Gravely Speaking

Nellie Verne Walker (December 8, 1874 Red Oak, Iowa – July 10, 1973 Colorado Springs, Colorado) stood a whopping 4 foot 8 inches tall. The diminutive woman was not the image one thinks of when conjuring up a sculptor creating monumental works of art. But she climbed up and down ladders teetering on the steps, leaning in and over her creations to carve sculptures of all sizes earning her the moniker, “the woman who lives on a ladder”.

She first picked up a hammer and chisel in her father’s Moulton, Iowa shop carving gravestones. But by age 17 she carved her first work of art—a limestone bust of President Abraham Lincoln. In a mere 24 days, she had created the bust for the Columbian Exposition being held in Chicago in 1893. Nellie was determined to study art at the Chicago Art Institute and set out on that path in an unlikely place—a secretarial pool as a legal secretary. Within six years she was able to afford tuition where she studied with the famed Lorado Taft with whom she worked until his death in 1936. In fact, when he died, his Herald Square Monument in Chicago which includes statues of George Washington, Robert Morris and Haym Solomon was not completed and Nellie was one of three artist engaged to finish it.

Nellie created famous works, such as, the statue of Senator James Harlan which stands in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol Building; Chief Keokuk in Rand Park in Keokuk, Iowa; and the Polish War Memorial in Chicago. She also returned, in a way, to her earliest work in her father’s workshop—creating cemetery monuments. But this time, she didn’t carve gravestones but instead created sculptures. Below are three examples of her cemetery commissions.

Milton T. Barlow 1844 – 1930 Forest Lawn Cemetery, Omaha, Nebraska

Myron Leslie Learned 1866 – 1928 Forest Lawn Cemetery, Omaha

Mary Poppleton Learned 1873 – 1960 Forest Lawn Cemetery, Omaha, Nebraska

Donald Bartley McMullen 1892 – 1966 Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Helen Diggins McMullen 1892 – 1918 Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California

MAILA NURMI

1922 – 2008

VAMPIRA

HOLLYWOOD LEGEND

At a masquerade party hosted by choreographer Lester Horton, a budding actress arrived dressed as a cartoon figure—straight out of the New Yorker. Maila Nurmi shimmied into a tight dress, highlighting not only her hourglass figure, but the black fabric was also in high contrast to her pale, almost alabaster, skin. She struck such a dramatic pose as Morticia Adams that television producer Hunt Stromberg, Jr. tracked her down and contracted her to host a Saturday night science fiction series. A campy Vampira was born. She floated onto the set in a haze of fog and a new genre of television personality was created that spawned the likes of Elvira.

A stained glass window in a mausoleum in the Lakewood Cemetery at Minneapolis, Minnesota, displays a yellow dragon with wings spread on a ruby red background, over the motto, AQUILA NON CAPIT MUSCAS.

The translation of the Latin motto to English is “The eagle does not catch flies” or “The eagle does not hunt flies“.  Most likely this is a family crest.  I am not quite sure, however, why an eagle is not depicted in the crest instead of a dragon.  Also, the meaning is open to interpretation.  Could it mean, “Don’t sweat the small stuff“?

Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia

McCLATCHEY

Devereaux Fore McClatchey III

June 1, 906 – August 30, 1993

Dorothy E. Methvin McClatchey

May 8, 1907 – June 1, 2009

Devereaux and Dorothy McClatchey had a large art collection from their travels.  To grace their family plot they chose two statues.  One statue tucked under an evergreen on the plot depicts a mother and child with writing that says, “God is love.  That is all we know on earth and all we need to know—“.  The other is a woman with her arms clutched and her head bowed, possibly portraying sorrow and grief.

Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia

John Watts was a New York political figure who served not only under the Crown but as a member of Congress after the American Revolution. He served in several other official positions, too, which are listed on the backside of the marble pedestal upon which his imposing statue rests.   So his ancestor would not be forgotten, the larger-than-life bronze statue of Watts was commissioned by his namesake, Major General Watts de Peyster, and sculpted by George E. Bissell.  Watts is depicted wearing fur-trimmed robe and a judge’s wig and holding a scroll of paper.  His statue dominates the tiny Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in New York City.

VIR AEQUANIMITATIS

JOHN WATTS,

BORN IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK AUGUST 27, 1749 [O.S.]

AND DIED THERE SEPTEMBER 3, 1836. [N.S.]

LAST ROYAL RECORDER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK,

1774 – 1777. NO RECORDS DURING THE REVOLUTION;

SPEAKER OF ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

JANUARY 5, 1791 – JANUARY 7, 1794.

MEMBER OF CONGRESS 1793 – 1795;

FIRST JUDGE OF WESTCHESTER CO. 1806;

FOUNDER AND ENDOWER OF THE LEAKE AND WATTS

ORPHAN HOUSE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ONE OF

THE FOUNDERS AND AFTERWARDS, PRESIDENT OF

THE NEW YORK DISPENSARY 1821 – 1836. &C. &C. &C.

Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia

Owen F. Solomon

1829 – September 27, 1859

Carved atop a shaft of white marble rests a pillow with the hat of a soldier.  There are four symbols on this monument: the soldier’s hat, a sword, the laurel wreath, and the Masonic symbol.  With the exception of the later, the others refer to Solomon’s service in the Army.

The entry (#1596) in Bvt. Major-General George Washington Cullum’s (Colonel, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army) Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from Its Establishment March 16, 1802 to the Army Reorganization of 1866-67, Second Edition, Volume 2 (published by D. Van Nostrand, 192 Broadway, New York, 1891) details his military career:

Military History:

Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1849, to July 1, 1853, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Bvt. Second Lieut. of Artillery, July 1, 1853.

Served: in garrison at Ft. Moultrie, South Carolina, 1853, — and Ft. Myers,

(Second Lieut., 4th Artillery, Nov. 25, 1853)

Fla., 1853‑54; on frontier duty at Ft. Brady, Michigan, 1854‑55, — and Ft. Brown, Texas, 1856; in garrison at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 1856‑57; (First Lieut., 4th Artillery, Oct. 31, 1856)

Florida Hostilities against the Seminole Indians, 1857‑58; and on frontier duty at Ft. Leavenworth, as Acting Asst. Adjutant-General, Feb. 6 to May 18, 1858, in quelling Kansas Disturbances, — and Ft. Laramie, Dakota Territory, 1858‑59.

Solomon died, Sep. 27, 1859, at Ft. Laramie, Dakota Territory.

Owen F. Solomon was 30 years old.  His body was brought to Atlanta, Georgia, and he was buried in the Oakland Cemetery.

The monument bears his name within a laurel wreath but the other details are illegible.  The laurel wreath dates back to Roman times when soldiers wore them as triumphal signs of glory. The laurel was also believed to wash away the soldier’s guilt from injuring or killing any of his opponents. In funerary art the laurel wreath is often seen as a symbol of victory over death.

Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

IN MEMORY OF

ROBERT McDOUGALL

A MEMBER OF TRUCK Co. No. 3

BROOKLYN

FIRE DEPARTMENT.

WHO RECEIVED SUCH INJURIES

IN THE DISCHARGE OF HIS DUTY

AS A FIREMAN AT A FIRE AT

HARBECK’S PIER JULY 19, 1883

THAT HE DEPARTED THIS LIFE

JULY 25, 1883.

AGED 48 YEARS 1 MONTH

AND 21 DAYS.

_ . _

THIS MEMORIAL STONE WAS

ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY BY HIS

BROTHER FIREMEN OF THE

BROOKLYN FIRE DEPARTMENT

AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT TO A

DEPARTED BROTHER, WHO NOBLY

PERISHED IN THE DISCHARGE

OF HIS DUTY

Mount Peace Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

To the right of the gates of the Mount Peace Cemetery at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, stands an impressive monument to James Bartram Nicholson.  The elegant bronze statue of Nicholson shows him wearing a long frock coat.  He holds papers in one hand.  The only symbol found on the monument are the three interlocking rings, one of the most common symbols for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  The reason for this impressive monument is spelled out on the plaques on the front and back of the granite base.

The plaque on the front of the monument reads:

ERECTED AND DEDICATED MAY 10, 1913 BY THE

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS

OF PENSYLVANIA

IN MEMORY OF

JAMES BARTRAM NICHOLSON

PAST GRAND SIRE OF SOVEREIGN GRAND LODGE

PAST GRAND MASTER AND GRAND SECRETARY

OF GRAND LODGE OF 1.O.O.F. OF PENNSYLVANIA

IN RECOGNITION OF HIS VALUABLE SERVICES

IN BEHALF OF THE ORDER

The plaque on the backside of the monument reads:

JAMES BARTRAM NICHOLSON

BORN IN ST. LOUIS MISSOURI 1820

INITIATED INTO CHOSEN FRIENDS LODGE NO. 100

APRIL 8, 1845

RECEIVED THE PATRIACHAL DECREES

IN MOUNT OLIVE ENCAMPMENT 1848

ADMITTED INTO GRAND LODGE 1848

ADMITTED INTO GRAND ENCAMPMENT 1849

GRAND WARDEN OF GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA

MAY 1851

DEPUTY GRANS MASTER OF THE GRAND LODGE

1852

GRAND MASTER OF THE GRAND LODGE 1853

GRAND REPRESNTATIVE TO THE

SOVERIGN GRAND LODGE 1859

GRAND SIRE OF THE SOVEREIGN GRAND LODGE OF THE UNITED STATES 1862

GRAND SECRETARY OF THE GRAND LODGE OF

PENNSYLVANIA JANUARY 1869

GRAND SCRIBE OF THE GRAND ENCAMPMENT OF

PENNSYLVANIA JANUARY 1869

DIED IN PHILADELPHIA PA MARCH 4 1901