Gravely Speaking

The flag is often found on the graves of soldiers.  In this case, the flag marks the service of English-born immigrant Chaplain Reverend W. B. Linell of Muncie, Indiana, who served during the Civil War in the 10th Illinois Regiment.  Camp life was hard on his constitution and Linell, after a year of service, returned to his home in Indiana, tired, weak, and sick.  Misfortune struck when his wife, who had a long-suffering illness, died.  Linell recovered and served churches in Vevay and Muncie.  The Universalist Register, in Linell’s biography, that he had set out for a convention in Terra Haute when “he was taken sick of typhoid fever, in Indianapolis, and was unable to reach his place of destination. He lay in a stupor, for several days, at the house of a friend, from, which he never awoke, till his eyes beheld the beatific world.”

Beech Grove Cemetery, Muncie, Indiana

The lily of the valley is not actually a lily.  It belongs in the family Asparagaceae, not Liliaceae.   In spite of that, the lily of the valley is treated much like other lilies in funerary art as a symbol of innocence.  It also symbolizes happiness, purity, and humility.

River View Cemetery, Portland, Oregon

Nearly obscured by the moss hanging on this tombstone is the  crown in the center of the cross.  The crown is a symbol of glory and reward and victory over death.  The epitaph on this memorial to prebyterian ministers makes it clear the reward comes after life and the hard-fought battle on Earth against the wages of sin and the temptations of the flesh.  The reward awaits in Heaven where the victor will receive a crown of victory.

   I have fought

a good fight.  I

have finished my

course.  I have

kept the faith.

     Henceforth,

there is laid up

for me a crown

of righteousness.

The finger pointing upward, indicates the soul traveling to Heaven, sometimes a presumptuous claim, though a hopeful one. The finger pointing upwards can be coupled with other symbols:

• a willow tree, a traditional symbol of sorrow indicating while the soul of their loved one has gone to Heaven, the family on Earth mourns the loss and grieves for their loved one
• the crown symbolizing victory. Sometimes the combination of the images represent the flight of the soul from the earthly realm to the Heavenly realm

In this case, the finger pointing upward is pointing to an open book, most likely respresenting the Holy Bible.  On this gravestone, the finger suggests that the Word is the pathway to Heaven.  The finger pointing upward and the open Bible is enveloped in a heart suggesting love for the departed woman.

River View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington

River View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington

CHARLIE            BERTIE

There  like an Eden blos-

soming in gladness

Bloom the fair flowers the

earth too rudly prized.

This gravestone displays twin lambs facing each other over the names of the twin brothers whose graves the tombstone marks.

The lamb is the symbol of the Lord, the Good Shepherd.  It also represents innocence, likely the reason why this motif usually adorns the tombstones of infants and young children, as in this case.  Most often the lamb is lying down, often asleep and sometimes with a cross behind the lamb.