Samuel E. Shoemate - Oak Grove Cemetery - Graham, TX, USA - Doves of peace on Waymarking.com

The Woodmen of the World are known today as WoodmenLife, a fraternal society that provides insurance to its members. Visitors to older cemeteries can frequently spot the tree trunk monuments that they placed at the graves of their members, although not every tree trunk monument out there was placed by the Woodmen of the World: It was common in the late 19th century to use a log to note that a person had died young, and many infants have such grave markers. Eventually, those tree trunk monuments became too expensive to produce, and headstones would be marked with a Woodmen of the World emblem of some kind. Earlier ones featured a dove of peace with an olive branch in its beak, flying over a fallen log where the tools of the woodmen's trade -- hatchet, mallet, and wedge -- can be seen. Later ones, like this one, would show a simple tree stump instead, and the dove and the tools would be displayed somewhere on the monument.

The Dove of Peace is perched atop the inscription scroll which hangs from a sawed-off branch, and the inscription is:

Samuel E. Shoemate

Born
Aug. 3, 1861,

Died
June 30, 1910.

---

As a husband devoted as a father
affectionate as a friend ever kind
and true.

Kind of dove: Dove with olive branch Used material for the dove: Other (explanation in the long description) Address: Oak Grove Cemetery US 380 (7th St) & Elm St Graham, TX USA 76450

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