found in Middlesex County. Anyone
with further information about who may have carved
them, and where they did so, is welcome to comment.

Richard Veit, 905 Franklin Ave., So. PIfd. NJ 07080

WANTED!

ANY INFORMATION LEADING TO IDENTIFICATION
OF CARVERS ON AGS' 10 MOST WANTED LIST

Have you seen stones by these carvers? Do you have additional clues that might lead to the identification of the
missing artisans? Do YOU have an elusive carver to place on our list of the 1 0 MOST WANTED? Please contact
AGS Research or the Newsletter with any information. Your identify will be protected if you wish. There is an
honorary REWARD as well as a great cache of satisfaction for anyone able to supply information leading to the
identification of the "at large" gravestone can/ers featured here. No need to wor1< undercover or go underground;
careful surveillance and digging (in old records) often leads to a capture. Be sure to document and report any
strange or suspicious looking stones. Be on the alert for these MOST WANTED:

1 . This folk carver worked in the area of Amenia, New
York/Sharon, Connecticut during the last half of the
1700s, and apparently in Cortland County, New York,
(south central) in the first two decades of the 1 800s. He
is known by various aliases: "The Amenia Carver",
"Nebbish Carver", 'The Shmoo", "Sunburst Man", "CT/
NY Slate Carver"; he may also go by the name "Pac
Man". This carver apparently produced less than 100
stones on several different types of material, including
schist, black slate, marble and granite. His styles
varied greatly (no two stones are exactly alike), but he
often filled the tympanum with a sunburst or fan with
square-ended rays, or a strange, thick-necked head
with simple, cheerfulfeatures. The heads/faces always
have eyebrows, outline or a scalloped trim over the
tympanum or down the side borders. The tablet letter-
ing is very distinctive, correct, but not what you could
describe as polished or standard. Beware! This folk
carver is unique and has been known to capture casual
unarmed admirers from several states. If seen in your
neighborhood, report at once!

AGS Fa '91 p. 15

3. Who CARVED these masked men? Evidence
indicates that more than one perpetrator is responsible
for the trail of mask-like faces in New Hampshire and
Vermont. There are also profile stones in and around
East Randolph VT that may be the work of the same
undercover men. Carvers Asa Baldwin and Jonas
Stewart are high on the list of suspects. Aliases include:
"The Raccoon Face Carver", "Masked Man/Angel
Carver" and "Sour Puss". Jonas Stewart, who may
have had connections to the powerful Park, family in
Groton MA, reportedly ran a business from Claremont
NH in the early 1770s. He allegedly moved to Dorset
VT sometime before the end of the century. Stewart's
suspected accomplice, Asa Baldwin, left his finger-
prints— and signature — on a stone in Dorset VT (1 798).
There may be other partners whose identities have
been withheld. These slippery individuals — perhaps
Baldwin and Stewart alone, or possibly as many as five
different perpetrators — will surely be apprehended if
the AGS community comes forward with evidence.
Please contact the AGS office of missing carvers if you
have evidence or clues that might lead to the identifica-
tion of the "Masked Man" or "Randolph Profile" stone
cutters.

2. Don't be fooled by the charming
alias of our second MOST WANTED
carver; the quest for the "Charlie Brown
Carver" has become deadly serious.
"Charlie Brown's" identity has eluded
sleuths foroverone hundred years, but
we are hoping that clever AGS mem-
bers will supply the missing link to his
past. One suspect may use the name
Timothy Eastman. This carver's handi-
work shows up during the 1750s and
1760s in the burying grounds around
EastfordandAshford, Connecticut. His
modus operandi is as follows: many
stones are of an unconventional shape
and are framed with a simple outline
border, often with a wavy line design or
scallops as decoration. The tablet in-
scription is executed in bold capital
letters. "Charlie Brown's" spelling is
often unconventional, as is his appar-
ently consistent habit of referring to a
man's marital kinship: "Joseph Chub,
husband of Mrs. Mehetabel Chub..."
This husband of..." reference is rarely seen on other
stones of the period. If you want to pick up his trail, look
for "Charlie Brown's" large triangular noses and char-
acteristic straight line mouth. Droopy wings often
attach at the top of the round heads he carved. All of his
effigies are unarmed and utterly appealing. Proceed
with caution! Report all clues.

AGS Fa -91 p. 16

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AGS Fa '91 p. 17

POINTS OF INTEREST

collected by William Hosley

Last issue's inquiry about the origin of early New
England marl<ers in marble generated several interesting
responses from AGS members. Not surprisingly, the
best came from a member who lives near the marble
belt along Route 7 in western Massachusetts. Michael
Bathrick wrote to say that he is iollowing up on a local
carver in the Richmond-Stockbridge-Lenox
region., .[who] carves in the tradition of the Connecticut
River Valley.. .all of his stones are of marble" and date
as early as 1 770. In Richmond MA Michael has turned
up very crude early work in marble that he argues
convincingly as being made as early as 1764. That
would be the earliest marble stone I know of.

Information like this is really useful. Old quarrymen and
stonecutters point out that when a stonecutter initially
taps a source he is more likely to scavenge loose
surface stone than actually quarry it out of the earth. So
we shouldn't expect the earliest marble stones to have
been worked from quarries. I'd still like more reliable
documentation on quarrying marble in western New
England.

Aside from all the dust-to-dust epitaphs, every once in
a while you turn up an inscription that is really unique
and interesting. Students of medical history could have
a field day with anecdotes of "apoplexy", "small pox"
and other diseases that did people in. Here in the
Connecticut Valley inscriptions atiout "drowning in the
Connecticut River" are common, and many AGS
members have seen references to people falling into
their wells. But some inscriptions are truly unusual. In
conjunction with the AGS conference in the Upper
Valley, we visited the old burying ground in Claremont
NH where my wife Christine Ermenc found a stone
marking the graves of Chester and Elisha Putnam "who
on the morning of the 29th of January 1 81 4 in the same
bed were found suffocated. A kettle of common coals
having been placed in their room for comfort provided
the fatal instrument of their death." How the coals did
them in is not said, but it's a good one to think about
[carbon monoxide?].

My favorite is engraved with a parable on hunter safety.

The Elijah Felt stone (Somers CT, 1780) notes how a

hunting accident did him in at the age of 23; the epitaph:

All you that hunt in verdant wood

With firearm your game to kill

Be careful when you fire your piece

Lest your partner's blood do spill.

If you'd like to send along pictures or information of the
best inscriptions atjout the way people died, we'll run
the best in a future issue. Send to William Hosley, Old
Abbe Rd., Enfield CT 06082.

Concerning the mysterious initials on the tombstone in
the Spring 1991 issue of the AGS Newsletter, (p.20):
F.N.D.O.S.B.T.K.O., Dr. Maynard and Ruth Mires of
Georgetown DE suggest the biblical quotation "Fear
not daughter; of such be the kingdom of *"

(* =God, not written or spoken).

AGS Fa '91 p. 18

LETTER FROM SCOTLAND

I was interested in one of the stones in the AGS
Newsletter photographs of mystery stones (Summer
1991 , p.5). I enjoyed the lovely recreated graveyard in
the Farthers' garden when I was there.

The John Foster stone (1681 Dorchester), Fig. 170 in
Mrs. Forbes book, has a carved scene from Francis
Quar\es Emblems Divine and Moral and HIerglypNcs
of the Life Of Man. The University copy here is dated
1777, but Quarles lived from 1592-1644. I have not
been able to see earlier editions, but the illustrations
used in the 1 777 copy, and presumably in earlier ones,
were used as prototypes by gravestone cutters. Later
editions have different illustrations. The scene on the
John Foster stone appears on another given by Mrs.
Forbes (Fig. 22), that of Joseph Tapping, King's Chapel,
1678, by the same mason. A third appears on the
Rebecca Gerrish stone. King's Chapel, 1 743, by William
Codner, (Fig. 180). It is interesting to find the same
scene on a headstone at Alloway, Ayrshire. This stone
has two scenes from Quarles Emblems, one of which is
also carved on a stone at Soulseat Abbey, Wigtownshire,
some thirty miles south of Alloway. The stones may be
dated c. 1700 and are by the same hand.

This scene appears in Hieroglyphics VI Ecclesiasticus
iii V. i: 'To everythir>g there is an appointed time". The
first verse runs:

Behold the frailty of this splendid stuff

Alas it has not long to last.

Without the help of either thief or puff,

Her weakness knows the way to waste,

Nature hath made her substance apt enough

To spend itself, and spend too fast;

It needs the help of none

That is so prone

To lavish out untouched and languish all alone

The subsequent five verses are a dialogue between the
accomplices. Time and Death.

There are four other gravestones with scenes from
Quarles, each different, in Stirling, St. Andrews, Dun-
dee and Arbroath (Angus). I would like to write fully on
these, and would be most grateful for informatbn on
any other known stones in the USA with scenes from
Erriblem Books.

Betty Willsher, Orchard Cottage, Greenside Place, St.
Andrews KY16 9TJ, Scotland.

^^P^^^^w^

Trmpus rnt .

PAST CONFERENCE LOCATIONS

AGS wasformed in 1 977following the annazing response
to the first (1976) Dublin Seminar, organized by Peter
Benes. The first seminar was on the topMC of Puritan
Gravestone Art. About thirty participants were expected
but more than a hundred attended. The 1978 Dublin
Seminar was on the same topic, but co-sponsored by
AGS. What folk)ws is a list of dates and locations for all
AGS Conferences:

1978

Dublin NH

1985

New Brunswick NJ

1979

Newport Rl

1986

BrooklineMA

1980

Haverhill MA

1987

Amherst MA

1981

Storrs CT

1988

Lancaster PA

1982

Willlamstown MA

1989

Byfield MA

1983

Worcester MA

1990

Bristol Rl

1984

Hartford CT

1991

Northfield MA

The 1 992 (15th) conference will be held at Union College
in Schenectady NY, June 25-28

AGS Fa '91 p. 19

REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION

Carol Williams Gebel, a member of the American Quilt
Study Group (Headquarters San Francisco CA) is
researching the role of quilts in death and mourning.
She would like to hear from anyone knowing about any
specific genealogy quilts or other quilts such as those
with obvious mourning symbols or in which death and
grief are revealed (such as the Kentucky graveyard
quilt). Carol Williams Gebel, 1801 BonnibeeCt., Raleigh
NC 27612.

NATIONAL

ASSOCIATION"

INTERPREIATION

The Nattonal Association for Interpretation, Region 1
(New York and New England) will be holding a work-
shop at Pinkham Notch; Gorham, New Hampshire,
March 29-31, 1992. The theme of the workshop is
"Collaborative Interpretation and will include collabora-
tive ventures between interpretive facilities, academia
and the private sector. For workshop inquiries, contact
Mr. Ray Perry, NYS Parks, Empire State Plaza, Agency
Building 1, Albany NY 12238. Tel. (518)474-3714.

Historical Cemeteries and Burials: I am seeking final
contributions of references for a comprehensive bib-
liographic publkiation on historrcal nrwrtuary behavior
and material culture. The bibliography will include
studies of mortuary sites, materials and death practices
dating from the perkxj of European expanswn (15th -
20th centuries): archaeological cemetery studies,
whether or not excavatton was undertaken; tocatwnal
studies for known or suspected graves; studies of
cemetery landscapes, grave markers and artifacts from
the grave; physkial anthropokjgy; historical studies of
deathways; law and the reburial controversy; and ar-
chaeok)gical and anthropological method and theory
regarding death ritual and its m.aterial culture. The
bibliography will be indexed by keyword; an abstract
and/or description of contents for any references woukl
facilitate the indexing process. Conference papers will
be included only if a copy of the paper is sent; for other
unpublished materials, please indicate its repository.

Edward L. Bell, Massachusetts Historical Commission,
80 Boylston Street, Boston MA 0211 6

Barbara Rotundo recently
contributed an interesting piece
of informatkjn regarding veiled
statuary figures, found in
Country Life (December 1 1 ,
1986, p. 19). A good example
of this remarkable carving
technique can be seen on
pages 64-5 of the Dover pub-
licatk)n Victorian Cemetery
Art by Edmund Gillon Jr. Ac-
cording to the Country Life
article, "the first well-docu-
mented sculptor to specialize
in this difficult art, was Antonk)
Corradini (1668-1752)." His
best known piece is a veiled
figure called "Modesty".

This sculptural technique was
popularized by the Italian artist
Rafaelle Monti (1818-1881),
who worked in London after 1848. He produced a
series of veiled figures, based on his sensational original,
entitled 'The Veiled Vestal". The Stoke, England, firm
of W.T. Copeland reproduced many of Monti's pieces in
the "newly invented ceramk;f abric called Parian", which
was "an unglazed porcelain, almost indistinguishable
from a very fine-grained marble."

If any AGS nrjember can provkJe further examples of
these veiled figures, or more information about the use
of the ceramk; fabrk: called Parian, please contact
Laurel K. Gabel, AGS Research.

AGS Fa '91 p. 20

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S NOTES

If you happen to call the office on a Wednesday or a
Friday afternoon, and someone answers who definitely
doesn't sound like me, despair not. You have the right
place. I have a new assistant, Tom Harrahy. Tom helps
me several hours a week, and he works Friday after-
noons, so now the office is manned five afternoons a
week, 1 1 :30 to 4:30. Tom has been a terrific help to me,
and we have begun working on some of the bigger
projects that had only been great ideas waiting to
happen before.

One of those ideas is the 1992 membership drive.
Here's how it's going to work: in 1992, every member
who gets new members to join AGS will get a gift - a gift,
I might add, that will not be available anywhere else.
Tentatively, forthe first new memberyou get to join, you
would get a ceramic refrigerator magnet (with a
gravestone design, of course!) . When the second new
member joins, your gift would be a long-sleeve T-shirt
with a special (non-conference) AGS design. Finally,
the third new member you get to join would get you a
special pottery mug, again with a gravestone design on
it. I haven't figured out what you would get for your
fourth, fifth, sixth, etc. new members, but you would get
a pretty special gift, believe me!

Your renewal form always comes with a membership
brochure, which I ask you to give to someone interested
in joining AGS. To get your gift, all you have to do is
write your membership number (it's in the upper left
corner of your address label on your renewal fonn) to
the left of the "Office Use" box on the brochure. When
that brochure is returned for membership, you will
automatically be credited for the membership. Alter-
natively, you can jot a note on the part of the brochure
that gets returned, or have your friend write your name
in somewhere on the form. Either way, you'll be
credited.

If you really want to go for it (and I hope you will), you
can request additional brochures from the office, write
your number (which you can also get from the office if
you've recently renewed or don't want to wait to get
started) on all of them before you distribute them.

Our aim here is not to get tens of thousands of members
for AGS. But we sure could use about 100 new
members in addition to the ones we're already getting.
Our membership is at 913 now. I'd like to say one year
from now that we have 1 000 -i- members. Also, I think
it's important that everyone makes a concerted effort to
make better known AGS and the issues we're trying to
educate people about. I thought that this would be a fun

way to do that. If you have any questions, please don't
hesitate to contact me.

We still have a few conference '91 T-shirts left for sale.
They're 98% cotton, and are grey with a maroon design
on them. We have, for $10, sizes S, M, L, and XL. For
$1 1 , you can get an XXL shirt.

I also wanted to talk about Markers VIII, the most
misunderstood volume of this series. Let me explain
something here. Everyone keeps asking me if there is
anything of interest to anyone whose research doesn't
focus in Connecticut. First of all, although most of the
carvers discussed by Dr. Caulf ield were in Connecticut,
many of them wori<ed their way up the River (Con-
necticut, that is) or ended up in other parts of New
England. Secondly, Dr. Caulfield was an excellent
writer. This book is a terrific read, no matter what your
interests. If you like research of any kind, this book will
be of value to you. It is, in some ways, like Gravestone
Chronicles: it's great if you are interested in those
particular carvers, but it also stands on its own. What
I found especially intriguing about Markers W/Zwas how
much it becomes a chronicle of Dr. Caulfield himself
when you put all of the articles together that way. In that
respect, it's fascinating.

Finally, in the last issue, I mentioned that there has
been some interest in developing a catalog of court
cases and laws as an AGS resource. Although I've
gotten some response to this, no one who has expressed
interest feels qualified to do this job. Is there a lawyer
among our membership who would be willing to at least
help usto set up a system and methodology forcollecting
this information?

That's it - don't forget to mark down June 25 - 28, 1 992:
it's our fifteenth conference, and will be held at Union
College in Schenectady, New York.

Have a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and
happy new year!

Miranda Levin
Executive Director

AGS Fa '91 p. 21

RECEIVED FOR THE ARCHIVES

The Newsletter receives many newspaper items from vigi-
lant members across the continent. These are not always
included in the Newsletter because of space limitations, re-
petitive story lines, or because in the opinion of the editor they
are not directly related to the study of gravestones. All news
items not printed in the Newsletter do eventually go to the
AGS Archives. Here, in summary form, is a listing of recent
contributions:

recarve the lettering. The company has fixed broken
stones and installed stone foundations under weaker
stones.

In the same paper is another article about Leonard
Alderman of Burlington CT who has created a 62-page
alphabetized directory of people buried in Burlington.
Alderman sells his directory for $20. - for more infor-
mation call 673-9581 .

From Cathy Wilson, Oakmont PA, an article titled
"Group fixes up rundown graves"f rom the April 7, 1 991 ,
issue of the Pittsburgh Press, about a group of volun-
teers cleaning up 150 neglected cemeteries in Indiana
County PA. Called Project Headstone, the clean up
effort includes Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity members,
from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, who are
working to improve not only the community but the
image of fraternities as strictly partying organizations.

From Alice Bunton, Bethany CT, an item from the New
Haven Register, January 28, 1 991 , on the restoration of
the historic gravestones in the basement crypt of the
First Church of Christ Congregational on the Green in
New Haven CT. The oldest stone dates from 1687. The
restoration is under the direction of Frank Matero of the
University of Pennsylvania, and is expected to cost
$80,000. Donations can be made to the New Haven
Crypt Association, 311 Temple St., New Haven CT
06511.

A recent article from a Rhode Island newspaper titled
"For the love of cemeteries" concerns AGS members
Beatrice Hoffius and Althea t^cAleer and their current
project researching the cemeteries of North Kingstown
Rl. Dutch Island Press expects to publish their finding
this spring. The main purpose of the publication will be
to provide valuable information to genealogists who
wish to trace the histories of their families. They
estimate that there are about 200 cemeteries in North
Kingstown.

Me\ Barrett, Severna Pk MD contributed an item from
the Hilton Head News, South Carolina, July 18, 1990,
about problems of access to the eleven black cemeter-
ies on Hilton Head. Most of the cemeteries pre-date the
Civil War. Since the cemeteries are not marked like
most white cemeteries, developers don't recognize
them for what they are.

East Granby Center Cemetery Association has worked
for fourteen years to restore the worst parts of their
cemetery. Beij Williams & Zito Inc. of Hartford use a
special fill to restore the surface of the stone and then

All of the following material was contributed by Jim
Jewell of Peru IL, who among his many and varied
activities is his own clipping sen/ice:

-Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Edward J. Denwinski,
wants to make Fort Sheridan, scheduled to close in
1994, a national cemetery. Competition for the land
may be stiff, as private developers are willing to pay
millions. From the Chicago Sun-Times, December 1 7,
1990.

-An article in the December 26, 1990 edition of the
Chicago Sun-Times describes Oak Woods Cemetery,
the oldest cemetery in Chicago, founded in 1 853.

-An article in the Chicago Sun-Times, January 11,1991
notesthatthe Chicago Plan Commission recommended
approval of a development that opponents say could
desecrate thousands of unmarked graves on the
Northwest Side. This story has been covered in the
A/eivs/efferbefore-but continues.) Areportonthesame
story, from the Chicago Tribune, January 1 2, 1 991 , was
sent by Carol Shipp, Princeton IL.

-From the Chicago Tribune, January 11,1 991 , an ar-
ticle titled 'The 'hot' war we can't forget" by Ron Pazola
talks about Chicago's important part in the Civil War.
Chicago is filled with Civil War sites: the Stephen
Douglas Tomb and f\/lemorial; the Chicago Soldiers'
Home, now St. Joseph Carondelet Child Center; Camp
Douglas, to name a few.

-From the Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1991, an
item about former President Tito of Yugoslavia, who
died in 1980, and whose body may be taken from his
white marble tomb in Belgrade and consigned to an
ordinary cemetery.

-An article inthe Chicago Sun-Times, Novembers, 1 991 ,
titled "Time dims the glory at Great War graves" by Jack
Schnedler, describes the St. Mihiel American Cemetery
at Thiaucourt-Regineville, France, 30 miles southeast
of Verdun. Visitors to World War I cemeteries on the

AGS Fa "91 p. 22

Western Front add up to only a fraction of the total at
World War II cemeteries in France.

The Ft. Wayne IN NewszSentinel oi August 27, 1991
reported that undercover police charged young men
and juveniles with theft and attempted theft as they tried
to rob a grave. The police believe the bodies were
wanted for satanic rites.

-From the Chicago Sun-Times of Novembers, 1991,
an article on Chicago's 350-acre Rosehill Cemetery
describes it as one of the finest living landscapes left in
that city. In the 1 980s there was some controversy over
Rosehill's fate when owners announced plans for a
shopping center. Today Rosehill's landscape is chal-
lenged less by developmentthan by the need to replenish
native oak stands and bird habitats while keeping up its
aging family-owned monuments.

Boston Magazine, October 1991 issue, contains a
lengthy article "Deathsty les of the Rich and Famous", a
guide to their Boston-area graves, by David Cross and
Robert Bent. Cross & Bent wrote Dead Ends: An Ir-
reverent Field Guide to the Graves of the Famous,
recently published by Plume/Penguin.

-From the Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1991, a
report states that construction on the new federal
center in New York City was put on hold when ar-
chaeologists discovered a Colonial burying ground for
African-Americans, the first such discovery in the United
States. The plot, closed in 1790, had been a municipal
cemetery for paupers. Revolutionary War prisoners
and victims of contagious diseases. The archaeological
dig is likely to yield important information about how
blacks lived — and died — during the Colonial era. (For
more on this story, see p. 25.)

A New Age Christian group wants to dig up an historic
church graveyard in hopes of finding a vault it claims
contains writings that can save the world and prove that
Sir Francis Bacon wrote the plays of Shakespeare. The
Ministryforthe Children, base in Sante Fe NM, contents
that if the writings thought to be buried at Bruton Parish
Church, Williamsburg VA, aren't found by the year
2000, world order will collapse. The group believes
Bacon's lost writings were buried at the church along
with such treasures as the original translation of the
King James Bible. The Episcopal church, founded in
the 1 670s, and where George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson worshipped, obtained a restraining order
against the group after members entered the cemetery
at night September 9 and dug a big hole to look for the
vault.

from the LaSalle IL News Tribune, October 14, 1991

The October 1991 issue of the Journal Antiques cor\-
tains a fascinating, illustrated article on "Decorated
gravestones of Wythe County, Virginia, by J, Roderick
l^oore, director of the Blue Ridge Institute, Ferrum
College, Ferrum VA

AGS member, Jeffrey B. f^^lead, is presenting an
interpretative slide show/lecture series on the Burying
Grounds of the Town of Greenwich CT:

Wed., January 29, 1992— 7:30pm Reader Behold As

You Pass By: The Epitaphs
Epitaphs are among the most expressive elements of

our gravestones, offering a fascinating variety

of emotional sentiments and lessons to the

living.

Wed., February 26, 1992— 7:30pm Tomac Cemetery:
A Portal to the Pas\

This cemetery is the oldest existing burying
ground in Greenwich. In 1929, the writer illus-
trator Whitman Bailey described this graveyard
as a place where "all gloomed has vanished. Its
age has lent it peacefulness; and a person
wandering through its quiet paths has only the
sense of what has happened long ago, and of
a history that is becoming more and more
remote."

All lectures will be held in the Meeting Room at the
Greenwich Arts Center, 299 Greenwich Avenue,
Greenwich CT.

For more information, call (203) 849-1464.

Former AGS Executive Director; Rosalee Oakley, writes that
'Thanks to the notice in the last issue of the Newsletter, Fred
and I attended the lecture of the Victorian Society by Owen
Shows on Victorian cemetery iconography which was EX-
CELLENT! Before the slide presentation began, music was
played as the group gathered and two women dressed In
voluminous black mourning dresses and heavy veils from the
1860s sat on either side of the stage beside the screens.
Aften«ards they modeled the clothing and talked about the
three stages of Victorian mourning as the group had re-
freshments. The material in these was gorgeous and the
detailing beautiful. They were in the second stage where they
could wear a pendant that was other than black — these were
gold with onyx settings. They showed us a picture of porcelain
photographs of the deceased worn as broaches which were
also suitable. The slide show was about an hour long and very
scholarly, going back to Egyptian, Roman and Greek Ico-
nography and mythology for origins of Victorian motifs. Fred
Is trying to reach Mr. Shows to talk about AGS's possible use
of the program in some form.

AGS Fa '91 p. 23

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

An item in the New York Times tells of an unusual dis-
pute over cemetery rules at St. Joseph's Cemetery in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

For decades families were free to decorate plots as
they pleased, and this freedom, it was felt by those \n
charge, has gotten out of hand. Elaborate and "ex-
cessive" displays adorned many of the grave sites.
People brought balloons, pumpkins, bowling balls, golf
clubs, flags. "It just didn't look right", said the Rev.
David Farland, pastor of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic
Church, who recently announced new rules.

The new rules limit decorations to one flower pot per
plot, distressing many families. The situation was
exacerbated by the discarding of decorations some
families refused to remove. Plants and gardens were
pulled up and fences that had been erected to protect
gardens were taken down. The pastor has refused to
sit down with protesters to discuss the matter. There
have been protest demonstrations in front of both the

rectory and the bishop's residence in Springfield, and
1300 signatures have been collected demanding that
the rules be rescinded. Now, having failed to win their
case through persuasion and protest, the protesters
are going to court.

The only reason given in the article for the new rule is
that the ornamentation is inappropriate, which expla-
nation is felt by the families to be insulting and "just plain
mean".

Our reading of this situation is that the cemetery's new
rule might have been better accepted if the reason
given for the change had been the complications and
expense of cemetery upkeep caused by families erecting
fences, planting shrubs and gardens, and placing all
kinds of large and small objects on the graves.

If this dispute is settled in court and reported in the
press, we will report the results to our readers.

contributed by Jessie Lie Farber, Worcester MA.

CEMETERY PUBLICITY COMES IN UNEXPECTED
WAYS

Founded in 1819, the Arkansas Gazette
is the oldest newspaper west of the
Mississippi. This Pulitzer Prize-winning
paper was sold in October 1991, mark-
ing the end of an era. The paper's
founder, William E. Woodruff (b. 1795)
,is buried in Little Rock's historic Mount
Holly Cemetery. On the day the sale
was consummated, employees of the
Gazette tied a copy of its final edition, a
floral tribute, and a farewell letter to the
handsome cast iron gate of the Wood-
ruff family lot with yellow ribbons. In a
front-page spread. Gazette readers
state-wide glimpsed the beauty of the
site, but could not see the white bronze
marker on this lot (just outside of camera
range). The Woodruff white bronze
marker is one of four at the 148-year-old
Mount Holly Cemetery, whose sesquicentennial will be
celebrated in 1 993 with the publication of two books, an
illustrated history and a burial index.

contributed by Sybil Crawford, Dallas TX.

AGS Fa '91 p. 24

Dig Unearths Early Black Burial Ground

by David W. Dunlap

Churning through the stillness of centuries, a trowel-by-
trowel probe has yielded one of the oldest remnants of
a black community in New York City — a colonial-era
cemetery that was then at the most desolate edge of
town and is now 20 feet below the civic center.

Thirteen bodies have already been exhumed by ar-
chaeologists at a construction site at Broadway and
Reade Street. It seems certain they are unearthing the
"Negros Burial Ground" documented as early as 1 755,
which also served as a potter's field and as a graveyard
for American prisoners during the Revolutionary War.
"I'm specu lating that this is one of the few places where
blacks got to practice their community together and
practice their religion together, "said Ed Rutsch, the
archaeologist who is heading the dig. Slaves and free
blacks alike were buried there.

Clues to Way of Living

Although the burying ground wasfamiliarto historians,
there had been no way of telling how much of it — if
any — survived to this day. The sheer magnitude of the
find clearly delighted the archeologists in the field.

Among the questions to which the cemetery may offer
clues are these:

What was the child-morbidity rate black New Yorkers in
the 1 8th century? Were their diets meager or nourish-
ing? Were broken bones and bad teeth cared for?
Were blacks plagued by rickets or tuberculosis? Did
any African burial customs survive in the New World?
Much can already be inferred from its location, on the
far side of the palisade that once bordered the city
proper 'Two centuries ago," Mayor David N. Dinkins
said, "not only could African-Americans not hope lo
govern New York City, they could not even hope to be
buried within its boundaries."

The burial ground, which was closed in 1 790, will be the
site of a 34-story Federal office building. That con-
struction will wait until the cemetery has been fully
explored and documented.

"The size and scope expands with every shovel full,"
said Christopher F. McGratty, a partner in the Linpro
Company, which is developing the project forthe Federal
Government. He said the excavation would probably
delay completion of the 974,000-square-foot tower,
which had been set for November 1 994 and increase its
cost estimated at $276 million.

Treating Remains Witii Dignity

"Our instruction to Mr. Rutsch is that the importance of
the find comes first," said William J. Diamond, regional
administrator of the General Services Administration,
under whose auspices the office building and a nearby
courthouse are being constructed. Further, Mr. Dia-
mond said: "It is absolutely essential that the remains
that were found on the site be treated with the utmost
respect and dignity. We are committed to re-interment
of these remains to an appropriate site." A possible
reburial site is Trinity Church Cemetery in Harlem. Mr.
Diamond said there would be some kind of permanent
exhibit in the lobby of the new building.

What has survived of the cemetery is a portion under
the crook of an L shaped alleyway, known as Repub-
lican Alley and Manhattan Alley, that divided the block
bounded by Broadway, Reade, Duane and Elk Streets.
Because there was no construction on the alley itself,
the graves beneath were undisturbed.

Lower map (rom "The Iconography ot Manhauan Island" by I N Phelps Slokea (Roben H. Dodd. 1915)

A 1 755 map of lower Manhattan shows the cemetery for blacks that was
discovered during excavation for a 34-story Federal office building.

AGS Fa '91 p. 25

'A Certain Amount of Care'

AM the skeletons found so far were buried in coffins,
most of wiiich were hexagonal. "That was surprising,"
Mr, Rutsch said. "We were expecting to find some only
in shrouds. But it speaks of a certain amount of care."
All were buried with their heads facing west, which Mr.
Rutsch said was a Christian tradition. Headstones
marked some graves, although none was legibly in-
scribed. Some graves were marked by footstones,
some outlined by cobblestones.

Historians have long been aware of the burial place,
which is shown in a 1755 map called the Maerschaick
Plan. One vivid and disturbing account was written in
1865 by David T. Valentine for the Manual of the
Corporation of the City of New- York:

"Though within convenient walking distance from the
city, the locality was unattractive and desolate, so
that by permission the slave population were allowed

to inter their dead there.

"Many of them were native Africans, imported hither
in slave ships, and retaining their native superstitions
and burial customs, among which was that of burying
by night, with various mummeries and outcries This
custom was finally prohibited by the authorities from
its dangerous and exciting tendencies among the
blacks.

"So little seems to have been thought of the race that
not even a dedication of their burial-place was made
by the church authorities, or any others who might
reasonably be supposed to have an interest in such
a matter."

Mayor Dlnkins said in November: "If the honorable
intentions announced today lead to the honorable ac-
tions we expect, we can help erase the dishonor the city
brought upon Itself two centuries ago."

From the New York Times, October 9, 1991, contributed by
Anne Polster, Brooklyn NY, and others; the Hartford Courant,
October 9, 1991, sent by Ray Cummings, Avon CT.

LIBRARIAN HELPS FOIL THE THEFT OF IRISH
GRAVESTONES

A contemporary pirate who had tried to sell to Boston
College stolen Irish gravestones with an estimated
value of up to $1 50,000 was sentenced in August by a
Federal court in Boston.

The defendant, Peter Kenny, a 68-year-old Irish citizen,
was turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization
Service for deportation. Mr. Kenny also was sentenced
to a four-month term in Federal prison, which he had
already served since his arrest in April. He had pleaded
guilty on July 25 to smuggling stolen goods into the
United States. The gravestones have been returned for
display at the National Museum in Dublin.

Mr. Kenny arrived in Miami in January with a sailboat full
of stolen artifacts from St. Dermot's sixth-century mo-
nastic site on Inchcleraun Island (Quaker Island). Among
the items were a Viking anchor, a number of coins,
several rifles reportedly used in the 1916 Easter Re-
bellion and three Christian grave slabs bearing Latin
crosses, rings and inscriptions. Irish officials say all
three slabs were stolen between 1949 and 1989. A

fourth grave slab remains at Inchcleraun, while a fifth
has been missing since 1869.

Mr. Kenny got in touch with Boston College's John J.
Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections,
which houses one of the nation's most comprehensive
collections of Irish historical and cultural material. In an

interview, Robert O'Neill, Burns' librarian, said the age
and distinction of the stones that Mr. Kenny had offered
aroused his suspicion and prompted him to call the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, which set the stage for
an elaborate sting operation.

According to Mr. O'Neill, on April 16 at the Burns
Library, Mr. Kenny met with him and with a wired F.B.I,
agent, who was posing as a Boston College benefactor.
Federal agents also posed as students outside the
library and as maintenance workers who were called
upon to help carry in the antiquities for display. After
bargaining down Mr. Kenny's price, Mr. O'Neill said that
he and the "benefactor" made a down payment to Mr.
Kenny, with the promise of a final payment to close the
deal on April 22. Instead, on that day, Mr Kenny was
surprised by F.B.I, agents at his motel in Wellesley, MA,
and arrested on smuggling charges. Mr. O'Neill said he
considers the Kenny case important both to Ireland and
to other countries that are trying to protect their national
cultural treasures. "Ireland will get back its treasures,"
he said. "And future thefts of this nature should be
discouraged for some time to come."

Eamonn Kelly of Ireland's National Museum has called
the world market for stolen antiquities second in prof-
itability only to the international drug trade.

New York Times September 1, 1991, also the Atheris VA
Daily News/Banner Herald, August 18, 1991, sentby Cranston
Williams Jr., Roanoke VA.

AGS Fa '91 p. 26

BUSINESS PAPERS OF THE THOMAS PHILLIPS MONUMENT COMPANY, NEW HAVEN CT

The papers of the Thomas Phillips Monument Com-
pany (1845-1988) have been given to the New Haven
Colony Historical Society by Dorothy Perkins, the widow
of John Chester Pert<ins, last principal owner of the
company.

Thomas Phillips left the employ of the Ritterstonecarving
business in 1843 and established his own operation at
the corner of Grove and High Streets. He was a skilled
stonecarver as well as a technical innovator and pos-
sessed considerable business acumen. His company
made cemetery monuments and all other types of
architectural stonework. Phillips was a founder of the
Evergreen Cemetery in 1 849, but his business included
Grove Street Cemetery as well as Roman Catholic,
Jewish, and other ethnic burial grounds. He expanded
his customer base beyond New Haven, employing
agents in a number of other states. In 1876 the
business moved to Sylvan Avenue where it continued
until it closed in 1988.

Thomas Phillips died in 1889 and his son, John
Humphrey Phillips, headed the firm until his death in
1900. In the 1890s, Stephen Peck Perkins joined the
firm and later became principal owner. In turn, his son,
John Chester Perkins, ran the business until his death
in 1988 when the company was dissolved. Others

involved in the company included Thomas Bassett and
Herman Meister. A number of craftsmen of many
nationalities were employed including Scottish, Irish,
and Italian cutters and carvers.

Included in the collection are photographs, correspond-
ence, orderforms, and other business records, pattern
books, and trade publications. It is a significant collection
of a craft and business rarely documented. Providing
as it does a record of material culture of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, it will be of interest to many
types of researchers including social and economic
historians, demographers, genealogists, and those
concerned with monument restoration.

This collection was secured for the Whitney Library
through the efforts of Society member Peter Dobkin
Hall, who has worked hard to preserve this material.
Mrs. Perkins ' generosity and desire to preserve a
record of her late husband's business is much appreci-
ated. Additional information can be obtained by con-
tacting James W.Campbell, Librarian and Curator of
Manuscripts; New Haven Colony Historical Society,
114 Whitney Ave., New Haven CT 06510.

from the June 1991 issue of News & Notes, the
newsletter of the New Haven Colony Historical Society.

AGS Fa '91 p. 27

=^

FORBES AWARD NOMINATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED

The Board is now accepting nominations for the 1992 Forbes Award, which will be given out at the
conference to be held June 25 -28, 1992, at Union College in Schenectady, New York. If you know
someone who has done exceptional work in any aspect of gravestone studies, please submit their
name, address, phone number, and achievements to the AGS office A.S.A.P.!

V^.

7776 AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entities the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester I^A 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Theodore
Chase, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St, Dover MA 02030. Address
Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor, Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer St, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3A6,
Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $20; Vol. 3. $18.50; Vol. 4, $20; Vol. 5, $20; Vol. 6, $23; Vol. 7,
$15; higher prices for non-members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 6 1 Old Sudbury
Road, Way land MA 0 1 778 Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01609.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester MA

■NEWSLETTER
OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 16 NUMBER 1 WINTER 1991/92 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

ARTICLES

Three E's, Not All in a Row

Jim Jewell 2

Old Sturbrldge Village Returns Stones 3

P6re Lachalse Cemetery, Paris 4

BOOK REVIEW

The Very Quiet Baltimoreans

review by Eric J. Brock 7

BOOKS 8

MEIVIBERNEWS 8

PRESERVATION NEWS

Saxton's River VT Report 9

Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites 11

CONFERENCE '92 13

RESEARCH 17

Civil War Era Cemetery Records 18

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

A 1 7th Century Landmark, NYC 21

A Look at David Sloane 22

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT 26

LENDING LIBRARY 27

CALL FOR PAPERS

The "Cemeteries and Gravemarkers" Permanent Sec-
tion of the American Culture Association is seeking
proposals for its paper sessions scheduled for the
ACA's 1993 Annual Meeting, to be held April 7-10 in
New Orleans, Lousiana. Topics are solicited from any
appropriate disciplinary perspective. Those interested
are encouraged to send a 250-word abstract or pro-
posal by September 1 , 1 992 to the section chair:

Richard E. IV/leyer

English Department

Western Oregon State College

lUlonmouth OR 97361

(503) 838-8362

AGS Wi -91/2 p. 1

THREE E'S, NOT ALL IN A ROW:
the spelling of "cemetery"

by Jim Jewell

Judith Zell was a fourteen-year-old eighth grader when
she won her school's spelling bee in 1 957 by correctly
spelling "cemetery". Shortly afterward, a picture of f^/iiss
Zell appeared intheForlWayne(IN) News-Sentinel. She
was standing in front of a sign directing motorists to Fort
Wayne's Prairie Grove CEMETARY. (The sign was
replaced long ago by one with the correct spelling.)

The word "cemetery" has long been a spelling bee
demon and, quite frequently, an editor's nightmare.
Bills for the Fireside Theatre Drama Book Club offering
of a recent Broadway play labeled it "The Cemetary
Club". A recent ad in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
heralded a gift and flower shop's "Cemetary Decora-
tions". Occasionally this writer has encountered the
substitute "a" in correspondence — ^from AGS mem-
bers!

lie >^rf*.

Nevada, Wyandot Co., Ohio

Or we could consider '1hree e's; eternal, everlast-
ing and elegiac.

Jim Jewell of Peru IL is vigilantly scanning the newspa-
pers of the mid-west for references of interest to AGS,
and is a frequent contributor to the Newsletter hie
writes "I was a contestant in the county spelling bee with
Judy Zell. She got all 3 "e's" in "cemetery", but I got
stuck in the "quagmire!"

lOOF Cemetery, New Haven, Indiana

Frequent misspellings of "cemetery" appear on
signs outlining the rules of cemeteries, such as
those at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in New Haven,
Indiana, and the Nevada (Ohio) Cemetery. These
might be explainable as errors of the sign-mak-
ers rather than the cemeteries. But where does
the blame lie for the ornate sign at the entrance
of the Lisbon (IL) Cemetery, with the "A" promi-
nently appearing?

Perhaps a quote from an early Harry Morgan
character. General Steele on M*A*S*H, in which
he explains how to spell his character's name —
"three 'e's, not all in a row"— would be helpful.

Lisbon, Illinois

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 2

OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE
TO RETURN GRAVESTONES

The Trustees of Old Sturbridge Village, at
the regular Board meeting on November 2,
1991, voted unanimously to return to the
Trustees of the Cemeteries of Gilmanton,
New Hampshire, eleven gravestones that
were identified by the Trustees as rightfully
belonging to the town's cemeteries (see
AGS Newsletters/ 15 #4, Fall 1991, p. 5.)
The stones in question had been received
by Old Sturbridge Village as an unrestricted
gift from New Hampshire antique dealer
Roger Bacon on June 10, 1960. fwlr. Bacon
has since passed away.

The officers of Old Sturbridge Village, on
learning in early October that the stones
apparently had been removed from the
Gilmanton cemeteries sometime between
1940 and 1960, took immediate steps to
facilitate their return. The stones were re-
moved from public display and placed under the care of
the Village's Conservator. Return of the stones to New
Hampshire should occur within the next few weeks
once arrangements have been formalized with the
Gilmanton Cemetery Trustees. Reinstallation of the
stones in the cemeteries reportedly will take place next
spring.

In discussing the vote, Crawford Lincoln, President of
Old Sturbridge Village, said '1he Museum's responsibil-
ity for the care of the artifacts received by gift has been
met and now the stones will be transferred to the
ownership of the Cemetery Trustees who will assume
the responsibility of preservation for future genera-
tions."

Old Sturbridge Village is a living history museum that
re-creates a rural New England town of the 1830s. The
Museum covers over 200 acres with more than 40
restored buildings, where people in historical dress
demonstrate the life, work, and community celebra-
tions of early 19th-century New Englanders.

;-^j:*',.

Marion Mclntyre, Gilmanton NH

Marion Mclntyre is Gilmanton's town librarian, registrar
and unofficial historian. With the help of a reporterf rom
the New Hampshire Sunday News, she obtained a list
of the names on 13 of the gravestones at Sturbridge
Village. Using a town history book, a 1940 list of those
buried in one of the town's cemeteries, and hints from
local history buffs, she traced all 13 names back to
Gilmanton. Two gravestones will remain at the
Sturbridge musem as Gimnanton familes have erected
new markers on those graves.

The discovery has given a lift to Ms. Mclntyre's favorite
cause: cleaning up little known cemeteries. In the last
decade she identified 30 abandoned burial grounds
and began clearing them herself. Since the head-
stones were traced to Sturbridge, offers to help have
poured in and volunteers have cleared five more
cemeteries.

from an Old Sturbridge Village news release, November 4,
1991, and from the New York Times, November 19, 1991,
sent by Daniel Pagano, New York City.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 3

PERE LACHAISE CEMETERY, PARIS
"Heaven on Earth"

Mark Merenda

The best place to go celebrity hunting in Paris is not La
CoupoleorTaillevant, not Les Bains or Willy's Wine Bar
or Brasserie Lipp. The best place to find the famous
and infamous in Paris is spread out across 1 00 acres of
hillside in the seedy 20th arrondissement. It is there, in
Pere Lachaise cemetery, among those whom William
Styron has called '1he real silent majority," that one can
find the great names nestled against each other under
the trees as if at adjoining tables at Caf6 Flore.

What at first seems a morbid way to spend even one
afternoon becomes a fascinating, spooky, and romantic
outing if one gets to know the place. P6re Lachaise
exerts a powerful attraction on a wild assortment of
hero-worshippers, high school students on a lark,
families out for a Sunday promenade, young lovers,
and little old ladies. Although it is watched full time by
35 gardiens, P6re Lachaise is sometimes home to
squatters who choose to make their home, if only for
one night, in someone else's memorial chapel. Those
who stay the night risk more than arrest. In the past,
officials have discovered animal remains indicating
bizarre religious rituals by trespassers.

Among the more persistent legends concerning P6re
Lachaise is the story thatthe Russian princess Demidoff
left 2 million rubles to anyone who would spend 365
days in her tomb. Over the years, cemetery officials
have received hundreds of letters from willing candi-
dates, the most recent in 1978.

The cemetery is a labyrinth of small winding roads and
broad boulevards populated by every manner of
monument, mausoleum, tomb, gravestone, temple,
and chapel — some 100,000 sculptures in all. There is
even a miniature version of the Taj Mahal, a memorial
marking the grave of the cemetery's lone I ndian resident.

Pfere Lachaise, in which more than 1 million people
have been buried since it opened in 1804, was named
for the confessor of Louis XIV and is located on the site
of hisformerestate. The entire expanse is sheltered by
a dense and lush cover of foliage from its thousands of
trees, giving it a dark and brooding atmosphere even on
brilliant summer days. Some devotees say the way to
really enjoy Pere Lachaise is during drizzly November
when the leaves are gone and the branches are stark
against the sky. Others may think this to be painting the
lily.

Walking the twisted paths of P§re Lachaise, you'll find
the graves of some of the celebrated people of the last

two centuries: Frederic Chopin, Eug6ne Delacroix,
Amedeo Modigliani, Oscar Wilde, Isadora Duncan,
Gertrude Stein, Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Gioacchino
Antonio Rossini, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Sarah
Bernhardt, Honors de Balzac, and on and on.

One can even find the graves of France's Romeo and
Juliet, Heloise and Ab6lard, interred together in 1163
and several times transferred until coming to rest in
P§re Lachaise in the 73rd division, or precinct, of the
cemetery. According to a 13th century account, at the
moment when Heloise's body was bome, as she had
willed, into the tomb of Abelard, who had died 20 years
earlier, his arms opened to receive her. It is only one of
the many legends of P6re Lachaise.

Not far away, in the 96th division , is the grave of another
pairof tragic lovers: Modigliani and Jeanne Hebuterne.
The great painter had found his true love among the
young students at the Colarossi art academy. She was
19 years old when she left her comfortable home to
share his impoverished life on the me de la Grande-
Chaumiere, where she bore his child. Modigliani painted
her again and again in the elongated and sensual style
for which he was revered.

"Jeanne and I, we're agreed on an eternal joy," he said.
But the next year eternity, in the form of tubercular
meningitis, caught up with the painter, and Jeanne's
family came to take her away. Modigliani was carried
to P6re Lachaise in the plumed black can-iage of the
pompes funebres. Among the mourners was Pablo
Picasso. When Modigliani died, Jeanne had not allowed
herself to weep. Her parents was wary of her strange
calm and posted her brother as guard at her bedroom
door. Itdidnogood. Jeanne hurled herselffrom the fifth
floor window. From the position of the body, police
determined that she had jumped out backward, so as
not to see the cobblestones rushing at her. On their
tomb, the dates of their deaths — one day apart— are
engraved in Italian. Under Jeanne's name it reads:
"Loyal unto the last sacrifice."

Descending the Avenue Carette (the main streets and
paths in the cemetery have names) in the 89th division,
one finds the tomb of Oscar Wilde, the playwright who
amused, then horrified, English society with his outra-
geous wit and his equally outrageous lifestyle. From
1888 to 1895, Wilde was the toast of London, basking
in the success of plays such as The Importance of Being
Earnest and his fanfx)us horror novel Ttie Picture of
Dorian Gray. He avowed he was a socialist, hinted he

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 4

was homosexual and did everything he could to an-
tagonize organized morals and religion. At the height
of his popularity, he was convicted and sentenced to
two years at hard laborfor sexual crimes. Following his
release, he went to live in France where in 1900,
plagued by ill-health and bankmptcy, he died in an
expensive hotel. "I am dying as I have lived," he is
reputed to have said, "beyond my means." Wilde's
grave, a sometime gathering place for Paris gays, is
decorated with a lifesize statue that is, one might
observe, lacking private parts. These were, according
to the sort of legend Parisians adore, lopped off some
years ago by a pair of scandalized English spinsters.
Rumor has it that the parts now serve as a paperweight
in the office of the cemetery's superintendent.

In the 15th division lies the grave of James Douglas
fvlorrison of tvlelbourne FL. For 1 0 years after his death,
it was totally unmarked. When he died in Paris at 27 his
mother wanted to bring the body home to the United
States, but his father, a military man with whom the
younger l^orrison had fought bitterly, refused. So he
was buried in Pere Lachaise where his grave soon
became the object of a strange pilgrimage, a sort of
Mecca for the branch^, or hip. The only way to find the
grave was to follow mysterious scrawls on the sides of
mausoleums and tombs that read simply "Jim," with
arrows pointing the way.

You may already know that James Douglas Momson
won fame as Jim (Morrison, the visionary poet and rock
singer of The Doors, a group that, among rock
cognoscenti, is considered better than any that have
arisen in the nearly 20 years since they last played
together. In June 1981, just before the 10th anniversary
of his death, someone installed a pedestal, engraved
with Morrison's name, and bust of the singer on his
grave. The monument, and all those surrounding it,
were covered with graffiti in the form of tributes to the
fallen idol: "Love ya two times, Jim!" and "Who do you
love?" and finally, of course, "Jim's not dead." There
may be some truth to that. According to Judi Culbertson
and Tom Randall in their t>ook Permanent Parisians,
the rumorthat Jim Morrison was dead began on Monday
morning, July 5, 1971. "Bill Siddon, manager of The
Doors, called Jim's wife Pamela from Los Angeles to
confirm it, then left for Paris. When he arrived, she
showed him a sealed coffin and a signed death certifi-
cate; allegedly Jim had died in the bathtub of a heart
attack. The next day the coffin was secretly buried in
Pere Lachaise, leaving behind millions of grieving fans
and almost as many questions. Pamela Morrison, the
only witness, died three years later in a car crash in
Africa."

The dead Jim, it would seem, was "not dead" long
before the dead Elvis was "alive." Young people come

from Amsterdam, from London, from the nearby
neighborhoods of Paris and from Keokuk, Iowa to find
the final resting place of the Rider on the Storm. They
stand around talking quietly, sometimes singing,
sometimes smoking something that isn't tobacco. The
pedestal is often decorated with an empty bottle of Jack
Daniels whiskey serving as a vase to some wildf lowers —
a fitting tribute to the man who sang "Oh show me the
way to the next whiskey bar." In February 1989, an
unknown fan — or necrophiliac — stole the bust that
decorated Morrison's tomb. Cemetery officials have
cleaned almost all of the graffiti off the neighboring
monuments and posted two guards at the rock star's
grave.

The tomb of Chopin was, up until the last two decades,
the most visited in the cemetery. Now it has been
surpassed by those of Morrison and Edith Piaf. Per-
haps Chopin wouldn't have minded being eclipsed by
two fellow musicians. The tomb, decorated with a
marble frieze of the composer whose work was de-
scribed as "cannons buried in flowers," is in the 11th
division. It, too, is often buried in flowers, as piano
lovers try to show what the notes of the master have
meant to them. Gazing at the tomb, one can almost
hear the sounds of the preludes, 6tudes, mazurkas,
and nocturnes, and unhappily, also of his March Fun^re
sonata. Chopin died of tuberculosis at age 39 in 1 849.
Toward the end he was visited by three doctors. "One
sniffed at what I spat," he wrote to a friend, '1he second
tapped where I spat, the third sounded me and listened
as I spat. The first said I was dying, the second said I
was about to die, and the third said I was already dead."

Piaf, the little sparrow, is in the 97th division . There she
rests with Th6o Sarapo, her last husband. She was
born, literally, on the sidewalks of Paris — ^there is a
plaque on the wall of a building at 72 rue de Belleville,
near the Pyr6n6es m^fro station, that marks the spot —
and rose to become one of the world's best-loved
chanteuses. The first time he heard her sing, Maurice
Chevalier said, "that kid really has It inside," and she
was known thereafter as la mdme, the Kid. Her real
name was Edith Gassion, but she was famous the
world over as Edith Piaf — piaf meaning sparrow. She
died in 1963, perhaps of living too much. Her most
famous song was Non, je ne regrette hen.

In the northeast corner of the burial ground, in the 77th
division, is an innocuous-looking wall that once played
a dramatic role in French history. In 1 870, Parisians did
what they do so well, taking to the streets, overthrowing
the government and establishing something new in its
place : on this occasion a municipal govemment known
as the Commune. The Commune lasted only two
months and as Paris fell to a rival group of French
forces, the bloody fighting was hand to hand and street

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 5

to street. TheCommunards, as they were called, made
their last stand among the gravestone of P§re Lachaise,
and there on the next day, 147 of them were lined up
against the wall and shot. The Versaillais, as their
opponents were known, suffered only atxjut 1,000
deaths. The death toll of the Communards was esti-
mated to be at least 20,000.

Among Parisians, the
most famous monument ,
in P§re Lachaise is that of i
VictorNoir, a 19th century f
journalist shot down in the
streets of Paris at the age
of 22 after writing an ar-
ticle attacking Emperor
Napol6onlll. Noir, whose
real name was Yves
Salmon, would probably
be long forgotten were it
not for the remarkable
sculpture that adorns his
tomb in the 92nd c//V/s/'on.
Executed by the sculptor
Jules Dalou 20 years af-
ter Noir's death, the figure lies flat on its back. The
young journalist is represented as he was dying, still
wearing his gloves, his shirt, vest, and the top of his
pants unbuttoned. His upturned hat lies beside him.

The assassination of Noir was a cause celdbre, and the
newspapers of Paris cried out against the deed and
against the emperor, widely suspected of having ar-
ranged the murder. The newspaper La R^forme
screamed: "The conscience of humanity, suffocatedfor
1 8 years, cries: Vengeance!" Noir's funeral procession,
followed by thousands, threatened to become a riot.
The moment of truth arrived when the hearse reached
a crossroad: to the left, the center of Paris; to the right,
the cemetery. Noir's brother prevailed on the driver to
take a right out of respect to his dead sibling and the
Empire survived another day. Several months later, it
fell anyway.

Few today are aware of the details of Noir's life and
death. The statue on his tomb is more widely known
than the living man ever was. This is so because the
artist who sculpted the statue gave Noir's effigy a bulge
in his trousers that only can be described as awesome.
This — perhaps unintended — tribute to Noir's anatomy
is the object of a fertility cult and myth devoutly believed
by Parisiennes. It is said that if a woman puts flowers
in Noir's hat and kisses his lips, she will receive an offer
of marriage within one year. It is also said that women
who cannot conceive must also place flowers in the hat
and then touch Victor — er, down there. If she does, she
will soon be rewarded with pregnancy. You might

laugh, but one can only note that the crucial part of
Victor's effigy shows unmistakable signs of having
been repeatedly touchy.

In the columbarium in the 87th division, ashes of the
cremated are interred behind plaques in the wall. Isadora
Duncan, who died when her long scarf was caught in
the rear wheel of the sports car in which she was riding,

rests here. So does
Maria Callas, whom
many think to be the
greatest opera singer of
our time, and who lost
her man, Aristotle
Onassis, to Jackie
Kennedy. And so, too,
rests Marthe Richard,
the infamous madamfor
whom is named the
French regulation out-
lawing les maisons
closes, the houses of
prostitution.

There are so many
more. The painters: Delacroix, Seurat, Ingres. The
composers: Bellini, Bizet, Rossini. The writers: Balzac,
Stein, Eluard, Proust. And generals, piano makers,
presidents, glassblowers, and of course — this being
France, after all — celebrated chefs. One can even find
one of France's most famous inventors: Docteur
Guillotin, designer of what came to be called '1he
national razor."

There are other cemeteries in Paris. There are the
catacombs, which can provide you with an unnerving
half hour underground. There is Montpamasse, where
you can find Jean-Paul Sartre. There is f^ontmarire,
home to hundreds of cats, which contains the tombs of
Berlioz, Offenbach, Stendhal, Francois Tnjff aut, and of
Alphonsine Marie Plessis, a courtesan who died at 22.
She was the inspiration for La Dame aux Camelias by
Alexandre Dumas fils, as well as La Traviata by
Guiseppe Verdi and the Camille of Greta Gartx).

There is often a solitary camellia on Plessis' sepulcher,
placed there by one of Paris' many romantics. The
flower was a literary device of Dumas and there is no
record that Plessis had any special affection for the
bloom, but that is merely the quibbling of historians.
When his heart was broken by the beautiful demi-
mondaine, Dumas wrote herthis letter: "My dear Marie,
I am not rich enough to love you as I wou Id wish , and not
poor enough to be loved as you would desire. So let
both of us forget — you a name which should be almost
indifferent to you, I a happiness that has become
impossible for me . . . Adieu, then. You have too much

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 6

heart not to understand wtiy I write this letter and too
much intelligence not to be able to forgive me for it."

Then there is the Pantheon, where one can find the
heroesof France: Rousseau, Voltaire, Hugo, and Braille.
And just outside Paris is the Basilica of St. Denis where
most of the monarchs of France are buried, in the
Invalides, in a massive red marble tomb, lie the mortal
remains of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French.

But it is Pere Lachaise that draws us back again and
again, to look around us and think of death, memento
mori, and savor life, and remember not to take it all too
seriously because it doesn't last all that long.

In the north wall of the columbarium are interred the
ashes of the French comedian Pierre Dae, who said,
"To the eternal triple question which has always re-
mained unanswered. Who are we? Where do we come
from? Where are we going? I reply: As far as I,
personally, am concerned, I am me; I come from just
down the road and I am now going home."

From Palm Beach Life, March 1991, contributed by
Ray Cummings, Avon, CT

BOOK REVIEW

THE VERY QUIET BALTIMOREANS

Tub

1 ai.ti m o r k a n s

by Jane B. Wilson,
White Mane Publishing Co.,
P.O. Box 152
Shlppensburg, PA 17257
1991 $29.95, hardcover,
130 pp., 86 lllus., 12 maps

review by Eric J. Brock

Years ago Francis Beirne
wrote a book entitled The
Amiable Baltlmoreans. In
1991 Jane B. Wilson com-
piled a volume about the final
resting places of those ami-
able Baltlmoreans and titled it
The Very Quiet Baltlmoreans. Her book is a very
good guide to the cemeteries of that historic city. In 130

pages of text is crammed a surprising amount of inter-
esting, useful, well-researched information as well as a
dozen excellent maps and numerous photographs by
Barbara Alexandra Treadaway (who is also Wilson's
niece). Fourteen chapters detail the rich diversity of
burial grounds to be found in Baltimore from Westmin-

ster Churchyard where Poe lies to the Bohemian Cem-
etery, and all the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, African-
American and non-sectarian cemeteries in between.
Lists of the famous buried in each cemetery accom-
pany the article about that cemetery's history and,
though older and more historic cemeteries are given
decided precedence, modern cemeteries are also given
brief mention — there is even a chapter on vanished
cemeteries.

Admittedly, The Very Quiet Baltlmoreans is first and
foremost a history of local interest to Baltlmoreans and
Marylanders (non-Baltimoreans may not recognize
many of the names of prominent persons buried in
some of the cemeteries discussed) , though that should,
by no means, dissuade non-Baltimoreans from it. This
is a study of the cemeteries of one American city in
transition from the end of the eighteenth to the end of
the twentieth century: Baltimore serves as a microcosm
of funerary and cemetery trends throughout the nation
during this era. Here we find American Victoriana in all
its elaborate (and sometimes gaudy) glory; the densely
packed cemeteries of the Jews and the Catholics, the
rambling rural burial grounds, and the orderly rows of
the city cemetery. Here we find, as in so many cities, the
well tended graves of perpetual care cemeteries and
the forgotten and overgrown burial places once thought
to be somehow immune to oblivion's blight. Here lie
men and women of fame such as Poe, Johns Hopkins,
Dorothy Parker and Zaiman Rehine, reputed to be the
first Rabbi to come to the United States. Here
also repose the infamous, epitomized by Lin-
coln's assassin John Wilkes Booth who lies in
Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore's great
parklike rural cemetery laid out by the renowned
architect Benjamin Latrobe. As in many a city
there are national cemeteries and soldiers'
monuments but in Baltimore we find both
Confederate and Union dead for sympathies
here were strong both ways. Virtually the
entire gamut of post-colonial cemetery tradition
and funerary art is to be found in Baltimore and
virtually all of what is to be found is treated, if
briefly, in this book.

The Very Quiet Baltlmoreans is an very good
resource for those interested in cemetery de-
velopment in the American city and a fine
succinct guidebook for those visiting or residing in
Baltimore who are interested in burial grounds and
grave markers. What an excellent thing it would be if
more such books were compiled on the cemeteries of
other American cities, for our cemeteries are taily
archives — often unsurpassed archives — of historical
and sociological data. They are immensely important,
if oft-neglected and oft-unsung, national treasures.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 7

'■v.../;-y^':-^.-;ff/Aii^!K:^r

BOOKS

MEMBER NEWS

Barbara Rotundo, AGS member, Mount Auburn Cem-
etery historian, auttx)rand Professor Emeritus of English,
State University of New York, Albany, was a featured
speakerinthe Friends of f\^ount Auburn winter program.
She lectured Febaiary 1 5 on the Bigelow family. Jacxjb
Bigelow was President of fvlount Auburn Cemetery
from 1845 to 1871.

From Heritage Books, 1540-E Pointer Ridge Place,
Suite 106, Bowie MD 20716, comes a notice of a new
book: Sullivan County, Tennessee, Cemeteries, by
Karen L. Sherman. The author takes a first-hand
approach to compiling a list of seventy-nine Sullivan
County cemeteries and the people buried therein,
traveling all over the county "armed with field glasses,
topographical maps and hearsay about cemetery loca-
tions." Both family and church cemeteries are listed
here; all are listed alphabetically at the beginning of the
book for easy reference. Directions are given to thirty
cemeteries in the listing. In addition to transcribing
names and dates from the stones, the author also
includes some inscriptions from merrwrial markers,
and occasional notes about the condition of a cemetery
or a stone. The index lists all surnames.
1991, 219 pp., 8.5x11, index, paper, $32.00

John Francis l^arion, 75, Philadelphia's story-telling
tourist guide and historian who knew everybody there
was to know — living or dead — died before Christmas of
a brain tumor. A self-taught historian, much of Mr.
Marion's knowledge about the city came from grave-
yards, with which he had a lifelongfascination. As a t)oy
in Albany NY, he visited the family's burial plot. 'That's
how I got to know the family," he told a reporter. He
chose his own epitaph: "John Francis Marion, who,
during time's interval, daily waylaid eternity." Among
his many publications Marion wrote Famous and Cu-
rious Cemeteries (NY: Crown Publishers, 1977), a
pictorial, historical and anecdotal view of American and
European cemeteries and the famous and infamous
people who are buried there. He is buried in Laurel Hill
Cemetery in a plot given to him by the owners for his
having focused attention on the graveyard as a place of
historical significance and for his fund-raising.

from the Philadelphia Inquirer, January 1, 1992.

Eric Brock, P. 0. Box 5877, Shreveport, LA 71135-
5877, recently obtained a copy of a volume entitled The
Cemetery Bookby Tom Weil, published by Hippocrene
Books, 171 Madison Ave., NYC, 10016. Publication
date is 1992 so it is VERY recent. He writes: "It is
hardbound and retails for $22.95, is 420 pages in
length, indexed, with no illustrations. While not a
scholarly work, it is more of a travel guide to cemeteries
of the world, both great and minor cemeteries. The
most interesting thing about it is that the author deals
with cemeteries seldom heard of and little known;
cemeteries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, among
others, all of which he claims — and there is no reason
to doubt him — ^to have visited. While The Cemetery
Book dea\s little with grave markers, perse, I think it
would be of interest to many AGS members. As far as
I am concerned, it is the best general cemetery
guidebook/travelogue of its sort I've seen."

Friends of Center Cemetery

The memorial tablestone to William Pitkin,
governor of the colony of Connecticut from
1766-69, (see AGS Newsletter, Winter 1990/
91 , p. 1 1 ) will be dedicated after restoration on
April 26, 1992, at 2 PM in Center Cemetery in
East Hartford. The large brownstone monu-
ment has been restored by the Friends of
CenterCemetery with agrantfromthe Hartford
Foundation for Public Giving. An exhibition
and reception will follow the exercises at the
First Congregational Church. For further in-
formation call (203) 568-6178.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 8

PRESERVATION NEWS

Restoration of the old section (i8i3-1925) of the
Saxtons River cemetery.

a report on the Saxtons River (Vermont) Historical
Society Bicentennial Project 1791- 1991

The history books of Saxtons River Vermont indicate
that in 181 0 a group of volunteers met to level the land
behindthe Old South Meeting House which was donated
to the village for a cemetery. Future history books will
indicate that in 1991 (181 years later) another group of
volunteers met to straighten, level and repair the
headstones in the old section of the same cemetery.

Unfortunately, over the years many of the headstones,
due to the settling of the ground, severe weather
conditions, old age, and a minimum of vandalism, were
forced to lean badly to the front, and to the rear, left and
right , and several had fallen and lay in pieces. Also a
small numberof broken headstones had been removed
and lay unattended behind an old building.

Some people viewed the leaning stones as adding
characterto the cemetery, one person jokingly remarked
it reminded her of a group returning from an all night
party but others thought it detracted from an otherwise
beautiful well-groomed cemetery.

When the Secretary of the Vermont Bicentennial
Commission spoke at our annual meeting in 1990 she
suggested that all organizations of every village and
town of the state adopt a project which would be a
benefit to the community. Restoration of our cemetery
came to mind immediately. When the Board met to
discuss the matter, we were reminded that the seed for
such a need had been planted a year earlier by [AGS
member] Charles Marchant, when he spoke on the
subject at one of our meetings. Some were sceptical
that a Senior citizen group(which is what we are) could
get the job done but others argued we won't know
unless we try so lets do it.

Having made the decision we established the following
procedu res which had to be completed before we could
start the work.

1. Estimate the number of headstones to be repaired.

2. Obtain permission of the Town Manager.

3. Talk with the Head of the Highway department who
hadchargeof overseeing any work done inthe cemetery.

4. Obtain a book on the subject for guidance.

5. Secure the services of a competent person to
present a workshop at the cemetery.

6. Make a list of all tools and matehals needed to do the
work.

7. Determine the approximate expense.

8. Obtain a list of volunteers.

9. Determine the best days to do the work.

An uneducated estimate of the headstones to be repaired
was 100 to be straightened and levelled and 15 to be
epoxied. This turned out to be a very poor judgement.

The Town Manager gave us his enthusiastic support
and once we convinced the Head of the Highway
Department that we were determined to complete the
job and we assured him we would leave every area we
worked in in a tidy condition he gave his total cooperation.

We then wrote to Charles Marchant for his suggestion
where we could obtain an appropriate book which
would give us general information on the subject. He
responded immediately, suggesting we write to the
Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) where we
could purchase A Gravestone Preservation Primerby
Lynette Strangstad. He also mentioned he spent his
summers in workshops and if we wanted his service he
would be glad to work us into his schedule.

AGS Executive Director, Miranda Levin, sent us the
book and wished us luck. She mentioned that the book
would be helpful but there is a person named Charles
Marchant in our neck of the woods who is an expert on
the subject, This encouraged us that we were moving
in the right direction as we had already arranged a
workshop date of May 1 1 , 1991.

After reading the book we made a list of the following
tools and materials needed. Volunteers provided
shovels, crowbars, levels, wheelbarrows, large plastic
pails, rakes, trowels, soft bristle brushes, chisels,
tampers, and various boards needed to make frames
for cement bases or for supports, and clamps to secure
the stones which were epoxied. The town provided two
loads of clean sand and two of pea stone which was
used to steady the headstones and for drainage. We
supplied the lime, cement and the epoxy, and a few
tools. Our expenses amounting to approximately $300.
was covered by donations of interested members.

Obtaining volunteers was not a problem as everyone
called thought it was a worthwhile project and wanted
to help. Those who could not make every session
apologized and felt they were left ing the rest of us down.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 9

There was a tremendous amount of positive spirit in this
group.

At ourfirst session which was a workshop on Saturday
May 1 1 , Charles Marchant explained and demonstrated
how each headstone should be handled. He cautioned
against using any force to push or move a stone for fear
of breal<ing it and explained that many stones would
have interior fractures. He pointed out that we should
take care when shovelling not to allow the shovel to
touch the stone for fear of damage and suggested we
preserve the sod removed so it could be replaced
neatly Then the stone was straightened and levelled
again.

When Charles assessed the amount of work we had to
do he thought it would take all summer. We then had
to rethink ourwork schedule as we thought we could get
the maximum number of workers on Saturdays but we
were now sure we would never finish working just one
day a week. We found we had a sufficient number of
retired seniorcitizens who were not only willing txit eager
to work two and three times a week so we were able to
work with smaller crews of 7, 8, or 9 men. At first we had
a starting time of 9 AM but we decided we were wasting
an hour so we started at 8 AM. and continued to noon.
Since there was a considerable amount of digging and
lifting of very heavy stones we usually worked in groups
of 3; sometimes 2 and on occasion an over-eager
individual would sneak up and work by himself. We
worked slowly and cautiously at first but after gaining
confidence we worked a little faster and were surprised
and pleased with our progress. I should point out that
in the interest of being .efficient, all materials, buckets
of sand and pea stone, tools etc, were always in place
at the area to be worked before the workers arrived.

Some stones were merely buried deep in the ground,
others were cemented in an underground base; others
were set in an above ground base anchored with
dowels and others were buried surrounded with cement.
All were very heavy and had to be handled differently.
Several needed new dowels as the old ones had rusted
and deteriorated so badly the stone slid off the base.

All broken stones which had to be epoxied were washed
with water, brushed with a soft bristle brush, and the old
epoxy removed (if it had been epoxied before). The
breaks in the stones occurred in various places. Some
below ground, some at ground level and some in the
middle. The first two stones we epoxied we laid the
entire stone on a piece of plywood placed in a level
position as near as possible to the hole it
would. eventually be placed in. The broken pieces were
epoxied and snugly fitted together by one ortwo clamps.
They were left to set for a day, before putting them in the
ground. We found this method to be too cumbersome

as the stones were too heavy to move. We found it
more satisfactory to epoxy one piece at a time and from
the base up. We had to be sure, of course, that the base
was buried and level before adding the piece being
epoxied. Although the epoxy sets well in. a short period
of time it is necessary to support the stone using a board
on either side as a prop. The best way to secure the
stone is to hammer a stake on either side and secure
them with a cross stake which has been notched to the
thickness of the stone. This method also assures the
stone to remain straight and level while the epoxy
hardens.

Two different brands of epoxy were used. Charles

Marchant advised we buy from:

Barre Granite Association

P.O. Box 481 Tel (802) 476-4131

51 Church Street

Barre Vermont 056641

We ordered several 70 gram epoxy packs. The cost
was $5.00 a piece plus mailing. Each pack contains 2
ingredients separated in a plastic container which must
be mixed in its own container before using. 1 1 is white,
sets very quickly and does not run.

Another recommended epoxy called "Akemi" can be

obtained from:

Akemi: Polyester Adhesives for the Professional

Wood and Stone Inc.

Manassas, Virginia 221 10

Since this was a gift I do not know the price. 1 1 comes
in a can along with a tube of hardening paste. A small
amount of the paste must be mixed with a quantity of
what is in the can. This is a yellowish color, does not ru n
and also sets quickly. We found both brands to be very
satisfactory.

We kept a record of the number of headstones repaired
and of the days and hours each man worked. It
amounted to 1 85 headstones straightened and levelled
and 35 epoxied for a total of 220. The work was
completed in August in 15 working days by 21 volun-
teers.

We all took pride in the work we accomplished; had fun
working together and were well rewarded by the com-
pliments of the people in our community and of visitors
from other places.

Saxtons River Historical Society

Box 18

Saxtons River VT 05154

O

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 10

COALITION TO PROTECT MARYLAND
BURIAL SITES

Alarmed over the continuing destruction of old burial
grounds in Maryland, the Friends of the Whipps Cem-
etery and Memorial Gardens [Barbara Sieg, Director],
along with historic preservation and genealogy organi-
zations across the state, are joining forces in a new
state-wide campaign to re-write Maryland law protect-
ing these historic sites. Their objective is a legislative
agendato assure thatold cemeteries, aswell as Native
American burials, will not fall victim to the bulldozer as
often happens now in the process of land development.

The new "umbrella" organization will be known as the
Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites. Described
by its members as a "non-partisan alliance of individu-
als and organizations across Maryland," the Coalition
hopes to gain support in all 23 counties of the state by
January 1992, and thus win passage of a strong, new
law in the next session of the General Assembly. The
initial groups and individuals involved in the formation
of the Coalition come from the counties of Alleghany,
Carroll, Howard, Somerset, and Wicomico.

The idea for the Coalition came from two Howard
Countians: Charles Ahalt, a resident of Columbia and
active member of the Howard County Genealogical
Society; and Barbara Sieg, director of the Friends of the
Whipps Cemetery and Memorial Gardens, a group of
volunteers that is working with the St. John's Commu-
nity Association, Inc. in Ellicott City to restore a 19th-
century cemetery there. Mr. Ahalt, who is related to the
well-known Dorsey family of Maryland, first became
aware of the serious flaws in the state's cemetery laws
when he was denied access to an old family cemetery
in Frederick County where some of his ancestors are
buried. Mrs. Sieg and her volunteers are working to
transform a long-neglected Civil War-era cemetery into
a heritage park and garden, but they are finding the task
difficult in a state where no public funds are available to
help community groups with such a project.

One of the principal aims of the new Coalition will be to
work cooperatively with the Maryland Historical Tmst in
the formulation of new cemetery legislation. Two years
ago, the Trust convened a Cemeteries Legislation Task
Force to study the present inadequacies in Maryland
law. While a draft bill was developed by the Trust,
based on the work of the Task Force, it was never
introduced in the state legislature. As an outcome of a
meeting last summer, a liaison committee of the Mary-
land Coalition was designated to work with the Trust on
the proposed legislation.

Chief among the Coalition's principles to be contained
in a new state law is a requirement that a cemetery
registry be made part of the land records in every local
jurisdiction of the state. Each entry would include the
name and location of the cemetery and the names and
addresses of any heirs, their agents, or interested
parties. An "interested party" would include the Mary-
land Historical Trust, the Genealogical Council of Mary-
land, a local historical or genealogical society, a com-
munity association or other preservation group. With
cemetery registries being made part of the local land
records, it would be possible to knowthe existence and
location of a cemetery before the development proc-
ess begins. The only Maryland county which presently
has such a requirement is Carroll County.

Another key principle of the Coalition's is the repeal of
Para, (c). Sec. 267, of Article 27 of the Maryland Code
which presently authorizes the State's Attorney's office
to declare a cemetery "abandoned"— although the term
is never defined in the law — and thus have the cem-
etery relocated, all without any provision for contacting
the next-of-kin . The Coalition hopes to revise the law so
that heirs, their agents, or an interested party must be
consulted, in a timely manner, before any permit to
relocate a cemetery is issued. The Coalition's position,
however, is that all reasonable means be foundto avoid
relocation of burial sites.

The Coalition also favors authorizing the use of state
and local fundsto aid in maintaining historic cemeteries
in good repair, and where possible, as heritage memo-
rial parks for the preservation of open green space, for
the enjoyment and refreshment of the general public.
As more and more old cemeteries are transformed into
parks, garden clubs throughout Maryland could poten-
tially have a major role to play. The concept of creating
small "pocket parks" in neighborhoods and communi-
ties throughout the state has recently won the enthu-
siastic endorsement of Governor Schaefer.

Ten Key Principles of a new State Law to Protect
Maryland Burial Sites

I. Recognition of a cemetery (burial site) as sacred,
inviolate, worthy of protection and preservation.

II. Recognition of society's moral responsibility to
maintain cemeteries and burial sites with dignity and
respect.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 11

III. Definition of a cennetery as land set aside and
dedicated to the interment of human remains, whether
marked or unmarked. (Visible gravestones are not the
sole determinant of the existence of a cemetery, any
more than their lack denies its existence.)

IV. Creation of cemetery registries, to be maintained at
the local level, preferably located in the land records of
the local jurisdiction.

* Each entry should include name and location of
the cemetery and names and addresses of any
heirs, their agents, or interested parties.

* "Interested party" may include the Maryland
Historical Trust, the Genealogical Council of Mary-
land, a local historical or genealogical society,
community association, etc.

* Cemetery registries should be made part of the
local land records so that existence of a cemetery
is known before the development process begins.

V. Repeal of Paragraph (c). Section 267, Article 27 of
the Maryland Code which authorizes the State's Attor-
ney's office to declare a cemetery "abandoned" — a
term never defined in the law — and thus have it
relocated, all without any provision for contacting the
next-of-kin.

Revision of the law to provide that if dire and extraordi-
nary circumstances make relocation of a cemetery
unavoidable, the State's Attorney would be required to
first consult the cemetery registry (heirs, agents, or
interested parties) — an appropriate time-table to be
established forthis consultation. Also, newspaper pub-
lication would be requiredfor several successive weeks.
These actions would take place before issuance of any
permit to relocate.

VI. Maintenance of complete records on all relocated
cemeteries, readily available to the general public, to be
made part of the cemetery registry in the land records
of each local jurisdiction.

VII. Recognition and protection of the common law
right of reasonable access, by heirs, agents, or inter-
ested parties, to a cemetery now enclosed by land
owned by another.

VIII. Authorization forthe use of state and local funds,
as monies are available, to aid in maintaining historic
cemeteries in good repair, and where possible, as
heritage memorial garden-parks forthe preservation of
open green space, forthe enjoyment and refreshment
of the general public. Support would be provided by

direct appropriations, as well as through grant and loan
programs.

IX. Increase in the penalties (jail terms and fines) for
those who violate the law

* Establish civil penalties for violators that are
sufficient to repair any damage to cemeteries and
tombstones.

* Make it illegal to buy and sell human remains,
tombstones, or burial objects obtained outside the
provisions of the law.

X. Authorization for local jurisdictions to use persons
sentenced by the courts to perform designated hou rs of
community service to help in maintaining historic cem-
eteries.

Note: The term "historic" in the context of these princi-
ples relates to the age of a cemetery, and not to its
listingon,oreligibilityfor, an historic registerorinventory.

For further information, call (301 ) 465-6721 .

**********

Seeking a used copy of Edmund Gillon Jr.'s Victorian
Cemetery Art \s AGS member Sybil Crawford, 10548
Stone Canyon Road - #228, Dallas TX 75230-4408.
She tells us the book is no longer available from Dover
Publications, Inc. or any alternate source they have
suggested. If you have one to sell, please contact her
with details of price, condition, etc.

**********

A note in the November 1991 issueof AfSA/ews [V.48,
#11, the trade journal of the Monument Builders of
North America] by editor John E. Dianis refers to the
rescuing of pioneer gravestones:

Several years ago I had an interesting phone
conversation with a gentleman who lives in
Iowa. His concern was the preservation of
pioneer gravestones, and monuments that are
purchased and placed in cemeteries today. He
has been working on this project for some time.
He has put together some interesting thoughts
on this subject. They are in a three-ring binder
entitled A GUIDE TO RESCUING PIONEER
GRAVESTONES (And Your Own), The cost
forthis compilation of information is $25. If you
wishtoobtainacopycontactMr. Maddydirectly:
Mr. Paul E. Maddy, 1515 Warlord Street Perry,
Iowa 50220. I know you'll find this Guide
interesting and informative.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 12

REQISTRATION

for the

ASSOCIATION FOR QRAVESTONE STUDIES

Fifteenth Annual Conference and Meeting

Union College, Schenectady, New York

June 25-28, 1992

Co'Sponsored by the Schenectady County Historical Society and

the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation

A time for sharing ideas and information relating to all aspects of gravestone studies, including carver identification, gravestone
conservation, graveyard preservation, and neui research advancing the knowledge of historic and modern funerary art.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

(All meetings will take place in air-conditioned buildings.)

THURSDAY

REGISTRATION begins at noon.

EVENING ORIENTATION PROGRAM for all members includes:
Jessie Lie Farber reminisces about our beginnings.

KEYNOTE SPEECH: Robert V. Wells, Washington Irving Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies (and a recent
convert to the importance of cemeteries).

PROBLEMS EXCHANGE: Any member with a problem in conservation or restoration can give a five-minute presentation. There
will be a panel of experts to offer advice, but also the general membership of AGS represents an invaluable pool of knowledge and
experience.

FRIDAY

RESTORATION WORKSHOP 9-3:30. How to and how not to restore. Includes field experience. Leaders: Roseanne Atwood
Foley, Jim and Minxie Fannin, C.R. Jones, Fred Oakley, and Lynette Strangstad.

TEACHING WORKSHOP 9-3:30. How to use gravestones and local cemeteries as a teaching resource. Led by Margaret Coffin.

TOUR OF HISTORIC STOCKADE 9:30-11:00. This area was settled by die Dutch in die seventeendi century, and includes
two eighteenth-century churches and their graveyards. A 15-minute walk from Union College.

MINI-TOURS at any time. Travel instructions and field notes for a dozen locations around Schenectady will be in the registration
packet.

LECTURES Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday morning. Presenters of papers include, among others, Sally Brillen, Jessie Lie
Farber, Laurel Gabel ( giving a new paper plus the Civil War show repeated by popular request), Tom Graves, geologist Bill Kelly,
Jim Kettlewell, Tom & Brenda Malloy, and Grey Williams. Paper topics include some familiar as well as new carvers, a new treat-
ment of Puritan symbols, and how to present a gravestone talk.

INFORMAL LATE NIGHT Friday and Saturday evenings. Bring some slides which may interest odiers, or a few that show a topic
you are just beginning to work on.

SATURDAY

Choice of two tours in air-conditioned buses 9-3:30:

EARLY STONES: Albany, Cambridge, Salem, and Stephentown. You will see carvers like Z. Collins and S. Dwight, familiar from
the Williamstown tour, and Thomas Brown and Zuricher from the Rutgers tour. Also of interest is the stone William Young did for
his parents, which was moved from Worcester to Albany.

19TH AND 20TH CENTURY: Three good rural (or garden) cemeteries: Green Ridge in Saratoga, Oakwood in Troy, Vale in

Schenectady, and one outstanding: Albany Rural Cemetery (this is the first conference cemetery where we've had the grave of a
President of the United States!).

BANQUET AND PRESENTATION of the Harriet Merrifield Forbes award.

SUNDAY

ANNUAL MEETING & FINAL PAPERS.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

TO REGISTER

The conference is open to anyone; however, a registration fee is required for all conferees. The fee for AGS members is $60 until
May 30: thereafter, $80. Full conference and partial conference registrations are available. Fill in the prices for all desired options
on the enclosed registration form , and mail with your check or money order (U.S. funds, please) payable to AGS to the Oakleys, 46
Plymouth Rd. Needham, MA 02192. Registration closes lune 15 so the Registrars can report our figures to the college. All fees
should be paid by this time. Please do not plan to arrive without a confirmed registration. There may not be room for you.

ACCOMPANYING SPOUSES

Spouses accompanying conferees, participating only in meals, receptions, and lodgings, do not have to pay the registration fee. If
spouses wish to go on the bus tour or attend workshops or lectures, they must register as either full or partial conferees and pay the
registration fee.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancellations will be accepted on the following terms: Before May 30, full refund; June 1-15 registration fee is not refundable, but
meals and lodgings will be refunded; AFTER UJNE 15. NO REFUNDS WILL BE MADE.

ACCOMMODATIONS

See reverse of Registration form.

HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBILITY

There are steps at the entrance to all buildings. There are no elevators in the dormitories, but there is an elevator to the second floor
dining room we will use.

TRANSPORTATION

Schenectady and Union College are easily accessible by car, air, bus or train. Detailed information will come with registration
confirmation.

EXHIBITS AND SALES

Exhibit space is available for your gravestone-related photographs, drawings, etc. Conferees may bring gravestone-related books and
items to sell. Six foot long tables may be reserved for $10, 1/2 table for $5, 1/3 for $3.50. Conferees will be responsible tor their own
sales. There will also be an AGS sales booth with publications, MARKERS, etc. To reserve gallery or sales space, please complete
the form(s) on the back of the registration form.

For further information, contact:
Barbara Rotundo, Chair, 48 Plummer Hill Rd. #4, Laconia, NH 03246 (603)524-1092

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

The Nominating Committee has proposed the following candidates for election to fill vacancies
which will exist as of June 28, 1992:

Nominated as Trustees for 2 years:

For a third two-year term:
C. R. Jones
Gray Williams, Jr.
Harvard C. Wood III

For a second two-year term:
Michael Cornish
Roberta Halporn
Fred Sawyer III

New candidates:

Leona A. Kelley
Blanche Linden-Ward
Brenda Malloy
EUie Reichlin
Maggie Stier

Continuing on the Board are Rosanne Atwood-Foley, Robert Drinkwater, Laurel Gabel, Elizabeth Goeselt, Cornelia
Jenness, Fred Oakley, Rosalee Oakley, Barbara Rotundo, Miriam Silverman, James Slater, Ralph Tucker, and
Jonathan Twiss. Ex officio members are Deborah Trask, Newsletter editor, and Richard Meyer, Journal editor.

Please complete the ballot below and return by June 1, 1992 to:

The Association for Gravestone Studies, 50 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609.

BALLOT

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
1992-1993 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Vote for eleven to serve for two years as Trustees:

] Michael Cornish

] Roberta Halporn

] C.R. Jones

] Leona A. Kelley

] Blanche Linden-Ward

] Brenda Malloy

] Elbe Reichlin

] Fred Sawyer III

] Maggie Stier

] Gray Williams, Jr.

] Harvard C. Wood III

Five of the eleven candidates on the ballot are new this year. These brief biographies will
introduce them to you:

Leona A. Kelley of Peace Dale, RI, is a State Representative in the Rhode Island legislature. She
chairs a special legislative committee on the preservation of Rhode Island's cemeteries and
gravestones. She has led the committee in their work to record all graveyards and gravestones on
computer as well as to arouse interest in the legislature and the people of Rhode Island in
preserving and protecting their historical graveyard heritage. At the 1989 AGS Conference, she
participated as a panel member in the panel discussion. She was formerly a public school teacher.

Blanche Linden-Ward of Watertown, MA, is Associate Professor of the American Culture
Program at Emerson College. Her book. Silent City on a Hill, was published in 1989. Two more
books are in progress. Her areas of interest range from 19th Century designed cemetery
landscapes to funerary iconography of all periods.

Brenda Malloy of Westminster, MA, is a fifth grade teacher in the Westminster public schools.
She has taught 5th grade for 14 years, other grades previously. She works closely with the
Westminster Historical Society on a local history unit which includes the town's graveyard and
gravestones. She is interested in helping AGS develop materials for teachers using their local
graveyards with their students.

EUie Reichlin of Weston, MA, is a retired anthropologist and archivist with extensive museum
experience. She has worked at the Peabody Museum at Harvard University and at the Society for
the Preservation of New England Antiquities, where she was the archivist overseeing one of New
England's most important collections of historical photographs and architectural manuscripts.
She has successfully applied for research grants and has organized museum exhibits. Several of
her articles on historical photography have been published.

Maggie Stier of Harvard, MA, is curator of Fruitlands Museum. She has extensive museum
work experience including the Shelburne Museum, the Hood Museum at Dartmouth, and the
Concord Museum. She is currently curating an exhibit of gravestone art found in the Harvard,
MA area drawn from photographs in the Father Collection. AGS members may recall her
outstanding article on the Risley carvers of the Upper Connecticut River Valley for the
Dartmouth College Library Bulletin in 1983.

1992 AGS

CONFERENCE ^"^^LF^^^ ^^""'-^

REGISTRATION ^|jv^ Addr^s

FORM City State

Telephone

FULL CONFERENCE:

Registration Fee Before May 30, members $60, non-members $70*

After May 30, members $80, non-members $90*

Meals, lodging, and all activities from Thursday evening dinner

through Sunday lunch Double $160 per person, Single $175

(Single rooms are limited and will be allotted in the order of registration)

TOTAL

Please select one Friday activity (see page 1 for description):
Restoration Workshop Teaching Workshop Stockade Tour

Please choose one Saturday tour (see page 2 for description):
Bus tour A (Early gravestones) Bus Tour B (19th & 20th century)

PARTIAL CONFERENCE:

Registration Fee Before May 30, members $60, non-members $70*

After May 30, members $80, non-members $90*

Thursday dinner and activities $10

Thursday room double $35 per person, single $40

Friday activities and meals $28

Friday room double $35 per person, single $40

Please select one Friday activity (see page 1 for description):

Restoration Workshop Teaching Workshop Stockade Tour

Saturday activities and meals $40

Saturday' room double $35 per person, single $40

Please choose one Saturday tour (see page 2 for description):
Bus Tour A (Early gravestones) Bus Tour B ( 19th iSi.20th century)

Sunday activities and meals $14

TOTAL

ONE-DAY PARTICIPANT FOR FRIDAY TEACHING OR RESTORATION WORKSHOP, lunch included.
(No registration fee required to attend workshop ONLY.) $35

Zip

GRAND TOTAL ENCLOSED

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

I will be sharing a room with

I wish Registrar to assign me a roommate.

1 wish a single room.

I have special dietary needs:

Please make checks payable to The Association For Gravestone Studies
Mail to: AGS, 30 Elm St., Worcester, MA 01609 (508) 831-7753

* Membership in AGS is $20 a year. For information, write: AGS , 30 Elm St., Worcester, MA 01609.
For gallery and sales table reservations, see reverse side.

GALLERY RESERVATION

To reserve appropriate display space, please complete the following:
Description of display:

Type of space or wall surface required for display:
Approximate size of display (maximum 4'x 8"):

Please plan to have your display ready for viewing by 4:00 PM, June 26, in time for the reception.

SALES TABLE RESERVATION

To reserve a sales table, check below and remit appropriate amount to AGS:

6' table $10 1/2 table $5 1/3 table $3.50 .

ACCOMMODATIONS

We will be staying in the usual dormitory rooms with bathrooms at the end of the hall. The rooms will be furnished with bed linens,
pillow, towels, blanket, soap, glass, and hangers. You may wish to bring a desk lamp and a fan (the dormitories are not air-condi-
tioned), a washcloth, and perhaps a plastic bag for a wastebasket. There is no smoking in the rooms. The number of single rooms is
limited, and they will be allotted in the order in which people register, so register promptly.

Union College food service has a good reputation, and Dan Goldman is again arranging menus with them. All meals but the
banquet will be served cafeteria style in a separate area on the second floor of the College Center. On the first floor is a small
sandwich bar and grill called Dutchman's Hollow, which is open during the day if you want lunch after you register on Thursday, or
oversleep some morning.

There are three motels within walking distance of Union College: Days Inn, Holiday Inn, and Ramada Inn. The Holiday Inn has an
outdoor pool, the Ramada an indoor pool, and the Days Inn is just a basic motel. The Days Inn will give AGS conferees a special
rate of $49 (+ tax) with an additional 10% discount if you are an AAA member or are over 65. You must ask for the special rate and
the discount when you register. Couples who are uncomfortable with the dormitory arrangement of single sex bathrooms, one
bathroom per floor might want to consider a motel!

Founded in 1795, Union College has watched the city grow up around it. The campus is still a lovely, green oasis, with the famous
Jackson's Garden below the building where we will eat. Because it is in the city, convenient services are just a block or two away;
post office, library, drugstore, liquor store, and gas stations. We hope you will be pleased with this setting for the 1992 conference.

RESEARCH

Massachusetts History Magazine is looking for articles about
the rich heritage of the Bay State. Our editorial emphasis is
on stories with a strong narrative written to appeal to a general
audience. Articles that relate the past to present issues are
especially welcome. We are looking for quality of research
and quality of writing. We want a point of view.

We welcome the contributions of free-lance writers, but
suggest that ideas for articles be submitted — in some detail —
to the editor in advance. Although we do not publish footnotes,
we insist on accuracy and will ask you to annotate all quotations
and factual statements. General articles should be a maxi-
mum of 6,000 words. Recommendations for photos and
illustrations are welcome. Obviously, it needs a Massachu-
setts theme.

Making History: Articles of 1,500 to 2,000 words about how
people enjoy history — tips on genealogy, family reunions,
care of old dresses, etc. We'd like to hear from special interest
clubs [such as AGS] and re-enactment groups, too. History is
a part of our lives.

We do not assume responsibility for the return of unsolicited

material. Send all correspondence to:

Editor, Massactiusetts History, P. 0. Box 809, Ipswich, MA

01938

Marsha Hoffman Ris-
ing, of Springfield MO,
has provided another
example of a "head and
shoulders" wooden
gravestone which was
once found in northern
Christian County, Mis-
souri in the Weaver
cemetery. The marker
was made of bois of
d'arc, also called
Osageorange,andthe
inscription was

scratched on a tin plate.
Ir read: "Tothe memory
of Susan Lawing who
was born January 16,
1850. ..died June 15
1851 of disease of
brane. My child can't
come to me, but I can
go to her by a life of
piety." Susan was the
daughter of an Ulster
Scot family who had
- migrated from

Robertson County,
Tennessee to southwest Missouri about 1843. Ms. Rising
writes: "My husband photographed the stone in 1975 but
soon after it was removed by vandals. Enclosed is a pen and
ink drawing by Vera Woods of Springfield MO which was
made from the photograph. Note: The dates quoted above
are the correct ones, rather than those on the drawing."

vieritory of

^uAaiiUfaufitK)

uiho was born

ijai'-uMvlifii liio
" DiCj l/.MlKHi'"

THEFT ALERT!

An extremely important early work by Cincinnati
sculptor Shobal Vail Clevenger (1812-1843)
disappeared from a souther Ohio cemetery be-
tween August 8 and September 11, 1 991 .

"^i'^ ^-^'■'?

The missing sculpture is a bust of Ebenezer S. Thomas, completed in
Cincinnati in 1 836. Carved from native gray freestone, it depicts the head
and shoulders of a sturdily built, broad-browed man in his middle years,
dressed comfortably in a loose shirt and unbuttoned coat with wide lapels.
On the back of the bust, which is slightly over life-si^a, are carved the initials
of the subject, "E.S.T." and of the sculptor, "S.V.C", as well as the date,
"1836".

Ebenezer Thomas, editor of the Cincinnati Evening Post, was the first to
encourage Clevenger, a simple stonecutter, to become a professional
artist, and with financial backing from Nicholas Longworth, the city's
leading art patron, he soon blossomed as a sculptor, though he had
received little, if any, art instruction. He went on to make portrait busts in
plaster and marble of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and many other notables
of his day, but died at sea at the age of 30, having contracted congestion
of the lungs while working in Italy. Thomas wrote in his autobiography that
the stolen sculpture was "the first ever executed in the Mississippi Valley".

Anyone having information aboutthistheft, orwhereaboutsof the sculpture
should call Thomas Pfeifer: (513) 681-6680, or Officer Frey (513) 352-
3578.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 17

CIVIL WAR ERA CEMETERY RECORDS

CAMP NELSON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Camp Nelson National Cemetery, at 6980 Danville
Road, located seven miles south of Nicholasville KY in
Jessamine County, had its beginning during the Civil
War when a camp was located there for recruiting and
training Union forces. Today the cemetery honors the
dead of all wars in which the United States has since
been involved, including Korea and Vietnam. Between
July 31 , 1 988 and July 31 , 1 989, there have been more
than 7,100 burials in the 30 acres of Camp Nelson
National Cemetery, and it is projected that the closing
date for the cemetery at the present rate of burials is
2090.

The campwas named afteraUniongeneral when it was
established in 1863. The site was also known as Fort
Bramlette and is now registered as a historical site. In
those days disease took its toll as well as battle-related
deaths, and a large hospital was located on the grou nds
to serve both the camp and the battlefield injured.
Smallpox was a threatening problem in such camps,
and at Camp Nelson a separate hospital and burying
ground was maintained for those patients on the Moss
property adjacent to the camp, but secluded for pro-
tection against spreading the disease. Records des-
ignated this site as graveyard #1 . Graveyard #2 is the
present location of the national cemetery.

Camp Nelson was one of 40 burial grounds named by
a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives in 1866 to become national cemetery sites.
Within five years after the surrender of General Lee at
Appomattox VA, the reburial program was complete
with more than 300,000 Civil War reinterments in 73
national cemeteries recorded. During June and July of
1868 there were 2,023 removals from areas in Kentucky
in Camp Nelson National Cemetery including 975 bodies
from the battlefield at Perryville, where in October 1 862
the Confederate forces met Union soldiers in a major
battle of the war.

This infomnation about Camp Nelson National Cemetery,
published in the Summer 1989 issue of The Fayette
County (KY) Genealogical Society Quarterly reveals
just a segment of records that are available as they
relate to the Civil War. Researchers who become
involved in this difficult period of our nation's develop-
ment will find help in becoming acquainted with records
of the time by reading through the chapter introductions
in Registerof Federal United States Military Records. ..>4
guide to Manuscript Sources Available at the Genea-
logical Library in Salt Lake City and the National Archives
in Washington, DC, Volume 2: The Civil War. This 456

page worl< was compiled by Marilyn Deputy, J. Roberts,
PatBarben, Ken Nelson, and the U.S. /Canadian Refer-
ence Staff and Volunteers of the Genealogical Library
(Family History Library - FHL), The Church of Jesus
Christof Latter-day Saints (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books,
Inc. 1986).

In the introduction to the listing of microfilm rolls for
specific areas of "Civil War 1861-1865 Union Burial
Records" you learn that between 1865 and 1871 the
federal government published 27 volumes of lists of
Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. It is called Roll
of Honor: Names of Soldiers who died in Defense of the
American Union (Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1865-71). The volumes are arranged
by locality with names of the soldiers listed alphabeti-
cally within each cemetery. There is a 1 6 page index to
the cemeteries alone, showing name of the cemetery,
its location and the volume and page number where the
cemetery records are found (index is microfilm number
1,311,589 and follows volume 13 in this film series).
The total collection can, however, be used without the
index, as the soldiers' names are listed in alphabetical
order within each cemetery. All 27 volumes have been
filmed by the FHL and can be borrowed for research
through a local LDS Family History Center (and in some
major libraries).

From an article titled "Civil War Era Cemetery Records Only
Segmentof Total 'Usts,'"by Elsie Kilmer in AntlqueWeek, July
31, 1989. Contributed by Toni Cook, South Bend, IN

MOUND CITY IL NATIONAL CEMETERY

President Lincoln signed an act authorizing the estab-
lishment of national cemeteries in 1862. Pursuant to
the act, 12 cemeteries were established, and today
there are 112 national cemeteries in the National
Cemetery System, under the Veterans Administration.
Mound City National Cemetery is one of these early
established cemeteries having been laid out in 1 864. It
is located 1 mile northwest of Mound City IL, at the
junction of IL Route 37 and US Highway 51 .

Although Mound City and nearby Cairo, IL were not in
the combat theater of the Civil War, their locations near
the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers
made them strategic points for the dispatch of men and
material during the campaigns of the west which opened
the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers for the Union
forces. Also contributing to the importance of this area
was the shipyard at Mound City where the famous Eads
iron-clad gunboats were built. These specially designed
shallow dratt boats provided valuable support to the
Union troops on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers
at Vicksburg.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 18

To care for the great number of the sick and wounded
of the war, large army hospitals were established at
both Mound City and Cairo. In 1861 a large brick
building in Mound City was taken over by the govern-
ment for this purpose. It was one of the largest military
hospitals in the west, accommodating from 1 ,000 to
1,500 patients. This and another large hospital at
Cairo, were staffed by Roman Catholic nuns of the
Orderof the Holy Cross at Notre Dame, South Bend IN,
under the supervision of Mother Angela. The presence
of these large hospitals in the area was a determining
factor in locating a military cemetery at Mound City. The
sick and wounded were transported there from the
battles of Belmont MO, 7 November 1861; Fort
Donelson, 13-16 February 1862; and Shiloh, 6-7 April
1862.

Original interments in Mound City National Cemetery
from the area hospitals numbered 1,644. Additional
reinterments of remains recovered from isolated loca-
tions along the Mississippi, Cache, and Ohio Rivers,
and from Cairo IL, Columbus and Paducah KY, in-
creased the interments to 4,808, of which 2,441 could
not be identified and were buried as "unknown." A large
monument commemorating the Civil War services of
soldiers and sailors from Illinois stands at the center of
Mound City National Cemetery. It was donated by the
State of Illinois and erected in 1874. There are now
2,759 unknown soldiers buried at Mound City and 27
Confederates who died in the wartime hospitals of the
area.

Since the Civil War, this cemetery has become the final
resting place of many other members of the Armed
forces of the United States who served their nation well
in war and peace. As of 30 June 1 968 there were 3,639
burials of known service personnel in the well-kept
grounds of Mound City National Cemetery.

from AntlqueWeek, October 2, 1989,.contributed by Toni
Cook, South Bend, IN. The information was reprinted in part
from Vol. 17, No. 8, Newsletter, Genealogy Society of
Southern Illinois (GSSI).

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY WASHINGTON
DC

by George W. Archer

Arlington Cemetery, overlooking the Memorial Bridge
that crosses the Potomac River, was originally the
plantation home of Robert E. Lee's wife, Mary Anna
Custis. She inherited the estate from herf ather George
Washington Parke Custis, a nephew of Gen. George
Washington's wife. The original plantation was 1 100
acres and served as Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna

Custis' home until Robert E. Lee resigned from the Union
Army and joined the Confederates in 1 861 . In deference
to Lee, the Federal government refrained from seizing
the strategic property until Mary Anna left to join her
husband in Richmond.

Out of revenge for Lee's defecting to the South, Union
Army Quartermaster, Gen Montgomery C, Meigs or-
dered that the seized plantation be turned into a cem-
etery forthe Union dead. Thetroops using the plantation
as the Headquarters for the Army of the Potomac living
at the plantation, did not comply with Meigs' order, not
wanting a burial site so near to the house now serving
as a Civil War hospital. Meigs, determined to see his
order carried out, had bodies renx)ved from another
cemetery and re-interred around the rose garden. The
original family grave lot, some distance from the house,
was incorporated into the cemetery and became Sec-
tion 1. As a final gesture of his determination, Gen.
Meigs and hisfamily are buried in Section 1 . By the end
of the Civil War, 1 6,000 people were interred, including
many Confederate soldiers who died in Union hospitals
who were buried in Section 16 around the Jackson
Circle Confederate Memorial.

As well as being a cemetery, the plantation was used as
a Freedman's Village, established in June 1863 that
continued in operation for nrwre than 30 years. The
Village housed and provided education and employment
training to former slaves who fled north. More than
3,800 blacks from the Freedman's Village are buried in
Section 27 of the Cemetery with headstones marked as
"Citizen" or "Civilian."

After the Civil War, Lee's oldest son sued the Federal
Government for illegal seizure of the plantation. The
seizure was prompted by Lee's wife being unable to
appear in person to pay back taxes during the Civil War,
as she was ill and could not cross the battle lines. In
1882 the Supreme Court upheld Lee's suit, awarding
him $1 50,000 for the seized land, returning the house
and grounds to him with 612 acres titled to the gov-
ernment as a cemetery. The suit effectively separated
the Custis-Lee mansion from the cemetery, the former
now being run by the Park Service and the latter, by the
Defense Department.

A walk through this cemetery will give special meaning
to the phrase '1hese honored dead". Reading the
names on the markers in Artington National Cemetery
is to experience a flash back of American history and
the men and women who made it.

Those buried in Artington National Cemetery are not
only military personnel but civilians from all walks of life,
reflecting the criteria used to permit military and civilian
burials after 1940. Before 1940, the cemetery was

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 19

open to general burial, but World War II and subse-
quent war dead have rapidly reduced available space
so that the cemetery will probably be filled by
2020. Those eligible for burial include those
who died on active duty, those who retired
with 20 years active duty, and those who
received the highest military decorations.
Civilians eligible for burial are those who have
served in government in high positions, af-
fordedthe honorby Presidential Proclamation
(Joe Louis, Heavyweight boxing Champion),
or lost their lives while in U.S. Government
service. The spouses or unmarried minor
child of the civilian and military eligibles also
can be buried with their sponsor. As a result of this
criteria for burial two presidents (John F. Kennedy and
Howard Taft), numerous Supreme Court Justices,
Cabinet members. Challenger astronauts, and the
deceased Iranian Embassy hostages are buried among
the military graves.

Sources of Information on Arlington National Cem-
etery Burials

The burial records and the markers in Arlington Na-

tional Cemetery provide a rich lode to mine for genea-
logical information.

The graves registrations are kept on cards
and in a computer by the cemetery office
located in a building just behind the Visitor's
Center. The staff is willing to search for a
specific name in their collection if the de-
ceased died over 100 years ago. Informa-
tion on more recent deaths may require you
to prove your family relationship and need
forthe information, as the staff will invoke the
Privacy Act to prevent immediate access.
Federal law suits challenging Privacy Act
protection by records custodians have affirmed that the
dead have no privacy rights, but their heirs may for their
own reasons object to the release of information to the
public at large. You may obtain more information from
the written and computer records by writing to: Arlington
National Cemetery, Arlington, VA 22211 -5003.

from The Archer Quarterly, Volume 8 Number 4, Winter
1990, contributed by Toni Cook, South Bend IN.

Davis & Camp National Marble Works, 224
E. Third St.. Davenport, Iowa, c. 1876.
Engraving, from Early Illustrations and
Views of American Architecture by

Edmund V. Gillon Jr., Dover 1971 plate
538.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 20

THE RICHARD CORNELL GRAVEYARD
a 17th century New York City landmark

Alberto Garcia has been living on New Haven Avenue
in Far Rockaway, Queens, for 1 0 years, but it was news
to him that across the street from his apartment build-
ing, behind a row of small houses, was an official New
York City landmark. Even if Mr. Garcia had ventured
behind the houses, orthe nursing home orthe overgrown
vacant lot that also hide the cemetery, he still would not
have known that he was standing on a precious patch
of past. The 75-by-67-foot cemetery, which the Land-
marks Preservation Commission designated a landmark
in 1970 because of its "special historical and esthetic
interest and value" in New York City's development, is
a long neglected tangle of weeds, fallen tree limbs and
construction rubbish dumped there in the last two
decades.

What's more, there is not a single gravestone to mark
the graves of Richard Cornell, the first white settler in
the Rockaways, who died in the 1690s, or nearly 30 of
his descendants and relatives. The half dozen or so
gravestones that local history buffs say stood there in
1 970, when the cemetery was already in decline, have
disappeared. So have pieces of the other stones that
were scattered on the site then. The history buffs, who
have followed the cemetery's decay with dismay, say
the city took the stones for safekeeping shortly after the
cemetery was made a landmark. Then, there was talk
of a restoration, which neverfully materialized. The city
has since lost track of where it stored the gravestones,
the buffs say.

The chief of staff of the Landmarks Commission, Joan
R. Olshansky, insisted recently that any removal of the
stones '^was not done undercity auspices." In any case,
all this is the lamentable legacy of the past. Now, if Ms.
Olshansky's agency can convert aspiration to actuality,
a new chapter will be written in the site's long history.
Working with the local historians, Rockaway's civic
leaders and some Cornell descendants, the Landmarks
Commission has spun^ed still another effort to restore
what it hailed in 1970 as "one of the few old burial
grounds in the city which have survived to the present
day."

"About a year or so ago a couple of my staff people were
in the neighborhood and went to see it and were
appalled," Ms. Olshansky recalled. 'The Cornell family,
who owned the property, didn't have a great deal of
interest orthe necessaryfundsto maintain it." As forthe
commission's own role, she said, "We've always had a
small staff and not enough funds to monitor all the
landmarks." Mary Cornell, the wife of Richard Cornell
of Kew Gardens, Queens, a 14th-generation descend-
ant of the first Richard, said: 'The family really didn't

know they owned it anymore,
to the city."

We thought it belonged

At the cemetery, Stanley Cogan, president of the Queens
Historical Society, who heads a 13-member task force
to carry out the renewed rescue effort, described the
effort's theme as "bringing the Comell cemetery back to
life." He and some other task force members guided a
visitor to the site by stepping gingerly through the
garbage and weeds of a city-owned lot fronting the
cemetery near New Haven and Caffrey Avenues, a lot
they hope will be converted to a park-like access. After
removing the debris in the cemetery, which the task
force hopes to start soon, the cemetery will be returned
to its I8th-century.appearance, they said. The disap-
peared gravestones? Emil Lucev, another member,
said they still might be found, possibly buried in the
graveyard itself. If not, there is always the possibility of
producing 'lacsimiles" of all the mariners once in the
yard, said the other members on the visit, Mel Cantor,
Leon Locke and Craig Bachrow. Preservation purists,
however, could object to reproductions.

Peering beyond such details, Ms. Cornell, also active in
the restoration, focused on the ultimate concern. "Peo-
ple shouldn't be forgotten," she said, "especially people
who did so much in getting the area started."

from an article in the New York Times "Weeds Hide a Pre-
cious Patch of Past" by Joseph P. Fried

IN THE BLEACHERS

Steve Moore

we.'vl got

SPIRIT. \tS Wt
Do. \sEVL GOT
SPIRIT. W
ABOUT You?!!

(<Wfe

JJl

fromthe Chicago Tribune, contributed by Jim Jewell, Peru
IL

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 21

A LOOK AT DAVID SLOANE

Tracing a Culture's Metamorphosis In Its

Cemeteries

by Lawrence Biemiller

"The typical response is, Why would anyone write
about cemeteries?" says David Charles Sioane. "But
then almost invariably people start telling me which
cemetery is theirf avorite." He glances at the gravestones
to the left of the car. "We can go straight, I think— we're
getting into the 1 930s here. I want to go back to that one
in the glass case."

Mr. Sioane, a visiting assistant professor of history at
Dartmouth College, became something of an expert on
cemeteries while doing research for his new book, The
Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American l-listory,
published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Even
so, the monument he spotted under glass in the Rock
Creek Cemetery is only the third such tomb he's seen.

It turns out to be a sarcophagus carved with a bas-relief
rendition of the Last Supper. M r. Sioane complains that
the carving, like almost all stonework in cemeteries
doesn't seem to be signed; the difficulty of attributing
monuments and tracing the work of various sculptors is
just one of the frustrations he encountered in the course
of his research.

Mr. Sioane says the book grew out of his doctoral
dissertation. "I'm primarily interested in how the cem-
etery reflects changes in urban culture," he says. 'There
are approximately 100,000 burial places in the United
States. For my dissertation I tried to find a pattern in
them, and find how that pattern was diffused in New
York State."

The pattern that he found, which his book applies
nationwide, suggests that the burial site's move from
the colonial churchyard or village green to the for-profit
"memorial park" has been strongly influenced by four
precedent-setting cemeteries, each of which inspired
numerous imitators:

• The New Haven Burying Ground, in New Haven CT,
established in 1796 by a group of community leaders
who feared that the town green would be taken over
completely by its graveyard. The six-acre burying
ground at the town's edge was laid out in a grid and
planted with Lombardy poplars and weeping willows.
As the nation's first voluntary, not-for-profit cemetery,
Mr. Sioane says, the New Haven site represented '1he
development of new republican institutions."

• Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge MA, founded
in 1831 on a 72-acre site 10 miles outside of Boston.

Mount Auburn, with lakes, winding roads, and intimate
vistas arranged by two landscape planners, was the
first of a number of rural cemeteries that appealed to
urban Americans' taste for the picturesque and the
natural, from which they were increasingly removed.
Such cemeteries became popular among strollers
seeking respite from crowded cities.

• Spring Grove Cemetery, in Springfield IL, which was
redesigned by Adolph Strauch in 1855 according to
what he called a "landscape-lawn plan." Strauch em-
phasized spaciousness in his landscaping and cut
down on clutter by restricting what lot holders could
plant or erect. In the name of "correct taste" — and with
the goal of opening up views — he opposed fences
around family plots and favored individual mari<ers no
more than six inches high. Strauch also introduced the
concept of "perpetual care," in which the management,
for a price, relieved families of the responsibility for
maintaining grave sites.

• Forest Lawn, in Glendale CA, taken over in 1913 by
Hubert Eaton, who created the first "memorial park" by
permitting only ground-level markers and by linking the
sales and service aspects of what had become a
typically American for-profit business. Eaton not only
sold his customers their burial plots in advance —
through telephone calls and home visits by
salespeople — but also sold them complete funerals
and grave markers, and sold their relatives flowers
when they came to visit the grave.

Scholarly as Mr. Sloane's interest in cemeteries may
seem, it has its roots in his upbringing — he was raised
in the Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse NY, where his
father was superintendent and later executive director.
What's more, his grandfather was superintendent at a

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 22

cemetery in Youngstown OH , and his great-grandfather
was the sexton at a cemetery in Ironton OH. One of
David Sloane's brothers has taken over from their
father as executive director at Oakwood; two other
brothers now offer consulting services for cemeteries.
"The family is perfectly representative of trends in
American cemeteries," says Mr. Sloane, who can rec-
ognize mass-produced monuments at 50 yards and
badly maintained grounds at 1 00. "No downed stones,
no litter," he says the following afternoon, standing on
a hillside glowing with marble in the middle of Baltimore's
Greenmount Cemetery. Greenmount, founded in1 838
and now almost full, is a "airal" cemetery swallowed
whole by the city. "They have really defended the place
very well," Mr. Sloane says.

During a brief visit to the cemetery's office, in a severe
Gothic-revival gatehouse on Greenmount Avenue, Mr.
Sloane learns that the cemetery helps to undenwrite its
maintenance expenses by operating two crematoria in
the basement of the chapel. "Most of the rural cemeter-
ies are still in business," he says, "but in the 30s and 40s
many of them went back and asked the lot holders for
more money because they hadn't put enough away."

Later, Mr. Sloane climbs a steep path toward the
chapel, a striking brownstone Chartres whose hilltop
location makes it seem far largerthan it really is. An odd
Art Deco column is set awkwardly at the top of the path,
and a few feet farther on its late-afternoon shadow on
the pavement gives pause. The column's shape is
distinct, but above it fainter shadows dance and wrin-
kle, as though the air itself were boiling. The afternoon
is othenwise serene. Mr. Sloane bends over and pulls
ivy off a monument inscribed with the name MOR RISON.
"It's not good for the stone," he says.

from The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 4, 1991,
contributed by Jim Jewell, Peru IL Look for a review of The
Last Great Necessity in the next issue of the Newsletter

Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness

Unique & unusual Head-
stone Wiper clamps in
place instantly, clears 24"
arc with continuous action
of its rugged arm. Spring-
powered motor runs up to
twelve hrs with every fijU
winding. Keep your loved
one's name and vital dates from being obscured by
rain, mud, time, etc. Miracle rubber blade is as
perpetual as the departed's rest. Advance of a life-
time in cemetery technology!

from New England Monthly, December 1989, p. 55, con-
tributed by Newland Smith. This seems to be from a page of
silly things...

SHEEP IN CEMETERY DEBATE

Onwell VT June 1991 : The problem was how to mow
the steep rocky hillsides of two cemeteries in this
farming town next to Lake Champlain. Noel Smith, the
town manager, was certain he had a solution that was
perfect for the 1990s: environmentally safe and at the
same time economical. The answer, he thought, was
sheep. That was why he was pleasantly surprised
when Jean Beck, a local sheep farmer, was the low
bidder on the job of mowing two of Orwell's four cem-
eteries. Ms. Beck said she and her flock of 20 Dorset
sheep could do for about $250. what would cost up to
$3000. with mechanized mowers. Most of her cost
would be in transporting the sheep and in setting up the
electric fence to contain them.

But, having providedforcare of the dead, Onwell'sthree
selectmen soon discovered that they had not reckoned
with the wrath of the living. 'These people have some
strong concerns, some very real concerns, that we
considered but didn't anticipate would be so strong,"
Mr. Smith said.

Tyson Allen registered one of those concerns. At a
meeting of the Board of Selectmen, he said he has 1 1
relatives buried in the two graveyards and is certain
they would not like to be tended by sheep. "My Aunt
Mabel is in there," Mr. Allen said. "If she had wanted to
be buried in a sheep pasture, I'm sure she would have
conveyed that to us."

When Ms. Beck tried to explain that her sheep would be
pastured at any one cemetery only for a couple of
weeks at a time, another woman sharply reminded her
what sheep do after they eat.

After a heated half-hour debate, two of the selectmen
split their vote . The board chair cast the deciding vote —
against the sheep — but only after having his say.

"Personally, I am 1 00% in favor of having those sheep
in those cemeteries," said the board chairman before
bringing his gavel down on the unruly meeting. 'They
have never looked better. The problem is that people
are threatening to turn the sheep loose or to shoot
them." Then he turned to a group of residents who had
volunteered to mow and trim the cemeteries for the rest
of the season at no cost to the town. "I'm going to vote
to remove the sheep," he warned them, "on condition
that the people who have volunteered to maintain the
cemetery do what they say they're going to do. If I see
that those cemeteries aren't being kept up, those sheep
will be right back where they were."

from the New York Times, June 1991, contributed by Laurel
Gabel, Pittsford NY.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 23

DESTINED FOR FAILURE

by Nancy Thornton

m

Sometimes the best cemetery preservation effort in the
world is destined for failure. Here is one such story
about a historic northern Illinois cemetery.

A few years after my husband and I had moved to the
small community of LenrHDnt, (located about 25 miles
southwest of Chicago) , the small Roman Catholic parish
to which we belonged decided to hold a sesqu icentennial
celebration. In preparing for the event the pastordid his
own research and he eventually published a cookbook
which included bits of anecdotal history about the
church and the cemetery which surrounds the church
building ; The 1 50-year celebration in 1 983 was a success
but the newly published history of the parish left much
to be denied and it started me on a personal quest to
discover the irue" history of the little Irish church and
cemetery, now called St. James of the Sag Parish.

I was a newspaper reporter at the time, and I have a
degree in geology, so it was not too difficult to combine
the two talents and start a papertrail of the documented
local history. I was already a member of the local
historical society and had the help of several parish
members who gave me oral histories of their families
who settled here. However , it is very difficult to
research facts about the earliest history of the
Chicagoland area in general because the great Chicago
fire in 1871 destroyed much of the governmental and
private records stored priorto that year . Nevertheless,
I pursued the quest for facts as best I could.

The origin of St. James of the Sag Church and Cemetery
dates back to the building of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal in the 1830s. The workers who built the canal
were largely Irish and later settled in the area of the
canal. Because they were mostly Roman Catholic and
were duty bound to hold regular church services and
bury their dead in only hallowed ground, cemeteries
and church buildings were among the first permanent
structures to be dedicated. During my research I
concluded that the historic significance of St James
was so great, as far as Northern Illinois settlement
history was concerned, that I wrote up the nomination
papers to get the site listed on the National Register of
Historic Places.

Because the Archdiocese of Chicago had not sent any
objections to it, the site was listed on the National
Register on August 16, 1984. My happiness was
dampened, however when I discovered that instead of
being hailed for my work, I was given the label of
troublemaker. The pastor looked upon my work as
bringing in "government interference" and it had turned

out that the Archdiocese would have objected to the
nomination if the church staff had understood the
significance of the letter sent them "from the govern-
ment."

After that, I maintained a quieter, but no less vigilant,
watch of the place. When a renovation project started
at the cemetery that was supposed to clearaway the old
and damaged nineteenth century tombstones, I voiced
my objections. Many of the oldest tombstones were
lying flat and when the workers brought in trucks and
large "bobcat" mowers they did more damage to the
gravestones than had been done by weather , vandals,
and neglect, etc., in the previous 100 years of the
cemetery's existence. Articles akx)ut my concerns in
the Chicago Tribune newspaper in June 1986 raised
awareness of the precious history of St. James Church
and Cemetery and the church officials finally agreed to
hear me out.

With the help of several organizations and a dozen
volunteers, we were able to do some preservation work
in the cemetery. The Upper Illinois Valley Association
hired noted gravestone preservation expert Lynette
Strangstad, and our group worked feverishly repairing
gravestones during a three day period in June 1987.
Then the Archdiocese decided that liability concerns
were too great to allow any more preservation work.
The attitude could be summed up with the quote, "If you
touch it, it's yours." W, e were expected to agree that if
we repaired a gravestone and set it upright, we would
be held personally liable for damages if it was ever
involved in an injury in the future. Since I could not allow
my volunteers and the groups who were sponsoring me
to jeopardize themselves in this way, all preservation
work came to a halt.

An effort to raise funds for preservation was also
thwarted when I was prevented from giving tours of the
cemetery. I regret to say that I cannot even bear to walk
through the cemetery anymore, knowing that, if I had
been allowed, I could have helped preserve those
many tombstones carved with Irish epitaphs. The
cemetery now looks better kept than it ever did, main-
tenance-wise, but only I know what has been lost in the
"renovation" process. (I have since gone on to do
research on Montana cemeteries during our family
summer vacation and hope to contribute a more upbeat
article to AGS in the future.)

In March of 1991 a tornado touched down in the
cemetery and damaged the church roof. A new group
has spnjng up and vowed to preserve St. James
Church and Cemetery and I for one, wish the group
luck. Alas, its first effort at published literature about the
effort already contains significant errors about the site's
history. We are back to square one.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 24

PUT EM UP!

The following article from Antique Week by Tom May hill,
[November 11, 1991] titled "plaques added to tomb-
stones help genealogists, preservationists" is bound to
spark some discussion among AGS members. The
solution posed may seem to be sensible to some,
vandalism to others. However you feel, this is clearly
being marketed as a gravestone 'preservation' tech-
nique. Let us know what you think!

In recent issues, we have been hearing from readers
who have offered various ways of-restoring old tomb-
stone inscriptions. Antique Week can now report an-
other method that offers economy plus the ability to add
and preserve genealogical information while preserv-
ing the old stone itself.

This method is the use of bronze or aluminium plaques.
Bronze plaques are mounted on or adjacent to weather-
worn inscriptions showing birth and death dates. The
bronze plaques are coated with polyurethane, which
should last 15 years without re-coating. They would
last many years beyond that but would gradually turn
green after tarnishing if not re-coated. Incidentally, we
are told that the old inscriptions usually erode because
of acid rain, but some dispute this reasoning.

To mount the bronze plaques, holes are drilled in the
stone and the screws on the backside of the plaque are
anchored with an epoxy. While prices undoubtedly
vary forthese plaques across the nation, Antique Week
obtained costfiguresfrom an Indianapolis, Ind., dealer,
to give an idea of what is available in the Midwest. They
charge $156 plus postage for a bronze plaque 8 by 1 0
inches in size, $1 21 for an 8 by 6 inch size, and $64 for
a plaque 6 by 4 inches. Within their three state area this
dealership would charge $50 for nrwunting one plaque
and about $80 for mounting two plaques. An individual,
however, could mount the plaque by using a drill with a
masonry bit for anchoring the plaque.

The 8- by 1 0 inch plaque would allow up to 80 letters at
no extra cost, the 8 by 6 size, 48 letters, and the 6 by 4
plaque, 24 letters. A large choice of type faces is
available, and additional letters cost 50 cents each.
Aluminium plaques, having aluminium letters with black
background, are a little less in cost. (Bronze plaques

are 87 percent copper.) An 8 by 10 inch aluminium
plaque is $132, the 8 by 6 inch size is $97 and the one
6 by 4 inch is the same as in bronze — $64.

Acrylic plaques are also available from some sources.
The Indiana dealer feel the life expectancy of acrylic is
much less. These are somewhat cheaper-in price than
those made of aluminium. Acrylic plaques have painted
lettering which is baked on over the acrylic.

The renovation of atombstone by use of a plaque offers
genealogists the opportunity to show birthplaces, par-
ents and/or children while retaining the original marker.

Now for some words of caution. Many cemeteries
would expect and perhaps require that any changes in
tombstones, especially for ancestors, be approved. It
would be well to check into this matter prior to ordering
a plaque. And, well-meaning people can make mis-
takes— big mistakes.

In Knightstown IN, for example, where the headquar-
ters of Antique Week is located, the founder of the town
was Waitsel M. Gary, a native of Hamilton County,
Ohio. Recently it was discovered that the old tomb-
stones for Waitsel and his wife were no longer in the
cemetery. By carefully comparing a cemetery record
book, we found that someone about 1963 had appar-
ently ordered a monument maker to bring in a very
large, new stone for the brother-in-law and sister of
Gary. Instead of replacing those stones, however, the
monument installers apparently saw the name Gary but
did not look at the given names. Much to the chagrin of
descendants, the Waitsel Gary markers were replaced.
The error will soon be corrected, and new stones will be
made for Waitsel and his spouse. Unfortunately, the
original markers were apparently hauled away.

Having considered various options for tombstone re-
placement or restoration, one of the big pluses for using
plaques, in our opinion, is the dual result— that of
preserving the original tombstone and providing helpful
genealogical data for future generations. In small
letters below, for genealogists, it may be well to show
the name of the person who erected the plaque.

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 25

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

We've been able to take advantage of the
calm before the Conference storm to get a
few small items taken care of. Before I begin,
please note that all of the Conference Reg-
istration materials, including your ballot, are
included in this newsletter. (It's your beau-
tiful lilac centerfold!)

Membership Drive

Our membership drive has started well. As of early
February, we've gotten 24 new members, including
one referral from a member, who will be getting a
beautiful ceramic magnet for his trouble. I hope more
of vou will take advantage of our offer, as we're going
to need about 300 new members to break the 1,000
member mark which is our goal — a sheet describing
this program is included with your membership renewal,
or you can get one by sending us a S.A S E. Also,
please let us know if you can use extra membership
brochures.

Lending Library

When you received your original membership material
from AGS, there was a form from the Lending Library,
along with a list of books that you could borrow. This list
has grown overthe years: included in this newsletter is
an updated list of lx)oks available for loan.

1992 Publications List

We will have our 1992 publications list out by March,
and there are several items which will be new this year.
First and foremost, of course, is Markers IX, which vou
read about in the last newsletter. Our pre-pub offer has
an expiration date of March 15; afterthat the cost will be
$20 to members. Also in this pub list will be, after
months of work by Jo Goeselt, our Archivist, and
several volunteers, most notably Rosalee Oakley, a
complete and up-to-date listing for our Archives. The
Archives are now well-organized after the transition
from the New England Genealogical Society, and ac-
cessible through the Worcester Historical Museum
library, so visitors are welcome, although Jo asks for
the first few months that you call first for an appointment
with her as she wants to make sure you get what vou
want while she wraps up the loose ends. The index is
available for sale so researchers will know what we
have. This will be updated periodically, but the first
installment is ready now through our publications list.

We've had some requests to purchase our
latest slide show, 'The Development of the
Modern Cemetery and Gravestone Design in
the 1 9th Century," and now you can— through
the new pub list.

We've also had many requests for the "Genealogy for
Fun" game, which is also now available.

We have a few Conference '91 T-shirts left in all five
sizes — order early as we're not going to print anymore
after these run out. The shirts are grey with maroon
lettering, 98% cotton, and have the '91 conference logo
on them.

Finally, all Leaflet Kit and Rubbing Leaflet orders will
get a free Rubber's Snicker Sticker as a bonus, and
everyorderover$25willgetafree 1988 commemorative
calendar, chock full of Farber photographs which are
suitable for framing.

If vou want a 1992 publications list, send us a S.A.S.E.
and we'll be happy to send you one.

Press Kit

Tom and I will be spending most of March working on
a standard "press kit" that explains AGS and its programs
to reporters as well as other people who request it.
What we would also like to do is send this kit to people
who have written about gravestones in the past, either
in newspapers or magazines, and might or might not
know about AGS. If they already know about us, then
this will refresh their memories. If they don't, then this
will be an introduction to us. If you know of a reporter
that could benefit from this kit, please send us their full
address, including the publication they write for. This
list will end up helping us publicize many AGS programs,
so we're looking forward to hearing from you!

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has written
us — your suggestions have been really helpful, and it's
just nice to hear from you! And, of course, if there's
anything we can do in the office to help you with your
work, please let us know!

See you at the Conference,

Miranda

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 26

BOOK LOAN INFORMATION

The mail-order Lending Library is designed as a service to
AGS members who may be unable to obtain basic reference
books by other means.

* Members may borrow ONE or TWO TITLES at a time.

* Bool<s must be returned TWO WEEKS from the date they

are received.

* Please make a special effort to return books in good
condition and ON TIME so that the limited resources can be
shared by as many members as possible.

* Borrowers are responsible for postage.

* A $2.00 processing fee is required to help cover the cost of
book mailers, special labels, follow-up correspondence, re-
pair/replacement expenses, and additional titles, as we can
afford them.

* New books will be listed in the AGS NEWSLETTER as they

become available.

* These books are supplied with the understanding that they
are for personal use only. Liability for copyright infringement
or reproduction is assumed by the person in whose name the
order is placed.

To calculate postage costs:

The weight of each VOLUME and MAILER appears in
parentheses after the title, [example: GRAVEN IMAGES
Allan Ludwig (2 lbs. 15 oz.)]

When you select the book(s) you want, calculate the total
weight of your order.

If the TOTAL weight is:

less than 1 lb.

one way postage =

$.65

less than 2 lb.

one way postage =

.89

less than 3 lb.

one way postage =

1.13

less than 4 lb.

one way postage =

1.37

less than 5 lb.

one way postage =

1.61

less than 6 lb.

one way postage =

1.85

less than 7 lb.

one way postage =

2.09

Add one way postage, and enclose check (no cash please)
payable to 'AGS Lending Library" - total of $2.00 fee and
postage.

The following books are currently available:

THE MASKS OF ORTHODOXY
Peter Benes (2 lbs. 6 oz.)

PURITAN GRAVESTONE ART I
The Dublin Seminar, 1976
Peter Benes, Editor (14 oz.)

PURITAN GRAVESTONE ART II

The Dublin Seminar, 1978
Peter Benes, Editor (14 oz.)

EARLY GRAVESTONE ART IN GEORGIA & SOUTH
CAROLINA Diana Combs (2 lbs. 8 oz.)

SEASONS OF LIFE AND LEARNING: LAKE VIEW

CEMETERY

Vincetta DiRocco Dooner and Jean Marie Bossu (1 1 oz.)

EARLY AMERICAN GRAVESTONE ART IN PHOTO-
GRAPHS
Duval/Rigby (1 lb. 7 oz.)

GRAVESTONES OF EARLY NEW ENGLAND AND THE
MEN WHO MADE THEM
Harriette M. Forbes (2 lbs. 1 oz.)

EPITAPH AND ICON
George/Nelson ( 14 oz. )

LESSONS FROM THE DEAD
Roberta Halporn (9 oz.)

CLASPED HANDS: SYMBOLISM IN NEW ORLEANS

CEMETERIES

Leonard V. Ruber (2 lbs. 3 oz.)

SILENT CITIES; THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN

CEMETERY

Kenneth T. Jackson and Camilo Jose Vergara (2 lbs. 5 oz.)

GRAVEN IMAGES

Allan Ludwig (2 lbs. 15 oz.)

CEMETERIES AND GRAVEMARKERS: VOICES OF

AMERICAN CULTURE

Richard E. Meyer, Editor (2 lbs. 6 oz.)

THE COLONIAL BURYING GROUNDS OF EASTERN

CONNECTICUT

James Slater (3 lbs. 10 oz.)

THE PURITAN WAY OF DEATH: A STUDY IN RELIGION,
CULTURE AND SOCIAL CHANGE
David E. Stannard (1 lb. 3 oz.)

MEMORIALS FOR CHILDREN OF CHANGE
Dickran and Ann Tashjian (2 lbs. 13 oz.)

LIFE HOW SHORT - ETERNITY HOW LONG
Deborah Trask (1 lb. 8 oz.)

AMERICAN EPITAPHS GRAVE AND HUMOROUS
Charles E. Wallace (1 lb. 3 oz.)

MEMENTO MORI: THE GRAVESTONES OF EARLY

LONG ISLAND

Richard Welch (1 lb. 5 oz.)

FOLK ART IN STONE: SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Klaus Wust (13 oz.)

for more info, contact:
AGS Lending Library
c/o Laurel Gabel
205 Fisliers RoadPittsford NY 14534

AGS Wi '91/2 p. 27

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterty as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester h/IA 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $5.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Theodore
Chase, editor of Markers, the Jourrtal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 74 Farm St., Dover h/fA 02030. Address
Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor, Nova Scotia tAuseum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3A6,
Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order Marlters (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $24.50; Vol. 3, $38.95 cloth only; Vol. 4, $21.95; Vol. 5, $22.95;
Vol. 6, $26.95; Vol. 7, $15; Vol. 8, $20; Vol. 9, $20; higher prices for non-members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to
the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin,
Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE

PAID
Permit No. 410
Worcester MA

■newsletter

■ OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2 SPRING 1992 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

African-American Gravestones in Eariy New Jersey

by Richard Veit 2

AGS at the American Culture Association, Louisville KY

by Cathy Wilson 4

Endicott Burying Ground 5

Erotica & Exotica in Parisian Cemeteries

by Angelika Kruger-Kahloula 6

RECEIVED FOR THE ARCHIVES 9

PRESERVATION NOTES 15

When Removal is NOT Protection - Chautauqua Co. NY 18

BOOK REVIEWS 20

TOURS, TOURS, TOURS! 23

10 MOST WANTED, CONTINUED 24

ASSOCIATION NEWS 26

ELVIS SIGHTED IN INDIANA CEMETERY

by Jim Jewell

Dispelling aimors that he is either managing a Convenient Mart in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, working on a road gang in Valdosta, Georgia, or
employed as an usher in a movie house in Moab, Utah, Elvis Presley was
recently sighted in a cemetery in Hanna, Indiana The fact that the town
has a rhyming name and is spoken with a
rhythmical lilt lends credence to the theory ,,
that the King has decided to begin life anew
as a Hoosier songwriter, a la Cole Porter ^^
and Hoagy Carmichael! JI^j

Seriously, Elvis' smiling face adorns the
gravestone of Susan L. Wallace (1955-
1988), who is interred in the Hanna Cem-
etery, just south of U.S. Highway 30 in
LaPorte County. It is located in the south-
west corner of the cemetery and is a prime
example of a memorial reflecting popular
culture.

AGS Sp'92 p. 1

AFRICAN-AMERICAN GRAVESTONES
FROM EARLY NEW JERSEY

by Richard Veit

African-Americans are probably the single most under-
represented ethnic group in historic cemeteries. The at
first institutionalized, and later de facto disenfranchise-
ment of African-Americans extended into death. Co-
lonial New Jersey was no exception to this rule. A
partial search of central Jersey's earliest burial grounds
has revealed only three gravemarkers for African-
Americans dated before 1 828. It was not until 1 828 that
New Jersey enacted a law providing for the gradual
emancipation of slaves. Even under this law slaves
born after July 4, 1804, had to be 25 years old if male,
and 21 for females, before they were declared free.

These three stones mark the final resting places of two
men and one woman who lived in the transitional period
between slavery and freedom. All three of the stones
were locally carved in the reddish brown sandstone
quarried and worked in central and northern New
Jersey. The oldest of the stones dates to 1806, and
marks the grave of "Caesar an African". He was buried
in the Scotch Plains Baptist Churchyard.

The stone has a multi-lobed top, and is inscribed with a

monogrammed "C" and a simple link border. It reads:

Here rest the remains of

CAESAR an AFRICAN

who died February 1806

aged 104 years

He was more than half a century

a worthy member of the Church in

this place and closed his life in

the confidence of a Christian

His numerous friends have

erected this tone as a tribute

of respect to his eminent

virtues and piety

(The stone is broken off at this point)

When the. ...and the dead Arise

When flames shall roll ...the skies

While atheists kings and....

And every hope but Christ Mankind shall Fail

Caesar's will soar from natures funeral pile

To bask forever in his Savior's smile

Caesar was obviously an exceptional individual. He is
known to have served as a teamster during the Revo-
lutionary war. This was a capacity in which many
African-Americans served the Continental Army. His
name, Caesar, probably reflects the common practice

, (

i

of naming slaves after characters from the classics,
e.g., Caesar, Pompey, Brutus. The stone was carved
by Jonathan Hand Osborn, who had a flourishing grave
stone carving shop in Scotch Plains in the late eight-
eenth and early nineteenth centuries. Unfortunately
the stone is damaged, it has broken off near ground
level, and shows the effects of having been hit by a
lawnmower. It has also been displaced from its original
location, and now rests against the church wall, a
modern granite marker indicates its original place.

The second stone belongs to Dinah Cook.

erected in 1814. The inscription reads:

In memory of

Dinah wife of Isaac

Cook a woman of

color who died Feb.

4. 1814 in the 38th

year of her

age

was

AGS Sp'92 p. 2

My friends of color tfiat pass by

And ttiis erection see
Remember you are born to die

Prepare to follow me

It is a plainly carved stone, decorated only with her
initials, "DC". Unfortunately, the stone itself is in a
perilous condition, its face is cracked and exfoliation will
probably soon render it illegible.

the effects of exfoliation. It reads:

In memory of

Jack a coloured man who belonged to Jonathan

Freeman

He was a faithful

servant & died

July 2. 1825

in...

43 y...

hi....

Another gravestone marking the grave of an African-
American is located in the Woodbridge First Presbyterian
burial ground. This stone marks the grave of Jack, a
servant of Jonathan Freeman. Jack's stone is the
single grave marker for an African-American among
the hundreds of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century
gravestones in this graveyard. It has a lobed top,
decorated with a simple scallop design, and a
monogrammed"JJ" in the tympanum. Along the stone's
sides is a diamond border.

Unfortunately, the stone is only partially legible due to

The stone was probably carved in Woodbridge. It too is
rapidly deteriorating.

The presence of slaves in the Middle Atlantic States
and New England is an often overlooked historical fact.
Colonial New Jersey was home to thousands of slaves,
and as late as 1850, there were still over two hundred
living there. These three early nineteenth-century
gravestones differ from their neighbors only in their
mention of the race of the deceased. Though broken,
weathered, and probably soon to be illegible, they are
the last links to an important and too often forgotten part
of New Jersey's past.

Richard Veit, 905 Franklin Ave., South Plainfield NJ, 07080. Richard received his l\AA from the College of William
and Mary in 1991, and wrote his thesis on Middlesex County New Jersey Gravestones 1687- 1 799: Shadows
of a Ctianging Culture.

WHAHA'DEAL

Ohio claims some unusual ties to
legendary figures and events of the Old
West.

Among them is native son
Charlie Henry Rich who
on Aug. 2, 1876 in
No. 10 Saloon in
Deadwood, S.D.,
dealt his friend, James
Butler "Wild Bill'
Hickok, thejack of dia-
monds, ace of spades,
ace of clubs, eight of
spades and eight of clubs
in a friendly game of poker.
The story has it that as
Hickok picked up his cards
a local drunk seeking fame fatally shot
Wild Bill. As the bullet struck Hickok's
head, thejack of diamonds flew from
his hand. He died on the floor of the
saloon clutching two black aces and two
black eights — the hand known to all
poker players ever since as the "dead
man's hand."

Gordon Bourgeois, Rich's grandson,
has spent the past seven years research-
ing and re-telling the story. Hiseffoitsto
keep the memory of his grandfather
alive culminated on July 9,1989, with
the dedication of an elaborate and

from Home & Away, July/
August 1 991 , sent by Leslie
Ann Geist, Wauconda IL

unusual gravestone recalling the famous
incident in Deadwood in Evergreen
Cemetery in Miamiville, Ohio, where
Rich is buried.

Bourgeois, of Gahanna, Ohio, hopes
all who pass through Miamiville, located
just northeast of Cincinnati on State
Route 1 26, will stop and pay their respects
to the dealer of the "dead man's hand."

AGS Sp'92 p. 3

AGS On The Move: Louisville, Kentucky

Cathy i^j.

by

Wilson,
Oakmont PA

Bedford, Indiana — Warren Roberts (third from left) relates ttie story of the Louis Baker limestone Manlier' monument to participants in the AC A 1992 Southern
Indiana Cemeteries tour. Other AGS members in the group include (I to r) : Joe Edgetle, Laurel Gabel. Dick Meyer, Tom Graves and Jim Jewell. Photo by Cathy
Wilson.

B. Bright, T.
Reding, C.
Underwood.
Wliat do
these names
have in com-
mon? For
approxi-
mately
twelve AGS
members
who at-
tended the
Cemeteries
and

Gravemarkers Section of the American Culture Asso-
ciation's 1992 annual conference, held from March 18-
21 in Louisville, Kentucky, these three names were an
introduction to an array of craftsmen who produced
cemetery monuments for America's Southern and Mid-
western populations.

At the same time, seven AGS members — Joseph
Edgette, Laurel Gabel, Thomas Graves, James Jewell,
Maryelien McVicker, Richard Meyer, and Stephen
Petke— actively participated in two days of formal pres-
entations at the ACA conference.
Their papers encompassed a wide "^-^^t-
range of topics from such non-tradi-
tional subjects as cemetery pests and
the use of cemetery settings in well-
known literature to more customary
subjects on fraternal gravestone
symbolism and the life of a Connecti-
cut stonecutter. (For a complete list
of ACA's Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers abstracts, see AGS
Newsletter, Fall 1991, p. 7-10.)

Among other highlights of the four
day conference were two cemetery
tours. The first scheduled cemetery
excursion for AGSers was a two and
a half hour afternoon walking tour of
Louisville's Cave Hill Cemetery. This
tourwas conducted by AGS member
and rural cemetery specialist, Blanche
Linden-Ward, of the American Cul-
ture Program at Emerson College,

Warrer^ Roberts at the Baker stone, Bedford
IN. Photo by Jim Jewell.

Boston, Massachusetts. At Cave Hill Cemetery, founded
in 1848, AGS members viewed both an important
national rural cemetery and a botanical garden contain-
ing more than 280 different species of trees. Here, also,
they had the opportunity to photograph a number of
unique gravemarkers such as a limestone, one-room
schoolhouse, a granite caboose, a flight of bronze
Canadian geese, and a delicately carved, granite Tiffany
memorial. Moreover, members were able to follow
brightly painted road lines in order to discover the final
resting places of such notable Americans as explorer
George Rodgers Clark and Ken-
tucky Fried Chicken entrepreneur
Colonel Harland Sanders. It was
no surprise then that with such a
vast cemetery to explore, that a
hurriedly conducted head count was
instituted among AGS members
before the cemetery gates slowly
swung shut forthe night at 5 o'clock!

The second scheduled cemetery
tourwas a day trip across the Ohio
River and into Southern Indiana's
countryside. This tour was led by
AGS's own tree stump specialist,
Warren Roberts, of the Folklore
Institute at Indiana University,
Bloomington, Indiana, hlere the
group visited seven church and
community graveyards within the
limestone belt of Washington, Law-
rence, and Orange Counties. Al-
though the consecrated grounds did

AGS Sp'92 p. 4

not feature world renown mortuary architecture nor
contain the grave sites of notable personages, the
Indiana cemeteries were alive with neoclassical and
masonic sandstone images of children, sheep, willow
and oak trees, coffins, and urns. Moreover, the cem-
eteries, dotted with locally carved, limestone tree stumps
which featured hounds, anvils, foxes, rifles, straw hats,
squirrels, and flower baskets, poignantly commemo-
rated daily life in the surrounding farmlands. Other
highlights of the excursion included a tour of Bedford,
the "Limestone Capital of the World", dinner at Marion's,

a restaurant which specialized in 1930s-style Indiana
cuisine, and a final stop at a ten foot, ten ton limestone
statue of the comics hero, Joe Palooka, Champion of
Democracy.

As the conclusion of this tour marked the formal closing
of the 1992 American Culture Association's annual
meeting, AGS members, tired but enriched by their
participation in the Cemeteries and Gravemarkers Sec-
tion's multiple activities, departed Louisville, each for
their own respective destinations but with the parting
farewell, "See you in Schenectady!"

ENDICOTT BURYING GROUND

The Endicott Burying Ground lies in the section of Danvers,
Massachusetts, known as "The 'Port", site of the original land
grant from Charles I to John Endicott, first governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. Situated in the center of a 13
acre plot formerly owned by Creese and Cook Leather
Company, the land had been purchased by developers
planning to build condominiums on the site.

Since there were no longer any Endicott family members
living in the area, the burying ground had fallen into neglect,
largely cared for by neighbors and, periodically, the Town.
Though many of the stones were missing, and the iron gates
and iron posts and chains surrounding one of the graves had
been given to the World War II metal drive, William C.
Endicott, Jr. had, in 1924, written a book tracing the history of
the plot, complete with detailed maps of the gravestones, their
composition and inscriptions. In the 1 930s, remains of Indian
gravesites were excavated by Massachusetts Historical
Commission just outside the high granite walls of the burying
ground. Two British Revolutionary War soldiers are also
interred within the walls and the graves of Endicott slaves are
said to lie near the northerly wall of the cemetery.

The Danvers Historical Society and the Danvers Preservation
Commission (at that time the Historical Commission), con-
cerned about the future of the burying ground in light of the
impending development, determined to do whatever neces-
sary to protect the property. From an Endicott family member
it was discovered that a trust fund had been established with
a Salem cemetery association in 1958 for perpetual care of
the burying ground. With the help of Theodore Chase of the
Association of Gravestone Studies contact was made with
the trustees of the association who, after considerable nego-
tiation, agreed to turn over to the Danvers Historical Society
the original $10,000 plus $12,000 in interest. With the
assurance that the burying ground would not be a financial
drain the Society entered into discussions with the legal
owner of the plot, whom, it was discovered, was a grand-
daughter of William Endicott, living in Maine and unaware of
herownership. She was, however, willing to considerdeeding
the property to the Society. At present, the ownership still

rests with the Endicott heir, but the trust fund and mainte-
nance are managed by the Society.

At the same time as the Society was protecting the property
financially and legally, the developers were preparing site
plans for approval of various Town Boards. A "beam house"
approximately 200 feet from the burying ground, had used
and disposed of toxic materials in the leather tanning process,
therefore test pits had to be dug to determine, for EPA
purposes, the extent of the ground contamination. Notified by
the Danvers Historical Commission of the digging activity,
Rhona Simon of the Massachusetts Historical Commission
contacted the developers and acquainted them of the laws
regulating the disturbing of ancient burying grounds and the
possibility of up to two years delay in development if bones
were discovered. The Danvers Planning Board and the EPA
required the developers to redraw plans to move one building
further away from the burying ground. Throughout the
Environmental Impact Study phase, and during the removal
of the toxic ground, the EPA was most helpful in considering
the protection of the Endicott property.

The Danvers Historical Society, the Historical Commission
and neighbors of the burying ground generally favored resi-
dential (as opposed to industrial) development but felt that the
developer, and ultimately thecondominium association, should
assume responsibility for maintenance and cosmetic upkeep.
In a meeting with legal representatives of the developer,
membersofthe Endicott family and the Society, it was agreed
that the developers would replace the long missing iron gates
and plant new trees both in the cemetery itself and as a buffer
outside the walls. The developers also agreed to the Soci-
ety's unlimited access to the site. The agreement became
part of the Planning Board's Site Plan Approval as shown on
the plans submitted to the Town by the developer. Unfortu-
nately they were not legally filed as deed restrictions and,
since the property is as yet undeveloped and up for sale, the
Society and Commission will have to renegotiate with the new
owners. However, the groundwork has been laid, a precedent
established and the future protection of the site assured.

AGS Sp'92 p. 5

ENCORE: EROTICA AND EXOTICA
IN PARISIAN CEMETERIES

by Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Browsing through the latest edition ot the AGS News-
letter I was amused to realize that Mark Merenda's ■
article on Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris ("Heaven
on Earth" 4-7) concentrates on the same graves ot
which I have been showing slides to triends and col-
leagues in Germany after returning from a teaching
stint in France in the fall of 1991. In order to both meet
and upset my fellow Germans' expectations about
sightseeing and night life in the French capital, I have
put together a short slide show on things erotic and
exotic in Parisian cemeteries.

As with ivlerenda, the monuments of Victor Noir and
Oscar Wilde have been favorites with my audience,
less so for the deceased personalities they commemo-
rate than for the folklore ranking around their (rather
public) private parts. For better balance between the
genders, one should also mention the rumor that gen-
tlemen have been observed to fondle the breasts of a
certain bronze nymphet on the grave of Ferdinand
Barbedienne (1810-1892) in the 53rd division.
Barbedienne invented the process by which reduced-
size copies of sculptures are produced.

Perhaps I
should add that
on various vis-
its to Pere
Lachaise I have
never wit-
nessed nor en-
gaged in any
such physical
contact! Being
a rather book-
ish person, who
only knows
about such
things from
reading, I have
been more
favorably im-
pressed by
monu ments
suchasHonore
Champion's in
Montparnasse
Cemetery. A librarian in life, he is depicted in his study,
surrounded by shelves of books in high relief.

h

Honore Champion, Montparnesse Cemetery,
tomb by scuptor Albert Bartholme

Jean-Paul Sartre S Simone deBeauvoIr,
1980/86, Montparnesse Cemetery

OscarWilde, d. 1900. His monument In Pere LaChaise Cemetery
by sculptor Jacob Epstein was unveiled in 1914.

In Pere Lachaise, however, I have watched people
who, profess to believe in things spiritual congregate at
the material grave of the founder of their philosophy to
go through ritual gestures that involve laying their
hands on his bust, in 1858, Allan Kardec (Hippollyte
Leon Rivail, 1804- 1869) founded a spiritualist school,
le spiritisme, which has several millions of followers,
mostly in Argentina and Brasil. Since spiritualists
believe in communication with those who have died, we
should hardly be surprised to find that Kardec's grave,
always richly decorated with fresh flowers, is a favorite
object of pilgrimage and cult. Moreover, Kardec's
grave is the only one I have seen so farthat comes with
its own instructions on how not to approach it. A plaque
attachedto the back of the dolmen erected over Kardec's
and his wife's tomb informs the visitor about their work.
In the "Recommendations to the public" printed below,
the Union Spirite Francaise et Francophone distin-
guishes between
magical practices
ontheonehandand
true spiritualist be-
lief on the other.
Which does not
discourage people
from going through
their ritual motions.
Since Merenda
mentions several
other Parisian cem-
eteries more or less
en passant, let me
hasten to point out
that Montmartre and
Montparnasse and

»»^

AGS Sp'92 p. 6

the smaller burial grounds are well worth a visit. The
legends surrounding their tombs may be less known
than those ot Pere Lachaise, but they hold surprises,
too. Would you have expected Jean-Paul Sartre and
Simone de Beauvoir to share a grave? They refused to
share an apartment in life but have not kept their
distance in death.

I left their grave in Montparnasseinsuch a sentimental
mood that I almost forgot my quest for the unusual, but
then I stumbled onto the rarest specimen of cemetery
fauna I
have ever
met. The
burial place
of "Ricardo
M e n 0 n
1989" is
graced by a
giant cat
painted
with glossy
red, blue,
yellow, and
brown
stripes ,
hearts, and
flowers on
a white
ground. I
was so
struck by its
presence
in the oth-
e r w i s e
conserva-
tive cem-
etery that I left the grounds without making any enquir-
ies about the curious creature. Thus I am not yet sure
whether the colorful cat is an original by French sculptor
NikideSaint-Phalleorwhetherherwork inspired a less
known funerary artist. Finding out about Ricardo and
the cat will by my homework on the next trip to Paris!

Montmartre Cemetery presented me with another in-
triguing question about posthumous proximity. The
German poet Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) and his wife
Mathilde (nee Crescentia Eugenie Mirat) are buried in
adjacent graves, a fact which seems to surprise Pascal
Payer-Appenzeller.authorof "Montmartre; Lecimetiere
du Nord" (Paris aux cent villages 66, 1982, 9-35).

Heinrich est reuni, pourle meilleur, et surtout pour
le pire, a Frau l-leine, sa femme francaise, qui
n'aimait que les ciiats et qu'il avail legue par

testament au plus courageux de ses amis: Us

furent tous laches! (31 )

[Heinrich is reunited, for better or rather for worse,

with Frau Heine, his French wife, who loved only

cats, and whom he had bequeathed by testament

to the most courageous of his friends ; they were all

cowards!]

I knew there was tension in ihe Heines' marriage, and
the poet was known for his derisive remarks, yet I had
never heard of such a disparaging.comment in his last
will. Research in the library proved not only that the
ailing poet's major concern was Mathilde's financial
security after his death but that he, a Jew converted to
Protestantism, requested to be buried in the Roman
Catholic part of tvlontmartre Cemetery so that his Catholic
wife could be buried next to him later. Besides, Mad-
ame Heine's favorite animal was a parrot named Co-
cotte. And there should be an additional "e" in leguee,
the past participle being preceded by a direct object
who happens to be feminine and singular: Frau Heine.
Which brings me to another subject dearto my school-
marm's heart, grammar in the cemetery. As a French
teacher, I easily spotted some stonecutter's problem
with I'accord du participe, the grammar rule which re-
quires the past participle of a verb conjugated with the

AGS Sp'92 p. 7

auxiliary avoir to take the gender and number of a
preceding direct object.

Pop singer Dalida (1933-1987) still attracts crowds of
fans, if one is to .judge from the amount of flowers left on
her grave. The monument befits a star: her white
marble effigy walks out of an aureole against a black
background. She looks very composed, walking into
eternity as she used to walk on stage. Her stage name,
DALIDA, is marked on the portal above her head. The
inscription on the black marble slab covering the tomb
reads:

YOLANDE GIGLIOTTI

dite

DALIDA

nous a quittes le mai 1987

The "s" in
quittes is
somewhat
smallerthan
the other
characters,
and closely
" " """ " " '^"' attached to

the 'e'. Obviously it was inserted at a later date, when
someone had noticed the error. Just a few steps away
from Dalida's burial place, on the opposite side of the
Chemin des Gardes in Montmartre Cemetery, there is
a very interesting combination of relief carved into and

out of stone. The bust
showing Doctor Guy
Pitchal is worked out of
the white stone up to
his neck, the right hand
protrudes, holding up a
pipetowhere his mouth
ought to be. The head,
however, is cut into the
stone. Forall his learn-
ing (a book: figures
among the stone ob-
jects on the tomb),
Doctor Pitchal is left with
a spelling error on his
gravestone:

LE DOCTEUR

GUY PITCHAL,

NOUSAQUITTE

LE26FEVR1ER1989

Grammarian Bescherelle, who is interred in the vicinity,
must be rotating in his grave.

For any necropolitan rambler who has a little more time
to spend and is tired of city life (or rather, death), 1
suggest a trip to one of the suburban cemeteries. Le
Cimetiere Ancien (Bois de Vincennes) offers quiet,
green surroundings and freedom from stress, since the
guide books do not mention any celebrities that you
might otherwise be inclined to look for.

Americans, accustomed to a great deal of ethnic diver-
sity in the graveyard, may find the Cimetiere de Thiais,
1 0 miles south of Paris, less exciting than 1 do. Besides
Christian, Jewish and Muslim squares of different de-
nominations, there is a Buddhist section that is easy to
find if one follows the smell of incense. If you go for
royalty, look up King Zog I of Albania, who is sur-
rounded by his general staff. For those who prefer
disaster, there are the victims of two air-traffic accidents,
Paris-Brazzaville 1961 and Ermenonville 1974. Quite
a contrast to the monuments of famous pilots in the
downtown cemeteries , which often feature a portrait or
a map showing the routes they explored.

The book: I have found most useful on my visits is
Jacques Barozzi, Guide des cimetidres parisiens
(Paris: Hervas 1990).

ACS Sp'92 p. 8

RECEIVED FOR THE ARCHIVES

The Newsletter receives many newspaper items from
vigilant members across the continent. These are not
always included in the Newsletter because of space
limitations, repetitive story lines, or because in the
opinion of the editor they are not directly related to the
study of gravestones. All news items not printed in the
Newsletter do eventually go to the AGS Archives.
Here, in summary form, is a listing of recent contribu-
tions:

From Pat Miller, 7 Briggs Hill Rd. , Sherman CT 06784,
a news brief from the Danbury CT News Times, Feb-
ruary 17, 1992, on the East Hartiand [CT] Cemetery,
which dates back to 1776, closing because it is full.

Also from Pat Miller, a photo from the Danbury CT
News Times, March 9, 1992, showing vandalism at St.
Peter's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, and a letter
printed in the same paper March 21 , 1992, from a fourth
grader in Bethel CT expressing anger at the vandalism.

From Rosalee Oakley, Needham MA, an item from
National Geographic, November 1 991 , on the "Riddle
of the Ancient Dog Cemetery", about an archaeological
excavation in Israel which has uncovered a thousand
dog burials, spanning about fifty years of the fifth
century B.C.

From Ray Cummings, Avon CT, an article from the
Hartford Courant, August 20, 1991 , about the need for
police patrols in the old Danbury Quarter Road Cem-
etery, Winsted CT.

Also from Ray Cummings, an essay from the Hartford
Courant, August 8, 1991, by Peter B. Pach titled:
"Getting the message in old graveyards" in which he
notes: "For me, a cemetery is an opportunity to peak
into long-finished lives and wonder about them."

From Wayne Mori, Dunkirk NY, an article from the
Dunkirk-Fredonia Evening Observer, September 4,
1991, on anthropologist Rebecca Rosen and the
Chautauqua County Gravestone Research Project.
Dressed as a 19th-century woman in mourning, Ms.
Rosen has lectured widely to school and community
groups. Her work is supported, in part, by the J.M.
Kaplan Foundation of New York City.

From Len Messina, Middletown CT, an article from the
Middletown Press, September 14, 1991 , on fireman
Thomas F. Durning, who roams old graveyards in
search of America's forgotten war heroes — Congres-
sional Medal of Honor winners. Through his efforts.

arrangements have been made to have government
Medal of Honor headstones placed on 40 gravesites,
some with no marker at all, others with no reference to
any act of bravery. The Medal of Honor was established
by Congress in 1861 , and has been awarded to nearly
3400 people. Durning has focussed his efforts on
medal winners who were born or buried in Connecticut,
or who enlisted in the state.

From Sally Whipple, Director of Education, the Noah
Webster Foundation and Historical Society of West
Hartford, an August 6, 1991, article from the Hartford
Couranf about a volunteer effort to document the North
Main Street cemetery, West Hartford, following AGS
guidelines. "We have to figure out what's out there,"
said Whipple. "We can't stop erosion or vandals, but we
can catalog them so that if it happens again, we will
know which [were damaged] and eventually restore
them." Ray Cummings of Avon CT sent another article
from the Hartford Courant, September 29, 1991 "Busy
in the Burying Ground" about this on-going and
worthwhile project.

From Jack Lynch, Baltimore MD, an article from the
Baltimore Sun, October 7, 1 991 , on the Carroll County
MD genealogical society's efforts to save old burial
sites from bulldozers. The society has been identifying
family and church cemeteries since 1984, but only
recently has taken up the battle to protect the burial
sites. The General Assembly passed legislation in
1990 requiring that the county record all private cem-
eteries in its land records. The law requires a landowner
with a cemetery on his property to notify a prospective
buyer of its location. The graves must be preserved in
plans to develop the land around them. It also requires
a builder seeking to remove a grave to get permission
fromthe county state's attorney and health department.
However, apermit may be granted without first requiring
a builder to look for heirs. For more on problems with
the law in Maryland, see "Coalition to Protect Maryland
Burial Sites" in the AGS Newsletter, V. 16 #1 , Winter
1991/92, pp. 11-12.

From the Lancaster [PA] Mennonite Historical Society,
notice of their 14th annual genealogical conference,
March 28, 1 992, which included a session on "Historical
Burial Grounds: Preservation and Legal Considerations"
by David B. Schneider.

From Patricia Hallman, Shelby Township Ml, an item
from the Anchor Bay [Ml] Voice, July 31, 1991, on a
rubbing workshop she led as part of a series of work-
shops held by the New Baltimore Historical Society.

AGS Sp'92 p. 9

From John Mark Lambertson, Topeka KS, an article
from the Wichita [KS] Eagle, June 17, 1991 about an
eccentric, lonely old man and a repentant neighborhood
boy. Ed Shutz was a junk dealer in Wichita who died in
1924 and was buried in a pauper's grave. Because he
drove a horse and wagon and was bearded, clinging to
his old time ways, neighborhood boys had feared and
taunted him. One of those boys, now a retired physi-,
cian, has donated a gravestone with this inscription:
"Ed Shutz, born 1852 in Switzerland, died May 21,
1924, age 72. For the needy shall not always be
forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish
forever. (Psalm 9:18)/Erected by a friend in 1991 ."

From Kevin Ladd, Director of the Wallisville Heritage
Park, Wallisville TX, an article from the October 4, 1 991
issue of the Houston Post about cult activities and
vandalism in the old Washington Cemetery in Houston.
Black candies and wax objects stuck full of hundreds of
straight pins have been found near gravesites. Next to
them have been pennies elaborately arranged in the
shape of pentacles, five-pointed stars associated with
pagan worship. Officials of the cemetery, as well as
those buried there, have refrained until now from going
public with what's been happening at the burial site for
fear of retribution. One official now says "I've come to
the conclusion that all it takes for evil to flourish is for
good men and women to stay silent." An undercover
police officer pointed out a mutilated angel monument
for a young boy. "The parents had inscribed on the
base of the monument 'Here lies all our hope,' and then
someone did that. It really gets to you."

From Jessie Lie Farber, Worcester MA, an essay from
the Williamsport PA weekly Grit, July 7-13, 1991, in
which the author describes visiting some of the great
cemeteries of the world, but that his favourite is the one
in his hometown of Whitehall, Wisconsin.

From Rob Brooke, Arlington Heights IL, a front page
story from the Chicago Tribune, December 13, 1991,
where a man in Winnetka IL had been searching for
graves of the unclaimed victims of the steamer 'Lady
Elgin'. There were 400 passengers on the vessel when
it went down in September 1860. The wreck was
discovered in the summer of 1989. He stumbled on
some human remains on a construction site. A follow-
up item from the same paper, January 11,1 992, sent by
Jim Jewell of Peru IL, quotes an archaeologist saying
that the remains are most likely those of early settlers,
buried between 1836 and 1869.

From Kevin Ladd, Director of the Wallisville Heritage
Park, Wallisville TX, an article from the August 22, 1 991
issue of the Houston Chronicle about the grave of a

woman buried in 1875, found dug up and emptied. A
grave from that period would not contain very much
now. In a follow-up letter, Kevin explains that a number
of young people were arrested over this incident. They
had done the grave robbing as a sort of amateurish
Satanic thing, but had found little more than bone
fragments. One of them carelessly left a heavily fin-
gerprinted beer can at the site, which lead to the break
in the case.

From Ruth and Maynard Mires of Georgetown DE, an
item from a weekly paper December 11-17, 1991,
about the Miami Showmen's Association's Southern
Memorial Park, a carnival workers' cemetery. Formed
in 1943 as a social and benevolent organization, the
association now has about 900 members, downf rom its
heyday of 1 600. There are three showmen's groups in
Florida, but this one is the oldest. It began selling
cemetery plots to its members early on, because '1hey
didn't want anybody buried in the potter's field".

From the Caldwell NJ Progress, August 8, 1 991 , sent
by Charles Bello, Highfield Park N J, an article about the
publication of a four-volume survey of the Old Burying
Ground of the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell.
This was a comprehensive project: vol. 1 includes
accurate maps with precise contours of the land and
exact location of each existing gravemarker: the re-
maining three volumes contain individual studies of
each marker. 'This work may also serve as a model for
persons working to record other historic graveyards
and provides a basis for further preservation work to be
done here," said David Cowell, president of the Historical
Society of West Caldwell.

From Ray Cummings, Avon CT, an article from the New
York Times, February 9, 1992, about the old burying
ground in Thomastown, Litchfield County CT, named
for the clockmaker Seth Thomas. The old burying
ground was laid out in 1 735, the remains were moved
in the 1880s because they were in the way. Local
leaders wanted the spot at the center of town where
they built a red brick Victorian structure that now houses
Town Hall and the Opera House. The dearly departed
had to depart. The move was intended to be proper and
respectful, to a part of the new cemetery. "They tried to
move what they could, but they kept coming across
bones," said a local resident.

From the Arkansas Gazette. July 20, 1991, a story
about tombstone vandalism in Hot Springs, where over
1 00 stones were pushed over or broken.

From the Atlantic Advocate, a monthly journal from
Frederiction NB, Canada, October 1991, an article by

AGS Sp'92 p. 10

Jane Hilton "Graveyards.. a journey to yesterday" about
cemeteries as hiistory books.

From Jack Lyncti, Alexandria VA and DorottieadeZafra,
Arii ngtonVA, an articlefrom the Washington Posf, March
7, 1989, about Charles Ahalt, the "lively advocate" for
the dead in Maryland. Ahalt, "haunts the legislative
halls of Annapolis, crisscrosses the state one jump
ahead of the bulldozers and keeps track of the horror
stories on a dog-eared bundle of three-by-five index
cards".

From Christine Sweeters, New York NY, an article from
the New York Times, January 10, 1990, about secular
funerals in Britain, arranged through the British Humanist
Association. "The church has had a stranglehold on
social ceremonies. But Britain is now essentially a
secular country," says their director of public relations.
The association gets about 200 calls a week about such
funerals.

From The Chronicle oi the Early American Industries
association, June 1989, an article on the depiction of
old tools on stone, including gravestones, contributed
by Gaynell Stone.

From Barbara Moon, Kennebunkport ME, an article
from the Cleveland [OH] Plain Dealer, April 9, 1989,
about vandalism in the Monroe Cemetery were 240
monuments were knocked down.

From Ray Cummings, Avon CT, an article from the
Hartford Courant, August 6, 1990, about the restora-
tion project of the East Granby [CT] Center Cemetery
Association. The private association has a trust fund
and accepts donations to coverthe cost of maintaining
and restoring gravestones.

Also from Ray Cummings, Avon CT, an article from the
Hartford Courant, May 19, 1991, about the cemetery a
Southington as a vivid source of history. Elizabeth
Kopec is compiling the story behind each stone at Oak
Hill Cemetery. She discovered a bound booklet of
gravestone inscriptions and information on the place-
ment of each stone, and who was buried in each plot,
notes dating to 1857, in a wall of her colonial home
during restoration.

From Peter Kreil, Nanuet NY, a somewhat facetious
item on epitaphs for some famous people who are still
very much alive, from the NY Daily News-Nevv York Life
Magazine, February 16, 1992. The article quotes
AGS's own Laurel Gabel, so we can surmise that she
is now a national authority! (Not news to AGS!)

From Kevin Ladd, Director of the Wallisville Heritage
Park, Wallisville TX, an article from the January 1992
issue of the Texas Historical Commission journal, the
Medallion, about vandalism at the former tomb of
Stephen F. Austin, known as the "Father of Texas". The
remains of Austin, who died in 1 836, were moved to the
State Cemetery in Austin in 1910.

And from the same contributor, a January 23, 1992
article from the Houston Chronicle about Evergreen
Friends, a group formed in 1 989 to work on Evergreen
Cemetery, one of Houston's oldest and most neglected.
It opened in 1894.

From Allan Dunlop, Associate Provincial Archivist at
the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, a CP story from the
Halifax Chronicle-Herald, February 14, 1992 about a
plan to build houses on a War of 1 81 2 battlefield which
contains the graves of 300 soldiers. The Americans
won the battle at Chippawa on July 5, 1814, but 124
Americans, 1 48 British and 87 native troops were killed
in the battle near Niagara Falls, and are buried there.

From Jonathan Ruhan, Albuquerque NM, an essay on
visiting cemeteries, not just on All Saints Day, from the
Hallowe'en edition of the Albuquerque Journal, 1989.

Also from Jonathan Ruhan, Albuquerque NM, an item
from Tulsa World, December 22, 1991 on the redis-
covery of the two cemeteries of the First African Baptist
Church in Philadelphia.

From the same source and contributor, a story about
the Sons of the Confederate Veterans in Oklahoma
who have a statewide project to get an accurate record
of the graves in the state and to identify unmarked
graves.

From Margaret Jenks, Hagerstowri MD, an article from
the Lexington KY Herald-Leader, December 21 , 1 991 ,
about workers running into problems moving unmarked
graves of Irish-Catholic immigrants to make way for
Lexington's new police mounted patrol stables. Eighty
broken tombstones were stacked at the back of the lot,
put there in the 1950s. These will be pieced together
and set in concrete at the rear of the property.

From the Syracuse NY Herald-Journal, July 26, 1 991 ,
an item on a fellow from Elbridge who decided to start
a business to tend gravesites. The business name —
'Ease Your Conscience'. Sent by Victor B. Goodrich,
Hamilton NY.

From Le Eart Bryant, Richardson TX, a story in the
Dallas Morning News, February 29, 1 991 , about rela-

AGSSp'92 p. 11

tives and friends cleaning up old cemeteries in Ladonia,
Texas.

From Rosalee Oakley, Needham MA, an essay from
the Boston Globe Magazine. August 25, 1991, about
Author's Ridge in Sleepy Hollow burial ground. Con-
cord MA where lie buried the Hawthornes, the Ralph
Waldo Emersons, the Thoreaus and the Alcotts.

Also from Rosalee and the Boston Globe Magazine,
August 18, 1991, a question and answer about the
grave in Medford Square MA of Sarah Bradlee Fulton,
a heroine of the American Revolution.

From Nancy & John Slavinsky, a couple of items from
the Boston Globe, November 3 & 28, 1 991 , about the
theft of cemetery plantings and art objects from New
England cemeteries.

From Eric Brock, Shreveport LA, two August 7, 1990
articles respectively from the New Orleans Times-
Picayune and the Shreveport Times , about lightning
damage toppling a 130-year-old mausoleum wall in
New Orleans' oldest city-owned cemetery. Lafayette
Cemetery was declared an historic landmark in 1975.

The "8870" Formula

Many old gravestones (if you are lucky) will have
engraved on them the name, date of death and an age
at the time of death in years, months and days. The
mathematical frustration occurs while using this infor-
mation to determine the birth date of the ancestor.

From the year-month-day of death, subtract the year-
months-days that the person lived; from the results,
subtract 8870. Your answer is the year-month-day of
birth.

Example:

Died 1889 May 6

Age 71 years, 7 mos, 9 days

Subtract 8870
Born 1817 Sep 27

18890506

-710709

81879797

-8870

18170927

from the Los Angeles Westside Genealogy Society
newsletter, June 1990, reprinted in the Rochester NY
Genealogical Society newsletter, (V 13 #2) Spring
1992, contributed by Laurel Gabel, Pittsford NY.

From Neill Herring, Jesup GA, an article from the
Atlanta Constitution, August 8, 1 991 , "on a graveyard
preservation effort which is so odd as to verge upon the
bizarre!" Against the irresistible tide of development, a
79-year-old man has vowed to protect five small family
graveyards in north deKalb County. To maintain and
restore the cemeteries, he erected a billboard in one
cemetery, to generate $800. a month.

From Leslie Ann Geist, Wauconda IL, an article from
the Daily Herald, September 21, 1991, about the
cemetery restoration projects of the Wauconda Town-
ship Historical Cemetery Association, funded by
township taxes.

Ralph Tucker, Georgetown ME, has provided a listing
of the 1550 gravestones which he has identified as
being made by the Lamson family. The stones are
listed chronologically and give the date on the stone,
the full name and title (if any), the location, the particular
carver if known, the type of carving and a description of
the tympanum, which is coded. A disk with more
complete information is also available for anyone with
a Macintosh computer and Microsoft Works or Word 4
applications. These are available attheAGSoffice. His
listing will be available at the archives.

^

^

A special invitation to the members of the
Association for Gravestone Studies

The Brooklyn Historical Society presents
a new exhibition

Rediscovering Green-Wood Cemetery

opening Wednesday, October 28, 1992
5:30-7:30 pm

128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights

NY

RSVP 718/624-0890

Rediscovering Green-Wood Cemetery runs through-
February 1 , 1993. The exhibition explores the role
of this great rural cemetery in 19th- and 20th-
century American culture through photographs,
drawings, prints and object. Call for more infor-
mation!

V

J

AGS Sp92 p. 12

All of the following material was contributed by Jim
Jewell of Peru IL, who among his many and varied
activities is his own clipping service:

From the Fort Wayne IN Journal-Gazette, September
22, 1991, an article about the planned $176 million
baseball park to be built on land adjacent to Cleveland's
[OH] oldest burial ground, Erie Street Cemetery. The
cemetery will not be disturbed. City officials stated that
during baseball games at the 42,000-seat stadium, due
to open in 1994, the city will close the cemetery.

An article from New York magazine, November 1 1 ,

1991, by Robert Bent, co-author with David Cross of
Dead Ends: An Irreverent Field Guide to the Graves
of the Famous (Plume/Penquin), with excerpts from
the tx)ok.

From the Chicago Tribune, November 6, 1991, an
article on the work of Joan Pomeranc, assistant director
of Chicago's Commission on Landmarks, who is
wrapping up the research and writing of self-guided
tours for the three historic Chicago cemeteries to be
included in the American Institute of Architects' upcoming
guidelx)0k to the city, slated for publication in May of
1993.

From the Fort Wayne IN Journal-Gazette, March 4,

1992, an item on two men jailed on charges that they
knocked over dozens of tombstones at a cemetery
south of Kalida, Ohio in January.

From the Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1992, an article
describing unknown gunman attacking a Jewish cem-
etery on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, spraying the
gates with bullets. Last year, around 1 00 tombs at the
graveyard were desecrated and painted with swastikas
and anti-Jewish slogans.

From the LaSalle IL News-Tribune, March 14, 1992,
an item on a long-forgotten cemetery dating back to the
1 840s, discovered by developers building a subdivision
in Springfield IL. A senior staff archaeologist with the
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency said it is a very old
cemetery for this part of the state. The development
company must ow decide whetherto move the skeletons
or build the subdivision around the cemetery.

From USA Today, April 1 , 1992, reference to Ben
Taylor, who played from 1919-1929, managed and
umpired in the Negro Leagues. He died in 1953. A
ceremony, co-sponsored by the Negro League Base-
ball Players Association, was held at his gravesite in
Baltimore in April, when a headstone was erected.

From the Chicago Tribune, April 3, 1992, reference to
a street named for Adrian "Cap" Anson, perhaps the
best ballplayer of the 19th-century. Anson set back
baseball integration for 60 years when he refused to
take the field in an 1887 exhibition game because the
opposing team had a black player. Ironically, he is
buried in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, where Harold
Washington is also buried. Anson's tombstone features
a baseball and crossed bats and the epitaph "He played
the game."

From the Chicago Tribune, November 1 8, 1 991 , a news
item that the Lake Forest City Council unanimously
approved a resolution supporting a national cemetery
at the south end of Ft. Sheridan.

From the Logansport IN Pharos-Tribune, an article on
Susanne Ridlen, a professor at Indiana University in
Kokomo who teaches a course titled "Grave Affairs:
Death and Dying in the American Cemetery." "Cem-
eteries are for the living, not the dead," she says. 'The
living population has established this defined area for a
reason; they put up these stones as a final recognition.
You go to a cemetery to learn about culture, about
society."

From the NewsTrlbune, March 9, 1992, an Ann Landers
column containing letters from people who find peace
and quiet joy in the cemetery.

A series of 8 items from Chicago area newspapers from
December 21, 1991 to January 11, 1992, about the
gravediggers strike. Members of Service Employees
Local 1 06, which represents gravediggers and cemetery
maintenance workers, staick against four cemeteries
that are members of the Cemeteries Association of
Greater Chicago. The Association retaliated by locking
out Local 1 06 members who work at the organization's
22 other cemeteries. There are 90 active cemeteries in
the Chicago area. The strike was hardest on Orthodox
Jews, whose religion requires them to bury their dead
within 24 hours. Three of the closed cemeteries were
Jewish. A judge ruled January 8 that Jews be allowed
to bury their dead.

(iT^(iT^(iT^(i

AGS Sp'92 p. 13

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Rules and Regulations, Mount Harmon Cemetery, Quebec, Canada, 1851. Photo by Denis Laroque,
1977, sent by Mary Jane Beattie, Halifax, N.S.

AGS Sp'92 p. 14

PRESERVATION NOTES

THE BRUSH OFF!

For 15,000 years, the cave paintings of the Grotte de
Mayrieres withstood the ravages of time. Created by
hunters of the fvlagdalenian age, the two bison were a
symbol of civic pride for the hamlet of Bruniquel, near
Aibi, in south west France.

Recently the litter and graffiti of tourists had taken its
toll, but the paintings remained, withstanding the rigours
of the passing years. One rigourthey could not survive,
however, was a clean-up by a group of French Boy
Scouts. TruetotheirmottoToujoursPref (Be Prepared)
they came armed with soap, water and stout wire
brushes to remove the visitors' excesses and restore
the caves to their former glory. When they left, only a
bare outline and a solitary tail remained where each of
the priceless images had once stood.

'It's adisaster,' said Patrice Cougoulou, head of the AIbi
Speleological Association who had requested a clean-
up. 'We are still trying to workout what really happened,
andwho is responsible.' Responsible? Notus,saidthe
Scouts. 'It was one of those good deeds that went
terribly wrong, but it was not our fault,' said the local
scoutmaster. 'Those bison are in no way protected,
although they are only about 60 yards from the cave
entrance. For the past three months our local Scout
group has been going about cleaning up after litter
louts. We went to Mayrieres because thousands of
tourists have been defiling the cave walls with graffiti.
One section of Scouts removed from the cave over
1,000 lb of empty beer bottles, tin cans and rubbish.
The other section wiped off graffiti, diagrams and ob-
scenities. Unfortunately, six of them worked for two
hours to get rid of the bison, which meant nothing to
them. Wire brushes on a soft sandstone wall can be
pretty deadly. There was not much left by the time they
had finished.'

The 90,000-strong Scout movement has issued a
statement blaming the authorities for not taking sufficient
precautions. The paintings were not protected or even
designated a historic site.

found on the staff bulletin board at the Nova Scotia
l^useum, presumably from a recent issue of the Toronto
Globe and Mail.

LynetteStrangstad, Charleston SC, recipient of the
1991 Forbes Award from AGS and author of the
Gravestone Preservation Primer (AGS and the
American Association for State & Local History,
1988), has provided a response to the Item "Put 'em
Up " In the Winter 1991/2 Issue of the Newsletter, p.
25, on bolting bronze plaques to old gravestones:

I am astounded at the wrongheadedness of the article
on attaching plaques to historic gravemarkers. While
no one would think of attaching a bronze plaque (listing
date of manufacture and provenance) to a valuable
piece of antique furniture, the article implies that the
permanent defacement of an equally valuable artifact is
somehow acceptable. The course of action suggested
could easily result in destruction of the gravemarker,
alteration of an important historic burial ground, and, for
the perpetrators, criminal prosecution resulting in a fine
and possible jail sentence.

As a professional conservator specializing in historic
burial grounds for the last ten years, I , too, am disturbed
by the gradual weathering of old markers that eventu-
ally results in the loss of inscriptions, and I have seen
many attempts to stop or retard the process, all of them
ultimately unsuccessful. Recarving the inscription
destroys the original (imagine painting over an old
master because it's gotten too dark and dirty) and
usually weakens an already-deteriorating stone.
Coatings interfere with water passage, accelerate
spalling, and discolor the stone. tVloving the stone
indoors divorces it from its context and destroys its
purpose as a gravemarker; and creating a replacement
stone to take its place is only occasionally appropriate
and rarely done well.

I recently prepared a conditions assessment for a burial
ground in which numbered metal plaques had been
attached to the stones. Though carefully done, and
though the plaques were very small, the result was
irreparable damage to the stones and to the site itself.
As stated in my report:

As the metal numbers are exposed to
weathering they oxidize, and an acid
wash is produced which appears to
clean the stone surface, but even weak
acids slightly dissolve the calcium
carbonate surface of marble and
limestone and promote erosion. The
effect is unsightly as well as damaging.
Since the numbers were attached with
metal pins, any attempt to remove
them would cause further damage to
the stone. They represent a permanent

AGS Sp'92 p. 15

alteration of the site.

Since the plaques you propose are specifically for
"weather worn" stones, you are therefore suggesting
that they be attached to the stones that are least likely
to survive the process. The term "hard as a rock" is not
used by people who work with old outdoor stone statu-
ary and gravemarkers. Many of the types of stone
commonly used — marble, limestone, sandstone,
soapstone — are soft stones to begin with and can
become quite fragile overthe years. Marble, forexample,
chips easily, warps, and "sugars" as the cementitious
matrix holding the stone together erodes, leaving the
crystals behind. Subjecting these fragile markers to the
rigors of drilling and pinning is dangerous and, in this
case, unnecessary. Even trained and experienced
professionals approach conservation work with caution,
knowing full well that the slightest error xcan result in
serious damage and loss.

The combination of certain metals and stone is par-
ticularly damaging to stone. Old tablet-on-base
gravemarkers were generally pined with large iron or
soft steel pins attaching the tablet to its base. In many
othenwise sound markers, the pins absorb moisture
from the stone and rust, expand as they rust, and push
apartthe surrounding stone material. Anygravemarker
consisting of several stone elements pined by metal is
vulnerable. Iron is such a threat to stone that I use nylon
pins, having found that even stainless steel eventually
rusts. Inthereverseof the procedure you are advocating,
there is a style of gravemarker in which marble plaques
are attached to metal monuments; in practically every
example of this style that I have seen, the stone plaques
are missing or have been almost completely destroyed
by the surrounding metal.

Coating the plaque with polyurethane doesn't solve the
problems. Even if the back of the plaque and pins are
coated, even if the coating is perfect with no gaps or
scratches (which, in the real world, does not happen),
even if an acrylic plaque is used, moisture will be
retained between the plaque and the stone and hasten
deterioration of the stone material. If the polyurethane
lasts fifteen years while the stone might last hundreds
of years, who is going to recoat the plaques when
required?

Mounting the plaques adjacent to, rather than on, the
gravemarkers spares the markers serious and per-
manent damage, but damages the site itself. In any
preservation or restoration project, burial grounds must
be approached with the same care and comprehensive
planning afforded any other historic site. Any alteration,
including the introduction of signage, must be carefully

considered and, even more important, must be revers-
ible if advances in conservation techniques reveal that
what is commonly being done today is not adequate or
appropriate.

Finally, altering gravestones raises many legal, moral,
and ethical questions. Statutes vary greatly from state
to state, and it is likely that the people who might be
tempted to use these plaques will not do the necessary
research. As one example, from North Carolinacriminal
law. Chapter 14, paragraph 14-148:

"(a) it is unlawful to willfully:

...(3) Take away, disturb, vandalize,
destroy, tamper with or deface any
tombstone, headstone, monument,
grave marker, grave ornamentation,
grave artifacts, shrubbery, flowers,
plants or other articles within any
cemetery. ..without authorization of law
orthe consent of the surviving spouse
or next of kin...

(c) Violation of this section is a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine of
not more than five hundred dollars
($500.00), imprisonment for not less
than 60 days nor more than one year,
or both, in the discretion of the court...."

In Alabama, the fine is one to five hundred dollars,
imprisonment in the county jail or up to one year hard
labor. In Arizona a similar offense is a misdemeanor, in
Arkansas it is a felony. And the list goes on.

Addressing the moral and ethical issues involved in
burial ground preservation brings us to an endless list
of questions with no clear-cut answers. Burial grounds
reflect society's attitude toward death, and entire books
have been written on that subject. Religious beliefs,
social customs, ethnic traditions, legal jurisdiction,
preservation/restoration theories, and questions of
ownership further complicate the debate. In addition,
the rights and wishes of the descendants have to be
considered. Attaching a commemorative plaque to an
historic building may be seen as an inherently good
thing, but feelings about death, mourning and
memorialization are so strong that altering a cemetery
in any way can hit a nerve in a community or congre-
gation. Not only may it cause irreparable damage to the
gravemarkers, it may produce a very strong community
reaction which you would rather not have to deal with.

A conservator's rule of thumb is: "When in doubt, leave

AGS Sp'92 p. 16

Reader^ STOP and Cast An Eye. . . .

.4 v^

'fm

We need your help! Please take a minute to tell us about your interests,
accomplishments and special projects. The information you provide will be
kept on file to help the Executive Director and the Research office of AGS to
better focus on your needs and to link members with similar interests.

Name _

Address

City

State

Telephone (home)

Telephone (work) .

Zip.

m,.

Do you consider yourself to be a: (please indicate at least one)

n Hobbyist/enthusiast

n Educator/teacher

n Active researcher

n Published author

D Other

Your area of Interest: (please indicate at least one)

n Specific geographic location
n Photography
D Rubbing

□ Unique study collections (white bronze, fraternal emblems, veteran's grave markers, etc.)

□ Epitaphs/inscriptions

□ Genealogy

□ Carvers /monument makers

□ Legislation

□ Preservation/ restoration

□ Care of a local cemetery (where?):

□ Inventory / Cemetery data base

□ Art/ architecture

□ Symbolism

□ Specific ethnic /religious.

□ Cemetery landscapes /gardens

□ Specific time period:

□ Cemetery as a teaching resource (grade level)?

PLEASE take a minute to give us more specific information about your particular
interests and/or accomplishments.

Do you use a computer for any gravestone/cemetery related projects? (in what way?):

How can AGS better serve its members? Do you have specific suggestions/ideas for
improvement?

Thank you for your help!

Please send your comments to:

Laurel K. Gabel, AGS Research Coordinator

205 Fishers Road, Pittsford, New York 14534

it alone." Much damage has been caused to important
historical sites by well-meaning but uninformed indi-
viduals. If you want to preserve the site, photograph
and document each marker and preserve that record
for future generations.

I hope that you will join me in helping to protect these

important historic sites, and that you will warn your
readers not to riskdamage to gravemar1<;ers, degradation
of important historic burial grounds, or possible legal
problems from ill-considered actions.

Sincerely,

Stone Faces

RESTORATION STONEWORK

LYNETTE STRANGSTAD

WIZARD OF ID

'J'lWgfr-

Metal detectors in graveyards?

An item in the spring issue of the New Hampshire Old
Graveyard Association newsletter Rubbings asks for
information on the legality of the use of metal detectors
in graveyards. Kim Sowles, Corresponding Secretary
of the Association, 7 Ivlaple Court, Tilton NH 03276,
writes that she received a call from a NHOGA member
in W. Swanzey NH who wanted to let everyone know
that she had discovered a gentleman in that town's old
cemetery (which is right next to her home), with a metal
detector. She was incensed and went to see what he
was doing there. As she approached, she saw him
replace a divot of grass. He claimed that he was looking
for coins, and that he stayed on the pathways. When
asked why not go to a more modern graveyard, he said
he felt there was "nothing there". Apparently, this
gentleman is president of the Keene Metal Detector
Club, sells metal detectors himself, and sees nothing
wrong with this practice.

The NHOGA member had gone to local authorities, and
it appears that there are no lows to prohibit such
activities. She asks, if we need to write for permission
to do gravestone rubbings, why is the use of metal
detectors, particularly in old graveyards, not subject to
any restrictions or monitoring? Particularly as it is
during the spring time that the ground shifts, and a new
crop of rocks appears, what else might be pushed to the
surface in our old burying grounds?

A gravestone in the cellar!

During the town of Wolfeboro's [NH] bicentennial, a
project to copy cemeteries and gravestones took place.
At that time, Ida Pineo and Bernard Pineo Jr. were
interviewed by a local radio station about this project. A
woman living near the town's main cemetery heard the
program and phoned Bernard to tell him that there was
a gravestone in her cellar! At her request, he met her
to collect the stone. On his death the stone went to Ida,
and it has been kept in her garage.

Later on the old farm in Wolfeboro (one of the oldest)
was sold to be developed into condos. It was then that
another gravestone, similar to the one in Ida's garage,
was discovered in a walkway. This stone has been
turned over to the town office, Ida reports, soon to be
joined by the one in safekeeping in her garage. Ap-
parently, the original owner of the house (with cellar)
mowed and cared forthe main cemetery. When a large
monument with all the names on it replaced the smaller
stones, he just took the smaller stones home, as they
were "redundant". This explains why the stones were
showing up, one in the cellar, and the other in the
walkway.

from the newsletter of the New Hampshire Old Grave-
yard Association Rubbings, Spring 1992, V.XVII#1,p.

AGSSp'92 p. 17

WHEN REMOVAL IS NOT
PROTECTION

A group of historians, preservationists and cemetery
officials has asked the Chautauqua County Legislature
[NY] to pass legislation which would protect historic
gravestones from removal or damage by vandals and
over-zealous individuals and organizations. The re-
quest is the result of the allegedly unauthorized removal
of five historic gravestones from the East Ripley Cem-
etery, an act which has touched off a dispute that has
divided the county Historical Society and generated
anger and charges on both sides. The group has sent
a letter to the Legislature asking that legislation be
initiated to beef up admittedly weak state laws protecting
these historic markers from removal from their original
sites.

Rebecca Rosen of Jamestown, a Fredonia State Uni-
versity graduate in anthropology and head of the county
Gravestone Research Project, has stated that the un-
authorized removal of the five stones was "little more
than vandalism." An Historical Society spokesperson
said the stones were removed to preserve them from
the elements. They are now on display in the McClurg
House museum in Westfield NY.

Over the past three years Ms. Rosen has documented,
with photographs, documentation forms and rubbings,
1 500 gravestones from 31 4 cemeteries in Chautauqua
County dating from 1800-1865, under grants from
major foundations. She first discovered the removal of
the East Ripley stones in November 1990, and was
present when the stones were removed. She then filed
a protest with the Dept. of State Division of Cemeteries
in Albany when her local efforts to stop the removal
were ignored.

That report sent an investigator, Cynthia T. Craig of
Buffalo, to the scene. In a subsequent letter, Ms. Craig
said the removal was illegal and gave the society until
July 1, 1991, to replace the stones. However, the
society did not do so. Instead, Virginia Barden, the
society's current president, said permission to remove
the stones was obtained — admittedly after the fact —
from descendants of the five people buried under the
disputed stones in East Ripley in the early years of the
19th Century.

Ms. Rosen said that she and the others were "very
upset" at seeing the gravestones removed. She pointed
out that they had been broken near ground level and
irreparably damaged. She noted that the buried part of
the stone often contained the name of the stone carver

and some of his "practice" tries at carving. All of this
represents valuable data which may now be destroyed,
she stated.

The gravestone preservation consulting firm Fannin-
Lehner has set forth marker removal guidelines. ".. .We
do not advocate the removal of stones unless extraor-
dinary circumstances require it. ..We believe they are
part of the environment and represent the judgements
of those who placed them there as to where and in what
context they wished the departed to be remembered."
They advise that after proper photography of the stone
in situ, it should be removed "in whole, not just a portion.
An old gravestone is a work of art and should be treated
as one. Removing it as a whole allows for resetting if
events prove removal was not necessary."

Ms. Barden says the stones, had they been left in place,
would soon have been destroyed by the elements.
Conservationists say there are other means of pre-
serving the stones. Fannin-Lehner say, "If deteriora-
tion is the problem, there are conservation treatments
which might be used, depending on the stone type."
Ms. Barden says that preservation was too expensive
for the society. Ms. Rosen offered to sponsor fund-
raising events to pay for this work, but was ignored, she
said.

Ms. Rosen also contacted AGS. Among other things,
the society said that if a stone must be removed, it
should, at the very least, be replaced by a replica or

AGS Sp'92 p. 18

casting taken from the original marker. In East Ripley,
MS. Garden said the stones have been replaced with
bronze markers.

In their letter to the Legislature, the supporters of better
local gravestone legislation pointed out, "Gravestones

are not collectables to be removed and placed in private
collections. Where there are instances (such as in East
Ripley) where historical societies remove gravestones
and there is no legislation in place to protect cemeteries
and gravestones, it is conceivable that any number of
collectors or antique dealers could involve themselves
in similar situations, further jeopardizing these historic
grave markers."

Jamestown's city historian, B. Delores Thompson, also
supports local legislation to beef up state laws. She
adds, "What has been done (at the East Ripley Cem-
etery) sets a precedent for future desecration of our
historical heritage."

from an article in the Dunkirk-Fredonia NY Evening
Observer. March 13, 1992, p. A6, by Jim Fox, and from
information sent by Rebecca Rosen, Jamestown NY.
She writes: "I felt it was important to let other AGS
members know that when something like this happens,
something can be done, even if it takes almost two
years to accomplish. Since this article appeared, local
and state laws concerning the removal and sale of
gravestones are in the process of being passed. When
the historical society in Chautauqua County removed
the stones, I knew it was unethical, immoral and illegal,
and it would be a hard and difficult battle to fight. At
times I thought that nobody cared about the removed
stones. But after reading several articles from fellow
AGS members about their trials and tribulations, I felt
Inspired to go on with my battle. I would also like to
mention that the AGS directors played a vital role in this
battle, particularly Fred Oakley. He is truly a dedicated
professional. When I needed guidance and support he
was there to lend a helping hand. I thank him and also
the AGS for that. It is truly a pleasure belonging to an
association that helps its members. "

AGS Sp'92 p. 19

TWO BOOK REVIEWS

by Roberta Halporn, Center for Thanatology
Research, Brooklyn NY

There is no question in my mind that more
people are interested in the graves ot
celebrities than those fascinated by the
study of monuments as works of sculp
ture, as exemplars of history or of any of
the multiple areas by which AGS mem-
bers are attracted. My personal feel-
ing is, as an old teacher, that any
avenue that builds more interest and
respect for markers and cemeteries
is beneficial.

As an example, my Center exhib-
its at many conferences and cultural
street fairs. Since we are promoting books, I
have made it my business to make rubbings of the
graves of famous writers such as Fitzgerald and Poe,
and they always draw more public attention than the
exquisite colonial markers I display as well. Another
example is the success of the "Permanent" series,
"Permanent Parisians, Londoners, Californians" and
"New Yorkers". Though often flawed, the excellent
sales of these books reflect my thesis.

We have received two slight, new publications which
play to this attraction: The Paths of Glory. A Guide to
the Gravestones of our Deceased'^ Presidentshy Joseph
O'Donnell (HP Publications, PO Box 34495, West
Bathesda MD 20827, $6.00 postpaid), and Home at
Rest. The Story of West Point Cemetery, by Thomas E.
O'Neil (Arrow & Trooper Publications, 105 Bartlett
Place, Brooklyn NY 11229, 55 pp., $9.00).

Paths of Glory is a far more lavish production - it con-
tains a full color photograph of each memorial, and a
portrait of each President interred there. Each cem-
etery is located by state and city, accompanied by a

single paragraph about the

monument. A few interesting

historical facts are added as

well, including the surprise tidbit

' that every Presidential incumbent

sends a commemorative wreath

to the proper monument of the

deceased office-holder's birthday.

Generally then, this pamphlet is

simply a locator guide - information

on the monument designers or the

cemetery in which each rests must be

gleaned from other sources.

Home at Rest is a far more concentrated
black and white study on one cemetery,
home to its own good share of celebrities
from the American armed forces. ONeil
obviously loves this yard - he has researched
its history, its chapel, and something substan-
tive about each of its inhabitants. We learn
about relative unknowns such as Robert Anderson, a
prominent graduate of the Point, who achieved notori-
ety during the Civil War. Though a Southerner and pro-
slavery, he was strictly loyal to the Union. Ironically his
position at a captured military post helped to incite the
fighting. Better know is colorful George Custer, the
second youngest Major General in all U.S. history, who
led the Seventh Cavalry to the disastrous "Last Stand".
This cemetery is also the last resting place of Engineer
George W. Goethals, a Point graduate, renowned for
his work on the Panama Canal.

Nicely drawn ink portraits and a few monument photo-
graphs are included. A clear map with plot locations
accompanies the text and biographies. Sadly, there is
again no mention of the designers or sculptors.

History buffs will enjoy both pamphlets - cemetery and
gravestone lovers will preferto add \-\omeatRest\o their
collections.

Is there any other kind of President with a gravestone?

AGS Sp-92 p. 20

THE LAST GREAT NECESSITY: CEMETERIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY

by David Charles Sloane

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. xxlll + 293 pp. Illustrations, Tables, Notes,
Bibliographic Essay, Index. $35.95.

review by Richard Meyer, Western Oregon State College

The waning years of the 1 980s witnessed the publica-
tion of a number of scholarly books focusing upon and
defining the American cemetery as a distinctive cultural
institution. Several of these— Edward F. Bergman's
Woodlawn Remembers: Cemetery of American
H/sfo/y, Walter C. Kidney and Clyde Hare's 4//eq/Teny
Cemetery: A Romantic Landscape In Pittsburqh, and
Blanche Linden-Ward's exemplary Silent City on a
Hill: Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount
Auburn Cemefe/y— represent in-depth studies of some
of the more spectacular examples of what has come to
be known as the Rural Cemetery Movement, while
others, such as Kenneth T. Jackson and Camilo Jose
Vergara's Silent Cities: The Evolution of the Ameri-
can Cemetery and my own Cemeteries and
Cravemarkers: Voices of American Culture, are
somewhat broader and more eclectic in their approach.
It is encouraging to find that the impetus generated by
these efforts has carried over into the new decade with
the appearance of this fine new study by David Sloane.

It is important from the start to note that, despite what
might be viewed as an implicit promise in its subtitle
(and, forthat matter, itsfirst chapter), this book does not
in fact attempt to embrace within its scope the true
range and diversity of cemeteries in American history.
In its self-imposed limitations, it becomes skewed both
temporally and geographically, but most noticeable is
its virtual avoidance of the powerful historic and con-
temporary manifestations of ethnicity and cultural plu-
ralism which, to many, constitute some of the most
compelling features of American cemeteries. Sloane's
focus is clearly upon the most visible and pervasive of
the large scale movements in the development of
American concepts of the cemetery from the 1830s
until the middle of the present century.

The good news is that these limitations allow the author
to channel his energies into what becomes an insightful
and highly readable account of the manner in which the
development of major American cemetery types have
correlated with, and sometimes actually influenced,
certain key elements — taste, religion, business theory

and practice — in the larger mainstream currents of
American cultural history. And while this is a strength
of the book throughout, bringing fresh perspectives to
bear on topics (such as the Rural Cemetery Movement)
which have received extensive treatment elsewhere, it
is perhaps most evident in a lengthy chapter which
provides the only truly sensible and comprehensive
evaluation of the twentieth century Memorial Park phe-
nomenon I have seen to date. Thus, while it may be
argued that the ideal, fullest treatment of cemeteries in
American history remains as yet unwritten, it seems
equally clearthat 7/76 LasfGreafWecess/fyrepresents
a major step towards ultimate attainment of that goal.

reprinted from the Journal of American Culture, with per-
mission.

**********

At Rest In Unadilla, Otsego County, New York by

Shirley B. Goerlich (Library of Congress Card Catalog
#87-90465) will be of interest to New York State ge-
nealogical researchers. Reaching back 200 years, the
author has uncovered previously unknown orforgotten
cemeteries and recorded by hand some 6,000 grave-
stones. She has included genealogical notes on more
than 200 early families, a list of some 281 veterans of
all wars and the 1850 U.S. Census for the Town of
Unadilla. There are nearly 1 0,000 names in the maiden
name and regular indexes.

Included are directions to and pictures of each cemetery,
maps highlighting their location and a description of the
condition of each of the 1 7 cemeteries. Many obsolete
gravestones in the oldest cemeteries are coordinated
with existing parish records.

The hardbound edition of 662 acid-free pages is available
from RSG Publishing, P.O. Box 441 , Sidney NY 1 3838-
0441 SAN #69300573, for $60.00 each plus $3.00
shipping charge. New York State residents must add
applicable tax.

AGSSp'92 p. 21

A MICHIGAN CEMETERY ATLAS

MORE NEW BOOKS!

Prepared by Carole Callard and Charles Hagler.
(Lansing: Library of Michigan, 1991.)122pp. Paper.
$20.00.

Over the years, a number of thematic atlases have
been produced relating to Michigan, but one topic that
had not been dealt with cartographically was Michigan
cemeteries. Potential users such as genealogists,
historians, librarians, geographers, government officials,
necrologists and other interested parties demanded
the creation of this publication. The problem was
finding someone who would devote the time and energy
necessary to track down the locations of the state's
3800 graveyards.

Nearly three years ago two individuals — Carole Callard
and Charles Hagler — decided to take on this Herculean
task. Working with detailed maps of all eighty-three
counties, these two Library of Michigan employees
carefully researched the subject andplottedtheirfindings
on worksheets.

When the worksheets were shown to various groups
and individuals, the merits of the enterprise were im-
mediately appreciated. Convinced of the project's
value, the Library of Michigan Foundation and the
Abrams Foundation provided the necessary funds to
complete the undertaking. With financial backing se-
cured, the Department of Natural Resources used its
computers to prepare special maps showing the loca-
tions of all recognized burial sites in Michigan.

The result of this cooperative effort has just been
released as the Michigan Cemetery Atlas. The vol-
ume locates and indexes all known burial grounds in
the state, enabling anyone to quickly find a given place
by site or name. This handy reference source may be
purchased for just twenty dollars (softcover only) from
the Business Office, Library of Michigan, 717 West
Allegan, Lansing, Ml 48909.

In addition to serving as an access tool to the physical
location of Michigan cemeteries, the atlas will be a
companion volume to a forthcoming book on the state's
places of interment. This future publication will provide
the addresses of all Michigan cemeteries, identify all
transcriptions (name indexes) prepared for graveyard
populations and give the call numbers of these
enumerations at the Library of Michigan.

from Michigan History Magazine, V. 76 #1, Jan/Feb 1992,
sent by Scott Kunst.

Ethnicity and the American Cemetery, edited by
Richard E. Meyer, is a major collection of original
essays scheduled for publication in 1992 by Bowling
Green State University Press. Articles:

* Richard E. Meyer, "Strangers in a Strange Land:
Ethnic Cemeteries in America "

* John Matturri, "Windows in the Garden: Italian-
American Memorialization and the American
Cemetery"

* Thomas E. Graves, "Keeping Ukraine Alive
Through Death: Ukrainian-American Grave-
stones as Cultural Markers"

* Karen S. Kiest, "Czech Cemeteries in Nebraska
from 1868: Cultural Imprints on the Prairie"

* Paul F. Erwin, "Scottish, Irish and Rom Gypsy
Funeral Customs and Gravestones in Cincinnati
Cemeteries"

* Roberta Halporn, "American Jewish Cemeteries:
A Mirror of History"

* Russell J. Barber, 'The Agua Mansa Cemetery:
An Indicator of Ethnic Identification in a Mexican-
American Community"

* Keith Cunningham, 'The People of Rimrock Bury
Alfred K. Lorenzo: Tri-Cultural Funerary Practice"

* Nanette Napoleon Purnell, "Oriental and
PolynesianCemeteryTraditions in the Hawaiian
Islands"

For Information contact: Ms. Pat Browne, Managing
Editor, BGSU Popular Press, Bowling Green State
University, Bowling Green OH 43403

The Revival Styles In American Memorial Art by

Peggy McDowell and Richard E. Meyer is scheduled for
publication by Bowling Green State University Press in
1992. This heavily illustrated study by art historian
Peggy McDowell and folklorist (AGS member) Richard
E. Meyer traces the backgrounds and impact of the so-
called "Revival Styles" — Classical, Medieval, and
Egyptian/Near Eastern — on nineteenth and early
twentieth century funerary architecture and other forms
of public and private commemorative art.

For Information contact: Ms. Pat Browne, Managing
Editor, BGSU Popular Press, Bowling Green State
University, Bowling Green OH 43403

AGS Sp'92 p. 22

TOURS, TOURS, TOURS!

FRUITLANDS

A weekend of walks, talks, demonstration and hands-on
opportunities inGroton and Harvard MA — August?, Sand 9.

Laurel Gabel, active researcher on New England grave-
stones and their carvers for the past 1 2 years, trustee of AGS,
co-author of Gravestone Chronicles, recipient of the AGS
Forbes award in 1988, will be in Harvard and Groton to
present two talks and a walk.

Friday August 7. Laurel Gabel gives a slide lecture at the
Kalliroscope Gallery in Groton. With some emphasis on local
graveyards, their stones and their carvers. Laurel will give an
overview of gravestone carving and the men whose trade it
was.

This evening event is sponsored by the Old Burying Ground
Commission in Groton. For more information, and to make
reservations, please call Lisa Erickson at the Gallery on
weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM. There is no charge for this
event, but donations will be accepted.

In honor of the exhibit of photographs of Dan Farber on view
at Fruitlands Museum for this season, there will be several
events during this weekend. The events celebrating "Art in
the Landscape" are co-sponsored by Fruitlands and the
Association for Gravestone Studies.

Saturday, August 8, 10 AM. Join Maggie Stier, Fruitlands
Curator, and member of the Boston Area Shaker Study Group
on a walk in the Harvard Shaker Cemetery. Learn about the
Shakers, the people who were Shakers, and this special
graveyard where each one of the Shakers buried there has
his or her own cast iron marker. There is no charge for this
walk. Please reserve a space by calling Fruitlands at (508)
456-9028.

Saturday, August 8, 2 PM. Laurel Gabel talks on "The Park
Family Carvers of Glasgow, Scotland, and of Harvard and
Groton, Massachusetts." Just back from a trip to Scotland
where she researched the Park family, Laurel will report new
information on this local and prolific family of carvers. Three
generations of Parks provided art in local graveyards. She
will also talk about other local carvers: Dwight, Worcester,
Wilder and Coburn. The talk will be in the Education Room at
Fruitlands. There is no charge for this event to members of
Fruitlands, AGS or ticketholders to the Museums. Please call
to reserve a place; space will be held through August 5.
Others are invited to attend at $4. for adults, $1 . for ages 7-
16.

Saturday, August 8, 3 PM. A stroll in the Harvard Center
Burying Ground. The expert duo of Laurel Gabel and Maggie
Stier will touch on many aspects of what you can learn about
history from what you see in old graveyards. Gravestones are
art in the landscape and they also tell about local history, local

people, carvers and the lives of families in the past. There is
no charge for this walk. Please call to reserve a space. Meet
between the General Store and the Congregational Church.

Sunday, August 9, noon to 4 PM, on the grounds of Fruitlands.
Frankie Bunyard, professional stone and wood carver from
Boston, will bring her slate and chisel to show what a precise
craft stone carving is. Ask her all the questions you have and
try your hand at carving with the materials she brings. There
is no charge for this demonstration.

There will be a short guide to local cemeteries available in the
Museum Shop.

^ $S ^ iS iS ^ iS! iS ^ iS $S!

GREAT GRAVEYARDS OF CONNECTICUT!

Tours sponsored by the Connecticut Historical Society. Res-
ervations and check made payable to the Connecticut Historical
Society, 1 Elizabeth Street, Hartford CT 06105. For more
information call Maxine Kates or Diana McCain at (203) 236-
5621 . Complete details on tours will be sent out upon receipt
of reservations and payment.

Old Trumbull Cemetery and Lebanon Green, Lebanon, Sat-
urday August 15, 10 AM

HERE REST REVOLUTIONARY HEROES - Dr. James Slater,
author of the definitive workon eastern Connecticut gravestone
carvers, will conduct a tour of Lebanon's Old Trumbull
Cemetery, pointing out the graves of such giants of the
American Revolution as Governor Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.,
and William Williams, signer of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, as well as outstanding examples of the eighteenth-
century gravestone carvers' art. A short drive will bring us to
the Lebanon Green, where a representative of the Lebanon
Historical Society will lead a walking tour highlighting the
many structures of historic importance that surround it. We
will conclude the morning with light refreshments.
Price: $1 1 . for CHS members; $1 4 for non-members (trans-
portation to Lebanon on your own). Reservations and pay-
ment required by Friday, August 14.

Grove Street Cemetery and Nw Haven Green, Saturday,
October 31, 10 AM

"A GARDEN FOR THE DEAD" - We'll pass through the
renowned massive Egyptian gateway for a Hallowe'en tour of
Grove Street Cemetery, established in 1796 as the first
formally planned and landscaped burying ground in America.
Price: $1 0. for CHS members; $1 3. for non-members. Res-
ervations and payment required by Friday, October 23.

AGS Sp'92 p. 23

10 MOST WANTED— CONTINUED

The work of this unknown carver
first appears in or around Chester-
field, New Hampshire, in the early
1780s. His style often includes
amiable faces either peering from
an arched indentation or supported
by feathered wings, in combination
with architectural columns, geo-
metric devices, star-like fillers and
simple rope detail. Border styles
are quite varied and seldom re-
peated. Long a subject of local
investigation, the "Chesterfield
Carver" has managed to leave be-
hind few clues as to his real iden-
tity. In spite of determined efforts,
investigators have been unable to
uncover any incriminating signa-
tures, account books, probate
records or fingerprints. Authorities
suspect that the Chesterfield Man
continued his business after 1800,
but managed to confuse his pursu- Mary Humphrey, 1792, Athol MA. Photocopy of photo by Dan & Jessie Lie Farber.
ers by adopting the ubiquitous urn

and willow motif. Few examples of his earlier face or Moors. If you can provide any clues or further
styles exist after about 1805. Suspects include Joseph information, please contact AGS Research or the
Brown, Asa or Philip Kingsbury, or perhaps Abel Moors Newsletter office. Reward!

Thomas Read, 1788, Rutland MA. Photocopy of photo by Dan & Jessie Lie Farber.

AGSSp'92 p. 24

""S^j ^1. '-r -

Rachel Davis, 1795, slate. Photocopy of photo
Dan & Jessie Lie Farber.

by

^ ^1 J^"^ *^-tv,^^^

John Peacock, 1791, Chesterfield NH. Photo-
copy of photo by Dan & Jessie Lie Farber.

BuclKley Olcott Tyler. 1791, slate. Photo-
copy of photo by Dan & Jessie Lie Farber.

J.N \'.

-*!♦

K^rMM

AGS Sp'92 p. 25

Notes from the Office

Officers:

Cornelia Jenness, President

Jim Slater, Vice-President

C.R. Jones, Secretary

W. Fred Oakley, Jr., Treasurer

Executive Director:
Assistant:
Office flours:

Miranda Levin

Tom l-iarratiy

Afternoons, Monday - Friday

Since spring has been busting out everywhere else,
there is no reason why it shouldn't be busting out at the
AGS office also. Overthe past several weeks, Tom and
I have been shoveling out from a wonderful mountain of
new memberships (more about that later), the delivery
of MARKERS IX, our upcoming conference, and the
burst of correspondence and publications orders that
seem to come with the warm weather. It's been great
to be so busy with a growing organization, but I must
apologize to those of you that we were late in answering
(you should have been answered by now!). We're sorry
for the delay! Anyway, here's what's been going on:

Membership Drive Update

Our membership drive has been going really well! As
of May, we have 90 new members, and 967 members
overall. We are well on our way towards our 300 new
members/1 000 members goal, but we're going to have
to continue to work really hard to make it by January 1 .
Many people have participated in ourdrive by requesting
brochures, and several have already won magnets
(one enterprising member already has four new
members to his credit!). It's been fun, and we hope
you'll take the time to help us reach our goals. Infor-
mation on the membership drive will come in your
renewal packet, or you can send a S.A.S.E. to the office
and we'll be delighted to send it out.

New iVlembership Categories

Speaking of renewal packets, you will notice some
changes in your next renewal form. Last month, the
Board voted to adopt several changes i n our membership
structure. Don't panic - I said "changes in our mem-
bership structure," not "increase our dues!" Some
changes have been made to make things easier for you
- read on ... .

First of all, there have been no changes made to the
Individual Membership ($20), Institutional Membership
($25), and Family Membership ($30) that we currently
offer (now that was an anticlimax!).

However, the Board voted to drop the Contributing
Membership ($30), which was offered for those who
wanted to contribute a little extra on top of their mem-
bership, and replace it with a Supporting Membership
for $50. In addition to all of the benefits our members
currently enjoy, Supporting Members will automatically
get a copy of the new edition of MARKERS, hot off the
press. They will also have made an approximately $1 0
contribution to the organization, on top of their member-
ship and MARKERS order.

As far as logistics go, all Supporting memberships
received in 1992 will automatically get a copy of
MARKERS X, which is due out next winter. All Sup-
porting Memberships renewed or received in 1993 will
get a copy of MARKERS XI, and so on. There are no
substitutions allowed, andfamilies that join as Supporting
Members will get one copy of MARKERS.

The other membership category that the Board voted
on was the institution of a Life Membership for $1 ,000.
Basically, a Life Membership entitles that generous
soul to a Supporting Membership (including the free
MARKERS) for as long as that member lives, as well as
the feeling that they really helped AGS. Also, it should
be noted that any Life Memberships we receive will go
into our small but growing endowment, so your Life
Membership will really be a gift in perpetuity.

I hope all this is clear. I also want to say that this was
designed to make life easier for you. If you want to
continue ordering MARKERS through our pre-pub of-
fer, or after it comes out, you will still be able to do so.
If you want to contribute an additional amount over your
basic membership rate, but don'twantto be a Supporting
Member, please feel free. Aswith any contribution, and
as we did with Contributing Memberships, your gift will
be appreciated and acknowledged.

Your questions and comments are welcome - just
contact us at the office!

AGS Sp'92 p. 26

Additional Contributions

Thanks to Bill Wallace for a gift and a good Idea.

And, while we're on the subject of additional contribu-
tions, you might have noticed a short blurb from Jessie
Farber on a donation we received in honor of Dan
Farber's birthday. No, this isn't going to be a plea for
money - one of the nicest things about AGS is, thanks
to the prudence and foresight of past and present
Boards and officers, we don't have to do that kind of
thing. However, we are happy to accept whatever you
want to give, and I thought I'd just take a minute to
explain some of the ways you can give while I was
spending so much time on financial matters anyway.

If you make an additional contribution to AGS over and
above your membership, you can either make a gen-
eral contribution, where the money goes wherever our
Treasurer sees fit, or you can make a directed contri-
bution. A directed contribution is given for a specific
purpose, or towards a particular activity that AGS is
involved in. Some examples of directed contributions
would be acontribution towards MARKERS, upgrading
the office equipment or personnel, a scholarship fund
forthe conference, an upcoming exhibit or program, for
purchasing materials forthe archive or library; as you
can see, you can direct a contribution in any number of
ways. Any contributions above your membership and
publications orders are tax-deductible (as allowed by
law, of course!), and will be acknowledged as such. All
will be appreciated, and put to good use!

Laws Update

A couple of issues ago, I asked for help in coordinating
information on laws and cases about historic
gravemarkers. Thanks to Liz Kopec, AGS is now in
possession of a complete set of laws and listings of
cases. Laurel Gabel, our Research Coordinator, has a
copy, and there's another in the Archives. You can
either write to Laurel at 205 Fishers Rd, Pittsford, NY
14534, or, if you would prefer to study them yourself,
make an appointment at the Archives by calling the
Worcester Historical Museum at (508) 753-8278, and
asking for the library. Many thanks to Liz!

Mr. Wallace, longtime AGS member and past member
of the Board of Trustees, sent a contribution of $87 to
AGS in honor of Dan Farber's 86th birthday (the extra
dollar is, we presume, for Dan to grow on). This is the
second year Mr. Wallace has so celebrated Dan's
birthday.

It's a gift much appreciated. It is also an innovative idea:
make gifts to AGS in honor of individuals and occasions.

Bill Wallace is the director of the Worcester Historical
Museum, in whose building AGS has its office, and if we
wanted to stretch the truth a bit, we could think of his
contribution as a gift from the landlord— a nice switch.
He is also the author of B.H. Kinney, 19th Century
Gravestone Carver and Sculptor.

Dan Farber is a past President of AGS, and was the first
recipient of the AGS Forbes Award, given in recognition
of outstanding contributions to the field of gravestone
studies. He has made more than 15,000 gravestone
photographs, photocopiesofwhich are inthe Research
Clearinghouse.

AGS ARCHIVES

The materials in the AGS Archives are now available at
the library of the Worcester Historical Museum, 30 Elm
St., Worcester MA, Tuesday through Saturday, 1 0 AM
- 4 PM, Sunday, 2-4 PM. Appointments are requested.
Call the Archivist, Jo Goeselt (508-358-2155) or the
W.H.M. Librarian (508-753-8278) for an appointment.

A current catalogue of items in the archives is available
from the AGS office for $3.50 for members ($4.00 non-
members) . Photocopies of short articles can be provided
by mail at 25c per page. The library has a photocopier
for those who visit and wish to make their own copies.
Contributions of books and related items are always
welcome!

Fruitlands

Finally, AGS is co-sponsoring a weekend of programs
at the Fruitlands Museums in Harvard, Massachusetts,
in August. Several talks, walks, and exhibits will be on
hand - hope you can make it! Complete details are
provided elsewhere in this newsletter.

Have a great summer!

On August 29, 1992, we are planning a "History
AwarenessDay",called"PioneerDay, at the Pioneer
Cemetery, 4795 Blum Rd., Pacheco CA 94553. It is
our hope to bring together a number of historical and
genealogical societies to increase the public aware-
ness about these organizations. For more informa-
tion, contact Lanette Roskelley.

Miranda

AGS Sp'92 p. 27

Durham CT Tour

STORIES BEHIND THE STONES, a guided walking tour of the Old Durham Cemetery on Main Street
(Route 17) in Durham, Connecticut, will be offered on Sunday, October 25, 1992, at 2 PM by the Middlesex
County (Connecticut) Historical Society. The tour will be conducted by Early American Life magazine
contributing editor, Diana Ross McCain, and by Middlesex County Historical Society Director, Dione
Longley. The tour will explore the significant and intriquing artwork on many of the gravestones, and also
share fascinating stories about several of the individuals buried there.

Admission to the tour is $1 . for members of the Middlesex County Historical Society, $2. for non-members.
More information may be obtained by calling the Middlesex County Historical Society at (203) 346-0746.

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $5.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer,
editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State
University, Monmouth OR 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor. Nova Scotia Museum, 1747
Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H3A6, Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. OrderMarkers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $20; Vol. 3, $18.50;
Vol. 4, $20; Vol. 5, $20; Vol. 6, $23; Vol. 7, $15; higher prices for non-members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the
AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Way land MA 01778 Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin,
Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester MA

■newsletter

■ OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 16 NUMBER 3 SUMMER 1992 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

1992 CONFERENCE,

Union College, Schenectady NY

The Way We Were 2

opening address by Jessie Lie Farber

A Look Ahead 6

Presentations 9

Worl<shops & Tours! 12

Annual Meeting 16

Forbes Award 21

Two PA Members Expand Awareness of AGS! 23

Call for Papers, 1993 28

ARTICLES

The Real George Allen Jr.

by Vincent F. Luti 22

Rediscovering Green-Wood Cemetery 25

NOTES and QUERIES 26

NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR = 27

This issue of the Newsletter is devoted to the 1992
(fifteenth annual) conference at Union College,
Schenectady NY. This area is the historic meeting
place of the Native American and the European, of
Dutch settlers and English, of Yorkers and Yankees,
and of dozens of immigrant cultures and religions.
Anyone interested in acquiring bus tour handouts from
any of the tours should contact the AGS office. The
conference was co-sponsored by the Schenectady
County Historical Society and the Saratoga Springs
Preservation Foundation.

A celebratory photo of some conferees who participated in the
Restoration Workshop, with the results of their work in the
foreground! See story, page 12.

AGS Su '92 p. 1

Following is the text of the informal address delivered
by Jessie Lie Farberat the opening session of the 1992
AGS conference on June 25, in Schenectady, New
Yorl<; also a handout Mrs. Farber made available after
her presentation. fJlembers are invited to send com-
ments and ideas concerning the issues introduced in
these papers to the AGS Office, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

THE WAY WE WERE

This year we are holding our fifteenth AGS conference,
and because I have attended all of these pleasant and
informative gatherings, I have been asked to reminisce
a little about our beginnings — to talk about how AGS
got started and mention some of our historical highlights.

I shall begin by giving you a picture of gravestone
scholarship and fellowship prior to AGS, at least as I
experienced and remember those days.

In 1974 I went to a show — "The Flowering of American
Folk Art" — at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
There I saw a group of gorgeous rubbings taken from
eighteenth-century New England gravemarkers. I'd
had a little experience rubbing monumental brasses in
England, so I noted the locations of three of the New
England stones and drove to Charlestown, NH,
Rockingham, VT, and Bellingham, MA, to see these
stones and make rubbings. What a revelation, finding
all those handsome hand-carved artifacts, each standing
in its original location, dated, and surrounded by other
work by the same artist. No other art objects offer so
remarkable a combination of primary source data — and
there they stood, unprotected and, from the looks of
their environment, not much appreciated. I was over-
whelmed. Soon all my free time was devoted to
searching foryards and stones and struggling to develop
a satisfying rubbing technique.

It was a solitary effort. I had many questions, but where
were the answers? Friends, aware of my new and
consuming (and odd, they thought) fascination, began
to give or tell me about books and articles they came
across. A librarian helped. I remember with pleasure
the circumstances under which I was first introduced to
each of the relatively few publications then available.

Finding knowledgeable people was harder. I learned
that two men from New York had been making photo-
graphs in the Quincy, MA, yard which adjoins the town's

historical society, so I inquired at the society and found
out who they were and telephoned them. Frances
Duval and Ivan Rigby. 1 came upon a woman docu-
menting stones in the old Grafton, MA, yard who in turn
told me there was a large collection of gravestone
photographs at the American Antiquarian Society in
Worcester, MA, so I went to Worcester to see the
collection, and I also looked up the photographer.
Daniel Farber. I heardthere was a history teacher at the
Dublin School in New Hampshire
who was doing gravestone-carver research toward a
graduate degree in American Studies at Boston Uni-
versity. I drove up to see him. Peter Benes. Mearned
that James Deetz, the archaeologist (who, with Edwin
Dethlefsen, had written an article about gravestone
motifs for Nature), was at Plimoth Plantation, so 1 ar-
ranged to see him there. (I remember seeing on the
floor of his office an old cardboard box filled with
hundreds of rolls of 35mm negatives of New England
markers that he said he didn't know what to do with!)
On a rubbing expedition to Newport, Rl, I came across
a man teaching a group of college students how to
repairslate stones. Edwin Connelly. He told me he had
documented all of Rhode Island's cemeteries. In a
Northampton, MA, print shop a clerk mentioned having
friends in North Brookfield, MA, who made rubbings
and photographs and wrote about gravestone art. Ann
and Avon Neal. I wrote them. Iwentto Gloucester, MA,
to see Al Ducas, a sculptor who initiated a school-
community project to restore an old yard. He had a
grant and had brought together several scholars, Nor-
man Weiss, the architectural conservator among them,
and had published a collection of articles on graveyard
restoration and conservation.

With newly trained eyes I took a second look at the
stones in the old yard in South Hadley, MA, where 1
lived, and I discovered beauty where I had previously
seen only uninteresting old sandstone slabs. 1 began to
document this little yard, getting help with carver
identification from Peter Benes and a graduate student
Peter said was at the University of Massachusetts in
nearby Amherst. I invited this young man over to see
"my yard," and here came Bob Drinkwater, with a
handsome collage of rubbings and an impressive pa-
per, "Notes on Methods of Collection, Classification,
Recording, and Analysis of Data for Stylistic and De-
mographic Studies of Eariy New England Gravestones."
I found the mold-maker William McGeer dressed up like
an American colonist, selling his castings and his book,
Reproducing Relief Surfaces, at a craft show.

Those were heady days. All these people seemed to
be working pretty much in isolation, and most of them

AGS Su '92 p. 2

welcomed communication and the opportunity to help
anyone who appreciated their unusual obsession. I
began to think about arranging a conference at Mount
Holyoke College, where I was teaching.

Then I learned from Peter that he was already in the
process of planning a conference, working with Nancy
Buckeye, author of an article about the cutter we later
came to know as "our logo carver." Nancy, who later
became our first Newsletter editor, was hard at work
developing the conference program.

Peter's conference, called The Dublin Seminar, was
held in the summer of 1976, the country's bicentennial
year, and it was excellent in every way. It was not the
small gathering of about forty that Peter anticipated
hosting at the Dublin School. It was more than twice
that size, a full-blown affair with excellent speakers and
exhibits, not to mention good food, and, prophetically,
the less-than-luxurious dorm accommodations we have
come to know so well. Afterward, Peter edited the
Seminar proceedings, which was published by Boston
University as Puritan Gravestone Art. This publica-
tion became a model of a sort for what would later be our
journal. Markers.

The conference went so well that Peter invited five of
the participants, Nancy Buckeye, Ralph Tucker, Gaynell
Stone Levine, Robert Mackreath and myself, to meet
with him in Boston to consider forming an association.
We called ourselves The Boston Six and, with the help
of Ralph's clerical connections, held our meetings in the
elegant Episcopal Diocesan House near Boston
Common. There we settled on a name forthe proposed
association, a statement of purpose, and we made
plans for an open organizational meeting to be held at
the Dublin School the following summer.

To this 1 977 organizational meeting anyone interested
in furthering gravestone study was welcome. About
forty people attended. We met in groups with assigned
leaders and developed a constitution, selected a logo,
elected officers, and (this was Gay's idea) even made
an award to Dan Farber for his photographic work in this
field. In his acceptance speech he told us about his
recent discovery — the use of a mirror to light shaded
stones. At the organizational meeting we also made
arrangements, using Gay's connection with the State
University of New York at Stoneybrook, for incorpora-
tion as a non-profit organization in New York State. And
it was decided that Peter and Jim Slater would seek
housing forourfuture archives, which was accomplished
that summer, I think, in an agreement with the New
England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. Fi-

nally, we made a decision to hold a conference the
following summer.

All during this period, Peter's vision was expanding,
and he began developing a second organization, to be
called The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife.
DSNEF was to hold seminars on many aspects of early
American culture, including but not limited to grave-
stones. DSNEF held a seminar on colonial archaeol-
ogy in 1977, the same summer we had our AGS
organizational meeting. For the Seminar's 1978
meeting, Peter decided to focus again on gravestones,
and he suggested that AGS hold its conference in
conjunction with his Seminar. The AGS board of
directors agreed to this, and it was done: AGS held its
first conference with DSNEF at the Dublin School in
1978, Ralph Tucker presiding.

At this conference AGS made itsfirstHarrietteMerrifield
Forbes award, and behind that event lies a little-known
story. The AGS board predicted, correctly, that overthe
years the organization would want to continue making
awards for outstanding contributions to the field. It was
clear that we would want to list among those honored
two outstanding contributors: Harriette Forbes, who
wrote the seminal workon colonial gravestone art in the
1920s, and Ernest Caulfield, whose research in the
1950s set high standards for subsequent carver re-
search. Our problem was that we didn't much like for
our next two awards to be posthumous. We considered
honoring Forbes and Caulfield together, but in the
end — I think the idea was mine — we decided to name
the award itself for Mrs. Forbes and to name Dr.
Caulfield our 1978 recipient. We also decided that the
award would not necessarily be annual and that the
nature of a nominee's contributions to gravestone study
would not be limited to any area of study, or geographic
location ortime period. Finally, we agreed that, unless
posthumous, the award would be made only to recipi-
ents who could attend the award ceremony, and that
the name of the recipient would be announced in
advance. No secrets, no surprises. And those are our
guidelines today.

I would like to digress here to mention a small incident
at that first conference that I remember with amusement.
Theway I recallit, Ann Tashjian, author of Memorials
to Ctiildren ofCiiange, delivered a rather lengthy and
very philosophical paper full of obtuse hypotheses.
She then offered to take questions. President Tucker
rose and asked Mrs. Tashjian if she would kindly
summarize her remarks in a single sentence. There
was a moment of stunned silence. Then Dan Farber,
whose listening tolerance leans toward hard facts and

AGSSu '92 p. 3

away from the hypothetical, jumped to his feet and
applauded Ralph. Mrs. Tashjian, smiling and never
missing a beat, simply proceeded to give us a neat
summary in one single, well-phrased sentence, to a
burst of applause for her cool. From the start, you see,
there was no lack of audacity among us, or boldness, or
flexibility and good will. We felt like a family, or at least
a club.

It was a fine beginning conference, complete with a
late-night show initiated by Francis Duval. There was
only one drawback: no one could distinguish AGS
members from the Seminar people, and it was impos-
sible to separate the two groups' conference finances.
Peter edited the proceedings, Puritan Gravestone Art
II, as a DSNEF publication. In the fourteen years of
AGS conferences that have followed, here are some
milestones as I remember them.

finding Debby's successor.

The 1979 conference presentation I remember most
vividly was Jim Slater's seriously delivered spoof about
color on gravemarkers, the thrust of which 1 must leave
you to ferret out for yourselves.

Our second president, Joanne Baker, initiated our
practice of holding our conferences co-sponsored by
another organization with similar interests. In 1 980 we
met in Haverhill, MA, with the Bay State Historical
League. Although this first try was not a perfect
alliance, we recognized the advantages of co-spon-
sorship. Since then, our conferences have been suc-
cessfully co-sponsored by a number of compatible
organizations, including the American Antiquarian
Society in Worcester and New York's Museum of
American Folk Art when we met in New Brunswick, NJ.

Location. As we considered our second — 1979 —
conference, we realized we needed to stand on our own
as an organization, and that meeting in Dublin as one
of Peter's two brain children was going to complicate
our development. (Moreover, there weren't any very
interesting stones around Dublin.) So we began to
think about a possible new conference site. Moving
from Peter's nurturing leadership and from our Dublin
home of three years was a big step, and there was a
good chance we would not be able to make it. By then
Dan and I were a team, having married (the Reverend
Ralph Tucker officiating) in 1978. With Joanne Baker,
Dan and I volunteered to find a new site and organize
a conference. We settled on Newport, where the
stones, the John Stevens Shop, and the attractiveness
of the town would, we hoped, lure participants. Edwin
Connelly arranged with Salve Regina College for
housing and meeting facilities. Rhode Island's Senator
Claiborne Pell opened the conference with a welcome
address, and Esther Fisher Benson, owner of the John
Stevens Shop, after scolding us for paying too little
attention to lettering, opened the Shop to us. Her son,
the carver John Benson, was our guide.' We had our
f irst conference bus tourthere. The Forbes Award went
to Peter Benes, our founder, whose book. The Masks
of Orthodoxy, had come out in 1977. The award
ceremony was bitter-sweet for some of us, for we felt
like kids who had left the nest. During the conference,
Ann Guisecke and I agreed to work together to get out
a regular, quarterly newsletter, a job that became mine
alone when Ann moved from New England. The AGS
Newsletter became a labor of love, but too much labor,
and it took four years to find a successor — Deborah
Trask, who took over in late 1983. Now, over eight
years and thirty-four issues later, we are faced with

Nineteen-eighty was also the year the first issue of
Markerscame out. Hot off the press of the publisher in
Worcester, an unopened box of Markers I was brought
by Dan and me to Haverhill, where the books were
opened and inspected and, since AGS had no sales
table back then, sold for us by Roberta Halporn. I was
Markers editor for that one issue, followed by David
Watters, who edited Markers II, III, and/Viand Theodore
Chase, who edited Markers l^through Markers IX. As
we speak, our new editor, Richard Meyer, is preparing
Markers X.

Nineteen-eighty was unique in our history in a way that
few of us may be aware of. The Forbes award was
refused by the two-person team the board of directors
chose to honor. It was a philosophical thing; they said
they didn't approve of awards. Fearing that naming a
substitute or second-place recipient might detract from
the honor, the board declined to make an award that
year.

Conferences followed one another regularly and rela-
tively smoothly. It was in 1983 that President Sally
Thomas named a conference chairperson to assume
the major responsibility for organizing the conference,
and it was even later that we had a separate conference
program chair and a conference registrar. Prior to that,
the president and one or two volunteers did the whole
thing. I forget how long it took us to be able to announce
at a conference the site for the following year — rather
recently, under Fred Oakley's stewardship, 1 think.
Today's conferences seem to be organized and run by
casts of thousands.

A big milestone year was 1985, the year we dared to

AGS Su '92 p. 4

meet outside New England, at Rutgers University in
New Brunswicl<. We thought the sky might tall in, but
everything worked so well that in 1 988 we ventured all
the way to Lancaster, PA. This year, as we convene for
ourthird meeting outside New England, we have, I think
for the first time, more non-New England conferees
than New Engianders. More than twice as many. For
an organization that aims to be not only national but
international in scope, our progress in this area has not
been speedy. But progress is progress.

Until 1984 not only conference responsibilities but all
AGS business was conducted by officers and board
members designated as vice-presidents with specific
responsibilities, such as correspondence, or research,
or education, or conservation, or archives, or publica-
tions, or membership, etc., etc. Anything that got done
was accomplished by these unpaid volunteers operating
pretty much in independent isolation — and usually out-
of-pocket as well. (In those days it seemed a bit crass
to askforreimbursementfortravel, postage, oranything
else.) Our handling of mail was a nightmare. Try to
imagine board members forwarding and reforwarding
mailtheycouldn'tdealwith— inquiries, requests, orders,
membership applications, complaints, even bills and
checks — to whomever they hoped could deal with it.
And whenthat person was away on vacationorotherwise
unable to function, well, ourcorrespondence or sales or
memberships or bill-paying orwhateverjust had to wait.
That the organization functioned as effectively as it did
amazes me. Only rarely did anything break down
completely, though I do remember one instance. While
Ted Chase was president, he received in the mail a box
of unpaid pills and uncashed checks with a note of
resignation from the treasurer, who explained that she
had been too busy to deal with bill-paying and book-
keeping for three months! One of Ted's many ac-
complishments was the enlargement of the board and
the reorganization of the trustees' and officers' re-
sponsibilities. For several years AGS used a box made
available to us by the American Antiquarian Society
because we had to have an association address.

During Ted's presidency we began a rapid expansion
of our activities and services. In the years after 1 984 we
have offered, through Laurel Gabel, the services of a
research department and a lending library. We have
developed a wide variety of information sheets, guides,
and other publications, not to mention T-shirts, decals
and the like for sale. We rent video tapes and lend
books. We have compiled procedures for lobbying for
protective legislation. We have enlarged the scope of
our projects to include programs and wor1<shops for
genealogists, for teachers, and — thanks to Fred

Oakley — for those who are restoring yards and stones.

None of this could have happened, of course, had we
not made a major change in our administration in 1 984.
By then, as our membership and our activity increased,
it had become clear that we could not continue to
function as a group of loosely coordinated volunteers.
We knew we had to have a paid administrator. But
being a conservative group used to operating in the
black, we were not brave enough to even consider
deficit spending. A more or less anonymous gift of
$20,000 made it possible for us to cover wages for part-
time help for three years, with the expectation that it
would take that long for the position to become self
sustaining. We began a search for a director, and in this
we were blessed with good fortune. Laurel Gabel gave
us the name of a friend, a genealogist, who Laurel said
was exactly what we needed. How right she was.
Laurel's friend was Rosalee Oakley. Rosie took the job
in 1984 and resigned in 1991, having made during her
tenure contributions too numerous to list. Suffice it to
say that she increased our efficiency and our mem-
bership and added to our income more than enough to
pay her salary, and this was accomplished so speedily
that we still have the $20,000 seed money. By the time
she resigned we had her house as our office and her
husband as our president.

When Rosie left (taking Fred with her) we were forced
to make another major move — and this move was
literal. We had to find office space with an ugly word
built in: REN T. President Oakley led the long and
careful search, which ended in our securing space in
the handsome building of the Worcester Historical
Museum, whose director and our landlord is Bill Wallace,
a former member of the AGS board of trustees. It is an
excellent arrangement. For the first time, our off ice and
storage and archives and meeting room are housed
under one roof. And we have our new director, Miranda
Levin, and her assistant, Tom Harrahy, keeping the
office open from 1 1 :30 to 4:30 five days a week. Not
quite like Rosie's twenty-four hour shifts, but more
realistic. (I must explain here that Rosalie and Fred
Oakley retired from only their positions as AGS executive
director and president, respectively, not from AGS
activity. Although they have moved from their home in
Needham, MA, to Hadley, MA, both continue with us as
active, contributing members.)

While reminiscing on the days of yore as I prepared this
talk, I couldn't keep my mind from moving from the past
to the future, and in the end I couldn't resist writing a
Part II of this address for you to read, and give some
thought to, if you will. I hope it will stimulate discussion.

AGS Su '92 p. 5

"A Look Ahead" focuses on our current needs and
problems, but I think it is upbeat. My own overall view
of the future of AGS is that all systems are go. With fifteen
successful years and many milestones behind us, the
challenges and decisions that lie ahead, though im-
portant and challenging, seem less daunting to me than
our moving from Dublin, or convening in Pennsylvania,
or hiring our first director.

Thank you for your time. We welcome your views.

A LOOK AHEAD

As AGS begins its fifteenth conference, it is appropriate
to ask ourselves: Where do we go from here? If we as
an organizationwantto increase interest in gravestones
as cultural artifacts and foster their preservation, what
steps should we now take?

To become more effective, ourobjective must be greater
strength. That is, we must become a stronger organi-
zation whose voice is better heard. Our strength lies in
our members, so it is to our membership that attention
must first be paid.

First, we need to offer our members more for their
membership fee. We now offer:

1 . Services. Any member who asks for assistance
or advice regarding carver research or cemetery leg-
islation or gravestone conservation, etc., is given help.

2. Through membership, AGS provides access to
our lending library and video tapes and, at a discount
price, our publications.

3. And members are given personal contact with
each other through our conferences.

These are valuable benefits of AGS membership.
However, many of our members are in geographic
locationsthatlimittheirinterestin New England stones,
and also limittheirability to attend ourconferences. For
too many of these people, AGS membership amounts
to one thing only — a subscription to the AGS Newsletter.

We need to offer more than a subscription to a news-
letter to keep members on our rolls. Our turnover

Dan and Jessie Lie Farber, from an article about them in
the July 1, 1992 issue of Worcester Magazine.

among members not on the eastern seaboard is high.

What more can we do for our members?

1, We can publish the AGS Newsletter in house.
Deborah Trask's production of the Newsletter for the
past eight years has been a gift in the true sense of the
word. Now, with her resignation date approaching, we
should rethink our situation and find a way to make the
best of this big transition. This publication, our primary
service to many, should become the AGS house organ,
produced by paid help in house, where it can be more
easily coordinated with organizational activities.

2. We can increase contact between our members
and our Board of Trustees. From our beginning, we
have leaned heavily for leadership on members who
are in the east and can afford to travel out-of-pocket to
attend board meetings, which is to say board members
whose interest is focused primarily on eighteenth-
century stones, their ornamental carving and carvers.
We should begin to seek more trustees (we do have
some) who represent othergeographic areas and whose
interests are more broadly based: historians,
cemeterians, monument makers, members whose fo-
cus is on teaching, or genealogy, or geology, or legal
matters, or on lettering or epitaphs, to suggest a few

AGS Su '92 p. 6

variations on our current theme. To accomplish this we
need, among other things, to reimburse at least the
travel expenses of board members so that they can
attend meetings, represent their areas, and be active
leaders to a broader membership base.

3. We can offer programs that reach more of our
members. Specifically, we can help those members
whose geographic locations form clusters to contact
one another and organize meetings that satisfy their
interests and needs: lectures, video shows, tours, rub-
bing and photo sessions, restoration and documenting
expeditions. Pat fvliller's popular Connecticut tours
demonstrated that activity for regional groups can be
initiated, but Pat was ahead of her time. AGS was not
then able to support her efforts, much less instigate and
organize additional geographicgroups. Now we should
begin to develop ways to encourage and assist group
activity in many locations.

4. We can produce more, and more broadly-based
publications. We should have information sheets and
cemetery guides for areas other than New England.
Our journal, Markers, should increase its scope. (More
than half the articles in the nine published volumes are
about early New England stones; no cover picture
features a stone outside New England.) First, though,
we need to improve our procedures for distributing our
publications. The one good seller we have produced,
A Graveyard Preservation Primer, authored for us by
Lynette Strangstad, was published and is sold by the
American Association for State and Local History be-
cause we hadn't the resources and know-how to do it
ourselves. Marketing has been an ongoing problem,
especially with our journal. Mariners. This publication
is costly to produce and it takes us years to sell an
edition. Can we get Markers into more libraries and
historical societies by subscription so that instead of
having a storage problem we can produce larger edi-
tions? Larger editions lower the price per issue, which
of course fosters sales. Should we be including
Markers with membership, or would the necessary
increase in membership fees be counter-productive,
not to mention wasteful — for we do not know that every
member wants to own the publication ? How should we
go about producing and promoting and selling more
publications?

5. We can move our conference sites farther from
our New England base so that attendance is possible,
at least occasionally, to more members who live farther
from the east coast. New Orleans? Chicago? Canada?
How about thinking ahead to Hawaii? To support
successful conferences farfrom our New England base

of support, our overall membership would have to
increase dramatically, and our conference planners
would have to seek speakers and develop programs
that reflect more varied interests.

Perhaps you are thinking that you prefer the close-knit,
club-like atmosphere that our conferences now foster.
But fellowship with others who share your interest need
not be a casualty of growth and strength. On the
contrary, one of our present problems, often the subject
of conference complaints, is that our current conference
programs do not — cannot — satisfy everyone's main
interest. A conferee with an interest in epitaphs,
twentieth-century stones, or protective legislation, for
example, must sit through conference lectures and
workshops and slide shows and tours that rarely touch
on his/her subject. But if we were large enough, we
could form permanent divisio ns by century or subject so
that a memberwhose interest is, say, stone preservation
or the study of nineteenth-century stones for children or
tree stones, for example, could meet with others of
similaror related expertise without restricting the eclectic
member's freedom to roam and sample from a variety
of special interest sessions Except for perhaps two
large, general conference sessions, a member who
wanted to could really concentrate on his/her special
interest and experience and enjoy not less but more
group homogeneity and intimacy than is now possible.
We could even have several simultaneous late-night
shows! (And those of us who don't even see big, white
obelisks or polished granite can settle down to our little
folk art carvings without distraction.)

Our general sessions, on the other hand, should be
sufficiently heterogeneous to offer something for every-
body. Our awards ceremony, for example, should
honor not just the people we have learned to know
well — like-minded members of the club, so to speak —
but people from far and wide who have made contribu-
tions we have not yet heard or thought of: someone in
Oregon, say, who puttogetherteams and documented
and published information about all the stones in that
state; a leading designer of twentieth-century stones;
a photo-documenter of Mexican markers; a cemeterian
who devised and promoted better ways to care for
cemeteries; a teacher who developed programs for
using gravestones as a primary data source for teach-
ing art or history or whatever; a museum curator or
historical society director who produced an outstanding
exhibit presenting to the public an interesting and
informative view of gravestones in our culture. I could
go on and on, but you could, too.

In summary, to strengthen our organization we needto

AGSSu '92 p. 7

offer our members more and broader-based materials
and programs. This will keep our old members partici-
pating and add new ones to our roster so that the study
and preservation of gravestones will reach more peo-
ple and foster more coordinated research and study
and inspire more good work and good writing.

Such changes can be troubling, like growing pains. I
still mourn our logo change from the little Wiliiamstown
carving (Francis Duval's contribution), but our new
logo speaks to a wider variety of gravestone interests
and says more clearly, as a logo should, who we are
and what we are about.

Basic to all of these developments is our need for a full-
time administrator and other paid, professional assist-
ance. A part-time administration cannot possibly
initiate and guide the additional services I have men-
tioned— better promotion and publicity, more effective
marketing of more and better publications, new pro-
grams, and a Newsletter produced in house. If one
adds justthe responsibility of dealing with a much larger
membership, the day-to-day mail and phone and rou-
tine business alone would keep a part-time office staff
hustling.

Where can we go to cover the cost of additional help?
it is pertinent atthis point, to mention that the donorwho
provided the seed money for employing our first paid
help ($20,000) also underwrote the cost of producing
Markers I {$9000), and some of the cost of operating
the Research Department ($6000 over 6 years), and is
contributingtowardourofficerent($5000over5years) —
cash donations to AGS totaling $40,000. It would be
unrealistic for us to make plans for the future without
developing ways to raise funds from new sources.
What sources?

More members. Our membership continues to hover
at just under 1000; we need a membership drive
conducted by a professional in this field. . Bigger con-
ferences. We had 119 members at our 1979 confer-
ence; conference attendance is not that much larger
today. Grants. We have never received a grant; we
need an experienced grant writer. Fund raisers. We
have had one fund raiser (under Dan Farber's presi-
dency), which raised just over $5000 as I recall; we
need to look ahead to getting professional advice for
reaching the interested public for support. Sales. We
should make a good profit on our sales; we need
professional help in promoting and publicizing our
materials.

Are we ready for all this? Of course we are. Everything

points positive. Every time a newspaper or magazine
mentions AGS, the AGS office is flooded with inquiries
and a spate of membership applications. When Dan
and I lecture, there are always in the audience several
people who are committed students of gravestones,
but have not heard of AGS. (Some of you will be
interested to know that Fred Fredette, one of our most
productive members, came to AGS that way. He sat in
the front row of a lecture hall where Dan and I were
speaking, and afterward he went with a group to a
nearby cemetery and tried rubbing and bought a copy
of Markers I.) Whenever we visit a yard, chances are
that someone there will tell us about a local person who
is knowledgeable and intensely interested in the yard.
I imagine you have had these experiences, too.

Think of it. Cemeteries all overthe country — alloverthe
world — thousands and thousands and thousands of
them. And many, perhaps most, of them are blessed
with an interested individual or a group that works alone
and needs but has never heard of AGS. We can find
these people. I do not say it will be easy, but I do think
making ourselves known and offering our services to a
larger constituency is today's challenge, our next
milestone.

Jessie Lie Farberis a founding member of ttie Associa-
tion for Gravestone Studies.

Bob Wells, on thie Early Stones Tour. Photo by Carol Perkins,
Fairport NY.

AGS Su '92 p. 8

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

15th CONFERENCE

Union College, Schenectady NY

June 25-28, 1992

co-sponsored by the Schenectady County Historical Society
and the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation

PRESENTATIONS

Introductions - Cornelia Jenness, President
Conference Chair's Welcome - Barbara Rotundo
Program Chair - C.R. Jones
Slide report on AGS - W. Fred Oakley, Treasurer

"AGS: The Early Days" - Jessie Lie Farber

The text of this presentation is included in this issue of
the Newsletter, p. 2-5.

Jessie Lie Farber, Professor Emeritus, I\/lount Holyoke
College, is a founding member of the Association for
Gravestone Studies. She has an extensive collection
of her rubbings taken from the ornamental folk art
carvings on early gravemarkers. Her interest in grave-
stones introduced Jessie to her husband Dan, a well-
known photographer, and resulted in their present
partnership in gravestone study, writing and lecturing.
Their work has taken them to many areas of the United
States and to six foreign countries. Both have served
as AGS trustees, and have been Forbes awardees.

"In Memoriam: Marking the Loss of a Family
Member" - Robert V. Wells

Bob Wells earned his Ph.D. at Princeton in 1969. His
research and publishing have centered on American
demography, especially what population statistics re-
veal about family life and social experiences in the
eighteenth century. He has a national reputation among
American historians and is listed in Who's Who in
America. He has just finished work on a book that
studies how a community, in this caseSchenectady NY
deals with death, looking at the biology, sociology,
psychology, business and art of death. He will be
sharing some of the results of this cemetery research
and interesting aspects of his field work.

"Civil War, Sight and Sound" - Laurel Gabei

Many evaluations from the 1991 conference requested
that Laurel repeat this late night show for the whole
conference audience.

Laurel K. Gabel of Rochester, New York, maintains the
AGS carver files and is a Board member. She is co-
author with Theodore Chase of numerous articles and
the book Gravestone Chronicles about 1 8th century
gravestone carvers. She operates the AGS Lending
Library, is a popular lecturer, and is a tour guide and
trustee for the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery in
Rochester. She was the recipient of the 1988 AGS
Forbes Award.

"The Stone in Gravestones" - William Kelly

A variety of stone has been used by carvers. Some are
easy to identify, but several are confusing to the non-
geologist. This talk will deal with the identification of
stone and where it came from,with emphasis on New
York and western New England.

Dr. William Kelly is a senior scientist with the New York
State Geological Survey and Curator of Minerology for
the State Museum. He was trained as a "hard rock"
geologist but now works primarily as an economic
geologist.

"Revelation in the Probate Records of Washington
County, New York" - Sally Brillon

The desire to identify carvers and monument compa-
nies producing Washington County gravestones grew
out of a country-wide survey of graveyards and cem-
eteries. An exhaustive search of the judicial settlements
from 1830-1905 revealed numerous carvers and
monument companies from New York, Vermont and
Massachusetts.

AGS Su '92 p. 9

Sally Brilion teaches art at Abraham Wing Common
School in Glens Falls. She directed the historic re-
sources survey for Washington County, teaches a
course in county history at Adirondack Community
College, and is a trustee and past president of the
County Historical Society. She is an advocate for
historic preservation and is restoring a 1786 saltbox
house with her husband. A book on Washington
County carvers is in the works.

"The Disappearing Shalcer Cemetery"
Brenda Malloy

Tom &

Over two hundred years ago a movement evolved for
the establishment of nineteen Shaker communities in
the United States. Most of these communities have
now come and gone. What also seems to be disap-
pearing are their cemeteries. This trend will be dem-
onstrated through a slide presentation of Shaker cem-
eteries in New York and New England.

Tom Malloy is a professor of U.S. History at Mt.
Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA.
Brenda Malloy teaches fifth grade at the Westminster
Elementary School in Westminster, MA.

"The Kimball Family Carvers" - Fred Fredette

A significant migration of Windham, Connecticut fami-
lies occurred to central New York in 1789-90. Among
the group were Richard and Lebbeus Kimball, both of
whom had carved gravestones for eastern Connecticut
families. This presentation illustrates the wor1< of the
Kimball family for a period of more than forty years.

Alfred Fredette of Willimantic, Connecticut is a retired
teacher of American History with a special interest in
eastern Connecticut carvers. He is a former AGS
trustee. He was featured in Yankee magazine for
identifying the provenance of early Connecticut grave-
stones stolen and offered for sale.

"Cultural Assimilation Among Eastern Europeans
in Western Canada: The View From the Graveyard"
- James Darlington

Cultural practices associated with the death and the
disposal of the dead are some of the most conservative
elements in a society. In this study comparison is made
between the gravemarkers found in Ukranian Catholic,
Ukranian Orthodox, Polish Roman Catholic, and Ro-
manian Orthodox cemeteries located in the Strathclair
/ Rossburn Eastern European block settlement districts
of Western Manitoba with those of several nearby

Anglo-Canadian cemeteries. Findings suggest that the
language inscribed on the marker, along with monu-
ment style and the material from which it was made
each display a pattern of acculturation among the
immigrant groups toward the Anglo norm. Of the vari-
ables considered, language appears to be the most
reliable and monument material the least reliable
measure of assimilation.

James W. Darlington is an associate professor of
Geography at Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba.
As an historical cultural geographer, he is interested in
stones and cemeteries as indicators of acculturalization.

"Solomon Brewer: A Connecticut Valley Yankee in
Westchester County" - Gray Wiliams

Solomon Brewer brought the Connecticut Valley style
from his native Springfield to Westchester County New
York, and was the leading carver there from 1786 to
1824. A transcript of his record book survives, making
attribution easy. His work exemplifies the last of the
18th century soul-effigy tradition.

Gray Williams is a freelance writer on subjects ranging
from health and gardening to history. He is an AGS
trustee, and has written articles for Afaricerson Thomas
Gold and the crypt of the Center Church in New Haven.
He is also atrusteeofthe New Castle Historical Society,
and contributed a chapter on local graveyards and
genealogy to the recently published bicentennial his-
tory of that town. He is a former trustee of the
Westchester County Historical Society, and has written
about Westchester milestones produced by grave-
stone markers in the Westchester Historian.

"Secure the Shadow 'Ere the Substance Fade: The
Use of Photography in Mourning and
Memorialization" - Laurel Gabel

Since the I840's, photography has been instrumental
in documenting individual's rites of passage, including
the rituals associated with life's final milestone - death.
This paper explores the history of photography and its
many applications to mourning and memorialization.

"They Were Who We Want Them to Be: Personal
Identification of Gravemarkers" - Tom Graves

This paperwill examine the role of personal identity on
gravemarkers in the United States (mostly eastern) and
will discuss trends that tie the nature of personal identity
to historical, ethnic, and personal events and thought.
Statements made by the living about the dead will also

AGS Su '92 p. 10

be examined.

Dr. Thomas E. Graves is a freelance folklife consultant
with a doctorate in folklore and folklife from the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. His studies of gravestones has
centered around the changes of death revealed over
time and ethnic symbolism. These studies overlap with
his other interests in folk medicine and belief, vernacu-
lararchitecture, folk craft and ethnicity. He has published
articles on gravestones in Markers and Keystone
Fo//c/oreand has achapter in the forthcoming £f/7n/c/Yy
and the American Cemetery.

Excerpt from "Mllo Looklngdale" - James Jewell

This short segment from an original play uses grave-
stones in an unusual way as the main character speaks
to them. The play deals with one of the most important
issues of our day - the AIDS crisis.

studies include a portrait matching project; completing
a tour map of the old Cambridge Burying Grounds;
creating slide shows, displays, and tours for family and
special interest groups; and writing for local publica-
tions.

"O Death, Here is Thy Sting" - Roberta Halporn

In spite of the fact that death is supposed to be the
"great equalizer" graveyard evidence proves other-
wise. Gravestones show obvious clues to discrimina-
tion between the rich and the poor, discrimination by
race, ethnic origin, and religion, and messages that
stand from time immemorial, showing how battles about
national origin continue past physical extinction as well
as anxieties about the causes of death . The paper will
be illustrated with life-sized gravestone rubbings gath-
ered through the author's travels around the United
States.

Jim Jewell, of Peru, Illinois has been teaching speech
and drama at lllinios Valley Community College since
1968. He works with Stage 12, a theatre group in La
Salle and recently has raised about $1 000 for the Ryan
White Center with his play "Milo Looklngdale".

Roberta Halporn is the Director of the Center for
Thanatology Research and Education, where her work
deals with aging, dying, and death. She has a special
interest in ethnic issues related to gravestones and
graveyards.

"Stones & Sites Related to the Salem Persecutions
of 1692" - Donna La Rue

This paper looks at the stones that do not exist as well
as the ones that do. Several Lamsons - and at least one
Robert Mullikan - for accusers, judges, and the
accused may be found in the North Shore and Boston
Burying Grounds. Excommunicated "witches" were
neither buried in consecrated grounds nor commemo-
rated with stone (except where later family members
placed one). In this Tercentenary yearalook at Puritan
beliefs and burial practices, and Boston precursors to
the Salem persecution are especially instructive.

Donna La Rue is currently free-lancing and seeking a
teaching position in the field of liturgical arts for a

theological school orseminary. Hercurrent gravestone

"Headboards, Headstones, and Quilts: The Origin
and Survival of Puritan SymbolsofLoveand Death"
- Jim Kettlewell

This presentation will show how the symbols of late
1 7th and early 1 8th century gravestones possibly origi-
nated in earlier carved or painted headboards for beds,
then survived later in the ornament of applique quilts,
an instance of the close association iDetween love,
sleep, and death that existed iri the minds of early
Americans.

James K. Kettlewell is an Associate Professor of Art
History and Directorof Art History at Skidmore College.
He has lectured and written widely in the field of
American architecture and produced a catalog of the
Hyde Collection in Glens Falls. He currently serves as
a Director of the Saratoga County Historical Society.

Jim Jewell

AGS Su '92 p. 11

WORKSHOPS AND TOURS

Teaching Workshop

Neil Jenness lead this workshop. In the morning teachers
and others presented their successful programs. There
werehandouts, and time was allotted to browse through
books, kits, and other helpful material. After lunch the group
went to Vale Cemetery to experience field work first-hand.
Presenters included Joan Aldous, Claire De Loria, and
Alexandra de Grandpre.

Restoration Wori<shop

Jim and Minxie Fannin of Fannin/Lehner Preservation Con-
sultants, Concord MA, directed workshop activities. After
classroom lectures and discussion, the group moved to Vale
Cemetery for "hands-on" experience underthe supervision of
Roseanne Atwood-Foley, the Fannins, Fred Oakley, and
David Via, all AGS members with wide experience.

Minxie Fannin, directing
activities at the Resto-
ration Worloiiop.

various materials and techniques (including poulticing) was a
compelling activity for some participants because results are
often immediately achieved. Resetting marbles on their
bases provided opportunities to see the several ways tablets
are mounted on bases — some with pins, others into keyways,
and the materials used for each application. Then there are
the slab stones set directly into the earth.

A large, frequently changing crew, undertook to re-set four
large sandstones that had been down so long they were
nearly covered by turf. Probing located the edges, turf was
laid back and hand-holds excavated to perm it the stones to be
lifted horizontally and moved to clear the resetting area.
Meanwhile the "cleaning" crew scrubbed the stones with
water and soft brushes. Because the four stones in their
original alignment were only 4-6 inches apart, a single trench

The Restoration Workshop attracted 41 devotees.
Determined to experience conservation and restora-
tion first hand, they were treated to instructional
lectures followed by "field work". Casting a base with
keyway (or slot) began the "hands-on activity, which
included a "make-it-yourself" form, made of plywood
and appropriate hardware (hinges and hasps). An-
other less elaborateform received properly prepared
concrete mix. A key instruction: make castings as
close to the point of use as possible since even a
modest-sized one will weigh more than 1 30-1 50 lbs !

Particular interests were addressed in a series of
activities. Cleaning marble and sandstone using

AGS Su '92 p. 12

was excavated to several depths correspond-
ing to the 40% of the stone to be below g round
level. Appropriate foundation material was

placed in the trench and each stone was eased into place, held temporarily by partial
backfilling with a pea stone/sandstone mixture. When each stone's position was
satisfactory, they were then checked for level plumb and alignment. Back filling was
completed in stages as the material was tamped and flooded with water to help settle
the surrounding material. A celebratory photo with the conferees' work in the
foreground completed a very satisfying afternoon.

Thanks to Ann Hawkins of Washington DC, Carol Perkins of Fairport NY and Carol
°^ Shipp of Princeton IL for their photos of the various activities at the Restoration
Workshop.

AGSSu '92 p. 13

Above: (L) cleaning sandstone
with water and soft brushes
(R) preparing a poultice to re-
move lichen;

Center: resetting of 4 stones
completed.

Below, (R) cleaning marble be-
fore (L) resetting in keyway.

.*&*.^

AGS Su '92 p. 14

Stockade Tour

Nancy Jonas and Barbara Rotundo introduced
this National Register historic neighborhood,
explainingtheoutlineoftheoriginal seventeenth-
century stocl<ade, pointing out street names
and the location of early Dutch and English
churches. The special appeal for AGS is the
many old stones (most have been moved from
graves) at both First Presbyterian and St.
George's Episcopal churches. (Dutch Reform
stones were taken to Vale Cemetery in the
nineteenth century.)

Tour A - Early Stones

Barbara Rotundo, leading the Stockade Tour, Schenectady.
Photo by Carol Perkins, F airport NY

Sally Brillon guided usto Albany Rural Cemetery,
where many early stones were moved in the
nineteenth century. Then to Cambridge and
lunch in Salem, then to Salem Revolutionary
Cemetery, Middle Granville, and Coulter Burying
Ground. All New York!

Tour B - Victorian

the Stockade. Photo by Carol Perkins, Fairport NY

Barbara Rotundo guided us to Vale Cemetery
in Schenectady, Albany Rural and to Oakwood
Cemetery, Troy, for lunch. After lunch Carol
Shepard took the tour around Oakwood and
then to Green Ridge Cemetery in Saratoga.

Tour C - iViixed

Carol Shepard guided the bus to Green Ridge Cem-
etery, Saratoga. Then in Troy early stone fans were
dropped off to explore Lansingburg Village Burying
Ground and St. Augustine's. Later they joined the
Victorians at Oakwood forlunch. After lunch Barbara
Rotundo was the guide to Albany Rural and Vale
Cemetery, Schenectady. In each of these, early stone
enthusiasts went to the section of old stones that were
moved after the rural cemeteries opened.

Carol Perkins, on the Early Stones Tour, with the graves of
some of her ancestors, Salem Revolutionary Cemetery.

AGSSu '92 p. 15

The Association for Gravestone Studies
1992 Annual Meeting
June 28, 1992

AGENDA

Call to Order - President Cornelia Jenness

Quorum Declared - Secretary C.R. Jones

Motion to Receive Minutes of 1991 Annual Meeting

Annual Reports:

Treasurer- FYE 1991 - W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Archivist - Elizabeth Goeselt

Editor, Newsletter - Deborah Trask

Editor, Journal - Richard Meyer

Research Clearinghouse & Lending Library - Laurel

Gabel

Planning Committee - Frederick Sawyer III

Remarks:

Executive Director - Miranda Levin

President - Cornelia Jenness

New Business

Recognition of Retiring Trustees

Announcing Election Results - CR Jones

Introduction of New Trustees

Adjournment - Cornelia Jenness, President

ANNUAL MEETING

Sunday, June 28, 1992

The meeting was called to order at 9:12 A.M. by
President Cornelia Jenness at Union College,
Schenectady, NY.

1) Secretary C.R. Jones reported that approximately
62 members were present, meeting requirements for a
quorum.

2) Minutes of the 1991 Annual Meeting had been
distributed. A motion by Katherine Roth, second by
Barbara Rotundo to approve these minutes carried.

3) Fred Oakley discussed the Treasurer's Report. In
spite of lowering interest rates, we are in a strong
financial position. A motion made by Roberta Halporn,
and seconded by Richard Meyer to approve the report
carried.

4) In the absence of Archivist Jo Goeselt, a report was
presented by Miranda Levin. A printed catalog is now
available. For an appointment to use the collection,
contact the Worcester Historical Society Librarian.
Photocopies cost $.25 per page. Donations are wel-
come.

5) Deborah Trask, Newsletter Editor, reported that the
next issue will be mailed soon, with 5 more issues to go
until her retirement from the position after 10 years of
service.

6) Markers Editor Richard Meyer reported that Mark-
ers X\s ready to go to the printer and will be out in early
January.

7) Laurel Gabel reported that the Lending Library has
seen moderate activity during the year. Another volun-
teer would be more than welcome to take on this small
duty.

8) Fred Sawyer reported that the Planning Committee,

AGSSu '92 p. 16

made up of members of the Board who live close to
Worcester, has proposed several changes and problems
to be addressed:

*A new "supporting" membership category at
$50 will include one copy of Markers.

*We need to remain aware of the production
costs of this important publication.

*The archives should have a collecting policy.

*A search for a new Newsletter Editor must be
undertaken - with an understanding of the importance
of this membership link.

'Suggestions are always welcome. A random
telephone survey will be conducted in the near future to
get ideas from the membership.

9) Miranda Levin, Executive Director, reported on
current activities and accomplishments.

Forms are being reprinted to reflect the new member-
ship structure. We will also have a Life Membership
category at $1 ,000.

Membership is up this year by about 50. Gifts are
available to those who recruit new members. Our goal
is a total of 1000.

The prepublication offer for Markers IX worked well.
Sales are being encouraged to libraries and institutions.
A standing order list is maintained.

10) President Cornelia Jenness reported that many
helpers and an active Board made a smooth transition
possible. Ourgoalsremainto meet membership needs
in a financially sound manner.

Our permanent office location, with staff and an an-
swering machine, makes AGS available 24 hours per
day.

The 1993 Conference will almost certainly be Con-
necticut College, New London. The suggested site for
1994 is Chicago. This will require volunteers forplanning.
Future sites might be determined by "bids" from
members.

Our publications will remain an important and exciting
part of AGS.

11) New business was called for.

A vote of thanks and a small gift were given to conference
chairman Barbara Rotundo and her committee people
were thanked. Total registration was 146 with many
attending their first Conference. There were 27 one-
day participants in the teaching workshop and 46 in the
Conservation Workshop (only 4 repeats from last year).

The New London meeting in 1 993 will be co-chaired by
Ruth Fornal and Lorraine Clapp with Stephen Petke as
program chair and Jim Slater in charge of tours.

12) Retiring Trustees

Fred Fredette and Joe Edgette were recognized.

1 3) The Nominating Committee Report was distributed.
The Secretary announced that the following have been
elected to two year terms on the Board of Trustees:

Michael Cornish
Roberta Halporn
C.R. Jones
Leona A. Kelley
Blanche Linden-Ward
Brenda Malloy

Ellie Reichlin
Frederick Sawyer, II
Maggie Stier
Gray Williams, Jr.
Harvard C. Wood, II

14) Other business was called for.

Richard Meyer announced the formation of an Oregon
Historic Cemetery Association. Information is avail-
able in the Exhibition Room.

Miranda Levin announced that the Sales Table would
be open after the meeting.

15) A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by
Ralph Tucker, seconded by Barbara Rotundo and
unanimously carried.

C. R. Jones
Secretary

John McCool stone, 1 798, Turnpike Burying Ground,
Cambridge NY, attributed to Zerubbabel Collins.

AGS Su '92 p. 17

ARCHIVES REPORT

June 1992

The biggest improvement in the AGS Archives this year
was checking the bool<s, catalogue cards and computer
listings to verify all entries. Once this was completed an
announcement of theschedule of hoursof the Worcester
Historical Museum was made. It is a great asset to have
the WHM librarian access our collection during their
extensive hours. This system works best by advance
appointment because of our specialized collection and
his/her limited familiarity with our books. I am also
delighted to arrange an appointment or prepare re-
quested books for your visit. The catalogue is for sale
through the AGS office.

Many new books and articles have been added this
year. A vertical file has been established to keep
newsclippings and subject files, such as techniques of
recordinggravestonedata,,photographinggravestones
and gravestone symbolism. Photographs have been
put in archival boxes and are being gradually catalogued.
The new system separates items by format such as
video cassette, audio cassette, microfilm, photographs
and books and journals.

Many people have helped this year. AGS member
Thelma Ernst has wor1<ed almost every other week
since the last conference. Rosalee Oakley made all
computer changes and additions. There are still plenty
of jobs for anyone who wants to donate an afternoon.
Many articles have to be read to be catalogued. Our
space is climate-controlled and pleasant to work in.

Please continue to donate materials which you think
are of interest to present and future members.

Jo Goeselt
Archivist

REPORT OF THE OUTGOING EDITOR OF
MARKERS

Markers /Xwas published in May 1992, and was the
fifth and final volume I will be editing. Stepping down
from my role as editorto a more personal level, I should
like to single out for special thanks a few of the many
who have helped me. First, of course, are the members
of the editorial board for their unflagging assistance in
selecting and editing the articles which have come to
us. The aid of Carol Davidson in the preparation of copy

and layout has been vital. Rosalee and Fred Oakley
have given essential support both in matters of
preparation and marketing. Dan and Jessie Farber
have provided innumerable photographs to embellish
many of the articles. Markers VIII, the Caulfield vol-
ume, is largely attributable in its final form to Jim Slater.
And I am grateful to the Heffernan Press, Inc., of
Worcester MA forthe highly professional way in which
the last three volumes have been produced.

Ted Chase

REPORT OF THE INCOMING EDITOR OF
MARKERS

During the same time period that Ted Chase has been
preparing Markers IX, the final issue of the journal
under his editorship, I have been at work on a number
of matters pertaining to Mar/fersX, which I firmly intend
to see out in January, 1993. In orderto keep this report
as concise as possible, I shall spare a number of
details, though I would be happy to elaborate at a later
point should that be desired.

After consultations with Ted following the 1991 AGS
meeting, I made some changes in the Editorial Review
Board functioning with regard to Markers X and there-
after. The size of the board has gone from five to seven,
allowing me to appoint several new members with
additional areas of expertise. The current board con-
sists of these members:

- Jessie Lie Farber (Continuing)

- James Slater (Continuing)

- David Walters (Continuing)

- Theodore Chase (New)

- Richard Francaviglia (New)

- Warren Roberts (New)

- Barbara Rotundo (New)

AGS members will be familiar with the names of new
editorial board members, with the possible exception of
Richard Francaviglia, a historical geographer with
considerable knowledge of old cemeteries and
gravemarkers, currently serving as Director of the Center
for Greater Southwestern Studies at the University of
Texas. Along with a newly constituted board, several
administrative changes have been implemented in
manuscript review procedures. All members of the
board have been active in reviewing submissions for
Markers IX. I wish to take this opportunity to say
formally that (a) 1 am deeply appreciative to Ted Chase
forthe advice and guidance he has given me during this

AGSSu '92 p. 18

period of transition, and (b) I , as editor, am blessed with
an editorial board of more than usual expertise and
dedication, already proven several times over in their
work to date.

Asof this writing (14 May, 1 992), four articles have been
firmly accepted for publication in Markers X, with four
others currentlyundergoing the reviewprocess. Markers
X will be an exciting issue of our annual journal, in-
corporating some areas of enquiry new to the publication
while maintaining a most solid core of representation
from those types of studies which have distinguished it
in the past.

A significant part of my energy in the past several
months has been given over to the search for a suitable
local typesetter and printer for the journal (the re-
quirement that production be accessible to the editor is,
in my view, essential) : I am hopeful that this matter will
be resolved soon.

This has been an exciting year; I feel honored to be the
editor of a journal with the distinguished history of
Markers, and I look forward to continuing — and fur-
thering — that tradition.

Richard Meyer

format, formal exhibition may not be desirable.

- carver identification for the Harriett Forbes
photographs which are being preserved, printed and
indexed by Dan and Jessie Farber. Photocopies of
these 1200 prints will soon be made available to re-
searchers.

- adding to the computer index of known 1 8th and
19th-century gravestone carvers and monument deal-
ers.

Two projects "on the drawing board" for the coming
year:

- a much needed integrated computer index
(name, date, location, carver, subject) of large photo-
graphic collections of gravestones.

- a computer data base of AGS member research
projects, special interests and resources.

Long-term volunteer assistance is needed to help
compile a computerized bibliography of gravestone/
cemetery-related material which will be accessible by
author, title, date and subject.

Laurel Gabel
Research Clearing House Co-ordinator

AGS LENDING LIBRARY

AGS RESEARCH OFFICE

During the 1991 calendaryear, the AGS research office
responded to approximately sixty written requests for
information, as well as more than twenty-five telephone
inquiries. Questions centered around everything from
finding a suitable epitaph for song lyrics to locating the
original site of a "lost" gravestone. A fairly large
percentage of correspondents were students, gene-
alogists or researchers with specific, focused interests
such as graveyard preservation/restoration, computer
inventory projects, orwhere to find a particular resource.
Roughly 50% of all inquiries involved some use of the
15,000 images in the Farber Photographic Collection.

Several on-going research office projects include:

- an index of name, date, location and carver for
several hundred excellent gravestone photographs
donated to AGS by Michael Cornish. Photocopies of
the prints are being made for study purposes. Many of
the photographs are beautifully matted and mounted
for display and could be made available to schools,
libraries or other educational groups for whom a large-

The AGS Lending Library began three and a half years
ago as a service to AGS members who are unable to
obtain basic gravestone reference books by other
means. Twenty books are currently available through
the mail, including Silent Cities: The Evolution of the
American Cemetery, by Kenneth T. Jackson and
Camilo Jose Vergara, and Seasons of Life and
Learning, by Vincetta DiRocco Dooner and Jean Marie
Bossu, which were added during 1991 . Approximately
twenty books were loaned by mail during the past
twelve months. A$2.00 handling/supply feeand financial
or book contributions by members enables the Lending
Library to function without cost to AGS.

Laurel Gabel
Research Clearing House Co-ordinator

^M^

AGSSu '92 p. 19

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT

This last year has been a busy one at the AGS office.
First and foremost, Thomas Harrahy was hired in
October, and has been the main reason why we have
been able to get a lot of additional projects done. We've
done a lot, and we're looking forward to doing more in
the future!

I am happy to report that membership has been in-
creasing. Whether this will be born out by the end of the
year remains to be seen, but as of June 10, 1992, we
had 971 members, which is an increase of 44 members
from last year's tally of 927. We are in the midst of a
membership drive, offering gifts to members who
recruit new members, and response has been good.
So far, eight people have earned magnets, and one
enterprising member has recruited five new members.
Overall, there have been many more requests for
additional brochures, and we have tried to be a little
more aggressive on getting our name out there, through
our mailings about conference, MARKERS, and directly
to the press.

Getting our name out has also meant an increase in the
amount of correspondence we have received at the
office. We are getting more and more inquiries about
AGS and its publications, most particularly about our
publications on cemetery clean-up and repair. We
have also had good sales of MARKERS; we sent a
special mailing to Connecticut libraries marketing vol-
ume VIII, and got a decent response in orders. For
MARKERS IX we had, for the first time, a special pre-
pub offer to our membership. Although we got a good
response of 100 orders, ourpre-pubofferturnedoutto
be a pre-pre-pub offer, as production problems pushed
the publication of MARKERS IX from February to May.
We think we've worked the bugs out so next year's offer
will go more smoothly!

Finally, let me just say that I have enjoyed my first 18
months working for all of you, and have never had such
a wonderful group of people with which to work. I hope
to be in contact with even more of the membership next
year; I'd love your suggestions, and look forward to
hearing from you!

Miranda Levin
Executive Director

AGS Executive Director, Miranda Levin, relaxing at Union
College. Photo by Carol Perkins, Rochester NY.

SOS!

AGS members may remember four or five years ago
when the Inventory of American Sculpture did a na-
tional survey but refused in include gravestones, even
the best slates, which represent American sculpture for
the first two hundred years of American history. Now
there is anotherorganizationunderfederal sponsorship.
Save Outdoor Sculpture! You guessed it: this survey
will NOT include gravestones. (The exception in both
surveys — anything by a big-name sculptor.) SOS! is
farming out the fieldwork on a state-by-state basis to
groups that put in proposals. Sometimes several
organizations will form such a group. Sometimes one
organization proposes to do part of a state.

Because many of us are interested in stonecarving and
sculpture, there are probably some AGS members who
would be interested in volunteering to help with the field
survey. Miranda has a half-dozen copies of the most
recent SOS! bulletin that shecan put in a self-addressed,
stamped envelope. She can also send you the or-
ganization and phone number if a group has
already been selected from your state. (So far only 21
states have "co-ordinating organization".)

We could also use a few computer-knowledgeable
volunteers to arrange with the people entering the field
data to offload any pertaining to gravestones. Let
Miranda know if you are interested.

AGSSu '92 p. 20

1992 CONFERENCE

THE HARRIET MERRIFIELD FORBES

AWARD

At the first annual conference of The Association
for Gravestone Studies, it was resolved that an
award should be made periodically to honor either
an individual or an organization in recognition of
exceptional service to the field of gravestone
studies. This award, known as the Harriette
Merrifield Forbes Award, recognizes outstanding
contribution in such areas as scholarship, publi-
cations, conservation, education, and community
service.
Past Honorees are:

1977 Daniel Farber

1978 Ernest Caulfleld

1979 Peter Benes

1980 Allan I. Ludwig

1981 no award given

1982 James A. Slater

1983 Hilda Fife

1984 Ann Parker & Avon
Neal

1 985 Jessie Lie Farber

1986 Louise Tallman

1 987 Frederick & Pamela
Burgess

1988 Laurel Gabel

1989 Betty Willsher

1990 Theodore Chase

1991 Lynette Strangstad

THE 1992 HARRIET MERRIFIELD FORBES

AWARD

is presented to

THE REV. RALPH L. TUCKER

for distinguished service in the field of
gravestone studies.

From May 12-1 5th, 1993, the Canadian Society of
Landscape Architects will join forces with ICOMOS and
the Quebec Association of Landscape Architects in
Montreal to host an International Symposium on Con-
servation of Urban Squares and Parks.

In addition to landscape architects, this first international

symposium will attract other professionals such as

urban planners, horticulturists, geographers, historians,

conservationists, architects, etc. Site visits include the

Botanical garden, and Mount Royal Cemetery. For

more information, contact:

SYMPOSIUM INTERVENTION-CONSERVATION,

Secretariat: Coplanor Congres Inc.

511 Place d'Armes, #600

Montreal, QC Canada

H2Y 2W7

tel.: (514) 848-1133 Fax: (514) 288-6469.

Barbara Rotundo wants to make afinal comment on the
episode of the gravestones returned by Sturbridge
Village, Massachusetts, to the graveyards in Gilmanton,
New Hampshire, where they were originally
erected. (See AGS Newsletter, Vol. 15 #4, Fall 1991 , p.
5-6.) The man who is initially responsible for that
rescue is rarely mentioned in the news articles and
never had his pictu re in the paper. Before his retirement
(to Fort Myers FL and Winnisquam NH) John Collins
ran a bed and breakfast in an old inn that had once been
run as a tavern by one Joseph Young. On a visit to
Sturbridge he saw in the "graveyard" next to the church
a stone for a Joseph Young with the year of death that
was exactly right for his predecessor. He shared his
suspicions with the editor of the Manchester Union
Leader, and readers of the newsletter know the happy
results. The moral of the tale is that in a project that
requires publicity to insure its success, the credit may
go to those who join late in the process. Obviously AGS
members care more about the proper treatment of
gravestones than the pampering of their egos; thus
they shouldn't be surprised if their successes are not
crowned with personal praise. But praise and thanks to
John Collins.

AGS Su "92 p. 21

THE REAL GEORGE ALLEN JR.

Rev. Job Cushing, 1760, Shrewsbury MA

Vincent F. Luti

PARTI

At Trinity College, Hartford, at
the 1984 AGS Conference, I
presented a paper on George
Allen (Sr.), stonecarver of
Rehoboth, Massachusetts. In
my years of research on George
Allen I was able to clear up con-
fusion and errors on his body of
work caused by Mrs. Forbes'
erroneous summary attribution.
There also remained the seri-
ous problem of her creation of a
fictional George Allen Jr. to rep-
resent the number of signed "G.
Allen" stones appearing afterthe
death of George (Sr.) in 1774.
My research showed these to
be, in fact, the work of a son
named Gabriel and I also pre-
sented a well documented case
for Gabriel Allen and his work at that Conference.

Vital records showed, however, that there was indeed
a George Allen Jr. and both Forbes and I knew that
there was a single documented stonecarving payment
to him in 1762 for Rev. Job Cushing, Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts. We both knew that the stone in place
there was a nondescript replacement urn and willow put
up after his widow's death in 1790. The original was
gone.

Meanwhile in researching thousands of stones in the
Narragansett Basin, I found a small group of Allen-type
stones was detaching itself not only from George (Sr.)
Allen's work but from that of John New Which it faintly
resembled. As it became more coherent and unique as
a body of work, I had to admit some other carving hand
was involved. There turned up not much more than 35
stones clearly by this hand. There also turned up a
small number more that appeared to be in part by this
hand. The core group spanned only the years 1759
(first bunching) to 1 764 or 5. It took very little analysis
of the design elements of the effigy type stones to see
their direct connection to the work of George Allen (Sr.).
What was fascinating was that from the borders and
lettering they connected directly to a body of handsome
skull work, something not present at that late date in

either Newport or mid-Basin carv-
ers' work including George (Sr.)
Allen.

Since none of the twenty odd carv-
ers I had been studying in the
Narragansett Basin fit the work, 1
decided to reconstitute George
Allen Jr. Would he measure up? 1
thought he did. I presented at that
same 1984 Conference the body
of work, my theory and circum-
stantial evidence. There was not
one bit of documented evidence.
Eyebrows flew up and skeptics
assailed me. Forbes had said "G.
Allen" was George Jr. and that
was that.

PART II

In Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, a
Mr. Kenneth Samara, living in the
house of the second minister of the Shrewsbury Con-
gregational Church, was concerned about the condi-
tion of the old eighteenth century stones in the cem-
etery there. He attended a restoration workshop at the
1991 AGS Conference and formed and chaired the
Shrewsbury Graveyard Restoration Project. Working
onthatcommitteewereMarthaThomasandhereleven
year old son, Matthew. In the early summer of 1992
Mrs. Thomas and Matthew were doing a probe project
for old footstones to standing18th centuryheadstones
visible or buried flat just behind. On orders from his
mother to move away from her somewhere else to
probe — one likes to imagine the tone of motherly an-
noyance here — he started poking behind the 1 790 Job
Cushing replacement stone. "Ma, come over here. 1
think I've found something," the conversation went.
"Don't joke, Matthew," was the motherly reply. They
pulled back the grass sod a bit and a goofy angel face
peered up at them. Two weeks laterthefootstonewas
found. After two hundred years, the original head and
footstone assumed lost, the Rev. Job Cushing stone
saw the light of day again resurrected, as it were, back
into this earthly paradise, or vale of tears, however you
see it.

Laurel Gabel,who is everywhere at all times just when
you need her, was in the Shrewsbury area. "You'd

AGS Su '92 p. 22

better call Vincent Luti right away." Vincent Luti was
wonderfully stunned but sure enough in his earlier
research, analysis and theory not to undergo pangs of
trepidation in anticipation of seeing the stone. Quite
casually two weeks later he was in Shrewsbury stand-
ing before a very, very familiar old friend: to the last
detail of design and lettering it confirmed every detail of
design and lettering of the 1984 paper.

The real George Allen Jr. could now proudly stand up.

Vincent Luti, of Westport MA, is the auttior of ttie AGS
Regional Guide to Narragansett Bay Area Greveyards.

TWO PENNSYLVANIA MEMBERS EXPAND
AWARENESS OF AGS!

Andi Hansberry of Langhorne PA writes: The word is
out! Jim and I agreed in June to participate in AGS's
effort to expand awareness of its existence. As a result
of the following article, originally titled "Exploring Gar-
dens of Stone" by Steve l-ledgpeth [Bucks Co. PA
Courier Times, August 27, 1992], she has been asked
to speak at a local genealogical fair. 'All major historical
groups will be there, and I am renting a table to help
promote AGS membership and awareness. Even they
were surprised of AGS's existence!"

At a local cemetery, Andrea Hansberry unearthed a
vampire.

Well, not literally. While poring over cemetery records
Hansberry came upon an entry which described one of
the cemetery's "residents" as a reputed Nosferatu.
Curious, Hansberry located the grave. The inscription
says, "My soul roamed through the night and ceased
not."

This is not Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Hansberry is a
Langhorne mother of two who has no desire to go
mano-a-mano with the undead. She is both scholar
and hobbyist when it comes to graveyards. She enjoys
spending free time in cemeteries, reading inscriptions,
admiring gravestones and researching cemetery
records.

Another Bucks Countian, Jim Bodnar of Bensalem,
shares Hansberry's interest. An amateur photographer,
Bodnar takes snapshots of epitaphs and keeps a
computer diary of tombstone inscriptions.

Hansberry and Bodnarknow each otherasmembersof
the Association for Gravestone Studies, a 900-member
organization devoted to the research and preservation
of cemeteries. Their hobby may seem ghoulish to
some, but to Hansberry and Bodnar, a graveyard isn't
just a final resting place for the dearly departed. It is a
library and museum and hall of records.

I don't think people really realize what a cemetery is for,"
says Hansberry. "They say, 'Oh, why would you want
to go in there?' But it's really forthe living. It's an open-
air museum. It's not just a functional item. It's a way to
relive the past, by reading the epitaphs and seeing the
different types of carvings."

At the AGS's annual conference earlier this summer in
Schenectady NY, Hansberry and Bodnar spent four
days attending lectures, goingonfieldtrips to graveyards
or talking about various aspects of their hobby such as
the history and architectural development of American
cemeteries, gravestone sculpture and graveyard
preservation.

On a recent afternoon, Hansberry and Bodnar were
visiting a small cloistered cemetery adjacent to the
Bensalem Presbyterian Church in Bensalem. Having
researched the cemetery records at the church, which
dates to the early 1 700s, Hansberry pointed to a grassy
spot uncluttered with gravestones at the western end of
the cemetery. "At one time, the original church stood
there," she says. "During the Revolutionary War,
churches would often be used as hospitals. So there's
probably a fair amount of Revolutionary War soldiers
buried here." A walk around the cemetery confirms her
hunch, asweather-bittengravestonesrevealthe graves
of both Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers.

Over the last five years, Bodnar has visited more than
400 cemeteries in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New
York, (Maryland, Virginia and New England. Like
Hansberry, he finds New England cemeteries to be the
most aesthetic and history-laden.

His cemetery treks have netted him a collection of
4,500 slides of the photographs he has taken. As well,
he has entered some 1 0,000 full epitaphs or excerpts in
his computer. "I record ones that are unusual or
different," he says. Many of them to me are a final
statement about a person's life. They're lovely; it's a
form of poetry in a sense." Among his favorites is the
epitaph of a Mars PA woman who died at age 20 : "Decry
not the brevity of her life, celebrate the beauty of it."

In their sensitivity for the sanctity of graveyards, both

AGSSu '92 p. 23

Hansberry and Bodnar have found allies in cemetery
groundskeepers — part custodians, part storytellers.
"Thegroundskeepersthatl'veencounteredwere retired
or semiretired men who enjoyed maintaining the
grounds, and I think there's a certain bonding with
them," says Bodnar. Once I start talking to them it's
difficult to break off the conversation and continue my
work. They see that there are other people who have
a genuine interest in cemeteries and are interested in

presen/ing them for historical purposes."

Hansberry concurs: "They'll drag you everywhere in the
cemetery and talk your ear off." Not that Bodnar or
Hansberry really mind. Cemeteries to them are places
of deathless fascination. "You could look at (our hobby)
as anotherway to have appreciation for early American
art and history," says Bodnar.

Edwin Dethlefsen died very suddenly in October 1 991
in Tampa, Florida. He had been a faculty member at
Harvard, Boston University, Franklin Pierce College
and William and Mary. As well he was a past-
president of the Society for Historical Archaeology and
a Fellow of the Explorers Club. His current research
involved the use of video and computers in shipwreck
research.

According to Jim Deetz, in the "Fonward" of Richard
Meyer's Cemeteries and Gravemarkers, Edwin "Ted"
Dethlefsen's observation in the early sixties at a Con-
cord, Massachusetts burial ground: "Look, you don't
really have to read the dates [on gravestones] to tell
roughly how old the stones are [because] the designs
are different at different times," launched them onto the
cutting edge of discovery (Allan Ludwig's Graven Im-
ageshad not yet appeared ),asthey spent the nextfour
years examining hundreds of cemeteries for orderly
stylistic change.

As the result of this casual remark, Dethlefsen, princi-
pally in association with Deetz, thus went on to publish
such now classical gravestone articles as:

Deetz, James and Edwin Dethlefsen

1 965 "The Doppler Effect and Archaeology: A Consid-
eration of the Spatial Aspects of Seriation."
Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, vol. 21 ,
no. 3.

Dethlefsen, Edwin and James Deetz

1966 "Death's Heads, Cherubs, and Willow Trees:

Experimental Archaeology in Colonial Cem-
eteries." American Antiquity, vol. 31 , no. 4.

Dethlefsen, Edwin and James Deetz

1 967 "Eighteenth Century Cemeteries: A Demographic
View." Historical Archaeology, vol. 1.

Dethlefsen, Edwin

1969 "Colonial Gravestones and Demography."
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, yo\.
31.

Deetz, James and Edwin Dethlefsen

1971 "Some Social Aspects of New England Colonial
Mortuary Art." Memoirs of the Society for
American Anthropology, vol. 25.

Dethlefsen, Edwin and Kenneth Jensen

1977 "Social Commentary fromthe Cemetery. "A/afura/
History, vol. 6, no. 6.

Deetz, James and Edwin Dethlefsen

1978 "Death's Head, Cherub, Urn and Willow," in
Historical Archaeology: A Guide to Substantive
and Theoretical Contributions. Edited by Robert
L. Schuyler. Farmingdale, New York: Baywood
Publishing Company Inc.

Dethlefsen, Edwin

1981 'The Cemetery and Culture Change: Archaeo-
logical Focus and Ethnographic Perspective," in
Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of
Us. Edited by Richard A. Gould and Michael B.
Schiffer. New York: Academic Press.

Later, as you seefrom his obituary, Dethlefsen's interests
shifted towards underwater archaeology.

Cathy A. Wilson, Oakmont. PA 15139

AGS Su '92 p. 24

REDISCOVERING GREEN-WOOD

Exhibition Opens OCTOBER 29, 1992

Brooklyn, NY - The Brooklyn Historical Society will open a
new exhibition titled Rediscovering Green-Wood Cemetery

on Wednesday, October 28 from 5:30-7:30 pm at 128
Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights. Photographs, objects,
drawings and prints will help interpret the cemetery's role in
American culture. The exhibition is open through February 1 ,
Wednesday - Sunday from 12 noon to 5 pm. Admission is
$2.50 for adults, $1 for children, and free to all on Wednes-
days. For more information, call 718-624-0890.

Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery was incorporated in 1838
and quickly became one of New York's leading attractions. Its
park-like grounds with artistic monuments were radically
different from the older, traditional church graveyards. Scenic
and beautiful, Green-Wood was designed as much for use by
the living as the dead. Looking at its Victorian landscape —
one that reflects issues of design, tourism, fame, history,
class, people and change — reveals a great deal about 19th-
century American culture. And Green-Wood's continued
evolution tells us much about our own attitudes towards life
and death.

Modeled on the rural cemeteries of other urban centers in the
early 1800s— Boston's Mt. Auburn (1831), Philadelphia's
Laurel Hill (1836), and Paris's Pere Lachaise (1804), Green-
Wood was created to provide permanence in times of ex-
traordinary change: a permanent resting place for the dead,
instant history through monuments and memorials, and the
security that families would always be together, generation
after generation.

Located several miles away from the hustle and bustle of the
city, Green-Wood's expanses of manicured land stretched on
and on. In the days before huge parks like Prospect and
Central Park (in fact, Green-Wood would serve as a model for
these later developments), this cemetery was a novelty.
Designed and engineered by David B. Douglass, the cemetery
was created as a community response to the overcrowded
conditions of church graveyards. He drew on prevailing
notions that nature was healthy, instructional, and an aid to
helping people see death as a peaceful part of life — not
something to be feared. He transformed overworked farm-
land into hills, lakes, and ponds, incorporating winding foot
and carriage paths that revealed new vistas at every turn.

For many people today, it seems odd to go to a cemetery to
do anything but visit a relative or friends' grave. Not so when
Green-Wood was created.

Within ten years of its founding in 1838, its 200 acres (over
250 more were added later) were not only a choice site for
burials but a major attraction for visitors. By 1 849, sightseers
could purchase maps of the cemetery which offered "the
Tour," a suggested circuit of sites. Sundays, often the only
day off for working people, were popular. Such visits were

often family outings. It is estimated that in 1860, almost
500,000 visitors passed through Green-Wood's gates.

Green-Wood Cemetery may also be one of the country's best
repositories for outdoor sculptural art. Especially in the mid
19th century, in the days before gravestones crowded the
cemetery, certain monuments had "celebrity" status, con-
sidered must-sees on a trip to the cemetery. They were not
necessarily for well-known or famous people. Instead, their
appeal often lay in the poignant stories, histories, exotic tales,
or noble sentiments associated with them and which appealed
to Victorian sensibilities. In addition, the sculpture itself was
also often an attraction. In the days before big public
museums, monuments held particular appeal for communi-
ties which often had little contact with fine art.

Green-Wood has not remained static. It has changed over
the years, reflecting the newtastes and concerns of successive
generations. As Brooklyn's population increased, so did
Green-Wood's; the number of burials and monuments quickly
began to fill up what had once looked like park land. In recent
years, the cemetery has added a modern cremetory,
columbarium, and Urn Garden, as well as the Hillside Garden
Mausoleum. And new kinds of monuments — ones that reflect
20th century tastes — now appear in the landscape.

A series of walking tours through Green-Wood Cemetery will
be scheduled throughout the fall. Focusing on different
unique aspects of the cemetery, the walking tours will reveal
the many treasures of Green-Wood, including its vistas,
botanical and avian treasures, and celebrity landmarks.

The curator of the exhibition Rediscovering Green-Wood

Cemetery is BHS Chief Curator Ellen Snyder-Grenier.
Kenneth Ames of The New York State Museum and David
Schuyler of Franklin & Marshall College and associate editor
of the Frederick Law Olmsted Papers are the scholarly
advisors on the project. The Board of Trustees of Green-
Wood Cemetery has been an important partner in the project
by providing access to The Green-Wood Cemetery Archives
and support for the exhibition.

For more information, contact: Ellen Snyder-Grenier (718)
624-0890

AGS Su '92 p. 25

NOTES & QUERIES

Anne Rogal, of West Bay, Nova Scotia,
Canada, writes that she had a gravestone
made to mark the grave of family members
in 1990. This is of Nova Scotia marble,
from Marble Mountain, Cape Breton, hand
carved by Jim Boyd of Saint John, New
Brunswick. The stone was erected in the
Cudworth Cemetery, Scituate MA. Ms.
Rogal has heard that the lettering on this
stone has become indistinct in the short
time since it was erected. She has asked
what, if anything, can be done to restore
the lettering. Any thoughts from the
stonecarvers and conservators?

1991 Northfield Conferees!

Someone at the 1991 Northfield conference had sev-
eral photos of Shaker "lollipop" markers which were in
their possession. We would appreciate learning who
has these markers. Several are missing from the
cemetery in Harvard MA and perhaps from other Shaker
cemeteries. Shaker burial records are quite complete,
which will simplify their return. If you know anything
about these Shaker "lollipop" markers, please notify the
AGS office.

Allen Appell of Calhoun MO points out that something
appears to be missing from the "8870 Formula" (AGS
A/ews/etter, Spring 1992, p. 12). "Ithinkonemustuse
either 88 or 70 if the subtraction of either the month or
day figure is greater than 88 or 70, otherwise use the
subtraction as is. There was a print error in the year
subtraction."

Ed. note: There was indeed a typing error in the year
subtraction. The correct figure should be: 18179797.

For Sale:

Cast-iron inverted torches, one pair.
Modern castings from the original molds (these were
not removed from a cemetery) . Documentation places
these handsome tomb enclosure torches to a private lot
in Cypress Grove Cemetery, New Orleans, dated 1 851 .
Each torch meaures 5 x 26 inches. Satisfaction guar-
anteed: this matching-pair represents the symbolic and
elegant lot enclosure ironwork of the rnid-nineteenth
century. $110, plus UPS charges.
Robert Wright: 716-461-2553

AGS Su '92 p. 26

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

New Trustees

It seems that all this column deals with are deadlines —
I guess it's the time of year — as the year winds down,
I get the feeling that everything has got to be done!
Anyway, I hope you can keep them straight — it's a lot to
do!

Membership Drive

Our membership drive has caused an increase in
membership, which is fantastic, but we still need about
125 new members by the end of the year to make our

1 992 goal of 1 ,000 members. There's still time - please
help by getting someone to join by January 1 , 1 993 and
win yourself a gift at the same time. Information is
available through the office.

For our Next Conference

Our 1993 conference will be held at Connecticut Col-
lege in New London, Connecticut, and we're already in
the middle of planning for it. You will find the Call for
Papers elsewhere in this issue, and you are encouraged
to send in a proposal. However, there are a couple of
other items that we need to begin planning for now:

1993 Forbes Award

Conference is also the time when our election results
are announced. This year, I'd like to invite interested
parties to let us know if you would like to be considered
by the Nominating Committee for a position on our
Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees generally
meets four times a year: January, April, at the confer-
ence in June, and in October. You must be able to
attend those meetings at your own expense. There
must also be a strong interest in being an active
participant of the Board. If you have talents or skills that
you think could help AGS, and are able to attend all of
the meetings, please submit your name for considera-
tion. Please send all information to the office by
December 1, 1992.

AGS Takes Off?!?

I have been asked to 'lest the waters" for an AGS
sponsored trip to Great Britain. If we did this, the
estimated cost per person would be approximately
$2,000 for a 1 0 day to two week tour. If there's enough
interest, then we will consider doing it. If you are
interested, please let me know, and we'll keep you
posted on any developments.

Sales Items

Nominations are being accepted for the 1993 Forbes
Award. Recipients do not need to be members of AGS,
but should have made an outstanding contribution to
gravestone studies in some way. If you would like to
nominate someone who is not familiar to the Board,
then please plan on showing as much documentation
as possible when making your nomination. If your
nominee has published, then please provide copies of
their publications - we will return them to you after the
Board has been able to go through them. If you have
other documentation of your nominee's contributions to
gravestone studies, then please send it with your letter
of nomination. If there are people who can testify to
your nominee's work, then testimonial letters are in
order. You get the idea - the more information you can
provide, the better the Board can make a decision.
Also, please be aware that the recipient of the Forbes
Award must be able to attend our conference, so they
can receive the award in person. Nominations must be
received at the AGS office by December 1, 1992.
Please take the time to nominate someone - the Board
needs and welcomes your input on this!

Everyone keeps saying, "if only you would offer a
sweatshirt, I would buy one." Or, "Why don't you offer
tote bags?" Well, here's your chance! Enclosed with
your newsletter is a list of several items you might want
to order. Included are sweatshirts, the last two years'
conference t-shirts, postcards, mugs, and tote bags.
However, unlike our publications list, where we try to
keep everything in stock all of the time, this is basically,
for now, a one-shot deal (except for the t-shirts). I will
be ordering from our supplier (who also happens to be
an AGS member), only what I get in orders. That is how
you are able to get a choice of hooded or crewneck
sweatshirt, and how we're able to afford to do this for the
first time! If there's a lot of interest in items like this, then
we will consider off ering more in the future.

But for now - please, the
deadline of December 1st is a
firm one - get your order in on
time and expect delivery in
four to six weeks.

Mi randa

AGS Su '92 p. 27

CALL FOR PAPERS AND EXHIBITS

Conference '93

The Association for Gravestone Studies is seeking proposals and abstracts for its lecture presentation
sessions scheduled for the AGS' 1993 Annual Conference, to be held June 24-27 in New London,
Connecticut. Topics are solicited from a variety of media including rubbings, photographs, castings,
photographic essays and videotapes from any perspective on gravestone studies.

Those interested are encouraged to send a 250-word abstract or proposal by January 1, 1993 to the
program chair: Stephen Petke, 8 Cobblestone Road, East Granby CT 06026

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer,
editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State
University, Monmouth OR 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor, Nova Scotia Museum, 1747
Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H3A6, Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $24.50; Vol. 3, $38.95
(cloth only); Vol. 4, $21.95; Vol. 5, $22.95; Vol. 6, $26.95; Vol. 7, $15; Vol. 8, $20; Vol. 9, $20; higher prices for non-members) from
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ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

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Al NEWSLETTER

<|JUJ?^ ■ OFTHEASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 16 NUMBER 4 FALL 1992 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

Punxsutawney's [PA] Casket Stone

by Cathy Wilson 2

"FNDOZBTKC:AMRY" The Mystery Is Solved

by Laurel K. Gabel 4

"Children of the Heavenly King"

by Laurel K. Gabel 5

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS, Cemetery & Gravemarkers Section: American Culture Association,

1993 Annual Meeting, New Orleans LA 6

BOOK REVIEWS

The Cemetery Book: Graveyards, Catacombs and Other Travel Haunts Around the World

by Tom Weil, reviewed by Gray Williams Jr 12

Lettering on Stone

reviews by Roberta Halporn of new publications 14

LEGISLATION

New Cemetery Preservation Bill in Georgia- full text - 16

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE 20

The Mystery-History of the William Hall Stone

by Jessie Lie Farber 22

"Negro Burial Ground" 24

Gravestone Enthusiast Finds Her Dream Car .....= 26

ASSOCIATION NEWS 27

,^5>*!(

Pat Miller, 36 Tammarack Ave, #197, Danbury
CT 0681 0 spotted this stone in the Center Cem-
etery, Newtown CT. In the circle of the cross is a
glass egg which reflects two views of the area,
one upside down. Has anyone see anything like
this? Does the cross style have meaning?

AGS Fa' 92 p. 1

PUNXSUTAWNEYS CASKET STONE

by Cathy Wilson, Oakmont PA.

Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, is best known as
the Weather Capitol of the World. That is, it is the
community where every February 2nd, af at, furry
groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil emerges
momentarily from hibernation high atop Gobbler's
Knob in order to announce to an awaiting world
whether it can expect six more weeks of winter.
Cemetery enthusiasts, however, who might find
themselves among the early morning throngs
which gather outside of Phil's burrow on
Groundhog's Day, should also plan to visit Calvary
Cemetery on the western edge of town. Here
they will discover one of the area's unique grave
markers — the Gatti casket stone.

According to the local newspaper, Yolanda Giulia Gatti,
one of nine children, was born November 11,1 906, to
Felix C.V. and Mary Pettinata Gatti. Felix and Mary
were Italian immigrants who initially settled during the
late nineteenth century in Walston, a gritty, coal com-
pany town, six miles northwest of Punxsutawney. After
a succession of successful positions in the company
store, in addition to becoming the Walston postmaster
and a local justice of the peace, Felix Gatti was able to
move his family into Punxsutawney and to open Gatti's
Pharmacy, two blocks from the main street of town. At
the time, Yolanda, 15, was reportedly enrolled at the
local high school. After her formal
education she continued to reside
with her parents and spent her
days helping her sister behind the
Pharmacy's counter. Then on
October 2, 1936, the local paper
reported that after five years of
poor health, Yolanda had died the
previous morning in her parent's
home at the age of 29.

The body of the young woman
was interred under the floor of her
family's small mausoleum in
Calvary Cemetery. Although the
family had seemingly succeeded
in local business, they were less
successful in child rearing.
Yolanda was their seventh child to
die. Thus the family, in the midst
of their grief, selected what they
felt would be a suitable memorial
to place within their mausoleum —
a life-size reproduction of their

daughter as she appeared in her nrxjurning photograph.

The monument was ordered through the local J.U.
Rowbottom dealership. However, as Rowbottom was
unable to produce such a memorial, he sent, according
to his son, the family's explicit instaictions to Italy's
famous marble quarries at Carrara in the Apriane Alps.
At Carrara, an unknown craftsman or craftsmen, using
the nx)urning picture as a model, created a full-sized
sculpture of Yolanda lying on her coffin. Unfortunately,
as the packet of correspondence between Rowt>ottom
and Carrara was destroyed, it is impossible to judge the
extent to which any artistic license might have been
incorporated into the finished nronument.

Nevertheless, as it appears in Calvary Cemetery, the
solid marble casket, designed to
be placed upon two subbases, is
simply decorated with an acan-
thus leaf at each corner, two
Greek 'IHS' symbols, and four
crucifixes. On its cushions, with
her eyes closed and a rosary
clasped in her hands, Yolanda
reclines on a delicate lace or
crocheted shawl. She is dressed
in a square-yoked and gathered,
long-sleeved tunic over a full,
ankle-length skirt. Soft slippers
or stockings cover her feet. A
beaded choker encircles her
neck, and a single strand of beads
lie on her chest. A corsage of
three lilies is pinned to her
shoulder and a large bow with a
sash winds loosely about her
waist On her head, the patterned
shawl blends with a sweater hat.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 2

When the monument was completed in Italy, it was
loaded on a freighter bound to New York City. From
there the stone was shipped to Punxsutawney by rail.
Unfortunately, It arrived during the winter, so Rowbwttom
temporarily placed the memorial in his showroom
window. In the spring, the monument was finally
installed in the family's mausoleum.

Two years later Yolanda's mother, Mary, died. The
family's prosperity deteriorated. Herfather, Felix closed
the Pharmacy and became the proprietor of the local
White Front bar and restaurant. In 1940, he died. As
the years passed, the few remaining family members
either moved or died, and the community forgot the
Gattis. Their private mausoleum fell into disrepair. In
fact, nrwrethanlwenty years afterherdeath.theglazed,
tile stnjcture, according to the current cemetery care-
taker, had become an eyesore which the Cemetery

eventually dismantled. Consequently, when the build-
ing was torn down, Yolanda's nrxjnument became ex-
posed not only to the natural elements but to the
scrutiny of a populace largely unfamiliar with its history.
As a result regional journalists have periodically photo-
graphed the marker as a local curiosity. Others have
dismissed it as an ostentatious memorial of a wealthy
eccentric. And still others have romanticized It as a
tragic portrait of a betrothed buried in her wedding
dress.

In reality, however, the weathering memorial is simply
a natural depiction of a forgotten young woman. Nev-
ertheless Its scrupulous detail still survives and the
stone remains an impressive monument to both
American mourning photography and Italian crafts-
manship.

STOLEN!

The enclosed photograph shows a very rare 1769
gravestone stolen from St. Peter's Church graveyard,
Philadelphia, on August 7-8, 1992. It was renrwved
from the wall of the church tower. If you have any
information as to its whereabouts, please notify us right
away.

The stone is can/ed soapstone measuring about 1 6"x36"
with an ogee-carved head. Its inscription reads as
follows:

Here lieth the

Body of JOHN Son of

JOSEPH & HANNAH

HUDDLE who departed

this Life August 6, 1769

Aged 1 Year & 4 months

When I was young Christ

Call'd me home

My soul to leave this frame

And in the dust my body must

Till the last day Remain.

We have notified the Art Loss Register of this theft.
Please call (215) 925-5968 with any questions or in-
formation regarding this terrible loss.

Elizabeth S. Browne

Historic St. Peter's Church Preservation Corporation
313 Pine Street, Philadelphia PA 19106

AGS Fa' 92 p. 3

"FNDOZBTKC:AMRY"

The Mystery Is Solved

Several years ago the AGS research office received a
routine inquiry about the meaning of this emblem (il-
lustration) found on a 19th-century gravestone in Ar-
kansas. When a similar insignia turned up on a stone
in Louisiana, and another sighting was reported in
Texas, the mysteryof"FNDOZBTKC:AMRY" intensified.
Although the emblem was almost certainly linked to
membership in some secret fraternal auxiliary or ben-
efit society, no connection could be found.

Fraternal organizations often used strings of letters in
their emblems. Two of the many examples commonly
found on gravemarkers are "HTWSSTKS ," which stands
for "Hiram the Widow's son sent to King Solomon, "(one
of the lessons central to the Masonic degree of Royal
Arch Mason), and 'TOTE," an acronym for 'Totem of
the Eagle," used by the Improved Order of Red Men.

In response to an AGS Newsletter request for information
about the meaning of "FNDOZBTKCiAMRY" or details
about other known examples, ten additional stones
were documented. All twelve of the stones with this
emblem marked graves of women who had died Ijetween
1863 and 1929 in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, or
Texas. This suggested that the emblem was associated
with a women's fraternal orauxiliary organization active
in the south during the mid 19th and early 20th centuries.
Significantly, one of the women's stones included a
square and compass , an emblem most often associated
in the United States with Freemasonry.

Libraries in the towns where the stones appeared were
contacted and asked to provide names of genealogists
and town historians who might be able to furnish more
information atx)ut the deceased. Obituaries or town
histories sometimes include details about fraternal af-
filiations, church societies, orpopular local associations.
One genealogist, Dollyie Martin, suggested that I contact
Mr. W. J. Turney of Illinois. Mr. Turney had also been
searching for information atx)ut this strahge string of
letters seen on gravestones. He forwarded a copy of an
article by Wayne Spiller, which had appeared in the Fall
1986 issue of The Texas Freemason.

Mr. Spiller's article, "The Mystery of the Gravestone
Emblem," also deals with the enigma of
"FNDOZBTKC:AMRY." Spiller found these letters on
the gravestone of a widow buried in the "Old Spiller
Graveyard" in Southeastern McCulloch County, Texas.
According to his research, the emblem is that of a little-
known Masonic degree called Mason's Daughter. The
Masonic Service Association in SilverSpring, Maryland,

Emblem drawing by
Carol Perkins

referred him to a short entry in Coil's Masonic Ency-
clopedia as a source of information about this order.

Coil's Masonic Encyclopedla{Her\ry Wilson Coil. New
York:l961, 11-13) states that the Mason's Daughter
was a popular order in the mid 19th century, but probably
originated much earlier. Once separate from the Ma-
son's Wife, at some point (no one seems to know when
or where) the two orders untted. Mackey's Revised
Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (Albert G. Mackey.
New York:l916, 473) explains Mason's Wife and
Daughter as "a degree frequently conferred in the
United States on the wives, daughters, sisters, and
mothers of Masons, to secure to them, by investing
them with peculiar mode of recognition, the aid and
assistance of the Fraternity... [The Mason's Wife and
Daughter] had certain modes of recognition and a
signet bearing the letters AM RY (Mary) encircled by the
letters, FNDOZBTKC." But nowhere was there an
explanation for "FNDOZBTKC!"

According to Coil, the order of Mason's Daughter was
founded on the legend connecting Mary, sister of
Lazaais, with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jenjsalem. i
turned to the Bible and the Gospel according to St . John
in search of additional clues, in John 12:15, I finally
found thefollowing: "Fear not, daughterofZion; Behold,
thy King cometh." Amen.

