IN MEMORY OF
A FOND FATHER
JOHN LUDIN
DEVOTED HUSBAND OF
AGNES DEMANGEAT LUDIN
BORN SEPT. 24TH, 1827. DIED DEC 13TH, 1903
—
IN MEMORY OF
A
LOVING MOTHER
AGNES DEMANGEAT LUDIN
WIFE OF
JOHN LUDIN
BORN DEC. 11TH 1821; DIED AUG. 5TH, 1877
The Ludin family monument in the Green-Wood Cemetery at Brooklyn, New York, features a sarcophagus adorned with a bronze mourning figure. Sarcophagus tombs are designed to look like coffins. Most often they are set on a platform or a base. The tomb is often embellished with ornamentation and nearly always has feet, though this one does not–but the “coffin” is empty–just an empty symbol of the receptacle. This style of burial monument is ancient. The mourning figure’s head is bent in sorrow. Her head leans against one hand as the other clasps a laurel wreath in the other. The laurel wreath dates back to Roman times when soldiers wore them as triumphal signs of glory. The laurel was also believed to wash away the soldier’s guilt from injuring or killing any of his opponents. In funerary art the laurel wreath is often seen as a symbol of victory over death.
The monument was pictured in the Flint Granite Company brochure. The brochure describes the monument this way, “A combination of bronze with polished granite permits the acme of achievement, both as to beauty of design and permanence of result. Of course these effects cannot be had cheaply, but they give full value for the cost.”
The brochure was prepared as an advertisement with pictures of magnificent monuments designed by the Flint Granite Company that highlighted specific monuments from their portfolio of designs.
This Flint Granite Company catalog and many other gravestone and monument company brochures can be found at the Stone Quarries and Beyond Website: http://quarriesandbeyond.org/cemeteries_and_monumental_art/cemetery_stones.html.
The Stone Quarries and Beyond Website was created by Peggy B. and Patrick Perazzo. It focuses on historic stone quarries, stone workers and companies, and related subjects such as geology. Whenever possible links of finished products are provided on the Website. There is a “Quarry Articles” section that presents articles, booklets, and links from the late 1800s to early 1900s, including the 1856 “The Marble-Workers’ Manual.” The “Cemetery Stones and Monuments” section provides references and resources, including many old monument magazines, catalogs, price lists, and a photographic tour “From Quarry to Cemetery Monuments.”
Gravely Speaking 