Great Question! I'll hazard a guess. I assumed it meant "next to mother" -- even if mother wasn't in evidence. It was suggested it was "by mother", in this case, "earth" when I googled it. You HAVE TO TELL what your grandma thought! Sherry > [Original Message] > From: Stacy Smith <slsmith@grm.net> > To: <IADECATU-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: 5/23/2005 4:15:37 PM > Subject: [IADECATU] "By Mother" > > Ok all you smart cemetery people. I have a question for you. > What does "by mother" mean when found on a gravestone? > My grandmother and I were out cemetery walking last weekend, and we ran across two stones next to eachother and they both had the man's name birth/death year and below this, it said By Mother. > Ok, what does that mean? They weren't infants...I can't remember exactly how old they were, but I think they were both older than 20.... > Any ideas? (I am not going to tell you what my grandma thought it might mean.) :-) > Thanks in advance > Stacy > > > (searching for the surnames: Green, McLaughlin, Wion, Jones, White, Truitt, Newberry, ?McCoy? and Stephen(s) that came to Decatur county, IA, AND > Stone, Elkins, Ward, Johnston/Johnson, Bowen, Gillespie, Coots, Shain, Polley, Clevenger, Hook, Bridges, Moore and Smith that were in Harrison County, MO) > > > > ==== IADECATU Mailing List ==== > Stacey Dietiker, Momdit@aol.com: Decatur County List Administrator, > Website Coordinator, Decatur County IA Genweb - http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu > > ============================== > View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find > marriage announcements and more. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx

Hi Sherry, At first I thought maybe it ment that he was buried next to mother, but there didn't appear to be room between the two stones (they were born a year or so appart, so they could be brothers, but both couldn't be "by mother" if there wasn't room for her to squeeze between them....) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sherry Balow" <balowmsg@earthlink.net> To: <IADECATU-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 6:57 PM Subject: RE: [IADECATU] "By Mother" > Great Question! I'll hazard a guess. I assumed it meant "next to mother" > -- even if mother wasn't in evidence. It was suggested it was "by mother", > in this case, "earth" when I googled it. You HAVE TO TELL what your > grandma thought! > > Sherry > > > > [Original Message] > > From: Stacy Smith <slsmith@grm.net> > > To: <IADECATU-L@rootsweb.com> > > Date: 5/23/2005 4:15:37 PM > > Subject: [IADECATU] "By Mother" > > > > Ok all you smart cemetery people. I have a question for you. > > What does "by mother" mean when found on a gravestone? > > My grandmother and I were out cemetery walking last weekend, and we ran > across two stones next to eachother and they both had the man's name > birth/death year and below this, it said By Mother. > > Ok, what does that mean? They weren't infants...I can't remember exactly > how old they were, but I think they were both older than 20.... > > Any ideas? (I am not going to tell you what my grandma thought it might > mean.) :-) > > Thanks in advance > > Stacy > > > > > > (searching for the surnames: Green, McLaughlin, Wion, Jones, White, > Truitt, Newberry, ?McCoy? and Stephen(s) that came to Decatur county, IA, > AND > > Stone, Elkins, Ward, Johnston/Johnson, Bowen, Gillespie, Coots, Shain, > Polley, Clevenger, Hook, Bridges, Moore and Smith that were in Harrison > County, MO) > > > > > > > > ==== IADECATU Mailing List ==== > > Stacey Dietiker, Momdit@aol.com: Decatur County List Administrator, > > Website Coordinator, Decatur County IA Genweb - > http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu > > > > ============================== > > View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find > > marriage announcements and more. Learn more: > > http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx > > > > ==== IADECATU Mailing List ==== > Stacey Dietiker, Momdit@aol.com: Decatur County List Administrator, > Website Coordinator, Decatur County IA Genweb - http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu > > ============================== > Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > New content added every business day. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx >