Gatling Monument, Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana

DR. RICHARD JORDAN GATLING

INVENTOR OF THE

GATLING GUN

BORN HERTFORD CO., NORTH CAROLINA

SEPT. 12^TH, 1818.

DIED NEW YORK CITY,

FEBR. 26^TH, 1903.

THE HIGHEST HONORS THAT THE WORLD CAN BOAST

ARE SUBJECTS FAR TOO LOW FOR MY DESIRE

THE BRIGHTEST BEAMS OF GLORY ARE AT MOST

INCOMPLETE COMPARED TO MY BELIEF

IN THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

JEMIMA TAYLOR SANDERS

HIS BELOVED AND SAINTLY WIFE

BORN MAY 27^TH, 1837.

WHOSE FORTY-EIGHT YEARS OF MARRIED LIFE

AS WIFE AND MORTHER WERE FILLED

WITH UNFAILING TENDERNESS AND DEVOTION.

Serial inventor, Richard Gatling, invented the wheat drill, a hemp break machine, a steam plow, a motor driven plow, a screw propeller, a rice-sowing machine, and a seed planter.

The seed planter led Gatling to invent his signature creation, the one that bears his name—the Gatling gun.  The forerunner to the machine gun, the Gatling gun, was notable for the multi-barrel design which allowed quick synchronized firing and reloading that gave the gun to cool down during the cyclic firing.  The Gatling gun was patented November 4, 1862.  Gatling naively believed his creation would make warfare so horrific that wars would be too cruel to fight.

Gatling had been a clerk, a school teacher and a merchant, but when he fell ill with small pox it piqued his interest in medicine.  He enrolled in the Ohio Medical College and graduated with a M.D. in 1850, though he never practiced medicine.  Gatling moved to Indianapolis where he was a successful entrepreneur.  He married Jemima Taylor Sanders, 19 years his junior and the daughter of a prominent Indianapolis doctor.  Jemima’s sister, Zerelda married the Governor of Indiana, David Wallace.

Gatling and his wife, Jemima, are buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery at Indianapolis.  The monument looks like a mausoleum, but is in fact a granite slab of a classical design featuring a pediment supported by four Doric columns.

ANNA

WIFE OF

JAMES CONOLY

BORN

JAN. 21, 1881.

DIED

JAN. 21, 1881.

FRANK E.

BORN

APR. 3, 1880

DIED

JAN. 26, 1881.

ROSA C.

BORN

APR. 9, 1878

DIED

JAN. 17, 1884.

GEORGE

BORN

JUNE 9, 1870

DIED

SEPT. 4, 1870.

CHILDREN OF J. & A. CONOLY

The limestone monument in the St. Ambrose Catholic Church Cemetery at Seymour, Indiana, for the wife and children of James Conoly, is carved to look like a country church.  On the front of the church above the doorway, is carved, “MY WIFE”.  Three of the gothic windows on one side of the church have the inscription for three Conoly children who died.  On the back of the building is a scroll that lists the name, birth, and death dates for Anna, along with an epitaph that is now obscured and unreadable because it is so weathered.

Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana

INFANT SON

 Nov. 27, 1900

BURIED WASHINGTON CO., IND

At the base of the angel monument erected for the Wilkins Family is a plain white marble marker in memory of the infant son of Thomas and Alice Wilkins who was born and died on the same day.  The marker does not have an epitaph, but Mary Kim Schreck, my friend and fellow cemetery enthusiast, shared a poem with me that seems appropriate, written by Elizabeth Gaskell, July 4^th, 1836.  The poem speaks to the loss of a grieving Mother at not only losing her child and what might have been but the untold thoughts she had of the child even during joyful times.  The visage of the little girl was never far from her Mother’s mind.  The Wilkins family had moved from Washington County, Indiana, where their infant son was buried, but next to their graves for eternity was a reminder of the infant son they lost 50 years before they died.

On Visiting the Grave of My Stillborn Little Girl
I made a vow within my soul, O Child,
When thou wert laid beside my weary heart,
With marks of death on every tender part
That, if in time a living infant smiled,
Winning my ear with gentle sounds of love
In sunshine of such joy, I still would save
A green rest for thy memory, O Dove!
And oft times visit thy small, nameless grave.
Thee have I not forgot, my firstborn, though
Whose eyes ne’er opened to my wistful gaze,
Whose sufferings stamped with pain thy little brow;
I think of thee in these far happier days,
And thou, my child, from thy bright heaven see
How well I keep my faithful vow to thee.

