The statue situated at the grave of William Ackerman Black is a replica of a sculpture, entitled Winter, created by Emile Wolff in 1847.
The statue is a male child with downcast expression draped with a lion skin cloak (the Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea and was eventually killed by Hercules).
He is resting on a shepherd’s staff , and in his left hand is a golden apple of the Hesperides which granted immortality when eaten.
The statue was reportedly a favorite of Black’s which he kept on his fireplace mantle (seems a little large to be placed on a mantle?). He left instructions for it to be placed on his grave after his death.
The David Mills Carillon Tower is located within the gates of the Victoria Lawn Cemetery, Queenston Street, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It was created by architect Thomas W. Wiley and erected in 1949 in memory of David Bloss Mills and his wife Ella C. Mills.
The 30 foot tall ashlar stone tower contains a set of 86 electronic bells activated by hammers which are controlled by a keyboard. Narrow stained glass windows resembling vertical slits light the internal stairway.
Known as the Davella Mills Carillon it was recorded on the Register of Canada’s Historic Places in 2009.
Mills was a native of St. Catharines who immigrated to the United States and invented the spark plug used by Buick. After his wife died he donated most of his immense wealth to needy organizations in North America and around the world.
I have been unable to discover how often the carillon plays. However, I believe it may be hourly on the hour as the bells played at 11a.m. while I was there and did not play again (I left at 11:50a.m.)
The weeping willow is (not unexpectedly) symbolic of grief; lamentation; mourning; and sorrow.
The weeping-willow has been associated with sorrow and bereavement ever since the Babylonian Captivity when the Jews became captives of Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C.
In the Native American culture a willow tree represents an Iroquois grave.
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The Willow was a symbol of the Greek Underworld goddesses, mostly notably Persephone. Orpheus carried a willow branch when he went to the Underworld, and helped him get his gift of speech to become a famous poet.
The symbolic tree of human sadness is carried at Masonic funerals
Candles are symbolic of the spirit or the soul. To Christians, candles symbolize Jesus Christ who is the Light of the World. Roman Catholics often leave candles at the graveside to show that prayers have been said for the deceased.
The death of a child is always tragic, an unfulfilled life reduced to a name and two dates on a stone. Sadder still, is a headstone with no details of the departed.
Camden Graveyard. Camden, Maine, USA
Sleeping and waiting
Here lyes dust of
In May 1977, a garbage bag containing the decomposed body of an infant girl was found in the Walnut Creek arm of the Delaware River. The baby, only a few weeks old, was never identified and was buried in Oskaloosa’s Pleasant View Cemetery, where it remained mostly forgotten and without a stone marker. The grave marker for the unidentified baby girl was donated by Hutton Monuments of Topeka.
He died at the Marion County Poor Farm/Asylum in central Kansas, USA. The asylum offered a home for the indigent, those unable to live independently, and unwed pregnant girls who lived there until they gave birth. The children were then put up for adoption.
A cholera epidemic in 1847 orphaned many children who were then billeted at the Oak Woods Cemetery Orphan Asylum in Chicago. The relentless epidemic eventually led to their deaths.
Loved and lost awhile
On 8 January 1872, the horribly mutilated body of a 16 year old girl named Angeline Moore was found. She was bound to servitude with Mrs. Thompson. Although the cause of death was never determined, Mrs. Thompson and her daughter with charged with murder.
How charming all, how much she was ador’d alive; now dead, how much’s her loss deplor’d
A boy living wild in the woods in northern Germany was discovered by a party of hunters in 1725. He had been living in the forest, eating plant life and walking on all fours. He was brought to Great Britain in 1726 where he was lived until his death. He is buried in the graveyard attached to St Mary’s Church, Northchurch, Hertfordshire
The farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye You were gone before we knew it And only God knows why. 1979
Epidemics of cholera in 1832, 1848, and 1873 were the second leading cause of death in the mid 19th century. Rapid population growth and a lack of sanitary water, caused diarrhea and vomiting that lead to dehydration almost immediately and death in less than a day.
Here lies best of men whose life is at an end The best of husbands & ye truest friend Who rests, I hope, as I do hope to be Happy with him to all Eternity
During the Christmas period of 1933, a stranger appeared in the town of Willoughby, Ohio. On December 24th, she threw herself in front of a train at the Second Street railroad crossing and was killed. With no identification on her person, her identity remained unknown until 1993 when she was discovered to be Josephine “Sophie” Klimczak, a native to Pennsylvania. In 2004, a plinth with her name was donated by Kotecki Monuments of Cleveland. The inscription reads: “In Memory of the Girl in Blue killed by train December 24, 1933. Unknown but not forgotten.”
Words on Stone 