Interesting Grave Stones and markers.

[mbhenty]

Since this thread has gone the way of the departed, here are some peculiar and Interesting grave markers. Some are creepy. Some are majestic. And some contain a veil of humor if not horror.

[mbhenty]

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[mbhenty]

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[mbhenty]

This marker is my favorite. Weird. Just Weird. I'm fascinated by it. What in the word is it telling us? It's in a cemetery in Germany.

Below is the pionterest site with grave stones. Some engaging work and sense of jocularity.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/224194887 ... 9/?lp=true

[twinsrwe]

Well, MB, these are certainly some very strange gravestones, to say the least!

The information given for your favorites marker is (Underlining and highlighting are mine): This Grave statue sculpture is called (the destiny) it is located at the (Olsdorf Cemetery, Germany)

Knowing the above information gives me a totally different feeling about the picture than when I first saw it; the feeling I get now is NOT a good one!!!

[twinsrwe]

I must say that the one gravestone marker you posted that I really had the do a double take on was this one:

this-gravestone-is-udderly-terrible-do-you-get-it-or-nah-photo-u1.jpg

Place your cursor over the photo to view the title of this photo.

"Terrible" isn't exactly the word I have for it!!!

[twinsrwe]

I checked out the link you provided, and found this one which interested me:

10563217_130927607778.jpg

Cousins Gertrude Loud, age 11, and Dicy Ream, age 12, were killed on October 10, 1904, when on a train trip to see the 1904 World's Fair at St. Louis. On the morning of Oct 10th, the train on which they rode collided head-on with a freight train 3 miles east of Warrensburg, Missouri. 29 people were killed.

Find-A-Grave page for Gertrude Loud: http://tinyurl.com/y8pw2wff

Find-A-Grave page for Dicy Ream : http://tinyurl.com/y9z63l8w

[twinsrwe]

However, the gravestone which really grabbed my attention, and in which I became very intrigue with is this one (Click on image to enlarge):

Downard Sisters 07 30 2013.jpg

The gravestone of these two little girls is much more realistic than the two girls in the gravestone I previously posted. In order to find out who these little girls were and what happened to them, I had to check into the comments that were posted in the web page. Following is a summary of the information that was posted:

These two little girls had a very rare genetic condition from the pairing of their parents. The little girls were sisters whose names were Jamie and Erin Downard. Jamie had the genetic condition first and the family had to watch her gradually deteriorate until she died on January 14, 1989, at the age of 4. Then the family discovered that Erin also had the genetic condition, and she died on April 20, 1989, at the age of age of 6. Both Jamie and Erin were wheelchair bound from a very young age and their parents wanted to make the memorial in their likeness so that they would be standing.

Source: http://www.capecentralhigh.com/ohio/the ... d-sisters/

Jamie Leigh Downard, was born on June 29, 1984, and died on January 14, 1989, at the age of 4.
Find-A-Grave web site for Jamie Leigh Downard: http://tinyurl.com/y7dss3e4

Erin Michelle Downard was born on May 10, 1982, and died on April 20, 1989, at the age of age of 6.
Find-A-Grave web site for Erin Michelle Downard: http://tinyurl.com/ybn4d2jp

The background story for this particular gravestone touched me in many ways. I have posted in a couple of threads here on the forum, that my son passed away last September, and he was also wheelchair bound. Losing him has been a major life change for me and my husband. I can’t imagine losing two children within a 3 month period of time!!!

[twinsrwe]

I am also drawn to this one:

12933057_10154058331958680_8147498529353462207_n.jpg

This is the gravestone for 5 of Dr. T. J. & Idalia Weed's children. These 5 infant children all died within a 5 year period of time!!!

