Tombstone Tuesday-Lamb Symbol

Fingers crossed that the notification e-mails for this blog post went out to Karen’s Chatt subscribers today and that they will continue once again.

Notifications stopped being sent out before Christmas and we have been working to correct the problem ever since. There have been many behind-the-scenes updates and changes but the website looks pretty much the same on the desktop and it looks and works better on mobile devices.

Even though the notifications did not go out I continued to post two blog posts a week, as I have for the past 10 years. Those, along with all the posts I have ever written, are always here on the website to read. So, if you haven’t been checking the website regularly in the past few weeks you have some catching up to do.

Now, for today’s Tombstone Tuesday, the lamb symbol on a tombstone.    

Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Van Wert County, Ohio, 1913 lamb, Florence Marie Schumm, 2 mo.

A lamb carved on a tombstone usually marks the grave of a young child.

Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio, 1873 lamb, Heinrich Hoffmann, 8 mo.

A lamb symbolizes purity, innocence, and youth.  

Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio, 1872 lamb, Frederick W Brandt, 26 d.

Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio, 1872 lamb, Anna M Wick, 2 y.

Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Van Wert County, Ohio, 1892 lamb, Friedrich Stegmeier, 2 yr.

This symbol was often used in the late 1800s, usually carved on marble tombstones. Marble markers are subject to weathering and acid rain. As a result, after many years in the elements, the figures and inscriptions on marble markers are often worn and hard to read. Even so, you can usually determine if the carving is a lamb. So, when the inscription is illegible or most of the tombstone is destroyed, if you see a lamb on the marker you can usually figure that a child is buried there. This can be helpful if you are looking for a child’s grave near the parents’ tombstone on in a family plot.

Kessler (aka Liberty) Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio, lamb on double marker, illegible.

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