Wordless Wednesday Angel

Statue in West End Cemetery

Lingleville, Erath County, Texas

Photograph by Judith Richards Shubert, (c) November 2008

Tombstone Tuesday - January 20, 2009

C. H. TRICE, SR.

Sept. 12, 1835
Aug. 12, 1921

TRICE

Order of Freemasons Symbol

West End Cemetery
Lingleville, Erath County, Texas

Tombstone Tuesday - December 30, 2008

JAMES R. BEECHER
Born
Aug. 9, 1876
Died
Oct. 30, 1906

"God calls away when
He thinks best."

West End Cemetery
Lingleville, Erath County, Texas

Photograph by Judith Richards Shubert
West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas
Copyright 2008

Roses Abound in Texas Cemeteries

In my short time as a graveyard rabbit, I have taken several photos of tombstones adorned with images of flowers. The rose appears over and over in our Texas country cemeteries. In researching this and other symbols I came across the great resource, “Texas Graveyards, a Cultural Legacy,” by Terry G. Jordan. At the time of its publication in 1982 Jordan was a professor of cultural geography at North Texas State University.

According to Jordon the rose is an ancient symbol of the Magna Mater (the great Mediterranean mother goddess). Frequently appearing on markers commemorating mothers, roses often with thorny stems attached, can be found on very early commercial stones as well as those made at the present time. “Clearly, the inspiration for this symbol came most directly from the Southern and British folk custom of planting roses in graveyards.”

Ruth dau. of / A. L. & Katie Sloan

Born Jan 22, 1897

Died Aug 12, 1900

“Our darling one hath gone before

To greet us on the blissful / shore."

West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas

Belvin R. / Son of

H. E.(?) & F. M. / POWELL

Born / Mar 25, 1899

Died / July 29, 1899

“Sleep on sweet babe

And take thy rest,

God calls away when

He thinks best.”

Ramsey Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas

Lela Ann

TAYLOR

Dec. 29, 1903 / Dec. 19, 1978

Ramsey Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas

W. G. (Buster) Tidwell

Oct. 9, 1908 - Apr. 5 1959

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Tolar, Hood Co., Texas

HENSLEE

Ray

Aug. 28, 1913 / Mar. 19, 1990

Father

Tommy

Oct. 4, 1919 / May 26, 1993

Mother

West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas

SNIDER

Bertha “Bertie”

Oct. 4, 1894 / Dec. 20, 1907

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Tolar, Hood Co., Texas

DeAnna Rene Noland

Oct 28, 1964 / Feb. 13, 1992

“Love Lives”

West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas

Found at the foot of a grave in
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Tolar, Hood Co., Texas

RICHARDS

Willie Laura

June 21, 1894 / Nov. 2, 1966

John Robert

July 17, 1890 / Jan. 24, 1975

Whitt Cemetery, Parker Co., Texas

This is my father’s parents, my grandparents. They lived the last several years of their lives in Lingleville in Erath Co., Texas close to my father and step-mother.

Photographs taken by Judith Richards Shubert, Copyright 2008

Sources:

Texas Graveyards, Terry G. Jordan, 1982 by the University of Texas Press

Accessed from North Richland Hills Public Library, December 2008

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Hood Co., Texas

Ramsey Historical Cemetery, Hood Co., Texas

West End Cemetery, Erath Co., Texas

Whitt Cemetery, Parker Co., Texas

Tradition of Scraping the Earth / Rocks Placed on Graves

The traditions found in the burial customs in rural Southern cemeteries are varied. There is a crossover of ethnic and religious backgrounds found often in the same cemetery. Customs such as “scraping” the earth is still found in many Texas cemeteries, but many that I have visited have only two or three sections or graves that are treated in this manner, or none at all. Since I have become a member of the Graveyard Rabbit Association and have begun to earnestly research the practices and traditions of this area, I realize that there are many things I have overlooked in my visits to graveyards of my childhood. I had not even noticed, except perhaps in my sub-conscience, that there were a lot of graves that were cared for differently than the others.

