Gravely Speaking

Walk into nearly any American graveyard and you will find tiny little lambs marking the graves of children mostly. These lambs are often found on the tops of gravestones and comes in many sizes and positions—often curled up and sleeping, sometimes with a cross behind the lamb.

However, two examples show the lamb a bit differently—both of these sculptures are freestanding and not marking a specific grave but used as a work of art in each of the cemeteries.

The first is found in the Fairview Cemetery at Linton, Indiana. This little sculpture is found tucked in between two gravestones, neither of which is for an infant. The lamb in this small sculpture in this example, is being cradled by a child.

The lamb in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery at New Albany, Indiana is raising its head up, eyes wide open, as if it is looking at the passersby. The lamb, alert and bright eyed, looks like it could stand up at any moment and scamper away. This is also one of the biggest lambs I have come across in a cemetery—it is about the size of a full-grown Labrador.

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.

A few posts ago, I quoted June Hadden Hobbs, the editor of the Association for Gravestone Studies publication, Markers XXIX, who made an observation about nineteenth-century cemetery design (pages 4 and 5) writing that, “statues of men are historical while statues of women are usually allegorical.” Statues of men tend to be portraits while statues of females are nearly always not a representation of the deceased female but of an idea.

Another example of that can be found in the Crothersville Cemetery at Crothersville, Indiana. Two white marble statues mark the graves of Elisha Collins Bess, Sr., (May 16, 1837 – June 23, 1917) and Martha Jane Bess (April 13, 1840 – June 15, 1912). One statue features an aged slightly stooping bearded man in a suit and hat. Clearly a sculpture of the deceased Elisha.

To the left of him is the statue that marks the grave of his wife, Martha Jane. She, however, is depicted as the allegorical figure of faith. The indication of that is that she holds a cross in her left hand. She is also portrayed in classical clothing, not the period dress that Martha Jane would have worn at the time of her death. Her statue is a young idealized portrayal of a virtue in the form of a woman, not the portrait sculpture of the 72-year old Martha Jane Bess buried beneath.

The sculptures reflects the gendered response to death of the era. According to Laurie Stanley-Blackwell and Brenda Appleby in an article in Markers XXIX, “Romancing the Stone: Female Figural Monuments in Late-Nineteenth-Century Nova Scotia Cemeteries” page 37, “During this era. Prominent male statesmen, was heroes, prosperous businessmen, and religious leaders prevailed as the most deserving subjects for memorialization.” That is men were much more likely to have a realistic portrait in sculptural form than a woman—though, exceptions do exist.

Women on the other hand were part of the romanticization of death during the Victorian era. Women were quite often portrayed in classical garb, often in mourning, depicted overcome by grief. As Stanley-Blackwell and Appleby describe, “These secular marble beauties were idealized, etherealized, and in some cases eroticized embodiments of ritual mourning. They represented a wide spectrum of mythologized female experiences, from classically austere and occasionally featureless to romantically voluptuous, barely clothed, in some cases starkly nude.”

True to form, the statues marking the graves of Elisha and Martha Bess illustrate the point made in the article written by Laurie Stanley-Blackwell and Brenda Appleby.

IN MEMORY

OF

VOLUNTEER

FIREMEN CO’S

No. 1,2,3,4, & 5.

& H & L. CO No. 1.

ERECTED 1902

Firefighting Companies were vital to all communities which could be swept away by fire.  Entire communities could be lost to flame, so volunteer and professional firefighters were vital to save lives and citizens’ homes and businesses.  Firefighters had to be ready at a moment’s notice to fly into action and risk life and limb to battle an inferno.

Fire companies formed in communities all across the country. And, in many cemeteries in those villages, towns, and cities monuments have been dedicated to their fallen and valiant firefighters.

The monument in New Albany, Indiana, is dedicated to six fire companies. The monument was erected in the Fairview Cemetery on 1902, and dedicated September 7th of that same year. Charles Edwards sculpted the firefighter—in pewter. The New Albany firm of John Vernia & Son fabricated the monument.

The fireman strikes a heroic pose holding a baby presumably that he rescued.  The firefighter has a clenched right hand to hold a lantern, but the lantern is now missing.  The statue of the firefighter stands atop a limestone plinth that has an engine on one side and the tools of the firefighter’s trade represented on the other three sides.

The plumed warrior in stained glass in the Mount Carmel Cemetery at Hillsdale, Illinois, features an angel wearing armor, carrying a  shield, an wielding a sword indicate that the winged angel represented here is the Archangel Michael, one of three angels mentioned by name in the Bible.  The sword He carries represents a cross but also a weapon in his war against the devil’s warriors.  Archangel Michael is a Christian soldier fighting Satan’s hordes.   Archangel Michael is often represented standing on a worm, or a dragon.  The Archangel Michael is also considered the guardian of souls.

One of the things that I love about cemeteries, large and small, is the beautiful and moving artwork that you come across. The crucifix on the gravestone in the Rock Creek Cemetery at Washington, D.C., is not a traditional representation. But, the sculpture is expressive and moving demonstrating the pain and the suffering of Christ on the cross.

The symbol of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross is called a crucifix. This cross, which is not a part of the sculpture, though ever present, demonstrates the suffering of Christ.

The word crucifix is from Latin and is the combination of two words—cruci and fixus—which translates to one fixed to a cross.