KNOWN TOMBSTONE CARVERS OF PA: Unidentified #01

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Bill Plack
<kbplack@westol.com> 12 Mar 2007

Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/cemeteries/tscarvers/unidentified-01.txt
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/tscarvers/unidentified-01/unidentified-01.htm
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Unidentified Carver
Westmoreland County 1833-1845

(Biographies and Photographs contibuted by Bill Plack)

     This Westmoreland County carver, while not identified by name, is certainly not unknown.
In fact, he is quite well known, by his work, by anyone who has visited the older cemeteries 
in the area south and southwest of Greensburg.

     Other carvers may have more than one shape, design, or style of wording. They may have 
produced stones that were bigger or more elaborate, but no carver is as easily recognized
 as this man.  His stones are always of modest size, always the same shape, and nearly 
always have a simple decorative design at the top. All begin with the wording 
"IN Memory of" and most of the rest of the wording is also consistent from one stone 
to another. I guess his designs and lettering could best be described as "primitive". 
He occasionally started to engrave a word and realized it was wrong, and then simply 
engraved the correct word right over the wrong one, as shown in the Robert Kelley photo 
below. And, he sometimes made slight errors in spelling or capitalization, but these 
flaws didn’t seem to bother his customers because he was one of the most popular sandstone
carvers in his area. I have seen 39 of his stones in 9 cemeteries, more than any other 
carver in Westmoreland County. 

Examples of the unidentified carver’s tombstones, all in Westmoreland County:

Elizabeth Goudy, Sewickley United Presbyterian, Sewickley Twp.
Robert Kelley, Sewickley United Presbyterian, Sewickley Twp.
Mary McAfee, Sewickley Presbyterian, South Huntingdon Twp.
Sarah Tarr, Tarrs Cemetery, East Huntingdon Twp.
Infant Son Tarr, Tarrs Cemetery, East Huntingdon Twp.