This comes up periodically so I thought I would pass it along. The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com. Let's face it. Genealogists spend a lot of time in cemeteries. Those who visit cemeteries in the Midwest and western states often find tombstones that look like logs or tree stumps. Some simpler designs look like regular tombstones but with a circular design on them with a log, a dove, an axe, maul, and wedge, and the inscription, "Dum Tacet Clamat" ("Though silent, he speaks"). Most of these tombstones were placed there in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. What are these unique legacies left behind? What is the significance of the logs or tree stumps? In 1883, a man by the name of Joseph Cullen Root organized a fraternal society in Omaha, Nebraska, called "Modern Woodmen of America". As in many fraternal organizations of time, one of the benefits of being a member was that upon death, the other members would pass around a hat and donate money to the widow. Membership was limited to white males older than 18 years of age. Later, when passing around the hat became more frequent and costly, Root decided to sell life insurance to members. Modern Woodmen of America became a fraternal benefit society. Later, a women's auxiliary started up, called "Royal Neighbors of America." Both the male and female organizations grew steadily, and in five years, Modern Woodmen had a total membership of twenty-four thousand. In 1899, several members had a "falling out" with the leaders of the society and separated to form a new society under the leadership of Fred A. Falkenburg, which they named "Woodmen of the World". Shortly after, tensions were high in the new organization, and Falkenburg moved to Denver to form, "Woodmen of the World, Pacific Jurisdiction". Today, the three societies remain as insurance companies. Woodmen of the World created women's auxiliaries called "Woodmen Circle" and "Supreme Forest Woodmen," while the Pacific Jurisdiction created an auxiliary called "Neighbors of Woodcraft", which still exists as an insurance company in Portland, Oregon. Up until 1935, when a member died, the society would donate $100.00 towards the burial expenses if the surviving family allowed the society's emblem and/or wording to appear on the stone. These are the aforementioned designs that appear on the deceased members' gravestones. You can find numerous pictures of these tombstones on the Web, including at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~srgp/flaghold/flag081.htm http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~rocky/Fran... http://www.courses.rochester.edu/hom... http://www.arches.uga.edu/~rac/beardin.html http://www.austinexplorer.com/Ceme... http://okielegacy.org/journal/Vol5/OHTHV5-19.htm http://photoweb.lodestone.org/folder/719/en (click on the images to see a larger version) The most ornate one I could find is at http://darktreasures.com/Graveyards/FavoriteTombStones.htm (look at the bottom picture, click on it to see a larger image)