As you walk through a cemetery when researching ancestors, it can be a haunting yet beautiful experience. Aside from names, birthdates, and death dates, gravestones are often decorated with symbols and icons.
These majestic, weather-worn stone carvings were popularized by those cipher-loving Victorians (from 1839 to 1920) and are more than pure decoration. They mean something; a virtue the person exemplified, a value they held dear, or a nod to how they earned their living.
By determining the headstone’s composition, you can tell if the marker at your ancestor’s grave is the original or a replacement. Before the 1650s, people used mostly fieldstones or rough-cut rocks to mark graves. A stone from this time might have the deceased’s initials and death year carved on it. From about the 1660s to 1850s, headstones consisted of sedimentary rock, such as red or brown sandstone or limestone, and dark slate. You’ll also see early 1800s gravestones made from a grayish-blue slate. Marble was the stone of choice between the 1830s and 1880s. Since the 1880s, we’ve stuck with granite headstones. That means a granite stone with a pre-1880 death date isn’t the original marker.
Below is a chart of some symbols and meanings taken from a FamilyTree Magazine article written by Courtney Henderson.
Symbol | Meaning |
Arches and gates | passage into the next life |
Acorn | prosperity; power; triumph; strength; independence |
Anchor | hope; Navy |
Angels | God’s messengers and guardians; dropping flowers may signify grief, mourning; pointing to heaven may signify rejoicing |
Anvil and/or hammer | blacksmith. |
Basket | fertility; maternal bond |
Bat wings | death; misfortune |
Beehive | possible membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
Benches | mourning; contemplation |
Bird | flight of the soul |
Book | often the Bible; book of life |
Bone | death |
Candle | life |
clock | march of time, usually stopped at the time of death |
Clover (three or four leafed) | Christian trinity; possible Irish ancestry or affiliation with 4H Club |
Column and/or pillar (Broken) | life cut short; sudden death |
Corn | farming (also frequently symbolized by wheat) |
Doves | peace; the Holy Spirit |
Elk | possible membership with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks |
Evergreen | faithfulness; remembrance |
Feathered headdress | possible membership with the Improved Order of Red Men of Degree of Pocahontas |
Fern | sincerity; humility; solitude |
Forefinger pointing down | God reaching down for the soul |
Forefinger pointing up | soul's passage to heaven |
Fruit | eternal plenty |
Half-carved tombstone | transition from life to death |
Handshake | welcoming of a soul into Heaven; bond between spouses |
Harp | worship; music to God |
Heart | a blissful soul; romantic love |
Horses | courage or generosity; possible membership with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters |
Hourglass or clock | the passage of time |
Key | knowledge; entrance to heaven |
Lambs | purity; gentleness, innocence (popular on children's graves |
Lamp | knowledge; spiritual immortality |
Lily | innocence and purity; resurrection; marriage and fidelity(Calla); innocence and humility (Lily of the Valley) |
Mariner | anchor; sextant |
Mortar and pestle | medical profession |
Oak leaf | strength; stability; endurance |
Olive tree | peace; reconciliation between God and man |
Palm | life conquering death; resurrection |
Phoenix | resurrection |
Pineapple | prosperity; hospitality; perfection |
Rose | love; beauty; virtue; motherhood; strong bond; youthful death |
Scales | justice; law |
Shield | protection, faith, defense of the spirit |
Shoes | loss of a child (empty, one overturned) |
Skull | death; mortal remains |
Soul effigy | :immortality of the soul; passage to the afterlife (especially if winged) |
Sphinx | courage; honor; power |
Thistle | sorrow and remembrance; potential Scottish ancestry |
Tree shaped or tree stump | life cut short; sudden death; possible membership with the Modern Woodmen of America or Woodmen of the World |
Urn | death of the flesh |
Wheat | farming; harves; prosperity; full life |
Winged death's head | mortal remains of the deceased |
Willow | mourning and earthly sorrow |