Question of the Week: What is the most interesting tombstone you have found? [closed]

Question

What interesting tombstone or grave marker have you come across? Please tell us about it in an answer below! You can also answer on Facebook, or share the question image anywhere on social media to get your friends and family talking. 

Answer 1

This is the headstone for Julius J. Younghein. Julius was born in Hessen, Germany and emigrated to Illinois at a young age. When he was 25, he joined the 78th Illinois Infantry of the US Union Army on 1 Sep 1861 and mustered out on 7 Jun 1865. He was the great grandfather of Gayle Younghein, and she dug in the mud and leaves all over the cemetery until she found every piece of his headstone. She and I have been friends since junior high school, and she still surprises me with her unusual determination.

Comments

Thanks for posting this Alexis. The headstone is great, but the story behind it makes it much better.

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The image here adds so much to your story. You can see the broken pieces! Thanks for sharing, Alexis.

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Marty, thank you for the nice comment.

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Chris, thank you for thoughtful comment.

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I do love this story!!

One a side note:

Has this tombstone been chalked? The reason I ask is that chalking is super not safe on tombstones and can stain the stone.

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Christine, thank you for such a good question. I don’t know what was put on the stone in the past. This cemetery is very overgrown, and it does look like some kind of something is on several of the stones that turned them green.

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I would recommend reaching out to your local historical society and see if they have a tombstone repair person. This has all of it's pieces and could be fixed. I would recommend a cleaning but a professional repair and clean-up would be the best to determine if any of it can even be done. There are quite a few folks out your way that would love to help you if you can get permission from the land owner to do so. Be leery of those who want to use bleach as a cleaner! Bleach (and products with salt) will destroy these already delicate tombstones from the inside out. Let me know how you make out !!!

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I've done the same thing for people I didn't even know.  Something about a broken headstone I just can't pass up.  I feel like if I don't put it back together it would be like they never existed. Probably why my wife does not go to cemeteries with me anymore.

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David, thank you for your comment. That is really nice that you put headstones together.

Answer 2

You must visit Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont. There are images in many places on the internet, including here. Don't miss this. You can find more pictures on TripAdvisor.

For family, it has to be Samuel Sands, my 4th great grandfather. In the 1960s, we would visit this cemetery when visiting relative's graves in the cemetery across the road. At that time it was overgrown, weedy, with sunken graves and fallen stones. In the 1970s, the local historical society cleaned up the cemetery because Samuel fought in the Revolutionary War. So this was the spark that got me interested in genealogy, and it was fascinating to find the deed where Samuel's son deeded the land for the "burying ground".

Comments

Great story, Kay!

Answer 3

The Sedgwick Pie.  Members of the noted Sedgwick family are buried in a circle facing their patriarch Theodore Sedgwick.

 

Answer 4

And you thought it was apocryphal.

Comments

She Had a healthy sense of humor

Answer 5

When I was in Germany, I visited the Parochialkirchhof Cemetery in Berlin. I wasn't looking for anyone in particular, just walking down the streets and stumbled upon this old cemetery. There were some very old graves there, including the grave of Johann Wilhelm Moeser. His headstone stood out easily, as it was one of the tallest in the cemetery. It was only once I got up closer that I noticed the bullet embedded in it.

It's hard not to be reminded of the damage done to Berlin in World War II, as nearly every pre-war building shows some wear and restoration (on the same street as this cemetery, just a couple hundred feet away, are the ruins of the Franziskaner-Klosterkirche cathedral). That being said, the bullet still came as a surprise to me. It was a very quiet and tranquil cemetery when I was there, so the idea of close combat being fought there was very jarring. The stark contrast between quiet and gunfire, tranquility and warfare, I'll never forget how I felt in that moment.

Comments

Time cannot heal all wounds.

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Thank you for sharing that, Trevor.

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Oh gosh!   This gives me chills just imagining it!  Thank you for sharing!

Answer 6

Wildwood Cemetery, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. West side. 

Comments

I must say Christine, this monument is unique. The more I look at your picture, the less I understand it. Or is it just me?

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Does the text on the stone help understand it's meaning?  I don't remember any thing that helps me understand a large block or stone weighing down a cross.

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I was starting to think each stone was for another family member or something like that.

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That might be the most interesting headstone I've ever seen!

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As far as I can tell her husband is not buried with her. I haven't had time to research the stone as others are currently on my top list.

