Faith, hope, and charity

Faith, hope, and charity are sculpted in human form on the Adams monument at Spring Grove Cemetery.

Look closely: two of the personifications hold their common symbols: a cross (faith) and an anchor (hope).

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Lunacy

Twenty years separate their deaths, but they rest side by side forever. Caroline C. C. Caldwell (d. 1882) is buried next to her infant daughter, Isabella Caldwell (yesterday’s post) in Spring Grove Cemetery.

IN MEMORY OF
CAROLINE C. C. CALDWELL
WIFE OF
ANTHONY CALDWELL
DIED JUNE 29, 1882
IN HER 56 YEAR.
The cemetery burial records show that Caroline was a resident of Cincinnati’s Longview Asylum when she died. The disease that caused her death? Lunacy.

The Federal Census records for Cincinnati in 1870 and 1880 show Anthony and Caroline Caldwell living in the same household. In 1880—two years before Caroline’s death—there is an entry next to Anthony’s name in column 15. You know that column:

Is the person [on the day of the Enumerator’s visit] sick or temporarily disabled, so as to be unable to attend to ordinary business or duties? If so, what is the sickness or disability?

What do you think? I think the entry is meant to read “Nervous Disease of Head,” and it was intended for the line below: Caroline.

Without commenting on Caroline Caldwell’s specific condition, which is unknown to me, I share these sentences from the abstract of “Lunacy in the 19th Century: Women’s Admission to Asylums in United States of America,” by Katherine Pouba and Ashely Tianen (2006):

Between the years of 1850-1900, women were placed in mental institutions for behaving in ways that male society did not agree with. Women during this time period had minimal rights, even concerning their own mental health. Research concluded that many women were admitted for reasons that could be questionable. Since the 19th century, many of the symptoms women experience according to admittance records would not make a woman eligible for admittance to a mental asylum today. Women with symptoms were later diagnosed insane by reasons such as religious excitement, epilepsy, and suppressed menustruation.

May you rest in peace, Caroline.

Longview Asylum

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Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Little Belle

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the large, impressive monuments and the park-like setting of Spring Grove Cemetery, but it pays to keep your eyes open for the smaller gems.

The gravestone that marks the burial site of Isabella Caldwell (b. 1861, d. 1862) may be small, but it touches the heart: “Little Belle.”

LITTLE
BELLE.

ISABELLA B.
DAUGHTER OF
A. & C.C. CALDWELL,
DIED AUG. 29, 1862,
AGED [1 YS. 7] MS. & 12 DS.

The cemetery’s records show Belle’s date of birth and suggests that her death was caused by “congestion of the brain.”

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Wallace, Wallace, Wallace

Standing beside the monument to Mary Wallace Perry (b. 1787, d. 1812) and her infant daughter (yesterday’s post) are two dark obelisks. The same surname is inscribed on each of the matching obelisks: Wallace.

The online burial records for Spring Grove reveal the relationships among Perry and the Wallaces. Even before we see the records, we know that the relationships are close.

This sure looks like a family grouping, doesn’t it?

The obelisk on the right bears the names of Robert Wallace (b. 1734, d. 1828) and Rebecca Wallace (b. 1751, d. 1834), Mary’s parents.

The obelisk on the left marks the grave of Mary’s older sister, Edith Wallace (b. 1769, d. 1831).

IN Memory of EDITH WALLACE, Who died April 18th, 1831; In the 63rd, year of her age.

IN Memory of ROBERT WALLACE Who died Aug. 28th, 1828; In the 94th, year of his age. And REBECCA WALLACE Who died June 19th, 1834; In the 84th, year of her age.

All were buried first at Presbyterian Cemetery and moved to Spring Grove in September, 1858.

Who has spied another Wallace in the photos? There is a white obelisk behind the dark ones. The name on that one is David C. Wallace (b. 1784, d. 1861). His burial record reveals him to be the son of Robert and Rebecca.

Is he the D. C. Wallace who arranged the burial of Robert, Rebecca, Mary, and (probably) Edith in Spring Grove?

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

“Removed from time to Eternity”

How often have you read the gravestone of a young wife and wondered whether she died in childbirth?

Mary Wallace Perry (b. 1787, d. 1812) and her infant daughter died together and are buried together.

The monument inscriptions tell the story.

TO the memory of Mary Wallace Perry & her infant daughter, who were removed from time to Eternity August 22nd 1812, the former in the 26th year of her age, the latter, in the moment of birth. If an assemblage of those amiable & endear- ing qualities that render a female the ornament of her sex, could have warded off the arrows of death She had not died. This stone is erected by the pious affections of the surviving hus- band and parent, SAMUEL PERRY.

