I have seen the same kind of lettering on stones for an 18th-19th c. German
and German-American cemetery in the NC Piedmont, Steiner's or Stoner's
cemetery, Alamance County. It is only true for the early hand-made stones.
LFS
On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 4:09 PM, Bob Skiles <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Sticks & Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers
> (Margaret Ruth Little, 1998)
> <https://books.google.com/books?id=wb7fAAAAMAAJ&q=%22backwa
> rd+letters%22+tombstone&dq=%22backward+letters%22+
> tombstone&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRvu2HwanSAhVIYyYKHSX7D2YQ6AEIOTAF>
>
> p151 "Clodfelter is the only German stonecutter in North Carolina known to
> have signed a/gravestone/. ... Furthermore, the misspelling and/backward
> letters/are typical of the lettering on many German stones throughout the
> county."
>
>
> On 2/24/2017 12:52 PM, Linda Derry wrote:
>
>> Pete,
>>
>> I'd put my money on illiteracy, but here is another idea you could
>> research since Maryland was an entry point for many Germans. Part of my
>> family came into America through Maryland and settled in Virginia and
>> moved
>> west through Pa., Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and so forth. Some of my early
>> ancestors practiced German folk magic or medicine. Something often called
>> "Pow-wow." There are many old Pow-Wow practice books reprinted and
>> available today (even some in English) so you could look there for
>> something on backward writing.
>>
>> This, of course is a long shot, because O'Neal is not a very German
>> sounding name, but you never know who might have married into the family!
>>
>>
>>
>> Linda Derry
>> Site Director, Old Cahawba Archaeological Park
>> Alabama Historical Commission
>> 9518 Cahaba Road, Orrville, AL 36767
>> park: 334/ 875-2529
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 6:12 AM, Pete Regan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone out there have information on the potential meaning of
>>> backward characters on gravestones? I have a crudely carved gravestone
>>> in a
>>> nineteenth century, family plot that was part of a central Maryland farm,
>>> with all of the D's, N's, J's, and 1's carved backward. Plenty of folks
>>> have suggested dyslexia or partial illiteracy as potential explanations,
>>> but I have a few archaeologist/historian colleagues who seem to recall
>>> that
>>> backward orthography can have specific meanings on gravestones. For what
>>> it's worth, here's the text as it appears on the stone (again, picture
>>> the
>>> aforementioned letters backward):
>>>
>>> WM ONEAL
>>> DIED.JAN
>>> THE.1.1893
>>> AGE.72.
>>>
>>> The stone appears as the final photo in the larger site's state
>>> registration form, located here: https://mht.maryland.gov/
>>> secure/medusa/PDF/Howard/HO-1109.pdf
>>>
>>> For some physical context, two adjacent stones (1906 and 1917) are
>>> professionally carved marble markers without any "incorrect" writing. The
>>> remainder of the graveyard consists of partial lines of unmodified,
>>> vertical slabs of fieldstones located west of the carved stones,
>>> presumably
>>> as markers for the graves of servants, the enslaved, or the poor.
>>>
>>> Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
>>>
>>>
--
Dr. Linda France Stine, RPA
336-334-5132
436 Graham Building
Department of Anthropology
Archaeology Program, ARC Laboratory Director
University of North Carolina Greensboro
27412-5001
|