Viola Weed
Birth: 27 May 1860
Death: 29 May 1860 (aged 2 days)
Burial: Mount Muncie Cemetery
Lansing, Leavenworth County, Kansas, USA

Lucien C. Weed
Birth: 13 Dec 1861
Death: 20 Jul 1862 (aged 7 months)
Burial: Mount Muncie Cemetery
Lansing, Leavenworth County, Kansas, USA

Charlotte E. Weed
Birth: 10 Mar 1863
Death: 18 Aug 1863 (aged 5 months)
Burial: Mount Muncie Cemetery
Lansing, Leavenworth County, Kansas, USA

Leonard Weed
Birth: 22 Jan 1865
Death: 2 Mar 1865 (aged 1 month)
Burial: Mount Muncie Cemetery
Lansing, Leavenworth County, Kansas, USA

Buena Vista Weed
Birth 22 Jan 1865
Death 9 Mar 1865 (aged 1 month)
Burial Mount Muncie Cemetery
Lansing, Leavenworth County, Kansas, USA

I can't imagine the pain those two parents endured. It is so sad...

[kssunflower]

I will have to go visit this. Lansing is only a 30 minute drive from here and next to historic Ft. Leavenworth, where there is much to see.

[twinsrwe]

Please report back to us about this trip, Cindy. I for one would like to hear what you have to say!

[kssunflower]

I'll try, but it won't be this weekend. We are expecting another round of snow.

[twinsrwe]

That's OK, whenever you get the opportunity to go is fine. I just think your input would be very interesting.

This winter has been a doozy for all of us, hasn't it? My area of the world is also expecting more snow.

[mbhenty]

Not sure about that Twins.

Something suspicious about all those dead babies.

What are the chances? None lived past 7 months. What in the world could have gone wrong? I know mortality was high back then, and out west.... but five in a row?

Something very wrong there.

The next two children, child six and seven, lived to be in their sixties.

Very dubious circumstances.

[twinsrwe]

I agree, MB. It is suspicious that those 5 children died in a 5 year period of time. I have been doing research to try and find out the causes for their deaths, but I have found absolutely nothing. However, here is some interesting information:

On page 90 of the book by Laura Phillippi, Nolan Sunderman, titled, Lansing, shows a picture of the Weed children’s gravestone. Under the pic it is stated:

Dr. T. J. Weed and his wife, Idalia, lost 5 small children, Viola, Lucien, Charlotte, and twins Leonard and Buena Vista in a five-year period. The drape on top of the tombstone can be interpreted as a reverential accessory or a symbol of the veil between earth and heaven. (Photograph by Laura Phillippi.)

http://tinyurl.com/y3uqtucv

However, I did find another odd thing with those children's half-sibling whose name was, Merritt. According to the Find-A-Grave web site, his father is listed as Dr. Theodore Jay Weed, but his mother is not named. Now we know Dr. Weed did not have this child by himself! I find it very odd that his mother is not named.

Merritt H. Weed
Birth: 30 Sep 1848
(Bradford County, Pennsylvania, USA)
Death: 2 Jul 1901 (Age 52)
(San Francisco County, California, USA)
Burial: Cremated

Source: http://tinyurl.com/y3b2tql5

Furthermore, there is a newspaper article announcing Merritt’s death, as well as his obituary is posted in the photo section of the Find-A Grave web site, and his mother is not listed there, either.

109562641_75193610-2da0-4fac-9ed8-441acc25ee26.jpg

109562641_c314b922-d1ea-49d2-a18d-d4d8c4582094.jpg

109562641_0463bbfe-487a-407b-922d-bfff6454fa79.jpg

[twinsrwe]

While doing my research, I ran across the following article (Highlighting is mine.):

EP-309209889.jpg

A marble statue of an angel — head turned downward as if mourning — stands in the center of a mound at Mount Muncie Cemetery in Lansing.
Concentric circles of small tombstones radiate out from the angel, marking the spots where children are buried.

“The records show 200 babies died one year due to a disease outbreak,” said Gene Kirby, manager of the cemetery. “It was disease that penicillin would have saved them.”

A short distance away is another marble monument. Carved into its surface are the faces and names of five infants — Viola, Lucien, Charlotte, Leonard and Buena Vista — the children of physician T.J. and Idalia Weed. The children died between 1860 and 1865.