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

An obvious exception

In February I posted a photography tip on avoiding “converging verticals” in gravestone photographs. You know the look: when rectangular gravestones end up looking like trapezoids in your photos.

The joke is on me because some gravestones are meant to be trapezoidal.

THOMAS

IVA S.
1911 — 1970

ARVIN M.
1908 — 1993
But see the reflection in the stone? The gravestone may already be in the shape of a trapezoid, but the photographer (that would be me) is crouching down to get the photo anyhow—without tilting the camera.

Good tip.

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Oller Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

Wings

While I was snapping photographs in Oller Cemetery yesterday afternoon, not really noticing how quiet it was in the country graveyard alongside the Scioto River, I heard the sound of flapping wings overhead.

Not flap-flap-flap; more like FLAP-FLAP.

Big wings.

When I looked up, I saw something that I had never seen: a bald eagle. First I noticed his white tail; then, when he turned to circle the cemetery again, his “bald” head.

That’s when I broke my Rule of Cemetery Stillness and shouted out to my husband, a dozen rows away.

“Roy! Eagle!”

We watched as the eagle made several lazy circles around the cemetery before disappearing behind the trees.

I turned my attention back to the modern monument, a vaulted obelisk, that I was photographing. The Williams monument at the back of Oller Cemetery is forever “the eagle monument” in my mind.

WILLIAMS

J. WESLEY
OCTOBER 1, 1930
MAY 21, 2008

PATRICIA EILEEN
(DeNUNE)
NOVEMBER 26, 1930








Oller Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

Buried in Cincinnati?

The tiny detail—the carved tack attaching the “page” to the small boulder—attracted me to this small black marker at the grave of Timothy Coop (b. 1817, d. 1887).

IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
TIMOTHY COOP,
OF SOUTHPORT ENGLAND.
WHO DIED AT
WICHITA KANSAS,
MAY 15, 1887.
IN HIS 70 YEAR.
There is a short biography of Timothy Coop in The Temperance Movement and Its Workers, Vol. III by P. T. Winskill (1892):

Timothy Coop, J.P., of Southport, is a name known far and wide as that of one of those men who, from a humble position, have risen to positions of honour, trust, and usefulness. He was born at West Houghton, near Bolton, in 1817, his father being a silk weaver. At an early age Timothy was bound apprentice to the tailoring business, and after completing his apprenticeship he removed from Bolton to Wigan, where he commenced business in a small way as a retail clothier. ... [T]he business developed so rapidly as to necessitate the erection of a magnificent pile of buildings, seen for a considerable distance, and known as the wholesale manufactory and warehouses of Messrs. T. Coop & Co., Wigan.

He was a staunch personal abstainer, and always a warm friend of the cause. During the later years of his life he indulged in his taste for travel, and while visiting the United States was stricken with malarial fever at Wichita, Kansas.

All of which introduces a bit of a mystery about this grave. Timothy Coop lived in England, he died in Kansas. Why is he buried in Cincinnati?

If I were a detective, I might start by investigating the relationship of Coop to W. S. Dickinson, who, according to Spring Grove burial records, bought the Coop burial plot.

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Busted!

If you have not seen many busts during your graveyard wanderings, then you have not visited Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. During my visit, which was much too short, I easily saw twice as many busts as I show here.

Imagine what I might find when I return with more time to explore!

Barney Dirr (d. 1885)

John Kauffman (d. 1886)

Charles C. Breuer (d. 1908)

Maria Theresia Rheinboldt (d. 1858)

Johann Ulrich Windisch (d. 1879)

Frederick Haussaurek (d. 1885)

Burial records

Did you notice that the date inscribed on the front of the Hanna sarcophagus is 1895? Did you wonder why? I did.

So I took advantage of the online burial records on www.springgrove.org to check the death dates of the Hanna sons.

I am thinking that 1895 represents the date the monument was set in place and that it corresponds to the death of the Hanna sons who died in 1895: Thomas (died May 25, 1895) and Ellison (died November 17, 1895). Their brother Charles died in 1894.

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

A sleeping child

There is a life-size statue of a sleeping child, flower in hand, on the W. E. Alcorn monument at Spring Grove Cemetery.

The front of the monument is inscribed with the name Ann Maria Alcorn (d. 1863), who is identified as the wife of W. E. Alcorn.

I knew before I looked that there would be more names on this one—children’s names.

ANN MARIA,
WIFE OF W.E. ALCORN,
DIED APR. 1, 1863,
AGED 34 Y’S. 1 M’O. & 14 D’S.

