Personally, I find cemeteries fascinating (during the day). I love to read the inscriptions and epitaphs on the headstones, check out how old someone was when they died, look at the unique headstone styles and shapes, etc.
Most of my immediate family is buried in Minnesota or western Wis., so I’ve been able to take photos of their headstones and footstones for my family tree records. My sisters make fun of me, but I’ve put together a little “gravestone kit” that I keep in my trunk for times when I need to trim the grass around a footstone or wash the dirt off an inscription so it can be read in a photo.
My gravestone kit, including grass clippers, reused
water bottle filled with tap water, squeegee, kneel pad, etc.
But, back to unique headstone styles and shapes.
A couple of years ago, I drove to Chippewa Falls, Wis., to track down the graves of my g-grandparents (Louise and Gus Kniss) and g-g-grandparents (Louise and William Kampf) in Forest Hill Cemetery. I’d called ahead and asked that someone show me where they were buried and I’m very glad I did: it’s a large cemetery, and it would have taken me days to find them on my own.
First I was taken to Louise and William Kampf’s graves, where I discovered the reason I couldn’t find my g-g-grandmother’s death certificate was that she had remarried almost 20 years after my g-g-grandfather died, and her Minnesota death certificate was listed under her second husband’s surname. No one had ever told me that. On the other hand, she was buried with her first husband under his surname. Wow! So complicated!
Next, I was shown the graves of my g-grandmother and g-grandfather, my maternal grandma’s parents. I was looking at their footstones, thinking how sad it was that Louise Kniss was only 20-years-old when she died in childbirth, when my cemetery guide said, “And this one, too.” He was pointing at a tall, stone monstrosity in the shape of a tree trunk.
First I was taken to Louise and William Kampf’s graves, where I discovered the reason I couldn’t find my g-g-grandmother’s death certificate was that she had remarried almost 20 years after my g-g-grandfather died, and her Minnesota death certificate was listed under her second husband’s surname. No one had ever told me that. On the other hand, she was buried with her first husband under his surname. Wow! So complicated!
Next, I was shown the graves of my g-grandmother and g-grandfather, my maternal grandma’s parents. I was looking at their footstones, thinking how sad it was that Louise Kniss was only 20-years-old when she died in childbirth, when my cemetery guide said, “And this one, too.” He was pointing at a tall, stone monstrosity in the shape of a tree trunk.
Louise Kniss footstone
Gus Kniss footstone
Louise Kniss tree stone
Forest Hill Cemetery
Chippewa Falls, Wis.
“No way!” I said staring in disbelief at the “thing” that stood about my height. What was it supposed to mean? I knew my g-grandfather Gus had worked in the lumber camps for many years. Was that why it was a tree? But why an anchor at the bottom of the tree? Our family had nothing to do with fishing or boats. I was very confused.
Tree Stones
Several years later I found out that tree stones were quite popular between the 1890s and 1920. So popular in fact, that you could order them from the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs.1 Sears actually had a special catalog devoted to monuments.2
I also discovered that Woodmen of the World (WOW), a fraternal organization that operates a large privately held insurance company for its members, also offered its members tree stone monuments from 1890 through the 1920s. The “program was abandoned in the late 1920s [because] it was too costly.”6
“Typically [these] headstones would include a depiction of the WOW relics—symbols of the organization. These include most notably a stump or felled tree (inscribed into a more generic monument in some cases, rather than the more noticeable instances of the entire monument being in the shape of the log or tree-stump); the maul and wedge; an axe; and often a Dove of Peace with an olive branch.”6
Example of a WOW tree stone.7
I began looking for more tree stones whenever I went to cemeteries to take photos of grave sites for clients. So far I’ve only found three others: one in Hillcrest Cemetery in Cloquet, Minn., and two in Maubeek Cemetery in Dunn County, Wis.; but I understand they’re very popular out east.
Mary A. Rice tree stone8
Hillcrest Cemetery
Cloquet, Minn.
Ellen Jane Cross tree stone8
Maubeek Cemetery
Dunn County, Wis.
Anyone else think it’s ironic that a family named “Cross” would choose to use a tree stone for a headstone?
McRoberts tree stone8
Maubeek Cemetery
Dunn County, Wis.
Each of these four tree stones has different symbols engraved on them; none of them have the WOW markings. After some online research, I discovered the following:
The tree stone itself symbolizes a life cut short. Most tree stones were made for a person that did not live a long life.3 Very true in my g-grandmother’s case; however, one of the other tree stones I found was for a woman who died at 75, another for a woman who died at 56. The fourth tree stone does not have individual names or death dates. It appears to be a family headstone.
The tree stone itself symbolizes a life cut short. Most tree stones were made for a person that did not live a long life.3 Very true in my g-grandmother’s case; however, one of the other tree stones I found was for a woman who died at 75, another for a woman who died at 56. The fourth tree stone does not have individual names or death dates. It appears to be a family headstone.
The anchor was regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety and was adopted by Christians as a symbol of hope and steadfastness.4
Ferns at the base of two of the tree stones symbolize sincerity and sorrow.4
Scrolls found on two of the trees represent life and time. Both ends rolled up indicate a life that is unfolding like a scroll of uncertain length and the past and future hidden. It can also suggest honor and commemoration.5
Do any of your ancestors have tree stones for their grave markers?
LLet me help you find out what parts of history your family had a role in.
Scrolls found on two of the trees represent life and time. Both ends rolled up indicate a life that is unfolding like a scroll of uncertain length and the past and future hidden. It can also suggest honor and commemoration.5
I wonder if the grieving families actually knew what the objects on their loved ones’ tree stones represented?
LLet me help you find out what parts of history your family had a role in.
For more information on my Family History Research
services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on Family History Research in the left-hand column.
1http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2012/07/those-amazing-tree-stones.html
2http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1670&path=1902.Fall.112T.351&sid=&gskw=
3http://www.oakdalecemetery.org/funerary_art_symbolism.asp
4http://genealogy.about.com/od/cemetery_records/ig/tombstone_symbols/anchor.htm
5http://www.thecemeteryclub.com/symbols.html
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodmen_of_the_World
7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Woodman-stone.jpg
8 Photos taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain October 31, 2102, as long as acknowledgement included.
2http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1670&path=1902.Fall.112T.351&sid=&gskw=
3http://www.oakdalecemetery.org/funerary_art_symbolism.asp
4http://genealogy.about.com/od/cemetery_records/ig/tombstone_symbols/anchor.htm
5http://www.thecemeteryclub.com/symbols.html
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodmen_of_the_World
7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Woodman-stone.jpg
8 Photos taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain October 31, 2102, as long as acknowledgement included.
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