IN MEMORY OF
TWO CHILDREN OF
Andrew & Catherine
HUGHES:
JOSEPH
DIED MARCH 7, 1853
AGED 3 MO. & 7 DAYS
THOMAS N.
WAS KILLED BY A HORSE
OCT. 13, 1853
AGED 3 YRS & 14 DAYS
I take these little lambs said Christ
And lay them on my breast
Protection they shall find in me
In me be ever blest
The white marble tablet of Joseph and Thomas Hughes is found in the Catholic Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. The pointed arch gives the gravestone a slightly gothic look.
The winged cherub displayed in the arch of the gravestone was a symbol that became popular in the 18th Century. Winged cherubs replaced the stark and morbid flying death’s heads from our Puritan forefathers. The cherubs have a childlike countenance of innocence. The iconography represents the flight of the soul from the body upward to Heaven and the hope of the resurrection. Surely, the cherub also represents the Hughes boys—one an infant and the other only 3 years old.
Gravely Speaking 
What I am always impressed by is the craftsmanship of the carvings on gravestones that are 150+ years old. Done without any kind of modern tools at all. It’s stunningly beautiful!
I wish we could get some of that craftsmanship back today in more places in our lives.
Hope you are well!
Bill
What is remarkable about the clarity of the carving is that the stone is 170 years old and endured all sorts of weather all that time.