The tradition of removing all grass from the cemetery and leaving only the bare earth is falling by the wayside in many Texas cemeteries. The tradition speaks to the respect family members have for the deceased. But whether it is the fact that now there is oftentimes one person paid to take care of the cemetery or it simply takes too much of the family’s time to keep the grass off of the grave, our cemeteries are changing.

Another custom that seems to go along with the “scraping” of graveyards is the one of adding rocks, pebbles, ornaments, glass shards, and other items to a loved one’s grave.

In the little cemetery beside my childhood home in Lingleville, Texas I found only five or six graves that were covered with rock and none that were racked or scraped. But the rocks were placed there to keep out the encroaching grass, I’m sure.

In the picture above you can see two family plots that have white rock and gravel covering the graves. A close-up is in the next picture. Notice the angel statues that are lovingly placed there.

I will now be more observant and record with my camera the graves that are cared for in this manner.

In “Texas Graveyards, A Cultural Legacy,” Terry G. Jordan states that “rarely does one encounter scraping outside the Gulf states and South Atlantic coastal plains” and that it is unknown or very rare that you find it in North Carolina and Middle Tennessee.

According to Mr. Jordan the origins of most of our traditions in Southern Folk cemeteries are too ancient to even be in our memory. But he believes archival evidence points to the West African slave coast. There were bare-earth cemeteries found there that were nearly the same as those you find here in the South. He also states that the "barren" graveyard could have spread to Texas through Moorish Spain and Mexico as the majority of traditional Mexican cemeteries are without grass.

All photographs taken by Judy Richards Shubert
at West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas Copyright 2008

Sources: Texas Graveyards, Terry G. Jordan, 1982 by the University of Texas Press
Accessed from North Richland Hills Public Library, December 2008

Last Will of Mr. Farmer - Lingleville, Texas

West End Cemetery

A lot of the childhood memories I have took place near the small, neatly manicured cemetery of West End in the tiny, dairy community of Lingleville in Erath County, Texas. When my father remarried after having been left with three small daughters to raise with the help of my mother’s immediate family, we spent half of our time in the little frame and rock house that resides beside this still used cemetery which is so typical of the ones you find in this part of my home state.

We spent many hours “visiting” the dead, carefully tiptoeing past the headstones, and depending on the time of day or night, marking our escape route with wary eye as we dared one another to go to the far end at the top of the hill. As we grew to adulthood we enjoyed watching our children enjoy the same fascination with our childhood playground.

I don’t remember any of us being disrespectful. It was a natural thing to do – walking and playing in the cemetery. Every visit to the “home place” is punctuated with time taking a leisurely walk, traveling the same path we once took as children. And now the grandchildren are the ones running from stone to stone, reading the inscriptions and calling out to one another to hurry.

This Thanksgiving as my sisters and I joined the grandchildren in the afternoon we saw a memorial we had not noticed. How we missed it before is a mystery. We read it and laughed as we remembered the gentleman whose life it spoke of. I will not share the names and dates on the gravestone since one of them is not deceased, but I wanted to share the epitaph with you here.

LAST WILL OF MR. FARMER

I leave:
To my wife, my overdraft at the bank – maybe she can explain it.

To my banker, my soul – he has the mortgage on it anyway.

To my neighbor, my clown suit – he’ll need it if he continues to farm as he has in the past.

To the ASCS, my grain bin – I was planning to let them take it next year anyway.

To the county agent, 50 bushels of corn to see if he can hit the market – I never could.

To the junk man, all my machinery – he’s had his eye on it for years.

To my undertaker, a special request – I want six implement and fertilizer dealers for my pallbearers, they are used to carrying me.

To the weatherman, rain and sleet and snow for the funeral, please – no sense in having good weather now.

To the grave digger – don’t bother, the hole I’m in should be big enough.

All photographs taken by Judy Richards Shubert
at West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas Copyright 2008