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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
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| 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 McLEAN.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE
SUPREME COURT OF
THE UNITED STATES
BORN MARCH 11, 1785,
DIED APRIL 4, 1861.
IN
memory of
REBECCA E. McLEAN,
wife of
JUDGE McLEAN,
She was born 11th March 1786,
and died 5th December 1841.
IN
memory of
REBECCA A. RICHARDS,
Grand daughter of
Mrs. McLEAN.
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.
Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio
Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio
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
Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio
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
