COATES-L Archives

Archiver > COATES > 1997-09 > 0875629268


From: "Charlotte Coats" <>
Subject: Fwd: TIP# 89 - ONE LAST EPISTLE ON TOMB STONES
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 07:21:08 PDT


I thought this was interesting...gives some useful info on graves and
graves stones etc...Linda...there's an Esquire and Gentleman explanation
towards the end....may help distinquish that William Esquire and William
Gentleman we have...

Charlotte

>From:
>Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 10:04:01 -0400 (EDT)
>To: , , ,
>
>Subject: Fwd: TIP# 89 - ONE LAST EPISTLE ON TOMB STONES
>
>This is LONG, but well worth it.
>
>Pat
>---------------------
>Forwarded message:
>From: (Sandi Gorin)
>To:
>Date: 97-09-30 07:21:17 EDT
>
>TIP#89 - ONE LAST EPISTLE ON TOMB STONES
>
> I have received enormous
>response on the tips on
>tombstones/graveyards, etc. Before returning to
>soldiers, time lines,
>county holdings and towns, want to answer some
>questions and give a little
>more information.
>
> I had often been told
>that even if you can't read the dates on an old
>stone, you can get a general
>idea of when the person died, or at least
>some information about the
>individual from the shape of the stone, the
>artwork on it or the material
>from which it is made. The oldest stones
>found in family cemeteries were
>many times carved by a member of the
>family with little ability. It was not
>until later, or in the larger
>cities that stone masons began the intricate
>art of engraving. We
>discussed in a previous article some of the meanings of
>designs found on
>stones. Here are a few more. Marriage trees have been found
>on some stones
>- two trees with one felled. This went back to a Puritan
>custom of the
>newly weds planting two trees to symbolize their marriage.
>When one of the
>couple died, they were "cut down" in the prime of life. An
>ordinary candle
>carved on a stone represented the life-style of candles
>being the
>primarily illumination in the home. The candle was on a little
>night stand
>and when the individual wanted to retire, he took the snuffer
>and snuffed
>out the candle. This found its way to the tombstone - a candle -
>or a
>candle snuffed out. Shovels, axes, spades were used on engravings
>to
>symbolize "as I am now, you too shall be." Clouds repesented
>heavenly
>awards (18th century).
>
> Grave markers themselves have
>evolved throughout the ages. In older
>days, a wooden coffin was just placed
>in the ground covered by a heavy
>boulder and then the dirt. The boulder was
>to protect the grave from grave
>robbers and symbolically, the keep the body
>there safe from evil spirits.
>Indian burials were often done on the crest of
>a hill and people just
>tossed stones on a pile over the grave. From the mid
>17th century and into
>the 18th century, the plain grave marker was becoming
>more refined. The
>flat, unadorned slabs were being replaced with carved
>vertical stones with
>inscriptions on the center of the stone. A footstone
>was placed paralled
>to the headstone about 6 feet away - a much smaller
>stone with just the
>initials usualy found. Slabstones were used during this
>timeframe also,
>but not as frequently. They were horizontal monuments which
>was a single
>piece of stone about 3 inches thick and flush with the surface
>of the
>land. Tablestones or "table tombs" were slabstone about 2 inches
>thick
>which were raised 2-3 feet on corner leg supports. Carving would be
>found
>on the stone and these are very familiar in this part of
>Kentucky.
>
>A boxtomb was set off the ground by faced, solid sides. It was
>normally 2
>feet wide, 6 feet long and 2-3 feet high and resembled a stone
>coffin.
>These are also common in this area.
>
>Stone used for tombstones
>depended on what was available in that
>particular area. Only the rich could
>afford to import stone from Europe
>and most people used what they had. In
>New England began the use of
>"green-stones" ... common field stones. But
>these did not last. Many field
>stones of all varieties looked as their name
>implies ... stones found in a
>field and have been dug up, plowed under or
>cleared out accidentally by
>farmers working their fields. It was also very
>difficult to carve anything
>on a field stone.
>
>There are generally five
>categories of cemeteries, one of which the
>reader hopes, describes where an
>ancestor might be interred. (1)Government
>owned, (2) Church; (3) church but
>separated by a distance from same; (4)
>privately-owned; (5) family. The
>government owned cemetery would be your
>city municipal cemetery style.
>Better records are kept on these and
>permits may still be available for the
>older burials. The church yard
>cemetery may or may not still have records
>available from the church
>itself. Some churches kept detailed records in
>their minute books. The
>privately-owned cemetery is operated as a business
>and there is a board of
>directors, fees are paid for maintenances, etc. The
>family graveyard is
>where so many ancestors are buried ... found somewhere
>close to where the
>old house used to stand, out in a corner, under a grove
