Thanks to a great lookup that went beyond the "call of duty", I have today found the headstone of my great-great grandmother, Araminta Smith, who died in 1859 . The headstone has an indentation in it, the shape of the federal shield (you know, the shape that surrounds the number on the highway road signs). You can see, in the indentation, that there was originally something attached to the headstone with 2 screws or brads, and it has been torn off, leaving just the shield shaped indentation. For the life of me I can't figure out what could have been put onto a lady's gravestone in this shape. If it were a man's I'd think he had been in some branch of the armed services, or a member of some sort of a fraternal order...but, what could it have been on a woman's stone? I'd think the year, 1859, would be too early for it to have been some sort of a photographic image....has anyone else had this experience, seen anything this shape, or have any ideas of what it could have been? > S. >