Indiana Stone Carver Lewis Baker

This is a really cool grave marker and so is the "Ballad of Lewis Baker."

Janet S Endris

April 15 at 2:33pm

This coming Friday I will be taking the 7th grade students of the Lawrence County, Indiana Shawswick School through the Green Hill Cemetery. It is an annual field trip event. Their favorite grave marker is always that of stone carver Lewis Baker.This link is to the "Ballad" written in his honor: Take a minute to listen to it http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=395734&songID=3139373

Ballad of Lewis Baker 

Lyrics: Tim Brown. Music: Graham Snow 

Vocal, guitars and programming: Graham Snow 

In the early nineteen hundreds down Lawrence County way 

Working in the quarries was how you earned your pay 

Lewis Baker was a carver and a good one so it’s told 

The stress of carving took him when he was twenty one years old 

Bedford, Indiana was the place that he called home 

And Lewis earned his living making carvings out of stone 

It was limestone work that killed him, and limestone gave him fame 

For the monument in Bedford, that bears young Baker’s name 

The other carvers liked him, and mourned that he was gone 

They took the block of limestone that he’d been working on 

They carved a fitting tribute, so we’d remember him 

A copy of his workbench, just the way that it had been 

His blueprints and carving tools the way he’d left them there 

Even little mounds of dust, reproduced with loving care 

From far and wide, people come, to see this work of art 

And remember Lewis Baker, a man of noble heart 

Bedford, Indiana was the place that he called home 

And Lewis earned his living making carvings out of stone 

It was limestone work that killed him, and limestone gave him fame 

For the monumental tombstone, that bears young Baker’s name 

At night in Greenhill Cemetary, when a chill is in the air 

You might see a ghostly figure, standing near his workbench there 

Lewis Baker was a carver and a good one so it’s told 

The stress of carving took him when he was twenty one years old 

Bedford, Indiana was the place that he called home 

And Lewis earned his living making carvings out of stone 

It was limestone work that killed him, and limestone gave him fame 

For the monumental tombstone, that bears young Baker’s name 

For the monument in Bedford, that bears young Baker’s name

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=395734&songID=3139373

Tombstone Thursday - Edwards

McCoy Cemetery

Near Monroe City

Knox County, Indiana

William Edwards

The marker has an image of a rider on a horse. The rider seems to be wearing a cap like was worn during the Civil War and he seems to be wearing a sword. Below the name on this marker is what looks like the date of birth & death, but I could not read it and did not have enough time to thoroughly check it out. Has anyone else come across a similar image on a grave marker?

- Photo taken & submitted by JGWest

[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM...

The saying goes...

"April Showers Brings

May Flowers!"

... but, why do we still have April Showers?

(Oak Hill Cemetery, Evansville, Indiana ~ Connie M. Miller 1935-2004)

NOTE: the scriptive name engraving.

- Submitted by JGWest

"The Kiefer Mystery Case"

Frank Vincent Kiefer

Yesterday for Tombstone Thursday we featured the grave marker for Frank Kiefer. Several odd pieces of information has made him a bit of a mystery. The marker states he is an actor... so one would wonder, what type of actor - and was he local, regional or on a larger stage? That is just mere curiosity, however. The mystery is a little more than that. His marker states he was born on"Friday May 26, 1873" & died on "Friday May 26, 1933" - for any genealogist this looks suspicious and sticks out like a sore thumb! One of those "Friday May 26" engravings is probably incorrect! Now, Brenda Jerome reported that the 1930 Census lists a Frank Kiefer who would be about the right age living with his family on Emmett Street in Evansville, Indiana. Now, in the Browning Obits Database there is a Frank Kiefer age 79 that died in 1955 with the similar survivors as the Keifer family in the 1930 Census living at 1303 Emmett Street. At age 79 in 1955 (if that is the right age) this Frank Kiefer would have been born about 1876 (close enough to suspect he is the same man).

So, what is the scoop on this guy? Genealogists, historians, mystery lovers... I challenge you to unraffle this man's life so we will know his story! Write to me or comment on this blog. Here is my email addy: jgw.mylines@gmail.com

- Submitted by JGWest

From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM...

An Artist's Engraving on Stone

This is a photo of a beautiful clear glass oil lamp/lantern

Actually this is engraved on a grave marker in Oak Hill Cemetery (Evansville, Indiana). Although the stone looks like gray in this close-up photo, the marker is a beautiful black color.

The above engraving is on the grave marker for Sue Hebbeler's Uncle Norman (shown below) and there is a mirrored replica on the opposite side of the face of the marker. This is either done by a stencil with sand blasting or it is laser etched. These black granite markers with etchings of photos, objects, scenes or lettering have become very popular in cemeteries to honor & remember a loved one.

- Photo taken and submitted by JGWest