Forest Home Cemetery Overview
  • Home
  • Map
  • History of Forest Home Cemetery
    • Native Americans
    • Chapel
    • Bridge over the Des Plaines River
    • Eisenhower Expressway
  • Gravestones and Monuments
    • Gravestone Symbols
    • Unique Gravestone Monuments >
      • White Bronze
      • Rustic Gravestones
      • Photo-ceramic
      • Tiffany Designed Monuments
      • Druids
      • International Organization of Odd Fellows (IOOF)
    • Mausoleum
    • Ashes Scattered and Interred
    • Degradation and Theft
    • Original Deeds and Bookkeeping
  • Labor Activists
    • Haymarket Monument >
      • The Haymarket Affair
      • Haymarket Time Capsule
      • George Engel
      • Samuel Fielden
      • Louis Lingg
      • Adolph Fischer
      • Albert Parsons
      • Michael Schwab
      • August Spies
      • Oscar Neebe
    • Radical Row >
      • Eddie Balchowsky
      • Voltarine de Cleyre
      • Eugene Dennis
      • Raya Dunayevskaya
      • Joseph Dietzgen
      • William Z. Foster
      • Emma Goldmen
      • Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
      • Ben Reitman
      • Lucy Parsons
      • Franklin Rosemont
      • Ann Sosnovsky Winokur
    • Labor and Political Burials >
      • Joe Mariani
      • Cigar Makers' International
      • International Alliance of Bill Posters and Billers of America
  • People of Interest Buried in Cemetery
    • Ashbel Steele
    • Austin Family
    • Philander Barclay
    • Edwin Oscar Gale
    • Sophy and Charles Drechsler
    • Fedinand Haase
    • Doris Humphrey
    • Flora Gill
    • Dr. Clarence and Grace Hemingway
    • Dr. Frank and Phyllis Oreland
    • Augustin and Elizabeth Porter
    • Edward Hand and Lillie Morey Pitkin
    • Martha Louise Rayne
    • Origen White Herrick
    • Dr Thomas Roberts Hurlbut
    • Joseph and Betty Kettlestrings
    • Roos Family
    • James Fletcher Skinner
    • Billy Sunday
    • Adolph Westphal
  • Ethnic and Other Groupings
    • African American
    • Dutch
    • Hispanic
    • Roma (Gypsy)
    • Children
    • Military
  • Disaster Victims
    • Eastland ship disaster
    • Iroquois Theatre Fire
    • Smallpox Epidemic
    • St. Valentine's Day Massacre
  • Cemetery Tours
  • Addtional Resources
    • Forest Park Review articles

Gravestone Symbols

Approximately 40-50% of all Americans belonged to fraternal organizations in the early 1900's, and fraternal emblems are frequently included on monuments.  Most common are Masonic and Order of the  Eastern Star symbols. Others include the Odd Fellows Grand Army of the Republic, the Improved Order of Red Men (an offshoot of the Sons of Liberty) and numerous now-defunct, ethnic organizations such as German musical societies.

Picture
A fish symbolizes Christianity.

Picture
Picture
"Look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near!" Luke 21:28

Picture
A sheaf of wheat represents harvest, usually found on older peoples' gravestones.
Picture
The lamb is the symbol of the Lord, the Good Shepherd. It also represents innocence, likely the reason why this motif usually adorns the tombstones of infants and young children, as in this case. Most often the lamb is lying down, often asleep and sometimes with a cross behind the lamb.

Picture
The key symbolizes the key to unlock the gates of heaven (St. Peter), or a learned person or a symbol of knowledge of the scriptures.

Picture

Picture
Picture
A lyre is the instrument of Apollo. It could also be referencing the harp, which is a symbol of heavenly music, or hopes of heaven. These types of stringed instruments are often seen as the root of divine music. A harp could also indicate someone of Irish heritage.

Picture
Picture
The handshake is a symbol of parting, farewell, friendship, brotherhood.

Picture
An urn with with Wreath or Crepe is a symbol of mourning.

Picture
Picture
Lilies symbolizes purity and chastity.

Picture
The rose symbolizes love, beauty, victory, triumph, and purity.
Picture
Picture
Picture
There is some debate over what "IHS" means. Some believe it is reference to the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe, the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, iota-eta-sigma, or ΙΗΣ. Others believe it refers "in hoc signo", Latin for "by this sign we conquer", referring to the cross. It may also refer to a fraternal organization, Masonic Knights Templar.
Picture
This symbol is of a Masonic Knights Templar symbol showing a cross within a crown inside a Maltese cross, which has the Latin phrase, “in hoc signo vinces.” The phrase means “in this sign you shall conquer” and was used by Constantine as a military motto in the early 4th Century. The phrase was also used by the original Knights Templar military order that was founded during the Crusades. The Freemasons began using Templar rituals and symbols in the late 1700s.

Fraternal Organizations Symbols

Waldheim was established by a group of German fraternal lodges, who started their own cemetery because Forest Park's Concordia Cemetery would not allow lodge insignias to be displayed on cemetery markers. These same lodges purchased Forest Home as a non-sectarian burial ground.

I.O.O.F.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
International Order of Odd Fellows known as "The Three Link Fraternity", referring to the Order's "Triple Links" logo - three links contain the letters F, L and T, (Friendship, Love and Truth). I.O.O.F. have a large monument in Forest Home Cemetery learn more about it here.

Woodmen of the World

Picture
The Woodmen of the World emblem is a sawed-off tree stump, often with a mallet or beetle, an ax, and a wedge:  the motto "Dum, Tacet Clamat" (Though Silent He speaks"). The Woodmen of the World popularized the Rustic Tree Stones style.

Mason

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
The letter G: This letter represents the initial of God, or the Grand Architect of the Universe, as well as geometry, the basis of Freemasonry’s origins. Uniting the concept of God with geometry is a way of connecting the spiritual world to the physical world.

Order of the Eastern Star

Picture
Picture
The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world to which both women and men may belong. A woman must be related by birth or marriage to a Mason in order to become a member of OES, and a man must be a Mason to join.

Multiple Symbols

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Gravestones frequently have multiple symbols on one stone. This is especially common with Masons and Order of the Eastern Star. Being a Mason or related to one was required to be in the Order of the Eastern Star. Unlike most organization they allowed women to be members.

However most fraternal organizations did not allow women to be members. They frequently had woman auxiliary groups. It is common that gravestones shared by husbands and wives had a symbol for both of their organizations.


Shriners

Picture
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine is commonly known as The Shriners. It includes a scimitar (sword with a curved blade), crescent, star of Bethlehem, and/or the  head of a sphinx.









Additional Resources


Grave Addiction Symbol Guide
Gravestone Symbols and Their Meanings
Knights Templar – In Hoc Signo Vinces_
Wikipedia: Christogram
Wikipedia: Order of the Eastern Star
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.