I haven't found any symbolism for the cross being weighted but it may represent the weight one carries with them to be judged. If anyone has any ideas let me know !!

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It does not help. It's just a scripture and it is also very hard to photograph. I've tried several times and so has a few others.

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Here's a possible on Sarah Choate married to Joseph Allen Haskell.  It would appear that the Nov 10 1883 date is date of death rather than birth date as I originally took it from the monument.

Nothing to explain why she was buried in Lycoming since they lived around Syracuse in New York  And nothing to explain the strange monument.  Too many coincidences in data not to be them, however.  Her name, his name, Nov 10 1883 date.  No hits on Findagrave or Billiongraves.

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/17723210/person/28653180701/facts

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Do you recall what scripture was noted?

Perhaps that may shed a little light into this mystery?

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I cannot read the script on the monument photo either and that Ancestry record didn't have any explanation.  That record may or may not be the same Sarah Choate, but there were a lot of common data points.  As I also noted, it would be a puzzle as to why she was buried in PA when they lived in NY.

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Here's an idea when it's difficult to get a photo of a monument to come out well.  In the orient, they do "temple rubbings" that they sell as souvenirs.  Try placing a large piece of medium-heavy paper over the part of the monument you're trying to copy and rub the paper lightly with charcoal.  The engraving in the stone will be clearly legible as lighter colored letters on a black background.  Won't damage the monument either.

Answer 7

I came across this stone while photographing the Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery in Smyrna, Cobb County, Georgia, some years ago. The headstones that appear to be personally made by the family always stick with me and make we wonder about the circumstances of the family.  This one in particular, for Joyce Heyne, seems to tell a story.  It looks like the family made this stone for their infant, and then, perhaps a few years later, discovered that it had been broken.  The family encased the stone in cement, adding decorative stones.  I wonder if a sibling helped with the decoration?  The personal touches show that the child who only lived a short time was loved and remembered in death.

Answer 8

A rather poignant one, actually.... The wife of a 3rd cousin twice removed spent her final years in at least two different state hospitals. I do not know why or how she came to be there.

The 1920 US Census lists this cousin as married, but the 1930 and 1940 censuses list him as widowed. His wife, however, did not pass away until 1944, and the 1930 and 1940 censuses list her as married.

As I was researching these people I learned that in times past a husband could have his wife put into a state hospital for the thinnest of reasons, and actual mental illness did not necessarily have to be part of the equation.

I put in a request at Findagrave for someone to photograph the wife's headstone, and someone came through. Knowing even as little as I do about her actual history, I found the common "May she rest in peace" inscription particularly poignant.

Comments

The other thing I found, is that even if the doctors say she is recovered, she can't check herself out of the hospital. Somebody has to come get her.  I have a relative whose husband died while she was in the mental hospital, and nobody else came to get her. There's no word if she ever knew what happened to her husband or her children (they were adopted by in-laws).

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Carolyn, so sad, yet true. I have several connections who "went to Milledgeville," including my great-grandfather, a Civil War veteran. The state hospital often became a dumping ground for not only the insane and mentally handicapped, but also epileptics, alcoholics, and those considered social "deviants" - a daughter who had a child out of wedlock, a wife who ran away from an abusive husband.

Answer 9

Years ago I came across the Farber  Gravestone Collection. There are incredible photos of gravestones, black and white, largely in New England. 

There is brief information about the carver, the artwork, and other pertinent information.

My favorite is that of Dolly Atwater, wife of John Atwater, two of my ancestors. The inscription is rather complicated, and can be seen at this link http://farber.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/s/9nidye

I am unsure of copyright issues at this site, so only the link is here.

Comments

George, thanks for the link. Living in New England piqued my interest in these old stones...regional variations and the evolution of religious symbolism and its influence on design over the years. I love the artwork and inscriptions, some of which are quite biographical.

Answer 10

I've got two! The first is from the Shoal Creek Baptist Church Cemetery here in Transylvania County, North Carolina:

This one (which makes me a little sad) is at the Paw Creek Presbyterian Church in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Comments

Pip, I love Mr. Owen's faith and wry sense of humor!

Been to the Ramah Presbyterian cemetery near Huntersville, but not Paw Creek. Will have to visit this fall. One could say that stone is well protected...

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Raman is a beautiful cemetery. If you ever get back this way. I’d LOVE to take you to Paw Creek! 

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It's a deal, Cousin! I'll be there in Oct-Nov...can probably comp you and your wife for the Renfaire too, if you like!

