The Span of Man

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More cenotaphs

I admit it, cenotaphs are a particular fascination for me. Cemeteries are generally assumed to be a place for remains of some type. But occasionally the desire for a monument (usually with the rest of the family) means that someone will have a grave marker that does not denote their final resting place.

In the Britton plot in Roselawn Cemetery in Solon, Ohio,

the family has a marker for Ira J. Britton, a son whose body lies far away in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Thus far, the only scrap of information I have been able to find about Ira Britton is in the Cleveland Public Library’s Necrology File. According to the notes in the Necrology File (which is compiled from local cemetery records and newspaper death notices from before 1975), Britton was the only son of William and Rachel Britton of Solon, and he died in New Orleans on October 20, 1897.

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Zinkers at Roselawn Cemetery

The first time I heard about a zinker, I had posted a photograph of one to the group for Metal Grave Markers on Flickr. Someone commented that the kind of marker I had photographed was called a zinker because it was made of zinc. Sometimes the zinc was called white bronze as well, which apparently sounded better. With a little more digging, I discovered that one company produced zinkers, the Monumental Bronze Company, with a home office in Bridgeport, Connecticut, although there were subsidiaries later on. The company made these monuments from 1874 until 1914, and continued to make plaques for the updating of existing markers until 1939.

Here’s the zinker that started it all:

Here’s another one very close by in the same cemetery, for the Hannaford familly:

You can see that William Hannaford, a veteran of the American Civil War, was born in 1838 and was buried here in 1901. The panel on the end is for George and Rueben, sons who died at age 2 years and 4 weeks respectively. The other narrow end contains the name of Julia A. Benford, presumably a daughter who lived from 1883 to 1902. The other side of the monument is here:

Presumably, whoever was responsible for Julia’s funeral and monument arrangements had to contact the Monumental Brass Company to add a new panel to the Hannaford monument for her. You can clearly see the little zinc “screws” that hold the panel with her name, birth year, and death year. Looking behind her monument, you can also see that each family member has an individual head or footstone.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in Kent County, Michigan, have the most complete information I’ve seen on the Monumental Brass Company, because the company made a local Civil War Monument. This post on A Graver’s Journal contains a description on how to spot a zinker.

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