07mountmuncie12.jpg

Source: http://tinyurl.com/y665x8cs


Here is some more information on the this multiple grave site: http://tinyurl.com/y2mo4wb2

[mbhenty]

Yes Twins:

I too did some internet research and came up with nothing. Mr. Weed had to be a man of means. They didn't give those grave markers away.

It's not to say that all 5 did not die of natural causes... disease, flu, or other complications. Could be possible, just that it is unlikely. Could be a combination of illness and abuse or neglect, bad parenting. Even Munchenhausen syndrome(?) In those times it would be behavior very easy to get away with or difficult to prove. (Not that I'm blaming mommy, you understand.) We just don't know. Or at the very least I have not discovered why.

They didn't live in fall river so we can't blame Lizzie.

The problem with records are that they may corroborate what we already know but not what we don't. That is to say just because it's not in the records does not mean it's not so. I lived in fall river in the early 50s. Yet there were a couple of years, three in a row, that they don't list me. (or I should say, my family) It didn't mean that we did not live there which we did.

But the entire Weed family tragedy is a mystery. But then again, I'm certain someone in Kansas knows the facts or at least the folklore behind it.

In any event, great research, Twins. The things that interest us, eh? (Or as my friend John puts it; "Take all the useless information in your brain Mike and if they were bricks one could build The Great Wall of China.")

[mbhenty]

Yes Twins:

Just saw your last post. Disease is the most likely answer.

Possible outbreaks which swept the country (and the world) in the 19th century were such diseases as Cholera, Yellow fever, and Smallpox. All very devastating. Especially when they didn't know what the causes were or how to stop it.

Or perhaps the Weed family just had a mad cat?

[twinsrwe]

They didn't live in fall river so we can't blame Lizzie.

Now, that is funny!

In any event, great research, Twins. The things that interest us, eh? (Or as my friend John puts it; "Take all the useless information in your brain Mike and if they were bricks one could build The Great Wall of China.")

Thanks, MB. I have enjoyed this thread very much.

It’s true, we are interested in the strange and morbid, but I think it is the mysteries that really draw us in. Your friend, John, has a good point there! However, I think you have a ways to go before you have enough useless information in your brain to complete a wall as big as The Great Wall of China, and I know I do, too.

During my research I did run across this information on Dr. T. J. Weed:

T. J. WEED, M. D., County Auditor, immigrated to Kansas, July 20, 1856, and making Topeka his headquarters, raised a company and served under Gen. Lane until November of the same year: then he returned to Illinois and remained until 1857. He then came again to Kansas and located in Leavenworth, where he resided and practiced medicine until he entered the United States service in June, 1861, as Adjutant General of a Kansas Brigade. In December of the same year, he was assigned a position on Gen. McClellan's staff, with the rank of Major. During the summer of 1863, he acted as Assistant Adjutant General in the recruiting service. And he also served with Gens. Fremont, Blunt, Curtis, and Schofield. He was mustered out September 12, 1865, being at the close of the war, Chief of Gen. Curtis' staff in the Department of the Northwest. After leaving the service, he engaged in general insurance business in Leavenworth, and has been County Auditor for the last four years. He is a native of Auburn, Cavuga Co., N. Y., where he was born March 8, 1828. At the age of sixteen, he went to Pennsylvania, and remained in that State until he was twenty-five. He then removed to Wilmington, N. C., where he practiced medicine two years; then removed to Germantown, Pa., and stayed one year; and then to Bloomington, Ill., where he remained until he came to Kansas. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and K. of H.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yyl2n8hp

I know that information doesn’t tell us why 5 of his children died in such a short period of time, but I found it interesting anyway. I think you have some good reasons for why the 5 Weed children died at such young ages and so close together.

I think the thing that intrigues me most about the death of those 5 children is the fact that their father was a doctor. I wonder if their deaths could have been due to SIDS (Sudden infant death syndrome). The term sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) was first proposed in 1969, ( Source: http://tinyurl.com/y4c6mvh5 ), so, I think SIDS is a very good possibility for the cause of death in the 5 Weed children. But as you stated, we are probably never going to know the real cause of their deaths.

[mbhenty]

Photo recently taken by Brain Fraga: