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Native sonSimple stone marks stonecutter's graveBy BOB WILSONThe artist who is responsible for many of the fascinating monuments in Aspen Grove cemetery lies beneath a simple stone bearing his name, birth and death dates. And his name is not spelled as he spelled it.Tobias Hermann, a native of Germany, died Sept. 8, 1931, at age 70; his death, according to a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Nellie Marsden, was a result of “stonecutter’s consumption,” a hazard of the profession.Hermann, while associated with Leyda, Burrus Metz, was one of the best marble cutters in the country, and was known as an artist and designer. As a young man, prior to moving to Burlington, he traveled extensively. His obituary in The Daily Gazette reported that “many monuments of his skill can be found in memorial carving and building architecture the country over. One of the most notable examples of this will be found in the marble work of the federal postoffice at New Orleans, designed and executed by Tobias Hermann.”Mrs. Marsden said that during the ’20s Hermann won a national carving title at I,ouisville, Ky., in competition which involved chiseling letters of the alphabet in stone.Hermann was the cutter who treated a valise in stone for the grave of a young salesman from Burlington who apparently committed suicide by drowning in the Mississippi river here. The stone carries an announcement and a request: My Trip Is Ended Send My Samples Home.• Another example of Hermann’s art is a monument which marks the grave of a small child. It is of a baby’s shoe and stocking, done at the request of grief-stricken parents who saw the items in stone as an eternal reminder of their loss.' Hermann did some carving from sketches, etching the dog which guards the grave of Peter Bonn. In this /column last week I wondered about circumstances which led to the stone animal.Mrs. Marsden said the story of the dog, as passed down through the Hermann family, goes something like this: Bonn was an avid sportsman and renowned hunter. He and his wife Elizabeth died in 1885 within five weeks of each other, both victims of lyphoid fever. They left an infant daughter; Bonn left a faithful hunting dog. The dog had difficulty adjusting to the loss of his master, and could be found daily at Bonn’s grave — apparently mourning his loss, not unlike Grey Friars’ Bobby of movie fame.With the dog’s death, Hermann was assigned the task of creating a memorial to his dedication to his master. Thus the statue.That version of the story is essentially as it’s told in the Meinsen family. Kenneth and Robert Meinsen, Cleota Malloy and Leona Titus, all of Burlington, are children of the late Hulda Bonn Meinsen. Hulda, who died May 17, 1958, at age 73, was the child orphaned by the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bonn.Kenneth Meinsen said his mother was taken in by her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bonn, after her parents’ deaths. He confirmed what I had speculated last week, that Bonn’s Hollow was named for the Jacob Bonn family. He said his grandparents owned the property where the hollow lies.But why is Hermann buried under the name of Tobias Herman? Mrs. Marsden isn’t sure why the ‘n’ was dropped from his name. She said Hermann’s wife only used one ‘n’ in her married name, but that she doesn’t know the circumstances of how that arrangement came about. She speculates that Mrs. Hermann was conscious of the anti-German attitude which prevailed during and after World War I, and changed the spelling in an effort to Anglicize the name.Mrs. Marsden said her sons, Bob and Tobv, have been disturbed over the missing ‘n’ for several years. They may, she said, attempt to have a second ‘n’ put on the marker for their grandfather.II ft)At this time, our thoughts go out to the underdog, the poor, the tame, Ronald Reagan . . .Letters to the Waterfront should be typed, If possible, must be signed and should Include the writer's address ond telephone number, to assist In verification.
Newspaper Details
Burlington Hawk Eye
Burlington, Iowa, US
Sun, Mar 30, 1975
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Burlington P.
IA, USA 19 Sep 2023
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