Laurel K. Gabel, AGS Research

;•■¥■•

%

.m

detail of Sallie M. Furniss Hobdy stone, 1900, Old City
Cemetery, Homer LA, sent by EricJ. Brock, Shreveport LA

AGS Fa- 92 p. 4

"CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING"

Surrounded in the Harvard Center Burying Ground by the
arresting mask-like carvings produced by the Worsters and
by the skillfully executed faces and portrait stones carved by
the local Park family carvers, the lightly engraved slate
gravestone for John Priest seldom receives a second glance.
Like every grave marker, however, Priest's stone has a story
to tell.

Below the ubiquitous urn and willow design on John Priest's
stone is a lightly engraved musical notation encircling a coffin
topped with crossed swords and "1824," the date of death.
With careful scrutiny, one can also make out faint writing
following the curves of the inner circle, h reads: "The funeral
procession moved by, July Srd." I don't believe that I have ever
seen music on a 19th-century gravestone. Have you? I
wondered if the notes were merely sym-
bolic, or if they translated to an actual
melody.

When transcribed, the notes produced
music — a hymn or, in a minor key, a
funeral dirge. My Mother played a few bars

Children of the Heavenly King, As ye jour-
ney, sweetly sing;

Sing our Savior's worthy praise. Glorious
in His works and ways.
We are traveling home to God, In the way
our fathers trod;

They are happy now, and we Soon their
happiness shall see.

Fear not, brethren, joyful stand On the
borders of your land:
Jesus Christ, your Father's Son, Bids you
undismayed go on.

Lord, obediently we go. Gladly leaving all
below:

Only Thou our Leader be. And we still will
follow Thee.

249 vlbilbrcn of the fjcaoenly IKing.

John Cennick.

Plt'yel's Hymyi. /s. Arr. from Ignace Pleyel, / 77 t^

l-4i

?i

^^5¥

-^

1. Chil-drcD of the heav'n-ly King, As ye jonr- ney, sweet- ly sing;

2. \V..' are tra^ - 'ling iioine to God. In the way the la - thers trod:

3. Focir not, broth - ren, joy ■ fal stand On the bor-ders of yonr land;
bo -dient-ly we go. Glad-ly leav - ing all be ■ low;

4, Lord

i

"fs--

-^^

%^

Sine yoor SaT-iors wcr ■ thy praise, Glo-rious in His works and ways.
They are hap -py now, and we Soim their hap-pi-ness shall see.
Je - sus Christ. ToorFa-ther's Son. Bids yoQ nn - dis-mayed go on.
On ■ It Thon uur Lead - er be. And we still will fol - low Thee.

^3=^

A-MEN.

of the melody over the telephone to my
brother-in-law (a music historian), who
recognized it immediately as "Pleyel's
Hymn" or "Children of the Heavenly King,"
a very popular 18th-century hymn (still in-
cluded in most modern-day hymnals),
composed by ignace J. Pleyel. Pleyel
(1757-1831) was an eminent Austrian-
French composer and pianist, a one time student of Joseph
Hayden and a noted manufacturerof French pianos. Baker's
Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (Nicolas Slonimsky.
8th edition, 1420-21) details Pleyel's many musical accom-
plishments. Ignace, 'Ihe 24th of 38 children born to an
impoverished schoolteacher," was thefatherofCamille Pleyel,
also well known as a pianist, composer, and piano manufac-
turer.

The words of Pleyel's Hymn were written by Rev. John
Cennick (171 8-1 755). If you close your eyes and listen, you
can almost hearthef uneral procession as it passes by the old
burial ground, singing:

m

^^^PP

John Priest died on July 1, 1824, at the age of thirty-three.

According to his epitaph:

No Father near, watched his expiring child.
No anxious brother stood, his eyes to close,
No sister mourned, with frenzied sorrow wild,
As from his clay cold bed his spirit rose.

Suited to his death. He was found dead at adistance
from home.

The barely legible signature of a carver can be found at the
bottom right corner of the gravestone:

"Engraved by W. N. (or H.) Peter {?)"

Laurel K. Gabel, AGS Research, Emblem drawing by
Carol Perkins

AGS Fa' 92 p. 5

CEMETERIES AND GRAVEMARKERS SECTION:
AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS/PRESENTATIONS

1993 Annual Meeting

April 7-10, 1993

New Orleans, Louisiana

Section Chair: Richard E. Meyer

Department of English

Western Oregon State College

Monmouth OR 97361

ALEXANDER, James R: Department of Art, University of
Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham AL 35294-1260

Hope for ttie Future, Reflections of a Pasf.The Gravemarkers
of Hope Cemetery, Barre Vermor)t

The gravemarkers of Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont are
the unique and distinctive work of the Kalian stonecarvers
imported to work in the town's quarrying and monument
industries. These markers find hope for the future by reflect-
ing the past in depicting common scenes of work, life and
pleasure.

BARBER, Russell: Department of Anthropology, California
State University / San Bernardino, San Bernardino CA 92407

Structural Relationships Between Ethnicity and Cemetery
Layout in California Cemeteries

Given the importance of race and ethnicity to spatial and
social patterning in life, one might also expect that these
factors will have potent effects on the patterning of cemeter-
ies. Using data primarily from rural and urban cemeteries in
California, this paper will examine and analyze factors affect-
ing the patterning and what this might reveal about social
categories in life and death.

BETTERLY, Richard D.: Department of History, Southeast
Missouri, State University, Cape Giradeau MO 63701-4799

Computer Mapping of Cemetery Material Culture

Computer aided drafting and design software (CADD) pro-
vides a method for drawing the location, size, shape, material
composition, and other variables one desires to record about
a cemetery's material culture. Fieldwork from a Tennessee
project at St. John's Episcopal Cemetery in Maury County
furnishes measurements that are transformed into a compu-
ter generated map.

BIRNBAUM, CHARLES A.: Preservation Assistance Divi-
sion, National Park Service, Washington D.C. 20013-7127
BOLAN, Beth: National Register of Histork: Places, Nationai
Park Service, Washington D.C. 20013-7127
LEACH, Sara Amy: Historic Amerkian Buildings Survey,
National Park Service, Washington D.C. 20013-7127

A Preservation Planning Process for Historic Cemeteries and
Burial Grounds: The National Pari< Sen/ice Perspective
[Panel Discussion]

Histork: cemeteries and burial grounds are a significant
presence on the American landscape. With over 860 such
sites listed on the National Register of Histork: Places and
over 1 50 included in the Historic American Buildings Survey/
Historic American Engineering Record, the National Park
Service (NPS) has a great interest in the documentation,
identification, evaluation and treatment of these irreplaceable
cultural resources. Panelists will highlight recent initiatives at
the NPS, including National Register Bulletin* 41: How to
Evaluate and Document Historic Cemeteries and Burial
Grounds (newly published), and a Preservation Brief (in
development) on the Preservation of Historic Cemeterlea.

BLARE, Fred: Department of Anthropology, University of
Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu HI 96822

Occasional Gravemarkers and Sociocuttural Identities in
Hawaii's Cemeteries

This study describes the occasional grave markings (perish-
able and moveable decorations and offerings) by whk:h
members of Honolulu, Hawaii's multicultural community in
expressing their regard for the dead also express different
levels of ethnic and religious unity and diversity.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 6

CHITTENDEN, Varick A.: Department of Humanities, SUNY
College of Technology, Canton NY 1 361 7

Laid to Rest?: Cross Cultural Differences in a Mohawk Indian
Graveyard

Over the years various spiritual influences have vied with
each other within the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation at
Al<wessane, a condition evident in the several cemeteries,
where, upon handmade markers of wood, stone and structural
steel, motifs from Roman Catholicism and traditional long house
culture faiths share space with images from contemporary
occupational and popular cultures.

EULA, Michael: Department of History and American Stud-
ies, El Camino College, Torrance CA 90506

Working Class Culture and Italian-American Gravemarkers
in New Jersey and New York, 1880-1980

This paper explores the social construction of respectability
evident among Italian-American workers as expressed through
the erecting of elaborate monuments in New York metropolitan
area cemeteries. In addition to the expressions of sorrow
found here, one may also note the process of class formation
in an urban, industrial environment, and the role status plays
in this regard.

COOLEY, Francis Rexford: Department of History, Univer-
sity of New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824-3856

The Tablestoneof the Reverend Nathanael Hooker: The Role
of the 'Steward' and the Congregational Church in Connecticut,
1737-1770

The period of Reverend Nathanael Hooker's life (1 737-1 770)
was one of dynamic change in Connecticut, a time during
which the relationship of the minister and the Congregational
Church to the colony fundamentally changed. The text of
Hooker's tablestone captures this change in its chronicling of
the life of one man.

EXNICIOS, Joan M.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New
Orleans District, New Orleans LA 701 60-0267

Remembered Once But Then Forgotten: The Archaeology of
Louisiana Cemeteries

Using Louisiana examples, this paper discusses some of the
processes by which certain cemeteries evolve from remem-
bered to neglected, abandoned, and eventually forgotten,
and considers as well the role which archaeology can play in
the location and preservation of such sites.

DECOSTER, Jean-Jacques: Department of Anthropology,
Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853

Death Doeth Us Part: Processes of Separation and the
Production of Social Identity in the Funerary Practices of a
Ouechua Community

This paper considers an extreme case of dualism in Accha, a
small highland village of Peru, where burial practices, reflected
in the establishment and maintenance of two separate grave-
yards at opposite sides of the village, reproduce those of the
pre-Columbian Ouechua culture at the same time as they
mirror and foster the covert ritual social structure of the
village.

EDGETTE, J. Joseph: Master of Liberal Studies Program,
Widener University, Chester PA 19013

The Rescue of 'Bicycle Boy': The Restorational Case History
of a Gravemarker at Risk

Commissioned by the VanKirk family and carved by Thomas
Wood, Philadelphia's well-known 19th century "Bicycle Boy"
eventually became the victim of vandalism and pollution.
Now, a Wood descendant has breathed new life into this
distinctive monument.

FARBER,
FARBER,

01609

Daniel:
Jessie Lie:

31 Hickory Drive, Worcester MA

America's Earliest Sculpture: The Art of the Graveyard
[Special Feature Presentation]

Gravestones, America's earliest sculptural form and a con-
tinuing wellspring of primary source material for research in a
broad spectrum of interdisciplinary areas, have long fascinated
Daniel and Jessie Lie Farber. In this special feature pres-
entation, Dan, whosephotographsaretound inthepermanent
collections of 1 1 0 museums, and Jessie, one of the founders
of the Association for Gravestone Studies and the first editor
of its scholarly journal, /War/ters, will discuss and illustrate the
art of the graveyard as seen primarily during the 17th and 18th
centuries, the period when, many would argue, folk carving
traditions in America produced their most outstanding ex-
amples of this form. Consideration will also be given to the
manner in which the images, carving styles, and language of
inscriptions found upon these markers relate to the culture
that bred them, and to questions pertaining to preservation
and restoration efforts. Following the formal presentation,
time will be reserved for questions and audience interaction.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 7

FRANKS, Herschel A.: Earth Search, Inc., New Orleans LA

70185-0319

YAKUBIK, Jill-Karen: Earth Search, Inc., New Orleans LA

70185-0319

African-American and Euro-American Cemeteries in Soutti-
eastern Louisiana

In rural areas of southeastern Louisiana adjacent to the
Mississippi River, cemeteries used primarily by African-
Americans are different from-those of Euro-Americans in
terms of size, shape and location. These differences appear
to date to the antebellum period when many African-Ameri-
can cemeteries were plantation-based.

GABEL, Laurel K.: 205 Fishers Rd., Pittsford NY 14534

'Secure tlie Shadow 'Ere the Substance Fade': Photography
and Memorialization

Beginning in 1839 with Daguerre's "mirror with a memory"
and continuing with today's video technology, photography
has played a varied and significant role in the social rituals
surrounding death and mourning. This paper discusses
some of the forms and purposes of memorial photography,
including that found on gravemarkers.

GAMBONE, Robert L: Art Department, The College of St.
Catherine, St. Paul MN 55105

Prairie Piety: Ethnic and Religious Associations Evidenced
on 19th Century Minnesota Gravemarl<ers

This paper presents a works-in-progress account of a statewide
survey of ethnic church cemeteries in Minnesota, exploring
ways in which ethnicity and religious preference are reflected
in tombstone sculpture, inscriptions and motifs. Concentra-
tion is on the period of peak immigrationfrom the 1860s to the
turn of the century.

GRAVES, Thomas E.: 100 Pollack Drive, Orwigsburg PA

17961

Tal<e Two Coffin-Nails and Call Me in the Morning: The Use
of Coffins in Folk Belief

Coffins and coffin parts have several uses in folk medicine
and belief. Not all relating to death, these uses range from
cures to charms to conjuration, including a widespread ap-
pearance in wedding prophecies. This paper discusses the
beliefs concerning coffins and how they relate to other beliefs.

HALPORN, Roberta: The Center for Thanatology Research
and Education, Brooklyn NY 11 21 7-1 701

Memorial Impulse — Memorial Necessity

From a shrine to the first automobile crash to politicians' visits
to M. L. King's grave, in dispensing with the "soul," we seem
to be increasingly vesting sanctity in the deceased's corpo-
real site. Randomly selected media accounts illustrate that,
perhaps to a greater degree than ever before, there is a
growing necessity for marking these "last resting places."

HEADLEY, Janet A.: Department of Fine Arts, Loyola Col-
lege in Maryland, Baltimore MD 21210-2699

The Conservative Cemetery: Private and Public Commemo-
ration at Mount Auburn Cemetery

The monuments to Emily Binney and Nathaniel Bowditch, as
well as a projected memorial to Edward Everett, illustrate the
deeply entrenched conservatism at Mount Auburn. The
Everett example, especially, demonstrates the dilemma
Americans addressed in separating private and public com-
memoration, as his heirs debated the meanings conveyed by
a proposed allegorical monument.

GRADWOHL, David M.: Department of Anthropology, Iowa
State University, Ames lA 5001 1 -1 050

An Archaeologist's Perspective on the U.S. Military Pet
Cemetery at the Presidio of San Francisco

The pets of military personnel stationed at the Presidio of San
Francisco are buried in a special cemetery with an extensive
and varied array of mortuary markertypesand grave decora-
tions. These patterns contrast strikingly with the stark uniformity
of markers in the nearby cemetery where humans are in-
terred.

HECHT, Lea: Department of English, Southeast Missouri
State University, Cape Giradeau MO 63701-4799

Highgate and Kensal Green: London 's Verdant Preserves of
Voluptuous Victoriana

Providing an urban refuge in their tranquil lanes, grand
avenues, or lush undergrowth, London's Highgate and Kensal
Green Cemeteries are filled with elaborate, sometimes gar-
ish, monuments whose designs reflect the achievement,
inspiration, aspiration and pride of the Victorian period, re-
minding us of the age at its best and most bizarre.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 8

NORTON, Loren N.: State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa
City lA 52240

Rural Cemeteries in the Midwest

After 1 831 , the "rural" cemetery movement became common
in eastern American cities. This fashion also took hold in
midwestern cities, and in many smaller communities as well.
This paper examines the origins and designs of such rural
cemeteries in several midwestern states during the mid-l9th
century.

LEMMON, Alfred E.: Historic New Orleans Collection, New
Orleans LA 70130

The Cemeteries of New Orleans: Preserving the Past for the
Future

The cemeteries of New Orleans are the result of topographi-
cal, cultural, social, and ethnic forces that provide a valuable
source for developing an emerging profile of the community.
This paper will identify the sociocultural and artistic value of
these cemeteries and will trace varying preservation efforts,
including the inventorying of sites and existing documentation
on them.

HUANG, Nian-Sheng: School of Social and Behavioral Sci-
ences, California State University / San Bernardino, San
Bernardino CA 92407

Charles Bu If inch and His Memorial Urn for Benjamin Franklin

Bostonians, familiar with the motif of the funerary urn carved
on gravemarkers during colonial days, saw as well its poten-
tial as public decorative art when, in 1 794, Charles Bulfinch,
generally regarded as America's first architect, built his me-
morial urn for Benjamin Franklin. Originally the centerpiece
for an elegant row house project, the urn was later moved to
Mount Auburn Cemetery.

MALLOY, Thomas A.: Social Sciences Department, Mount
Wachusett Community College, Gardner MA 01440-1000

Utilizing Local Cemeteries to Teach the Civil War

Utilizing a five-town area in north central Massachusetts, this
paper will demonstrate how the Civil War can be made more
relevant and understandable to students and to a community
through the utilization of local monuments and the grave-
stones of veterans.

HUNT, Melinda: Department of Visual Arts, SUNY at Pur-
chase, Purchase NY 10577

The Nature of New York's IHart Island: Social Structures and
the City Cemetery

New York is the only major American city which continues to
maintain apotter'sfield. Since 1 869, nearly a million children,
immigrants, and victims of epidemics have been buried in
mass graves on Hart Island. The burial process here remains
tied to the early structuring of the penal and welfare systems.

MANHEIN, Mary H.: Department of Geography and Anthro-
pology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA 70803

A Girl Named Alice, the Witch of Zachary, Louisiana

Only 19 years old when she was laid to rest in 1859, Alice
Penny Taylor would, in the next 1 30 years, be in and out of her
above-the-ground burial vault on several occasions. This
paper details the origin and development of a modern myth,
the scientific analysis of Alice's skeletal remains and wearing
apparel, and the result of a recent facial reconstruction.

La RUE, Donna: 7 Sherborn Ct., Somerville MA 02145

Stones and Sites Related to the Massachusetts Puritan
Persecutions of 1692

The 1692 trials in Salem Village (Danvers), Salem, Beverly,
North Andover, and Boston, among other places, sought to
determinethe extent of an infestation of witchcraft and punish
by death its perpetrators. This paper focuses on the stones —
some which do not exist as well as those which do — of those
involved in the trials, whether as defendants, accusers, or as
ecclesiastical, civil, legal or lay participants.

MATTURRI, John: Graduate Center, City University of New
York, New York NY 10010

i-low Markers Might Mean: Cemetery Landscapes and Markers
as Props for Make-Believe

Although originally formulated to provide a philosophical
theory on the semantics of fiction, Kendall Walton's theory of
representation as make-believe may also be applicable to
many nonfictional cultural artifacts. Applying Walton'stheory,
this paper argues that cemetery landscapes and gravemarkers
can be viewed as props serving to cue visitors to adopt
culturally sanctioned attitudes, an appropriate make-believe
stance, towards the dead.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 9

MEYER, Richard E.: Department of English, Western Or-
egon State College, Monmouth OR 97361

'He Has Reached the Station': Gravemarkers of American
Railroaders

Like loggers, cowboys, miners, and several other groups,
those who work the rails are members of a "high context"
occupational subculture with strong elements of shared
worldview and a significant role in American history and
folklore. Not surprisingly, the gravemarkers erected in their
memory over the past 150 years constitute an ongoing visual
and verbal reflection of this identity.

RICHARDSON, Mllda B.: Departmentof Art History, Boston
University, Boston MA 02215

Lithuanian-American Cemetery Art: Visual and Verbal Im-
agery

After WW II and the incorporation of independent Lithuania
into the Soviet Union, certain traditional visual images and
inscriptions were officially banned from gravemarkers. But
several of the more prominent images found new strength
and significance in Lithuanian-American cemetery art, be-
coming both a symbol of emigre protest and a repository of
traditional Lithuanian cultural values in America.

NELSON, Malcolm A.: Department of English, SUNY at
Fredonia, Fredonia NY 14063

HOFFMAN, Elizabeth A.: Department of English, SUNY at
Binghampton, Binghampton NY 13901

Flowers in the Desert: Gravemarkers, Decorations and Offer-
ings in the American Southwest

Cemeteries, gravemarkers, and graveside offerings are clear
indicators of the degree of Anglicization of the native cultures
of the Rio Grande and Colorado River basins. In many
Mexican-American and Native American communities, the
old ways, as well as the beliefs they convey, interact and co-
exist with mainstream American culture.

ROTUNDO, Barbara: 48 Plummer Hill Rd., # 4, Belmont NH
03220

'But What Does it Mean?' They Ask

Not only do many images used on gravestones have multiple
meanings, they sometimes also have the tendency to shift
meaning with the passage of time. This paper will explore
how some symbols have added to, changed, or retained their
primary significance.

SARAPIN. Janice:

08816

6 Alexander Road, East Brunswick NJ

NEWSOM, Rollo K.: Department of Sociology and Anthro-
pology, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos TX
78666-4616

'Life is Tough, Then You Die': Age Distinctions in Central
Texas Gravemarkers

Infant row is a widely observed form of age distinction in
American cemeteries. Another form that is nearly as obvious
in retrospect, though largely undocumented, is the distinctive
characteristics given the individual gravemarkers of children,
adolescents and young adults. Examples from 21 central
Texas cemeteries clearly illustrate the prominent distinctive-
ness of these markers.

PEARSON, Charles E.: Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton
Rouge LA 70802

The Cemetery and f^aterial Culture: St. Louis II Cemetery,
New Orleans

Recent study of St. Louis II, one of the oldest cemeteries in
New Orleans, has employed archaeological techniques in
conjunction with historical research to examine the cem-
etery's material culture, revealing both the ethnic variability of
interment at this site and the distinctive nature of New Orleans
burial practices.

Cultural Movements and Customs in New Jersey's Old Burial
Grounds

New Jersey's historical status as a melting pot of cultures is
evident when examining the older burial grounds in the state.
Relying on f ieldwork from all areas of the state, this paper will
focus on a discussion of selected Native American,
AfricanAmerican, Quaker, Moravian, Jewish, and Swedish
cemeteries with burials prior to 1850.

SEXTON, Rocky: Departmentof Anthropology, University of
Iowa, Iowa City lA 52242

Cultural Variation in Southwest French Louisiana as Re-
flected in the Cemetery Landscape

This paper argues that the cemeteries of southwest French
Louisiana, owing to such factors as past immigration pat-
terns, changes in religious affiliation, and evolving funerary
technology, reflect greatercultural diversity than is commonly
acknowledged, even within specific ethnicgroups such as the
Cajun French.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 10

SHEUMAKER, Helen: Department of American Studies,
University of Kansas, Lawrence KS 66045

The Ties Between Us: Gravestones of Georgetown, Ken-
tucky and Nicodemus, Kansas

The all-black frontier town of Nicodemus, Kansas was settled
in the late 19th century largely by former residents of
Georgetown, Kentucky. Acomparative study of gravemarkers
from each community reveals the ties — familial, cultural,
emotional — ^that existed between these settlers and their
home areas, suggesting uses of gravemarkers in measuring
cultural diffusion and frontier theories.

WARE, Thomas C: Department of English, University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga TN 37403

The Price of Freedom: The l-listory of the Chattanooga-
Chicl<amauga National Cemetery

Establishment of Chatlanooga-Chickamauga Cemetery was
necessitated by the pattern of intense Civil War battles fought
in Autumn, 1 863. By 1 865, more than 1 2,500 interments had
been made, including 5,000 "unknowns." Selected for topo-
graphical and aesthetic reasons, it serves as the final resting
place for veterans of every U.S. war since the American
Revolution.

SZE, Corinne P.: Research Services of Santa Fe, Santa Fe
NM 87501

The Dawson Cemetery: The Legacy of a Vanished Coal
Mining Company Town in Northeastern New Mexico

This paper analyzes the primary surviving physical record of
a vanished coal mining community, once a model Phelps
Dodge company town. Of particular interest are markers for
victims of two major mine explosions and those reflecting a
diverse ethnically and linguistically mixed immigrant popula-
tion.

FORUM: ?Cemete/ary (Mis)information?

Was high ground water really the major factor contributing to
New Orleans' distinctive above-ground burial customs? Did
prohibition-era bootleggers really stash their hootch inside
"white bronze" monuments?? Does the epitaph on W. C.
Fields' gravemarker really say "Better Here Than Cleve-
land!"??? Is the reason so many cemeteries are enclosed
with high walls really because people are just dying to get
in???? Is Jimmy Hoffa really buried in Elvis' grave????? Is
this guy really serious?????? Come to this year's forum
prepared to discuss (?debate? / ?defend? / ?debunk?) your
favorite instances of suspectedly spurious cemete/ary be-
liefs.

VANDERSEE, Charles: Department of English, University
of Virginia, Charlottesville VA 22903

Grave Site as Gift and Prophecy: The Adams Monument at
Rocli Creel< Cemetery

Saint-Gaudens' renowned bronze figure in Washington (1891),
is less memorial than challenge to interpreters: A mirror
reflecting American spiritual dis-ease? A gift behaving as a
reproach? Avirtually inaccessible visual enigma? Assuredly,
a postmodern site where texts struggle against image to
control meaning.

TOUR: Walking Tour of Metairie Cemetery

Built on the site of a former racetrack, Metairie Cemetery is
one of the most culturally diverse and architecturally signifi-
cant of all nineteenth century American garden-type cemeter-
ies. This walking tour, led by art historian Peggy McDowell of
the University of New Orleans, will start inside the cemetery
entrance at 2 PM on Wednesday, April 7 (directions to the
cemetery and other details will be sent to section conference
participants, and to others upon request to the section chair).

van LENT, Peter: Department of Modern Languages and
Literatures, St. Lawrence University. Canton NY 13617

'Je me souviens': Gravemarl<ers as Cultural Sustainers in the
French-American Communities of Northern New York

French Americans in the Adirondacks and border areas of
Northern New York refer often to the cemeteries associated
with their parish churches and to the French they can still read
on the gravemarkers. Some of these cemeteries have been
lost or abandoned, but most remain, providing valuable clues
to the cultural heritage of this vibrant ethnic group.

r

=^

AGS SURVEY

Thanks to all of you who have returned the yellow survey
form found in the last AGS Newsletter. By providing
information about your interests, accomplishments and
special projects, you help to determine the direction and
focus of AGS. Once the information has been entered
onto our computer, we look forward to linking members
with similar interests. We strongly encourage all mem-
bers who have yet to return a survey form to do so. If you
no longer have a yellow form contact Laurel K. Gabel,
AGS Research Coordinator, at 205 Fishers Road,
Pittsford, New York 14534. Send in your form and be
included.

^

r^

AGS Fa' 92 p. 11

BOOK REVIEWS

The Cemetery Book: Graveyards. Catacombs and Other Travel Haunts Around the World

by Tom Well

review by Gray Williams Jr.

Hippocrene Books Inc., 171 Madison Ave., New York NY 10016. $22.50, 420 pages, no illustrations

The title forthis book is perhiaps too all-embracing. This
isn't the book on cemeteries, nor does it pretend to be.
Rather, it is a loosely organized but tightly packed
compendium of funerary lore, based on the author's
extensive travels, reading and research. It is also
highly selective and personal. As the author, a travel
columnist for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, freely ad-
mits, "I have included from my cemetery collection only
a relatively small selection, specimens chosen to give
the flavor of graveyards and their charms and delights."

The text is divided into six chapters. The first is a
relatively short collection of general sentiments on
death and graveyards — twth the author's own and
those of other writers ranging from St. Augustine to the
National Lampoon — which reflect the expansive
catholicity and impressionistic stmcture of the book as
a whole.

The second chapter is a tour that samples graveyards
in Europe, South America, North Africa and Asia. Many
are quite well known, such as P6re Lachaise in Paris,
Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, the Egyptian pyramids and
the Taj Mahal. Others, such as the Zaydi cemetery at
Sada in Yemen, and the Moghul mausoleum at
Tughlaqabad, are literally and figuratively nx)re out of
the way. No examples from this country, though; the
author prefers to "emphasize lesser known, if no less
fascinating, burial grounds located in far lands or other-
wise difficult of access." The decision is defensible, but
nonetheless somewhat disappointing.

The next chapter is devoted to the graves and grave-
yards of expatriates: those buried far from their original
homes. Some of these locations are well-known tourist
attractions, such as the Protestant graveyard in Rome,
where Keats and Shelley are buried, and Robert Louis
Stevenson's isolated grave on Samoa. But most — ^the
resting places of soldiers, missionaries, explorers,
colonists, and exiles — are obscure, and testify to the
author's indefatigibility as a world traveller.

Chapter Four is a fascinating though sometimes unap-
petizing description of the many ways humans have
devised to dispose of the physical remains of their dead
(other than simple burial or cremation). These range
from charnel houses, ossuaries and catacombs to
techniques of embalming and mummification. Some of
the examples are memorably bizarre, such as the
clothed, waxwork-headed skeleton of philosopher
Jeremy Bentham, which presides at an annual dinner at
the University of London, or the Capuchin catacomb at
Palermo, where desiccated cadavers are dressed as
they were in life and put on display.

Chapter Five, "Dear Dumb Animals," is devoted to
animal memorials, particularly of fiorses arvj pets.
Unlike other chapters, it contains many American ex-
amples, since pet cemeteries are especially popular
here. I only regret that the author does not
explore (although he amply documents) a curious fea-
ture of such repositories: human beings often display
more heartfelt sentiment in the monuments for their
pets than in those for their own kind.

The final chapter concentrates mainly upon graveyards
of the Jewish diaspora, but also takes in catacombs
within Israel itself, plus similarly scattered Armenian
cemeteries. It also contains an account of the putative
burying places of Jesus in Jerusalem. The descriptions
of Jewish graveyards and of Jewish history are among
the most poignant in the txjok, and evidently have deep
personal meaning for the author. Somewhat surpris-
ingly, he does not mention the most heart-wrenching
Jewish memorials of all: the various cenotaphs for the
victims of the Holocaust. But perhaps he found the
subject too unbearable to explore.

For graveyard buffs, one of the most useful elements of
this book is its bibliography, listing about 1 50 standard
worths concerning graveyards, monuments and funerary
practices. AGS members are likely to recognize many

AGS Fa' 92 p. 12

of them, but some are out of the ordinary. Incidentally,
among the recommended sources of information are
both AGS itself, and trustee Roberta Halpom's Centre
fro Thanatology Research.

The greatest strengths of this book are the breadth and
variety of the information it contains. The coverage
may not be encyclopedic, but it sure is extensive. The
author has visited cemeteries over much of the world,
and enriches his observations with a wide range of
references to history, art and literature. The book's
weakest F>oints include its rather impressionistic or-
ganization, which tends to lose the forest (and the
reader) anxjng thickets of detail. Also, its prose style
occasionally lapses into pretentiousness or self-con-
scious cuteness, especially when the author tries to be
funny. He appears unable, for instance, to resist the
temptation of bad puns. In his chapter on animal

burials, after quoting an epitaph for a dog named Jip,
'1he only dog we ever knew that atterxjed church every
Sunday," he adds a gratuitous comment of his own
"Hopefully the sermons Jip heard were not too dog-
matic." And later in the same chapter he describes a
couple that "buried several cats in the family plot, which
thus became a catacomb, so to speak."

All in all, this makes a rich and satisfying read for all of
us graveyard enthusiasts. It is best digested in small
pieces — after awhile its density of detail tends to numb
the mind. But Tom Weil doubtlessly speaks for many
AGS members (including myself) when he defends his
passionate interest in a subject that many still find
morbid or repellent: "I would not deny a reader's charge
that I have frivobusly and even uselessly spent all to
much time visiting cemeteries. But, dear reader, pray
tell — have you spent your days and years any better?"

New from Heritage Books

Cemetery Inscriptions of the Town of Barnstable,
Massachusetts, and Its villages, 1600-1900

by PaulJ. Bunnell

This new collection is an alphabetical arrangement of
inscriptions from twenty-tfiree cemeteries found in
Barnstable and its neighboring towns (West Barnstable,
Centerville, Cobb Hill in Barnstable, East Barnstable,
Cummaquid, Marstons Mills and Oak Grove). The
inscriptions include the name of the deceased, and,
when available, the year of death and/or birth and the
names of spouses and children. Additional commen-
tary identifies such items as: who the deceased is
buried next to or the family plot in which he or she was
buried; the condition of the tombstone as a result of
weather and time or vandalism; stones that were diffi-
cult to read; supplementary information provided by the
compiler such as military involvement of the deceased,
epitaphs, status (widow, infant, doctor, etc.), religious
affiliation, age at death. A key identifies each person
with the cemetery in which he or she was buried.
Several photographs of some of the more unique
stones are included.

1992, c400 pp., illus., paper $30.00 #8856
ORDER FROM: HERITAGE BOOKS, INC.
540-E Pointer Ridge Place, Suite 300, Bowie, Maryland
20716

Phone:(301)390-7709
SHIPPING: $3.00 per order

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS: Mount Holly Cemetery
Book

AGS member Sybil Crawford of Dallas, Texas, is the
author of Jubilee: Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock,
Arkansas, Its First 150 Years, 1843-1993, an illustrated
retrospective. Often called the Westminster Abbey of
Arkansas, Mount Holly's past is treated in an entertaining
manner, with vignettes of many of those interred there —
the prominent and obscure alike. A typical Victorian
cemetery of its time, Mount Holly was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Little
Rock's amazingly complex family relationships, as well
as iconography, fraternal and social relationships, burial
artifacts, demographics and mortality are all touched
upon.

Produced in hardback, 8 1 /2 by 1 1 inch format, the book
has approximately 160 pages, 90 illustrations, bibliog-
raphy, glossary, and index. The price is: $35.00 plus
$4.00 shipping/handling. Orders for Spring delivery
should be directed to:

Commemorative Book Order

Mount Holly Cemetery Associatton

P.O. Box #2501 18

Little Rock, AR 72225

AGS Fa' 92 p. 13

LETTERING ON STONE
A Review of New Publications

by Roberta Halporn

One of the subjects that has puzzled me since I joined
AGS at the first conference in Newport Rl is the lack of
member interest in the stunningly beautiful lettering on
the colonial stones. (I exclude Victorian markers be-
cause the lettering used on these monuments seems,
to me, to have simmered down to just a few fonts,
influenced by machine technology). I remember the
important lecture given by Esther Be nsenof the Bensen
shop, trying to direct our attention to marker lettering
and what we missed of the cutter's art by ignoring how
he designed and executed the verbal messages of the
stones.

Let me plead with readers to go back to their photo-
graphs, rubbings, and books with a fresh eye, cover up
the pictorial image, and observe how beautifully the
letters are formed, say of John Stevens II, (one of my
favorites) or how different the capitals emerge, in the
same epitaph, by John Zuricher or Uzal Ward. You will
find a new appreciation of a critically important element
of these exquisite works of art.

My own interest in lettering began when I worked as
Promotion Manager for a publisher connected with a
fifty-year old typesetting shop that had converted to
linotype (letters forged at white heat in lead from molds
connected to the typesetter's keyboard). The only font
that the shop would use was Helvetica, an eminently
readable and straight-fonward form. But how do you
make one publication look different from another if you
can only use one type style? And how could I create
innovative-looking promotion pieces with that singular
font? I was drowning in Helvetica! I wandered out into
the shop one day and saw, lying around gathering dust
and rust, abandoned chases (the holders) of innumer-
able handsome old metal fonts, used before the linotype
machine arrived, from the time when letters had to be
picked out by hand — letter by letter. But I was never
allowed to use them.

Now I am not a Luddite, proclaiming that all progress is
all bad. In fact the Center for Thanatology is its
beneficiary in our ability to cheaply obtain typeset
material. But now that the computer has further con-
tributed to the degeneration of our experience of letter
forms (as well as split infinitives), I find myself drowning
in TimesRoman and Optima, two of the most legible fonts
of the electronic age. I can't tell you how I wish
someone would create a John Stevens II font I could
scan into my computer. But after seeing the following

" ombstones Enaraved

Cut "^^^^

three new publications, I would be satisfied with a
Kindersley-Cardozo.

This group of books arrived for review from Cardozo
Kindersley Editions, Cambridge, England, thanks to
the suggestion of AGS member, Pamela Burgess. I had
discovered Kindersley and Cardozo's exquisite can/ings
on slate when the Center was offering the original
edition of Letters Slate Cut, Workshop Philosophy
and Practice In the Making of Letters, but the pub-
lisher had disappeared and we couldn't tocate more
books. Now the two authors have joined forces to
publish a revised edition themselves, more handsome
than the first.

Letters Slate Cut offers a primer on monumental
can/ing, with handsome drawings of the process from
the initial sketches to the finished product. We leam
how the shop selects its raw materials, how stones are
trimmed to useful size, the tools used, how light influ-
ences the appearance of the inscriptions and why it
would be better if all cutters were lefthanded! But we
also become acquainted with the enormous emdition
that has guided the art wori<s that emerge, and the
exactingphilosophythatguidesthat leaning. Of course,
very few of us will become stone carvers, so the
ultimate thrill of this book for gravestone enthusiasts is
that the ample inclusion of photographs of finished
pieces helps us to envision what our own beloved
historical slates must have looked like when they were
first set in the ground two centuries ago.

The second work from this press is David Kindersley
His Work and Workshop, by Montague Shaw. This
offers a short biographical sketch and charming pho-
tographs of the youthful Kindersley, who we learned
was trained by an eariier, better known master, Eric Gill.
The balance of this fascinating essay is a selection of
studies which I believe will be of even greater interest
to our members. They show how a number of his/her
monumental pieces came about [Cardozo is Mrs. K and

AGS Fa' 92 p. 14

an accomplished carver herself], accompanied by the
original sketches, discuss the relationships with the
clients who commissioned them, and show the finished
works in place in their ultimate environment.

The b)ook also makes us aware of the great variety of
remunerative tasks still available to the stone carver in
the twentieth century. There is a handsome memorial
to the Baron and Baronet Story, complete with coat of
arms, a wall-hung slate sun dial dedicated to "Janet"
with quotation from George Herbert in Derbyshire, and
a marvelous and controversial floorslate to the (revised)
memory of Richard III, killed at Bosworth Field. My
fingers itched to go rubbing.

But there is also the cut and painted carving of the brick
wall of Peterborough, England's Ivlagistrates' Court,
which could have resulted in such pedestrian signage
in less artistic hands, carving on crystal bowls and on
brass, a War Memorial whose lettering refers to the
Latin carving on Trajan's column, and a Finniston
Award Plinth, for a bewildering, impossible triangle
designed by an engineer.

The third publication. Lasting Letters, An Inscription
forttie Abbots of St.Albans, edited by McKitterick and
Lopes Cardozo is a handsomely produced case study
of thecreation of anew floorslate to mari<thereintemient
of the remains of medieval Abbots of the Benedictine
Monastery on which the current cathedral is built, found

during an archaeological exploration of the old Chapter
House.

A chapter by the archaeologists describes the excava-
tion, a history of the House (pre- and post-Norman
conquest), is offered from 1100-1539, on this occupa-
tion of one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain, and
historian McKitterick advises us that the monks of St.
Albans were the "principal disseminators and presen/ers
of learning and knowledge through their libraries and
book production" in England. This chapter contains
many illustrations of the manuscripts created in the
scriptorium, indicating the changes that occurred in
style as the Norman influence blended with the eariier
English rrwnastic hands. Father Patrick Banry describes
the Benedictine rule and how it fostered the spirit of
enlightenment that led to St. Albans' development and
preeminence. The final chapter, by Kindersley, is
devoted to the memorial stone itself and how it emerged
from the coordination of ideas and artistic philosophy of
the architect, the carver, and the clients. Throughout,
interesting and beautifully reproduced photographs
add fascination to the wonderfully designed printed
word.

Lettering Slate Cut, 1990, in paper has 56 pages; David
Kindersley a\so in paper has 96 pages and Lasting Letters

is a hardback, published in 1 992. They are all available from
the Center, and from The Cardozo-Kindersley Editions, 152
Victoria Rd., Cambridge CB4 3DZ England.

Lida Lopes Cardozo and David Kindersley. All illustrations
are from thef irst (1 981 ) Taplinger edition of Letters Slate Cut

Roberta Halpom is a member of the AGS Board of Directors
and runs the Center for Thanatology Research, 39 1 Atlantic,
Brooklyn NY 11217-1701.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 15

NEW PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION IN
GEORGIA

AGS member Neill Herring, 257 S. Elm St., Jesup GA
3 1545 has provided a copy of new legislation passed
in ttie state of Georgia, HB402. This 'was necessitated
by indications from the judge in a cemetery case in
Cobb County, Georgia, that he was going to rule the
existing Georgia statute unconstitutionally vague, in-
adequate as to notice provisions and silent on the
question of title to cemetery property. The new act
seeks to correct these deficiencies. The new statute,
while not perfect, represents a significant step forward
in the protection of cemeteries, burial grounds and
burial furnishings. The definitions of both archeologist
and genealogist are also innovative.' Mr. Herring
worked directly with the county attorney of Cobb County
in writing HB 402. He would like to initiate a discussion
of other states' laws in this area.

To amend Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated, relating to local government, so as to pro-
vide for the protection and preservation of certain
cemeteries and burial grounds; to repeal Code Section
36-60-6, relating to the disturbing of a burial place in
land development; to repeal Code Section 36-60-6.1,
relating to the preservation and protection of abandoned
or unmaintained cemeteries; to provide a statement of
policy; to define certain terms; to authorize local gov-
erning authorities to preserve and protect certain
cemeteries and burial grounds; to provide that no
cemetery or burial ground shall be disturbed unless a
permit is first obtained from the local govemmentwherein
such cemetery or burial ground is located ; to provide for
matters relative to an application for such permit; to
provide for notification of certain persons; to provide
conditions for the granting of such permit; to provide for
appeal; to provide for certain activities by an applicant
during the period of appeal under certain conditions; to
provide for certain inspections for compliance; to pro-
vide for certain boards and commissions; to provide for
certain financial responsibilities;to provide forpenalties
for violations; to provide for related matters; to provide
an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for
other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
GEORGIA:

Section 1. Title 36 of the Official Code of
Georgia Annotated, relating to local government, is
amended by striking in its entirety Code Section 36-60-
6, relating to the disturtDing of a burial place in land

development, which reads as follows:

"36-60-6. (a) No known burial place of
any human remains shall be knowingly dis-
turbed by the owner or owners of the land for
the purposes of devetoping or changing the
use of any land unless a permit is first obtained
from the governing authority of the nxinicipal
corporation or county wherein the burial place
is located or from the superior court of the
county where the burial place is located. The
governing authority or superior court shall not
issue a permit unless it first reviews the plans
of the applicant for the permit for the proper
reinterment of the remains in order to deter-
mine that suitable arrangements for reinterment
have been made and that proper reinterment
will be accomplished. If the governing authority
or superior court does not believe that the
plans are adequate to ensure proper
reinterment, no permit shall be issued.

(b) Any person who knowingly fails to
comply with subsection (a) of this Code section
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall pay
a fine of $1 ,000.00 per grave disturtjed.",
and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"36-60-6. Reserved."

Section 2. Said title is further amended by
striking in its entirety Code Section 36-60-6 .1 , relating
to the preservation and protection of abandoned or
unmaintained cemeteries, which reads as follows:

"36-60-6.1. (a) As used in this Code
section, the term 'preserve and protect' means
to keep safe from destruction, peril, or other
adversity and may include the placement of
signs, mariners, fencing, or other such appro-
priate features so as to identify the site as a
cemetery and so as to aid in the preservation
and protection of such abandoned cemetery,
(b) Counties or municipalities are au-
thorized to preserve and protect any cemetery
which the county or municipality determines
has been abandoned or is not being maintained
and to expend public money in connection
therewith."

Section 3. Said title is further amended by
inserting immediately following Chapter 71 a new
Chapter 72 to read as follows:

"CHAPTER 72

36-72-1. (a) The care accorded the
remains of deceased persons reflects respect
and regard for human dignity as well as cul-

AGSFa'92p. 16

tural, spiritual, and religious values. The Gen-
eral Assembly declares that human remains
and burial objects are not property to be owned
by the person or entity which owns the land or
water where the human remains and burial
objects are interred or discovered, but human
remains and burial objects are a part of the
finite, irreplaceable, and nonrenewable cul-
tural heritage of the people of Georgia which
should be protected.

(b) It is the intent of the General Assem-
bly that the provisions of this chapter be con-
strued to require respectful treatment of human
remains in accord with the equal and innate
dignity of every human being and consistent with
the identifiable ethnic, cultural, and religious
affiliation of the deceased individual as indicated
by the method of burialorotherhistorical evidence
or reliable information.

36-72-2. As used in this chapter, the

term:

(1) 'Abandoned cemetery' means a
cemetery which shows signs of neglect in-
cluding, without limitation, the unchecked
growth of vegetation, repeated and un-
checked acts of vandalism, or the disinte-
gration of grave markers or boundaries and
for which no person can be found who is
legally responsible and financially capable of
the upkeep of such cemetery.

(2) 'Archeologist' means any person
who is:

(A) A member of or meets the
criteria for membership in the Society of
Professional Archeologists and can demon-
strate experience in the excavation and in-
terpretation of human graves; or

(B) Employed on July 1 , 1991 , by
the state or by any county or municipal gov-
erning authority as an archeologist.

(3) 'Burial ground' means an area
dedicated to and used for interment of hu-
man remains. The fact that the area was
used for burial purposes shall be evidence
that it was set aside for burial purposes.

(4) 'Burial object' means any item
reasonably believed to have been intention-
ally placed with the human remains at the
time of burial or interment or any memorial,
tombstone, grave marker, or shrine which
may have been added subsequent to inter-
ment. Such term also means any inscribed
or uninscribed marker, coping, curbing, en-
closure, fencing, pavement, shelter, wall,

stoneware, pottery, or other grave object
erected or deposited incident to or subse-
quent to interment.

(5) 'Cemetery' or 'cemeteries' means
any land or structure in this state dedicated to
and used, or intended to be used, for inter-
ment of human remains. It may be either a
burial park for earth interments or a mauso-
leum for vault or crypt interments or a com-
bination of one or more thereof.

(6) 'Descendant' means a person or
group of persons related to a deceased hu-
man by blood or adoption in accordance with
Title 19.

(7) 'Genealogist' means a person
who traces or studies the descent of persons
or families and prepares a probative record
of such descent.

(8) 'Human remains' means the
bodies of deceased human beings in any
stage of decomposition, including cremated
remains.

(9) 'Preserve and protect' means to
keep safe from destruction, peril, or other
adversity and may include the placement of
signs, markers, fencing, or other such appro-
priate features so as to identify the site as a
cemetery or burial ground and so as to aid in
the preservation and protection of such
cemetery or burial ground.

36-72-3. Counties and municipalities are
authorized to preserve and protect any aban-
doned cemetery or any burial ground which the
county or municipality determines has been
abandoned or is not being maintained, to expend
public money in connection therewith, and to
exercise the powerofenntnent domain to acquire
any interest in land necessary for that purpose.

36-72-4. No known cemetery, burial
ground, human remains, or burial object shall be
knowingly disturbed by the owner or occupier of
the land on which the cemetery or burial ground
is located for the purposes of developing or
changing the use of any part of such land unless
a permit is first obtained from the governing
authority of the municipal corporation or county
wherein the cemetery or burial ground is located,
which shall have authority to permit such activity
except as provided in Code Section 36-72-1 4.

36-72-5 Application for a permit shall

include, at a minimum, the following information:

(I) Evidence of ownership of the land

on which the cemetery or burial ground is

AGS Fa' 92 p. 17

located in the form of a legal opinion based
upon a title search;

(2) A report prepared by an arche-
ologist stating the number of graves believed
to be present and their locations as can be
determined from the use of minimally inva-
sive investigation techniques, including re-
mote sensing methods and the use of metal
probes, which activities shall not require a
permit;

(3) A survey prepared by or under
the direction of a registered surveyor show-
ing the location and boundaries of the cem-
etery or burial ground based on an archeolo-
gist's report;

(4) A plan prepared by a genealogist
for identifying and notifying the descendants
of those buried or believed to be buried in
such cemetery; and

(5) A proposal for mitigation or
avoidance of the effects of the planned ac-
tivity on the cemetery or burial ground. If the
proposal includes relocation of any human
remains or burial objects, the proposal shall
specify the method of disinterment, the lo-
cation and method of disposition of the re-
mains, the approximate cost of the process,
and the approximate number of graves af-
fected.

36-72-6. The applicant shall implement
its plan for identifying and locating descendants
no later than the date the application is submitted
to the governing authority. The governing au-
thority shall review the applicant's plan for iden-
tifying and notifying the descendants of the de-
ceased persons and may require as a condition
for issuing a permit that the applicant implement
additional reasonable attempts to identify and
locate descendants: Notice to possible descend-
ants shall include information on how to contact
the governing authority and a summary of the
rights of descendants under this chapter. The
governing authority shall promptly inform any
descendant who indicates an interest in the dis-
position of the human remains and burial objects
regarding any proposals for mitigation, the terms
of any permit issued, the time and place of any
scheduled public hearings, and appeal proce-
dures and events.

36-72-7. (a) Within 15 days after it is
satisfied that all reasonable effort has been made
to notify descendants, a.s provided in Code
Section 36-72-6, and following receipt of the

recommendations of a board or commission cre-
ated pursuant to Code Section 36-72-9, the
governing authority shall schedule a public hear-
ing at which any interested party or citizen may
appear and be given an opportunity to be heard.
In addition to the notice required In Code Section
36-72-6, notice of the public hearing shall be
advertised in the legal organ of the jurisdiction
once a week for the two consecutive weeks
immediately preceding the week in which any
such hearing is held.

(b) Within 30 days afterthe conclusion of
the public hearing, the governing authority shall
notify the applicant in writing of Its decision. The
governing authority shall have the authority to
deny the application with written reasonstherefor,
to issue a permit adopting the application In
whole or in part, or to issue a permit which may
include additional requirements to mitigate the
proposed activity's adverse effects on the cem-
etery or burial ground, including but not limited to
relocation of the proposed project, reservation of
the cemetery or burial ground as an undeveloped
area within 'the proposed development or use of
land, and respectful disinterment and proper
disposition of the human remains. The governing
authority may adopt the applicant's proposal for
mitigation.

36-72-8. The governing authority shall
considerthefollowing in making its determination:

(1) The presumption in favorof leaving
the cemetery or burial ground undisturbed;

(2) The concerns and comments of
any descendants of those burled in the burial
ground or cemetery and any other Interested
parties;

(3) The economic and other costs of
mitigation;

(4) The adequacy of the applicant's
plansfordisintermentandproperdlsposition
of any human remains or burial objects;

(5) The balancing of the applicant's
interest in disinterment with the public's and
any descendant's interest in the value of the
undisturbed cultural and natural environment;
and

(6) Any other compelling factors
which the governing authority deems relevant.

36-72-9. The governing authority of any
county whose population is in excess of 290,000
as established by the United States decennial
census of 1980 or any such future census shall
be authorized to establish or empower a new or

AGS Fa' 92 p. 18

existing commission or board to hear and review
any application filed pursuant to Code Section
36-72-5. The board or commission shall conduct
a public hearing within 60 days of the filing of an
application and shall make a written recom-
mendation to the governing authority no later
than 15 days following the public hearing with
respect to the sufficiency of the notice to (de-
scendants, the plan for mitigation, the disturbance
and adverse effects on the cemetery or burial
ground, the survey of the cemetery, and plans for
disinterment and reinterment.

36-72-10. The governing authority shall
be authorized to impose an application fee which
shall reflect the cost to the governing authority for
processing and reviewing the application includ-
ing, but not limited to, the cost of hiring an
attorney, independent archeologist, and inde-
pendent surveyorto assist in making recommen-
dations regarding the applicant's plan. Such fee,
if imposed, shall not exceed $2,500.00.

36-72-1 1 . Should any applicant or de-
scendant be dissatisfied with a decision of the
governing authority, he or she, within 30 days of
such decision, may file an appeal in the superior
court of the county in which the cemetery or burial
ground is located in addition to the superior
courts enumerated in Code Section 50-13-19.

36-72-1 2. Until the expiration of the time
for appeal as set forth in Code Section 36-72-1 1 ,
the applicant shall not begin or resume activities
which comply with the permit issued by the
governing authority. If an appeal is filed, the
applicant may begin or resume activities which
comply with the permit only upon consent of the
governing authority and them party seeking ju-
dicial review or upon order of the reviewing could
for good cause shown.

36-72-13. The governing authority or
local law enforcement agency shall inspect as
necessary to determine whether the applicant
has complied with the provisions of this chapter
requiring cessation or limitation of activity and
with the terms of the permit as issued by the
governing authority or as modified by the supe-
rior court or reviewing court.

36-72-1 4. (a) Notwithstanding any provi-
sions of this chapter to the contrary, when any
agency, authority, or political subdivision of the
state seeks to file an application for a permit

under this chapter, the superior court having
jurisdiction over the real property wherein the
cemetery or burial ground is located shall have
exclusive jurisdiction overthe permit application.
Thesuperiorcourt shall conduct its investigation
and determination of the permit in accordance
with Code Sections 36-72-6 through 36-72-8.

(b) When activities of an agency, au-
thority, or political subdivision of the state ad-
versely affect an abandoned cemetery or a burial
ground, such agency, authority, or political sub-
division shall bear the cost of mitigating the harm
to the abandoned cemetery or burial ground or
reinterring the human remains as a part of the
cost of the project and is authorized to expend
public funds for such purpose. When activities of
a private person, corporation, or other private
entity adversely affect an abandoned cemetery
or a burial ground, such person, corporation, or
other entity shall bear the cost of mitigating the
harmto the cemetery orburialgroundorreinterring
the human remains. The cost of mitigating the
harm to an abandoned cemetery or to a burial
ground or reinterring the human remains ex-
posed through vandalism by an unidentified van-
dal or through erosion may be borne by the
governing authority in whose jurisdiction the
abandoned cemetery or burial ground is located.

36-72-1 5. Any disinterment and disposi-
tion of human remains or burial objects permitted
under this chapter shall be supervised, moni-
tored, orcarried out by the applicant's archeologist
and shall be done at the expense of the person or
entity to whom the permit is issued.

36-72-16. Any person who knowingly
fails to comply with the provisions of this chapter
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and
aggravated nature and, upon conviction, shall
pay a fine of not more than $5,000.00 for each
grave site disturbed; provided, however, that any
person who knowingly violates the provisions of
Code Section 36-72-4 shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature
and, upon conviction, shall be incarcerated for
not more than six months and shall pay a fine not
lessthan $5, 000. 00 for eachgrave site disturbed."

Section 4. This Act shall become effective upon
its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law
without such approval.

Section 5. Ail laws and parts of laws in conflict
with this Act are repealed.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 19

NEW LIFE IN AN OLD FAMILY CEMETERY

Wallie Mitchell

In 1853, my great-great grandparents Charles and
Eliza (Smith) Meredith bought 425 acres ot land in
Bastrop County. They came with four children and
soon settled on this land having seven more children.
The area where they settled is now within the Rockne
area. A few years afterthis purchase, Charles sold 200
of his acres to his brother and was then left with 225
acres. Within these 225 acres of property was a half
acre cemetery for family use as well as the family home
referred to as the "Old ty/leredith Place".

Originally, I learned of the cemetery's existence from
my research done on Bastrop County land deeds. I
knew the cemetery existed, at least on paper, from
1 853 to 1 892, while the land was owned by Charles and
Eliza. My uncle, Owen Meredith, recalled visiting the
cemetery as a young child with his dad, my grandpa, in
the early 1 940s. Thus, it was a cemetery still fifty years
later. During later years several of grandpa's brothers
remembered this family cemetery and discussed where
it was located and how to get there from young recalls
in aging minds. On subsequent quests to find the
cemetery, they failed to find it.

In 1989, after a lengthy search, my uncle Owen found
the cemetery! Together he and I used the land deeds,
his remembrances, some logical thinking, and he had
gone to Rockne and asked a lot of questions of people
in the area to accomplish the find. Once my uncle
physically found the cemetery, he got permission to go
on the land of the current owner, the aged son of the
purchaser that bought from Eliza's estate. My uncle
was happily allowed to see the cemetery's condition
and take ptiotographs. Uncle Owen discovered that the
marker for Charles was a huge six-foot long by two-foot
wide slab marker that was about ten inches above
ground. It was in poor shape, having imploded in the
center. There were field stones scattered near Charles'
grave that probably marked some of the other known
bodies within the cemetery.

Uncle Owen sent me the photos he took of the cemetery
with a hand-drawn map of the approximate location. He
had been given kindly treatment by the current aged
owner's daughter who lived in a house near the cem-
etery. From the photos and information my uncle sent,
I knew the grave would need to be saved before it was
lost forever.

Fortunately, I am a member of the Association of

Gravestone Studies. I sent a letter to the Association
requesting a local expert for Bastrop County. The
nearest expert was located in Dallas. This gentleman
was then contacted by me and we negotiated his fees
for travel and the grave restoration itself. We also
obtained permission to do this work from the current
land owner. Once done, my uncle then was contacted
to act in my behalf to make sure that the Dallas expert
did the job. Uncle Owen supervised the restoration and
took pictures of before, during and after. The property-
owner's daughter again was kindly and helpful to our
goal. The expert had difficulties working on Charles'
broken grave. My uncle rolled up his sleeves and
assisted so that togetherthey accomplished the goal —
a restored grave.

It is difficult to describe how excited I was at finally
standing alongside Charles' grave. My great-great
grandfather! He was finally found in a field cemetery
thanks to lots of effort and his grave could now last the
rest of my lifetime plus. It seemed such a fitting time and
the completion of a circle. Charles died in 1889. One
hundred years later his grave was restored and could
now last another hundred years. Quite a commemo-
ration and coincidence.

My uncle and I have closely worked with Mrs. Audrey
Pother who for years has been compiling data about
Bastrop cemeteries and markers. We have given her
the updated information and pictures so when her
books are printed the actual names and dates of the
deceased will appear in the Meredith Cemetery infor-
mation. Tasks which we have accomplished: the grave
of my great-great grandfather restored and presen/ed
for future generations and the grave of my great-great
grandmother marked so that her contribution to the
family is recognized. The cemetery marker gives
recognition to the solemn and respectful final resting
spots of our ancestors.

Thus an old cemetery has been brought to life. Now
many can pay their respects to these ancestors who
pioneered the area and see new life in an old family
cemetery.

from STIRPES, Texas State Genealogical Society Quarterly.
V.32 #3, September 1992, contributed by Kevin Ladd,
Wallisville TX.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 20

EQUALITY RESTORATION, CENTER CEMETERY TALKS IN MASSACHUSETTS

The 158-year-old brownstone tablet marking the grave
of Pomp Equality has been removed from Center
Cemetery, East Hartford CT for restoration by Beij,
Williams and Zito. The Hartford Foundation for Public
Giving agreed to let the Friends of Center Cemetery
use the $2,000. left from the fund for the Pitkin monu-
ment (AGS Newsletter, Winter 1990/91 p. 1 1 , and Win-
ter 1991/2 p. 8), and they are in the process of raising
another $2,000.

Pomp Equality, by coincidence, belonged in his slave
days to a Pitkin — Daniel, who ran a tavern at the
Connecticut River landing. Connecticut freed slaves
between the ages of 25 and 44 in 1 792. Pomp, who was
then 33, had already been freed, we believe, because
he is not listed among the 33 slaves in East Hartford in
the 1 790 census. Joseph O. Goodwin's history of East
Hartford says he became a property owner and master
of his own schooner. These facts, and the simple
elegance of his marker, attest to a historical success
story of a slave freed in the 18th century. Permission
has been given by Probate Court to remove the stone
for restoration, which it seriously needed before an-
other winter.

February 3, 1993 (Wednesday night) at the Salem,
Massachusetts, Lyceum Hall: AGS memt)ers Betty
Bouchard and Donna LaRue will present a slide/lecture
on the North Shore's colonial burying grounds. Con-
tact: Jim McAlister of Derby Tours, Salem, (508) 745-
6314.

February 14, 1993 (Sunday afternoon) Donna LaRue
will speak to the Medford (Massachusetts) Historical
Society on the Salem Street Burying Ground, a slide/
lecture to be given at the historic Isaac Royall House.
Contact: Jay Griffin, Medford Historical Society, (617)
391-8739.

March 3, 1993 (Wednesday night) The North Andover
(Massachusetts) Historical Society's March meeting
will include Donna LaRue's slide/lecture 'The Puritan
Persecutions of 1 692 ," which she presented at the AGS
1 992 conference in Schenectady. Donna will focus on
the stones and stories related to the North Andover
community's experience of the 1692 witchcraft trials.
Contact: Grange Hall, North Andover, or the North
Andover Historical Society.

from the Friends of Center Cemetery Newsletter, No-
vember 1992.

This unique grave is located in Ashe County NC.

The stone stele has the appearance of a petrified fence-
rail, and was pulled from the New River by Daniel
Boone. He carved the initials in it (Tc) for his friend,
Thomas Calloway. Boone camped on the hillside
across the river from the spot in his many hunting
journeys, and thirty miles to the west carved his name,
date, and "killed a bar" into an oak tree.

Information from the Yale archives tells how Calloway
was buried under this stele, with his dugout canoe cut
in halves to form the top and bottom of his coffin.

Local legend has it that actually Calloway's slave was
buried under it. Behind the stele in the picture, you can
see a number of fieldstones marking slave graves.

The slate stone to the left is for Elijah Calloway, father
of Thomas, and a Revolutionary War hero at the battle
of King's Mountain.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 21

THE MYSTERY— HISTORY OF THE WILLIAM HALL
STONE

by Jessie Lie Farber

This is a story that will, we think, have a happy ending.
For a while, though, the events were mysterious and
suspenseful, including even the possibility of criminal
action. All the facts are not yet in, but the situation now
looks much better. In fact, it looks very good indeed.

Our story concerns a fine eighteenth-century slate
marker that was offered for sale to the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts.

In early October, a memberof the Museum's department
of American decorative arts received a letter from
Robert Serisky of the Davis Monument Works in
Marshfieid MA, asking if the Museum had an interest in
purchasing an early headstone, a photograph of which
accompanied the letter. Mr. Serisky said he could
provide the necessary releases and that "rights are not
in question." The photograph showed a handsome
stone in good condition with a nicely designed winged
face and abstract vine side borders. It bore the following
inscription:

Here lies Buried ye Body

of Mr. William Hall,

Leatherdresser

who Departed this Life

Aug.styeieth 1771, AE 76

The Museum knew that AGS would be interested and
helpful. Because the Museum knows Dan Farber as a
photographer of gravestone art, they contacted him.
They hoped he would ask AGS to look into this unusual
offer. From what graveyard had the stone been taken?
When, and under what circumstances was it renroved
from the yard?

Dan called Mr. Serisky, who explained that his rrronu-
ment company had bought the Evans Monument
Company, in Boston, "within the last ten years" and that
the Hall stone was among many items that were moved
from the Boston company site to his company in
Marshfieid. He said the stone had been at the Evans
Company location for "at least fifty years" and that it had
been removed by that company from a graveyard with
the permission of the deceased's family. The Evans
Company, he said, had made and erected a replace-
ment stone.

This was such a curious and hard-to-understand

The photo sent by Serisl<y

background that Dan and I couldn't believe it, surmising
that the stone had, in all probability, been stolen by
someone at some time. But if so, when and why? Mr.
Serisky assured Dan that he had clear ownership. He
mentioned that he had first approached some art galler-
ies regarding purchase of the stone. Our first good
news was that no gallery he approached wanted to get
involved with such a purchase.

Dan and I sent a photocopy of the photograph with an
inquiry to AGS's research department near Rochester
NY. Laurel Gabel, head of research, was in Florida
when our inquiry arrived, but when she returned she
immediately made a computer check of her files. Less
than ten minutes later, she telephoned us to say:

1. The inscription from a headstone for William Hall,
1771 , was recorded in a tx)ok of inscriptions from the
Granary Graveyard in Boston. This book of inscriptions
was published in 1917. Although Laurel's file did not
give the verbatim inscription, it did record that William
Hall was the first President of the Irish Charitable
Society, in Boston.

2. A stone for William Hall, 1 771 , Leatherdresser, was
documented by the Boston Graveyard Initiative, a cur-
rently active restoration project that began its work in
1983. The listing gave the stone's location as the
Granary, section A, row 14, stone number 411.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 22

3. The stone appears to have been carved by John Just
Geyer, a Boston cutter.

It was a bit breathtaking to discover that AGS (Laurel,
that is) could so quickly and precisely place this mystery
stone in the Granary, authenticate its presence there
not once but twice over a span of about sixty years, and
name its carver.

But when was it removed? Could anyone possibly steal
this large headstone from a yard so publicly tocated —
and do the deed relatively recently, after it was last
documented? How could the monument company
have had it for fifty years? Would anyone remove and
replace this perfectly good stone with another? What,
if anything, now stands in space 41 1 , section A, row 1 4
— a stonef ragment of some sort, afootstone, a replace-
ment stone, or an empty slit in the ground? What did it
all mean?

A telephone call to Kathy Kattarides at her office in the
Boston Parks and Recreation Department (which is in
charge of the Boston Graveyards) and a quick visit by
Kathy to the Granary resulted in a report that in space
411 there is a slate stone for William Hall, 1771.
Because Kathy has not yet seen the Serisky stone or its
photograph, she could not compare the carving on the
stone she saw with the one in Marshfield. However, she
reported that the stone in the Granary has ornamental
carving — a face and a txDrder design — and that the
stone is entirely hand-carved, with one exception: the
inscription on the Granary stone mentions that William
Hall was the first President of the Irish Charitable
Society, in Boston. This information, which is NOT
inscribed on the original mvsterv stone, is sandblasted
rather than hand-carved.

We don't have all the answers, but we have this
hypothesis:

The Irish Charitable Society, at some time before 191 7,
when the book of Granary inscriptbns was published,
wanted William Hall's marker to show that he was the
Society's first president With (or perhaps without) the
permission of Hall's family, his stone was removed at
the Society's request by the Evans Monument Com-
pany in Boston and replaced with a new slate headstone
on which mention of Hall's presidency was engraved
(sand-blasted, that is). The original stone languished in
Boston at the Evans Monument Company site, not far
from the Granary, until that company was purchased in
the 1 980s. Then the stone was moved, along with other
stones, to Marshfield. There it was erected on the
grounds of its new home, the Davis Monument Com-
pany, where it now stands alone, in a sort of exile.

This hypothesis, if it holds up, doesn't explain every
detail. For exannple, there is blank area under the
inscription on the original stone, enough space to add
the Irish Charitable Society's notation about its first
president. Why, instead, was a new stone made? Why
was the information about Hall's presidency sand-
blasted on the replacement stone and the rest of the
carving done by hand? Did the Society's action in
removing and replacing the stone abide by the legal
procedures of the time? And what was the date of this
removal and replacement? We assume that this oc-
curred before the inscriptions were recorded because
Laurel's record of the inscription mentions Hall's presi-
dency.

We are inquiring into the present status of the Irish
Charitable Society, and we expect to learn from the
Society (or if it no longer exists, from its records) what
part it played concerning the William Hall replacement
stone.

Meanwhile, Mr. Serisky has indicated that he is willing
to make a charitable gift of the original stone to the
Museum, which Kathy Kattarides thinks could be best
accomplished by his making the gift to the City, which
would then turn it over to the safekeeping of the Mu-
seum.

When the dust settles, we hope to report on these
pages the final denouement of this story. If the stone
t^ecomes property of the Museum, it will have travelled
a very circuitous and hazardous and alrrrost unbeliev-
able path— from the Geyer stonecutting shop to the
Granary, to the nearby Evans Monument Company, to
the Davis Monument Company in Marshfield, then
back to Boston to the Museum of Fine Arts, via Boston's
Department of Parks and Recreation!

A number of people sending interest sheets to
Laurel said they would like the names and
addresses of members in their area. From
time to time AGS exchanges lists with or-
ganizations which share our aim and purpose.
If you object to your name being included in
such lists, please notify the office.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 23

NEGRO BURIAL GROUND

The very significant discovery of a Colonial era burying
ground for blacks in lower Manhattan was reported in
the fall 1991 issue of the Newsletter (p. 25-6). Some
recent developments are detailed in the following arti-
cle, by Sharon Fitzgerald, from American Visions,
October/November 1992, p. 18-19.

"Don't walk there," cautions an archaeologist as an
observer ventures onto a damp, red, unmarked strip of
soil. "We still don't know what is beneath that spot."
Several years ago, no one seemed to care what lay
there. Until grass-roots indignation combined with the
support of New York City's political leadership, the
General Services Administration had determined to
pour 34 stories of cement over this portion of African-
American history.

Ivlaps from the early 1 8th-century labeled this section of
lower Manhattan as the "Negros Burial Ground," six
unfarmable acres outside the city limits where the
txDdies of 20,000 enslaved and free blacks, as well as
those of criminals and victims of epidemic diseases,
were interred between 1 71 2 and 1 792. During the late
18th and throughout the 19th and 20th-centuries, the
cemetery was layered with landfill and the surrounding
area covered with commercial and municipal buildings.
The burial site was now in the hub of the city — within
walking distance of both Wall Street's financial district
and the ports that harbored
New York's shipping in- |
dustry. *' ' 4 '

When the GSA, a federal
government agency, pur-
chased the property at the
corner of Broadway and
Reade streets from New
York City in 1990, it was
believed that the bodies
once buried there had been
removed ordestroyed. Yet
before construction could
begin on the $275 million
off ice building and pavilion,
historic preservation regu-
lations required that the
area be examined.

The exploration revealed what is arguably the most
significant discovery in African-American history. Be-
neath 20 to 25 feet of landfill, the skeletons of an
estimated 435 blacks (many of them the first Africans
brought onto American soil) remained intact. Nearly

half of the remains were those of children.

The graves also contained approximately 500,000 ar-
tifacts, among these an African shroud, a shroud pin, a
brass ring and brass buttons, and pottery. The teeth of
one man buried there had been filed in a manner
identified with West African tradition. This and other
skeletons could provide insight into the diet, illnesses
and geographic origins of the deceased.

Archaeologists, anthropologists and historians lauded
the extraordinary find— this nation's only known cem-
etery for blacks dating back to the Colonial era. Thus
began the battle between a government agency bent
on progress and community activists determined to
honor the memory of their ancestors.

New York State Senator David Paterson led a community
task force in demanding that scientists and historians
specializing in African-American studies be involved in
the removal and study of the artifacts and skeletal
remains. Anthropologist f^ichael Blakey of Howard
University was contacted, and African-American "dig-
gers" were brought in to assist in the excavation.

Then in what was later described as a "simple human
errorofmiscommunication," 20 graves were destroyed
when constajction workers shoveled a portion of land
and filled it with concrete footing. The dirt removed

contained broken bones.
I Claiming that the GSA's
careless treatment of the
I cemetery and its failure to
involve African Americans
in decision-making was in
violation of the National
Preservation Act of 1964,
I the task force prepared a
lawsuit and threatened to
initiate acts of civil diso-
bedience. It seemed that
only an act of Congress
I would resolve the conflict.

At a hearing of the U.S.
House of Representatives'
subcommittee on Public
Buildings, which is the initial authorizing t)ody for major
GSA projects, the GSA acknowledged its failure to
comply with the Preservation Act's guidelines. Sub-
committee chairman, Representative Gus Savage of
Chicago, demanded that excavation cease and told
GSA administrators that the subcommittee would
withhold approval from all GSA projects until the Burial
Ground matter had been resolved. Days later, GSA
AGS Fa' 92 p. 24

officials met with Savage in Washington, D.C., and
agreed to halt excavation of the Burial Ground, pending
the recommendations of an advisory committee com-
posed of community leaders, preservationists and
others.

Smithsonian Institution; that a committee be formed to
oversee the research and development of an appropriate
memorial and that a "world class museum" dedicated to
blacks of the Colonial period be constnjcted upon or
near the site.

Prior to the congressional hearing, a special advisory
committee appointed by Mayor David Dinkins and
headed by historian Howard Dobson, chief of the
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, had
made the following recommendations: that reinterment
of the bodies removed be considered; that the Burial
Ground be designated a national historic site; that the
cemetery, its artifacts and remains be placed under the
auspices of either the National Park Service or the

Wori<on the building has begun, itsfoundation "culturally
sterile" (not expected to contain skeletal remains). New
York Senator Alfonse D'Amato has requested $3 mil-
lion from the Senate Appropriations Committee to fi-
nance modifications in the pavilion and to prevent
further deterioration of the burial site. Eventually, the
pavilion area may not only see the reburial of the
bodies, it may receive landmark status and become a
fitting memorial to these forgotten participants in
American history.

Richard and f^argery Dreselly of Brunswick ME wrote
to AGS ab)out some interesting stones. "We first read
about these in The Other Florida, a beautifully written
book [2nd edition, Florida Classics Library, 1978] on
northern Florida by Gloria Jahoda, of Tallahassee.
Following some misleading clues in that volume, with
some effort and danger we found the stones 5 years
ago. What is unusual about these few markers, now
hidden in semi-jungle is that they are all that's left of the
thriving pre-Civil-War town of Magnolia, which almost
became the state capital. An inscription on each
stonesays 'of Augusta, Maine'. Magnolia was founded
by the prototypical entrepreneurs, Hamlin and Ladd,
who sailed down from Maine shortly after Maine had
become a state and the Spanish left Florida. The final
blow that felled Magnolia, after it survived huricanes
and tropical diseases, was the refusal of the Hamlins'
cousin, Lincoln's vice president, to save his kin from the
marauding Yankee troops. The Dresellys (207-729-
4001) wonder if there is anyone concerned about
preserving these stones.

David Cross and Robert Bent, authors of Dead Ends:
An Irreverent Field Guide to the Graves of the
Famous (Plume/Penguin), are currently at wori< on
Honored Sites: A Brief History of Notable African-
American Graves.

The Brooklyn Historical Society, 1 28 Plerrepont St.,
Brooklyn NY 11201 718/624-0890:

Wednesday, February 3, 1993, 6:30 PM
WINDOW INTO THE PAST: LOWER MANHATTAN'S
AFRICAN AMERICAN BURIAL GROUND
Historian Christopher Moore will present slides and
discuss how the study of the skeletal remains and
cultural artifacts uncovered in the recently discovered
cemetery has yeilded a portrait of a diverse New
Amsterdam in the late 17th and early 18th centuries
and challenged long-held myths alX)ut black history.

Thursday, February 25, 6:30 PM
MEANING IN STONE: CHILDREN'S GRAVE MARK-
ERS IN THE VICTORIAN CEMETERY
Ellen Snyder-Grenier, former Chief Curator, will dis-
cuss the current exhibition, "Rediscovering Green-
Wood Cemetery" which she curated.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 25

GRAVESTONE ENTHUSIAST
FINDS HER DREAM CAR

by Patricia Miller

The following article, byAGS'sown Pat Miller olDanbury
CT, is reprinted from the June 1992 issue of American
Cemetery, with permission of the author. The object of
the article was certainly no stranger at many AGS
conferences!

My unusual hobby of visiting old cemeteries to study
18th-century gravestones led to my decision to buy a
hearse.

I liked the idea and thought it would be convenient for
carrying my paraphernalia — rubbing equipment, re-
search books, etc. When I went looking for a hearse, I
found two of the same vintage and price in Pennsylvania
and in Connecticut and purchased the Connecticut
one, because it was nearer to my home. No sooner had
I made my first stop for gasoline than I had an offer to
buy it!

This 22-foot-long, traditional black Cadillac hearse was
a real parking problem in a shopping center, but on the
road it was great — a powerful, extremely comfortable
vehicle to drive. One of the unexpected advantages to
driving the hearse was the respect it received on the
road. Invariably, it was granted the right-of-way at
intersections, though some drivers with an aversion to
following a hearse passed unnecessarily.

And what a conversation starter! Strangers assumed I
was approachable because of my unusual vehicle.
People often came up to me to tell stories of people they
knew who had found other-than-the-prescribed use for
a hearse: to haul snowmobiles and applesfromorchards.
A number of bands use hearses to haul their musical
instruments.

A bumper sticker [available from the AGS office] I put on
the hearse with the saying, "I brake for old graveyards,"
started lots of conversations on that subject.

Although I had numerous offers to buy the hearse, I
never found out if they were serious. I had quickly
become attached to my "baby" and wouldn't consider
parting with it.

A longtime camper, I quickly discovered that a twin-size
mattress fit into the back compartment with plenty of
room for a cooler, stove and provisions. So on occasion
I used the hearse to camp in state parks. In a
campground most of the campers, always friendly folk,

would stop by to chat and admire my hearse.

Another bonus to driving my "baby" was that friends
recognized me even a long way from home. Eventu-
ally, wherever I went I'd hear a horn blow and glance
over to see a friend waving. It certainly got me and my
love of old gravestones a lot of publicity around the
state.

Of course I was aware that some people thought me a
bit strange to be driving such a vehicle. I was stopped
quite often by police to check license and registration
and was once accused of belonging to a Satan-wor-
shipping cult. Only one person ever expressed surprise
that a small, f ifty ish female owned the big, black monster.
Seeing me get out of it, he asked if it belonged to my
son. He could not believe it was mine!

I personally have no fear of death or associations with
it. But driving the old hearse, I soon realized that many
people do have major fears or superstitions about
death. I have had mechanics refuse to work on the
hearse because of theirfears. Thefriendwhofound my
hearse for me is a big, strong he-man; yet, once when
I asked him to test drive it for a possible mechanical
problem, he refused, saying, "What? Me drive that!"

The hearse's size caused an unexpected problem in
the rural area where I live, because it would not fit on the
lifts in some local garages. 1 learned to call ahead to
check this and the mechanic's willingness to work on a
hearse before scheduling repairs.

Then too, of course, it loved gas! Ultimately, 1 had to
give up my "baby" because with my job in health care,
my budget just couldn't support its gas habit. Although
purchasing the hearse took some explaining to my
elderly patients, they enjoyed the luxuriously comfort-
able ride and, oddly, none of them seemed to be
"spooked" by this ominous shadow of death.

I hated to let the hearse go. I don't know if I will ever
adjust to driving a small conventional car again. After
eight months, 1 have been able to modify my driving
habits, but the pleasure of driving is gone. I cannot
convince myself that the little, lightweight car is safe,
and its seats don't adjust as well as the big, wide seat
in the hearse did. I would love to have another hearse!

A photo of Pat Miller and her hearse was included in the
Spring 1987 issue of the AGS Newsletter, p. 10.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 26

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

On November 7, the Board voted on two things that I
think you will find interesting, and are areas where we
need a lot of input from you:

1994 Conference

The 1994 conference will be held in. ..Chicago! Although
there has been some disagreement in the past, this will
definitely be the furthest west that AGS has held a
conference, by a long shot! The Board is very excited,
but we need help from our members in the Chicago
area to make this a success, and we must begin
working now. If you can help us plan the conference in
any way, or help us at the conference in June of 1 994,
please contact the office. We're looking forward to
hearing from you! (And don't forget our 1993 confer-
ence in New London, Connecticut - 1 hope we'll see you
there, and if you haven't sent Steve Petke your paper
proposal, do so posthaste!)

Newsletter

As you already know. Deb Trask will be editing herfinal
newsletter in the summer of 1 993, as she is on to new
projects after 1 0 years as newsletter editor. Deb is
literally irreplaceable; there is no one volunteer who is
willing and able to put in the hundreds of hours of work
needed to put out the newsletter each year as Deb has
done, and the Board felt very strongly that the present
quality and tone of the newsletter had to be maintained.
Paying to have the whole thing professionally done was
out of the question, as that cost would be prohibitive; it
was also felt that something would be lost having the
newsletter produced in that way, anyway. What to do?

The Board has voted on a proposal, but right now, it's
just a proposal, because it depends very heavily on the
membership. The plan is to have different departments
in the newsletter - some old, some new, and each with
its own volunteer "editor" who would be responsible for
compiling 1 - 2 pages of material for three issues of the
newsletter. (The fourth is the conference issue.) Each
editor would send their copy (on disk, if possible) to an
executive editor, who would go over the material and
then send it on to the office, where any administrative
stuff would be added and the layout would be done.
Some of the old departments that could be continued
would be:

Preservation Notes
Tours & Programs

Book Reviews

10 Most Wanted

Some new departments that could be seen would be:

Regional Columns - i.e. Northeast, Southwest,

Southeast, Midwest, etc.

Carver Research column

19th Century column

Features

We'd really like to hear from you on this subject, as the
newsletter is something we all treasure. What do you
think of this format? What columns or subjects would
you like to see covered on a regular basis that I haven't
listed here? Would you be interested in becoming an
editor? One thing is certain - this won't work if we need
to cajole people to become editors, or if we can't get
people who can adhere to deadlines and can find
information for their columns if none is received from
the membership. We also will know if we don't get the
response from you now, then it's back to the drawing
board! On the other hand, if there is enough interest
from members, it was felt that this format might provide
more in-depth representation of our members' and their
interests, and provide a forum for members to know
what other people are doing . Please take a moment to
drop us a postcard to let us know what you think; it's
essential that we hear from as many members as
possible on this most important subject. Please write to
the AGS Office, NOT the Newsletter!

Markers X

As you probably have already noticed, we are offering
MARKERS X at our pre-pub price in this issue of the
newsletter. The deadline is Febnjaryl at the advertised
price of $25; after that date, the price will be $28. If you
were a Supporting or Life Member this year, don't forget
that you will automatically receive a copy - there is no
need to utilize this offer unless you would like a second
one!

Finally, a happy and healthy 1993 to everyone, and
we're looking fonward to hearing from you about the
new newsletter.

Miranda

Would the person who ordered — and never
rece i ved — The Puritan Way of Death and one
other t)00k from the AGS Lending Library,
please contact Laurel Gabel, 205 Fishers Rd.,
PittSford NY 14534. (716)248-3453.

AGS Fa' 92 p. 27

PLANNING AHEAD FOR THE '93 CONFERENCE?

Pat Miller presents something to do before or after the '93 conference! The conference will be in
southeastern Connecticut. Pat suggests a day or two in beautiful northwestern Connecticut with visits
to small early graveyards in the area — CT, NY and MA — with good food, conversation and tourist
information. Let Pat know if you prefer bed & breakfast, motel or select private school accommodations.
Contact her, at 36 Tamarack Ave. #197, Danbury CT 06810 [(203) 748-0289] if interested in details.

X

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester h/IA 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Det)orah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer,
editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State
University, f^onmouth OR 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor, Nova Scotia f^useum, 1747
Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H3A6, Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $24.50; Vol. 3, $38.95
(cloth only); Vol. 4, $21.95; Vol. 5, $22.95; Vol. 6, $26.95; Vol. 7, $15; Vol. 8, $20; Vol. 9, $20; higher prices for non-members) from
the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 6 1 Old Sudbury Road, Way land MA 0 1 778 Address other
correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the AGS off ice at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609. (508)831-7753

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE

PAID
Permit No. 410
Worcester MA

ml NEWSLETTER

^^nL^y ■ OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 17 NUMBER 1 WINTER 1992/3 ISSN: 01 46-5783

CONTENTS

This Old Monument

by Peter W. Ablondi, Vincent F. Broz and Richard A. Piaget 2

Romancing the Stones

by Ellsworth Bunnell 8

BITS & BITES 10

CONFERENCE '93 INFO 11

PRESERVATION NOTES

Old Quadra Street Burying Ground, Victoria BC

by John Adams 19

The Restoration of the Jewish Cemetery at The Hague

by Cora Greenaway 20

First Parish Burial Ground Restoration Project, Gloucester MA

by Ann G. Campbell 23

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT 24

REVIEW

Graveyards Of North Kingstown Rl, reviewed by Vincent Luti 26

POINTS OF INTEREST 27

Wilbraham, Massachusetts cemetery commis-
sioner Vincent Broz displays the "Scalloped"
stainless steel collar used to repair marble monu-
ments with that type of edge — for explanation,
see story on page 2

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 1

THIS OLD MONUMENT

Wilbraham, Massachusetts, cemetery commissioners
restore marble markers by 'collaring ' them in a stainless
steel brace.

by Peter W. Ablondi, Vincent F. Broz, and Richard
A. Piaget

The following article is reprinted from American
Cemetery [V. 65 #5] May 1992, with permission. In it,
the members of the Board of Cemetery Commission-
ers, Town of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, tell about the
method they have devised to restore and preserve
marble headstones. The commissioners very kindly
also provided the Newsletter with their original photo-
graphs to accompany the article.

Friends and relatives gathered. Tears were shed to
match the gentle rain that fell as Mr. and Mrs. Otis Ladd
buried their daughter Julia Amelia. Several weeks later
a marble monument was placed on her grave. The
monument was about two inches thick, 24 inches wide,
and four feet high. It was mortised into a red sandstone
base, which was placed so that its top was just below
ground level. The monument stated Julia's name, her
date of death, her age (17), and identified her as the
daughter of Otis K. and Hannah W. Ladd. The year was
1866. Then it rained.

The place was Adams Cemetery, one of the three town
cemeteries in the Town of Wilbraham, Massachusetts,
which is on the eastern border of Springfield. The first
burial there took place on April 28, 1 741 , after Elizabeth
Cockril, age 39, had come from the Boston area to visit
her sister and brother-in-law, the Samuel Warners,
living in Wilbraham. When she took ill and died, she
became the first burial in what was then known as the
Old Burying Ground.

Julia Amelia 's restored marble monument in Adams Cemetery.

Two hundred and fifty years later, the Old Burying
Ground is known as Adams Cemetery, so named for
John Adams, deacon of the Congregational Church
who lived in a home, built in 1 794, adjacent to the land
on which the cemetery was located. One of Adams'
duties was to look after the cemetery.

Establishing a cemetery was in accordance with a state
law that required each municipality to provide a "bury-
ing ground" for its residents. Adams Cemetery has
been in continuous use since 1741, as has East
Wilbraham Cemetery, since 1779, and Glendale
Cemetery, since 1787. Coincidentally, present Adams
Cemetery Commissioner Peter Ablondi purchased the
Deacon John Adams house in 1970, not knowing that
18 years later he would be following in the footsteps of
the original owner.

For the first 80 years, the rain caused little damage to
Julia's marble monument. The rain and snow in winter
did cause some tiny "freeze" cracks to develop, but the
stone's integrity was sound. However in the 1950s,
when the rain became slightly more acid, the marble
began to weaken.

The red sandstone base into which the marble had
been fitted was not affected (because it was below
ground level), nor were the sandstone, slate, and
granite monuments in Adams that marked earlier burials.
The sandstone monuments, which were mined locally.
retained in clearly legible form their can/ings of angels
and cherubs and their messages of faith and hope.

Elizabeth Cockril stone, 1 74 1

Wilbraham does have some pretty heavy storms each
fall, and during one such storm a large limb from a 60-

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 2

foot oak snapped off. As it fell to the ground, it struck
and broke Julia's marble monunnent. The cemetery
commissioner of that day used mortar to repair Julia's
monument, but balancing a 40 pound piece of marble
on its corresponding two-inch-wide base resulted in a
precarious situation at best. However, the repair
"worked," so ail was considered well.

Some years later, an out-of-control power lawn mower
bumped Julia's monument and once again it broke, this
time right alongside the previous repair joint where the
marble had become noticeably crumbly. In 1986, Mr.
Ablondi, the newly elected Adams Cemetery Commis-
sioner, re-repaired Julia's monument, using epoxy ce-
ment and fully realizing that the cement was stronger
than the marble it was repairing.

Just as Julia's monument had been broken, other
marble monuments in the three Wilbraham cemeteries
had suffered similarfates. When repairs could be made
they were temporary at best, since the inherent weak-
ness of the marble meant that they would break again.
Some stones were so weak that no repair could be
done, because they could not be made to stand upright.

Many of the earliest "monuments" were native rocks
placed on graves, such as Elizabeth Cockril's, the first
grave in Adams Cemetery, and overthe years a number
have disappeared from the cemetery. In the late 1 700s,
sandstone was used for monuments. Some sandstone
was taken from a quarry located on the adjacent Charles
Merrick farm and from whose family some land was
purchased for one of the later cemetery expansions.

The sandstone
monuments were
rugged, about 4 to
5 inches thick, and
stood 3 to 4 feet
above the ground.
The carvings are
beautiful and have
withstood the rav-
ishes of weather
and acid rain fairly
well.

The next genera-
tion of stone used
for cemetery
monuments was a
white marble, such
as Julia's, and this

Margret Warmer,
sandstone, 1764

is where the problems began for the cemetery commis-
sioners of Wilbraham.

The white marble monuments come in different widths,
and the individual designs, which were chiseled into the
stone, vary in style. However, the thickness of the stone
remains somewhat constant — atx)ut1 1/2to 21/4 inches.
It is interesting to note that the earlier sandstone monu-
ments were heavier and more rugged than the soft
marble monuments that followed years later.

As years passed, problems began to develop with
marble. In recent years, the effects of acid rain began
to be noticed as carvings began to be obliterated.
Secondly, the stone became more brittle as it aged and
the marble monuments were snapping off, either at the
baseline or partway up the stone.

The-epoxy adhesives, which were available in the
1980s to Adams Commissioner Ablondi and supplied
by a local monument company, worked very well on the
granite stone repairs he was making. But the epoxy did
not bond to the marble very satisfactorily. Using epoxy
on marble seemed like trying to glue two pieces of
Styrofoam!

Because the glued joint was stronger than the material
either above or below the joint, the newly glued stone
soon broke, either above or below the joint, usually
crumbling a bit of the stone on one or both sides of the
break. Repairing old marble monuments using epoxy
was almost an impossible job!

The commissioners noticed that some of the older
marble stones had been repaired some years ago by
Walter Clar1< who had been Adams Cemetery com-
missioner for 21 years. The state-of-the-art method of
his day was to use mortar. They noticed that a few
mortared stones had been rebroken and some of the
broken parts had become lost. So it was evident from an
examination of the monuments repaired with mortar
that this method was only marginally successful.

When Richard Piaget was elected in 1 990 and became
the Glendale Commissioner, he too experienced the
same problems trying to repairthe old Glendale stones.
The third commissioner, Vincent Broz, had also expe-
rienced the same problems with broken marble
monuments. At the monthly meetings of the Board of
Cemetery Commissioners the discussion frequently
focused on finding a better way to repair old marble
monuments.

Solutions to large problems usually arrive piecemeal,
and the solution to repairing broken historical marble
monuments was no exception. As the commissioners
were surveying several broken monuments in Adams

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 3

Cemetery, many of which had been repaired before,
the thought occurred to them that some way had to
be found to externally brace the monument stone, so
that the full weight of the epoxyed stone would not
totally rest on the adhesive.

If some kind of a bracket could be constructed to
take the weight, then the adhesive would have a
better chance to survive the wind and bumps from
careless equipment operators — the main hazards to
the life of a Wilbraham cemetery monument.

We felt that we also had to be mindful of the history
represented by these stones. So the braces would
have to be unobtrusive yet strong enough to stand
the test of time. Some monuments had no stone or
concrete bases, they were slabs of marble just stuck
into the ground. Others had a foundation system,
which we would have to deal with.

The solutionto the problem gradually evolvedtowards
extending a U-shaped piece of steel wrapped around
the stone and extending into the ground on each
side to provide the necessary support, especially
where there was no monument foundation. It was
thought that perhaps the collar should be stainless
steel, so that it would not rust and further damage the
stone in the years ahead.

Wilbraham cemetery commissioner Peter Ablondi shows the
"Flat Top" stainless steel collar used to repair rectangular
marble headstones.

Now came the process. Commissioner Ablondi knew
Richard Kleeberg, a local man who owned and operated
Kleeberg Sheet Metal Company in nearby Ludlow,
r\/1ass. A phone call revealed that he would be glad to
meet with the Commissioners to advise them on the
practicality of a stainless steel support collar.

The only time he would be available to meet would be
early in the morning. The meeting was scheduled at
6:00 a.m. on a chilly September 1 99 1 morning in Adams
Cemetery.

Out of that early morning meeting came two solid
suggestions. First, a stainless steel collar could be
applied over the top of the stone, whether it was
standing upright, leaning, orflat on the ground. Second,
the collar had to extend into the ground at least 12
inches below the surface to provide the necessary
support, especially if the monument had no other
foundation, fvlr. Kleeberg determined that 14-gauge,
number-304 stainless steel would be the material to
use for this project.

Mr. Kleeberg came prepared — he had a large piece of
cardboard with him in his truck. He said the best way to
provide an accurate monument measurement was with
a template — a fullscale tracing of the size of the monu-
ment including its thickness. A tight fit was needed on

all sides, yet the collar could not be too tight or it would
not fit easily over the top of the monument.

Since it may be difficult for a reader to send a piece of
full-sizecardboardthroughthe mail, a cardboard tracing
could be carefully cut out and further retraced on a roll
of paper, which then can be sent in a mailing tube to
Kleeberg Sheet Metal. Dick's manufacturing people
generally add a fraction to each measurement in the
interest of ease of application.

One should remember that sometimes old marble
monuments that are hand cut are not uniform in di-
mension from top to bottom, or in the thickness, which
can vary slightly.

For the sake of "unobtrusive historical representation."
the collars are made with the front channel slightly
narrower than the rear channel. Now comes the ap-
plication of the collar to the monument.

If the stone is standing upright, or nearly upright, then
the collar can be fairly easily slipped over the top. If the
monument is in several pieces, then our recommen-
dation is to stand the collar on its "nose" on a solid
surface such as a plank and thoroughly epoxy the
inside of the "nose" as well as the sides for a tight
bonding of the monument to the collar.

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 4

The piece that is the top of the
monument is slipped upside down
into the collar first. The front of the
stone must face the narrowest edge
of the collar with the back of the
monument facing the widest portion
of the collar. (As we stated above,
the face of the collar has the narrow
channel overlap and the reverse of
the collar has the widest overlap.)

If there are more broken pieces to
the monument, epoxy all the joints
and keep adding them in reverse
order so that when the collar-with-
monument has been uprighted, all
the pieces of the monument will be
in the correct sequence.

If there is afoundation stone, be sure that the pieces of
it lying directly beneath each side of the monument
have been removed, so that the 1 2-inch extensions can
easily fit into the ground. The extensions must be
straight and kept tight to the sides of the marble monu-
ment.

In some cases, we first drilled holes in the base of the
monument for the extensions to fit into the ground. This
proved to be a lot of backbreaking work. We found that
it was easier to switch to a blunt-point hammer for use
with our electric rotary-impact drill, which would easily
break away the ends of the foundation to allow for the
extensions.

The drilled holes may look nicer, but unless you have a

Commissioner Pete Ablondi pointing to sandstone monu-
ment foundation drilled and waiting for collar.

Wilbraham cemetery commissioner Vincent Broz fastens a
pipe clamp on the collar to secure it while broken pieces of a
marble monument are reattached with an epoxy.

lot of time the blunt-point hammer is much quicker. (No
one will notice the jagged work the bluntpoint hammer
produces, because when the project is finished the
base will be seeded or covered with a concrete -
"mound".)

As the holes were drilled, or the stone was broken
away, we used our heavy duty Sears Shop- Vac to clear
away the small debris created by drilling/hammering.
When one person used the hammer and the other one
vacuumed, the process of removing residue was
speeded up considerably.

If necessary, a heavy duty pipe clamp can
be used to keep the steel collar from
spreading too much, and this would keep
the pieces of the monument from falling out.
The pipe clamps are also very useful when
the monument must be assembled on the
ground by sliding all the pieces into the
collar in a horizontal position. The pipe
clamps make good "handles" for more than
one person to assist in setting up the "col-
lared monument."

Before the monument is hoisted into the
vertical position, be sure that you have a tin
or aluminum can the size of a tomato juice
or coffee can, or one just a little bit smaller,
carefully fitted around each extension. The
cans will be placed in the hole in the ground

so that each extension is inside a can. (We will explain

their use below.)

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 5

The stainless steel collar extends about 12 inches below the
marble stone's base and is anchored inside cans the size of
coffee cans, which are filled with a fast-setting hydraulic
cement.

If the can is to be placed in the ground inside a
monument foundation in which you have just drilled-
hammered, you may need a pair of tin snips to reshape
the can to fit the hole area.

The monument is to be set upright after carefully
applying epoxy to the base of the bottom-most piece
and to the top surface of the foundation, which is
already in the ground. If there is no foundation at all,
then just place the cans in the ground and place the
extensions inside them.

When the "collared monument" is uprighted, it must be
level from left to right and from front to back. The front-
to-back position can be maintained by propping a two-
by-four piece of wood in the front and rear of the now-
upright monument.

There Is a reason we have suggested that the cans be
placed In the ground and the 1 2-inch collar extensions
placed in them. A way had to be found to lock the
stainless steel collar tight against the sides of the
monument in order to provide enough support to hold
the monument pieces rigid as the epoxy dries.

To find a way to easily accomplish this, the commission-
ers conferred with Wilbraham True Value Hardware
store manager Paul Cooling. We consider him our
"resident expert" in many of the areas of cemetery
management where "hardware items" provide the solu-
tion to a particular problem.

Paul was very helpful by supplying a solu-
tion to our problem of finding a way to
support the stainless steel collar In the
ground. He suggested that we use the juice
can and fill them with a product made by
Hartline Products Company, of Cleveland.
Ohio, called "Rockite" — which is a fast-set-
ting hydraulic cement. When mixed to a
pourable consistency, it will flow around the
stainless steel collar and within 1 5 minutes
it will set up (and expand) enough to hold the
collarextensions tightly. Its adhesion power
comes from its expansion qualities, and
when it is completely dry it will grip the metal
in a permanent bond. We bought our mate-
rial from Paul in a 25-pound box; it is also
available in larger containers.

As the Rockite sets up, we mix a batch of
Sakrete to fill the rest of the hole. Again, Paul recom-
mended a mortar mix because it is easier to pour into
nooks and crannies than any other type of mix.

If you plan to use a concrete mound on the su rf ace , then

»n^ JW Y'

Collar installed through existing foundation

you would fill the hole to the top with Sakrete, or equal,
and let dry. If you plan to plant grass, then fill the hole
with Sakrete to within four inches of the top. When the
concrete is dry, fill the balance of the hole with loam and
then seed.

The next step in the repair process is to seal all surface
areas where the monument stone comes In contact
with the stainless steel collar. Paul recommended a
good-quality clear-silicone caulking sealer. Be sure to
caulk on each side of the monument with a bead that
starts at the ground and goes completely up and around
the monument back to the ground again. This should be
done on each side of the stone.

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 6

V^T--

The edge of the steel collar must be caulked with silicone to
prevent moisture from seeping in between it and the marble
monument.

If there are hollow spots inside the collar where it meets
the monument stone because of broken or chipped
pieces or an inexact fit, fill them with the silicone caulk.

In our area of New England, any moisture that gets into
any of the recesses of the monument could freeze in
winter and either buckle the stainless steel collar or
cause the newly installed concrete to crack prema-
turely. We also recommend that you apply the same
silicone caulk to the area between the bottom of the
monument and the newly poured concrete base. In our
opinion, moisture is the enemy of historic stone preser-
vation!

In November of 1991 , an article in American Cemetery
by George Malbasa, of Cleveland, Ohio, described how
he tested many adhesives now on the market to see if
they could be used with marble, and he had the same
experience we had: none of them worked very well with
marble repairs.

He had a new formulation made to his specifications,
and he sent us a quart of each of the two-part epoxy to
try. We used it on the last three stones we had to repair
in the fall of 1991 before it became too cold in our New
England area to continue outside work.

His material mixed very easily and applied easily to the
stone. Its consistency made it easy to spread into the
monument cracks and crevices as well. We won't know
how strong the bond will be until this spring, and an even
bettertest will be spring 1 993. But the product did seem
promising.

We mentioned earlier in the article the gauge of the
stainless steel which Dick Kleeberg used forthe collars,
but we did not mention the cost. The reason we didn't
is that there is no cost to the Town of Wilbraham
cemetery system; Kleeberg Sheet Metal has donated
ail the collars to us. However Dick has provided the
following estimated prices to those who might be con-
sidering using this procedure.

The "Flat Top" collar as shown in an accompanying
photo would cost approximately $125 each; ourPitched
Roof" model (Julia's monument shown in another pic-
ture) would cost about $150; and the top-of-the-line
"Scalloped Corner" model, as shown in a third photo,
would be about $200. All these prices are exclusive of
shipping.

I', i''

s*V -^1

i^tt:

Joint repaired some time ago with conventional epoxy.
Collar is installed part way. Gaps on either side will be
siliconed.

The members of the Wilbraham Board of Cemetery
Commissioners would be happy to answer any
questions about their on-going experiences in re-
pairing historic marble monuments. Our address is:
Town of Wilbraham, Board of Cemetery Commis-
sioners, 240 Springfield Street, Wilbraham, Massa-
chusetts 01095.

The Cemetery Commissioners wish to thank l^r. Charles
L. Merrick, Wilbraham town historian, for technical as-
sistance in preparing this article, and for providing a copy
of the caption on the 1741 tombstone of Elizabeth Cockril,
the first person to be buried in Adams Cemetery. The
Commissioners also wish to thank Melvin G. Williams,
Ph.D., chair of the English Department at American Inter-
national College, Springfield, Massachusetts, for both
assistance as Commission Grave Rubbing Consultant as
well as for review of this article.

AGS Wi'92/3p. 7

ROMANCING THE

STONES

Tales told from old

headstones

by Ellsworth Bunnell

Cemeteries are wonderful
places to walk through.
Traffic is minimal, the sur-
roundings are tranquil and
the solitude isconducive to
meditation. Cemetery
meditation can take many
pathways. One can admire
the countless shapes, sizes
and ornamentation of the
stones. One can also ad-
mire the odd names, the
often lugubrious verse, or

do what I often do, speculate on the lives of those
beneath my feet. If there are eight million stories in the
Naked City, there are also stories to be told of the
inhabitants of every burial place one visits.

Since I live nearthe Colebrook Village Cemetery, I often
walk there, not — as I am sometimes reminded — because
most of my contemporaries are already resident there,
but because for 200 years the dust of fellow citizens has
lain there, entombed with their life stories.

One such person is Joseph Loomis, a veteran of the
Revolutionary War, who gave part of his farm to aug-
ment the cemetery. The main gate is dedicated to his
memory and just to its left lies the man himself, with his
family in a long row beside him. What tales f^r. Loomis
might have for us. Perhaps he saw the whites of British
eyes at Bunker Hill. Maybe he spent the winter at Valley
Forge and held the reins of General Washington's
horse. Possibly he caught sight of Cornwallis at the
Yorktown surrender. Or it could be that the one great
challenge of his life was coming to the northern Coos
and carving out a home for his family. The adventures
of his life are buried with him, but we do know that his
instinct for the military remained strong, because his
son, Lewis, became a general in a later conflict.

Nearby is the stone of Elizabeth Bridge, born in 1825
and died a few days short of her 1 00th birthday in 1 924.
Just think about the events that passed before her in
that century. When she was born, John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson, both signers of the Declaration of
Independence, were still living, and before herdeath 68
men had already flown the Atlantic Ocean and she
could have heard the news on her radio. She could
have not only told us about the Indian Stream War, but

everyconflictupto World Warl. She must have known
all about the war that took place at Battle Bridge on
Route 26 in Kidderville. (And, boy, would 1 like to talk to
her about that one!)

Sometimes a stone needs but little imagination, as the

epitaph tells it all. Witness the stone of one Mahala

Hutchinson, who departed in 1861 . Her stone reads;

There is rest in heaven,

I am not weary now.

Such a sentiment leads one to believe that she was
delighted to depart this earth.

Our cemetery has had its share of suicides, although
such facts are not emblazoned on the stones. How-
ever, one stone stands out and is part of our local lore.
The stone stands just north of the Loomis lot and
indicates that Dr. James Hartwell is the occupant of that
bit of earth . He was both a doctor and minister, for many
years carrying on both professions in Whitefield. After
the death of his first wife, -he transferred his practice to
Colebrook. Later, he married again, but his second wife
lived only a few months. The two tragedies were too
much forthe poor man and he committed suicide. This
act brought out all the worst in his fellow townsmen and
they would not allow his body to be buried in the
cemetery among "decent folk". Fortunately, William
Loomis, youngest son of the Revolutionary War veteran,
still owned the family farm and, although in his eighties,
feared neither "contamination" nor Christians and al-
lowed the doctor to be buried on land he owned just
outside the sacred precincts. The passage of time and
the grim reaper has greatly enlarged the cemetery and
Dr. Hartwell now sleeps in close quarters with the
uncommonly good.

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 8

A short distance away are two stones, both flying the American flag.
The f lag-holderof one proudly bears the seal of the Grand Army of the
Republic, but the holder on the other grave is severely plain and
merely says "Veteran". These are the graves of Henry and Cummings
Marshall, brothers who fought on opposite sides in the Civil War.
Cummings being the unflinching Union soldier and Henry the
unrepenting Rebel. One can't help wondering what led to their
differing points of view. The story has it that they remained sworn
enemies to the end of their lives. Cummings marched proudly with
the G.A.R. in every Memorial parade and, just as faithfully, Henry
rode horseback, weaving in and out of the marchers and emitting
Rebel yells on the top of his voice. People who remembered them
said it was quite a sight to see. Cummings has long since answered

his last muster and Henry's Rebel yell is forever stilled
beneath this hallowed earth. Together they sleep side
by side beneath the Stars and Stripes— although Henry
would quite likely have preferred otherwise.

-0^ '*i^,'.-^r

One lot in our cemetery has only the small marble
marker of a four-year-old girl. But the interesting
occupant of the lot is herfather, buried beside her. His
name was Elmon Williams and he arrived in Colebrook
from his native Warren, New Hampshire, in the early
1 850s. Being a bright young man and a born merchant,
he quickly worked his way into partnerships with sev-
eral businessmen and, after the great fire of 1 870 which
hit Colebrook's Main Street, he built the two buildings
that still stand at the corner of Main and Spring Streets,
one for his own store and the other as a millinery shop
for his wife, Mary (the only daughter of Dr. Snowe of
Columbia). Williams was enormously successful and
respected and, since the town did not yet have a bank,
he functioned as a sort of private bank. People would
bring him their cash for safekeeping in his vault and for
the modest interest he paid them for the privilege.

However, in the late 1 880s a serpent arrived in town in
the guise of a fascinating lady of clouded background
and calling herself Mrs. Stanley. Williams was now well
into his sixties, but he was wealthy and she charmed the

The Marshall brothers, side-by-side: Henry wore greay and
Cummings wore blue during the Civil War.

A close-up of the Esther Fletcher sone shows the toll that time
has taken on the old tintype photograph and the message
above it, Blasted Hopes".

heck out of him. They both disappeared one morning
on the early train thoughtfully taking the contents of
Williams' vault with them. The town was both numbed
and impoverished by this and although the two were
eventually tracked down in Manitoba, Canada, the
money was gone forever. After serving several years
in the state prison in Concord, Williams, a broken old
man, returned to his native Warren, built himself a small
house and committed suicide, in that order. His body
was returned to Colebrook to be laid to rest in the lot he
purchased so many years ago. His widow refused to
share the same ground and lies beside herfather in the
Columbia cemetery. The one happy result of the whole
affair was that the next year the First Colebrook Bank
was established and the town's wealth has been safe
ever since.

Perhaps our most famous gravestone— the one that
most visitors ask to see — is familiarly known as "Blasted
Hopes". It marks the grave of Esther Fletcher, who
departed from this world in 1 8G9 at the age of 25 years.
Herbereaved husband had atintype of his pretty young
wife embedded in her gravestone and now, 122 years
later, it is still to be seen with the words "Blasted Hopes"
above it. Time and the elements have nearly obliter-
ated the picture, but I can remember back more than 60
years ago the face with the pink-tinted cheeks of a
young lady in a Civil War era dress smiling out from that
picture.

These are some of the things to be found in a cemetery
I'm sure every burial place has similar stories to be told,
for here is where we bury our crooks and clowns, our
princes and paupers and movers and shakers of cen-
turies past. Want to find out more? Put on a pair of
walking shoes, bring your imagination and a notebook
and I'll meet you at the gate.

from Coos Magazine, Coldbrook NH 03576, October 1991,
contributed by the editor, Charles J. Jordan, and by Bill Wallace,
Auburn MA

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 9

BITS & BITES

Laurel Gabel and Theodore Chase are doing a series of short
articles about Essex County, Massachusetts, gravestone
carvers for the Essex Institute Historical Collections. The
first article, "John Holliman: Eighteenth-Century Salem
Stonecarver" was published in the July 1 992 issue (Vol. 1 28,
#3, pages 147-161). A second article is on James Ford, also
of Salem. The third installment is about Robert Fowie of
Boston, Salem and Newburyport. The Ford and FowIe pieces
are due out in the summer, 1 993 issue. The last article, which
they have yet to write, will be about carver Levi Maxcy.

Readers of tho Newsletter w\\\ be familiar with the work of
Shaftesbury VT carver Zerubbabel Collins (1733-1797), a
member of a distinguished Connecticut family of carvers
written up in Slater's Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern
Connecticut (p. 10) and in Markers VIII. This handsome
monument seems to be the example of Collins work that
migrated furthest from his home base. The 1796 Amos
Wright stone is the oldest marker in the Blue Church burying
ground just west of Prescott, Ontario, Canada. This was a
region settled by loyalists who migrated north after the Revo-
lution, but political differences did not deter the Wright family
from sending back to Shaftesbury for this marker. Amos' land
petition of 1 789 calls him late of "Shasburry" and he appears
to have been a son of a loyalist soldier, Ebenezer Wright, who
with his wife Mercy Leach had moved form Connecticut to
Shaftesbury, buying land there in 1 766. Amos was a resident
of Yonge Township at his death, and administration of his
estate was granted to his widow Sabra, daughter of a New
York loyalist. Captain Hazard Willcox of Delancey's Corps,
who was wounded at Bennington and killed at White Plains.
Three sons and two daughters survived Amos. If the stone
was erected by a literal brother, then either Asahel Wright of
Augusta Township or David Wright of Cornwall was the man
responsible. Both named a son for Amos, Asahel in 1 797 and
David in 1801.

contributed by Bruce S. Elliott, DepartmentoflHistory, Carleton
University, Ottawa, Ont., Canada K1S 5B6.

A new book has just been published in Italy titled LIchenI E
Conservazlone Dei MonumentI (Lichens and conservation
of monuments), by Pier Luigi Nimis, Daniela Pinna and
Ornella Salvadori. From the English text in the promotional
brochure, it appears very interesting. "The grov;rth of lichens
on monuments causes a series of complex problems in the
field of conservation and restoration. Lichens can produce
not only a chromatic alteration of the stone surfaces, but also
a pronounced chemical and/or physical weathering of the
rocks. Different species have a different action on the
substrata. Any measure against lichens should be based on
a detailed knowledge of the lichen flora and vegetation, and
of the main ecological factors affecting lichen growth on a
particular monument.

This volume presents a general review of the researches in
this field, including ecological studies, the mechanisms of
weathering by lichens, the origin of the calcium oxalate films,
the main methodologies adopted until now against lichen
growth.

A large part of the book is devoted to the description of the
mostfrequent lichen species occurring on Italian monuments.
These are illustrated by 1 1 0 colour pictures, and by a synthetic
comment on their morphology, ecology and distribution. The
book includes also a table reporting all substances which
have been used until now to prevent lichen growth on
monuments, and a list of references with 251 titles.

contributed by Karen Casselman, Halifax N.S.

ICONS FOR OUR MODERN AGE

An exhibition at the Edmonton ArtGallery, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, March 7 - April 26, 1992

f > '^ ^ /

««>»

Desjarlais, Alberta, 1990, Duraflex photographic print by
Randy Adams, 40. 6 x 50.8 cm

During 1990 and 1991, Edmonton writer and photographer.
Randy Adams, travelled to relic graveyards along the band of
settlements following the poplar belt extending from Alberta
to Manitoba. His project was to photograph the Christ figures
on the gravemarkers and to produce a series of colour prints
as partof the visual component of awider study of the people
and rural history of the Prairie provinces of Canada.

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 10

'J^^

%

REGISTRATION

for the

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Sixteenth Annual Conference and Meeting , — - ^ ^_, ^ ^^ —

Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut ^5q?^^^^ rDD ^^^g^M^^^M^

A time for sharing ideas and information relating to all aspects of gravestone studies, including carver identification,
gravestone conservation, graveyard preservation, and new research advancing the knowledge of historic and modern
funerary art.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS;

(All meetings will take place in air-conditioned buildings.)
THURSDAY

REGISTRATION begins at noon.

CONSERVATION WORKSHOP 2:30-4:00. Pre-Conference Lab for those conferees selecting Conservation Workshop as Friday
activity. Adhesive repair techniques will be featured.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER Lance Mayer, Conservator at the Lyman AUyn Art Museum, will set the tone for the conference by speaking
on "Eastern Connecticut: A Cultural Crossroads".

FRIDAY

CONSERVATION WORKSHOP 9:00-3:30. After initial lectures, the workshop will continue in Cedar Grove Cemetery. Partici-
pants will be organized into teams; each team will engage in three activities - cleaning, resetting and adhesion. Staff leaders: Fred
Oakley, Coordinator; Jef Foley, Rosanne Foley, C.R. Jones, Charles Marchant, David Via, and Tracy Walther.

SELF-GUIDED MINI TOURS 9:00-4:00. Graveyards in the immediate vicinity have been identified for conferees to visit on their
own today. Maps and directions will be available at the Registration table. A shuttle bus will make the circuit between graveyards
and the campus for those who prefer not to drive.

PARTICIPATION SESSIONS 9:00-4:00. A wide range of topics will be covered in 18 different hour-long sessions designed for
everyone from novice to expert. Select up to 6 from the enclosed list.

LECTURES Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday morning. Presenters include, among others, C.R. Jones, Vince Luti, Betty
Willsher, Charles Marchant, and Susanne Ridlen.

INFORMAL LATE NIGHT SHOW Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. After the evening programs, those with slides to
share on a more informal basis are invited to gather at a specified location. Slides of research in progress or unusual markers are
especially encouraged. Bring along whatever you might feel motivated to share with others in a relaxed setting. Please tell us your
topic and timing in the space provided on the back of the registration form so we can organize things!

SATURDAY

COLONIAL TOUR Old Lyme, Durham and Essex. You will see stones by a wide variety of Connecticut River Valley carvers. The
stones are primarily sandstone, with several interspersed slates imported from Boston and Newport.

VICTORIAN TOUR Explore a superb setting at Elm Grove in Mystic, fantastic family plots in Cedar Grove, New London, and
unique heart-shaped curbing in Yantic, Norwich, all 3 cemeteries with interesting monuments.

BANQUET AND PRESENTATION of the Harriet Menifield Forbes Award

SUNDAY

ANNUAL MEETING AND FINAL PAPERS

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

TO REGISTER

Tlie conference is open to anyone. A registration fee is required for all conferees; however, note the exception on the Registration form
for ONE DAY PARTICIPANTS. The fee for AGS members is $70 until June 1; thereafter, $85. Full conference and partial conference
registration are available. Fill in the prices for all desired options on the enclosed registration form, and mail with your check or money
order (U.S. funds, please) payable to AGS to the Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609. Registration
closes June 10 so the Registrar can report our figures to the college. AH fees should be paid by this time. Please do not plan to arrive
without a confirmed registration.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancellations will be accepted on the following terms: Before June 1, full refund; June 1-10 registration is not refundable, but meab and

lodgings will be refunded; AFTER lUNE 10. NO REFUNDS WILL BE MADE.

ACCOMPANYING SPOUSES

Spouses accompanying conferees, participating only in meals, receptions, and lodgings, do not have to pay the registration fee. If spouses

wish to go on the bus tour or attend workshops or lectures, they must register as either full or partial conferees and pay the registration fee.

ACCOMODATIONS (No Smoking in any indoor locations)

The dormitory rooms are arranged for single occupancy only. Couples may request adjacent rooms (use the space provided on the back of
the registration form) or may wish to consider off-campus accomodations. We will be staying in the usual dormitory rooms with bath-
rooms at the end of the hall. Men's and Women's bathrooms will be designated on alternating floors. The rooms will be furnished with
bed linens, pillow, small towels, blanket, soap, and glass. You may wish to bring a desk lamp and a fan (the dormitories are not air-
conditioned), a washcloth, a large towel, and perhaps a plastic bag for a wastebasket. There is no smoking in the rooms.

Other accomodations within a 10-15 minute drive of the campus include Holiday Inn ($79) and Coleman Lodge ($45 single, $55 double)
of New London, and Sojourner's Inn ($95 single, $105 double). Best Western ($95 single, $103 double), and Econolodge ($35 single, $45
double) of Groton.

FOOD SERVICE will be provided by Connecticut College. Menus were arranged by Lorraine Clapp with the expert assistance of Dan
Goldman. All meals except the banquet will be served cafeteria style. Let us know if you have particular dietary needs (see the back of
the registration form).

HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBILITY

There are steps at the entrance to most buildings. There are no elevators in the dormitories, although you can request a room on the first

floor - see the back of the registration form.

TRANSPORTATION

The campus is 2 miles from downtown New London and is easily accessible by car, bus (Greyhound) or train (Amcrak). Air travelers can

fly into Groton-New London airport on USAir connecting through Philadelphia or New York (LaGuardia).

EXHIBITS AND SALES

Exhibit space is available for your gravestone-related photographs, drawings, etc. Conferees may bring gravestone-related books and items
to sell. Conferees will be responsible for their own sales. There will also be an AGS sales booth with publications, MARKERS, etc. To
reserve sales or gallery space, please see the back of the registration form, or for more information, contact Dan Goldman, 115 Middle
Road, E. Greenwich, RI 02818. (401) 884-7875.

SCHEDULE

Thursday

12:00 -10:00PM

Registration

Saturday

12:00- 5:00

Set up exhibits

7:30-8:15

Breakfast

Self-Guided Mini-tours

8:30 - 9:00

Late Registration

2:30- 4:00

Conservation Workshop Lab

9:00 - 4:00

Bus Tours

5:30- 6:45

Dinner

4:30 - 5:30

Forbes .^ward Reception

7:00- 9:30

Lecture Session #1

5:30-7:00

Award Banquet

10:00 +

Informal Late Night Show

7:30 - 9:45

Lecture Session *3

10:00 +

Informal Late Night Show

Fri^SY

7:30-8:15

Breakfast

Sunday

7:45 - Noon

Registration

7:30-8:15

Breakfast

9:00-12:00

Participation Sessions

8:30 - 9:45

Annual Meeting

9:00-12:00

Mini Tours - Self-Guided & Shuttle Service

10:00-12:00

Lecture Session *4

9:00-11:15

Conservation Workshop Lectures

12:30- 1:15

Farewell Lunch

11:15-12:30

Lunch

1:00- 4:00

Participation Sessions continue

12:00-3:30

Conservation Workshop (Cedar Grove Cemetery)

1:00- 4:00

Mini Tours - Self Guided & Shuttle Service

Friday, continued

3:00- 5:00

Registration

4:30- 5:30

Reception

5:30- 6:45

Dinner

7:00- 9:30

Lecture Session *2

10:00 +

Informal Late Night Show

1993 AGS
CONFERENCE
REGISTRATION
FORM

June 24-27, 1993

Name

Address.
City

State

.Zip.

Telephone.

Please choose either plan I, II, or III below and complete applicable information on back.

DEADLINE JUNE 10, 1993

Please make checks payable to AGS, and mail to:
The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609

I. FULL CONFERENCE: If you plan to come Thursday afternoon and stay through Sunday noon, eat meals, stay in dorm, and
attend activities, fill in this section and section IV on back of this form:

A. Registration fee (covers rental of facilities and
equipment, copying, and other overhead expenses)

Before June 1: member $70; non-member $80*
After June 1: member $85; non-member $95*

B. Lodging 3 nights, all meals, all activities
Single $210

Before lune 1

After lune 1

GRAND TOTAL (Add A, B)

TOTAL: ,

II. PARTIAL CONFERENCE: If you plan to attend only certain activities and stay only part of the time, fill in this section and
section IV on back of this form:

Before lune 1 After June 1

A. Registration fee (see above description):
Before June 1: member $70; non-member $80*
After June 1: member $85; non-member $95*

A.

B. Lodging on campus (Single occupancy only. Couples may request adjacent rooms.)

Thurs. $45 single Sat. $45 single

Fri. $45 single ^ TOTAL FOR B:

C. All meals and activities:
Thurs. $20.
Fri. $36.

Sat. $50

Sun. $20

TOTAL FOR C:

GRAND TOTAL (Add A, B, C)

TOTAL:

III. ONE DAY PARTICIPANTS: (No conference registration fee is required if you attend ONLY ONE activity)

A. Friday Activities Only: $35/day including lunch

Conservation Workshop Participation Sessions

For Participation Sessions, mark your choices on the back of this form! !

B. Bus Tour Only: $35/tour including lunch

Which Tour?

(Colonial or Victorian)

C. Evening Lectures Only: $10/session
Thurs. Fri.

.Sat.

A.
B.
C.

TOTAL .

♦Membership in AGS is $20 a year. For information, write: AGS, 30 Elm St., Worcester, MA 01609

IV. PLEASE SELECT ACTIVITIES

Friday 9:00 - 4:00 (Select one):

Conservation Workshop (Note: a Preparatory Session will be held Thursday 2:30 - 4:00)

Mini Tours (Self-guided; Directions, information, Si minivan will be made available)

Participation Sessions: (See included page for descriptions)

Period

Check only one Session per period.

I

1A

2

7A

3

3A

4

4A

5

5A

6

6A

SATURDAY 9:00 - 4:00 (select one)

1R

^r

?R

ir

3R

IC

4R

4C

SR

5C

6B

f.r

at):

Colonial Tour

(It is not necessary to attend every hour;
select only those which interest you. Please
do not attend those you do not register for;
seating is limited.)

Victorian Tour.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Informal Late Night Topic _

. I wish to room next to

. I need to be on the 1st floor.

-1 request vegetarian meals. Exceptions (i.e., I can eat fish, eggs, etc.

. Length.

Slides(Y/N)

GALLERY RESERVATION

To reserve appropriate display space, please complete the following:
Description of display

Type of space or wall surface required for display.
Approximate size of display (maximum 4'x 8')

Please plan to have your display ready for viewing by 4:00 PM, June 24, in time for the reception.
Displays will be coordinated by Dan Goldman (401) 884-7875.

SALES TABLE RESERVATION

To reserve a sales table, check below and remit appropriate amount to AGS:

6' table $10. 1/2 table $5 1/3 table $3.50.

For additional information, please contact the AGS office:

30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609

(508)831-7753

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of the Association for

Gravestone Studies will be held at Connecticut College, New London,

Connecticut on Sunday, June 27, 1993 at 8:30 AM to hear annual reports

and transact such other business as may come before the meeting.

C.R.Jones, Secretary

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

The nominating committee has proposed the following candidates for election to fill vacancies which will exist as of
June 27, 1993. Nominated as Trustees for 2 years:

For a 3rd two-year term;

Barbara Rotundo
Ralph Tucker

For a 2nd two-year term:

Roseanne Atwood-Foley
Laurel Gabel
Rosalee Oakley
Jim Slater

New Candidates:
Daniel Goldman
Robert Montgomery
John O'Connor
Stephen Petke
Virginia Rockwood
Deborah Smith

Continuing on the Board are Roberta Halpom, C..R. Jones, Leona A. Kelley, Blanche Linden-Ward, Brenda Malloy, EUie
Reichlin, Maggie Stier, Fred Sawyer III, Gray Williams, Jr., and Harvard Wood III. There are two ex-officio members -
Elizabeth (Jo) Goeselt, Archivist, and Richard Meyer, Markers Editor.

For the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer the following are nominated for two year terms unless
otherwise noted:

President - Rosalee Oakley

Vice-President - James Slater

Secretary - C.R. Jones (one-year term because C.R. will be concluding his sixth year in 1994)

Treasurer - Daniel Goldman

Respectfully submitted,

1993 Nominating Committee - Bob Drinkwater, Chair, Jessie Lee Farber, Rosalee Oakley

BALLOT

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
1993-1994 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

BOARD MEMBERS (2-year terms): (Vote for not more than twelve)

] Daniel Goldman

] Roseanne Atwood-Foley

] Laurel Gabel

] Robert Montgomery

] Rosalee Oakley

] John O'Connor

Stephen Petke
Virginia Rockwell
Barbara Rotundo
James Slater
Deborah Smith
Ralph Tucker

OFFICERS: (Vote for one for each office)
[ ] President: Rosalee Oakley

[ 1 Vice-President: James Slater

[ ] Secretary: C.R.Jones

[ ] Treasurer: Daniel Goldman

Please return completed ballot to The Association for Gravestone Studies,
30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609 by June 1, 1993

New Candidates' Biographies

Daniel Goldman, East Greenwich, Rhode Island

Dan has served as Hospitality Chair for recent AGS conferences and will be
Exhibits Chair for the '93 Conference. His expertise and skills developed as
an investment broker will be brought to his new position as AGS Treasurer.

Robert Montgomery, Bedford, New Hampshire

Robert is Professor Emeritus at Boston University. His areas of expertise
are communications, marketing, and public relations.

John O'Connor, Springfield, Massachusetts

John is an instructor of genealogy and computer classes at the Connecticut
Valley Historical Museum in Springfield. He is currently putting on
computer all inscriptions on gravestones in Irish Catholic cemeteries in the
four western-most Massachusetts counties.

Stephen Petke, East Granby, Connecticut

Stephen has been as AGS member since 1988. He has lectured on gravestones

at the American Culture Association conference, AGS conference, and for local

groups in Connecticut. His articles on the Connecticut carver, Calvin Barber,

has been published in Markers X. He is serving as program chair for the '93 Conference.

Virginia Rockwood, Greenfield, Massachusetts

Virginia is an art teacher with 14 years of public school experience, preschool
through adult. She has provided leadership for our conference Teaching Workshop
in the past.

Deborah A. Smith, Rochester, New York

Deborah has extensive museum experience and currently is a curator at the Strong
Museum in Rochester. Her article on Delaware children's gravestones was published
in Markers IV. Deborah received a British Council fellowship in 1992 to study
mourning customs and gravestones in Northern Ireland.

WORKSHOP & PARTICIPATION SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

THURSDAY-FRIDAY CONSERVATION WORKSHOP

Thursday. 2:30-4:00 - Early arrivals meet with Fred Oakley and other staff members in the meeting room of our dorm for a demonstration of
adhesion and some hands-on experience adhering stone fragments.

Friday. 9:00-3:30- Lectures on cleaning, adhering, and resetting in Room 210 of Blaustein Center (9- 1 1 ). Adjourn to Cedar Grove Cemetery
for group work until 3:30 PM under the guidance of experienced conservators. Lunch fixings will be provided. Wear your work clothes.

FRIDAY PARTICIPATION SESSIONS

PERIOD 1 - 9:00-9:50

1-A - LECTURE-SEMINAR: "History Comes Alive in the Cemetery"
Claire F. Deloria

This lecture-seminar will give teachers and community historians a project model for using the local cemetery for historic research with
students. The information discussed will be adaptable to planning classroom sessions and cemetery visits for a variety of age groups.

1-B - SEMINAR: "How to Make a Slide Show"
Gray Williams, Jr. and Laurel K. Gabel

Leaders of this seminar will share with participants their valuable tips on how to plan and produce a slide presentation from concept to
conculsion.

1-C - SLIDE LECTURE-EXHIBIT: "Rubbing Shoulders with English History"
Beckie and Dick Strachan

Monumental brasses dating from the 13th Century are found in English churches. The Strachans will display and show slides of rubbings which
they have made on trips to England. Books and materials for further study will be suggested.

PERIOD 2 - 10:00-10:55

2-A - WORKSHOP: "Making Rubbings from Castings"
Rosalee F. Oakley

This workshop is for anyone who has never made a rubbing but think it might be fun to try. We will be using castings and lumberman's crayons.
Each participant will have an opportunity to make and mount several small rubbings. Teachers may wish to try out the castings for
classroom use.

2-B - SEMINAR OR LECTURE: "Common Rarities in Victorian Cemeteries: White Bronze, Tree Stumps and Languishing Ladies"
Barbara Rotundo and Warren Roberts

Regular conference participants have been introduced to tree-stump stones and white bronze markers. But what do you know about the draped
lady leaning on an anchor, or about the "Rock of Ages" origin of the woman at the base of the cross, or other such fascinating revelations? Let
our Victorian experts tell you what it all means.

2-C - SEMINAR: "Groton, Massachusetts' Old Burying Ground Restoration Project"
Linda Matisse

This seminar will describe the work of the Old Burying Ground Commission in Groton, MA. Experiences of surveying, creating a computer
database and digitized map, raising funds, and gaining community support for their ongoing restoration project will be shared. This seminar will
be particularly interesting to anyone who is considering beginning a local restoration project.

PERIOD 3 - 11:00-12:00

3-A - DEMONSTRATION: "Advanced Rubbing Techniques"

Mary Ann Calidonna (watercolor dabbing), Alice Bunton (oil dabbing), Susan Kelly and Anne Williams (enhancing techniques)

Three advanced techniques will be demonstrated with examples exhibited by three experienced rubbers. For those who make rubbing an art
form, here are techniques that go beyond the lumberman's crayon.

3-B - SLIDE LECTURE FOLLOWED BY DISCUSSION: "Civil War Epitaphs in Your Community's Cemetery"
Brenda and Tom Malloy

This slide presentation will show Civil War epitaphs from a five-town area in north-central Massachusetts in order to demonstrate how the
epitaphs of veterans document a community's involvement in the Civil War. This lecture could be of interest to those who view the cemetery as
a historical source or as a teaching tool, to Civil War buffs, or to collectors of epitaphs.

3-C - SEMINAR: "What are FRIENDS For?: How to Begin a Local Cemetery Association"
Doris C. Suessman and Mary Goodwin

This seminar will provide details on setting up a local organization- -getting members, money and grants, arousing interest, setting goals, meeting
legal requirements, making things happen. Members of the 3-year-old Friends of Center Cemetery of East Hartford, Connecticut will share their
experience, providing a checklist of useful approaches and steps that must be taken.

LUNCH 12:00-12:30 - Fixings for box lunches are available at the Harris Refectory.

PERIOD 4- 1:15-2:00

4-A - LECTURE: "Have Enthusiasm: Will Lead Tour"
Barbara Rotundo

For enthusiasts with no experience and limited knowledge about how to put together a cemetery tour to meet a goal such as preservation or fund-
raising for organizations, civic groups, or schools. There will be handouts based on personal experience and material gleaned from veteran AGS
members.

4-B - SIMULATION GAME: QENERATIONS: A Board Game for Families and for Classroom Use"
Jessie Farber

This board game allows you to use your deductive reasoning and story-telling to find one ancestor or to "grow" a family tree. With a strategy
similar to "Clue" you end up being a detective as you search for missing (fictional) ancestors, US birthplaces, careers, and lifestyles! It's also a
great tool for teaching history in the classroom.

4-C - DISCUSSION-SIMULATION: "How to Do Carver Research"
Panel of experienced researchers

Are you mystified by the methods researchers use to discover facts about the lives and times of gravestone carvers? Do you need help with the
research you are doing - or want to do? Come sit down with some of AGS's most enthusiastic and successful researchers. They will tell you
what, how and why they do what they do.

PERIOD 5 - 2:10-3:00

5-A - SLIDE SHOW PREVIEW: " Early New England Gravestones & the Stories They Tell"

This slide show, written by Laurel Gabel, is AGS's introduction to the many things that can be learned from old New England gravestones.

Available for rent or purchase from the AGS office, it is an excellent resource for classroom, civic groups or individual study. Here is a preview

opportunity.

5-B - LECTURE-DEMONSTRATION: "Capturing the Image of the Graven Image" or "The Photographic Dead Ringer"
Frank Calidonna

This session for beginners to advanced photographers will address proper techniques for producing high quality photographs of gravestones and
cemetery landscapes. Topics covered will include equipment, color and black and white film, processing, proper exposure, outdoor lighting,
camera handling, and special problems.

5-C - SLIDE-LECTURE-DEMONSTRATION WITH AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: "How to Make Use of Your Slide
Collection (and Promote Gravestone Scholarship) Without Trying People's Patience or Putting Them to Sleep"
Dan and Jessie Lie Farber

If you have collected a lot of slides that you would like to share, come to this session. It is designed to help you let groups know you are available
to show your slides, set your fees and arrange bookings, organize your show.and avoid common pitfalls. There will be opportunities to question,
argue and to add your own how-to and don't do anecdotes.

PERIOD 6 - 3:05-4:00

6- A - SLIDE SHOW PREVIEW: "The Development of the Modern Cemetery and Gravestone Design in the 19th Century"

This slide show, written by Barbara Rotundo, is AGS's introduction to Victorian cemeteries, monuments and symbolism. Available for rent or
purchase from the AGS office, it is an excellent resource for classroom, civic groups or individual study. Here is a preview opportunity'.

6-B - DEMONSTRATION-WORKSHOP: "Displaying the Image: Photos. Rubbings and Dabbings"
Frank Calidonna

Discussion of proper methods of mounting, matting, and framing will include materials and supplies, equipment, selection of colors, frames, and
assembly techniques. We will demonstrate how a person with simple, inexpensive equipment may do a professional job of displaying their
images. Then participants may try their hand. Bring a piece of mountboard or foamcore, matboard of appropriate color, and a frame.

6-C - SHARING DISCUSSION: "What Major Projects in Gravestone Studies Should Be Undertaken?"
Rosalee Oakley, convenor

Are you looking for a good research topic? Are there projects AGS members could be doing at home that would benefit the association? Do you
have a project you wish AGS would develop? Let's share some suggestions and discuss what you have in mind.

Victoria B.C.— Oid Quadra Street Burying Ground

by John Adams

Victoria, British Columbia, is the capital city of Canada's
westernmost province. Home to aboriginal people for thou-
sands of years, it was selected as the site for a son's Bay
Company fur trading post in 1843. Today the mixture of
cultures representing mainly First Nations, Europeans and
Asians enjoy a legacy of natural beauty, heritage buildings
and about twenty old cemeteries which combine to give
Victoria a reputation for quiet charm and a laid-back lifestyle.

By 1 855 Fort Victoria had outgrown its tiny graveyard and a
new community burying ground was opened in the shadow of
the colony's first church. Over the years it has had many
names, but historians have come to call it the Old Quadra
Street Burying Ground (OQSBG), while locally it is better
known to some as Pioneer Square since it became a civic
park in 1 908. Originally it was divided into two parts: one for
Anglicans and the other for Roman Catholics (mostly French
Canadians in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company).
Later, however, it was used by many religious denominations.
Black burials were integrated throughout the burying ground,
but separate sections were established for Chinese and
Kanakas (Hawaiians). Other cemeteries entirely were used
by First Nations and by the Jewish community.

As a result of gold rushes, Victoria grew faster than was
expected and in 1 872 the site for a bigger, new rural cemetery
was purchased. When Ross Bay Cemetery was opened in
1 873 the Old Quadra Street Burying Ground was closed and
quickly fell into disrepair. Wandering animals, vandals and
neglect conspired to make to old site an eyesore which was
a constant source of public outrage, but all attempts to
improve it failed. In desperation, civic officials decided to take
drastic action and in 1 908 they ordered the burying ground to
be cleared, graded and converted into a downtown park.

Opposition at the time was ignored and countless tomb-
stones, wooden headboards, curbings and fences were re-
moved and apparently discarded or buried. Some were
stored in a city works yard, but eventually found their way into
a private patio where they were used as pavers. About 100
were gathered into a tight semi-circular grouping along the
eastern fenceline of the new park. Only 1 3 were left in their
original locations, like lone sentinels amidst the green lawns
and trees.

Most of the surviving tombstones are locally carved from a
poor quality sandstone found about sixty miles north of
Victoria. The inevitable result is delamination and extensive
crumbling, and many have lost all their inscriptions. Never-
theless, some superb examples of the stonecarver's art of the
1850s and 1860s have survived, the majority signed by
Robert Foster. He borrowed extensively from classical motifs
(particularly acanthus leaves) for his work and several appear
to be copy-book examples of Greek stelae.

The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria encourages the
enjoyment and preservation of all of Victoria's old cemeteries
and since 1987 has conducted a year-round program of
Sunday afternoon cemetery walking tours that attracts about

2,500 participants annually. In 1991, at the request of the
Victoria Civic Heritage Trust, it prepared a report about the
Old Quadra Street Burying Ground, with recommendations
for its future preservation. Basically the report called for the
retention of the park space, but with conservation measures
for the surviving tombstones. It suggested that the collection
of stones on the eastern edge be removed temporarily for
safekeeping and conservation and that it be replaced by three
small groupings on their original locations.

The proposal took one year to work its way through a series
ofciviccommittees and public meetings. However, in spite of
an attempt by a parks activist group to have all the tombstones
removed entirely or to leave them to crumble gracefully into
dist, Victoria City Council gave unanimous consent to the
proposal in November 1992. One of the ironic arguments
used against the proposal was that people are not interested
in looking at old tombstones, and would prefer not to be
reminded of death as they stroll through the park. To counter
this, the Old Cemeteries Society was able to point to its own
highly popular tour program, but also used information from
Halifax, Boston and New Orleans to prove that cemetery
restoration projects have received wide public support.

Work on the Old Quadra Street Burying Ground is to take
place over about 15 years, with most of it complete by its
1 50th anniversary in 2005. It is hoped that some funding will
be forthcoming from available grants, but most of it will be
raised by the Old Cemeteries Society. The Society will also
provide much of the necessary volunteer labour required to
complete aspects of the project. So far it has conducted an
inventory, has located available archival information, has had
a preliminary conservation assessment done, and removed
some of the most vulnerable monuments. The next stage is
threefold: to remove temporarily the remaining tombstones
subject to vandalism and weathering, conduct a detailed
conservation report, and make casts of some of the most
vulnerable monuments before they disintegrate totally. Fur-
ther historical research will continue.

Anyone who has information to share at>out restoring partial
groupings in a cemetery converted to a park, or who is
interested in additional information about the Old Cemeteries
Society's activities is invited to write to John Adams, Presi-
dent, Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria, Box 401 1 5, ?.7-9^ 0
Government St., Victoria, B.C., V8W 3N3 Canada, or tel-
ephone (604) 384-2895.

A CALL FOR EXHIBITS

Association for Gravestone Studies
1993 Conference

Feeling Creative? Do you have something to share?

WE WANT YOU (to exhibit)

Photographs, Rubbings, Castings, Videos, Works in Progress,

etc... wanted for exhibition at 1993 AGS Conference, June 24-

27, 1993, Connecticut College, New London CT

Please send a brief description by May 15. 1993 to:

Daniel B. Goldman, 115 Middle Rd,

East Greenwich RI 02818

\_

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 19

The Restoration of the Jewish Cemetery at
The Hague

by Cora Greenaway, Dartmouth, N.S.

The oldest cemetery in The Hague is the
Jewish Cemetety where the first burial took
place in 1 694. It contains about 2800 graves
in which between 9,000 and 10,000 people
are buried. It has served both Ashkenazim
and Sephardim.

During and after the Second World War the
cemetery deteriorated greatly as the deci-
mated Jewish community was unable to
see to its upkeep, let alone its restoration.
Fortunately, in 1984 the Foundation for the
Preservation of the Jewish Cemetery in The
Hague was formed: its aim to restore and
preserve the venerable cemetery which is
on the Heritage Sites List. The restoration
project included extensive work on the 500 metre wall
surrounding the cemetery, cleaning, repairing and re-
setting of the stones, repairs to the f\yletaher-House and
the caretaker's house and care of the centuries-old oak
trees. Photographic work, before and after, was ex-
ecuted, and a careful inventory and genealogical
documentation made. The trees were treated and
further landscaping is contemplated.

The Sephardim have their own section which is divided
from the Ashkenazim part by a chain. Traditionally
Jewish gravestones are in the vertical position, but in
the old Jewish Cemetery in The Hague nearly all stones
lie flat. The Sephardim always place the gravestone

^

The Jewish Cemetery in The Hague, after restoration.

horizontally as was the custom in Spain and Portugal,
their place of origin. To lift the stones during the
restoration project and ingenious piece of equipment
was devised— the gravemobile. Its grappling arms
would lift the stone and a slab of pre-fab concrete was
placed underneath to rest the gravestone on. Broken
stones were given a stainless steel belt.

*^^m

,n

vNi!x^it4«,«. 1* ■*,!«

Device for photographing flat gravestones

Mobile lifting device — the "gravemobile"

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 20

The estimated cost of the project was about fl. 1 .500,000 or roughly $1 ,1 00,000 Can.
The Dutch government contributed a little over two-thirds of the cost while the
remainder came from private and public donations. Such institutions as the Provinc
of Zuid-Holland, Prince Bernard Fund, Frans l\/lortelmans Foundation, M.O.A.C.
Countess van Bylandt Fund, Dr. Hendrik Muller's Patriotic Fund, Foundation Levi
Lasson and the Foundation Netty van Zwanenberg all gave generously.

The City of The Hague funded a beautiful publication and on September 11,1 992, the
first copy of De Joodsche Begraafplaats Aan De Schevenlngsche Weg In Den

Haag was presented to the President of the Senate Chamber Mr. H.D. Tjeenk Wiilink
by Dr. F.H. Enthoven, the Foundation's President. The book contains 1 08 pages and
is illustrated with 150 photographs in colour and black and white. Retail price is fl.
26.50 or about $21 .00 Can.

The cemetery is open to the public every day, except Saturday.

'"% v^i'^Si^SiSi*! ft

(above) gravestone of the artist Josef Israels,

died August 12, 1911.

(left) restoration in progress

(below) plan of the cemetery. The dark circles

signify oak trees which are eleven centuries

old.

29 Een overzicht van de
begraafplaats waarop de 11
eiken zijn aangeduid.

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 21

V

\ \

,^

/ ll

-/,

•f.^^'^-'m^^mf

w^

"^-rr*

S-|fPif-*4fS

'J

f''WT'

Jewish symbols:

Two hands — giving the blessing

Basin & ewer — used before giving the blessing

Sjofar (rams horn) — used at Rosh Hashana and Yom

Kippur. Above and below circumcision instruments

Crown of the Torah

Star of David — by the end of the 19th-century was a

symbol of pol Zionism

Stair to Heaven — with hand holding a curtain

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 22

FIRST PARISH BURIAL GROUND RESTORATION

PROJECT

GLOUCESTER MA

report to January, 1993, by Ann G. Campbell

In the spring of 1987, a small group of volunteers in
Gloucester MA embarked on a project which they could
not imagine would take over five years to complete.
Headed by Edith Spariing, who has been active in many
local historic preservation efforts, the group began work
on the First Parish Burial Ground Restoration Project.
The old cemetery on Centennial Avenue was overgrown
with brush and had been heavily vandalized. Trash was
strewn around the broken stones and grass fires were
common occurrences. The Massachusetts Historical
Commission indicated that an inventory should be the
first step, and the group began a search for documents
that would reveal the history of the cemetery.

They found that the cemetery was the city's oldest.
John J. Babson's History of the Town of Gloucester,
1860, showed that the land had been designated as a
burial ground as early as 1644. A previous inventory
made for the city by William H . Dolliver in the 1 890s was
discovered in the Department of Public Works. An
outline map made by the W.P.A. was obtained from the
Engineering Department. With the map, and acompass
and measuring tape, a datum point was chosen in the
field, and the first grid squares laid out by Bruce
Campbell, and his wife, Ann. The group decided on a
format for recording information and decided to make
color slides of all the gravestones and carved stone
fragments. Mr. Campbell offered to do the photography
and Mrs. Campbell agreed to keep the records. The
project was a bigger job than it appeared, for the area
of the cemetery is about two-and-a-half acres, and Mr.
Dolliver's inventory recorded just over 600 stones.

With permission from the city, work began. It went
slowly the first year, as the group had to cut brush and
clear each square before recording, probing, etc. Only
seven grid squares were completed that year! In
subsequent years a few more volunteers came on
board. Mrs. Spariing obtained Massachusetts Arts
Lottery Grants and private donations to help pay forfilm
and developing, office supplies, wood for stakes, a
"weed whacker", and so on. Various volunteer groups
and city workers have helped to clear brush and cut
long grass, one of the majorobstacles to recording, and
to pick up trash.

Now, after six seasons, the end of the first phase is at
last in sight. We estimate that about five-sixths of the
stones have been recorded, and probably two more
seasons' work will see the inventory and photography
completed. To date, 99 grid squares have been re-

corded, which includes 542 markers or fragments
numbered. Forly-two rolls of film (1178 color slides)
have been taken, which, along with the field sheets of
inscriptions, sketches and data ,will be the only future
visible record of many of these crumbling markers. In
addition, all the statistics recorded from the start of the
project have been entered on an Apple computer by Mr.
Campbell. Each grid square has been diagrammed by
Mrs. Campbell with a view to a large overall map to be
produced at the end of the first phase of the project.
Throughout, Dolliver's record has been invaluable in
identifying burial locations and fragments of inscriptions.

The eariiest date on a gravestone in this cemetery is
1715. Eariier burials may be marked by the many field
stones we have found, some in deliberate rows or pairs.
Burials continued until the 1880s. Most of the markers
here are slate or marble upright slabs. Some of the
marble stones have bases, some don't. There is one
marble obelisk and seven crypts or tombs of brick or
granite with a horizontal slab of stone on top. There is
at least one concealed underground crypt. Though the
cemetery is in Essex County, there were only three or
perhaps four markers which could be called "Essex
County style". Three of these have been identified, by
the Rev. Ralph Tucker, ascarved by Lt. John Hartshorne.
Most of the slate markers are "Boston style" and several
of the most handsome ones seem to be products of the
Lamson workshop in Chariestown.

One fallen marker, that of the Rev. Samuel Chandler,
who died in 1 775, has been mounted on a granite slab
and re-erected by the Trinity Congregational Church.
One other gravestone has been reset by volunteers,
and four fragile markers have been removed, with
permission, to be preserved. We hope to place re-
productions in the cemetery, later. The major work of
resetting stones and possible repairs to some markers
is all in the future and will belong to a second phase of
the project with new fund-raising efforts. The question
of provision for permanent maintenance is a vexing one
and has not yet been solved.

An important part of the restoration and preservation of
this historic site is the involvement of its neighbors, and
the community in general. An abutting neighbor. Bill
Grandmont, has watched over the site for many years,
and three years ago the Tyrian Lodge of Masons, to
which he belongs, offered their help. A donation forfilm
and processing was given, and a work group set up to
cut and clear the grids ahead of the field recorders. This
help has been invaluable in terms of speeding up the
field work and recording of markers, as well as visual
proof that the site is cared for and valuable. It has also
given the project volunteers a morale boost.

The Trinity Congregational Church has also been

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 23

supportive, raising the money to have the Rev. Chan-
dler marker repaired and re-set. A local monument
company, Mt. Pleasant Memorials, owned by Bruce
and Theresa Lane, offered their professional help. The
company removed, crated and transported the marker
to Barre VT for repairs. They also returned it to a newly
prepared base in its original site on Chandler's grave.

The cost over the amount raised by the church was
absorbed by Mr. Lane.

This year the Gloucester DPW, under a new public
properties manager, will work with the project to help
clear and remove overgrowth and debris. We are eager
to start our seventh year of the project!

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

As usual, things have been hopping here in the office.
I have several things to report ....

Membership

First of all, I am thrilled to report that, as of January 1 ,
we had 1 ,006 members. We made it!!!! Thank you to
everyone who worked to get us all these new members;
in all, 33 people earned magnets, and there were two
people who got four new members each, earning shirts,
mugs, and sweatshirts on top of their magnets. One
enterprising individual got six new members, and re-
ceived some special gifts on top of everything else.
This program was a success, thanks to all of you!

I've received several inquiries as to whether we're
going to keep going with this program, and the answer
is "of course!" To give everyone a chance to get a gift,
we're going to keep the incentive program going through
1993. By 1994 I should come up with new gifts for
everyone to earn (suggestions would be great!) so we'll
do something new, but for those who would still like a
magnet, shirt, etc. don't despair. The only thing to
remember is you start fresh this year - if you earned a
magnet last year and get another new member in '93
you're going to get a magnet, although the designs are
different. But once again, many thanks -and let's go for
1100 in 1993!

Publications

As those of you who are Life or Supporting members,
ortookadvantageofourpre-puboffer know, MARKERS
X is out and it's great! Other new items in the 1993 pub
list are:

* a Conference Guide: Capital District, New York

Cemeteries. This is a compilation of the bus tour and
mini-tourfield notes and maps from the 1 992 conference
which has been expanded upon by Barbara Rotundo.
It's $3.00 to members, and is what we hope will be the
first of a series of Conference Guides.

*The AGS Archives are now on disk (Microsoft Word
4.0) for $1 9.95, and the hard copy has been updated.
We are also offering (although not through the pub list)
a 1992 Supplement for anyone who bought an Archives
Index in 1 992. If you would like a copy, please send me
a note telling me what you want, where you want it sent,
and a check for $1 .50 and we'll get a copy out to you.

*Backto the pub list - we are offering new postcards this
year. They are taken from Farber rubbings and feature
four designs, some of which are on the cover of the pub
list. They're 30 cents each, or get an Assortment Pack
of 8 for $2.00. And, as we are finally almost out of 1 988
calendars (if you were waiting for 201 6, when you could
enjoy the Farber photos and use the calendar, better
order one now!), we are offering a sampler packet of
one of each postcard for those who order $25 or more.

*ln the book department, we are selling MARKERS X,
obviously, and have in the list two "old" new titles. While
they're new for us, they're not new books, but we
thought that there might be some interest in owning
these as they were integral to the formation of AGS and
are the precursors of MARKERS. PURITAN GRAVE-
STONE ART, volumes I and II are both listedfor$l 6.00
each. You should also note that Jim Slater's THE
COLONIAL BURYING GROUNDS OF EASTERN
CONNECTICUT is down to the last few copies at the
publisher's - this is definitely the last year we will be
selling these, and I suggest you order early, as the
publisher might not have them through 1993.

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 24

"Finally, if you regret never having ordered a sweatshirt,
t-shirt, or tote bag through our special offer in the fall,
now's your chance - they're in the pub list.

If you are interested in getting a pub list, drop me a note
and we'll get one right out to you!

Conference

As you may have already noticed, registration infor-
mation for our 1993 conference is enclosed in this
newsletter. As you can see, this conference is much
expanded from our past conferences, as we're offering
many more programs for everyone to enjoy. We hope
to see you there! And don't forget that in 1994 we're
going to be in Chicago!

Newsletter

Although I've received several responses already con-
cerning the new format for the newsletter, (beginning in
the Fall 1993 issue), we need to hear from you now if
this format is going to work. If you are interested in
being one of the "editors", "columnists" or whatever it is
you want to call them, please let me know A.S.A.P.
Don't put this off - we need to have all of our ducks, I
mean editors, in line to make this a success!

Goals for 1993

Last year, we set the goal of 1,000 members and,
thanks to your efforts, we now have more than 1 ,000
members. We now have some great momentum in the
membership department for us to keep growing, which
serves the purpose of educating more and more people
about historic gravestones and also keeps AGS finan-
cially sound without having to raise dues. You can still
earn your gifts by getting a new member (see above),
but it's time for us to concentrate on another of the
organization's activities that needs a little boost -
MARKERS sales.

Historically, not much has been done to market
MARKERS outside of the membership. That was fine
as long as the publication costs were reasonable.
However, they're not reasonable anymore. As you can
see from MARKERS X, the Board is absolutely com-
mitted to producing MARKERS at the same level of
quality as we've been enjoying the past several years.
But producing a book of that quality is expensive. The
upshot of all this blathering is this - we need to sell more
copies of MARKERS. It's that simple. And, while Tom
and I are doing everything that we can to do just that, I
was hoping you could help me a little bit here. We
presently sell about 150 copies the year each volume
comes out. We actually need to sell about 400 copies

to be in really good shape. I would like to propose a 5
year plan to attain that goal, which means in 1993 1
would love it if we could sell 200 copies, and here's what
you can do to help us achieve that goal:

* ask your local or academic library to carry the
series. If you need some publications lists or flyers on
MARKERS to do this, let me know and we'll send them
to you. (If your library orders MARKERS, we would be
happy to send you one of our famous magnets! (See
above))

* do you know of any magazines, journals, or
newsletters that could review or announce each issue?
Please let us know.

* do you know of any index that should list us but
doesn't? Tell us!

* do you know of any catalogs that might be a
good match to carry MARKERS?

* do you have any other ideas on ways we can
market MARKERS to libraries - please share your
knowledge, because wecanuseallthehelpwecanget!

* do you know of any professional organizations
or individuals that might be willing to help many a book
has) feet? (Of course, all contributions will be acknowl-
edged!)

AGS is definitely a non-profit organization, and I am not
talking about making oodles of money for no reason.
However, any glance at the Treasurer's report in the
summer issue will tell you that just about every extra
penny AGS has goes towards MARKERS. Now don't
get me wrong; it's a very worthwhile project, and, as I
said before, the Board is committed to it. But, as
operating costs increase, and other projects present
themselves, it would be better in the long run if MARK-
ERS were more self-sufficient. Thanks to the wonderful
work of the Board, past and present, AGS is doing a lot
better financially than many other non-profit organiza-
tions and we want to keep it that way. In MARKERS, we
have a product that can go a long way towards paying
for itself and we should make the effort to maximize that
opportunity. I hope you'll help, and I'm looking forward
to hearing from you on this.

See you at the Conference!

Miranda

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 25

BOOK REVIEW

Graveyards of North Kingstown, Rhode Island
by McAleer, Hofflus and Nunes, 1992, privately
published.

review by Vincent Luti

This large, substantial volume of documentation belies
any notion that a survey of a town's cemeteries need be
anything but of interest to local residents. It is a book
that reaches out, exemplifies and entertains. Its appeal
is far reaching and will intrigue the larger as well as the
local audience. It invites any reader to come to Rhode
Island and enjoy cemetery scavenging with the best of
all possible guides to the treasures of North Kingstown
founded in 1641. For those planning or preparing a
town study, this is a model of depth, intelligence and
love. I read through each of the 1 40 cemetery surveys
for fear of missing the delightful anecdotal information
that brings the past and its people to life through
thoughtful comments on a variety of subjects therein
related.

The introduction alone would encourage anyone hesitant
about doing a town survey. It addresses the unexpected
depth of support and help lying at hand. This is followed
by a fine synopsis of town history. Then a section on the
graveyards follows and deals intelligently and in-
formatively on a number of topics generally such as
yard types, theirgeneral history, illnesses noted, designs
and to a small degree, the carvers. A special feature is
the attention paid to the Forgotten People, for which the
authors are to be especially commended, and an article
is dedicated to thattopicandfoHowed up throughoutthe
text. Slaves, Indians and the poor are dealt with with
great understanding.

Then each of the 140 cemeteries is dealt with, one by
one, in what is more than just dry lists. A pocket map
is included and is excellent. One could always wish for
more photographs, of which a handful are included, and
1 would suggest a skilled photographer be part of any
research team for further survey teams.

Most impressive in the cemetery by cemetery survey is
the thorough, intelligent care in which earlier extant

surveys, some half dozen, are collated and corrected
into this volume to make a nearly definitive final survey.
A few were untraceable and an occasional one totally
impassable. It doesn't seem possible but there ap-
parently was a limit to this team's formidable endurance.
An appendix lists graveyards that existed in the past
that were either moved (carefully documented) or have
disappeared. A rather extensive bibliography follows
with an index by cemetery number.

The extraordinary effort of this team, the depth of their
research, both indoors and out, is a measure of their
love, doggedness and intelligence. Personal time and
expense of this kind unfortunately goes unrewarded
and we can only hope that not only in Kingstown and
Rhode Island but further beyond, this volume will reach
distribution and a market.

I would also like to make a constructive comment to
future compilers. There is a limit to the range of skills
any one person or team can muster. Where finances
and availability allow, teams should include not only , as
mentioned, a skilled photographer, but in the publica-
tion stages, a book designer. Local colleges and
universities with art and design departments can be
utilized for staff or student projects. How a book looks
and reads is as important as its content. This book
under review is printed on heavy stock, well bound and
clearly typed.

Available from:

No

Graveyards

c/o McAleer
60 Elam Street
Kingstown Rl 02852

$17.95 plus $2.50 postage and handling, $1 .25 tax tor
Rl residents. Checks payable to Althea McAleer.

Vincent Luti is ttie author of AGS Regional Guide #1,
Narragansett Bay Area Graveyards.

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 26

POINTS OF INTEREST

by William Hosley

"Points of Interest", a column that
was introduced in 1991, has been
adopted by AGS trustees as a
regular feature of the Newsletter.
Its purpose is to provide a forum for
members to share pictures, ideas
and information about the "discov-
eries" we all make from time to
time. Each issue (with the excep-
tion of the conference report) will
contain a report on members' find- _ "^

ings from the previous "assign-
ment", and a new assignment.
Subject matter will be wide-ranging
and members are encouraged to
suggest topics for discussion.
"Points of Interest" will work best if
you participate. We need legible \ ^ Sm
photographs, taken in raking light. ^ , '^^
Pictures may be small (even color
snapshots), but they must be sharp and clear. Only
those submitted in a self-addressed, stamped envelope
can be returned. Send to: William Hosley, Old Abbe
Rd., Enfield CT, 06082. (Do not send them to the
Newsletter]) Thank you!

***********

The last inquiry (Fall 1991) about historical inscriptions
drew a fascinating story from member Ralph Bennett of
Suffield, Connecticut. In 1 987, as part of the Bicentennial
of the United States Constitution, history buffs in old
Hampshire County, Massachusetts, commemorated
Shays' Rebellion, a tax revolt that turned violent and
made national news while the authors of our Constitution
were gearing up to debate the importance of central
government, law and order.

Mr. Bennett wrote in with the story of Jacob Walker,
whose slate marker stands in the old burying groud in
Hatfield, Massachusetts. The inscription on the stone
tells most of the story of how "Jacob Walker.. .while
manfully defending/ the Laws & Liberties/ of the Com-
monwealth/Nobly Fell/ by the impious hand/ of Treason
& Rebellion" in February of 1787.

Stones like this make for great story telling. A little
research may be required to fill out details left unex-
plained on the marker. Mr. Bennett informs us that
Jacob Walker was one of the armend horsemna (or
dragoons) dispatched bythe United States government
in hot pursuit of Daniel Shays and his armed co-

conspirators. On a dramatic
snowy evening. Walker and the
horse guard caught up with the
rebel Jason Parmenter of
Bernardston who shcl ahd killed
Jacob Walker. Although
Parmenterwas a Revolutionary
War veteran (and thus elicited
popular sympathy) he was
convicted of high treason and
sentenced to hang on the green
in Northampton. He was
granted a pardon at the gallows,
no solace to Walker's family
who arranged for burial with full
military honors. Walker'sdeath
sparked continued controversy
and became a significant fac-
tor in the impact of Shays' Re-
bellion.

***********

'^'^'•z, 'v ^

For the next issue, let's take a
look a childhood. One of my
favorite images of childhood is the Margaret Pitkin
stone (c. 1875) in the rural cemetery in Montpelier,
Vermont. Vermont's marble cutters were the nation's
best so it's not surprising to find work of this quality in the
Green Mountain State. Aspects of childhood are re-
vealed in burying grounds and cemeteries of all periods
and in a variety of styles. Children's stones are almost
always distinctive in form and design. Send along
pictures of your favorites and tell us why you like them.

Send to: William Hosley, Old Abbe Rd., Enfield CT,
06082.

-d

AGS Wi '92/3 p. 27

rr

V

In preparation for an exhibition and catalogue, the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library &
Museum is conducting a census of Masonic stained glass in New York State. Stained glass windows with
Masonic motifs commonly appeared in mausoleums, churches and Masonic temples in the period 1860
to 1 950. Masonic mausoleum windows usually contain a square and compass surrounding a capital letter
G, but may also feature a cross and crown symbol, a double-headed eagle, or an emblem composed of
a scimitar, a star and a stylized Egyptian bust. Readers with information concerning Masonic stained
glass windows are requested to contact

William D. Moore
Director
'C^ Livingston Masonic Library & Museum "^G'

71 West 23rd Street
New York NY 10010-4171

=^

r^

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester M>4 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Ivleyer
editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State
University, Monmouth OR 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor. Nova Scotia Museum, 1747
Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H3A6, Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order Markers (Vol 1 $20; Vol. 2, $24.50; Vol 3. $38.95
(cloth only): Vol 4, $21.95; Vol 5, $22.95; Vol 6, $26.95; Vol 7, $15; Vol 8, $20; Vol. 9. $20; Vol 10, $28— higher prices for non-
members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, WaylandMA01778
Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.
(508)831-7753

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester MA

■ NEWSLETTER
OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 17 NUMBER 2 SPRING 1993 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

"Totenbretter" in the Bavarian Forest

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula 2

Two Presidentiai Gravesites: Buciianan and Arthiur

Jim Jewell 5

Lichens in Churchyards

F.H. Brightman & J.R. Laundon 8

Iron Gravemarliers in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Richard Veit 10

CONSERVATORS RESPOND TO "THIS OLD MONUMENT" 12

RESEARCH 15

POINTS OF INTEREST 20

Notes from the Executive Director 22

BITS & BOOKS 23

American Culture Association

The "Cemeteries and Gravemarkers" Permanent
Section of the American Cu Itu re Association is schedu led
for the ACA's 1994 Annual Meeting, to be held April 6-
9 in Chicago, Illinois. Those interested in more infor-
mation should contact the section chair:

Richard E. Meyer

English Department

Western Oregon State College

Monmouth, Oregon 97361

(503) 838-8362

AGSSp '93 p. 1

"Totenbretter" In the Bavarian Forest

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

On a hike in the Bavarian Forest near the border of the
Czech Republic last January, I came across a number
of "Totenbretter" ("dead-boards"), wooden boards put
up in remembrance of people who have died. Such
boards are not to be confused with the wooden
gravemarkers that have long been in use in this part of
the world, although they may be quite similar in shape,
inscription and decoration. "Totenbretter" do not mark
burial places. Rather, they are placed at crossroads,
along paths leading to churches, in the vicinity of
wayside shrines or other religious landmarks, or on the
property of the deceased. They come individually or
grouped; they may be attached to chapels or nailed to
barn walls.

When the tour guide noted our northerners' ignorance
of local customs, he explained that the boards were
originally used as biers (much as the "cooling boards"
of the southern United States), for laying out the dead
as well as taking themto the cemetery for burial. Later
these boards were inscribed and painted and set up at
some way station to the churchyard. It was believed
that the soul was at rest when the wood had rotted
away. I suspect that the guide was not ignorant of the
custom of saying a prayer when passing such a board
but figured we were Protestants or agnostics who did
not want to hear about such superstitions. Of course,
he could have been an atheist, for all I know! His
explanation of the "R.I. P." at the bottom of the inscrip-
tion to mean "Ruhe im Paradies" ("Rest in Paradise")
makes more sense for "Requiescat in Pace" than the
German translation "Ruhe in Frieden".

A thick layer of ice on every outdoor surface prevented
me from looking up more samples on the last day of my
holiday, so I consulted a few books in the library after my
return from Bavaria. The two works I found most
comprehensive dealt with the use of ahd traditions
surrounding memorial boards in Lower Bavaria and
Upper Palatinate:

Harald Fahnrich, Totenbretter In der ndrdllctien
Oberpfalz - ein Brauch Im Wandel. Tirschenreuth:
Missionsbuchhandlung St. Peter, 1988
Reinhard Haller, Totenbretter: Brauchdenkm&ler In
Niederbayern und der Oberpalz. Grafenau: Morak
1990.

The first historical records of upright memorial boards
date from the nineteenth century. Interestingly, a much
earlier document mentions the "old tradition" (as the
contemporary author, Johann Will, notes in 1692) of

Gebetsangedenken
an Frau

Theresa Oswald
geb. Graf
aus WeiBenstein
welche Gott am
25. Mai 1961
nach langerem
Leiden, versehen
mit den heilg.
Sterbesal<ramenten
im 69. Lebensjafir
zu sict) gerufen
tiat.

Werim Gedachtnis
seiner Lieben lebt,
der ist nicht tot, der
ist nur fern, tot ist
nur, wer vergessen
ist.
R.I. P.

Prayer memory

of Mistress

Therese Oswald

nSe Graf

from WeiBenstein

whom God on

25. May 1961

after long

suffering, having been

administered the holy

last sacraments

in the 69th year of her life

called to

Him.

Who in the memory

of his beloved lives,

is not dead but

only far away, dead is

only the one who is

forgotten.

R.I. P.

placing the board that served as a bier over flowing
water, to be used as a footbridge, in remembrance of
the deceased and of the flow of time, the shortness of
a human life It refers to Protestant communities around
Hot in Franconia (FShnrich 94). This usage was still
common in the nineteenth century in the Catholic areas
studied by Fahnrich and Haller. People stepping on the
boards (which were neither painted nor inscribed) were
supposed to say a prayer for the soul of the deceased
in Purgatory. Incidentally, a Protestant informant, un-
familiar with the belief in Purgatory, called them
"Himmelsbretter", "heaven boards". Those who did not
botherto pray were sure to feel pain in their feet or have
some other misfortune befall them later.

AGS Sp '93 p. 2

Cotthard

von Vegesack

Geb. 15.9.1923 in

WeiBenstein

Gefallen 30.3. 1944 in Osten

Die Aeliren sinken, wenn

das Korn sicli neight.

Die Blute fallt, wenn Fruchit

aus ihrem SclioBe steigt.

Und alles waclist und

mochte sich vollenden.

Du aber bist

gefallen vorderZeit.

Du muBtest ohne Frucht

mit leeren Handen

Dich selbst verschwenden.

Und bleibst nun jung

in alle Ewigkeit.

Gotthard

von Vegesack

Bom 15 Sept. 1923 in

WeiBenstein

Fallen 30 March 1944 in the East

The ears sink when

the com bows.

The blossom falls when the crop

comes from its lap.

And everthing grows and

wants to be accomplished.

But you fell

before the proper time.

Not having borne any fruit,

with empty hands,

you had to waste yourself

And now you will stay young

to all eternity.

Styles varied according to region, period and financial
means. Among ttie earlier dead-boards, some were
marked with three crosses only, others were inscribed
with the name and year of death or provided with more
biographical information, a poem or psalm. Painted
symbols such as hearts, anchors, ivy leaves, palm
branches, death heads, broken candles, crosses, flow-
ers, clocks set to the hour of death, God's eye in a
triangle, and pictures of people kneeling in prayer
became increasingly popular in the nineteenth century,
whether on dead-boards or the equally wooden grave
boards as well as on the sculpted gravestones. If such
richly decorated boards had been around before the
nineteenth century, they were lost to decomposition
and history before folklorists started to study the tradi-
tion.

These boards were no longer placed over brooks or on
marshes but put up, vertically or horizontally, single or
clustered, at prominent places to remind passers-by of
the deceased and ask them to pray for the soul.
Depending on local traditions, the availability of
craftspeople (in some documented cases the lettering
was done by a woman, the joiner and the painter not
being necessarily good at writing) and the purse of the
surviving members of the family, one or the other way
of disposing of the "cooling board" was chosen. Early
twentieth century photos show that this does not have

to be imagined as one large board, but rather that
several of smaller width were put next to each other to
support the corpse laid out in bed for the usual three
days (and nights of wake) between death and burial.

In the first decades of this century, parish and municipal
mortuaries were established all over the country. Only
in the villages not yet reached by such triumphs of
civilization were corpses still laid out, on beds and
boards, and wakes still held. The latter had been
denounced as heathenish practice by the Catholic
priests for a long time.

Fewer dead-boards were put up from the 1 940s to the
1960s, and the tradition seemed to be dying out, its
major component having become dysfunctional, when
a revitalization set in. The new boards were bought at
the joiner's to serve the only function of memorial.
Made from fir, pine or spruce wood, they are still placed
at strategic crossroads, on chapel walls or private
property. They commemorate individuals in a doubling
of the gravemarker in the cemetery, without much of the
religious investment that characterized their humbler
predecessors. Whereas they were formerly made for
limited durability, meant to be as transitory as human
life, their existence is now artificially prolonged, and
even renewed. When the paint flakes off, boards are
repainted, restored or replaced, thus losing their illus-

AGS Sp '93 p. 3

trative symbolism of decay and oblivion on the one
hand, release from Purgatory on the other. The folklore
surrounding them points to the persistence of ancient
customs and beliefs about the returning dead as poten-
tial avengers or protectors of the living.

Since my return from Bavaria I have been wondering
about the wooden crucifixes and small stone markers
that have been spreading at quite a rate in the past
decade all over Germany. They mark places where
people were killed in traffic accidents, t^any of them are
regularly provided with fresh flowers and potted plants,
so they must be visited frequently. Whereas the medi-
eval "Suhnekreuz" (monument of expiation), however,
was put up by the murderer on the spot where he had
killed, it is now the family or friends of the victim who
build a memorial on the site of the killing. In the few
cases where I have been able to identify the deceased,
they were children killed when trying to cross the road.
f^y guess is that some of the cmcifixes I see by the
roadside commemorate juvenile drivers who killed
themselves by crashing into trees. I do not recall seeing
any such signs by the road when driving in the United
States but would be happy to learn more in the pages
of a forthcoming AGS Newsletter.

Gebets-

Andenken

an Frau

Maria

Graf

Schmiedemeisters-

Gattin V. WeiBenstein

'23.7.1890

+ 4.12.1970

Du warst so gut im Leben,

Tatst willig Deine Pflictit,

So werden wir die leben,

Auch Dein vergessen nicht

R.I.P.

Prayer

Memory

of Mistress

Maria

Graf

Master smith's

Wife from. WeiBenstein

'23 July 1890

+ 4 Dec. 1970

You were so good in life,

Did your duty willingly.

Thus we who live

Will not forget you either

R.I.P.

WeiBenstein Chapel

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula, Franz-
Shubert-Str. 14, D-63322
Rodermark 2, Germany

AGSSp '93 p. 4

TWO PRESIDENTIAL GRAVESITES:
BUCHANAN AND ARTHUR

by Jim Jewell

A Life Magazine feature in tiie late 1 950's focused on
photographs of the (then) twenty-nine burial sites of
American presidents. William H. Rapp, an advertising
man from Philadelphia, set upon a 3500-mile trip to visit
each president's grave when he heard a contestant on
a radio quiz show lose $1 ,000 because the contestant
didn't know who was buried at The Hermitage.

Subsequent events have changed the L/fe story. Taft's
grave is called the only presidential burial in Arlington
National Cemetery; Kennedywasinterredthere several
years later. And the article revealed that Rapp dis-
covered that ail the sites were east of the Mississippi.
Since then, Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, and Lyndon
Johnson have been buried west of it.

AGS conferences have included visits to two presidential
gravesites: James Buchanan's (Lancaster PA, 1988)
and Chester Alan Arthur's (Troy NY, 1992). Neither
was particularly successful in the White House yet both
men — as well as their gravesites — are worthy of notice.
Their names are the answers to two presidential trivia
questions: Who was the only president to remain a
bachelor throughout his term? (Buchanan) Who was
the last incumbent president not to receive his party's
nomination for election to a second term? (Arthur)

James Buchanan was born April 23, 1 791 , at Cove Gap,
near Mercersburg PA. He was the oldest of the ten
children of James and Elizabeth Speer Buchanan. He
attended the Old Stone Academy and was graduated
from Dickinson College in 1 809. Priorto his presidency,
he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives
in 1820 and was appointed by Andrew Jackson as
Minister to Russia in 1831 . Three years later he was
elected to the U.S. Senate, and he later served as
Secretary of State in the James K. Polk administration.
Franklin Pierce appointed him Minister to Great Britain
in 1 853, a position he held until his election as President
in 1856.

The election of 1 856 revolved around both foreign and
domestic issues. Along with ministerial colleagues to
France and Spain, Buchanan — during his ministry to
Great Britain — supported the Ostend Manifesto, which
advocated purchase of Cuba from Spain and taking the
island from the Spaniards if they refused to sell. It gave
the appearance of strong foreign policies advocated by
Buchanan.

On the home front, both of Buchanan's major rivals —
incumbent Franklin Pierce and Sen. Stephen A. Doug-
las ( D.— IL ) lost favor for their support of pro-slavery
issues in Kansas, where a bitter little civil war had
broken out; a portend of things to come. Buchanan won
the nomination because of his distancef rom the Kansan
issues and acceptance to the South.

Two new parties splintered from the recently-defunct
Whigs; the anti-slavery Republican party nominated
John C. Fremont; and the more conservative Whigs,
calling themselves the "Know-Nothings", nominated
Milliard Fillmore, who had sen/ed as thirteenth president.
Buchanan carried five free states and every slave state
except Maryland, which went to Fillmore, in amassing
1,832,955 popular votes and 174 electoral votes to
Fremont's 1,339,932 popular votes and 114 electoral
votes. Fillmore received 871,731 popular votes and
eight electoral votes.

Buchanan's presidency was not emblazoned with
success. By supporting Kansas' entry into the Union as
a slave state, Buchanan appeared to have waffled on
the issue from his campaign stance. He announced his
intentions to purchase both Cuba and Alaska, but
negotiations with both Spain and Russia proved un-
successful. Both his domestic and foreign policies —
once brightly-shining beacons foreshadowing his fu-
ture— appeared to have back-fired upon assuming
residency in the White House. In the last two years, he
became more and more of a figurehead, especially
after the South became convinced that secession from
the union wasthe only way they could protectthemselves
from northern abolitionists. He did manage to stave off
fighting between the North and South until Lincoln
assumed the presidency so the onus of a civil war would
fall upon the Republicans.

James Buchanan, Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster PA.
photo by J. Jewell

AGS Sp '93 p. 5

Chester Alan Arthur, Albany Rural Cemetery, Albany NY.
photo by J. Jewell

"If you are as happy in
entering the White
House as I shall feel on
returningto Wheatland,"
he said to his successor
on March 4, 1861, "you
are a happy man in-
deed." Buchanan lived
seven years after leav-
ing the White House,
dying at hisf amily home,
Wheatland, on June 1,
1868. He was interred
at Woodland Hill Cem-
etery in Lancaster PA.
The article in Life re-
veals that the stone
marking Buchanan's
grave "is beginning to
crack": since then,
through donations and
privation contributions, it has been replaced.

Chester Alan Arthur was born October 5, 1830, in
Fairfield, Vermont. He was the oldest son and the fifth
of nine children born to William and Malvina Stone
Arthur. He attended public schools and Lyceum School
and was graduated with honors from Schenectady's
Union College at the age of eighteen. He was elected
to Phi Beta Kappa and worked as a school teacher and
principal before being admitted to the barto practice law
in New York City in 1853.

In October of 1 859, Arthur married Ellen Lewis Herndon.
They had three children: William Lewis Herndon (1860-
1863), Chester Alan, Jr. (1864-1937), and Ellen (1871-
1915). Aftertwenty years of marriage, Mrs. Arthur, who
had been the daughter of a U.S. Navy officer, died on
January 12,1 880, the year before her husband became
President. She was buried at Rural Cemetery, Albany
NY.

Arthur's father, a Baptist minister, was an ardent abo-
litionist; and Arthur himself became known as a repu-
table abolitionist attorney after earning freedom for six
slaves when their owner mistakenly believed he could
transport them through New York — a free state. He
also won a $500 damage settlement for Lizzie Jennings,
who had been thrown off a New York City horsecar
because she was black.

Arthur attended the first Republican state convention at
Saratoga and campaigned for Fremont for President in
1 856. He also worked hard for Gov. Edwin D. Morgan's
re-election in 1860 and was rewarded with the honorary

appointment to the
post of state engi-
neer-in-chiefwiththe
rank and uniform of
brigadier general.
When the Civil War
broke out, Morgan
appointed him acting
quartermaster gen-
eraltohelpsupplythe
volunteer troops be-
ing organized in New
York. Shortly after-
ward, the governor
gave Arthur the title
of state inspector
general of militia,
which also carried
the title of brigadier
general.

Democrat Horatio Seymour succeeded Morgan as
governor in 1863, and Arthur returned to his law prac-
tice. Still, he continued to use the title "General" for the
rest of his life! He also continued to work unstintingly for
the Republican party, chairing the New York club that
worked for General Grant's nomination and election in
1 868 and being recognized as the "Number Two Man"
in Senator Roscoe Conkling's state Republican machine.

Grant appointed him Collector of the Port of New York
in 1871. This was considered the most important
federal job in that city because he controlled the ap-
pointment of more than 1000 employees of the New
York Custom House. He held the position eight years,
amassed a sizable personal income, and built a loyal
and strong political machine.

After eight years in the position, Arthur was removed by
Grant's successor, Rutherford B. Hayes, as part of
Hayes' reform effort to remove politics from the civil
service. When support at the 1880 Republican Con-
vention went to up-and-comer James A, Garfield of
Ohio, Arthurwas given the vice-presidential nomination
to insure supportfrom the traditional party stalwarts and
cement Republican unity.

The Garfield-Arthurticket won a popular vote squeaker
48.5% to 48.1%, but took the electoral vote by 214 to
1 55. The brilliant ticket — perhaps the most intellectual
in American history (Garfield was President of Hiram
Eclectic Institute at 25, less than a year after his
graduation with honors from Williams College. He
became a classical language specialist who could
simultaneouslytranslate English intoGreekwritingwith

AGS Sp '93 p. 6

one hand and Latin with the other!) was looked at as a
great solution to the problems that had plagued the
country since the ending ot the Civil War nearly two
decades earlier.

But no one foresaw that on July 2, 1 881 , as Garfield and
Secretary of State James Blaine entered Washington's
Baltimore and Potomac railroad station, where the
President was to board a train to take him to his twenty-
fifth college reunion, that a disappointed and mentally
distu rbed off ice-seeker named Charles J. Guiteau would
fire two shots: one wounding Garfield's are, the other
penetrating his back. He lived until September 19,
1881 , and Arthur took the oath of office the following
day.

And no one foresaw that Arthur was going to become
his own man as President. He became an advocate of
reform of the civil service system, his own long-time
history of success via patronage notwithstanding. He
pledged support to any reasonable merit system Con-
gress approved of, and he made political friends — and
enemies — by signing the Pendleton Civil Service Act
into law in January of 1 883. He neverfully regained the
support of his own party. Even though he believed he
had a good chance of winning the presidency on his
own merits in 1884, his record (which pleased the
country!) did not captivate the Republican Party, which
saw Blaine, his political enemy, capture the nomination
(and subsequently be defeated by Democrat Grover
Cleveland).

Arthur returned to New York and resumed his law
practice, but he was forced to retire due to ill health.
Some speculation exists that Arthur knew of his im-
pending fatal illness — Bright's disease — and did not
actively pursue the 1884 nomination, fearing that losing
two consecutive Presidents would have been too much
for the country to have borne. Arthur died November
18, 1886, and was buried next to his wife in Albany
Rural.

The grave is marked by a black marble sarcophagus
with an Angel of Death looking at it. The sarcophagus
is for ornamental purpose; the Arthurs are buried in
front of it. When Rapp, the photographer in the Life
article, inquired at a Troy gas station as to the location
of Arthur's grave, the attendant responded, "Chester
Arthur? Presidentof the United States? Cripes, that's
a new one on me!"

Buchanan and Arthur. Hardly two of the most illustrious
Presidents, but still worthy of note. Buchanan was the
last of seven Presidents to have served in the twenty
years since Andrew Jackson left the White House: a

score of years fraught with frequent turmoil (two died,
two only completed their terms, one was voted out of
office for frivolity, one suffered from alcoholism and
depression, the last died just three months after leaving
office from overwork during his term). The tribulations
Buchanan endured are the basis for John Updike's
novel, Buchanan Dying.

Arthur, the last President not to receive his party's
nomination for another term, was the victim of doing
what he believed best for the country rather than
advocating a system through which his own political-
career flourished. He, however, like Buchanan, is
recalled with great praise in a book. Bill Davidson's
President Kennedy Selects Six Brave Presidents
(Harper and Row, 1962) includes Arthur along with
George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Abraham
Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Jim Jewell, PerulL, isafrequentcontributortotheNewsletter.

Did you know...

that there are two small cemeteries in Ohio owned by
the President of the United States? One, in Wooster,
was willed in 1853 to President Franklin Pierce and all
succeeding presidents. The other, near Lancaster,
was deeded to President James Monroe and his suc-
cessors in 1817.

from an Ohio Telephone Bill insert

'LEADBELLY' TRIBUTE: For four decades,
a plain granite .stone marking the grave of Huddle
"Leadbelly" Ledbetter bore only the name and the
dates of birth and death of a man who sang his way
out of prison and performed for royalty. Now, thanks
to more than .$9,000 from fans, the grave behind little
Shiloh Church in Shreveport, La., bears a long black
marble slab engraved with a guitar, and a headstone
listing I.edhetter's honors and awards. "It was a
shabby looking little thing, and we wanted a better
stone up there," said the singer's niece. Tiny Robin-
son. Ledbetter wrote "Goodnight, Irene" and "The
Midnight .Special."

from the Chicago Sun-Times, April 4, 1993, sent by Jim
Jewell, Peru IL

AGS Sp '93 p. 7

LICHENS IN CHURCHYARDS

F. H. Brightman & J. R. Laundon
British Lictien Society, London, 1984

Lichens are very sensitive to the nature of the surfaces
on which they occur. They often take a long time to
become established, and are slow growing. They flourish
in comparatively undisturbed habitats, but are unable to
withstand competition from other, more vigorously
growing, plants. Churchyards provide a considerable
variety of different surfaces, and, compared with public
parks and gardens, are little disturbed. In urban and
agricultural areas they are often oases surrounded by
a lichen desert, and many species grow in them that
cannot be found elsewhere in the vicinity. In some
churchyards over 80 different lichens have been re-
corded.

It is the lichens that grow on stone that are the most
abundant. This is because churchyards provide sig-
nificant areas of ancient stonework, often in areas
where rock outcrops are absent. The majority of parish
churches are of twelfth century origin, or even earlier,
and in many parishes are the oldest buildings, with
stone walls which have stood for hundreds of years. It
is this antiquity which accounts for churches having a
better lichen flora than, for example, country houses,
which are mostly of more recent date.

The church building offers the greatest variety of habitats.
The lintels of the windows may be of smoothly worked
stone, while the walls are often of more roughly dressed
blocks. Most surfaces, including brick and tile, after
years of weathering become colonised by lichens. The
mortar between the building blocks offers a differently
textured surface, and a different chemical composition,
especially if the stone used is of an acid nature. Many
old churches were covered with plaster in medieval
times; it has long since been removed, but sometimes
sufficient traces remain to alter subtly the nature of the
surface now exposed. Even metal, such as lead and
iron, may be so weathered that lichens grow on it,
although this is uncommon. Lichens sometimes grow,
though rarely, on the ancient glass of the windows.
Aspect is important; the shaded north side of a church
always has a different lichen flora from the sun-illumi-
nated south side. The complexity of the external shape
andformofthese buildings, comparedwith more modern
and utilitarian structures, provides further variety, es-
pecially in the exposure of surfaces to light and weather.
Some speciea are found more commonly on the walls
of churches than anywhere else.

In the churchyard the gravestones often date from the

late seventeenth century: they are usually of several
different kinds. Chest-tombs provide extensive hori-
zontal surfaces and headstones vertical substrates.
Some stones are dressed smooth, and may even be
polished; they take longer to become colonised than
those that are left rough. Carving creates microhabitats
that may be more favourable than flat surfaces;
sometimes the incised letters of inscriptions support the
growth of lichens when the rest of the stone does not.
On the other hand, when lead lettering has been used,
lichens are generally absent from the water run-off from
the lettering because of their sensitivity to heavy met-
als, thus giving the stone a streaked appearance.
Aspect is important; the lichens on the face of a
headstone differ from those on the back. The tops of
stones are frequently enriched with nutrients from bird
droppings and have species that prefer such conditions.
The overriding importance, however, is the chemical
nature of the stone; lichens on limestone are more
abundantanddifferentfromthose on sandstone, granite,
or slate. In towns some lichens are confined to the
oldest limestone headstones as relicts from earlier
times of rural surroundings and clean air, and are
unable to colonise new surfaces because of a loss of
vitality due to the spread of air pollution.
Lichens that grow on the ground are usually absent
because churchyard soils are rich in nutrients and
usually support a close-growing sward of grasses and
other herbaceous plants. Even so, when the surfaces of
graves have been dressed with fine chippings or other
materials intended to discourage the growth of weeds,
lichens eventually succeed in colonising them.

Churchyard trees usually reach a considerable age,
and their weathered bark then often comes to support
various common lichen species. Conifers, including
ancient yews, however, have very acid bark which is not
favourable to lichen growth.

Cemeteries are usually more recent than churchyards,
some of the oldest dating from the early nineteenth
century. Therefore their lichen vegetation is much less
well-developed than that found in ancient churchyards.

In the interests of conserving lichens the church walls
and memorials should not be cleaned unless it is
essential to preserve the stonework in its original state
or to keep inscriptions legible. Lichens do no harm,
indeed they give memorials a pleasing venerable ap-
pearance, and their removal ought to be kept to a
minimum. If removal is necessary, the part of the stone
to be cleaned should be covered for a month or two with
sacking so that the lichens are deprived of light and die
away underneath, leaving the stone unharmed.

AGSSp '93 p. 8

Churchyards should not be so neglected
thatthey become bramble-infested jungles.
On the other hand, they should not be so
well trimmed and cultivated that all natural
vegetation is destroyed. The grass should
be cut orgrazed in June after it has seeded.
Above all, churchyards should not be
cleared of memorials because this causes
the disappearance of lichens. The placing
of gravestones around the outer wall and
the conversion of the churchyard to lawns
or gardens renders the area sterile and
empty, so that all interest is lost. The
British Lichen Society would be grateful to
be notified of intended churchyard clear-
ances, so that the threatened memorials
can be visited and their lichens recorded.
Advice will be given if desired by the So-
ciety's Conservation Officer, Dr Anthony
Fletcher, Leicestershire f^useums Serv-
ice, 96 New Walk, Leicester, LE1 6TD. It is
hoped, however, that the lichens might be
allowed to rest in peace.

ELMORE, Gloucestershire, in the Severn Vale. The picturesque rural
churchyard has some of the finest Baroque and neo-classical memorials in
England, including this lichen-encrusted limestone chest-tomb of c. 1707 to
Arthur Knowles. Photograph: J. R. Laundon, 1982.

contributed by Karen L Casselman, Cheverie, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Warden quits over 'too tidy' graveyard

By Rltiii Gu:diiill
relicron correspondent

A CHURCHWARDEN has resigned
because he was told his graveyard was
too tidy. The departure of Reg Canning,
70, from St Mary and St Milburgh in
the village of Offenham, Hereford and
Worcester, comes amid a national
debate about the role of churchyards in
wildlife conservation.

With a team of unpaid volunteers,
Mr Canning transformed the over-
grown churchyard and won a county
tidy churchyard contest. But in its latest
report the diocesan advisory commit-
tee for the care of churches said:
"Perhaps the yard is too tidy, too
ordered for a rural churchyard."

Mr Canning said: "I shan't be doing

the churchyard again. I couldn't after
what has happened. If that's all the
thanks I get for 24 years of dedicated
hard work then I think the time has
come to call it a day.

"The committee's remarks are almost
laughable, but it's just left me hurt and
sad. It was a labour of love and I was
very proud of it, but it's over now. What
a way to end 24 years of dedication."

Tony Higgs, the Worcester diocese's
assistant properties secretary, said: "We
did comment that we felt the church-
yard was too tidy. In a rural setting the
warden should encourage wild flowers
and wildlife. It was nicely laid out, but
not in a way you would expect in a rural
churchyard.

"There is a national debate going on
about how a churchyard should be

managed. If you have them closely
mown, like an urban cemetery run by
the local authority, it does not allow
flora and fauna to inhabit the
churchyard."

The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev
Richard Harries, is heading a move to
create wildlife havens in churchyards.
The diocese has joined its local wildlife
trust to launch the churchyard care and
wildlife conservation project.

Bishop Harries wants vicars and
parishioners to defend churchyards
and manage them "with wildlife con-
servation in mind".

He said that churchyards in towns
could be rare wildlife havens, while in
rural areas they were often unaffected
by {jesticides and by modem farming
practices.

from the London Times, contributed by Angelil<a Kruger-Kahloula, Rddermarl<, Germany.

AGSSp '93 p. 9

IRON GRAVEMARKERS IN THE
NEW JERSEY PINE BARRENS

Richard Veit, 905 Franklin Ave., Soutli Plainfield, NJ
07080

Scattered through New Jersey's Pine Barrens are a
handful of simply made iron gravemarl<ers. Produced
in the first decades of the 19th century, they are an
unusual product of a once thriving iron industry.

The Pine Barrens, officially know as the Pinelands
National Reserve, cover over one million acres of
southern New Jersey. They were largelyoveriookedby
early settlers who doubted their agricultural potential,
hence the name "Barrens". However, by the mid 1 8th-
century the ability of the Pinelands to produce iron had
been realized. All the key ingredients were available
there. Limonite, or bog iron, dredged from the swamps,
provided the ore. The extensive stands of scrub pine
and pin oak furnished the fuel for the furnaces, while
sea shells provided the lime for flux. Numerous fast-
flowing rivers gave the forges both power for their trip
hammers and a cheap way to transport their products.
Later the Pinelands were home to thriving glass, lum-
ber, and charcoal-making industries.

In 1 765 and 1 766 the Atsion Forge and Batsto Furnace
were established, motivated in part by the French and
Indian Wars. Soon other forges and furnaces were at

Two iron gravemarl<9rs in the Batsto-Pleasarit Mills Cemetery.

work throughout the Pinelands including Weymouth,
Martha, Stafford, Speedwell, and Aetna. Their prod-
ucts included pig iron, stove castings, tools, firebacks,
hollowware, and wafer pipe. During both the Revolu-
tionary War and the War of 1 81 2, the ironworks turned
out cannonballs and other iron products to aid the
patriots' cause.

While blessed with the resources needed to produce
iron, the Pinelands are noticeably lacking in workable
stone. As is true of much of southern New Jersey, the
region's earliest gravestones were imported from
Philadelphia. Often graves were marked with less
permanent markers made from wood. In some cases
large blocks of bog iron were crudely lettered and used
as gravestones. At some point an anonymous crafts-
man working in one of the company towns decided to
make an iron gravemarker. The inspiration may have
come from the bog iron gravemarkers or even the
firebacks produced at the forges. Firebacks, used to
protect the bricks in a fireplace from the heat of the fire,
strongly resemble 18th-century gravestones.

From roughly 1825 to 1840 iron gravemarkers were
produced in the Pinelands. At least two forges, Batsto
and Weymouth, produced them. Both were owned by
the wealthy Richards family. So far, only eleven iron
gravemarkers have been located. They are found in the
old cemetery at Weymouth, the Batsto-Pleasant r\/lills
Cemetery, and the burial ground of the Second Cape
May Baptist Church in Upper Township, Cape May

County. It is likely that others

exist.

The gravemarkers were pro-
duced in two types and three
styles. Those produced at
Weymouth are over one inch
thick, while those from Batsto
are thinner. To date three
tympanum styles have been
identified, the tripartite or
chenjb shape, the urn shape,
and the shallow arch. All of
these forms were common to
New Jersey gravestones from
the early 19th century. While
the thicker markers were
probably cast in sand or clay
molds, the thin markers from
Batsto may have been cut out
of sheet iron. The lettering
appears to have been done by
hand using a cold chisel, after
the casting was complete.

AGS Sp '93 p. 10

Some were apparently made as headstones, while
others may have been used as footstones. Unfortu-
nately, the lack of legible inscriptions makes it impos-
sible to determine every marker's function. All the
gravemarkers, whether made at Batsto or Weymouth,
are small less then 32 inches tall and 14 inches wide.

While most of the gravemarkers were inscribed, only
one is decorated. The Rosana Ireland Babington
marker in the old cemetery at Weymouth has some
incised decorations. Most of the markers made at
Weymouth are still legible, while none of those at Batsto
can be clearly read. The reasons for this are not clear.
Perhaps the lettering on the mar1<ers at Batsto was very
shallow to begin with. At this point none of the
gravemarkers appears to be deteriorating. The manu-
facturing of iron using charcoal instead of coal imparts
fewer sulfur impurities to the iron and lessens the rate
of oxidation.

From the dates which can be read, it appears that the
gravemarkers were made during the latter years of the
furnaces' operations. They were probably made by iron
workers for members of their immediate families. It is
possible that the individuals who made the markers
knew each other. In fact, the small number of mar1<ers
and their similarities may indicate that as few as one or
two individuals made them.

By 1848 the bog iron industry had collapsed, replaced
by cheaper coal-smelted iron from Pennsylvania. The
once thriving iron towns in the Pinelands closed down,
one by one, to be replaced by other, often less success-
ful enterprises. The handful of iron gravemarkers seen
today marks the final resting place of New Jersey's
forgotten iron industry.

The Rosana Babington Ireland gravemarker (1827), Wey-
mouth, New Jersey.

Donna K. Flowers, State Coordinator, North Carolin
Cemetery Survey, North Carolina State Archives, 109
E. Jones St., Raleigh NC 27601-2807 forwarded the
inquiry of Ann D. Marion of Chester SC concerning
geometric markings on a stone. The stone is that for
James Haines who died in 1842, and is located in the
Tabernacle Church Cemetery in Lincoln County NC.

"Can anyone help with the symbols of the two circles cut
into triangles near the bottom of the gravestone?"

' ''^ hit ^i ■*■

AGSSp '93 p. 11

CONSERVATORS RESPOND!

treatment considered.

The last issue of the A/eivs/etter contained a reprint of
the article "This Old Monument", originally published in
American Cemetery, (V. 65 #5) fvlay 1 992. The article
elicited responses from two leading experts in stone
preservation and conservation work — Frank f^atero
and Lynette Strangstad:

UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Graduate Program in Historic Preservation
The Graduate School of Fine Arts
115 Meyerson Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6311

Re: "This Old Monument" (Vol. 17, No. I)

Board of Cemetery Commissions, Town of Wiibraham,

MA

To the Editor:

Fragmented marble and limestone headstones,
footstones and ground tablets present some of the
most difficult conservation problems encountered in
historic burying grounds and cemeteries. Because of
their often inadequate thickness in relation to their
height and width and the high vulnerability of these
stones to attack by atmospheric pollution and ground
waterandsalts,thesemarkersoftenfallpreyto breakage
from weathering assisted by external impact by either
humanornaturalforces. Once fragmented, deterioration
and damage naturally accelerate eventually leading to
loss of the fragments from disintegration and/or theft.

It is therefore understandable that over the years many
different solutions have been attempted at sites across
the country to address the problem of repairing and
preserving broken and fragmented markers. Such
attempts, intact, are amongthe earliest repairtechniques
for gravestones as practiced in the late nineteenth
century and observed by this author at numerous sites
in North America and Europe. Such techniques often
included: surface mounted straps and bolts (often of
iron), bronze pins and mortar, new backing supports of
stone or metal, and enframements of metal (often
bronze or sheet copper), stone or concrete.

Modern conservation practice places a high regard on
original historic fabric and its interpretation, attempting
to find reasonable solutionswhichofferboth stabilization
and visual or aesthetic improvements. For large out-
doorcultural sites, such as historic burying grounds and
cemeteries, ease of application, low cost, and low
maintenance are also necessary prerequisites to any

The proposed solution of stainless steel collars for
fragmented marble markers reprinted in AGS News-
letter(W\ 92-93 pp) offers an interesting variation on a
traditional solution to the problem of reintegrating
fragmented stones and the Cemetery Commissioners
of Wiibraham should be commended for their interest in
solvingthe problem. Perimeterbracing offers structural
stability which could keep stones together even if
furtherbreaksorvandalism occurs. 1 believe it would be
useful; however to offer some additional comments on
the viability and preference for other methods of
reassembly and caution the membership on aspects of
the published treatment which could cause severe
problem in the future with this treatment.

As the Commissioners correctly noted, mortar is not an
appropriate adhesive for most breaks as it is completely
ineffective in tensile strength and is too bulky, restrict-
ing a good fit at the broken surfaces. High strength
synthetic adhesives such as epoxies are excellent
materials for such repairs; however their improper use
in the past and still today as coatings and patches in
stone, and as poorly installed adhesives has given
them a bad reputation. Such adhesives, when selected,
mixed, and applied correctly, and when used in com-
bination with reinforcement pins of a non-corrosive
material such as stainless steel, titanium or threaded
nylon rod can provide excellent repair solutions to
sound broken stone. If the stone has become friable
throughweathering,thenconsolidationofthefragments
must be undertaken before readhesion in orderto avoid
the failures reported by the Commissioners in their
observations on previous epoxy repairs. Where van-
dalism is active or high strength is not required, threaded
nylon rods should be used instead of stainless steel (or
any rigid material) as nylon can bend under impact and
will not break or crack the face of the stone, causing
additional damage.

Regarding some installation details of the proposed
steel collar method, first 1 would suggest avoiding the
use of epoxies or any high strength adhesive to attach
the collar to the stone edges. This could cause great
difficulty in the removal of the collar in the future and
damagetothe stone should othertechniques be sought
in the future (and they will). Additional deterioration
could also occur at the interface of the collar and the
stone from salt and frost by the collar's impediment and
redirection of water and water vapor into the stone
faces. Perhaps the use of an elastomeric sealant such
as silicone could be substituted instead.

Secondly, the use of dense cement mortars for setting

AGS Sp '93 p. 12

should be avoided as they will restrict ground water
evaporation around the marker and will instead redirect
water and salts into the stone causing dannage. Reset
stones should be set with good drainage materials, well
packed. It should be sutficient to simply ground the
ends of the frame below grade in isolated concrete
bases as described but without a surface cement or
concrete footing. I cannot stress enough the damage
and difficulty in the removal of old concrete footings and
beds from historic stone markers.

Resetting

All monuments are subject to soil subsidence and, in
cold climates, frost heaving. As a result, a range of
structural conditions ranging from sunken to tilted and
fallen is common, tvlonuments which are tilted more
than 15 degrees, sunken to below inscription level, or
fallen, orwhich require complete removal fortreatment
should be reset according to guidelines developed
specifically for the purpose. Proper resetting should
assist legibility; improve structural stability and vulner-
ability to grade level abuses including water and salt
damage and abrasion from lawnmowers; and allow for
better and easier maintenance.

Where monuments have become fragmented or in-
complete, such as in the case of truncated head- and
footstones or table tombs without bases, partial re-
construction and resetting should be advocated, es-
pecially if it allows the return of these monuments to
their site. In the case of tombstones, bases should be
integrally attached either through reinforced cast or
stone attachmentsdependingonthe situation. Resetting
in concrete footings orotherdissimilar materials should
be avoided. Table tomb slabs, lacking their original
bases, can be effectively reset on simple brick perim-
eter bases incorporating sterile fill and geo-textiles
designed to isolate the slabs from the ground, provide
continuous support, and restore their overall form.

Structural Adhesive Repair

For reattachment of fragments or structural repairs
which require additional reinforcement, high strength
structural adhesives provide the strength, durability
and moisture resistance required for such difficult site
conditions. Tested over a period of years in a broad
range of cemetery environments from Massachusetts
to New Orleans, the most promising class of adhesives
for fragment reattachment are the two-part polyamide
epoxy resins, either alone, filled, or in combination with
non-corrosive reinforcement rods. Threaded rods of
nylon, fiberglass/resin, and stainless steel all provide
stable, non-corrosive reinforcement; however each

material has advantages depending on its specific use.
Nylon and fiberglass/resinrods come in a wide variety
of diameters — as small as 1/8 inch — and can be easily
cut on site. Both provide good general strength and
avoid the internal condensation problems metallic re-
inforcements exhibit. Nylon, while rigid enough for
reinforcement in short lengths, possesses the added
advantage of having the ability to bend when stressed,
which can be extremely beneficial in avoiding rupture
and damage to the stone itself. Where situations
require high strength reinforcement, stainless steel
should be used.

Successful conservation depends as much on good
technique and installation as on the selection of proper
materials.

Frank G. Matero

-^ ^ Vv4rCyu^'

Stone Faces

RESTORATION STONEWORK

LYNETTE STRANGSTAD

P. O. BOX 21090

CHARLESTON SC 29413-1090

To the Editor:

(803) 762-6025

I read with interest the 'This Old Monument" article in
the Winter 92/93 newsletter. It is apparent that the
individuals involved care about the markers and have
some awareness of their historic significance.

However, as a professional specializing in historic
burial ground preservation and conservation, I would
like to comment on the article and some of the methods
they advocate.

They note that an earlier mortar repair 'Nworked" but was
unsightly. They also observed that epoxy repairs may
fail when the stone material is weaker than the bonding
adhesive.

Morlarorcement repairs indeed are generally unsightly.
Further, they do not usually incorporate an internal
pinning system which is necessary to most long-term
repair success. In addition, they may set up chemical
interactions which ultimately will cause joint failure.

Epoxy repairs, particularly of the last decade, fre-
quently fail because they are not the correct formulation

AGS Sp '93 p. 13

for a particular stone type. In the case of most failures,
an epoxy formulated for granite is used on marble or a
similarly soft stone. Such an epoxy is too strong for
marble and is incompatible with it, resulting in an
adhesive joint failure. While epoxies are commonly
used by conservators in stone repair, it is essential that
the appropriate formulation is used for a particular
stone. Epoxies vary greatly in strength and other
characteristics, and using the right one is essential.

unsightly in itself and sets the stage for further dete-
rioration when, in time, the concrete and stone Interact.

Better than filling voids with a silicone caulk Is to fill voids
with a cementitious composite stone mix, pigmented to
match the existing stone and carefully applied by an
experienced practitioner in an attempt to match the
original material in strength and appearance (color and
texture).

And, as the writers noted, like any other bonding or
adhesive repair, the strength of the repair is limited by
the strength of the stone material being joined. When
marble, for example, is eroding (sugaring) so badly that
it has lost much, if not most, of its structural integrity, it
is quite true that adhesive repairs may not last. After all,
adhesive repairs of any sort can only be as strong as the
two units joined together.

When gravestones are the units to be joined, occasion-
ally it may be appropriate to use an external bracing
system. This is the conclusion that the writers of the
article reached. ■

However, the "steel collar" method suggested by them
presents a number of problems. First, coefficients of
expansion and contraction of marble and steel are very
different. Thus, in the heating and cooling which takes
place in the course of a year, the two materials will
expand and contract at very different rates. When one
material must therefore "give", it is the weaker material,
the marble, which is likely to crack. This problem is
compounded when an effort to enclose the marble
'"tightly" is made. It is further complicated when the
outer edge of the stone is epoxied to the steel.

Even stainless steel will eventually corrode, causing
staining problems first, and then exerting pressure
against the marble as it expands as corrosion ad-
vances. Despite efforts to keep moisture from between
the steel and the stone, moisture will wick into the stone
material both from the atmosphere and the earth.
Moisture trapped at the point where the two materials
meet is almost sure to be a problem.

Then there is the problem of defacing original stone
bases (which were intended to be seen, a style char-
acteristic of a particular historical period) by drilling
through them or breaking away the ends, since '1he
blunt-point hammer is much quicker". These bases are
a part of the historic artifact which is the point of the
preservation effort.

Filling the hole with Sakrete, ending in a "concrete
mound" which the article represents as acceptable, is

My intention in bringing these points to your attention Is
first, to alert readers to potential problems that may
develop if the techniques described are used, and
second, to encourage would-be gravestone restorers
to check with a stone conservator before attempting to
devise repair techniques of their own.

As to correct techniques to deal with these problems,
here are a few tips:

Sometimes (usually in fairly extreme cases) external
bracing systems may be necessary. Avoid metals
coming into contact with stone in creating supporting
devices, and avoid permanently encasing a stone in a
structure. Differences in expansion/contraction rates
are often a problem, and chemical reactions (such as
oxidation) which take place in the metal, may affect the
stone material.

Sometimes a bracing system of wood and lexan —
which does not encase the stone, and which Is re-
versible— may work as a temporary solution until a
betterone is found. Any external bracing system alters
the exterior appearance of the marker to some degree
and is therefore visually undesirable. Consen/ators
attempt to develop treatments which are reversible, in
case problems develop or new and better treatments
are developed at a later date.

I hope these comments may be of interest to those
concerned with the long-term preservation of our his-
toric burial grounds.

Sincerely,

Lynette Strangstad

AGS Sp '93 p. 14

RESEARCH

Do You Know About IFAR?

AGS MEMBER SURVEY

Thanks to all of you who responded to the AGS member
survey. One hundred sixty-three questionnaires were
returned, providing valuable information about the in-
terests and concerns of our very diverse membership.
Seventy-seven per cent of the responses came from
east of the Mississippi, roughly thirty percent from New
England. Eighteen per cent came in from states west
of the Mississippi, and five per cent came from outside
the United States. A total of thirty-five states and five
foreign countries were represented.

Most respondentsdescribedthemselves as "hobbyists/
enthusiasts"; nearly half are active researchers; ap-
proximately thirty per cent are published authors; and
almost a quarter of the respondents are educators or
teachers. Ourmembershipalsoincludesarchaeologists,
archivists, art historians, historians, photographers,
cemetery caretakers and trustees, conservators, ge-
nealogists, and monument dealers.

Photography tops the list of member interests, followed
by preservation/restoration, symbolism, and genealogy.
Forty-five percent answered "yes" to the question "Do
you use a computerfor any gravestone/cemetery related
projects?"

Many of you praised AGS publications and conferences.
There were also constructive suggestions for increas-
ing AGS efforts to reach out beyond New England,
ideas for regional conferences and workshops, and
requests to make area membership lists available. We
do plan to expand our regional focus (the '94 Confer-
ence will be in Chicago), and will need your continued
support as we attempt to grow in this direction.

The International Foundation for Art Research is a
nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing the cir-
culation of stolen, forged and misattributed works of art.
In 1 991 it joined with partners in London to form the Art
Loss Register (ALR), an international clearing house
for information on stolen art, which maintains an image
database of some 40,000 stolen items.

With this resource, ALR offers an Art Theft Search
Service, designed for buyers to determine if a potential
purchase is registered as stolen ($50. fee per search).
Call Anna Kisluk at (212) 879-1 780 to initiate a search.

IFAR's magazine, IFAR Reports, publishes important
thefts. It also contains articles on art theft, issues of art
law, cultural property and authentification. The magazine
circulates to art dealers, museums and private collec-
tors worldwide, and often leads to the recovery of stolen
property. Collectors, dealers and museums can register
and publish a theft ($65. per item) if it has been reported
top the police and has a value in excess of $1 ,000. An
example of interest to AGS members is an article in the
December 1991 issue of IFAR Reports on one po-
liceman's successful effort to recover a Tiffany window
stolen from a mausoleum in Cedar Grove Cemetery,
New London CT.

IFAR also offers an Art Authenification Service, which
works to resolve controversies concerning the au-
thenticity of works of art. The Authentification Service
reviews hundreds of submissions a year free of charge.
There is a fee if IFAR agrees with the client to research
the work, consult with the appropriate expert and pre-
pare a report. Please call Nancy J. Little should you
have inquiries or need information about this service, or
wish to support IFAR's efforts.

GRAVESTONE THEFT REPORTED

The Truro (MA) Cemetery Commission reports the theft
of three 18th-century gravestones from the Old North
Cemetery in Truro. The slate headstones, each having
aface-with-wings motif, disappeared sometime between
late April and very early June. If you have any information
about these missing gravestones, please contact the
AGS office:

Jerusha Dyer, daughtr of Shebna and Mary Dyer,
died Sep 17th 1775 in the 3rd year of her age.

Betty Cobb, daur of Thomas and Ruth Cobb, died
Sept 26, 1 761 in ye 8th year of her age.

Thankful Lumbard, daur of James Lumbard Junr.
and Thankful Lumbard, died March ye 28th 1 759 in
ye 3rd year of her life.

AGS Sp '93 p. 15

Robert Wright Donates Extensive Researcli
Collection

The AGS research clearinghouse recently received a
valuable new collection when mennber Robert Wright
donated his extensive files on the rural cemetery
movement and related topics. Wright's collection in-
cludes files on the development and design of nine-
teenth-century rural cemeteries as well as information
about important landscape designers such as Adolph
Strauch and Ossian Simonds. Many files contain
source material on the history of mausoleum and
monument design and symbolism. Egyptian Revival
monuments and mausolea are documented within the
Harold Allen Egyptomania Collection included in the
files. The Wright collection's articles and notes, gleaned
from different sources, offer information about a wide
range of Victorian funerary and mourning practices.

Below is a list of the files included in the Wright collection.
If any of the following categories coincide with your
research interests, please feel free to contact the AGS
research clearinghouse for further information. Laurel
Gabel, (716) 248-3453 or 205 Fishers Rd., Pittsford NY
14534. THANK YOU Robert!

Ancient Monuments, Rituals, Funeral
Bibliographies
Boston Burial Grounds
Cast Iron
Cemeteries:
California
England
Kentucky
New Orleans
New York
Philadelphia
Wisconsin
Miscellaneous

Cemeteries as Anthropology
Cemeteries - Cultural institutions
Cemeteries - Development of
Cemetery Handbook, The
Cemetery Photographs and Photography Tech-
niques

Conservation
Cremation

French, Daniel Chester
Funerary and Mourning Customs
Korbel, Mario
Launitz, Robert
Loudon, John Claudius
Masonic Symbolism
Mausoleum Design
Mills, Robert

Monument History

Motifs/Symbols - Ideologies

New Orleans - SOC (Save Our Cemeteries)

Obelisks

Odd Fellow Symbolism

Specific cemeteries:

Albany, NY - Albany Rural

Atlanta, GA - Oakland

Baltimore, MD - First Presbyterian Churchyard,

Greenmount

Bronx, NY - Woodlawn

Brooklyn, NY - Greenwood

Buffalo, NY - Forest Lawn

Cambridge, MA - Mount Auburn

Charleston, SC - Magnolia

Chicago, IL - Graceland, Oakwoods, Rosehill, other

Cincinnati, OH - Spring Grove

Indianapolis, IN - Crown Hill

Louisville, KY - Cave Hill

Madison, Wl - Forest Hill

Milwaukee, Wl - Calvary, Forest Home

Minneapolis, MN - Lakewood

New Haven, CT - Grove Street

New Orleans, LA - Metairie

Paris, France - Pere la Chaise

Philadelphia, PA - Laurel Hill, Monument, Mount

Vernon, Odd

Fellow's

Pittsburgh, PA - Allegheny

Richmond, VA - Hollywood

Rochester, NY - Mount Hope

Roxbury, MA - Forest Hills

St. Louis, MO - Bellefontaine

Savannah, GA - Bonaventure

Rustic Tree Stump Monuments

Simonds, Ossian

Sphinxes

Strauch, Adolph

Stone and monument articles

Strickland, William F.

Symbolism

Urban Planning and Development

"Victoriana"

AGS Sp '93 p. 16

POINTING HANDS

Charles J. Jordan, editor of Coos Magazine,
P.O. Box 263, Colebrook NH 03576, notes in the
October 1991 issue that a goodly number of
people buried in the South Hill Cemetery in
Stewartstown NH knewexactly where they were
headed. The image of a hand pointing upward is
common on white stones of the late 1 800s across
North America.

But what if the hand is pointing down? Mr.
Jordan notes the existence of two such stones in
the area of Whitefield. "Rather than being
crowned by a hand with finger pointing toward
Heaven, their hands point down — leading one to
believe that the occupant of the plot directly
below was going to The Other Place."

If any AGS members know of other examples of
downward pointingfingers, Charles Jordan would
be interested to hear from them.

South Hill Cemetery, Stewartstown NH

"Jesus wept" Henry A. Lane stone, 1866, Whitefield NH

AGS Sp '93 p. 17

MORE MUSIC ON STONES

Sybil Crawford, of Dallas TX writes:

One of your recent AGS Newsletter an\c\es concerned
music on a gravemarker. You asked if readers had
knowledge of other examples. In reply:

Yes ... there is something similar in Little Rock's Mount
Holly Cemetery, marking the grave of Sandford C.
Faulkner, who popularized the celebrated folk song
"The Arkansaw Traveler".

Faulkner was born March 3, 1803, at Georgetown,
Scott County, Kentucky, son of Nicholas and Sallie
Faulkner. He made his way to Arkansas in 1829 and
settled in Chicot County, on the Mississippi River, as a
cotton planter. His fortunes were uneven throughout
life; he was a farmer at time of the 1 860 census; military
storekeeper at Little Rock Arsenal in 1 861 ; door-keeper
for the Arkansas Constitutional Convention of 1874,
and a Pulaski County (Arkansas) Magistrate. He was
baptized on July 26,1874, and died on August 4.

According to Faulkner's /4r/cansasGazeffeobituary, the
"Arkansaw Traveler" story was based on an incident
which occurred during an 1840 political campaign,
when he toured the State in company with such local
notables as Hon. A. H. Sevier, Governor Fulton, Chester
Ashley, and Governor Yell. One day in the Boston
mountains, the party approached a squatter's cabin,
hopingforinformationconcerning the route, and "Colonel
Sandy" was made spokesman of the group. It was upon
the squatter's witty responses the tune and story were
founded. On the return to Little Rock, a banquet was
given in the Anthony House and the Colonel was called
upon to play the tune and tell the story.

When Faulkner subsequently went to New Orleans, the
fame of the "Arkansaw Traveler" had gone before him
and at a banquet, amid clinking glasses and brilliant
toasts, he was handed a violin by the then governor of
Louisiana and requested to favor them with the favorite
tune. At the old St. Charles Hotel a special room was
devoted to Faulkner's use, bearing in gilt letters overthe
door, "Arkansaw Traveler".

Faulkner's final resting place remained unmarked until
January 23, 1955, at which time the Pulaski County
Historical Society dedicated a marker honoring this
man who had done so much to bring the State's name
before a national audience.

i ' t"^ -y -y ^

N'TO-H'S-FRIENDS

DY^KNQWN TO-FAME

rtjE • C0V=''3S£R- ^'^

North of Wotkins' Uien NY. phoLo by Caroi Perkins

AGS Sp '93 p. 18

Sandra Markham of New Haven CT writes that she is
searching for instances of printing iconography ap-
pearing on gravestones as part of her research on a
particular printer and his memorial. The stone was put
up in Rochester NY for Reuben Manley, a member of
'1he typographical profession" who died of consumption
in 1 842 at the age of 24. A printed silk memorial ribbon
was made up for his funeral. The carver seems to have
worked directly from the ribbon and adapted the patterns
created by the type ornaments to his design in stone.
The most prominent features on the gravestone are the
printing press in the center and the bold geometric
patterns in the borders, with the latter copied directly
from the ribbon.

Does anyone know of other cases where a gravestone
was designed after a memorial ribbon? Have you seen
otherstones that employ printing themes in theirdesign
(besides Horace Greeley's monument in Green-Wood
Cemetery, Brooklyn NY).

Please respond to:

Sandra Markham

56 Lawrence Street

New Haven CT 06511 -2648

tel: 203-773-1127

fax: 203-432-4047

e-mail: markham@yaievm.ycc.yale.edu

f 1

AGS Sp '93 p. 19

POINTS OF INTEREST

"Points of Interest" was started to provide a forum for
members to siiare pictures, ideas and information
about the "discoveries" we all make from time to time.
Each issue of the Newsletter reports members' findings
from the previous "assignment" and concludes with a
new assignment. Member participation is essential and
you are welcome to suggest topics for discussion.

The last inquiry (Winter 1992/3) asked members to
think about childhood. The outcome was the best we've
received yet. We heard from members all over the
United States and Canada and it was especially exciting
to receive pictures of truly outstanding Victorian
sculpture. My favorite was sent by Eric Brock of
Shreveport, Louisiana, who wrote describing a stone
(c. 1858) marking the graves of the children of William
and Mary Crenshaw, Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge
(figure 1 ). The children died in a smallpox epidemic and
Brock suggests that the figures are actual and faithful
post-mortem portraits. The marble is discolored but
appears to have held up well and is signed by "Enoch's,
Philadelphia", a firm about whom we would welcome
information from our Philadelphia area members. Brock
noted the "cross-looking: expressions on the children's
faces and reminds us that in spite of a major Civil War
battle occurring at the cemetery in 1 862, this monument
survived intact and unscathed". Might the family have
actually purchased the memorial afterthe War? Working
dates for Enoch would provide a useful clue.

figure 2. Basham daughters, Mount Holly Cemetery, Little
Rock AR, photo by Sybil Crawford.

figure 1. Crenshaw children, fvlagnolia Cemetery, Baton
Rouge LA, 1858. photo by Eric Brock

Another fascinating children's monument was submit-
ted by Sybil Crawford of Dallas, Texas, who has recently
published a book on Mount Holly Cemetery in Little
Rock, Arkansas, {Jubilee, see notice in AGS News-
letter Fall 1992, p. 13). There she found a marble
monument marking the graves of the daughters of
George L. and Julia P.B. Basham. Basham, a Confed-
erate officer, attorney and plantation owner obviously
could afford the best and most expensive in Victorian
children's memorials (figure 2). Crawford recounts the
fascinating details of the Bashams' commissioning
these stones (1870s) through a Little Rock stonecutter
named William L. Funston who apparently subcon-
tracted the work with a marble cutter in Carrara, Italy.
These lifelike figures of "Mama's Pet" Pearl R. Basham
and "Papa's Baby" Martha P. Basham are standing
upright at the head of a rare but intriguing funerary
form — a bath or basin with covered urn. Although rare,
this form is also found in New England and the Mid-
Atlantic. Can any report what purpose was served by
the basin and urn? The Basham children are remark-
ably intact, artistic and well-documented, a terrific find
by Sybil Crawford.

AGS Sp '93 p. 20

Unfortunately, space does not permit us to illustrate all
of tfie submissions on this popular topic. Frank Hegner
of Denver and Bruce Elliot of Ottawa also contributed,
Elliot's being an astonishingly life-like post-mortem
portrait (1 800s) of a recumbent child, the Stanley family
tomb in Cumberland, England.

**********

For the next issue, let's take a look at portrait stones.
Although the Victorians made many of them, we oc-
casionally find portraits of men, women and (rarest of
all) children on colonial stones. Modern laser-cut
stones also offer a tremendous range of decorative
possibilities, and it would be no surprise to find a revived
interest in portraiture. Overthe years I've seen dozens,
perhaps hundreds, of 1840-era stones cut with panels
to receive a daguerreotype. I've never found a photo-
graph orevenaframe intact. Haveanyofyou? Arecent
colonial profile portrait marking the grave of Ivioses Rice
of Wallingford, Connecticut (1 799) (figure 3) may interest
students of early stonecutters. This stone is the only
example of work in this style that I have ever seen which
is signed by its maker, "S. Cowles".

figure 3. Moses Rice, Wallingford CT, 1799, signed "S.
Cowles".

**********

Pictures may be small (even snapshots), but they
must be sharp and clear. Only those submitted in
a self-addressed stamped envelope can be re-
turned. Thank you!

Send to: William Hosley, Old Abbe Rd., Enfield CT
06082.

Two interesting articles were featured recently in the
APT Bulletin, the Journal of Preservation Technology,
(Vol. XXIV, numbers 3-4, 1992) in a special issue on
"Conserving Historic Landscapes".

"Approaches to Landscape Preservation Treatment at
f^ount Auburn Cemetery" by Shary Page Berg: The
master plan for this landmark near Boston deals with
preservation treatments in an intricate landscape. The
evolution of the cemetery through time and changing
tastes had to be balanced with the need to preserve its
dramatic physical features and its primary purpose as
a burial ground and retreat. Shary Page Berg, ASLA,
is a landscape preservation consultant based in Cam-
bridge fvlA. She also teaches in the Radcliffe Seminars
Landscape Design Program and is President of the
Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation.

Landscape f\/lanagement of Abandoned Cemeteries in
Ontario" by Cecelia Paine: A review of existing land-
scape conditions in municipally maintained cemeteries
demonstrates how their heritage value has been
compromised. An initial process that considers fiscal
restraints is suggested to encourage a more sensitive
approach that will result in long-term conservation.
Cecelia Paine is an Associate Professor of landscape
architecture at the University of Guelph and principal of
Cecelia Paine and Associates Inc., Guelph, Ontario,
Canada.

The APT Bulletin is published by Association for Pres-
ervation Technology International. For more informa-
tion, contact APT, P.O. Box 8178, Fredericksburg VA
22303; 703-373-1621.

AGS Sp '93 p. 21

Notes from the Executive Director

I'm going to try to keep things short! Here goes ....

Conference '92, from all indications, was a total success.
The facilities at Connecticut College were terrific, the
new participation sessions were very well received, the
papers were up to our usual high standards . . .it was
great! All of us at the Conference were treated to a
couple of previews of Conference '94, which is going to
be held in Chicago, and it looks like it's going to be
fantastic. Everyone there was really excited about it -
there will be updates here in the newsletter, of course,
and I hope you'll plan on attending. After seeing what's
in store for us out there, the vast majority of '93
conference participants plan on being there!

Before we get to Chicago, however, we are taking on
several new projects here in the office. One of the
things for which I've felt there a need, not to mention a
demand, is a "Forming a Friends Group & Raising
Money" leaflet. Besides describing the actual process
of forming a group, I would like to go into the various
ways you can go about finding funds to achieve the
goals your group has outlined. Fundraisers, grants,
getting governmentfunds- I'd like this to be as complete
as possible. Therefore, if you're part of a friends group,
or have attained monies for graveyard preservation or
study or some other program on an individual basis,
would you mind dropping me a note with tips for
newcomers? It would help me and everyone getting
started enormously, as you out in the field have more
experience doing this than I do. I'm trying to get this
leaflet together in time for the 1 994 Publications List, so
please have all of your information to me by October 1 .
Thank you!

The other major project the office is going to be working
on is this newsletter, for as you know Deb is soon
ending her stint as editor. If you don't already know, we
will be switching to a bunch of geographic and topical
departments, with a volunteer responsible for each,
and production is moving to the office. You will get a lot
more information about this in the next issue of the
newsletter. We've had several volunteers and have
filled most of our positions, but, as of this writing, we
could still use a volunteer to help us with the northwest
(including western Canada) column. If you're interested
in helping usforthree issues a year (the fourth is taken
up with conference information), please let me know
A.S.A.P. Also, because Deb has more than enough
information to keep her going for the remaining two
issues she is going to edit, and we want to give our new
group of correspondents some material to work with,
we have a temporary backlog of your clippings and

news here at the office. Please continue sending them
here to the office, and we will pass them along to the
appropriate person in the next couple of months.

Finally, just a reminder that AGS qualifies for many
company employee matching gift programs - if you give
us even a tiny gift and send us the correct form, we will
get twice as much money. And a lot of tiny gifts add up!
You can instruct us if you want the money applied to a
certain program we have, such as MARKERS, or just
put it in the general fund. I hope you will keep us in mind
for this!

Happy Summer!

-Miranda

fr

<&^1'^®%,'§> eXt9i»(B»

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You are probably wondering how it can be that you are
seeing the Spring 1993 issue of the Newsletter ior the
first time, and outside the leaves are beginning to turn.
Well, I could tell you that I have been overextended, that
I've been working three days a week in another museunn
165 km away, that the weather has been too nice/too
awful... I won't bore you with my excuses. Suffice ittosay
that the AGS Newsletter has always been a labour of
love for me, squeezed out of available volunteer time. As
the latter is in increasingly shorter supply, I am embar-
rassingly late with this issue. You will be happier to learn
that the Newsletter \s soon to be prepared by committee
and produced by the AGS office. This should ensure
that, after ten years of haphazard production schedules,
the Newsletter m\\ at last be available more or less on
time. Look for the Fall issue, maybe even this Fall! DT

^

J

Warren Roberts of Bloomington. IN writes; "I am sure that
every member of AGS realizes that Harriet Merrifield Forbes
was a remarkable person. A brief summary of her contribu-
tions, to gravestone study as well as a few biographical details
are given by the editor in Markers VII. pp. 1-2. I was even
more deeply impressed by her energy and accomplishments
when I opened a book by Esther Forbes entitled Paul Revere
& the World He Lived In (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany. 1942). The opening sentences of the "Acknowledg-
ments" on p. v read as follows:

This bool< was written in collaboration with
my mother. Harrietts M. Forbes, who has
done most of the work on the original
papers, court records, deeds, etc., news-
papers, manuscript diaries, and letters —
which is the hardest part of a book like this.
A remarkable person indeed! How she found the time and
energy we will never know."

AGS Sp '93 p. 22

SOME ART IS TO DIE FOR

BOOKS

For as little as $1 , 1 00. , people in Holland can spend the
rest of eternity under a work of modern art. An exhiibit
of the artistic gravestones opened in May in the village
churchyard in Kortenhoef, Netherlands, to show that a
cemetery need not be such a grave place. Forty
monuments hacked out of stone by Dutch sculptors
were on display: an upright heart-shaped boulder, a
white marble iceberg, an abstract sailboat.

"We're trying to show that there's so much more pos-
sible than the same old boring tombstone," said the
Rev. Henk Abma, who believes a personalized sculp-
ture helps in remembering the beloved. "In this time of
strong individuality, the 'me generation' people want to
emphasize the personal in their remembrance," the
ecumenical pastor said in an interview in Kortenhoef,
12 miles southeast of Amsterdam.

Some in the burial business also see a growth in
demand for gravestone art as Dutch and other baby-
boomers begin burying their parents, and come closer
to their own funerals. "The plain gray monument
designs have been around long enough, it's time for
some variety in this business, said Linda Damhuis of
Royal Rock, the nation's largest gravestone cutter.

from an item in the Waterbury CT Republican
American, reprinted in the New Hampshire Old
Graveyard Association (NHOCA) newsletter. Rub-
bings, V. XVIII, #2, Summer 1993, p. 4.

US/^ T^df^j 13 A tQCi^ Et^ Stein, Rocky Mountain News, Newspaper Enterprise Association

JaneBromley Wilson, AGS member and author of The
Very Quiet Baltimoreans: a Guide to the Historic
Cemeteries and Burial Sites of Baltimore, died in
January at the age of 58.

now in paperback!!

Cemeteries and Gravemarkers
Voices of American Culture

edited by Richard
James Deetz

E. Meyer, with a foreword by

347 pages, 97 photographs, 27 illustrations. $19.95
paper; shipping $2.50 for 1-4 bool<s, $1.00 for each
bool< thereafter; Utah residents add 6.25% sales tax.
order from: Utah State University Press, Logan Utah
84322-7800

Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American
Culture is a pioneering work in American studies and
material culture, now available in paperback. Cem-
eteries house the dead, butgravemarkersarefashioned
by the living, who recorded on them not only their
pleasures, sorrows and hopes for an afterlife, but also
more than they realized of their history, ethnicity and
culture. With a cemetery in virtually every settled
community in America, each one a revealing array of
artifacts, cemeteries and gravemarkers offer one of the
richest yet least exploited sources of information on
American culture, past and present.

In this volume, Richard E. Meyer, founder and chair of
the Cemeteries and Gravemarkers permanent section
of the American Culture Association, has gathered
twelve original essays, examining burial grounds through
the centuries and across the land. From the opulent
French mausoleums of New Orleans to the graves of
slaves in New England, from loggers headstones in the
Pacific Northwest to the desert burials of the Navajo
and Zuni, gravemarkers from the seventeenth to the
twentieth centuries yield a wealth of insights into both
the unity and the diversity of American
culture.

The contributors to Cemeteries and Gravemarkers

include such leading researchers as James Deetz, Ann
and Dickran Tashjian, Blanche Linden-Ward, Keith
Cunningham and D. Gregory Jeane. Their approaches
are as diverse as the disciplines they come from —
folklore, art history, cultural geography, anthropology,
history, American studies and English. Together, their
essays form a wide-ranging introduction to a fascinat-
ing field, one that promises a deeper understanding of
the history and cultural values of communities, regions
and America at large.

AGSSp '93 p. 23

GRAVEMARKERS DESIGNED BY ARTISTS

On behalf of 'Vereniging de Terebinth', a dutch association that strives for the preservation of historic cemeteries, I am
researching the ways leading western artists and architects of the twentieth century are or have been involved with the
design of gravemarkers. I am not looking for artists who specialize in the design of grave-monuments, but rather the
incidental grave-monument in the work of well-known artists or architects of this century. This research will culminate in
a publication: an inventory of artists and their work for cemeteries. The project is subsidized by the 'Praktijkbureau
Beeldende Kunstopdrachten', a department of the dutch Ministry of Culture.

I ask your help with the inventory of American gravemarkers. Do any of your members know of grave monuments made
by leading artists? Do they know artists who are or have been engaged with the design of monuments (executed or not)?
Any relevant information would be most welcome.

Anja Krabben, Rombout Hogerbeetsstraat 111', 1052 VW Amsterdam, The Netherlands
phone (020) 686 9349; fax (020) 676 2036

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard fJleyer,
editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State
University, Monmouth OR 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor. Nova Scotia Museum, 1747
Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3IH3A6, Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $24.50; Vol. 3, $38. 95
(cloth only); Vol. 4, $21.95; Vol. 5, $22.95; Vol. 6, $26.95; Vol. 7, $15; Vol. 8, $20; Vol. 9, $20; Vol. 10, $28; higher prices for non-
members) from the AGS off ice. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Way land MA 01778
Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.
(508) 831-7753.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester MA

■NEWSLETTER
OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

DEBORAH TRASK, ED. VOLUME 17 NUMBER 3 SUMMER 1993 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

16th CONFERENCE & ANNUAL MEETING

Connecticut College, New London CT, June 24-27, 1993 1

Presentations and Workshops 2

AGS Annual Meeting 9

1993 Forbes Award 14

Notes from the President 15

from the Executive Director.... 16

Post-conference tour 17

RESEARCH 18

BOOK REVIEW

Graven Images; Graphic Motifs of the Jewish Gravestone

by Arnold Schwartzman, review by Eric Brock 19

ARTICLES

The Naval Cemetery, Croque, Great Northern Penninsula, Newfoundland, Canada

by Avon Fancy 20

AGS Crossword Puzzle 22

The Flying Codonas

by Carolyn Elayne Alexander 24

Lending Library 25

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ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
Conference '93

J 993 Conference t-shm design

The 16th Association for Gravestone Studies Conference
and Annual Meeting was held June 24-27, 1 993, at Connecti-
cut College, established in 1 91 1 in historic New London CT.

New London is famous for the variety of its old gravestones.
In the eighteenth century, gravestones were shipped to New
London from Boston and Newport, as well as supplied by a
number of Connecticut stonecarvers. The area's nineteenth
century cemeteries tell the storiesof fortunes made in whaling
andshipping. The bus tours also took us westward and inland
into the Connecticut River Valley, where the sandstone
monuments are completely different in style and material
from the gravestones of eastern Connecticut.

The 16th Conference was co-sponsored by the New London
County Historical Society and New London Landmarks, Inc.

AGS Su '93 p. 1

June 25:

FRIDAY PARTICIPATION SESSIONS

Forthe Friday sessions tinis year, AGS tried sometiiing

new: conferees were able to choose from an amazing

array of lectures, demonstrations, workshops and

discussions:

"History Comes Alive in the Cemetery", Claire F. Deloria

"How to Make a Slide Show" , Gray Williams, Jr. and
Laurel K. Gabel

"Rubbing Shoulders with English History", Dick and
Beckie Strachan

"Making Rubbings from Castings", Rosalee F. Oakley

"Common Rarities in Victorian Cemeteries: White
Bronze, Tree Stumps and Languishing La-
dies", Barbara Rotundo and Warren Roberts

"Groton, Massachusetts' Old Burying Ground Restora-
tion Project", Linda Hoffman Matisse

"Advanced Rubbing Techniques",

Mary Ann Calidonna (water dabbing),
Alice Bunton (oil dabbing)and
Susan Kelly (enhancing techniques)

"Civil War Epitaphs in Your Community's Cemetery",
Tom and Brenda Malloy

"What are FRIENDS For? How to Begin a Local
Cemetery Association", Doris Suessman and
Mary Goodwin

"Have Enthusiasm: Will Lead Tour", Barbara Rotundo

GENERATIONS: A Board Game for Families and for
Classroom Use", Jessie Lie Farber

"Capturing the Image of the Graven Image" or "The
Photographic Dead Ringer", Frank J. Calidonna

"How to Make Use of Your Slide Collection (and Pro-
mote Gravestone Scholarship) Without Trying
People's Patience or Putting Them to Sleep",
Jessie Lie Farber

"Displaying the Image: Photos, Rubbings and
Dabbings", Frank J. Calidonna

"What Major Projects in Gravestone Studies Should Be
Undertaken?", Rosalee F. Oakley

Also available were the two AGS slide shows: Early
New England Gravestones and the Stories They
Tell, written by Laurel Gabel; and The Development of
the Modern Cemetery and Gravestone Design In
the 19th Century, written by Barbara Rotundo. Both
are available for rent or purchase from the AGS office.

SESSION LEADERS AND FACILITATORS

Frank J. Calidonna, Rome NY Frank has been a serious
photographer for the past 44 years and a professional since
1 968. He is the owner of Diversified Photographic Services
that specializes in architectural photography. Frank holds
degrees in Social Work, Education of the Deaf, and Elemen-
tary Education and Administration from universities in Penn-
sylvania, New Hampshire, and New York. His interest in
cemeteries began 30 years ago with photographing grave-
stones. It developed into a serious study during the past six
years, and the past three years he has devoted exclusively to
the documentation of cemeteries and gravestones in Central
New York.

Mary Ann Calidonna, Rome NY Mary Ann studied paper
making and printmaking at Rome Art and Community Center
in Rome and Munson-Williams School of Art in Utica. She
owns Linden Street Paper where she produces handmade
papers and dabbings, marbleized Japanese foldbags, and
one-of-a-kind jewelry from the paper.

Claire F. Deloria, Baldwinsville NY Claire is Staff Devel-
opment Coordinator for the Liverpool, New York, School
District. She also has nearly 30 years experience teaching
junior and senior high social studies. She has made presen-
tations to many local and state historical and social studies
organizations as well as classroom presentations on cem-
etery study ranging from elementary school through univer-
sity. She has received the special honor of being named New
York State Teacher of the Year.

Laurel K. Gabel, Rochester NY Laurel is a recipient of the
AGS Forbes Award and serves currently as an AGS trustee
and the AGS Research Coordinator. She is a popular lecturer
and co-authorwith Theodore Chase of numerous articles and
the book Gravestone Chronicles. She operates the AGS
Lending Library and maintains files for the Farber Photo-
graphic Collection.

Dan and Jessie Farber, Worcester MA Jessie is a founding
member of AGS. Dan is a past-president of AGS. Both are
recipients of the Forbes Award. In the course of their years
showing slides and viewing other people's slides, they be-
lieve they have stumbled upon every pitfall and success
known to this generally harmless and pleasurable activity.

Mary Goodwin, Glastonbury CT Mary is secretary of the
Friends of Center Cemetery in East Hartford, CT. A former
journalist for The Hartford Courant and publications super-
visor for Hartford public schools, she was a member of the
editorial committee for the history of East Hartford published
in 1976. She is active in historical, social service and
environmental groups besides being a long-time AGS mem-
ber.

AGS Su '93 p. 2

Tom and Brenda Malloy, Westminster MA Brenda, AGS
trustee, is an elementary school teacher in Westminster and
was a presenter at the 1992 AGS Conference. Tom, who
holds his Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts, is a
Professor of American History, Mount Wachusett Community
College, Gardner, MA. He was a presenter at the past two
AGS conferences and is a regular presenter at the Cemeter-
ies and Gravestone Section of the American Culture Associa-
tion. The Malloys co-authored an article for Markers IX.

Linda Hoffman Matisse, Groton MA Linda Is an artist and
poet who lives across from the Old Burying Ground in Groton,
MA. It was her artistic appreciation of the work of the early
stone carvers that led her to do something about Groton's
broken stones. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and
studied art and theater for two years each in Paris, France,
and Kyoto, Japan. She attended her first AGS conference in
June 1990, and initiated the Groton project soon thereafter.

Rosalee F. Oakley, Hadley MA Rosalee is an AGS trustee
and former AGS executive director. She holds an M.R.E.
from Boston University and has helped design past AGS
conference teacher workshops. She is AGS president-elect,
taking office at the 1993 Annual Meeting.

Warren Roberts, Bloomington IN Warren holds a B.A. from
Reed College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University.
Dr. Roberts is Professor of Folklore at Indiana University in
Bloomington and is a leading scholar in the field. In his forty
years of teaching folklore, he has become interested in
gravestones as a form of folk art, particularly the tree-stump
tombstones and sandstone slabs of the early and mid-1 9th
century.

Barbara Rotundo, Belmont NH A retired professor of
English at SUNY-Albany, Dr. Rotundo now visits cemeteries
around the globe and is an energetic correspondent on
subjects relating to Victorian cemeteries. A frequent lecturer
and writer, she has written numerous articles and led
Victorian cemetery tours through Mount Auburn Cemetery in
Cambridge, MA.

Lance Mayer holds a mirror for Ralph Tucker in New
London's Ancient Burying Ground. Photo by Carol Perkins

Rosalee Oakley (left) observes Barbara
Rotundo in action. Photo by Nancy
Hannan, Hyde Park MA

Dickand Beckie Strachan, Columbia SC Beckie is a retired
Elementary School Principal. Her interests are art, history
and social studies. She and her husband, Dick, a retired
Colonel, own Thistledo, Inc., a center for classes and work-
shops in monumental brass rubbings. They take their interest
in cemetery rubbings and monumental brasses into approxi-
mately 1 5 schools from South Carolina to Florida providing
enrichment for Medieval and Renaissance units, and devel-
oping students' interest in history and art.

Doris Suessman, East Hartford CT Doris is president of the
Friends of Center Cemetery in East Hartford, CT, emeritus
board member of Connecticut Preservation Action, board
member of Greater Hartford Architecture Con-
servancy, and treasurer of Greater Hartford
Association of Historic Houses and Museums.
She is former vice-president of Connecticut
League of Historical Societies, former president
of East Hartford Historical Society, and current
chair of its Huguenot House Committee. She is
chair of East Hartford Historic District, board
member of East Hartford Chamber of Com-
merce, and tour guide at the State Capitol.

Gray Williams, Jr., Chappaqua NY Gray is a
freelance writer on subjects ranging from health
and gardening to history. He is an AGS trustee
and a writer whose articles on carver Thomas
Gold and the crypt of the Center Church in New
Haven have appeared in Markers. He is also a
trustee of the New Castle Historical Society and
contributed a chapter on local graveyards and
genealogy totheir recently published bicentennial
history.

AGS Su '93 p. 3

CONSERVATION WORKSHOP

The Conservation Workshop ran concurrent with the
Participation Sessions. After initial lectures, the work-
shop continued in Cedar Grove Cemetery, engaging in
cleaning, resetting and adhering.

WORKSHOP LEADERS:

Fred Oakley, Had ley MA Fred initiated the first restoration
workshop at the 1 989 AGS Conference in Byf ield, Massachu-
setts. Since then, under the supervision of Minxie and Jim
Fannin, professional gravestone consen/ators, he has learned
various conservation techniques appropriate for "low tech"
repair and cleaning. Fred has worked in each restoration
workshop since 1 989 as well as leading additional workshops
in l\/1ashpee and Pelham, Massachusetts.

C. R. Jones, Cooperstown NY C.R. has been a leader In
previous AGS restoration workshops, has done conservation
work In the Cooperstown area and led a restoration workshop
for the New York State Historical Association of which he is
a curator.

Charles Marchant, Townshend VT Charlie has been a
Town Cemetery Commissioner for more than 20 years,
secretary of Vermont Old Cemetery Association and Is cur-
rently acting principal of Leiand and Gray High School. Over
the years Charlie has performed numerous restoration projects
In Vermont and has been a workshop leader at numerous
AGS conferences.

Carol Perkins of Fairport NY photographed some of the
action during Friday's conservation workshop. Above, C.R.
Jones; below, Charles Marchant (in straw hat).

AGS Su '93 p. 4

PRESENTATIONS

The Park Family Carvers: Part 1 : From Scotland
Laurel Gabel

Introduction - Cornelia Jenness, President
Conference Chair's Welcome - Ruth Fornal
Co-Sponsor's Welcome -

William Hare, Curator, New London County

Historical Society

Elizabeth Friedman, Acting Director, New London

Landmarks
Slide Report on AGS - W. Fred Oakley, Jr., Treasurer

Eastern Connecticut: A Cultural Crossroads
Lance Mayer

New London and eastern Connecticut were discussed
as crossroads for the cultural influence of other regions
Cabinet-making and gravestone carving were dis-
cussed, with a special emphasis on why some eight-
eenth-century families patronized local craftsmen, while
others sent to Boston or Newport for their best furniture
and gravestones.

Lance Mayer is conservator at the Lyman Allyn Art
Museum in New London, Connecticut. He has long had
a special interest in Connecticut gravestones. He has
been a member of AGS since its founding and has
previously been on the AGS Board of Trustees and
served as AGS's representative to the National Insti-
tute for Conservation.

The Newport Master & the Connecticut Imitator
Vincent Luti

There is a clear linkage of design elements done on
slategravestones in Newport, Rhode Island, 17281734,
that is first transferred to sandstone in Connecticut by
the same carver(s) and then accounts for the dramatic
emergence there of a new workshop style linked to the
Johnson shop of Middletown that Dr Ernest Caulfield
was not able to explain.

Vincent Luti teaches in the College of Visual & Perform-
ing Arts at the University of Massachusetts (Dartmouth).
For over ten years he has been working on carver
identification of some 22 bodies of work found in the
Narragansett Basin region. Most of the research is now
done and the findings have appeared in part in Mark-
ers; Rhode Island History, and at four AGS confer-
ences. He has also served on the AGS Board of
Directors and was responsible for the program and bus
tours at the Bristol, Rhode Island conference.

William, John, and Thomas Park were talented and
very influential gravestone carvers who emigrated from
Glasgow, Scotland to Groton, Massachusetts during
the second half of the eighteenth century This slide
presentation explored the Park family roots in Scotland
and introduce the audience to a representative sam-
pling of their work.

Laurel K. Gabel of Rochester, New York maintains the
AGS carver files and is a Board member. She is co-
author with Theodore Chase of numerous articles and
the book. Gravestone Chronicles, about 1 8th century
gravestone carvers. She operates the AGS Lending
Library, is a popular lecturer, and is a tour guide and
trustee for the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery in
Rochester. She was the recipient of the 1 988 AGS
Forbes Award.

Humble Stones: A Study of Four Ulster Carvers
Deborah A. Smith

This paper studied the stones of four carvers working in
the vicinity of Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland
between 1808-1858, in particular the urn motif each
rendered in his own style. Secondarily it made com-
parisons to American stones of the same period, and
pondered the adoption and revision of folk emblems by
later commercial monument makers.

Deborah Smith is curator of advertising and documen-
tary artifacts on paper at the Strong Museum in
Rochester, New York. Her M.A. thesis on Delaware
children's gravestones was published in Markers IV.
Her last presentation to AGS was in 1 983 on a Victorian
era Kentucky carver. More recently, she received a
fellowship from the British Council to research Irish
mourning customs and gravestones in 1991-1992,
upon which this paper is drawn.

Looking for Iron Gravemarkers in New Jersey's
Pine Barrens
Richard Veit

During the 18th- and 19th- centuries. New Jersey's
pine barrens were home to a thriving iron industry.
Along with more typical products such as pig iron, stove
castings and hollowware, the furnaces also made iron
gravemarkers. This paper examines the production,
distribution, and designs of these unusual vernacular
gravemarkers.

Richard Veit is an historical archaeologist with the
Cultural Resource Consulting Group in Highland Park,

AGS Su '93 p. 5

New Jersey. He is particularly interested in New
Jersey's 1 8th-century gravestone carvers. This paper
is his first foray into southern New Jersey gravestones.

Grave Decorations in Central & Eastern Kentuclty
Beverly R. Morris

This paper was a discussion and presentation of a
series of photographs from central and eastern Ken-
tucky including both small, rural family cemeteries and
large, urban public cemeteries. "Everyday" decora-
tions as well as "holiday" decorations, focusing particu-
larly on the graves of infants and children were illus-
trated.

Beverly R. Morris is a cultural anthropologist with a
strong interest in archaeology. Her current position is
post-doctoral scholar in the Department of Behavior
Science, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky
Lexington. As part of her responsibilities, she teaches
a course, "Behavioral Factors in Health and Illness," to
third-year nursing students. T his course includes a
lecture on death and loss using her collection of cem-
etery photographs that relates the change in grave-
stones to the change in attitudes towards death in
American culture.

Scenes from Quarles' Emblem Books on Grave-
stones
Betty Willsher (Given by Jessie Lie Farber)

In Scotland, England, and the United States there are
a small number of gravestones with scenes inscribed
from Francis Quarles' Emblem Books. These stones
were discussed and the reasons for the choices of the
subjects considered.

Betty Willsher, M.A., F.S.A.S., is the author of Stones
(1 8th Century Scottish Gravestones) and Understand-
ing Scottisli Gravestones. She was the recipient of the
1989 AGS Forbes Award. On behalf of the Ancient
Monuments of Scotland she has almost completed
mini-surveys of all the Scottish Lowland parishes.

The Generation Gap
Charles Marchant

As population shifts place new demands on what was
forest land, what are the issues for so-called aban-
doned cemeteries in terms of access, location of exist-
ing burials, sale of lots, and restoration work? Are there
any solutions?

Charles Marchant is interim principal at the Leland and
Gray Union High School in Vermont. He is cemetery
commissioner for the town of Townshend, Vermont;

secretary of the Vermont Old Cemetery Association
(VOCA) and trustee of the Historical Society of Windham
County, Vermont.

Who Was That Masked Man?
Mary Dexter

Among upstate New York cemeteries are several hun-
dred native sandstone gravemarkers displaying curi-
ous images out of sync with time and place. Soul-effigy
countenances distinguished by a masked-eye feature,
repeated use of the archaic coffin, and creative urn and
willow interpretations comprise a unique post-1800
inventory attributed to migrating folk carvers whose
traditions appear to be rooted in eastern central Ver-
mont.

Mary Dexter is a professional bus driver in Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, a job which coincidentally subsidizes
her avocation: graveyards, gravemarkers, and stone
carvers in upstate central New York. A summer resi-
dent of Cortland County, New York, the area serves as
the base for her summer research projects. She is a
former Cortland County Historian, and former Kellog
Library staff member for the Cortland County Historical
Society. She received her B.A. in American History
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
where she wrote her honors thesis: "Remember Me as
You Pass By: Cortland County Stonecarvers." She has
lectured before several groups concerning cemetery
conditions and preservation.

Gravestones That Never Were
C.R. Jones

Gravestones sometimes turn up in strange places
patios, cellar walls, print shops, and in drainage ditches.
This raises goose bumps in some people and ques-
tions with others about their origin, history, and "owner-
ship". This talk traced the story of a few such stones
which never became gravemarkers, and the clues that
led to their discovery.

C.R. Jones is conservator for the New York State
Historical Association in Cooperstown. He first be-
came interested in gravestones and funeral customs
while a student in the Cooperstown Graduate Program
in History Museum Studies. He developed an exhibit
on the subject in 1967 while he was Director of the
Museum of the Concord Antiquarian Society. His
interests include American architecture, pre-industrial
technology, art conservation, old motion picture thea-
tres, and the graveyards of whichever community he is
in at the moment.

AGS Su '93 p. 6

Tree-Stump Tombstone: Meaning of Motifs and
Symbols Found on Rustic Funerary Art
Dr. Susanne S. Ridlen

The design motifs and symbols found on Indiana
treestump tombstones provide insight into their now-
deceased makers and users. To establish meanings,
these motifs and symbols are grouped by category:
animals; birds; clothing;fruits, plants and leaves; frater-
nal emblems; furniture; military accoutrements; mono-
grams; railroads; scenes; and tools.

Susanne Ridlen received a B.A. from DePaw Univer-
sity, an M.A. in Folklore, and a Ph.D. in Folklore and
American Studies from Indiana University Her doctoral
dissertation was on tree-stump tombstones.

SATURDAY'S BUS TOURS

The Colonial Tour, led by James Slater and Lance
Mayer, went to the Durham Burying Ground (full of
large and elaborate sandstones carved by John
Johnson); the Essex Burying Ground and the Duck
River Burying Ground at Old Lyme CT.

The Victorian Tour, led by Barbara Rotundo, went to
Yantic Cemetery, Norwich; Cedar Grove Cemetery,
New London; Stonington Cemetery and Elm Grove
Cemetery in Mystic.

Both Cedar Grove Cemetery and the Ancient Burying
Ground in New London were also available for the
shuttle tours on Friday.

-^"^(^^ "■'>!«

Photos by Carol Perkins, Fariport NY. Top left: Zechariah
Marwin, 1792, slate, Old Lyme CT. "Laurel said this was
recarved. " Bottom left: Samuel Gray, 1 713, slate. Ancient
Burying Ground, New London. Below: Cedar Grove Cem-
etery, New London.

-5«#

swVWte \% I

4 i"^nk^

AGS Su '93 p. 7

'^

X,

/

imm

Photos by Carol Perkins, Fariport NY. Clockwise from top
left: Edith Burritt, 1792, sandstone, Durham; willow and urn,
marble. Old Lyme; Eloise West taking a break from the sun,
Durham; Durham massive sandstones.

iV»>

AGS Su '93 p. 8

The Association for Gravestone

Studies

1993 Annual Meeting

June 27, 1993

AGENDA

Call to Order - President Cornelia Jenness
Quorum Determination - Secretary C.R. Jones
Approval of Minutes of 1992 Annual Meeting

Annual Reports:

Treasurer - W. Fred Oakley, Jr.
Archivist - Elizabetli Goeselt
Editor, Newsletter - Deborah Trask
Editor, Journal - Richard Meyer
Research Clearinghouse & Lending Library -
Laurel Gabel

Remarks:

Executive Director - Miranda Levin
President - Cornelia Jenness

Slide Presentation

New Business

Recognition of Retiring Officers & Trustees

Election Results - Secretary C.R. Jones

Introduction of New Officers & Trustees

Passing of the Forbes Book

Adjournment - Rosalee Oakley, President

The meeting was called to order at 8:55 a.m. by
President Cornelia Jenness at Connecticut College,
New London, Connecticut.

1) Secretary C.R. Jones reported that approximately
51 members were present, meeting the requirements
for a quorum.

2) Minutes of the 1993 meeting have been distributed.
Motion was made, seconded, and carried to approve
these.

3) Officers of the Association were introduced and the
following reports were presented.

4) Fred Oakley, treasurer, discussed the printed report.
Ourtransitiontothe new Newsletterproduction method
may require improvements in ourcomputer equipment.
Probable cost is $2,500 and an additional $1 ,000 for
staff training. We will be providing staff time for this
beginning with the fall issue. The balance sheet in-
cludes a large savings bond and a certificate of deposit.
With lowering interest rates, we will be looking into
investing in a mutual fund. Motion was made, sec-
onded, and carried to accept this report.

5) Elizabeth Goeselt, archivist, reviewed her printed
report and will welcome questions.

6) Deborah Trask noted that many costs for the News-
/eWerhave been provided by her employers, the Gov-
ernment of Nova Scotia. AGS will now have to cover
these costs.

7) Richard Meyer, Markers Editor, noted in addition to
his printed report that Markers XI wiW be out in Decem-
ber. He expressed his thanks to the Editorial Board,
which consists of Jim Slater, Barbara Rotundo, Jessie
Lie Farber, Ted Chase, Warren Roberts, Richard
Francaviglia, and David Watters.

8) Laurel Gabel reported on research and the lending
library. A replacement volunteer for the latter is being
sought.

9) Executive Director Miranda Levin reported that our
membership stands at 1 ,006, or 6 over the goal set last
year. She suggested that we all encourage libraries to
buy our Markers each year.

1 0) Fred Sawyer reported that the Planning Committee
continues to meet and advise. More members near

AGSSu '93 p. 9

Worcester are needed.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

11) President Neil Jenness noted her printed report.
Retiring officers and trustees were recognized: Bob
Drinkwater(6 years of "perfect attendance") and Fred
Oakley (treasurer and past president).

12) The Nominating Report was read by the secretary
The following were elected by mailed ballot:

Officers

President - Rosalee Oakley

Vice President - James Slater

Secretary - C. R. Jones (1 year term)

Treasurer - Dan Goldman

Trustees at Large

Virginia Rockwell
Barbara Rotundo
Deborah Smith
Ralph Tucker

Roseanne A. Foley
Laurel Gabel
Robert Montgomery
John O'Connor
Stephen Petke

Newly elected persons were introduced.

13) A first edition copy of Harriet Merrifield Forbes'
"Gravestones of Early New England" was passed from
retiring president Neil Jenness to newpresident Rosalee
Oakley.

14) President Rosalee Oakley took over the meeting,
thanking and recognizing Neil for her hard work as
president. Looking forward to the next two years she
noted it would be a time for growth without losing our
unique flavor and emphasis.

1 5) Final business was called for. Next year's meeting
will be in Chicago, Illinois. In 1995, we plan to meet
back in New England, in 1996 slightly outside, and in
1997 "way outside" again. Location suggestions are
always welcome, recognizing the need for 1) enough
interesting stones, 2) a facility where we can meet, and
3) a conference chair and committee in the area.

16) A motion was made, seconded, and carried to
adjourn the meeting at 9:25 a.m.

Respectfully submitted.

C.R. Jones
Secretary

As I reach the end of my term as President,
on two years of growth for AGS.

look back

&MMMMl^

Our membership has reached 1 ,01 0 - more than a 1 0%
increase overthe past year. This growth was thanks in
a great part to the efforts of our office staff; Miranda
Levin, Executive Director, and her assistant, Tom
Harrahy.

Judging from the increase in the volume of letters and
phonecalls handled by the staff, interest in gravestones
and gravestone related issues has continued to grow.

I feel that at this time some thank you's are in order:

To Miranda and Tom, who continuetodo an exceptional
job meeting the needs of the membership - and the
Board, and the press, etc.

To the Planning Committee and its chairman, Fred
Sawyer, who have been of great assistance to me as
we dealt with issues facing the Board of Trustees.

To the Board members who made the effort to travel to
Worcester and participate in the policy making decisions
for AGS.

To Fred Oakley, our conscientious treasurer, and his
wonderful computer. Financial stability continues.

To Laurel Gabel, our research coordinator and lending
librarian, for her continuous interest in connecting in-
dividuals with the information they seek - and then
keeping track of all of it for us.

To Jo Goeselt for her continuing dedication to main-
taining and cataloging our archives.

To Dick Meyer for the time, effort, and expertise he has
brought to the task of editor of Markers.

To Deb Trask, for her years as newsletter editor. One
of the challenges that faces AGS is filling her shoes - so
far we seem to need 14 people!

To Carol Perkins and Mike Cornish for their artistic
contributions.

And a thank you to everyone for their continued interest
in AGS and contributions to the study and preservation
of gravestones.

AGSSu '93 p. 10

In June 1994 our conference will really move west!
Plans are being firmed up for an exciting time in the
Chicago area!

Finally, I feel that I am leaving AGS in capable hands.
We've rarely had a president asfamiliar with the workings
of the organization. Congratulations and great success,
Rosalee!

Neil Jenness
Outgoing President

ARCHIVES REPORT

The archives are located at the Worcester Historical
Museum, as you probably all know, and are available
at the WHM library.

Members continue to donate new (and old) books,
journals, academic papers, cemetery data, photographs,
slides, videos, and computer disks. Approximately 60
items have been donated this past year. All are greatly
appreciated. T here are now over 800 items and sev-
eral thousand photographs. You can keep in touch with
recent donations when you purchase an updated cata-
logue, available at the AGS off ice, or use the copy at the
WHM Library.

A collection policy is being worked out to determine the
scope of the archives collection, to see if it is practical
or desirable to collect beyond our present shelved
books arrangement. Space is limited but other impor-
tant items need to be saved.

Volunteer help is always appreciated. Thelma Ernst
has been a loyal volunteer. Rosalee Oakley has
entered catalogue additions and changes into a com-
puter and printed up-to-date cards based on this infor-
mation. Others who would like to help could choose a
project of their own. Various conservation projects
could and should be undertaken, specifically catalogu-
ing and protecting our more specialized photographic
collections.

You are invited to come and use the archives. Appoint-
ments made in advance are the best way to have
material ready for your use. Please continue to think of
us when you write your own book or record cemetery
data or run across a book which would be of use to
researchers now and in the future.

Jo Goeseit Arctiivist

REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF MARKERS

/WarlrefsXrolledoff the presses in early December and
was inthe AGS offices by the end of the month, allowing
for distribution to begin in January The process of
production went very smoothly and the product, I hope
you will agree, matches the high standards which the
publication has set in recent years.

Plans for Markers XI caW for the same production and
distribution schedule as applied to Markers X As of this
writing (Memorial Day weekend), five articles are firmly
accepted for the new edition, and several more are
either under review or about to be. The content will
once again reflect the diversity of scholarly interests in
and approaches to the study of gravemarkers and
cemeteries which have come to typify the field in recent
years.

Preparing MarkersXwas a wonderful learning experi-
ence for me. Though I have served as an editor before,
this is the first time I have ever had to immerse myself
in the actual day-to-day physical decisions relating to
the production process itself, and the experience has
been valuable. I am grateful to the personnel at Oregon
Typography and PrintTek West, both located in Salem,
Oregon, for their patient tutelage. This would also be
the time to express my boundless gratitude to the
members of the journal's editorial advisory board: their
thoughtful and seemingly tireless efforts in reviewing
manuscript submissions have helped to make my re-
sponsibilities as editor much more manageable and
have provided extremely valuable assistance to pro-
spective authors in preparing their workfor publication.

Earlierthis year, in a move designed to achieve the dual
effect of widening the journal's recognition and solicit-
ing quality submissions from scholarly areas not previ-
ously tapped to any large degree, I placed a "Call for
Papers" in a number of newsletters of scholarly asso-
ciations. The response has been greater than I could
have possibly anticipated (more than twenty letter and
phone enquiries to date), leading me to the confident
prediction that MarkersvjiW have a large number of new
submissions from which to choose in the months and
years to come.

1 have enjoyed the challenges of the past year and
anticipate those to come. Thank you for affording me
the continuing honor of editing what I feel to be the
finest journal currently being published in American
material culture studies.

Riciiard E. Meyer Editor

AGS Su '93 p. 11

RESEARCH OFFICE

During the 1992 calendar year, the AGS Research
office responded to approximately eighty-five written
requests for information in addition to an almost equal
number of telephone inquiries. As in previous years, a
fairly large percentage of these questions came from
students and genealogists, or researchers with specific
special interests. Roughly 30% of all inquiries involved
some use of the Farber Photographic Collection.

An AGS member survey was distributed in the July
issue of the Newsletter in an attempt to learn more
about member interests and accomplishments. One
hundred forty-nine (or about 15%) of the question-
naires were returned, providing valuable information
about the interests and concerns of those who re-
sponded. Seventy-seven percent of the returns came
from those living east of the Mississippi, roughly 30% of
these from New England; 1 7% arrived from west of the
Mississippi, and 5% came from outside the United
States. Most respondents described themselves as
"hobbyist/enthusiast". Almost half are also active re-
searchers. Photography, gravestone symbolism, and
preservation/restoration were the most popular topics
of interests. AGS publications and conferences re-
ceived a good deal of praise. The most common
suggestion for improvement recommended that AGS
increase efforts to reach out beyond New England,
consider holding regional conferences and workshops,
and make area membership lists available to others
living in the same geographic region.

The needs and demands of this office have far out-
grown my ability to keep up with all of the work that
needs doing. Listed below are just sorrie of the projects
that are waiting to be expanded or completed, if you are
willing to make a long-term commitment to working on
any of these projects, please contact me for more
information .

* There is a real need for a standardized series of
bibliographies on specific gravestone-related topics:
cemetery landscaping, preservation/restoration, carv-
ers, epitaphs, African-American cemeteries, etc.

* Several collections of photographs are waiting to be
organized, cataloged, archivally preserved and the
data entered into a computer index that can be used by
researchers.

* Information about 19th-century gravestone carvers
.and monument dealers is now in a lengthy word process-
ing file. This material needs to be entered into an IBM
compatible data base program to make it more acces-
sible, v,^

* We need to compile short formatted biographies and
reference citations for each of the more than 175
identified carvers whose work is filed in the Farber/
Forbes/ Caulfield Photographic Study Collection.

* The Research office needs a resource handbook
listing the names, addresses and telephone numbers
of all individuals, institutions, organizations, businesses,
libraries, museums, or publications that possess spe-
cial knowledge or expertise on a wide range of special
topics related to gravestones.

* A much-needed integrated computer gravestone
index (name, date, location, carver, subject, photo-
graph #) of large photographic collections is still on hold
until a standard format and computer program can be
designed and implemented.

Laurel K Gabel
Research Coordinator

LENDING LIBRARY

The AGS Lending Library was started as a service to
members who are unable to obtain gravestone refer-
ence books by other means. Twenty-two books are
currently available through the mail, including Pillars of
the Past: A Guide to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park,
Cola, California, by Michael Svanevik and Shirley
Burgett, and Understanding Scottish Graveyards, by
Betty Willsher, both of which were added during 1 992/
3. Approximately fifty-five books were loaned by mail
during the past nine months, almost three times the
number circulated in the previous twelve month period.
A $2.00 handling/supply fee along with financial or
book donations by members, allows the Lending Li-
brary to function without cost to AGS. (For the current
Lending Library list, see p. 26)

Laurel K. Gabel

AGS Su '93 p. 12

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT

^M

I am happy to report that 1 992 was a banner year forthe
AGS office. First and foremost, we reached our goal of
1 ,000 members by the end of the year - as of December
31, 1992, we had 1,006 members, more than 10%
more than we had at the end of 1 991 . This was due in
large part to a record number of new members that
signed up in 1992 - we had many more requests from
members for brochures to pass out, and that enthusi-
asm paid off! Thank you to everyone who helped us
reach our goal, and it looks like we're continuing our
trend, as we have 1 ,029 members as of June 1 6.

Sales are also up significantly. Last fall, we had a
special offer through the newsletter which provided
sweatshirts, magnets, tote bags, and conference t-
shirts to the membership. We had a terrific response;
so good, in fact, that several of those items are now
listed in our publications list. If you have an idea for
something you think we should sell, or know of a book
you think we should list, please let me know - many of
the new items last year were originally suggestions
made to me by members - I welcome your input!

All these increases are well and good, but the volume
of work is increasing, and we are finding it harder and
harderto keep up our level of service. One of our major

challenges this year is to do just that, while keeping our
costs down. As we find more efficient ways to do things,
weed out those services that aren't necessary or aren't
worthwhile, hopefully some of the pressure can be
relieved.

1993 also brings with it two major projects: marketing
Markers and the first issue of the "new" newsletter. We
are trying to sell 200 copies of MARKERS X this year,
and are providing incentives to members who help us
reach our goal; a sheet describing this project is included
with your membership renewal, or you can contact us
at the office for more information. As forthe newsletter,
Tom and I are very excited (and a little nervous) about
working with everyone on that, and we hope that we can
keep up the fantastic level of quality that Deb has
maintained for the last ten years.

As a final note, I would just like to remind you that AGS
is your organization, and I hope you will let us know if
there is any way we can help you with your work, or if
there is any way we can improve the services that we
provide. We love to hear from members - we love your
suggestions, and we hope to hear from you!

Miranda Levin
Executive Director

Epoxy Resins in Stone Consolidation

The publication of this seventh volume in the Getty Conservation Institute's Research in Conservation series,
Epoxy Resins in Stone Consolidation, marks the first such work on architectural conservation. This book presents a
review of research on the use of epoxy resins as consolidants for sculpture and buildings. It deals with both the
methods and materials used by conservators, focusing on a detailed chemistry of the materials as well as the prac-
tical methods of application.

Epoxy resins have been widely used as structural adhesives to repair cracks in commercial and historic build-
ings, but the application of this technology to the stabilization of fragile stone has generally failed. However, the
proper formulation of epoxy systems with solvents has solved problems of viscosity, penetration, crust formation,
and discoloration, leading to two different schools of treatment detailed in the publication. Conservators in
Europe have concentrated on the treatment of statuary and isolated sections of structures, with alcohol solutions
of the resins maintained in contact with the surface for a period of time in order to get deep penetration. In the
United States, treatment has focused on stabilizing entire structures or major portions of buildings by spraying
them with acetone solutions of epoxy resins.

The various techniques of application are discussed and evaluated. The book seeks to provide an expanded
inventory of these different techniques allowing the conservator to make informed judgments.

from tiie Getty Conservation Institute, 4503 Glencoe Avenue, Marina del Rey CA 90292-6537;
phone 3 1 0-822-2299; fax 3 1 0-82 1 -9409. contributed by Gay Stone.

AGS Su '93 p. 13

1993 CONFERENCE

THE HARRIET MERRIFIELD FORBES

AWARD

At the first annual conference of The Association
for Gravestone Studies, it was resolved that an
award should be made periodically to honor either
an individual or an organization in recognition of
exceptional service to the field of gravestone stud-
ies. This award, known as the Hariette Merrifield
ForbesAward, recognizes outstanding contribu-
tion in such areas as scholarship, publications,
conservation, education, and community service.

Past Honorees are:

1977 Daniel Farber

1978 Ernest Caulfield

1979 Peter Benes

1980 Allan 1. Ludwig

1981 No award given

1982 James A. Slater

1983 Hilda Fife

1984 Ann Parker &
Avon Neal

1985 Jessie Lie Farber

1986 Louise Tallman

1987 Fredericks

Pamela Burgess

1988 Laurel Gabel

1989 Betty Willsher
1990Tlieodore Chase

1991 LynetteStrangstad

1992 Ralph Tucker

Deborah Trask, dancing with gravestone.

THE 1993 HARRIET MERRIFIELD

FORBES

AWARD

is presented to

DEBORAH TRASK

for distinguished service in the field of
gravestone studies

NOMINATIONS FOR '94 FORBES AWARD SOUGHT

All members are invited to submit nominations to be considered by the Board of
Trustees for receiving the Forbes Award in June 1994. Please send to the AGS office,
30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609 by January 15, 1994.

=^

AGSSu '93 p. 14

NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT

LIFE MEMBERSHIPS SOUGHT

AGS now has a membership category called "life
memberships" for $1 ,000. This one-time membership
fee is put in a separate fund earmarked endowment.

The benefits for this membership category include:

*the quarterly AGS Newsletter — full of articles, book
reviews, research material, and items of general
interest to AGS members

* all issues of Markers, our scholarly journal — full of
longer articles with many illustrations and photo-
graphs, to be sent on publication

* discounts on AGS publications

* access to the research clearing house with its many
photographic resources for researchers

* access to the lending library a number of books
which can be checked out for a minimal fee for three
weeks

* accessto the audio-visual libraiy currently comprised
oftwoslideshowswhichcanberentedorpurchased —
one on early New England gravestones and one on
Victorian cemeteries and monuments.

* beyond these obvious benefits to the member, it
provides the resources for investment income

to sustain AGS programs.

All of these are life-time privileges. If you are a longtime
member you might wish to consider this membership
category which makes every membership benefit auto-
matic for you and builds AGS's endowment fund.

CONFERENCE '94 COMMITTEE IS SET

As you know, the '94 AGS Conference is going to be in
Chicago. Plans are going along well for activities next
June 23-26. Conference staff so far includes Co-
chairs, Steve and Carol Shipp; Program Chair, Joe
Edgette; Publicity Chair, James Jewell; Registrar, Steve
Shipp; Conservation Workshop activities, Fred Oakley;
Friday Class Activities, Rosalee Oakley; Tours, Helen
Sclair.

UNITED AIR LINES OFFERS 1994 CONFERENCE
DISCOUNTS

Through United Air Lines and Your Partners In Travel
of Northampton, Massachusetts, a 5% discount below
the lowest fare at the time reservations are made will be
available to AGS members anywhere in the U.S. on
United Air Line flights originating within three days
before and departing within three days following the
conference. AGS members who are sen/ed by United
Air Lines may avail themselves of this discount by
writing or calling Your Partners in Travel (1-800-282-
9748) Before calling they should check with their local
travel agent to determine the lowest fare they can get
on other airlines.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REQUESTS
SUGGESTIONS

The Nominating Committee is looking for suggestions
for Board Members for next year, beginning June 1 994.
If you would like to be considered or know of someone
who would be a valuable addition to our governing body
please submityour name ortheirnameto Dan Goldman,
Chair, AGS Nominating Committee, 1 1 5 Middle Road,
East Greenwich Rl 02818. Include information about
skills, expertise, and accomplishments that would as-
sist the Nominating Committee in considering the per-
son for nomination.

Rosalee Oakley President

AGS Su '93 p. 15

NOTES FROM

THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

(AND SOON-TO-BE
NEWSLETTER COORDINATOR!)

Lately, it seems the only appropriate buzzword for the
AGS office is 'transition". We've had a lot of change
happening to us over the past few months!

Our first change happened over the summer when
longtime assistant Tom Harrahy moved out of the
Worcester area. He tried to keep working here, but was
unable to continue, and had to leave us at the end of the
summer. I hired a new assistant, who was going great
guns in September, but became quite ill and had to
resign. This happened to be one of those times when
the third time really was lucky, as AGS was extremely
lucky to find Sean Redrew to work for us. He's been
great, and we've made great inroads on the backlog of
work that has been building up.

The second big change that is happening to the office
is the newsletter. As most of you know, this issue is
Deb's last, and we're going to a new format beginning
with the next (Fall) issue. I wanted to take a little space
to tell you how it works.

To fill you in — Deb graciously gave us a coupleof year's
notice concerning her resignation, and there was a lot
of discussion on how best to proceed. The first thing
that became apparent was that Deb is one of those rare
people who are truly irreplaceable, as there was literally
no one person who could take on this job (and was
willing to!) Therefore, the NewsletterCommittee (which
was formed to deal with this transition) had to come up
with a Plan B.

While we were coming up with a Plan B, the Committee
decided that they were going to try to better meet the
needs of our changing and growing membership while
we were at it. Recently members have been asking for
more regional news and more sharing of information
among members of a particular region, and we wanted
to come up with a way to deal (in a timely and useful
manner) with the terrific contributions of clippings that
comes in. The other thing that we wanted to do was
bring the final production of the newsletter into the
office, so as to better coordinate everything.

Keeping those two points in mind, the Newsletter
Committee came up with the format of having a group
of Regional and Topical Corespondents who would
each be responsible for a small portion of the newslet-

ter's contents. The final copy editing and layout would
be done in the office.

We are very excited about this, and have been working
over the past few months to bring all this together, but
all this is predicated on one major thing: that all of the
members who have been so supportive and generous
in providing us news and clippings of the goings-on in
their area will continue to do so. We need you even
more now! We have thirteen wonderful volunteers who
have agreed to be our corespondents for three issues
a year (the summer issue will be an expanded confer-
ence issue). Their job will be easy if you continue to
send them news, clippings, personal reports and news
ofworks-in-progress, legislative happenings, book and
exhibit reviews and announcements, etc. Their job will
be excruciatingly difficult if you don't. So please keep
it up! Although the next issue will introduce each of the
columnists to you, should you want to send them
something right away, you can send your material here
to the office and we'll forward it to them.

One final note - these corespondents (and I) have firm
deadlines. Therefore, if you're submitting something
which is time sensitive, pay particular attention to the
lead times when you send it. The columnists' and
calendar's deadlines for the next few issues are as
follows:

Spring '94: February 1

Summer '94: May 1

Fall '94: September 1

Please rememberthat the newsletter will be mailed six
weeks after this deadline.

You're going to hear a lot more about this in the next
issue of the newsletter, which you will be getting shortly.
Thank you for your patience during this transition and
I look forward to getting your comments and sugges-
tions for improvement.

Miranda Levin

iss^^M.!^^!^

AGS Su '93 p. 16

POST CONFERENCE TOUR

The first annual "post-conference" conference took
place at Cornwall CTfrom June 27-30, 1 993. Pat Miller
of Danbury CT organized the event at Cornwall Bridge;
andtheparticipantswereAndiHansberryof Langhorne
PA, Sybil Crawford of Dallas TX, Mary Dexter of Chapel
Hill NC, Ann Dexter of Courtland NY and Jim Jewell of
Peru IL. Among the cemeteries visited were the
Salisbury CT Cemetery, where Mary Dexter discovered
a sunburst face; Ellsworth Hills in Sharon CT; the
Amenia and Old Amenia cemeteries in New York;
Valley View and the Catholic Cemetery in Dover Plains
NY; Hillside and Boland Cemeteries in Sharon CT;
Cornwall and St. Bridget's Cemetery in Cornwall; Warren
Center (CT) Cemetery; Baldwin Hill in New Preston CT;
Grassy Hill in Fails Village CT; and Canaan CT Mountain
View.

Jim Jewell showed photos taken early in June in
Indiana and Illinois; and Sybil Crawford presented a
talk and videotape of Mount Holly Cemetery in Little
Rock AR. Sybil has written a book on that Victorian
cemetery. Pat Milleralsoshowedphotosof many New
England stones. The group rated the conference a
success, and it was agreed that future conferences
should attempt to have a "post -conference" extra.

contributed by Jim Jewell, Peru IL

.,^^i^

Sybil Crawford (with mirror) and Mary Dexter, getting some
iigiit on tt)e subject. Piioto by Jim Jewell.

Sybil Crawford, Mary Dexter, Pat Miller and Ann Dexter Photo by Jim Jewell.

AGS Su '93 p. 17

RESEARCH

Laurel Gabel is helping to conduct a national survey of
early (pre-1890) photographic images found on grave
markers. One of the purposes of this study is to identify
the types of early photographs used, the specific time
period of their use, and information about the age, sex,
ethnic background and photographic pose of the de-
ceased. Laurel would appreciate hearing from anyone
willing to survey cemeteries in their own locality. Both
the presence and/or absence of early photographs is of
interest to the research. If you would like to assist in this
study — by simply viewing all the monuments in some
1 9th-century cemetery — please contact Laurel at (716)
248-3453 or 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford NY 14534.
She will supply a survey questionnaire and instructions.

Forfour decades a plain, one-and-a-half foot tall stone

marked the final resting place of one of America's

greatest folksingers. Now a "big, nice headstone " sits

atop the grave of Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. thanks

to private contributions by fans, largely from New York

and California, said Tiny Robinson, the musician's

niece. The headstone reads:

HUDDIE

(LEAD BELLY)

LEDBETTER

1889-1949

A LOUISIANA LEGEND

has been duly elected to

The Songwriters' Hall of Fame

New York 1972

The Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame

Nashville TN 1980

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

New York 1988

The Southern Songwriters' Hall of Fame

Shreveport LA 1989

Northwest Louisiana Hall of Fame

Bossier City LA 1991

mi^^i

L-*

%

Eric Brock, Shreveport LA, has provided a bit more
regarding music on markers. This marker, of gray
Canadian granite, is found in Greenwood Cemetery,
Shreveport, Louisiana. McCann, who died at 45 years
of age in 1911, was a salesman according to his
obituary, which gave no clues as to why the music
should be engraved on his monument.

A long, black slab bearing the imprint of a guitar, and
inscribed "king of the 12-string guitar" has also been
placed overthe grave. Robinson, through her Leadbelly
foundation, sent letters soliciting donations to ac-
quaintances in various states. She received back more
than $9000 in contributions to help make the gravesite
improvementsatShiloh Baptist Church, near Shreveport
LA. Ledbetter, a singer, songwriter and guitarist,
popularized such tunes as "Goodnight Irene" and "The
Midnight Special".

from the Shreveport LA Times, April 3, 1993, sent by
Eric Brock.

AGS Su '93 p. 18

BOOK REVIEW

by Eric J. Brock

Graven Images. Graphic Motifs of the Jewish
Gravestone

By Arnold Schwartzman; Foreword by Chaim Potok
Harry H.Abrams, Inc., 1 00 Fifth Avenue New York, NY
10011 1993 $24.95 Hardbound, 144 pp., 240 color
photographs, map

Despite it's title, this book is not to be confused with
Allan I. Ludwig's Graven Images, first published back
in 1966. Ludwig's book was about colonial American
grave markers while Schwartzman's book is about
European Jewish grave markers from the Middle Ages
to our own century.

Schwartzman's Graven Images is a visually stunning
little book with lots of beautiful color photographs taken
throughout Europe's largely forgotten and neglected
old Jewish burial grounds. The photos are especially
poignant because the stonesthey depict tell so poignant
a story. The lichen and vine covered markers, the finely
crafted monuments half buried in sand or lying face-up
with grooves filled with rainwater, the cemetery walls
made of bits and pieces of superbly carved medieval
markers, smashed to bits by the Nazis only half-a-
century ago. Each of these markers represents a
person, a life. The markers' neglect attests to the
annihilation ofthedescendantsofthose buried beneath.

As one who has made a speciality of studying Jewish
cemetery sculpture, I was especially pleased to discover
this recent addition to the relatively miniscule body of
literature on the subject. My own area of research has
concentrated primarily upon American Jewish markers
and the development of the American Jewish cemetery
(although cemeteries and markers of all sorts interest
me deeply). Much is to be learned, however, from the
markers and cemeteries of European Jewry, fortherein
lie the roots of American Jewish marker and cemetery
design and custom.

I was, therefore, both elated and disappointed in this
little book. My elation, as I said, comes as a result of
simply finding a book — any book — in print on the
topic, as well as the visual appeal of the photographs.
My disappointment, however, stemsfromafew sources.
First , the book is quite small (61/2 x 7 3/4 inches), which
doesn't allow the photos to be very large. Second, even
with all the color photos, the price is rather steep for a
small-format book (though I shouldn't be surprised
since Abrams publications are never inexpensive).
Third, despite a nice eleven page introduction by noted
Jewish novelist Chaim Potok, the bookisn'ttoo scholarly.

An elaborately carved Dutch-Jewish grave marker from the
18th-century. Jewish markers such as this are discussed in
Graven Images.

The captions accompanying the photographs tell
something about the meaning of symbols found on the
markers illustrated and also give the location of the
markers by city, but no attempt was made to give the
name of the deceased nor the date of death (which
would, typically, be a year prior to the marker's being
carved). While I would hardly call myself an accom-
plished Hebrew scholar, I was able to quite easily read
the names of the deceased and the date of death on the
Hebrew inscriptions of a number of the stones photo-
graphed. The fact is, however, that most readers of this
book are unlikely to be versed in any Hebrew at all,
making such deciphering an impossibility (though surely
the author could have done so).

Additionally, in many cases only a portion of the marker
is shown in the photograph, making a determination of
any specifics about the marker or the deceased difficult
if not altogether impossible. If the captions had given
the name of the deceased, the date of death, and the
name of the specific cemetery in which the marker
shown is to be found, it would have been most helpful
(in all fairness, however, I must say that many of these
towns would only have had one Jewish cemetery and,
in some instances, the author does give the specific
cemetery, though this is typically not the case).

Despite my criticisms, I feel that Graven Images will
prove to be a valuable book for those interested in
European Jewish monument carving and the elaborate
symbolism found on the older monuments of Eastern
and Central Europe's old Jewish cemeteries. Much of
this same symbolism was brought to the Americas by
Jewish immigrants and is to be found in many of the
olderJewish burial groundsofthe United States. Graven
Images provides the reader with a visual tour of some
of Europe's forgotten, yet invaluably rich, places; it is a
sad but fascinating tour. Nevertheless, the definitive
work on Jewish monument carving remains to be done.

**********

AGSSu '93 p. 19

THE NAVAL CEMETERY

CROQUE,

GREAT NORTHERN PENINSULA,

NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA

by Avon R. Fancy

This small cemetery is known locally as "the French
cemetery", but it is actually a naval cemetery dating
back to at least 1 792. The navigational charts of 1 939
describe the location as "Epine Cadoret is entered
between Observation Point. ..and Blanche Point (which)
extends to Freshwater Creek at its head. Cemetery
Point on its northwestern shore, lies a quarter of a mile
westward of Observation Point, and on it, stands a
cross." [Newfoundland and Labrador Pilot, Vol. II,
seventh edition, 1939.) The cemetery contains 16
marked graves. Twelve are marked with concrete
crosses about three feet in height with places for name
plaques to be mounted. Either this was never done or
the plaques have been removed. There are three
wooden markers, two are made of carved wood while
the other is a five foot high wooden cross. The oldest
marker is for Mr. Philip Brock. Made of carved wood
with painted inscription, this may indeed be the oldest
existing grave marker on the Great Northern Peninsula.
The inscription reads: "Sacred to the memory of Mr.
Philip Brock, midshipman on His British Majesty's Sloop
Echo 1792." (fig. 2)

fig 1. The plaque on the high cross reads:

Laventure 1856

Cimetiere

Restaure

Par

Laventure

31 Julllet 1957

HMCS Resolute

1960

CSTBourohis

1963

1969

The second carved wooden marker is for two mid-
shipmen from the British ship, Narcissus. The in-
scription reads, "Sacred to the memory of Mr. Walter
Hughes, aged 1 5 years and Mr. John Crallan, aged 1 5
years who were drowned by the upsetting of a boat in
the river near this spot, August 25, 1811" (fig. 3). The
third wooden marker is the five foot high wooden cross.
On its crossbeams there is the following inscription: "lei
repose Edouard Villaret de Joyeuse, officer de la Ma-
rine Francaise, Morten Mera bord L'Iphigenie, 1854."
[Here lies Edward Villaret de Joyeuse, officer in the
French Navy, died at sea, on board the Iphigenie, 1 854]

fig. 2. Croque, Newfoundland
The brass plaque reads:
"Sacred to the memory of Mr Philip Brock
midship man
His British Majesty's Sloop Echo 1 792"

AGS Su '93 p. 20

The early graves (1 792 and 1811) date from a period
when the British navy provided protection forthe summer
fishery along the coast of Western Newfoundland. The
French grave dates from the period when the French
had fishing rights in this part of Newfoundland. The
twelve concrete crosses are also thought to be French
in origin.

The cemetery also has a large, twenty foot high cross
(fig. 1) which was erected in 1956 and likely replaced
one that was formerly there. The cemetery has been
"restored" by members of the British, French and Cana-
dian navies. The last of these restorations was in 1 971
when the French ship Boudrais visited. From the
plaques on the wooden markers and the large cross,
one finds record of at least ten naval visits and/or
restorations between 1891 (fig. 4) and 1971 . At some
point the graves were all covered with chipped marble,
but this is now hidden by the tall grass. Such covering
is thought to be French in origin as it is also found in the
abandoned French cemetery on Quirpon island.

fig. 3. Sacred/ to the memory of/ Mr. Walter Hughies/ Aged/
15 years/ and l\/lr John Crallan/Aged 15 years/ midshipmen
ofi-IM.S. Narcissus/ who were drowned by the/ upsetting of
a boat in the/ river near this spot/ Aug 25 1811

brass plaque:

"Mr. Waiter Hughes

midship man

John Craiion

midship man

l-lis Britannic Majesty's Ship Narcissus 1811"

In 1960, the village of Croque was settled in the area
adjacent to the cemetery. In recent years the village
people have put up a new fence and repainted the
inscriptions. Unfortunately, the inscriptions are not
always copied correctly, but then the restorations in the
past have not always been quality work, as shown in the
plywood attached to the Brock marker, (fig. 4)

fig. 4. back view of fig. 2.

Avon R. Fancy is Consultant with ttie Vinland/Strait of
Belle Isle Integrated School Board, Flower's Cove,
Newfoundland, Canada.

AGS Su '93 p. 21

AGS CROSSWORD PUZZLE

#1

by Laurel K. Gabel

(for answers, see p. 27)

ACROSS

1. Author of the first important book
about early New England gravestones;
the name of an AGS award presented in
recognition of outstanding contributions
to gravestone studies.

4. A flower associated with sleep or
death; since World War I, sold by vet-
eran's groups during the week preced-
ing Memorial Day in honor of those who
died in the service of their country.

6. A classical container; cinerary vase.

9. Part of plot.

10. The widely used monogram of
Christ which originated from the Greek
name for Jesus.

1 2. William H. Bonney (Billy the Kid) is
buried at Fort Sumner in this south-
western state. ( Abbreviation )

13. The initials of an ancestral organi-
zation that marks the graves of Revo-
lutionary War soldiers.

15. The insignia letters which denote
membership in the Improved Order of
Red Men fraternal organization.

18. Interred .

20. For Christos; Chi Rho.

21. Old style. (Abbreviation)

23. An archaic form of 'Ihe. "

24. Our AGS Newsletter is compiled
and edited by Deborah Trask in this
Canadian province. (Abbreviation)

27. A headstone and afootstone define
the grave ,

28. Deceased, departed, crossed over,
gone home, exchanged this life, fell
asleep, lost, gone before, expired, etc.

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30. From the Greek word for flesh; root
of sarcophagus, originally a flesh con-
suming stone coffin.

33. Charleston, a southern coastal city
with charm and some great old burying
grounds, is located in this state. (Ab-
breviation)

35. Inthe Georgian calendar, the_begin
on January 1st.

37. A vertical support or column.

* Draw the symbol for "Omega," the
end.

41. The circle or disk around the arms
of a cross.

43. A symbol for demons or the hell
they inhabit.

44. The "Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers" paper sessions, chaired
by Richard Meyer, are part of an annual
convention sponsored jointly by the
American Culture Association (ACA)
and its sister association, the .

46. A three-year project sponsored by
the National Institute for the Conserva-
tion of Cultural Property and the
Smithsonian Institution's National Mu-
seum of American Art. whose goals
include inventorying and preserving our
country's outdoor sculpture. Their toll-
free number for more information = 1-
800-422-4612. (Abbreviation)

47. In many New England graveyards
the carved face of the headstone faces
in this direction.

48. Ancestor of a Roman general. His
sarcophagus was discovered in a tomb
on the Appian Way and became a
prototype of 19th- and 20th-century
gravestones.

DOWN

1. A form of swastika often used in
medieval church decoration and her-
aldry and also seen on early American
gravemarkers, particularly in isolated
areas of Pennsylvania and North
Carolina.

2. Obsolete word for widow.

AGS Su '93 p. 22

3. Sol, sul, Ra; God or Son.

4. Used for tombs in ancient Egypt —
and found marking the graves of the
wealthy families in some , 19th-century
cemeteries.

5. A plant whose hand-shaped leaves
symbolize victory.

7. The circle or disk around the arms of
a cross. #41 across, ditto.

8. A symbol for birth, life; the heavenly
sphere.

11. Abbreviation for saint.

14. Messengers between God and
man.

16. St. Luke the Evangelist is often
depicted as this winged beast.

17. An out-of-doors seat or bench,
often placed as a memorial.

1 8. A protuberant ornament like a knob
or stud; on a cross, said to represent
Christ's wounds.

19. Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson
are among the notables buried at the
National Cathedral here. (Abbrevia-
tion)

22. The U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in
this state holds the remains of John ("I
havenotyetbeguntofight")PaulJones.
(Abbreviation)

23. Ditto #23 across.

25. Markers editor Richard E. Meyer
lives and works in this northwestern
state. If you have a completed manu-
script for consideration by the Editorial
Review Board, you may send copies to
Richard E. Meyer, English Dept.,
Western Oregon State College,
Monmouth, 97361. (Abbreviation)

26. A winged face or skull carved on a
gravestone may represent the depart-
ing of the deceased.

29. Symbol of fidelity, friendship,
memory.

31. A venomous snake.

32. Mt. Auburn, dedicated in 1831, is
generally acknowledged as the first ru-
ral-cemetery in the .(abbreviation

for country).

34. A curved outline; part concave and
part convex.

36. A family of talented and influential
carvers who worked in Boston and
Rhode Island in the 1700s.

38. Egyptian water lily, symbolic of life,
prosperity. (Also a car denoting some
degree of worldly prosperity.)

39. Requiescat in Pace/Rest in peace.
(Abbreviation)

40. Burden of proof. In the case of a
stolen gravestone, forexample,the_for
proving legal provenance is required of
the person holding the stone.

42. Francis/Frances = he/ .

43. Railroad iconography combined
with these three initials often appear on
the graves of railroad trainmen who
belonged to this occupational brother-
hood.

45. The nation's oldest Jewish syna-
gogue is in this state. (Abbreviation)

from Bane Life, Winter 1992

AGS Su '93 p. 23

THE FLYING CODONAS

by Carolyn Elayne Alexander

Deep within the marble forest of tombstones at
Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California, is a
very unusual grave marker. It represents probably the
most tragic story ever to come out of circus annals.

Trapeze aficionados and the press alike, have peri-
odically congregated at the spot where Alfredo Codona,
in depression-gripped America, declared his love for
Lillian Leitzel in a 17-foot-high statue. On December
10, 1931, hundreds of fans gathered at the $35,000
Italian-commissioned statue when Alfredo placed a
silver urn with Lillian's ashes in the base, tears coursing
down his face. A clergyman said it was the pair's last
act together under God's bigtop.

The story behind this tragedy began during the roaring
20s, before television and other varieties of modern
entertainment were established in this country.
Americans were still leaving their homes foramusement
and one place they were going was to the circus.

For years, Alfredo Codona was the star of Ringling
Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. It was his triple
somersault that set him apart and above any other
principal flyer of his day. He was the undisputed king
of the big top. And tiny Lillian was the queen, with her
swingover rope act. She threw her body in a series of
vertical circles, (her record was 239) while hanging
from a line suspended high above the center ring. It
was one of the great stories of the decade when the two
fell in love. Circus fans all over the world rejoiced at the
story of their marriage between Chicago performances
in 1 928. But these were star-crossed lovers and Fate
had a different scenario ordained for their future.

Memorial to Lillian Codona in Inglewood Park Cemetery,
Inglewood CA

In 1931, at a Friday the 13th performance in Copenha-
gen, the rope attached to Lillian's wrist ring snapped
and sent her plummeting 24 feet to the arena floor.
Codona flew from Berlin to Denmark and rushed to her
hospital. However, his wife convinced him that she
would be all right and that he must return to his own act.
When he stepped out of the plane in Germany, he was
notified of her death.

After recovering from a complete emotional collapse,
Alfredo commissioned the graceful, lifelike statue that
now stands in Inglewood Park Cemetery. It depicts his
winged self-image catching Lillian on her fatal fall. At
the base of the statue are carved two rings attached to
ropes. One rope is broken and the word "Reunion " is
seen underneath.

AGS Su '93 p. 24

But life had other misfortunes in store for Alfredo
Codona.too. Hereturnedtohistrapezeactin 1933and
married Vera Bruce on the rebound. And then, during
the execution of his famous triple somersault in Madi-
son Square Garden, he injured a shoulder. Circus
doctors terminated his career when they announced
that he would never fly again. He left the show,
dispirited, and opened a gas station in Long Beach,
California.

Vera Bruce Codona could not cope with his depressions
and fits of extreme anger. In 1937, she filed for divorce
and demanded a large property settlement. Circus
people believe that misfortune always occurs in threes
and so it was that fateful day in late July. Codona
requested that their lawyers leave the room during a
conference to determine the amount of Vera's settle-
ment. He shot her five times, then turned the gun on
himself. The great flyer died instantly and Vera passed
on also, after two agonizing days in a Long Beach
hospital.

Later, a suicide note was found among Alfredo's pos-
sessions. "I have no home, no wife. I'm going back to
Leitzel, the only woman who ever loved me." He was
interred in front of the unique white marble statue he
erected as a tribute to their love, just six years earlier.

photo of Alfredo Codona, on his slab stone, in front of
Lillian's memorial

Visiting the tombstone today, one can see the entire
Codona family buried around the unusual marker.
Their involvement with the trapeze is evident by grave
symbols. But interest in the story and the circus magic
has eroded since the 1950s, say cemetery officials.
The town, itself, has declined and is considered a
gangland district by most residents of south Los Angeles
County.

A number of books and even a screenplay have been
written about the tragedy of Codona. As yet, it is
unproduced but TitoGaona.acircusflyerwho considers
himself a modern counterpart to the ill-fated artist,
hopes to play the lead.

In his day, Alfredo Codona was an unparalleled star. It
was nearly forty years before another trapeze performer
would be able to reproduce the fantastic triple somer-
sault. Codona was to the circus what Chaplin was to
the movies and Barrymore, to the stage. His name will
shine forever in circus annals and the story of his love
for Lillian Leitzer will stand symbolized by the winged
gravestone as one of the most touching in written
history.

Elayne Alexander, of Hawthorne California, is the Venice(CA) Historical Society Archivist and a
professional Genealogist. She writes that she is "an ex-trapeze artist (for a short period in my youth)"!

AGS Su '93 p. 25

LENDING LIBRARY

The following books are currently available from the
AGS Lending Library:

Benes, Peter

THE MASKS OF ORTHODOXY: FOLK GRAVESTONE
CARVING IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS,
1689- 1805 (2 lbs. 7 oz.)

Benes, Peter, Editor

PURITAN GRAVESTONE ART I (1 lb.)

The Dublin Seminar, 1976

Benes, Peter, Editor

PURITAN GRAVESTONE ART II (1 lb.)

The Dublin Seminar, 1978

* Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K.
GRAVESTONE CHRONICLES: SOME EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY NEW ENGLAND CARVERS AND THEIR WORK
(1 lb. 14 oz.)

Combs, Diana Williams

EARLY GRAVESTONE ART IN GEORGIA AND SOUTH

CAROLINA (2 lbs. 8 oz.)

Dooner, Vincetta DiRocco and Bossu, Jean Marie
SEASONS OF LIFE AND LEARNING: LAKE VIEW CEM-
ETERY, AN EDUCATOR'S HANDBOOK (12 oz.)

Duval, Francis Y. and Rigby, Ivan B.
EARLY AMERICAN GRAVESTONE ART IN PHOTO-
GRAPHS: 200 OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES (1 lb. 7 oz.)

* Eills, Nancy and Hayden, Parker

HERE LIES AMERICA: A COLLECTION OF NOTABLE
GRAVES (1 lb. 13oz.)

Forbes, Harriette M.

GRAVESTONES OF EARLY NEW ENGLAND AND THE

MEN WHO MADE THEM, 1 653 - 1 800 (2 lbs.)

George, Diane Hume and Nelson, Malcolm A.
EPITAPH AND ICON: A FIELD GUIDE TO THE OLD
BURYING GROUNDS OF CAPE COD, MARTHA'S VINE-
YARD, AND NANTUCKET {I lb.)

Halporn, Roberta

LESSONS FROM THE DEAD: THE GRAVEYARD AS A

CLASSROOM FOR THE STUDY OF THE LIFE CYCLE (1 1

oz.)

Huber, Leonard V.

CLASPED HANDS: SYMBOLISM

CEMETERIES (2 lbs. 4 oz.)

IN NEW ORLEANS

Ludwig, Allan

GRAVEN IMAGES: NEW ENGLAND STONECARVING AND

ITS SYMBOLS (3 lbs.)

Meyer, Richard E., Editor

CEMETERIES AND GRAVEMARKERS: VOICES OF

AMERICAN CULTURE (2 lbs. 6 oz.)

* Pateman, Jean

IN HIGHGATE CEMETERY (9 oz.)

* Schwartzman, Arnold

GRAVEN IMAGES: GRAPHIC MOTIFS OF THE JEWISH
GRAVESTONE (1 lb. 6 oz.)

Slater, James

THE COLONIAL BURYING GROUNDS OF EASTERN
CONNECTICUT AND THE MEN WHO MADE THEM (3 lbs.
9 oz.)

Stannard, David E.

THE PURITAN WAY OF DEATH: A STUDY IN RELIGION,

CULTURE, AND SOCIAL CHANGE (I lb. 6 oz.)

* Svanevik, Michael and Burgett, Shirley

PILLARS OF THE PAST: A GUIDE TO CYPRESS LAWN
MEMORIAL PARK, COLMA, CALIFORNIA (12 oz.)

Tashjian, Dickran and Ann

MEMORIALS FOR CHILDREN OF CHANGE: THE ART OF

EARLY NEW ENGLAND STONECARVING (2 lbs. 13 oz.)

Trask, Deborah

LIFE HOW SHORT - ETERNITY HOW LONG: GRAVE-
STONE CARVING AND CARVERS IN NOVA SCOTIA (1 lb.
9 oz.

Wallace, Charles E.

AMERICAN EPITAPHS GRAVE AND HUMOROUS (I lb. &

oz.)

Welch, Richard

MEMENTO MORI: THE GRAVESTONES OF EARLY LONG

ISLAND, 1 &80 - 1 81 0 (1 lb. 4 oz.)

* Willsher, Betty

UNDERSTANDING SCOTTISH GRAVEYARDS (9 oz.)

Wust, Klaus

FOLK ART IN STONE: SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA (13 oz.)

* = New titles

Jackson, Kenneth T. and Vergara, Camilo Jose

SILENT CITIES: THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN

CEMETERY (2 lbs. 3 oz.)

AGS Su '93 p. 26

Bruce Elliott, Department of History, Carleton Univer-
sity, Ottawa, Canada K1S 5B6 sent this photo of the
Richard Hogan stone, 1831, in the old R.C. burying
ground in Perth, Ontario. "Brown sandstone markers
are very rare in eastern Ontario, and if it is true that this
was 'Ihe first stone/Erected in this Ground" then it must
clearly have been brought in from some fairly distant
point. ...The logical bet for this one would seem to be
Halifax, the residence of the son who had it erected,
though it would have been quite a trek to bring a stone
from there to Perth in that period, even though most of
the journey would have been by water. You can only
make out parts of "Ho" on the photo, at bottom right, but
the stone is signed 'J. Dillon/Stone cutter'.. ..[This stone
and another sandstone dated 1 828] are, nonetheless,
among the most legible in the cemetery; many of the
white marble markers are becoming badly eroded.
Acid rain has been making bad inroads on the markers
in some of the graveyards closer to Ottawa that I first
visited in the 1970s."

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AGS Su '93 p. 27

^^

CALL FOR PAPERS & EXHIBITS
Conference '94

The Association for Gravestone Studies is seeking proposals and abstracts for its lecture presentation
sessions scheduled for the AGS 1994 Annual Conference, to be held June 23-26 in Chicago, Illinois.
Topics are solicited from a variety of nnedia including rubbings, photographs, castings, photographic
essays and videotapes from any perspective on gravestone studies.

Those interested are encouraged to send a 250 word abstract or proposal by January 30, 1994 to
Dr. J. Joseph Edgette, Widner University, One University Place, Chester, PA 19013. For
further information, please call (508) 831-7753.

=^

J

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter and to participation in the AGS conference in the year membership is current. Send membership fees
(individual $20; institutional, $25; family $30; contributing $30) to The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester MA 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the
Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is produced by Deborah Trask, who welcomes suggestions and short
contributions from readers. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer,
editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State
University, Monmouth OR 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to Deborah Trask, editor. Nova Scotia Museum, 1747
Summer St., Halifax, NovaScotia, B3H3A6, Canada, FAX 902-424-0560. Order fi/larkers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol.2, $24.50; Vol 3, $38.95
(cloth only); Vol. 4. $21.95; Vol 5, $22.95; Vol. 6, $26.95; Vol. 7, $15; Vol. 8, $20; Vol. 9, $20; Vol 10, $28; higher prices for non-
members) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 6 1 0ld Sudbury Road, Way land MA 0 1 778
Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester MA 01609.
(508) 831-7753

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester MA
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE

PAID
Permit No. 410
Worcester MA

NEWSLETTER

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME 17 NUMBER 4 FALL 1993 ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

From the President's Desk 2

List of Newsletter Editors 3

Topical Columns:
17th & 18th Century

19th & 20th Century 4

Gravestones & Computers 6

Conservation News 7

Review Column

A Guide to Cemeteries in Essex County, Massachusetts

Martha Lindberg, Editor; Review by Ralph Tucker 8

Points of interest 9

"An Examination of Portrait Stones" by Jessie Lie Farber 10

Regional Columns:

Northwest & Far West/Southwest 14

Midwest/Southeast 15

Mid-Atlantic/New England/Maritime 16

Foreign 17

American Culture Association Cemeteries & Gravemarkers Section

1994 Annual Meeting Abstracts of Papers/Presentations 18

Board News 22

A National Inventory of Primary Sources for Gravestone Studies? 24

Notes & Queries 25

Office Notes 27

1994 CONFERENCE UPDATE

Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, has been selected as the site for the 1 994 Conference. Located in
residential suburban Elmhurst, the college is sixteen miles west of downtown Chicago. Easy access to
major highways, airports, and trains enhances this location as our conference site. Ail in all, Elmhurst
College satisfies all of our facilities needs and provides ready access to major and ethnic cemeteries in
the greater Chicago area. There will be much more information for you in upcoming issues of this news-
letter, but please note that we are looking for speakers, as well as session and workshop leaders.
See page 3 for further information.

AGS Fa '93 p. 1

FROM THE
PRESIDENT'S DESK
Rosalee Oakley

With this issue, we begin a new era in the life of the
AGS Newsletter. For the past ten years we have been
incredibly fortunate to have long-time AGS member,
Deborah Trask, in Nova Scotia, as our Newsletter
editor. She has volunteered countless hours of what
would otherwise have been her "free time" to produce
four issues of the Newsletter each year.

Her work involved reading mountains of clippings and
articles, selecting some for inclusion, typing the ar-
ticles into a computer, making half tones of each of
the photographs, laying out the pages for each issue
and preparing the master for the printer — an enormous
job when added to her busy workload at the Nova
Scotia Museum and the possibility that she might like
to have a life outside the Museum.

It was courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum that we
were able to use their high-tech equipment to produce
the master. The Museum's computer system and la-
ser printer reflected the latest in technology. The Mu-
seum further enabled Deborah to carry out her project
by allowing her to accept newsletter-related telephone
calls at her desk.

During these past ten years, Deborah responded to
readers' suggestions and used the opportunities that
computer technology made possible to change the
shape of the Newsletter irom the difficult-to-file 8 1/2"
X 14" size to the more convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.
Deborah accepted the challenge with grace and de-
signed the excellent product we have.today.

AGS has indeed been the recipient of many gifts from
both Deborah and the Museum for the past ten years.
We extend to both our gratitude and to Deborah our
best wishes as she now moves on to other tasks.
Deborah's position at the Museum is expanding, and
her free time is becoming severely limited. With the
summer issue, she completed her work for us, and as
a result, the Board of Trustees has developed a new
plan for producing our Newsletter.

THE NEW NEWSLETTER NEEDS YOU

At the core of the new plan is a cadre of volunteers.
You will be introduced to some of them as you read
through this issue. You will meet regional and topical
editors. But there are more. Each of you reading
this is needed to make this operation a success.
Your editors need the sharpness of your eyes and ears
to spot work being done in gravestone studies and to
send the information to them — news of cemetery
projects, legal disputes, books, exhibits, and articles
you write yourself. Please don't let your regional edi-
tor down.

The data processing and layout for each issue will now
be carried out by our paid staff, Miranda Levin and her
assistant, Sean Redrew. A Newsletter Committee of
the Board of Trustees will oversee the entire opera-
tion, evaluating each issue for content and design and
making adjustments as needed. Members of this com-
mittee welcome your comments and suggestions.
Comments may be sent to the AGS office to the atten-
tion of the Newsletter Committee.

Some of you have been known to complain that there
is no news from your part of the world in the Newslet-
ter You've always had the chance to send contribu-
tions to Deborah, but now we really need you to send
at least one item for each issue. Many things are hap-
pening in gravestone studies that get very little public-
ity. Help us fill the knowledge gap by making our
/Veivs/effer the foremost source of information in the
field of gravestone studies.

Our deep appreciation goes to Deborah Trask for a
job well done. Let's keep up the high standard she
has set for us.

Rosalee Oakley
President

The list of newsletter editors is on the next page. You
may send your contributions directly to an editor or to
the AGS office, 30 Elm Street. Worcester.
Massachusetts 01609, and we'll fonvard the material.
If you have any confusion about which editor should
get something, send it to the office and we'll make the
decision for you. Just send your news! M.L.

AGS Fa '93 p. 2

NEWSLETTER EDITORS

Topical Editors

17th & 18th Century:

Ralph L. Tucker, Post Office Box 414, Georgetown, Maine
04548

19th & 20th Century:

Barbara Rotundo, 48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4, Belmont,
New Hampshire 03220

Computer:

John Sterling, 10 Signal Ridge Way, East Greenwich, Rhode
Island 02818

Conservation:

Fred Oakley, 1 9 Hadley Place, Hadley Massachusetts 01 035.

Book & Media Reviews, Calendar, Notes & Queries:
AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01 609.

Points of Interest:

William Hosley, Old Abbe Road, Enfield, Connecticut 06082.

Regional Editors:

Northwest & Far West (Alaska, California, Colorado, Ha-
waii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington,
Wyoming, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia):
Robert Pierce, 208 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco,
California 941 31.

Southwest (Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklahoma, Texas):

Ellie Reichlin, X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641 .

Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minne-
sota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota,
Wisconsin, Manitoba, Ontario):
Jim Jewell, 828 Plum Street, Peru, Illinois 61354.

Southeast (Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Caro-
lina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia):
Lucy Norman Spencer, 2312 North Vernon Street, Arlington,
Virginia 22207.

Mid-Atlantic (Deleware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylva-
nia, Quebec):
G.E.O. Czarnecki, 281 0 Avenue Z, Brooklyn, New York 1 1 235.

New England/Maritime (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,

New i-lampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Labrador, New

Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia):

Robert Klisiewicz, 46 Granite Street, Webster, Massachusetts

01570.

1994 CONFERENCE
PLANS UNDERWAY

SPEAKERS AND WORKSHOP
LEADERS WELCOME

You are invited to join us for the seventeenth
Association for Gravestone Studies Conference
and Annual Meeting, to be held at Elmhurst
College, Elmhurst, Illinois, on June 23-26, 1994.
More information will be provided in upcoming
issues of this newsletter, but please note that we
are looking for participants in the following areas:

J. Joseph Edgette has agreed to be Program
Chair, assisted by Harvard C. Wood III. The call
for papers has been issued, and responses are
to be sent to Joe at Widener University, One
University Place, Chester, Pennsylvania 19013.

Rosalee Oakley is organizing the participation
sessions for Friday, June 23. Those persons with
skill in a particular field who would like to lead a
session are asked to contact Rosalee at 1 9 Hadley
Place, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035 or speak
with her at (413) 584-1756.

W. Fred Oakley, Jr. will manage the conservation
lectures and workshop. Professional conservators
and experienced practitioners are being sought
to stafffour venues: cleaning, re-setting, adhesive
repair, and the care of granite memorials and
bronze commemorative plaques. Fred Oakley can
be reached at 19 Hadley Place, Hadley,
Massachusetts 01035 or by telephone at (413)
584-1756.

Please contact the above if you are interested.
Conference registration forms will be mailed on
or about March 1, 1994.

AGS Fa '93 p. 3

y^

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th and 18th CENTURY
GRAVESTONES AND
CARVERS

Ralph Tucker

How a Genealogist Found AGS

As an incipient genealogist in the process of iiunting
down my ancestors, it was surprising to discover the
gravestone of my seventh-great grandfather, Francis
Wyman, one of the original settlers of Woburn, Mas-
sachusetts. I discovered upon reading Harriette
Forbes' book, Gravestones of Early New England ,
that the gravestone, dated 1699, was carved by Jo-
seph Lamson.

My home was at this time only a stone's throw from
Francis Wyman's original habitation, and as many of
the nearby burial grounds went back to colonial times,
I went seeking other gravestones of my relatives.
There were several, but in the process of searching I
became more and more interested in the stones them-
selves. Soon I was able to identify the earliest Boston
area carvers and started photographing their work.
This led to my continuing interest in the Lamson fam-
ily. Later when I moved to the Newburyport area the
stones of Lt. John Hartshorne and the other Merrimac
Valley School were at hand and led me to work with
them.

Through the Association for Gravestone Studies my
interest in gravestones has been stimulated and sup-
ported. Hence my accepting the assignment as your
17th-18th-Century editor.

This column on seventeenth and eighteenth century
stones will entertain papers of about 1 000 words on
the stones of this period. We are primarily eager to
encourage studies of the pre-revolutionary stones.
While this may seem to be only open to the Boston,
Massachusetts, and Newport, Rhode Island, areas,
there are many coastal areas from Nova Scotia to
Georgia where such stones can be found, as well as
the river valleys where water transportation was avail-
able. Short articles on special stones, interesting carv-
ers, and related subjects are solicited. Extended stud-
ies would be more suitable to our journal, Markers.

Papers should be typed double spaced, and if a Mac-
intosh computer is available, accompanied by a disk
with the article on it. Please send them to:

Ralph Tucker
PO Box 306
Georgetown, ME 04548

19th & 20th CENTURY
GRAVESTONES
Barbara Rotundo

How a Victorian Found AGS

As a result of my article on Mount Auburn Cemetery
(Cambridge, Massachusetts) that the Harvard Library
Bulletin published, I spent the summers of 1979 and
1980 in the basement of the cemetery office digging
out records and finding odd bits of material - that is
now all neatly catalogued and stored in optimum ar-
chival conditions. I had no office but used the supply
room that contained a couple of chairs and tables. One
day I looked up and saw a young woman standing in
the doorway She smiled and said meekly "They told
me at the reception desk to come down here. Could
you take a few minutes to answer some of my ques-
tions about the cemetery?" That stranger was Laurel
Gabel,(now the AGS Research Clearinghouse Coor-
dinator), who had been asked by the volunteer guide
organization, Boston by Foot, to give a talk on the old
Boston burial grounds and Boston's famous Mount
Auburn Cemetery. For the next two hours we talked
up a storm. Later in the week she came back to spend
the day bringing a gourmet cold lunch. (Our Research
Coordinator is a superb cook.)

One of the many things I learned from her in those
first two days was the existence of the Association for
Gravestone Studies. I joined immediately I can't re-
member who was the treasurer then, but our address
was c/o the American Antiquarian Society in Worces-
ter. It was years before we had any paid staff.

The next June the conference was held at Storrs, Con-
necticut, home territory for Jim Slater, who chaired the
conference and guided the bus tour, (In those days
we used school buses - no springs, no toilet and no
air-conditioning.) Laurel and I gave a joint paper. We
even used two projectors. (Of course the carousels

AGS Fa '93 p. 4

got switched. I kept saying "on our left" when the slide
was on the audience's right.) We talked about the
colonial revival that resulted from the centennial of the
Declaration of Independence and the very popular
Philadelphia Exposition in the summer of 1 876. Lau-
rel showed a colonial gravestone on one projector and
on the other a nineteenth or twentieth century stone
which copied the early slate or used the imagery in
new ways. It was apparently the first time anyone
had presented anything that recent. After the talk,
Jessie Lie Farber sought me out, thanked me for the
presentation, and urged me to continue to be active in
AGS. Since Jessie is not personally at all interested in
nineteenth and twentieth century stones, this action
shows her wisdom and her forward-looking concern
for the future of AGS. She knew her beloved colonial
stones represented only a small portion of American
gravestones and that the number of people who had
access to them (except through the photographs of
her husband Dan Farber) was exceedingly small. For
AGS to realize its potential to be an international/world
organization it would have to spread its interests be-
yond 1 800 and beyond the northeastern United States.

Only in recent years has the conference had a sepa-
rate Victorian tour, but even in the old days I discov-
ered that about half of the cemeteries we went to had
modern sections where I could browse happily. As a
result I also looked more closely at modern stones.
Now one of my greatest missions is to get people out
of their cars and walking around in cemeteries so that
they can appreciate the individualization that is occur-
ring in contemporary stones. (See the next issue of
the Newsletier^or a discussion of the reasons for this
new development.)

I am interested in any and all gravemarker designs.
Since memorial parks are in part responsible for the
sad decrease in the potential use of interesting monu-
ment designs, I am also interested in the changing
attitudes toward death as expressed in cemeteries,
cremation and columbaria. (Miss Allis, who taught me
Latin in 10th and 11 th grade, was a strong and exact-
ing teacher. I simply cannot bring myself to write
columbariums. She impressed on me forever that the
plural of a noun ending in -um was -a.)

If you can think of topics you'd like to write about or
have someone else's ideas on, do write and let me
know. I have never been in the army, but 1 know
allabout the army techique for getting volunteers. If
you are an expert through field visits, book research,

or hands-on experience, you may be "volunteered" to
contribute an article. Think it over, and consider a "free
will" offering. The Newsletter belongs to all of us, and
we are responsible for making it a publication that we
look forward to receiving.

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

MARKERS XI
IS HERE!!!!!!!

If you're not a Supporting or Life member, (who
will automatically be getting their Markers in the
next couple of weeks, if they haven't already), use
the enclosed order form to get Markers XI at a
discount. Order before March 15 and get your
copy at $3.00 off - as we did last year, we are
offering Markers XI a\ $25.00 until March 1 5, when
the price will be $28.00 to members, and $32.50
for everyone else. And don't forget to suggest to
your local or academic library that they order
Markers. If they order before March 1 5, they get
a discount, too! See enclosed form for details.

This photo of the Hezekiah and Mary Day stone, 1 780,
is from Gray Williams' article, "Solomon Brewer: A Con-
necticut Valley Yankee in Westchester County, " which
can be found in Markers XI. Photo by Dan and Jessie
Lie Farber

AGS Fa '93 p. 5

GRAVESTONES
& COMPUTERS
John Sterling

Gravestones and computers don't seem to have much
in common, but the latter can make study of the former
a much simpler task. Through this column I would
like to share and describe the work various members
are doing with their computers to further the study of
gravestones, carvers, and historic burial grounds. For
members with little or no computer experience, this
column will advise you on appropriate hardware and
software to aid your research. For members with sig-
nificant computer experience, this column will work
towards establishing database standards to assist in
data exchange between members. This column could
be used to exchange software, data, and computer
tips, as well as develop specialized software. Submit
your ideas and suggestions and I will tailor this col-
umn to them.

Here in Rhode Island, I have been working for the past
three years with a group of twenty-five volunteers tran-
scribing and computerizing the gravestones in the
state's historic burial grounds. Rhode Island is small
but has many burial grounds, some dating back to the
middle of the seventeenth century. Most of the state
is rural and contains many small family farm cemeter-
ies. Several towns have over 1 50 of these family cem-
eteries. There are about 3200 cemeteries in Rhode
Island containing over 300,000 gravestones. We have
computerized 2500 cemeteries and 170,000 grave-
stones. Currently 5000 records are being added per
month. The database contains the name, birth date,
death date, and any relationship noted on the stone
such as "wife of" or "son of" for the person on the stone.
Stone data, like composition, shape, condition, type
of carving, height, and width are recorded. The name
of the cemetery and the location of the stone within
the cemetery are noted. The initials of all transcribers
of the data and transcription date are put on the record
for each stone to document who recorded the stone
and when. This is especially useful when a stone be-
comes unreadable or disappears. There is a second
database to record the cemetery description and di-
rections to it. Some of these cemeteries are located
in the woods, three quarters of a mile from the near-
est road.

With the computer database the entire state can be
checked in a few seconds for an ancestor buried in
any of the 3200 cemeteries. For many people their
gravestone is the only record that they ever existed,
so for geneologists this data is often a vital missing
link. One town was checked from 1750 - 1850 and
less than fifty percent of the people in the gravestone
records also appeared in the vital records.

Gravestone carver researchers have used the data-
base to identify which cemeteries in a particular town
contain gravestones in a date range for further study
Vincent Luti has used the database to search for
Stevens carved stones from 1 700 - 1 736. He recently
found one he had never seen that was less than ten
miles from his house . This can narrow the search for
one town from 1 50 cemeteries to five that might con-
tain gravestones of interest. Since we are recording
the gravestone composition and information on the
carving, the database could be searched, for example,
for all slate stones with winged skulls, or all marble
stones with urn and willow motif.

People who recreate Civil War units have used the
database to locate Civil War soldiers' burial locations.
Many times information about their units and war ex-
perience is documented on the gravestone.

For those not familiar with computer databases let me
review a few definitions. There are three basic terms
- file, record, and field - that define a database. Think
of a 3x5 file card containing all the data on one grave-
stone. That is a "record." The name of the person on
the gravestone is a "field" on the record. The death
date is another field. A collection of these cards is a
"file." On a computer the record card is a screen into
which the data is entered. In the case of the Rhode
Island cemeteries database, 170,000 of these records
(file cards) have been filled in. The advantage of the
computer is that the records in a file can be searched
very quickly and easily on any field or combination of
fields.

In order to be able to exchange data between research-
ers, it is necessary to set standards for databases. If,
for example, three researchers have photographs of
gravestones that they have documented in a database,
they can combine the three files into a single file con-
taining data on all three researchers' photographs.
That is, if they are using the same field names and
format. In order to share data, it is necessary that we
establish standards for the field names and databases

AGS Fa '93 p. 6

we are using. One of the objectives of this column is
to be a clearinghouse for computer work being done.
From the many databases being used, we should worl<
to select the best to become AGS standards so that
data can be more readily shared.

In order to make this column responsive to the needs
of our members, I would like to hear what you are
doing with computers, what hardware and software
you are using, what problems you are having, what
kind of research you are doing, and what software you
would like if it were available.

I followed a route to school that led along bricked paths
past gravestones and tombs in the Old Colonial Cem-
etery. I recall noticing their physical condition and
wondering why someone didn't fix them.

When my wife became the executive director of AGS,
attending AGS conferences with her became an an-
nual event. As slide after slide showing deteriorating
gravestones was projected onto screens, I wondered
again why no one was fixing them. Then I encoun-
tered AGS members who were professional conser-
vators.

Some of the things we could do if there is interest in-
clude:

- For those interested in cataloging cemeteries, I could
make the Rhode Island program available with a few
revisions.

- If members have developed software that might be
of general interest, we could make that available for
use by other members. Please share your favorites
through this column.

- I could develop a program to catalog gravestone
photos. You would number all your photographs and
file them by number. If you wanted to find all your
photographs of stones by Obediah Wheeler in Leba-
non, Connecticut, you would use the computer to print
a list of them and then go to your file and pull the pic-
tures.

Write me about your interests and computer projects.
Tell me what you would like to see in this column.

John Sterling

Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

CONSERVATION

NEWS

Fred Oakley, Jr.

The consequence of these encounters has been that
a conservation workshop has been a part of every
conference since the 1 989 conference in Byfield, Mas-
sachusetts, and a mini-workshop in Portland, Maine,
in 1990. Each workshop has been based on Lynette
Strangstad's A Graveyard Preservation Primer and
staffed by professionals and practitioners whose col-
lective experiences and expertise have been shared
with conferees.

I have enjoyed working with volunteers to restore
stones in several communities and shared their
amazement and joy at what they can accomplish with
solid instruction and willing hands.

It is my intention to have the Conservation column of
the A/eivs/effer provide reliable conservation informa-
tion to interested readers through articles initiated by
professionals and practitioners alike. One section of
the column will deal with members' questions. Mem-
bers' experiences with conservation activity, whether
their own or from observing or knowing about other's
efforts, are earnestly solicited. Newspaper reports are
often a source for leads to local and national conser-
vation activity. Whatever interests you will likely inter-
est others. You are cordially invited to provide infor-
mation or queries on conservation subjects to:

Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

From an early age, my general interest has been fo-
cused on changing the appearance of structures and
landscapes. As a second grader in Savannah, Georgia,

AGS Fa '93 p. 7

BOOK REVIEW

Miranda Levin (unless we have a volunteer who'd like
to do this - see end of column)

A Guide to Cemeteries In Essex County,
Massachusetts

Marcia Lindberg, editor. Essex Society of Genealo-
gists, P.O. Box 31 3, Lynnfield, MA 01940-0313, 1991.
$12.50 plus $2.50 postage. Spiral bound, soft cover,
132 pps, illustrated.

Review by Ralph L. Tucker

This is a necessary document for anyone interested
in the areas of genealogy, gravestones, or cemeter-
ies. With maps of all thirty-four towns in Essex County,
and street addresses for all of the graveyards, one
can locate with ease these outdoor museums which
contain an excellent selection of gravestones. All types
of stones can be found, from the stones of early carv-
ers such as William Mumford and the Lamsons, in-
cluding the folk art stones of the Merrimac Valley style,
up to the most modern artists. There are numerous
seventeenth century stones in excellent condition and
nearly all of the early Boston carvers are represented.

The maps are simplified and useful with the locations
of the cemeteries usually indicated; where not indi-
cated, the street listing is given. Unfortunately there
are no indications which direction is north on the maps,
but this is a minor defect.

The thirty-four towns are listed alphabetically with a
map of the town at the head of the data for that town.
The caretaker for each cemetery is listed, as well as a
brief description of the cemetery. Included are the
sources of the records for each cemetery when known.
A very useful addition is the approximate earliest and
latest date of burial. This enables the seeker for Victo-
rian stones to locate cemeteries containing that vari-
ety of stones, and the seekers for genealogical data
to find stones of the date they seek.

There are nine "fillers" which are recent newspaper
articles about graveyards or nineteenth century articles
of Sidney Perley These contain many erroneous state-
ments which detract from an otherwise excellent book.

There are twenty-six illustrations of gravestones. Most
of the carvers of these stones can now be identified
and it would be helpful to have the carver listed with

the photograph, especially as several Salem carvers
and Merrimac Valley carvers of Essex County are
shown.

Those interested in gravestones should realize the fact
that Essex county has stones of almost all of the early
carvers represented among its thirty-four towns. As
early graveyards were usually located on the main
streets, most can now be easily found except where
the town center has been relocated and there is little if
any tramping in the woods to get to your objective.

This book is an excellent source of data for many stu-
dents of our culture and can be highly recommended.

Ralph Tucker is the author of many articles on early
gravestone carvers. His most recent work, "Merrimac
Valley Style Gravestones: the Leighton and Worster
Families, " appears in Markers XI.

Another book of note:

East Greenwich, Rhode Island Historical Cemetery
Inscriptions

by Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle; Foreword by Jane
Fletcher Fiske, FASG. East Greenwich Preservation
Society, 110 King Street, East Greenwich, Rhode Is-
land 02818, 1993. $20.00 each, plus $2.50 postage
and handling, Softbound, 268 pages.

This volume, listing seventy-five cemeteries, offers a
comprehensive approach to the presentation of cem-
etery inscriptions. Information can be found in any of
three cross-referenced sections: the first section lists
all of the inscriptions within each cemetery; the sec-
ond section contains maps showing the location of both
the cemetery and the gravestone within the cemetery;
and the third section is an index of the inscriptions.
M.L

Are you interested in reviewing books or media for the
AGS Newsletter? If you would like to write reviews
on books and media, please let me know. Better yet,
if you would like to be the review editor, let me know.
Review copies of books and media are especially wel-
come. If submitted material meets our review criteria,
we will assign it to a reviewer Once it is reviewed, the
material goes into our Archive. Please send material
to: AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
01609. M.L.

AGS Fa '93 p. 8

POINTS OF INTEREST

Bill Hosley

The last inquiry (Summer 1 993) asked members to search for portrait stones. I threw a curve ball by illustrating
the idea of a "portrait" with an eighteenth century gravestone from Connecticut that depicted a gentleman in
profile. Jessie Farber was one of several members who responded, not just with a "discovery," but with a
thoughtful essay that appears elsewhere in this issue (see next page). Jessie correctly observes that the stone
I illustrated was not, technically speaking, a portrait. And she goes on in her essay to show that portraits,
(likenesses to the deceased), probably do not exist on eighteenth century gravestones. Human likenesses of
any kind were extremely rare in colonial America, a fact that suggests just how much we take for granted the
achievement of photography. But why, in an age where symbolic angels outnumbered every other form of facial
depiction 500:1 , would someone make a stone that deliberately and intentionally depicts worldly, lifelike human
figures?

The format of our Newsletter \s being recast even as this issue goes to press. We've gotten a little behind. And
since the deadline for the next issue (Winter 1 994) is coming up fast, I've decided to hold off on printing the best
material our members submitted in the search for portraits. Among them is a startling discovery that adds much
to our knowledge of how photography influenced the process of making likenesses during the nineteenth cen-
tury Actually portrait stones are everywhere, but they were made after the age of photography

The next issue will arrive soon. I will be asking you to look for stones that mark the graves or talk about the
relationship between Europeans and Native Americans. It's controversial. But living in Connecticut, where a
gambling casino on an "Indian reservation" is the most profitable and controversial enterprise in the state,
makes the topic timely and interesting. I'm sure you have seen stones that will help tell the story. In the
meantime, if there are any more portrait stones out there - especially a modern stone cut by stippling - there is
room for another picture if you get it to me without delay

"Points of Interest" is a members' forum where we look at pictures, ideas, and information about ttie "discover-
ies" we all make from time to time. Each issue of the Newsletter reports findings from the previous "assign-
ment" and concludes with a new assignment Member participation is essential and you are encouraged to
suggest topics for discussion.

Pictures may be small (even snapshots), but they must be sharp and clear Only those submitted in self-
addressed stamped envelopes can be returned. Send to:

William Hosley

Old Abbe Road

Enfield, Connecticut 06082.

(This rubbing of a portrait stone is the cover artwork from East Greenwich, Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Inscrip-
tions by Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle.
Order information is on previous page. Rubbing done by Dan Goldman,)

AGS Fa '93 p. 9

An Examination of Portrait Stones
by Jessie Lie Farber

The Spring 1993 Newsletter
asked readers for comments and
photographs relating to "portrait
stones." Because "portrait stones"
were not defined, let me take this
opportunity to comment on the
term itself.

So-called portrait stones became
popular in America in the late eigh-
teenth century. These carvings
depicted not the skull or winged
effigy, but a lifelike human face,
and sometimes a bust or even a
whole human figure.

On seeing such a carving one
tends to leap to the conclusion that
it is intended to represent a like-
ness of the deceased. I think this
is seldom and possibly never the
case.

True, the portrait may show a
minister's collar if the deceased
was a minister. Sometimes,
though rarely, some other indica-
tion of the deceased's occupation
is depicted. A portrait on the
marker for a child occasionally
looks more like a child than an
adult. Wigs appear on the stones
for men, not women, and clothing,
when shown, is suited to the ap-
propriate sex. For example,
buttons are carved on the cloth-
ing of men, not women. But there,
I think, the likenesses end.
(continued next page)

Portraits, such as those on the
stones for James Foster (above)
and three-year-old Peter Bancroft
(middle), lead one to infer that they
were intended to be likenesses.
One could even assume that the
brothers Ezekiel and Ezra White
(right) had double chins!

James Foster, 1763, Dorchester, Massachusetts

Peter Bancroft , 1786. Auburn. Massachusetts

Ezekiel (1789) & Ezra (1790) White. So. Hadley Massachusetts
AGSFa'93p. 10

unidentified stone, ca. 1 790, Harriette Forbes Photo

Lydia Colton,1787. Piymouth, MA. H. Forbes Eiizabeth Morton. 1790. Plymoutti. MA

Mrs. t-lannati Lewis. 1790. Plymouth. MA Mrs. Patience Watson. 1767. Plymouth, MA

Portraits of people with specific fa-
cial characteristics, or with
distinctive hair styles, clothing or
jewelry were probably products of
the imaginations of the carvers,
who often repeated their portraits
with surprising consistency. Some
carvers cut hundreds of almost
identical portraits with absolutely
no regard for the age or sex of the
deceased.

Today, of course, monument mak-
ers' techniques make it possible to
engrave on stone accurate repro-
ductions of photographs printed on
ceramic and other mediums and at-
tached to stone markers. Three
dimensional sculptures of the de-
ceased are also found.

But the eighteenth-century portrait
stones seem not to be efforts to
achieve true likenesses. If any
reader has found an example of an
early carving intended to be a like-
ness of the deceased, it would be
of interest to me, and I assume to
others, to learn of it.

c^^v^

The probability that an
eighteenth-century portrait
carving is a likeness of the
deceased diminishes when one
compares the examples of the
work of a single carver, or even
the portraits of different carvers
who were contemporary with
each other. Note the five
examples on this page, depicting
the striking similarity of the
various carvings. The hair, jewelry
(lockettes) and clothing are
remarkably alike.

AGSFa'93p. 11

--i-.

Rev. Silas Bigelow, 1769. Paxton. MA Mrs. Elisabeth Putnam (1761) & son Ayres (1762). Brookfield. MA

The carver William Young gave Silas Bigelow and hundreds of others almost identical facial characteris-
tics. Young's females wore bonnets, seen here on Elisabeth Putnam, and his males wore wigs, seen here
on both Bigelow and Elisabeth 's eleven-month-old son, Ayres. But he did give the Rev. Bigelow a minister's
collar, a Bible and put him in a pulpit.

The photos in this article are by

Dan and Jessie Lie Farber unless

otherwise attributed.

These two portrait carvings,
if viewed individually, appear to
be likenesses of the deceased.
Actually, the only striking individual-
ity between the two carvings of
l\/lary Nasson and Sarah McKean is
the depiction of Sarah's
infant son in her lap.
(See above and right)

Sarah McKean. 1776. Ipswich. MA

AGS Fa'93p. 12

Esther Webster's headstone verse

In memory of Mrs.
ESTHER: widow
of Mr Jonathan Webster
who died Dec. 22d,
1782 in the 97th year
of her age.

My soul chooseth strangling
and Death rather than life.
I would not live allways. Let
me alone for my days are
vanity.

Joshua Scott. 1797, Sunderland. MA

Esther Webster. 1 782, Bernardston. MA

d^^wgb

A full view of Esther Webster's gravestone

Two carvings by John Locke of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Many of Locke's carvings vary primarily in
headdress - - wigs for men and bonnets for women - - and the carving for Joshua Scott is typical of these.
The carving for Esther Webster, however, is a rare example of eighteenth-century portraiture. This woman,
who lived to age 97, is given wrinkles, a mouth that must be toothless, an unhappy expression in keeping
with her epitaph, and eyes closed in death. Despite the similarity of her stone to many others by Locke, the
carving for Esther Webster may be unique among eighteenth-century gravestone carvings in its depiction
of a deceased's individual facial characteristics.

AGS FaV3 p. 13

REGIONAL COLUMNS

NORTHWEST AND
FAR WEST

Bob Pierce

The Dead Beat

As newsletter editor for the Nortwest and Far West,
perhaps a bit of background information by way of in-
troduction would be fitting for those members of AGS
who do not know me. You could say I'm a C.C.C.
person: I was born and raised in Connecticut, now
reside in California, and visit cemeteries in between. I
wasn't born in a cemetery, but from kindergarten
through sixth grade I walked past a cemetery just about
every day on my way to and from school. When I
graduated to junior high school, my route took me
through the same cemetery, which was a short cut. 1
became acquainted with markers, mausoleums, monu-
ments, and gravediggers. That is how my interest in
cemeteries came about. For many years this interest
lay dormant, but during the 1960s, when I moved to
California, I began taking trips thoughout the state and
started to photograph the cemeteries I came across
in my travels. I have continued to photograph ever
since. Then came the book accumulating: I began
frequenting bookstores and going to library sales, ac-
quiring books on the subject. From 1970 to 1980 I
spent many hours in the library going through the pe-
riodic literature seeking out and photocopying articles
on the subject. I still have intentions of returning to
this research and bringing my file up to date. My en-
thusiasm for the subject continues unabated and I
continue to work on it to the present time.

For those people within my jurisdiction I would wel-
come any material that seems fit copy for the AGS
Newsletter, e.g. newspaper and magazine articles,
locating information on particular topics, calendars of
cemetery tours given in your area, articles that you
may write, theses that you may write or know about,
research projects, etc. in short, please send me any
items that you feel would be of interest to members
and worthy of publication in the Newsletter.

Bob Pierce

208 Monterey Blvd.

San Fransisco, California 94131

SOUTHWEST

Ellle Relchlin

AGS Fa '93 p. 14

First, a little blurb about me: I am retired from the So-
ciety for the Preservation of New England Antiquities,
where I was director of Archives for nearly fourteen
years. My interest in gravestones began in Roches-
ter, New York's Mount Hope Cemetery, where I helped
my husband and sons make an amateur movie using
the crypt of Lewis Henry Morgan, a pioneer anthro-
pologist, as its centerpiece. The "Victorian gloom of
Mount Auburn's sephulcral monuments, photographed
in midwinter (which in Rochester lasts until early May),
was compelling. It inspired us to seek out other cem-
eteries - most of them colonial - after a move to Hart-
ford, Connecticut. Our daughter did rubbings for a
school project in 1970 which may have influenced her
current, somewhat cryptic work as a sculptor, doing
site works. On returning to Boston in the early 1 970s,
we have made gravestone visits a frequent weekend
pastime, and an opportunity for my husband to take
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of photographs, espe-
cially of eccentric features of design, inscriptions, or
shape.

A few years ago we began a move to the southwest,
which culminated this November. Among our "best"
finds has been a cemetery in Terlingua, Texas, a min-
ing town near Big Bend National Park. Wooden mark-
ers and enclosures are in marked contrast to New
England, as are the use of stone slabs to cover the
burials which are above ground, because the soil is
too dense to penetrate. Another "great" has been
Chilili, New Mexico, where Horace McAfee, an ama-
teur memorial maker, has created a personal sculp-
ture park, commemorating his relatives with enclosures
and markers made from plumbing fixtures, embellished
with decorative plaques and photographs, and gar-
nished with fanciful mosaics of broken mirrors and
colored glass. Several years ago this "camposanto"
was described by Susan Sanborn in Markers but not
named. It has been a great pleasure to recognize it
from her careful description, and to track Sue down in
Logan, Utah. I feel I've made a new and special friend.

The opportunities for visiting, describing, photograph-
ing and interpreting varied types of markers in the

fiRAUO^-,

MARKERS XI IS HERE!

You can get Markers XI «/ a special price if you order before March 15!

Order by March 15, 1994 and get Markers XI for $25.00

($3.00 off our regular member price of$2H.OO).

Please use the order form below.

Please nole: If you aie a Supporlinj; Member (if AGS, then you will auloinalically

be getting a eopy of Markers XI shortly. It" you are not a Supporting Membeq then

here's your chance to get Markers at a discount! If you can't remember if you're

a Supporting Member or not, let us know and we'll check our records for you.

Markers XI ha?. 233 pages, 133 illustrations
Table of Contents

Ritual, Regalia and Remembrance: Fraternal Symbolism and Gravestones

Laurel K. Gabel

Louisiana Cemeteries: Manifestations of Regional and Denominational Identity

Tadashi Nakagawa

Solomon Brewer: A Connecticut Valley Yankee in Westchester County

Gray Williams, Jr.

"Where Valor Proudly Sleeps": Theodore O'Hara and "The Bivouac of the Dead"

Thomas C. Ware

Slavery in Colonial Massachusetts as Seen Through Selected Gravestones

Tom and Brenda Malloy

Merrimac Valley Style Gravestones: The Leigh ton andWorster Families

Ralph L. Tucker

Monumental Ambition: A Kentucky Stonecutter's Career

Deborah A. Smith

"And Who Have Seen the Wilderness": The End of the Trail on Early Oregon Gravemarkers

Richard E. Meyer

Border was made from illustrations in Markers XI.

Order Form

I would like .

copies of Markers XI at $25 each:

I would like to extend my membership at the 1993 price (see page 27 of the Newsletter):

TOTAL ENCLOSED:
Name

Address

City.

State .

• Zip.

Foreign Members - please remit checks in US funds

drawn on a US bank.

Please make checks payable to the

Association for Gravestone Studies.

Mail by March 15, 1994 to AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609

Southwest are many. My hope is that the common
interest - perhaps the more appropriate term is "pas-
sion" - in gravestones will bring together people who
might otherwise not meet, and enable them to share
what is often an inexplicable - and sometimes lonely -
enthusiasm. This could result in systematic surveys,
photographic inventories which could lead to National
Register nominations.or conservation efforts. Clearly
the Southwest - with its arid climate, calcified or rocky
soils, boom and bust cycles of mining, thin settlement
pattern, Mexican and Mormon influences - presents a
different picture of a "resting place" than other parts of
the country Identifying its regionally distinct features,
inquiring how they have been transmitted, how and at
what intervals innovations have occurred, what mate-
rials typically have been used, etc., is a fascinating
prospect. I look forward to hearing from other mem-
bers about their ideas and interests so we can define
projects or programs.

I can be reached at the address below. My phone /
fax there is: 602/647-7005. I have names of some
members in the Southwest, but look forward to hear-
ing from other interested individuals.

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch

Vail, Arizona 85641

MIDWEST
Jim Jewell

Greetings From the Midwest!

I'm Jim Jewell, your Midwest editor, and I hope that
much of what I share with you over the next few months
will entice you to the 1994 Conference in Chicago.

I've been an AGS member since the early 80s, and
have been to every conference since 1 986. I learned
about AGS through correspondence with Carol
Perkins. We'd been writing because of our mutual
love of old movies - especially those with Claude Rains.

My interest in gravestones goes back to my early years
in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. There was a small cemetery
near my home in the country; and I soon found myself
fascinated with Lindenwood in Ft. Wayne, where my
family plot is. (If you have some time next summer,
Indiana has some great cemeteries; besides

Lindenwood, there's Crown Hill in Indianapolis, High-
land Lawn inTerre Haute, Earlham in Richmond, and
Southlawn in South Bend.)

I wrote my senior thesis on Lindenwood's history, and
have had several poems with graveyard themes pub-
lished: "The Epitaph of Susannah Cook" and "Abraham
Lincoln Arrives in Springfield" were both in Forte maga-
zine. And "The Modern Ozymandias" was in the col-
lection Indiana Sesquicentennial Poems. I've had a
couple of squibs in American Cemetery, and I love
writing for the AGS Newsletter.

Recently I was honored by being the 1993 recipient of
the Edith Harrod Memorial Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Speech and Theatre Education by the
Illinois Speech/Theatre Association. I have taught for
twenty-five years, and I compiled a group interp called
"The Last Word" - about humorous epitaphs.

So, all you Midwestern gravestone enthusiasts, get
your local data to me:

Jim Jewell

828 Plum Street

Peru, Illinois 61354-2743

815/223-1030

SOUTHEAST
Lucy Norman Spencer

My interest in cemeteries 'oegan when, as a young
child in Tennessee, I went to family cemeteries with
my parents and grandparents. As we walked among
tombstones of ancestors and relatives, my father re-
counted facts about those people or he lapsed into
one of his witty southern type stories wherein he em-
broidered their personalities, history, and at times trag-
edy so vividly that I still feel 1 know them. The greatest
trip of all was to the Burns family cemetery, which was
enclosed by a five foot high wall of stones neatly lain
out in a thirty by fifty foot rectangle. There I learned
about how my great-grandmother was disowned and
forbidden burial within. It was suggested that the wall
was to keep her out, but there must have been an-
other reason because a stile could go over. Now fifty
years later I still search for meanings in that family
Those tombstones were like windows into a history
decorated with roses, doves, gates, and other designs.

AGS Fa '93 p. 15

So my career as an artist and art historian still includes
cemeteries. At present I am working on a book of
photographs of my research "Women in Stone," stat-
ues of women, 1 840-1 930.

I have taught elementary school and fine arts and
served as a docent at the National Gallery of Art and
the Museum of African American Art. Whenever I lived
abroad, cemeteries were one of my first excursions.

As Southeast regional editor of the AGS Newsletter, I
request that members send information to me. This
may be clipped from local newspapers or written about
personal projects. Topics of special interest are legal
issues in cemeteries and communities, any speeches
or workshops given in your area, vandalism, or resto-
ration. If you need help with a project, I have the re-
gional membership list and will act as a referral. Cur-
rently I am working with an art group to restore the
1895 integrated, but primarily black cemetery in the
District of Columbia. We will need help. Please for-
ward information to me:

Lucy Norman Spencer
2312 N.Vernon Street
Arlington, Virginia 22207

MID-ATLANTIC
G.E.O. Czarnecki

My greatest concern in gravestone research lies in a
stricter preservation of what remains. In New York
City, colonial era stones are being trashed at a rapid
rate. Restoration in some areas and under some cir-
cumstances is a useless endeavor. The problem is
equally bad in surrounding suburban areas, which con-
tain a wealth of diverse and unique motifs and numer-
ous carvers' work; unfortunately, there is a lack of in-
terest in protecting these areas, which have their own
populations of suburban vandals.

With the help of AGS members in the area 1 want to
attempt to obtain a wider view of what is remaining
and unique in the Mid-atlantic region as regards both
motifs and cutters.

the local graveyards of members, exceptional stone
descriptions, photos, rubbings, etc. All correspondence
will be answered. Please forward your material to;

G.E.O. Czarnecki
2810 Avenue Z
Brooklyn, New York 11235

NEW ENGLAND &
MARITIME PROVINCES
Robert Klisiewicz

I can't remember when I wasn't interested in old grave-
stones. I can recall taking my children on gravestone
rubbing expeditions some twenty-five years ago when
they could barely walk. There was some payback to
this: my daughter listed on her resume that her hobby
was gravestone rubbing. It was surprising the re-
sponse she got from prospective employers, and how
many second interviews began with "Oh yes, you're
the one who rubs gravestones."

Over the past years I have been trying to develop a
safe and inexpensive way to copy the old slate carv-
ings that are quickly eroding away to nothing. I put
that project aside when I became committed to my
graduate studies, but now that they are completed I
will probably resume this project.

I look forward to working on this newsletter and help-
ing to share information and field queries about grave-
stones of all periods, graveyards, friends' associations,
cemeteries, research projects, preservation and res-
toration work, community and school projects, and the
like. I encourage people with news, questions and
suggestions to contact me:

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, Massachusetts 01570

FOREIGN
EDITOR

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

I welcome articles, ideas and criticism from all con-
cerned members (within and outside the region) on

AGS Fa '93 p. 16

How does a German high school teacher become a
foreign editor for the Association for Gravestone Stud-

ies? It all started in 1 980. During a conversation with
my adviser about the last chapter of my master's the-
sis, he asked me if I would like to work on the topic
"Death and Dying in Afro-American Culture" in gen-
eral or "The Weaning Habits of Black Mothers in Late
Seventeenth Century Tidewater Virginia" in particular.
Assuming (for reasons which I have forgotten) that
thesis proposals, like marriage proposals, are only
made once and have to be answered right away, I
accepted instantly. Although I received my doctorate
with a thesis on black folk tales, "Death in Afro-Ameri-
can Culture" has stayed with me ever since.

in 1 985, when I spent a year in the United States on a
research fellowship, I discovered AGS. The first thing
that struck me about the AGS members I met at a
number of regional conferences, apart from their be-
ing incredibly knowledgeable about historic grave-
stones and their sculptors and their willingness to share
their expertise, was that finally here were people to
whom I did not have to justify my interest in "grave"
matters. These people neither considered me morbid
nor my subject macabre but knew that the way we
look at death is but a part of our way of looking at life.

Speaking about AGS conferences: they are my abso-
lute favorites among the annual meetings of profes-
sional organizations. Since my home state of Hesse
usually requires teachers to work late into July, I can-
not attend every year, much to my regret. AGS con-
ferences have just the right mixture of in- and outdoor
activities, intellectual and practical pursuits, lectures
and coffee breaks, serious subject matter and humor-
ous participants. The late night sessions are a riot!

Although my special interests are ethnic styles in the
graveyard, folk decorations and homemade markers
rather than elaborately sculpted monuments by pro-
fessional carvers, I have been fascinated by all areas
into which AGS members have ventured. Hopefully
we will be able to continue investigating the diversity
of gravestone art as well as helping to preserve it. As
Foreign editor I hope to provide a comparative per-
spective to the American cemetery . I trust that other
readers of the AGS /Vews/efferwill join me in report-
ing things they have heard, read about, or encoun-
tered when traveling abroad.

In response to my request about crucifixes by the road-
side that mark fatal traffic accidents (AGS SP '93, p.
4) I received several letters from Newsletter readers
who were kind enough to share their observations with
this myopic European.

Annette Vogts from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, men-
tioned that the evening news had been reporting on a
particularly dangerous intersection in Bucks County,
outside of Philadelphia. Families of approximately 8
to 10 victims who died in traffic accidents and many
more who were injured formed a group and decided
to erect wooden crucifixes to serve as a reminder of
those who had died and also to be a plea to the County
to rebuild the intersection. The Pennsylvania Depart-
ment of Transportation did indeed close the intersec-
tion and agreed to begin reconstruction immediately.

Jo-Ann Mongue from Dalton, Massachusetts, has
come across such markers in every state. Most of
them were put up by family or friends of the deceased.
This summer, however, she saw hundreds of such
crosses along both sides of U.S. Route 2 in North
Dakota and Montana. They were white, made from
metal, and were about 1 2" in height. Each one marked
a traffic fatality and in many instances more than one
cross was in the same location, the most being about
eight on the same pole. This would probably indicate
a two-car crash and many deaths, or many individual
deaths at the same location. The crosses ran the en-
tire length of these two states.

William M. Cameron, Jr. from New Haven, Connecti-
cut, drew my attention to spray-painted epitaphs that
appear on trees, stone walls, fences, etc., along with
bouquets of flowers and plaques whenever young
people are killed in traffic accidents. I promise to wear
my glasses whenever I'll be driving in the United States
again!

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula
Franz - Shubert - Str. 14
Rodermark 2, Germany

RS. I've also enclosed a picture I took this summer in Gua-
temala, which, due to an obvious error, shows the 15th of
August, 1999, as the date of death. We, the AGS editors,
are quite ahead of our time, aren't we?

AGS Fa '93 p. 17

CEMETERIES &

GRAVEMARKERS

SECTION:

AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS/
PRESENTATIONS

1994 Annual Meeting
April 6 -9, 1994
Chicago, Illinois

Section Chair: Richard E. Meyer
Department of English
Western Oregon State College
Monmouth, OR 97361

ABRAMSON, Richard H.: Southern California Institute of
Architecture, Los Angeles, California 90066

The Visionary Burial Monuments of Giovanni Battista
Montana

Through his fantasy drawings of ancient Roman burial tombs
and sepulchral monuments, Giovanni Battista Montano
(1534-1621) synthesized the latest scientific models of the
early seventeenth century into the discipline of architecture
and also significantly influenced the careers of leading ar-
chitects of the following generation in developing the so-
called Baroque notion of space.

ALEXANDER, James R.: Department of Art, University of
Alabama at Birmigham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294-1 260

l-lope for the Future, Reflections of a Past: The Gravemarkers
of Hope Cemetery, Barre, Vermont

The gravemarkers of Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont, are
the unique and distinctive work of the Italian stonecarvers
imported to work in the town's quarrying and monument in-
dustries. These markers find hope for the future by reflect-
ing the past in depicting common scenes of work, life, and
pleasure.

ANSON-CARTWRIGHT, Tamara: Architectural Conserva-
tion Unit, Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Recreation,
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2R9, Canada

Cemetery Care and Maintenance Manual: a Practical Guide
to Conserving Historic Cemeteries and Gravemarkers

In 1992, a new Cemeteries Act provided Ontario's Ministry

of Culture with the opportunity to develop a practical guide
for cemeterians and monument builders in the conservation
of historic cemeteries. The manual will be the standard ref-
erence for the conservation of cultural resources in cem-
eteries for the province.

BAIRD, Scott: Department of English, Trinity University, San
Antonio, Texas 78212-7200

Texas Czech Cemeteries: Diglossia, Variable Rules, and
Sociollnguistic Theory

Czech cemeteries in the central Texas towns of Taylor and
Flatonia provide data for this analysis. Gravemarkers record
the shift in diglossia, as dependency upon the Czech lan-
guage has given way to dependency upon English. Lin-
guistic variable rules capture this shift in ways that impact
sociollnguistic theory.

CRAIG, Michelle L.: Department of Museum Studies,
George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20052

Set in Stone: a Study of Alexandria, Virginia's Nineteenth-
Century Cemeteries

This paper examines the impact of the nineteenth century's
increasingly secularized religion and perceptions of death
on gravemarker construction. Analysis of Alexandria,
Virginia's cemeteries demonstrates such trends as increas-
ing simplicity of gravestone design, a shift from individual to
collective death, and the de-emphasis of gravemarkers in
the cemetery landscape.

EDGETTE, J. Joseph: Center for Education, Widener Uni-
versity, Chester, Pennsylvania 19013

The Role of the "Friends" at Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cem-
etery

This paper examines the work of the Friends of Laurel Hill
Cemetery, an auxiliary, service-oriented group whose mis-
sion is to research, preserve, and foster community interest
in this historic cemetery located along the east bank of the
Schuykill River.

FOSTER, Gary S. and HUMMEL, Richard L: Department
of Sociology/Anthropology, Eastern Illinois University,
Charleston, Illinois 61920

The Adkins-Woodson Cemetery: a Pilot Study in a Sociol-
ogy of Cemeteries

We call upon sociology to join already engaged disciplines
in the analysis of data from censuses of gravemarkers.
Cemetery data are conceptualized as extant markers of a
community's demographic dimensions. The methods and
tools of sociology are applied to the analysis of a test case,

AGS Fa '93 p. 18

and illustrative hypotheses and preliminary results are dis-
cussed.

HEYWOOD, Janet: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02138-5517

GRADWOHL, David M.: Department of Anthropology, Iowa
State University, Ames, Iowa 5001 1 -1 050

World View and Ethnicity: a Perspective from Latvian-Ameri-
can Gravestones in Lincoln, Nebraska

Following World War II, many Latvians fled their Baltic home-
land. Among Latvian "displaced persons" was a contingent
settling in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ethnicity, pre-Christian world
views, and Christianity are manifested on their gravestones .
Folk art motifs with ancient religious connotations seen on
those markers include the sun. Morning Star, Tree of Light,
and Goddess of Destiny.

HANNON, Thomas J.: Department of Geography and Envi-
ronmental Studies, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock,
Pennsylvania 16057-1326

Cemeteries of Edinburgh and the Scottish Lowlands

Lowland Scotland, an area where approximately 90% of the
Scottish population is concentrated, has, through past immi-
gration patterns, markedly shaped the cultural heritage of the
United States. The cemeteries of Edinburgh and its neigh-
boring lowland communities present a number of interesting
aspects of comparison and contrast with their counterpart
cultural landscapes found in the United States.

HART, Linda M.: Graduate School of Architecture and Ur-
ban Planning, University of California at Los Angeles, Los
Angeles, California 90024

Beaux-Ans Funerary Monuments and Nineteenth Century
American Architecture

Funerary monuments were a recurrent theme of the monthly
competitions at Paris' Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Exercises in
drawing imaginary monuments reflected its academic ideals
in a pure form. These renderings became instrumental in
training highly skilled American architects in France, and, as
a result, Beaux-Arts classicism dominated their work after
leaving the Ecole.

HECHT, Lea: Department of English, Southeast Missouri
State Univeristy, Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701

No IHorses Allowed in God's Acres: the Florissant Cemetery

Nestled in a tranquil glen of whispering aspens near the
Rockies and the fossil beds of Florissant, Colorado, Florissant
Cemetery reflects both those buried there and those who have
lovingly laid them to rest with many ordinary, personal items.
Informally and touchingly displayed, allowing a glimpse into
their personal lives.

Alternatives to Family Lots and Memorials at Early Mount
Auburn

Though the majority of interment space at Mount Auburn
Cemetery in its early decades was sold and used as family
burial lots, a significant minority of burials took place in al-
ternative spaces - public lots set aside by the cemetery for
single graves, lots, and tombs owned and used by under-
takers, and lots and tombs used by various social groups -
all of which have interesting memorials associated with them.

HiLDENBRANDT, Daniei: Department of Communication,
University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam 96923

The Cemeteries and Gravemarkers of Guam (Video)

Located in the Pacific Ocean seven flight hours southwest
of Hawaii, Guam is not only the United States' most distant
territory, it also includes some of America's most interesting
cemeteries and gravemarkers, from the beautifully hand-
painted religious figures in the Catholic cemeteries which
dot the rural southern portion of the island to the unique and
famous U.S. War Dogs Cemetery.

NORTON, Loren N.: State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa
City, Iowa 52240

The Remarkable Crosses of Charles Andera

A late nineteenth century Czech craftsman named Charles
Andera, from Sillville, Iowa, cast a number of ornate metal
crosses for use as gravemarkers. Czech immigrants from
Wisconsin to South Dakota used his products. This paper
is the result of research on designs of the crosses and their
distribution.

HUNT, Melinda: 605 2nd Street, Brooklyn, New York 1 121 5

The Nature of Hart Island: Social Structures and the City
Cemetery

New York is the only major American city to maintain a potter's
field. Since 1 869, nearly a million children, immigrants, and
victims of epidemics have been buried in mass graves on
Hart Island. The burial process here remains tied to eight
previous potter's fields in Manhattan and the early structur-
ing of the Penal and Welfare Systems.

JEWELL, James C: Division of Humanities and Fine Arts,
Illinois Valley Community College, Oglesby, Illinois 61348

Gravestones and Cemeteries as Cover Art for Mystery
Novels ( continued next page)

AGS Fa '93 p. 19

Long examined as location and backround in tine plots of
mysteries, gravestones and cemeteries are also employed
as cover art, especially in paperback releases. This pre-
sentation will survey the covers of a number of mystery nov-
els and attempt to demonstrate the impact of the symbolism
and imagery on story line.

MALLOY, Thomas A.: Department of Social Sciences,
Mount Wachusett Community College, Gardner, Massachu-
setts 01440-1000

Slavery in Colonial Massachusetts as Seen Through Se-
lected Gravestones

Massachusetts was both the first colony to legalize slavery
and the first state to abolish the Institution. Through an in-
vestigation of extant slaves' gravestones, this paper will
examine both the extent and the particular flavor of slavery
as practiced in colonial Massachusetts.

McViCKER, Maryellen H.

Missouri 65233

Route 2, Box 223M, Boonville,

Reflections of Change in a Local Historic Cemetery

This paper is a study of one family who settled in mid-Mis-
souri at the earliest period of white settlement, following the
family through seven generations of burial in the same
county. As the family maintained the same occupation, socio-
economic class, and educational level during this entire time,
the differences and similarities found in the gravestones may
be seen as reflections of change in the surrounding world.

ars at that time could have used them as such to enter into
a greater understanding of the realities of Rom Gypsy
ethnicity and local community. They can still do so today
OLSEN, Susan: Key West Art and Historical Society, Key
West, Florida 33040

America's Southernmost Cemetery

This paper seeks to demonstrate, among other things, how
an island cemetery mirrors island living. The markers of
Key West City Cemetery help to interpret economic and cul-
tural history, demographic changes, unique construction
methods, and the unusual personalities that make Key West
known throughout the world as a paradise far from the main-
land and the mainstream.

REISER, Julie: Department of English, University of Utah,
Salt Lake City, Utah 841 1 2

Resurrected Writings: Epitaphs and Cenotaphs in Hawthorn
and Melville

Hawthorn writes in his short story, "Chippings with a Chisel,"
that "grave-stones . . .have generally been an article of im-
ported merchandise." This paper, through a close reading
of this story, a chapter of Melville's Moby-Dick entitled "The
Chapel," and a short extract of Hawthorn's American Note-
books, focuses on what is being imported through the act of
tombstone creation.

RICHARDSON, Robert and WINDER, Neil: 3777 South
Gessner #1002, Houston, Texas 77063

MEYER, Richard E.: Department of English, Western Or-
egon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361

The Recumbent Child Motif

No matter how many times the visitor to nineteenth century
cemeteries has encountered the motif, the sculpted image
of a reclining child seldom fails to arrest the attention through
Its somber yet tender evocations of sleep and death. With
representative examples, this paper will treat the origins,
variants, and symbolic Interpretations of this remarkable im-
age.

NEMETH, David J.: Department of Geography and Plan-
ning, the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606-3390

The Fate of Houston's Episcopal and Masonic Cemeteries

Houston's Episcopal and Masonic cemeteries suffered se-
verely from neglect, vandalism, and encroachment. Not all
of the cemeteries' interments were removed when they were
condemned in the mid-twentieth century, and no visible evi-
dence remains. We reconstruct the cemeteries' late-nine-
teenth century appearance, and examine how many still lie
beneath Sam Houston Park.

RIDLEN, Susanne S.: Department of Humanities, Indiana
University at Kokomo, Kokomo, Indiana 46904-9003

Tree-stump Tombstones: Traditional Cultural Values and
Indiana Rustic Funerary Art

Gravemarkers in a Rom Gypsy Cemetery in Los Angeles,
circa 1970

This paper describes and discusses a geography of
gravemarkers tentatively mapped in 1 970 in one Los Ange-
les cemetery These markers testified to the long settle-
ment history of local Rom Gypsies. Many of the markers
resembled gateways, and, metaphorically speaking, schol-

Values may be discerned from the symbols on tree-stump
gravemarkers and from the carved artifacts themselves. By
analyzing and interpreting the designs of rustic funerary art,
the carved symbols, and the engraved epitaphs and inscrip-
tions, six traditional cultural values are established: family
and home, religion, occupation, patriotism, association, and
agrarian.

AGS Fa '93 p. 20

RYDEN, Kent C: Brown University, Box 1865, Providence,
Rhode Island 02912

Historic Cemeteries and the Public Landscape in Rhiode Is-
land

This paper is an exercise in landscape interpretation, not
examing cemeteries in and of themselves but as elements
in the public landscape of Rhode Island. Here, historic cem-
eteries - and therefore the presence of the past - are not
roped off like museum artifacts, but rather are woven firmly
into the texture of the contemporary landscape as equal
partners and participants.

SCHILLER, Joyce K.: The Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint
Louis, Missouri 631 10-1380

A Monument(al) Experience: the Collaboration of Stanford
White and Augustus Saint-Gaudens

When the architect Stanford White and the sculptor Augustus
Saint-Gaudens collaborated on the creation of sculptural
monuments, they produced a series of unique statues which
were conceptually as much about architecture as they were
about sculpture. An excellent example of the special envi-
ronments they created is afforded by the famous Adams
Memorial in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Cemetery.

SCLAIR, Helen: 849 West Lill, Chicago, Illinois 60614

Unusual Affinity Groupings in Chicago Area Cemeteries

Burials are usually arranged with familial, fraternal, religious,
or ethnic orientation. However, there are some groupings
which have a peculiar affinity due to cause of death, place
of death, or relationship before death, such as occupation
or disaster. Thus, the slain and the killers, the servant and
the master, are buried together.

SMITH, Bruce: Department of History and Political Science,
Saint Francis College, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46808-3994

The Northern Indiana Cemeteries of Four Religious Orders

In northern Indiana, the cemeteries of four religious orders
reflect the austere lives expected of their members. Sim-
plicity and equality characterise the limestone markers of
nuns and priests laid to rest in rows in the order of their
passing. Friends and family members remember them with
wreaths or flowers, but not with the granite markers com-
mon to most cemeteries.

Using both analytical and descriptive techniques, this paper
considers process and meaning in honoring the dead in con-
temporary American society. Its primary focus is threefold:
aspects of professional memorialization, how changing sym-
bols in gravemarkers reflect changing values in American
society, and, finally what the future of memorialization of
the dead might be.

VANHECKE, John: Center for Archaeological Research,
University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi 38677

The Stoneware Gravemarkers of Northeast Mississippi

The stoneware gravemarkers of northeast Mississippi, made
by local potters, gave family members a chance to replace
earlier folk markers, mark previously unmarked graves, or
have a readily available substitute for commercial stone
markers. Collectively, they provide a rich portrait for nine-
teenth century views of grief and death in the minds of those
left behind.

WARE, Thomas C: Department of English, University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37404

God's Acre in Dublin: the Glasnevin Cemetery

In the "Hades" chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses, Leopold
Bloom walks among the graves in Glasnevin Cemetery,
musing like his prototype Dante on the astounding number
and array of those in "God's Acre." Indeed, the roster of
those interred there - and the statuary - offer unique insights
to Dublin's history.

WEINEL, Eleanor R: College of Architecture, University of
Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 7301 9-0265

Dust to Dust: the Cemetery as Social Microcosm

This paper explores the American cemetery as expositor of
man's relationship to the landscape and to the built environ-
ment. While considering the cemetery's reflection of changes
in taste and values, attention is focused on nineteenih cen-
tury cemeteries with reference to eighteenth century ideas
to which they respond and twentieth century developments
which they portend.

THURSBY, Jacqueline S.: American Culture Studies, Bowl-
ing Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403

The Sociology of Memorialization: Contemporary Symbols
Used to Honor our Dead

AGS Fa '93 p. 21

BOARD NEWS
Rosalee Oakley

Rosalee Oakley is the current President of tlie AGS
Board of Trustees. From 1984 to 1991 she was the
Executive Director of the organization. She tells of
her experiences in AGS by way of introduction to this
column that will appear regularly in the Newsletter.

My initial encounter with AGS was through a friend
who every spring became tied in knots around the first
of June saying she was working to prepare a paper to
give at a conference on gravestones, that she was
never going to be ready in time, that she still had slides
to take and develop, that she had to meet with her co-
presenter to iron out a myriad of details, that she
couldn't do anything until this was over at the end of
June! So I knew a little about the Association already
when I was contacted by the head of the search com-
mittee that was seeking an Executive Director for the
organization.

Through my seven years as Executive Director, it was
my pleasure to work with and for the Board of Trust-
ees, the enthusiastically intense group of volunteers
who directed the Association as they discussed poli-
cies and issues and managed a variety of programs.
Now, as President, I find I am involved with many of
the same issues and programs, only coming at them
from a different perspective.

It is my plan to use this column in two ways. The first
way is to introduce you to the Board members, as a
group at first, and then gradually over the year, indi-
vidually, telling what experience each brings to the
Board and the role each plays as a Board member.
The second way 1 plan to use this column is to keep
you apprised of the major issues the Board deals with
at its meetings so you can be more aware of the work
that is being done on the organizational level.

A word about the 1993-1994 Board

First, the stats: At the moment there are twenty-two
members of the Board, two of which are ex officio be-
cause of being Archivist and editor of h/larkers. Eleven
are men and eleven are women. Seven are from Mas-
sachusetts; five from New York; three from Connecti-
cut; two from New Hampshire; and one each from Ari-
zona, Maine, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Is-
land. All of these people attend the meetings in

Worcester, Massachusetts, so you can see that some
are traveling long distances, paying their own expenses
which in some cases involves overnight accommoda-
tions. As of this summer, there are two vacancies that
the Board will fill for the unexpired terms at their No-
vember meeting.

The President appoints committees to work on some
of the more detailed aspects of business. This sum-
mer and fall, before the full Board ever had its first
meeting, most of the following committees met to plan
their work and to formulate recommendations that they
presented at the November meeting. As you can see,
there are many facets to the Board's work.

The Planning Committee's task is to advise the Presi-
dent; to be both visionary, looking ahead to issues on
the horizon, and immediately practical, examining pro-
posals to be brought to the Board involving finances
and staff time. It is our intention to develop a five-year
plan and goals for the current year to implement the
long-range plan that will be presented to the full Board
for their revision and ultimate adoption. Members are
Daniel Goldman, Steve Petke, Fred Sawyer, Virginia
Rockwood, and Rosalee Oakley

The Personnel Committee meets with the members
of the staff to monitor how work in the office is pro-
gressing, to discuss any problems or concerns the staff
or Board has, to review job descriptions, revising them
when necessary, to set yearly goals, and to work out
with the Treasurer the salary proposals for the yearly
budget. Members are Maggie Stier, chair, and Brenda
Malloy

The Nominating CommitteeWWs unexpired term vacan-
cies and produces a slate of officers and Board mem-
bers for the ballot sent out each spring, with those
elected taking office at the June conference annual
meeting. Members are Daniel Goldman, chair, James
Slater, and C. R. Jones.

The Newsletter Committee is responsible for oversee-
ing the production of the Newsletter. Now that Deborah
Trask has concluded her editorship, the committee is
responsible for future issues. The committee has re-
cruited regional editors, topical editors, and other con-
tributors, given them guidelines regarding their respon-
sibilities, style, copyright laws, and deadlines, and has
a system in place for approving material before it goes
to press. After each issue, an evaluation session will
be held to make plans and adjustments for the next
issue. Members are Barbara Rotundo, Fred Oakley

AGS Fa '93 p. 22

Neil Jenness, Jessie Farber, and Miranda Levin.

The Archival Policy Development Committee devel-
ops policies for what AGS collects in its Archives and
determines whether AGS is the best agency to house
any given contribution based on space and care re-
quirements. Members are Maggie Stier, chair, Ellie
Reichlin, Rosanne Foley, C. R. Jones, and Jo Goeselt.

The Educational Development Committee, a new one
just forming, will be responsible for developing the
educational component of the Association. This can
include sub-committees for reviewing and rewriting
current educational materials in our kits, producing
materials, maybe a book, for teachers on ways to use
graveyards with students, producing audio and video
tapes to add to our rental library, recruiting the leader-
ship for the educational module of our yearly confer-
ence, among other possibilities.

The '94 Conference Committee is designing the Chi-
cago Conference set for June 23-26, 1 994, at Elmhurst
College. Members are Steve and Carol Shipp, co-
chairs; Steve Shipp, registrar; Joe Edgette, program
chair; Helen Sclair, tours; Jim Jewell, publicity; Fred
Oakley, Conservation Workshop and liaison with the
Board; Rosalee Oakley, Friday Participation Sessions.

Conference Committees for 1 995, 1 996, and 1 997 are
in various stages of development.

As this column meets its deadline, the Board has not
yet held its first full Board meeting since the June Con-
ference. At the November 6 meeting the topics for
discussion will focus on Conference plans, the bud-
get for 1994, revenue-raising efforts, the Newsletter
transition, committee assignments and job descrip-
tions. In the next issue of the Newsletter we'W report
on the most significant decisions made at this meet-
ing. You are invited to correspond with any of the Board
members relating to their committee work or exper-
tise; their names and addresses are listed below. They
will appreciate your interest and support.

1993 • 1994 AGS Board of Trustees

Rosanne Atwood-Foley

65 Wells Avenue, Dorchester, Massachusetts 02124

Laurel Gabel (Research Clearing House Coordinator)
205 Fishers Road, Pittsford, New York 14534

Dan Goldman (Treasurer)

1 1 5 Middle Road, East Greenwich, Rhode Island 0281 8

Roberta Halporn

391 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11217-1701

C.R. Jones (Secretary)

NYSHA, RO. Box 800, Cooperstown, New York 13326

Brenda Malloy

Box 256, 59 Shady Avenue, Westminster, Massachusetts

01473

Robert Montgomery

3 Glen Road, Bedford, New Hampshire 031 10

Rosalee Oakley (President)

19 Hadley Place, Hadley, Massachsuetts 01035

John O'Connor

109 Redlands Street, Springfield, Massachusetts 01 104

Stephen Petke

8 Cobblestone Road, East Granby, Connecticut 06026

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Virginia Rockwood

124 Briar Way, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4, Belmont, New Hampshire

03220

Frederick W. Sawyer III

8 Sachem Drive, Glastonbury, Connecticut 06033

James A. Slater (Vice-president)

373 Bassettes Bridge Road, Mansfield Center, Connecticut

06250

Deborah A. Smith

1 30 Westchester Avenue, Rochester, New York 1 4609

Maggie Stier

RO. Box 125, Harvard, Massachusetts 01451

Ralph Tucker

Box 414, Georgetown, Maine 04548

Gray Williams, Jr.

32 Gray Rock Lane, Chappaqua, New York 10514

Harvard C. Wood III

6400 Baltimore Avenue, Lansdowne, Pennsylvania 19050

continued

AGS Fa '93 p. 23

AGS Board of Trustees, continued
Ex officio members:

Richard Meyer (Markers editor)

English Department, Western Oregon State College,

Monmouth, Oregon 97361

Jo Goeselt (Archivist)

61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland, Massachusetts 01778

A NATIONAL INVENTORY OF PRIMARY
SOURCES FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES?
Ellie Reichlin, Jo Goeselt, & Laurel Gabel

We'd like to solicit your response to a project that could
signficantly contribute to fi iture gravestone studies, but
which cannot be carried out without substantial par-
ticipation from members and other interested individu-
als or groups. The project would involve gathering
information about primary sources that pertain to the
design, manufacture, sales and/or installation of
gravemarkers, and other artifacts associated with buri-
als and burial sites, such as fences, gates, ornaments,
floral offerings, cemetery furniture, etc. The geographic
scope, initially, would be the United States and
Canada. Chronologically, its scope would be from the
seventeenth century until the present.

To our knowledge, no such comprehensive inventory
exists, though bits and pieces can be found in various
forms. (An example is the current survey being car-
ried out by the Smithsonian, called "SOS.") Each state
is asked to contribute listings of outdoor sculpture, in-
cluding gravestones. But this category is limited to
100 examples of gravestone sculpture, and these are
restricted to stone. Other examples are published in-
ventories of trade catalogs such as those in the Avery
Library at Columbia University, the Winterthur Library
in Delaware, and elsewhere, which typically contain
entries relating to gravestone manufacturers and
manufacturers of related items, such as urns, benches,
etc.

WHAT IS MEANT BY PRIMARY SOURCES?

daguerreotypes, tintypes, stereographic views, al-
bums, in addition to prints of all types; photogravure;
even negatives, if well exposed and identified, are a
likely category to include, especially when there are
no corresponding prints. Photographically illustrated
books and magazines are a sub-category, including
"tipped in" photos from the 1860s - early 1870s; pho-
togravure (heliotypes, albertypes, etc.) from the mid -
1 870s - 1 880s, and half tones, beginning in the 1 890s.
"Tipped in" photos of gravemarkers or plots might turn
up in geneological records.

2) Sketches, drawings, and prints. Media would in-
clude pencil, ink, and watercolor, in addition to litho-
graphs and line engravings. Original patterns or sten-
cils for gravestone decoration would be especially use-
ful finds. Identified and dated material naturally would
be most useful, but anonymous material would also
be noted.

3) Architectural drawings, including original works or
blueprints, built or proposed, by known or unknown
architects and designers. Again, it would be useful to
seek out published illustrations in nineteenth century
periodicals, often by named architects.

4) Advertisements and trade catalogs, illustrated or not.
These have a wealth of information about prices, ma-
terials, designs, etc. Illustrated trade catalogs and
advertisements begin appearing in abundance in the
late 1840s.

5) Manuscript material: this might include account
books maintained by stone cutters or carvers; bills of
sale, sometimes illustrated; correspondence, journals,
etc. in which the choice of mortuary artifacts is dis-
cussed.

6) Early printed works which prescribe or describe
types of monuments, ornament or landscape plans,
etc.

7) Other memorabilia: salesmen's samples, for ex-
ample.

WHAT WOULD ITTAKETO GET SUCH A PROJECT
UNDERWAY?

The following are suggestions, but the list is by no
means an exhaustive one.

1) Photographs from 1839 until the present, including

AGS Fa '93 p. 24

At the very least, a willingness of people to visit public
and private libraries, historical and geneological soci-
eties, local museums, fraternal organizations, busi-
nesses (monument makers, for example), church ar-

chives, or individuals known to be interested in col-
lecting such materials.

Persistence, flexibility, tact, and imagination will be
essential ingredients. Often such materials will not be
readily accessible, nor catalogued, nor indexed. Nor
will their custodians necessarily want to ferret them
out, unless they can warm up to the importance or
potential interest of the project. Also, materials may
be listed under a bewildering array of subject head-
ings. The Library of Congress, for example, currently
uses the term "Sepulchral monuments" to encompass
works relating to gravestones. But related terms may
be in use, such as funerary monuments, gravestones,
effigies, memorial tablets, tombs, mausoleums; sep-
ulchers; graves; tombstones, and just plain 'monu-
ments' or memorials. When all else fails, "Miscella-
neous" is a place to look!

Let us hear from you. If there is sufficient interest, we
can work out forms for data entry (using some of your
suggestions, we hope), and also plot out the best strat-
egies for conducting searches, so that people don't
trip over one another in the same place.

Please send your postcards, letters, suggestions, etc.,
to us, care of AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massa-
chusetts 01609. Please be sure to include your re-
turn address, so we can get in touch with you when -
and if - this project takes off!

Ellie Reichlin, AGS Board member and Newsletter
regional editor; retired Director of Archives, Society
for the Preservation of N.E. Antiquities, Boston.

Jo Goeselt, Archivist and AGS Board member.

Laurel Gabel, AGS Clearing House Coordinator and
AGS Board member.

dievai town of Drogheda. It stands upright, as part of
the outer wall of the churchyard. One guidebook called
it a "cadaver stone." As I recall, it's seventeenth cen-
tury and marks the burial place of a married couple;
unfortunately, I don't have their names.

The effigies, as you can probably see, are partly de-
cayed, with some of the organs plainly visible. I've
seen cemeteries all over the world, but I've never seen
another gravestone like this!

From Lynn Williams:

How would you like to be remembered?

Epitaphs from old tombstones have always fascinated
me. Years ago I began collecting them hoping one
day to write a book about them.

NOTES AND QUERIES

You are invited to send your questions and comments.
Please send to the AGS office at 30 Elm Street,
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.
From Jennifer Gostin:

I am a member from Maryland, currently living in Ire-
land for two years. I took the enclosed photo in the
churchyard of St. Peter's Church of Ireland in the Me-

lt recently occurred to me that epitaphs which living
people write for themselves might be even more inter-
esting.

I am hoping to reach people from all walks of life who
might provide valuable feedback for a light-hearted
book on interesting/ amusing / light-hearted epitaphs
by which people who are still alive would like to be
remembered. Please send me yours: please send to
Lynn Williams, P.O. Box 417, Milltown, New Jersey
08850

AGS Fa '93 p. 25

From Barbara Rotundo

From Betty Phillips, Patten Monument Company

Most rural cemeteries inspired by Mt. Auburn in Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts, had a receiving tomb. Some
towns and villages (in New England?) had a hearse
house in the town cemetery. Edgell Grove Cemetery
in Framingham, Massachusetts, has a two-level com-
bined hearse house and receiving tomb that, unfortu-
nately, the trustees plan to demolish. Please notify
Barbara Rotundo, 48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4,
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220 promptly if you know
of any other cemetery that has a combined hearse
house and receiving tomb.

Enjoyed your memorials with music and am enclosing
a picture of the memorial we sold some years ago with
the whole song "Beyond the Sunset" on it. This memo-
rial is at Winona Lake, Indiana, and the Oakwood Cem-
etery in Warsaw, Indiana. They're approximately six
feet high and were placed about thirty years ago.

From Dillon Dorrell

I have found two stones that are very unusual and wondered if you have any report on such stones. Although
I've worked in restoring and maintaining cemeteries in Indiana for the past twenty years, these are stones I have
never seen. The stones pictured were found in the Campbell-Robinson Cemetery in Florence, Indiana. Can
anyone give me information about them?
Please send to: Dillon R. Dorrell, 2577 Cass Union Road, Rising Sun. Indiana 47040.

AGSFa'93p. 26

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Well, here is the first "new" newsletter - after much
trepidation (Deb Trasl< is an extremely hard act to fol-
low!), I finally screwed up my courage to dive in and
get this done. However, once I dove in, I realized just
how much I don't know. Therefore, at the risk of sound-
ing like a broken record, I'm going to ask you one more
time for your help - please send all of our volunteers
your news, articles, questions, pieces for the calen-
dar, clippings, and comments. After getting this first
issue together I am convinced that this new format
can work, but it definitely won't without your input. Your
comments, including constructive criticism, would be
especially welcome here at the office. This is my first
try, and I harbor no illusions that this is up to snuff.
Any suggestions you have will be seriously consid-
ered. This is your newsletter, not mine (although I am
quickly developing a proprietary feeling towards it).
Please tell me what you want - and don't want - to
see in it. We'll do our best to include your ideas in
future issues.

Other Stuff

Markers XI is here - please see the enclosed flyer
which allows you to order it at our special, pre-pub
rate. Deadline is March 15.

As the volume of mail coming in and out of the office
has increased, and the stamp denominations the post
office carries has decreased, our tongues are getting
more and more tired from licking the hundreds of
stamps needed to get our mail out each week. Does
anyone have an old postage meter lying around that
they would like to donate to AGS? Ifyoudo, wewould
be greatly appreciative! You would, of course, be able
to write off the donation as provided by law, and would
have the everlasting gratitude of the office staff, as we
would be saving a lot of time, (and thus, money), in
addition to eliminating that terrible "after-stamp" taste
from our tastebuds. Please contact the office if you
can help.

And, finally, just a reminder about our castings, jew-
elry, magnets, and clothing offer that came out with
the last newsletter. The deadline for the offer is Feb-
ruary 1 , and we will be sending our orders to our sup-
pliers soon after that. We will be shipping your goods
to you four to six weeks after that - early to mid-March.

Miranda Levin

DUES TO INCREASE!

Well, it's been seven years, and the Board put it
off as long as possible, but the dues have to be
increased. Postage, administrative costs, and
printing costs have gone up - in fact, every oper-
ating cost has gone up since our last increase in
1987. While membership increases have helped
to delay the inevitable, a larger membership also
means more work for the office staff (even though
it's welcome work - it's always nice to have a grow-
ing organization). As a result, the dues have to
be increased. Therefore, the Board voted at its
November meeting to change the dues structure
as follows effective March 1 , 1994:

Senior Citizen/Student

$20

Individual

$25

Institutional

$30

Family

$35

Supporting

$60

Life

$1,000

Supporting memberships still, of course, include
the next year's Markers and an additional tax-
deductible donation to AGS, and the Life Mem-
bership is unchanged at $1 ,000. In addition, the
Board voted to institute a new membership for
senior citizens and full-time students. That mem-
bership is $20.00.

Because this had to be sprung upon you rather
suddenly, the Board also voted to allow members
to renew their memberships at the old price if they
renew by March 1. If, for example, your mem-
bership expires in November 1 994, but you send
us a check for $20 by March 1 , we'll extend your
membership until November 1995. After March
1 it will be $25. So if you want to renew at the old
price, please send us $20 for an individual mem-
bership, $25 for an institutional membership, $30
for a Family membership, or $50 for a Support-
ing membership; include a note, indicating that
this is for your 1994 membership, and send to:
AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
01 609. I've also enclosed a space for you if you
want to do this along with your Markers XI pre-
pub order, which is also due by March 15 (we'll
give you two extra weeks to renew, because this
issue is late; see enclosed insert for Markers XI
offer information).

AGS Fa'93 p. 27

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The
membership year begins the month dues are received, and ends one year from that date. A one year membership
entitles the members to four issues of the Newsletter. Send membership fees (individual, $20; institutional, $25;
family, $30; supporting, $50) to the Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, t^assachusetts,
01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newslet-
ter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the
activities of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and short contributions from readers are welcome.
The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer, editor of
Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State
University, Monmouth, Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massa-
chusetts 01609 or FAX us at 508-753-9070. Order Markers (Vol. 1 $20; Vol. 2, $24.50; Vol. 3, $38.95 (cloth only); Vol.
4, $21.95; Vol. 5, $22.95; Vol. 6, $26.95; Vol. 7, $15; Vol. 8, $20; Vol. 9, $20; Vol. 10, $28; higher prices for nonmem-
bers) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland,
Massachusetts 01778. Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, at the AGS office at 30
Elm Street Worcester, Massachusetts 01609, or call 508-831-7753.

^:^^ ^^

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

30 Elm Street

Worcester, Massachusetts

01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester, MA

I NEWSLETTER

VOLUME 18 NUMBER 1 WINTER 1994 ISSN: 0146-5783

Topical Columns:

17th & 18th Century 2

19th & 20th Century 4

Gravestones & Computers 8

Conservation News 9

"Gender-Reading from Gravemarkers" by Barbara Rotundo 11

Review Column

Preservation of Historic Burying Grounds

by Lynette Strangstad; review by Deborah Trask 14

Points of Interest 15

Regional Columns:

Northwest & Far West 16

Southwest 17

Midwest 17

Southeast .. 18

Mid-Atlantic 19

New England/Maritime 20

Foreign 21

Bibliography for Graveshelters 23

From the President's Desk/Board News 24

Office Notes 25

Notes & Queries 26

Calendar 28

THE DEADLINE FOR THE SUMMER ISSUE IS MAY 11

No, you haven't missed an issue; it's just that the Spring issue will be in production as soon as this
issue is mailed, so by the time you read this it will be too late for your submissions. However, please
send material to the topical and regional editors - they need your help! And because their deadline
is May 1, please be sure to send your material to them before then! For Calendar submissions,
please see page 28.

AGS Wi '94 p. 1

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th CENTURY
GRAVESTONES & CARVERS

Ralph Tucker
Box 414, Georgetown, Maine 04548

A Signed Gravestone by an Early New York Carver

by Gray Williams

The Churchyard of the Presbyterian Church of White
Plains is a rich treasury of the early history of New York's
Westchester County. Its gravestones commemorate sev-
eral of the county's leading individuals and families dur-
ing the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
And the most important monument of all is that of the first
minister of the church, John Smith, who died in 1771.
Executed in New Jersey sandstone, and decorated with
a plump-cheeked soul effigy, it bears a long inscription
celebrating its subject's life, accomplishments, and piety.

In recent years, this gravestone had become increasingly
subject to weather damage, and the church officers fi-
nally decided that the best way to protect it was to bring it
indoors. The monument did not in fact mark Smith's
grave; he was buried under the church. So, in the spring
of 1993, the stone was unearthed and reinstalled inside
the building. And when its base was revealed, after two
centuries underground, it was found to bear the signa-
ture, "John Zu richer Stone Cutter."

John, or Johannes, Zuricher was apparently an immigrant
from Holland or Germany. He lived, wor1<ed, and owned
a couple of property lots on the western shore of Man-
hattan. He undoubtedly acquired the reddish sandstone
he used for his monuments from quarries in New Jersey,
but his finished works were shipped to customers all
around the New York area and as far south as North

Carolina. Records of the Dutch Reformed Church in New
York show that he and his wife, Elizabeth Insler, were
married and accepted into the congregation in 1745.
Between 1 746 and 1 762, they had nine children baptized
there.

Some time in 1776, probably about the time the British
occupied the city, Zuricher moved to Haverstraw, in what
is now Rockland County. There he carved stones dated
as late as 1 778. He wrote his will in 1 781 and died some-
time between then and 1 784, when his will was probated.

Although there appear to have been several gravestone
carvers working in New York around the Revolution, few
are known by name, and even fewer can be associated
with specific works. Zuricher is one of the exceptions,
because he signed several of his works. The stone for
John Smith is the first of these to have been discovered
in Westchester, but there are others in Dutchess County,
Rockland County, and Staten Island, New York, as well
as New Jersey.

When Zuricher signed a stone, he followed the usual
custom of placing the signature below the main inscrip-
tion, where by accident or intent it might end up buried
below ground. The signature on John Smiths stone is
clearly meant to be buried out of sight; it forms an irregu-
lar, sloping line near the very bottom of the base. This

AGS Wi '94 p. 2

suggests that other stones carved
by Zuricher might be found to bear
his name as well, if only we could
dig them all up.

Works that can be attributed to
Zuricher, simply on the basis of
their style, are located in several
old graveyards in Westchester
County. The largest group is at
the celebrated Old Dutch Burying
Ground at Sleepy Hollow, but oth-
ers can be found from St. Paul's
churchyard in Mount Vernon to
the burying ground by the green
in Bedford Village. Zuricher de-
veloped his own distinctive varia-
tion upon a soul-effigy design that
had originated in New Jersey dur-
ing the mid-eighteenth century.
His faces, carved in low relief, are
either pear-shaped and jowly, or
oval with a pointed chin. The
wings are quite abstract, with lines
of lightly engraved scallops to
suggest feathers. His vigorous,
deeply cut lettering is also an
identifying feature of his work.

In addition to gravestones,
Zuricher carved a number of less
imposing utilitarian works: mile-
stones, for the old post roads ra-
diating from New York City. Sev-
eral of the surviving milestones
along the Old Albany Post Road
(now Route 9) are his. So is a
stone now preserved in the White
Plains Library, which used to
stand on Route 22, a few blocks
away.

; . • i'f','

t J 'i*' J; • .

; iJ 1 ' i J'' i IjjI* r|t '

■1 ,*• ' M
I 3 1 ! • •

{ For another story on a Zurictier
stone, see the Mid-Atlantic col-
umn on page 19. M.L )

c

AGS Wi '94 p. 3

19th & 20th CENTURY GRAVESTONES
Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

"You Save More Than You Pay For Freight"
The 1929 Montgomery Ward Monuments Catalog
by David Willis McCullough

The 1929 Montgomery Ward mail-order gravestone
catalog came with a warning. Close to the bottom of
page three, tucked beneath an essay entitled "Only a
Monument of Flawless Stone, Perfect in Design, Is Worthy
of Its Sacred Mission" and above a drawing of a fine
limousine gliding through a tastefully appointed cemetery
are the words: "A stone made exactly as ordered is not
returnable for credit or exchange because after it is
lettered it is of no value to anyone else."

That may sound a bit harsh, especially that bit about being
"of no value." After all, the customer has paid between
$12 to $257 (plus lettering and shipping) for what's been
hailed as one of "Ward's Most Beautiful Monuments." But
that no-nonsense tone is typical of the catalog.

The folks at Ward's may have been aware of the Sacred
Mission and included a page of lofty sentiments suitable
for epitaphs, but they also provided a page entitled
"Suggestions For Setting Monuments" (subtitle: "Do the
Work Yourself") that tells you — complete with line
drawings— how to erect your own tombstone. Typical of
the practical advice is a reminder to let concrete
foundations set for two weeks so the fresh cement would
not stain the monument.

The catalog — the official title is Monuments [ , ]
Tombstones and Markers — is a twenty-eight page, 8 1/2
by 11 inch pamphlet. Most of it is in black and white,
although the Majestic Red Granite Memorials featured
on the four center pages are illustrated in a deep salmon
color.

Eight pages are devoted to marble ("shipped directly from
Rutland, Vermont"), which, we are told, has always been
a favorite — especially for children's stones — because it
can be carved into "delicate, graceful designs." One of
the marble stones, Wildwood, is topped with a sculpture
of a lamb. Without its base, the monument is 22 inches
tall, weighs 170 pounds, and costs $28.75 cash ($32 on
the Easy Payment Plan, $5 down, $5 a month).

Other marble stones include the Franklin, which is topped

with an open book: 2 feet 1 0 inches high, 2 feet 6 inches
wide, $50 ($55 on Easy Payment): the Lincoln, 3 feet 8
inches, topped with a bare cross for $32.50: the Vermont,
("Simple but attractive"), a plain 2 foot 10 inch slab,
$77.50: and the Mission, a 4 foot 10 inch column topped
with a cross that has a crucifix incised on the front and
flowers in gothic arches on three sides below, weight 576
pounds, $48.50.

Two of the marble stones, the Arlington and the Brantford,
are decorated with what Ward's calls the "very popular"
Gates Ajar design: a stone engraving of a dove flying
over an open gate enclosed by a keystone arch. On one
design, the dove can-ies a ribbon proclaiming "At Rest."
On the other, there are two five-pointed stars above the
arch. As with all of these markers, they are available in
both blue veined or white clouded marble, the latter
usually being a dollar or two more expensive.

The "Arlington" - Vermont Marble

AGS Wi -94 p. 4

Ward's advertising copy on the marble stones is rarely
more than simply descriptive, and the prospective
purchaser must surely remember those lines of faint
praise that promise marble will "last for generations,"
which, given the catalog's enthusiasm for granite, doesn't
sound like much

Granite is clearly the stone of choice. We're told with a
lyricism never expended on marble that, "Millions of years
in the mysterious laboratories of the earth have created
a stone so hard and uniformly flawless that it has set the
standard."

Ward's Gray Granite comes from Barre, Vermont.
Sometimes the catalog copywriter puts an accent mark
over that final e on Barre, sometimes not, and frequently
the note, "(pronounced Barry)," is added, another example
of Ward's practical helpfulness. The Majestic Red Granite
seems to have been quarried in Illinois and Oregon.

The most expensive stone in the catalog, one that gets a
tinted page all to itself, is the Majestic Red Forestdale: 5
feet tall, 2 feet 10 inches wide, one foot thick, 2,940
pounds, $257 ($282,50 Easy Payment). Majestic Red,
we're told, '^A/ill forever be a symbol of peace, beauty,
dignity...." There's no talk of mere generations here.

The granite stones tend to cost between $50 and $150
and be blocks or cylinders or — in the case of the
Forestdale — combinations of the two, with minimal
stylized geometric decoration. For those who want more,
Ward's provides a page of fraternal or military emblems:
all branches of the service, Masons, Woodmen, the
G.A.R., Elks, Maccabees, Knights of Pythias, Daughters
of Rebekah, Odd Fellows, Eastern Star. They could be
carved for $3 (on marble) or $8 (on granite). A traced
outline could be done on granite for $4.50.

The lettering on the stones is not covered in the sale
price, and the cost and variety vary greatly. A gothic v-
cut on marble could be as little as 1 5 cents a letter and a
raised letter on granite as much as $5. The styles are
limited: Gothic, Roman, Old English, Verse (which looks
something like script), and they could be cut into the stone
or raised above it, with the latter being more expensive.

One of the many slogans that appear in the catalog is
"You Save Much More Than You Pay for Freight," and a
look at the chart of shipping charges is fascinating.
Marble, which was shipped by train from Vermont, could
go all the way to California for only $3.38 per hundred
pounds. As a help in figuring out shipping charges, the

catalog gives this example: "If you live near Davenport,
Iowa, and have selected a Granite stone weighing 1 ,260
pounds, it will be shipped from Central Illinois and ... the
freight charges will be 27 cents per hundred pound,
making the freight about $3.40." Which, these days, is
about what you pay in shipping and handling for a book
from your favorite book club.

For "An Added Touch of Beauty on Your Cemetery Lot,"
the catalog offers wrought iron and steel furnishings, most
of which come from an un-named manufacturer in western
New York State. There are two styles of ornamental
fencing, the heavy-duty Lakewood ("Four-ply braided
cable wire... stretched above a horizontal rail") and the
more airy Lincoln Park. There's a steel settee ("no part
of which can wear or break with ordinary use") and
matching chair for $11.50 and $10.95. As for wrought
iron urns and vases, there are several sizes, the most
impressive being the rococo $1 7.95 Knollwood, 36 inches
high on its pedestal. It contains a hidden 1 1/2 gallon
reservoir. "Water seeps up into the soil and keeps roots
well watered."

Knollwood Urn

The last page of the catalog is devoted to "The Portrait
Eternal," with the admonition, "Use It on the Monument
or in the Home." These porcelain reproductions of family
portraits, which could be mounted on new monuments at
the Montgomery Ward workshops, were said to be
"protected by a perfectly transparent, flinty-hard glaze."
If they became soiled, "a damp cloth will restore them to
their original brightness."

Available in three different sizes (the largest being 5x7

AGS Wi '94 p. 5

}.

The Portrait

Eternal

Use It en the Moiiunient
or in the Home >^-^

t I *HE reproduction of family portraits on porcelain is rapidly .'jfi.
I attaining great popularity. And with good reason. Por--_
-*- traits tlius reproduced are permanent. Protected by a
perfectly transparent, flinty -hard glaze, they never fade or be-
come torn or rumpled. When soiled, a damp cloth will restore
them to tlieir original brightness. They are very attractive in
the home, anji their resistance to the weather permits them to -.cj*
be used on monuincnts without injury. We will have tliem' -
mounted on your new monument at our workshojss at small V
additional cost. See below.

Eveilasting-BeautlfulontheMoiumient Preserve the Likeness of Loved Ones

One of these weather -resisting likenesses of the departed JyveJ
one. cemented to tiie stone above the grave, endows the resting place
of the dead wiEh a living perscnality. With the familiar face looking
out at you, it seems as though with your visit theic you liave indeed
paid the intendled homage of respect axid remeuibrance to one who
has gene.

Your fainiiy portraits arc the ta,ngible syn'.bols of the love you.
bear for those who are your own. Unlike paper Ukenesaca which arc
ffagiic, easily misJaid and scMom before your eyes, these porcelain
panels are permanerst. By this comparatively recent process of photo-
graphic reproduction, the features are brought out with unusually
lifelike distinctness if we have a good photograph from which to work.

The Portrait Eternal

inches) and in round, rectangular, or oval shapes, the
prices range trom $6.95 to $1 1 .50. There's a $3 mounting
charge for marble, $5 for granite, although we're assured
that the portraits are as at home in the living room as in
the cemetery.

The catalog's lyrical highpoint, however, is the page
entitled "Verses Suitable for Inscriptions," in which, listed
by order number with different prices for marble and
granite, is a brief anthology of suggested epitaphs.

There are selections for children, adults, and soldiers, as
well as assorted Bible verses. The least expensive
(Number K8300) is for a child: "Our Little One." It cost
96 cents in marble, $3.60 in granite.

One of the most expensive ($8 and $26.50) is listed in
the section for soldiers: 'There is a calm for those who
sleep./ A rest for weary pilgrims found;/ They softly lie
and sweetly sleep,/ Low in the ground." Considering the
fact that World War I ended more than a decade before
the catalog was published, there seems to be a surprising
number of epitaphs for those who died in battle, including

two for men actually buried in Europe. One begins,
"Beloved France, keep tender watch/ upon that quiet
place/ where rest, at last, in dreamless sleep,/ the bravest
of our race."

The most heartfelt verses in the Adult section are
addressed to mothers. Number K8347 reads, "She came
to raise our hearts/ to heaven. She goes to call us there."
Another might have been a favorite of those who chose
the popular Gates Ajar design: "The Golden Gates were
opened wide./ Agentle voice said, 'Come.'/ And angels
from the other side/ Welcomed our dear one home. "

There is little in the 1929 catalog that today would be
considered hard sell. Even the brief testimonial letters
on page two are level-headed and practical. Most simply
say that the stones arrived in perfect condition and are
as good as similar ones in the cemetery that cost twice
as much. L.M. Haffman from Shoemakersville.
Pennsylvania, writes that it took only four days for the
stone he ordered to arrive from Rutland, Vermont.

If the catalog has an unwritten message, it is that graves

AGS Wi '94 p. 6

should be marked with stones and not with some inferior,
less durable object. Its second message is anything but
written: a suitable, dignified memorial was within anyone's
reach, even if it meant setting up the monument yourself.

It's significant that the first words on the first page of copy
do not deal with Vermont marble or Majestic Red Granite
but with the new Easy Payment Plan: "Even though the
last illness and funeral expenses may have left you in a
straitened finances for the time being, there is no need
to wait for months or to deny yourself the comfort of
knowing that the last resting place is suitably marked with
a beautiful and enduring monument..."

Just don't change your mind and ship the stone back to
Montgomery Ward. It is, after all, "of no value to anyone
else."

Column Editor's Note: For members living or visiting in
the Chicago area, Jack Bradley, Chillicothe, Illinois,
reports that the full array of Sears Roebuck gravestone
catalogs is available for study at the Sears archives and
that the staff is very helpful. However, you must make
arrangements in advance. Write or call Ms. L. Swoiskin,
Archivist, Department 703, Public Affairs, Sears Tower,
Chicago, Illinois 60684. Telephone (708) 286-8321.
There is also a Sears catalog in the trade catalog
collection at Winterthur These catalogs have all been
put on microfiche as part of an Ecclesiastical and Funerary
Supplies series. However, they can no longer be
purchased separately. See if a nearby large library has
purchased the series. (I apologize to the dozen or so
people I have urged to buy the white bronze catalogs in
this series. I did not realize that the sales policy and the
distributor had changed.) B.R.

AGS 17TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

June 23 - 26, 1994
Elmhurst, Illinois

CONFERENCE UPDATE

Enclosed with this Newsletter (as if you could miss
it!) is all of the registration information for the
upcoming conference at Elmhurst College in
Elmhurst, Illinois. As you can see, it promises to be
very exciting. In addition to the usual wonderful
lectures, terrific tours, and informative workshops, this
year's program has some special things in it, most
notably a tour of a state-of-the-art monument shop.
Details are in the registration packet, along with some
people to contact if you would like more information.

If you would like additional registration packets, you
can contact the AGS office and we'll mail some out
to you.

Finally, you are encouraged to return your ballot, even
if you cannot attend the conference this year. Ballots
are to be returned to the AGS office.

AGS Wi '94 p. 7

GRAVESTONES
AND COMPUTERS

John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way
East Greenwich,
Rhode Island 02818

In the last Newsletter, I listed several projects that we
could work on to develop computer software for grave-
stone research. There seems to be interest in a com-
puter program to catalog gravestone photos. With this
program, you would number all of your photographs (and/
or slides or negatives) and store them in numerical or-
der. If you wanted to see all of the gravestone photos
you had by the carver Gabriel Allen, you would search
your computer database for all Gabriel Allen stones and
print a list. You could then pull those photos. If you plan
to visit the Copps Hill Cemetery in Boston, you could print
a list of all the photos you had on gravestones in that
burial ground so as not to take duplicate pictures. Best
of all, you should be able to find any photograph in your
collection in minutes.

There are two computer formats that could be used for
this project; either the IBM or the Apple. Since I own and
develop software for the IBM system, this program will
be developed in IBM format. If someone would like to
duplicate the program in Apple format, please contact me
and we can work in parallel.

The best way to start this program is to decide what in-
formation we want to store. Think about the card file
containing one 3x5 card for each photo that I discussed
in my last column. What information should go onto this
card? There are a number of obvious fields:

What do you think belongs on this file card? One possi-
bility is notes on camera settings or lighting. Please think
about this and send me your wish list. I will compile
everyone's responses, and in my next several columns
we can develop a database containing the most impx)r-
tant fields to AGS members. This then can become an
AGS standard database.

The next thing to designate are the search fields. The
obvious ones are:

carver

last name on gravestone

location

photograph number

What are the fields you would like to search? Think of
how you would use this database and send me a list of
the ways you would like to be able to search it. I will take
the database we develop and the search criteria and de-
velop a database program that will allow you to enter data
on your photographs, search for them, and print lists.

Please send your input for the gravestone database pro-
gram to me. My address is listed above.

photograph number

last name on gravestone

first name on gravestone

death year

name of carver

degree of confidence in carver ID (such as probated, posi-
tive, probable, possible)

location:
city
state
cemetery

composition

carving type

legibility

c^^v^^

AGS Wi '94 p. 8

CONSERVATION NEWS

Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

LET THE BUYER BEWARE !

Numerous catalogs are offering products for repairing,
cleaning, and protecting gravestones. Product
information ranges from skimpy to none at all, leaving
thie purchaser uninformed as to the ultimate effect of the
application on a gravestone. Similarly, inquiries at
hardware stores as to what might work to clean or repair
a stone turn up some rather unique suggestions. For
example, "liquid nail," a product formulated for the
construction industry, is sometimes recommended. It
should not be used for adhesive repair of gravestones.

Another product, advertised as "The Choice of
Professionals," offered a material that would preserve
stone from further surface deterioration. Known by
conservators as a "consolidant," application of it, where
appropriate, is a painstaking and highly technical task
not to be undertaken by the novice. Companies producing
consolidants for stone often certify individuals to apply
their product.

From under the kitchen sink come numerous household
and "industrial strength" cleaning products. Almost
without exception, these products contain compounds
inimical to the health of gravestones.

There is little need to invest a great deal of money when
preparing to clean a gravestone. The simplest is the best
for most cleaning needs. A soft brush and a pail(s) of
water often yield a satisfactory result. Complete
instructions for cleaning gravestones can be found in
Lynette Strangstad's A Graveyard Preservation Primer
and in Tracy Walther's leaflet, "...Cleaning Masonry Burial
Monuments," both in the AGS publications list. In addition
to the mentioned publications, several members who are
professional conservators are quite willing to give advice.
Their names are available from the AGS office, or you
can contact me at the above address.

GRAVEMARKERS RECOGNIZED AS OUTDOOR
SCULPTURE

In its 1993 publication. Guide to Maintenance of Outdoor
Sculpture, the American Institute for Conservation of

Historic and Artistic Works has clearly recognized
gravemarkers as outdoor sculpture (see the first
paragraph in Chapter 1). Such recognition by
professionals in the field of art conservation means that
gravestone art is taken seriously, and it could portend,
further research into gravestone conservation techniques,
practices, and materials. AGS members and others
involved with gravestone conservation can get a
worthwhile perspective on the subject of maintaining
outdoor sculpture from this publication. American Institute
for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 1400 16th
Street NW, Suite 340, Washington, D.C. 20036, (202) 232-
6636. (Look for a review of this in our Summer '94 issue
— M.L.).

GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING AND REGISTERING
CEMETERIES AND BURIAL PLACES
(NATIONAL REGISTER BULLETIN 41)

Published in 1992, this bulletin describes in detail, using
examples, the criteria and process for placing cemeteries
and burial places on the National Register This subject
has surfaced at our conferences in recent years, and
now we can point our members to an authoritative source
that explains how it is done.

Anyone interested in gravestone studies will find Bulletin
41 fascinating reading. In particular, two sections, "Burial
Customs and Cemeteries in American History" and
"Evaluating Cemeteries and Burial Places," provide
readers with interesting facts that led to the establishment
of the cemeteries discussed.

Read from cover to cover. Bulletin 41 's wealth of
information will likely satisfy a range of needs for our
members. In addition, they will be pleased to recognize
familiar names of AGS members who contributed in
various ways to the content. (This booiilet is now available
through the 1994 AGS publications list. If you would like
a copy of the Bulletin, please send $1.50 to cover postage
and handling to the AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester,
f^assachusetts 01609. h/I.L.)

BEGINNINGS OF A GLOSSARY

For some years, AGS has been interested in assembling
a glossary. Among the difficulties frustrating the process
has been disagreement regarding the nature of the
content as well as definitions. The Selected Glossary in
the recently published Save Outdoor Sculpture!
Handbook for Volunteers seems to offer an opportunity
for overcoming content objections by having specialized

AGS Wi '94 p. 9

glossaries. The following, which will be continued in the
next several issues of the Newsletter, is reprinted from
the Handbook:

A SELECTED GLOSSARY (part one of four)

Organized by category, this glossary clarifies the
meaning of terms commonly used in the field of outdoor
sculpture. "Condition" will be followed in successive
Newsletters by "Treatment," "Sculptural Elements," and
"Process."

CONDITION

Abrasion: The wearing, grinding, or rubbing away of
surface material by friction, usually through the action of
such matters as sand, or as a result of rubbing by people,
animals, or plants.

surrounding a sculpture.

Erosion: The wearing away or loss of material by the
action of other material(s); abrasion is a form of erosion.

Patina: The surface coloration of a metal, the result of
chemical alteration of the clean metal surface; patinas
can occur naturally, but most commonly are artificially
induced by the foundry or conservator

Pits or Pitting: Irregular holes, voids, or imperfections
in the surface of metal, resulting from casting
imperfections or by corrosion; pits are usually tiny and
may be localized or found throughout the sculpture.

Spalling: The sloughing or splitting off of the surface of
stone or brick occurring parallel to the surface; see
delamination.

Accretion: An accumulation of extraneous materials on
the surface of a sculpture, including core materials,
soluable salts, or even the heavy accumulation of dirt,
grime, pollutants, or bird guano.

Acid Deposition: Laying down of acidic matter, either
wet or dry on a (sculptural) surface.

Corrosion: Gradual deterioration of metal through
chemical reaction with acids, salts, or other agents.
Corrosion is accelerated by the presence of moisture in
combination with these agents. Various metals are
affected differently by corrosion. Bronze often turns green/
black in color and develops corrosion pits; iron rusts;
zinc develops a whitish corrosion and can become very
brittle.

Crack: Narrow fracture or break across or through a
material, either straight-line or branching in form that often
indicates an uneven stress or weakness in the material.

Crazing: An overall pattern of shallow cracks running in
a variety of directions on a surface or coating.

Delamination: Peeling away or separation of surface
layers of stone that were previously a solid mass; see
spalling.

Efflorescense: Crusty accumulation of salts or minerals
on the surface of stone or brick; see Accretion.

Environment: The natural (e.g. weather, temperature,
foliage) and man-made (traffic, pollution) conditions

Reprinted with permission.

Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!)

c/o NIC, 3299 K Street NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC.

20007.

NEVER SPOIL A GOOD STORY WITH FACT

This advertising industry adage seems appropriate when
describing the part AGS played in alerting the monument
industry to the commercial possibilities latent in
grave marker restoration.

It was in Febaiary, 1986, that the Monument Builders of
North Amenca held its national convention in Boston,
Massachusetts. Several AGS members were featured
speakers. At every opportunity our speakers suggested
commercial entry into the gravemarker restoration mar1<et.
And now, seven years later, we find three articles in the
August, 1993, issue of Monument Builder's News
describing restoration projects undertaken by monument
companies.

Some monument companies certainly recognized
commercial possibilities before 1986. But those AGS
members who spoke at the MBNA national conference
might possibly have had an accelerating effect on the
process.

AGS Wi -94 p. 10

GENDER-READING
FROM GRAVEMARKERS
by Barbara Rotundo

No one has to tell members of the Association for Grave-
stone Studies that cemeteries reveal a great deal about
the culture and beliefs of the people who create them or
choose them for a final resting place. And surely all
members have noticed the difference be-
tween men and women in the various ^ -
kinds of memorialization found in
cemeteries. Just as gravestone
styles and symbols have
changed over the years, so
has the treatment of the
two sexes. The differ-
ences between men and
women based on ge-
netic makeup are
unchanging; it is the
perception of those dif-
ferences that varies
from one generation to
the next.

For a clear understand-
ing, I want to start with
a careful definition of
gender as a back-
ground to this discussion. As scholars use the term today,
"Sex refers to the division of animal forms into male and
female according to the basic differences in anatomy.
Gender refers to the meanings that people attach to a
person's sex. In other words, sex is a matter of biology
and gender is a matter of culture" (E. Anthony Rotundo,
American Manhood, New York, 1993, p. 1 .)

"My Wife" or "My Wife and Child" with the given names
sometimes listed on the back of the stone. To give him
the benefit of the doubt, the husband may have been over-
come with grief at his loss, but there is still a selfish air to
such an anonymous epitaph. Had the woman no friends
or relatives who might also grieve for her? Had she no
other name than wife? Of course, most stones follow the
eighteenth-century tradition in which her name was iden-
tified by her husband's, except that the word wife
replaces consort. In rare instances, you
may see a nineteenth-century stone
*is^ where the widow has listed "My

Husband." So strong were cul-
tural conventions in the
eighteenth century that no
V. woman then could imagine
^', doing such a thing.

One of the amusing sex
changes of the Victorian
era is that male angels
have become willowy fe-
males. Angels had been
masculine from biblical
times through John
Milton's day, but the
men who decreed that
ladies wear corsets and
not show legs (sorry,
they called them "limbs")
above their ankles liked the graceful female form as re-
vealed by classical drapery. The naked cherubim (though
always with a garland or a bit of drapery covering the
genital area) were readily copied from the Renaissance
putti, although Edwin Panofsky points out in his invalu-
able book, Tomb Sculpture (New York, 1964), that
classical Romans used similar naked babies.

What did colonial Americans see as the woman's role in
the culture of the day? She was very important in the
economy, but in the legal and social world she hardly
existed. "Patience Dean / consort of / Levi Dean / daugh-
ter of / Col. John Walter." She derives her identity from
her husband and earlier, her father. (Her mother is never
listed. Women were expected to produce lots of chil-
dren, but they didn't provide the identity of their progeny.)
Even when she was left a widow, she would be listed as
a relict of the husband who might have predeceased
her by twenty years or more.

Even worse in the nineteenth century is the occasional
anonymity; all too frequently we find markers stating only

Allegorical figures like Faith, Hope, and Charity also wore
revealing drapery, as did the weeping maidens with their
bouquets, wreaths, or garlands. It is important to realize
that these sculptured women were not symbolic of women
but of the emotions or characteristics that they repre-
sented. Since more money usually went into
memorializing the man than the woman, a survey would
undoubtedly show that the female figures are more likely
to decorate a man's grave than a woman's.

Of course, I am talking about a small portion of memori-
als. For every sculptured Hope with her anchor by her
side, there are hundreds, even thousands, of small stones
with only names and dates of birth and death. The up-

AGSWi'94p. 11

right tablet of slate or local brownstone of colonial days
became marble in the nineteenth century, while today the
low pulpit stones or the flush markers with the same ba-
sic epitaph information are the common types. Even the
heavy granite family stones, while common and appear-
ing in dreary rows in the modern sections of large
cemeteries, probably number only in the dozens to the
hundreds of small markers.

Perhaps the most popular relief carved in stones after
the rage for the urn and the willow died down was the
handshake. Since fraternal orders used the handshake
in their symbol systems, some were for men alone: how-
ever, many handshakes have a phrase like Till We Meet
Again" carved over them, indicating a married couple
separated by death. Often one wrist will display a ruffle
and the other a stiff, geometric cuff. One is female, the
other male. Certainly in this image they are equal.

My informal survey leads me to conclude that one type of
individualization is spread about equally between men
and women in both the nineteenth and twentieth centu-
ries: the portrait, i.e., the use of photographs, usually
porcelainized, on gravemartcers occurs for men, women,
and children, especially children in recent years.

As we reach the end of the twentieth century, new trends
are appearing, although the old custom of following the
wife's name with "wife of" still persists. After the imper-
sonality of the plain granite marker that seemed to be the
reaction to the marble exuberance of the conspicuous
Victorian monument, small stones as well as large are
displaying personal images, and some stones show highly
individual etchings. Both changes also result from the
specialized techniques and improved carving tools that
are developing new possibilities. (I've asked Han/ard
Wood to write an article describing these. Look for it in
the next Newsletter.)

Perhaps the two most popular images today are the pray-
ing hands and the two linked rings with the marriage date
inscribed across them. The praying hands have no sug-
gestion of gender, and the wedding rings emphasize the

One image that does appear on small markers as well as
large belongs to men. That is the Masonic emblem. There
are also a fair number of the linked letters that are the
symbol for the Odd Fellows. There were women's auxil-
iaries of these and other fraternal organizations, but their
emblems are far less likely to appear on women's
gravemarkers. If there is only one stone for the couple or
family, the man's emblem is always the choice.

The dominance of men's fraternal symbols is matched
by the images representing trade unions, professions,
etc. On a shared stone the wife, who may or may not
have worked outside the home, lies under the insignia
for railroad brakemen or the caduceus of her doctor hus-
band.

XX.- ..^•.

■v,.s\\H>»' /V/^^

AGS Wi '94 p. 12

equality of the two members of the couple,
nition of the woman gaining?

Is the recog-

In monument dealers' showrooms across the country,
there are three standard pictures already inscribed on
otherwise blank stones: a fishing scene, a brook or lake
with deer approaching it, and a couple holding hands as
they walk into the sunset. The fishing is probably the
husband's recreation, and the deer may represent the
husband's hunting, but at the same time both manifest a
mood probably shared by the wife. That is the centuries-
old American nostalgic but baseless conviction that peace
and security exist only in the woods and fields, far from
the deceitful, debilitating rat-race of the city. Thomas
Jefferson was an early and influential disseminator of this
illusion. Thus in death we seek the rural cemetery with
lovely grounds and birds singing in the trees. (See Peter
Schmitt, Back to Nature: The Arcadian Myth in Urban
/Amer/ca, New York, 1969.)

Notice the couple walking into the sunset maintain this
cherished belief. They are on a country road, not a city
street. While I do not know of any nineteenth-century
gravestones showing couples walking hand-in-hand.

there are stones giving the marriage date and double
sculptured tree trunks or double columns linked by
branches or garlands to show the importance of the mar-
riage to the couple memorialized. The idea is not new.

The revolutionary innovation in gravestone designs in
recent years results from a way of life unimaginable by
all but the wealthiest people in previous centuries. That
is the memorialization of favorite hobbies and vacation
activities. In the nineteenth century, farmers had no such
leisure time, and offices and industries worked six days
a week. While some white-collar workers were receiving
vacation time by the end of the century, vacations did not
become the norm until the twentieth century. By now, blue
collar workers receive them as well. More couples also
live to enjoy retirement with enough income to buy the
houseboat or recreational vehicle that they picture on their
shared gravestone. How different from the skulls, cof-
fins, and the crossed bones of the puritan era. The new
images evoke pleasant thoughts about the happy activi-
ties that the couple shared at the end of their lives.

What do you think? Are women getting a fair shake on
gravemarkers today, or do men still dominate decisions
and results?

Illustration Notes: The two photographs of the women's stones are from Early New England Gravestone Rub-
bings by Edmund Vincent Gillon, Jr The picture of the stone with the fisherman design was provided by Betty
Phillips of Patten Monument Company Grand Rapids, Michigan.

AGS Wi '94 p. 13

BOOK REVIEW

Miranda Levin

Preservation of Historic Burial Grounds

by Lynette Strangstad. National Trust for l-listoric Pres-
ervation Information Series No. 76. National Trust for
Historic Preservation, 785 Massactiusetts Avenue, N. W.,
Wastiington, D.C. 20036,1993. (Also available througti
tfie AGS publications list). $5.00 including postage and
handling. 24 pages, illustrated.

Review by Deborah Trask

Preservation of Historic Burial Grounds is an informa-
tion booklet wiiich provides an overview of the issues
and concerns that must be considered in planning and
implementing any graveyard preservation project. This
information booklet was prepared by Lynette Strangstad,
and any reader familiar with her A Graveyard Preserva-
tion Primer (American Association for State and Local
History, 1 988, also available through the AGS office) will
find no surprises. Actually, Preservation of Historic Burial
Grounds covers a great deal of material in a straightfor-
ward and readable style, considering it is only twenty-
four pages.

This is the kind of booklet which should be provided to
historical societies or community groups who want to do
something about the condition of their local burial area,
but have no concept of the magnitude of the project. It is
not a "how-to" of stone repair. The main thrust of this
publication is to present the potential complexity of grave-
yard preservation issues in a practical, logical, and un-
derstandable, yet not condescending, manner. It is
organized underthe broad headings "Understanding the
Site," "Features of the Site," "Organizing a Project," "De-
veloping the Plan," "Setting Priorities, ""Conservation,"
"Undertaking the Fieldwork," "Adapting for Current Uses,"
and includes a short bibliography of relevant publications
and an explanatory list of resource groups such as AGS.
The back page is a photocopy-able sample gravemarker
recording form. Some examples have been parachuted
into the main text, underthe heading of "case study." One
of these includes a very confusing description of dam-
age caused to stones by an odd combination of factors
(page 5). This would be clearer with a supplementary
photograph; without an illustration, the point is lost.

Strangstad's great experience in working on stone pres-
ervation projects with volunteer groups is evident. For
example, under "Organizing a Project," she talks about

building consensus, possible sources of funding, and the
strengths and weaknesses of working with volunteers.
Some new documentary techniques which have devel-
oped since the publication of A Graveyard Preservation
Primer are included under "Alternative Archeology": "More
and more archeologists who wish to investigate historic
sites without damaging them are relying on non-intnjsive,
remote-sensing technologies...: ground-penetrating radar
color infrared aerial photography, thermal infrared-muiti-
spectral scanning and thermal resistivity" (page 12).

Along with Strangstad's main article, Presen/ation of His-
toric Burial Grounds includes a couple of one page
sidebars: "Treading on Sacred Ground" on beliefs and
traditions relevant to African-American cemeteries, by
Vennie Deas-Moore; and "Preserving Plants in Historic
Burial Grounds" by landscape historian and preservation
planner Scott G. Kunst, both of which touch on concerns
of which the reader might not have thought. A third
sidebar, "Cleaning Burial Mar1<ers," is an obvious con-
cession to those who feel compelled to clean stones and
are looking for a quickie "how-to" publication.

There is no information about stone resetting or repair,
which is appropriate in a general, brief introduction of this
sort. The topic of stone conservation is far too complex
to be summarized. Realistically, there can be no generic
repair. I know a lot of people skipped over all the organi-
zation and planning chapters in A Graveyard Presen/a-
tion Primerso as to get right into the activity ("Remedies").
Unfortunately, as many discovered, there is no quick so-
lution. Strangstad notes: "It is essential that the project
sponsor become familiar with the basic processes and
appropriate materials involved in conservation work. The
sponsor can then recognize both appropriate and poten-
tially damaging techniques before work begins or a con-
tractor is chosen" (page 14). The basic processes and
appropriate materials involved in conservation work are
not covered in this booklet. If this is what you are looking
for, I suggest you still need to read Presen/ation of His-
toric Burial Grounds, as it is a well thought-out introduc-
tion to the basic and appropriate approaches to
graveyard preservation. Undoubtedly, it will focus you
on significant issues you have not yet considered. Then
if you are prepared to read more detail, you can graduate
to A Graveyard Preservation Primer

Deborati Trask is a very opinionated person wtio has re-
cently been liberated from an oppressive burden. She
was an advisor to the $900,000 presen/ation project of
the Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) Old Burying Ground,
completed in 1992.

AGS Wi94p. 14

Editor's Note: For brief reviews of otiier bool<s relating to
gravestone preservation, see tfie Conservation column
on page 9. ivI.L.

Another book to note

POINTS OF INTEREST

Bill Hosley

Old Abbe Road

Enfield, Connecticut 06082

Tombstones of the Irish Born

Cemetery of the Holy Cross, Flatbush, Brooklyn

by Joseph M. Sllinonte, l\/lcPadden, l\Aurphy, and Stack,
Post Office Box 737497, Eimfiurst, New York 11373, 1992.
$23.00 plus $4.00 s flipping and tiandling. 112 pages,
illustrated.

This book consists primarily of the inscriptions of the Irish-
born interred at the 100 acre Holy Cross Cemetery in
Brooklyn, New York, where more than half a million people
are buried. In addition, it includes several photographs
of some of the more interesting stones to be found there,
some interesting newspaper excerpts that pertain to some
of the people buried there, and a short history of the cem-
etery.

Wanted: Reviews, and review copies of books and me-
dia. If submitted material meets our criteria, it will be
assigned to a reviewer. Once reviewed, all material goes
into ttie AGS Arcfiive. Please send reviews and material
to be reviewed to AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, tJlas-
sacfiusetts 01609. M.L.

Because "Points of Interest" is dependent on member
response, and because the production of newsletters is
presently such that member response is impossible for
this issue, there is no "Points of Interest" column here.

However, members are still invited to send material in on
stones that mark the graves or talk about the relationship
between Europeans and Native Americans (see Fall '93
issue). The findings will appear in the Summer issue in
June, so please get your information to me by April 1 5th.

"Points of Interest" is a members' forum wliere we look
at pictures, ideas, and information about ttie "discover-
ies" we all make from time to time. Eacti issue of ttie
Newsletter reports findings from ttie previous "assign-
ment" and concludes with a new "assignment." Member
participation is essential, and you are encouraged to sug-
gest topics for discussion.

Pictures may be small (even snapshots), but they must
be sharp and clear. Only those submitted in self-ad-
dressed, stamped envelopes can be returned. Send all
material to me at the address above.

AGS ARCHIVES RECENT ACQUISITIONS

Jo Goeselt, Archivist

61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland, Massachusetts 01778

We have received many interesting items for the Archives over the past few months.
Below are a few of the highlights:

East Greenwich, Rhode Island, Historical Cemetery Inscriptions, by Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle.

Graveyards of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, by Althea H. McAleer and Beatrix Hoffius.

Robert Emien's negatives and prints of African-American gravestones. Providence, Rhode Island.

Computer disk of Ralph Tucker's list of gravestones by carver 1/1/94, written for Microsoft Works database.

Complete set of AGS newsletters.

Quarterly journals and cemetery newsletters from around the country.

Reprints of journal and newspaper articles.

Aspects in Cemetery Preservation, by J. Paul Burke III, Esquire.

Marble Family Monuments, Skowhegan, Maine, inventory of order books (129).

Historical Archaeology at the Hudson Poor Farm Cemetery, Hudson, IVlassachusetts, by Edward L. Bell.

We continue to welcome donations.
If you have something you'd like to give to the Archives, please contact me at the above address.

AGS Wi '94 p. 15

REGIONAL COLUMNS

NORTHWEST &

FAR WEST

Alaska, California,

Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,

Montana, Nevada, Oregon,

Utah, Washington, Wyoming,

Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia

Bob Pierce

208 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco, California 94131

THE WESTERN DEADBEAT

THEME SCENE

Hobbyists, collectors, photographers, etc., tend to be spe-
cific in their particular areas of concern, whether it be cut
glass, stamps, bocks, furniture, or dolls. For people who
photograph markers, this segment will deal with a source
for material (books) which will aid the photographer in
locating gravesites of a specific nature, i.e. Presidents,
politicians, musicians, etc.

For Civil War buffs, this first column will concern itself
with two books — basically a set:
Generals in Gray by Ezra J. Warner, Louisiana State
University Press, 1959, reprinted a number of times.
Generals in Blue by Ezra J. Warner, Louisiana State
University Press, 1964. I don't know if this has been
reprinted, but I suspect it has.

Both books give a synopsis of each general's life and at
the end of each synopsis list the city where the general
is buried. In many instances, the cemetery is also listed.
I first saw this set at the Gettysburg Battleground book-
store. I believe the price to be $45.00. I found my set in
a used bookstore for much less.

CEMETERY TOURS

As information becomes available to me regarding tours,
I will pass it on through this column. I know tours are
given in Victoria, British Columbia; Sacramento, Colma,
and Oakland, California. Often the schedules are set by
the seasons, so I would request that western area mem-
bers submit information on tours in their area as they
are scheduled. Since the AGS Newsletter is published
seasonally, try to obtain tour information so that it will be
current in the Newsletter

Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California, (just south

of San Francisco) , has a free monthly tour. It is held on a
Sunday afternoon, and just a little walking is required since
most of the tour is conducted on a bus. Currently, Michael
Svanevik, a cemetery historian and a member of AGS,
conducts the tour. Call Cypress Lawn Cemetery for tour
date. Refreshments are served at the conclusion of the
tour.

Grave Line Tours in Hollywood, California, offers a tour
of the actual sites of Hollywood's most (in)famous deaths.
it's not a cemetery tour, but detailed maps of two cem-
eteries are given to you for further exploration on your
own. Tours depart from the east side of the Chinese The-
ater, Hollywood Boulevard and Orchid Avenue. Cost of
the tour is $30.00 per person and takes two and a half
hours. For information, call 213/876-0920; for reserva-
tions, call 213/876-4286.

ANNUAL EVENT

Every year, the first Saturday after New Year's Day, E.
Clampus Vitus, an historical organization with chapters
throughout the west, pays homage to the Emperor Morton
I, self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States and Pro-
tector of Mexico, who is buried in Woodlawn Memorial
Park. The brethren assemble at the graveslte for a brief
historical talk about the man. The Slippery Gulch Band
plays some numbers and then the group moves on to
Molleys, a near-by watering hole, for camaraderie and a
crab feed. Only Redshirts (members) are allowed to at-
tend.

Emperor Morton was a rice broker who made and lost
fortunes. His last failure drove him over the brink, and In
1854 he took out a newspaper ad proclaiming himself
Emperor. He always had a place to stay and was never
refused sustenance in any restaurant in San Francisco.

B.A.R.T EXTENDS TO COLMA

Construction continues on the B.A.R.T. (Bay Area Rapid
Transit) extension from Daly City to Colma. No doubt
R.I. P. will be put on hold while the work progresses. The
trailtrack tunnel (a switch track for trains to make the re-
turn trip to Daly City, San Francisco, and the East Bay) is
being built right in front of the mausoleum In the Italian
Cemetery and adjacent to Eternal Home, a Jewish Cem-
etery. Future plans call for an extension from Colma to
San Francisco Intemational Airport or close by, since a
number of plans have been proposed and one has to be
voted on by two boards in order for the extension to
progress. Part of the extension will follow the Southern

AGS Wi '94 p. 16

Pacific railroad right-of-way which dates to the late 1 800s
and was used for train and trolley service to the cemeter-
ies from the city. When construction is completed, peace
will once again be restored to Colma.

SOUTHWEST

Arizona, Arkansas,

Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklatioma, Texas

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Fax: (602) 647-7136

Phone: (602) 647-7005

Members everywhere — not just in the southwest — may
be interested in knowing the scope of the Save Outdoor
Sculpture! (SOS!) program administered by the National
Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian, as it ap-
plies to gravemarkers. The program is now in full swing
in most states, where State Coordinators, wor1<ing through
State Arts Commissions, are responsible for carrying out
inventories describing works to be included in the "In-
ventory of American Sculpture."

Whether to include cemeteries among sites to be sur-
veyed is optional, depending on the extent to which they
include "notable sculpture." (Unfortunately, the definition
of "notable sculpture" was not spelled out in the materi-
als I received from the Smithsonian.) And even if they
do, the recommendation is that "per state. ..an average
of 100 works in cemeteries is a limited, manageable, and
realistic number to include in [the] SOS! survey." Why so
few? Because with a pool of 160,000,000 gravesites
nationally, (based on a National Park Service estimate),
and data entry at an average of 7000 records a year,
selectivity is essential if the project is ever to gain mo-
mentum.

The information sheet sent to State Coordinators recom-
mends that "if you choose to selectively survey cemeter-
ies," the following types of sculptures could be included:
"sculptures created by an identified artist or firm; portrait
likenesses of specific persons; distinctive representation
of events or individuals." While other possibilities are not
ruled out, the following types of markers "are always ex-
cluded" (their emphasis!): carved headstones; memo-
rial tombs; urns; angels; unidentified figures, including
classical figures; crosses and crucifixes; religious figures,
symbols, and icons; shrouded or draped tree trunks; obe-
lisks, and columns." The rationale for their exclusion is
not stated, and I'm sure one could quibble with this list —
except that a line has to be drawn somewhere!

AGS Wi

I've been trying to reach Arizona's SOS! office to inquire
what cemeteries, if any, are being surveyed and how, if
at all, members of AGS could assist in making invento-
ries. You may also want to contact your state coordina-
tor, and maybe you will win the game of telephone tag —
which has been a problem here! It also seems to me that
AGS members might want to start inventorying those
categories which SOS! excludes — using the same entry
forms and terminology, in the hope that some day the
national database can handle more entries from cem-
eteries. (See Notes S Queries, page 26, forone state's
program. M.L.) I'll keep you posted on what I find out in
Arizona — and I would certainly be interested in hearing
from any members involved with SOS! in its "cemeter-
ies" dimension elsewhere.

Thanks to the several members who sent in various clip-
pings. Kevin Ladd of the Wallisville Heritage Park in
Wallisville, Texas, has been a source for several articles,
including "Reclaiming the Lost Past: a Labor of Love" by
Don Teter and Gene Krane, published in Heritage (publi-
cation of the Texas Historical Foundation) in the summer
of 1993. This concerns a survey to "locate and docu-
ment all of the state's old Jewish cemeteries," an effort
which turned up seventy-three in forty-six Texas cities.
Another member sent an article from the Phoenix-based
Arizona Star oi April 25, 1993, which described "myste-
rious stone faces" carved on a sandstone outcropping
near Winslow, Arizona. Little is known about them, and
the date 1862 associated with them precedes Winslow's
emergence as a center on the Santa Fe railroad in 1881 .
Graffiti? Gravemarkers? An itinerant carver-explorer?
Janice Griffith at the Old Trails Museum in Winslow might
have some ideas.

MIDWEST

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,

Kansas, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri,

Nebraska, North Dakota,

Ohio, South Dakota,

Wisconsin, Manitoba, Ontario

Jim Jewell

828 Plum Street, Peru, Illinois 61354

Hello from the Midwest, and I hope everyone's planning
on coming to the Chicago conference. Carol and Steve
Shipp and Helen Sclair have been working hard to make
it a memorable one. Unfortunately, I haven't been able
to help them as much as I'd like to. I had minor surgery
in December and have been a little sluggish ever since.
But all turned out well, and I hope to be "as good as
'94 p. 17

Graceland" by the spring thaw (the way winter has rav-
aged us here, that might not be till a few days before
conference!).

RECENTLY IN THE NEWS

Despite our efforts to make the cemetery a place to cel-
ebrate life ratherthanto mourn, two recent tragedies have
reminded us that life is fragile, and some people sadly
use the cemetery to emphasize their inability to deal with
life. Last October 29, Nicholas Wascisco, thirty-four, was
found dead of a gunshot wound to the head. The former
mayor of Yonkers, New York, was found atop his father's
grave in Oakland Cemetery.

Just over a month later, Robert R. Valenzuala, twenty-
two, of LaSalle, Illinois, was found dead in St. Vincent's
Cemetery in LaSalle, of an apparent self-inflicted gun-
shot wound.

The mummified remains of Australian tourist, Tambo
Tambo, who died in Cleveland, Ohio, at age twenty-one
on February 23, 1884, have been returned to Palm Is-
land off the coast of Queensland. A professional side-
show performer, (thirty-five pounds, 4'11 " tall), Tambo died
during a stop in Cleveland. The troupe moved on with-
out claiming him, and he reposed in C.J. Smith and Sons
Funeral Home until it closed last year.

Anthropologist Roslyn Poignant located Tambo's descen-
dants, who came to Cleveland to reclaim the remains.
His name is known, but sacred aboriginal custom requires
that it not be spoken until the hour of final interment. Until
then, he is known as "A Descendant of the Manbara Tribal
People."

From Bellefountaine, Ohio, comes the sad tale of
cockapoo Chippy Sue, recently exhumed from her
owner's plot in Huntsville Cemetery. When Chippy Sue
died in February, 1991 , owners Willis and Debbie Payne
found no state or local regulation barring the pet from
burial there.

Two former McArthur Township trustees sued to have
the dog removed. They also submitted a 300-signature
petition. One of the two ex-trustees, Morris Shields,
stated, "I don't want a dog buried beside my wife." In
1992, a judge ruled that the legislature hadn't intended
to permit pets to be buried in township cemeteries. An
appeals court upheld the ruling, and the Ohio Supreme
Court declined in November of 1993 to review it.

The Spy Run Neighborhood Association of Ft. Wayne,
Indiana, has a special plan for the city's bicentennial this
year. The plan is the Chief Turtle Memorial Site Improve-
ment and Preservation Project. Little Turtle, the most
well known of the Miami Indians, is widely recognized as
a war chief and military strategist. He later was a be-
loved peacemaker.

Little Turtle's grave is located in a small lot at 647 Lawton
Place in Ft. Wayne. The Association received a $5,000
grant last September from the Bicentennial Celebration
Council for its Lasting Legacy project, designed by Ft.
Wayne's urban designer, Tom Cain. With other efforts,
the Association has raised $17,000 toward the project.

Let's keep items coming. When you send me something.
it'll be returned if you so request, or it will be sent to the
AGS Archives.

SOUTHEAST

Alabama, District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Maryland, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Lucy Norman Spencer
2312 North Vernon Street
Arlington, Virginia 22207

WOODLAWN CEMETERY DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

The District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review
Board has proposed Woodlawn Cemetery as a Historic
Landmar1<. From 1895 until 1971, Woodlawn was an in-
tegrated cemetery, but primarily served blacks. William
Langston Bruce, the first elected black to serve a full term
in the Senate, rests here, as do most past prominent Dis-
trict blacks. The garden style, 22.6 acres have been ne-
glected over time, and its integrity as a cemetery has
been challenged. A new perpetual care associaton was
formed, and with the support of an art organization, the
Anacostia Museum (Smithsonian), and community and
government support, activities in the schools and neigh-
borhood are creating interest in and dialogue about this
historic and scenic black landmark. It is hoped that an
interest in the care of the dead can give meaning to the
living.

COALITION TO PROTECT MARYLAND BURIAL SITES

An October workshop on the protection and preservation
of old graveyards was held in Rockville, Maryland. State-

AGSWi'94p. 18

wide participation was expected, since several organi-
zations were sponsors. Topics like historic plants and
designs and looking at the law surely pleased the partici-
pants. (Please send response and insights to be shared
in the AGS Newsletter^.)

Membership to the Coalition is $10.00: mail to P.O. Box
1533, Ellicott City, Maryland 21041-1533.

POCAHONTAS CEMETERY, VIRGINIA

An 1884 coal mine explosion put 114 miners into this
cemetery, but there are also headstones there from Ital-
ian, German, Polish, Hungarian, Greek, and Hebrew com-
munities. Samuel and Dorothy Werth of Norfolk have
been surveying and working in cemeteries for years and
began working in this one three years ago when their
nephew read about an abandoned orthodox synagogue
in the town. This is the most unusual cemetery they know.
In return for their work, the Pocahontas Historical Soci-
ety is helping to restore a previously unknown Hebrew
section which the Werths discovered.

Please send photographs of unusual headstones, and
any other material you may have.

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware, New Jersey,

New York, Pennsylvania,

Quebec

G.E.O. Czarnecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn,

New York 11235

ZURICHER STONE LOST AND FOUND

An incident took place in New York City this fall that in-
volved a gravestone. Some person or persons stole a
230 year old (1763) red sandstone gravestone, carved
in Dutch by colonial era New York City stonecutter John
Zuricher. The stone was robbed from the Flatbush Re-
formed Church in Brooklyn and was obviously taken for
a ride, because it was later reported found at 68th Street
and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. The stone was
rescued by Roberta Carroll of Manhattan, who, realizing
the value of the stone and after receiving no help from
the New York City Police Department, had the stone
carted to her residence on a hand truck. This decisive
action helped preserve this treasure from the garbage
heap, as the stone was found propped up against a com-
mercial trash disposal unit.

After many phone calls, and a lesson in the uncaring at-
titude the system has for these artifacts, she contacted
the Explorers Club, who directed her to I.F.A.R. (Interna-
tional Foundation for Art Research) at the same address.
With the help of Anna Kisluk, who knew Laurel Gabel,
AGS was contacted. Laurel in turn notified Roberta
Halporn of the Center tor Thanatology Research in Brook-
lyn, and gave her details of the find.

I had noticed the stone missing from the graveyard in
early November, while checking out the range of Zurichers
in the yard. The stone was gone, leaving a gaping hole,
somewhat like a missing tooth. When I called Roberta at
the Center, I told her of the missing Zuricher, whereupon
she told me about the reported stolen stone. It was obvi-
ous that it was the same one.

I identified the stone by going to I.F.A.R. and comparing
a rubbing I had to a rubbing and a photograph sent to
them by the stone's finder. As of this writing, the stone is
still residing at the rescuer's residence.

The church had no knowledge of the theft and in fact
probably doesn't care. The graveyard contains other
Zurichers, some of which are lying down flat and almost
completely covered with soil. There is no real attempt at
any protection and the motif bearing colonial-era stones
are down to only fourteen. To return the 230 year old
stone to its slot is, in my opinion.comparable to trashing
it. (Another Zuricher stone is featured in the 1 7th & 18th
Century column on page 2. M.L.)

OLD GRAVEYARDS, NEW VALUES

The controversy over the African Burial Ground in New
York City is basically at an end. The city granted the
area surrounding the site landmark status, the federal
office building is being built, and the small patch of lawn
that represents the graveyard itself has a sign for all to
read.

I find it odd to see a cemetery sign on the site. Several
years ago, it was a Greek restaurant with a parking lot to
the right. A Greek woman in traditional garb lounged
around a columned garden sucking on grapes held above
her mouth. This scene adorned the wall to attract cus-
tomers. Today the dead are the attraction.

Across the river in New Jersey, a similar situation is oc-
curring. The building of a performing arts center in New-
ark is being held up because a nineteenth century grave-

AGS Wi '94 p. 19

yard (probably also earlier) has been disturbed on the
site. There seem to be mixed feelings about what should
be done. Should the cemetery excavations be discon-
tinued in favor of progress and urban renewal, or should
a sense of dignity be conveyed to the estimated 813 in-
dividuals, including forty-two African-Americans, known
from historical records to be buried there? The city's
mayor, Sharpe James, is also reported to be advocating
the arts center, because it would mean major improve-
ments for Newark. One Group, the Council for the Heri-
tage of Africans in Newark (CHAIN), is the greatest sup-
porter of more research, claiming a black Revolutionary
War hero named "Cujo Jack" is buried there.

The builders are hoping to appease the public by offer-
ing a memorial on the site which was also partially a park-
ing lot since 1 966. Gravestones are absent from the yard
(Sunday Star-Ledger M9/94).

RESTORATION

On a positive note in gravestone studies is the report of
the restoration of a family burial ground in Bristol, New
York, by AGS members Jane Stone Coons and her son,
Jim Carmichael, who received help from his son, Alan,
and his friend, Ed Raymond.

Jane and Jim both attended the 1 993 AGS conference in
New London, and participated in classes on restoring and
repairing gravestones. They took this experience and
put it to work on the Doyle Family burial ground, begun
by Jane's great-great grandfather, Aaron Doyle, in 1869.
Ten stones were present, some broken but repairable,
and one was replaced with a new replica. (Canadaigua
New York Daily Messenger 1^/8/93)

The Doyle Family members have done an admirable job
in keeping a burial ground intact and presentable. These
stones were all nineteenth century white marble types
lacking motifs. Similar endeavors must be taken up by
more members in relation to our remaining colonial-era
motif bearing stones.

I would like to urge members in the fy/l id- Atlantic region
for correspondence. I will also forward copies of related
newspaper items to members upon request.

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine,

Massachusetts, New

Hampsliire, Rhode Island,

Vermont, Labrador, New

Brunswick, Newfoundland,

Nova Scotia

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street, Webster, f\/lassachusetts 01570

There is lots of catching up to do on news from the New
England States and the Canadian Maritimes. Folks have
been busy sending in clippings by the score, and to no
one's surprise, the majority of clippings seems to be made
up of two types: those about people and organizations
discovering the satisfaction and pleasure of researching
or restoring an old burying yard or gravestone, and, sadly,
an even larger number of newspaper clippings listing the
damage and vandalism to old (and new) stones in this
area. Even worse, it can be imagined that the clippings
we receive about graveyard vandalism represent only a
small sampling of all such reports.

We will report in future issues on developments regard-
ing both of these areas, for they will be with us always.
but we decided to start with some more unusual items.

Valerie Capels sends news that recently (a few years ago) ,
the town of Onwell, Vermont, decided to employ a flock of
sheep to keep the grass and bnjsh under control on the
steeply sloped Lakeview and North Orwell Road Cem-
eteries. Using gas mowers was both costly and labor
intensive, and Onwell, like most small towns, had only a
limited budget to take care of the smaller, neariy unused
cemeteries. Town Manager Noel Smith was pleased with
the results, as the sheep cropped the grass neatly and
eliminated most of the wild bmsh that was growing in the
cemeteries at a bargain price of $250 for the year.

Other Orwell residents weren't so pleased, however A
group of at least 43 residents were outraged by the
thought of sheep roaming the small graveyards and dis-
gusted by the inevitable by-products deposited here and
there. They picketed the OnA/ell town offices (I'd love to
know what the picket signs said!) and in mid-June, Ronald
Huntley, Chaiman of the Board, voted to remove the sheep
from the cemetery, at least in part because of threats made
against the safety of the animals. As a compromise,
members of the protest group vowed to keep the cem-
etery mowed. Huntley promised that if the job is not done
as agreed, he would call in the sheep again.

A Barre-Montpeller Times Argus editorial seemed to sum
AGS Wi '94 p. 20

it up neatly: "In a rural area, where those buried beneath
the headstones were country people and spent their lives
husbanding livestock, there seems to be a certain bu-
colic charm in having these peaceful animals mingle with
the graves of the deceased farmers and their kin."

Ray Cummings writes of a historically significant cem-
etery in Newport, Rhode Island, that seems to be in de-
plorable shape and rapidly worsening. He tells us that
the large cemetery on Newport's Farewell (or Fairwell)
Street, located a few hundred yards from the exit ramp of
the Newport Bridge, has stones dating from well before
the Revolution. However, many of them are toppled,
chipped, and in generally bad shape. Many of the stones
still standing show deep scarring across the inscriptions
by careless lawnmower use (perhaps they should hire
Orwell's sheep). To further complicate matters, Ray says
that evidence shows that the cemetery seems to be a
regular party site, with the debris just piling up from party
to party. Of special significance is the section at the far
north end set aside for the burial of the black slaves owned
by the richer Newport merchants. Some of these slaves
must have been well thought of by their owners who, when
the slave passed away, provided them with a modest plot
and stone. These stones are usually smaller than those
of the whites, and show only one name ("Sam" or "Henry,"
etc.), a tragic reminder of the precarious family stability
endured by these people. The stone usually gives only a
vague guess as to the age of the deceased. This is cer-
tainly a gravesite that deserves better treatment than it is
getting. It would be nice if some of our Newport mem-
bers could pursue this.

The State of Connecticut is advising interested parties
that their History and Geneology Unit will search some of
their common indexes for birth, death, and marriage dates
and places, as well as parents names and burial places,
for a $1 5 fee. They say that they will photocopy up to ten
pages of document for that fee. They do, however, warn
you that the fee is non-refundable if their search is un-
productive. For further information, you can contact the
History and Genealogy Unit, Connecticut State Library,
231 Capital Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut 06106, or con-
tact me and I will send you what I have.

And finally, from Patricia W. Belding of Barre, Vermont,
(by way of the Times Argus), some thoughts in passing
the Lincoln School while the children were out enjoying
recess,

The graveyard lies so near the school
That almost every day

The Elmwood Folk (I like to think)
Can watch the kids play.

I would certainly appreciate any clippings, thoughts, or
comments from you, as well as suggestions for upcom-
ing columns. They can be sent directly to me orto Miranda
Levin at the AGS office in Worcester.

FOREIGN EDITOR

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14
D-63322 Rodermark 2
Germany

OF GRAVES AND LAKES,
BLACK AND BLUE

My report for this issue of the Newsletter deais with two
extraordinary cemeteries. One, forthe artists who choose
to create their own grave monuments (and thereby dou-
bly immortalize themselves?) , is situated on the Blue Lake
near Kassel in Germany. The other, for people who de-
cide to have their ashes buried anonymously in a moun-
tain meadow, is near the Black Lake in Switzerland.

Kassel, Germany

In the fall of 1993, Dusseldorf sculptor Fritz Schwegler
had his future grave sculpture erected in the artists'
necropolis in the national par1< of Habichtswald, east of
Kassel (Kasseler Kunstler-Nekropole am Blauen See im
Habichtswald). It is the third monument to be installed
on the site. In spite of its disturbing break of symmetry,
with clear-cut lines and voluptuous scrolls, Schwegler's
sculpture is definitely reminiscent of a classical sarcopha-

AGSWr94p.21

gus. Depending on the observer's point of view, the
monument looks baroque and playful, firmly imbedded
in the landscape, or provoking by its disproportion. Its
effect on the passerby may be inviting, rejecting, or over-
whelming. The inscription is equally confusing. On one
long side of the sarcophagus it says: "Weiszt du, weil ich
hier bin und du bist auch hier" ("You know, because I am
here and you are here, too"). On the other:
"Lebensmude?-Abulvenz!" ("Weary of life?- Abulvenz!")

Fritz Schwegler sculpture

The first future gravesite to be established on the grounds
of the artists' necropolis was that of Timm Ulrichs. In
1992, the year of the Kassel art exhibition "documenta
9," he had the hollow cast of his body lowered upside
down into the ground. This was near the path above the
lake. He had the sculpture turned around when he real-
ized he wanted a posthumous view of the Blue Lake, so
now the cast faces the water. Those who bother to re-
move the leaves and twigs from the sheet of glass pro-
tecting the sunken cast can see its footprints.

In a nearby meadow, artist Rune Mields has joined ninety-
seven black and white square stone blocks to form a me-
andering line. Her grave sculpture quotes Monteverdi:
"La vita corre comme rivo fluente" ("Life flows like a run-
ning river").

It was the sculptor and art professor Harry Kramer who
originated the concept of a city of the dead in the na-
tional park. He wanted the monument to revert to its
place in nature. A decade passed between the inception
of the project and its execution, ten years of fighting the
usual bureaucratic odds. The concept calls for a cau-
tious extension in the years to come.

One of the most curious graveyards in Switzerland is an
alpine pasture ab)0ve the Schwarzee in the canton of
Fibourg (which may be famous to the non-Swiss as the
home of Gruyere cheese). Dialect poet and gallery owner
Franz Aebischer bought the Alp Spielmannda in the
1980's, paying 531 ,000 Swiss Francs (US $360,000) for
512 square meters (about 126 acres I think, but don't
rely on my computation). When he had trouble paying
the interest, he came upon the idea of transforming the
pasture into a cemetery for cremains. Unlike Germany
for instance, Switzerland does not have strict regulations
about the interment of crematorial urns. Thus Aebischer
declared Spielmannda (1500 meters above sea level) an
"alternative mountain cemetery" and offered eternal rest
in the solitude of his mountain meadows to anyone who
paid 1,000 Swiss Francs ($670). The first burial took
place in 1990. As of September, 1993, the ashes of
eighty-seven people had been buried, and some 150
people had signed their contract with Aebischer. There
are no gravestones, no memorial plaques, no wooden
crosses. Just nature: junipers, gentians, wild orchids,
Alpine roses, and other flowers. The owner likes to point
out that flowers and weeds grow from the ashes, which
are buried in the earth, without the urn, immediately be-
coming part of nature's cycle of regenerative growth. As
a visible symbol for the cemetery, he would like to put up
a monument of three aisty-red pyramids, atx)ut 10 feet
high. So far the Swiss federal court in Lausanne has not
granted him permission to have this monument set up.

Those who hike up to the pasture carrying the urn con-
taining the ashes of their loved ones in their rucksack are
glad to have Aebischer's assurance that the buried
cremains will be left in the ground '1or ever and ever."
This contrasts with ordinary Swiss cemeteries, which clear
plots after twenty to thirty years, depending on the mu-
nicipal regulations. On Spielmannda pasture, leases do
not expire. There is the certainty of uncertainty: places
of interment are not marked, the ashes are allowed to
mingle with the earth and the rich mountain life; individual
cremains cannot be retrieved once they have joined na-
ture.

(For my report, 1 have drawn on "Am Blauen See: Fritz
Schweglers Sarkophag," Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung,13 November 1993, and on "Auf der Alp
Spielmannda is die ewige Ruhe paradiesisch," Frankfurter
Rundsctiau ,1 September 1 993. I would like to thank my
friend, Monika Rak, for sending me clippings of such
grave matters as these.)

Sctiwarzsee, Switzerland

AGS Wi '94 p. 22

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR GRAVESHELTERS

January 1994

Compiled by Barbara Rotundo

*Bellous, Betty Marie. "More About Graveshelters," News-
letter of the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Vol. 14, No. 1 (Winter 1989/90), pp. 1-3.

"'Cemetery News Notes," [Alcorn County, Mississippi],
American Cemetery. (February 1993), p. 46.

*Crawford, Sybil. "Graveshelters," [Arkansas], Newslet-
ter of the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Vol. 13, No. 3 (Summer 1989), p. 19.

*Jeane, Donald G. "The Traditional Upland South Cem-
etery," Landscape. Vol. 18, No. 2 (1969), pp.
39-41 .

*Jeane, Gregory. "Cemetery Traditions," American Cem-
etery. (June 1982), pp. 18-22.

. "Rural Southern Gravestones," Mark-

ers IV. (-[987), pp. 55-84.

*Jordan, Terry G. Texas Graveyards. Austin: University
of Texas Press. 1988.

*Joslin, Linda W. [Request for information about Arkan-
sas], Newsletter of the Association for Grave-
stone Studies. Vol. 11 , No. 4 (Fall 1987), p. 7.

*"La Pointe Indian Cemetery," Inscriptions [Wisconsin
State Old Cemetery Society]. Vol. 21 , No. 4 (Au-
gust 1992), n.p.

*Mires, Maynard. "Grave Sheds of Chippewa/Ojibway
Indians of Madeline Island," Newsletter of the
Association for Gravestone Studies. Vol. 15, No.
3 (Summer 1991), pp. 18-19.

*"More on Southern Graveshelters," Newsletter of the
Association for Gravestone Studies. Vol. 15, No.
1 (Winter 1990/91), p. 10.

Potter, Elizabeth Walton and Beth M. Boland. Guide-
lines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries
and Burial Places: National Register Bulletin #4 1.
United States Department of the Interior, 1992.

poles; in tribal custom used to contain burial of-
ferings and shelter the spirit of the dead; also
grave house.

*Reyson, Margaret I. [Ekiutna, Alaska, probably a news
clipping] Newsletter of the Association for Grave-
stone Studies. Vol. 12, No. 1 (Winter 1987/88),
p. 25.

'Sexton, Rocky. "Don't Let the Rain Fall on My Face:
French Louisiana Gravehouses in an Anthropo-
geographical Context," Material Culture. Vol. 23,
No. 3 (Fall 1991), pp. 31-46.

'Contains at least one picture

OTHER ITEMS NOT AT HAND

Ball, Donald B. "Observations on the Form and Function
of Mid-Tennessee Gravehouses," Journal of the
Tennessee Anthropological Association. Vol. 2,
No. 1 (Spring 1977), pp. 29-62.

Campbell, John C. The Southern Highlander and His
Homeland [Uom Crawford above).

Cantrell, Brent. "Traditional Grave Structures on the East-
ern Highland Rim," Tennessee Folklore Society
Bulletin. Vol. 3, No. 6 (1978), pp. 93-103.

Cobb, James E. "Supplementary Information on

Gravehouses in Tennessee," Tennessee Anthro-
pological Association Newsletter Vol. 3, No. 6
(1978), pp. 4-7.

Corn, Jack. "Covered Graves, " Kentucky Folklore Record.
Vol. 23, No. 1 (1977), pp. 34-37.

Cozzens, Arthur B. "A Cherokee Graveyard," Pioneer
America. Vol. 4, No. 1 (January 1972), p. 8.

Ellsworth, Lucius F. and Jane E. Dysart. "West Florida's
Forgotten People: the Creek Indians from 1830
Until 1970," Florida Historical Quarterly Vol. 59,
No. 4 (April 1981), pp. 422-39.

Jeane, Donald G. 'The Upland South Cemetery," Jour-
nal of Popular Culture. Vol. 11 (1978), pp. 895-
90.

Glossary: Grave shelter — A rectangular, roofed
structure usually of wood, covering a gravesite,
enclosed by boards or slats or supported by

AGS Wi "94 p. 23

Price, Beulah M. D'Olive. "The Custom of Providing Shel-
ter for Graves," Mississippi Quarterly. Vol. 7, No.
1 (1973), pp. 8-10.

From the

PRESIDENT'S DESK

Rosalee Oakley
President

19 Hadley Place
Hadley,
Massachusetts 01035

BOARD NEWS

The members of the Board of Trustees were asked to
develop, individually, a statement of their vision for AGS,
enumerating both short-term and long-term goals. Indi-
vidual responses have been consolidated to produce a
list of suggestions to fulfill their collective "visions."

Here is a sampling of some of the suggestions they made:

1. Add paid staff positions — Archivist/Librarian,
Educational Director, Fund-raiser.

2. Increase informational offerings — audio tapes,
video tapes, book of teaching resources, list of on-
going research by members, registry of signed
gravestones.

3. Develop computer standards for database col-
lections.

4. Create a traveling photo exhibit.

5. Develop new sales items.

6. Newsletter — include items of interest from
greater geographical range; increase to six issues
per year.

7. Membership development — increase member-
ship, service present members well.

8. Plan for a permanent home for AGS.

Over the next year, the Board will discuss these possi-
bilities and eventually develop goals and plans for ac-
complishing those which are the most promising.

I would like to invite all members to join in this process.
By sharing your ideas about what you would like AGS to
accomplish in the next one to five years, you will be add-
ing to the "possibilities" developed by the Trustees.
Please send your Visions Statement in time for inclusion
in our discussion of the consolidated list at our April 23
Board meeting. Our Visions Collector, Virginia Rockwood,
124 Briar Way, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301, is ea-
ger to receive your ideas.

TRUSTEES HOLD FALL BOARD MEETING

On November 6, the new Board of Trustees met for the
first time since the Annual Meeting In June. Eighteen of
the twenty-two members were present. By the end of
the meeting in the mid-afternoon, the Board had dealt
with topics ranging from the next four years' conferences
to approving committee appointments, to hearing reports
from a number of those committees who had been hard
at work since June. They had raised dues, approved
staff hours and salaries for 1994, approved new com-
puter equipment for the office, filled two unexpired terms
with new Board members, approved an advertising policy
for the Newsletter, created a new membership category,
and set wheels in motion for a fund appeal — all in all a
busy day!

NEW BOARD MEMBERS

We were pleased to appoint Joe Edgette of Glenolden,
Pennsylvania, and John Sterling of East Greenwich,
Rhode Island, to fill the Board's unexpired terms. The
Nominating Committee is at work filling a slate of nomi-
nees for our spring election.

MEMBERSHIP

While dues were raised March 1, 1994, by $5 for Indi-
vidual, family, and institutional memberships and $1 0 for
supporting memberships, a new individual membership
category was also instituted at the current $20 for per-
sons over 65 and full-time students.

NEWSLETTER

The Newsletter Committee reported plans to get the
Newsletter out on a regular schedule and make a smooth
transition between Deb Trask's editorship and the new
arrangement for in-house production. Regional editors
have agreed to make your articles and news clippings
into a regional column. Topical editors will be soliciting
your assistance in creating informative and helpful col-
umns. There is always a need for feature articles with
photos.

To facilitate the work of our office staff in producing the
masters forthe Newsletter, new computer equipment has
been purchased.

AGS Wi '94 p. 24

As you may be aware, our newsletters have been be-
hind schedule this year because our editor's paying job
at the Nova Scotia Museum has been severely affected
by Canada's economic situation, increasing her wor1<load
and requiring her to travel frequently. So you will be re-
ceiving this Winter issue on the heels of the Fall issue.
This Winter issue will be slightly behind our new sched-
ule (but within the first quarter) and the Spring issue
should bring us even with our projected production plans
to have the master to the printer by January 1 , March 1 ,
June 1 , and September 1 .

STAFF HOURS INCREASED

Our Executive Director has been employed for twenty
hours a week for the past two years, with a clerical assis-
tant wor1<ing ten hours per week. This summer, several
circumstances conspired to produce a serious work over-
load, so the Personnel Committee has been working with
the staff to reorder office procedures. A new emphasis
on volunteer involvement in certain aspects is one
change, writing job descriptions for each staff person,
the trustees and officers is another, and an increase of
five hours per week for both the Executive Director and
Clerical Assistant beginning January ,1 994, should all help
to expedite the work done in the office.

MEMBER APPEAL

Because bringing the Newsletter "in house" has made
office equipment upgrading imperative, an appeal to the
membership will be sent early in 1994 for an additional
contribution to provide a special fund to cover office equip-
ment expenses, the computer hardware and software
upgrades, and other office machines. The fund will be
separately accounted for and spent entirely for this pur-
pose.

OFFICE NOTES

Miranda Levin, Executive Director

AGS, 30 Elm Street

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

NEWSLETTER

We've been spending a lot of time on the Newsletter lately,
as we continue to fine-tune the production process. We
will be starting work on the Spring issue as soon as this
goes to the printer. After that, the Newsletter m\\ be pro-
duced on a regular schedule. For more details on sched-
uling and deadlines, see the front cover.

While we're working the bugs out on the production end,
I hope you'll take the time to give me your input on the
content. The editors that we've assembled delve into top-
ics which we think are of interest to you, but the subject
matter is by no means exhaustive. Do you have any ideas
on subjects you'd like to see, either regularly or occa-
sionally? Would you like to write something, but aren't
sure where it fits in? Some of the ideas I've received
recently which could be run regularly, sometimes, or not
at all, depending on the response, are: columns on epi-
taphs, the people underneath the gravestones (I couldn't
think of a good way to say this, but the stories of those
buried -you know what I mean!), and a Slide Swap. And
we will run as features those articles that don't seem to fit
into any of our departments, such as the Gender article
on page eleven of this issue. What do you think? Let me
know!

MARKERS XI

Markers XI is here. If you were a Supporting or Life
Member in 1993, you should have your copy — please
let us know If you haven't gotten it yet.

WINTER BOARD MEETING SCHEDULED

At our February 5th meeting, we will be planning for the
'94 Chicago conference, considering nominees for the
Forbes Award, approving the slate of Trustees and offic-
ers for 1995, and hearing reports and recommendations
from various committees.

OTHER NEW PUBLICATIONS

If you've gotten Markers Xlor any of our publications lately,
you've probably already seen our new publications list.
We've added a bunch of things this year, including sev-
eral new items on graveyard preservation (see the Con-
servation and Review columns for some of them), sev-
eral books by Richard Meyer, 1993 conference t-shirts,
and the 1 993 conference guide. If you would like a copy
of the new publications list, let us know and we'll send
one out to you.

AGS Wi '94 p. 25

NOTES AND QUERIES

AGS Office

30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

From Scott Robson:

This watercolor drawing appears to be a proposal for
a grave plot and marker because the name of the
sculptors is included on the base of the marker: "Kent
& Fuller." Does anyone know where Kent & Fuller
operated? The name of the deceased is "Charlotte
M. Harris, wife of Michael A. Hogan, died October
1st 1854, aged 46 years." The name of the artist is
"Aug. Rauschenbach."

This has been offered to the Nova Scotia Museum.
It does not appear to be Nova Scotian. If we can
identify its source, perhaps it can be placed in a mu-
seum in that area. If you have any thoughts about
this, please contact Scott Robson, Curator, History
Collections, Museum Services, Nova Scotia Mu-
seum, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia,

Phone; (902) 424-7374,
FAX (902) 424-0560.

From Cynthia Mills:

For my doctoral dissertation at the University of Mary-
land, I am interested in locating any funerary monuments
that appear to have been influenced by the Adams Me-
morial, which was designed by the sculptor Augustus
Saint-Gaudens and erected in Washington D.C. in 1 891 .
I am also interested in correspondence or diary entries
from the 1890s to 1930s thai mention the memorial or
describe visits to see it.

Cynthia Mills

205 Dogwood Avenue

Tacoma Park, Maryland 20912.

From Laurel Gabel:

WANTED! INFORMATION REGARDING COATS OF
ARMS ON GRAVESTONES. CAN YOU HELP?

I am currently doing research for an article about New
England gravestones which bear coats of arms or other
heraldic designs. My purpose is to compile a complete
list of these markers and to obtain photographic docu-
mentation of as many of the stones as possible. If you
are aware of any gravestones, burial vault plaques, table-
top tombs, funeral hatchments, or other burial-related
objects that display heraldic devices, I would be grateful
for the information. Thank you in advance for any assis-
tance you can offer. Laurel Gabel, 205 Fishers Road,
Pittsford, New York 14534, or phone collect (716) 248-
3453.

AGS Wi '94 p. 26

Cemeteries for Tourists

The Travel section of The New York Times on Sunday,
October 24, 1993, had a notice of Hartford's new Victo-
rian Trail. The editor chose as the sole illustration a pic-
ture of a pyramidal tomb at Cedar Hill Cemetery, one of
the stops on the trail. The travel editor obviously thinks
cemeteries are interesting, and so do we.

Is there anything you should be doing to persuade your
local Chamber of Commerce or your historical society to
include a cemetery or burial ground among local attrac-
tions? And if you have published a map or guide to such
a feature, be sure those institutions know and care about
it. Perhaps they would even print a simple, cut version
for their publicity packets. Remember, in the case of cem-
eteries and gravestones, publicity is essential to recog-
nition, and thus is an important part of the education pro-
cess. Barbara Rotundo

Massachiusetts SOS! Update

The Newsletter has published several notices about the
SOS! (Save our Sculpture!) survey, along with some ex-
pressions of dissatisfaction that the only cemetery sculp-
ture that would be included was work by established art-
ists. Perhaps our protests have softened the resolve of
the national committee, because it is now accepting up
to 1 00 nominations of cemetery sculpture from each state.
However, the SOS! survey in Massachusetts will include
as complete a listing as possible of all three-dimensional
cemetery monuments. While few entries can be passed
on to the central file in Washington D.C., the Massachu-
setts Historical Commission will keep every submission
in its files. If you are interested in working on such a
survey in Massachusetts, please send your name, ad-
dress, and phone number to Lynne M. Spencer, Box 58,
Nahant, Massachusetts 01908, or telephone Massachu-
setts SOS! National Memorial Trust (508) 791-9100.

Call for Papers

The "Cemeteries and Gravemarkers" Permanent Sec-
tion of the American Culture Association is seeking pro-
posals for its paper session scheduled for the ACA's 1 995
Annual Meeting, to be held April 12-15 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Topics are solicited from any appropriate
disciplinary perspective. Those interested are encour-
aged to send a 250 word abstract or proposal by Sep-
tember 1 , 1994, to the section chair: Richard E. Meyer,
English Department, Western Oregon State College,
Monmouth, Oregon 97361 . Phone: (503) 838-8362 or
FAX: (503) 838-8474.

From Michael McNerney:

Pope County

I am currently locating and recording anthropomorphic-
style gravestones in rural Pope County in southern Illi-
nois (see map). I recently recorded an epitaph that is
only partially legible:

PRINCES THE CLAY MUST

BE YOUR BED IN B-E

DEATH YOUR TOWARS

THE TOAL THE WISE THE REVERENT

MUST LAY AS LOW AS OURS

The stone mar1<s the grave of Jane Henderson Ellis, who
was born in 1808. There is no death date; however, in
this region, the anthropomorphic style was most popular
during the 1830s. Is there anyone who is familiar with
this verse and could provide a more complete transla-
tion? Thanks for your help. Michael J. McNerney, Ameri-
can Resources Group, Ltd., 127 North Washington,
Carbondale, Illinois 62901.

Frankie Bunyard

Many AGS members will be saddened to learn of the
death of artist/stonecarver Frankie Bunyard on May 21,
1993. Frankie died at the Seacoast Hospice in Exeter,
New Hampshire, after a lengthy battle with cancer. She
was an internationally recognized letter carver who worked
in both granite and slate. Although perhaps best known
in the northeast for her corporate and medical entry-ways,
Frankie also hand carved many beautiful slate grave-
stones and memorial plaques and was an active mem-
ber of AGS. Frankie Wills Bunyard was bom in Dousland,
England, in 1925, and graduated from Edinburgh Col-
lege of Art in Scotland before emigrating to the United
States in 1952. She is survived by an extended family,
many friends - and her remarkable art.

Memorial donations in Frankie's name may be made to
the Seacoast Hospice, 10 Hampton Road, Exeter, New
Hampshire 03833.

AGS Wi '94 p. 27

CALENDAR

The Friends of Mount Auburn is pleased to present tlie following programs:

Saturday, March 26, 2:00-3:30: The Great Fire of 1872: a slide lecture with Dierdre Morris, Local Historian.

Saturday, April 2, 2:00-3:30: Annie Fields: Social Reformer: a lecture with Barbara Rotundo, Mount Auburn Cemetery

historian, author, and Professor Emeritus of English, State University of New York, Albany.

For more information, contact Friends of Mount Auburn, Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge,

Massachusetts 02138. Telephone: 617-864-9646.

June 1-4, 1994 National Genealogical Society: Fifteenth Annual Conference in the States George R Brown Conven-
tion Center, Houston, Texas. For more information, contact: Trevia Wooster Beverly, 2507 Tannehill, Houston, Texas 77008-
3052. Telephone: (713)864-6862.

The Jewish Heritage Council is offering the following summer course:

June 6 - July 7: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Venice: An Introduction to Conservation (3 credits undergraduate and

graduate). This course teaches cemetery documentation and conservation methods that are applicable worldwide through

the in-depth examination of the condition of the Venice cemetery and its individual stones.

Other courses available. For more information, contact the World Monuments Fund — Jewish Heritage Council, 174 East

80th Street, New York, New York 10021. Telephone: (212) 517-9367.

After the next issue, (Spring '94), we will be publishing this Newsletter on a regular schedule, and we welcome calendar items. Since the
Spring issue will be almost ready for the printer by the time you get this, we will begin accepting items for the Calendar beginning with the
Summer '94 issue. The deadline for this issue is May 1, and the issue will be mailed around June 15, so please plan accordingly when
sending us time-sensitive material. Send all Calendar listings to the AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership
year begins the month dues are received, and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles the members to four
issues of the Newsletter Send membership fees (Senior/Student, $20; Individual, $25; Institutional, $30; Family, $35; Support-
ing, $60; Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Back issues
of the Newsletter are available for $3. 00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to present timely informa-
tion about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the activities of the Association. Suggestions and
contributions from readers are welcome. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to
Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western
Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massa-
chusetts 01609 or FAX us at 508-753-9070. Order Markers (current volume, XI, $28 to members, $32.50 to non-members; back
issues available) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland,
Massachusetts 01778. Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, AGS, 30 Elm Street. Worcester.
Massachusetts 01609, or call 508-831-7753.

=^^^^ ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester, Massachusetts
01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester, MA

AGS Wi -94 p. 28

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME 18 NUMBER 2 SPRING 1994 ISSN: 01 46-5783

CONTENTS

Topical Columns:

17th & 18th Century 2

19th & 20th Century 3

Gravestones & Computers 5

Conservation News 5

Review Column

Three Cemetery Histories

review by Barbara Rotundo 8

Points of Interest 9

"Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen! The A/eiv Vor/c T/Vnes Fouls Up" by Roberta Halporn 12

Regional Columns:

Northwest & Far West 16

Southwest 17

Midwest 18

Southeast 19

Mid-Atlantic 19

New England/Maritime 20

Foreign 21

From the President's Desk/Board News 24

Office Notes 25

Notes & Oueries 26

Calendar 28

THE DEADLINE FOR THE FALL ISSUE IS SEPTEMBER 1 !

This is our final catch-up issue.

The summer issue will be in production as soon as this issue is mailed,

so we are accepting contributions for our Fall issue. The deadline is September 1 .

For Calendar submissions, please see page 28.

AGS Sp '94 p. 1

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th CENTURY
GRAVESTONES & CARVERS
Ralph Tucker

Box 414, Georgetown, Maine
04548

A SAMPLE GRAVESTONE

A miniature gravestone measur-
ing only 14" by 7" is not only an
unusual find, it also unlocks a
longstanding problem in a fam-
ily of stonecutters. Thiis unusual
situation came about when the
current residents of the house
formerly occupied by Noah Pratt,
Jr. were rooting about in their at-
tic. They found the stone and
attempted to discover what it
could be, as it was too small to
be a real gravestone and didn't
have the usual name and letter-
ing. It is either a carver's prac-
tice stone or, more likely, a dem-
onstration stone used to show
the carver's work.

The stone (Figure 1) not only contains the
first sixteen letters of the alphabet and the date
1787, but also the carver Noah Pratt's name as well
as three of the typical heads used by the Pratt family.
There are two female heads, each with a tight bonnet of
the day, and one male head with what appears to be a
wig. The scribe lines for the lettering are clear, and the
borders are typical and well preserved.

Peter Benes, the first to write about the family, was of the
opinion that Lt. Nathaniel Pratt of Abington, Massachu-
setts, was a carver. This was based on a misleading pro-
bate record. Later, Vincent Luti, while studying the work
of carver John New, formed the opinion that Noah Pratt,
Sr. (the son of Lt. Nathaniel) had learned to carve from
John New, and the stones in the Abington area dated
before 1767 were to be attributed to either John New or
Noah Pratt, Sr. When John New left the area in 1767,
the stones all were to be attributed to Noah Pratt, Sr.
Through a study of the genealogical and historical records,
it would appear that Noah Pratt, Sr.'s sons, Robert and
Noah, Jr., worked in the shop as they came of age. In
1780, Noah Pratt, Jr. married and moved to North

Yarmouth (now Freeport),
Maine, where he lived tor ten
years, and carved gravestones
there. Upon his brother Robert's
death in 1791 . Noah, Jr. retumed
to Abington and continued the
family carving business with his
son, Cyrus Pratt.

More than forty Noah Pratt, Jr
stones have been located in the
Freeport, Maine, area and can
be used to identify his particular
style and lettering. It must be
noted, unfortunately, that the
large red stone used in Massa-
chusetts was not available in
Maine, so Noah used a poor
quality slate which weathers
poorly. All of the existing stones
have been photographed so that
the local historical society has a
good record.

Noah, Jr. never carved whole fig-
ures or three quarter figures hav-
ing arms and legs as did his fa-
ther. He did carve a few heads
in side view (Figure 2) and an oc-
casional stone with a large heart-
shaped frame for the inscription.
He was one of the few carvers using
heads that had no wings. He never carved neoclassical
pillars, urns, or other such impedimenta. While his grave-
stones show little variety, they are unique, and when not
disintegrated they stand out. The sample stone is toily a
work of folk art.

■jm&jFM

W^ajwL

mmo:p

Mf'M

Figure 1

Figure 2
Samuel Bartoll (1786) Freeport, Maine

AGS Sp "94 p. 2

19th & 20th CENTURY GRAVESTONES
Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Getting The Image Onto The Stone

by Harvard Wood III (nagged, prodded, and pushed by B. R.)

People all over the United States are beginning to select
fortheir gravestones personal images that are meaning-
ful in their lives rather than choose from the array of con-
ventional symbols. Portraits, motorcycles, historic
houses, or anything that can be photographed may ap-
pear on stones today. How is this possible? Somehow
the magic word laser fills the public imagination. People
have come to believe that whatever needs to be cut, from
lacy valentines to cataracts in the eye, can benefit from
laser beams. However, laser does not cut gravestones;
other advanced technologies have made these detailed,
realistic images possible.

We'll get to those in a minute, but first here is a quick

review of the methods of carving that have been used
over the years, tracing the progression from one type to
another, if progress it is. First came the chisel and ham-
mer or mallet, a method that remained unchanged for
centuries. (And is still in use today, as demonstrated at
the 1981 conference in Slorrs, Connecticut, and again at
the 1990 conference in Bristol, Rhode Island.) At the
end of the nineteenth century, with steam power to run
air compressors, craftsmen started to use pneumatic tools
which replaced the hammer blows that took so much
human energy and time. (Not that these are easy to use,
as some members discovered when they had a chance
to try one at Shaftsbury during our 1982 conference based
in Williamstown, Massachusetts.) Finally, in the 1920s,
a gradual changeover to sandblasting began, which was
so much faster that it was used for all routine work while
the slower, earlier methods were reserved for very spe-
cial (and expensive) projects.

The pneumatic tools used the same principle as the chisel,
since a sharp edge and a heavy blow cut out the stone.
Sandblasting was different. Here is an explanation from

AGS Sp '94 p. 3

a leaflet published in the 1930s by a supplier of what
they claimed was a superior sand. "Sandblasting is a
peening process, by which particles of stone are dislodged
and removed by the clean-cut blow of the tiny abrasive
"bullets" as shot out of the nozzle by the force of com-
pressed air. Each little bullet acts like a tiny, round-nosed
peening hammer."

Sandblasting had been around for a generation before
someone thought to try to use it to cut images and epi-
taphs on gravestones. The word "sandblasting" makes
historic preservationists cringe, because for a long time
it was used to clean paint off old brick walls. In removing
the paint, it also removed the harder outer layer of brick,
leaving the more porous inner core exposed to the ele-
ments. Of course it was that very characteristic that made
it a valuable method for cutting into gravemarkers. It was
an efficient technique and much cheaper and faster than
the methods used previously.

In sandblasting, a stencil or mat is laid over the stone
with the letters, numbers, and any image cut out. Monu-
ment companies can and do use women to draw the de-
signs and cut the stencils, but men traditionally continue
to handle the stones and the compressor, which shoots
the sand at the stone left uncovered by the stencil.

Unfortunately, whatever the tool, any cutting of granite,
which is about 25% silica quartz, will create dust, and the
faster the work, the more dust will be in the air breathed
by the worker. Today, individual workers will use sand-
blasting only when adding a date, or name and dates, to
a stone already set in a cemetery. In the shop, the stone
is placed in a large sealed "box" and a machine moves
back and forth automatically shooting sand at the stone.
Furthermore, the "sand" used in the shops is aluminum
oxide, which has a less troublesome physiological effect
on the lungs. In the old days, the worry of the workers
was getting sand in their hair. The accompanying picture
shows how they protected their heads. My grandfather
is the man in the bow tie holding the bicycle.

Obviously, if you need a stencil to protect the surface
that is not to be cut, it will be difficult to cut multiple fine
lines or dots such as would make up a photograph or any
kind of image with shading. To solve this problem, monu-
ment makers have again borrowed techniques that have
been around for a while and used for other purposes.

The most commonly used new device is a small electric
vibra-tool with a carbide steel tip like a pencil point. The
artist in effect scratches the surface of polished black

granite, exposing the lighter unpolished stone to create
fine lines and the effect of shading.

Another method for getting the detailed pictures onto
stone is a screen print where the cutting is done by acid.
The stone surface is covered with a mat, or screen, made
of a latex -type substance. It is this mat that might be cut
by laser, not the stone itself.

There are now various processes by which the design
cutting is controlled by a computer that has scanned the
photograph to be copied. In each of these specialized
techniques, the names, dates, and other parts of the epi-
taph are cut by the cheaper, quicker sandblasting method,
often using computer cut stencils.

Barbara Rotundo thinks this bare-bones account Is all
most of you need or want to know. If you have further
questions, please send them to me and I will try to an-
swer them.

Harvard Wood III
6400 Baltimore Avenue
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania19050

ADVERTISING IN THE NEWSLETTER !!!???

Beginning with the summer '94 issue, we are ac-
cepting a limited amount of advertising for the AGS
Newsletter. Ads will be on a limited basis, and will
only be accepted for gravestone-related Items and
services. Also, please note that the ad prices be-
low are charter prices. They are subject to change
at any time, and probably will change after the first
couple of issues.

Charter Prices:
Business card size ad $1 5

1/4 page ad $25

1/2 page ad $45

full page $85

There is an additional charge for artwork.
Deadlines:
Fall issue September 1

Winter issue December 1

Spring issue Febnjary 1

For more information, call the AGS office at (508)
831-7753. If you want to place an ad, send ad and
check (payable to AGS) to: AGS, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

AGS Sp '94 p. 4

GRAVESTONES
AND COMPUTERS
John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way
East Greenwich,
Rhode Island 02818

Dan and Jessie Farber have collected 14,987 gravestone
photographs of 9,356 different gravestones. The collec-
tion includes:

13,142 photographed by the Farbers 1958-1993.
1,259 photographed by Harriette Forbes 1904-1950.
586 photographed by Ernest Caulfield 1950-1960.

These photos have all been computer scanned with a
very high quality flat bed scanner. These pictures are
being combined with statistics about the gravestones and
put onto CD-ROM disks. The disks will be distributed
later this year by Digital Collections, Inc., Berkeley, Cali-
fornia.

The photos can be viewed on the screen and printed on
paper. I am told the quality of the images is superb, both
on screen and printed. The real benefit for research is
that gravestone photos can be called to the screen for
side-by-side comparison, either in pairs or small groups.
This can be done for stones from the same location or
time period, for stones by the same carver, or for stones
with the same motif (s) . It is possible to zoom in and zoom
out to study small details.

The scanning process is now complete. The image files
are being processed so they can be written to the CD-
ROM. At this point we do not know the price, availability
date, or the exact equipment requirements. This is an
exciting use of computer technology aiding in gravestone
studies. I will keep you updated on this project through
this newsletter.

In keeping with this column's practice of making grave-
stone related software available at nominal cost, I have
found a text file containing a tremendous amount of data
for the 1 ,259 Forbes photographs. Jessie Farber has
entered into a Macintosh spread sheet the name, title,
family, relationship, death date, age, location of stone, its
shape, material, condition, date photographed, ornamen-
tal motifs, verse, carver (if known), whether signed and/
or probated, lettering characteristics, and more. This file
is in ASCII (text) format, tab delimited. It can be read
with a spreadsheet program (Lotus, Quatro Pro or Ex-
cel), a database program (dBASE, Fox Pro, etc.) or with
a text editor or word processor. Jessie can supply the

AGSSp

file to you on either Macintosh or IBM format.

To order the disk, send $9.95 to:
AGS

30 Elm Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

Most cemeteries do not have funds to computerize their
records, but there are three of which I am aware. In 1 993,
the Albany Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York, com-
puterized its 125,000 burials, dating back to 1845. The
Rhode Island Veteran's Memorial Cemetery computer-
ized its 8,500 burials and 5,000 reservations in 1991.
Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island, com-
puterized its 38,000 burials and 20,000 cremations in
1990.

When a cemetery has computerized, it is easy to find an
individual and related individuals' monuments. It is also
possible to quickly develop a list of gravestones in a date
range of interest and their location within the cemetery.
If anyone is aware of a cemetery in their area that has
recently computerized, please let me know.

CONSERVATION NEWS

Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

CIVIL WAR VETERAN'S MONUMENT RESTORED

Your conservation editor's attention was drawn to a news-
paper article in the Springfield [Massachusetts] Union
News of August 31 ,1993. It told a compelling story of a
group of people in Greenfield, Massachusetts, determined
to restore a vandalized gravestone. A four-column pho-
tograph of Gary Earls, Carol Barnes, and Dave Martineau
of the Pioneer Valley Civil War Round Table showed them
gathered around the vandalized gravestone of Frederick
W. Potter, private, Co. G, 10 Reg. M.V., who died Janu-
ary 6, 1865, "of wounds received in the defense of his
country at Spottsylvania" [Virginia].

Since the persons were named in the article, it was simple
enough to reach Mr. Earls by telephone and to offer help
in mending the broken stone. Several weeks later, we
held a "mini-conservation wor1<shop" in the cemetery with
Earls and Barnes. Fortunately, the break was clean and
no significant amount of material was lost. The lower
part was sound, plumb, and level. Thus an adhesive re-
pair "in situ" was possible.

'94 p. 5

The first task was to wash both pieces of the stone. Hav-
ing learned that there was no water available in the cem-
etery, gallon containers of water were part of the sup-
plies and equipment marshalled for the operation. Mi-
nor soiling was removed first by "dry brushing" with a soft
bristle brush followed by gentle scrubbing with plain wa-
ter.

Dry matching the broken part to the lower part confirmed
an excellent fit. Pencil marks were used to locate two
points, each about one-third of the distance from the side
edges, centered in the stone's 1 1/2" thickness, for drill-
ing two pairs of matching holes to insert 3/8" threaded
nylon bolts (bolt heads removed) for greater strength at
the site of the break. A 9/1 6" masonry drill bit marked to
a depth of 1 1/8" inches was fitted into a battery-powered
drill, there being no electric service available. Four holes
were drilled in the soft marble, the dust blown out, pins
inserted, and the two parts assembled to check the fit.
Since the diameter of the drilled holes is larger than the
diameter of the pins, final adjustment can be easily man-
aged to get the edges and face of the two parts aligned.

Both meeting surfaces were washed sequentially with
water, denatured alcohol, and finally with acetone. Sur-
faces should not be touched following application of ac-
etone, which has two functions: as an oil (resulting from
human contact) remover and as a drying agent.

One packet of CP Bond Epoxy was "kneaded" in its plastic
envelope. The drilled holes were filled to about one-half

their depth with the epoxy and the nylon pins inserted.
Next the remaining epoxy was applied to within an eighth
inch of the edges to reduce "squeeze-out" when the joined
surfaces were assembled. An acid brush was a real help
in this process.

When assembling the broken piece to the lower part, a
popsicle stick was used to guide the pins into the drilled
holes. With the play provided by drilling the holes larger
than the pins, it was easy to match the edges and face.
Some epoxy did "squeeze out." It was removed with a
popsicle stick and a soft cloth saturated with acetone.

To stabilize the repair, a bracket was assembled span-
ning the repaired area. One-size-fits-all brackets are
made using 1" x 2" strapping about 40" long with holes
drilled at 2"intervals from end to end. Threaded metal
rod cut to 6" lengths and fitted with nuts and flat washers
on each end provide sufficient flexibility for most applica-
tions. The same material cut to 36" lengths along with
some shorter pieces cut and sharpened at one end for
stakes are excellent for bracing where needed. Inexpen-
sive material and simple construction make these brack-
ets and braces both reusable and expendable. More
elaborate clamps tend to rust when exposed to the ele-
ments and are exposed to potential theft.

The total cost for repairing this historically valuable marble
stone was $10.00 and about one hour's time, including
instructions. I was very pleased to be invited by Gary
Earls and Carol Barnes to assist them in conserving this
stone.

THOSE WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS?

Would you believe that instmctions for cleaning monu-
ments (gravestones) were published over eighty years

AGS Sp -94 p. 6

before we had A Graveyard Preservation Primer ? And
that vandalism was an issue? The Cemetery Handbook,
published in 1907 by the Park and Cemetery Publishing
Company of Madison, Wisconsin, helped cemetery man-
agers of that era with conservation techniques. Here are
their instructions for cleaning stains from granite and
marble and removing match-scratches (made by sulphur-
tipped matches):

For granite, the recommended concoction for removing
stains was a mixture of pineapple juice, rhubarb juice,
salts of lemon, with milk sprinkled over salt and allowed
to sour on the stain. Quantities of each ingredient were
not given, nor is there a description of the resultant as-
sault on one's olfactory glands.

An early caution, as relevant today as then, was to avoid
using acids to clean marble monuments. Javelle Water
(today's Clorox) was a popular stain remover for marble.
For those who wanted to concoct the brew themselves,
the formula is quite specific:

Put one pound of washing soda in an enamel or agate
pan (never in an aluminum one) and add one quart of
boiling water. Then in a similar utensil, put one-half pound
of chloride of lime and add to It two quarts of cold water.
Stir and allow to stand for several hours. Pour the clear
liquid of the chloride of lime solution Into the soda solu-
tion. Bottle and label this mixture and store In a dark
place.

(And heaven help anyone who forgets it is there!)

For those of our readers who remember how their grand-
fathers struck their matches on their shoe soles or trou-
ser legs (stretched tight to improve friction), it would come
as no surprise that "loafers or rowdies" often used
gravemarkers as a convenient means to strike a light.
Removing match scratches was most effectively accom-
plished by using raw horseradish. A less odiferous
method was rubbing the offending scratches with a cut,
raw potato.

Anyone engaged in cleaning gravestones should be re-
lieved that simpler and less pungent products are now
available to us.

Excerpts from Ttie Cemetery Book were provided by
Harvard C. Wood III of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.

A SELECTED GLOSSARY (part two of four)

Organized by category, this glossary clarifies the mean-
ings of terms commonly used in the field of outdoor sculp-
ture. "Condition" appeared in the Winter '94 issue. "Treat-
ment" is below. "Sculptural Elements...." and "Process"
will be in upcoming issues.

TREATMENT

Glass Bead Peening: An air abrasive dry-blasting
method of cleaning loosely adhered particles from a sur-
face with glass beads or microspheres, propelled by com-
pressed air usually at low pressure.

Walnut Shell Blasting: An air abrasive dry-blasting
method of cleaning loosely adhered particles from a sur-
face with walnut shell powder, propelled by compressed
air usually at low pressure.

Conservation: Defined by conservators of artifacts as a
field of study that encompasses three explicit functions:
examination, preservation, and restoration.

Examination: The preliminary procedure taken to de-
termine the original structure and materials comprising
an artifact and the extent of its deterioration, alteration,
and loss.

Preservation: Action taken to retard or prevent deterio-
ration or damage of cultural property by control of its en-
vironment and/or treatment of its structure in order to
maintain it as nearly as possible in an unchanging state.

Restoration: Action taken to return a deteriorated or
damaged artifact as nearly as possible to its original form,
design, color, and function, with minimal further sacrifice
to its aesthetic and historic integrity.

Conservator: A specialist with advanced training in the
arts and sciences relating to the theoretical and practical
aspects of conservation and who is capable of supervis-
ing, advising, and practicing the three functions of con-
servation.

Repatination: To form or re-form a new colored layer on

a metal surface where the original colored layer is no

longer present; this is usually accomplished by means of

chemical treatment with or without heat following partial

or total removal of the corrosion crust.

Reprinted witti permission.

Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!)

c/o NIC, 3299 K Street NW, Suite 403, Washington, D.C.

20007.

AGS Sp '94 p. 7

BOOK REVIEW

Miranda Levin (But not for long — see note at the end of

this column.)

Jubilee: Mount Holly Cemetery,Little Rock, Arkansas,
Its First 150 Years

by Sybil Crawford. Mount Holly Cemetery Association,
Post Office Box 250118, Little Rocl<, Arkansas 72225,
1993. $35.00 plus $4.00 postage and handling. 160
pages, 90 illustrations, index.

Mourning Glory: The Story of the Lowell Cemetery

by Catherine Goodwin. Lowell Historical Society, Post
Office Box 1826, Lowell, Massachusetts 01853, 1992.
$5.95 plus $2.00 postage and handling (Massachusetts
residents must pay $.30 state sales tax). 44 pages, 65
photos, index.

Allegheny Cemetery: A Roman Landscape in Pitts-
burgh

by Walter C. Kidney. Pittsburgh Historical and Landmarks
Foundation, 1990. Order from the Allegheny Cemetery
Historical Association, 4734 Butler Street, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania 15201. $34.95 plus $2.00 postage and
handling. 156 pages, illustrated, index.

Review by Barbara Rotundo

Proof is widely available that the nation's conscience
about historic preservation is slowly spreading to include
gravestones and cemeteries. The membership of AGS
is steadily increasing, the number of queries to the office
from non-members is also rising, and the National Park
Service has published National Register Bulletin 41:
Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and
Burial Places ( 1 992) . (See Winter '94 issue, page 9. M.L.)

Surely another proof is the fact that many cemeteries are
choosing to publish their histories. Three have come my
way within the last year: Allegheny Cemetery: A Roman
Landscape in Pittsburgh by Walter C. Kidney; Jubilee:
The First 150 Years of Mount Holly Cemetery [Little Rock
Arkansas] by Sybil F. Crawford; and Mourning Glory: The
Story of the Lowell Cemetery [LovjeWMassachuseWs] by
Catherine L. Goodwin. Kidney is an architectural histo-
rian with many books to his name. The other two are
members of AGS, and both are writing a first book, but
their work is equally good and professional.

Each author has studied the local cemetery history care-
fully, reading all the minutes of meetings and other
records. However, Kidney has not mastered the back-

ground of the "Rural Cemetery Movement." He seems
not to know how rapidly the idea of a cemetery landscaped
like a garden spread, because he naively assumes that
only four had started in the thirteen years that elapsed
between the founding of Mount Auburn in 1831 and the
incorporation of Allegheny in 1844. Lowell Cemetery
dates from 1841, for instance, and Mount Holly also dates
from the forties. (Although its site was not selected with
the concept of a romantic landscape in mind, as the years
rolled by, it came to have some of the rural cemetery
characteristics in its name, in horticultural display, and in
assigning names from nature to its roads and paths.)

The tone of writing about cemeteries and gravestones
for the general public is very important. Journalists tend
to be flip and fond of puns; professionals in the funeral
business can become so solemn they put the reader to
sleep. All three of these authors hit a happy balance of
seriousness, lack of embarrassment, yet a willingness to
expose human foibles for the amusement of the reader.
Kidney tells of the pilot who landed his plane in the cem-
etery, thinking he was landing in a park; Goodwin cites
the Lowell woman who specified in her legacy that squir-
rels and mice were to be kept away from her family tomb;
while Crawford describes the city fathers wrestling with
gambling and assignations at Mount Holly.

Each book has a special section on the gravestones that
are important because of their splendor or because of
the famous people they memorialize. Here again Kidney
shows his limited background by effusively praising con-
ventional statues such as the allegorical figures of Faith,
Hope, and Charity. The two women give special atten-
tion to local carvers as well as widely-known sculptors
with work in their cemeteries.

Each book has an index and several maps. So far as
looks are concerned (and that has nothing to do with the
authors' responsibilities), the Allegheny story is a beauti-
ful coffee-table book with beautiful pictures, some in color
Neither of the other two has any color pictures except the
jacket for the hard-bound Mount Holly book and the cover
of Lowell's softbound story. Yet it is these last two that I
recommend to AGS members. There is real meat in them,
with information such as gravestone symbols and can/-
ing conventions that will carry over to any cemetery in
any location. The Mount Holly book is thicker contains
more purely local history, and is less generous with illus-
trations, but either book will repay reading and study.

Also of interest, but received too late for inclusion:

AGS Sp '94 p. 8

Haven in the Heart of ttie City: Ttie History of Lalie-
wood Cemetery.

by Mame Osteen. Lakewood Cemetery, 3600 Hennepin
Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408, 1992.
$20.00 plus $2.00 shipping and handling. 143 pages,
117 illustrations, index.

Mount Hope, Roctiester New York — America's First
Municipal Victorian Cemetery

by Richard O. Reisem, photographs by Frank A. Gillespie.
The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mount Hope
Avenue, Rochester, New York 14620-2752,1994. $39.95
plus $4.00 shipping and handling. 1 28 pages, 81 photos.

We have a new review editor! Eric Brock has most gen-
erously volunteered to take over this column and would
welcome your participation, either through writing reviews
or submitting material for review. As always, once re-
viewed, all material goes into the AGS Archive. Please
send letters, reviews, and material to be reviewed to Eric
Brock, Post Office Box 5877, Shreveport, Louisiana
71135-5877. M.L.

Jessie's useful observation that "some carvers cut hun-
dreds of almost identical portraits" proves that most of
the figures on eighteenth-century "portrait" stones were
not portraits but simply figural ornamentation. But Jessie's
illustration of Esther Webster, age ninety-seven, from
Bernardston, Massachusetts, proves that stonecutters
occasionally adapted their style to reflect individual facial
features. Crude as they may be, these are portraits of a
sort. Plymouth and other Massachusetts South Shore
towns warrant a closer look to see if more of the like-
nesses found on stones there are genuine portraits. AGS
member Patricia Alois! sends us a "portrait"(?) of Mary
Pratt (1767) (Figure 1) of Abington on Massachusetts'
South Shore. Could this, like some of the stones I saw in
Plymouth, be personalized depiction?

Figure 1

POINTS OF INTEREST
William Hosley

Old Abbe Road, Enfield, Connecticut 06082

With the A/eivs/effer changeover, we're still talking about
portrait stones. Jessie Lie Farber's splendid article and
illustrations of portrait stones in the Fall '93 issue raises
a few more questions about this interesting topic. As
usual, AGS members from around the country pitched in
with some exciting evidence.

About the time we ran Jessie's article on portrait stones,
I paid a visit to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and was as-
tonished by the quality and variety of "portrait" stones
there. I still wonder if some of them might be likenesses
of the deceased, or at least personalized depictions.

The Victorians used portraiture on monuments more con-
vincingly. Photography made it possible for the stone-
cutter to make a portrait long after the deceased was
gone. AGS member Wayne Mori of Dunkirk, New York,
wrote in about the Frank Hubbard stone (1886)

in Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling, West Virginia. Over
the years I've seen dozens of Victorian stones (1850s-
1880s) cut with panels to receive framed photographs-
daguerreotypes and tintypes. Until now I'd only seen one
that survived. Wayne tells us that "unfortunately, the im-
age can no longer be made out, but the frame is there
and the glass unbroken." Wayne also noted that the brass
frame has "caused a chemical reaction with the marble
and kept it from darkening." I've seen this over and over
again and would love to hear an explanation from one of
our conservators. Wouldn't it be nice to have self-clean-
ing marble?

AGS Sp '94 p. 9

Bill Wallace, director of the Worcester Historical Museum
and AGS member, sent along a picture of tfie William
Lindsey stone (1864) (Figure 2) from Sandy Creek, New
York. Here was a stylish way to protect a photograph!
The portrait is mounted inside a porcelain frame with a
sliding cover decorated with an anchor. Bill's picture was
taken twenty years ago and at that time the photograph
was still inside and legible. If any members living near
Oswego would like to search for it, we'd appreciate a
report. If it survives, it is the earliest intact gravestone
photograph of which we're aware!

Figure 2

Eric Brock of Shreveport, Louisiana, sent a handsome
and realistic Victorian portrait of the Maria Saltarelli stone
(1892) (Figure 3) from the Metairie Cemetery in New
Orleans. He also sent a portrait cast in Bridgeport, Con-
necticut, in white bronze and shipped all the way to New
Orleans in 1883.

Figure 3

Marilyn Rowan of Alameda, California, sends us a charm-
ing statue of young Emmal Fisk (1881) (Figure 4) from
the Lexington Cemetery in Kentucky, which is engraved
on the back with a death-bed speech as much a tear-
jerker as the sickbed scene of Dorothy returning to Kan-
sas from Oz: "Mama, Papa, Otis, kiss me good-bye... '

Figure 4

Allen Bryan of Saugerties, New York, brought the story
of portraiture into the twentieth century and up to the
present with a portfolio of portrait stones (of which Albert
Ceppi (1 956) (Figure 5) is one example) from Hope Cem-
etery in Barre, Vermont, one of the greatest treasure
troves in the country and, for my money, the best "art
gallery" in Vermont.

AGS Sp -94 p. 10

ALBERT CEPP(

m5

1956

Li It !t;! St 5^'! ,V(>

Figure 5

More intriguing are the modern portrait stones tiiat are
turning up everywiiere lately. Allen also sent "Riding the
Stairway to Heaven" (Figure 6) with its etched motorcycle
rider and painted rainbow, trom the Blue Mountain Cem-
etery in his hometown. He wonders if other members
have seen painted gravestones and adds that "it doesn't
weather too well."

Figure 6

I promise we'll move away from portraits in the next is-
sue, when I hope you'll help me out with some stones
that mark the graves or talk about the relationship be-
tween Europeans and Native Americans. In this age of
political sensitivity, it is like visiting a foreign country to
read how our "founding fathers" perceived Native Ameri-
cans. I guess the conflicts were closer to home. One of
the most intriguing accounts of European/Native Ameri-
can conflict is the stone mar1<ing the grave of Lt. Mehuman
Hinsdale (1736) (Figure 7) of Deerfield, Massachusetts,
identified as "the first male child born in this place" who
was "twice captivated by the Indian Salvages." The spell-
ing Is off ^ I don't think they meant to suggest Hinsdale's
fascination with Native American textiles. He was cap-

tured by the "savages," and that about explains what they
thought of each other.

Figure 7

Spring has arrived.
Enjoy!

Time to hit the burying grounds.

"Points of Interest" is a members' forum wfiere we lool<
at pictures, ideas, and information about ttie "discover-
ies" we all make from time to time. Each issue of the
Newsletter reports findings from the previous "assign-
ment" and concludes with a new assignment. /Member
participation is essential, and you are encouraged to sug-
gest topics for discussion.

Pictures may be small (even snapshots), but they must
be sharp and clear Only those submitted in self-ad-
dressed, stamped envelopes can be returned.

AGS Sp '94 p. 1 1

OH, HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN!
THE NEW YORK TIMES FOULS UP
by Roberta Halporn

Center for Thanatology Research and Education, Inc.
391 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11217-1701

The on-going drama of the discovery of a lost Black Burial
Ground in Manhattan as a confluence of ethnic pride and
politics has produced an unexpected bonus for New York
City gravestone enthusiasts. On May 23, 1993, the New
York 7/mes published a map purportedly showing all lost
and extant old cemeteries of all five boroughs, reaching
back to the Colonial period. The Times based its re-
search largely on materials found in each borough's
historical society.

Now these collections are really marvelous. For example,
I found the original hand-drawn street maps for Brooklyn
at the Brooklyn Historical Society, clearly indicating the
existence of the structure which is now the Center for
Thanatology, dating the building back to 1840. For a
town which is always knocking things down or throwing
them out, this is truly remarkable.

The only trouble is that the researchers came nowhere
near 99% of the gravestone studies specialists in the
area (much the same mistake was made by Culberlson
and Randall in their Permanent New Yorkers, which led
to a number of critical omissions and errors in their book).
Thanks to the efforts of Richard Dickerson (Friends of
Abandoned Cemeteries) on Staten Island, the Times
subsequently published a corrected map of Staten Is-
land (shown on this page) which still omits two of the
finest colonial sites in that borough — Todt Hill (Moravian)
and St. Andrews at the Staten Island Restoration. Fur-
thermore, even out-of-towners should be familiar enough
with our terrain to be horrified to learn that in listing the
"old" cemeteries of New York, the Times even left out
the Green-Wood, that Victorian gem (1838).

I wish I knew what to do about this situation. Unlike per-
haps the majority of AGS members, the Center for
Thanatology Research sends out press releases at least
twice a year, announcing our exhibits and special events,
to the assignment editor of every major and minor com-
munications vehicle in the city. Yet recently, when ABC
News' 20-20 wanted a guide to scout Green-Wood for a
program on death and dying, they learned about my ex-
istence from a fellow member of another organization in
Washington, D.C. I Oh well!

While we are waiting for the (Bitch) Goddess of Fame to

strike us (cf. Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again),
following are two maps, the original as published on pages
fourteen and fifteen), showing the sites of nonexistent
yards (in which I believe absolutely), and what they think
are extant old cemeteries (in which I don't), as well as my
revised version (opposite), indicating the important spots
I know about that they missed. And there is no question
in my mind that there are more extant sites to be discov-
ered.

GHOSTS OF GRAVEYARDS

A Correction: Staten Island Sites

A map ol former gravesites in New York City ihai appeared or May
23 gave incorrect locations for some o( the sites on Slaien^sland.
This IS a cbrrecied map ol all Ihe locations. " '

o
o

E

♦
O

o

W
®

BeOel -Decker riomeslead. now La
Toufeue public goi! couse. Used
1750-1840

Cfusef-Peiion vault. Richmond
Terrace Used in ihe 1890's

Eiiis-Wmani homesiead. Winani
Place Used 1 750- 1820.

Firsi Baprisi Church cen^etery later
a Lake lamiiy plot: Willow Brook
Road

Fountain CeTietety: Ola Town Road
Usefl 17SO-1R?0

Hsimes-Perinfe homesiead. Hylan
B<x.le.3'rt Used 1750-1840

Huguenol Cl ufch, Anhut Kill Road
Used 1690 1740

Indian buna sile. near Billop
Avenue By 1967, 77 sketeio'^s had
been (ound here

JacoDSftn va.ili, now U £ Navai
Sialton near the Ve'razano-Nanovvs
Bridge in liso in 1790s

Journeay hcrr^esiead. now m park ir
Arder Heigfiis Used 1750-1840

Lake honesiead. o(r Tacnon sireei
Now a sewage itcalmeni plani
Used 1750-1840

m Manners Fa'niiy Asylum cemeie^y
or Tonpkjns Avenue Used 1 880-
1920

A Wersereau vault VOfntngsiat Road
Dated Irom 1890 s,

^^ Morgan homesteac, ro* unoer ;ne
Fi-esn Kills landMi Used i 75O-i&i0

^ New Yc'k Nu/se*v and Ch'ids
Hosptta! cemelef> Wano- Read
Usea 1880-'9?0

ffi Odaraniina Hosp*tai Cemeier^',
Cenuai AveniK Used 1799-1870

^ Quaraniif^e Cer^eie'v StverLa^e
yo|; course Used 1870-1900

^ Quarantine Cefi^eierv Baywyew
Avenue Used l65tVl9X

^ Ridgeway homestead, Vtciofv
Botjievara Usea 1750- 18<0

^ Seanians Re;(eai Hosp^lai ano
Cemeicry, War'e^ Street Ak\»w
Higrt School 49 >s thee now Used
ie30-i9?0

^ Simcosor homestead R»chrTK>f>d
Avenue Daiec :o "90s

^ w nam homesiead d' Anr«jf Kii
Road Used 1 750-1840,

AGS Sp '94 p. 12

AGS Sp '94 p. 13

The Ghosts of Graveyards

vnrk rnv* surface has been »cr««l aid smooOin) over many iimes in three and a hall ceniur
V;." ZlZr^ZT..^ and Tb.U,^ covered ... Do.C .ac« Fa.m. We.«d .he lores..
leveled U.C larms Burial places have been ro oiore sacred Ihan any oOieri

nee Ihougrn 10 ic llnal res.lng places, bul hi
Many record? are unclear, so It 13 n(>. always known whcOier
covered Uie sues Doiesjlirsglven when known

y Here are Sonne o[
removed before developments

Copyright © 1993 by The New York Times Company.
Reprinted by permission.

■la ■ii«nirgMi''"'<ais

REGIONAL COLUMNS

NORTHWEST &
FAR WEST

Alaska, California,

Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,

Montana, Nevada, Oregon,

Utah, Washington, Wyoming,

Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia

Bob Pierce

208 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco, California 94131

THE DEAD BEAT

This column will be made up of material I received in the
mail from various members.

OREGON TRAIL SERIES

Two articles in the Oregonian, both by Rick Bella with
photos by Michael Lloyd, are part of a fourteen part se-
ries celebrating the Oregon Trail's 150th anniversary.

The article of Friday, July 23, 1993, deals with Sacajawea
and her great-great-great-great -great-granddaughter and
her son who tend her gravesite, located on The Wind
River Indian Reservation in western Wyoming. Some
history of the confrontation between the Indian and white
races is given, as well as the part Sacajawea played in
the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06.

The second article, dated July 27, 1993, is entitled 'Trail
of Death." The author gives an account of the many
causes of death along what is termed the 2000-mile grave-
yard. He lists some notable graves and some brief notes
about each. Photos of the gravesites or markers accom-
pany the article.

Since these are but two articles of a fourteen part series,
I will write to the author and try to obtain the other parts.
If the material is relevant, I will include it in a future News-
letter.

OTHER CLIPPINGS FROM MEMBERS

Thanks to Fred Heiner of San Francisco for an article
from the May 21, 1993, Santa Rosa, California Press
Democrat. "Sonoma Seeks to Preserve Cemetery" is the
title of the article by staff writer Alvaro Delgado. City lead-
ers are trying to develop a means of preserving the his-
toric Mountain Cemetery which holds the remains of some
of Sonoma's most prominent pioneers, such as Gen.

Mariano Vallejo, HE. Boyes (the founder of Boyes Hot
Springs), the winemaking Sebastianis, and the only Revo-
lutionary War soldier buried in California. Costs for the
upkeep of the deteriorating cemetery are high. Minimal
maintenance does not include security or repairing dam-
age done by vandals. The city council isn't ready to con-
sider turning the cemetery over to a private, profit-mak-
ing party. Part of the problem is a lack of developed burial
plots which generate income. A survey will be conducted
to determine how many gravesites could be created on
the fifty-acre site.

Phil Kallas of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, sent in a short
piece from the January 3, 1994, Army Times. It gives
directions to the gravesite of Jimi Hendrix, who died in
1970. He is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, fifteen
miles southeast of Seattle. Instead of flowers and
wreaths, guitar picks and beer cans are around the grave.
The article is by Jon R. Anderson.

From our Midwest Editor, Jim Jewell, came a picture from
the October 17, 1993, Chicago Tribune of a monument
to trucker John Bronk that is near the Cypress Freeway
in Oakland, California. Bronk died when the freeway col-
lapsed in the October 17, 1989, earthquake.

TWO REPORTS FROM CEMETERY ORGANIZATIONS

I received the 1993 Annual Report from the National As-
sociation for Cemetery Preservation, Inc. Membership
information was also enclosed. "It is a non-profit organi-
zation dedicated to the identification, restoration, and
preservation of our nation's cemeteries and gravesites."
NACP is seeking to expand and would like to develop
contacts in all fifty states. If you would like more informa-
tion, please contact NACP, Inc., Post Office Box 772922,
Steamboat Springs, Colorado 80477. Memberships are
Single,$15.00; Family, $20.00; Associate,$25.00.

Dick Meyer of Monmouth, Oregon, sent information on
"A Symposium On Vandalism In Our Cemeteries," which
was presented by the Oregon Historic Cemeteries Asso-
ciation. Dick believes this is the first symposium with
cemetery vandalism as its prime focus attempted in the
United States. Program topics were as follows;

Why Do They Do It? A Psychological Profile of the

Vandal
Legal Update; Crime and Prosecution in Oregon
A Study of Occult and Satanic Crime
The Next Step: Prevention, Restoration,

Stewardship (Panel Discussion)

Dick reports that the symposium, held March 12, 1994,
was extremely dynamic and successful.

AGS Sp -94 p. 16

A COOK'S EPITAPH

IN SEARCH OF "FOLK" MARKERS

Two of Mrs. Smith's friends stood over her tombstone
reading a very long inscription. Finally one woman said,
"I don't believe it, it's her potato salad recipe." The other
woman replied, "Well, she always said the only way any-
one would ever get her recipe was over her dead body."

SOUTHWEST

Arizona, Arkansas,

Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklahoma, Texas

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Fax:(602)647-7136

Phone: (602) 647-7005

NATIONAL REGISTER NOTES

There is no fast-breaking news to report from this sector.
However, member Sybil Crawford of Dallas has written
to make known the availability of lists from the National
Register of Historic Places. These lists are broken down
by state, and provide the names of cemeteries on the
National Register, conditions of access, location, date of
placement on the Register, and registration number.
Further information about individual sites in the form of
submission papers is available at no charge by writing
the National Register of Historic Places, c/o the National
Park Service, Interagency Resources Division, Post Of-
fice Box 37127, Washington, D.C. 20013-7127. To ob-
tain these, you will need to have the registration number
for the site in which you're interested.

Alternatively, you can write to the historic preservation
office in your state to inquire about burial places on the
Register, or those considered eligible or worthy of a sur-
vey. Arizona's SHPO, for example, provided inventory
sheets for thirteen cemeteries. None are on the National
Register as yet, but some are considered eligible, others
need to be surveyed, and still others are considered in-
eligible. Not only do these listings suggest sites that
members might wish to visit, they also alert members to
the process by which cemeteries are nominated to the
Register. Two useful booklets are Bulletins 15 and 41,
"How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evalua-
tion" and "Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cem-
eteries and Burial Places" respectively. Both can be ob-
tained from the National Register at the address given
above. (Bulletin #41 is also available for $1.50 from ttie
AGS office. M.L.)

A telephone call from a member in San Francisco — not,
strictly speaking, in the region I represent — got me think-
ing about a project that might be fun for some of you. He
was planning a visit to the Tucson area and was inter-
ested in cemeteries that had significant components of
'1olk" markers and other '1olk" elements, such as those
found in Chilili, New Mexico. The term '1olk" is a service-
able one, though I'm not sure there's any consensus re-
garding its precise meaning. In my mind, it suggests
gravestones, or other elements of cemetery design, cre-
ated by individuals working with materials, forms, or in-
scriptions that are innovative conceptions of '1he rules"
that typically govern gravestones at given periods, or
which represent adaptations of '1he rules," as these are
understood locally, using local materials, or design and
textual elements.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be very helpful, but it mo-
tivated me to ask people for their suggestions, which I
hope to follow up and report on in the near future. One
'1ind" is Harshaw, Arizona — a ghost town near Patagonia
in the state's southeast corner— where a few '1olk" mark-
ers (read: "handmade") dating from the 1920s and 1930s
remain, together with some cement niches that create
an interesting pattern up a very steep hillside. Plastic
flowers and other ornaments are used profusely here as
elsewhere in this part of the state. Does anyone know
how long these plastic offerings last and how often they
are replaced? They give the impression of a well cared
for site — but this may be an illusion.

Another turn in the conversation about '1olk" cemeteries
was whether there were any '1olk" places to eat in the
area, meaning diners or other eating places
unselfconsciously preparing food for local people. It oc-
curs to me that it would be wonderful to have regional
lists of interesting "folk" cemeteries, with correlated sug-
gestions for where to eat within a convenient radius.
Please let me know if you have any thoughts on the mat-
ter— the two seem to go together naturally, and it would
be fun to start creating regional gravestone/cemetery/
eating place lists. Or is this too irreverent?

PROBLEMS WITH US GOVERNMENT MAPS

Finally, i have been poring over U.S. Forest Service maps
for the Coronado National Forest to look for sites marked
"Cem" (for cemetery). There are a number of such nota-
tions, but when we actually tried to locate them, we have
had a high failure rate. Has anyone else had the same
experience with Forest Service Maps, or those from the

AGS Sp '94 p. 17

us Geological Survey? Maybe we are doing something
wrong — let me know. It seemed an ingenious way to
locate potentially interesting grave sites.

From June until the end of September I will be at Box
450, Addison, Maine 04606. You can contact me there,
or else here in Arizona, from which my mail will be for-
warded.

MIDWEST

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,

Kansas, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri,

Nebraska, North Dakota,

Ohio, South Dakota,

Wisconsin, Manitoba, Ontario

Jim Jewell

828 Plum Street, Peru, Illinois 61354

A REPORT ON

THE ANCIENT CEMETERY

RESTORATION PROJECT

OF OLD CEMETERY

LAVIELLEMINE,

OLD MINES, MISSOURI

by Kent Beaule, St. Joachims Church

Work is coming along on restoring the oldest cemetery at
St. Joachims in Old Mines, Missouri. The most apparent
change is that the brush is cleaned out of the creek and
around the stones. The newly painted iron gates are vis-
ible now, and the bridge doesn't seem as narrow any-
more. The fence lines are also being cleaned.

A lot of the work involved in restoration is not so obvious.
Meetings have been taking place with people who have
relatives buried there, and the pieces of the puzzle are
beginning to come together The problem is a big one.
There is no map or plot of this cemetery. Unless there is
a stone or cross on the grave, there is no way of knowing
where people are buried. There are 200 markers that
somehow have been pulled off of their graves and then
thrown along the fence or over the fence into the brush.

This is why it is so important that people contact us and
show us what they know about this resting place of our
ancestors. We are compiling a history of the cemetery
and the people buried in it. What we need to know is;

1 . Who is buried there and how are they related to the

other people buried there? How did they die?

2. When was the cemetery behind the church moved,

and where were the bodies moved?

3. Who moved the graves?

AGS Sp '94 p. 18

4. Who helped maintain the cemeteries? For how long

were they neglected?

5. Who were the coffin makers?

6. Who made the tombstones?

7. Who made the iron and wooden crosses?

8. What is the reason behind the many different designs

on the ends of the iron crosses?

We also would like photos of the colonists who were some
of the first to settle in the Mid-Mississippi Valley. Besides
the French, there are a lot of Irish and Blacks (both free
and slaves) buried there. We have very little information
about the Blacks, as their descendants are no longer here
or haven't contacted us yet. We believe that they are
buried in a section just below the tombs of Ettiene and
Madame Lamarque. This section has few markers. We
also believe this area once contained a lot of wooden
crosses. We have three of the original wooden crosses
and plan to make some reproductions to place on the
graves.

Recently, we discovered that the sides of the tombs of
Madame Lamarque and her husband Ettiene Lamarque
were stacked under the lids lying flat on the ground. Af-
ter visiting the ancient French cemetery at Ste. Genevieve,
Missouri, we found a raised tomb there exactly like the
tombs of the Lamarques. We have raised the sides of
the tomb of Ettiene and plan to raise Madame Lamarques
next.

There are also three other tombs that were dismantled
and need restoration.

Markers at the ancient cemetery at La Vieille Mine -
Old Mines:

Total

Type of marker

# pulled off grav

204

Civilian Headstones

16

87

Footstones

81

32

Military Stones

1

166

Iron Crosses

96

3

Wooden Crosses

3

6

Vaults of Stone

5 disassembled

1

Stone Mausoleum

3

Metal Funeral Home Markers

502

Markers in all - en tous

The majority of these markers need cleaning and stabi-
lizing in concrete. Many that are still in place have fallen
or will soon fall.

The hand-forged iron cross seems to be a French arti-
fact, and is quite rare. Here is a census of iron crosses
found at towns we visited. If you l<now of any others, let
us know.

Ste. Genevieve Memorial
Bloomsdale Catholic
Lawrencton Catholic
French Village Catholic
Potosi Catholic
Tiff Catholic
Old Mines Catholic
Richwoods Catholic

3
3

26

3

1

16
166

9

Anyone with information can contact St. Joachims Rec-
tory, Route 1, LaVieille Mine, Cadet, Missouri 63530

SOUTHEAST

Alabama, District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Maryland, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Lucy Norman Spencer
2312 North Vernon Street
Arlington, Virginia 22207
(703)527-7123

FIRST PRAYER
BOARD IN
TENNESSEE

Proof that Newsletter
articles have meaningful
information which spurs
action in cemeteries is
the installation of a
"prayer board" in Ten-
nessee. The 1993
spring issue article on
Bavarian dead boards
prompted Thomas
Chunn, a member of the
Old Cemeteries Society
of Maury County, Ten-
nessee, to design a
prayer board for a Revo-
lutionary war soldier,
Sylvester Chunn. This
may be the first and only
prayer or memory board
in the South. Like the
Bavarian boards of pine,

Revoloutioniary
War soldier

Descendcinxs do
not knew whei-e he
was buried bu-
this ground is
to be used as a
cemetery and was
named for hire.

Dedicated by
the Old Cemeter-
ies Society Oct.
9, 1991.

Mr. Chunn made the board of one to one-and-ahalf inch
cedar heart wood from the easily found wild cedar. The
Society dedicated and erected the board in Pottsville, on
property adjacent to the Jacob Shires Cemetery. The
adjoining picture shows the adaptation of a European
design and idea into a new American folk tradition in cem-
eteries.

WOODLAWN CEMETERY, WASHINGTON, DC.

Restoration plans for this 1 859 cemetery, which contains
primarily the remains of both famous and poor Black
Americans, continues after the November 3 roundtable.
Support came from lawyers, archaeologists, historians,
genealogists, visual artists, politicians, community lead-
ers, and relatives of the deceased. If a grant is secured,
the abandoned gate house will become the site of tem-
porary, site-specific art installations which would incor-
porate biographical, sociological, metamorphical, and his-
torical themes. Public lectures will be given in the adjoin-
ing community in an effort to generate thought between
art and community, death and remembrance, and a sense
of community ownership for the cemetery.

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware, New Jersey,

New York, Pennsylvania,

Quebec

G.E.O. Czarnecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 11235

GRANT'S TOMB TRASHED

One news item brought to my attention by members is
the plight of Grant's Tomb. This 8,000 ton granite memo-
rial on Manhattan's upper west side contains the graves
of the former United States President and Civil War gen-
eral and his wife. When Grant was laid there in 1897, rt
was a glowing environment vastly different from today.
The tomb is now a hang-out for junkies and vandals who
do not treat it with care and respect, to put it mildly. Need-
less to say, few people have been visiting this monument
lately, so the National Park Service, which has operated
it for the past thirty-four years, employs only three people
during the week and atDandons it on the weekends. By
failing to appropriate sufficient funds for its upkeep, the
NPS has let the site become trashed.

One individual, George Craig of Oueens, New York,
founder of the Friends of Grant's Tomb, has experience
in this field, and has brought forward a few proposals
worth mentioning, including keeping the site patrolled on

AGS Sp '94 p. 19

weekends and the NPS purchasing surrounding parkland
that could allow the tomb to be permanently protected
and guarded. Also, renovations need to be done to make
the site more comfortable for visitors.

avoid this because local burial laws are sometimes in
conflict with the strict Muslim burial rules. As an example,
the deceased must be buried with their faces facing east
toward Mecca.

The fact of the matter is the site will not survive without
these improvements. You can support George Craig's
efforts by writing to him at Friends of Grant's Tomb, 83-
12 Saint James Street, Elmhurst, New York 11373.

CEMETERIES OR TORTURE GARDENS?

Colonial era stones seem to find no refuge. Even where
I thought they were safe, they're not. Colonial stones in
Green-wood (renowned as one of the great nineteenth-
century rural cemeteries) were transported there from
other destroyed yards. Although an outstanding collec-
tion, they are continually neglected and consistently
chipped, scratched, and gouged by lawnmowers, or just
driven over if they're lying on the ground. What should
be a haven for these stones is instead a torture garden.
Is a cemetery a safe place for a colonial era stone?

I would like to hear member's views on this problem. Has
anyone had success protecting colonial era gravestones?
I'm not looking for repair and maintenance advice but
new answers that must be contemplated with the ever
increasing reality of the destruction of colonial era stones
and graveyards. I'll answer all and print as many as space
allows.

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine,

Massachusetts, New

Hampsliire, Rhode Island,

Vermont, Labrador, New

Brunswick, Newfoundland,

Nova Scotia

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street, Webster, Massachusetts 01570

RARE MUSLIM CEMETERY

Mary Goodwin sends us an article by David Lammey from
the October 20, 1993, Hartford [Connecticut] Courant
about Connecticut's only Muslim burial ground. The cem-
etery is controlled by the Islamic Center of Connecticut
through its church in Windsor. Muslim cemeteries are
unusual, says Abdel-Rahman Osman of the Islamic Cen-
ter of New York City, only occurring where there is a sig-
nificant Muslim population. Otherwise the Muslims use
a small portion of a local cemetery, but they prefer to

These cemeteries are not easily noticeable because
Muslims do not customarily use gravestones, and of those
that are used, many are laid flat on the ground The
Enfield cemetery, located just off North Maple Street, has
a small number of stones, some marked in English, some
in Arabic. Director Said Sulieman of the Islamic Center
of Connecticut remarked that although Muslim burial rules
are strict, cemetery rules are somewhat more relaxed,
and some western influences do emerge now and then.

ON THE OUESTION OF EPITAPHS

Valerie Capels, the prolific clipping-sender from Waitsf ield,
Vermont, sends a page from an undated Vermont Maga-
zine containing an article by Eileen G. McGinley report-
ing on some nice Vermont epitaphs, and including a story
of a graveyard in Enosberg Falls, Vermont. This grave-
yard contains the remains of a Mr. Church, who appar-
ently had four wives and outlived them all. When, near
the end of his life, he decided to move to another town.
he had his wives disinterred and moved to a cemetery
nearer to his new home. Somehow, the four wives' re-
mains got intermingled in transit, and an honest but per-
plexed Mr. Church could not see it in his heart to rebury
the scrambled remains with the original headstones. In-
stead, he had three new stones cut.
The first reads:

Here lies Hannah Church
and probably a portion of Emily
The second:

Sacred to the memory of Emily Church
Who seems to be mixed with Martha
and the third:

Stranger pause and drop a tear
For Emily Church lies buried here
Mixed in some perplexing manner
With Mary, Martha, and probably Hannah

This is a good story, and worthy of being included in Ver-
mont Magazine, but over the years I have become rather
cynical over '1oo cute" epitaphs. I sometimes think that
many of them, along with the "Boot Hill" epitaphs in Tomb-
stone, Arizona, are made up for no other reason than
pure enjoyment. They then get repeated a number of
times by amused listeners or readers and are finally
quoted as "gospel" in collections. Soon the best (or wit-
tiest) of them seem to have a life of their own, and tend to

AGS Sp '94 p. 20

get copied in every new anthology of gravestone epitaptis.

Perhaps my cynicism began when I tried to locate a stone
said to be standing in a Thompson, Connecticut, cem-
etery that read:

He was a loving husband and father

And a good Christian

But never could quite get himself

To believe that

Jonah really swallowed the whale

This version was reported in a book of curious Yankee
epitaphs, and, as Thompson is only a few minutes drive
from my home, I spent quite a few Saturday mornings
walking the Thompson cemeteries looking for that stone.
To my dismay, I was never able to locate it. I suppose it
could be in some now-forgotten family plot, but Thomp-
son was never so large in population that finding such a
stone should be so difficult. I soon came to believe that
such a stone never existed except in some writer's imagi-
nation.

Ms. McGinley certainly implies in the Vermont Magazine
article that she actually saw the Church stones (without
actually saying so), but my cynicism still remains. If any-
one else has actually seen them, I would appreciate it if
they would confirm this fact with a letter, or even better, a
photo or rubbing, to either myself or Miranda Levin at the
AGS office.

NEW BURIAL GROUND ASSOCIATION FORMED

The Tomac Historic Burying Ground Association was re-
cently formed to preserve and protect the old Tomac
Cemetery in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. President
Timothy Schantz sends a nice brochure, used both for
fund-raising and informational purposes, which states that
the cemetery dates back to about 1 665 and is situated
on land bought from the local Indians in 1 640. It appears
that the oldest legible stone is that of Gershom Lockwood,
who died in 1718. From the rubbing used on the bro-
chure, the stone appears to be in pretty good shape,
showing a nicely cut winged skull symbol. The cemetery
also includes the graves of at least seventeen Revolu-
tionary War soldiers as well as the graves of numerous
Tories. The Tomac Association's goals are to erect a
standing sign to identify the site, create a master survey
card, catalog each head- and footstone, clean and re-
erect fallen stones, and generally keep the old grounds
in good repair. We wish them luck in their ambitious
project.

FOREIGN EDITOR
Angellka Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14
D-63322 Rodermark 2
Germany

THE OLD CEMETERY IN OFFENBACH, GERMANY
(Alter Friedhof in Offenbach am Main)

For an urban cemetery, the "Alter Friedhof" is not old at
all. In fact, as far as ancient gravestones are concerned,
the Offenbach cemetery pales in comparison to the old
burial grounds of New England cities of similar size. Any-
one looking for graves that are more than 200 years old
should try the older churches of the city rather than the
Old Cemetery even though burials were transferred to its
grounds from earlier sites.

The cemetery was founded in 1832, when the older grave-
yard, on the present Wilhelmsplatz, was closed for burial
purposes. What was then the "New Cemetery" was at
the time outside the town limits. The names of two of the
streets enclosing the grounds recall their former extra-
mural location: Miihlheimer-Strasse is the road leading
to the town of Mijhlheim, and Grenz-Strasse is the "Bor-
der Street."

In 1861 and again in 1892, the grounds were enlarged.
In both the original and the more recent part of the cem-
etery, the Jewish sections (Israelischer Friedhof) are at
the back of the Christian tiers, if we consider the main
entrance to be the front of the cemetery. I am not aware
of other specific sections used exclusively or predomi-
nantly by members of a particular religious denomina-
tion, although such practices may have existed. In the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Offenbach was well
known for its liberal tradition and religious diversity, in
contrast to Frankfurt, the present banking and finance
capital of Germany, which has a varied record of political
confrontation.

However, the Old Cemetery is well worth a visit for any-
one sojourning in the area. Not only does it have nine-
teenth-century tombs (that would be called Victorian in
the Anglo-Saxon world), with numerous, mostly female
figures of stone, whetherthey be angels, geniuses (guard-
ian spirits), or mourners, but it also boasts the early twen-
tieth-century works of the Darmstadt Jugendstil (Art
Nouveau) school (Figure 1), as well as the monuments
created by professors and students of the Hochschule
fur Gestaltung, the art college, in Offenbach. The dis-
tance between Offenbach and Darmstadt being only

AGS Sp '94 p. 21

Figure 1: The Roosen monument
by sculptor Daniel Greiner
Tiie two mourning figures on tfie sides are worl<ed in very
low relief. The central group, depicting a scene of leave-
taking, is in high relief. The shepherd's crook identifies
the male figure on the left as Hermes psychopompos, who
escorts the soul from this world to the next. The lettering
is simple Darmstadt Jugendstil.

twenty-six kilometers (sixteen miles), geographical prox-
imity suggested contacts and cross-fertilization between
the artists' group (Kunstlerkolonie) in Darmstadt and the
college community in Offenbach.

The Old Cemetery also features gravemar1<ers made of
a very fine concrete that looks like sandstone or lime-
stone. The ordinary visitor hardly recognizes these mark-
ers to be synthetic. How did I find out about them? I was
lucky in joining a tour of the Old Cemetery given by Dr.
Christine Usiular-Thiele, who is not only well-read in Ger-
man art history, but also well-versed in local history, so
her explanations set the monuments both in their artistic
and craft-related, as well as their historic context. Unfor-
tunately, such tours are not offered on a regular basis but
at best once a year. They are usually organized by the
local adult education centers (Volkshochschulen).

Rather than amateurishly reiterate the guide's excellent
tour, I would like to concentrate on two monuments that I
believe appeal to a larger audience of cemetery lovers.
One of the most curious and definitely the most colorful
is not really a gravemarker but a cenotaph, a memorial to
a person or persons buried elsewhere (Figure 2). It com-
memorates six girls and a young man who died in an
accident caused by a schoolboys' prank in 1909. They
drowned in the waters of the river Main when some boys
opened the sluice gate at Flossgasse in Oberrad, then a
town between Frankfurt and Offenbach, and now a Frank-
furt suburb.

Figure 2

The inscription reads:

PUPILS OF THE CITY

SCHOOL ON MATHILDENSTRASSE.

ON A SCHOOL EXCURSION
THEY MET THEIR DEATH IN
CHILDISH PLAY AT THE
OBERRADER SLUICE GATE
ON 19 AUGUST 1909
IN THE WAVES OF THE MAIN.
WITH THEM DROWNED, IN
THE ATTEMPT TO SAVE THEM,
THE VALIANT WORKMAN
WILHELM GOBIG
FROM FRANKFURT AM MAIN.
BORN 25 MARCH 1884

(Original German version of the inscription is available
from the AGS office. M.L)

AGS Sp "94 p. 22

The memorial is a unique creation. It results from a com-
petition between students of thie art college (which was
then called Technische Lehranstalt). The tympanum (Fig-
ure 3) shows a very pale putto with golden hair and wings
of blue and gold. He plays the lute and wears a long,
flowing band, probably a veil, across his arm. Both the
lute and the veil are a very faded pink color. To his right
and to his left, six white lilies with yellow pistils and four
green tufts of grass grow from the dark green field below
the putto's feet, in perfect symmetry. The background is
dark blue, with a brown and gold decorative border fram-
ing the picture.

Figure 3

Stylistically, the baroque putto (whose chubby features
and symbolic accoutrements evoke both hope and sad-
ness) contrasts with the stock Art Nouveau lilies (which
are certainly meant to stand for the six innocent childrens'
lives). The stone appears to be synthetic limestone. The
picture is ceramic. It looks as if it had been covered with
thick paint, which is typical of tin-glazed pottery, which is
sometimes referred to as tin-enamelled. For reasons to
be explained below, we should not be surprised to find
maiolica artifacts such as this in Offenbach in the early
twentieth century. Tin glazing was developed in different
eras in Mesopotamia as well as in China and in the Indus
area. In the second century BC, faience tiles were spread
all over the Near East. Spanish Moors introduced them
to Europe in the fifteenth century.

The three terms most commonly used for this type of tin-
glazed earthenware are maiolica, faience, and delft. The
name maiolica is derived from the Italian word for the
island of Mallorca, the Moorish-Spanish export martcet
for this pottery. The more familiar term faience comes

from the Italian town of Faenza, the fifteenth-century pro-
duction center (although Urbino, Siena, Gubbio, Deruta,
and Florence had important factories, too). The third
designation, delft, applies to Dutch varieties of tin-glazed
ware, since there was a flourishing factory in Delft, Hol-
land, in the early seventeenth century.

Germany's first faience factory was founded in Hanau in
1 661 . Hanau is a few miles up the river from Offenbach.
Whereas the Hanau factory remained in operation until
1806, Frankfurt's faience factory was established shortly
after Hanau's closed down in the eighteenth century. In
Hochst, a few miles down the river from Frankfurt, faience
was produced from 1746 to 1760. The area around
Offenbach had thus a tradition of producing tin-glazed
earthenware when the students designed the memorial.
Not only was the place right, the time seemed to be ripe
for this kind of monument as well. The Jugindstil, Art
Nouveau, had revived the maiolica technique. However,
maiolica on gravemarkers was not accepted by the me-
morial-buying public. My conjecture is that the bright
colors were considered inappropriate for objects associ-
ated with dignified melancholy. The putto never found
playmates in the Old Cemetery.

Leaving the putto to walk towards the main entrance, one
passes a monument that is dear to the hearts of the people
of Offenbach. It is a tree stump tombstone from which a
hunting bag and pouch are hung (Figure 4). A hunting
rifle leans against the stump, and a dog is lying down in
front of it. All this is made from red sandstone. The some-
what sentimental assemblage identifies and adorns the
resting place of the Offenbach industrialist Spicharz, who
died in 1863. It recalls and immortalizes his passion for
hunting. Dr. Usiular-Thiele emphasized the purely secu-
lar character of the monument amidst the angels, ge-
niuses, and crosses surrounding it. Of course, the dog
as the guardian of the nether world and the tree with its
multiple mythological connotations are far from being in-
nocent of symbolic connotations. Those being heathen-
ish, however, the Spicharz marker clashes with the pro-
fessedly Christian symbols around it. It is indicative of
the spirit of liberalism and freethinking that reigned in
Offenbach in the nineteenth century.

It also offers an excellent example of how local legend
appropriates cultural artifacts and reinterprets them ac-
cording to the ideological and emotional needs of the day.
The locals who were in our group ail confirmed the guide's
story: they all believed Spicharz to have been a forest
warden (an occupation with lots of positive associations
for most Germans, whether they have read Ludwig

AGS Sp '94 p. 23

Ganghofer's alpine novels, their pulp fiction imitations, or
not), whose faithful dog refused to leave his grave and
died there from grief. Having captured people's senti-
mental imagination, the dog surely deserves the fresh
flowers that sympathetic citizens of Offenbach keep plac-
ing on the grave.

Figure 4

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE LENDING LIBRARY

The AGS Lending Library is pleased to announce
that two additional books are now available for loan:
David H. Watters' "With Bodilie Eyes"; Eschatological
Themes in Puritan Literature and Gravestone Art
(see review in AGS Newsletter, Volume 7, No. 1,
Winter 1982/83, page 10) and The Very Quiet
Baltimoreans: A Guide to the Historic Cemeteries
and Burial Sites of Baltimore, by Jane B. Wilson (see
review in AGS Newsletter, Volume 1 6, No. 1 , Winter
1991/1992, page?).

Please use a Lending Library form to request these
or any of the other books listed in previous
newsletters. If you need an order form, please send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope to AGS Lending
Library, c/o Laurel K. Gabel, 205 Fishers Road,
Pittsford, New York 14534.

From the

PRESIDENT'S DESK

Rosalee Oakley,
President

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

SUMMARY OF THE FEBRUARY 5, 1994,
MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Here are some highlights of the February meeting of the
Board of Trustees:

Two new Board members, Joseph Edgette and John Ster-
ling, were welcomed.

A summary of Visions and Goals that had been submit-
ted by Board members was circulated. Each member
was asked to select theirf irst three choices for small group
discussions at the April meeting.

Treasurer Daniel Goldman submitted the Financial Re-
port for the year 1993 showing an income of $71,546
and expenses of $70,808 leaving a net of $737 for the
year. He presented a tentative budget for 1 994 with added
expenses for staff and equipment for bringing the News-
letter \n-Uouse, which may result in a short-fall of several
thousand dollars.

Executive Director Miranda Levin reported that member-
ships are up about two percent, with a good renewal rate.
The focus of the office for the next several months will be
learning how to produce the Newsletter: the additional
hours assigned to both her and her assistant, Sean
Redrew, since January 1 have been extremely helpful
with that.

Reports were heard from Laurel Gabel, Research Clear-
ing House Coordinator, and Jo Goeselt, Archivist, as well
as the Newsletter Committee.

Progress Report on Conference '94 by Conference Liai-
son to the Board, Fred Oakley, indicated plans were well
along for participation sessions, a conservation workshop,
a tour of a modern monument company, and three differ-
ent Saturday bus tours to area cemeteries. Joe Edgette,
Program Chair, reported that the lecture program was
almost filled.

After discussion of possible sites for the 1995 Confer-
ence, Fred Oakley was asked to check with the Lowell,
Massachusetts, area contact people for a possible site in
that area. At the April meeting a decision will be made
between the Lowell and Springfield, Massachusetts, areas.

AGS Sp '94 p. 24

The Nominating Committee, chaired by Dan Goldman,
presented a slate of candidates for election to the 1994-
1995 Board of Trustees. The slate was accepted and
the ballots will be mailed to all members. (Ballots were
included with the conference information you received
with the Winter '94 issue. Ml.)

The Planning Committee introduced a recommendation
regarding presenting additional awards to members be-
sides the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award. A lively dis-
cussion helped to clarify a possible distinction between
the Forbes Award and any other recognition AGS might
give. With the suggestions from this discussion, the idea
was encouraged and returned to the committee for fur-
ther development.

Nominations, a discussion, and a vote yielded the 1994
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award recipient. When the
entire process was completed, Barbara Rotundo had
been named to receive the 1 994 Forbes Award at a ban-
quet in her honor during the 1994 Conference.

The next meeting will be April 23, 1994, at the Worcester
Historical Museum.

CONFERENCE UPDATE - SLIDE EXCHANGE

As part of this year's June conference, we are going
to try a Slide Exchange. Members are invited to
submit a maximum of five slides of excellent photo-
graphic quality and noteworthy interest. All submit-
ted slides become the property of AGS with the aim
of building a selected slide archive. All slides may
be ordered at the conference in Chicago for $1.00
each. The photographer of the slide which receives
the most orders will be able to select five free slides
from the collection. All submissions will be viewed
during the conference program. Select submissions
will appear in the Newsletter When sending the
slide, be sure to give the following information for
each item:

Name of entrant Address of entrant

Phone number of entrant Name of deceased

Date(s) Location of marker

4 to 6 word description (for order form)

Forward by mail to; Laurel K. Gabel,AGS Slide Ex-
change, 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford, New York
14534 (Notice that this address is not the AGS of-
fice! ML.) Please note: all submissions must be
received by Laurel by June 15, 1994. With your
help, this might become an annual event!

OFFICE NOTES

Miranda Levin, Executive Director

AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

NEWSLETTER

As we continue to get ourselves on schedule, the
/Veivs/effer continues to dominate our time at the office.
We'll be delving right into the Summer issue as soon as
this issue is done; after that, we'll have some time to catch
up on other things over the summer. As grueling as
learning how to produce this publication has been, it would
have been an impossible task had it not been for the good
material that has been coming in steadily. In the case of
our volunteer editors, they've had to contribute four
columns in five months; because of the necessity of
producing one issue after another, many of those columns
were written without the benefit of much input from
members. Despite the limitations, they were able to come
through for me and I am very grateful.

CONFERENCE

The Winter issue, which you should have by now, had all
of the conference registration information in it. If for some
reason it wasn't in your issue, or if you would like additional
registration forms, please let me know. Another
conference note: On this page you will find a notice about
a new Slide Exchange that is being instituted at this year's
conference. This whole conference looks like it's going
to be terrific.

Another new item can be found on page 4 of this issue,
where you'll see that the Newsletter is going to be
accepting a limited amount of advertising. Ads will be
limited to gravestone-related items only.

That's it from the office, except that I want to put in one
more plug for sending material in for the Newsletter We
can keep the quality up only if the quality of the incoming
material stays high. Please consider contributing. I hope
over these last three issues you've gotten a feeling for
the breadth of material we welcome. If you feel that
material you can share is appropriate for one of our
columns, the editors would be happy to hear from you.
If, however, it's hard to categorize your material, just send
it here to the office. I will either assign it to an editor, or
possibly put it in as a feature or other separate entity.
But feel free to contribute!

That's really it — see you at conference!

AGS Sp '94 p. 25

NOTES & QUERIES

AGS Office

30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

SOME RESPONSES TO PREVIOUS OUERIES:

On Irish Cadaver Stones:

In the Fall, 1993, AGS Newsletter, you show a photo-
graph of a cadaver monument from St. Peter's grave-
yard in Drogheda, Ireland. This can be identified as that
of Sir Edmond Goldyng and his wife, Elizabeth Flemyng,
according to Miss Helen M. Roe, who studied the monu-
ment type in Ireland, and she would date it to the early
part of the sixteenth century.

The uncertainty of life and the inevitability of death was a
theme common in medieval literature and art, even be-
fore the Black Death swept through Europe in the four-
teenth century. An example is seen in the "Three Living
and the Three Dead," a French poem of the thirteenth
century. Here three young men (kings in later versions
ofthe story), meet three skeletons; the first skeleton says,
"What you are, we were. What we are, you will be." The
second says that death treats rich and poor in the same
fashion, while the third reminds the young men that there
is no escape from death. Wall paintings of the subject
are common. After the plague decimated Europe, there
was even greater emphasis on the inevitability of death.
(See, for instance, illustrations of the Dance of Death,
where individual Deaths, as skeletons, lead everyone,
from pope to king and queen down to the peasant and
even a child, towards that final dance.)

Funeral monuments throughoul the European continent,
England, and Ireland reflect this preoccupation with de-
cay after death, with skeletons, shrouds, and dessicated
bodies appearing on brasses and sculptured in stone.
Such monuments were always in a minority, but enough
remain to provide various studies.

In Ireland, the handful of known examples were published
by Miss Roe in an article, "Cadaver Effigial Monuments
in Ireland" in the Journal of the Royal Society of Anti-
quaries of Ireland, vol. 99 (1969), and I am sending a
copy of the article for the AGS files. (It is now in the AGS
Archives. M.L.)

Mrs. Siobhan de hOir

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland

63 Merrion Square

Dublin 2, Ireland

On the Unusual Stones Found in Indiana:

I saw the photos and questions in the Fall. 1993, News-
letter abouX two gravestones in the Campbell-Robinson
Cemetery in Florence, Indiana. My doctoral dissertation
covered the three mid-Missouri counties of Boone,
Howard, and Cooper, and there are several of these
gravestones in cemeteries in these three counties A
quick review of an atlas shows that all three counties
border the Missouri River, and the cemeteries that have
these types of stones are cemeteries in towns on the
river. Whether this is coincidental or significant, I cannot
say at this time.

However, these types of stones in the Missouri River town
of Glasgow, Missouri, located along the western bound-
ary of Howard County, had vines and flowers planted in
the area that outlined the body. The small gravestone
marks the grave of a baby and the larger gravestone
marks that of an adult in Glasgow. I cannot read the
inscriptions in the Newsletter phoios,, but suspect this is
also true in Indiana.

In Missouri, women regularly tended the family graves in
the various cemeteries, and mid-Missouri newspapers
write about the need for women to take charge of fund
raising so that cemeteries can be improved. Another
common lament in mid-Missouri newspapers is cemetery
gravestone companies parking their wagons on graves
as they erect markers. This was viewed with disgust,
and even today elderly citizens still talk about people
walking on graves on Memorial Day. Marking the body
area with stone would keep this from happening to the
grave of a loved one, plus the enclosure could be planted
by the women of the family who would be regularly tend-
ing the grave, and thus the stone served as a symbol of
loving remembrance.

Maryellen McVicker, PhD

Route 2, Box 223M

Boonville, Missouri 65233-9802

AGS Sp '94 p. 26

An Answer to a Conference Query:

OTHER NOTES:

No one sent the query to the Newsletter, but it was spo-
ken out loud in Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London, as
conference attendees asked about the significance of the
carving of the ship, the Savannah, on Stevens Rogers'
gravestone. Carol Perkins has provided a picture of the
stone and the clue to the answer, a philatelic notice of a 3
cent stamp honoring the Savannah, the first steamship
to cross the Atlantic. The Encyclopedia Americana said
Moses Rogers was captain on the historic crossing. The
Dictionary of American Biography had an entry on Moses
and mentioned that Stevens Rogers, no relation, was on
that trip and that he had been responsible for the design
of the rigging on the Savannah, which went under sail for
part of the crossing. The D-46 also said Stevens Rogers
died in 1882. AGS accepts the gravestone date!

Barbara Rotundo

pii «i« I f • II m* J i if I* WW •'•!

lii>iiii«ii>iiiii»i*i«>iiiiin>ti*i»ini«ifti>iiiyMiiii

Volunteers Needed!

The office of Public Education & Interpretation (OPEI) of
the African Burial Ground in New York City is currently
instituting a Volunteer Program to engage community/
public involvement. Volunteers will serve as representa-
tives of the project visiting local schools, churches, and
other community agencies and organizations to inform
the public of the activities and services of the OPEI , dates
of the Federal Steering Committee meetings, and other
related activities and events. Internships for college credit
are also available. For additional information contact:

The Office of Public Education & Interpretation

of the African Burial Ground

6 World Trade Center, Room 239

U.S. Custom House

New York, New York 1 0048

(212)432-5707

(212) 432-5920 Hotline/Faxline

Good Art Project for Kids (and for When you Have
Too Many Pumpkins!)

This picture was taken during a Fall Muffin Morning at
the Marlboro [Massachusetts] Historical Society. On dis-
play was a photo of Dan Farber's which showed an early
Marlboro gravestone. The pumpkins have copies of
Marlboro gravestones drawn on them. This went along
with the Dan Farber photos which were on exhibit up-
stairs.

EIna Headberg

11 Gates Avenue

Marlboro, Massachusetts 01752

AGS Sp '94 p. 27

CALENDAR

Gravestones, Graveyards, and Cemeteries will be part of the 47th Annuail Seminars on American Culture at Cooperstown offered by
the New York State Historical Association, July 6 - 9, 1994. Given by AGS member C.R. Jones, this course, through field trips to
nearby locations, will provide opportunities to see actual examples of stone styles, carvers' work, landscaping, specialized struc-
tures, and layouts which give communities their special character. For more information on this and other courses, contact; Semi-
nars on American Culture, New York State Historical Association, Post Office Box 800, Cooperstown, New York 1 3326, or call (607)
547-2533.

Connecticut Valley Gravestones are the topic of a forum at Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday, June 11 ,
with Kevin Sweeney, Associate Professor of History and American Studies, Amherst College. A lecture, followed by a field trip to
selected Western Massachusetts graveyards, will afford an opportunity to learn the meaning and distinguishing characteristics of
one of the few sculptural expressions found in Puritan New England. This forum is being offered as part of the Spring Forums
program at Historic Deerfield. For more information, contact: Spring Forums 1994, Historic Deerfield, Inc., Box 321, Deerfield,
Massachusetts 01342.

The Vermont Old Cemetery Association will be sponsoring the following programs over the next few months:

May 7: Spring Meeting "Epitaphs from the New Haven Historical Society"

July 16: Restoration Workshop in Georgia, Vermont.

On-going: Restoration projects in Newfane, Wardsboro, and Stratton.

For more information, contact: Charles Marchant, Post Office Box 132, Townshend, Vermont 05353-0132.

The Friends of Center Cemetery, East Hartford, Connecticut, will be sponsoring the following:

May 21 : Children's Tour of Center Cemetery, given by Mary Dowden, historian.

June 4: Talk by State Archaelogist Nicholas Bellantoni on "Preservation of Ancient Cemeteries in Connecticut."

For more information, contact: Friends of Center Cemetery, 38 Forest Lane, East Hartford, Connecticut 06118.

We are on the threshold of being on a regular schedule, and we welcome Calendar items. Since the Summer issue v/ill be almost
ready for the printer by the time you get this, we are cunently accepting items for the Fall '94 issue. The deadline for the Fall issue
is September 1 , and it will be mailed around October 15, so please plan accordingly when sending us time-sensitive material. Send
all Calendar listings to the AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

Copyright© 1994 The Association for Gravestone Studies. The Association for Gravestone Studies holds the copyright on this Newsletter.
Unless material Is reprinted or specifically states otherwise, no permission is needed to reprint an article if the reprint is used for educational
purposes, full credit is given to the Association, as well as the author and or photographer or artist involved, and a copy of the document
or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to
members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received, and ends one year from
that date. A one year membership entitles members to four issues of the Newsletter. Send membership fees (Senior/Student, $20:
Individual, $25; Institutional, $30; Family $35; Supporting, $60; Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office, 30 Elm
Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Backissuesoftiie Newsletter are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. Thegoal
of the Newsletter is to present timeiy information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones, and about the activities
of the Association. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal.
Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Departmen t
of English, Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to the AGS office, or FAX us at
(508) 753-9070. Order Markers (current volume, XI, $28 to members, $32.50 to non-members; back issues available) from the AGS
office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 OldSudbury Road, Wayland, Massachusetts 01778. Address other
correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609, or call (508) 831-7753.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 Elm Street
Worcester, Massachusetts
01609

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester, MA

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME 18 NUMBERS Summer 1994 ISSN: 01 46-5783

CONTENTS

Topical Columns:

17lh& 18lh Century: "What Death Dates Can Tell Us" 2

19th & 20lh Century: "The Pottery Gravemarkers of Piedmont North Carolina" 3

Gravestones & Computers: Developing a Database Standard 5

Conservation News 7

Review Column 9

The Last Miles of the Way: African-American Homegoing Traditions 1890-Present

Edited by Elaine Nichols. Review by Roberta Halporn.
Pillars of the Past: A Guide to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California
By Michael Svanevik & Shirley Burgett. Review by Roberta Halporn.
Guide to Maintenance of Outdoor Sculpture

By Virginia Naud6 & Glenn Wharton. Review by C.R. Jones.
"Adam & Eve Scenes on Kirkyard Ornaments in the Scottish Lowlands"
By Betty Willsher. Review by Jessie Lie Farber.
Features:

"The Last Voyage" by Laurel Gabel 12

"National Register Cemeteries" by Sybil Crawford 15

Regional Columns:

Northwest & Far West 17

Southwest 18

Midwest 18

Southeast 19

Mid-AtJantic 20

New England/Maritime 20

Foreign 21

From the President's Desk: 24

President's Report

Board News: Report of April 23rd Meeting

Trustee Bios: Dan Goldman, Steve Petke, and Virginia Rockwood

Office Notes 26

Notes & Queries 27

Calendar 28

Upcoming Deadlines

We are caught up!

The deadlines for the next two Issues are as follows:

Fall '94: September 15

Winter '95: December I

For Calendar submissions, please see page 28.

AGSSu'94p.l

Topical Columns

17TH & 18TH CENTURY GRAVESTONES & CARVERS
Ralph Tucker

Box 414, Georgetown, Maine 04548

What Death Dates Can Tell Us

The date of death found on a gravestone can tell more than one
might first suppose . An example is the 1766 gravestone of Wil-
liam Grimes in Lexington, Massachusetts. The stone is identical
to other stones made by Caleb Lamson and even has his initials
carved on it, yet we know that Caleb died in 1760, six years be-
fore. How can this be? A close inspection of the stone shows that
the inscription area was cut back until it was again blank,
and then a new inscription was added; an early type of
recycling. If you look carefully,
you can make out a few
places where the older let-
tering still shows
through.

A similar stone is the
1712 Elizabeth

Greenleaf stone in
Newbury, Massachu-
setts, which was carved
by the "Old Stonecut-
ter," who had ceased
carving about twenty
years previously. This
stone also has a deeply
indented inscription area
where the previous in-
scription had been.

Such stones are technically
termed "palimpsests," a
term originally applied to
ancient manuscripts written
on parchment which had
been scraped to remove the
lettering and then re-lettered,
but which can be studied
read the original lettering.

Another interesting matter involving the dates on gravestones is
"backdating," which refers to a stone carved long after the date
of death, usually to replace a decayed wooden marker or to pro-
vide a marker where there had previously been none because of a
lack of local carvers. The 1662 John Stevens gravestone in North
Andover, Massachusetts, is a good example. It is a stone carved
by Robert MuUicken, Sr., who was bom in 1663. He could hardly
have carved a stone before he was born. Likewise, the 1668 John
White stone in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which has been cited
as an outstanding example of an early stone, was carved by John

Hartshome (bom 1650), who didn't carve a stone before 1700.

There is good evidence that when an early carver located in an
area where there had never before been a stonecutter, there was a
built-up demand for stones. We know that when John Hartshome
moved to Connecticut at the age of seventy-two, having been a
carver in Massachusetts, he made twenty-eight stones
^ for persons in Connecticut who had died before

his arrival. For a more detailed
explanation of backdating,
see the article 'The Co-
lonial Gravestone
Carvings of John
Hartshome" by Slater
and Tucker in Puritan
Gravestone Art II
(1978). (This book is
available through the
AGS publications list.
ML.)

A third interesting
matter involving the
dates on early stones is
, what is referred to as
"double dating," which
appears in such dates as
"1704/5." Before 1752,
the year was calculated as
beginning on March 25
instead of January 1. If you
stop to think, September is
the seventh month only if
you start to count the year
from March; likewise
October should be the eighth
h and December the tenth
month. Consequently the months January,
February, and the first twenty-four days of March belong
to the year previous to the year of the later dates. Thus, March
20, 1704/5, is the year 1704 by the old figuring, where March 25
is the start of the year, and 1705 by the current manner of
calculating January 1 as the first of the year. Sometimes one finds
the notation O.S. (old style) with such dates. This all involves the
shift from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, which
was voted on in England in 1750 and acted upon here in New
Engkind in 1752. Remember that double dating only occurs in
the first three months of a year and only before the year 1752.

AGS Su '94 p. 2

Topical Columns

19TH & 20TH CENTURY GRAVESTONES
Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummcr Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

The Pottery Gravemarkers of Piedmont North Carolina

By Patricia Samford

Research Laboratories of Anthropology, CB# 3120

Alumni Building

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3120

Although different cultures have used various materials to con-
struct gravemarkers over the years, stone is the most common
material used in the United States. In the North Carolina Pied-
mont, however, some ceramic gravemarkers were used for a hun-
dred-year period between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twen-
tieth centuries. This phenomenon can be directly related to pot-
tery production in North Carolina, a tradition which can trace its
roots back to the mid-eighteenth century, when Moravians settled
at Bethabara, near present-day Winston-Salem. Surviving docu-
ments show that by the early nineteenth century, there were nu-
merous small-scale potters of English and German descent spread
across the North Carolina Piedmont. There, a flourishing popu-
lation, the relative isolation of the area from outside markets,
and the presence of fine clays combined to create ideal condi-
tions for the success of these potters. Folklorist Charles G. Zug
III has written extensively about the North Carolina pottery in-
dustry in Turners and Burners: The Folk Pottery of North Caro-
lina (University of North Carolina Press, 1986), and much of the
information presented here is from his research.

North Carolina is not unique in its ceramic gravemarker tradi-
tion; pottery markers have also been documented in Texas,
Florida, Michigan, and Mississippi. The North Carolina mark-
ers were concentrated in the counties of Alamance, Randolph,
Buncombe, Moore, and Union, the areas where the pottery in-

dustry arose and is still viable today (Figure 1 ). The largest con-
centration appeared to have been at the Union Grove Baptist
Church, outside the pottery production center of Seagrove. The
North Carolina markers that have been documented to date seem
to have been crafted primarily for the family members and friends
of potters. More durable than wooden markers, the stoneware
markers were less expensive than stone markers. After turning
the marker on the potter's wheel, the potter incised the name of
the deceased on the shoulders, sides, or tops of the green, or
unfired, ware.

The markers, which were fired and sealed with alkaline or salt
glazes, were constructed with an open base. This not only kept
the markers from cracking during firing, but also allowed them
to be set down over a wooden or metal post to help keep them
upright. The markers appear to have been set slightly into the
ground, since the bottoms of some examples are stained from the
red clay soil of the area. Three styles of stoneware gravemarkers
were typical of the North Carolina Piedmont. In keeping with
other, largely utilitarian pottery common to the North Carolina
potteries of that time, the gravemarkers were simple in shape and
relatively unadorned. Markers were either jug-shaped or cylin-
drical, with one cylindrical type having pinched-in sides which
create a series of rolls. Not enough of these markers have sur-
vived to determine whether vessel shapes could be related to spe-
cific potters.

Today, only one ceramic gravemarker remains in place at the
Union Grove Church. Others have succumbed to theft, neglect,
and the ravages of weather, lawnmowers, or bulldozer blades.
The Ackland Art Museum of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill owns two surviving ceramic markers from the Union
Grove Church (Figures 2 and 3). These markers surfaced in At-
lanta after having been stolen from the cemetery in the early 1980s
and missing for nearly two years. When contacted, the Union
Grove Church expressed no interest in retaining the markers, due
to the continued risk of theft or damage. Subsequently, the mark-
ers were placed in the Ackland Art Museum.

Figure I: Map of North Carolina showing the locations of pottery gravemarkers

AGS Su '94 p. 3

To pic a I Columns

Figure 2: Gravemarker for Nancy J. Williamson, 1896. Inscribed:
NANCY J. WILLIAMZON. BORAViOV: 4: 1875: DIED: NOV: 17:
1896: AGE: 21: YEAR: 13: DAY Height 12 1/4" (AcklandArt
Museum, Gift of Charles G. Zug).

Figure 3: Gravemarker for James R. Teague, 1938. Inscribed across
top: JAMES R. TEAGUE BORN: APR. 20TH 1884.: DECEASED.
OCT. 13TH 1938. AGE. 54 YRS. 5 MO. 24 DAYS. Height 17 314"
(Acktand Art Museum, Gift of Charles G. Zug).

Gravemarker loss through theft and intentional or unintentional
destruction has always been an issue for churches, but in the case
of pottery markers, the problem has been more pressing than most.
Anchoring these markers securely to the ground is virtually im-
possible, and their small size (generally between 10" and 18"
tall) and light weight make them easy targets for desu^uction or
theft. Since the one surviving example remaining at the Union
Grove Cemetery is broken, it is not likely to be of interest to
thieves.
Both of the markers in the Ackland Museum had sustained mi-

nor damage prior to their acquisition. The very fragility of these
markers may have led to the creation of some religious beliefs by
the people who made and sold them. One Union Grove area
visitor to the Ackland Museum told a doccnt that any damage
occurring to a marker within a year of burial was a sign that the
soul of the deceased had not been admitted to heaven.

If anyone has any information on the locations of additional North
Carolina ceramic gravcmarkers or beliefs concerning their use, I
would be interested in hearing about them.

AGS Su '94 p. 4

Topical Columns j

^r-y

GRAVESTONES AND COMPUTERS
John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

In my last two columns I laid the groundwork for the development of a computer program to catalog gravestone photographs. In the
interim, I have received fifteen to twenty letters from people telling me about their use of computers for gravestone studies. I have
also heard what people would like to accomplish with their computers. The majority of the people that wrote have an interest in
transcribing or recording gravestones. I am therefore going to ]X)stpone the photography program development and start on a
general purpose transcription program.

What we will try to accomplish over the next several issues is to develop a database standard and a program to enter data, to search,
and to print reports. The database standard can be used with the software we will develop or with any other database that researchers
are using. By having a database standard, researchers can swap data files with each other. If you plan to use a computer for research,
please review the database standard as we develop it to make sure it will work for your research, and send your comments to me so
we incorporate the needs of all.

I plan to develop relational databases to accomplish the standard. There will be one for the gravestone, one for the cemetery,
possibly one for gravestone carvers, and possibly others. In this issue, I would like to suggest the following as a starting point for the
gravestone database and solicit comments.

neld name

typ«

1

LASTNAME

char

2

FRSTNAME

char

3

MAIDEN

char

4

RELATION

char

5

BD

numeric

6

BM

char

7

BY

char

8

DD

numeric

9

DM

char

10

DY

char

width

20

25

20

62

2
3
5
2
3
5

dec

description

Last name on gravestone
First and middle name, title
Female maiden name

Relationship such as wife of (W/O), son of
(S/O), granddaughter of (GD/O)
Day of birth

Month of birth (i.e. JAN, FEB, MAR)
Year of birth-room for circa (1775c)
Day of death
Month of death
Year of death-room for ? etc. (1775?)

The reason for the elaborate date breakout rather than a simple date field is because dates such as 04/31/1861 are found on stones and some
dates can not be cornpletely read. These two situations can not be entered in a standard database date field.

field name

type

11

AGE YR

numeric

12

AGE MO

numeric

13

AGE DY

numeric

14

AGE AGE

numeric

width

dec

<?«stription

3

0

Age in years

2

0

Age in months

2

0

Age in days

3

0

Age written "in her 89th year

I have also seen dates expressed in weeks and in hours, but these are so rare I don't think we should burden every record with these fields. They
can be documented in the memo field (see below).

field name tU>£ width ^ description

15 VETERAN logical 1 Veteran (yes or no)

16 WAR char 8 Veteran of which war

If this is to be a search field, a standard list must be developed such as: COLONIAL, REV, 1812, MEXICAN, CIVIL, SPANISH, WWI, WWII,
KOREAN, VIETNAM.

Gravestone characteristics: each of these will need to have a set of codes developed so that everyone lists them the same way.

17

18

field name
CP

CD

dec

Ixas. width

char 2 Composition of stone

[M] marble, [S] slate, [F] fieldstone, [G] granite, [SS] sandstone, [B] bronze,
[W] wood, [CC] concrete, [HC] hollow cast zinc, [PM] polished marble or granite

char

1
[G] good, [F] fair, [P] poor

AGS Su '94 p. 5

Condition of stone

19

Topical Columns

CT

char 1 Shape of stone

[S] square top, [R] round top, [P] pointed top, [F] fancy top, [M] monument,
[H] horizontal, [U] crude fieldstone, [A] statue, [T] tomb, [O] other

20

21

22

char 1

[U] up, [D] down, [R] repaired, [B] broken

Status

CV

char 1 Carving

[S] skull & xbones, [B] skull with wings, [A] angel, [W] winged creature, [U] willow and/or um,
[R] rising/setting sun, [L] lamb, [H] hand (point up, shaking), [F] flower, [0] none (zero),
[T] coat of arms, [P] portrait, [C] cross, [D] brand - western, [M] misc other

char

23

NO GRAVE

numeric

24

STONE HT

char

25

STONE WID

char

26

FS

logical

27

EXISTS

logical

28

EX_DATE

char

Carver

neld

type

29

CARVER

char

30

CARV HOW

char

1

[G] good, [F] fair, [P] poor

2 0

3

3

1

1

1

Legibility of lettering

Number of names on gravestone

Height of stone in inches

Width of stone in inches

Footstone - Yes or No

Does the stone exist today? Yes or No

Year the stone was last seen

width dec description

15 Name of gravestone carver

1 How was the carver identified?

[S] signed, [P] probated, [D] identified with high certainty (definite),
[M] identified as probably, [G] identified as possibly (guess)

Location of gravestone:

new

31 CEME_NO

tYP,£

char

32 SECT

33 LOT

34 MAP

char
char
char

Miscellaneous:

fieW name

35 COMMENT

]£££

memo

36 RECORDER

char

width

5

^lee

2
4
5

>vi<lth

t?ee

24

<ie?tription

Cemetery number-2 letters to identify the
town or county & a 3 digit sequence number
Section number
Lot number
Map number

description

Memo field (up to 5000 charactere) for any
additional comments, verses, notes,
geneology, etc.

To document all transcriptions of a stone,
usually with initials of recorder.

Please send your comments, suggestions, and questions to me. The more input that goes into this database and program, the more
useful it will be. In the next issue, I will summarize all of the comments I get on this gravestone database specification and, if
space permits, start to define a database to document the cemetery.

Historic Landscape Preservation Symposium

AGS is joining the National Park Service, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Association for Olmstcad
Ptu-ks, the American Cemetery Association, and the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation in sponsoring a symposium on
preserving historic landscapes as part of the National Trust's annual conference. Tided "Historic Landscapes: Getting to Treat-
ment," the symposium will be held at Mount Aubimi Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, October 25, 1994.
Speakers will present case studies of historic landscape projects that have reached the final stage of treatment. Several ty|vs of
landscapes will be discussed; historic ccnieicrics will be represenicd by Evergreen in Portland, Maiiie; Forest Hills, in Boston:
and Mount Auburn. Lunch is included with a tour of Mount Auburn and a round-table discussion to summarize the issues
discussed during the day. To register, send your name, address, telephone niunber. :uid a chf-.ck for $40 lo ihe Naiionnl Trust,
1994 Conference Registration, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D C lOO^b Specil\ Historn. LandsLafX" S> m-
posium. Registration is limited.

AGS Su V4 p. 6

CONSHRVATION NEWS
W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadlcy Place

Hadlcy, Massachusetts 01035

topical Columns

VANDALS BEWARE! THERE IS A "SIGN" ON YOU

In a significant gesture of community service, Mark Lloyd of Lloyd Memorials, Dover, Delaware, placed more than fourteen

professionally made signs in local cemeteries. The signs, placed in Dover as well as Ohio cemeteries, tend to increase public

surveillance. A reward of up to $500 is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of graveyard mischief-makers.

Lloyd Memorials will provide the reward money, relieving cemeteries of any financial burden. Nearby residents and businesses

are advised of the program, which enhances its effectiveness.

The idea for the reward program came from a monument industry trade magazine. Perhaps our readers could suggest
this program to monument makers in their local area. Details could be solicited from Mr. Lloyd.

What Do You Do With the Rest of It?
A Dilemma for the "Occasional" Conservator

Let's say you have read Chapter four of A Graveyard Preserva-
tion Primer. Having determined the need for "mortaring a stone
into its base," you review page 71 to determine the formula for
preparing the soft mortar mix: 1 part #1 (while poriland cement)
to 4 parts hydrated (mason's) lime to 8 parts clean, graded sand.
Off you go to purchase the material, only to discover that port-
land cement comes in only one size — 94 pound bags! Some-
what the same for hydrated lime — 50 pound bags, and clean
sand — 50 pounds! With a good-sized stone requiring only about
a half a cup of portland cement, 2 cups of hydrated lime, and 4
cups of sand, what do you do with the rest of it, that is, the re-
maining 93 pounds, 10 ounces of portland cement, etc.?

In Uke manner, kaolin (for poulticing) comes in 50 pound bags.
One pound, when mixed into an ounce of glycerin and an ounce
of water, provides sufficient material for a good-sized stone.

To help you cope with this excessive material dilemma, AGS is
offering a complete pre-mixed mortar package for $3.50 (post-
age paid), or, if you prefer to add the sand yourself, we have a
mixture for $2.50 (postage paid) to which 4 cups of clean (not
beach) sand must be added. A one pound package of Kaolin is
available for $2.50 (postage paid). By getting this material in
smaller quantities, you will avoid using valuable storage space
in your garage or basement and having ambient moisture turn it
into rock-hard material, creating a disposal problem.

Send your order to AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachu-
setts 01609.

A Selected Glossary (part four of four)

Organized by category, this glossary clarifies the meanings of
terms commonly used in the field of outdoor sculpture.

AGS Su -94 p. 7

^MiMMkiMfMM

PROCESS

Cast: The reproduction of an object obtained when a material in
a liquid state is poured into a mold and allowed to harden.

Core: The interior sculptural form made of the same substance
as the foundry mold and held in place by steel pins and rods in
order to create a hollow, bronze cast.

Fabricator: The company or individual who assembles a sculp-
ture from a variety of separate pieces by welding or other means;
this applies more often to modem non-figurative or abstract sculp-
ture and is not to be confused with Foundry.

Foundry: The company that casts and completes a sculpture
based on the artist's model or design; foundry work includes en-
larging, making the molds, pouring the molton material, assem-
bling the sculpture (if it is cast in pieces), finishing, and usually
applying of patina.

Incised Motif: Designs, text, or other similiar elements that are
carved into the surface of the stone or engraved on the surface of
the metal.

Recast: Made from molds taken from the original cast or repli-
cas that may or may not be authorized by the artist

OTHER

Adopt-A-Sculpture/Adopt-A-Monument: Program that en-
gages corporations, foundations, and other groups to underwrite
the repair and/or ongoing maintenence of outdoor sculpture,

usually on a local level.

American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic
Works (AIC): The American organization of conservalion pro-
fessionals dedicated lo preserving the art and historic artifacts of
our cultural heritage for future generations.

Conservator: A person who by training and experience is
equipped to advise on and carry out the preservation and treat-
ment of objects of our cultural heritage. Conservators may work
in museum laboratories, regional centers, or in private practice.

Inventory of American Sculpture: Initialed in 1986 by the
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, the
Inventory of American Sculpture is an ongoing, comprehensive
computer listing of indoor and outdoor works by sculptors from
colonial days to the present.

Proper Right or Proper Left: For use with figurative works to
indicate the direction or side from the perspective of a statue,
(i.e. as if you were positioned on the base); "PR" indicates Proper
Right and "PL" indicates Proper Left.

Provenance: The history of ownership, including place of ori-
gin.

This completes the Selected Glossary. Reprinted with permis-
sion. Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) Handbookfor Volunteers,
c/o NIC, 3299 K Street NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC 20007.

Points'of Interest
Bill Hosley

Old Abbe Road, Enfield, Connecticut 06082

Because "Points of Interest" is dependent on member re-
sponse, and because the production schedule of newsletters
is presently such that member response was impossible for
this issue, there is no "Points of Interest" column here.

However, members are still invited to send material in on
stones that mark the graves or talk about the relationship
between Europeans and Native Americans (see Spring, 1994,
issue). The findings will appear in the Fall issue in October,
so please get your information to me by September 15.

"Points of Interest" is a members' forum, where we look at pic-
tures, ideas, and information about the "discoveries" we all make
from time to time. Each issue of the Newsletter reports findings
from the previous "assignment" and concludes with a new assign-
ment. Member participation is essential, and you are encouraged
to suggest topics for discussion.

Pictures may be small (even snapshots), but they must be sharp
and clear. Only those submitted in self-addressed, stamped enve-
lopes can be returned. Send all material to n^ at the address above.

CONSERVATOR'S CONNECTION

We are eager to develop a substantial rosier ol

professioiuil con.'>ervators (individuals or companies)

and skilled pracutioners in order to provide a resource

for individuals and organizations planning conservation

projects. Members (or their friends or acquainuuice.s)

having direct or indirect knowledge of persons engaged

in conservalion activity are urged to contact:

Fred Oakley

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035.

Each lead will be followed up and credentials will

be sought for the Conservator's Resource Listing. .An

appropriate caveat wUl be afl'ixed lo the rosier slating

that AGS does not, as a mailer of jxilicy. make

reconimendaiions nor subsianiiate documeniaiion

provided by those listed. The lisi is being compiled

and made available as a service to members and

||:|:: olhers seeking consepv'ation services.

AGS Su V4 p. 8

Topical Columns

REVIEW COLUMN

Miranda Levin (last column)
From now on: Eric Brock

Post Office Box 5877,
Shrcvcporl, Louisiana 71135-5877

The ImsI Miles of the Way:
African-American Homegoing Traditions 1890-Present

Edited by Elaine Nichols

A catalog of an exhibit, published by the

South Carolina State Museum, Post Office Box 100107,

301 Gervais Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29202-3107.

1989, $12.50 includes postage and handling.

Paperback, 7 1 pages.

Review by Roberta Halporn

How I wish I had had this book in hand in New Orleans two
years ago when a group of us met for the stimulating lectures
conducted by Richard Meyer within the American Culture Asso-
ciation. Where else could AGS members go but to the cemetery?
Since I'm not a Victorian and Civil War fan, I was getting rest-
less until we were steered to an African- American cemetery only
a few blocks away from Metairie Cemetery, the showplace to
which we were being introduced by local members. Once there,
we were baffled by the complete metal frame of a bed on one
grave, bizarre symbols on the hand-painted markers, and the bro-
ken crockery, which added such a derelict aspect to the yard.
The Last Miles of the Way would have illuminated the fact that
the bed, the china, and the other artifacts were not abandoned
junk, but remnants of the African funeral and burial customs
brought here by the slaves and adapted to the circumstances in
which they lived and died.

Like the ancient Chinese, African-Americans did not believe that
death was a silent end to a life. Rather, it was merely a transition
from one state to another. If the family did not provide a proper
burial for the deceased, that person's spirit could wander rest-
lessly and cause problems for the surviving family members.
Proper burial included placing the person's possessions within
or on the grave (including beds), but cracking holes in the ob-
jects to free the spirits within them to catch up to the spirit of
their owner. Colors and asymmetrical patterns were used to con-
fuse evil spirits, and shiny objects were meant to dazzle the eye
so one could "see through to the other world." Another element
placed on graves was arcane writing on paper, which is puzzling
to me because I was under the impression that teaching slaves to
write was illegal.

The slaves who came from the African Bakongo culture also had
a special affinity for water. According to the historian Elizabeth
Fenn, who contributed one of the essays to this handsome vol-
ume, more West Africans who were shipped here came from
Congo and Angolan ports than any other group, so it is under-
standable that their culture had a potent influence on black- Ameri-
can customs. The Congolans believed that the land of the dead

was an upside-down version of the living world, connected by
the flashes of light off oceans, streams, and lakes. They be-
lieved that these illuminations were manifestations of ancestral
spirits, and their descendants often placed glass and ceramic ob-
jects on their graves to reflect these flashes. Broken shells from
the sea were also placed on graves as emblems both of the waters
and of the spiraling patterns of life and death. Even plumbing
drainage pipes and bathroom ceramic tiles carried the same to-
tcmic effects and can still be found.

As blacks became more westernized and adapted more of the
prevailing white American funeral decorum, this type of artifact
began to disappear, at least on the graves of the middle class, but
stubborn examples of these ancient customs still appear. Some
of the compelling photographs included show recent graves from
Wadmolow Island (presumably off the coast of South Carolina),
one decorated with a gold-rimmed ceramic pitcher, and another
neatly bordered with conch shells, gravel, and combined
anachronistically with a ceramic photograph on the stone.

One of the most significant decorations is a deliberately stopped
clock. To those of Bakongo origins, the clock represented the
cosmos and the movement of the sun, but in counterclockwise
rotation. Stopping the clock located the person in time and in
this cycle of existence — worldly and otherwordly. Often stopped
at home at the hour of death, and draped with a pall, it seems that
the clock was then transported to the cemetery to stand for eter-
nity.

State Senator Fielding contributes a chapter on Low Country
grieving and burial customs from the perspective of intimate ex-
perience, since he was raised by a funeral home family. Some of
the customs he describes from his childhood are also recounted
by the other authors, but some are unique, such as placing a stick
in the hands of a murdered person so he or she might have a
defensive weapon in the afterlife, and dragging a truck behind
the hearse to wipe out its tiie Liacks.

The only chapter that is not a complete delight of graceful prose
and cogent information is "Archaeological Analysis of African-
American Mortuary Behavior," contributed by an archaeologist
who seems to have been misled by her sources. AGS members
will grasp some of these problems when they learn that she at-
tributes the development of the Victorian garden cemetery to "the
Southern plantation cemetery." However, she is on firmer ground
when she discusses the phenomena she found when she left the
library and went out into the field. Even here, some of her inter-
pretations of the artifacts she found could lend themselves to other
conclusions by a more informed eye. Nevertheless, the photo-
graphs accompanying this section add to the general excellence
of the book.

A chapter by the Rev. Dr. Jackson concludes the volume, dis-
cussing some of the Christian beliefs that gradually replaced the
more ancient religions brought here from Africa, and describing
how they influenced black burial customs. But one cannot end
this review without mentioning an extraordinary element that

AGS Su '94 p. 9

^opical Columns

alone makes this book worth the purchase price — and that is the
treasure chest of references. As one who has spent a teeth-gnash-
ing two years trying to find out anything about tiie cemetery
customs of Chinese- Americans, I am in awe of the resources here.
A researcher who undertakes a study of black customs before
1900 will have what might have seemed like a monumental task
turned into a more easily done project, thanks to this lovely and
dignified publication. The Last Miles of the Way is an irreplace-
able acquisition for gravestone libraries that aspire to an inclu-
sive collection.

Pillars of the Past:
A Guide to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California

By Michael Svanevik and Shirley Burgett

Custom & Limited Editions, 41 Sutter Street,

San Francisco, California 94104.

1992, $7.95.

Paperback, 64 pages.

Review by Roberta Halporn

This is a pleasant guidebook to a California garden cemetery
opened in 1882 and modeled in part on Mt. Auburn Cemetery. It
strikes me as interesting that the founding of several such Victo-
rian resting places was spearheaded in each case by the efforts of
individuals who were appalled by the degraded conditions of their
urban cemeteries as the populations flooded over their original
boundaries. These visionaries had accumulated enough wealth
and leisure time to travel long distances in search of a more aes-
thetic and dignified way to inter the dead. Green-Wood in Brook-
lyn had its Pierrepont; this Cypress Lawn had its Hamden H.
Noble, a Maine native, who, as a Civil War veteran, sought his
fortune in California in 1865 and found it. Like Pierrepont, he
visited cemeteries all over the United States, and, inspired by
what he saw in the East, created Cypress Lawn as an endowment
care site. Multi-talented, he designed the grounds and imported
the beautiful trees and shrubs which ornament the landscape.
Going PierrejK)nt one better, he even imported brown Boston pi-
geons and constructed shelters for them. (Green-Wood's avian
population, which nests in the sandstone Upjohn gates, are col-
orful squatters. They seem to have been blown off a freighter in
Brooklyn Harbor and taken up permanent residence in the clock
tower.)

The first interments in Cypress Lawn were effected in 1887. The
difficulty of transporting a funeral cortege across unpaved roads
to what once served as potato and vegetable fields led to a solu-
tion that seems unique. The Southern Pacific Railroad inaugu-
rated two daily scheduled funeral U'ains. Round trip for mourn-
ers cost $.50 and the casket, carried in another car, cost $1 .00. If
you were rich enough, you could even book a non-scheduled trip
for your party for $50.00.

By the 1920s, bodies were being moved en masse from their de-

teriorated original homes to Cypress Lawn and other "garden
cemeteries" which sprang up in the area. Unfortunately for grave-
stone enthusiasts, it seems that most of the old markers were left
behind. The eighty-seven new mausolea add luster to what the
authors claim is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the West
Because of the benign climate, many buildings have stained glass
ceihngs as well as the traditional windows. Though the ceilings
were created by West coast designers, many of the remarkable
windows were designed in the East by superb craftsmen such as
Tiffany and Frederick Lamb of New York, and Charles Connick
of Boston. It is a sad commentary on our times that the authors
have felt obliged to omit the locations of the buildings that con-
tain these artworks because of fear of vandalism and theft.

Short biographies of some local notables who rest in Cypress
Lawn are included. Though possibly only two, writers Gertrude
Atherton and Lincoln Steffens, will be familiar to Easterners, the
others comprise a grand gallery of gold and silver prospectors
who "made it," battling newspaper editors, and bank presidents.
The well-reproduced portraits which accompany these sketches
add interest, but it is unfortunate that so few photographs of their
monuments were included. Two clear maps complete the booklet

Guide to the Maintenance of Outdoor Sculpture

By Virginia Naud6 and Glenn Wharton

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and

Artistic Works, 1717 K Street N.W., Suite 301,

Washington, D.C. 20006.

1993, $15.00 includes postage and handling.

Paperback, 62 pages.

Review by C.R. Jones

This excellent publication does not belong on the bookshelf of
every cemetery superintendent, board member, and volunteer
group. However, it should be in constant use, being read and re-
read (along with Lynette Strangstad's A Graveyard Preservation
Primer) by all of us who care about memorials, markers, and
cemeteries.

Although it is not written with graveyards in mind, the opening
chapter's discussion of the history of outdoor monuments and
memorials and the way we look at ihcm is useful and thought-
provoking. Subsequent chapters deal with philosophical consid-
erations, establishing responsibility for maintenance, surveying,
establishing maintenance plans, identifying materials, and con-
tracting services with some assurance that the work will be done
carefully and correctly.

The descriptions in chapter six of sculpture materials and their
deterioration will be especially helpful for students of gravestones
and "Victorian" graveyards, although readers must expand their
thinking to include thousands of outdoor sculptures, small build-
ings, fences, and landscape elements.

AGSSuV4p.lO

Topical Columns

This is not a recipe book for cleaning and conserving sculpture.
Rather, it is a planning guide for executing whole projects in tlie
best manner. All of the major steps are discussed, and these ap-
ply directly to gravestones. A selected rciiding list and otlier
sources of information will help the reader explore tlie often mis-
understood role of the conservator.

I was disappointed not to find any reference to AGS or AGS pub-
lications, and the existence of gravestones is acknowledged by
only one illustration of a crumbling sandstone. At least that sug-
gests the problems that we face. The book could not deal with all
outdoor sculpture. And the disappointing decision of Save Out-
door Sculpture! not to include most gravestones and memorials
has left that area to others.

Some additional points that might have been included are a bet-
ter description of fabrication techniques and some discussion of
the aesthetics of natural weathering and its desirability — on
garden sculpture, for example. The conservative approach (pun
intended) is often the best. Some discussion of landscape ele-
ments and their relationship to sculpture would also have been
helpful.

There is much here that will be informative and useful for those
of us who care for and about historic gravestones. The important
messages are: plan carefully, supervise the actual work, and con-
tinue the preventive maintenance which is so often overlooked.

"Adam and Eve Scenes on Kirkyard Ornaments
in the Scottish Lowlands"

By Betty Willsher

Published in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of

Scotland, Volume 122 (1992) pages 413-451.

The Royal Museum of Scotland, Queen Street,

Edinburgh, Scotland.

45 illustrations (drawings and photographs).

Review by Jessie Lie Farber

This article is a compilation of information about gravemarkers
ornamented with scenes of the Expulsion of Adam and Eve.

Betty Willsher, recipient of AGS's 1989 Forbes Award, is the
author of two books. Understanding Scottish Graveyards (1985),
and (with Doreen Hunter) Stones:18th Century Scottish Grave-
stones (1979), as well as numerous articles. She has twice con-
tributed papers at AGS conferences.

From her we have learned that Scotland is rich in both variety
and the folksy charm of its eighteenth-century gravestone carv-
ing. Now she introduces us to a fascinating new vein of this
wealth. She describes sixty-two Adam-and-Eve carvings, forty-
six of which are illustrated. All but three (one in the United States

and two in Canada) arc Scottish. She believes "It is likely that
there were once many more."

Tlie Scottish stones arc grouped by location, and a map shows
the geographical scatter. The descriptions of each stone are de-
tailed, yet succinct, giving not only the basic identifying data —
name of the deceased, death date, age, and location — but also
considerable information about size, condition, and carver's style.
In some instances, pertinent lines from the inscription are quoted.
The primary and any secondary motifs are carefully identified,
described, and (often wittily) interpreted.

It seems to this reviewer that serious students of gravestone art
will both learn from and enjoy this article and will want to add it
to their libraries. Although reprints are no longer available from
the publisher, AGS is seeking permission to reprint the article in
Markers. In any case, a bound offset copy, a gift of the author, is
available in the Association Archives.

From the new Review Editor: I was asked to serve as Review
Editor several weeks after the Fall, 1993, Newsletter came out.
(That, of course, is the issue in which the section editors gave
little blurbs about themselves and said something about their
columns.) Since I was too late for that, here I am now.

My interest in cemeteries and gravemarkers goes back as far as
I can recall. It is an interest intimately linked to my love of his-
tory. Though a native and lifelong Louisianian, I have travelled
fairly extensively throughout the US and abroad; the first thing I
try to do, wherever I go, is visit cemeteries. They are outdoor
archives, each unique and fascinating in its own right.

Likewise, I make a special effort to keep track of cemetery and
gravemarker literature, both recent material as well as older,
more obscure works. In the past, I have had the honor of writing
a few reviews for the Newsletter. I will continue to do so, but I
want you, the members and friends of AGS, to help. I welcome
submissions of reviews from readers. I also welcome any re-
lated materials readers may wish to send, such as clippings and
other information about new and forthcoming publications or
media, or review copies of material on gravemarkers, cemeter-
ies, and related topics. We'll be doing one review per issue, on
average, but we'll also be doing updates and brief synopses of
newly published items of interest. I encourage interested read-
ers to contact me. I only ask that review submissions be typed or
computer printed. Vm looking forward to working with the News-
letter staff and with fellow members of AGS.

AGSSuV4p.n

Features

The Last Voyage

By Laurel Gabel

205 Fishers Road, Pittsford, New York 14534

One of the many romantic themes in nineteenth-century culture
was that of "The Last Voyage," an allegorical death scene in which
an angel guides a graceful boat, carrying the body of a "sleep-
ing" figure, across the wa-
ter to a distant shore. Ref-
erences to this final voy-
age can be found on
gravemarkers in most
parts of the United States
(Figures 1 and 2). Where
did the design originate?
How prevalent was it, and
during what period was it
in use? Did the same
motif ever appear on art
outside of cemeteries?
Two separate inquiries
about this design arrived
in the same month and
precipitated the following
research.

AGS's white bronze ex-
pert, Barbara Rotundo,
shared information about
"The Last Voyage" from
the Monumental Bronze
Company's 1882 trade
catalog, which describes
the company's new de-
sign (Figure 3) in detail:

THE LAST VOYAGE

[Note] extreme size: 3 feet
10 inches wide, by 5 feet 4
3/4 inches long.

This beautiful ideal picture
in B AS RELIEF is the result
of months of artistic labor in
modeling, and it is intended
for outside and inside walls
of Churches and Public
Buildings, also for decorat-
ing Entrance-gateways of
Cemeteries as well as Monu-
ments and fronts of Tombs
and Vaults.

Figure 1: Detail from Hemans family gravemarker,
Dover Plains, New York (from Mary Dexter).

Figure 2: Detail from gravemarker in Lisbon, Louisiana (from Barbara Rotundo).

By means of numerous strong non-corrosive connecting bolts, it can be
securely fastened to any structure, whether built of wood, brick, stone
or metal. This engraving represents it cast in tlie same material as the
"White Bronze Monuments," having the same beautiful finish.

For indoor use, if desired, we can "GILD" all the raised portions with
the fmest of gold, which will be put on by a process that will make it
absolutely permanent. The background can then be left in its natural
color, or tinted in harmony with surrounding decorations. A "plaster
cast" can be furnished where a saving in cost Ls an object, and it can
also be "tinted" or "gilded" to suit the surroundings.

Price, cast in "White Bronze," with the frosted finish = S300

Price, cast in "White
Bronze," & gilded with 23
carat gold = S375
Price, cast in plaster, gilded
& tinted = S200
Price, cast in plaster, finely
finished, & left pure white
= S12

This grand production is by
the hand of Archibald
McKellar (special artist for
the Monumental Bronze
Company of Bridgeport,
Connecticut) and was fm-
ished at the Company's Art
Foundry, in the month of
February, 1881.

(According to Who Was
Who in American Art,
McKellar was born in
Bridgeport, Connecticut,
in 1844 and died in Pais-
ley, Scotland, in 1901.
He was a director of
"Monumental Bronze
Co., New York" and one
of the Bridgeport
company's primary art-
ists.)

The true origin of "The
Last Voyage" sculpture,
so skillfully copied by
Archibald McKellar,
goes unmentioned in the
Monumental Bronze
Company catalog.

Coincidentally, a sec-
ond, invaluable lead
came from AGS mem-
ber Eric Brock, whose
clairvoyant powers
prompted him to share
(unsolicited) a photograph of an engraving of the original bas-
relief sculpture of "The Last Voyage" which he found in an 1885-
%(iioY\o\o\\imQ,,Selection.^ in Modern Art (Figure 4). As Eric's
reference shows, Archibald McKcllar's model for the Monumen-
tal Bronze Company's "The Last Voyage" was an incidental sculp-

AGSSuV4p.l2

Features

tural composition by English artist Felix Mcirtin Miller. Miller's
"The Last Voyage" was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1 877,
and an engraving of it was then reproduced in The Art Journal
(Vol. 18: 133), published in New York in 1879. The two pieces of
art are virtually identical. There can be little doubt that McKellar's
1881 version was copied from Miller's 1877 original.

The original memorial
sculpture by Felix Miller
(Figure 4) represents
Theodore and Herbert
Mellor, the deceased in-
fant children of J.J.
Mellor of Whitefield, En-
gland. Herbert, who died
in 187 1 , is the older of the
two children, and Miller
depicts him as a winged
angel guiding a ship
which carries the dead
body of his little brother
over the "sea of bliss."
The rays of light that
guide the angel and his
"slumbering" cargo are
meant to represent the
children's heavenly desti-
nation. In Christian ico-
nography, ships are sym-
bolic of the religious faith
that carries one through
the voyage of life. They
appear frequently as a
metaphor for death —
transporting souls on
life's final journey to an-
other shore. Additional
death-related symbols in-
corporated in Miller's
sculpture of "The Last
Voyage" include: a
chrysalis and butterfly
placed prominently on
the lower comer of the
shroud or drape; a
nosegay of lilies and un-
opened flower buds held
by the dead child; the
guiding light or torch of
Christian faith which il-
luminates the darkness;

the cross and monogram

of Christ adorning the sail; a six-pointed star inside a circle, said
to symbolize life's beginning and end in Christ. Along with the
death dates and initials of the Mellor children, the base of Miller's
sculpture features the explanatory epitaph; "A gentle wafting to

Figure 3: Trade catalog of the Monumental Bronze Company White Bronze

Monuments. 1882. Courtesy, the Winterthur Library:

Printed Book and Periodical Collection.

Figure 4: "The Last Voyage, " engraved by W. Rojfe from the

sculpture by F.M. Miller Selections in Modern Art. Volume

//. New York; D. Appleton and Company, 1885-1886.

immortal life." This comforting quotation is from Mi lion's /'ara-
discLosi: "A death-like sleep, A gentle wafting to immortal life."

Felix Martin Miller was born in 1820 and raised in a London
orphanage after being left fatherless at a young age. His artistic
liilent was recognized and encouraged by established artists; while
still in his early twenties, he was a regular exhibitor at England's

prestigious Royal Acad-
emy. Miller was ac-
knowledged for his ro-
mantic, poetic .sculptures,
the most well-known of
which include "Cruising
Along the Water Lilies,"
"Emily and the White
Doe of Rylstone,"
"Ariel," and "Titania."
The Art Journal (1874)
described Miller as "one
of the few sculptors
whose genius is manifest
and who has produced
works, chiefly bas-re-
liefs, that are unsur-
passed by any produc-
tions of their class in
modem art.

It is his evil fortune to
obtain much praise with
little success or recom-
pense." Felix Martin
Miller died in 1880, one
year before Archibald
McKellar reproduced
"The Last Voyage" for
the Monumental Bronze
Company's mass mar-
ket.

Miller and McKellar
were certainly not the
first to use a ship cross-
ing over water as a meta-
phor for death. The reli-
gion and/or mythology
of many cultures in-
cludes such watery
boundaries between the
living and the dead. In
Latin literature, Virgil's

The Aneid describes

Charon, the greedy ferryman, who was paid for transporting the
newly dead across the sacred river Styx. The dead had coins
placed in their mouths when they were buried. Milton, Bunyan,
and others repeat the theme. In the nineteenth century, many

AGS Su '94 p. 13

Features

artists produced works inspired by Thomas Cole's (1801-1848)
popular series called The Voyage of Life (1840). In the twenty-
five years between 1850 and 1875, editions of The Voyage of
Life "were almost as often to be found in American homes as had
been engravings of George Washington in an earlier generation,"
according to art historian Alan Wallach. In Cole's fourth and
final painting of the "Voyage" series — the 51 3/4" x 78 1/4"
canvas entitled "Old Age" — an elderly, white-bearded man sits
in an open boat whose graceful sides are outlined with a succes-
sion of small, winged heads (Figure 5). The scene suggests a
winter midnight, with the boat and its weary passenger drifting
from the "river of life into the ocean of eternity." The man is
shown reaching out to a white-clad angel that appears to be guid-
ing the small vessel away from the "barren rocks of old age." On
the other side of the water, dark clouds open to reveal bright rays
of divine light and heavenly hosts welcoming him to the "Haven
of Immortal Life," the Beulah Land. A term used to describe the

land of Israel in the Old Testament and the land of peace in John
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in the nineteenth century Beulah
Land was synonymous with heaven, the promised land, a place
of eternal perfection. Popular hymns and ballads with titles such
as "Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah Land," "The Shore of Eiemiiy,"
"Shall We Gather at the River," and "O Boaunan Row Me O'er,"
repeat the popular theme of "crossing over" or being transported,
at death, across water to the promised New Jerusalem.

I am still searching for information about these "Last Voyage"
scenes. If you have seen similar designs in use on cemetery gates,
mausoleum doors, chapel walls, stained glass windows, public
murals, or in any other unique application, please write and tell
us about your discovery. Thanks for input from Eric Brock, Waller
Burton, Sybil Crawford, Mary Dexter, Laura Ettinger, and Bar-
bara Rotundo.

Figure 5: Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Old Age, 1840, oil on canvas, 51 3/4" x 78 114". Courtesy of Munson-Williams-Proclor Institute,

Museum of An, Utica, New York.

AGS Su '94 p. 14

Features

National Register Cemeteries

By Sybil Crawford

10548 Stone Canyon Road #228, Dallas, Texas 75230-4408

Many of us are interested in nominating a cemetery for inclusion
in the National Register of Historic Places, while others may sim-
ply contemplate a visit to a cemetery so designated.

Approximately 1700 cemeteries and burial places have been en-
tered in the National Register since 1966, the first year it was
created. There are two primary reasons for there being so small
a number. First: there are criteria which a cemetery must meet.
Second: there must be an individual or group willing to invest
the time and effort necessary to see the nomination form to
completion.

Nomination forms are available (at no charge) from the State
Historic Preservation officer in your state or The National Regis-
ter of Historic Places, Interagency Resources Division, National
Park Service, Post Office Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-
7127.

The various types of cemeteries and burial places that might
qualify for National Register listing include:

* Town cemeteries and burial grounds whose creation and conti-
nuity reflect the broad spectrum of the community's history and
culture.

* Family burial plots that contribute to the significance of a farm-
stead.

* Beautifully designed garden cemeteries that serve as places of
rest and recreation.

* Graveyards that form an important part of the historic setting
for a church or other religious building being nominated.

* Formal cemeteries whose collections of tombs, sculptures, and
markers possess artistic and architectural significance.

* Single or grouped gravestones that represent a distinctive folk
tradition.

* Graves or graveyards whose survival is a significant or the
only reminder of an important person, culture, settlement, or event.

* Burial places whose location, gravemarkers, landscaping, or
other physical attributes tell something important about the people
who created them.

Persons contemplating nominating a cemetery should first read
Guidelines/or Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial
Places (Bulletin 41), available at no charge from the National
Register's post office box address given above. The bulletin is
also available from AGS (see your current publications list).
Criteria for acceptance are covered in detail and researchers will
find the extensive bibliography a valuable resource. A number
of other useful bulletins relating to such subjects as historic land-
scapes, historic diso-icts, archaeological properties, etc., can be
obtained from this same source.

Upon submission and evaluation of a nomination, it may be ac-
cepted, rejected, or returned for additional information or work.

Should you anticipate a visit to a National Register cemetery,
you might want to do a little homework in advance. Copies of
the nomination papers for cemeteries in the Register are avail-
able (at no charge) from: The National Register of Historic Places
413, National Park Service, Post Office Box 37127, Washington,
DC 20013-7127.

If possible, your request should contain the following informa-
tion:

* State (where cemetery is located)

* County (where cemetery is located)

* Name of Cemetery

* Date of Nomination

* National Register identification number

Response will be far from prompt, and it is best to ask for the
nomination papers of no more than three cemeteries in a single
request. The information received, however, can be well worth
the wait. While no two nominations will be exactly alike, some
samples of the various types of material you might expect to find
in a cemetery nomination packet include:

* Site plan

* Photograph(s) (meaning photocopy of same)

* Map(s)

* Archeology documentation

* Periods of significance

* Ownership

* Location/legal description

* Within or near a National Register historic district

* Description and analysis of natural features (streams, lakes,
etc.)

* Topography

* Plat or layout for cemetery plots

* Road/pathway circulation systems

* Views within the cemetery and external site

* Vegetation (ornamental plantings, grasses, specimen plantings)

* Boundary definition (fences, hedges, gateways)

* Typical plot defining features (iron fencing, concrete curbing,
marble coping)

* Cemetery structures (receivingAiearse house, sexton's cottage,
mausolea, columbaria, crematoria, churches, memorial chapels,
gatehouses)

* Architect/architectural firm(s) responsible for design of struc-
tures

* Stylistic infiuences as seen in structures

* Condition of site and structures

* Original function of structures (if different from present use)

* Entrance signs, directional markers, outdoor lighting systems

* Cemetery furniture and site furnishings (benches, planters,
fountains)

AGSSuV4p.l5

Features

advertisement

* Burials of members of a religious order

* Gravemarkers distinguished by early historical associations

* Gravemarkers significant for their artistic merit

* Gravemarkers significant for age or example of craftsmanship

* Gravemarkers documenting the traditions of an ethnic or cul-
tural group

* Graves of historic figures

* Embodiment of folkways, burial customs, or artistic traditions

The quality of the written submissions will vary — some having
been prepared by relatively uninformed persons and others by
academics or hired professionals.

There will be a few cemeteries to which access is restricted.
This will be clearly stated in the nomination form and in the
state printouts.

As the National Park Service (which oversees the designation
of National Register sites) has discovered, a greater apprecia-
tion is evolving in both scholarship and public perception for
the important historical themes that graves, cemeteries, and other
types of burial places and features can represent.

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A Must for Anyone Interested in
Historic Gravestones or Graveyards

HARTFOROS

By Their Markers Ye Shall Know Them

A Chronicle of the History and Restorations of

Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground

By William Hosley and Shepherd M. Holcombe, Sr.

Published by The Ancient Burying Ground Association, Inc.

Distributed by The Connecticut Historical Society

Includes lists of required equipment and compounds,

step-by-step instructions, and case studies of restoration

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189 pages, more than 70 photographs,

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AGSSuV4p.l6

Regional Columns

NORTHWEST
& FAR WEST

Alaska, California,

Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,

Montana, Nevada, Oregon,

Utah, Washington, Wyoming,

Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia

Bob Pierce

208 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco, California 94131

The Western Deadbeat

Time to clean up all the material that I have received since my
last column. Many thanks to those who submitted articles, etc.

From Jana Metheny of Freemont, California, comes an article
from the March 28 San Jose Mercury News entitled "Historians
Publish Guide to Graves of S .J. Pioneers." The article by Joanne
Grant gives the background regarding the writing and publishing
of a cemetery booklet on Oak Hill Memorial Park. Members of
the Argonauts Historical Society, most of whom are also mem-
bers of the Oregon California Trails Association, decided to pub-
lish a booklet telling where important early graves are located
and include a brief description of the cemetery's pioneers. Oak
Hill is the oldest secular cemetery in California. Twenty-five
overland pioneers are listed, as well as a map locating each of the
graves. The Argonauts hope to sell the booklet at Oak Hill and at
the San Jose Historical Museum.

Cari Kreshak, who recently completed her Master of Arts degree
in Anthropology/ Archaeology ai Western Washington University,
sent an abstract of her thesis. Historic Cemetery Headstones as
Material Culture Indicators of Social Roles in Whatcom County,
Washington. A sample of 1 ,590 headstones was compared to
national headstone trends to determine if similarities exist. Cari
used Roth's book. The History of Whatcom County, which con-
tains biographies of seventy-seven of the headstones in her Head-
stone Inventory, to compare them to the headstones of the gen-
eral population. The results of her study indicate that individuals
concerned with social standing do not necessarily have headstones
that are more elaborate than those of the general population.

Fran Pendleton of Sacramento, California, sent a brochure pub-
lished by the Old City Cemetery Committee. This is a friends
group for the Sacramento City Cemetery. The brochure contains
a self-guided tour map of the City Cemetery, with points of inter-
est noted and numbered to correspond with numbers on the map
for location purposes. A brief history of the cemetery is given,
along with information about the Old City Cemetery Committee.

A second item from Fran is a flyer with the 1994 tour schedule of
the Old City Cemetery. Weekend and twilight tours are given
and are free. Dates for the tours are as follows:

Weekend tours start at 10 a.m.:

August: every Saturday and Sunday

September: every Saturday and Sunday (except September 3 & 4)

October: the 1st & 2nd

November: the 12th & 13th

Wednesday evening twilight tours start at 6:30:

July 20: "Crimes and Punishment"

August 17: "Pioneers"

September 14: "Tragedies and Calamities"

On Saturday, May 7, there was a jazz memorial. This was a New
Orleans-style funeral procession to the Old City Cemetery with
music by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Band and the
Catsnjammer Jazz Band. A special Memorial Day Tribute was
held on Saturday, May 28.

For further information, or to arrange private tours, call (916)
448-5665. The Committee is part of the Sacramento Historical
Society.

I received from Mary-Ellen Jones of Orinda, California, an ab-
stract of a paper she will present at the 1994 California Historical
Society Annual Conference to be held September 15-18 in San
Diego:

"Carved in Stone:
History"

The Cemetery as a Source of California

Perhaps there is no better place to experience the everyday past
than m the cemetery. In California, there are hundreds of
graveyards filled with people who lived out their lives
undramatically and lie buried near family and friends whose
lives were equally unheralded.

Tombstones speak the language of the day with honesty and
directness. They tell us much more than names and dales: they
answer questions about what these people valued and what their
attitudes were about life and death. They provide valuable
clues concerning genealogy, art, iconography, demography, and,
of course, history — primarily local history.

Stonecarvers provided the final, indispensable communication
for nineteenth-century Califomians. Lured west by gold, they
soon traded the miner's tools for the familiar mallet and chisel,
returning to hand-carving stones which are today both a
testimony to their skills and a vital primary source material for
a complete understanding of our past.

An illustrated examination of the careers of several Northern
California tombstone car.'ers will show that these craftsmen
did indeed make an importani .'ind largely unexplored
contribution to California history.

On May 19, 1994, Mary-Ellen gave a speech at Humphrey's
College in Stockton, California, entitled "Northern California
Tombstones and Stonecutters, 1850-1890."

From Phil Kallas are two items from the Stevens Point (Wiscon-
sin) Journal. The first article, "Memorial Proposed for Jonestown
Victims," appeared in the November 15, 1993, paper. The article
reviews the tragedy at Jonestown and outlines the efforts of Pas-
tor Jynona Norwood, of the Family Christian Cathedral Church
of South Los Angeles, to raise money and erect a commemora-
tive wall with the names of the more than 400 victims buried in a
mass grave at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California. Pas-
tor Norwood lost a mother and twenty-six other relatives in the
mass murder-suicide. The estimated cost of the memorial is
$31,000 and installation is planned for 1994.

The second article, from the September 4, 1993, Stevens Point
Journal, is titled "Starwatch: Lee's Early Years Provide Cocky,

AGS Su '94 p. 17

Regional Columns

Philosophical Hints of Stardom." The article, written by James
L. Eng (AP), reviews Bruce Lee's life and has a picture of his
gravestone in Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle, Washington.

John Lovell of Jackson, California, who retired from the news-
paper business and moved to Amador County, California, learned
that Brig. Gen. Harry B. Liversedge, USMC, who led the 28th
Marine Regiment that put the flag on Soribachi on Iwo Jima,
was bom in Volcano and buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery.
The grave was neglected, as was the pioneer section, so he pro-
ceeded to do some clean-up work. This led to the formation of
the Liversedge Memorial Group in 1986 with an observance each
February at the gravesite. This year there were about eighty people
in attendance.

John started to visit and photograph the rural pioneer cemeteries
and ended up giving a slide talk to the Board of Supervisors show-
ing the widespread neglect and vandalism. The Supervisors voted
to form the Amador County Cemetery Board, with which John is
now affiliated. The Cemetery Board, now in its second year, is
well aware of the need to preserve and protect Amador's historic
pioneer burial grounds. To this end, they have placed a "Wel-
come-Warning" sign at the entrance to more than a dozen cemeteries.

SOUTHWEST

Arizona, Arkansas,

Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklahoma, Texas

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Fax:(602)647-7136

Phone: (602) 647-7005

In April I participated in a tour of Alamos, Mexico (in the state of
Sonora), sponsored by the Southwest Studies Center of the Uni-
versity of Arizona. The local cemetery is notable for its abun-
dance of boldly painted, life-sized statuary representing saints.
These accompany a vernacular style of gravemarker, consisting
of cast blocks of cement, in which rough stucco panels — usu-
ally painted silver — alternate with smooth surfaces. Whether
there is symbolic significance to the rough/silver surface vs. the
plain, unpainted ones or not, the effect was striking.

A week later I visited Pawhuska, Oklahoma, whose town cem-

etery is dominated by markers memorializing members of the
Osage Indian tribe. The tribe has lived here since being "re-
moved" from Kansas by the U.S. Government in the early 1870s.
While the majority of Osage memorials consist of plain stone
crosses surmounting a vertical stone tablet, at least two upright
slabs were cut in the form of arrowheads, commemorating the
Indian ancestry of the deceased. Of special interest to me was
the abundant use of photographs on the Osage memorials, many
of them showing the deceased in tribal dress dating from the
1 920s- 1930s. Also of interest is the fact that, on the majority of
markers, the native name of the deceased look precedence over
the anglicized name.

Sybil Crawford of Dallas, Texas, has been kind enough to send
me the National Register listings for cemeteries in Arkansas,
Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. In scan-
ning these lists, I noted that Oklahoma is second only to Louisi-
ana in the number of cemeteries listed on the National Register
(seventeen and nineteen, respectively). Several of these appear
to be Indian cemeteries. (It will be remembered that when Okla-
homa was granted statehood in 1907, it incorporated what for-
merly had been "Indian Territory" where several southeastern
tribes had been "resettled.") I would be interested to know what
studies may exist concerning the iconography and inscriptions
characteristic of the gravestones used by the resettled tribes. Does
anyone out there know?

Sybil Crawford also provided me with an excellent summary of
how to nominate cemeteries for inclusion in the National Regis-
ter. I have sent this on to Miranda, in the hope she can publish it
elsewhere in this issue. (See page 15. M.L.)

Visiting the cemeteries in Alamos, Mexico, and Pawhuska, Okla-
homa, made me wonder if others might be interested in touring
Southwest sites, possibly with a special focus such as Mexican
cemeteries, or those connected with mining towns or with early
settlements. I'd be interested to hear your ideas.

MIDWEST

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,

Kansas, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri,

Nebraska, North Dakota,

Ohio, South Dakota,

Wisconsin, Manitoba, Ontario

Jim Jewell

828 Plum Street, Peru, Illinois 61354

Woodlawn-St. Joseph's Cemetery

Last spring fourteen members of Indiana Slate University's Al-
pha Tau Omega were discovered in the combined Woodlawn-Su
Joseph's Cemetery after midnight, in the middle of an apparent
hazing.

The Cemetery is located in Terre Haute, Indiana, just a few blocks
north of the "Crossroads of America" — the intersection of U.S.

highways 40 (Wabash Avenue) and 4 1 (Third Su'cci). Ju.^t a few

AGS Su '94 p. 18

Regional Columns

blocks south and cast is Indiana State University.

When Highland Lawn and Calvary Cemeteries were established
across from each otlier on East Wabash Avenue, Woodlawn and
St. Joseph's became far less scenic and stylish and, therefore, far
less desirable for permanent occupancy. A plot of the Hulman
Family (of Indianapolis 500 fame) in St. Joseph's is only partly
filled; twentieth-century Hulmans rest on the highest hill in Cal-
vary. A small insert on a flat stone in Woodlawn reveals that
Chauncey Rose (founder of Rose Polytechnic Institute; now Rose-
Hulman) was "removed. ..to Highland Lawn/1911."

The Catholic section, which includes the burial ground for the
order of the Sisters of St. Francis, is approximately the northwest
quarter of the cemetery. In the southwest comer of combined
Woodlawn-St. Joseph's is a recently refurbished monument in
the center of a drive-around circle. The monument reads as fol-
lows: "Erected by/the U.S./ to mark the burial place of/11 con-
federate Soldiers/who while prisoners of war/died at Terre Haute
and were/buried in this cemeteryywhere the individual graves/
cannot now be identified."

The eleven soldiers are:

COCKRELL, Benjamin F., Co. A, 9th Batt., Tennessee cavalry

FOSTER, Isaac M., Corp., Co. A, 9th Batt., Tennessee cavalry

HOLCOMB, John R., Co. A, 9th Batt., Tennessee cavalry

JOHNSON, John L., Co. A, 9lh Batt., Tennessee cavalry

DAVIDSON, Thomas, Co. B, 9th Bait., Tennessee cavalry

MAXWELL, Robert H., Co. B, 9th Bait., Tennessee cavalry

ZOLLICOFFER, George N., Co. B, 9th Ball., Tennessee cavalry

BRYAN, Thomas S., Co. C, 9th Ball., Tennessee cavalry

NUNLEY, Cilford D., Co. F, 9th Ball., Tennessee cavalry

THROGMORTON, William P., Co. F, 9lh Batt., Tennessee cavalry

CAHAGEN, Francis M., Co. C, 26th Mississippi

Walking Tours

A popular cemetery activity in many parts of the Midwest is the
Walking Tour/Dramatization. Major performances at Belvedere
(Illinois) and Crown Hill, Indianapolis (Indiana), have been go-
ing on for years. A newer walking tour is sponsored by the Elgin
(Illinois) Area Historical Society and Museum, 360 Park Street,
at Bluff City Cemetery, 945 Bluff City Boulevard in Elgin. For
informauon, call: (708) 742-4248 or (708) 888-4226.

SOUTHEAST

Alabama, District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Maryland, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Lucy Norman Spencer
2312 North Vernon Street
Arlington, Virginia 22207
(703) 527-7123

^mm^

AGS members should be happy to know that the Newsletter's
regional editorship is proving to be a real disseminator of grave-
yard information. In the winter, a Califomian called me for sug-

gestions of deep south cemeteries to visit on his cross-country
trip in search of black history. I gladly shared what I know. I'm
certain he will reciprocate, and I will pass what I learn on to you.
Whenever you send articles or information, please specify whether
or not I can use your name.

Some Thoughts on "Gender-Reading"

I want to continue the issue of gender which appeared in the win-
ter Newsletter anidc by Barbara Rotundo, "Gender-Reading from
Gravemarkers." The story below is a commentary on the past
and how the present, or rather the future, can erase the past and
create a new past, as it looks from the present. Which one is the
real history of the person, the name by which she was called by
her living family or the legal name which literally spells out her
name?

Sarah Josephine (N.H. for privacy) was always called Jo. Her
gravestone is engraved with S. Jo N.H. A grandchild does not
like the Jo and wants to change it to Josephine. The human fa-
milial warmth inherent in the nickname Jo will be erased by the
proper Christian name, Josephine. The question arises whether
or not this woman will appear to have more dignity with the name
Josephine rather than Jo. Aside from name status, could Jo be
mistaken for a male?

Apparently she was, as this story reveals. The cemetery where
she is buried had a caretaker who lived on the premises. He had
begun to notice someone driving through the cemetery at night,
and he knew flowers were being stolen, but he could never catch
the thief.

The teller of the story arrived with two hundred dollars worth of
flowers for the annual grave decoration. While there, the thief
was cruising the cemetery looking for the night's pickings. The
caretaker saw and recognized the car. That night he hid near the
graves and caught a woman stealing the flowers. He had a por-
table phone and called the police, who caught the thief with the
flowers in her car. She was tried and convicted. At the trial she
said the flowers belonged to her, that S. Jo was her grandfather.
She assumed from the name that a male was buried in the grave.

Of course, for genealogical reasons the full name is always best,
but aside from that, how should this historical blip, if it is one, be
changed, or should it? Let me hear your opinions and similar
experiences.

Edgar Allan Poe Mystery

January 19, 1809, is the birthdate of Edgar Allan Poe. This year,
a mysterious visitor left three white roses and a half bottle of
cognac on Poe's grave in WesUninster Burying Ground in Balti-
more, Maryland, just as he has done for the past forty-five years.
Wearing a dark coat and fedora, the man braved the sub-zero
weather to pay tribute on Poe's 185th birthday. This was the first
year, however, that the roses were not red.

Four Bills Filed in Maryland

The Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites has four bills filed

AGSSuV4p.J9

Regional Columns

in the State Senate, three of which are cross-filed in the House of
Delegates.

Senate Bill 761: Trading in Human Remains and Associated
Funerary Objects — Prohibition: This bill, which has already
passed the House as H. B. 141, aims to eliminate the profit mo-
tive in graveyard vandalism and looting of both Native Ameri-
can and non-Indian burial sites. There is presently no law in
Maryland which prevents looters from carrying off such illegal
bounty to flea markets and antique shops; those who have no
moral hesitation in owning the graverobbers' artifacts are willing
to pay high prices for them.

Senate Bill 762 (and its companion, H. B. 1555): Disposition
and Treatment of Discovered Human Remains and Burial Sites:
This bill sets forth procedures, presently lacking in Maryland
law, for what actions should be taken in cases of accidental dis-
covery of burial sites or human remains. Another major feature
of this bill would authorize the establishment of local burial sites
advisory boards. One of the main duties of such a board would
be to establish inventories and registries of all known cemeter-
ies, making such data available in the planning and zoning, tax
assessors, and land records offices.

Senate Bill 763 (and its counterpart, H. B. 1554): Access to Burial
Sites: This bill would help facilitate access by family members
and other persons wanting access to graveyards now surrounded
by land no longer owned by the relatives of those buried there.
Ownership fights in small family burial sites in Maryland have
become clouded over the years because the title companies cus-
tomarily search title back only fifty years, often failing to pick
up valid covenants duly recorded in the older deeds which pro-
tect many of these graveyards and, in fact, usually "except" them
from the sale of surrounding land, leaving ownership with the
descendants, not with the new owners of the encompassed land.

Senate Bill 764: Burial Site, Cemetery, and Graveyard Desecra-
tion: This bill would increase the criminal penalties for grave-
yard disturbance and desecration and for removing human re-
mains without authority. In addition, for the first time in Mary-
land, the proposed statute would also authorize the imposition of
civil penalties, although these are not spelled out and would be
left up to an individual judge's discretion. The current criminal
penalty for cemetery desecration is a fine of up to $2,000 and the
possibility of up to three years in jail. Considering that major
vandalism in a cemetery can result in a far larger sum being re-
quired to restore damaged monuments and gravesiles, the pro-
posed fine of up to $50,000 is intended to provide a more realis-
tic deterrent.

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware, New Jersey,

New York, Pennsylvania,

Quebec

G.E.O. Czarnecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 11235

Lillle Ferry Black Cemetery

Another black burial ground has made the news in New Jersey.
The Gesthemane Cemetery, established in 1860 in Little Ferry
by whites, was first designated the "colored cemetery." By 1901,
control passed totally to the black community. Five hundred
burials took place between 1860 and 1924. It was basically a site
for slaves and freed blacks along with poor whiles. Unlike ihe
Manhattan and Newark sites, this is an actual surviving cem-
etery, complete with headstones. The article makes allusions to
unusual motifs which they fail to depict. "Although only twenty-
eight headstones have survived, some provide evidence of West
African burial customs" (5;ar-LeJ^er, April 15, 1994). The cem-
etery has been maintained by Bergen County as a historic site. It
was recently added to the state Register of Historic Places. I
hope to report fully on this site for the next Newsletter.

Grant's Tomb Update

There have been a few newspaper items here and there that con-
tinue the saga of Grant's Tomb. The state of Illinois protested
the ill treatment of Grant's Tomb in New York, offering plans to
remove the president and his wife to his home state if necessary.
The National Park Service, which controls the site, has offered a
plan for its upkeep.

Wanted: Quebec Members!

We have none. Quebec is too vast an area to be without an AGS
representative. Members who know residents should contact
them. I want to hear from someone as soon as possible.

In the News

AGS member Richard Dickenson of the Friends of Abandoned
Cemeteries on Staten Island was recently appointed to the New
York State Cemetery Board Citizens Advisory Council. Although
Staten Island contains a wealth of unique colonial era stones,
little work has been done to ensure their survival. Hopefully
some action will be implemented now.

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine,

Massachusetts, New

Hampshire, Rhode Island,

Vermont, Labrador, New

Brunswick, Newfoundland,

Nova Scotia

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street, Webster, Massachusetts 01570

Paul's Stone

Please get your hands on the May issue of Yankee magazine and
read "Paul's Stone," Edie Clark's moving account of her need to
give her late husband one last loving gift. The story sums up,
perhaps more than anything else I have read in the past few years,
the reasons why people wish to honor their loved ones' memo-
ries with something that would, at the same lime, provide both

AGSSuV-4p.20

Regional Columns

factual information about tlic deceased and a hint of who and
what they were while alive, i.e. the inipoitant thing tliat makes
their memories so dear to their survivors.

When her husband, Paul Bolton, passed away short of his forti-
eth birthday, Ms. Clark decided that her final gift to him would
be a headstone; not just any headstone, but a distinctive one, made
out of the slate that Paul, as a carpenter and roofer, loved so well,
and one that, in the few words that space would allow, would
sum up his life and character. A stone as distinctive as Paul him-
self.

As Senior Writer for Yankee, Clark was accustomed to gathering
information about a variety of people and places. She recalled a
file that she had stored away for some future story; pictures and
clippings about Casimir Michalczyk, an artist, sculptor, and self-
proclaimed one of only two people left in the country who could
still carve slate. She decided to contact him about Paul's stone.

Michalczyk, an AGS member, works out of his studios in
Glastonbury, Connecticut, and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts,
and usually has enough work ahead of him to keep him busy all
year. His works include memorials, fine art sculpture, and signs
as well as the tombstones. He insists that he doesn't want to be
known only as a tombstone cutter. Michalczyk reportedly carves
only one stone at a time, each one of which takes him from six to
eight months. However, it may be assumed that he works on
other projects simultaneously. As a sculptor, he works in a num-
ber of materials, but loves slate because of its softness, which
allows him to carve things that could not be cut in harder materi-
als.

Clark's story is so much more than the bare recitation of facts
listed here, and perfectly expresses the feelings of loss of a loved
one, and the pride in preserving his memory with something beau-
tiful and dignified. This is an article written with beauty and
grace, and, as my prose can't begin to equal Ms. Clark's, you
will have to read the article yourself to understand.

Yankee can be bought at most newsstands in the northeast, but
for other parts of the counu^y, it may be available only by sub-
scription or at specialty bookstores. If anyone wants this par-
ticular issue, it can be ordered from Yankee Magazine, Attention:
Reception Office, Post Office Box 520, Dublin, New Hampshire
03444. Cost is the newsstand price of $ 1 .95 per issue plus S 1 .50
more for postage and handling. Believe me, this article is worth
the price.

Connecticut News

Pat Miller is keeping us informed about the efforts by Connecti-
cut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to prosecute the owner
of Fairfield Memorial Park. In an article in the Connecticut Post,
Blumenthal said that an investigation by his office found evi-
dence that Fairfield was double-selling graves and burying bod-
ies in unlawfully shallow graves, among other violations.
Blumenthal was quoted as saying about Fairfield that "Bodies
have been buried where they fit — and sometimes don't — rather

than where they belong." His efforts appear lo be bearing fruit,
as the owners agreed to turn the management of the cemetery
over to a court-appointed receiver until the lawsuit could be
settled.

The Canaan, Connecticut, Mountain View Cemetery has a nice
little mystery on its hands. It seems that someone has started to
tend and decorate the stone of eight-year-old Charles Ives, who
died 136 years ago. Thissmallslone, simply inscribed "Charlie,"
stands in the older part of the cemetery, unremarkable in itself,
but obviously someone thinks that it is special. Winter or sum-
mer, fresh flowers or other decorations are placed next to this
stone, while the nearby stones, larger and more impressive, go
unattended.

Poor Charlie was killed in his father's sash and blind shop on
September 17, 1858, and because of this or other reasons, his
family soon left the state and settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
leaving Charlie the only one of the immediate family to lie in
Canaan. Other relatives continued to Hve in the area, but the last
male member of the Ives family passed away in 1934, and the
few surviving female descendants insist that they know of no
one who would decorate the grave after all these years.

Know of Any Family Crest Stones?

I understand that Laurel Gabel is looking for stones bearing the
deceased's family crest. If you know of any, particularly in some
of the lesser known cemeteries (and particularly in Canada), please
get in touch with her at 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford, New York

14534.

FOREIGN COLUMN
Angellka Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 140
D-63322 Rodermark 2
Germany

Jessie Lie Farber has provided a clipping firom the New York Times
travel section that might be useful for anyone doing research on
Roman gravestones or planning to look them up in their natural
surroundings. By concentrating on memorials to ordinary people,
Maureen B. Fant, in "Lives Marked in Marble" (NYT, December
19, 1993, pages 14 & 19), leaves the well-trodden paths along
the Appian Way recommended by most guidebooks. Rather than
visiting Caecilia Metalla's famous monument in the Via Appia
Antica, for instance, she suggests walking halfway up the Via
Nomentana to see a smaller specimen of the round tomb. About
three minutes' walk from there, up the Via Salaria, there is an
excavation which partially exposes the large, round tomb of
Lucius Lucilius Paetus and his sister Lucilia Polla.

The Palazzo dei Conservatori, which faces the Museo Capitolino
on the Capitoline Hill, houses the original of the monument to
Quintus Sulpicius Maximus, who died at age eleven. He had
distinguished himself against fifty-two competitors in the extem-
poraneous Greek epigram contest in the Capitoline Games of AD

AGS Su V4 p. 21

Regional Columns

94. Greek and Latin inscriptions tell posterity about the strong
impression he made on the audience. The memorial shows the
toga-clad boy holding a scroll inscribed with his poem. The en-
tire monument is covered with verses of praise, presumably com-
posed by the father. He attributes the boy's premature death to
an excess of study.

It takes a tomb browser of Fant's erudition (she is co-author of
Women's Life in Greece and Rome, Johns Hopkins University
Press) to uncover the clues to the family's social background
contained in the monument. "The boy bears a full Latin name,
underlining the point made by his toga — that he was a Roman
citizen. But the parents' names suggest they were former slaves
or children of slaves. With Quintus, the parents were making the
jump from merely having money to having status." As the room
where the boy poet's memorial is kept closed for restoration at
present, Fant advises looking up a copy that is set atop an earlier
tomb-ruin, near its original location in the middle of the Piazza
Fiume, not far from the excavation on the Via Salaria.

An ostentatious and peculiar tomb, built around 30 BC, is now
situated between the present Via Labicana and the Via Praenestina.
It was discovered during the partial demolition of a tower of the
Porta Praenestina in 1838. It is the mausoleum of the baker
Marceius Vergileus Eurysaces and his wife, Atistia. He took pride
in his trade and wanted to be remembered in connection with it.
The monument uses decorative rows of cylindrical holes believed
to represent grain containers used in the bakeries. Historians are
delighted to find a graphic description of the entire process of
bread making on tJie walls of his tomb, from the buying of the
grain to the baking of the loaves.

