Gypsy Queen Cleo - Marion, Ohio - Homemade Tombstones on Waymarking.com

In March of 1905 a band of Brazilian gypsies camped on a farm a few miles outside of Marion, Ohio. On March 20, a woman known in the camp as Queen Cleo died during childbirth. Her real name was eventually found to be "Ann Judge," but due to the language barriers she was only known as Queen Cleo by the local doctors who tended to her. The child did not survive either. The next day one of her fellow travelers went into Marion to find an undertaker who would be willing to bury her. At that time telegrams were sent out to other gypsy bands, and Queen Cleo's body was displayed in the undertakers window until everyone arrived. The gypsies then performed their own funeral service, which the undertaker was not allowed to view. The body of both woman and child were buried at Marion's St. Mary's Cemetery. The catholic church required the burial to be on unhallowed ground since the child was born out of wedlock, and neither were baptized in the Catholic church.

For years after her death various bands of gypsies would gather at her grave to mark the anniversary of her passing. No known gathering have happened in many years. It is also rumored that she was buried standing up, as a tradition of the gypsies of the time.

The original handmade wooden cross is still in place. The cross has no name or information on it. A few years later a small stone was also placed on her grave.

Date of Birth: 1875 Date of Death: 3/20/1905 Material: Wood Web Site: Not listed

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