Gravely Speaking

SARAH E. WARD

WIFE OF

J. S. NEAL

DIED

MAY 1, 1877

AGED

22 Ys. 6 Mos. 1 d.

Gone from this land, Father, Mother,

Brothers and Sisters, too.

And now my friends, I bid adieu

Palmer’s Prairie Church of Christ in rural Sullivan County, Indiana, is no longer, but the church graveyard is, and is a testament to the congregation that once worshipped there.  Several hundred tombstones mark the graves of former congregants, including the stained and weathered white marble tablet of Sarah Ward Neal.

Though the stone shows weathering and erosion, the bas-relief in the rounded top of the gravestone is clear enough to make out.  The scene depicts an angel, with swirling clouds over head, kneeling beside a box tomb as she places flowers on top of it.

The angel carrying flowers to decorate and watch over a grave is a common “angel type” found in American cemeteries.  In the 2007 edition of Markers, XXIV, published by the Association for Gravestone Studies, Greenfield, Massachusetts, Elisabeth L. Roark wrote an article about angels titled, “Embodying Immortality: Angels in America’s Rural Garden Cemeteries, 1850—1900”, pages 56 – 111.  Roark argues that angels were not “Romantic attempts to beautify death.” She writes, “while this was part of their appeal, angel monuments are far more complex in meaning and can act to reveal manifestations of popular Christian beliefs.”

According to the article, angels come onto the scene in rural garden cemeteries in a big way starting circa 1850 and then throughout the rest of the century. Though angels come in many variations and forms, in her study of 14 rural cemeteries from each region of America, Roark found that most angels fall into the following eight categories:

Angels are mentioned over 270 times in the Bible but of the eight categories of angels that Roark describes in her article, Angels who decorate and watch over the grave are the only type not specifically defined in the Bible. Roark notes that decorating graves with flowers originates with the ancient Greeks, this type of symbolism, however, is something newly found in graveyards of the 19^th Century.

After the Civil War, it became popular to decorate graves lavishly with flowers. Roark writes, “Like their live counterparts, the angels’ sculpted flowers suggest the parallels drawn at this time between the cyclical nature of plant life and human birth, death, and resurrection.”

HENRY

Died, Aug. 10, 1864, Aged 19 Days.

EDWIN,

Died Oct. 17, 1865, Aged 1 Mo. 19 Days

May their souls rest in peace

Children of NATHAN & PAULINE BACHMAN.

The double rounded top white marble tablet in the Home of Peace Cemetery and Emanu-El Mausoleum in Colma, California, depicts the two infant boys, Henry and Edwin, of Nathan and Pauline Bachman.  The bas-relief carving on the left depicts the infant on a cloud as his soul ascends to Heaven.

The scene on the right shows a lifted curtain revealing a “sleeping” baby. This motif is two-fold. It depicts the passage of the soul from the Earthly realm to the Heavenly realm but also the Victorian custom of draping black cloth to express the family’s mourning.  The draperies would have been kept in place for quite some time even after the body was removed to the grave.  This would allow the family to continue to mourn and to express their sorrow.

Charles C. Keene

Born 1832, Hessen Cassel, Germany

Died May 7, 1894, San Franciso, California

Susan Keene

Born April 1852, New York, New York

Died August 22, 1915, San Francisco, California

Keene was born in Germany and migrated to the United States becoming a naturalized citizen on October 5, 1868.  According to the San Francisco Federal Census of 1880, Charles and Susan Keene were living at 1515 Tyler Street in San Francisco with their children, Meriam, William, Rose, and Jeanette and sister-in-law, Sarah Snow and her daughter Rose.  According to accounts, Charles built and sold the first accordions in the San Francisco area. 

The white marble monument in the Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, California, depicts a Union Civil War soldier astride a horse.  In the lower left-hand corner of the scene is a broken wheel.  Like many symbols—the hanging and broken bud, the broken column, the empty chair—the broken wheel represents the end of life’s journey. The wheel is a metaphor for the circle of life which is broken by death.

Keene was a captain associated with California military units and clearly very proud of his service.  He was a member of Company H. Second Regimental Infantry, part of the San Francisco Hussars and was very active in the national guard.

According to newspaper accounts at the time of his death Keene was known to be eccentric, well known for riding his old white horse around the city. 

The white marble tombstone in the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California, is topped with a botonee or budded cross—that is, each arm terminates in three knobs or lobes often associated with the Holy Trinity.  The gravestone also features a mourning figure in the round inset at the top of the marker.  These images were common on many late-nineteenth century gravestones. The mourning figures are nearly always beautiful, young women overcome by grief, limp from sorrow. Here the kneeling mourning figure, her head lowered and resigned with loss, accepts the reality of death as she leans against a cross-topped marker. 

ERECTED BY MICHAEL IN
MEMORY OF HIS BELOVED WIFE
HONORA ANNA GABRIELLE McCLURE
BORN IN VIRGINIA CITY, NEV.
MAY 30, 1877.
DIED AUG. 12, 1904.
MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON HER SOUL.

The white marble monument for Honora McClure in the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California, is replete with symbolism.  The column is topped with a billowing flame which is a funerary symbol of the eternal soul and the divine light guiding the departed to its next life.