One of the larger collections of tombstones Fant recommends is
in the porticoed courtyard of the Terme Museum, the Museo
Nazionale Romano, on the Piazza dei Cinquecento. Those who
feel a need to leave the city may travel to the necropolis of Isola
Sacra, fifteen miles southwest of Rome (in the vicinity of Ostia
Antica, which is also worth a visit). Once the cemetery of the
port built by the emperor Trajan, the graves date between the
second and the fourth centuries AD. The tomb buildings, many
of which look like houses, are arranged in streetlike patterns,
true to the concept of a "city of the dead."

AGS members who have been dismayed to find early American
gravestones in antique shops or in people's gardens and homes
will hardly be surprised by Fant's observation that Romans use
their ancestors' funerary altars as bases for statues, and that sar-
cophagi ended up as horse troughs, fountains, or planters. When
visiting the Vatican Museum, for example, gravestone enthusi-
asts should look carefully at the statue bases, since many of them
are former funerary altars. Cinerary urns or altars were used for
cremations, which were the most common form of disposal of
the dead from about 400 BC to 1 50 AD. Marble sarcophagi were
used for inhumations, which gained popularity in the second century.

The Museo Capitolino is for Fant "the equivalent of a Colonial
New England cemetery, a place to browse among scores of epi-

taphs of the so-called common people of the dim past" The
museum is full of funerary inscriptions of slaves and former
slaves. Just a few feet away from the famous Dying Gaul sculp-
ture, the funerary altar of freedman Gains Calpumius Beryllus,
who died at twenty-one, serves as the base of a statue of Isis. A
relief on the young man's marker shows him lying on a couch.
In the adjacent room, a beautifully lettered plaque with small
pilasters commemorates hairdresser Dorcas, freedwoman of the
empress Livia, wife of Augustus. The dedication of the memo-
rial was made by her husband Lycastus, a polling clerk. He was
a freedman, too.

Fant's inU"oduction to "Reading the Inscriptions" is most help-
ful. The first grammar rule to keep in mind when deciphering
Latin epitaphs is that the nominative gives the name of the per-
son making the dedications while the dative is used for the de-
ceased.

The most common terms, designating relationship of family, mar-
riage, or servitude, are:

Augusti liberius (Aug. lib.): freedman of the emperor

coniux/coniugi: spouse

contubemalis/contubemali: spouse of a slave

filius, -a: son, daughter

libertus, -a (Ub. or 1.): freedman, freedwoman

maritus/marito: husband

uxor/uxori: wife

The following adjectives appear frequently:
benemerenti (b.m.): well-deserving
carissimo: dearest
infelicissimus, -a, -i: most unhappy
piisimus, -a: most loyal, pious

Other key words and phrases are:

Dis Manibus Sacrum (D.M.S.): Sacred to the gods of
the underworld

fecit, fecerunt: built this monument, put up the stone

sibi et sius: (dedicated the monument) for himself/her-
self and his/her family

sibi posterisque: (dedicated the monument) for him-
self/herself and his descendants

vivus fecit (v.f.): put up the stone, or built the tomb,
while alive

vixit (vix. or v.): lived (usually followed by the number
of years. A; months, M; and days, D).

The typical Roman name consisted of three parts. The first,
praenomen, was individual and always abbreviated. The sec-
ond, nomen genlilicium, was the family name. The third, cogno-
men, was individual or that of a branch of a family. Frecdmcn
took the first and second name of their master and kept ihcir own
personal name as cognomen.

Fant does not go into Rome's subterranean cemeteries, built for
the lower classes when a law passed by the legendary Numa
Pompilius prohibited burial within the city. When consulting
another source on Roman tombs (Hans von Huclscn, Josef Rasi,

AGS Su -94 p. 22

RegionafColumns j

Rom, Oltcn: Walter 1975), I was impressed to read that tJie ap-
proximately eighty catacombs around llic cily arc estimated to
be 800 kilometers long. Quite a few newly discovered under-
ground graves have been added to the one million known to be
extant in the 1970s. In March, 1994, Roman consu-uction work-
ers found yet another set of burial chambers from early Christian
times. Vatican archaeologist Fabrizio Bisconti has identified a
vault 200 meters long dating from the third or fourth century.
Some of the chambers suffered diimage either during early loot-
ing of the city or in the sixteenth century, when bones were taken
from such graves to be sold as relics (Frankfurter Rundschau,
March 26, 1994, page 27).

AGS readers who want to get an overview of antique sepulchral
inscriptions are referred to Richard Lattimore, Themes in Greek
and Latin Epitaphs (Urbana: Universityof Illinois Press, 1942).
This work is interesting reading in its own right, but also pro-
vides a good background against which New England epitaphs
may be studied in order to ascertain the degree to which they are

unique creations, variations on ancient themes, or mere repeti-
tions of time- worn expressions. (Onedrawback: the author pro-
vides translations for the Greek texts but most Latin epitaphs go
untranslated.)

To those interested in funerary inscriptions for the lowly, I rec-
ommend Arthur J. Munby, editor. Faithful Servants, Being Epi-
taphs and Obituaries Recording their Names and Services (Lon-
don: Reeves and Turner, 1891). However, while Lattimore's
book can probably be found in a larger library in your vicinity,
copies of Munby's may be considerably more difficult to come
by. I am indebted to Francisca van Heertum for finding the de-
tailed references in the British Museum Library. The staff of
Yale's Sterling Memorial Library were kind enough to let me
browse through their only, very brittle copy in the Preservation
Room.

In my next column, I will follow the theme of inscriptions on
stones of the lower classes. Contributions are welcome!

CALL FOR PAPERS AND EXHIBITS

AGS 1995 CONFERENCE
Westfield State College, Westfield, Massachusetts

The Association for Gravestone Studies is seeking proposals and abstracts for its lecture

presentation sessions scheduled for the 1995 Annual Conference, to be held June 22-25 in

Westfield, Massachusetts. Suggested topics are occupational motifs, regional monument

styles and materials, carver research, conservation! preservation! restoration projects in progress

or completed, unusual monuments, etc.

Those interested are encouraged to send a 250 word abstract or proposal by January 1, 1995,
to the AGS Office at 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

Exhibits are sought for inclusion in a gallery of framed paintings with gravestone themes, as well as

photography and rubbing displays, pfiotographic essays, and castings.

For further information, please call (508) 831-7731.

AGS Su -94 p. 23

FROM THE
PRESIDENT'S DESK

Rosalee Oakley, President

19 Hadley Place, Hadley,
Massachusetts 01035

It has been increasingly gratifying to me to see the response of
our membership to the Member Appeal. At press time, a total of
$ 3,181 has been contributed. As is usual in fund drives, some
gifts are quite substantial while many more, although for less
money, are nonetheless greatly appreciated for the involvement
and participation of the many members which they represent.

If you have contributed already, your donation is greatly appre-
ciated. If you have not contributed but plan to do so, whatever
you can send will be very much appreciated. If everyone can
contribute a little, we will reach the amount we need.

One Massachusetts contribution envelope arrived with its con-
tents missing. There was no return address on the envelope and
the postmark is not entirely clear. However, Massachusetts and
the date, March 24, were legible. All who contributed that early
have received an acknowledgment by now. Please contact the
office (508-831-7753) if you have not heard from us and think it
is your contribution that was lost.

Your Nominations Are Being Sought

Nominations for members of the Board of Trustees and for the
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award are being sought at this time.

If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else for the
Board of Trustees, please send a brief paragraph about yourself
or the other person to the chair of the Nominating Committee,
Dan Goldman, 115 Middle Road, East Greenwich, Rhode Island
02818 by October 1, 1994.

If you would like to nominate for the Forbes Award a person or
organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the
field of gravestone studies, please send your nomination along
with several paragraphs explaining the person's or organization's
accomplishments to Miranda Levin, AGS Office, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609 by November 1, 1994.

April Board Meeting Summary

(From notes taken by C.R. Jones) ■

On April 23 the Board of Trustees met with 12 members, one
liaison to the conference staff, and the Executive Director present.

Reports were received from the Secretary, Treasurer, and Execu-
tive Director. Member Appeal contributions are coming in
steadily. Membership stands at 1037 and sales of Markers XI
have exceeded in the first two quarters the sales of Markers X in
its first year. Efforts are being made to list our publications in
appropriate indices. Several volunteers are working well with
our office staff. Reporting as liaison to the Conference '94 staff,
Fred Oakley went over the program plans and other details. Each
area of activity is developing well.

Fred Oakley reported on two sites under consideration for Con-
ference '95, Lowell and Westfield, Massachusetts. Catherine

Goodwin is willing to be conference chair for the Lowell area.
She will continue to check with nearby colleges. Westfield Slate
College in Westfield, Massachusetts has lower prices than we
are currently paying, the school is quite new, the facilities are
excellent, and a number of members in the area could easily be
assembled for a conference staff. After discussion it was voted
to hold Conference '95 at Westfield Suite College and Confer-
ence '96 in the Lowell area. In 1997 we will look for a site
outside of New England.

It was agreed to publicize to our membership the Mt. Auburn
Cemetery's Historic Landscapes Symposium in October. A list
of Trustee responsibilities was considered. Its use by the Nomi-
nating Committee when recruiting new Board members was ap-
proved by consensus. It will be included with other papers in an
Administrative Guide which is being compiled for the Association.

Laurel Gabel showed the Robert Wright Photo Collection which
had been exhibited in Chicago. She suggested it be exhibited at
the Chicago conference. Laurel also outlined a proposal to have
a slide exchange at the conference. The proposal was enthusias-
tically received and approved. A communication from Donna
LaRue regarding resources at the Smithsonian which might be
helpful to AGS was referred to the Planning Committee.

John Sterling noted that in the newsletter computer column from
time to time disks will be offered to members. There will be
costs for duplication, so the Board decided fees should be set to
accompany each offer covering the costs incurred.

The business meeting was adjourned and the remaining time was
spent in small groups discussing plans for future development.
Small groups dealt with publishing a teachers' resource book with
materials for using the graveyard as a classroom; the develop-
ment of audio- visuals for rent and sale; the development of sev-
eral listings helpful to office and members; the development of
an archive collection policy and staff needs; ways to increase the
visibility of AGS; office and staff issues, newsletter issues; ar-
ranging a planning retreat for the Board; computer issues, devel-
opment of traveling exhibits, and conference issues.

Brief reports from each group were received. The next meeting
of the Board will be a Planning Retreat on September 17. At that
time, the projects and issues arising from these discussions will
be further developed, prioritized, and put on a timeline.

AGS Trustees — Up Close and Personal

From time to time we will interview some of ifie AGS Trustees to
learn about the work they are doing in gravestone studies and for
the Association. Perhaps in these conversations you will find kin-
dred souls and be encouraged to share your interests with ilicm . . .

'<J.

X

Steve

V

Dan

Virginia

AGSSuV4p.24

Newsletter Interviewer: Today we're talking willi Sieve Petke,
a health-care analyst and part-time radio announcer from East
Griinby, Connecticut; Virginia Rockwood, an art teacher from
Greenfield, Massachusetts; and Dan Goldman, an investment
broker from East Greenwich, Rhode Island. All are members of
the Planning Committee that works with the AGS President,
Rosalce Oakley, to plan for resolving immediate concerns and
initialing future projects and plans to come before the Board of
Trustees for discussion. Let's begin by asking how you first heard
about AGS.

Dan: I became aware of AGS in 1987, although I don't remem-
ber exactly how. I do remember telling my boss at the time that
I was spending part of my annual vacation at a gravestone con-
ference, and the strange look on his face as I tried to explain!
Three years later, 1 received a letter from Vincent Luti saying
that the 1990 Conference was being held in Bristol, Rhode Is-
land (I lived just down the road in Newport at the time), and
would I be interested in helping with the planning of the confer-
ence? 1 signed on as the Hospitality Chairperson for that year, as
at the time I was working as a restaurant manager at one of the
large Newport hotels. From that point on, I've been involved in
every conference.

Steve: 1987 was when I learned about AGS, too. I don't re-
member who first mentioned AGS by name, but my first contact
was a tour of graveyards in and around Coventry, Connecticut,
led by James Slater. Jim had read my research paper from col-
lege and offered a great deal of constructive criticism on research
methods. Before the tour, he autographed my copy of his book.
The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut.

NI: Was that graveyard tour in Coventry one of Pat Miller's
tours?

Steve: Yes, it was. Pat Miller led a tour every month back then
as President of Connecticut Gravestones. Her organization, en-
ergy, and hard work usually attracted thirty to fifty people, a cross
section of historians, genealogists, and others. That first day,
when Pat drove up in her hearse, I thought, "Uh oh, here comes a
real weirdo." Had my worst fears come true? Was this AGS
group, in reality a religious cult, a secret society of necrophiliacs?
Pat and I, of course, became good friends, once 1 accepted the
fact that our interest in gravestones was a rather unusual avoca-
tion! Those tours have all but disappeared now, but they remain
one of my favorite events of all the AGS activities.

Virginia: In 1989, 1 received a grant to conduct research about
the gravestones in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Although I
ended up raising many more questions than I answered, it was
through this process that I learned about AGS. 1 was delighted
that there was a group of people who acknowledged the value
and importance of gravestones and who could serve as potential
resources, so I became a member.

Steve: I find AGS members very willing to share information
and resources. When I had Jim Slater autograph my copy of his
book that day, I told him I planned to write its counterpart on
Western Connecticut. In his characteristic soft-spoken manner
he replied, "Oh, there are a lot of colonial graveyards west of the

river That will be some effort." He proceeded to Icll me about
the work that Sue Kelly and Ann Williams had done collecting
similar information in southwestern Connecticut. After our dis-
cussion, I decided I'd better limit my investigation to the
Farmington River Valley area. To date, that research has stalled,
with only two carvers clearly documented. Evejy time I think
about the effort it takes to do credible research on carvers, I'm
left breathless by the work that Dr. Slater and others have al-
ready done.

NI: What made you say "Yes" when you were asked to serve on
the AGS Board of Trustees?

Virginia: From reading the newsletters and some issues of Mark-
ers and attending the conference, I felt that I wanted to become
a more active member. I felt that as an art teacher for fifteen
years, I could contribute in my fields of expertise — art and edu-
cation.

NI: Are you finding opportunities to make that contribution?

Virginia: Yes, I've done some line drawings for the '94 Confer-
ence booklets, and I'm looking forward to working on develop-
ing materials for teachers using the local graveyard as a teaching
resource. Serving on the Planning Committee has proved satis-
fying as we seek to fill the current needs of the Association.

Dan: I have enjoyed getting to know many AGS members
through being involved in planning AGS conferences for the past
four years. They are an interesting and diverse group of indi-
viduals. When I was asked to serve on the Board and to be its
Treasurer, I was pleased to accept. I've also enjoyed contacts
I've had as the Chairman of the Nominating Committee for the
Trustees to be elected this Spring.

Steve: I accepted the invitation to join the Board because I wanted
to help AGS survive and thrive as an organization. After finish-
ing my graduate studies, I had time to devote more attention to
the activities of AGS and to begin to give back to the organiza-
tion some of what I had gained from it in my personal research.
My first involvement was to be Program Chair for the 1993 AGS
Conference. Then I was asked to become a Trustee.

NI: What would you like to see AGS accomplish in the short

term?

Virginia: I expect that the current process of identifying and
prioritizing the Board's long- and short-term goals will be com-
pleted soon, so that the work of the Board can focus upon realiz-
ing the agreed-upon goals.

Steve: One thing that I would like to see AGS accompHsh in the
short term is to improve its net income. We are constantly look-
ing for ways to improve the quality of service to our members,
which requires added revenue. Perhaps we could have some suc-
cess in securing grants from governmental agencies or founda-
tions to help carry on some of our projects. We have relied largely
on the revenue that we generate from our own members. Find-
ing other sources would go a long way to strengthen our finan-
cial position.

ACS Su '94 p. 25

Dan: I think the main thing that I would like to see happen over
the next few years is to see more involvement on a community
basis. This could be done through lectures, cemetery tours, and
conservation workshops. I feel that as a whole, whenever any-
one or any group has questions about anything related to grave-
stone studies, they should think of us first That is why each of
us as a member is so important to the organization. Each of us
needs to make our local preservation, historical, and cemetery
societies aware of AGS. Through this sort of grassroots effort.we
can truly become the national authority on gravestone studies.

NI: You've all been to AGS conferences providing various lead-
ership roles. Can you tell us something about your experiences
at conference?

Dan: I began serving on planning committees in 1990. I was
Hospitality Chair with particular responsibilities for interacting
with the food service at three conferences, and last year I was
Exhibits Chair. I also enjoy having an opportunity to talk with
just about everyone when I help at the Sales Table.

NI: What have you enjoyed about the conferences, Virginia, and
what roles have you played?

Virginia: I've only attended two conferences, yet each impressed
me with the instant camaraderie of all the participants. The will-
ingness to share experiences, resources, ideas, suggestions, and
directions made each conference a friendly and stimulating place
to be — not to mention the hands-on workshops and presenta-
tions of papers. The conference in Northfield, Massachusetts,
was an experience I won't soon forget. I was asked to help lead
the education workshop, which took some doing, not only be-
cause of the oppressive heat, but because I had just given birth a
month and a half earlier. My new son was agreeable, however,
and I was able to attend most of the conference while toting him
around. -

NI: How about you, Steve?

Steve: My first AGS Conference was in Bristol, Rhode Island,
in 1990 and I've attended every conference since then. I've en-
joyed all of them — each had many memorable moments. Ini-
tially I was struck by the amazing knowledge that AGS mem-
bers possessed. Laurel Gabel can identify a carver's work from
a mile away. Fred Oakley can recount in agonizing detail how a
certain stone can be bonded and restored. Barbara Rotundo knows
where every white bronze monument on the face of the earth is
placed. I admired how Vincent Luti carefully placed a red flag
next to every noteworthy stone in the East Providence burying
ground. I remember the friendly "war" between photographers
and rubbers — wait! One more shot before the paper gets draped
over the stone!

I think these experiences made me realize the overriding value
of AGS is that it provides a focus and a forum for sharing ideas,
questions, issues, knowledge, research, work in progress, etc.,
for people with diverse interests from diverse backgrounds. With-
out AGS, the work that we do individually researching, restor-
ing, and educating would be greatly diminished.

OFFICE NOTES

Miranda Levin, Executive Director

I'm just back from our Chicago conference and it was great!
You'll hear more about the Conference in the next issue; to make
sure of that, I'd like to remind all those who gave papers that we
would really love a 500 word summary of your talk, as well as
one or two photos to go along with iu If you gave a late-night
talk, a one paragraph absu-act, any questions you'd like to put lo
the membership, and a good phoio, if you have it, would be lovely.
If you took photos on the tours, and got some good ones, please
send them in. We're trying to expand our coverage of the confer-
ence in the Newsletter, I can't do that without your help. The
deadline is September 15.

Finally, there were three people who couldn't make the confer-
ence because of illness. They were missed, and we wish them a
speedy recovery: Olive Colbum, Mary Demalowicz, and Jim
Jewell — we send you our best.

The 1995 Conference is going to be in Westfield, Massachusetts.
One good thing about Chicago was several of us had a good chunk
of time while waiting for our planes to go over this conference
while it was fresh in our minds and talk over some new ideas for
next year. The Call for Papers is on page 23 of this issue, so you
have plenty of time to formulate a presentation before the dead-
line. We also encourage you to submit all of your ideas for what
could improve our conference, or induce you to come, if you
haven't made it in the past. We are continually striving to im-
prove this most important activity of the Association, and I hope
you'll help us do that. You may send your ideas here to the of-
fice, or to '95 Conference Chair Fred Oakley, 19 Hadley Place,
Hadley, Massachusetts 01035. I hope we'll see you there.

Should We Rename the Newsletter?

The Newsletter Committee has had some

discussion on whether the .ICS Newsletter

is the best name for this publication.

What do you think?

Do you like its name as is? ^^

Would you like if changed?

If so, to what? ™;

We welcome your suggestions!

Please send your ideas to the AGS office,

" 30 Elm Street,

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

by October 1.

>s^

^^fc^i

AGS Su -94 p. 26

NOTES & QUERIIvS

News From Scotland, and a Call for Our Views

A Response to the Query on an Illegible Epitaph in Illinois

In response to the query from Michael McNemey (Winter '94
Newsletter, page 27) concerning an illegible epitaph in Pope
County, Illinois, the following, similar verse was sent by Jessie
Lie Farber, Worcester, Massachusetts. It is inscribed on the sand-
stone marker for Noah Goodman, Esq., 1797, and his wife
Abihaill, 1796, in the Old Graveyard in South Hadley, Massa-
chusetts.

Princes this clay must be your bed
In spite of all your towers
The tall, the wise, the revemed head
Must all be as low as our's.

Above the inscription is an interesting ornamental carving of the
couple in profile with a tree-of-life between them.

Jessie asks if anyone knows the source of this verse, lines and
variations of which have been used on other eighteenth-century
New England gravestones. Jessie Lie Farber, 31 Hickory Drive,
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

Historic Scotland is holding a seminar at the end of September,
to which fifty people knowledgeable in gravestone preservation
arc to be invited. The instigator of tliis meeting is the Chief In-
spector for Historic Scotland, and Betty Willsher will be the key-
note speaker.

Under consideration is the moving of some stones to less-threat-
ened sites, i.e. under shelters and perhaps a few into museums.
"The problem is that one does not really want to take them from
their rightful places," writes Ms. Willsher.

She asks for our thoughts on saving stones. Write or call her at
Orchard Cottage, Grecnside Place, St. Andrews KY169TJ, Scot-
land. Telephone: 011-44-334-73023

Some Added Thoughts About the Music
on the Thomas McCann Stone

The music on the Thomas McCann stone. Greenwood Cemetery,
Shreveport, Louisiana, (Summer '93 Newsletter, page 18), is
"Nearer My God to Thee," and is historically regarded as the
music played by the band on the Titanic as the ship sank in 1912.
McCann died in October, 1911, almost six months before the
Titanic disaster. Evidently, this hymn was enjoying popularity at
the time. Donna LaRue, 7 Sherborn Court, Somerville, Massa-
chusetts 02145

Inventory Formats Sought

Boston's Historic Burying Ground Initiative, a public/private
partnership to conserve, restore, and interpret Boston's sixteen
historic burying grounds, is interested in sharing marker and re-
taining wall inventory formats. The HBGI asks those groups
and organizations which have had particular success with an in-
ventory format (or have specific suggestions for revision) to send
a copy to Elizabeth Shepard, HBGI, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue,
Third Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 021 18, or call (617) 6354505.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^K V- '^

Wrapping Up on the Unusual Stones

Found in Indiana

(Fall '93 Newsletter, page 26)

This stone is from Lynn Grove Cemetery in

Greeley, Colorado, which was established as the

city cemetery in 1874.

Debbie Dalton j

The Greeley Monument Works, Inc. 1

1015 Seventh Avenue 1

Greeley, £r. Colorado 80631 1

^ A

AGS Su '94 p. 27

Calendar

Memory and Mourning: American Expressions of Grief is an exhibilion about Lhc ways Americans have remembered iheir dead. Mourning
is a form of memory, and the way people mourn varies with the person who died and the person who grieves. The exhibit shows the difTerenl
ways people have coped with death. The exhibit will be at the Strong Museum, One Manhattan Square, Rochester, New York, until February,
1995. For more information, call (716) 263-2700.

The Stone Trades School of the Barre Regional Vocational-Technical Center has announced openings for the upcoming school year. The

school, recognized as the best stone trades' training place in the country, is accepting students for openings in the next school year —
September 8, 1994, or January 4, 1995. For more information, contact Paul Clark, Stone Trades School guidance counselor, Barre Regional
Vocational-Technical Center, 155 Ayers Street, Bane, Vermont 05641.

Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio, upcoming events:
Horticultural Walking Tours: August 21, September 18, & October 21.
Architectural Walking Tours: September 11 & October 2.
Italian Heritage Days: August 13 & 14.

Geology Walking Tour: October 8

The Angels of Lake View & Other Sculptures: October 1

For more information, call (216) 421-2665.

The Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, fall programs:

September 16: "Secure the Shadow 'Ere the Substance Fade: the Use of Photographs in Mourning & Memorialization," slide lecture by

Laurel Gabel.

September 22 & again on September 24: "A Walk Through Mount Auburn History" walking tour by Barbara Rotundo.

October 2, 9, and 16: "Discover Mount Auburn" introductory walking tour led by staff.

For more information, call (617) 864-9646.

1994 New Jersey Historic Preservation Conference:

October 14 & 15, New Brunswiik. "Preserving the Character of Place in a Developing State." This conference will address several topics,

including cemetery preservation. Featured speakers include Lynette Strangstad. Professional technical workshops will be held on October

15. If you have materials for display pertaining to cemetery conservation, etc., or for more information, call Deborah Fimbel at (609) 292-

2023.

The College of Charleston (South Carolina), Office of Professional & Community Services, will be offering the following course:
October 27: "Touring the Tombstones" Explore the story of Charleston from an uncommon perspective on a walk through important cemeter-
ies in the historic district. See excellent examples of hand-carved tombstones while learning what these old graveyards have to tell us about
life in the past. Instructor: Ruth Miller. Fore more information, call (803) 953-5822.

The Oregon Historic Cemeteries Association upcoming events:

November 5: Fall Meeting, 9:30 am, Deschutes Historical Center in Bend. Featured Speaker will be Erica Calkins, historic landscaping
expert. Cemetery tour will follow. This meeting is open to the public. For more information, write to OHCA, Post Office Box 802, Boring,
Oregon 97009-0802, or call (503) 658^255.

We welcome Calendar items, and are currently accepting listings for the Fall '94 and Winter '95 issues, whose deadlines are September 15
and December 1, respectively. There is a leadtime of approximately six weeks before each issue is nviiled, so please plan accordingly when
sending us time-sensitive material. Send all Calendar listings to the AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

©Copyright 1994 The Association for Gravestone Studies. The Association tor Gravestone Studies holds the copyright on this Newsletter. However, unless specifically
stated otherwise, no permission is needed to reprint an article in it if the reprint is used tor educational purposes, lull credit is given to the Association and the author and or
photographer or artist involved, and a copy of the document or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Newsletter is published
quarterly as a service to members of the Association lor Gravestone Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received, and ends one year from that date.
A one year membership entitles members to four issues of the Newsletter. Send membership fees (Senior/Student, $20; Individual, $25; Institutional, $30; Family, $35;
Supporting, $60; Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies ollice, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter are
available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning grave-
stones, and about the activities of the Association. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. The Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal
articles should be sent to Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon Stale
College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions to the AGS office, or FAX us at (508) 753-9070. Order Markers (current volume, XI. $28 to
members, $32.50 to non-members; back issues available) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road. Wayland,
Massachusetts 01 778. Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 0 1609. or call (508) 831-7753.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

30 Elm Street

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester, MA

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME IS NUMBER 4

FALL 1994

LSSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

1994 Conference

"Newest Tours Are Groups in Grave Pursuits," by Jan Ferris, Chicago Tribune

Thursday Activities. . I .
Friday Activities. . . . I . . j
Saturday Bus Tours . . .
Presentations .1 .

'i%

Late-Nigiit Presentations

Presentation of the Forbes Award

1993 Annual Meeting and Reports A ■ ■ ■!■

J I

I '
Acknowledgments . A. . . .

Calendar

2

3

3

7

10

16

18

21

27

28

Deadlines for the AGS Newsletter:

Winter issue: November I j

I Spring issue: February 1

I Summer issue: May 1 \ i

Fall issue (Conference) : September i

Issues are mailed six weeks after above deadlines and often take

several weeks to reach the membership; please keep that in mind

when submitting time-sensitive material. Send contributions to

editors (listed in Winter, Spnng, and Summer issues) or to the

AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

ACS Fall '94 p. 1

Conference 1994

"NEWEST TOURS ARE GROUPS
IN GRAVE PURSUITS"

by Jan Ferris

Tribune Staff Writer

The woman stepped off tlie bus, a camera draped around her neck,
and with the gusto of a child at Disneyland called out, "Which
way is death?"

Thus began the tour through the North Side's Graceland Cem-
etery, last stop for such local notables as retailer Marshall Field
and architect Louis Sullivan, and first stop on the Association for
Gravestone Studies' weekend romp through the area's historic
graveyards.

"This is fertile and new ground for us," said Jessie Farber of
Worcester. Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke College professor
emeritus and one of the group's founding members.

For the first time in its seventeen-year history, the New England-
based association descended on the Midwest, holding workshops
at Elmhurst College, visiting one of the country's largest grave-
stone makers, and touring cemeteries from Forest Park to
Libertyville.

The conference drew ninety-five members from twenty-seven
states. The modest showing reflects the 1000-member group's
intentionally low profile. It also obscures what members and
other historians cite as a growing interest in cemeteries.

"More people are beginning to understand what precious re-
sources they are," said member Lynette Strangstad of Charles-
ton, South Carolina. "For want of a green space in an urban area
and because they're so lovely."

Strangstad makes her living as a cemetery conservation consult-
ant. Most of the conferees, however, are hobbyists.

Tara Somers of Amherst, Massachusetts, has been hanging out in
graveyards since high school. "I just thought they were pretty,"
she said. They've since become the focus of her United States
history studies as a Hampshire College undergraduate.

Somers enjoyed her first conference, but acknowledged that the
subject isn't for everybody. "We spent all day in classes talking
about gravestones. We talked about them through dinner and
then all night," she said. "At one point. I thought. "This is a little
weird.'" Reprinted with permission. Chicago Tribune.

"They're a very high-intellect group. They're not spooks," said
member Jack Bradley, a retired newspaper photographer from
Peoria. He led one of Saturday's bus tours, counting no fewer
than a dozen Ph.D.'s among the thirty-eight passengers.

Tara Somers (right) talks with reporter Jan Ferris.
Photo b\ Jessie Farber

1994 CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

When the bus pulled into Graceland Cemetery's 1 19 walled acres,
at 4001 North Clark Street, Mary Ann Calidonna, a teacher's
aide from Rome, New York, got out and headed straight toward a
miniature Washington Monument. She circled the gravemarker,
then kneeled in front of a granite engraving. Within moments,
she had traced the figure of a peacock, using watercolors and
paper made by hand from flowers.

Meanwhile, several members were setting up cameras and tri-
pods in front of an Egyptian-style pyramid, part of a monument
built for the Schoenhofen family, wealthy nineteenth-century
brewers.

Conference Co-chairs:

Program Chair:

Participation Sessions Coordinator:

Restoration Workshop Coordinator:

Tour Coordinator:

Publicity:

E.xhibits:

Late Night Sessions:

Rcsistration:

Steven Shipp
Carol Shipp
Joe Edgette
Rosalcc Oakley
Fred Oakley
Helen Sclair
Jim Jewell
Dan Goldman
Mark Esping
Steven Shipp
Phil Kallas

AGS Fall V4p.

Conferi'iice 1994

mil RSI) AY ACTIVITIES

Conservation Workshop "Talk & Walk" 2:45-4:45

"tlcttinj" to Know Your Craveyard,"
Lynette Strangstad

Slonc Faces

Post OlTicc Box 21090

Charleston, South Carolina 29413

This bricl talk described important elements to consider before
beginning any cemetery restoration activity. The talk was fol-
lowed by a guided walk through St. Mary's Cemetery. Partici-
pants were asked to observe various features of the cemetery.
Following the walk, the group reconvened to compare and share
observations.

Lynette Strangstad, restoration artisan and burial ground special-
ist, has been working in the field of historic preservation since
1973, specializing in graveyards since 1980. She apprenticed to
the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Restoration Work-
shop, an architectural program, where she worked on a number
of the nation's finest historic buildings.

Her graveyard preservation work began in Charleston, South
Carolina, where she served as project director of the extensive
restoration of the Circular Congregational Churchyard, the earli-
est burial ground in the city. Since founding her company. Stone
Faces, she has served as historic burial ground preservation con-
sultant and gravestone conservator in historic graveyards from
Halifax to Key West and as far west as South Dakota.

Among Lyn's published work is a recent National Trust Infor-
mation Series booklet, Presen>alion of Historic Burial Grounds,
as well as the popular A Graveyard Preservation Primer She
has extensive experience with training and directing volunteers
in preservation techniques and is currently working on a large
project at Colonial Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.

Self-Guided Mini Tours 9:00-4:30

Cemeteries in Chicago were identified for conferees to visit on
their own time before or after the conference. Maps and direc-
tions were prepared by Helen Sclair. {The bus and mini-tour hand-
outs will be available for purchase next year through our 1995
publications list. M.L.)

Tour of Peter Troost Monument Company and
the Oak Park Ceramie Company 1:00-3:30

This was a guided tour of a modern monument company's
operation, from the design stage to the finished product. It also
included a tour of a manufacturing facility that makes photo
ceramics that arc applied to monuments.

Work in progress at the Peter Troost Monument Company.
Photo by Bob Pierce.

FRIDAY ACTIVITIES

Tour of Peter Troost Monument Company and
the Oak Park Ceramic Company 8:00-11:30

(see above for description)

ACS Fall '94 p. 3

Photo ceramic from Oak Park Ceramic Company.
Photo by Bob Pierce

Conference 1994

Conservation Workshop:
Lectures and Practicum 8:30 - 4:30

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place
Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

James & Minxie Fannin

Fannin/Lehner Preservation Consultants

271 Lexington Road

Concord, Massachusetts 01742

C.R. Jones

New York State Historical Association
Post Office Box 800

Cooperstown, New York 13326

Two concurrent sessions were scheduled for the morning and
two for the afternoon. Participants selected one venue for the
morning session and another for the afternoon session.

8:30-noon

Cleaning Gravestones
C.R. Jones

Resetting Gravestones
Fred Oakley

1:30-4:30

Adhesive Repair (simple)
James Fannin

Cleaning Gravestones
Minxie Fannin

Each session included brief lectures describing process, materi-
als, and tools appropriate to each activity. Following the lecture,
participants put their knowledge into practice in St. Mary's Cem-
etery (adjacent to the campus).

The Adhesive Repair and Resetting sessions included brief lec-
tures describing the nature of stone, procedures, materials, safety,
and tools. The Cleaning Gravestones sessions included brief lec-
tures on the properties of stone, techniques, poulticing, and ma-
terials.

Minxie Fannin is a Managing Principal of Fannin/Lehner Pres-
ervation Consultants, Concord, Massachusetts, and James
Fannin is an Associate with the firm. They have led several
conservation workshops at previous AGS conferences. Fannin/
Lehner specializes in conservation of historic burying grounds
along with extensive work in the historic preservation field. The
firm currently is involved in a number of projects throughout the
Northeast as well as continuing projects in Grantville and North
Bend, Ohio.

C.R. Jones is a Conservator of Collections of the New York State
Historical Association and Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown,
New York, where he takes care of paintings, prints, and plows.
He also serves as adjunct professor in the Cooperstown Graduate
Program in history museum studies. From 1968 to 1975, he was

Associate Curator at the New York State Historical Association,
and from 1965 to 1968 he was Director of the Museum of Con-
cord [Massachusetts] Antiquarian Society.

His interests are typically diverse for those in the museum pro-
fession: conservation of historic and artistic works, American
architecture and decorative arts, motion picture theatres. Ameri-
can folk art, mourning pictures, and gravestones. A special in-
terest in the conservation of stones has developed from his pro-
fession and his work with AGS.

Fred Oakley initiated the program of conservation workshops
at the AGS conference held at Governor Dummer Academy in
1988, and he has organized and participated in this actnity at all
subsequent conferences. The "learn by doing" method usmg A
Graveyard Preservation Primer as a basic text has been praised
by participants. He is a practitioner, having acquired his skill
through instruction, observation, and apphcation.

Participation Sessions 9:00 - 4:45

SESSION I - 9:00-10:30

lA. TWO SLffiE SHOW PREVIEWS
Daniel Goldman, narrator

115 Middle Road
East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

"Early New England Gravestones and the Stories They Tell"

This slide show, written by Laurel Gabel, is AGS's introduction
to the many things that can be learned from old New England
gravestones. Available for rent or purchase from the AGS office,
it is an excellent resource for classroom, civic groups, or indi-
vidual study.

"The Development of the Modern Cemetery and Gravestone
Design in the Nineteenth Century"

This slide show, written by Barbara Rotundo. is AGS's introduc-
tion to Victorian cemeteries, monuments, and symbolism. Avail-
able for rent or purchase from the AGS office, it is an excellent
resource for classroom, civic groups, or individual study.

Dan Goldman's interest in gravestones began in his youth
through gravestone rubbing. As an AGS member, he has served
as hospitality chair and exhibit chair at several AGS conferences.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees and currently serves as
Treasurer. He is a frequent lecturer in Rhode Island on grave-
stones.

IB. LECTURE-WORKSHOP

"Fun and Games"
Laurel K. Gabel

205 Fishers Road
Pittsford. New York 14534

Participants had fun as ihcN' played a ccmeterN tri\ia game (Jeop-

AGSFallV4p.4

Conference 1994

ardy format), had a crossword contest, and participated in a simu-
lation scavenger hunt. This session included a new slide presen-
tation o[ 101 ideas for using the 'cemetery as a leaching resource.

Laurel Gabel is a recipient of the AGS Forbes Award and cur-
rently serves as an AGS Trustee and the AGS Research Coordi-
nator. She is a popular lecturer and is coauthor with Theodore
Chase of the book. Gravestone Chronicles, and numerous articles.
She operates the AGS Lending Library and maintains files for
the Farber Photograph Collection.

IC. LECTURE DEMONSTRATION

"Capturing the Image of the Graven Image"
Frank Calidonna

313 West Linden Street
Rome, New York 13440

This session, for beginning to advanced photographers, addressed
proper techniques for producing high quality photographs of
gravestones and cemetery landscapes. Topics covered included
equipment, film (color and black-and-white), processing, expo-
sure, outdoor lighting, camera handling, and special problems.

Frank J. Calidonna has been a serious photographer for the past
forty-four years and a professional since 1968. He is the owner
of Diversified Photographic Services, which specializes in ar-
chitectural photography. Frank holds degrees in Social Work,
Education for the Deaf, and Elementary Education and Adminis-
tration from universities in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and
New York. His interest in cemeteries began thirty years ago with
photographing gravestones. It developed into a serious study
during the past six years, and the past three years he has devoted
exclusively to the documentation of cemeteries and gravestones
in central New York.

SESSION II - 10:45-12 NOON

2A. SLIDE LECTURE

"Common Rarities in Victorian Cemeteries:

Languishing Ladies and White Bronze"

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

This program explained the significance of the child at the lady's
knee or the cross in her hand, as well as the story behind the
gravestones that are really made of metal. Two of these topics
were repeats from last year, but with different examples, added
categories, and more time for discussion.

Barbara Rotundo, retired Professor of English at the State Uni-
versity of New York- Albany, now visits cemeteries around the
globe and is an energetic correspondent on subjects relatmg to
Victorian cemeteries. A frequent lecturer and writer, she has
written numerous articles, and is historian for Mount Auburn

Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Barbara's slide lecture
illustrated and discussed the meaning of many symbols found on
Victorian monuments and markers, as well as the metal markers

2B. SLIDE LECTURE

"Stories in Stone"
Rochelle Balkam

22 Wildwood
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103

Fields trips to the local cemetery provide opportunities for stud-
dents to practice many skills: art, graphing, story-writing, map-
ping, math, science, and history. Slides taken in cemeteries from
all over the world illustrated many possibilities for using local
cemeteries as teaching resources. Participants had an opportu-
nity to share their experiences.

Rochelle Balkam teaches Michigan history and the teaching of
social studies in the History Department of Eastern Michigan
University. She is vice-president of the Washtenaw County His-
toric District Commission and secretary of the One-Room School-
house Committee at Eastern Michigan University. She holds a
B.A. in History from Eastern Michigan University, an M.A. in
History, and an M.S. in Historic Preservation. She has presented
workshops on many aspects of local history, architecture, one-
room schools, and cemeteries in Michigan and at an International
Heritage Interpretation Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

2C. DEMONSTRATION-WORKSHOP

"Displaying the Image:

Framing and Mounting Photos and Rubbings "

Frank Calidonna

This discussion of proper methods of mounting, matting, and
framing included materials and supplies, equipment, selection of
colors, frames, and assembly techniques. Frank demonstrated
how a person with simple, inexpensive equipment may do a pro-
fessional job of displaying images. Participants were then given
the opportunity to try these techniques for themselves.

See ICfor Frank's address and biographical information.

SESSION III - 1:30-2:30

3A. SLIDE LECTURE

"Monuments in Crown Point Cemetery"
Sheila Riley

7105 Shrewsbury Lane, Apartment F
Indianapolis, Indiana 46260

Crown Point Cemetery is a premiere rural garden cemetery in
Indianapolis, Indiana. Sheila's collection of slides of many of its
monuments gave participants a preview of what can be discov-
ered there.

AGS Fall '94 p. 5

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Sheila Riley holds the position of Educator/Curator of American
Materials at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. As an ac-
tive member of the Historical Society of Crown Hill, she is an
educator, a re-enactor for Crown Hill's "Victorian Day," and a
public speaker on cemetery art, history, and mourning practices.
She owns a personal collection of Victorian mourning and fu-
neral artifacts. Sheila used slides of Crown Hill Cemetery to
discuss programs they offer to the public.

3B. SEMINAR

"How to Produce a Slide Show"

Laurel K. Gabel and

C. R. Jones

New York State Historical Association

Post Office Box 800

Cooperstown, New York 1 3326

The leaders of this seminar shared with participants their valu-
able tips on how to plan and produce a slide presentation from
concept to conclusion.

For Laurel Gabel's address & biographical information, see IB.

C. R. Jones is Conservator of Collections at the New York State
Historical Association and the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown,
where he has been involved with the care of collections since
1968. He holds a B.S. from Iowa State University, an M.A. from
the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, and an
M.A. from the Cooperstown Conservation Program. An early
interest in funerary art and gravestones resulted in an exhibit,
"Memento Mori," at the museum of the Concord [Massachu-
setts] Antiquarian Society in 1965. Since that time, he has given
numerous talks on the subject, trying to tailor each one to the
special needs of the audience and to streamline the presentation.
C.R. is a past secretary of the AGS Board of Trustees.

3C. DEMONSTRATION-WORKSHOP

"Watercolor Dabbing: An Advanced Rubbing Technique"
Mary Ann Calidonna

313 West Linden Street
Rome, New York 13440

Rubbing gravestones using a watercolor dabbing technique was
demonstrated. For those who make rubbing an art form, here is
a technique that goes beyond the lumberman's crayon. Using
small castings, participants had an opportunity to try the tech-
nique for themselves.

Mary Ann Calidonna studied papermaking and printmaking at
Rome Art and Community Center in Rome and the Munson- Wil-
liams School of Art in Utica. She owns Linden Street Paper,
where she produces handmade papers and dabbings, marbleized
Japanese foldbags, and one-of-a-kind jewelry from the paper.

SESSION rV - 2:45-4:00

4A. SLIDE LECTURE-DISCUSSION

"Out on a Limb: Tree-Stump Tombstones

and Rusticism in a Victorian Environment"

Susanne S. Ridlen

417 North Street
Logansport, Indiana 46947

Tree-stump monuments, common in rural, garden cemeteries and
in later lawn cemeteries and folk cemeteries, were strongly in-
fluenced by rustic furniture and other artifacts of the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. This slide presentation examined the
"history" of tree-stump tombstones, as well as their usage by
various fraternal organizations. Participants were encouraged to
bring slides or photographs of their own favorite examples to
share.

Susanne Ridlen received a B.A. from DePauw University, an
M.A. in Folklore and a Ph.D. in Folklore and American Studies
from Indiana University. Her doctoral dissertation was on tree-
stump tombstones. A folklorist at Indiana University-Kokomo.
and a past president of the Historical Society of Crown Hill Cem-
etery in Indianapolis, Sue regularly teaches a course entitled
"Grave Affairs: Death and Dying in the American Cemetery."

4C. SLIDE LECTURE-DISCUSSION

"Gravestone Recording and the

Organization of the Information "

Carol Shipp

906 South Main Street
Princeton, Illinois 61356

This session addressed designing appropriate record forms, map-
ping a cemetery, indexing, and recording data in a computer.
Participants were encouraged to bring any cemetery records they
wanted to share.

Carol Shipp organized the Bureau County [Illinois] Genealogi-
cal Society four years ago. She has established records for eightv
out of one hundred cemeteries in the county and created a master
cemetery index. She does research for the society's out-of-to\\ n
members. Carol is the 1994 conference co-chair.

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SATURDAY BUS TOURS

North Cemetery Bus Tour

St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox Cemetery.

Libertyvillc. Tlic onion-domed church and
cemetery, overlooking the Des Plaines
River, are listed on the National Register.
Most of the expansive, ornate monuments
are black granite with lettering in Cyrillic.

Christ Church Cemetery. Winnetka. This
idyllic English churchyard, complete with
lych gate, a tower ruin, and fieldstone walls,
is actually an elaborate columbarium. This
may be the "cemetery of the future."

Rosehill Cemetery. Chicago. The Gothic
gate, hsted on the National Register, invites
one into a traditional Victorian cemetery
complete with reclining maiden, towering
tree stumps, obelisks, orbs, and a myriad of
fraternal and military monuments. Rosehill
also has a large reformed section and many
newer ethnic and Communist groups.

Mt. Olive Cemetery, Chicago. Originally
a Scandinavian cemetery, there are exuber-
ant Norwegian and Swedish translations of
traditional Victorian themes. This cemetery
has extended a positive attitude toward
newer immigrants and their customs. Ar-
menians, Estonians, and Latvians have built
their monuments according to their tradi-
tions.

Photo ceramic on black

granite in St. Sava's

Serbian Orthodox

Cemetery.

Photo by Boh Pierce.

Close-up of the Bangs monument.
Photo b\ Bob Pierce.

Tom CooL and John Yuhasz nl the George S. Bangs munuinenl
in Rosehill Cemetery. Photo by Jessie Farber

AGS Fall '94 p. 7

Conference 1994

Central Cemetery Bus Tour

Graceland, Chicago. This famous cemetery contains the Na-
tional Register Getty Tomb, designed by Louis Sullivan. Large
lots are terraced around Lake Windemere with its burial site is-
land. Well designed roads and landscaping contribute to the burial
sites of many of Chicago's wealthiest families. Every attempt
has been made to retain the Victorian tenor of this cemetery.
Scattered amidst the traditional granites are the earliest settlers'
(1 830s- 1 860s) moldering monuments of marble and Lemont lime-
stone.

Bohemian National, Chicago. The landmark Gothic gate and
waiting room are handsome structures which invite one to visit
this remarkable example of an ethnic group's determination to
have its own burial ground. Although family plots dominate,
fraternal and veteran areas are popular. Remarkable bronzes,
particularly "The Grim Reaper," are throughout the cemetery.
There is an extensive grove of limestone tree stumps. Angels
step down or cling to crosses. Czech and English intermix in
inscriptions.

Photographing the Louis Henry Sullivan tomb in
Graceland Cemetery. Who is that man behind the Foster Grants?
Photo by Jessie Farber

South Cemetery Bus Tour

Montrose, Chicago. Once a Victorian cemetery with original
German, Swedish, and English inhabitants preferring the gray,
red, and brown granites. The newer immigrants, Siberians, Ukrai-
nians, Gypsies, Cambodians, and Puerto Ricans, may select black
or other exotic colors, as well as bronze.

Monument from Graceland Cemetery. Photo by Bob Pierce.

Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park. When begun in the 1 870s.
this cemetery was two cemeteries. Forest Home was intended
for family plots of western suburbanites, and German Waldheim
was built for more fraternal-oriented groups. In the 1950s, the
two sites became one. Forest Home includes elegant monuments
and mausoleums. German Waldheim has narrow curbed carriage
roads between numerous memorials for fraternal organizations,
especially the Communist Party and the United Order of the Dru-
ids, with its magnificent druid sitting on a tall tower surveying
the concentrically arranged graves of the members. This cem-
etery, with a strong concentration of Germans and a small Jewish
section, is very Victorian.

Elmwood Cemetery, River Grove. Begun as a neighborhood
(German, Swedish) cemetery, Elmwood became appealing to a
wider community due to its proximity to a railroad station facili-
tating transportation from Chicago. This explains the extensive
numbers of Greek, Ukrainian, Russian. Ruthenian. Macedonian.
Cossack, Gypsy, Assyrian, Albanian, and other ethnic groups here.
The types of memorializations are typical to each group.

Arlington Cemetery, Elmhurst. At Arlington, man) fraternal
groups are in evidence, particularly the Bartender's Union and
the immense monument marking the Modern Woodmen of the
World. For ethnics, there are Greeks, Shiites. and the Nation of
Islam.

Elm Lawn Cemetery, Elmhurst. Located next lo .Arlington Cem-
etery with no intervening fence, it also serves the surrounding

communities. At Elm Lawn there are Koreans and Zoroastrians.
as well as a large pel cemetery section. Most unusual is the >;ec-
tion whore people and their pets are buried together. e\ en in large
faniilv mausoleums.

AGS Fall '94 p. 8

Conference 1994

Tour leader Helen Sclair at Mt. Carinel Cemetery, Chicago.

Kozicki stone { "Our college dropout") from
Hinsdale Pet Cemeterx, Chicago.

AGS Fall '94 p. 9

Conference 1994

PRESENTATIONS

FIRST LECTURE SESSION
THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1994

Introduction - Rosalee Oakley, President

Conference Chair's Welcome

Program Chair's Welcome and Introduction

"19th Century Design Motifs of Portage County, Ohio"
William Gordon

4605 South Priest, Lot #243
Tempe, Arizona 85282

Over 900 nineteenth-century gravestones with design motifs were
recorded for Portage County, Ohio. This sample was used to
illustrate time frequency, gender, and age patterns. Death rate
estimates and a random sample of all gravestones were used to
show changing demographic patterns of memorialization.

William A. Gordon is a graduate student in the Department of
Anthropology at Arizona State University. He has worked on
sites in Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, and France, and was drawn
into gravestone studies by the work of Deetz and Dethlefsen. He
is presently working on his master's thesis in archaeology, which
is focusing on status, competition, and stylistic change.

"Who's Here in Hoosier Carving?"
James C. Jewell

828 Plum Street
Peru, Illinois 61354

Two Hoosier carvers, EC. Dyer
and A.J. Viquesney, have be-
come prominent due to the vari-
ety of their endeavors. This pre-
sentation was a survey of some
of their works, unique creations
that set the two apart from the
many other carvers in the area.

Elijah Coffey Dyer remains a
Hoosier enigma.

Thrice married. Dyer took very

good care of his family. They

have ornate stones with lovely floral designs. But his own block

stone is very plain and has no date of death.

With Lila Bullerdick of Poland, Indiana, Jim Jewell amassed a
great deal of information about Dyer as well as the Viquesney
Company. Believed to have been brought to this country to work
on the statuary on the Capital Building, Dyer carved statues —
not exclusively cemetery — which are widespread throughout
Indiana.

The beautiful statue at Spencer, Indiana, is his most famous, but
he is also known for a series of memorials to American soldiers
and sailors. The biggest is in Memorial Park in Fort Wayne,
Indiana. Others are in Spencer and Peru. Indiana.

Jim Jewell, a longtime member of AGS. has been a steady con-
tributor to the AGS Newsletter (he most recently served as Mid-
west Editor) and a regular participant at numerous AGS confer-
ences, where his speaker introductions were an integral part of
the proceedings. He taught for twenty-five years and in 1993
was the recipient of the Edith Harrod Memorial Award for Out-
standing Contributions to Speech and Theatre Education by the
Illinois Speech/Theatre Association. {I am sorry to report that
Jim passed away this fall; an obituary will appear in the Winter
'95 newsletter M.L)

"The Other Zinc"
Kathy Flippo

Rural Route 1, Box 102
Morrison, Missouri 65061

Many AGS members are familiar with the "white bronze" or zinc
monuments made by the Monumental Bronze Company in
Bridgeport, Connecticut. However, zinc monuments were also
made by a litde company owned by TB. White in Warsaw. Mis-
souri, around the turn of the century. They are inferior to the
ones made in Bridgeport and are falling apart.

Warsaw is in the heart of the Missouri zinc mines, so the raw
material was handy. The Warsaw zincs are similar to those made
in Bridgeport, and the White family says that "grandpa was ec-
centric." This leads me to believe that White's may have been a
"fly by night" operation, and perhaps the patents were never
awarded, even though it says they were on several of the monu-
ments.

The Warsaw monuments are unique in that most have hinged
doors with plate glass inserted behind them. The family of the
deceased placed photographs, pressed flowers, and the obituary
behind the glass. These doors were a good idea that ne\er caught
on.

A small zinc plate on the bottom of most of these monumcnis
identifies them. The plates read, "W.Z.W. Warsaw. Missouri."
Some also have "Pat. Applied For." or "Pat. Jan. 9, 1894. Other
Pat. Pending," or "Patented Dec. 3, 1901 and March IS. 1902."

Even though the monuments are laheled"W.Z.W." (Warsaw Zinc
Works), other sources make references to "W.M.W." (Warsaw
Monument Works), and "Z.M.W." (Zinc Monument Works), all
referring to the same outfit.

There are about twenty monumcnis scaiicrcd in ihc Cii\ .uid
Shawnee Cemeteries in Warsaw. There is one in Osaiic Count\,

AGS Fall '94 p. 10

Conference 1994

MissiHiri, two in the coiuclciy in Moundvillc, Missouri, and Iwt)
ropoiled ill Ccilonulo.

Kathy Flippo is a dairy lariiicr lioiii Morrison, Missouri. She is
also a cemetery surveyor for the Osage County [Missouri] His-
torical Society and has had three books published through that
organization. She writes a weekly column, the "Hope News,"
for her county newspaper and writes river stories for The Great
River Eagle, a magazine about the Mississippi River. In addi-
tion, she is a forwarding agent for missionaries in Zimbabwe,
President of the Osage County Library Board, Vice-President of
the Missouri River Regional Library, and "leaves no stone
unturned in her grave undertaking!"

"Portrait Stones"
Jessie Lie Farber

31 Hickory Drive
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

Eighteenth-century gravestone carvings depicting the human face,
bust, or full figure are often seen as carvers' attempts to portray
the likenesses of the deceased. This presentation offered examples
of portraits that indicate the extent to which this is an accurate
mterpretation.

Jessie Lie Farber is Professor Emeritus at Mount Holyoke Col-
lege in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She is a founding member
of AGS, and currently serves on the Newsletter Committee. Her
presentation was a follow-up and expansion of the photo essay
that was published in the Fall, 1993, issue oiihe AGS Newsletter.

SECOND LECTURE SESSION
FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1994

"Aspects of Burial Patterns in Dubois County, Indiana"
Warren E. Roberts

1320 Pickwick Place
Bloomin2ton, Indiana 47401

strive to understand the immigrant experience. Cemeteries can
be a valuable source of information on the process of accultura-
tion for cither early or late arrivals to these shores.

A real Rood of immigrants from Germany came pouring into the
Dubois County region of southern Indiana in the 1840s and 50s.
They moved in among a substantial number of Anglo-Ameri-
cans, for the first settlers had arrived, mostly via Kentucky, start-
ing in the early years of the nineteenth century.

There are at least three ways that acculturation can be studied in
the cemeteries of Dubois County. There is ample evidence to
show that the earliest German immigrants used iron crosses as
gravemarkers, as was true in many other Catholic areas in the
United States, and one can discern three kinds of iron crosses.
What is presumably the oldest type was handmade by local black-
smiths who simply welded two strips of iron together with very
little ornamentation. Many of these strips strongly resemble the
hinges used on barn doors, which also, of course, were made by
local blacksmiths.

The type next in point of time consists of strips of iron which
have been bent into elaborate shapes and welded together (Fig-
ure ] ). These probably also have been made by local blacksmiths,
since the same technique is often used in making decorative gates.
Indeed, St. Joseph's Cemetery in Jasper has many of these scroll-
work gravemarkers, and its entrance gates are likewise good ex-
amples of the scroll-work (Figure 2).

Figure 1

As has often been said, the United States is a nation of immi-
grants. If we are to understand what our country is, we must

Figure 2

The latest type is made of cast-iron. Most of the cast-iron crosses
in Dubois County were made in a foundry in St. Louis.

It would appear that British-American influences began to be
felt at a very early date. A transitional form of monument is a
stone of the same size and shape as those used by British- Ameri-
cans in the area, but with a small iron cross atop the stone.

ACS Fair 94 p. 11

Conference 1994

Finally, there are those stones which are indistinguishable from
those in British- American Protestant cemeteries in nearby coun-
ties, marking the final stage in acculturation as far as these iron
crosses are concerned.

Another practice the German immigrants brought with them con-
cerns the layout of cemeteries, whereby burials are made in rows
one after another according to the date of death rather than in
family plots. This "seriatim burial" means that spouses are not
buried next to one another. Moreover, children are separated
from their parents and siblings, for the children are buried in sepa-
rate rows since they require less space. In the Jasper cemetery, a
special section for children was in use into the 1930s. The Catholic
cemeteries in the Dubois County region actually show a mixture
of seriatim burial and family plots.

The seriatim burial can be seen in its purest form in the cemeter-
ies of cloisters. The cemeteries of both St. Meinrad's Monastery,
which is just south of Dubois County, and the Convent of the
Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand in southern Dubois County
use this arrangement.

A third way to study acculturation in Dubois County graveyards
is to observe the use of German language inscriptions and their
gradual replacement by English language inscriptions.

Taken together, these indicators provide powerful and convinc-
ing evidence of the ways in which ethnic groups dealt with the
problems of adjusting to life in these United States. And we
cannot understand America unless we can understand the pro-
cess of acculturation.

Warren Roberts is Professor of Folklore at Indiana University.
While he has concentrated his attention on tree-stump tombstones
and other markers produced by the stone carvers in the limestone
belt of southern Indiana, his interests are not confined to that
topic, "interesting as it may be." Over a period of many years, he
and a number of graduate students at the Folklore Institute of
Indiana University did extensive fieldwork in the Dubois County
area. While they concentrated on folk architecture, folk crafts,
and other folklife topics, such as foodways, they also studied the
cemeteries of the region.

"Historic Elgin Cemetery Walk"
Jerry L. TVirnquist

1021 West Highland Avenue

Elgin, Illinois 60123

and

John W. Warner

207 North Washington Street
Carpentersville, Illinois 60110

The Historic Elgin Cemetery Walk is a walking tour/dramatiza-
tion sponsored by the Elgin Area Historical Society. Begun in

1988, this event is held the last Sunday of September at Elgin's
Bluff City Cemetery. This walk consists of tours led by cos-
tumed guides along a route approximately one mile in length.
Along the way, participants make sixteen stops. At eight of these,
guides provide interpretive information about the monuments.
At eight other stops, first-person costumed portrayals are pre-
sented, bringing to life various individuals from times past (see
photos). Among them might be a founding father of the commu-
nity, a crafty politician, or simply a laborer at the Elgin National
Watch Company. The walk is limited to the cemetery streets,
making it handicapped accessible, and seating is provided along
the way. Various society displays and exhibits are available at
the beginning and end of the walk, and an eight page program is
provided.

William R. Creighlon ( 1841-1928). portrayed by Hugh Epping.

The Walk was a success from the beginning. In its first year, it
had an attendance of 430 persons. Since that time, it has grown
to become an autumn tradition, with an average attendance of
over 1000. Much to the delight of all. approximately one-quar-
ter of those who come each year have been children under four-
teen years of age. Originally concei\ed as an event directed to
attract historical society members, this has clearly become a fam-
ily affair for Ihc conimunily.

AGS Fall V4 p. 12

Conference 1994

Grace Marsh Topping (1869-1954), portrayed by Carta Grosch.

The success of this walk is attributable to several factors. Elgin
has always been a city with a strong group of people interested in
local history. They provided a natural audience for such an event.
Another key factor was the cooperation of the local media, par-
ticularly the local newspaper. Its publicity piqued people's inter-
est and gave this unique event the credibility it needed. Once
established, the Walk has drawn people back repeatedly because
it is both interesting and entertaining. In addition to this, many
return because they have grown to appreciate the enchanting
beauty of Bluff City Cemetery. Its rolling hills offer a place of
solitude quite unlike most other cemeteries in the area. Perhaps
the greatest indication of the event's success is that the concept
has been duplicated at other cemeteries in the area, and a request
inquiring about our walk has recently come from as far away as
Los Angeles.

The Historic Elgin Cemetery Walk was begun as an event to teach
people about local history. At the same time, its purpose was to
help them learn that cemeteries provide a very appropriate place
to accoinplish this, since they chronicle a history of a community
in a manner which no book or museum could accomplish. Clearly,
many of those attending, including children, have a changed atti-
tude about cemeteries.

Jerry L. Turnquist is an eighth grade teacher. He is also a mem-
ber of the Board of the Elgin Area Historical Society and a mem-
ber of the Elgin Heritage Commission. He was the Elgin Jaycee's

"Man of the Year" in 1981 and llic first recipient, in 1992, of the
Elgin Image Award. He has written applications for two state
historical markers which exist in Elgin.

John W. Warner is Vicc-Presidcnl of J.S. Warner, Inc. He is a
third-generation memorialist, and his company has received na-
tional recognition for civic memorials; in the past five years, their
projects have received two Governors' Home Town Awards and
the company was a recent recipient of a design award (one of six
nationally) for memorial design using the newest fabrication pro-
cess. John is considered "slightly radical" in how he thinks of
memorials and their reasons and purposes. He calls himself "anti-
establishment" regarding his stance against the depersonalization
of memorials.

"The Tiffany Windows of Rosehill Cemetery"
Jack L. Bradley

Post Office Box 509
Chillicothe, Illinois 61523

A Tiffany window fi'om Chicago's Second Presbyterian Church.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was a painter, decorator, and craftsman
— and an astute businessman — who was known world-wide
for his sumptuous colors and affinity for naturalistic subjects. He

AGS Fall '94 p. 13

Conference 1994

was the son of Charles L. Tiffany, who founded the famous Fifth
Avenue store, and was born in 1 848 and died in 1 933. His Eccle-
siastical Department was a division of Tiffany Studios and was
located at 46 West Twenty-third Street in New York City. On his
letterhead, he is listed as President and Art Director, but Edwin
Stanton George was said to be the power behind the title and the
enormous output of the studio for over forty years. The Ecclesi-
astical Department specialized in stained glass windows and
mosaics, as well as indoor and outdoor memorials and church
furnishings.

Making Tiffany's stained glass windows was a complicated pro-
cess involving a technique of plating — a method of building
layers of glass to modulate or variegate the light coming through
{see photo of detail). In this manner. Tiffany achieved what had
previously been achieved only by painting. In the photographs
presented at the conference, this method could be seen in the
close-ups of flowers and particularly in the water pieces. Most
of these windows were placed in the Rosehill Mausoleum from
1912 through 1930. In all, there are over thirty-eight Tiffany
windows in the Mausoleum that are valued in excess often mil-
lion dollars. In a letter to E.D. Parish, Secretary of Rosehill Cem-
etery Company, dated March 20, 1926, Charles Nussbaum of the

Detail from Second Presbyterian Church window.

Tiffany Ecclesiastical Department explained the great success of
the Shedd window, a three-panel window that depicted a night
scene. After the Shedd window was placed, people from through-
out the country who were in the market for a memorial of this
scope clamored to Tiffany for something of similar grandeur. The
company responded that it would not be wise to put too many
night scenes in the same area. They recommended bright and
airy scenes that depicted floral and water scenic views. The Shedd
Memorial is the most memorable of all the Tiffanys in this Mau-
soleum.

All visits to Rosehill should include these windows. This presen-
tation was a visual voyage of Tiffany's mastery of stained glass
art. However, the slides we have taken for this presentation do
not compare to viewing the windows first-hand.

Jack L. Bradley is retired from the Peoria Journal Star, where
he worked as a photojournalist for seventeen years. He was Presi-
dent of the National Press Photographers Association in 1 972-3.
and is currently Chairman of the Board and President of Media
Consultants Marketing, an advertising and marketing business
in Chillicothe, Illinois.

Ed. Note: Jack has graciously donated a few copies of a video of
his slide show which we have available for rental for $15. If you
are interested in renting this show, please contact the AGS office.
It's not to be missed!

"Chicago's Outstanding Monuments: An Overview"
Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323

An introduction to Chicago cemeteries seemed a good idea for
the newcomer to the Chicago area on the night before the tours.
It is true that every gravemarker is unique; however, the immense
range of 'Victorian and modern monuments and the variety of the
material in Chicago's cemeteries deserved some explanation to
the far-flung members of AGS visiting the Midwest, perhaps for
the first time.

Not only are there traditional rural-type cemeteries filled with
Chicago's first settlers, but there are the many burial sites for the
numerous later arrivals who brought their traditions to this new
land. The metropolitan area contains cemeteries for more than
one hundred different ethnic groups, all of which "do their own
thing" in their burial spaces.

The slide show included interesting facts from each of the bus
tours as well as unusual items available on the Self-Guided Tours.
Thus the viewer could glimpse a Tiffany, a Taft, and a Daniel
Chester French-designed monument, as well as the folk-designed
niches at Bohemian National Cemetery's columbarium. Tradi-
tional granite, marble, bronze, and white-bronze materials were
contrasted with Cor-ten steel and fiberglass at St. Casimirs. or
petrified wood at Calvary. Evanston. Elaborate burial customs
of the Gypsies and the Serbians with their gra\e goods paralleled
the simple unadorned markers in Christ Church's yard.

The vast variety in Chicago's cemeteries deserved the visit of
AGS.

Helen Sclair, recently retired from i\\cniy-sc\ en years of teach-
ing in the Chicago public schools, is now able to devote full time
to her fifteen year "hobby" — cemeteries. She has become know n
as the "Cemetery Lady" throughout the Chicago niciropoliian
area as she researches and gives lectures on cenicieries. She has
focused on geology, geography, history, ciliniciiy. types of monu-
ments, and their sources. Her gicaicsi iichie\cineni is locating
vanished burial sites. lia\ine found more ihan si\i\ ui the Chi-

AGS Fall '94 p. 14

CALL FOR PAPERS AND EXHIBITS

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES-1995 CONFERENCE

WESTFIELD STATE COLLEGE, WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

The Association for Gravestone Studies invites academics and other interested
persons to submit proposals for its lecture presentation sessions scheduled for the
1995 Annual Conference to be held June 22-25 in Westfield, Massachusetts.

Suggested topics are occupational motifs, regional monument styles and materials,
carver research projects, conservation activity in progress or completed, modern
monument design, etc.

Those interested in presenting a paper are encouraged to send a 250 word abstract to
Dr. J.Joseph Edgette, Widener University, One University Place, Chester, PA 19013.
If you have a proposal, please reach Dr. Edgette as quickly as possible to be included
in this year's program.

Also sought are exhibits of photographs, photographic essays, rubbings, castings and
other gravestone related material for the exhibit area.

For additional information please correspond with Dr. Edgette or call his office at

(610)499-4241.

(over, please)

AGS CONFERENCE

June 22-25, 1995
Westfield State College, Westfield, Massachusetts

Conference Facilities

Westfield State College has a very nice, tidy, compact campus. All the facilities we
require are in excellent condition. Jo Ann Churchill, the College's Conference
Coordinator, is most cooperative, promising to see to our every need.

Bus Tours — Bob Drinkwater
All the burying grounds and cemeteries within 15 miles of Westfield have been
located and visited. Bus tour routes and tour guides are now being selected. Tours
are planned for Friday, June 23 this year, a day earUer than has been customary at
past conferences. Self-guided tour directions are also being prepared.

Participation Sessions — Rosalee Oakley

Members are needed to staff a variety of Participation Workshops planned for
Saturday, June 24.

Rosalee Oakley zvould appreciate inquiries by members who would lead classes in their particular
discipline. Contact her at 19 Hadley Place, Hadley, MA 01035; (413) 584-1756.

Conservation Worksliop

A Conservation Workshop will be held Saturday, June 24, in Pine Hill Cemetery, 1.6
miles from the campus. Water and electricity are close to the area where
conservation activity is planned.

Fred Oakley would appreciate hearing from members who will instruct in either one or all phases of
simple conservation activity. Call or write: Fred Oakley, 19 Hadley Place, Hadley, MA 01035, (413)
584-1756.

Exhibits/Sales Area
We are eager to hear from members who wish to exhibit photographs, photo essays,
castings, rubbings, and other gravestone related materials. If feasible we might
invite public viewing of the exhibits.

Tables for sales items will be available.

AGS FUN STUFF (& MARKERS REMAINDERS) ORDER FORM

It's that time of year again! Once again, we've found some items which you might enjoy, plus we're having a sale
on some Markers remaiiiders. Please note the "Postal Meter Notepads" which we are selling in order to add a
postal meter to tlie office so we don't have to lick stamps anymore.

Our order deadline is February 15, 1995, and shipment will be no later than the end of March.

Gravestone Art Long-Sleeve T-Shirts

These were so popular last year we are offering them again with some new designs. The shirts are available in
the three designs below. Please note they are 100% prewashed cotton, and are available in black shirts with white
designs, or white shirts with black designs in sizes Large and Extra-large only. Price is $20 each.

Celtic Cross

Portsmouth,

New Hampshire

Charles Bardin stone from Neiuport, Rhode Island,

1773. Cut by ]ohn Bull, this stone shows God

hovering over turbulent seas and clouds.

Father Time from the

right panel of the

Timothy Lindall

stone, Salem,

Massachusetts,

1698/99.

Don't forget to indicate color (black, white), design (Celtic Cross, Charles Bardin, or Father Time),

and size (L, XL) when ordering!

Markers Remainders

We currently have several Markers with covers that have slight tears, are faded, or have other slightly unsightly
marks on them. Otherwise, they are fine. It's a shame to throw them out, yet we can't sell them at the full price.
Therefore, we are offering them at considerable discounts. Please note the volumes and quantities available and
don't wait to order — they're on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once we sell out, you're going to have to wait imtil
I do some more klutzy things when getting orders ready before we have enough to sell again.

Markers VI: 7 paper - $12ea
Markers VII: 17 paper - $10ea
Markers VIII: 3 paper - $12ea
Markers X: 1 paper - $12
Markers XI: 1 paper - $12

Markers I:

6 cloth - $18ea

7 paper - $12ea

Markers II: 3 paper -

$12ea

Markers IV: 3 paper

- $12ea

Markers V: 3 paper -

$12ea

Conference Clothing

94 Conference t-shirts

This year's color is a forest green with
gray lettering of the tree-stump design
pictured here. The shirts are the usual,
and run to size if you've ordered in past
years: 100% preshrunk cotton, and they
run big. Available sizes and prices are:

Medium

$10

Large

$10

XL

$10

XXL

$11

AGS Sun Visors:

Although it's kind of hard to think about
sun visors Ln zero degree weather, we are
encouraging you to plan Eihead! We have
white cotton visors with a terry lining.
"The Association for Gravestone Studies"
is imprinted Ln black on the shade. $6
each.

'93 Conference Shirts

We don't have too many left! These are on
a first come, first serve basis; please order
early! This is what's left:

2
11

Medium $10
XXL Sll

The shirt is a royal blue with light blue
lettering in 100% preshrunk cotton. As
with all of our conference shirts, they tend
to run big.

Memo pad (4.25" x 4.25") green

on yellow, 100 sheets, $5 each.

Hester McDonnell stone,

Quinn, Ireland, 1848.

"Postal Meter" Notepads

No, they're not note pads with a postal meter
design! We would very much like to have a
postal meter in the office. However, anyone
who has one knows that meter rentals don't
come cheap (our meter will cost about $300 a
year) and we don't want to burden the budget.
Instead, we thought we'd sell these notepads
and put the proceeds towards the meter rental.
We also welcome donations. We'll send you a
pad (or pads) as thanks, and will think of you
every time an envelope comes out of the meter!
Prices as marked, or buy both for $10.

Both rubbings are courtesy of Jessie Lie Farber. ^uf by John Stez<ens, Newport. R.l

Notepad [5.5" x S.5" ) broiC}i on craim,

100 sheets, $6.50 each. Esther Halliock

stone. Long Island, Nau York, 1 773.

TOTAL ENCLOSEL

V

All prices already include shippnu:; and

lumdling. Please make checks payable to AGS,

and checks should be in US funds drawn on a

US bank. Mail checks and orders to:

ACS

30 Elm Street

Worcester, MA 01609.

Orders should reach the .■\CS office by

Fcbruani 15. 1995, and all orders icill (v

shipped no later than March 31. 1995.

Conference 1994

cago area alone. She is cuneiilly leaching a course al llie
Newberry Library entitled "Chicago's History as Viewed Through
Its Cemeteries."

THIRD LECTURE SESSION
SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1994

"Searching for a Prescott:

Montana's Pioneer Monument Dealer"

Nancy C. Thornton

12545 West 11 1th Street
Lemont, Illinois 60439

Alonzo K. Prescott operated a monument business in Montana
from 1883 to 1907. He canvassed the towns, as well as the min-
ing and logging camps, and took bids for tombstones and fenc-
ing. His signed marble gravestones range from single, small tab-
lets to elaborate fifteen-sectioned monuments ten feet tall.

Nancy Thornton is a real estate title examiner who has main-
tained an interest in gravestone studies ever since 1984, when
she was successful in getting listed on the National Register of
Historic Places the Irish Catholic church and pioneer cemetery
that are located near her home. She began surveying Montana
cemeteries in 1986 and visits new ones each year. Last year,
Montana Magazine published an article by Nancy on the subject
of her conference paper: Montana's first major monument dealer,
A.K. Prescott.

"In Search of the Elusive 'Chinee'"
Roberta Halporn

Center for Thanatology Research and Education, Inc.

391 Atlantic Avenue

Brooklyn, New York 11217-1701

This presentation chronicles what occurred when a foolhardy
researcher investigated memorials of an ethnic minority about
which nothing is written. Ignorant of the language, this
fieldworker, without realizing it, was treading upon the most
powerful taboo of the group. Astonishing things resulted.

Roberta Halporn is Director of the Center for Thanatology Re-
search and Education, Inc., which is a library, museum, small
press, and mail-order bookseller specializing in gravestone arts
and other subjects related to dying and bereavement. She is a
member of the Board of AGS and contributes book reviews and
occasional articles to the AGS Newsletter.

"Looking for Merry Veal"
Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

The talk began with a description of how the speaker first no-
ticed homemade, neatly lettered gravestones in Rankin County,

Mississippi, in 1990. It went on to describe her trials in search-
ing for the person who made them. Slides showed examples of
the various shapes and decorations used on the stones.

The next section described the eventual identification of the crafts-
man as Merry Veal, and the interview with him in his backyard
where he makes the markers and stores his material. Veal mixes
the cement in small batches, pours it into the forms he has evolved,
and waits till it sets but is not yet hard. Then he takes a nail — -
fourteen penny size — and traces freehand the letters and any
decoration. After the cement hardens, he retraces all the lines
with the point of a beer can-opener and then with a knife (see
photo). When it is completely dry, he covers the stone with a
light gray latex house paint — "The most expensive there is," he
assured the interviewer.

The conclusion of this brief study of a black craftsman living in
a suburban neighborhood on the edge of Jackson, Mississippi,
mentioned some of the parallels between him and colonial carv-
ers. Literate but not highly educated, steeped in the Bible, most
of them did not depend on carving gravestones for the primary
source of support for their families. (Veal is now retired from the
mail room of the Veteran's Administration in Jackson.) Thus the
questions that we are too late to ask the colonial carvers we can

AGS Fall '94 p. 15

Conference 1994

ask Veal. Do customers ask for a particular symbol? Do they
specify the wording? Do they choose Veal because of his con-
nection with a particular church, sect, or preacher? His indefi-
nite answer would probably have been the answer of the early
carvers. With a smile, he said, "Some do, some don't."

Mark would like to collaborate with anyone who has informa-
tion on any sewer tile or cylinders found in African-American
graveyards, and any reverse glass painted or mirror finish or glass
gravemarkers.

Barbara Rotundo is a retired Professor of English at the State

University of New York at Albany who is particularly interested
in rural and other nineteenth-century cemeteries. She is on the
Board of AGS and is a member of the Newsletter Committee,
editor of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century column for this
newsletter, and was this year's recipient of the Forbes Award.
This is her first foray into carver research.

"Shenendoah's Cemetery Row"
Thomas E. Graves

100 Pollack Drive
Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania 17954

Frank Calidonna

313 West Linden Street

Rome, New York 13440

Discussed archival preservation of photographs; showed prints

FRIDAY

C.R. Jones

New York State Historical Association

Post Office Box 800

Cooperstown, New York 13326

Architecture of Remembrance (slides and music)

A row of cemeteries is a common sight in many areas that can
illuminate many aspects of the history of a community.
Shenendoah, Pennsylvania, is an ethnically diverse town. Using
its ridge-top row of cemeteries, this paper explored settlement
patterns, population growth, religious affiliations, and ethnic di-
versity and identification.

Tom Graves is a folklife consultant and photographer who is
best known for his work in ethnic markers. He has a credible list
of publications in both the academic vein as well as the popular.

LATE-NIGHT PRESENTATIONS
Mark Esping, Coordinator

118 South Mam
Lindsborg, Kansas 67456

THURSDAY

Phil Kallas

308 Acorn Street

Whiting

Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481-6001

Cemetery Postcards

Mark Esping

118 South Mam
Lindsborg, Kansas 67456

This presentation included metal markers from Kansas and Ne-
braska made by German and Swedish blacksmiths. Also shown
were Swedish raked earth graves and homemade broken glass,
marble, and inscribed markers found in economically impover-
ished sections of Midwest plains cemeteries.

Diane Lanigan

214 West Fremont

Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004

Photographs ofGraceland

Laurel Gabel

205 Fishers Road

Pittsford, New York 14534

Gravestones of Wales

Charles Marchant

Post Office Box 132

Townshend, Vermont 05353-0132

What to Look for in a Cemetery

This presentation was designed to show to school groups, his-
torical societies, and civic groups to get them to look at cemeter-
ies as resources for a variety of cultural reasons. Charlie would
be interested to learn if anyone else has a show of this nature.

Warren Roberts

1320 Pickwick Place

Bloomington, Indiana 47401

What's in a Name? A Gravestone Provides the Answer

As reported at the late night session at this year's meeting, 1 had
bought an antique wooden carpenter's plane many years ago. The
man from whom I bought it states that ho bought it from "an old
German cabinetmaker" living in south central Greene County
near the town of Koleen. The plane in question is clearly of the
type made and used on the continent, and quite dit'fcrent from the
planes used by the British and British-.Vmericans. It is a little
over eleven inches long and a little o\or two inches wide al its
widest part.

The feature that attracted mc to the plane, howe\er. was the name

AGS Fall V4 p. 16

Conference 1994

carved in old German seripl and (lie dale 1837 on i(s side. The
dale, llie style cil the plane, and the wood used in il all led nie to
believe tha( the plane was made in Geniiany and hrought lo this
country.

Toni Cook

63460 Orange Road

South Bend, Indiana 46614

A Wooden Marker

The only problem was that the old German script was difficult to
decipher. The last name, I was reasonably sure, was Schranz,
but what was the first name? A search through the 1840, 1850,
and other census records turned up no person with the name
Schranz. And what about the first name? It looked like Wiigian
to me, but I wasn't sure.

About a year ago, I took the plane into class to demonstrate how
tools can be used to show how ethnic traits persist in this coun-
try. A student in the class, James Cooper, became quite excited
on seeing the plane, for he said that he had seen Schranz's grave-
stone just a few days before!

As soon as I could, I visited the cemetery in question. It is called
the Hasler or Old Dutch Cemetery and is in the countryside a
few miles west of Koleen. Sure enough, there was the grave-
stone of Gilian Schranz, who died in 1852 at the age of thirty-
six. Armed with this information, it was possible to find him in
the 1 850 census, where he is listed as Gilgian Schwartz, age thirty-
four. He is said to be a carpenter and to have been born in Swit-
zerland. His oldest daughter was eight and had been born in
Ohio, so he must have come to this country before 1842. Since
he was born in 1816, he would have made the plane at the age of
twenty-one, probably when he finished his apprenticeship.

And what about that first name? It is Gilgian on the plane and in
the 1850 census, and Gilian on the gravestone. The plane he
carved himself, and. he must have known how to spell his own
name! (With thanks to James Cooper. Without his help I would
still be wondering who Wiigian Schranz was!)

Warren Roberts. Tom Graves. Roberta Halporn, and Toni Cook
examine Toni's wooden marker Photo by Jessie Farber

SATURDAY

Carol Shipp

906 South Mam Street

Princeton, Illinois 61356

Gravestones of the Soviet Union and Germany

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220
Showed and gave away ten slides

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323

Showed funeraiy materials

Pat Corrigan

2749 Mayfield Road

Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44106

Showed prints of his photography

Charles Marchant

Photographs in stone

The gravestone ofGil(g)ian Schranz

AGS Fall '94 p. 17

Conference 1994

At the first annual conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, it was resolved that an award should be made
periodically to honor either an individual or an organization in recognition of exceptional service to the field of gravestone
studies. This award, known as the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award, recognizes outstanding contributions in such areas as
scholarship, publications, conservation, education, and community service.

Past honorees are:

1977 Daniel Farber

1978 Ernest Caulfield

1979 Peter Benes

1980 Allan I. Ludwig

1981 No award given

1982 James A. Slater

1983 Hilda Fife

1984 Ann Parker & Avon Neal

1985 Jessie Lie Farber

1986 Louise Tallman

1987 Frederick & Pamela Burgess

1988 Laurel Gabel

1989 Betty Willshcr

1990 Theodore Chase

1991 Lynette Strangstad

1992 Rev. Ralph Tucker

1993 Deborah Trask

AGS Fall V4 />. IS

Conference 1994

PRESENTATION OF THE 1994

HARRIETTE MERRIFIELD FORBES AWARD

Presentation Speech

by President Rosalee F. Oakley

to Barbara Rotundo

This is the special time at each conference, when we honor one
of our own with the Harriette Merrifieid Forbes Award. In the
beginning, the Board of Trustees decided that an award would be
made periodically that would honor either an individual or an
organization whose work has advanced the understanding and
appreciation of the field of gravestone studies. That first year,
they called it the "AGS Honor Award" and presented it to Daniel
Farber at our first conference in 1977.

The second year, the Board discussed honoring a Massachusetts
gravestone scholar and photographer, Harriette Merrifieid Forbes,
of Worcester, who published a book in 1927 titled Gravestones
of Early New England and the Men Who Made Them. The trust-
ees also considered honoring Dr. Ernest Caulfield, a physician
who had become the foremost student of Connecticut's colonial
gravestones and their carvers. The work of Mrs. Forbes and Dr.
Caulfield marks the beginning of contemporary gravestone study
and research. So that year the Board decided to name the award
for Mrs. Forbes and to honor Dr. Caulfield by making him the
1978 recipient of the award posthumously.

Through the years, eighteen people have been honored for their
outstanding contributions in such areas as scholarship, publica-
tions, conservation, education, and community service. Tonight
we bestow the 1994 Harriette Merrifieid Forbes Award on the
nineteenth recipient, Barbara Rotundo.

Barbara, a retired professor of English at the State University of
New York- Albany, is a speaker and writer, and a long-time AGS
member who has served as conference registrar, tour guide, and
in 1992, conference chair. She was elected an AGS trustee in
1989. Her academic credentials mclude Mount Holyoke College
for her undergraduate degree, and Cornell and Syracuse for her
M.A. and Ph.D., respectively.

In past years, the recipients of the Forbes Award have all been
involved in some way with early gravestones, most often colo-
nial New England gravestones. With the selection of Barbara,
we honor for the first time a person whose expertise focuses on
nineteenth- and twentieth-century gravemarkers — monuments
and statuary found in rural and garden cemeteries all across our
country and all over the world.

This is an exciting step we take tonight. Because our Associa-
tion was founded in New England, it was natural that in the be-
ginning, the focus was on early colonial gravestones, their carv-
ers, and the fact that so many were disappearing because of dete-
rioration, vandalism, and theft. As new members joined us from

other sections of the country, it became imperative that the Asso-
ciation broaden its base of concern to encompass the study of
monuments IVom other time periods and other geographical re-
gions. Barbara was always our patient teacher. Through her
conference lectures, she introduced Association members to gar-
den cemetery symbols and monuments. White bronze markers
and symbolic statuary became strong areas of her expertise. In
addition, she understands the nineteenth-century social and liter-
ary scene, the architecture and horticulture of the time, and is
able to bring them to bear on studies of cemeteries and monu-
ments of the Victorian period.

Her frequent travels to major rural cemeteries across this country
and abroad produced her excellent slide collection of Victorian
monuments, chapels, gates, swales, and landscapes. From her
collection emerged the slide show that she wrote for AGS as an
introduction to Victorian cemeteries and symbolism. It wasn't
until she became a trustee in 1989 that she finally had the proper
forum to persuade the trustees to develop a broader, more inclu-
sive stance toward our gravestone studies.

In 1990 at Roger Williams College, Victorian cemeteries were
included for the first time in the conference bus tour. The fol-
lowing year at Northfield and thereafter at Schenectady and New
London, one entire bus tour was a dedicated Victorian tour. And
now this year the Conference is taking place in the Midwest,
where the earliest cemeteries were begun in the nineteenth cen-
tury. How appropriate to honor here tonight a person who has
led us to appreciate and recognize the importance of the study of
monuments from this period in our Association's purview.

Over the past twenty years, Barbara has written a number of ar-
ticles which were published in various journals, where she is an
acknowledged authority. Some were pioneering articles in nine-
teenth-century gravestone studies. She has been a frequent con-
tributor to the AGS Newsletter and has presented numerous schol-
arly papers at AGS conferences and to the Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers Section of the American Culture Association. Most
recently, she became a member of the Editorial Advisory Board
for our AGS Journal, Markers, and the topical editor of the col-
umn on Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Gravestones in the
AGS Newsletter

Comments of colleagues in gravestone studies often focus on
Barbara's generosity in sharing her vast knowledge and resources
with others, and more importantly, her support and encourage-
ment of others in their efforts to understand and interpret the sub-
ject they are pursuing.

For these reasons, and because of her enthusiasm and commit-
ment to the field of cemetery and monument studies, we are
pleased to bestow on Barbara our Association's highest honor.

It is with joy and celebration that I present, on behalf of the Board
of Trustees, for outstanding contributions to the field of grave-

AGSFair94p. 19

Conference 1994

stone studies, the 1994 Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award to Dr.
Barbara Rotundo.

(The certificate presented was made by Carol Perkins. Accom-
panying the framed certificate was a photograph of Harriette
Merrifield Forbes, for whom the award is named.)

1994 Forbes Award recipient Barbara Rotundo.

Acceptance speech
by Barbara Rotundo

My friends and relations are amused by my loving loyalty to the
Association for Gravestone Studies, yet I think it's easy to ex-
plain. For those of us interested in gravestone research and pres-
ervation, coming to these annual conferences is like coming home.
This is our home, where all of us who care about gravestones are
taken in, cared for, and supported. As Robert Frost has his fanner
say in "Death of a Hired Man," "Home is the place where/ When
you have to go there,/ They have to take you in." But the words
that Frost gives to the farmer's wife stay in the memory longer.
"I should have called it/ Something you somehow haven't to de-
serve."

We hear much today, to the sound of weeping and wailing, about

AGS Fall V4 p. 20

the dysfunctional family. The AGS family functions beautifully
despite crazy characters and bristling personalities. Like any
extended family, we include all ages and many personality types.
But they are familiar types.

Consider the Js. There's the godmother/grandmother J. who
watches over us lovingly and tells us stories about our past. Uncle
J holds us to high standards and himself sets the finest standards
of scholarship. There's brother double J. whose high spirits we've
missed so much this weekend. Another brother J does a good job
of keeping us all in line, but he always wants to know — the
weight of a gravestone?!

R is a favorite initial in this family. Mother R who retired so that
she could work even harder for us. Uncle R, who when you first
meet him seems grouchy, but you soon discern the soft heart in-
side, especially soft for Lamsons. There's the scatterbrained sis-
ter R, bright and full of ideas but trying to do too much and as a
result tardy in getting anything done. There's quiet, reliable
brother R, but he really begins with C. Another brother R lives
far away, but his word processor works twenty hours a day, at
least, so he keeps in touch and edits away.

There's the faithful father figure. He knows a little bit about
everything and is always ready to step in and help, whether it's
dirty, hands-on work or balancing the books. Last but not least,
is the lovable little sister whom everybody likes — but we show
our appreciation by dumping all our problems on her. If she
can't solve them, though she usually can, she'll give you the name,
address, and phone number of the person who can. Then there's
the brassy, bossy old aunt. Every family has a black sheep. This
one interrupts meetings demanding equal time for Victorians, and
she's always telling everybody what to do or not to do. But fam-
ily members keep reminding each other that she means well and
now look what they have done — given her the Forbes Award.
Thank you.

Can you guess to which people Barbara is referring?
Answers are on page 22.

Conference 1994

THE ASSOCIATION FOR
GRAVESTONE STUDIES
1993 ANNUAL MEETING
JUNE 26, 1994

AGENDA
Call to Order — Prcsidcnl Rosalce Oakley

Quorum Determination — Secretary C. R. Jones

1993-1994 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Officers

Rosalee Oakley, Hadley, Massachusetts

President

James A. Slater, Mansfield Center, Connecticut

Vice-President

C.R. Jones, Cooperstown, New York

Secretaiy

Dan Goldman, East Greenwich, Rhode Island

Treasurer

Trustees at Large

Rosanne Atwood-Foley, Dorchester, Massachusetts

J. Joseph Edgette, Glenolden, Pennsylvania

Laurel Gabel, Pittsford, New York

Research Clearing House Coordinator

Roberta Halporn, Brooklyn, New York

Brenda Malloy, Westminster, Massachusetts

Robert Montgomery, Bedford, New Hampshire

John O'Connor, Springfield, Massachusetts

Stephen Petke, East Granby, Connecticut

Ellie Reichlin, Vail, Arizona

Virginia Rockwood, Greenfield, Massachusetts

Barbara Rotundo, Belmont. New Hampshire

Frederick W. Sawyer III, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Deborah A. Smith, Rochester, New York

John Sterling, East Greenwich, Rhode Island

Maggie Stier, Harvard, Massachusetts

Ralph Tucker, Georgetown, Maine

Gray Williams, Jr.. Chappaqua, New York

Harvard C. Wood III, Lansdowne, Pennsylvania

Ex Officio Members

Richard Meyer, Monmouth, Oregon

Markers Editor

Elizabeth Goeselt, Wayland, Massachusetts

Archivist

Office Staff

Miranda Levin
Executive Director

Approval of Minutes of 1992 Annual Meeting

Annual Reports

Treasurer — Daniel Goldman
Archivist — Elizabeth Goeselt
Newsletter Committee — Barbara Rotundo
Editor, Journal — Richard Meyer
Research Clearinghouse — Laurel Gabel
Lending Library — Laurel Gabel

Remarks

Executive Director — Miranda Levin
President — Rosalee Oakley

Recognition of retiring Trustees — President Rosalee Oakley
C. R. Jones
Gray Williams
Harvard C. Wood III

Election Results — Secretary C. R. Jones

Introductions of Trustees — President Rosalee Oakley

Other New Business

Adjournment — President Rosalee Oakley

MINUTES
June 26, 1994

The meeting was called to order at 9: 1 8 a.m. by President Rosalee
Oakley in the Elmhurst College Chapel, Elmhurst, Illinois.

1) Secretary C.R. Jones reported that thirty-five members were
present, constituting a quorum to conduct business.

2) Motion was made, seconded, and carried to approve the min-
utes of last year's meeting, Sunday, June 27, 1993.

ACS Fall '94 p. 21

Conference 1994

3) Annual reports from the officers were distributed and com-
ments were made: Treasurer Dan Goldman presented his report,
as printed. Miranda Levin, reporting for Archivist Elizabeth
Goeselt, reported many donations for the year, with new ones
always welcome. Barbara Rotundo reported that the newsletter
seems to be going well with regional reporters doing their jobs.
Richard Meyer reported that Markers is on schedule and thanks
were expressed to the advisory board. Laurel Gabel reported
that the research clearinghouse is functioning well. The lending
library continues to receive requests, and a new librarian is still
being sought. A motion was made, seconded, and carried to ac-
cept all of these reports.

bers. The board might do a survey to determine whether our

present meeting time is best for the majority. A related matter is
the scheduling of bus tours, workshops, and the annual meeting
within the conference. Consideration will be given to possible

changes.

9) Announcements were made regarding transportation and ride-
sharing.

10) Thanks were extended, by resolution, to Carol and Sieve
Shipp and Helen Sclair for their months of hard work organizing
the meeting.

4) Executive Director Miranda Levin referred to her printed re-
port for membership statistics, with a thank you to various board
members and volunteers. Newsletter submissions on Macintosh
disk can be used at present, and we may be able to use others
soon. Disks and hard copy are best at present. A motion was
made, seconded, and carried to accept this report.

5) President Rosalee Oakley thanked volunteers and commit-
tees who have been active during the year. Next year we plan to
develop materials for public relations, trade shows, and educa-
tion. Videos and slide shows are being considered. The next
annual meeting will be held in Westfield/Springfield, Massachu-
setts, in 1995. We need good papers for the meeting. Amotion
was made, seconded, and carried to accept this report.

6) Three retiring trustees were recognized: C.R. Jones, Gray
Williams, and Harvard C. Wood IIL

7) Secretary C.R. Jones reported that thirty-two ballots were
received from the membership by the June 1 deadline and the
following were elected:

Secretary: Brenda Malloy

Trustees at Large:

Patricia Aloisi

Frank Calidonna

Robert Drinkwater

Dr. J. Joseph Edgette

Ruth Shapleigh Fornal

Roberta Halporn

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Ellie Reichlin

John Sterling

Janet Taylor

Those who were present were recognized.

8) New business: Charles Marchant, speaking for teachers,
brought up a scheduling problem that occurs when our confer-
ence coincides with the end of the school year. Because of dif-
ferent school calendars, this is not a problem for all of our mcm-

11) Motion was made, seconded, and carried to adjourn at 9:50
a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
C.R. Jones
Secretary

'mm

Answers to Barbara's puzzle

{From page 20)

Godmother Jessie Farber

Scholar Jim Slater

Jim Jewell

Joe Edgette

President, ex-dir., Rosiilee Oakley

Ralph Tucker & Stones by the L;uiisons

Roberta Halporn

C.R. Jones

Editor Richard Meyer (Dick)

Father Fred Oakley

Lmux^l Gabel

Bossy Bi\rbara Rolundo, always pushing Victorians

AGS Fall V4i>. 22

Conference 1994

TREASURERS REPORT
Dan Goldman, Treasurer

1 15 Middle Road
East Greenwich, Rhode Island 028 1 8

1993 FINANCIAL REPORT

NET — INC/EXP

$738

($7,476)

INCOME

1993 ACTUAL

1993 BUDGET

Membership

$19,932

$19,000

Contributions

$ 3,232

$ 4,000

Grants/Life Memberships (1)

$ 1,000

$ 0

Sales

$18,243

$13,103

Media

$ 775

$ 600

Interest

$ 1,414

$ 1,600

Conference

$26,282

$30,945

Miscellaneous

$ 668

$ 100

TOTAL INCOME

$71,546

$69,348

EXPENSE

Staff

$16,931

$18,414

Administration

$ 6,876

$ 4,400

Membership

$ 4,925

$ 7,300

Sales

$15,196

$ 9,047

Markers Pre-pub

$ 0

$ 5,000

Conference

$18,317

$23,919

Media

$ 440

$ 200

Miscellaneous

$ 2,797

$ 2,310

Rent/Utilities

$ 5,000

$ 5,000

Staff-Newsletter

$ 326

$ 1,234

TOTAL EXPENSE

$70,808

$76,824 12/31/92

FUND BALANCE

$47,278

$44,405

CASH BALANCE

$14,428

$12,555

INVESTMENTS

$32,850

$31,850

2 $10,000 CD'S

$20,000

$20,000

US SAVINGS BONDS— AT ISSUE

$ 9,850

$ 9,850

HERITAGE FLEET BANK CD

$ 2,000

$ 2,000

ESCROW ONE LIFE MEMBERSHIP

$ 1,000

AGS Fall '94 p. 23

Conference 1994

ARCHIVES REPORT
Jo Goeselt, Archivist

61 Old Sudbury Road
Wayland, Massachusetts 01778

The collection of books, papers, journals, photographs, negatives,
AGS records, and audio and video tapes which make up the ar-
chives continues to grow and develop to the point where it is
increasingly necessary to redefine the direction in which we plan
to grow. An archival policy committee is presently working on
this. It is important to set a fairly detailed collection and use
policy to avoid accepting items which we cannot afford to house
or find a reasonable use for.

Our present policy is based on a limited collection and limited
use. During the year, sorting and shelving incoming items con-
tinued. Conservation activity continued on a modest scale. There
are about fifty new items a year, plus several photograph collec-
tions. Robert Wright has donated his beautiful gravestone pho-
tographs, archivally prepared for storage or exhibit. Robert B.
Severy has donated more documentary photographs of Boston
area gravestones as part of an ongoing project.

We are evaluating alternative software for our archives catalogue
to be able to enter the data in a simpler way and have it compat-
ible with a wider variety of users.

We continue to solicit appropriate contributions for our archives
and your help if you live in the Worcester area.

NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE REPORT
Dr. Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

The Newsletter Committee began meeting in July, 1993, when it
made all the decisions about regional and topical divisions with
suggestions of members who might fill the various slots. Over
the year, it has met about every second month to make further
editorial decisions and to agree on recommendations to the board
concerning such financial matters as new computer equipment
and paid advertising.

Each issue put out under its guidance has been proofread by
members Jessie Farber, Neil Jenness, Rosalee Oakley, and Bar-
bara Rotundo. The other committee member, Fred Oakley, has
provided the invaluable service of speaking computerese with
Miranda.

No votes have ever been taken by the committee because each
decision has been reached by consensus. Perhaps the fact that
Jessie Lie Farber has always provided a delicious lunch as well
as the site of our meetings has helped create such agreeableness.

We are sure there would be consensus among the entire member-
ship that Miranda has done an excellent job of putting together
the many contributions of editors and contributing members.

MARKERS ANNUAL REPORT
Richard Meyer, Editor

English Department,

Western Oregon State College

Monmouth, Oregon 97361

Markers XI rolled off the presses in early December and was
delivered to the AGS offices before the first of the year. The
issue is characterized by a variety of topics and critical approaches,
emphasizing the journal's continued dedication to publishing new
and significant research in all areas pertinent to the scholarly
examination of gravemarkers and cemeteries.

The editor is enormously indebted to the tireless efforts gener-
ated by the journal's editorial board. The factual knowledge and
critical acumen displayed by these scholars has helped immensely
to make every article a better work than it might otherwise have
been, and the names of Theodore Chase, Jessie Lie Farber. Rich-
ard Francaviglia, Warren Roberts, Barbara Rotundo, James Slater,
and David Watters deserve special mention here.

Submissions for Markers XII are arriving at a good rate, and the
prospects for another exciting and diversified issue, produced on
time, seem excellent.

In deference to the need to provide additional expertise in a num-
ber of areas, as well as to spread the workload of manuscript
evaluations a bit more evenly, the editorial board has been ex-
panded to include two more members. The name of Dickran
Tashjian is no doubt familiar to many of us as the coauthor of
Memorials for Children of Change and several other articles on
early American gravemarkers. Professor of Comparative Cul-
ture at the University of California-Irvine, Dr. Tashjian is also
the author of several other books dealing with various aspects of
American culture. Dr. Wilbur Zelinsky, Professor of Geography
at the Pennsylvania State University, is one of the leading cul-
tural geographers in America today. Besides several books, in-
cluding the award-winning Nation Into State. Dr. Zelinsky has
also authored several important articles on cemeteries.

A new annual feature starting in Markers XII will be a biblio-
graphic overview entitled "The Year's Work in Gra\ em;irkcr and
Cemetery Studies." Modeled on similar sections found in other
scholarly journals, the overview is designed to provide readers
with a yearly bibliography of significant articles and books perti-
nent to the field. Watch for it in XII\

Finally, the editor wishes to remind AGS members that our asso-
ciation has for the past (almost) fifteen years produced one of the
finest scholarly journals available today in any field. Thougii we

AGS Fall V4 p. 24

Conference 1994

call it a journal (which it technically is, since it appears on a set
periodic basis), it is a book — both in terms of its length and
other elements, such as an index and profuse illustration, more
generally associated with books than with jt)urnals. This accounts
for why the publication carries both an ISSN (periodical) and
ISBN (book) number in each issue. Markers deserves to be in
more libraries — both academic and community — than it cur-
rently is, I would encourage all AGS members to bring Markers
to the attention of their local libraries, and, since libraries are
more often likely to purchase books than journals, it might be
wise to emphasize it as a book, or "annual," than as a journal. I
have a supply of descriptive flyers covering the last two issues
(X and XI): let me know if you would like one or more.

RESEARCH CLEARINGHOUSE
Laurel Gabel, Research Clearinghouse Coordinator

205 Fishers Road
Pittsford, New York 14534

During the 1993 calendar year, the AGS Research Office re-
sponded to approximately 1 35 written requests for information
in addition to numerous telephone inquiries. As in previous years,
a fairly large percentage of the questions came from students and
genealogists, or researchers with specific special interests.

The AGS member survey continues, as survey forms go out to
all new members. Michael Cornish's photographic collection
has been indexed on the computer. Just over one thousand nine-
teenth-century gravestone carvers and monument dealers are now
listed on a computer database, with new entries being made as
time permits. The Robert Wright File Collection has been re-
ceived and is being integrated into current files.

The Research Office is also committed to many ongoing projects,
a few of which are listed below. Due to a lack of number of
hours in the day, these projects could use the help of dedicated
AGS volunteers. If you are willing to make a long-term commit-
ment to any of these (or if you wish to inquire about others),
please contact me for more information. Your assistance would
be greatly appreciated.

(1) There is a continuing need for a standardized series of bibli-
ographies on specific gravestone-related topics: cemetery land-
scaping, preservation/restoration, nineteenth-century carvers,
epitaphs, African- American cemeteries, etc.

(2) A resource handbook is being developed in order to provide
useful names, addresses, and telephone numbers of various indi-
viduals, organizations, and publications which possess special
knowledge on a wide range of gravestone-related topics. Al-
though incomplete, this desk reference has already proven of
value. Contributions are always welcome.

(3) The carver files of the Farber/Forbes/Caulfield Photographic
Collection need one-paragraph biographies and a list of refer-
ence citations for each of the more than 180 catalogued carvers.

Goals and projects for 1994 include: (1) reorganizing and index-
ing the research collection; (2) adding to the more than one thou-
sand entries already in a database of known documented stones
from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and (3) making
more members aware of the special collections and how they
may use them.

LENDING LIBRARY
Laurel Gabel, Lending Librarian

205 Fishers Road
Pittsford, New York 14534

The AGS Lending Library was started as a service to members
who are unable to obtain gravestone reference books by other
means. Twenty-six books are currently available through the mail,
including Here Lies America: A Collection of Notable Graves,
by Nancy Ellis and Parker Hayden, Gravestone Chronicles: Some
Eighteenth-Century New England Carvers and Their Works, by
Theodore Chase and Laurel K. Gabel, In Highgate Cemetery, by
Jean Pateman, and Graven Images: Graphic Motifs of the Jew-
ish Gravestone, by Arnold Schwartzman, all of which were added
during 1993. Approximately thirty-five books were loaned by
mail during the past nine months. A $2.00 handling/supply fee,
along with financial or book donations by members, allows the
Lending Library to function without cost to AGS.

The Lending Library is seeking an AGS member willing to take
on the care and feeding of the library. This position would be
perfect for someone with a bit of time and a desire to make a
serious expansion to the development of this small but important
service to AGS. Other requirements include: attention to detail,
a willingness to make occasional trips to the post office, and a
little space on your bookshelf To the future librarian reading
this, the lending library system is organized and ready to go! All
you need to do is give me a call....

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Miranda Levin, Executive Director

Once again, AGS had a year of growth in 1993. We had a two
percent increase in membership, leaving us with 1,026 members
as of December 31, 1993. While this increase isn't as big as last
year's (which was more than ten percent), we didn't put as much
energy into membership development as it was decided that the
staff needed to take time to better service the members we al-
ready had.

Although we wish we could have had a bigger increase in mem-
bership, we made up for it in sales, where we exceeded our pro-
jections by thirty-nine percent, putting our total sales for the year
at $18,243. We offered several new items, had another very
successful Newsletter special offer, and total interest in AGS and
our publications continues to increase, all of which are reflected
in our sales figures.

AGS Fall '94 p. 25

Conference 1994

As always, we are looking for new graveslone-relaled publica-
lions and fun items to sell. If you have any ideas, please contact
me at the office.

As I reported last year and hinted at above, the workload contin-
ued to increase at the office until things reached crisis propor-
tions. Between summer vacations, Tom Harrahy's departure and
Sean Redrow's arrival, a continual increase in mail and telephone
calls, and the onslaught of bringing the Newsletter in-house, the
latter half of 1993 and the first few months of 1994 have been a
real challenge. Additional hours assigned to me and the assistant
position have been a great help, but we are looking forward to
being totally caught up with the Newsletteri\\\s summer (we will
have gotten four issues out in six months) so we can press on
with other projects.

* The Nominating Committee brought in a lull slate of candi-
dates for the spring ballot.

* Our journal. Markers, was published on schedule, thanks to
our editor, Dick Meyer's, prodigious efforts.

* We increased the number of hours worked by our capable staff
to manage the increased work load.

* The 1994 AGS Conference is the first conference we have
held in the Midwest. Many hours went into careful and excellent
planning by our chairs, Steve and Carol Shipp. program chair.
Joe Edgettc, tour leader, Helen Sclair, and the rest of the staff. It
has been exciting to see the plans evolve and to experience the
enthusiasm of our Midwest members for coming to Chicago.

While we didn't make our goal of selling 200 copies oi Markers
X in its first year, we have more than made up for that by having
already sold more than 200 copies oi Markers XI: we are hoping
to have sold 250 copies by year's end. We have continued our
work on marketing Markers; we have made some progress, but
need to keep working to meet our goal of selling 400 copies in
each volume's first year. By doing this. Markers will pay for
itself, relieving pressure on the budget. You can help us reach
that goal by having your library order Markers. Please let me
know if you need any publications lists to help us with that.

Although the Newsletter has taken a lot of our time lately, we
have had the good fortune to have a regular volunteer at the of-
fice, Ed Barry, who has helped us catch up on some projects that
had been on the back burner for some time.

Finally, I want to thank all of you for your support; one of the
best things about this job is working with the membership. I can
honestly say that I have never had the pleasure of working with a
nicer group of people, and I hope you'll let us know if there is
any way we can help you with your work.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Rosalee Oakley, President

19 Hadley Place
Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

The Board of Trustees has had three meetings since last year's
AGS Conference, with average attendance of fifteen out of the
twenty-four members. I have greatly appreciated the enthusiasm
and support of the Trustees this past year.

In addition, some new decisions were made —

* We raised dues in several categories of membership and estab-
lished a new category for those over sixty-five years of age and
for full-time students.

* We bought new computer equipment and launched a Member
Appeal for funding to cover the cost. One hundred thirty-seven
members have contributed $3,1 16 at press time. The Appeal is
ongoing and it is our hope to reach at least $5,000 by the end of
the year to cover the cost of office equipment and necessary soft-
ware upgrades.

One of my greatest concerns when I became President was to
accomplish the successful transition of the production of the AGS
Newsletter from Deborah Trask's decade of experience to an edi-
torial committee of five members with fourteen correspondents.
My appreciation goes to the committee members — Biirbara
Rotundo, Jessie Farber, Neil Jenness, and Fred Oakley — to the
fourteen correspondents who met their deadlines so well — and
especially to Miranda Levin with assistance from Sean Redrow.
Miranda has worked with the raw materials provided to her to
create a product that is attractive, informative, eminently read-
able, and in the tradition that first Jessie Farber and then Deborah
Trask set for us.

For many of us, some of the most promising w ork oi the Board
this year has been the beginning of a process of goal setting. At
our September meeting we will be developing a plan that will
allow the orderly accomplishment of several carefully selected
new projects.

The mundane busmess of the year has been accomplished in good Looking forw ard to the months bct\s ccn ihis conlcrcnco and the

fashion next, we have a new areaof concern and decision facing us. We

need a larger office space and are attempting to find a site in the

* The 1993 financial books closed in the black. Worcester area so that we can continue with our cuncni staff.

* Two vacancies on the Board were filled by the Nominating We have a committee enthusiastically working on ihc 1995 Con-
Committee ferencc. I look forward to seeing all of you next year at Westfield

State College in Westfield, Massachuscils.
AGS Fall V4 />. 26

Conference 1994

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

OF ELECTION RESULTS

Nominating Committee:

Dan Goldman, Chair, C.R. Jones, Dr. Janics Slater

been elected lor two-year terms as Trustees commencing at the
clo.se of this Annual Meeting:

Officer

In accordance with the By-Laws, the Nominating Committee
invited recommendations lor nominations to the Board of Trust-
ees from the general membership in the Summer, 1993, News-
letter. Nominations were confirmed by the Board at its Febru-
ary, 1994, meeting and conveyed to the general membership in
the form of a ballot included in a general mailing in March,
1994.

Thirty-two ballots received by the June 1 deadline have been
counted. We are pleased to report the following people have

Secretary - Brenda Malloy
Trustees at Large

Patricia Aloisi

Frank Calidonna

Robert Drinkwater

Dr. J. Joseph Edgette

Ruth Shapleigh Fornal

Roberta Halporn

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Ellie Reichlin

John Sterling

Janet Taylor

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Steve & Carol Shipp, Conference Co-Chairs

Coordinating the first AGS conference in Chicago has been a real challenge. Without the
huge support of all our talented committee members, this cliallenge could not have been
met. A big THANK YOU is due to all of them for their many hours of dedicated work!

A special thank you goes to Helen Sclair, who worked out all the logistics of our cemetery
Itnirs. She designed the tours to illustrate the diversity of Chicago's many ethnic cemeter-
ies: hopefully, it was difficult for y(m to choose only one cemetery tour She is teasing us to
return someday to see more of what Chicago has to offer in its many cemeteries. Helen is
indeed the expert on Chicagoland cemeteries!

Virginia Rockwood created the artwork used in our program book, registration forms, t-
shirts. and publicity materials. Thanks. Virginia, for adding life to these projects.

Our thanks also go U> Ron Beauchamp. Assistant Dean of Student Affairs. Elmhursl Col-
lege, and to tlie staff at Elmhursl College for their help in planning our conference.

Finally, a veiy special thanks goes to Frank Troost of the Peter Troost Monument Company
and John Stola of the Oak Park Ceramic Company, for allowing us to tour their facilities.
Their .special efforts are very much appreciated.

AGS Fall '94 p. 27

CALENDAR

September 17, 1994 - January 15, 1995: ''Even Picture Tells a Story: Word and Image in American Folk Art. " Exhibition of
folk art, including gravestone art, at the Museum of American Folk Art, across from Lincoln Center, New York. New York. This
exhibition introduces the viewer to folk art that combines image and the written word. Among the many artworks on view are
photographs by Dan Farber and the late Francis Duval and a reproduction gravestone (The Park Children stone, 1803, Grafton,
Vermont, reproduced by William McGeer). AGS members will be interested in the exhibit's text material relating to grave-
stones prepared by the show's curator, Lee Kogan:

The earliest sculptural relationship between word and image in colonial America is literally carved in stone
— gravestones found in settlements along the eastern seaboard. Gravestones testified to earthbound facts
through textual inscriptions, while emphasizing the spiritual journey to come through emblematic imag-
ery. Textual traditions had a profound effect on gravestone iconography. For settlers coming to the New
World in the seventeenth century, literacy was a primary means of maintaining links to the culture and
values they had left behmd. The most widely read books — the Bible, psalm books, almanacs, primers —
reinforced the religious basis of their lives and were often illustrated with wood-block prints that provided
a source of imagery for the carvers. The language of this literature in sermons, printed material, and speech
was also rich in symbolic imagery that was directly translated into stone. Today, gravestones are valuable
sources of information about the society that produced them. The only dated artifacts from this period that
are usually found in their original locations, gravestones offer insights into the regional transmission of
rehgious, visual, and economic traditions, as well as the local use of language through unstandardized
spellings, lettering styles, and archaic word forms.

Several lectures and slide shows have been scheduled by the museum to amplify the exhibits; contact the Museum for more
information.

January 22, 1995: As part of the Worcester [Massachusetts] Historical Museum's series on Worcester Collectors, Laurel Gabel
will headline a panel discussion on Worcester residents Harriette Merrifield Forbes and Dan and Jessie Farber's contributions to
gravestone studies. Contact the Museum for more information at 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609 (508) 753-
8278.

© Copyright 1994 The Association for Gravestone Studies. The Association for Gravestone Studies holds the copyright on this Newsletter.
However, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed to reprint an article in it if the reprint is used for educational purposes, full
credit is given to the Association and the author arui/or photographer or artist involved, and a copy of the document or article in which the
reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for
Gravestone Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received, and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles
members to four issues of the Newsletter. Send membership fees {Senior/Student, $20; hidividual, $25: Institutional. $30: Family. $35: Supporting.
$60: Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter
are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and
research concerning gravestones, and about the activities of the Association. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. The
Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer editor of Markers, the Journal of the Associa-
tion for Gravestone Studies, Department of English. Western Oregon Slate College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions
to the AGS office, or FAX us at (508) 753-9070. Order Markers (current volume, XI, $28 to members, $32.50 to non-members: back issues
available) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland, Massachusetts 01778.
Address other correspondence lo Miranda Levin, Executive Director. AGS, 30 Elm Street. Worcester. Massachusetts 01609, or call (508) S3 1 -7753.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 ELM STREET
WORCESTER MA 01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

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Worcester,

MA

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME 19 NUMBER

WINTER 1995

ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

'^

Topical Columns 'v/*\

17th & 18th Century:

"A Note Regarding Two Gravestones at Centre Burial Ground in Nassau, New Providence" 2

19th & 20th Century: "Memories in Clay: Ceramic Gravemarkers in Southern New Jersey" .... », . ^' 3

Gravestones & Computers: Cemetery database structure .'f-^. . fi% . . 5

Conservation News: "Resetting Stones in Hadley, Massachusetts" , 7

Reviews:

Dead and Buried in New England By Mary Maynard. Review by Eric Brocfc-

Death Dictionaiy By Christine Quigley. Review by Eric Brock. ^ J^^

By Their Markers Ye Shall Know Them

By William Hosley and Shepherd M. Holcombe, Sr. Review by Lance Mayer.

Vestiges of Mortality and Remembrance By Edward L. Bell. Review by Eric Brock.
Points of Interest: Stones with frames and gravestone carvers' works of art that aren't gravestones 12

Bibliography of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Gravestone Carvers 14

Regional Columns

Northwest & Far West 17

Southwest 18

Midwest 19

Southeast 20

Mid-Atlantic 21

New England/Maritime 22

Foreign 23

From the President's Desk 24

American Culture Association Abstracts of Papers/Presentations, 1995 Annual Meeting 25

Notes & Queries 26

Calendar 28

Deadlines for the AGS Newsletter

Spring issue: February 1
Summer issue: May 1

Fall issue (Conference) : September
Winter issue: November

Issues are mailed six weeks after above deadlines and often take several weeks

to reach the membership; please keep that in mind when submitting time-sensitive

material. Send contributions to editors (listed in Winter, Spring, and Summer issues)

or to the AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

AGS Winter '95 p. I

Topical Columns

17TH & 18TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES & CARVERS
Ralph Thicker

Box 306, Georgetown, Maine 04548

A Note Regarding Two Gravestones at Centre Burial
Ground in Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas

By Sharyn Thompson

1129 Sarasota Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32301

A paragraph (on page 23) in Early American Stone Sculpture by
Avon Neal and Ann Parker describes a gravestone for Thomas
Pickney [sic] that is located in the old burying ground in Montego
Bay, Jamaica. The authors state that "Under one winged skull is
a long epitaph for 'Thomas Pickney, Late Mr. & S Cargo of the
Sloop Adventurer of Charles Town, So Carolina . . . [sic] erected
by his brother Charles Pickney of Charles Town aforesaid Esq.'"
They note that the slate marker, dated 1733, "is obviously of Mas-
sachusetts origin and must have been ordered by a Charleston
patron and shipped to Jamaica."

I have not been to Montego Bay and therefore have no direct
knowledge of this or other markers at the site. I have, however,
done extensive survey work in the early churchyards and cem-
eteries of Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas (for the Bahamas
Department of Archives) and have documented a slate marker
with a winged skull, and a death date of 1733, for Thomas
Pinckney at the Centre Burial Ground in Nassau (See rubbing on
cover). The stone reads:

Here Lieth interred
THOMAS PINCKNEY

the MR & S Cargo of the Sloop Adventure

of Charles Town So Carolina,

Who living justly obtained the Character

of a Man of strict Honour and Probity

and is now as justly lamented

by all who knew Him.

He departed this life ye 6th of May A.N. 1733

in the 31st year of His age

TO WHOSE MEMORY

This Stone is gratefully Dedicated

By His most affect [sic] Brother

CHARLES PINCKNEY

of Charles Town aforesaid Esq.

As a MONUMENT

Sacred to that FRIENDSHIP

which ever subsisted between THEM

VIVIT POST FUNERA VIRTUS

There is a slate footmarker, inscribed CAPT. THOMAS/
PINCKNEY.

The length of the head marker is approximately forty-eight inches;

AGS Winter '95 p. 2

it is in two large pieces, broken at the last lines of the inscription.
The worked portion of the stone is approximately twenty-six
inches by twenty-one inches. The face of the marker is in poor
condition, with numerous chips, nicks, and gouges. The marker
is not signed. Both the head and foot markers have been placed
flat and are embedded in cement.

The Centre Burial Ground, located next to St. Matthew's Church,
is the earliest remaining burying ground in Nassau. The exact
date the site was established is uncertain. Only thirty-six marked
graves remain. Twenty-seven of those have legible inscriptions,
with death dates ranging from 1 733 to 1 845 (fifteen of the stones
are from the eighteenth century).

The only other marker in the Centre Burial Ground that has an
ornamental carving is the John Whippo stone, a white marble
tablet which includes a winged soul effigy (see below). (Several
years ago, an Archives staff member noticed that the marker was
broken and that passers-by were using it as a table to cut coco-
nuts open with their cutlasses. He immediately removed the stone
to the Department of Archives offices.) The inscription is:

Sacred to the Memory of
JOHN WHIPPO

of a Respectable Family

in Connecticut

North America,
who died on this Island

June 30th 1799

in the 17th year
of his age.

I forwarded information about the Whippo stone to AGS's Re-
search Coordinator, Laurel Gabel. She indicates that the stone
likely originated in Connecticut. Her preliminary research found
that the Whippos (Whipples) were settled primarily in New Lon-
don and Fairfield counties, which are along the coast. A John
Whipple was born in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, on Sep-
tember 19, 1782, and a John Whipple was born October 11, 1783.
at Stonington, New London, Connecticut. According to Laurel,
either of these young men might be the John Whippo buried at
Nassau's Centre Burial Ground.

John WlupiH' iloiw

Topical Columns

19TH & 20TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES
Barbara Rotundo

48 Plumnier Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Memories in Clay:
Ceramic Gravemarkers in Southern New Jersey

By Richard Veit

905 Franklin Avenue, South Plainfield, New Jersey 07080

Historically, gravemarkers have been made from a variety of
materials. Stone is perhaps the most common. However, in ar-
eas where stone was not readily available or where certain craft
traditions were strongly developed, other substances have been
used. For example,
iron gravemarkers
were once used in
New Jersey's Pine
Barrens and are
found in New En-
gland, the southern
states, and also on
the Great Plains. In
Italian-American
and Eastern-Euro-
pean cemeteries con-
crete gravemarkers
were once common.
Wooden gravemar-
kers have been used
since the initial pe-
riod of settlement in
North America, and
they are still popular
in the cemeteries of
some ethnic groups
such as the Ukraini-
ans. Much more
rarely seen are ce-
ramic gravemarkers.
Most descriptions of
ceramic markers
have focused on the
South, particularly
Tennessee, Alabama,
Georgia, and North
Carolina. In the
early nineteenth cen-
tury and again at the

beginning of the twentieth century ceramic gravemarkers were
made in New Jersey. This article introduces information about
ceramic markers I have found in southern New Jersey.

Figure 1: Gravemarker of Ann Stanger, died
Port Elizabeth, Cumber

My introduction to New Jersey nineteenth-century ceramic mark-
ers grew out of my interest in the state's early iron markers, one
of the little-known products of the pinelands' iron forges. Mak-
ing gravemarkers of iron was apparently a vernacular response
necessitated by both the lack of workable stone in the pinelands
and the absence of nearby professional slonecarvers. Skilled iron-
workers responded to these problems by crafting markers from
bog iron. The same problems probably fostered the crafting of
the seven ceramic markers I discovered while examining the
graveyards of the rural pinelands in search of iron markers.

The making of ceramics is related to two other important local
industries, the making of glass and pottery. Glass was first made
in North America by the settlers at Jamestown. However, the
first financially successful glassworks in what would become the
United States was established by Caspar Wistar on AUoways

Creek,Salem County,
New Jersey, in 1739.
Wistar brought skil-
led Palatine glass-
blowers to New Jer-
sey to work in his
glassworks, includ-
ing members of the
Stanger family.Lured
by the fine sands,
readily available fuel,
and other necessary
ingredients, numer-
ous glasshouses were
built in southern New
Jersey. These enter-
prises continued to
grow throughout the
nineteenth century
and included such fa-
mous glassmakers as
the Stangers, Whitall
Tatum. and Wheaton.

The third oldest
glassworks in New
Jersey was the Eagle
Glassworks, estab-
lished by at least
1799 in Port Eliza-
beth, located near the
head of the Maurice
River in Cumberland
County. It was soon
joined by the Union
Glassworks, built by Jacob and Frederick Stanger and William
Shough in the first decade of the nineteenth century. They made
bottles and window glass. While nothing remains of the glass-
works today, five ceramic gravemarkers associated with it stand

1815. Maurice River Friends' Burial Ground,
land County, New Jersey.

AGS Winter '95 p. 3

Topical Columns

in the Maurice River Friends' burial ground. Only three are in-
scribed. These are a headstone and displaced footstone marking
the grave of Ann Stanger, no doubt related to the owners of the
glassworks (Figure 1). Ann died in 1815, aged twenty years.
The second marker is for a sixteen-year-old girl named Hannah
whose last name is partially il-
legible but ends " . . .hall." This
second marker dates to 1 8 1 7 and
is partially shattered. It may be
for one of the children of Randall
Marshall, who owned a portion
of the Union Works from 1816
to 1818. The other markers are
uninscribed.

All of the markers are quite
small, under a foot tall and wide.
They are also quite thick, aver-
aging just under two inches in
thickness. They appear to have
been inscribed with some sort of
pointed stylus after guidelines
had been etched into the unfired
ceramic biscuit.

These gravemarkers are unusual
in that they are ceramic, and date
to the glasshouse period. In form
they have the cherub shape typi-
cal of eighteenth- and early nine-
teenth-century gravestones in the
region. They were made from a
coarse sandy clay and are glazed.
They present the appearance of
salt-glazed stoneware. Accord-
ing to local folklore they were
made from the same clay that
was used to make crucibles for
the molten glass in the glass-
houses. As such, they are unique
reminders of the area's
glassmaking heritage.

The three other ceramic gravemarkers dating to the early nine-
teenth century are located in Mount Holly. Found in the Iron-
works Hill Cemetery, they were made from a bright reddish-brown
clay. A headstone and footstone mark the grave of William Price,
deceased in 1 804 (Figure 2). Both faces of the third marker have

flaked away, removing any trace of an inscription. The Price
head and footstone are undecorated, but in form they resemble
the urn-shaped gravestones of the early nineteenth century. The
headstone is inscribed in a very fine hand and has a short mortal-
ity epitaph. Unfortunately, it has broken in half, due to either the

ravages of time or vandalism.
The footstone is decorated only
with the initials "WP."

The clay from which these mark-
ers were made is highly fired and
unglazed. In the case of the Price
headstone, five small holes were
made around the marker's pe-
riphery, apparently during its
manufacture. Their function is
unknown.

The question of who made this
marker is unresolved. During
the early nineteenth century, a
redware potter was known to
have worked in Mount Holly, but
there is no record that he pro-
duced ceramic gravemarkers.
His wares are believed to have
been typical serving and storage
vessels. Members of the Price
family such as Xerxes Price were
noted potters in other parts of the
state, but they worked in gray
salt-glazed stoneware, not the
reddish material from which
these markers were made. Thus
the William Price marker re-
mains a mystery.

This handful of ceramic
gravemarkers illustrates an alter-
native way of commemoration.
Apparently, they were the prod-
uct of several skilled and inven-
tive individuals w ho used un un-
usual medium to reproduce successfully that most familiar of
objects — the gravemarker. The topic of ceramic gravemarkers
in the pinelands is presently undergoing further research h\ James
Friant. Perhaps more examples of these unusual markers will be
found and recorded before thoy, too. arc damaged h\' weathering
and vandalism.

Figure 2 Gravemarker of William Price, died 1804.
Ironworks Hill Burial Ground, Mount Holly, New Jersey.

AGS Winter V5 p. 4

Topical Columns

GRAVESTONES AND COMPUTERS
John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

In Ihc summer issue I offered a starting point for a gravestone
database standard. I have gotten some excellent feedback about
that column, and letters are still arriving. I have heard from com-
puter techies who have given some excellent tips on data struc-
ture. I have also heard from people who don't know much about
computers; they just want a program that will store their cem-
etery transcription data and allow searches and reports. I need
both types of comments to make this program meet the needs of
as many AGS members as possible. I will incorporate as many
suggestions as are feasible into the database and offer a beta test
version early in 1995. The goal is to establish an AGS database
standard for a computer program and a database for recording
gravestones. The finished program will be available through AGS
by the end of 1995.

Here in Rhode Island, I have been working for the past four years
with a group of volunteers recording all of the historical cem-
eteries in the state. To date, we have recorded 2,430 cemeteries
and some 217,000 gravestones. We have evolved a computer
program throughout this project. This program will be the start-
ing point for the AGS standard program and database. Several
changes will be needed to make it less regional and more univer-
sal. For example, we need a code [B] for brand for the carving
on some western tombstones. Your comments will help accom-
plish this.

This column will deal with a database structure to document the
cemetery where a particular group of gravestones is located. It
will be used to document the directions to get there, the size, the
enclosure, etc. The program will link this database to the grave-
stone database using the cemetery number (CEME_NO) so that
the data for a cemetery will be available to each gravestone in
that database.

1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.
25.
26.

27.

28.

29.
30.
31.

field name

TOWN
CEME_NO

CEM_NAME

LOCATION

DIR

NEL

DISTANCE

M_NO

P_NO

PL_LOT

D_BK

D_PG

SIZEl

SIZE2

OWNER

N_BUR

IS

FS

TOMBS

E

D_EX

TERR

type

char
char

char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char
char

width

16

30
45
2
6
4
4
4
4
3
3
4
4
30
6
6
3
3
1
4
1

description

town where cemetery is located

cemetery number-2 letters to identify the town & a 3 digit

sequence number

the name of the cemetery

name of nearest road

direction from road (N,S, NW, etc.)

nearest telephone pole number

number of feet from the road

tax assessors map #

plat#

lot#

deed book #

deed book page #

length of cemetery in feet

width of cemetery in feet

owner of cemetery

number of burials

number of inscribed gravestones

number of uninscribed fieldstones

number of tombs

does the cemetery still exist? (Y/N)

if no, year last existed

terrain

[S]

[L] level, [H] hilly moderate, [S] hilly steep, [M] marsh/swamp, [R] rocky
GROWTH char 1 growth in cemetery

[G] well kept grass, [W] overgrown with weeds, [B] overgrown with briars, [T] overgrown with trees, [C] cleared
DT_OLD char 4 date of oldest gravestone

DT_NEW char 4 date of newest gravestone

ENCL char 1 enclosure

stone wall, [G] granite posts, [M] metal fence, [W] wood fence, [R] granite posts with iron rails, [P] raised platform, [N] no enclosure
GATEWAY char 1 type of gate

[I] iron gate, [R] rails, [C] chain, [N] open, no gate, [M] gate missing, [O] other
COND char 1 condition of cemetery

[E] excellent, [G] good, [F] fair, [P] poor, [V] very poor
VAND char 1 signs of vandalism (Y/N)

VET char 3 number of veterans

POLE char 1 ~- condition of cemetery sign (for states that have registration

signs)

ACS Winter '95 p. 5

Topical Columns

32.

COMMENT

33.

PI

34.

P2

logical
logical

Unlimited this field allows up to five pages of comments, directions,

history, etc.
1 • Phase 1 (Y/N)

1 Phase II (Y/N)

These last two fields allow the tracking of phase I and phase II progress, phase I being initial transcription of a cemetery and phase
II being a second trip to check the data, using a computer printout of phase I.

Computer Project News

Delores Rench wrote to tell me about a computerization project that the Genealogy Committee of the Deleware County Historical
Alliance of Muncie, Indiana, recently completed. The committee spent six years recording 3,270 gravestones and combined these
with 7,200 burial records for Beech Grove Cemetery in Muncie, Indiana. It has recently published a book on this project. Contact
Deleware County Historical Alliance, Post Office Box 1266, Muncie, Indiana 47308 for more information.

1995

CONFERENCE

UPDATE

Plan to attend Conference '95

We have an excellent site at Westfield State College.

Colonial and Victorian cemeteries on the bus and

mini-tours are stunning. Knowledgeable tour guides

(guaranteed) will accompany each tour

The number and content of Participation Sessions
will spark many interests.

Conservation Workshops are planned
for both novices and professionals.

Exhibits and Sales areas will be conveniently
located next to the auditorium.

Recreational facilities abound in the area.

Non-participating spouses will find just about

everything they could wish for to occupy their time.

Registration forms wilt be mailed by mid-March.
Watch for yours!

New Participation Session Topics
and Leaders Sought

The evaluations from the Chicago Conference this past sum-
mer provided a number of good ideas, among them several
suggestions for new participation session topics. However,
because the evaluations are not signed, it is not possible to
contact those who indicated a willingness to be leaders. Top-
ics mentioned were: preservation, conservation, using cem-
eteries for teaching about the Victorian era or women's stud-
ies, celebrity graves, Florida cemeteries, using tours to fund
restoration programs, grant writing, mapping, using the cem-
etery in the classroom, and various rural restoration techniques.
Topics mentioned that people would like to see covered (but
did not offer to lead the session themselves) were: fundraising
and planning strategies for groups, integrating new stones in
historic cemeteries, laser imaging in gravestone design, stone
ID (geologic ID. that is), mausolea, new trends in cemetery
art, security, computers, surveys, preservation problems with
specific stone types, organization techniques, CD ROM tech-
nology, and getting the message to the public. If you have
expertise or experience with one of the above or with other
topics and are willing to lead a session, please contact
Rosalee Oakley, 19 Hadley Place, Hadley, Massachusetts
01035; (413) 584-1756 right away. Were eager to put to-
gether a program that is fresh and inxiting for our conference
at Westfield State College, June 22-25, 1995.

AGS Winler V5 p. 6

Topical Columns

CONSERVATION NEWS
Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

Resetting Stones in Hadley, Massachusetts

'Please fix this one first,"

Figure 1
This was the plea from Stanley Lesco, Cemetery Commissioner
for the Hadley [Massachusetts] Cemetery (Figure 1). The marble
stone was leaning severely and was clearly visible to passers-by
on heavily traveled Cemetery Road. The stone was in imminent
danger of breaking and, had it not been reset, may have joined
thirty or forty already down.

An examination of the stone revealed an oddly shaped base par-
tially obscured by turf and soil. Probing, excavating, and lifting
the stone and its securely attached base, using a tripod, chain
hoist, and nylon straps, disclosed the base to have been an obe-
lisk with a slot worked into it to receive the stone (Figure 2).
Once the excavation was complete, it was a relatively simple
process to prepare a substantial foundation for the stone using
masonary rubble, sand, and sand/gravel mix. Getting the stone
level and vertical was challenging, for the obelisk was not uni-
fomi in diameter. It took several attempts to achieve a satisfac-
tory result, improving the stone's appearance and relieving the
danger of its falling over and breaking.

For anyone involved in gravestone conservation a lifting device

is essential. At 160 to 180 pounds per cubic foot, even a rela-
tively small slone can be difficult and even dangerous to lift or
move. And in a field situation several lifts may have to be made
to get the stone level and vertical.

Those in the conservation workshop at the 1993 AGS conference
in Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London, Connecticut, will re-
member the tripod used to put an 800 pound granite stone back
on its base, among several other resetting operations. Where does
one get a tripod and chain lift? Have it made at a welding shop!
The one fabricated for the 1993 conference cost $254. The one
ton rated chain hoist was $40. A safety chain to prevent the legs
from "spreading" on uneven ground was $25. The grand total
came to $319. Commercial units, admittedly somewhat lighter
to handle, are $1,200 plus.

Figure 2

AGS Winter '95 p. 7

Topical Columns

REVIEW
Eric Brock

Post Office Box 5877
Shreveport, Louisiana 71135-5877

Dead and Buried in New England:

Respectful Visits to the Tombstones and Monuments

of 360 Noteworthy Yankees

By Mary Maynard

Yankee Books

distributed by St. Martins Press, New York

1993, $12.95

1 82 pages

Review by Eric Brock

Here I am, a Southerner (or in modem "politically correct" lingo,
a Non- Yankee), reviewing a book about the gravesites of the fa-
mous dead of New England. I must say, however, that I have the
utmost respect for the rich cultural heritage and, of course, the
marvelous gravemarker carvings of New England and of the East
in general.

This particular little volume falls somewhere between the cat-
egories of travel guide and history. It is reminiscent of both Rob-
ert E. Pike's 1938 Granite Laughter and Marble Tears: Epi-
taphs of Old New England and the more recent Culbertson and
Randall Permanent series {Permanent Parisians, Permanent
Londoners. PertJianent New Yorkers, and Permanent Califor-
nians). The subject matter is closer to that of the former, while
the design and structure of the book is similar to the latter

This is an interesting and informative book. First and foremost.
Dead and Buried in New England is a guidebook; a guidebook
no visitor to New England should be without, whether a
gravemarker enthusiast, a history buff, a celebrity seeker, casual
tourist, or interested resident. It is a lighthearted but indispens-
able volume. It does not delve into great scholarly detail, but
neither is that its intent. It is filled with much good content and
many excellent pictures and, here as ever, pictures are worth a
thousand words and then some. Unfortunately, only about one
gravesite in ten discussed in the text is represented by a photo-
graph. I suppose that is my only complaint, since the photo-
graphs that do appear are very good ones.

Dead and Buried in New England gives a state-by-state break-
down of the noteworthy dead of Maine, Vermont, New Hamp-
shire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. There are
plenty of maps: general, specific, and directional. Detailed printed
directions to specific cemeteries and gravesites are also given.
Among those discussed: P. T Barnum, Noah Webster, Sacco
and Vanzetti, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Belushi, J. P. Morgan,
E. B. White, Roger Williams, Lizzie Borden, Claude Rains, Robert

Frost, Ethan Allen, Calvin Coolidge, and Emily Dickinson. There
are a few hundred others of equal repute. If you want to know
just where they're buried and how to find them, you should find
this book.

Death Dictionary

By Christine Quigley

McFarland & Company Publishers

Post Office Box 611

Jefferson, North Carolina 28640

1994, $29.95

196 pages

Review by Eric Brock

AGS member Christine Quigley has compiled and edited a rather
unusual and remarkable reference work called the Death Dictio-
nary, detailing over 5,500 clinical, legal, and vernacular terms
associated with human mortality. Though not about gravemarkers
or cemeteries per se, this is a book which should prove useful to
those who are interested in or work with those fields.

Ms. Quigley, who is assistant to the director of the Georgetown
University Press in Washington, D.C., has culled terminology
from sixty-five cultures, nine religions, and twenty scholarly dis-
ciplines, including archaeology, cryonics, theater, the military,
and, most obviously, thanatology. Terminology and jargon of
the funeral business, the law, and literature can be found between
the black cloth covers of this book.

There is much useful material here, and much material which
has not before been gathered into a single volume. As Ms. Quigley
states in her preface, the Death Dictionaiy "assists in decipher-
ing epitaphs and wills (living or otherwise) It documents the

informal language of death row and the morgue, and it explains
the formal language of grief counselors, euthanasia supporters,
and the proverbial life insurance salesman."

In answering the question "Why a dictionary of death?" in her
book's introduction, Ms. Quigley states: "Because the vocabu-
lary exists and the words need collecting. Because death is a
dramatic subject. Because death is both individual and univer-
sal. Because death can never be defined by the living. Because
death has a long history, which the language reflects. [And] be-
cause current usage mirrors our culture."

By Their Markers Ye Shall Know Them:

A Chronicle of the History and Restorations

of Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground

By William Hosley and Shepherd M. Holcombe. Sr.

Published by the Ancient Burying Ground Association, Inc.

AGS Winler '95 !>. S

Topical Columns

Distributed by The Connecticut Historical Society

Department B, 1 Elizabeth Street

Hartford, Connecticut 06105

1994; hardback, $27.50; paperback, $18.75

Mail orders include $3.50 postage and handling

Connecticut residents include 6% sales tax

1 89 pages, 60 photographs, map

(Also available through the 1995 AGS publications list.)

Review by Lance Mayer

As William Hosley points out in this volume, "for better or worse,
Hartford's Ancient Burymg Ground has experienced a wider spec-
trum of restoration treatments than almost any other graveyard
in America"(page 15). This book tells the story of those restora-
tion projects, and especially of the ambitious effort begun in 1982
by the Ancient Burying Ground Committee of the Society of the
Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, which shortly after-
ward reorganized itself as the Ancient Burying Ground Associa-
tion.

This book is much more than a textbook of restoration proce-
dures — it contains an indexed map of the yard plus transcrip-
tions of all of the inscriptions on the gravestones that were vis-
ible in 1877. (Sadly, many of the inscriptions have eroded in the
intervening years, or the stones have disappeared entirely.) Chap-
ters describe the Ancient Burying Ground's importance as a cul-
tural resource, offer suggestions for thematic tours, and provide
enough detailed descriptions of guided tours for both novice and
aficionado.

But the importance of this book lies in its description of the at-
tempts to find a cure for a problem that is painfully obvious to all
those who love old New England gravestones: the sandstone that
was quarried in the Connecticut River Valley, especially during
the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, is not very durable,
and each year many early sandstone markers crumble into frag-
ments.

The problem was noticeable even during the nineteenth century.
In 1896, Emily Seymour Goodwin Holcombe (the grandmother
of Shepherd M. Holcombe, Sr., who initiated the effort in the
1980s) spearheaded a campaign by the Ruth Willys chapter of
the Daughters of the American Revolution, which raised a great
deal of money and restored many of the gravestones. This earli-
est effort was a mixed success, and the stones continued to dete-
riorate. By the early 1970s, a city-sponsored program to restore
many of the stones earned the Ancient Burying Ground Associa-
tion some notoriety because the results were so poor. But by the
early 1980s, the Association for Gravestone Studies had been in
existence for several years, facilitating networking among people
interested in the preservation of old gravestones. When it was
hinted that the same firm that had done the work in the 1970s
might be engaged to do further restoration work, a number of
people urged that better solutions be sought. I and others recom-

mended that the Center for Preservation Research at Columbia
University be brought in to study the problem and that a curator
be hired; both suggestions were eventually adopted.

The Ancient Burying Ground Association and all of the people
involved in this most recent campaign deserve a great deal of
credit, not only for getting the project off on the right foot, but
for sticking to their commitment to do the right thing. It must
have been frustrating to spend a great deal of time and money on
dull but necessary preliminaries like photographic documenta-
tion, a thorough study of the stones' condition by the conserva-
tors from Columbia University, and careful tests of conservation
procedures, rather than rushing in to carry out wholesale treat-
ments of gravestones. Even now, a visitor to the graveyard will
notice that many of the stones are still in poor condition and a
great deal remains to be done, but the importance of this project
lies not in the number of stones treated, but in the groundwork it
has laid for future projects.

One of the many ways in which this project was a model of suc-
cess was in its fundraising efforts. Large sums were raised from
foundations, corporations, individuals, and from the state of Con-
necticut. Other smaller towns and cemetery associations may be
daunted by the amounts raised (eventually over one million dol-
lars), but on the other hand they should be inspired to raise pro-
portionately smaller amounts by the fundraising lessons contained
in this book. Already some groups (most recently in East Hart-
ford, Connecticut) are raising money to have stones restored, one
at a time, by the craftsmen whose skills have been honed by work
on the Ancient Burying Ground restoration project.

The bulk of this book is devoted to descriptions of various con-
servation treatments, old and new. The work that had been done
in the 1 970s seems atrocious now — for example, the Capt. John
Talcott stone and the Lovicy Blakely stones' peeling, yellowed
epoxy coatings — but these treatments should be seen against
the backdrop of a period when stone conservation, as well as
gravestone studies, was still in its infancy. I remember attending
an international stone conservation conference in 1978 and be-
ing pleased that many European countries were funding studies
of stone conservation. On the other hand, I was shocked that so
much of what had been tried hadn't worked, and that there were
still many points of disagreement, even among experts.

The field of stone conservation grew during the following de-
cade, and the work done at the Ancient Burying Ground Associa-
tion during the 1980s was based upon a detailed study and tests
carried out by the conservators from Columbia University, in-
corporating their experience studying other graveyards, includ-
ing King's Chapel in Boston and Trinity in New York. Many of
the treatments in Hartford were carried out by local craftsmen
rather than by conservators, primarily for reasons of cost (pages
25-26). Since 1984, many stones have been reset, new bases
have been cast, and stones have been cleaned, and these proce-
dures are described in detail, as are the much more extensive

AGS Winter '95 p. 9

Topical Columns

projects which involved rejoining, patching, and consohdating.

One decision that was made was to complete missing portions of
inscriptions and decorations, even if the missing areas were ex-
tensive. Hosley feels that this might be controversial, but I think
that few people would argue with the success of this choice, given
the ample documentation of many of the inscriptions, the skill of
the craftsmen, and the supervision of a curator (Hosley) to make
sure that the style of the new carving is appropriate. And it turns
out that the inability of the contractors to exactly match the color
of the old stone unintentionally makes a clear distinction between
the old and the new portions, which should satisfy even the most
rigid purist.

This book, and the restoration project that it documents, are both
extremely important, and we should be grateful that the Ancient
Burying Ground Association has shared its experiences so com-
pletely. In order to take full advantage of all of this work, I would
like to suggest that the Ancient Burying Ground Association
schedule regular follow-ups on all of the treatments that have
been carried out. If every ten years a committee met and exam-
ined photographs of each treatment in front of the actual stone,
and took new photographs to document any changes, we would
learn an enormous amount about how the treatments actually fare
in the real world of rain, snow, and sulfur dioxide. Then we can
build even more upon the foundation of information that the
Ancient Burying Ground Association has so admirably begun.

Some replicas were carved out of stone when too little of the
original stone remained to allow restoration. These replicas were
expensive, but many of them are very successful, especially when
compared to the mushy modeling of the cast replicas made in the
1970s (see, for instance, the stone of William Gardner compared
to the nearby Williamson family replicas). Some of the replicas
are so successful that I wish that they had been dated on their
back sides, as has sometimes been done in the past when a rep-
lica is erected, so that in a few decades they will not be mistaken
for originals.

If there is any controversy to be found in this book, I think it lies
in the publishing of detailed recipes for carrying out various res-
toration procedures. In spite of appropriate admonitions in the
text of the book (page 39) that the procedures should be carried
out only under professional supervision, one could easily miss
the warnings about toxicity of the materials, as well as potential
danger to the stones when one consults the "recipe" section (pages
143-149). I would worry most about consolidants, which if im-
properly applied can make a skin on the surface of a stone that
can accelerate decay. One additional problem which is going to
continue to bedevil anyone who tries to treat old sandstone mark-
ers is that consolidants like Conservare were first developed in
Germany and may be better suited to treating German sandstone
(which often has a high calcite content and which dissolves by
losing binder) than to treating American stone. If one looks at
the edge of the worst kind of decayed Portland sandstone, one
often sees internal planar voids of l/32"-l/16", which are too
small to fill with grout, but too large to be filled by consolidant;
therefore, in some cases, neither the recipes for grouting nor the
recipes for consolidation will effect a long-term cure.

A few spelling and other technical errors crept into the book:
"Conservare" is the correct spelling of the consolidant (pages
146ff and elsewhere). Akemi, called an epoxy (page 143), is a
two-part resin but is actually a polyester. This is important be-
cause studies show that, although the polyesters won't last as
long as epoxies, some conservators prefer them because they are
(in theory at least) more easily reversible. I also question the
carver identification in Figure 54 (page 75); it looks like the work
of Joseph Johnson rather than Thomas Johnson II.

Lance Mayer is Conservator at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum,
New London, Connecticut.

Vestiges of Mortality & Remembrance:
A Bibliography on the Historical Archaeology of Cemeteries

By Edward L. Bell

Scarecrow Press

Post Office Box 4167

Metuchen, New Jersey 08840

1994, $47.50

Hardback, 439 pages

(Also available through the } 995 AGS publications list.)

Review by Eric J. Brock

Here is a superb and invaluable bibliography for anyone doing
scholarly research on historic cemeteries. Almost two thousand
works are listed, including archaeological survey and excavation
reports; physical and forensic anthropology; historical w orks on
death, mourning, and burial, including the folkways thereof;
works on gravemarkers and cemetery layout; and legal works
regarding cemeteries, burials, gravemarkers. and related matters.

This is not a book for the casual reader. It is, rather, a thorough
and comprehensive index which will benefit persons doing seri-
ous research on archaeological, forensic, historical, folkways,
legal, and other aspects of cemetery preservation and funerary
studies. Moreover, those involved in related aspects of t'ields
(such as cemetery management, historic preservation, funeral ser-
vice, law, museums, state and federal archaeological and historic
preservation agencies, and conservation) in w liich access to such
information is often vital, will find this book to be a highly use-
ful resource.

Not only is the copious bibliography, which makes up the lion's
share of the book, most valuable, but so are the succinct preface
and introductory essay, which together are se\ enty-four pages in
length. Therein will be found an overview of data on tiie history,
archaeology, anthropology, ethnology, and material culture of

AGS Winter '95 p. 10

Topical Columns

cemetery studies. In addition, tiiere is an aipiiabetical index to
the bibliography, first by author's name, then by subject and sub-
topic.

Vesrif^es of Mortality & Remembrance is the result of the labor of
Edward L. Bell, staff archaeologist and preservation planner at
the Massachusetts Historical Commission. This, his most recent
publication, is one that no serious scholar of gravestone and/or
cemetery studies should be without.

Also note ....

It's not a book and it's not about gravestones — well, not exactly
— but most AGS members would probably be quite interested to
read about the fantasy coffins of Ghana, discussed in the Sep-
tember, 1994, issue oi National Geographic Magazine. A short
article (too short) has some gorgeous photographs of the brightly
painted burial caskets used in this African nation. Shaped and
painted to resemble fish, tigers, eagles, automobiles, and other
symbolic and functional forms, these coffins are a blend of tradi-
tional West African folk culture and western cultural influences.
In recent years their use has spread to other African states and
now, on occasion, even to America. The article begins on page
120 and is well worth a look.

The AGS Lending Library

We have a new Lending Librarian! Lynn Radke, 508 North Sweet
Gum, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012, has graciously consented
to take over the AGS Lending Library. Currently available are:

The Masks of Orthodoxy: Folk Gravestone Carving in Plymouth
County, Massachusetts, 1689-1805 by Peter Benes

Puritan Gravestone Art IThc Dublin Seminar, 1976,
Peter Benes, Editor

Puritan Gravestone Art II The Dublin Seminar. 1 978,
Peter Benes, Editor

Gravestone Chronicles: Some Eighteenth Century New England
Carvers & Their Work by Theodore Chase & Laurel K. Gabel

Early Gravestone Art in Georgia & South Carolina

by Diana Williams Combs

Seasons of Life & Learning: Lake View Cemetery, An Educator's
Handbook by Vincetta DiRocco Dooner & Jean Marie Bossu

Early American Gravestone Art in Photographs: 200 Outstanding
Examples by Francis Y. Duval & Ivan B. Rigby

Here Lies America: A Collection of Notable Graves

by Nancy Bills & Parker Hayden

Gravestones of Early New England & The Men Who Made Them

by Harriette M. Forbes

Epitaph & Icon: A Field Guide to the Old Burying Grounds of
Cape Cod, Martha 's Vineyard, & Nantucket

by Diana Hume George & Malcolm A. Nelson

Lessons from the Dead: The Graveyard as a Classroom for the Study
of the Life Cycle by Roberta Halporn

Clasped Hands: Symbolism in New Orleans Cemeteries

by Leonard V. Huber

Silent Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery

by Kenneth T Jackson & Camilo Jose Vergara

The Southern Quarterly, Special Issue: The Southern Cemetery

Alfred E. Lemmon, Guest Editor

Silent City on a Hill: Landscapes of Memory & Boston's Mount
Auburn Cemetery by Blanche Linden-Ward

Graven Images: New England Stonecarving & Its Symbols

by Allan Ludwig

Cemeteries & Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture

Richard E. Meyer. Editor

In Highgate Cemetery by Jean Pateman

Through Open Gates: History, Symbolisms, & Legends of
Vicksburg's Cedar Hill Cemetery by Charles Riles

Graven Images: Graphic Motifs of the Jewish Gravestone

by Arnold Schwartzman

The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut
& the Men Who Made Them by James Slater

The Puritan Way of Death: A Study in Religion, Culture,
& Social Change by David E. Stannard

Pillars of the Past: A Guide to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park,
Colma, California by Michael Svanevik & Shirley Burgett

Memorials for Children of Change: The Art of Early New England
Stonecarving by Dickran & Ann Tashjian

Life How Short — Eternity How Long: Gravestone Carving
& Carvers in Nova Scotia by Deborah Trask

American Epitaphs Grave & Humorous by Charles E. Wallace

"With Bodilie Eyes": Eschatological Themes in Puritan Literature
& Gravestone Art by David H. Watters

Memento Mori: The Gravestones of Early Long Island, 1680-1810

by Richard Welch

Understanding Scottish Graveyards by Betty Willsher

The Very Quiet Baltimoreans: A Guide to the Historic Cemeteries
& Burial Sites of Baltimore by Jane B. Wilson

Folk Art In Stone: Southwest Virginia by Klaus Wust

If you are interested in borrowing from the Lending Library or receiving more information, please contact Lynn or the
AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609: (508) 831-7753 for the necessary forms.

AGS Winter '95 p. J J

Topical Columns

POINTS OF INTEREST
Bill Hosley

Old Abbe Road

Enfield, Connecticut 06082

I am happy to report on the latest batch of
responses to a "points of interest" inquiry. The
purpose of this column, as you may recall, is
to involve the AGS membership in search and
analysis. Topics are proposed and answers
are found by tapping the collective knowledge
of our one-thousand-strong international
membership.

In the spring, 1994, issue we talked about
"portrait stones" and, incidentally, stones with
frames which were used to hold portraits of
the deceased. To wrap up on that topic, we
received correspondence from Laurel Gabel
of Pittsford, New York, who is interested in
that brief period between about 1845 and 1860
when photographs of the dead were occasion-
ally incorporated into the design of the stones.
Laurel turned up patents "for securing da-
guerreotypes to monumental stones" and a
trade catalog published in 1855 by the Mau-
soleum Daguerreotype Company. Excellent
material about what was obviously a big fad.

And while we're on the subject of frames, I
recently saw two stones side-by-side in
Tyringham, Massachusetts, with something
which I guess is related to the custom of em-
bedding photographs in
stone, but before the inven-
tion of photography
(1820s), and this time with ^
frames almost eight by ten
inches in size! As usual,
the original artwork is
missing, but the big, blank
frames were certainly
made to contain some-
thing. I've never seen any-
thing like them! Any
clues?

Most recently I asked for
your help in identifying
stones that mark the graves
or talk about the relation-
ship between Europeans
and Native Americans. I
used as an example a stone
marking the grave of Lt.

Figure 1

AGSW'imerVSp. 12

Mehuman Hinsdale ( 1 736) of Deerfield, Mas-
sachusetts, who was twice captured during
Indian "raids" on that once dangerous fron-
tier town.

Well, maybe I threw a curve ball. I expected
more from out west; certainly here in New
England the pickings are thin. One often
learns of "Indian burying grounds." but mark-
ers cannot be found. Occasionally we turn
up a stone inscribed with a story — usually
grim and treacherous — of Native American
atrocities, so described, against European set-
tlers on the other side of what was essentially
an on-going war between two peoples with
claims on one land.

Eric Brock of Shreveport, Louisiana, shared
a picture (Figure J ) of "the only marker in
any Shreveport area cemeter\' which makes
mention of the relationship of the w hites to
the Indians. This despite the fact that prior to
the 1830s the region was populated prima-
rily by the Caddo Indians . . . driven into what
is now Oklahoma" by the 1 860s. The stone
marks the grave of the Rev. Fillman Caldwell,
who died in 1867 "on his way as a mission-
ary to the Indians." With no further details
and no mention in the local histories, this
becomes a kind of random fact that only un-
derscores the lost material culture of
America's original inhabitants.

Susan Galligan of
Attleboro Falls. Massachu-
setts, shared a lovely poem
titled, "The Indian Burving
Ground." written in 1788
by Philip Freneau. one of
our noted colonial poets.
An homage to the noble
free spirit filled with im-
ages of the hunt and of
painted birds and "his how.
for action ready bent." the
poem evokes a sense of
place, two hundred years
ago. when lore and legend
added romance to a people
even (hen largely dis-
placed.

Tlie big ad\ cniure lasi win-
ter was ihc appearance ai
auction of a eraxeslone

Topical Columns

Figure 3

cutter's work of art that was not a gravestone. In spite of what I
suspect was overreaction to the threat of gravestone theft several
years ago, the most obvious problem is with objects that can sneak
onto the market without being obviously identified as stolen or
from cemeteries and burying grounds. If I see another iron gate
from a family cemetery plot on the antiques market I'll scream.
However, it is well known that gravestone cutters made more
than just gravestones and occasionally produced other things
equaling their best work. So it was with joy that I discovered
that Sotheby's turned up this remarkable table from West
Stockbridge, Massachusetts (Figures 2 and 3). Boy, is this
strange. It's huge, and inscribed with the names of its maker
(Jonathan Johnson), owner (Coral Case), date (1798), and origi-
nal place of use (Farmington, Connecticut). You may recognize
this as having most of the characteristics of a New England eigh-
teenth-century table stone. But it was never a gravestone. It is in
excellent condition and has never been outdoors. It is a table,
but why? It probably cost four times as much as a comparable
wooden table. Why bother'? We dug up the owner's inventory
(1801) and the table is right there described as a "marble table'"
and valued at $10.00. Coral Case was a shopkeeper. Was this
used for display? Why the prominent signature of the maker?

In the same month, also from Sotheby's, came a bas-relief por-
trait stone (Figure 4), unsigned and undocumented, but almost
certainly the work of a gravestone cutter. This is great stuff;

because it has not suffered out in the weather the condition is
splendid and really shows the quality of detail — especially in
marble — that the original owners must have loved.

So what's out there? When the gravestone makers weren't mak-
ing gravestones, what did they make? Signs, portraits, samplers,
mantels, road markers, door stops — my guess is the best items
will turn up in places where the industry of gravestone making
flourished. I'll report on your findings in the summer '95 issue;
please send me your contributions by April 1 .

Happy hunting!

(Special thanks to Leslie Keno and Nancy Druckman of the
American furniture and folk art departments at Sotheby's for in-
formation and the use of these pictures.)

"Points of Interest" is a members' forum where we look at pic-
tures, ideas, and information about the "discoveries" we all make
from time to time. Each issue of the newsletter reports findings
from the previous "assignment" and concludes with a new as-
signment. Member participation is essential and you are en-
couraged to suggest topics for discussion.

Pictures may be small (even snapshots), but they must be sharp
and clear Only those submitted in a self -addressed stamped en-
velope can be returned.

Figure 4

AGS miner '95 p. 13

Bibliography

The following bibliography focuses exclusively on the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries and is limited to publications which include sub-
stantive information about early gravestone carvers. A bibliography for
nineteenth- and twentieth-century carvers will be published in the fu-
ture. Almost all of the titles listed are held by the AGS Archives and/or
the AGS Research Collection. If members are aware of other titles which
focus on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century gravestone carvers, please
contact Laurel Gabel, 205 Fishers Road, Pittsford, New York 14534.

Bibliography
Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Gravestone Carvers

Benes, Peter. "Abel Webster, Pioneer, Patriot, and Stonecutter." His-
torical New Hampshire 28:4 (Winter 1973): 221-240.

Benes, Peter. "John Wight: The Hieroglyph Carver of Londonderry."
Old-Time New England M:l (Fall 1 973): 29-41 .

Benes, Peter. "Lt. John Hartshorn: Gravestone Maker of Haverhill and
Norwich." Essex Institute Historical Collections 109:2 (April 1973):
152-164.

Benes, Peter. "Nathaniel Fuller, Stonecutter of Plympton, Massachu-
setts." OW-Time New £/ig/anrf 60:1 (Summer 1969): 13-30.

Benes, Peter. The Masks of Orthodoxy: Folk Gravestone Caming in
Plymouth Count}', Massachusetts, 1689-1805. Amherst, Massachusetts:
The University of Massachusetts Press, 1977.

Benes, Peter. "The Rockingham Carvings: Folk Ecclesiology in the
Upper Connecticut River Valley, 1786-1812." The New England His-
torical and Genealogical Register 132 (April 1978): 97-1 14.

Brooke, John. "Descriptive Survey of Gravestone Carving in Central
Berkshire County in the Eighteenth Century." Mimeographed MS, 1978.

Buckeye, Nancy. "Samuel Dwight: Stone Carver of Bennington County,
Vermont." VermonrWrnoo' 43:3 (Summer 1975): 208-216.

Caulfield, Ernest J. (edited by James A. Slater). The Papers of Dr.
Ernest Caulfield on Connecticut Carvers and their Work.
Markers VIII {\99\):

I George Griswold (1663-1704): 9-\6 {OrigmaUy in The Connecticut
Historical Society Bulletin 16: 1, January 1951 )

II TheStancliftFamily(1643-1785): 17-38 (C«5S 16:4, October 1951;
CWSB 17:1, January 1952)

III Ebenezer Drake (1739-1803): 39-50 {CHSB 18:4, October 1953)

IV "The Glastonbury Lady": 51-58 {CHSB 19:4, October 1954)

V The Thomas Johnsons: 59-90 (C//5fi 21:1, January 1956)

VI Joseph Johnson (1698-1783?): 91-100 (CWSB 23:2, April 1958)

VII "The Bat": 101-108 (CHSS 25:1, January 1960)

VIII The Mannings: 109-128 (CW5B 27:3, July 1962)

IX The Collins Family: 129-140 (C//5S 28:1, January 1963)

X Charles Dolph (1776-1815): 141-152 (CW5S 30:1, January 1965)

XI The Lambs (1724-1788): 153-164 (CH5S 31:1, January 1966)

XII John Hartshorn (1650-cl738) vs. Joshua Hempstead (1678-1758):
165-188 (CHSB 32:3, July 1967)

XIII TheKimballs: 189-204(C//5B40:2, April 1975; ed. Peter Benes)

XIV The Bucklands: 205-226 (CW5B 4 1:2, April 1976; ed. Peter Benes)

XV Three Manning Imitators: 227-310(CH5S43:l, January 1978; ed.
Peter Benes)

XVI The Loomis Carvers: 243-270 (CHSB 48:4, October 1983; James
A. Slater and Ernest Caulfield)

XVII The Colonial Gravestone Carvings of Obadiah Wheeler: 271-

310 (appeared originally in ihc American Aniic/iuinan Society Proceed-
ings 84: 1, 1974; James A. Slater and Ernest Caulfield)
XVIII Wanted: The Hook-and-Eye Man: 2U-331 (Markers I. \919I

80)

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. "Ebenezer Howard: Our Mys-
tery Carver Identi Tied." The New England Historical and Genealogical
Register 141 (October 1987): 291-308.

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. Gravestone Chronicles: Some
Eighteenth-Century New England Carvers ami Their WorL Boston:
New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1990. (Includes material
based on previously published carver articles as well as a new chapter
on Nathaniel, Henry, and Joshua Emmes.)

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. "James Ford (1721/22-1781):
Stonecarver of Salem." Essex Institute Historical Collection 130:1 (Janu-
ary 1994): 1,5-17.

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. "James Wilder of Lancaster,
Stonecutter." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register
148 (April 1983): 87-113.

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. "John Gaud: Boston and Con-
necticut Gravestone Carver, 1693-1750." The Connecticut Historical
Society Bulletin (Spring 1985): 76-104.

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. "John Holliman: Eighteenth-
CentTiry Salem Stonecarver." Essex Institute Historical Collection 1 28:3
(July 1992); 147-161.

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. "Seven Initial Car\'ers of Bos-
ton." Markers V (\9m: 210-232.

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel K. "The Colbum Connections:
Hollis, New Hampshire, Stonecarvers, 1780-1 820." Markers ///( 1985):
93-146.

Clark, Edward W. "The Bigham Carvers of the Carolina Piedmont:
Stone Images of an Emerging Sense of American Identity." In Cemeter-
ies and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture. Edited by Richard
E.Meyer. (Ann Arbor, Michigan; UMI Research Press, 1989): 31-59.

Combs, Diana Williams. Early Gravestone An in Georgia and South
Carolina. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 1986.

Combs, Diana Williams. "Ventures as an Artisan: The Multiple Talents
of Eighteenth-Century Gravestone Carvers." MS. 1978.

Cornish, Michael. "Bay Colony Tendnl Carvers." AGS Conference
Presentation. MS, 1982.

Cornish, Michael. "Joseph Barbur, Jr.: The Frond Car\er of West
Medway." Markers II (\9S^): 133-147.

Corrigan, David J. "Symbols and Carvers of New Haven Gravestones."
Journal of the New Haven Colony Historical Society 24 (1976): 2-15.

Duval, Francis Y. (series editor). AGS Series of Regional Guides to
Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Graveyards.

I Narragansett Bay Area (Eastern Rhode Island and Parts of Southern
Massachusetts). Vincent Luti. principal contributor. (1985)

II Long Island and Lower Manhattan Island. New York. Richard F.
Welch, principal contributor. ( 19861

Duval, Francis Y and Rigby, Ivan B. Early American Gravestone Art in

AGS Winter '95 p. 14

MARKERS XII IS HERE!

Order before April 15 and save $3 off the regular member's price!

225 pages, 1 04 illustrations

Table of Contents

'A Piece of Granite That's Been Made in Two Weeks':
Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers from New Jersey and New York, 1875-1930

Richard Veit

Adam and Eve Scenes on Kirkyards in the Scottish Lowlands:

An Introduction and Gazetteer

Betty Willsher

The Adkins -Woodson Cemetery:

A Sociological Examination of Cemeteries as Community

Gary S. Foster and Richard L. Hummell

Please send me

Name.

Address

City.

The Joshua Hempstead Diary
Ralph L. Tucker

Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths:

Milestones of Our Path through Pain to Joy

Gay Lynch

'Best Damn Dog We Ever Had':

Some Folkloristic and Anthropological Observations

on San Francisco 's Presidio Pet Cemetery

Richard E. Meyer and David M. Gradwohl

The Year's Work in Gravemarker/Cemetery Studies

Order Form

.copies of Markers at $25 per copy

Total $.

After April 15, price will be $28 for
AGS members, $32.50 for non-
members. Please make checks payable
to the Association for Gravestone

Studies. All checks must be in U.S.

funds drawn on a U.S. bank If you
have any questions, please call: (508)
831-7753.

Please send your orders to: AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609 by April 15, 1995.

State.

Zip.

HAND SCREENED ARTWEAR DEPICTING
THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF PURITAN
STONE CARVING.

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(20T) 363-B4TO

HAND CARVED LETTERING IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari 433 Bedford Street

(617) 862- 1 583 Lexington, Massachusetts 02 1 73

advertisement

Ad rates: Business card, $15; 1/4 page, $25; 1/2 page, $45;
full page, $85. Artwork additional; contact AGS, 30 Elm
Street, Worcester. Massachusetts 01609; (508) 831-7753.
AGS is not responsible for advertiser's claims.

adverti.'iement

Don't forget to order

your copy of

Markers XU —

see the blue insert

for order information.

EARLY PIONEER GRAVESTONES

OF POPE COUNTY, ILLINOIS
Michael J. McNemey Herb Meyer

This fascinating book places 23
human -effigy folk gravestones and the persons
and families they represent in genealogical, his-
torical, and geographical context. Starting with
nothing more than crudely inscribed informa-
tion obtained from gravestones in rural and
long-abandoned cemeteries, the authors iden-
tify the individuals and their extended family
ties. Several individuals and families are traced
to their Virginia, Carolina, Tennessee, and Ken-
tucky homelands.

A profusely illustrated, readable
slice of pioneer life and an excellent example
of combining gravestone and genealogical in-
formation. 48 pages, 9 maps, 40 photographs,
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Bibliography

Photographs. New York: Dover, 1978.

Farber, Daniel and Jessie Lie. The Farber Photographic Colieclion of
Early New England Gravestones with additional photographs by Harrictte
M. Forbes and Ernest Caull'ieid. Entire collection held by the American
Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Yale University
Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut. Photocopies of the entire collec-
tion available to AGS members for study purposes through the AGS
Research Clearing House.

Farber, Jessie Lie (editor). "Stonecutters and Their Works." Markers
/V(1987): 131-176. (Includes information on carvers Jonathan and
John Loomis, William Young, John Hartshorne, the Mulicken family,
Jonathan Anthony Angel, William Throop, James Stanclift, Daniel
Hastings, Samuel Dwight, James Wilder, the Feltons, and Enos Clark.)

Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. Gravestones of Early New England and
the Men Who Made Them, 1653-1800. Revised edition. New York:
Center for Thanatology Research and Education, 1989 [original, 1927].

Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. Photograph scrapbooks with notations.
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, and New En-
gland Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. References to Gravestones, Stonecutters,
Funeral Expenses, Etc. in Various Massachusetts County, Probate
Records. Transcribed from the original hand- written manuscripts in the
collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachu-
setts:

Essex County, Volume 304-365. Gabel, Laurel K. and Tucker, Ralph L.
(1982).

Middlesex County, Volume 1-79. Gabel, Laurel K. and Lisa B., and
Tucker, Ralph L. (1980).
Plymouth County. Gabel, Laurel K. (1982).
Suffolk County. Volume 2-97. Gabel, Laurel K. and Lisa B. (1981).

Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. "The Lamsons of Charlestown, Stone
Cutters." OldTime New England \l:i{]ax\\idity\921): 125-139.

Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. "William Mumford, Stone Cutter.'
Time New England 16:3 (January 1926): 139-149.

Old

Fredette, Alfred M. An Age of Angels.
cal Society, 1981.

Windham, Connecticut Histori-

Gabel, Laurel K. Computer database of all known seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century documented gravestones and their carvers. Over
1,000 entries (1/94); incomplete and ongoing.

Gabel, Laurel K. "Lists of Gravestones in the Dorchester North, Eliot,
King's Chapel, Granary, and Copp's Hill Burying Grounds (Boston) for
which there are Probate Payments to Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Cen-
tury stone carvers." (1986-1990).

Gabel, Laurel K. "References to Stone Cutters Named in the Plymouth
County, Massachusetts, Probate Records." (1982).

Gabel, Laurel K. "Some Carvers Represented in Lexington's Old Bury-
ing Ground, with Map and Key." AGS Conference handout, 1986.

Gabel, Laurel K. "The Park Family Carvers of Glasgow, Scotland, and
Groton, Massachusetts." Fruitlands Museums Presentation. MS, 1992.

Gabel. Laurel K. and Cornish, Michael. "Some Carvers Represented in
the Boston Burying Grounds." AGS Conference Handout, 1986.

Garvin, James and Donna-Bcllc. "Stephen Webster, Gravestone Maker."
Historical New Hampshire 29:2 (Summer 1974): 93-104.

Harding, William E. "Bennington Gravestones." Study for Bennington
Centre Cemetery Association, 1975. (Mimeograph)

Harding, William E. "Zerubbabel Collins' Successor and his work in
Bennington County, Vermont." In Puritan Gravestone Art. Edited by
Peter Benes. (Boston: Boston University Press, 1976): 14-22.

Hayward, Kendall P. "List of Connecticut Stonecutters." The Con-
necticut Historical Society Bulletin 15 (January 1950): 1-5.

Hosley, William N., Jr "The Rockingham Stonecarver: Patterns of
Stylistic Concentration and Diffusion in the Upper Connecticut River
Valley, 1790-1817." In Puritan Gravestone Art 11. Edited by Peter Benes.
(Boston: Boston University Press, 1978): 66-78.

Jones, C. R. "Ithamar Spauldin, Stonecarver of Concord, Massachu-
setts 1795-1800." A/arA:fr.j 7(1980): 51-55.

Kelly, Sue and Williams, Anne. "And the Men Who Made Them: The
Signed Gravestones of New England." Markers 11 {\98iy. 1-103. "1984
Additions" in Markers 111 (1985): 147-149.

Kelly, Susan H. and Williams, Anne C. "Carvers Represented on the
AGS Bus Tour of Glastonbury, Wethersfield, Suffield, and Windsor,
Connecticut." AGS Conference Handout, 1984.

Lie, Jessie. (Coordinator) The Old South Hadley Burying Ground: A
Conservation Project Supported by the South Hadley Bicentennial Com-
mittee, 1977.

Ludwig, Allan. Craven Images. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan
University Press, 1966.

Ludwig, Allan. New England Gravestone Carving, 1653-1910: Identi-
fications. MS key to photograph identifications. AGS Archives #91.

Luti, Vincent F "Seth Luther, Stonecarver of the Narragansett Basin."
Rhode Island History i9 A (February 1980): 2-13.

Luti, Vincent F. "Stonecarvers of the Narragansett Basin: Stephen and
Charies Hartshorn of Providence." Markers 7/(1983): 149-169.

Mayer, Lance R. "Aspects of New England Gravestone Carving: 1668-
1815." BAThesis, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, 1973. (113
pages including illustrations)

Neal, Avon, and Parker, Ann. Early American Stone Sculpture Found in
the Burying Grounds of New England. New York: Sweetwater Edi-
tions, 1981.

Newsletter of the Association for Gravestone Studies articles focusing

on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century gravestone carvers:

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel. "In Search of Our Mystery Carver."

9:1 (Winter 1984/85): 5-7. (About Ebenezer Howard.)

Chase, Theodore and Gabel, Laurel. "Our Mystery Carver Pursued."

10:1 (Winter 1985): 8-10. (About Ebenezer Howard.)

Drinkwater, Robert. "The Feltons of New Salem, Massachusetts, Late

Eighteenth Cenmry." 7:4 (Fall 1983): 9-10.

Farber, Daniel. "Daniel Hastings of Needham, Massachusetts." 5:1

(Winter 1980/81): 8-9.

Gabel, Laurel. "Some of the Carvers Represented in the Boston Bury-

AGS Winter V5 p. 15

Bibliography

ing Grounds." 10:3 (Summer 1986): 1-7.

Gabel, Laurel and Chase, Theodore. "James Wilder of Lancaster, Mas-
sachusetts, 1741-1794." 7:1 (Winter 1982/83): 6-7.
Jenks, Margaret R. "E.G." 9:3 (Summer 1985): 2-4.
Kelly, Susan H. and Williams, Anne C. "Carvers Represented on the
AGS Bus Tour, Glastonbury, Wethersfield, Suffield, and Windsor, Con-
necticut." 8:4 (Fall 1984): 2-6.

Luti, Vincent F. "John Anthony Angel (1701-1756)." 4:3 (Summer
1980): 7-8.

Luti, Vincent F. Pictorial Reference to Some of the Carvers Represented
in the Narragansett Basin. 14:3 (Summer 1990): 12-13.
Luti, Vincent F. "Stonecutter of the Narragansett Basin: William
Throop." 5:4 (Fall 1981): 13.

Luti, Vincent F "The JB Taunton River Basin Carver" 5:1 (Winter
1980/81): 19.

Luti.VincentF "The Real George Allen Jr." 16:3 (Summer 1992): 22-
23.

Melin, Nancy Jean. "Samuel Dwight: Vermont Gravestone Cutter"
5:2 (Spring 1981): 11-12.

Patterson, Daniel W. "Upland North and South Carolina Stonecarvers."
6:3 (Summer 1982): 3-4.

Slater, James. "Jonathan and John Loomis of Coventry, Connecticut."
3:3 (Fall 1979): 3-4.

Stafford, Mary and Rick. "William Young of Tatnuck, Massachusetts."
4:1 (Winter 1979/80): 10-11.

Stancliff, Sherry. "James Stancliff in Yorkshire, England." 10:2 (Spring
1986): 2-3.

StancHff, Sherry. "James Stancliff, 1639-1712." 4:4 (Fall 1980): 11-
12.

Tucker, Ralph. "Lt. John Hartshorne (1650-1738) and the Mullicken
Family." 4:2 (Spring 1980): 13-14.

Welch, Richard F "JohnZuncherof New York City." 6:2 (Spring 1982):
9-10.

Welch, Richard. "Thomas Brown of New York City." 9:1 (Winter 1984/
85): 12-13.

Petke, Stephen. "A Chronological Survey of the Gravestones Made by
Calvin Barber of Simsbury, Connecticut." Markers X (1993): 1-51.

Slater, James A. "Jotham Warren, The Plainfield Trumpeter." AGS
Conference Presentation. MS, 1982.

Slater, James A. "Notes on Some of the Burying Grounds and Carvers
Seen on the 1 993 AGS Conference Bus Tour." New London, Connecti-
cut, Conference Handout.

Slater, James A. "Some of the Carvers Represented on the 1981 AGS
Conference Bus Tour." Storrs, Connecticut, Conference Handout.

Slater, James A. The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut
and the Men Who Made Them. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books,
1987,

Slater, James A. and Caulfield, Ernest. "The Colonial Gravestone Carv-
ings of Obadiah Wheeler." American Antiquarian Society Proceedings
84:1 (1974): 73-103.

Slater, James A. and Caulfield, Ernest. "The Loomis Carvers." The
Connecticut Historical Societ}' Bulletin 48:4 (Fall 1983): 142-167.

Slater, James A. and Tucker, Ralph L. "The Colonial Gravestone Carv-
ings of John Hartshorne." In Puritan Gravestone Art 11. Edited by
Peter Benes. (Boston: Boston University Press, 1978): 79-146.

Stier, Margaret Moody. "'Wonderfully Lettered and Car\'ed': TTieGrave-
stones of the Risley Family, 1786-1835." Dartmouth College Library
Bulletin 23:2 (\9S3): 58-88.

Sweeney, Kevin M. "Where the Bay Meets the River: Gravestones and
Stonecutters in the River Towns of Western Massachusetts, 1 690- 1 8 1 0."
Markers III (\9S5y. 1-46.

Thorpe, Sheldon B. The North Haven Annals. (New Haven, Connecti-
cut: Press of the Price, Lee, and Adkins Company, 1892): 42-51.

Tibensky, James Walter. "The Colonial Gravestones of Western Con-
necticut." MA Thesis (anthropology). University of Illinois, 1977.

Trask, Deborah E. "'J.W.' Folk Carver of Hants County, Nova Scotia."
In Puritan Gravestone Art II. Edited by Peter Benes (Boston: Boston

University Press, 1978): 58-65.

Trask, Deborah E. Life How Short, Eternity How Long: Gravestone
Carving and Can'ers in Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia: The Nova
Scotia Museum, 1978.

Tucker, Ralph L. "Merrimac Valley Style Gravestones: The Leighton

and Worster Families." Markers XI (\99A-): 142-167.

Tucker, Ralph L. "The Lamson Family Gravestone Carvers of
Charlestown and Maiden, Massachusetts." Markers X {,\993i): 151-
217.

Tucker, Ralph L. "The Mullicken Family Gravestone Carvers of
Bradford, Massachusetts, 1663-1768." Mar/terj /X (1992): 23-57.

Tucker, Ralph L. and Gabel, Laurel K. "An Overview of Essex County
Gravestone Carvers." AGS Conference Handout, 1989.

Tuttle, Harriette. "Lamson Family: Four Generations of New England
Stonecarving." MS, History of Art, Yale University, 1977. (45 pages
plus illustrations)

Watters, David. "The JN Carver." Markers II ( 1983): 115-131.

Welch, Richard F. Momenta Mori: The Gravestone of Early Long Is-
land, 1680-1810. Syosset, New York: Friends for Long Island's Heri-
tage, 1983.

Welch, Richard F "The New York and New Jersey Gravestone Carving
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West, Eloise Sibley. "The Dwight Workshop in Shirley, Massachusetts,
1770-1816." Markers VH\9S9y. 1-31.

Williams. Gray, Jr "Solomon Brewer: A Connecticut Valley Yankee in

Westchester County." Markers XI (\994y. 52-81.

Williams, Meredith M. and Williams. Gray, Jr. '"Md. by Thomas Gold":
The Gravestones of a New Haven Carver" Markers V(1988): 1-59.

Wilson, John S. "Purchase Delay. Pricing Factors, and Attribution Ele-
ments in Gravestones from the Shop of Ithamar Spauldin." Markers IX
(1992): 105-131.

Wust, Klaus. Folk Art in Stone, Southwest Virginia. Edinburg. Vir-
ginia: Shenandoah History, 1970.

AGS Winter V5 p. 16

Regional Columns

NORTHWEST
& FAR WEST

Alaska, California,

Colorado, Hawaii, Idalio.

Montana. Nevada, Oregon,

Utalx, Wasliinglon, W\<oming,

Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia

Bob Pierce

208 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco, California 94131

San Francisco National Cemetery

San Francisco National Cemetery (SFNC) is located in the
Presidio of San Francisco, one of the oldest military installa-
tions in the United States and the first national cemetery on the
west coast. (In October, 1995, the Sixth Army will vacate the
Presidio and it will cease to be a military installation.)

The cemetery was established pursuant to War Department Gen-
eral Order Number 133, dated December 12, 1884. This order
designated nine and a half acres of land, including a previously
established post cemetery, as the San Francisco National Mili-
tary Cemetery. Subsequent additions of land from the surround-
ing area have increased its size to the present twenty-eight acres.

The development of a portion of the Presidio as a national cem-
etery marked the establishment of the first such cemetery on the
Pacific coast, and further evidenced the growth and development
of a system of national cemeteries beyond the area of conflict of
the Civil War.

Initial interments in the SFNC included remains of descendants
interred in the original post cemetery, as well as those removed
from cemeteries at several abandoned forts and camps along the
Pacific coast and other parts of the far west. Reinterments from
these sources included remains from Forts Halleck and
McDermitt, in Nevada; Fort Yuma, California; Forts Colville and
Townsend, Washington Territory; and Camp Crittenden and Fort
McDowell, Arizona Territory. Records of those whose remains
were reinterred from the cemeteries of these abandoned camps
and forts indicate dates of death ranging from the late 1850s
through the period of the early 1890s.

The strife and tumult of the great civil conflict of 1861-1865
must have seemed remote to many of the officers and men of the
United States Army who manned the garrisons of these distant
outposts. Life in the defensive outposts of an expanding nation
was often as dangerous as life in the camps and battlefields of a
nation at war. Reports of causes of death available for some of
those who served in the forts and camps frequently indicate death
from drowning, gunshot wounds, and attacks by Indians and ban-
dits. Loneliness, too, may have been a contributing factor in the
deaths of personnel in the frontier posts. Not infrequently the
old records indicate suicide as the cause of death.

By Act of Congress on March 3, 1873, burial privileges in na-

tional cetneterics were extended to soldiers, sailors, and marines
who served during the Civil War and died subsequent to the pas-
sage of the act. Veterans of the Civil War living on the west coast
were thus eligible for burial in the SFNC.

The grave of Major General Irwin McDowell, commander of the
union forces at the first Battle of Bull Run, Manassas, Virginia, in
1861, is in this cemetery. SFNC is also the burial place of Colo-
nel Edward Dickinson Baker, who was a well-known political
and military figure of the early period of the Civil War. Follow-
ing elaborate funeral ceremonies in Washington, Colonel Baker's
remains were interred in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Fran-
cisco, where they remained until 1940, when that cemetery be-
came part of a real estate development. The remains of Colonel
Baker and his wife were then reinterred in their present location
at this cemetery on May 21, 1940.

Pauline Cushman Fryer (Figure 1) is interred in Officers Section
Plot 18, Grave 1 . A small white marble headstone is on her grave.
Biographical accounts indicate that she was an actress of reputed
beauty and charm in the 1860s and while touring in the south
during the Civil War was an occasional espionage agent for the
Union Army.

Pauline Cushman Fryer was accorded the brevet rank of Major
for her espionage activities. She continued her stage career and
after the war lectured on her war-time experiences. At the time
of her death in San Francisco on December 2, 1893, the Grand
Army of the Republic arranged for her interment with full mili-
tary honors in a private cemetery. Reinterment of her remains to
SFNC was accomplished in 1907.

(Ms. Fryer had two counterparts, of which I am aware, on the
confederate side. One was Belle Boyd, who was buried in Madi-
son, Wisconsin, and the second was Jenny Moon, buried in Mem-
phis, Tennessee.)

Military commitments in areas beyond the shores of the conti-
nental United States with resulting casualties from combat and
disease brought new interment problems for the Quarter Master
Burial Corps. This Corps, composed of civilian morticians and
assistants, was organized to disinter, identify, and prepare remains
for shipment to the United States for burial in private or national
cemeteries. During the period 1899-1902, over 1,992 remains
were received from overseas for reinterment in SFNC. During
the years immediately following, many of the Armed Forces per-
sonnel who died while serving in the Philippines, Hawaii, China,
and other areas of the Pacific were interred there.

For instance. Major General Frederick Funston (Figure 2), a Medal
of Honor recipient, is interred in Officers Section Plot 68, Grave
3. General Funston served in the Spanish-American War as a
colonel with the 20th Kansas volunteers in Cuba and later in the
Philippines. Heroic action at Rio Grande de la Pampanga, Luzon,
on April 27, 1899, won his promotion to Brigadier General and

ACS Winter '95 p. 17

Regional Columns

Figure 1

his citation for the Medal of Honor which he received on Febru-
ary 14, 1900. As commander of the Department of California
with headquarters at San Francisco, he aided in the preservation
of order and rendered valuable service to civil authorities at the
time of the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906.

There are four special monuments in the SFNC:

The G.A.R. Memorial, a tall granite shaft in memory of the Civil
War Dead, was erected by the George H. Thomas G.A.R. Post
No. 2 and was dedicated on May 30, 1893.

The Pacific Garrison Memorial, an ornate granite pedestal sur-
mounted by the figure of a soldier with battle flag, was dedicated
to the Regular Army and Navy by the Pacific Coast Garrison on
Memorial Day, 1897.

The Unknown Dead Monument has an American eagle carved on
the stone in bold relief. The eagle has on its breast a shield in-
scribed with the words: TO THE UNKNOWN DEAD. There-
mains of some 517 unknowns, regrouped from locations tlirough-
out the cemetery, were reinterred in this location in 1934.

The American War Mothers Monument is located in a small plot
in the main drive passing through Section B.

Here the rows of headstones and monuments offer silent, yet elo-
quent tribute to the known and unknown who, by their valor and
services, have protected and defended this nation.

There are approximately 30,000 interred at this cemetery, thirty -
four of whom have received a total of thirty-five Medals of Honor.

Figure .

This beautiful cemetery, rich in the tradition of a historic past,
reflects the continuing concern of a grateful people that the lives
and services of members of the Armed Forces be appropriately
commemorated.

AGS Winter V5 p. IS

SOUTHWEST

Arizona, Arkansas,

Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklalioma. Texas

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail Arizona 85641

Phone: (602) 647-7005

Fax:(602)647-7136

I'm grateful to Beverly Morris of Louisville. Keniuck\. and Su-
san Moyers Porter of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for responding
to my uncertainties about the accuracy of "Cem" designations on
USGS maps. Beverly enclosed a recent article by Professor
Wilbur Zelinsky of Pennsylvania State University titled "Gatli-
ering Places for America's Dead: How Many, Where and Why"
{Professional Geographer 46(1), 1994). 1 found il a useful and
stimulating example of how the manipulation of massive data-
bases can be used to draw attention to anomalous geographic
distributions of certain types of cultural practices — in this case,
the practice of naming burial grounds, in contrast to not naming
them. Mapping these contrasts can contribute to the "ultimate
goal of a detailed, multidimensional understanding of. . . gather-
ing places for the American dead m some historic, geographic
and cultural depth." (page 31).

Reeiona^ohnnns

Of special interest to me was the description of the Geographic
Names Infomiation System (GNIS), a database being compiled
by the USGS that lists "most named 'features' [feature is a term
common in archaeology, and generally refers to man-made as-
pects of the environment, such as dams, towers, etc.] on all of the
maps in the USGS . . . series." This includes the feature known
as "Cem" which gave me some trouble in extreme southeastern
Arizona. Zelinsky recognizes that the survey maps do not al-
ways make clear whether cemeteries are "mapped and named,
mapped but unnamed, not mapped but still used and visited,
abandoned sites . . . and archeological burial sites with few or no
traces at the surface." (pages 31-32). Nevertheless, "it seems
safe to assume that the cemeteries recorded on the maps" and
subsequently in the GNIS database, "account for the great ma-
jority of burials . . . over the course of Euro- African occupation"
of the continental United States.

As of July, 1992, nearly 100,000 cemetery names were listed in
GNIS. Zelinsky used data from this source to plot the number of
named cemeteries per 100 square miles at the county level for
the eastern United States which revealed a puzzling band of "ex-
ceptionally high densities of named cemeteries traversing much
of the Upper South, and a parallel tract of low densities [of named
cemeteries] dominating the South Atlantic States." Various ex-
planations for these differences — population size, differentia-
tion of populations along racial, ethnic, or religious lines; lon-
gevity of settlement; "modernization of funerary practice" vs.
the small, family burial grounds characteristic of rural areas —
failed to explain the exceptional nature of the contrasts. Nor did
the possibility that the entries gathered from USGS maps might
reflect different levels of accuracy or comprehensiveness on the
part of those who made the USGS surveys.

This left Zelinsky to conclude that "we have an undeciphered
message on our hands," one that in turn raises the possibility that
"this particular place name cover may have rendered partially
visible a hitherto totally hidden complex of thinking and behav-
ing .. . careful field study of other funerary traits [in addition to
named cemeteries], preferably at the national or regional scale,
could provide some answers and even more probably, additional
questions." So much for wondering about "Cem" — I did not
anticipate that it would open the floodgates to a whole new re-
search area.

allies. These graves were not well marked to begin with,
but they remain on the map. A big storm can wipe out the
gravemarker, if there even was one. Sometimes they are
jusl piles of stones ....

One matter of regional interest for your column some day
might be particular dangers in southwest graveyards. I have
barely avoided being bitten by rattlesnakes basking on
stones in collapsed graves. The "folk" cemeteries of this
region seem to have far more of these collapsed graves
than other places in the country I have visited, and can also
be dangerous, if you step on an unmarked grave and it gives
out. I don't think anyone in New Mexico uses vaults at all,
outside "big city" cemeteries.

To her cautions, I would also add the desirability of maintaining
a certain level of "gut awareness" when venturing into remote
areas where strangers suddenly appear. Quite likely they are there
for the same innocuous reasons you are — but not necessarily.
When we failed to elicit a smile or hello from some strangers
encountered in the vicinity of an abandoned mining camp in south-
eastern Arizona, my husband and I both wondered what was
wrong. Later we learned that we had been in a well-known area
for people who want or need to "hide out."

We visited the cemeteries of Nogales, in Sonora, Mexico, on the
Day of the Dead in early November, on the second of a three-day
cycle of gravesite/monument refurbishing. This involves entire
families, perched together on narrow gravesites, laid out along a
slope. Food, flower, balloon, and ice-cream vendors wandered
throughout the cemetery, or offered their wares at stands along
the road. To us, the atmosphere seemed mellow and coiimiunal,
as people raked, watered, painted the markers, planted flowers,
or spread out the traditional arrangement of marigolds at the same
time as they chatted with families at adjacent graves. The next
day, offerings of food and dunk were brought. The crowded
cemeteries included equal proportions of men and women, and
most striking, all age groups, which suggests that participation in
the Day of the Dead rituals is still very much alive in the His-
panic culture of this region.

MIDWEST

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa. Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin,
Manitoba, Ontario

The letter from Susan Moyers Porter raises different issues abou
cemeteries, marked and unmarked, on survey maps. Hers re
fleets firsthand experience in the southwest:

I have had problems with [federal] maps, and I have also
found that "cem" sometimes really means "grave." I have
found solitary graves occasionally, if I find anything at all.
You can imagine my disappointment, after jeeping over a
rugged road risking life and limb! I know some of the old
sites I looked for in the New Mexico Gila wilderness were
along old trails, where migrating settlers buried their casu-

r ^ JAM.es C: JEWELl.

^o nira soars too *».<«»> iriJS soars witn nl» own wing*.

i[j ^/^"'H*

,' -T 'r^i%yr^>it3!^:vF.^>-??^g^^-vss^t^m^^

■M

James Jewell (1945-1994)

AGS Winter '95 p. 19

Regional Columns

I am sorry to report that Jim Jewell, our Midwest columnist, died
October 8, 1994, at home after an extended illness. He was bur-
ied in Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Jim was born June 25, 1945, in Fort Wayne. He was a speech,
theater, and film teacher at Illinois Valley Community College
since 1968. He was a graduate of Indiana State University with
bachelor's and master's degrees in speech and drama, and was
past president of Stage 212, an officer of the Illinois Theater As-
sociation, an officer of the Illinois Speech and Theater Associa-
tion, and a longtime member of the Association for Gravestone
Studies.

He had received the Edith Harrod Award for Outstanding Contri-
bution to the Community Theater of Illinois, the Theater Asso-
ciation Award of Honor, and the Otis J. Aggertt Award for Per-
formance Studies at Indiana State University. He was the author
of Broadway and the Tony Awards, which was recommended on
the Tony Award telecast for three years. He directed and per-
formed in many plays at Stage 212. He wrote a play called "Milo
Lookingale," a one-man show based on the AIDS crisis.

Jim was a regular contributor to the AGS Newsletter for many
years; most recently he served as Midwest editor. Jim made it a
point to be at our conference every year, and over the past sev-
eral years made the speaker introductions at our evening lecture
sessions. (M.L.)

Helen Sclair has agreed to take over as Midwest editor. Her first
column will appear in the spring issue. Send your contributions
to her at 849 West Lill Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323.

SOUTHEAST

Alabama. District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Maiyland, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Lucy Norman Spencer
23 1 2 North Vernon Street
Arlington, Virginia 22207
(703)527-7123

The Gravestones of Mammoth Cave National Park

by G.E.O. Czamecki

Mammoth Cave [Kentucky] is a sprawling national park both
above and below ground. The vast majority of tourists visit the
underground section, known as the most extensive cavern sys-
tem in the world. With everyone below ground, the surface of
the park remains pristine and seems untouched by the twentieth
century. It is in this backwoods, deserted, scenic atmosphere
that you can find graveyards at the end of a road beside a white
church surrounded by trees and solitude, and it was under these
conditions during some blazing hot days in August that I visited
them.

The most notable and obvious element of the Mammoth Cave
graveyards is the blend and mixture of styles of stones and the
overall diversity of shape, size, and motifs. The stones seem to
extend over the entire range of shapes from crude fieldstones to
twentieth-century granites, although the vast majority are simple
slabs set in concrete. The motifs that adorn them were a little
surprising to me; while there was a basic range of nineteenth-
century designs, the willow and urn were oddly absent.

Probably the most unique and widespread motif employed was
that of a flying bird, which apparently signified a dove (Figure
]). The birds are carved in flight and are almost invariably within
a circular or semi-circular cut at the top of a plainly arched stone.
They fly in either direction, although predominantly left, and a
few carry a sprig of leaves in their mouths.

A variation on the nine-
teenth-century popular
shaking hands motif
seems to have been em-
ployed frequently on
stones of a departed
younger family member
during the early t\\ enticth
cenlur>'. a "hand-holding-
hand" motif. One typical
example adorns the stone
of Grit Merdrieth ( Figure
2).

Figure 2: The "hand-hold-
ing-hand" motif — clearly
not a handshake. Slone
;•<•(«/.« "GRIT/ Son of Mr. &
Mrs. /MERDRIETH /JULY
0. IWI/ .IAN. 24. 1919 /
T'was hard to /give thee up
/ But thy will O God / he
done. "

A commonly occurring monument is that of crudely cut field-
type stone which looks homemade. I found two in one > ard thai

Figure 1: Flying bud molif.

AGS Winter V5 p. 20

Regional Columns

were very similar in data content. One read "C. W. S / OCT.
3RD. 1889"'(f;i;j/;c i). anolhcr "W W .S /NOV. 11th 1885."

Figure 3: A crude stone with crude cutting,
"C. W.S/0CT.3RD. 1889."

Obviously the simplest of memorials, but there was a progres-
sion, of elaboration here as is exhibited on a stone cut twenty
years later. It is still crudely formed, but displays more data, a
greater ability of lettering, and a stylized triangular top {Figure
4). The stone reads, "HUBBY RITTER / BOR JAN. 15 / 1903 /
DIED FEB. 10 1919." Fending for the family from birth to death
was the lifestyle here. These stones could no doubt be traced to
family members who had knowledge of gravestone making as
just another familial chore.

Figure 4: This stone exhibits qualities of imitation: uniform lettering,

explicit data {fidl name, no initials, birth and death dates), and

stylized triangular shape. "HENRY RITTER / BOR JAN. 15/1903/

DIED FEB. 10 1919. " (Note absence of "N" in BORN).

Another practice that is common in these cemeteries is the place--
ment of floral arrangements, held securely in place by clipping a

metal frame on top of the stones. These were usually the adorn-
ment of twentieth-century stones of the more recently decea.sed,
contemporary evidence of caring patterns within the local tradi-
tion.

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware, New Jersey,

New York, Pennsylvania,

Quebec

G.E.O. Czarnecki

28 10 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 1 1235

The Cornell Cemetery

■» jML

CQRif

;iERY

^ per wm

CQLONiAL Lii'itiliBS, AND
A NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN.

etIby vm

An interesting bit of cemetery work is taking place in Far
Rockaway, Queens, New York, where a group of residents have
formed the Cornell Cemetery Corporation in hopes of cleaning
up the site and giving it the recognition and restoration that they
feel is fitting.

The Cornell Cemetery began as a family plot (one of the few
remaining within the city limits) and is named after one of the
area's first residents and interments. The site was a colonial era
yard that was later surrounded by a nineteenth-century iron fence.
The varieties of stone types that are now associated with the yard
are a testimony to the span of years it was in use.

The recent history of the plot is that a list was compiled in 1933
catalogir.g the then twenty-nine existing stones by stone type and
complete inscription. The presence or absence of motifs and/or
descriptions was not included. From the list it is apparent that
what existed at that time were a number of nineteenth-century
white marbles that were footstones.

Needless to say, the cemetery is now in a demolished state. How
long has it been since a gravestone was seen standing? 1947?
There is definitely a challenge here. Many stones had been taken
from the yard; via a plea to the public, some of them were re-
turned. Unfortunately, most of the stones on the 1933 list are

AGS Winter '95 p. 21

Regional Columns

gone. A few stones and fragments were found at the site and
basically the collection that is now in the hands of the Cornell
Cemetery Corporation is a small but interesting one. It resides at
the office of The Wave of Long Island, a local newspaper that is
also headquarters for the corporation and some of its members.

The gravestone collection consists of one excellently executed
"homemade" stone. This is a rare find that is a definite gem; a
crude fieldstone that was obviously selected for its natural per-
fection. The stone is oblong, flat on the face, and still rounded
on the back. The base is naturally tapered and widens above. It
is simple but enduring. It has no motif and reads "H. C. / Mar. 4
1750." It is the oldest recorded date on the 1933 list.

There is one piece (about a third) of a red sandstone tablestone
(1766). The rest of it is the only remaining gravemarker in the
yard. I guess it was just too heavy for anyone to take. There are
also two red sandstone tablestone legs which are not at present
associated with the tablestone top. The two legs were also re-
turned but recorded as being taken from the Cornell Cemetery.
There is also one small fragment of a red sandstone footstone
exhibiting the capital letter "E."

A highlight of the collection is a fragment of a New England
slate which contains a left finial (concentric circles), a portion of
the left floral border, and the extreme left wing tip of what was
most likely a winged-head (1164) (See below). This was intact
and recorded in 1933.

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut. Maine,
Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Vermont, Labrador, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland,
Nova Scotia
Bob Klisiewicz
46 Granite Street
Webster, Massachusetts 01570

Freida Day of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, is spending some
time researching and writing a book for her historical society.
She has devoted a significant part of that research to the Hubert

Brennan Monument firm that thrived in Petersborough in the

1870s and 1880s, not only because of its industrial importance to
the town, but because it apparently competed quite successfully
with the better known Italian stonecarvers who worked in nearby
Milford. Brennan was an Irish immigrant who settled in the area
in 1851, eventually opened his own business, and continued his
stonecarving until his death in 1905. Ms. Day bases her belief of
Brennan's business success on records of newspaper advertising
claiming that his establishment was the "largest and best known
monument firm" in the state. In addition to that, records show
that he had several branches of his business and shipped monu-
ments all over the northeast. I am sure that Ms. Day would be
happy to hear from anyone who could either support or refute
her claims about Brennan's popularity. She can be reached at 54
Hazen Road, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire 03057.

During her research she claims to have indisputable evidence
that Brennan was the real carver of Mont Vernon Cemetery's
unique hound dog monument, which was originally thought to
be the work of famed sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens. This
monument, pictured below, is a life-sized carving of the favorite
foxhound of a local hunter. The hunter was killed by an acciden-
tal gunshot in 1 883 and was buried in Mont Vernon. The faithful
hound remains by his side to this day. This was probably
Brennan's best work as a sculptor, although Ms. Day understands
that he carved many other fine monuments in the area.

Mont Vernon Cemetery's houiui dog monument

On the same subject of dogs and unusual monunicnis. Putnam.
Connecticut's travel video veteran, William Siockdale. has by
now completed two videos on cemeteries and monuments, "Cem-

AGS Winter V5 p. 22

Regional Columns

eteries Are Fun," and "Cemeteries II," both of which are the top
sellers among all of his travel videos. Slockdale was introduced
to this field when he noticed, in a biography of African explorer
Richard Burton, a picture of Burton's great marble tomb jusl
outside of London, in the shape of a tent, folds and all, and in-
cluding a glass window so you can view the two coffins within.
Traveler Stockdale told his wife Connie, "This we must see!"
See it and film it they did, and from then on, Stockdale made it a
point in all of his travels to search out the strange and unusual
cemeteries for his video viewers. He says that his first film,
"Cemeteries Are Fun" opens in Alabama. In that part of the coun-
try they take their dogs seriously, and his first entry in strange
and unusual cemeteries is one reserved for coon dogs only! When
Stockdale added that a collie has filed a discrimination suit which
is now being heard in the Supreme Court of Alabama, I assumed
that he was just pulling my leg. I still would have printed his
claim, because it is too good a story to ignore, true or not, but the
more I thought about some of the foolish suits that are now being
heard in court every day, I am not so sure he wasn't telling the
truth. You can make up your own mind.

Of more local interest, Stockdale features Barre, Vermont's Hope
Cemetery as a showcase of artistic stones. He believes that the
Italian immigrant carvers would try to outdo each other with their
artistry, and the cemetery is filled with stones such as beds, a
basketball, and an easy chair. I haven't seen the video but I as-
sume Stockdale supports all of this with pictures. Other stones
featured by Stockdale include a grand piano, a huge organ, Mickey
Mouse, a full size Mercedes, and elephants. Stockdale doesn't
say if the elephants are also full-size, but one would doubt it.
Certainly the advantage that video has over printed articles is
that you actually see the stone, as opposed to the printed but some-
times unsubstantiated reports of strange or humorous stones or
epitaphs, such as the Vermont stones I wrote about a few issues
ago. Stockdale says that, rather than being put off by his subject
matter, audiences are delighted when they see his show, and re-
main after the program to purchase their own copies of the vid-
eos. Anyone wanting more information can contact Stockdale at
88 Farrow Street, Putnam, Connecticut 06260; (203) 928-6819.

FOREIGN COLUMN
Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14
D-63322 Rodermark
Germany

In the summer issue I mentioned a book edited by Arthur J.
Munby, Faithful Servants. Being Epitaphs and Obituaries Re-
cording their Names and Sendees (London: Reeves and Turner,
1 891). Since my major field of interest has to do with the grave-
stones of African-Americans, I looked for black servants in
Munby's collection and found the following four inscriptions.
The quotation from the Bible, "Well done, good and faithful ser-
vant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee
ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord," (Matt.

XXV.23) was a favorite among the English and can also be found
in New England.

From Teston Churchyard in Kent:

Buried here,

December, 1787, aged 36, NESTOR, a black,

for 22 years a servant to James Ramsay.

By robbers torn from his country, and

enslaved, he attached himself to his

master. Hating idle visiting, he

was employed constantly in his work: being

himself careful, he suffered not other
servants to waste his master's property. His
neat dress; his chaste, sober life; his inoffensive
manners, subdued the prejudice his colour
raised, and made friends of his acquaintance.
From his humble state he fixed his faith in
Christ, and looked up to Heaven for happi-
ness. Reader! use thy advantages as this honest
Negro did his misfortunes, as a spur to diligence

and duty; and when the Redeemer comes to

judgement, thou shalt hear pronounced, "Well

done, good and faithful servant; enter into

the joy of the Lord. "(Munby 133)

From a stone tablet against the east wall of the church in Hamp-
ton, Middlesex:

Isaiah 60

Verse ye (...)

Thy son shall

Come from far

Here lyeth the Body of CHARLES POMPEY

late Servant to ye Lady Thomas who breed him of

a Child in ye Christian Faith be being by Birth an

Ethiopian in memory of his Honest & faithful Service

this Stone is erected for a pattern not only to those Servants

of his own Nation but to all such as are born of Christian

Parents to follow his example who behaved himself lowly &

Reverendly to all his betters civill & kind to all his equals

which made him lamented by all that knew him he died

about ye 24 year of his Age January 9th 1719. (Munby 159)

From Hillingdon, near Uxbridge:

HERE LYETH

TOBY PLEASANT

An African Born

He was early in life rescued

from West-Indian Slavery

by a Gentleman of this Parish

which he ever gratefully remembered

and who he continued to serve

as a Freeman

AGS Winter '95 p. 23

Regional Columns/From the President's Desk

honestly & faithfully to the end of his Life

He died the 2d: of May 1784

Aged about 45 Years. (Munby 159)

From St. Martin's, Westminster, Middlesex:

In Memory of
RICHARD JAMES SAID

a Native of Africa

Died November 5th 1810

Aged 19 Years

The Family he served for seven

Years with unform integrety and

attention has caused this Stone to be

placed over his grave in testimony of

his Wort and of the regret which his

loss has occasioned. (Munby 164)

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
Rosalee Oakley, President

19 Hadley Place,

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

(413)584-1756

Stop and Note Right Now

! I I

well as working on membership development); (2) Developing
an archive collection policy; (3) Creating a teachers' resource
book; and (4) Producing audio- visual products that will produce
revenue as well as benefit our membership (such as "how-to"
videos, a slide exchange, and more slide programs). Each of the
four committees has things to do before our winter board meet-
ing when we will continue our work on each project.

Is There a Better Weekend for our Conference?

Each year we have held our conference the last weekend in June
in order to catch the colleges and private schools between ses-
sions, as well as to avoid the July fourth weekend and ensuing
vacation schedules. Also, many colleges and schools do not have
air conditioning so we have sought to avoid the hottest months.

During our most recent Annual Meeting, teachers from New
England indicated that holding our conference on the last week-
end in June made it increasingly difficult for them to attend. The
last several years saw an increase in snow days which ran the
school year into the week of our conference. Could we please
hear from teachers in other states as to when their school year
usually ends so we have a better sense of how many areas are
similarly affected? Are there any other AGS members who find
the last weekend in June a difficult time to attend our confer-
ence? Can you suggest a more convenient time? Please send
your replies to me at the address above.

While I have your attention for the moment, let me ask you to
respond to this inquiry. Some of you receive this newsletter in
the mail a day after it leaves the Worcester post office. Some of
you receive it a month later, some six weeks later and some not
at all. If you are reading this, would you please stop right now
and write a post card or letter to me at the above address telling
me the date you received this newsletter. Also, would you note
the condition it is in? Is it worn, torn, shredded, or in nearly mint
condition? Your responses will inform our Newsletter Commit-
tee as we set our production schedule and make distribution plans.

Trustees Hold Successful Retreat

The Board of Trustees, meeting for the first time with several
newly elected members, held an all-day retreat in September With
the help of a professional facilitator, they created a Mission State-
ment and made plans to carry out four special projects.

Our Mission Statement is a short statement that describes for
ourselves and the world-at-large the mission of AGS. After much
deliberation we agreed to the following wording: "The mission
of the Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appre-
ciation of the cultural significance of gravestones and burial
grounds through their study and preservation."

The four special projects are (1) Increasing the visibility of AGS
(through the creation of a press kit and a trade sliovv exhibit as

OFFICE NOTES

Miranda Levin, Executive Director

It's been a busy fall at the office, but without much to report.
Sean Redrow left AGS to go to college, and we were lucky to
find Kate George in October. She works Mondays through Fri-
days nine to noon, so our office hours are now Mondays nine to
noon, and Tuesdays through Fridays nine to five.

Markers XII is going to be arriving at the office an\ da\, and all
Life and Supporting members' copies will be mailed out ui Feb-
ruary. We ship Library Rate, which takes a couple o\' w ecks. hut
if you are a Supporting Member and don't get your cop\ b\ early
March, please let us know. One of the inserts with this newslet-
ter is our Markers pre-pub offer; if you would like Markers at the
discounted price, please order by March 3 1 .

We are going to be selling many new books and other items in
1995 in addition to Markers XII: if sou would like a copy of our
new publications list, please let us know and we'll he happy to
mail one to you.

Finally, don't forget — we need your contributions for this new s-
lelter!

AGS Winter '95 p. 24

American Culture Association Conference

Cemeteries and Gravemarkers Section:
American Culture Association

Section Chair: Richard E. Meyer, Department of English,
Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, OR 97361

Abstracts of Papers/Presentations

1995 Annual Meeting

April 12 - 15, 1995

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Early Cemeteries in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
Dorothy A. Boyd-Rush

Funerary Textiles in Transylvania — Joyce Corbett

The Decaturs ' Search for a Final Resting Place
Michelle L. Craig

Historical Memoiy and The John Andre' Monument, 1879-1905
Robert E. Cray, Jr.

Solar Imagery in the Gravestone Motifs of Colonial Era
America — G.E.O. Czarnecki

Happy Holidays: A Shared Celebration with the Dead
J. Joseph Edgette

Anabaptist Cemeteries: A Proxemic Approach
Werner Enninger

Houses of Life, Abodes of Eternity: An Ethnoarchaeological

Perspective on Six Jewish Cemeteries in Des Moines, Iowa

David M. Gradwohl

A Rural Cemeteiy in Hungary: 's Capital: Budapest's Kerepesi
Thomas J. Hannon

William Rinehart's Two Bronze Ladies: The Walters' Memorial

at Greenmount Cemetery and the Payne Memorial at

Oakwood Cemetery — Janet Headley

Remember Me and Fence Me In: Cemeteries of Southern
Colorado — Lea Hecht

Passing thro' nature to eternity': Inscriptions at Boston's
Mount Auburn Cemetery — Janet Hey wood

The Remarkable Crosses of Charles Andera, Part II
Loren N. Horton

Private Graves and Public Ceremonies: Benjamin Franklin 's
Resting Place in American Culture — Nian-Sheng Huang

The Origin and Spread of Roadside Crosses in Shadyside,
Maryland — Virginia Jenkins

Mr Corcoran 's Cemeteiy — James A. Kaser

Gender Differentiation as Reflected on Gravemarkers of
Adolescents — Deborah Kislowski

Sleep On, Sweet Babe
Beverly A. Lecroy and Courtney Moore

Gravestones of African-Americans in Revolutionary War
Massachusetts — Thomas A. Malloy

Joseph Brownmiller: A Pennsylvania German Carver in
Victorian Times — Claire E. Messimer

The Sociological Significance of Gravemarkers in Northeast
Ireland — Seamus Metress

Firefighter Monuments — Richard E. Meyer

Making the List: Placing a Cemetery on the National Register
Karen Nickless

Retention of Old World Scottish Burial Traits in North
Carolina Cemeteries — Lee Novick

Folk Art in Romania 's Cemeteries — Paul Petrescu

Honoring the Deceased at Home: Cemetery Iconography in
Victorian Domestic Memorials — Sheila Riley

Camposantos: Sacred Fields of Burial in Northern New
Mexico — Rose G. Rutherford

Laughing at Death: Ion Stan Patras's Merry Cemetery in
Romania — Harry A. Senn

Native Stone Markers in North Central Mississippi
John Van Hecke

A Legacy in Clay: New Jersey's Terra- Cotta Gravemarkers
Richard Veit

Monumental Polemics: Tombs by Architects
Eleanor F. Weinel

The Evolution of Mennonite Cemeteries in the East of France
Michele Wolff

Tours: A special program of tours is being arranged by Dr. J.
Joseph Edgette to be conducted on Wednesday, April 12 (an all-
day experience!), and consisting of visits to Christ's Church and
Churchyard (burial place of Benjamin Franklin and other his-
torical figures) in downtown Philadelphia; the Museum of Ar-
lington Cemetery in Delaware County (Upper Darby); H.C. Wood
Memorials, Inc. (fifth generation shop) in Lansdowne; and —
who would miss it? — Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia's splen-
did contribution to America's Rural Cemetery Movement. Plan-
ning is critical here, so if you wish to go on the tours it is im-
perative that you contact Joe as soon as possible to let him
know: call — phone (610) 532-0394 or write him at 509 Acad-
emy Avenue, Glenolden, Pennsylvania 19036.

AGS Winter '95 p. 25

Notes & Queries

Letter from Scotland

Dear Friends across the Big Pond,

Here in Scotland there is a glimmer of light at the end of a long
tunnel! I had hoped that many more groups would do surveys of
graveyards — some have responded, but not nearly enough.
Maybe it is our weather which puts them off; maybe there is a
rooted idea that Scotland's interesting past lies in its ancient and
medieval artifacts. Anyway, a new body has been formed, "The
National Committee on Carved Stones in Scotland," the mem-
bers being representatives of the major associations — Historic
Scotland (the government department), the Royal Commission
on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, the Council
for Scottish Archaeology, the Museums (and etc.). I quote from
their leaflet: "Scotland has a great wealth of carved stones from
pre-historic cup-and-ring marked stones, Roman sculpture, the
symbol stones and slabs of the Picts, the early medieval monu-
ments of the Scots — sculpture from medieval churches, and late
medieval grave-slabs to more recent gravestones. These stones
face many threats: Scotland's climate: acid rain and other pollu-
tion, surface growth, traffic, cattle, destruction and redevelop-
ment of sites and buildings, vandalism, theft, stone rubbing, or
well-intentioned but potentially destructive cleaning, repair, and
restoration."

The conference was held in what was the old Glasite Meeting
House, and I gave the opening paper, delivering it from the two-
tiered pulpit to 150 people seated in old box pews! The slides I
used were for the most part of stones which are not in their origi-
nal position. You can imagine that I referred usefully to the enor-
mous amount of recording and research done by AGS members.
As you will know, unless there is money to make replicas, there
are objections to removing markers. We have various empty
buildings in our churchyards — old watch houses and moit houses
(from the time of dreaded body snatchers), session houses, aisles,
church porches. At Greyfriars, Perth — where there are alto-
gether 997 pre- 1855 stones — a small museun;i is being built in
the walls of the ground to house a sample selection. I did show
some special gravestones which should be saved, as examples of
certain categories. We have lost literally thousands of markers
over the centuries, so I don't see why the fuss about taking a few
into local museums. The speaker for local museums was of the
same opinion but there were still objections at Discussion Time.
He also saw the role of Museums as educating and publicizing
the subject, and liaising with the District Council departments,
who here are responsible for the graveyards, while in England
they are still connected with the church.

I found a paper given by Historic Scotland's Director of Techni-
cal Conservation fascinating. Most of our carved stones are of
types of sandstone; he stated that the only way to save such stones
is to keep them under cover. Another speaker discussed the legal
situation; it seems to be as clear as thick mud! My friend Neil
Foston told us of his research on the work of four eighteenth-
century masons in Angus — that is the first bit of research here
on your well-established lines.

I hope now that this will galvanize some folks into activity. And
lastly may I say how much I (and others herej enjoy the AGS
Newsletter and that I hope to see some of you in 1995. We had a
hot dry sunny summer so maybe there will be another.

Betty Willsher, Orchard Cottage, Greenside Place, Saint Andrews,
KY16 9TJ, Scotland.

Verse Found

In response to her inquiry (Summer, 1994, page 27) concerning
the source of a gravestone verse, Jessie Farber received three
responses that she wants to share with newsletter readers.

Bruce Elliott sent a longer version of the verse, the first four
lines of which, he notes, are much more commonly encountered
than the last four. It reads:

Hark from the tomb a doleful sound

My ears attend the cry

Ye living men come view the ground

Where you must shortly lie.

Princes, that clay will be your bed

In spite of all your powers [sic]

The great the tall the reverend head

Will be as low as ours.

Elliott adds that "with a few minor alterations of wording, this is
the work of the English hymn writer Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
and appears in The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac
Watts. D.D., published in 1810.

Jessie also heard from Michael McNerney, who has incorporated
the above information, which he, too, received from Bruce Elliot,
in the newly-published book. Early Pioneer Gravestones of Pope
County, Illinois, by McNerney and Herb Meyer. This handsome
publication features discoid (head and shoulders) stones and will
be reviewed in a future issue of this newsletter. Order informa-
tion is on the enclosed advertising insert.

Marcy Frantom provided the entire hymn:

A Voice Front the Tonihs

Hark! From the tombs a doleful sound:

My ears, attend the cry:

Ye living men, come view the ground where you must shortly lie.

"Princes, this clay must be your bed.

In spite of all your lowers:

The tall, the wise, the reverend head, must be as low as ours."

Great God! Is this our certain doom?

And are we still secure?

Still walking down to the tomb, and yet prepared no more?

Grant us the power of quickening grace.

To fit our souls to tly:

Then when wc drop this dying tlesh. we'll rise above the sky.

Isaac Walls

AGS Winter V5 p. 26

Notes & Queries

Marcy writes: "This copy came from the Louisiana Federal Writ-
ers Project housed in the Cammie Henry Research Center at
Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The
hymn was recollected as one sung during slavery days at funer-
als by an ex-slave from south Louisiana. Rev. Isaac Watts was a
Congregationalist minister and hymn writer. See The Gospel in
Hvmns: Backrouiid and Interpretation by AlberlEdwaids Bailey
(Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950).

Marcy also had a query of her own to add. "I am trying to locate
published sources on fieldstones used as gravemarkers, plot mark-
ers, or cairns. I do have a copy of Kniffen's "Louisiana Iron
Rocks" article. My research area is north Louisiana, but I would
be interested in articles on the use of rocks in cemeteries any-
where in the upland South." Write to her at 121 Amulet #1,
Natchitoches, Louisiana 71457.

Peter Krell (1921-1994)

Peter Krell, trustee, local historian, and longtime AGS member,
died May 5, 1994. After retiring in 1985 as a social worker for
children's services, Peter became an avid historian. He is espe-
cially remembered for his interest in preserving cemeteries and
was the author of a 1 989 book on cemeteries in Clarkstown, New
York, So That All May Be Remembered. He had finished a simi-
lar book on the cemeteries of Ramapo just before he died. (Obitu-
ary sent by Dorothy Mellett.)

On Gender-Reading

Betty Phillips, Patten Monument Company, Shelby, Michigan,
adds a contemporary viewpoint to Barbara Rotundo's article on
gender-reading on gravestones (Winter, 1994, page 11):

Over the years that I have been selling memorials I have found
that most of the memorials with the man's sport or hobby on
them were purchased by their widows. Many would choose a
memorial design that they thought their husbands would have
liked, and the women didn't seem to mind that their names would
appear on the stones. After all, they wouldn't be looking at their
last dates, but would be thinking of their husbands. I think that
perhaps over eight-five percent of these stones were purchased
for the men first.

As for "my wife" et. al. We usually get that from the person who
is doing the burying. This can get very confusing when a person
is buried by several family members — some of the markers
have "son," "brother," and "husband" all across the top of the
marker. Also, many of the markers made years ago with the words
"My wife" on them were made by the company carvers in the
winter months and the memorial was picked directly from the
carver rather than from a picture in a book. One person who sold
markers in this area used to go to the carvers in the city and bring
many back with him, all to be lettered as he sold them.

As for the woman going by her husband's identity, it was very
interesting this past year when I researched an old cemetery here

in Shelby that was established in 1 855. The old map I found was
very hard to read, but on some of the lots there were as many as
three "Mrs. Smith" with no first names given for the women.
After checking with county records, I still could find no names
for them.

Looking for World War II Memorials

The American Worid War II Orphans Network is a non-profit
organization of children of World War II killed or missing-in-
action. The network has begun the American World War II Me-
morial Locating Project which is collecting data on all memori-
als in the United States dedicated to the dead and missing from
World War II. The network is documenting the history of these
memorials — how they were conceived, designed, and financed
— as well as indexing the names. They would like to hear from
anyone who knows of memorials for WWII dead and missing
and who would be willing to document them for the group. Con-
tact the American WWII Orphans Network, Post Office Box 4369,
Bellingham, Washington 98227.

Wanted: Gravestone/Cemetery Resources for Teachers

We are looking for tried-and-true samples of lesson plans, exer-
cises, activities, projects, hand-outs, and ideas! These will be
considered for inclusion in the upcoming AGS publication of a
resource book for educators of students of all ages. Please send
all materials to; Virginia Rockwood, 124 Briar Way, Greenfield,
Massachusetts 01301.

S.V.andS.N.?

Although several AGS members have gone out of their way to
help with this inquiry, we are still trying to find the answer to the
following question, sent in last fall by Suburban Library System
Reference Service in Oak Park, Illinois. Can you help? What is
needed is an explanation of the mitials "S.V." and "S.N.," which
appear on the gravestone of Jonathan Edwards, Sr., famous theo-
logian and, at the time of his death in 1 768, president of Princeton
(then College of New Jersey). The very lengthy epitaph, all in
Latin, was copied in the 1920s from the deteriorating table tomb
at Princeton, New Jersey. It gives his birth (at Windsor, Con-
necticut) as '"V Octobris A.D. MDCCIII (1703) S.V." and later,
his death, which occurred "XXII Martiisequentis S.N." (in 1758).
I suspect that S.V. and S.N. might indicate "old style" and "new
style" dating, but this is only a guess and I have been unable to
prove/disprove the assumption or interpret the initials. If you
have an explanation, please contact me — and the Newsletter:
Lots of "inquiring minds want to know!" Laurel K. Gabel, 205
Fishers Road, Pittsford, New York 14534; (716) 248-3453.

(Please note that Laurel will be away from the Clearing House
during the months of February, March, April, and May, and there-
fore will be unable to answer questions during that time. Please
forward your inquiries to the AGS office, 30 Elm Street, Worces-
ter, Massachusetts 01609; I'll do my best to find someone who
can help you. The Lending Library is being taken over by Lynn
Radke; seepage 11 for details. M.L.)

ACS Winter '95 p. 27

Calendar

Friends ofMt. Auburn Cemetery are offering the following programs:

Feburary 11: Languishing Ladies: Women in Mourning — a slide lecture with Barbara Rolundo.

February 22: Mount Auburn Unveiled — a walking tour with Janet Hey wood.

March 25: The Greenough Brothers: No Stone Unturned — a slide lecture with Ernest Rohdenburg.

For more information, contact the Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

02138; (617) 864-9646.

Feburary 26-28: Restoration '95: International Exhibition and Conference for Professionals and Owners of Histonc Homes
and Collections. Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, call (617) 933-6663.

April: "Weep Not for Me: A Photographic Essay and History of Cataraqui Cemetery" will be exhibited at the Kingston
Public Library, Johnson Street, Kingston, Ontario. There is also an illustrated catalog on this reform rural cemetery of 1850
that was influenced by Mount Auburn [Massachusetts] and Mount Hope [New York]. For further information, please
contact Jennifer McKendry, 1 Baiden Street, Kingston, Ontario K7M 2J7 Canada; (613) 544-9535.

July 13-15: The New England Historic Genealogical Society will mark its sesquicentennial with a major conference and
museum exhibit entitled "150 Years — Exploring Our Heritage" in Boston next summer at the Westin Hotel. The confer-
ence will feature more than sixty presentations; David McCullough {Truman and "The American Experience") will be the
keynote speaker. In conjunction with the conference, NEHGS's anniversary will also be observed through the exhibit "The
American Family: Sharing Our Heritage" at the Museum of our National Heritage in Lexington, Massachusetts, from July
2 - November 26, 1995. For more information, contact the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 101 Newbury
Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116; (617) 536-5740.

September 25-29: The 1995 Laboratoire de Conservation de la Pierre Congress: Preservation and Restoration of Cultural
Heritage will be held at the Centre de Congres et d'Expositions, Montreux, Switzerland. Topics to be discussed include
stone materials, air pollution, murals, and scientific research work and case studies. For more information write: EPFL-
DMX-LCP1995 LCP Congress, Renato Pancella and Michele Citti, MX-G Ecublens, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

© Copyright 1994 Tlie Association for Gravestone Studies. The Association for Gravestone Studies holds the copyright on this Newsletter.
However, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed to reprint an article in it if the reprint is used for educational purposes, full
credit is given to the Association and the author and/or photographer or artist involved, and a copy of the document or article in which the
reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for
Gravestone Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received, and ends one xearfiom that date. A one year membership entitles
members to four issues of the Newsletter. Send membership fees (Senior/Student, $20; Individual, $25: Institutional, $30: Family, $35: Supporting.
$60; Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter
are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and
research concerning gravestones, and about the activities of the Association. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. The
Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, the Journal of the .Associa-
tion for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State College. Monmouth. Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions
to the AGS office, or FAX us at (508) 753-9070. Order Markers (current volume, Xll, $28 to members, $32.50 to non-members; back issues
available) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goesell, 61 Old Sudbury Road. Waytand. Massachusetts 01778.
Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin. E.xecutive Director. AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester Massachusetts 01609. or call (508)831-7753.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
30 ELM STREET
WORCESTER MA 01609

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No.

410

Worcester.

MA

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2

SPRING 1995

ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

Topical Columns

17th & 18th Century: "A Brief Survey of Early Boston Stonecutters" 2

19th & 20th Century: "God's Acres; Anonymity in Shaker Cemeteries for the Communal Good" 4

Gravestones & Computers 6

Conservation News: "East Hartford Burying Ground" 7

Reviews: 8

At Rest, A Historical Directory of Harris County, Texas, Cemeteries (1922-1992) by Trevia W. Beverly

Memorials by Artists by Harriet Frazer

The Art of Death: Visual Culture in the English Death Ritual c. 1500-c. 1800 by Nigel Llewellyn

Architecture and the Afterlife by Howard Colvin

Short Reviews of Other Publications of Note

Points of Interest: "A Pre-Conference Portfolio" 11

Features

"Religious Symbolism on Gravestones" by Sybil Crawford 14

"Kasembon Cemetery, Java, Indonesia" by Lucy Norman Spencer 16

Regional Columns

Northwest & Far West 19

Southwest 20

Midwest 21

Southeast 21

Mid-Atlantic 22

New England/Maritime 23

Foreign 24

From the President's Desk 26

Notes & Queries 26

Calendar 28

Come to Conference! Cover art by Virginia Rockwood

Newsletter Contributions

Contributions and comments to columnists and
Editorial Board members are welcome. Issues
are mailed six weeks after deadlines and often
take several weeks to reach the membership;
please keep that in mind when submitting time-
sensitive material.

Deadlines for Contributions

Summer issue: May 1
Fall issue: August 1 .^

Winter issue: November 1 ^.'^

Spring issue: February 1

COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Westfield, Massachusetts, June 22-25, 1995

Newsletter Editorial Board

Mary Cope, Jessie Lie Farber, Miranda Levin,

Rosalee Oakley, W. Fred Oakley, Jr.,

Barbara Rotundo

Advertising Prices

Business card, $15; 1/4 page, $25; 1/2 page,

$45; full page insert, $100. Ads are placed

as space allows.

Mail contributions to the appropriate person or

to the AGS office. Send advertising (with

payment) to the AGS office: 30 Elm Street,

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

AGS SpringVS p. I

Topical Columns

17TH & 18TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES & CARVERS
Ralph Ticker

Box 306, Georgetown, Maine 04548

A Brief Survey of Early Boston Stonecutters

Gravestones with Lettering Only

There are gravestones in the Boston, Massachusetts, area
dating from the 1650s to the 1670s which are only lettered, hav-
ing no pictorial carving at all. The carvers of these stones have
not as yet been identified. There are few that can be seen to have
been made by the same person. There is little information in the
probate records to assist in such a study. While some stones have
unique lettering, there is little hope of identifying the carvers.

Carvers Before 1700

There are, however, six stonecutters who worked in the
Boston area before 1700 whose stones can be identified. We also
know of carvers who were noted as stonecutters but whose styles
are unknown.

The Old Stonecutter is the earliest known stonecutter.
He has not been identified by name although his work can be
identified. Forbes called him the "Stonecutter of Boston" or more
frequently "The Stonecutter." He is now usually called "The Old
Stonecutter." His work can usually be easily identified by the
eyebrowed skulls, classical Latin quotations, and other identify-
ing characteristics. His known stones date from the 1660s to the
1680s with a few backdated stones (1625, 1653) and a few re-
used stones dated as late as 1712. The stones are all in the greater
Boston area.

While he usually made his stones with a rounded top
and rounded finials (shoulders), the inscriptions are not usually
framed, and bottom borders are rare. The contents of the finials
vary; sometimes a square object is in the round space. He com-
monly used crossbones, picks and shovels, coffins, and hour-
glasses as secondary symbols. Significantly, his use of Latin goes
beyond the "memento mori" and "hora fugit" so common in other
carvers' work.

He also made a few unusual shaped stones with carving
copied from emblem books. These contained figures of father
time, the grim reaper, and skeletons. These stones show the su-
perior quality of his work, which is uniformly excellent.

Four of the remaining seventeenth-century stonecutters,
namely William Mumford, Joseph Lamson, James Foster, and
Thomas Welch, apparently all learned their craft from the Old
Stonecutter, based on similarities in their styles.

William Mumford (1641- 1718) was located in Boston
and carved from the 1680s until his death in 1718. His work is
somewhat similar to the Old Stonecutter but omits the eyebrows.
The eye sockets on his carved skulls are large and oval, and the
side borders are sometimes lush with fruit and deeply carved.
His bottom borders are few, as are his frames around inscrip-

tions. His work is very competent.

Joseph Lamson (1650-1722) was located jusl across
the Charles River from Boston in Charlestown (now Maiden).
He carved from the late 1660s until about 1712, when his sons
took over the trade, although he did carve a few more stones
until his death in 1722. His early stones are difficult to distin-
guish from the routine stones of the Old Stonecutter. His letter-
ing varies in some ways and is useful in separating the work of
the two carvers.

There is a constant improvement in his skill so that one
can almost date a Joseph Lamson stone by the increasing varia-
tions in his style. For example, he first added a frame around the
inscription, then a bottom border, and then a frieze between the
tympanum and the inscription. He consistently used the Latin
"memento mori" and "hora Fucrr" but no other Latin. Aside from
the Old Stonecutter he is the only other carver who used eye-
brows on his skulls in a consistent fashion. A type of drapery
above the skull in the tympanum also served as a distinguishing
detail in much of his work. He was the only carver to use death
imps, and he often used faces in his finials; the styles of these
faces developed in an interesting way.

James Foster (1651-1732) was located in Dorchester
and carved from the 1680s to 1730. He carved mostly a standard
winged skull with little variation. He was a competent workman
and his abundant stones are primarily in the Dorchester and Bos-
ton area. Many of his stones have lighdy incised side borders
with an "engraved" appearance, while other stones had deeply
carved three-dimensioned borders.

Thomas Welch ( 1 655- 1 704) was located in Charlestown
near Joseph Lamson, with whom he worked. The only known
extant probated stone of Welch is identical to a probated stone of
Joseph Lamson, so Welch's other styles are either unknown or so
similar to Lamson's so as to be indistinguishable from them. There
are several references to Welch as a stonecutter, and he was stated
by Forbes to be an assistant to the Old Stonecutter. His estate
lists stone working tools and working stones.

"J.N." may have been James Noyes (1674-1749). the
Boston silversmith, although there is only circumstantial evidence
for this. His stones appear in the Boston area from the late 1690s
to 1705, a brief period for such a gifted carver. Several of his
stones contain the initials "JN." His use of urns, peacocks, and
neriads is unlike that of any of the other local carvers. His work
is top quality.

Carvers to 1700 Who Are Names Only

There are several other carvers in this time fwriod whose
names are documented, but whose work has never been located.
Some may have been simple masons, and others may ha\ c been
gravestone carvers.

William Parham, Jr. (d. 1 666) is called a sloncculior in
the existing records.

Elias Grice (1656-1684) was called a stonecutter in Suf-
folk County deeds. He bought land with the carver \\'illi;mi
Mumford, who made Grice's E;ra\estonc.

AGS Spiing'95 p. 2

New Candidates ' Biographies

C.R. Jones, Cooperstown, New York (Member since 1979)

C.R. is a Conservator of Collections of the New York State Historical Association and Farmer's
Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where he takes care of paintings, prints, and plows. He also
serves as adjunct professor in the Cooperstown Graduate Program in history museum studies. From
1968-1975 he was Associate Curator at NYSHA, and from 1965-1968 he was Director of the Museum
of the Concord [Massachusetts] Antiquarian Society. A special interest in the conservation of
gravestones has developed from his profession and his association with A.G.S. He is a former Board
member who also served as Secretary; in addition, C.R. is frequently a leader in the Conservation
Workshop at the A.G.S. Conference.

Jim Fannin, Concord, Massachusetts (Member since 1988)

Jim is an Associate with the firm of Fannin/Lehner Preservation Consultants in Concord, Massachusetts.
Fannin/Lehner specializes in the conservation of historic burying grounds along with extensive work in
the historic preservation field. He holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.S. from Columbia
University. Jim is a frequent group leader of the Restoration Workshop at the A.G.S. Conference.

Claire Deloria, Baldwinsville, New York (Member since 1990)

Claire is presently an adjunct professor of education at LeMoyne College. She has had over thirty years
experience teaching junior and senior high school social studies. She has made presentations to many
local and state historical and social studies organizations as well as classroom presentations on cemetery
study ranging from elementary school through university. She has received the special honor of being
named New York State Teacher of the Year.

Mary Ann Calidonna, Rome, New York (Member since 1991)

Mary Ann studied paper making and print making at Rome Art and Community Center in Rome and
Munson-Williams School of Art in Utica. She owns Paper Designs, where she produces handmade
papers and dabbings, marbleized Japanese foldbags, and one-of-a-kind jewelry from paper. Mary Ann
is a frequent exhibitor at A.G.S. Conferences and has led workshops in rubbing techniques and
watercolor dabbing.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of the Association

for Gravestone Studies will be held at Westfield College, Westfield,

Massachusetts, on Thursday, June 22, 1995 at 7:00 PM to hear annual

reports and transact such other business as may come before the meeting.

Brenda Malloy, Secretary

1995 NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

For a third two-year term:

Laurel Gabel (Research Coordinator)
Rosalee Oakley
Jim Slater

For a second two-year term:

Daniel B. Goldman
Virginia Rockwood
Stephen Petke
Deborah Smith

New Candidates:

Mary Ann Calidonna
Claire Deloria
James Fannin
C.R. Jones

Continuing on the Board are Patricia Aloisi, Ruth Shapleigh Brown, Frank Calidonna, Robert Drinkwater, Dr. J. Joseph
Edgette, Roberta Halporn, Brenda Malloy (Secretary) , W. Fred Oakley, Jr., John Sterling, and Janet Taylor. There are two
ex-officio members: Elizabeth Goeselt (Archivist) and Richard Meyer (Markers editor).

For the offices of President, Vice-President, and Treasurer, the following are nominated for a two-year term:

President: Frank Calidonna
Vice-President: Dan Goldman
Treasurer: W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Respectfully Submitted,

1995 Nominating Committee — Daniel Goldman (Chair), Frank Calidonna, Stephen Petke

Ballot

THE ASSOCIA TION FOR GRA VESTONE STUDIES
1995-1996 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

BOARD MEMBERS (2-year terms)
Vote for not more than eleven:

[ ] Mary Ann Calidonna

[ ] Claire Deloria

[ ] James Fannin

[ ] Laurel Gabel

[ ] Daniel Goldman

[ ] C.R.Jones

[ ] Rosalee Oakley

[ ] Stephen Petke

[ ] Virginia Rockwood
[ ] James Slater
[ ] Deborah Smith

OFFICERS (2-year terms)

[ ] President: Frank Calidonna

[ ] Vice-President: Daniel Goldman

[ ] Treasurer: W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Please return completed ballot to:

The Association for Gravestone Studies

30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609

by June 15, 1995.

CALL FOR PAPERS AND EXHIBITS

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
1996 CONFERENCE

June 27-30, 1996

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE — GORHAM

You are invited by The Association for Gravestone Studies to submit proposals

for the lecture presentation sessions at its Nineteenth Annual Conference

at the Gorham Campus of the University of Southern Maine.

Papers are welcome from any appropriate discipline.

Suggested topics are occupational motifs, regional monument styles,

quarries and types of stone used for early monuments,

carver research projects, conservation activity in

progress or completed, modem monument design, etc.

Proposals must be received by February 1, 1996.

Those interested in presenting a paper are encouraged to send a 250-word abstract to
Dr. Barbara Rotundo, 48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit #4, Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

before or by February 1, 1996.

For additional information about lecture proposals, please correspond with Dr. Rotundo

at the above address, call her at (603) 524-1092, or contact Conference co-chairs

Catherine Goodwin, 10 Longview Drive, Chelmsford, Massachusetts 01824; (508) 256-6240

or Fred Oakley, 19 Hadley Place, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035; (413) 584-1756.

ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
1996 CONFERENCE

June 27-30, 1996

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE — GORHAM

Conference Facilities

USM-Gorham is a compact campus located about 12 miles west of Portland, Maine. The school's
facilities are in excellent condition. The campus is easily accessible from the Maine Turnpike (Interstate
95) and the Portland airport.

Bus Tours - Friday, June 28

Coastal New England is known for its exceptional colonial stones; several outstanding cemeteries will
be featured on the bus tours. Victorian enthusiasts will not be disappointed, as there is a wealth of
nineteenth century cemeteries within an easy drive of the conference site. In addition, many cemeteries
not on the bus tours will be identified for Self-guided Tours.

Participation Sessions - Saturday, June 29

You are invited to share your expertise as a session leader! In the past, a variety of subjects offered
participants "how to" information, such as using cemeteries as outdoor classrooms, carver research
techniques, recording, photographing and mapping cemeteries, making rubbings, archival storage, using
computers as a research tool, etc.

Conservation Workshop - Saturday, June 29

A Conservation Workshop will be held Saturday, June 29, in a cemetery near the campus. This work-
shop provides basic information and a practicum for those planning to restore gravestones in their local
cemeteries. Participants will learn proper methods for cleaning, resetting, and making adhesive repairs
to various types of gravestone material such as slate, marble, schist, and granite.

Exhibits and Sales

We are eager to hear from members and other interested parties who wish to exhibit photographs, photo
essays, castings, rubbings, and other gravestone-related materials.

Tables for sales items are available for a small fee.

For more information, contact:

Catherine Goodwin Fred Oakley

10 Longview Drive 19 Hadley Place

Chelmsford, MA 0 1 824 Hadley, MA 0 1 035

(508) 256-6240 (4 1 3) 584- 1 756

Topical Columns

Capt. Joseph Whittemore (1667-1746) was a cousin
to Thomas Wclcli and iivcti near both Welch and Lamson. He
was a sea captain wiio probably worked with Wclcii and Lamson
when ashore. None of his work can be identified, although pro-
bate records show that he was paid for making gravestones.

William White (7-1673). Records show that he left stone
cutting tools to his two sons. Nothing further is known.

Henry Stephens (1611-1690) was said to be a stone
mason, but not necessarily a carver of gravestones.

Carvers from 1700 to 1725

Nathaniel Lamson (1692-1755) and Caleb Lamson

(1697-1760) were sons of Joseph Lamson and became compe-
tent carvers. Although their early work was a bit crude, they grew
in ability and became excellent stonecutters. By about 1712 they
took over the carving shop, and their father Joseph carved but a
few stones thereafter. The sons' work is generally recognized by
their use of a fig design that was originally and most commonly
found in the side borders but was eventually found throughout
their stones. Starting about 1710, they were the first carvers to
use lower-case lettering consistently. Their Boston competitors
all used upper-case lettering until the 1760s.

The following carvers either worked together or at least
copied one another, making it difficult to say definitively who
carved a given stone except where probate records or initialed
stones can be found.

James Gilchrist, "J.G." (1687-1722) had a brief ca-
reer as a stonecutter from the early 1700s until his death in 1722.
His stones can be identified because his initials, "JG," are carved
on several of his stones. His stones are similar to those of Will-
iam Custin (with whom he shared a shop), John Gaud, and
Nathaniel Emmes, who were his contemporaries.

William Custin, "W.C." There are only nine stones
from 1711-1715 with the initials "WC" that enable us to assume
that they belong to the known carver named William Custin, who
shared a shop with James Gilchrist. Typical Boston "generic
skulls" as well as cherubs can be found on his stones; one stone
contains both. Side borders of coiled leaves or fruit are undistin-
guished.

William Grant, "W.G." (1694-1726). Like the carver
"JG," we know little of William Grant except his birth and death
dates. One of his few initialed stones is a cherub stone with a side
border of somewhat more graceful leaves than is usual. He carved
in much the same style as Gilchrist, "WC," and Nathaniel Emmes.
His more usual "generic skulls" are difficult to distinguish from
these other carvers' works except where they are initialed. He
was paid for two stones which could not be located. Forbes has
his death date as 1726, although a carver of the same name is
noted as moving to the New York/New Jersey area about 1740.

John Gaud (1693-1750). There is evidence that he was
familiar with the Mumford shop, and that he worked at one time
with James Gilchrist. His work was similar to the other Boston
carvers, except that he often used a frond-like design over his
skulls. With Gilchrist he obtained slate from Slate Island in Bos-

ton harbor. He worked in Boston until about 1728, when he moved
to Milford, Connecticut.

Nathaniel Emmes ( 1 690- 1 750) appears to have appren-
ticed under William Mumford, whose styles he copied. He some-
times added a curved frieze above the skull or cherub. His letter-
ing skills were excellent, and he usually carved on a purple-gray
slate. His skulls vary from crude to excellent in quality, depend-
ing, apparently, on price.

Carvers from 1725 to 1750

Boston stonecutters in this period were primarily from
four families: the Lamsons and the Fosters, each of whom had a
distinctive style; then the Emmes and the Codners. There was
also the later work of the Homer family. All of these carvers uti-
lized nearly identical styles.

Caleb (noted above) and Joseph Lamson, together with
Nathaniel's son Joseph Lamson. Their winged skulls maintain
the unique eyebrows, while a few new varieties of winged faces
(cherubs) appear. A new quarry was found and a striped slate of
a purplish color was commonly used by them. A distinctive
footstone with two fig-like designs is almost a trademark. While
they use cherubs more frequently than previous generations,
winged skulls remained dominant.

James Foster ( 1 698- 1 763) and Hopestill Foster ( 1 70 1 -
1773) were two sons of James Foster who continued the shop of
their father. Their skulls are flat chinned with lightly inscribed
borders that sometimes include fruit or acorns. At times they also,
carved portraits and coats of arms.

Henry Emmes (1716-1 767) borrowed the winged-skull
style of Mumford that had large empty oval eyes and no eye-
brows. A decorated frieze above the skull is common in his work.
His winged faces are not usually facing out, but are angled and
resting on their wings in a distinctive manner. The background is
sometimes stippled, a feature unique to him. His carving is ex-
cellent and borders are deeply carved. In 1763 he removed to
Newport, Rhode Island. His brother, Joshua Emmes (1719-
1 772), was a stonecutter and was later listed as a jeweler, indicat-
ing that he probably did less carving than his brother. The family
often used a reddish slate and later a fine blue slate.

William Codner ( 1 709- 1 769) learned his carving style
from Nathaniel Emmes and has similar designs in his ordinary
work. The faces he carved have a unique puffy mouth which is
easily noted, as well as a thick nose. He produced a variety of
stones with skeletons, portraits, and coats of arms, among other
motifs.

The work of these carvers is illustrated for the most part
in the standard works of Harriette Forbes and Allan Ludwig.@

HAND CARVED LETTERING IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari 433 Bedford Street

(617) 862-1583 Lexington, Massachusetts 02173

AGS Spnng'95 p. 3

udveitisemenl

Topical Columns

19TH & 20TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES
Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

God's Acres: Anonymity in Shaker Cemeteries
for the Communal Good

by Cynthia Toolin
39 Till Street, Enfield, Connecticut 06082

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second
Appearance (Shakers) was a celibate, communal religious soci-
ety. The charismatic leader of the group, Mother Ann Lee, and
eight of her followers left England on a ship after suffering reli-
gious persecution. The group arrived in New York on August 6,
1776.

The Shakers had an inauspicious beginning in the United
States, but became a moderate religious force during the 1800s.
They founded nineteen communities in eight states, predomi-
nantly in New England and New York, but also as distant as Indi-
ana and Kentucky. The religious importance of the Shakers di-
minished through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centu-
ries and ended in the mid-twentieth.

The Shaker perspective on death, combined with the
three principles of order, simplicity, and uniformity that enabled
their communal life to be successful, had a strong impact on
Shaker gravestones.

To the Shakers, physical death was merely another stage
in the soul's life cycle. The soul survived the death of the body
as a disembodied spirit. It would enter a happy, eternal life as a

A GS Spring '95 p. 4

Figure I

spirit, not as a resurrected body. Death was seen as a victory if
the deceased had lived a productive and charitable life, and it
could thus be seen as a happy event. Because only the soul con-
tinued to live, and because the good a person had done during
life was emphasized, the Shakers did not engage in the funeral,
burial, and marker practices extant at that time. Coffins were
plain pine boxes; funerals were solemn, but not elaborate;
gravemarkers were without decoration.

Otis Sawyer, a Shaker in the Sabbathday Lake commu-
nity, wrote in June, 1872:

Why do Shakers appear to have so Hltlc respect for iheir de-
ceased members? Why do they neglect to furnish them monu-
ments, and bedeck their grave with flowers, shrubbery, etc.?
. . .Virtues are more enduring than granite . . . We believe in
decently interring the mortality of those who are happily re-
leased from the troubles of the earth. A plain slab, witli name
and age, marks the spot. Mother Ann Lee's grave ditTers
not at all from those of her surrounding children. We advise
that the various appropriations now uselessly spent on cem-
elcries, should be used lor the elevation of the downcast,
homes for the destitute, and lor charitable and religious pur-
poses generally (Flo Morse, The Shakers and the World's
People. 1980).

Early gra\ cmarkcrs were wood or an appropriate stone
(e.g. sandstone, granite, slate) and wore rectangular w ilh cither
an angular or a slighth curved lop. In IS73. Elder Hcnr\ Blinn
of the Canterbury. New Hampshire. coinmunil\. \ isitcd Lcba-

Topical Columns

non. New York, where he saw cast iron markers. He liked these
markers because they were all identical and were relatively in-
expensive (i.e. about $2.00). The markers, which resembled a
mushroom in shape, were painted white and had raised letters
for the name, date of birth, and date of death of the deceased.
They were used in the New Lebanon and Harvard communities,
but stones were still predominantly used.

The stone markers could be defined as slabs — they
were plain and functional, serving as markers as opposed to the
elaborate carving, sculptures, and monuments that served as me-
morials for the "world's people." Information on the stone was
kept to a minimum and, depending on the community, often con-
sisted of only
the initials or
name of the
deceased, the
date of birth,
the date of
death, and age
(Figure 1).

The
lack of adorn-
ment and the
minimal infor-
mation on the
stones reflected
the communal
life in another
way. To Shak-
ers the commu-
nal lifestyle
was based on
the equal treatment of all

Figure 2

the monument, and/or as a base for the monument. Sometimes,
however, the ever-thrifty Shakers merely recycled the stones.
They would turn the stones over so that the engraving could not
be seen, and use them under downspouts so that mud would not
splash during a rain storm.

The extent to which the Shakers believed in the com-
munal life was expressed by Sister Myra McLean, who visited
the Shaker Museum in Fruillands [Harvard, Massachusetts] six
months before her death in 1 923 . When she saw the funeral plank
that had been used to measure deceased Shakers for their coffins,
she said:

And to think that I shall never lie upon that plank. Eldress Louisa

lay upon it.
Eldress
Ellen Green
and Olive
Hatch and
all the dear
eldresses
and sisters,
but I am de-
nied it. But
1 shall sleep
in the Shaker
burial
ground with
them and we
shall all be
together
(Edward
Morgan, The
Shaker Holy
Land, 1987).

^m^zr^^^^^^m

'^\'^^y.

" , ": V'

'^^.

^^m-

«.i/aiik:A,.^^j^fA

The pride an individual might have in
himself or his accomplishments could disrupt the communal life,
so pride was controlled though anonymity. One of the rules of
the communities was, "No one should write or print his name on
any article of manufacture, that others may hereafter know the
work of his hand . . .The names of individuals may not be put
upon the outside of the covers of books, of any kind" (June
Sprigg, By Shaker Hands, 1975).

This emphasis on anonymity, particularly on markers,
could show that a person's life was a success: he had succeeded
in putting himself behind the good of the community. The de-
ceased Shaker would not be known as anything but a Shaker.

In the late nineteenth century Elder Frederick Evans of
the Mount Lebanon community took this type of thinking to a
new level. He could not see the point in putting time and effort
in manufacturing gravestones or maintaining cemeteries. He said.
"Let our lives be our memorial," and believed that the commu-
nal nature of the community could be shown as continuing in
death by sharing one monument. In many cemeteries the indi-
vidual gravestones were removed and a single monument was
erected, with an explanatory plaque (e.g. Enfield, Connecticut)
or the word "Shakers" (e.g. Canterbury, New Hampshire) (Fig-
ure 2). The individual stones were sometimes used to construct

Shakers believed that the Shaker family stayed intact after death,
and that they would all be united in eternity.

Elder Evans was not happy with the single monument.
He would have preferred to create a park, where the bodies of the
deceased Shakers would literally be fertilizer. He thought that
death would lose its sting if trees were planted by every grave.
He said, "It is only right to return the favor of life to the earth. . .
Each human being, having been comforted and benefited by the
scenery thus furnished while living, would add to earth's fertility
and beauty by the deposit of a body for which he no longer had
any use" (By Shaker Hands).

Other Shakers agreed with Elder Evans: in 1877 Louis
Basint suggested a tree be planted by every grave, and George
Lomas thought the cemeteries could be used to grow vegetables
or flowers. This extreme thinking, however, never became popu-
lar.

The Shakers believed that their communal life would
continue in eternity and were happy to live and die in anonymity
for the good of the communal lifestyle. The monuments to de-
ceased Shakers were not in their markers, but in the fullness of
the lives they lived. They followed the twin moral precepts of
love of God and love of neighbor, putting both above the love of
self. The markers in their cemeteries show how successful they
were m following their beliefs. ^

AGS Spring'95 p. 5

Topical Columns

GRAVESTONES AND COMPUTERS
John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

In the lasl two newsletters I presented the data structure
and suggested data coding for two databases that will become
the AGS standard for recording gravestones. One is used for
recording individual gravestones and the other for recording data
on the cemetery. I have received over thirty-five letters with
suggestions and comments. Many good ideas have been pro-
posed and are being incorporated into the standard database.

There are three groups of researchers who could benefit
from an easy-to-use database with search and report capabilities:
genealogists, gravestone researchers, and gravestone photogra-
phers. The genealogists are probably the only group of research-
ers who will record whole cemeteries, but their work will benefit
the carver researchers. For this reason compromises in the data-
base will tend to favor the genealogists' needs. For example,
genealogists have recorded eighty-five cemeteries in one town
in Rhode Island using an early version of this program. Vincent
Luti asked me to search for all of the slate stones from 1700-
1736 in that town. The search told him that all of the gravestones
in which he was interested were located in just three cemeteries.
They could all be easily seen in one day. It could easily have
taken several months to go to and search all eighty-five cemeter-
ies for these stones.

Many excellent suggestions were made, but I must walk
a tightrope on what to include and what not to include. The two
most controversial areas are data coding and cemetery number.
There can never be enough codes to cover everyone's needs lor
the shape of a gravestone and to describe the carving. I have
added a lew codes to both of these fields but have made a con-
scious effort to keep the codes simple and in broad categories. If
too many codes are used, recording in the cemetery will be mark-
edly slowed, and errors in interpretation of codes will Haw the
data. I received seven suggestions on how to assign numbers to
cemeteries. I have decided to use two letters for state (or prov-
ince), two letters for city, town, or county, and three numbers to
sequentially number cemeteries. Other numbers, such as
Smithsonian site numbers, can be stored in the memo field or in
a separate data field (for experienced database users).

Carver researchers are studying a wide variety of grave-
stone characteristics. These can best be stored in a third database
that can be linked to the two described here. The important thing
is to use the fields that are common so that data can be passed
easily among researchers.

■ The next step is to offer this program in a beta test ver-
sion so people can try it and give additional feedback alter hav-
ing an opportunity to input real data, search the database, and run
the reports provided. The program is IBM based so it will not
function on a Macintosh (1 did hear from a lew Mac users, in-
cluding Ralph Tucker, but the majority were IBM users). Order
the beta test version of the gravestone database and program
through the AGS office for .$9.95 plus $ 1 .95 for shipping. Alter

six to nine months of gathering suggestions and modifying the
program, a final version of the AGS Standard firaveslonc Re-
cording Database will be made available for $19.95. People who
order the beta test version will be able to upgrade for an addi-
tional $10.00. Data entered with the beta test version will be
fully compatible with the final version and will not need to be
reentered.

Early versions ol this program have been in use lor live
years in at least seven states. Rhode Island has recorded 250.(XK)
inscriptions in over 2,500 cemeteries. Three books have been
published on various towns, and one of them contains a .section
on how to conduct a cemetery recording project. Write mc for
details on these. The program is also being used in Connecticut
(three groups), Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine. Illinois,
and Colorado.

The beta test program and databases will meet 100% of
the needs of the genealogist. There is a memo field in both the
gravestone database and the cemetery description database into
which over six pages of notes can be added. In the gravestone
database, the memo field can be used to store detailed notes, dates
of visits, etc.

The program will meet more than eighty percent of a
gravestone photographer's needs. The cemetery map number
can be used to sequentially number all photographs in a collec-
tion. The cemetery section number can be used to indicate the
location of a photograph (box, album, folder, etc.). The memo
field can be used to document camera settings and film specifi-
cations. The cemetery description database will document ex-
actly from where a group of photographs from one cemetery came.

The program will meet over sixty percent of the needs
of a carver researcher, but the balance can be served with a third
database that can be linked to the other two to carry additional
data about a carver's individual characteristics. If there is inter-
est in a program and databases to automate carver research, we
could do that in future newsletters. Let mc hear your thoughts on
this.

To order the beta test version ol ihe AGS Slanilard
Gravestone Recording Program, .send $9.95 plus $1.95 shipping
to: AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts OlfttW. ^

Conference Update

The 1995 AGS Conference will be held Thursday. June 22
through Sunday, June 25, in Westfield, Massachusetts.
Your registration fonn was mailed in March. If you did
not receive one, would like another, or would like further
information, please contact tlie AGS office, 30 Elm Su-eet,
Worcester, Mitssachusetts 01609. Please note that the
registration deadline is June 9.

For tliose who like to plan ahead, the 1996 AGS confer-
ence is planned for June 27-30 in Gorham, Maine. Mark
your calendars!

AGS Si'riiiiiV5 i>. 6

Topical Columns

CONSERVATION NEWS
W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

Conservation Project:

East Hartford Burying

Ground

Shrubs, planted to beautify
a burial site, often become hazards
to the monuments. Such was the
case in East Hartford [Connecticut]
Burying Ground (see photo).

An overgrown shrub, con-
fined between a Revolutionary War
soldier's large slate stone and a
smaller marble (government issue,
set back-to-back with the slate) was
displacing the slate. To protect the
slate it was obvious that the shrub
and its roots had to be completely
removed. The only feasible way to
accomplish the task was to excavate
and remove both stones to get at the
offending growth.

As those who have partici-
pated in conservation workshops at
past conferences can attest, resetting
a gravestone is an adventure. One never knows what may be
encountered. And so it was with this particular project. The

marble stone, showing about eighteen inches above grade, seemed
to "grow" as the excavation progressed. When lifted, it mea-
smed five feel in height! And positioned about a foot below grade,
flush against the marble, was the original slate foolstone!

Once both stones were removed the excavation was sig-
nificantly enlarged to get at the tap
roots which were about three feet
below grade. A bow saw was used
to cut the roots as far down as pos-
sible to prevent plant regeneration.
In the resetting phase a three
inch space filled with pea gravel
separates the slate and the marble
for proper drainage. The marble
was positioned so as not to be vis-
ible when viewed from the inscrip-
tion side of the slate. The original
slate footstone was reset, visibly,
against the marble.

The size and weight of the
two gravemarkers required me-
chanical hoisting equipment. As
reported in a recent Conservation
column (Winter 1995, page 7) a tri-
pod with a chain hoist (or another
type of lifting device) is essential
to handling many resetting projects.
This project was organized
by Friends of Center Cemetery, led
by Doris Suessman and Ruth Shapleigh Brown with conserva-
tion assistance by Fred Oakley. O

Recent Accessions to the AGS Archives

The following is a partial list of books, magazines, and photographs
which have recently been donated to the AGS archives. We are grate-
ful to the donors and, although the archives are not a lending library,
the materials may be accessed by arrangement with the AGS Archi-
vist, the Worcester Historical Museum librarian, or the AGS Execu-
tive Director.

By Their Markers Ye Shall Know Them: A Chronicle of the Histoiy
and Restorations of Hartford's Ancient Buiying Ground by William
Hosley and Shepherd M. Holcombe, Sr

The Jewish Cemeteries of Shreveport, Louisiana by Eric J. Brock.
Cemeteries of Fairfax County, Virginia by Brian A. Conley.
Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey: A Guide by Janice Kohl Sarapin.
Brandon, Rutland County, Vermont, Cemetery Inscriptions by Mar-
garet R. Jenks.

Memento Mori, Death in Nineteenth Centiiiy Photography by Dan
Meinwold.

Early Pioneer Gravestones of Pope County, Illinois by Michael J.
McNemey & Herb Meyer.

The Living Churchyard, a D.I.Y. Information Pack. Information and
newsletter about a project in Warwickshire, England, to help churches
and others see the potential for enhancing wildlife interests in the
management of churchyards.
At Rest: A Historical Directory of Harris Coiinrw Texas. Cemeteries,

1822—1922 by Trevia Wooster Beverly.

Articles about Utah, Idaho, and other Western American gravestone
art, material culture, and folklifc.

Save Our Cemeteries 1991 — 1992 Directory, New Orleans.Louisiana.
American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works'
Guide to the Maintenance of Outdoor Sculpture.
"Relict, Consort, Wife: a Study of Women's Gravestones from
Eighteenth Century Deerfield, Massachusetts" by Tarah Sage
Sommers.

The Homewood, Piusburgh, Pennsylvania, cemetery guide and 6 news-
letters.

Death Dictionaiy by Christine Quigley.
Dead and Buried in New England by Mary Maynard.
Robert B. Severy : black and white photographs of New England grave-
stones.

Alex Beron Jr : 3,500 color photographs of New England gravestones,
focusing on Connecticut.

Phyllis Wetherill: color photographs of European gravestones.
Monument Builders, commercial magazine.

Gifts are always welcome. If you'd like to donate to the Archives, or
would like more information on donating or using the Archives, please
contact me at 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland, Massachusetts 01778.

Jo Goeselt. Archivist

AGS Spring'95 p. 7

Topical Columns

REVIEWS
Eric Brock

Post Office Box 5877
Shreveport, Louisiana 71135-5877

At Rest, A Historical Directory of
Harris County, Texas, Cemeteries (1822-1992)

By Trevia Wooster Beverly

Tejas Publications & Research

2507 TannehiU

Houston, Texas 77008-3052

1993, $25.00 postpaid

Paperback, 101 pages

Review by Sybil F. Crawford

Compiled by a fellow AGS member, this book is a true
cemetery directory. Consequently, the reader is not disappointed
by the conspicuous lack of illustrations or marker discussion.
Peripheral information is lightly touched upon under two sub-
titles, "Funeral Home and Monument Company Listings" and
"Burial Customs and Other Interesting Facts."

Those who get a mental picture of a Stetson, boots, and
low-slung jeans when they think of early Texas will be far off the
mark. Harris County, on the Texas Gulf Coast, was settled by an
assortment of nationalities easily seen in its cemeteries. The ex-
pected English, Irish, Scots, Blacks, and Hispanics are all repre-
sented, with a surprising number of French and German settlers.
Laid out in 1836, Houston's metropolitan population of 2,500,000
today very nearly covers all of Harris County. The author sets
her scene well.

Special interests of the author, a professional genealo-
gist and proprietor of Tejas Publications & Research, color her
work. Varying amounts of data are presented in the 370 cem-
etery listings; alternate names, directions for locating, age, size,
and notable interments are mentioned for most, with a conclud-
ing code number indentifier for those using the helpful Key Map.
While street addresses for various Harris County monument com-
panies were given, zip codes would have been a welcome addi-
tion.

Those wishing to pursue additional research of a given
cemetery will appreciate the references to other printed materi-
als (newspaper columns, magazine articles, library collections)
and the precise citations. Genealogists are made aware of "re-
corded" cemeteries (meaning those whose inscriptions have been
transcribed) and where they are available.

Harris County's location resulted in frequent drownings.
Its hot, humid coastal climate made it subject to many fearful
epidemics — yellow fever, malaria, diphtheria, Spanish influ-
enza, cholera, and smallpox — all grist for the demographer's
mill. One of several yellow fever epidemics hit Houston during
the Reconstruction period. Civil War buffs will sense the lightly
veiled sarcasm of a response given by Houston's City Sexton,
H.G. Pannel, when called before the city's Federal commander
in 1867. The overworked sexton was confronted with the accu-

satory, "Mr. Pannel, they tell me you dislike to bury my soldiers."
As the story goes, the quick-thinking sexton responded, "Gen-
eral, whoever told you that told a damned lie. It's the pleasantesl
thing I've had to do in years and 1 can't get enough of it."

Some of the cemeteries that are in At Rest are extremely
interesting to a variety of different subjects in gravestone stud-
ies. For example, gravehouse aficionados will not want to miss
that erected for Rabbi Jacob Galler and wife at Houston's Adath
Israel Cemetery. Special mention is made of the handmade mark-
ers in Pasadena's Crown Hill Cemetery, devoted to segregated
Anglo and Mexican-American burials. Incorporated in 1861.
Houston's elite Glenwood Cemetery is the final resting place of
Howard Hughes (the cemetery's most-visited grave) and Maria
Franklin Gable, first wife of "the King."

Historic Evergreen Cemetery, dating from 1 894. reflects
the changing composition of an older Houston residential area.
The burial place of many Anglo notables in the beginning, cur-
rent interments reflect an almost exclusively Hispanic back-
ground. The fifteen-acre cemetery, once a neighborhood eye-
sore, is now the recipient of city- wide applause, thanks to a trans-
formation wrought by Evergreen Friends.

While this fact-filled, reasonably priced book will likely
find its largest audience among genealogists and those with Texas
interests, it merits a home in any library intent upon maintaining
a comprehensive collection. Cemetery hunters on wheels will
find its spiral binding makes it easy to handle while driving.

To any AGS members intending to visit the Houston
area, both the book and its author extend a warm welcome: "Y'all
come!"

Memorials by Artists

by Harriet Frazer

Snape Priory

Saxmundham
Suffolk, IP17 ISA England
1993, Paperback, 40 pages

Review by Bruce S. Elliot

In 1985 Harriet Frazer of Suffolk. England, was faced
with choosing a memorial to mark the grave of her step-daugh-
ter, Sophie Behrens. She wanted a unique memorial that would
be a fitting tribute to the memory of a young writer, not a stan-
dard slab off the sandblasting production line, and she encoun-
tered considerable difficulty in tracking down artists willing and
able to design and carve beautiful lettering and imager) . ,-\ couple
of years later she realized that she could use what she had learned
in her long search to help other people in similar situations. Hence
Memorials b\ Artists. Ms. Frazcr's arlist-finders agency as well
as the title of this .second edition of her 1990 booklet, which re-
ceived an award from the National Art Collections Fund for "an
outstanding contribution lo the \ isual arts."

In England, choosing a memorial is not a simple matter.
Even if one can locate a talented carver whose work one likes,
one must also ensure thai the ccmclcr\ or church authorities will

AGS Si>iiiig'9.'i p. S

Topical Columns

allow it to be erected in tiieir burial grounds. This past summer
there was a row in the Enghsh media over the refusal of the vicar
of Freckleton in Lancashire to allow a family to erect a stone to
their "beloved dad and granddad." The vicar argued that such
pet phrases were inappropriately colloquial for a Church of En-
gland churchyard. The consistory court of Blackburn Diocese
upheld the vicar's decision, leaving the aggrieved Brown family
to decide whetlier to apply for peniiission to have their granddad's
body exhumed and reinterred in another diocese. (Times and
Independent, Augusl 10, 11, 1994) Some English dioceses per-
mit no imagery on stones, only lettering, contributing to the dreary
sameness that has resulted from the conjunction of rising costs
and the application of modern technology to the gravestone in-
dustry. American readers may be surprised to learn that in En-
gland, "polished granite can look cheap and is no longer allowed
in churchyards." Mrs. Frazer not only puts inquirers in touch
with appropriate artists but makes certain that the resulting prod-
uct meets church regulations.

The vicar of Freckleton cited in his support the Church-
yards Handbook ("An epitaph is a public document and not a
cozy one at that. Nicknames or pet names, 'mum,' 'dad,' 'Gin-
ger,' inscribed in stone would carry overtones of the dog cem-
etery"), but Peter Burman, a former joint editor of that august
publication, has no such reservation about Memorials by Artists.
which he has endorsed and introduced. Burman made a plea in
the 1976 edition of the handbook for "the reintroduction of true
artistry and craftsmanship in the form of new memorials" as well
as for the "wildlife character of churchyards." The latter plea
has met with more success than the former as advocacy groups
have encouraged parishes to set aside parts of rural churchyards
as wilderness conservation areas. Though ecologically sound
and a victory for naturalists and students of lichens, areas of waist-
high grass can frustrate gravestone hunters by rendering the me-
morials unphotographable or even unfindable.

Though what serves to beautify a graveyard is obviously
open to debate, for the gravestone enthusiast Memorials by Art-
ists provides a treasury of thirty-eight excellent photographs of
recent English memorials by some of the best artists in the busi-
ness. They vary from the elegandy simple lettering of Kevin
Cribb and John Nash to the lush vegetation of Simon Verity and
David Holgate, from the playful yet symbolic child's hide-and-
seek memorial by Richard Kindersley to a classical revival box
tomb by Nicholas Sloan. There is even an unusual modern alle-
gory of death and resurrection in a Welsh slate to Baron Cochrane
of Cults (d. 1990) depicting a songbird perched on the handle of
a shovel, again the work of Kindersley. In the text Sloan pro-
vides a brief survey of British gravestone carving from what he
clearly views as its glory days in the late eighteenth century
through the "Victorian decline" and mechanized product of to-
day to the hopeful "modern revival" which he traces fitfully from
the Arts and Crafts movement. Simon Frazer provides some
thoughtful words on the place of epitaphs in the late twentieth
century, and carver Kindersley offers words of advice about the
advantages and disadvantages of various varieties of stone. His
brief comments are helpfully informative. Darsie Rawlins offers
advice on cleaning stones and argues that "the purpose of clean-

ing is not to keep it looking new, but to help it to grow more
beautiful with age."

Any reader who is depressed about the current state of
memorial production should acquire a copy of Memorials by
Artists and take heart that alternatives are available.

->

V^

SOPH IE
BEHREK:

i )',

The Sophie Behrens gravemarker

The Art of Death: Visual Culture in the English
Death Ritual c. 1500 - c. 1800

by Nigel Llewellyn

Reaktion Books

London, England

1992 reprint (1991)

160 pages, 101 illustrations (10 in color) and bibliography

Review by Marcy Frantom

Llewellyn is a lecturer in art history at the University of
Sussex, England; however, he also uses theories from anthropol-
ogy, sociology, and psychology to give meaning to the funerary
objects he explores. The book examines painting, statuary, wood
cuts, effigies, and funerary gifts such as gloves, spoons, and food
items. He employs these artifacts to trace changes in concepts
about death in Post-Reformation England.

Llewellyn introduces a powerful concept we can use to
help "read" the intentions and meanings of death ritual objects,
that of examining what sense of "self is portrayed by the object.
He indicates that objects may illustrate the personal self loved by
friends and relatives, the social self invested with status and power,
the spiritual self with its possibility of salvation, or the corporeal
self which decays at death. We can avoid misreading objects by
determining which of these selves is emphasized and placing the

ACS SpringVS p. 9

Topical Columns

emphasis in historical context.

He contrasts Post-Reformation concepts of death with
Victorian ones. In the former, dying was not considered a single
event but a long process of extended ritual to accept the death
and repair the social fabric. The Protestant response to the loss
of purgatory was to create "good" and "bad" deaths, in which
accidental or spiritually unprepared death was to be avoided at
all costs. Llewellyn states: "It seems clear, however, that the
Victorian ritual tended to stress the abnormality and the deep
difficulty of death; whereas the final aim of the earlier ritual was
to place death in life in order to soften its blow" (page 136).

The Art of Death devotes only one chapter to
gravemarkers in cemeteries because of the extended tradition
among English elite to be buried in churches, family chapels, or
churchyards. However, the book provides a great deal of back-
ground information and sensitive interpretation of changes in the
English death ritual. It may provide the reader with unexpected
insights in gravemarker study, as it did for me when I recently
found a carved marker in Zwolle, Louisiana, which paralleled
the design of a deathbed painting in Llewellyn's book.

Architecture and the Afterlife

by Howard Colvin

Yale University Press

New Haven, Connecticut

1991, 418 pages.

365 illustrations (7 in color) and bibliography.

Review by Marcy Frantom

Colvin 's book covers funerary architecture in western
Europe from the prehistoric megalithic tombs to nineteenth-cen-
tury cemeteries. He traces the changes over time in funerary
architecture due to social, political, and religious influences. This
ambitious book was written by an authority in architectural his-
tory who serves as Emeritus Fellow of Saint John's College in
Oxford, England.

Apparently Colvin selected such an immense time span
to study large patterns that emerge. For example, he notes that
the Greeks and Romans buried their dead outside the cities and
marked the graves with gravestones (Greeks) and mausoleums
(Romans). Then, from the early Christian period to the Protes-
tant Reformation, people preferred to be buried as close as pos-
sible to the martyrs, and burial in churches or chapels became
the vogue. It was not until the late eighteenth and early nine-
teenth centuries that burials returned to the suburban public cem-
eteries, and gravestones and mausoleums reappeared. Colvin
notes: "Throughout its history the funerary monument has tended
to borrow architectural forms, either from its own day or from
some period in the past that could lend prestige to the present"
(page 217).

The book balances discussion of cultural influences and

representative examples of funerary architecture. Although it

,' only provides a limited discussion of nineteenth-century cem-

■^ eteries, the book will be of interest to those who study larger

cemetery structures. Students of gravestones will find interest-
ing parallels in architectural motifs also used in twentieth-cen-
tury markers such as the "doors ajar" motif of the Counter-Ref-
ormation, which reappears in American commercial markers, al-
though with different meanings and associations. In ail. this is a
very readable book, and it contains a large bibliography broken
down into periods and countries to encourage further reading.

Short Reviews of Other Publications of Note

Reviews by Eric Brock

The Living Churchyard

Not a book, actually, but an innovative package of re-
source materials on British (or for that matter, any) churchyards.
Developed by UK2000, a British conservation group, it details
methods of promoting education regarding churchyards, as well
as their conservation as historical resources, wildlife habitats, and
nature reserves. Further information available from: The Living
Churchyard and Cemetery Project. The Arthur Rank Centre. Na-
tional Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire CVS
2LZ, United Kingdom.

Memento Mori: Death in Nineteenth Century Photography

This is an unusual little book, actually a museum ex-
hibit catalog, published by the California Museum of Photogra-
phy. It deals with the use of photography as a medium for
memorialization. Thirty-three pages long and paperbound. a price
was not immediately available, but inquiries made be made to:
California Museum of Photography, University of California. Riv-
erside, California 92521.

Survey of Historic Jewish Monuments in Poland

A current (January, 1994) report by Samuel Gruber and
Phyllis Myers of the Jewish Heritage Council, World Monuments
Fund. It deals with historic Jewish sites which sur\ive in present-
day Poland. The majority of these are cemeteries, although the
report also deals with synagogues and other structures. The ma-
jority of the few photographs in the book are of cemeteries or
gravemarkers; there is also much detailed data in the text. This
book is an excellent accompaniment to Arnold Schwartzman's
Graven Images: Graphic Motifs of the Jewish Gravestone (re-
viewed in the Summer, 1993. Newsletter), which is long on su-
perior photos of Polish Jewish gravemarkers but short on text.
Again no price information was available, but inquires may be
made to: JewishHeritageCouncil, World Monuments Fund, 174
East 80th Street, New York, New York 1 002 1 .

Cemetery Inscriptions, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

This is a 298 page volume of data gathered o\ er many years by
Ida and Bernard Pineo and Wilnia Grant and edited into one vol-
ume by John Fipphen, Historian of the New Hampshire Society
of Mayflower Descendants. Published in U)'J3. ii is a historical
record of great value to the area in question, ihougli ii remains
primarily a genealogical record. The paperbound book is avail-
able for $23.50 from Heritage Books. Inc., Bowie. Maryland.©

AGS Spring'95 1>. 10

Topical Columns

POINTS OF INTEREST
Bill Hosley

Old Abbe Rciad

Enfield, Connecticut 06082

To allow more time for reader response, future "Points of Inter-
est" columns will appear twice yearly, in alternate issues. Winter and Summer.
Our space in the Spring issues will be devoted to a variety of features. This
Spring's feature is an illustrated selection of the 1995 AGS Conference tour high-
lights.

Please note: Submissions are still being accepted for "Things Gravestone Mak-
ers Made that Weren't Gravestones, " our subject for the Summer '95 issue (see
Winter '95 issue, pages 12-13).

A Pre-Conference Portfolio:
Westfield and the Mid-Connecticut Valley

Tiiis year's AGS Conference in Westfield,
Massachusetts, should be one of the best ever. Living
nearby, I'm probably biased, but the Connecticut Val-
ley of Massachusetts is not only one of the most his-
toric regions of New England, it was a veritable melt-
ing pot of styles, technologies, and stonecutter's raw
material. Home to some of the nation's most abundant
and active brownstone quarries, it also favored marble,
slate, a granite-like material called schist, soapstone,
cast iron, cast bronze, and more. For Victorianists,
Springfield Cemetery is an under-reported treasure that
includes two of my favorite Victorian monuments, the
Capt. William Day monument, circa 1855, (Figure 1),
decorated with a bas-relief depiction of a naval battle
between Americans and French during the last phase
of the French and Indian War in 1760. Apparently the
family had a painting or drawing (now lost?) on which
the stonecutter based this work. The monument was
originally crowned by a sloop-of-war, which is lying
in need of restoration at the monument's side. Although
it is damaged, this stone remains one of the most in-
triguing works of its type anywhere.

Figure I

AGS SpringV5 p. II

Topical Columns

Figure '.

Figure 3

Also in Springfield is the Van Zandt/Mackenzie/Smith
family monument, circa 1 890, (Figure 2), one of the few markers
I've seen anywhere in the Art Nouveau style art historians asso-
ciated with the "Glasgow School" and the artist Macintosh. This
is highly refined and stylized work in granite.

For those who like earlier stones, folk art, and regional
styles, Westfield is a special treat. Kevin Sweeney has described
Westfield as one of the only colonial burying grounds in the Con-
necticut Valley where the original messy and jumbled arrange-
ment of stones remains intact. For those who wonder if there
could be any carvers left to identify, Westfield includes works by
some of the greatest "unknowns." From an artistic point of view,
the Ensign Mathew Noble stone, 1772, (Figure 3) is an example
of the most voluptuous style of brownstone carving, from just
before the Revolution when demand for gravestones surged in
the Connecticut Valley and the range of artistic expression peaked.
Whoever its carver is, he had few equals in the Valley or else-
where in New England during the period.

Another unknown stonecutter of comparable skill is
widely represented in burying grounds in nearby Enfield and
Suffield, Connecticut, both destinations on the conference tours.
One of my favorite works by this carver is a stone marking the
grave of Mr. Isaac Kibbc. 1760, (Figure 4). Like the Noble stone,
it was probably made by one of perhaps half a dozen stonecutters
who worked the dense-grained brownstone quarried at East
Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The Kibbe stone is especially in-

AGS Sprini;V5 17. 12

teresting for its use of features found in contemporaneous re-
gional architecture — the shell and "tobacco leaf border being
unique features.

Also in Enfield is a stone made of schist and attributed
to Gershom Bartlett, the "hook-and-eye" carver of Bolton. Con-
necticut, whose move north to the Upper Valley of Vermont around
1774 made him that region's first prolific stonecutter. One of my
favorite Bartlett stones marks the grave of Obadiah Pease, circa
1770, (Figure 5), which has a lengthy inscription in Latin. The
parents of a young man whose major accomplishment in life was
to have attended college wanted their son to go out in the style of
his peers. (New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery is filled with
early stones like this which also mark the graves of young men
cut down in the bloom of life.)

Finally, the Adams Cemeten,- in Wilhraham. Massachu-
setts, is not to be missed. Beautifully maintained with a user-
friendly tour program, this site also contains a \\ ide assorimeni
of folk carving beginning as early as the 1 720s. One of the sad-
dest and most intriguing episodes in the town's history was llie
death of a large group of lecnagers. probably out "partying" on
"Nine Mile Pond" during the spring of 1799. The grim lale of
their deaths is recorded in half a dozen stones scattered about liie
yard; the grandest (huge, at almost five and a half feet!) marks
the grave of the "three children" of Levi and Martha Bliss (Fig-
ure 6).

Topical Columns

Figure 4

Figure 6

i*V.

y:.!

'Il'ffi

r;|

"fy

Figure 5

This and more awaits conference touring parties
wiiose tours also include Longmeadow, Massachusetts,
home of the best quality brownstone ever quarried in the
Connecticut Valley and home of many of the region's most
imaginative and skillful carvers.

"Points of Interest" is a members' forum for studying pic-
tures, ideas, and information about the "discoveries" we
all make from time to time. Alternate issues of the News-
letter report findings from the previous "assignment" and
conclude with a new assignment. Member participation is
essential, and you are encouraged to suggest topics for dis-
cussion. Photographs may be small (even snapshots), but
they must be clear. Black-and-white photos reproduce best.
Only those submitted in a self-addressed stamped envelope
can be returned. C*

AGS SprmgVS p. 13

Features

Religious Symbolism on Gravestones

by Sybil F. Crawford

10548 Stone Canyon Road #228

Dallas, Texas 75230-4408

The attractively shaped marker illustrated on this page,
executed in jet black granite, was photographed at Seattle's Lake
View Cemetery in August, 1994. Over 2,000 miles away, in
Chicago, persons attending the 1994 AGS Conference saw mark-
ers with this same symbol during the cemetery tours which have
become such a popular ingredient of these events. The question
pondered by all parties was, "What does it mean?" Early re-
search produced no evidence that it had fra-
ternal connotation, and nothing indicated that
its individual design elements were always
found together. This called for a transfer of
attention to the component parts. The cross
itself was familiar, but the more exact mean-
ing of other features was less obvious.

The Cross

While prisoners were put to death
by crucifixion long before the time of Christ,
the symbolism under study has its roots
firmly imbedded in more recent religious
lore. The Russian Orthodox Cross illustrated
here (and sometimes called the Eastern
Cross) originated as a reference to the cross
of crucifixion. The cross was T- or tau-
shaped, the stipes (upright) being perma-
nendy set up at the place of crucifixion. The
patibulum (crossbar) was ordinarily carried
to the crucifixion site by the prisoner, then
secured to the upright by placement of a large
vertical spike upon which the charge against
the accused was displayed. Over time, the spike evolved into an
upright extension, with the accusation taking permanent form.
Mark 15:26 (King James Version of the Bible, hereafter KJV)
gives us the following particulars as they relate to the crucifixion
of Christ:

And the superscription of his accusation was written over,
The King of the Jews.

The horizontal supendaneum appears as a "footrest."
Perspectives of the footrest came to be angled, and there are Byz-
antine examples with it angled in either direction. The Russian
Church eventually made a uniform choice, and the footrest now
runs from upper left to lower right. Pious legends arose, assign-
ing historic and divine justification for the choice. The Eastern
Church believed that Christ was crucified with His feet side by
side, not one atop the other as we are accustomed to seeing in
religious art of the Western and Protestant churches.

When the Russian Cross is properly depicted, a footrest
is exactly the same length as the uppermost arc. with the ends cut
so they are vertical. The reason for its slanted position is not
well established — some say its original perfectly horizonal po-
sition was disturbed by an earthquake. There is Biblical support
for this line of thought. In speaking of an occurrence which took
place on the Sabbath immediately following crucifixion. Mat-
thew 23:2 (KJV) states in part:

And, behold, there was a great earthquake.

Mark 27:54 (KJV) described it thusly:

Now when the centurion,

and they that were with him.

watching Jesus, saw the earthquake,

and those things that were done,

they feared greatly.

Others say the footrest was set awry
at the deposition (court inquiry) which took
place at the crucifixion site. The theor)' with
perhaps the most adherents seems to suggest
some connection with the Saint Andrew's
Cross (Saint Andrew being the Apostle who
introduced Christianity in Russia).

The Lance

The lance, when seen alone, is a Pas-
sion symbol, representing the sufferings of
Christ between the night of the Last Supper
and His death upon the cross. It is also rec-
ognized as a Passion symbol when shown
piercing a heart.

In our example, we see two lances.
One appears unencumbered while the sec-
ond pierces an object not easily recognized. In attempting iden-
tification, semantics intervened. It takes no giant leap of faith to
see a relationship between a lance and an arrow. By doing so. we
have less difficulty in accepting the hypotheses which follow.
One of the more obscure meanings of "reed" is "arrow." Hence
we searched for some object or objects traditionally associated
with a reed within an appropriate frame of reference. Two
possibilites emerged.

Hyssop on a Reed

Hyssop, a European foriii of mini, has liighK aroiiuuic
and pungent leaves and is often cultivated as a rcnied\ for bruises.
Symbolically, it represents purification, absolution, and humil-
ity, and was used in the purgative sprinkling rites o\ the .lews.
Soldiers, in mockery, dripped inssop in Christ's blood and
sprinkled it on the spectators gathered at the foot of the cross.
See Psalm 51 (KJV) for this reference lo hyssop:

AGS SpringV? p. 14

Features

Purge inc with hyssop, and I shall he clean;
wash me and I sludl he whiter than snon:

Sponge on a Reed

While Christ was nailed to the cross, surrounded by a
milling mob, Mark 15:36 (Good News Version) tells us that:

One of them ran up with a sponge,

soaked it in cheap wine, and put it on the end of a stick.

Then he held it up to Jesus ' lips . . .

Mark 15:36 (KJV) says it slightly differently:

And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar
and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink . . .

John 19:29 (KJV) makes dual reference to the hyssop
and sponge, telling us that the following occurred after Christ
made bystanders aware of his thirst:

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar

and they filled a sponge with vinegar,

and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth . . .

Deciding whether it is hyssop or a sponge (or both)
which appears on the reed in our illustration posed a problem
initially. One distinguishing feature seemed to set the two apart,
however: hyssop has been seen specifically referred to as being
tied to a reed, and one of the numerous references consulted pic-
tured a reed with an object tied thereon at its upper end — pre-
sumably hyssop. This being the case, it seems likely that the
unbound pierced object in our example is a sponge. Since the
hyssop leaves came from the branches of a small coarse bush,
there is always the possibility that the reed was a branch from
this plant. This definition of "reed" does not, however, lend it-
self to a quote from Mark 15:19 (KJV), where the activities of
the mob are described:

And they smote him on the head with a reed . . .

When considered from the standpoint of a weapon, the defini-
tion of a "reed" as a lance would clearly have more impact.

The Skull

The skull symbolizes death, the fall of man, sin. When
shown under a cross it specifically represents the skull of Adam.
Adam's skull was supposedly found at Golgotha (meaning
"Mount of the Skull" m Hebrew), lying below the cross; other
sources indicate that the hill itself was skull-shaped. (Golgotha
and Calvary are often used interchangeably.)

Found in Genesis 2:9 (KJV) is an account of the tree of
life and the tree of knowledge, the latter of which has a bearing
on the symbolism under study:

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every

tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food;

the tree of life also in the midst of the garden [Eden],

and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

One legendary account tells us that a seed from the tree
of knowledge lodged in Adam's skull previous to its burial on
Golgotha. The seed later grew into the tree which became the
cross. In a somewhat altered version. Eve planted a branch of
the tree on Adam's grave. Taking root, the branch grew into a
tree and became part of the Temple grounds. Cast into the Pool
of Bethesda at the time of the Exile, it was eventually recovered
and its wood used to make the cross.

In Jesus' time, Golgotha was not far outside the gates of
Jerusalem and the Pool of Bethesda was near the city's sheep
market. Golgotha is today found within the New City Walls.
Any good set of Biblical maps of Jerusalem will pinpoint these
locations with exactitude, both historically and as they exist to-
day.

The Initials

The initials appearing to the left and right underneath
the base of the cross were perhaps the marker's simplest feature,
yet the most difficult to which to assign a meaning. The initials
(in Cyrillic) translate into the English "G" and "A" and are an
abbreviation for "Adam's head." The deceased's surname (also
in Cyrillic) translates to "Eppler."

Many of the reference works available on the subject of
religious symbolism date back to the nineteenth century. While
admittedly valuable resources for the serious researcher, the lan-
guage is often archaic, and illustrations are the exception rather
than the rule. Those with gravemarker interests are likely to pre-
fer references giving some visual confirmation of what they have
seen in the field. The appended religious symbolism bibliogra-
phy was developed during this exercise and is admittedly incom-
plete, focusing on publications of more recent vintage and (in
most instances) well illustrated. Those entries marked with an
asterisk (*) were particularly useful to this specific study.

Books alone seldom furnish all the answers. AGS mem-
ber and preservation consultant Eric J. Brock of Shreveport, Loui-
siana, shared his expertise in unscrambling the deceased's Cyrillic
surname as it appears on the marker. Credit for sharing the ob-
scure meaning of the Cyrillic abbreviations below the cross goes
to Mina Jacobs, Assistant Curator at Alaska's Anchorage Mu-
seum of History and Art, who was aided by a Russian colleague.
Frances Bell of the Dallas Public Library's Humanities Division
added her professional direction to the related library research.
Jane Greenough Green of Seattle, Washington, arranged the tour
of Lake View Cemetery.

If there is some more scholarly or sophisticated expla-
nation for this complex of symbols, reader comment would be
welcome.

Please see Bibliography on next page.

AGS Spring'95 p. 15

Features

Religious Symbolism Bibliography

Benson, George Willard. The Cross: Its History and Symbol-
ism. Buffalo: privately printed, 1934.

Cassirer, Emst. Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1953-57.

(*) Child, Heather, and Dorothy Colles. Christian Symbols An-
cient and Modern: AHandbook for Students. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971. (Easy-to-read format and well
illustrated.)

Circlot, Jean Eduardo. A Dictionary of Symbols. New York:
Philosophical Library, 1971. second edition.

Cooper, J.C. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols.
Thames & Hudson, 1978.

Dalviella, Bovlet and Eugene Felician Albert Comte. Migra-
tion of Symbols. B.Franklin, 1972.

Danielou, Jean. (S.J.) Primitive Christian Symbols. Baltimore:
Helicon Press, 1964.

Smeets, Rene. Signs, Symbols, and Ornaments. Reinhold,

1975c.

Stafford, Thomas Albert. Christian Symbolism in the Evangeli-
cal Churches. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1942.

Todorov, Tzvetan. Symbolism and Interpretation. Cornell
University Press, 1982.

Twining, Louisa. Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediae-
val Christian Art. London: Longman, Brown, Green and
Longmans, 1852.

(*) Webber, Frederick Roth. Church Symbolism. Cleveland:
J.H. Jansen, 1938, second edition.

(*) West, Canon Edward N. OuVA^ard Signs: The Language of
the Christian Symbolism. New York: Walker and Company,
1989. (Particularly recommended because of its current slant
on the subject and because it is illustrated; also has a good
chapter headed "Heraldry and Symbolism.")

Whittick, Arnold. Symbols. Signs and Their Meanings and
Uses in Design. Charles T. Branford, 1971c, second edition. &

Eliade, Mircea. Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious
Symbolism. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1961.

. Symbolism and the Sacred Arts. Crossroad, 1985.

Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1954.

Goldwater, Robert John. Symbolism. Harper- Row, 1979c, first
U.S. edition.

Guenon, Rene. Symbolism of the Cross. Luzac, 1958.

Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art.
Harper-Row, 1974c, first U.S. edition.

Huxley, Francis. Way of the Sacred. Doubleday, 1964c.

Johnson, F Ernest. Religious Symbolism. New York, London:
Harper & Brothers, 1955.

Lehner, Ernest. Symbols, Signs and Signets. New York: Do-
ver Publications, 1969.

Mackenzie, Donald Alexander. Migration of Symbols and
Their Relation to Beliefs and Customs. Detroit: Gale Research
Company, 1968.

Post, W. EUwood. Saints, Signs and Symbols. Wilton, Con-
necticut: Morehouse-Barlow, 1974.

Kasembon Cemetery, Java, Indonesia

by Lucy Norman Spencer
23 12 North Vernon Street, Arlington, Virginia 22207

This article about a cemetery in Java. Indonesia, is based
on anthropological notes and knowledge which Stephanie Spen-
cer, the author's daughter, acquired as a Fullbright scholar and
discussed with the author. For nineteen months Stephanie lived
as the only Western person in the village of Kasembon, southeast
of Surabaja and west of Bali. She is fluent in the languages and
worked with a Javanese anthropology research assistant.

As with all villages, the site for the Kasembon cem-
etery was on the poorest land at the edge of the village. Since its
founding in the 1 880s, houses have been built around it and paths
intertwine among the more than two hundred graves. Some paths
go over unraised graves despite the desired Moslem intent to avoid
trespassing by raising them. Ms. Spencer and her assistant ob-
served they were the only ones avoiding graves.

Both Moslems and Hindus regard cemeteries as scary
places where spirits live and come out at night, just as in ani-
mism before Islam. Additionalh. Moslems believe that Allah
created different kinds of creatures and spirits other than man,
and those can come out at night. Islam forbids supplication of
ancestors but does teach respect for forebears, while Hindus may
pray to ancestors. Since most are Moslem, the Javanese have
few reasons to go to the cemetery except for the annual fix-up
just before Ramadan, unlike some Westerners who seek solitary

AGS SpnngV5 p. 16

Features

reflection there. Although the cemetery is the last place Javanese would go without a ritual obligation, the village, which buries
Moslem, Hindu, and Christian in the same cemetery, cherishes that mixture as a symbol of how well they get along.

Burial plots are bought from the government but controlled and paid for in renewable ten year intervals. !i payment is not
made, someone will be buried on top of the previous grave. This system has been in effect for I'ifteen years despite the fact that
migration has left space which could be reused.

The Javanese have a custom which is most regenerative for both land and the families (a custom similar to cedar trees being
planted and growing in southern cemeteries). Two twigs from the Frangipani (or Kambodja in Javanese) tree are broken off and
planted at the head and the foot of the grave at the same time of burial. These twigs take root almost immediately and create a natural
delineation of the grave. A marker could be added later, as money allowed. These cemeteries are not the cleared and mown acres we
have, but graves within a forest of various sized trees. If the marker disintegrates, the new trees mark the grave.

The pointed roofed structure is the
bier for carrying the body or cas-
ket (only Christians are buried in
caskets). Moslems lie with their
heads toward Mecca. The Hindu
head must lie toward Semeru, the
Hindu sacred mountain. A death
in the day must be buried by sun-
down. Moslem custom does not
allow females to accompany the
body to the cemetery, and only a
few males go, but friends and rela-
tives visit the home. Like most
markers which are painted, this
one is bright blue.

The oldest graves have
markers of soft porous
stone. The marker
style of three tiers is
from Hindu cosmol-
ogy of heaven-hell,
earth-sky, and earth-
underground. This
shape can be seen in
modern graves, too.
Note the path.

■ ACS SpnngVS p. 17

Features

The gender of those
buried is indicated
by a point at the top
of the marker for
males and a notch
for females. Modem
style markers ap-
peared in the 1950s
and names and dates
(on only a few
graves) in the 1970s.
Note the opening on
the rectangular grave
for the soul to rise at
Moslem judgement
day and for flowers.

You can tell that this
is a grave for the
wealthiest family and
for Moslems because
of the concrete wall
and the full, rectan-
gular graves. Addi-
tions are made as the
family has money .@

AGS Simn(iV5 p. IS

Regional Columns

NORTHWEST
& FAR WEST

Alaska, California.

Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,

Montana, Nevada, Oregon,

Utah. Washington, Wyoming,

Alberta, Saskatchewan. British Columbia

Bob Pierce

208 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco, California 94131

For this issue I would like to describe two books I re-
cently discovered. They are large tomes which should be wel-
come resources for cemetery buffs.

Cemeteries of the U.S. -A Guide to Contact Information for
U.S. Cemeteries and their Records

Deborah M. Burek, Editor

Published by Gale Research, Inc.

1994, $149.95.

1 ,607 pages.

This hardback book lists and describes more than 22,600
cemeteries that have interred U.S. Citizens.

The book provides contact information for +/- 2,000 state
and local genealogical and historical organizations and libraries
housing genealogical information, citations to state and local pub-
lications that can provide detailed information on individual cem-
eteries in a particular geographic area, an appendix of state cem-
etery licensing agencies and cemetery districts, and an appendix
of contact information for the titles listed throughout the book.

The main body and indexes allow users to locate cem-
eteries through the following access points: state, county, cem-
etery name, former or alternate cemetery names, city, and affili-
ations, such as national, military, and religious designations.

Features of the book: Geographic arrangement is orga-
nized by state, then county, then alphabetically by cemetery name.
Entries may include any or all of the following: cemetery name,
address (both geographic and mailing), telephone and fax num-
bers, contact people, former names, years of operation, owner-
ship/governance, affiliation, facilities, services, cemetery records,
historical and architectural information, and publications about
the cemetery. These listings are organized by state.

This book, while covering more than 22,000 cemeter-
ies, gives more information about the cemeteries listed than any
book I have seen. It is an invaluable tool for those who look for
cemeteries in various geographic areas as well as providing in-
formation about the cemeteries.

Do not expect the book to list every cemetery and burial
site in the United States. Abandoned cemeteries and burial sites
on farms, etc., will not be found in the book (however, some
listings of private cemeteries are included). Nor are publications
about cemeteries listed. Listings of famous people in the cem-
eteries seems lacking. All this, however, is nit-picking. The book
itself is a tour-de-force in the area covered. This is the first edi-
tion, and if the book does well. Gale Research will do a revised
edition. An indispensable book.

United States Cemetery Address Book, 1994-95

by Elizabeth G. Kot and James D. Kot

Published by Indicics Publishing

1994, $50.00.

890 pages.

This soflcovered book lists more than 25,000 cemeter-
ies, addresses, and locations. Listings are alphabetical by stale,
giving city and county. For example:

Connecticut

New Haven (New Haven)

Grove St. Cemetery
227 Grove Street (06511)

Some cemeteries that are listed give only zip code location,

e.g.,

Massachusetts

Springfield (Hampden)

Cherry Lane Cemetery (01101)

Taunton (Bristol)

Father Wilson Cemetery (02780)

The book has a preface page and a key to abbreviations
page. In the preface the authors state that they have used the best
available sources for each state. Some states have their own reg-
istry of cemeteries. Many listings were compiled from telephone
books. Not all cemeteries in any given town were listed, and in
small towns it is often impossible to obtain a cemetery address.
Since many cemeteries have been known by more than one name,
where possible, the authors have listed all names with a slash (/)
between them. For example:

Michigan

Wayne Township (Cass)

North Wayne/Ccrwin Cemetery (49047)

Some cemeteries that were named with initials were entered as
shown in the source:

Illinois

Rock Falls (Whiteside)
lOOF* Cemetery
607 Dixon Ave. (61071)
*IOOF = International Order of Foresters

Oklahoma

Miami (Ottawa)

GAR* Cemetery

Department of Parks & Recreation (74354)

(mailing address)

L:N Main (location of cemetery)

*GAR = Grand Army of the Republic

Sometimes it is necessary to direct mail to a town which
is different from the cemetery location. This is indicated. Town
headings are followed by the county, in parentheses, in which

ACS SpringVS p. 19

Regional Columns

they are located, followed by the address. If the mailing address
is listed first, the location is on the following line, indicated by a
capital "L" and a colon. See example above, under Oklahoma.

While this book does not contain as much information
as Cemeteries of the U.S., it is a great resource for anyone who
loves to seek out cemeteries as well as those who need to contact
cemeteries for information. A highly recommended book.

I have order forms for both books. If you would like an
order form drop me a postcard and I will send you one. I will
also try to bring both books to the ACA/PCA conference in Phila-
delphia and to the AGS conference in June.

Guided walking tours in Victoria, British Columbia's
Old Cemeteries: Spring Schedule

April 29-30 - Heritage Cemeteries Symposium: two days of

discussions, slide shows, and workshops about the history and

preservation of the Pacific Northwest's heritage cemeteries.

May 7 - Ross Bay Cemetery - Literary Tour.

May 14 - Our Lady of the Assumption Cemetery.

May 21 - Ross Bay Cemetery - In the Name of Love:

Victoria's most famous (and infamous) romances.

May 28 - Sooke Field Trip.

June 4 - Ross Bay Cemetery - Echoes of Distant Wars:

Crimean war, U.S. Civil War, Riel Rebellion, Boer War, World

Wars I and II.

June 11 - Jewish Cemetery.

JunelS - City Fathers: Father's Day tour to the graves of

Victoria's deceased Mayors, led by the living Mayors.

June 25 - Saint Stephen's Churchyard tour and display.

If you are interested in obtaining a schedule or informa-
tion regarding membership, write to: Old Cemeteries Society of
Victoria, 628 Battery Street, Victoria, British Columbia V8V 1E5,
Canada. @

SOUTHWEST

Arizona, Arkansas,

Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklahoma, Texas

EUie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Fax: (602)647-7136

Phone: (602)647-7005

"More than a generation ago," wrote Edward Everett
Hale in 1877, "a common joke — one of the most cominon —
represented that when an insolvent debtor or a rough, who had
been engaged in an unpleasantness, or any other loafer who had
changed his home, wished to leave warning behind him where
he had gone, he chalked upon his door the letters G.T.T." These
letters were in no way mysterious. They meant and were under-
stood to mean. Gone to Texas. (GTT, or the Wondeiful Adven-
tures of a Pullman, Boston, 1877).

Like the loafer who changed homes, I should have
chalked "G.T.T." on my intellectual door, or more appropriately,
"G.TA." (Gone to Arizona). No one warned me that day upon
day of sun, or sun and clouds, or wind, or changing seasons and
with them changing birds and flowers, would undo my disci-
pline so profoundly. But such is the case, and I apologize to the
people I have indolently failed to contact (wailing for a rainy
day?) including the Pioneer Cemetery Association in Phoenix,
the City of Mesa (Arizona) Cemetery, Susan Moyers in Albu-
querque, who writes good letters, and various other "pen pals."

Anyway, my news is brief. A non-profit group has been
formed in Texas by Karen Thompson of Austin, a real estate agent
who has had a keen interest in the preservation of historic cem-
eteries in central Texas for twenty-five years. The press release
announcing the formation of "Save Texas Cemeteries, Inc." says
that the scope of the new organization will be the "state-wide
protection and preservation of Texas cemeteries and burial
grounds through public education and historical research in or-
der to preserve the rich, multi-cultural heritage of the state's his-
tory for future generations." Among the planned initiatives are
an "adopt a cemetery program" which strikes me as an interest-
ing idea, along with a twenty-four hour hotline to report vandal-
ism not only by persons on foot, but by bulldozers, who commit
"overnight murder," presumably at the request of land develop-
ers. I was not aware that this was a common practice and would
be interested in hearing from others whether this occurs in their
areas. Now that the mountain states (Nevada. Idaho, Arizona,
Utah, and, I believe, Colorado) lead the country in population
growth, this kind of vigilance is undoubtedly well-advised, since
residential and commercial construction has also accelerated tre-
mendously. Small family or public cemeteries, which may not
have been well-recorded on survey maps (Spring 1994, page 18)
could easily get swept up in the construction frenzy.

Persons interested in learning more about this organiza-
tion should contact its president, Karen R. Thompson, at Post
Office Box 101975, Austin, Texas 78720-1975. Her phone/fax
is (512) 258-5688. Or contact Board Member, professional ge-
nealogist, and author of Af Rest: A Director^' of Harris County-
Cemeteries, 1822-1992 (see review on page 8). Trevia Wooster
Beveriy at 2507 Tannehill Drive, Houston, Texas 77008-3052.
Her phone is (713) 864-6862, fax is (713) 864-3540.

With this in mind, and fearing that I would have noth-
ing to say in this column. I stopped earh this e\ening at a small
cemetery (perhaps fifty marked gravesites) that I pass daily be-
tween Vail and Tucson, located on a little knoll with a view of the
Rincon Mountains to the east and the Catalina Mountains to the
north, overlooking a lushly green ribbon of flood plain where
hundreds of cattle are now grazing. From the road "Rincon Cem-
etery" looks more crowded and imposing that it actually is. in
part because it has a towering cross, towering llagpole, and a
large "ramada" or shade at its gated entrance. Mexicans and
Anglos are both buried there, and the majority of the markers are
less than a quarter century old. For its small size, there was an
unusual amount of individuality in the selection of decorative
motifs. I wonder if this individuality (or personalizing) is a trend

AGS SpringVS p. 20

Regional Columns

— just as it's a irciid lunv to picture bridal couples in newspaper
announcements, in contrast to the former practice ol showing
only the bride. For example, a 1984 marker ol' Gilbert Acoste
(1906-1984) depicted his cattle brand and a prancing horse and
rider. Nearby, H. Reginald Rus.scll (1909-1978) is depicted in
medium relief in a portrait stone, showing him holding a camera
with flash attachment. A seventeen-year-old's marker included
brightly painted boxing gloves marked "everlast," as well as a
cowboy lassoing a calf, and a guitar. Yet another showed the
outlining of the country (drawn without reference to adjoining
nations), and its flag. I will have to look elsewhere in the vicin-
ity for recent markers to see if "personalizing" actually is a trend
in marker design and manufacture. Or is it simply a custom at
little Rincon Cemetery? j©

■- .i».-aafeisf'ii

MID'WEST

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,

Kansas, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri,

Nebraska, North Dakota,

Ohio, South Dakota,

Wisconsin, Manitoba, Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323

It will not be an easy task to follow the delightful dedi-
cation of Jim Jewel in his devotion to grave matters. He will be
sorely missed by friends of AGS. I have humbly accepted the
responsibility for this column.

For those whom I have not met I will introduce myself
as "The Cemetery Lady," a name given to me many years ago at
a postcard show. Collectors become known by their area of in-
terest, and cemeteries have been foremost in my pursuits for nearly
twenty years.

Innocently, I began looking for the monuments and bod-
ies which had once been in the now abandoned City Cemetery,
1843-1866. Then a friend mentioned that he was certain that
he'd noticed a cemetery at O'Hare. There was very little infor-
mation on Chicago's cemeteries. (In the Chicago Public Library's
subject index under cemeteries; Buck, Pearl S., The Good Earth.
A book about China!)

Collections of cemetery-related material began: books,
articles, photos, pamphlets, maps, postcards, mourning items, etc.
There was no reason to believe that an organization such as AGS
existed until the day I found the name Barbara Rotundo and wrote
to her Her answer was a true revelation to me, for I found there
were people with similar interests "out there."

Three years ago I found the records for the "City Cem-
etery." I had already expanded my scope to include such things
as sources for materials, ethnic customs, geology, transportation,
more missing cemeteries, endangered cemeteries, religions and
their effects on cemeteries, columbariums, etc.

Recently I have been involved in the possible naming
of a small Jewish burial site to landmark status, writing a guide-
book for a large cemetery, and finding 2,000+ bodies and monu-
ments moved from a Catholic cemetery 120-130 years ago. The

records arc embedded in the pages of extant cemetery ledgers.

Last October 1 taught a course, "Chicago and its Cem-
eteries," at the Lyceum of the Newberry Library. It was repeated
in March.

Having begun with a mention of postcard collecting,
I'd like to refer to Phil Kallas' late night presentation at the AGS
Conference in June, 1994, of cemetery images on same. Some
who heard his very interesting talk learned that there is a very
large collection of over 360,000 catalogued images available at
the Lake County Museum, CurtTeich Postcard Archives, 27277
Forest Preserve Drive, Lakewood Forest Preserve, Wauconda,
Illinois 60084. Assuredly not all cards pertain to cemeteries but
many do. There is no better way to learn what something looked
like than to find a postcard of it. Postcards came into existence
with Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893. AGS member
Bob Pierce has visited the Museum and assures me that every-
thing is on computer ©

SOUTHEAST

Alabama, District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky.
Maryland, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Lucy Norman Spencer
2312 North Vernon Street
Arlington, Virginia 22207
(703)527-7123

The Story of Tom Dula

In 1866, twenty-two year old Laura Foster was buried
in a private cemetery in Lenoir, North Carolina, to which her
tombstone has recently been returned after vandals took it away.
According to a researcher with the North Carolina State Archives,
Ms. Foster was stabbed to death by a twenty-three year old Civil
War veteran named Torn Dula, who, according to legend, got her
pregnant and then conspired with his married lover, Ann Melton,
to kill her

Tales of this dark mountain deed circulated through the
hills for a hundred years, sometimes in story and sometimes in
song, until the 1960s folk music craze, when the Kingston Trio
stumbled across a variation of the ballad "Tom Dula." They
changed his name to Dooley and sang.

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley

Hang down your head and cry.

You killed poor Laura Foster,

And now you 're bound to die.

What's known for sure is that Tom Dula was a real per-
son and that he was tried and hanged.

New National Register Cemetery

The 1880 Darlington Cemetery and Sanctuary in the
Maryland Lower Deer Creek Historic District has been listed on

AGS Spring'95 p. 21

Regional Columns

the National Register of Historic Places.

A Question About "Consort"

It is unclear to me whether the word "consort," when
used on a gravestone, means mistress, slave, or wife. There is at
Ashland, the estate of Henry Clay in Lexington, Kentucky, a stone
marker dated 1831 which refers to "Sarah . . .Consort of John
Paul." "Consort" in this case has been assumed by some to mean
slave mistress of a white man. The stone was found in a separate
area on the estate which the curator of Ashland thinks was a slave
cemetery. Historically, consort has not been restricted to slavery
or used as a synonym for mistress. Prince Albert was referred to
as consort of Queen Victoria. The curator admits that conjecture
plays a large part in the identification of Sarah. Few nineteenth-
century written records concern cemeteries, but the Henry Clay
letters at the University of Kentucky special collections may help.

AGS member Margaret Jenks writes that "consort was
very common up to say 1 850 and always just meant wife. In the
area of Vermont where I have copied ninety-nine percent of the
stones, a good percentage of old stones use the term consort for
wife, ... the population was less than one percent Black."

If anyone has further contradictory uses and informa-
tion about the word consort, please write to me or the AGS of-
fice. Has a man (other than Prince Albert) been labeled "con-
sort?" Let us know! ®

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware, New Jersey,

New York, Pennsylvania,

Quebec

G.E.O. Czarnecki

28 10 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 11235

I would like to share with AGS members some of the
basics of the several research projects in which I have been en-
gaged over the last many months. These are endeavors for which
I have been collecting data, photos, and rubbings for a bit of time
and will be writing up in the coming months. Newsletter space
may eventually limit this materiaKand the quarterly publication
dates could mean delays in exposure. I will hereby give a brief
account of the material in case research-oriented members would
like a preview or to correspond on the subjects. Some of the
topics are more related to the New York City area but in actuality
they will have parallels and significance throughout the geographi-
cal range of colonial era stones.

1. I have been investigating a colonial motif here in
New York City which I call the "almond-eyed head." This mate-
rial deals with motif decline and disappearance as well as a coin-
ciding product/consumer awareness on the part of the cutters that
is also part of the change.

2. I have been investigating obscure material cut by
John Zuricher. This project seems to keep expanding, but I hope
to have a full piece (with photos) for readers soon.

3. Because of my concern over the scarcity of colonial
stones with ornamental motifs in New York. I have been work-
ing on a paper dealing with the importance of separating the stones
with motifs from those without. All too many people conglom-
erate gravestones into one category, which has created an all
around apathy. I have been trying to emphasize that the small
number of stones with artwork should be given priority concern
if they are to be saved. Generally, New York City is not as rich in
motif-bearing stones as New England. As an example, the larg-
est collection of colonial stones in Brooklyn is about 200 stones
in one yard (the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church), but only fif-
teen stones have motifs. Therest are devoid of artwork. It looks
like there are a lot of colonial era stones left, but most are with-
out artwork. Without this differentiation of status I fear that this
valuable colonial art will be lost. I have discussed this project
with some people of power hoping to convince them that this is
the best strategy for preservation. I am a firm believer in indoor
preservation of elaborate stones, endangered stones, stones al-
ready lying on the ground, unique pieces, etc. Cemeter)' meet-
ings have been occurring, always with an emphasis on clean-up.
I have been trying to provoke those who can be influential to do
something serious about saving this diminishing Americana.

4. During the course of the past few months I have
acquired a great interest in a subject on which not too much has
been written: fieldstones and homemade markers.

Those of us who spend time in the yards rubbing, pho-
tographing, and collecting data have seen them and recognize
them. They have certain attributes, qualities, and standards that
give them similarities which I will try to define.

The terminologies "fieldstones" and "homemade" can
usually be used interchangeably except for a few points. Field-
stones are natural stones found in the local terrain that already
have a shape that is usually selected for its usability as a marker:
appropriate height, width, at least one flat surface, not too rough;
basically usable with little or no alteration. Very simple and lim-
ited data is cut on the face, probably by a family member or friend.
Initials seem to be most common, with a death date and some-
times the birthdate and age at time of death. Ornamental motifs
are rarely if ever employed. Simply cut straight lines are laced to
divide initials from dates or merely to enclose the entire data
above and below. The shape at the top of the stone could be
rounded, triangular, squared, or crude, but I believe that shape
was an important factor in selection.

