Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Cemeteries Worth the Visit – Highland Lawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Indiana


Highland Lawn Cemetery
Map of Cemetery Grounds

Highland Lawn Cemetery in Terre Haute, Indiana began in 1884.  The City of Terre Haute purchased 139 acres of “hills and hollows” from Ray and Grace Jenkins for $15,000.  In the true Rural Cemetery style it was designed into well-grouped trees and shrubs, with the artistic placement of lakes, valleys and meandering paths by Joseph Earnshaw.  His goal was to draw attention to the cemetery landscaping instead of the large monuments and mausoleums.  Highland Lawn is the second largest cemetery in Indiana, with Crown Hill in Indianapolis being the largest.


The Chapel
The Chapel in 1914
The cemetery’s chapel, built in 1893, is of the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It was designed by architect Jesse A. Vrydaugh and cost 10-thousand dollars to complete.  It is located on the highest hill in the cemetery.  The Chapel features gabled roofs, a domed brick basement and stained glass throughout.  It was renovated in 1988 at the cost of $65,000.


Highland Lawn Cemetery
The entrance in 1897
The entrance to the cemetery features a Romanesque Revival Bell Tower.  It was constructed of Bedford, Indiana limestone in 1894 by the Heidenreich Company.  The adjoining arch was designed by Paul Leizt of Chicago and constructed by Edward Hazledine. The attached Rest House was built in 1909 as a waiting station for the interurban.  Built by W.H. Floyd in the Colonial style, it is now the cemetery’s offices.

Section 2 where
Samantha McPherson was buried
The first person buried here was Samantha McPherson who died of typhoid and was buried on October 29, 1884.  She was 30 years old. Highland Lawn now has almost 27,000 graves.
Stein Mausoleum






Cummings Mausoleum
Crawford Mausoleum
Highland Lawn has numerous mausoleums located throughout the cemetery. Each is individually owned.  Some hold only two bodies, others hold up to sixteen.  The mausoleums were built mainly from granite and marble. Other markers and stones depict interesting funerary art and sculpture, another way to promote social standing.  In this cemetery, the larger the monument, the more prosperous and well–known the family. 


Blumberg Mausoleum
Davis Mausoleum
Among those mausoleums in the cemetery, two have well-known legends concerning them.









John Heinl
The best know story involves Terre Haute businessman John Hienl and his dog, Stiffy Green from the early part of the 20th century.  Heinl, pipe in hand, and Stiffy Green, so named because of his stiff walking gate and startling greenish colored eyes, would stroll through town, visiting with the folks they met.  Stiffy Green was friendly but ferociously protective of Mr. Heinl and did not allow anyone to get too close to his beloved master.

Heinl Mausloum
When John Heinl passed away on December 31st, 1920, Stiffy was inconsolable.  He sat be the coffin at the funeral and followed the family to the graveyard where he took up post at the mausoleum doors.  There he remained, guarding his master in death as he had guarded him in life.  Family and friends made many trips to the cemetery that winter to retrieve Stiffy and take him home, only for him to return to his master’s crypt doors. 


Stiffy Green
Stiffy mourned himself to death. Heinl’s wife paid tribute to his unwavering love and devotion and had him stuffed in the sitting position he had assumed for so long on those cold mausoleum steps.   Stiffy was then placed inside the tomb, reunited at last with his master. 

An evening walk
But it wasn’t long before visitors began noticing that Stiffy had mysteriously moved from one side of the tomb to the other, and back.  Rumors spread that early in the morning or at twilight you could see an elderly man and his small dog walking near the Heinl crypt, the smell the rich pipe smoke in the air and a low voice talking to his devoted companion who would answer with a happy bark. 


Vigo County HIstorical Society
But all good things must come to an end – even in death.  Vandals would not leave the site alone, damaging doors and windows. In 1985, thugs shot out Stiffy’s right glass eye.  The family decided it was time for Stiffy be moved and the Vigo County Historical Society Museum agreed to take him.  There, the Terre Haute Lions Club built a replica of the Heinl mausoleum. Today, Stiffy Green is still on guard – unless he and John are taking an evening stroll in Highland Lawn Cemetery.

Sheets Family Mausoleum
1920's Style Phone
The second well-known story involves the Sheets family mausoleum, where Martin Sheets, his wife Susan, and baby Ethel are interred.  Born in 1853, Martin lived into his early 70’s, passing in 1926.  He saw many technological changes come about during that time.  One new-fangled invention he found an odd use for was the telephone.  Martin had one installed in the family mausoleum, just in case he was buried unconscious, but alive, and needed to summon help. It was stipulated in his will that a phone line be run from his crypt to the cemetery office.  He set up an account with Indiana Bell Telephone that kept the line paid for and active, just in case. 

Indiana Bell
The story could end here as a very odd but interesting bit of cemetery lore, but it doesn’t.  When Sheets’ wife, Susan died years later, she was found in the kitchen with the phone in her hand.  Many assumed she had been attempting to summon help.  But according to legend, when the mausoleum was unlocked to place Susan’s casket next to her husband, cemetery workers discovered the phone in the crypt was off the hook!

Off the hook
Eighty years after Martin Sheets was placed in the family mausoleum, the phone line was disconnected from the cemetery office, never known to have been physically used.





Debs Political Poster
Eugene Debs
Highland Lawn is also known as the burial place for many famous people, including politicians Eugene Debs, Socialist Presidential candidate who ran for the office five times in the early part of the 20th Century.  