The side of the monument shows the children’s names, daughters of Ann and W. E. Alcorn, Margaret M. Alcorn (b. 1855, d. 1860) and Emma Alcorn (b. 1858, d. 1860).

According to the Spring Grove burial records (available online at springgrove.org), Margaret and Emma died of scarlet fever, Emma with measles as well.

MARGARET M.
DIED MAR. 2, 1860,
AGED 4 Y’S. 7 M’S. 12 D’S.

EMMA.
DIED MAY 1, 1860,
AGED 2 Y’S. 2 M’S. 8 D’S.

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

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

“I am prepared to die”

Justice John McLean

A handsome obelisk—not too tall!—marks the grave of John McLean (b. 1785, d. 1861), a lawyer and politician who served in the United States Congress, as U.S. Postmaster General, and as a justice on the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts.

Not familiar with McLean? Paul Finkelman of Albany Law School writes, “Few Justices have worked so hard, for such a long period of time, and had so little impact on the Court.”

Also inscribed on the obelisk are the names of McLean’s first wife, Rebecca E. McLean (b. 1786, d. 1841), and her (their?) granddaughter, Rebecca A. Richards.

JOHN M^cLEAN.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE
SUPREME COURT OF
THE UNITED STATES
BORN MARCH 11, 1785,
DIED APRIL 4, 1861.

IN
memory of
REBECCA E. M^cLEAN,
wife of
JUDGE M^cLEAN,
She was born 11^th March 1786,
and died 5^th December 1841.

IN
memory of
REBECCA A. RICHARDS,
Grand daughter of
Mrs. M^cLEAN.

  

Instead of an epitaph, Mrs. McLean’s inscription includes her last words:

“I have endeavored to make my calling and dev–
otion sure, and through the assisting grace
of God, I have accomplished it. I am
prepared to die. My way is bright. I
have no fear.”

A FindAGrave contributor writes on Mrs. McLean’s memorial page, “She was originally interred at Methodist Cemetery (Catherine St. in Cincinnati). She was re-interred at Spring Grove Cemetery 8/20/1861.”

Several family members are buried in unmarked graves nearby.

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Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Grieving friend

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Groff pyramid

In its March, 2006 e-newsletter, the Association of Gravestone Studies quotes Phillip J. Nuxhall, Historian and Tour Coordinator for the Heritage Foundation of Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum:

“Professor William Groff and his daughter, Florence Groff, were both archeologists. Florence requested that her father and brother’s bodies be brought back from Athens, Greece (where they all died) and that her mother be brought back from Cairo, Egypt to be buried under a 425 square foot pyramid but Spring Grove directors denied the request. In 1952, at White Plains, New York, a compromise with the relatives was reached contesting the will which authorized the Public Administrator to spend $10,000 of Miss Groff’s $40,000 estate for the pyramid and to bring the rest of the family members’ bodies back to Spring Grove. The pyramid was finally erected in 1957 at a cost of $7,000 by Beck and Beck Inc. of Barre, Vermont for Goodall Monument Works, Inc. The names on the pyramid are in English, Greek, and Egyptian. The pyramid is about ¼ of the originally planned size.”

FLORENCE GROFF
BORN CINCINNATI, OHIO
DIED MARCH 21, 1948
HASTINGS ON HUDSON, N. Y.

WILLIAM N. GROFF
BORN MAY 4, 1857, CINCINNATI, OHIO
DIED DEC. 4, 1901, ATHENS, GREECE
ASIATIC SOC. — EGYPTIAN INSTITUTE

WILLIAM T. GROFF, M. D.
BORN DEC. 19, 1843, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
DIED JULY 9, 1900, ATHENS, GREECE

SARAH E. TALBOT GROFF
BORN CINCINNATI, OHIO
DIED MAR. 24, 1900, GHIZEH, EGYPT

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Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Faith, Hope, and Charity

Stop number 19 on the self-guided walking tour through Spring Grove Cemetery, “America’s second largest and most beautiful cemetery and arboretum,” is the Robinson Mausoleum, built in 1874.

John Robinson started the country’s first traveling circus in 1824 when he took three wagons, five horses, and a tent across the Allegheny mountains. He eventually sold shares to the Ringling Brothers. He was the son of a Scotch soldier who fought in the American Revolution and he ran away to join a circus when he was young and became a bareback rider. ... The miniturized cruciform structure of blue limestone edged with marble is ornamented with allegorical statuary of FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY and topped by the Angel Gabriel ready to blow the horn to herald the Resurrection. (www.springgrove.org)

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio