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Geology Resources - Missouri

Research Resources

Stone Carvers, Stone Cutters, etc., in Missouri

  • Charles Andera - “The Remarkable Crosses of Charles Andera,” by Loren N. Horton, in Markers XIV, Association for Gravestone Studies, 1997. ( Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, USA)
  • “Carvers of Gravestones: A Generation Apart,” in the Boonslick Area of Missouri, Chapter 9 in “Reflections of Change: Death and Cemeteries in the Boonslick Region of Missouri,” Maryellen Harshbarger McVicker, Dr. Osmund Overby, Dissertation Supervisor. (This book is no longer available at the link below, but you can access the book using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine link.)
    <http://www.mo-river.net/history/boonslick/>
  • Lucy J. Daniel, Marble Cutter, Exeter, Barry County, Missouri. The following article is from “Some Women Marble Cutters,” in The Monumental News Magazine, the date of the original publication is unknown, although it was published some years after 1885, pp. 120 (?). This article was included as one of the past articles of the magazine in the December, 1939 issue of The Monumental News Magazine. (Photo captions: Lucy J. Daniel, of Executor, Mo.; Alice E. Rigg, of Canada; & Pearl Sams, of Great Bend, Kansas.)

    "Some Women Marble Cutters," in Monumental News, pub. after 1885/before 1939. (Miss Lucy J. Daniel, of Executor, Mo.; Miss Alice E. Rigg , of Canada; and Miss Pearl Sams, of Great Bend, Kansas.)