Theodore Hudnut's Grave
Funeral Cortege for Voorhees
Also buried here are Daniel Voorhees, a U.S. Congressman and Senator from the mid-1800’s, and inventor Theodore Hudnut, who developed a way to remove oil from grain, producing Mazoil cooking oil.



Elk's Rest
Highland Lawn Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 for its significance in landscaping, one of only two Indiana cemeteries so designated.

Angel at cross
A waiting friend
The cemetery is located at 4420 Wabash Avenue, just east of the city.  It no longer has its own web page.  The Cemetery Superintendent is Lennie Snyder. For assistance with any genealogy questions, contact Roxe Ann Kesner, Cemetery Clerk or her assistant, Helen Kester at (812) 877-2531.  A true Facebook page does not exist.

View of cemetery from southern hill
Bench marker in the snow
Highland Lawn is a cemetery where you can spend a day admiring mausoleums, exquisite artwork and sculptures.  Even in winter, it’s beauty and tranquility shine through!



~ Joy

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Having the Last Say – Epitaphs


Godspeed or Good Luck

Name, Date, God is Love
An epitaph is a short text, inscribed on a tombstone that honors a deceased person, provides information about them, or acts as a message to the living.  How someone is remembered can tell us a lot about who they were, their status in their family and community, and about the period of time in which they lived.

Name, Relationships, Occupation
Aunt
An epitaph may be a simple as someone’s name and his or her birth and death years, or the statement of a family relationship such as father or aunt.  But epitaphs can also be very detailed, or rhyming, a poem, or simply a remembrance.  Epitaphs are as distinctive and varied as the people they are a tribute to.


Greek urn
Spanish Epitaph
Epitaphs have been used for centuries beginning with symbols or signs carved into a rock and placed on the deceased’s grave. The Egyptians, Romans and Greeks all used symbols or shapes to signify who was buried in a plot.  The Greeks were said to have eight different grave forms; rectangular slabs, round columns, vases, stone blocks, receptacles for cremated remains, stone coffins, shrines, and carved stones.

Diodorus' stone
A Roman epitaph of ancient gladiator Disorders, transcribed recently from the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. reads, “Here I lie victorious, Diodorus the wretched. After breaking my opponent Demetrius, I did not kill him immediately. But murderous Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me...”
Painting by Jean-Leon Gerome Pollice Verso
Epitaph on Diodours' tombstone


The summa rudis, or chief stick, refers to the referee of the game.  Apparently the ref made a bad call, which cost Diodorus his life, and his family did not want this mistake to be forgotten, so it was depicted and inscribed on his tombstone.

Epitaph on White Bronze marker
from the 1800's
The use of epitaphs became widespread near the end of the 1700’s in Europe and 1800's in America. During the nineteenth century they became longer and more detailed, but by the turn of this century, epitaphs began to become more concise again.





Hand-written epitaph

Hand-painted epitaph
During the 1870’s and again in the early 1900’s when times were tough and money was scarce, many tombstones were made from concrete slabs.  Carved by the family, inscribed with a stick in wet cement or painted with a brush, the epitaph was still heartfelt.



An epitaph can be descriptive, religious, thought provoking, or humorous.  It all depends on the personality buried there.  Many times the deceased selected their own epitaph.  If not, then a loved one or family member might do so.  An epitaph may be an expression of grief or love.  It might indicate immigration or illness.  It can be a testament to a life well lived or a love to last forever.  It is a summation of someone’s personal story.

Epitaphs can be placed in many groups, here are just a few I've found:

Tried & True Epitaphs
At Rest
Dear Wife
Gone But Not Forgotten









Grief & Sorrow
Wife, Mother, Friend
All lost in thee.
Dear Morgan thou hast left me
In this world to weep for thee
But with God's will and his good pleasure
I soon will be at rest with thee.












Religious
Blessed are the pure in heart
For they shall see God
Asleep in Jesus

Strength through faith








Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood - -
to him be the glory and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen. Rev. 1: 5-6











Loving
But, oh for the touch of a
vanished hand and the
sound of a voice that is still
Husband, may we pass together
through the gate ajar.


Thou art gone but remembered
Wait for me, the best is yet to be


















Inspirational
An inspiration to all
who knew him
He caught joy on the wing
and enriched our lives

Remember me with laughter


Two epitaphs on this couples stone.
His:  Bonds exist that will never be broke.
He that was dead, lives.
Hers:  One life has finished
and time has come for another to begin
Tributes
He was faithful to every duty
She died as she lived,
a noble woman.



Purity and innocence
require no epitaph
or letter of credit
in the land of spirits
Her beautiful face was heaven's mirror.
Her heart a sanctuary of prayer and love;
With duty fulfilled and faith unfaltering,
The noble spirit entered the court above. 


Our Crown Jewel 


Philosophical
As I sleep this lonely night,
I think of the bird lost in flight...
For Whom the Bell Tolls


Sheltered and safe
from sorrow
No man is an island entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main











Poems

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

Dear Husband Can I e're forget,
Or shall the grave eternally sever?
No, in my memory you still live yet.
And in my heart you will live forever.
Why weep ye then for him, who, having won
The bound of man's appointed years, at last,
Life's blessings all enjoyed, Life's labors done
Serenely to  his final resting place has passed.

Life is real!  Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.




These are just some examples of the many different types of epitaphs.  So what would you choose for yours?

~ Joy