The Palimpsest

Andrews, Clarence

English

Sheldon, Iowa during World War II

Horton, Loren N

V
Messages in Stone:
Symbolism on Victorian Grave Markers
by Loren N. Horton 
photos by Gerald Mansheim
A
LTHOUGH many people have
studied the gloomier symbols on 
grave markers in eighteenth- 
century New England, fewer have 
studied the emotional, the romantic, the senti­
mental symbols used on grave markers during 
the Victorian period, when the major part of 
the United States was settled and developed. 
The symbols followed the frontier and seem 
remarkably similar, from Ohio and Michigan in 
the East to California and Oregon in the West. 
The settlement and development of Iowa fits 
almost perfectly within the Victorian period 
(roughly 1840-1910), making Victorian grave
markers a wonderful case studv of the svmbols/  /
used during that exuberant time.
Although few groups in history used symbols 
with greater enthusiasm than the Victorians, 
ornamentation and decoration are basic to all 
cultu res and historical periods. Through orna­
mentation the articles of evervdav life are made* ✓
visually pleasing, and colors and designs are 
used to soften the tedious work underway with 
the utensil or tool involved. As use of particular 
types of decoration or ornamentation become 
more traditional, they acquire common mean­
ings, becoming part of that group’s commu­
nication techniques. Because the Victorians
The overturned basket would have portrayed death to 
the Victorians. The plethora of symbols on this grave 
marker show many aspects of the Victorian language of 
symbolism. More examples appear on the following 
pages.
extended their use of symbols to grave mark­
ers, the shapes and sizes of the markers, and 
the ornamentation, words, or numbers placed 
on them, can be read as clues to the Victorians 
personal or cultural taste.
Besides marking graves with elaborate grave 
stones, the Victorians surrounded the graves 
wi th non-functional objects. Fences, gates, 
benches, flowers, shrubs, trees, ponds, 
bridges, and urns were commonly found in 
cemeteries after 1831, a turning point in ceme­
tery appearances. That year was the founding 
of Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, it was the first so-called “rural” 
or “garden” cemetery, and one of the earlier 
uses of the word cemetery. A cemetery, from 
its Creek root, means a large dormitory where 
many people are sleeping. This is an entirely 
different concept from the earlier terms of 
“burying ground” or ‘grave yard.” Mount 
Auburn utilized the topography so that walk-
wavs and drivewavs curved with the contours
*  *
of the hills. (In such cemeteries the Victorians 
suspended their practice of placing all grave 
markers facing the same direction, believing 
that the deceased could then rise up facing east 
at the Second Coming of Christ.) Non-native 
species of trees were planted, lagoons created, 
shrubs and flowers introduced, and the whole 
atmosphere was as much like a park as a place 
for graves. Because parks were uncommon, 
people used the cemeteries for this purpose. 
Sunday afternoons might be spent visiting the
SIMMER 1989 63
family plot in the cemetery and might include a 
picnic lunch or a tea at the site. Fences and 
gates set one plot ofl from another, much as the 
fences and gates at one s home did. Benches 
were for sitting on, the walkways were for 
strolling, and the driveways were for leisurely 
drives in good weather to admire the botanical 
specimens throughout the cemetery.
In such a context, grave markers became 
more ornate as different materials came into 
use, the technology of carving and inscribing 
changed, and the meaning of many symbols 
came to be standardized. It was literally possi­
ble to transmit a message about the deceased 
by what symbols were placed on the grave 
marker. For example, some of the Victorians’ 
language of flowers, used for social commu­
nication, was transferred to use on grave mark­
ers. Just as a lover might send a message to his 
beloved in the choice of flowers in a bouquet, 
so might a survivor send a message to the 
cemetery visitor about the deceased in the 
choice of flowers carved on the grave marker. 
Likewise, in the elaborate language of leaves, 
oak leaves, common for a man’s grave marker, 
symbolized strength of faith (not physical 
strength). Ivy symbolized steadfastness of 
faith; palm leaves (sometimes mistakenly por­
trayed as ferns) svmbolized salvation of the 
soul. O ther categories of symbols include 
trees, musical instrum ents, architectural 
details, household furnishings, lodge and mili­
tary emblems, fruit, pagan symbols (the urn 
and seashell), and Christian symbols (angels, 
palm leafs, and the gates of heaven). Numerous 
biblical verses were used to support the mean­
ings of the symbols. The following photos from 
midwestern cemeteries illustrate some of the 
major categories of symbols.
fhe Victorian period was a time of conspic­
uous spending in life and in death. Homes 
were large and elaborate when financial 
resources allowed it, interior furnishings and 
decorations were equally elaborate, and 
clothing clearly indicated wealth and social sta­
tus, or the lack thereof. Because the attitude 
about the remains of the deceased was that 
they were resting or sleeping, it was thought 
desirable and proper to surround the resting 
place with familiar objects. Large and elabo­
