Grave Marker Iconography Identification, Extra-credit research

[Davearch]

Here is the grave marker of J. W. Pumel. The grave is located in the Washington Cemetery. I have not been able to find out what organization the 'Golden Gate' symbol refers to. Is it a religious group? A worker's union? Please post any information you may find as a reply to this topic.

[Bobio]

This one is going to drive me crazy,

I suspect (but have no solid proof) that this might have something to do with an old sect of Jesuits that existed in San Fransisco from 1850'ish to 1940'ish. St. Ignatius was their patron. I believe the sect evolved or was absorbed by what is now the university. I have emailed them to see if they have any input.

here are some other things I dredged up that you might find interesting

http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2005/09/written_in_ston.html

http://cfac.byu.edu/valbrinkerhoff/23morsym/source/17.htm

Douglas Keister, “Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography,”

I will keep you posted

[Bobio]

Professor Bruner,

I figured it would be helpful to utilize the 5th field of anthropology on this one after my initial investigations. Still can't nail it though. I started exploring the cache of Pumel's in the Houston area but the task seems daunting.


Bob Manning

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Lessl [mailto:tlessl@uga.edu]
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 11:53 AM
To: Robert Manning
Subject: Re: A very strange grave marker symbol that you might be able to help me with.

Robert, My knowledge of iconography is in fact very
limited. The only thing I would say is that it looks to be
based on the Celtic triskelion, and thus is a kind of
swastica. I would guess that it's military. Doesn't the
object in the bottom right section look like a grenade to
you?

Good luck with your research. Have you made any effort to
locate surviving relatives?

Tom
Thomas M. Lessl
Department of Speech Communication
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-1725

[Bobio]

The search goes on,



Thank you so much for the quick response, here is a picture of the marker. Just double click the GoldenGateSymbol Above and it should open. It must not have made it to you earlier.


Thank you again for any help!

Bob Manning



-----Original Message-----
From: Kempton, Wayne [mailto:wkempton@dioceseny.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 2:39 PM
To: rmanning@houston.rr.com
Subject: Gravemarker

Your email sent to Jerry Keucher was forwarded to me here in the diocesan archives. Without seeing the marker that you mention it is difficult to make a judgement.
In the book "Outward Signs" by Canon Edward Nason West, it says that the swastika (also known as the Cross Rebated), is an ancient and honorable symbol of pre-Christian origin. It was part of the formal decoration of clerical clothing right into Christian times. Shown with it in the book is the Cross Gammadian, a kind of curved version of the former. Inaddition, there is the Cross Crampony, a hackenkreutz (broken cross) similar to the swastika except that the "broken" section of each arm is shorter than the unbroken section. The hackenkreutz appears on one of the principle decorations given by Finland. A variant form consist of four carmpons, tools uses in mountain climbing for icy terrain or in raising blocks of stone. The cross is popular as an ornament both with mountain climbers and stoneworkers. I attach two scans showing the sketches in the book.

Good luck with you research.

Wayne H. Kempton
Archivist
Episcopal Diocese of N <<CrossCrampony-1.jpg>> e <<Crosses-1.jpg>> w York

[jennifer]

The emblem on the monument of JW Pumel is from his labor union in Oakland California. It is the emblem of the Order of Railway Conductors (Brakemen were added sometime after the original formation). He was a conductor for Southern Pacific until his sudden death (in San Fransisco) when his brother (from Houston) went to CA to retrieve him and had him buried at the Washington cemetery. Most of this info came straight from his obit. Here's the link to verify the emblem:

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~sha...s/emblems20.htm

You'll notice the top panel is a bit different than JW's. My bet is that this panel was altered in some way when brakemen were added to the "Order".

On a personal note: JW was also a Mason, no children and to quote his niece "extrememly devoted to his brotherhood"....his labor union.

On to the next mystery!

Jennifer Hawkins
Student-at-large