Tree Shaped Tombstones - Hammond, Wisconsin

Sometimes I just know where I'll find a batch of "Tree Shaped Tombstones".  Hammond Wisconsin for instance.  It's a tidy little village, old as such things are reckoned in this part of the world.  It was prosperous back in the day, now it is sort of "quiet and genteel".  Some time back I was looking at an old map and noted a cemetery that was in an obscure corner of town.  With a bit of extra time recently I swung through and had a look.  

The light was not in my favor on this day.  It sure would be easier to plan photographic missions if the ancient Christian policy of having graves face east had been continued...

Yes, the light is sure nice on the unmarked back of this one...

And not too bad on the front.  This is a classic "two trunks" type that you see with married couples.  The little subsidiary logs are probably plot corner markers.  I think one is missing.  This style tends to be pretty stable in the ground.  Note the suggestion of a large base under the surface.

There will always be lesser examples, but sometimes they have their own little mysteries.  This one is marked as someone's wife.  So...where is he?  Remarried?  Moved away?  Was this a later monument that replaced an earlier one and reflected a new situation?

Of course I have to show you some Good Ones.  This large family monument is almost comic in appearance with the branches/arms seeming to be held up in an "Oh No!" configuration.

The Bixby patriarch strikes me as a bit pompous in death.  Might have been an ok guy when still among us.   

Note the plot markers back behind.  One of them is very nicely done.  I've not see a "sickle and sheaf" example for a while.

Usually the branches of these big family monuments are reserved for the next generation(s).  It was getting a bit crowded out there with the assorted Bixbys and Boinks...

And finally one of the "New Form" trees.  Again a husband and wife.  The gentleman has been gone a few years.  The wife is still waiting to be reunited with him.  I bet she comes and stands in front of this on warm spring evenings....

Note the stones on the plinth.  I've seen this often in Jewish cemeteries but the name Anderson would make this less likely.