Tree Shaped Tombstones - Calvary Cemetery, Sheboygan

Funny how things work out some times.  When the robotics team was over at the State Tournament in Sheboygan recently I looked at the map and saw that a cemetery was next door to the venue.  Hey, I need an occasional breath of fresh air and a few moments of quiet, so out the back door I went to get a few "Tree Shaped Tombstone" pictures.  

Above is a nice "Tree and Book" specimen.  Anchors are rather common on all such memorials, maybe Sheboygan has a few extras, being a lake port and all.  In front of this was a slightly odd one...

Death dates in the 1860's, too darn early for this style of marker.  (The one back behind it has a person buried in 1911).  Probably a replacement for something that did not endure.  Note the little subsidiary marker with MUTTER on it behind and to the right.  Lots of German in use here.  Gest. means Gestorben, or "died".

An interesting arrangement of the stacked logs.  A "rugged cross" style generally indicates a Catholic cemetery.

There were a couple of the dramatic multi section "trees".  And then there was this:

I can't quite puzzle out what is happening here.  The obvious base for the monument is the random looking collection of flat slabs to the right of it.  But what is that thing to the left?

It is tempting to consider this the base, but the imprint on it is circular, where there should be projections from the roots.  You don't see segments joined together with spacers in between.  If it is a new base waiting to be used in some rebuild program then what was its previous use?  And for that matter, where are the other two segments of the tree?  Somebody will have to put this puzzle, and perhaps this tombstone, together some day.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - A New Road, a New Discovery

The route to and from the new deer hunting land takes me down roads I've never traveled before.  I mean that literally, not figuratively.  They traverse some wild and lonely parts of the back woods.  So I'm consulting my map program periodically, and while doing so I noticed a little country church.  Anah Emmanual Church, some five miles east of Spooner, Wisconsin.

I didn't have much in the way of expectations regards "Tree Shaped Tombstones".  The church was only built in 1909, past the heyday for these monuments.  But there ya go, a dainty little example of the "rugged cross" variant.  The interesting thing is....its only a few years old!  So somebody out there is making new versions that are close enough to the 19th century originals to fool my well trained eye.  Good for them.

A closer look.  Sorry 'bout the lighting, chance finds rarely happen during the pre-sunset "golden hour".  And for that matter, with gravestones traditionally facing east, anything I encounter late in the day is likely to be back lit.

I don't usually pay much attention to more pedestrian monuments, but this one caught my eye:

I assumed Country Ray was a nick name, and that he was a bit of a character.  Well, I appear to have been half right!  Rest in Peace Country Salquist.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Dodge Wisconsin

 An impressive family monument in a small town that is not on any of my usual routes.  

Brief Life History of Hugh T

When Hugh T Roberts Jr was born on 13 June 1839, in Wales, United Kingdom, his father, Thomas Hugh Roberts, was 33 and his mother, Catherine Roberts, was 28. He married Margaret Jones on 11 August 1870, in Dodge, Wisconsin, United States. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 7 daughters. He lived in Calamus, Dodge, Wisconsin, United States for about 30 years. He died on 5 January 1918, in Dodge, Wisconsin, United States, at the age of 78, and was buried in Bethel Cemetery, Dodge, Wisconsin, United States.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - New Richmond Wisconsin

It was the last day of November when I passed through a surprisingly busy town in Western Wisconsin.  It seemed like the sort of place where "Tree Shaped Tombstones" would be found.  So I took a detour to the cemetery where a couple of deer stared at me fearlessly.  Hey, last day of hunting season and besides they were safe in the city limits.

I was not disappointed.

Buy hey, wait a minute.  What's that?

Modern "Trees" are quite rare.  And this one has its own granite bench.  There's gotta be a story here.  This first photo worried me....

This one just confused me.  There seem to be a lot of Alvarezs showing up here....

The explanation is HERE.  This is the memorial for Leona Grace Johnson, who died in 2022 at the age of 100.  Noah and Jonah are just a couple of her many great grandchildren.  So rather than this being a memorial to some tragic death of children it is a monument to a life that seems to have been very well lived indeed.  Cheers Leona.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Also Cylons!

 Driving down an unfamiliar rural Wisconsin road just as the light was changing from "great for photography" to "watch out for deer".  I have a keenly tuned sense of where small rural cemeteries should be, and when I spot one its time to pull off for a quick peek.  Any "Tree Shaped Tombstones"?

