Interesting grave marker, and questions

[J. Donaldson]

Mods, please move if this is posted in the wrong location.

The other day I was driving through southeastern Iowa to pick my wife up at the Des Moines airport and decided to stop in Agency, near Ottumwa, to see if I could find the grave of the man who was the subject of my masters thesis. In searching through the older section of the City Cemetery I found a couple of headstones, one of which I though would be of interest to this community, and another that I have questions as to the symbolism on the headstone.

The first headstone is that of Fletcher King, First Iowa Battery. Mr. King passed in the field, it appears, and the family brought the remains home and erected this very intricate and patriotic headstone. As I had not seen a private purchase stone like this before, I thought I would pass it along.

The second image posted is that of a woman's grave from the 1870s, I believe. I actually had a very hard time making out the engraving on the stone in person due to degradation from the elements. Her name was Harriet and was 32 at time of passing. What caught my eye were the pentacles/pentagrams (not sure of the correct terminology) near the top of the stone. I've had a hard time finding information about this type of decoration and was hoping someone on hear might know more about the use of this very unique style of decoration.

One final question: I noticed a grouping of military headstones clustered together in an area of the cemetary. There were approximately four to five stones for soldiers from the First Iowa Battery, some within inches of each other, all unrelated and placed near a family plot with a last name different from any of the soldiers. Removing for the moment the possibility that this is a case of slovenly maintenance by previous cemetery staff or good-intentioned people trying to restore headstones, could this be construed as some attempt at creating a "Soldier's Lot" grouping within the cemetary, even though there are dozens of veterans spread throughout the rest of the grounds? Another possiblity, and perhaps I'm reading too much into the close placement of the stones, but could it be that this was a grouping of stones placed in memory by the family for soldiers whose bodies were not brought back north? I hope the question is not too macabre, but as I stated, the close grouping of stones for soldiers related only by the unit they served in struck me, and I thought someone here might know more about this clustering.

My thanks.

[Annette Bethke]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

I've been working with cemeteries for about 6 years now and have never seen one like the woman's. But then I'm limited to Texas. If you get an answer, please post!

[davidMcL]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Maybe she was a member of the Eastern Star? They look similar to ones I've seen on some of my Great Grand Mothers items and she was a member of this group.

[vamick]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

What caught my eye were the pentacles/pentagrams (not sure of the correct terminology) near the top of the stone.
My thanks.

There are some stones with 'pentacles' on them near me in Floyd Co. Virginia. I understand (forgot the exact source however) that these were once a 'Christian' symbol in antiquity, and were used by the Primitive Baptist denomantion. Most are standing with the star 'upright' as in 'modern paganism, but one I found was in the inverted position which most folks associate with 'satanism' ect. there is also a house one block down for the courthouse in Wytheville Va. that has one as a window in the eaves....so I'd say this lady was a Pr. Baptist and not a Wican *L

[vamick]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Forgot to mention in my previous post that although these could be order of the Eastern Star symbols what made the ones I saw different was that they were enclosed in a circle such as the 'pentacles' seen on tarot cards for instance...interesting stones and surely an eye catcher!

[FlatLandFed]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Bob,
You noted, "... the close grouping of stones for soldiers related only by the unit they served in struck me, and I thought someone here might know more about this clustering."

I would suggest contacting the Sons of Union Vets' national graves registration officer at: jimjanie@fone.net for some ideas. First guess is to contact whoever keeps the cemetery records as there should be information about interment that states whether there was just a ceremony in memory of these soldiers or whether there was an actual burial.

Second guess is to contact the county's veterans affairs officer (sorry, not sure if that's the correct title) who is responsible for keeping track of all veterans buried in his or her jurisdiction. Getting proper recognition e.g. federal headstones for veterans is part of that officer's responsibility, so again there should be a paper trail on why these headstones, private or not, were installed as they were.

Interesting.
Paul Hadley
See you at Bummers and possibly in Defiance 09

[Justin Runyon]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Relatively unlikely that that is an Eastern Star headstone. Their stars are always inverted, and Ive never seen multiple stars used on a Sisters headstone. Further, her dying in the 70's makes it less likely, though certainly not impossible, that she was a Star. Rbt. Morris started the stars prior to the war, but as I recall, they did not become really widespread till the Gilded Age - Progressive Era periods (70's-90's).

Standard OES emblem on headstone.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Hallo!

Sometimes a cigar is, just a cigar. :)

Victorian imagery and symbolism can be tricky, even when seemingly obvious
(ex: a hand with the finger pointed "up," or whether a tree denotes shade and rest or the Tree of Life, etc.), or even language such as "consort."

IMHO, I doubt they are Order of the Eastern Star "stars," unless the stone maker was not familiar with the design. The Eastern Star star has an arm pointing directly down (the "white" arm).

They may just be symbolic "morning" and "evening" stars.

And yes, groundskeepers as well as well-intentioned folks and organizations can do some strange things.
For example, last month I received a newspaper clipping from my home town announcing a multi-million "restoration" project for the city cemetery. In the early 1960's it was over-grown and tumbled down, so the city fathers decided to bulldoze every flat and plant grass.
The military section, with CW veterans including my g-g-grandfather killed in 1865, because the stones were old, weathered, and neglected, were simply
scraped and dumped.
Now, the city wants to redo it (paper records of the names and plots have been preserved).