As can be seen, fieldstones are "homemade" but not all
"homemade stones" are fieldstone. A homemade stone could be
much more like store bought but cut by a famii) member or friend,
an amateur cutter who didn't cut stones for a living. Many ama-
teurs attempted tympanum motifs, and the stone style usually
fits more of the standards for markers with regards to stone type,
shape, fully fiat cutting surface, definite tympanum with or with-
out motif, full name, etc. Homemade is closer to store bought. It
is more imitative of store bought, but made by an amateur. Thc
quality of the work is indicative of it, with simple shallow cuts
for lettering,"^d motifs that are copies of popular ones of the
tune but lack real artistic skill and talent. Although these stones

AGS SpringVS p. 22

Ri'f^ional Columns

■MX lioiiiL'iiunlc, Ihcy MX sonicliiiics most bcuulilul and clclicalc.
They arc Ihc Icarlul labor of love lor a departed loved one, and it
shows. Many have griel'and sorrow cut inio ihcni, an attribute
missing in many professionally cut pieces.

I am asking AGS members to send me anything they
have or know about Cieldstones and homemade markers. I pro-
pose a project to be composed of all who contribute to produce
as large a collection of data on the subject as possible — photo-
graphs, sizes, inscriptions, stone types, drawings of motifs if
unrubbable, sexes and ages of the deceased, sites of the stones,
etc., would all be welcome.

Find a stone, write it up, and send it to me. After a year
(with your help) we should have enough material to compile into
an authoritative piece.

Fieldstones and homemade markers are genuine Ameri-
can folkart and truly representative of American gravestone con-
cepts. Your piece of data can contribute significantly to the re-
sult. ©

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine.
Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Vermont. Labrador. New
Brunswick, Newfoundland,
Noi'a Scotia
Bob Klisiewicz
46 Granite Street
Webster, Massachusetts 01570

It is seldom that we hear of anyone but AGS members
making use of the very accessible and usually quite accurate in-
formation carved into the many old gravemarkers in this area.
Linda Burchand writes of one such group in the October 31,1 994,
Berkshire Eagle [Massachusetts] and the unique program pre-
sented by Williams College in Williamstown which combined
the information gathered from these stones, the 1 850 census re-
port, and probated wills of the period to come up with a database
on more than 1,000 mid nineteenth-century Williamstown resi-
dents.

Eighteen students in Trudi Abel's Nineteenth Century
American Culture class participated in this project, gathering the
information, sorting and analyzing it, and finally, reporting the
results of their work. Even though a majority of the information
was based on the wills and census, it seemed to be the grave-
stones that brought the dusty facts to life. Abel explains in the
article that only the power of a modern computer could make it
possible for the students to analyze and categorize such a mass
of information in such a short time, searching for patterns and
trends that would not be easily accessible to researchers a gen-
eration ago. The use of computers in gravestone data processing
isn't all that new, of course. We all are familiar with John
Sterling's regular "Gravestones and Computers" column for this
newsletter, and the responses he gets to his questions and com-

ments show that there are more than a lew others out there with
sinular interests. None the less, it is always gratifying to see
additional interest in the use ol the computer in gathering and
classifying gravestone data.

Abel's class did a masterful job grouping and analyzing
the information, resulting in some conclusions that may have been
a little surprising to those students who have had only a minor
brush with Berkshire history. As an example, they found that
most families were not as large as many people would have ex-
pected, with the majority of families having only two or three
children (although farmer's families tended to be larger). An-
other interesting discovery for them was that the one hundred or
so Irish immigrants in the area tended to marry among them-
selves almost exclusively. This may hint that the same cruel ra-
cial segregation and discrimination was practiced against the Irish
in inland Williamstown as was common during this same period
in the larger coastal cities.

The bulk of this information, interesting and important
as it may be, still comes across as dry as bones, while ironically,
only the gravestone study seems to add life to the project, creat-
ing real people out of the bare statistics, and exposing the stu-
dents to a society of people who lived their lives filled with simi-
lar hopes and fears, joys, and sorrows as the students themselves.

Andrew Swayze of Dedham, Massachusetts, reported
on the shifting styles of epitaphs from the eighteenth century
through the mid-nineteenth century and was fascinated by the
evolution of styles during that period. He noticed that they be-
gan with deeply religious epitaphs and changed slowly to a long
compilation of the secular virtues possessed by the deceased in
the 1810s and 1820s. Swayze commented that these latter epi-
taphs reminded him of resumes.

Another student was intrigued by a triple gravestone of
a man and his two wives. The stone for the wife that prede-
ceased the man was elaborate, while the stone for the one who
survived him was quite plain. The article didn't indicate whether
or not the student speculated on the reason for this oddity; how-
ever, quite a number of simple reasons could account for such an
occurrence. (One that immediately comes to mind would be the
situation where the first stone was placed there by a lovmg hus-
band, while the second wife's may well have been placed by the
somewhat less loving stepchildren. All in all, it was unlikely that
the stepmother would ever see it.)

Finally, senior Florence Waldron speculated that the
much higher number of religious epitaphs on the tombstones of
young adults was the result of greater religious conviction of the
parents that buried them rather than those of the young people
themselves. Waldron could, of course, be right, but the thou-
sands of letters written by similar young people during the Civil
War indicates that a real religious feeling ran deep within them,
and Waldron may be making the mistake of transferring her own
religious convictions, or lack thereof, to that of her peers of a
century and a half earlier. If she is, she wouldn't be the first to do
so. This could be a nice project for an AGS researcher to further
develop.

Under any conditions, it is nice that the students are being

ACS SpriiigVS i>. 23

Regional Columns

HI

g|

^

\ /

1

1

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f

exposed to the charm and lore of the old stones, and whatever
they learn from this exposure can only add to their sense of con-
tinuity with their fellow travelers in an earlier Williamstown. ' Pro-
fessor Abel is to be commended and her students encouraged to
continue such excursions into early New England culture. Who
knows but this may ignite a lifelong interest in the subject for a
few of them? ^

FOREIGN

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14
D-63322 Rodermark 2
Germany

News from Members

Around the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle
of Normandy, reports about American military cemeteries in Eu-
rope appeared in many newspapers. Among several clippings
sent in by Phil Kallas was one from the Army Times travel sec-
tion ("Paying respects" by Madilee C. Wnek, May 2, 1994, pages
10-11), that presented the American Military Cemetery and Me-
morial in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach. It
is operated by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Its
1.5 million annual visitors are encouraged to seek assistance in
finding grave and memorial sites from the staff, who are avail-
able from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer, to 5 p.m. in the winter
(The office is closed from noon until 3 p.m. on weekends as well
as on U.S. and French holidays.)

The cemetery was established in 1956, and its 172 acres
are laid out in the form of the Latin cross. Over 9,000 markers
recall the servicemen and servicewomen who died in the Battle
of Normandy. They had originally been buried in temporary cem-
eteries. Whenever the next of kin wished so, the military dead
were returned home to the United States. Fourteen thousand re-
mains were thus transferred from Normandy to North America
between 1950 and 1955.

The Garden of the Missing, situated, at the rear of the
memorial building, commemorates 1 ,557 service members miss-
ing in action. Their names, ranks, organizations, and states are
engraved on a semicircular wall.

The November, 1993, issue of VFW magazine (page 36)
lists the numbers of burials and missing memorialized in eight
military cemeteries established by the American Battle Monu-
ments Commission after World War I in Belgium, England, and
France.

Anne Stanton's article, "England Remembers: A Trib-
ute to Fallen American Warriors," (Army Times, November 8,
1993) is about the American Cemetery and Memorial in the En-
glish village of Mattingley, about three miles from Cambridge.
This burial ground was established in 1943 on land donated by
the University of Cambridge for American sevicemen and
servicewomen who died in or around the British Isles during
World War II. There are 3,000 plain white Latin crosses and
Stars of David on the thirty-acre grounds, each bearing the name.

rank, and hometown of the person buried underneath. The names
of over 5,000 members of the Army. Army Air Forces. Navy,
Coast Guard, and Marine Corps, whose remains were never found
or identified, are inscribed on the 472-foot Wall of the Missing.
The Memorial, at the far end of three reflecting pools covered
with water lilies, is divided into a chapel and a small museum.
The cemetery is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer: in the
winter, from 9 a.m. until dark.

Also from Phil Kallas' collection is the following item
of grave news: Audrey Woods' "English Churchyard Won't Al-
low 'Dad'," Stevens Point Journal, [Wisconsin] (August 15,
1994, page 20).

On August 8, 1994, a Church of England consistory court
in the diocese of Blackburn confirmed the right of local vicars to
enforce the rules in their churchyards. A controversy over the
admission of nicknames and pet names on gravestones received
national attention when the Rev. Stephen Brian, following church
guidelines, refused to let parishioners have "Dad" inscribed on
their father's gravemarker in the Holy Trinity churchyard of
Freckleton, Lancashire. The issue polarized public opinion into
those who encourage individualism in the burial ground and oth-
ers whose idea of tasteful commemoration does not admit
gravemarkers with a personal touch.

Individualists are advised to travel to Sapinta in north-
ern Romania for inspiration. Its "merry cemetery." designated a
United Nations cultural landmark, has about 600 ornate wooden
crosses, painted blue, red, and yellow, with caricatures of the
deceased and first-person lines of verse. They are the creations
of Stan Ion Patras, who started carving in this style in 1932, and
of his successor Dumitru Pop. Sapinta villagers are expected to
compose their own epitaphs in time, but the carver may take some
poetic license when inscribing the final version.

A dominant theme among the epitaphs is regret about
departing too early from a life of drinking and socializing and
whatever else makes life attractive to Romanian peasants. Sev-
eral markers provide graphic descriptions of the manner of death
that brought those buried underneath to their graves. One young
man was struck by lightning in his bed. Another man was killed
by logs when walking drunk in the woods. A woman was killed
by a taxi. "In all of Romania it could find no place to park except
in front of our house, where it ran over me." "Here I lie without
my head," explains a shepherd's epitaph. "A bad Hungarian came
and shot me in the head and severed it from my body. Ma) he be
damned for all eternity." Death came less swiftly but also tragi-
cally to the man whose grave inscription declares his love of
dancing to the violin. "But after I got married, my wife wouldn't
let me. And I died in sorrow."

The Parish priest of Sapinta urges his congregation to
carry on the tradition of having custom-made gravemarkers. how-
ever eccentric they may be. (Roger Thurow. "I Loved Women
and Horses; I'm Sad I Died So Young." Wall Street Jounuil. June
27, 1994, pages Al &A9.)

Copies of all the aho\e-nicntioncd articles as well as
page 3 of the London Times, .■\ugusl 10, 1 994. containing "Church
Court Upholds Gravestone Ban" and "Tlic Comic Side of Death"

AGS Spring'95 p. 24

Regional Columns

contributed by Toni Cook, have been deposited in the AGS Ar-
chives.

Charles Merbs sent the ibilowing piece about an un-
usual type of gravemarker.

The Ossuary At Kuntd Mora

Among the most unusual memorials to the dead are those
composed of the actual remains of the dead, a spectacular ex-
ample of this being the kostnice (bone house, ossuary) at Sedlec
near Kutna Hora, a city east of Prague in the Czech Republic. In
1142, a century and a half
before silver was discovered
around Kutna Hora, making
that city wealthy, a Cistercian
monastery was built in
Sedlec. Not much is known
with certainty about the cem-
etery that was established at
the monastery, but legend has
it that in the late thirteenth
century Abbot Jindrich
brought soil back from what
he thought was Christ's grave
in Jerusalem, thus making the
Sedlec cemetery a symbolic
part of the Holy Land. In this
way the cemetery won fame
as a place to be buried, not
only among the local resi-
dents of Bohemia, but as far
away as Poland, Belgium,
and southern Germany. At
times the population of the
cemetery grew very rapidly,
as during the great plagues of
the fourteenth century and the
Hussite wars of the fifteenth
century.

The Sedlec

Kostnice, known as the
Chapel of All Saints, was
built in the fourteenth cen-
tury. After the Hussite wars,
more and more of the cem-
etery was abolished, with the
excavated bones stored in the

chapel. According to the story that has been handed down, in
1511 a half-blind monk arranged the bones, estimated to repre-
sent some 40,000 individuals, into six huge, flat-topped pyra-
mids, nearly twenty feet in height and about that same dimension
in diameter.

The monastery was terminated by Emperor Joseph II in
1784, with the property then purchased by the Schwartzenberg

Family of Orli'k. In 1 870, for the sum of 12,000 guilders. Prince
Karl of Schwartzenberg hired wood-carver FrantLsck Rint and
his family to decorate the chapel into the remarkable form we
see today. Dismantling two of the six pyramids, Rint used the
bones to decorate the walls and ceilings and to build symbolic
chalices and monstrances. His two "masterpieces," however, are
a huge "chandelier" hanging in the center of the chapel and the
Schwartzenberg coat-of-arms (see photo) attached to the frame-
work in front of one of the remaining pyramids. Both are built
almost entirely of human bones. The crown at the top of the
coat-of-arms, for example, is composed of skulls, pelvic bones,

scapulas (shoulder blades),
femoral heads, and ribs, all
wired together to achieve a
fantastic effect. At the lower
right of the crest, a bird (also
composed of human bones)
is seen plucking at the
empty eye socket of a skull,
with a wing of the bird con-
sisting of the hand and wrist
of an individual who had
suffered from such severe
arthritis that the bones had
fused into a single mass.
The artist even used human
bones to sign his work,
"1870 F. Rint of Ceska
Skalice" (translation), on
one of the walls.

The bones used to
decorate the kostnice were
undoubtedly selected for
their appearance and unifor-
mity, with the remainder
from the two dismantled
pyramids, said to consist of
another 40 cubic meters of
bone, buried under a large
iron cross in the cemetery.
The bones on exhibit do not
exhibit the expected shades
of yellow, brown, or black,
reflecting the natural color
of bone or pigments ab-
sorbed from the soil in
which they had been buried,
but are uniformly white, the result of their being disinfected in
chlorinated lime by Rint. The overall effect of this kostnice on
its visitors is usually one of awe, with at least some appreciation
of the art created from human bones — objects usually hidden
away in vaults or beneath soil, but it also serves as a powerful
reminder of one's own mortality. ®

AGS Spring'95 p. 25

From the President's Desk/ Notes & Queries

FROM THE
PRESroENT'S DESK
Rosalee Oakley, President

19Hadley Place, Hadley,
Massachusetts 01035

Special Recognition for Daniel Farber

At the January 21st meeting of the AGS Board of Trust-
ees, Daniel Farber was elected Trustee Emeritus. This is the first
time the Board has conferred this status on an AGS member, and
it goes to someone who is a very special person in the life of the
organization.

Dan has played an exceptional role in the history of AGS
through his leadership as a trustee for many years and a former
President of the Board, as well as his financial support through
the years. This support has enabled the organization to move
from a volunteer operation to one with professional staff and as-
sistants and made it possible to move the office from a home
location to a professional location at the Worcester Historical Mu-
seum. In addition, the Research Clearinghouse has had access to
photocopies of his thousands of gravestone photographs which
make it possible for the Research Coordinator to answer inquir-
ies from members and the public. The credit line, "Photograph
by Daniel Farber," represents a major contribution to the under-
standing and appreciation of gravestone carvings as an art form.
His perception and encouragement of AGS as an organization
that fosters appreciation of the cultural significance of gravestones
is now embodied in our mission statement.

The title of Trustee Emeritus entitles one to lifetime
membership both on the Board of Trustees and in AGS, and com-
plimentary admission to all future annual conferences. At a spe-
cial conference reception before dinner on Thursday, June 22,
we will officially confer this lofty title and the benefits of Trustee
Emeritus upon Daniel Farber.

Participation Sessions Offer Some New Topics

Part of the appeal of our AGS Conferences is that our
members are so open to sharing their experiences, skills, and in-
terests. We have some new subjects in the Participation Sessions
this year that promise to take our conferees into several new ar-
eas. Sessions on archival care for papers and for photographs
and the use of computers for recording cemetery records have
been requested in the past and will be offered this year. Tracing
the history of gravestone imagery and determining what can be
learned about slavery in Massachusetts through studying grave-
stones in local cemeteries are two of the other offerings.

We still need more. If you are willing to share some
basic skills such as rubbing or photographing with our new mem-
bers, or if you have a special interest that fits into a fifty-five
minute time segment, please contact me right away at 413-584-
1756.

Excellent Response to Newsletter Survey

Your response to our query about the timing and condi-
tion of your receipt of the Winter AGS Newsletter has been ex-
cellent, and we thank ail of you who sent postcards and letters!
As of March 18, eighteen days after the Winter newsletter was
mailed, thirty-seven postcards and letters have arrived, all indi-
cating the Newsletter was received in mint, excellent, or very
good condition.

As you might guess, the majority of our early respon-
dents are from New England states, and various areas of New
York. However, we've also had responses from Saint Cloud,
Minnesota (6 days), Stevens Point, Wisconsin (6 days), Anacortes,
Washington (6 days), Albuquerque, New Mexico (6 days). West
Point, Georgia (7 days), Shreveport, Louisiana (7 days). Lexing-
ton, Kentucky (7 days), Panaca, Nevada (7 days), Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania ("weather capital of the world !" 8 days), Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania (8 days), Henderson, Kentucky (8 days). Colum-
bia, South Carolina (8 days). Harmony, Pennsylvania (9 days),
Dallas, Texas (10 days). Temple, Texas (10 days), Steuben ville.
Ohio (10 days), Pittsboro, North Carolina (II days), Shelb\.
Michigan (11 days), and Chicago, Illinois (13 days).

A member in Colebrook, New Hampshire, wrote. "Ar-
rived in mint condition March 7. Not bad, considering rain, sleet,
mud, and a black lab next door who loves mail carriers nigh unto
death!"

We'll have a further update in the next newsletter, so
keep the cards and letters coming!

Janet Taylor Featured in Article

The restoration work of AGS trustee Janet Taylor is the
subject of an article in the October, 1994, issue of Stone in
America, the publication of the American Monument Associa-
tion. Janet has a monument company in Pittstleld, Massachu-
setts, and has developed an enviable reputation for her restora-
tion work. She supplied the interviewer with all the warnings
that we wish all monument dealers and cemeter\ superintendents
would heed: Use natural bristle brushes and preferably water
alone (and not under pressure) for cleaning, use no adhesive stron-
ger than the stone itself for repairs, etc. The magazine also fol-
lowed her article with a page devoted to two long quotations
from Lynette Strangstad's A Graveyard Preservation Primer.
Congratulations to Janet! ©

NOTES & QUERIES

For Sale: Stonecutter's Tools

A box full of chisels, mallets, etc., some bearing Trow
& Holden or Stanley trademarks, numbering appro\iniaicl\ one
hundred; some have never been used, some may date to 1940s,
perhaps earlier. In good to excellent condition. Sale as a single
lot most desirable. For further infoniiaiion contact Hollis A. Clark.
16 Clark Circle, Lynn. Massachu.sells 01905.

AGS Si)ringV5 p. 26

Notes & Queries

Call for Papers

The "Cemeteries and Gravemarkcrs" Permanent Section of the
American CuUure Association is seeicing proposals for its paper
sessions scheduled for the ACA's 1996 Annual Meeting to be
held March 24-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Topics are solicited
from any appropriate disciplinary perspective. Those interested
are encouraged to send a 250 word abstract or proposal by Sep-
tember 1, 1995, to the section chair: Richard E. Meyer, English
Department, Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon
97361; Phone; (503) 838-8362, Fax: (503) 838-8474.

When Less is Not More:
The Design of the Negro Burying Ground in Manhattan

One of the maxims of modern art is "Less is more."
While I am not opposed to the principle that artists should ex-
press themselves in any manner that is personally meaningful, I
have definite reservations about the potential designs for a monu-
mental environment for the Negro Burial Ground (New York
Times, March 18, 1994).

These designs are supposed to honor those colonial era
Blacks buried in a long forgotten site near the Federal Building
in one of the oldest parts of the city. New Yorkers faced down
federal contractors and successfully demanded cessation of con-
struction on a new skyscraper after hundreds of skeletons were
unearthed beneath the soil of the building site. It turned out that
some city officials had known about the burial ground all along;
extant maps charted its existence, laid out at what was, in the
1700s, the most northern boundary of New York. (The cemetery
was a necessity because Blacks, like Jews, were denied burial in
the area's other yards.) Right now, the area contains absolutely
nothing but a stretch of green grass and a sign. Any gravemarkcrs
seem to have been destroyed or discarded.

The designs illustrated in the Times article (presumably
those the writer believed were the most noteworthy) were so
minimal as to be meaningless. One proposal offered a glass wall
embedded with brass pins to represent the shroud fasteners found
at the site (as if the public would recognize what a shroud fas-
tener looks like!). Another proposed an exterior sidewalk with a
mosaic pattern of undifferentiated "grave goods."

At what point do we draw the line between sorely needed
public education and non-representational art? Far too many New
Yorkers of every color have little knowledge about (because they
were never taught) the American history of many ethnic groups.
I am still trying to catch up on my "non-Puritan" American his-
tory. For instance, like many New Yorkers, I had always sniffed
at the miserable "Jim Crow" practices in the South's past. Re-
cently, however, I came across a handsome bronze bas-relief on
a mausoleum to a Sarah Cotter in Calvary Cemetery I, in Queens.
What riveted my attention to it was the sight of a classically
dressed woman's figure with her arms drawn protectively around
two groups of children — one group white and the other, as-
toundingly and obviously, black.

Why were black children being memorialized in a "lily

white" Catholic enclave? And what did the words mean below
her figure — "The NYC Draft Riots?"

Of course I had to find out to what this referred and it
turns out there is plenty of written information available. To my
chagrin (and the destruction of my misplaced Northern superior-
ity), it turns out that m 1 863, 3,000 to 5,000 free black citizens of
New York were murdered by an Irish Catholic mob who feared
what would happen to their unskilled jobs if the Emancipation
Proclamation were passed. The riot was so deadly and wide-
spread (it reached as far as Boston) that Union troops had to be
withdrawn from the front to quell the violence.

Why Draft riots? Since enlistment in the Northern Army
had declined far below the Civil War's requirements, Lincoln
had instituted the first draft act in our history. In those days, you
could pay someone to take your place, and it was during the first
hour of the registration that impoverished, mostly Irish immi-
grant substitutes lined up to take the jobs. However, realizing
that their sympathies really lay with the Southern planters and
slavery, the line broke, and their outrage at their own miserable
lives was spent on the hapless black citizens of the northeast.

It seems to me that this is the kind of story a historical
monument could project — one that educates, inspires, and fills
in the lacunae created by the prejudices of the past. It takes a
skilled artist to design it, like those who recreated Ellis Island, a
full scale evocation of the past of many Americans. But what I
conceive as the purpose of a landmark discovery like the Negro
burying ground is not going to be supplied by a blank wall or a
meaningless sidewalk. In the spirit of our Association's poten-
tial contribution to current cemetery design, I would welcome a
chance to take part in a debate in these pages — first, whether it
is part of our role to try to inspire better contemporary memorial
design; secondly, whether the past is served better by abstract or
concrete design; and thirdly, whether any AGS members have
had experiences with this type of situation and what resulted from
it. Roberta Halporn, 391 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York
11217. ©

EARLY PIONEER GRAVESTONES
OF POPE COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Michael J. McNerney Herb Meyer

This fascinating book places twenty-three human effigy folk gravestones
and the persons and families they represent in genealogical, historical,
and geographical context. Starting with nothing more than crudely in-
scribed information obtained from gravestones in rural and long aban-
doned cemeteries, the authors identify the individuals and their extended
family ties. Several individuals and families are traced to their Virginia,
Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky homelands.

A profusely illustrated, readable slice of pioneer life and an excellent
example of combining gravestone and genealogical information. 48
pages, 9 maps, 40 photographs, and 6 genealogical charts.

Only $11.75

American Resources Group, Ltd.

Publications Department

127 North Washington Street

Carbondale, Illinois 62901

(618)529-2741.

AGS Spring'95 p. 27

advertisement

Calendar

Old Cemeteries Society ofVictoria, British Columbia, is sponsoring a Pacific Northwest Cemeteries Symposium April 29-
30. The program will include round table presentations of current projects, research, & concerns; slide talks about regional
cemetery history and restoration projects; workshops on tombstone recording, conservation, research, computerization, and
legal issues; and tours to some of Victoria's twenty heritage cemeteries. Call (604) 384-2895 for more information.

Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge. Massachusetts:
Preparing for the Future, a walking tour with Robert Keller and David Barnett, Tuesday, May 16, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Discover the Beauty of Mount Auburn, walking tours on Sundays May 7, 14, & 21, 2:00-3:00. For information about
these tours or for a full listing of spring/summer walks and lectures, call (617) 547-7105.

Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio. Lake View is continuing to celebrate 125 years of history in 1995:

Mother's Day Walking Tour and discussion of some interesting & famous women from Cleveland's past, on Sunday, May

14, at 2:00.

The Angels of Lake View Cemetery, a walking tour with Dale Hilton, Saturday, May 20, 10:00.

Architectural Walking Tours, Saturday, May 20 (with Dale Seme) & Sunday, July 16 (with Dr. Theodore Sande), 2:00-

4:00.

Reservations are required. For additional information and reservations, please contact Katherine Kohl at (216) 421-2665.

Preservation Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is sponsoring Bicycling to Gardens East to West on Saturday, June 3.
9:00-4:00. Tour includes Woodlands Mansion and Cemetery. For more information, call (215) 568-8225.

Last weekend in July: Barre, Vermont is celebrating its centennial this year with numerous events, including a tribute to its
granite manufacturers and sculptors. As part of this celebration, several Barre granite manufacturing plants will be opening
their doors to the public; additionally, the month-long Barre Centennial Sculpting Celebration will offer the public the oppor-
tunity to see Barre's world-famous sculptors at work. For more information, call (802) 476-4131.

© Copyright 1995 The Association for Gravestone Studies. The Association for Gravestone Studies holds the copyright on this Newsletter.
However, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed to reprint an article in it if the reprint is used for educational purposes, full
credit is given to the Association and the author and/or photographer or artist involved, and a copy of the document or article in which tlie
reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for
Gravestone Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received, and ends one year from tliat dale. A one year membership entitles
members to four issues of the Newsletter. Send membership fees {Senior/Student. $20; Individual, $25: Institutional, $30; Family. $35: Supporting,
$60; Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Back issues oftlie Newsletter
are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and
research concerning gravestones, and about the activities of the Association. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. The
Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, the Journal of the .Associa-
tion for Gravestone Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions
to the AGS office, or FAX us at (508) 753-9070. Order Markers (current volume, XII, $28 to members, $32.50 to non-members; back issues
available) from the AGS office. Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbuiy Road. Wayland. Massachusetts 01778.
Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, AGS. 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. or call 1 508) 831-7753.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
I 30 ELM STREET
^^EI^ WORCESTER MA 01609

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No.

410

Worcester,

MA

N

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME 19 NUMBERS

SUMMER 1995

ISSN: 0146-5783

CONTENTS

"The Summer of l9M^^.itJ(~Bob Pierce . . . ■„,,^™ < ■
Topical Columns ^ _ -^-^^^%?^^

:^>:

^''C'T

17th & 18th Century: "Paul &. Enoch Noyes Stotecutters ol Ncwburyport, Massathu^ctts'
I9th & 20th Century: "A Tombstone Stoiy"..^ |
Gravestones & Computers >. . J^^"'^'^ j>.

■**,#« '-■'

fv

Conservation News: "Historic Marker Conservatioii & Rephcanon'

Reviews: y. ^ -f>1#;

Soul in the Stone by John Gary Brovm ^^ **"

Mount Hope: America's First Municipal Victol'ian Ccmcten bv Richard O Reisem

Vwlciice Was No Stranger by i-dmes A. Browmng ^ ^

Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey by Janice Kohl Sarapin

Cemeteries of the United States cdiied by Deborah M Burek

Eail\ Pioneer Gravestones of Pope Counti,; Illinois by Michael J. McNerney and Herb Meyer

Points of Interest: Things Gravestone Makers Made that W^eren't Gravestones ...

13

by Roberta Halpom

*^

Features

"Gra\cstoncs: A Hidden Resource for Black History
Regional Columns ^ , . ^

Northw est <S: Far West ^ft***^-:*' ,

Southwest

Midwest

Southo.ist

Mid-Alianlic -^> „ , .

New EnglandyMaritime \ .'."."'."; ;".' r.'.".V'. 23

Foreign 24

From the President's Desk 26

Notes & Queries .' 27

Calendar 28

Cover: Yusuf Hawkins stone (1989): rubbing by Roberta Halporn

16

18
18
19
20

22

Newsletter Contributions

Contributions and comments to columnists
and Editorial Board members are welcome.
Issues are mailed six weeks after deadlines
and often take several weeks to reach the
membership; please keep that in mind when
submitting time-sensitive material.

Deadlines for Contributions

Fall issue: August 1

Winter issue: November 1

Spring issue: February 1

Summer issue: May 1

Newsletter Editorial Board

Mary Cope, Jessie Lie Farber, Miranda Levin,

Rosalee Oakley, W. Fred Oakley, Jr.,

Barbara Rotundo

Advertising Prices

Business card, $15: 1/4 page, $25: 1/2 page,

$45: full page insert, $100. Ads are placed

as space allows.

Mail contributions to the appropriate person or

to the AGS office. Send advertising (with

payment) to the AGS office: 30 Elm Street,

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN GORHAM, MAINE, June 27-30, 1996

The mission of the Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the cultural significance of gravestones
and burial grounds through 'heir study and preservation.

Special Feature

The Summer of 1994
The Western Deadbeat

by Bob Pierce

208 Monterey Boulevard
San Francisco, California 94131

Saint Joseph Cemetery, Hays. Kansas: Silverius H. Wahlmeier marker.
A lot of interesting markers to photograph in this cemetery. There are
numerous motifs associated with the oil industry.

For me, summers are
a time for traveling,
attending the AGS
conference, visiting
bookstores, and pho-
tographing in the
cemeteries I find
along the way. To
see America and get
a real feel for this
country, one must
get off the interstates
and travel blue high-
ways and backroads.
At our editor's re-
quest, I would like to
share some photos
of interesting mark-
ers I came across in
the summer of 1994.

What did you do
during your vaca-
tion? Please send
us your photos of
interesting stones
for a feature next
year! ♦

Calvary Cemetery. Le Mars,
Iowa: This Roman warrior
stands out among all of the
markers in this cemetery. He is
atop the Catherine Keller
marker.

Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia: Close-up ofLl. John
Rogers Meigs, U.S. Engineers, chief engineer, Army of the Shenandoah.

Bethany Cenwien: Marshall. Indiana: A beautifully sculptured organ
complete with pump, stops, and keys. Much of it is encrusted with li-
chen. It was the piece de resistance of this cemetery.

AGS Summer '95 p. 2

Topical Columns

17TH & 18TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES & CARVERS
Ralph Tucker

Box 414, Georgetown, Maine 04548

Paul & Enoch Noyes,

Stonecutters of Newbury port, Massachusetts

In Newburyporl, Massachusetts, and nearby towns are
a series of gravestones having a winged face (or cherub) of a
unique and consistent style which is easily recognizable. Paul
Noyes, along with his son, Enoch, have been idcniified as the
stonecutters of these stones
(Figure 1).

Paul was the fourth
often children of Parker and
Sarah (Mighill) Noyes, both
of Newbury, and was born
there 12 February, 1740/1.
Paul was the great-grandson
of the Rev. James Noyes, an
original settler of Newbury,
and also the first cousin once
removed of John Noyes, the
Boston jeweler who may
also have been the important
Boston stonecutter, "JN."
Paul married Sarah Morse,
the daughter of Enoch and
Martha (Goodhue) Morse.
Paul and Sarah had seven
children, Enoch (1773-
1832) being the sixth child
and elder son.

Paul's name, along
with his father's, appears on
the petition to separate
Newburyport from Newbury
in 1762. He served in the
Revolution as a private in the
events of 19 April, 1775, for
which he was reimbursed for
seventy-five miles travel and four days service
recorded as a war prisoner, being released from Mill Prison in
March, 1779, soon after which he sailed on the warship "Alli-
ance." At a later date, he was under Capt. Joseph Newhall in an
effort to reduce Canada. Paul died in Newburyport 5 October.
1810, at age seventy when a wall collapsed, the local paper con-
taining an account of the accident. His slate gravestone contains
a carved urn bearmg his name, as well as a typical Noyes cherub
in the tympanum. It is located in the Highland Cemetery,
Newburyport, and was probably carved by his son, Enoch.

For his father's marble gravestone, Paul carved two
trumpeting angels beneath a winged face (his unique cherub face)
and with a floral border. In the lower right corner of the inscrip-
tion is carved "Paul Noyes, fecit." Beneath the bottom border

are carved parts of the alphabet in both upper and lower case;
whether done for practice or for advertising purposes is unknown.
The stone is now illegible but several photographs survive. The
footstone still stands. A stone for his mother with a similar grape-
vine border, lacking the trumpeters, is also extant.

While these stones verify his style and work, there are
in the Essex county probate records twelve references where he
is named as having been paid for gravestones, and two other
records where he was paid sums which were probably for grave-
stones. Harriet Forbes searched the probate records of Suffolk,
Essex, and Middlesex counties for references to payments for
gravestones, and these have been made available by Laurel Gabel

in mimeographed form to
the Association for
Gravestone Studies Ar-
chives.

Additional verifi-
cation of Paul being a
stonecutter is to be found
in his inventory of 1810
listing the following:
32 stones $ J 72.50
pieces of marble $2.50
wuj'h stiines $6.50
1. 770 ft i)f freestones $480.00
stone cutting tools & foils
$4.25

There are three
gravestones signed by
Enoch Noyes. marking
him also as a stonecutter
It is believed that Enoch
was Paul's son, but he
may have been his
brother. One cannot dis-
tinguish between the
work of the Noyes carv-
ers.

We have no infor-
mation as to where Paul
may have apprenticed,
but speculate that it may

r.- 7 have been with one of the

Figure I

Later he was carvers using the Pin Hill Quarry in Harvard, Massachusetts, for

that was where he obtained his slate, and where there were sev-
eral competent carvers whose styles were similar. On the other
hand, he may have apprenticed with the Geyers of Boston, whose
borders he copied so well.

From the dates on the stones, it appears that Paul started
to carve gravestones shortly after the Revolution, although there
are a handful of his stones dated prior to this time. These earlier
stones were probably made at a time later than the date indicates
in order to fill the need for gravestones for those who had died
during the Revolutionary War, when there were no stonecutters
available. Paul's activity in the war would indicate that he was
not carving much in those years.

Over one hundred of his stones, dating from the early

AGS Sitininer '95 p. 3

Topical Columns

1 780s to the early 1 800s, have been located
and used in this study, although many more
could be found. They are generally found
in the Merrimac Valley and north up the
coast to New Hampshire, with a scattering
in coastal Maine and Nova Scotia, as well
as south to coastal Connecticut. One was
even located in coastal Georgia, a fact which
is not unusual because Newburyport ships
were active in the coastal trade routes.

His style of cherub is unique, so
there is little difficulty in recognizing his
work. The majority of the stones have al-
most identical cherubs with spread wings,
differing only in the depth of the carving;
some resemble engravings and others are
in three dimensions, which were obviously
more expensive (Figure 2). One interest-
ing type is cameo-like on slate where the
surface of the stone is a darker color than
the underlying carved surface. The cher-
ubs are easily recognized. The tightly
combed hair doesn't fall below the ears, and
the face is oval. He was not inventive and
his stones can usually be identified at a
glance.

Most of the stones were on good

TTTFvniS

"^"^ Tf.e of ^ ■■ -

o

Figuie 3

Figure 2

quality slate from the Pin Hill Quarry in
Harvard, Massachusetts, where a number
of Middlesex County stonecutters obtained
their slate. On occasion, as for his father's
stone in 1787, he used marble, but kept
the same styles as when he worked on
slate. There are also a few of his gra\e-
stones carved on a light brown sandstone.

The lettering is unusually well-carved
and spaced. Ligatures are used for 'AD "
and "AE," often with the first stroke of the
"A" having a decided curve. Upper- and
lower-case lettering is used, and usualh
several words are in italics. The upper-
case letter "J" drops below the line as does
the numeral "7." like se\eral other carv-
ers. There seems to be nothing unique in
the lettering which enables one to distin-
guish the work of the Noyes shop from
others. They generally used "In Memory
of..." or "Here are deposited the remains
o\'..." and rarely the older "Here lies,..."

The earliest Noyes stones have the
usual ihrcc-lohcd lop, but later ha\e square
shoulders, and still later have a variety of

AGS Summer '95 p. 4

Topical Columns

curved tops. Double stones that were
made for two persons often have a
triple-lobed top containing two cherubs
with a winged hourglass or an urn be-
tween (Figure 3).

By 1800, the tree and urn
motif came to be common and he used
it, often with drapery and tassels on ei-
ther side of the tympanum, similar to
the work of Levi Maxey of Salem, Mas-
sachusetts. He sometimes used a side
border borrowed from the Geyers. In
one case in 1795, he made a stone with
a quadrant in the tympanum for Capt.
Thomas Clouston. The inscription on
this stone notes that it was given by
Clouston's grateful pupils; the Captain
having been a Newburyporter who
taught navigation (Figure 4).

There was a "Merrimac Val-
ley School" of gravestone carvers
which started with Lt. John Hartshorne
of Haverhill and continued with the
Mullicken family of Bradford, the
Leighton family of Rowley, the
Webster brothers of Bradford, and the
Worster father and son, originally of
Bradford. There is a continuity in the
styles of all of these men, who carved
from about 1700 to 1800. After this
date, Jonathan Hartshorne of
Newburyport, Joseph and John Marble
(father and son) of Bradford, Robert
Fowle of Newburyport, and the two
Noyes carvers of Newburyport all
carved in the same general area but de-
parted from the Merrimac Valley style,
using the newer styles.

For further information on all
of these carvers, refer to Markers and
the AGS Newsletter, or write this col-
umnist. ♦

Figure 4

AGS Summer '95 p. 5

Topical Columns

19TH & 20TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES
Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Those of you who were at the 1992 conference in
Schenectady, New York, will remember that the program cover
came from a stone carved by Peter Hood of Schenectady. His
work appears in every nineteenth-century cemetery within a wide
radius of that city. Elsie Maddaus, a friend who is Archivist/
Librarian for the Schenectady Historical Society (which co-spon-
sored the conference), has sent me the following result of her
research.

STOJVJS CUTTLYG.

A Tombstone Story

by Elsie M. Maddaus
32 Washington Avenue, Schenectady, New York 12305

Several weeks ago, someone phoned the library and
asked us about gravemarkers with the word "Hood" at the lower
edge. Who or what was Hood? Researching this name enabled
us to compile a file on the Hood Family.

Peter Hood was an early stonecutter who lived in
Schenectady for more than twenty-five years. The business was
in the name of P. and M. Hood. M. was probably Mathew Hood,
who was born March 6, 1796, and died November 5, 1844/5.

Their business was "in State-street, fronting Church-
street." They had tombs and gravestones on hand and were con-
stantly manufacturing them. They advertised that their prices
were low. An example of a stone taken from their advertisement
is shown above. Later the business was located at Number 1 8
Water Street.

But who was Peter Hood? We found that he had been

born in Scotland about 1792 and died in Schenectady July 3,
1856, at the age of sixty-four. He was a naturalized voter. His
wife was thirty-five years younger than he was and they had three
young daughters, Helen, Margaret, and Agnes. Also included in
the household was a servant from Ireland. Jane Henese.

Peter Hood owned lands in the city and county of
Schenectady, and in his will left separate portions to his three
little girls. After the death of Peter in 1856. his wife married
Gilbert D. Kennedy. Shortly thereafter, Sarah went to court to
petition for control of the children's legacy as she was their natu-
ral guardian. The judge thought her position was opposed to the
children's rights (antagonistical) and appointed Charles Fuller,
Esq., Counselor at Law, Special Guardian for the infants. In 1855,
a financial settlement was made to Sarah from the income of her
daughters' property.

The story of Peter Hood was compiled from census
records, cemetery records, the court case in "Tree Talks." The
Traveler's Pocket Directory and Stranger's Guide (1831). and
the Schenectady City Directory of 1841/2. All because someone
saw "Hood" on an old tombstone. ♦

HAND CARVED LETTERING IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari

(617)862-1583

433 Bedford Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02173

udverlisement

EARLY PIONEER GRAVESTONES
OF POPE COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Michael J. McNerney

Herb Meyer

This fascinating book places twenty-three human effigy folk gravestones
and the persons and families they represent in genealogical, historical,
and geographical context. Starting with nothing more than crudely in-
scribed information obtained from gravestones in rural and long aban-
doned cemeteries, the authors identify the individuals and their extended
family ties. Several individuals and families are traced to their Virginia,
Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky homelands.

\ profusely illustrated, readable slice of pioneer life and an excellent
example of combining gravestone and genealogical information. 48
pages. 9 maps, 40 photographs, and 6 genealogical charts.

Only $11.75

American Resources Group, Ltd.

Publications Department

127 North Washington Street

Carbondale, Illinois 62901

(61St 529-2741.

advertisement

AGS Summer '95 p. 6

Topical Columns

GRAVESTONES AND COMPUTERS
John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

The AGS Standard Database

There is still time to order the beta test version of the
AGS standard database (see spring 1995, page 6). I am hoping
people will try it and send me additional feedback after having
an opportunity to input real data, search the database, and run
the reports provided. The program is IBM based so it will not
function on a Macintosh. Order the beta test version of the grave-
stone database and program through the AGS office for $9.95
plus $1.95 for shipping. After six to nine months of gathering
suggestions and modifying the program, a final version of the
AGS Standard Gravestone Recording Database will be made
available for $19.95. People who order the beta test version will
be able to upgrade for an additional $10.00. Data entered with
the beta test version will be fully compatible with the final ver-
sion and will not need to be reentered.

To order the beta test version of the AGS Standard
Gravestone Recording Program, send $9.95 plus $ 1 .95 shipping
to: AGS, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

What Does John Sterling Do When
He Isii 7 Writing His Column '!

On Sunday, May 7lh, 1 80 bicyclists of varying levels of
expertise and interest gathered on the Boston Common to cel-
ebrate "Greening Month" and kick-off the Seventh Annual Tour
de Graves. Sponsored by the Historic Burying Grounds Initia-
tive, the Tour de Graves is a twenty-five mile bicycle tour of
Boston's historic burying grounds and neighborhoods.

In the photograph, John Sterling is conversing with Dave
Kunze, a representative of the Roslindale Historical Society. Mr.
Kunze met the group of bicyclists in the Walter Street Burying
Ground in Roslindale and gave a brief talk about the history of
the site and the Roslindale and West Roxbury communities.

(More information on the Tour de Graves can be found
in the New England/Maritime column on pages 23-24. M.L.) ♦

Photo by Ann Marie Rowlands

AGS Summer '95 p. 7

Topical Columns

CONSERVATION NEWS
Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

Historic Marker Conservation and Replication
Sponsored by Descendants of Roger Williams

by Sybil F. Crawford

10548 Stone Canyon Road #228

Dallas, Texas 75230-4408

Both the genealogical and gravestone communities have
cause to be interested in a project of the Roger Williams Family
Association (RWFA) at Easton Cemetery, located on Paradise
Road in Middletown. Rhode Island.

The cemetery marker of Mary Sayles (daughter of Roger
Williams) has been replaced; the markers of John Sayles (Mary's
husband) and William Greene (their son-in-law) have been re-
stored. These three markers once stood erect but at some point
in time were cut below the inscription and mortared into a large
slate enframement which rests upon a brick base — perhaps in
1899, the date inscribed on the slate top. The deaths of John and
Mary Sayles occurred in 1681; William Greene's marker exhib-
its a 1681 death date also, but may actually have been 1679.

In spite of the fact that Roger Williams is widely cel-
ebrated as the founder of Rhode Island and an early leader in the
cause of religious liberty in America, contributions have fallen

far short of expectations. The RWFA's call for gifts from chari-
table foundations and corporate givers generally met with a con-
sistently discouraging response: "We don't do tombstones."

The credentials of Fannin-Lehner, preservation consult-
ants of Concord, Massachusetts, are well known to AGS mem-
bers, and it was this firm which was selected to orchestrate the
work.

A thorough evaluation proved both top and base to be
in essentially good condition and, after moving the top into proper
alignment, both were cleaned. The John Sayles marker was in
excellent shape and required little conservation work other than
cleaning and sealing of the mortar which holds the marker in
place.

Although present-day descendants and researchers spell
the Sayles' son-in-law's name as "Greene," his surname appears
on the marker as "Green." This marker required intensive con-
servation. Badly fragmented from years of ongoing freeze-thaw
cycles, the stone's mortar needed to be repaired and replaced to
prevent further moisture penetration through cracks in both the
stone and mortar. The cost of the foregoing work was S2, 1 25.00.
Pieces of the badly damaged Mary Sayles marker were gathered
together for safekeeping several years ago by a well-intentioned
resident of the area and have since disappeared. Fortunately,
there existed photographs of the original, which proved invalu-
able in its replication. Replacement of her marker (at S5.2(X).00)
was the most costly part of the project. Five options were gi\en
in the Fannin-Lehner proposal and, to the credit of RWTA, they
contracted for a full replica of the original stone with its carved
tympanum and borders, old style headshape, and full inscription

Left to right — Markers of John Sayles, Mary Williams Sayles. and son-in-Uw William Greene.
(Fannin-Lehner photo, courtesy of the Roi;er Williams Family Association.)

AGS Summer '95 p. 8

Topical Columns

of seventy-two Roman capital letters. Of Buckingham, Virginia,
slate, one and one-half inches thick, the new stone was executed
by the Stevens shop in Newport. Dorothy Wliite, RWFA's presi-
dent, indicates that the shop's records date only from 1713, but
there is strong reason to believe that all three markers were the
work of the Stevens shop and were backdated. Despite the fact
that the Stevens shop was, at the same time, engaged in execut-
ing a marker for a recently deceased high profile name, work on
the Mary Sayles marker was performed promptly and to RWFA's
entire satisfaction.

RWFA members and guests will gather at Newport's
Easton Cemetery on Saturday, October 14, 1995 (Roger Will-
iams Day), at 11:15 a.m., for a dedication of the completed project.

Persons wishing to participate in this endeavor are in-
vited to send their contributions (marked "Restoration Fund")
to: Roger Williams Family Association, c/o John Pokopowicz,
Treasurer, 168 Forest Avenue, Cranston, Rhode Island 02910.
Gifts of any amount are welcome. ♦

Need a Conservator?

Two organizations have directories of people
with technical expertise and experience to undertake
gravemarker conservation. Listed by specialties, the
directories are a valuable resource for obtaining pro-
fessional help.

American Institute for Conservation

of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC),

1400 16th Street N.W., Suite 340

Washington, D.C. 20036

(202) 452-9545

Fax: (202) 452-9328

Association for Preservation Technology (APT)

Post Office Box 8178

Fredericksburg, Virginia 22404

(703)373-1621

REVIEW
Eric Brock

Post Office Box 5877
Shreveport, Louisiana 71135-5877

A Note From the Review Editor

The purpose of this column is to review books and other
materials on a wide range of aspects of gravemarkers: art, his-
tory, sociology, symbolism, religion, material culture, etc., as re-

llected in cemeteries and gravemarkers. Strictly speaking, the
items reviewed should be about cemeteries and gravemarkers or
must relate directly to the study thereof We wish to hurl no
feelings, but genealogical studies, as painstakingly researched
and valuable as they may be, do not fit into the scope of this
column. After all, how does one review a list of names and dates?
As one who has compiled such books myself (copies of which
are in the AGS Archives), I know how much work goes into them
and how important they are. Indeed, they may well be materials
AGS can use for its archives and lending library, but unfortu-
nately, they are too numerous and too limited in scope to merit
space in this column, whose space is already quite limited.

Nor can we review books which have nothing whatso-
ever to do with cemeteries and gravemarkers but for which grave-
stone inscriptions were used in the course of research. They may
be very interesting, but they just don't fit in here. Simply be-
cause a book has a photograph of a tombstone between its covers
does not make it a candidate for this column. This may seem too
elementary to mention but I do — amazingly — receive such
things with requests for a review.

Lastly, I want to ask once again for reader input. Let us
know about new works; don't assume we already know about
them. Unsolicited reviews are welcome, though they must be
typed or on diskette formatted to Word for Windows. Those who
would like to review items relating to certain regions or aspects
of cemeteries and gravemarkers are encouraged to contact me as
well. Be patient, however: we only publish four times yearly;
consequently, depending upon when your work or review is re-
ceived, you may not see it in print for three to six months and
maybe longer. Unfortunately, as we are a quarterly magazine, it
is impossible for it to be otherwise. Again, be patient and know
that your input is always welcome.

Materials for review and other contributions should be
directed to the Review Editor at the address above. Once re-
viewed, materials will be sent to the AGS Archives. M.L.

Soul in the Stone:
Cemetery Art from America's Heartland

by John Gary Brown

University of Kansas Press

2501 West 15th Street

Lawrence, Kansas 66049-3904

1994, $39.95

232 pages, 223 photographs

Also available through the AGS publications list

Review by Eric Brock

Here is a lovely book, a truly exceptional volume. Mr.
Brown takes us on a rich visual tour of cemeteries in ten states,
showing us a bit of the West (New Mexico, Colorado), a bit of
the South (Missouri, Oklahoma), and a good deal of the Midwest
(Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin). From
small hamlets to major cities and from the early nineteenth cen-

AGS Summer '95 p. 9

Topical Columns

tury to the present, his photographs paint a wide portrait of
gravemarker art in the United States.

The photographs are all black and white, which is re-
ally more evocative of emotion than color. They are also large
format (the book itself is eight and a half by eleven inches) and
many of the photos are nearly a whole page in size. Additionally
— and this is a major factor since it is so often absent from books
on cemetery and funerary art — this book is reverent. The au-
thor has respect for the dead who sleep beneath these stones;
they are not forgotten in the course of describing their monu-
ments.

Indeed, Mr. Brown has obviously done his background
work, for with each photograph or set of photographs there is a
well-written history of the story behind them, the meanings and
symbolism seen in the stones, the stories of the people buried
there, the stories of how the stones — the markers themselves —
came to be. This is a book about art first and foremost, but it is
also a book about people. People made this art and people com-
missioned it. It memorializes people and beneath it people rest
for all eternity. This art is a record of all of these people and it is,
of course, the hope of all of these that it should last for eternity.

Unfortunately, the elements, time, vandalism, and other
factors are the constant enemies of all things created by the hand
of man, and the seemingly eternal gravestone sculpture is often
the most fragile of entities, exposed as it is to all of these factors.
Mr. Brown uses one art form — photography — to record and
preserve another art form — the gravemarker — and to, quite
literally, draw out the soul in the stone.

This is an important book. In the ever-proliferating
plethora of books on cemeteries and gravemarkers, this is a book
destined to shine in the upper altitudes. It is art, it is sociology, it
is history. Most of all, though, it is a tribute to lives past, and that
is what gravestones are really all about.

Mount Hope, Rochester, New York:
America's First Municipal Victorian Cemetery

Text by Richard O. Reisem
Photographs by Frank A. Gillespie

The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery

791 Mount Hope Avenue

Rochester, New York 14620-2752

1994, $39.95, plus $4.00 shipping and handling

Hardback, 128 pages, photographs, index

Review by Sybil F. Crawford

It is said that the beauties of a site or object are often
most appreciated by those from afar, those at hand having grown
callous or over-accustomed to the treasures lying at their door-
step. This came to mind when noting that neither Reisem nor
Gillespie, the duo responsible for this book's content, is a native
of Rochester, hailing from Wyoming and Iowa respectively. As
the book will attest, a mutual Eastman Kodak background is but
one of their ties.

ACS Summer '95 p. 10

Reisem's text paints a broad-brush cemetery history,
carrying readers from boomtown Rochester of the 1830s to the
present day. Founded in 1838, Mount Hope was then a low
swampy spot, overgrown with tangled brush from which the howls
of wild animals and other strange noises emanated after sundown
— not the serene, manicured beauty spot visitors view today. As
would be expected of a municipal cemetery. Mount Hope serves
a cross-section of the city's residents. Many military, religious,
fraternal, and academic groups have purchased plots to serve the
needs of their membership.

Adding a touch of mystery to the cemetery's history is a
recounting of the loss of its records, presumed to have been de-
stroyed in a bank fire in 1857. In 1884, almost thirty years later,
a letter from the sheriff of Lincoln County, Ontario, Canada, in-
formed the cemetery commissioners that the cemetery records
(and certain papers from the office of Rochester's city treasurer)
had been found in Saint Catherine's, Ontario. When the circum-
stances were at length unraveled, it was discovered that the cem-
etery records, the comptroller of the cemetery's endowment fund.
and $40,000.00 had all departed simultaneously. Sadly. Mount
Hope's experience cannot be considered unique.

More often than not, statistics in books of this sort de-
generate into dry recitations. Reisem, however, manages to give
them a bit of style. One cannot help but be amazed that Cynthia
Fitzpatrick endured 118 frigid Rochester winters before her de-
mise, and smile at the way the author informs us that the
cemetery's largest mausoleum (that of Nathan Stein) "sleeps
twenty." A segment entitled "The Grisly Tale of Boyd and
Parker." harking back to Revolutionary War days, holds no ap-
peal for the squeamish and should be avoided by the faint of
heart.

Strong name recognition attaches to dozens of the indi-
viduals interred at Mount Hope: Susan B. Anthony, Frederick
Douglass, both John James Bausch and Henry Lomb (of Bausch
& Lomb fame). Kit Carson Cody (son of Buffalo Bill), to men-
tion only a few. With the aid of a bound-in cemetery map. mark-
ers of particular interest can be located efforUessly.

Of the eighty-one duotone, black-and-white photo-
graphs, there are ten double-page spreads. A number of the illus-
trations are identified on either the page preceding or the page
following, a minor reader distraction. Leaning toward scenic
panoramas, the carving details, epitaphs, and minutiae so dear to
the hearts of gravestone researchers are not the book's primary
focus. The photographs serve admirably as gallen,- pieces, how-
ever, given over to lighting, composition, and special effects.

This book's component parts bespeak quality. A hand-
some dust jacket beckons us to turn the pages within, and its
nine-by-twelve-inch hardcover formal lends assurance tliat it will
withstand the rigors of usage.

With books becoming progressively more expensive, a
mini-editorial may not be altogether amiss here. If we hope to
see more cemetery books in print, it will require somewhat more
than our simple expressions of goodwill, Cemeten,' book pur-
chases frequently serve a twofold purpose; in addition to enter-
taining and educating, they benefit the coffers of the sponsoring
entity. These monies are. in turn, spent to maintain and restore

Topical Columns

the cemeteries and markers wc so greatly admire. We should
perhaps view our purchases as a way to benefit ourselves and
support a "favorite charity." When viewed in that light, we tend
to feel less put upon. The publication of Mount Hope was an-
other instance where the "faithful," paying for their book well in
advance, enjoyed an attractive prepublication price.

Violence Was No Stranger:
A Guide to the Grave Sites of Famous Westerners

by James A. Browning

Barbed Wire Press
Stillwater, Oklahoma

Available from:

The Early West

Box 9292

College Station, Texas 77842

$19.95 plus $2.00 shipping and handling

Hardback, 341 pages

Review by Sybil F. Crawford

AGS members long ago discovered that one interest fre-
quently leads to another, as in this case. Now in his early seven-
ties, James Browning's interest in the Old West goes back more
than fifty years. During his 250,000 miles of travel across
America, he has taken more than 34,000 color slides of Old West
historic sites. Of this number, 2,500 are of grave sites of law-
men, outlaws, fur trappers and traders, Indian leaders, cattlemen,
and miners. While many of these men were not, of themselves,
violent, all lived on the edge of violence — hence the title.

The book is, in essence, a dictionary, with the major
portion devoted to alphabetized entries. One thousand individu-
als are listed in the book. The entries generally include the full
name of the deceased, birth and death dates, an indication of what
made the person an "attraction," and instructions for locating the
cemetery. Approximately ninety-six percent of the grave sites
have been personally visited and photographed by the author and
these are so designated by an asterisk(*).

The thirty-six marker photographs, while fewer than one
might wish, serve to encourage readers to visit the cemeteries
and photograph them for themselves.

Two appendices enable readers to quickly zero in on
narrower areas of interest. One lists the grave sites by states,
invaluable information for the traveler, A second identifies per-
sons making up special groupings — the Dalton-Doolin Gang,
participants in the Lincoln County War, and Quantrill's Raiders,
to name but a few.

Brief mention is made of the markers themselves (or
lack thereof), highlighting the unusual. One of many eye-catch-
ing markers is that of Charlie Rich, who dealt "Aces and Eights"
to Wild Bill Hickok on that fateful day in 1 876 when Hickok was
killed, shot from behind by Jack McCall. The five cards making

up what we know as the "Dead Man's Hand" are incised at the
top of Rich's highly polished jet-black marker in Miamivillc
Cemetery, Miamiville, Ohio.

Less well known is the burial place of Hadji Ali. When
camels were brought to America's arid southwest in 1856 and
1 857, they were accompanied by Ali, a Syrian camel driver Fine
horses were more to the liking of that rugged breed of men m-
habiting the West, however, and the camels did not find the ready
acceptance the plan's initiators anticipated. When the experi-
ment was chalked up as a failure, Ali did not return home but
remained in Arizona, taking up mining. When he died in 1902.
Ali was buried in Quartzite Cemetery in Quartzite. Arizona. His
grave is marked by a native stone pyramid topped by a copper
camel.

Browning has also done readers a service by correcting
numerous oft-repeated errors of fact appearing in Old West lit-
erature. In that context, many of us have long recognized an
error in the Wyatt Earp entry in Permanent Californians. Pictur-
ing the marker of Wyatt and Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp in
Colma's Hills of Eternity Memorial Park, the authors incorrectly
represent her to be Wyatt's sister. Browning accurately identi-
fies her as Wyatt's wife.

Those with Old West and/or gravestone interests will
not want to be without this handy six-by-nine-inch hardback ref-
erence, which is equally useful at home or on the road.

Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey: A Guide

by Janice Kohl Sarapin

Rutgers University Press

109 Church Street

New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901

1994, $14.95

Paperback, 224 pages, indexed

Also available through the AGS publications list

Review by Eric J. Brock

AGS member Janice Sarapin has produced an impres-
sive book on the historic cemeteries of her home state. How nice
it would be if there were such a volume available on every state's
old burial grounds!

Copiously illustrated with black-and-white photographs
and maps. Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey is really two books
in one. The first part deals with the burial customs, gravemarker
and monument types, designs, styles, and epitaphs, and the vari-
ous types of cemeteries. There is especially heavy concentration
on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, though the twentieth
is to be found as well.

The second part deals with "notable New Jersey burial
grounds" and details 127 historic cemeteries in all of the state's
counties. These cemeteries are described in detail, often with
full epitaphs quoted, and again, illustrated with numerous photo-
graphs (a picture is, after all, worth 1 ,000 words — sometimes
more); quite a few of the photographs are reproductions of his-

AGS Suinincr '95 p. II

Topical Columns

toric pictures and postcards. Each cemetery description is ac-
companied by specific directions to enable visitors to find it; there
are also maps pointing to each.

Descriptions are full and complete, and often there are
interesting historical anecdotes regarding people, places, and
events connected with the burial grounds, as well as about the
burial grounds themselves. There are also several good appendi-
ces, noting notable persons buried in New Jersey, educational
opportunities, and various historical resources for further research.

Obviously, Ms. Sarapin has a great deal of historical
knowledge about New Jersey in general, as well as about its cem-
eteries. Such knowledge, coupled with an obvious love of the
subject matter, has combined to create a fine book and one well
worth emulating.

For those with religious and ethnic cemetery interests, a religious
denomination index makes it possible to quickly identify the most
promising research sites.

Much of the material contained in this book is time-
sensitive and will require periodic updates if it is to remain con-
sistently useful. Readers are not told if supplements or future
editions are anticipated.

Having said all this, there is much to recommend the
book's content to cemetery' and gravestone researchers, and il
should be a welcome addition to library reference shelves.

(For more information on this book, see the spring 1995
issue, page 19. M.L.)

Early Pioneer Gravestones of Pope County, Illinois

Cemeteries of the United States:

A Guide to Contact Information for

United States Cemeteries and Their Records

Edited by Deborah M. Burek

Gale Research, Inc.,

7625 Empire Drive

Florence, Kentucky 41402

1994, $149.95 postpaid

Hardback, 1607 pages, indexed.

Review by Sybil F. Crawford

This is not a book you will slip under your arm or wag
around in the car. Both its weight and price are intimidating.
Had it been issued in regional editions, it would have been less
cumbersome to handle and decidedly more affordable.

There are 22,600 cemetery entries, covering the fifty
states, the United States Territories, and eleven foreign countries
where major military cemeteries with American burials are found.
Divided into five sections, the entries are arranged alphabetically
by state, then by subdivision within the state (meaning county,
parish, borough, or independent city). Preceding each locality
section is a listing of publications and/or genealogical and his-
torical societies which offer additional information concerning
cemeteries within the specified area.

Each cemetery entry includes the name of the cemetery,
address, phone number, name of the manager, years of opera-
tion, ownership, denominational or fraternal affiliation (if any),
facilities, and services. Where cemetery records exist, this is
indicated, with a notation as to whether or not they are available
to researchers and if an appointment is required for viewing.

The two appendices list government agencies regulat-
ing cemetery operation (by state) and the names of the publish-
ers of material listed with the entries. An address is given for
each of the agencies and publishers, as well as telephone and
FAX numbers.

The book's general index is enhanced by cross-refer-
encing of each cemetery name with the city where it is located.

by Michael J. McNerney and Herb Meyer

American Resources Group, Ltd.

Publications Department

127 North Washington Street

Carbondale, Illinois 62901

1994, $11. 75 postpaid

Paperback, 41 pages

Review by Eric J. Brock

A short book and one of limited geographical scope,
nevertheless this is a volume well worth mentioning. It is a richly
detailed study of human-effigy folk gravestones found in a single
Illinois county, close to the Kentucky border.

All told, twenty-three such gravemarkers are discussed,
as well as the persons and families they represent. Indeed, the
authors have done a great deal of work tracing these people whose
crude markers are extraordinary. Genealogically, geographically,
and historically, the authors have built a substantial body of data
on these stones, their creators, and those who lie beneath them.

Similar anthropomorphic folk markers exist through-
out the upland South and in parts of the southernmost reaches of
the Midwest, but this is the first publication I have seen which
deals with them in detail and treats them as a serious subject of
both gravestone and folklife studies. It is a slim but scholarly
book of much broader importance that its title or size might lead
one to think. ♦

AGS Summer '95 p. 12

Topical Columns

Figure I

POINTS OF INTEREST
Bill Hosley

Old Abbe Road

Enfield, Connecticut 06082

"Points of Interest
and Summer issues)
schedule, and this time
we had a terrific re-
sponse. You may recall
that I concluded the last
column (Winter 1995) by
asking for information
about things gravestone
makers made other than
gravestones. Part of the
reality of the busmess of
stonecutting has been
overlooked in all the ex-
citement over grave-
stones. Like any other
tradesmen — especially
in the pre-industrial era
— gravestone makers
frequently earned their
living doing a variety of
related kinds of work,
perhaps the most com-
mon being to lay founda-
tions and erect chimneys.

is on its new twice-yearly (Winter

Some years ago I was delighted to observe a massive chimney on
a house in Chester, Vermont, that was actually signed and dated
"X.E. 1797." It was the work of Xenophon Earl, one of the docu-
mented gravestone carvers of "the Rockingham School."

Eric Brock of Shreveport, Louisiana, — a regular and
valued contributor to "Points of Interest" — wrote in with a story

about "Downs &
Newman" (Figure 1),
Shreveport's most
prominent Victorian-era
monument maker. Eric
finds them advertising
"marble tombstones"
and "a full line of cast
iron fences. ..and metallic
art work for the cem-
etery," but had not asso-
ciated the firm with ar-
chitecture until observ-
mg a decorative element
(Figure 2) from a period
photograph installed at
the Cathedral of St.
Francis Xavier ( 1 895) in
Alexandria, a town 120
miles from Shreveport.
That's an interesting
point about the relation-
ship between the monu-
ment and architectural

Figure 2

AGS Summer '95 p. 13

Topical Columns

ornament businesses in the Victorian
period.

A batch of fascinating pic-
tures and information arrived from
C.R. Jones in Cooperstown, New York,
In the collection of the museum there,
where C.R. is staff conservator, is a
marble sign (Figure 3), dating to about
1816, from a hotel once operated in
Ashfield, Massachusetts. Ashfield is
not far from the great marble region of
the Berkshires, and, although the
stonecutter is unidentified, the style of
lettering and decoration distinguishes
it as the work of one of the region's
prolific carvers. How common this
sort of thing may once have been is
hard to say, but it seems eminently
practical and probably not much more
expensive than the many painted tav-
ern signs that survive from the period.
C.R. also passed along three little
lambs (Figure 4), and assures me that
these were "never out in the weather
or attached to anything," a point worth
making when carved sheep — a popu-
lar device during the 1 860s and 70s —
can be targets for thieves.

Finally, Laurel Gabel wrote
about milestones and supplied infor-
mation about several of her favorites,
including perhaps New England's
greatest (Figure 5), an example attrib-
uted to the Springfield. Massachusetts,
stonecutter Joseph Williston and
erected in 1763 "by Joseph Wait. ..for
the benefit of travelers." This stone,
for years one of the treasured land-
marks of Springfield, has for many
years now been preserved indoors.

I'd like to try something re-
ally different for the next issue. I sup-
pose like most AGS members, I long
ago got over the sense that spending
time in graveyards was "creepy." Most
of the time when my wife and I are
looking around, our minds are on the
art and on aspects of history and biog-
raphy. But when the stones are rela-
tively new and especially when they
are highly personalized or deal with
some form of tragedy (familiar enough
in all periods), I find myself being
jerked into the realization that these are
not just stones, but real families and
individuals whose grief and loss re-

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Figure 3

Figure 4

AGS Summer '95 p. 14

i6f FUN STUFF iSt BOOK REMAINDERS) ORDER FORM

in THAir TOME OF YEAR ACADN!
<A<irUAILLy, iTf A DDFFERENT
TIME OF THE YEAR FROM WHEN
WE HAVE TRADDTDONALILy PUT
OUT THE 'FUN STUFF' FLYER,
BUT NOW THAT WE ARE ON A
SEMBLANCE OF A SCHEDULE WOTH
THE NEWSLETTER, WE WANTED
TO GDVE EVERYONE A CHANCE
TO ORDER FOR CHRDSTMASJ
ONCE A6ADN, WE'VE FOUND
SOME DTEMS WHDCH WE HOPE
you WBLL ENJOy, PLUS WE STOLL
HAVE SOME REMAINDERS TO
OFFER*

OUR OROER DEADUME It

NOVEMBER t 1995, AND

SHIPMENT WIU BE NO LATER

THAN DECEMBER 10.

BOOK REMAINDERS

We have managed to collect a few more
Markers and other books whose covers
have slight tears, are faded, or have other
slightly unsightly marks on them. Other-
wise, they are fine. It's a shame to throw
them out, yet we can't sell them at the full
price. Therefore, we are offering them at
considerable discounts. Please note the
volumes and quantities available and
don't wait to order — they're on a first-
come, first-serve basis.

Markers 1: 5 cloth - $18 each
Markers VI; 8 paper - $12 each
Markers VII: 13 paper - $10 each
Markers Vllh 1 paper - $12
Markers IX: 1 paper - $12
Markers X: 1 paper - $12
Markers XII: 2 paper - $12 each
Puritan Gravestone Art: 1 paper - $14
Puritan Gravestone Art II: 1 paper - $14
By Their Markers Ye Shall Know Them:
1 paper - $16

RUBBER fTAMPf

Make some stationary, dress up your envelopes, or just
have them around for fun! Several desigtts to choose from
(don't forget to indicate design when ordering):

Willow $8.00

Angel $8.00

Susanna Jayne $9.00

Skull $8.00

OR ORDER ALL FOUR FOR SiO^OO

'95 €ONFEREN€E T-SHIRTS

This year's color is bur-
gundy with gray lettering
of the stone design pic-
tured here. The shirts are
the usual, and run to size
if you've ordered in past
years: 100% preshrunk
cotton, and they run big.
Available sizes and prices
are:

'SSCRED

lb the Memwy of Mrs
Mafearei Confort of SA
David Stepaidof Chefte'' I
whodiedFeb.lO.JlT7(^|
ltittie20yearofherage

Medium

$10

Large

$10

XL

$10

XXL

$11

We also Itave a few forest green 1994 Conference
l-shirts (tree-stump design) left — same sizes and
prices as the J 995 shirt. Quantities are limited.

BY POPtiLAR DEMAND <LE* A COUPLE OF PEOPLE AfKED FOR THEMD TWO MEW ACS SHUtTSt

DON'T RUB ME THE
WRONC WAY T'tMRTS

Our popular snicker sticker is now
on a shirt! Design below on a
lovely brick-colored t. Shirts are
100% pre-shrunk cotton, and they
run big. Sizes available are:

M $10

L $10

XL $10

XXL $11

ACf 'STAFF' SHIRTS

Call them staff shirts, polo shirts, golf shirts, or whatever. They're 100%
cotton, have a collar and a couple of buttons on a placket. Navy shirt with
the design above in white on the spot where there would be a pocket (but
there isn't). Price:

M $20

L $20

XL $20

XXL $21

ORDER FORM

Quantity

Item (design, color, size, etc.)

Price

hitviic & Address

TOTAL ENCLOSEl

V

All pnccf (ihrihlii iiuiuitc >liif'fuii^ uiut

hiDidliiig. Plaisc make checks payable to AGS,

iDiii chcckf fliouhi be in US funds drawn on a

US bank. Mail checks and orders to:

ACS

30 Elm Street

Worcester. MA 01609.

Orders should reach the ACS office btf

Novemlvr l, 1995, and alt orders tvill be

shipped no later than December W, 1995.

Topical Columns

mains palpable. There are two things I've noticed in contempo-
rary work I'd like to learn more about: the extent ol'customization
now going on after decades of what I may unfairly describe as
mind-numbing blandness and homogeneity. Am I wrong or are
contemporary monuments finally becoming interesting? Sec-
ondly (at least here in New England), I have noticed a fairly dra-
matic increase in the way families turn out to decorate the burial
sites and gravestones of loved ones, especially during such holi-
days as Easter, Christmas, and, alas, even Halloween. One of the
most poignant examples of both trends is captured in this image
(Figure 6) from Vermont marking the grave of fourteen-month
old Justin Lafko; a family's loving tribute actively embellished
with pumpkins and flowers last October.

I'd like to see some of your favorite customized con-
temporary stones and any interestmg examples of burial site deco-
ration, both past and present.

The deadline for the Winter follow-up to "Points of In-
terest" is October 15th. Hope to hear from some of you!

"Points of Interest" is a members 'forum where we look
at pictures and information about the "discoveries " we all make
in the field from time to time. Each issue of the column reports
findings from the previous "assignment" and concludes with a
new assignment. Member participation is essential and you are
encouraged to suggest topics for discussion.

Pictures may be small (even snapshots), but they must
be sharp and clear. Only those submitted in a self-addressed,
stamped envelope can be returned. ♦

Figure 5

Figure 6
AGS Summer '95 p. 15

Features

Gravestones: A Hidden Resource for Black History

by Roberta Halporn
391 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York

1217-1701

Last month, I gave a presentation for Black History
month at Downstate Medical Center, using rubbings I had made
up and down the East Coast. The title was "Gravestones: A
Hidden Resource for Black History." It was very well attended
for such a debut. (Just between you and me: since the announce-
ment only went out two days before the presentation, 1 was as-
tounded and gratified to discover fifty people in the audience.
People I don't know are still smiling at me in the halls.) What
follows is a list I prepared to distribute at the talk of burial sites
of people prominent in Black- American history.

Burial Places of Some Prominent Black-Americans
and Others who fought for Black Freedom

Richard Allen: Born a slave. Founded the African Meth-
odist Episcopal Church. First black bishop. Mother Bethel Afri-
can Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery, Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania.

Anonymous murdered Children of Atlanta: Cenotaph.
Formerly on the grounds of Kings County Hospital.

Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong: Trumpet player, musician.
Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, Queens.

Crispus Attucks: Runaway slave who joined the Conti-
nental Army of the Revolutionaries. First soldier to fall in the
Boston Massacre. Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Massachu-
setts.

Benjamin Banneker: Scientist and inventor praised by
Thomas Jefferson. Western Grade School Cemetery, Oella, Mary-
land.

Sidney Bechet: Musician. Pere Lachaise Cemetery,
Paris.

Henry Ward Beecher: Minister who held a slave auc-
tion in a Brooklyn church to wake up his constituents. Brother to
Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom's Cabin). Green-
Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

Pompey Benton: A much beloved "servant." Common
Burying Ground, Newport, Rhode Island.

Mary McLeod Bethune: Founder of Bethune Cookman
College for Women, Founder National Council of Negro Women.
On the college grounds, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Patience (Sterry) Borden: Charles Haskell's mother-in-
law who "left $230.00 to the poor of the Baptist Church." Provi-
dence, Rhode Island.

John Brown: Abolitionist whose actions started the Civil
War at Harper's Ferry. John Brown Farm, North Elba, New York.

Ralph Bunche: United Nations diplomat. First black
to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New
York.

Godfrey Cambridge: Movie Actor. Forest Lawn,
Beverly Hills, California.

George Washington Carver: Agriculturist, educator,
botanist. On the grounds of Tuskegee Institute Cemetery, Ala-
bama.

Levi Coffin: Ran the Underground Railroad in Ohio.
Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Nat "King" Cole: Singer. Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Cemetery, Glendale, California.

John Coltrane: Jazz saxophonist. Pinelawn Cemetery,
Melville, New York.

Dorothy Dandridge: Actress and singer. Forest Lawn
Memorial Park, Glendale. California.

Father Divine: Reactionary clergyman who founded the
Peace Mission movement. Woodmont Palace Mission Estate.
Gladwyn, Pennsylvania.

Frederick Douglass: Escaped slave, editor of an anti-
slavery newspaper. Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York.

Paul Laurence Dunbar: Poet who wrote in black dia-
lect. Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio.

Duke Ellington: Composer, pianist, orchestra leader.
Woodlawn Cemetery. Bronx, New York.

Medgar Evers: Murdered field secretary, NAACP. .Ar-
lington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

T. Thomas Fortune: Founder, the New York Age. black
newspaper. Coined the phrase "Afro-American." Eden Cem-
etery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Marcus Garvey: Founder. "Back to Africa" movement.
King George VI Memorial Park Cemetery, Jamaica, Wisconsin.

Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Creole. Victorian world-
famous composer and pianist. Green- Wood Cemetery, Brook-
lyn, New York.

Lorraine Hansberry: First black woman playwright to
have a play ("A Raisin in the Sun") produced on Broadway. Beth-
El Methodist Cemetery, Croton-on-Hudson, New York.

Lil Hardin: Director of an all-girl band. Wife of Louis
Armstrong. Lincoln Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.

Charles Haskell: A wealthy "Negro" who fought in the
Revolution. Providence, Rhode Island.

Yusuf Hawkins: Teenager murdered while \ isiting a
Brooklyn party. Evergreen Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York (See
cover art).

DuBose Heyward: Author of the no\ el, Porgy. on which
"Porgy and Bess" was based. Saint Phillips Churchyard Cem-
etery, Charleston, South Carolina.

Billie Holiday ("Lady Day"): Blues singer. Saint
Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

Mahalia Jackson: Gospel singer. Providence Memo-
rial Park Cemetery, Metairie. Louisiana.

Jack John: First American black heavyweight cham-
pion. Greenland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.

Scott Joplin: Ragtime composer. Saint Michael's Cem-
etery, Astoria, New York.

Martin Luther King: Murdered Civil Rights activist.
South View Cemetery, Atlanta. Georgia.

Huddie Ledbetter ("Lead Belly"): Composer of folk
songs. Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery, Shreveport, Louisiana.

AGS Summer '95 p. 16

Features

Joe Louis: Heavyweight champion for twelve years.
Son of an Alabama sharecropper. Adington National Cemetery,
Arlington, Virginia.

Hattie McDaniel: Actress. "Mammy" in "Gone with
the Wind." First black to win an Academy Award. Rosedale
Cemetery, California.

Claude McKay: Writer of poems and novels about
Harlem in the 1920s. Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.

Ronald E. McNair: Physicist. First black astronaut.
Died on space shuttle Challenger. Cenotaph in park opposite the
Brooklyn Museum.

Thelonius Monk: Jazz composer and pianist. Ferncliff
Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.

Lucretia Mott: Abolitionist and organizer of the Sen-
eca Falls Convention, which first declared for the rights of women.
Fairhill Friends Burial Ground, Pennsylvania.

Adam Clayton Powell: Minister and black congressman.
Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York.

Freddie Prinze: Entertainer. Forest Lawn Cemetery,
Glendale, California.

Paul Robeson: Bass-baritone, actor ("The Emperor
Jones," by Eugene O'Neill), and political activist. Ferncliff Cem-
etery, Hartsdale, New York.

Jackie Robinson: First black player in major league
baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers). Cypress Hills Cemetery, Queens,
New York.

Bill (Bojangles) Robinson: Dancer Evergreen Cem-
etery, Brooklyn, New York.

Diana Sands: Actress. Ferncliff Cemetery, Westchester,
New York.

Hazel Scott: Pianist. Married to A.C. Powell.
Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

John Swam Slaughter: Born a slave, became a cow-
boy. Foughtaboxingmatch with John L. Sullivan, but lost. Boot
Hill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona.

Bessie Smith: Blues singer. Mount Lawn Cemetery,
Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

Phillis Stevens: Possibly died of childbed fever, her son
"Prince by her side." Wife of Zingo, possibly a servant of a fa-
mous stone-carving dynasty, the Stevens. Newport, Rhode Is-
land (See illustration above).

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Writer, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Andover Chapel Cemetery, Andover, Massachusetts.

Sojourner Truth: Former slave. Underground Railroad
conductor, and poet who lectured on abolition and women's rights.
Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Michigan.

Booker T Washington: Founder, Tuskegee Institute.
Cemetery on the Institute grounds, Alabama.

Ethel Waters: Actress and singer. Forest Lawn, Glen-
dale, California.

Roy Wilkins: Head of the NAACP. Pinelawn Memo-
rial Park Cemetery, Farmingdale, New York.

Richard Wright: Author (Native Son). Pere-Lachaise
Cemetery. Paris, France.

Malcolm X (Malcolm Little). Buried under the name
"Shabazz." Assassinated political leader Ferncliff Cemetery,
Hartsdale, New York. ♦

AGS Summer '95 p. 17

Regional Columns

NORTHWEST
& FAR WEST

Alaska, California,

Colorado. Hawaii. Idaho,

Montana. Nevada. Oregon.

Utah. Washington, Wyoming.

Alberta. Saskatchewan. British Columbia

Bob Pierce (The Western Deadbeat)

208 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco, California 94131

San Quentin 's Boot Hill Cemetery

Traveling north from San Francisco on Route 101 across
the Golden Gate bridge, one enters Marin County. Approximately
ten miles beyond the bridge, one comes to an exit for the Rich-
mond-San Rafael bridge. The last exit before entering the bridge
leads to San Quentin State Prison. On a bluff in a eucalyptus
grove in the northwest section of the prison grounds is Boot Hill
Cemetery.

San Quentin State Prison began in 1851 as a prison ship.
The first buildings were erected the following year. It is
California's oldest state prison. The original cemetery of "Lost
Felons," as depicted on an old 1855 Spanish language map, is
placed on a hillside site (where the current infirmary is located)
at the southern tip of the San Quentin property. This site was a
short distance from an Indian burial ground depicted on the same
map as "Lost Aborigines." In the late 1890s and early 1900s, the
hill was leveled to make room for prison expansion. The burial
grounds, both inmate and Indian, were moved to "The Valley."
This is an area which became part of the residential area. That
cemetery was on a site now occupied by a building known as the
"Valley School" where prison employees' children attended
school from 1924 until 1968. In the early 1920s, the cemetery
was moved to its present location. There have been no burials in
this cemetery since 1952, when the prison adopted its current
system of sending unclaimed inmate bodies to a local mortuary
for cremation.

When the cemetery was in use, if an inmate died and
the next of kin or relatives couldn't or wouldn't pay for a funeral,
the inmate was buried quietly in a grave marked only with his
prison number. There were 700 interments in the cemetery. Death
may have been natural, accidental, murder, or execution.

After 1952, when the cemetery fell into disuse, the
wooden markers began to disappear. Markers were being sold at
swap meets and antique shops.

Associate Warden Dick Nelson has been working to
preserve and restore the cemetery. He has been researching it for
over twenty years. To ward off plunderers. Nelson had most of
the markers that remained put in storage. One can see a couple
of the original markers on display at the San Quentin Museum.

The first major task was identifying the bodies. In 1968,
a convict/surveyor prepared a plan of the cemetery and state re-
searchers helped match the names to the numbers. Thus far 550
of the 700 buried have been identified.

Brass plates identifying the graves have been manufac-

tured from salvage plumbing materials. Inmates in the machine
shop have forged approximately 5(X) brassplates which will even-
tually be installed in round resistant concrete headstones.

Work progresses slowly on the project. This is due to
the fact that Dick Nelson, a full-time employee at San Quentin.
can only work on it in his spare time. Also, the cemetery is lo-
cated near a shooting range, so work can only be done when the
range is not in use. Most importantly, there are no funds for the
project. Recently, a fund was set up for cemetery restoration and
anyone wishing to contribute to it can do so by sending a contri-
bution to the San Quentin Museum Association, Cemetery Pres-
ervation Fund, c/o R.A. Nelson, Building 106, Doloros Way, Post
Office Box 205, San Quentin, California 94964. ♦

SOUTHWEST

Arizona. Arkansas.

Loidsiana. New Mexico,

Oklahoma. Texas

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail. Arizona 85641

Phone: (602)647-7005

Fax: (602)647-7136

In mid-May. when the temperature in the Tucson area
reached 100 degrees for the first time in 1995. we visited the
oldest cemetery in Benson, Arizona. It was noon and my hat was
at home. The ground was parched and the sun intense, although
a stiff breeze kept the heat at bay. The only plantings were yuc-
cas and a few ferny mesquite trees, whose delicate and fluttery
shade is rarely deep. So we didn't stay long, nor did we visit the
other cemeteries in this town, which bustled in the 1880s. when
it was a major shipment point for livestock as well as silver and
copper from Tombstone and other mines in the nearby Santa Rita
mountains. The Southern Pacific, the "Santa Fe," and other rail-
roads converged here, some fifty miles east of Tucson. In 1883,
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe used Benson as the starting
point for a southerly route to the Mexican state of Sonora, through
Nogales, also some fifty miles distant, and from there to the port
of Guaymas on the gulf of California; promoters of the ISSOs
anticipated that the Sonora Railway would make Guaymas a lead-
ing outlet to the Pacific, opening markets for .American products
in Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East. It was a short-lived
and ultimately unsuccessful dream, but one with a strong Boston
connection, inasmuch as "Boston capitalists" — nearly half of
them residents of Newton. Massachusetts — were almost en-
tirely responsible for the financing, planning, and directing the
line's construction and operations.

Because of my own Boston connections. I'd hoped to
find New Englanders in this parched ground, but there weren't
any there. Instead, I found several German families, identified
by ornamental cast iron and other metal markers, most of an obe-
lisk type, possibly purchased from midwestern suppliers. Many
of their plots were enclosed by decorative cast iron fences and
gates in various Victorian styles, some with ornamental brass

AGS Summer '95 p. 18

Regional Columns

handles and fittings. Whether these were of local manufacture I
don't know, but it seems possible, since iron working seems to
be an important traditional craft in southeastern Arizona. The
markers themselves date from 1890-1900, and seem to be con-
temporaneous with the fences and gates. The latter are in excel-
lent condition, probably because of the dry climate and possibly
because of the presence of the police station across the street.
Other markers in this cemetery were fashioned from wood, sev-
eral inscribed by hand in Spanish. One marker, standing alone
and unenclosed, struck me for its inscription: "Eddie Fox, well-
known comedian and clog dancer. Born 1856 in Jersey City,
New Jersey, died in Benson, Arizona, 1900." Eddie Fox's birth-
place could not be more different from his death place. Did he
live in Benson? Or did he simply happen to die there, leaving
little information about his family ties or marital status? I need
to find his obituary to be sure, but I find the idea of his being
memorialized for his skills as an entertainer and clog dancer in
this desert town to be intriguing.

Another cemetery we recently visited was in Grafton,
Utah, once a small Mormon settlement in the Virgin River Valley
near the southwest entrance to Zion National Park. Four inscrip-
tions in this burial ground of perhaps twenty marked graves, with
the jagged red and yellow rock walls of Smithsonian Butte and
other formations rising in the background, tell of three members
of the Berry Family (a husband and wife, a brother), all in their
twenties, being "killed by Indians" on the same day, April 2, 1 866.
Their deaths are recorded on a single obelisk of polished granite
which was probably erected in the late 1870s, judging by its style.
Nearby was another stone, carved from local sandstone and sty-
listically more consonant with the mid- 1 860s. It marks the grave
of a fourteen-year-old girl, "killed" two months earlier than the
Berrys in February, 1866. Who killed her is not part of the in-
scription. Unfortunately, I don't yet have the context that ex-
plains the first and second killings. They may have been per-
sonal or political. Or they may have been random or accidental.
They do coincide with the beginning of government pressure on
the Utes to vacate their traditional lands in this fertile area and to
resettle on "reservations." This was without apparent justifica-
tion other than to provide the influx of white settlers with secu-
rity and access to land and water. I'll contact the historical soci-
ety in nearby Saint George for more information and report on it
later. The Grafton cemetery also includes several markers, evi-
dently quarried locally, made from a pinkish sandstone with hand-
some fruit and floral relief carvings in addition to an hourglass at
their apex. These date from the early 1870s, and, though the
inscriptions are badly eroded, the decorative elements are well-
preserved, probably because they were fit into a shallow recess.

If you're heading for the National Parks in the Utah-
Arizona area, this part of southwest Utah is worth exploring for
scenery, history, and the architecture of early Mormon commu-
nities. We found Grafton through Utah's branch of the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM), which is a federal agency adminis-
tered through the Department of the Interior. In Utah, and per-
haps other southwestern and western states as well, the BLM has
compiled a list of "back ways" into less visited areas, most of
which are accessible without a four-wheel drive or pick-up. If

Grafton is any guide, then you'll get to see some special places,
and possibly some other special cemeteries. It might be worth
contacting the BLM, through The Department of the Interior in
Washington, to learn more about the "back way" initiatives in
various states, and the extent of their cemetery listings.

Also. AGS members visiting Arizona may want to con-
tact the Pioneer's Cemetery Association for information about
their activities and the cemeteries in the state which they have
helped to preserve or have documented: The Pioneer's Cemetery
Association, Post Office Box 63342, Phoenix, Arizona 85082-
3342. Their historian is Marjory West. The City of Mesa, part of
the Greater Phoenix area, also is a source of information about
its municipal cemetery, founded in 1891. Their Parks, Recre-
ation, and Cultural Division has produced a useful and detailed
guide for a walking tour which highlights several individuals
buried there who "were selected to provide a glimpse of Mesa's
history and a sampling of its "personality" over the years." I
liked the fact that their brochure drew attention to the way that
"cemeteries. ..connect past and present by preserving the memory
of individual lives. Every life — even the briefest — touches
other lives, thus impacting the future." This is one of the re-
wards of visiting cemeteries, even when the avowed objective
may be the study of changing aesthetics and sentiments of re-
membrance.

Finally, the National Association for Cemetery Preser-
vation, Inc., Post Office Box 772922, Steamboat Springs, Colo-
rado 80477; (303) 276-3691, has forwarded me their goal state-
ment and description of some recent activities. They are a "tax
exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to the identification,
restoration, and preservation of our nation's [sic] cemeteries and
grave sites." Their special interest is to save sites that are cur-
rently endangered by vandalism, neglect, or abandonment. Since
they seek to operate nationwide and to form chapters in each
state, AGS members might be interested in contacting them. The
directors are Roger and Joyce Cusick, Kenneth Wilson. Rita
Faruki, and Willadean D. Cusick. ♦

MIDWEST

Illinois. Indiana, Iowa,

Kansas. Michigan, Minnesota,

Missouri, Nebraska. North

Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota,

Wisconsin. Manitoba, Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue, Chicago. Illinois 60614-2323

Postcards of Memorials

The modern postcard began in Chicago at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition, when hundreds of thousands of
visitors enthusiastically wrote, "Wish you were here!"

Postcards have included every imaginable subject in
their categories. Two views from the Midwest which deserve
attention are the "Funeral Procession" and the Petlit Memorial
Chapel.

AGS Summer '95 p. 19

Regional Columns

The Lorado Taft Procession is not in a cemetery but at
the Eagle's Nest Art Colony, Oregon, IlHnois. Well-known monu-
ments by Taft include the "Crusader" and "Eternal Silence" in
Graceland Cemetery, Chicago.

The Memorial Chapel in the Belvidere Cemetery, Illi-
nois, was designed in 1907 by Frank Lloyd Wright at the request
of Emma Petlit as a memorial to her husband. The prairie-style
building is listed on the National and Illinois Registers of His-
toric Places.

Forest Park Goes Chapter 11

On February 6, 1995, Grain's Ghicago Business an-
nounced the filing of Chapter 11 by a Forest Park, Illinois, cem-
etery: "Night of the Living Debt: Forest Home Bankruptcy Digs
Up Grave Deals." Forest Home Cemetery's $9.2 million in mort-
gage claims has blanketed this 122-year-old, 21 2-acre burial space
with a heavy pall. In addition to the money woes, vandals have
been removing bronze markers, crypt doors, and decorations
throughout the cemetery known for its diverse populations: the
Haymarket Martyrs, Emma Goldman, Billy Sunday, the Druids,
Gypsies, etc. The only known Tiffany monument in a Chicago-
area cemetery is located here.

From Phil Kallas

Phil Kallas provides an overview of the importance of
information to be found in a cemetery in "A Museum of Sorts:
Cemeteries Record History of Area" in Living, Stevens Point
Journal, October 26, 1994. He reminds the reader that "in a
cemetery, you can find anything you would in a library or
museum... material for many subjects, such as art, history, geog-
raphy, geology, and botany... the cities have swallowed up the land
and the cemeteries are the only piece of nature that (has) sur-
vived."

Phil has also sent articles about places to visit: two from
the Milwaukee Journal: an article in the February 27, 1994, pa-
per gives a recommendation to visit the two cemeteries at Rock
Island Arsenal [Illinois]. One, a Confederate graveyard, "con-
tains the remains of 1,961 Southern prisoners who died in the
Civil War prison. ..and the other is the national cemetery, still ac-
tive with more than 10.000 grave sites." The November 27, 1994,
edition includes a reference to a cemetery in Garvin Heights Park,
Winona, Minnesota, where, it is claimed, are buried "the remains
of Stephen Taylor, a member of Ethan Allen's band. ..that attacked
Fort Ticonderoga. Taylor is said to be the only Revolutionary
War soldier buried west of the Mississippi."

Jack Bradley of Chillicothe. Illinois, has sent an article
from the Peoria [Illinois] Journal Star. "Cemetery a Tourist At-
traction: Bellefonlaine Cemetery in St. Louis Not Average Grave-
yard." Some of the famous burials are mentioned: Adulphus
Busch, the brewer; William Clark, the explorer; Sara Teasdale,
Pulitzer Prize winning poet; Thomas Hart Benton, the Senator;
William S. Burroughs, inventor of the mechanical calculator; the
Taylor Blow family, owners of Dred Scott. Across the wall in
Calvary are Dred Scott, the slave; William Tecumseh Sherman.
Civil War General; and Tennessee Williams, the playwright. Men-
tioned as a memorable monument is the Louis Sullivan designed
Wainwright Tomb, "locally known as the Taj Mahal of
Bellefontaine." (Sullivan designed two other mausoleums, the
Getty and the Ryerson, which are in Graceland Cemetery, Chi-
cago.)

Kattie Karrick has recently started publishing a news-
letter, "Tomb with a View." Write her at 2568 Overlook Road.
Suite #2, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44106 for further informa-
tion. She has sent material pertaining to the Lake View Cem-
etery Association, Cleveland. The cemetery celebrated its 125th
Anniversary during 1994 with a variety of events. Among its
285 acres are the burial sites of President James A. Garfield, a
heroic monument 180 feet tall with 154 steps to the entrance,
designed by architect George Keller and listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. Also at Lake View is the monument
of John D. Rockefeller, which is sixty-five feet tall and weighs
357,680 pounds. "It is claimed that this one piece of Barre [Ver-
mont] granite is the largest ever quarried at Barre for
memorialization purposes."

Loren Horton, 3367 Hanover Court, Iowa City. Iowa
52245 is continuing his diligent search for the cast metal
gravemarker crosses which were created by Charles (Karel)
Andera in Spill ville. Iowa. 1875-1929. They were distributed
widely throughout the mid-section of the United States and are
believed to be found exclusively in Bohemian (Czech) or Ger-
man Roman Catholic cemeteries. Send information to Loren at
the above address.

William Krause. Archivist of the Wisconsin State Old
Cemetery Society (WSOCS). has discovered infonnaiion iliat J.M.
Kohler Sons, known for its plumbing wares, has had a grave con-
nection. In 1878. when the fimi was Kohler. Hayssen. & Stehn
Manufacturing Company, among the fly wheels, plows, bailers,
bathtubs, and drinking fountains were urns, benches, and at least
three styles of cast iron gravemarkers. Mr. Krause is seeking
additional information.

Overheard by Carol Shipp, Princeton, Illinois, pertain-
ing to the rites of life, "Hatched, matched, and dispatched." ♦

Other News

An article from the February, 1995, Ghevy Outdoors
about Fort Meade in Sturgis, South Dakota, mentions two cem-
eteries: the Black Hills National Cemetery, established in 1948
and managed by the Veterans Administration, and the historic
Fort Meade Post Cemetery, which is described as "the only in-
tact post cemetery in the western United States" with burials from
1878-1943.

SOUTHEAST

Alabama, District of Cohunbia.

Florida. Georgia, Kentucky,

Maryland, Mississippi,

North Carolina. South Carolina,

Tennessee. Virginia, West Virginia

AGS Office (for now)

30 Elm Street. Worcester. Massachusetts 01609

AGS Summer '95 p. 20

Regional Columns

Legislative Update from the Coalition
to Protect Maryland Burial Sites, Inc.

The following will be brought before the 1995 Maryland Gen-
eral Assembly:

Disposition and Treatment of Discovered
Human Remains and Burial Sites

The accidental discovery bill has a two-fold objective:

(1) It would identify a set of procedures when a burial
site or human remains are accidentally discovered. Such proce-
dures are needed so that a uniform sequence of actions can take
place, first to determine through law enforcement channels if any
criminal activity has occurred, and secondly, to determine the
appropriate actions necessary to protect and preserve the site,
depending upon whether the discovered site is a Native Ameri-
can burial or a traditional burial.

(2) Secondly, the bill would authorize, not mandate, the
creation of local Burial Sites Advisory Boards, to serve without
compensation. A major function of such Boards would be to
help establish inventories of burial sites in each location and in-
sure that data from the inventories is placed on the tax maps so
that builders can know, up front, the existence of a burial site on
land they may be developing. The legislation makes adequate
provisions to restrict data on the burial sites iiiventories, under
certain conditions, so that extremely sensitive sites, such as Na-
tive American and Civil War burial grounds, can be protected
from would-be looters and treasure hunters.

The next three bills in the coalition's 1995 legislative
package deal with amending the Criminal Code (Article 27, Sec.
265 and 267). In many ways the amendment of this Article lies
at the heart of burial site preservation in our state. Last year, this
legislation was not even considered by the Senate JPR Commit-
tee and was not cross-filed in the House. The impression that the
Coalition received was that the bill was too complex and not
well understood. Therefore, we have taken a different approach
this year by breaking our former bill into separate components
which are sharply focused on particular issues and problem ar-
eas. The bills are now under review by several of our past legis-
lative supporters, the Maryland Historical Trust, and representa-
tives of the building industry:

Desecration of. or Unauthorized Removal of, Funerary
Objects Associated witli Burial Sites — Proliibition

This bill would increase the criminal penalties for any
person convicted of the misdemeanor offense of willfully de-
stroying, mutilating, defacing, injuring, or removing any associ-
ated funerary object from a cemetery. Civil penalties would also
be added as an option for the courts. The present fine is $2,000;
this bill would raise it to $5,000, with the possibility of a two-
year jail term as well.

Furthermore, persons who willfully remove, for the pur-
pose of sale or trade, any associated funerary object placed m a
burial site would be subject to special civil penalties, including

ACS Suinnw

the Ibrfciturc of any and all equipment used for, or intended to be
used for the purpose of removing associated funerary objects for
the purpose of sale or trade.

This bill, generally referred to as the anti-looting bill,
also stipulates that for those convicted of willfully removing,
destroying, or destructively altering any plant life planted for the
protection or ornamentation of any burial site the penalty would
be a fine not exceeding the cost to replace or restore the tree,
plant, or shrub. Civil penalties could also be imposed.

Lastly, for those convicted of indecent or disorderly
conduct within the limits of a burial site a fine of $500 could be
imposed, plus civil penalties.

Desecration and Unautliorized Disturbance
of Burial Sites — Prohibition

This bill would increase the criminal penalties, and add
civil penalties, for those convicted of the misdemeanor offense
of willfully removing, disturbing, or destroying human remains
in a burial site. Criminal and civil penalties could also be im-
posed on anyone convicted of the misdemeanor offense of will-
fully destroying the integrity of any burial site.

A distinction is made in the bill for disturbance through
negligence. Any person who through negligence disturbs or de-
stroys human remains or a burial site may be fined an amount
not exceeding the cost of returning the human remains or burial
site to their prior condition.

Authorization for Disturbance of Burial Sites:
Conditions and Provisions

This bill would set forth new procedures for the State's
Attorney prior to authorizing the disinterment and reinterment of
human remains or the relocation of a burial site. The principal
change would be that notification and involvement of heirs and
descendants would be required before the relocation of human
remains or a burial site could be authorized. This procedure is
well-established under the process of eminent domain. It should
be noted that for certain actions, the State's Attorney could act at
his own discretion, without the requirement of newspaper publi-
cation, for example, in thecaseof determining the cause of death
or for reburial at the request of a spouse, next of kin, orappomted
personal representative. A local State's Attorney can presently
authorize the removal of human remains or the relocation of an
entire cemetery without any required consultation with family
members.

Maintaining Records of the Disinterment
and Reinterment of Human Remains

This bill would require that the Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene maintain a record of disinterments and
reinterments. When the Department receives notification from a
health officer of a permit being issued for the disinterment and
reintennent of human remains, such permits being issued only
after authority has been granted by the State's Attorney for the

r '95 p. 21

Regional Columns

county where the human remains or the burial site are located,
the Department shall maintain a record of these disinterments
and reinterments.

The legislation further provides that the Department may
not disclose or permit public inspection of information, if the
disclosure or inspection would create a substantial risk of harm,
theft, or destruction of the site. The department may not deny
inspection under certain circumstances.

As we go to press. Senator John Hafer is planning to
sponsor the three bills to amend the Criminal Code and the bill to
amend the Health Article.

Taken from the Winter 1995 Coalition Courier. For more
information on the Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites,
write Post Office Box 1533. Ellicott City; Maryland 21041. ♦

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware, New Jersey,

New York, Pennsylvania,

Quebec

G.E.O Czarnecki

28 10 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 11235

Increase Value, Increase Preservation

Cemeteries and graveyards represent a unique duality
in the concept of decay. There is certainly decay in the many
deceased that reside there, but the concept of decay is also cen-
tral to the image of the graveyard as a whole. The stones are
viewed in relation to their date and are conceived as aging and
disintegrating in a pattern of acceptance that coincides with "ashes
to ashes and dust to dust." With this philosophy in mind, many
colonial era gravestones are going the way of the trash heap at an
increasingly rapid rate. The problem is not unique to any one
town or region (I am going to use Brooklyn as an example) but
some areas are harder hit and those areas that are harder hit are
often the same places that have only a few remaining stones that
could definitely be saved if the choice were made to do so.

To make a point about preservation priority I have di-
vided the remaining colonial-era stones into those I consider to
be valuable and those I consider to be less valuable. The refer-
ence point that I have chosen to determine what should be con-
sidered a valuable gravestone is the presence of artwork on the
stone. Some colonial-era stones (eighteenth and nineteenth cen-
tury in the New York City area) contain artistic motifs indicative
of the period they were cut. These are of value. All other colo-
nial-era stones, although falling into the same time ranges but
lacking any artistic imagery, I consider to be less valuable. These
colonial-era non-motif bearing stones are almost all late but ba-
sically numerous. They are the last of a colonial-era style of
stone, a slate or sandstone slab with a central motif on the tympa-
num. Non-motif bearing stones in New York City are almost all
of the same style. I in no way view the non-motif bearing stones

as being of no value. Rather, non-motif bearing stones inflate
the amount of colonial-era stones that survive. They present the
view that many stones remain and there is no cause for concern.
In turn, the more valuable motif-bearing stones are overlooked.

Simply put, I believe motif-bearing stones should be
protected through their removal and placement in an environ-
ment conducive to the preservation of art. This will add to a
cultural value of our past, increase concern for their presers'a-
tion, and protect forever what can never be replaced.

I realize that there are many opponents to gravestone
removal. I am advocating that only the motif-bearing stones be
removed and protected indoors. This division could possibly
make this plan feasible, considering how few motif-bearing stones
actually remain.

Brooklyn is inhabited currently by approximately seven
million people. It was at one time a city in itself and before that
time consisted of smaller communities with individual names like
Flatbush, Flatlands, and Gravesend. Populations have always
been relatively high, but this certainly is not reflected in the num-
ber of remaining colonial-era stones in the borough. A quick
review of the remaining amounts of colonial gravestones in the
four remaining colonial-era graveyards makes this evident.

1) The Dutch Reformed Church contains the largest
amount of colonial-era stones, about 300, but only fifteen have
motifs.

2) The Second Dutch Reformed Church has fifty stones,
but only nine have motifs.

3) The New Utrecht graveyard contains only tw o motif-
bearing stones.

This breakdown of higher value status for motif-bear-
ing stones may be the only way to attract enough attention to
save them in areas where they are particularly endangered.

I welcome comments on this subject, as well as compa-
rable statistics on other areas from readers.

Volunteers Needed in New Jersey

The New Jersey Graveyard Preservation Society is look-
ing for volunteers to help with all sorts of projects.

Currently, a very important project is being undertaken
by NJGPS. Some of you may have read in the newspaper about
the Dutch Reformed Church Burial Ground in New Brunswick.
The church plans to move twenty-one graves two rows back, so
the church can construct a covered breezeway between the church
and church house. This will allow both buildings to be acces-
sible for disabled persons. The church will then be able to be
open to all members of the general public for attendance (or reli-
gious services and for special programs held b) the church and
other organizations.

In order to disinter the remains, the church must first
seek a court order. The court order must show "good cause." A
court order should be easy to obtain since the property has been
church-owned and maintained since 1766, the breezeway will
benefit the church's accessibility, and the already contacted de-
scendants do not have any real objections.

AGS Summer '95 p. 22

Regional Columns

The church originally considered hiring an undertaker
to disinter the burials. This method, however, would not guaran-
tee a full recovery, because most of the burials date between 1811-
1867 and are probably in poor shape. So NJGPS submitted a
proposal to do the job archaeologically. This will guarantee a
safe and systematic way of disinterment and reburial. It also
leaves a door open to find out what historical information can be
learned that would otherwise be lost with the undertaker's method.
NJGPS is in the process of hiring professional archaeologists but
volunteers are strongly needed.

If you are interested in helping out in any way, please
call Mark Nonestied at (908) 651-8850 with any questions or
comments. ♦

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Vermont, Labrador, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland,
Nova Scotia
Bob Klisiewicz
46 Granite Street
Webster, Massachusetts 01570

Historic Burying Grounds Initiative

Boston's Tour de Graves

mid-summer, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I can't give
you the actual route, because it changes from year to year; how-
ever, many of the historic burying grounds in the greater Boston
area are visited, including the Dorchester North Burying Ground
(1634) at Upham's Corner and Central Burying Ground f 1754),
Kings Chapel Burying Ground ( 1 630), and the Granary Burying
Ground (1660), which are all in downtown Boston. This tour
could be of particular interest to AGS members, as some of these
cemeteries are not usually open to the public.

A few of the more popular stones at these sites mark the
resting spots of Elizabeth "Mother" Goose, Paul Revere. John
Harvard, John Winthrop, any number of Mathers, Phillis Wheatly,
and Mary Chilton, the first woman to disembark from the May-
flower.

The bicyclists are led by event coordinator Ken Withers
and escorted by a number of volunteer marshals. At each bury-
ing ground, brief tours are conducted by the relevant "Friends"
groups and Historic Burying Grounds Initiative staff and volun-
teers. This year, a forty-eight page guidebook was given to par-
ticipants, and a picnic lunch was enjoyed along the lake at Mount
Hope (I assume this is next to the Mount Hope Cemetery in
Roslindale). The tour goes on schedule, weather permitting or
not! AGS members will be happy to hear that, in addition to the
exercise and the opportunity to visit a number of historic sites,
all of the proceeds go directly toward the restoration of Boston's
burying grounds. Last year, the event drew more than 220 par-
ticipants and raised over $2,000, which was specifically desig-
nated to the restoration of marble monuments in Dorchester South
Burying Ground. This year, the Boston Parks and Recreation
Department offered long sleeve T-shirts with the original "Tour
de Graves" logo (see illustration) for $10.00 each. The Historic
Burying Grounds Initiative Project Manager, Beth Shepard, tells
me that there are still some T-shirts available and they will ac-
cept mail orders.

The fall "Tour de Graves" will be held on October 22,
1995. The weather is usually crisp and dry at that time of the
year in Boston, and the event is just close enough to Hallowe'en
to be interesting. Those interested in T-shirts, applications for
the fall tour, being a marshal, or just more information can con-
tact: Boston Parks and Recreation Department, 1010 Massachu-
setts Avenue, 3rd Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02 11 8, Attention:
Tour de Graves; or call Beth Shepard at (617) 635-4505, exten-
sion 6515.

By the time you read this, the Boston Parks and Recre-
ation Department will have conducted their spring "Tour de
Graves," a twenty-five mile bicycle tour of the city's historic
burying grounds. (For more information, see the "Gravestones
and Computers" column on page 7. M.L.) I intended to write
about this event last year, as it is certainly unique and something
that should interest all AGS members. However, by the time the
information for the current year reaches me, the editorial dead-
line has passed, and the event has long been completed before
you would get to read about it. This year is no different, as the
tour was held on May 7, while you are probably reading this in

From Casimir Michalczyk

We've received both good and bad news from former
AGS member and legendary stone carver Casimer Michalczyk.
The good news is that he has now recovered from his major heart
surgery, and has regained much of his strength. As a result of the
Yankee magazine article that we mentioned a few issues ago, he
says that he is presently working on four slate stones, with the
possibility of two more commissions on the way. All this at
eighty-plus years old! The disturbing news is from an article he
sends us from the December 12, 1994, Hartford Courant.

ACS Summer '95 p. 23

Regional Columns

According to the newspaper, the city of New Britain is
contemplating selling their 238-year-old Fairview Cemetery to a
private developer. The cemetery has been plagued by poor main-
tenance and has been a constant drain on the finances of the city,
apparently losing $500,000 since 1984. Both the Mayor and Cem-
etery Board Chairwoman support the sale and state that this ac-
tion is the only way that they can guarantee the long term exist-
ence of the cemetery. Others are afraid that the holding com-
pany, which already owns 1 ,430 funeral homes and 2 1 3 cemeter-
ies, would be unresponsive to the needs of the community. Some
feel that the new owners may discontinue the custom of offering
free graves to welfare recipients and discounted burials for vet-
erans (a case could be made that if the city had discontinued these
practices earlier, perhaps the cemetery would be financially stable,
and this situation never would have developed). While the local
funeral parlor owners seem to have a vested interest in opposing
the sale, perhaps the most compelling arguments are from the
families of the current residents, who simply look on this as a
breach of trust. The Cowranf quotes Charles Barrett as saying, "I
think there's a trust between the city and people like my great-
grandmother, who bought a plot in 1890. If you entrust your
money for a city cemetery, that's an honor the city should live up
to." Barrett also expressed the fear of a legitimate but more re-
mote possibility: "Once it gets out of public hands, who knows
what it could end up as? A Wal-Mart?" ♦

FOREIGN

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14
D-63322 Rodermark
Germany

From China

Overseas Chinese pay $2,000 to be buried amidst the old wealth
of their home country. ("China Shuts Gilded Doors on Cemetery's
'Palace' Plots," The Arizona Republic, Scplcmber \0, 1994, A33.
Sent in by Phil Kallas.)

From Egypt

The following item about an extraordinary cemetery
deals with life in the so-called "City of the Dead," an area along
the eastern edge of Cairo where extensive cemeteries are located.
For several decades, shops and houses for the living have been
maintained there. In the mid-seventies, the number of
necropolitan residents was estimated to be around 100,000. (En-
cyclopedia Britannica, Chicago, 1978). The article, "They Call
Graveyards Home," (by Shyam Bhatia, South Bend [Indiana]
Tribune, June 26, 1994) was sent in by Toni Cook.

Up to one million of the seventeen million Cairenes are
believed to live in the city's ancient graveyards. One explana-
tion for this unusual approach to solving the capital's housing
crisis may be found in certain mourning rituals that are practiced
by Egyptian Muslims and Christians. Since the days of the Pha-
raohs, families have camped near the gravesites of their departed
for forty days. Christians light joss sticks and offer oranges and
bread on the fortieth day. For some families, the mourning cus-
tom becomes a way of life. Mausoleums or shacks are turned
into homes. Since running water is provided on the premises,
health hazards are few. But other dangers are involved in living
in the world's largest necropolis. "Afreets." spirits or djinns, and
"Naddahas," female callers who summon their victims to suck
their blood, pose a threat to the incautious who do not lock them-
selves in at night. Readers who consult Bhatias's article (stored
in the AGS Archives, as is every other paper mentioned in this
column) may find her geographic glimpses of the cemeter)- dwell-
ers more haunting than the ghost stories they tell.

In September, 1994, Chinese authorities prevented the
inauguration of Ghost Capital, a cemetery designed for the
country's newly affluent in Hengyang, Hunan. An official ex-
plained that Ghost Capital "damaged socialist spirit by promot-
ing feudal superstitions." The reprimand evokes Mao Tse-tung's
order of the 1950s to have the dead cremated so as to save land
and to break with feudal customs. In the past ten years, however,
numerous crematories have closed down as people in China re-
verted to Buddhist or Taoist traditional burials. At the same time,
private funeral parlors and cemetery consortia have been enjoy-
ing a boom. Surprisingly, Hunan officials have not interfered
with the business of the Refrigerated Crystal Coffin Factory in
Anyang. It produces transparent refrigerated caskets that facili-
tate display of the departed for weeks or months before burial or
cremation takes place. These caskets are equipped with humidi-
fiers and generators — in case of power failure. They play fu-
neral music when approached by mourners.

In spite of the authorities' clamp-down in Hengyang,
wealthy Chinese need not despair of finding suitable resting
places. The state owners of the Imperial Cemetery of the Qing
Dynasty in Zunhua, Hebei, provide spaces among royal remains.

ACS Summer '95 p. 24

From Great Britain

Great Britain is running out of graveyard space. Even
though seven in ten Britons are cremated rather than buried, the
demand for burial space will be met by plot sharing and burying
new bodies atop the old if Parliament approves a corresponding
proposal endorsed by the cemetery industry. Under the present
Conservative government, this is unlikely to happen, but in the
long run. cemetery overcrowding might induce Parliament to pass
legislation giving local governments the authority to recycle
graves. Under the proposal, plots would be reused after seventy-
five years if surviving family members could not be located.
Remains would be exhumed and rcburied at greater depth. The
coffin of the new tenant would be placed on top. Gravemarkers
of architectural significance would be kept, others removed. The
cemetery would keep a register of original burials. The advo-
cates of grave recycling remind the critics that it would revitalize
some older cemeteries. When families have moved away, their
burial plots are often left unlendcd. Headstones topple o\er. At
least two people were killed in Britain in recent years when worn
stone monuments fell on them. ("For Jostled British. Now
Double-Decker Graves?" The New York Times. September 20,

Regional Columns/ Office Notes

1994, A4. Copies were sent by Anne Folsler and Ted Chase.)

If all you AGS readers shudder at the idea of such out-
rageous practices as discarding old markers and messing around
with old burials, let me warn you that you are in for worse news
if you read on. You may want to pour yourself a stiff drink first,
or skip one paragraph.

From Germany

In most Gernian communities, the average time allotted
for the use of a single grave space is twenty-five years. Family
lots are leased (but never sold) for longer periods of time. In
November, 1994, the town council of Obertshausen (population
25,000), near Frankfurt/Main, voted unanimously to introduce
recyclable burial vaults in its cemetery. The prefabricated vaults
will reduce the period of grave use from the present twenty-five
years to fifteen. Incidentally, grave vaults are not part of an ordi-
nary burial in Germany, where caskets are placed right into the
ground. In the same meeting, the town council decided to raise
the fees for an individual lot from DM 850 (US $570) to DM
1,100 (US $740).

From Poland

AGS has a copy of the illustrated brochure. The Powazki
Cemetery in Warsaw. Powazki advertises itself as the oldest his-
toric Catholic cemetery in Poland. Founded in the late eighteenth
century, it contains the graves of eminent Polish artists, scien-
tists, educators, and patriots, as well as works by the most re-
nowned Polish sculptors. Among the memorials that have with-
stood the onslaughts of time, weather, and two wars are the late
classicistic stone tombs and the cast iron monuments from the
early decades of the cemetery's existence, impressive limestone
and sandstone chapels from the second half of the nineteenth
century, and later monuments with secessionist ornamentation
forged in stone and steel.

In World War II. a vast number of tombs were demol-
ished. The Polish resistance movement used the cemetery as a
hiding place and arms cache. Battles took place on the premises.
During the Warsaw Uprising, a German artillery post was estab-
lished at Powazki. The neo-baroque church was partially de-
stroyed, along with all the archive books. In 1945, the bodies of
thousands of Varsovians were moved from the provisional, se-
cret burials of the war years to Powazki Cemetery. Uniform
crosses and symbolic monuments were later placed on these
graves.

Every year on August first, Varsovians take candles and
fresh flowers to Powazki Cemetery to commemorate the War-
saw Uprising. Poland being a Catholic country. All Saints' Day
and All Souls' Day (November first and second) are observed.
Again, candles are lit and flowers are left on the graves.

Since 1974, the Public Committee for the Preservation
of Old Powazki Cemetery has tried to save as many old monu-
ments as possible from erosion and decay. The brochure sug-
gests a route that takes the visitor along some 1 50 graves of his-
toric or artistic interest. Two of the cemetery's six gates are open
from 7 a.m. until dusk throughout the year. ♦

OFFICE NOTES

Miranda Levin, Executive Director

AGS Office

30 Ehn Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

You haven't heard I'rom the office lately because we've
had such a wealth of material for the newsletter we haven't had
room for this column.

Although we have been receiving enough submissions
so far, 1 would like to remind you that we need material from all
of you to keep this publication thriving. There are several of you
who have contributed; we owe you many thanks for your sup-
port. For those of you who are hesitating, I'd like to extend to
you an invitation to contribute in a large way or small.

Unsolicited works are always welcome. If you're not
sure which columnist would best serve your subject, send it to
the office and I'll decide for you.

If you're looking for ideas, I'd like to suggest a couple.
First of all, we've had a request for more pictures of interesting
stones. As a result, I asked Bob Pierce to send me some photo-
graphs from his 1994 cross-country trip (see page 2); I hope this
inspires you to send in your photos of unusual stones which you've
come across in your travels both here and abroad.

Secondly, we'd like to try something a little different
for the spring 1996 issue. Lately, I've heard from several people
associated with pioneer cemeteries or gravestones. Ideally, I'd
like to do a whole issue on pioneer cemeteries for spring 1996.
We're looking for feature articles that cover some aspect of that
theme, but you needn't write an entire article; just send photos
and descriptions to the appropriate regional editor.

Please remember that the word "pioneer" is a relative
one, and every place in this country was settled by "pioneers" at
some point; there are all kinds of pioneer stones all over the place
— all you need to do is look.

If there are any members that are especially interested
in this subject. I would welcome an introductory article.

If you have any questions or would like more informa-
tion, please contact the AGS office. Please send your articles
and photos to the columnists and the office by January 1, and we
hope you will all participate. ♦

AGS Summer '95 p. 25

From the President's Desk

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
Rosalee Oakley, President

19 Hadley Place,

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

(413)584-1756

Newsletter Has New Name

At the April meeting of the Board of Trustees, the News-
letter Committee proposed the AG^A'ew^/eHer be renamed. After
discussion and several votes, the name chosen is AGS Quarterly:
Bulletin of the Association of Gravestone Studies. The new name
will appear on the Winter 1996 issue when a new volume begins.

As the newsletter has grown over the years, it has be-
come (and has been for some time) more than just a newsletter,
with feature articles that are more in keeping with other publica-
tions that are called quarterlies or bulletins. There were reserva-
tions about calling it a quarterly because it would limit us to four
issues per year. The Board decided to include "Quarterly" in the
name because, for the forseeable future, four issues would likely
be a realistic number. Should it be possible to publish more than
four issues, they could be called "extras" or "bonus issues."
Should it not be possible to publish four some year, it would be
possible to put out one that is a larger issue that would be labeled
a double issue — numbers 1 and 2, for example — thus keeping
our number at four.

From now on, the newsletter committee will be called
the Quarterly Editorial Board and the names will be listed in an
appropriate place in the publication.

Awards and Recognition Committee Instituted

At the January Board meeting, an Awards and Recogni-
tion Committee was appointed to update the guidelines and pro-
cedures used in selecting Forbes Award recipients and to set new
guidelines for recognition of work that we wish to commend and
encourage, but which does not quite meet the standards for the
Forbes Award. At the April meeting, committee members Jessie
Farber, Jim Slater, and Bob Drinkwater submitted their report,
which was accepted with several revisions and will now be the
operative guidelines.

In addition to the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award,
which continues to be our most prestigious award, there will be
Certificates of Merit presented to individuals and groups after
each Board meeting at which it is voted to award them. The
presentation will be made in the recipients' hoine localities at a
meeting of a local historical society or preservation group. If
possible, the certificate will be presented by an AGS member
living in the area who will represent the organization. It will not
be necessary for the Certificate of Merit winners to be present at
the Annual Conference to receive their certificate, but for those
who are, there will be a time of recognition for them at a recep-
tion, during the Annual Meeting, or some other appropriate lime.

A major change in the whole process is the creation of
an ongoing Awards Search Committee, made up of AGS mem-

bers, (but not restricted to Board members), and, if possible, in-
cluding a former Forbes Award recipient. This committee will
conduct an ongoing search for candidates to nominate for the
Forbes Award each year, and also search out individuals and
groups that will receive the Certificates of Merit. When the com-
mittee is appointed, more information will be made available on
standards and procedures for both types of recognition and how
you may suggest deserving recipients.

7996 Conference Site Selected

The 1 996 AGS Annual Meeting and Conference will be
held at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. Ralph
Tucker made site visits to several colleges in Maine and found
USM has everything we need at a price quite similar to what we
are accustomed to paying. Catherine Goodwin of Chelmsford,
Massachusetts, and Fred Oakley of Hadley, Massachusetts, will
co-chair the conference. Barbara Rotundo will be Program Chair

Donor Form Samples Are Sought

At the April Board meeting, the Archive Collection
Policy Development Committee submitted a draft of the Archive
Collection Policy they are working to finalize. One of the things
still needed is a donor form that will release gift materials to
AGS. If you are aware of donor forms from other organizations
that we could use to formulate our own, please send a copy to the
AGS Office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. It
will assist the committee in designing a form that will be suitable
to protect AGS and the donor.

Have You Made Special Arrangements?

Speaking of the AGS Archives, it is not too soon for
AGS members to think about what gravestone materials they have
in their possession that are important to preserve. A sure way to
preserve them is to include them in your will or in instructions to
family members that certain materials should go to AGS Archives,
the local historical society, or a designated museum.

Many Responded to Newsletter Sur\'ey — Thank You!

An excellent response was received to our request for a
postcard indicating when you received the Winter issue and the
condition in which it arrived. The last card received indicated the
newsletter came twenty-eight days after it was mailed. All but
one newsletter was reported to ha\e arri\cd in good to excellent
condition, although several people indicated liiat wiiile this issue
arrived unscathed previous issues regularly had not. The Board
voted at the April meeting to offer members on the renewal loriii
the option of paying a surcharge if they w ishcd .\GS mailings to
come to them first class rather than b> bulk mail. The renewal
forms will shortly show this option. ♦

AGS Summer '95 [>. 26

Notes & Queries

NOTES & QUERIES
AGS Office

30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

S.V.& S.N. Decoded

We received several responses to Laurel Gabel's query
about the letters "S.V." and "S.N.,"' which appear on the grave-
stone of Jonathan Edwards (Winter 1995, page 27). All respon-
dents confirmed Laurel's suspicion that they stand for "old style"
and "new style" dating: Stilo Veteris = "old style" and Stilo Novo
= "new style" in Latin.

Query on the Directions Gravestones Face

(This letter was originally sent to Roberta Halporn, who for-
warded it to this column. )

I am a geographer and a pilot. On a recent aerial photo
mission, I noticed some graveyards were laid out so the grave-
stones all faced east (or sunrise?). Do all parts of the country and
world have similar layouts, or is it specific to a religious group?
I am hoping you could provide some information on this subject
or a source where I can find this data. Glen Lutts, 3666 Niagara
Drive, Lexington, Kentucky 40517.

Reply from Roberta:

What an interesting question! The direction a grave faces
is an important one in every religion even going back to primi-
tive cultures. Think, for example, about Stonehenge and the way
it is placed. As far as I know, the majority of European cultures
face east because of the belief in Resurrection. Jewish graves
have to face in whatever direction Jerusalem lies, so they can
arrive when the Messiah arrives. That's all I know. I am sending
a copy of your letter to the organization's newsletter; perhaps
you will be bombarded with letters from members who know
more.

Source of Dove Symbolism Explained

Several members sent chapter and verse to explain the
branch in the dove's mouth, which columnist G.E.O. Czarnecki
described in his article in the Winter 1995 issue (page 20). Gen-
esis 8; 11 (King James version for the literary value): "And the
dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an
olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters abated from
off the earth."

"Consort" Defined

In response to columnist Lucy Norman Spencer's que-
ries concerning the use of the word "consort" on gravestones
(Spring 1995, page 22), Martha Smith of Pittsboro, North Caro-
lina, sent in this definition from Webster's New Ideal Dictionary.
page 105, "(1) Consort Nl: a wife or husband: Spouse ...see
also Prince Phillip."

Should AGS Advocate Gravestone Rubbing?

The see-saw argument continues between those who
believe they have an absolute right to 'rub' any gravestone they
see whenever and wherever they find one that suits their fancy
and those who share the opinion that we ought not to rub any
gravestone.

"Popular" ancient tombstones have been victims of cu-
riosity seekers, so-called experts, and amateurs alike. This re-
petitive one-upmanship for recognition to see who can make the
best print adds nothing to our fund of knowledge or expertise in
learning how best to preserve our defenseless sentinels.

As serious members of AGS, should we not resolve to
unite in purpose to stop encouraging rubbing with articles like
the AGS leaflet, "Gravestone Rubbing for Beginners?" Dave
Day, Chairman, Lebanon Permanent Cemetery Commission, 662
Exeter Road, Lebanon, Connecticut 06249. ♦

Association for Gravestone Studies
1996 Conference

June 27-30, 1996

The University of Southern Maine — Gorham

You are invited by the Association for Gravestone Studies to
submit proposals for the lecture presentation sessions at its
nineteenth Annual Conference at the Gorham campus of the
University of Southern Maine.

Papers are welcome from any appropriate discipline. Sug-
gested topics are occupational motifs, regional monument
st\-les. quarries and types of stone used for early monuments,
carver research projects, conservation activity in progress
or completed, modern monument design, etc.

Proposals must be received by February 1, 1996.

Those interested in presenting a paper are encouraged to
send a 250-word abstract to Dr Barbara Rotunda, 48
Plunimer Hill Road. Unit #4, Belmont, New Hampshire 03220
by February 1 , 1996.

For additional information about lecture proposals, write Dr
Rotunda at the address above or call her at (603) 524-1092.
For more information about the conference, contact confer-
ence co-chairs Catherine Goodwin, 10 Longview Drive,
Chelmsford, Massachusetts 01824; (508) 256-6240 or Fred
Oakley 19 Hadley Place, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035;
(413)584-1756.

AGS Summer '95 p. 27

Calendar

Carved in Stone Getaway: A Unique Look at Granite: August 25-27, 1995

Barre, Vermont's, geology, history, and world-famous industry will be highlighted in a three-day Vermont getaway weekend entitled
"Carved in Stone," presented by Vermont Off Beat, an educational vacation experience that uses country inns as its base of opera-
tions. For more information, contact: Vermont Off Beat, Post Office Box 4355, South Burlington, Vermont 05406-4366; (802) 863-
2535, FAX: (802) 863-3227.

Friends of Mount Auburn Summer Programs:

August 15, 5:30-6:30 p.m.: "From Pere Lachaise to the Necropolis: A Grand Tour of Notable Garden Cemeteries Abroad," a

slide lecture with Stephen Jerome, Curator, Brookline Historical Society.

September 9, 10:00-11:30 a.m.: "'She Hath Done What She Could' -Memories of Women at Mount Auburn." a walking tour

with Janet Heywood, Assistant Director for Interpretive Programs, Mount Auburn. For more information, call (617j 547-7105.

Slide Presentation by James Slater: September 9, 1995

In honor of Lebanon, Connecticut's, 300th Anniversary, at 12 noon in the Community Center, followed by a tour of the Historic
Trumbull Cemetery as well as other cemeteries. For more information, contact Mary Ann Walter at (203) 642-6322.

Civil War Re-Enactment, September 23 and 24, 1995

Wickham Park, East Hartford, Connecticut, sponsored by The Friends of Center Cemetery and the East Hartford Patriotic Com-
mission. The purpose is to raise money to restore East Hartford's badly deteriorating Civil War Monument, located in their
historic Center Cemetery on Main Street. For further information, please contact Doris Suessman, 38 Forest Lane, East Hartford.
Connecticut 06118; (203)568-6178.

Touring the Tombstones with Ruth Miller: October 30, 10 a.m. - Noon

Explore Charleston, South Carolina, from an uncommon perspective on a walk through historic cemeteries.

Described in Southern Living, November, 1992. For more information, contact College of Charleston at (803)953-5822.

© Copyright 1995 The Association for Gravestone Studies. The Association for Gravestone Studies holds the copyright on this Newsletter.
However, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed to reprint an article in it if the reprint is used for educational purposes, fidl
credit is given to the Association and the author andJor photographer or artist involved, and a copy of the document or article in which the
reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Newsletter is published quarterly as a service to members of the Association for
Gravestone Studies. The membership year begins the month dues are received, and ends one year from that date. A one year membership entitles
members to four issues of the Newsletter. Send metnbership fees (Senior/Student. $20; Individual, $25: Institutional. $30: Family, $35: Supporting,
$60; Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. Back issues of the Newsletter
are available for $3.00 per issue from the AGS office. The goal of the Newsletter is to present timely information about projects, literature, and
research concerning gravestones, and about the activities of the Association. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. The
Newsletter is not intended to serve as a journal. Journal articles should be sent to Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Associa-
tion for Gravestone Studies. Department of English, Western Oregon State College. Monmouth. Oregon 97361. Address Newsletter contributions
to the AGS office, or FAX us at (508) 753-9070. Order Markers (current volume. XII, $28 to members, $32.50 to non-members; back issues
available) from the AGS office. Send contributions , to the AGS Archives to Jo Goesell, 61 Old Sudbury Road. Wayland, Massachusetts 01778.
Address other correspondence to Miranda Levin, E.xeculive Director. AGS, 30 Elm Street. Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. or call (508) 831-7753.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES
^30 ELM STREET
'%^ WORCESTER MA 01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410
Worcester. MA

OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

VOLUME 19 NUMBER 4

FALL 1995

ISSN: 0146-5783

.^

CONTENTS

Conference 1995

Papers, Videos, and other Presentations 2

Tours. Workshops, & Participation Sessions 15

Computerized Gravestone Recording 16

Conservation Workshop 17

Honor Awards

Forbes Award Presentation 18

Trustee Emeritus Presentation 20

Annual Meeting 21

Regular Features

Review

Mississippi's Travel Planner 23

From the President's Desk 25

Notes & Queries 25

Puzzle 27

Lending Library Update 28

Line art by Carol Perkins and Virginia Rockwood.

Newsletter Contributions

Contributions and comments to colum-
nists and Editorial Board members are
welcome. Issues are mailed six weeks
after deadlines and often take several
weeks to reach the membership; please
keep that in mind when submitting
time-sensitive material.

Deadlines for Contributions

Spring issue: Febmary 1

Summer issue: May 1

Fall issue: August 1

Winter issue: November 1

Newsletter Editorial Board

Mary Cope, Jessie Lie Farber, Miranda
Levin, Rosalee Oakley, W. Fred Oakley, Jr.,
Barbara Rotundo.

Advertising Prices

Business card, $15: 1/4 page. $25; 1/2 page,
$45; full page insert, $100. Ads are placed
as space allows.

Mail contributions to the appropriate person
orto the AGS office. Send advertising (with
payment) to the AGS office: 30 Elm Street,
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

AGS Newsletter

lSSN:0146-5783

November, 1995
Published quarterly by The Associa-
tion for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm
Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
01609.

The mission of the Association for
Gravestone Studies is to foster ap-
preciation of the cultural signifi-
cance of gravestones and burial
grounds through their study and
preservation.

COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN GORHAM, MAINE, June 27-30, 1996

Conference 1995 — Papers

Association for Gravestone Studies

1995 Conference

June 22-25

Westfield, Massachusetts

Conference Papers

The Keynote Address, "This World and the Next: Death and Remembrance, " was given on Thursday, the opening

night of the conference, by long-time AGS member Kevin Sweeney of Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts.

Thirteen presentations of papers, videos, slides, and rubbings were made in sessions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Following are the thirteen titles with the text by the presenter; or, when the presentation depended heavily on visual

material, an abstract of the presentation.

First Lecture Session: Friday, June 23

"The Very Stones Cry Out"

Nancy H. Hannan, Esq.

An entertaining tour of many cemeteries and graveyards
where an examination of inscriptions revealed tales told of "who
lies here" and the causes of their death. ♦

A practicing attorney specializing in probate and eld-
erly law, Nancy H. Hannan received her A.B. from Emmanuel
College and was awarded her J.D. from Suffolk Law School.
She has been a member of AGS for fourteen years. Author of a
number of articles, she has a strong interest in history.

"Processes of Marble Gravestone Weathering in North
America: A Geographic Perspective"
Thomas C. Meierding, Ph.D.

The loss of older cemetery stones and other funerary
artwork from atmospheric weathering is of great concern to schol-
ars (geographers, historians, art historians, genealogists) and in-
deed, to anyone who has respect for the material culture of the
past. Deterioration of stone text and art in older cemeteries re-
duces the value of the entire site for the living, which leads to
replacement by other land uses.

In spite of the considerable input of scientists working
at many laboratory and field sites in Europe and North America,
rates of stone weathering have rarely been measured; thus our
understanding of weathering processes is incomplete. Physical
geographers, with their emphasis on mapping and their strong
tradition of interdisciplinary research related to atmospheric and
soil chemistry, can provide the spatial/environmental context of
stone weathering if they are able to generate weathering data
from many locations. The problem in the past was the perceived
lack of a widespread, homogeneous material and deficient in-
formation on stone exposure time and surface position at the
time of emplacement.

Vermont marble tombstones distributed across North
America a century ago ideally meet the requirements for mea-
surement and mapping of weathering rates, which in turn lead to
inferences about weathering processes. All available data col-
lected here show that weathering of vertical marble tombstones
over a century has been geographically related to air pollution
concentrations derived from high sulfur coal and charcoal, and to
no other rock weathering processes. American cities and towns,
where most outdoor carbonate artifacts are located (Sherwood and
Lipfert, Distribution of materials potentially at risk from acidic
deposition. National Acid Precipitation Program. Slate of Sci-
ence and Technology Report 21. 1990), have augmented marble-
weathering rates up to an order of magnitude above backround
rates. Space heating in coal field towns and ore smelting have
also caused excessive stone decay. The two to three millimeters
of mean surface recession on Vermont marble tombstones in some
cemeteries is sufficient to cause text and artistic inscriptions to
disappear, or even to indicate complete loss of tombstone and statu-
ary structural integrity.

The marble-damage function developed here, currenth
the most reliable in terms of data quantity, suggests that long-
term marble weathering rates on vertical surfaces are directly pro-
portional to so, inputs. Thus, in the future, marble tombstone-
weathering rates measured at any of tens of thousands of cem-
eteries in North America can be used to determine how much to-
tal SO, was in a particular environment over a century, although
not necessarily how much was emitted or when. These hindcasts
of average SO, concentrations at a given location can then be
correlated with deterioration rates of other rapidly weathered older
materials, such as mortar, sandstones, wood, metals, etc. Look-
ing at the damage function another way, measured or modeled
SO, concentrations predict damage to marble monuments, stat-
ues, and buildings under varying past and future pollution sce-
narios.

Irreparable damage has already been done to much of
our American outdoor cultural heritage by air pollution and. for
marble tombstones and artworks in cemeteries, will continue for
some time into the future as loose grains and exfoliation sheets
fall off and as structurally weakened artifacts break — a legacy of
the past. A favorable by-product of the loss of heavy industry

AGS Newsleuer: Fall -95 p.

Conference '95 — Papers

from North America is tiial inlact marble slalues and monuments
will sulTer little deterioration in the lulure, until such lime as we
again depend on high-sulfur coal as a primary fuel source in our
towns and cities. Newly industrializing countries of central Eu-
rope and the Orient, which burn high-sulfur coal and have few
environmental regulations, are repeating the marble deteriorat-
ing process. Our own bleak history of air pollution/cemetery
stone deterioration serves as a lesson in how rapidly these coun-
tries will be losing their own outdoor cultural heritage. Knowl-
edge of the geography, timing, and SO, -induced processes of
marble deterioration presented here should help art conservators,
preservationists, and documenters to plan effective remediation
strategies throughout the world. ♦

This summaiy is excerpted from "Marble Tombstone
Weathering and Air Pollution in North America " by Thomas C.
Meierding, which was originally published in The Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, 83(4), 1993, pages 568-
588. Reprinted with permission.

Thomas Meierding is Associate Professor of Geogra-
phy at the University of Delaware. He has his B.A. in business
and his M.A. in geography from the University of California,
Berkeley, and was awarded a Ph.D. in geography from the Uni-
versity of Colorado, Boulder

"Headstones, Hatchments, and Heraldry, 1650-1850: A
Progress Report"

Laurel K. Gabel

Early Americans boasting real or imagined aristocratic
heritage often used heraldic motifs to emblazon valued family
possessions, including funeral hatchmen's and gravemarkers.
This presentation focused on the New England examples found
among the more than four hundred heraldic gravestones located
along the eastern seaboard. ♦

Laurel K. Gabel, a genealogist and co-author with
Theodore Chase of books and articles on early gravestone car\'-
ers, lives in Rochester New York. She heads the AGS Research
Department and is the 1988 recipient of the Association 's Forbes
Award.

"Relict, Consort, Wife: The Use of Connecticut Valley Grave-
stones to Understand Concepts of Gender in the Late Eigh-
teenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries"

Tarah Sage Somers

Anyone who has spent time in New England graveyards
has seen the words "relict," "consort," and "wife" used on
women's gravestones. Although little attention is currently paid
to these terms, it was no accident that late eighteenth- and early

nineteenth-century inhabitants of the Connecticut Kivcr Valley
consistently used these words on women's gravestones. The in-
scriptions they chose reflected their understanding of appropri-
ate roles for women. My research over the past year examined
women's and men's gravestone inscriptions in an attempt to un-
derstand concepts of gender during the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries.

It was "common knowledge" among gravestone schol-
ars that men received more gravestones than women during the
eighteenth century. However, I was unable to find any studies to
prove or disprove this "fact." I built a database and began my
own study to examine if men did have more gravestones than
women. Quite unexpectedly, I found that the 1,034 stones I in-
ventoried in four Massachusetts towns (Hadley, Hatfield,
Deerfield, and Northampton) showed virtually no difference (.2%)
in the number of stones erected for men and women. I do not
know if this was a trend particular to the valley I studied.

Because I found no significant difference in the number
of stones erected for men and women, I turned my attention to
the content of the stone inscriptions. I discovered that almost all
women named on gravestones were listed in relation to a male
family member. The use of the terms "relict," "consort," "wife,"
and "daughter" allowed all women to be placed in relation to
men. The pattern of listing male relations on women's grave-
stones illustrates that women were not independent "individu-
als." Women were dependent family members and were fully
expected to stay within the realm of family and under the super-
vision and control of men.

Evidence of the belief that women should always be
connected to men and families is found in the lack of gravestones
for unmarried women. I found that for the town of Northampton
(the only town in which I could calculate the approximate num-
ber of unmarried women), adult unmarried women were much
less likely to receive gravestones than their married counterparts.
Families memorialized their wives and mothers but not their un-
married sisters and aunts.

The examination of men's and women's epitaphs re-
vealed major differences in the social expectations of men and
women. Women's lives were described in more passive and pri-
vate terms while men were often memorialized with active and
public terms. Men had "Zeal in Christianity" while women had
"Unaffected Christian Piety." Men had "Solid Learning," "Happy
Elocution," and were "Skillful and Valiant in Truth," while women
were "Patterns of Domestic, Social and Christian Virtue;" "Meek
and Affectionate;" and "Mild in Converse."

The active terms used for men reflected their public roles
in society as community and religious leaders. Although the work
performed by women was no less vital to the functioning of the
community, women's work was performed m the private realm
of the family. While men were exulted for their public displays
of philanthropy and knowledge, women were praised for lack of
public interest in their activities. Meekness and mild manners
insured that the community did not know too much about a
woman. A good wife earned herself the privilege of keeping
from the public eye.

Even at the approach of death, men were more active.

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 3

Conference '95 — Papers

A man was "Triumphant at the Approach of Death," while a
woman "Joyfully Departed Life." The use of the word "Trium-
phant" implied that a man had struggled with his fears but through
faith managed to die bravely. The joyful departure of a woman
implied that she quietly and unquestionably approached death.

The acceptance of proper male and female characteris-
tics and behavior went beyond simply being pretty words carved
on stone to deeply permeate society. The ideal of proper "fe-
maleness" described and circumscribed the lives of women dur-
ing this time period. Women's roles were described in idealistic
terms, but the jobs women performed in society were neither un-
important nor trivial. A woman may not have always been "pleas-
ant and lovely" while she performed her household chores, but
the work she performed ensured the survival of her family and
community.

Gravestones not only reflected the commonly held be-
liefs concerning gender but also helped to perpetuate the accep-
tance of these beliefs. Using the image of the "pleasant and
lovely" wife to describe the way women performed their dull
and dreary daily tasks provided the necessary idealized image of
women that ensured that young women grew up expecting to
become wives and mothers. Gravestones reinforced in stone what
people experienced in the work around them. Women were only
granted positive public recognition when they perpetuated the
ideal roles of women as good wives, consorts, relicts, and daugh-
ters. Women who fell outside the image of the ideal woman, like
unwed women, were shunned by society and quickly forgotten
after their deaths. With virtually no other choice in life, women
were forced to become "amiable and virtuous," "pleasant and
lovely," "meek," and "affectionate" wives and consorts.

Gravestones can be used not only to study change in
societal attitudes towards death and religious trends but also for
gender studies. In the area of gravestones and gender studies
there remains much work to be done. Gravestone research would
greatly benefit from further studies which examine the number
of stones erected for men and women in other areas of the coun-
try. More work could also be done in the examination of differ-
ences in sizes, styles, and length of epitaphs' which appear on
men's and women's gravestones. However, I believe that the
most exciting work to be done with gravestones is the continued
examination of the types of epitaphs and word choices found on
men's and women's gravestones.

My research has shown future gravestone research can
no longer blindly accept that gravestones erected for women had
the same meaning to society as gravestones erected for men. I
hope that the door is now open for future research and debate
concerning gravestones and gender. ♦

In her second year as a member of AGS, Tarali Sage
Somers is a freshly minted B. A. in women's history from Hamp-
shire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. Her presentation this
year grew out of a year-long research project for her college.

Second Lecture Session — Saturday, June 24

"Lithuanian Cemetery Art"

Milda B. Richardson

Vercingetorix said: "Caesar, you can take

the land where we live away from us,

but you cannot take the land

from us where we have died. . . "

Joan Kaplinski

Gravemarkers and wayside shrines have been enduring
features of Lithuanian material culture for six centuries. Their
presence on the Lithuanian landscape has not only been associ-
ated with ceremonial and religious functions, but these unique
monuments have also come to symbolize ethnic and national iden-
tity. And while early versions reflected certain features of pagan
religious beliefs, modern examples have taken on definite politi-
cal significance. The shift toward political symbolism has gen-
erated a parallel reinterpretation of design elements, specifically
the relationship between the carved figures and their architec-
tural context. In other words, shifting political and cultural val-
ues, especially the attitude toward death and the struggle to es-
tablish and preserve ethnic identity, are reflected in the relation-
ship between the figure and its context on Lithuanian
gravemarkers and wayside shrines.

The earliest gravemarkers, which date back to the four-
teenth century, were stylized silhouettes of fauna and flora on
flat wooden stele. What they show is the migration of symbols
from pagan to formal religion. A restored cemetery at Nida on
the shores of the Baltic Sea contains examples of the amalgam-
ation of pagan and Christian iconography in carvings which have
a small cross in the center flanked by shapes of frogs represent-
ing a life-giving and regenerative force worshipped in pagan
times. The Nida cemetery restoration project is an important
part of the revival of ethnic identity which began in the 1970s in
the Lithuanian Republic of the former Soviet Union.

Over the centuries, the Lithuanian funerary memorial
developed into the ubiquitous roofed pole, w hich. like the tree it
comes from, is a medium for making contact between earth and
sky. Decoration on the pole itself is minimal, w hile the chapels
resemble "miniature architecture" because they imitate vernacu-
lar architecture in roof line and ornamentation. During the nine-
teenth century, the poles evohed into elaborate double- and triple-
tiered chapels in the shape of processional lanterns. These roofed
poles were consistently topped with delicate wrought iron de-
signs combining a cross with sun and moon motifs in geometric
patterns. Of particular interest is the fact that the nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century chapels contained carved and often
polychromcd wooden figures of the Contemplative Christ, the
Madonna in her \ arious theological roles, and otlier popular saints,
placed singly or in groups. The religious figures were autono-
mous and moveable but were always subserx icnt to their archi-
tectural environment, A parallel may be drawn between the free-

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 4

Conference '95 — Papers

standing I'igurcs given protCLiion by llicii' arciiitcclurai cnvMon-
menl and ilic independent larniers in an agrarian st)ciely ol' Tree
yeomen — liie iiistcirie situalinn ol' Utluiania piior to World War
11. The gravenuukers ol' (his period relleel an attitude toward
death as a natural and auloehlhonous stage in the cycle of life.

Al'tof World War II and the political ti-ansformation of
Lithuania from an independent country to a republic within the
Soviet Union, certain traditional visual images were officially
banned from gravcmai-kers. Many of the wooden artifacts were
lost through normal decay of the wood and destruction connected
with the War, as well as the restructuring of the landscape from
private to collective farming. The subsequent Soviet Commu-
nist occupation with its aggressive anti-religion campaign inter-
rupted the tradition of religious carving. Archival visual mate-
rial was, however, preserved by individuals both in Lithuania
and the West.

The War re-
sulted in the diaspora
of Lithuanian artisans
who brought the tradi-
tion to America, where
it flourished. In exile,
craftsmen preserved
the most important el-
ements of the iconog-
raphy; the roofed pole,
the figure of the Con-
templative Christ, and
the Madonna of the
Gates of Dawn (a mi-
raculous chapel in
■Vilnius), together with
pagan motifs. They
also expanded the im-
agery to include state
emblems and ethno-

weeping flowers, a favorite motif of folk artist Simas Augaitis,
who designed this stone. Augaitis creates a miniature shrine in-
side a lanlern-type chapel set in a nco-Classical niche in a two-
dimensional version of gravemarkers reminiscent of the home-
land. Graphically the mise-en-bini technique represents an echo-
ing into infinity because the chain never slops, and one chapel
goes into another all the way back to its source, providing as well
a legacy into the future. The artist has translated his memory of
a landscape dotted with roofed poles rising from the earth by
using a technique which breaks all boundaries of time and space.
When landscape is etched on American stones, frequently there
are no framing devices to limit geographic parameters. Their
absence allows for a visual connection between the gravestone
and its surrounding world, between the supernatural and the ev-
eryday. Land is identified by name, poetic inference, symbolism

of plants (oak leaves
[male] or rula plants
[female]), and depic-
tions of folk art. For
example, the distaff or
female side of gender
distinctions is repre-
sented by the fir trees
decorating a stone for
■Viktorija Simkus.
The evergreen groves
surrounding the way-
side shrine most prob-
ably represent the
landscape of her
birthplace, identified
specifically as the
confluence of the
Svenloji and 'Virinta
Rivers.

In the Western

Figure I
graphic artifacts, such as woven sashes. The consistent use of transformation of the traditional roofed pole, the objective was

this iconography became the vehicle of emigre protest as well as
a repository of traditional Lithuanian symbols in America. The
preservation of Lithuanian cemetery art was insured by the ac-
quisition of private land to be used as ethnic cemeteries, such as
St. Casimir's m Chicago.

Lithuanian-Americans radicalized the tradition. The
practitioners had to reconstruct and adapt the imagery to a differ-
ent medium, granite, rather than wood, which led to experimen-
tation with new materials, such as stainless steel, fiberglass, and
stained glass. Experimentation also led to variations in the sculp-
tural treatment of figures and the handling of the relationship
between the figures and surrounding setting. As avant-garde art-
ists enter into the design aspect of gravestones, the styles range
from Classical to Cubist.

to preserve ethnic symbols pictorially. We may assume that the
imagery has personal significance for the life of the deceased,
and the depictions of landscape become a metaphor of final re-
turn. Death in exile is portrayed as full of nostalgia and lacking
in closure.

The seeds of the Lithuanian independence movement
were sown in timid and subtle ways over the last twenty years
and frequently grew into eloquent statements of ethnic identity.
One of the more interesting manifestations of this phenomenon
is directly related to gravemarkers that I visited during field work
with my collaborator 'Vacys Milius, whose energy and expertise
insured that we covered a representative cross section of urban
and rural cemeteries. We discovered the rebirth of the traditional
Lithuanian gravemarker in examples dating back to the 1970s by

Cut off from their native soil, emigres frequently evoke craftsmen who consciously began to revive the tradition of oak

their native land in verbal and visual imagery on tombstones.
On the Bajorinas family stone (Figure 1 ) in Connecticut, the home-
land is referred to in the epitaph, which translates: "Far from the
native fields of Lithuania," a sentiment reinforced by a pair of

carved roofed poles. What we also found was a radical change
in the sculptural treatment of the figure, particularly in the atti-
tude toward the relationship between the figure and its architec-
tonic setting. Many traditional components are present in the

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 5

Conference '95 — Papers

revival style — pole, chapel, roof, and figures — bul now they
are unified into a totemic form. According to Alexander
Goldweiser, "totemism is the specific socialization of emotional
value." What this means for my argument is that the Lithuanian
artisan believes that there now exists between him and every

member of this ethnic
group an intimate and al-
together special relation-
ship, a relationship he
embodies in the totem.

Craftsmen today
carve from a single oak
log revealing the complete
integration of the figures
and the architectural set-
ting. Once again the
dominant figure is the
Contemplative Christ, al-
though no longer free-
standing. Figures are
carved in varying degrees
of relief, usually meant to
be viewed from at least
three sides. Instead of a
chapel as such, the natu-
ral wood of the log is used
as a pillar or surrounds the
figure rising above it to
form a roof over its head.
In other examples, secular
figures dominate with
only traces of architectural
elements. About half a
dozen blacksmiths in the
country specialize in the
filigree designs for the
wrought iron decorations
at the top yvhich have been
retained as a connection
with the past. At the other end of the spectrum, there are purely
geometric totems with little artistic intervention, containing no
figures at all. They resemble a natural log rising directly from
the earth, with obvious echoes of ancient tree worship. In a
1 979 example, a cross was cut like an aperture through the login
a beveled frame under a cross gable roof. Christ is emblemized
by across formed by negative space. Occasionally, spiral motifs
give the plain logs a vitality that in nineteenth-century examples
was provided by carved snake motifs. In the most elaborate
totem we found (Figure 2), the passion of Christ is carved on a
tree trunk containing multiple figures along its entire length.
Below, a kneeling female and an old man — representing all
Lithuanians as a nation — pray at the foot of the Crucifixion.
The twining vines give the totem a sense of movement and lead
the eye upward.

The search for national identity involves not Just indi-
vidual gravemarkers but decisions concerning land use in ccni-

AGS Newsletter Fall '95 p. 6

Figiiiv 2

eteries. For instance, buried at the national cemetery of Rasai.
established in 1801, are people who have made significant con-
tributions to Lithuanian culture. Recently reopened, it is very
crowded; however, new markers have been added for persons
whom it was forbidden to honor publicly during the Soviet occu-
pation. Antakalnis is an urban cemetery in Vilnius which con-
tains burial sites of early Bolsheviks, artists, prisoners. Poles.
Germans, and a significant area devoted to Communist Party lead-
ers, whose death masks appear on marble tiers rigidly imposed
upon the landscape. This cemetery was always considered to
belong to no one and only came to symbolize the Lithuanian
national identity when it was decided to bury there the thirteen
young martyrs killed in the radio tower confrontation with Rus-
sian tanks in the winter of 1 99 1 . Their group burial site is pres-
ently marked with a tall, ornately carved oak cross, but this will
soon be replaced by a stone monument designed by a profes-
sional artist.

The attempt to establish ethnic identity continues to
dominate many aspects of life in Lithuania. And one very visual
manifestation of this movement is the erection of modem to-
temic gravemarkers. These totems may be read on two le\els.
First, there is a reiteration of ancient pagan traditions, infusing
them with new meaning: death is defined in mythic terms rather
than those of purely formal religion. Secondly, artistic innova-
tion has caused the figure and the setting to become unified and
imbedded in the tree form. That is to say, the Lithuanian totems
are spontaneous productions of the artist's psyche, but they bear
within them the power and symbolism of their source. It will be
interesting to see if this phenomenon will ultimately become can-
onized as a neo-metaphor for the resurgence of Lithuanian na-
tional identity. ♦

Milda B. Richardson is a candidate for the Ph.D. in
the Department of Art at Boston University. She received her
M. A. from the same institution in 1991. A member of AGS. her
interest in cemeteries has led her into the area of ethnicity. She
has engaged in several field trips to Lithuania which serve as the
backdrop for her presentation this year

"Treasures on Earth: Metal Markers''

Barbara Rotundo, Ph.D.

Treasures on Earth

Matthew VI. 19-20

This talk was an overview of the uses of cast-iron in
cemeteries. It included knowledge and examples contributed b\ :
Karl Baiesel. Eric Brock, Sybil Crawford. Laurel Gabcl. Loren
Horton, C.R. Jones, Ernest Knight, Will Lowcnthal, Jim Moon.
Bill Plack, Sue Ridlcn. Barbara Rivelte. Helen Sclair. Richard
Veit, Cathy Wilson, and articles in Markers I and VII.

Although the slides included a few wrought iron gates
and markers, my particular interest is in cast-iron, and I would
like to find information about three things: (1) further indica-
tions of the wide \aricty and broad geographic spread o\'

Conference '95 — Papers

giavcmarkcrs made ol casl iron, (2) the earliest dale lor such
maikeis (the earlicsl dale so I'ar is 1825, yel iron has been manu-
factured in the "New World" since the 1640s), and (3) a catalog
selling molds or patterns that would explain how small local
foundries can have produced similar Gothic gravestone designs
in, for instance. New Hampshire and Alabama. (Iron crosses are

a separate category. Send Loren Horton information about them
at 3367 Hanover Court, Iowa City, Iowa 52240.) Correspon-
dence from AGS members is avidly sought and eagerly awaited
by him and by me: Barbara Rotundo, 48 Plummer Hill Road,
Unit #4, Belmont, New Hampshire 03220. ♦

the Prohibition Rra in Chicago, when hundreds were killed while
fighting over alcohol distribution rights' areas.

Al Caponc, the ne plus ultra ol that time, has two burial
sites — one where he was originally interred, the other where his
body is purported to presently be. Both monuments exist and are
not too difficult to locate. However, where are his associates,
both friends and foes? Do their markers readily identify them as
the larger-than-life folklore figures they have become?

It became necessary to sort fact from fiction using Fed-
eral criminal records to ascertain true identities to determine
aliases and nicknames. And it was important to understand the
ancient customs and mores that contributed to the complicated
relationships. Finally, probate records provided funeral records
and places of burial.

With only a few exceptions, burial is by legal name.
Most often the markers are small, undistinguished, and extremely
difficult to locate.

The modest markers belie the lavish lifestyles. ♦

"From the Boy 's " is caned on the back of a bench which is placed
near what is sometimes called "Gangster's Row. "

Affectionately referred to as Chicago's "Cemetery
Lady, " Helen Sclair has been a member of AGS for the last ten
years. She holds both a B.A. and an M.A. and has taken post-
graduate work at several institutions. Lxist year's resoundingly
successful Chicago cemetety tours were her creation. Helen has
presented numerous papers for AGS and other organizations and
teaches a course on cemeteries at Chicago's Newberry Library.

Barbara Rotundo, the 1994 recipient of the AGS Forbes
Award, is retired Professor of English, State University of New
York. Albany.

"Memento Mori: A Documentary Thesis Video"

Janice M. Gallagher, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Lloyd Osgood

"From the Boys"

Helen Sclair

At the close of the 1994 AGS Conference in Elmhurst,
Illinois, there were many questions similar to "Where is 'X' bur-
ied?" "X" was usually a person who had had an association with

Three gentle spirits embarked on an adventure to create
a video on gravestone rubbing in early New England cemeteries
in the summer of 1994. Each member of the team had a different
purpose in mind for the trip. The videographer was interested in
recording gravestones and the rubbing process, but he was also
interested in documenting the interchange between the rubbers.
He wanted to know the answers to questions such as, why are

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 7

Conference '95 — Papers

individuals attracted to the old stones? Why do they want to
preserve their images on paper? The rubbers, mother and daugh-
ter, also went to satisfy their own purposes. The mother was
interested in the words on the gravestones. She was interested in
piecing together the stories of the lives marked by the stones.
The daughter was interested in the images. "Each image has a
meaning," she said. "I think it is important to know what the
early people wanted to communicate with the image they selected
for the gravestones. Personal interpretation and meaning is fine
as far as it goes, but I think it is more important to know the
meanings behind the images."

The video was not meant as a "how-to-rub" instruction
manual. The purpose, instead, was to document the personal and
interpersonal journeys of the women who rubbed the stones. In
the setting of New England cemeteries, the mother and daughter
made discoveries, debated issues, and shared the stories of their
own lives as they explored the stories of past lives. Like all good
documentary films, "Memento Mori" presents the viewer with a

complex web of understanding. In twenty-seven minutes, the
viewer learns about New England gravestones, the gravestone
rubbing process, and the two women who rub the stones. ♦

Janice Gallagher is presently the Coordinator of Gifted
Programs in the Euclid City Schools in Euclid, Ohio. She re-
ceived her B.A. in Education from Kent State University, her M.Ed,
in education supervision from the University of Akron, and her
doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Kent State. Dr
Gallagher has been highly involved with the education of youth
for many years. She is a member of AGS and this was her first
time before us as a presenter

Jeffrey Osgood received a B.A. in General Studies with
a concentration infdm and video production from Ohio Univer-
sity. From the College of Fine Arts at the same institution, he
earned an M. F.A. As a videographer. Jeffrey has had much expe-
rience in thefdm world.

Third Lecture Session — Sunday, June 25

"Cemetery Preservation as Part of the Land Use Planning
Process: Fairfax County, Virginia, and Its Family Grave-
yards"

Brian A. Conley

Fairfax County, Virginia, covers 399 square miles of the
northern tip of Virginia, directly across the Potomac River from
Washington, D.C. The first European exploration of Fairfax was
Captain John Smith's
1609 exploration up the
Potomac River. Fairfax
was home to such no-
tables as George Mason
of Gunston Hall and
George Washington. In
fact, Washington's Plan-
tation, Mount Vernon,
was the first Living His-
tory Museum estab-
lished in the United
States. In an area so
steeped in history, one
might expect historic
preservation to be given
a reasonably high prior-
ity. Unfortunately, the
realities of increasing tax

burdens and inflation make providing municipal services a ques-
tion of balancing needs, resources, and wants.

Recent decades have seen an explosion in both popula-
tion and corresponding development in the region. In 1900,
Fairfax was home to 1 8,580 people. By January, 1995, that num-
ber had increased to nearly 880,000. Since 1960. Fairfax has
grown at a rate of 18,000 new residents every year. The housing
and retail construction as well as the emergence of Northern Vir-
ginia as a high technology center have resulted in a net decrease
in the vacant land in the county of 54^^ over the most recent
fifteen-year period. As a result, many sites of cultural signifi-
cance have been lost:

Ossian Hall, circa
1780. was demolished
in 1959 for the Revens-
worth Farm Subdivision.

Sudley. circa 1 7(i(). was
demolished in 1961 for
the Cedar Crest Counln.'
Club.

Wrenn House, early

ISOOs. was demolished
in 1984 for no apparent
reason.

Mountain View, circa
1755, was standing one
day, a smoldering ruin
the next, a victim of a fire of undetermined origin in 1969.

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 8

Conference '95 — Papers

Houses are not the only tangible evidence of our past
thai aie being destroyed. The loss of so many old roads, barns,
outbuildings, stores, and trenchworks have made the remaining
cultural artifacts, particularly the graveyards, even more valu-
able. They act as signposts to our past, but many have fallen into
decay and disuse and are in danger of being lost to the leviathan
of development.

Why in an area so steeped in history should this de-
struction occur? It seems that familiarity does indeed breed con-
tempt, or at least a cavalier attitude that doesn't pay heed to the
gradual disappearance of our own cultural treasures.

But what about the graveyards? Virginia has stringent
laws in place to protect cemeteries from demolition, but laws do
not protect cemeteries; only enforcement of the laws can do this.

The staff of the Virginia Room has spent fifteen years
collecting information about the cemeteries of Fairfax County.
For the past eight, we have worked with various individuals and
groups trying to stem the wave of damage overwhelming our
burial grounds. Elected officials have been interested in the prob-
lem but unable or unwilling to devote any significant amount of
their hmited resources to the task of preserving the resting places
of the dead. The living demand much in terms of services and
ai'e much more vocal. Local historical groups have likewise been
unsuccessful.

This situation began to change for Fairfax County in an
unexpected way in 1989. A small builder bought several left-
over lots in a development called Piney Branch Estates. One of
these lots adjoined the Millan Family Cemetery. The cemetery
had been identified as an individual lot during the original subdi-
vision process and left intact. The new owner merged the small
cemetery lot with the adjacent building lot; the single gravestone
disappeared, fill was deposited atop the site, and the cemetery
vanished. The purchaser of the new home, who had not been
informed of the cemetery's existence, proceeded to erect a
swingset atop the burial site.

Enter Mr. Malcolm Richardson. Over the next twelve
months, Mr. Richardson, a retired computer manager for the fed-
eral government and an experienced amateur archeologist, con-
tacted the County Archeologist, County History Commission, and
the County Library. He went on to lobby the County Supervi-
sors, County Attorney, State Delegates. State Senators, and the
Commonwealth's Attorney. This was not the first case of van-
dalism or destruction of a cemetery investigated in this district.
But it was the first time that a developer got caught red-handed
with adequate documentation to prove knowledgeable culpabil-
ity. More than that, Fairfax County was faced with a clear failure
of its development planning process to protect a cemetery.

What response did Richardson's appeals elicit? Unwill-
ingness to accept responsibility from the county bureaucracy and
indecision from elected officials. The police were initially un-
certain of their authority to enforce what they viewed as a "zon-
ing matter."

The investigation revealed a number of weaknesses in
the county's planning process. Both the Commonwealth of Vir-
ginia and Fairfax County have ordinances on the books requiring

all known burial sites to be shown on development site plans.
Virginia law further requires that a survey must be conducted to
look for cultural resources, including cemeteries. But who was
certifying compliance with these codes? The answer: Noi really
anyone. The state-licensed engineer or surveyor preparing the
plan is expected to comply with all applicable ordinances. No
one oversaw further compliance. When challenged on the wis-
dom of requiring untrained people to perform this function, the
county responded that they lacked personnel to oversee all of
these functions.

Representatives of the County Supervisors, Planning De-
partment, County Attorney, Library, and community groups met
to discuss the matter and concluded that the most expedient way
for the county to provide additional safeguards was to make in-
formation on cemetery sites available to the plan reviewers be-
fore development occurs. The county released resources for a
complete survey of the location and condition of each family
cemetery. Information from scores of printed sources, deed
records, and oral reports was assembled, distilled, and finally
combined with over 200 updated field surveys. The resultant
261-page study was distributed to the various county planning
departments, Park Authority, Mapping Office, County Supervi-
sors, and the police department. The survey took over a year to
complete, and, during this time, contact was made with all of the
aforementioned departments. Many staff throughout the bureau-
cracy were unaware that there was any place that they could call
for information on burial sites. The resultant opportunity to edu-
cate county staff as to the legal and moral responsibilities the
government has in protecting cemeteries has done as much to
protect them as all of the existing laws.

What moved this uninformed bureaucracy to act? One
stubborn individual learned to phrase his requests in a language
that made preservation more than a question of saving historic
sites. Since a healthy economy bolsters the quality of life in
regions, and historic preservation has been shown to add to both
the tourism potential and sense of community in a given area,
small cemeteries are rarely recognized as this type of asset. A
local government, even a large one, has only limited resources to
fulfill its diverse duties and it must prioritize those responsibili-
ties. If you can learn what those priorities are and integrate your
needs into the items nearer to the top of that list, you will signifi-
cantly increase your changes of gaining active government sup-
port for your cause.

By getting Fairfax County to view the issue of cem-
etery destruction as a land use issue, Richardson gained official
recognition of the legitimacy and urgency of the problem. This
important step has set the stage for continued work in this field
to include Historic Register Nominations, a second phase stone-
by-stone study, and the creation of a computerized burial data-
base. ♦

Brian Conley, a six-year member of AGS. is the Infor-
mation Specialist with the Fairfax Count}' Public Libraiy in Vir-
ginia. He is a graduate of George Mason Universit}', where he
earned his B.A. in history cmd psychology.

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 9

Conference '95 — Papers

"The Role of Cataraqui Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario, in the
Rural Cemetery Movement"

Jennifer McKendry, Ph.D.

The wails of the bereaved and the groans of the dying
resonated along Kingston's waterfront as the ill and dead were
unceremoniously unloaded from emigrant ships in June of 1 847.
Kingston, founded by United Empire Loyalists in 1783, is lo-
cated at the junction of the Saint Lawrence River and Lake Ontario
in Ontario, Canada. Sick emigrants were moved into hastily
erected sheds, while death carts, laden with the corpses of Irish
children, men, and women, rumbled along one of the main streets
towards trenches dug in a field south of the hospital. There they
were laid side-by-side, laced with quicklime, and covered by dirt
until, by the autumn of the following year, a large mound formed
their memorial monument. This was the great typhoid epidemic
that felled about 1 ,400 persons in a city of just over 6,000 inhab-
itants. While the majority were Irish emigrants fleeing the mis-
ery of the potato famine, at least 141 Kingstonians who assisted
them also died.

In 1850, shortly
after this epidemic as well
as a cholera outbreak,
sixty-seven prominent
Kingston professional and
businessmen bought shares
in an incorporated non-
profit company that estab-
lished a new non-denomi-
national cemetery just out-
side the city. These men
(and one woman) included
Presbyterians, Methodists,
Catholics, and Anglicans.
There were more than a
dozen lawyers, many of
whom held or would hold
political or servant offices
at the local, provincial, or
national level. For ex-
ample, Sir John A.
Macdonald would become
famous in the next decade
as Canada's first Prime
Minister. Contrasting so-
cial stations were seen with
William Grant as the Baron
de Longueuil and Alpine
Grant as the newly ap-
pointed cemetery superin-
tendent. Balancing in the
middle were about twenty
influential merchants. This
spread of professionals and
merchants with various re-
ligious affiliations gave a
ACS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 10

Strong base for the new company, and no doubt built the confi-
dence of families, in need of burial plots, to abandon the tradi-
tional graveyards. Presumably the working class was expected
to follow the lead of the middle class. At the same time, the
company founders called for the closures of the city's crowded
church graveyards.

The act of incorporation makes it clear that the founders
knew that the proposed cemetery was "necessan, for the health
of the City of Kingston" and that it should be located "near to.
but without the limits" of the city. They built into the proposal a
means of preventing the abuses of intramural interments found
in existing graveyards: no one could be buried in any vault un-
der any chapel erected in the new cemetery, and no one could be
buried within fifteen feet of its walls. They avoided the element
of profiteering from death that plagued some of the new "for
profit" British cemeteries: after enough shares (which could be
exchanged for burial plots) were sold to pay off the purchase
price of the new cemetery, further income would be applied to
improving the site.

An editorial in the Daily British Whig of 2 June. 1853.

confirms that Kingston-
ians saw the role of
Cataraqui Cemeter\ as
part of the international
rural reform cemetery
movement. It is thus
worth quotmg in full:

Cataraqui Cemetery.
To the importance of
this reform Kingston,
though slow to move,
could not but at length
awake, and she has at
last risen from her
slumber, and an at-
tempt has been made
and is being carried out
to meet a want which
has long since been
feh.

The idea of a rural
cemetery suftlciently
distant to be beyond
Che range of city ini-
provemenis, yet so
near as to be of conve-
nient access, seemed to
reach at once the ne-
cessities of the case. A
beautiful spot of sev-
enty acres has been
purchased for this pur-
pose, well known to
many of our readers as
the grave at Waterloo,
and workmen are al-
ready busy in making
a road around the

Sir John A. Macdonald. Canada 's first Prime Minister and one of ihe founders

of Cataraqiu Cemetery, was buried there in 1 89 1. The family gravesite is

marked by a white bronze statue, Rebecca, ordered from Molt & Company,

New York, about that lime.

Conference '95 — Papers

ground. We tnisl Ihc work will he ciinicd on wilh energy and
lasle. and tliat soon our eili/ens will be enabled to drive over llie
greater part of it. We feel assured that a spot better adapted for
a Cemetery could not have been selected, and we rejoice that at
last a rural Cemetery is established: and we think, whether the
land be considered in respect to its position, its soil, the avail-
ableness of the entire ground for purposes of interment or the
beauty of the surrounding scenery, that the Cataraqui Cemetery
will soon compare favorably with other rural Cemeteries on this
continent.

We do not feel it neces-
sary to urge on the public of this city
the many evils attendant in intramu-
ral interment, or to point out the ad-
vantage of rural interment; the
former are no longer doubted, and
the latter has been practically
shown, not only in Europe, but in
the United States. The question has
already been settled; cities will soon
cease to endure the evils arising
from their festering burial grounds
— even the ties of love and kindred
cannot much longer reconcile us to
further interment in the already
overburdened churchyards of our
own city; but beneath the green and
flowery sod, beneath the waving and
weeping foliage of the Cataraqui
Cemetery, will be for the future sep-
ulchered the dead of the city.
Thither will the survivors go to weep
and meditate, unseen, over the rel-
ics of those loved ones, and there,
by the moldering remains of what
were once so dear, do they hope at
last to lie themselves.

The designer of Cataraqui
Cemetery was an American,
Frederick James Mott Cornell ( 1 820-
1868), son of Silas Cornell, who had
designed Rochester, New York's
Mount Hope Cemetery in the late
1830s. Silas Cornell was influenced
by Mount Auburn (Boston, 1 83 1 ), by
then a well-known garden cemetery.
Having trained as a Civil Engineer,
Frederick Cornell was appointed
Rochester's City Surveyor in 1857.

The original cemetery site (now about 116 acres), lo-
cated to the northwest of Kingston, had been farmland with small
burial sites on or near it. However, it was primarily known as
"the Grove," because it was "crowned by a grove of beautiful
pine trees" on elevated ground. Early commentators noted the
"fine and extended view of the suiTounding country," and that "a
pretty glimpse of the bay is obtained from the cemetery grounds,"
which were "not excelled in beauty and appropriateness by any-

The cemetery directors were particularly proud of the zinc

set of the Seasons, ordered from the Peel Company of

London, Ontario, in the late 1880s. Autumn holds a

plate of fruits and vegetables.

tcr improvements, as comparable to tiic famous (Jrccn-Wood
Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Wc know the original cem-
etery design because a large lithographed map was circulated to
prospective investors in 1854.

In the original design, Cataraqui Cemetery has two wind-
ing main roads. East and West Avenues, that merge into each
other and follow the longest borders of the more or less rectan-
gular plot running north and south. They are joined by short
cross avenues (Beech, Meadow, and Juniper) with similar av-
enues (Oak, Tamarack, and Linden)
added in later years. Weaving in
and out of these are curved paths
that give access to smaller areas of
graves. There are three ponds (Wil-
low, Lilly [sic], and Forest) in ad-
dition to swales and marshes. Some
of these features were not fully de-
veloped until much later in the cen-
tury. The idea of names based on
nature was found in many reform
cemeteries, including Mount Hope,
which also has East and West Av-
enues. Cornell planned the princi-
pal entrance with a large semi-cir-
cular clearing that leads to a short
avenue, which then turns into a
rond-poiiit surrounding Chapel Hill,
and from it branches East and West
Avenues. This is reminiscent of the
arrangement at Mount Hope and at
Highgate Cemetery near London.
England.

By the turn of the new cen-
tury, Cataraqui Cemetery had ful-
filled its promise as a reform rural
cemetery. It was a place that drew
the living to contemplate the pass-
ing of time, mortality, morality, and
the beauties of nature. The deeply
shaded areas, picturesquely set off
by curved avenues and paths, were
tranquil and yet filled with life —
chipmunks, squirrels, deer, hawks,
song birds, blue jays, crows, and a
myriad of insect and reptile life.
Ducks disturbed the smooth waters
of the ornamental ponds, and the soothing sound of water mov-
ing through the fountains reassured wandering visitors. The green
lawns were interrupted by flower beds, saturated with variegated
colors and scents, as well as higher-growing shrubs. Toga-clad
statues gazed tranquilly over the irregularly placed marble and
granite headstones and occasional iron fence enclosure. Butter-
flies paused on the foliage planted in the iron vases with their
trailing vines. Deep in the underbrush, brilliant wildflowers grew

thing in the province." Furthermore, they could visualize it, af- unattended. The Gothic charms of the entrance lodge greeted

ACS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. II

Conference '95 — Papers

the visitor on the east and those of Christ Church on the west.
The cemetery was an oasis of calm and open space, in an era of
ever-increasing industrial growth and urbanization.

This heritage of built and natural aspects remains to-
day with surprisingly few modifications since 1900. Now the
cemetery is enriched with cultural diversification such as the
Chinese section to the northwest. The technology of death has
seen changes with the cemetery's cremation service, but tradi-
tional burials contmue as well. This cemetery is tangible evi-
dence of history and must be zealously preserved. Regionally,
it guards the memories of Kingston, city and township. Provin-
cially, it may be the first example of the reform rural cemetery
and may have influenced later picturesque examples, such as
Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery of 1873. Cataraqui Cem-
etery is a direct heir to the French-British- American tradition of
garden cemeteries. ♦

opportunities for experimentation and learning. Especially note-
worthy were efforts to perfect the methods of restoring brown-
stone. Unprecedented methods of treatment and repair contrib-
uted to the literature on gravestone and monument conservation. ♦

William Hosley, a founding member of AGS. is Curator
of American Decorative Arts at the Wadsworth Athenaeum. Hart-
ford. Connecticut, and a freelance writer and lecturer His B.A. is
from Middlebury College and his M.A. from the Winterthur Pro-
gram at the University' of Delaware.

"Only Yesterday We Drained the Cup of Sorrow:
American Jewish Cemeteries — A Mirror of History"

Roberta Halporn

Reference: Weep Not for Me: A Photographic Essay
and History of Cataraqui Cemetery (1995), available from Jen-
nifer McKendry, 1 Baiden Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
K7M 2J7; $15.00 includes postage.

Jennifer McKendry is an architectural historian and
author who received her M.A. from Queen's University, Kingston,
and her M.Phil, and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She
recently joined A GS.

"The Jeptha H. Wade Memorial Chapel:
A Gem in Lake View Cemetery"

Kathleen H. Karrick

The intent of this paper was to interpret the lavish sym-
bolism of the interior of the Wade Memorial Chapel at Lake
View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, to discuss the fundamentals
of Louis Comfort Tiffany's glass-making techniques used there,
and to provide information about J.H. Wade's family backround
and accomplishments. ♦

New To AGS, Kathleen Karrick hails from Cleveland.
Ohio. Last year's AGS conference in Chicago was so impres-
sive to her that she decided to present a paper to us this year
She studied histoiy at Kent State University and has published
several articles. She has done extensive rubbing at many cem-
eteries both here and abroad.

"Restoring Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground:
The Final Report"

William Hosley

The focus of this presentation was directed towards a
review of the ten-year campaign to rehabilitate Hartford,
Connecticut's first burying ground. This program offered many

ACS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 12

There is an old saying that if you bring two Jews to-
gether, you get an argument. Bring three Jews together and you
end up with three synagogues or three newspapers. This comic
self-analysis frames the difficulties in trying to explain Jewish
memorial customs and cemeteries.

It implies that Jews are very stubborn, believe the pen is
mightier than the sword, and disagree with each other about al-
most everything except monotheism. While these traits account
for the survival of this people when all of its ancient enemies
have perished, it also accounts for continual group infighting.
Phillip Roth has captured this phenomenon very well in Opera-
tion Shylock:

Why must Jews be in conflict with one another? . . . Because
the di visi veness is not just between Jew and Jew — it is within
the individual Jew. . . . inside every Jew there is a mob of
Jews. Is it any wonder that the Jew is always disputing? He
is a dispute, incarnate ! ( 1 994)

One must also be aware that Jewish thought has always
diverged on two basic paths: Orthodox (or "strict construction-
ists") and adaptive Jews who believe in assimilation w ith their
host culture and the needs of the times in which they live.

It is thus impossible to interpret an American Jewish cem-
etery without some awareness of 5,000 years of world history.
From that fateful moment when the Romans destroyed the Temple,
the Jews have fled from country to country, always seeking sanc-
tuary from persecution. As soon as they settled in one place, an-
other state-sanctioned pogrom would be unleashed, and they would
flee again. On these travels, they picked up local customs like
barnacles, influencing their life styles and memorial customs.

American Jews descend from three different groups of
European immigrants, in three distinct time periods, each putting
its own individual stamp on its ccinetcries. Therefore, lo inter-
pret an American Jewish burial ground you must know when its
founders an^ived here, from what country they came, and whether
they were Orthodox or adapti\c.

In the beginning (Genesis 3: 19). the Jews intened llicir
dead in family caves, i.e., in niches cut out of the rock. They did
not then and do not now bclie\e in cnibalmins: or cremation. Tliere

Conference '95 — Papers

was some belief in biblical (iiiies of an imperfectly defined kind
of existence in reunion with one's forebears. The ancient
Sadducees based their opinion on Psalms 1 15:15-17, "the dead
praise not the Lord," and Ecciesiastes, "Who knoweth if the spirit
of man goes upward [to heaven]?" (3:20). This opinion seems to
have convinced the majority. The visitor to a Jewish cemetery
will seek in vain for symbols of resurrection or heaven. How-
ever, if the mourners follow the Pharisee's point of view, they do
believe in bodily resurrection when the Messiah comes in a para-
dise on earth, but these views, also, are not reflected on
gravemarkers.

By the third century, C.E. (Common Era), the supply of
caves around Jerusalem was exhausted, so the practice devel-
oped of tunneling underground to catacombs. This adaptation
proved helpful in Rome, where Jews had developed a post-
Babylonian colony. Since the Romans cremated their dead and
then interred the ashes along the roadsides outside of the city, the
Jews continued this underground adaptation of their own cus-
toms by digging catacombs under Rome. The early Christians
were so close to Judaism that they adapted these dicta as well,
leading to the well-excavated underground catacombs we can
see today. Sadly, the Jewish catacombs have never been exca-
vated, and only a few invited scholars have viewed them. Time
gradually erased even the memory of cave burial, so that by the
twelfth century, we find Jews being interred in community grave-
yards.

The Spanish Jews

Prior to 1492, the Jews had participated openly in Spain's
"golden era." But a proselytizing Christian mania swept Spain,
leading to the Inquisition, and those who would not convert were
expelled, on foot and without their possessions. Some reached
Holland, which accepted them. The Dutch eventually sent a group
to Brazil to represent their commercial interests. The Spanisii/
Portuguese/Dutch Jews spread out over the Caribbean on islands
such as Nevis and Curasao, openly resuming their ancient faith.
Their early stones, however, contain very unorthodox. Christian
emblems of mortality.

When the Portuguese took over Brazil, the Jews left
again, most returning to Holland. But one vessel was captured
by Spanish pirates who robbed the passengers of all they owned.
From this trial, they were rescued by a French ship, which de-
posited them in New Amsterdam in 1654. Because this original
group settled there, three of the oldest cemeteries (Shearith Is-
rael I, II. and III) are located in Manhattan. A fourth lies in New-
port, Rhode Island, to which the loyal Dutch Jews fled when the
English took the island. One of the distinctive stones in Newport
was carved by a member of the John Stevens family. Three more
colonial-era cemeteries exist: in Philadelphia; Charleston, South
Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia.

De Sola Poole {Portraits Etched in Stone) says: "We
know that usually the mason was a Gentile, assumedly unfamil-
iar with the Hebrew or Iberian language he was copying. ... he
has left abundant. . . evidence of his fallibility." Therefore, though
the stones appear properly lettered, only the English or the Por-

tuguese characters are correct. This problem continues until the
I84()s, when Hebrew-literate carvers began to arrive here.

The extant colonial-era Sephardic cemeteries in New
York City are models of restraint compared to the flamboyant
figures to be found on stones in Curasao, but they are rich in
biography of those they memorialize.

The German Jews

Unlike any other nation in which the Jews had sojourned,
anti-semitic actions were not condoned by the law in the United
States. News of the potential liberties to be found here spread
throughout Europe, with the greatest impact in Germany. Wors-
ening prejudice and economic failure were responsible for the
next migration. From 1839 to 1850, the Jewish population in
America increased from 2000 to 150,000, almost all from Ger-
man-speaking nations. Instead of hugging the East Coast like
their predecessors, they settled throughout the Midwest and the
South. One group of Alsatian Jews settled in New Orleans and
left unusual designs on their gravestones, unlike any others viewed
by this author.

Because they had the skills to flourish in a mercantile
economy, the German Jews built their pennies into some of the
most successful stores in the country and became prominent on
Wall Street as well. Their gravestones became indistinguishable
from their Christian neighbors' Victorian urns, Greek columns,
and Roman catafalques, although they were incongruously let-
tered in their own biblical tongue as well as English and Ger-
man.

The Russian Jews

The majority of Jews in the United States today are de-
scendants of immigrants from countries dominated by Russia.
They spoke Yiddish and their faith was Hasidic — a form of
Orthodoxy.

As described by Stephen Birmingham, "The new arriv-
als were dirt poor, culturally energetic, toughened by years of
torment, idealistic, and socialistic." The Spanish and German
Jews were embarrassed by what they perceived as the vulgarity
of this new crowd, and nervous about their own hard-won secu-
rity, but some banded together to help their Yiddish cousins adapt
to the New World. Their sympathy is fully expressed on a bronze
plate at the gravesite of Sephardic Jew Emma Lazarus, composer
of the verse engraved on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your
poor, your tired masses yearning to be free."

Drawing on their socialist labor experience, the Jewish
workers in the garment industry fought back against inhuman
eighty-hour work weeks. Their mortality rate was high, and the
immigrants' sheer numbers required a huge expansion of cem-
etery property. The plots were therefore laid out as tiny and as
close together as possible to cut the cost.

There was a fine Jewish monument tradition in Europe,
but in America, handwork had become a luxury, available only
to the very rich. Though the gravestones still bear the same Jew-
ish symbols, such as the Menorah (branched candelabra), abstrac-

ACS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 13

Conference '95 — Papers

dons of the Torah for a righteous man, and name symbols, such
as the blessing hands with a separation between the two pairs of
fingers (Cohen), they are not works of art like their predecessors.
Machine processing had wiped out good design and skillful craft
work. Early twentieth-century Jews also liked attaching ceramic
photographs of the deceased on their stones.

In one generation, the offspring of this million-plus wave
of refugees jumped into the educated middle class of America.
The more assimilated they became, the less ornament their stones
exhibited, until one can now view acres of gravestones bearing
little more decoration than the name of the deceased and the death
date. A few maverick monument artists do survive and follow
the ancient traditions, but for the most part, Jewish stones are
now indistinguishable from their non-Jewish neighbors, except
for the Hebrew lettering.

But the story is not over. Suddenly Russia has unbarred
its exit door to its Jews and they are coming to New York in the
thousands. They have brought the new technology of photoen-
graving on stone with them, so hundreds of these highly polished
photographic granite markers are beginning to sprout between
more conventional stones. It would appear that no other perse-
cuted group of Jew remains to seek sanctuary in America, but
one never knows what will transpire next. ♦

An expert in the area of Death and Dying and Director
of the Center for Thanatology Research and Education. Roberta
Halporn has presented a number of papers to AGS over the years
she has been a member Ms. Halpon holds a B.A. and an M.A.
from New York University.

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MARKERS XIII IS HERE!

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Table of Contents

Jotham Warren, The Plainfield Trumpeter
James A. Slater

Tree-Stump Tombstones:

Traditional Cultural Values and Rustic Funerary Art

Susanne S. Ridlen

The Taylor [Texas] City Cemetery: A Language Community
Scott Baird

From Jonathan Hartshorne to Jeremiah Lane: Fifty Years

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Glenn A. Knoblock

John Huntington
Anne Fuller Shephardson

The Year's Work in Gravestone Studies
Markers XIII is approximately 225 pages with approximately 100 illustrations.

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After Fehruaiy 1, price will be $28
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be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank.
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Conference '95 — Tours, Workshops, & Participation Sessions

Friday Bus Tours

Colonial Tour:

Adams Ccmelery, Wilbiaham, Massachusetts, led by Bob

Drinkwaler
Someis, Connecticut, led by Jim Slater
Enfield. Connecticut, led by Bill Hosley

Victorian Tour:

Holyokc. Chicopee, and Springfield, Massachusetts, led by
Barbara Rotundo

ColonialA'ictorian Tour:

Springfield, Massachusetts, led by Deborah Smith
Longmeadow. Massachusetts, led by Kevin Sweeney
Suffield, Connecticut, led by Stephen Petke

Jim Slater holds a mirror for participants in
Somers, Connecticut. Photo by Carol Perkins.

Saturday Activities

Conservation Workshops

Basic Workshop - Following brief lectures on the techniques
and materials used to clean, reset, and make simple adhesive re-
pairs, participants went to Pine Hill Cemetery and put their knowl-
edge into practice. Tools and materials appropriate for this ac-
tivity were provided. Leaders of the Basic Workshop were David
Via, Ruth Shapleigh Brown, C. R. Jones, and Fred Oakley. (See
the article on page 17 for more information. M.L.)

Advanced Workshop - Two separate activities were planned
for this workshop. The first included blind pinning of a marble
stone and more complicated resetting activity. A second activity

was a "hands on" patching demonstration of sandstone monu-
ments. Leaders of the Advanced Workshop were James and
Minxie Fannin and Dennis Rude.

Participation Sessions

"Sources of Gravestone Imagery" — Barbara Rotundo (Mem-
bers who attended this session and didn't see the posted bibliog-
raphy can receive a copy of it and a partial listing of images cov-
ered by sending a self- addressed, stamped envelope to Barbara
at 48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4, Belmont, New Hampshire
03220.)

"Archival Storage with Emphasis on Photo Collections" —
Frank Calidonna

"Teaching Fourth and Fifth Graders in the Cemetery" —

Mira Graves

"The Cemetery: An Outdoor Learning Laboratory" — Claire
Deloria

"Computerized Gravestone Recording" — John Sterling (See
the article on page 16 for more information. M.L.)

Slide Presentation for Educators: "Using the Cemetery as a
Teaching Resource" — Laurel Gabel

"A Quarryman's Trade: Replicating Sandstone Monuments"

— Allen Williams

"History in the Graveyard: Slavery in Colonial Massachu-
setts" — Tom and Brenda Malloy

"Archival Storage of Papers and Books" — Cynthia Howe

"Stone Carving in Early New England Style: A Carving
Demonstration and Lecture" — Tim de Christopher

"Watercolor Dabbing: An Advanced Rubbing Technique" —

Mary Ann Calidonna

"Oh, What a Feeling! When Conservation Pays Its Way" —

Sarah Brophy

"Put Your Slide Show to Music" — C.R. Jones

AGS Newsletter Fall '95 p. 15

Conference '95 — Tours, Workshops, & Participations Sessions

"Computerized Gravestone Recording"

John Sterling

The AGS Standard Database and program were intro-
duced at the AGS Conference in Westfield, Massachusetts. The
program was demonstrated on a portable computer connected to
a fourteen-inch color monitor. Attendees were shown how the
gravestone and cemetery databases are linked together and how
searches can be done in these databases. The data input was
demonstrated with the help keys to explain what data should be
entered and what valid codes should be used. Speed keys that
carry forward relationship and stone data on related people to
save 30-40% of the keystrokes needed to enter inscription data
were demonstrated. Several people asked how the program
handles more than one person on a gravestone. This is done by
creating a separate record for each person on the gravestone. They
are linked by a map number assigned to each gravestone. Samples
of the reports generated by the software were in the participation
session handout (they are also included in the software instruc-
tion booklet).

Twenty people left the conference with copies of the
beta version of the program. They, along with others who have
ordered the program through the AGS office, will be testing the
software over the next several months and feeding back com-
ments to me. In the past year, while developing this beta test
program, I have received many good comments on what is needed
for software to record gravestones, but it has all been a wish list.
This program is an attempt to incorporate as many of these wish
lists as possible. After having an opportunity to input real data,
search the database, and run the reports provided, I should get
some excellent input to improve the program.

Anyone now recording or anticipatmg recording grave-
stones should take advantage of this program. It is rare when
you have an opportunity to work with software as it is being de-
veloped and get it customized to exactly meet your needs. You
can order the beta test version of the gravestone database and
program through the AGS office for $9.95 plus $1.95 shipping.
After six to nine months of gathering suggestions and modifying
the program, a final version of the AGS Standard Gravestone
Recording Database will be made available for $19.95. People
who order the beta test version will be able to upgrade for an
additional $10.00. An upgrade certificate is included in the beta
test packet. Data entered with the beta test version will be fully
compatible with the final version and will not need to be reen-
tered.

I have heard from two people who have been using the
program since the conference in June. Both say it is working
well for their recording needs and they have no suggestions for
changes. Both have entered several hundred gravestones.

To order the beta test version of the AGS standard grave-
stone recording program (IBM version only), send $9.95 plus
$1.95 shipping to: AGS - Database Standard, 30 Elm Street,
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

Photographs on Disk

Several photo finishing labs are now offering to place
your photographs on a computer disk during processing. Seattle
Film Works will put twenty-four pictures on a disk for S3. 95 (you
also get prints and/or slides at the regular price). They provide a
Windows program called Photoworks to work with your pictures.
It can do the following functions and more: sort and view a slide
show, edit captions and descriptions, enhance photos, crop pho-
tos, print, and zoom in or out. You can insert photos into several
word processors and E-mail them to friends. I have a copy of
this software that I ordered on the Internet and will send them a
roll of film soon to test the quality of their pictures on disk.

I did have my pictures from the AGS Conference put on
a disk at K-mart (thirty-six pictures for only $5.99). They use a
software package called Konica PC Pictureshow that has many
of the same features. The picture quality on screen is quite good.
It is impressive to see your pictures displayed on screen for the
first time. Anyone else who has used this service is invited to
comment. ♦

John Sterling has a degree in Engineering from the University
of Connecticut and is owner of a computer software develop-
ment company. He writes the "Gravestones and Computers"
column for the AGS Quarterly. Contact him at 10 Signal Ridge
Way East Greenwicli. Rhode Island 02818; e-mail: MGGW51A
@ prodigy.com.

Ill lUiollwr piirlicifalion .•ussioii.

Tim de Christopher dcmon.'Hralcs stone can'ing.

Pholo b\ Carol Perkins.

ACS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 16

Conference '95 — Tours, Workshops, & Participation Sessions

Basic Conservation Worksliop

Fred Oakley, Jr.

Conference Conservation Workshop
Attracts Eighty-one Participants

Figure I
Photo by J.M. Mongue

It was a fine day, with lots of people eager to practice
conservation techniques that they learned in morning lectures.
Five teams, each with an experienced staff leader, were orga-
nized for basic conservation work, each with a specific grave-
stone to treat, while two teams were organized to treat stones
requiring more advanced conservation techniques.

Prior to the workshop, the workshop coordinator selected
and made a condition survey of stones whose treatment could
benefit from basic techniques. Some preparatory
work was done by the coordinator to ensure that
appropriate materials were provided to each team
for their specific tasks.

For this article, we will focus on Esther
Fowler's stone, a granite off its base, inscription
exposed to the elements, base slightly out of level
(Figure 1). The plastic pins securing the stone to
its base were both broken, probably a result of ther-
mal stress. Preliminary treatment by the workshop
coordinator included documentation (photo and re-
cording the inscription) and removing the plastic
pins. The pins had to be removed by drilling them
out with a steel twist drill bit. A carbide bit nor-
mally used to drill holes in stone melted the plastic
which coated the tip and rendered it ineffective.

Cleaning, resetting the base, replacing the
pins, and securing the stone to the base with epoxy
was assigned to a team supervised by David Via.

When the icam began reselling ihc base (it was slightly
out of level), they discovered a concrete sub-base beneath the
visible base. A decision was made by the team to reset the vis-
ible base behind Ihc sub-base to allow lawn movers to pass and
to align the stone with adjacent monuments. Eight inches of pea
gravel, sand, and several bricks provided a new bed for the vis-
ible base. Set in place, the visible base was carefully leveled.

Next the team cleaned the stone with water and soft
bristle brushes. The joining surfaces between the bottom of the
stone and its base were prepared for adhesive repair using dena-
tured alcohol (to remove pollutants) followed by acetone (a dry-
ing agent). New pins of threaded nylon rod, slightly smaller in
diameter than the drilled holes, were set into the base and the
stone was "dry fit" to ensure the length of the new pins would
not interfere with resetting. AKEPOX A-291 , a two-part epoxy,
was applied to the drill holes and the pins set into the base. A
thin bed of AKEPOX 291 was applied to the top surface of the
base within the profile of the stone. Four plastic spacers were
placed at the corners to prevent the epoxy from completely being
displaced by the weight of the stone. To control excess epoxy
that might "squeeze out" from the weight of the stone, masking
tape was used on the perimeter of the base to capture excess
material. Team members then aligned the pins and holes to set
the stone onto the base successfully.

The photograph clearly shows the team's satisfaction
with its work and its confidence that Esther Fowler's descen-
dants would be pleased to know that the monument has been
restored.

Esther B. Fowler was born to a prominent Westfield fam-
ily. She was educated as a teacher at Westfield Normal School
(now Westfield Slate College) and at Smith College in
Northampton. Her forty-one years as a missionary in India is her
abiding epitaph. ♦

Fred Oakley has served AGS in many capacities, in-
cluding President. He writes the AGS Quarterly's conservation
cohann.

Pliolu h\ J.M. Mongue

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 17

Conference '95 — Honor Awards

Ifie lS35HarrittU 'Mmijieid lorbes Award

is f resented to

'Biilon % (DorrefC Sr.

of^ingSun, Indiana,

for distinguisfied service

in the field of gravestone studies.

Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award Presentation

Presentation by President Rosalee Oakley

This is the special time at each conference when we
honor the chosen recipient of the Harriette Merrifield Forbes
Award. The first AGS Board of Trustees decided to make an
award periodically that would honor either an individual or an
organization whose work has advanced the understanding and
appreciation of the field of gravestone studies. That first year,
they called it the "AGS Honor Award" and presented it to Daniel
Farber at our first conference in 1977.

The second year, the
Board decided to name the
award for a Massachusetts
gravestone scholar and photog-
rapher, Harriette Merrifield
Forbes, of Worcester. Massa-
chusetts, who published a book
in 1927 titled Gravestones of
Early New England and the
Men Who Made Them.

Through the years,
nineteen people have been hon-
ored for their outstanding con-
tributions in such areas as schol-
arship, publications, conserva-
tion, education, and community
service. Tonight we bestow the
1995 Harriette Merrifield
Forbes Award on the twentieth
recipient, Dillon R. Dorrell, Sr.
of Rising Sun, Indiana.

Dillon was nominated
by his local historical society, a
group that has been a member
of AGS since 1985. The letter
of nomination told of a number
of cemetery projects he carried
out over a span of many years.
Let me share some of thein with you.

The work done by Dillon falls into two basic categories
of gravestone conservation, that of recording cemetery inscrip-
tions and restoring cemeteries long abandoned. His first project
began after his retirement from thirty years of public school teach-
ing. He became interested in some of the old cemeteries near his

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. IS

home and set out to clean them up and record the inscriptions on
the headstones — an innocent project at first glance. However, it
led to more than twenty years of preserving and maintaining an
ever-increasing number of abandoned cemeteries in Ohio County
in Indiana. Dillon began in 1974 to record the data on the grave-
stones. At that time only two cemeteries had records of burials.
By 1 979, he published his first book, Ohio County- Cem-
eteries, describing the cemeteries he had found and gravestones
he had recorded. As the years have progressed, updates have
been made adding the records of recent burials, bringing the record
up to January. 1995.

A second project Dillon undertook lasted twelve years
from 1976 to 1988. In this
cemetery project Dillon ac-
tively supervised a cemetery
conservation program. He se-
cured Federal funding desig-
nated for work programs for
youth to provide the financing.
Three or four young people
were employed each summer
to work under his super\'ision
to reclaim forty-five previously
overgrown abandoned cem-
eteries. They dug up the fallen
stones and then repaired and re-
set them. In 1992. Ohio
County Commissioners, desir-
ing to sustain the work Dillon
and the young people had ac-
complished, allotted funds for
the formation of the Ohio
County Cemetery Fund for the
maintenance, preservation, and
continued restoration of Ohio
County cemeteries. Dillon is
executor of this fund, which is
used for mowing and equip-
ment purchases.

Dillon is the Ohio
County Historian and is a charier member of the Ohio County
Historical Society, begun in 1964. He has served as its President
for twenty-one years. It was this AGS member organization who
nominated Dillon for this award.

Some of you are aware of other people w ho. like Dillon,
have recorded cemetery inscriptions or reclaimed cemeteries from

President Rosalee Oakley presents the Forbes Award

to Dillon Dorrell. Sr

Photo b\ Frank Calidonna.

Conference '95 — Honor Awards

weeds and hianihles. Tliesc arc tasks that AGS has enct)uraged
and supported from its inception. We have included these tasks
in our workshops, in our kits of leaflets, and in our Gravcsioiic
Preservation Primer Tonight we honor one of the persons who
has been in the field doing the work — and in doing so, we hold
up for recognition the importance of recording and reclaiming
cemeteries from neglect.

Dillon's interest began twenty years ago at a time when
people were not giving attention to old cemeteries. His percep-
tions, not unlike those of the founders of AGS, were that grave-
stones were important artifacts to be preserved. He was self-
motivated and he has sustained his interest over a long period of
time to the present. He was indeed a pioneer in the gravestone
conservation field in his corner of the world, doing work that has
lengthened the time these gravestones and their data will be avail-
able to visiting family members, genealogists, and researchers.

In recognition of his pioneer efforts in cemetery conser-
vation, on behalf of the trustees of the Association for Grave-
stone Studies, I am pleased to present the 1995 Harrielle Menifield
Forbes Award to Dillon R. Dorrell, Sr. Congratulations. ♦

The President presented Mr Dorrell with the framed
certificate that had been designed by A GS member Carol Perkins.
A photograph ofHarriette Merrifield Forbes, for whom the Award
is named, was also presented to him.

Acceptance Speech by Dillon Dorrell

Madam President, members and friends of the Association for
Gravestone Studies,

I want to thank you for the honor bestowed upon me. I
want to thank all the trustees of the Association for Gravestone
Studies. I have received recognition for my work in my local
area, but never dreamed of receiving national recognition. I also
want to thank the Ohio County Historical Society for submitting
my name.

I am from Rismg Sun, Indiana, population 2,500. It is
in Ohio County, population 5,400. Ohio County is the smallest
county in Indiana — some eighty-seven square miles. Rising
Sun is situated on the bank of the Ohio River in a lovely setting
with hills all around. It is ninety miles southeast of Indianapolis,
forty miles west of Cincinnati, and ninety miles north of Louis-
ville. John and Samuel Fulton (cousin of Robert Fulton) were
the first settlers around 1800. They camped on the river bank
and upon arising the next morning observed the sun coming up
over the Kentucky hills and remarked, "Behold the Rising Sun!"

I retired from teaching and coaching in 1974. My first
wife passed away in 1969. My home was m a little crossroads
community. Weather permitting, I played golf, but there was a
void in other days. While teaching, a student had told me about
an old cemetery in his community. I became interested since it
was an earlier settlement. I went and copied down the names on
the stones. Then I became inquisitive and wondered who was
buried in other cemeteries. Over a period of two years I had
located sixty cemeteries in Ohio County and cataloged each one.
Then I discovered that only the two newer ones in Rising Sun
had a record of burials. So I published my first book. Ohio

County Cemeteries has been revised four times, bringing burials
up lo .lanuary 1 , 1995.

Forty-five of these cemeteries had not been cared for in
many, many years and were in deplorable condition. Through a
friend who was in charge of a public works program, I managed
to gel three or four high school boys and a supervisor for a five
week program during the summer. Thirty cemeteries were re-
stored; fifteen were previously being cared for, the other fifteen
may have only one stone, fieldsloncs, or no stones. This pro-
gram lasted until 1 988. Since that lime, the county trustees have
taken care of those on the highways. In 1992, the County Com-
missioners gave me $5,000 to continue this project. My time
and mileage on all these projects has been donated. In our area,
only Ohio County has been doing this kind of work. The Asso-
ciation for Gravestone Studies was founded in 1977 to restore,
preserve, and maintain neglected burial sites. The program in
Ohio County was started in 1974.

Again, thanks for the honor you have given me and the
opportunity for my wife, son, and myself to visit your wonderful
community.

Dillon R. Dorrell, Sr.
June 24, 1995

Forbes Award and Certificate of Merit
Nominations Being Sought

The new Awards and Recognition Committee is be-
ginning its ongoing search for nominees for the Harriette
Merrifield Forbes Award. Nominees may be either individuals
or groups and the substance of their work must be in keeping
with the AGS mission statement: The mission of the Associa-
tion for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the cul-
tural significance of gravestones and burying grounds through
their study and preservation.

The work can be in any area or combination of areas,
such as gravestone carver attribution, gravestone conservation,
gravestone art, gravestone geology, exhibitions relating to
gravestones, and computer programming for gravestone study;
also the historical, archaeological, genealogical, or religious
significance of gravestones. Other acceptable subject areas
are the iconography, poetry, language, and lettering on grave-
stones. The work may be in many forms, such as research,
writing, taping, photography, interpretive editing, organizational
leadership, legislation, financial assistance, and teaching.

In addition, the Committee is seeking nominees for
our new Certificates of Merit. While the same subject classifi-
cation and standard for quality apply, the criteria are much less
stringent regarding the importance and scope of the work.

Please send your nominations, along with a brief de-
scription and/or photographs to Daniel B. Goldman, 1 1 5 Middle
Road, East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818. While the Com-
mittee has been established so that nominations can be added
to the pool of applicants at any time, to be considered for 1 996.
please send your nominations by December 30. 1995.

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 19

Conference '95 — Honor Awards

Dan Farber is Honored as Trustee Emeritus

Presentation by President Rosalee Oai<ley

At this reception we are honoring one of our members
in a special way. The Board of Trustees has voted to confer the
title of Trustee Emeritus on Daniel Farber.

The title "emeritus" is given to those who have per-
formed in a particular capacity so well that even when retired
from active duty they are allowed to retain the title.

Dan has meant a great deal to our Association over the
eighteen years of its existence. (Six cardholders and one mirror
holder held up cards commemorating each of the following seven
statements — see photo below.)

1. He participated in the meetings in 1976/1977 during
which AGS was created.

2. He received the first award given by AGS at the 1 977
organizational conference. Called the AGS Honor Award, it was
later named the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award.

3. The thousands of gravestone photographs in the
Farber Collection at Yale and the American Antiquarian Society
will be a legacy to gravestone researchers for many years. AGS
also benefited from the collection through photocopies used by
our research coordinator.

4. His instructions and techniques for photographing
gravestones were first a newsletter article, then became one of
the leaflets in our information and preservation kits which are
sent to countless would-be gravestone photographers each year.

5. He has been elected to the Board of Trustees at vari-
ous times over the years.

6. In 1986, he became the President of the Board of
Trustees.

7. He has made substantial financial contributions that,
among other things, enabled AGS to move from a volunteer-run
organization to employing an executive director and clerical as-

Prcsidcnl Rosalee Oakley presents Dan Farber with
his certijicale. Photo by Jessie Lie Farber.

sistani. This meant the increasing membership, correspondence.
and sales were centralized and given daily attention, something
volunteers often did not have time to do.

These are some of the many reasons we are honoring
Dan Farber with the title of Trustee Emeritus today.

Dan, we have some things for you:

1 . First of all. with this sash. I confer upon you the title
of Trustee Emeritus.

2. We have a certificate for you.

3. In conferring this title, the Board voted to do two
things: waive your conference fees (here is a book of vouchers
to send in with your registration forms) and give you a life mem-
bership in AGS. Life membership is one of our membership cat-
egories. The card, signed by all the Board members, indicates
the membership fee has been deposited in our endowment fund
in your name.

4. And last, we have a ceremonial gavel to symbolize
your leadership and the respect in which you are held by the
members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Congratu-
lations. ♦

Pholo by .lessie Lie Farber

AGS NewsleUer: Fall '95 p. 20

Conference '95 — Annual Meeting

1994-1995 Board of Trustees

Offiters

Rosalee Oakley, Hadlcy, Massachusetts — President

James A, Slater, Mansfield Center, Connecticut — Vice-President

Brenda Malloy. Westminster, Massachusetts — Secretary

Dan Goldman, East Greenwich, Rhode Island — Treasurer

TVustees at Large

Patricia Aloisi, Abington. Massachusetts
Ruth Shapleigh Brown, Manchester, Connecticut

Frank Calidonna, Rome, New York

Robert Drinkwater, Northampton, Massachusetts

J. Joseph Edgette, Glenolden, Pennsylvania

Laurel Gabel, Pittsford, New York — Research Clearing House

Coordinator

Roberta Halporn, Brooklyn, New York

W. Fred Oakley. Jr., Hadley, Massachusetts

Stephen Petke, East Granby. Connecticut

Virginia Rockwood, Greenfield. Massachusetts

Barbara Rotundo. Belmont, New Hampshire

Deborah A. Smith, Rochester, New York

John Sterling, East Greenwich, Rhode Island

Janet Taylor, Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Ralph Tucker, Georgetown, Maine

Ex OlTicio Members

Richard Meyer, Monmouth, Oregon — Markers Editor
Elizabeth Goeselt, Wayland, Massachusetts — Arcliivist

Office Staff

Miranda Levin — Executive Director
Katherine George — Assistant to the Executive Director

The Association for Gravestone Studies

1994 Annual Meeting

June 22, 1995

Agenda
Call to Order — President Rosalee Oakley

Quorum Determination — Secretary Brenda Malloy
Minutes of 1993 Annual Meeting

Annual Reports

Treasurer - Daniel Goldman

Archivist - Elizabeth Goeselt

Editor, Journal - Richard Meyer

Research Clearinghouse and Lending Library - Laurel Gabel

Newsletter Committee - Barbara Rotundo

Other Reports

New Business

Election results — Secretary Brenda Malloy

Recognition of retiring trustees — President Rosalee Oakley
Barbara Rotundo
Ralph Tucker

President Rosalee Oakley

Remarks

Executive Director Miranda Levin
President Rosalee Oakley

Introduction of new trustees and officers -

Mary Ann Calidonna

Claire Deloria

James Fannin

C. R. Jones

Treasurer - W. Fred Oakley Jr.

Vice-President - Daniel Goldman

President - Frank Calidonna

Trustees who are present

Other new business

Passing the gavel

Adjournment — President Frank Calidonna

Minutes of the Annual Meeting
Thursday, June 22, 1995

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by President
Rosalee Oakley m WiLson Hall, Westfield State College, Westfield,
Massachusetts.

Secretary Brenda Malloy determined that thirty-five members
were present, constituting a quorum to conduct business.

It was moved and seconded to approve as circulated the min-
utes of last year's meeting, Sunday, June 26, 1994. The motion carried.

Annual reports were distributed and comments were made.
Treasurer Dan Goldman answered questions regarding the $7,000 defi-
cit. This deficit occurred because of a smaller conference and the unan-
ticipated higher cost of printing the newsletter. Archivist Jo Goeselt
offered to answer any questions regarding her annual report. Richard
Meyer, editor of Markers, thanked the editorial board for its continued
support. Barbara Rotundo, on behalf of the Newsletter Committee,
thanked Deborah Trask for the years she spent as editor of the ACS
Newsletter. Barbara suggested that "a monetary value be placed on what
Deb Trask contributed over the years and this be recorded in the min-
utes." It was moved and seconded to accept the annual reports of the
Treasurer, Archivist, Markers Editor, Newsletter Committee, Research
Clearing House Coordinator, and Lending Librarian. The motion car-
ried.

Executive Director Miranda Levin thanked all for their sup-
port and help over the past year. Her continuing goals will be working
on the Newsletter, increasing membership, and placing Markers in li-
braries and schools.

President Rosalee Oakley thanked the Board for its support.
She answered questions about the relocafion of the AGS office when the
lease at the Worcester Historical Museum runs out. Rosalee stated that
the Board will continue to work on the budget. It was moved and sec-
onded to accept the reports of the Executive Director and President.
The motion carried.

The names of the recently elected officers and trustees were
read: President, Frank Calidonna; Vice-President, Dan Goldman; Trea-
surer, Fred Oakley; Trustees-at-Large: Mary Ann Calidonna, Claire

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 21

Conference '95 — Annual Meeting

Dcloria. James Fannin, Laurel Gabel, C.R. Jones, Rosalee Oakley,
Stephen Petke, Virginia Rockwood, James Slater, Deborah Smith.

Rosalee Oakley recognized and listed the contributions of re-
tiring trustees Barbara Rotundo, who had served for six years, and Ralph
Tucker, who had served for six years for the second time. Both were
given gift certificates in appreciation of their service.

Rosalee Oakley introduced new and present trustees and
thanked them for all of their hard work. She also commented on signifi-
cant happenings and celebrations of AGS members during this past year.

Joe Edgette presented a slide and musical tribute to deceased
member Jim Jewell. By acclamation a moment of silence was observed
in memory of Jim.

The gavel of leadership was passed from outgoing President
Rosalee Oakley to newly-elected President Frank Calidonna. This was
a change from the tradition of passing the Harriette Merrifield Forbes
book, which is showing signs of aging. Frank accepted the gavel and
spoke of the honor it was to serve as president of AGS.

Barbara Rotundo presented a gift to Rosalee Oakley in appre-
ciation of her service as president.

It was moved and seconded to adjourn at 7:45 p.m. The mo-
tion carried.

Respectfully submitted,
Brenda Malloy, Secretary

Complete annual reports from the President. Treasurer, Ex-
ecutive Director, Archivist, Markers Editor. Newsletter Committee, Lend-
ing Librarian, and Research Clearing House Coordinator are available
upon request. To receive a copy, please send $L00 to cover postage to
the AGS office. 30 Elm Street. Worcester, Massachusetts 01609. M.L

Treasurer's Report
Dan Goldman, Treasurer

1994 Financial Report

ACTUAL BUDGET

TOTAL INCOME $89,737 $60,405

TOTAL EXPENSE $96,806 $65,161

TOTAL FUND BALANCE $38,390 $47,375

NET — INC/EXP ($7,069) ($4,756)

Nominating Committee Report of Election Results

In accordance with the By-Laws, the Nominating Committee
invited recommendations for nominations to the Board of Trustees from
the general membership in the summer 1994 newsletter Nominations
were confirmed by the Board at its January 1995 meeting and conveyed
to the general membership in the form of a ballot included in a general
mailing in April, 1995.

Twenty-four ballots received by the June 15 deadline have
been counted. We are pleased to report the following people have been
elected for two-year terms as Trustees commencing at the close of this
Annual Meeting:

Officers

President: Frank Calidonna
Vice-President: Dan Goldman
Treasurer: W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

Trustees at Large

Mary Ann Calidonna

Claire Deloria

James Fannin

Laurel Gabel

C.R. Jones

Rosalee Oakley

Stephen Petke

Virginia Rockwood

James Slater

Deborah Smith

Respectfully submitted.
Nominating Committee:

Dan Goldman, Chair
Frank Calidonna
Stephen Petke

Your Board Nominations Are Being Sought

Nominations for members of the Board of Trust-
ees are being sought at this time. If you would like to
nominate yourself or someone else for the Board of Trust-
ees, please send a brief paragraph about yourself or the
person you're nominating to Daniel B. Goldman, Chair.
1 1 5 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Rhode Island, 028 1 8
by December 30, 1995.

Remember, Board members must be able to at-
tend three Board meetings a year held in central Massa-
chusetts and be prepared to be an active member of the
Board of Trustees. If you would like more information
on being an AGS Board member, please contact Dan at
the address above.

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 22

Review

REVIEW

Eric Brock

Post OITicc Box 5877
Shreveport, Louisiana 7! 135-5877

1

Mississippi's Travel Planner:
Magnolia Blossoms and Wrought Iron

Tourism Development

Post Office Box 1705

Ocean Springs, Mississippi 49566-1705

Review by Sybil Crawford

Members of the Association for Gravestone Studies need
no glowing descriptions or four-color spreads to whet their appe-
tites for a cemetery outing — "I Brake for Old Graveyards'" is no
idle bumpersticker talk. This is scarcely true of the general popu-
lation, however. As we travel, it is frequently disappointing to
find how little the "locals" know of their cemeteries, much less
directions for reaching them.

It has been a pleasant surprise to note that one of our
states — Mississippi — has recognized the appeal of cemeteries.
The Travel Planner, a slick, handsomely illustrated publication
produced to promote tourism within the state, describes a cross-
section of its attractions and their importance, both historically
and artistically. Not only does it list cemeteries considered worth
a visit, but the contact names, addresses, and telephone numbers
are recited as well.

While beauty is admittedly in the eye of the beholder,
the following make the editor's list of "must see" Mississippi
cemeteries.

Clinton Cemetery, located on College Street in Clinton,
is open daily. Dating from circa 1800, this is the oldest cemetery
in central Mississippi. For more information, contact the Clinton
Chamber of Commerce, Post Office Box 143. Clinton. 39060;
(601)924-5912.

Friendship Cemetery in Columbus, with its graves of
four Confederate generals, will have special appeal to Civil War
buffs. America's first Memorial Day observance was held at this
cemetery on April 25. 1 866. It is located on Fourth Street South,
Columbus, 39703; (601) 328-2565.

Neville-Giles Cemetery is located in DeKalb on the
original Jacob Giles Plantation, four and a half miles east of
Scooba on Highway 16. The cemetery, which carries a State
Historical Cemetery designation, is open daily. Contact the
Kemper County Chamber of Commerce, Post Office Box 518,
DeKalb, 39328; (601) 743-2754.

Greenwood Cemetery, located at the corner of Wash-
ington and Strong Avenues in Greenwood, contains the graves of
Confederates whose lives were lost in the Battle of Fort
Pemberton. Among these is that of Lieutenent Azra Stoddard,
credited with giving the order to sink the Star of the West in the
Tallahatchie River. (Remember the Tallahatchie Bridge, rock-
eted to national prominence some years ago by singer Jeannie C.
Riley?)

Robert .lohnson is buried at Greenwood, a guitar resting
against his marker as though casually laid aside just temporarily.
His epitaph reads:

Robert Johnson

"King of the

Delta Blues Singers"

His music struck a chord

that continues to resonate. His blues addressed

generations he would never

know and made poetry of

his visions and fears.

Contact the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau, Post
Office Box 738 in Greenwood, 38930; (800) 748-9064.

Kosciusko City Cemetery, located on South Hunting-
ton Street in Kosciusko, is open daily and offers group tours by
appointment. The melancholy statue of Laura Kelly, erected by
her husband so it could be viewed from the window of their home,
is but one of the cemetery's many late nineteenth-century mark-
ers. Contact the Kosciusko Tourist Promotion Council. Post Of-
fice Box 696, Kosciusko, 39090; (601) 289-2981.

Texas Hospital Cemetery: Confederate States of
America, is located in Quitman on Highway 45 South. This
cemetery commemorates the Confederate soldiers who died at
Texas Field Hospital. Flags identify the states from which the
soldiers served; most participated in the battles of Corinth, luka,
and Shiloh. Contact City Hall, Post Office Box 16, Quitman,
39355; (601) 776-3728.

Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City is home to the leg-
endary "Witch's Grave." Located at the corner of Grady and
Lintonia Streets, the cemetery is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. Contact the cemetery office at the above street ad-
dress, Yazoo City. 39194; (800) 381-0662.

City Cemetery, Natchez, at #2 Cemetery Road, dates
from the early 1800s and is open daily, dawn to dusk. Contact
the cemetery office in Natchez, 39121; (601 ) 446-6345.

The Natchez National Cemetery contains the graves
of approximately 3,000 Union and Confederate soldiers and high-
profile residents of Natchez. Contact the cemetery office at 41
Cemetery Road, Natchez, 39 1 2 1 ; (60 1 ) 445-498 1 .

Wintergreen Cemetery, Port Gibson, dating from 1 807,
was originally the family cemetery of Samuel Gibson, founder
of Port Gibson. One of Mississippi's most beautiful cemeteries,
it is located not far from the ruins of Windsor, a once-opulent
antebellum mansion, which served as the backround for many of
the scenes in that nearly forgotten movie, Raintree Countty. Open
year-round, dawn to dusk. Contact the cemetery office at the
east end of Greenwood Street, Port Gibson, 39150; (601) 437-
5776.

Rose Hill Cemetery, located on North Main Street in
Sardis, dates from about 1868. Contact the Sardis Chamber of
Commerce, Post Office Box 377, Sardis, 38666; (601 ) 487-345 1 .

Not listed, but no less interesting, are the many small
cemeteries to be seen by those willing to stray off the interstates
and cruise the backroads. It is here that "folk markers" are most

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 23

Review

likely to be found. Drivers will appreciate the stress-free driving
afforded by the open, flat terrain of rural areas. Passengers, able
to survey the horizon for miles, will be equally appreciative of
the enhanced opportunities for "cemetery sightings."

Additional information concerning Mississippi's cem-
eteries and other attractions can be secured by writing Tourism
Development at the address above. Their whimsical toll-free num-
ber not only describes the state's welcome but acts as a beckon-
ing finger, urging northern visitors to head in their direction and
escape the icy breath of winter. It is (800) WARMEST.

Materials for review and other coiurilmtions should he
directed to the Review Editor at the address above. Once re-
viewed, materials will be sent to the AGS Archives. ♦

udverlisemenl

HAND CARVED LETTERING IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari

(617)862-1583

433 Bedford Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02173

advertisemenl

Do you enjoy photographing precious old Gravestones?
If you do or always wanted to, this ad is for you.

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photographed many graveyards and stones. I have used many different methods and would like to
share with you the ones that work and at the same time. I would like to introduce you to my profes-
sional photography business. Jade Professional Photography. I have made available this offer exclu-
sively to my fellow AGS members. In addition to receiving my 4x5 pocket booklet on photographing
graveyards and stones you will receive;

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Developing and printing your finished roll on an 8x10 contact sheet

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AGS Nen'.'.lellcr: Fall '95 p. 24

From the President's Desk/Notes & Queries

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
Frank Calidonna, President

313 West Linden Sliecl
Rome, New York 13440

Allow me to introduce myself to all of the membership.
I am an Art and Photography teacher from Rome, New York.
My interest in gravestones and cemeteries staited about forty years
ago and was mainly an appreciation of the artwork. As I began
to seriously study the art history of gravestones, I discovered AGS
quite by accident. I joined after a short phone conversation with
Fred Oakley and have been a member of AGS for the past five
years.

Since joining, I have seen AGS grow quite a bit. Mem-
bership is now approaching 1100 and still growing. Our 1995
conference in Westfield, Massachusetts, was attended by a large
number of new members and first-time conference attendees. This
was very gratifying. We are anticipating and planning for larger
numbers at our conferences in the future.

AGS is now in a transition period for a number of rea-
sons. Our physical location in Worcester is about to change. A
committee has been formed by the Board of Trustees to help se-
lect a new site, and many areas in central Massachusetts are be-
ing studied. We are trying to stay close to major highways to
facilitate travel to and from the office. We hope to find enough
space in a good location for the right price before long.

Miranda Levin, our Executive Director, is also planning
a move in mid- 1996. This means that a new person to replace
her will have to be found. The Board is considering her replace-
ment and other job title options, too. Hopefully, the direction we
take on this matter will be resolved in a short period of time.

Those who attended the conference in Westfield know
that it was wonderful. As conferences go, AGS has one of the
busiest and friendliest that I have ever attended. The conference
feedback was very positive, but we continue to work to make it
even better. Those of you who have never attended should think
about joining us next year in Maine. You will learn a great deal,
have a wonderful time, and be able to continually talk about grave-
stones for three full days without anyone thinking you strange.
For a good time at a great price, put us on your calendar.

I would really appreciate those who were first-time at-
tendees at Westfield dropping me a line. I am interested in what
you think we did right and what you would like to see added to
help orient new conference participants. Is there something we
can do to make your participation more immediately productive?
I would also like any member who has an e-mail address to send
it to us, too. We will publish the list in a future issue so that we
may all communicate via computer. I will see that gravestone
Internet addresses are made available when we know about them.
I can be reached at the above "snail mail" address or on
CompuServe 74064,6 1 2 or on Prodigy at LWSU26A. ♦

NOTES & QUERIES
AGS Office

30 Elm Street

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

More Information on Religious Symbolism

I am writing with regard to Sybil F. Crawford's article,
"Religious Symbolism on Gravestones," that appeared on page
14 of the spring \995 '\s,?,ue. oi \he. AGS Newsletter. Others may
already have written with explanations, but I will tell you what I
know of this symbol as encountered in an anthropology class at
the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. The symbol is
called the krest, and it is the only depiction of the cross accepted
by the Old Believers of the Orthodox Church. The Old Believers
are a reclusive sect with communities in Alberta, Washington,
and Oregon as well as in other parts of the world. They are the
descendents of the followers of the Archpriest Avvakum who split
from the state-sanctioned Russian Church during the Rascol. the
great schism of the Russian Orthodox faith, in the seventeenth
century. The Old Believers refer to themselves as khristianiny
— the only true Christians left on earth (everyone else having
been corrupted by the antichrist). Russians call them starobriadsty
(old ritualists) or starovertsy (old believers). The lives of mem-
bers of this sect are governed by strict adherence to tradition and
almost constant observance of ritual.

The krest (the eight-pointed eastern cross with accom-
panying symbols) is a correct icon for the Old Believers, while
the krizh (the four-pointed western cross without the symbols) is
not. I quote from David Scheffel's book. In the Shadow of the
Antichrist: The Old Believers of Alberta :

The insistence on the superiority of the krest over the krizh
is fortified with numerous legends and symbolic associations.
The three horizontal bars of the former are said to represent
the three-dimensional, universal, realm of Christ's rule, ex-
pressed in the selection of three types of wood for the origi-
nal construction. The trees used in this endeavor are be-
lieved to have grown from three seeds placed in Adam's
mouth just before his death. The seeds had been fetched by
Adam's son Seth from the vicinity of the tree of life in the
Garden of Eden, and their growth ensured a tangible con-
nection between fallen and risen man. In accordance with
this belief, Adam's skull must be depicted beneath the cruci-
fied Christ, waiting to be cleansed by the latter's blood. Thus,
while the horizontal axis of the cross expresses spatial uni-
versality, the vertical axis links the last with the future (page
145).

The lance and the sponge relate to the crucifixion story
as discussed in the Crawford article. As for the "footrest" on the
cross. Old Believers do not accept the western notion that Christ
suffered physical pain during his execution. He is correctly de-
picted as standing on the "footrest," his arms outstretched to bless
the world, his face revealing only the mental anguish of betrayal.

Perhaps the "Eppler" memorialized in that Seattle cem-
etery was an Old Believer, but it seems extraordinary to me that

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 25

Notes & Queries

s/he would not have been buried in his or her own community.
Was there more than one maricer with this symbol, I wonder?

For further reading, I recommend:
Crummey, R. The Old Believers and the World of Antichrist'.

University of Wisconsin Press, 1978.
Lupinin, N. Religious Revolt in the Seventeenth Century: The

Schism of the Russian Church. The Kingston Press,

1984.
Piepkorn, A. "The Russian Old Believers" in Profiles in

Belief: The Religious Bodies of the United States and

Canada. 1:108-116. Harper & Row, 1977,
Scheffel, D. In the Shadow of Antichrist: The Old Believers of

Alberta. Broadview Press, Limited, 1991.
Corrine Lenfesty, #3, 29 Brock Place West, Lethbridge, Alberta,
T1K4C7, Canada.

The great, the wealthy, fear thy blow

From pomp and pleasure turn.

But Oh! a blest relief to these

That weary laden mourn

This stone memorializes "Seymers M. Bowman, December 10,
1862, Mar 25, 1909, and Daniel Munro, Bom in Scotland, Died
August 1894, Age 67 Yrs."

The second stone, pictured below, is in the Saint
Ambrose Catholic Cemetery here in Deadwood. Does anyone
know what alphabet is used here? The piece is broken and part
of it is missing; I assume the top was a cross shape. The original
record book and map were lost in a fire so the year given, 1906,
is of no help. David Akrop, 98 Charles Street, Deadwood, South
Dakota 57732.

Does Anyone Recognize This Epitaph and Alphabet?

National Archives Needs Help

I am trying to determine if the epitaph on a stone was
written for this particular stone or is a variation of a hymn or
piece of poetry. This stone is located in the Terry Cemetery [South
Dakota] where an old mining town was located. The epitaph
reads:

O Death the poor man's dearest friend,

The kindest and the best

Welcome the hour my aged limbs

Are laid with thee at rest

M-J' I /if'-.

ml \ / - r-r /; .< ' * M^m

^yr %^%ai»».»~. .'s^-: ;sZ2

The National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page
Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63132, is working to reconstruct
the files that burned in a fire in 1973 for US Army and Air Force
personnel who served from World War I until 1963. If you have
copies of any original documents for any military man during
that time whose records might have been destroyed, please con-
tact the Records Center at the address above.

Rufus Langhans

Rufus Langhans, a long-time member of AGS. died last
year. He had been ill for a number of years, having sent regrets
in 1992 that he wasn't well enough to attend the AGS conference
at Union College in Schenectady, New York. He was one of the
originators of the idea of rescuing overgrown, vandalized grave-
yards by having civic-minded organizations adopt them. At the
1982 conference at Williams College in Williamstown, Massa-
chusetts, he described how he had enlisted groups from boy scout
troops to historical societies in Huntington, Long Island (New
York], where he was town historian. These well-maintained cem-
eteries will make a wonderful memorial for Rufus.

Barbara Rotunda

Please note the following regarding upcoming issues of the
Newsletter (oops! I mean Quarterly):

Because so man\ people asked for more time to locate
pioneer gravestones in their areas, our special issue on pioneer
gravestones has been pushed back to the summer 1996 issue of
the Quarterly. Please send all of your material to the office or
appropriate editor by April I, 1996.

Please note that we have a new Southea.st Editor: Sharyn
Thompson, Post Office Box 6296. Tallahassee. Florida 32314.
Please send your contributions for that column to her M.L ♦

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 26

Puzzle

hy iMurel Gahel

ACROSS

1. A type of cross.

4. A concave/convex profile curve often seen

on gravestones.
* Draw in the symbol for "alpiia," the

beginning.

7. Aetatis or "at the age of."

8. historic cemetery is called Oakland.

9. A common early contraction; died,
departed, dead.

13. A sphere or globe, often seen with wings.

14. A dead language.
17. The winged lion; one of the four Evange

lists.
19. Abbreviation for a place of burial.
21. The Victorians made dramatic use

of

24. How common the rose or its bud which

shan't ; all promise of blossom

locked away in a tomb.
26. First name of Markers editor, 1988 -

1991.
28. An important nineteenth-century

cemetery movement.
30. An active grassroots organization

founded in 1958 to promote the

restoration and preservation of their

state's old cemeteries.

32. A was sometimes used to cut and

shape early stone markers.

33. Christ's follower, Luke, is often represented by a
winged .

35. One of two "great lights" (Genesis 1:16). Symbolizes
immortality and resurrection.

36. A Christian symbol of Hope.

DOWN

1 . One of the most enduring structures at Mt. Auburn Cemetery,
this building is named for its designer, Jacob Bigelow, who was
also one of the cemetery's founders.

2. A symbol of purity, resurrection.

3. A columbarium is a vault or structure with niches for the
containers which hold ashes of the dead. From the Latin word
for pigeonhole or dove .

4. Coffins, gravemarkers, cemetery fencing, and ornamental gates
were sometimes made from this kind of iron.
Archaic form of "the."
The end . . . .backwards

"Death is a to nature due, which I have paid, and so

must you!"

1

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The yellow fever and cholera epidemics that helped
precipitate the rural-cemetery movement in the early 1800s
were thought to have been caused in part by the "bad

5.
6.
10.

11.

Initials of the early Boston-area gravestone carver responsible
for the Lt. John Cleverly stone, 1703, Quincy.
Dull, dreary.

19.
20.
21.

22.
23.
25.

27.

29.
31.

associated with deteriorating conditions in overcrowded burial

grounds.

Small figure associated with Lamson-carved gravestones;

sometimes referred to as a "Death ."

Cemeteries and burying grounds can be considered outdoor
museums, full of our country's earliest sculpture, history,
genealogy, a chronicle of social and religious beliefs,

and .

Add an extra "O" and you will receive a sudden surprise!!
To depart.

Arrows or of death.

Darts or of death.

#5 the second time around.

A heart, a rose, linked rings, or two doves are just a few of the

many symbols for this four letter word.

The chief god of the ancient Philistines/Phoenicians,

represented as half-man and half-fish.

A winged beast, ancient symbol of St. Mark.

An organization dedicated to the study, preservation, and

appreciation of gravemarkers. Offices at 30 Elm Street,

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

Solution on page 28

AGS Newsletter: Fall '95 p. 27

Our Lending Library is on the Move Again!

After many years in the care of Laurel Gabel, our
Lending Library has become something of a vagabond . . .
having moved now for the second time this year. Not long
after receiving the collection from Laurel, I was transferred
from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to Tempe, Arizona. It was
difficult to move after having just built a new home and spend-
ing no more than three months in it! But move we did, and our
Lending Library is now settled again. The new address is;
AGS Lending Library, care of Lynn Radke, 1947 East Stephens
Drive, Tempe, Arizona 85283; (602) 491-1770. Our collec-
tion made it safely and is ready to go travelling through the
mails at your request.

We have added three books not previously in our col-
lection:

A Walking Guide to the Virginia City Cemeteries by
Gloria J. BCramer, 1987. This is a short (thirty pages) tour guide
of cemeteries in Virginia City, Nevada.

The Cemetery Book by Tom Weil, 1992. Tom Weil is
a travel author who writes of graveyards and cemeteries from
around the world. Weil describes the graves of the famous and
the infamous, as well as the unique and extraordinary charac-
teristics of the graveyards themselves."

Texas Graveyards by Terry G. Jordan, 1982. Terry
Jordan visited more than 1,000 Texas cemeteries, discovering

the previously "unstudied and unappreciated wealth of Texas
folk art and tradition."

I would appreciate hearing from members with ideas
about books they would like to see added to the library. Please
contact me at the address above. L\nn Radke

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© Copyright 1995 The Association
for Gravestone Studies.

To reprint from the Quarterly, un-
less specifically stated otherwise, no
permission is needed, provided: (1)
the reprint is used for educational
purposes; (2) full credit is given to
the Association and the author and/
or photographer or artist involved:
and (3) a copy of the document or
article in which the reprinted mate-
rial appears is sent to the AGS of-
fice.

Tlw A GS Quarterly is published four
times a year as a service to mem-
bers of the Association for Grave-
stone Studies. Suggestions and con-
tributions from readers are wel-
come.

The goal of the Quarterly is to
present timely information about
projects, literature, and research
concerning gravestones and about
the activities of the Association.

To contribute items, send to the AGS
office, or FAX us at (508) 753-9070.

Send membership fees (Senior/Stu-
dent, $20; Individual. $25: Institu-
tional. $30; Family, $35: Support-
ing. $60: Life. $1,000) to the Asso-
ciation for Gravestone Studies of-
fice. 30 Elm Street, Worcester Mas-
sachusetts 01609. The membership
year begins the month dues are re-
ceived and ends one year from that
date.

Send journal articles to Richard
Meyer, editor of Markers, the Jour-
nal of the Association for Grave-
stone Studies. Department of En-
glish. Western Oregon Slate College.

Monmouth. Oregon 97361. Order
Markers t current volume. XII, S28
to members. $32.50 to non-mem-
bers; back issues available) from the
AGS office.

Send contributions to the AGS Ar-
chives to Jo Goeselt. 61 Old Sudbury
Road, Wayland. Massachusetts
01778.

Address all other correspondence

to Miranda Levin. Executive Direc-
tor. AGS. 30 Elm Street. Worcester
Massachusetts 01609, or call (508)

S3 1-7753.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

^T^'sl 30 ELM STREET

WORCESTER MA 01609

NON PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No.

410

Worcester.

MA

AGS

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Volume 20 Number 1

Winter 1996

ISSN: 0146-5783

. y

Table of Contents

FEATURES

"Murder: It's Written in Stone" by Tom & Brenda Malloy 2

"The Scots: Little Rock's Casual Stonecutters" by Sybil F. Crawford 3

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th Century: "Bartlett Adams (1776- 1828)" 7

19th & 20th Century: "White Bronze Markers" 8

Gravestones & Computers: "Recording Cemeteries" &

Conservation News: "Using Shaving Cream to Read Tombstone Inscriptions" 9

Points of Interest: "Living Memorials" 10

REVIEWS

REGIONAL COLUMNS

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK.
NOTES & QUERIES

CALENDAR

, 14
..17
.25
.27
.28

Cover art: Tomb sculpture, Eyiip, Turkey. Rubbing by Jessie Lie and Daniel Farber.

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS

Contributions and comments to columnists and Editorial Board members are welcome. Issues are mailed six weeks
after deadlines and often take several weeks to reach the membership; please keep that in mind when submitting
time-sensitive material.

DEADLINES FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Summer issue; May 1 Winter issue; November 1

Fall issue: August 1 Spring issue: February 1

QUARTERLY EDITORIAL BOARD

Mary Cope, Jessie Lie Farber, Miranda Levin, Rosalee Oakley, W. Fred Oakley, Jr., Barbara Rotundo.

ADVERTISING PRICES

Business card, $15; 1/4 page, $25; 1/2 page, $45; full page insert, $100. Ads are placed as space allows.

Mail contributions to the appropriate person or to the AGS office. Send advertising (with payment) to the AGS
office; 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

^I^^y a/i^ au^iac a/'fiu/i^i tn^cw-aA- tdei^ dtiMn!^ an/s^ ^ede^e^attOAi.

COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN GORHAM, MAINE, June 27-30, 1996

AOS QUARTERLY:

THE BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR ORAVESTONE STUDIES

ISSN: 0146-5783 February, 1996

Published quarterly by The Association for Gravestone Studies, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

Features

Murder:

It's Written in Stone

by Tom and Brenda Malloy

Box 256

Westminster, Massachusetts 01473

There are sixty towns in
Worcester County, Massachusetts,
and during our cemetery excursions
we have covered about two-thirds of
the eighteenth-century graveyards in
these communities. During this pro-
cess we have located three grave-
stones that document murder. The
earliest of these stones is in the Old
Burial Ground in the town of Rutland.
The stone's inscription reads:

HERE LIES BURIED ye

BODY OF MR DANIEL

CAMPBELL BORN IN

SCOTLAND CAME INTO

NEW ENGLAND ANNO 1716

WAS MURDERED ON HIS

OWN FARM IN RUTLAND

BY ED FITZPATRICK AN

IRISHMAN ON MARCH

ye 8th ANNO Dm 1744

IN ye 48 Year

OF HIS AGE

-MAN KNOWETH

NOT HIS TIME.

7' ■;

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According to a town history the murderer, Ed Fitzpatrick,
was employed by his victim, and the murder did not take place on
March eighth, as stated on the stone, but four days later. Regard-
less of the specific date of the murder, Ed Fitzpatrick was put on
trial the following September in the city of Worcester. Found guilty,
he was hanged in Lincoln Square in what was the city's first execu-
tion.

Three towns south of Rutland is Brookfield, Massachu-
setts. In Brookfield's cemetery is a stone that documents a murder
that took place thirty-four years after the one in Rutland. The stone
reads:

JOSHUA SPOONER

Murdered Mar 1, 1778

by three soldiers of the Revolution

Ross, Brooks, and Buchanan

at the instigation of his wife Bathsheba

They were all executed at Worcester

July 2, 1778

Joshua Spooner, the victim on the stone, was a wealthy
Brookfield resident who married Bathsheba Ruggles in 1764.
Bathsheba's father had arranged the marriage of his daughter who.

at age twenty, was considerably younger than her new husband.
Although the marriage appears to have been an unhappy union, in
the next thirteen years the couple had three children.

In 1777 Ezra Ross, one of the conspirators listed on the
stone, was returning home to Ipswich. Massachusetts, after being
discharged from Washington's Continental Army because of ill-
ness. He collapsed near the Spooner home and Bathsheba nursed
him back to health. At this time Ross, who was eighteen years old,
and Bathsheba, who was now thirty-three, became lovers. The liai-
son resulted in the conception of a child in Januar\', 1778. Bathsheba
and Ross now plotted with William Brooks and James Buchanan to
murder her husband. Brooks and Buchanan, also named on the
stone, were British deserters passing through Brookfield in an at-
tempt to reach Canada. The plot resulted w iih Joshua Spooner be-
ing struck with a log and his body being thrown down a well on his
farm.

All four of the conspirators were soon apprehended and
tried in Worcester, where they were sentenced to be hanged. On
the day of the execution. July 2, 1778, 5,000 people, which was
twice the population of Worcester, showed up for the simultaneous
hanging of four people. Bathsheba had requested a stay of execu-
tion to allow for the birth of her child, but an examination by mid-
wives could not confirm a pregnancy. However, an autopsy after

AGS &ua>-/fa'/f.- Winter '96 page 2

Features

the execution revealed a l'ivc-monlli-i)ld male Ictus, a situation tliat
probably contributed to the fact that Batlishcba was the last woman
to be executed in Massachusetts.

Four towns to the north of Brooki'ield and bordering
Rutland on the north is the town of Princeton. Here, at the Meeting
House Hill Cemetery, can be found a gravestone that documents a
murder which occurred fifteen years after the Brookfield incident.
The stone's epitaph reads:

In Memory of

Capt. ELISHA ALLEN

who was inhumanely mur

dered by Samuel Frost

July 16, 1793

Aged 48 Years

Elisha Allen, the victim, was a Revolutionary War veteran
who held the rank of Captain in the state militia. Samuel Frost, the
stated murderer on the stone, had been previously indicted for mur-
der. In 1789 Frost killed his father but was acquitted on the grounds
of insanity. Soon after the acquittal Elisha Allen agreed to be Frost's
guardian. However, Allen was rewarded for his gesture by having
his ward inflict a fatal blow to his head with a rock while they were

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working in a garden. Frost was found guilty of this murder and
was sentenced to death. On October 31, 1793, he was hanged in
Worcester before 2,000 spectators.

It is not unusual for eighteenth-century gravestones to note
the cause of death within an epitaph. However, we feel that finding
three stones documenting murder within a twenty-minute drive of
each other is unique. We have also found stones documenting mur-
der in Pelham and Otis, two towns in western Massachusetts, as
well as in Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Should anyone have knowledge of other such stones we
would appreciate being contacted at the address above.

AGS &uaf(c^^: Winter '96 page 3

Features

The Scots:

Little Rock's Casual Stonecutters

by Sybil F. Crawford

10548 Stone Canyon Road #228
Dallas, Texas 75230-4408

From colonial times, there has been a pattern of "likes"
migrating together or to the same area and, once arrived, intermarry-
ing with others of their kind. This pattern has transferred itself to
an even smaller microcosm of those who made their way to America
in search of opportunity. Little Rock's stonecutters exemplify a
group which goes beyond a commonality of ethnicity and religion
and extends to occupation as well.

Perhaps best-known of these stonecutters is Robert
Brownlee. Born on April 24, 1813, in Bonkle, Cambusnuthan Par-
ish, Lancashire, Scotland, he was the next-to-youngest of ten chil-
dren born to Alexander and Margaret (Russell) Brownlee. Bonkle,
about eighteen miles southeast of Glasgow, was formerly part of a
feudal estate and not far from the homeplace of the famous Park
family of carvers. Of Alexander's six sons, three became stonecut-
ters and three learned the blacksmith's trade. Stonecutting had been
a family occupation for at least two generations previous to Robert's,
making it a not unexpected choice for the young man.'

Robert's father's family attended the Established Church
of Scotland; Robert was attending the 'New Lights' at the time of
his departure. Members of the New Light movement were described
as being "of sturdy independent mind."-

Education and gainful employment seem to have joined
forces in his early life. The Murdestoun Estate School, which he
attended, taught English, reading and writing, Latin, arithmetic, with
a little algebra, geography, and bookkeeping. There was even French
for those inclined toward languages. Brownlee's writings in later
life lead us to believe that he was well-educated for the time and
place, and the school's curriculum seems to bear this out. Children
started school at five and one-half years of age and continued their
studies for the next ten years unless a family was pressed for the
small additional income one could hope to derive from a child's
efforts.'

When eleven years old, Robert was hired out to tend cattle
for an uncle at $5.00 per year. He later broke stone for his father
for two summers, his father being a contractor of Parish Roads. A
stonecutter's apprenticeship was served under his brother William
for three years, and when brothers William and Alexander Brownlee
formed a stonecutting partnership, young Robert joined them and
continued so employed until his migration to America.

The family's stonemasons built many of the homes in
Bonkle, and houses they built in 1817 are still standing and inhab-
ited today (1995). These sturdy houses had two-foot-thick walls of
locally quarried sandstone blocks and were roofed with slate. Rob-
ert was probably born in 1782 in such a house built by his father.''

Of the six Brownlee boys, three came to America, but not
all at the same time. Robert, the first to arrive, was ever anxious to
improve his station in life, and his appetite for change was further
whetted when he read of New York City's Great Fire of 1835. The
rebuilding which occurred after this disaster made the services of
stonecutters more than welcome. His decision to leave Scotland

was not of the anguished, soul-searching type; one day he simply
laid down his tools at midmorning and walked home to inform the
family.' Even a tearful mother who controlled the family purse
strings could not dissuade him from his plan and she soon found
herself doling out the money for his passage.

Making his way to Greenock, Robert and a friend pur-
chased tickets at a shipping office (about $ 1 5.00 American money).
He then returned home for the inevitable good-byes, and some items
of clothing were hastily made during the two-day interim before
his departure. (We are led to believe that the new additions to his
wardrobe were not sufficiently "uptown" for wear in New York
City and were soon discarded.) On foot, brother James accompa-
nied Robert to Glasgow, where he set sail in late March of 1836 on
the bark Tasso, one of its twenty-one passengers. He arrived at his
New York destination on May 10.

Armed with a letter of introduction to David Sterling, a
stonecutter, he commenced work the following day at the same shop
as Sterling (located at 20th Street and 8th Avenue, overlooking the
Hudson River). Doing low-pay piecework, he made about S2.50
per day. He obviously ate well on this sum, as he later described
breakfasts of beefsteak and coffee, and was able to send a gift of
$100.00 to his mother.'' Both thrift and temperance had something
to do with this, as Brownlee's diary tells us that the workers went
out four to six times a day for a drink of whiskey, a habit which he
avoided.

Brownlee's stay in New York City spanned about four
months. With the city's rebuilding program beginning to lag,
Brownlee was not slow to respond when, in September, 1836. the
architect of the Old State House in North Carolina sought stonecut-
ters in New York, offering $2.50 per day. (The going wage in Scot-
land at this time was $4.75 per week.^) Both Sterling and Brownlee
left promptly, making the trip by water to Petersburg, Virginia, and
from there by rail and on foot. Raleigh's Old State House was built
of granite with large granite columns topped by Ionic capitals. Most
of the sixty stonecutters were Scotch and Irish.

As the work in Raleigh neared completion, another project
was sorely needed, and advertisements in the North Carolina pa-
pers for stonecutters in Arkansas did not go unnoticed. Brownlee
and three other Scots who had landed in New York decided to seek
their fortunes together. These Scots were James Mc Vicar, Samuel
McMorrin, and John Cooper. All had worked in North Carolina
about sixteen months and saved about $600 each.^ Brow nlee was
paid for his services by a draft on the Bank of Tennes.>;ee, a fortu-
itous circumstance since North Carolina's below par paper was not
welcome in Arkansas.

The foursome left Raleigh by stagecoach on December
20, 1837, stopping at Richmond, Virginia, and thence to the Ohio
River where they boarded a steamer for Arkansas. They landed at
Napoleon, Arkansas, at the mouth of the Arkansas River, on Christ-
mas Eve. The following evening they set sail for ilic final leg of
their trip to Little Rock, some 300 miles by water.

The man hired to do the stonecutting for the Arkansas State
House did not proceed with his work as rapidly as desired, so the
Commissioner of Public Buildings persuaded him to take on the
foursome as partners. The man's laziness did not endear him to the
Scots, and the quartet soon saw him fade into the background.

In the group's search for a stone quarry, ihey located one
about thirty miles up the Arkansas River. Stone was brought down

AGS <Sua/-ia-/^.- Winter '96 page 4

Features

(he Arkansas River by llalboat, and il was while Brownlee and John
Cooper were engaged at the quarry Ihal bolh Tell ill and relurned lo
Little Rock, where Cooper died." Malaria would appear to be a rea-
sonable diagnosis, as Brownlee's diary makes mention of calomel,
ipecac, and Doctor Sappington's Pills (the wonder-cure of that era).
Cooper was buried in the old burying ground located on what was
later the Peabody School site and is today the Sixth and Gaines
Street location of the Federal Building. When the burial ground
was cleared for construction of Peabody School, there were a num-
ber of reinterments in Mount Holly Cemetery, including that of Coo-
per.'" His gravestone, a labor of love, reads as follows:

IN

MEMORY OF

JOHN COOPER

A Native of Scotland

Kinross Shire Who

Departed this Life

August 29, 1840

Aged 28 Years

Erected by his friends

Jas. Mc Vicar

Sam'l McMorrin

& Robt. Brownlee

The marker was not only "erected by" but actually carved by the
named trio. The choice of material for Cooper's marker, its sub-
dued decorative border, and the shaped tympanum all bespeak the
work the men would have seen in their native Scotland." It seems
likely that Brownlee and his associates carved other stones which
are either not as yet identified or were lost in the clearing of the old
burying ground.

The group's work on the Old State House, built in Greek
Revival style, must have proved satisfactory in every way as they
were then engaged to work on the State Penitentiary, a bank, and a
stone wall which partially enclosed the Old State House. (Although
it was not the "Old" State House at the time, it still stands today and
has been referred to thusly since construction of the newer State
House currently in use.)

Then, as now, it was helpful to have more than a single
skill. The depression of 1837 brought construction to a near stand-
still and it was during this period that Brownlee, Mc Vicar, and
McMorrin sought other means for supporting themselves. The men
learned to lay brick, build chimneys and houses, and even to farm.'-
Although Brownlee lived on a 360-acre farm for a time, he left the
farming (none too successfully) to others and pursued the stone
work available in Little Rock.

James Mc Vicar was not found idle when stonecutting was
at low ebb. He received an appointment as Warden of the State
Penitentiary in Little Rock, leaving this position behind to join
Brownlee in pursuing a fortune in the goldfields of California."
Born in Fifeshire, Scotland, on April L 1 8 1 4, he migrated to America
when twenty-one. A Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of
Arkansas in 1845, he enlisted for service in the Mexican War on
July L 1846, serving as sergeant under Colonel Archibald Yell of
the Battle of Buena Vista.

The Brownlee and McVicar houses, which they buili. arc
slill standing today and part of the Arkansas Territorial Restoration
complex in downtown Little Rock. The Brownlee house was con-
structed in 1847.'-'

McMorrin and Brownlee carved other gravestones during
the slack period. One of which they were particularly proud was
for Judge William M. Gilchrist, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
of the State of Arkansas. For this freestone marker, replete with
Masonic symbols, the duo received $800. A 16-foot obelisk rises
above two wings measuring nine feet across. Gilchrist died on Sep-
tember 5, 1843, and was buried in the Masonic lot at Little Rock's
Mount Holly Cemetery just months after the cemetery's opening."

In spite of the depressed economy, Brownlee's brothers,
James and Thomas, and James's wife came to America in 1 842,
making their way to Little Rock by way of New Orleans. McMorrin
and Brownlee built a house and kitchen for James and his wife.
While they were well aware that bricklaying was not part of the
stonecutter's art, circumstances made the work welcome.

John McHenry, also a Scot, took a fancy to the McMorrin/
McVicar/Brownlee threesome (Cooper being deceased), and
Brownlee stayed at the McHenry plantation intermittently for some
years. McMorrin and Brownlee built a brick kitchen and cellar for
McHenry and cut several millstones by way of a thank-you for
McHenry's hospitality. Located on the Old Hot Springs Highway
in what is now Little Rock's suburbia, the historic McHenry home
has been know as 'Stagecoach House' in more recent years.

The men apparently felt no urge to return to Scotland, as
both McMorrin and Brownlee declared their intent to become Ameri-
can citizens while still in North Carolina in 1827. They received
their naturalization papers in Arkansas in 1839."'

The intermarriage of America's stonecutting families is
perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in Arkansas.

John McHenry, friend of the stonecutting trio, married
Catherine Thorn, who was likely the daughter of the Old State House
contractor. After McHenry's death (probably between 1846 and
1848), his widow married Samuel McMorrin. Their friend James
McVicar returned from the California goldfields in October, 1855,
to marry John's sister, Amanda McHenry, in January, 1 856.'^ When
McVicar died on September 20, 1872, he was buried in the same
Masonic lot at Mount Holly Cemetery where Gilchrist is buried.
The nondescript McVicar marker draws little visitor attention, how-
ever.'* His wife, Amanda, who died the previous year, is buried in
Little Rock's Calvary Cemetery [Catholic] on Asher Avenue.

During one of Brownlee's attempts at mining in Sahne
County, Arkansas, there was an explosion which took him out of
circulation for a time. Around Christmas, while recovering at his
home in Little Rock, he learned of the discovery of gold in Califor-
nia. He promptly informed his friends that he would be making a
start for the west when he had recovered sufficiently to withstand
the rigors of travel. His departure occasioned good-bye visits to
his friends, one such visit being with the Lamont family. In the
household was a young daughter, Annie, born in Strathardle, Scot-
land, in 1834, who would later become Brownlee's wife.

While Brownlee's California mining ventures with
McVicar were not moneymakers, his entry into the mercantile world
was rewarded handsomely. Brownlee returned to Little Rock bnefly
in 1 852 by way of Panama. In that pre-canal era, he was forced to
ride a mule across the Isthmus where he boarded a steamer for New

AGS (^/v5v/(t/-^.- Winter '96 page 5

Features

Orleans and thence to Little Rock. Taking the "scenic route" to
New Orleans, the steamer called first at Havana.

Upon arrival in Little Rock, Brownlee settled all his busi-
ness there and set out for Kentucky to seek the hand of young Annie
Lamont, now eighteen and twenty-one years his junior. Before set-
tling down to matrimony, Robert wished to make a trip home to
Scotland, so, upon her acceptance of his proposal, it was arranged
that Annie and her family would meet Brownlee in New York at the
home of Annie's aunt upon his return.''^

Brownlee's crossing to Liverpool took nine days — a far
cry from the six-plus weeks of his voyage to America sixteen years
earlier. It was on this 1852 trip that he learned of an ugly new
practice — tipping. After a two-month stay in Scotland, Brownlee
set sail for America once again, saddened that his mother, father,
brother William, and a sister had all died before his return visit.
Once back in New York City, the wedding took place, perfomied
by Annie's cousin, a Mr. Hodges.^"

California proved to be the answer to Brownlee's longings
and remained his home for the balance of his life. He and his fam-
ily prospered and Creston, the family's homeplace, made a proud
statement on the landscape until it was destroyed by fire in the 1950s.
Brownlee died November 19, 1897, in Napa, California.''

The story of these stonecutters differs from that of Little
Rock's other Scot, James Tunnah, who considered gravestones his
primary source of income.-^ Looking back, Brownlee, McMorrin,
and McVicar were equally as talented but remained "casual" carv-
ers, in the sense that they produced gravestones only when their
regular occupation fell upon hard times or as a special favor to
friends or family. In a town striving to disengage itself from a
frontier image, the identified works of these men are made more
valuable by the fact that they were entirely hand-carved and in a
style which the Victorians would relegate to history. _iiiilfeL

Notes

' The Robert Brownlee Journal was written by Robert Brownlee in Octo-
ber, 1892, at the request of his children. The eighty-year-old
Brownlee was living in Napa County, California, at the time. In
1986 the journal was transcribed and edited by Patricia A. Etter,
a Brownlee descendant, and published in full, with the editor's
annotations, under the title of An American Odyssey: The Au-
tobiography of Robert Brownlee.

' Ibid

' Etter, Patricia A. An American Odyssey: The Autobiography of Robert

Brownlee (Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press,
1986). page 6.

"* Ibid, page 8.

^ Robert Brownlee Journal.

" Ibid, page 20.

' Odyssey, page 26.

" Journal.

' Ibid

Crawford, Sybil F. and Mary Fletcher Worlhen. Mount Holly Cemetery
Burial Index (Little Rock, Arkansas: August House, 1993).
page 54.

Crawford, Sybd F. Jubilee: The First 150 Years of Mount Holly Cem-
etery, Little Rock, Arkansas (Little Rock, Arkansas: August
House, 1993), page 66.

Journal.

Odyssey, page 43.

Ibid, page 46.

Odyssey, page 55: Mount Holly Cemetery Burial Index, page 95;
Journal.

Journal.

Odyssey, page 42.

Ibid, page 43.

Journal.

Odyssey, page 164; Journal.

Odyssey, page 194; Napa Register, published Napa Valley, California,
Friday, November 6, 1897.

Crawford, Sybil F, ed. Mount Holly Newsletter (Little Rock, Arkansas:

Mount Holly Cemetery Association), No. 1, 1994.

DON'T FORGET TO

ORDER YOUR

MARKERS XIII

IF YOU HAVEN'T

ALREADY DONE

SO!

SEND

$28 (MEMBERS) or

$32.50 (NON-MEMBERS) to:

AGS

30 Elm Street

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.

AGS Suartc/'^.- Winter '96 page 6

Topical Columns

17TH & 18TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES & CARVERS

Ralph Tucker

Box 414, Georgetown, Maine 04548

Bartlett Adams
(1776-1828)

Bartlett Adams was born October 24, 1776, in Kingston,
Massachusetts, where he grew up and became a stonecutter. He
was the son of Francis and Rebecca (Cook) Adams and had a sister,
Lucy (1765-1845), who married Bildad Washburn (1762-1832) of
North Bridgewater. Massachusetts, a stonecutter; a sister, Rebecca
(1774-?), who married Abiel Washburn, an-
other stonecutter and the brother of Bildad;
and a brother, Richard (1784-1 845), who also
became a stonecutter.

Bartlett married Charlotte Neal
(1789-1834) of Portland, Maine, and had
seven children there: Maria (1804-1827),
Bartlett, Jr. (1806-1806), Charlotte (1807-
1824), George (1809-1809), Sarah (1810-
1815), Eliza ("l812-1812), and Rebecca (1817-?). Three of his chil-
dren died shortly after birth: Bartlett, Jr., George, and Eliza, all of
whom are buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Maine, under
stones carved by Bardett, Sr.

On September 15, 1800, Bartlett advertised in the Port-
land Gazette as a "sculptor and stone cutter" at Federal Street near
the head of Fish (Exchange) Street. Similar advertisements ap-
peared in September, 1804. On September 17, 1812, the Eastern
Argus announced that his business was for sale. However, the Port-
land Gazette of November 2, 1 8 1 2, announced that Al van Washburn
had purchased his stock and trade.

Alvan was his nephew, the son of Bildad and Lucy (Adams)
Washburn. Bartlett's departure was occasioned by the fact that
Bartlett went to Richmond, Virginia, with the architect Alexander
Parrish for two years.' There are several documents there signed
by Bartlett.

The Eastern Argus of April 7, 1814, announced that Bartlett
Adams had resumed business at his old address. Further ads in
1814, 1815, 1816, and 1817 followed. In April, \^\%Aht Eastern
Argus announced that Elias Washburn (1796-1826) was doing
stonecutting for him at Federal and Court streets. Elias was an-
other nephew of Bartlett, being the younger brother of Alvan
Washburn and the son of Bildad Washburn. Little more is known
except that on February 11, 1824, the Eastern Argus contained an
ad that Bartlett Adams had fruit trees for sale.

Bartlett Adams died January 27, 1828, at age 51 and was
honored with a one line death notice in the Eastern Argus. He was
buried in the Eastern Cemetery in tomb A46 under a marble marker
which is now missing.

Bartlett's brother, Richard Adams
(1784-1845), was also a stonecutter. He
left Kingston, Massachusetts, in 1800 to
go to Portland, Maine, where he learned
the craft of stonecutting. He then prac-
ticed in Charlestown, Massachusetts,
where he had five children, born from
1816 to 1824. In 1830 he returned to
Topsham, Maine; he also worked in
Brunswick and Bath.

Richard Adam's son, Francis Adams

(born in Charlestown, Massachusetts in

1824), worked at stonecutting with his father and for a few years

after his father's death until 1 846, when he matriculated at Bowdoin

College and eventually became a noted lawyer.

There are numerous stones attributed to Bartlett, but the
1797 Samuel Bent gravestone, in Milton, Massachusetts, is signed
"B. Adams" as noted by Harriette Forbes. An 1809 bill also exists
for the gravestone of John Park Little which priced the stone at
$29.00 and mentions his "apprentice A. Washburn." The marble
stone was in Gorham, Maine, and was broken off so that only its
stump remains. The stones of three of his children, Bartlett Jr.
( 1 806), George ( 1 809), and Eliza ( 1 8 1 2), in Portland's Eastern Cem-
etery are most probably by his hand. ~Wf-

' Architectural Career of Alexander Parrish, Edward Zinimen
1984. Boston Universit}' Thesis, page 223. Bartlett Adams was with
the architect Alexander Parrish in Richmond. Virginia, sometime
in the J 809-18] 2 time period when Parrish was doing some work
there. Bartlett signed a number of deeds as a witness at the time.
This probably accounts for his turning over the business in Port-
land to Alvan Wasliburn in 1812 until his return in 1814 to resume
his work in Maine.

AGS &ua/-tc^^.- Winter '96 page 7

Topical Columns

19TH & 20TH CENTURY GRAVESTONES

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

White Bronze Markers

It's been several years since I have written anything about
white bronze, and I continue to get queries, so I'll devote this col-
umn to a quick review.

Hollow-metal markers in a bluish-gray color, white bronze
gravestones are cast zinc. If you are not sure whether you have
iron or zinc, try a magnet, because zinc is not magnetic like iron. I
used to say all zinc cemetery monuments came one way or another
from Bridgeport, Connecticut, but then my friend Kathy Flippo had
to find some locally manufactured zinc markers in Missouri and
make a liar out of me. (I can always claim they are the exception
that proves the rule, right?) These markers, made in the same shapes
and styles as marble and granite monuments, appear in cemeteries
from Hawaii to Maine to Texas and from Vancouver to Halifax in
Canada. Each of the four sides was separately cast, and in the case
of very tall monuments there would be several castings to each
side. The cheapest (about $6 in the 1890s) was a single cast tablet.

Bridgeport started manufacturing them in the mid 1 870s
and discontinued production in 1912. The company continued to
make zinc and other nonferrous castings for automobile and radio
parts until the owner dissolved it in 1939. In 1881 Bridgeport set
up its first subsidiary, in Detroit. After that it established plants in
Philadelphia, New Orleans, St. Thomas, Ontario, and the two long-
est-lasting plants, Western Bronze in Des Moines and American
Bronze in Chicago.

The accounts are not clear as to whether the parts were all
cast in Bridgeport and shipped to the subsidiaries for fusing or
whether the actual casting was done in the various cities. The pat-
ented process, that has held up very well, was the scheme of heat-
ing molten zinc much higher than its melting point and pouring it
into the joint between the cast pieces. This melted the surface of
the cast pieces and fused them more solidly than soldering would
have done.

The markers were all custom-made. That is, none were
made ahead of time but were ordered by the customer from a cata-
log. (The Winterthur and Metropolitan Museums are the two places
I have seen catalogs.) The customer ordered from a local agent.
Rarely did marble and granite monument dealers also sell white
bronze, and contrary to folk belief. Sears Roebuck never sold white
bronze monuments. Often cemeteries have only one marker or one
plot with zinc for every family member. Another folk belief is that
these were put up as demonstrations. There is no evidence for this.

At the end of every catalog was an entreaty urging people to be-
come agents. "No capital investment needed." I believe the single
markers represent an agent who met with little success and soon
gave up. Where you find a dozen or more while bronze, you are
looking at some agent's success story.

Having chosen the style and size, a customer could order
as many images for decoration as he wanted. Since price was not
related to the number, some customers chose several for each side.
The individual epitaphs were usually cast on separate plates — some
of the four plates having only images at first. These were fixed to
the marker by screws with an ornamental head. They could then be
replaced when additional family members died.

Vandals also learned how to remove the screws and some-
times walked off leaving holes in the sides of the markers. These
gave rise to two folk tales. The first is that smugglers used the
markers to hide their bottles during prohibition. The second says
the tall monuments with holes were for storing rakes and brooms.
There may have been such uses after the plates vanished, but the
insides are not really that roomy or convenient.

Zinc resists corrosion, and modem industrial processes still
take advantage of its anti-corrosive properties. Thus the castings
are still sharp and clear. However, zinc has two unfortunate char-
acteristics. It is quite brittle and may break if hit — by a falling
branch, for instance. The other is that over many years unsupported
weight will cause it to creep. Many statues of Civil War soldiers
with no inner armature to support the weight have crept so that the
soldiers now lean and look tipsy or half asleep. Architectural Iron
in Milford, Pennsylvania, is willing to undertake repairs of zinc
and does a fine restoration job, but the cost will take your breath
away. Keep your fingers crossed and enjoy what you have!

If you want more details, read my article in Dick Meyer's
Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture. a\ail-
able from the AGS publicauons list. There is one correction to that
article. New Orleans had a subsidiary named Coleman's. I had
not seen any of its signed stones when I wrote the article back in
1987. ^ml

GRAVESTONES AND COMPUTERS

John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

E-mail: MGGW51A@prodigy.com

More on Recording Cemeteries

The AGS Standard Database and program for recording
ceinetery and gravestone data were introduced at the 1995 AGS

AGS SuarSe/-/^: Winter '96 page 8

Topical Columns

Conreience in Wcsiricid, Massachusetts. The program was cleni-
onstiated at a participation session on a portable computer con-
nected to a fourteen inch color monitor. Since the conference Ihirty-
si.x people, in at least ten different stales, have ordered copies of the
beta version. I have heard from six of these people with comments
about the program. Two wrote to say they loved it and are busy
collecting and entering data. The other four wrote with minor prob-
lems, comments, and wish lists. Based on these comments, a new
report has been added to the program, and some revisions have
been made in the search menu. Plans are being made to allow some
reports to be sent to a file so they can be edited in a word processor.
The program already generates an index which is passed to a file so
it can be put into two or three columns with a word processor.

One comment that came up in the development was also
the subject of one of the letters I received. It involves the identifi-
cation number assigned to each cemetery. There is a state code,
that is, the two-letter postal code. The cemetery is assigned a two-
letter code for the town or county and a three-digit number that is
assigned to the cemeteries within a town or county. There is some
concern that two digits may not be enough to assign to all towns or
counties in a large state. The state where I live has thirty-nine towns
and cities, so I don't have" that problem. The solution is not as easy
as it appears. Many of the reports have the cemetery number, along
with the section, lot, and map number on each line. In order to fit
all the data on a line, the person's name has to be truncated now. If
the cemetery number is increased, the name will have to be short-
ened by two more digits. To increase the size of this field, all of the
beta test databases will have to be modified to the new field size,
which will also require modifying all cemetery names that have
been entered. Let me hear from you on how important this is.

In the future we should consider collecting all of the data
gathered with the AGS database standard. Since it will all be in the
same format, it could all be put onto CD ROMs for storage in the
AGS Archive. Someday it may be possible to search every cem-
etery in the country using the AGS Archive.

I would like to use this column to report on the status of
cemetery recording projects going on around the country. Please
send me updates on recording projects in which you are involved.
Also send along any tips you have on reading and recording grave-
stones.

In Rhode Island a group of thirty volunteers has been re-
cording all of the cemeteries in the state since 1990. To date 2,708
cemeteries and 300,000 inscriptions have been recorded and en-
tered into the computer. The whole database is available to re-
searchers on a computer at the Rhode Island Historical Society. As
each town is completed, a book is published. The fourth book will
be published in 1996.

Tip: Before recording a cemetery, go to the local Histori-
cal Society to see if it has been recorded in the past. If it has, don't
reinvent the wheel; enter the old transcript in the database and take
a copy along when you record it. Even the best recorders make
some mistakes. This technique will catch recorder errors as well as
any errors that were made entering the data into the computer.

Tip: To read worn marble gravestones, use a mirror held
at a raking angle across the front of the stone. This will make use
of the sunlight to cast shadows in the letters and make them easier
to read. For example, if a gravestone faces west, it will be in shadow
at 10:00 in the morning. If you hold an 8"xl0" mirror in your left

hand two feet off the edge and one foot in front of the stone, rellect-
ing the sunlight on the face, you will light the face of the stone and
cast a shadow in the letters. Using this technique we have been
able to read over ninety-five percent of the gravestones dated 1 800-
1900.

To order the beta test version of the AGS standard grave-
stone recording program (IBM version only), send .$9.95 plus $ 1 .95
shipping to: AGS - Database Standard, 30 Elm Street, Worcester,
Massachusetts 01609.

Conservation News

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

Using Shaving Cream to
Read Tombstone Inscriptions

by Lynette Strangstad

Stone Faces, Post Office Box 21090
Charleston, South Carolina 29413-1090

Over the past few months dozens of people have contacted
the AGS office concerning the safety of using shaving cream to illu-
minate the inscriptions and artwork on old gravestones. Lynette
Strangstad, professional gravestone conservator and the author of
A Graveyard Preservation Primer, graciously consented to give us
the final word on shaving cream. M.L.

No substance should be used on gravestones unless all in-
gredients are known and are known not to be harmful to the stone
material. In the case of shaving creams, formulas are generally
proprietary and therefore unknown. In addition, emollients are usu-
ally added to shaving creams to soften the skin. Therefore, most
shaving creams will introduce, among other things, oils which may
easily remain in porous stone. Skin and stone are very different
surfaces, and what's good for one isn't necessarily good for the
other! And don't assume they will wash off easily with the next
rain. They may not ever wash off completely even if one is consci-
entious enough to attempt to remove them right after use. So, in a
word, avoid the use of shaving cream on gravemarkers. Stay with
the use of mirrors to cast the needed shadows for reading inscrip-
tions. No harm is done to the stone, and in inany cases, the resiilts
are better. ~*^

AGS Sua^ta-/^.- Winter '96 page 9

Topical Columns

Figure 1

POINTS OF INTEREST

Roberge, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, wrote in together to share
a picture of the "children's section" (!?) at Last Rest Cemeter>' in
Merrimack, New Hampshire (Figure 1), where thirty-one children's
tablets — all apparently dating from the 1990s — maintain an al-
most constant ambiance of youthful play with votive candles, dolls
and angels, mums and geraniums, toy cars and trucks, snapshots,
wire mesh ghosts and pumpkins, and inflatable balloons of "Casper
the Friendly Ghost" and Daffy Duck. Surely, the experience of this

Bill Hosley

Old Abbe Road

Enfield, Connecticut 06082

Living Memorials

Last summer's "Points of Interest" column ended with a
request for members to share pictures and infonnation about the
living memorials observed by those of us who spend time looking
around cemeteries and burying grounds. People who manage cem-
eteries insist that the resurgence of interest in participatory memo-
rials is enormous and occasionally problematic, as when burying
site embellishments and ephemera are abandoned for others to clean
up and remove.

I am still not sure how to explain the phenomenon, but a
number of our members wrote in with pictures and anecdotes.
Clearly it is the process of grieving that causes the living to deco-
rate burying sites with objects that remind them of their lost loved
ones. But why more now than ten or twenty years ago is hard to
say. Members Lisa Pichnarcik, of Bristol, Connecticut, and Lisa

Figure 2

AGS &u.cu-fci-^/: Winter '96 page 10

Topical Columns

Figure 3

memorial for family, friends, and strangers is indescribably altered
by the "living" aspect of remembrance. The stone markers are com-
paratively insignificant and would be overlooked without the many
objects that surround them. Having not previously noted the prac-
tice, I would like to know more about the custom of providing
"children's sections" in active cemeteries.

Will Lowenthal, of Nashua, New Hampshire, wrote to
speculate that the phenomenon of decorating gravesites is probably
related to the increases in victims of "car crashes or. . .crime." Will
referred to a fatal crash in New Hampshire where friends of the
deceased "festoon the highways with wreaths, crosses, flowers, and
notes." Will also speculated that the impulse to decorate burial
sites is "old world" in origin and may hearken back to some vesti-
gial culture... [that] uses objects placed in or on graves to accom-
pany the dead into the next world." Will shared one where "Joshua"
is buried (Figure 2) with a white cherub, a 1993 New Hampshire
license plate, three cans of "Skoal" snuff, several cheap plastic ciga-
rette lighters, a live twelve-gauge shotgun shell, and several
"glowsticks." On the cross was a graduation tassel and at its foot
was a flannel shirt; poignant and emotional reminders that there is
more to memorial customs than the monuments we often study in
cold isolation from the people and processes of grief that went with
them.

Bruce Elliot, from Carlton University in Ottawa, Ontario,
shared pictures of some marvelous contemporary gravemarkers that
demonstrate just how individualistic photo-engraving on stone has
become. Included among Bruce's pictures were realistic render-
ings of farmsteads, a snowmobile, and my favorite, a portrait of
Garnett E. Hamilton (Figure 3) driving a team of dray horses at the
family farm.

Figure 4

AGS (Sua/-ia-^.- Winter '96 page 1 1

Topical Columns

-^^z^

»fsifcvcffitii!t;if*^i&^yf y/

Figure 5

Eric Brock, from Shreveport, Louisiana, wrote noting that
"I'm seeing far more interesting new maricers than ever before"
compared with the "row after row of dull gray granite. ..bearing
only the name and vital dates of the deceased." He cautions, how-
ever, that it takes searching to find "marvelous examples of
personalized. ..markers," and that "exceptional markers are now
and have always been the exception." Eric sent along several inter-
esting examples, including the family monument of oil millionaire
J.E. Smitherman of Shreveport (Figure 4) featuring a life-sized
bronze of their son Robert, accurate down to the cigarette butt in
hand, who vanished during World War II. The red granite marker
for James Smith in Springhill, Louisiana (Figure 5), which con-
tains a catalog of the decedent's interests — football, baseball, golf,
fishing, and hunting — and a history of marriage and graduation
from college is also noteworthy. Eric concluded with observations
about the practice of decorating gravesites, claiming to have once
seen, among other things, a full bottle of Jack Daniels bourbon with
a taped message.

Thanks again to all who helped explore last season's
"Points of Interest" query.

By the time you read this it should be around Valentine's
Day. Let's turn to a more benign and romantic topic: love and
gender, and specifically, husbands and wives. Have you noticed
how in colonial burying custom husbands and wives usually have
separate stones, while the Victorians are often buried together as
families or husband and wives? While perceptions of the autonomy
of individuals change, so also do attitudes about gender.

These questions occurred to me last summer while we were
visiting Auburn, New York, a once-prosperous small industrial city,
best known since the 1830s as the home of New York's Slate Prison.
Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery is a lovely, picturesque hillside loca-
tion with lots of great Victorian monuments, including one of the
most gender-symbolic I've seen anywhere. The monument mark-
ing the graves of Deborah Grosvenor and her husband, G. Grosvenor
(Figure 6), make Bert and Lonnie look like unisex androids; talk
about "his and hers." But I also like the rather simple tablet that
marks the graves of Judah Marsh (1712-1801) and Hannah Marsh
(1716-1793) of Ware, Massachusetts (Figure 7). Joined hearts and
an epitaph that speaks in one voice of how "we give our spirits up."
is a touching reminder of a long life shared.

Figure 6

AGS SeiOJ'to-^..- Winter '96 page 12

Topical Columns

f^W WJU..l!>"«(»»"iBiWvl^m|(||g||gg.'y-' — 7-

a i_sj s -"« >- .v^f,>

I cannot recall stones marking the graves of married
couples much before 1790, but would welcome pictures and com-
ments about any aspects of gravestones and gender you see fit;
markers that address the relationship of the sexes, the roles of the
sexes, the occupations of the sexes, or the quality of love in mar-
riage (if you' ve found a stone where divorced partners arc still grind-
ing their ax from the grave, I guess we'd have to run it). This will
be featured in the summer issue of the Quarterly; therefore, please
send materials by May 15. Enjoy.

"Points of Interest" is a members' forum where we look
at pictures and ideas from the "discoveries " we all make from time
to time. Alternate issues of the Quarterly report findings from the
previous assignment and conclude with a new assignment. Mem-
ber participation is essential and you are encouraged to suggest
topics for discussion.

Pictures may be small (even shapshots), but they must be
sharp and clean Only those submitted in a self-addressed stamped
envelope can be returned. jdi^

Figure 7

fTm-f*^^ 1 -C^ T

fWi |■o«^Hl\\on^' t^Fimerrc

<-\ " h r-> <^ T' « i\ -^-^

AGS &aaj'tc/-i§i..- Winter '96 page 13

Reviews

Eric Brock

Post Office Box 5877
Shreveport, Louisiana 71 135-5877

Landscapes for Eternity:
Erie, Laurel Hill, and
Wintergreen Gorge Cemeteries

by John R. Claridge

Erie Cemetery Association

2116 Chestnut Street, Erie, Pennsylvania 16502

1995, $34.95,

Hardback, 110 pages, photographs (most in color), maps.

Review by Eric J. Brock

Recent years have seen the publication of a number of
significant books dealing with the histories of some of the nation's
important cemeteries. Several of these have been exceedingly at-
tractive blends of historical texts with visually stunning photographs.
Erie, Pennsylvania historian and writer John R. Claridge has cre-
ated such a book in Landscapes for Eternity: Erie, Laurel Hill, and
Wintergreen Gorge Cemeteries, published recently in conjunction
with the 200th anniversary of Erie's founding in 1795.

Coupled with the exquisite photographs of Ed Bernik,
Ctaridge's text paints a fascinating portrait of Erie, Laurel Hill, and
Wmtergreen cemeteries in this historic Pennsylvania city. Erie, de-
spite its relatively small size (around 110,000 in the city, proper)
possesses one of America's important rural cemeteries, Erie Cem-
etery, founded in 1850 and a pioneer of the rural cemetery move-
ment which was so profoundly influential in changing the way
Americans — and eventually much of the Western World — dealt
with death and burial. Laurel Hill and Wintergreen Gorge Cem-
eteries are part of Erie Cemetery's corporation, having been an-
nexed to Erie Cemetery in 1928 and 1932, respectively. All remain
in use today and are well-maintained and valued landmarks.

But Landscapes for Eternity is not merely a lone volume
about one Pennsylvania cemetery group, as its scope is not limited
to that one place. Landscapes for Eternity focuses on Erie Cem-
etery and its satellites but is really a history of the development of
the American cemetery as we know it today, whether we live in
cities large or small, in the East, South, Midwest, North, or West. It
is about the rural cemetery movement and about the transition of
the Victorian burial ground/park into the modern cemetery serving
a metropolitan area. It is about monument styles and funerary ar-
chitecture. It is a significant book of its genre and a useful addition
to any library on the subject of cemeteries and markers.

The Revival Styles in American Memorial Art

by Peggy McDowell and Richard E. Meyer

Bowling Green State University Popular Press

Bowling Green, Ohio 43403

1994, $23.00

206 pages, 135 illustrations and photographs.

Also available through the AGS publications list.

Review by Marcy Frantom

For those of us who are fascinated by the diverse styles
found in nineteenth-century memorials, here is an indispensable
reference to aid in identifying and understanding the dominant ar-
chitectural influences that shaped them. Peggy McDowell, co-au-
thor of New Orleans Architecture, III: The Cemeteries, is an art
historian who has done a great deal of research on prominent me-
morial monument builders such as J.N.B. De Pouilly. Richard E.
Meyer, editor of the journal Markers and other important paper
collections, is well known for his many contributions to cemetery
research. According to the authors, during the nineteenth century
design elements were drawn from classical, medieval or Gothic,
and Egyptian and Near East sources; these revival styles are well
illustrated by full-plate photographs and copious description and
interpretation.

While the main focus of the book remains that of private
funerary monuments, public memorials honoring individuals,
groups, and events are also discussed so that the reader may appre-
ciate the interplay between them. We learn not only how to iden-
tify the revival styles, but also why these styles appealed to people
of the period through an examination of prevailing historical and
social factors as well as primary nineteenth-century documents.

The book basically deals with large monuments in urban
cemeteries and public places. The first section. "The Rise of Me-
morial Art in America," explains the scope of the book and U'aces
plausible reasons why monuments became a "national preoccupa-
tion" in nineteenth-century America. The second part covers each
revival style in turn and is further broken down into representative
types or typical applications of a particular style. For example,
under the classical revival style we find monument types such as
the temple, canopy, and column, among others. Thankfully more
of the architectural terms are explained in the text or else may be
inferred by examining the attending photographs. The conclusion
is followed by a generous bibliography and an index.

The Revival Styles in American Memorial Art is an excel-
lent resource both for those who are researching a single aspect of
nineteenth-century memorial art and wish to gain a wider perspec-
tive, and for those who would like to increase their appreciation of
monument styles of this period. Whatc\er your particular need,
you will find this a useful book to add to your library.

AGS (SiiOJ-tc/-/^-: Winter '96 page 14

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given

that the Annual Meeting of the Association for Gravestone Studies

will be held at the University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine,

on Friday, June 28, 1996 at 7:00 p.m.

to hear annual reports and transact such other business

as may come before the meeting.

Brenda Malloy, Secretary

1996 NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

Returning for a third two-year term:

Brenda Malloy (Secretary)

New candidates:
Robert Klisiewicz
Barbara Rotundo
Beth Smolin

Returning for a second two-year term:

Ruth Shapleigh Brown
Frank Calidonna (President)
Robert Drinkwater
Fred Oakley (Treasurer)
John Sterling
Janet Taylor

Continuing on the Board are: Mary Ann Calidonna, Claire Deloria, Jim Fannin, Laurel Gabel, Dan Goldman, C.R. Jones,
Rosalee Oakley, Stephen Petke, Virginia Rockwood, Jim Slater, and Deborah Smith. Ex officio: Elizabeth Goeselt, Archi-
vist; Richard Meyer, Markers Editor. Trustee Emeritus: Dan Farber.

The Nominating Committee submits the name of Brenda Malloy as Secretary to the Board of Trustees for 1996-1998.

• a e • •

BALLOT

The Association for Gravestone Studies
1996-1997 Board of Trustees

BOARD MEMBERS (2 year terms)

Vote for not more than ten:

□ Ruth Shapleigh Brown

□ Frank Calidonna

□ Robert Drinkwater
Q Robert Klisiewicz
G Brenda Malloy

Q Fred Oakley

Q Barbara Rotundo

□ Beth Smolin

□ John Sterling

□ Janet Taylor

OFFICER (2-year term)
Q Secretary: Brenda Malloy

Please return completed ballot to:

The Association for Gravestone Studies

278 Main Street, Suite 207

Greenfield, MA 01301

by June 1, 1996.

NEW CANDIDATES' BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Barbara Rotundo, Belmont, New Hampshire

A retired professor of English at SUNY-Albany, Dr. Rotundo now visits cemeteries around the globe and

is an energetic correspondent on subjects relating to Victorian cemeteries. A frequent lecturer and

writer, she has written numerous articles and is a historian for Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge,

Massachusetts. Barbara, a past Board member, was the 1994 recipient of the Harriet Merrifield Forbes

Award.

Robert Klisiewicz, Webster, Massachusetts

A long-time member of AGS, Mr. Klisiewicz serves as one of the AGS Quarterly 's regional editors,
writing the New England/Maritime column. Professionally, he is an accountant at St. Vincent's Hospital
in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Beth Smolin, Pelham, Massachusetts

Beth, a professional artist as well as an assistant to a sculptor, is a recent graduate of Amherst College
with her B.A. in Fine Arts. While her primary interest is in early gravestones for their sculptural and
artistic qualities, she also enjoys visiting burial grounds for their sense of connection to the past. She
has been a member of AGS for many years.

>t1^,'f^'»><it^ilt^tf/l''ftt,-r'-^'i'>^'*-'**i'»-'^MMi3^^

MICHAEL DROLET

349 North McKean Street, Butler PA 16001
412-894-2310

• Original Stone Sculpture

• Architectural Ornamentation

• Traditional Headstone Design and Lettering

• Restoration
also
Gothic Gargoyles in the Medieval Tradition-
original sculptures created by Michael Drolet and cast in the studios of

Design Toscano

GARGOYLES

A. SMALL BARCLAY;
4 V2" H$28 (3.75)

B. BIG BARCLAY:
18" H $178 (12.75)

C. GOODWYN, WINGED
DESK GARGOYLE
4" H $32.95 (3.75)

D. CHALINCEY OF
NEWCASTLE GARGOYLE
WALL RELIEF
16" H $98 (9.75)

Photography; ScoU Smud sky /Design Toscano Inc. Arlingion Hgts.. IL

Reviews

Mourning on the Pejepscot

by Theresa M. Flanagan

University Press of America

4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706

1992, $28.50

Paperback, 115 pages, 13 illustrations

Review by David H. Walters

The Pejepscot region of Maine, including present-day
Brunswick, Bowdoinham, Harpswell, and Topsham, formed a dis-
tinctive cultural region in the colonial and early national periods.
Theresa Flanagan proposes to examine the "mourning culture" of
the area from its settlement in the seventeenth century to the present,
but the story she tells really ends before the Civil War, when the
region's gravestone and funerary traditions were assimilated fully
into national trends. The book argues that the region developed a
distinctive culture in tfie early national period, even predating Mount
Auburn in the development of cemetery styles which came to be
labeled as features of the rural or garden cemetery movement. Read-
ers will have to take such claims with a grain of salt; as part of
Massachusetts until 1 820, much of Maine culture reflects the styles
of elites deeply connected by taste, class, and family to the society
of coastal Massachusetts. Nevertheless, the book is a valuable guide
to the local cemeteries in this region.

Flanagan presents four chapters on "Cemeteries," "Grave-
stones," "Dress, Jewelry And Mourning Practices," and "The 'Art"
of Mourning," followed by a conclusion, "The Continuing Evolu-
tion Of Mourning Practices in Pejepscot" and a series of appendi-
ces with supporting charts and photographs. These chapters pro-
vide a useful synthesis of a variety of cultural artifacts and prac-
tices, and they provide a cross-disciplinary context for the grave-
yards and gravestones of the region. The stones themselves present
familiar faces, for they were imported from carving centers in Mas-
sachusetts and follow the general typology of death's head, soul
effigy, urn and willow, and Romantic designs. Flanagan makes an
important contribution in calling attention to the variety of burying
grounds which distinguish northern New England settlements, in-
cluding scattered burial plots in the pre- 1730 era of Indian warfare,
private family burying grounds, community burial grounds shared
by a few families, town burying grounds, and cemeteries. Family
burying grounds, which can number in the hundreds in northern
New England towns, deserve closer attention, since they were the
dominant form of rural memorialization for two centuries. By trac-
ing the development of these forms, Flanagan provides insights into
the simultaneous imitation of and resistance to urban memorial prac-
tices by the provincial communities of New England.

In tracing the development of the cemetery in the Pejepscot
region in the 1820s, Flanagan reveals the ways in which Maine's
elite citizens of the new state exercised their cultural authority on
what had been a fractious frontier. These are the citizens who sup-
ported the dame school and female academies which produced the
samplers and mourning pictures of the region's Romantic mourn-
ing art. Their story is told in Ronald S. Banks's Maine Becomes a
State: The Movement to Separate Maine from Massachusetts. 1 7S5-

7520 (Middlctown, Connecticut: Wcslcyan University Press, 1970),
and in From Revolution to Statehood: Maine in the Early Repub-
lic, 1783-1820, Karen Bowden and Charles Clark, editors (Hanover,
New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1988).

Some readers will wish for more illustration and discus-
sion of gravestones in the region but will find a variety of interest-
ing anecdotes and historical incidents to keep in mind when in the
field. This local study should come in handy for AGS members
attending the upcoming conference in Gorham, Maine (June 27-
30, 1996).

Ethnicity and the American Cemetery

edited by Richard Meyer

Bowling Green State University Popular Press

Bowling Green, Ohio 43403

1993, $18.00

Paperback, 239 pages, 95 illustrations

Also available through the AGS publications list.

Review by Barbara Rotunda

Dick Meyer, who does such a good job of editing our schol-
arly journal. Markers, has edited another anthology. As you might
expect, it is full of interesting and valuable essays. However, mem-
bers of AGS may not find it so relevant to their interests as his first
anthology. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers. In considering ethnic
cemeteries, the writers in this one have been more concerned with
people and their cultural traditions than with gravestones. Whereas
six of the writers in the first anthology were members of AGS, only
four in the book under review are members. As in any collection of
articles relating to cemeteries and gravestones these days, the vari-
ous authors come from a number of academic disciplines and rep-
resent a wide spread of perspectives. As will happen in any anthol-
ogy, the writing styles vary widely, too.

Karen Keist and Russell Barber use cemeteries and grave-
stones to explore cultural settlement patterns in Nebraska and Cali-
fornia, respectively. Paul Erwin throws out a wide net to present
everything he's learned about gypsy funerals and gravestone choices
in Cincinnati, while Keith Cunningham shows us the mourning and
funeral for a man who had close connections with three different
ethnic cultures: Navajo, Zuni, and Mormon. Roberta Halporn and
Nanette Purnell contribute essays richly revealing the mourning
and burial traditions of the Jews (by Halporn) and the Orientals and
Polynesians (by Purnell). Tom Graves gives more details (with
handsome photographs) about Ukrainian gravestones than this re-
viewer was able to take in, and John Matturri writes about Italian-
American memorialization based on northern New Jersey customs,
where things are different from those I experienced in the capital
district of New York.

In addition to a sensible and informative introductory es-
say, Dick Meyer ends the anthology, as he did the first, with a su-
perbly helpful bibliography, including brief annotations where the
titles are obscure. For the bibliography alone, this book should be
in the library of every serious student of cemeteries and
gravemarkers.

AGS &a/-/a^^.- Winter '96 page 15

Reviews

other Books to Note:

Reviews by Eric Brock

Epitaphs: A Dictionary of Grave Epigrams
and Memorial Eloquence

by Nigel Rees

Published by Carroll & Graf.

1994, $10.95

Paperbound, 272 pages, index

This is a decent work on epitaphs, especially so because it
does not focus simply on those of the famous. However, it fails to
be an excellent work on the subject simply because it does not re-
ally live up to its title. This is not an exhaustive work, though one
on this subject is much needed. It is, nevertheless, much more thor-
ough than most of the collections of epitaphs out there (often to be
found, unfortunately, in the "humor" sections of bookstores). If
one is familiar with the book Curious Epitaphs (London: 1 884) by
William Andrews, it will probably be understood when I call Mr
Rees' book a twentieth-century version of that volume.

A Moment of Silence:
Arlington National Cemetery

by Owen Andrews
photographs by Cameron Davis

Published by the Preservation Press

National Trust for Historic Preservation

1785 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.

1994, $14.95

Hardbound, 64 pages

A visually stunning book, despite its small (6 1/4" x 9
1/4") format. Had its pages been twice as large, fhis would have
been a magnificent art book. As it is, it is still very attractive, though
— as with Jackson and Vergara's Silent Cities: The Evolution of
the American Cemetery, published in 1989 — more page surface is
needed to truly do justice to the splendid photographs.

Andrews's text provides a nice historical overview of Ar-
lington. It is primarily an essay, however, and for a thorough (though
now somewhat dated) history of Arlington I would recommend Ar-
lington National Cemetery: Shrine to America's Heroes by James
Edward Peter (Woodbine House, 1986). Peter's book lacks the il-
lustrationai eye appeal oi' A Moment of Silence while A Moment of
Silence lacks the depth of research of Peter's book; together they
make a fine pair Cenmn\y A Moment of Silence is up lo dale: On
page seven is a bright color view of Justice Thurgood Marshall's
gravestone, erected in 1993, and on page sixty-one is a photo of the
Korean War Memorial, erected in 1987. Particularly haunting are
the views of the Memorial Amphitheater, which is as much a sym-
bol of the Arlington as the Custis-Lee Mansion, the JFK eternal
flame, or the Tomb of the Unknowns, all of which are also beauti-
fully pictured.

A Few of Our Friends:

In the Amador County Cemeteries

by Catherine A. Cissna and Madeline Church

Published by Cissna-Luxemberg Publications,

Post Office Box 1359, Sutter Creek, California 95685.

1994, $12.95 (plus $1.50 shipping and 940 tax for Califomians)

90 pages, index.

Not your normal genealogy book and not your normal his-
tory either. A Few of Our Friends is an interesting and entertaining
book, even for those unfamiliar with Amador County. California.
Amador County is located in the northern part of the state just east
of Sacramento and just north of Calveras County (which Mark Twain
made famous in his story about that county's famous jumping frog).
And it is just south of El Dorado County (which is where gold was
discovered in 1848 by a fellow who started the Gold Rush of "49
because he couldn't keep his mouth shut: he consequently died in
poverty).

In any case, Mesdames Cissna and Church have traced
the colorful history of this interesting part of their state through its
cemeteries. In their own words they liken the book "to the Na-
tional Enquirer of 1880. ..In addition to being informative, it also
contains stories of knifings, shootings, stabbmgs, poisonings, and
bludgeonings of our pioneers, presented in a humorous format."
And some of us thought that California had no soul !

Where They Lie

by Mel Young

Published by University Press of America
4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706
1991, $20.00
Paperback, 298 pages, index

Here's an important contribution to cemetery studies. Civil
War studies, and Jewish studies. It is a volume of priman.- docu-
ments relating to Jewish soldiers of both the Confederacy and the
Union (yes, there were Jewish Confederates — including the CS A's
Secretary of War) whose deaths occurred during the Civil War.

Young has traced these men through their gravestones —
in National Cemeteries, on battlefields, in family cemeteries, in Jew-
ish cemeteries, in municipal cemeteries, etc.. and has compiled an
excellent and useful list of many of the soldiers, their ranks and
companies, and their places of burial.

Mr. Young, a Chattanooga, Tennessee CPA, lias subiiilcd
his book Someone Should Say Kaddish. referring to the Jewish
prayer for the dead. With this book he has figurati\ cl\ done so for
some 8,000 soldiers who sh;ired a common faith and heritage but
fought on opposing fronts in a war that should never have occurred
but which shaped the destiny of our nation more than any other
single event in its history. jfc.._

AGS Snoj-^e^-/^ .■ Winter '96 page 16

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NORTHWEST & FAR WEST

Alaska. California.

Colorado, Hawaii. Idaho,

Montana, Nevada, Oregon,

Utah, Washington, Wyoming,

Alberta. Saskatchewan. British Columbia

Bob Pierce (The Western Deadbeat)

208 Monterey Boulevaid

San Francisco, California 94131

About two months ago I was driving in Colma, California
(the cemetery city), when I passed a cemetery on a street blocked
off for cemetery construction work. At the time, I didn't know which
cemetery was involved or the nature of the work. After some in-
quiries I learned that the installation of 1,638 burial liners for fu-
ture use was planned by Eternal Home Cemetery. This installation
would meet the cemetery's demands for plots for six to seven years,

I photographed the project for five to six weeks in an ef-
fort to document the various stages involved. Although this inititally
appeared to me to be a very simple project, I discovered that many
disciplines and specialists were involved: cemetery superintendent,
construction supervisor, consulting engineers and geologists, gen-
eral contractor, grading and drainage construction, horticulturist,
hydrologist, hydrologic investigation and drainage design, landscape
architect, landscape contractor, soil investigation, structural engi-
neer, and topographic mappers.

What follows is a photodocumentary of the project. While
I took over 150 photographs I have tried to select those that best
represent the various stages of development.

^

^

s

^' * ,

--^

h?^

f

-■ *» ■^"■*- ^ »

/ Before

2. The land is excavated and moved
across the road. Drainage pipes are
already in evidence, gravel spread, and
the first four vaults are in place.

3. Burial liner being moved. Note tliat there is no bottom to
the liner, which permits natural decomposition and allows
gases to escape. Gravel will be dumped, tamped, and
watered down between and on top of burial liners. The area
will then be covered with the excavated earth.

AGS ^uat-ie/'/^: Winter '96 page 17

Regional Columns

4. The area is then
leveled. Posts are
inserted to indicate
locations of walkways
and sprinklers, which
are then installed.

5. The walkways and sprinklers are installed, the perimeter
fencing and landscaping are done, and sod has been placed
around the sprinkler heads so they won 't clog when the area is
hydroseeded. Notice that the walkway is already lettered and
numbered so any burial liner can be identified.

6. After construction is complete. J5

AGS &eui^(e^/§i.- Winter '96 page 18

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SOUTHWEST

Arizona, Arkansas,
Louisiana, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641
Phone: (602)647-7005
Fax: (602)647-7136

Ghost towns are themselves graveyards, often unintention-
ally so, their remaining architecture and artifacts as funereal as the
"official" burial grounds that may still be attached to them.
Mongollon, New Mexico — a former mining town — is such a
place. The few occupied houses and stores that straggle along the
gulch which once was the main commercial street do little to over-
come the impression that this place is indeed "dead." It is not yet
reincarnated as a tourist attraction, though the potential is there,
both because of the abundance of the town's physical remains and
because of the extraordinary natural attractions of the Gila Wilder-
ness Area which surrounds it. Above the gulch, reached by a ver-
tigmous and barely passable rock road, is the cemetery, not far from
the several wooden homes and mine buildings which once consti-
tuted the "upper" town. The cemetery is surrounded by a casual
barbed wire fence, drifting off in places to nowhere in particular,
yet nonetheless defining a boundary between those who had de-
parted from the life of this community by virtue of their physical
death, and those many others who figuratively "died" when their
community could no longer keep them alive economically, which
is what happened when the mines finally closed in the early 1940s.

Pinon junipers, sotol (a kind of grass) and chollas (a kind
of cactus), vegetation typical of the altitude and arid climate of this
southwestern corner of New Mexico, at around 6500 feet, have be-
gun to invade the gravesites, knocking down headstones and enclo-
sures in a way that reminded me of the much more luxuriant veg-
etative invasion at Highgate Cemetery in London, which I had vis-
ited the previous July, almost to the day. In both Mongollon and
Highgate, the fact that "nature" has been permitted to take its un-
planned course, and that this will ultimately result in the reburial of
a site that was expressly formed and designed to reflect our cultural
understanding of artifacts and messages appropriate to death, is at
first startling. "Hard" materials, like stone and metal, which we
assume to be "permanent," don't endure any more than do the in-
scriptions they carry; paradoxically it requires continued human
intervention to keep the dead "alive." When "nature" begins to run
wild, whether as a matter of policy, as seems to be the case at
Highgate, or for lack of survivors to keep it at bay, as seems the
case at Mongollon, it subverts the assumption that humans can al-
ways dominate natural forces. In some ways this seems a more

titling way to memorialize the fact of death than any number of
man-made objects and organized funerary environments, though I
suppose both are needed if we are to understand the fundamental
difference between "nature" and "culture."

As you might have gathered, the Mongollon cemetery, be-
cause of its abandoned setting, leads one to reflect on its existence
as an institution, and on the individuals it now no longer commemo-
rates becauseof the rate of decay. Many of the wooden fences have
fallen down, and the headstones they enclosed have been taken over
by weeds and trees. Because it was the "resting place" for a mining
town, men probably outnumbered women, and where family ties
and connections to the area may have been relatively few and thin,
the markers seem plain and indifferent to visual effect. There were
a number of cedar crosses, some ornamented with copper flowers
similar to those seen in the cemeteries of Hispanic- American com-
munities elsewhere in New Mexico. One hand-made stone obelisk
with carvings of waterlilies marked the grave of a woman. It stood
out for being markedly different from the rest. An unornamented
wire enclosure surrounded the markers of ten persons — all of them
members of the same family — who died at weekly intervals
throughout the month of October 1918, presumably from influenza,
which was epidemic at that period. This plot, belonging to the
Bustamente family, was the best preserved; possibly some descen-
dants are still in the area. A far corner of the cemetery had a few
recent burials, the latest being 1991 . The cemetery proper had very
little activity after 1935.

About an hour or so away to the northeast is Quemado,
New Mexico, which has an interesting and well-preserved nine-
teenth-century Hispanic "camposanto" with a number of elegant
wooden crosses with lance-shaped terminals as well as some hand-
carved stone markers. The Chuck Wagon Cafe across the way has
good food; it's a pity that it's not really in "the neighborhood" be-
cause the pie was delicious. This western section of New Mexico,
from Interstate 40 at roughly Thoreau in the North, running south
to Silver City, is well worth exploring, but it's not really on the way
to anywhere, so you have to make it a destination in itself We've
gone three times now and have barely scratched the surface. If
anyone has suggestions of other sites worth visiting around there,
please let me know!

Last June I was introduced by my son and grandsons to an
unusual grave site with strong "Western" affiliations in Rockland
Cemetery, Sparkill, New York, near Nyack, New York. This is the
resting place of John C. Fremont (1813-1890), his wife, Jessie
Benton Fremont, and others of their descendants who are buried on
top of Mount Nebo overlooking the verdant bluffs of the Hudson
River, incongruously distant from the wild regions of the Oregon
Trail that Fremont mapped from Missouri to the mouth of the Co-
lumbia River in 1842-3. And far, too, from his return route via
California, Arizona, and New Mexico, which he made widely known
as the "Great American Desert." Later he would return to Califor-
nia, where he served as Senator, and to Arizona, where he was ap-
pointed the first Territorial Governor in 1878.

How the "Pathfinder" — the name by which Fremont was
known — happens to be buried here, so far from the scene of his
achievements or from his birthplace in South Carolina, is explained
in a series of publications issued by the Historical Society of
Rockland County, located in New City, New York. My thanks to
them for sending the material to me. Briefly, the reason is that

AGS Su.a/'tc/'^-.- Winter '96 page 19

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Fremont died unexpectedly in New York City in July, 1 890. In the
1860s and 1870s, he and his wife Jessie, the daughter of Missouri
Senator Thomas Hart Benton, had owned a home in North
Tarrytown, New York, on the other side of the Hudson from where
he is buried. Later they moved to California, where friends sup-
ported them as a result of their poverty, which followed a bankrupt
railroad venture. His sudden death in New York prompted an ac-
quaintance from his Tarrytown days, William H. Whiton, to offer a
burial site in the cemetery his father-in-law had established in 1 847.
The story is more detailed than that, and concerns conflicts over
the design and funding of an appropriate monument, delays in the
interment of Fremont's body, theft of bronze howitzers that flanked
the monolith and other acts of vandalism, along with "continuous
pilgrimages. ..of unaccountable [sic] individuals and groups who
stand in silent awe, contemplating the man commemorated there."
For more information, please write the Society at 20 Zukor Road,
New City, New York 10956, or consult the book by AGS member
Dorothy W. Mellet, Gravestone Art in Rockland County, New York
published by the Hudson Valley Press, 1991. _jiiik

MIDWEST

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, Nebraska, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota,
Wisconsin. Manitoba, Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 606 1 4-2323

Phil Kallas has sent copies of two guides which are avail-
able in Wisconsin. One, that of Forest Home Cemetery, founded in
1850 in Milwaukee, is a Historical Tour including burial sites of
many of the city's founding fathers and famous citizens. This guide
differs from many others published across the country for it invites
the user to visit the cemetery's office "for additional information."
The other, A Visitor's Guide to Wisconsin's Ethnic Settlement Trail
(call 1-800-432-TRIP for a copy), describes areas of settlement in
eastern Wisconsin. Deviating from the usual attractions of tours,
homes, churches, etc., this guide mentions the cemeteries of the
ethnic groups such as the Dutch, Belgian, Swedish, Irish, Czech,
German, and ancient Indian burial grounds.

On the same topic is the final chapter "Ethnic Cemeteries:
Underground Rites" by Helen Sclair in Ethnic Chicago: A
Multicultural Portrait, edited by Melvin Halli and Peter d' A. Jones
(Grand Rapids: Eerdman's, 1995), albeit in the Chicago metropoli-
tan area. The book reviews Chicago's ethnic history on many lev-
els other than the underground. "Ethnic Institutions" also includes

saloons, sports, crime, the Church, and neighborhoods from six-
teen distinct ethnic groups' histories beginning with the French-
Indian of the nineteenth century, to the Asian-Indian of the twenti-
eth. Chicago remains intensely ethnic in character. However, the
chapter pertaining to cemeteries describes only a representative sam-
pling of the more than seventy distinct ethnic burial sites.

The weekend of September 23-25 resulted in a new dawn-
ing as the American Cemetery Association sponsored the first His-
toric Cemeteries Management Conference in Indianapolis. Cem-
etery logos imprinted on the program's cover served to notify the
reader the scope of this meeting: Alleghany, Crown Hill, Forest
Hills, Forest Lawn, Cave Hill, Hollywood, The Green- Wood. Lake
View, Laurel Hill, West Laurel Hill, Spring Grove, Mount Auburn.
The Woodlawn. Many other historic cemeteries were represented
by the eighty-four participants from twenty states and two prov-
inces. These men and women had gathered to discuss problems
confronting cemeteries as they approach their second and third cen-
turies of existence.

The Chairman, Keith Norwalk, President of the city's
Crown Hill Cemetery, helped organize a lively three days of thought-
provoking papers. Mount Auburn's President, William C.
Clendaniel, introduced the Master Plan for the future of the Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts, cemetery. The next presentation was by
Elizabeth Vizza of the Halvorson Company, Boston, which had cre-
ated the plan. Additional information was contributed by Andrew
J. Conroy, III, President of Spring Grove; Edward C. Laux. Presi-
dent of the Woodlawn; and Robert Smith from Toronto's Remem-
brance Consulting Services. Later, Thomas Roberts, C.C.E. of
Alleghany impacted the meeting with the importance of landmark
status for maintaining his cemetery long into the future.

William Garrison, President of Lake View, suggested many
creative methods to encourage visitors to the cemetery. He intro-
duced the newly-revised guide. Seasons of Life and Learning. Lake
View Cemetery: An Educator's Handbook, which includes various
activities which might be undertaken in the cemetery. Much of this
material could be adapted to use at other cemeteries. Mount
Auburn's Master Plan is also potentially viable in other places.

As cemeteries run out of space, as markers age, as care
funds are discovered to be potentially inadequate, as attitudes and
mode of burial and memorialization change, the American Cem-
etery Association has begun an important dialogue which hope-
fully will continue creatively.

AGS €afu-tci-/^.- Winter '96 page 20

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SOUTHEAST/CARIBBEAN

Alabama, District of Columbia.

Florida. Georgia. Kentucky.

Maryland. Mississippi.

North Carolina. South Carolina.

Tennessee. Virginia. West Virginia. Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

Post Office Box 6296
Tallahassee, Florida 32314

I am very pleased to be in-
vited to be the AGS Quarterly 's South-
east/Caribbean Regional Editor. I am
a preservation consultant specializing
in historic cemeteries and have been
a member of AGS for over a decade.
In 1994 I established The Center for
Historic Cemeteries Preservation,
which is dedicated to the study, docu-
mentation, and preservation of historic
burial sites in the southeastern United
States and the Caribbean. In this col-
umn I hope to provide pertinent in-
formation on such topics as interest-
ing cemeteries, gravestones and carv-
ers, preservation technologies, activi-
ties of "friends'" groups, etc., of the
region. Your contributions are very
important if the column is to be use-
ful to the AGS membership. I look
forward to hearing from you and re-
ceiving news items and other materi-
als at the above address.

South Carolina — Michael
Trinkley, Director of the Chicora
Foundation in Columbia, South Caro-
lina, requests information on south-
ern cemeteries that are surrounded by
earthen walls or dikes. He would like
to compare any such sites to one
Chicora archaeologists recently inves-
tigated in coastal South Carolina. The
small family cemetery, dating from
the first quarter of the nineteenth century, is located at Rose Hill
Plantation in upper Beaufort County. The cemetery includes eight
graves, all oriented about twenty degrees off east-west along one
north-south line, and is surrounded by an earthwork which mea-
sures about fifty feet square. The earthwork "consists of a ditch,
about two to three feet in depth on the outside and just within an

The wooden memorial tablet for James Turner (d. 1837}

in Saint Andrew's Kirk, Georgetown, Demerara. The tablet,

caived by William Mossman of Glasgow, has Greek Revival

design elements, inverted torches on either side of the

inscription, and a sailing ship. A large sea shell is fixed

to the top of the tablet.

embankment about two to two and a half feet high. The construc-
tion is such that it appears the soil from the ditch was (uscdl to form
the bank. There is a single opening in the ditch and einbankmcnt,
about three feet in width, allowing entrance to the graveyard. ..There
is a large oak growing out of the dike. The size of this live oak is
consistent with the few remaining oaks on the [plantation's]
allec.This indicates that the enclosure around the cemetery was
built prior to the Civil War. The soils in this area, which is about
500 feet from the main settlement, are poorly drained sandy loams.
In fact the entire plantation, which was focused on rice cultivation,
is rather poorly drained. It is possible that the dike was constructed
to help control ground water seepage into the graves. We should be
interested in speaking to anyone who might have seen a similar
feature in the coastal region. Please feel free to contact us by phone
at (803) 787-6910 or by e-mail at chicoral @aol.com." The mail-
ing address for the Chicora Founda-
tion is Post Office Box 8664, Colum-
bia, South Carolina 29202.

Alabama — The Aleta Turner
Trust recently awarded the City of
Mobile's Parks and Recreation De-
partment $ 1 3 ,000 for the restoration
of iron fences in Church Street
Graveyard. The graveyard, which
has burials dating to 1819, is the
city's earliest remaining historic
cemetery. The site has a number of
above-ground tombs important to
the study of the funerary architec-
ture in the northern Gulf Coast, as
well as an interesting collection of
gravestones from the New England
and Gulf Coast regions.

The grant funding supports a
comprehensive survey of the
graveyard's historic ironwork that
was initiated by the Church Street
Graveyard Preservation Foundation
in 1994. (The CSGPF is made up of
members representing local govern-
mental agencies and private preser-
vation organizations.) The study
was conducted by John Sledge, a
founder of the Preservation Founda-
tion and an architectural historian
with the Mobile Historical Develop-
ment Commission. Mr. Sledge, as-
sisted by intern Allen Austin, mea-
sured, photographed, mapped, and
assessed the condition of all the iron-
work. Based on his findings, he rec-
ommended preservation priorities
for the various fences according to their degree of deterioration and
their artistic significance (examples of rare or unusual designs).
Research found that both wrought and cast iron were used at the
site and that the fences include local and imported pieces — some
from manufacturers as far away as Philadelphia and others from
local sources such as the Lang and Gulf City foundries. (The Fall

AGS &u.a/'fc/'i^: Winter '96 page 21

Regional Columns

1994 issue oi Alabama Heritage contains a major article, "The Tan-
gible Past: Mobile's Magnolia Cemetery," by John Sledge).

Guyana — On a recent trip to Guyana (once British
Guiana) 1 noticed that some of the memorial tablets in St. Andrew's
Kirk in Georgetown were signed by the stonecarvers who made
them. St. Andrew's (or Scots' Presbyterian) is the earliest ecclesi-
astical building in the city. Construction was begun in 1811 and the
first service was conducted in 1818. For a brief time the building
was shared by Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed congregations.
Seven of the nineteen memorial tablets mounted on the walls of the
Kirk are signed. Six of these tablets are made of high quality marbles
and one is made of wood. The signatures include:

Wm. Mossman, Sculp. Glasgow for James Turner (d. 1 837)

T. Smith, SC./Savoy SULondon for Hugh McClamont
(d.l838)

Smith, SC./Savoy, London for Hugh Rogers (d.l839)

Sanders, Euston Road, London for Charles Harrison
(d.l861)

C. Maile. SC/Euston Rd. London/England for Lucy
Susanna Van Kinschot (d.l868)

McGlashen/Edinburgh for Archibald Omond Simpson
Smellie(d.l904)

McGlashen/Edinr. for Rev. Thomas Slater (d. 1905).

The wood tablet carved by Wm. Mossman of Glasgow for
James Turner features a sailing ship and classical revival design
elements. A sea shell is embedded in the tablet. The inscription for
this memorial, made very personal by the incorporation of the ship
and the shell, is //( Memory of/ James Turner / apprentice seaman;
/son of Coll [sic] James Turner / and Margaret M'Callum. /Born
at Alley, Rosneath, Scotland / January 19th 1822, / Died here Octr
17 th 1837.

Mossman's work has also been identified in the Centre
Burial Ground in Nassau, Bahamas. A large Greek Revival style
monument made of sandstone, at the grave of Archibald Millar
(d.l802) and Robert Millar (d. 1845), is signed "Mossman,
Glasgow."

