Expressing my thanks to Jessica Rhoads, a kind "Find A Grave" photo volunteer, for going outside and braving the elements on a gray and wintry January day in 2011 to visit the Butcher Cemetery in North Lewisburg, Champaign County, Ohio. Jessica took several photographs of this toppled stone monument that was erected for Joshua Spain; his wife Mary (Inskeep), and daughter, Emeline. His second wife, Matilda Cowgill Spain is also buried at the Butcher Cemetery. I am not sure if Matilda's name is on this stone, but most likely it is.
This longer distance view poignantly conveys an instant feeling of forlorness. The 'maimed monument' draws our attention as the central figure amid surrounding smaller ground markers that dot the rear of the burying ground's gentle hilltop. If it could only once again stand whole and bear witness for those who it was meant to honor.
