Graves of people connected to Greek Letter Societies
 

Ok, I have been looking at a website called www.findagrave.com. This site is really cool and a great genealogical site.

One of the really cool things I found though, were those gravesite of people who were in a fraternity or sorority or possibly founders of such groups.

Here is an image of one of those sites, James R. Walker was an early member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity at Hampden Sydney College in VA.

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos2...4462231258.jpg

Does anyone else know of any tombstones or graves that have fraternity or sorority markings?

Here is another one, William Conlin Levere who was an SAE

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...1065504886.jpg

One of the founders of Sigma Chi, Isaac Jordan

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...7323744038.jpg

Samuel Clark, the first Sigma Chi to pass away, in 1856, this one is literary right down the street from where I live.

http://image1.findagrave.com/photos/...8745407818.jpg

One last one is from Stephen Alonzo Jackson, who was a Kappa Sigma,

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos2...4491542033.jpg

A recent thread on graves of founders.

And one on ZTA's founders specifically.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...e/untitled.jpg

This is the grave of Dr. Guy Potter Benton, a Phi Delta Theta who helped Delta Zeta's founders in composing our Ritual.

"Sis Doc"
 

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...7968320634.jpg

During the Chi Omega Centennial in 1995, Chi Omega added the words, "Member of Kappa Sigma" to Dr. Richardson's stone on the reverse side.

Jobelle Holcombe, Founder of Chi Omega
 

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...7258633464.jpg
Miss Jobelle's gravesite is in the same cemetery in Fayetteville, AR as Dr. Richardson's (pictured above).

Alice Cary Simonds Smith, Founder of Chi Omega
 

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...9286560096.jpg
Allie shares a grave in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. with her sister. They both died quite young.

Jean Vincenheller Dengler, Founder of Chi Omega
 

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...0964453045.jpg
Buried in Arlington National Cemetery alongside her military husband, the restrictions at Arlington prohibited the inclusion on the marker that Jean was a Founder of Chi Omega.

Christina "Ina" May Boles Morton, Founder of Chi Omega
 

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...0964484261.jpg
Ina May, the last of the Founders to die, is buried in Dardanelle, Arkansas.

One of our founder's grave bears the letters of Delta Chi and Delta Tau Delta, of which he was also a member.

http://deltachi.org/images/history/f...etlan_more.jpg

Phi Mu Founder
 

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps01f64827.jpg
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps1b9c0a51.jpg

http://www.semosigmanu.com/images/pi...kinsGrave5.jpg
Alpha, 1.

http://www.semosigmanu.com/images/pi...rlesGrave4.jpghttp://image2.findagrave.com/photos2...3565075842.jpg
Alpha, 2.

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos2...9170882683.jpg

Alpha, 3.

Nut, isn't Miss Holcomb buried in Springdale? That looks like the cemetery there.

Question: I see Mizpah at the bottom of the headstones....isn't that a Jewish word? (Sorry if I'm wrong, I was just curious if it was becuase I am wondering if Phi Mu had Jewish connections?)
I'm reading a book called Going Greek about the formations of the Jewish fraternities and sororities.

BG

The State Presidents of Illinois State Chapter of P.E.O. have something they call the Mizpah Circle. I'm not sure if the other state chapters do that, too. I think they refer to this definition "Mizpah (emotional bond), an emotional bond between people who are separated".

It is a Hebrew (and Biblical) word, though I wonder if you are thinking of mitzvah.

Mizpah. And:

"Laban said, 'This heap [of stones] is a witness between you and me this day.' Therefore it was named Galeed, and Mizpah, for he said, 'May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other.'"

Genesis 31:48-49. This is referred to as the Covenant of Mizpah.

Our main founder, Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald, is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia decorated with pearls and the beginning of our Creed:

http://www.cestchristine.com/wp-cont...9/IMG_2771.jpg

Octavia Andrew Rush:

http://image1.findagrave.com/photos2...8813463034.jpg

Cool. Thanks for the clarification. I was curious becuase after reading this book I have been wondering if there weren't groups who had used Judaic symbolism or may have had ties to judisiam in the 1800s. But alas that's a discussion for another topic!

BG

As I posted in the other thread on founders' grave sites, there are two graves that are marked with markers related to Phi Mu Alpha. The first is the grave of our Founder, first President of Alpha Chapter and first Supreme President, Ossian Everett Mills. Father Mills died on December 26, 1920. This marker at his grave in Thompson, Connecticut, was dedicated on December 28, 1928:

http://da-knight.tripod.com/sitebuil...g.w300h225.jpg


The second is the grave of the second President of Alpha Chapter, first Supreme Historian and Sixth Supreme President, Percy Jewett Burrell. With Mills, Burrell was instrumental in establishing and articulating the values and principles on which the Fraternity is based. Burrell died without any descendants at the age of 87 in 1964. In 1998, history-minded Sinfonians learned that he had been buried in an unmarked grave in Watertown, Massachusetts. They worked for several years with city officials and with family members toward placing a monument at his grave, and raised money for that monument through donations from Sinfonians across the country. On October 2, 2004, this marker was dedicated at his grave (these pictures are from the dedication ceremony):

http://da-knight.tripod.com/sitebuil...g.w300h225.jpg

http://da-knight.tripod.com/sitebuil...g.w300h400.jpg

The inscription at the bottom can't be completely seen. It reads: "He has not truly lived who has not lived for others, in sympathy and harmony with his fellows." It comes from Burrell's 1908 President's Message to the Fraternity.

It may have more with the study of Hebrew (common for those entering the ministry, for example) than an actual link to Judaism. Our badge has a Hebrew word on it, but we have no specific ties to Judaism other than those to the Old Testament.

Hahaha, I am actually shocked to see it on the gravestone, because it is a direct reference to our ritual.

The Mispah Covenant was a very common motif (if that's the right word) in 19th Century Christianity, mainly Protestantism. Mizpah jewelry was very much in vogue.

The interesting thing is that this usage reflects an understanding of love and affection -- quite different from the biblical usage. In Genesis, Laban is basically telling Jacob "I don't trust you as far as I can see you, so just know that when I can't watch you, God is still watching, and you'll pay if you double-cross me."

I was speaking in generalities - so often I see our badge listed on e-bay as from "a Jewish sorority".
Yes - Hebrew
No - specifically Jewish

I can imagine! No, I knew you were speaking in generalities, and I suspect you're right about the study of Hebrew. I just was adding that, in the case of "Mizpah," there was also a very strong cultural component that was not limited to Judaism. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that.