Curt
Who spends way too much time in American and Foreign cemeteries Mess

[Annette Bethke]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

I pulled some books we have to see if this particular symbol is in any of them. Nope. However, I broke down the symbol elements and looked up the symbolizm.

Five-pointed pentagram star: symbolic of the life of Christ and may also represent the five wounds of Christ.

Circle: prefection or eternity in the afterlife.

Star: the spirit, piercing the darkness as an expression of triumph over the overwelming odds of oblivion. Five-pointed stars signify the spirit rising to heaven.

From Stories Told in Stone by Gaylord Cooper

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Thank you all for your help. You've given me several leads to follow, and I appreciate your knowledge and information.

[Bob 125th NYSVI]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

I think I can shed a little light on the grouped soldier's headstones for you. My unit is routinely involved in Honor Guard rededication ceremonies involving the SUV.

Before the advent of 'National' cemeteries for veterans a significant number of local cemeteries set aside 'Soldier and Sailors' plots. These plots were reserved for veterans whose families could not afford to them have the buried. In some cases the veterans were buried there because they wished to be interred with other veterans.

Since the majority of these plots in the North were originally for CW veterans Congress designated the SUV as being responsible for the graves on a ceremonial basis. The Federal Government will provide a replacement stone in any of these plots any time one is needed. In our case the local SUV (or if the SUV won't do it my regiment will for a CW vet) takes care of the expense of a new base.

At least locally veterans from other wars (up to WWII) have on occasion been interred in these spots at their own request.

Actually we have two ceremonies coming up locally in September and October. On September 17th we are providing the honor guard for the NYS soldier killed at Anteitam who is going to be buried locally now that the Smithsonian has turned the remains over to the NYS DMA. And in October (I think also on the 17th) we are providing the honor guard for the rededication of a 54th MA soldier buried here in the Capital District.

The other graves you see spread throughout the cemetery are vets buried in their family polts.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Mr. Sandusky-

Thank you for your input. I am very familiar with the concept of a Soldier's Lot, as several of the cemeteries in the area that I grew up contained them. I was more interested in the tight grouping of the stones in question. When I commented that only a few inches lay between the stones, in a couple of instances it meant that there was no room for an interment in line with the stone. This lead to the other possibility, and probability, of shoddy maintenance, reinforced by the number of buried and half buried stones I found in my tour.

[FlatLandFed]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

The gradually sinking of the long headstones is unfortunately very common; what you're indicating about the close grouping I've have not noticed during my surveys of 19th century cemeteries here in the Midwest.

I'll be interested to see what the cemetery officials have to say.

I'm guessing some are markers (cenotaphs) honoring a soldier who's buried somewhere else. One of my shirttail federal ancestors died in prison camp and was subsequently buried in a mass grave near Richmond, so the family put up a marker in his New York hometown in his memory.

The cemetery records of course will note if there really are "X" number of people buried in that immediate location, even if the headstones were moved at some point and may not even correspond anymore to the remains below. Is even possible that the respective families eventually put up private markers so this grouping is sort of a G.A.R. hall of fame area of federal headstones that are no longer needed at the actual grave. Did you notice duplicate names in other areas of the cemetery? It's my understanding that the federal gov't isn't supposed to provide a "free" headstone if a private one already exists but a family can go ahead and buy one on their own to go with a private marker and of course the federal stone can predate a more ornate marker that comes later. I've seen this quite a bit. (Note attachment of Medal of Honor winner Vifquain.)

Hope it all gets straightened out. Thanks for thinking of the old boys.

Paul Hadley
Past Commander, Dept of Neb, SUVCW

[Bob 125th NYSVI]

Re: Interesting grave marker, and questions

Mr. Sandusky-

Thank you for your input. I am very familiar with the concept of a Soldier's Lot, as several of the cemeteries in the area that I grew up contained them. I was more interested in the tight grouping of the stones in question. When I commented that only a few inches lay between the stones, in a couple of instances it meant that there was no room for an interment in line with the stone. This lead to the other possibility, and probability, of shoddy maintenance, reinforced by the number of buried and half buried stones I found in my tour.

Depending on the graveyard you could actually be facing several different issues.

For starters the close grouping of the stones can indicate that there was vandalism or that nobody is really buried in those locations (only cemetery records will confirm or deny this). The bodies could have never been recovered therefore there was nothing to bury but the cemetery agreed to put up makers as a memorial. If that is the case there is no need to 'waste' space with a full plot. If it is just vandalism then whoever put the markers back up just didn't care.

Which leads to another common issue in cemeteries, neglect by management or the local organization tasked with maintaining the graves.

As an example I cite General George Thomas' grave in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy NY. For lack of a better term it is a disgrace. Since he couldn't go back to Virginia he is buried in the family plot of his wife's family. The descendants have either died out or moved away or don't give the north end of a south bound rat about the site so it is neglected. No perpetual care was ever set up. The cemetery won't maintain it because it is a "private" plot and the local SUV can't because the cemetery management will not give them permission (see private plot).

It is a shame that so many graves are neglected (and stones sinking is a huge problem). If it is happening in the local Soldier's and Sailor's plot it is because the tasked organization is not active enough.