Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana

BENJAMIN HARRISON

AUGUST 20, 1833 – MARCH 13, 1901

LAWYER AND PUBLICIST

COL. 70th REG. IND. VOL. WAR 1861-1865

BREVETTED BRIGADIER GENERAL 1865 U.S. SENATOR 1881-1887

PRESIDENT 1889-1893

STATESMAN, YET FRIEND TO TRUTH OF SOUL, SINCERE IN ACTION, FAITHFUL

  AND IN HONOUR CLEAR

Harrison served admirably as a soldier in the Civil War, as a United States Senator, and as President.  Benjamin Harrison was also a highly successful lawyer, perhaps the most successful attorney to serve in our highest office. Though Harrison did not inherit a fortune from his father, his 18-year law practice was incredibly lucrative, even representing the government of Venezuela. In spite of his business and political success, his family chose a monument that was “off the rack” so to speak, most likely from one of the many gravestone catalogs available at the time. Two other examples can be found below:

Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan

FAMILY

WM A. MOORE

WILLIAM A. MOORE, 1823 – 1906

LAURA J. MOORE, 1837 – 1911

Wm. V. MOORE, 1856 – 1925

JANE A. MOORE, 1859 – 1937

The William A. Moore family monument in the Elmwood Cemetery at Detroit is a large gray granite monument. It is exactly the same monument as the one marking the grave of President Benjamin Harrison.

Highland Cemetery, Terre Haute, Indiana

PERRY S. WESTFALL

DEC. 18, 1834

JAN. 17, 1889

NANCY M. WESTFALL

BORN FEB. 23, 1836

DIED JULY 16, 1915

The very successful editor of Terre Haute Daily Express and the Saturday Evening Mail, Perry and his, wife, Nancy, Westfall chose the same gray granite monument to mark their family’s graves in the Highland Cemetery in Indiana’s second largest cemetery in Terre Haute as did President Harrison.