Becker Monument, West Liberty Cemetery


A typical shrouded-urn shaft, this is actually one of the most expensive and elaborate monuments in this cemetery, which did not serve a wealthy congregation. It was good value for money, because its four faces (one is still blank) provided generous space for inscriptions, making further expense on individual grave markers unnecessary.

It appears that the Beckers had six children, five of whom died in childhood—three within two weeks in 1873, doubtless of the same disease. Mathilda, born in 1874, has a space left for a date of death, but it has never been filled in. Father Pitt chooses to interpret that as meaning that she lived a long and happy life and was eventually buried with her many loved ones somewhere else.


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