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Wednesday, 2 March 2011

American Headstone - On the other side.

A couple of weeks ago, I published a photograph of a headstone bearing the name of John E Gibbs. Amazingly, I have purchased a glass plate negative of the headstones on the other side of the ivy clad building! It features a number of Pickens family graves. The pair to the right are Asa Pickens who was born in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts in 1797 who died in 1883 aged 85 and his wife Sally Cummings who died in 1868 aged 65. The curious headstone to the left marks the grave of George Picken who died in 1912 and his wife Mary B who passed away in 1909. I say curious as the headstone has blank stone rectangles for the dates of death to be carved out of. Does this mean they were far from dead when this photograph was taken? 


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11 comments:

  1. The Spiritual Hobo2 March 2011 at 23:13

    Hi,
    I am a hobo with not much to do and I just happened to be passing through. I like your site, so now…
    I’m following you.
    Thanks!
    Signed, hobo
    PS
    http://bellybuttonsandgravestones.blogspot.com

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  2. Tammi Thiele3 March 2011 at 00:17

    It usesually means the stone was placed before thier death. Sometimes when they buy a plot they place the stone before death and once they die they will come back and carve the dates in.

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  3. Dorene from Ohio3 March 2011 at 00:27

    What an awesome picture! Love it!

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  4. Laurie4 March 2011 at 22:24

    Thank you Hobo. Glad to have you visit. I enjoyed visiting yours.

    Tammi, thanks - useful information!

    Welcome, Dorene. Glad you enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Margaret Pangert6 March 2011 at 02:02

    Yes, I think your hunch is correct, Laurie. They wanted to take care of their gravesites and headstones when they were still alive. My mother--still quite living--has a headstone above her burial site with her name, date of birth, and a -. How awful is that to see!

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  6. Laurie6 March 2011 at 08:22

    Thanks, Margaret. I can't stop thinking about you walking by your 'living' mother's headstone . . .

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  7. The Spiritual Hobo6 March 2011 at 14:46

    BELLY BUTTONS & GRAVESTONES

    The word GRAVE means; to mark or to engrave. BELLY BUTTONS & GRAVESTONES are marks left behind after a passing.

    Mother Nature gave you a BELLY BUTTON on your very first birthday so that you would never forget just how "remarkable" you are.

    Your BELLY BUTTON is living proof that you had to survive death to get here because in childbirth there are many that do not survive the ordeal.

    A BELLY BUTTON is a symbol of your past life and the mark of an extraordinary survivor.


    GRAVESTONES are freaky because they remind us of our own mortality. BELLY BUTTONS are freaky because they remind us of our own immortality.

    And there you were thinking that your BELLY BUTTON was nothing more than a dust collector!

    http://bellybuttonsandgravestones.blogspot.com

    Fear nothing for you are bound to live for ever.

    However! Beware because quality of life is always going to be an issue.

    Signed, hobo

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  8. Laurie6 March 2011 at 15:06

    Hey hobo, I'll bear that in mind!
    Laurie

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  9. Julie Ferguson9 March 2011 at 15:53

    Wonderful picture...

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  10. Anonymous25 March 2011 at 03:32

    Thanks so much for this picture! It is nowhere else online and helped me with my family history in the Pickens Family. Thanks for reaching out to let me know that you had this!

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  11. Anonymous25 March 2011 at 03:34

    BTW, John E. Gibbs was the husband of Elizabeth F. Pickens, aka "Lizzie", who was the son of George Pickens in your picture above. I know he died between 1900 and 1910 but not when. Do you have this pic posted somewhere?

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