Gravely Speaking

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.

WILLIAM EVANS CHAPIN

AUG. 15, 1856 – JAN. 25, 1936

NANNIE NICOLSON CHAPIN

MAY 19, 1880 – APRIL 29, 1912

The Chapin monument in the Westview Cemetery at Atlanta, Georgia, is a neo-classical design. Many ancient classical designs are replicated in modern graveyards based on the designs of Greek and Roman temples.  The canopy on the Chapin monument is modeled after the Roman tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus.

Scipio’s tomb

The Scipio sarcophagus was erected around 150 BC.  Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus (died c. 280 BC) was one of the two elected Roman consuls in 298 BC. His tomb is an example of classical Greek design based on the same design principles used for the Parthenon.  The scroll work, at the top of the canopy represents the Heavens, and also represented a bed. In an article written for “Design Hints” by John Cargill, a designer from the Chicago design firm of Chas. G. Blake & Company, describes the meaning of the scrolls writing, “The scrolls represent a bed; the bed refers to sleep and sleep is a type of death; and to the righteous death is but glorious transport to Paradise.

Cargill described the evolution of the classical architectural design principles, which he writes were conceived from the order that the ancients found in nature, primarily astrological, that were used in Greek architecture to imbue harmony into their structures.

The sarcophagus, as does the Chapin monument, has three distinct planes representing the universe—the base, the middle, and the top. The base is symbolic of the Earth, the middle represented man and the gods, and the top of the sarcophagus where the scroll rests represents the Heavens. In this case, the angel, as the messenger of God, clearly stands in that middle land. An angels stands holding a bouquet of Easter lilies in one arm and a single blossom in the other.

The lily, as a funerary symbol, has many meanings including purity, innocence, virginity, heavenly bliss, majestic beauty, and Christ’s resurrection.  Christians believe that the trumpet-shaped blossoms announce the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. If the lilies are white they symbolize the hope of eternal life. The Easter lily has long been associated with the Christian religion, commonly referred to as “White-Robed Apostles of Christ.” Early Christians believed that lilies sprouted where Jesus Christ’s sweat fell to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane.

White has typically been a color associated with virtues of purity and innocence.  Often the lily can be found on the grave of a child, the epitome of purity and innocence.  The white lily is also associated with virginity and marriage, in particular relationship to women.  On one hand, the lily represents virginity and innocence, which is an appropriate symbol for a young unmarried woman.  On the other hand, it is symbolic of majestic beauty and marriage, which makes it an appropriate symbol for all married women regardless of their age.

REYNOLDS DUNN

DIED

JULY 18, 1860

AGED 67 YRS …

PHEBE

WIFE OF

REYNOLDS DUNN

DIED

JAN 22, 1863

SIMEON B.

1822 – 1839

JENNETTE

1831 – 1839

The City Cemetery at South Bend, Indiana, has a very elaborate monument dedicated to Reynolds Dunn and his family. The gravestone is a tall white marble column topped with a small urn resting on a plinth of the same material. The soft marble is slowly being eaten away by the elements, eroding the detail of the wording and the carvings on the market.

On what appears to be the back side of the marker is a cartouche. Inside that is the name Phebe Dunn, wife of Reynolds Dunn, along with her date of death and her age, though her age is so badly faded and illegible. The side of the plinth has two names carved into it—presumably children of Reynolds and Phebe—Simeon and Jennette, along with birth and death years. The front side is an elaborately carved tribute to Reynolds Dunn.

The design features—the “All-Seeing Eye of God” The all-seeing eye of God, also called the Eye of Providence is one of many symbols of Masonic iconography.  This symbol is to remind Masons that all of their actions and deeds are being observed by the watchful eye of the Great Architect of the Universe.  Sometimes the eye is displayed in a triangle.
Just below the All-Seeing Eye of God symbolism is the Masonic emblem—the square and two compasses.  In this example the letter “G” appears in the middle of the emblem.  Each component of the symbol represents a different Masonic orthodoxy, though, these are not hard and fast: The compasses represent the boundaries of wisdom a person should have the strength to circumscribe and stay within. The square symbolizes virtue in all actions, just as the expression “square deal” means treating people with fairness. The letter “G” seems to have more than one meaning.  It could possibly mean God, as in the creator of the universe; or Gimel, which is the word for the third letter of many Semitic languages.  The number three is significant to many Masonic rituals and beliefs.  Some also believe the “G” may represent geometry.
Directly below that are two female hands holding a scroll that look as if it is rolling open at the bottom. The scroll represents both the life of the deceased and the time spent on Earth. In this case, the scroll is being unfurled by two hands, most likely representing the life that is being recorded by the angels.

Though the poem, “Invictus”, was written by William Ernest Henley in 1875, a full 15 years after Reynolds Dunn died, the carving reminds me of the last stanza of the poem:
It matters not how strait the gate,

    How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

     I am the master of my soul.

The stained glass mausoleum window in the Westview Cemetery at Atlanta, Georgia, portrays Jesus Christ carrying a lantern. The window is a depiction of the Biblical passage, John 8:12: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”.

The verse is an allegory. It essentially compares the light necessary for life on Earth to the necessity of the light of Jesus to those seeking spiritual truth. Just as the tendrils of the morning glory follow the light of the sun during the day and would die without it, the spiritual light of Jesus allows His followers never to again walk in darkness.

Adam Edward Burkhardt

April 26, 1845 – November 1917

Emma Amanda Erkenbrecher Burkhardt

April 25, 1851 – September 23, 1916

Adam Edward Burkhardt, emigrated from Bavaria to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he founded a company that manufactured furs. Burkhardt was a highly successful furrier and a prominent citizen of Cincinnati. His wife, Emma, was also from a leading family of the city. She was the daughter of Andrew Erkenbrecher, the founder of the Cincinnati Zoo.

According to Beauty in the Grove: Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum by Phil Nuxhall, 2009, Orange Frazer Press, page 44, the bronze statue marking the graves of the Burkhardt family, is referred to as the “Angel of Death.” The shrouded figure is kneeling, holding a wreath in one hand and palm leaves in the other. The palm represents victory over death as does the laurel wreath. The laurel wreath dates back to Roman times when soldiers wore them as triumphal signs of glory.

Who is the sculptor?

I contacted Phil Nuxhall, through the Spring Grove Website, who wrote Beauty in the Grove: Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, and he told me that the artist’s name that is carved into the statue is Clement Barnhorn, (January 8, 1957 – August 2, 1935), a noted Cincinnati artist well known during his lifetime for funerary works, statuary, and architectural sculpture.