LEVI BUCKINGHAM

BORN DEC. 15. 1795.

DIED SEPT. 26. 1857.

ELIZA BUCKINGHAM

BORN APRIL 17. 1802

DIED AUG. 20. 1865.

PETER A. BUCKINGHAM

BORN OCT. 26. 1831.

DIED NOV. 16. 1835.

SALINA BUCKINGHAM

BORN MARCH 13. 1829

DIED AUG. 6. 1836.

MARGARET A. KENDALL

BORN JULY 2. 1819

DIED MARCH 31. 1860.

MATILDA BUCKINGHAM

BORN MARCH 9. 1833.

DIED MARCH 7. 1854.

The white marble gravestone of Levi and Eliza Buckingham in the Spring Grove Cemetery at Cincinnati, Ohio, prominently displays their names and birth and death dates on the front of the stone in an elaborate cartouche. Carved into two of the sides of the marker have other names of fallen family members. The cartouche has wheat tucked into the top and the bottom of the stone is adorned with ivy leaves twinning around the gravestone. The ivy traditionally represents friendship.

Wheat’s origins are unknown but is the basis of basic food and a staple in many cultures. Because of wheat’s exalted position as a mainstay foodstuff, it is viewed as a gift from Heaven. Wheat symbolizes immortality and resurrection.  But, like many symbols found on gravestones, they can have more than one meaning.  For instance, because wheat is the main ingredient of bread, the sheaf of wheat can represent the Body of Christ.  Wheat can also represent a long life, usually more than three score and ten, or seventy years.