CEMETERY HEADSTONE SYMBOLS AND EPITAPHS

On Memorial Day folks will be visiting cemeteries to decorate the graves of their loved ones. If you plan to visit a cemetery or several, don’t forget that a cemetery headstone can tell you a lot of family history. 

Headstones usually have the deceased’s name, dates of birth and death, possible nicknames, and family relationship. The symbols or images on the headstones have meaning and can identify military service, religious and professional affiliations, and hobbies. All of that information gives you rich details to add to your family history. It's truly a sad thing to find a headstone with only the deceased's name and only the years they were born and died.            

One summer’s day I attended a cemetery symbol presentation at the George Washington Carver Monument near Diamond, Missouri. I learned a lot from that presentation and still wanting more knowledge, I decided to do research. Here is what I found about headstone symbols and epitaphs.

Babies’ and children’s graves are usually marked with lambs or angels. Lambs represent innocence and angels have many meanings, all of which represent love and heaven. 

A daisy on a child’s grave represents gentleness, youth, and the innocence of a child. A sleeping child signifies death during the Victorian Era and sometimes decorates a baby’s grave. 

A photo of a lamb on Left.        Photo on Right, death wings in the upper corners of Opal's headstone. 

Another lamb on a baby's headstone.      Epitaph reads "Budded on earth To bloom in Heaven."

                       

                              

     

Calla Lilies are a Victorian symbol meaning majestic beauty and they often times represent marriage. Ivy vines mean memory and fidelity, while laurel means victory. 

Flowers in general depict the frailty of life. Wheat is the time of divine harvest often used to denote old age. The willow leaves illustrate grief. Acorns and oak leaf clusters mean strength, honor, and steadfastness.

Here are random photos I've taken over the years during my cemetery excursions.

   

Sometimes the symbols you find on cemetery headstones tell you that the deceased person once belonged to a fraternal organization. Most organizations have their own special symbols, such as the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, Eastern Star, and the Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks.

           

        

One fraternal symbol that is very beautiful and ornate is the Woodmen of the World (WOW) or later known as the Modern Woodmen of the World. I happened upon the grave of my great-grandfather’s brother, Walter. His headstone is tall, sits on a base and at the top there are three carved stone logs stacked upon each other. The symbol on the front of the stone is MWA, which stands for the Modern Woodmen of America. That information gave me insight into his life as a woodsman.

           

Looking at the headstones around Walter’s, many whose stones resembled tree trunks or logs and they all had the Woodmen of the World emblem carved upon them. I later researched the organization and learned of its history. The organization is still around today, but no longer supplies the beautiful and ornate headstones when a member dies.

  

         

One of my third cousins has a unique set of symbols on her headstone. Shirley is still alive, but she bought her grave plot and had the headstone set ahead of time to make sure she got what she wanted. The four symbols on her headstone are a clown face because she is a member of Clown Alley of Kansas City, a set of schoolbooks because she was a home economics teacher, a gavel because she was an auctioneer and a comb and scissors because she once owned a beauty shop and worked as a hairdresser. Shirley’s headstone portrays the uniqueness of her occupations. I won’t post her headstone because she is still alive and will maintain privacy.

           

Here are a couple of headstones with epitaphs. 

    

The headstone below is almost covered with lichen! It needs to be removed before it ruins the stone! 

Epitaphs on headstones are used in a variety of ways. Some are a single word, “Mother,” or some are a short sentence, such as “Gone to God” or “Remember Me.” Others can be quite lengthy. For example, the epitaph on Bonnie Parker’s stone reads, “As the flowers are all made sweeter by the sunshine and the dew, so this old world is made brighter by the lives of folks like you.”

           

A potter’s field is the term used for cemetery sections set aside for the indigent and the unknown people who died in a community.

Have a safe Memorial Day 2024!