The Kubler monument is one of the most extravagant in this cemetery, and an interesting example of what must have been the most up-to-date modern design when it was installed in 1884.

Note the place of birth: “Lorraine, France.” This is doubtless a political statement, but Father Pitt does not know exactly what it states. In 1884 and 1891, the dates when these inscriptions were added, part of Lorraine belonged to Germany: it had been conquered in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and would remain German territory until 1918. We don’t know whether the Kublers came from that part or from the part that remained in France. They bear a German name, and they belonged to a German Catholic congregation where German was often spoken (St. Michael’s, in whose parish cemetery they ae buried), but they were eager to be identified as French.

A young wife of Louis Kubler, presumably a son of Frank J. and Cathrene.

A three-year-old granddaughter; her parents are not memorialized on this monument.

Almost all the monuments in St. Michael’s Cemetery are standard items from monument catalogues. (A century or so ago, you could even order cemetery monuments from Sears Roebuck, the way you ordered everything else from Sears.) This one is almost certainly a standard item, too, but it is a very unusual one, probably one of the more expensive monuments in the cemetery. The curving text of the inscriptions is a distinctive touch. There is space for a good many more inscriptions than were ever cut. The Kublers were born in “Lorraine, France”—an interesting distinction that is a little hard to interpret. When the Kublers were born, all of Lorraine belonged to France, but when they died a large part of it belonged to the German Empire, the fruit of the disastrous (for France) Franco-Prussian War.

Some of the pictures here were taken in 2014, and the rest in 2022. We also have some more recent pictures of the Kubler monument.