Cemetery Foot stones

The grave of Alice Summers, Susanville Cemetery, June 11, 2016.
The grave of Alice Summers, Susanville Cemetery, June 11, 2016.

During the St. Patrick’s Cemetery tour, an attendee made an inquiry about small stones with initials. Before I go any further, it should be noted the small stone in question, had been moved from Louise Strong’s grave to Patrick Bagin’s grave, both in the same row of plots. Unfortunately, this happens a lot.

These small markers that contain initials are commonly known as foot stones, versus the traditional larger headstone.  These are relics of the late 1800s.  In some cases there was a large family marker instead of a headstone, and the names were inscribed there. The foot stones were used then to show the location of the grave.

Shinn Plot
This is the marker for the Shinn family plot in the Susanville Cemetery. One can see the foot stones on each side of the monument.

The older cemeteries originally were not surveyed, and there being no rhyme or reason of the placement of the graves, since there were no individual plots. The foot stones were important, as it provided the boundaries of various graves. Besides where a large monument was placed, foot stones were a very common feature to children’s graves, since the graves being quite small, as depicted in the photograph of the grave of Alice Summers.

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