IDA L.

BROWN

WIFE OF

J. D. BROWN

BORN DEC. 10, 1858

DIED APR. 11, 1888

BLEST WITH A TEMPER

WHOSE UNCLODED RAY,

MADE TOMORROW AS

PLEASANT AS TODAY

The Riverside Cemetery, on a hillside just outside the city of Mahomet, Illinois, has several zinc markers produced by the White Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut.  The company produced catalogs that salespeople could carry with them to show prospective buyers the many marker design options and large array of symbols were available.  The various symbols could be bolted in place on many grave marker styles by special order much the same way that an erector set is bolted together.

In this example, the marker is in the shape of an open book.  The open book is a fairly common symbol found on gravestones. The motif can represent the Book of Life with the names of the just registered on its pages.  This book, like any book in a cemetery, can also symbolize the Word of God in the form of the Bible.