Gravely Speaking

Ames Cemetery, near French Lick, Indiana

Clear Creek Christian Church Cemetery, near Bloomington, Indiana

Old Tennet Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Tennet, New Jersey

Maplewood Cemetery, Freehold, New Jersey

York Cemetery, York, Pennsylvania

As Sociologist W. Lloyd Warner wrote, in his 1959 monograph, The Living and the Dead, “cemeteries are collective representations which reflect and express many of the community’s basic beliefs and values.” Certainly one of the conclusions that can be drawn when looking at cemeteries as reflective of what Americans believe and do is that Americans are joiners.  They join all sorts of organizations–churches, insurance groups, clubs, secret societies, sororities, fraternal organizations.  Look around cemeteries and you will see the organizations that are prevalent in your community or once were.  Look for markings on the gravestone themselves or look for markers next to the gravestone.

One of the metal markers which comes in several different forms found in many cemeteries is the marker for the Improved Order of Redmen, which claims its beginnings with the patriots who were in the Sons of Liberty during the American Revolution.  The society models itself after the Iroquois Confederacy councils.  In fact, some of the metal markers display Native Americans because the society based their organization on the rites and rituals of the Native Americans.  Other Improved Order of the Redmen metal markers display eagles and the initials T.O.T.E which stands for Totem of Eagles.  According to their Website, the IORM “promotes patriotism and the American Way of Life, provides social activities for the members, and supports various charitable programs.”  The different clubs or chapters are divided into “tribes”.   

The women’s auxiliary of the Order is the Degree of Pocahontas, named for the Native American Princess, Pocahontas, which was founded in New York in 1885.  The auxiliary promotes the virtues of kindness, love, charity, and loyalty to one’s nation.  The cemetery marker has a circle with a shield inside the circle with a bird atop.  The words “Degree of Pocahontas” appear within the circle.

Maplewood Cemetery, Freehold, New Jersey

Years ago, my friend, Kathryn Epperson Tupper, told me the story about a visit she made to the Magnolia Cemetery with her son, Philip, when he was about six years old.  They had gone to place flowers on her father’s grave for Memorial Day.  The little boy’s blue eyes darted around the cemetery as he noticed the different shapes and sizes of gravestones, particularly the Grand Army of the Republic metal markers placed next to the Civil War veteran’s graves.  The markers are five-pointed stars made of cast iron with the letters G.A.R. in the middle of the marker and placed next a veteran’s tombstone.  The Magnolia Cemetery is one of the older cemeteries in the county and has a great many Civil War veteran’s graves.  Philip exhuberantly ran from one star-shaped marker to another when he finally squealed with delight, “They sure do have a lotta sheriffs buried here!” 

When she told me the story, I realized that while most adults would not make the mistake regarding the star-shaped marker’s meaning that six-year old Philip made, but many people who walk through a cemetery are most likely unaware that nearly every symbol, and even some of the gravestone shapes have meanings.

In the introduction to Spoon River Anthology, May Swenson writes that Edgar Lee Masters’ collection of poems is about “the citizens of Spoon River–the obscure and ordinary as well as the prominent, the criminal, the eccentric, the elect–on all of whom life had passed its unexceptional sentence and consigned to the same grassy prison.  He has them testify, as if the tombstones had voices…”

I contend that gravestones do have voices.  Not voices that can be heard, but ones that can be measured and recorded.  Voices that can tell us much if we observe carefully.  The symbols, epitaphs, and the gravestones themselves give us clues about how society feels about death, religion, grieving, children, and about all sorts of other things.  All we have to do is observe and educate ourselves.