Gravely Speaking

Greenlawn Cemetery, Franklin, Indiana

LAURA A.

DAUT. OF

J.F. & M.A. BROWN

DIED

January 17, 1875

AGED

16 YRS. 1 MO. 13 Ds.

The white marble tombstone in the Greenlawn Cemetery at Franklin, Indiana, is topped with an open book that has a mourning drape complete with tassels laid over the top.

The medallion in the middle of the gravestone displays the name and death date of the young teenage girl buried here.

The open book is a common symbol found on gravestones. The motif can represent the Book of Life with the names of the just registered on its or it can symbolize the Word of God in the form of the Bible.

Greenlawn Cemetery, Franklin, Indiana

The Gray Family Monument, Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia

Doppelganger is a word that refers to two people who look the same.  Look a likes.   It is a German word that translates to “double goer”.  Popular television shows run photos next to each other showing actors and actresses together to show look a likes, such as, Christina Hendricks and Jessica Rabbit, Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel, Morgan Freeman and Kofi Annan, Margot Robbie and Jaime Pressly, or Stephen Colbert and Bob Saget to name a few.  To poke gentle fun, some sites also match the faces of dogs to their look alike actors’ faces.

In this case, two gravestone sculpture doppelgangers—the Gray Family Monument at the Oakland Cemetery at Atlanta, Georgia and the Haggard monument at the Mount Olivet Cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee, are strikingly similar.

James Richard Gray – September 30, 1859-June 25, 1917

May Inman Gray – March 6, 1862-January 6, 1940

The Gray Family Monument, Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia

Haggard Family Monument, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee

MARY LAURA CHAMPE-HAGGARD July 11, 1920

WILLIAM HAGGARD M.D. October 17, 1826 January 25, 1901

JENNIE DOUGLAS HAGGARD February 11, 1840 November 16, 1914

According to a book about the Oakland Cemetery, the Gray Family Monument is adorned with a magnificent white-marble sculpture of the Niobe, the Greek mythological Queen of Thebes. Niobe had fourteen children (the Niobids) and taunted Leto, who only had two children, Apollo and Artemis. In his rage he sent his two children to avenge the slight done to him by Niobe striking out at what was most dear to her.

Niobe, became the symbol of mourning when Apollo slaughtered her seven sons and Artemis killed her seven daughters. As one version of the story goes, upon seeing his dead fourteen children, Amphion, the King of Thebes, committed suicide. Niobe was so stricken with grief that she fled to Mount Siplyus, Manisa, Turkey, where she turned to stone. Her grief was so powerful that tears flowed ceaselessly from her forming the River Acheloos.

So, Oakland’s Niobe, a symbol of mourning, has a doppelganger in Nashville.

Haggard Family Monument, Mount Oliver Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee

The Mars family seems to have had chocolate running through generations of their blood.  The founder of the Mars candy empire was Frank Clarence Mars (September 24, 1883 – April 8, 1934), whose mother taught him how to hand dip chocolate when he was a young man.  He founded the famous Mars Candy Company, the largest candy company in the world which sells some of the best-selling candies of all time.

The Mars Company created famous candy bars such as the Milky Way.  The famous candy bar was not named for the celestial body in which the planet Mars exists.  No, it was named for a milkshake and advertised as a “chocolate malted milkshake in a candy bar.”  They also created the Snickers bar which was named after one the Mars family’s favorite horses.  This candy bar is reported to be the best-selling candy bar of all time!  Today it is still the 4^th best-selling candy in the United States, bringing in over $440 million dollars in 2013!

For a time, Forrest Edward Mars (March 21, 1904 – July 1, 1999), son of Franklin, worked in the family business with his father.  A dispute caused a break in their working relationship.  Forrest founded his own company and partnered with Bruce Murrie, the son of a Hershey’s Chocolate Company executive.  In the early 1940s, Forrest and Bruce created tasty little chocolate candies wrapped in multi-colored candy coatings they called M&Ms—Mars and Murrie.  Today, M&Ms are the number ONE selling candy in the United States.  In 2013, $673 Million dollars’ worth of those tasty little chocolate bites was sold in the United States garnering first place in the candy wars.

Forrest returned to run the family business after his father’s death and ran it until his retirement.  Father and son, creators of the largest candy empire in the world, with sales topping 16 billion dollars annually, are both buried in the Gothic-style Mars Family Mausoleum in the Lakewood Cemetery at Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Mars Family Mausoleum in the Lakewood Cemetery at Minneapolis, Minnesota

Masonic Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana

In front of a Masonic society tomb in the Masonic Cemetery at New Orleans, established in 1865, is a small white-marble step with three symbols—the compass, the trowel, the 24 inch gauge.  Each symbol is used in the Masonic iconography to build a metaphor based on how these tools are used by operative masons and how a Freemason is to live his life.

The compass

The compass draws a circle—masons know that they are to keep their life in check and within the boundary of what is right.

The trowel

The trowel is one of the simplest tools in the masons’ bag, used to spread mortar to connect one layer of brick to another.  The metaphor with this tool is that it is an emblem to remind masons to spread a different kind of connector—brotherly love and affection.

The 24 inch gauge

The twenty four inch gauge is a reminder to all masons to make sure that they are wise about dividing their time.   Every day is to be portioned out so give time for God, Work and Rest.

Masonic Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana

Lakewood Cemetery at Minneapolis. Minnesota

The incised design of the double-headed eagle is centered inside a variant of the Maltese cross, a version known as a Formee Pattee.

This version is on found on a light-gray granite obelisk monument erected to honor the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of Minnesota, Khurum Sunlight Lodge No. 112 of Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Lakewood Cemetery at Minneapolis, Minnesota

Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa

The double-headed eagle with a crown and a small triangle with the letters 32 inside also represents the 32-degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.  Again the eagle clutches a banner with the motto: “SPES MEA IN DEO EST”, Latin for “My hope is in God.”  But, in this version the eagle is surmounted on a cross potent.  The cross potent is an ancient heraldic symbol, also referred to as the crutch cross.  The cross potent is made up of four lengths of cross of equal lengths with crossbars on the ends.

Two such examples were found on a zinc monuments in the Woodland Cemetery at Des Moines, Iowa.  One example was the elaborate monument of Wesley Redhead, died January 9, 1891, aged 64 years.

Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa

The example below is on the zinc obelisk marker of Edward Payson Drake, who was born May 1, 1856, and died February 20, 1943.

Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa