Sarcophagus

sar·coph·a·gus a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions)

The monument that marks the Hanna family plot looks like a sarcophagus, but is it? Or is it another gravestone symbol, one that is looks like a sarcophagus to symbolize mortality and death?

There are two individual markers, set flush with the ground, in front of the monument: Henry Hanna (b. 1812, d. 1905) and Mary Jane Hanna (d. 1909).

Henry Hanna was a prominent and respected Cincinnati businessman. According to Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume 4, published in 1912 by S.J. Clarke Publishing Company,

Charitable work received his earnest financial assistance, and as his mean increased, he made liberal donation where aid was needed nor manifested the least spirit of ostentation in thus relieving the needs of his fellowmen.

Mr. Hanna was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Ellison. They became the parents of four children, but the three sons, Charles, Ellison and Thomas, are all now deceased. ... The three sons all died within a period of three years.

Confession: I failed to get nice photos of the individual markers because I was distracted by the “perpetual care” marker set in the ground. You don’t find these in the small, rural graveyards I normally visit.

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio