A to Z Challenge: “T”ree trunk tombstones
Until I moved to the Midwest, I’d never seen a tree trunk tombstone.
I’ve visited a few older cemeteries in Indiana and have noticed gravestones in the shape of a tree trunk, with intricate carvings to depict facts and graphical elements reminiscent of the person’s life. They are unusual looking and make an impression. They also are more hearty than regular in-the-ground tombstones.
I had to Google the story behind them.
They were popular from the 1880s to the 1920s. Joseph Cullen Root was the founder of Modern Woodmen of America (MWA, 1883) and Woodmen of the World (WOW, 1890), both fraternal insurance benefit societies. The goal was to make life insurance, and grave markers, affordable to everyone. From 1890-1900, a person’s policy included the tombstone. Root named his organization after a minister’s description of his congregation as “trees in God’s forest.”
From 1900 to the mid-1920s, members purchased a $100 rider on the life insurance policy to cover the increased cost of the monument. By the mid-20s, the grave marker benefit was discontinued due to the expense. As the tree gravestones became more popular, Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Wards catalogues offered them for sale to the general public, so the tree marker doesn’t necessarily mean that the person was a member of the MWA after 1920.
I’ve seen tree stump tombstones with woodworkers tools, flowers, vines, animals (such as squirrels or a dove with an olive branch), chairs – all telling a short story of the person honored.
If I had a tree trunk tombstone, I’d like to have a cross and dove on it, as well as a cat, dog and fox or raccoon on it, symbolizing my love of all creation. And, a large “H”, for the name of the family I was born into and a “W” for the name of the married family that I belong to.
What would you put on your tree trunk gravestone?
dmweiden@gmail.com
I'm Diane, a marketing executive in the non-profit sector living in Terre Haute, Indiana. My husband and I moved from Denver, Colorado, 15-plus years ago and this blog highlights our joys and challenges in adjusting to our new home and town. I also share things I love: photography, wildlife and domestic pets, writing, knitting, making jewelry, food, travel, my faith in God and music. I'm also writing a mystery novel so stay tuned!
6 Comments
Linda Andersen
Diane,
I love your posts. To answer your question, I’d want these added to my marker: mountains, church, school, a family, and lots of books.
Piper Presley
I live in the midwest, and yet, I’ve never seen one of these. Thank you for the information. The most beautiful tombstones I’ve seen have been in Paris. I remember I dragged my husband through a graveyard in Paris for like three hours. LOL!
Piper Presley
T is for Twitter
http://www.presleyromance.com/blog/twitter-blogging-from-a-to-z-challenge
dmweiden@gmail.com
In Ireland, many of the tombstones were Celtic and very beautiful as well. See if you can find a few, now that you know what you’re looking for. Thanks for visiting my blog. I appreciate it!
Josie Two Shoes
I have never seen these, they are lovely, and somehow more welcoming than cold stone monuments! I will have my ashes scattered, so there will be no grave marker, but if there was I would definitely want the images of my beloved cats and flowers and most certainly a favorite quote or two!
Josie
from Josie’s Journal
Arlee Bird
This post intrigues me and actually may be an answer to a question I posed on a very early blog post that I did that you can read at http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-death-poetry.html
I’d seen tree markers at a cemetery in Michigan back in 1976. They fascinated me though I didn’t really have the time to investigate them and I didn’t find the info that you presented here. It seemed like what I had seen were much larger more the size of actual trees, but then that might be my memory playing tricks on me. Your post does elucidate the matter for me a great deal. Very interesting.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
dmweiden@gmail.com
Thanks for visiting my blog, Arlee! Some of the tombstones can be the size of tree trunks. This one might look smaller in the photo but it was good size. And, many are larger. They really are unique, aren’t they?!