Walnut Hill Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Iowa
FRANCIS
WIFE OF
WILLIAM GESS
BORN FEB. 27, 1813
DIED JAN. 27, 1888
AGED 75 YEARS
Asleep in Jesus; Blessed sleep.
From which none ever wakes to weep
A calm and undisturbed repose
Unbroken by the last of foes.
Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa
ALEXANDER ST. CLAIR
FEB. 24, 1828.
SEPT. 25, 1900.
2ND. LEUT. CO. I. 43, U.S. C. INF.
16TH. PENN. CAV.
No other event in the 19th Century had a larger affect on America than the Civil War. It tore the country apart and involved people from every corner before it was over. Over a million people were wounded and killed–625,000 from the North and over 400,000 from the South.
After the war, The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R), a veteran’s organization, was founded April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois. The organization admitted veteran’s who served honorably in the Union Army, Navy, or Marines between April 12, 1861, and April 9, 1865.
G.A.R. symbolism and markers can be found throughout American cemeteries marking the graves of the men and women who served during the war. These take many forms. In this case, the grave zinc marker recreates the G.A.R. badge worn by veterans of the North–the eagle mounted on crossed cannons and cannon balls, followed by a ribbon United States flag and the insignia of the G.A.R., which was a star. Inside the star was a circle that depicted a sailor and a soldier clasping hands in front of a figure of liberty in the center looking on.
Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines
The ornamentation of this mausoleum in the Woodland Cemetery at Des Moines displays the typical Knights of Pythias symbolism that can be found on the metal markers that are found next to the gravestones of the fraternity members. The symbols in the frieze above the door to the tomb features the three letters, “F”, “C”, and “B”, which stand for their motto, FRIENDSHIP, CHARITY, and BENEVOLENCE. The circle inside the three triangles display the skull and cross bones.
Fairview Cemetery, Galion, Ohio
In the center triangle of the metal marker above are featured many of the symbols that are significant to the Knights of Pythias. The profile of a knight’s helmet, with a falcon (a symbol of vigilance) sits atop a shield surrounded by crossed battle axes, which represents the weapons that were used against their enemies. In the other three triangles are the three letters, “F”, “C”, and “B”, which stand for their motto, FRIENDSHIP, CHARITY, and BENEVOLENCE, .
Union Cemetery, Uhrichsville, Ohio
The Knights of Pythias, a society based on the Greek story of friendship from 400 B. C. between Damon and Pythias, became the very first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an Act of the United States Congress. The KP symbolism can be found in many cemeteries with their fraternal symbols that come in many forms.
In the small town of Uhrichsville, Ohio, at the Union Cemetery are many gravestones made of red clay. The town had a tile company and as the story goes a craftsperson in the tile company began fashioning markers out of the clay. These unique markers are made in the rustic tradition–to look like tree stumps. The clay certainly helps with that look especially when sprigs of saplings are growing from the tops! Just as in traditional markers, the clay markers are were created with much diversity in design.
The symbol in the marker above features many of the symbols that are significant to the Knights of Pythias. In the shield are three letters, “F”, “C”, and “B”, which stand for their motto, FRIENDSHIP, CHARITY, and BENEVOLENCE. The circle inside the cross displays the skull and cross bones.
Note: I first saw the gravestones above at the Union Cemetery on the Website: www.graveaddiction.com. Beth Santore, the Webmaster, has photographed hundreds of cemeteries in Ohio, as well as, making photo forays into neighboring states. I highly recommend her Website, especially for those tramping around Ohio graveyards!
Many ancient classical designs are replicated in modern graveyards. The sarcophagus of Alexander Moseley (died in 1899) in the Mount Auburn Cemetery at Cambridge, Massachusetts, is modeled after the Roman tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, which 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 now preserved in the Vatican.
![Scipio-tomb[1]](https://gravelyspeaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/scipio-tomb1.jpg)
Gilgal Cemetery, Heltonville, Indiana
The variety found in the rustic movement tombstones is diverse. In these three examples of the tree-stump chair, elegant and slim curved lines have given way to the bulkier and heavier forms made from pieces that came directly from the trees often with the bark still intact, eschewing classic designs.
In the example above the chair back is inscribed with the little girl’s name while the scroll on the seat gives her birth and death date.
Calvary Cemetery, Decatur, Illinois
Here the tree-stump tombstone is carved into the form of an empty chair. The chair back and the arms of the chair (one is missing) are formed out of tree branches with the stump forming the base of the chair. On the back of the chair hangs a man’s hat. This tombstone depicts a lonely scene.
Greenbush Cemetery, Lafayette, Indiana
In this example, tree stumps form the base of the chair and the seat bottom has “FATHER” carved on the face of it. Again, heavy branches with the bark still intact form the seat back and the arms of the chair.
