Marble Immortality

February 6th, 2008

Displayed prominently in Baton Rouge's historic Magnolia Cemetery is the grave marker and memorial to the young children of William H. and Mary E. Crenshaw.

It is a marker that nearly every local knows of - the approximately eight-foot tall statue bearing the likeness of the three deceased children stays in your mind forever after viewing it.

The grave marks the final resting place, and is a memorial to, nine year-old Fanny, seven year-old Willie, and eighteen month-old Mattie Crenshaw who perished in 1858. Also interred and memorialized here is an infant listed only as The Nameless One, who died in 1855.

It is obvious - by their closely followed deaths - that illness played a part in the children's demise. The most likely assumption would be yellow fever; records indicate that New Orleans, in particular, was hit hard by the disease in 1858. It is probable that other areas of Louisiana, especially the City of Baton Rouge, would also have suffered from the epidemic.

The first to die was the eldest daughter, Fanny, on June 5. She was followed only three days later by her younger brother, Willie, on June 8. Little Mattie survived three more months, succumbing on October 13.

My research shows the children's father was a man of some prominence in the local community as pastor of the Baton Rouge Methodist Church, or First Methodist Church. I was also able to find that the unlucky parents, Reverend William H. Crenshaw and Mary E. Gayle, were married in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, on September 5, 1846. Mary was the daughter of John Gayle, who - in 1850 - was listed as being the parish treasurer.

While death due to such illness, and even the loss of a number of young children from one family was, unfortunately, not so uncommon in the mid- to late-1800s, the marker erected for the Crenshaw children is, undoubtedly, unique. Its size alone causes it to stand out from nearly every other headstone in this old cemetery, while the life-sized, marble statues carved in the likenesses of the late children is, all at once, stirring, chilling, beautiful, and morose. It is one of those markers that - once beheld - is never forgotten. What more fitting way to make sure your children live on forever?

A Tragic Tale

February 5th, 2008

In 1995, my grandmother and I made a trip out to Immaculate Conception Church Cemetery in Dupont, Louisiana to gather information from the headstones of family members. As my grandmother's illness - scleroderma - progressed, we had taken to going through boxes of old family photos and labeling them. We would sit at the kitchen table and, with her dictation, I would write the names (and dates, if known) on the backs of the photographs.

As part of trying to get down information while she was still with us, we made the trip out to the cemetery, as well as Mater Dolorosa Catholic Cemetery in Plaucheville, to record the exact dates of our many family members - her ancestors - that were buried there in Avoyelles Parish.

As we made our way through the Dupont cemetery, I noticed three graves with ceramic pictures on them that were lined up together in front of the mausoleum. Closer inspection showed it was the final resting place of the young Dupont family - Horace, his wife Rachael, and their nineteen-month old daughter, Milissa - who had all perished on the same date, November 16, 1972.

Naturally, I was intrigued. What could have caused the death of this young family? Car accident? A house fire, perhaps? This being pre-Internet, I wasn't able to Google their names when I returned home. Instead, a few days later, I went to the Louisiana State University's library and spent some time going through the newspaper reels for November, 1972.

It was with great sadness that I came upon a newspaper article detailing the tragic demise of Horace, Rachael, and Milissa Dupont. They had all succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning in their home that November evening. Most likely, they never even knew what was happening. Horace, the article went on to say, was found peacefully on the living room couch - as if he were taking a nap. Little Milissa was lying on her parents' bed and a few feet away, Rachael was found on the floor of an adjoining bathroom.

I can't even begin to imagine the grief their loved ones must have went through. Every time I go the cemetery, I make a point to go by their graves and say a special prayer for them and their families.

After finding Find A Grave, I made sure to add them to the website with photographs of their final resting places and clear shots of their ceramic pictures. The little Dupont family - which was, in all actuality - my first experience with "graving" - will always hold a special place in my heart.

Zinker Hunting

February 3rd, 2008


A term that I never heard before coming to the Find A Grave forums was "zinker". I saw it mentioned it a few times there and poked around until I found it explained. It was quite an interesting tidbit of information and I quickly became yet another of the many "zinker hunters".

Gravers, if they know what to look for, are always on the lookout for a "zinker". The term is slang for whitish headstones, advertised as "white bronze" in their day, which are made of pure zinc. What makes these particular markers unique is that they were only manufactured for a short duration of time by a singular company - and later its subsidiaries - in the United States.

The allure of zinkers never caught on due to their cheap cost and fragile appearance. The result is unfortunate because zinkers, as anyone can tell you, appear to stand the test of time far more diligently than their stone, iron, limestone, granite, and even marble counterparts. A zinker over one hundred years old will often look as if it was minted only the day before.

It was in Bridgeport, Connecticut that the Monumental Bronze Company first began the manufacture of "white bronze" headstones - a cheaper alternative to traditional monuments; while a large and ornate white bronze marker could go for up to $5,000.00, a small, simple name and date plate could sell for as low as $2.00. The term "white bronze" was used to make the product more palatable to the buying public, though the monuments were pure zinc.

The company experimented with a number of different materials before deciding on zinc as an alternative to traditional materials that deteriorated over time. It was, as we now know, an excellent choice.

For whatever reason, mainly the idea that white bronze headstones were "cheap alternatives", the infallible markers never gained in popularity, and the company, founded in the 1870s, had folded by the early 1900s. There are few, if any, zinkers to be found made after the year of 1912; which adds to the delight in stumbling across one in your graving travels.

The hollow markers also have a reputation for being contraband containers or nifty hiding places for local farmers and townsfolk.  Prohibitionists were known to hide their bootleg liquor in local zinkers, and outlaws made use of the markers for hiding stolen goods or tools of the trade.  Farmers that lived near cemeteries were said to have, sometimes, also used the vacant space inside the larger zinkers for safely housing tools and equipment, where they never had to worry about them being found and stolen.

Taking the time to browse a gallery of zinkers, one will find they have stood the test of time amazingly well - even after a century of exposure to the elements, most zinkers are still as clear and legible as the day they were placed atop a freshly dug grave.

How to tell if you've found one of these rare headstones? A zinker can be told apart from its popular counterparts by its whitish or bluish-toned tint (zinc carbonate develops a bluish gray hue when exposed to the air), its sharp and new-like appearance, and the telltale seam that runs along its edges. Zinkers were shipped in pieces and fitted together by the funeral home or cemetery workers before being placed, hence the infamous seams (see photo above) that will always determine the authenticity of a true zinker. Zinkers are, also, hollow; a light rap on the headstone can usually prove the emptiness inside.

The rarity of these unique monuments makes finding one a treat. Here are the links to some zinker galleries compiled by fellow gravers and zinker hunters. Enjoy:

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