Nesting in the tree

As my son and I took the picture of the angel, Zain noticed that an expectant Mother Robin had nested between the wings of the angel.  Barley peaking out, he noticed the little Mother and asked to snap her picture.  The photograph captures the life cycle in its essense and ultimate irony…rebirth in the spring on the wings of death and the sadness of winter.

JOHNSON

ROBERT CLARENCE

1927-2006

A bewildered-looking angel is gingerly perched on top of the rounded top white marble tablet marking the grave of Robert Clarence Johnson in the Woodward Hill Cemetery at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Cherubim are one of nine orders or choirs of angels which are organized into three spheres, with three choirs in each sphere. According to Christian tradition, the first sphere, which is made up of the Seraphim, Cherubim, and the Thrones, are considered the closet to Heaven. In Ezekiel 10:14, the Cherubim are described as having four likenesses or four faces, “And every one had four faces; the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.” Cherubim are most always depicted as chubby babies.

The Cherubim were to be guardian angels. In two places in the Bible, their role is described, first as guardians of the gates at the Garden of Eden and then of the Ark of the Covenant.

St. Ambrose Cemetery, Seymour, Indiana

MARIAROSA

SCIARRA

DED. 11, 1847

OCT. 27, 1920

BORN AT CHIAUCI, ITALY

This dramatic monument erected for Mariarosa Sciarra is a depiction of a line from the iconic hymn “Rock of Ages” written by Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady in 1763 and first published in 1775.  The hymn has been a popular Christian standard for over a century.

At the turn of the 19th Century, postcards depicted a dramatic scene of a woman in a flowing dress being buffeted by a storm surrounded by stormy white-crested waves clinging to a cross illustrating the first two lines of the third stanza from the hymn:

“Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling”

The image above is a sculpture of those two lines of the great hymn.  This motif is found in full sculpture,  but also commonly found on white-bronze markers (blue-tinted cast zinc markers) made in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  The woman symbolizes faith.  The raging sea (not depicted in this sculpture–the woman rests upon a rock) is a metaphor for the sea of sin in which humankind lives, and the cross is the hope to which sinners cling to be saved.

Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianpolis, Indiana

Corliss Randle Ruckle

Born Dec. 19, 1877

Died Dec. 4, 1889

One of the most sought out monuments in the sprawling Crown Hill Cemetery at Indianapolis, Indiana, is that which was carved for Corliss Randle Ruckle, who was born December 19, 1877, and died of diphtheria December 4, 1889, just shy of his 12^th birthday.  Corliss was the only son of Nicholas R. Ruckle, who had been a captain in the Civil War in Company E in the 11^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was promoted to Colonel of the 148^th Rec’t Indiana Infantry.  His mother was Jennie Moore Ruckle.

Corliss Randle Ruckle is depicted in a white-collared shirt tied with a bow, wearing knee breeches, button-up shoes, while sitting on a spiral staircase, with an open book and a small bouquet of flowers.  His family memorialized young Corliss in a lifelike statue, customary in the Victorian Era.

Over the years, his monument discolored and became covered with biological growths.  The cemetery undertook a restoration of the monument which was estimated at costing $18,000 to remove the lichens, fill the pock marks, and the discoloration.

At a recent Indiana Association for Gravestone Studies Chapter meeting at Franklin, Indiana, Brad Manzenberger, a cemetery preservationist spoke about cleaning headstones.  Of course, no cleaning should be done without the permission of the cemetery management.  When starting out it is important to know what the marker is made of—marble, granite, sandstone, bronze, or zinc—each may be treated with different cleaning materials.  Before you begin, take before pictures of the marker to document the work.  Be sure to include the name on the marker, inscription, type of gravestone, condition, cemetery name, and the location within the cemetery.

During Brad’s PowerPoint Presentation, he stressed the need to understand why the marker is being cleaned: to improve readability, to remove soling, staining, or biological growth, or to remove graffiti.

When cleaning a marker it is important to consider the following questions:

Will cleaning accelerate deterioration?

Will cleaning cause loss of the original material?

What are the long-term effects of cleaning chemicals?

Plain water, non-ionic detergents, biocides, and some specialty masonry cleaners are acceptable.  Salt-based, bleaches, and acids should not be used to clean markers nor should sand blasting, high-pressure washing, wire brushes, or grinders.  They can do serious damage to marker.