Florida — The Historical Museum of Southern Florida
offers tours of architectural and historic sites of Miami, Coral Gables,
and Coconut Grove. AGS members who are planning trips to South
Florida will be interested in the walking tours conducted in the City
of Miami. Woodland Park, and Pinewood cemeteries. For a sched-
ule of dates and times, contact Dr. Paul George at the Museum, 101
West Flagler Street, Miami, Florida 33130; (305) 375-1625. _.ait:_

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware, New Jersey,
New York, Pennsylvania,
Quebec

G.E.O. Czarnecki

2810AvenueZ, Brooklyn, New York 11235

Disinterment/Reinterment Archaeology Project

In April, 1995 it came to the attention of the New Jersey
Graveyard Preservation Society (NJGPS) that the Dutch Reformed
Church, located in New Brunswick, was proceeding with its plans
to have a covered breezeway constructed between the church and
church house (summer, 1995 issue, page 22). This breezeway would
enable both buildings to be fully accessible to disabled persons.
Unfortunately, in order to construct the breezeway, twenty-one
graves dating from 1811 to 1867 had to be moved.

A grave digger was originally considered by the church to
disinter the burials. However, this method would not guarantee a
full recovery because of the age of the burials. NJGPS submitted a
proposal to perform the job archaeologically which was accepted
by the church. "I'm morally against disinterment, but the reality is
that it is legal. Getting involved in this project was our way of
ensuring the best possible outcome," said Mark Nonestied. Presi-
dent of NJGPS. An archaeological method would guarantee a safe
and systematic way of disinterment and reburial. It also would
make it possible to learn historical informalion that would other-
wise be lost using a grave digger alone.

Due to the contractor's desire to begin construction of the
breezeway in July, 1995, there was only one month to complete the
disinterment portion of the project. In June, 1995, archaeologists,
anthropologists, and volunteers worked intensively to complete a
thorough and high-quality archaeological excavation. Thanks to the
efforts of everyone involved in the project, this goal was reached
on the Fourth of July weekend, completing the disinlomieni por-
tion of the project with the quality standards desired and within the
time frame given.

During the work of removing tombstones and burials, dirt
was sifted; artifacts such as keys, coins, bottle fragments, shells,
ceramic fragments, and nails were discovered. All of these non-
burial related aitifacts will be turned over to the church upon comple-
tion of the project. Burial-rcialod artifacts, such as coffin iiardware
and buttons, will be reinterred with the individual to whom they
belong. A program is planned for 1996 featuring a slide show on
the project and a presentation of non-burial-relatcd aitifacts.

Currently, construction of the breezeway is ncaring
completion, and anthropologists are examining the remains of those
disnucrred. Upon completion of the breezeway, NJGPS w ill be

Detail of ship carved on wooden memorial lahlclfor James Tiinier.

AGS (fu-a/'^cj-/^.- Winter '96 page 22

Regional Columns

looking lor voluiilccrs lo assist in liic rcinlornicnl portion of liic
project. The church originally sought a common grave, but NJGPS
is reinterring in separate graves and will provide markers for graves
lacking tombstones. In addition to the reburials, stones will be
cleaned, repaired, and reset two rows hack i'rom their original loca-
tion. A ceremony is planned to honor the individuals after
reinterment.

The information for the above piece came from the New
Jersey Graveyard Preservation Society's newsletter. The Epitaph.
I want to thank Janice Sarapin and Mark Nonestied for supplying
the information on this project. The excavation will yield valuable
information and was certainly a great opportunity for those involved.
However, I can't help questioning the validity of this type of activ-
ity. Should AGS look favorably at projects of this sort? Just be-
cause churches and others with the "legal right" to engage in these
activities choose to compromise their integrity concerning burial
sites, gravestones, and graveyards in general, should NJGPS and
AGS compromise theirs? Shuffling the long-deceased about in or-
der to construct a breezeway or any contemporary "improvement"
is not conservation or preservation. The President of NJGPS did
state his moral objections tc the church's plan and support of
archaeological intervention, which were certainly commendable in
view of the apparent determination of the church to go through
with the construction. What must be remembered is that churches
are usually ignorant of gravestone research and preservation. Con-
temporary churches face contemporary problems and come up with
contemporary solutions. In many cases increasing the number of
parishioners is the only goal. Gravestone and cemetery preserva-
tion groups must be more vocal; well-publicized challenges to
changes can sometimes lead to second thoughts and, possibly, find-
ing alternatives for projects. Those who have been entrusted with
the care and protection of gravestones and yards are not necessarily
the most knowledgeable or caring. When they become aware that
others are concerned about stones they may become more active m
preserving what they have. Obtaining a larger church population
may seem innocent enough, but that was the reasoning behind one
incident that involved a church pastor who removed or buried the
gravestones in his small cemetery, paved the yard over the deceased,
and made it into a parking lot. Attendance increased. Too bad the
interred didn't know they had to make way for progress. Com-
ments are always welcome.

I would like to remind readers that the collection of field-
stone/homemade marker data is still (slowly) going on. The mate-
rial has been limited, but I'm hoping to obtain the aid of some dedi-
cated individuals who will more fomially assist me from various
areas. I have received positive responses from diverse places like
California, Louisiana, and New Jersey. All relevant data will be
used in the collection and contributions acknowledged. j^Mik:-

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HAMD CARVcD

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rioumann vJsnidapi

433 Bedford Sireet

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NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New
Hampshire. Rtwde Island,
Vermont, Labrador, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland,
Nova Scotia

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street, Webster, Massachusetts 01570

Old Burying Ground, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Jessie Lie Farber sends a clipping from The New York Times
(July 30, 1995) travel section regarding the Old Burying Ground in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. The article lists the burying ground among
the places to see in this old city and notes that the cemetery was
first used in the year that Halifax was founded (1749). The photo
that was used with the article is too small to reproduce here but
quite clearly shows a mixture of both upright and table stones, typi-
cal in design of the whole New England/Canadian Maritime re-
gion. The city is obviously aware of the charm of its old burying
ground and encourages visitors by placing explanatory placards
detailing the nuances of the various stones telling "their stories of
soldiers far from home, faithful wives and sickly babies." Perhaps
other localities should consider adopting such a custom. It would
certainly educate the casual viewer to the symbolism of the stones
while, at the same time, informing the more serious viewer of spe-
cific points of interest. For visitors to Halifax, the Old Burying
Ground is right down the hill from the Citadel, and, once you are
parked for your obligatory visit to the old fort, you might as well
take the short walk to the burying ground and avoid the hassle of
finding another place to park.

I imagine that the Canadian Maritimes would be a rich
source of old stones, as the region was settled about the same time
as the New England seacoast and by people of much the same cul-
tural heritage (yes, yes, I am aware of the strong French heritage,
just making note of the equally strong English/Scotch/Irish culture
similar in so many respects to that of the New England seacoast).
However, we get little response from our members in the way of
news or newspaper clippings, which is a disappointment. Driving
along the Cape Breton seacoast, one can't help but notice the nu-
merous small, well-cared-for cemeteries on the hills above the high-
way. Even though coastal commerce was very important to the
people, they were an isolated, hardy, and self-sufficient bunch, and
it seems unreasonable to believe that there would not grow up a
small group of locally influenced stone carvers among them. (For
more information on Nova Scotia carvers, see Life How Short;

AGS Sua^-(a-/^.- Winter '96 page 23

Regional Columns

Eternity How Long by Deborah Trask. Available through the AGS
Lending Library. M.L.)

Connecticut Gravestone Network Being Organized

The Manchester Historical Society Museum, in Manches-
ter, Connecticut, was the site of a meeting on November 4, 1995, to
consider forming a Connecticut Gravestone Network. A number
of people met to discuss the idea and decided to incorporate the
organization and seek non-profit status.

The proposed organization will provide communications
for those interested in various facets of gravestone studies in Con-
necticut. Members will be encouraged to advise the organization
of on-going projects in which they are involved, such as identifica-
tion of carvers, gravestone preservation, recording of gravestone
inscriptions, photographing gravestones, documenting cemeteries,
etc. This will facilitate sharing of information about Connecticut's
gravestone resources and reduce the duplication of effort.

A quarterly newsletter is planned to inform the mem-
bers of scheduled activities, such as meetings and cemetery lours,
as well as the progress on members' projects. Members will be
encouraged to provide tours of their local burying grounds.

Activities of the Connecticut Gravestone Network will
begin as soon as incorporation is complete. In the interim, addi-
tional information may be obtained by contacting CGN director
Ruth Shapleigh-Brown, 135 Wells Street, Manchester, Connecti-
cut 06040-6127; (860) 643-5652. ^^

Across the Oceans

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14
D-63322 Rodermark, Germany

A Place of Pilgrimage

Revisited:

Jim Morrison's Grave at

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

in Paris

Looking for one of the most
popular gravesites at Pere Lachaise
Cemetery you may consult the map
sold at the superintendent's office or
simply follow the spray-painted signs
saying "JIM," along with other, mostly
young people who flock to the final
resting place of rock idol Jim Morrison.
The Doors singer was only twenty-
seven when his life ended in a bathtub
on July 3, 1971. The French doctor's
death certificate said Morrison died
from a heart attack, but this was prob-
ably a euphemism for a drug overdose,
accidental or suicidal. Whatever the
immediate cause, Jim Morrison died
from excess. He had left California

Figure

several months before to get away
from recurrent self-destructive urges.

His death was kept secret until
the burial was over in order to avoid
the kind of circus that had surrounded
the burials of Jimi Hendrix and Janis
Joplin the year before. This secrecy
added mystery to the tragedy of
Morrison's early death. The kind of
legend-making such events may gen-
erate need hardly be explained to read-
ers from the country of J.F. Kenned\
and Elvis Presley. Like the French
poet Rimbaud, whom he had admired.
Jim Morrison was beliexed to have
simulated his death and to be living
somewhere in obscurity.

In the early years of the cult
created around Morrison's burial site,
the pilgrims' activities were in line
with the singer's public image as
counterculture's dark angel. Young
people visited the grave to smoke and
drink, discuss and deal dope, do drugs
and make lo\ e. High-school students
brought their hoinew ork. hoping to be
inspired by Jim's spirit. Orgies were
said to take place at night. Drug-en-
forcement agents and dealers played
hide-and-seek among the tall \aults.
The original gravestone was soon
wrecked. In the 19S0s the replace-
ment was a portrait bust on a low ped-
estal bearing the inscription JIM
MORRISON /1 943- 1971 (Figure 1).
It was soon covered with graffiti. The
nose was chipped off. Tomb tourism
was revived after the release of Oliver

AGS Suaf/:a-/f/.- Winter "96 page 24

Regional Columns/ From the President 's Desk

Stone's movie, "The Doors," twenty years alter Monison's
death. Two years later, what would have been his fiftieth
birthday had he lived, the custom of holding tombside par-
ties at the singer's grave was revived. The cemetery au-
thorities reacted by installing twenty-four-hour camera sur-
veillance to complement the daytime guards who had al-
ways been needed to protect the neogothic chapels in the
sixth division of Pere Lachaise from vandalism. The sur-
rounding monuments had to be repainted every two weeks
in the early 1970s.

The present memorial is a marble cube inscribed
with the official name "James Douglas Morrison," the dates
of his birth and death, and a Greek phrase about destiny
(Figure 2). The people who come now leave fresh flow-
ers or potted plants rather than poems or joints. There are
more curious tourists than hippie nostalgics or true pil-
grims who come to smoke and meditate and recite lyrics.

("Fans to Flock to Jim Monison's Grave on Birth-
day," Chicago Sun-Times, December 8, 1993, provided
by the late Jim Jewell. George A Weth, Da-Sein wie nie
zuvoi: Bern; Edition Erpf 1984. Heidi Wiese, Rendez-
vous mit den Toten. Bielefeld: Neues Literaturkontor
1993.)

Figure 2

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

Frank Calidonna

313 West Linden Street, Rome, New York

3440

I spent the last two hours surfing through a cemetery in-
stead of doing what I was supposed to be doing — writing this
column. Cemetery surfing is quite a lot of fun. Contrary to what
you may be thinking, it is neither disrespectful nor even a water
sport. Rather than a large board, you just need a computer and a
modem.

While "surfing the net" these past few weeks I naturally
did a search for the words "gravestone" and "cemetery." The amount
of information out there is astonishing. Our own beloved Associa-
tion has a WEB page, thanks to AGS member Michael Bathrick,
which I understand generates quite a few inquiries to the office.

I am amazed at the seeming lack of use of computers by
members of our group. My call for e-mail addresses has netted only
about eight responses so far. With so many of you involved in re-
search and publication I expected to be buried in e-mail addresses.
I have to assume that many of you are using these wonderful ma-
chines but might be reluctant to dip your toes into the world of the
Internet.

Let me assure you it is very satisfying and extremely easy
to do. Costs are based on your online time. The cost can be very
modest, although I must admit that once you get online "surfing"
can become quite addictive. As long as you keep your budget in
mind and an eye on the clock I am sure you will find many worth-
while resources online and the cost reasonable. With enough of the
membership online out there, we can be great resources for one
another.

If you have a computer with a modem, you are ready to
start. If you are considering the purchase of one, may I suggest
buying at least a 14.4 modem or faster. May I also suggest that no
matter which chip you have — 488, Pentium, P-5, or a Mac — get
at least 16 megs of RAM and the biggest hard drive you can afford.
This will make basic computer work much easier and faster which
translates to an easier online experience.

You can get onto the Internet through a general online ser-
vice such as Prodigy, CompuServe, or America Online. These ser-

AGS ^'eia/-/;o-/&: Winter '96 page 25

From the President 's Desk

vices do make it a bit easier for computer novices. All offer good
Internet access but will tend to be a bit slower than a direct service.
There are also many direct services which put you on the Internet
but assume that you know what you are doing once there.

Many of the latter services are local and can be found in
most communities. These often offer wonderful service and you
deal with people in your own town. For many this means a local
phone call, which obviously saves money too. It should be men-
tioned that most of the bigger services offer local numbers or 800
numbers.

These companies make it very easy to log on and almost
all will bill a credit card for your convenience. May I make one
suggestion here. Open a credit card account for this purpose only
and have a very low credit limit put on it, say $200 or $300. Make
it plain that you don't want it raised. This gives you security and
limits your liability in case someone gets your number.

After all that, what does the Internet offer those interested
in gravestones? Quite a bit, but be forewarned you do have to sift
the wheat from the chaff. My first unrefined search for the word
"gravestone" netted me over 300 "hits." After much winnowing I
had about forty decent leads. My initial search of the word "cem-
etery" generated about 1300 hits. I am still digging through all of
these.

I found an online cemetery where people can memorialize
their dear departed. If this idea catches on or even becomes part of
a sub-culture, I imagine there should be at least one doctoral disser-
tation there. I have found many tours of cemeteries with photo-
graphs. You can download these to your computer and tour at your
leisure. The photographs are often of excellent quality. Text down-
loads very rapidly to your computer, but photographs take more
time. That fast modem I recommended will be worth its weight
should you decide to download photos. Of course this works two
ways, as you can also upload photographs to show other people
your work. The possibilities inherent in this instant sharing of both
words and pictures are exciting. I hope you are already devising
some creative uses as you read this. Another place to surf is the
news groups section. These are a type of bulletin board for people
with like interests.

Here I must also add one concern. The newsgroups are
grouped according to type. You will find groups of artists, baseball
fans, mechanics, WW II Veterans, etc. Groups not seeming to fit
into "normal" categories are placed in what are called the "alterna-
tive" categories. Unfortunately people interested in gravestones and
cemeteries have often been placed in this grouping, and this is the
grouping you do not want your children roaming. Most of the por-
nographic material available on the Internet is in this area. Make
sure the WEB Browser — the program that allows you to browse
all of this information — has password protection or a way of block-
ing access to this area. If your children are computer savvy be pre-
pared for a bit of teasing if they find out where you are.

Having said that, be prepared for an amazing amount of
information to be at your fingertips. There are many research li-
braries, museums, data bases, and other information sources out
there. You can collect enough gravestone photographs to fill many
hard drives. How you make use of the infomiation is up to you, but
this resource should not be overlooked.

Let me wrap up by sharing one of those "if money were
no object" and "if everyone would do it my way" dreams. Every

photograph of every Colonial and Victorian stone of note could be
put on a CD collection that would lake up the space of a small
bookshelf in the AGS Archive. Every cemetery of note could be
still images or digital video. And all the research text devoted to
gravestones, cemeteries, and related subjects would be in the AGS
digital Archives, too. People needing information and images could
post the request to AGS or to an AGS Newsgroup. People wishing
to place this type of information with AGS or in response to a re-
quest could instantly make it available; Maine to California in a
matter of seconds. This is the dream. The lovely part of this dream
is that the technology to make it happen is already here and avail-
able. We just need to enthusiastically embrace it. -i^ak^

pionrrr
iiriiiiui (liiTiinul

Xorlhlirkl pi 1 1 sfori^
Jirsl iiimnl MTi

3SK£

The special issue on Pioneer Cemeteries is being
postponed until summer in hopes of receiving a few more
articles, even short ones about local cemeteries.

Without treading on Bill Hosley's toes. 1 would like
to throw out two questions to which you might send answers
or even guesses. What is the earliest date for naming burial
places Pioneer Cemeteries? When did people moving w esi-
ward across the country begin to think of themselves as pio-
neers? After all, the Pilgrims at Plymouth and the settlers at
Jamestown were pretty daring pioneers, wouldn't you say?

Ten years ago I would have said that it was travel-
ing across the great plains in a covered wagon that made
pioneers, but in 1985 I saw a Pioneer Cemetery sign in
Franklin, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh, an area tliat
was settled early in the nineteenth centur). Then in 1993
Laurel Gabel, Cathy Wilson, and I saw a sign for a Pioneer
Burying Ground just south of Rochester, New York, that dated
back to 1797. James Fenimore Cooper published Tlic Pio-
neers in 1823. He was writing about events supposedh tak-
ing place in Cooperstown, New York, in 1 793. Cooperstown
is slightly east of Rochester. Incidentally, Cooper attacks
the men participating in the annual slaughter oi passenger
pigeons. A few people were worried about conser\ ation as
long ago as that!

Send in your thoughts and conjectures about Pio-
neer Cemeteries, and please send some pictures ot those
gravestones that proudly state the people were pioneers; what
about some with covered wacons'!' Barbara Ronmdo

AGS (Saoj-icj-/^: Winter '96 page 26

Notes & Queries

Grave Error

A confession on my part: in the summer 1995 issue of the
AGS Newsletter. I offered a Mst that I had gathered of burial sites of
those prominent in American black history. Among the names in-
cluded was that of Louis Gottschalk, a prominent pianist and com-
poser of the late nineteenth century. I was already deep into the
work for the Center's tour of the Green-Wood Cemetery, and in
this multi-racial city (New York), it is definitely a good thing to
make sure every group is represented. Taking a clue from the fact
that Gottschalk came from New Orleans and was listed as a "Cre-
ole," in a biography I found on a record jacket liner, I changed his
race. In doing proper research for the Green-Wood tour guide, I
discovered that, not only was this prodigy not black, but he was of
German- Jewish descent! My deepest apologies to anyone I have
misled. Roberta Halporn, 391 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York
11217-1701.

Myrna Bergeron wrote in with more information on Mr
Gottschalk:

His parents were Edward Gottschalk, a German-Jew, and
Aimee Brusle, a French Creole and Catholic. They were married
in New Orleans in 1828.

The word "Creole" does not necessarily mean Black. Cre-
ole means "a child of the colony;" therefore, you can have French,
Spanish, African, German, etc., Creoles. For more information on
Gottschalk, I would recommend Bamboula, the Life and Times of
Louis Moreau Gottschalk. by S. Frederick Starr. Myrna Bergeron,
Louisiana Landmarks Society, Inc., 1440 Moss Street, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70119.

West-Facing Stones

In response to Glen Lutt's query about the direction grave-
stones face (summer 1995 issue, page 27), Jessie Lie Farber writes:
In the eighteenth century, bodies were laid to rest in an east-west
orientation, head to the west, feet to the east, so that on the Day of
Judgment the resurrected dead will arise facing the rising sun.

The body was buried between a headstone and a footstone,
and the inscription on these stones faced away from the grave so
readers would not tread on the grave.

Thus the inscribed surface of the headstone faces west,
and that of the footstone faces east.

I have no proof of this or source to quote, but I have noted
this and heard the explanation frequently, and the logic strikes me
as being in keeping with the thinking of the period.

Bear in mind that many eighteenth-century stones do not
face as described above. There are not only exceptions within a
yard; some entire yards have a different orientation. And of course,
many stones have been moved, sometimes with headstones and
footstones lined up side by side! But in old yards where stones are
in their original locations, where both headstones and footstones
are standing, separating mounded graves, the most common orien-
tation is: headstone inscriptions face west, footstone inscriptions
east. Jessie Lie Farber, 31 Hickory Drive, Worcester, Massachu-
setts 01609.

Conference '96 Seeking
Participation Session Leaders

We are in the midst of planning the Participation Sessions for
the 1996 Conference. In the evaluations from the 1995 Con-
ference, a number of session topics were suggested that people
were interested in attending. Perhaps you have expertise and
information you could share on one of these and would be
willing to be a session leader. Or maybe these will make you
think of another subject you would prefer to lead. Here are
the suggestions:

Landscaping in the cemetery: history, planning, etc.

Sessions on particular carvers, or an overview of carvers

More and different rubbing workshops

Cemetery fencing

Government regulations for cemeteries

Something on geology

The sessions will be held on Saturday, June 29, from 8:30
a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Two to three sessions will be held during
each hour. We will be in classrooms that hold about 40-50
people. The sessions will be 50-60 minutes long. You would
be expected to lead one session and would be free to attend
other sessions or workshops.

Please send a proposal with a title and brief paragraph outlin-
ing what the session would cover to Rosalee Oakley, 1 9 Hadley
Place. Hadley, Massachusetts 01035 immediately. If you

have an idea for a session that would take longer than an hour,
please send in a proposal and we'll talk about it.

Coming to the Conference?

Why Not Take a Bus

With Other Gravestone Enthusiasts?

Why drive when you can relax and
enjoy the trip visiting with friends?

Connecticut members who don't like long drives

have asked about a bus charter. I've called around

and the "basic" information is as follows:

From Hartford, Connecticut, to Portland, Maine:

Pickup Thursday a.m. and return Sunday p.m.

(stops along the route included).

Cost is approximately $40.00 per person,

provided we have forty people interested.

Route may be extended to Western Massachusetts

for an increase in price.

If interested, call Ruth Shapleigh-Brown at (860) 643-5652.

If leaving a message, please give name, phone number.

town, and state, so we can get back to you when we

have enough interest to make it worthwhile.

AGS SaofSc/-/^.- Winter '96 page 27

Calendar

WIsconaIn State Old Camatery Soelaty

A Cemetery Workshop lo Answer your Needs — Saturday, April 20, 1996 at Gateway Technical College, Elkhom Wisconsin.

Topics include: Cemetery Laws. Kids and Cemeteries, Burial Sites Program, Archives, Rubbings, Queries & Symbolism

Registration at 9:00 a.m.. Workshop: $10.00 (free to WSOCS Members), Catered lunch: $6.00

For Registration information: Send a SASE to WSOCS Workshop, Peggy Gleich, Post Office Box 8003, Janesville, Wisconsin

53547

Rastoration Trada Shew links up with Annual Canfaranea ef tha Natlenal Trust tar HIstorle
Prasarvatlan

The National Trust for Historic Preservation and RAI/EGI Exhibidons, Inc. plan to Unk their October 1996 events in Chicago. The
National Trust's annual conference is the preeminent gathering of historic preservationists. The RESTORATION exhibidon and
conference is North America's largest assemblage of products and services for the traditional and historical market. The National
Trust's conference is "Preserving Community; City, Suburb and Countryside." The theme of RESTORATION/Chicago is
"Tradition and the Twentieth Century."

Contact RAI/EGI Exhibitions, Inc., 129 Park Street, North Reading, Massachusetts (508/664-6455, fax 508/664-5822) or die
National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 200036 (202/673-4000,
fax 202/673-4038).

^1996 Tha Asseciation far Oravastana Studlas.

Ta raprint fram tha Quartarly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (I)
the reprint is used for educational purposes: {2} full credit is given to the Association and the author and/or photog-
rapher or artist involved: and (3) a copy of the document or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to
the AGS office.

The AGS Quarterly is publishedfour times a year as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome.

The goal of the Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning grave-
stones and about the activities of the Association.

Ta eantributa Hams, send to the AGS office, or FAX us at (508) 753-9070.

Sand mambarahlp faas (Senior/Student, $20: Individual, $25: Institutional, $30: Family. $35: Supporting,
$60: Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office, 30 Elm Street. Worcester, Massachusetts 01609.
The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date.

Sand Jaumal artlelas to Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone
Studies, Department of English, Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361. Order Markers (current
volume. XIII. $28 to members, $32.50 to non-members: back issues available) from the AGS office.

Sand cantributlans ta tha AOS Arehhras to Jo Goeselt, 61 Old Sudbury Road, Wayland, Massachusetts

01778.

Addrass all athar carraspandanea to Miranda Levin, Executive Director, AGS. 30 Elm Street. Worcester,
Massachusetts 01609, or call (508) 831-7753.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

30 ELM STREET
WORCESTER MA 01609

NON PROFIT ORG

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester, MA

.-<=;;ri^

-^?f^,«^

*B*»UJ

AGS

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Volume 20 Number 2

Spring 1996

ISSN: 0146-5783

Table of Contents

jA

FEATURES

"Member Input Requested" by Sybil F. Crawford 2

"The Strange Life and Burial of the Outlaw, Elmer McCurdy" by Bill Cooper 3

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th Century: "The Dotted I Gravestones" 4

19th & 20th Century: "Highgate Cemetery" 6

Gravestones & Computers: "Kellington Churchyard Chronological Development

Explored by GIS" by Harold Mytum 7

Conservation News: 10

REVIEWS

REGIONAL COLUMNS

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK.
NOTES & QUERIES

12
.14
.24
.25
.28

CALENDAR

Cover art: Bogomil grave sculpture (12th- 14th century), Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Rubbing by Jessie Lie and Daniel Farber.

Quarterly decorative art by Virginia Rockwood.

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS ~~~~~~~^~~~'"^~^~~'

Contributions and comments to columnists and Editorial Board members are welcome. Issues are mailed six weeks
after deadlines and often take several weeks to reach the membership; please keep that in mind when submitting
time-sensitive material.

DEADLINES FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Summer issue: May 1 Winter issue: November 1

-- Fall issue: August 1 Spring issue: February 1

- QUARTERLY EDITORIAL BOARD

- Mary Cope, Jessie Lie Farber, Miranda Levin, Rosalee & Fred Oakley, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith.

; ADVERTISING PRICES

Busmess card, $15; 1/4 page, $25; 1/2 page, $45; full page insert, $100. Ads are placed as space allows.

Mail contributions to the appropriate person or to the AGS office. Send advertising (with payment) to the AGS
office: 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301 .

a/?y/j^ M/j'ia^ a^f>uMKi^d tA/'cma-A tn-cu' dtin^ anr/ /7J'ede/'va,(io/t.
COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: June 26-29, 1997 (See pages 5 & 23.)

AGS QUARTERLY:

THE BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

ISSN: 0146-578.^ July, 1996

Published quarterly by The Association for Gravestone Studies
278 Mam Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301.

Features

Member Input Requested

Non-traditional cemetery use is becoming increasingly more com-
mon, prompting a survey to assist Cemetery Friends to standardize
their practices. If sufficient responses are received to generate a
meaningful report, the results will be compiled for publication.
Persons active in a cemetery association, regardless of location, are
invited to direct their responses to:

Sybil F. Crawford

10548 Stone Canyon Road #228

Dallas, Texas 75230-4408

Who is responsible for cleanup after the event?
Cemetery staff User group

Must cleanup trash be removed from the cemetery site?

Yes No :

Are "user rules" given to groups booking the cemetery?
Yes No

Name of Submitter:

Address:

Has a formal policy been developed for non-traditional cemetery
uses, such as picnics, weddings, christening receptions?
Yes No

Is a charge levied for non-traditional use' of the cemetery?

Yes No

(if so, please share rate sheet)

If a charge is levied, is a deposit or advance payment required?

Yes No

Have hours and days of use been defined?

Yes No

Is consumption of food and/or drink restricted at these events?

Yes No

Are any age limits set for use? (no children under 12, etc.)
Yes. No

Is evidence of chaperonage required for groups under legal age?

Yes No

Do you carry insurance to protect against damage or injury
resulting from non-traditional cemetery use?
Yes No

In instances in which the cemetery is an entity that cannot be
sued, do you require a "hold harmless" statement from users?
Yes No

Do users contact a specific person and complete a booking form?

Yes No

How far in advance must reservations be booked?

If a funeral is subsequently set for the same time and area as the
event, how is this handled with the booking party?

Cemetery Represented:

The AGS Quarterly Needs Your Artwork!

Are you one of those people who ha\e hundreds
of rubbings and don't know what to do u ith them? Arc
you an artist who likes to draw gravestones? Consider
submitting something for the AGS Quarterly! We always
have a need for cover art and fillers for large and small
spaces.

If you'd like to send rubbings, please do not send
any originals. A letter-sized, high-quality copy works best.
For line art, a letter-sized, high-quality copy would prob-
ably also work if you don't want to part with your origi-
nals. For more information, please contact the AGS office
at 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts
01301; (413) 772-0836.

Many thanks to Mri^inia Rockwood. who submit-
ted the line art used throughout this issue.

AGS ^ueiree/-^: Spring '96 page 2

Features

The Strange Life and Burial of the
Outlaw, Elmer McCurdy

by Bill Cooper
2112 North Crescent
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74075

Following the Civil War, numerous outlaws practiced their
trade in what was known as the Oklahoma and Indian Territories.
The last of the notorious groups of bank and train robbers was the
Dalton-Doolin gang, referred to as the "Wild Bunch." Their years
of terrorizing the territories occurred in the early 1 890s and ended
with the death of Bill Doolin in the summer of 1896 and his burial
in the Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

I documented the following story while researching and
photographing the burial sites of members of the
Wild Bunch and many of its victims. The gang
is remembered most for the gun battle that oc-
curred on September 1, 1893, in the small north-
ern Oklahoma community of Ingalls, where
three U.S. Marshals and two local Ingalls citi-
zens were killed and numerous gang members
and town citizens were wounded. The three
marshals are buried in city cemeteries in Perkins
and Stillwater. Oklahoma, and in Independence,
Kansas. Bill Doolin was killed by U.S. Mar-
shals on August 25, 1896, and returned to
Guthrie, Oklahoma, for burial in the "boot hill
section" of the city cemetery. For many years
his gravestone was a wagon axle standing up-
right about three feet high at the head of the
grave. In the mid-1960s local history buffs re-
placed the wagon axle with a large and attrac-
tive stone.

In viewing the gravestone of Bill
Doolin, It seemed strange to me to see a similar
large and attractive stone about eight feet away
(see photo). This stone is in memory of a small-
time crook named Elmer McCurdy. Why would a petty outlaw be
buried next to such a famous outlaw as Doolin and why were the
gravestones so similar? As I researched those questions, a fasci-
nating story unfolded.

It seems that Elmer McCurdy had visions of following in
the footsteps of the famous outlaws of the 1890s. In reality, his life
and exploits more closely approximate a Three Stooges comedy.
In the fall of 191 1, Elmer and two companions robbed a train near
the small northeastern Oklahoma community of Lenapah, where,
in their haste to blast open the train's safe, they succeeded in not
only blowing off the safe's door but, because they used too much
explosive material, blew the entire side out of the train's mail car.
After splitting up the loot from the train robbery, the gang sepa-
rated, and Elmer headed west into the Osage Hills, where a pursu-
ing posse found and killed him.

The law officers in the posse that killed Elmer took his
body to the funeral home in Pawhuska, where they asked that the

% r

ELMER MCCURDY

FROM

H1R

$imM-

body be embalmed well, as it might be a few days before they could
locate a relative to provide for the burial. The undertaker evidently
followed those instructions; he used a very strong solution of ar-
senic which caused "mummification." When no relatives called
for the body, the funeral home placed the body in a wooden casket
and charged a small viewing fee. Finally, five years later, in 1916,
a "relative" did come to the funeral home and claimed the body.
The funeral home was only too happy to grant the claim and did
nothing to check the claim for accuracy. You guessed it: the person
claiming the body was not a relative but a carnival owner who took
the mummified corpse on a national tour; like the funeral home, he
showed the body for a viewing fee.

The mummified remains of Elmer McCurdy ended up as
a "prop" in a funhouse in California in the 1960s and was later
sold, along with other props, to a movie production company. In
1977 a stagehand for the company accidentally knocked the arm
off of what he thought was a mannequin, only
to discover that it was a real body. To the credit
of the film company, the management would
not rest until they provided for a proper burial
of the body, which led them to seek help in iden-
tification from the staff at the Oklahoma Terri-
torial Museum in Guthrie. Staff, using the mu-
seum archives, provided proper identification
of the body as that of Elmer McCurdy. The
film company asked the City of Guthrie and
the Territorial Museum to receive the body and
give it "proper burial with due honors." The
request was granted and, with the financial sup-
port from Oklahoma history buffs and writers,
was returned to Guthrie for burial on April 22,
1 977, the eighty-eighth anniversary of the Okla-
homa Land Run. In talking with a staff mem-
ber at the Oklahoma Territorial Museum who
was present at the graveside funeral and burial
of Elmer McCurdy, "attendance at the graveside
service was the largest in her memory." Ail
attendees were required to dress in turn-of-the-
century clothing and to arrive either on horse-
back, in a buggy or wagon, or by walking.

So, after some sixty-six years of "wandering" after death,
Elmer McCurdy found his final resting place within eight feet of
his hero. Bill Doolin, surrounded by members of the Wild Bunch,
an outlaw status he never achieved while alive.

For those interested in knowing more of the wild days of
the Oklahoma territories and the colorful characters who settled
the west, a trip to cemeteries and museums in northern Oklahoma
is just the ticket. Don't forget to stop by the Oklahoma Territorial
Museum in Guthrie, the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City,
and the many small town cemeteries where much of Oklahoma's
early history is buried. For further reading on the subject of Okla-
homa lawmen and outlaws of the last century, obtain one of the
many fine books by author Glenn Shirley. *■

AP

ri-

I<j77

AGS Sica^fcr/^.- Spring '96 page '.

Topical Columns

17TH & 18TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES & CARVERS

Ralph Tticker

Box 414, Georgetown, Maine 04548

The Dotted-I Gravestones: Ongoing Research

Boston is the location of some of tine earliest American
gravestones. The names and sometimes the styles of some of these
carvers have been identified, such as William White (c.1673), Elias
Grice (d, 1684), Henry Stevens (1611-C.1690), William Mumford
(1 64 1 - 1 7 1 8), James Foster ( 1 65 1 - 1 732), and Joseph Lamson (1658-
1 722), all of whom produced numbers of gravestones. Before these
men, however, was a carver known only as "The Old Stonecutter,"
who supposedly taught Joseph Lamson and perhaps William
Mumford, as their styles are derivative. The Old Stonecutter's work
can be identified and is found in the greater Boston area, but prima-
rily north of the Charles River in the towns of Charlestown, Cam-
bridge, Watertown, and Maiden. William White is known to have
been an early stonecutter. Little is known about him, but as he is
said to have died in 1673 he couldn't be the person we seek.

n a study of the earliest stones. I came across a number
which, while resembling those of the Old Stonecutter, are suffi-
ciently different to be a group by themselves. These I call the dot-
ted-! stones. They have lettering all in upper case with the unusual
feature that the capital letter "I" has above it an inappropriate trian-

gular dot. The
cular dots between
and often the letter
crossbar which is
in the Boston area
3). Also often
one with two de-
the base {see Fig-
other distinguish-

stones also have cir-
most of the words.
A has a V shaped
not commonly found
(see Figures 1 and
found is the numeral
scending curves at
Lires 2 and 3). An-
ing feature is the fact

that none of the stones has any carving other than the lettering. All
of the stones are carved on a good-quality slate. The lettering is
excellently carved and well spaced. All of the stones have the usual
three-lobed top of this period.

Of the thirty-seven stones in this group, thirty-two have
dates after 1670. The earliest is dated 1666. My opinion is that the
four stones dated 1666, 1667, and 1668 (two stones) may well be
postdated. There are eleven stones dated 1678, double the number
of any previous year, and none thereafter.

Figure 1: Anna Frothingham, 1764. Charlestown, Massachusetts

Figure 2: Elizabeth More. 1764. Charlestown. Massachusetts

•^•m

- #-

F,il':.\nETl•^{opvF-
Nedsept;-mri:'r"

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''M

AGS kWv/c/'^.- Spring '96 page 4

Topical Columns

s lor localiiMi, ihitly stones arc norlli of ihc Charles
River and seven in Boston proper: Charlestown has twenty- four;
Cambridge, three; Watertown, two; King's Chapel, Boston, five;
Copp's Hill, Boston, two. This is the area in which the Old Stone-
cutter and Joseph Lamson were working. Thomas Welsh and Jo-
seph Whittemore are known to have carved gravestones in this area
and to have been associated with Lamson, but they were not old
enough to have carved these stones. The Old Stonecutter is not
known to have used the dotted I or the unusual A, although he did
usually use the numeral one with curves. Lamson, too, never used
the dotted I or the unusual A and rarely used the curved numeral
one. There may be more of these stones in the Boston area, as my
survey is only inclusive of the cemeteries I studied, which were at
Maiden, Watertown, Cambridge, Charlestown, King's Chapel,
Copp's Hill, and the Granary. To this list I added what photographs
I could locate by others.

The unusual use of the letter A having a V-shaped cross-
bar is not found in any of the other carvers of this period. The use of
it is not consistent, however. There are stones that have such letters
as well as the usual letter A in the same inscription. This inconsis-
tency also applies to the dotted L There aie stones having both types
of the letter. The numeral one with curly bottoms can also be found,
and often will appear on the same stone with the regular numeral
one. Contemporary stones of other carvers often have the curvy

■*n p.;y,

Figure 3: Henry Gerrish, 1678. Charlestown, Massachusetts

numeral one. Dots, and sometimes colons between words, are found
on other early stones.

By the 1670s, all other identified carvers of the period used
winged skulls and/or floral borders in addition to the lettered in-
scription. None of the known carvers used dots between words ex-
cept on rare occasions. There are a number of other early stones
crudely carved which were obviously made by inexpert carvers, as
well as a handful of other stones whose carvers will probably never
be identified. .it-

^ii/ie £&-£^, /yj?/

Proposals and 250-word abstracts will be due February 1, 1996.
Papers on gravestone subjects from all disciplines are encouraged.

Exhibits including rubbings, photographs, castings, photographic essays and more

are solicited for the Exhibit Area.

Please send proposals and abstracts to:

Barbara Rotunda

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

For more information on the 1997 conference, see page 23.

AGS &u.artc/'i^: Spring '96 page 5

Topical Columns

19TH & 20TH CENTURY GRAVESTONES

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4
Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Highgate Cemetery

Highgate Cemetery in London appears in our columns oc-
casionally and also in American newspapers. Like Mount Auburn
in Cambridge and Spring Grove in Cincinnati, Highgate is one of
the early "rural" cemeteries, landscaped by Victorians according to
Romantic ideas. They believed that by surrounding the graves with
trees, flowers, the singing of birds, and the rippling of water. Na-
ture (the capital N shows its importance) would speak directly to
visitors, offering solace to mourners and high moral thoughts to
others.

Unlike the first wave of American rural cemeteries that
were private and non-profit in organization, the English were profit-
making institutions. The combination of running out of space and
run-away inflation ended any chance for profit by the 1960s. Many
companies folded their tents and stole away — leaving locked gates
and unkempt and overgrown but green oases. Parliament reacted
to this crisis by requiring the local government to take over any
such abandoned cemetery. Typically the municipalities mow the
lawn in any area that still has room for burials and leave the rest to
rampant growth.

Within the last fifteen years, many Friends groups have
been organized to try to rescue the Victorian monuments and build-
ings that have been long neglected. The pioneermg group that
showed how to get such things done was the Friends of Highgate
Cemetery, which started work in the mid-seventieis. It was so suc-
cessful in fund-raising and attracting volunteers for such tasks as
cutting trees and recording inscriptions from eroding marble that
the borough of Camden was very happy to sell the cemetery to the
Friends, under the national Charities Commission, for a nominal
fee, thereby ridding itself of the drain of its time and money.

One of the first acts of the Friends, while Camden still
held possession, was to hire an experienced landscape architect to
draw up a plan that would ( 1 ) maintain those parts of the cemetery
that had become true nature preserves, (2) allow access to the most
interesting memorials, and (3) provide safe pathways for visitors to
reach family plots or to experience what had made Highgate, along
with Kensai Green, the most desirable place for a Londoner to be
buried in the nineteenth century. Jenny Cox produced a far-reach-
ing plan that still guides the projects and decisions of the Friends.
What looks like an uncontrolled wilderness between the open paths
in the Western Cemetery has been carefully surveyed and recorded
and is really a managed woodland, as suggested.

Western Cemetery, opened in 1 839, is on the western side
of ancient Swains Lane; the "new" cemetery, opened in 1 854, is on
the other and obviously called the Eastern Cemetery. The famous
grave of Karl Marx is in the Eastern Cemetery.

For eight years weekend volunteers cut down trees, espe-
cially sycamores, an invasive weed tree in England. Without the
right types of insects associated with them, sycamores are not at-
tractive to the birds a preserve should encourage. The sale of sawed
and split firewood has been another source of the funds used by the
Friends to match English Heritage contributions awarded for the
restoration of the cemetery's important architectural structures, all
on the western side, most conspicuously the chapels that form the
entrance.

The landscape plan advised leaving the ivy "on the least
interesting graves" because it made a unifying visual effect and
offered shelter for wildlife. Members of AGS might have a ten-
dency to feel that all gravestones are interesting, but to be honest,
aren't there lots of stones that your eye has just learned to skip
over? And remember — those people who spend money on an
expensive stone usually choose a plot close to the road or path where
people will notice it. All of the interesting stones at Highgate,
whether valuable for design or famous because of the person bur-
ied beneath, are accessible.

Two years ago I was in England in the early spring and
helped out with tours on a busy Sunday. I pointed out freshly dug
dirt on a bank above our heads. I had asked a volunteer who was a
trained biologist, and she had assured me that it was indeed a new
fox den and that at that season there was probably a litter of baby
pups in it. The awed visitors whispered for the next five minutes,
and I felt no need to explain why the ivy and trees had not been
cleared. Rarely do we get that close to such wild animals' homes,
but in the peace and long silences of the cemeter>', one fox mother
felt safe, and this in the middle of one of the most built-up metro-
politan areas in the world. It is no wonder that many people, espe-
cially the English who appreciate nature more than do Americans,
should feel it is worth allowing some conventional marble tablets
to be engulfed by the green tide.

However, since there are open stairs to underground tombs
and the stone covers of such stairs have been heaved and displaced
by tree roots, it is dangerous to wander in the Western Cemetery:
thus visitors must pay for a guided tour. The tour follows a set
route. If you want to see something special off that main route, go
to the cemetery Tuesday through Friday (no tours on Monday). The
crowds are large on weekends, but sometimes during the week a
guide will have time to take a small group on a side path. You may
wander where you like in the Eastern Cemetery after paying a pound
for admission.

Do I sound as though I speak with sympathy and author-
ity? I certainly should, for I am the American representative of the
Friends of Highgate Cemetery in America. I collect dues from
Friends living in the United States and Canada and send across a
large single check, absorbing the exchange fee. Tliis saves the group
the three pounds that English banks charge for handling dollar
checks. I also mail out the semi-annual newsletter, handle inquir-
ies, the sale of publications, etc. There's lot more o( interest about
Highgate. If you ha\e questions, I'd be happy to answer them. .

AGS (i!ua/-fcf^.- Spring '96 page 6

Topical Columns

GRAVESTONES AND COMPUTERS

John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

E-mail: MGGW51A@prodigy.com

By the time you read this column the final version of the
AGS database standard will be released. Many people sent sugges-
tions for improvements to the program. The final version has sev-
eral nice new features, a new report, and several bugs fixed. There
are now over forty people using the program to record gravestones.
It works well on XT (8086) to Pentium computers using operating
systems from DOS 3.3 to Windows 95.

To order the AGS standard gravestone recording program
(IBM version only), send $19.95 plus $2.00 shipping to:

AGS

278 Main Street, Suite 207

Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301

For those who purchased the Beta version, send your upgrade cer-
tificate with $10.00 (shipping free) to receive the final release.

I recently got an internet message from Harold Mytum,
an AGS member in England. He has recently completed a project
using a geographical information system (GIS) to map and analyze
the Kellington Churchyard. This is an excellent match of computer
technology and cemetery research. Harold agreed to write an ar-
ticle about his project. The following is his article.

Kellington Churchyard Chronological
Development Explored by GIS

by Harold Mytum

Department of Archjeology, University of York

The King's Manor, YOl 2EP, UK

E-mail: hcml@york.ac.uk

English rural graveyards are complex archaeological sites,
usually with a historic core where many generations have been bur-
ied, and less favoured areas used only in times of population ex-
pansion. During the medieval period very few burials were identi-
fied by stone markers, and these were often subsequently removed,
some being reused in alterations to the church fabric. As the loca-
tion of burials was forgotten over the generations, areas were re-
used for burials in a cyclical manner, leading to complex intercut-
ting sequences of burials and a gradual rising of the ground level.

Only with the increasing popularity of stone markers did the prac-
tice of reuse of burial spaces become inhibited. The external
gravcmarkcr became common from the late seventeenth to late eigh-
teenth centuries, depending on the region, but archtuologists any-
where in England have the benefit of at least two centuries of mate-
rial culture change m a spatial context.

Spatial patterning within sites has not been greatly con-
sidered in Britain, Europe, or America, but by using a geographical
information system (GIS) at Kellington, a large rural graveyard could
be examined and analyzed. The gravestones were recorded using a
standard recording form, with measurements for the size of the
monument and coded data concerning shape, material, and decora-
tion. The inscription was also transcribed. There is also room on
the form for a photograph. In addition, further forms were filled
out, off-site, regarding the personal information of each individual
commemorated on the memorials. A detailed plan of all memori-
als, structures, paths, and trees was produced and then digitized
and linked to the database for GIS analysis. In total there were 701
in situ stones. Of these, 65 1 were in good enough condition for the
date to be deciphered, up to 1989.

With data sorted by Paradox and examined spatially with
ARC CAD it has proved possible to identify first dispersed clus-
ters, then cyclical reuse, and, finally, expansion. The earliest exter-
nal inemorial is dated 1703, though there are relatively few monu-
ments from the eighteenth century, so for the current analysis they
have all been grouped together; subsequent memorials have been
grouped by decade and the study ends with the 1980s. In this note,
however, only a few selected decades can be illustrated.

The eighteenth-century memorials display clear zoning,
with loose clusters particularly to the south of the church. This
area had higher social value in that the main entrance to the church,
via the porch, is on the south wall of the nave, and so the main path
runs across the graveyard to this from the gate (Figure 1, left). There
are also ideological reasons for avoiding the north, associated as it
was with death and damnation rather than salvation; the north door
was termed the "Devil's door." In contrast, the eastern end is near
the altar and for this reason it was a popular medieval burial loca-
tion, a preference continued in the eighteenth century. The areas of
popularity remained similar through the 1 820s, though there was a
gradual expansion of the areas being used for memorials towards
the gate and to the southwest. It may be of some significance that
throughout this time headstones were found only on the periphery
of the burial area marked by ledgers and tombs, suggesting that the
lesser status families that nevertheless could afford some perma-
nent markers were placed in slightly less favoured areas of the
churchyard. Clearly only a small number of burials were being
marked by memorials, but these were in dispersed clusters.

In the 1 830s the north was gradually utilized from the more
desirable east end, with some infilling elsewhere (Figure 1, right).
However, pressure on burial space was intensifying, reflected in
the increasing popularity of curbs to mark the full plots. The solu-
tions to perceived overcrowding in the old graveyard was expan-
sion, with an extension opened to the south. In the 1 870s the grave-
yard extension was extremely popular (Figure 2, left). The burials
were laid out in much more organized rows, the whole area obvi-
ously having been laid out in advance. This efficiency in the use of

AGS &u.artc/'^.' Spring '96 page 7

Topical Columns

space is inspired by cemeteries, something also noted in the contin-
ued frequent use of curbs to mark plots. The business of burial had
become more commercialized, a mirror of Victorian interests and
obsessions. This pattern continued through to the 1910s, when, as
the extension began to become full, cyclical reuse came into play
(Figure 2, right). Some attempt was made at filling in the old grave-
yard. This involved the reuse of burial spaces without memorials,
and so considered suitable for use at this time. Once again, the
southern and eastern areas were most desired, a process continued
through the 1920s.

The problem of limited available burial space in the grave-
yard was resolved in the 1930s once again by expansion further to
the south (Figure 3, left). As herbed monuments were popular at
this time, and many more individuals desired and could afford me-
morials, the filling up here is even more obvious. Gradually the
burials spread from west to east across the narrow strip of burial
ground, with the only change being the shift from herbed monu-
ments back to headstones in the 1960s, and at the same time the
appearance of cremation plots. These are much smaller and are
marked only by a small slab. A separate area in the east was re-
served for them, though the cremations and inhumations are now
about to meet, and a third graveyard extension will soon be needed

(Figure 3, right). The impact of increased memorialization is to
prevent reuse of graveyard spaces, and at Kellinglon this has led to
expansion into neighbouring agricultural land.

The use of GIS to interrogate the data spatially has al-
lowed the development of Kellington churchyard to be understood
in a fine-grained way which can only be briefly shown here. The
apparently informal but in fact highly regulated earlier scattered
groups of memorials, reflecting socially significant local families,
can be contrasted with later developments where dense packing,
high degree of organization, and conformity of memorials were the
norms. The celebration of death has become a less significant arena
for social statements during the later twentieth century. Control by
the church has become stronger; familial loyalty is weaker, jti^

Figure 1

AGS &aa/-ie^'/^.- Spring '96 page 8

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KELLINGTON CHURCHVAHD SURVEY

_BBPH
°= ■ °

Stones da-ted 1931-1940

D

KELLINGTDN CHURCHYARD SURVEY

Stones dated 1911-1980

Figure 2

KELL1^GTDN CHURCHYASO SURVEY

stones dated 1971-1980

Figure 3

AGS &MU-te^/^.- Spring '96 page 9

Topical Columns

Conservation News

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

More on Using Shaving Cream to
Read Tombstone Inscriptions

Marsha Melnyk spoke at the Late Night sessions at last
year's AGS conference about her experiences in photographing
gravestones whose motifs and inscriptions were faint or eroded.
She used the term "soaping" to describe the use of shaving cream
as a medium for providing contrast, having found that the usual
techniques were unsuccessful in capturing detail on film.

Your editor solicited opinions from three professional con-
servators as to the efficacy of using shaving cream on stone for the
purpose described above. (One of which was published in the win-
tered AGS Quarterly. M.L)

My summary of their responses: The "mirror" technique
is by far the recommended method. Assuming the stone is sound,
good results can be obtained by rubbing the surface with grass clip-
pmgs. Moistened soil (mud) can be helpful. Or usmg a poulticing
technique consisting of an absorbent material or powder (kaolin,
diatomaceous earth) mixed with water to form a paste. Applied
with a plastic spatula and removing the excess with a squigee, poul-
ticing could produce a good contrast. Removal by using a lot of
water (a hose is ideal) and scrubbing with a soft brush is a must
whenever any foreign material is applied to a stone.

Conservators' concerns with shaving cream are traced to
the "sticky" stuff, primarily oils, among its chemical ingredients
and the tendency of porous stone to rapidly absorb these chemicals.
Using shaving cream should be a last resort procedure. Thoroughly
pre-wetting the stone will diminish absorption. Speed is the key to
removing any foreign substance from the stone. Thoroughly clean-
ing with copious amounts of water and a soft scrub brush immedi-
ately after photographing is essential. Rain, snow, sleet, or hail are
not substitutes for thorough, manual washing.

There seems to be less concern with non-porous stone such
as slate or granite. However, if any foreign substance is introduced
to the surface of non-porous stone, the same instruction applies:
manual washing with plenty of water and a soft scrub brush.

Another technique found useful in reading faded inscrip-
tions is using a flashlight at night. Clearly one must insure that
local authorities are aware of your intentions. And never go alone!

Another Way to Read Tombstone Inscriptions

One way to get the words from a deteriorating stone: us-
ing a video camera, take a picture of the stone froin all angles. A

shaded photo does best, so you might need someone to shade the
words as you take the picture. Convert the picture into your com-
puter and save that photo. Finally, run a graphics editing software
package (like Photoshop or Color It) and keep adjusting the con-
trast until every word is clear. Although time-consuming and pains-
taking, it works; what's best about this method is you get to read
the stone without having to so much as touch it. (This suggestion
was found on the internet by Cora Ott.)

Removing Graffiti from Gravestones

Graffiti defaces and damages gravestones. A recent addi-
tion to the list of materials that provide guidance in removing graf-
fiti from gravestones (among other types of masonry) is a publica-
tion from The National Park Service's series. Preservation Briefs.
Entitled "Removing Graffiti from Historic Masonry," this is #38 of
the series and Martin E. Weaver was Project Director.

This booklet is a valuable resource for anyone, profes-
sional or practitioner, faced with the task of removing graffiti from
natural stone, clay materials, or cementatious material. Urgency
for treatment is expressed in the very first sentence: "Removing
graffitti as soon as it appears is the key to its elimination — and
recurrence."

Copies may be obtained from the Technical Services Cen-
ter, New York Landmarks Conservancy, 141 Fifth Avenue. New
York, New York 10010.

Available from AGS are two publications with helpful sug-
gestions for cleaning gravestones.

Lynelte Strangstad's book, A Graveyard Preservation
Primer, has a section beginning on page 60, "Cleaning Old Grave-
stones," and Tracy Coffin Walther's leaflet, "Review and Evalua-
tion of Selected Proprietary Materials for Cleaning Masonr\- Burial
Monuments," are both available from the AGS office, 278 Main
Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301.

A Landscape Historian Replies

A recent letter from Scott G. Kunst. landscape and pres-
ervation planner in Ann Arbor, Michigan, called attention to the
article describing removal of vegetation in East Hartford Bur> ing
Ground (AGS Newsletter. Spring 1995, page 7). Scoli pointed out
that "Plants are an essential part of an old burial ground and de-
serve the same respect and care as any other historic artifact." While
not mentioned in the subject article (a regrettable omission) the
vegetation in question was found to be common in the area and of
no historic value in the landscape.

Scott's article, "Preserving Plants in Historic Burial
Grounds," which can be found in the National Trust's booklet, Pres-
enation of Historic Buiying Grounds, helps the reader appreciate
the possibilities for discovering and prolecting iiisioric plains. ''I'our
editor is reminded of the case in which a cemetery gained protected
status because a rare prairie grass grew within its boundaries.

AGS &tuu-(cr4.- Spring '96 page 10

Topical Columns

Composites in Chicago's Cemeteries

Helen Sclair continues to "rummage about" Chicago's
cemeteries making discoveries and responding to historical puzzles.
She writes of composites (artificial stones). In her view, "all com-
posites are the result of casting, molding, or hand modeling of a
mixture of materials." Composites have been used in Chicago
cemeteries since the 1840s. many of the earliest made from sand
dredged from Lake Michigan. This sand was mixed with locally
made cement and molded into small obelisks and other columnar
shapes.

In the twentieth century there were additives, such as as-
bestos, included in the mix used to make composites. These mark-
ers are most often representations of religious saints or family mem-
bers. The later composites were fashioned to resemble limestone,
marble, granite and bronze. The company which manufactured
these markers had a long history of molding statues from plaster
and had also imported Italian marble statuary. When a substantial
excise tax was levied on large marble pieces, the company began
importing marble dust which they then molded into the desired
shape. During the First World War federal regulations prevented
shipping non-essential marble and granite by rail, thus encourag-
ing the monument industry to turn to cement for much of its pro-
duction.

Sclair suggests that all of these composites, particularly
those which include asbestos, should be avoided by "rubbers and
scrubbers." She wonders about the possibilities for conserving these
materials when they need human intervention to repair breaks or
when cleaning is required. She doubts whether it is feasible to
effect a successful restoration.

Today, at least one monument maker is molding
gravemarkers using marble dust and polyester resin of which the
latter ingredient is UV sensitive.

Be assured that not all of Chicago's markers are compos-
ites. While only a small percentage of the total markers, compos-
ites are worthy of attention.

Readers are invited to comment directly to: Helen Sclair,
849 West Lill Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323.

An Upcoming Program:

Restoration of Marble Gravemarkers/Monuments

A cooperative effort of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism
and the Ontario Monument Builders Association, this two-day pro-
gram is scheduled to be held in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in No-
vember, the exact dates to be announced. The cost of the program
is $200.00. The purpose is to study restoration techniques which
are the least damaging and can be performed at a reasonable cost.
In the announcement, it is stated that the program content will hold
interest for several disciplines.

A visit to Kingston's cemeteries will be a must for pro-
gram participants. 1995 AGS conference attendees will recall that
historic Cataraqui Cemetery is located in Kingston and was the topic
of a paper presented by fellow-member Dr. Jennifer McKendry.
She is also author of Weep Not for Me: A Photographic Essay and

History of Cataraqui Cemetery. (A review of this can he found on
page 13. M.L.)

Persons interested in the exact dates and obtaining more
detailed information concerning the program are invited to contact:

Tamara Anson-Cartwright - Conservation Advisor

Ontario Ministry of Tourism

Cultural Programs Branch

77 Bloor Street W. -2nd Floor

Toronto, Ontario M7A 2R9

Canada
Telephone: (416)314-7133
Fax: (416)314-7175

(Remember that current U.S. letter postage to Canada is 460, post-
cards 300.)

For the "electronically connected," it is now easy to in-
vestigate other similar programs. The address of the National Park
Service's Cultural Resources home page is:

http://www.cr.mps.gov/

where you can select "Preservation Programs," under which there
is a sub-selection for "Education and Training." Submitted by Sybil
Crawford. '"^

S^'§'^ ^veei

y/^

M/t S^rc/il^^dt

Now that the office has moved,
the Archives are too far away for Jo
Goeselt to easily manage.
Therefore, we are looking for a volunteer

If you have an interest in documents

and photos relating to gravestones,

have an attention to detail,

a few hours to volunteer every month,

and can travel to the Archives

several times a year,
please contact the AGS office
for more information.

AGS &eia/'tc/-^.- Spring '96 page 1 1

Reviews

REVIEW

r^s—~-

Eric Brock

Post Office Box 5877
Shreveport, Louisiana 71 135-5877

Making Educated Decisions:

A Landscape Preservation Bibliography

Edited by Charles A. Bimbaum and Cheryl Wagner

Published by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service,

Cultural Resources Preservation Assistance Division,

Washington D.C.

1994, $5.50

To order, write to the attention of: Superintendent of Documents

or call (202) 512-1 800. Ask for stock number 024-005-01 142-1.

Review by Barbara Rotundo

This book will not be of interest to those of you who fo-
cus solely on gravestones, but if you are concerned at all with the
preservation and restoration of cemeteries, this annotated bibliog-
raphy offers support. After using the subject index to find directly
relevant items, try thumbing through the pages, where you will find,
for instance, that #253 tells you the dates various ornamental plants
were introduced to the United States, or #437, "How to 'Do Arche-
ology' without Really Digging." Many of the books and articles
treat parks, which, you'll remember, in the United States descend
from the rural cemetery movement.

New Newsletters
About Cemeteries &

Review by Eric Brock

Gravestones

There are several newsletter-type publications now avail-
able for those who desire them. For some time our own AGS News-
letter (a.k.a Quarterly) was pretty much alone in the world of grave-
stone studies. Now, however, we are joined by several sister publi-
cations which may appeal to AGS members as well. Happily, none
are rivals; in fact, they all really supplement each other. The more
the better is my own philosophy, for it shows that our field of inter-
est is gaining momentum across the nation. Among those avail-
able:

Tomb With A View: Publication began in the Spring of
1995. This is a quarterly newsletter. Brief — only four to seven

pages — it is likely to grow as time goes by and more contributors
to its pages emerge. Right now it is largely the work of its creator.
Katie Karrick of Cleveland Heights. Ohio. Ms. Karrick includes in
her issues a calendar of events takmg place at or regarding cem-
eteries nationally, with special emphasis on the Midwest. Walking
tours of cemeteries, with dales and times, are also listed, as well as
some brief book reviews and interviews. "Tomb With a View" is
available for $15.00 a year from TWAV, 2754 Hampshire Road #4.
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44106; phone/fax (216) 932-5512.

Solitude in Stone is another new publication. Also a quar-
terly, it first appeared in late 1994. Running around five or six
pages on average, "Solitude in Stone" contains brief essays, genea-
logical research info, gravemarkers trivia, anecdotes, and a variety
of gravemarker data, largely from the Michigan region but not lim-
ited to any specific area of the country. It is a photocopy format but
that doesn't stop "Solitude in Stone" from including some interest-
ing photos. Like "TWAV" above, I suspect it is destined to grow.
Subscription information is available from its publisher, Clyde A.
Chamberlin, 1228 West Saginaw Street, East Lansing, Michigan
48823-2432; phone (517) 337-0971.

Grave Matters is the newest of the new cemetery and
gravemarker newsletters now available. Also a quarterly, it is pub-
lished by Sharon Thomason of Dahlonega, Georgia, and while also
dealing with the nation as a whole — and even points abroad —
this newsletter focuses on the South. Research data, anecdotal in-
formation, genealogy, funerary art, as well as cemeter>' trivia of all
sorts fill the pages of "Grave Matters." Subscriptions are SI 2.00 a
year and are available from Ms. Thomason at Route 7, Box 1620.
Dahlonega, Georgia 30533.

There are also numerous organizations, cemetery "friends"
groups, and cemeteries themselves which publish regular monthly,
bi-monthly, or quarterly newsletters. The above publications list
some of these and give their addresses. Some can now be con-
tacted via the Internet as well. In the southern part of the country,
one of the most active regional organizations involved in cemeten.
preservation is Save our Cemeteries, a New Orleans-tiased group
involved with the preservation of the New Orleans Metro area's
unique cemetery heritage. Save Our Cemeteries (SOC) conducts
tours, training workshops, and restoration and clean-up programs.
Even if one isn't in the Crescent City, those interested in southern
regional cemetery preservation may find their work to be of inter-
est and value. SOC's monthly newsletter, "SOCCGR.\M." is avail-
able for a nominal membership fee. Information on membership
and subscriptions is available from SOC. Post Office Box 58105.
New Orleans, Louisiana 70158-8105; phone (504) 588-9357.

Some New Books to Note:

Reviews by Eric Brack

Several interesting books on cemeteries and gra\ cinarkers hasc
recently been published. Published last year. Epitaphs Found in
Ponipey Cemeteries is an admittedly regional book, but a most in-
teresting one nonetheless. The book's focus is the Pompe\. New
York, area and its numerous late eightccnlh- and carK ninetccnih-

AGS (Su-of-tc/'/^: Spring '96 page 12

Reviews

century gravemarkcis. The product of several year's eft'ort by the
Pompey Historical Society, the book reflects the society's work:
During the course ofcleaning, restoring, and maintaining Pompey's
historic burying grounds, many fascinating epitaphs were (pardon
the pun) uncovered. "Epitaphs" is a small, papcrbound book of
fifty pages with nice line drawings and interesting data; it is also
indexed. Its nine compilers/editors are to be commended for their
work. Such a book is worth emulating in all parts of the country for
it raises awareness of the value of our historic cemeteries. The
Pompey Historical Society sells the book for $6.00 plus postage.
For more information contact Nancy Edwards at 2043 Gardner Road,
Cazenovia, New York 13035-9501; (315) 662-3668.

Another interesting book out in 1995 was Weep Not For
Me: A Photographic Essay and History of the Cataraqui Cem-
etery. Again, this is a regionally-focused book but also worthy of
emulation. Also paperbound, it is forty-three pages in length, but
those forty-three pages include an interesting brief history of this
historic Victorian cemetery of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, as well
as a dozen plates of striking black and white photos of the cemetery
by Jennifer McKendry, author of the book. The history is thorough
and includes historic photographs and excellent drawings by the
author. The profusely illustrated, indexed book sells for $15.00
plus $3.00 postage (Canadian) and is available from Ms. McKendry
at 1 Baiden Street, Kingston, Ontario K7M 2J7 Canada; (613) 544-
9535).

Yet another interesting new item is entitled Reflections:
An Innovative Audio Tour of Mount Auburn Cemetery. First re-
leased in July, 1995, Reflections is indeed an innovative tour. It is
an audio cassette tape, one hour long, intended for play while driv-
ing or walking through the cemetery. Of course, Cambridge, Mas-
sachusetts' Mt. Auburn is one of America's great cemeteries.
Founded in 1831, it was one of the pioneers of the rural cemetery
movement that so inspired the modern American concept of the
cemetery and set the standard for Victorian burial grounds. Data
about the cemetery, its history, its place in American sociology and
history, and local historical information about some of the more
than 87,000 Boston area residents buried there makes for a fasci-
nating tour, even if the listener isn't at the cemetery! The package
contains not only the cassette but also a fine map of the cemetery
all packaged in an attractive book-sized case. The tape is available
for $12.00 ($15.00 by mail) from Friends of Mt. Auburn Cemetery,
580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02 138-55 17;
(617/ 547-7105. The tape can be rented for the day by cemetery
visitors for $5.00.

Incidentally, a similar audio tape tour is also available for
New Orleans' historic Metairie Cemetery, which is a fascinating
combination of the traditional New Orleanian above-ground cem-
etery and the late Victorian rural cemetery (only in Louisiana!).
This tape is available only for rental by cemetery visitors, however.
It's worth mentioning, though, since many tourists miss Metairie,
one of the Big Easy's most important burial grounds, since it isn't
convenient to the French Quarter (that important but tiny little frac-
tion of a fraction of New Orleans which most tourists end up think-
ing is the whole city). Metairie — also New Orleans' safest cem-
etery — is located at the convergence of Metairie Road, City Park

Boulevard, and the New Orleans Expressway. Within a stone's
throw are also located numerous other historic cemeteries. Visitors
to New Orleans with an interest in cemeteries and gravemarkers
shouldn't miss a visit to that section of town. From the Quarter just
follow Canal Street due north (away from the river) until it ends at
City Park Boulevard — there's a nineteenth century cemetery on
every corner.

Lastly, and well worth mentioning is Haskoy Cemetery:
Typology of Stone, by Mina Rosen, published by Tel Aviv Univer-
sity and the University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. It is a fasci-
nating volume on the history, ethnology, and art of Haskoy Jewish
Cemetery in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 1582, Haskoy Cemetery
is still open and used for burials by Istanbul's Jewish community.
Located on the northern bank of the Golden Horn, Haskoy contains
some 22,000 gravemarkers, many of which reflect an interesting
melding of Jewish, Islamic, and Byzantine Western culture. Intri-
cate artwork, inscriptions in Hebrew, Arabic, and Roman charac-
ters, flowers left on graves in the Western manner, pebbles left on
graves in the Eastern manner, stone slab markers carved to resemble
Moslem prayer rugs yet directed not towards Mecca but towards
Jerusalem (though, from Haskoy, these are more or less the same
direction), Ottoman art, traditional Turkish motifs, stars of
David. . ..All these are the beauty, mystery, and dichotomy of Haskoy
Cemetery. Ms. Rosen has produced a striking book, full of beauti-
ful photos, fine maps, and impressive scholarly data. The price is
no less impressive at $150.00. Definitely a book for persons with
an abiding interest in the subject, but a marvelous book for anyone
interested in gravestones.

New Review Editor

I regret that this must be my last column as AGS Review
Editor. For the past five years it has been my pleasure to contribute
book reviews to this publication, and for the past two years to serve
as its Review Editor. But my ever more hectic schedule simply
does not allow me to continue in that role. I wish my successor all
the luck in the world!

/ am happy to report that long-time AGS member Mary-
Ellen Jones has agreed to take on the job of review editor Please
send materials to her at 2 Los Amigos Court. Orinda. California
94563. M.L --t'-

advertisement

HAND CARYcD

lETTERlM

G IM STOMc

rioumann (Jsnidari

433 Bedford Sireel

(617) 862-158.3

Lexinqion,

MassacUselts 02173

AGS Sicaric/'i!^: Spring "96 page 13

Regional Columns

NORTHWEST & FAR WEST

Alaska. California.

Colorado, Hawaii. Idaho,

Montana. Nevada. Oregon.

Utah, Washington. Wyoming.

Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia

Bob Pierce (The Western Deadbeat)

208 Monterey Boulevard

San Francisco, California 94131

San Francisco de Asis Mission

The San Francisco de Asis Mission (better known as Mis-
sion Dolores) was founded June 29, 1776, sixth in the chain of
Franciscan missions established in California by Fathers Fancisco
Palou, Pedro Cambon, Jose Nocedal, and Thomas de la Pefia. It
was named for Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan
order. October 8, 1776, was the date of the formal opening of the
Mission.

As a rule the church fathers were buried inside the mis-
sion churches, near the altar. In the churchyard were buried Chris-
tian Indians and others of the faith from the communities and ranches
in the vicinity.

It is to The Burial Register that one goes to for informa-
tion on burials in the church and churchyard. It is rich in historical
detail but would prove tedious to the ordinary reader. Thus only
the most important items of information will be cited here.

The first burial took place on December 21,1 776. On that
day the body of Maria de la Luz Mufioz, wife of the soldier Jose
Manuel Valencia, was laid to rest in the presidio church. Often
each presidio had its own small burial plot where soldiers were
interred. San Francisco's presidio burying ground has become a
national cemetery for the army.

The first burial to occur in the church of the Mission was
No. 5 in The Register. On March 4, 1777, Francisca Alvarez, nine
year old daughter of the soldier Joaquin Alvarez, was buried after
having received The Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction.
In connection with this burial the phrase "in the church of this mis-
sion" was used for the first time.

The first Indian burial "in the church of this mission" took
place on October 20, 1777, Fr. Palou writes. The body of Pedro,
four years old, baptized on August 28, 1777 as a child of pagan
parents, was then interred. The little boy had fallen into a copper
kettle full of hot water and died. It was the ninth entry in the book.

On November 10, 1780, Fr. Noriega gave burial "in the

church of this mission" to the body of Dona Josefa Carabajal y
Muchuca, native of the city of Mexico, wife of Don Jose Joaquin
Davila, "surgeon of these settlements and presidios, and resident of
the presidio of San Francisco."

In connection with burial No. 46. on October 2. 1 78 1 . the
phrase "in the cemetery of the church of this mission" is used by Fr.
Palou, and thereafter by the other fathers. This would seem to mean
that the cemetery adjoining the church dates from this period.

An entry of importance is No. 138, which states that on
June 19, 1785, Jose Ramon Moriana Herrero was buried within the
body of the church for which the foundations had been laid at the
mission. He was a native of Tulancingo, Mexico, and married to
Francesca Xaveria, a neophyte of the mission. He was a native of
the mission. He had received all the Sacraments. From this en tr\' it
is clear that the church, which Fr. Palou had begun to build, was not
completed during this time.

About one month later, at 10:00 p.m. July thirteenth. Don
Jose Joaquin Moraga, the commander of the presidio, passed away
after receiving all The Sacraments. The body was interred on July
15, 1785. "in the church of this mission." as Fr. Palou writes.

In April, 1804. Fr. Ramon Abella notes in The Burial Reg-
ister that on January 25 a canoe with fourteen neophyte men aboard
set out from the eastern shore to cross over the bay. A storm arose
later on, in which Fr. Abella believed all the men. thirteen married
and one single, were drowned, although some thought that the men
had become victims of savages from Carquinez Straits. The names
are given in The Register.

A sadder entry was No. 2059: "On April 24. 1806." it
says "commenced the epidemic of measles. From its consequences
on various days died the following, to whom all I administered The
Holy Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction, with the ex-
ception of three or four who died suddenly or without my knowl-
edge that they were ill." Fr. Abella then enters the names of Nos.
2061-2295 buried on different days UU June 27. 1806. Of these,
forty-six were male adults and thirty-five boys, one hundred seven-
teen female adults and thirty-eight girls under nine years, or two
hundred thirty-six Indian neophytes in two months. This was the
first appearance of the disease of which the Indians knew nothing
before the advent of the whites.

The last entry in The First Book of Burials is dated De-
cember 31, 1809, and bears No. 2740; of these, according to Fr.
Abella, sixty-five were white people and 2.675 were Indians: 1,149
were male Indians and 1 ,526 were females, hence 377 more deaths
of female than male Indians.

"On March 28, 1830," Fr. Thomas Estenaga notes in enii\
no. 5 158, "the body of the captain of this presidio of San Francisco.
Don Luis Antonio Arqiiella was interred in the cemetery."

The following entry speaks for itself. "No. 5403. April
30, 1838. I gave burial to the body of the neophyte Anastasio,
whom they killed atrociously at Verba Buena. Many of those par-
ticipating in the murder called themselves de razon. He received
no Sacraments whatever." Signed Fr. Jose Maria Gutierrez.

Some notables buried in the Mission Dolores cemetery
include:

Francisco de Haro, first alcalde (mayor) of the city.

AGS &u.arlc/'/^.- Spring '96 page 14

Regional Columns

Luis Ontonio Arquello, first California-born Mexican gov-
ernor of tiic slate. It is about bis sister, Concepcion Arquello, ibal
one of the state's most romantie love stories is told. A Russian,
Nicolai Petrovich Razarov, paid court to her but was called back to
Russia before the marriage. He promised to return but died on his
journey home. Concepcion Arquello remamed true to him through
the years. Finally she entered a convent and spent a long and use-
ful life in work for the church. She is buried in the Camielita Cem-
etery in Benecia.

The Mission has been rebuilt and restored a number of
times. The cemetery was vandalized a number of years ago but it,
too, has been restored.

Today Mission Dolores in one of the main attractions^ fpr
tourists.

SOUTHWEST

Arizona, Arkansas.
Louisiana, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641
Phone: (602)647-7005
Fax: (602)647-7136

A Ceramic Gravemarker Discovered in Arkansas

By Sybil F. Crawford

10548 Stone Canyon Road #228

Dallas, Texas 75230-4408

Now well beyond the century mark in point of age, a ce-
ramic gravemarker (the survivor of a pair) has been discovered in
Benton, Saline County, Arkansas. If there were ever other pottery
markers in the county, the evidence has long since disappeared. As
the work of Saline county's potters has undergone careful scrutiny
over the years, it seems likely that the markers in question were
"occasional" pieces and represent the potter's entire output for cem-
etery use.

Benton, less than twenty miles southwest of Little Rock,
is in the heart of a "red clay belt," and many potters were attracted
to the area following the Civil War. Most worked there briefly,
then moved on or took up dissimilar occupations. During the most
productive years, between 1868 and 1898, there were as many as a
dozen potteries operating in Benton at various times. The world-
famous Niloak pottery process was discovered in Benton by the
late Charles Dean Hyten about 1912, and pieces of this art pottery

now draw high prices as collectors' items. ("Niloak" is a reversal
of "kaolin," an Indian word for clay.) With the exception of Hyten's
operation, most of the potteries produced functional items such as
crocks, jars, inexpensive vases, planters, and novelty items. In spite
of its wealth of raw clay. Saline County's reign as a commercial
pottery center lasted less than seventy-five years and, with Hyten's
accidental drowning death in 1944, came to an abrupt halt.

Much of Arkansas retained its pioneer aspect well beyond
1850. The Civil War played havoc with the local economy, and
few formal gravemarkers were found in the state's small towns or
rural areas before 1900. Oklahoma had not yet achieved statehood,
and as late as the 1870s trouble continued to brew along the wild-
and-woolly border Arkansas shared with Indian Territory. Given
the time and setting, it seems improbable that anyone questioned
what constituted "cemetery art."

Little Rock was considered a "metropolitan area" and, from
the standpoint of memorialization, a study in extremes. A few of
the city's elitists ordered finely-carved Victorian pieces, brought in
by riverboat from Memphis, Louisville, and New York, and included
the work of "name" sculptors such as Launitz, Muldoon. Bullett,
and Salve. Families whose means rendered them incapable of com-
peting in such showy display frequently opted for nothing at all.
Residents of rural areas were more likely to make some attempt at
memorialization, no matter how primitive or amateurish it might
seem to their city counterparts. Even today, "scraped ground" land-
scaping is practiced in some of Saline County's rural cemeteries,
and gravehouses were not considered an oddity at the turn of the
century.

In 1 877, a family named Salyer was making its way through
Arkansas on the Military Road,
a favored route to Texas. While
passing through Benton, a young
son and daughter of this family
died and were hastily buried at
Lee Cemetery. The family
pressed on almost immediately
and the unconventional
gravemarkers suggest that they
neither took part in their selec-
tion nor paid for them. It seems
more likely that the potter was
simply playing "Good Samari-
tan" when he crafted these un-
usual markers and set them in
place.

The two markers were
identical: nineteen inches high
with a top opening nine inches
in diameter and a fitted "lid" pro-
tecting the hollow interior. Pro-
duced from local clay, they were
of smooth finish, the cream color
exterior now speckled with Figure 1. Marker inscription on

brown after years of weathering. '"«^>'' ^"'^ P'"""' '' '"'''"'' <OCA)
TT. 1. 1 . 11 J- on rim of lid. Photo courtesy of

The girl s marker eventually dis- ; „ „

Arlene Hyten Rainey.

AGS &ujzffiy/^.' Spring '96 page 15

Regional Columns

appeared. The boy's marker remained in Lee Cemetery more than
a century before its removal to Benton's Gann Museum by Patrick
Dunnahoo (a local author, historian, and preservationist) at the re-
quest of Imogene Dunlap, a granddaughter of potter Atchison. The
museum is located two blocks south of Saline County's newly re-
stored courthouse on Benton's town square.

Although a photograph of the boy's marker (Figure J)
might lead one to believe the inscription was painted on the sur-
face, it is, in fact, incised. Through years of weathering or some
obscure coloring process, the lettering appears a dark grey. The
potter was not entirely uninformed about his subject, as the inscrip-
tion reads:

Whether significant or not, it seems worthwhile to com-
pare the obvious similarities between the shape and dimensions of
the Salyer gravemaker and those associated with the common stone-
ware churn found in households of that period (and an object famil-
iar to our potter).

We are left with some questions. Was the Salyer marker
designed and crafted with use as a gravemarker for its sole intent?
Or, are we observing another instance of necessity becoming the
mother of invention? If so, are we seeing a common household
item diverted from its original used by the addition of an inscrip-
tion? Does uncommon usage constitute Folk art? Further inquiries
are being made, and reader comment is welcomed. - ^-

C.C. Salyer

Age 15 yr 4 mo. 11 da.

Died Sep. 9th 1878

The red soil's staining properties account for the discoloration
around the base of the marker and show the depth to which it was
set. At ground level, the marker has been badly disfigured by care-
less mowing practice, a sad and all-too-frequent commentary on
grounds care.

It is supposed that the holes near the bottom of the marker
(Figure 2) were placed there during the "turnmg" process, perhaps
for insertion of a simple hand-
held tool which would enable
the potter to move it about in its
"green" state or remove it more
easily after the firing process.
Arkansas' climate is given to
extremes of both heat and cold
and the ceramic marker's hollow
interior has likely contributed to
its proven durability.

"OCA" is incised in
script on the rim of the lid (Fig-
ure I), being the initials of the
potter, Oliver C.Atchison. Lift-
ing the lid, it is apparent that the
cream color penetrates the clay
throughout and was not a mere
surface application.

Following his sojourn
in Benton, we are told that
Atchison moved to nearby
Malvern, Arkansas, where he
built a stoneware plant and was
joined in business by his son,
Thomas N.Atchison. Known as
Malvern Pottery & Stoneware
Company before 1900, the firm

later assumed the name of Arkansas Brick & Tile company, and
was bought in 1927 by nationally known Acme Brick company.
The firm's early stoneware output included a wide variety of items
such as jugs, crocks, and churns.

Figure 2: One of a pair ofpoUery

markers, Benton, Saline County.

Arkansas. Photo courtesy of

Arlene Hyten Rainey.

MIDWEST

Illinois. Indiana. Iowa.
Kansas. Michigan. Minnesota.
Missouri. Nebraska. North
Dakota. Ohio. South Dakota.
Wisconsin, Manitoba. Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323

Many of you may subscribe to periodicals pertaining to
cemeteries and markers. Four of them are at hand: Stone In America.
American Monument Association, 30 Eden Alley, Suite 301. Co-
lumbus. Ohio 43215; Cemetery Management. American Cemetery
Association, 1 895 Preston White Drive. Suite 220. Reston. Virgmia
2209 1 -5434; American Cemetery. 1 50 1 Broadway. New York. New
York 10036; MB News, Monument Builders of North America. 3158
Des Plaines Avenue, Suite 224, Des Plaines, Illinois 60018. Read-
ing all of them gives a fair appraisal of what cemeteries are about.
Undoubtedly there are others.

Not long ago research in the Archives of the Monument
Builders of North America provided access to other publications in
their library: Park and Cemetery. 1928-1932; Monumental News.
1928- 1 933; American Art In Stone. 1965; Design Hints. 1 928- 1 933;
Memorial Merchandising. 1928; The Modem Cemetery. 1933; Me-
morial Crafts News, [927-\9i3: American Stone Trade. 1928-1933;
Monument Builder News, 1944-prescnt;G/-rt/i/r(', 1 930- 1931; A/a/ik-
meiital World, 1930-1933; Elherton Granitcer, 1957-1992; Monu-
mental News Review. 1964-1976; Granite. Marble and Bronze.
\92^-\933\ American Cemeteiy, 1931-1933 and 1961-1968; and
Monument and Cemetery Review, 1928-1933. The last item is ex-
ceptional, for its editor is Harry A. Bliss.

Strange facts appear in these magazines; e.g., in 1909, Cal-
vary Ceinctery, Brooklyn, New York, experienced se\ enty to one

AGS &t/,iXf'tcf/^.' Spring '96 page 16

Regional Columns

hundred twenty burials per day; the "pyramidium" atop Washing-
ton, D.C.'s Wasiiington Monument is tiie largest piece of ahimi-
num ever cast (before 1 884) — one hundred ounces. During 1 924
a campaign, "Mark Every
Grave," began which continued
into 1925 to build opposition to
the "No Monument Cemetery,"
and from the Monumental
News, 1928, is a "grand
marker." (See illustration. )

Carol and Steve Shipp
of Princeton, Illinois, have sent
an article by Patti Buffo from the
North Central Illinois News-Tri-
bune about the Ladd Cemetery's
amazing Joe Sabatini, who has
spent more than thirty years of
his life among the dead rebuild-
ing, maintaining, and cataloging
a cemetery created by two local
Italian societies, the Corona Di
Italia and the Corte Thirty
Regina Margherita Forest Di
America, which purchased the
five-acre tract in 1904 for burial
space intended for use by those
who had come to Ladd, Illinois,
to work in the local coal fields.
In 1925. with the closing of the
mine, families left the area for
work elsewhere. Cemetery funds and upkeep dwindled.

"Sabatini 's major work for the cemetery began in 1978,
when he, with the help of Virgil Gualandri, engaged in cataloging
the cemetery." Accurate records had not been kept. "To begin,
Sabatini probed the entire cemetery to find out where there were
already graves. ..[they] consulted the church and undertaker's
records, ...unmarked graves were marked with wooden
crosses. ..Currendy the catalog is ninety-eight percent complete."

Mr. Sabatini, according to another article by Angela
Dunlop, has also been active in the Cherry Cemetery. Here are
buried 259 men and boys who were killed in the Cherry Mining
Disaster of 1909. Joe Sabatini, six years old at the time, remem-
bers it vividly, for several of his father's cousins were involved in
the disaster. "I can remember the burials because my father helped
dig quite a few graves. Each funeral was accompanied by a band
provided by the three lodges playing dirges all the way to the lodge
cemetery. The men and boys were buried in a shroud of black cloth."
The monument includes the names of all the victims. ^J^i

MONUMENT 1>iA.T 3HCHJU> PiXASC IMCHY^Oi

SOUTHEAST/CARIBBEAN

A labaina. District of Columliia,

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,

Maryland. Mississippi,

North Carolina, South Carolina,

Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

Post Office Box 6296
Tallahassee, Florida 32314

MARYLAND — Reclaiming Ownership of a Family
Graveyard

Those who are attempting to reclaim an abandoned fam-
ily graveyard and restore the site often encounter a number of frus-
trating roadblocks concerning ownership and lack of deed records.
Following are excerpts from an article by Byron Shutz, in which he
explains how an irrevocable trust was created for the preservation
and ownership of the Baile Family Cemetery in Carroll County,
Maryland.

"In April of this year we finally succeeded clearing up the
title to the Baile cemetery. I would like to explain briefly how it
was done so that perhaps others can take a similar approach. David
Baile, a descendant, bought the cemetery in 1899 from the husband
and wife who then owned the farm on which the cemetery was
located. He paid $7.50 for the cemetery, which measured approxi-
mately thirty feet by thirty feet, including a stone wall on all four
sides. However, David Baile failed to provide for the conveyance
of the cemetery on his death. As a result, title to the cemetery tias
been in limbo for almost one hundred years.

"Jim Davis, our attorney in Westminister, Maryland, sat
down with the county commissioners in Carroll County and ex-
plained why it was important for us to resolve the question of the
title to the cemetery. He explained that we had created an irrevo-
cable trust in order to provide for future maintenance of the cem-
etery and wanted to place the ownership of the cemetery in the
trust.

"With the County's cooperation, real estate taxes were
declared unpaid for the most recent three years. After a specified
period of time, the County declared the taxes in default and, in
effect, "foreclosed" the property. Our attorney had assured the
County that we should step forward and pay the past-due taxes
(which were minimal) at that time. We did, and the County then
proceeded, in accordance with specific steps set forth m the stat-
utes, to advertise the property and eventually to sell the property to
us for payment of the back taxes. At the time, the County gave a
deed to Jim Davis as our agent, and he then conveyed title to the
irrevocable trust which now owns the cemetery.

AGS atioftc^/^.' Spring '96 page 17

Regional Columns

"The terminology I have used in this explanation may not
be exactly correct, but with the proper legal assistance, I think that
this procedure could be followed in any Maryland county where
descendants interested in preserving a family cemetery need to clear
up the question of who actually owns the cemetery."

(From the Fall, 1995 issue of Coalition Courier, by the
Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites, Inc., Post Office Box
1533, Ellicott City, Maryland 21041).

GEORGIA — Restoration Plans for
Two of Savannah's Historic Cemeteries

The beautiful old city of Savannah has a number of his-
toric cemeteries. Syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson
recently devoted a column entitled "A Place to Rest, Finally in
Peace," to some of her favorite southern graveyards. Ms. Johnson
described Colonial Park Cemetery, located in the heart of Savannah's
downtown historic district, as "a treasure," and wrote that

...the most intriguing thing about the cemetery, used
from 1733 to 1850, is a wall of misplaced tombstones,
rescued during one renovation or another. Nobody
knows exactly where they belong, so they hang on
the wall, like so many extra parts found in a box after
you have finished putting together the appliance.
Death is the ultimate lack of control. Some of those
poor souls with their tombstones on the wall once fig-
ured they had everything arranged for a proper burial,
that their loved ones would have a destination for grief,
a place to plant flowers . . .

The City of Savannah is supporting a long-term restora-
tion project in Colonial Park Cemetery. The effort started in 1991
and is expected to be completed within another five or six years.
The restoration work is being performed by .'^GS member Lynette
Slrangstad (with her firm. Stone Faces), who reports that the w all
with the gravestones attached to it pre-dates the Civil War. and is
the only section that remains of the original wall. Unfortunately,
the gravestones will stay attached to the wall because there is no
way to identify where the graves they once marked are located on
the cemetery grounds. Restoration work has been done on the mark-
ers, which are mostly marbles and brownstones. It is believed that
many of the markers were taken up a number of years ago when
meandering footpaths (which paved over a number of graves) were
put through the cemetery. Other stones may have been dislodged
when Union troops (part of General Sherman's March to the Sea)
keptmulesand wagons within the walls. During Stone Faces' 1996
work season, stabilization and repointing work will be done on the
wall.

Plans for restoration are being made for Laurel Grove,
another of Savannah's historic cemeteries. It was recently an-
nounced that a plan is being worked out by the Society for the Pres-
ervation of Laurel Grove, the City's Department of Cemeteries, and
the Historic Preservation Department of the Savannah College of
Art and Design to do an Assessment of Laurel Grove. In addition,
a Research-Survey Committee has been appointed to consolidate
the research projects that ha\e been conducted and to coordinate
future research in order to produce a comprehensive body of knowl-
edge on Laurel Grove.

Colin Young, Vice-Chairman of the Society for the Pres-
ervation of Laurel Grove, wants persons interested in tlie cemetery

AGS Suaria-^.- Spring '96 page 18

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to note "the Society's efforts to stpp the wholesale theft of iron
work and garden tiles from Laurel Grove. The removal of these
artifacts not only destroys the historical integrity of our cemetery
but leaves many of the graves without any fomi of marker . . .making
it, in some cases, impossible to determine the number and location
of burials within these individual lots." Furthermore, "tiles are be-
ing sold as far away as New York state where they bring as much as
$75.00 each. Those trafficking in the tiles create a provenance which
makes them even more desirable. They are claiming that the tiles
were made prior to the War Between the States by slave labor. While
this may be true for a few, the vast majority were manufactured by
brick yards in middle Georgia following the war. Such fraudulent
claims continue as they [the tiles] become more desirable and in-
creasingly expensive."

Anyone who thinks they may have found any of these tiles,
or who would like additional information about Laurel Grove Cem-
etery, may contact the Society at Post Office Box 10315, Savan-
nah, Georgia 31412.

(Information obtained from Lynette Strangstad and Ken
Shaw of Stone Faces, John M. Lambertson, and the Summer 1995
issue of Footstones. the newsletter of the Society for the Preserva-
tion of Laurel Grove, Inc.).

MID-ATLANTIC

Delaware. New Jersey.
New York. Pennsylvania,
Quebec

G.E.O. Czarnecki

2810 Avenue Z, Brooklyn. New York 1 1235

Staten Island Research: Cutters & Fragments

I believe that one of the best things about gravestone re-
search is the discovery of some little tidbit of data that somehow
truly allows you to feel closer to the cutter, the art, and the time
period involved. This was the case with some material I was col-
lecting in Staten Island, New York, at the St. Andrews Cemetery.
Located adjacent to the Richmondtown Restoration Historic site,
the churchyard is situated in an idyllic setting of nineteenth-cen-
tury buildings, eighteenth-century stone walls, and a perpetual
stream that meanders past the yard. There is not an abundance of
colonial markers here, but several years ago I became aware of a
collection of early nineteenth-century stones that appeared to be
unique and worth investigating and identifying. In the back of the
graveyard in the last couple of rows are six red sandstones with
willow and urn motifs. They are found nowhere else on the island
and, as far as I can tell, nowhere else in the surrounding area in
New York or New Jersey. I began to wonder if the stones were the
work of a local cutter who carved an unusual variation of the wil-
low and urn motif.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The stones are some of the earliest examples of this motif
in this area (Figures 1-5). Although these red sandstones have the
tympanum of the period, with matching right and left finials, a defi-
nite change in shape has taken place. In this style, the tympanum
arch is reduced from a dominant size flanked by finials to a smaller
arch seemingly mounted on a pedestal which slopes concavely down
to the finials. The obvious rounded appearance of colonial-era stones
has been altered to accommodate a different concept. This new
shape would later become common in the New York area for mark-
ers without decorative carving — instead of a design element, the
words "In Sacred Memory of would fill the tympanum.

The stones, in their current condition, are not spectacular.
At first glance, the motifs are almost indistinguishable. All are of
the same red sandstone and shaded by the cemetery's many trees.
The stones almost appear to be standard markers without decora-
tive carving. Although there may once have been a much larger
collection of these stones, the rows in which they are contained
seem to be full, with few gaps. I tend to believe that any loss is
minimal.

What I found interesting was the nature of the diversity of
motifs on these stones. There are minor variations in the essential
elements and increasing stylization in the overall presentation. These
minor differences make the stones appear to be more personal than
stock. They are more indicative of artistic experimentation; less
commercial.

Aside from the new style of tympanum shape, the motifs
and other elements contribute to a stylized use of the ever-popular

AGS &u.a>-ie^/§f:- Spring '96 page 19

Regional Columns

Figure 3

willow and urn. This was the point at which the transition was
made from the death's head and winged-head, both motifs that of-
fered a heavenly-bound depiction of the deceased (soul), to the wil-
low and urn, which offered a profuse capacity for realism, styliza-
tion, and innovations overall. Considering how mundane some
death's heads and winged-heads became, the willow and urn was
an alternative that proved its artistic worth.

What is interesting about the willows on these stones is
that every tree is different. Only its position to the left of the urn is
the same. Although the overhanging branches are basically simi-
lar, the leaves or fronds that drape the urn are in some cases consid-
erably realistic {Figures 2 and 3) and in others are rendered quite
differently (Figures 1 and 4). While there is considerable realism
in the carving of the trees, there is also a realistic depiction of the
roots and the ground beneath the trees (Figures 2 and 3).

Figure 4

Each urn is different. One is round-bodied (Figure 4) and
contains its own motifs on the side. It is also flourished with a
rising fume filtering up into the overhanging, stylized branches.
One (Figure 7) is not even an urn but rather a steepled tomb, a
motif used perhaps to represent the faith, devotion, or religious na-
ture of the deceased.

For variation, the tympanum of a stone for a seventy-six
year old (Figure 4) forms a unique arch at the base, while a stone
designed for a double interment (Figure 5), both children, depicts a
solitary willow for each within its own tympanum.

Motif selection for the deceased has been a point of specu-
lation in gravestone research. Were there just a limited selection of
popular motifs at any given time or did the motif on the stone placed
on the grave reflect anything about the deceased and what he or she
believed? These embellishments could be more easily added to the
willow and urn motif than the death's head or winged-head. Items

like mourners, steeples, coffins, etc.. and the additional adornment
on these motifs were probably indicative of something havmg mean-
ing for the deceased or the deceased's family; or was the interpreta-
tion the cutter's, who advocated certain designs for his customers
whom he may or may not have known?

A careful study of the lettering determined that all six of
the stones were by carver P.D. Braisted. Two of the six were actu-
ally signed at the base. These were stones depicting the steeple
tomb, the only motif that occurred twice, showing some potential
for standardization.

Figure 5

I became interested in the intimate details of these stones
because of their early use of the willow and urn on red sandstone
and the diversity of style. Having salvaged under the top soil of
some Staten Island graveyards, I have come across fragments of
primary and secondary motifs as well as finial work that have abso-
lutely vanished as standing stones. I view these remaining red sand-
stone willow and urn motifs as surviving members of this "losmg"
pattern. Archaeologically, colonial-era graveyards are loaded with
the lost art of local cutters. Salvaging these remnants gives an idea
of the greater diversity that is gone. It is representative of a sort of
"cultural extinction."

The St. Andrew's Cemetery is kept in a tidy condition, so
fragments are not left about. But I have begun a project on Staten
island involving a graveyard salvage for motif or letter fragments
that may add considerable depth to the colonial-era scene. I have
selected a known colonial yard that has been for the most part for-
gotten. I hope to recover and make careful records of enough frag-
ments to make some overall connections. Pieces distinguishable as
parts of the tympanum, finial,
or borders could yield cur-
rently unknown motifs. I have
already had some success
(Figure 6). Hoping for enough
remnants to reconstruct even a
portion of a stone seems un-
likely. In addition to a com-
parison of motifs, I will scru-
tinize any lettering against a
collection of the cutting styles
I have compiled in a booklet
of all the local cutters — Price,

Osborn, Schenck, Braisted, Jeffries, Zuricher, etc. These carvers
and those still unknown are what I am endeavoring to re\eal by the
two-fold extent of my research, which includes 1 ) scrutinizing care-
fully by motifs and lettering the remaining pockets of stones, and
2) archaeologically salvaging known colonial-era sites to obtain

Figure 6

AGS dW-Zc-^.- Spring '96 page 20

Regional Columns

(he fragmented evidence that will show true diversity that occurred
(here and no doubt elsewhere.

Further details about these projects are available upon re-
quest.

{Note: when recovering gravestone fragments, work only with the
permission of the owners of the cemetery, he sure your documenta-
tion is complete, and label and store all fragments properly. For
more information on handling fragments, please refer to A Grave-
yard Preservation Primer. M.L.) -jk-

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine.
Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Vennont, Labrador, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland,
Nova Scotia

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street, Webster, Massachusetts 01570
Abandoned Cemeteries

'v ..4

^i'^j.ii^'i.-i^ 1;. >■" % 1

as- %\j^

When random acts of vandalism in cemeteries hit the news-
paper we bemoan the loss of precious stones and the thoughtless
desecration of cemeteries. However, a case could be made that more
damage is inflicted by mere thoughtlessness and indifference than
is ever suffered at the hands of vandals. How many cemeteries are
now lying abandoned and overgrown just because they no longer
serve the purpose for which they were originally intended? Most
modern cemeteries are monitored and maintained either by mu-
nicipalities or private, mostly religious, organizations, but it wasn't
long ago that cemeteries were more personal. Often a small sec-
tion of land was put aside to bury the deceased of a particular fam-
ily or for the use of a small community consisting of only a few
families. When the family moved west or the settlement was swal-
lowed by a larger and more vigorous community, the need for the
cemetery disappeared, the site was abandoned, and eventually the
land reverted back to nature, as stones were toppled by each frosty
winter and lost to the memory of man. Various newspaper clip-
pings sent in by interested readers show a sampling of such occur-
rences:

An example of a cemetery developed
for a specialized purpose and then abondoned
when that purpose ceased to exist is illustrated
by the following articles submitted by Marcia
Melnyk from the September 22 and Septem-
ber 25, 1 995, issues of the Newburyport [Mas-
sachusetts] Daily News. They recount the
erection of a marker commemorating the old
Metcalf Rock Pasture Small Pox Cemetery and
pest house. The marker doesn't mention the
cruel (but, under the circumstances, perhaps
necessary) disposition of townspeople termi-
nally ill with dangerous communicable dis-
eases: they were shipped off to an isolated
shack in the woods to either live or die, as God
would dictate. It is assumed that if they recovered, they would
once again rejoin the community. Most towns had these "pest
houses," which existed until the early twentieth century, and be-
cause of the fear that the dead body was still capable of communi-
cating the deadly disease, burial was usually swift and nearby.

Rowley's pest house must have been first occupied in 1775
for the oldest stone in the cemetery bears that date, with ten others,
marked and unmarked, listing additional victims of the small pox
and dating up to the year 1781. The article indicates that the pest
house site is now paved over, but the cemetery is "fairly well pre-
served" although hidden by trees and brush. The Rowley Histori-
cal Commission plans to conduct yearly tours through the cem-
etery, which should insure that this spot will get at least routine
mamtenance.

The plight of the family or community cemetery when the
population has moved away is the subject of a clipping sent by an
anonymous reader from the July 4, 1994, Rutland (I assume Rutland
Vermont) Daily Herald, reporting, in an incomplete article, how
Henry "Red" Sutkoski has labored to restore the old Whipple Hol-
low Road Cemetery. The article states that only a year ago, the
cemetery, with 120 stones, was in deplorable shape, with most of

AGS &u,aftc/'^.- Spnng '96 page 21

Regional Columns

the stones down and covered over with briar. It appears that, at that
time, the town received a letter from one of the Whipple descen-
dants complaining about the lack of upkeep for the resting place of
his ancestors. This letter came as a surprise to many of the town
fathers, who never knew of the existence of this burial ground.
Somehow, Sutkoski got involved and spent the balance of the year
raising such stones as he could and in general putting the cemetery
into a more presentable condition. The newspaper photo of two of
the markers show stones typical of the period, with no decorative
designs and bearing only the names of the deceased and essential
dates.

A little different, because this could happen even in a well-
maintained cemetery, is the situation of the deterioration of an elabo-
rate monument where funding is insufficient for routine mainte-
nance. Andy Meier sends a clipping from the October 14, 1995,
Berkshire Eagle detailing how the McKay mausoleum, in Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, is being restored after years of neglect. This struc-
ture was erected in 1892 by millionaire Gordon S. McKay and was
designed by architect Mary Tillinghast. Tillinghast, who had a repu-
tation as a stained glass artist nearly equal to Tiffany, designed the
six stained glass windows (1893 Chicago World Fair award win-
ners), the gold-colored ceiling, and copper roof. As part of a
$15,000,000 bequest to Harvard College in 1903, McKay stipu-
lated that the college maintain the tomb.

Everythmg went well for years. However, in the mid
1960s, the maintenance ceased for some reason, and it wasn't until
last year that the Cemetery Commissioners, worried about the de-
teriorating condition of the mausoleum, contacted Harvard College
about their lack of upkeep. Harvard College, to their credit, imme-
diately took steps to bring the tomb back to the condition that McKay
specified.

All of these situations had happy endings, but we can imag-
ine the multitude of other sites that are now moldering into decay,
unknown and unnoticed by both the general public and their elected
officials. All of us have an obligation to get involved in securing
the maintenance of local cemeteries, particularly the deserted, nearly
forgotten ones, buried in brush and weeds, which are now visited,
if at all, only by those looking for a secluded spot for their drinking
parties.

In a slightly different context, 1995 conference speaker
Brian Conley stated that "Laws do not protect cemeteries; only en-
forcement of the laws can do this." Whether we are talking about
saving cemeteries from commercial development, as Conley was,
or saving them from the physical dangers of indifference, we have
an obligation to preserve these special places. _.iit'_

ACROSS THE OCEANS

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14
D-63322 Rodermark, Germany

The Museum fiir Sepulkralkultur

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Friedhof und Denkmal (AFD,
Cemetery and Monument Study Group) is a non-profit organiza-
tion founded in 1951 and supported by the German federal govern-
ment, the federal states, and the churches. Its roots are in the cem-
etery reform movement of the early twentieth century, and it fol-
lows the policies of an earlier organization, founded in 1921.

AFD tries to make the public more aware of the cultural
aspects involved in the creation of cemeteries, graves, and mark-
ers. It organizes seminars and lectures, issues the periodical Friedhof
und Denkmal, publishes advice literature for the bereaved, and rec-
ommends experts such as sculptors, landscape architects, etc. It
can be consulted on such basic questions as the laying out of cem-
eteries, establishing statutes, and similar issues. Its state-based
groups counsel locally on cemeteries and grave-related questions
as well as on soldiers" monuments and war victim memorials.

The Museum fiir Sepulkralkultur owes its existence to the
AFD. It was inaugurated in 1992. The museum is dedicated to the
diversity of cultural manifestations connected with death and dy-
ing, graves, and memorials.

In 1400 square meters of exhibition space it presents his-
torical and contemporary evidence of "sepulchral culture." The
primary declared intention of the museum is to reopen the discus-
sion about the subject of death, which has been taboo for many
decades.

"Death and Burial" confronts the visitor with the formerly
usual preparation for one's own death through representations of
the vanitas motif and momenta moh objects. The persistence of
sepulchral symbolism and style is made apparent in the compari-
son of historical and modem coffins. The abundance of historical
mourning costumes is contrasted with today's poverty of dress codes
that express mourning.

"Cemetery and Monument" documents the development
of cemeteries and stylistic changes in gravemarkers over the centu-
ries. Starting out with the crosses and simple slabs in old church-
yards, it shows how the Enlightenment caused the remo%al of grave-
yards to the outskirts of human settlements. In tlic twentieth cen-
tury the cemetery reform movement tried to counter the trend to-
ward mass-produced monuments bereft of symbolic content by cre-
atine new meanings. Their success can be tested when looking at

AGS &ciaj-(c^^: Spring '96 page 22

Regional Columns

the most recent specimens of monuments exhihitcd at the museum. The graphics collection contains 12,0(K) prints from the

"Monument and Memory" shows memorials (some dedi- fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. Among them are the works of

cated to people, others to events) as small-scale replicas as well as such artists as Wolgemut, Diirer, Piranesi, Chodowiccki, Thomas,

illustrations found on craft objects of the kind one used to find in Klinger, Barlach, Kollwitz, Weber, Rohlfs, Vogclcr, and Kubin.

drawing rooms. Another focus of this section is the monuments Other prints are valued for the ethnographic or historical informa-

that document the wars of the last 200 years: soldiers' monuments, tion they provide. Visitors can arrange for viewing the collection

pictures showing reservists, and memorials to war victims. by appointment.

Teinporary exhibits take up almost one-fourth of the mu- The foundation "Stiftung Zentralinstitut und Museum fiJr
seum. Two or three special shows are organized every year. Some Sepulkralkultur" does research, observes, and documents develop-
eoncentrate on themes or collections which can only be given lim- ments in the areas of cemeteries, monuments, and burial practices,
ited space in the permanent exhibit. Others show the works of con- It keeps museum collections, has a library and several archives (pic-
temporary artists treating death and dying, mourning, and memo- ture, press, music, and map). It publishes the collection "Kasseler
rial. Studien zur Sepulkralkultur" as well as catalogues for the exhibi-
tions at the museum. -,J^

Efforts are being made to hold the 1 997 conference in the Washington, D. C. area.
This cannot be done unless some ''point" people in the area step forward now!

Although much of the conference can be planned from afar, certain things need to be done locally.

While Fred Oakley, Conference Liaison, and his wife, Rosalee, have been very generous to take vacations at

future conference sites tofaciliate planning, legwork needs to be done before they get there.

As of mid- July, a host school in the Washington area had not been chosen.

Tours need to be planned and the Conservation Workshops need to be arranged.

People who can help with publicity are needed.

Anyone in the northern Virginia/D.C. area who can help with one or more of these projects,

please step forward!

If you don't live nearby but still want to help,
there are still numerous small jobs that can be done off-site. And fresh ideas are always welcome!

No one is asking you to give up all of your free time tohelp to plan this.
There are lots of little jobs to be done; if several people each take on a small piece of the work,

the conference will be a total success!

If you would like to help, please call Fred Oakley, Conference Liaison, at (413) 584-1756.

AGS ^uaj-fcf^.- Spnng '96 page 23

From the President s Desk

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

Frank Calidonna

313 West Linden Street, Rome. New York 13440

It is official. AGS has moved into its new and more spa-
cious headquarters. We are now located at the following address:

CALUMET). The only problem with mail order is the shipping
charge when one buys only a single roll or two. You might ask your
color printer if he or she would consider carrying this film. It is an
excellent film, easily producing high quality black-and-white im-
ages. Some labs are set up to print black-and-white from your color
negatives. Ask about that service if you plan to submit photographs
with an article. .Jt£.

The Association for Gravestone Studies

278 Main Street, Suite 207

Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301

413-772-0836

The new office will have more room for us to expand. It
also will have meeting space for the Board and various commit-
tees.

The decision to move, the search for new headquarters,
the physical move, and all of the myriad associated problems made
for a trying time. I must publicly thank Fred and Rosalee Oakley
for providing service above and beyond in this move. Their gener-
ous giving of both time and effort resulted in a smooth transition
rather than a problem-fraught venture. Again, a heartfelt thank you.

I was happy to hear from Miranda that e-mail addresses
are begmning to come into the office in greater numbers. I suspect
we will update some forms, but until then if people would please
include their e-mail addresses on any correspondence and when
renewing memberships, that would be most helpful. We will pub-
lish an e-mail address book in an upcoming AGS Quarterly.

As I write, spring is finally arriving. Many of you will be
out in cemeteries taking pictures. If you plan to write-something for
the AGS Quarterly or even Markers and to illustrate it with photo-
graphs, may I make a few suggestions. I know almost everyone
uses color film, but for optimum quality in publishing, black and
white images are preferred. These are much easier to reproduce
with a higher quality result than are color prints. The major prob-
lem for most people is that black-and-white film is hard to find, and
it is harder to find a place that does skillful processing. Most of us
like the convenience of overnight color printing.

I can suggest one solution: buy Illford XP-2 film. This is a
black-and-white film that can be processed in color chemistry by
your overnight color printer. They just put it in with all of the color
film, but print it as a black-and-white print. This means anyone
who prints color can do it. If you live in a city large enough to have
a camera shop, you should have no trouble buying this film. If not,
it can be ordered through the mail from a variety of sources. I use
Calumet, a very reputable mail order photographic supplier ( 1 -800-

Moving day! Top: our movers. Bollom. from left to right: Fred Oakley.
Miranda Levin, Jo Goesett. Pholo b\ Jessie Farber

Office Notes

Miranda Levin

Executive Director

The big news of the spring is the office has moved. We're
very sorry we couldn't give you more notice about our new address
and phone number, but we didn't sign a lease until just a few weeks
before we moved, and our actual moving date wasn't decided until
a week before we moved. As things were so up in the air until the
last minute, we decided to say nothing until the deed was done.

The new offices are terrific: spacious, comfortable, and in
the very pleasant small city of Greenfield, Massachuscils. Our .Ar-
chives, sales materials, and office are now in the same place, u hich
should make things easier for all.

Many thanks for the Oakleys, who took full responsibility
for finding new space and expediting the transition: to Archivist Jo
Gocselt, who packed the Archives with record speed and care: and
to all of you for your patience. We ha\c been working to catch up
for the down-time, and hope to actually increase our efficiency as
the new office makes work much easier. No more climbing over
boxes! *^

AGS (Suaj-fa'i(^.- Spring '96 page 24

Notes & Queries

We received two responses to David, Day's query about the advis-
ability' of rubbing (sionnier '95 issue, page 27):

To Rub or Not to Rub

By Jessie Lie Farber

32 Hickory Drive

Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

Anyone who studies gravemarkers has seen yards in seri-
ous disrepair: grounds overgrown with weeds and brush; the area
httered with trash, stone fragments, and fallen branches from an-
cient, unpruned trees; gates permanently locked and access forbid-
den, save for a well-worn path to a hole in the fence or other unau-
thorized entry; the site isolated and, when the sun sets, dark, dark.
A perfect setting for junkies and van-
dals.

One winces at the occasional
molded-metal marker reading "Per-
petual Care." But how does one ex-
plain the upright, newly-lettered sign I
recently saw in such a yard? "No Rub-
bing Allowed." it announced.

In all probability, the commu-
nity is worried about its old graveyard.
Everyone knows there is a problem
(they've even seen strangers in there
with their rubbing wax and paper!), but
no one knows how to solve it. They
could seek volunteers to clean the site
and document the stones. They could
stimulate local pride and encourage le-
gitimate visitors by featuring their ar-
tistic and historical jewel in local pub-
lications. They could raise funds for
repair, lighting, and regular grounds-
keeping services. But these solutions
either don ' t occur to them , or they don't
have the leadership such solutions re-
quire. On the other hand, they have
heard that some graveyards and cem-
eteries restrict rubbing. Good idea. Why not? Up goes the sign.
They've done a good thing. Or have they?

Stone rubbing is an ancient art that originated in the Ori-
ent, where stone carvings have been rubbed for centuries. An origi-
nal rubbing compares artistically with other kinds of prints, such as
an etching or a woodcut. The big difference is that when a print is
taken from a gravemarker, the printmaker is using a work created
by someone else, and it is often very old. And fragile. And there's
the rub (pun intended). Should these artifacts be subjected to this
technique?

I talked about this with Ann Parker, co-author with her
husband, Avon Neal, of a wondrous book of photographs and rub-
bings of early American gravestones.' Here, in essence, is what
she said.

A rubbing of a gravestone is an excellent and unique way

of presenting information about a stone. It is an exact-size record.
Both rubbings and photographs are legitimate art; each
has validity in recording and interpreting art, and each is a distinct
and respected art form. Major museums commission both rubbings
and photographs, and both are represented in their collections.

When well done, a rubbing is a productive and positive
act. To do it well is a responsibility. Badly done, rubbing can
discolor a stone. It can damage an unsound stone.

It is important to encourage responsibility rather than re-
strict the activity. (Restriction in most cemeteries and graveyards
is not enforceable.)

A positive spin-off is that rubbing often leads to participa-
tion in other productive areas of gravestone study. Young people
who learn to rub under proper supervision are not those who van-
dalize gravemarkers.

As part of an educational pro-
gram sponsored by Hallmark cards,
10,000 rubbings of a single, sound,
slate stone were made over a two-
month period without causing any
damage to the stone.

After talking with Ann, I reread
what conservator Lynette Strangstad
has written on this subject. In her ex-
cellent book on graveyard preserva-
tion,- she recommends that instead of
banning rubbing, those in charge of
graveyards and cemeteries should post
regulations that educate and encourage
responsibility. Among her recommen-
dations to rubbers:

NOT TO/RUB

Being a Book on the Art and History of Tp.inbstoncs
, ^ , by B. Bertha Wikin

:M

Work only with sound stones.

Limit cleaning to dusting with
a soft-bristled brush.

Cover the image amply, taping
the paper to the back of the stone.

Use a paper and rubbing me-
dium that will not bleed through.

Supervise children at all times.

In light of the above. I re-evaluated the AGS information
sheets that outline rubbing techniques for beginners and experi-
enced rubbers. I found them to be a responsible and helpful re-
source at each skill level.'

To Rub or Not to Rub?"* If that is the question, the answer
is, yes, by all means, do it! Do it well. Do it responsibly. Taking a
rubbing is a fascinating and satisfying experience, and your work
can make a contribution to gravestone study and preservation.

Notes

' Earl\ American Stone Sculpture Found in the Burying Grounds of New
England. A popular-priced re-issue of this book is currently being pre-
pared for publication by the Smithsonian Institution. The last ten copies of
the original edition are available through the AGS publications list.

AGS Suof^e/'^.' Spnng '96 page 25

Notes & Queries

- A Graveyard Preservation Primer is available through the AGS publica-
tions list.

' These information sheets are available through the AGS publications
list. (This year we are adding a cover sheet to our rubbing leaflets which
reinforces the dos and don 'ts of responsible gravestone rubbing. M.L. }

* This is the title of a book by B. Bertha Waking, published by Lith-Art
Press, Woodstock, New York. 1976. It is illustrated with rubbings. The
illustration used here is from the book's cover.

To Rub or Not to Rub

by Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, Massachusetts 01570

well as weathering and routine cemetery maintenance, causes much
more wear on a stone than any legitimate rubbing technique ever
could, and it's unlikely that even the accelerating rubbing of "popu-
lar" stones would cause as much damage as a typical New England
winter.

We must beware of elitism in our field of interest, and like
baseball, always support and encourage the minor league, who will
eventually step up to take our place. When you eliminate the "hands
on" enjoyment rubbing affords the interested amateur, you cut out
an important piece of the development of the next generation of
gravestone enthusiasts. If incidental wear and tear will happen,
and it will, let us at least gain from this wear, looking en it as the
cost of growing our next group of dedicated enthusiasts whom we
will expect to carry on the battle to preserve our precious stones.

Preserving Farm Cemeteries

Dave Day addresses a somewhat controversial subject in
the summer issue's Notes & Queries when he takes AGS members
to task for promoting gravestone rubbing. Day does not detail just
why he thinks that there may be a reason to refrain from rubbing
stones, but I assume that he believes that the accumulated wear and
tear of continued rubbing, over the years, will add significantly to
the eventual deterioration of the stone.

A point he did make was that many rubbings add little to
our "fund of knowledge or expertise in learning how to best pre-
serve our defenseless sentinels." Were this the only legitimate rea-
son to rub a stone, his point would be well made. However, there
are some of us who feel that there are other reasons to rub a stone:
not that they all are particularly scientific, professional, or academic,
but legitimate none the less. Without much thought, the following
reasons quickly pop into mind;

I*" The satisfaction of creating a legitimate piece of art,
quickly and inexpensively, and there is no doubt that a well ex-
ecuted and mounted rubbing is just that.

'•" A personal leminder and record of a certain stone or
style of carving that you ran across in your graveyard rambling.

'*' A detailed reproduction of the talent and technique of a
specific carver.

•" A commitment to our heritage. Gravestone rubbing
goes far back in history, and we must continue the tradition.

'•" A constant ambition to improve our rubbing technique
as well as to continually search for better and better examples of
whatever styles we find of interest.

*■ A casual, convenient way to spend time with a group of
friends and fellow enthusiasts.

«•■ A way to introduce > oung people or other neophytes to
the love and attraction of gravestone art.

«" Last, and far from the least, is the pure natural delight
in sitting on an upturned milk carton, an ancient stone before you,
and the sun on your back on a clear, crisp, autumn day.

We must recognize and reluctantly accept wear and tear
on the old stones, both natural and man made, as a part of life, and
rather than trying, fruitlessly, to eliminate all manner of wear, treat
the stones as the fragile artworks that they are, loving them all the
more because of their impermanence. Vandalism particularly, as

If you want to help preserve farm cemeteries, one thing
you can do is see to it that they are noted on the US. Geological
Survey maps. The USGS maintains a database showing the loca-
tions of even destroyed cemeteries. This message recently came
up on MAPS-L:

To: Multiple recipients of list MAPS-L <MAPS-
L@uga.cc.uga.edu>

In the October issue of E - The Environmental Magazine
there is a note about Mapping Volunteers: "If you want to help the
USGS update its maps, contact: Mapping Volunteers. USGS Na-
tional Center, Mail stop 512, Reston. Virginia 22092; (703) 648-
4616." The cite is "Mapping your life." (in E Notes, edited by VVill
Nixon), E- The Environmental Magazine, Volume V, Number 5.
pages 43-4. Cora Ott, 310 Franklin Street #148. Boston. Massa-
chusetts 02110.

Unusual Verse Needs Completion

In the Spring, 1993, issue of the AGS Newsletter you had
an article about the symbol showing
a finger is pointing down. Until re-
cently we had never seen one; now
we have, and a picture is enclosed.
What's interesting about this particu-
lar stone is the verse, or as much of
it that we can read:

Green grows the laurel

(next line we can't read)

our joy. We will miss you.

We will change the green laurel

for the orange and the blue.

Can anyone complete or identify this
for us? The laurel vine is an ever-
green vine used to make crowns, but
where does the orange and the blue

come in? Our research tells of red

v

AGS (Stioffiv-/^.- Spring '96 page 26

Notes & Queries

and purple berries, which were poistjiious, on Ihe vine. We are
doing a cemetery walk in this cemetery and would like any help
you can give. The name of deceased: Laura, Born 1852 and Died
1870.

Also, we noticed fingers pointing at things to which they
wished to draw attention in old papers dating from that time frame.
Thanks again. Betty J. Phillips. Patten Monuments. 231 Denting
Street, Shelby. Michigan 49455.

Information Wanted on Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers
and Stones Carved by John Solomon Teetzel

I am looking for information on two very different topics,
nineteenth- and twentieth-century terra-cotta gravemarkers and an
eighteenth-century New Jersey gravestone carver named John
Solomon Te^'zel.

Although I have found numerous terra-cotta gravemarkers
in northeastern New Jersey, I don't have good information on the
use of this material for markers in other parts of the United States
or in Europe, for that matter. Terra-cotta, a fired clay product some-
times glazed in bright colors, was produced in New Jersey, New
York, Ohio, Illinois, Georgia, and California in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. Does anyone have information about
terra-cotta gravemarkers in any of these states? How about over-
seas? I found a terra-cotta gravemarker at Clonmacnoise in the
Republic of Ireland this past summer. Your information will help
me with my Ph.D. dissertation on New Jersey's terra-cotta indus-
try. Any information is welcome and will be acknowledged.

My second topic is John Solomon Teetzel. Teetzel carved
gravemarkers in both English and German in northwestern New
Jersey between 1788 and 1800. While he was an active craftsman
— roughly one hundred of his markers have been located by re-
searcher John Medallis — little is known of Teetzel's origins. Fur-
thermore, he seems to have left New Jersey in 1 800. He is rumored
to have moved either to Newfoundland or Poughkeepsie, New York.
While in New Jersey he carved beautifully-lettered light brown sand-
stone markers. His German-language markers often have a Bibli-
cal text following the main body of the inscription. Occasionally
he signed his works "J.T." or "T." and on at least one occasion
carved "Teetzel" prominently across the back of a marker. If you
have seen a Teetzel gravemarker or have information about his ori-
gins or where he went when he left New Jersey, please let me know.
Richard Veit, 905 Franklin Avenue, South Plainfield, New Jersey
07080; RVEIT@MAIL.SAS.UPENN.EDU.

WANTED: Ghost Stories

Help, Gravestone Scholars! Have you ever had a paranormal expe-
rience while doing your research? Has a spirit guide ever appeared
to lead you to a particular site? Have you ever seen a ghost? If you
have any stories that you would be willing to share please call me!
Michael Kriz at the television show, SIGHTINGS, Paramount Pic-
tures Television, 800-462-8664.

Maryland Information Needed

I'm seeking Maryland gravestones dating prior to 1730, particu-
larly those whose epitaphs contain verses. Please e-mail me at
dbrm@uhura.cc.rochestereduorcallme(collect)at(716)383-1019.
Debra Myers.

WANTED:

AGS members willing to locate and photograph a few probated
stones in any of the following Massachusetts locations: Westford.
Danvers, Littleton, Framingham, Lincoln, Shirley, Acton,
Marblehead, Newburyport, or West Lynn. I would also like to hear
from anyone who might be able to check probate accounts m Essex.
Middlesex, or Worcester counties in Massachusetts — or for any-
where else in New England. If interested, please contact AGS Re-
search Clearing House Coordinator Laurel K. Gabel. 205 Fishers
Road, Pittsford, New York 14534; (716) 248-3453. ::iM:

Margaretha Flach {died 1795) gravemarker. Union Lutheran Church
Cemeteiy. Long Valley, New Jersey. Carved by John Solomon Teetzel.

AGS &u.aj-(e^/^.- Spring '96 page 27

Calendar

Summer Programs at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street. Cambridge, Massachusetts 02 1 38;

(617)547-7105.

August 20: "A Lofty View and History. Too!" walking lour

August 22: Inscnption Workshop

September 14: '" The Beloved Physician' — Memories of the Medical Profession at Mt Auburn"
walking tour

Seminars in Conservation Technology and Collections Care for Conservators, Artists, Art History, Library,
Archive, and Museum Professionals •

Conservation Center. Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 14 East 78th Street. New York, NY 10021:

(212)772-5848, fax (212)772-5851, e-mailsass@is2.nyu.edu

The Chemical Microscopy of Art and Artifacts — August 26-30, 1996

National Park Service Workshops

For more information, contact Steven L. De Vore, 12795 West Alameda Parkway, Post Office Box 25287. Denver,
Colorado 80225-0287.

Basic Photo Use Methods in Cultural Resource Management

September 9- 1 3. 1996

Location: Fort Laramie National Historic Site. Goshen County. Wyoming

Civil War Reenactment, August 24-25. put on by Friends of Center Cemetery, at Wickham Park, Manchester/
East Hartford, Connecticut For more information, contact Dons Suessman at (860) 568-6178.

©1996 The Association for Gravestone Studies.

To reprint from the Quarterly, unless specifically stated alherwise. no permission is needed, provided: (I)
the reprint is used for educational purposes; (2) full credit is f>iven to the Association and the author and/or photog-
rapher or artist involved: and 13) a copy of the document or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to
the AGS office. >

The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Suf;i;estions and contributions from readers are welcome.

The tioal of the Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research amcerninf; grave-
stones and about the activities of the Association.

To contribute ItBtna, send to the AGS office.

Send membership fees (Senior/Student. $20: Individual. $25: hmitutiimat, $30: Family $35: Supporting,
$60: Life, $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207. Greenfield. Massa-
chusetts 0130L The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date.

Send journal articles to Richard Meyer editor of Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone

Studies. Department of English. Western Oregon State College. Monmouth. Oregon 97361 Order Markers (current
volume. XIII, $28 to members. $32.50 to non-members. $2 postage: back issues available) from the AGS office.

Send contributions to the AGS Archives to Jo Goeselt care of the AGS Office.

Address all other correspondence to Miranda Levin. Executive Director AGS. 27H Main Street. Suite
207. Greenfield Ma.':sachusetts 01301 . or call (413) 772-0836.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

278 MAIN STREET SUITE 207
GREENFIELD MA 01301

WON PROFIT ORG

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 410

Worcester, MA

- «^

M^^O

^^>

BULlEriM OF THE ASSOOAUOn FOR GRAVHSTOME STUDIE!

Cytecuio^o-ua^ ^ddcie ♦ cnunime/y^au^ ^^^6"

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Announcement 1

From the President's Desk 1

Thank You Jo 2

A Tribute to Miranda 3

Feature Articles: Pioneer Cemeteries

Kevin Ladd, The Sturrock Family Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas 4

G. E. O. Czamecki, Settlers Come to Brooklyn 5

Barbara Bumey Rohde, Ghost Cemeteries 6

Cynthia Toolin, The Monument at Winter Quarters: Three Mormon Stories 7

AGS 1996 Annual Conference Papers

John E. Sterling, Reading Weathered Marble Gravestones 9

Helen Sclair, Artificial Stone in Chicago 11

Topical Columns

Ralph Tucker, Gravestones of Joseph Sikes, 1743-1801 12

John E. Sterling, Gravestones & Computers 13

Barbara Rotundo, Pioneer Cemeteries 14

1996 AGS Annual Conference

Presentation Abstracts 16

Cemetery Bus Tours 19

Conservation Workshops 20

Participation Sessions 22

Harriet Merrifield Forbes Award 25

Hosting an Annual Conference 26

Minutes of the 1995 Annual Meeting 27

Evaluation of the '96 Conference ....28

Notes & Queries 29

Calendar of Coming Events Back Cover

-/

Volume 2Qi Numbers 3 & 4

Summer/Fall 1996

ISSN: 0146-5783

r>*'=5;3SEv*'

^o^/Tt ^ ^/^dia^/it d 2)ed^

\

Announcement

When we realized that material for the 1996
Summer issue of the Quarterly was not ready for
publication, and that, with few exceptions, material for
the Fall issue was already gathered, the Editorial Board
agreed to combine the two issues of the Quarterly, in an
attempt to bring publication back on schedule. We
apologize for taking this shortcut and hope you will not
feel cheated.

While there are no regional columns, and there
is only one set of topical columns, there are feature
articles on the Pioneer theme, a ftill report on one
conference paper, and an extended elaboration of
another. The Notes & Queries section is also longer
than usual.

The Editorial Board

\

V

Lois Ahrens is from Northampton, Massachusetts. She
comes with a lot of experience involving organizations such as
ours and with conference planning and management expertise.
She also is skilled in public relations, fund raising, and program
coordinating.

Patricia Miller is from Montague, Massachusetts. She
has a background in Fine Art, History, Anthropology, and
Archaeology. She also has a strong background in computer
related experience and publishing. With Ms. Ahrens and Ms.
Miller in the office we will be able to serve the membership very
well.

We are also pleased to announce that we have a new
Archivist. Lois Kelly, who recently moved back from Florida to
Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, has volunteered. In Florida she
worked as a planner for Charlotte County, where she helped
implement various historic preservation projects, including
abandoned graveyards. With her enthusiasm for graveyards and
library experience, we are lucky to be able to add her expertise
to the services of our new office. Welcome aboard.

I must thank Miranda Levin, our outgoing Executive
Director, for the wonderfiil job that she did for these past years
and for assisting us in this transition period. And also profuse
thanks to Rosalee Oakley, whose services were vital at this
difficult time.

From the President's Desk

Frank Calidonna
313 West Linden Street
Rome, New York 13440

Our organization has undergone two very fundamental
changes this year. We are now catching up with a backlog of
work and putting everything in order for a smoother run in the
future. This issue of the Quarterly is a double issue which will
put us back on schedule in the future.

The first change already noted in the past issue of the
Quarterly was the move from Worcester to Greenfield. The
move was a radical upheaval, but resulted in a much improved
office in terms of space and ease of access.

The second major change has now been completed.
We have a new Executive Director, Lois Ahrens, and a new
Administrative Assistant/Desktop Publisher, Patricia Miller.
Both Ms. Ahrens and Ms. Miller bring a wealth and variety of
experiences to our association.

The board met in September, in Greenfield. We
discussed the usual business of the association and some
important items that affect all of the members. One item, in
particular, I would like to share with everyone. We have two
paid administrators to carry out the day to day functions of
serving the membership, Lois and Patricia. They take care of all
of the mundane and not so mundane details that keep an
organization of this size going. Yet many of the most important
and vital fijnctions of our organization are done by volunteers,
and AGS has been blessed with some energetic, competent, and
dedicated volunteers. These people have provided the leadership,
planning, and inspiration for most everything that is right and
successfijl with AGS. As a result, most of us can sit back, relax
and enjoy many benefits that would otherwise not be available.

This probably is the natural state of affairs for most
organizations, but it is one that has perils too. The main hazard is
that we may wear out the volunteers. This is not at all fair to
these people or to the organization as a whole. Another danger is
that many will feel that a small group is running things and that
their ideas and skills are neither needed nor wanted. That is not
true, but the perception is often there.

The growth of AGS has been wonderful, from a handful
of New England based people to a national organization. We
have many members from the South, Mid- West, and West coast.
Yet the bulk of the volunteers are still the New Englanders. This
is just how things worked out. All are welcome to contribute, but
distance and cost do play a role. The problem is to involve

7^/fume £(? ♦ Aiim^rd S& 4 ♦ S^ofe

/

,Jmz/i^ ^(^a^o^.

/

all of our membership in the important things that the volunteers
do, conference chairing and planning for instance.

Everyone's ideas, skills, expertise, and TIME are very
important to us. Yet you will not be involved unless you are
willing and jump in to help. How do we involve people from
the areas far away from New England so that they really benefit
from their memberships? Are there ways we can get restoration
and preservation workshops to the these places?

Who will do the training? How will these workshops
be organized? What else is on your minds???

Membership in an organization whose mission and
goals are your true interests is a real relationship and like any
relationship has certain responsibilities to make it work. May I
be so bold to suggest that the number one rule is - Don't
complain - communicate. The members of the board and
conference planners spend hours trying to figure out what
people want, how they feel, and what we can do to satisfy these
needs; but I have seen that they often work with very little
information or feedback. We publish questionnaires.
Conference participants are given evaluation forms. The
response, just counting numbers, is usually quite low.

Please, please send us a letter, a phone call, e-mail, fill
out your questionnaires - in short, let us know what you want
and give us your ideas. Volunteers are always WELCOME. Few
things are as precious as time. Many of you live great distances,
but there are ways we can utilize anyone's skills. We are an
organization filled with bright people. Surely we can solve
many of these problems. However, we do need your ideas and
time. Muttering in a back row and complaining do none of us
any good. Put the problems out in the open and let us all discuss
them. Constructive criticism and proposed solutions are always
welcome. Debate keeps us on our toes and keeps people from
falling asleep during meetings. All of the above is basically a
plea - please get involved.

The AGS office is now entering the modem age. You
may now E-MAIL the office. Write to <ags@berkshire.net> and
we instantly receive it. AGS also has a terrific WEB page. If you
are logging onto the Internet, just do a search for The
Association of Gravestone Studies or go to <http://
apocolypse.berkshire.net/ags/contacts.shtml> and you will be
there. Our web page has a lot of information and features. You
can join AGS, order books and other items, or talk to other
people interested in gravestones and cemeteries. There are also
links to other web sites that deal with gravestones and
cemeteries. The bulletin board is a place where you can
exchange messages with other people. Many people write
asking about carvers, stones, and other related subjects. Those
of you who are expert in these areas could provide a service by
responding to some of these questions.

I have talked about the Internet in past issues. It is a
wonderfiil resource. There are many places to go if you are
interested in gravestones, cemeteries, genealogy, art, and history
- hundreds of places. When you get to a web site there will

almost always be links to other places with the same or similar
interests. You can spend hours browsing from place to place
meeting people and learning more about your area of interest.

There are even virtual cemeteries now where people
erect electronic monuments and memorials to their dear
departed. I would not worry that gravestones and cemeteries are
going the way of the horse and buggy as these web sites tend to
be very ephemeral, but it does point up the possibilities. A
cremation with a web memorial would certainly be a financial
incentive to many people, but I do not think that this is the \\ a\ e
of the future. Cremation and direct disposal, on the other hand,
are growing practices that worry monument and funeral
organizations.

So, those of you with computers please get in touch. I
published my e-mail address a while back, but that has changed.
I would love to hear from you. My new, and hopefully
permanent address is <frank.calidonna@worldnet.att.net>.
Ignore the < > marks on all of the e-mail and web addresses here.
They just make it easier to write and not get mixed up with the
regular punctuation. We look forward to your comments,
criticisms, ideas, and solutions. <ags@berkshire.net> gets them
to us in a flash. And they are welcome. ♦

Thank You Jo!

On the occasion of her resignation as AGS
archivist, due to her move out of state, the Association
extends sincere thanks to Elizabeth Goeselt. For a
period of over five years, "Jo" traveled from her home
in Wayland, Massachusetts, to our office in Worcester,
where she spent many hundreds of hours in the
Association's archives, putting this valuable collection
into its present excellent order. Her dedicated work has
made the wealth of material in our archives readily
accessible for study, for reference, and for research. Her
sensible and intelligent decisions concerning how best
to organize the many and widely-varied items relating to
gravestones have established guidelines and standards
from which archivists who follow her will benefit. The
Board of Trustees of the Association for Gravestone
Studies acknowledges a deep debt of gratitude to genial
and pleasant Jo Goeselt for her valuable contributions to
gravestone studies. We wish her the \er\ best in her
new home.

1,

'^-/fiAme SO ♦ JPuyn/^ Jd;4 ♦ 9^a^ £

At one of the receptions at the 1996 Conference,
departing Executive Director, Miranda Levin, was the
guest of honor. We knew she and her husband planned to
move to New Hampshire sometime before the 1997
Conference, so we wanted to say "Thank you" and
"Godspeed".

Former Director, Rosalee Oakley, spoke to the
gathered conferees about the accomplishments Miranda
has made through the six years she has been our chief
executive officer. Using boxes to represent the moves in
Miranda's life this year - first to the new AGS office, in
Greenfield; and then from her home, in Massachusetts, to
a new one, in New Hampshire - Rosalee highlighted the
many facets of the job of Director. She especially noted
Miranda's development of our marketing and sales
promotion which has grown enormously in recent years.

Also , praised was Miranda's involvement in
bringing the AGS Newsletter "in house" and in finding
the new vendors and equipment required to produce it.
Her efforts to secure and encourage the editorial staff
made a completely new way of producing the publication
a success. Her work with the Editorial Board and Board
of Trustees to select a new name - AGS Quarterly - and a
fresh color format enables us to reflect more accurately
the expertise and value of the information that goes into
the publication.

At the presentation, Miranda had the oppor-
tunity to open two boxes. One contained the gift of a
black granite clock from the Barre Granite Works and
another a Frank Calidonna photograph of an angel from a
Victorian monument.

Many AGS members have come to know
Miranda over the years, through correspondence, or
telephone conversations, or contacts at the AGS con-
ferences. We all wish her well as she takes up her work
at the New Hampshire Audubon Society and establishes
her home near her new job. Miranda, our many thanks
and warmest wishes for success go with both you and
Jeff May your future be bright!

Using boxes to represent the recent moves in Miranda 's life,

Rosalee Oakley (right) highlighted the many facets of

theDirector 'sjob at AGS.

1996 Annual Conference, in Gorham, Maine.

Miranda Levin (center); AGS Vice President, Dan Goldman

(left): and Beth Shepard (right), of the Historic Burying

Grounds Initiative, Boston, enjoying a reception at the AGS

1996 Annual Conference.

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"1

The Sturrock Family Cemetery
Tyler County, Texas

Kevin Ladd

Wallisville Heritage Park

Wallisville, TX 77597

Nestled deep within the Pineywoods of East Texas is
the Sturrock Family Cemetery, laid out pretty much like any
other Southern family graveyard of the 1800s. The tombstones
and the slumbering dead all face toward the East. The anomaly ,
the predominant features of the small cemetery are ten grave
houses built of stacked rocks in a style roughly similar to the
family's ancestral graves in Dundee, Scotland.

Brenda Sturrock Odell [3400 Surry Lane, Baytown
Texas, 77520] indicates the grave houses have a colorful
history: "The Sturrock cemetery is located atop the highest

elevation on what was once William Sturrock's property

Near the back of the cemetery, the proterty slopes radically
toward the Neches River bottom land. It is shaded by tall pine
trees, mixed with oak, sweetgum, and some other hardwoods.
There is little or no grass on the cemetery area itself; however,
St. Augustine grass covers most of the surrounding lawn areas.
The mounded rock false crypts show the pioneer spirit of
decorating graves by 'making do', the tomb-houses look very
much like their Scottish counterparts, except that these appear
more rough-hewn, having been improvised out of the sandstone
rocks the Sturrocks had at hand".

William Sturrock and his two brothers, James and John,
left Dundee in the fall of 1830, landed at new York, and worked
their way down to Texas. Also traveling with them were two
sisters and a brother-in-law. Brenda recalls a riddle passed along
to her as a child that describes the arrangement of four of the
grave-houses: "In these four plots, a man is buried between his
two wives, and a woman is buried between her, two husbands".

The oldest grave in the cemetery belongs to Cynthia
(Frisby) Sturrock [ca 1819-1853], the first wife of William
Sturrock. After her death, Sturrock remarried to Amanda (Mott)
Sturrock, who died at age 90, in 1911. William died in 1860
and was buried next to his first wife. Amanda later married
Paschal Martin.

Amanda constructed the house-tomb, or false crypt,
over William's grave. The rocks, long and flat, range in size
from 30 to 300 pounds each. She retrieved the rocks from the
river bottom, stacked them on a sled, hauled them to William's
grave and stacked them herself All of the grave houses were
apparendy constructed in similar fashion. Some of them are of
smaller construction and appear to mark the graves of children.

Odell 's research into the cemetery history led to the
awarding of an official Texas historical marker for the cemeten,.
When the marker was dedicated in October 1995, a Scottish pipe
and drum band from nearby Beaumont, Texas, played a few
appropriate tunes. ♦

View from the gate entrance to Sturrock Cemetery.
Photo: Kevin Ladd.

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Settlers Come to Brooklyn

G. E. O. Czamecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 1 1235

Although covered wagons seemed distant in New York
City 1 was determined to do a "pioneer" column. So 1 went in
search of the early beginnings of my local area to see how the
earliest settlers and residents have been remembered, honored
and/or commemorated.

The most definite and local commemoration of an early
settlement in the area is that of Gravesend, in Brooklyn, in 1643.
It was the first planned settlement in the new world and the
quadrangle-style village arrangement is still distinguishable
today. In the midst of the settlement was a burial ground now
known as the Gravesend Cemetery. The site dates back to the
beginnings (est. in 1645). No doubt the interments are there but
the earliest markers are non-existent. The oldest remaining
stones are eight red sandstones with motifs, and about twenty
without. Stonewise, the graveyard does contain some unique
pieces - a definite John Zuricher, without a motif, but rather an
empty tympanum; and a Zuricher that is a considerably different
variation on his stereotypical pudgy-faced winged-head. One
standard Zuricher is also present. There are also two winged-
heads by two different cutters not found elsewhere, locally. One
has been attributed to a carver named Brown. Four red
sandstones with a motif I call the "almond-eyed head" are also
present, cutter unkiiown. One other stone that is particularly
unique for Brooklyn is a colonial era fieldstone. It is a rough,
unaltered piece that was obviously chosen for its somewhat flat
face. It is still solidly planted into the soil, about one and a half
feet high and a foot wide above surface. Crudely cut into it are
the initials "SxK". Other letters appear below which are
difficult to decipher. The rest of the yard has nineteenth century
white marbles and twentieth century stones. A rare interment
still takes place.

Now, the people whom we identify as being pioneers
most likely never considered themselves of such stock.
Individuals and families who find themselves on the move and
emigrating into new areas have hard work and settling in to do
and are too busy to put themselves on pedestals. They leave that
for a subsequent generation. If the respect can be mustered,
recognition and homage is paid to those who went before via a
title or designation that appropriately announces their status.

The interesting "pioneer-settler" note that seems
standard is that commemoration often comes in the form of
"street-naming". Many of the names in the Gravesend Cemetery
I've lived with in the community. Streets, where I go to buy
bagels or have my car repaired, bear names from the earliest
surviving stones - those of founding, eminent families, like

Emmans, Stillwell, Gerritsen, Wyckoff, Schenck, and Voorhies.
Via their names, we drag these early residents into the present,
into a far distant lifestyle, theirs was a time of rustic roads and
peacefial scenic mornings. Now their names adorn noisy and
busy streets of cars and buses.

The Gravesend graveyard is always locked and only
open on rare occasions for a few hours on days like Easter,
Memorial Day, Mother's Day, or the Sunday before Christmas.
Several informative plaques are present. Facing the street inside
the yard is a historical marker reading "Gravesend - Settled in
1643 by English Quakers under Lady Deborah Moody on land
granted to them by the Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam".
On the fence itself a new sign declares it "Gravesend National
Landmark Cemetery Estb. 1645". A brick path leads to two
stones with plaques affixed. One tells of the ground's history
"To honor the settlers of Gravesend who first used this land as
their burial place in 1650", the other tells about the founding of
the settlement itself, "In memory of Lady Deborah Moody who
arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638 a wealthy
widow and landowner". In 1643, Lady Moody and twenty-five
neighbors removed to Long Island where she formed a colony
and was granted a patent for land with full power to govern.
She called her model community "Gravesend". This is the most
interesting point about the settlement, that it was organized by a
woman. Lady Moody unfortunately has not received as much
recognition as others by street or section naming. Whether her
slighted recognition is due to her sex may be debatable. We
have all heard the term "founding father", but Moody's
association as "founding mother" is basically unheard.

Although the yard has been kept in good condition in
recent years, the fence at the entrance is in miserable shape and
should be replaced. Considering that the yard has landmark
status, the funding that it receives goes only to cutting weeds
and not to real preservation priorities.

Immediately next to the Gravesend Cemetery is the
Van Sicklen Family Cemetery, to my knowledge the only
remaining family plot in Brooklyn. It is separated from
Gravesend Cemetery by a strong and high nineteenth century
iron fence. The Van Sicklen family were local residents and
now have a nearby street named after them. The presence of the
Gravesend Cemetery and the proximity of the Van Sicklen yard
to it is probably the major reason for its survival. A plaque
commemorating the two burial grounds reads "These hallowed
grounds have served as a resting place for the original settlers
and their descendants of the town of Gravesend for over 300
years". Revolutionary War soldiers and the later townspeople
are also interred within the confines of this cemetery.

Anyone interested in fiarther details of the settlement
can send any inquiries to me. ♦

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Ghost Cemeteries

Barbara Bumey Rohde

PO Box 504

Panaca NV 89042

Bob Klisiewicz's regional column on Abandoned
Cemeteries, in the Spring '96 AGS Quarterly, brought to mind the
situation often encountered in Nevada, that of "Ghost Cemeteries" .
Nevada's history of mining "boom and bust" cycles resulted in the
abandonment of cemeteries, as well as town sites, when mining
operations ceased and people moved away. Although I've had a
personal interest in historic graveyards for about 22 years, I became
a member of AGS five years ago, when a presenter at a National
Association for hiterpretation workshop mentioned the existence of
the Association for Gravestone Studies during her presentation on
an lustoric cemetery at a San Francisco Bay area mining tovm. I
have worked at Cathedral Gorge State Park in eastern Nevada for
eleven years, where the park had acquired an historic graveyard,
about twenty years ago. The Builionville Cemetery is an
"abandoned" graveyard. Builionville was a small community
established for the specific purpose of processing silver ore from the
town of Pioche, ten miles to the north. Although the town of
Panaca is one mile to the east of the Builionville site, there were
philosophical differences between the LDS (Mormon) settlers in
Panaca and the more rowdy mining camp residents. This resulted in
the creation of a graveyard solely for the decedents of Builionville .
Many of the workers at Builionville, as typical in mining camps,
had no family in the vicinity, and when they died, there was barely
enough money to bury them, let alone post a permanent marker.
Wooden planks often were used for these kinds of grave makers,
and over the years the lettering wore off and/or the plank weathered
away. I have visited several mining town cemeteries, and have
noted much the same situation.

Wooden plank grave marker, Tuscarora, Nevada.
Photo: Barbara Rohde.

Most recently, I visited Tuscarora, in northern Nevada.
This small mining camp was active from 1871 until the early
1900s, and then again during the mid-1980s when gold was again

mined from the old shafts and stopes. The cemetery is still in use
- a freshly-covered grave was visible right inside the entrance
gate, and no stone or marker had yet been placed. The cemetery
itself covered probably three acres, with both widely and
narrowly-spaced graves. What caught my attention was the large
number of enclosures: wooden and iron fencing, concrete, brick,
and stone curbing. Most of the wooden enclosures were in a sad
state of decay, along with the planks that served as gra\e
markers. I could see no pattern in the location of graves: those

Cast-iron grave enclosure, Tuscarora Cemetery, Nevada (town
in background on left. Photo: Barbara Rohde.

from seemingly well-heeled families were buried next to those
of lesser fortunes. It is obvious that someone visits the cemeten
upon occasion - Tuscarora is still an inhabited town, though
mostly by retirees, the most famous occupants being the Dennis
Parks family Pottery Studio and school. An infant's grave
enclosure from the 1890s was decorated with a stuffed teddy
bear wrapped inside an embroidered dresser scarf, which could
not have been more than six months old (judging by the lack of
fading - the Nevada summer sun is merciless!). It always
surprises me to find lilac bushes growing in unvvatered areas,
and there were several thriving on family plots, some over a
century old. I have also seen lilacs growing by old homesteads
in other parts of Nevada, closer to home where we get ten inches
of rain yearly; but this part of Nevada is lucky to get four inches
per year. Well, two rolls of film later, we headed on down the
road. Tuscarora is one hour north of Elko (on Interstate 80, 235
mi. west of Salt Lake City, Utah), in case any readers want to
check it out.

Closer to home, the Builionville Cemetery is within the
boundaries of Cathedral Gorge State Park, which is two miles
west of Panaca. Cedar Citj', Utah, is 80 miles east of Panaca;
Pioche is ten miles to the north (and has three historic, two still-
used cemeteries); and Las Vegas is 165 miles south, on U.S.
Highway 93. There are many other small, historic cemeteries in
this area; and, if Bob Pierce (the Western Deadbeat!) encourages
it, 1 may write about some of those in the future. ♦

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The Monument at Winter Quarters:
Three Mormon Stories

Cynthia Toolin

P.O. Box 584

Enfield, Connecticut 06083-0584

In 1936, Heber Grant, President of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), dedicated Avard
Fairbanks' bronze monument "A Tragedy of Winter Quarters" at
the Winter Quarters Cemetery.

Winter Quarters was a transitional camp for Mormons
who had been harassed into leaving their homes in Nauvoo,
Illinois. On February 2, 1846, in twenty below zero weather
with a bitter wind blowing, the first Mormons left Nauvoo
(O'Dea, The Mormons, 1963). Eleven days later, Brigham
Young left in twelve below zero weather, under threat that if he
and his councilors did not leave Nauvoo they would be arrested.

Mormon refugees, fleeing religious persecution, suffered

adverse conditions as they traveled westward. A Mormon

couple grieves as they stand over the open grave of their child.

Front portion of Avard Fairbanks ' bronze monument:

"A Tragedy of Winter Quarters", Florence, Nebraska.

It is the single remaining marker for Mormon burials there,

as their wooden markers no longer exist.

Photo: Cynthia Toolin.

The anti-Mormon population increased its level of
harassment after Young and his party left, and many Mormons
were forced to accelerate their departure from Nauvoo, often
trading a farm or house for a team and wagon (Mullen, The
Latter-Day Saints, 1966).

The Mormons were migrating to the Great Salt Lake
Valley in Utah. The first part of the journey involved crossing
Iowa. This proved to be a difficult task. It took between four
and four and a half months for the Mormons to cross the
approximately 400 miles of the state because of very adverse
weather conditions. Most finished the journey in July. It was
then too late in the year for the Mormons to continue to travel
westward, so a transitional camp was set up in present day
Florence, Nebraska, a suburb of Omaha, and was called Winter
Quarters.

The living conditions in Winter Quarters were poor.
Housing was predominantly in one room sod houses, although
some brick houses were also built. The overall environment was
also poor. The Mormons called Missouri Bottom "Misery
Bottom", because the marshy waters of the Bottom collected
sewage from the streams flowing into it, adding to the generally
unhealthy conditions (Rich, 1972: Ensign to the Nations).
People were exhausted from the long trip across Iowa, much of
which had been in bad weather. Food was inadequate, with few
fresh vegetables. Disease soon became a problem. Scurvy, also
known as Black Canker and Blackleg, was prevalent, and others
suffered from tuberculosis and malaria, sometimes in
combination with scurvy. In December 1846, 334 out of 3483
were reported as being sick (Linn, 1963: The Stoty of the
Mormons).

The problem with scurvy was serious, so wagons were
sent to Missouri for potatoes. The potatoes, along with
horseradish that was found in an abandoned fort near camp,
helped to slow, and eventually stop, the disease (Berrett, 1965:
The Restored Church).

These adverse conditions were referred to by John
Young as the "Valley Forge of Mormondom" (Rich, 1972: op.
cit.). He said:

"Our home was near the burying ground; and I can
remember the small mournful-looking trains that so
often passed our door. I also remember how poor and
same-like our habitual diet was: com bread, salt bacon,
and a little milk. Mush and bacon became so
nauseating that it was like taking medicine to swallow
it; and the scurvy was making such inroad amongst us
that it looked as if we should all be 'sleeping on the
hiir before spring, unless fresh food could be
obtained."

In total, approximately 600 people died by the end of
the winter of 1846-1847, and were buried in the cemetery at
Winter Quarters. The exact number is not known, because the
sexton who recorded burials charged $2.50 for each. Many who
could not afford the burial fee buried their own dead, and these

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were not recorded by the sexton. There is a plaque in front of
the monument with the names of those buried who were
recorded by the sexton.

There are no individual gravestones for the Mormons
buried at Winter Quarters, although there are many gravestones
of the "gentiles" who started using the cemetery in 1854. The
bronze monument by Fairbanks is the only marker for the
Mormons, as the original wooden markers no longer exist.

There are three stories told on the monument.

The first story, told on the front of the monument, is the
sorrow of death. The monument shows the grief of a Mormon
couple as they stand together, looking into the open grave of
their child. The father has his arm around the mother in a
comforting manner. She has a single tear running down her left
cheek. The child appears to be wrapped in a blanket.

Under this depiction are the words of an old Mormon
Hymn, "Gird up your loins fresh courage take; our God will
never us forsake".

The second story, told on the back of the monument, is
courage in the face of adversity. An ugly, gnarled and bare bush
is shown at the back of the couple. The bush represents
adversity, which would like to pull the Mormon couple down in
their sorrow. The branch cannot succeed because the couple
have turned their backs on it for they believe that their family
will be together forever after death.

The third story, also told on the back of the monument,
is of a mother's love. A mother is shown walking with her hand
on the back of her wagon. Children until age six were allowed
to ride on the journey west; after age six, they had to walk. This
picture records the story of a mother whose child would not stay
in the wagon unless he could see her hand - she walk westward
with her hand on the wagon to comfort him.

These stories take on particular interest in light of the
sculptor's family history. One set of Fairbanks' grandparents
buried their first child in this manner on the journey to the Great
Salt Lake Valley. He also has three great grandparents buried in
the Winter Quarters Cemetery. ♦

Courage in the face of adxersity .

A pioneering couple turn their backs to an ugly,

gnarled branch representing adversity.

Upper rear portion ofAvard Fairbanks ' bronze monument

at the Winter Quarters Cemeteiy. in Florence, Nebraska.

Photo: Cynthia Toolin.

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A Mormon mother walks westward (lower left corner) with her hand on her wagon to comfort her child.
Lower back portion of the bronze monument, "A Tragedy at Winter Quarters".

Photo: Cynthia Toolin

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Reading Weathered Marble Gravestones

Requires a Knowledge of the Carver's Craft

1996 AGS Conference Paper

John E. Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rhode Island 028 1 8

E-mail: j_ster@prodigy.com

READING MARBLE GRAVESTONE NUMBERS

NEWLY CARVED NUMBERS COMPARED TO WEATHERED NUMBERS

NEWLY CARVED NUMBERS

14

1 00-200 years of WEATHERING

NEWLY CARVED NUMBERS

233

1 00-200 years of weathering

chart 1

chart 2

NEWLY CARVED NUMBERS

690

100-200 YEARS OF WEATHERING

()')

NEWLY CARVED NUMBERS

78

100-200 years OF WEATHERING

CHART 3

CHART 4

Most gravestones in the United States in the nineteenth
century were made of marble. These gravestones are proving to
be temporary markers. Thomas Meierding discussed gravestone
weathering at the 1995 AGS conference [see Meierding, 1995:
"Processes of Marble Gravestone Weathering in North America:
A Geographic Perspective", AGS Newsletter, Fall '95, p. 2]. Dr.
Meierding detailed how sulftir dioxide, from coal burning, is the
main enemy of upright stones and acid rain is the enemy of
horizontal gravestones. My experience in Rhode Island is that
3% to 5% of the marble stones are unreadable, even with the
techniques I detail here. That number is somewhat lower in
rural areas that had less exposure to sulfur dioxide. In some
areas where sulfur dioxide pollution was higher or where poor
quality marble was used, the percentage of unreadable
gravestones can be as high as 50%.

I have been working with a group of volunteers whose
goal is to record every gravestone in the state of Rhode Island.
To date, we have recorded 340,000 gravestones, in 2780
cemeteries. I have seen many techniques used to read
gravestones, but two stand out as far and away the best. The
mirror techniques you have seen demonstrated on the cemetery
tours at the AGS conferences, where sunlight is redirected at a
raking angle over the gravestone to highlight the carving with
shadows, is the quickest and easiest, when bright sunlight is
available. Aother technique, wetting and brushing the face of
the gravestone so that the dirt on the surface is moved into the
letters while the surface starts to lighten, works well on
gravestones in cemeteries deep in the woods where sunlight can
not be reflected on the stone with a mirror. A natural bristle
brush and plain water works well. Most marble gravestones can
be read directly with one of these techniques, but some have
worn so severely that, unless you know how the carver has made
the numbers, they can be confused.

T and '4' are the most misread numbers on worn
marble gravestones. When you write on paper all strokes on
numbers are equal strength but not so when they are carved in
marble. The '1' and the '4' are made with heavy downward
strokes. The rest of these numbers are carved with very light
lines. When these numbers wear, so that the light lines
disappear, the T and the '4' are indistinguishable (see chart
#1). For these situations, it is helpful to look at the spacing.
1811 is spaced much closer than 1841. It is also helpful to look
for a possible spouse nearby. If the husband died in 1845, at age
80, it is highly unlikely that the wife died in 1816, at age 79. In
this case it is quite possible that her death occurred in 1846 not
1816.

'2', '3', and '5' are all quite similar, but they have their
own characteristics (see chart #2). The deep curve on the right
side of all three numbers occurs on the top of the '2', the bottom
of the '5', and at both the top and bottom of the '3'. There is a
deep dot to the left of this curve. The '2' and the '5' also have a
straight line at the bottom of the '2' and the top of the '5'. On a
weathered stone these characteristics should be looked for.

(Continued on page 10.)

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(Continued from page 9.)

'6', '9' and '0' are all quite similar (see chart #3). All
three numbers have heavy curved lines on the right and the left.
On the '0" they are long and equal. The '6' has a similar long
line on the left and a shorter line on the right, at the bottom. The
'9' has the long line on the right and a shorter line on the left, at
the top. Carefiil study under proper light will improve the
accuracy of reading these numbers.

'7' and '8' are truly unique numbers and should never
be confiised with other numbers (see chart #4). The '8' has a
deep diagonal line that makes it unique from all other numbers.
When it has weathered, a small diagonal line is the only clue
that this was once an '8'. The '7' has a horizontal line at the
top, much like the '5'. The deep, vertical line directly under this
horizontal line makes the '7' unique from all other numbers.

Letters used to spell out the name are usually not as
much of a problem as numbers, because they are interrelated. If
you can read some of the letters, you can usually figure out the
name. There are a number of lettering styles used on marble
gravestones. You can usually find a stone, using the same style
nearby that is in better condition, where you can study the
characteristics of the letters. Reading the adjacent gravestones
can also give you clues, as related people are usually buried
together. The most difficult problem with letters is reading
initials since they stand alone with no other letters to help.

To read marble gravestones use a mirror to light the
face of the stone or scrub the surface with plain water and a
natural bristle brush. Learn the characteristics of the numbers
by studying where the carver has cut deep lines so you can
recognize what the numbers look like when they are worn. ♦

Advertisement

HA\MD CARVED lETrERIMG IM STOME

Houmann Oshidari
(617) 862-1583

433 Bedford Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02173

^nll for /^npers

1997 cAQ^S C<»"fe'enee

Jgecker QpWeqe, Leicester/ ^Vt^assnchusetts

c^une 26-29, 1997

The 1997 Conference Program Chair is
Barbara Rotundo. Barbara is looking for papers
from around the country, and even abroad.

Proposals and 250-word abstracts are
due February 24, 1997.

Remember! This is an organization for
gravestone studies. An occasional paper on
cemeteries or mourning customs is acceptable,
but the focus should always be on gravestones.

Please send proposals and abstracts to:

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road. Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

(603) 524-1092

For general information on AGS Conferences

contact:

W. Fred Oakley. Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, MA 01035

(413)548-1756

P^

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A marble dust and ground asbestos angel,
"melts " under the Chicago sun. Photo: Helen Sclair

Artificial Stone
IN Chicago

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, IL 60614-2323

There is little good building stone in the Chicago area.
The local Joliet-Lemont lime-stone, which dries and becomes
brittle shortly after being quarried, does not lend itself to being
carved with letters or symbols. The result of this paucity of
good stone was the development of an artificial stone industry.

Sand dredged fi-om Lake Michigan was mixed with
low-grade cement and pressed into molds of many designs,
including molds of obelisks and columns for cemetery use.
Today, after 100 to 130 years of weathering, these markers are
in poor condition. Their color is varied, ranging from cream and
beige, through pink and grey, to black. The markers now list
and lean, mouldering in Chicago's Victorian cemeteries.

Some stone was imported, notably Indiana limestone
and New England marble and granite. Imported stone, with the
exception of marble, has fared better.

The Great Fire of 1871 encouraged more experiment-
ation with building materials. Entire exteriors were erected of
that wonderfiil fireproof material, asbestos. Using a mixture of
marble dust, ground asbestos and cement to substitute for
expensive Italian marble, altars, and altar rails were molded, and
later pulpits, candelabra, stations, and statuary were made of this
material. Then "fireproof came to mean "weatherproof, and
the asbestos mixture found its way into cemeteries. It is not
aging well; the surfaces are pox-marked.

The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 introduced
the use of molded staff-straw and gypsum. This was followed
by the use of concrete in statuary.

There are many unanswered questions concerning the
use of artificial stone. Hundreds of asbestos gravemarkers adorn
the Chicago cemeteries, and asbestos-ridden church interiors
exist across the entire North American continent. What is the
future for this material recognized as dangerous since the
1970s? What about new monuments being molded from 80%
marble dust? How will they weather?

The use of artificial stone deserves more study. ♦

A sand and cement molded obelisk

sadly succumbs to the ravages of time and weather.

Photo: Helen Sclair

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Gravestones of Joseph Sikes,
1743-1801

Ralph Tucker

P.O. Box 414

Georgetown, Maine 04548

In 1980, 1 ran across several gravestones in Maine that
resembled those attributed to Elijah Sikes and several other
carvers who made similar stones found in Belchertown,
Massachusetts, and in the eastern Connecticut area. I became
curious as to how this style came to Maine. Over a period of
investigation, I found that the Maine stones were concentrated in
two distinct areas, in Scarboro, which is just south of Portland,
and in Bristol, which is some distance north of Portland, up the
coast.

Harriette Forbes notes, in her 1927 book. Gravestones
of Early New England, the S^kss family of carvers who worked
on sandstone, quartzite, schist, and white marble, in Plainfield,
Connecticut, and in New Salem, Belchertown, and Wilbraham,
Massachusetts. Their stones have full eyes, vines, roses, hair,
and some italic lettering.

In his 1966 book, Graven Images, Allan Ludwig has
nine illustrations of stones attributed to the Sikes family, dating
from 1774-18 11, having similar attributes.

At the tercentennial, in 1976, the South Hadley
Historical Society published The Old South Hadley Burying
Ground, which lists six similar stones attributed to the Sikes
family.

James Slater, noted authority on Connecticut stones,
lists nearly 200 Sikes stones in his 1994 book. The Colonial
Buiying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut, and dates the stones
from the 1770s. The dating obviously includes a number of
backdated stones. Slater notes the use of vines, elaborate roses,
and several heads in the tympanum. He points' out Ebenezer
Stebbins, Ebenezer Felton, Nathaniel Hodgkins, and the carver
"Greek girl" as well as Elijah Sikes as carvers of similar stones.

It should be noted that the Sikes family is mentioned by
most authors, which indicates that they were in some measure
uncertain as to the actual carver. Mrs. Marjorie Waterfield, of
Bowling Green, Ohio, a genealogist working on the Sikes family,

was able to identify Elijah's father Joseph, Jr. as a "tombstone
cutter" who left Belchertown, Massachusetts, and went to Bristol,
Maine. This locates him just where the unidentified car\er
worked. The 1800 Maine census showed Joseph Sikes in Bristol,
Maine, with his wife Eunice, son Artemus, and daughter
Experience. The date of his arrival is not known but he was
apparently there by the late 1780s.

Joseph Sikes, Jr. carved on a poor variety of slate. The
tops of his stones are in a variety of shapes, not always in the
common three lobed variety. The lettering in upper and lower
case is good and evenly spaced with only occasional gaps or
errors. The numerals 1, 2, and 0 are within the lower case lines;
numerals 4, 7, and 9 go below the line; numerals 6 and 8 go
above; numerals 3 and 5 go both above and below. The older
form of letter "s" can resemble the letter "f . In an epitaph, italic
lettering can be found. Footstones are small and may have a star
or decoration as well as the name or initials of the deceased.

The Maine stones all have a head in the tymparuim
which is elongate, having a very small mouth, long nose and
semicircular eyes. Often there are two or more heads on a stone
indicating the number buried. The heads have three varieties: 1 )
heads having wings, 2) heads showing long hair. 3) heads
outlined with a border.

There are small variations in all examples. Side borders
of vines with heart shaped leaves are common, sometimes
bearing bunches of grapes. Semicircles are also used as borders.
Six pointed stars appear and "Memento Mori" can appear in a
frame above the head. Elaborate roses and pinwheels are also
found.

Without exception, the Maine Sikes stones have eyes
that are semicircles. On the other hand, all of the Sikes-like
stones in Massachusetts and Connecticut, of which 1 ha\e
knowledge of, have oval shaped eyes, with the exception of two
gravestones in Becket, Massachusetts. These stones are identical
to stones found in Maine. This indicates that Joseph Sikes car\ ed
in Massachusetts before moving to Maine, and that he probably
moved to Maine after 1787 when he carved the Dewey stones in
Becket.

There is the question of when Joseph started to carve,
and whether he learned from his son, or someone else. The main
point to be made is that Joseph Sikes, Jr. was a stonecutter and
that his work can be fotind in Maine, as well as in Becket,
Massachusetts. His son Elijah Sikes was bom about 1772,

(Continued: page 13.)

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probably in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and married Lucretia
Anderson, in 1793, at Chester, Massachusetts. There are eight
stones documented to Elijah in Massachusetts. About 1800, he
went to Dorset, Vermont. In 1808, he opened a marble quarry.
About 1825, he went to Ohio where he was listed in the 1850
census as a stonecutter. In Ohio, his stones are usually marble,
and he used the urn and willow design. He died in Trumbull
County, Ohio, in 1855. Based on the sheer number of Elijah's
stones in Massachusetts and Connecticut, it appears that Elijah
was a serious carver and that Joseph, his father, was only an
occasional carver, until he arrived in Maine, where there was a
need for a local carver. ♦

Gravestones & Computers

John E. Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, RI 028 18

E-mail: j_ster@prodigy.com

At the 1996 AGS Conference, in Gorham, Maine, the
fmal version of the database standard for recording gravestones
was released. It is filled with improvements suggested by the
more than fifty people who participated in the beta test. Most of
the reports can now be printed to a file. This feature allows the
reports to be picked up with a word processor, where they can
be modified both in content and format. Fonts can be altered
and cemetery descriptions edited and expanded.

Several new file manipulation options have been
added. One cemetery can be exported to a database and one
cemetery can be imported from a database. These options are
particularly helpful to divide and combine database files for a
group working on several cemeteries in a town, or county, that
will all be combined into a single database in the final product.

A function key [F7] has been added so that you can
view the cemetery description from the gravestone inscription
without moving to that section of the program. A new report has
been added so that all gravestones in a database can be printed in
alphabetical order.

A code has been added for limestone. In the veteran's section,
codes have been added for the Indian Wars and for the Gulf War.

By using this database standard, groups can share
cemetery transcripts taken at different locations, because they are
now all in the same language. As gravestone data is collected
and added to the database it can be combined, because it is all in
the same format. In Rhode Island, thirty-five volunteers have
been working in small groups around the state for six and a half
years recording gravestones and adding them to a database.

340,000 gravestones inscriptions, in 2,780 cemeteries, have
been collected. These have all been combined on a computer at
the Rhode Island Historical Society. It is now possible to locate
a pre-twentieth century gravestone anywhere in the state in less
than a minute.

I have received several requests for a program to be
used by the public, in a library, to search the gravestone
database. This program should have full search capabilities with
no write privileges, so the data can not be changed. Write to me
with your thoughts on what you would like to see in this type of
program.

I have also been asked about a Windows version of the
Database Standard program. I am a little reluctant to develop
such a program just yet, because many of the people recording
cemeteries are working with older computers that can not use
the Windows operating system. The current program will work
on DOS 3.3 up through Windows 95. It will work on a 286,
386, or 486, and on a Pentium computer.

You are encouraged to report the progress of any
cemetery project using the AGS Database Standard through this
column. I am aware of three recording projects now underway.

In East Hartford, Connecticut:

John Spaulding is working with a group of volunteers
documenting the Center Cemetery. There are about 4000
gravestones and about half have been documented and added to
the computer database. John has developed some nice custom
reports by using R & R Report Writer to display the data.

In Cape Girardeau, Missouri:

Dr. Bill Eddleman is leading a group of volunteers
from the Cape Girardeau Historical Society in recording all
cemeteries in the county. Old transcripts for some of these
cemeteries are being entered before the field work starts. The
database now contains 4,000 inscriptions.

In Swansea, Massachusetts:

Cherry Bamberg, of Marlboro, is entering several early
transcripts of Swansea into the database. These will later be
checked in the cemeteries.

To order the AGS Database Standard gravestone
recording program (IBM version only), send $19.95, plus $1.95
shipping, to:

AGS Database Standard

278 Main Street, Suite 207

Greenfield, MA 01301

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Pioneer Cemeteries

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Until a few years ago, I had connected Pioneer
Cemeteries with the far western part of the United States. Now,
thanks to AGS members opening my eyes, I have observed the
title moving to the east. In response to my request for help last
spring, Sarah Brophy of Carlisle, Massachusetts, has come up
with what I call the winner: "Old Pioneer Burial Ground" in
Westford, Massachusetts. Westford is east of Groton and
Harvard, where, as Harriette Forbes tells us, William Park and
his descendants filled the burial grounds with handsome slates,
beginning in the 1750s. Sarah says there are five stones with no
carving on them in an area at least twice the size of what would
be needed for five graves. The barely legible sign reads: "Early
1700's /OLD PIONEER/BURYING GROUND/ Here lies [sic]
buried members of the /Parker and Corey families/, /James
Symonds, an Indian/, and other early settlers". When was the
sign put up? And when did people start to call the burial ground
"Pioneer"? Sarah had no answers, but she could state that
people were living in the area in the late seventeenth century so
that burials in the early eighteenth were probable.

I'm going to make an informed guess at the date,
"informed" for two reasons. One is that I've learned a lot about
the nineteenth century in my years of research and teaching.
The other is the help I've received from other AGS members.
Mark Esping, of the Folklife Institute of Central Kansas,
responded to my query. He pointed out that it is the third
generation after those who have pioneered that start to use the
term. In other words, the generation burying the last few
survivors of the first generation. Discussing gravestones for
pioneers, in Oregon, Dick Meyer says that the pioneers didn't
call themselves by that name. Instead, they thought of
themselves as emigrants. (His article about these gravestones is
in Markers XI, and is still available from the publications list -
plug!) What motivates the change in terms? Pride? Guilt? Just
the passage of time? Perhaps a little of each.

This challenge of Miranda's to have a Quarterly issue
devoted to Pioneer Cemeteries has caused me to review various
bodies of information that I have known for a long time, and the
changed perspective has given me new insights. My guess is an
informed guess based on this realignment of information. For
instance, on the east coast there is an additional consideration
that explains why it was, I believe, far more than three
generations before the word came into use. After all, western
New York state was settled only after the American Revolution,

and Daniel Boone, the quintessential pioneer, did not die until
1820. If people were fearful of Indian attacks or worried about
surviving through the winter, they did not yet have the
comparative luxury of feeling guilty about the tough life of
earlier generations. They were still pioneering themselves and
saw their lives as no different from that of their forebears.

Slate gravemarker of James Russell Lowell.

A letter from J. W. Lovering, dated May I. J 893. ?iotes that he

thinks the stone was brought by John McNamee.

Photo (taken 1937) courtesy of Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Cambridge, Massachusetts.

If you have studied the social history of the United
States, you know that citizens in the early decades of the
nineteenth century were very proud of the founding fathers,
especially George Washington, who had hundreds even
thousands of namesakes all over the country. However, there was
no pride in the old houses, furniture, or other aspects of colonial
material culture. In 1831, when Mount ."Auburn Cemeten.. in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, initiated the new kind of cemeter\- in
which natural beauty would offer solace to the berea\ed and the
song of birds and the whisper of leaves would arouse fine moral
thoughts, the by-laws specifically forbade slate

(Continued: page 15.)

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markers. In the estimation of these forward-looking Bostonians,
the imagery and epitaphs on the old slates were outmoded and
undesirable. The belief that colonial life and colonial artifacts
were crude and old-fashioned continued until the 1870s when
people began planning exhibits to send to Philadelphia to
celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence. Suddenly, the colonial days became the good old
days, a yeamed-for Golden Age. (Immigration and indus-
trialization also accounted for a lot of the new high regard for
pre-revolutionary customs and possessions.) The colonial
revival in architecture that begun in the 1870s is still with us
today, and slate markers came back in fashion, too. The
gravestone, in Mount Auburn Cemetery, for James Russell
Lowell, one of the most highly regarded literary figures in his
day, is evidence of this. While today art museums have still not
accepted those early carvers as full-fledged sculptors, some, like
the Metropolitan, in New York, and the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts, have acknowledged the artistry of the carvers {and of the
photographer!) by purchasing a collection of Dan Farber's
pictures. Thus, my informed guess is that Westford named its
old burial ground at the end of the nineteenth century or the
beginning of the twentieth, depending upon how long it took
people to discover and understand the significance of the
anonymous graves.

Interestingly enough, there is a parallel action and
reaction caused by the bicentennial, in 1976. Many towns that
had no historical connection with the American Revolution,
often hadn't even existed in 1776, turned to an appreciation of
their old cemeteries as a way of commemorating the past. Some
burial grounds were rescued from oblivion. Others received
maintenance for the first time in many years. A few experienced
face-lifting from scout troops, historical societies, etc., and I'm
sure some received brand-new signs saying "Pioneer Cemetery".

To end my tale in an appropriately old-fashioned way,
here is a moral; as a result of the attention given to cemeteries,
people became interested in gravestones, and now The
Association for Gravestone Studies has well over a thousand
members. ♦

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Scholarly lectures are delivered on Thursday,
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Day long, guided bus tours are a Friday feature. Two
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A third coach is designated for those interested in
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Saturday is "Workshop Day". A series of hour-
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A registration form will be sent to every
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1996 AGS Annual Conference

University of Southern Maine

GoRHAM Maine

Presentation Abstracts

Thursday, June 27
Theme: The Truth About Maine

The Thursday night program was set up to give people a useful
background for getting the most out of a conference in Maine.

Keynote Address: Life and Death in Early Maine

Our Keynote speaker was Charles E. Clark, professor
of History at the University of New Hampshire, and author of
two books relevant to our interests: The Eastern Frontier: The
Settlement of Northern New England, 1610-1763 and Maine, A
History. His presentation, "Life and Death in Early Maine,"
described where people lived: in coastal towns, country towns
and frontier communities, as well as how they lived. In
discussing the social hierarchy. Professor Clark concentrated on
the "middling sort" whose ideas and customs dominated in those
days, just as they do today.

Geology of Maine

Maine State Geologist, Dr. Robert G. Marvinney,
Ph.D., kindly came down from the capital, Augusta, to tell us
about the geology of Maine. He explained how plate tectonics
created Maine, illustrating with helpfiil maps. He also brought
samples of the stones we would be particularly interested in,
granite and Monson black slate. At the conclusion, people
gathered around him to ask questions and to touch and look
closely at the rocks.

Three Maine Carvers

Our third speaker was our own Ralph Tucker, a
founding member of AGS, Harriette Merrifield Forbes recipient,
and long-time researcher of stonecutters who lived north of the
Charles River, in Massachusetts, and in Maine. His presentation
featured the work of Joseph Sikes, circa 1780, in Freeport,
Maine; Noah Pratt, Jr., also early 1780s, in Bristol, Maine; and
Bartlett Adams, in Portland, Bath and Brunswick, Maine. As
you may remember, he described Bartlett Adams' life and work
in his column in the Winter 1996 issue of the Quarterly. His
article on Joseph Sikes, is the subject of his topical column in
this issue (see page 12).

Friday, Ju.ne 28
Theme: A Close Look at Gravestones

Techniques for Reading Worn Marble Gr.ji\ estones

John Sterling's paper, "Techniques for Reading Worn
Marble Gravestones", was the first paper presented on Friday
night. John has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Connecticut and is currently owner of Professional
Business Systems, a computer software development company
which last year developed the AGS Database Standard computer
program for recording cemeteries. He has been working with a
group of volunteers for the past six years to record all 3,200
historic cemeteries in Rhode Island. Our conviction that the
information and pertinent illustrations John presented would be
of interest to all of our readers prompted us to include his paper
as a feature article in this issue (see page 9).

Making a Living: Moses B. Root, Iowa Stonecar\ er

Beverly LeCroy's paper introduced the life and work of
Moses Root, who left farming for stonecarv'ing, in Van Buren
County, Iowa, in 1846. His signatures, "M.B. Root" and "Root
and Son", are found in nearly every cemeter)' in the count%-. He
catered to the needs of his constituents by car\ing stones in the
German language, and advertised that he would produce Irish.
Scottish, and American symbols.

Beverly is a Sociology Instructor at Indian Hills
Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa, and has been involved
in gravestone studies for two years. She is interested in other
issues related to death and dying and started a new course in that
area at the college this spring.

Markers of the Early Congregational Ministry
IN North-western Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Presented by Tom Malloy

Markers of the Early Congregational Ministry in
Northern Worcester County, Massachusetts

Presented by Brenda Malloy

Tom and Brenda Malloy's consecutive papers dem-
onstrated the elevated status of ministers in early cemeteries.
The Congregational Church was the established church in eari\
Massachusetts. Because the church was supported b>- the
government, as late as 1800, towns could have been fined for
not hiring a minister. The town provided his salan,' and \arious
other benefits, such as land and his year's suppK' of cordwood.
The last benefit bestowed the minister was his funeral expense
and the erection of his gra\estone, often one of the most
impressive gravemarkers in n town's cemetery.

(Continued on page 17.)

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In most cases the marker was either a table stone or a
portrait stone. A minister's table stone was usually the only
such marker in the cemetery. Portrait stones were carved, not
necessarily to reveal the individual's likeness, but rather to
symbolize his social position by the inclusion of a clerical
collar.

The papers of Tom and Brenda Malloy are always well
received. Tom is a professor of American History at Mount
Wachusett Community College, in Gardner, Massachusetts.
Brenda teaches fifth grade in Westminster, and is a member of
the AGS Board of Trustees, currently serving as its Secretary.
Both have presented a number of papers at annual meetings of
the Association for Gravestone Studies and the American
Culture Association. Articles by them are published in Markers
IX and Markers XI.

Saturday, June 29

Theme: Different Concerns in Looking at

Gravestones

The Graveyard in Art

Artists have depicted gravestones, graveyards, and
related images for hundreds of years. Ann Diseroad shared with
us a wide variety of such art. In illustration, her slides ranged
from an early (fifteenth century) altarpiece showing Christ as the
Man of Sorrows standing in his tomb, through Delacroix's
(nineteenth century) graveyard scene in Hamlet, and Andrew
Wyeth's (1960) painting, the Sexton, which portrays the
gravedigger at work. Ann showed sixty slides, demonstrating
that the painting of graveyards is not a rare act.

Asked to tell how she became interested in gravestones,
Ann responded that she had played in a graveyard as a toddler.
She now collects variations of the symbols carved on stones,
catalogs the work of a yet unidentified carver whose early
nineteenth-century stones are found throughout central
Pennsylvania, conducts graveyard tours, and lectures on art in
the graveyard and the graveyard in art. She holds a B.S. from
Wagner College and an M.S. from Drexel University. She is
night supervisor at Andruss Library, Bloomsburg University; a
director of the Columbia County [PA] Historical Society; and an
artist.

A Conservation Dilemma (and a Possible Solution)

His paper presented an attractive compromise solution
to the problem of restoring Connecticut brownstone markers,
satisfying those who want the stones to look like the originals as
well as those who want to know that the stone has been restored.

We expect to publish this paper, with its telling
illustrations, in a fiiture AGS Quarterly. His pictures dem-
onstrate how satisfactory the proffered compromise between
preservation and restoration can be.

Starting from Home: First Quadrant

Using his birthplace, Boston, Massachusetts, as the
beginning point of geographical reference, William "Andy"
Meier swept over the surrounding area to show what could be
found in special burial places; overgrown, old burying grounds;
and modem cemeteries. He distributed maps and a list of the
cemeteries so that the audience could identify their location.
Andy added a musical overlay "so as to convey the feeling of
the whole" and kept his narration to a minimum. The audience
relaxed and enjoyed the audio/visual experience.

Andy was bom and raised in Boston. He eamed a
B.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art, as well as his Art
Education Certification. He has lived and worked on three
continents and presently resides in upstate New York.

Sunday, June 30
Theme: Different Perspectives in Cemetery Visits

College Students' Reactions
to a Cemetery Field Trip

George E. Dickinson, currently a Professor of Sociology
at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, is the author of
forty-six articles, in professional journals, and eight books,
primarily on the subject of death and dying and the sociology of
the family. His paper presented a content analysis of approx-
imately two hundred undergraduate students' reactions to a
death-and-dying class field trip to Round Church cemetery,
Charleston, South Carolina, established in 1696. The evolution
of gravestones and numerous symbols were pointed out to the
students. The students' comments were both humorous and
heartening. While some approached the trip with a bit of anxiety,
all expressed agreeable reactions to their "walk through history."

Cemeteries and Gravestones
In and Out of the Geography Classroom

Norman Weiss is Adjunct Associate Professor at
Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture,
Planning and Preservation, where he has taught since 1977. He
is a nationally known specialist in the analysis and preservation
of traditional constmction materials and has been active in
graveyard conservation for more than 20 years.

William I. Woods discussed examples from his exper-
ience over the past decade with the cemetery as classroom. He
pointed out that cemeteries, with their varied populations of
gravestones, present an ideal laboratory to expose students to the
concepts and methods for viewing historical landscapes.

(Continued on page 18.)

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(Continued from page 17.)

Bill is a professor in the Department of Geography and
is Director of the Contract Archaeology Program at Southern
Illinois University, at Edwardsville. His interests include the
United States, Europe, and Latin America, and bringing the
results of his investigations into the classroom.

Investigating Composition Stone

Helen Sclair has been researching Chicago area
cemeteries for about 20 years. She is known around Chicago
(and in the press) as the "Cemetery Lady", and is a popular
speaker on Chicago circuits and at AGS as well. We include an
abstract of Helen's paper in the Annual Conference Papers
section of this issue (see page 11) in order to alert all members
to the problem of composition gravestones. After February 7,
1997, monument dealers across the country will be
knowledgeable concerning this problem, as Helen is scheduled
to present her research findings at the next Monument Builders
of North America Convention.

Helen spends as much time in archives and libraries as
in burial grounds, often locating the (sometimes deliberately
obscured) true stories behind the stones.

The Source for the Ornate Carving
IN Mount Carmel Cemetery, Chicago

Barbara Rotundo compared and contrasted the realistic
sculpture found at the Mount Carmel Cemetery, in Chicago -
particularly the sculptural portrait of the Di Salvo family (see
fig. 1)- with that found in cemeteries, in Florence, Venice, and
especially in Genoa, demonstrating that this style is "very
Italian."

Italian group sculpture often includes the person being
mourned (usually a man - the father) as well as the mourners
who appear in various stricken poses, but dressed in their normal
clothes: ladies in bustles, tightly corseted waists, and draped
shawls; or a little boy, perhaps, in a sailor suit, detailed even to
the anchors embroidered on the collar (see fig. 2).

Barbara concluded with a return to the Di Salvo family
monument, pointing out the same detail of dress, but with an
important difference in emotion. The American group is
pictured in a calm if solemn mood, in contrast to the distressed
emotion displayed in the Italian groups.

Barbara retired from teaching to have time to travel.
She calls her retirement career "Historic Cemetery Consulting"
and frequently reports the results of her visits in the United
States and abroad either in prepared papers or in slides at Late
Night. She was the program chair for this conference and a
recipient of the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award in 1994. ♦

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Figure 1. A funerary portrait of the Di Salvo family.

Mount Carmel Cemetery, Chicago.

Photo: Barbara Rotundo.

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Figure 2. A highly detailed Italian group funeraiy sculpture.

Note the elaborate details of dress and gesture.

Photo: Barbara Rotundo.

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1996 AGS Annual Conference

University of Southern Maine

GORHAM, Maine

Cemetery Bus Tours

Friday's activities included three bus tours of Maine cemeteries:
a Colonial tour, a combination Victorian and modem tour, and a
mixed tour (Colonial, Victorian, and modem).

The Colonial Tour viewed a host of Colonial carvers'
works, with commentary by Ralph Tucker and Comelia Jenness.

The Black Point Cemetery, in Scarborough, Maine, was
our first stop. Here we saw a number of stones carved by Joseph
Sikes, Jr., who spent the latter part of his life in Bristol. Joseph
was the father of the well-known Massachusetts carver, Elijah
Sikes. For an elaboration of the work of Joseph Sikes, please
refer to Ralph Tucker's topical column in this issue (page 12).

The Eastem Cemetery was our second stop. This is the
oldest cemetery in Portland, Maine. While many stones have
been broken or removed, there are stones by many of the Boston
carvers as well as a few ft-om elsewhere, including those carved
by Bartlett Adams, a local carver. Little study of Adams' work
has been undertaken.

map of the family farm. Adjacent to Deering Park is Laurel Hill
Cemetery, which has white painted gazebos dotting the grounds
and cast-iron fences still in good condition.

The final stop was at Evergreen Municipal Cemetery, a
classic mral cemetery, owned and mn by the City of Portland
since it was established, in 1854. Here we visited both modem,
individualized stones and grand Victorian statues. Evergreen
includes a white bronze (zinc) monument of a Civil War soldier,
like those found in cemeteries and on village and city streets all
over the East and Mid- West.

The Mixed Tour, which included samples of Colonial,
Victorian, and Modem work, was led by Bill Jordan, a local
historian and retired professor of history.

This tour went first to Eastem Cemetery and then to
Western Cemetery, also in Portland. Here the grave-stones were
not unusual, but Bill had many interesting stories to tell about
the people buried there. The last stop on this tour also included
Evergreen, Portland's mral cemetery.

At the close of the tour, the three groups returned to the
conference site, in Durham, for a relaxing and refi^eshing
reception recognizing the contributions of retiring Executive
Director, Miranda Levin. This was followed by dinner and the
evening program A very busy and thoroughly rewarding day!

The First Parish burial ground, in Freeport, Maine, was
our third stop. Here the stones of Noah Pratt, Jr. were seen,
including an unusual 14"xl7" "sample" stone, apparently
carved for sales purposes. (See article in the Spring, 1992, AGS
Newsletter [18:2].) Noah, a member of the stonecutting Pratt
family of Abington, Massachusetts, lived in Freeport for ten
years before retuming to Abington.

Down the road we visited the Freeport Historical
Society were the photographic exhibit of Noah Pratt's work was
displayed.

The Victorian and Modern Tour was guided and
narrated by Barbara Rotundo.

We went first to Eastem Cemetery, in Gorham. While
there were no unique stones, there were several good examples of
interesting types: three cradle stones, with lovely curved curbs
enclosing the graves; several white bronze monuments; and
modem stones for children, with their heart-breaking messages.

Our second stop was at Deering Park, in Saco. We
viewed a large group of individualized modem stones. One
portrayed a diner which has been the gathering place of several
generations of young people. Another was decorated with a

'96 Conference logo, Line drawing of Freemason Russell

Bucknam stone, in Gray, Maine.

Artwork: Virginia Rockwood,

Gravestone Artwear, Greenfield, Massachusetts.

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Ralph Tucker points out an unusual consej-vation technique at

AGS Conference '96, Gorham Maine.

Photo: Jessie Lie Farber

Conservation Workshops at Conference '96

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035

Conservation activity began Thursday afternoon in
Gorham's oldest burying ground known locally as Village
Cemetery on South Street. Twelve participants along with three
staff members set about the process for mapping a. small section
of the yard. Agricultural lime was used to mark three, 20'x20'
sections. Three teams were designated to record monuments in
sections, lettered A, B, and C. Each monument was numbered
within each section and a diagram of the spatial relationship of
each stone within the section and the adjacent section was
established. Reading and recording inscriptions proved to be
the most difficult part of this Recording/Mapping exercise.

Saturday's workshop was organized into Basic and
Advanced Conservation activity. Basic activities were planned
for Village Cemetery on South Street. Preliminary investigation
of stones that would benefit from basic techniques was made by
Coordinator Fred Oakley. Conferees were divided into "pods"
each with a trained staff person to supervise the activity. Each
"pod" was assigned specific stones for treatment, the stones
being designated by numbered stakes referenced to a rough map
of the yard. Among the stones to be treated were several
impacted by tree saplings which were trimmed and the stumps

removed. Poulticing, cleaning, resetting, mortaring-in-base, and
several simple adhesive repairs were assigned to "pods" based
on the experience of staff leaders. Twenty four conferees
enrolled for Basic Conservation were supen,ised by C.R. Jones,
Ruth Shapleigh Brown, Tarah Sage Somers, John Spaulding,
David Via, and Fred Oakley.

The Advanced Conservation Workshop was conducted
in Main Street Cemetery, where our three professional
conservators, Jim and Minxie Fannin and Tracy Coffm Walther,
instructed and supervised ten conferees in using advanced
techniques and materials to restore five marble stone in various
stages of need. Prior to the conference, field notes and
photographs were provided to the leadership for their planning.

Among the challenges for workshop planning is
acquiring tools, materials, sand and gravel, and water.
Transporting such necessities over long distances is daunting.
Fortunately, the local Director of Public Works supplemented
those that could be transported by the workshop coordinator
and, in addition, provided two of his staff to deliver and remove
debris and unused materials. Water was provided to \'illage
Cemetery from a hose connected to a faucet at the adjacent
Pizza House and electticity from an outlet under an o\en inside.
Ingenuity usually overcomes what could be perceived as
insurmountable problems. <♦

The Basic Conservation Workshop was led by:

C R. Jones, of Cooper stown, New York

C. R. is Conservator of Collections of the New York
State Historical Association and Farmer's Museum, where he is
caretaker for paintings, prints, and plows. He also sen.'es as an
adjunct professor in the Cooperstown Graduate Program in
history museum studies. A special interest in the conservation
of gravestones has developed from his profession and his
association with AGS. He is currently ser\'ing as an AGS
Trustee.

Ruth Shapleigh-Brown, of Manchester, Connecticut

Ruth has been president of the Shapleigh Family
Association of Maine since 1985. Over the past se\era] >ears
Ruth has excavated and cleaned many stones in the family
burying ground. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the
Friends of Center Cemetery in East Hartford. Connecticut, she
assisted in organizing and leading conser\'ation acti\ ities. She
was 1993 AGS conference chair and is currently on the AGS
Board of Trustees.

Tarah Sage Somers, of Canton. Massachusetts

Tarah assisted in the conser^■ation workshop at Pine
Hill Cemetery in Westfield, Massachusetts, and worked with
Fred Oakley in the Old Bur>'ing Ground of Hadley, Mass-
achusetts. Tarah earned a B.A. from Hampshire College.

(Continued on page 21.)

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John Spaulding, of Manchester, Connecticut

John has worked with Fred Oakley conserving stones in
Center Cemetery in East Hartford. He has recorded 2,500 of the
approximately 5,000 gravestones in Center Cemetery. John is
secretary-treasurer of the newly-organized Connecticut Grave-
stone Network, and is a member of the AGS Quarterly Editorial
Board.

David Via, of Round Hill, Virginia

David has had extensive experience restoring
gravestones in the Shenandoah Valley. He recently worked with
Lynette Strangstad in the Colonial Burying Ground in
Savannah, Georgia. He has attended and provided leadership at
previous AGS conservation workshops.

and Fred Oakley, ofHadley, Massachusetts

Fred initiated the program of conservation workshops
at AGS Conferences in 1989. The "learn by doing" method
using A Graveyard Preservation Primer as a basic text has been
warmly received by participants. Fred is a practitioner, having
acquired his skill through instruction, observation, and
application. Currently he is conserving stones in the Old Hadley
Cemetery, in Massachusetts. An AGS Trustee, Fred currently
serves as Treasurer and was co-chair of this conference.

The Advanced Workshop was led by:

James and Minxie Fannin, of Concord, Massachusetts

Minxie Fannin is a managing principal of
Fannin/Lehner Preservation Consultants in Concord,
Massachusetts, and James Fannis is an associate with the firm.
They have regularly led conservation workshops at previous
AGS conferences. As professional conservators, they specialize
in the conservaton of historic burying grounds along with
extensive work in the historic preservation field. They are
currently involved in a number of projects in the Northeast as
well as in Granville and Cincinnati, Ohio.

and Tracy Coffing Walther, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Tracy is an architectural conservator currently working
on preservation/conservation projects for the Historical Society
of Western Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh. Tracy provides a wide
range of conservation services for buildings, mon-uments and
stone sculptures. Specialized services include cemetery pres-
ervation and burial monument conservation. Tracy holds a B.A.
from Duquesne University and an M.S. from Columbia
University. ♦

Workshop participants at work resetting a stone
at Village Cemetery, on South Street, Gorham, Maine.

Hands-on instruction in poulticing procedure.
Photo: Jessie Lie Farber

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1996 AGS Annual Conference
Participation Sessions

AGS Annual Conference Participation Sessions, led by
a varied array of qualified professionals, are always informative
and stimulating. Conferees may choose to attend one class per
session, a difficult task, as each of the options is equally
exciting. The 1996 Conference was no exception. The
following brief descriptions provide only a glimpse to the wealth
of subject material.

Stories from Stone

Claire Deloria and Laurel Gabel

Rutland County, Vermont, Gravestones
AND the Men Who Carved Them

Margaret R. Jenks

The identification of E. C. as Enos Clark of Middle-
town, Vermont, and finding William Buckland, an ancestor, led
Margaret to intensive investigation. Show showed slides of fifty
carvers she has identified and the work of a few not yet
identified.

Margaret Jenks holds a B.S. in Home Economics from
Drexel University, Philadelphia. She is editor of the Newsletter
of the Genealogical Society of Vermont, and has been an AGS
member since 1982.

This double session provided information on finding and
using documents such as wills, census and military records to
help bring to life individuals memorialized on local gravestones.

Claire Deloria is presently an adjunct instructor in the
education department at Le Moyne College, New York, is a
member of the AGS Board of Trustees, and has received the
honor of being named New York State Teacher of the Year.
Laurel Gabel is a recipient of the AGS Forbes Award and
currently serves as an AGS trustee and as AGS Research
Clearing House Coordinator.

Cemetery Resurrection Archaeology

Jeffrey Nelson and Richard Steadman

This program showed how archaeology and forensics
science are used to discover the existence and history of
forgotten cemeteries. All aspects of the cemetery, from
discovery to renovation and use, can be used as learing tools for
school students and the community. The use of technical
apparatus was demonstrated.

Jeffrey Nelson is staff archaeologist and site supervisor for
the archaeology section of the Union City Area Museum,
Pennsylvania. Richard Steadman is president of the Historical
Society of the Union City Area Historical Museum, Pennsylvania.

Framed Foil Impressions

Susan Galligan

This session used both lecture and demonstration.
Participants were shown how to make a foil impression for
casting molds. This method is inexpensive, easy to learn, and
particularly effective for working with stones that are grainy or
deeply carved. It is evident that there are limitless possibilities
for obtaining pleasing results by impressing even a portion of
the stone, such as a particular texture or border.

Susan Galligan works in the Clerk-Magistrate's office
of the District Court, in Wrentham, Massachusetts. Her interest
in burial grounds, reading and copying epitaphs and making
gravestone rubbings, began as a child.

Urn and Willow: The Language of Cemetery art

Ann F. Diseroad

This slide lecture explained the meaning and origin of
symbols carved on gravestones. Both common and unusual
examples, primarily from the nineteenth centur>', were shown.

Ann Diseroad holds a B.S. from Wagner College and
an M.S. from Drexel University. She is director of the Columbia
County Historical Society, in Pennsylvania, and is an artist. She
conducts graveyard tours, and lectures on art in the gTave>ard
and the graveyard in art.

Computerized Gravestone Recordlng

John Sterling

This session discussed how to use the database
program, designed by John, himself, for recording gravestones,
how to search the database, and how to generate reports. The
program, now being tested by AGS members, is easy to use, so
no computer experience is required to operate it.

John Sterling is the topical editor of the "Gravestones
and Computers" column for the AGS Quarterly, and has. over
the past several years, recorded 3,200 historic cemeteries in
Rhode Island. The state's computer record now includes one-
quarter million gravestone inscriptions.

(Continued on page 23.)

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Photography Workshop

Frank Calidonna

This workshop was conducted in a Gorham [Maine] cemetery.
All phases of photographing both Colonial stones and Victorian
statuary were discussed and demonstrated. Other topics
included equipment, film, lighting, filters, exposure, and
preparation of the site.

Archival Storage of Photographs, Videos, «& Film

Frank Calidonna

The session discussed the inherent archival qualities, or
lack thereof, of films, papers, photographs, and video tapes.
Proper materials, environment, and display techniques for long-
term preservation were covered. The impact of digital storage
concluded the session.

AGS President, Frank Calidonna, has been a serious
photographer for the past 45 years. He is the owner of Diver-
sified Photographic Services, which specializes in architectural
photography.

Restoring and Researching an Old Cemetery
IN Frostburg (Percy Cemetery 1839-1972)

Tony Crosby and Michael Olson

Tony and Mike presented the method used for Percy
Cemetery in extending the documentation beyond the recording
of inscriptions and photographing the stones. The method
included a sociological approach to researching those mem-
orialized.

Tony Crosby is Associate Professor of Sociology and
Michael Olson is Chair of the Department of Sociology, at
Frostburg State University, in Frostburg, Maryland. They have
recently published Commemorating Frostburg 's Percy
Cemetery: Restoration and Research , detailing the efforts made
to preserve this graveyard and the method developed for a
sociological understanding of those buried there, their families,
and com-munity. Tony and Mike founded the Percy Cemetery
Commission, which has charge of the Cemetery's continuing
preservation.

How TO Make Rubbings - for Beauty and Stone Safety

Roberta Halpom

Participants met and rubbed stones in a Gorham
graveyard. They learned which stones to avoid, what materials
to use, cautions about littering, and how to preserve rubbings.

Roberta Halpom holds both a B.A. and an M.A. from
New York University. She is an expert in the area of Death and
Dying, and is Director of the Center for Thanatology Research
and Education. Roberta has presented a number of papers to
AGS since she has been a member, and has an extensive
collection of rubbings she has made over the years.

Mourning Customs

Helen Sclair

This session included slides, a collection of mourning
memorabilia, and description of hundreds of mourning customs
including some practiced today.

Helen Sclair, "The Cemetery Lady", has been invest-
igating Chicago cemeteries for twenty years. Her research
includes geology, history, ethnicity, religion, symbolism on
markers, burial customs, epitaphs, and more. Helen is a long-
time AGS member, and editor of the Midwest column in the
AGS Quarterly.

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The Nuts and Bolts and Perils

OF Creating a "Live" Tour of a Graveyard

(How I did it)

Roberta Halpom

From her personal experience, Roberta described the
research, creation of a script, search for actors and costumes, and
promotion of a "living" tour. Budget issues were also examined.
The photograph, below, shows the costumed cast standing in
front of the chapel at Green- Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New
York, a building that is a reproduction of the Christopher Wren
original, in England. (Also see Roberta Halpom's "Grave
Errors" piece, in the Notes & Queries section of this issue.)

The cast of the "living tour" stands before the chapel

at Green- Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo: Roberta Halpom

The Grant-Writing Game

Sarah S. Brophy

This workshop was designed for all new fund raisers
and those new to grant-writing and discussed basic resources,
funding information, foundation types, formats for applications
and record keeping, and the preparation of proposals. Part-
icipants had time to look at the foundation directory, review
successful proposals, and study Sarah's notebook on Mass-
achusetts foundations.

Sarah Brophy is a freelance fiind raiser and project man-
ager working for small, cultural non-profits. She began working
with graveyard projects, in 1993, with the Olde Burying Ground
Conservation Project, in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Gravestone Rubbing Techniques

Virginia Rockwood

The introduction and demonstration of the basic
process of gravestone rubbing took place in a classroom.
Participants explored various media and then went out to a
Gorham cemetery for hands-on experience.

Viginia Rockwood, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, has
been an art teacher for eighteen years. She came to the '96
Conference Participation Sessions with thirty years of
experience rubbing gravestones. From time to time, she has
rendered drawings for various AGS publications and publicity
pieces. Virginia is an AGS Trustee, and is chairing a comminee
that is preparing, for publication, a resource book for teachers.

Fear of Cemeteries, Is There Really a Need?

Gary Boisseau

This session explored the reasons why people ha\e
fears about entering cemeteries, the excuses they give, and
suggested ways to help people overcome these fears.

Gary Boisseau, is a social studies teacher specializing
in geography, government, history and public speaking at an
alternative high school, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Gary is a
member of AGS and is active in several community groups. He
serves as co-president of the Citizen's Scholarship Foundation
of Westfield, and second vice-president/membership director of
the Westfield River Watershed Association.

Paper Conservation in Gravestone Studies:
Rubbings, Books, and Papers

Roberta Halpom

Roberta's presentation provided an introduction to
archival methods for preserving paper materials, a discussion of
where and what to obtain, and a bibliography.

Teaching 4th and 5th Graders in the Cemetery

Mira Graves

Through anecdotal descriptions, Mira shared exper-
iences from six years of teaching fourth and fifth graders in
Pennsylvania cemeteries. For the fourth grade, special emphasis
was placed on American Heritage; while the fifth grade snidents
concentrated on the effects of the environment.

When she retired from \arious careers in personnel,
administration, and management, both private and go\ emmental.
Mira began a "new career" in volunteer work. Her primary
interests are in American history', historic preser\ation. and family
genealogy. She coordinates programs for Elderhostel. presents
programs for community groups on a variety of subjects, and works
witli public school teachers on their cemeter>- projects. ♦

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Historic Burying Grounds Initiative
Boston, Massachusetts

The 1996 Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award

IS presented to

The Historic Burying Grounds Initiative

Frank Calidonna

The mission of the Association for Gravestone Studies
is to foster appreciation of the cukural significance of grave-
stones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.

At this time, we, the Association of Gravestone
Studies, would like to honor this year's recipient of the Harriette
Merrifield Forbes Award. The award is named for the
Massachusetts gravestone scholar and photographer, Harriette
Merrifield Forbes. In 1927, Mrs. Forbes, of Worcester,
Massachusetts, published a landmark book of American
gravestone studies, titled Gravestones of Early New England
and the Men Who Made Them .

Twenty awards have been presented by AGS since the
first, in 1977. Twenty people have been recognized for their
outstanding contributions and achievements in areas such as
scholarship, publications, education, conservation, restoration,
and community service. Tonight we are presenting the award to
an organization whose mission and accomplishments, to date,
truly exemplify the mission of AGS. This year we present the
Harriette Merrifield Award to the Historic Burying Grounds
Initiative, of Boston.

As the nation's bicentennial approached in the 1970s,
many Bostonians were concerned over the deplorable conditions
of their sixteen historic burying grounds. These priceless links
to the past were in dire need of restoration. The Boston Parks
Department, the proprietor of these grounds, made the decision
to make this a very carefully planned and conceived effort so
that the final outcome would be one that was accomplished
correctly the first time.

The Historic Burying Grounds Initiative was the result
of this decision. Work by this public/private cooperative organ-
ization resulted in a catalog of over 16,000 grave markers, and
the publication, in 1986, of a master plan detailing a step-by-
step restoration plan for each of the sixteen burying grounds.
The plan's estimated expense to complete the project was 6.1
million dollars. Nearly 3 million dollars in restoration funds
have been expended since that time and work continues towards
the final completion of the projects each year. The Initiative's
accomplishments include, but are not limited to, preserving and
restoring markers and monuments, rehabilitating landscape and
structural features, increasing security, maintenance, and
community awareness of the burying grounds and their
importance. These historic burying grounds and their grave-
stones are not only treasures of Boston's history, but all of
America's.

In recognition of this monumental effort (pun intended
- I have no shame), on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the
Association of Gravestone Studies, I am delighted to present the
1996 Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award to the Historic Burying
Grounds Initiative. Ms. Beth Sheppard of the Initiative is here
tonight to receive the award for the organization. ♦♦♦

sMl

IV.

I:

The 1996 Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award

was presented to The Historic Burying Grounds Initiative, Boston.

Massachusetts, for distinguished service in the field of gravestone

studies. The award was accepted by Project Manager, Beth Shepard.

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At the first annual conference of the Association for Gravestone

Studies, it was resolved that an award should be made, periodically, to

honor either an individual or an organization in recognition of

exceptional service to the field of gravestone studies. This award,

blown as the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award, recognizes

outstanding contributions in such areas as scholarship, publications,

conservation, education, and communitv service.

Association for Gravf stone Studies
Conference Requirements

Hosting An Annual Conference

We are often asked, "Why don't you hold a con-
ference in our area?" Every inquiry is researched with
specific factors in mind. Ahhough not ranked in importance
these are the several features essential to siting the
conference.

1 . Sufficient members in the area to run the conference,
particularly the Conference Chairperson.

2. A site, usually an educational institution, with facilities
for housing, food service, and facilities to accomodate
our activities. We usually use a base number of 150
conferees.

3. Rates must be affordable. Consult with previous
conference chair for rate information.

4. Interesting burying grounds or cemeteries within a 45
minute travel radius for the bus tours.

Our AGS policy is to hold conferences in approximately this
sequence: New England; the Northeast; and outside the
Northeast.

Request for Nominations

The Awards and Recognition Comminee continues
its ongoing search for nominees for the Harriette Merrifield
Forbes Award. Nominees may be either individuals or groups
and the substance of their work must be in keeping with the
AGS mission statement: The mission of the Association for
Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the cultural
significance of gravestones and burying grounds through their
study and preservation.

The work can be in any area or combination of areas.
such as gravestone carver attribution, gravestone conserv'ation,
gravestone art, gravestone geology, exhibitions relating to
gravestones, and computer programming for gravestone study;
also the historical, archaeological, genealogical, or religious
significance of gravestones. Other acceptable subject areas are
the iconography, poetry, language, and lettering on
gravestones. The work may be in many forms, such as
research, writing, taping, photography, interpretive editing,
organizational leadership, legislation, financial assistance, and
teaching.

The Committee is also seeking nominees for
Certificates of Merit. While the same subject classification
and standard for quality apply, the criteria are much less
stringent regarding the importance and scope of the work.

Please send your nominations, along with a brief
description and/or photographs, to: AGS, 278 Main
Street, Suite 207, Greenfield. MA 01301.

A

Conference '96 Attendance Statistics

154 conferees at the 1996 AGS Conference, in Maine,
came from 21 states; Washington, DC; and Ontario, Canada.

Massachusetts 41

New York 26

Connecticut 16

Maine 14

Pennsylvania 13

New Jersey 10

New Hampshire 6

Illinois 4

Indianna 3

Arizona 2

California 2

Maryland 2

Oregon 2

Rhode Island 2

South Carolina 2

Virginia 2

Alabama

Florida

Louisianna

Ohio

Texas

Washington, DC

Ontario. Canada

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. Minutes of the 1995 Annual Meeting

University of Southern Maine

GoRHAM, Maine

Friday -June 28, 1996

The meeting was called to order at 7:12 PM, by AGS President, Frank Calidonna, in Bailey Hall Auditorium,
University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine.

AGS Secretary, Brenda Malloy, deterrriined that more than thirty-five members were present, constituting a
quorum to conduct business.

It was moved and seconded to approve, as circulated, the minutes of last year's Annual Meeting, held on
Thursday, June 22, 1995. The motion carried.

Annual reports were distributed and comments were made.

AGS Treasurer, W. Fred Oakley, Jr., explained that due to a very successful 1995 Conference the projected
deficit of $3,700 became a $2,800 surplus. Expenses for 1996 include relocation of the office and related moving
expenses.

Richard Meyer, editor oi Markers, thanked the editorial board for their continued support.

It was noted that it is necessary to fill the position as AGS Archivist, as Jo Goeselt will be moving out of state.

It was moved and seconded to accept all annual reports. The motion carried.

The accomplishments of our Executive Diector, Miranda Levin, were recognized by Rosalee Oakley. Miranda
was the guest of honor at a reception held earlier in the day.

President Frank Calidorma thanked Fred and Rosalee Oakley for facilitating the office move fi-om Worcester to
Greenfield.

The names of the newly elected officers and trustees were read: Secretary, Brenda Malloy; Trustees at Large:
Ruth Shapleigh Brown, Robert Dinkwater, Robert Klisiewicz, Barbara Rotundo, Beth Smolin, John Sterling and
Janet Taylor. All trustees present were introduced.

Frank Calidonna recognized retiring trustee Roberta Halpom, who served for six years. Roberta was given a
gift certificate in appreciation of her service.

Fred Oakley voiced his thanks for help at the conference. He especially thanked Beth Smolin for transporting
AGS sales table material to the conference in her van.

Ruth Shapleigh Brown, of the Visibility Committee, encouraged everyone to take AGS brochures home and to
distribute them in their communities.

It was moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 7:28 p.m. The motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,
Brenda Malloy
Secretary

To receive a full copy of the Association for Gravestone Studies 1995 Annual Meeting & Reports,
please send your request to the AGS office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301

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% Evaluation of the '96 Conference

Barbara Rotundo

When I started as columnist for the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, I jotted down some ideas that I thought
would make good topics for columns. One was to describe the
ideal conference. At the board meeting in September, Miranda
distributed a report on the 63 evaluations that were returned
after the conference. Study of them reveals an important truth.
There is no ideal conference.

What seems ideal to me seems unpleasant to you, or
too superficial, or too formal, or against all your ideas about
what AGS represents. For instance, one evaluation said the
conferences get better every year; another said the conference in
Gorham was the worst in ten years. One person liked the lack of
florid introductions for speakers; another said the introductions
were so short as to be rude. More than 150 individuals
obviously have that many tastes and attitudes. Some will match,
some won't.

Board members study all the evaluations and try to
think of modifications that will meet the complaints without
losing the compliments. Only large numbers demanding a
change will make the change an obligation. Luckily for us, the
large numbers this year indicated satisfaction with what was
done.

Of course, some things are not under the control of the
conference committee. We would all like to have interesting
speakers with good slides, but how can we check those ahead of
time? Remember, except for the keynote speaker and the
geologist, if we are lucky enough to find one, every talk is given
by a volunteer.

The content of the conference is provided by
volunteers, and the committee can only beg for volunteers.
(And of course, the committee is also all volunteers.) The
evaluation sheet asked for suggestions for topics, and some
people gave a possible speaker as well. I can assure you that
those people named will be approached about volunteering.

As Program Chair I'd be happy to help people shape
and time a talk if they've never made a slide presentation before.
Or why not offer a participation session where the group is

smaller and not so intimidating? Or if you'd like to dip a toe
into the sea of experience, bring along a dozen slides and talk
for five

or ten minutes at one of the informal Late Night sessions.
Whichever you choose, 1 guarantee an enthusiastic audience.
Please consider sharing your special knowledge and experience.

Speaking of Late Night, we had a problem at Gorham
over which we had no control. Remember the first nighi we
were in the second floor lounge of the dormitory? Those who
had gone to bed promptly were understandably annoyed by the
noise outside their doors. The other two nights we were in a
large, factory-like room. Since it was situated underneath the
dining

room, a steep incline led to it. This was annoying to people with
walking and breathing problems.

The truth of the matter is that we had arranged to use
the first floor lounge in the dormitory, which would have
required no outside walking and had no bedrooms leading off it.
However, we arrived to find the college conference office had
also assigned the same lounge to a group already on the spot.
So much for advance careful planning!

There were also a number of complaints that Late
Night has become too formal. That, alas, is true. As we grow
larger, and more people attend, we no longer can fit (jam)
ourselves into a small room to share slides and a six-pack. At
least next year we can hope for a room with a cozier
atmosphere.

The final question on the evaluation sheet concerned
the use of a motel or hotel instead of a college campus. .\ few-
people opted for the hotel, but most liked the informality of
living together and sharing meals on a campus. Some expressed
their pleasure at reliving their young college days; others were
conscious of the lower cost of cafeteria food. No one goes to an
AGS conference for a gourmet experience. Surely first-time
attendees who are awed at meeting all these experts whose work
they've been reading will find it reassuring to meet an expert in
the hall clutching towel, soap, toothbrush, and plastic cup. After
that they will have no trouble using first names or putting their
trays down next to experts at the breakfast table.

I want to remind people who like the privacy of their
own bathroom and a telephone and TV in the room that in recent
years we have always included the names of nearby motels.
From the earliest conferences there have sometimes been a few
staying outside, often a couple where the spouse isn't interested
in gravestones - if you can imagine such a condition. Our
conference next year is in Leicester. Massachusetts, a small
town just outside Worcester, and there should be a wide choice
of motels for those who want to go that way.

DO PLAN TO ATTEND,
AND HELP US HAVE THE IMPOSSIBLE IDEAL CONFERENCE!

"^i^^^ime £(P ♦ Mm/^ S& 4 ♦ ^a^ £S

S^^S^A^ted a^ &ue^^d

Grave Errors

Roberta Halpom

A last minute decision to exhibit at a local "Archives"
fair, in Brooklyn, led to an exceedingly fortuitous spate of
publicity for the Center for Thanatology this past fall. The
fortunate element was that we had set the date for a "Living"
tour of Green-Wood Cemetery only two weeks later. You
couldn't buy better publicity for such an event than an article in
'New York Times. Unfortunately, the tour had to be canceled
because it poured both days we had scheduled.

Media publicity is a two-edge sword. We are usually
delighted if a reporter calls for an interview, to help give
prominence to an event we are planning; but the incredible
mistakes made by journalists, even when they have tape
recorders with them, can make you (the purported speaker) look
like an idiot. And such was the case with an article that
appeared in the broadly based Brooklyn Paper Publications
(Rose Palazzolo, 1995, "Graveyards are Classes for the Study of
Death," Brookhm Paper Publications, October 27-November 2,
p. 3).

The headline was accurate. It said "Graveyards are
Classes for the Study of Death," which is one of my beliefs.
Then the reporter started getting off track. "Gravestone
studies," Palazzolo wrote "include the etchings which Halpom
has turned into art pieces (emphasis mine)." The reporter then
invented the most amazing story to account for a rubbing (not an
etching) of a bronze door to a cemetery mausoleum, made at
Calvary (Catholic) Cemetery, Borough of Queens.

In commemorating the life of a Mrs. Cotter, the bronze
doors, in actuality, state "In Memorian of Our Mother," and the
legend, "New York City Riot 1863." The reporter placed the
mausoleum in the Quaker Prospect Park Cemetery, in Brooklyn,
and made Mrs. Cotter, (whose monument was designed by one
of her sons) into a Catholic NUN, who was killed in the draft
riots, even though she died in 1887 (or 24 years later). Finally,
Palazzolo further rewrote history, to turn the orphan asylum that
was burned by the rioters into a Quaker establishment (it was
really Episcopal), and created a "group" of Catholic women who
saved the children. Considering the prejudice against
Catholicism in that period, I doubt there were too many such
"groups."

I'm sure this kind of thing has happened to everyone
who has been featured in a newspaper. I wish I knew how to
make reporters let one read their copy before printing it. But in
the meantime, my local historian friends, who probably know
the true story, have been too polite to let me know what they
think of my "inaccurate" sense of history. ♦

- Ai f AW

-f>f; t ^K *w"o I I'.-t- u

'^:W:*¥l

l3:.m.

Bronze door entrance to a mausoleum

at Calvary Cemetery, Borough of Queens

"IN MEMORIAN OF OUR MOTHER NEW YORK CITY RIOT 1863'

Rubbing: Roberta Halpom

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A Letter from Ivan Rigby

AGS members who haven't heard news of Ivan Rigby
since the death of his partner, Francis Duval, will be interested
to know that he is living in Circleville, Ohio (1315 Bristol
Court, Circleville, OH 43113) and would welcome news from
his "gravestone friends" about what's going on these days.

For members who didn't know the Duval-Rigby team,
they were the avid gravestone photographers and scholars who
initiated the conference Late Night Sessions. Authors of the
book, Early American Gravestone Art in Photographs, their
work was widely published in high quality art magazines, and
their huge collection of photographs and molds is now housed at
the Museum of American Folk Art. Francis died of a heart
attack several years ago, after a spill he took as he ran to let his
cat in.

The following is from Ivan's letter, postmarked
February 4, to Dan and Jessie Farber:

1 miss not living at my home [a

beautiful carriage house] in Brooklyn. It is
rented to a young couple, and I hear they like
living there. I'm looking forward to a visit to
Brooklyn, but my sister doesn't want me to live
there alone. I miss Francis so much. Each day I
think of him and the many things he helped me
enjoy. A friend and former student [at Pratt
Institute] — a painter and a classmate of Francis -
- called to say he is going to Paris. I wish I
could go. Paris means so much to me. During
WWII I was stationed there for a while to make
3D models to help with the war efforts. During
that time I was able to visit many artists —
Picasso, LeCorbusier, Brancusi, and while we
were working in London I visited henry Moore
and had tea with him in his favorite pub across
the street from his home

Ivan enclosed a clipping from the Columbus (Ohio)
Dispatch headed "Cemetery tourism no ghoulish adventure,"
with the subhead: "Some of the most famous sights in the world
are tombs: the Pyramids and Taj Mahal, among them."

A Response to AGS Request for Information
ON Pioneer Burials

Dorothy Mellett, of Blauvelt, New York, responded to

our query, regarding pioneer burials with a note about Charles
Fremont, a pioneer explorer of the Oregon Trail and many other
areas in the West. She is the author of Gravestone Art in
Rockland County, New York (1991. Hudson Valley Press.). {.\
copy of Gravestone Art in Rockland County, New York, is in the
AGS Archives.)

i^ifAVBlIK OF KKBAl iflllN ClIASlI

mn - mm
^mm^ mmxm^ mm m im ojegosi iwti

Atop Mt. Nebo. in Rockland Cemetery, Rockland Count}'. New

York stands the prominent gravestone of John C. Fremont.

Known as "The Pathfinder" for his explorations of the IVest, he

was the first governor and the first Senator of California and an

unsuccessful Presidential candidate in IS56. the first to run on

the Republican ticket. Fifty- lines of script on the bronze plaque

in the back of the monument describe the accomplishments of

John Charles Fremont lSI3-lS9fl. Monument recently restored

by Friends of Fremont. We also see a handsome new marker

near the entrance to the burial ground.

Photo: Courtesy of Dorothy Mellett.

'%-fcime S(P ♦ JQm^^ S& 4 ♦ ^ofe SC

rv'^^^gjP"^

S^S'^jVo-ted a/ii/ ^ue/^i^d

<S;52S5P'

To Our Friends at AGS:

My wife, Diana (a fomier AGS member), and I were
married, last May, among die many beautiful 18th and early
19th Century slate stones at the Old Chatham Burying Ground,
in Chatham, Massachusetts. Our guests thought it a little odd at
first, but it turned out to be quite lovely

Gary and Diana Jarvis

Elderhostel Program on Gravestones

Laurel Gabel and Barbara Rotundo are involved in a
proposal for an Elderhostel Program on Gravestones and
Cemeteries that will take place in the Boston area, in September,
1997. Elderhostels are now open to anyone over 55. If you
would like to be notified when details are final, please send your
name and address to the AGS office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207,
Greenfield, MA 01301. ♦

"Pass Along Letters "

Pat Miller wishes to share items of interest to
"Gravestoners" via a type of "pass along letters", a "round
robin" type of letter. If you would like to be part of this, write
to: Pat Miller, 3625 Pulaski, Suite 303, E. Chicago, IL 46312.
Include items to share if you have some! ♦

An Addition to the List of Burial Places
OF Men and Women Important in Black History

Thanks to a note firom member Jo Ann Mongue, of
Dalton, Massachusetts, Roberta Halpom wants to add a name to
her list of burial places of men and women important in Black
history. Amos Fortune, a former slave who bought the freedom
of his first wife and then his second, is buried in Jaffrey, New
Hampshire. Moving from Boston, Fortune established a
successful tannery in Jaffrey and made a number of
contributions to the community. (Editor's note; A further
description of his life and gravestone appear in Angelika
Kruger-Kahloula's article on gravestones of eighteenth and
nineteenth-century Blacks in Markers VI. This cemetery, in
Jaffirey Center, was included in the self-guided tours for the
1991 Annual Conference at Mount Herman School. Willa
Gather, the novelist, is buried there as well.) ♦

Job Announcement

Contingent upon funding, the Piedmont Regional
Humanities Council of the Virginia Foundation for Humanities
and Public Policy is seeking a qualified field worker for the
summer of 1997 to continue to search for, locate, and document
private graveyards and unmarked burial sites, particularly those
that might contain the remains of slaves or freed slaves, in
Buckingham County, VA. Data from previous investigations
undertaken by both individuals and local historical organizations
would need to be verified, updated, and added to new findings
for inclusion in historic records and revised USGS maps.
Buckingham County, located in south central Virginia, is three
hours from Washington, DC, and an hour fi-om Richmond or
Charlottesville.

To apply, please send a cover letter and current resume
to Priscilla A. Ord, Project Coordinator, P.O. Box 920,
Farmville, VA 23901. For additional information, interested
candidates may call (804) 392-6586. ♦

"^fume £0 ♦ jVam^^ S <& 4 -> 3^afe J"/

^

The AGS Quarterly Needs Your Artwork

Do you have hundreds of gravestone rubbings?

^ Are you an artist who Ukes to draw gravestones? y^

Consider submitting your work to adorn the AGS Quarterly\

We always have a need for cover art and fillers for large and small spaces.

If you'd like to send rubbings, please do not send originals.

A letter-sized, high-quality copy works best.

For line art, if you prefer not to send a valuable original,

a letter-sized, high-quality copy is perfectly acceptable.

For more information, please contact Patricia Miller at the AGS office:

278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301

(413)772-0836.

Many thanks to Virginia Rockwood, whose line art appears throughout this issue.

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board:

Mary Cope, Jessie Lie Farber, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith, John Spaulding.

Quarterly Contributions:

Contributions and comments to columnists and Editorial Board Members are welcome.

Issues are mailed six weeks after deadlines and often take several weeks to reach the membership;

please keep that in mind when submitting time-sensitive material.

Mail contributions to the appropriate person or to the AGS office.

Advertising Prices:

Business card, $15; 1/4 page, $45; fiill page insert, $100. Ads are placed as space allows.

Send advertising (with payment) to the AGS office: 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301

'^^^i/ne £0 ♦ Mirn^^ Sd: 4 ♦ ^a^ S£

&<z^/i6/ar 0-^(o<>/7tc/i^ &i^e/tfd

Conference on Cemetery Conservation - April 19-20, 1997.

The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, Inc.

Ontario Heritage Centre, 10 Adelaide Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1J3

Cenotaphs AND Similar Memorials - February 8, 1997, Saturday, at 2:00 pm. Admission: $7.00.

Slide lecture by Barbara Rotundo. Sponsored by the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Story Chapel, 580 Mount Auburn

Street, Cambridge, MA. For information, please call (617) 547-7105, ext. 241, or E-mail: friends@mtaubum.com.

Project Remember, Gravestes of Some Notable Americans - March 22, 1997, Saturday, at2:00 pm. Admission: $7.00.

Slide lecture by Arthur Koykka. Sponsored by the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Story Chapel. 580 Mount Auburn
Street, Cambridge, MA. For information, please call (617) 547-7105, ext. 241, or E-mail: friends@mtaubum.com.

Memory AND Mourning: American Expressions of Grief - January 18, 1997 -March 16, 1997.
America's changing attitudes toward death and dying are examined in a traveling exhibition, at the Senator John Heinz
Pittsburgh Regional History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The exhibition opens on January 18, 1997, and will remain on
view through March 16, 1997. Memory and Mourning was developed by the Strong Museum, in Rochester, New York.
For information, please contact Ms. Tracy Coffing Walther, at (412)-454-6391 .

© 1996 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided; (1) the reprint is used for
educational purposes; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and/or photographer or artist invoK'ed; and (3) a copy of the
document or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office.

The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and

contributions from readers are welcome.

The goal of the Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones and about die activities

of the Association.

To contribute items: please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior/Student, $20; Individual, $25; Institutional, $30; Family, $35; Supporting, $60; Life, $1,000) to the .Association for
Gravestone Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues are
received and ends one year from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies: please send articles to
Richard Meyer, Editor of Markers, Department of English, Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361 . Markers (next issue,
volume, XIV) may be ordered, for a purchase price of $28 for members, or $32.50 for non-members. Please add $2.00 postage. Back issues are
available from the AGS office. Please send your request, with payment, to the address below, or call (413) 772-0836 for details.

Contributions to the AGS Archives: may be sent to Lois Kelly, care of the AGS office.

All other correspondence: please address to Lois Ahrens, Executive Director

AGS, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301, or call (413) 772-0836.

/^S

^

I^UJags
MJone

f

The Association for Gravestone Studies

278 Mam Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301

NON PROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 208
GREENFIELD, MA

AGS Quarterly

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

From the President's Desk 2

From the Executive Directors Desk 3

Feature Articles:

Sybil Crawford, Waterloo County, Ontario: A World of Cemetery Diversity 3

John Sterling, Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Maine: Two Captains Buried 7

Topical Columns:

17th & 18th Century Gravestones & Carvers, Ralph Tucker, The Geyer Stonecutters 9

19th & 20th Century Gravestones, Barbara Rotundo 11

John E. Sterling, Gravestones & Computers . . 13

W. Fred Oakley, Conservation News 14

Regional Articles:

Bob Pierce, Northwest & Far West 1 5

Ellie Reichlin, Southwest 15

Helen Sclair, Midwest 17

Sharyn Thompson, Southwest/Caribbean 18

Bob Klisiewicz, New England/Maritime 20

G.E.O. Czarnecki, Mid-Atlantic 21

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula, Across the Oceans . 22

Book Reviews 24

Publications Received 25

Notes & Queries 25

Calendar of Coming Events Back Cover

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board:

Mary Cope, Jessie Lie Farber, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith, John Spaulding

Quarterly Contributions:

Contributions and comments to columnists and Editorial Board Members are welcome. Issues are mailed six weeks after deadlines and often
take several weeks to reach the membership; please keep that in mind when submitting time-sensitive material. Deadline for this spring issue
is March 21; for next summer issue it is May 23.
Mail contributions to the appropriate person or to the AGS office.

Advertising Prices:

New rates as of March 1, 1997. Business card, $30; 1/4 page, $50; 1/2 page, $90; full page insert, $200. Ads are placed as space allows. Send
camera-ready advertising with payment to the AGS office: 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301.

Volume 21: Number 1

Winter 1997

ISSN:01 46-5783

AGS Quarterly Wmi^i 1997

From the President's Desk

Frank Calidonna

313 West Linden Street

Rome, New York 13440

E-mail: frank.calidonna@worldnet.att.net

This issue of the Quarterly should have us back on track.
Last year was a very traumatic year for AGS. We physically moved
from Worcester to Greenfield, and we had a total staff turnover.
This put everything off schedule. We now are settling in and getting
things done when they are due.

1 hope that all of the membership is seriously considering
attending our conference in Leicester, Massachusetts, this year.
Many of you have never attended a conference. You are missing
one of the best things AGS has to offer. I have attended many
conferences in other fields that were inane and boring to the point
of being excruciating. Every AGS conference 1 have attended has
been informative, stimulating, and a lot of fun. Three days with
people who love gravestones as much as you do-where else could
you find this experience? We offer informative lectures; large and
small group participation sessions; workshops, including
restoration and preservation; entertaining late-night sessions; a
banquet; happy hours; and cemetery tours. About the only thing
there is little time for is sleep. Whatever your interest in
gravestones or cemeteries, the conference will have something for
you, and you will be surrounded by the friendliest group of like-
minded people. I urge all of you to attend.

As noted in the last Quarterly, we are actively seeking to
organize conferences outside of the New England area. We need
people to not only suggest sites, but to step forward and help us
arrange the conference. We offer a great deal of support, assistance
and experience. We can tell you exactly what must be done, whom
to contact, problems that will crop up, and their solutions. It is not
as overwhelming as it may sound, and you have one to two years
to do it. But it will not happen without volunteers. We really do
want everyone to participate in AGS activities. New Englanders
will leave their turf to visit other areas, but there has to be a place
to go. Not every colonial stone is in New England and not every
one is interested in only colonial stones. Our wonderful conference
in Chicago is testament to that. It makes sense that the conference
coordinator be from the area of the conference. Things handled
easily by an on-site person can be very difficult done long distance.
Volunteers?

In the last Quarterly I published the wrong WEB address
for the AGS home page. The correct address is; http://
www.berkshire.net/ags. I think that the epitaph on my gravestone
will be: Ooops!. I hope that those of you on-line have visited our
website. It is quite good. You should see the postings on our
bulletin board. They number about two hundred now and are
serious postings. We have tapped a great general interest in the
subject. Hopefully many of the posters will become members, too.

Those of you who go on-line and have expertise could do a good
service by responding to some of the inquiries. It is time consuming
to check each message, but you can limit your responses to those
messages that interest you. We are putting together some FAQ
(frequently asked questions), responses, and other information to
halt some of the unfortunate misinformation that well meaning but
misinformed people post. There are those who still think (and post)
that a wire brush and bleach are acceptable aids for cleaning a
stone. We have to get our messages out loud, clear, and often to
combat such misinformation. Your help in this matter would be
appreciated. ♦♦♦

Leicester, Massachusetts
is the Site for Conference 1997

\

Our conference site is Becker college, in Leicester.
Located in the center of a small town, its facilities meet our
every need. Picturesque burying grounds nestle in many of
the surrounding little towns. Nearby is a large city with
enough colonial, Victorian, ethnic, and modem cemeteries to
satisfy every interest.

Activities

Scholarly lectures are delivered on Thursday. Friday,
and Saturday evenings, and Sunday morning. Daylong,
guided bus tours are a Friday feature. Two coaches are
designated to tour colonial burying grounds. A third coach is
designated for those interested in Victorian and modem
cemeteries.

Saturday is "Workshop Day." A series of hour-long
"Participation Sessions" deals with a wide range of subjects
of interest to educators, historical society members,
historical commissioners, and cemetery superintendents. .\\\
all-day Conservation Workshop, separate from Participation
Workshop activity, teaches procedures for conserving
gravestones. Evening activity, following scholarly lectures,
provides an opportunity for informal presentations and
discourse.

A registration form is on its way to even.' member. Non-
members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Inquiries
will be answered promptly. Further information is available
from Rosalee Oakley. Registrar, 19 Hadley Place, Hadle\.
MA 01035 (413)584-1756.

Plan now to attend! Bring a friend!

Stay to do some research!

Enjoy New England!

\

Page 2

Volume 1 1 : Number 1

AGS Quarterly Wmtct 1997

From The Executive Director's Desk

Lois Ahrens
January 23, 1997

The past two and half months have been hectic as we have
attempted to sort out the most pressing of tasks. Under the tutelage
of Rosalee Oakley and Barbara Rotundo, I believe we have now
made the transition. Beginning now, the Quarterly will be on
schedule, publication orders and renewal notices will go out on
time and regular office hours will be kept. (Office hours are
Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, est.) Now
that we have surfaced from beneath the pile of paper accumulated
during the move from Worcester to Greenfield and the transition
from Miranda Levin's tenure to ours, we can begin to construct a
work plan for the next year.

Some first thoughts:

Building an AGS Endowment Fund:

One of our goals is to create an AGS Endowment Fund.
This has already begun with the establishment of life memberships
of $1,000. Currently, there are three Life Members. In addition to
becoming a Life Member, there are several other ways you can
augment the Endowment Fund.

Recently, AGS member Andy Meier wrote that he has
included us in his will. His good idea reminds us that we each look
for ways to keep our memory alive. One way to do this is to leave
a bequest to an organization whose work we find meaningful. We
ask that you consider AGS when the time comes to make or revise
your will. A bequest to our Endowment Fund can sustain the work
of AGS into the future.

Other possibilities for giving to the Endowment include
donating stock and/or the donation of an insurance policy to AGS.
Both can create significant tax breaks for the donor. If either of
these ideas seems appropriate, I suggest you speak with your
financial or tax advisor.

Expanding our contributor base:

Each time your receive a renewal form, you are asked to
consider either becoming a Supporting Member at $60 per year or
making an additional contribution. At first glance, it appears that
our current basic membership fees just cover the cost of the
Quarterly, membership services, renewal costs, etc. Your add-
itional contribution will help enormously to maintain the high level
of services you expect and to expand the work of AGS.

Expanding the publications available through AGS:

Clearly, AGS members are readers. In the coming

months, we will be working on the new publication list. Your

suggestions on new materials are needed and welcome.

Marketing Markers:

Markers XIV is due from the printer in late February.

I will be working with Richard Meyer, Board members, and others

to find ways to publicize and promote this most valuable AGS

asset.

As you know, AGS is a membership organi/.ation. In order
for us to meet your needs, we ask for your involvement. This
means being an active member by attending and participating in the
annual Conference, informing your friends and colleagues about
AGS (we will be happy to send you some Membership forms; and
sharing your ideas with us.

I look forward to hearing from you and to meeting you at
the conference in Leicester, Massachusetts, in June. ♦•♦

Editor's Note: We arc sorry to note that this is the last column from
Lois Ahrens, who is moving on to a new full-time position.

Waterloo County, Ontario:
A World of Cemetery Diversity

Sybil F. Crawford

10548 Stone Canyon Road - #228

Dallas, Texas 75230-4408

Waterloo County, Ontario, is about 1 10 miles west of
Toronto, easily reached by Highway 40 1 , with Kitchener as its hub
and major population center. Several years ago, an AGS member
voiced the opinion that there was "nothing to see" in Waterloo
County's cemeteries. My own perception was (and is) quite
different, for the area is well endowed with interesting cemeteries,
all within a relatively small radius of Kitchener.

Until I9I4, Kitchener's name was Berlin; this in itself is
strongly indicative that a large percentage of the population at that
time was not native-bom. The city's "Busy Berlin" appellation was
well deserved, largely the result of its heavy concentration of name-
brand manufacturers of rubber footwear, tires, gloves, buttons,
shirts, and shoes. All of these attracted workers from various
locations abroad, and their glowing letters home prompted
additional family and friends to follow.

Statistics Canada has been useful in making an analysis of
the 374,325 persons living within Waterloo Regional Municipality
in 1991. Following is the ethnic breakdown of this non-
institutional population figure, expressed in percentages:

Multiple origins

36.5%

British

23.0

German

13.0

Canadian

6.1

Dutch (Netherlands)

2.1

French

.1

Italian

.1

Chinese

.1

"Other" single origins

17.0

Volume 21: Number 1

Page 3

Feature Article

AGS Quarterly Wmitr 1997

Speculating that the places of birth might put a little
different spin on the matter, these were reviewed as well:

-immigrants:

Bom in Ontario

69.2%

Other non-immigrants:

9.2

United States

1.0

Central/South America

1.3

Caribbean & Bermuda

.7

United Kingdom

3.8

Other countries - Europe

10.7

Africa

.4

India

.7

Other countries - Asia

2.2

Oceania

.1

Non-permanent residents

1.7

Since what we see in cemeteries is often heavily weighted
by religious affiliations, a generalized breakdown for the County is
pertinent:

of early Mennonite graveyards than do their U.S. counterparts.
According to the late Dr. Arthur Graeff, an American authority on
Pennsylvania-German matters, "the dialect will be spoken in
Waterloo County long after it has died out in Pennsylvania.'"

The Swiss-German Mennonites should not be confused
with the twentieth-century Mennonites of Ru.ssian origin, more
than 800 of whom made a mass exodus from Russia to Waterloo
County, in 1924.

Among Pennsylvania-Germans, folk decoration is seen
most in Lutheran and Reformed cemeteries. While the Mennonites
were less inclined toward that tradition, their cemeteries are
interesting, nonetheless. Even those cemeteries not heavily skewed
toward decorative pieces have some noteworthy examples of
Germanic script, English not coming into general usage until 1900.
Most very early wood markers have long since disintegrated and
were followed by those made of sandstone. Slate is not plentiful in
this part of Ontario and sandstone was the material of choice until
marble and granite gained favor in the twentieth century. Since that
time, all segments of the population, including the Mennonites,
have made their marker purchases from commercial vendors.

Protestant 51.8%

Catholic 32.7
Other religions 4.5

No religious affiliation 1 1 .0

This same 1991 statistical report indicates that English
was the primary language spoken in 92.8% of the households
enumerated. If assimilation has been as rapid and far-reaching in
other spheres of life as it has been linguistically, will this put a
different face on cemetery landscapes of the future? Will bilingual
or non-English inscriptions become a thing of the past? Will a
falling away from ancestral church ties bring an ecclesiastical
blandness to our gravestones? Will iconography lose much of its
ethnic flavor? Or, will sentimental considerations, religious fervor,
patriofism, and national pride transcend the practicalities (and
realities) of day-to-day living sufficiently to support a continuum of
the "old ways" that warm the heart of the gravestone researcher?
Only tomorrow will disclose the answer.

Given the unexpectedly broad distribution of ethnic
backgrounds for so small an area, it will come as no surprise that
the cemeteries reflect this same diversity. Space considerations do
not permit an exhaustive listing, so mention is being made of only
a few of the most interesting.

Mennonite Cemeteries

The area's earliest residents were Swiss-German
Mennonites who, in a second-wave migration, made their way from
Pennsylvania in the early ISOOs-their forefathers having migrated
to Pennsylvania from Europe, in the early 1700s. Waterloo County
cemeteries of the sect mirror what AGS members saw at the 1988
AGS conference, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Interestingly, the
linguistics and religious practices of Waterloo County's Mennonite
community are said to have remained "purer" than in Pennsylvania
itself, suggesting that local cemeteries may present a truer picture

First Mennonite Church Cemetery

(sometimes called Eby or East End Cemetery)

This in-town Kitchener cemetery, adjoining what was first
called Bishop Eby's Meeting House, is located on King Street East,
once a major thoroughfare leading to the city's center. While not
as old as either the Blair or Kinzie-Biehn Cemeteries, one finds
here the largest concentration of decorated Mennonite markers in
Ontario.

An incised heart can be seen on one of the cemetery's
earliest decorated stones, erected for a young girl who died in
1832/3. Those theorizing that the Mennonites were more likely to
use decorated stones to mark the burial places of infants and young
children will find support for their stance. The markers for Samuel
Clemens (died 1836) and Elizabeth Eby (died 1844) have a tulip
decoration. The single, finely-executed tulip on the Eby marker
suggests the work of a superior craftsman. For whatever reason,
trees of life outnumber the usually favored tulip at this cemeten,.

The otherwise crudely lettered Heinrich Kolb stone
substitutes Maltese crosses for conventional punctuation. Ser\ing
the same purpose, on the Veronika Eby marker, is a small design
frequently seen on fraktur. An "eye" design can be seen on the
Hiram Thomas marker (1845), an oddity for a Pennsylvania-
German gravestone.

In 1982, Teruko Kobayashi, head of the Art Department of
Kitchener's Eastwood Collegiate, pointed out that Roman and
German fraktur calligraphic stales are sometimes combined, as
well as the English and German languages. There seem to have
been no hard and fast mles. possibly because the carvers worked
independently or simply chose to follow their personal inclinations.
Calligraphy 's definition as "beautiful or elegant handwriting"
scarcely does it justice, and it becomes an even greater art when
executed by a stonecarver.

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Volume 21: Number 1

AGS Qtiarterly Wxmcr: 1997

Feature Article

Blair Cemetery

This cemetery, in a small village of the same name, is
home to some of the county's earliest remaining gravestones.
Inscriptions are found in both German and English. It is here that
readers of B. Mabel Dunham's classic. Trail of the Conestoga, will
see the grave of the story's John Bricker. His 1804 burial place was
probably first marked by a wooden marker. The sandstone
monument seen today is thought to be a replacement, dating from
the 1830s or 1840s.

The German language inscription of the Elizabeth
Schwartz marker is much admired by calligraphers.

Sarah Bechtel, whose family arrived in the area as early as
1802, has a marker with a distinctly Pennsylvania-German motif-a
six-pointed compass star. Uncommon as a gravestone motif, it is
more often seen in fraktur (a German style of black-letter text type),
painted furniture, and as a bam decoration. Kobayashi suggests
that the moulded edging and pedimentation of Sarah's stone mimic
furniture design.

As Pennsylvania-German design elements, the astral star,
tree of life, heart, tulip, and bird are shared by Waterloo County's
gravemarkers, samplers, "show towels", decorative boxes, fraktur,
and even quilts.

Kinzie-Biehn Cemetey

The second oldest of the Mennonite cemeteries, Kinzie-
Biehn Cemetery dates from about 1810 and is in that part of
Kitchener that was originally the mill-town of Doon. Although
illegible, a few original wood markers remain, and a rock cairn
honors several of Doon's pioneers. An early settler himself,
Oilman Kinzie married Barbara Biehn (pronounced Bean), hence
the cemetery's name. Kinzie's stone, lettered in English, carries an
1806 death date.

Doon Cemetery

While not a Mennonite cemetery, Doon Cemetery adjoins
the Kinzie-Biehn Cemetery and is necessarily a part of any visit
there. Markers for a number of Scots can be seen, evidence of their
early presence in the area and serving to explain the provenance of
Doon's name. It is here that my Mennonite great-grandfather,
Abraham Bowman, rests at the side of his very English wife, Mary
Ann Allen. Bom into a Mennonite family, prominent in both
Pennsylvania and Ontario, Abraham was seemingly weaned from
his "plain" ways by the Aliens and buried quite apart from his
Mennonite brethren.

Martin Cemetery

Adjoining Martin Meeting House, this cemetery dates
from a later period than the foregoing, with its earliest known burial
in 1831. Located between the City of Waterloo and St. Jacobs, its
markers are less showy with respect to decorative motifs, but a
variety of calligraphic styles (and artistic competence) can be
observed.

Hagey Cemetery

The Hagey community, near Preston, may be the oldest
Mennonite settlement in Waterloo County. Land for the cemetery
was deeded in 1835, but death dates as early as 1810 can be seen.
The favorite here has to be the marker for Susan Erb Salyards, who
died in 1844. Her stone combines neo-classical rosettes with a
pedimented top. This combination of design elements is not found
in Pennsylvania but can be seen in New England and Nova Scotia.
(Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, with its distinctly German flavor, is
Canada's oldest permanent settlement.)

Wanner Cemetery

Two or three miles northeast of Preston, Wanner Cemetery
and Hagey Cemetery are about three miles from one another,
making a combined visit desirable. Wanner's earliest stone, for
Nancy Mosser Wanner, is notable for its shaping and dates from
1811.

The four markers for members of the Strohm family are in
primitive fraktur style. The carver, not yet identified, is simply
referred to as "the Strohm carver".

Other Mennonite Cemeteries

Somewhat less impressive in their displays (both as to
number and artistic excellence) are the cemeteries at Blenheim,
Roseville, Wilmot Center, Mannheim, Freeport, Breslau, and
Strasburg.

Mount Hope Cemetery

Separate sections are assigned to Catholic and Protestant
burials in Kitchener's large Mount Hope Cemetery, located on
Charon Street. Uninspired as the layout may be, this cemetery is
deserving of mention because it is easy to find and the flat terrain is
ideal for those wishing to view Victoriana on foot.

"Capricious" Rushes Cemetery

Even its name veers from the norm, being a variant of its
original and grammatically correct name (Rush's Cemetery). Much
has already been written of the puzzle stone at Rushes Cemetery,
near Crossbill, in Wellesley Township, erected by Samuel Bean in
memory of his first two wives. (The third outhved him by mere
months.) His first wife, Henriettea Furry (1842-1865), died seven
months after their marriage. The second, Susanna Clegg (1840-
1867), fared little better and, after her death. Bean erected a single
marker for them both. In lieu of a conventional epitaph, he elected
to have a cryptogram express his sentiments. Many heads were
scratched in bewilderment during the years that followed and it was
not until 1947 that the mystery message was decoded by the
cemetery's caretaker. The elements have not been kind to the
original marble marker and a grey granite replica was placed at the
side of the original, in 1982. There is more than the puzzle stone to
attract vistors, however, and the cemetery's "symbol" stones should
not be overlooked.

The square and compass, seen on the Jas. McCutcheon
marker (died 1874) are common Freemasoru-y elements. The

Volume 2 1 : Number 1

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Feature Article

AGS Quarterly Wmztr 1997

George Oakley marker (died 1877) echoes these symbols. A Bryan
marker, signed "Shaefer, Waterloo," features both Masonic and
Orangeist elements. Dual symbolism appears on the Thomas
Wilford stone (died 1893) as well. The star and compass together
have Masonic meaning: when separated, one is alerted to the
possiblity of an Orange Lodge tie, more of which follows.

The Orange Lodge and Its Symbolism

It was on July 12, 1690, that King William III, Prince of
Orange, defeated James II. Thus, it is constitutional monarchy and
Protestantism that were established by the victory (and celebrated
by Orange Lodge members at a later date). The Orange Lodge was
established in Ulster, Ireland, and soon spread to England and
Canada. Locally, Loyal Orange Lodge #136 was organized in
1857. Because of diminishing interest, there has not been an
Orange Parade in Kitchener- Waterloo since the 1940s but, as late
as 1970, persons close to the matter indicated that the Orange
Lodges continued to thrive in surrounding cities. The author of
numerous books and articles, Nancy-Lou Patterson, Professor
Emeritus of Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo, has made a
valuable observation. She points out that Orangeism was of
understandably little interest to the Mennonite population and there
were few Irish Protestants in the area.

Younger than Masonry by seventy-five years or more, the
Orange Lodge freely admits "borrowing" some of its symbols.
While there are those who claim Orangeism to be an outgrowth of
ethnicity, others present a strong argument for the role played by
religious and political differences. The open Protestant Bible,
flaming torch, and figure of King William atop a white horse are
the Orange Lodge's only significant add-ons to Masonic images.
(This latter symbol can be found on gravestones elsewhere in
Ontario, but is not present at Rushes Cemetery.)

Below the inscription on Adam Crookshank's 1916
marker is a badge with "2 fi" appearing within a two-pillared arch.
Unwilling to leave well-enough alone, an all-seeing eye, serpent,
ladder, and star were added. The "1690" above the two-pillared
arch marks the date of the Battle of Boyne. There are three degrees
in the Orange Order in Ontario: First, the Orange degree; second,
the Blue degree; third, the Royal Arch degree. The formula "2 fi" is
a symbol of the Lodge's third degree, the meaning known only to
its members. Its Biblical source, however, is less obscure. Numbers
34:15 reading: "The two tribes and the half tribe have received
their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward
the sunrising."

An Orangeman's funeral was held with the permission of
the deceased's family, and the membership attended in ceremonial
regalia. Members marched from the family residence (or funeral
home, in later years) to the cemetery, wearing black crepe with
ribbons and rosettes of orange. These ornaments were dropped into
the grave following the religious graveside service. Masons, on the
other hand, were prohibited from parading and, except for Masonic
funerals, members were not allowed to wear their regalia in public.

Figure I: Iron Cross with Confronted Angels,
St. Boniface Cemetery, Maryhill, Ontario.
Photo: Nancy-Lou Patterson
Iron Crosses

There has been a recent renewal of interest in iron crosses
among AGS members, and most researchers are already aware of
the cemeteries in central North Dakota, made up almost entirely of
German-Russian crosses. Although the finest of these have
National Register designations, the addresses are withheld to
protect them from theft. With less restrictive access, iron cross
cemeteries can be seen in Wisconsin and the Texas Hill Country.
Fewer are aware that similar markers can be seen in Ontario's
Waterloo County cemeteries. Three of the most distinctive are
described here.

St. Boniface Cemetery

Located at Maryhill, Ontario, this is the largest Roman
Catholic burial ground in the area. An article entitled "Gravestone
Symbolism: St. Boniface Cemetery, Maryhill" appeared in the
1991 volume of the Waterloo Historical Society's annual and points
out that, as a symbol, the cemetery's iron and stone markers find in
the cross their common denominator. While the earliest markers
date from the mid- 1800s, Alsatian Catholic pioneers settled in the
area as early as 1826. The earliest known death date is 1843. Dr.
Michael Bird, author of the article, is a an Associate Professor at
Renison College, University of Waterloo, where his disciplines,
religion and art, have a direct bearing on cemetery and gravestone
studies.

The cemetery's handsome wrought iron entrance gates are
the work of J. D. Wilier, a Bridgeport. Ontario, blacksmith. The
date they were crafted is not known. Of the approximately 700
markers in this cemetery, the inscriptions of 20"^ are in German
script, and perhaps 15'^ are crosses.

A striking iron cross topped by a stylized heart (Fig. 1) is
now missing some of its individually attached leaves, but the
confronted angels are what make this work most appealing. Using
a larse iron cross as a skeleton or framework, the creator of

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Feature Article

Katherine Fuhre's marker transformed it into an eye-catching tree
of life through addition of about sixty iron "pinwheels" of varying
sizes around its perimeter.

Fig. 2 : Iron cross with Calvary grouping,

St. Agatha Cemetery, St. Agatha, Ontario.

Photo: Nancy-Lou Patterson.

St. Clements Cemetery

Although lacking the heart which tops the confronted
angels marker at St. Boniface Cemetery, the iron marker at St.
Clements is sufficiently similar to make one suspect they were the
work of a single craftsman or smithy's shop. With detailed facial
features, flowing sashes, and precise folds in their robes, the angels
are much more than simple silhouettes. By 1982, the angels had
disappeared. Now, in 1996, the cross is missing. This can only
underline the necessity to "gather ye photos while ye may."

St Agatha Cemetery

This Catholic cemetery has a "lacy" iron cross (Fig. 2),
which is further enhanced by a Calvary grouping.

In Conclusion

A bibliography is available from the author for
cemetery/gravestone materials relating to the Waterloo Regional
Municipality, as the cluster of named Waterloo County cities has
been known for recent years. What do the area's gravestones offer?
- a generous mix of marker materials, inscriptions in several
languages or combinations thereof, outstanding examples of
calligraphy, and craftsmanship ranging from the mass-produced to
the handcrafted. The area's ethnic diversity permits some
interesting comparisons, the iconography often having religious
overtones. Demographically, Waterloo County's population is a
wondrous mix of high-tech and agriculture and nowhere can it be
better seen than in its cemeteries.

Nothing to see? Please look again. ♦♦♦

Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Maine:
Two Captains Buried

John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, RI 02818

E-mail: j_ster@prodigy.com

At the AGS Conference in Gorham, Maine, two of the bus
tours stopped at the Eastern Cemetery, in Portland. In that cemetery
are two box tombs for the captains of two ships that engaged in
battle off the Island of Monhegan in the War of 1812. My family
first lived at Monhegan Island in the 1780s. As a child I spent most
of my summer vacations at my grandmother's house, in South
Portland, Maine. I heard the story of this naval battle several times
while visiting at my grandmother's house. It was witnessed by an
ancestor, Josiah Sterling, who was bom at Monhegan, on November
3, 1794.

During the War of 1812, the British filled the Maine waters
with war ships. Many Maine citizens (actually Maine was part of
Massachusetts until 1820) began privateering, smuggling and
importing contraband goods, while both governments winked at the
violations. A major naval battle of the war of 1812 took place just
off the coast of Monhegan Island. On September 5, 1813, young
Josiah Sterling climbed the steep hill that rises from the harbor to
the high point of the island where the lighthouse now stands. With
him was his father, Josiah Sterling, and three officers from the
British brig Boxer, who had come ashore the day before for hunting
and could not make it back to their ship in time for the approaching
action with the American privateer Enterprise.

The Boxer had been patrolling Maine waters for the whole
summer, though the British had been lax in enforcing the blockade
in the hope of encouraging the New England states to stay neutral
in the war. Unknown to the residents of Monhegan, the British ship
had in fact just escorted a Swedish smuggler, the Margaretta, to the
mouth of the Kennebec. She was laden with British goods from
New Brunswick and manned by a Yankee crew. The cargo was to
be sold to American merchants in Bath. To put up a good
appearance the Boxer fired a few guns over the Margaretta as she
proceeded up river. Fishermen farther west along the coast heard
the token firing and reported it to Captain William Burrows of the
Enterprise in Portland Harbor. He had been searching for the Boxer,
so the next day he sailed east out of Casco Bay, leaving Cape Small
and Sequin Island to port. The Boxer sailed out of John's Bay,
where she had spent the night.

In his old age "Siah", Josiah Sterling, related the fight
between the two ships as he remembered it from his youth. This is
how the story was relayed to me:

"I r' member it, 's if 'twaz yisterday. I saw the hull on it,
'n 'twaz a big fight. We lived on M'nhiggin 'n them 'ar days,
"n 'twixt farmin", 'n fishin', 'n the like, managed t' git on with
a big fam'ly o younkers. The Boxer an' Rattler hed bin
standin' off 'n' a gret many hed bin destroyed; 'n' pressin' the
sailors inter the British sarvice, a matter consamin' which I

Volume 21: Number 1

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Feature Article

AGS Quarterly Wmztr 1997

allers hed my own idees; but arter a while the Rattler went off,
leavin' the Boxer cruise'n on her own hook. The day afore the
fight waz Saturday. We began t' dig the pertaters - 't hed been
a dry summer, and the pertaters ripened off arly. Thet
artemoon, the coastters hove 'n sight. The British gut sight on
'em, 'n' launched her barges; but they didn't 'mount ter
nuthin'; fer they'd scursely left the ship afore a 'shavin'-mill'
cum aout o' New Harbor 'n' driv' 'em back. Thet's wut they
called privateers 'n them days.

Ther wuz a gret movin' 'bout on the Boxer, t' git under
sail. A signal gun wuz fired fer the men as wuz ashore after
game 'n' berries 'n' sich; a common enuf happenin'. But
gittin' under way, she bore t' west'ard, 'thout ketchin' either on
'em, an' finally put inter John's Bay. The nex' day, noon, 'twaz
the fifth o' September, we went t' the top o' the hill, takin' a
spy-glass with us; 'n' there we wuz jined by three officers of
the Britisher, the ship's doctor, a leftenant, 'n' a middy, who
wuz ashore gunnin', the day afore, 'n' didn't hear the signal.
They wuz gettin' the of the'r ship; but the only sail 'n sight,
wuz a brig off Seguin, bearin' daown the s'utheast side of
M'nhiggin.

"Wut brig 'z thet?" asked the surgin, o' father.

"It's the Enterprise", wuz the reply, arter a long look.

The surgin' sed t' the leftenant in 'n undertone, "I heerd
it all, ef I was a boy, Ef cap'n Blyth takes 'er, he's t' hev a fine
ship w'en we git hum".

The Boxer'd discivered the brig 'n' under full sail,
steerin' 'bout sou-sou 'est, bore daown th' bay, but tew late, fer
the Yankee shot squar' cross 'er bow, hauled upt' the wind,
keepin' t' th' s'uth'ard past M'nhiggin in sarch 'f the Rattler,
w'ile the Britisher gave stam chase. The Rattler had gone.

The Yankee hauled in sail 'n' gut reddy for t' fight. The
Boxer cum up, 'n' poured in a wild bro'dside, w'en the
Enterprise whirled short on 'er heel 'n' jest raked the Boxer
fore 'n' aft. A few minits arter, she passed her stam with a
secon' rakin' fire. The Boxer wuz completely outsailed. In
less then a half hour, a third rakin' fire wuz sent 'cross the
Boxer's bows, thet bro't daown the main top mast 'n' er
number o' men who wuz tryin' t' tare her flag from whar it had
bin nailed, 'n' the fight wuz over. The ships wer' side by side,
'n' the smoke hed drifted abut ter sea. 'Twuz jest a good
workin' breeze, 'n' the Enterprise sailed raond 'n' raond her
enemy, no daoubt disabled the fust fire.

The officers bo't a boat of father 'n' put off t' th'r own
ship, but wuz not allowed y' bo'rd 'er. So they cum back t' the
farmhouse for shelter over night.

Supper wuz over, 'n' mother 'd cleared the things away.
'Twuz mos' dark, w'en ther wuz a rap on the door; father went
t' see w'at wuz the matter, an' it wuz the officers cum back.

"Mr. Starlin', we hev no money, but aour guns ar' jest
aout on the porch 'n' you may hev 'em 'n' welcome, ef you'll
take us in over night."

Gran' mother cum t' th' door an' said, "I hev em, my
son!" She'd taken the guns 'n' hidden 'em.

Note: two sources indicate that Josiah witnessed this
impressive naval battle, but one source indicates that the surgeon of
the British ship came ashore to examine Josiah's brother Luther,
who was crippled, and that Luther was the lad who witnessed the
battle. The obituary of Josiah says:

He was an eye witness to the battle between the warships
Enterprise and Boxer, which took place off the island
[Monhegan] and could distinctly remember and relate all the
events connected with it.

The victorious Enterprise brought her prize into Portland
Harbor the next day. Forty-six of the Boxer's 104 men, including
her captain. Captain Blyth, had been killed in the battle. The
Enterprise had lost only a small handful, but one had been her
captain. Captain Burrowes. In an extraordinary public funeral, the
crews of both ships marched through the streets to the cemeter)'.
The two captains were buried side by side in Eastern Cemeter>' on
Portland's Munjoy Hill.

The inscription on Captain Blyth's tomb (fig. 1 ) reads: "In
memory/ of/ Captain Samuel Blyth/ Late Commander/ of/ His
Britannic Majesty's Brig Boxer. He nobly fell/ On the 5th day of
September 1813./ In action/ With the U.S. Brig Enterprise.! In life
Honourable!/ In death glorious!/ His Country will long deplore
one of her bravest Sons/ His Friends long lament one of the best of
Men/ JEt. 29/ The Surviving Officers of his crew offer this/ feeble
tribute of admiration and respect."

Fig. 1: The marker of Captain Samuel Blyth, late Commander

of His Britannic Majesty's Brig Boxer. Eastern Cemetery,

Portland, Maine. Photo: John Sterling.

Pages

\'bliinie21: Number 1

AGS Quarterly Wmiev 1997

Feature Article

The inscription on Captain Burrowes' tomb (fig. 2) reads:
"Beneath this stone/ moulders/ the body/ of/ Captain William
Burrowes/ Late Commander/ of the/ United States Brig Enterprise/
who was mortally wounded/ On the 5th of Sept. 1813./ In an action
which contributed/ to increase the fame of/ American valor by
capturing/ His Britannic Majesty's/ Brig Boxer/ after a severe
contest of/ forty-five minutes./ yCt. 28./ A passing stranger has
erected this/ memorial of respect to the memory of/ a Patriot, who
in the hour of peril/ obeyed the loud summons of an injured/
country, and who gallantly met,/ fought and conquered/ the
foeman."

^^^^^^^ ^^^Hl

^^H^^^^^ ^^^^1

K^^^^l

'A.^^^^^^^^Ki

l!^H

^.■.fA!^^:';lm«5i^^' i^H

.-p:ii^^' I^H

'^^^H

^^1

'' isBriUf^*'-" ''f:""' ' ^M

,:.J*'r'«,^=^:of ■

' p^'ulcS ^^H

V^2S. H

^M

■ •liMv'fcjj.^-aoUiefflcrrn.ifvi; ^|

Fig. 2: T/je mariner of Captain Wil/iam Burrowes, Late

Commander of the United States Enterprise. Eastern Cemetery,

Portland, Maine. P/joto: John Sterling.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a boy of six when that
crowd clustered about the foot of the Portland Observatory. Forty-
two years later he recalled it this way:

I remember the sea-fight far away.

How it thundered o'er the tide!

And the dead captains, as they lay

In their graves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay

Where they in battle died.

From: "My Lost Youth" ♦♦♦

17th & 18th Century Gravestones & Carvers

Ralph Tucker

PO Box 306

Georgetown, ME 04548

(207)371-2423

The Geyer Stonecutters

This study involved the data from 211 stones ascribed to
the Geyers. The bulk of the stones were photographed. Some were
known only from probate records and, in one case, from a receipt.
There was no systematic inventory of particular areas. There are
probably hundreds of Geyer stones in New England.

The Geyers, father and son, carved from the 1760s to the
1790s. Unfortunately, specific birth and death dates for them are
not available. The father, Henry Christian Geyer (c.l730-c.l786),
was the son of George Ludovick and Phillipia Geyer. He was
married, in 1757, to Thankful Bolter and, in 1771, he married,
secondly, Sarah Jones. He had advertisements in The Boston
Newsletter, from 1760-1770, for his masonry and gravestone
products. He was said to have been a fisherman aboard the
privateer, "Fair Trader, " and a member of John Haskin's company
of the militia, during the Revolution. He is mentioned in the
probate records, from 1761 to 1785, for his work-some of which
was specifically for making gravestones. The 1771 Seth Sumner
gravestone in Milton, Massachusetts, is signed "H Geyer," and
there is a 1768 receipt, signed by him, for £1.4 for two gravestones
for William Belcher of Boston.' In 1785, Peter Geyer, probably a
relative, was paid for a debt to Henry. This may be because of
Henry's death. Henry probably ceased carving and died sometime
about 1785.

Illustration #1:

Illustration #2:

Volume 21: Number 1

Page 9

Topical Column

AGS Quarterly Wmitv 1997

At first, the advertisements in The Boston Newsletter in
1760 locate his shop near the South Fish Market in Boston and
mention "...a fine assortment of Free Stones for Hearths, Jambs,
Steps, & all other kinds of Stone-Cutter's work..." By 1762, he
maintains that he can provide stone for "...all sorts of Architect
work. . ." The following year, having moved to a spot near the Tree
of Liberty, he mentions marble tables among his products and, by
1767, he lists "spout stones, mustard mills, and [for the first time]
gravestones." In 1770, he informed his customers that he "...carries
on the Art and Manufacture of a ...Simolacrocurre, or the making
of all sorts of images, viz: 1st, Kings and Queens; 2nd, King
George & Queen Charlotte." He offered these plaster of Paris
artifacts to merchants in quantity. An illustration of those for King
George and Queen Charlotte is here presented (see illustrations #1
& #2). These are believed to be the first "chalkware" made in
America. His expanding business interests included much besides
his gravestone work.

The son, John Just Geyer (c.l758- c.1805), married Sally
Geyer, in 1788, and, in 1804, he married Ann Jeattre. There are
probate references to him from 1777 to 1799. There are also some
probate records for "Mr. Geyer," from 1772-1794, without mention
as to which carver was meant. There is no known way of
distinguishing the work of father from that of the son, except from
the few probate records and signed stones. The 1790 Abigail
Burbeck gravestone in West Bath, Maine, a tree and urn
gravestone, is signed "John Just Geyer - Fecit, Boston," and the
1795 Mary Duggan stone in the Granary, Boston, a tree and urn
stone, is signed "Geyer, Fecit." John is listed in the 1789 Boston
City Directory as being located on Orange Street.

The work of the Geyers can be found from coastal Maine
to South Carolina, and is unlike that of other contemporary carvers.
It can easily be recognized by the styles, as well as by some unique
lettering characteristics as listed below.

Types of Geyer Gravestones

Wingless Skull with Crossbones (see Figure #1, below)
(1756-1796; 11 stones)

The noses are pointed at the top and rounded at the base,
resembling a balloon parfially filled with water. This trait is unique
to the Geyer shop. The eyes of the skulls are round, with a curved
indentation near the nose. These traits can be used to differentiate
Geyer stones from similar stones carved by John Homer and others.

Death Heads/Winged Skull (see Figure #2, below)
(1759-1784; 36 stones)

The eyes and noses are similar to those above. Wings have
been added and the crossbones have been omitted. Several types of
wing carving were used.

Cherub/Winged Face (see Figure #3, below)
(1761-1804; 75 stones)

The wings give a collar effect to the face and have a scalloped
border under the chin. The faces are sometimes tilted and not face
on. The face has an unusual level brow with loose or "kewpie doll"
hair.

Two Cherubs/Winged Faces (see Figure #4, below)
(1759-1792; 23 stones)

Crowns are often found above the cherubs. In the tympanum.
there are occasionally stars, moon, and sun. The faces are
sometimes in profile and sometimes tilted and not face on. One
stone shows the full bodies of the cherubs.

Other Types of Geyer Stones
(1776-1790: 6 stones)

There are some stones having a large urn, \\ ith inscription on
it, and a willow tree (nearly identical to those of John Homer). One

Page 10

X'olume 21: Number 1

AGS Qiiarterly Wimcr 1997

Topical Column

of these is signed by J.J.Geyer. There are several varieties of the
tree/urn stones. The famous and unique 1776 Susanna Jayne stone
(Figure #5, below) in Marblehead, Massachusetts, has a snake,
skeleton, cherubs, bats, and other symbols.

Other Geyer traits
In the inscription, "interrd," or "In Memory," or still other

wording is used.
An unusual "box" or "curved parallelogram" is often found in the

borders (see figure #4).
A double cone shape is sometimes used in the borders (.see Figure

#4 top border).
A scallop shell is often found in the top or bottom border.
A small heart with a flame at its top is sometimes found.
Guide lines for lettering are usually used.
The tympanum shape varies.
Parallel lines are sometimes used to fdl small empty spaces in the

borders and tympanum.

Endnotes:

1 . The receipt is at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston,
Massachusetts, in the 1760 receipt book of William Belcher.

Note: I would like to receive articles from AGS members on
gravestones of the 17th and 18th centuries. ♦♦♦

Lettering on Geyer Gravestones

The following traits are generally, but not systematically, used
(see figure #2 for most of these characteristics):
a The letter "a" is often pot-bellied,
f In lower case, the letter "F" usually has an upright line at the

top.
g The upper circle of the letter "g" is small and at the top of the

guide line,
j The upper case of "J" sometimes drops below the guide line.
1 The lower case "L" often has a dropping diagonal line on the

left side,
r The letter "r" has a severly curved top line,
s The letter "s" has marked serifs,
s When used as an interior letter sometimes uses the older long

"/" form,
t The lower case "T" is unique, having a small triangle at the

top left. This is a sure indicator of a Geyer stone.
In abbreviations, there often is a single dot or double dot under

the raised letter. The raised letter often has a line under it.
Names are usually lettered with large and small capitol letters.
Italics are often used for months and titles.

After 1785, more standard lettering is used.

Numerals
Numbers are generally, but inconsistently, carved as below:
1, 2, & 8 are carved within the guide lines.
3, 4, 5, 7, & 9 are carved with some parts dropped below the

guide lines.
6 & 0 are carved with some parts raised above the guide lines.

19th and 20th Century Gravestones

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Robert Wright, the photographer, recently sent one of his
elegant photographs taken in St. Louis No. Ill, New Orleans (fig.
1), accompanied by a gloomy essay about city cemeteries that is
printed below. When it ends, please continue reading for my
positive, corrective comments.

Robert Wright
St. Paul, Minnesota

The Travel Section of the St. Paul Pioneer Press printed
the following news on January 20, 1996:

New Orleans: a tourist was shot to death in one of New
Orleans' historic cemeteries on Christmas Eve while chasing
two thieves who had snatched her purse. The victim, a 33
year-old teacher from Virginia, was sightseeing in the St. Louis
No. 1 Cemetery, a popular destination that is next to a housing
project. A 15-year-old was arrested. Muggings occasionally

Volume 21: Number 1

Page 1 1

Topical Column

AGS Quarterly Wmiti: 1997

occur at St. Louis No. 1 and other old cemeteries, and tourism
officials and police warn visitors against wandering there.
They say visitors should stick to regularly organized cemetery
tours.

This warning deserves attention, particularly since the
cemeteries of New Orleans are among the most interesting in North
America. My own experiences also underscore the need for
tourists to maintain "street-smart" alertness while visiting the
Crescent City. During the late 1980s I spent considerable time
photographing the tombs, statuary, and ironwork of these
cemeteries. Although I am a healthy young man over six feet tall,
I found my physical characteristics provided little deterrent to
being hassled in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. The drunks did not
harm me physically, but I later heeded the advice of several native
cemetery historians. I paid an off-duty policeman to protect me
while I photographed inside St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, which is
located in the much more obscure and dangerous site between St.
Louis Cemetery No. 1 and the Ponchartrain Expressway.

All members of Save Our Cemeteries, a local historic
preservation organization, also advise caution. Several members
had formed a small group to film the St. Louis cemeteries, during
the mid-1980s, as part of a video documentation project. They
were robbed at gunpoint. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but all the
equipment was stolen.

My last photographic trip to New Orleans was in 1988.
While there, I attended the excellent Cemeteries & Gravemarkers
session of the American Culture Association, which had convened
in New Orleans for its annual conference. Peggy McDowell,
Professor of Art History at the University of New Orleans, was the
knowledgeable tourguide for our excursion into St. Louis Cemetery
No. 1. Despite the rainly weather, a sizable group followed
Professor McDowell through the labyrinthine cemetery. However,
one member, scared when she heard thunder, left the group to
return to her hotel. On the street in sight of the entrance to the
cemetery, a young man ran out of the housing project that is the
cemetery's only neighbor and snatched her purse off her arm.
Other incidents also lead me to conclude that New Orleans suffers
from widespread serious crime.

Two major publications. Time Magazine and National
Geographic, have recently printed articles which discuss the
soaring crime rate in New Orleans. The murder rate in New
Orleans is one of the very highest in America, just slightly behind
cities like Miami, Washington DC, and Detroit. The causes of this
crime rate include a variety of factors. However, the major factor
is obvious: the Crescent City is one of our poorest cities.

The historical and cultural riches of New Orleans continue
to attract tourists in large numbers. However, I would recommend
visiting cemeteries located in the safest locations, such as the
cluster of cemeteries around Metairie Cemetery on the outskirts of
New Orleans.

Much of America's finest funerary art and architecture lies
within major cities. AGS members have combatted vandalism in
graveyards for years through documentation, education, legislation,
and preservation. The decaying social/economic conditions in

urban America can threaten the safety of our members conducting
field work. I strongly suggest stopping at the cemetery office when
visiting urban cemeteries. Staff members are usually helpful.
Obtain a map. Let someone know you are visiting to take pictures.
Often, permission is required before any photography. Good
communication with the cemetery office staff will help ensure a
memorable and safe visit.

Fig. I: Above-ground interment. St. Louis Cemetery No. III.

Photo: courtesy of Robert Wright.

Comment

Both the woman who was shot and the woman who lost
her purse were doing what law officers tell us not to do. .Although
your instinct may be to protect your property, they tell you to let the
thief steal your wallet or purse. If he is angry or desperate, he may
pull a knife, gun, or razor on you. It is better to lose )0ur money
than your life.

The Deputy Sheriff who escorted us to St. Louis No. I and
No. 11 on the day of the last episode had told us to sta>' w ith the
group no matter what because the group was our protection. The
woman who started back to her hotel was walkins alone. She was

Page 12

Volur

Number 1

AGS Quarterly Wmttr 1997

Gravestones & Computers

also much dressier than any experienced student of cemeteries
would be. High heels and a nice dress are fine for social occasions,
but not for field work in cemeteries. I don't know about you, but I
usually look as though I might have trouble paying my rent when
I'm exploring cemeteries. It's a safe costume, and I've never had
any trouble in my years of visiting city cemeteries.

The admirable Save Our Cemeteries in New Orleans
offers a tour of St. Louis No. I every Sunday at 10am. Call (504)
588-9357 to make reservations. Tours of Lafayette No. I are given
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:30 am. Reservations
are not required. Meet the guide at the gate of the cemetery, 1400
Washington Avenue. For further information, call the number
above or write to PO Box 58 105, New Orleans, Louisianna, 70158-
8105. The fees from the tours go to help preserve these cemeteries
that are unusual in the United States but found frequently in old
Catholic countries like Spain, Italy, and Portugal. No matter what
the guides and the Chamber of Commerce say, the above-ground
interment results from the cultural background of early New
Orleans settlers, not from the high water table.

One of the great advantages of the cemetery preservation
movement that so many AGS members are leading is that
conditions for safety almost always improve when old cemeteries
receive attention. Either volunteer workers clear the brush or
authorities are shamed or pressured into stepping up maintenance.
Once the view across the grounds is clear, the occurrence of
vandalism and personal assault diminishes. As Friends groups
organize and publicize, more visitors come to see what is
happening. Frequent outside visitors encourage the neighbors to
enter and eventually to use the cemetery as a neighborhood park.

As recently as the 1980s Congressional Cemetery in
Washington DC had a reputation of being dangerous. Two years
ago when I visited friends in Arlington, Virginia, I asked my host
to accompany me to Congressional. As we drove through the gate,
I laughed out loud. Sauntering down the road toward us was a
little, white-haired lady walking her dog. We saw a number of dog
walkers and two women pushing baby carriages before we left.
Those Victorians who developed the idea of a modem cemetery
with park-like grounds would be pleased to know that
Congressional Cemetery is now being used as a park. ♦♦♦

Gravestones & Computers

HAND

CARVED LETTERING

IN

STONE

Houmann Oshidari

(617) 862-1583 Lexington

433 Bedford Street
Massachusetts 02173

John E. Steding

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, RI 02818

E-mail: J_STER@prodigy.com

The AGS database standard software for recording and
computerizing gravestone transcriptions is a big success. More
than fifty groups are now using the software to record gravestones
from Maine to California. The program is providing a common
format for all of the data being collected. This means all of the data
collected with the program can be combined, searched and
reported. This column is devoted to tips to help you get more out
of the software.

Tips:

1. Ten custom reports are available in the software, but most of
these can be output to files as well as to the printer. This
enables you to import the files into a word processor and
modify the format, change fonts and generally customize the
reports to your needs. I recently published a book on the 158
historical cemeteries of Warwick, Rhode Island, using the
software and this technique.

2. The program provides nine user-defined codes for stone shape
and carving. One researcher identified six different urn and
willow designs to which she assigned numbers 1-6. She can
now search and find the location of all type '3' urn and willow
designs.

3. If you record 500 gravestones in a section and assign map
numbers from 1-500, then find you missed a stone half way
through, you can insert it with a lower case letter, e.g., '250a.'
Additional stones can be added with b, c, d, etc. This will align
the stones when they are searched or printed in natural order.

4. Section numbers can be a single letter (or number) or double
letters. To make all single-letter sections sort ahead of double-
letter sections, the index key for double letter sections is
modified by adding an invisible 'z' in front of the section
letters. On the natural order browse screen, this 'z' needs to be
typed in order to skip ahead. For cemetery PV012, section AB,
you should type 'PV012ZAB' to move the cursor to the first
stone in section AB. By contrast, to move to the first stone in
section C you would type 'PV012C.' Remember, if you
mistype this you can press [F9] to clear the type-ahead buffer
and retype it.

Volume 21: Number 1

Page 13

Conservation News

AGS Quarterly Wmicr 1997

5. When records are deleted from the database they are not
actually removed. They are only marked for deletion so they
are not seen in the searches or reports. If you have deleted, a
large number of records and want to remove them to reduce the
file size, that can be done. Run the backup procedure listed on
the menu under gravestones and these deleted records are
removed (packed).

6. For large transcription projects, it is necessary to collect files
from several recorders and combine them into a master
database. This can be done very efficiently on the internet.
They can be attached to E-mail. You may want to use file
compression to reduce transmission time. This can be done
with a program like PKZIP.exe (available on the internet). To
zip the four database files, use the following command:

VY^W filename ceme*.db*
When unzipped, the program can be used to recreate the
indexes. Passing files to others on the internet is also an
excellent way to store backups of the data. Three thousand
records can be transmitted in less than three minutes,

7. Custom reports can be created with several report writers, such
as Crystal Reports and R & R Report Writer. The databases are
dBASE III Plus type, which is the most common type and can
be manipulated by any of the database report writers.

8. Never show up in a cemetery to record gravestones without a
mirror. Even crisply cut granite stones are difficult to read on
the shaded side. A mirror can reflect the sun on the letters and
light them so they can be easily read.

These tips should help you get more out of the database
standard software.

To order the AGS standard gravestone recording program
(IBM version only), send $19.95 for members, plus $3.50 shipping
and handling to:

AGS - Database Standard
278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301 ♦

Conservation News

J

A Note from Bill Teschek
Lane Memorial Library, Hampton, New Hampshire

Bill reports that cemetery records for Hampton,
New Hampshire, are now online at:
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/graves/graves.htm

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place
Hadley, MA 01035

(413)584-1756

AGS member, John Buckland, is also a member of and has
been actively working with the Tomac Historical Bur>ing Ground
Association for several years in their effort to restore the oldest
burying ground in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Funding for the
Tomac project came from left-over funds from our nation's
bicentennial celebration in 1976. Old Greenwich's Bi-centennial
Celebration Committee was persuaded to give the Association
$20,000 to restore the burying ground.

Under the leadership of Richard K. Hill. President of
Tomac Historical Burying Ground Association, the Association
began by developing a conservation plan which included clearing
out the undergrowth and untrimmed trees that were obscuring the
serious condition of many of the approximately 1.000
gravemarkers, mapping the yard, recording and photographing the
carving and data on the stones, repairing broken stones, and.
finally, establishing and monitoring an on-going maintenance plan.

The map (Fig. 1) was prepared pro bono by a retired
architect and keyed to highlight grave markers of particular
interest. Markers of twenty-two Revolutionary War Veterans, most
of whom marched with the 6th Connecticut Militia, were identified,
as were several markers for Veterans of the War of 1812. Markers
for many other important people in the early community life of Old
Greenwich have also been documented.

Two important points that the success of this group's
conservation project illustrates are these: 1) To begin a con-
servation project, an organization needs to capture the attention of
the general public and public officials who are influential in
providing funds for the project. Appealing to the community's
pride in its history by documenting gravemarkers and telling the
stories of the lives of early settlers, town officials. communit\
leaders, religious leaders, etc., will engender enthusiasm for
supporting the project with financial contributions, pro bono and
in-kind contributions, and volunteer effort. 2) A plan needs to be
developed that carefully incorporates all the steps from clearing, to
documenting, to repairing, to maintaining the burial ground. *♦*

Editor 's Note: John Buckland will be giving a paper on stone repair
at the Conference in June.

Page 14

Volume 21: Number 1

MARKERS XIV IS HERE !

Cemetery Symbols and Contexts of American Indian
Identity: The Grave of Painter and Poet T.C. Canon

David M. Gradwohl

Table of Contents

The Pratt Family of Stonecutters

Ralph L. Tucker

Gravemakers of the Early Congregational Ministers in
North Central Massachusetts

Tom and Brenda Malloy

A Modem Gravestone Maker: Some Lessons for
Gravestone Historians

Barbara Rotundo

The Remarkable Crosses of Charles Andera

Loren N. Horton

Under Grave Conditions: African-American Signs of
Life and Death in North Florida

Robin Franklin Nigh

A Year's Work in Gravemarker/Cemetery Studies

Richard E. Meyer

Contributors
Index

Please send me

Name

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copies of Markers XTV at $32 per copy for members, $37 for non-members.

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Markers Back Issues

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Markers VII Notes on Harriette Merrifield Forbes' Symbolic
Cemetery Gates in New England ii A Portfolio of Mrs. Forbes' Cast-
iron Gates " 'The Fencing Mania': The Rise and Fall of Nineteenth-
Century Funerary Enclosures " Boston's Historic Burying Grounds
Initiative: 'Eliot Burying Ground', 'Dorchester North Burying
Ground', 'Copp's Hill Burying Ground' " The Funerary Monuments
and Burial Patterns of Colonial Tidewater Virginia, 1607-1776 "
Charles Miller Walsh: A Master Carver of Gravestones in Virginia,
1865-1910 " Notes on the Production of Rustic Monuments in the
Limestone Belt of Indiana " Stonecarvers of Monroe County, Indiana
1828-1890 " 'In the Way of the White Man's Totem Poles': Stone
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Drake (1739-1803) " The Glastonbury Lady " The Thomas Johnsons "
Joseph Johnsons (1698-1783?)'" The Bat " The Mannings " The Collins
Family " Charles Dolph (1776-1815) " The Lambs (1724-1788) " John
Hartshorn (1650-c. 1738) vs. Joshua Hempstead (1678-1758) " The
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Markers IX Recollections of a Collaboration: A Tribute to the
Art of Francis Duval " The Mullicken Family Gravestone Carvers of
Bradford, Massachusetts, 1663-1768 " The Green Man as an Emblem on
Scottish Tombstones " The Center Church Crypt of New Haven,
Connecticut: A Photographic Essay " Purchase Delay, Pricing Factors,
and Attribution Elements in Gravestones from the Shop of Ithamar
Spauldin " Silent Stones in a Potter's Field: Grave Markers at the
Almshouse Burial Ground in Uxbridge, Massachusetts " Thomas
Crawford's Monument for Amos Binney in Mount Auburn Cemetery, 'A
Work of Rare Merit' " Acculturation and Transformation of Salt Lake
Temple Symbols in Mormon Tombstone Art" Language Codes in Texas

German Graveyards " The Disappearing Shaker Cemetery.

288 pages. 160 illustrations. Paper: $30:00 members. Now $14.00.

Markers X A Chronological Survey of the Gravestones Made

by Calvin Barber of Simsbury, Connecticut " The Chinese of Valhalla:
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(1800-1866) in Alexandria, Virginia " The Jewish Cemeteries of
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in Florence and Anglo-American Attitudes Toward Italy.
256 pages. 124 illustrations. Paper: $38t00 members. Now $23.00.

Markers XI Ritual, Regalia, and Remembrance: Fraternal
Symbolism and Gravestones " Louisiana Cemeteries: Manifestations of
Regional and Denominational Identity " Solomon Brewer: A
Connecticut Valley Yankee in Westchester County " 'Where Valor
Proudly Sleeps': Theodore O'Hara and The Bivouac of the Dead' "
Slavery in Colonial Massachusetts as Seen Through Selected
Gravestones " Merrimac Valley Style Gravestones: The Leighton and
Worster Families " Monumental Ambition: A Kentucky Stonecutter's
Career " 'And Who Have Seen the Wilderness' : The End of the Trail on
Early Oregon Gravemarkers.
233 pages. 133 illustrations. Paper: $38:00 members. Now $24.00.

Markers XII 'A Piece of Granite That's Been Made in Two
Weeks': Terra-Cotta Gravemarkers from New Jersey and New York,
1875-1930 " Adam and Eve Scenes on Kirkyards in the Scottish
Lowlands: An Introduction and Gazetteer " The Adkins-Woodson
Cemetery: A Sociological Examination of Cemeteries as Community "
The Joshua Hempstead Diary " Contemporary Gravemarkers of Youths:
Milestones of Our Path Through Pain to Joy " 'Best Damn Dog We Ever
Had': Some Folkloristic and Anthropological Observations on San
Francisco's Presidio Pet Cemetery " The Year's Work in
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AGS Jewelry

Once more with prices

Contemporary Jewelry. . .

We have several pins and earrings

made of pewter, some with frosted

Czech glass beads. . .

All jewelry comes with the history of the imagery.

The earrings have heavy sterling ear wires.

Please note: Earrings (E5, 7, 8, 10) & Pins (PI, 3, 6, 8)

are shown at 75% actual size.

Prices:

E-5 $22.00

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AGS Quarterly Wmier: 1997

Regional Column

Fig. 1: Map of the Tomac Burial Ground.

Northwest & Far West

Alaska, California, Colorado. Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and
British Cohimbia

Bob Pierce

(The Western Deadbeat)

208 Monterey Boulevard

San Francisco, California 94131

E-mail: bpierce@sfsu.edu

In lieu of this regional column, Bob's contribution appears
in the Notes & Queries section of this Quarterly, on page 25. *♦♦

Southwest

Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Phone: (602) 647-7005

Fax:(602)647-7136

Through our mutual interest in AGS, and in burial
practices generally, as well as in regional crafts, I have become
acquainted with Fran Betteridge, who lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Fran, a former juvenile court judge, has recently been shuttling
back and forth to Oaxaca, Mexico, where she scouts out local
handicrafts for sale in Museum shops in Tucson, and also serves as
an Elderhostel staff member. I asked her to write the following
account of the Day of the Dead rituals which are observed by
Mexican communities on both sides of the border, because I
believe members who live outside the southwest will be interested,
and also because the rich and often changing inventory of artifacts
that accompany these observances are finding their way into crafts
galleries throughout the United States. The artifacts-mostly
intended to be ephemeral (such as sugar skulls)-are subject to
seemingly inexhaustible variation, though with two stable
elements-the skull, or calaveras, and the skeleton figure. It's
always interesting to see the novel 'takes' on these themes that each
year brings. Recently, computer-created skeletons have become
popular.

Just a few stray comments on my own, before turning this
column over to Fran Betteridge. In a previous column about the
cemetery in the ghost town of Mogollon, New Mexico, a glitch
occurred with regard to spelling. The correct spelling is Mogollon,
NOT Mongollon! It is pronounced Mow-go-yawn. The town is
not far from Glenwood, New Mexico, in the southwestern part of
the State. Silver City is the nearest "big" town.

Travel notes:

Bisbee, Arizona, about 60 miles from Tucson, in
southeastern Arizona, has an interesting cemetery to supplement
the excellent exhibit of its history at the local Historical Museum.
The diversity of the town's population is mirrored by the ethnic
subdivisions which dominate the geography of its cemetery. The
cemetery is fittingly - if a bit awkwardly - sandwiched between the
copper mines and machinery that made Bisbee one of the most
prosperous and populous towns in the State during the early
decades of the twentieth century. Slavs, Italians, Welsh, Cornish,
and Mexicans are represented in their own separate areas,
maintained under the auspices of various burial societies and
fraternal organizations. Except in the Mexican section, few of the
grave markers are individualized. The emphasis seems to be on
maintaining uniformity and ethnic identity.

Solidly constructed fieldstone walls surround the sign-

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posted "Cottonwood Cemetery," which winds about a mile from
the Geronimo Trail, a mainly dirt road that extends from Douglas,
Arizona (on the Mexican border), to Animas, in New Mexico's
southern "boot-heel." The Trail is, in parts, quite spectacular for its
rock formations, particularly in the section that is part of the
Coronado National Forest. Cattle and mining and borderlands
country, it's hard to imagine a more remote place. Yet, for all its
isolation, the burial ground is exceptionally well-maintained, with
plenty of room provided for new occupants. Almost all of these
thirty or so markers are substantial ones, made of polished granite,
conventionally designed, and clearly ordered from "away," in the
1940s and 1950s. Several of these include photographs of the
deceased. Although it seems incongruous to find these examples of
mass produced monuments in such a remote setting, on second
thought it seems reasonable to suppose that such markers provided
evidence of financial substance and of knowledge about the
customs of the world beyond the "borderlands." Using local
materials to make "home made" markers - often the case in these
parts - would not have carried the same message. The dominant
families are McDonald and Taylor.

El Dia de LOS Muertos

Frances Betteridge

5320 N. Campbell Avenue

Tucson, AZ 85718

(520) 577-7795

In the course of several years of travel for work and
pleasure, I was drawn to the varied burial practices I found
wherever I went. The above ground wooden coffins, formerly used
in the Kalash Valley of Northern Pakistan, were placed so that the
spirits could take part in the many festivities taking place in the
hillside cave homes above. These were in contrast to those of a
valley in Austria where the more traditional graves were marked by
wrought iron crosses with pictures of the departed in the center.
While traveling in the evening above the valley, the twinkling
candles below each cross gave a feeling of a peaceful resting place
among good friends.

Now, thanks to a move to southern Arizona and work in
Mexico, I've discovered another way of looking at death. With the
celebration of El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, both city
dwellers and village folk celebrate the most important day of the
year.

The celebration takes place on November second and
third. Although each village has its special customs, the tradition
is the same. This is not a Mexican Halloween, in spite of the North
American customs that are slowly creeping in. Costumed children
can be found "trick or treating," or just begging in the zocalo (town
square).

The traditional Mexican celebration has its roots in pre-
Hispanic times when death was seen not as an end but rather a stage
in a cycle. Some of the Aztec practices continue to this day. Their
calendar devoted two months to the dead: the ninth month to dead
infants, the tenth to a great feast for dead adults.

The Spanish conquest (1591) fused Catholic attitudes with

indigenous beliefs. The dates
of the celebration, previously
earlier in the year, were fixed
by the Missionary friars to
correspond with the Christian
calendar's All Souls' and All
Saints' days. With this
merger, in Mexico, fear of
death, brought from the old
world, diminished.

All Saints' Day is
said to have evolved from
ancient Celtic customs in
Great Britain. Halloween
was named for a Medieval
festival in England, based on
Celtic customs. All Souls'
Day is thought to have been
established by an eleventh

century Abbott of Cluny, and later was extended throughout the
Church. The present day Mexican celebration of El Dia de los
Muertos embraces some of these traditions but remains unique.
Death is a journey, not to damnation or glory as in Europe, but a
mere step in the process of living. There is nothing ghoulish about
it as is often seen in Halloween activities.

Communities in the United States which border on
Mexico and those with strong Mexican populations such as
Chicago, San Antonio, and East Los Angeles, have their own
celebrations each year. Gallery exhibits, craft fairs and musical
performances are a part of the festivities.

The Mexican village celebrations usually include a shrine.
ofrenda, in the home, a procession to the cemetery to clean and
redecorate the graves, and all-night vigils at the cemetery'. There,
the families enjoy a picnic with the returning spirits who are told of
important family events during the past year.

All over Mexico tombs are cleaned and decorated with
marigolds and red cockscombs, the flowers of the dead. Bakers
decorate their windows with cavorting skeletons and skulls to
advertise the special bread. Pan de Muertos. The breads and sugar
skulls, often inscribed with the name of a deceased friend or
relative, are plentiful as are skeleton toys for the children. All this
is a reminder that death is but a step on a journey.

The ofrendas are also decorated with marigolds and red
cockscombs, as well as with food and drink that the departed
enjoyed on earth. Favorite objects such as a guitar, a toy truck, a
book are added to welcome the spirits. Some families line the
pathway to the home with petals to show the way. Others ma\' have
sparklers lining the path to the home.

When visiting a home during the Day of the Dead, guests
bring small gifts for the altar: food, flowers, and liquor too. None
are consumed until the souls depart, having had first chance at the
delicacies, which, after all, were for them.

The more remote the \illage the greater the difference in
customs. In the village of Jimenez, families go to the churchyard
carrying household ornaments and the bed in which the departed

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died. This is decorated witii lace
curtains; white for children, black for
adults. If the family has no bed, a
table is placed over the grave and then
decorated with gold and silver paper
flowers, and strips of colored paper.
The churchyard is crowded with
smiling, gossiping people. Candles
are burned at the graves and
refreshments are sold at the gates.

In other towns the villagers
dress up in bizarre costumes, go from
house to house with a noisy drum and
horn band, acting out a story of death
defied. Others have a tradition of
masked villagers going to the homes

of prominent citizens. There they recite verses mocking the
dignitaries and voicing their complaints. Retaliation is not allowed.

Should a family not follow the particular village customs,
there are many folk who believe, and claim they can document such
happenings, that the spirits will show their displeasure by making
you ill, burning your home, wrecking your car, or in some way
ruining the following year for you.

Go to any Mexican cemetery at this time. A spirit of
reverence, overlain with gaiety, prevails. The families care for the
graves. Some are very elaborate with weeping angels, others with
simple, carved stones. The funeral has its own rituals, but after
interment there is constant, loving care given to the resting place.
In the villages, the relatives, from whatever part of the country or
the world they now live, return to honor their ancestors at this most
important celebration of the year. "The dead are never forgotten
because once a year they take their place beside the living to enjoy
the fruits and flowers of the earth." ♦♦♦

Midwest

Illinois. Indiana. Iowa. Kansas. Michigan. Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin,
Manitoba, Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323

Laurel Gabel's article, "Ritual, Regalia and Rem-
embrance; Fraternal Symbolism and Gravestones," in AGS Makers
XI, includes important information about fraternal symbols that
appear on markers across America. This column discusses two
fraternal gravestone symbols that were particularly popular in the

middle-west.

The 1953 edition of Statistics: Fraternal Societies
provides insurance information about 184 fraternal .societies. In
1997, many of these societies no longer exist. However, two of
them. Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) and Woodmen of the
World (WOW) are still active. They still sell insurance while their
fraternal markers are weathering in the cemeteries.

Joseph Cullen Root, a "joiner" who belonged to the
Masons, the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Ancient Order of
United Workmen, and the American Legion of Honor, founded the
Modem Woodmen of America (MWA), in Rock Island, Illinois, in
1883. Initially, membership was limited to healthy males, ages
eighteen to forty-five, from rural Midwestern America. Anyone
employed in a dangerous job (such as bartending) was excluded
from membership. In 1889, Root's dispute with MWAs Head
Physician precipitated a schism, after which Root founded the
Woodmen of the World (WOW), in Omaha, in 1890.

By 1953, Modem Woodmen of America members lived in
all states, with Massachusetts and New Mexico being the
exception. They also resided in the Canadian provinces of Alberta
and Manitoba. In cemeteries across America one finds MWA lots
with large, elaborate monuments of members buried in orderly
rows. A prevalent symbol for MWA members is an oak leaf,
consistently accompanied by an axe and a beetle (a heavy, wooden
hammering instrument), emblems of the woodmen's trade (fig. 1).
At the same time. Woodmen of the World members resided in most
states, as well as Puerto Rico and Mexico. In accordance with
Section 70, of the Constitution and Laws, adopted in May, 1907,
markers for WOW members bore a tree stump symbol, an official
design placed upon the face of all Woodmen of the World
monuments (fig. 2). Rigid standards govemed the carving. "The
"V" cut concentric circles, with text between, must be not less than
one-eighth of an inch deep; the circle must be not less than eight
inches in diameter; and the tree stump must be raised not less than
three-eighths of an inch. However, the letters may be raised, if
desired and paid for by the beneficiary." According to the order's
Constitution, no monument would be accepted and paid for unless
it strictly complied with this
standard format. If these
instructions were followed, the
Order contributed $100 to the
cost. Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s
first monument catalog,
published in 1907, advertised
the availability of several styles
of WOW markers, valued at
$100, but priced at $61.

Competition for

recruiting new members was
evidently keen. In 1915, MWA
produced its first Premium Book
(No. One, 1915 ed.. Modern
Woodmen of America, Lincoln,
Nebraska), which indicates "a
complete list of all premiums

Fig. I: Symbol of the Modern

Woodmen of America: an oak

leaf axe, and beetle. Line art:

M. W.A. Premium Book,

No. 1,1915 ed

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AGS Quarterly Wmiev 1997

Fig. 2: Official design placed upon the face of all monuments for

members of the "Woodmen of the World fraternal order. Line art:

Official instructions, WO. W Camp Monument Committee.

offered by this society to members who secure the adoption of new
members into their camps by their own personal efforts."

The Premium Book offered 350 available premiums. One
adoption might earn an emblematic pin (fig. 3), valued at $1.60. It
bears "the emblems of the Society", which echo those commonly
found on their gravemarkers. The solid gold pin is in the shape of
a log, superimposed with an oak leaf, a beetle, and a wedge.
Premiums for two, three, and four adoptions consisted of
"emblematic charms," with various forms of Maltese crosses, each
consistently superimposed with the axe and beetle (fig. 4). Six
adoptions might have earned a chest of silverware or an
autographic Kodak; twelve adoptions, a mandolin or similar
instrument; while a bicycle was the premium for twenty-seven
adoptions. Alternatively, an entire camp might have pooled their
adoptions. In this case, forty adoptions earned a Carrona pool and
billiard table; 200 adoptions, an upright piano; and 215 adoptions a
player piano.

Other than the insurance business, outward signs of the
fraternal societies are rapidly disappearing. However, preserved in
Valton, a very small town in western Wisconsin, is the Lodge Hall
of MWA Camp #6190. The interior, painted by Ernest Hupeden, in
1899, includes scenes which depict the principles and activities of

the MWA. The Kohler Foundation funded restoration of this
building, called "The Painted Forest," and deeded the prof)erty to
Sauk County, which has operated it as a museum since 1982 (Lisa
Stone and Jim Zanzi, Sacred Spaces and Other Places, Chicago,
1993).

Laurel Gabel referred to the insignia of such secret
societies as "alien remnants of an unfamiliar era." Serving to
identify activities of the past through material-cultural symbols,
appearing as they frequently do on gravestones and fraternal regalia,
as well as fine examples of fraternal meeting places, these
monuments deserve attention and, as necessary, preservation. ♦♦♦

Fig. 4: Premium No. 120, for four

adoptions: a Maltese cross with axe,

beetle, and wedge design. Line art:

M.WA. Premium Book, No. 1,

1915 ed

Fig. 3: Premium No. 121, for adoption of one member to the

Modern Woodmen of America. Line art: M. W.A. Premium Book,

No. 1, 1915 ed

Southeast/Caribbean

Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida. Georgia. Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

PO Box 6296
Tallahassee. Florida 32314

The Bahamas

The earliest gravestone yet identified in Nassau, New
Providence, is for Thomas Walker, Sen., who died in 1722. In
1986, a contractor who was demolishing the old East Hill Club, on
East Hill Street, at the Glenwood Estate, noticed the marker.
Recognizing its significance, he moved it to the Bahamas
Historical Society's museum. The stone was never actually "lost".
In her 1983 book, Homeward Bound: .4 History of the Bahama
Islands, to 1850. historian Sandra Riley notes that. "His [Walker's]
tombstone can be seen in the garden of an estate called Glenwood".
While it is uncertain why the marker was in this location (as it
might be expected to be in a churchyard"), research by Kim Outten
and Grace Turner of The Bahamas Department of .Archives
indicates that a house belonging to Thomas Walker once stood on
this site. (The house appears on the 1729 V7e»v of Providence).

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AGS Qiiarterly Wmttv 1997

Regional Column

Thomas Walker was a judge of the Vice-Admiralty and, later, Chief
Justice of The Bahama Islands. His will, dated 21 August, 1722,
was proved on 4 September, 1722. He left his entire estate to his
wife and their three sons.

The marker appears to be made of the local limestone. Its
overall dimensions are approximately 69" length by 27 fi" width by
4 fi' thick. Areas of it are severely weathered and pitted. The
crudely carved design includes a skull and cross bones, with an
hour glass to one side of the skull and a coffin on the other. The
inscription, which is mostly legible, reads:

Memory of Thomas

Walker Sen. Late

Chief Justice of

These Islands

Alice his Widow

& Relict This[?] Monu[?]

ment has Peace

OBT. 23 August 1722

AET63

While the skull and crossbones was a traditional symbol
for gravestones during this time period, some irony can be found in
the design being on Walker's marker. During much of his career in
government. Walker was involved in ending the deprivations of the
many pirate bands who were active in The Bahamas. The Jolly
Roger, an emblem of piracy, is a black flag with a white skull and
crossbones. In 1716, Walker had to temporarily flee the island
because Nassau was overrun by pirates.

The Thomas Walker stone is on permanent exhibition at
The Bahamas Historical Society, Elizabeth Avenue and Shirley
Street, Nassau, New Providence.

New Orleans

Save Our Cemeteries, Inc., is an organization that
specializes and assists in the protection, preservation, and
restoration of New Orleans' historic cemeteries. The group also
restores neglected burial sites of historical, architectural, and
educational value.

Elizabeth Calvit, Executive Director of Save Our
Cemeteries, in New Orleans, has announced that Lafayette
Cemetery No. 1, located in the city's historic Garden District, has
been named by the World Monuments Fund as one of one-hundred
most endangered sites in the world. The cemetery is one of only
seven such designated sites in the United States. The program,
established in 1995 by the World Monuments Fund, is designed to
establish a comprehensive list of the world's monuments and
cultural sites that are in imminent danger. American Express has
joined the World Monuments Fund as the founding financial
sponsor for this project and is committing $5 million over the next
five years. A $20,000 grant for survey and preservation planning at
Lafayette Cemetery has been awarded to Save Our Cemeteries.

Lafayette No. 1 was chosen for the endangered sites list
for three reasons: the neglect of the cemetery on the part of both the
city of New Orleans and the owners of its tombs, the negative

impact of tourism on the site, and the detrimental effects of the
tropical climate on its historic materials. Ms. Calvit points out that,
although Lafayette Cemetery is being given special attention, there
are a number of cemeteries in New Orleans that share its
characteristics and problems.

Three members of the Save Our Cemeteries Board of
Directors serve as committee chairs for a special task force that was
convened by the Mayor to study the management and maintenance
requirements for the city's cemeteries. The task force will make
recommendations for the future care and administration of the.se
historic sites.

A thirty-minute documentary. Ghosts of Stone: A Look at
New Orleans' Unique Cemeteries, examines the architectural and
historical treasures located at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. The film,
which is illustrated by historical photographs and film footage,
concentrates on the recent preservation efforts that have been made
at the site. For information about obtaining copies of the video,
contact Save Our Cemeteries, Inc., PO Box 58105, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70158-8105.

African-American Cemeteries/South Carolina

Chicora Foundation, Inc. recently produced a booklet
entitled Grave Matters: The Preser\>ation of African-American
Cemeteries. The publication focuses on African-American burial
traditions and cemeteries in South Carolina, but the information it
includes is relevant to the study of African-American burying
grounds anywhere in the United States. Illustrated with maps,
drawings of archaeological excavations, and early photographs,
topics include: What is the History of African-American
Cemeteries?; Archaeology and African-American Cemeteries; The
Differences Between African-American and Euro-American
Cemeteries; Preservation of African-American Cemeteries; and
Actions You Can Take to Help Preserve African-American
Cemeteries. Single copies of this, and a companion booklet
entitled Understanding Slavery: The Lives of Eighteenth Century
African-Americans, are available at no charge from Chicora
Foundation, Inc., PO Box 8664, Columbia, South Carohna 29202-
8664. ♦

AGS is on-line!

Our e-mail address is:
ags@berkshire.net

Our web site address is:
www.berkshire.net/ags

%.

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AGS Quarterly Wxmtv 1997

NEW ENGLAND/MARITIME

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, Vermont, Labrador, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, MA 01570

Dogging It at the Work Place

Now and again Michelangelo must have woken up, said to
himself, "Sono stanco di questo sojfito!,"^ poured himself a cup of
cappucino, and just hung around the studio, perhaps lazily
sculpting a matched set of ash trays for his Aunt Bianca's bambino
shower.

And there must have been an occasion when Joseph
Lamson received an order for a gravestone at a particularly
inconvenient time. Maybe he was engaged in a business venture,
or was already behind schedule on another stone, and was in no
mood to spend the time and talent to produce another masterpiece.
A run of the mill stone would have to be "good enough." Better
still, maybe he could unload a previously carved stone that was
gathering dust in his bam.

In either situation, we can understand that everything a
great artist produces isn't a masterpiece. We tend to assume that
artists work continually at peak enthusiasm and talent, and that
their work steadily increases in complexity and sophistication as
they mature. However, this assumption may not always be
justified. It shouldn't be unusual to find a stone, carved by a known
artist, that seems to stand out, either stylistically or by date, from
others carved during the same period-a stone that just doesn't seem
to belong there. We are aware of the tendency for some families to
put off having stones erected until many years after the deceased
was buried. There are numerous instances of stones being erected
ten or twenty years after the death date. If we were to simply go by
the death date, we would mistake the relative place that a stone
occupies in a particular artist's volume of work, placing it
significantly earlier in his or her career than it should be, and
causing confusion when later works seem to show a less evolved
style.

On the other hand, some work, even by the best of artists,
might, on occasion, be second rate. Working with stone isn't like
writing a novel or baking a cake, and there must have been times
where the carver found himself in a position where, after working
on a stone for a number of days, the quality of the stone, the veining
or the effigy just didn't pan out. When your investment in a stone
is considerable, you don't just throw it away and began anew.
There must have been times when things simply went wrong, and
the carver had to grit his teeth, perhaps mutter a few Puritan curses.

and go on, trying to make the best of a bad job. Some of these
stones necessarily show up now and then, and for those who
specialize in carver research, these anomalies add a great deal of
confusion to their neat chronologies.

Such an example may be the (1785) John Dalrymple stone
(fig. 1), lying flat and becoming overgrown with sod in Dudley's
old Corbin Cemetery (Dudley, Massachusetts). The stone itself is

Fig. 1: John Dalrymple stone, Corbin Cemetery, DiuUey, Massachusetts.
Photo: Bob Klisiewicz.

unique, standing out in primitive charm from its more sophisticated
neighbors. Many of these are probably from the Narragansett Bay
school of carvers (perhaps the Boston school also, although the
natural trade route for Dudley would seem to be via the Blackstone
and Quinebaug rivers, heading inland from Narragansett Bay and
the Connecticut coast).

Dalrymple's stone appears to be the product of William
Young, of Worcester, Massachusetts, Harriette Merrifield Forbes'
"Thistle Carver of Tatnuck," relatively unknown outside of central
Massachusetts, but important enough to Forbes to devote a chapter
to him in her Gravestones of Early New England and the Men Who
Made Them.- (Could Forbes have credited him with more
importance than he deserves because he was a home-town boy?
Forbes, herself, came from Worcester.) Forbes writes that Young,
during his many years of productivity (starting around 1740 and
ending about 1791) was, at various times, the Town Surveyor, a
Justice of the Peace, the Town Moderator, and was known as a
"gentleman" and a "squire," so it can be assumed that he didn't
spend much time sitting on his hands. Some of Young's stones may
have been carved in a hurry, with little time spent on ornamentation
or symbolism; while others probably benefited from more careful
work, with more time and feeling spent on them.

To illustrate this proposal, the Dalrymple stone, with an
inscription carved when Young was 74. is crude and simple (but
enormously charming in all of its simplicit\). while Young's 1760
stone for Agnes Crawford in Rutland, Massachussets.-' apparently
cut twenty-five years earlier, when Young was 49. is more
sophisticated in both its ornamental style and its lettering. It may
have been that the Dalrymple stone was one of a precut supply of
stones and was carved decades before 1785 and not sold until then.

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AGS QiiarterlyWmttr 1997

Regional Column

but that wouldn't account for the poorer quality of the lettering
(which certainly wasn't carved earlier!). It would seem that the
most probable explanation for this discrepancy would be the care
that Young put into the Crawford stone, as compared to the
Dalrymple stone,-* either because the Crawfords paid for a better
job, or because time and circumstances allowed this extra care in
1760 and not in 1785.

In any case, it would be wise not to base too much
speculation on any one stone that seems to deviate from the rest of
the carver's works. The reasons make for enjoyable discussion but
not much else of consequence.

Endnotes:

1 . "I'm sick and tired of that damned ceiling!"

2. Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. 1927. Gravestones of Early New
England and the Men Who Made Them 1653-1800. Chapter
VIII, The Thistle-Carver of Tatnuck and Other Local Workers,
Pyne Press edition, Princeton.

3. Duval, Francis Y., and Ivan B. Rigby. 1978. Early American
Gravestone Art. Dover Publications, New York, Pages 33,
34.

4. Other explanations that immediately come to mind would be
that Young had apprentices, who did either the better or the
lesser of the work, or that Young's ability or interest seriously
declined in his later years. ♦♦♦

Mid-Atlantic

Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Quebec

G.E.O. Czamecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 11235

Staten Island Research:
The Floral Motifs of Price and Osborne

The presence of floral patterns as primary motifs on
colonial era gravestone tympanums is not abundant or particularly
widespread, but where found they are unique and quality works of
art. These beautiful renditions of arranged flowers in stone remain
ever-lastingly in bloom for the deceased.

The remaining colonial era floral motifs on Staten Island
are all the work of two New Jersey sources, cutters Ebenezar Price
of Elizabethtown (1728-1788) and the Osborne family of Scotch
Plains (1770-1810), and are all carved on a red sandstone that was
quarried locally. More than one Osborne was involved in carving.

but I will refer to the work only as "Osborne" until I elaborate on
the specifics in a future column. Although a floral motif as a
primary image never comes close to the popularity of the three
major motifs (death's head, winged-head, and willow and urn), ii
does occur in pockets in relationship to individual cutters or
cultural traditions brought in by a group. In the case of the
Elizabethtown area, the motif is part of a Pennsylvania Dutch
tradition that was introduced. Floral patterns were popular in their
cultural make-up, and they found their way into gravestone art. The
use of flowers is even mixed with the standard use of a skull and
crossbones motif, which was employed here in place of the winged
death's head.

Price's winged-head was stem-faced and bold-winged. A
soul effigy fulfills the desired role of the motif, complete with
symbolic heavenly cloud above the head. This motif was a stand-
ard - what people had been buying and considered appropriate for
a long time - and was apparently his best seller.

A unique motif used by Price is a full tympanum-sized
rendition of a pattern employed on his finials that could easily be
interpreted as a sunrise, shell, or fan. I consider it a stylized sun
motif, which would entice a more progressive purchaser. This
motif must have had a modem appeal to it, sort of an introduction
to the changes that were to come, shifting away from traditional
colonial era styles.

Photo I: Rubbingof Osborne floral, 1804.
Bethel Cemetery, Staten Island.

After a review of Price's basic assortment, it becomes
clearer where his floral motif fits in. It appears to have been used
more frequently as a feminine motif, or for children. Two
examples on Staten Island are the stones of a four- and a six-year-
old female, dated 1789 and 1776 respectively. This specific use of
a motif wasn't unusual and was, in fact, common.

There are seven Price stones in the Moravian Cemetery.
Two bear his sun motif, three have winged-heads, and two are
examples of his floral pattem. His floral motifs vary little and are
as standard as his winged-heads or suns. Although Price may have
employed several motifs, most are as standardized as an assembly
line product. He was a cutter with a lot of stylistic variation.

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AGS Quarterly Winter 1997

However, it was the number of different motifs he used, rather than
elaborate embellishments. I believe he developed a pattern in his
cutting and sales technique and held a large part of the market
because he supplied variation. He provided a selection which
would satisfy most consumers of the day.

The Osbornes were artists who apparently believed in
being considerably more ornate, and embellishments on their
stones are numerous. They were usually considerably taller than
those of Price. One of the prime enhancements was to use Price's
additional appendage placed atop the tympanums, a sort of
miniature tympanum flanked by fmials. These were usually further
decorated with the sun/shell-like motif also employed by Price, but
many were also left completely blank.

Osborne's work is indicative of the transition that was
taking place at this period of time. The winged-head was slowly
becoming history, and the willow and urn motif and white marble
were coming into popularity. Osborne took advantage of the floral
motif that was natural, acceptable, and artistically renowned. He
went beyond the silhouetted versions that Price had created and
portrayed a blooming, growing, and flourishing depiction. The
flowers were accompanied by the initials of the deceased in an
elaborate script centered in the tympanum. Osborne employed
flowers on the border as well as a geometric design embellishment
beneath the tympanums, and sometimes further down the borders at
the base of the stone. Osborne had also begun to incorporate an urn
in his border motifs, clearly showing the changes in the employed
images. The urn was usually placed atop a long column that
comprised the border design.

In the Elizabethtown area, Osborne is clearly one of the
last major stone cutters before the phenomena of tympanum art was
basically abandoned. He, too, created a cheaper, smaller product
that seems to be the outcome of the gravestone business at this
time. However, he also showed considerable innovation in his
work. It falls outside of the tired winged-head motif that faded into
oblivion, and he didn't just settle on the rising popularity of the
willow and urn. Instead, he created variation-not only by
employing a floral motif, but by treating it as a thing of beauty.

Two of Osborne's outstanding floral motifs appear on two
stones dated 1817. On one stone he uses a single flower, depicted
horizontally on the tympanum. On the other stone that same motif
is a mere embellishment flanking his signature at the base.

The reality of finding more signatures outside of the
cutters' usual area for advertising purposes is definitely evident on
Staten Island. Of the Price stones, half are signed. He almost
always cut "E. Price" on the front, right base, sometimes with a
carved pointing hand and a series of dashes between it and "E.
Price". Osborne employed a simple "H.O." as a signature, but on
one later floral (1825) he carved out "H. Osborne," and on many in
New Jersey he was much more elaborate.

Some gravestone researchers familiar with the work of
Price and Osborne might argue that their stones are quite num-
erous within their carving area, and this would be true. However,
it is not true for Staten Island where only approximately fifty
colonial era, red sandstones with tympanum motifs remain, and
among them the few stones by Price and Osborne.

The four bridges that connect Staten Island with the world
sealed its fate. Isolation has ended. Whereas it used to be a place
of peaceful rolling hills, it is now home to swiftly rolling traffic
making its way to and from New York and New Jersey. Now the
surviving collection of early stones is severely endangered. The
isolation has now become a concept of "limited space" that causes
development via destruction. The older graveyards have suffered
all the improvements. The past is thinning out. Vandalism is a
reality and just plain aging is a serious factor. The two Price florals
are in good shape, but most of Osborne's work has deteriorated.
Many of his stones suffer from weathering and a stone quality
problem - the face of the stone buckles away from the rest,
eventually cracking and falling off. I have seen many Osbornes
completely devoid of the entire front face. A tall, slender stone with
the tympanum appendage classifies it as an Osborne stone.

Notes:

and

1. 1 have encountered two different spellings of "Osbom"
"Osborne". I have changed all to "Osborne".

2. 1 plan to elaborate on Price's motifs in a future article.
Staten Island Research: The Horal Motifs of Price and Osborne
G.E.O. Czamecki ♦♦♦

Page 22

Volume 21: Number 1

AGS Quarterly Wvmer 1997

Regional Column

Across the Oceans

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14

D-63322 Rodermark

GERMANY

Cemetery lovers travelling to China, France, Italy,
Scotland, Egypt, Ireland, England, or South Dakota in the near
future may want to consult the AGS archives for newspaper
clippings on the following sites.

China

The Dongling Tombs (the East Imperial Tombs of the
Qing Dynasty), situated in Zunhua City, 150 km east of Beijing, are
the largest and most complete imperial gravesites under state
protection in China. Dongling comprises 157 tombs, five of which
belong to emperors, four to empresses, and five to imperial
concubines. Interments at Dongling started with the first Qing
Emperor Shun Zhi in 1663 and ended in 1935, when a concubine
to Emperor Tong Zhi was buried there. Ever since the site was
opened to the public in 1978, a number of tombs have been
renovated and made accessible to visitors. ("The Qing Tombs of
Zunhua", Travel China 10/1993)

The article "Chinese Bronze Age Instruments" (Rocks
Trader, Jan. 15 - Feb. 15, 1994) describes an outstanding
archaeological find made in central China, near the city of Suizhou.
Unfortunately, it does not say whether and where the objects
discovered are on exhibition. A splendid, well-preserved tomb
dating back to the fifth century bc was found to contain the remains
of a middle-aged man and twenty-one females. The women were
strangled to accompany him in death. Among the sophisticated
grave goods discovered in the central burial chamber were sixty-
four bronze bells arranged in gradual sizes on a wooden support,
thirty-two chime stones hung on a bronze stand, twenty-five
stringed instruments, as well as panpipes, mouth organs, flutes, and
drums.

France

In World War I, 500,000 soldiers lost their lives in the
Battle of Verdun. The Verdun Memorial, which shows graphic
descriptions of life in the trenches, is located in Fleury, one of the
nine villages annihilated between February, 1916, and September,
1918. Douaument Ossary Monument contains the bones of
130,000 unidentified soldiers. (Patricia Woeber, "Joys & Tears",
The Milwaukee Journal, Travel Section, Feb. 12, 1995)

The Meuse-Argonne Cemetery near Romagne-sous-
Montfaucon is the largest military cemetery in Europe. Over
14,000 US soldiers are buried in this magnificently laid out
cemetery. Most of them fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive,

launched on September 26, 1918. (Jack Peppers, "Tribute to
Thousands", /iVAf £7, Summer 1995)

Italy:

Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial near
Nettuno, about 60 km south of Rome, Italy, commemorates more
than 10,000 military personnel who died freeing Rome and Sicily,
from July, 1943, to June, 1944. On its seventy-seven acres, 7,862
graves are marked in marble. Four hundred and ninety of these are
unidentified. The names of 3,095 soldiers missing in action are
inscribed in the white Carrara marble walls of the memorial chapel.
Detailed information can be obtained from The American Battle
Monuments Commission, Casimir Pulaski Building, 20
Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20314. (Jeanne Conte,
"WWII memorial honors those who freed Italy", Army Times, July
3, 1995)

Scotland

The stones on the grave of Shaw Mor in Rothiemurchus
Churchyard, in Scotland, have been restored to their original place
after having been retrieved from a nearby river. Shaw Mor, the
victor in the Clan Battle of 1396, died in 1405. A steel cage was
placed over the stones so as to protect them for the future. (The
Family Tree, Oct./Nov. 1995)

Egypt

Mariam Sami ("Opening of tomb stirs debate", Stephens
Point Journal, July 7, 1995) reported last summer that Queen
Nefertari's restored tomb in the Valley of the Queens, Luxor,
Egypt, would soon be open to visitors. They would, however, be
required to wear surgical masks and shoe-coverings so as not to
undo recent preservation efforts (notably by the Getty Institute). As
a compromise between conservation needs and the financial
considerations of Egypt's sagging tourist industry, only eight
people were to be allowed to enter every hour. Nefertari was the
wife of Ramses II, who reigned over Egypt from 1304 to 1236 BC.
Her mummy was stolen by grave robbers long ago. When an
Italian archaeologist discovered her tomb in 1904, many of the 200
square yards of murals were in poor condition, and some of the
preservation methods used in the past actually contributed to
further decay. After that last conservation campaign, however,
Nefertari is gracefully and vividly present again in her tomb.

Ireland

When in Ireland, you may want to look up Saint Patrick.
He is buried in a simple grave in Downpatrick, County Down.
(Sounds aptly named to me. AK) William Butler Yeats is buried in
Drumcliff, near the escarpment of Benbulben. In Connemara you
may want to look out for Stone Age tombs. {The Milwaukee
Journal, Dec. 18, 1994)

Volume 2 1 : Number 1

Page 23

Book Reviews

AGS Quarterly Winter 1997

England

Chief Long Wolf, an Oglala Sioux warrior who performed
with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, died of pneumonia in London,
in 1892, and was buried in a west London cemetery plot owned by
Cody. A few years ago, Elizabeth Knight of Bromsgrove, England,
read about the neglected state of a Sioux chief's grave in a 1920s
essay written by a Scottish friend of Cody's. She drove ninety
miles to find the marker with a barely discernable image of a wolf.
Through the newspaper Indian Country Today, Long Wolf's great-
grandson learned aboout his ancestor's grave in England. As the
Sioux believe that the spirit of a deceased person cannot rest until
the body is buried on tribal land. Long Wolf's descendants are now
trying to raise the amount necessary to pay for reburial on the Pine
Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The remains of a two-year-old
Sioux girl, who was killed when she fell from a horse in Cody's
Wild West Show, and whose coffin was buried atop Long Wolf's,
will be reburied near Wounded Knee, South Dakota. {New York
Times, Feb. 4, 1995) ♦

Book Reviews

Elderhostel in Boston

Pay no attention to the inaccurate description in the
Elderhostel Catalog under Massachusetts, World Learning/
Charlestown for September 14th, "Etched in Stone: Boston's
History Through its Carved Memorials." Laurel Gabel and
Barbara Rotundo will give morning lectures on such topics as
colonial carver styles, social and religious background to the
colonial carvers, the colonial revival, and the development of
the modem cemetery. On different afternoons Laurel will
guide you through Copp's Hill, Granary, and King's Chapel
burial grounds. We will visit other important historic sites
along the Freedom Trail such as Old North Church, Quincy
Market, and Beacon Hill. One day will be devoted to
Cambridge and Mount Auburn Cemetery. The walks are
planned so there is a chance to sit down about half-way
through. You will be free by 3:30 or earlier to explore Boston
on your own.

Mary-Ellen Jones

2 Los Amigos Court

Orinda, California 94563-1605

(510)254-2295

Beautiful Death: Art in the Cemetery, David Robinson, with a text
by Dean Koontz. New York: Penguin, 1996. S24.95.

Death Divine, Pamela Williams. Dan Mills, Ontario, 1996.

These are two picture books that will give readers a good
idea of the ornate gravestone sculpture to be found in nineteenth-
century European city cemeteries. Beautiful Death, like Saving
Graces (also by David Robinson), has graceful, even a few sexy
pictures. Robinson asked popular novelist Dean Koontz to write a
text. Fans of that writer may find his essay interesting, but it makes
a peculiar text for the pictures because it is not about gravestones
but is a personal memoir focusing on his father, an alcoholic
sociopath, and his brave, protective mother. The book concludes
with a brief essay by Robinson, who shows a broad understanding
of the development of the modem cemetery, but is careless about
facts such as dates. Enjoy the pictures but don't rely on the
information.

Pamela Williams, on the other hand, has put together a
book that is purely photographic and a visual delight. She makes
no attempt to support Death Divine with words or famous names.
The pictures speak for themselves. Since her photographs reveal
her personal reactions to the sculpture, they have an emotional
impact lacking in Robinson's polished, impersonal pictures.

The two combined provide a fine chairbound visit to
Europe for gravestone buffs.

Saving Graces, by David Robinson, is available from AGS for
$14.95 (members) and $16.95 (others), plus $3.50 postage &
handling.

Death Divine, by Pamela Williams, is available from .\GS for
$15.00 (members) and $16.00 (others), plus $3.50 postage &
handling. ♦♦♦

Gravestone

Gravestone rubbiDgs on T-shirts, hlaak
cards, rubber stamps and 199S wall calendar. Scores
of hand rubbed and screened designs from 17ih 6
I8th century New Eogland and Celtic^ stones.

■^^ Send tl for atjlog la

Gravestone Arlwcar '*"

P. O. Box HI
York Harbor. Ma.nc 03911

800-564-4310 Fix: 207-363-3268

Artwear

E-maitrivineit@c>'bciiours.ccMii J

Page 24

\blunie21: Number!

AGS Quarterly Wmttv 1997

New Publications & Notes & Queries

Publications Received at AGS
November 1996 through January 15, 1997

Stones & Bones: Using Tombstones as Textbooks. 1996. Vermont
Old Cemetery Association. A compilation of articles. For
more information contact: Charles Marchant, P.O. Box 132,
Townsend.VT 05353. Phone: (802)365-7937.

Texas Preservation Guidelines: Preserving Historic Cemeteries.
1996. Texas Historical Commission. 16 pages. AGS has a
number of copies of this publication. They are available for
$1.00 to cover postage and handling.

Social Relationships and Local Differences: An Archaeological
Analysis of Gravestones in the Edo Period. Ryo Kutsuki.
1996. In Shigaku (The Historical Science). Edited and
published by The Mita Historical Society of Letters, Keio
University. Tokyo, Japan. In Japanese with a one page
abstract.

CRM, Cultural Resource Management. Forensic Archeology: A
Humanistic Science. Volume 19, No. 10, 1996. U.S.
Department of the Interior, National Park Services, Cultural
Resources, Washington, DC. Articles include: Engaging the
Public Through Mortuary Archeology; Combining Archival
and Archaeological Research at PhiladelphiaOs School for
Boys Cemetery in Meriden, CT; and Old Cemeteries, Arsenic
and Health Safety. Individual copies of CRM can be ordered
by writing the National Park Service, Cultural Renources, P.O.
Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127. Individual copies
and subscriptions are free of charge. Subscriptions can be
received by requesting that you be added to their mailing list.

Legacy at Risk: Connecticut's Outdoor Sculpture. Connecticut
Historical Commission, Hartford, CT. Written and compiled
by Connecticut Save Outdoor Sculpture (SOS). 64 pages.
Includes historical and artistic overview of Connecticut's
outdoor sculpture, recommendations for listing on the National
Register of Historic Places, funding for listed properties,
bibliography, and other items.

Signs of Change in the Old City Cemetery, Lynch's Ferry. Jane B.
White. In A Journal of Local History, Vol. 8, No. 2,
FallAVinter, 1995/1996. Warwick Publishing, Lynchburg, VA
24504.

Historic Gravestone Fragments: A Collection Management Plan.
Harley A. Erickson. In Northeast Historical Archaeology, Vol.
24, 1995. Boston University. ♦

A Letter From Bob Pierce

The name Association for Gravestone Studies is rather
long. Name changes have been considered over the years, but
thus far this has not happened. The name connotes an inter-
national organization. This, however, is not true. AGS statistics
for the year 1995 reveal that only 2.8% of the membership is
international. Of that percentage, 2.1% is from Canada. I sug-
gest a name change that would be more in keeping with the

format, design and membership make-up of the organization

The Northeastern Association for Gravestone Studies, or the
Northeastern Regional Association for Gravestone Studies. The
reasons for this name change are as follows:

The organization was founded in the northeast.
The Board is from the northeast.
Sixty percent of the membership is from the northeast.
All but one conference was held in the northeast.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a regional organiz-
ation. While the Quarterly and Markers contain articles of
national and international interest, that does not make the
Association international. To me, it is membership that defines
an organization. The figures on the chart were taken from the
1995 membership list. Of the 1,031 listings on the membership
list, only twenty-eight are international. This represents ± 2.8%.
Of the twenty-eight international members, twenty-one are from
Canada.

About 60% of the membership comes from the
following states: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Vermont.
The following states and territories have no members: Guam,
Montana, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Wyoming. About
1.4% of the membership comes from the following states, which
have one or two members: Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West
Virginia.

You may consult the chart if you wish to determine any
other figures or percentages. Incidentally, of the 1,031 listings
on the membership list, 110 are from libraries, museums,
monument companies, cemeteries, etc.

Editor's Note: Send SASE to AGS Office if you would like a
copy of this chart. For time and financial reasons, it is omitted.

Volume 21: Number 1

Page 25

Notes & Queries

AGS Quarterly Winter 1997

The point of this demographic study is to back up my
contention that AGS is a regional organization. I will submit to you
that AGS will remain a regional entity unless some changes are
made.

1. Membership must be expanded to have greater represent-
ation, both nationally and internationally.

2. Conferences should not be held only in the northeast.

It has been mentioned to me that in order to have a conference
in a particular city or area there must be members in that city
or area to do the organizational planning for the conference.
Given the fact that membership is so limited in many states,
there are a lot of places AGS cannot hold a conference.
However, conferences held in other areas of the country should
provide the opportunity to increase membership in that area.
While Chicago may not have been a financial success, it may
have added membership to the organization. Illinois has fifty-
seven members, or ± 6% of the membership.

3. The Board needs greater geographical representation.

All members of the Board are from the northeast. Board
members can serve three consecutive two year terms, for a
total of six years. A member then goes off the Board for one
year, but then can run for the Board again for three terms of
two years. Some members have served for twelve years or
more. This tends to produce an insular Board, with very little
new blood to promote new ideas. An insular Board tends to
promote the status-quo and discourage change and new ideas.

What caused me to write this column was the June, 1996,
conference, in Gorham, Maine. Many people (myself included)
were disappointed with the cemeteries in the area. One wonders
how and why a particular area is chosen. An area should be chosen
for the material found in its cemeteries. One full day of a
conference is devoted to cemetery tours. Many conferees take time
during what is essentially a three day conference to visit cemeteries
on their own. Cemeteries are the life blood of an AGS conference.
They should be the major consideration for a conference location.
However, it is my feeling that accommodations (room and board,
lecture hall, etc.) are the determining factor for conference
locations, as was evidenced by the Gorham, Maine, conference.

Conference locations should be set up one to two years in
advance. A conference participant can plan better if he or she
knows well in advance where the conference is going to be held,
rather than finding out at the last minute.

The best thing that happened at the Gorham conference
took place during the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award dinner.
For the first time since I have been attending conferences, a
member of the Board sat at our table and asked for input regarding
our concerns about AGS.

True, there are evaluation forms members fill out, but they
really don't get down to the nitty-gritty. One of the main phrases
that kept coming up concerned itself with "the power structure" or
"the powers that be," namely, the Board. Our concerns were voiced
and the Board member was going to use the material we offered to
see if any change could be brought about. However, our feeling

was that the status-quo will remain. It was refreshing to have a
warm body seeking our input in an attempt to bring to the Board the
members' concerns.

I realize that much of what I have written is from my own
personal perspective. I am therefore, seeking members' input.
Please feel free to voice your comments, criticisms, concerns, etc.
When you do respond, please give your solulion(s) to any problems
or concerns you address. After I compile the responses, they will
be sent to Board members who may then comment on your
concerns. If you don't want your name used, let me know and your
response will be sent anonymously. If there is enough response,
your input will be the basis for a future column.

A Response to Bob's Letter

Bob Pierce's comments address legitimate concerns that
are particularly pertinent just now, when we have a new office, new
location, and new staff.

We are in total agreement that the Association needs to
broaden its geographical base. That is why president Frank
Calidonna in every one of his columns calls for members to step
forward. Conferences are run completely by volunteers. In this
issue he describes the kind of help you can receive if you agree to
run a conference in your section of the country.

We have volunteers for other tasks from Bob's region:
Dick Meyers from Salem, Oregon, is the editor of our scholarly
journal. Markers, and Mary-Ellen Jones from Orinda, California, is
the new book review editor for the Quarterly. In the southwest
region we have Lynn Radke, who runs the Lending Libran.. and
comes from Tempe, Arizona.

You will notice one of the two feature articles in this issue
has a Canadian topic. We publish what we are sent, and we will
have conferences where we have volunteers to run them. Please,
let's hear from you.

The Editorial Board

MONUMENTT CONSKRV.MION COI I AB(1R.\TIVK
Preserving the substance and significance ofgra\-esloncs

iRVTNG SLAViD, Conservator prof, norman weiss. Consultant

P.O. BO.\6.CO[,EBROOKCT 06021 (8601 ?79-;46; lax (8601 .^79-'^ 2

Page 26

Volume 21: Number 1

AGS Quarterly Wmie\: 1997

Notes & Queries

Gravestone-Related Library Collection for Sale

A Note from Betty Phillip

Mike Cornish, a longtime AGS member, wants to sell his
entire large library of gravestone-related books, pamphlets, etc. He
will not sell the collection piece-meal, and the firm price for the lot
is $1,400. You would pay at least three or four times that much to
replace what he has. Some items are so rare that you would have
great difficulty and might never find duplicates. For the complete
listing, send a stamped, self-addressed legal-size envelope to AGS
in Greenfield.

Family Helps to Preserve a Connecticut Cemetery

In the December 3, 1996, edition of The New London Day,
staff reporter Penelope Overton reported that at the age often years,
Chris Gardner found his great-grandfather, Capt. Benjamin
Gardner, buried in Morgan-Billings Cemetery, an abandoned
graveyard overrun with brambles and oak trees. Twenty years
later Chris vowed to restore the site where four generations of
Gardners have been laid to rest.

In September the Gardners held a family reunion amid the
gravestones where they cleaned and restored the one-acre lot.
Below the ragged underbrush they found toppled granite, slate and
field stones dating back to the early 1700s. The cemetery is
unclaimed land and the Gardners "adopted" it through the town
cemetery program, assuming responsibility for its upkeep.

This January AGS received a letter from Chris with an
update. Through his lobbying efforts, he was able to get the
Ledyard Town Counsel to appropriate $2,000 for the restoration
project. Chris also met with an attorney to form the Morgan
Billings Cemetery Association to continue to improve the grounds
and ensure the cemetery's safety.

Chris thanks the Association for its encouragement and
invites members to a local tour.

In the last issue of the AGS Quarterly (Spring 96, p. 26)
you printed my request for anyone having knowledge of the verse
I found on a memorial with a symbol showing a finger pointing
down. Your print of the picture was excellent. Even before I had
my issue a fine gentleman sent me a letter stating that it was an Irish
song from the Civil War era, with some changes. With this help we
went to the internet and received close to 100 replies, each one
having remembered hearing it but with a little variation in most of
them. Many thanked us for helping them remember a song almost
forgotten. It was a fine addition to our cemetery walk being able to
tell others how we solved the mystery. Thanks for your help.

We had a wonderful response to our cemetery walk.
Don't think your cemetery is too small for one as these were two
small ones and we had close to 500 people attend. "It was great!"
was heard from so many folks and they want to have another one
soon. Thanks.

Betty Phillips
231 Deming Street
Shelby, Michigan 49455
(616) 861-4503

Grave Errors

Christopher C. Gardner

28 Stonybrook Road

Gales Ferry, Connecticut 06335

"Exploring with Helen Sclair:
The Cemetery Lady"

Members interested in Victorian cemeteries might enjoy a
recent article published in the Monument Builders of North
America's January, 1997, edition of MB News (vol. 54, no. 1). It
features a visit to historic Oakwood Cemetery in Waukegan,
Illinois, by Helen Sclair, an AGS Quarterly contributor and
cemetery historian.

Former AGS Desktop Publisher, Patricia Miller, offers her
deepest apology to Maine artist, Cassandra Chemack. Credit for
the '96 Conference logo (above), a line drawing of the carving on
Freemason Russell Buckman's stone in Gray, Maine, was
incorrectly given to Virginia Rockwood of Greenfield,
Massachusetts. Although Virginia's line art appears throughout the
Summer/Fall Quarterly, the logo was produced by Cassandra
Chemack for Gravestone Artwear, York Village, Maine.

Also, apologies to Andy Meier. Instead of giving his home
as the start for his conference presentafion, she gave Boston, his
birthplace.

More Grave Errors

It was brought to our attention that the AGS Web page
address was reported incorrectly in the Summer/Fall Quarterly.
The correct address is: www.berkshire.net/ags.

Volume 21: Number 1

Page 27

Calendar of Coming Events

Stone Carving Seminar

2-day courses will be held in May, July, and October. Exact dates will be announced. Conservators, sculptors, and the general public
are invited to attend. For information, contact Kenneth M. Thompson, Flatlanders Sculpture Supply, 1 1993 E. U.S. 223, Blissfield, MI
49228. Phone:(517)486-4591 Fax:(517)486-2249.

Workshops sponsored by the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property

April 18, 1997

"Capitalize on Collections Care" - Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia.

April 23, 1997

"Historic Site Workshop" - New Canaan Historical Society, Connecticut.

For information, please contact Clare Hansen, National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property, 3299 K Street, NW, Suite
602, Washington, DC 20007-4415. Tel. (202) 625-1495 Fax: (202) 625-1485.

© 1996 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is used for educational purposes; (2) full
credit is given to the Association and the author and/or photographer or artist involved; and (3) a copy of the document or article in which the reprinted material appears is
sent to the AGS office.

The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and contributions from readers are

welcome.

The goal of the Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones and about the activities of the Association.

To contribute items: please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior/Student, $20; Individual, $25; Institutional, $30; Family, $35; Supporting, $60; Life. $1,000) to the Association for Gravestone Studies office,
278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, the Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies: please send articles to Richard Meyer. Editor
of Markers, Department of English, Western Oregon State College, Monmouth, Oregon 97361 . Markers (next issue, volume, XIV) may be ordered, for a purchase price
of $28 for members, or $32.50 for non-members. Please add $2.00 postage. Back issues are available from the AGS office. Please send your request, with pa) ment. to
the address below, or call (413) 772-0836 for details.

Contributions to the AGS Archives: may be sent to Lois Kelly, care of the AGS office.

All other correspondence: please address to

AGS, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301, or call (413) 772-0836.

The Association for Gravestone Studies

278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301

NON PROFIT ORG

U.S.POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 208

GREENFIELD. MA

AGS Quarterly nE««;i« -^

-■* *'' '-■

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

From the President's Desk 2

From the Administrator's Desk 4

Feature Articles

Ralph Tucker, Books and Articles about Early Gravestones 4

Ellie Reichlin, Mexico City National Cemetery. 9

Topical Columns

Barbara Rotundo, 19th & 20th Century Gravestones 11

John E. Sterling, Gravestone & Computers 12

W. Fred Oakley, Conservation News 12

Regional Columns

Bob Pierce, Northwest & Far West 15

Ellie Reichlin, Southwest 15

Helen Sclair, Midwest 15

Sharyn Thompson, Southwest & Caribbean 18

Bob Klisiewicz, New England & Maritime 19

G.E.O. Czarnecki, Mid-Atlantic 21

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula, Across the Oceans 22

Book Review 23

Publications 25

Notes & Queries. . 26

Calendar of Coming Events Back Cover

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Quarterly Contributions: Comments and contributions are welcome. When submitting time-sensi-
tive material please keep in mind that AGS quarterlies are mailed six w^eeks after deadlines and often
take several weeks to reach the membership. Mail contributions to Caylah Pafenbach at the AGS office.

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^,

Volume 21; Number 1

Spring 1997

ISSN: 0146-5783

From The President's Desk

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

From The President's Desk

Frank Calidonna

313 West Linden Street

Rome, New York 13440

E-mail : frank, calidonna @ world . att . net

I was in the process of writing my President's mes-
sage (I was late as usual.) mostly about the upcoming
conference and hoping to persuade more members to
attend. I was also informing the membership of some
changes in the office staff that have taken place since
the last Quarterly. Let me attend to these concerns first.

I will not take up a lot of space saying what I have
already said. Please consider attending our conference.
You will have an enjoyable learning experience with
some wonderful people.

Second. Our office staff has changed. The posi-
tions were part time, advertised as such, but both Lois
and Patricia accepted full time positions elsewhere.
Thanks to great effort by Rosalee Oakley the office kept
on going. Thanks also to the hiring committee, Rosalee
Oakley, Barbara Rotundo, and John Spaulding, which
quickly got to work and interviewed new applicants.

Our new AGS Administrator is Caylah Pafenbach.
She has extensive experience in both administration
and desktop publishing. She assumed her duties, of-
fice administration and the Quarterly on March 7. An
office assistant has also been employed, Elizabeth
Seelandt. Things are now running smoothly.

Speaking of new challenges my real concern is the
letter from Bob Pierce in the last Quarterly. He evi-
dently collected a lot of data to support his argument
about the name of our organization. I am not arguing
the accuracy of his figures and I have no need to see
the chart. AGS certainly will not change its name on
the basis of demographics. We are as national or inter-
national as our membership. No matter what percent-
age of our membership lives where, AGS is open to
anyone anywhere and our mission statement is valid
anywhere. Each member is equally as important to us.

Having said that let me comment on Bob's three
proposed changes; expanded membership, some con-
ferences held away from the northeast, and broader
geographic representation of board members. I can
sum up my feelings in three words. I agree completely.

I repeatedly have asked exactly what Bob also
asks: please send comments, criticisms AND PRO-
POSED SOLUTIONS. I have published my address,
my e-mail address, or they can be sent to the office. I
think I published my phone number. Response has
been close to nil. If someone wishes to respond anony-
mously, they may though I fail to see why that would
be necessary. We welcome any and all comments and
solutions from our membership.

Some background should be noted here. One of
the hopes we had for the new Executive Director was
that he / she would be able to devote time to this prob-
lem of expanded membership. A part-time adminis-
trator does not have time to devote to such a project.
These are problems that must be solved if we are to
grow in number and representation from diverse lo-
cales. We would like our organization to grow, pro-
vide valuable services for the membership, and have
a large enough membership to influence the country
with our mission of preservation and restoration and
all of the ramifications of that mission.

This is no small task. Our membership is large
enough now that just maintaining renewals, filling ;
orders, helping with research and similar functions is
very time consuming and expensive. Thus one prob-
lem is deciding what functions are most important for
the paid positions in the AGS office. How do we do
all of this, maintain dues at the present level and still
increase the membership? Believe me any assistance
and / or solutions from any member is most welcome.

Bob's last two suggestions, conferences outside
of the northeast and broader geographic representa-
tion on the Board, are in many ways related. AGS was
started by a group of people researching New England
colonial gravestone carvers. Gradually people with
more diverse interests - Victorian stones, modern
stones, cemeteries everywhere, funerary art, and cus-
toms relating to death - began to join AGS as it seemed
the appropriate place to pursue such interests. We are i
only twenty years old so it is no real mystery why the
bulk of the membership is in the northeast. As more
people are made aware of AGS, people from many
parts of the country are joining. Twenty years from
now the demographics may be totally different.

The original conferences were held where the co-
lonial stones were located and still tend to be held in
the northeast. As the membership changes more con-

Page 2

Volume21: Number 2

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

From The President's Desk

ferences will be held outside the northeast. But all con-
ferences need a chairman. It is impossible, given the
finances, to chair a conference from a distance. If some-
one wishes a conference in St. Louis then someone
from St. Louis must step forward to volunteer. Chair-
ing a conference requires attending to myriad impor-
tant details and close communication with the cho-
sen school, local cemeteries, local bus services, other
local people, and AGS office. This must be done by
someone on site.

The Board is making a real effort to have every
third conference somewhere other than New England.
But if no one steps forward from other areas to chair,
we are able to have one in the northeast because there
are so many more volunteers here. The bulk of the
volunteers just happen to be from the New England
area AT THIS TIME. No one is excluded. The Chicago
conference was possible and a great success because
Steve and Carol Shipp, from Chicago, stepped forward
and made it happen. Again we have repeatedly asked
in the Quarterly for people to volunteer. As more come
forward we will have conferences elsewhere. Maybe
we could have two conferences at different locations?
Are there other solutions?? I hope so.

Related to this is the fact that most of the Board
comes from the northeast. The same reason applies.
The office is located in Massachusetts. The Board
meets four times a year and this is possible because
people are close enough to attend the meetings. Many
of the Board members are longtime AGS members and
even founding members. This again is not a plot to
exclude anyone. When work has to be done and we
look around for helpers the same people tend to step
forward, people with serious interest and commitment
to AGS. No one is excluded. We publish nominating
forms and we have provision for write-in voting on
our ballots. The ballots are sent with the Quarterly so
all members may participate. As it is, out of eleven
hundred members fewer than one hundred ballots are
returned. Solutions? We actively look for people to
serve on the board. Thank goodness for those who do
commit to the time and responsibility.

Solutions? Travel distances seem to be the main
factor limiting Board membership now. I suspect that
the advances in both computer and telephone tech-
nology will ultimately help us solve this problem, but
if anyone reading this can contribute some ideas please

do so. We are open to new ideas and we will welcome
new members on the Board. We will plan conferences
where people want them. Though our Treasurer will
be clutching his heart when he reads this, we will even
do some things at a financial loss if it serves the mem-
bership and our mission. I am sure our problems are
no different from any growing organization. Others
have solved them and we will too, but not without
the help of the membership. No fair just muttering in
the back row. Believe me we will listen to and act upon
suggestions and ideas. If you wish to be a Board mem-
ber make that known too. When we have a Board
member from a distant location we will accommodate.

I realize that one looks at things from his / her own
perspective. Most Board members are also the most
active volunteers. Most attend the conferences and
have duties to see to at these events. They are busy. It
was good that the Board member sat at the table with
the group at the conference, but there are Board mem-
bers all over the place at a conference. We are easy to
spot as they give us so many ribbons to wear that we
look like third world dictators. As a group they are
friendly people and are always willing to listen to the
concerns of the members. The evaluation form might
not specifically ask the right questions, but always asks
for comments. If your comments are about the "power
structure" write it down. These are forms read and
many decisions are based on what is written. If we
don,t hear it we can,t act on it.

So I do agree with Bob's letter. He states some of
the problems. That is fine as far as it goes, but we need
solutions. I will disagree with one point. If you have
problems and solutions send them directly to AGS, to
the office, a board member or me. They will be read
and discussed. None will be discarded. Please sign
your name. If you must be anonymous that is fine,
but we won't send anyone to write graffiti on your
gravestone if we do not agree with your ideas. Bob's
letter is a step forward. We need much more. We need
solutions.

Volume21: Number 2

Page 3

Feature Article

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

From The Administrator's Desk

It has been a pleasure for me to join the Associa-
tion For Gravestone Studies in the administrative po-
sition. I'd like to give you a little background as to
who I am and where I come from. I was born and raised
in Berkshire County in Massachusetts. I am Iroquois
of the Mohawk Nation and very interested in the pres-
ervation of Native burial grounds. Although the Mo-
hawk culture is matriarchal the explanation for my last
name is that my father is of German ancestry.

In 1990 I decided it would be wise to return to
college and learn the computer. I quickly discovered
that I was a natural at it and began to acquire desk top
publishing skills.

All things considered this is the perfect job for me.
I am allowed the opportunity to use the administative
skills I acquired in a similar position as Administator
for a Community Music School in Greenfield and I
have the focus of the desk top publishing involved in
putting the Quarterly together.

The office is now running smoothly, with the help
of Elizabeth. Rosalee Oakley came in every day for over
a month to teach me the ropes. She was an excellent
instructor and I have passed my new found knowl-
edge of the workings of the office on to Elizabeth.
Rosalee, Elizabeth and I have worked together on or-
ganizing the many facets of the job. Our goal is to of-
fer the members quality assistance in all aspects of
gravestone and cemetery studies.

/T

^

The Trustees would be pleased to hear from
any member eager to organize and staff a con-
ference site in their area. Suggestions for
shorter, less intense conference programs and
activities and at a different season of the year
are earnestly solicited.

1997 Becker College, Leicester MA

1998 Central New Jersey

1999 Rhode Island

v

2000 Washington, D.C.

J

Page 4

Ralph Tucker

RO. Box 306

Georgetown, ME 04548

207-371-2423

Books and Articles
About Early Gravestones

Having somehow discovered gravestones as in-
teresting, what do you do now? The first thing to do is
to get Harriette Forbes' book Gravestones of Early New
England and the Men who Carved Them. Written in 1927,
this book is undoubtedly still the best starting point
for anyone interested in the subject, and is available in
its fourth printing. While there are a few earlier ar-
ticles in various journals, they are full of speculations
and inaccurate statements. Forbes was able to identify
over 100 stone carvers and she explains how she
searched probate records to find them. She also put to
rest the mistaken idea that early gravestones were
shipped in from England or Wales. Profuselv illus-
trated, the book is invaluable.

As early as 1939 Dr. Ernest Caulfield in doing re-
search on early epidemics used gravestone data as
source material. In this year he wrote A True History of
the Terrible Epidemic Vidgarly Called The Throat Distem-
per . As a result he became interested iii the gra\'estones
themselves which led to a series of articles published
by the Connecticut Historical Society. From 1951 to
1978. Dr. Ernest Caulfield wrote sixteen articles for
the Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin , all were about
Connecticut stonecutters and their stones. Fortunately
these articles have all been reprinted in Markers, the
journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Thev
are of interest not only to persons of Connecticut, but
to anyone who finds gravestones fascinating.

In 1966 Allan Ludwig wrote Graven Images, a su-
perbly illustrated book which while based on Forbes'
work, attempts to put the whole subject of New En-
gland gravestones in perspective. Dr. Ludwig being a
Professor of Art, draws upon theories from his field
and attempts to understand the motives and under-
standing of the times in which the stones were cut. Un-
fortunately his data was not comprehensix'e enough
to fully support his theories. For example, in his chap-

Volume21: Number 2

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997 Feature Article

ter on "The Ornamental Style in Essex County, Massa- Aspects of New England Colonial Mortuary Art" ap-

chusetts" he assumes that a stone dated 1668 was ac- peared in Americnii Antiquities Memoirs by Deetz and

tually made at that time, while it was actually carved Dethlefsen. The article tries to relate the "Great Awak-

over thirty years later. This error caused him to place a ening" to the styles of gravestones. This article points

whole series of stones as earlier than the earliest stones up the need for a series of studies of a large number of

found in urban Boston. He also confuses a Haverhill cemeteries and their stones. By selecting one's cem-

carver, John Hartshorne, as being three different men eteries one can prove a variety of theories. The style

because his style changed over time. change of death's head to cherub to urn and willow is

The anthropologists James Deetz and Edwin easily illustrated if one chooses his data, but hard evi-

Dethlefsen wrote early and often on gravestones. In dence is needed before accepting in detail theories as

1965 in The Southwestern Journal of Anthropology ap- general as in this article. For example, by 1971 the au-

peared the article "The Doppler Effect and Archaeol- thors should have known that Joshua Hempstead was

ogy: A Consideration of the Spatial Aspects of Seria- not a carver and that John Hartshorne was the carver

tion," They attempt to test certain archaeology theo- of the Essex County stones.

ries of the spread of styles by using dated gravestones. Another article appeared in Natural History, June-

They used the stones carved by Jonathan Worster of July 1977, by Dethlefsen and Kenneth Jensen entitled

Harvard, Massachusetts found in the cemeteries of "Social Commentary from the Cemetery" in which

Groton, Concord, Sudbury and Lexington, Massachu- they advised the use of the inscription as well as the

setts. They were apparently unaware of Jonathan's son art work to show social change.
Moses who was also a carver. On the basis of this lim- Deetz also wrote Invitation to Archaeology in 1967,

ited sample they theorize about the distribution of an excellent paperback which uses gravestones to il-

stones over time. lustrate seriation, and recommends the use of cemeter-

In 1966 in American Antiquity , they published an- ies to study family groupings. In 1977 he wrote In Small

other article "Death's Heads, Cherubs, and Willow Things Forgotten which again uses gravestones as il-

Trees: Experimental Archaeology in Colonial Cemeter- lustrations of seriation, and also as artifacts that can

ies." This article has several interesting theories as the be placed in context if one could determine the carver

authors attempt to relate styles of imagery to the reli- and style. He amazingly pronounces the rate of style

gious movements of the day. Using more data than in travel as being "remarkably constant, proceeding at

the previous article they are imaginative, and present roughly one mile per year." While citing carvers where

"battleship graphs" showing the distribution of the he can, he is unaware of the work done on several im-

styles over time. In the light of later research, their theo- portant pivotal carvers.

ries are valid only in a general way, and are based on The Dublin Seminars for New England Folklife

insufficient data. in 1976 and 1978 published its proceedings on puritan

The Natural History magazine of March 1967 has gravestones. Edited by Peter Benes, one of the earliest
a simplified version of the above article. As a popular students of New England gravestones, these articles
presentation it has had a significant popularity and is cover a number of aspects of interest and go far be-
espoused in many quarters. The presentation is a bit yond the identification of carvers. Published by Bos-
vague, but easily appreciated by anyone not a serious ton University, these proceedings are quite valuable,
student. dealing with such subjects as research and methods.

In 1967 Dethlefsen wrote "Eighteenth Century symbolism and imagery, cultural and anthropological

Cemeteries: a Demographic View" in the Journal His- studies, and preservation and reproduction techniques.
torical Archaeology which outlined possible uses of cem- In 1977 Peter Benes'published book. The Masks of

eteries for demographic purposes. Again in 1969 he Orthodoxy, which is a study of gravestone carving in a

wrote "Colonial Gravestones and Demography" for given area, in this case Plymouth County, Massachu-

The American Journal of Physical Anthropwlogy . This is setts. The stones of this area are unique and quite un-

an extended article demonstrating the use of cemetery like those of other areas, especially Boston. Benes at-

data to assist the demographer. In 1971 "Some Social tempts to account for this discrepancy by relating the

Volume21: Number 2 Page 5

Feature Article AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

styles to the religious movements of the time. Whether ing detailed directions to them as well as a listing of
the theories are correct or not, the book illustrates the the stones to be found there. The book is an excellent
stones involved and traces the carvers as well. Again illustration of factual detail with a minimum of theo-
we find, unfortunately, the data is insufficient to docu- rizing.
ment so broad a theory. Later studies in depth of par-
ticular carvers reveal the fact that some assumptions Interesting Older Material of Varying Value
were made that affect the structure of the arguments.

Vincent Luti's work on John New, for example, shows 1881 Essex Institute Historical Collections, Vol. 18,

that it was Noah Pratt, Sr. and not his father Nathaniel pp. 156-160, "Early Memorials of the Dead" by Sidney

Pratt, who learned to carve from John New. Again we Perley. A brief attempt to survey what remained of

see that sweeping statements that are not well docu- early gravestones.

mented are especially subject to error. This book is 1899 The Essex Antiquarian,'Vol.3,Dec. 1899, "Eai\y

memorable for tracing styles of gravestones in an en- Gravestones in Essex County" identifies 10 carvers,

tire area as they developed in the work of a number of illustrates four types of gravestone shapes, wrongly

carvers. supposes slate is from Wales, illustrations of eighteen

In 1978 Francis Duval and Ivan Rigby, two of the side borders and sixteen rosettes and ten types of

early students in the field put out Early American Grave- carved tympanums.

stone Art in Photographs. With over 200 excellent pho- 1919 Rhode Island Society Historical Collections, April
tographs shown chronologically, their book is a mas- 1919, pp. 32-45, "Types of Early New England Grave-
terpiece. With no theorizing and little print, they stones" by George L. Miner, an excellent early sur\'ey
present a fine series of significant stones. Duval was a and summary of the situation in Rhode Island as of
professional photographer and Rigby a sculptor. Their that date. Nothing on the carvers,
castings and photographs are preserved at the Museum 1923 The Cambridge Historical Society , "The Origin
of American Folk Art in New York City. and Nature of the Old Gravestones of the Cambridge
Starting in 1980 The Association for Gravestone Burial Yard" by Jay Backus Woodworth, a Harvard
Studies began the publication of Markers, the journal geology professor, read January 1923, but published
of the association. The subject matter varies as does 1931 in Vol. 18. A carefully worded survey of the geo-
the quality of the articles, but it is a primary source for logical knowledge of the day, indicating that most
any student of grave markers. Increasingly there are thought the slate came from abroad, although leaving
articles on whole cemeteries, ethnic markers of vary- the question open. He assumes that the stones "bear
ing materials, and many other subjects. carved designs closely copied from old country pat-
In 1985 Diana Williams Combs wrote Early Grave- terns." This has been proven false. He goes on to iden-
stone Art in Georgia and South Carolina . The book is tify the 1692 William Dickson stone "as brought fully
based on the stones of this area and the art found on carved from the British Islands" although we now
them, with little theorizing. Surprisingly, the stones de- know that it was carved by Joseph Lamson of Maiden,
scribed were carved in large part in Boston, Massa- Mass. This article shows that even Har\'ard professors
chusetts or Newport, Rhode Island as there were no of geology can be mistaken. The article is nonetheless
quarries in the areas studied. An interesting fact was interesting in its description of local stones,
that a surprising number of the stones bore the names 1925 History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Vb/-
or initials of the carvers; well illustrated, the book is of ley Memorial Association , 1925, "Earlv New England
interest beyond the area noted in the title. Gravestones and the Men Who Made Them" by
In 1987 James Slater brought out T/2eCo/on/fl/B»n/- Harriette Forbes, the first article confirming that the
ing Grounds of Eastern Connecticut and the Men Wlw Made gravestones were local products, documents the pur-
Them. The book describes each carver's work in the chase and identifies the carver of a stone. A summary
first section with illustrations and some biographical of her book which she was writing,
material and tells where his stones can be located. The
second section lists all the significant cemeteries, giv-

Page6 Volume21: Number 2

AGS Qiiarfcrh/ Sprine; 1997 Feature Article

Worthy Books and Articles issue of The New Englaiid Historical and Genealogical

Register , has the article " James Wilder of Lancaster,

1940 Hands That Built New Hampshire -The Story of Stonecutter" by Chase and Gabel. The Essex Institute

Granite State Craftsmen Past and Present,, Chapter 9, Historical Collections for July 1992 has their article "John

"Stonecutters", a summary of early thoughts on grave- HoUiman: Eighteenth-Century Stonecarver." Laurel

stones; it identifies several stonecutters, who are not Gabel has also gathered a list of articles on given carv-

in Forbes' book. ers which can be obtained from the Association.

The New England Historical and Genealogical Regis- Preceding Forbes' work, Old-Time New England ,

ter, April 1978 has Benes' article "The Rockingham The Bulletin of the Society for the Preservation of New

Carvings: Folk Ecclesiology in the Upper Connecticut England Antiquities, over the years had some articles

River Valley, 1786-1812." He identifies several carvers on gravestones. October 1924 has an article,"The Slate

and again attempts to discern theological implications. Gravestones of New England", by Erich Taylor which

This article is valuable for its survey of a whole area, is the earliest presentation of the death head to cherub

In 1966 Early New England Gravestone Rubbings by to urn and willow style evolution. The author was un-

Edmund Gillon, Jr. and later in 1972, Gravestone De- aware of the names of the carvers, but probably did

signs, by Emily Waterman were the first after Ludwig call to people's attention the whole subject of early

to show the value of the art on gravestones. These stones. The July 1925 issue has "The Old Burying

books with rubbings and photographs of gravestones Ground at Watertown, Mass." by Wilfred Norris, which

are seen from the perspective of art alone, with little simply describes the stones there, remarking upon the

or no explanation or commentary and are significant poor condition of some of the stones. The October 1925

indications of increasing interest in aspects of grave- issue has an article by the same author in which he

stones. speculates that the early stones must have come from

lnl978Dehorah.Tvask wrote Life How Short, Eter- England. The January 1926 issue has an article by

nity How Long: Gravestone Carving and Carvers in Nova Harriette Forbes on the carver William Mumford,

Scotia . As there is a remarkable variety of ethnic groups which was later included in her book, as was her Jan.

in Nova Scotia, this short book is especially interest- 1927 article on the Lamson carvers. The April 1929 is-

ingtothestudentofearly stones, and is well illustrated, sue has her article "Early Portrait Sculpture in New

Many New England stones found their way to Nova England." The July-September 1969 issue contains Pe-

Scotia and the local carvers there provide a glimpse of ter Benes' article, "Nathaniel Fuller, Stonecutter of

their ethnic background. Plympton, Mass.," and the October-December 1973 his

In 1983 Richard Welch wrote Memento Mori: The article "John Wight: the Hieroglyph Carver of

Gravestones of Early Long Island : 1680-1810. This book Londonderry." [New Hampshire] The same issue has

has a good introduction on the origin of gravestone the article "Gravestone Carving and Artistic Intent in

traditions, the symbols used, and the stones in the area Essex County" by Stephen Foster in which he struggles

covered. As well as the stones of Boston and Newport, with interpretations of the stones but with insufficient

Welch describes the stones that came from New York evidence. Also in this special issue Lloyd Grossman

and New Jersey. has "Heraldic Design on New England Gravestones"

in which he points out several examples of heraldry

Significant Works about Individual Carvers on gravestones.

Historical Nezo Hampshire , the quarterly of the New

In 1990 Theodore Chase and Laurel Gabel wrote Hampshire Historical Society, in the Winter issue 1973
Gravestone Chronicles : Some Eighteenth-Century Carvers has Peter Benes' article, "Abel Webster, Pioneer, Pa-
and Their Work , a well illustrated and documented triot, and Stonecutter", in which he identifies two carv-
work. Chase is an experienced genealogist and Gabel ers and tries to relate them to religious movements of
an expert on carver identification. The introductory the day. The following Summer issue in 1974 has a re-
chapter on orientation and the chapter on "Seven Ini- buttal and correction of the above article by James and
tial Carvers" are especially rewarding. The April 1983 Donna-Belle Garvin entitled "Stephen Webster, Grave-

Volume21: Number 2 Page 7

Feature Article

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

stone Maker." These articles show the increasing study
and corrective movement in the field.

The Essex Institute Historical Collections for April
1973 has Peter Benes' article, "Lt. John Hartshorn:
Gravestone Maker of Haverhill and Norwich", in
which he identifies Hartshorn as a gravestone carver.
While Dr. Caulfield had previously made this identifi-
cation in 1967, the work is independent and comes to
the same conclusion using different data.

Types of Markers

The Essex Institute Historical Collections for April
1968 has Benno Forman's article, "A New Light on
Early Grave Markers", which gives evidence that the
earliest graves were marked by wooden markers thus
accounting for the lack of gravestones prior to the mid-
seventeenth century. The January 1975 has a Benes ar-
ticle, "Additional Light on Wooden Grave Markers",
which expands and adds to Forman's article.

Other Works

The Essex Institute Historical Collections for Janu-
ary 1969 has the article, "The Dummer family and the
Byfield Carvings", by Lura Watkins that discusses
some stonecarvings which are probably the oldest co-
lonial stone carvings, although not gravestones.

The 1975 winter issue oi Historical New Hampshire
has a listing of cemetery records available at the his-
torical society. In this article one can see the broaden-
ing of interest in subject matters relating to gravestones.
There are numerous lists of cemetery inscriptions , but
rarely anything about the stones themselves.

In 1974 Dickran and Ann Tashjian published Me-
morials For Children of Change , a study of the art of early
New England stonecarving. Apparently based solely
on the work of Forbes and Ludwig, the Tashjians try
to relate the stones to ritual and symbols found in the
art world. Their theories are involved and based upon
little solid evidence. The chapter "Icons of Essex
County", for example, confuses dates, carvers, and the
subject of who copied whom. This book is typical of
efforts to relate the styles of carving to religious move-
ments of the day, and shows the difficulty of attempt-
ing to validate theories solely on currently available
data. There is much to be done in documenting whole

cemeteries together with their stones before such ar-
ticles can be reliable.

The activity of the Association for Gravestone
Studies through their yearly conferences and publica-
tions, has influenced people from other countries. Betty
Wilsher of Scotland spoke at an early conference and
later wrote Stones: 18th Century Scottish Gravestones, a
well illustrated and documented book. This illustrates
the spread of interest in gravestones.

Summary

There are numerous articles in various periodi-
cals and journals on such subjects as the history of a
particular carving shop, particular carvers, stones and
carvers of a particular graveyard or geographical area.
A bibliography of these has been made and is continu-
ally updated.

Increasingly whole cemeteries are being studied
but not documented, and many genealogical research-
ers have gathered lists of gravestone inscriptions, but
have unfortunately omitted any reference to the art
work on the stone. The present article is presented sim-
ply to review the most significant books and periodi-
cals presently available that bear on early gravestones.

The following publications named in this article are available
from AGS:

Tlie Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut and

the Men Wlto Made Tliem by James A. Slater

Markers 1-2, 4-14

Puritan Gravestone Art (Dublin Seminar)

Puritati Gravestone Art II (Dublin Seminar)

Gravestone Chronicles by Theodore Chase and Laurel Gabel

r

One Way to End Out-o£-Print Books

=^

Now you can find an old or used book using the search-
able database on the World Wide Web. Bibliotind lists
about 350,000 books being ottered by more than 200
booksellers around the \vorld. It costs nothing to use
the service and the site is user-triendh' as can be. When
you find a book you want, just order it directly from
the bookseller. Neither bu}'er nor seller pa\'s Bibliofind
a commission; the sole income is subscription dues
from subscribers. The internet address is:
www.bibiIofind.com

V

J

Pages

Volume21: Number 2

AGS Qiinitcrli/ Spring 1997 Feature Article

Ellie Reichlin across another description of the very same American

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641 cemetery, written more than a century ago by Frederick

Phone: (602) 647-7005 Ober, whose "Travels in Mexico" (1884) was based on

Fax: (602) 647-7136 his experiences in 1881-2, when he served as a special

correspondent for the Boston Herald in Mexico. Ober

Mexico City National Cemetery mentions an entirely different monument, whose in-
scription flagrantly disregarded the "sensitivities of the

Kevin Ladd, Director of the WallisviUe (Texas) Mexican people," unlike its "small" white stone suc-

Heritage Park, can always be depended on to submit lessor in existence today, which diplomatically took

a variety of interesting articles relating to cemeteries them into account. The differences in text between the

in Texas and other parts of the "New Southwest". In two monuments is an interesting example of how po-

case you've forgotten, this region— comprising Texas, utical and in this instance, economic, factors can influ-

New Mexico, Arizona, parts of Nevada, Colorado, ence the scope and wording of memorial inscriptions,

Utah, and California— belonged to the Mexican Repub- even though their context— in a burial ground— would

lie until 1848, when Mexico "lost" a third of its terri- seem, at first glance, to neutralize controversial con-

tory to the United States, in the still troubling after- siderations.
math of the Mexican- American War. Here are Ober 's comments, based on his 1882 visit:

Among Kevin's recent contributions is an article "[N]o loyal American should fail to visit [the Ameri-
by Steven R. Butler, called "Mexico City National Cem- can cemetery ]— though more Germans are buried there
etery"- It describes another of that War's aftermaths, than countrymen of ours, and ajoining it is the English
this one being the bodies of U.S. soldiers whose fami- portion, both densly shaded, both neatly and well kept,
lies had been unable to transport them "back home" a^id fragrant with flowers planted here in profusion,
or whose Protestant faith discouraged their burial in At the west end, towards Chapultepec, is a monument,
Mexico's predominantly Catholic cemeteries. The prob- a granite shaft with marble dies, on one of which is
lem of the homeless war dead was serious enough for inscribed "To the memory of the American soliders
Congress, in 1850, to provide for the "purchase of a ^ho perished in this valley in 1847, whose bones, col-
cemetery near the city of Mexico where the remains of lected by their country's order, are here buried"; and
the American officers and soldiers" could be deposit- on the other, "Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey,
ed, and cared for, next to an existing "English cem- Chapultepec, Mexico." (Note: these are the sites of the
etery." Eventually the cemetery included 813 civilians ^^ajor battles of the Mexican American War). "It oc-
in addition to the remains of 750 Mexican War soliders. curred to me", continues Ober, "that the Mexicans
Though it closed to further burials in 1924, the cem- ^lust be a forgiving people, that they allow such a hu-
etery remained intact until 1976 when highway con- miliating reminder of defeat to stand on the border of
struction necessitated a reduction in its size, and their chief city. It would have been more generous in
reinterment of the remains. "Today" concludes the our people to have omitted the names of the victories,
article "..it is a tiny oasis of calm and quiet in the heart content to have a simple monument over our brave
of Mexico City" guarded by a "small monument made soldiers; for we need no reminder of that buried past,
of white stone, above the vaults holding the remains now that our former foe is marching with us hand in
of the men who died there during the War with Mexico, hand to an assured future of prosperity." [ Travels in
Presumably out of respect to the sensitivities of the Mex/co / Frederick Ober, 1884 p. 267-8].
Mexico people or perhaps to protect vandalism it does Ober's own somewhat heated response to the of-
not identify the men who are buried there as soldiers fending text deserves a comment in itself. He was not
nor does it make any reference to the war. It reads an entirely impartial observer, since the Boston Herald
simply.."To the honored memory of 750 Americans paid his salary and traveling expenses to report on
known but to God whose bones collected by their Mexico. The Herald, in turn, was the primary mouth-
country's order are here buried." piece for the interests of the Mexican Central Railroad,

On reading this article I recalled having come a Boston owned company whose parent was the

Volume21: Number 2 Page 9

Feature Article AGS Quarterly Spring 1 997

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, also Boston owned. State Legislature." One of its outstanding features is

In 1880 the Mexican Central received a subsidy from the landscaping begun, and cared for, by its long time

the Mexican government to build the country's first caretaker Ernest Robert Barnes (1915-1950). Historic

through line from El Paso, Texas to Mexico City. The photographs document its earlier glories, which the

Herald's owners were major stockholders of the Mexi- appropriation is being used to restore. It is also a sig-

can Central; its publisher served on the executive com- nificant burial site for Texas governors, including John

mittee of its Board of Directors. At the time when Ober B. Connally. A booklet describing a walking tour is

wrote, Bostonians were unusual with respect to their available from the city's Visitor Information Center,

apparent confidence in Mexico's prospects and stabil- 201 E. 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701, or by calling 1-800-

ity. 926-2282.

Most Americans commentators—some of them Finally, from the Tucson Citizen, yet another tale

extremely well-informed— warned off investors, feel- of "cultural insensitivity" within the precincts of the

ing that Mexico was too poor a risk in view of its anti- cemetery. In this instance, renovations planned for the

Americanism (dating to the Mexican- American War) Yaqui section ( a Mexican tribal group, originally from

and its marked tendency to overthrow governments, northern Mexico, who were granted political asylum

On the other side of the border, Mexican journalists in the U.S. early in the century) of Tucson's Holy Hope

and politicians warned their countrymen that the di- cemetery resulted in the removal of the large, free-

rect connection between the Mexican Central railroad standing wooden crosses that the Pascua Yaqui tribe

in El Paso, with the Santa Fe railroad linking El Paso traditionally uses as gravemarkers. A tribal elder ex-

with Kansas City provided the U.S. with an unwel- plained: "In Yaqui culture, it is believed that since

come opportunity to invade northern Mexico and an- Christ gave his life for us on a wooden cross, our dead

nex it — raising the same fears that had precipitated must all have a wooden cross, preferably a mesquite

the Mexican American War. Relations between the cross, roughly made." [Tucson Citizen, March 7, 1997.

"two sister republics" — which had been uneasy since Page 1]. New cemetery regulations, however, require

1848 — were at an all-time low when Ober wrote, and memorials to be of granite, bronze or marble. Wooden

if Boston's stake was to be protected in Mexico, there markers will not be allowed, on grounds they deterio-

was a lot to worry about. rate — a questionable assumption given Tucson's desert

It's against this background that Ober wrote about climate — although cemetery officials were willing to
the need to bury the past, and for the two republics to permit 21 wooden crosses to be placed in free vases at
go "hand in hand" to "future prosperity." Boston grave sites. But say the Yaqui: 1 foot crosses are not
needed Mexican stability at all costs if prosperity was big enough.. traditionally [the crosses] are 4 feet high
to be achieved, and it's no wonder that Ober— as an and about 3 feet wide." Moreover, some tribal mem-
ally of Boston's financial interests — would try to calm bers "said it was not in their culture to buv elaborate
the troubled waters by speaking about the offending grave markers" since "throughout histor\- we ha\'e
monument text in a critcal manner. What I don't know been burying our people and putting a marker, a
is whether his criticism, and that of others, led to its wooden cross."

replacement in the 1880s — or whether its replacement Deepening the resentment over a required sub-
occurred more recently when the American cemetery stitution of stone for wood, entailing a considerable
was reorganized in response to highway construction, expense on the part of families who prexioush' used
The National Archives, would probably have this in- the traditional rough hewn mesquite cross, is the Yaqui
formation, in case someone is interested. The cemetery view that the wooden crosses, as well as some stone
was first administered under the War Department and memorials deemed to be in need of repair, were
after 1947 by the American Battle Monuments Com- vmceremoniouslv moved and heaped or dumped at
mission. one end of the cemeterv. Officials sa\' no, claiming to

Kevin also sent a description of the Texas State have used the newspaper to announce the impending
Cemetery, near Austin Texas, which is "being revital- renovations of the Yaqui section. But tribal members
ized through a $4.7 million appropriation from the responded that "A lot of our elders don't read the pa-
Page 10 Volume21: Number 2

AGS Qiimicrh/ Spring 1997

Topical Coliiiiin

per." Considering where we are at the end of the 20th
century, in a presumably enlightened "multi-cultural"
society, how this chain of insensitivity got to the point
it did is shocking. If there's one saving grace, it's to
enlighten us about the potential symbolic significance
of what otherwise appear to be "rough" or "crude"
memorials, which in the Yaqui case turn out to have
been intenionally fashioned in this style, in accordance
with thier views about the Crucifixion.

References:

Butler, Steven "Mexico City National Cemetery" Mexi-
can War journal, formerly Mexican War Quarterly, v.
5, no.l. Fall 1995

Ober, Frederick: Travels in Mexico. Boston, Estes and
Lauriat, 1884

Reichlin, Ellie ( in preparation) Boston's Mexican Years:
High stakes and hidden agendas behind the advance
of the Santa Fe to the American southwest and Mexico,
1997.

Tucson Citizen, March 71 1997.

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Rd. Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Gravestones

The spring issue seems to be the appropriate time
to write about gardens. Beginning in 1831 with Mount
Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, cem-
eteries in the United States, unlike earlier burial
grounds and church graveyards, had flower gardens.
Families planted gardens on their plots, and cemeter-
ies usually had at least one display garden near the
entrance and others in various conspicuous spots. The
name of the cemetery might be spelled out with dif-
ferent color flowers, and there might be other eye-
catching designs. When I visited Lakeview Cemetery
in Cleveland ten years ago, one roadside bank had an

Volume21: Number 2

anchor form cut out of the turf and filled with ivy.

The larger cemeteries had greenhouses, some of
which still exist in places like Lakeview, Mount Au-
burn, Allegheny in Pittsburgh or Spring Grove in Cin-
cinnati. When labor was cheap, even individual plot
gardens might have three or four different plantings
in the growing season, and in the northern cemeteries
many semi-tropical shrubs would be placed on graves
in the summer and moved into "half-hardy" green-
houses in the fall. They did not need the moist warmth
of regular greenhouses but had to be protected from
extended freezing. I have seen a picture from early in
the twentieth-century of a tall palm tree that was

tucked away every winter.

The adjoining illustrations that Nola Marquardt
called to my attention come from the Ladies Home
Tournal for May 1907. The graves with arches and trel-
lises have created a inystery for modern cemetery visi-
tors. They see twisted wire even in summer bare of
ivy, roses or other vines and create all kinds of imagi-
native explanations. A few are still in use. Just last
month in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, Texas, I saw
wisteria blossoms that had been trained over a large
family plot. It was lovely to look at, and in the sum-
mer would offer welcome shade.

Wire Trellises with Flowers and Vines

Page 11

Gravestone & Computers

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Victorians admired gardens with intricate patterns
created by bedding plants in bright colors set to imi-
tate the patterns of oriental rugs. By the time Edwin
Lonsdale produced these suggested designs in 1907,
tastes had simplified a bit, and cemetery management
was probably discouraging the metal supports for
vines and flowers. The illustrations, which include in-
structions for a second planting, show the simplicity
was a matter of degree. These are light years away from
a dozen impatiens or three geraniums in front of the
gravestone such as we see today. If any of you have
one of these carefully planted gardens at a cemetery
near you, do take a picture and share it with the Quar-
terly.

3

when Pansies are on the wane plant Croton

Gravestone& Computers

John Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, RI 02818

E-Mail j_ster@prodigy.com

The AGS Standard Database for recording grave-
stones is now in use by over 100 groups in the United
States, Canada and England. The program is provid-
ing a common format for all of the data being collected.
Over 500,000 gravestones have been recorded and en-
tered in various computers. Eventually we hope to
bring all this data together in one place so genealo-
gists will be able to search for an ancestors almost any-
where. Some preliminary experimentation is now un-
derway to provide internet access to these databases.

At the AGS conference in Leicester, Massachusetts
June 26-29 1 will be conducting a workshop on record-
ing gravestones. The session will start in a classroom
and later in a local cemetery. Several techniques will
be shown to aid in reading what were previously

Page 12

thought to be illegible gravestones. This will involve
cleaning and lighting techniques along with a study
of the way in which the carver cut the inscriptions and
a discussion on how stones weather.

Some people have reported problems with the
database program printing records in compressed type
using the new Windows printers. These printers come
with software that allows you to access other fonts in
various point sizes. If you have one of these printers
you will have to load the software and use it to set
your printer font before printing cemetery reports.

To order the AGS standard gravestone database
recording program (IBM version only) send $19.95 plus
$3.50 shipping to:

AGS-Database Standard

278 Main Street, Suite 207

Greenfield, MA 01301

W. Fred Oakle}', Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadley, MA 01035

(413) 584-1756

Breathing New Life into an Old Cemetery

After twenty years of neglect the overgro^xTi Mollis
Cemetery in Barton ville, Illinois has been restored with
some help from concerned residents.

Members of the Mollis Cemetery Restoration Or-
ganization (MCRO), formed of the descendants of those
buried there and others who just wanted to help,
worked for a year to clear overgrown weeds, \'ines,
and brush that covered the two hundred gravestones
in the one-acre cemetery.

/=

=^

Descendant's wife used names on
gravestones to reach cleanup volunteers.

V ^

Justteen Wolstenholm, president of the organiza-
tion and a member of AGS, initiated the project when
she and her husband \'isited the cemeterx' for tlie first
time in 1988. "We had to fight our wav througii the

\'olumc21: Number 2

AGS Qiuntcrly Spring 1997

Conservation News

undergrowth to the site of my husband Gene's
grandmother's gravesite. Fortunately he had a good
idea where her stone was located or we would have
never found it".

Among the gravestones (the oldest dates to 1850)
is one for Stephen C. Wheeler, the first Township su-
pervisor, reminding people that the village was
founded in 1868.

Beyond their personal interest Justteen and Gene
wanted to attract others whose family members were
interred in Hollis Cenietery. "It is every person's birth-
right to know their past and what better way than to
begin in the cemetery". And how were relatives con-
tacted? By recording the names from every stone and
making calls to about 200 "strangers" in Bartonville
and surrounding towns. "As one would imagine, re

,

I^T^-'^s^

ite

»*J^

ii^iM

*^ii^if

' "^"C^BIt

&

■ „ ^;;*^:

N*«I

k^

^i^Mi>

s^'i^iiial

i»-

^V '^

Before

After

Sources: Justteen Wolstenholm, Peoria's Journal
Star, and Peoria County Genealogical Society.

Volume21: Number 2

Tripod for Lifting Gravestones

These line drawing diagrams and specifications
are for the lifting device (tripod) used for the past three
years at annual conference conservation workshops
and at numerous other workshops. When in a non-
operational mode it measures nine feet from bottom
to top and weighs about sixty pounds without the
chain hoist.

Diagram A

1. Three legs— 1 1 /2" x 9' Schedule 40 (steel pipe).
When deployed with each leg at sixty degrees from
the horizonal the functional height with the chain hoist
attached is about 6'8".

2. Top plate — 1/4" steel plate, drilled for attach-
ing a U-bolt to hang the chain hoist.

3. One 3/8" X 6"x 2" U-bolt is secured to the top
plate through drilled holes with one nut on the under-
side, double nutted at the top.

4. Pipe legs articulated at top with six- 2 1 / 2" x 3"
steel brackets welded to the top plate. Pipe legs are
attached through drilled holes to the brackets with 3 /
8" X 3 1 /2" machine bolts with clearance to permit legs
to open and fold fully.

5. One ton capacity chain hoist with hook and
snap closure to prevent unintended detachment.

Diagram B

° o /4

Top view — top plate. Long edges are 10"
Top view — top plate. Short edges 13/4"

Page 13

Conservation News

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Diagram C

1. Welded at the lower end of each leg is a "foot
pad," a 3" X 4" X 1 3/8 piece of channel iron. Its func-
tion is to keep the tripod from "skidding."

2. Welded to each leg about 6" above the top of
the channel iron "foot pad" is a 1" interior diameter
steel washer. It provides a means for passing a small
chain through each washer and securing its ends with
an adjustable link to prevent the tripod's legs from
"spreading" when lifting heavy objects. This is a safety
feature.

Nylon straps or nylon rope with rated strain ca-
pacity can be obtained through any monument dealer
or, in many instances, at the hardware store. They are
used in various configurations such as "single or
double choke" or "basket" to secure the stone to the
chain hoist. Ask your local monument dealer to dem-
onstrate. Do not use any type of metal to secure the
stone to the chain hoist.

Cautions: This tripod is useful for vertical lift-
ing. When it is necessary to swing the lifted object
from the vertical (e.g. moving a gravestone to prepare
a suitable base for resetting), it is essential to have a
person stand on each of the foot pads to prevent the
tripod from tilting. Always stay outside the tripod
legs when operating the chain hoist and when swing-
ing the lifted stone from the vertical. Do not work
under a lifted stone. Set it down, then prepare the
excavation for resetting.

MCJNRJMKNT CONSHRVATION COILABDRATIVr-

Preserving the substance and significance oj gravestones
iRvrNG SLAVin, Conservator i'koi-. norman we:ss. Consultant

P <x 1«)X6. COLEBROOK CT, 06021 (860) 379-2462 lax (860) 379-9219

r

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

=^

\

The Tomb of the Unknowns is the most sym-
bolic site at Arlington Cemetery. The four un-
known servicemen buried here epitomize the
ultimate sacrifice that thousands have made
for our country. It is a site for reflection and
gratitude.

Interred under the large white sarcophagus
is the Unknown Soldier from World War 1,
who was buried on November 11, 1921. Un-
knowns from World War 11 and the Korean
Conflict were buried in front of the crypt in a
joint service on May 30, 1958. Twenty-six
years later, the Unknown serviceman from the
Vietnam Conflict was similarly interred on the
plaza on Memorial Day 1984.

The Tomb is guarded 24-hours a day, regard-
less of weather, by soldiers from the Army'ss
U.S. 3rd Infantry "The Old Guard." These
soldiers must meet the highest standards of
military bearing and conduct. To earn the
honor of guarding the Tomb takes months of
training and discipline.

Generally, most of the sentinels remain at Ar-
lington from 12 to 18 months, however, it is a
volunteer post because of the rigorous de-
mands, and soldiers may leave at any time.

While guarding the Tomb, the sentinels take
21 steps before turning and facing the Tomb
for 21 seconds. This corresponds to the 21 -
gun salute, America's highest military honor.
The Changing of the Guard ceremon\- is con-
ducted each hour, on the hour, from October
I to March 31, and every half hour from April
I to September 30. At night the guard changes
every hour.

J

Page 14

\'olume21: Number 2

AGS Qiiartcrh/ Spring 1997

Regional Column

Bob Pierce

(The Western Deadbeat)

208 Monterey Boulevard

San Francisco, California 94131

(1 5 1(1 15 2(1 25 5(1 75

Kill 125 1511

AL

■^

Ak

1

AZ

^^^B

\R

■

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^

(JT
DE

I

DC

■

FL

^^^m

GA

^■■^^^H

HI

■

ID

IL

1

IN
I A

■■

kS

■

kY

^m

LA

^m

ME

m^^

MD

^^^^

MA

MI
MN

m

MS

1

MO

^^^^

MT

NE

1

NV

■

NH
Nl

NM

1

NV
NC

^M

ND

1

OH

OK

1

OR

^

PA
RI

^^H

SC

^■i

SD

TN

^^

TX
UT

■

VT

^"

VA
WA

^H

wv

VVI

^^

\\"\

AGS MEMBERS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

CANADA 16

ENGLAND 4

GERMANY 1

IRELAND 1

ITALY 1

JAPAN 2

SCOTLAND 2

Due to space limitations the above demographic
chart which was to germane to my last column was
omitted. It should be looked at when reading my last
column. I would appreciate your comments, concerns,
criticisms and above all your solutions.

Editor's Note: Bob Pierce's article, concerning this chart was printeci in
Notes and Queries, Winter 1997 AGS Quarterly. If you would like a copy
of the article please send a SASE to the AGS office. I have revised the
chart to reflect thel996 / 97 membership count.

Volume21: Number 2

SOUTHWEST

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Phone: (602) 647-7005

Fax: (602) 647-7136

In lieu of this regional column, EUie's contribu-
tion appears in Feature Articles, on page 9.

MIDWEST

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323

Notes from all over the Midwest

Vanished? Missing? Lost? Abandoned? Forgotten?
Cemeteries disappear for many reasons. A recent real
estate map of Cook County, Illinois (Chicago is located
in Cook County.) includes no cemeteries. Perhaps the
concept of death is anathema to realtors, but cemeter-
ies, often the most historic site of any community or
population, deserve better treatment. A count of ex-
tant burial sites in the county reaches a total of 172.
This number does not include the rapidly proliferat-
ing columbaria, usually located on church property.
According to the laws of the State of Illinois a
columbarium constitutes a cemetery. It is a rare tourist
guide that promotes a burial ground. A notable excep-
tion is one from Danville, Illinois. The city has a Na-
tional Cemetery A feature article promotes a visit to
Springhill Cemetery, established in 1864. Several
friends of Abraham Lincoln buried here include Hiram
Beckwith, an attorney who practiced with the law firm
of Lincoln and Lamon, Dr. William Fithian, a Civil War
surgeon. Dr. WWR Woodbury, a Lincoln family physi-
cian and pharmacist and Maria Vance, a maid in the
Lincoln home, 1850-1860. Views in the cemetery sug-
gest that Springhill, a proper Victorian cemetery, is
worth a visit.

The "Illinois State Cemetery Project" has at

Page 15

Regional Column AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

tempted to document all the burial sites in the state, Monroe Co, page 222. On that page is recorded the

listing them by county, describing them as active, in- 1855 deed by which Eleanor's grandson granted pos-

active (abandoned), or despoiled, i.e., one which has session of the burial ground to all future descendants

no surface markings but exists on a plat map. This of the three sisters.

includes endangered cemeteries by coal mining or real To quote from the document: "In order to secure

estate development, farming, etc. For additional infor- and perpetuate to the descendants of Eleanor Dunn,

mation about this project contact Mrs. Jo Ellen Johnson, Nancy Alexander, and Jane Irvin who lie buried within

743 Sussex Terrace, Crete, Illinois 60417. the plot of ground hereinafter described and to those

While working on the project, members Carol with whom they may intermarry forever a place of

and Steve Shipp of Princeton, Illinois discovered the private burial where they shall repose together as one

small Knox Cemetery, "probably the oldest one in Bu- family in the long night of death and rise up together

reau County, c.1830". Over the years markers have as from one bed at the last day, 1, George G. Dunn

been pushed aside for farming purposes. Since the per- being the owner of the lands hereinafter described,

son who began the cemetery failed to record part of do give, grant, and confirm unto the descendants and

the land as a cemetery, there is no deed. The current to those with whom they shall intermarrv of the said

owner is in the process of selling the land to be con- Eleanor, Nancy, and Jane as a perpetual dedication

verted into a subdivision. The State of Illinois allows for the sole and exclusive purpose & use of a private

unregistered cemeteries more than 100 years old to be burial ground & the Erection of all desirable monu-

used for development purposes but the remains are to ments & improvements & ornaments Suitable to such

be moved to another cemetery. Farewell, Knox Cem- a place [a legal description of the land follows]."

etery. You were never registered. Twenty acres of the Dunn farm were deeded to

The April 21, 1996, Chicago Sun Times included the State of Indiana in 1884 for the building of the uni-

an article by Alex Rodriguez, "Out With the Dead, In versify. The well-maintained cemetery is located near

With the New." "The graves at the 50 acre Allerton lU's Union building.

Ridge Cemetery (Lombard)... are being consolidated

in a 20 acre patch of land... The effect has appalled rela- More Notes

fives of the dead buried there, who are cringing at the

thought of their loved ones'eternal rest suddenly //tt t j -?" a i^

. ^. . , , . ^ , , , „ ^, „ , , -' How many cemeteries do you ovm? A question

lostled by the clawing of a backhoe. The Richardson uut ,. ^ j- t i.uu

' .-^ , 1 , 11 , , which 1 pose to most audiences. In response thev shrug

Corp. of Kentucky has been hired to relocate the graves. ^^.^ shoulders, shake their heads while surreptltiouslv

Their charges range between $400 - $1,000 per grave. , • i. ^u ■ ■ uu c ;. J

„, '^ .,f , , ' ^ , ° peeking at their neighbors. Every taxpayer supports

The company will be relocating approximately 2,500 / \ tu *-u i nn ' / •' i j

. ^„ \ . . t) ff y ' (or owns) the more than 100 cemeteries here and

graves in St. Louis so that the city can expand an air- u ^ ■ a, ,.■ ^ -i^ i. r-i i i j '•.

° , , , , , , , abroad in the national military system.One shouldn t

port runway According to the article skeletal remains ^ ^^^ ^^^^^ cemeteries such as Illinois First Me-

are meticulously collected by hand. ■^c^ ,. t> ^ j tu ^ u cci. i \ r-.

■' ^ morial State Park around the tomb of Stephen A. Dou-

Dunn Burial Ground, Bloomington, Indiana S^^' *" ^^^^^8°' °\ ^^^ countless municipal, to^vnship,

county, etc. burial sites. Americans' investnients in

Only a concrete walk separates the quiet, tree- cemetery acreage while not as large as that in National

shaded Dunn Burial Ground from the bustling Memo- ^^^^^ still deserves attention!

rial Union on the Indiana University campus in Jerry Turnquist, who has long been known for his

Bloomington, Indiana. A triple marker built into the involvement in the outstanding \vorks at the beauti-

cemetery wall commemorates three pioneer sisters ^^^ ^^^^^ City Cemetery Elgin, has taken on Herculean

(and DAR Patriots): Eleanor Brewster Dunn, Nancy ^^^ks with his interest in the past and hjture of the cem-

(Agnes) Brewster Alexander, and Jane (Janet) Brewster ^tery at Elgin Mental Health Center. The records are

Irvin. The inscription on the back of the stone, facing sealed by the law. The markers of cast concrete are

the sidewalk, refers passersby to the Deed Record "R" ^^^xt to an expanding quarry- operation; title to the cem

Page 16 Volume21: Number 2

AGS Qnnrlcrh/ Spring 1997

Regional Coluiini

etery land has passed from tUv State of Illinois to the
City of Elgin. Future??? If any AGS member has ex-
perience in how best to work with this type of endan-
gered landscape please contact Jerry at 1021 W. High-
land Ave., Elgin IL 60123 or email: lBeMrT@aol.com.

"Favorite" monuments are oft recalled by AGS
members but how many of these memories provoke
a study of the "Why?" of the marker? Jack L. Bradley
and Jerry Klein have published Lusts of the Prairie
Preachers, provoked by curiosity about an eight foot
tall Italian marble "Mattie" poised on a forty foot high
granite column in Springfield's Oak Ride Cemetery,.
Bradley and Klein's research discovered that Mattie
was the central figure in a scandalous love affair and
involved in a nineteenth-century religious movement.
The book is available from Riverbeach Publishing 518
N. Sixth St. Chillicothe IL 61 523 $14.00 includes post-
age. It is also available from the AGS lending library.

Worthy of another visit to Chicago is Graceland
Cemetery, 4001 N. Clark St. Well-known for its many
monuments designed by sculptors and architects, the
newly completed outdoor mausoleum from the de-
signs of Eiffler and Associates and Wolf Associates
complements the grounds very well. Graceland also
reports that soon all the burial records will be avail-
able on computer.

The landscaping of the long-time superintendent
at Graceland, Ossian C. Simonds, has been restored
to its glory, making stunning vistas to the monuments.
Only indigenous plants, shrubs and trees have been
used, making this prairie landscape, as he claimed,
"One of the most remarkable park like cemeteries in
the Western world."

/f;

Mortuary Management magazine reports that three
teen-agers were arrested for damaging nearly 100
monuments at Center Cemetery in Wallingford
Connecticut. Police say the three broke or knocked
over many historic monuments, causing damage
that was estimated to be at $40,000. The teens have
been charged with interference with a cemetery,
first degree criminal mischief and third degree
criminal trespass. Cemetery superintendent. Bob
Devaney said that many residents have offered
assistance in hope of raising enough money to re-
pair the damage.

?^

Cravcslonc rubbings on T-sliirls. hhnk nol
cards, rubber stamps and 1998 wall calendar. Score:
of hand rubbed and screened designs from I7th 6
I8lh cenlury New England and Cellig^ sloncs.

Send fl for calalo(j to.

Gravestone Arlwcar ''■'

P.O. Box HI
York Harbor. Maine 03911

800-56'1-4310 Fax: 207-363-3268

E-mail: rivmcrc@cybcrtour!i.com I

/T

^

Chapter 289 of New Hamp-
shire State Law pertains to cem-
eteries and lists two items under
prohibited conduct.

1 ) 289.27 Stone Rubbings. No
person shall make gravestone
rubbings in any cemetery without
first obtaining the permission of
the selectmen or cemetery trust-
ees. Any person who violates the
provision of this section shall be
guilty of a violation.

2) 289.28 Logging Debris.
Any person who leaves debris in
any cemetery as a result of a log-
ging operation shall be guilty of
a violation.

v

J

JJ

HAND CARVED LETTERING
IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari
617-862-1583

433 Bedford Street
Lexington. MA 02173

Volume21: Number 2

Page 17

Regional Column

1

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Southeast/Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

P.O. Box 6296

Tallahassee, Florida 32314

VIRGINIA - AGS member, Jane B. White, for-
warded information about the Old City Cemetery in
Lynchburg, Virginia, and about the efforts to care for
the historic site following a 1993 storm that destroyed
much of its funerary material and vegetation. The cem-
etery, designated a Virginia Historic Landmark and
listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was
established in 1806 when the town's founder, John
Lynch, gave an acre of land to the community for a
burying ground. Over the years the cemetery was ex-
panded to include three potters fields and a Confeder-
ate section (containing approximately 2,200 burials).
The 1840s office of Dr. John Terrell is located in the
cemetery and has been restored as a medical museum.
One of its exhibits shows the Pest House, which was
once located within Old City Cemetery. 'Lynchburg
residents who contracted such contagious diseases as
smallpox or measles were quarantined in the Pest
House ... the medical care and standards of cleanliness
were virtually nonexistent and most patients died. The
dead were buried a few yards away.'

While the City of Lynchburg is responsible for
routine maintenance, the Southern Monument Asso-
ciation (founded in 1866) carries out charitable, edu-
cational, historical and cultural activities concerning
the cemetery. The group has raised over $100,000, fo-
cusing its first efforts on replacing the trees that were
lost during the 1993 storm. 'Several hundred new trees
have been planted ... and all varieties were those popu-
lar and prevalent during the 19th century when the
Old City Cemetery was most active."

In addition to its various restoration efforts, the
Southern Monument Association has developed a se-
ries of publications that interpret the cemetery. These
are Gravestones in the Old City Cemetery: Their His-
tory, Art and Symbolism; Black History in the Old City
Cemetery; Guided Tours in the Old City Cemetery;
Historic Graves, Monuments and Iron Work; Roses,

Shrubs, Butterflies, Medicinal Herbs, Birds and Trees:
A Horticultural Guide; The Pest house Medical Mu-
seum. A set of these guides is available for $5.00 (in-
cludes postage) from Mrs. Jane B. White, 711 Old
TrentsFerry Road, Lynchburg, Virginia 24503.

GEORGIA — This column recently had an article
about the theft of graden tiles from Savannah's Laurel
Grove Cemetery. Neill Herring, an AGS member in
Jesup, Georgia, forwarded several newspaper articles
that tell the story - and the consequences - of one such
theft: Fourteen tiles that were stolen from Laurel Grove
Cemetery in June 1996 were discovered for sale at a
Savannah antiques shop. The shop's owner surren-
dered the tiles to police, saying that he was not aware
the tiles had been stolen by the man who sold them to
him. The Society for the Preservation of Laurel Grove
pressed for prosecution of both the shop owner and
the person who committed the theft. The shop owner
was charged with 19 counts of failing to report sec-
ond-hand purchases to the police, a violation of a cit)'^
ordinance that requires antique stores and pawn shops
to report such transactions (to help police track items
that are reported stolen). James Bass, owner of Ped-
dler Jim's Antiques, was fined $500 for failing to file
the reports. Larry Chapman of Sa\'annah was arrested
when he confessed that he had stolen the tiles and sold
them to Mr. Bass. The police were able to apprehend
Mr. Chapman because Society members who saw him
remove the tiles from the cemeter)' recorded the num-
ber of his car's license plate. At the time of this writ-
ing, the results of Mr. Chapman's arrest are unknown.

QUESTIONS ABOUT GRAVE MARKERS - Jane
White of Lynchburg, Virginia's Old Cit}' Cemetery asks
if any member of AGS has information about two cast
iron grave markers that are located at the site. The
markers are shaped, with three points. Mrs. White
writes that, "There is no writing on these markers ...
I'm assuming its some sort of fraternal order. Man\'
people have asked and 1 ha\'e no answer. Help!" Con-
tact Mrs. White at 711 Old Trents Ferry Road,
Lynchburg, Virginia 24503.

ALABAMA —Eugenia Parker, an officer of the Mo-
bile [Alabama] Genealogical Society sent photographs
of a stone in the New Hope Gardens (Old Wheelerxille)
Cemetery in Mobile. The stone is shaped somewhat
like a Celtic cross and rests on a shaped base or pedes-
tal. The top appears to have once been covered witii

Page 18

Volume21: Number 2

AGS Qiinrk'fhj Spring 1997

Regional Column

cement. According to Mrs. Parker, "My grandmother
(now 96) says when she attended the Old Wheelerville
School (located next to the cemetery during the early
1900s), that she and one of her classmates would sit
on that stone and eat their lunch every day. She can-
not recall any information regarding the stone - but it
still exists today - only somewhat smaller in size due
to rain, etc. One other bit of info from my grandmother
was that when a wagon or carriage came by with any
ladies, it would stop at the stone so the ladies could
easily step out of the wagon or carriage onto the stone
and then easily on the ground.' While carriage stones
are sometimes still in place in historic cities, they are
usually simple blocks of stone, shaped as long narrow
rectangles. The stone in the Mobile cemetery is an un-
usual shape for a carriage step; however, if people used
it as a step, it is probably not a gravemarker. If you
have information about this object, contact Mrs. Parker
at 5720 Blue Ridge Drive North, Mobile, Alabama
36693.

New England /Canadian Maritimes

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, MA 01570

(508) 943-5732

I suppose that we all have rubbed a gravestone at
one time or another. For many of us that was our first
exposure to the lore of those old stones and the stories
that they tell. Some of us (certainly not me!) have per-
fected this craft until it becomes a legitimate art form,
but how many of us have had our rubbings displayed
in such honored and varied places as the Smithsonian
Institution, the National Archives, the Berkshire Ath-
enaeum and had rubbings placed in a tri-centennial
capsule, to be opened in 2076.

Steve Budrow of Williamstown MA has, and since
his early retirement from General Electric Co. in
Pittsfield, he has become a fixture in graveyards
throughout Berkshire County. Budrow specializes in
genealogy and gravestone studies, and has authored
The Lure and Lore of the Local Cemetery: a Self Guidmg
Tour, listing a number of interesting graves in the
Pittsfield area. The book was first commissioned by
the Berkshire County Historical Society in 1973, and
later enlarged with the help of the Pittsfield Bicenten-
nial Commission. In addition to his rubbings, he
founded Discovering our Heritage, a speakers group
dedicated to Berkshire County history and cemetery
preservation.

Budrow generally rubs on a sheet of pelon ( a syn-
thetic fabric used in stiffening clothing with a stick of
B-3 graphite. He prefers pelon to paper because it rolls
up easier and is much more permanent. Budrow says
'Tn a few years, rubbings like mine will be the only
record left of many of our most informative grave-
stones .... each rubbing is an expression of early Ameri-
can art". This may explain the interest by the
Smithsonian Institute in displaying a sample of his
work. The rubbing, that of the 1749 gravestone of Rev.
John Sergeant of Stockbridge, was accepted by the In-
stitute as a permanent exhibit in 1972. Sergeant was
an early missionary to the Indians in the area that
would later be Stockbridge, establishing his first post

Volume21: Number 2

Page 19

Regional Column

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

in 1734. Budrow is particularly interested in the epi-
taph, which legend has was written by an Indian. The
stone reads as follows:

Here Lyes

The Body of the

Rev'd Mr. John Sergeant

who dy'd the 27 Day of July A.D. 1749

in the 40th Year of his Age

Where is that pleasing Form I ask;

thou cans' t not show;

He's not within, false stone.

There's nought but death below.

And where' s that pious soul,

that thinking conscious mind

Wilt thou pretend, vain cypher,

that's with thee enshrined

Alas, my Friends, not here

with thee that I can find

Here's not a Sergeant's Body

or a Sergeant's mind

ril see him hence for all's

alike Deception here,

I'll go to Heav'n & I shall

find my Sergeant there.

Budrow makes a point in his talks to speak of the
fragile nature of the stones, reminding his listeners that
they must always be aware of the potential irretriev-
able damage that they could cause to an old stone by
improper handling, and states that, before rubbing, the
only cleaning he does to a stone is to lightly wipe over
it with a soft brush..

Members in the News

The January 19, 1997 Boston Globe had a nice ar-
ticle about AGS members Cassandra and Paulette
Chernack, and their Gravestone Artwear business.
Their stock consists mostly of their trademark grave-
stone T-shirts, began by Cassandra in high school as a
hobby, and slowly developing such demand that now
both Cassandra and Paulette devote full time to the
business. The T-shirts generally show designs t\'pical
of the older gravestones in the York Maine area, skulls,
willows, urns, etc. that the Chernacks originally col-
lect through rubbings or photographs, then Cassandra
"cleans up" the design with pen and ink, resulting in
the sharp details necessary for silk screening onto the
garment. Many of their sales are generated from spe-
cialty shops throughout this country and from catalog
sales both in this country and abroad.

The Worcester (MA) Telegram featured an article on
February 26, 1997 about AGS member and Forbes Re-
cipient, Dan Farber. The article recounted how Dan's
father immigrated to this country from Russia around
the turn of the century, penniless and unable to speak
English. From these beginnings, through luck and tal-
ent (mostly talent) he developed a line of products sold
by Woolworth's throughout the eastern half of the
United States and apparently became quite wealthy.
Only upon his tragic death did Dan and his brothers
find that the business was in debt to the tune of $50,000,
an unimaginable sum of money in those days. Dan and
his brothers worked to keep the business going, and
in doing so, developed a new method of shoe welting,
which allowed the business to prosper until sold by
the Farbers in 1981. Relieved of the time consuming
burden of managing the business, Dan had then the
freedom to pursue his acclaimed photographic second
career, which, among other things, had earned him tlie
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award in 1977!

CREATIVE

SCULPTURE

& RESTORATION

GARY KESHNER

705 SE IITHST.

LEES SUMMIT. MO 64081

816-554-1825

Page 20

\blume21: Number 2

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Regional Column

Mid-Atlantic

G.E.O. Czarnecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 11235

Burial Grounds: Background and Commentary

The Seneca Village

Central Park, New York City

Recently I attended a lecture and exhibit at the
New York Historical Society that dealt with the belief
that 2 or 3 burial grounds remain in Central Park that
were part of a Black-Irish settlement known as Seneca
Village (1825-1855). The exhibit was entitled "Before
Central Park: The Life and Death of Seneca Village".

As the story goes, prior to the existence of Central
Park, closer to what is now its west side, there existed
a small community of legally owned homes on legally
owned plots of land. Early in the settlement (circa 1825)
the make-up was mostly blacks but the Irish who were
facing similar financial problems and discriminatory
practices shifted in over the years to comprise a con-
siderable portion of the population (30%). Although
the settlement wasn't vast, it did contain several
churches each believed to have its own graveyard.
Seneca Village "had 264 residents, three churches, two
schools and three cemeteries" (New York Times 1 /31 /
97). There seems to be no documentation that the de-
ceased and / or markers were ever disinterred and / or
moved. It is assumed that they remained where they
were because an occasional burial has been unearthed
in the process of park developments.

Peace and harmony reigned in Seneca Village until
the idea for and the approval of Central Park became
a reality. In the media the people of Seneca Village
became squatters and low-lifes. Their homes became
"shanties", a terminology synonymous with transients
and temporary structures. They were deterring the
city from having its great park. When first the verbal
pleas were over and then the physical and harsh re-
moval of many of the occupants was completed, the
community of Seneca Village was transformed into a
portion of the largest urban park in the world. The

ousted population moved on, the blacks going further
north to Harlem and Seneca Village disappeared into
history. "All that was left behind were cemeteries, and
these, too, were soon so forgotten that nobody knows
whether the bodies were ever removed." (NewYork
Times 1/31/97).

Now it has become a ghost that has come back to
haunt the present population of New York City about
its past morals. There is a portrayal of shame enmeshed
in the N.Y.H.S. exhibit. It is designed to create at least
a little guilt, that the park took precedence over the
welfare of fellow humans.

A portion of the exhibit is a collection of draw-
ings and watercolors of shanties indicative of the type
of dwellings dominating Seneca Village, by then con-
temporary artists. Another sm.all display contains the
few definite Seneca Village artifacts found within the
past few years. One outstanding piece is a bowl from
a pitcher and bowl set. It looks fresh and intact along
with some 19th century bottles and pottery in various
conditions.

The exhibit also seems to push for an archaeologi-
cal look at the site and there seems to be a positive
feeling about having three potential graveyards, pres-
ently unclassified, untouched and lying around. How-
ever the Seneca Village burial ground have no plan
for excavation, but as the village layout is basically
known, and maps reveal where the churches once
stood, the burial grounds are probably adjacent to
them.

The exhibit poses the guestion of whether the 19th
century New Yorkers who ousted Sencea Village were
villains (an appropriate 19th century terminology) or
"environmentally conscious" realists, who, seeing the
plight of having only x-amount of space on Manhat-
tan Island managed to accomplish the herculean task
of preserving this central place.

The exhibition runs through August 10 at the New
York Historical Society, 2 West 77th St. in New York
City. The Seneca Village site could remain forever.

Volume21: Number 2

Page 21

Regional Column

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Across the Oceans

Angelika Kruger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14

63322 Rudermark

GERMANY

The German town of Bingen (pop. 25,000)), some
ten miles west of Wiesbaden, was called VINGIUM or
VINCUM or BINGIUM in Roman times. It is assumed
that one of the fifty military bases built along the river
Rhine on the orders Drusus was situated in or near
present day Bingen. Nero Claudius Drusus com-
manded the Roman troops that occupied the German
territory between the Rhine and Elbe rivers from 12
BC to his death in 9 BC.

While the exact location of the Roman fort has not
been ascertained, a number of burial places have been
identified. The Romans buried their dead beyond the
walls of their settlements, along the highways. There-
fore, burial sites tend to cluster along routes that were
important thoroughfares two thousand years ago, such
as Mainzer Strasse, the Roman road linking Bingen
and Mainz (then called MOGONTIACUM). Most of
the gravestones discovered are exhibited in the muse-
ums of Bingen and Mainz. Among the soldiers' tomb-
stones there are several that mention the place of birth
of the deceased. Thus we know that some of the troops
came from the Near East, from Lebanon, Syria and Pal-
estine.

Looking at Roman sculptures today, we tend to
forget that they were once painted. So were the tomb-
stones. One of the gravestones found in Bingen has
been repainted in what are believed to be the original
colors. It is now exhibited above the entrance door to
the ground level exhibition area at the Bingen Museum
(Heimat Museum der Stadt Bingen am Rhein, Burg
Klopp).

Another interesting tombstone in this museum is
that of freedman CAIUS VESCIUS PRIMUS, a butcher.
It shows a knife, a pan and an animal's head, all ob-
jects pertaining to sacrificial practice. The CAIUS stone
was discovered in the road that is now called
Rochusallee, where the old cemetery of Bingen was

located for several centuries. The cemetery was later
converted into a park (Burrgerpark), but several re-
markable eighteenth and nineteenth centur\' monu-
ments were left on the premises.

One of the simpler memorials is a sandstone tab-
let. The tympanum features an oil lamp and a vine or
branch from a tree. Between a wide ledge that goes
around three sides of the stone and a narrow ledge
below, there is a decorative band with nine small chis-
elled stars. The front inscription, done in rounded let-
ters, is set in a square that is half an inch deeper than >
the framing surface. Pieces of brick inserted in the back
now cover the rectangular hole once cut into the sand-
stone to hold a crucifix that an older picture shows .
towering above the tablet. The inscription reads:

Wohl altch die stille Hauslichkeit
1st eines Dent„mahls werth -
Ihr sey es hier von mir geweiht
Und wer die Tugend ehrt -
Auch in dem einfachen Gewand
Mir meinem Schmerz ist er verwandt

My rather literal prose translation is:

Quiet domesticity may well
Be worthy of a monument, too.
Be this one dedicated to this purpose
And whoever treasures virtue
Even when dressed in simple garb
Will be kindred with me in my grief

Page 22

Volume21: Number 2

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Book Review

What I cannot reproduce in translation is the acros-
tic spelled out by the first words read downwards in
the German original. "Wohl ist ihr und altch mir" cor-
responds to "She is well and so am I". The acrostic
message contradicts the eulogizing content of the epi-
taph, expressing relief rather than grief about the wife's
demise.

According to an article in the 1911 Yearbook pub-
lished by the Catholic Church of Bingen ('a copy of
which the town archivist, Mr Kossmann, kindly sent
me), a local woman "who had not really been on peace-
ful terms with her husband" died in or about 1823.
The widower asked the notary public and occasional
poet Hermann Joseph Faber to cornpose an epitaph
for his wife's tombstone. According to the article, it
was only after the husband's death, when the inscrip-
tion was quoted in some non-local paper that its
doubleedged character was revealed. Faber worked
in Bingen from 1795 to 1824. At one point he owned
Burg Klopp, the castle that now houses the Museum.
From Bingen he moved to Mainz, where he died in
poverty in 1851. The Catholic Yearbook finds his po-
etry lacking in religious and morally uplifting senti-
ment and deplores the fact that he represents the erro-
neous views of the Enlightenment and Humanitarian-
ism, "as was fashionable in his days."

I shall not argue with their judgment but I won-
der whether the archives, church or Court records
would not yield more information about the wife who
found herself the butt of a posthumous conjugal joke.
Or about her supposedly innocent husband. The curi-
ous epitaph became a tourist attraction long after the
people involved in its wording were dead. It came to
my attention because the chronicle of a local men's
choir (Mannergesangsverein 1842 Gross Umstadt) men-
tions a visit to the gravestone during the annual out-
ing of 1930, among other stops along the river Rhine.

(The Yearbook is "Katholischer Kirchenkalender
der Pfarrei Bingen nebst dem historischen Jahrbuch",
3. Jahrgang 1911. Gerd Wilfer and Gunter Schuttler
came across the reference in the choir chronicle. Inge
Kruger held the mirror and gave moral Support dur-
ing two visits to Bingen. Roberta Halporn provided a
clipping about Roman grave roads.)

Book Review

Mary-Ellen Jones

2 Los Amigos Court

Orinda, California 94563-1605

510-254-2295

510-254-2859 (FAX)

A Word from Your New Review Editor

My marching orders are to accomplish the follow-
ing:

1) review published works, periodicals, articles,
audiovisuals, and whatever other types of materials
that come my way relating to the mission of AGS,

2) solicit reviews of the above items from knowl-
edgeable AGS members and other experts.

Both will require my learning as much as possible
about what is out there. Please send pertinent informa-
tion concerning material, old and new, to the office or
to me. It is far better to hear several times about some-
thing than not learn about it at all. Help!

Review by Mary-Ellen Jones

Tombstones

Seventy-Five Famous People

and Their Final Resting Places

by Gregg Felsen

Published by Ten Speed Press

PO. Box 7123

Berkeley, California 94707

1996. $19.95

Softcover, 151 pages

Gregg Felsen' s handsome little pictorial volume
is a marvelous medley of biography and photography.
The subtitle defines the book. Subjects are wonder-
fully diverse, ranging from George Washington, the
man whom Herbert Hoover credits with contributing
more than any other to our history, to Miles Davis, one
of the most influential persons in the history of jazz.
The book also includes biographies of 148 additional
defunct notables such as Anna Pavlova, Walt Whitman,
Winston Churchill, Jefferson Davis, Margaret Mitchell,
and Elvis Presley.

Felsen' s text consists of a concise biography of

Volume21: Number 2

Page 23

Publications AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

each person, complemented by a photograph of his or immortality. Strangers passing by were expected to

her tombstone. Most of Felsen's images are excellent, admire the splendid sarcophagi and tombstones and

a few lack clarity of inscriptions. read aloud the texts which recorded for eternity a good

Some might argue that the photographs are sec- reputation won in life. For us, the memorial texts of-

ondary to the bibliographical sketches. Perhaps, but fer a unique record of individuals and institutions in

readers interested in history would certainly expec the Roman Empire. Sculptures and inscriptions in the

more information than the brief prosaic facts presented. British Museum collections, along with contemporary

It seems clear that the photographs are the message, descriptions, wills and other texts, are used in this book

especially for those interested in gravestone studies. to explore aspects of Roman funerary ritual and the

Although this is a popular study, not intended as Mediterranean-wide trade in marble sarcophagi."

a scholarly work, I believe that a selected bibliogra- With 50 black and white illustrations,
phy would have been a valuable addition.

The book's format, 8" x 8" (by 1/2") is somewhat Laurel Gabel contributed the following two beau-
unusual, yet curiously appropriate. All in all Tomb- tiful books:

stones is a fine pictorial work, beautifully designed Spring Grove: Celebrating 150 YenrshyBlancheM.G.

and printed by Ten Speed Press. Linden. Queen City Heritage. This is a nicelv done

book commemorating the founding of Spring Grove

XT A jj-i- I ti T J- T -1 .^11 1- Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sprine Grove is one of

New Additions to the Lending Library Collection i r- , <- i „ , ,, , -

the finest examples of the rural cemetery and a joy

J T? ji, to visit if you' re in the area. If you won't be in Cincin-

L^ynn ixadKe . . , „ * • „ r-^ • y--^

-inArr r \c-L 1 T^ ■ nati any time soon, why not visit Spring Grove via

1947 East Stephens Drive , t ,., -, r o

T A% onoo our lending library?

Tempe, AZ 85283. ^ °^ i, r, ^^ , tt- r.

Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo History Preserved.

We have recently added a number of books to the This book details the history of Forest Lawn Cemetery

AGS lending library that you may be interested in: ^^ Buffalo, New York. Numerous photos depict the

outstanding funerary art included in this rural cem-

A Teacher's Guide to Using Memorials by Sallie etery.

Purkis. I purchased this book on a recent trip to En- The Vermont Old Cemetery Association kindly

gland and thought it might be a good addition to our donated a folder of valuable information which will

library collection. It is published by English Heritage definitely get the attention of all the teachers out there,

and is written for teachers to " help them make the Stones and Bones: Using Tombsto)U's as Textbooks is a

best of the historic environment". This book focuses packet full of information related to using cemeteries

on using Memorials in Great Britain but I think other as educational tools. The Vermont Old Cemetery As-

teachers may be able to adapt the ideas to their own sociation put these materials together with the teacher

environment. Some of the topics include: finding me- in mind and I have no doubt it will be a popular addi-

morials (statues, street names, war memorials, parks tiori to our Library.

and gardens) — cemeteries and memorials (Victorian AGS donated Markers HI from our Archi\'es. Since

cemetery design, interpreting memorials, etc.) — re- Markers III is now out of print, we have added it to the

cording church and cathedral memorials — recording Lending Library for those of us who didn't get in-

in the churchyard (what to do before the visit, analyz- volved in AGS in time to realize the importance of a

ing the data) — documents (newspapers, cemetery reg- complete Markers collection. This will at least fill us

isters, census returns, etc) — issues about memorials in on what we missed early on!

(conservation, new memorials, etc.) Finally, the Lending Librarian also made two do-

Memorials to the Roman Dead by Susan Walker, nations which I hope you will enjoy. Beautiful Death;
Another book purchased in England at the British Mu- ^ft of the Cemetery by David Robinson with a text by
seum. To quote the back cover, "In a pagan society Dean Koontz. This book was re\'iewed in the AGS
highly decorated Roman memorials offered a hope of Newsletter some time ago and sounded like an inter-
Page 24 Volume21: Number 2

AGS Qtiartcrly Spring 1997 Publications

esting concept. The photographs by David Robinson door Sculpture Today for Tomorroiv, Guide to the Mainte-
come from his extensive collection taken while tour- iiniice of Outdoor Sculpture. For information call SOS!
ing Europe over a span of two years. He sought out (800)422-4612. From the National Institute for the Con-
stones which depict the moving beauty to be found in servation of Cultural Property.
European cemeteries, His photos, coupled with text

by Dean Koontz, provide an interesting mix of Euro- A Grave Marker Primer: California Pioneer Period.

pean cemetery art and a moving memoir of a Koontz The Rev. Amos C. Carey. 1996. Available from the

family mystery. author at PO Box 4144, Foster City, CA 94404-0144.

Thanks to our members who donated these books.
Donations such as these enable our Library to continue Nineteenth Century Cemeteries: San Mateo County,

to grow. If you would like to make a donation to the California. The Rev. Amos C. Carey. 1997. Available

Lending Library, you may contact AGS or me. from the author at PO Box 4144, Foster City, CA 94404-

0144.
Publications Received at AGS

January through June 1997 Vision, Vol. 1, No. 1 through Vol. 3, No. 1. Avail-

able from The Loewen Group, an organization serv-

Tombstones: Seven ty-Seven Famous People and Their ing funeral and cemetery service professionals in North

Final Resting Places. America. The series highlights the lives of Emily Carr,

Greg Felsen. 1996. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Andrew Carnegie, Emily Dickinson,

Jesse Owens, and Clara Barton. Vision is distributed

Modern Monuments. Ted Gottfried. 1997. Self-pub- at no cost to interested readers. Back issues and a free

lished periodical. 15 pages. Available through See Hear subscription can be requested from Victoria Miles, The

Fanzines, 59 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003. $3.00 Loewen Group, 4126 Norland Avenue, Burnaby, BC

post paid for each issue. Canada V5G 3S8, tel. 604 / 293-6447

OHCA Ledger, February, 1997, Vol 5, Issue 3. Or- Folk Art, Magazine of the Museum of American

egon Historic Cemeteries Association, P.O. Box 802, FolkArt, Spring 1997. Published quarterly bytheMu-

Boring, OR 97009-0802, (503)658-4255. seum of American Folk Art, 61 West 62nd Street, NY,

NY 10023. Single copies are $6.
Council Update: A Dispatch from the National Insti-
tute for the Conservation of Cultural Property. Winter 1997. From Joslin Hall Rare Books, PO Box 516, Con-

NIT, 3229 K Street, NW, Suite 602, Washington DC cord, MA 01742, a listing of 94 books on the topic "A

20007-4415. Grave Affair No. 2: Books and other materials illustrating

how society and individuals have dealt with and memorial-
Coalition Courier. Published by the Coalition to ized death and mourning through the ages," Occasional
Protect Maryland Burial Sites, Inc. Spring, 1997, Vol 5, List No. 36. Some are in foreign languages, some date
No.l. Available through the Coalition, P.O. Box 1533, back as far as 1900, and each book's condition is indi-
Ellicott City, MD 21041-1533. cated.

SOSl Adopt- A-Sculpture Kit. Contents: Today for Tomb with a View, Winter 1996, newsletter pub-

Tomorrow. Establish Your Adopt-A-Sculpture Program, a lished by Katie Karrick. Has feature articles and an

49 page, illustrated booklet relating more than 25 ex- extensive calendar of events taking place in cemeter-

amples of programs. Adopt- A-Sculpture Video Sampler, ies over the country.

SOSl Maintenance Information Kit. Contents: De- NIC Report 1995-96. Published by National Insti-

signing Outdoor Sculpture for Tomorrow, Maintenance tute for the Conservation of Cultural Property, Inc.

Conservation to Save Outdoor Sculpture, Maintain Out- Update on Save Our Sculpture! Project.

Volume21: Number 2 Page 25

Notes & Queries '

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Solitude in Stone, April 1997. Newsletter published
by Clyde R. Chamberlin, 1228 West Saginaw Street,
East Lansing, MI 48823-2432, tel. 517-337-0971. Con-
tains a mixture of photos and locations of unusual
markers, epitaphs, and books about gravestones.

Connecticut Gravestone Netivork, Vol. 2, No. 2, April
1997. Newsletter published by Ruth Shapleigh-Brown,
Exec. Dir., 135 Wells Street, Manchester, CT 06040-6127,
tel.860 / 643-5652. E-mail ijsruns@courant.infl.net

Inscriptions: Newsletter of the Wisconsin State Old
Cemetery Society, Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring 1997. Member-
ship fee $8 annually to Monna Aldrich, Treasurer, Box
141, 4370 Windsor Road, Windsor, WI 53598. Editor
is Dan Buckman, 3334 W. Grant Street, Milwaukee, WI
53215 (414)-384-1001.

Update: Save Outdoor Sculpture!, Winter issue. Vol.
8, No. 1. Smithsonian Institution's newsletter report-
ing on the progress of the SOS! project. A list of thirty-
five SOS! publications (print, video, and online re-
sources) with order form is available by calling 888-
SOS-SCULR

Notes and Queries

The Best Laid Plans
A Letter FromRoberta Halporn

In the Summer /Fall 1996 issue of the Ouarterly,
an article called "Grave Errors," described what bizarre
facts can appear in a newspaper article when you're in
the hands of a reporter who doesn't listen very well.
The picture caption as it appeared said the issue at hand
was a "New York City Riot." I have visions of many
out-of-town members saying, "What's so unusual
about a riot in New York City? Don't they have them
all the time?" Well no. We actually have fewer riots
than California, but the significant and terribly shame-
ful thing about my story was, it was not any old New

Page 26

York City riot, but the New York City Draft Riots.

What actually transpired was that the voluntary
recruitment for the Civil War was going so badly that
Lincoln initiated the first draft act. Unlike today, any-
one who had the funds could pay someone else to serve
for him. The largest group of poor citizens at the time
who might be obvious recepients were the Irish Catho-
lics. Unfortunately they had been harangued by their
priests for years against emancipation of the southern
Blacks, because they feared the loss of their parishio-
ners' unskilled jobs.

On the fateful day of the first conscription, the line
formed in the street to enroll. But only 4-5 men regis-
tered. Instead those present turned into a raging mob
— against their poverty and despair, I presume, but
the focus was on the Black Americans in the Cit\' go-
ing about their normal business. The rioters burned
down the orphanage in which the black orphans were
living, and murdered approximately 4,000 other Afri-
can-Americans. The flames of hatred swept up the East
Coast for three weeks, as far as Boston. In the end,
Lincoln had to call troops back from the front to quell
the disturbances. It is a Sarah Cotter, one of rescuers
of those orphans that inspired the bronze bas relief
doors.

Omitted from my history texts, and never men-
tioned in my adult reading, I proceeded to look the
story up and learned about the whole shameful epi-
sode. This is one of the reasons I love cemeteries so
much — of learning there is never an end.

A Note from Jessie Father

Readers of the fine article by Cynthia Toolin about
the Mormon sculpture. The Tragedy at Winter Quarters
(Summer / Fall, 1996, page 6) will be interested to know
that AGS has a special connection with that
monument's sculptor, Avard Tennyson Fairbanks.
Avard Fairbanks' son, Jonathan, is an important con-
tributor to gravestone study. He was one of the origi-
nal members of AGS, has been our conference key-
note speaker, and will be speaking in Leicester this
June.

Jonathan L Fairbanks, is the Katharine Lane
Weems Curator of American Decorative Arts and
Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. A \'isit
to his department in the Museum will reward AGS

Volume21: Number 2

AGS Quarterly Spring 1997

Notes & Queries

members with displays' of gravestone photo-
graphs and related artifacts as well as exhibits of me-
morial jewelry and the original (threatened)
Dorchester, Massachusetts, stone for John Foster, 1681,
who was an astronomer, a mathematician, a printer of
books, and the first printmaker in North America.

The following caption for the photograph has been
contributed by Mr. Fairbanks.

Avard Fairbanks' bronze sculpture, commissioned
by The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, me-
morializes the trials and demise of Mormon pioneers
at their winter encampment of 1846. According to
Jonathan Fairbanks, the two windswept bronze figures
burying their child compellingly recall the high infant
mortality in that year of the Mormons' decision to re-
locate in the Far West. The sculpture is also a personal
testimony, for at that encampment, several Fairbanks
family members perished.

The Oldest Gravestone in the United States
From John Sterling

The oldest gravestone in the United States has long
been thought to be the Sara Tefft stone in Warwick,
Rhode Island dated 1642. For the last four years I have
been recording the historical cemeteries in Warwick,
all 158 of them, for a book. I had planned to promi-
nently feature the Sara Tefft marker as the oldest known
gravestone. One year of research later I am certain
that this stone has been misread for over 150 years.
Sara actually was the wife of Joshua Tefft and she died
shortly after the death of their son Peter in March of
1672. The carver of her gravestone, a very crudely in-
scribed fieldstone, cut the (normally) horizontal top
on the seven at a steep downward angle. This lead sev-
eral researchers (Dr. Usher Parsons, 1840 and Rufus
Greene, 1868 among others) to read this number as a
four, thus making this the oldest known gravestone in
the United States.

Now that this error has been corrected a new can-
didate for oldest gravestone must be sought. Guiness
does not have such a category, so it is up to AGS to
conduct the quest. Laurel Gabel has searched the AGS
archive and come up with the several possible candi-
dates. There is a box tomb of Ephraim Huit in Windsor,
Connecticut dated 1644. This would be the oldest grave
marker, but it is not a gravestone. The Gov. John
Coggeshall gravestone in Newport, RI, 1647 would be
the next oldest by date, but we know by the carving
style and the carver that it was not carved until about
1680. The next candidate is a crude fieldstone memo-
rializing "E.L. Age 48 1647" from Ipswich, Massachu-
setts. More research is now needed to say definitively
which is the oldest gravestone. AGS members live in
all parts of the country and have visited thousands of
cemeteries in search of gravestones. The oldest grave-
stone has probably been seen, and possibly even pho-
tographed. If we could tap into that knowledge we
would have the answer. Would anyone who knows of
an older gravestone than 1647 in the United States
please write to the AGS office to my attention. Include
the name of the person interred, the date and the loca-
tion of the gravestone. I will report in a future article
in the Quarterly on the results of this quest.

Volume21: Number 2

Page 27

Calendar of Coming Soen/s

Cloil 'TOar 9ie-enactmeni - 9iugusl 93-24 199. IVickham ^ork on ^oule 44. 6asl 9iorijord Connedkul

S^dmission: S^dulis -$5-00. Children - •$3. 00. '-Under 6 ~ free. lienefiUo rexlore the 1Q9 year-old Cioil "-llJar monumentin Center Cemetery <5pon\ored

by Triends of Center Cemetery. 'Jnc. and ''Patriotic Commission ofGast'-Jiartford.

'llJilllam Taulkner Centennial Celebration - September 25-27, ^097 '^em Albany, '^issis.iippi
^or details calllJnion County historical Society 1-3S3~534-3Q32.

'Jiesloralion '-Boston 9S - 'J^larch -19.-14 1993, The '^orldTrade Center. The largest trade exhibition and conference dedicated to renooation and
re-creation of traditionally .styled buildings, objects, landscapes and period gardens. 503-664-6455

Ancient Cemetery 'Bus Tours - T'utnam 'Visitors liureau. Carmel 9)ero fjork

'P^lahopac'^rea Tours. 'August 9 and October 11 . 1991 Carmel9irea Tours, ^uly 19 and September QO, 1997

Triends of 'iMounl 'Auburn - Summer Schedule. Call 611-541-1105 for program details and cemetery walking tours.

© 1997 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quartely, unlessspecifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is
used for educational purposes; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and/or photogi-apher or artist involved;
(3) a copy of the document or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office.

The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of The Association for Gravestone Studies.

Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome.

The goal of the Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones,
cemeteries and activities of the Association.

To contribute items: please send items to Caylah Pafenbach at the AGS office.

Membership fees: Senior/Student, $20; Individual, $25; Institutional, $30; Family, $35; Supporting, $60; Life, $1000, The
membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, the Journal of The Association for Gravestone Studies: Please

send articles to Richard Meyer, Editoi of Markers, Department of English, Western Oregon State College, Monmouth Oregon 97361 . Markers
(Volume XIV) may be ordered, for a purchase price of $32 members, $37 non-members. Please add $5.00 postage. Back issues are available
from the AGS office.

Contribitions to the AGS Archives: send to Caylah Pafenbach, care of the AGS office.

All correspondence: please address to AGS, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield. Massachusetts 01301. or call 413-772-0836

The Association for Gravestone Studies

278 Main Street, Suite 207,
Greenfield, MA 01301,

NONPROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE

PAID
PERMIT NO. 208

GREENFIELD, MA

AGS Quarterly:

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK 2

FEATURES

"Marble Memories: The Graveyard Programme at the Oshawa

Sydenham Museum, Ontario," by Laura Suchan 3

"New Probate Citations of Payments to Stonecutters in Plymouth and

Barnstable County Records," by James Blachowicz 4

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th Century: Ralph Tucker 7

19th & 20th Century: Barbara Rotundo 8

Gravestones & Computers: John Sterling 9

Conservation News: W. Fred Oakley, Jr 10

REGIONAL COLUMNS

Southwest: Ellie Reichlin 11

Midwest: Helen Sclair 13

Southwest /Caribbean: Sharyn Thompson .14

New England /Maritime: Bob Klisiewicz 15

Across the Oceans: Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula 16

NOTES & QUERIES 18

RECEIVED IN THE AGS OFFICE 21

PUBLICATIONS LIST 22

CALENDAR 28

The mission of the Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the
cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board: Mary Cope, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith, John Spaulding

Quarterly Contributions: Comments and contributions are welcome. When submitting time-sensitive material please keep in mind that AGS
quarterlies often take several weeks to reach the membership. Mail your contributions to the appropriate column editor or to the AGS Office, 278
Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301. E-maU address: ags@javanet.com

Advertising Prices: Business card, $30; 1/4 page, $50; 1/2 page, $90; full page insert, $200. Send camera ready advertising with payment to the
AGS Office.

COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: June 25-28, 1998 (see pages 10 and 27)

Volume 21: Number 3

Summer 1997

ISSN: 0146-5783

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

Frank Calidorma

313 West Linden Street

Rome, New York 13440

E-mail: frank. calidorma

©world.att.net

^Jk.

AGS Has a New Life Member

Jessie Lie Farber is our newest Life Member, joining
the previous Life Members: Laurel Gabel, Barbara Rotundo,
Gaynell Stone, Daniel Farber, and Rosalee Oakley. The
membership fees for these life memberships constitute our
endowment funds. They are invested and not drawn upon
for day-to-day expenses. We are very grateful to these persons
for their special contribution and look forward to hearing from
others who would like to invest in the future of AGS.

Our expenses have increased over the years
especially in producing the Quarterly. Reluctantly we find
it necessary to increase our dues to offset these greater costs.
As of January 1, 1998 we will be increasing the dues by
five dollars per year. We hope this does not stress members'
budgets and cause people not to renew, but we have no
other sources of revenue to cover these costs at this time.

We beg your understanding. We have not raised
dues in quite a long time. The cost of everything from
personnel, simple office supplies, to the office itself, are up.
We were spoiled by Deborah Trask who published the
Neivsletter for years as a volunteer. The expenditures for
the Quarterly, formerly the Newsletter, go up all the time.
The paper and printing plus the labor costs escalate. The
bulk of your membership dues is used for publishing our
Quarterly leaving little for other vital office functions. We
want to keep the quality level of the Quarterly up and still
have enough resources left over for other membership
service functions. Thank you for your support and
understanding.

Special Vote of Thanks to Mike Bathrick

At the September meeting of the Board of Trustees the
following Resolution was passed unanimously and with
sincere gratitude:

Inasmuch as Mike Bathrick has
provided service to AGS, providing us access
to the Information Highway;

Inasmuch as he has created an AGS Web
Page, informing cyberspace of our existence;

Inasmuch as he created an e-mailbox for
the Association, bringing the world to our
door;

And inasmuch as it is now possible to
use a local server which will reduce our
telephone costs and allow our staff to update
our web pages from the office;

BOARD NEWS

Nominations Invited

Members are invited to submit names (theirs or
someone else's) to serve on the AGS Board of Trustees for
the Nominating Committee's consideration.

The Awards Committee also seeks names of those
who may be considered for the Forbes Award or an Oakley
Certificate of Merit.

Please submit names of possible trustees to Steve
Petke, 8 Cobblestone Road, East Granby, CT 060026, tel.
860/651-0833.

Names of award nominees may be sent to Daniel
Goldman, 115 Middle Road, E. Greenwich, RI 02818, tel.
401/884-7875.

Be it resolved:

That Mike Bathrick be gratefully
thanked for his generous service to AGS with
a letter of thanks from our Board of Trustees;

And that Mike Bathrick's services have
earned him the waiver of all fees for an AGS
conference of his choice. 0

AGS new e-mail address:

ags@javanet.com

AGS QUARTERLY: THE BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

ISSN: 0146-5783 November 1997

Published quarterly by The Association for Gravestone Studies, 278 Main Street, Suite 207,

Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301.

Page 2

\olume 21: Number 3

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AGS Qiinrtcrh/ Summer 1997

FEATURE ARTICLES

Marble Memories:
THE Graveyard Programme

AT THE OSHAWA SYDENHAM MUSEUM, ONTARIO

Laura Suchan

Oshawa Sydenham Museum

1450 Simcoe Street, S., PC Box 2303

Oshawa, Ontario LIH 8S8

Phone: (905)436-7624

Fax: (905)436-7625

As Director of a small community museum, I am con-
tinually interested in ways to integrate the museum and its
programming into the community. Our facility is located on
the shore of Lake Ontario, in southern Ontario, and com-
prises three restored homes dating from 1835 to 1849. Lo-
cated in close proximity to the museum is an early burying
ground that contains the remains of some of the first and
most prominent settlers in Oshawa. Museum staff felt the
proximity of the graveyard to the museum provided an ex-
cellent opportunity for an interesting and educational
programme for the local schools.

The graveyard with which we have become associ-
ated is the Harbour Pioneer Cemetery, the oldest graveyard
in Oshawa. The first burials are believed to have occurred in
the early 1800s, shortly after the first settlement in the area.
The land was originally a crown grant to King's College and
was later leased to Benjamin Wilson, the first settler in the
Oshawa area. Since that time, the land had changed hands
many times; but access, however difficult, was always main-
tained to the graveyard. In 1974, negotiations commenced to

move the graveyard from its original location to Bonnie Brae
Point, approximately one-third of a kilometer from the mu-
seum. In 1975, the remains of 195 people, as well as sixty
gravemarkers, were removed to their present location by a
cemeterian, to facilitate harbour expansion. Moving the
graveyard proved to be advantageous to the Oshawa
Sydenham Museum, because for the first time in many years
the graveyard was easily accessible for visitors. Now within
walking distance of the museum was the graveyard where
most of the historical figures associated with our historic
homes were buried.

As we developed the programme, we were able to
solve many of the mysteries associated with the graveyard
removal. Although the names on the stones accounted for
less than half of the people reported to have been buried in
the graveyard, we were able to discover many more of the
names from the cemeterian's records listing information con-
tained on the coffin plates. Unfortunately, since the
cemetery's records were destroyed in a fire many years ago,
a great deal of information was lost to researchers.

Although the programme was designed for students
in grade seven and up, we have had many visits from stu-
dents as young as grade three. Our intention is to educate
students and teachers on how to appreciate graveyards for
the wealth of information they can provide. When conduct-
ing our education programme we examine the people who
are represented in the graveyard. Many local streets and
buildings are named after these settlers, and children are
excited when they recognize a name. One of these people is
Thomas Henry, whose home is preserved as one of the mu-
seum buildings. In the archives are several personal letters,
photographs, and familial records which we use to supple-
ment the programme. Students are able to examine these

" Vj9

1 1

'•^ 1

i -^

w 1

SpMiH

Fig. 1: Some examples of the early stones in their new location.
Photo: Courtesy of the Oshawa Historical Society.

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

records and compare them with the data from the grave-
stones.

Of course, a study of gravestone design and ico-
nography is an important aspect of the programme. Stu-
dents are encouraged to view the stones as examples of
artistic talent in the community. The students are asked to
categorize the stones based on theme and design and to
discuss specific meanings of the motifs as they relate to
life and death. They have an opportunity to draw motifs
(we do not allow rubbings) or design their own. Organi-
zational and professional symbols, as they appear on the
stones, are introduced and discussed with the students.
Stone carving as an industry is another topic, and students
have a lot of fun matching particular designs with their
respective carvers.

One of the few problems we have encountered
with our programme is securing the cooperation of the
weather Even on warm and sunny days, the graveyard,
located on a high spot above Lake Ontario, is cool and
windy. At certain times of the year, especially the spring,
the graveyard is too wet for a large group of people to
tour At other times it rains during the tour, making it
impossible to venture outdoors. It was for this reason we
developed an "in-house" component to the programme.
We procured rubbings of the stones and then mounted
them on ethafoam, shaped like the stones. A slide show
was also prepared, showing the graveyard before and after
removal. We now have a programme which is available at
all times of the year and can even go on the road as an
outreach programme. The response to our programme has
been very encouraging. Schools and community groups
have expressed great interest in the programme, and we
have even consulted with other museums eager to set up
similar programmes.

Our graveyard programme is designed to foster
an appreciation on the part of teachers, students, and
citizens for the wealth of information which can be attained
from a graveyard. Often students arrive at the museum
with many misconceptions, believing graveyards to be
places more akin to horror stories than research. They leave
with a profound sense of respect for these places as a
valuable resource for studying history and the roots of their
community. Students who are taught respect for
graveyards will be less likely to commit graveyard
vandalism. 0

ndvertist'uieiit

CREATIVE

SCULPTURE

& RESTORATION

GARY KESHNER

705SE11THST.

LEES SUMMIT, MO 64081

816 554-1825

Page 4

new probate citations of payments to

Stonecutters in Plymouth and Barnstable

County, Massachusetts, Records

James Blachowicz

806 Colfax Street

Evanston, IL 60201

The following 147 citations are, to the best of my
knowledge, new — that is — contained neither in the AGS
research collection nor in Peter Benes' list of citations in The
Masks of Orthodoxy.

Markers XV will contain mv detailed study of
three of these carvers — Lemuel Savery, Amaziah Harlow, Jr.
and Nathaniel Holmes — as well as some discussion of the work
of John Tribbel and Jabez M. Fisher.

For the complete text for any of these citations, wnite
me at 806 Colfax Street, Evanston, IL 60201.

The entry after each name is the volume and page
number of the probate record, followed by years of death and
probate settlement. ("P" = Plymouth Co.; "B" = Barnstable
Co.). *Specifically mentions gravestones.

(1) A. Carey

*Richard Nickerson (B53:437; , 1833), Chatham

(2) Wm. & Noah Cushman

Silvanus Conant (P35:175; , 1794), Middleborough [Noah]
*Sophia Kingsley (P37:466; , 1801), Bridgewater [William]

(3) Eveleth & Co.

*Elisha Howes (B85:124; , 1855), Chatham

(4) Jabez M. Fisher

*lsaac Weekes (B61:381; , 1842), Harwich
*Alvah Nickerson (B61:482; 1842, 1844), S. Demiis
*Benoni Baker (B61:569; 1844, 1845), S. Yarmouth

Sally Small (B77:132; 1847, 1848), Harwich
*Israel Nickerson (B77:195; 1847, 1848), S. Demiis
*Abram Hedge (B77:235; 1848, 1849), Yarmouth
^Elijah Dyer (B77:254; , 1849), Pro\dncetown
*Gorham Baker (B77:267; 1847, 1850), S. Dennis
*Nathan R Sears (B77:296; 1848, 1850), E. Demiis
*Amos Whorf (B77:340; , 1851), Provincetou'n
^Alexander Howes (B77:391; 1849, 1851), Demiis
*Darius Weekes (B77:417-418; , 1852), Harwich

Isaac Hinckley (B77:475; 1850, 1852), Barnstable
^Samuel S. Crocker (B77:509; 1851, 1853), Cummaquid

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

*Daniel F. Small (B85:95; , 1853), Provincetown
*Arthur Hallet (B85:133;1852, 1855), Yarmouth

Hamiah Baker (B85:142, 390; 1851, 1855), S. Dennis
*Gideon Crowell (685:198; 1855, 1856), S. Yarmouth
*John Baker (B85:227; 1854, 1856), Brewster
*Michael Burgess (B85:363; 1857, 1858), Harwich
*EIisha Baker (B85:371; 1852, 1858), S. Yarmouth
*Ebenezer Turner (685:404; , 1858), Barnstable

(5) Nathan Fobes

*Moses Swift (635:324; , 1810), Falmouth

(6) Edward Hallet

*Prince Howes (677:370; 1841, 1851), Yarmouth

(7) Amaziah Harlow, Jr.

Rev. Chandler Robbins (P37:481; 1799-1801), Plymouth
*Eleazor Holmes (P42:193; 1798, 1807), Plymouth
Rev. John Cotton (P44:313; 1789, 1805), Plymouth
[carved by Lemuel Savery; payment for setting stone?]

(8) D. Higgins

*Thomas Watkins (885:317; , 1857), Truro

(9) John Homer & son

*Isaiah Mayo (B30:92; 1796, 1798), Wellfleet

(10) Nathaniel Holmes

Silvanus Gorham (633:98; 1805, 1807), 6arnstable
*Samuel Gray (633:167; 1806, 1808), 6arnstable
Joseph Easterbrook (635:48; 1807, 1807), 6arnstable
*Mary Hinckley (635:406; 1809, 1811), 6arnstable
*Joseph Annable (639:23; 1811, 1812), Barnstable
*Ebenezer Crocker (641;265; 1817, 1818), Sandwich
Nabby 6acon (645:327; 1824, 1825), 6arnstable
Capt. Lot Hallet (647:19, 22; 1825, 1827), Hyannis
Job C. Davis (647:384; 1827, 1829), Barnstable
Henry Hallet (647:556; 1825, 1829), W. Yarmouth
*Samuel Drody (652:513; , 1832), Sandwich
James Smith (652:541; 1832, 1832), 6arnstable
Capt. Henry Allen (653:240; 1827, 1833), 6arnstable
*Eloisa 6acon (661:35; 1835, 1837), 6arnstable
*Walter Chipman (661:54; 1837, 1838), 6arnstable
*George Crocker (661:218; 1823, 1828), W. Barnstable
*Sophia Crocker (661:222; 1835, 1837), W. 6arnstable
Jeremiah Hallet (661:265; 1819, 1840), Yarmouth
John Easterbrook (661:267; 1836, 1840), 6arnstable

*Lot Scudder (661:273; 1839, 1841), Centerville
*Hannah Goodspeed (661:302; 1840, 1841), Marstons Mills
*Doane Snow (661:521; 1842, 1843), Hyannis
*Joshua Lovell (661:531; 1824, 1844), Ostervillo
*Horace S. Crocker (677:94; , 1 847), 8arnstable?
*Ebenezer Scudder (677:172; 1847, 1847), Marstons Mills
*Henry Smith (677:197; 1847, 1848), Barnstable
*Isaac Scudder (677:503; 1847, 1848), Osterville

Clarindia Jones (677:525; 1849, 1853), W. Barnstable
*Isaac Bearse (685:252; 1855, 1856), Centerville
*Robinson Hinckley (685:381; 1857, 1858), 6arnstable

(11) Thomas A. Hopkins

*Fanny Crosby (677:247; , 1849), Brewster
*Franklin Hopkins (677:362; , 1851), Orleans

Joshua Small (677:486; , 1852), Truro
*Sarah Doane (685:113; 1854, 1855), Wellfleet

Archelaus Smith (685:118; ,1855), ?
*Atkins Dyer (685:210; , 1856), Truro
*Knowles Smith (685:240; 1849, 1856), Orleans

Henry Kingman (697:180; , 1860), Orleans

(12) Ebenezer Johnson

*Stephen Crowel (628:113; , 1797?), Yarmouth

(13) Barney Leonard

Hannah Thayer (P44:458; , 1813), 6ridgewater

(14) Joseph Lewis (Hudson, NY)
*Abigail Crocker (656:153; , 1834?), Barnstable?

(15) Oliver N. Linnell

*John 6assett (677:210; , 1849), Harwich
Jesse Nickerson (677:306; , 1850), Chatham

*Sabina Nickerson (677:365; , 1851), Chatham

*6enjamin R Nickerson (677:460; , 1852), Chatham
Lumbert Nickerson (677:518; , 1853), Chatham

*Nathan Rogers (685:87; , 1854), Harwich

^Christopher Smith (685:131; , 1855), Chatham

*Enoch Smith (685:194; , 1856), Chatham

*Enoch Bassett (B85:199; , 1856), Catham

*Susan Berry (685:370; , 1858), Chatham

(16) Nathaniel & Cyrus Pratt

*Joseph Hearsey (P43:60; , 1809), Abington [Cyrus]
George Little (P45:10; , 1813), Scituate [Nathaniel]
Asa Whitmerck (P45:202; , 1813), 6ridgewater [Cyrus]
*Luke 6icknell (P48:261; , 1816), Abington [Cyrus]

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 5

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

(17) Lemuel Savery

*Oakes Angier (P30:388; 1786, 1788), W. Bridgewater
*James Hovey (P30:486; 1781, 1783), Plymouth

Ebenezer Doten (P31:134; 1786, 1790), N. Carver
*Sylvai\us Bramhall (P35:69; 1779, 1794), Plymouth

Elisha Mitchell (P35:305; 1790, 1795), E. Bridgewater
*Thomas Jackson (P36:277; 1794, 1797), Plymouth

(18) Ebenezer, Asaph & Beza Soule

Adam Wright (P28:115; , 1782), Plympton [Ebenezer]
^Nathaniel Barrows (P40:173; , 1805), Middleborough
[Asaph]
Zechariah Standish (P28:121; , 1782), Plympton

[Ebenezer]
Zebedee Chandler (P28:450; , 1782), Plympton
[Ebenezer]
*Samuel Bourn (B35:131-132; , 1807), Sandwich
[Bezar =Ebenezer]

(19) Josiah Sparrow

*Joshua P Atwood (661:511; , 1844), Eastham
*John F. Anderson (B61:528; , 1844), Yarmouth
*Mulford Kendrick (B77:143; , 1848), Harwich

(20) William Sturgis [J. Sturgis]

Ezra H. Burgess (B61:362; , 1842), Sandwich [William]
*Noah Davis (B61:466; , 1843), Falmouth [Mr.]
Jonathan Burr (B61:568; 1842, 1844), Sandwich [William]
*Deliverance Baty (877:240; , 1849), Sandwich [J. Sturgess
&Co.]

(21) James Thompson

*Sylvanus Hammond (B77:356; , 1851), Falmouth

[J. Thomston]
*Elisha Gifford (B85:99; , 1854), Falmouth

[James Thompson]

(22) Isaac and George Thomson

*Ezra Nelson (P40:126; , 1804), Middleborough [Isaac]
*Ruth Tinkham (P40:303; , 1805), Middleborough [Isaac]
*Benjamin Thomas (P43:371; , 1809), Middleborough

[Isaac)
"Israel Thomas (P43:449; , 1811), Middleborough [George]
*Ebenezer Vaughn (P43:460; , ), Middleborough

[George]
*Edmund Weston (P48:29; , 1816), Middleborough

[George]
*John Soule (P48:391; , 1817), Middleborough [George]

Page 6

(23) Tingley

"Freeman Baker (B77:58; 1841, 1844), S. Dennis

(24) John Tribbel

"Nathaniel Holmes (P43:492; 1805, 1811)"*, Plymouth
"Capt. Jesse Harlow (P43:524; 1809, 1811), Plymouth
"Elizabeth Wethrell (P45:238; 1814, 1814), Plymouth
"Sylvanus Bartlett (P48:159; 1811, 1816), Plymouth
Eliphalet Holbrook (P48:343; 1815, 1817), Plymouth

(25) Bildad Washburn

Joseph Darling (P35:208; , 1795), Duxbury
"Joanna Macumber (P35:219-220; 1791, 1795), Marshfield

Nathan Kingman (P35:370-371; , 1797), Bridgewater

Edward Oakman (P35:436; 1791, 1795), Marshfield
"Abigail Ripley (P35:492; 1795, 1796), Kingston

William Keen (P35:553; 1792, 1796), Marshfield

Lydia Foster (P35:561; , 1796), Kingston

Peres Chandler (P37:378; 1800, 1800), Duxburs'

Barnabas Harlow (P37:433; , 1796), Plympton

Samuel Alden (P40:210; , 1805), Duxbury
"Phebe Kent (P42:194; 1805, ), Kingston

Sarah Mitchell (P45:39; , 1813), Kingston

Joseph Adams (P48:200; , 1816), Kingston

(26) Ebenezer Winslow

"James Packens Jr. (P35:387; , 1795), Middleborough

(27) Ebenezer D. Winslow

Note: the following entry is taken from the 1850 US Census:
Brewster Ebenezer D. Winslow 57M Stone-Cutter

born in Plymton
(p. 129) Harriet 51F bom in Brewster

"Timothy Doane (B47:307; 1823, 1825), Orleans
"Ruth Higgins (B52:56; , 1829), Orleans
"Nathan Lincoln (B52:60; , ), ?
"William Nye (652:409; , 1832), ?
"Ebenezer Brooks (653:69; , 1831), Harwich
"Johr-i Topping (661 :68; , 1837), Chatham
"Elisha Sears (661 :239; , 1839), Dennis
"Haskell Crosby (677:103; , 1847), 6re\vster

Elkanah Freeman (677:318; , 1850), Brewster
"Abigail Freeman (877:368, 393; , 1851), Brewster
"Temperance Snow (685:318; 1844, 1857), Bre^vste^

(28) Ebenezer Wood

"Amasa Tomson (P43:447; , 1811), [Ply. Co.] 0

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th and 18th century
Gravestones and Carvers

Ralph Tucker

P.O. Box 306

Georgetown, ME 04548

(207) 371-2423

THE WITCHSTONE
and other early stones

In Byfield, Massachusetts, there are some of the
earliest stone carvings made by white men, dating back to
the 1630s. As early as 1900 the Scientific American
Supplement published an article by Horace C. Hovey who
believed that the many slate gravestones in the area were
made in Wales. In Byfield there were also some diorite stones
with singular carving which were not gravestones, and which
he believed to be of a "pagan" influence. There were also a
number of diorite gravestones now identified as the work of
the Leighton family of Newbury. There are also a number of
milestones on similar diorite which may also be by the
Leightons. Two step-stones dated 1636, and 1640 were not
made by the Leightons and another odd stone, apparently a
door stone which may well date to the 1630s and called the
"Bride of the Sun" consists of a head with hearts and fleur-
de-lis. Hovey was correct in calling attention to these stones,
but was unable to accurately understand them.

Lura Woodside Watkins in the Oct. 1963 issue of
Antiques magazine wrote of the Byfield stones which she saw
as the only seventeenth century stone carvings done "for the
pleasure of the carver." Found on the farm of Richard
Dummer, who was probably the wealthiest man in the Bay
Colony, the stones are in Byfield [a parish of Newbury,
Massachusetts]. The "witchstone" now set up as a farm
boundary marker is a remarkable work with which she was
especially intrigued, and of which she remarked "... the
figure presented complete evidence of seventeenth century
feeling and style." It portrays a gentleman of some elegance
in a tight-fitting coat with a flaring skirt having buttons down
the front, a full buttoned wig and a broad-brimmed hat.. The
shoes have high heels, which went out of style by 1700. How
it acquired its name is unknown.

The Dummer farm goes back to 1635 when the
General Court " ... sett out a ferme for Mr. Dumer aboute
the falls of Neweberry not exceeding the quantity of 500
acres." A mill was built by 1636. As Richard was a supporter
of Anne Hutchinson in 1637 he left the colony but returned
two years later. Watkins supposes that the 1636 door-step
was made at the time of the grant and that perhaps the

^

^>r^^^Mi^m

*.'/.r ••■:Vv.< '."v'-.'y _>,;■. Jf^ycvSR*-/;

The witchstone

witchstone represents Richard Dummer at his second
marriage in 1643.

There was a mill on the Dummer land as early as
1636. Records are available that show that millstone blanks
were imported in 1631 and carted to nearby Rowley where
Goodman Funnell was paid 13£ 6s. 3d. for making the
millstones. In a later article by Lura Watkins in the Essex
Institute Historical Collections #106, in 1969 she adds to the
Byfield Carvings information. As diorite is one of the hardest
stones, these carvings show no marks of a chisel but were
made by picking. The groves were made with a millstone
pick: a piece of metal tapered from a substantial thickness at
the center to a sharp edge at each end with a short wooden
handle running through the middle at right angles. A
chipping motion was used, not a hammering motion.

Each of the articles mentioned has illustrations of
the various stones, and a bicentermial booklet "Newbury
Mass. 1635-1776" also has some illustrations. The
"witchstone" remains at Witchstone Farm on Coleman Road,
Byfield, many of the gravestones are in the surrounding area,
and the early door steps are now at the Smithsonian Institute
in Washington, D. C. 0

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 7

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

19th & 20th Century Gravestones

Barbara Rotur\do

48 Plummer Hill Rd. Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

Thanks to material sent by Dorma Bogs about the
Black Angel of Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City, I have
been thinking about the way vmusual gravemarkers at-
tract myths. People want to understand anything out of
the ordinary. If they don't know the true story, they will
create an explanation that seems logical to them. Because
it is logical, it seems true to others. Eventually it becomes
impossible to separate the real facts from the legendary.
One example is the rare stone in the South that has a skull
carved on it. Since there is no history of early puritan re-
ligions in the area, the local explanation is that the stone
marks the grave of a pirate. One of the interesting aspects
of these stories is that people who tell them believe ut-
terly in their truth. I have learned that you get nowhere if
you try to tell them the truth behind the myth.

The facts concerning the Black Angel in Oakland
Cemetery are simple. A Bohemian immigrant, Teresa
Dolezal Feldevert, commissioned a Chicago sculptor,
Mario Korbel, to create the angel in 1912. It was to mark
the grave of her eighteen-year-old son and her second
husband. Later she herself was buried there. Cast in
bronze and the largest sculpture in the cemetery, the an-
gel dominated its surroundings. When oxidation dark-
ened it, the stories began: it turns blacker every Hallow-
een or it turns white for one second Halloween midnight;

it turned black overnight when a lover of the deceased was
unfaithful or when a check for its payment bounced; if you
touch it you will die — any time from within one day to seven
years. And the legends continue to grow. Naturally a night
under the angel's wings is a favorite hazing sentence, yet one
report said at least two weddings have taken place in front of
it.

Do you have some local legends about which }'ou dis-
covered the truth in your research? Do share them with mem-
bers by sending them in to the Quarterly.

Donna also sent a handsome leaflet for a walking tour
of Aspen Grove Cemetery in Burlington, Iowa. Aspen Grove
is definitely worth a visit if you are in eastern Iowa, or nearby
in Illinois or Missouri.

tOtHi:«XHBJii:tin\Jci

Kitvi>;-;iv^>:\'::..u;^M;,-/i-j::^:;;>;-;..^;.>;:-.':>.^--i

adverti

seme^^t

HAND CARVED LE llERING IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari

433 Bedford Street

617-862-1583

Lexington, MA 02173

Page 8

Line Drawing In/ Virginia Rockwood

I received a letter of reprimand for my comments
attached to Robert Wright's contribution about the dangers of
city cemeteries. If anvone reading it felt I was condescending,
I apologize. I certainly didn't mean that if the undergrowth in
a cemetery had been cleared, all visitors were automatically
safe. In these days of random, unprox^oked \-iolence, no
cemetery or other open space can be considered safe, certainly
not in crowded, impersonal cities. What I was tr\dng to do was
emphasize some actions \ve can take that will make visits safer.
Mine was the same approacli as tour guides endlessly repeating
the ways to protect yourself against pickpockets. If you follow
the ailes, the odds for a pleasant experience greatly improve,
but there is no guarantee. 0

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

Gravestones & Computers

John E. Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, Rl 02818

E-mail: j_ster@prodigy.com

If you are thinking about recording a cemetery or a
group of cemeteries you should develop a set of rules so that
all people working on the project are recording data
consistently. For small cemeteries (up to about 50
gravestones) you should assign map numbers going left to
right and front to back. This will allow you to look back at
who is buried next to whom. This will help genealogists
establish additional relationships between the people. Never
alphabetize the data for publication. Print the data in the
natural order and provide an index. For medium to large
cemeteries you should decide whether to use section
numbers or lot numbers. Sections are usually delineated by
roads or paths. Lots are easy to see if they are curbed and
can be difficult to distinguish if they are not curbed. It is
usually best to use section numbers and add map numbers
as you would in a small cemetery.

Large cemeteries sometimes look like an
overwhelming challenge to record, but if you break them
down into sections and treat each section like a small
cemetery, they are less intimidating. It's like eating an
elephant; if you do it one bite at a time eventually the job is
done. Several people can work on the project by recording
groups of sections. The data can be combined in the computer
later. I have been recording a 110-acre cemetery that contains
over 100,000 burials for four years. I go on a nice day and
record one section. I have now finished 33 acres. To estimate
the number of burials in a cemetery that is full, figure about
1000 per acre. The number can range from 800 to 1500.

You should decide early what data to take.
Obviously you will want to record the name of the deceased,
the date of death, age and any relationships presented on
the stone. You may want to record the verse which is usually
generic. Whether you record it or not, you should read it to
see if there is any personal data, such as "she was the mother
of ten children" that you would record. You may want to
record some data about the gravestone such as the material,
shape, condition and carving. The AGS database provides
six codes to record this data as well as the height and width.
You may have additional genealogical data, such as parent's
names, that you may want to add. This data should be
identified as not being on the gravestone with something
like square brackets [ ].

There are also some miscellaneous rules that should
be adopted to maintain consistency. The following are typical

rules but you should think about them and then develop a
list that suits your needs:

1. Don't ignore the titles "Mr." or "Mrs." For 16th
and 17th-century gravestones; these titles are meaningful and
should be recorded.

2. Terms such as "relict of" or "consort of" are
alternative terms for wife of. W/O should be substituted in
the relationship field. Occasionally "widow of" should be
retained but if her husband is next to her, it is not necessary.

3. Information such as "of Boston" should be noted
in the comments.

4. Dates before 1753 between January 1 and March
25 may be listed as 1724 / 5 for OS / NS (old style / new style).
Use the new style year after March 25.

5. Decide if you will use a period after initials. If
some do and some don't, your data will not look as neat.
We do not use periods after initials.

6. Do not guess at relationships. Do not call a woman
W/O Robert unless that information shows on the
gravestone in some form.

If you plan to publish a book to document your
project, you should format a couple of pages of the book
after you have recorded a couple of hundred gravestones.
Going through this process will usually change a few things
about how you record and enter your data.

When recording in a cemetery always use a mirror
to reflect the sunlight so that it casts shadows on the numbers
and letters so they can be more easily read. If you have
weathered marble stones to read, see the article, "Reading
Weathered Marble Gravestones Requires a Knowledge of
the Carver's Craft," in the Summer/Fall 1996 issue of the
AGS Quarterly.

To order the AGS standard gravestone recording program
(IBM version only) , send $19.95 plus $2.00 shipping to:

AGS - Database Standard
278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301 0

Volume 21 : Number 3

Page 9

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

Call for Papers!

1998 AGS Conference

Monmouth University

West Long Branch, New Jersey

June 25-28, 1998

The 1998 Conference Program Chair is Barbara

Rotundo. Barbara is looking for papers from

around the country and abroad.

Proposals and 250-word abstracts are due
February 15, 1998

Remember! This is an organization for

gravestone studies. An occasional paper on

cemeteries or mourning customs is acceptable,

but the focus should always be on gravestones.

Please send proposals and abstracts to:

Barbara Rodunto

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

(603) 524-1092

For general information

on AGS Conferences, contact:

AGS Office

278 Main Street, Suite 207

Greenfield, MA 01301

^

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

i .

'■* •v

19 Hadley Place

'

^ '-

Hadley, MA 01035
(413) 584-1756

%•■

e-mail: oakl@javanet.com

Cemetery Conservation
IN Mansfield, Massachusetts

T]ie key to recruiting volunteers is building a
strong ivorking relationship with local news-
papers, i.e. the reporters.

For the Town of Mansfield, the conser\'ation of eight
town-owned historic cemeteries began under the care and
direction of the Park & Recreation Department in the Fall of
1993. Funding for a Cemetery Restoration Project Coordinator
($2,000) came from the Town's Park and Recreation
Department. Billie Siena (AGS member) was hired as Project
Coordinator and began the restoration process at the Old Town
Cemetery.

Additional funding ($4,000) for the second and third
years came from the budget of the Veterans Agent and the
capital improvement budget of the Historical Commission.
The Project Coordinator used these funds for photographic
services, informational plaques for each of the eight cemeteries,
and odds and ends which were generally office supplies, small
tools, and minor equipment.

The Old Town Cemetery (in the center of the town bv
the Town Hall) was the first to be treated. It has approximately
600 head and foot stones dating from 1724. This project has
been completed with each stone documented and
photographed. The work plan has now shifted to conservation
of the East Street Cemetery which has approximateh' 300
stones.

Dedicated volunteers have done the bulk of the work
at East Street. They were recruited through ne^vspaper articles,
press releases, two videos created and aired by local Cable
Station Channel 8, word of mouth, and The Graveyard Gazette,
a newsletter published by the Cemetery Commission.
Particularly exciting was the involvement for three conseaitive
years of Middle School sixth graders meeting the history
requirements of a project on discrimination. Volunteers attend
workshops led by restoration professionals and town staff to
learn the correct way to clean, restore, and document stones.

Caring for volunteers is an
effort. In addition to welcoming
them with donuts and beverages,
pizza is served for lunch. The
closing recognition for their labors
is a T-shirt with the logo design
"Preserving Our Past for Our Future."

Page 10

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

WORKSHOPS IN OTTUMWA, IOWA

Here is an excerpt from Beverly LeCroy's letter of
July 23, 1997:

"The Preservation Workshop at last year's confer-
ence [1996 in Gorham, Maine] totally changed the way I do
gravestone studies. I used to tromp a cemetery looking for
my stone carvers and symbols and think it was a shame that
an old stone was in disrepair. Now I tromp through and say
'Hey I think I can fix that!' and get excited about fixing it."

Ed. note: Beverly urns allowed to teach a course at Indian
Hills Community College two evenings a week for six weeks using
Strangstad's A Graveyard Preservation Primer as the course
text, notes from the conservation workshop in Gorham, Maine, and
several telephone calls to the editor. A tripod for lifting stones was
fabricated by the weldhig department of the college to specifica-
tions provided by the editor and appearing in the Spring 1997
AGS Quarterly.

Seeking Conservators

Are you or is someone you know currently engaged
in conserving cemetery monuments? Your editor is seeking
names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses
for a list of conservators. AGS is often asked for such
information in widely separated areas of our country. We
would like to refer persons seeking to have stones repaired
to someone near them. Anyone using this list should be
careful to examine references since we have no way of
determining the level of competence of those whom we
list. 0

advertisement

MONUMENT CONSERVATION COLLABORATrVE

Preserving the substance and significance of gravestones

IRVING SLAVID, Consenalor PROF. NORMAN WEISS, Consultant
P0B0X6. COLEBROOKCT.06021 (860)379-2462 FAX (860) 379-92 1 <>

REGIONAL COLUMNS

Southwest

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch, Vail, Arizona 85641

Phone: (520) 647-7005

Fax: (520) 647-7136

A Visit to Fort Huachuca, Arizona

Fort Huachuca which adjoins the city of Sierra Vista, is
still an active U.S. Army post. When it was founded in 1877,
it had been preceded by eleven other "garrisons built in
Arizona Territory, south of the Gila [River]" since 1856.
[Cornelius Smith: Fort Huachuca, the Story of a Frontier Post —
1976] Like these, its foremost purpose was to subdue Apache
Indian attacks, and also to "protect" U.S. citizens living on
both sides of the nearby border with Mexico in the event of
an invasion by Mexican troops. A hidden agenda may also
have been to have available troop support in the event the
United States launched a much-discussed attempt to annex
the State of Sonora from Mexico. Located about forty miles
southeast of Tucson, Fort Huachuca — at 5000 feet — is in a
different climatic and biotic zone, cooler, with oaks and
junipers and grasslands rather than the Sonoran desert's
astonishing variety of cactus, mesquites and other prickly
plants. Like Tucson, though, it's surroiinded by dramatic
mountain ranges. The drive via Sonoita and Sierra Vista, is
beautiful — even for Arizona's southeast corner where it's
hard NOT to find something beautiful close at hand. I'd
recommend this trip if you're visiting Tucson; it can be easily
combined with Tombstone and Bisbee in the same day. Be
prepared to get a "pass" to the Base, which means having
proof of citizenship and proof of car insurance. A nuisance,
but I think it's worth it.

Fort Huachuca's cemetery is at the far eastern end
of the cluster of late nineteenth century buildings which
make up its "historic area." This includes the parade grounds,
barracks, officers' housing, and museums, all of which
complement a visit to the cemetery itself. The two museums
use life-scale dioramas which provide a good "feel" for the
experience of military life in a remote area, — mostly
monotony — over the span of a century, augmented by well-
chosen quotes from contemporary sources. These, together
with the surviving wooden buildings, give one an excellent
sense of the ambience of a frontier post where the architecture
copied from military posts elsewhere, vaguely New
England /Midwestern in style, comfortably settled and tidy,
yet awkwardly out of place. The same goes for the
cemetery — surrounded by a comfortably tidy wall of
mortared cobblestones, (looking a bit like the "puddingstone"
construction used in the Boston area at about the same time)

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 11

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

very unlike the vernacular adobe or wrought iron which
the nearby Hispanic communities almost certainly would,
have used instead. A cast-iron gate, with the sign
"Cemetery — 1883" mounted at its apex, provides a suitably
formal entrance.

Inside the robust walls, the trees — Emory oaks native
to the region — are the only irregularities in the cemetery's
exceptionally uniform layout of nearly identical
headstones of white marble or a similarly white-colored
stone, cut to the same size and width, spaced at identical
intervals. Nearly all have a shallow incised motif
resembling a large badge or escutcheon, on which the
deceased's name is inscribed. In some instances, there is
simply a generic "Civilian" or "Infant" bespeaking the
overlap between the Fort and its surroundings. Birth and
death dates are absent until the 1920s. Regardless of the
era — and the cemetery is still receiving burials — the font
of the inscriptions shows little change. Although the
grouping of headstones is roughly chronological, there are
no traces of changing styles in the design of the markers,
nor alterations in their material and dimensions over
time — a contrast to what would be expected in a civilian
burying ground of a century's span. Text entries are
similarly regulated, coiitaining very little in the way of
biographical detail relating to origins, biological or
geographic. Marital or parental status receives little
emphasis until the mid-20th century when it seems to have
become an option to inscribe the name of the wife and
children on the reverse of a marker, with their birth and
death dates. At about this time too, military rank and the
"war theaters" where the deceased participated began to
be cited on the front of the stone.

This was definitely a resting place where "less is
more," where a regimented and conservative aesthetic —
possibly determined by considerations of cost — in
aggregate makes a statement about the appropriate ways
to memorialize a soldier's death. The striking absence of
visual embellishment on the markers, coupled with the
sameness of their color, height, spacing, and abbreviated
text, might have been monotonous, or had an
impoverished effect; strangely, it didn't. Surrounded by
mountains whose smooth and irregular granite peaks
splayed every which way, richly colored with dark green
and gray, the place seemed a clearing where one could
contemplate the majestic natural frame, while also reading
into the cultural remains an implicit message — that death
cuts everyone down to the same size, that affiliation with
the military overrides considerations of individuality. Or
perhaps the message is a cynical one: 'you get what you
pay for' — small stones, little text, nothing fancy. My
romantic bent recoils from this interpretation, but it may
not be that wide of the mark.

Frankly, whatever impressions 1 have about the
cemetery at Fort Huachuca shotild he taken for just that —
impressions. I realize how important it would be to know

the federal rules which have governed military cemeteries for
the past century, including their layout, the design of their
markers, and the admission of their occupants generally. The
aesthetic of this cemetery seems so regimented that 1 can't help
but wonder if it has a philosophical basis — possibly written
down somewhere — or is it all my projections? I'd welcome
enlightenment from members knowledgeable about militarj'
cemeteries — do they differ by epoch? by region? by branch
of the armed services? How specific are the regulations? You
can be sure your replies will be published in this column, since
I'm always interested in contributions beyond my own.

Finally, a few random jottings — the ver\' uniformit)'
of Fort Huachuca's cemetery incites a search for 'breaks' in
the pattern. There wasn't that much. Six or seven headstones,
dating from the early 1880s, placed along the wall, including a
felled tree, crossed swords, a lamb, possibly remnants of an
early period before a standardized code was instituted. Two
markers had a Jewish Star of David incised where the Christian
cross was placed on nearly all the others. Both markers dated
from the 1950s, and both stars referred to the wife of the
deceased. Some markers lacked religious references altogether.
Possibly these were Native Americans? One marker was
inscribed "Go-Dee-Zu-Tu-Say — Indian woman wife of Indian
scout, died 23 July 1892." I looked for, but was unable to locate,
any markers designating African- Americans. I had this in
mind because well-known cavalry divisions of "Buffalo
Soldiers" and other all-Black regiments were stationed here.

As I reflected on the potential for monotony at Fort
Huachuca's cemetery, and why on balance, it wasn't noticeable,
I realized how much the trees and surrounding landscape
contributed to its calm mood. Clearly these features have an
established importance in the iconography of cemeteries, \vell
known to children as much as adults. Or at least this would
seem to be the meaiiing of a recent story in the Tucson Citizen,
concerning an 11-year-old boy who had become distraught
over his mother's "final resting place. 1 thought she would
get to have grass and trees" he said. "I didn't^ think she would
just get dirt." This is what happened when she \vas buried in
a section of Tucson's Evergreen cemeter\' — an otherwise
handsomely landscaped site — set aside for the Pima Countv
Cemetery where families at the federal poverty line can be
assured a grave site. His mother did not exactlv "get dirt."
She got a plain marker, with her name and date — like the ones
at Fort Huachuca, except that it was set flush with the ground,
and the bare site itself "stood in stark contrast to the lush acres
that surround it." The boy's grief was alle\'iated b\' the planting
of a tree, whose growth — and possibly whose verticalit\' —
represents to the family the woman's "life, her battle, her
courage." [Tkcsoh Citizen, June 4, 1997] 0

Page 12

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

Midwest

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, Illinois 60614-2323

Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Illinois, built
over an Indian burial ground in 1872, declared bankruptcy
abovit 2 1/2 years ago after the owner and all moneys
disappeared. The most recent attempt at the problem's
resolution appeared in the Chicago Tribune, April 20, 1997 —
an advertisement notifying of an auction offering
landscaping equipment, vehicles, and office furniture and
equipment. Forest Home is the abode of Billy Sunday, the
evangelist, the Haymarket Memorial, and the only Tiffany
memorial in the Chicago area.

Owen Hawley has sent word of his single-handed
attempt to preserve the 200-year-old Mound Cemetery in
Marietta, Ohio. His 32-year study has been published in a
520-page book, available from the Washington County
Historical Society PO Box 103, Marietta, Ohio 45750 ($50.00
-I- $3.75 shipping). All proceeds go to the restoration and
preservation of a cemetery which derives its name from an
ancient Indian mound, "the Conus" located within.

■"1^^ — 7

—wwr-T

k I

Jack L. Bradley, Chillicothe, Illinois, has sent eight
months of articles from the Peoria Journal Star concerning
the 144-year-old, 223-acre, Springdale Cemetery described
as under a succession of out-of-state owners who have

Volume 21: Number 3

ignored maintenance, vandalism, weeds, satanic and gang
graffiti. The most recent owner (1993) now denies that he
owns the community mausoleum where "skylights have
been kicked out and water, snow, and ice cover sections of
the marble floor." Plaster and large marble pieces are falling
from the ceiling. A Save the Cemetery group has offered to
purchase the cemetery and the owner is being fined $500
per day for property neglect. Death is not playing well in
Peoria!

A new book, Copenhagen Cemetery, Fox Valley
Genealogical Society, PO Box 5435, Naperville, Illinois 60567-
5435 ($13.00), is an exceptional documentation of the birth
and death of a cemetery. In the 1840s a group of families
from Berks and Lancaster Counties, Permsylvania, migrated
to Naperville Township, DuPage County, Illinois.

Their cemetery passed through various ownerships,
many of which were under the auspices of different religious
bodies. Original family members died or continued their
migrations Westward. The cemetery's uneven surface
became littered with broken and fallen markers scattered
about due to vandalism.

The Fox Valley Genealogical Society took the
responsibility of finding the original deed, maps, lists of lot
holders, local histories, and biographical sketches of the
original families. Then every marker was recorded and
photographed. Finally the markers were buried and the
ground leveled. Requiascant in Pace.

An article in the Bloomington, Indiana Herald Times
tells that in Owen County, Indiana, a marker had been
missing since 1972. When Jesse Wilson died May 25, 1860,
he was buried in the Livingston Cemetery, Freeman, Indiana,
with a proper marker erected in his memory. The Times
reports:

In California in 1986, a crew of California Conservation
Corps workers stumbled upon an old headstone along
a roadside in El Dorado County. The stone had seen
rough days — it had been broken and mended. It also
had been used as a coffee table and was encased in a
stand with legs on it. . . .The stone was stored in a
California highway garage and pretty much forgotten
for nearly four years. Then a Placerville historian, Susan
Mickus, happened to see it and determined the marker
should be returned home. Looking for clues, Mickus
noticed the carver's signature — 'E. M. Burt, Whitehall,
Ind.'

Calling the Indiana State Library, Mickus was
referred to the Owen County Historical and Genealogical
Society. And the trail led to Wilson's descendants,
including Millie Arthur of Linton.

The Arthurs drove to California last Fall to retrieve
the straying marker. It has been restored to its rightful site,
all thanks to a signed stone. 0

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

Southeast/Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

P.O. Box 6296

Tallahassee, Florida 32314

repair work that did not replicate the original detailing.
However, others are good examples of the funerary
architecture utilized at the military installation in the early to
mid nineteenth century; these were finely crafted of local stone
or brick, with elegant cornices and decorative surrounds at
the vault openings. The earliest marked grave with an
inscribed tablet (marble) is for Emillia Wood, the wife of Alex
Wood (Commander in Chief of St. Lucia 1807-1814), who died
November 8, 1810.

St. Lucia, a Lesser Antilles island in the West
Indies, has a fascinating history which is reflected in its
early cemeteries. Although discovered at the turn of the
sixteenth century, serious colonization attempts did not
begin until 1639. Between then and 1814, when St. Lucia
was finally ceded to the English, the island changed pos-
session between France and England at least fourteen
times. Castries, the capital, has several historic cemeteries
remaining within its limits, and the St. Lucia National Trust
has recently turned its attention to preserving two of these
important places:

Morne Fortune is located on a strategically impor-
tant hilltop above the city, which has been the site of vari-
ous military installations throughout St. Lucia's history.
Today, the powder magazine, guard rooms /jail cells, the
ruins of the Pavilion (government house), and the English
and French cemeteries are all that remain of its earliest in-
habitations. Both cemeteries were established c 1782. How-
ever, the French Cemetery is in an extremely deteriorated
condition, with nearly all of the markers and vaults re-
moved or destroyed. The land itself has been subdivided,
with houses built over a portion of it.

The English Cemetery which has at least 137
graves, (many indicated as depressions in the ground), is
the final resting place of the military personnel (and their
families) who were posted to St. Lucia. Death dates on the
nineteenth-century markers range from 1810 to 1866, and
a few later markers have dates in the 1890s. The military
left Morne Fortune in 1905-06; with the exception of two
of the island's governors (died 1902 and 1974), there were
no burials in the twentieth century. Five of the islaiid's
governors are buried in the English Cemetery, including
three who died at the Pavilion between November 1829
and January 1834. The graves of the three governors are
marked by an obelisk made of the local stone. Lt. John H.
Caddy, who was posted to St. Lucia in 1833-34, painted a
series of scenes of the island, including "Governor's Burial
Ground," which shows the prominent obelisk, as well as a
number of other tombs that were extant at the time.

Many of the markers that remain are large, above-
ground tombs and box tombs. Inscribed ledger stones and
tablets are generally slate or sandstone although some are
marble. (No signed stones were identified during a survey
conducted in 1995). Some tombs have been altered by

Riverside Cemetery was established in 1796, on land that
the proprietress of Four-a-Chaux Estate gave as a burying
ground for Roman Catholics. The cemeten,' is situated on a
hillside overlooking the Castries River and the public highway.
Church wardens were in charge of the cemetery, including
defining its boundaries and regulating the digging of graves
and erection of vaults. The wardens determined that an area
between the cemetery road and the river would be unsuitable
for burials, but that house-spots could be rented (this has
continued to the present day). As early as 1845 the cemeterv
site was considered too small, but requests to extend its
boundaries were denied. The Chapel of the Holv Souls was
constructed near the main entraiice during the 1870s, and most
of the priests for the church are buried there. (This building
was destroyed by fire in 1967.) In 1884 Riverside Cemeter\'
was closed as a burying ground, although families who owned
vaults could still inter relatives there. The Vestry continued to
care for the cemetery, with some assistance from labor pro\'ided
by the government until the turn of the twentieth century.

Fcrgufoii tomb, Rii'erside Cemetery, Castries, St. Lucia. A7i
example of a dctcrioratcil tovib in Riverside Ccmeteiy, Castries,
St. Lucia. Efforts are being wade to pnesen'c this historic site by
the St. Lucia National Trust.

Page 14

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

The burials m Riverside Cemetery were apparently all within
above-ground tombs. Many of the tombs, constructed of
local stone and brick, are markedly different from those at
the English Cemetery on Morne Fortune, reflecting the cul-
tural and religious iiifluences of the island's Roman Catho-
lic population. The ledger stones and tablets are of white
marble, with many of the inscriptions in French. One stone,
a closure tablet for Alex Parker, who died April 21, 1928, is
signed "L. Grannum, B/DOS." The 43 inscribed markers at
the cemetery have nineteenth century death dates ranging
from 1808 to 1899, and twentieth century dates from 1900 to
1972 (indicating that until recently, families continued to
bury there, although the cemetery was officially closed
nearly 100 years earlier).

Riverside Cemetery is currently in an alarming state
of deterioration. Lack of funds for maintenance has con-
tributed to its overall disrepair, but the site also faces great
pressures because of the island's current socio-economic situ-
ations. Much of what was once a large cemetery has been
taken over as a residential area. At the main entrance on the
public road, small frame houses constructed by the landless
have recently encroached upon the only part of the cem-
etery that is still distinct. This has led to the obliteration of
all but about forty tombs. The daily routines of the resi-
dents, together with their gardening activities and domes-
tic animals, have had an extremely negative impact. Soil
erosion is a problem and the remaining funerary materials,
including tombs and fences, are rapidly deteriorating.

Despite the current condition of this significant site,
steps are being taken to preserve what is remaining. In 1996
the St. Lucia National Trust conducted programs to com-
memorate the 200th anniversary of the cemetery and to draw
attention to its importance in St. Lucia's history. The Trust
also sponsored a survey of Riverside and the English cem-
eteries in 1995.

(Information compiled from materials provided by the St. Lucia
National Trust and from field notes made by Sharyn Thompson
during a survey of the cemeteries in April 1995. For more infor-
mation about the sites, contact the St. Lucia National Trust, P.O.
Box 595, Castries, St. Lucia or The Center for Historic Cemeter-
ies Preservation, P.O. Box 6296, Tallahassee, Florida 32314.)

PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE

A brochure detailing the African American history
of Tallahassee, Florida's Old City Cemetery was produced
to coincide with the observance of Emancipation Day, May
20th. Approximately 100 soldiers — members of the United
States Colored Troops — believed to have been killed at the
Battle of Natural Bridge on March 5, 1864, are buried in the
western section of the cemetery. During the last decades of
the nineteenth century, on Emancipation Day, Tallahassee's
African American community held a service at the cemetery
and placed flowers on the graves of these Union soldiers.

This year, as part of a city-wide celebration, the custom was
again observed. Single copies of the brochure should be re-
quested, with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, from the
John G. Riley House Museum of African American History
and Culture, 419 E. Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida
32311.

Historic African- American and African-Caribbean Cem-
eteries: A Selected Bibliography by Sharyn Thompson. Order
from The Center for Historic Cemeteries Preservation,
PO Box 6292, Tallahassee, FL 32314 for $7.50 including
postage. 0

New England and Canadian Maritimes

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, MA 01570

(508) 943-5732

Television viewers who used to watch and enjoy the
"Adventures of Grizzly Adams" back in the early 1980's may
not realize that Adams was modeled after an actual person.
The real John "Grizzly" Adams; hunter, trapper and general
mountain man of the 1830 /40s lies buried in Charlton, Mas-
sachusetts, beneath a slowly disintegrating marble stone. The
stone is now being cared for by the Charlton Historical Com-
mission, and must have been cleaned a short time ago, as it
stands out in stark whiteness compared to the rest of its
neighbors, unattended, gray with grime, and lichen stained.
I have no idea who cleaned it or how it was cleaned, and
hope that the deterioration of the marble is from age, and
not from the cleaning attempt.

Although not as sharp as it must once have been,
the stone (pictured below) clearly depicts a mountain man,
with fur hat, high boots and all the necessary accouterments
for that kind of life. In his left hand he holds a rifle while his
right hand rests on the shoulders of a large bear (of the griz-
zly persuasion, I suppose ) with its head bowed in friendly
submission. To his far right is a large tree, no doubt repre-
senting the forest that they loved.

Adams died in 1860 at the age of 48, and was later
portrayed by Dan Haggerty in a relatively short-lived but
popular television series (also co-starring the bear) about
Adam's adventures on the frontier. The two of them sur-
vived disasters, flood, fights and famine (which, I guess,
gives lie to the saying that when you starve with a bear, the
bear starves last). A library search shows that there have
been a few books about Adams' real life, but they are out of
print and relatively hard to find. The fictional Grizzly Adams

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 15

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

still lives on videotape but I suspect that they also are
somewhat hard to locate. Fame is fleeting!

"Grizzly" Adams' stone

Members in the News

The April 24, 1997 edition of the Worcester Te/egram
& Gazette published a nice article on the activities of long-
time members Jim and Minxie Fannin, as they struggle to
restore some of the older stones in the Sturbridge cem-
etery. The Fannins work out of Concord, Massachusetts,
and over the years have restored portions of historic cem-
eteries throughout the greater Boston area. Their
Sturbridge project is already well under way, with ten
stones restored and another 147 waiting their tvirn, hop-
ing for further funding from the next scheduled town
meeting.

The Fannins own Fannin-Lehner Historic Preser-
vation Consultants, one of the few companies that spe-
cialize in this field, and as all specialists do, they take their
responsibilities seriously. Their tools are specific to the
stones to be restored, and ecologically correct, including
detergent that is non-ionic neutral, which will not leave
any residue to encourage further algae growth. In addi-
tion to their cleaning solutions and brtishes, when it is nec-
essary to clean the old lettering or details of the carvings,
the Fannins use only wooden tools. When they finish each
stone, it is photographed, creating a permanent record of
the condition of the stone as of that date.

The Fannins insist that they are careful not to change
or add to the stones in any way with their restoration. It is
important to them to clean and repair the stones as necessary,
but as works of art with historical significance, they must keep
them as near to their original condition as possible.

The cemetery (which was included in one of the self-
guided tours for the 1997 AGS Conference in nearbv Leices-
ter) contains slate stones, marbles, and red sandstone, with
many of the marbles showing the cruel deterioration common
to that substance. The cemetery is heavily wooded (for a cem-
etery), and the trees, perhaps two centuries old by now, present
major problems both because of their extensive root systems,
tipping and toppling stones, and as a result of the nearlv per-
manent shading during the summer months, promoting ex-
tensive algae growth. It is, none the less, a pretty cemetery,
and worth a visit, situated in the center of Sturbridge, with
adequate parking alongside the cemetery wall, and with a
nearby historic pub / restaurant for refreshments as necessary.
For photographic purposes, early spring or late fall would be
recommended, for, even with a practiced mirror technique, the
extensive summer foliage could make it difficult to get suffi-
cient light on certain stones. 0

ACROSS THE OCEANS

Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str. 14

D-63322 Rodermark

Germany

In a recent article in the Neiu York Times, "Visiting Mu-
sical Ghosts in Search of Answers" (Marcli 30, 1997, H 31), Alex
Rose writes about his visits to the gra\'es of fanious composers
in several European countries. Many, but not all of them, are
buried in major cemeteries that may e\'en have special sections
for musicians. Others, like JEAN SIBELIUS, whose grave is on
the grounds of his home in the Helsinki suburb of Jarxenpaa
(Finland), have found more individual resting places.

In England, BENJAMIN BRITTEN is buried m the
church cemetery of the East Anglian fishing \'illage of
Aldeburgh. HENRY PURCELL's remains are in Westminster
Abbey, London. The epitaph says; "Here lyes Henr\- Purcell
Esq., who left this Life and is gone to that blessed Place where
only his Harmony can be exceeded."

Page 16

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

In Austria, the "Musicians' Grove of Honor" in the
Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) of Vieruia is a prescribed
sight to visit for musically inclined graveyard strollers even
though the monuments they will encounter say more about
the sculptural preferences of the nineteenth-century
Viennese than about the style or artistic direction we associ-
ate with each composer. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN,
JOHANNES BRAHMS, CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD VON
GLUCK, WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, FRANZ
SCHUBERT, and HUGO WOLF are the most famous compos-
ers buried here (or commemorated, like Mozart, whose origi-
nal grave was left unmarked). GUSTAV MAHLER is buried
in the suburb of Grinzig. His gravestone, an upright, nar-
row slab, bearing orily the inscription MAHLER, stands out
amidst the richly ornamented upper-middle class monu-
ments that are characteristic of this cemetery.

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fii* Wt^^^^m

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\ i • 'mJ^mBPPB*^ ^^^'^'IjBI

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Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
White marble monument by Jean-Baptiste Cle'singer.
The statue above the musician's portrait is Euterpe,
the muse of Music.

Paris, France:

For a visit of Pere Lachaise cemetery I recommend
buying a map at the main entrance. And then, off you go to
look up your favorite composer(s): ESPRIT AUBER,
VINCENZO BELLINI, GEORGES BIZET, ERNEST
CHAUSSON, LUIGI CHERUBINL FREDERIC CHOPIN, PAUL
DUKAS, GEORGE ENESCO, PHILIPPE GAUBERT, ANDRE
GRETRY, REYNALDO HAHN, RODOLPHE KREUTZER,
EDOUARD LALO, ETIENNE MEHUL, JIM MORRISON,
GABRIEL PIERNE, IGNACE PLEYEL, FRANCIS POULENC,

REBER, GIOACCHINO ROSSINI. CLAUDE DEBUSSY is bur-
ied in the Passy cemetery (Metro: Trocadero), CHARLES
GOUNOD in Auteuil (Metro Exelmans), ARTHUR
HONEGGER in Saint-Vincent (Metro: Lamarck-
Caulaincourt). CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS and CESAR
FRANCK are buried in Montparnasse (Metro Edgar-Quinet).
In Montmartre cemetery (Metro: Place Clichy) you find the
graves of ADOLPHE ADAM, HECTOR BERLIOZ, LEO
DELIBES, LOUIS DIEMER, JACQUES HALEVY, VICTOR
MASSE, JACQUES OFFENBACH and AMBROISE THOMAS.
(Ross only mentions the most famous composers buried on
Pere Lachaise. In order to address a greater variety of musi-
cal preferences and to remind you that other Parisian grave-
yards may also be worth a visit, I have consulted Jacques
Barozzi's Guide des cimetieres parisiens, Paris: Hervas 1990.)

The epitaph of Scottish musician JAMES
CHALMERS, who died in 1770, says that "He played with
such dexterity, /By all it is confest, /That in this grave in-
terred is /Of Violists the best." This is one of the many in-
scriptions recorded by Betty Willsher in her delightful new
book, Scottislt Epitnpiis: Epitaplis and Images From Scottish
Graveyards. (Available to members for $12 plus $3.50 p&h
from the AGS office.)

"Ashes to Ashes: Five concepts for a cemetery in
Koln-Kalk" is the title of a temporary exhibit at the Mu-
seum fur Sepulkralkultur in Kassel, Germany. It runs
through August 31, 1997. 0

Serge Gainshourg (1928-1991)
The twentieth-century composer and performer of popular music and
chanson is buried with his parents beneath a simple concrete slab. Fans
leave letters, drawings, flowers, and gifts on his grave.

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 17

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

NOTES AND QUERIES

Victorian Verse Needs Completion

I'm attempting to recover the full verse of an epi-
taph I once saw on a gravestone. The first of four lines is
something like:

"Two pilgrims set out for a distant shore."
The remaining three lines convey the image of an ocean
embarked upon. On the earthly side people are grief-
stricken, but on the distant shore (heaven) there is a mul-
titude crying out in joyous welcome. Can anyone help
me locate the poem in literature? Note: It is not in J. W.
Cummings' The Silver Stole. Send responses to Parker B.
Brown, 7020 Woodstream Terrace, Seabrook, MD 20706-
2148, or telephone 301/794-9517.

Help needed from members in
New York and Ohio

Peggy Jenks of 24 Mettowee Street, Granville, New
York and Ann Cathcart of RRl, Box 229, North Bennington,
Vermont need help searching cemeteries in certain towns
in Vermont and New York to find stones carved by the
following carvers:

John H. Rule, 1794-1867, Henry Rule, 1797-1889,
James Rule, 1802 - ?, brothers and brother-in-law Ethan
Stone, 1789-1857, were in the marble business and /or
gravestone carvers in Arlington, Vermont starting about
1820. James was of Winfield, Herkimer County, New York
in 1828; Henry was of Geneva, Ontario County, New York
in 1829; and John H. was of Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio
in 1845. These men worked for or were apprentices of
Moses McKee of Arlington, Vermont, and Winfield, New
York.

Peggy and Ann will supply pictures and other
materials to anyone interested in helping.

Another Black history burial place noted

Thanks to a note from member Jo Ann Mongue of
Dalton, Massachusetts, Roberta Halporn wants to add a
name to her list of burial places of men and women im-
portant in Black history. Amos Fortune, a former slave
who bought the freedom of his first wife and then his sec-
ond, is buried in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Moving from
Boston, Fortune established a successful tannery in Jaffrey
and made a number of contributions to the community.

Ed. note: A further description of his life and gravestone ap-
pears in Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula's article on gravestones of
eighteenth and nincteentli-centiiry Blacks in Markers VI. Tliis
cemetery in Jaffrey Center was included in the self-guided tours
forthel991 Annual Conference at Mount Herman School. WiUa
Cather, the novelist, is buried there as well.

Response to Spring Issue Query

In the Spring 1997 AGS Quarterly, p. 18-19, Eugenia
Parker asked about an unusual stone in the Old \\Tieeler\'ille
Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama. Marcy M. Frantom writes, "The
stone in question has a hole in the center according to a Mobile
man who has relatives there. He believes it was a flag pole
stand. May explain the irreverent treatment!"

Clarification of town's appropriation

In the Winter 1997 issue of the AGS Quarterly, p. 27,
Christopher C. Gardner reported that the Ledyard Town
Council appropriated $2,000 for work in the Morgan-Billings
Cemetery in Ledyard.

Cynthia Cross, chairperson of the Ledyard Cemeter\'
Committee, advises that the committee requested the Town
Council to release to Mr. Gardner the funds that had been
entrusted to the Town by estates of Ledyard residents for
cemetery maintenance. The Council approved the release of
the funds but did not appropriate any town funds for that
purpose.

Ed. Note: Tlie Ledyard Cemetery Committee has developed an effective

" Adopt- A-Cemetery" program and advises that there are additional
funds that may he used for stone restoration in other cemeteries in
Ledyard.

Stockton, California resident offers service

Bettyann Lockwood Hedegard and her husband of
Stockton, California, travel extensively around the northern and
central part of California. She visits many cemeteries while
her husband is at work. She offers to search out sites for any-
one interested in the areas she frequents. Her address is 7495
Shoreline Drive, Stockton, CA 95219.

Millstone information sought

AGS member Walter Hollien would like information
and / or photographs of millstones used as gravestones. If you
happen to know of anv such markers in \'our area, please con-
tact Walter J. Hollien at Millstone Research Center, PO Box 34(:),
Long Valley, NJ 07853. Walter is also interested in knowing
the location of anv old millstone quarries.

Page 18

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

Epitaph Interpretation Requested

John D. Bowen of Silver Spring, Maryland, is look-
ing for an interpretation of this epitaph. The words beneath
the name and dates are: philosopher poet — social critic,
hylozoism, ontology of the irrational, Caucasian sphinx —
blue-eyed monkey, lilacs bloom, tandem felix. You may write
John at 613 Chichester Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20904-3331
or telephone 301/384-6533.

Can you interpret this eyitapli?

What Do You Do?

Katherine Greenia of Kirkville, New York, writes,
"I came across a back issue of a magazine called Country
Living (June 1989). It featured a home built by Capt. Richard
Shaw in 1730 on Long Island, New York. A plaque placed
by a local historical society adorns the home's entrance and
summarizes its colorful life. While admiring this gem of a
home, I noticed something hanging near the fireplace man-
tel— a small tombstone. Maybe it's a family heirloom, quite
possibly the captain's own marker. But it does not resemble
the reproduction stones I've purchased.

My question would be, is this legal and how would
one question such a discovery? Should you report such find-
ings and to whom? In recent years gravestone markers, stat-
ues, gates, and other memorial items have been targeted

by unsavoury characters for profit. I would be grateful to
have more information on this matter."
Write Katherine Greenia at 8911 Kirkville Rd., North,
Kirkville, New York 13082.

Ed. Note: This query provides the opportunity to call
attention to the new AGS pamphlet, "Wliat Do You Do Wlren
You Find a Gravestone?" sold to members for $2.50. It describes
steps for seeking the original site of a strayed stone and identify-
ing the site and the stone of a suspected theft.

Remember that for many years museums, libraries, and
historical societies considered it praiseworthy to offer safekeeping
in their buildings to particidarly important or attractive stones.
Only with the spread of the preservation movement generally and
the increased respect for colonial stone carvers has opinion shifted.
AGS is not so concerned about such innocent possession, but it is
most anxious to stop the deliberate theft for profit. Certainly in
such instances as described, if the stone is genuine, a label should
be conspicuously placed giving the provenance of the stone.

Trustees Make Gift to Peace Corps Volunteer

At the April meeting of the Board of Trustees, a let-
ter was read from April Brooks, Peace Corps volunteer in
the Slovak Republic. She was preparing to work with vol-
unteers to restore some cemeteries and was looking for
materials that would help them learn how to go about their
project. The Board responded by voting to send copies of

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 19

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

our preservation materials. The following letter has been
received from April.

July 13, 1997
Dear Trustees of the Association for Gravestone Stuciies:'

I want to thank you and the other members of
AGS who graciously sent me the packet including A Grave-
stone Preservation Primer, preservation kit and other pa-
pers this past spring. The information put out by your
organization has been invaluable as we prepare for our
work.

I've recently moved to the small town of Spisske
Podhradie for the month of July and next week we intend
to begin the long documentation process in the cemetery.
Urtfortunately, many of the gravestones are in such bad
shape that we will be unable to record even the names
from some of them.

Currently, I am working on an article for our Peace
Corps Slovakia newsletter. The article will cover the cur-
rent state of Jewish cemeteries in Slovakia and will detail
our work in Spisske Podhradie. I will forward you a copy
when it's finished. . . .

Thanks again for your generous gift and general
support of our project.

Sincerely, April Brooks, Peace Corps Volunteer
Slovak Republic

For Your Information

PLEASE NOTE: The Spring issue of the AGS
Quarterly that preceded this one was Number 2 of Volume
21. It was incorrectly numbered on the cover but correctly
iiumbered inside.

You may find the Western Graves photo essay by
Neal Ulevich of interest. Go to http://www.sni.net/
~nulevich and click on the Western Graves lirik.

The American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury
Street, Worcester, MA 01609-1634 has short-term fellow-
ships for one to three months. Deadline for applications
is January 15, 1998. Request application materials by tele-
phone (508) 752-5813, FAX (508) 754-9069, or cfs@mwa.org
— e-mail address.

We received a copy of a brochure for a self-guided
walking tour of Old Norwichtown (CT) Burial Ground.
For more information about Connecticut cemeteries, con-
tact the Connectia.it Gravestone Network, 135 Wells Street,
Manchester, CT 06040.

At least three AGS members sent us a copy of the
clipping "Graveyard Tourism Is Alive and Kicking" by
Elizabeth Seay, staff reporter of The Wall Street Journal. We
appreciate receiving clippings mentioning AGS members
or cemetery activities (except those about vandalism).

Stolen Gates Are Returned to Mount Auburn
Cemetery

Less than 48 hours after announcing the theft of seven
historic gates, officials at Mount Auburn received four gates
back. Police acted on a tip from a woman who read an article
in The Boston Globe describing the gates and realizied she had
seen some of the gates in a Brewster, Massachusetts, antique
shop. They proceeded to recover the four gates which were
in good shape but had been painted red instead of their nor-
mal black.

William C. Clendaniel, President of Mount Auburn, is
still anxious to have the other three located and returned.
Clendaniel appeals to AGS members and the general public
to keep their eyes open for cast-iron, decorated gates with the
names "S.Dow," having two crossed, down-turned torches
tied with a ribbon , or "J.B. H.James," also with down-turned
torches or a third gate that may have the name "William
Goddard" on a plaque at the top of the gate which is orna-
mented with delicate gothic-style openwork. All gates are
approximately 21/2 feet by 3 feet in size.

Anyone seeing these gates is urged to call the Cemetery
at 617/547-7105 or the Watertomi Police at 617/972-6544. '

Watertown police have information about the persons
who sold the gates to the antique dealer and are acti\el)' work-
ing on various tips they have received to tr\' to recover the
three other gates.

Mount Auburn recovered an additional gate, not one of
the seven, as a result of Tlie Boston Globe stor\'. A Cambridge
resident had rescued a gate from the trash four years ago. Its
number matched a lot in the Cemeter\' that was missing a
gate and she retiu-ned it to the Cemeter\'.

Ed.Note: Know any antique dealers? Share tliis story with them.
The consequences to them can be serious. 0

Page 20

\'olume 21: Number 3

AGS Qiinrtcrh/ Summer 1997

RECEIVED AT THE AGS OFFICE
Publications

from June 1997 - October 1997

Newsletters

Hills, Julia C. and Ruth H. Mclver. Johns Island Presbyterian
Chiircli Cemetery (catalog of monuments).

Kueker-Murphy, Traci L., St. Mary's Cemetery: A Cultural
Reflection of Brussels, Illinois. A masters thesis.

Landscapes of Memories: A Guide for Conserving Historic
Cemeteries, compiled and edited by Tamara Anson-
Cartwright, Architectural Conservation Advisor for the
Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, Ontario,
Canada.

Merriam, Shelly L. Monograph ofCuttylnink Historical Society,
"The Cuttyhunk Cemetery," Spring '97.

Monument Builders News, Sept. '97, Vol. 54, No. 9, is received
monthly. The September issue describes their convention to
be held in January 1998 at the same hotel in Orlando as The
American Culture Association with its Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers section in April.

North Carolina Folklore Journal, (Winter-Spring 1996), Vol. 43
No. 1.

Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, (1996) Vol.
106 Part 2.

Salisbury, Susan. Southern Massachusetts Cemetery Collection,
Vol. 1 and 2. The volumes cover tombstone inscriptions in 64
cemeteries in 14 towns in the first volume and 72 cemeteries
in 9 towns in the second.

Wignall, Jeff. "Dean McNeil's Faces of the Living Dead."
PDN [Photo District News], July '97, pp. 66-69. 0

In June the National Trust announced its
annual list of endangered historic sites. On
that short list was Congressional Cemetery
which was intended to represent historic
urban cemeteries. This is a great year for AGS
members to get publicity and helping hands
for all historic cemeteries. More information
in future issues.

Coalition Courier, published by The Coalition to Protect Mary-
land Burial Sites, Inc., PO Box 1533, Ellicott City, MD 21041-

1533.

Connecticut Gravestone Network, Ruth Shapleigh-Brown, Exec.
Dir., 135 Wells Street, Manchester, CT 06040-6127.

The FACSl Newsletter, published by Friends of Abandoned
Cemeteries of Staten Island, 140 Tysen Street, Staten Island,
NY 10301.

Inscriptions: Newsletter of the Wisconsin State Old Cemetery So-
ciety, c/o Monna Aldrich, Box 141, 4370 Windsor Road,
Windsor, WI 53598.

Newsletter: Loioer Hudson Conference, published by Lower
Hudson Conference of Historical Agencies & Museums, 2199
Saw Mill River Road, Elmsford, NY 10523.

OHCA Ledger, published by Oregon Historic Cemeteries
Association, PO Box 802, Boring, OR 97009-0802.

Maine Old Cemetery Association Newsletter, c/o Lee Fitts,
Membership Chairman, PO Box 641, Augusta, ME 04332-
0641.

Rubbings: New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association
Newsletter, c/o Joyce Davies, Corresponding Secretary, 8
Great Pond Road, Kingston, NH 03848-3747. 0

Stone for Elizabeth O. Banict, died 1859 at age 47.
Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 21

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

PUBLICATIONS LIST

In the next quarterly descriptions and tables of contents for
Markers will be included. The prices will be the same. Note
many of these are priced lower than they have been.

MARKERS

Markers I

Paper N/ A,

Cloth $20.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers II

Paper $11.00 members, $13.00 others.
Cloth $20.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers X

Paper $23.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers XI

Paper $23.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers XII

Paper $23.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers XIII

Paper $23.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers III - out of print

Markers IV

Paper $11.00 members, $13.00 others.
Cloth $20.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers V

Cloth $20.00 members, $25.00 others

Markers VI

Paper $11.00 members, $13.00 others.
Cloth $20.00 members $25.00 others

Markers VII

Paper $11.00 members, $13.00 others

Markers VIII

Paper $14.00 members, $16.00 others

Markers IX

Paper $14.00 members, $16.00 others

Markers XIV

Paper $23.00 members, $25.00 others

Order Five or more MARKERS and save! Orders
containing five or more MARKERS, any combination
of paper or cloth: Members take $7 off the total,
others buy the MARKERS at the member price.
Orders containing 10 or more MARKERS: Members
take $15 off the total. Others use member price.

Stone of Robert Ogdcii, died 1733 at age 46. Elizabeth New Jersey.

Page 22

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quaricrly Summer 1997

Stone of the Slidell children, died 1770.
Trinity Church, New York City.

BOOKS

By Their Markers Ye Shall Know Them: A
Chronicle of the History and Restorations of
Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground

William Hosley and Shepherd M. Holcombe, Sr.
Paper: $18.75 members, $20.75 others

Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of
American Culture

Edited by Richard E. Meyer

Paper: $26.00 members, $29.00 others

The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern
Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them

James A. Slater

Photographs by Daniel & Jessie Lie Farber

Cloth: $75.00 members, $83.00 others

Death Divine

Pamela Williams

Paper: $15.00 members, $17.00 others

Ethnicity and the American Cemetery

Edited by Richard E. Meyer

Paper: $18.00 members, $20 others

Gravestone Chronicles I and II

Theodore Chase and Laurel K. Gabel
Paper: $50.00 members, $55.00 others

The Last Great Necessity:
Cemeteries in American History

David Charles Sloane

Paper $18.95 members, $20.95 others,

Cloth $23.65 members, $25.65 others

Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey

Janice Kohl Sarapin

Paper: $14.95 members, $16.95 others

Once Upon a Tomb

Nancy Millar

Paper: $16.00 members. 18.00 others

Puritan Gravestone Art (1976)
Paper: $16.00 members, $18.00 others

Puritan Gravestone Art II (1978)
Paper: $16.00 members, $18.00 others

Remember Me as You Pass By:
Stories from Prairie Graveyards

Nancy Millar

Paper: $15.00 members, $17.00 others.

The Revival Styles in American Memorial Art

Peggy McDozvell and Richard E. Meyer
Paper: $23.00 members, $26.00 others

Saving Graces

David Robinson

Paper: $14.95 members, $16.95 others

Scottish Epitaphs

Betty Willsher

Paper: $12.00 members, $14.00 others

Silent Cities:

The Evolution of the American Cemetery

K. Jackson & C. Vergara

Paper: $14.95 members, $16.95 others

Soul in the Stone:

Cemetery Art from America's Heartland

John Gary Brown

Cloth: $39.95 members, $43.95 others

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 23

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

Tomb Sculpture: Its Changing Aspects from
Ancient Egypt to Bernini

Erzvin Panofsky

Cloth: $65.00'members, $72.00 others

Understanding Scottish Graveyards

Betty Willsher

Paper: $8.50 members, $9.50 others

Vestiges of Mortality and Remembrance:

A Bibliography on the Historical Archaeology

of Cemeteries

Edward L. Bell

Cloth: $47.50 members, $52.50 others

Review & Evaluation of Selected Proprietary
Materials for Cleaning Masonry Burial
Monuments

Tracy Coffing Walther

Leaflet: $2.00 members, $2.50 others

See Leaflet Section for more preservation

materials.

AGS Database Program (IBM-based)
$19.95 members, $21.95 others

CEMETERY GUIDES

PRESERVATION
INFORMATION

A Graveyard Preservation Primer

Lynette Strangstad

Paper: $15.95 members, $17.95 others

Preservation of Historic Burying Grounds

(National Trust for Historic Preservation
Inform Orion Series #76)
$6.00 members, $6.50 others

Florida's Historic Cemeteries

Sharyn Thompson

Paper: $7.00 members, $8.00 others

Texas Preservation Guidelines: Preserving
Historic Cemeteries

Texas Historical Commission

Paper: $2.00 members, $2.50 others (for p&h)

Regional Guide 1: Narragansett Bay
Area Graveyards

$3.50 members, $4.50 others

Regional Guide 2: Long Island, New York 17th
and 18th Century Graveyards (including Lower
Manhattan Island) $3.50 members, $4.50 others

Conference Guide 1: Capital District, New York
Cemeteries

$3.50 members, $4.00 others

Conference Guide 2: Cemeteries In and Around
New London, Connecticut

$3.50 members, $4.00 others

Conference Guide 3: Chicagoland Cemeteries

$5.00 members, $5.50 others

Conference Guide 4: Massachusetts Lower
Connecticut River Valley

$3.50 members, $4.00 others

SPECIAL OFFER! If you order A Graveyard
Preservation Primer and Preservation of Historic
Burying Grounds, we'll also send you the Na-
tional Register's booklet. Guidelines for Evaluat-
ing and Registering Cemeteries ami Burial Places.
($2.50 if sold separately.)

SPECIAL OFFER! Buy all four Conference
Guides and save: $11.50 members, $12.50 others

Page 24

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarlevhi Summer 1997

LEAFLETS

Kit of Information Leaflets (9 items)
$10.00 members, $11.00 others

Kit of Teaching Resource Leaflets (11 items)
$10.00 members, $11.00 others

Kit of Gravestone Preservation Information

$12.00 members, $13.00 others

JUST FOR FUN

Gravestone Note Cards

(Black and white photos)
Sets of 8, each card different.
$4.00 members, $4.50 others

Bumperstickers - "I Brake for Old Graveyards"

maroon on white.

$1.00 members, $1.25 others

Individual leaflets (some from kits above):
Recording Cemetery Data

$2.50 members, $3.00 others

The Care of Old Cemeteries

$3.00 members, $3.50 others

Memo and Notepads

Memo pad (4.25" x 4.25") green on yellow, 100
sheets. Design is a rubbing of the Hester
McDonnell stone, Quinn, Ireland, 1848.
$3.00 members, $3.50 others

Carver Research Guide (8 pages)
This eight-page guide outlines research
procedure for identifying early gravestone
carvers and discovering their backgrounds.
$2.50 members, $3.00 others

Guide to Forming a "Cemetery Friends"
Organization

$2.50 members, $3.00 others

Notepad (5.5" x 8.5") brown on cream, 100 sheets.
Design is a rubbing of the Esther Halliock stone.
Long Island, New York, 1773, cut by John Stevens,
Newport, Rhode Island.
$4.50 members, $5.50 others

Set (1 memo pad, 1 notepad): $7.00 members,
$8.00 others

What Do You Do When You Find a Gravestone?

$2.50 members, $3.00 others

All other individual Kit leaflets:

$2.00 members, $2.50 others

National Register Cemeteries (Bulletin #41)
Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering
Cemeteries and Burial Places

$2.50 members, $3.00 others (for p&h)

Gravestone Art Notecards - Gravestone rubbing
designs in various colors.
Choose from two packs:

• ten Colonial designs (each one different)

$8.00 members, $9.00 others

• five 19th century designs

(each one different)

$4.00 members, $4.50 others

Tote Bags - featuring the AGS logo design.
$9.95 members, $10.95 others

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 25

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

GRAVESTONE LEISUREWEAR

Please remember to indicate size when ordering!

SALE! 1995 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100% cotton with the conference
logo stone in gray on a burgundy shirt.
M,L,XL - $8.00 members, $10.00 others
XXL - $9.00 members, $11.00 others

Sweatshirts:

Ash gray with maroon lettering of a design

featuring the logo, 50/50 blend.

Hooded: L and XL only -

$20.00 members, $22.00 others

Crew: S,M, and XXL only -

$15.00 members, $17.00 others
Please note: We're discontinuing these sweats.
Get one while they last! Please indicate size.

Ibllie MaiioryofMrs
Ma^aret Confort of $)'•
David Slepard of Chcfte

who died Feb. IO..ai7S)]
lnthi;K)yeiir()f hcr.-iiie

SALE! 1996 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100% cotton with the conference
logo stone in green on a gold shirt.
M,L,XL - $8.00 members, $10.00 others
XXL - $9.00 members, $11.00 others

1997 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100 % cotton with the conference
logo stone in black on a teal shirt.
M,L,XL - $10.00 members, $12.00 others
XXL - $11.00 members, $13.00 others

NEW! Burgundy sweatshirt with gray

gravestone design.
Crew: M, L, XL -
$19.95 members, $21.95 others
XXL - $20.95 members, $22.95 others

AGS Polo Shirt

Navy 100% cotton shirt with the design in white

in the pocket area (there's a design there, but no

pocket!)

M,L, XL - $16.00 members, $18.00 others

XXL - $17.00 members, $19.00 others

{orG'-m'cv,

AGS Sun Visors

White terry-lined adjustable sun visors

with "The Association for Gravestone Studies"

printed in black on the rim.

$3.00

Page 26

Volume 21: Number 3

AGS Quarterly Summer 1997

Woodww Wilson Hall

1998 AGS CONFERENCE

Our 21st Annual Conference will be held at Monmouth University,
West Long Branch, N.J. from Noon, June 25 through noon June
28,1997. The University is readily accessible from Exit 105 of the
Garden State Parkway and Exit 7 A from the New Jersey Turnpike.

We are indebted to AGS member Richard Veit, visiting assistant
professor. Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth,
for arranging our use of the facilities for Conference 1998.

Monmouth University, established in 1933, is a comprehensive,
private institution of about 4,000 students, offering both
undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Classrooms,
auditorium, food service, and dorm facilities are located within
easy walking distance on level terrain making such facilities most
desirable for conferees.

The historic centerpiece of the Monmouth University Campus is
Woodrow Wilson Hall. The mansion was loaned to President
Wilson during the campaign of 1916 as the presidential summer
residence. Thereafter it was known as the Summer White House
and is now designated as a National Historic Site.

Volume 21: Number 3

Page 27

Calendar of Coming Events

Exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.

September 23, 1997-January 4, 1998
"Beyond the Grave: Cultures of Queens Cemeteries"
More information: MCNY, 1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029 at 212/534-1672

Public Programs in conjunction with the exhibition "Memory and Mourning: Shared Cultural Experiences at the University Art

Museum, University at Albany, September 21-November 9, 1997:

Nov. 3 - Noontime, University Art Museum, "Jewish Views on the Afterlife,"

Judith Baskin Ph.D.
Nov. 4 - 6:30 p.m.. Fine Arts Bldg, Rm 126, "A Buddhist view of Death and Rebirth,"

Paul Naamon.
Nov. 6-4 p.m.. Assembly Hall, Campus Center, "Death in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures," Lou Roberts, Ph.D.
Nov. 13-6 p.m.. Assembly Hall, Campus Center, "Death and the Medieval Knight," Rachel Dressier, Ph.D.

"Cherubs and Angels of Mount Auburn" - a First Sunday walking tour with Janet Hey wood. Director of Interpretive Programs, Mount
Auburn on January 4, 1998, 1:00-2:30 p.m. (snow date Jan. 11)

© 1997 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is used for
educational purposes; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and /or photographer or artist involved; and (3) a cop\' of
the document or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office.

The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and
contributions from readers are welcome.

The goal of the AGS Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literattire, and research concerning gravestones and about
the activities of the Association.

To contribute items, please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior /Student, $20; Individual, $25; Institutional, $30; Family, $35; Supporting, $60; Life, $1000) to the Association
for Gravestone Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues
are received and ends one year from that date. These fees will change in January 1998, see page 2.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, The Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies: Please send articles
to Richard Meyer, Editor of Markers, PO Box 13006, Salem, OR 97309-1006. The next issue of Markers will be volume XV available in early
1998. Back issues are available from the AGS office. Please see the publications list in this Quarterly.

Address all other correspondence to Administrator, AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301, or call (413) 772-083b.

The Association for Gravestone Studies
278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301

NGN PROFIT ORG

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 208
GREENFIELD. MA

AGS Quarterly

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Table of Contents

CONFERENCE 1997 SUMMARY

Thursday Evening Lectures 2

Thursday Late Night 2

Friday Tours 3

Certificate of Merit Presentation 4

Twentieth Anniversary Celebration 5

1997 Annual Meeting 5

Report of Registrar 7

Friday Evening Lectures 8

Friday Late Night 8

Saturday Conservation Workshop 9

Participation Sessions 10

Past Forbes Award Recipients 12

NEW PUBLICATIONS LIST and ORDER FORM insert 13-16

Forbes Award Reception and Banquet 17

Vincent Luti's Acceptance Speech 17

Saturday Evening Lectures 19

Saturday Late Night 20

Sunday Morning Lectures 20

CONFERENCE 1998 PLANNING UNDERWAY 22

SHARING PAGES 24

NOTES & QUERIES 26

CALENDAR 28

The mission of the Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the
cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board: Mary Cc

Quarterly Contributions: Comments and
that AGS quarterlies often take several we
the AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207,

Advertising Prices: Business card, $30; 1 /
payment to the AGS Office.

COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENC

Volume 21 : Number 4

Fall 1997

ISSN: 0146-5783

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

Conference 1997
Summary

by Barbara Rotundo

THURSDAY

For most people, the 1997 conference began on
Thursday. Many that afternoon used the self-guided tours
designed by DAN and JESSIE FARBER and BOB
KLISIEWICZ. Some went instead to the Rawson Brook
Cemetery just down the road from Becker College, to watch
preparations for the Conservation Workshop under the
direction of JIM and MINXIE FANNIN. At 4:30 there was a
reception with a cash bar and good nibbles at the Student
Center, which was also the registration point.

After a cafeteria supper in the dining room of the
main dormitory, we drifted to the auditorium of the
Academic Center located about fifty yards across a tree-
shaded grassy area.

ALEXANDRA RASIC gave the first regular twenty-
minute paper. Her topic was " 'City of the Dead' in the 'City of
Angels'," in other words, Los Angeles, California, where she
lives and works. Her paper was a model report on finding
out how and why an urban cemetery was founded and its
relationship to the city it serves.

This year we tried the experiment of having only three
papers in an evening, starting half an hour later, and generally
having a more relaxed pace so that we didn't take an
intermission yet had plenty of time to view the exhibits and
make purchases. Thus, C. R. JONES gave the final paper on
Thursday, "Gravestones in American Folk and Popular Art."
C. R. is a pioneer in gravestone studies who organized what
may be the first museum exhibition of colonial gravestones.
He is conservator for the New York State Historical Association
in Cooperstown, New York, and is a member of the AGS board.
He had found slides of samplers, watercolors, and prints like
Currier and Ives' that showed us the designs like weepers or
urns and willows that were popular early nineteenth-century
gravestone images, as well.

All three Thursday night speakers were good sports
about the fact they had to signal for the advance of slides. FRED
OAKLEY skipped taking a tour on Friday in order to chase
down an automatic advance extension cord. That is one more
action for which conferees owe Fred a vote of thanks. Thank
you should also go to JOHN GOODWIN and C.R. JONES who
were quietly and efficiently helpful in changing carousels and
untangling projector problems throughout the conference.

THURSDAY Evening Lectures

There BILL WALLACE gave the keynote address for
the conference, "A Traveler's Guide to Worcester County."
(Outside the northeast, people may not realize that in
Massachusetts that is pronounced Wooster.) Bill is director
of the Worcester Historical Museum and one of the founders
of the Friends of Hope Cemetery, Worcester's municipal
cemetery. He explained how Worcester had developed back
in colonial times even though it was not on a river because
it was an east-west, north-south crossroads. In the
nineteenth century it sensibly arranged the digging of a
canal; part of the canal bed is now the site of an ambitious
civic building project. In addition to the economic history
of the city, he located for us all the early burial grounds,
including one that still exists in a small park in the center
of the city, a stop on the Victorian bus tour the next day.

Bill's facts were enlightening and his ironic
comments were funny. It was a great beginning for a
successful, rewarding conference.

THURSDAY Late Night

FRANK CALIDONNA hosted Late Night, which was
held in the same place as the pre-dinner receptions. While
there was no cash bar, we were free to help ourselves to the
left-over soda and finger foods (nuts, veggies and dips, crackers
and cheese). We had chairs and tables, and aside from an
occasional soft-spoken speaker, all the ph^'sical conditions were
perfect. (Well, perhaps not for the addicted smokers, who had
to step outside, but even that was stepping onto a patio with
picnic tables and benches.)

HARVARD WOOD, JR., (who felt quite set up because
he was tv\'o weeks older than Dan Farber) showed slides of
foreign cemeteries he had visited like Fere La Chaise in Paris.
He also described what he considered the disgraceful condition
of Congressional Cemetery when he had visited it.

CORA OTT, from Boston, showed slides of a Jewish
cemeter)' she had visited in Pittsburgh that was on such a steep
incline that it had stairs instead of paths.

AGS QUARTERLY: THE BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

ISSN: 0146-5783 December 1997

Published qucirterlv by The Association for Gravestone Studies. 278 Main Street, Suite 2117.

Greenfield, Massachusetts Ol.'^Ol.

Page 2

Volume-21: Number 4

AGS QK(7rto-/i/ Fall 1997

JIM BLACHOWICZ, who teaches at Loyola
University of Chicago, first showed slides of stones by
carvers who worked in the Cape Cod area, and then slides
of stones by the same carvers that he had found in North
Carolina and Virginia.

KATIE KARRICK shared the pictures she has been
taking of stones in small cemeteries in the Cleveland area
that are in danger of vanishing.

FRIDAY

Bus TOURS

The bus tours took off at 9 a.m. Friday morning
and they all returned at 3:30 p.m. as scheduled — excellent
planning!

TOM and BRENDA MALLOY had done the research
and set up the two colonial tours. Tom led one and Brenda
the other. They were assisted by Jessie Lie Farber and Laurel
Gabel. Both visited burying grounds with stones carved
by William Young, the Soule family, and the Worcesters,
and each had additional, different carvers. Brenda's bus
went to Paxton, Rutland, Hubbardston, and Princeton.
Tom's went to Warren, New Braintree, Hardwick, and
Brookfield. Incidentally, none of these was repeated on the
self-guided tours. This is an area full of colonial graveyards.

BILL WALLACE and BARBARA ROTUNDO led the
Victorian (and modern) tour. The bus drove through
downtown Worcester and stopped at the park surrounding
colonial stones from an early graveyard that was trimmed

Tom Malloy with his tour group on the Blue Your.
Photo by Nancy Hanuau

down but not entirely moved. Then the bus went to Rural
Cemetery of Worcester. Established in 1838, it is one of the
pioneer rural cemeteries. It had not yet been named when
the local state legislator applied for a charter. All he could
give was "Rural Cemetery," and that has been its name ever
since.

Bill Wallace was the guide through Hope Cemetery,
Worcester's municipal cemetery, but JIM and MINXIE
FANNIN dropped by to show us various points about the
restoration of a mausoleum that the family had
commissioned them to restore. Those with energy at the
end of the tour also dashed across the street to visit the
Swedish Cemetery.

Jessie Farber with a mirror for reading inscriptions
Photo by Nancy Hannon

Volume 21: Number 4

Discussing and photographui^^ stones on the tour.
Piioto by Nancy Hannan

Page 3

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

1 1 link Calidomm, President, with Certificate of Merit
recipients Rosalee Oaldey and Fred Oakley
Photo by Jessie Lie Farber

Presentation of the First Certificate of Merit

At a special pre-dinner reception Friday evening, DAN
GOLDMAN presented the first AGS Certificates of Merit
to FRED and ROSALEE OAKLEY. Here are excerpts from
Dan's presentation:

As you know the Forbes Award is presented
annually by the Board to the person, persons, or
organization that has done an exceptional body of
work that is deemed outstanding in the field of
gravestone studies. It is required thatthe recipient
attend the conference. This has left us with a
problem though. In this room and across the
country there are countless people and
organizations whose research and work in
gravestone studies goes unnoticed.

The Board of Trustees had discussed for many
years creating a second award to be presented by
the Board of Trustees which would be for the many
people who are also working to carry out the
mission of our association.

The hard part was coming up with the award,
the easy part was naming it. Anyone who has been
a member of the AGS knows of Fred and Rosalee
and the work that they have done. Let me give you
a partial list of their accomplishments.

Rosalee served as the Association's first
Executive Director from 1984-1990. This was at a
time before we had professional office space. The
entire organization was housed and nan from Fred

Page 4

and Rosalee's home in Needham! Not only did she
serve as Executive Director but she also had a term as
president of the Board of Trustees from 1993-1995.
Rosalee has been a long-time member of the Board
serving on numerous committees including but not
limited to the editorial board for the Quartcrh/, the
nominating committee for the Board, and the personnel
committee. During the recent period of change Rosalee
has almost singlehandedly kept our office up and
running doing everything from answering the phone
to taking care of the mail to making sure the Qunrterli/
gets to the membership. In addition, one of Rosalee's
lasting contributions to the AGS is the establishment
of the Participation Sessions component to the annual
conference.

Fred began the Conser\'ation Workshop
portion of the conference which continues to draw both
professional and amateur stone conservationists to
AGS. In addition he has served as a long time officer
and tiiistee of the Board, currenth' ser\ing as Treasurer.
He has been instn.miental in plamiing the annual three-
day conference, no small task, overseeing everj'thing
from planning the conference sites vears in ad\ance to
seeing that the conference itself goes smooth!}'. As our
conference is the one official meeting of the Association
each year, the one opportunit\' that we ha\'e each year
to meet and share ideas, this is one of the most
important and challenging jobs an indi\idual

Volume 21: Number 4

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

can perform. In addition, Fred chaired the search committee
for our new office and thanks to him (and Rosalee) we have
the beautiful office space in Greenfield that we do.

The Oakley Certificate of Merit will be presented in
the future to those individuals and groups who continue to
labor unselfishly to preserve old cemeteries, their artwork,
historic information, and to rescue them from being
abandoned and neglected. It is because of the efforts of the
Oakleys' and h.iture recipients of the award that this valuable
resource will still provide another generation with this
tangible connection to our past. The recipient iieed not
attend the conference to receive the award.

It is with great pleasure that I present to Fred and
Rosalee Oakley the first Rosalee F. and W. Fred Oakley, Jr.
Certificate of Merit.

out of credit, please let us know. Certainly we were grateful
to all the people who smiled and helped!

20TH Anniversary Celebration

ROSALEE OAKLEY prepared a clever surprise, a
pageant celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of
AGS. She persuaded twenty-two people to stand on the
stage with their backs to the audience (two represented the
Dublin Seminar years where AGS was conceived). As she
read the year and a mention of important events that
occurred that year, the person with that number turned
around and showed the poster Rosalee had made in advance
with the year and place of the conference. During the earlier
reception conferees had been invited to sign the posters if
they had attended the conference that year.

In addition, beginning with 1990, a member waltzed
across the stage modeling the special t-shirt for that year.
There have now been eight of these. In the order in which
they appeared, the models were:

BILL BAECKLER

SUSAN OLSEN

RUTH SHAPLEIGH-BROWN

JOHN SPAULDING

DAN GOLDMAN
DAVID VIA

PAULETTE CHERNACK
VIRGINIA ROCKWOOD.

Several days after the conference was over, Barbara
and Rosalee tried to put together the list of the 22 members
who held the signs. If our hazy memories have cheated you

AGS has a new e-mail address:

ags@ j avanet.com

MARY ANN BODALYA
DONNA BOGGS
GARY COLLISON
MARY COPE
JOE EDGETTE
CATHERINE GOODWIN
JOHN GOODWIN
MIRA GRAVES
KATIE KARRICK
BRENDA MALLOY
TOM MALLOY

MELVIN MASON
MAYNARD MIRES
RUTH MIRES
GIL MURRAY
CORA OTT
HAZEL PAPALE
CAROL PERKINS
STEVE PETKE
BRENDA REYNOLDS
BARBARA ROTUNDO
BETTY SPAULDING

Annual Meeting

The Association for Gravestone Studies

1997 Annual Meeting

June 27, 1997

Agenda

Call to Order President Frank Calidorina

Quorum Determination Secretary Brenda Malloy

Acceptance of Minutes of the 1996 Annual Meeting

Annual Reports

Treasurer — Fred Oakley

Editor, Journal — Richard Meyer

Quarterly Editorial Board — Barbara Rotundo

Research Clearing House — Laurel Gabel

Lending Library — Lynn Radke

Other Reports

Remarks

Administrator — Caylah Pafenbach
President — Frank Calidorma

New Business

By-Law Change
Election Results

Volume 21: Number 4

(Continued next page)
Page 5

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

Recognition

Retiring trustees

Mary Ann Calidonna, Laurel Gabel,
Rosalee Oakley, James Slater, Deborah Smith

New Trustees

Susan Galligan, Geraldine Hungerford,
Brenda Welch-Reynolds, John Spaulding

Trustees present at conference

Other new business

Adjournment

The names of the newly elected officers and trustees were
read: Vice President, Barbara Rotundo; Trustees at Large:
Claire Deloria, James Fannin, Susan Galligan, Daniel
Goldman, Geraldine Hungerford, C. R. Jones, Stephen Petke,
Brenda Reynolds, Virginia Rockwood and John Spaulding.
All trustees present were introduced.

Frank recognized retiring trustees: Mary Ann
Calidonna, Laurel Gabel, Rosalee Oakley, James Slater, and
Deborah Smith.

It was moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting
at 7:48 p.m. The motion carried.

Respectfully submitted.

Minutes of the 1997 Annual Meeting
Friday, June 27, 1997

The meeting was called to order at 7:33 p.m. by AGS
President Frank Calidonna, in the Academic Center
Auditorium of Becker College, Leicester, Massachusetts.

AGS Secretary, Brenda Malloy, determined that
more than thirty-five members were present, constituting a
quorum to conduct business.

It was moved and seconded to approve, as
circulated, the minutes of last year's Annual Meeting, held
on Friday, June 28, 1996. The motion carried.

AGS Treasurer, W. Fred Oakley, Jr., reported that
the organization is solvent and all bills are paid.

Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, asked members
to read his annual report. He thanked Jim Slater, Barbara
Rotundo, Warren Roberts and Jessie Lie Farber, members
of the editorial board. Richard commented that with Markers
XV he will have edited six editions. This is more than any
other Markers editor.

Speaking for the Quarterly editorial board, Barbara
Rotundo thanked Caylah Pafenbach, [our new desktop
publisher] and credited her for helping them "get out of the
woods."

It was moved and seconded to accept all annual
reports. The motion carried.

President Frank Calidonna thanked Fred and
Rosalee Oakley for assisting with the office setup and
helping to facilitate a smooth transition during changes in
office staffing. Frarik expressed gratification that AGS is
growing and that such a wide variety of interests are present
in the membership.

The following proposed By-Law change was
adopted:

Article III - BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Section 1. There shall not be more than twenty-five or less
than nine trustees including ex officio (with full vote), the
editor of the Association's quarterly, the editor of the
Association's journal. Markers, the archivist, and the research
clearinghouse coordinator.

Page 6

Brenda Malloy
Secretary'

Treasurer's Report

W. Fred Oakley, Jr., Treasurer

1996 Financial Report

. Membership

$27,900

Contributions

1,556

Sales

21,963

Markers

6,119

Publications

13,407

Novelties

788

Parker /Neal Book 1,649

Media

746

Interest

276

Conference

32,877

Miscellaneous

675

Total Income

$85,993

Staff

$23,473

Administration

4,947

Membership

5,090

Sales

23,065

Rent/ Utilities

5,000

Conference

21,081

Media

132

Miscellaneous

3,676

Total Expense

$86,464

Net

($471)

Fund Balances

$45,327

Cash

16,770

Investments

28,558

Fidelity

Asset Manager

14,330

Short Term Bond

10,283

GNMA (Life Mbrs)

3,945

Volume 21: Number

AGS Quarterly Fa\] 1997

1996-1997 Board of Trustees

Report of the 1997 Conference Registrar

Officers

Frank Calidonna, Rome, New York — President
Dan Goldman, E. Greenwich, Rhode Island — Vice President
Brenda Malloy, Westminster, Massachusetts — Secretary
W. Fred Oakley, Jr., Hadley, Massachusetts — Treasurer

Trustees at Large

Ruth Shapleigh Brown — Manchester, Connecticut
Mary Ann Calidonna — Rome, New York
Claire Deloria — Baldwinsville, New York
Robert Drinkwater — Sunderland, Massachusetts
James Fannin — Concord, Massachusetts
Laurel Gabel — Pittsford, New York
C. R. Jones — Cooperstown, New York
Robert Klisiewicz — Webster, Massachusetts
Rosalee Oakley — Hadley, Massachusetts
Stephen Petke — East Granby, Connecticut
Virginia Rockwood — Greenfield, Massachusetts
Barbara Rotundo — Belmont, New Hampshire
James A. Slater — Mansfield Center, Connecticut
Deborah A. Smith — Kittery, Maine
Beth Smolin — Pelham, Massachusetts
John Sterling — East Greenwich, Rhode Island
Janet Taylor — Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Ex Officio Members

Richard Meyer — Monmouth, Oregon - Markers Editor
Elizabeth Goeselt — Wayland, Massachusetts - Archivist
(through September '96)

Office Staff

Miranda Levin — Executive Director (through November '96)
Katherine George — Assistant to the Executive Director

(through August '96)
Lois Ahrens — Executive Director (November '96-March '97)
Patricia A. Miller — Desktop Publisher and Clerical Assistant

(November '96-February '97)
Caylah Pafenbach — Administrator and Desktop Publisher

(March '97-October '97)
Elizabeth Seelandt — Administrative Assistant

(April '97-present)

New members elected to the 1997-1998 Board

John Spaulding — Manchester, Comiecticut
Gerry Hungerford — Bethany, Connecticut
Brenda Welch-Reynolds — Woodstock, Connecticut
Susan Galligan — North Attleboro, Massachusetts

Vice President - Barbara Rotundo, Belmont, New Hampshire
Ex officio - Laurel Gabel, Research Clearinghouse Coordinator

NOTE: The entire annual report may be
obtained by writing to the AGS Office.

160 conferees

27 States

2 Canadian Provinces

Alabama - 2
Arkansas - 1
Arizona - 2
California - 5
Connecticut - 14
Washington DC - 2
Delaware - 2
Iowa - 2
Illinois - 2
Indiana - 3
Louisiana - 1
Massachusetts - 53
Maryland - 2
Maine - 5
Michigan - 3
Missouri - 1
New Hampshire - 3
New Jersey - 8
New York - 20
Ohio - 1
Oregon - 1
Pennsylvania - 11
Rhode Island - 5
South Carolina - 1
Tennessee - 2
Texas - 2
Virginia - 5

Nova Scotia - 1
Ontario - 2

advertisement

Acc

MONUMENT CONSERVATION COLLABORATIVE
Preserving the substance and significance of gravestones

IRVING SLAVID, Conservator PROF. NORMAN WEISS, Consultant
PO BOX 6, COLEBROOK CT. 06021 (S60) 379-2462 FAX (860) 379-9219

Volume 21: Number 4

Page 7

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

Board Nominations Are Being Sought

Nominations for members of the Board of
Trustees are being sought at this time. If you would
like to nominate yourself or someone else for the Board
of Trustees, please send a brief paragraph about
yourself or the person you're nominating to Stephen
Petke, the chair of the Nominating Committee,
8 Cobblestone Road, East Granby, CT 06026-9712.

Board members must be able to attend three
Board meetings a year held in western Massachusetts
and be prepared to be an active member of the Board
of Trustees. If you would like more information on
being an AGS Board member, please contact Steve at
the address above.

FRIDAY EVENING LECTURES

DICK MEYER was the first of the evening speakers.
As editor of Markers, Dick is a very important person in
AGS. He has just retired from the English Department at
Western Oregon State College. He spoke on "Stylistic
Variation in the Battlefield Cemeteries of World War I
Combatant Nations." These cemeteries dot the
contemporary landscape of northern France and
southeastern Belgium. They were created in the 1920s to
replace the original, often idiosyncratic burial sites of the
Great War. Through slides we learned of the specialized
characteristics of the different nationalities.

JANET HEYWOOD is Director of Interpretative
Programs at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. The title of her lecture was "Eternally
Enclosed: Defining Family Burial Space in Granite." She
told us that over 1,000 family burial plots were enclosed
in granite at Mount Auburn between 1859 and 1885.
Following this burst of popularity, a few granite borders
were added, and in the early decades of this century there
was a sweeping removal of most of these massive
decorative pieces. They were removed for aesthetic

advertisement

HAND CARVED LETTERING IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari

617-862-1583

433 Bedford Street
Lexington, MA 02173

reasons as well as increasing the ease of maintenance. Recently
a few curbs have been added to fulfill a new function of
memorialization.

JOHN STERLING writes the computer column in the
AGS Quarterly and developed the widely-used AGS standard
computer program for recording cemeteries. He also directs
the project of recording the inscriptions on gravestones in all
3100 historic cemeteries in Rhode Island. He talked on
"Memorialization of Marine Disasters." Many cemeteries of
coastal towns contain hints of tragedies that took place at sea.
Epitaphs such as "lost at sea" or "perished in the destruction
of the steamboat Lexington" tell only part of the ston,'. The
slides and John's words told the whole story of some.

FRIDAY Late Night

HELEN BRIDGE presented the video that she and her
husband made to illustrate Little Compton's participation in
the Rhode Island Cemetery Transcription Project. Set to music
with a narration, the video includes a brief historj' of the area
and explores several of the town's historic cemeteries. It offers
an engaging introduction to gravestone studies and is
appropriate for all ages and interest levels. The Bridges have
given a copy of the video to AGS. You may borrow it from the
office on payment of $3.50 for postage and handling. The
Bridges have generously given permission for members to
make their own copies. If requested, the office will also send
the two-page description of how Helen became in\-olved in
the Transcription Project and how she and her husband made
this amazingly professional video.

DAVID VIA showed slides to share with us a
memorable experience he had while traveling in Utah. At a
small museum he chatted with two women ^s'ho had come
from Hawaii, each with a teen-age son. They were going to
visit a cemetery containing the graves of some Hawaiian
Mormons who had settled in Skull Valley \vhere the cemeten,'
was located. David asked if he could join them, and they
seemed pleased to have a sympathetic guest. His slide showed
the large monument that had been placed at the edge of the
cemetery to memorialize the Ha^vaiians who had died and
been buried in arid Utah. After looking quietly around, one
of the women took out a ukulele, and the two bo\'s danced
happily in front of the memorial as she played. There was a
catch in David's voice as he described the moving scene.

C. R. JONES took us on a trip to Greece and showed us
both ancient stele and nearb\' modern mausolea.

GRAY WILLIAMS presented slides of the Gate of
Heaven Cemeterv in Westchester Count}', New York, where
many notable Catholic New Yorkers are interred. Among these
is Babe Ruth, whose monument features a life-size relief of
Jesus blessing a little boy in a baseball uniform. The monument
has become a shrine at which admirers leave offerings such as
baseballs, bats, mitts, and caps. Nearbv is the monument of
another Yankee, Billy Martin, with his uniform number, 1,
prominently incised at each end. It, too, has offerings: beer
cans as well as baseball memorabilia.

Page 8

Volume 21: Number 4

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

SATURDAY

On Saturday morning came a flock of people who
register just for the day and attend the Conservation
Workshop led by JIM and MINXIE FANNIN. They began
with class lectures and then moved out into the field for
hands-on experience. Lots of members who came for the
whole weekend took the Conservation Workshop as well.

Removing a boulder
Photo by Minxie Fannin

Conservation Workshop

by James Fannin

The Basic Gravestone Conservation workshop at
Rawson Brook Cemetery came about through the efforts of
many volunteers and involved extensive planning.
Developing a meaningful curriculum for the participants
requires careful attention to the location, subjects, and
presenters. In Leicester FRED OAKLEY made several visits
to identify the cemetery and establish a community contact.
The Fannins spent substantial time in Rawson Brook
Cemetery on a chilly Spring day along with Fred and DON
LENNERTON, Chairman of the Leicester Historical
Commission, choosing markers, taking "before"
photographs, and recording information. The logistics for
the workshop were settled at that meeting, but work
continued on program development and team leader
volunteers in the following weeks.

Participants on Workshop Day were provided with
a workshop packet detailing the morning lecture program.
Lectures included safety in the cemetery, cleaning,
photography, documentation, and conservation advice.
After the didactic portion in the college auditorium, everyone
proceeded to Rawson Brook Cemetery for the practical
application of basic conservation techniques. Here the

A down-to-eartli experience
Photo by Minxie Fannin

logistical efforts of Don and Fred were evident with
water, sand, peastone, and other materials ready for use.
Participants were paired up with team leaders and the
adventure of digging in a cemetery began!

The intense interest and enthusiastic spirit
brought to the workshop by all the participants made it
clear that much would be accomplished this afternoon.
Still, as is inevitably the case, unexpected circumstances
were discovered that threatened to thwart completion
of the procedure planned for a particular stone. For example,
the stone rubble foundation for a small obelisk turned out
to be over three feet deep (and still going!) so a decision was
made to place the sand and peastone foundation down three
feet, since another day of digging might be required to
excavate all the stone! By the end of the afternoon most
participants had the chance to see and participate in a
number of basic conservation procedures.

A proud crew with tlieir reset stone
Plwto by Minxie Fnnnin

Volume 21: Number 4

Page 9

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

PARTICIPATION SESSIONS IN REVIEW

by Claire Deloria
The rest of the conferees attended the Participation
Sessions that had been organized by CLAIRE DELORIA
and BARBARA AITKEN.

The Father Photographic Collection on CD-Roms
LAUREL GABEL, author, researcher, and AGS Trustee and
Research Clearinghouse Coordinator, enabled participants
to access and view the enormous variety of gravestones
preserved and collected on the CD-Roms. As participants
said, "This was great. Offer it again. I would go to any
session offered by Laurel."

really beautiful) attempts and raving about a "new way to enjoy
gravestones."

Gabriel's Garden — an artist teaching children about

gravestone studies

KATHERINE GREENIA, herself a graphic artist, showed
participants how she engages children in gravestone studies
through graphics, journal keeping, and group activities.
Attesting to her success in inspiring the participants, one person
rushed to the information desk to query, "Will this be offered
again? I want my friend to see it."

Thanks to the Becker College staff the whole class could view the Farber CD Rents
Photo by Jessie Lie Farber

Archival Storage of Photographs, Videos, and Film
FRANK CALIDONNA, professional photographer and
current President of AGS, discussed the proper materials,
environment, and display techniques to preserve
documents and visuals. "A very important part of
gravestone studies and something we all should know,"
commented one participant.

Framed Foil Impressions

SUSAN GALLIGAN, a courtroom sessions clerk and long
time gravestone enthusiast who has transformed cemetery
gravestones into framed art, taught participants the basic
skills necessary to make foil impressions of gravestone
images or borders on their own in their local graveyards.
Participants left the room carefully handling their first (and

Page 10

Romanticism and the Victorian Cemetery

ALMA FOCO, a writer and actor who lives in Ontario, Canada,

discussed how the writing, art, and philosophies of the 19th

century contributed to the formation of the Victorian cemeter}'.

Participants found the session "very interesting, pro\iding

great background information mth a very kno\vledgeable

speaker."

Watercolor Dabbing: An Advanced Rubbing Technique
MARY ANN CALIDONNA, a papermaking and print-making
artist, took her participants to the local cemetery to learn
another alternative to lumberman's crayon nibbing. As one
participant put it, this session "provided me with an absolutely
splendid memento and a skill to take home as well."

Volume 21; Number 4

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

Early New England Gravestones and the Stories They Tell
DAN GOLDMAN, a supervisor for a Wall Street-based
investment firm and an AGS Trustee, provided a slide show
introduction to New England gravestones. Participants felt
that the "slides did a great job of illustrating various ideas"
and "provided a wealth of information."

Unearthing Black Culture in an Undocumented Nineteenth
Century All-Black Cemetery in Alabama
ANN B. PEARSON, teacher, freelance writer, and president
of the Auburn Heritage Association, shared her experiences
collecting information, through oral history, about this
unrecorded cemetery and explained what her group of
volunteers discovered about the black community of Auburn.
Participants found the session "different and interesting," "a
topic not often covered at AGS Conferences," and expressed
their interest in "ethnic topics."

Cemetery Detectives

MIRA GRAVES, a very busy retiree who coordinates
programs for Gettysburg Elderhostel and works with
teachers and their students on cemetery projects, shared
activities that she has developed which generate enthusiasm
with fourth and fifth grade students and teach them about
their community's history. Participants enjoyed this year's
session as they did last year's — this was Mira's encore.

What do Markers and the Super Bowl Have in Common?
RICHARD E. MEYER, professor of English and Folklore and
Editor of Markers for the past six years, sought to entice new
writers to share their interests and expertise by submitting
articles for publication in the journal. One conference
attendee, as he leafed through past Markers, was overheard
to say he thought he might "give it a try."

How to Save a Cemetery

HELEN A. SCLAIR, writer, lecturer, editor, and Chicago's
"Cemetery Lady," shared her experiences in aiid concern for
saving burial sites in metropolitan areas where "progress" is
a mighty foe. As usual, Helen was "very informative" and
"highly entertaining."

Recording Information Contained on Gravestones
JOHN E. STERLING, owner of a computer software company
and author of two books on Rhode Island cemeteries,
illustrated several techniques for reading nearly illegible
gravestones and discussed the role of the computer in
recording gravestone information. "Helpful" and
"illuminating" described the session.

Faithful Over a Few Things — Learning from Gravestone

Inscriptions

JANET HEYWOOD, Director of Interpretive Programs at

Mount Auburn Cemetery, shared many epitaphs from

Boston's historic cemetery, and discussed what they revealed

Volume 21: Number 4

about the lives they remembered. Participants found the
session "fascinating" with a "very knowledgeable presenter."

Practical Preservation Techniques

JEFFREY and CAROL NELSON, who combine backgrounds
in history, archaeology, biology, and education, presented
the methods of cleaning, reading, repairing, and preserving
used at the Thompson Cemetery Project in Union City,
Pennsylvania. Participants found this session "very helpful"
and acknowledged "we have much to do in this area."

Photography Workshop

FRANK CALIDONNA, professional photographer and
current President of AGS, took his participants to a local
cemetery where they learned and practiced photographing
stones. Participants want us to "repeat this next year."

Gravestone Rubbing Techniques

VIRGINIA ROCKWOOD, art teacher and AGS Trustee, took
the class to the local cemetery to select stones for either dry
or oil rubbings. "What fun!" and "Most informative" were
participants' comments as they carried home their treasures.

History of the American Funeral Industry
MARK NONESTIED, founder and current president of the
New Jersey Graveyard Preservation Society, used slides and
actual artifacts to show the history of the funeral business
to a standing-room-only audience. They found the session
"carefully prepared and excellently illustrated" and one
person found it to be "parallel to the work I'm doing on 19th
century hospitals and health care."

Cemetery Resurrection Archaeology

CAROL and JEFFREY NELSON, whose combined
backgrounds include history archaeology, biology, and
education, detailed how archaeology and forensic science
were used to discover the existence and history of a forgotten
cemetery. The techniques of cleaning, reading, repairing,
and preserving stones were illustrated. As one participant
said, "1 came to the conference just for this session and 1 was
not disappointed."

Conferees Dan Farber, Ralph Tiickei; and James Slater, all

former Forbes Award recipients

Photo by Jessie Lie Farber

Page 11

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

THE HARRIETTE MERRIFIELD FORBES AWARD

Harriette Merrifield Forbes was a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, who photographed gravestones and studied
their carvers in the early 1900s. In 1927 she published a book titled Gravestones of Early New England and the Men WJw
Made Them, which was the first serious study of gravestones in this century.

Harncttc Mcrrificld Forbes

At the first armual conference of the Association for Gravestone Studies, it was resolved that an award should be made
periodically to honor either an individual or an organization in recognition of exceptional service to the field of gra\-estone
studies. This award, known as the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award, recognizes outstanding contributions in such areas
as scholarship, publications, conservation, education, and community service.

PastHonorees

1977

Daniel Farber

1984

Ami Parker & Avon Neal

1991

1978

Ernest Caulfield

1985

Jessie Lie Farber

1992

1979

Peter Benes

1986

Louise Tallman

1993

1980

Allan I Ludwig

1987

Frederick & Pamela Burgess

1994

1981

No award given

1988

Laurel Gabel

1995

1982

James A. Slater

1989

Betty Willsher

1996

1983

Hilda Fife

1990

Theodore Chase

Lynette Strangstad
Ralph Tucker
Deborah Trask
Barbara Rotundo
Dillon R. Dorrell, Sr.
Historic Burying Ground
Initiative, Boston

Page 12

Volume 21: Number 4

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BOOKS .

By Thi'ir Markcn Ve Shall Knim Thf m:
A Chrunick' of the History and Kestoralions
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PapertHiik. IS9piixfi. 70 photographs .
S18.75 members, $20.75 others

Cemeteriu^s and Gravemarkcrs:
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Aincricon tultua' FiiperlHick. i47piigei, 124 illiivrniwiu.
S26.00 members. $29.00 others

The Colonial Burying! Grounds of Eastern Cor
and the Men Who Made Them

Pholograpln by Daniel & Jessie Lie Farber

The denmlivc work on more than 100 carven found in 60 towns easi

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Death Divine

Paniehi William.i

Photogriiphs of cemetery tculpiurc from Pans. Photographed

pnmaniy in Pansion ccmcteric* between IWl and IW4, this book

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Going Out in Style: The Architecture of Eternity
Douglas Keisler and Xavier Cronin

Sinking, full'Color pholographscaplunng Ihc elegaincc and grandeur
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CEMETERY GUIDES -

Regional Guide 1: NarraguiLsett Bay ,Area Graveyards

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iwru. $3.50 members, $4.50 others

Regional Guide 2: Long Island, New York 17lh and 18lh
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Conference Guide 1:

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The Last Great Necesiiity:
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DuvhI Cliarlei Slo.me

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Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey

Janice Kohl Sarapiii

This illustrated guidebook lo New Jersey's old burial grounds

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on epitaphs, dating, and research is also given Paperhiiik, 2}l> pages.

WdlMlrolious.

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Once Upon a Tomb:

Stories from Canadian Graveyards

Nancy- Millar

Stories about pioneers and settlers, missionaries and Native people,

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ongmal gtavemnrker^. the most carefully guarded grave, the most

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Puritan Gravestone Ari (1976)

'Principles and Methods for the Study of the Work of Individual
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County. Vermont • The Gravestone Image as a Punlan Cultural Code
• Fnjm Significant Incompetence to Insignificant Competence * Eros
and Agape Classical and Early Chrislian Survivals in New England
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Arc Model Laws Needed'' A Seminar Open Forum ■ Rubbings and
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Paperback. 42 puQet
$16.00 members. $18.00 others

Puritan Gravestone Art II (1978)

An Alternative to Panofskyism: New England GravcMoncs and the
European Folk ArlThidition 'Aspects of Music, Poetry, Stunccarviog.
and Death in Early New England • *A Pnest to the Temple'- Puntan
Attitudes Toward Iconoclasm ■ Colonial Long Island Gravestones.
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Stylistic Concentration and Diffusion in the Upper Connecticut River
Valley. n^O-lKlT ■ The Colonial Gravestone Carvings of John
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$16.00 members, $18.00 others

Conference Guide 2:

Cemeteries In and Around New London, Connecticut

An expanded version of llic bus lour and mini-tour field notes fium
the 1993 AGS conference This guide covens several ccmelcrieii in
the New London. Connecticut, area, 16 pages.
$3-50 members, $4.00 others

Conference Guide 3: Chicagoland Cemeteries
This guide mi:ludcs the comprehensive tout and mmi-lour field notes
fromthe 1994 AGS conference In addition tothe more well-known
Chicago cemeteries this guide also includes many unusual and
interesting ethnic cemeiencs which reflect the region's diverse
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Conference Guide 4: MassacbuselL-i l^ower Connecticut
River Valley

This guide IS based on the lour and imni-lour field notes from the
199S AGS conference held in Westficld. Massachusetts It also
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: $11.50 members, $13.50 others

Remember Me as You Pas.s By:
Stories from Prairie Graveyards

Nana Millar

This book IS a model on how you ciin use graveynrds to Icom the
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The Revival Styles in Amerit^n Memorinl Art

Peggy McDowell and RifhanI E Me\er

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.Scottish Epitaphs: Epitaphs and Imager from Scottish

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Beiiy mislier

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^iilent Cities:

The Evolution of the American Cemetery

K Jackson ,1 C l'fri;ufii

While the bnef tent discusses cemeteries for a lay audience, the color

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Soul in the Stone:

Cemetery Ari from America's Heartland

John Gary Brown

This book of photographs and text covers the diverse and nch but
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Tomb Sculpture:

Its Changing Aspects from Ancient Eg) pt to Bernini

Er —flBfwfr ,

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Understanding Scottish Graveyards

fli'lfi UW/.i/ifr

.A historical and interpretive approach to Scotland's graveyards. The

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40 lUusiraixons.

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Vestiges of Mortality and Remembrance:
A Bibliography on the Historical Archaeology
of Cemeteries

Edward L Bell

Not a book for theeosual reader, this is a thorough and comprehensive

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to the bibliogiaphy Clolh. 439 pages

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See back of the Order Form for shirLs and ucces-
soricji. Current prices begin .lanutiry I, 1998. Please
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Kit of Information l^eaflets (9 items)

Making Photographic Records of Gravestimcs • Symbolism m
Carvings on Old Gravestones • Gravestone Rubbing for Beginners •
ATcchniquc for the Advanced Rubber • Recommendations for the
Care of Gravestones • Model [.egislation • Recording Cemetery Data
( If) pages. ofT-prini from Markers f) • Care of Old Ccmclcne* and
Ornvcilones(l2 pages, off-pnni fromA/orieri !)• Bibliographies -
gravestones, bunal customs, death and dving
$10.00 members. $1 1.00 others

Kit of Teaching Resource Leaflets I II itemsl

What lo Look leir on Gravestones - .Symbolism in Carvings on Old
Gravestones (same as above) • Gravestone Rubbing for Beginners •
A Technique for the Advanced Rubber Isome as above) ■ Making
Replicas iCastingsl of Gravestone Designs • Photographing
Gravestones • Discussion and Research Topics • Analyzing Ccmeiery
Data • Primary Genealogical Resources Available Locally ■
Gravestone Data Exercise — l4gravcslonccunJs and a list ofquesuoiis
• Bibliographies - gravestones, burial customs, death and dying ( same

$10.00 members, $1 LOO others

Kit of Gravestone Preservation Information

Making Photographic Records of Gravestones (same a.s above ■
Recording Cemetery Data Isome as above) • The Care of Old
Ccmclcnes and Gravestones (same as above) ■ Preservation of
Historic Burying Grounds • Review and Evaluation of Selected
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What Do ^'oti Do When \bu I'ind a Gravestone?

Thli leaflet lakes you. sicp by step, through Ihe process ol tracing the
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'dead end.' A must for anyone looking to return a gravestone to its
nghtlul place, and a fun project for anyone!
$2.50 members, $3-00 others

Carver Research Guide

This eight-page guide outlines n.-scarch procedure for identifying early
grovcslonecarvcrsanddiscovering their backgrounds Agood project
for genealogist. $2.50 members. $3.00 others

Guide to Forming a "Cemetery Friends" Organization

Tltis IS J comprehensive guide toorganiHng, operating, publicising,
and funding a cemetery friends group It covers the process from
incorporating, setting up books, writing by-laws, to lunding sources
and outreach programs Included is a lepnni of the ariicle, "Forming
a Family Cemetery Association" from the Pn'fetiional Grnealogitis
ofArkan.M.i Ne»slciier $2.50 mcmhers, $3.00 Others

Nadonul Register Cemeteries

This Icaltet tells you the types iil ccinclencs iliai might qualify lor
National Register lisling and gives suggestions lor noimnatme a
cemetery A listing of registered cemeteries is nvnilablc. nnd one
state per order will be pnavided ^please specify slate when ordering'
Also includes the Nalionul Regisier's Guidelines for Evaliiaiing and
Registering Cenieieno and Hunal Places (Nationol Register
Bulletin #41 ) $2.50 members, $3.00 others (for P&H)

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Gravestone Leisurewear

Please remember to indicate size when ordering!

SALE! 1995 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100% cotton with the conference logo stone

in gray on a burgundy shirt.

M,L,XL - $8.00 members, $10.00 others

XXL - $9.00 members, $11.00 others

M4im('inliti(irjli r
InlhcIHtraiiCwaf* [i^

SALE! 1996 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100% cotton with the conference logo stone

in green on a gold shirt.

M,L,XL - $8.00 members, $10.00 others

XXL - $9.00 members, $11 .00 others

Sweatshirts:

Ash gray with maroon lettering of a design featuring

the AGS logo, 50/50 blend.

Hooded: L only -

$20.00 members, $22.00 others

Crew: S and M only -

$15.00 members, $17.00 others
Please note: We're discontinuing these sweats. Get one
while they last! Please indicate size.

1997 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100 % cotton with the conference logo stone

in black on a teal shirt.

M,L,XL - $10.00 members, $12.00 others

XXL - $11.00 members, $13.00 others

AGS Sun Visors

White terry-lined adjustable sun visors

with "The Association for Gravestone Studies" printed

in black on the rim.

$3.00

NEW! Burgundy sweatshirt with a new gray grave-
stone design. 52/48% cotton /polyester blend
Crew: M, L, XL-

$19.95 members, $21.95 others
XXL - $20.95 members, $22.95 others

AGS Polo Shirt

Navy 100% cotton shirt with the design in white in the
pocket area (there's a design there, but no pocket !)
M,L, XL - $16.00 members, $18.00 others
XXL - $17.00 members, $19.00 others

..^,ov^ '"'■"' •"'^•v(o.

Order Form

QUANTITY

ITEM

Please give sizes of t-shirts and sweatshirts when ordering.

PRICE

POSTAGE AND HANDLING

Size of order Surface Air/Foreign

Surface

$1.00-$4.99 free $1.00

$5.00-$9.99 $1.50 $3.00

$10.00-$24.99 $3.50 $5.00

$25.00-$49.99 $5.00 $7.00

$50.00-$74.99 $6.50..... $8.00

$75.00+ $8.00 $10.00

SUBTOTAL

POSTAGE
(SEE CHART)

TOTAL

Ship to:

NAME:
ADDRESS:

PHONE:

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

278 Main Street, Suite 207. Greenfield, MA 01301

(413)772-0836

AGS Q//rt;-to-/i/ Fall 1997

Forbes Award Reception and Banquet

Vincent Luti, 1997 Forbes Award Recipient

At the end of the afternoon the showers were busy,
particularly with the people who had spent the day in sunny
cemeteries. But we all dressed up a bit for the reception for
Vincent Luti, honored with the Forbes award this year. Then
we went to a served dinner (as opposed to the cafeteria style
of the others) with board members or former Forbes winners
as host or hostess at each table.

Frank Calidonna introduced Vincent Luti, giving
him a certificate (designed by Carol Perkins) and a picture
of Mrs. Forbes. Vince's moving acceptance speech can't be
fully appreciated except by people who heard his effective
reading of it.

widely distributed and taught, such that the content of these
volumes is already out there in other people's talks,
pamphlets, articles, books, and now, even CD Roms. As I
look about this banquet room, I see people I would prefer
were getting this award tonight. But I will accept the award.
After all, it is an honor the likes of which I will never see in
my lifetime again. Like death, it comes only once.

Still, like all honors bestowed singularly, one person
at a time, this award is more than just me. Where would I be
without AGS, its membership, its conferences, and
publications? And where would all my work be without

Frank Calidonna, President, presenting 1997 Forbes Aumrd to Vincent Luti
Photo by Carol Perkins

Forbes Award Acceptance Speech

by Vincent F. Luti

When I do the arithmetic, I don't quite arrive at the
same calculation as the gang of friends who threw my name
into the pool of candidates for the Harriette Merrifield Forbes
Award. A few articles in print, a number of AGS papers
that seemed to be always about the same thing — my
obsession with the eighteenth century gravestone carvers
of the Narragansett Basin — , some Newsletter contributions,
and once co-chairing an AGS conference. . . all these don't
quite add up to a Forbes award. Then there are two
completed volumes of gravestone carver studies
(Narragansett Basin, of course) that no one has really ever
seen. But that isn't necessary since the findings have been

Volume 21: Number 4

the startling contributions made by members and non-
members? I cannot begin to tell you all the significant input
I have gratuitously received, without which my work would
resemble Swiss cheese. So my first task is to thank each and
every one of those people who were only doing what we all
do in AGS: share findings.

More than once when reading the tedious list of
names in book acknowledgments (and I do read them), I have
wondered just what was it that each contributed to the
author's research. Having now myself amassed two volumes
of studies, I know the answer: considerable and critical
material the author would never have found.

Page 17

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

How do I acknowledge Mrs. Gladys Bolhouse of the'
Newport Historical Society Library who scrutinized me
out of the corner of her eyes for months with the
indifference of a fishhawk that is waiting to pounce? Once
admitted to the inner sanctuary of her encyclopedic mind,
going full steam at ninety years of age, 1 was given the
privilege of seeing choice morsels that even Forbes did not
see (Gladys remembered her) and got unlimited access to
manuscripts that turned the library director livid.

And likewise, once admitted to the confidence of
John Benson of the Stevens Shop in Newport, I got to sit at
his kitchen table poring over the old account books no one
had ever seen. Is "Thanks John" enough?

How do I acknowledge Ed Hazell, a waif of a
student of mine who more or less dragged me for the very
first time to the historic second Dublin Conference in 1978
in the remains of his derelict old Comet? Years later,
familiar with my obsessive work on John New — when Ed
was working in the Boston University Library — he saw a
pamphlet with a photo of a stone in a Boston south shore
town that rang incendiary alarms, and 1, smug in my
certainty that John New was an interesting but local, rude
carver restricted to east central Massachusetts, got the
scholarly shock of my life to find a brilliant body of work
by John New where it should not have been and which
was being attributed by other writers to all the wrong
people.

How do I acknowledge the sharp nosed suspicion
of Deborah Trask in Nova Scotia who smelled the salt tang
of Narragansett Basin mud, deposited at low tide, turned
slate, turned eighteenth century gravestone and stuck into
the soil of a Nova Scotia cemetery that was the urgent,
long sought after missing link in a theory — theory only,
mind you — that I had proposed years earlier that Stephen
Hartshorn carved the Adam and Eve stone in Bristol,
Rhode Island?

And how do I acknowledge Matthew Thomas, a
teen who while helping his mother probe the ground
during a Shrewsbury, Massachusetts cemetery project,
struck an immovable object, buried when a grander but
uglier stone was erected in its place, that turned out to be
a stone both Forbes and I assumed gone forever, a stone
that was the only fully authenticated, probated example
of the real George Allen Jr., thus vindicating my lengthy
but hideously complex theoretical study on him?

And how do I really acknowledge Paul McLeod,
a geologist in a remote mining town in Montana (where
you can find happiness) who sent me a copy of his
undergraduate thesis that blew me away when I found
pictured in it stones in New Jersey by my anonymous
Newport carver, BOBSS, murdered at age thirty, who may
well have been the catalyst in part to the great New Jersey
school of gravestone carving in the eighteenth century (and
that of central Connecticut as well!)? Yikes! my work
would be massively incomplete and disconnected without
these vital contributions of others.

And gems, gems, gems of photos and Xeroxes from
the Farbers, Laurel Gabel, John Sterling, and others that filled
in chinks in my lengthy statistical analyses charts.

What do I do, just list their names, say thanks, and walk
off with a prestigious award as if I had earned it all by myself?
That is unconscionable.

You all know that the most often asked question in this
world besides "How did you and Dad meet?" is "How did
you get started in gravestone studies?" the logical connection
of which escapes me. The answer, of course, to both is always
"By chance."

A friend from Utah visiting me here in New England
in the early 1970s was taking a course in Colonial Literature
out there in which a strange new book (he showed it to me:
Graven Images) was being used for its gravestone design content
to compare with the prose and poetry in eighteenth century
literary anthologies. The friend wanted to bring back some
token gift to his professor — who after all was his thesis
advisor — and I suggested an authentic gravestone. . . in rubbing
form, of course. I'd never done one. You may all smile now
since you do not do just one gravestone rubbing. This morbid
obsession should be ranked right along with addictive
substances and controlled. I think I did one hundred sixty
rubbings that and subsequent summers, acquiring along the
way a devout following of student disciples who managed in
their slavery to turn the outings into vast picnics and revels.

Then came, by way of the Dublin Seminar tlier and a
waif-like student, both passed on to me by a colleague in the
English department of my Universit)', the exhilarating
discovery of the Second Dublin Conference in New Hampshire.
Those were powerhouse conferences! They crackled with
energy, debate, frontierism, camaraderie, and some good food.
I knew then that I had to contribute something one day. I had
a most favored rubbing and I would find out who the carver
was. How naive. In a research fever for at least six years, I
turned out my first, and what I still consider my best, favorite
study: John and James New. And the rest is history' and tA\ o
volumes waiting for Godot.

Here I would like to pause in deep gratitude to Peter
Benes for encouraging me to do the New study and supporting
me in my progress toward an AGS presentation of m\' findings.
Nor would my methodology exist were it not for the example
of Jim Slater who nurtured it by his exemplary work that rang
in harmonious accord with the methodolog\' of mv teaching of
theoretical musical analysis, m)' gainful emplo\ment in those
years. From him I learned to be humble before the awesome
pronouncements that large, detailed statistiCiil ana]\sis shove
under your snotty nose.

So what do I do now, break up this splendid award
into bits and pieces like some communion to be shared by all
of you grand, great, and generous people wiio glued my work
together and filled in the gaping interstices? Should I not turn
it right back to AGS for its generosity, support, and damned
hard work all these years to bring gra\estone studies to a level
of distinguished scholarship unthought of before?

Page 18

Volume 21: Number 4

AGS Qunrterl\/¥i)U 1997

I must admit that T am one of those people now
looked upon in AGS as part ol^ some secret cabal: carver
research crackpots. Perhaps our long-winded studies, not
always the stuff of distinguished — but surely impassioned —
scholarship, need monograph printings, which I hope the
Board will also take under its many considerations.

Well, I'll also admit that our carver research work is
primitive, but I only hope that our foundational studies
generate in future graduate students brilliant intellectual
exercises in doctoral theses. Our work is humble when we
thiiik of the superstructures of ideas that yet remain to be
built on it in the rich domain of human historical discourse.
Those moldy, old gravestones are the powerful catalyst, the
very bones, as it were, for reconstructing structures of
colonial human thought and activity in this magnificant
corner of the world called New England and that magical
corner of the mind called gravestones studies.

Let me close now with the battle cry "The King is
dead! Long live the King!" and, in the spirit of Queen for a
Day, let me show my profound reverence and respect for
Harriette Merrifield Forbes by saying the same about her,
because each and every one of us who does carver research
eventually enters the archives of the priniitive dead. Forbes
is dead! Long live her passion for gravestone research!
Having made our contribution, our work continues to be
superseded, even outdated, as it gets refined and made truer
to a historical past that new research brings to light.
Gravestone carver research is by no means over.

The name Harriette Merrifield Forbes is glorious to
all of us. It all began there; but it didn't all end there, and
we have to move on. And if I have in some way helped
clarify, amplify , and elaborate on Forbes, then we who also
do carver research in turn eagerly await those future scholars
who will correct, polish, and build more beautiful mansions
upon our simple work with their elegant research. This is
all very humbling; this weekend has not been easy. But I
gratefully accept with pride and humility the Harriette
Merrifield Forbes Award. Thank you.

Saturday Evening Lectures

LAUREL GABEL gave the first lecture Saturday
evening. She is the Research Clearinghouse Coordinator and
a member of the AGS board. Herself a meticulous researcher.
Laurel successfully fields requests for help from members
(and non-members who have found our website). They find
she can give answers or suggest sources for any century and
any geographic location. She was a natural for the Harriette
Merrifield Forbes award in 1988. She had devoted much of
her time the previous year to checking the information
accompanying the fabulous Farber collection that has now
been put on CD Roms. The title of her talk was "Unsolved
Mysteries and New Discoveries: Working with the Farber
Collection." She gave a demonstration of the various benefits
and possibilities of the CDs ending with the story behind a
stone that had an unusual image that included a ship and a
palm tree. She discovered it memorialized a woman who
had gone to Africa as a missionary and died there.

GRAY WILLIAMS spoke on "How to Use Lettering
Styles to Identify Carvers." Gray is a free-lance writer on
subjects ranging from health and gardening to history.
Members have come to expect reliable content and fine
presentation in his Markers articles and conference talks. He
explained that there are certain letters and numerals that
offer a wide variety of alternative interpretations, and a
carver's choices among these alternatives, in combination,
can clearly distinguish his work from that of others.
Members working on early carvers were quick to take the
handout Gray offered that listed about fourteen letters and
the characteristics that were likely clues. Here is the entry
for s, for example.

Overall width: narrow or broad? Overall
angle: vertical or leaning to right?

Upper curve larger or smaller than lower
curve? Shape of serifs?

[Note: We have a few copies left of Gray's handout. Send a
SASE (32(t stamp) to the AGS office if you would like one.]

JONATHAN L. FAIRBANKS was the final speaker.
Jonathan is the Katherine Lane Weems Curator of American
Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. His department in the museum contains displays
of gravestone photographs (by Dan Farber, of course) and
related artifacts as well as exhibits of memorial jewelry and
the original (threatened) Dorchester, Massachusetts, stone
for John Foster, 1681, who was an astronomer, a
mathematician, a printer of books, and the first printmaker
in North America. In his lecture, titled "Eternal Celebrations:
American Memorials," Jonathan gave us the fruits of his
extensive background in sculpture (remember from the
spring Quarterly, 1997, that his father was a sculptor) and
his access to all that a superb museum contains.

Volume 21: Number 4

Page 19

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

Saturday Late Night

SUE OLSEN showed a video about the naming of
Congressional Cemetery to stand for all Historic Urban
Cemeteries as one of the National Trust's Eleven
Endangered Sites for 1997.

CATHERINE GOODWIN gave us a history of St.
Patrick's Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts, and showed
pictures of some of the stones there as well as the special
fenced-off section intended for the burial of suicides. She
would like to hear from members if they know about other
cemeteries that have this segregated arrangement.

MARK NONESTIED had slides made from
postcards of catacombs he found in Italy where the
Capuchin monks made mummies out of corpses, dressed
them as though they were live people, and had them on
display. The practice continued until 1920. His American
audience had trouble believing him that people had really
requested this treatment before they died. The pictures
made from postcards were pretty ghastly.

BILLIE SIENA told about restoration and
preservation of old cemeteries in her town, Mansfield,
Massachusetts. She emphasized how helpful it was to have
the cooperation of the local newspapers.

GARY COLLISON showed about a dozen slate
German gravestones from York County, Pennsylvania.
They all have shallowly incised images of a crude cherub-
face. They are lettered in a simple but graceful German
Fraktur script. The images are more crudely done than
the skillful, quite professional lettering. Perhaps they were
added later since there are other gravestones in the area
with similar lettering and no decoration at all on the
tympanum.

SS:^

SUNDAY

Some attenders leave Sunday morning before the
lectures, but dedicated gravestone members know that
they will see and hear much worthwhile information if they
stay and eat lunch with the survivors. That term may suggest
it is an ordeal they have survived, but that is not at all what is
meant. Nearly four days of intense concentration on an
outpouring of facts, stories, and new sights leaves you elated,
excited, but afraid that you won't be able to remember all the
marvelous things you've learned. (And this year the
auditorium had no side lights or half-power lighting to enable
the conscientious listeners to take notes.) Conference is a
wonderful experience.

Sunday Morning Lectures

The first Sunday speaker was JOHN A. "SANDY"
BUCKLAND. Sandy has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, with
training in mineralogy. He has spent three years as part of a
group who have repaired stones and restored the Tomac
Historic Burying Ground in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. His
paper, entitled "Practical Gravestone Conser\^ation" described
all the group had done from getting \'eterans' stones for the
unmarked graves of soldiers in the American Revolution to
fixing broken stones by adhering the pieces to a bluestone
backing.

[Note: The Conservation Committee points out that AGS does
not endorse any specific conservation procedures. The repair
of sandstone and soft marble can be among the most
complicated stone conservation problems — sandstone,
especially, often develops many internal voids and planes of
weakness which are unlikely to be corrected by an adhesi\'e
applied to the back. No single treatment or mending technique
is suitable for all stones — each one must be considered as to its
material and condition. Interested readers may want to consult
By Their Markers Ye Shall Know Them, b\' William Hosley and
Shepherd M. Holcomb, Sr. (Hartford: 1994), available from
AGS, which documents in detail the researdi and conservation
program that has been carried out for many years on the
sandstone markers in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground.]

The next speaker was JOSEPH EDGETTE. Joe is
presently an administrator at VVidener University in Chester,
Permsylvania. He is chair of the Cemeteries and Gra\'emarkers
section of the American Culture Association. His lecture was
titled "Epitaphs: Everlasting Expressions of Empathy." He
discussed the use of the epitaph and its sources. Sympath\- tor
the survivors at the time of death and very often empathy
accompany the feelings and emotions felt and expressed in
various forms of condolence. The epitaph is obviously the one
having the truest qualitv of permanence and empathetic
durability.

Page 20

Volume 21: Number 4

AGS Quarterly Fall 1 997

HELEN SCLAIR, known in Chicago as The Cemetery
Lady, gave a paper on "Necropolitan Cartography." Helen
is an avid researcher, who often makes startling and
sometimes unsettling discoveries. She is a retired teacher
who keeps her hand in by giving a popular course on Chicago
cemeteries at the Newberry Library every year. She presents
a Participation Session at the AGS conferences and can be
counted on for interesting and challenging papers. Little
work has been done on considerations of mapping "cities of
the dead." Maps and plans necessary to cemetery
management must include: engineering, geology,
topography, drainage, monuments, gates, roads, and paths,
etc. Religious and ethnic requirements also impact cemetery
plarming.

JIM BLACHOWICZ teaches philosophy at Loyola
University, Chicago. He became interested in gravestone
art in 1972, when he spent a summer in Falmouth,
Massachusetts, and tried his hand at rubbing. In 1994 he
joined AGS and began a serious study of Plymouth and
Barnstable area carvers. His lecture topic was "The Last of
the Plymouth Angel Carvers." He discussed the work of
Lemuel Savery (c. 1757-1796) whose work is known but has
not been previously analyzed; Amaziah Harlow, Jr. (1747-
1802) who took over from Savery in Plymouth for about six
years; Nathaniel Holmes (1783-1869) who took over from
Harlow in Plymouth, and then moved to Barnstable at age
22. Neither Harlow nor Holmes has been previously
identified.

BARBARA ROTUNDO, program chair, gave the final
paper of the conference. She loves retirement so that she can
travel to cemeteries all over the world as well as doing
research about gravestones in the United States. She received
the Forbes award in 1994. Her paper had the simple title,
"Cenotaphs." Cenotaphs are memorials that do NOT mark
the graves of the person memorialized. Often this is because
the body has been lost. Particularly on the ocean coasts or
the Great Lakes region the body may never have been
recovered after drowning. Sometimes the grave location was
lost because the person died in obscurity but is now well-
known as in the case of Mozart. Sometimes the body has
been moved from one site to another as in the case of Frank
Lloyd Wright. The custom of cenotaphs underlines the reason
for memorialization. We want to remember the person, not
the physical body.

The AGS web site. . .

is in transition and will soon be updated. Watch for
the new publications list and conference information.
The address is:

http://www.berkshire.net/ags/
Thanks to Tom and Melvin Mason for assuming this
important updating function.

Monmouth University

West Long Branch, New Jersey

June 25-28, 1998

The 1998 Program Chair is Barbara Rotundo.

Barbara is looking for papers from around the

country and abroad.

Proposals and 250-word abstracts are due
February 15, 1998

Remember! This is an organization for

gravestone studies. An occasional paper on

cemeteries or mourning customs is acceptable,

but the focus should always be on gravestones.

Please send proposals and abstracts to;

Barbara Rodunto

48 Plurrmier Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

(603) 524-1092

For general information

on AGS Conferences, contact:

AGS Office

278 Main Street, Suite 207

Greenfield, MA 01301

Volume 21: Number 4

Page 21

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

CONFERENCE 1998

Conference '98 co-chairs RICHARD VEIT and
MARK NONESTIED met with Board liaisons Fred and
Rosalee Oakley over the Thanksgiving weekend in West
Long Branch, New Jersey. A visit to Monmouth Univer-
sity showed it to be growing as evidenced by new dorms,
dining commons, and academic facilities. Beautifully land-
scaped grounds with level walkways make it a "walking "
campus. A significant advantage to its location is a com-
muter train station about half-mile away which originates
in Perm Station. Taxis are available for the short ride to
the campus. Instructions for various forms of transporta-
tion will be included in registration material.

Richard Veit and Mark Nonestied, conference co-chairs
Photos by Rosalee Oakley

Next came a visit to the cemetery proposed for
conservation workshop activity. Founded in 1828 and still
"active," there are many marble and granite stones need-
ing immediate attention. This cemetery, while surround-
ing the Methodist Church closely on three sides, is never-
theless owned by a cemetery association with active ties
to the church. Permission is being sought to use the church
facilities and cemetery for our workshop.

Fiosts Richard and Mark led the Oakleys on a lenghty
tour to visit cemeteries tentatively selected for the Friday, June
26, conducted bus tours. There are real treats in store for
participants. Particularly striking are the ethnic cemeteries:
Ukrainian, Hungarian, Jewish, and Chinese. New England
stones carved by Osborne and Ward as well as ceramic
markers and the Settler's Crypt in Newark will keep everyone
fully occupied.

Oiu' ()/ ii innubci

iinii inarkcrt

A major addition to conference activitv is a pre-
conference tour on Wednesday, June 24 to visit Trinity Church's
Cemetery in Manhattan and Brooklyn's Green-Wood
Cemetery. That same evening everyone is invited to
experience a candlelight tour of Tennent Cemeterj' with re-
enactors in period costume.

The conference opens, officially, with dinner Thursda\'
evening, followed by keynote speakers, a lecture, and a
conference favorite. Late Night informal session.

A Chinese marker with great detail.

A Mercedes in full detail marks one grave.

Friday is Cemetery Bus Tour DaN^ featuring three
separate routes and cemeteries designated as \'ictorian.
Colonial, and Combined. It is intended that all three tours end
at Fairmount Cemetery in Newark for a view of The Settler's
Crypt. This vault contains the gravestones and boxed remains
of Newark's earliest colonial cemetery. The earliest stone is
dated 1687. Evening meal, lecture sessions and Late Night
end a busy day.

Page 22

Volume 21: Number 4

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

Saturday's program is filled with activity devoted
to participation sessions held on campus and the gravestone
conservation workshop conducted in a nearby cemetery.

The Harriett Merrifield Forbes banquet honoring
the recipient of this prestigeous award is our sole "dress
up" event.

Everung lectures and the final Late Night session
completes the day's activities.

The Cossack at the Ukrainian Cemetery

Following breakfast Sunday morning the final
lecture session ends at 11:30 am. Lunch concludes a very
intense several days replete with time to share experiences
and exchange information.

Repeatedly stated by conferees, first timers as well as
veterans, is the willingness of everyone to share their
experiences and expertise without stint. Come and enjoy!
Conference registration material will be mailed early
in 1998 to AGS members and to many other organizations
professing an interest in gravestones and related subjects.

Richaid Xtit until out of a uinnbLi of itiamic maikers

Volume 21: Number 4

Page 23

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

SHARING PAGES

This summer Robert Pierce of San Francisco, California, took these photos while traveling around
the country visiting cemeteries. We will share some more with you in future issues.

ClockxL'isc: Child's monument in Vickslnirg Cemetery, Mississippi; iron gate, Vicksburg, Mississippi;
Mountain Viau Cemetery near Cnsn Gmmie, Arizona; tree stone, Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Page 24

Volume 21: Number 4

AGS Qunrterh/Va\] 1997

Horse Cemetery

by Nancy Haiiuaii

In Littleton, New Hampshire, just off exit 42
from Route 93 and just past the Littleton Hospital is a
brown sign with white lettering on the right hand side
(heading into downtown Littleton) which says "Horse
Cemetery."

Of course we had to turn around and take the
road off to the side and find out what it was.

It is a cemetery for the two Morgan horses,
"Maud" and "Mollie," belonging to Eli and Myra Wallace
and one other horse named "Maggie."

The Morgans were a gift from Eli to Myra on her
twenty -ninth birthday. Since they never had any
children the two horses were their children. When Myra
died in 1920 the horses had been laid to rest as previ-
ously discussed by Eli and Myra Wallace. The Morgans
have identical birth dates of 1887 and death dates of
1919. At age thirty-two they had lived long horse lives.

The other horse, "Maggie," was a retired cart
horse from a local grocer who gave her to Eli after Myra
died. Eli cared for her until her death and buried her
here.

The Wallaces gave land for the Littleton Hospi-
tal under the provision that this Horse Cemetery would
receive perpetual care.

The Cemetery is nicely cared for and mowed. It
has a nice wooden fence sort of like a corral around the
three horse graves and one large stone in the middle
with the name "Wallace" on it.

|i>r^-*vfFfi||l|l1"iiilll|^Vpwi1r)

Drawing by Cathy Chin, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire

from Lives Once Lived Here by Mont Vernon Historical Society.

The Puritan Way

by William "Andy" Meier

Those fine fingerling green grasses under
Gnarl-sprawled, old, tall trees left to lift from decay.
Headstones and a few footstones lean roundabout.
Slate fingernails pointing to their heaven.
Held down by richly aged, human-made earth.

Vestigal Puritan treasury guarded by their undepicted God,
And their charnel, skullwinged icons with symbols.
Now preserved by our wariness yet intone warning
on warning.

Taking down epitaphs and making rubbings, a Zeitgeist heist.
With head resting on headstone's rear and reading personals.
On columns, slates and flat ground-set slabs and feasting
By the ones atop six short columns: tablestones.

From a lamentable list of maladies and accidents,
Puritans had their daily cognition of lives taken,
"Down to death's cave all dismal,"

Wearing their lives as shrouds, wanting clouds.
Expecting firmamental wrath, without knowing.
They saluted their "King of Terrors" in the meetinghouse
While flat-toothed, winged skulls grinned through prayers
And waited in the fine fingerling green grasses beyond.

'^.-■

Drawing by Catiiy Chin, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire

from Lives Once Lived Here by Mont Vernon Historical Societi/.

Volume 21: Number 4

Page 25

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

NOTES AND QUERIES

Correction

A. Craig Anthony writes to point out an error
made in the Spring 1997 AGS Quarterly, page 27, in
transcribing the note about the dating of the Sara Tefft
stone. It should read that she died shortly after the birth,
not death, of her son. He also states that John Sterling
helped him on the dating problem, which was part of his
master's program project.

American Funeral Service Museum in Dallas

Visitors report on the American Fvmeral Service
Museum, which has the photographs of famous people's
graves and a large collection of coffins, including some
shaped like animals that are being produced by a worker
in Africa. There are also antique hearses and a
reproduction of the Lincoln funeral train. It is sponsored
by the funeral service profession. The American Funeral
Service Museum is found at 411 Barren Springs Drive,
Houston, TX. For further information call 1-800-238-8861.

From the Lending Librarian

Spring cleaning will be fast upon us! As you
sweep those nooks and crannies and dust those
bookshelves, keep an eye out for any books you have that
may be appropriate for the Lending Library. We promise
to give them a good home. Not only can we offer your
books an opportunity to see the world (well, certainly the
North American continent, for sure), but we also offer a
comfortable home base in between travel assignments.
Several of our most popular books haven't been in Tempe
in some time. However, they have enjoyed Austin, Texas,
Fort Wayne, Indiana, Toronto, Ontario, Lynchburg,
Virginia, and York Harbor, Maine. Travel accommodations
include wonderfully padded bags for a safe and
comfortable journey. Although not "first class," there is a
lot to be said for "library rate." Give it some thought and
see what books you have that may be willing to sign on as
permanent members of our Lending Library!

Please contact Librarian Lynn Radke, 1947 East
Stephens Drive, Tempe, AZ 85283, tel. (602) 491-1770.

VOCA Teachers' resource reprinted

Stones and Bones, a 72-page packet designed for
educators in classrooms of grades 4 and up which was
assembled by the Vermont Old Cemetery Association for
Vermont teachers, has been reprinted and is now avail-
able for sale for $5 plus $2.50 p&h. Order from Charles
Marchant, PO Box 132, Townshend, VT 05353, tel.
(802) 365-7937.

The VOCA book. Burial Grounds of Vermont, list-
ing known cemeteries in Vermont, is being reprinted.
Watch this column for information about its availability.

Page 26

Exhibition held at University of Albany

From September 21 to November 13 public programs
were held in conjunction with the art exhibition, "Memory and
Mourning: Shared Cultural Experiences" at the State University
New York at Albany Art Museum.

Two AGS members participated. Barbara Rotundo
gave a lecture on "Romantic Landscapes: American
Cemeteries." Jessie Lie Farber loaned rubbings from her
personal collection which were artistically displayed at the head
of the stairs at the museum as shown below.

Jessie Farber 's Rubbitig Exiiibit

Plwto In/ Jessie Lie Fmber

A Call for Women's Epitaphs!

Sande Meith, AGS member from California, seeks
unusual and unique women's epitaphs and it possible, stories
of the women behind them for a research project. Please
forward information to Sande Meith, 907 Campus Ax-enue,
Redlands, CA 92374, tel. (909) 798-7247. Any costs or fees
incurred wdll be reimbursed.

Video Available on Rhode Island Cemetery

"At Rest in Little Compton" is a 20-minute video ^vhich
illustrates a community's participation in the Rliode Island
Cemetery Transcription Project tlirough volunteer efforts to

Volume 21: Number 4

AGS Quarterly Fall 1997

research, survey, record, and preserve the cemeteries in the
small town of Little Compton. Set to music with narration,
the video includes a brief history of the area and explores
several of the town's historical cemeteries including the
Old Commons Burial Ground, the Quaker cemetery, and
several family burial plots. This program offers an
engaging introduction to gravestone studies and is
appropriate for all ages and interest levels.

Helen and Fred Bridge who created the video have
made a copy available to AGS to place in our video library.
It may be rented for $3.50 for postage and handling. Renters
are welcome to make a copy of the tape for their own use.
Ask for a one-page description of the Little Compton
project.

Publications Received in the Office

Newsletter of the Friends of Center Cemetery, Inc. of
East Hartford, Connecticut, Nov. 1997. Available from
Friends of Center Cemetery, 38 Forest Lane, East Hartford,
CT 06118.

Update: Newsletter of the African Burial Ground &
Five Points Archaeological Projects, Vol. 2 No. 4, August/
September 1997. Published by the Office of Public
Education and Interpretation of the African Burial Ground
(OPEI), 6 World Trade Center, Room 239, New York, NY
10048, (212) 432-5707. 16 pages.

Morgan County History & Genealogy, Vol. 3 No. 2,
Spring 1997, newsletter of the Morgan County History and
Genealogy Association, Inc. The National Genealogical
Society selected this newsletter as the best county /local
society newsletter in the United States for 1996. Available
from Morgan County History & Genealogy Association,
Inc., PO Box 1012, Martinsville, IN 46151-0012.

AGS Member Spreads the Word

AGS member Joamie Stuttgen sent us the Morgan
County publication because it included an article by her
which mentioned several solutions to reading weathered
gravestones mentioned in recent AGS Quarterlies. In the
tiny print on the last page of the Quarterly is the notation
"To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated
otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the
reprint is used for educational purposes; (2) full credit is
given to the Association and the author and /or
photographer or artist involved; (3) a copy of the document
or article in which the reprinted material appears is sent to
the AGS office." Thanks to Joanne for spreading the word
about ways to solve a very perplexing problem.

County- wide Cemetery Survey Project Is Underway

The same issue contains another article reporting
on the progress the Morgan County History & Genealogy
Association is making in its effort to survey the cemeteries
in all the townships in Morgan County.

A township survey includes listing the known
cemeteries, recording their location, their tombstone

inscriptions, and any plats or maps that help find it. Each
cemetery is visited, photographed and its condition assessed.
Public records are searched to determine who owns the land.
A summary of the findings is compiled along with a list of
recommendations for improvement. The summary is mailed
to the township trustee, cemetery associations in the township,
and is placed on file in local public libraries.

For more information on this project, contact Helen
Straub, 1367 Pin Oak Court, Martinsville IN 46151, tel.
(765) 349-1635.

Service Opportunity

There is a Service Elderhostel being offered by Roger
Williams University in cooperation with Newport Historical
Society [RI] May 31-June 6, 1998. The work project will be
cataloging and mapping a cemetery in Newport that is the
largest surviving pre-nineteenth century "common" burial plot
in the United States. Elderhostelers will work in teams to
complete data sheets on each tombstone, recording dates,
names, condition of stone, decoration, and inscription. High
contrast photos will also be made of most stones. This would
be a good learning experience for members as well as furthering
the aims of AGS. Call Elderhostel at (617) 426-8056 or write
them at 75 Federal Street, Boston, MA 02110. The code number
for that particular Elderhostel is 02001-0531.

An Idea Worth Copying

Eric Brock has sent in one of his weekly columns from
the Shreveport Times. The project that he describes can serve
as a model for members to suggest to people who want a
pleasant way to support local historic city cemeteries as the
National Trust urged when it put Congressional Cemetery on
its "endangered site" list. Eric says in part, "An important
project by the newly formed Shreveport Garden Study Club
will help preserve Shreveport' s second oldest cemetery as well
as turn it into a horticultural preserve."

Greenwood Cemetery will become an arboretum — an
outdoor plant and flower preserve — similar to projects
undertaken in park-like cemeteries nationwide. Notably,
Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, outside Boston,
Massachusetts, will serve as a model for Greenwood's
transformation. Greenwood, a city cemetery, will thus become
an important park and garden as well as being the significant
sculpture garden and historic burial ground that it already is.

Greenwood Cemetery opened in 1892 as the "New City
Cemetery." In 1905 it was renamed Greenwood. It has nearly
doubled in size since its opening. According to Eric,
"Greenwood Cemetery is truly a park-like space within the
center of the city. Preserving it and its natural attributes for
ourselves and for future generations will not only save a
significant record of local history but also provide a beauty
spot that can help stabilize an inner city neighborhood."

Volume 21: Number 4

Page 27

CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS

Winter programs at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, tel: (617) 547-7105.

February 7, 1998 at 1:30-3:30 p.m. — "The Inside Story of Mount Auburn" - a slide lecture with Barbara Rotundo, historian, author, prulc^iir emeritus.

Learn about the stables, the swan house, the turnstile at the Gate, and the half-hardy house. $8.00
February 28, 1998 — Birthday Tribute to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with a wreath-laying at his memorial. Call for exact time emd associated

activities.

March 12-14, 1998 — Midwest Open Air Museums Coordinating Cotmcil's spring conference, Sheraton Four Points Hotel and Convention Cenfei; Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. Theme — "Into the Melting Pot, The Evolution of Old World Culture in America." Program includes hands-on workshops, auction, period
dance, and banquet. $70 includes full conference registration, meals, and a one-year membership to MOMCC. Contact Ann Cejka at (319) 398-5104 or write
her at Ushers Ferry Historic Village, 400 4th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, lA 52401. (MOMCC is the Midwest regional chapter of the Association of Living
History Farms and Agricultural Museums and works to provide a forum for the interchange of methods, information, and ideas within the open air,
interactive, and historical museum fields.)

March 13, 1998 — Program at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia on "In Memory: Mourning in Early America, 1750-1860," mourning customs,
gravestones and funeral practices prior to the Civil War. AGS members Susan Olsen and Brian Connelly are among the lecturers. For information and
registration, write: Collections Manager, Fairfax County Park Authority; 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 927, Fairfax, VA 22035-1118, tel (703)
631-1429.

May 1-6, 1998 — Conference for Genealogists &: Historians, "Reflections of the Past" 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., presented by Prince William Countv Genealogical

Society at Holiday Inn Express, Dumfries, VA. Information from L. Hurley (703)361-0173 or e-mail takeIley@erols.com

June 15-19, 1998 — Workshop on Monument Care: Assessment, Treatment, and Maintenance of Stones and Metals in Landscaped Surroundings. A week-
long workshop at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for field operations managers and senior maintenance staff using lectures, slides,
visits, and demonstrations. Cemeteries visited — Mount Auburn in Cambridge, Forest Hills, Granary and Kings Chapel in Boston, and Olmsted Historic
Site in Brookline, Massachusetts.

© 1997 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is used for educational pur-
poses; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and /or photographer or artist involved; and (3) a copy of the document or article in which
the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office.

The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and contributions from
readers are welcome. Back issues are available from the AGS office for $3.00.

The goal of the AGS Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones and about the acti\'ities of the
Association.

To contribute items, please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior /Student, $25; Individual, $30; Institutional, $35; Family, $40; Supporting, $65; Life, $1000) to the Association for Gravestone
Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year
from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, Tlie Journal of the Association for Graiwstone Studies: Please send articles to Richard
Meyer, Editor of Markers, PO Box 13006, Salem, OR 97309-1006. His telephone is (503) 581-5344 and e-mail address is meyerr@wou.edu. The next issue of
Markers will be volume XV available in the spring of 1998. Please see the publications list in this Quarterly.

Address all other correspondence to Administrator, AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301, or call (413) 772-0836.
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AGS Quarterly

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Table of Contents

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK 2

FEATURES

"The Day Will Come. . .The Haymarket Memorial in Forest Home Cemetery"

by Paula Fenza 3

"The Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.: A Report" by Roberta Halporn . . 5

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th Century: Ralph Tucker 7

19th & 20th Century: Barbara Rotrmdo 8

Gravestones & Computers: John Sterling 9

Conservation News: W. Fred Oakley, Jr 10

REGIONAL COLUMNS

Northwest & Far West Region: Robert Pierce 12

Southwest Region: Ellie Reichlin , 13

Midwest Region: Helen Sclair 14

Southeast /Caribbean Region: Sharyn Thompson 15

Mid-Atlantic Region: G. E. O. Czarnecki 16

New England & Maritime Region: Robert Klisiewicz 18

Across the Oceans: Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula 19

BOOK REVIEW 21

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS 21

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED AT THE OFFICE 22

NOTES & QUERIES 23

FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 25

CONFERENCE '98 26

CALENDAR 28

The mission of the Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the
cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board: Mary Cope, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith, John Spaulding

Quarterly Contributions: Comments and contributions are welcome. When submitting time-sensitive material please keep in mind
that AGS quarterlies often take several weeks to reach the membership. Mail your contributions to the appropriate column editor or to
the AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301.

Advertising Prices: Business card, $30; 1/4 page, $50; 1/2 page, $90; full page insert, $200. Send camera ready advertising with
payment to the AGS Office.

COME TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: June 25-28, 1998. Don't miss the Pre-Conference Cemetery Tour on June 24.

Volume 22: Number 1

Winter 1998

ISSN: 0146-5783

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

FROM THE PRESIDENTS DESK

Frank Calidonna
313 West Linden Street
Rome, New York 13440
E-mail: frank. calidonna

@worldnet. att.net

The first Board meeting of the year was held in
January. We had to postpone it for a week due to an ice storm,
but the following week saw some wonderful weather for
our meeting. Along with the normal business of the meeting
each Board member was asked to bring a short biography.
We took individual photographs of the Board members too.
These will be published in the Spring Quarterly so that you,
the members, will know what we look like and a little bit
about us.

You will also note that on page 24 we are asking your
permission to share your name and addresses with other
members in your geographic area. Often members request
list of other members in their area or historical organizations
that are having a program on gravestone-related issues may
ask to inform our members. We do not wish to provide this
information without your permission. We will only share
this information if you agree.

The above two matters were done at the request of
members who wished to know more about the Board and if
there were other gravestone aficionados in their geographic
area. The latter will be provided to members for a modest
fee to cover the cost of the copy work. We are looking into
the possibility of making available a complete membership
directory. We need to determine the cost of such a document
before offering it.

Last, but by no means least, please consider joining
us in New Jersey this June. Look in the last Quarterly and
check over last year's offerings. This year's will be just as
enticing as the past. Many wonderful experiences are
planned for this conference. Our conferences are informative,
interesting, and fun. Your time spent will be rewarding and
enjoyable.

Imagine, three days spent with a couple of hundred
other people who love gravestones. Is that heaven or
what???

I hope to see all of you at Monmouth University.

[Ed. Note: Please see Board of Trustees' article on page 25.]

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

As the Editor pro tern, Rosalee Oakley, and the
Editorial Board of the AGS Quarterly start to work
on the first number of volume 22 in the first month
of 1998, they are making a New Year's Resolution
and also expressing a wish for the New Year:

Resolved:

That in 1998 AGS members will receive
each issue of the Quarterly in its
appropriate season.

Wish:

That more members would respond to
questions and appeals from other members.

The fashionable word these days seems to
be "interaction." We don't care what you call it,
but do respond and react. When Peggy Jenks and
Ann Cathcart ask for help in finding gravestones
in New York and Ohio, they are not just making
polite noises; they want help (Sunrmer 1997, p. 18).
Walter Hollien on that same page asks for
information about millstones used as gravestones.
Ours is the only organization in the world where
every single member has sot7te expertise on
gravestones. Each request or query taps into a very
great pool of knowledge and experience.

Even if you can give only a single example
or an incomplete answer, your information
combined with other members' contributions may
offer a solution or complete a search.

COVER ART: No, the design on the cover of this issue does
not represent a modernistic dove. It is a trident, a three-
pronged spear, found on mam' of the contemporar}' grave
markers in the Ukrainian Cemetery, Bound Brook, New
Jersey. This cemeterv will be included on the "Ethnic
Excellence" conference bus tour. 0

E-mail: <ags@javanet.com>

Web site: <http: / / www.berkshire.net/ags>

AGS QUARTERLY: THE BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

ISSN: 0146-5783 March 1998

Published quarterly by The Association for Gravestone Studies, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301.
Telephone: 413/772-0836 e-mail: ags@javanet.com AGS web site: http:/ /www,berkshin?.net/ags

Page 2

Volume 22: Number 1

MEMBERS ONLY . . .

WINTER QUARTERLY
INVENTORY CLEARANCE SALE

25% off 1998 published price

Start your collection of Markers NOW!

SALE ENDS MAY 30, 1998

Markers I (hardcover only)

Published in 1979-80, 182 pages, 100 illustrations
This issue is made up of 15 articles on a variety of subjects.
Perhaps the article on "Resources for the Classroom Teacher:
An Annotated Bibliography" will catch your interest. Or

the articles on "Colorado Wood Markers," "Openwork Me- ]\^Cir]CBrS II
morials of North Carolina," or "Wisconsin's Wrought Iron
Markers" will be of interest.

$10.00 plus postage and handling.

Markers IV (hardcover & paperback available)

This issue discusses early New York and New Jersey grave-
stone carving traditions, Delaware children's stones, modern
Italo-American monuments, early New England carvers,
southern folk cemeteries, and New Mexican camposantos.

$8.50 (paper) $10.00 (hardcover)

plus postage and handling.

(hardcover only)

Published in 1983, 266 pages, 168 illustrations
Eight articles make up this volume, many on early New En-
gland gravestone carvers — Joseph Barbur, Jr., The JN Carver,
and Stephen and Charles Hartshorn. Another article has 66
illustrations of signed New England gravestones along with
a carver guide to locating each carver's stones.
$10.00 plus postage and handling.

If you already own these books, why not purchase a copy for your local
library? Start their collection of Markers to which you can add subsequently.

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MARKERS Xy HAS ARRIVED!

Table of Contents

Benditcha Sea Vtiestra Memoria: Sephardic Jewish
Cemeteries in the Caribbean and Eastern North
America

David Mayer Gradwohl

Scriptural Stones and Barn Mending: At the Grave of
Herman Melville

Kenneth Speirs

The Gravestone Carving Traditions of Plymouth and
Cape Cod

James Blachowicz

Language and Ethnicity Maintenance: Evidence of
Czech Tombstone Inscriptions

Eva Eckert

Aboriginal Australian Burials in Christian Missions

Karoh/n K. Wrightson

The New Deal's Landscape Legacy in Kansas Cemeteries

Cathy Ambler

Chinese Graves and Gravemarkers in Hong Kong

Chun-shing Chow and Elizabeth Kemvorthy Teather

The Year's Work in Gravemarker/Cemetery Studies

Richard E. Meyer

Contributors
Index

356 pages, 164 illustrations

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AGS Quarterly Winter 199H

FEATURE ARTICLE

The Day Will Come . . .
The Haymarket Memorial in forest home Cemetery

by Paula Fenza

I he Hiiymnrkct Memorial
Photo by Paula Fenza

Chicago's Haymarket Riot began as a peaceful
demonstration on May \, 1886. The American Federation of
Labor (AFL) had organized demonstrations in all the large
cities of the United States to demand government support
for the eight-hour work day. A federal law mandating an
eight-hour work day had been in effect since 1867; however,
the law was rarely observed by employers, and government
enforcement was lacking. The AFL sought to force
observance of the law by both employers and the
government. On May 1, 1886, more than 80,000 people
marched peacefully down the length of Michigan Avenue.
On May 2nd an additional march garnered more than 35,000
participants. The marches were peaceful, but employers were
shocked by the show of solidarity and feared a workers'

revolt. On May 3rd Chicago police attacked and killed
workers who were participating in a demonstration in front
of the McCormick Reaper factory at Western and Blue Island

ymmm

Back of the Haymarket Memorial
with names of those executed.

Volume 22: Number 1

Page 3

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

Avenues. Another demonstration was organized for the
evening of May 4th at the Haymarket Square to protest this
police brutality.

The demonstration of May 4th was much smaller
than those of the preceding three days. The evening was rainy,
and only 2,500 people attended the rally. The speakers had
almost finished their speeches, and orily 200 people remained,
when 67 police officers arrived armed with rifles. During the
confusion caused by the arrival of the officers, an unidentified
person threw a dynamite bomb into the crowd. The police
officers, startled by the bomb, their vision obscured by the
rain and darkness, fired wildly into the crowd. When the
tumult was over seven police officers were dead, six by rifle
fire and one by the bomb blast. Four demonstrators were
also killed by rifle fire but few reports mentioned that fact.

The next day martial law was declared, not only in
Chicago, but throughout the United States. Anti-Labor
leaders used the bombing incident as the excuse to crush
union activity. In Chicago all the known labor leaders were
arrested. Eventually eight union organizers were charged
with the bombing. One of them, a young carpenter named
Louis Lingg, was accused of actually throwing the bomb, even
though witnesses placed him elsewhere at the time of the
bombing. Along with Lingg, Adolph Fischer, George Engel,
Albert Parsons, August Spies, Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe,
and Michael Schwab were brought to trial.

Sentiment against the defendants was strong. The
Chicago Tribune even offered in print to pay the jury a reward
for finding the defendants guilty. On August 20th the jury
brought in a guilty verdict against all eight men. They
condemned seven to be hanged and Oscar Neebe to be
imprisoned for 15 years. On November 10, 1886, one day
before the executions, Samuel Gompers and other union
leaders arrived in Illinois to plead with Governor Oglesby to
grant clemency to the condemned. Influenced by their
persuasion he changed the sentences of Samuel Fielden and
Michael Schwab to life imprisonment, although the others
were still to be hanged.

Early in the morning of November 11, 1886 Louis
Lingg was found dead in his cell, killed by a bomb. News
reports insisted that Lingg committed suicide, but he had no
reason to do so as he expected to receive a stay of execution
from the governor that morning. Furthermore, no one was
able to explain how he obtained the dynamite which killed

him. Later that same day, Fischer, Engel, Parsons, and Spies
were hanged in accordance with their sentences. After their
execution none of the cemeteries in Chicago would accept
their bodies for burial. Finally, Forest Home Cemetery in
Forest Park donated space to bun,' the five bodies.

In June of 1893, calling the trial the greatest
miscarriage of justice in the history of the United States,
Governor John P. Altgeld pardoned and released the three
men still alive in prison and granted posthumous pardons
to the five who had died. At that time a monument to the
five martyrs was built upon their burial site at Forest Home.
The monument depicts Liberty protecting the oppressed.
At the base is the inscription, "The day will come when
our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are
throttling today," the last words spoken by August Spies
from the gallows. On the back side of the monument are
inscribed the names of the five men buried there and the
text of Governor Altgeld's pardon.

Emma Goldman was 18 years old when the
Haymarket martyrs were hanged. The story of their trial
and execution had a great influence on Goldman's
philosophy, and she dedicated her life to agitating for free
speech and workers' rights. In accordance with her last
wishes she was buried next to the Haymarket martyrs
whose story had inspired her life's work. Her eulog)' was
delivered by Roger Baldwin. Baldwin was a conservative
Harvard student when he first heard Emma Goldman
speak. Her words so changed his thinking that he de\'Oted
his career to upholding human rights; he is best known as
the founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.

After Goldman's burial, this section of Forest Home
Cemetery became the preferred burial place for mam- of
Chicago's influential union organizers, civil liberties
advocates, and socialists. Among the 60 people buried there
are such notable figures as Lucv Parsons, widow of Albert
Parsons, one of the Haymarket mart)TS. Lucy and Albert
had been activists in the cause of equal rights for African-
Americans. After Albert's death, Luc\' continued this \s'ork
until her own death in 1942.

Jack Johnstone organized the Chicago Federation
of Labor, a union for the stockvard workers. In the 1930s
he studied the principles of passi\'e resistance with
Mahatma Gandhi in India.

(Continued on page 27 - FENZA)

Influential union organizers, civil liberties advocates, and socialists wanted to be buried near the Hai/inarket Memorial.
Page 4 Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

FEATURE ARTICEE

THE CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

A REPORT

b]f Roberta Halporn

The best kept secret in our nation's capital is this
fascinating graveyard. Not even the concierge in my hotel
knew that it existed when I asked her the whereabouts of the
correct subway to visit it. If it weren't for Susan Olsen who
attended the 1996 AGS conference, I wouldn't even have
attempted the trip at all. I have a very unpleasant memory
of the place which dates back to around 1982 when my then
Washington host asked me to do a rubbing of his great-great-
great grandfather's stone, who was an anibassador under
Madison. (Enough greats?) The commission cost me a pair

old Chevrolet. However, the overgrowth was clearly
eliminated.

The plots are identified by "range" and "site." I
never found out what "range" meant, because I couldn't
locate sign posts to indicate what range I was standing in.
Therefore the guide pamphlet is vital for hunting down
some of the more interesting sites. However, with my usual
impeccable logic, I decided that the sites with the lowest
numbers had to be the oldest stones and this turned out to
be a good guess.

Latrobe tombs

of blue jeans because of those nasty, thorny vines which
enveloped the stone, and every incautious lean to the right
or left pierced another part of my anatomy. The only plot, at
that time, that was clear and inviting was the one dedicated
to John Phillip Sousa, the bandmaster, a puzzling choice for
prominence. But Susan dispersed an appealing guide to the
cemetery and the news that a "Friends" society was working
hard on cleanup and repair, so I decided to give it a try.

The cemetery is quite large (33 acres - 60,000
interments) and surrounded by a nice old iron fence in good
repair. The gates are open every day between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m. There were few visible signs of life when I approached
this time except a dilapidated caretaker's house and an

Volume 22: Number 1

To my delight, I could see my beloved "Mickey
Mouse hat" shapes beckoning, signaling colonial era
memorials. The stones here are cut from a very thick,
durable sandstone of varying colors, including several
whose overall tone looks almost bleached to a light pink. I
found none earlier than 1810 , and spied one with this shape
as late as 1825. (For those who are not as familiar with this
marker form, the shift from three-lobed top to the flat
Victorian marker seems to have occurred in a very short
period of time. I've never seen a colonial shape later than
1815 before.) The only concession, perhaps, to their late time
period, is the fact that none had pictorial images or soul
effigies. Rather they feature very elegant, sophisticated letter

Page 5

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

forms with which to carve interesting, lengthy epitaphs. And
the stones are in remarkable shape. Many are still so perfect
they almost look re-cut.

As recounted in Susan's pamphlet, the cemetery was
founded privately in 1807, then deeded in 1812 to Christ
Church. In 1816, its vestry set aside 100 plots for members
of congress, with additional plots being acquired to a total
of 92 government sites. A receiving vault, built in 1835,
resulted in its use as a stopover for several Presidents, who
lay there in state while their trips home were being arranged.
Though the cemetery remained private, more and more
members of Congress and other officials were honored here,
in graves or with cenotaphs designed by Benjamin Labrobe,
the architect of our capital. These little tombs are built of tan
sandstone, with white marble, inscribed plaques, recessed
under the pointed top, which has led to excellent
preservation of the inscription.

From that time on. Congress donated funds for specific
projects — a brick wall here, a new fence there, but no major
support. A sharp decline in use began in 1876, due to the
fact that our transportation systems had improved so much
that local burial became less necessary. By the time the
Association for the Preservation of Historical Congressional
Cemetery was founded in 1976, the cemetery was bankrupt
and almost abandoned. To this day, the graveyard receives
no Federal support. Basically 1 approve government subsidy
for veteran's cemeteries. But why not non-military
government servants too? Don't they also serve who stand
and vote?

Because 1 had only a few hours, 1 barely explored the
vast terrain. Members of Congress honored or buried here
include John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Thaddeus Stevens.
And somewhere at rest is J. Edgar Hoover. 1 found a

poignant, but puzzling stone for Laura Clay, died 1816, the

three-month old daughter of Henry Clay. What 1 couldn't
understand was 1) why her marker was a facsimile of a
standard government issue soldier's stone, and b) why did
it look whitewashed? 1 saw a number of stones that appeared
to have suffered this treatment but there was no one around
to enlighten me about what it meant.

1 did rub a dignified Elisha Harrison, "Surgeon in
the Revolutionary War," and one 1 couldn't pass up which
was, "Sacred to the Memory of Henry Aukward" [sic], died
1842. Also made a copy of a rather verbose marker to Thomas
Reynolds, commissioned by his wife who ga\'e herself star
billing by announcing, at the top, "Dedicated by Mary
Reynolds to the memory of" Reynolds. Then it continues
with the familiar, "Remember man as you pass by, as you
were once, so once was I, etc.," ending with, "Dear honoured
Saints, this stone receive, it's all a wife, all a friend can give."

My favorite was a touching lament to Maria, the wife
of Edward de Krafft, who died in childbirth in 1815, "O lov'd
Maria, what can aught repay? Can India's riches, pleasure's
brightest boast..." in beautiful italics. 1 also found a Latrobe
monument marking the grave of an Indian chief, which
requested, in part, "When I die, shoot the big guns."

That this treasure house of our histor\- has nothing
to depend on but individual contributions to preser^'e it is a
national shame. But 1 recommend a visit if \'ou get to
Washington. For copies of the guide booklet, contact the
Association at 1801 E Street, SE, Washington DC 20003. The
telephone is listed as (202) 543-0539. Or let me knou' at the
Center for Thanatology Research,

e-mail: rhalporn@pipeline.com
and I'll mail you a copy. 0

The above stones could possibly be the loork of carvers Zerubabbel Collins (Eisenhart) and Samuel Dwighf (Williams) but the date on
Williams' stone is 1982. To learn about how they came to be, come to the June AGS Conference and hear the lecture In/ Peggy Jenks.

Pliotof by Peggy Jctiki.

Page 6

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Qiimicrli/ Winter 1998

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17TH & 18TH CENTURY
GRAVESTONES AND CARVERS

A

Ralph Tucker

P.O. Box 306

Georgetown, ME 04548

(207) 371-2423

RESEARCH TOPICS THAT NEED ATTENTION

Since Harriette Forbes first photographed some of the
early colonial gravestones in the 1920s, there has been a
recognition that these gravestones constitute part of our
American heritage. With no real artistic connection to England
or other known sources, they constitute a unique collection
of our national treasures.

Several collections of photographs are available for those
interested in art, most recently the CD disks put out by Daniel
Farber which contain not only his own sizable collection, but
also those of Harriette Forbes and of Dr. Ernest Caulfield.
There are also to be found scattered collections of photographs
by Allen Ludwig and others in museums here and there, as
well as a small nuniber of books and articles with photographs
and drawings of notable stones. The Association for
Gravestone Studies maintains a listing of these resources.

One of my concerns is that for the most part these
resources are fragmented and that there are few overall
summaries or overviews which enable one to perceive what
the themes of the stones are saying. Most studies are of a
particular carver or of a particular graveyard, and no matter
how well they are done they generally leave us unaware of
connections to other persons or places.

One outstanding exception is the study by James Slater
in his book The Colonial Btiiying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut
and the Men who Made Them. In this two part book he first lists
each carver, describes his work, and locates all his known
stones; secondly he lists the burying grounds and lists the
carvers whose stones are located there, and give an account
of the particular attributes of the burying ground. With this
book as a resource one could begin to trace style
developments, carver interdependencies, trade routes, as well
as other as yet undiscovered information.

Professors Dietz and Dethlefsen some years ago used
colonial graveyards to define the style development on
gravestones from deathhead to cherub to tree and urn. While
appealing and popular, the article was not well documented
and omitted significant material. Their later effort to compare
archaeological pottery seriation with gravestone styles was
more comprehensive but also flawed because of a lack of
understanding of the gravestone data. They then concluded

Volume 22: Number 1

that gravestone styles traveled at a rate of one mile per year,
based on some interesting calculations. Since they wrote
when little was known of individual stonecutters and their
styles and practices, they can be excused, but the time is
ripe now for more rigorous studies.

There is a real need to have some overview studies of
the development of gravestone styles with attention paid
to local rural as well as urban carvers. The New England
colonial era had Boston and Newport as their urban centers
with a good number of competent carvers, but there were
also a number of rural areas where there were carvers who
produced a number of unique stones not related to the
commonly accepted styles. Little has been done to relate
these stones to the others.

Some attention has been paid to the distribution areas
of a given carver, but no studies are available which combine
the data to establish trade routes or determine the average
distances gravestones were found from the carver's shop.

Little has been done to establish the source of stone.
While marble stones make a dramatic appearance in the late
1790s the quarries have not been located. In Connecticut
many sandstone quarries have been identified but no overall
listing of them is available which allows one to identify the
particular stone to a particular quarry. The introduction of
granite to the gravestone market depended on the tools
necessary to work them. When did this happen and what
tools were needed? There are many gaps in the area of the
kind of stones used for gravestones. Most students carmot
even name the many kinds available, knowing only slate,
sandstone, and granite.

As for the working tools used, we again are faced with
a pooling of ignorance. Chisels and hammers we know, but
other details are important. How often did chisels have to
be sharpened? Did most carvers have to be their own
blacksmiths? These and other points need to be addressed.

We have spent enough time looking for pretty and
interesting gravestones, we should now spend more time
in the STUDY of the stones. After all, we are the Association
of Gravestone STUDIES. 0

DEACON JOSEPH
LUdAs' WHO DKd'

Drawing by James L. Lucas.
Grai'estoiie of his ancestor,
Deacon Lucas in Lakenham
Cemetery in North Carver,
Massachusetts. Carved by
Nathaniel Fuller. The stone is
mentioned in Masks of Ortho-
doxy by Peter Benes, Chapter
4, Note 38, p. 236.

Page 7

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

19TH & 20TH CENTURY GRAVESTONES

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Rd. Unit 4

Belmont, NH 03220

We often read the comment that twentieth-century
gravestones don't have epitaphs. While the proportion of
stones may have fallen since the nineteenth century, the truth
of the matter is that people often don't recognize the brief
epitaphs preferred by twentieth-century taste. To make a
literary comparison, the twentieth century follows the style
introduced by Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises rather than
the copious flow of Melville's Moby Dick. A recent stone says
simply "Supermom," while the Victorian stone would have
four lines of verse describing the mother's virtues.

Eric Brock has sent in what is surely the winner for
nineteenth-century epitaphs. His transcription covers two
pages of very small type. (Send a SASE to the AGS office if

Sallie Pickett Cuinmings' stone. Cottage Grove Cemetery
near Benton, Louisiana. Photo by Eric BrocI<

you'd like a copy.) He says the picture below is deceiving.
The urn that forms the footstone is not modest but five feet
tall. The headstone reaches about tweh'e feet into the air.
Eric explains about the person commemorated b\' the stone:

Sallie was the daughter of Paulina and James Belton
Pickett, one of Shreveport's founding families. Her father
was an original member of the Shreve Town Company,
which in 1836 laid out what is now downtown Shreveport
and established the town. There is a short street in the
Bluegoose section of Ledbetter Heights called Pickett Street,
named for James Belton Pickett.

Pickett, who was also an important planter in what
is now Bossier Parish (it was then part of Claiborne) died in
Kentucky while traveling on business in 1842 at the age of
39. Paulina was thus left a very wealthy woman at 25, but
also a widow with several young children.

A short time later she married another prominent
planter, James Blair Gilmer. Together their merged prop-
erty holdings created one of the largest land empires in the
state, including some seventeen plantations (13 of which
were Gilmer's, four Paulina's) growing cotton and sugar as
well as more cotton land in Alabama and tobacco planta-
tions in Cuba.

When Paulina filed for divorce — an almost un-
heard-of step in the 1850s — it took an act of the state legis-
lature to divide the property. Still the division of propert)'
continued to be disputed until Gilmer's death in Havana in
1856 at the age of 42.

Two years earlier, in 1854, Sallie, then only 16, had
married New Orleans cotton factor Robert Campbell
Cummings, who was 43 at the time (it was not unusual for
upper-class girls to marry in their teens and wide age dif-
ferences were not uncommon in those days, though e\-en
by that era's standards, 27 years was extreme).

The couple spent the early weeks of their marriage
in New Orleans where the portraitist Francois Bernard
painted portraits of the newlvweds. He also painted a
double portrait of Sallie and her mother Paulina, who ^vas
then 37 years old. That portrait today hangs in the Spring
Street Museum downtown. A copv of the painting was
made by Bernard in 1858 for Sallie's husband; it today hangs
in the Williams Research Center of the Historic New Or-
leans Collection.

As the lengthy and poetic epitaph on Sallie's monu-
ment states, the bride of less than a vear fell ill with cholera
and died at her mother's home in Bossier Parish on luno 7,
1855. On July 19th she would ha\-e been IS.

Robert Campbell Cummings never re-married. He
lived much of his later life at La Chute plantation in south
Caddo Parish and died at 81 in 1892. Paulina moved to
Shreveport where she had long maintained a town house.
In 1899 at the age of 81, she died at her home at the north-
east corner of Milam and Edwards Streets. One by one —
up through the 1920s — the Pickett faniily joined Sallie and
her father at Cottage Grove [Cemetery].

Page 8

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Qua rhr 1 1/ Winter 1998

Now that you know the circumstances, here is just
one paragraph from the lengthy epitaph to give a feel of the
flowery language:

But six months married, the bridal wreath
was yet fresh upon her brow and the gilded barge,
freighted with her youthful hopes, glided happily,
tranquilly along. But the dark hour came while it
was yet early, and under the shadowy wing of
the veiled messenger, she passed from time into
eternity.

FOLKLORE OR FACT?

Incidentally, my column in the stimmer '97 Quarterly
concerned folklore comiected to cemeteries and gravestones.
I could have included an epitaph as an example of the fact
that sometimes what we assume is folklore may be solid fact.
When I first heard that "I told you I was sick" was on a stone,
I thought to myself that it must be a folk tale. Surely no one
would put that on a stone. As I walked through Forest Hills
Cemetery in East Derry, New Hampshire, there it was on the
Connelly stone. And I've talked to a man who claims he saw
the same sentence on a stone in Key West. Have you other
sightings to report? Let me hear from you. 0

I / y '

CONNELLY y

MAR r 19") K"
'vlA\ I I9S9

m:

HI I Illfl';

i.i^'t^ f'kU.'J^^iff/PA^^.. .'.. .>x:ii.^..Sii'^ k.^i^«-

\ ^.ff^- ^U^^M3E^ -^J^. ^"i^t^*i- ■ i...^:

An epitaph sometimes suspected to be folklore is indeed fact.
Photo by Barbara Rotimdo

GRAVESTONES AND COMPUTERS

John E. Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, RI 02818

E-mail: j_ster@prodigy.com

One of the big advantages of attending an AGS
conference is meeting people and hearing about the many
interesting projects they are involved with. At the last
conference I met Melvin and Tom Mason, brothers from
Maryland. They have been photographing the gravestones
in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC using a
digital camera. They take several hundred pictures a month
with the digital camera as well as several rolls of
conventional film. When the cemetery gets genealogical
requests with e-mail addresses they send digital pictures
of the family markers. Take a look at their web site:

http: / / www.geocities.com / Heartland / Meadows / 4633

I have received several letters asking what I know
about photographing gravestones with a digital camera.
The answer is almost nothing. My daughter and son-in-
law, who live in Illinois, have a digital camera and use it to
send us pictures of the grandchildren on the internet, but I
have never tried it to photograph gravestones. I was
therefore glad to meet Melvin and Tom so I could ask them
some technical questions about digital cameras. I kept them
up pretty late one night picking their brains.

They use a Kodak DC50 which shoots photos at
756x504 pixels and stores them in its 1MB RAM. The camera
compresses the pictures at one of three different levels so
you can store 7, 11 or 20 frames. The three different levels
give you different quality of finished pictures. The trade-
off is that at the highest quality setting means you can only
store 7 pictures before you need to download them into a
computer. In the field this requires a laptop with enough
hard drive and battery power to store these files which are
over 100k. There is a 4MB optional card available that will
store 26, 40 or 69 images.

Melvin says for gravestone pictures he would not
recommend this camera. He says that he doesn't have the
control necessary to properly frame and expose a
gravestone because of the auto focus and auto flash. It sees
the stone rather than the inscription which does not always
yield acceptable results. The view finder is not through the
lens so what you see isn't what you get.

Melvin says his next camera will have an LCD
screen that shows what the camera sees. He also would
like a less expensive removable storage system and

Volume 22: Number 1

Page 9

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

on- camera playback is a must. The flash is nice and needed
at times but there should be a switch to disable it.

In December 1997 Melvin tested a new Sony camera.
I will let you know how he likes it in a hiture column. If
anyone has any experience using a digital camera, write to
me and let me know how it performs.

The other problem that does not have a good solution
today is the archival storage and retrieval of the digital picture
files. Melvin, who has considerable computer expertise, tells
of a hardware problem that destroyed a thousand pictures.
There was a problem with the backup so the pictures were
permanently lost.