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Pip, thank you for sharing these photos. They are both very good.

Regarding the Shoal Creek grave, Carroll must have paid attention in church.

Regarding the grave at Paw Creek, the decedent must have been a genealogist well rooted in his or her family tree.

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Perfect analysis, Marion!

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Keep me posted, Cousin!

Answer 11

The most interesting tombstone I ever found is one that I actually did not find.  Mathias Spangler (b. ca.1739) is in the direct male line to my Grandmother Eva (Spangler) McNicol (or so I believed.)  Mathais, who was said to be the first blacksmith in Frederick, MD, was living in Sharpsburg, MD at the time of the Revolutionary War.  He was a member of the local Committee of Correspondence.  I found this out on a Saturday visit to our local public library: Mathias was listed in the DAR book of Maryland Patriots.  The next day--a beautiful day in early Fall--we threw our two young daughters into the station wagon and drove to Sharpsburg.  (The necessary bribes were considerable.) Although we did walk the Antietam  battlefield, our main interest was in the cemetery from the Revolutionary War period. Mathias was said to be buried there.  There were indeed a good many burials from the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, but not Matias'.  A shoulder height hedge of rough brush marked one side of the cemetery.  Within that we found a large pile of tombstones of the style of those still standing. They had simply been tossed under the brush, some broken, long ago.  We did not have the time or means to pull any of these tombstones out, but my guess is that among  them we would have found the tombstone of Mathias Spangler, Patriot.

Comments

David, how sad. I honor your ambition...sounds like something I would do, given the time. Here in upper MI there are a number of old cemeteries which no one seems to have the time or ambition to clean up, save the odd Cornish heritage volunteer or occasional Girl Scout troop. The stones in the old Catholic cemetery, hidden in the woods in the middle of a neighborhood, were often used as bases in kids' baseball games.

Answer 12

I don't have a picture handy, but when I was living in Texas I was wandering around in a cemetery, and one tombstone had a big statue of Jesus carrying the cross on top. The interesting thing, this being Texas, Jesus was wearing cowboy boots.

Comments

Wow- saddle up!

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I know that statue. It is in the Evergreen Cemetery in Paris, Texas. It is beautiful.

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LOL, that is correct. It is a nice statue, and the boots just peak out under his robes, so it's not too much in-your-face. I lived for a time in Greenville.

Answer 13

In Glenwood Cemetery, Ashby, Massachusetts, USA, I found a large memorial to a Gates family who developed a fondness for the masculine given name of Perley. There were some Reverends among those listed and I wonder what their preaching was like - they obviously had a bit of mischievous humor.

Answer 14

Years ago, I was walking around the cemetery near the McKinley monument in Canton, Ohio. There was a tombstone there, I believe dated 1999. But this was in 1997.. so just a wee bit early. Very eerie.

Comments

It pays not to drink too much when you are carving tombstones.

Answer 15

This is the tombstone of Thomas Thatcher in the grounds of Winchester cathedral. The inscription says it all. It was later mentioned by one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous who had seen it and failed to heed the advice

Comments

What is "small beer"?

And it's interesting that the stone was replaced so often, and they kept the original spellings, although I bet the 'f' for the 's' sound was probably in italic font originally.

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Small beer is a low alcohol type beer

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I looked up "small beer" during the Revolutionary War and found this on the Beer Institute site:  "Colonial Americans used the term 'small beer' to describe home brew which was generally lower in alcohol than commercially prepared 'strong beer.' George Washington’s personal recipe called for a generous measure of molasses."

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Not sure I understand:  It says “when yere hot, drink Strong or none at all.”  So it seems the alcohol was not the problem.  What was it about the small beer that caused the “violent Fever”?

Of course, they didn’t have that great an understanding of medical biology.  So, I don’t necessarily trust a 1700’s diagnosis.  I’m just wondering what they thought it was about “small beer” when you are hot???

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In reality, there is no way to know how the man actually died.  His mates certainly blamed the "small beer" though; keep in mind the times when this stone was originally made.  Here is a link to an article written by a person who has spent a lot of time examining all the aspects of how small beer may have caused a fever; everything from bacteria to mold.  It is a short read.

https://blackcreekbrewery.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/death-by-small-beer-a-history-mystery/

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Thanks for that article!  It was interesting!  I think the take-away message here is: 

Drink Strong beer!   Cheers!

Answer 16

Unique headstone in a local cemetery.