In general, when cleaning a stone monument, soak the gravestone thoroughly with water before the cleaning treatment begins.  Apply the chemical treatment (biological or cleaning agent) and start from the bottom of the marker with a soft-bristle brush and move up using small circular motions.  Use lots of water and rinse thoroughly.  When cleaning bronze of zinc markers Ivory Dish soap, a nylon brush, and water work best.  Again, thoroughly rinse after the cleaning is done.

Keep these simple rules in mind to clean and protect gravestones.

Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

Frances M. Pearce

Born June 29, 1835

Died 1854

Second wife of Horatio Odell Stone

Frances Pearce Stone

Born May 1854

Died September 1854

In the early 19^th Century the grim images of winged skulls, skeletons, snuffed candles, and gravedigger’s equipment which spoke, in part, to the fragility and brevity of life gave way to more sentimental images of willow trees, flowers of all kinds, and urns.  As the century progressed funerary sculpture and imagery became more ornate and more sentimental often memorializing deceased children in stone.

In the Rosehill Cemetery at Chicago, Illinois, a poignant reminder of the real risks of childbearing are all too clear in the monument that was carved for Frances M. Pearce Stone, the young wife of Horatio Odell Stone, and her infant daughter, Frances Pearce Stone, who died a scant four months after her mother.

Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

The magnificent white-marble memorial sculpture to Inez, the daughter of John N. and Mary C. Clark, in the Graceland Cemetery at Chicago, Illinois, who was born September 20, 1873, and died August 1, 1880, is a stunning example of sculptures that were created to memorialize children in the Victorian Era. In this example, which has been protected from the weather by glass, the seated girl holds a parasol, her dress is layered eyelet lace, a hat casusally hangs around her neck, and she wears a locket.

She is seated on a chair that is carved to look like it was built from tree limbs with the bark still attached in an unfinished but natural look that was part of the rustic movement of the mid-nineteenth century.  It was characterized by designs that were made to look like they were from the country. Elegant and slim curved lines in furniture gave way to bulkier and heavier. Homes, cabins, and garden houses were designed in the rustic style eschewing classic designs. In decorative furniture this often took the form of chairs made from rough tree limbs curved to form arms and chair backs, chair legs made from tree roots growing upwards. In cabins, railings and the siding were made from unhewn logs with the bark still in place.

Many Websites claim that the monument to Inez Clarke is a mystery and that, in fact, Inez did not really live; the monument was merely a sculpture created as an advertisement from a monument company.  Others claim that Inez did live and that her spirit is still embodied in the sculpture.  Some claim that the monument is often missing during the night as she walks the cemetery and that it reappears in the morning.  Cemetery staff have confirmed that there was a little girl name Inez Clarke buried in that spot, however, they did not comment on the paranormal activities attributed to the monument.

Calvary Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

In the Calvary Catholic Cemetery at Chicago, Illinois, there is a gravestone carved to look like a grotto.  Inside the tiny grotto are sculptures of two little children.  At first glance it might look like two little girls because the children are wearing a dresses, however, that was common for boys up to age five in the Victorian era.

The boys were Artie, who was 4 years old, and his brother, Willie, who was 2 years old.  They were the sons of John and Marie Walsh.  They both died in the late 1800s.  Because the soft marble has weathered badly, not much else can be discerned from the inscriptions that have been lost to history.  The sculptures have eroded giving the little boys a ghost-like appearance.  The older brother’s arm wraps around the younger brother in a tender and protective gesture as they huddle together.

Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana

Mary Ella McGinnis

Born

December 15, 1869

Died

August 6, 1875

The likeness of Mary Ella McGinnis was created in the Victorian style of memorializing children in funerary statuary.  The realism of the statue is remarkable–her curly hair cascades to her shoulders as she looks forward.  Mary Ella is depicted in her finest clothing, the eyelet lace still visible in the bottom of her skirt.  She is portrayed holding flowers in her apron with one hand and a single flower in her other hand.  Because of the weathering of the soft marble, the kind of flower is not discernable.  The act of placing the single flower on a grave is a common motif and expresses the transitory nature of life. The flower she holds in one hand is a floral metaphor for a young flower that did not have time to fully bloom on Earth, a poignant visual message coupled with the image of this young girl.

Mary Ella, who died of lung congestion at 5 and ½ years old, was the daughter of George and Josephine McGinnis.  Her father, George, was a colonel, promoted to brigadier general, during the Civil War in the 11^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.  According to Memories of the Past: A Tour of Historic Crown Hill Cemetery by Wayne L. Sanford, this Italian white-marble sculpture is the second statue completed for her grave.  The first was reportedly created by the great sculptor Lorado Taft and rejected by the family.