Monument Monday - James F. Crowell

James F. Crowell

1889 - 1917

Buried Tosh Cemetery, Crittenden County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 23 September 2015. Note the Woodman of the World emblem and the faded picture of the decedent. He was 28 years old at his death.

James F. Crowell was born 12 May 1889 in Kentucky and died 28 November 1917 Rosiclare, Hardin County, Illinois. He was a miner and the son of James F. Crowell, born Tennessee, and Mary F. Harris.[1]

Mr. Crowell's death was the result of an explosion in the mines in Rosiclare.[2]

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[1] Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916 - 1947, Ancestry.com <http://www.ancestry.com>, accessed 25 September 2015.

[2] Marion Lavender Reynolds. Hardin County, Illinois Deaths 1884 - 1919 And Notes From the Pleasant Hill Church Register, (Evansville: Evansville Bindery, 1995), 120.

Published 4 January 2016, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Tombstone Tuesday - Iley and Alice Orr

ORR

They've done their best

They're now at rest

Iley

1868 - 1946

Alice

1869 - 1942

Buried Tosh Cemetery, Crittenden County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 23 September 2015.

The 1870 Crittenden County census shows Ida P. Orr, age 1 and a female listed in the household of K.P. and Laura Orr. This Ida P. was likely Iley P. Orr, the one year old son of this couple.

Iley P. Orr and Miss Jo Allice Clark married 9 November 1887 Crittenden County. 

Kentucky death certificate #13127 shows that Alice Orr was born 5 July 1869 Kentucky and died 18 May 1942. Her parents were listed as Marion Clark and Emlie Crider. Her husband was Ila Orr.

Published 15 December 2015, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Zinc Tombstone of S.J. Crowell

One tombstone stands out from the others in a Crittenden County, Kentucky cemetery. It is of a light blue color and the engraving is easy to read, even though it is over 110 years old.  It is made of zinc and was white when first cast, but, turned blue as it aged. 

Zinc tombstones were made from about 1870 until after 1910. If you tap on the tombstone, there is a hollow sound ... because it is hollow. Zinc tombstones are constructed in panels  and screwed together at seams. These monuments were inexpensive and can last a long time, but after a time, they may become brittle and, if hit with any force, will crack or come apart at the seams. These tombstones were inexpensive, but were never as popular as marble or granite tombstones.

[1]

An example of the zinc tombstone can be found in Tosh Cemetery.  It is that of Susan J. Crider, who married James E. Crowell 20 November 1865 Crittenden County.[2] 

In Memory

of

S.J. Crider

Wife of

J.E. Crowell

Born Oct. 23, 1848

Died 

Feb. 13, 1904

Reverse:

Dear Mother, N Earth's thorny Path

How long thy feet have trod

To find at last the peaceful rest

Safe in the arms of God.

Zinc tombstones aren't rare, but are not as common as those made of other materials and certainly never became as popular as monuments made of granite and marble.

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[1] Untitled filler, Evansville Journal, 23 April 1885, p. 6.

[2] Brenda Joyce Jerome. Crittenden County, Kentucky Marriage Records Vol. 1 1842-1865 and Abstracts of Wills Book 1  1842-1924, (Evansville: Evansville Bindery, 1990), 113.

Published 22 October 2015, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/