Comments

I have seen logs and stumps before, I think they may have been freemasons or something similar? It never gives the society name, but pretty sure it is some kind of society.

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This is a Woodmen of the World faux-bois tombstone. These were sold by the fraternal organization of that name until about 1930. There are great numbers of them. The fraternal organization still exists. It is not affiliated with Freemasonry.

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Years ago, the Woodmen of the World Insurance Company had a section of their web page devoted to genealogy.  I found my Great Grandfather there.  You can no longer see their genealogy information due to "privacy" concerns which is a bit ridiculous considering those folks died in the early 1900s; perhaps they could have a cut off date?  However, after numerous emails to the company, they confirmed that they had no middle name for my GGGrandfather as I had hoped.

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Interesting perspective as a Freemasons stone would have the compass and square on it somewhere on the marker. This one does not appear to have one unless i am missing it?

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It doesn't have a square and compasses because it isn't a Freemason's stone, it's a Woodmen of the World stone, not a Masonic order.

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yes, I know

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In a graveyard in Odessa, New Castle County, DE, US, there is another tree, not just the stump but about 6 foot tree trunk, which I think is cement but it could be another composite material. It dates from the 1800's. In this town, we still have a building known as "Red Man's Hall". The Order of Redman descends from the Sons of Liberty and was chartered by Congress. Later known as the Improved Order of Redmen, (http://www.redmen.org/redmen/info/} ironically, one had to be a white male who met other criteria. This "stone" has bark, ivy crawling up it, a bird with a nest, and a squirrel, along with the inscription to be person and his family beneath it. I'll have to get a picture when I go into town. The Cemetery is maintained currently by the Women's Club of Odessa, along with the old church, erected in 1851, but replacing an earlier Methodist Church in 1833. The {new} Church moved 2 blocks away and 1 block south, and just left the cemetery unattended. There was no perpetual care ever put in place. People paid a $1/year for care but as the families died off, that stopped in the early 1900's.  I have indexed the burials, at least  where there are stones or where we have  plot deeds, which I need to put online. But it is a fascinating stone, along with another tall obelisk with no one buried beneath it. That person was buried in Wilmington DE, but born in Odessa and apparently the family wanted a prominent stone in the front of the church. But the Redman's stone is fascinating.

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The taller the stump the higher they was in the organization

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Interesting. Thanks

Answer 17

There are so many - from the humble to the notable - that it's hard to choose just one. Graves of coal mining families on a lonely Tennessee hillside. Transcendentalist Joseph Palmer of Massachusetts, who was "persecuted for wearing the beard." Crude concrete markers of Finnish immigrants with the names picked out in pebbles. Today I choose Civil War soldier Joseph Lacy, who died during McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. He is buried in my grandmother's NH hometown; his stone was broken and repaired so you couldn't read the surname. A little back-door research allowed me to reunite him with the rest of his family.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137596354/joseph-s-lacy

Answer 18

One that made me practically fall over laughing, I'm afraid!

In Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, Mississippi, USA

"Dead at 16, his mother's only son, and she a widow"

I could hear the imaginary violins playing to this.....

Answer 19

This is the headstone of my 6th Great Grandfather, George Fehl, at Fairview Cemetery in Arendtsville, Pennsylvania.  George was born in Germany about 1731, came to Eastern Pennsylvania about 1751, and eventually moved west, settling in Adams County, where he was the patriarch of the Menallen Township Fehls, a rather prominent family in the area. George died about 1821. The headstone's inscription is in rough, but still translatable, German, implying that the writer or artisan didn't have full command of the language.   Here's my translation: 

Here

rests with God

Gorge Fehl

he true

born in

Germany and died

in the 90 years his

age

Comments

I can read some of the stone, but not all of it. Could you post the original German (with the original spellings)?

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Here you go, Robert!

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Hier

ruhet in Gott

Gorge Fehl

er  wahr

geboyren in

Deutschland und starb

im 90 Jahr seines

alters

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German spelling varied more before the 1901 spelling reform. "Gorge" may be a hybrid of German Georg and English George, though it's a typo in either language. I think "geboyren" is probably a dialect form of "geboren" (born).

Answer 20

For some reason the grave of my 4th great-grandmother, Maxime Lepine-Metivier is a cube: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/215151480/maxine-metivier

I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. 

Other interesting graves not connected to me include ones where a kid is shown playing Pokemon on a Game Boy and a Spider-Man related grave. Very cool of Nintendo and Marvel to let the families do that!