An angel clutches a cross and gazes heavenward.
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Stucki Angel, Union Dale Cemetery
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Shanor Column, Union Dale Cemetery
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B. F. Jones Monument, Allegheny Cemetery
Like a stone mushroom, this is the visible outcropping of an underground mausoleum. Instead of a heroic statue of steel baron Benjamin Franklin Jones, we get a contemplative allegorical pair, one laying a wreath and palm of victory where his body is buried, the other looking upward hoping to find the real B. F. Jones in that direction. Old Pa Pitt hopes so, too.
We have more pictures of the B. F. Jones monument from 2014.
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Biller Monument, St. Peter’s Cemetery (Arlington)
The edge of the cemetery is right up against a city alley, giving this romantically eroded monument a less-than-romantic location. Ludwig Biller died in 1903, and that is probably the date of this monument. “Marble” monuments like this one were out of fashion in the high-rent cemeteries by then, but they seem to have been produced much later for the ethnic cemeteries.
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Nickel Family Plot, South Side Cemetery
We also have some older pictures of the Nickel plot.
A family plot of matching graves that is missing one important tenant, or at least the inscription for him.
Lina B. Nickel, who died in 1916 at the age of 29 or 30, is buried here under an inscription identifying her as “MY WIFE.” But the matching headstone is blank, suggesting that Mr. Nickel (whose name was almost certainly William; see below) is not buried here. A husband in mourning might think that of course he would never marry again and would be buried next to his late wife when he died, but a year or two or five go by, and he begins to take a more realistic view of the rest of his life. Or it is quite possible that the whole matching set was ordered when the two sons died in 1912.
A standard flower-dropping mourner. The wrists are always a weak point in this design.
Two young sons, William Jr. and John, died in 1912, very probably of the same childhood disease. From the name William Jr. we can deduce the father’s name.
This angel might also have been dropping flowers, as we can guess from its downward gaze and the eroded bouquet.