rate markers were covered with svmbols of the
articles the deceased could have afforded and 
enjoyed during life. Pillows, baskets, cradles, 
chairs, and beds all signified the repose of the 
body, just as the heavenly symbols signified 
the repose of the soul.
Although many twentieth-century symbols
are the same ones the V ictorians used, they✓
may now have different meanings or no com­
monly known meanings at all. Today one prob­
ably chooses a symbol because it is attractive or
*  *
because one simply likes it. In the Victorian 
period, however, the survivors chose particu­
lar symbols, confident that their “message’
would be commonly understood. This transi-
*
lion in the use and meaning of symbols from 
(1) e nineteenth to the twentieth century is little 
understood. In studying Victorian grave 
marker symbols, we must be careful to not let 
our twentieth-century values and standards 
interfere, and to not read the symbols as fact.
w
Although nineteenth-century guidebooks for 
stone carvers indicated what certain symbols
w
meant, some people undoubtedly used certain 
symbols because they liked them, had a per­
sonal association with them, or were imitating 
their neighbors’ choices. The tendency to con­
form was strong in the Victorian mind, particu­
larly the middle-class mind. (Even if one were 
not in the middle class, one might like to 
behave as if one were.) Meanings of symbols 
discussed here are what most of the people 
probably thought most of the time. Nev­
ertheless, the grave markers of the Victorians, 
and the symbols used on them, are vivid man- 
ifestations of the thoughts and ideas of an inter­
esting and important historical period.
NOTE ON SOURCES
1 he best short account of the rural cemetery movement 
and the founding of Mount Auburn is Barbara Rotundo,
I he Rural Cemetery Movement, Essex Institute His­
torical Collection," 109 (July 1973), 231-40. See also 
I homas Bender, The Rural Cem etery Movement: 
l rban I ravail and the Appeal of Nature, The New Eng­
land Quarterly 47 (June 1974), 196-211. A good account of 
gravestone symbolism in Iowa is found in Coleen Nut­
ting, Cemetery Symbolism of Prairie Pioneers: Grave­
stone Art and Social Change in Story County, Iowa, 
Journal o f the Iowa Archeological Society, 31 (1984), 
1-135. Another is Joan I. Unsicker, Forgotten Images: 
N ineteenth  C entury  G ravestone Motifs in Peoria 
County, VI estern Illinois Regional Studies, 5 (Fall 1982),
1 < 2-83. Between 1856and 1872 Joseph B. Robinson pub­
lished guide books for stone carvers with designs for grave 
markers, monuments, and churchyard memorials. The 
nineteenth-century etiquette books are also rich sources
of the meanings of symbols, and other symbols used at 
that time.
64 THE PALIMPSEST
i
The lily and the lily of the valley symbolize purity and 
innocence, and appear on the grave markers of female 
children and adolescents and young unmarried women. 
Rarely used for male children, lilies were virtually 
unknown for adolescent boys or young men. This per­
haps suggests a Victorian attitude that girls might be 
pure and innocent, but boys never could be.
The rose adorned grave markers as a stylized 
rosette in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen­
turies and became more realistic in the Vic­
torian era and twentieth century. The rosebud 
with a broken stem (above), or two roses and a 
bud (indicating parents and child) often were 
used for the death of a child. A rose symbolizes 
love and beauty. Beauty meant the quality of 
the soul and the life lived, rather than physical 
beauty. Roses in full bloom are used for adults, 
often for women. A bouquet of roses magnifies 
the quality of a single rose.
SUMMER 1989 65
H ie hand appears in several designs. A broken link in a chain (upper left) symbolizes the 
death of a family member. (This is not to be confused with the IOOF lodge symbol of three 
links.) Clasped hands may mean the eternal unity of a husband and wife; the clergy s 
blessing on the soul; the fellowship ol a lodge; or even God’s welcome to eternal life. A 
forefinger pointing up means that the soul has gone to heaven. A band reaching down and 
forefinger pointing downwards does not mean the soul has gone to bell, but that God’s hand 
is lifting the soul up to heaven.
66 THE PALIMPSEST
Measurements of time are less common symbols but among the most 
dramatic. Clocks and watches are often stopped at the hour of the death. 
Sun dials are also used. The hourglass is an ancient symbol of life and 
death. A winged hourglass has double meaning: the sands of time have 
run out and the soul is flying to heaven.
SIMMER 1989
Just as the Victorians furnished their 
homes with an abundance of objects, 
so they carried out this same theme 
of “more is better in their ceme­
teries. Surrounding the dead with 
objects reminiscent of that with 
which they lived was all a part of the 
Victorian idea of the dead only 
sleeping.
Any kind of drapery (sometimes on pedestals) represents 
an even more obvious relationship to household fur­
niture. The folds of the draperies (right) are often carved 
with much detail, and the fringe and tasseled cords are 
all intended to make the deceased feel at home in the 
cemetery. The pedestal likewise acts as a piece of fur­
niture. An object such as a Bible, a wreath, a dove, or an 
urn might rest on it. (Occasionally pedestals may be 
stylized obelisks, which is quite another concept indeed. 
