Stull Family Monument
Location: Area T/Lot 66
Date of Placement: around 1920
Decedents: Singleton Stull and wife Emma J. (Conrad) Stull
Monument inducted into the Hall in September 2023 (Class #3)
Location: Area T/Lot 66
Date of Placement: around 1920
Decedents: Singleton Stull and wife Emma J. (Conrad) Stull
Monument inducted into the Hall in September 2023 (Class #3)
The monument on Area T/Lot #66 belongs to a couple by the names of Singleton (1851-1930) and Emma (Conrad) Stull (1851-1920). I wrote an article about them back in April of 2023.
Their monument could be the work of local stonemason Howard G. Taylor (1875-1961), buried a few short yards to the north. This large and hearty stone features an ancient building, seemingly a temple, in a state of free-falling collapse. Carved by hand, the structure is crafted to appear as if enshrined within the shell of the larger boulder. On exterior of the outer shell, we find second artistic element, and another can be found as well on the temple. One is a strand, or vine, of flowers in full bloom, and the other is a lone feather.
Their monument could be the work of local stonemason Howard G. Taylor (1875-1961), buried a few short yards to the north. This large and hearty stone features an ancient building, seemingly a temple, in a state of free-falling collapse. Carved by hand, the structure is crafted to appear as if enshrined within the shell of the larger boulder. On exterior of the outer shell, we find second artistic element, and another can be found as well on the temple. One is a strand, or vine, of flowers in full bloom, and the other is a lone feather.
Since we can easily judge the architecture depicted on the Stull monument as ancient, I thought the answer would either lie in Greek or Roman history, the Bible, or both. I had someone mention to me that it may signify Pompeii, a victim of Mount Vesuvius. I didn’t see the symbolism in a destructive volcano wiping out civilization being something you’d want to put on your grave marker, unless of course you were a victim of said Vesuvius—and those poor souls didn’t have much of a say in their burial as it happened without warning.
Another individual offered the story of Joshua and the Wall of Jericho. In the case of Jericho, the bible lesson here reminds us that walls can be a source of imprisonment and division, but God fulfills what He promises. Is this a “shout out” to the promise of heaven to the faithful? I re-read some interpretations of this Bible story and learned that some scientists have theorized that the walls of Jericho were destroyed by an earthquake and not seven priests blowing trumpets. Regardless, the depiction on the Stull stone looks more like the famed Paestum Temple in Salerno (Italy) than an ancient city wall in Palestine's West Bank.