J.M. Halcomb - Gladewater Cemetery - Titus County, TX, USA
N 33° 15.076 W 094° 56.973
15S E 318384 N 3680837
A Dove of Peace bearing an olive branch is on the marble Woodmen of the World monument for Jesse Monroe Holcomb in Gladewater Cemetery, north of Mt. Pleasant in rural Titus County, TX.
Waymark Code: WM1837J
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/21/2023
Views: 0
Thanks to
Findagrave for information about his name, including the misspelling.
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 marble 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 like this one would show a simple tree stump instead, and the dove and tools are worked into the fabric of the monument. The dove of peace is in flight above the inscription scroll, which reads:
Argo Camp No. 967
J.M. Halcomb
Born
June 16, 1882
Died
Mar. 19, 1911
-----
A loving husband, a
father dear,
A faithful friend lies
buried here.
His happy soul has
winged its way
to one pure bright
eternal day.
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Note the "camp" reference: The Woodmen of the World organized themselves into groups based on geographic location, dubbing them "camps" (or "circles" for the women's Woodmen Circle) and today a small, rural community, Argo was just a few miles from here.