At the base of the column is a winged orb often portrayed as an Egyptian motif representing the sun god Ra.  It was usually placed over the entrance to a temple to ward off evil spirits as seen in the Whittell Mausoleum in the Cypress Lawn Cemetery also in Colma. 

However, this winged orb is at the base of the monument, not over an entrance and does not resemble the Egyptian motif.  Here the symbolism likely represents the soul’s flight from its mortal coil.

JOSEPH

HIRSCHBACH

A NATIVE OF

MANHEIM.

DIED

APRIL 29, 1897.

AGED 35 YEARS.

The pointed white marble tablet of Joseph Hirschbach in the Home of Peace Cemetery and Emanu-El Mausoleum in Colma, California displays a violin in the arch of the gravestone. 

A musical note vanishes as soon as it is played, lasting but a moment; because of that the violin symbolizes the fleeting nature of life.  If the violin has a broken string, it is another symbol of the fragility of life itself and a reminder of how little time there is on Earth—a memento mori symbol.

It is also likely to represent the profession as a musician or the deceased’s love of music.

IN MEMORIAM

MARGARET McK. MUNHALL

MARCH 8, 1925

JOHN MUNHALL

1833 – 1904

HETTY MUNHALL

1837 – 1875

“BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART”

The massive rock face gray granite Munhall Family monument in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, features a seated angel framed by a rounded arch supported with two composite columns.  The classically draped angle holds a palm leaf and a floral wreath.

The palm frond is an ancient symbol of victory, dating back to Roman times when victors were presented with palm fronds. The palm fronds were also laid in the path of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. So, for many Christians, the palm represents righteousness, resurrection, and martyrdom, symbolizing the spiritual victory over death associated with the Easter story.

The floral wreath. This is a common Victorian funerary symbol expressing the transitory nature of life.  In this example, the flowers in the wreath are roses and can symbolize love and beauty or the messianic hope that Christ will return.

The composite capitals on the columns feature poppies.  In cemetery symbolism the poppy represents eternal sleep.  Just as it was portrayed in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, the main characters lie down in a field of poppies where they fall into a deep sleep.  That same imagery is used here.  The angel sits in front of a portal suggesting the entryway to Heaven and eternal sleep. 

Edwin William MacAllister

December 8, 1895 – January 7, 1977

Hilda Lydia Elsie Yakle MacAllister

March 17, 1897 – June 1992

There is an old saying that a man’s home is his castle which has its origins in English law first expressed in 1644, by English judge Sir Edward Coke.  Coke was quoted as saying, “For a man’s house is his castle”.
 

That sentiment is found in Book 4, Chapter 16 of Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, “And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man’s house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?” Loosely translated: “For what is more holy, what is more fortified against all religion, than the house of every citizen?“

In the case of the McAllister Mausoleum in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana, a man’s mausoleum is his castle—literally—complete with castellated tower and battlements and a drawbridge!

ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE

1862 — 1927

CATHERINE BEVERIDGE

1881 — 1970

ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE JR

1908 — 1965

In 1942, Catherine Beveridge, second wife of Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, commissioned famed sculptor John Clements Gregory (1879 – 1958) to create a funerary sculpture to represent four stages of Beveridge’s life. Gregory sculpted a towering white marble monument with four classical figures to represent Beveridge as a Student, Lawyer, Senator, and Historian.

Beveridge received his law degree from Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) and practiced law in Indianapolis until he was appointed in 1899 to the United States Senate where he advocated for progressive policies such as child labor legislation and the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906.  After he lost his Senate seat in 1910, he wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Chief Justice John Marshall. 

Each of four stages of his life is commemorated in a relief panel which sits on a hilltop in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

KERRY SHANE SHECKLES

Born September 11, 1973, Winchester, Indiana  

Died February 4, 2005, Avon, Indiana

Palmer’s Prairie Church of Christ in rural Sullivan County, Indiana, is no longer, but the church graveyard is, a testament to the congregation that once worshipped there.  Several hundred tombstones mark the graves of former congregants, but one stands out above all the others, the unusual and unique gravestone of Kerry Shane Sheckles dubbed the “Candy Kid” by his Grandparents.

Sheckles’s gravestone, which stands over five feet tall and as wide reproduces the Monopoly gameboard, a best-selling game familiar to nearly all Americans since it was first introduced by Parker Brothers in 1935.  But instead of the traditional spaces marked by street names such as Boardwalk and Park Place, the spaces are marked with events straight out of Sheckles’s life, such as his attendance at Fairbanks Elementary or Fulton Junior High or Ben Davis High School.  The railroad spots on a traditional board are replaced by modes of transportation from his life, including a Muncie Bike, a red Hyundai Excel, or the Mack Trucks which he sold. According to Find a Grave, Sheckles was an avid and champion Monopoly player, and his gravestone is a tribute to his devotion and love of the game.

What is apparent is that he was a person adored by his family.  He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, his daughters Karley and Riley, and numerous other relatives.  What also survives is his outrageous humor and sense of fun for which is Sheckles is lovingly remembered. His gravestone is going to make all that see it smile, even if they didn’t know him, but wish we could have.