Yep.  A rather nice "Tree and Book" specimen.  Its unusual in that it has a really big book, so honking large it needs a special little cross piece to hold it up.  

I suppose unusual thing number two is the long interval between the husband and wife being reunited at the foot of this tree.  1892 to 1932.  Forty years.

Oddness is not uniformly distributed in the world.  And this location had more than its share.  Check out the name of the cemetery!

I remember Cylons from the cheesy Battlestar Galactica show.  Malevolent tin cans....

Of course the name comes from elsewhere.  Cylon Township was presumably named for Cylon of Athens.  We used to live in a far more literate country.

And the weirdness keeps coming.  There is of course a nice little church adjacent to the cemetery.  Well kept up, there was smoke coming from the chimney so it is not abandoned.

But hey, what's that sign......

Rather nice lighting for the last picture of the day.  The area out back of the church is some kind of dog obstacle course.  Not sure if the hounds have taken over the building too, but as I saw no sign indicating a two legged congregation was still using it one must assume so....  If you have a naughty pup in the general vicinity of New Richmond Wisconsin you might want to check 'em out.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Morbid Puns in Neilsville Wisconsin?

I had some time to kill the other day.  Hey, this happens when you hunt from sunrise to 10 am, then again from 3 to sunset.  So I drove over to Neilsville, Wisconsin.  There were a few things I wanted to look into.  A couple of former brewery sites, and, while I was in town, a big cemetery.  Seems like the place you'd find a bit crop of Tree Shaped Tombstones.

But actually, no.  The few specimens represented were of one of the boring subtypes, basically just a log with a name on it.  But wait a minute.  That name.  Manes.*

You'd have to be a fan of both tombstones and Roman stuff to make this connection.

Roman tombstones often have the notation DM.  It is short hand for Dis Manibis.  Or in translation "To the Manes".  

The Manes were the spirits of the dead.  Or more correctly, one sort of spirits.  Lares were the good spirits.  They were assumed to already be on your side.  Lemures ** were the evil spirits.  You did not invoke them.  Manes were the the sort of generic spirits of the dead and definitely worth trying to appease.  So, a dedication to the Manes was customary.

Did this 19th century citizen of Neilsville know this fact?  Did he recognize the irony?  I'm thinking yes.  People paid much more attention to the classics in the pre-Tik Tok age.

But perhaps this was a coincidence, a one off. Surely there could not be another tombstone six rows over with a bit of  pun in the inscription?

Or maybe there could be.  Stone representing Wood.

---------------------------------------

*As a surname Manes probably has nothing to do with Latin at all.  If English or Scottish, it is probably a variant of Mains.

** Lemurs got their generic name - and from Linneaus himself no less - because they are nocturnal, creepy looking and make weird noises in the dark.  I think they've earned their association with evil spirits of the dead....

Tree Shaped Tomb Stones at Our Lady of Lourdes

Still on that detour road north of Rice Lake Wisconsin!

I'd seen signs pointing to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on earlier jaunts, so I figured a short side trip was in order.  It is a very pretty pink stone building.

This is in a tiny little hamlet called Dobie, which grew out of an earlier French Canadian enclave. And as is common in this part of the state, there were a few "Tree Shaped Tombstones".

This is the "Stack of Logs" variant that seems to be common in the area.  The Christ on the cross addition on top is almost exclusive to Catholic settings.

Sometimes the crucifix is the only tree element in the design.  Here's two of them.  I assume they were ordered from the same catalog.

Because I already have enough strange interests I usually ignore any tombstones without bark and branches.  But here I ran across a couple that seem worthy of an off topic mention...

This one must date to that earlier French community.  The "Here Lies the Body of" in French is very unusual to this part of the world.  And what's with that logo in the circle?  It looks like tweezers and beans!

Veteran's graves always merit a moment of contemplation and respect.  This soldier of the Great War almost made it to the November 11th Armistice.  So close....

Every tombstone tells the story of a life.  In this case....

C.A.C. stands for Coastal Artillery Corps.  And while some of these guys were deployed to Europe to man the larger guns, Private Kearney died in Seattle.  Of influenza.