Union Cemetery, Uhrichsville, Ohio
In the example above, the back of the chair is formed from two branches in the shape of a “V”. The base is the tree stump. The creativity of the carvers was boundless. Thousands of tree-stump tombstones exist in nearly as many designs.
In funerary symbolism the vacant chair symbolizes the loss of a loved one.
Gilgal Cemetery, Heltonville, Indiana
George Washington Carson
Oct. 4, 1854 – May 14, 1932
Flora E. Hunter Carson
July 27, 1855 – April 15, 1906
Tree stump tombstones, generally carved from limestone, were a part of the rustic movement of the mid-nineteenth century which was characterized by designs that were made to look like they were from the country. The gravestones are purposefully designed to look like trees that had been cut and left in the cemetery which was part of the movement to build cemeteries to look like parks. In funerary art, the tree-stump tombstones were varied—the stonecutters displayed a wide variety of carving that often reflected individual tastes and interests of the persons memorialized.
The tree-stump gravestones themselves were imbued with symbolism. The short tree stump usually marks the grave of a person who died young—a life that had been “cut” short. Often a tree stump tombstone with two trunks was carved for a married couple. Sometimes the branches intertwine as though the two trunks were hugging each other. In this case, however, the male side of the tombstone is cut down and on top of the stump is an anvil. It is likely that George Washington Carson was a blacksmith.
The anvil gravestone pictured above is a near perfect carving of an actual anvil. It accurately portrays all of the main parts of the anvil, including the level top called the “face” which is depicted with a hammer laying on top. At the posterior is the “Hardy hole“, which is used by metalsmiths for bending and punching. The other end shows the “horn” or rounded part of the tool, with a notch cut between the horn and the face called the “step.”
Anvils have been used for thousands of years and have appeared in literature as early as 800 B.C. in Homer’s Iliad:
“He [Hephaestus] cast durable bronze onto fire, and tin,/Precious gold and sliver. Then he positioned/His enormous anvil up on its block/And grasped his mighty hammer/In one hand, and in the other his tongs./He made a shield first, heavy and huge, /Every inch of it intricately designed./He threw a triple rim around it, glittering/Like lightening, and he made the strap silver.”
Just as a blacksmith uses an anvil to bend and shape metal into objects, the anvil is a symbol of universe being forged and created. Searches on the Internet also list the anvil as a symbol of martyrdom.
Fairview Cemetery, Galion, Ohio
The Fraternal Order of Eagles metal grave markers come in many shapes and forms, including the one above found at the Fairview Cemetery at Galion, Ohio. The marker contains the letters F O E representing the words Fraternal Order of Eagles and the letters L T J and E that relates to liberty, truth, justice, and equality found in the organization’s mission statement:
The Fraternal Order of Eagles, an international non-profit organization, unites fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills, and by promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.
Founded February 6, 1898, by six Seattle, Washington, theater owners John Cort, John W. and Tim J. Considine, Arthur Williams, Mose Goldsmith, and Harry Leavitt organized as “The Order of Good Things”. Within two months, in April of the same year, the fraternal order changed its name to The Fraternal Order of Eagles and adopted the American bald eagle as their emblem.
The Eagles organize local chapters into aeries, (the chapter number is on the center of the marker–859) so named for the nests of eagles which are usually high and difficult to access. Nearly since their inception, the Eagles have lobbied for causes important to the organization, such as the creation of Mother’s Day in 1904, later in the 30s for Social Security, and in 2006 to keep the two words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Eagles also contribute to many charities, such as, St. Jude’s Hospital, a Disaster Relief Fund, Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa, Art Ehrmann Cancer Fund, D. D. Dunlap Kidney Fund, among others.
Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa
SARAH
ELIZABETH
WIFE OF
E. P. DRAKE
DIED JUNE 4, 1894, AGED 38 Yrs.
The Western White Bronze Monument Company of Des Moines produced zinc monuments. The Woodland Cemetery in Des Moines, Iowa, has many of their monuments in all shapes and sizes including the obelisk of Sarah Drake. Sarah Drake was a member of the then fairly new Woman’s Relief Corp.
The Woman’s Relief Corp was founded in 1883 in Denver, Colorado, as the auxiliary group to the Grand Army of the Republic. Founded as a women’s service group over a century ago, the patriotic organization was formed to, according to their Website:
Reproduced on the obelisk is the Woman’s Relief Corps Badge. The badge is a Maltese Cross attached to a bar pin engraved with the F C L for the initials of the words in their motto: Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty. If the insignia was in color the ribbon would be red, white and blue.
In the circle of the cross is an American Flag encircled in a wreath of stars and depicting five figures: Goddess of Liberty, a soldier, boy, a woman and a child.
According to their Website:
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