The obelisk is an Egyptian symbol, and to the Victorians 
anything Egyptian was automatically associated with 
death.)
■ t
< 'yv
The classical architectural symbol ol
w
the p illa r or colum n takes many 
foi ins. The complete pillar is simply a 
feature borrowed from a building, 
again with the idea of making the 
dead feel at home in the new sur­
roundings. Fluted or smooth, it may 
have ivy vines creeping up the side or
torches at the base. It may be sur-¥
mounted with an urn or have wreaths 
draped over the top. A broken or 
incomplete column, however, sym­
bol izes a life ended. This is another 
exam ple of the borrow ing of pre- 
Christian objects. The classical Greek 
column could become, for the Vic­
torians, a useful symbol of death, just 
as could the Egyptian obelisk.
68 THE PALIMPSEST
f f Z - ' U
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NN hile an empty cradle or chair symbolizes the loss of that individual, it also represents the provision of familiar objects 
lor the deceased. A representation of a child resting in a cradle or bed (above) was often used. A chair sometimes held a 
hat or shoes and stockings, as if the child had just undressed for the night.
SUMMER 1989 69
W heat usually appears bundled into a sheaf and is 
ordinarily used on the grave m arkers of persons of fully 
m ature years. W heat is harvested when it is ripe and 
fully m atured, and so with elderly people, to the Vic­
torian frame of mind. If they have reached the biblical 
span of years, then they may he harvested to live in 
heaven. To the Victorians, this was exchanging a life with 
the probability of pain and suffering for a life where God 
would wipe away all tears. And, of course, it assured the 
survivors of the salvation of the soul of the deceased.
Sometimes a scythe or sickle appears with the wheat 
or alone on the grave markers of persons who have 
reached a maturity of years. In Revelation 14:18 is writ- 
ten, “Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters 
of the vine ol the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 
P rio r to the V ictorian  e ra , the scythe commonly 
appeared with a skeleton. It was a bald indication that 
life was short, people were sinners, and the grim reaper 
would inevitably come. Even softened w ith the Victorian 
ideas, the scythe and sickle are among the gloomier ol 
the symbols used on grave markers.
A cluster of grapes (left) ordinarily means that the 
deceased was of m ature years, ripe and ready for har­
vest by God. Rarely found with with other fruits, grapes 
often appear in multiples of clusters. (The meaning of 
grape leaves separate from the fruit is obscure.)
70 THE PALIMPSEST
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When a book is portrayed on a grave m arker and the words “Holy Bible are not carved 
on it, it is most likely a book of life in which the good and bad deeds of the deceased are 
written. It may be open, closed, held in a hand, or sitting on its edge. A closed book 
suggests the finality of life. An open book, with one or both pages blank, suggests that the 
final acts have been written. There are no more words to be written and no reason to 
turn to a fresh page.
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Symbolizing purity and innocence, the lamb often marks the death of a child. This 
Christian symbol relates to biblical references to Christ as the shepherd, believers as the 
flock, and body of the church as the sheep of His pasture. Perhaps one of the three or 
four most common symbols throughout the United States, the lamb is found in three- 
dimensional form, in relief sculpture, and in incised carving. And it is one of the most 
common symbols used on a baby’s grave in the twentieth century.
SUMMER 1989 71
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The weeping willow vividly conveys the Victorian concept of death and mourning. Sometimes it is accompanied by a 
lamb, a plinth, or urn, or the kneeling figure of a classically garbed, grief-stricken woman. The Victorians loved to use 
the weeping willow on grave m arkers and to plant weeping willows in the cemetery. In both cases, it led to the proper 
frame of mind for visitors. A few references mention that if a weeping willow is cut down, it will send up new sprouts, 
symbolizing the soul’s rebirth. Just as likely, people used the weeping willow because it looks sad.
JL X , A..X .
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Found in abundance in Iowa cemeteries, the dove sym­
bolizes a winged messenger of God. Especially poignant 
is the dove Hying upward with a broken-stemmed rose­
bud in its beak, indicating the death of a child. An olive 
branch or riband in its beak (usually labeled “rest in 
peace”) probably indicates peace to the soul of the 
deceased. An anchor (here, with dove) often symbolizes 
that the soul is anchored safely in God’s harbor. It sel- 
dom relates to the sea or navy.
■
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Victorians often considered angels to be without gender 
and dressed them in classical clothing. The angels might 
bring the message of death or carry a soul back to God. 
Instances were common where the soul in the angel s 
arms was an actual image of the deceased. Angels rarely 
appeared on pre-Victorian grave markers.
72 THE PALIMPSEST


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