I guess we've mostly forgotten Covid-19 and the memories it stirred of the Spanish flu pandemic that landed a follow up punch to civilization just as the guns went silent.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Nora Cemetery

Road construction took me past the oddly named Nora Cemetery outside of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  I've done a bit of sleuthing and so far can't figure out who Nora was!  Anyway...

A couple of nice "Tree and Book" tombstones.  They look as if spirits will show up and stand there giving a lecture.

As always, the tops of these are in wretched shape.  A design flaw, these were not made for Wisconsin winters.

Another Tree and Book.  In this case the main information was at least well done on the trunk.

Here's a more traditional "mid sized" tree shaped tombstone.

The logo on the front was a new one to me.  Courage, Hope, Remembrance.  Nice sentiments.

And in a style that seems to turn up fairly often in this part of the world, a "Stack of Logs" monument.

A nice little cemetery along a road I'd otherwise have no reason to take.  The only annoying thing, I mean other than road construction, was my dog Hank, who after a longish time in the car was taking a particular interest in trees, genuine or artistic reproductions.   Sigh.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Rural Wisconsin

Wisconsin has plenty of tidy little rural cemeteries.  But sometimes you need to have sharp eyes to spot them.  This one was a bit off the main road, and behind some unsightly junked cars.

Only one "Tree Shaped Tombstone", memorializing a Nels Nelson, but it is a nice one.

Lots of nice detail, ropes, anchor etc.

Alas, the cute little dove perched on a branch has lost his head.  I'm not sure why the birds are less durable than some of the other gee gaws, but this seems to sadly be the case.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Scotts Valley

Google Maps is a great way to plan alternate routes that go past little rural cemeteries.  Welcome to Scott's Valley east of Eau Claire Wisconsin.

Having seen hundreds of Tree Shaped Tombstones in my travels I'm still pleased to find something unusual once in a while.

Pretty standard stuff, even the person being remembered is boring.....being named Smith will do that.  But look at the top of this thing.  Usually there is a simple, flat top, sometimes still with a central drill hole left over from the stone cutting and milling process.  But here....

A tasteful basket of flowers.  I assume this was an extra you could order, and that it is secured to the tombstone by a peg that goes down into the central drill hole.  Not that I'd try to wiggle or rotate it or anything, that would be a bad idea with anything this old.

I like the way that the orange lichen fits into the flower motif.  Plant life imitating art.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Osseo Wisconsin

Still traveling down unfamiliar roads.  Finding the cemetery outside of Osseo, Wisconsin took a bit of doing.

Here's a nice specimen with full "Woodsman" regalia.  Also an unusual amount of "tombstone lichen".

This is another one of those with a weird backwards tip.  Usually you can tell that it is just shifting over time, but this almost looks intentional.

Over in a nearby grove of real trees, a Tree and Book variant.  Perhaps because of the different light conditions there is no moss/lichen to speak of on this one.  As usual, the inscription on the open page is barely legible.  Upright surfaces age poorly in a climate with rain, snow and blistering sun.

And to round out a nice assortment of types, one of the "Two Trunks" style.  Usually this is a married couple, reaching out to each other in the next life...

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Prescott Wisconsin

This is another in the Strange Roads series.  On occasion I have both an atypical destination and a few minutes of extra time on my journey.  Easy enough to hit Googly Maps and look for a cemetery.  In the river town of Prescott Wisconsin it is in an out of the way corner of town.

As is usually the case, there are Catholic and non Catholic cemeteries adjacent to one another.  Separated by a fence and the Reformation.  Oddly the Catholic one did not have any "trees".  On the Pine Glen Cemetery side however, we find this:

An elaborate variation on the tree shaped tombstone, with a stack of logs beneath, a gigantic acorn on top, and a variety of curvy branches framing up the main section of the monument.

This marker commemorates the Wiggins family.  It has obviously been cleaned in recent years, note the nice condition of the inscription area.

It is a rarely violated rule that in any cemetery with one swell "tree" there will always be at least one more.  Indeed....

When you take a closer look it becomes obvious that these are not identical.  Ordered from the same catelog, sure, but the Peck family went in for a bit more ornamentation.  Note the leaves adjacent to the name inscription, and the rather Catholic suggesting crosses on the sides.

As the Pecks, husband and wife, both died in 1892 I guess they or their kids were inspired by the 1891 Wiggins monument.  One assumes that everyone in a small town knew each other, and that there is some story - long forgotten - as to how these very elaborate markers were selected.