Some highly rated digital cameras:

CONSERVATION NEWS

Low end:
Agfa ePhoto

640x480 72 photos $299

Mid range:

Epson PhotoPCSOO 640x480 50 photos $599
Kodak DC50 756x504 22 photos $699
Kodak DC120 1280x960 20 photos $799
Kodak DC210 1152x864 60 photos $899

High end:

Kodak DCS460 3000x2000

$28000

The internet is an excellent source of up to the minute
information on any technological device. For more
information on digital cameras visit the following web sites:

http:/ / www.computers.com/cdoor/ 0,1,0-21-2,00.
html?st.sd. camera

http: / / www.techweb.com / shopper / reviews /
channel?channel_id=4

http://www.winmag.com/library/1997/1102/
hw_tip6.htm

We are probably one to two years away from the
perfect digital camera for gravestone photography at a
reasonable price. 0

advertisement

HAND CARVED LETTERING IN STONE

Houmann Oshidari

617-862-1583

433 Bedford Street
Lexington, MA 02173

Page 10

W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place

Hadlev, MA 01035

(413) 584-1756

e-mail: oakl@javanet.com

SEEKING A CONSERVATOR?

Looking for a gravestone conservator in the Sacra-
mento, CA area? Member John Lovell, responding to my
appeal for names of stone conservators, recommends Wil-
liams & Sons, 2701 LaCrescenta #19, Cameron Park, CA
95682, (916) 677-8710. John writes, "Dave Williams has
done extensive restoration of highly professional qualit}'
in numerous burial grounds within a radius of some 100
miles from his locale."

And on the East Coast, Pat Garbe Morillo, President
of Closter Historical Society recommends Scott Merritt, 114
Todd Road, Katonah, NY 10538. Scott has experience with
sandstone, bronze, and copper restorations. His work in
Auryansen Cemetery in Closter, New Jersey, has pleased
the historical society.

[Ed. Note: As they become known, conservator's names
will be published in the Conservation column. A list of those
currently known is available from the editor of this column.]

CEMETERY VANDALISM CAN BE OVERCOME

Statutes providing penalties for persons
vandalizing cemeteries are rarely posted in conspicuous
places. While such signage may be considered an
inadequate deterrent, still a sign could have an effect on
the more timorous person. Where possible, securing the
perimeter of a cemetery, providing some type of dusk to
dawn lighting, and having a police presence(e\'en a drive-
by could be helpful) adds to the cemetery's securit}'. Clearly
there are situations where these deterrents are not feasible.
Where there are neighbors nearb\', however, the\- should
be encouraged to"keep an eye out" for unusual acti\nt\'
and call the police to investigate. Yes, there ^vill likelv be
"false alarms" but a cooperative police department deals
with such calls each day.

On an encouraging note — three teenagers were
sentenced to 500 hours of community service for
vandalizing the Del Norte County Cemetery in Crescent
City, California. Among the numerous sentences imposed
was 21 days in ju\-enilo hall and restitution by the tccna;fcrs
and their parents. Holding parents responsible for tlie actions
of their children ma\' prex'ent such destructi\'e acti\ities.

And a Fall River, Massachusetts, man was arrested
and charged witlt the theft of seven antique cast-iron gates
from Mt.Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

(four of which have been recovered). An anonymous
telephoned tip following a newspaper article began the
recovery process. According to police the man has been
accused but not convicted of thefts from cemeteries in
Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. In Vermont, he
was arrested in the summer of 1992 when a caretaker spotted
him and and his twin brother stealing urns at a Bellows Falls
cemetery. Many funerary artifacts , found in the man's station
wagon, were returned to their appropriate places. [Ed. Note:
If you have contacts with antique dealers this story is a good one to
share.]

A common thread in deterring and sometimes re-
covering gravestones and funerary artifacts seems to be pub-
licity in both print and electronic media. Local radio programs
often deal with community related issues and seem to be
eager to air problems and invite public response.

A comment from a Maryland member:

"I found the worst vandals (in Maryland's
cemeteries) were genealogists using wire brushes,etc. (to read
gravestone inscriptions)." [Ed. note: using any kind of metal
instrument on a gravestone is stroiigly discouraged. Using the
mirror technique, flashlight procedure, along with water and a soft

STONE CHEMISTRY

Warren Roberts sent this article found in Discover,
July, 1997.

scrub brush is encouraged.]

Wind, sun, and rain,
not to mention pollution,
aren't kind to limestone and
marble. Conservationists
from New York's

Metropolitan Museum of
Art, working with chemists
from Sandia National
Laboratories in Alberque,
New Mexico, may have found an effective way to
stop such decay. Limestone and marble are composed
largely of calcium carbonate. To protect the mineral,
researchers first apply a thin wash of a chemical
known as AEAPS that seeps into microscopic cracks
in the stone and binds to calcium carbonate. They next
apply a chemical known as Sol-gel which is similiar
to glass. Sol-gel has been used for years as a protective
outer layer on limestone, but it doesn't bind well to
calcium carbonate and quickly wears away. Sol-gel
does, however, bind well to AEAPS, and together the

two molecules seal even the finest surface
fracture, giving the stone ten times the longevity
of unprotected rock. While this research was
initiated to conserve outdoor sculpture it may
have application to gravestones as well.

[Ed. note: This is not a recommendation, but a topic about which
you may want to seek more information.]

LOOKING FOR CONSERVATION SUPPLIERS?

As with any material it is often the application
technique which makes it work so well. Should there be
any questions, either the supplier or a conservator can be
helpful.

Akemi Adhesives

Stone Boss Industries
26-04 Borough Place
Woodside, NY 1137
718/278-2677

Granquartz
PC Box 33569
Decatur, GA 30033
1-800-458-6222

Eastern Marble & Granite Supply, Inc.

PC Box 392

Scotch Plains, NJ 07076

1-800-643-8818

Barre-Pak-70 Gram

Miles Supply, Co., Inc.
143 Boynton St.
Barre, VT 05641-0237
802/476-3963

Fiberglass Rods

PRG, Inc.

Rockville, MD 20849-1768

301/309-2222

Photo-Flo

Available at any good camera store.

Volume 22: Number 1

Page 11

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

A WANDERING NEW ENGLAND GRAVESTONE
HAS COME HOME

The letter from Mrs. Walker of Escondido, California,
came first to the AGS office, then to Fred Oakley who spoke
to Mrs. Walker about her "find." The slate gravestone was
inscribed for Mrs. Rebecca Porter, wife of Captain Benjamin
Porter. She died November 18, 1798, in the 56th year of her
life. Until recently used as a threshold on a nearby ranch,
Mrs. Walker recognized it as a gravestone, recovered it from
her friends, and sought help in locating its proper place by
writing AGS.

Mrs. Walker's inquiry was sent to AGS member
Charles Marchant in Vermont who sent it along to Joann
Nichols, former president of Vermont Genealogical Society.
Joann put a query on Northeast Roots, a genealogical e-mail
for the six New England States. A woman in Texas responded
with information from the DAR Patriot Index that listed a
Benjamin Porter with wife Rebecca Tisdale. Pressing on,
Joann's research in the 1790 census led her to a paperback in
her local library for Freetown, Massachusetts, Bristol County,
that she has purchased and given them. And there she found
the enhre family. Vital records listed the marriage of Benjamin
Porter of Freetown to Rebecca Tisdale, 30 June 1763 by
Thomas Gilbert, Esq.

In a series of events that nearly defy belief, Mr. Robert
Deane, a member of the Freetown [Massachusetts] Historical
Society who lives in San Diego contacted Mrs. Walker who
gave him the stone which he has transported back to
Freetown. Oddly enough, Mr. Deane is a descendent of the
Tisdale Family, the maiden name of Mrs. Porter. Freetown
Historical Society President Lynwood French is seeing to
resetting Mrs. Rebecca Porter's stone beside that of her
husband, Capt. Benjamin Porter. 0

REGIONAL COLUMNS

Northwest & Far West Region

1

y^

1

m

W4

w

Lynwood French, Freetown Historical Society President
is pictured above with the Porter stone.
Photo by Jack Foley of the Fall river Herald News
Page 12

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Mon-
tana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming,
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia

Bob Pierce
(The Western Deadbeat)
208 Monterey Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94131

The following article is being reprinted from the
San Francisco Examiner I Chronicle of Sunday, August 17, 1997.
The article first appeared in a longer version in The
Sacramento Bee. I wish to thank Peter Hecht for his
permission to reprint this version.

GOLD RUSH HISTORY LOST TO CEMETERY
VANDALS

Along the old Pony Express route, where
today's Green Valley Road passes through rolling hills
of El Dorado County, Scottish immigrant James Skinner
was a man of distinction. The earlv California settler,
renowned for his wine, brandy, and vinegar, raised seven
children on a sprawling ranch founded in 1856. Yet
today the marble headstone for Skinner and his wife,
Jessie, is defaced with graffiti and stands alone in a field
behind a Cameron Park shopping center. No one knows
what became of the headstones for at least three Skinner
children also buried there.

A scavenger made off \vith a broken grave
marker for Skinner's good friend Da\'id Reid. The pieces
were recovered through a local "tombstone amnest)'
program," seeking items looted from obscure pioneer
cemeteries. . . .

From Sacramento to Virginia City, Nevada,
remnants of old cemeteries — ranging from familv plots
to community graveyards in towns that vanished into
history — can be found in open farmland, in golden hills
by new subdivisions, in wooded areas being cleared for
new shopping centers.

Many of these final resting places of early
settlers have been ravaged bv vandals or thieves,
disturbed or threatened by constaiction, or ha\e simply
withered away from neglect. Preservationists say state
and local officials have failed in their historic obligations
to preserve them.

Some old cemeteries — sucli as the Fort Jim and
Dog Town public gravevards in once-thriving mining
camps near Placerville — have disappeared. Researchers
using news clippings and funeral notices nearly 150
years old are now trving to find the graves.

Other foreotten burial sites, such as the old Prai-
rie City Cemetery recently discovered by Caltrans crews
clearing a Folsom hillside for a highway interchange,
are being uneartlied unexpected!}'.

And there is the constant tlireat of encroacliment
from development.

\'oIume 22: Number 1

AGS Qunrterh/ Winter 1998

"A lot of these old cemeteries have just faded
away; people left, and there were no descendants to keep
them up," said Sue Silver, director of the El Dorado
Pioneer Cemetery Commission, which seeks to document
and preserve mining-era plots. "And then someone can
come along and put in a service station or fast food
restaurant, and we're going to have graves underneath,
and no one will know it. . . .

Meanwhile, newcomers moving to the Gold
Country are encountering the past and being put to the
test on preserving it. . . .

In Rescue, when Pat Smothers built his house on
a shaded liillside, he took on a personal crusade to protect
two graves that he found in his back yard.

He said that youthful scavengers had once tried
to dig into the plot of an early settler from Pennsylvania
named Jacob Bish. And someone kicked down the
headstone of pioneer R. H. McDougall, who died when
he was crushed by a boulder at his mining claim on nearby
Weber Creek.

Local historians believe 20 more graves from a
lost town called Rose Springs exist on Smothers' property,
and hope to eventually find them. Meanwhile, Smothers
runs off kids who zoom by in all-terrain vehicles and
sternly lectures anyone poking around. "I want to take
the boys and say, 'Hey, this is your history. Why do you
want to destroy it.?'"

In Amador County, a sesquicentennial
commission has launched a program to restore 175
damaged headstones at historic cemeteries. Church
volunteers cleared weeds and debris and cleaned
gravestones at the Jackson City Cemetery, whose
occupants include James T. Farley, elected to the U.S.
Senate in 1878; and Mike Tovey, a Wells Fargo "shotgun
messenger" killed by a robber in an 1893 stagecoach
ambush ....

We are plagued with a constant attack by van-
dals," groused John Lovell, chairman of the Amador
County Cemetery Board. "Nobody knows why. Nobody
knows how to stop it. But we advocate stronger penal-
ties."

In Virginia City, two California men were arrested
last spring for stealing 2,500 pounds of iron gates and
other ornaments from its cemetery. The graveyard
includes the patriarch of Nevada's Storey County, former
Texas Ranger Capt. E. F. Storey, who came with the
discovery of gold and led troops fighting Paiute Indians
in the 1860s.

Kelly Dixon of the local Comstock Historic
District said the men had sold the material to a South
Lake Tahoe welding store, which then resold it. After the
looted items were located, she angrily confronted a
homeowner who purchased the 19th centtiry wrought
iron "to build a gazebo." She said he was reluctant to
give it back after learmng of its origins.

"I was incredulous," Dixon said. 0

Volume 22: Number 1

SOUTHWEST REGION

Aiizoiiii, Arkiiiisas, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
Texas, Mexico

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch

Vail, AZ 85641

Phone: (520) 647-7005

Fax: (520) 647-7136

Not much to report in this issue because the
summer heat dampened my enthusiasm for exploring. With
cooler weather we should be beginning our usual routine
of going on back roads, in search of "cem" on the USGS
maps. Last February, Anita Howard, archivist for the
Western Mining Corporation in Reno, Nevada, sent a letter
to AGS which made its way to me. In it, she gives the same
advice I offered a few years ago, regarding the perils of
rattlesnakes when visiting rural cemeteries in the southwest.
But her comments are far more specific than mine: "I went
to Tuscarora [a ghost cemetery in Nevada] at the end of the
summer, an especially dangerous time," she writes. "The
grass was tall and it wasn't cold enough yet for the snakes
to go into hibernation. They love cemeteries because they're
relatively undisturbed and the cement and stone covered
graves offer great warm places to make burrows." Then
comes the really good part: "I counted seven shed [snake]
skins — including one six feet long — before I decided maybe
it wasn't a great place to be." Is this a tall tale, in the tradition
of those which cowboys told to gullible Easterners? A six
foot long skin? What an enormous creature. I don't blame
her for deciding this wasn't such a great place to be. Is it
possible a ceremony had been performed in this cemetery,
accounting for all the skiiis? That's an even more spooky
thought.

At any rate, during the hot months (April-October)
snakes abound in the southwest, and I'd heed Ms. Howard's
advice. Also watch out for fire and harvester ants whose
bites are really painful, as well as poisonous spiders, of
which there are many varieties. Finally, there are people
that may come driving up to the remote cemetery you are
examining, and you won't know for sure if they're good
guys or bad guys. I let my gut decide, and on a couple of
occasions I have just bolted to our car.

Of regional interest also is the report of a badly ne-
glected cemetery in Phoenix which needs support. [Tucson
Citizen, Dec. 13, 1997.] Consisting of 6.6 acres, it was set up
in 1887 next to the Arizona State Hospital, which served
the mentally ill, and now is used by prison buildings as
well. Today it's filled with trash and debris. "Most of the
dead have only small ground-level concrete markers of their
graves" — not unusual for persons who are incarcerated or
wards of the state — but niost of the markers have no names.
A fire in 1935 destroyed many hospital records, so it would
be difficult, if not impossible to reestablish the identities of

Page 13

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

the burials. An exception is the grave of Corporal Isiah Mays,
born a slave in Virginia in 1858. He served with the Buffalo
Soldiers, and was "one of 11 soldiers under the command of
Maj. Joseph Wham, an army paymaster. In May 1889 they
were protecting $29,000 worth of gold being carried by stage-
coach" between army forts near Tucson. Robbers learned of
this shipment, and rolled a boulder into the road to divert it.
"When the soldiers dismounted to move the rock, the ban-
dits opened fire." Mays was among those cut down by the
bullets. In 1890, "he earned the Medal of Honor for gallantry
in a famous hold up." Why he ended up at the Arizona State
Hospital isn't explained, but unlike the other burials, his
merited a bronze headstone, which still exists. If you're in-
terested in learning more about this cemetery, or assisting in
the effort to support its clean-up, you could write the State of
Arizona in Phoenix, c/o the Arizona State Hospital.

Finally, Louisiana used to be part of "my" regional
territory, along with Arkansas, but I think they belong to an-
other correspondent now. However, I'd like to mention a
chance encounter I had with a small cemetery in Plaquemine,
Louisiana, a stop on the River Road about 70 miles from New
Orleans on the Mississippi. This is a strictly Jewish burial
ground, located across the street from a larger cemetery which
probably was Catholic, but I didn't have time to investigate.
What caught my eye in the Jewish section was the name
Stanley Kowalski on one of the headstones. Other Kowalskis
were nearby. Stanley died, I believe, in the 1880s, and like
the others at this site, he came from Alsace, then in Germany.
The name Stanley Kowalski is familiar to anyone who has
seen or read "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Will-
iams. I'd assumed that the name was fictional, and also, that
Stanley Kowalski was Polish. While I can't swear to it, I seem
to recall that Marlon Brando portrayed him as Polish.
Whether he would have changed his portrayal if Stanley
Kowalski was meant to be Jewish, is another matter. Is it
possible that Tennessee Williams lifted the name from the
Jewish cemetery in Plaquemine? Does anyone know any-
thing about this?? Please let me know if you do. 0

A brass plaque on a boulder at Cedar Park tells this story about the
sculptures in Helen Sclair's column.

The Thatched Old Oak
Legend: There is a tradition that long before the coming of
the white man an Indian maiden, whose young brave met a
heroic death on the field of battle caused his remains to be
interred beneath the spreading branches of a surdy young oak
tree. There beneath its cool protecting shade she found solace
and comfort as she communed with the spirit of her departed
lover. The oak grew strong and venerable. From its leafy
bower friendly birds chirped their happy song, and in token
of their esteem thatched it over to provide her with added
protection.

Mother Nature in commemoration of the maiden's
enduring love, preserved the oak that it might stand as a
symbol of everlasting affection and loyalty.

This memorial which shall stand eternally, is erected
as an exemplification of our reverence for the loved ones who
have here found peace and rest.

MIDWEST REGION

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota,
Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Manitoba, Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, IL 60614-2323

DIONICIO RODRIGUEZ, 1891-1955

John Beardsley's fascinating Gardens of Rroelation:
Environments by Visionanj Artists., NY: Abbeville Press, 1995,
$60.00 includes visionary environments, man\' of which ha\'e
evolved in cemeteries. One of the artisans commemorated
is Dionicio Rodriguez (1891-1955) whose faux bois works in
reinforced concrete remain as a tribute to his creati\'e spirit
in cemeteries and parks across America.

While on a trip in Texas with the American Culture
Association, Cemeteries and Gravemarkers Division, we
visited 31 cemeteries in 103 acres in San Antonio's East Side
Cemetery District. I sat on a faux bois log in Cit\' CemeterA'
#1 and excitedly called to Maria Pfeif fer, a local historian
guiding the tour, "Who did this? I believe there are two
similar structures in the Chicago area."

Page 14

Rodrigue: sculpture at West Laicit Cemetery, Ciueago iiren
Photo by Helen Sclair

Soon after mv return to Chicago a large en\-elope
arrived with a variety of materials on Dionicio Rodriguez
and his creations. The man bom at Toluca, Mexico, had
hand-molded bridges, ca\^es, trees, and wells at Memorial
Park Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee. Three courtliouses in
Arkansas, Little Rock, Hot Springs, and Malvern included
his sculptures. Other non-cemeterv related \\orks are in
Cla3'ton, New Mexico, Detroit, Michigan, Chattanooga,
Tennessee, Castroville, Houston and Dallas, Texas, as well
as San Antonio. CemeterA' works are in Cedar Hill Cemeter)-,
Suitland, Maryland, and the aforementioned Friedrich lot
in San Antonio #1. "Rodriguez' success in the states was
greatly influenced by the fact tliat his sculptures were unlike

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Qiinrlvfh/ Winter 1998

tliose of any other artist," states the Tennessee nomination
to the National Register of Historic Places, 1983.

Rodriguez was often encouraged by the enthu-
siasm of his sponsors. This is probably true for the two
unique sculptures in the Chicago area. Leonard Cowan
(died 1969, age 78) had begun two cemeteries for the
burial of Masons in the 1920s, one Cedar Park, Calumet
Park and the other Acacia Park, Narridge. (Both of these
communities are suburbs of Chicago. Cedar Park has
recently suffered the throes of bankruptcy but the sculp-
ture remains well-tended. The northern half of Acacia
Park (where the other sculpture is) was sold in 1937, be-
coming West Lawn which was sold again in 1958 to
Temple Sholem, Chicago, which takes outstanding care
of the entire cemetery.

With the work of Maria Pfeiffer and the Garden of
Revelation as inspiration, I am pleased to document two
more monuments from the life of Dionicio Rodriguez. 0

Rodn;^ucz '^iulpturc at Cedar Park Cemetery, Chicago area
Photo by Helen Sclair

Inside the Rodriguez scidptiire at Cedar Park
Photo by Helen Sclair

Southeast/Caribbean region

Alnbiuna, District oj Coluinhm, I'lorida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolhui, Tennessee, Virginia, West
Virginia, Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

RO. Box 6296

Tallahassee, FL 32314

Publications about cemeteries allow us to appreciate
the history and artistic qualities of these important cultural
resources, even if we never have an opportunity to visit
them. The anticipation of a book's release is almost as much
fun as reading it. Below is information about publications
that provide information on two of Florida's early
cemeteries, as well as a brief description of the latest book
about New Orleans' historic "cities of the dead."

Besides books, newsletters about specific cemeteries
are produced by volunteer or "friends" organizations.
Exchanging newsletters can be useful to groups who might
be looking for ideas regarding fund raising, membership
drives, interpretation and education programs, etc. In
addition, many organizations print cemetery guides.

It would be nice to provide information about the
availability of locally produced newsletters and brochures
to AGS members. Cemetery organizations in the southeast
and Caribbean who would like others to know about their
materials should send a sample copy of the publication and
the necessary ordering details to me at the above address.
This information will be included in subsequent columns.

FORTHCOMING— PUBLICATIONS ABOUT TWO
FLORIDA HISTORIC CEMETERIES

The Key West Cemetery was established in 1847, after
a hurricane destroyed the island's first burying ground.
Today, it is still an active cemetery as well as one of the
city's most popular historic sites. The various gravestones
and mausolea reflect the community's history and ethnic
diversity over the past 150 years. In addition, a few markers
reinforce Key West's image of a artistic and somewhat
eccentric place; many people are aware of the simple marble
plaque attached to a tomb that reads, "I told you I was sick."

Sharon Wells, a fixture in Key West's preservation
community, has been photographing and writing about the
old town for twenty years. Her publications include
Portraits: Wooden Houses of Key West, and the local best-seller.
Sloppy Joe's Bar. Sharon has finally given her attention to
the cemetery. Key West Cemetery: Angels in the Architecture,
will be published in April, 1998. The book contains twenty-
five sepia-toned (tear-out) postcards of mausolea,
gravemarkers and other sculptural entities in the cemetery.
It will be available from Island City Heritage Press, P. O.
Box 56, Key West, Florida 33401 for $19, which includes
shipping and handling charges. (Sharon also conducts

Volume 22: Number 1

Page 15

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

walking tours of the cemetery. To reserve a date and time,
contact her at 305-294-KEYS).

The Old Huguenot Cemetery in St. Augustine was
established in 1821, shortly after the United States took
possession of the former Spanish territory. Many newly-
arrived Americans died during a violent yellow fever
epidemic, and because Protestants could not be buried in the
Catholic cemetery, this new burying ground was sited just
outside of the city gates. The site continued to be utilized
until 1884 when, because of concerns about over-crowding
and public health, it was closed by the City Council.

The cemetery has several unique markers made from
the local coqviina stone, and includes a small but interesting
collection of stones from the Walker and White workshops
in Charleston, South Carolina. Over the past decade it has
been patiently restored by a large number of volunteers
associated with the Memorial Presbyterian Church, Friends
of Old Huguenot Cemetery, and the St. Augustine Historical
Society. The groups have also compiled substantial
documentation concerning the site, including an 1893 survey
of markers that was discovered in the historical society's files.
FOHC member, Florence Mitchell, has just completed the
manuscript for a 100 page book about the cemetery. Titled
Sacred to the Memory: A History of St. Augustine's Huguenot
Cemetery, 1821-1884 , it is planned for release in June, 1998. It
will include a well-documented history of the cemetery, a
chapter about the styles and designs of its grave markers,
and a list of persons buried there. To receive advance notice
of this publication, contact Ms. Florence Mitchell, 32 Hawaiian
Blvd., or Mr. Charles Tingley, President, Friends of Old
Huguenot Cemetery, St. Augustine Historical Society, 271
Charlotte St. They are both in St. Augustine, Florida, 32084.

Old Huguenot Cemetery is located next to the city's
tourist information center. Because of its close proximity to
this and other popular places (such as San Marco and the
gates to the old city) large numbers of tourists visit the site
each day. For a time, much damage, caused by people
walking and sitting on the fragile markers, was done to the
cemetery. The half-acre burying ground is now closed except
when Friends volunteers are present to provide security and
historical interpretation. For a schedule of tours contact Ms.
Mitchell or Mr. Tingley, or check with the information desk
at the tourist center, located immediately adjacent to the
cemetery.

NEW ORLEANS —PHOTOGRAPHS OF
20 CEMETERIES IN THE CRESCENT CITY

A variety of books have been produced about New
Orleans cemeteries over the years, including Die Cemeteries
by Mary Louise Christovich, who is the founder of the
preservation organization. Save Our Cemeteries. The book,
co-authored with Mrs. Christovich by Leonard Huber and
Peggy McDowell, is volume 3 in the New Orleans
Architecture series, and one of the first attempts to examine
the city's cemeteries from a scholarly viewpoint rather than
from a nostalgic one. (Continued on page 27-SOUTHEAST))

Page 16

Mid-Atlantic Region

Delaware, New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, Quebec

G.E.O. Czamecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, New York 11235

THE ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, CEMETERY

In the New York City-New Jersey area there are
few graveyards that match the colonial-era stone collections
of New England. It is a rare yard that exhibits a true wealth
of stones of diverse colonial character, by known cutters,
with signatures, and a unique motif element to the area.
One of these graveyards is in Elizabeth, New Jerse\', knowm
during its settlement and early years as Elizabethtown.

This yard now lies in the prominent downtown
business district of the city and is an outstanding local
example of the magnitude of creativity evident in a
graveyard if the area is home to an active and artistic
stonecutter who took pride in his town's artistic and
creative diversity. That cutter was Ebenezar Price and his
workshop.

The graveyard is reminiscent of the true artistrs' of
the colonial-era stones and the cutters who individualized
their work and openly employed different motifs and
elaboration rather than a standard st)de in a sort of one-
size-fits-all concept. In this, the Elizabeth gra\'e\'ard is a
classic example. At this graveyard ^vhere Price's family is
buried right up front, there are a few unique pieces that
reveal just a little more intimatelv his stvle and \'ariabilit\-.
They are like the Monets and Picassos that are rareh' seen.
I will attempt to explain some of his work in this vard along
with some unique features I've found.

Colonial-era gravestone cutter Ebenezar Price
(1728-1788) like many cutters has been stereot^'ped in
relation to the motifs he is known for. 0\'er^vhelmingh' he
is associated with a winged-head with a stylized cloud
above in a tympanum. He also used t^vo other motifs as
well but are less numerous. One is his floral and the other

■iie^ infir;rr^l

i-//n' s >oiil liti^y with ti s/i//;;i'(i (.ioim

Photo from Gravestone Designs by Emily Wasscrman,

Dcii'cr Publications

\'olume 22: Number 1

AGS Qiiiv'terh/ Winter 1998

Price's floral motif.

Photo fivin Gravestone Designs by Emily Wasserinan,

Dover Publications

a stylized sun design. These were his three motifs that he
could use with much floral embellishment, or on a small
stone, with simple calligraphic enliancements.

Price's signature is found on many stones, even in
this, his hometown yard. He is known for his hand on the
bottom left side of the stone pointing to his name on the
bottom right of the stone. He also frequently uses his initials
only, "E.P." beneath two crossed bones at the base of the stone.
Price used several variations of his signature but the most
unusual I've seen is one he did at the very top of the stone in
the small scalloped area, a workshop trademark at the top of
the stone, reading "Cut by Ebenezar Price." It is a particularly
elaborate stone that includes much floral detail around the
inscription area. The tympanum contains his winged-head,
but surrounded by considerable embellishment. Price
obviously wanted to be sure that potential buyers would see
his name. However blatant this would seem, it is not as much
so as Jonathan Hand Osborn's use of the entire central
tympanum space for his advertisement, which he displayed
as boldly as a "brand name" and reads "Cut by Jonathan
Hand Osborn at Scotch Plains."

A singular piece by Price in this yard features a
flying dove with a sprig in its mouth. "Come to me" is
inscribed above the bird on the tympanum curve creating a
complete break with the norm. He signed it at the bottom
so there is no question of attribution.

In the area where Price's family members are buried
there appears to be a feminization of the features of the
standard Price winged-head on stones for females. The stem
face is replaced by a simpler, rounded face and eye-lashed
eyes.

There are also surviving Price tablestones, items
that are scarce in this area. Most of the tablestones seem to
have fallen victim to leglessness. Legs have been removed
and the table-top is just lying on the ground. In Elizabeth a
few intact tablestones remain, adorned with the Price head
and signed fully or initialed on the table's side.

Footstones are also scarce in this area because most
have been removed, the usual excuse being for simpler
mowing. Most footstones that remain are not usually
recognized as footstones, but rather erroneously as
children's stones because of their usual simplicity. Price's
footstones were larger than most. One "stylized sun" motif
remains, inscribed with only initials.

Price and his workshop dominated the area in
general, but many other interesting stones also remain.
There are a number of "skull and crossbones" motif stones,
a design distinct from the death's head (a skull with wings).
The skull and crossbones motif is not nearly as widespread
as the death's head but it has a considerable presence here.

Jonathan Hand Osbor}i's advertising
Photo by G.E.O. Czarnecki

Volume 22: Number 1

Photo by G.E.O. Czanicclu

There is also one Connecticut Valley style stone,
imported no doubt as were also a small collection of New
England-made stones.

Besides the large graveyard on Broad Street there
is another small yard across the street which is equally
jammed with numerous Price embellishments and other
one-of-a-kinds.

The Elizabeth cemetery is an interesting site to visit
because there are enough colonial-era markers to make the
trip worthwhile and it is a centerpiece of a major gravestone
art complex. 0

Page 17

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

NEW ENGLAND & MARITIME REGION

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Nezv
Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Labrador, New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, MA 01570

E-mail: Kliro01@svh-worc.com

A friend passed along an article from the April 1991
issue of National Geographic that, although not specifically
about the New England and Canadian Maritimes, may be of
some interest to our readers. In it, Thomas C. Meierding,
from the University of Delaware, describes an air pollution
study by him and his students which resulted in some
conclusions that may be of interest to gravestone aficionados.
The article does not indicate whether Mr. Meierding used
gravestones as his only measure of the effects of air pollution,
or whether they were part of a larger study, however the
published results, while certainly not new to students of
gravestone erosion, are presented in a more studied fashion
rather than in the more common anecdotal style.

The fact that his studies demonstrated that there is a
real danger of air pollution to gravestones, particularly those
made of marble, comes as no surprise to anyone who has
studied, photographed, or tried to read any of the stones
erected in the last half of the nineteenth century. Their erosion
is there for all to see. Meierding's study, however, compared
stones of the same Vermont marble, set in approximately the
same year (1878), in a number of cemeteries, spread over the
United States. One would suppose that all of these stones
would erode at approximately the same rate, but Meierding
proves otherwise. Photos from the National Geographic shows
a stone from Hawaii, set in 1883, with lettering as sharp as
when it was cut, while another stone, erected in Marietta,
Ohio and set in 1878 (although the lettering looks to me as
though the date is 1870) has lettering so eroded as to be almost
unreadable. Meierding concludes that the difference in
erosion is the result of the negligible air pollution in Hawaii
compared to the heavy air pollution in the Ohio River Valley.
I don't have the full study, so it is impossible to say how
Meierding accounted for the difference in climate,
temperature extremes, sun exposure, etc., in order to control
his study, but the article mentions that he found stones in the
Great Plains and in Florida that were similar in preservation
to the Hawaiian stones, so his study may well have included
all the necessary controls.

His second conclusion is also interesting. Meierding
indicated that the culprit in air pollution is not acid rain,
which he says causes little damage to marble stones, but sulfur
dioxide gas. He explains that this gas is a by product of the
industrial burning of high-sulfur coal, and the gasses
apparently penetrate the face of the stone and form gypsum,
which in turn, forces the surface of the stone apart, grain by
grain. I am not a chemical engineer, so I can't offer any insight

Page 18

into the validity of this statement. However, if true, it could
be a very encouraging sign for gravestone students. This
country has been making strides in restricting the use of
high-sulfur coal, and although the results are not coming as
quickly as some would like, there is a definite and
measurable improvement in the air quality in North
America, which, if Meierding is correct, should predict a
longer life for existing marble stones.
[Ed. Note: Members lucky enough to have attended the 1995 AGS
Conference heard Tom Meierding give a similar report.]

1997 AGS CONFERENCE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE

The June 30, 1997 Worcester Telegram & Gazette ran a
nice photo and news piece covering the 1997 conference held
in Leicester Massachusetts. The article included a good
sized photo of Marietta Marchitelli from Newton and Jim
Hunter from Ontario in the act of restoring old
Revolutionary War gravestones in Leicester's Rawson Brook
Cemetery. Overlooking their efforts, and no doubt offering
advice, are C.R. Jones and two town officials. The article by
the r&G's correspondent Betty Lilyestrom covered the
conference in some detail, including the number of
participants (162, from 28 states and two Canadian
Provinces), the keynote address by William D. Wallace on
"A Traveler's Guide to Worcester County's Past", and a
listing of the cemeteries and communities visited by this
year's participants via tour bus. Ms. Lilyestrom also quotes
Fred Oakley on the habit of older communities' residents
who were "pretty much buried where they dropped", thus
accounting for the number of small cemeteries scattered
around the countryside. It should be noted that her mention
of "Helen A. Sinclair" (the Cemetery Lady of Chicago) really
referred to our Helen Sclair.

Old Resting Places

We sometimes take walks to the old cemeten,' on

our road.
My daughter races ahead, left in the wake of our

dogs.
Upon arrival, worn old stones, broken twigs, long

untended grasses and crumbling stone walls

anoint the ground ^ve tread.
Somber, downtrodden monuments to primitix'e

bones, greet us in apathy.
No flowers, no wreaths, no footsteps, no tears, we

feel the lack in the air
We start to work, bending to twigs, debris, then

replace the fallen cemeter}' sign, and lug logs

and straiehten slate markers, imaginins; kived

ones from another time.
As warm breezes haunt us, with gentle presence

we fill a need, until all plots are clear, then

strewing gay wild tlowers onto molten earth, \ve

take quiet leave, not returning until the next vear.

Bv Sharon A. Harmon of Orange, Massachusetts.
Printed with her permission and that of Worcester
Magazine (where it was first published, April 2, 1997) . 0

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Quintcrly Winter 1998

ACROSS THE OCEANS

(il

[l

Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula
Franz-Schubert-Str. 14

p3>

^^R

D-63322 Rodermark

' w

'Ik"

Germany

(All photos by Angelika
Kniger-Kahloula)

A few weeks after reading Barbara Rotundo's column
on plot gardens in the spring issue of the AGS Quarterly, I
walked up the steep road leading from the lakefront of Lake
Lucerne to the churchyard of Herz-Jesu Kirche in Fliielen
(Canton Uri) in Switzerland. This Catholic parish church,
consecrated in 1912, towers in splendid surroundings above
the village center, which is by the lake. Having been to other
Swiss cemeteries in the summertime, I expected to find a
symphony of colors in the planted plots and was not
disappointed. The flowers were magnificent indeed, and so
were the gravestones, which made me decide to share my
observations with fellow AGS members, in spite of the loss of
attractiveness that black-and-white reproduction of color
photographs entails.

The variety of markers found in this churchyard, in
terms of material used (mostly stone but also metal and wood)
and of the wide range of sculpted imagery, prevents the kind
of redundancy one sees in many cemeteries where a number
of local gravestone dealers or stonemasons draw on a more
or less limited stock of items. This may produce a pleasant
effect of recognition and homogeneity, as a local style may
distinguish the cemeteries of one community or county from
those of a neighboring one. In Fliielen, however, emphasis is
placed on individuality (within tradition) rather than on
homogeneity. The number of stone types and kinds of
lettering may be limited, and pictorial representations may
draw on a definite set of themes, but the combination of
materials and ideas can make every marker a unique
specimen. This seems to be what most people in Fliielen have
in mind when they order a monument. Of course, the

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H^^^ili

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relatively small size of the churchyard makes it easier to
avoid repetition. In a city cemetery with a much larger
number of burials, there are bound to be more markers that
have a number of common features.

Most of the imagery in the Fliielen churchyard is
religiously inspired. Not surprisingly, the Latin cross
appears frequently, both in the contours of markers and as
sculpted (in stone or wood) or cast (in metal) decorative
elements alongside the inscriptions. Crosses come combined
with other Christian symbols such as ears of grain or roses,
or with worldly emblems such as coats of arms. Several
scenes from the New Testament are represented in relief
sculpture.

Latin crosses of stone and metal at Fliielen

Volume 22: Number 1

The sacred and the secular converge m a number
of symbolically charged landscape pictures. At first sight,
they show mountain scenery, reflecting the surrounding
countryside. These seemingly realistic representations of
mountain peaks are the natural setting for chapels, suiimiit
crosses or wayside memorials. Such elements of Alpine
Catholicism affirm the presence of Christian culture in
natural surroundings that may be experienced as spectacular
or as threatening. In the case of one highly stylized marker,
the mountain range is merely a faded background against
which a cross, a bridge, two fir trees and a rising sun, i.e.
emblems of hope and resurrection are set. (The unkind
graveyard stroller might speak of symbolic overkill.)

Inscriptions consist of the names and the years of
birth and death of the deceased. Married people of either
sex are identified as spouses, since the husband's and the
wife's family names are hyphenated into one last name.

Every grave features a small
round or square receptacle filled
with water. It is either made from
stone (usually the same as the
marker and enclosure) or from
wood or metal. My first guess when
seeing these receptacles was that
they contained holy water. I had
never seen fonts on graves before.

Page 19

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

When I saw that many of the fonts had small round brushes
of a kind that I (as a lowland German Protestant) could only
associate with dishwashing I doubted my first impression.
The brushes were attached to the receptacles with small
chains, these too of a kind that I would look for in a household
appliances or hardware store. I was making up a theory of
perfunctory cleaning routines when, luckily, a local person
came by and confirmed that the objects in question were holy-
water fonts and sprinklers. I rather preferred the small
branches of pine or larch that other graves featured to the
brushes.

When, on the day following my visit to Fliielen, I
stopped at the cemetery in Giornico (Canton Ticino), I found

Mcilitcriiiinaii-style cohnnbarimn

neither brushes nor fonts but enameled photographs on
almost every grave, and wall tombs as well as ground burials.
The Swiss who bury their dead in Giornico are Italian not
only by name. 0

Enameled photographs adorn this monument at Giornico.

Flowers bloom in every enclosure at Giornico Ccmeten/

Page 20

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Qimrtvrly Winter 1998

BOOK REVIEW

Mary-Ellen Jones

2 Los Amigos Court

Orinda, CA 94563-1605

(510) 254-2295

Fax: 510-254-2859

Beyond the Grave: Cultures of Queens
Cemeteries

Review by Barbara Rotiindo

This is a booklet that every member interested in
Victorian or modern gravestones will want to own. And at
$4.00 it is easily affordable. The sixteen pages of text include
58 superb photographs taken by Dr. liana Harlow, Folk Arts
Program Director for Queens Council on the Arts. They come
from an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York,
(see Calendar on back page for information). While brief,
the text is an accurate presentation, and the photographs re-
produced represent a variety of national and ethnic cultures.
Partial funding by the New York Council for the Humanities
may explain the blessing of the bargain price.

The $4.00 includes mailing. Order from Queens
Council on the Arts, 79-01 Park Lane South, Woodhaven, NY
11421-1166.

Raise Money for Your
Community Project with a
Little Help from a Friend...

mxee

The Magazine for New England

You earn $10 toward your New England-based
community project for each Yankee subscription
your group sells. Yankee provides all sales and
marketing materials and publicity to ensure a
successful fund-raiser.

Our community Partners include

The Melvin Memorial Restoration Fund, Concord, MA

The Olde Burying Ground, Lexington, MA

The National Trust for Historic Preservation

The Edith Wharton Restoration, Lenox, MA

The Slate Covered Bridge Fund, Swanzey, NH

Call or write for information today:
Yankee Magazine's Community Partners

PO Box 520 ~ Dublin, NH 03444
800-729-9265

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

An exhibition of gravestone photography by Frank
Calidonna of Rome, New York, was on view through January
15th at Pastabilities in Armory Square, Syracuse, New York.
The show was made up of 24 carefully selected, large format,
black and white photos of statuary in Victorian cemeteries.

Lynette Strangstad's book, A Graveyard Preservation
Primer, was reviewed very favorably in Links, the Journal of
the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society, Fall 1997
issue. Vol. 2 No. 1.

Robert V. Wells, professor of history and social
sciences at Union College and keynote speaker at our 1992
conference, was the subject of an Associated Press release in
September 1997 that appeared in numerous papers across
the country. Wells studies demographics: birth, death,
marriage and migration. He is completing a book that takes

an exhaustive look at the evolution of the American way of
death in the city of Schenectady, New York.

William Hosley's book Colt: The Making of an
American Legend, has just been awarded SPNEA's book
prize. Based on research for the 1996 exhibition of the same
name at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the book is
a brilliant analysis of the larger-than-life figure of Samuel
Colt, inventor and manufacturer of the "Gun that Won the
West."

Some of our members have been on television and
radio recently: David Watters, former Markers editor,
Barbara Rotundo, Vice President and chair of the Quarterly
Editorial Board, and Fred Oakley, "Conservation News"
columnist. 0

Volume 22: Number 1

Page 21

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED AT THE OFFICE

Bane Life, Vol. 27, No. I, Winter 1998, magazine of
the Barre Granite Association, 51 Church Street, Box 481,
Barre, VT 05641-0481.

Burials and Burial Places in the Town of Dartmouth,
Massachusetts, by Judith Navas Lund, 1997. The Dartmouth
Cemetery Commission and Historical Commission produced
the book which was an outgrowth of a project to locate and
record all the cemeteries in the Old Dartmouth area which
was settled in 1664.

Cemetery Preservation, The Restoration of Above Ground
Masonry Tombs, September 1989. Available from Save Our
Cemeteries, Inc., PO Box 15770, New Orleans, LA 70175.
Includes sections on restoring brick, stucco, and marble,
repairing fragmented tablets, and cleaning above ground
tombs. 7 illustrations.

City of the Dead: A Journey through St. Louis Cemetery
#1, Nexv Orleans, Louisiana, by Robert Florence. Published by
Center for Louisiana Studies, PO Box 40831, University of
Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA 70504.

Going Out in Style: The Architecture of Eternity, by
Douglas Keister, published by Facts on File, Inc., New York,
NY, 1997. Beautiful color photos of mausoleums, statuary,
and columbariums throughout the United States. This book
has been added to those available from the AGS Publication
List.

The Gravemarker, Yavapai Cemetery Association
Newsletter, December 1997, Vol. II No. 2. Available from The
Yavapai Cemetery Association, 201 South Pleasant Street,
Prescott, AZ 86303-3921, tel. 520-778-5988.

The Gravette published by Lawrence Hayward of
Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Lawrence is working in eastern
Ontario to photograph and identifying the carvers of all the
cemeteries. If you have information on Ontario sculptors that
would contribute to this project, please contact Lawrence
Hayward at 336 Division Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
K7K 4A3.

Historical New Hampshire, Vol. 52, Nos. 1&2, Spring/
Summer 1997. Available with membership in the New
Hampshire Historical Society, 30 Park Street, Concord, NH
03301-6384. Contains article by David H. Watters, "Fencing
ye Tables: Scotch-Irish Ethnicity and the Gravestones of John
Wight," pp 2-17. 13 illustrations.

Links, Journal of the Vermont French-Canadian
Genealogical Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, Fall 1997 issue. Contains a
book review of A Graveyard Preservation Primer by Lynette
Strangstad, p 29.

Page 22

MB News, November 1997, Vol. 54. No. 11, has an
article by AGS member Clyde Chamberlin titled, "Clyde
Chamberlin Sleuths in Cemeteries," pp. 40-45. Includes
photographs of some of the unusual monuments Clyde has
found on his travels.

MB Nexvs, January 1998, Vol. 55 No. 1, has an article
by AGS member Barbara Rotundo on "White Bronze
Monuments Recall Forgotten Era," pp. 44-49. Includes
numerous photographs of white bronze monuments.

Memories of the Past: A Tour of Historic Croum Hill
Cemeten/: Recalling Nearly 200 Years of Indianapolis and Marion
County History, by Wayne L. Sanford, 1996. 55 pp. Photos,
drawings, glossary. Published by Crown HiU Cemetery, 700
W. 38th Street, Indianapolis, IN,' tel. 317/925-8231.

New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead,
by Robert Florence, photos by Mason Florence, published
by Batture Press, Inc., PO Box 19381, New Orleans, LA
70179-0381.

Northeast Historical Archaeology, Vol. 25, 1996.
Contains article by Edward L. Bell, "'Where Angels Fear to
Tread': Cemetery Preservation Efforts by the Massachusetts
Historical Commission."

Pittsburgh, May 1996, pp. 56-60, article by Mike May,
art editor of this magazine, titled "Heaven Can Wait."
Photography by Jim Schafer. Highlights stained glass,
statuary and other forms of artistic expression in cemeteries
in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsyh'ania.

Alexandria Rasic's article, "The Sacred Ground,"
appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Historian, No. 3. The
Historian is an occasional publication of the Homestead
Museum and is devoted to the history of the San Gabriel
Valley from 1830 to 1930. It is available from Workman and
Temple Family Homestead Museum, 15415 East Don Julian
Road, City of Industry California 91745, 626/968-8492.

The Salisbury Nezoslettcr, Vol. 5, Issue 4, Winter 1997.
Published by Susan Salisbury for those \vith Salisburys in
their genealogical line. For more information, \\rite her at
PO Box 281, Millville, MA 01529-0281 or e-mail
JJSALISBUR® aol.com.

"Trail of Tombstones," an article by Marjorie
Waterfield published in Ancestry, September /October 1996
contains information about the New England Sikes family
of carvers. 0

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

NOTES AND QUERIES

Policies Adopted By Local Cemetery Association

The Yavapai Cemetery Association in Prescott,
Arizona, has adopted a set of Preservation Policies for the
preservation of Citizens Cemetery. They primarily pertain
to issues concerning the preservation of the historic character
of the cemetery and the installation of new materials. They
discuss curbings, which are the borders placed around some
grave sites; grave caps, which are solid coverings over graves,
usually of stone or concrete; paving, which addresses roads
and pedestrian pathways; headstones and gravemarkers,
which addresses the treatment of old markers and the
installation of new ones; enclosures around grave sites; and
the use of power equipment. The policies are written to keep
this historic cemetery as close as possible to its 1864-1933
appearance while at the same time allowing improvements
to be made. Copies of these policies are available from the
Yavapai Cemetery Association at 201 South Pleasant Street,
Prescott, AZ 86303-3921.

Helpers Needed

The Ohio Genealogical Society is involved in helping
to locate all active cemeteries in the state which have not
been registered with the Ohio Division of Real Estate. To
date, more than 3,000 cemeteries are presently registered with
at least 500 more which are violating Ohio Revised Code
4767. The statute establishing registration became effective
June 30, 1993.

As each cemetery is registered the first time, an
identification number is assigned. Since these numbers do
not change, it is hoped that in the future they will be added
to the name of the cemetery on death certificates. Registration
will help to insure that all active cemeteries (those with
interments during the previous 25 years) are properly
maintained and inforniation will be preserved for future
generations.

Individual residents of many Ohio counties are still
being sought to volunteer in trying to determine current
ownership of all cemeteries known to be active. A packet of
information for any one county will be sent upon request to
assist in the search. For information write to: The Ohio
Genealogical Society, PO Box 2625, Mansfield, OH 44906;
Attn. Cemetery Committee. — From Antique Weel<, March
31, 1997

An American Cemetery in Mexico City

Bob and Nancy Hannan of Hyde Park,
Massachusetts, sent an article from State Magazine, May
1997, regarding the oldest U.S. national cemetery outside the
United States. The author, Nickolas J. Manring, a consular
officer in Mexico City, writes that between the cemetery itself
and the records in the office of the American Battle
Monuments Comniission, "there is a mother lode of history
about the U.S. presence in Mexico City." If you are headed
that way and would like to read the article, send a SASE to
the AGS office for a photocopy.

Volume 22: Number 1

Monument Dealer donates replacement memorial

Charlotte Ann "Lotti"Ackerman was the first
person buried in the Hampton, New Hampshire, High
Street Cemetery following her death at age 19 on December
31, 1858. Over the years Lotti's marble gravestone has
deteriorated badly, making it extremely difficult to read the
engraved inscription which says, "She Is Not Dead, But
Sleepeth." Thanks to John Holman, former curator of the
town's Tuck Museum and writer of local history for area
publications, and to Lisa Chick, manager of Seacost
Memorials of Portsmouth, a memorial stone now sits at
the base of Lottie's grave. The donation was not the first
made by Seacost Memorials. Several years ago the company
donated a stone which designated a portion of the cemetery
as "Babyland," an area where at least a dozen children are
buried. — From an article by Jerry Miller in Nezv Hnmpsliire
Sunday News, Manchester, New Hampshire, August 3, 1997

We have zinc and cast iron markers — here's a lead marker

The Town Board of Lewisboro, New York approved
a statue called "Spring... and new life" for a grave marker
in South Salem Cemetery. It will be a marker about 42 inches
high depicting a small cherub cradling a bird's nest with
baby birds inside. The family name is engraved on a plaque
at the base of the statue. It will be created by Otto Gust out
of lead naturalized with a combination of equal parts
miriatic acid and water and then coated with wax. Mr. Gust
says it does not pose any health or environmental threat
and stands up forever. — TromTtie Patent Trader, North
Westchester, July 24, 1997 sent in by Donald Derr of Somers,
New York.

Pet Cemetery is one of ten most visited cemeteries

Gary Collison sent in a gravestone news clipping
from an unusual source, the magazine Field and Stream.
In March 1995 they published a full-page article about the
only coon dog cemetery in the world, the Key Underwood
Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard in northwestern Alabama.
Testifying to the fact that it is listed as one of the ten most-
visited burial grounds in the United States, that same year
in a conference Late Night session Barbara Rotundo showed
slides she had taken in her visit to the cemetery. In addition
to dozens of stones for individual coon dogs, there is a
Bedford limestone tree stump that is tall enough so the
carved dogs baying at the base can't reach the coon peering
over the edge at the top.

For directions for finding the cemetery, write Kathy
Thompson, Colbert County Tourism and Convention
Bureau, PO Box 440, Tuscumbia, AL 35674.

[Ed. Note: It is very helpful when people send in
clippings about gravestones that have been in the news. But please,
as we mentioned in previous quarterlies, do not include vandalism
stories. Unfortunately they are not news except to the local
families in communities all over the United States. Unique ways
of avoiding or coping with vandalism are, of course, loelcome.]

Page 23

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

Response to "What to Do" Query from Summer '97 Issue

In the summer 1997 issue Katherine Greenia inquired
"What do you do?" relative to coming upon gravestones in
private hands. It is a shame that at the same time that unsa-
vory characters are stealing gravestones for profit, suppos-
edly savory characters are destroying them with apparently
the best of intentions. Historical, anthropological or artistic
artifacts should not be sacrificed to genealogy.

This fall in preparation for a program for a local
school, I visited the site of some of my favorite stones. Imag-
ine my despair upon discovering that two lovely and fairly
well preserved stones from the early 19th century had been
replaced with a large granite monument missing some of the
information — and of course the art — from the original stones.
The new stone had some additional information, part of it
erroneous. The old stones were nowhere in sight. The per-
petrators of this outrage had even put their name on the new
monument in inch-high letters along with a plaque advertis-
ing the firm which had provided the new stone. I went home
in tears and started making phone calls.

The monument company could only tell me that the
purchasers were from Michigan. The cemetery is in Pennsyl-
vania and the transaction had been conducted long distance.
A friend on the board of the cemetery put me in touch with
the caretaker. He told me the old stones had been broken up
and placed in the foundation of the new one. It was possible,
he added, that there might be a few pieces in their refuse pile
and gave me permission to look. After I phoned my boss to
report I would not be in to work because of an emergency,
my husband and I loaded some tools in our pickup truck and
went digging. At the bottom of about four feet of dirt and
rubble, we found the two stones, damaged but nearly intact,
plus parts of a third. They are now proudly, and more or less
legally, displayed in my home. In time they will go to our
local historical society on whose board I serve, but for now,
I'm afraid to let them out of my possession. It was too close a
call. — Ann R Diseroad, Bloomsburg, PA-

New Yorkers Asked to Write Their Legislators

Lewis Decker, former AGS member, requests that
New Yorkers write their state legislators in favor of a bill
providing that the Division of Veterans Affairs, in the absence
of concerned family, will make sure veterans receive proper
reburial if a private cemetery is removing bodies. The number
of the Assembly Bill is 7094, the Senate 5030.

State Lists of AGS Members to be Made Available

The office would like to make available to the
membership lists of AGS members in their state or region. If
you do not want your name to be on such lists, please inform
the office (278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301)
by June 1, and your name will not be included. Those who
wish a state list may send their request to the AGS office after
June 1.

The Stone with the Earliest Date

Peg Jenks of Granville, New York, sends us a
picture and information about the "mummy" stone found
in the Middlebury Cemetery on Route 30 across from
Middlebury College in Middlebury, Connecticut. The
stone is found in about the 22nd row in the south (left)
section as you enter the cemetery in a row of small stones
for the Chipman family.

The "mummy" was purchased about 1900 by
Henry Sheldon for his Museum in the center of
Middlebury at 1 Park Street. When the mummy arrived
it was in poor condition, and as the years went on, the
condition worsened. Finally it had to be disposed of in
some manner. A decision was made in 1945 to have it
cremated. The ashes were given a Christian burial and
the stone erected. The epitaph on the stone reads:

ASHES OF AMUN-HER-KHEPESH-EF
AGED 2 YEARS
SON OF SEN WOSET 3RD
KING OF EGYPT AND HIS WIFE

HATHOR-HOTPE
1883 B.C.

Mtiintin/ stone, Middlebury, Connecticut
Photo by Margaret R. Jeiiks

Page 24

Volume 22: Number 1

AGS Qiiarlcrh/ Winter 1998

Boothill Graveyard Has Ethnic Sections

An article in tlie magazine True West, March 1997,
carried an article by Mort Alper about Boothill Graveyard in
Tombstone, Arizona. While it is known for being the final
resting place of some of the West's most notorious characters,
few people are aware that beyond the main burial area, at the
bottom of a gravelly hill covered with desert scrub and catclaw
cactus, a section of the cemetery had been set aside for Jews.
Another distant section was intended for Chinese dead.

A Milford, Massachusetts, Gravestone Ad from 1880

"The marble head-stones furnished by the U.S.
Government for deceased soldiers for cemeteries in this town,
have arrived. The stones are of Vermont marble, 36 by 10
inches in size, 2 inches thick, and designed to show 15 inches
above ground. To the G.A.R. Post, and especially to B. H.
Montague, is due the credit of obtaining these memorial
tablets." — Dec. 8, 1880 Milford newspaper.

Mt. Auburn Cemetery Survey Yields Valuable Information

Volunteers have completed survey forms for
gravestones and monuments in three historical sections of
the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown, Massachusetts.
In an initial analysis of 312 gravestones in the Cedar-Cypress
Avenue area, they have found that 664 people are
commemorated.
The materials used are:

66% marble

28% granite

3% slate

2% boulder
Conditions of carving are:

44% mint

32% clear but worn

15% mostly decipherable

4% traces

5% illegible
Of the marble gravestones, conditions of carving are

25% mint

41% clear but worn

20% mostly decipherable

6% traces

7% illegible
— From Monumental News, November 1997, publication of the
Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery. 0

FROM THE TRUSTEES

Seeking Oakley award Nominees

As many of you already know at last year's
conference held at Becker College the first Oakley Award
was presented to Fred and Rosalee Oakley. The Oakley
Award is a certificate of merit that is presented periodically
by the Board of Trustees to individuals and groups that have
helped to advance the mission of the Association. The
mission of the AGS is to foster appreciation of the cultural
sigrrificance of gravestones and burial grounds through their
study and preservation.

To qualify for an Oakley Award a nomination is
sent by an AGS member to the Awards and Recognition
Committee. The guidelines are that the work can be in any
number of areas including but not limited to:

• gravestone carver research

• gravestone conservation

• exhibits relating to gravestones

• computer programming relating to gravestone

studies

• efforts to raise a community's awareness of local

cemeteries and burial grounds.

The Oakley Award consists of a certificate from the
Board as well as a gift to the recipient's local library of A
Graveyard Preservation Primer in both the recipient's name
and the AGS . Whenever possible the presentation of the
certificate will be made by a local member of AGS. Each
year's honorees will have their name printed in the annual
conference program book as well as having their names read
at the Friday night reception at the conference.

Here is where we need YOUR HELR The Oakley
Award is designed to honor those across the country who
have promoted the Association's mission. You, as the
membership, know of individuals and groups in your
hometowns and cities across the country whose work may
have gone unnoticed or is worthy of AGS's recognition. We
need you to let us know about them through nominating
them.

Nominations should include not only the person's
or group's acomplisments but as much documentation as
possible. This could include photographs, newspaper
articles, videos or personel references. These should be sent
to either Daniel B. Goldman 115 Middle Road, East
Greenwich, R.I. 02818 or Ruth A. Shapleigh-Brown, 135
Wells Street, Manchester, CT 06040. Once a nomination has
been received the committee will evaluate it and make
appropriate recommendations to the Board for its approval.
This is an on-going process for the Awards and Recognition
Committee so there is no deadline for nominations. If you
have any questions, feel free to call Dan Goldman at
(401)884-7875. 0

Volume 22: Number 1

Page 25

AGS Quarterly Winter 1998

Association for

Gravestone

Studies

June 25-28, 1998

Monmouth University
West Long Branch, New Jersey

Conference begins with dinner Thursday night and continues through lunch Sunday noon. A
Pre-Conference tour begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, returning to campus in time for
participation in an evening cemetery walking tour including a reenactment. For those who ^vish,
it is possible to arrange to stay in the dormitory on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Don't Miss the Fun!

Guided Cemetery Bus Tours

Lecture Sessions

Participation Sessions

Conservation Workshop

Special Pre-Conference Tour

June 24 at 9 a.m. to
Trinity Churchyard, Manhattan, and
Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn

Conference Information and Registration Form

will be mailed shortly.

Return to Fred Oakley, Registrar,

19 Hadley Place, Hadley, MA 01035

■'■■^--•^■'i^

Page 26

\ olnmo 22: Number 1

AGS Qum-ierly Winter 1998

FENZA - Continued from p. 4

William Patterson was a young lawyer who led an
ultimately unsuccessful campaign to stop the executions of
the Italian immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti. An African-
American, Patterson was instrumental in bringing about the
integration of professional baseball.

Morton Prinz was a landscape architect in the City
of Cliicago. He was best known as the founder of the peace
group. Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. Morton's wife,
Tobey, was the head of the campaign to elect Harold
Washington, the first African-American mayor of Chicago.
Washington delivered the eulogy at her funeral.

In addition to the many people who are buried in
this section of Forest Home there are several individuals who
were cremated and whose ashes were scattered across this
area. Nina Van Zandt Spies was the Vassar-educated
daughter of a rich family. However, she devoted her time to
the cause of workers' rights. She made the acquaintance of
August Spies while he was in prison. She assisted him in
writing his autobiography and married him just before his
execution. For her act she was disinherited by her socially
prominent family. She spent the rest of her life working with
Lucy Parsons.

Big Bill Haywood was a miner in Utah who fought
against the injustices committed against the miners by mine
owners. In 1910 he founded the Industrial Workers of the
World, the IWW or "Wobblies" as they were commonly
called. Haywood and other members of the IWW were
charged with sedition and imprisoned after they spoke out
against American involvement in World War I. Carl
Sandburg, reporting the trial for the Chicago Daily News,
defended Haywood in his articles.

Joe Hill was also a miner in Utah. He assisted
miners to organize a strike against the owners of the copper
mines which earned him the hatred of the mine owners. In
1914 the owners had Hill framed on a murder charge. He
was executed by firing squad in 1915 despite pleas by
numerous public figures that his life be spared. After his
death, Alfred Hays and Earl Robinson wrote a song about
the subject, and Joe Hill became immortal in the folk song,
"I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night." By their request,
Haywood's and Hill's ashes were scattered at Forest Home.

Forest Home Cemetery is in Forest Park, Illinois,
five miles west of Chicago. It is located on Des Plaines
Avenue just south of the Eisenhower Expressway. The
socialist burial section in on the first road to the left just
inside the main entrance. Although the Haymarket
memorial and Emma Goldman's tombstone are large, the
other stones are small and simple, inscribed only with names
and dates of birth and death, and frequently with socialist
or worker's mottoes. Their simplicity and uniform styling
reflect their political ideology of equal rights for all.

For further information on the individuals buried
at the Haymarket Memorial and a more detailed account
of the Haymarket Riot, readers are referred to The Day
Will Come: Stories of the Haymarket Martyrs and the Men
and Women Buried Alongside the Monument, published by
the Illinois Labor History Society. 0

Emma Goldman asked to be buried near the
Haymarket martyrs who inspired her work.

Volume 22: Number 1

SOUTHEAST/CARIBBEAN - Continued from p. 16
Published a quarter of a century later, Elysium— a
gathering of souls, New Orleans Cemeteries is a rather successful
attempt to combine scholarship with the arts to further the
appreciation of these same cemeteries. The 150 duotone
photographs by Sandra Russell Clark are ethereal in
appearance and their presentation evokes the romance of
the past. A forward by NPR commentator, Andrei Codrescu,
demonstrates that cemeteries are as much for the living as
for the dead. The introduction, by Pat Brady, gives a good
overview of the historical development of the cemeteries in
the city. (Dr. Brady is currently writing a book about Florville
Foy, a free person of color who was one of the city's most
gifted stone carvers and tomb builders.) Elysium is
hardcover, 144 pages, $39.95, published by Louisiana
State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA 70893
(504/388-6666). 0

Page 27

CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS

October 1997 - October 1998 - Exhibition: Cities of the Dead: Life in New Orleans Cemeteries at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans.
Thirteen regional burial grounds are featured in the 50 photographs drawn from a book by Robert and Mason Florence. Tine exhibit
delineates the various forms of above-ground graves that illustrate New Orleans distinctive mosaic of cultures. For more information call
the museum at 1-800-568-6968 or visit their web site at www.crt.state.la.us/crt/museum/lsmnet3.htm.

September 27, 1997 - March 8, 1998 - Exhibition: Beyond the Grave: Cultures of Queens Cemeteries at Museum of the City of New York, Fifth

Avenue & 103rd street. For more information call 212-534-1672, Ext. 206.

March 15 - April 30, 1998 - Exhibition: Cycles at Darnall's Chance, Upper Marlboro, MD, by Timothy Bladen, in conjunction with work-
shop on cemetery preservation on March 21. Call 301-952- 8010 for registration information.

January 31 - March 15, 1998 - Exhibition: Death Divine at the Kresge Art Museum at MSU in East Lansing, Michigan. Photographs of
cemetery sculpture from Paris, Milan, and Rome by AGS member Pamela Williams from Don Mills, Ontario, Canada.

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Spring Programs:

Saturday, May 16, 10:00- 11:30 AM; repeated Sunday, May 17, 2:00-3:30 PM "A Walk through Mount Auburn History" - a walking tour with
Barbara Rotundo, Mount Auburn Cemetery historian, author and Professor Emeritus of English, State Universih' of New York, Albany. We'll see
turn-of-the-century and early 20th century carving including work of the Tiffany Studio and the sculptor Bela Pratt.

Saturday, June 13: "The Road Less Taken" — a lecture tour with Deirdre Morris, social historian. Come hear the stories of women whose lives
took unexpected turns and visit their graves at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Call 617-547-7105.

May 10 - October 18, 1998 - Exhibition: Art of the Departed: The Gravestones of Cape Cod at the Heritage Plantation, Sandwich, Mass.
May 21 and June 16 - Exhibit tour with curator

May 30 - Gravestone foil impressions workshop with AGS member Susan Galligan
June 2 - "Early New England Gravestones" lecture by AGS member Dan Goldman
June 9 - Guided tour of Old Sandwich Burying Ground
June 20 - Stone carving demonstration by stonecarver Carol Driscoll
July 1 - Bus tour of three Cape Cod cemeteries
For registration, times, and fees call Jane Robin at 508/833-2910. For more information call Jennifer Yunginger at 508/888-3300

August 22-23, 1998 - The 4th annual Civil War reenactment in Wickham Park in East Hartford, Connecticut. The event will include living
history events, sutler booths, shows, and a portrayal of the battle of Fisher's Hill, Virginia by reenactors. Hours are 9:30-4 on Aug. 22 and
9:30-3 on Aug. 23. For directions and fees, call 860/568-6178.

© 1998 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is used for educational
purposes; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and /or photographer or artist involved; and (3) a copy of the document or article in
which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The ACS Quarterly is published four times a year as a ser\'ice to members of the Association
for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. Copies of most issues are available from the AGS office for $3.00. The
goal of the AGS Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones.

To contribute articles, notes, or queries, please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior /Student, $25; Individual, $30; Institutional, $35; Family, $40; Supporting, $65; Life, $1000) to the Association for Gravestone
Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year
from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, Tlte journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies: Please send articles to Richard
Meyer, Editor of Markers, PO Box 13006, Salem, OR 97309-1006. His telephone is (503) 581-5344 and e-mail address is meverr@wou.edu. The next issue of
Markers will be volume XV available in the spring of 1998. Please see the insert in this Quarterly.

Address all other correspondence to Administrator, AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301, call (413) 772-0S3ir

The Association for Gravestone Studies
278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301

NON PROFIT ORG

U.S. POST.AGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 1 S3
GREENFIELD. MA

AGS Quarterly

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Table of Contents

MEET THE AGS BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2

FEATURES

"Three Cemeteries in Peru, South America" by Judith Abranovich 6

"Showmen's Rest: Hugo, Oklahoma's Circus Cemetery" by Sybil F. Crawford 8

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th Century: Ralph Tucker .10

19th & 20th Century: Barbara Rotundo 12

Gravestones & Computers: John Sterling 13

Conservation News: W. Fred Oakley, Jr. 14

REGIONAL COLUMNS

Midwest Region: Helen Sclair 15

Southeast /Caribbean Region: Sharyn Thompson 16

New England & Maritime Region: Robert Klisiewicz 17

Across the Oceans: Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula 18

BOOK REVIEWS 19

NOTES & QUERIES 21

CALENDAR 24

Cover photo is a detail of a Park-carved border panel illustrated in Graivstone Chronicles II, p. 329, by T. Chase
and L.K. Gabel. Photo is from the Daniel and Jessie Lie Farber Collection. Used with permission from New
England Historic Genealogical Society.

The mission of the Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the
cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board: Mary Cope, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith, John Spaulding

Quarterly Contributions: Comments and contributions are welcome. When submitting time-sensitive material please
keep in mind that the AGS Quarterly often takes several weeks to reach the membership. Mail your contributioris to the
appropriate column editor or to the AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301.

Advertising Prices: Business card, $30; 1/4 page, $50; 1/2 page, $90; full page insert, $200. Send camera ready advertis-
ing with payment to the AGS Office.

Telephone: 413/772-0836

e-mail: ags@javanet.com AGS web site: http://wrww.berkshire.net/ags

H Volume 22: Number 2

Spring 1998 ISSN: 0146-5783 ^^|

Meet the AGS Board of Trustees

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

MEET THE AGS TRUSTEES

In lieu of the usual column "From the
President's Desk," this special introduction to the
members of the AGS Board of Trustees is
presented. Their biographies, together with
photographs by Frank Calidonna, are presented
here so our members may know a little better those

members who spend considerable time and energy
supervising the work of the Association, who bear
their own expense in traveling to Board meetings,
who write, edit, draw, organize, advise, plan, and
ultimately, envision the future of AGS. Since there
are so many, the introductions will span several
issues. Here is the first installment.

Frank Calidonna

Frank Calidonna is the Art, Photography, and Screen-Printing teacher at the New
York State School for the Deaf at Rome. He has been a teacher for 36 years. He is
also one of the computer systems administrators at the school. His educational
background consists of a B. A. in Social Work from LaSaUe College in Philadelphia,
an M.S. in Elementary Education from SUNY Cortland, 70 more hours of graduate
work in Video Production, Media Production, Motion Picture Production,
Graphics, and Education of the Deaf from the University of Massachusetts,
University of Tennessee, SUNY Oswego, and Keene College.

Frank has been a photographer for over forty years, currently
concentrating almost entirely on interpretive photographs of Victorian
monuments. He has had many one-man shows and received many awards for
his gravestone photographs. He owned and operated two photography studios
in Rome which he closed in 1992 to concentrate exclusively on his gravestone
photography.

Frank has been interested in cemeteries since childhood. One of his favorite
playgrounds was St. Agnes Cemetery in Utica which was across the street from
his home. When he was a teacher in New Hampshire (1962) he began using the
local cemeteries as a resource for his classes. He grew to love the artwork found
there, especially the artwork in Victorian cemeteries. While doing research on
gravestones in 1991 he discovered AGS and joined immediately. In 1995 he was
elected President of the Board of Trustees.

Early widowed, Barbara Rotundo taught for years in the English Department
at the State University of New York at Albany. When she retired, she left
Schenectady for New Hampshire to be closer to her children and grandchildren
in Maine and Massachusetts.

A question she asked at the office of Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery
in 1968 revealed the invaluable historical information a cemetery holds. She's
been studying gravestones and cemeteries ever since. As an AGS Trustee she
is currently vice-president and serves on the Quarterly Editorial Board and
Markers Editorial Board. At AGS Conferences she has been a frequent lecturer,
has served as the Conference Program Chair for several years and leads the
Victorian guided tours which she single-handedly convinced the Board to add
to the Conference experience. In 1994 Barbara received the Harriette Merrifield
Forbes Award at the conference in Chicago.

Barbara Kotuiido

Page 2

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Meet the AGS Board of Trustees

Robert Drinkwater is presently a house husband caring for his one-year old son.
He earned his M.A. degree at the University of Masssachusetts in anthropology.
For ten years he worked as an archaeologist, then for Tenip-Pro, a company making
temperature sensing devices. Bob worked in sales, quality control, and production.
Now he is working part-time for Share Group, a fund-raising organization that
helps non-profits.

Bob has been an AGS trustee a number of years, serving as Vice President
and Nominating Committee chair at various times during his terms in office.
His research has identified a number of Cormecticut River Valley carvers.

Laurel Gabel

Robert Drinkwater

A registered nurse in "a previous lifetime," Laurel K. Gabel has been an active
member of AGS since 1979, when her passion for research, genealogy, social history,
and folk art came together in gravestone studies. She has served multiple terms as
Trustee, originated our Lending Library, and since 1983, has maintained the AGS
Research Collection and Clearinghouse. Laurel is the co-author, with Ted Chase,
of two books and is the 1988 recipient of the AGS Forbes Award.

Laurel says her roots are in the Midwest (Ohio), but her heart remains in
New England (home for many years); she and husband, Ron, presently live near
Rochester in upstate New York. Spare time? None to speak of, but "if /when 1 get
to the bottom of this pile on my desk .... 1 do love to cook, read, spend time with
grandchildren, and travel." Laurel is currently compiling a dictionary of early
gravestone carvers.

C. R. Jones grew up in Northeastern Iowa and received a degree in science from
Iowa State University. He helped establish an historical museum in his hometown.
After studying art history at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, he attended the
Cooperstown Graduate program in history museum studies, where he earned his
M.A. degree. From 1965 to 1968 he was director of the museum of the Concord
[Massachusetts] Antiquarian Society. He returned to Cooperstown as Associate
Curator of the New York State Historical Association and The Farmers' Museum.
He received an additional degree in art conservation in 1976 and has been
conservator to the museums since that time.

C.R.'s interest in gravestones grew from a.study of mourning pictures and
funeral customs. He researched and iiistalled an exhibit on this subject (1967) ,
including gravestone designs and information gleaned from an account book of
an eighteenth century Concord stonecarver. His interests include early gravestones
and carvers of upstate New York, stone conservation, mausoleum architecture,
and Victorian cemeteries. He has been an AGS member since 1979, serving as
Trustee aiid Secretary, speaking at AGS conferences, and serving on the conservation
workshop staff.

C. R. Jones

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 3

Meet the AGS Board of Trustees

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Beth Smolin lives in Pelham, Massachusetts, with her husband Jerry, daughter
Alison, and son Brian. She is an Amherst College graduate with a degree in Fine
Arts. She maintains a sculpture studio in Holyoke. Recently she completed a
project of coordinating and making costumes for a local theatre production. She is
starting a costume consulting business.

Her interest in gravestones began because of the sculptural aspects of the
18th century stones. It has expanded into the cultural information the 18th century
stones provide. Beth serves on the AGS Trustees as a member of the Personnel
Committee and the Nominating Committee.

Beth Smolin

Bob Klisiewicz, "New England States and Canadian Maritimes" editor for the
AGS Quarterly, is married with three grown daughters and two young grandsons.
A graduate of Worcester State College with M.Ed, in History, an accountant by
trade, with most of his career spent in a not-for-profit healthcare atmosphere.
Other interests include board participation in southern Worcester County
Rehabilitation Center (a company with about 200 employees caring for about 60
mentally retarded adults), and the Webster Cultural Council.

Bob is attracted to the history and folklore of old gravestones. He serves
on the AGS Trustees with particular interest in grant seeking. He characterizes
himself as "still a small town boy trying to make good in the big city, but with the
blood of the druid in my veins."

Robert Klisiewicz

Ruth Shapleigh-Brown

Ruth Shapleigh-Brown was born and raised in Old Lyme, Connecticut. She
graduated from Old Lyme High School in 1969, and has attended Manchester
Community College. She works at the University of Connecticut Dental School of
Medicine and takes care of all the pre-clinical laboratory courses, managing supplies
and students. Ruth has been President of the Shapleigh Family Association based
in Kittery, Maine since 1985.

Ruth's interest in gravestones began with an effort to clean up the family
cemeteries in Maine. Shortly thereafter, she was introduced to AGS, went to a
conference in Bristol, Rhode Island, and has been an active member since. Following
that first conference, Ruth has participated in all the AGS Conference Conservation
Workshops (except Chicago) and chaired the 1993 Conference in Ne^v London,
Connecticut.

Ruth is Executive Director of The Connecticut Gravestone Network that
she founded in 1995. As one of the directors for The Friends of Center Cemetery in
East Hartford, Connecticut, she is also on the committee that manages the annual
Civil War Reenactment held by Friends for the past three years, as a fund-raiser to
restore their historic Civil War Monument.

Page 4

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Meet the AGS Board of Trustees

John J. Spaulding, Sr. is a native of Waterbury, Vermont. He and his wife, Elizabeth
live in Manchester, Connecticut, where they raised their six children. He holds civil
engineering degrees from the University of Dayton and the University of
Cormecticut. He served as an officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers for two
years supervising projects in Korea, Kentucky and Virginia. He retired in 1991 from
the Connecticut Department of Transportation as Chief of Public Transportation
after thirty years of service.

As a retirement project, he started researching the family history. After
exhausting the leads from family members and genealogical sources, he visited
cemeteries to fill in the blanks. The stones not only provided specific information
but also sparked an appreciation of eighteenth century gravestones as art. Since
then he has specialized in documentation through photographs and inscription
databases.

A member of AGS since 1993, he is presently on the AGS Board of Trustees
serving on the Quarterly Editorial Board and the Personnel Committee. He is also
Secretary /Treasurer of the Connecticut Gravestone Network, and serves as an
archivist on the Board of the Friends of Center Cemetery in East Hartford,
Connecticut. His largest project to date is the recording of 5,600 inscriptions in
Center Cemetery, East Hartford. He is the Graves Registration Officer for the
Department of Connecticut, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and is currently
compiling a database of Civil War veteran burials in Connecticut.

John ]. Spaulding, Sr.

Janet Taylor is a monument maker, the owner of Taylor Memorials in Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. She has studied at Clark University, Berkshire Community Col-
lege, and North Adams State College in Massachusetts. Janet is a graduate of Ca-
thedral Stone Restoration Workshop in Washington, D.C. She became a Certified
Memorialist in 1986, and has been recertified every three years since by the Monu-
ment Builders of North America. She currently serves as the president of the New
England Monument Builders Association. She was a winner of a national design
contest sponsored by the American Monument Association. Her company has done
restoration work in cemeteries in Lenox, Becket, Hinsdale, and Stockbridge.

Janet has been an AGS member since 1992. As a member of the AGS Board,
Janet has worked on several subcommittees and has attended recent AGS confer-
ences.

janct Taylor

A group of volunteers led by John E. Sterling has been working for the past eight
years to record all 3100 historic cemeteries in Rhode Island. John writes the
"Gravestones and Computers" column for the AGS Quarterly where in 1996 input
from other AGS members was used to develop the AGS standard computer program
for recording cemeteries.

John has a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Connecticut
and currently is the owner of Professional Business Systems, a computer software
development company.

John E. Sterling

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 5

Feature Article

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

THREE CEMETERIES IN PERU, SOUTH AMERICA
by Judith Abranovich

■ Machu Picchu was our main destination in Peru.
However, whereever I travel, cemeteries are always of
interest to me. As I perused the Peru guide book, the
Cemetery of Chauchilla caught my interest and went on the
"must visit" list for the Peru itinerary. The June 1996 edition
of the guide book shows a photograph of the Cemetery of
Chauchilla, with skulls, bones, and mummies above the totnbs.
The guide book states that one can "see tombs surrounded
by bleached skulls and bones that stretch off into the
distance." This place had to be visited! Departed on journey,
December 17, 1997.

Things change. Tourism is coming back to Peru, after
years of terrorism by the Maoist group. Shining Path. One
of those changes occurred at the Cemetery of Chauchilla.
Apparently this cemetery has become a regular stop for many
tourists visiting the Nazca area in Peru. My visit in January
1998, revealed no bones, skulls, or mummies on the ground,

above the tombs. All have been placed inside the tombs. A
path, lined with stones, leads from one tomb to the next.

This interesting cemetery is located about 30
kilometers from Nazca. The tombs are built of rock, sunken
into the desert floor. In the tombs are bleached skulls and
bones, mummies still dressed with remnants and shreds of
cloth. Bones and pieces of pottery lie in the tombs alongside
the mummies. Everything of value is gone from this amazing
burial site. The tombs date back to the late Nazca period
(100 to 700 AD). The cemetery, situated in Peru's south coast
desert area, is desolate and quite remarkable in its stark
beauty. To the south, in Chile, is the driest place on earth,
Desierto de Atacama, where the land remained rainless for
about 400 years to 1971. In this climate, it is easy to
understand how the mummies have been preserved.
According to a local guide, Chauchilla means "clear in the
center." The dialect spoken is Quechua.

Page 6

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Feature Article

On the dirt road leading to Chauchilla is a local
cemetery. This cemetery consists mainly of wooden crosses.
A few have "spirit houses," similar to some I had seen while
touring in Alaska. From what I could gather, this small
cemetery is for the poor people. The closest town, Nazca
and outlying villages, is about 25 kilometers away. The
wooden crosses are either white or black. Black crosses are
for married people and men; the white crosses for children
and unmarried women. Thorny vines adorn some crosses.
One cross bore the date, April 8, 1953. I could not discern
the oldest date in this contemporary cemetery.

Above: A local
cemetery outside
Chauchilla with black
and white crosses
Left: a cross beside a
"spirit house. "

Right top: A chullpa,

a funerary tower in

Sillustani near Lake

Titicaca.

Right bottom: A

chullpa built of stacked

rocks .

Sillustani is a burial ground located 21 miles north
of Puno, in the Lake Titicaca area. Sillustani is located on a
small hilltop on the shores of Lake Umayo. The little known,
warlike tribe of the Colla people buried their nobility at
Sillustani. The unusual burial customs of the Colla involved
the building of chullpas, which are funerary towers, some
reaching almost 12 meters in height. Some of the chullpas
are built of stacked rocks, some have outside walls of massive
coursed block. This cut stone is reminiscent of Inca stone
work. These were not built by the Incas; however, this
architecture is considered by archaeologists to be more
complicated. Some chidlpas are unfinished; carved blocks
and the ramp used to raise them are nearby. Some blocks
have carvings on them, such as a lizard. All chullpas have
one small opening, facing east. The small entrances were
sealed after burial. The Colla were buried in family groups
with their belongings and food for the journey to the next
world. Today, nothing remains in the chullpas, but the chullpas
are well preserved and the site impressive. The Colla tribe
spoke Aymara and dates back to the Late Intermediate
Period, 1000 to 1400 AD.

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 7

Feature Article

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

SHOWMEN'S REST: HUGO, OKLAHOMA'S CIRCUS CEMETERY

by Sybil F. Crawford

All photos courtesy of David Jackson

You must be asking, "Why here?"

Located in Choctaw County, Hugo is in Oklahoma's
"Kiamichi Country," almost within sight of Texas. After the
Civil War, some of the big names among frontier gunfighters
had their hideaways here and Belle Starr, Cole Younger, and
Jesse James helped give Robbers' Trail (a route to Texas) its
name. There are far more pleasant reasons for visiting the
area, however.

Hugo has long been winter quarters for the Carron
and Barnes and the Al G. Kelly-Miller Brothers Circuses, to
name just a few. The area's "wintering" appeal likely results
from wide-open spaces and a climate congenial to the
hundreds of valuable animal performers.

Showmen's Rest, which has become the burial place
of choice for circus performers from around the world, is
actually part of Hugo's Mount Olivet Cemetery, established
in 1907. In Oklahoma terms. Mount Olivet is an old cemetery,
whose history goes back very nearly to the town's begirming.
Although Showmen's Rest dates back only to 1960, the area
has an entertainment tradition which goes back much further.
It was here that Tom Mix achieved his boyhood dream when
he joined the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch in 1905. The 101
Ranch Wild West Show was an outgrowth of the 101 Ranch
operation, used as the location for a number of early Western
movies. Tex Cooper, Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, Bill Pickett,
and Will Rogers were all names that "101" helped make
famous.

Persons who follow the professional rodeo circuit
will find something of interest as well. Todd Whatley,
"Freckles" Brown, and Lane Frost, three famous bull riders,
are buried at Mount Olivet. Frost, the 1987 World Champion,

died at Cheyenne, Wyoming, on July 30, 1989, age twenty-
five, doing what he loved best. The movie, "Eight Seconds,"
was a not-too-authentic portrayal of his short life and rodeo
career. The etched scene on Frosf s custom granite marker,
shaped like a rodeo ring, shows him astride a snorting,
bucking bull.

Also buried at Mount Olivet are the original Buster
Brown and Bill Grant, organizer of Grant's Blue Grass
Festival, as well as Hugo's developer, William Harrison
Darrough, and his wife, Lina. In 1901, when it came time to
name the town, it was she who decided to honor Victor
Hugo, her favorite author.

The 1961 dedication of Showmen's Rest occurred
after the death of Kelly-Miller, financed through a trust fund
established by John Carroll, an elephant trainer for both the
Carron and Barnes and the Al G. Kelly-Miller Brothers
circuses. The trust fund is also tapped to furnish
gravemarkers for circus performers whose families cannot
afford one. While most of the performers traveled with the
aforementioned circuses, still-familiar older circus names can
be found as well — Hagen Brothers, Cole-Watters, and Circus
Genoa.

A huge dancing elephant (Fig. 1 ), executed in granite
and paid for by Carroll, welcomes visitors to the cemetery.
Before his 1980 death, Carroll also arranged for his own
impressive memorial. Not to be outdone, his features three
dancing elephants. A ticket booth is the centerpiece of Obert
Miller's granite marker. The large three-dimensional
markers of Jack Moore, a one-time partner of Miller, is shaped
like a circus tent.

;^fH^/-^|^ ^^

Fig. 1. Granite "Dancing Elephant" Marker at Cemetenj Entrance

Page 8

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Feature Article

Stylized Marker of Circus Wagonmaster

William H. Woodcock's marker proclaims him to be
"A-1 Elephant Trainer at Rest." The inscription on Kenneth
Ikirt's tells its own story: "Boss Elephant Man for Carson &
Barnes Circus /Largest Elephant Herd in America." More
elephant trainers are buried at Hugo than at any other
cemetery location.

Almost every marker is unique, with the motifs
usually alluding to the trouper's special act. One of the most
sentimental of the inscriptions is that for a Carson and Barnes
musician:

Give life the best that's in you
For it's only a one-night stand.
There are no repeat performances
Brought back by popular demand.

The marker of Herb Walters, referred to as "A
Showman to the Last/' has a finely etched Big Top as its
featured decoration.

Ted Bowman was a circus wagon driver, whose
resting place is marked by a granite replica of a wagon wheel
(Fig. 2). The inscription reads:

There is nothing left but empty
popcorn sacks and wagon tracks.
The circus is gone.

The pre-need granite monument erected by Donnie
and lone Mcintosh speaks of the couple's long and varied
entertainment career, "Circus, Fairs, Carnivals, Rodeos, Ice
Shows, Street Corners / We Have Had the Good Life, But
the Season Ended."

"Big John" Strong owned several circuses during his
seventy-one years and was fondly said to have had more
friends than Santa Claus. His early career was helped along
by another New Yorker and good friend, Lucille Ball. At his
death, his wife commissioned a life size likeness etched in
granite (Fig.3). Since "Big John" was 6'6" tall, the marker

stands nearly ten feet high and portrays him in full
ringmaster's regalia — a much-decorated top hat and tails,
and sequined cummerbund. This marker is the work of
Shelton Monument Company in Paris, Texas.

While we tend to think of circus performers as a
nomadic lot, their choice of gravestone symbols is mute
evidence that they had a surprising number of social and
fraternal ties. The cemetery's personalized gravemarkers are
clear evidence that the performers are and were proud of
their careers. While the non-entertainment community
usually leaves such matters unattended, one would suspect
that the majority of the markers at Showmen's Rest were
planned and executed in advance of the performer's death.

Although almost all of the markers are custom work
and many of the markers were far from inexpensive, the
purchasers did not go far afield in search of a vendor —
talented stonecutters in Hugo and Ada are responsible for
most of the markers. The work of these craftsmen and the
words on the entrance monument say it all:

A Tribute to All Showmen Under God's Big Top

The cemetery, open dawn to dusk seven days a week,
is easily located. From Highway 70 bypass on the south side
of Hugo, go to 8th Street, where a sign says "Mt. Olivet
Cemetery." Turn north and go about two blocks to a stop
sign, then turn right into the cemetery. The busiest months
visitor-wise are March through November. Cindy and Bill
Clark, the cemetery's caretakers, ask that large groups call
in advance to be certain that their visit does not conflict with
a funeral. Their telephone number: (405) 326-9263; FAX
number: (405)326-7609.

Fig.3. "Bigjohii s/y,./!.^' niniii'i lulized in granite

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 9

Topical Columns

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

17th AND 18th Century
Gravestones AND Carvers

Ralph Tucker

PO Box 306

Georgetown, ME 04548

(207) 371-2423

This column is a book review of Gravestone Chronicles II.
The reviewer, Dr. James Slater is one of the founding members of
the Association for Gravestone Studies and author of the
authoritative book. The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern
Connecticut, as well as many articles on early gravestone carvers.
His work has covered most of the early carvers of Boston, New
York and Newport as well as the Connecticut carvers. He is one of
the most well informed authorities on early gravestone carvers.

Theodore Chase is a well known figure in the genealogy
and history of early New England to which he has added a
knowledge of the early gravestone cutters. He has served well as
President of the AGS and has been editor of its journal. Markers.

Laurel Gabel heads the research department of AGS and
is the foremost expert in identifying stonecutters, old and new.
Working with the Farber/Forbes/Caulfield collections of
photographs for many years, she knows more about New England
gravestones than any other

Gravestone Chronicles II.

Theodore Chase and Laurel K. GabeL New England Historic
Genealogical Society, 101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116,
1997. $22.00.

Book Review by James A. Slater

This is a second book dealing with eastern
Massachusetts gravestones and their carvers by the
formidable research team of Ted Chase and Laurel Gabel.
As with Gravestone Chronicles I this book is a work of
impeccable scholarship and careful reporting.

In point of fact it is not really a book but rather a
series of individual essays dealing with six distinct subjects.
Four of the essays were prepared for the Essex Institute
Historical Collections and two of them were published in
that journal. It is important to keep this in mind in
considering the emphasis and construction of the articles.
Thus a review cannot really treat the work as a whole.

To this reviewer the most original study is that
dealing with "Headstones, Hatchments, and Heraldry, 1650-
1850" which makes up 117 pages of the book. This study
actually is a primer for anyone unfamiliar with the
terminology (it actually contains a glossary of heraldic terms)

and symbolic figures used in heraldry and thus is much more
than simply a study of the occurrence of heraldic emblems
on gravestones. Gravestones containing heraldic designs are
discussed from Nova Scotia to the Barbados and include the
work of a whole series of carvers ranging from the exquisite
sophisticated of William Codner and Henry Emmes to the
quaint folk-art appearing stones probably by a member of
the Stanclift family. The text is clear and carefully annotated,
the illustrations ranging from excellent to absolutely
stunning. Use of heraldic designs on paintings, needlework,
etc. is discussed in detail. This is certain to be the seminal
study on this subject for many years to come.

The other essays deal with several carvers and
carving families of northeastern Massachusetts. These
include several generatioris of the Park family, John Holliman
and James Ford of Salem, and Robert Fowle and Levi Maxcy.

The essay on the Park family is the most
comprehensive, and since this family from Groton,
Massachusetts, was the most prolific and influential, it is the
most detailed and certainly the most important study. An
example of the scholarship in this essay may be seen if one
examines the probate evidence upon which the identity of
the Park carvers is based. Most students of colonial carvers
are happy to find a few scattered probates to establish the
identity of the stones they are studying (unless fortunate
enough to find the rare and priceless account book of a shop).
Chase and Gabel have been able to discover 48 definite
probate payments for gravestones to three Park carvers plus
payments, probably for gravestones, of 21 more. This has
allowed them to establish the Parks as the carvers of such a
bewildering variety of stones and were it not for the probate
evidence many stones would surely have been attributed to
a number of different carvers. This research should serve as
a stern warning for any student with the temerity to enter

James Bowdoin's marker in Granary Burying Ground, Boston. Used
with permission of New England Historic Genealogical Society. From
Gravestone Chronicles II. p. 509. Photo by Michael Coniish.

Page 10

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Topical Columns

the field of stone attribution in the slate burying grounds of
eastern Massachusetts to do so with the greatest trepidation.
Not only in the Park essay, but in the others in this book as
well, the authors hammer home the point that borrowing
and copying back and forth of designs, motifs, and even
lettering was extensive throughout the colonial period.

The Holliman, Ford, and Fowle essays use the same
approach. These are, in a sense, lesser and more local carvers
than the Parks, but important in the northern areas and, as
with the Park study, the research is meticulous and backed
by probate evidence.

This is a book that must be on the shelf of every
serious student of gravestones and is a work that will always
stand as a tribute to careful and cautious scholarship. One
carmot help but marvel and be humbled by the exhaustive
search for records that has made this study possible.

It is nevertheless necessary to mention limitations
of these studies, due chiefly to the place where they were
originally designed to be published. The student of carver
identity might wish for a somewhat more detailed analysis
of the stones and a somewhat less detailed discussion of the
genealogical information and the family histories. This may
be best illustrated by the essay on Levi Maxcy. The text for
this study occupies 53 pages with an additional seven pages
of notes. The identity of Maxcy as a stone carver is based
upon five stones, three signed and two probated plus an
additional four probates that may be for gravestones. Of
these 53 pages, 43 discuss Levi Maxcy and other famous
members of the Maxcy family and only ten pages are devoted
to the stones themselves. Of the 25 illustrations, nine are of
photos from newspapers, an early letter, buildings and
portraits of other illustrious Maxcys. This is of course fine
for the original publication outlet, but does seem to call for a
more detailed analysis of the stones themselves.

This tendency for detailed genealogical treatment
leaves this reviewer with somewhat mixed emotions. The
entire book is scholarly and all the information worthwhile.
Nevertheless it means that certainly a great deal of
information that the authors know about the stones
themselves was necessarily omitted or compressed. We

would like to know more about the spatial distribution of
the stones, particularly those of the Park family. The map
on page 312 is very misleading as only a few towns and
villages are shown.

One of the caveats of definitive studies is that
material must be presented so that anyone doubting the
accuracy of a statement can go to an original source and draw
one's own conclusion. One carmot do that with these studies.
Except for the stones mentioned one cannot, for example,
look at a Park-like stone and know that this is a stone that
Chase and Gabel would have attributed to one of the Park
carvers. An example of the difference can be found in the
last issue of Markers where the study of Cape Cod carvers
discussed there lists every stone attributed by the author to
a given carver and where the stone can be found. This is not
actually a criticism of the Chase-Gabel essays as they were
constructed for a different purpose. What it does mean,
however, is that for each of these carvers they have made it
possible for detailed analysis to be attempted with some hope
of success — which would scarcely have been possible
without the scholarship given us here. They have indeed
actually opened the field for definitive studies of the stones
themselves.

One cannot leave this book without commenting
upon the quality of the illustrations. For the most part they
are beautifully reproduced, only in a few cases such as some
of the John Park and Levi Maxcy photographs are the
illustrations too dark and even here one wishes that the paper
quality would have matched that used in Markers which
would have brought these pictures out more clearly.

Lest anyone think this is less than an exhaustive
study let them recognize that no other student who has dared
to enter the quagmire of 18th century eastern Massachusetts
carvers has done as meticulous and careful a series of studies
as one will find in these two volumes of Gravestone Chronicles
I and II. AGS can be proud that it not only has these authors
as members but has recognized them individually with the
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award. I believe that Mrs. Forbes
would be proud of the scholarship that her award symbolizes
and what has come from her efforts of so many years ago. 0

WIZARD OF ID

by Brant Parker & Johnny Hart

^'^

With permission from Jolinny Hart and Creators Syndicate, Inc. ©1997 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 11

Topical Columns

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

19TH AND 20TH CENTURY GRAVESTONES

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, NH 03220

603/ 524-1092

My column on cemetery folk tales called forth
several "faithful dog" stories. These usually involve the
sculpture of a dog on a grave that honors a pet dog who
followed its master /mistress to the grave and couldn't be
persuaded to leave. Betty Phillips sent in the story about a
cement dog. The owner had requested that the dog be a
pallbearer so they tied his leash to the casket, but after the
funeral he stayed at the grave even after his leash was
removed. He was fed by kind-hearted friends for a short
time, but he soon died. Cemetery regulations did not allow
animal burials so the friends installed the cement cast instead.

A famous example of the faithful dog is in Highgate
Cemetery, London, England (Fig. 1). The dog belonged to
Tom Sayers, a popular bare-knuckled fighter. In his funeral
procession in 1865 (supposedly 10,000 people lined the route
of the procession from Camden Town to Highgate) , the dog
was the chief mourner. He sat upright in the small phaeton
(carriage) directly behind the hearse. He too refused to leave
the grave according to some accounts.

Fig. 1. Highgate Cemetery, London, England
Photo copyright by John Gay for Friends of Highgate Cemetery

Ellen Glueck sent in this picture (Fig. 2) of a cast-
iron dog looking at the gravestone of Ella in Glenwood
Cemetery, Troy, Pennsylvania (AE 8 yrs & 3 mos & 15 ds).
Again it memorializes a dog that refused to leave. Ellen
reports the dog has been stolen since she took the picture
eight years ago.

Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York, had a
handsome bronze dog cirled up on a grave, and it was stolen

Fig. 2. Glenwood Cemetery, Troy Pennsylvania
Photo by Ellen Glueck

a few years ago. I almost hesitate to say that I have pictures
of cast-iron dogs in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond,
Virginia, and in Hinsdale Pet cemetery. Clarendon Hills,
Illinois. I hope they are both still in place.

Apparently marble sculptures of dogs don't tempt
thieves, perhaps because the inevitable erosion of the marble
makes them less desirable. I've mentioned sculptures in
cement, bronze, cast-iron, and marble; there are also dogs
carved at the base of the famous Bedford limestone tree
stumps. I have a picture of two in Talbott Cemetery in Bono,
Lawrence County, Indiana. They are shown racing around
the base of the stump memorializing a hunter. The reason
for their inclusion on the gravemarker requires no
explanation. Sometimes below the monument of the dog
will be words such as "Their pet" in front of a monument for
children. Sometimes the sculpture shows a child with its
arms around a dog. Again there is no need for an explanation
when you see that. Nor is there a need in the case of Rex in

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Page 12

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Topical Columns

Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama, where under the
sculpture and his name are the words "He died for his
master." We know why Rex is memorialized, but it would
be interesting if someone could send us the full story.

Ann Ashby of Mountain Center, California, is
writing a book on the special relationship between dogs and
their owners, including a section on human gravemarkers
that include dogs. If you have examples locally, she'd like to
hear about them. [Please send to Barbara Rotundo at the
address above.] Also Tom Weil in his lite Cemetery Book (New
York, Hippocrene Books: 1992) has a section of more than
100 pages that he calls "Dear Dumb Beasts" in which he tells
about the graves of horses, dogs, cats, even elephants! That
section is not very concerned with the graves of humans,
however.

Perhaps the final word on this is those cemeteries
that allow human and pet burials together. Ellen Glueck
sent this picture of the entrance to a pet cemetery in East
Smithfield Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, that
allows human burials. One of the Chicago tours set up by
Helen Sclair in 1994 included Elm Lawn Cemetery, which
has a section where owners and pets can be buried together.

And let me conclude this column that has centered
on dogs and other pets by recommending the article by Dick
Meyer and David Gradwohl about the pet cemetery in San
Francisco's Presidio to be found in Markers XIl. 0

i

*^ ^ PET ^ ^*
CEMETERY

,.., y ■><?///■ /Out, /ruff^ jfrAoot/fi'.-n,

Fig. 3. Some pet cemeteries also allow human burials.
Photo by Ellen Glueck

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LETTERING IN STONE

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781/862-1583

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Gravestones & Computers

John E. Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, RI 02818

j_ster@prodigy.com

Cemetery transcripts are most used by genealogists
looking for information on their ancestors. The problem is
that not all transcripts are created equal. Most have some
errors and some have many errors.

I have been working with a group of volunteers in
Rhode Island for eight years transcribing all of the historical
cemeteries in the state. To date we have recorded 380,000
gravestones in 2890 cemeteries. An important part of this
project is to find all of the early transcripts that we can and
add that data to our database. We have located cemetery
transcripts for about 1800 cemeteries done by over 100 people
and have now checked the majority of that data. Early in the
process we found that all of this data had some level of errors.
The best transcripts are about 95% accurate but we have
found some that are only 30% accurate. The average seems
to be about 90% accurate. The severity of the errors can be as
small as reading 7 AUG 1835 instead of 17 AUG 1835, to as
serious as reading 8 JAN 1812 instead of 8 JAN 1842.

To improve the accuracy of the data we are collecting
we record in two phases. Phase one is to enter either an old
or new transcript into the computer. A print out is then taken
to the cemetery in phase two to check against the gravestones
while using a mirror to light the inscription. This checks not
only the original transcript but also how accurately the data
was entered into the computer. This method improves the
accuracy of the data to about 99%.

We have found no evidence that previous
transcribers consulted the work of those that recorded the
same cemeteries in the past. The town of Scituate, RI has
over 190 cemeteries. We have found transcriptions by five
different people or groups. James N. Arnold recorded 180
cemeteries in 1904. In 1917 54 cemeteries were removed to
make way for the Scituate Reservoir and 46 more were left
within the fences on restricted reservoir property. All of these
cemeteries were recorded in the process. In 1930 Ethel M.
White recorded about 35 cemeteries. From 1931 to 1940
Charles and Martha Berms recorded about 40 cemeteries. In
1976 the local DAR chapter recorded 120 cemeteries. There
is no evidence that any of these recorders consulted the work
of their predecessors. Because of this stones were missed and
stones were misread that were correctly recorded earlier. The
accuracy of these recorders was as follows: Arnold 95%,

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 13

Topical Columns

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Benns 90%, White 90% and DAR 85%. We are combing the
work of all of these recorders, noting any discrepancies and
checking all of the data in the cemeteries. You are not often
fortunate enough to have this much history to work with,
but any previous work can be very helpful.

When using a cemetery transcript done in the usual
way be aware that the accuracy is about 90% on average.
This means that 10 in 100 and 1,000 in 10,000 records will
have some level of error. Twentieth century granite stones
will probably have less errors and early nineteenth century
marble stones may even be worse. If you are using a cemetery
transcript for information on an important ancestor it would
be a good idea to verify the data by looking at it yourself
(remember to bring your mirror) or have someone go to the
cemetery to check the data for you. 0

CONSERVATION NEWS

W. Fred Oakley Jr.

19 Hadley Place
Hadley, MA 01035
oakl@javanet.com

E-mail has become a significant communications
path for providing information to our members and others
whose interests have led them to AGS's web page.

What follows is a much edited version of messages,
some serious, others humorous in their simplicity.

From an 8th Grade Class. . .

wanting to restore a cemetery on a rural highway in Ohio

during their summer vacation:

Their message described a legal, and unresolved
tangle over ownership of the cemetery and an irritiated
abutter. Several local officials insist that the 8th graders'
activity not jeopardize the officials' denial of ownership.

The eight graders were advised to contact their State
Historic Preservation Officer (name, snail address and e-mail
address were provided) to get advice and counsel from that
office regarding prevailing state statutes. Ownership issues
abound, suggesting a nearly intractable problem in most
states. These young people were strongly advised to follow
the rules and thus avoid the possibility of unpleasant legal
consequences.

From an AGS Member. . .

who had found a web page suggesting the use of shaving
cream to "read & photograph" gravestones. Was this O.K.?
Our member was advised that shaving cream was
definitely not recommended for use on burial monuments,
at any time, or any place. This product has specific uses
none of which includes gravestones.

From an AGS Member. . .

wanting to remove lichens from her fifth great grandmother's
gravestone. A local "carver" had recommended bleach. Was
bleach o.k.?

A responding message sought to identify the type
of stone even though it certainly would not be granite. Back
came a reply that suggested schist as the stone material.

Back went the response that bleach is very, very bad
stuff for soft stone. Instructions were provided to use plain
Vvfater, a soft scrub brush, a firm tooth brush, and craft sticks.
Should repeated wetting and scrubbing not remove all
lichens, our member was invited to "come back' for
instruction on poulticing.

From an inquirer known only by e-mail address. . .
wanting to know if AGS had records for his ancestor buried
in Jefferson County:

Response: AGS does not do genealogical searches.

Subject for this inquiry was BUGS!

The writer identified a bacterium "eating" a marble
gravestone leaving a black residue as Corynebacterium
hydrocarboclastus subsequently modified to cyanobacteria!
He was seeking an ecofriendly way to "kill it." The editor
could see it easily with an electron microscope.

Since the editor does not have an electron microscope
and no expertise in the field of biology, this inquiry was
forwarded to an AGS member with expertise in the field for
research and reply!

From numerous sources with increasing frequency:

Can you refer us to a gravestone conservator. We

are planning to restore, etc.

Response: Here are the names and addresses of the

few conservators we know of. Be sure to check references

before signing on. Good luck!

And so it goes.

Readers are invited to provide names of gravestone
conservators to whom we can refer inquiries. Your editor
encourages readers to offer articles relating to their personal
conservation experiences.

Planned for a future issue of the Quarterly is a general
description of teclinologies used by archaeologists in locating
burial sites. 0

Page 14

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Regional Columns

MIDWEST REGION

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio,
South Dakota, Wisconsim,
Manitoba, Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, IL 60614-2323

Recently discovered in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery
are two unique memorials. Albert Walavich who has been
leading outstanding tours for several years not only talks
about the great events and names commemorated by elaborate
monuments, he researches to better describe markers which
might go unnoticed. Among his finds is the small stone with
a fallen telephone pole dedicated to the life of a telephone
line foreman who suffered a very tragic death.

When visiting another section, Albert noticed an
exquisitely carved spray of roses on the grave of a seventeen
year old girl. Looking up he saw the source of the tribute for
there was a lady on a pedestal with her arm and hand
extended as if she had just strewn the garland torn from the
bouquet in her left hand. A fallen rose is at her feet. The
lady's body is extended as if in the very act of decorating the
grave. One is sobered when lean\ing that this memorial is
for the only daughter. The father is dead six months later
with a broken heart. He rests next to Ethel Lenore but for
him, there are no flowers.

Volume 22: Number 2

All is not well in some Illinois cemeteries. Emulating
last year's recognition by the National Trust's placement of
the Congressional Cemetery on the Endangered Property list,
Peoria's Springdale Cemetery and Mausoleum is among ten
sites in Illinois recently labeled as the "most endangered
historic places in the state." With the nomination the
Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois has viewed the
"crumbling roads and buildings, the vandalized and broken
headstones," the mysteriously missing Civil War cannons,
and the serious disrepair of the now locked community
mausoleum with attention rarely paid to an old burial ground.

Also fighting for life is the neo-classical Beecher
Mausoleum, a 210 crypt "burial palace" built in 1913 by the
founders of Beecher, Illinois. With stained glass windows
stolen, marble walls and ceilings broken, and seeping water
staining the floors, it might seem that the mausoleum is
beyond repair. However, the great granddaughter of the
builder, Sandra Thielman, 815/ 728-8318, singlehandedly is
attempting to raise donations of time, materials and money
for restoration.

Whether a 200 acre cemetery or a 200 crypt
mausoleum, our burial sites deserve better attention than they
are receiving. "Perpetual Care" is not the sole responsibility
of a cemetery. The descendants of the original lot owners
should visit more frequently.

Usually the most historic site in any community, "no
group of America's historic landscapes is more valuable than

our historic cemeteries These places deserve our highest

regard and care because then represent us all and fulfill our
deep need to honor and remember." William C. Clendaniel,
"America's Urban Historic Cemeteries: An Endangered
Species," National Trust, 1997. 0

Page 15

Regional Columns

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Southeast/Caribbean region

Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Kentuckxj, Louisiana, Manjland,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

The Center for Historic Cemeteries

Preservation

P. O. Box 6296

Tallahassee, Florida 32314

AGS naembers are, of course, aware that the theft of
gravestones and other funerary materials from historic
cemeteries is becoming an all too common occurrence
throughout the United States. Articles concerning the theft
(and recovery) of decorative garden tiles from beautiful
Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah appeared in this column
last year. Recently, other cemetery sites in the southeast have
had significant losses; some thefts are attributed to the ever-
growing lust of the antique market for new and distinctive
items, while others are thought to be the work of persons
interested in acquiring urns and statuary to enhance their
gardens.

Whatever the intent, such acts are a desecration that
robs us all of an important part of our cultural heritage.

Below are reports of thefts that occurred in the
Southeast during the first two months of 1998. Please be
observant when you browse in antique shops and at flea
markets, or read advertisements in newspapers. As the
article from the Save Our Cemeteries newsletter indicates.
New Orleans' stolen items will probably not be recovered
locally — the network for stealing and reselling funerary
materials is nation-wide and, apparently, well organized.
While early gravemarkers from the northeast are often the
target of antiquities thieves, within the past few years
wrought and cast iron gates and fence panels, statuary
(especially angels), park benches, decorative urns, and even
bird baths have disappeared from historic cemeteries. Also,
throughout the southeast, items placed at graves for spiritual
reasons (household items and crockery, sea shells, bedsteads,
etc.) are also prone to theft because they are considered "old"
— or worse, "collectible." We must be the advocates for those
who can no longer voice their distress over items taken from
their grave sites.

Thefts Abundant in New Orleans Cemeteries

Last month [February], Save Our Cemeteries (SOC)
received a call from Miguel Viteri at the Whitney Bank. "This
may sound strange," he said, "but do you have any
suggestions of whom to call, I found five marble closure
tablets in the trash on Gravier Street. "Unfortunately, this is
not uncommon. Even more discouraging is that for every

tombstone, urn, iron gate, or tablet that is recovered,
hundreds disappear forever from New Orleans cemeteries.

Mr. Mike Boudreaux, Director of the New Orleans
Archdiocesan Cemeteries, noted that thefts of cement
benches, marble crosses, and marble statues are still taking
place in those cemeteries. A SOC board member, on an early
morning walk, passed Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and
interruped a vandal lifting two angels over the brick wall.
Fortunately, the thief fled without his loot. The angels are
safe, for now.

Perhaps this sounds hard to believe. What would
anyone want with a cemetery urn or rusted iron cross? A
call from Los Angeles answered that question for SOC. Mr.
Thomas Bate, a New Orleans native, called last month, quite
frantic. "I just returned from a shopping trip, and am
disgusted to discover that antique stores are selling crosses,
gates and urns from cemeteries in New Orleans!" Mr. Bate
found at least five popular antique stores in Los Angeles that
are selling New Orleans funerary items. (From the March
1998 SOCGram, the newsletter of Save Our Cemeteries. For
additional information contact SOC at P. O. Box 58105, New
Orleans 70158-8105; 1-888-721-7493; email: soc@gnofn.org.

$500 Reward for Wrought Iron Gate Stolen from South
Carolina's Heyward Cemetery

Sometime between January 12 and January 22, 1998,
the wrought iron gate at the entrance of Old House (aka
Thomas Heyward Cemetery) was stolen. The cemetery is
located in rviral Jasper County, about seven miles east of
Ridgeville, South Carolina. The gate measures
approximately 57 inches wide and 60 inches in height.
Because the cemetery site has been documented and
photographed, positive identification of the gate can be
made. This theft has been reported as grand larceny and
desecration of a cemetery; transportation of the gate out of

Page 16

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Regional Columns

South Carolina invokes the National Stolen Property Act and
involves the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Anyone v^ith
information regarding the gate should contact Detective M.T.
Malphrus, Jasper County Sheriff's Department (803/726-
7777), Richard Ellis, Heyward Foundation (803/363-5170 -
call collect); or Dr. Michael Trinkley Chicora Foundation
(803/787-6910- call coUect). 0

NEW ENGLAND & MARITIME REGION

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Vermont, Labrador, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, MA 01570

Kliro01@svh-worc.com

This One's for Jeremiah Cofran, Bless His Soul!

Bernie Dupont, a columnist for the Webster [MA]
Times bought a house a while back. Not a particularly
unusual house, and, in itself, no great story, but in the normal
poking around the brush in the back yard, Dupont
discovered a couple of gravestones that had apparently been
there for a number of years. There was no record of this
ever being a family burial plot, so Bernie figured that they
were probably the result of typical Yankee scavenging, with
one of the prior owners picking them up, from God knows
where, for God knows what purpose, and then changing his
mind and leaving them to be covered with brush and leaves.

Dupont had no idea how to go about returning them
to their rightful owners, so he did the next best thing, he put
them to use. One as a stepping stone to his screen house,
and the other as a table top next to his outdoor grill. He
buried the one used as a stepping stone face down, so that
unless someone knew that it was a gravestone, the prior
purpose was not obvious; however, the other stone, used as
a table top, was obviously a gravestone and did generate
quite a lot of comment. Dupont recounts that "When people
saw the stone and realized what it was, they'd wince. Wasn't
it rather gruesome to employ a gravestone in that way, they'd
ask me." Apparently Dupont's response, practiced over
years of answering the same questions, would satisfy most.
He replied "Suppose you had passed away more than 130

years ago and all memory of you was forgotten. Wouldn't it
have provided comfort before you died knowing that people
in the future would be raising glasses in your honor?"
Dupont admits to raising more than one glass to the memory
of "Old Jeremiah."

In contrast to the opinion of Dupont's friends, a local
lecturer, William Stockdale (subject of an AGS Quarterly
article a few issues back), produced a video titled "Cemeteries
are Fun," part of which features Dupont, wearing a chef's
hat and brandishing a spatula, beside his gravestone
barbecue table. It is said that Stockdale has never gotten a
complaint from his audience suggesting that Dupont's use
of the stone was inappropriate.

Be that as it may, it would seem that, outside of an
expensive all court press, Dupont had little chance of ever
finding where the stones came from, or how to return them
to their original owners, if, in fact, they still wanted them.
His choice of use for the stones was practical, and in no way
differed greatly from the precedent set by our grandfathers
who seemed to use abandoned gravestones in a number of
similar ways. Old gravestones are still being discovered after
generations of use as stepping stones, drainage covers,
fireplace stones, etc. Old timers probably figured that if a
flat stone was available already, why bother to find another.
"Praise the Lord and pass the gravestone, and we will
complete this walkway before dark" could have been their
motto.

By no means am I recommending the above use for
abandoned gravestones (and the collective AGS would be
scandalized to hear of anyone scavenging stones from even
an abandoned graveyard for any purpose), however, Bernie
did have only a limited amount of options and it is hard to
fault his choice.

He could:

1. Drop thein off at the nearest cemetery, similar to the way someone
would drop off unwanted puppies, hoping that someone would
give them a good home. This is not recommended either for
gravestones or puppies.

2. Put them in his garage and forget about them. Certainly not a
reasonable solution.

3. Put them back under the brush and forget about them. What
would that prove?

4. Break them up and pretend that they never existed. ..Horrors!

5. Send for the AGS publication: "What Do You Do When You
Find a Lost Gravestone." ($2.50 members, $3.00 others.)
Dupont did spend some time trying to research the names,
with the intent to return the stones to the rightful owners, but
was unable to unearth a clue (his pun, not mine) as to the
location of the surviving families. He'd find more tips in the
pamphlet.

All in all, Jeremiah's stone could suffer a worse fate.

As a follow up on this situation, Bernie tells me that,
as a result of his article in the Webster Times, he did receive
two bits of information. One stone, long and perhaps made
of basalt, was that of "Corpl. Thomas R. Tyler, 2 Batty Lt.

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 17

Regional Columns

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Arty, Mass. Vols. Died Jan. 13, 1910, Ae 72." Subsequent
information, by way of the Military Archives and Museum
of the Massachusetts National Guard, in Worcester [MA],
identifies Tyler as a bookbinder by trade, bom in Charlestown
Massachusetts, who enlisted to serve in the Civil War, being
mustered out on August 16, 1864. It is not known where he
was buried.

The other stone, marble, reads "Jeremiah Cofran,
died Oct. 2, 1863. Ae 56 years 8 m's." A writer tells Dupont
that Cofran was born on February 18, 1807 in Northfield,
New Hampshire (now a part of Merrimack?), and was
married to Phebe Sanborn Morrill. It also is not known where
he was buried.

Dupont didn't say whether he was inclined to follow
up on this additional information, however, considering that
he is a newspaper columnist and a naturally curious person,
I wouldn't bet against it. I will keep members informed of
any subsequent developments. 0

ACROSS THE OCEANS

Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula

Franz-Schubert-Str.l4

D-63322 Rodermark

Germany

In last year's spring issue I quoted a curious
inscription from the old town cemetery in Bingen on the
Rhine, which turned out to contain an acrostic. The first
words of each line read downward produced a humorous,
though unkind comment on the relationship between the
deceased and her husband . The fact that the hidden message
had to be pointed out to cemetery visitors (and even to the
widower, who had fallen victim to a prankster, so the legend
goes) indicates that at the time of its composition, in the early
1800s, people were no longer used to perceiving and
appreciating acrostics.

In some Jewish cemeteries, however, acrostics were
popular much longer. In Hebrew epitaphs, they added
meaning to an individual's life by establishing connections
between biographical details and the name of the deceased.
I have come across references to acrostics and chronographs
in books about Jewish gravemarkers, but since I do not read
Hebrew, I would not be able to make out any play on letters

or numbers in inscriptions. Nor do the authors of such books
always take the trouble of reproducing or explaining acrostics
in the translations they provide. Recent books about Jewish
cemeteries in Germany tend to treat tombstones either as art
objects or as historical documents. Authors of the first
tendency concentrate on carved images and lettering, which
they analyze for sculptural quality and imagination as well
as religious or otherwise traditional symbolism. Authors of
the second group read grave inscriptions as sources of
genealogical and historical information.

The publication I found most helpful in illustrating
the persistent use of acrostics and also in introducing non-
Hebrew readers to some of the spiritual and biographical
details hidden in a Jewish cemetery in Germany is Jiidischer
Friedhof Harburg-Schivaben (1996). Harburg is a town in the
Bavarian part of Swabia. It is situated on the scenic route
called "Romantische Strasse," between Augsburg and
Rothenburg o.d.T. In the 18th and 19th century, Harburg
had one of the most important small-town Jewish
communities of Southern Germany. Around 1800 there were
about 60 Jewish families in town, making up 25% of the
population. In the second half of the 19th century, however,
emigration to the cities decreased the number of Jewish
inhabitants, and in 1930 only a few families were left. In
1936, the community did not even have the ten men required
for holding a service in the synagogue. Some families had
emigrated to Palestine when it was still possible to leave
Germany. The remaining ones were deported and murdered.

The Harburg Jewish cemetery was founded in 1671.
The oldest of the 250 extant tombstones date from the turn
of the 18th to the 19th century. The last interment took place
in 1938, when 81-year-old Julius Nebel, a haberdasher, died.
The majority of markers are made from the calcareous
sandstone that is typical of the Swabian and Franconian Jura
Mountains, but there are also some sandstone and marble
monuments.

In 1994, after consulting with the Jewish Council of
Bavaria and being told by rabbis that cautious cleaning and
preservation of gravestones is consistent with the principles
of the Halacha, Meir Jacoby started cleaning the stones. Time,
weather, and pollution had badly deteriorated their condition
and many inscriptions had become illegible. Luckily, the
early sununer of 1994 was a hot one in Germany, so the moss
and lichen that covered the markers were extremely dry and
came off easily. With his wife Ruth Litai-Jacoby, he then
photographed the gravestones, transcribed the Hebrew
epitaphs and translated them into German. Their linguistic
and religious background knowledge helped the Jacobys to
make out the meaning of partly damaged inscriptions. They
also had to apply their cultural competence and informed
inspiration, when the epitaph writer's lack of proficiency in
Hebrew or the carver's slip of the chisel had distorted the
message. (Unfortunately the identities of the stonecutters
remain unknown.)

Page 18

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Regional Cohiruns - Book Reviews

While the Jacobys were busy with the transcriptions,
journalist Rolf Hofmann searched the archives of Harburg
Castle and the State Archives in Augsburg for biographical
information about the people interred in the cemetery. His
findings are matched with the markers presented in the book.
As its subtitle "A Short Documentation" suggests, the first
few pages introduce the reader to the conservation project
and give a brief outline of the history of Harburg's Jewish
population. Hoffmann's genealogical findings, which cover
the years from 1671 to 1939, are presented in 46 concise
biographies that complement the epitaphs transcribed by the
Jacobys. On opposite 8" by 11" pages the book presents the
reader with black-and-white photographs of 46 individual
markers and the transcription of their epitaphs in Hebrew,
along with a translation into German.

In accordance with the Orthodox orientation of the
Harburg Jewish community, the majority of the markers do
without sculptural decoration. There are a few instances of
plant imagery, as well as shells, stars, a moon, the Cohen
sign of the blessing hands, the Levitical lavers, the ram's horn
and the circumcision knife. Footnotes below the
transcriptions and translations explain some of these
symbols. They also point out the occasional references to
Biblical sayings or to religious functions and traditions
connected with the deceased, and they translate dates into
the Western calendar.

The footnotes also translate the acrostics. It is a
special characteristic of this cemetery that there is an acrostic
on virtually every gravestone. Most typically the first letters
of several successive lines are printed in larger letters, which
spell the first name of the deceased downward. To give
Quarterly readers an idea of such an inscription I have
translated the epitaph for Elkan Wassermann, who died on
2 October 1814, from the German translation into English. I
hope to be forgiven for losing the poetic quality and Biblical
ring that is particular to the Hebrew original.

Here is hidden

The man, respected member of the community, the honorable

Mister Elchanan, son of the honorable

David Regensburg from Harburg.
His zeal was directed at the commandments of the Creator
Compassion for the poor was in his acts
He was from a good family and likable
His tongue of the just was of choice silver
David walked in integrity

A friend of the Thora and well-liked in his community
He set aside treasures for his soul
His funeral was on Sunday the 18th of Tishri
As he was used to praying in his stand
In 5575. May his soul be bound up.

The acrostic read from lines 8 to 12 is "Elchanan Son
of David Regensburg."

In the United States, Jiidischer Friedhof Harbiirg-
Schwaben can be obtained from Dale Ashmun, 300 Gentilly
Avenue (159), New Orleans, LA 70122. The price,
including handling and postage is $15. (advance payment
by check). 0

BOOK REVIEWS

Mary-Ellen Jones

2 Los Amigos Court

Orinda, CA 94563-1605

(510)254-2295

Going Out in Style: TJte Architecture of Eternity.

Douglas Keister, with an Introduction by Xavier A. Cronin.
New York: Facts on File, 1997. Price $29.95, hardcover.
Available from AGS for $25.50 members, $30 others.

Book Review by Robert Wright

California-based photographer Douglas Keister,
known for his "Painted Ladies" series of books on residential
Victorian architecture, has recently published Going Out in
Style: The Architecture of Eternity. Keister photographed in
many important cemeteries throughout the United States to
provide a representative sampling of mausoleum styles.
Xavier A. Cronin, author of Grave Exodus: Tending to Our Dead
in the 21st Century, and a former editor at American Cemetery
magazine, contributes an informative introduction which
explains the historical origins and current trends of
mausoleum building.

Cronin's lively introduction provides a logical
starting place to examine critically both the merits and
deficiencies of this book. The introduction contains sections
on major topics: artistic origins, the granite industry,
mausoleum evolution, the "rural cemetery" movement, and
modem space-saving community mausoleums. Cronin gives
an informative background about the evolution of tombs,
describing funerary terms to make readers familiar with
unknown words. A glossary terminates the book.

Despite these strengths, several major problems
provoke constant irritations. For example, on page three the
text describes architecturally significant mausoleums, but
provides no page references. Cronin's astute observation
about the similarity of the McCan mausoleum in Metairie
Cemetery, New Orleans, to the Albert Memorial in London

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 19

Book Reviews

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

fails to make an impression, because one must turn to page
87, after consulting the index, to view a photograph of the
McCan mausoleum. A more user-friendly method would
include page references within the text so readers can easily
locate the photographs.

Page three also demonstrates a recurring problem
with the relationship between photographs and text. Since
this page comments upon mausoleum design and
architectural history, the accompanying photograph should
reflect this text. Instead, the photograph depicts a zinc
tombstone unrelated to the text. A far better choice would
be to present photographs of the McCan mausoleum and
the Albert Memorial, to make a visual comparison that
illuminates the design process.

Throughout the entire book, there is only one
instance of a direct visual comparison of an American
mausoleum to its historical source. The Bache Mausoleum
in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York, is beautifully
paired with an engraving of the Kiosk of Trajan, at Philae,
Egypt (page 85). Since so many mausoleum designs are
derived from earlier architectural styles, this book would be
far more interesting and informative with the inclusion of
relevant source material. The complete lack of architectural
drawings and renderings was a major omission. For
example, original mausoleum drawings at the Southeast
Architectural Archive at Tulane University would enrich
greatly the pages devoted to Metairie Cemetery.

Much of Going Out in Style: The Architecture of Eternity
is concerned with revival styles and creativity in the funerary
arts. Urifortunately, the book does not use photographs from
other sources to broaden our understanding of mausoleum
design. The few historical photographs in the introduction
enliven the section describing America's early granite

Designs derived from earlier architectural styles: Egyptian-
style Tate Mausoleum, 1907. Bellefontaine Cemetery, St.
Louis, Missouri. Photo by Robert Wright, 1984.

industry — far beyond what the words convey. However, the
rest of this 150-page book contains only recent photographs,
limiting this publication to an introductory survey.

Keister's color photographs are often arresting,
particularly the interior views. Yet frequently, exterior
subjects were photographed under poor lighting conditions.
Proper lighting is essential to accentuate geometric massing,
carved details, and relationships between architectural
elements. Clearly a national survey of American funerary
architecture requires more time than two summers of
photography.

Going Out in Style is certainly "entertaining and
fascinating" as the dust jacket claims. Each family
mausoleum photograph is paired with biographical
information and comments about tomb design. At times,
Keister's efforts transcend this broadly appealing formula
to offer substantial architectural history. His perceptive
observations about the Gerrard Mausoleum (page 142)
describe successfully the architectural styles of Modern
Classicism and Art Deco, both skillfully combined in the
design of this elegant tomb. Further, Keister examines the
design of the bronze door to provide an aesthetic overview
of the Arts and Crafts style and shed light on design issues
for sepulchral art.

Going Out in Style: The Architecture of Eternity will
appeal to cemetery enthusiasts and armchair architectural
scholars alike. Keister's appreciation of America's vast legacy
of funerary architecture will undoubtedly help build a larger
audience for this intriguing subject. 0

Closeup of Tate Mausoleum, sphinx, with Assyrian
influences. Photo by Robert Wright, 1984.

Page 20

Volume 22: Number 2

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Book Reviews - Notes & Queries

New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead.
Robert Florence. Photographs by Mason Florence. New
Orleans: Batture Press, Inc. $29.95 hardcover

Book Review by Barbara Rotunda

New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead is
a handsome coffee-table book by Robert Florence. Florence
runs a business that offers tours of New Orleans, specializing
in cemeteries. His tours must be great fun because he's
knowledgeable and has many amusing stories and much
interesting iriformation. It is illustrated by Mason Florence,
who is a skilled photographer who can create moods or
convey information with his camera. The book designer,
Janet Pederson, also deserves credit for this good-looking,
enunently readable book.

Among the thirteen cemeteries Florence introduces
us to, he includes not only the usual St. Louis I, Lafayette I,
and Metairie, but also Hebrew Rest I, the municipal black
cemetery. Holt, and a small cemetery in the country south of
New Orleans.

In addition he has four chapters called "The People"
in which he introduces four men who have different
cormections to the cemeteries. The most valuable for me was
finding out about Arthur Raymond Smith. Smith maintains
what are almost shrines for his mother and grandmother in
Carrollton Cemetery (Adams Street between Hickory and
Birch). He has also bought two lots in Holt Cemetery (635
City Park Avenue). There he piles all sorts of materials from
mattresses and chairs to old grills and fencing. He calls it
his chapel. (He once thought he had been called to the
ministry, but soon gave it up.)

In 1993 when the American Culture Association met
in New Orleans about eight of us from the Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers section visited Holt and saw these two lots.
The materials covering the lots were not grave goods in either
the West African tradition or the modem American tradition.
We were curious about them, and when questioned several
people working on their own lots indicated disgust with the
"mess." I also mention the lots in my article on a black
gravestone maker from Mississippi in Markers XIV. Robert
Florence talked with the man and repeats enough of the
conversation to show us that these lots, as well as the two in
Carrollton, may look like junk heaps to us, but there is a
conscious design in Smith's mind as he adds new material
or rearranges the old.

When Florence concentrates on New Orleans, he is
interesting and convincing. However, when he tries to fit
New Orleans into the American and the world picture, he is
frequently incorrect despite the research he has obviously
done. The bibliography explains part of his trouble. It
contains no book of urban history and no modern book of
social and cultural history. New Orleans is not the only city
to suffer from fire and flood and terrible epidemics in the
nineteenth century.

If you want a serious study of New Orleans
cemeteries, turn to New Orleans Architecture, Vol. Ill The
Cemeteries, edited by Mary Louise Christovich. Florence
includes this in his bibliography but didn't pay enough
attention to the illustrations and discussion of Spanish multi-
vaults and oven vaults that Leonard V. Huber includes in
his essay on cemetery history.

If, however, you would like the pleasure of an
armchair visit to New Orleans cemeteries, I certainly
recommend this attractive book.

NOTES & QUERIES

CORRECTION

In the Winter 1998 issue of the Quarterly the
"Mummy Stone" was mistakenly placed in Connecticut.
It is found in Middlebury, Vermont. Our apologies to
Peggy Jenks.

New Life Member

Mary Cope of New York City has become the 7th
Life Member of AGS. Many thanks, Mary, for your
contribution and investment in the future of AGS.

The Duval-Rigby Collection

The Duval-Rigby Collection of gravestone
photographs and castings has been deposited at The Museum
of American Art, 444 Park Av South, NY, NY, 10016-7321.
Members of the Association of Gravestone Studies should
be aware of this great resource. As founding members of the
Association, Francis Duval and Ivan Rigby were most active
and traveled about the country to a great extent. It is indeed
a very broad collection.

Using 2-3 / 4 by 2-3 / 4 color slides Francis shot stones
from Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New
York, North Carolina, Comiecticut, Massachusetts, and other
locations. There are as well numerous black and white shots.
It was Francis' practice to shoot a stone in color as well as in
b/w and to cover virtually a whole cemetery as he visited.
Over 4,000 color slides and 5,000 b/w photographs as well
as proof sheets and negatives are included. Numerous
enlarged photos used in their many exhibitions are included.
Ivan Rigby's casts of significant stones are also in the
collection, as well as books, pamphlets, and newspaper
articles.

A summary listing is held in our archives, but
much work needs to be done to list more clearly the entire
collection. Anyone in the Association having access to NYC
would do well to investigate this superb collection.

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 21

Notes & Queries

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

Have you moved or do you plan to move soon?

Please inform the AGS office if you change your
address. We send the Quarterly by bulk mail and bulk mail
is NOT forwarded. It simply goes into the waste basket! So
it costs us double in printing, postage, and labor when we
have to resend an AGS Quarterly, as well as costing us your
good will at not receiving your mailings in a timely fashion.
So please put us on your list of people to contact when you
move or if the post office should make any change in your
address.

Ballots

It's good have your ballots returned. To be true to our
by-laws we must have members vote for the trustees and
officers on the Board of Trustees. So we need your ballots!

Publication List Update

We have sold out of our special offer for Markers I and
Markers 11. Also, there are no more medium-sized t-shirts
from the 1995 conference.

Volunteers Wanted for Cemetery Documentation

During the first two weeks of August 1998, an
expedition to Suriname, South America will take place, led
by Rachel Frankel, to survey and document two cemeteries
in a remote rain forest in Jodensavanne. Volunteers will assist
in creating a plan of the cemetery grounds and in
inventorying, photographing, transcribing, and translating
the tombstones. Inscriptions are in Hebrew, Portugese,
African, and Dutch. Caribbean Volunteer Expeditions is
recruiting volunteers and may be reached at Box 388,
Corrung, NY 14830. Rachel Frarikel may be contacted there
and by e-mail at <RachelArch@aol.com> Also see CVE web
site: <http: / / members.aol.com/ ahershcve>.

Save Outdoor Sculpture (SOS!)

The Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS! ) project has been
making a compiehensive assessment of outdoor sculpture.
Now it has developed a planning guide that outlines concrete
steps that communities can take for care of outdoor sculpture.
You can work with civic officials to schedule professional
maintenance for city-owned sculptures. You can be a catalyst
for local businesses and community groups to establish
partnerships, such as Adopt- A-Sculpture programs already
underway in many cities, that raise money for the
preservation of sculptures. Insist that adequate money is
made available for responsible on-going care. Remind public
officials and the media that outdoor sculptures enhance the
landscape and serve as important symbols of our history
and values.

While the project is generally interested in statuary
in public places, cemetery statuary can also benefit from a
community's care. For more information about the nation's
art and its care and for the new planning guide, write or call
SOS! (800/422-4612) or the National Museum of American
Art's Inventory of American Sculpture (202/786-2384).

Addendum by Jerry Oldshue

While we may not know the site of Mozart's grave,
we do know the site of the Mozart family grave. 1 just
happened to shoot this in Salzburg.

Photo Inj jerry Oldshue, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Listing of Publications

Our listing of publications received at the office is
to let you know what is "out there" in case you are interested.
However, we do not have copies either to sell, loan, or gi\'e
away. We try to give a full address so that you can go to the
source for copies if you wish.

Members in the News

In Vermont Life, Spring '98. the article "Gone, But Not
Forgotten" by Chris Granstrom is about the Vermont Old Cemeler}'
Association and particularly mentions the work of VOCA and
AGS member Charlie Marchant.

At the May 1-3, 1998 Symposium sponsored by the
Friends of the Grove Street Cemetery and held at the New Haven
Colony Historical Society. New Haven, Connecticut, the following
AGS members were speakers: James A. Slater, William ClendEiniel,
William Hosley, and David C. Sloane.

Page 22

Volume 22: Number 2

MEMBERS ONLY . . .

SPRING QUARTERLY
INVENTORY CLEARANCE SALE

Start your collection of Markers NOW!
SALE ENDS AUGUST 31, 1998

Markers V

(hardcover only)

Published in 1988, 240 pages,
155 illustrations

Severi articles on grave markers
from a variety of geographical areas
comprise this volume. Pennsylvania
German markers , a New Haven,
Connecticut carver, carvers in
Boston, Massachusetts, the tombs of
Louis Henri Sullivan, and Canadian
carvers in Ontario and Nova Scotia
provide a variety of information.

$10.00 plus postage and

handling.

Markers VI

(hardcover and paperback available)
Published in 1989, 245 pages,
90 illustrations

A v^ide variety of articles cover
Massachusetts carver John Dwight,
Afro-American markers, camposantos
of the Southwest USA, the symbol of
the hand on Canadian stones of
Ontario, Canada, aiid an epitaph for an
early Christian athlete in Eumeneia.
$8.50 (paperback) $10.00 (hardcover)
plus postage and handling.

Markers VII

(paperback only)

Published in 1990, 281 pages,
158 illustrations

This issue opens with photos and
discussion of cemetery gates and
Victorian funerary enclosures. It
continues with articles on a Virginia
carver, Charles Walsh, Indiana tree
stump stones, origins of the Celtic cross,
and the totem poles of the Tsimshian
Indians in Canada.

$8.50 plus postage and

handling.

SPECIAL SALE

Some copies of Markers VIII are slightly flawed but complete in every way.
We offer these for $5 plus postage and handling. This issue is all about Con-
necticut carvers. Researchers of Connecticut stones may wish a second copy
in which to make field notes!

If you already own these books, why not purchase a copy for your local library?

ORDER FORM

Oty.

Book

Cover

Cost

Markers V

hardcover

$

Markers VI

hardcover

$

Markers VI

paperback

$

Markers VII

paperback

$

Markers VIII

paperback (special sale)

$

Subtotal

P&H

TOTAL

$
1

$

Postage & Handling (in US)
any combination
1-2 copies — $3.50
3-4 copies — $4.50

Please make checks payable to the
Association for Gravestone Studies.
All checks must be in U.S. funds
drawn on a U.S. Bank.

Other countries

$ 6.50
$10.00 .

Name.

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Please send orders to AGS, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301

MARKERS XV NOW AVAILABLE!

Table of Contents

Benditcha Sea Vuestra Memoria: Sephardic Jewish
Cemeteries in the Caribbean and Eastern North
America

David Mayer Gradwohl

Scriptural Stones and Barn Mending: At the Grave of
Herman Melville

Kenneth Speirs

The Gravestone Carving Traditions of Plymouth and
Cape Cod

James Blachowicz

Language and Ethnicity Maintenance: Evidence of
Czech Tombstone Inscriptions

Eva Eckert

Aboriginal Australian Burials in Christian Missions

Karolyn K. Wrightson

The New Deal's Landscape Legacy in Kansas Cemeteries

Cathy Ambler

Chinese Graves and Gravemarkers in Hong Kong

Chun-shing Chow and Elizabeth Kenworthy Teather

The Year's Work in Gravemarker/Cemetery Studies

Richard E. Meyer

Contributors
Index

356 pages, 164 illustrations

Cost
P&H
Total

Please send me copy(ies) of Markers XV @ $37.00 for members, $42.00 for others plus P&H.

Name

Address

For P&H, please add:
U.S.
1-2 copies $ $5.00
3ormore $ $7.00

Other countries City

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$9.00

State

Zip

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Please make checks payable to the Association
for Gravestone Studies. All checks must be in
U.S. funds drawn on n U.S. bank.

Please send orders to AGS, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301

AGS Quarterly - Spring 1998

liotes & Queries

Local Legends

The following is in reply to Barbara Rotundo's request that
local legends be sent in to the Quarterly (Vol. 21, No. 3, p. 8).

Not Everything is As It Appears to Be

by Vincent Lipinski

A year ago 1 moved from Albuquerque to Las Vegas,
NM to begin a graduate program in Southwest Studies —
Anthropology. Entering a new school has its own challenges:
new buildings, new faculty, new students, and new tales.
After becoming settled in the area I began making friends.
University students' introductions often begin with, "What
is your major?" The question was unsuspectingly posed to
me by three English majors. When 1 replied 1 was working
on a master's degree, they asked what my thesis topic was. I
told them I was looking into New Mexican cemeteries as
indicators of cultural change and diffusion.

When they heard me say cemetery, one asked
whether 1 had seen the "glowing headstone of Las Vegas." I
said no, and excitedly he said 1 needed to see it, especially
since this was something related to my topic. It was now
10:30 p.m., and 1 was told the time was right since the
headstone only glowed at night.

The four of us left the residence hall and drove
towards the city's west side. The driver who organized this
nocturnal tour took us along many side roads. As he drove,
he informed me that this headstone was near a favorite pub,
that it was "just out there," and that it glowed. He said the
last time he and others approached the marker, they were
frightened by its eerie glow and more so because they found
themselves surrounded by barking dogs, sentinels of the
tomb.

We arrived an hour later. The marker was not "just
out there"; it was in the middle of San Jose Cemetery. San
Jose is a large old. Catholic cemetery set on a hill away from
the road. As we came to the gate, the headlights cast their
beam upon grave markers of every shape and size, many

partially hidden behind weeds and brush (enough to play
upon my tour guide's imagination).

Suddenly, a gravestone shone in the distance. It was
bright blue, set behind a number of other grave markers and
weeds. As it shone, my driver excitedly exclaimed, "There
is is, see it? Do you see it?" I said yes and asked to get out of
the car for a closer inspection. He said no, that he could not
let me out because the dogs were out there: waiting,
watching, guarding. We sat in the darkness staring at the
marker for a few minutes before he backed out and drove
away.

As we left, 1 made a mental note that I would return
to unravel this college myth. Several days later I drove out
but failed to find the cemetery. I went to work and asked my
boss if she knew of a cemetery on the west side of town. She
did and since she enjoys tromping around old graveyards,
we set off in search of the gravestone.

We got to the cemetery easily enough and although
1 told her about the myth and where I thought the gravestone
was located, we were unable to find it. 1 realized then that
this would require a second night time visit to the old
cemetery. Parking the car we began our trek across the
grounds. Armed with flashlights we climbed over fences,
through bushes and weeds, and around grave markers. Our
course was set; we didn't want to lose sight of that glowing
marker. Eventually we arrived. The marker was cut in the
form of a cross. It did not glow; it reflected. It was not made
of stone; it was made from wood. Perhaps the marker had
been made by a family member working for the Highway
Department during a lunch break. After all, the paint used
to fashion it is similar to that found on street signs!

The next day I called my friend to tell him about my
discovery. He was not home so I left a brief message on his
answering machine. The following day I visited him and
asked if he had gotten my message; he replied he had but
did not want to know. He said, "I prefer my ignorance."
Myths, and college myths in particular, die very slowly and
who am I to kill the myth? Ever since, I have taken my visitors
to gaze at the glowing headstone of Las Vegas!

WIZARD OF ID

by Brant Parker & Johnny Hart

With permission of Johnny Han and Creators Syndicate, Inc. © 1997 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Volume 22: Number 2

Page 23

CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS

May 10 - October 18, 1998 - Exhibition: Art of the Departed: The Gravestones of Cape Cod at the Heritage Plantation, Sandwich, Massachusetts.
May 21 and June 16 - Exhibit tour with curator

May 30 - Gravestone foil impressions workshop with AGS member Susan Galligan
June 2 - "Early New England Gravestones" lecture by AGS member Dan Goldman
June 9 - Guided tour of Old Sandwich Burying Ground
June 20 - Stone carving demonstration by stonecarver Carol DriscoU
July 1 - Bus tour of three Cape Cod cemeteries
For registration, times, and fees call Jane Robin at 508/833-2910. For more information call Jennifer Yimginger at 508/888-3300.

May 18 - 7:30 p.m. "Exploring Our History in Cemeteries" Program for history buffs, art lovers, genealogists, and poets. Sponsored by Friends of Center
Cemetery in East Hartford, Connecticut, with AGS member Laurel Gabel, speaker. East Hartford Community Cultural Center Auditorium,
Chaplin Place, East Hartford. More information from Doris Suessman at 860/568-6178.

June 2 - 5:30-7:30 p.m. "Observing Nature" - an evening stroll with Clare Walker Leslie, Cambridge artist, naturalist & writer. Mt. Auburn Cemetery,

Cambridge, Massachusetts.
June 13 - 2:00-3:30 p.m. - "Rising to the Occasion" - walking tour with Deirdre Morris, social historian celebrating Victorians who refused to accept the status

quo. Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

For updates call 617/547-7105, select ext. 821 for program information, ext. 823 for weather-related postponements or cancellations, ext. 824 for

bird sightings, ext. 825 for "what's in bloom."
June 15-19 - Workshop on "Monument Care in Cemeteries and Battlefields: Current Practices" For information contact Meg L. Winslow,

Curator of Historical Collections, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts 617/547-7105, ext. 242.

August 22-23, 1998 - The 4th annual Civil War reenactment in Wickham Park in East Hartford, Connecticut, sponsored by the Friends of Center Cemetery.
The event will include living history events, sutler booths, shows, and a portrayal of the battle of Fisher's Hill, Virginia by reenactors. Hours are
9:30-4:00 on Aug. 22 and 9:30-3:00 on Aug. 23. For directions and fees, call 860/568-6178.

August 22-23, 1998 - AGS member Richard Veit will lecture at the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts in Madison, New Jersey, on "Sttanger Stop and Cast
an Eye: An Introduction to New Jersey's Historical Gravestones." The lecture will be followed by a tour of Madison Presbyterian Cemetery.
More information is available from 973/377-2983.

© 1998 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is used for educational
purposes; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and / or photographer or artist involved; and (3) a copy of the document or article in
which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association
for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. Copies of most issues are available from the AGS office for $3.00. The
goal of the AGS Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones.

To contribute articles, notes, or queries, please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior /Student, $25; Individual, $30; Institutional, $35; Family, $40; Supporting, $65; Life, $1000) to the Association for Gravestone
Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year
from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, The Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies: Please send articles to Richard
Meyer, Editor of Markers, PO Box 13006, Salem, OR 97309-1006. His telephone is (503) 581-5344 and e-mail address is meyerr@wou.edu. The current issue
of Markers is volume XV now available. Please see the insert in this Quarterly.

Address other correspondence to Admiiustrator, AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301. 413/ -772-0836. ags@javanet.com

The Association for Gravestone Studies
278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301

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PAH)

PERMIT NO. 183
GREENFIELD, MA

Daniel Farber 1906-1998

AGS Quarterly

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Table of Contents

TRIBUTE TO DANIEL FARBER: Laurel K. Gabel 2

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK: Frank Calidonna 2

MEET THE AGS BOARD OF TRUSTEES 3

FEATURES

"Curacao's Jewish Cemetery" by Ciro Caraballo 4

"Parisian Gravestones" by Robert Walsh 6

TOPICAL COLUMNS

17th & 18th Century: Ralph Tucker 8

19th & 20th Century: Barbara Rotundo 8

Gravestones & Computers: John Sterling 9

The Farber CD-ROMs: Jessie Lie Farber 11

Conservation News: W. Fred Oakley, Jr. 12

REGIONAL COLUMNS

Southwest Region: Ellie Reichlin 13

Midwest Region: Helen Sclair 14

Southeast/ Caribbean Region: Sharyn Thompson 15

Mid- Atlantic Region: G.E.O. Czarnecki 17

New England & Maritime Region: Robert Klisiewicz 18

Across the Oceans: Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula 19

BOOK REVIEWS : Mary-Ellen Jones 21

NOTES & QUERIES 22

LENDING LIBRARY ADDITIONS 23

1999 CONFERENCE INFORMATION 15 & 23

CALENDAR 24

The mission of the Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the
cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board: Mary Cope, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith, John Spaulding

Quarterly Contributions: Comments and contributions are welcome. When submitting time-sensitive material please keep in mind
that the AGS Quarterly often takes several weeks to reach the membership. Mail your contributions to the appropriate column editor
or to the AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301.

Advertising Prices: Business card, $30; 1/4 page, $50; 1/2 page, $90; full page insert, $200. Send camera ready advertising with
payment to the AGS Office.

TWO AGS CONFERENCES NEXT SUMMER— WASHINGTON, DC in June; PORTLAND, OREGON in August. Plan to attend!

Volume 22: Numbers

Summer 1998

Farewell to a friend and benefactor

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

DANIEL FARBER — 1906-1998

Daniel Farber, one of our
organization's founding and most
supportive members, died suddenly at
a hospital near his home in Worcester,
Massachusetts, on May 23 at the age of
ninety-two.

It is hard to find words to express
what many of us feel so intensely when
we attempt to celebrate Dan's life.
Words seem shallow, inadequate — not
quiet worthy of the generous, kind,
remarkably spirited human being who
did so much to shape and sustain AGS.
Those who were fortunate to know
him will mourn the loss of Dan's quiet
generosity, his willingness to encourage
and inspire, his joy in the smallest
details, and his gentle and genuine
humanity. Dan's love of life shone
through many a crisis; it raised us up.
Over the years Dan became a
mentor and role model for more than
one generation of AGS members. We learned to appreciate
his impish sense of humor and refreshingly straightforward

assessment of life. He taught me simple truths: if you need the loss of a beloved friend.

a three page letter to get your message
across, "write me three letters instead";
forgive those who can't, but not those
who won't: gravestone photography
requires bright sun, sharp shadows —
and unlimited patience; give and you
will receive. He cried unashamedly
when some human sentiment or creation
asked to be acknowledged and laughed
infectiously when silly situations begged
humor; he enjoyed life! Dan made us all
want to reach old age with the same
delight and dignity he displayed.

On my desk there is a wonderful
photograph of Dan taken by Carol
Perkins at the AGS Conference in Bristol,
Rhode Island in 1990. In the picture Dan
is standing on a carpet of blue forget-me-
nots, surrounded by old Rhode Island
gravestones, smiling broadly as he lifts
his camera to record the perfection of that
summer day. You taught many of us to
know and appreciate the art of life as well as death, Dan,
and we grieve, as an organization and as individuals, for

-L. K. Gabel

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

Frank Calidonna

313 West Linden Street

Rome, New York 13440

frank.calidonna@worldnet.att.net

I was just informed of the sad news that Dan Farber has
died. All members of AGS owe a great debt to Mr. Farber.
He was one of the founders of AGS and his influence on the
organization has been profound and generous. I never really
knew Mr. Farber. A few brief conversations were the sum of
our relationship. Others who knew him far better than I will
be writing more and informing newer members who he was
and what he accomplished, but I must add my small bit here.

I have been a photographer for over forty years. I have
been photographing gravestones, more precisely large
Victorian statuary, since the mid- 1960's. In 1991 I began
serious study of gravestones and cemeteries and I discovered
AGS. As I began my early readings, the name Dan Farber
kept cropping up and I saw many of his published
photographs. It was noted that Dan, with the assistance of
his wife Jessie Lie, had completed the astonishing

achievement of photographing most of the important
colonial stones in New England. I was impressed, thought
it interesting, but colonial stones were not my main interest.
The awesome reality of this feat did not sink in at that time.
I ordered a kit of reprints from AGS. I remember reading
Dan's article on gravestone photography and thinking, "It's
bad enough I have to lug so much equipment on a shoot.
Now I have to add a full-length mirror? I think I'll pass!"

I joined AGS in 1991 and attended my first conference
that year at Northfield, MA. I brought some of my
photographs to show in the display area. As I was setting
up my work Mike Cornish who was responsible for the
displays that year was setting up a display at another table.
We chatted. He told me that he was setting up Dan Farber's
display. When I finished mine I walked around to look at all
the others. Arriving at Dan's I was stopped in my tracks.
Not only had he photographed most of the important stones
in New England, he had done so with an artistic eye and
technical quality that was stunning. Superb black and white
photography - as fine as any I have ever seen.

See PRESIDENT'S DESK on page 23

AGS QUARTERLY: THE BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

ISSN: 0146-5783 August 1998

Published quarterly by The Association for Gravestone Studies, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301.
Telephone: 413/772-0836 e-mail: ags@javanet.com AGS web site: http://www.berkshire.net/ags

Page 2

Volume 22: Number 3

MEMBERS ONLY . . .

SUMMER QUARTERLY
INVENTORY CLEARANCE SALE

Start your collection of Markers NOW!
SALE ENDS NOVEMBER 30, 1998

Markers IX

(paperback only)

Published in 1992,
288 pages, 160 illustrations
Ten articles here, including carvers
Ithamar Spauldin, Thomas Crawford, and
the Mullickan Family, as well as Morman
tombstone art, Texas German graveyards,
the Green Man motif in Scotland, and
Shaker cemeteries.

$8.50 plus postage and

handling.

Markers X

(paperback only)

Published in 1993,

256 pages, 124 illustrations
Articles about stonecarvers Calvin
Barber (CT), Charles Neale, (VA) and
the Lamson Family (MA), a Chinese
cemetery in the Midwest, Jewish
cemeteries (KY), and a cemetery in
Florence, Italy are found in this volume.

$11.00 plus postage and

handling.

Markers XI

(paperback only)
Published in 1994,
233 pages, 133 illustrations
Good preparation for our 1999
Oregon conference is Richard
Meyer's article on Oregon Pioneer
gravemarkers. Also includes articles
on fraternal symbolism, stones of
slaves, and poet Theodore O'Hara, as
well as memorials from Cormecticut,
New York, Louisiana, Kentucky, and
Massachusetts.

SPECIAL SALE

Markers VIII is available for $5 plus postage and
handling. This issue is all about Connecticut
carvers researched by the late Dr. Ernest Caulfield
and edited by Dr. James Slater. The work of 19
carvers is highlighted. Paperback, 352 pages, 206
illustrations. $5.00 plus postage and handling.

Markers XV

This year's issue with major article on carving traditions of
Plymouth and Cape Cod, MA, also Jewish cemeteries in the
Caribbean, markers in Australia, Hong Kong, Kansas, and
Czech tombstones in Texas. Paperback, 356 pages, 164
illustrations.

$37 members, $42 others plus postage and handling.

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AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Meet the AGS Board of Trustees

MEET THE AGS TRUSTEES

These pages continue our introduction to the members of the
AGS Board of Trustees which we began in our Spring issue. Their
biographies, together ivith photographs by Frank Calidonna, are
presented here so our members may know a little better those members
who spend considerable time and energy supervising the work of the

Association, who hear their own expense traveling to Board meetings, who
write, edit, draw, organize, advise, plan, and ultimately, envision the future
of AGS. Since there are so many, the introductions will span several issues.
Here is the second installment.

James Fannin, Jr. was originally from Fulton, New York, and is a graduate of
Dartmouth College. He married Minxie Jensvold and spent four years in Germany in
Army Military Intelligence. Jim then attended Columbia University School of Public
Health and earned a degree in Health Care Administration. He spent the next 26
years holding various executive positions in hospitals.

In 1988 Jim decided to embark on a new career path. After getting training
from a number of sources including a National Park Service course on conservation
of outdoor monuments, a Restore course on stone, seminars on stone and mortar
conservation with the Association for Preservation Technology and certification as a
Jahn Restoration Mortar installer, he joined Minxie's firm and the Burial Ground
Division of Fannin«Lehner Preservation Consultants was launched. They now serve
clients all across New England and the Midwest. When the AGS conservation
workshops began in 1989, the Fannins became an important part of the leadership of
those events and have participated in most of the conferences since then.

James Fannin, }r.

Brenda Malloy

Brenda Malloy has taught fifth grade in

Westminster, Massachusetts for twenty years.

Her study of gravestones began in her local cemetery when she took her students there

to see the graves of earlier settlers. She developed a slide show that tells about men

from Westminster who fought in the Civil War. Their gravestones are shown and their

contributions to the war shared.

Along with her husband, Tom, she has presented at workshops, evening
programs, and led a tour for the 1997 aiinual AGS conference. She and her husband
have also had three articles published in Markers. At recent AGS conferences, they gave
lectures on Massachusetts ministers and, most intriguing, gravestones telling of murders.

She concluded her six years as an AGS Trustee at this past confeence, having
served as secretary to the Board for the past three years.

Richard E. Meyer, editor of Markers since 1992, is
Professor Emeritus of English and Folklore at
Western Oregon University. He has authored
and /or edited a number of books and journal

articles on gravemarkers and cemeteries, as well as on various other aspects of material
culture, folklore, and literature. He founded and for ten years chaired the Cemeteries
and Gravemarkers Section of the American Culture Association. Recently, he had the
opportunity to revisit an old research interest when he wrote the Introduction to the
University of Nebraska's reissue of Homer Croy's classic, ]esse James Was My Neighbor.
His present research interests are focused most strongly upon the collective material
memory of World War I, particularly in France.

At home in Oregon, he serves as a member of the five-person State of Oregon
Pioneer Cemetery Commission. Before arthritis bewitched his fingers, Richard enjoyed
a part-time secondary career as a professional musician (guitar, banjo, vocals).
Dedicated Francophiles, he and his wife, Ldtte, spend one to two months in France
each summer. They live with their two cats, Vienna and Hawthorne, in a restored
Victorian home in Salem, Oregon. 0

Richard E. Meyer

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 3

Feature Article

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Sailboats recall colonial trade
All photos by Ciro Caraballo

Each cemetery has its own particular aesthetics,
which is given by its location, vegetation, gravestone type,
conservation, and weather. Each one of these cemeteries
leaves a mark in the memory of visitors whether they come
for study or pleasure.

Despite a decade of visiting cemeteries in the western
hemisphere from Canada to Argentina, I never imagined
there could exist an example of such historical and symbolic
content and quality as the old Jewish cemetery in Curacao, a
small Dutch island just 70 km off the Venezuelan coast.

The island was a Spanish possession until it passed
into Dutch domain in 1648, after a war with the Netherlands.
By 1651 an important Sephardim Jewish colony began to
form. Spanish and Portuguese in origin, the new settlers
emigrated to Curacao from the Netherlands, continuing the
Diaspora started in the previous century as a result of the
Iberian Inquisition. They established farms in the southern
hills of the Willemstad Bay. They dedicated themselves to
subsistence agriculture. In 1659 this community founded
"Beth Haim's cemetery" whose strong presence and obstinate
resistance to threatened extinction recalls the strong Jewish
respect for the eternal rest of their faithful ones. By the end
of the eighteenth century Curacao's Hebrew community had
more than 2,000 members, becoming, economically, one of
the most powerful groups of trade in the Caribbean.

That cemetery, which was in use up to the first half
of the nineteenth century, is surrounded by a low wall and
two small buildings used for rituals prior to the funeral. The
place still contains more than 2,500 tombs, most of them with
nearly illegible inscriptions. Ten gravestones were
reproduced, rescuing the engraved details and can be seen
in the small Jewish museum at the Willemstad's synagogue.

The tombs are arranged in gently descending rows.

CURACAO'S JEWISH CEMETERY

A slowly disappearing jewel

in the Caribbean

hy Ciro Caraballo

Most of them are horizontal gravestones made of gray
granite or white marble, carved in bas-relief. They contain
illustrations of biblical scenes, accompanied by epitaphs in
Portuguese.

All the gravestones were brought from Europe, due
to the lack of trained artisans and appropriate materials on
the small island.

Most gravestones have images in addition to the
name of the deceased and the birth and death dates written
in Hebrew as well as in Portuguese. Biblical scenes often
related directly to the individual's name were also popular.
For example, there are representations of Elijah's chariot of
fire (see below), Esther's death, Isaac's sacrifice, or Jacob's
dream. Another type of symbol refers to the family name,
such as sailboats that recall the colonial trade world, or the
Cohen's raised and open hands. Other images show lifelike
characters, especially those with religious responsibilities,
like the group of three Levites washing their hands before
praying. These stones are usually accompanied by classical
funeral images, like sorrowing angels, hourglasses, floral
garlands, or skulls with crossed bones.

4:^

I

r/-

Biblical :

iLvre popular motifs

Page 4

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Feature Article

The cemeteiy is located beside an oil refinery that spews sulfiirous gases over the gravestones.

Research shows that these graves are related to
those of the Dutch Jewish cemetery of Ouderkerk, Amstel,
where mariy of these families came from. Surnames like
Maduro, Crasto, Henriques, and Senior are common to both
sides of the ocean.

By the first half of the nineteenth century Curacao's
Jewish community suffered loss of business because of the
opening of the Caribbean and South American markets to
the world. Many Jews left the island for Venezuela., but
there are still two small cemeteries, one in downtown
Willemstad and the other in the city of Coro in Venezuela,
that keep the continuity of these family groups. Worth
visiting, they show the monuments' style transformation.
Plain tablets change to sculptural monuments carved in
marble from the Carrara quarries in Italy.

Although Beth Haim Cemetery has long been
inactive, every Friday afternoon, as required by Jewish
tradition, a member of the community goes from the
Willemstad's synagogue to the cemetery to close the gate.

The cemetery stands in isolation, surrounded by an oil
refinery that occupied the south area of the bay in 1922. Wire
fences protect the industrial emporium. The high chimneys
throw sulfurous gases continually over the old cemetery.
Those gases combined with the saline humidity of the place
have badly corroded the work of the seventeenth-century
artists and artisans, and the desolate landscape resembles
scenes from the concentration camps of World War II.

Bibliography:

Cong. Mikve Israel-Emanuel. (1964) Synagogue Guidebook.
Huisman Piet. (1986). Sephardim. The Spirit that has Withstood
the Times. Huisman Editions, The Netherlands.

[Editor's Note: As valuable and interesting background and further
illustrations for this article, read David Gradivohl's essay "Sephardic
Jewish Cemeteries in the Caribbean and Eastern North America"
in Markers XV, the most recent journal, on sale from AGS. 0

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 5

Feature Article

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

PARISIAN Gravestones

by Robert Walsh

On a sunny hillside in a bustling sector of the capital
of France lies an oasis of serenity once called "the grandest
address in Paris." One of the most interesting places in the
city, its sculpted memorials are known throughout the world.
An estimated 800,000 celebrity-conscious tourists troop
through Pere Lachaise Cemetery annually, making it one of
Paris' s most visited sites.

The area was originally laid out as a 44-acre park
called Mont Louis in honor of King Louis XIV. Later, a two-
story house for the king was built on the site. The occupant
was Pere Lachaise, a Jesuit priest and Louis XIV's confessor.

Most are buried there by choice, but a few are there
by chance, as is Jim Morrison of the Doors. With typical
French thrift, you have three choices; burial for 30 years, 50
years, or perpetuity, depending upon how much you pay.
Unlike American cemeteries, in Europe disinterment is
always a choice.

Mourning figure at Pere Ladtaise.
Photo by Robert Walsh

buried. Victor Hugo once said that being buried in Pere
Lachaise is like having mahogany furniture. The man it is
named after is buried somewhere else, but Frochot, who
made it a success, is there.

Through the years it has grown to its present size of
110 acres, its park-like ambiance preserved by some 12,000
trees. It is laid out like a little city, with trees lining the
cobblestone streets. Be prepared to walk as the tombs are in
no particular order, and some are not easy to find. Make
sure you're near the Porte Gambetta: (by the back wall) so

Striking modern memorials of the Vietnamese.
Photo by Robert Walsh.

Inside the grounds, the bustle and noise of the living
are not noticed as one walks quietly along, surrounded by
the remains and reminders of the great and not-so-great.
There are basilicas, gothic cathedrals, and shrines, all on a
reduced scale of course. Small mausoleums stand side by
side, like clumps of mushrooms along many paths. The most
striking modern memorials are those of the Vietnamese. With
gold-trimmed black marble and small bright yellow flowers,
they attract attention immediately.

The cemetery opened in 1804, but it was not popular.
To enhance its desirability the administrator, Nicholas
Frochot, had the remains of three French "greats" moved
there. The first to arrive were Abelard and Heloise, the ill-
fated medieval lovers. Next was Moliere, the famous French
playwright, and then La Fontaine, the writer of legendary
fables. After that, it gained acceptance as "the place" to be

T)t& lint, tin Lobble^tone stteets.
Photo by Robert Walsh

Page 6

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Qiiarterhj - Summer 1998

Feature Article

you can get to a restaurant around noon.
To cross an area between monuments is
very difficult. Unlike America with its
luxury of space, these memorials have a
"zero-plot" line with only an inch or two
between them. It's tough going unless
you are one of the 300 or more cats that
pad silently among the tombs.

The advent of large municipal
cemeteries without church restrictions
made it possible for those willing to pay
to erect substantial sculpted memorials
and more elaborate designs. The finest
examples are found in France and Italy,
with Pere Lachaise having outstanding
examples. 0

Above right: Cats among the
tombs. Photo by Barbara Rotunda

Right: Space is tight hetiveen the
monuments. Photo by Barbara
Rotunda

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Volume 22: Number 3

Page 7

Topical Column

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

17th AND 18th CENTURY
GRAVESTONES AND CARVERS

Ralph Tucker

PO Box 306

Georgetown, ME 04548

(207) 371-2423

Tribulations in Tracing the Hartshorne Family
of Gravestone Carvers: A Study of the
Development of Articles on Carvers

Harriette Forbes in her 1927 book Gravestones of Early
Neiv England attributed, in passing, the 1723 gravestone of
John Christopher at East Hampton, Long Island, New York,
to Joshua Hempstead of New London, Connecticut.

Forty years later Ernest Caulfield in The Cormecticut
Historical Society Bulletin (32:3) in the article "John
Hartshorn (1659-ca. 1738) vs. Joshua Hempstead (1678-1758)"
correctly pointed out that Hempstead was only a middleman
and that John Hartshorn was the actual carver. He provided
the first recognition of Hartshorne as a gravestone carver.

Six years after this Peter Benes, unaware of
Cauldfield's article, contributed the article "Lt. John
Hartshorn: Gravestone Maker of Haverhill (Massachusetts)
and Norwich (Connecticut)" to the Essex Institute Historical
Collectio7is 109:2. His conclusions were the same as Caulfield's
although based on slightly different data.

Five years later in 1978 James Slater and Ralph
Tucker in Puritan Gravestone Art II, in the article, "The
Colonial Gravestones of John Hartshorne," a comprehensive
work of Hartshorne' s work, listed all of his known stones
and illustrated his various styles. It tells that back in 1708
there had been an Indian raid at Haverhill, Massachusetts,
in which John Hartshorne's wife, son John, and three
grandchildren were killed. His son's widow later removed
to Providence, Rhode Island, with her remaining children.
Her son Jonathan later was married in Methuen,
Massachusetts, and later became a carver practicing in the
Newburyport area. It appears that he apprenticed with the
Leighton family of Rowley, Massachusetts, who had learned
carving from his grandfather, but by that time styles had
changed and Jonathan Hartshorne carved in the style of
Jonathan Leighton for a while before developing his own
style.

In 1996 Glenn Knoblock in Markers XIII in the article
"From Jonathan Hartshorne to Jeremiah Lane" traces the

development of Jonathan Hartshorne's style to that of
Jeremiah Lane.

Meanwhile, in 1983 Vincent Luti in Markers II wrote
about Stephen and Charles Hartshorn who were descendants
of the fifth and sixth generation from Lt. John Hartshorne.
In Rhode Island, Stephen's styles were unlike those of his
great great grandfather and followed the styles of the
Stephens shop in Newport, Rhode Island.

Here are four Hartshornes who were all descended
from one of the earliest carvers, and who were discovered
and described over a period of seventy years. 0

19TH AND 20TH CENTURY GRAVESTONES

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, NH 03220

(603) 524-1092

This column is both a confession and a sort of book
review. First the confession: ever since 1989, when 1 visited
Florence, Italy, I have been telling people that the kneeling
boy monument that we see in cemeteries across the country
was originally sculpted by Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850). I
based this attribution on a label in a museum.

Like all other tourists in Florence, I had gone to the
Academy to see the David by Michaelangelo. Having feasted
my eyes on David and been jostled by the crowd, I wandered
down an empty corridor to the left. It ended in a light-filled
gallery full of plaster casts. As I walked around, I recognized
reclining ladies and sleeping babies that I had seen copied
in marble monuments in American cemeteries, but I gasped
out loud when I came to the kneeling boy and the cushion
with tassels. Here at last was the source for all those kneeling
boys that I had in my slide collection. The little label in front
of it said Lorenzo Bartolini. How could I have questioned
it?

I continued to spread his name until this spring when
Janet Heywood, at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, lent me a handsome book entitled A Marble
Quarry by H. Nichols B. Clark, an art historian. The book is
a catalog for the James H. Ricau Collection of Sculpture held
by the Chrysler Museum of Art, Provincetown,

Page 8

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Topical Columns

Massachusetts. Published in 1997, the book includes research
by Clark that corrects several errors in attribution, including
one about the kneeling boy. Ricau credited an American
sculptor, Edward Virginius Valentine with the statue because
an early photograph of Valentine's studio in Richmond,
Virginia, showed a clearly identifiable kneeling boy.

It is strange that such errors could be made by
supposed experts in the field because research reveals that
not only did Luigi Pampaloni (1791-1847) create this
sculpture, but also it established his reputation because it
was so widely popular. Pampaloni next created a variety of
sentimental sculptures of children. Clark points out a sad
result, "Although these efforts provided financial security,
they cast a trivializing shadow on his career." (p. 46)

Eventually he received commissions on subjects
carrying more artistic prestige, and he gained the reputation
of an important artist. After his comparatively early death
his plaster molds were taken with those of Bartolini to
represent nineteenth-century artistic achievement in the city
of Florence. But the Academy confused Pampaloni's models
with Bartolini's — and that led to my error. I apologize for
leading others astray. 0

GRAVESTONES & COMPUTERS

Left: Nellie Clare
Pollinger monument,
Bethel Ceiiieteiy.
Richland Township,
Huron County, Ohio.
Photo by Jim Jewell.

John E. Sterling

10 Signal Ridge Way

East Greenwich, RI 02818

i_ster@prodigy.com

FAQs

The AGS database standard for recording gravestones was
developed through this column with input from AGS
members in 1995 and 1996. Today over 300 people are using
the database to record gravestone data in a standard format.
Questions are posted to the web site and sent to the office
about whether the program will handle particular situations.
The most frequently asked questions (FAQ) will be answered
here.

What kind of computer do I need and how fast does it need
to be?

The program will run on any level of IBM computer
including an old 8086 XT. This computer is painfully slow
searching a large database but it is fine for data input and
data checking. It will run in any operating system from DOS
3.3, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS2, etc. Sorry
but there is no Macintosh version.

I want to record the verses on gravestones. Will the
database allow this?

Yes, there is enough room to store 20 pages of data on each
gravestone. This data can also be searched. You could search
for all the stones with the verse "remember me as you pass
by" and print them in a report if you like. I used this search
to prepare for a talk at the 1997 AGS conference on marine
disasters. 1 searched a large database for phrases like lost at
sea, steamship and drowned. I found several hundred
gravestones to select from.

I am recording a large cemetery that has section numbers,
lot numbers and grave numbers. How would the program
handle these?

There is room for a two digit alpha-numeric section number,
a four digit lot number, and a four digit map number, that
can be used to store a grave number. After the data has been
entered into the database it can be browsed on the screen or
printed in natural order or in alphabetical order. Natural
order is important for genealogists who would like to know
who is buried next to whom.

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 9

Topical Columns

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

How can you record data about the type of gravestone?

The beauty of this program is that is stores this data in a
uniform format. It has a standardized 6 letter code to record
composition, condition, shape, status, carving and legibility.
There is also space to record the height and width of the stone.
Codes for composition include M for marble, S for slate and
G for granite. Under carving there is a code for brand because
in the west a person's cattle brand is often found on his
gravestone.

Can the database store pictures?

Not yet.

Can you print from the database after all the data has
been entered?

There are 10 standard reports you can run from the database.
Most of these can also be sent to a file which can be imported
to a word processor to be edited. Five books have been
produced in Rhode Island using just this technique.

We have several people recording cemeteries. Can they
work on their own computers and then combine all the
data back into one file?

This is a very common problem and the program has the
ability to import files and combine them.

Can files be sent over the internet?

This is an exciting technology that just keeps getting better
and better. I just received a file containing 22,000 gravestones
from Bill Eddleman in Missouri. He is recording Cape
Girardo County and since we both have the AGS software I
can load and search his files. This file downloads in 90
seconds.

Can I load the program on a portable computer and take it
to a cemetery to record the data directly into the computer?

Yes, one of our volunteers has recorded two large cemeteries
this way. I have trouble finding the cursor in bright sunlight.

I have Windows 95, how do I put the program on my
desktop?

Right click your mouse anywhere on the desktop.

Select - NEW

Then select - SHORTCUT

You will be asked to enter the command line.

Enter C: \ cemetery \ cemetery.exe

Click - NEXT

Name your shortcut (this could be the area you are recording,

e.g. Jefferson Co.)

Select an icon from the list

Your shortcut is now complete but you should make two

adjustments.

Right click your icon

Select - properties

Select the program tab and click close on exit

Select the screen tab and click usage-> full screen

You now have the program loaded as a shortcut on your

desktop.

Best of all if you purchase the database from the AGS office
and it does not meet your needs just return it for a full refund.

Digital Cameras

Doug Neilson E-mailed me with the address of another good
digital cameras web site.

http://www.dcresource.com

No one has contacted me to say they are using a digital
camera to record gravestones with great success. I will keep
monitoring this technology. 0

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Page 10

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Topical Columns

THE FARBER CD-ROMs

by Jessie Lie Farber

Ralph Tucker, in his topical column in the Winter
1997 AGS Quarterly (page 7), encourages AGS members to
get involved with research projects — tracing style
developments, carver interdependencies, trade routes,
sources of the stone materials, and other information
pertinent to gravestone study. His reference to the Farber
CD-ROMs indicates that he thinks they contain simply a
collection of photographs, and he concludes his article by
saying that students of gravestones have "spent enough
time looking for pretty and interesting gravestones," that
we should "spend more time in the STUDY of the stones."
I agree with this perspective on gravestone study. However,
his remarks prompt me to more clearly acquaint our good
friend and gravestone colleague as well as other researchers
with our CD-ROMs, what they contain, and how they
contribute to gravestone study.

It is clear that Ralph Tucker's experience with our
CD-ROMs is limited to the session at last year's AGS
conference, which offered members the opportunity to
experiment briefly with a sample disk. It isn't until you
have the eleven disks in your computer and begin to run
through the collection of nearly twenty thousand
photographs and the accompanying information that you
have an idea of what is really there. And that is precisely
the problem. To acquaint yourself with the material you
need equipment that will handle this huge amount of data.
And, of course, you need access to the CD-ROMs.
Unfortunately, both the equipment and the disks are costly.

Information about the CD-ROMs and the
equipment needed are available from the company that
produced the disks.

Visual Information, Inc.

1009 Grant Street, Suite 303

Denver, Colorado 80203

(303) 864-0490 (Voice); (303) 864-0492 (Fax)

E-mail VII@VISINFO.COM

Web Site www.VISINFO.COM

Having said that both the eleven disks and the
equipment needed to put them to proper use are expensive,
let me now tell you what I know about the pleasures and
the incredible opportunities these CD-ROMs offer students
of gravestones.

The stones on the disks are located, north-to-south,
from Nova Scotia to Georgia, with some stones as far west
as Texas. The largest sampling is from New England, with
generous samplings from other areas. Most of the stones
date from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth
centuries, but typical nineteenth-century and modern
stones are also represented.

Three collections are included, namely,
approximately 1400 stones photographed -by Harriette
Forbes in the 1920s; approximately 600 stones
photographed by Ernest Caulfield in the 1950s; and the
balance, our collections photographed from about 1960 to

1990. The Forbes and Caulfield photos are of whole stones;
the Farber photos include (with some exceptions) not only
the whole stone but also one or more details. And there are
photos of stone destruction as well as views of some of the
yards. There are nearly 150 photos of rubbings by Ann
Williams and Sue Kelly. And much more.

Information given about each stone includes a photo
number, name(s) of deceased, title(s), date(s), location, motif (s)
in the decorative carving, the naonument type (headstone,
footstone, tablestone, etc.), the stone's height, and, when
known, the stone material, the carver, and whether the stone
is probated or signed. One can search for stones by dates,
locations, carvers, materials, motifs, etc. For each stone there
is a map showing its geographic location. In addition there
are references to other stones that one might want to study in
connection with any given stone, such as the same stone
photographed at an earlier or later date, or rubbed, or similar
stones by the same carver.

The photographs can be viewed and studied in ways ^
not possible in their natural setting, e.g., selected stones side
by side on the screen, or at a variety of angles, in negative, in
extreme detail, etc.

There is a text of over fifty pages of information about
gravestones, their characteristics at various time periods and^
locations, their carvers, their conservation, their significance.

A host of researchers and scholars and computer
experts contributed generously to this project, notably Laurel
Gabel, Henry Lie, the American Antiquarian Society (sponsor
of the project), and Visual Information, Inc., the producer.
Visual Information took on this unusual project with
imagination and made many contributions that Dan and I
would never have visualized on our own.

The CD-ROMs include much, much more than I have
been able to outline here. They constitute a unique research
tool. Certainly they are more than a fragmented series of
artistic photographs. I urge those of you who want to make
use of this material and cannot just now see your way to
owning the eleven disks and the equipment to use them to
ask your local institutions (museum, college, historical society,
public library) to add these CD-ROMs to their collection. And
if they haven't the equipment, they will need it soon enough,
for many other collections are being organized and digitized
in this way. I hope you will succeed in getting access to these
disks, for if you do, you have in store a marvelous and unique
opporttmity and experience in the study of gravestones.

Finally, I would like to add that Dan and I have no
financial income from the sale of the disks. Our aim as we
developed the project was to make this enormous collection
available as a research tool. We are presently involved with
the production of a twelfth disk, which will include
photographs of stones from foreign countries, primarily
Yugoslavia, Turkey, and the Czech Republic (Prague), with
smaller samplings from England, Ireland, and Spain, plus a
large and wonderful collection of Betty Willsher 's photographs
of Scottish stones. 0

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 11

Topical Columns

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

CONSERVATION NEWS

Fred Oakley
19 Hadley Place

Hadley, MA 01035
(413)584-1756

oakl @javanet.com

Conserving a Marble Gravestone

Recently we received a well documented procedure
and description of materials used to conserve a marble
gravestone.

The condition survey described the stone as
delaminating along the top and sides and being warped. [Ed.
note: A conservator would have described the condition as
showing fissures or cracks at the top. It is not an unusual
condition.] Black lichens were present on the back of the
stone.

The materials and procedures used to conserve the
stone were: Cleaning it with a muriatic acid solution, sealing
the sides and top with an asphalt sealant, fitting aluminum
channel to the sides and top over the sealant, and resetting
the stone in fine crushed rock.

NONE of the conservation practices and materials
used to treat the stone are recommended by professional
conservators in our Association. [Ed. note: A Graveyard
Preservation Primer by Lynette Strangstad and other
appropriate conservation-related sources are readily
available through AGS.]

Specifically, acids are never used on soft stones.
Granite tolerates dilute acid.

The use of an asphalt sealant to seal the top and
edges of any gravestone, particularly a white one, is puzzling.
Adhesives appropriate for different types of stone are
available from firms that supply the gravestone industry.
AGS has a list of such suppliers to share with its members
and others.

Using metal of any kind to assist in conserving a
gravestone is not recommended. Metal introduces a
manufactured element into a natural setting. While
aluminum will not rust, it "defaces" the stone and introduces
the strong possibility for heating the asphalt sealant
sufficiently to cause it to soften and run.

The main message here is: When planning a
conservation project of any size, seek subject-related material.
Then, if the project is beyond your capability, seek a stone
conservator. Have the conservator provide a written

condition survey and specify the materials and methods to
be used. Check the conservator's proposal against your
personal research. Only then can you have a reasonable
assurance of a satisfactory job. 0

ACA'S Call for Papers

The "Cemeteries and Gravemarkers" Permanent Section
of the American Culture Association is seeking proposals
for its paper sessions at the 1999 AC A Annual Meeting
to be held March 31-April 3 in San Diego, California.
Please send a 250-word abstract or proposal together
with a 50-word description suitable for printing by
September 1, 1998 to:

J. Joseph Edgette, Ph.D.
Widener University
One University Place
Chester, PA 19013

Phone: (610)499-4241 Fax: (610)876-9751

E-Mail: <j.j.edgette@widener.edu>.

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Page 12

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Regional Columns

SOUTHWEST REGION

Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico

Ellie Reichlin

X9 Ranch. Vail, Arizona 85641

Phone (520 647-7005

Fax: (520)647-7136

E-mail: reichlin@u. arizona.edu

I imagine that many AGS members are attracted
to "the Web" because "surfing" and gravestone studies
have something in common. I experience an anticipatory
"rush" when taking that decisive first step into the precincts
of an imfamiliar cemetery: What will I find? Will its
markers be typical of its place and time period and
sponsoring body, or will there be something special? Just
as you literally "click" on items on the Web, you begin — in
cemeteries — to make mental clicks. You ask questions,
grope for answers, allow yourself the luxury of noting
peculiarities, particulars rather than the whole. Finally you
begin to "dig," linking your observations to history,
anthropology, medicine and health, material culture
studies, the fine arts, similar to the way the Web takes you
far afield, once you've initiated a search. And, if you're
lucky, you may reach some conclusions.

Not surprisingly, the Web, with its multiple
pathways, overloads you with information, and for anyone
as inquisitive as I, a lot of time is wasted tracking down
alluring items that don't pan out. I use two search engines
to generate lists, Web crawler and Yahoo. This was
arbitrary, and I decided not to launch further engines
because of time and expense.

Somewhat to my dismay I found that the most
seemingly insignificant modifications of a search term —
for example, from singular to plural, as in "gravestone" to
"gravestones" can yield surprisingly divergent results.
Searching both terms gave top billing to the Irish Family
History Foundation; however, the search on "gravestones"
put our own AGS in second place, while "gravestone"
awarded this position to the Southeast Archaeological
Center, National Park Service.

Even the content of closely related listings differed
in some instances. For example, the entry for the National
Register of Historic Sites which turned up under
"cemeteries" but not under "gravestone" [singular and
plural] provided an index to listed cemeteries in the
southwestern states. These include site number and date
of designation, but no further details. By contrast
"ArchNet — Cultural Resource Management" had much the
same information, but its listings seemed more recent, and

in many instances they were enlivened by commentaries. Or
at least this was the case when I clicked on "Colorado." I
learned that [Adams County] Riverside Cemetery in Denver,
founded in 1876, was the "primary resting place for the
prominent and influential, the unknown and unwanted, and
all those in between" — besides which it grew out of the garden
cemetery movement so popular to Denver's east. Further, I
learned that in Boulder, Colorado, the Columbia Cemetery,
1870, is Boulder's oldest, with more than 3000 markers in "a
variety of styles, materials, and craftsmanship that in many
cases reflect the socioeconomic status of those
commemorated." For whatever reason, however, this same
cemetery — listed on the National Register in 1997 — did not
appear on the National Register's own listing, which suggests
it's less up to date than the Listings maintained by the State
Historic Preservation Offices. Whatever the explanation,
having the two web sites gives one an ideal starting point from
which to explore the "historic" cemeteries in the southwestern
region — all without leaving home.

If you want to access these sites, try: http://
www.uh.edu/~cleimer/register.html [where I found the
cemetery index by state, using National Register data], and
"ArchNet" — Cultural Resource Management for similar
materials, also by state and county, which I got into via:
http: / / spirit.lib.uconn.edu / ArchNet / Topical / — but which to
my embarrassment, I can't reconstittite! I think I may have
clicked on "cemeteries" and "Colorado," but I'm not sure.

I didn't find that many listings for the states I tried —
Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. I doubt this
reflects a gap in entering data. Rather it is in the nature of
National Register nominations to "ordinarily" exclude
cemeteries.

Besides those mentioned above, the other listed
cemeteries in Colorado are [county name in brackets]:
[Douglas] Church of St. Philip in the Field, and Bear Canon
Cemetery, 5 miles south of Sedalia; [El Paso] Crystal Valley
Cemetery, Piainview Avenue, Manitou Springs; [El Paso]
Evergreen Cemetery, S. Hancock Avenue, Colorado Springs,
and Jefferson Hill Section, Golden Hill Cemetery, West Colfax
Avenue, Lakewood, Colorado.

In New Mexico, check these three: [Bernalillo] San
Antonio Church and Cemetery, jet. NM 14 and NM 536 (near
Albuquerque); [Colfax] Dawson Cemetery approximately 4
miles northwest of jet. of US 64 and the Dawson Road; and
[Santa Fe] Nuestra Senora de Luz Church and cemetery, 13
miles southeast of Santa Fe, north of 1-25, Frontage Road,
Canoncito.

In Utah, you could start looking for: [Juab] Diamond
Cemetery, south of Mammoth, Tintic Mining District; [Juab]
Eureka City Cemetery, southwest of Eureka off US 50, Tintic
Mining District; [Juab] Silver City Cemetery, southwest of
Mammoth, Tintic Mining District; [Summit] Glenwood
Cemetery Silver King Drive, approximately .5 miles north of
Park City Ski Resort, Park City; [Tooele] losepa Settlement
Cemetery, Skull Valley, losepa; [Utah] American Fork
Cemetery, Rock Wall, 600 N 100 E, American Fork.

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 13

Regional Columns

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

If you're in Tucson, you'll enjoy visiting the Fort
Lowell Neighborhood, a long-settled "riparian" or creekside
habitat which was occupied prehistorically by the Hohokam
farmers, and later became the site of a U.S. Army camp in
1873. By the turn of the century, several closely related
Mexican families moved to the vicinity. Their religious needs
were served by a Carmelite father, who held services
monthly. Eventually a small chapel was built, which burned
and was rebuilt on the same plan. A cemetery was located
about a mile away, serving the "Fuertenos" and their
descendants since the early 1900s. Today the Old Fort Lowell
Neighborhood Association is responsible for its preservation,
though descendents still refurbish the graves each year as
the "Day of the Dead" approaches. While the gate is locked,
and there's no parking, it's well worth hanging over the
adobe wall, for a glimpse of what the outskirts of Tucson
were like nearly a century ago. For further information
contact the Old Fort Lowell Neighborhood Association at
5230 East Ft. Lowell Road, Tucson, Arizona 85712. Phone:
(520) 318-0219. This agency, via Jean Turner, kindly supplied
this information.

A few final remarks: ChrisTina Leimer [http://
www.uh.edu-cleimer] maintains a site called the Tombstone
Traveler's Guide. Of special interest is her bibliography
section, and her photographs of roadside memorials that
mark the site of fatal accidents throughout the Mexican-
American southwest. These were in color, with excellent
detail. Such photographs provide a valuable baseline for
studying how these more-or-less ephemeral markers evolve
over time, and for what length of time they are maintained.
She includes precise information about their location. 0

Chicago area while pursuing her linguistic studies of the
Americanization of the Greek name. She located as many as
four versions in some family lots. Examples include:

Alexopulos = Alexander

Hambilomatis = Hampes

Panagiotaros = Pappas

All photos by Helen Scla,

Lithuanians also enjoy long surnames:

Pleckauskas = Pleckas

Rutkauskas = Routs

Daraciunas = Darr

Mackerich = Mack

Laurinavicius = Laurin
Like the Greek practice, the Lithuanians carve both names
on the same marker.

MIDWEST REGION

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio,
South Dakota, Wisconsin!,
Manitoba, Ontario

Helen Sclair

849 West Lill Avenue

Chicago, IL 60614-2323

aka*

"As American as Apple Pie, the Flag, and Mother"
is an oft heard adage. While looking at gravemarkers it
would appear that the phrase "And a Pronounceable
Surname" might be appropriate to complete the saying.

Richard Meyer, editor of Markers, sent a colleague,
Cornelia Paraskevas, to look at Greek cemeteries in the

* aka, "also known as"

Page 14

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Regional Columns

Other ethnic groups often change or translate
names. Phil Kallas has sent multiple Polish examples from
Portage County, Wisconsin:

Garsomke = Gazam

Zdrojewski = Strike and Stroik

Czudec = Check

Olszewski = Olds

Przybylski = Shibilski

(Note: Przy is pronounced Shi.)

And for mother and son — Flisakowski and Fliss

Southeast/Caribbean Region

Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, West Virgijiia, Caribbean

Sharyn Thompson

The Center for Historic

Cemeteries Preservation

P O. Box 6296

Tallahassee, Florida 32314

fFOSAKOWSKI

I ANNAB.

MARCH 5,1901
JANUARY 17, 1989

FLISS

REV. RICHARD L. |

JUNE 13, 1938
ORDAINED MAY 28,1966

The Greek and Lithuanian cemeteries are in Chi-
cago. At least sixty other ethnic group name changes are
visible in local cemeteries. The most dramatic on one stone
are the Orientals.

America forever — on a gravestone! As good as
Apple Pie, the Flag, and Mother. 0

SAVE THE DATE —

PLAN TO COME!!

AGS West Coast Regional Conference

"Seeking the West"

August 5-8, 1999 at

Reed College, Portland, Oregon

The conference is held in conjunction with the
Oregon Historic Cemeteries Association, Inc.

Jeanne Gentry and Phyllis Hoggatt are

Conference co-chairs.

Richard and Lotte Meyer are Program co-chairs.

New Orleans — In the preceding issue of the AGS
Quarterly, this column described the theft of funerary art and
architecture from cemeteries in New Orleans, and the
subsequent discovery of some of the items in Los Angeles
antique shops and flea markets. According to the Times-
Picayune, when the newspaper printed an article about the
thefts on March 11, the publicity about the crime — rather than
deterring thefts — actually contributed to more thefts! The
preservation organization. Save Our Cemeteries (SOC), is
greatly responsible for bringing this problem to the attention
of tomb owners and the local authorities, and for pressuring
authorities to treat the thefts as a serious crime. Louise
Fergusson, Director of SOC, reports that as of mid-May, police
estimate that materials valued at one million dollars have been

Autn]iic ivroiiglit and cant iron objects, includm^ fences

and other decorative pieces have been stolen from New

Orleans cemeteries for the antiques niarl<et.

Photo by Sharyn Thompson

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 15

Regional Columns

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

stolen from the city's cemeteries over the past two years.

The good news is that in April the New Orleans
Police Department arrested a three-man gang who were
spotted stealing items from Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery
and recovered more than $250,000 worth of items. This
included 15 Italian marble religious statues and 11 angel
statues, 29 urns, and assorted cast iron benches and chairs.
A short time later, an additional $250,000 worth of items were
recovered, and approximately $240,000 worth of artifacts
were returned to tomb owners. Ms. Fergusson noted that
while this is extremely gratifying, the rate of return of the
materials is less than 50%. "Part of the problem is that many
owners have no documentation of their tomb or what adorns
it. It is difficult for the police to return items to tomb owners
if they cannot provide proof that the items are truly theirs."
Many of the unclaimed items, stolen over a two-year period,
are now in a warehouse, and people are attempting to
identify their personal property.

The three men arrested are not the only persons
responsible for the most recent incidents of stolen cemetery
articles. Materials were discovered in myriad places,
including antique shops in Los Angeles and in New Orleans
and the nearby town of Covington. Investigators believe
that a large quantity may also be in Mississippi . Most of the
antique dealers have cooperated with the investigation,
although a few have not. The monetary value of some of the

Religious statuary, especially angels similar to this one at a

tomb in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, are targets of art thieves.

Photo by Sharyn Thompson

art work is obviously what makes theft so attractive; one six
foot-high statue of the Virgin Mary was found in a shop with
a $6,200 price tag, yet the dealer had bought it from the
three-man gang for only $150. Other stolen religious statues
have been valued as high as $40,000.

Detectives with the New Orleans Police Department
are determined to recover as much of the stolen material as
possible, and to discover who is operating the funerar\' art
theft ring. In 1981, Save Our Cemeteries and The Historic
New Orleans Collection surveyed nine of the city's earliest
cemeteries — this enormous effort documented over 11,000
tombs. These records could prove extremely useful in
identifying some of the items which have been stolen from
the historic sites. [Such records are indeed valuable. All members
should try to record their local cemeteries for this reason. Ed.]
Ms. Fergusson reports that city authorities are anxious for
SOC to complete surveys for all the other cemeteries and are
investigating potential funding sources for the massive
project. Meanwhile, information for the existing surveys is
being entered into a master database. Save Our Cemeteries,
and its star database, were recently featured on "Good
Morning America Sunday" and were also filmed by a crew
from CNN.

Congratulations to the New Orleans Police
Department, especially Detectives Frederick Morton and
Lawrence Green, for their diligent work, and to the staff and
board of Save Our Cemeteries for their advocacy on behalf
of New Orleans' historic burial sites. For additional
information about the cemetery thefts, or about the sur\'ey
records for early New Orleans cemeteries, contact Save Our
Cemeteries, P O. Box 58105, New Orleans, LA 70158-8105
(504-525-3377). (Material for this article provided by Louise
Fergusson, Save Our Cemeteries, and from Times-Picayune
articles on April 17 and 25, 1998).

In the Spring 1998 AGS Quarterly, the book New
Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead, published by
Batture Press, written by Robert Florence, and illustrated with
photographs by his brother. Mason Florence was reviewed.
Mr. Florence has also written a paperback book about St.
Louis Cemetery No. 1, situated on the boundary of the French
Quarter, which is available for $8.54 (includes tax and
shipping). For additional information about these
publications, or to place orders, contact Batture Press, P. O.
Box 19381, New Orleans, LA 70179-0381.

In conjunction with the book, the Louisiana State
Museum has created an exhibit centered around the cem-
eteries, also entitled "New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the
Cities of the Dead." A recent letter from Robert Florence
advises that it will be at the Museum through June 1999 and
will then travel to other museums. The Museum is located
in the historic Presbytere on Jackson Square. A companion
exhibit, "Disease, Death and Mourning" is at the nearby
Cabildo. 0

Page 16

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Regional Cohanns

MID-ATLANTIC REGION

Delaware, New Jersey. New York,
Pennsylvania, Quebec

G.E.O. Czamecki

2810 Avenue Z

Brooklyn, NY 11235

Stealing the Past

In the course of gravestone research, amidst the
graveyards and the readings, news-stories and the media,
I have come to see an increasing amount of theft.
Remember that urn that was there the last time? OR why
is there a gap in that row when 1 know it was full? OR
whatever happened to the down-turned torch on the iron
gate? OR did the church decide to take care of that old stone
or did somebody else take care of it for $$$?

Vandalism is an act performed by the stupid, angry,
and hateful. What is vandalized is haphazard and just plain
destructive. The motive is not set by intelligent criteria.
On the other hand there is theft, something that must be
more calculated and serious. After all, a vandal usually
leaves his mess in the cemetery, but a thief's main concern
is getting away with the piece.

Transplanting funerary art away from the
originating area is probably standard. It becomes less
recognizable away from its "home," besides sometimes
being disguised by alterations. I've seen a few nineteenth-
century pieces like lambs and urns or eighteenth-century
tympanums that have been severed from larger pieces and
sold as lawn ornaments at high-class antique shows.

The colonial era and nineteenth-century
graveyards are in such a state at the end of the twentieth
century that they will promote thievery because they are
wide-open niches for any cunning individual who wants
to occupy them. For example, I present an excerpted news
item from the Star-Ledger of New Jersey (October 31, 1997).
It reveals the increasing web of stealing gravestones for
profit

Cops Let 1740's Headstone
Rest in Peace Once More

Nathaniel Bonnel's tombstone, which has
been in Union Township police custody since
December, returns today to the church
cemetery where it stood for 252 years.

The return of the brownstone marker — used to
identify a member of one of New Jersey's oldest
families, dating back to the mid-1660s — ends a saga
that began last year when it was stolen from the
cemetery of the Connecticut Farms Presbyterian
Church. . . .

Police became aware of the stolen gravemarker
in late December when Detective Joseph Dilginis
went to an Evergreen Parkway house during an
unrelated investigation. Dilginis saw the tombstone
leaning against the wall in the dining room.

Marc Work, 31, was arrested for receiving
stolen property. In July he pleaded guilty and paid
a $650 fine.

"I thought it was stolen from a cemetery,"
Dilginis said. "He [Work] said he bought it from a
garage sale in Pennsylvania."

Dilginis knew otherwise. 'It was because of
the name Bonnel that I knew it could be from here,"
he said. "It has a lot of historical significance."

The article continues, indicating that in 1664 the
Bonnel family settled in Elizabeth, the first permanent
settlement in New Jersey. Nathaniel's tombstone is chiseled
in old-style using ye. The date of his death reads March 22,
1744/5, the double date reflecting the change from the Julian
to the Gregorian calendar. Other family members buried in
the church cemetery include Hannah Bonnel, Stephen Bonnel,
Aaron and Phoebe Bonnel, all of whom died in the eighteenth
century.

In subsequent issues this column will include more
local material relevant to each of the mid-Atlantic states. I am
hoping to stimulate more letters with the promise of more
inclusions. Although 1 am interested in all gravestone data
from local sources, I am much more interested in the opinions
of readers about events and news stories. I like to hear serious
criticism about gravestones and gravestone policies and
concepts. Although silence is indicative of the grave, it should
not be indicative of gravestone studies. 0

r

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Volume 22: Number 3

Page 17

Regional Columns

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

NEW ENGLAND AND MARITIME REGIONS

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire. Rhode Island,
Vermont, Labrador, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland

Bob Klisiewicz

46 Granite Street

Webster, MA 01570

KliroOl @svh-worc.com

New Brunswick Iron Gravemarkers

AGS member Sybil Card Crawford from Dallas,
Texas, was recently published in the winter 1997 issue of
Generations, the journal of the New Brunswick Genealogical
Society. Her article traces the activities of the Moncton
Metallic Monument Company which produced cast iron
gravemarkers in Moncton, New Brunswick, during the latter
part of the nineteenth century. The monuments (see Fig. 1 &
2) were advertised as "... of Cast Iron, in Scroll Work of
Beautiful Designs, and are coated with a Chemically
Prepared Compound which is impervious to the action of
the weather...". It appears that the Moncton Metallic
Monument Company jobbed out the actual casting of the
monuments, and performed the finish work only, first sealing
the rough cast iron, and then protecting the castings with a

coating mixture whose main ingredient was pure metallic
iron. At that point, the customer had a choice of finish, either
white or black paint. This process must have worked pretty
well as attested by Crawford's photos, which were taken in
1996. New Brunswick winters can be pretty severe, yet the
markers still stand, straight and proud, showing only minor
pitting and rust. The name of the deceased was lettered "of
pure gold leaf, enclosed beneath cement and glass," and
inserted into an opening in the gravemarker. The inserted
inscription piece didn't fare as well as the rest of the marker
however, for Crawford says that almost all of the plates that
she observed are either missing or illegible. The inscription
plates were originally sealed to keep out moisture, and
promised greater durability than ordinary marble stones;
however, it appears that this was wishful thinking on the
manufacturer's part. Crawford speculates that, because the
inscriptions were hermetically sealed, it was almost
impossible to rehabilitate them, once damaged, and they
were often removed altogether.

These monuments were quite popular, selling well
not only in the Moncton area, but also throughout maritime
Canada. Their price was tempting, ranging between $3.00
for the most economical model to a grand $15.00 for the best.
It was not stated whether these were in Canadian or
American dollars; however, as the article was published in a
Canadian publication, it would be assumed that we are
talking Canadian dollars. It was suggested in their
advertising matter that these markers were less than half the
cost of marble markers, and had the advantages of "being

Fig. 1 Cast iron gravemarkers, Moncton, New Brunswick
Photo by Sybil C. Crawford

h'ig. 2 riw opening i.sjor a missing inscripliim piece.
Photo by Sybil C. Crawford

Page 18

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Regional Columns

wonderfully durable," as well as being more handsome than
marble.

The advertisement refers to the iron monuments as
"grave marks," never "grave markers," and Crawford points
out that this term was used consistently throughout their
advertising.

Reverse Lettered Stone

The Rivera stone, in the Dudley [Massachusetts]
Corbin Cemetery is a testament to modern stonemakers art,
with the bare, classically carved, family name the only
inscription on the front of the stone. The balance of the stone
depicts a peaceful, multi-colored scene of trees, lake, and deer
(both staring at the viewer). The stone provides a respite
from the hurried cares of this world , and reminds viewers
of the peace of eternal rest.

When the light hits the stone the right way, however,
the viewer is jolted back to reality to see, directly above the
Rivera name, and every bit as large, a partially revealed
inscription in reverse lettering (see Fig. 3). 1 have no
explanation for this phenomenon, but might guess that
perhaps the finished Rivera stone was laid flat on a piece of
printed cardboard for safekeeping and some chemical
reaction took place to transfer the printing to the Rivera stone.
I would appreciate comments from readers who may have
seen similar stones elsewhere. Fig. 4 attempts to depict more
clearly what can be seen of the inscription. The letters ?PPY
?? THD?A seem quite clear, the rest are obscured or off the
end of the stone. (A "Wheel of Fortune " fan may guess that
the word was "Happy Birthday") 0

ACROSS THE OCEANS

Angelika Kriiger-Kahloula

German School Washington, D.C.

8617 Chateau Drive

Potomac, MD 20854-4599

From Lepers' Colony to Millionaires' Avenue:
Melaten Cemetery in Cologne, Germany

In the early nineteenth century, the city of Cologne
(Koln) buried its dead in crypts and churchyards, as virtually
every German town or village did at the time. When a decree
issued by Napoleon on June 12, 1804 ordered the closing of
downtown churchyards for interment, the churches and city
council managed to stall for time with the French occupying
forces, but eventually a new graveyard had to be established
to serve the city's population of 45,000. In 1808, a large plot
of land was purchased in Melaten, a small settlement about
2 km west of the city. Melaten derives its name from the
French "malades" ("the sick"), because of the lepers' colony
that had resided there from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth
century.

In 1810, the new graveyard was dedicated and
received its first Catholic burials. Protestants were admitted
in 1829. In that year, cemetery regulations allowed for re-
use of ordinary single graves after 15 years. Obviously,
hundreds of years of overcrowded churchyards had shaped
expectations of the appropriate length of time allotted to
"eternal rest." In spite of this rapid turnover, four
enlargements to the original grounds had been realized
before the "New Burial Ground" was added to the old one
in 1875, bringing the total area up to its present size of 45
hectares (111 acres).

The layout of the Melaten burial ground was
classical, strictly geometric with wide paths and avenues that
met at right angles. Trees and flower beds were included in
the design from the very begimiing, although the drawings
we have from the first decades of the century show scant
vegetation. In the twentieth century, however, the sheer
number and splendid variety of trees attracted strollers and
visitors, who may not have been primarily interested in the
grave sculpture. Yet the latter was impressive, too. Some of
the grave markers are monumental indeed, reflecting the
wealth of Koln's foremost families. "Millionen-Allee," the
unofficial name of the major tree- and monument-lined
avenue, features a wide selection of costly monuments. Some

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 19

Regional Columns

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

of them may strike us as elegant; others appear rather
pompous to modern eyes.

The classicist style of the early years is reflected in
the obelisks, stelae, columns, and urns that are found in the
older parts of the cemetery. A favorite figure among the
sculptures, which one is liable to encounter all over Melaten,
is the female mourner (Fig. 1). Many of these sculptures have
highly individualized features, making one wonder whether
the sculptors used professional models, relatives or spouses
of the deceased or imagination. (I suppose that the
personalized option is the least likely, though the most
appealing one to romantic natures amongst us graveyard
enthusiasts. Are there any AGS members willing to share
their knowledge of mourning figures in a forthcoming
Quarterly?)

Fig. 1. Female mourner
Photo by Angelika Kruger-Kalhoula

The monument that the cemetery is best known for,
however, is a tall skeleton (Fig; 2) walking out of a —
sculpted — rock on the Miillemeister burial site (now adopted,
i.e. cared for, by a local stonecutter's family, whose small
son was buried in the same lot a few years ago). The sculptor,
August Schmiemann, was clearly inspired by eighteenth-
century art. Wrapped in a wide cloak, the skeleton holds an
hourglass in its right hand. The left hiand used to hold a
scythe, which has disappeared. It is a ghastly sight to see,
and the wearing off of the sculpture's strong contours (caused
by weathering and pollution, I assume) does not lessen this
effect for me.

Another gravesite that receives a lot of attention is
that of Johann Maria Karl Farina (1840-1896), whose name
you have probably never heard but whose "cologne" you
may have smelled at some point. The Farina company

Fig. 2. Famous skeleton statue.
Photo by Angelika KntgerpKahloula.

produced the original "4711 Eau-de-Cologne." On his grave,
a mourning angel, about seven feet tall, points to a
Romanesque altar that has a budded cross at the front center.

Neogothic, neorenaissance, and other historicizing
styles have also left their imprints on Melaten. The
extravagant tomb of merchant Emil Delbermann is distinctly
neobaroque. It features an angel holding a trumpet, who
spreads a length of cloth over a sarcophagus.

But there are also items of modern and avant-garde
art in Melaten. The expressionist tomb of Peter Joseph
Thelen, a wine seller, was done by sculptor Georg Grasegger
in 1924. It shows a wine grower examining vines.

I have to apologize for not providing pictures of the
graves I have mentioned here. When I took a guided tour of
Melaten-Friedhof on a very hot day in July, I had trouble
taking pictures because (a) the sunlight was too strong for
my poor camera to take pictures at certain angles, (b) the
wonderful old trees growing around, over and into some of
the monuments provided so much shade that the opposite
effect was produced, (c) fellow tourists surrounded the
monuments as long as the guide talked about them, and
staying behind would have meant missing the next grave,
(d) it was simply too hot to retrace my steps when the tour
was over. The combination of the above reasons made me
decide to go back on a photographic mission some other time,
preferably in winter. But winters have come and gone.
Perhaps you will find your way to Melaten before I do.

A postscript to my last column: The book about the Jewish
cemetery in Harburg is now available from: Dale Ashmun,
PO Box 8812, New Orleans, LA 70182-8812. 0

Page 20

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS

Mary-Ellen Jones

2 Los Amigos Court

Orinda, CA 94563-1605

(510)254-2295

[With this column. Mary-Ellen
has resigned as Book Review
Editor Any volunteers for the
position ?]

A Traveler's Guide to Pioneer Jewish
Cemeteries of the California Gold Rush

By Susan Morris

Commission for the Preservation of Pioneer

Jewish Cemeteries and Landmarks
Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell Street
Berkeley, California 94705
Softcover, 99 pages Price: $12.95

Reviewed by Mary-Ellen Jones

Publications of every description celebrating the
Sesquicentennial of the California Gold Rush have appeared
with steadfast regularity. One of the most valuable of these
is A Traveler s Guide to Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries of the California
Gold Rush by Susan Morris.

The book's title is both accurate and deceptive. It
does indeed focus on Jewish cemeteries — seven, to be
exact, — located in the Mother Lode region of Northern
California. The deception of the title is that the volume is
far more than a guide to Jewish cemeteries. Information
about tombstone symbolism, inscriptions, styles, and history
found in cemeteries applies to most cemeteries of the period.

In her Author's Notes, Morris provides a sensitive
insight into why cemeteries should be respected and
preserved, and how they contribute to a complete
understanding of our past. Her text provides essential
information about the Gold Rush, Jewish families who
became part of its history, and aspects of Jewish customs
and burial rites.

The essence of this work is its self-guided tours.
Jewish cemeteries in seven Gold Rush communities —
Sonora, Mokelumne Hill, Jackson, Placerville, Nevada City,
Grass Valley, and Marysville — are described in detail
including pertinent facts about the community, how to locate
the cemetery, access arrangements, and biographical data
about Jewish pioneers buried beneath the stones.

Susan Morris' handsome volume is a must for
historians of the California Gold Rush, those interested in
Jewish history, and those who either research cemetery
history seriously or find enormous satisfaction in roaming
through historic graveyards. Many will ponder and answer
for themselves the question posed by Morris: Who are the
important people? All interred in these sacred grounds are
important.

Headstones of the Gold Rush Era:
Sculpting Masterpieces in Marble

By Leeanna M. Rossi

Published by the Sacramento County Historical

Society
Order from: John Bettencourt, 1000 Broadway
Sacramento, CA 95818 Tel. 916-448-5665
Softcover, 50 pages Price: $4.95 plus handling

Reviewed by Mary-Ellen Jones

Following the 1848 discovery of gold in California,
thousands of men headed west to seek riches and adventure.
A few became wealthy. Many found enough gold to return
home more prosperous than before. Uncounted numbers
perished.

A gravestone from the Cold Rush era
Phnio by Mary-Ellen Jones

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 21

Notes & Queries

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Numerous 49ers settled in California where they
returned to former careers. Among these men were two
tombstone carvers, Israel Luce and Andrew Aitken, who
established marbleyards and began supplying stones for the
new Californians.

Leeanna M. Rossi has written a pamphlet about these
two men and seven other carvers who arrived in California
between 1849 and 1879 and set up shop in Sacramento.

Her monograph is a work-in-progress, a promising
beginning indeed. Her facts are based on solid research using
the finest available primary source materials. When the work
is completed, it will help fill an enormous void in the history
of Northern California tombstone carvers.

Westwood: A Historical and Interpretive View
of Oberlin's Cemetery

Published 1997 by Oberlin Historical and Improvement
Organization (O.H.I.O.). Order from the organization, PO
Box 455, Oberlin, OH 44074. 64 pages. Price: $7.50 -i-
$2.00 p & h.

Reviewed by Barbara Rotundo

Customarily the Quarterly lists guides for small local
cemeteries under "Publications Received" because few
members would be interested in a review. This guide to
Westwood Cemetery, compiled by 21 people, contains a
wealth of material that, among other uses, could help AGS
members who are working on similar guides.

To begin with, it contains three maps, the first
showing the 39 trees that are listed by popular name but
each followed by a note containing the proper botanical name
and a few items of interest. The centerfold map identifies
the graves of the people listed in five different categories:
Historical and Interesting Figures; Slavery: Victors and
Victims; Oberlin College Presidents; Oberlin College Faculty
and Staff; Missionaries. On the back page is a map locating
the cemetery within the town of Oberlin.

Oberlin College has long been noted for its
pioneering decisions and for the devotion of its graduates.
The first coeducational college in the country, it was also an
important stop on the Underground Railway. Naturally the
cemetery reflects both of these innovations. Despite their
forward-looking beliefs, the citizens of the town lived quietly
and chose modest memorials. There are no bold or large
sentimental sculptures, yet the guide contains some fifty
black and white pictures of the conventional gravestones,
which would make it invaluable for comparison with other
cemeteries. Serious students of nineteenth-and twentieth-
century stones should find the guide useful without ever
setting foot in the cemetery. 0

NOTES & QUERIES

The article m AGS Quarterly vol. 22, no. 1, "The Day
Will Come. . . " includes a photo of the vandalized Haymarket
Memorial in Forest Home Cemetery. Here is a photo taken
before the destruction. There are plans to restore the
monument. — Sent in by Helen Sclair

15-Day Tour of England's Graveyards in 1999

A 15-day gravestone tour of southern England is
being planned for May '99 by Len Tompos, a three-year AGS
member, in cooperation with EF Educational Tours of
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Planned principally around AGS
interests, the tour is first being offered exclusively to AGS
members as possibly the first of several British Isle and
Western European gravestone explorations.

The idea of touring key historical grave sites in
England came out of Len's experiences at the 1996 AGS
conference at Gorham, Maine. A long-time student of the
evolution of gravestones, Tompos is a former newspaperman
and recently retired sociology professor.

As plarmed, the May 18-June 1st tour will feature
burial places in and about major cathedrals in London, Bath
and Gloucester, and in a variety of countryside churchyards
in the western Cotswolds and along the southern coastal
areas, including the popular Brighton area. These areas have
been selected to offer the greatest variety of gravestone styles,
many of which were the historical forerunners of styles later
found in the eastern United States and Canadian provinces.

Page 22

Volume 22: Number 3

AGS Quarterly - Summer 1998

Notes & Queries

The projected nearly totally inclusive tour cost is
expected to be about $2,500, including round-trip airfare from
Boston, daily Continental breakfasts, daily dirmers, chartered
bus ground transportation, and paid entrances to St. Paul's
Cathedral, Stonehenge, Roman Baths, Tintangel and
Winchester Abbey.

A more complete trip brochure will soon be
available. Anyone tentatively interested in joining the tour
can contact Len Tompos via e-mail <LTombstone@aol.com >
or by writing him at 139 Vineyard Road., Avon Lake, OH
44012-1725. His phone number where it is possible to leave
a message is (440) 933-3838. 0

New Additions to the AGS Lending Library

Allison Weiss of the McLean County Historical Society,
Bloomington, Illinois, donated a copy of their tour guide:
Voices from the Past: Evergreen Cemetery Discovery Walk.
The fall of 1997 was the third year the McLean County
Historical Society has given the tour of Evergreen Cemetery
and Allison kindly donated a copy of their comprehensive
study guide and script. It may be of interest to others
planning a similar project.

The Cross and the Shamrock: The Art and History of St.
Patrick Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts was donated by
Mary Ann McNamara on behalf of the author, David D.
McLean, as well as her father, James J. McNamara and all
the volunteers who had the privilege of helping Mr. McKean
in his efforts to preserve the history of the early Irish
immigrants to Lowell, Massachusetts.

Pioneer Cemetery Survey: Historic Mount Oread Fund by

Karl L. Gridley. This book was donated by Cathy Ambler,
PhD and contains a survey of nineteenth-century gravestones
within Pioneer Cemetery, Lawrence, Kansas. It documents
inscriptions, conditions and locations of the remaining
nineteenth-century gravestones in this cemetery and makes
recommendations for their future preservation.

Pinal Respects: Dealing With Death in the Victorian Era,

the Lincoln Museum, Fort Wayne, Indiana. This folder was
prepared by the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Jan Shupert-Arick utilized our Lending Library resources in
preparing this exhibit for the museum and remembered us
upon completion of their project. The folder includes
information on the museum as well as information about
the exhibit which ran February 5, 1997 through March 16,
1997.

Old Bohemian and Moravian Jewish Cemeteries by Petr Ehl,
Arno Parik and Jiri Fiedler. Donated by Barbara Rotundo,
this book contains numerous black and white photos of the
Jewish cemeteries of Bohemia and Moravia. 0

PRESIDENT'S DESK continued from page 2

I cannot begin to tell you the effect and influence
his work has had on mine. He raised the bar for me
and challenged me to try to reach his level of photographic
excellence. I will continue to accept that challenge with
Victorian stones. My course is set. I only hope that I can
reach the same quality with my photography. I still don't
photograph colonial stones. I am intimidated by what he has
already done.

Those of you who have never seen Dan's work
should make an effort to do so — the actual photographs, not
printed reproductions. You will be looking at something quite
rare. Dan took an artifact, a genuine work of art, and from it
created another artifact — another genuine work of art.
Whatever else he accomplished and gave to our organization,
when I heard the news of his death to me it was news of the
passing of a Master, an Artist. He was a walking treasure.
We are all poorer now that he is gone.

— Frank Calidonna, President

Call for Papers

1999 AGS Conference

American University, Washington, DC

June 23-27, 1999

Papers for the formal lecture sessions at the
1999 AGS Conference in Washington DC are now
being solicited. Particularly welcome will be topics
resulting from research in the Washington area.

Please keep in mind that this is an organization
for gravestone studies. While funerals and cemeteries
are inextricably linked with gravestones, discussions
such as ethnic mourning customs or ways to publicize
cemetery preservation are more suitable for
participation sessions where conferees can choose
among topics (see below). The formal presentations
will be limited to twenty minutes, and this year a disc
or typed copy will be required at the time of the lecture.

Send proposals and a 250-word abstract by
February 1, 1999 to Program Chair Barbara Rotundo
48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4, Belmont, NH 03220.

Call for Participation Sessions

Talks, demonstrations, or round table
discussions on topics related to gravestones are
solicited for the AGS Conference in Washington DC,
June 1999. The sessions are held on Saturday in
classrooms seating thirty to forty people, and last about
an hour. Those involving both a talk and work in the
field can have double periods.

Send your descriptive proposals by February
1, 1999 to the AGS office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207,
Greenfield, MA 01301.

Volume 22: Number 3

Page 23

CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS

August 15, 22, and 23, 1998 - A series of free events at O'ahu Cemetery and Chapel in Honolulu, Hawaii, in connection with Nanette Napoleon Pumell's
new book, O'fl/iM Cemetery, Biirifl/ Ground &H/stonc Site, include a slide lecture by Nanette, a book signing, and walking tours of the
graveyard. Call (808) 538-1538 for information and reservations.

August 22-23, 1998 - The 4th annual Civil War reenactment in Wickham Park in East Hartford, Cormecticut, sponsored by the Friends of Center Cemetery.
The event will include living history events, sutler booths, shows, and a portrayal of the battle of Fisher's Hill, Virginia by reenactors. Hours are
9:30-4:00 on Aug. 22 and 9:30-3:00 on Aug. 23. For directions and fees, call (860) 568-6178.

September 10-11, 1998 - A Conference on Preservation of Historic Religious Properties and Cemeteries at Owyhee Plaza Hotel, Boise, Idaho. Topics will
include concerns for cemetery properties — vandalism, ownership, preservation guidelines, and landscape issues. Sponsored by National Trust
for Historic Preservation, National Park Service, Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, and other state groups. Contact: (208) 344-7186.

At Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts:

September 12, 1998 - 10-11:30 a.m. '"Life is Ever Lord of Death' — Learning from Gravestones" — a walking tour with Janet Heywood.

More information call (617) 547-7105. Select ext. 821 for program information. Select 823 for weather-related postponements or cancellations.

September 12 or 13, 1998 - 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. "Computer Resources for Genealogists" - seminar sponsored by New England Historic Genealogical
Society. Held at the Women's Educational & Industrial Union, 356 Boylston St., Boston, MA. Call 1-888-AT-NEHGS or (617) 536-5740,
ext. 202. Ask about the daytime course Genealogy 101 (Computer Resources) offered daytimes on four Thursdays in October.

September 19 at 10 a.m. and 20, 1998 at 2 p.m. - "Historic Tour of Mt. Auburn Cemetery" led by Barbara Rotundo.

September 13, 1998 - Connecticut Gravestone Network 1998 Symposium, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Slater Museum, Norwich Free Academy, 305 Broadway,
Norwich, CT. Includes slide shows, foiling workshop, computer database workshop, photography workshop, and a tour of Oak Street
Cemetery led by Dr. James Slater. Call Ruth Shapleigh-Brown at (860) 643-5652 for information.

October 4-9, 1998 - Service Elderhostel in Austin, Texas. Cleaning bronze statues at the Charles Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum. "Professional
conservators will share insight about their recent involvement with the restoration project at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin." Call
(617) 426-8056 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST, Monday thru Friday, for information.

October 23-24, 1998 - "Gone But Not Forgotten," at Glenwood Cemetery, Geneva, New York. A program designed by local high school students. Meet
cemetery "residents," and hear about their lives during the 1870s and 1880s. Contact Geneva Historical Society, (315) 789-5151 or e-mail:
genevhst@flare.net.

© 1998 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is used for educational
purposes; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and /or photographer or artist involved; and (3) a copy of the document or arhcle in
which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association
for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. Copies of most issues are available from the AGS office for $3.00. The
goal of the AGS Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones.

To contribute articles, notes, or queries, please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior /Student, $25; Individual, $30; Institutional, $35; Family, $40; Supporting, $65; Life, $1000) to the Association for Gravestone
Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year
from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, The Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies: Please send articles to Richard
Meyer, Editor oi Markers, PO Box 13006, Salem, OR 97309-1006. His telephone is (503) 581-5344 and e-mail address is meyerr@wou.edu. The current issue
of Markers is volume XV now available. Please see the insert in this Quarterly.

Address other correspondence to Administrator, AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301. (413)-772-0836. ags@javanet.com

The Association for Gravestone Studies
278 Main Street, Suite 207
Greenfield, MA 01301

NON PROFIT ORG

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 183
GREENFIELD. MA

AGS Quarterly

BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

Table of Contents

BOARD AND OFFICE NEWS 2

MEET THE AGS BOARD OF TRUSTEES 3

1998 CONFERENCE SUMMARY

Pre-Conference Activities 4

Thursday Evening Lectures 5

Thursday Late Night Session 6

Friday Bus Tours 7

Friday Evening Lectures and Late Night Session 10

Saturday Participation Sessions 12

NEW 1999 PUBLICATIONS LIST and ORDER FORM insert 13-16

Conservation Workshop 18

Forbes Awards 19

Saturday Night Lectures and Late Night Session 22

Conference Registrar's Report 22

Sunday Morning Lectures 23

1999 EAST COAST CONFERENCE, Washington, D.C 24

1999 WEST COAST CONFERENCE, Portland, Oregon 25

NOTES & QUERIES 26

CALENDAR 28

Cover design by Virginia Rockwood: Gravestone for Jerusha Spencer who died in 1787 in Elizabeth, New
Jersey; Carver is Ebenezer Price.

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The mission of tine Association for Gravestone Studies is to foster appreciation of the
cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.

AGS Quarterly Editorial Board: Mary Cope, Barbara Rotundo, Newland Smith, John Spaulding

Quarterly Contributions: Comments and contributions are welcome. When submitting time-sensitive material please keep in mind
that the AGS Quarterly often takes several weeks to reach the membership. Mail your contributions to the appropriate column editor
or to the AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 0130L

Advertising Prices: Business card, $30; 1/4 page, $50; 1/2 page, $90; full page insert, $200. Send camera ready advertising with payment
to the AGS Office.

Telephone: 413/772-0836 E-mail: ags@javanet.com AGS web site: http://www.berkshire.net/ags

TWO AGS CONFERENCES NEXT SUMMER— WASHINGTON, DC in June; PORTLAND, OREGON in August. Plan to attend!

Volume 22: Number 4

Fall 1998

ISSN: 0146-5783

Board and Office News

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

AGS Board of Trustees
June 1998-1999

Ruth A. Shapleigh Brown,
Manchester, CT.

Frank Calidortna (President), Rome, NY

Claire F. Deloria, Baldwinsville, NY

Robert Drinkwater, Sunderland, MA

James Fannin, Jr., Concord, MA.

Susan Galligan, North Attleboro, MA

Daniel B. Goldman, East Greenwich, RI

Geraldine Hungerford, Bethany, CT

C. R. Jones, (Secretary), Cooperstown, NY

Robert Klisiewicz , Webster, MA

W. Fred Oakley, Jr. (Treasurer),
Hadley MA

Stephen Petke, East Granby, CT

Brenda Reynolds, Woodstock, CT

Virginia Rockwood, Leyden, MA

Barbara Rotundo (Vice President),
Belmont, NH

Beth Smolin, Pelham, MA

John Spaulding, Sr., Manchester, CT

John Sterling, East Greenwich, RI

Janet Taylor, Pittsfield, MA

Gray Williams, Chappaqua, NY

Ex Officio

Laurel Gabel , (Research Clearinghouse

Coordinator), Pittsford, NY

Richard E. Meyer, (Markers editor),
Salem, OR

FUMDING PROVIDED IN PART BY

Massachusetts Cultural Council

News from the Office

Welcome to Four Life Members

Since Conference we have had
four members renew their membership
as Life Members, bringing our total of
Life Members to ten. The first was Alice
Lowder Zetterstrom of Saratoga, New
York who has been a member of AGS
since 1993. Next came Martha Smith of
Pittsboro, North Carolina, a member
since 1983. And the tenth Life Member
is Richard E. Meyer of Salem, Oregon.
The number ten is very significant to
him as he has been the editor of our
journal. Markers, for ten years. He asked
to be informed when we had reached
nine so he could be the tenth. He has
been a member since 1983. The eleventh
membership is from John and Elizabeth
Spaulding, Sr. of Manchester,
Connecticut. John is a trustee, serves
on the AGS Quarterly Editorial Board,
the Auditing Committee, and the
Personnel Committee. He and Elizabeth
have held a family membership since
1993.

These four new members join
the previous seven. Laurel Gabel,
Gaynell Stone, Barbara Rotundo, the
late Daniel Farber, Rosalee Oakley,
Jessie Lie Farber, and Mary Cope. We
are grateful to these members who have
invested in the future of AGS to such a
significant extent. This money is kept
in a separate fund. The interest is used
to fund these memberships, their
quarterlies and journals.

Operating Grant Received

As you see by the logo to the
left, thanks to Board member Robert
Klisiewicz, we have received a grant
toward publishing our Quarterly. More
information about this organization in
our next issue.

Membership Update

In the event you are curious, as
we go to press in mid-October we have
1178 members. Since January 1, 202 new

members have joined. Many of these
found us through our web page, and
some were given brochures by other
AGS members.

In September the office sent
out a special mailing to 200 ex-
members who had not renewed
between Junel997 and May 1998. We
are hopeful that many will return to
membership from that mailing.

Are You, Have You, Moved???

If you are among the large
percentage of people moving around
the country, please be sure to let the
office know your new address. Your
quarterlies will not reach you because
bulk mailings are not forwarded by the
post office, so it is important that we
know as soon as you do what your new
address will be.

Speaking of Addresses . . .

A number of you are giving us
two addresses, a summer and a winter
one. It is really difficult for us to try to
guess where you are when it is time to
send out the quarterlies. Any guess
might be wrong and you won't get the
publication. Please find a way to give
us just one address that wiU be good
all year around. Or for $10 have the
Quarterlies sent by first class mail so
they will be forwarded. We don't want
you to miss your issue.

Our Renewal Notice System

We send out two renewal
notices, one during the month before
your renewal becomes due and one at
the end of the month your renewal is
due. If you do not respond during the
following two months, your name is
dropped and you will not receive
quarterlies thereafter. So when you
receive your renewal notice, please
respond, even if it means marking the
line "I do not care to renew at this
time." This will save the cost of further
unproductive mailings. Won't )'ou help
us to be as cost effective as possible? 0

AGS QUARTERLY: THE BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

ISSN: 0146-5783 October 1998

Published quarterly by The Association for Gravestone Studies, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301.
Telephone: 413/772-0836 e-mail: ags@javanet.com AGS web site: http://www.berkshire.net/ags

Page 2

Volume 22: Number 4

Order Form

QUANTITY

ITEM

Please give sizes of t-shirts and sweatshirts when ordering.

PRICE

POSTAGE AND HANDLING

Size of order Surface Air/Foreign

$1.00-$4.99 free $1.00

$5.00-$9.99 $1.50 $3.00

$10.00-$24.99 $3.50 $5.00

$25.00-$49.99 $5.00 $7.00

$50.00-$74.99 $6.50 $8.00

$75.00+ $8.00 $10.00

SUBTOTAL

POSTAGE
(SEE CHART)

TOTAL

Ship to:
Name:

ADDRESS:
PHONE:

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES

278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301

(413)772-0836

Gravestone leisurewear

Please remember to indicate size when ordering!

SALE! 1996 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100% cotton with the conference logo stone

in green on a gold shirt.

M and L only - $8.00 members, $10.00 others

AGS Polo Shirt

Navy 100% cotton shirt with the design in white in the
pocket area (there's a design there, but no pocket !)
M,L, XL - $16.00 members, $18.00 others
XXL - $17.00 members, $19.00 others

SALE! 1997 Conference T-shirts

Preshrunk 100 % cotton with the conference logo stone

in black on a teal shirt.

L and XL only- $8.00 members, $10.00 others

Gravestone note cards.

Farber Photo Note Cards - 4 1/2" x 6"

Burgundy sweatshirt with a new gray gravestone
design. 52/48% cotton /polyester blend
Crew: M, L, XL - $19.95 members, $21.95 others
XXL - $20.95 members, $22.95 others

BUMPERSTICKERS

Maroon and white bumpersticker —

"I Brake for Old Graveyards"
$1.00 members, $1.25 others

Gravestone Artwear Note Cards - 4 1/2" x 6"

Set A: 8 cards , one of each
$4.00 members, $4.50 others

Set B: 8 cards, two of each
$4.00 members, $4.50 others

% ^U>/i'ivVV

Set A: Ten Colonial designs
$8.00 members, 9.00 others

Set B: Five 19th Century Designs
$4.00 members, $4.50 others

AGS Qiiarterhj - Fall 1998

Meet the AGS Board of Trustees

MEET THE AGS TRUSTEES

On this page we continue our introduction to the members of
the AGS Board of Trustees which we began in our Spring 1998 issue.
With photographs by Frank Calidonna accompanied by briefbiographies,
three more Trustees are presented here so you may know a little better
those manbers who spend considerable time and energy supervising the

Susan Galligan was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and has lived in southern New
England all of her life. Her interest in old burial grounds dates back to her childhood.
For many years she studied old gravestones and recorded curious epitaphs, not
realizing that anyone else shared her interest. She became aware of the AGS several
years ago and immediately became a member. Since that time, she has learned all she
could about gravestone studies and applied that knowledge to her understanding of
gravestones and burial grounds in her area.

Susan is now a trustee of AGS, the North Attleborough Historical Society,
and Mount Hope Cemetery in North Attleboro. She has created her own educational
program using rubbings and slides of local gravestones and cemeteries to illustrate
American culture as reflected in the local burial grounds, and been a guide for local
cemetery tours. Susan has led the participation session on Framed Foil Impressions
for two years at the AGS conference, and this June had Late Night session goers singing
her "Morbid Melodies" until they were convulsed with laughter.

Susan is employed at the Wrentham District Court where she is the Courtroom
Sessions Clerk.

work of the Association, who bear their oivn expense traveling to Board
meetings, who write, edit, draw, organize, advise, plan, and ultimately,
envision the future of AGS. Since there are so many , the introductions will
span several issues. Here is the third installment.

Susan Galligan

Stephen Petke has been an AGS member since 1990, a trustee since 1993, and a member of
the Board's Nominating Committee since 1995. He was program chair for the AGS
conference in New London, CT and a tour leader for the AGS conference in Westfield,
MA. He has been a speaker at other conferences. He has lectured and led cemetery tours
in central Connecticut. His area of concentration is Farmington Valley Colonial carvers.
His article on "A Chronological Survey of the Gravestones of Calvin Barber, Simsbury
1772-1846" appears mMarkers X.

Stephen is a graduate of Seneca College where he majored in Business
Management. He holds a B.S. in Administrative Science from Central Connecticut State
University and an M.A. in American Studies from Trinity College.

Stephen Petke is an Assistant Director at CIGNA Health Care in Bloomfield, CT.
He is an active cyclist and hiker, and lifetime member of the East Granby Historical Society.
He produces and hosts the weekly program, "Thursday Everung Classics," at radio station
WWUH.

Stephen Petke

Brenda Welch-Reynolds is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a B.A.
in Historical Archaeology. For eight years she was employed by the Worcester Art
Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, organizing and implementing events and
programs for innovative exhibitions. She is currently employed by Crabtree & Evelyn,
Ltd. coordinating their Gift Program.

Brenda has been a member of AGS for ten years with a primary interest in
stone conservation which led to the preservation and restoration of colonial graveyards.

Recently she became involved in the study of genealogy, tracing her husband's
family history in the small town of Woodstock, Connecticut. She found very useful her
experience in the archaeological field which provided skills in documentation and the
collection of data.

She is an active member of the Woodstock Historical Society and the
Archaeological Institute of America. 0

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Volume 22: Number 4

Page 3

1998 Conference Summary

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

1998 CONFERENCE SUMMARY

The 1998 AGS
conference was held on the
beautiful campus of Monmouth
University in West Long Branch,
New Jersey. The campus is
divided by a tree-lined street. On
one side are the dormitories
where we stayed. On the other
side of the street are the dining
hall, the classrooms where we
had participation sessions, and
the auditorium for our everiing
and Sunday morning lectures.
On that side also is a magnificent
mansion and a very handsome
formal garden used sometimes
for weddings.

The weather at our June
conference is always a gamble.
This year it was hot and muggy until Sunday when
temperatures in the seventies felt cool. Luckily all the
buildings we used were air-conditioned though a few times
someone turned the air conditioning off, and it took a while
to get the buildings cooled off once the power source was
found and corrected.

PRE-CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES

For some thirty-five members, the conference started
on Tuesday, June 23, with what conference co-chair RICHARD
VEIT, remembering his Boy Scout camping days, called a
short-sheet welcome. At the college instead of a sheet
doubled up, it meant no sheets at all, in fact, no sheets, no
blankets, and no pillows. The intrepid FRED OAKLEY struck
a bargain with a local motel, and panic subsided. On
Tuesday afternoon, Richard Veit, and co-chair, MARK
NONESTIED, called linen supply companies and also
conferees arriving on Wednesday and Thursday, v, ho were

Green- Wood Cemetery Gate

Photo by Jolin Spaulding

Trinity Churchyard

Plioto by ]olvi Spniildiiig

asked to bring their
own linens.

Wednesday
morning 43 tourees
embarked on a bus
tour that took them
first to enjoy the rich
treasures of

eighteenth-century
Trinity Churchyard in
lower Manhattan.
After lunch they went
to Brooklyn to wander
among the beautiful
grounds and often
ornate gravestones of
nineteenth-century
Green-Wood
Cemetery. It was a
great day, and they were very grateful to Mark for arranging
it. Originally an evening event was scheduled, but it was
cancelled since it was uncertain when the bus would be back
from the cemetery tour. Thus the evening was spent hunting
for restaurants, making beds, and greeting old friends and
new. The "new" friends were often "old" correspondents.
Few members come to a coriference for the first time without
reading, writing, and talking acquaintance with other
members even if they have never met in person.

Displays and sales this year were in the hallways
and lobby outside the Pollak Auditorium. Members were
buying and selling Thursday afternoon while the sellers
were still spreading wares on their tables. This conference
saw members with things to sell as well as the usual AGS
sales table with its spread of books, clothing, note-cards and
other things, all of which are on the new publications list
folded into the center of this Quarterly issue.

PAULETTE and CASSANDRA CHERNACK can no
longer both come to conference because one must stay home
to run their successful shop in York, Maine. They have added
a few things like bags, scarves, and soap in gravestone
designs to tee-shirts that were Cassandra's original design.
Art teacher that she is, GINNY ROCKWOOD makes clever
jewelry as well as printing tee-shirts. ROBERTA HALPORN
continues to sell books, pamphlets, and rubbings, and freely
gives knowledgeable advice from her many years of
experience in the field. FRANK CALIDONNA sells his
photographs and posters he has designed, while MARY ANN
CALIDONNA sells notecards and other lovely things that
are printed on the paper that she makes by hand. This year
for the first time TRINA PURCELL, with her sister, Pat came,
gave a paper, and sold jewelry and notecards. All these items,

Page 4

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

I99S Conference Summary

readers should understand, incorporate gravestone designs.
These paragraphs have provided the background
and preliminaries to the conference that had its official
beginning at the welcoming reception that preceded dinner
on Thursday evening. BARBARA ROTUNDO has written
or collected from others more knowledgeable descriptions
of the activities for the rest of the conference, covering events
day by day, even hour by hour.

TmmSBAY EVENING

The opening reception centered on two long tables
at the edge of the dining room. Available to all were wine,
beer, soft drinks, and water along with plates of various
cheeses and crackers. If you hesitate to come to a conference
for fear you won't have anybody to talk to, forget it. The
dining room, as always, was full of small groups in animated
discussions. Registrar ROSALEE OAKLEY arranged that the
name badges of all the "first-attendees" were on green
paper. Experienced attendees make a real effort to talk to
all the newcomers they can. We are all equally committed
to this weird subject, and want the friendship and support
of others who share our off-beat interest.

The meals were cafeteria style, and we always had
a choice of several entries, a long salad bar, and any number
of different beverages. The variety of desserts included an
ice-cream freezer with six or eight different flavors. The
exceptions to cafeteria serving were the bag lunches for the
bus tours on Friday and the Saturday evening banquet
where we were served by waiters and waitresses — but more
of that later.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Thursday night we had two keynote speakers
whose talks meshed together nicely to prepare us for our
visits to the cemeteries and graveyards of New Jersey.
RICHARD VEIT introduced MARC MAPPEN, Associate
Dean of Rutgers University, who talked about the history
and reputation of New Jersey. He pointed out that New
Jersey, unlike the other twelve original colonies, had not
been founded by one dominant ethnic or religious group.
It has always been a multicultural state. He admitted that
New Jersey has also been the butt of jokes. For a sure laugh,
set your joke in New Jersey. But he told stories to illustrate
the multicultural nature of its history and the stories also
had the unspoken message that New Jersey has been
important in national affairs.

MARK NONESTIED introduced ROBERT CRAIG,
Principal Historic Preservation Specialist for New Jersey.
He talked about the value of historic cemeteries. Of course,
he was, as the saying goes, preaching to those who were
already converted, but it is always pleasant to hear a good
speech favoring the values you hold dear. He also appealed
for all of us interested in the preservation of one historic

artifact to join with other groups to fight for all historic
preservation.

THURSDAY NIGHT LECTURES

The first lecturer was RICHARD VEIT, who teaches
in the Department of History and Anthropology at
Monmouth University, making him the person we turned to
for help throughout the conference. He introduced us to the
section of New Jersey known as the Clay District, where an
important terra cotta industry developed between 1870 and
1930. The craftsmen who worked on the production of
architectural elements may have designed some of the terra
cotta markers for factory production , and certainly some of
them created individual gravemarkers, called "Tanagras,"
perhaps after hours or during slack times. Although Rich had
already written about these in Markers XII (1995, pages
1-29), he wanted to prepare people for what they would see
on the bus tours the next day. If you didn't attend the
conference, or did and want to learn more, his article is full
of pictures and interesting information.

TRINA PURCELL gave the final lecture of the
evening. Trina is a recent graduate of the University of New
Hampshire, where she did two independent projects on
gravestone art in New Hampshire under the direction of AGS
member David Watters, who is a professor in the English
Department. She introduced us to Forest Hills Cemetery in
East Derry, New Hampshire, and the stones that have been
erected there in the course of two centuries, paying particular
attention to those recently placed, often individually chosen
etched pictures. As we looked at these, she introduced a new
perspective on the idea of "portrait stones", because she
pointed out how much the epitaph and sketch revealed about
the personal characteristics of the person memorialized even
if there was no photographic picture of a face.

Statue in Green- Wood
Cemetery

Photo by John Spanieling

Volume 22; Number 4

Page 5

1998 Conference Summary

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

THURSDAY LATE NIGHT SESSION

After we wandered back across the campus to the
dormitories, most of us met in the large lounge at Oakwood
Hall where we had registered. Late Night is the AGS
arrangement for members to share informally slides of
interesting stones, a project being worked on, or whatever a
member's interest is focused on as the conference convenes.

The first person to speak was BARBARA ROTUNDO,
who showed a few slides as background for the talk of CIRO
CARABALLO, who had come all the way from Venezuela for
the conference. His talk was most enlightening. His country
had been settled by the Spanish and showed the same
Mediterranean cultural customs as are found in the Old
World. However, the development of cemeteries in the
nineteenth century followed the same pattern as in the United
States, with burial in the cities being forbidden and the
cemeteries moving out into rural areas. Unfortunately, they
are just as likely as those in the United States to be neglected
and vandalized.

As part of a campaign to arouse interest and get
people to provide proper care for such cemeteries, a group
that he works with borrowed cemetery sculpture and
arranged an exhibit of it in an art museum. People were
amazed and had trouble believing that cemeteries had such
fine art.

A completely different project invited small children
(with their parents, of course) to come to a cemetery where
each child was given a small plaster cast to paint. The cast
was a model of a little angel such as is very popular for
placing on the graves of children. The colorful slides he
showed indicated the children were having a fine time.
Meanwhile the parents were observing the cemetery and
came to appreciate what Giro's organization was trying to
do. The American audience appreciated what it had learned
and felt Giro's long trip was worthwhile.

Next to share with us was CHARLIE MARCHANT,
who told the story of all that had been involved when he
tried to find the proper place for two gravestones that showed
up in Vermont but were not any Vermont carver's style.
Eventually he discovered that they belonged in Freehold,
New Jersey. A contractor had arrogantly cleared a cemetery
there and brought these two attractive stones to Vermont.
Gharlie pointed out that his success in tracing the origin of
the stones involved help from other AGS members and
Vermont genealogists. [The editor suggests the helpful
information from the AGS leaflet "What Do You Do When
You Find a 'Lost' Gravestone."]

When Gharlie finished, RUTH SHAPLEIGH-BROWN
made an emotional appeal for all of us to be more conscious
of the theft of stones and other cemetery items. Perhaps AGS
could set up some kind of a reporting network. She reminded
us of the recent discovery of thousands of dollars worth of
artifacts stolen from New Orleans cemeteries that were being
sold in Galifornia.

The final offering at Thursday Late Night came from
KATHY GREENIA. She showed part of a slide show that she
uses when she teaches classes about cemeteries and grave-
stone art in schools all over upstate New York. She also
played accompanying music, which she selects from hit
songs and popular groups. The children obviously are en-
tranced and so were we.

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Page 6

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

1998 Conference Summary

FRIDAY

Friday morning we went to the campus cafeteria
and had one of those indulgent breakfasts, choosing among
pancakes, bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, and other rich
treats such as few of us eat at home. Then we reported to the
parking lot in back of the dorms where we boarded the buses
for the tour of our choice.

BUS TOURS

Classic Colonial Tour

RICH VEIT led the "Classic Colonial Tour" that went
to Woodbridge Presbyterian, Rahway, Westfield, and
Elizabeth Presbyterian burial grounds. Touree Susan
Galligan writes, "Dr. Richard Veit, our guide, was informative
and entertaining. We were introduced to each site well in
advance and given a brief history of the area as we traveled.
Our first stop was in Woodbridge at the First Presbyterian
Church. There we were warmly greeted by the pastor, Robert
J. McEwen, the church ladies, and the local press. Rev.
McEwen gave a talk on the history of the grounds and the
notable burials, and provided us with a printed walking tour.
Here we saw a stone signed, "Cut by Jonathan Hand Osbom."

We then traveled to the lovely colonial burial ground
in Westfield. One remarkable stone pictured a hand coming
from a cloud holding an ax and chopping down a tree. The
tympanum read "As the tree falleth, so it lyeth."

Our final stop was in downtown Elizabeth, where
there were dozens of well preserved brown stones with
interesting motifs, many the work of carver Ebenezar Price.
In fact, members of Price's family are buried in this yard.
The entire tour was a great experience, and there were several
AGS first-timers attending. It was exciting to watch someone
do gravestone rubbings for the first time, and to hear sincere
questions being asked and answered by lovers of colonial
gravestones."

Victorian Virtuoso Tour

MARK NONESTIED led the "Victorian Virtuoso
Tour" and did a good job of explaining on the bus as we drove

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Top four photos: Right top photo by Richard Veit, Woodbridge Cemetery. The
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Volume 22: Number 4

Page 7

1998 Conference Summary

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

along what we would see in the next cemetery. We went
first to Elmwood Cemetery in North Brunswick and then to
Mount Pleasant in Newark. There we were shown the chapel
that is part of the ambitious entrance structures. Nearby
under lovely old trees we ate our lunch. After lunch we
explored the cemetery and took pictures, with perhaps the
Fireman's plot surrounded by a fence featuring hydrants as
posts and a gate featuring a ladder, pike and hoses as the
highlight.

After a side trip to buy drinking water, we arrived
at Fairmont Cemetery in Newark. Most of us followed Mark
into the mausoleum at the entrance, but a small group went
directly out into the grounds to see the gravestones. However,
the staff at Fairmont are so worried about the problem of
theft and assault in the cemetery that staff members pulled
the group back toward the mausoleum. Eventually we all
climbed on the bus, which followed a staff car directly to the
back of the cemetery, where Mark wanted us to see the huge
white bronze monument with the statue of a pioneer on top.
(Barbara Rotundo had to admit it was taller than any other
white bronze monument she had seen.)

By this time it was too late to go to Alpine Cemetery
in Perth Amboy, where there is a rich array of terra cotta
"Tanagras" that Rich Veit had talked about Thursday evening.

All photos by Elizabeth Seelandt e\cept the angel by Barbara Rotundo

Page 8

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

199S Conference Sumniary

Mark promised, and later Rich agreed, to take people to Perth
Amboy to see them Sunday after lunch.

Ethnic Excellence Tour

JAN SARAPIN and ROBERTA HALPORN were the leaders for
the "Ethnic Excellence Tour", which went to the Ukrainian
Cemetery in Bound Brook, Rosedale in Linden, and Hillside
in Newark.

The Ukrainian Cemetery tour began with a tour of
the Fisher House, a structure on the church's property dating
back to 1688, with its limestone fireplace, old Dutch tiles,
period furnishings, and beautiful walnut floors. As we
walked through the large cemetery. Father Diakiw provided
translations and interpretations of the unusual iconography
on many of the markers that related to the congregation's
richTiistory in the Ukraine and in this country . A much-too-
quick tour of the museum under the sanctuary led by Father
Diakiw told of the contributions the Ukrainians have made
to society since coming to America.

From there we went to see the beautifully carved
monuments in the Chinese section of the Rosedale Cemetery
in Linden, including a stunning full-sized model of a
Mercedes.

Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside was our last stop.
With time running out, we searched for the markers of
"Singing Sam," and "Big G and Loveable Rose," gypsies with
large monuments depicting colorful lives. A stop to view
some contemporary Jewish gravestones rounded out the tour.

Below: Monuments for gypsies Big G and Loveable Rose, and Singing
Sam, Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside, photos by John Spaulding. Right:
Leaving Ukrainian homeland, black and white monument, Ukrainian
churches, photos by Rosatee Oakley. Portrait stone, Ukrainian Cemetery,
and Chinese pagoda, Rosedale Cemetery, Linden, photos by Jessie Lie Farber.
Mercedes in Rosedale Cemetery, Linden, photo by John Spaulding.

Volume 22: Number 4

Page 9

1998 Confereyice Summary

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

FRIDAY RECEPTION

Late in the afternoon the Oakley Award Reception
was held in the cafeteria dining room. DANIEL GOLDMAN,
who is chair of the the board of trustees' awards committee,
gained our attention and explained the significance of the
Oakley Awards established in 1997.

Two awards were given during 1997-98. FRED
FREDETTE, a long time member of AGS, had lectured and
taught at numerous AGS conferences and had been
personally responsible for returning to their proper burial
grounds several different Connecticut gravestones that had
been stolen and put on the antique market. After a serious
illness, he moved to Arizona and is no longer active, but his
past contributions are certainly worthy of honor.

The second award went to FRIENDS OF CENTER
CEMETERY in East Hartford, Connecticut. Starting up just a
few years ago, the organization has become a model for what
a dedicated group can do to publicize and preserve an
important historical cemetery. It now sponsors an annual
Civil War reenactment in a park in East Hartford every
August.

After dinner we moved to PoUak Auditorium, where
President FRANK CALIDONNA conducted the annual
meeting of The Association for Gravestone Studies. A mail
ballot had elected new and returning trustees, and the
conference packet included reports from officers and
committees. As a result, the annual meeting was happily
very brief.

FRIDAY EVENING LECTURES

GARY COLLISON, professor at Perm State in York,
Pennsylvania, gave the first lecture Friday evening. During
a Late Night Session in the 1997 conference, Gary had shown
some German-American gravestones from around York.
Since then he has been moving further out and is beginning
to trace the German- American westward movement and its
changing culture through its gravestones.

ANN F. DISEROAD has also been studying
Permsylvania gravestones, but further north, in the upper
Susquehanna Valley. She believes she has identified the work
of three different carvers, one of whom she calls Jack because
of the vine motif he often uses reminds her of Jack's beanstalk.
Ann is a librarian at Bloomsburg University and a director
of the county historical society. She is also an artist and a
craftswoman. She was wearing a dress printed front and
back with two designs used by the carvers whom she was
studying.

PEGGY JENKS gave the final lecture on Friday
evening. Peg is a long-time member of AGS and a very active
genealogist. She edits the newsletter of the Vermont
Genealogical Society and has published several books of the
information she has recorded. Last Fall she had sent photos
of two modern stones for the Quarterly, one carved in the
style of Samuel Dwight (c.1743-1810) and the other in the

style of Zerubbabel Collins (1773-1797). (Photographs of the
two appeared in the Winter 1998 Quarterly, p. 6.) She was
on the trail of the carvers of the modem stones and of the
people who had ordered the old-fashioned designs, hoping
to find out how decisions were made. She was assured her
findings would make a valuable paper at the next conference,
a correct prediction.

It turned out that the Williams stone was based on a
rubbing of a Dwight stone that the son felt would be
appropriate for his antiquarian father. It was carved at
Gawet Marble and Granite, Inc., in Center Rutland, Vermont,
by two old men who retired soon after. The Eisenhart stone
was designed by the woman herself with help from sculptor,
MICHAEL FANNIN of Middletown Springs, Vermont. He
had earlier prepared a replacement stone for carver Enos
Clark (1764-1815), discovered the original buried
underground, and had become fascinated with the old
designs. Peggy had been able to persuade him to show his
work at the conference.

FRIDAY LATE NIGHT SESSION

Friday Late Night began back in Oakwood Hall
about 9:30 PM. First FRANK BRINKERHOFF showed slides
taken on a trip out west and then a visit to Friesland in the
northern section of the Netherlands.

Next SUSAN GALLIGAN had us all laughing with
"Morbid Melodies." She reminded us that a number of the
favorite songs of childhood have a theme of death: "Ring
Around the Rosie" comes from the medieval plague da3fs
and in "My Darling Clementine" the girl drowns. She ended
with another that is handed on by oral tradition from one
generation to another:

Do you ever think as the hearse goes by.

That one of these days you're going to die?
People volunteered remembered verses, each one more
ghastly than the last. They were so awful that all we could

Aim Diseroad's dress design
Photo bv Barbara Ronmdo

Page 10

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

1998 Conference Summary

do was laugh harder. She would be happy to share some
of the verses if any member wants to take a nostalgia trip.
(Send SASE to 300 E. Washington St. 3 NW, North Attleboro,
MA. 02760).

PEGGY JENKS brought peace back to the group
with a selection of slides showing Vermont cemeteries when
the maples and other trees were all in their autumnal glory.

BARRY RAUHAUSER, a student at Perm State / York
who had studied with Gary Collison, gave an intelligently
researched, carefully prepared, and clearly presented report
on Permsylvania carver, John Quigley (1762-1832). He
ended with a dramatic slide, showing a stone house
confirming his guesses because it had Quigley's name
traced in the mortar of the gable. We hope his interest in
gravestones continues and he proposes a lecture for a future
conference.

DAVID VIA showed an effective series of slides
revealing the thoughtless damage done by mowers, string
trimmers, and dogs spraying urine. He asked if this wasn't
a type of vandalism that could be controlled.

The evening ended with KATIE KARRICK's slides
taken in Colma, outside of San Francisco, and in Mountain
View Cemetery in Oakland, California.

White Bronze Monument on Victorian Tour
Photo b\ Elizabeth Seelandt

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Volume 22: Number 4

Page 11

1998 Conference Summary

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

SATURDAY

Saturday morning we had a continental breakfast
placed in the lobby of Pollak Auditorium. Bagels and
muffins, regular and decaf coffee, and orange juice. Although
one or two wanted a full breakfast, the serious complaints
came from latecomers who found the cupboard bare.

PARTICIPATION SESSIONS

Saturday most people stayed around and took their
choice of participation sessions. The complaint here was not
about the content of the sessions but that you had to choose
between two or more that you wanted but that were offered
at the same hour. BARBARA AITKEN and CLAIRE DELORIA,
who recruited all the " teachers" and demonstrators and
made all the arrangements describe the offerings below. All
the photos were taken by Barbara Aitken.

1998 AGS Conference Participation Sessions in Review

Patterning ourselves after an ubiquitous American
tradition, we took our own exit poll at the conclusion of the
Conference Participation Sessions and found that reactions
were overwhelmingly positive. The variety of sessions and
the competence and friendliness of the presenters were cited
as the keys that provided a pleasant and worthwhile
experience for all those who attended.

What
were those
sessions which,
according to
attendees,
provided
"something of
interest to
everyone"?

Susan Galligan
If your interest is recording gravestone informa-
tion and images, there were sessions held in the local cem-
etery on reading difficult stones, safe rubbing techniques,
and photographing stones and statuary. In the classrooms,
there were sessions on creating foil impressions of stones
and archival storage techniques.

If you are a history/
literature buff, sessions on the
romantic influence and epitaphs in
the Victorian cemetery, the unique
tree-stump stones, the urn and
willow motif and historic mortuary
practices might have enticed you.

If you are looking for ways to
create interest in your local
cemetery, you might have
attended the sessions
describing lantern tours and
special events and

celebrations.

If you are interested in

practicing stone carvers and

their work, two sessions

dealing with recreating 18th

century slate gravestones and

traditional stone carving in

1998 might have interested

you.

Kann Sprague

If you are a teacher looking for new classroom ideas,

then sessions on ways to teach literature, art and history using

graveyard poetry, graphics and records might have seized

your interest.

If you are worried (and all of
us are) about the care and
preservation of cemeteries, you iiught
have attended the sessions focused on
the endangered marble stones and
the steps taken to preserve
Congressional Cemetery.

f^SUKk

■ -I

1

i

Ik'-^

J

H<M

t' 'I^

■KKM

Susan Olsen

And if you are a game show enthusiast. Graveyard
Jeopardy would have been right up your cemetery.

And what about those presenters whom conference
attendees praised for their "knowledge," their "interesting
approaches," and their "willingness to share"? A brief
composite illustrates their incredible diversity and
backgrounds.

Warmi Roberts

At the Gmvcyard Poetiy session

Page 12

Volume 22: Number 4

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B> Thtir Marker. Ye Sh»ll Know Them:
ACIinmiili III lilt Ill-lory and Restorations
of Hiiriintd - \rnnin Burying Ground

Will,..: .-.IM H-k,-mhc.Sr.

Thn thn.i«, iiiii liri. ^l...> Lii Hiitlfoid, ConficcUcul'j JSO-yeat-olit
Ancicnl Burying liroundond Ihc vnnoux c (Tons (beginning in I8Q6)
to tiop itic deicnoraiion of the vciiieiery's Mndsione markcn. While
Ihetc ii. diicu^sion ortrciiinicni^ iipcOLrii' lu ihi\ partii'iilDr hunal Me.
Ihc tiook conluint much infotmation Ihal would be of use lo anyone
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contcrvalion irealmenU, and oulrcach programs ore all included
Puper. I89puvti. 70 pholoKmphs.

MAM mvmhKr^. $17.00 olhen

Cemclt.'rii-.\ and Grutemarken:
Voices of American Culture

Ediltd b\ RiilmnI E Meyer

This book of esiays ctaminct burial grounds Ihrough the ccniuriu
netow the land. From the opuleni French mausoleums of New Orlcuns
lolhe graves of slave* in New England, from loggers' headsloncsm
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the essays yield a wealth of msighli into the umly and divemiy of
American culture Pai'er, W/wijfi, 12-1 lUusimUnni
$22.50 members. $25.00 others

NEW!! Cities of the Dead: Journey through
St Louis Cemetery #1
Robtn Flomue

The oldesl and mosi signiflcnnl New Orleans cemetery is St. Louis
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infonnalionnbout^omeofthepcopluburiedlhere, and photos of the
vancius tombs. Paper: 79pase%. 60 illiiuranoiis
$4.75 members. $5.75 others

The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut
and the Men Who Made Them

Photographs by Daniel St Sesue Lie Porber

Thedefintlivc work on mere than lOOcorven found in 60 towni: east
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Death Divine

Ptmiela Williams

Photographs of cemetery sculpture from Paris Photographed
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$15.00 members. $17.00 others

Ethnicity and the American Cemetery

Edilcl by Rf, hani E SIcM-r

This book, composed of nine onginal, individually commissioned
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the matenaJ objects found within them, and the euslomaty practices
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of their own tpctial identity Paper. 239 pages. 95 illiisiralinm
$36.50 members. $44.00 others

New!! Garden of Memorii». A Guide to Historic Forest
Hills

Siiiun H'i/jnn

Published in conjunction with Ihc 1 50lh anniversary of the
founding of Boston's Forest Hills Cemeicry, this hi^ioiy and
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Going Out in Style: The Architecture of Eternity

Dimglai Krisier and Xavicr Crvnin

Sinking, full-color phoiographscapiunng the elegance and grandeur

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Lhe story behind Uie structure C/u//i. 160 pogei. over 200 cnhr

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$22.00 members. S26.00 others

CEMETERY GUIDES

Regional Guide I: Narraganselt Bay Area Graveyards

This gutde locales ovei fifty Rhode Island jnd Ma^vachusctn grave-
yards that feature the work of "The Nairaganselt Bay carvers" and a
number of oiher 1 8th century stonecultcre. 16 pagiy 19 ilhisira-
lioni. $3.50 members, $4.50 others

Regional Guide 2: Long Island, New York I7th ami 18th
Century Graveyards (including Lower Manhattan Lslandl

Over 35 Long Island graveyatds are rated according to the i|uaii!ity
and quality ol the mcmonal.s. The location is given, and Ihe carvers
wluisc works appear are mentioned. 16 pages. 26 illusiraihny
$3.50 members, $4.50 others

Conference Guide I;

Capital District, New York Cemeteries

A i-ompilalion ot the bus lour and sclf-guided tour field notes and
maps from Ihc [992AGS conference inSchcneciady. Thisisagoide
to lhe mosi interesting ccmeieries of Ihc Albany. Troy, und Saroiogp
area 16 pages
$3.50 members, $4.00 others

Conference Guide 2:

Cemeteries In and Around New London, Conneirlicut

All cApanded version of the bus tour and mini-lour field notes from
lhe 1993 ACS conference This guide covers sei
the Ne* IjindLin. Conntciitui, area 16 panes.
$3.50 members. $4.flU others

Gravestone Chronicles I and II

Theodore Chase and Liiurvl K Gnhel

Volume I has .seven essays on neveral iinpoHani early New England
carvers — the Emme.s family of enrvcrs, John Gaud. Elienc/er Howard.
James Wilder. Paul Colbum and several others. A glossary of icrms,
a list of symbols, and a bibliography arc included. The essays in
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concludes the volume Paper. 656 pagr.t. 310 ilhislralioiis.
$38.00 members,$43.fl0 othertonly 5 sen remain at these pnccs)

The La.sl Great Necessity:
Cemeteries in American History

David Charles Sham-

TYacmg Ihc atiitudes of society toward its ccmcienes over ihe yean.

since the Amenean Revolution, ihis is an exceltenl comprehensive

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NEW!! Lost Villages

Marc Robinwii .Sue

Anyone heading to the Culskilts will enjoy this historic driving tout

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1 70 pages. SO illuslralions

$12.50 members $15.50 others

NEW!! New Orieans Cemeteries: Life in Ihe Cities
of the Dead

R,-her, Floreme

Photographs by Mason Rorence

In this handsome coffee table book, the reader takes ajoumcy through

New Orleans seen through its cemeteries Thirteen regional bunal

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186 illusiraiiom

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Puritan Gravestone Art ( 1976)

"Principles and Methods for lhe Study of Ihc Work of Individual
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County. VermonfThe Gravestone Image as a Puritan Cultural Code
• From Significant Incompeience to Insigniricanl Cnmpeicncc • Etos
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Gravestone Studies: The Structure of die Literature • Bibliography
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Puritan Gravestone Art II ( 1978)

An Alicmalive to Panofskyism: Ne* England Gravcsiones and the
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Altitudes Toward Iconoclusm • Colonial Long Island Gravestones
Trade Nelwork Indicators, 1670-1799'] W. Folk Carver of Hants
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Connctrlicut River Valley. 1790-1817 • Tlte Colonial Gravestone
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biblitfgrapliy. mops. 1990 bibliography supplemeiil
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Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey

Janice Ki<hl Sarapin

This illustrated guidebook lo New Jersey's old burial grounds

describes more than 1 20 sites throughout the stale Basic information

on epitaphs, dating, and rese.irch is also given, Paper: 230 pages. 90

illuwaiion^

$11.00 members, $13.5(1 others

Conference Guide 3; Chicagoland Cemeteries

Tills guide includes the comprehensive Uiur and nimi-tout field notes
from the 1 994 AGS conference. In addition to the more well-known
Chicago cemeteries this guide also includes many unusual and
interesting ethnic cemeteries which reflect the legion's diverse
population 20pagrs $4.00 members, $4.50 Others

Conference Guide 4: Massachusetts Lower Connecticut
River Valley

Tins guide IS based on lhe lour and inini-tour field notes from the
1995 AGS conference held in Wcslfield, Massachusetts. It also
includes some cemeteries right over the border in Connecticut.
16 pagc<, $3.50 members, $4.00 others

Conference ( iuide 5: Cemeteries in Central Massac htisetLs
This guide IS from the hui tours and sell-guidcd tout notes from the
1997 AGS conference in Leicester, Massachusetts, (t covers
graveyards and ccmeicncs all around the Worcester area In ccnlral
Massachusetii 20 page ^ $4.00 members, $4.50 other
(Available after January 1, 1999.)

Once Upon a Tomb:

Stories from Canadian Graveyards

Nunt ( Millar

Stones ulxiul pioneers and settlers, mmionaries and Native people.

nrtnts and politicians, and Ihe ordinary people whose often unsung

lives reveal so much about our post, Millar highlights the '■best"

graveyards in each province, the most popular epitaphs, the moil

original grovemarker*, the most carefully guarded grave, the most

poetic graveyard in Ihe country, nnd much more Paper. 90

phalographs. 298 pages

$14.00 members, $16.00 others

Remember Me us You Pa,ss By:
Stories from Prairie Graveyards

Nancy Millar

Tills bonk IS a model on how you can uie graveyards lo learn the
history of an area, Nnncy Millar vintcd over 250 graveyards in
Alberta, Canada, and from them wrote a history of Ihe vtcst "from
the back end' by researching the siorics behind gravemarkers that
said something to her m words or symbols In so doing, she has
covered the major themes of wcsicm settlement Paprr. I65pages.
6 photographs $12.00 membei^, $14.00 others.

The Revival Styles In American Memorial Art

Peggy McDoivell and Rwllard E. Mi'yer

Tlicfocusoflhislxrakisonlhemcmonalansin 19ih century America.
Totally new concepts in lhe location and landscape features of
cemetcncs. as well as radical departures from the tuner^ symbolism
of eariiercras, ushered m an age of dramatic monu mental iiali on come
to be known as lhe "revival styles '
Paper. 2(U page^, 135 .lliiuraliony
$17.50 members, $21.00 others

Saving Graces

Poiid Riihinson. forrwnrd by Joycd Carvl Oaiet
"Pus book, subtitled 'Images of Women in European Cemelenes,* is
pnmanly a b<iok ot photos of perfect, idealized, lifelike sculptures
T>iii assemblage shows our collective desire Ihal death not he mere
deadocss— but t>eaih mysicnous. ethereal, mourned and therefore
celebrated by the most allraciive among us Paper. 125 pages. 52
phniography $10,00 members, $12,50 others

Scottish Epitaphs: EpitaptLS and Images from
Scottish Graveyards

Beiry Wilhher

Epitaphs descnbe unusual characters, famous men, virtuous women.

swMl children, hopeful youth, all from the past in Scottish graveyards

Paper: ?5 phalagrapht, l22pogrs

$10.00 members, $12J0 others

Silent Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery

A'. Jackson A C. Vergara

Focusing on the evolution of cemeicries in the United Slates. Ihis is
une ot Ihe more comprehensive studies of American cemelenes. It is
based on on eiamination of over MK) cemelenes in II states, among
them the oldest, largest, poorest, and ethnically most diverge, and
upon iniers'iews with -' ^r I'Kt.pin-nT involved with cemeteries-
monument makctT^, funeral direclors, and cemetery officials. The
color photography of ornate statuary and Tiffany glass is especially
superb Paper, !36pagei. 350t,>l,ir phoiograph\
$10J0 members, $12.50 others

Soul in the Stone: Cemetery Art from America's Heurtlund

John Gar, Br.mn

This book of photographs and leit covers Ihe diverse and rich bui
(until now! unchronicled gravestones of the midwest TTiis book
concentrates on tiie traditions of cemetery art in Colorado, llhnoi.',.
Indiana, lown, Kansas. Missoun, Nebraska. NewMciJco. Oklahoma.
and Wisconsin. The photographs are exceptional. Cloth: 232 pages.
223 black and ivliite phi'Ingraph i
$29.00 members, $34.50 others

Tomb Sculpture:

Its Changing .Aspects from Ancient Eg) pi to Bernini

Enwi Paaof.\ky

The last ot his internationally acclaimed books lo be published in his
lifetime Siulpliire stoned out as a scries of lectures al New York
flniversiiy With esccllenl illustrations to match ihe knowledgeable
and aulhonlalive test, this is the outstanding scholarly book on
memonal an in the Wesiem world up to the eighteenth century. No
seriousstudentofgravcstonescanaffordtobe without It. CInih. 320
pages. 471 black and n lute lUuslralKini

$60.00 members. $70.00 others

NEW!! Tombfilones: Seventy-Five Famous People and
Their Final Resting Places

Giffie fehen

Foi those inicrcsicd in die monuiiicnls of fanuiu.s people, this bonk,

with iLs excellent color photographs and brief biographies of a number

of the very famous, will deriniloly be of interest. Paper: 151 pages.

75 illuslratians

$13.75 members, $17.00 others

Understanding Scottish Graveyarils

Hclly Willsliit

A historical and interpretive approach lo Scotland's graveyards. The

book explains Ihe c.irlicriynibohc cars'ing;s and analyses ihcchanging

fashions in sculplurc and inscription. Achaplcr isdevoted to recording

graveyards and prcscrsaiion of monumenls. Paper: 72 pagef. 40

ilUislralinii.\

$8.50 members, $9.50 others

Vestiges of Mortality and Remembrance:
A Bibliography on the Hi.stnrical Archaeology
of Cemeteries

Edward L Rcll

The firei comprehensive reference work on the historical archoeology

of mortuary sites. Ihc volume is a thorough and comprehensive (almost
2,000 works arc listed) bibliography which will benefit those who
arc doing venous research on all aspects of gravestone, cemetery,
and funeral) studies. It includes an overview and an index lo lhe
hiblioj-raphy by author and subiccl. C7i>f/i. 43'^ pages.
$44,00 members, $4b,00 others

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AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

1998 Conference Summary

One worked
to record all 3100 his-
torical cemeteries in
Rhode Island and an-
other was instrumen-
tal in getting a historic
cemetery in Washing-
ton on the Endan-
gered Sites List.

Myra Graves

Ann Pearson

Frank Calidonna

One is an award winning
photographer, another an award
winning artist, and a third a jurist
for the selection of a sculptor for
a Women's Memorial in Boston .

One is an AGS Forbes
Award Winner and another the
editor of Markers, the AGS
Annual Journal.

Two are professional stone carvers.

Two are president /directors of historical societies
in Alabama and Permsylvania.

Two are president/ directors of cemetery
associations in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

One is a playwright, another is a retired professor
of folklore and folk life, and two work with elementary
school children.

Meg Wilson and Susan Sherwood

Even if pictures aren't
worth a thousand words,
those of the Participation
Sessions will give you a
sense of the day — its
sessions, its presenters,
and its role in a successful
AGS Conference. 0

One has thirty-one
years of experience rubbing
gravestones, another is a
cemetery tour guide in Ohio,
and a third pioneered
assessment of acid rain
damage to bronze and stone
monuments.

At the Foil Impression workshop

Kathxf Greenia

Mark Nonestied

Volume 22: Number 4

Page 17

1998 Conference Summary

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

CONSERVATION WORKSHOP

A smaller group of conferees learned about the care
and preservation of gravestones, first in lectures and then
through hands-on experience in a local cemetery. Those
were truly dedicated people because the weather was
steamy and the sun broiling hot. Jim and Minxie Fannin,
workshop leaders, describe the day below:

"On June 27, 1998, some
twenty-five students
and six instructors gath-
ered in a classroom of
the parish house of the
West Long Branch
United Methodist
Church for "Building
Blocks to Basic Grave-
stone Conservation: A
Workshop." The session
was chaired by Minxie
and Jim Fannin of
Fannin 'Lehner Preser-
vation Consultants. C.
Ronald Miller, Ph.D.,
pastor of the church,
dropped by to provide

some background on the West Long Branch Cem-
etery where the "hands-on" portion of the Conserva-
tion Workshop was taking place.

After listening to talks on documentation, resetting,
cleaning, casting a new base, using a hoist and
mortaring into a base, the class viewed a slide show
presented by C.R. Jones which showed clearly the
pitfalls of inappropriate gravestone conservation.

The group then adjourned to the West Long Branch
Cemetery with the instructors - Minxie and Jim
Fannin, Fred Oakley, C.R. Jones, John Spaulding and
David Via. Gray Williams, whose photographs
illustrate this report, kindly volunteered to be our
official photographer and did a superb job of
recording the day's activities.

At the end of the session, nine gravestones had been
conserved, the students had participated in a variety
of basic gravestone conservation activities and West
Long Branch Cemetery was the better for having the
AGS use the site for the Workshop!" 0

Above: John Spaulding and
conferees begin resetting
procedure.

Left and below: Minxie
Fannin applying and
conferees removing a
poultice to remove
lichen from the stone.

Right: Jim Fannin
(right) and Walter
McGrath display a
stone cleaned, reset,
adhesively repaired and
braced to prevent
movement while epoxy
sets.

Right: Conferees
checking the level of a
base before mortaring
in the die.

Photos bv Gray Williams

Page 18

Volume 22: Number 4

Leicester/ ^Massachusetts
Is the ^ite for Conference 1997

picture this.'.'

A small typical New England town on a hill with two churches, a town hall and town common.
Beside them is a small New England college. Picturesque burying grounds nestle in many of the
surrounding little towns. Nearby is a large city with enough colonial, Victorian, ethnic, and modem
cemeteries to satisfy every interest.

Worcester County in Central Massachusetts provides an exciting venue for our Association's 1997
Conference. The town of Leicester is just to the west of Worcester and is the home of Becker
College. The area is replete with colonial burying grounds in each small town. The city of Worcester,
the second largest in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has colonial, Victorian, ethnic, and modem
cemeteries to please the eye and challenge your mbbing and photographic skills. It is our good
fortune to reap the benefit of a huge amount of carver research and historic interpretation which has
been done over the years by AGS members such as Dan and Jessie Farber, Thomas and Brenda
Malloy, and Robert Klisewicz.

Our conference site is Becker College in Leicester. Located in the center of a small town, its facilities
meet our every need. The college's staff is eager to host the conference. Many of the buildings are of
recent vintage. We will be the only group using the facilities; thus there will be none of the
distractions that sometimes affect our gathering.

yiite activities tvill be similar to previous conferences.

Scholarly lectures are delivered on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, and Sunday morning.
Day long, guided bus tours are a Friday feature. Two coaches are designated to tour colonial burying
grounds. A third coach is designated for those interested in Victorian and modem cemeteries.

Saturday is "Workshop Day". A series of hour-long "Participation Sessions" deals with a wide range
of subjects of interest to educators, historical society members, historical commissioners, and
cemetery superintendents. An all-day Conservation Workshop, separate from Participation Workshop
activity, teaches procedures for conserving gravestones. Evening activity, following scholarly
lectures, provides an opportunity for informal presentations and discourse.

The cost for the conference remains the same for the third successive year. A registration form will be
sent to every member in Febmary 1997. Non-members are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Inquiries will be answered promptly. Further information is available from Rosalee Oakley, Registrar,
at (413) 584-1756, 19 Hadley Place, Hadley, MA 01035.

f^lnn now to attend.' ^ring a friend.' y^^tty to do some research/

£n/oi| ^ew £ngland.'

The 1997 Conference Program Chair is Barbara Rotundo.
Barbara is looking for papers from around the country, and abroad.

Proposals and 250-word abstracts are due February 24, 1997.

Remember! This is an organization for gravestone studies.

An occasional paper on cemeteries or mourning customs is acceptable,

but the focus should always be on gravestones.

Please send proposals and abstracts to:

Barbara Rotundo

48 Plummer Hill Road, Unit 4

Belmont, New Hampshire 03220

(603)524-1092

For general information on AGS Conferences, contact:
W. Fred Oakley, Jr.

19 Hadley Place
Hadley, MA 01035
(413)548-1756 '

cAQ>S w^u" s$*"ff 3r JS^ok o^*^^^ J^h^^

f^ee reverse side for order form.)

'96 Conference ^-^birts.

'96 Conference ^-^hirt ^ogo

Freemason Russell Bucknam stone, Gray, Maine

Line drawing by Gravestone Artwear.
This stone bears a variety of symbolic carvings;

namely, a soul effigy, skulls and crossbones,
an urn, willows, a rising/setting sun, and an arch.

All of our t-shirts are 1 00% preshrunk cotton.

Prices for all shirts are $10 (for M, L and XL),

and $11 (for XXL and XXXL).

The 1996 shirt is gold, with green lettering and image.

for ifour QpK\eet\on..

1995 Conference t-shirt, burgundy with gray lettering
and stone, reading "Sacred to the memory of Mrs.
Margaret Confort, etc." Availability: 1 sz. M, 10 sz. L,
1 1 sz. XL, 6 sz. XXL.

1994 Conference t-shirt, with tree stump design.
Availablility; 8 sz. M, 2 sz. XXL.

"Staff navy cotton polo with AGS name and logo on
pocket.

Availability: 7 XL, 8 XXL. $21 (members), $22 (non-
members).

"Don't Rub Me the Wrong Way" t-shirts, brick-colored
with white lettering and image. Availability: 5 M, 2
XL, 3 XXL

Each year we accumulate a number of books which are
slightly damaged. Their covers are slightly torn or
wrinkled, some have been damaged in the shipping
process, otherwise they are fine. We are offering them
to you at a reduced rate. Please not quantities are
limited!

Markers VI {1 paperback - $12 each).
Markers VIII (6 paperback - $12 each).
Markers XI ( 1 paperback - $12).
Saving Graces, Robinson (1 copy - $13).
Understanding Scottish Graveyards, Willsher

(1 copy - $4).
Gravestone Chronicles, Chase and Gabel

(1 copy -$19).
Puritan Gravestone Art (1 copy - $14).
Puritan Gravestone Art II (3 copies - $14).

;;^ubber ,^tnnips.

Make some stationary, dress up your envelopes, or fist
have them around for fun! (Please don 't forget to
indicate which design when ordering.)

Lt. John Parker

IVa X 4%
Price $10.00

Susanna Jayne

Price $9.00

cAQsS ^«n ^tuff 3^ Jgook Ovdev ^lifcr

\^e've found some items we hope jyou will enjoy

X^e ate either a little Inte for the
j holidAifs or extremelif enrlif.....

i

■^■

I but, we thought you would be interested in ordering

I t-shirts, books, rubber stamps, or some of the new jewelry

I we are featuring.

I If there are other items you would like us to include, please

I let us know.

I Order deadline is: February 21, 1997

I We will ship no later than three weeks after that date.

^ontempornrif ^evwelrif.....

Xi/^e hnve several pins nnd eArrin9s

mode of pewter/ some with f roste4

^sech 9I0SS benils

All Jewelry comes with the history of the imagery.

The earrings have heavy sterling ear wires.

Please note: Pins (PI, 3, 6, 8) & Earrings (E5, 7, 8, 10)

are shown at 75% actual size.

To place an order,, please, cut, here. and mail the order, form below..

cAQyS ^un N5*"ff 0ttiet ^otm

Quantity

Item (design, color, size, etc.)

Price

Plus shipping fee (see prices -^):

Total amount enclosed:

Name & Address:

Daytime Telephone:

Shipping fees:

For books, add $2.

For t-shirts, add $4.

For jewelry & rubber stamps, add $2.

Please make checks payable to AGS. Checks should be in US fiinds, drawn on a US bank.

Mail checks and orders to: AGS, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301 .

Orders should reach the AGS office by February 21, 1997.

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

Forbes Awards

FORBES AWARD RECEPTION AND BANQUET

The reception late Saturday afternoon was
comparatively formal. Some men even sported ties, and many
women appeared in dresses for the first time. We were also served
dinner by waiters and waitresses in black tie.

Most people consider this evening the high point of the
conference because it celebrates the person honored by the Forbes

award. This year was a double celebration since both RICHARD E.
MEYER and ROSALEE E OAKLEY had been selected. Below are
President FRANK CALIDONNA's citation for Rosalee and her
acceptance speech, then Frank's citation for Dick and his acceptance
speech.

Presentation Speech to Rosalee Oakley

We are presenting two Forbes awards this evening. The
Forbe's award, for those new to our organization, honors
the memory of Harriette Merrifield Forbes who wrote the
first scholarly book on the subject of gravestones — New
England Gravestones and the Men Who Carved Them. Tonight's
celebration is very special to me personally.

When I discovered AGS in a book on organizations
the name listed to call was Rosalee Oakley. Rosalee was
President of AGS when I joined in 1991. She greeted us at
the door that year when we showed up for our first
conference in Northfield, MA and hosted the meeting of
new members. Everywhere we went and everything we
experienced involved the guiding hand of Rosalee.

Over the years as I went from member to Board
member to President it became obvious that one of the
backbones of the organization was Rosalee Oakley. Though
not a student of gravestone studies she has served as
President, Board member, and was our first Executive
Director. She is the one person responsible for most of the
organization in our organization, for our very being.

The Forbes Award is usually presented for
scholarship and publication, but other criteria are included
too. One is for exceptional service and Rosalee is exceptional
service personified. As our organization grew to our present
membership level we have been buffeted by problems that
could have ended AGS as an organization. More than once
Rosalee has stepped in and saved our organization with
her expertise, organizational skills, and selflessly provided
service way above and beyond the call of duty. She has
pulled our bacon out of the fire more times than I care to
recount.

The last three years especially have been the
occasion for many traumatic changes and events in our
office. We would not have a Quarterly had Rosalee not
stepped in and made it's survival possible. We would not
be here tonight or enjoy these past wonderful, smooth
running conferences without the guiding hand of Rosalee.
[I know Fred is laughing, but for the average conferee they
are smooth running] AGS owes her a great deal. She is now
providing groundwork to see that we survive as an
organization and the Quarterly survives as our publication
in the years to come. This award is a token compared to
the services rendered.

It is with great pleasure and joy, oh behalf of The
Association of Gravestone Studies that I present the 1998
Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award to Mrs. Rosalee Oakley.

#

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■P"^ -'^^1^^

Rosalee Oaklei/ holding her award
Photo by Fred Oakley

Rosalee Oakley's Acceptance Speech

Thank you Frank. And thank you to the Board of
Trustees. 1 am very honored to receive this award and to share
this evening's festivities with Dick Meyer. This is not
something 1 ever expected, given my role of "enabler" rather
than actual "doer" of gravestone studies.

It seems a short time ago when 1 received a call from
Ted Chase, a total stranger from a neighboring town. He
proceeded to tell me about a job search in which he was
involved for a staff person for the Association for Gravestone
Studies, and that Laurel Gabel, a friend of mine, had given
him my name. After spelling out what the job would entail,
he asked if 1 would be interested. When I said, "I don't think
so at this time," he said, "That's what Laurel said you would
say. And she told me that I shovild just continue on as though
you hadn't said it." Obviously he eventually prevailed, I was
interviewed, and accepted the position.

Many people have been extraordinarily supportive
over the years for which I am very grateful. I can only mention
a few though there are many more.

Of course, there is Laurel Gabel. For several years after
1 got the job, she never met me but what she would ask
nervously if everything was going all right. She was so afraid
she had gotten me into something 1 would not like. Not only
did she open the door for me to have a position with AGS,
more importantly she has fielded many questions — my own
and those of other people 1 refer to her — and she has provided
encouragement and friendship through the years.

Volume 22: Number 4

Page 19

Forbes Awards

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

Ted Chase and Dan Farber were the presidents of
the organization for the first four years that I was the
executive director. They were fellow dreamers, always
thinking about what the organization should be, or could
grow into being, and trying to make it happen. Dan and
Jessie Farber, in the year 1986, took me along with them to
Chicago to check out the possibility of having a future
coriference there. It took eight years to build the foundation
we needed in order to have the courage to go so far from
New England, but we did it in 1994. It was our first non-
colonial conference. Our champion of post-colonial
monuments, Barbara Rotundo, received the Forbes Award
at that conference, and I was privileged to be the President
that made the presentation, a midwestem native from Iowa.

There is another former president of the Trustees that
I must mention with special appreciation and affection — Fred
Oakley. His support at crucial times and his problem solving
abilities have been invaluable. Fiis concern for the financial
stability of the organization and his advice on business
decisions have made some important differences. Fred's little
red trucks have hauled books and furniture to conferences
and new offices for years — items that would have cost us
heavily if we had had to use conunercial movers. Certainly
Fred's and my efforts over the past years to find conference
sites and assist with conference arrangements have taken us
to visit more colleges than parents of a high school senior.
My gratitude to him for all his work and support has no
bounds.

This past year, working on the Quarterly has been a
big challenge. The photographs and stories our members
send in always amaze me for their variety and informative
nature, and it is fun to try to find ways to present them to
our readership. The questions that come over the telephone
and e-mail keep us busy. Our web site operated by Tom
Mason is definitely attracting new members and publications
purchasers.

All my many experiences culminated at last year's
conference when Fred and I were awarded the first
Certificates of Merit and had the certificate named for us, a
very humbling honor. We are delighted AGS can now
recognize many volunteers and orgaruzations who are doing
outstanding work on many fronts in conservation,
documentation, and other kinds of gravestone studies.

Which brings me to Harriette Merrifield Forbes and
this award. This award is so special. Many of you feel closer
to Harriette than I — you know members of her family, you
have made her carver research and photography a
foundation for your own work, or you own her book and
marvel at all she accomplished.

To those of us in the office, however, Harriette has
presented a challenge of a different kind. Since about 1988
we have been giving a photograph of Harriette to the award
recipient as well as having an enlargement sitting on the head
table at each Forbes Award Banquet. It has been a challenge
to put those photographs in a place where they can be found

the following year at conference time, especially each time
we moved the office, first to Worcester and then to Greenfield.
To those of us in the office, remembering to bring Harriette's
photograph along to each conference has been the significant
tie for us to her and her work.

In closing I want to say I'm pleased that, when
Miranda moved on, I was available to bridge the gap until
the next director or administrator is on board. It wasn't
difficult to pick up the office work when she left, but the
developments in computer technology impacting the
Quarterly that took place during Miranda's time with us were
a serious challenge. I have learned so many new things. The
new office is a pleasure to work in, and — Laurel, — it has
been fun. I'm very honored to receive this award and hope
my being here "for such a time as this" enables AGS to assist
you into the future as you persevere with the work of
gravestone studies.

Presentation Speech to Dr. Richard Meyer

This Forbes award also has personal meaning for
me. I had been photographing cemeteries and gravestones
for many years. I often used these pictures in slide shows of
my work. Over the years I was asked many questions about
them and my curiosity was also piqued. I never dreamed
there were people studying this subject. I finally decided to
learn all that I could about gravestones. My local library had
nothing, but ordered every book we could find on the subject
via an inter-library loan. What a thrill when the first book
arrived — Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American
Culture by Richard Meyer. My first real introduction on the
subject made an indelible impression and started my own
education on the topic. I never dreamed that eight years later
I would be sitting at a table breaking bread and chatting with
the author.

Dr. Meyer has done more than any one person to
make cemeteries and gravemarkers the subject of serious
research and theoretical writing in the academic world. He
organized, set the attitude in, and headed for ten years the
section on Cemeteries and Gravemarkers in the American
Culture Association where that section had more papers and
a larger continuous audience than any other section of the
American or Popular Culture Associations. His section has
also drawn in the most academic disciplines which in turn
means that the word about the outlet of research in his section
and publication of Markers has spread widely.

Dr. Meyer is presently the editor oi Markers which is
our scholarly publication. His very high standards of
excellence are evident in this publication. In addition to
editing Markers for us, attracting new writers, and producing
an invaluable bibliography, he has edited two anthologies
that are held in hundreds of libraries, often the only sdiolarly
work on gravestones in a library. The two are Cemeteries and
Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture (Ann Arbor, 1989)
and Ethnicity and the American Cemetery (Bowling Greeii,
1993). He is co-author with Peggy McDowell of The Revival

Page 20

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

Forbes Awards

Styles in American Memorial Art (Bowling Green, 1994). He
has published numerous articles as well.

Widely recognized as an expert, there is no book
on cemeteries and gravemarkers published in the last ten
years that has not acknowledged his help. Dr. Meyer's
service to the field of gravestone studies has been
exceptional in scholarship, publications, education, and
community service. On behalf of the Association of
Gravestone studies it gives me great pleasure to present
Dr. Meyer with the 1998 Forbes Award.

Richard Mexjer (left) receiving the Forbes Award

from President Frank Calidonna

Photo by Mary Ann Bodnh/a

Dr. Meyer's Acceptance Speech

Ladies and gentlemen, I shall endeavor to keep my
remarks brief this evening, but I would like to begin by
saying to you how very humbled and honored I am to be
standing here tonight as a recipient of the Harriette
Merrifield Forbes Award. I am aware of the many
distinguished individuals who have preceded me in
receiving this honor, and, tonight especially, my happiness
is tinged with sorrow for our recent loss of the man who
was the first ever to be so singled out by this organization
for his achievements in the field of gravestone studies. Dan
Farber's kindness, his gentle dignity, and his creative genius
made him a special friend to all of us who love and value
this field of study. We shall miss him terribly.

If there has been a constant in my life, even more
than my fascination with graphic imagery, it has surely been

a love of words — no great wonder, I suppose, for someone
who made his living for thirty years as a teacher of literature.
Quotations have stuck with me over these years like burs on a
pants leg, and at any given moment they are apt to spring
forth from the depths of my memory to give me pleasure or to
bestow an appropriateness upon a given situation.
Shakespeare, of course, has provided many of them. As I grow
older, I think more and more of Richard II's plaintive words,
"I wasted time, and now time wasteth me" (a remark which,
had they not held the theatre in such contempt, would surely
have made a fine epitaph on Puritan gravestones), and those
of you who might for some reason have corresponded with
me via e-mail may have noticed Mercutio's words from Romeo
and Juliet which form part of my electronic "signature": "Ask
for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man."

But it is an American author, the great poet and
essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, who has supplied some of my
best loved and most frequently resorted to quotations, gems
such as "Hitch your wagon to a star," "A foolish consistency
is the hobgoblin of little minds," and, in my darker moments,
"Things are in the saddle and ride Mankind." Tonight I am
particularly reminded of one of the most perceptive
observations this most perceptive of men ever made. In an
address initially presented before the Phi Beta Kappa Society
of Harvard in 1837 and subsequently published as his essay,
"The American Scholar," Emerson made a most striking
proclamation: "Books," he said, "are for the scholar's idle
times."

It is all too easy to misinterpret what Emerson meant
by this statement. It is certainly not intended as an anti-
intellectual statement, nor, as some have chosen to interpret
it, is it an attempt to marginalize the value of books and the
reading of books. Rather, it is clear from an examination of
Emerson's entire essay, as well as numerous other of his
writings, that the statement was meant as a challenge to the
inquisitive minds of what was then a young nation. By all
means, he would say, read books, be enlightened by them —
be a literate person, in other words, knowledgeable of the
works of others — but never forget that the true scholar is not
one who simply engages in the passive absorption of
information and understanding provided by others. No,
Emerson maintains, the true scholar is the individual who
experiences the world not merely through the reflecting lens
of books, but most directly from the first-hand process of living
in and observing it. It is only by eventually leaving the
comfortable sanctuary of the library that any individual can
hope to contribute meaningfully to the world's understanding
of itself, and thereby earn the title of scholar. And that is why
books are for his or her idle times.

And that also, ladies and gentlemen, is why I so greatly
value the Association for Gravestone Studies as an
organization and each of you individually as friends and
esteemed colleagues. You are — all of you — true scholars in
the sense that Emerson meant the term, persons who
experience the world directly, study it, and contribute to our

Volume 22: Number 4

Page 21

1998 Conference Summary

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

knowledge of it. You don't reject the value of knowledge
gained from books (such as, for instance. Markers, available
for immediate purchase at the conference sales tables), but
you understand implicitly the need to explore and seek out
new knowledge through individual fieldwork and
interpretive analysis and then to share that knowledge freely
with others. Of all the organizations I have ever belonged to
or could ever hope to belong to, AGS most clearly embodies
the Emersonian ideal of the American scholar. And so, you
see, the Forbes Award is not to me just another career
document to hold briefly and then to stash away in a
forgotten drawer. It will always be there visibly to remind
me of these happy moments spent before you, accepting with
gratitude this kindness bestowed upon me by a true
community of scholars. Thank you ever so much. 0

SATURDAY NIGHT LECTURES

The Saturday night papers were presented in a warm
auditorium. Apparently service persormel had turned off
the air-conditioning when they left Friday night. Although
Rich Veit found the controls and turned it back on late
Saturday, the building was not cool again till Sunday
morning. Luckily all three speakers had carefully timed their
talks. The first were TOM and BRENDA MALLOY. For years
the Malloys have been showing us what can be done to find
different topics in a limited geographic area. This year Tom
showed us gravestones that recorded murders of men and
gave us the stories he learned from newspapers and other
sources. Then Brenda showed the stones of women who had
been murder victims and told us their stories.

The final Saturday night speaker was JANET
HEYWOOD, Director of Interpretive Programs at Mount
Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Janet
frequently gives talks that are illustrated with gravestones
from Mount Auburn. This time her topic was "Draped
Shapes-Concealing and Revealing." She did not show
drapery around female figures, but limited the talk to draped
urns, crosses, etc. The drapery can be seen as shrouds, palls
or metaphors for the thin veil that separates life and death.

SATURDAY LATE NIGHT SESSION

SUSAN SHERWOOD began Saturday Late Night
with slides taken of pages in Monumental News, a periodical
with a run of forty or fifty years that she has found an
invaluable source for historical and practical information
about gravestones, their designs, and their makers.

MEG WINSLOW, archivist and preservation
supervisor at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, talked about their experience of having cast-
iron gates stolen, having a member of the public who had
read the news releases report seeing some of them in an
antique shop on Cape Cod, having police identify the thief,
ending with the judge's handling of the case. The guilty
man could escape jail and be put on probation if he would

return the other gates. He showed up with three, but only
two had come from Mount Auburn. Then the thief went
back to wherever he keeps his treasure trove and finally
returned with the correct gate. Charlie Marchant came up
with a startling conclusion to Meg's tale. The police in
Vermont had been alerted to a man taking things from a
cemetery, but when they searched his truck, they found no
evidence. Charlie's man and Meg's had the same name. Now
we hope the two police forces can get together! 0

Conference Registrar's Report

140 conferees

25 states

1 Canadian province

1 South American country

Alphabetical Order

Numerical Order

Alabama - 1

New Jersey - 26

Arizona - 2

Massachusetts - 23

California - 1

New York - 23

Colorado - 1

Virginia - 11

Connecticut - 6

Permsylvania - 9

Washington DC - 1

Rhode Island - 7

Delaware - 2

Connecticut - 6

Illinois - 2

Ohio - 3

Indiana - 2

Oregon - 3

Massachusetts - 23

Arizona - 2

Maryland - 2

Delaware - 2

Maine - 1

Illinois - 2

Minnesota - 1

Indiana - 2

New Hampshire - 2

Maryland - 2

New Jersey - 26

New Hampshire - 2

New Mexico - 1

Tennessee - 2

New York -23

Vermont - 2

Ohio -3

West Virginia - 2

Oregon - 3

Ontario - 2

Pennsylvania - 9

Alabama - 1

Rhode Island - 7

California - 1

Termessee - 2

Colorado - 1

Utah-1

Washington DC - 1

Vermont - 2

Maine - 1

Virginia - 11

Minnesota - 1

West Virginia - 2

New Mexico - 1

Utah-1

Venezuela - 1

Venezuela - 1

Ontario - 2

Page 22

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

1998 Conference Summary

SUNDAY

Sunday morning again began with a continental
breakfast outside the Pollak Auditorium and with the last
chance to browse through the sales and exhibits tables.

MORNING LECTURES

C. R. JONES, longtime member and frequent lecturer
at conferences gave the first paper Sunday morning,
demonstrating with numerous slides the ancient roots of our
modem gravestones. Basically, the modern ones descend
from Greek stelae.

YVONNE DIVAK, from Johnstown, New York, was
attending her first AGS conference. She gave a carefully
researched paper centered on a single gravestone in
Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs, New York. She
gave biographical details of Obed Coleman, the man
memorialized, and the invention (a chime-causing
attachment for pianos) that gained him fame. She also shared
all she had learned about Michael Flannelly of New York
City, the carver of the Coleman monument.

ROBERTA HALPORN gave the next talk. Roberta is
a frequent contributor to the Quarterly and to our annual
conferences and is known in Brooklyn and Manhattan as
"The Death Lady" because she is Director of the Center for
Thanatology Research and Education. She gave a paper on
the African-American gravestones she has found and
illustrated her talk with the rubbings she has made of those
stones.

The final speaker of the conference was RICHARD
DICKINSON, a founder and current president of The Friends
of Abandoned Cemeteries on Staten Island. He is also
Borough Historian for Staten Island. He talked about some
of the problems FACSI has faced and what they have done
about them.

People were beginning to leave to catch planes and
trains. However, lunch was part of the conference, and after
lunch, some people went to see "Tanagras" with Mark and
Rich.

Thus ended a conference that, despite the heat, was
judged successful by those who remembered to leave their
evaluation sheets. 0

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I

Volume 22: Number 4

Page 23

1999 Conference

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

Monument for Indian Chief Taza, son of Cochise
in Historic Congressional Cemetery.

1999 AGS East Coast Conference
Washington, DC
June 23-27, 1999

American University

A vibrant and enthusiastic planning committee is
preparing an excellent conference for June of 1999.
The staff includes:

Conference Chair - Susan Olsen, Director of the

Woodlawn Plantation for the National Trust
Program Chair - Barbara Rotundo
Registrar - Tom Mason
Participation Sessions - Melvin Mason
Conservation Workshop - David Via
Facilities and Meals Chair - Suzanne Curran
Publicity - Diane Cichocki
Exhibits and Sales - Butch and Sue Stalder
Transportation - Michelle Campbell (National Trust)

Call for Papers

Papers for the formal lecture sessions at the Washington, DC
conference are now being solicited. Particularly welcome will be
topics resulting from research in the Washington area.

Please keep in mind that this is an organization for
gravestone studies. While funerals and cemeteries are
inextricably linked with gravestones, discussion such as ethnic
mourning customs or ways to publicize cemetery preservation
are more suitable for participation sessions where conferees can
choose among topics (see below). The formal presentations will
be limited to twenty minutes, and this year a disc or typed copy
will be required at the time of the lecture.

Send proposals and a 250-word abstract by February 1,
1999, to Program Chair Barbara Rotundo, 48 Plummer Hill Road,
Unit 4, Belmont, NH 03220.

Call for Participation Session Leaders

Proposals for talks, demonstrations, or panel discussions on topics
concerning gravestones, cemeteries, and other related subjects
are wanted for the 1999 AGS Conference in Washington, DC.
These Participation Sessions are 90 minute programs, with
approximately 40 participants, which will be held on Saturday,
June 26th. Proposals should be focused for inclusion in one of
trhe following thematic tracks: Computers & Technology,
Interpretation and Programs, Research and Documentation,
History and Interpretation of Individual Markers, and
Preservation and Conservation.

Interested presenters should send a 250 word proposal
by January 15, 1999 to Melvin Mason, AGS Participation Session
Chair, Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E Street SE, Washington,
DC 20003. (e-mail: CongressionalCemetery@mail.org.)

Things to think about:

• Some pre-conference activities will occur on Wednesday,
June 23, so those coming from a distance may w^ish to
check into the dorms on Tuesday, June 22.

• Wednesday afternoon there will be a tour of Oak fiill
Cemetery, a beautiful private Victorian cemetery with
stringent rules about following the guide and staying
on the paths.

• Wednesday night a bus tour of the national monuments
will be offered including the Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt,
Vietnam, and Korean monuments.

• Thursday, June 24, the all-day Conservation Workshop at
Historic Congressional Cemetery will take place (buses
provided from the uruversity to the cemetery and return).
At the same time, a special "hands-on" workshop will be
held at Rock Creek Cemetery for photography and
rubbing, and a Grants & Funding Workshop (for cemetery
preservation) will be held at American University.

• Friday will be Bus Tour Day, two tours to choose between,
both touring two large cemeteries for about 3 hours each.

• Saturday is given over to Participation Sessions for
everyone. You don't have to miss out to attend the
conservation workshop this year — however, you still have
to choose from a number of intriguing selections.

• Sunday morning concludes the lecture series which is held
each evening and Sunday morning.

So plan to attend the entire conference. Network with
other gravestone scholars, researchers, and hobbyists.
You'll find there is something for everyone!

Page 24

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

7999 Conference

AGS West Coast Conference
''Seeking the West''
Portland, Oregon
August 5-8, 1999

For all you west coast and close to west coast AGS
members, finally here is an AGS conference for you. Held at
beautiful Reed College, this conference will include scholarly
lectures, classroom sessions, a conservation workshop, and bus
tours of Portland cemeteries. This conference is made possible
because one of our institutional members, the Oregon Historic
Cemeteries Association, offered to be the host and head up the
many committees that make our conferences happen. The Steering
Committee includes:

Conference Co-chairs: Jeanne Gentry, executive director of
OHCA, and Phyllis Hoggatt, president of OHCA

Program Co-chairs: Richard and Lotte Meyer

Participation Session Chair: Bonnie Kiser

Conservation Workshop: Fred Oakley

• To volunteer to help, e-mail Jeanne Gentry at

<ohca@integrityonline. com>

• To register to come, watch for the registration

information mailing that will be in the mail
to all AGS members in April.

• To bring an exhibit, sign up for a table on the

registration form. (They're free!)

• To sell your wares, select a half or a full table ($5

or $10) on the registration form.

• To get on the late night show for 15 minutes with

either a slide show or discussion of the
concern of your choice, indicate your topic
on the registration form.

• To have an absolutely excellent experience in a

brand new area of our country where AGS
has not met before, plan now to come.
Bring a friend or come by yourself. You'll
have plenty of new friends by the time the
conference concludes! And they will all
love gravestones! What could be better?

Be prepared for a real western experience as we
join our Oregon AGS and OHCA members at
the end of tlie Oregon Trail in August of 1999.

Moniiinenl at Lone l-ii Ceiiielery. site of Consen'ation Workshop

Call for Papers

Papers are solicited for the formal lecture sessions at
the 1999 AGS West Coast Conference, "Seeking the West," August
5-8, at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

Topics may utilize any appropriate disciplinary
perspective and may focus upon any aspect of gravestone/
marker study (as well as cemeteries, providing that the markers
within these cemeteries receive significant attention), but other
elements of deathways or mourning customs might prove more
appropriate to participation sessions (see below) where conferees
can choose amongst a wide range of topics. Because of the
conference's regional emphasis, we would be particularly
interested in any proposals resulting from research in the West.
Papers should be analytical (i.e., not merely descriptive) in
nature, and their presentation time must not exceed twenty
minutes. Those presenting papers at the AGS June Conference
in Washington, DC, should not seek to present them again at the
Portland conference.

Please send written proposals (ca. 300-500 words), plus
a 50-75 word abstract, by March 1, 1999 to Program Chairs
Richard and Lotte Meyer, 407 19th Street NE, Salem, OR 97301
(tel.: 503/581-5344; e-mail: meyerr@wou.edu, or
larsenl@wou.edu).

Call for Participation Session Leaders

Talks, demonstrations, or round table discussions on
topics related to gravestones are solicited for the AGS Conference
in Portland, Oregon, August 5-8, 1999. The sessions are held on
Saturday, August 7, in classrooms seating thirty to forty people,
and last about an hour. Those involving both a talk and work in
the field can request double periods.

Send your descriptive proposals by March 1, 1999 to
Bonnie Kiser 2627 N.E. Knott Street, Portland, OR 97212-3511;
(tel. 503/281-1468; e-mail: boniekiser@aol.com).

Volume 22: Number 4

Page 25

Notes & Queries

AGS Qiiarterhj - Fall 1998

NOTES & Queries

Restoration of a Family Graveyard

Dealing with a simple family graveyard in Rye, New
Hampshire, has involved a variety of different people. There
was the former owner, the new owners, the next-door
neighbor, descendants in New Hampshire and California, a
monument man, and Louise Tallman as advisor and bush
cutter, and author of this report.

William Seavey settled in Rye, New Hampshire,
about 1630. The Seavey house that survives is believed to
have been built in 1730. About 200 feet below the house is
the family graveyard. It contains marble stones for John L.
Seavey died in 1845, his wife Sidney 1858, son William, 1824
at 5 years. Placed as a memorial is a stone for William Seavey,
who served in the Revolution. Besides these are a number
of pairs of fieldstones, how many are not yet known.

In 1976 we organized a team for the restoration of
some family graveyards in Rye. We approached the owner
of the Seavey house and land about putting the graveyard
in better shape. The reply was negative. Over the years, in
deference to the Portsmouth descendant, I placed a flag at
William's stone. Finally the jungle of brambles and vines
made access impossible.

I knew that a California descendant was concerned
about the graveyard. When new owners took over the
property, restoration might be possible. I knocked on the
door and met Hugh and Andrea Lee. They come most
weekends to work on restoration of the house and grounds.
It was great to see careful work in progress. What about the
graveyard? John Adams, the modern descendant, would be
willing to hire someone to do the restoration. They stated
they would prefer to be involved themselves, but would
welcome assistance by local volunteers.

I was surprised one weekend to get a call from Hugh,
who asked me to come right over because John Adams had
come from California to plan the graveyard restoration. John
expressed his wish for a monument that would tell more
about the graveyard. He also wanted to plan for an edge
fencing. How about granite posts around the edges? First
we had to determine the extent of the burials because the
fieldstone markers continued into the jungle.

I recommended a monument man who likes to work
on old sites. He persuaded John to plan a stone seat that
could have the wording John wanted. He would design
fencing which might be 30 feet square. John Seavey's stone
had an illegible eight-line epitaph, but the wording was in
family papers. John Adams arranged that this be cut on a
stone to be placed in front of the marker.

Rye has over 25 sites with unmarked fieldstone
gravemarkers. Typically these are flat stones set upright,
with pairs six feet apart. Some sites, such as this, have
inscribed gravestones nearby. A portion of the Seavey
graveyard is over the line on land of the next-door neighbor.
He recognizes the right of the descendant to plan restoration.

"Just make sure you don't leave a mess of heavy brush on
my land."

I had started clearing to determine the pattern of
graves. Hugh Lee did some chainsaw work. John Adams
had hoped to have the graveyard work completed for a July
25 House Tour for Rye Historical Society. Visitors to the
Seavey house could view the graveyard as well. Clearing of
the jumbles of vines and brambles would have to be hired.
This will expose the pattern of fieldstone gravemarkers so
that some kind of edging can be designed and constructed.
Cost will be covered by the descendant.

— Louise Tallman

Seeking information about glass coffins

Kathy Shearer of Abingdon, Virginia, writes that
while working on a history project in an old coal mining
town in southwest Virginia, she has located the burial site of
a ten-year-old Italian child who died in 1920. The grave is
different from others in the cemetery as it is a concrete vault
above the ground, about 3 feet high at the center and six feet
long. The legend is that this child was buried in a glass coffin
with her dolls. Kathy has heard of a curved glass piece being
inserted in a coffin over the face for viewing, but she wonders
if anyone has ever heard of a glass coffin? Write Kathy
Shearer, Special Projects Coordinator, People, Inc. 1173 West
Main Street, Abingdon, VA 24210.

Guidance in France

New member Lisa Falour from Saint-Denis, France,
has indicated she would like to have AGS members know
she is willing to be a local contact for them when they are
visiting in the region around Paris. She and her husband
have visited many cemeteries in France and have useful tips
to share. They are also a registered Bed and Breakfast and
would love to host visitors to Saint-Denis. Write Lisa Falour,
79, rue de Strasbourg, 93200 Saint-Denis, France.

Historic New Orleans Walking Tours

Robert Florence has graciously offered to give
reduced fees to fellow AGS members for his Historic New
Orleans Walking Tours. The phone number is (504)947-2120.
A special section on cemeteries in The Dallas Morning News
(sent to the office by Eric Brock) recommends his tours, and
Barbara Aitken and Claire Deloria, AGS members, really
enjoyed the tour they took with him.

Brochures available

We have some brochures from the Association for
Collectors of Mourning Jewelry, PO Box 641, Burlington, WI
53105. Those interested in knowing more about this
organization may send a stamped, self-addressed business-
sized envelope to the AGS office or correspond directly with
the organization.

Page 26

Volume 22: Number 4

AGS Quarterly - Fall 1998

Notes & Queries

Feminine Epitaphs

In a recent AGS Quarterly we asked for feminine
epitaphs. This one was found in Tombstones of Your Ancestors,
by Louis S. Schafer.

Here lies a woman who was always tired.
She lived in a house where no help was hired.
The last words she said were "Dear Friends I am going
Where washing ain't wanted nor mending nor sewing
For where folks don't eat, there's no washing of dishes
There all things is done exact to my wishes
Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never
I'm going to do nothing, forever and ever."
Foimd in Pembroke, Massachusetts

Stone finds its way home

David R. Mead, Twin Falls, Idaho, has sent in an
article by Mark Heinz that appeared in The Times-News, Twin
Falls, Idaho, March 25, 1998. The story was about Carter
Lewis, a farmworker in Jerome, Idaho whose 8-month-old
son. Carter Franklin Lewis, died of double pneumonia in
1950. Carter Lewis, (now retired and living in Willets,
California), had purchased a small headstone shortly after
his son's death. However, it was repossessed when he
couldn't afford to finish the payments on it. That was the
last he saw of the stone.

The Jerome County Sheriff's Department received a
report that the headstone was found in 1969 on the hood of a
parked car in Boise. In early 1970 a state trooper took the
stone to Jerome where it was stored in a walk-in safe. In
March 1998 as the sheriff's department personnel were
clearing out the safe to make room for evidence storage, the
stone was found. An article in The Times Nezvs about the
stone's discovery alerted family members still living in the
area. They told the sheriff's department where Carter Lewis
could be found, and plans were made to re-set the stone on
his son's grave.

Query about wrought iron gates

Ruth M. Miller writes about her research into the history of
ironwork in Charleston, South Carolina. A reference in the
book. Early Ironwork of Charleston, by Alston Deas, published
by Bostich & Thornley in 1941 described a gate with skulls
and crossed bones wrought into it. "A heavy brick wall, and
heavier gate of iron, enclosed the burial place, and were
connected with porticoes. Skulls and crossbones were
wrought in the antique iron-work, and formed no unfitting
device for such an abiding place. These, however, gave place
to a more modem fancy, and a neat iron railing took the place
of the heavier wall but a few years ago..." (from Southern
Literary Journal, Charleston, S.C., January 1836. Vol. I,
Number 5, p. 365.) When a portion of the graveyard was
relinquished to the city to widen the street and the present
"neat iron railing" was selected, the substitution was made
"without recorded reluctance on the part of anyone." (from
St. Philip's Church. Minutes of the Vestry and Wardens, July
8, 1826.) Ruth asks if anyone has seen other such references,
or better yet, seen such ironwork. — Ruth M. Miller, PO Box
1651, Charleston, SC 29402, (803) 766-2080.

Reporting thefts is an important strategy

From the minutes of July 28 of the New Orleans Cemetery
Preservation Advisory Committee of Save Our Cemeteries:
"...the committee discussed a plan to have Save Our
Cemeteries send a memo to all cemetery operators advising
them to encourage all families reporting thefts to file a police
report on the incident. All cemetery operators will also be
requested to file a report each month to Save Our Cemeteries
which wUl contain information on all thefts reported to them.
Save Our Cemeteries will use these reports to make sure that
police reports are being filed by families and as a record for
the committee of how many thefts are still occurring and
where." This might work well in other areas as well.

— Katie Karrick, Lyndhurst, Ohio 0

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

AGS members participated in The Grave Affairs
Workshop held June 16 and 17 in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Co-sponsors were the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources' Division of State Parks and the division's Historic
Preservation Program. Participating were HELEN SCLAIR,
Cemetery Historian, TRACY WALTHER and SHELLY SASS,
Historic Materials Conservators, and MARY ELLEN MC
VICKER a panel member discussing "Using Cemeteries for
Historic Interpretation." Lectures were followed by a hands-
on technical workshop the next day led by Shelly Sass in
Jefferson City's Old City Cemetery.

The April 1998 issue of Stone in A.merica has an article
by Jan Leibowitz Alloy titled "The Graveyard Shift"
describing the methods used by two AGS members, DR.
GREGORY JEANE and CLAIRE DELORIA who conduct
workshops and classes on cemeteries and gravestones. And
in the July 1998 issue, LOREN HORTON'S photos illustrated
an article by Lee Jansen on "Memorial Crosses." "In

Celebration of Life" by Gloria Harper quoted J. JOSEPH
EDGETTE, Ph.D., who presented a paper for the 1998
Americal Culture Association titled "Atop the Grave: Its
Goods vs. Its Decorations." The article, "Touring Chicago's
Cemeteries" mentions tours by DIANE LANIGAN, a decent
for the Chicago Architecture Foundation. All these are AGS
members.

The August 1998 issue of Stone in America has an
article by Gloria Harper detailing the work of RUTH
SHAPLEIGH-BROWN, director of the Connecticut Gravestone
Network. CGN works to educate the public about cemetery
theft and to provide a network to help find where "lost"
stones and artifacts belong. In the same issue, two stone
carvers are featured in an article by Ann Corcoran Janiak.
both of whom led participation sessions at AGS conferences:
ALLEN WILLIAMS of Blandford, Massachusetts and
MICHAEL FANNIN of Middletown Springs, Vermont. Both
carve gravestones in the old style. 0

Volume 22: Number 4

Page 27

CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS

January 3, 1999 - "Cherubs and Angels of Mount Auburn" - a First Sunday walking tour with Janet
Heywood, Director of Interpretive Programs, Mount Auburn. Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery
580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; call (617) 547-7105 for information. Fee: $8. Begin
the new year with a walking tour of Mount Auburn. We will explore the grounds, seeking cherubs
and angels in marble and granite. Join us for this discovery walk. Images of celestial beings are found
throughout the Cemetery, proudly posing on pedestals or tucked into the decorations of many monu-
ments. Can you find them? Dress appropriately for the weather. Meet near Story Chapel. (In case of
severe weather, alternative date, Sunday, January 10. Call (617) 547-7105, ext. 823 to check weather
update.)

March 31- April 3, 1999 - American Culture Association meets in San Diego, California. Section on
"Cemeteries and Gravemarkers" is seeking proposals for papers. Contact J. Joseph Edgette, Ph.D.,
Widener University, One University Place, Chester, PA 19013, e-mail: j.j.edgette@widener.edu, tel.
(610)449-4241.

© 1998 The Association for Gravestone Studies

To reprint from the AGS Quarterly, unless specifically stated otherwise, no permission is needed, provided: (1) the reprint is used for educational
purposes; (2) full credit is given to the Association and the author and /or photographer or artist involved; and (3) a copy of the document or article in
which the reprinted material appears is sent to the AGS office. The AGS Quarterly is published four times a year as a service to members of the Association
for Gravestone Studies. Suggestions and contributions from readers are welcome. Copies of most issues are available from the AGS office for $3.00. The
goal of the AGS Quarterly is to present timely information about projects, literature, and research concerning gravestones.

To contribute articles, notes, or queries, please send items to the AGS office.

Membership fees: (Senior/ Student, $25; Individual, $30; Institutional, $35; Family, $40; Supporting, $65; Life, $1000) to the Association for Gravestone
Studies office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301. The membership year begins the month dues are received and ends one year
from that date.

Journal articles to be considered for publication in Markers, The Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies: Please send articles to Richard
Meyer, Editor of Markers, PC Box 13006, Salem, OR 97309-1006. His telephone is (503) 581-5344 and e-mail address is meyerr@wou.edu. The current issue
of Markers is volume XV now available. Please see the insert in this Quarterly.

Address other correspondence to Administrator, AGS Office, 278 Main Street, Suite 207, Greenfield, MA 01301 . 413 / -772-0836. ags@javanet.com

The Association for Gravestone Studies
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Greenfield, MA 01301

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