J.C. Richards - Liberty Cemetery - Martin's Mill, 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. 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 would show a simple tree stump instead. The Woodmen of the World organized themselves into local "camps", and this is a fairly common example of a monument that references the camp to which the person belonged.

The Dove of Peace perches atop the the inscription scroll that hangs from a sawed-off branch on this marble monument, and below the Woodmen of the World emblem is this inscription:

J.C. Richards
Oct. 12, 1860
Feb. 12, 1912

On that bright immor
tal shore, we shall
meet to part no more

Shady Grove
Camp No. 1879

Kind of dove: Dove with olive branch Used material for the dove: Other (explanation in the long description) Address: Liberty Cemetery 11190 Van Zandt County Rd 2339 Martin's Mill, TX USA 75752

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