Tombstones for widows?

[lupaglupa]

In my most recent cemetery project I came across several stones where widows of Civil War soldiers had been given tombstones which had their husband's service information on them. These stones were all very similar in style, as if they had been done to order they way many soldier's stones were done. Was this a project of the GAR? In all but one instance the soldier did not have a stone that I could find. I hadn't seen this before and it left me curious.

 

[redbob]

I've seen them with the wife's name on the back and children's on the sides, but never a separate one for a wife. Were these stones you mentioned for the husband Government issued?

 

[lupaglupa]

I've seen them with the wife's name on the back and children's on the sides, but never a separate one for a wife. Were these stones you mentioned for the husband Government issued?

I don't know, but I'm guessing they were not done by the family (many were poor). My thought was if the government offered these then lots of people would have them. So maybe this was an initiative of the local GAR?

 

[lupaglupa]

Examples. You can see they are quite similar. I assume the Phillips stone would be the same height if it had not sunk.

 

[John Winn]

The government did not issue stones for relatives. These days one can get a shared government-issued stone in a national cemetery (if the spouse is also buried in the plot - i.e. ashes - but that was not done until recent times). The ones shown and noted were not government issue. I'd guess if the persons so honored were without funds the stones would have been provided by the GAR, the WRC, or perhaps a fraternal organization (e.g. IOOF) which was a common practice in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

 

[lupaglupa]

@John Winn any idea where to find records on this?

 

[John Winn]

@John Winn any idea where to find records on this?

If you mean where to find records of one of the mentioned organizations, I don't really know. In Oregon, even the membership files for some of those organizations are lost or only partially preserved. What they provided to widows and families is, I fear, lost to history (other than maybe a newspaper piece where the family thanks an organization for things like flowers or providing services). I suppose somewhere some of these records might be with an historical society or a large library but how to find them is beyond me. In the cases you note, we don't know who provided the stones so there's nothing to really hunt for by name (other than the name of the deceased).

We've got a small section where a number of veterans who died without relatives or funds are buried. Putting several pieces of evidence together I determined that the sexton at the time donated the plots and, later, the GAR got stones. However, I could find no actual records to prove all of that (the stone orders don't say who ordered them but they're all very similar in style and all ordered within a year or so and years after the deaths of the vets). The GAR was very active and the sexton was too and he died in a GAR old veterans home (he being a Mexican War vet). All the vets died without funds and without local relatives (i.e. buried by the county) so there's really only one way they got stones. But can I prove it with documents ? No.

Sorry.

 

[lupaglupa]

Another cemetery in town has several veterans buried along side each other and I've wondered if that was done by the GAR. I asked the cemetery administrator and she has no records from that era.

There is a website with information on old GAR records. I'll see if they have any from Albany.

 

[John Winn]

Another cemetery in town has several veterans buried along side each other and I've wondered if that was done by the GAR. I asked the cemetery administrator and she has no records from that era.

There is a website with information on old GAR records. I'll see if they have any from Albany.

All the remaining GAR records for Oregon are available on line but, unfortunately, they only record memberships and offices held. I'm not sure any of the fraternal organizations kept written records of services they provided to members. I've never seen any.

 

[lupaglupa]

All the remaining GAR records for Oregon are available on line but, unfortunately, they only record memberships and offices held. I'm not sure any of the fraternal organizations kept written records of services they provided to members. I've never seen any.

What a shame to think we've lost this information

 

[Drew]

This is an interesting topic. Headstones were provided for Union Army soldiers starting in 1879 and 25 years later started to be provided for Confederates. I'm not aware headstones were government-provided for spouses, though they were eventually given burial rights in national cemeteries.

I think @John Winn is right, spousal headstones were provided by charities who didn't keep good records. Some of it was probably just an informal, local passing of the hat. There's a history of all of this, here:

From Necessity to Honor: The Evolution of National Cemeteries in the United States--Civil War Era National Cemeteries: Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary

 

[lupaglupa]

I checked the chart at the GAR records website. They show 5 posts in Albany, of which two have records left behind. Thankfully those records have been digitized and are on Ancestry. I've never had these records return for a search before but they look interesting. My first few searches didn't return any helpful results but I plan to dig around and see what I can find.

The website of the GAR records is here for those interested -

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Records Index