>of cedar trees.
>The briars and undergrowth have often overtaken the old
>family cemetery;
>trees can be found growing through tombstones with only the
>corner of the
>stone visible. The graves have sunken in and many times the
>stones have
>fallen into the grave. As one walks through the cemetery, field
>stones
>maybe seen jutting up between the poison ivy, briars - or are they
>just
>plain stones in the field instead? Is that depression an old grave? It
>is
>a challenge to walk through an old deserted cemetery. If one grave can
>be
>found and confirmed, the searcher can almost plot the rest of
>the
>cemetery. All graves were arranged so the face of the deceased faced
>east
>and they were in rows. Husbands and wives were normally buried next
>to
>each other, flanked by children and other relatives. Sometimes friends
>or
>neighbors were buried in a family cemetery and were not related at all.
>In
>south central Kentucky - we look for cedar groves and crepe myrtle.
>Both
>grow abundantly in old cemeteries - with the pioneer usually making
>a
>cemetery under a grove of the "Cedars of Lebanon."
>
>If you find a stone
>and it has Latin wording on it - which is seldom
>found in the old family
>cemetery - here are a few of the more frequently
>used expressions:
>
>Anno
>Domini - (AD) - in the year of our Lord
>circa (c., ca., circ.) -
>about
>Esse - is
>E t alii (et al) - and others
>Fugit hora - the hour is
>fleeting
>Mortalem - mortal
>Mememto - recall, remember
>Memento mori -
>remember that you must die
>oblit (ob) - he died, she died
>nepos -
>grandson
>requiescat in pace (RIP) - may he/she rest in peace
>sic - so,
>thus
>te - that
>testes - witnesses
>ultimo (ult) - last, final
>uxor
>(us, vx) - wife
>videlicet (viz, vitzt) - namely
>consort - man was living
>at the time of death (husband)
>relict - widow
>Junior/Senior. Does not
>mean that Sr was the father of Jr.
> Used also to distinguish between 2
>people with the same
> names in the same area - uncle/nephew, etc.
>
>Esquire - came from the 1600's in England. In England,
> someone who
>held the ablity to bear arms. Next in line
> after a knight, or one
>who deserved special social
> respect. In America, it could refer to
>a politician,
> lawyer, judge, wealthy landowner, clergyman or
>someone
> just respected.
>Gentleman - Signified a man of elite
>birth who was socially
> situated just under the rank of Esquire.
>
>Mrs. - did not always mean wife. In Europe meant a member
> of the
>upper class - a woman of gentle birth, married or
>
> single.
>Goodman/Goodwife (sometimes just called goody) - the
>head
> of a household, male or female - in the South sometimes
>
> referred to as colonel. No military rank meant - plantation
>
> owners often referred to as Colonel.
>* - born
>(*) -
>illegitimate
>X - baptized or christened
>O - engaged
>OO - married (two
>circles touched)
>O/O - divorced/separated
>O-) - common law
>marriage
>
>Now, just for fun - here are a few of my "favorite" epitaphs.
>
>
>"Those that knew him best deplored him most."
>"He called Bill Smith a
>liar."
>"He had lived lone, done some good, and much harm."
>"Let her rip."
>(R.I.P!)
>
>"Under this pile of stones Lies all that's left of Sally Jones.
>Her name
>was Lord, it was not Jones, But Jones was used to rhyme with
>stones."
>
>"Devoted Christian mother who whipped Sherman's bummers with
>scalding
>water while trying to take her dinner pot which contained a ham
>bone being
>cooked for her soldier boys."
>
>"John burns."
>"Such as thou
>art, Sometime was I, Such as I am, Such shalt thou be."
>
>"Under the sod
>Under these trees Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is
>not here, but only
>his pod, He has shelled out his peas and gone to his
>God."
>
>"Which way did
>he go? Which way did he go? Up above, or down below?"
>"Here I lie, snugger
>than the other bugger."
>
>"Here lies my wife, a Slattern and Shrew. If I
>said I missed her, I should
>lie here too!"
>
>"Sacred to the memory of Mr.
>Jared Bates who died Aug. the 6th 1800. His
>widow aged 24 mourns as one who
>can be comforted lives at 7 Elm Street,
>this village, and possesses every
>qualification for a Good Wife."
>
>"In memory of Ellen Shannon aged 26 years
>Who was fatally burned March
>21st 1870 by the explosion of a lamp filled
>with "R E Danforth's Non
>Explosive Burning Fluid."
>
>Thursday - another
>time line.
>
>(c) 30 Sept 1997, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights
>Reserved
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>Sandi
> Gorin - 205 Clements Ave., Glasgow, KY 42141-3409
>(502) 651-9114 or
>
>BARREN CO:
>http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/1798
>GORIN GEN PUB:
>http://members.aol.com/kygen/gorin.htm
>KYBIOS WEBSITE:
>http://www.starbase21.com/kybiog/indexf.html
>KYRESEARCH:
>http://www.dsenter.com/~jmurphy/lessons/lessons.htm
>Owner KYBIOGRAPHIES,
>KYRESEARCH & SOUTH-CENTRAL-KENTUCKY
>Send me an e-mail for instructions.
>
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
>

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.co

This thread: