Regarding tree stump markers.
Although many of them were erected by
fraternal organizations, particularly Woodsmen of the World, the design was
widely used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and does not
necessarily reflect membership in a particular organization. Some 18th-
century gravemarkers in New England and the Middle Atlantic show trees in the
process of being chopped down. One of my favorites is is Rahway, NJ and
shows a small hand holding a hatchet emerging from a cloud and chopping on
what appears to be a cedar tree. A few were inscribed with
pithy sayings such as, "As the tree falleth so it lieth." They seem to have
been used for individuals who died during the prime of their life.