    Some Women Marble Cutters

    “When Tennyson wrote, ‘Man for the field, and woman for the hearth; man for the sword and for the needle she,’ he could not have foreseen how soon this statement would need revision. Man has well nigh deserted the sword; woman’s needle is now driven by machinery, and in her search for new fields of action, she has invaded many trades and professions that were formerly regarded as the sole prerogative of man. Women in mercantile establishments and business offices no longer excite comment. Chicago has some women bank tellers, and every one of the professions has its women representatives, and the census strenuously announces that there are some women blacksmiths. “‘Monumental News’ has recently been trying to discover how many women are identified with the arts and crafts tributary to the marble and granite industries, and while the returns have not been by any means complete, we present on this page some evidence of the fact that woman is deserting the needle and taking up the chisel. It is well-known that there are a number of women sculptors who have achieved national prominence in their art, and one of whom is a member of the National Sculpture Society. Consequently our efforts were directed toward discovering some women marble cutters and carvers, and we have thus far succeeded in finding only three. This leads us to believe that the women connected with the trade are either scarce, or are of a more retiring disposition than their sisters in other walks of life, and we urge the timid ones to send along their photographs at once. “The young ladies introduced on this page are all experienced and reliable in the work of ornamental carving, lettering, and tracing, and express themselves as well satisfied with their work. “Miss Lucy J. Daniel, of Executor, Mo., was born in Carter county, Ky.; and learned the marble business with her father, who was in business in Charleston, Ark., and at Springdale, Ark., before moving to Exeter, Mo. she has had a long experience in the trade, having taken full charge of the shop in 1885, when she also began lettering. She does all of the lettering and some of the cutting and rubbing, and reports a good and growing business. She has recently been investigating homestead claims in western Kansas, and contemplates retiring from business and moving out there. “Miss Alice E. Rigg is a Canadian girl, and acquired her first experience in the shop of her father, Geo. Rigg, at Windsor, Ontario. She cut her first inscription seven years ago, and has since become a valued assistant in her father’s business, and it is sufficient testimony to her skill to say that customers continue to be pleased with her work. She does not do stone cutting or the heavier work of the shop, but is an adept at carving, tracing, lettering and all ornamental work on granite and marble. Miss Rigg does much of her carving from original designs of her own, and become so skilled in this line that her drawings for carved work are in demand by out of town workers, and she is reputed to be the most skillful marble carver in Windsor, where her work is in great demand. Our illustration shows an excellent likeness of her in working costume. “Miss Pearl Sams, of Great Bend, Kansas, also learned to handle the mallet and chisel under the instruction of her father, W. J. Sams who is a veteran monument man of thirty years’ experience. She writes that she began at the age of seventeen, and has been at the trade over seven years, thereby revealing what is commonly supposed to be one of the secrets of the sex. She received a thorough training in the craft, beginning with frosting, lettering footstones and small slabs and proceeded gradually to the better class of work. For the past three years she has been doing the best of lettering and tracing, and can cut an inscription as quickly and as thoroughly as the average man in the trade. She does not do heavy cutting or polishing, but considers herself master of the other branches of marble cutting. She says: ‘I love my trade and expect to follow it as long as my name is Miss Pearl Sams.’ “There are a number of women who are successfully managing businesses formerly conducted by their husbands, but very few of them do the actual work of cutting.”
  • Early Stone Cutters in Western Missouri, A  Research Study From Jones-Seelinger-Johannes Foundation, 2005, Poplar Heights Farm, 103 West Walnut  Street, Butler, Missouri. (Brian Phillips - Executive Director, Terrie Jessup - Program Director, Patricia Jacobs - Research Assistant, Betty Newton - Research Assistant, Photography - Brian Phillips, Terrie Jessup, Melissa Phillips)
    • Summary
    • Stone Cutters Whose Lives Touched Western Missouri (You can either use the “Stone Cutters” section of the menu on the web site or visit the links below for detailed information on the stone cutters in each county.)
      • Stone Cutters of Bates County, Missouri: F.R. O’Rear, T.A. Roberts, C.W. Rogers, T.R. Roland, A. Roberts, L.P. Stevens, Jas. W. Simmons, and H. Simmons.
      • Stone Cutters of Cass County, Missouri: E.R. Goodwin, Loge Logan, A.J. Leap, H.T. Smith, S.B. Vernon, C.F. Killinger, Judd Kazee, Charles Reeder, W.M. White, A.L. Thurston, William W. Alhurn, Samuel McAlexander, Charles Lancaster, Charles Warner, J.E.P Bowers, Joseph Carr, C.F. Killmyer, W.S. Killmyer, D. Schwankee, Charlie Taylor, David Taylor, Jennie Taylor, William Taylor, John Coffey, T.J. Merica, Martin Crotty, James Dugless, Paul Dunken, George Hart, John J. Hill, John J. Welsh, John W. Clary, Phillips Coloss, M. Cunningham, Gordon Johnson, James Moseley, A.J. Sullivan, James Walbridge, Theodore Bailey, George Burgess, John Buckly, Phillip Dorsey, Charles Dunn, Simon Head, Jno. Gamble, Aaron D. Gilbert, Hugh Hastings, Josiah Heard, Silas Kazee, James Ruth, Andrew Sherlock, John O.P. Sherlock, Nelson Sherlock, William Shortridge, Armstrg. Hyser, George L. Vance, Dennis Woods, D. F. Glass, J.O.P. Sherlock, Charles Dore, James Allison, Jacob H. Davis, Glenwood Davis, Palmer, Bros., and M.A. Hullinger,
      • Stone Cutters of Johnson County, Missouri: Adam Schwenk, NathanFisher, John W. Rowlett, A.S. Carney, Bartley Cary, Samuel Cassady, Maurice Lehey, Francis Ferguson, John C. Wear, Mathew Bass, Charles Brooks, Charles Dennison, George Ridge, James Shuford, James R. Wade, Benjamin Brittan, William Braumer, C.B.D. Austin, James Hall, Jack Hathaway, George Maxfield, Julian Talbott, John Valmer, J.L. Brown, William Bruce, Jno. F. Cline, F.F. Elliott, Michael McBride, and Benjamin Bretten.
      • Stone Cutters of St. Clair County, Missouri: George Moody, T. Rainwater, John Hill, Cul Biggs, Frank Goff, (Sheet) Charles J. Holland, H.C. Schlichtman, Clarence Harvey, John S. Hill, J.M. Smith, James Street, James K. P. Dike, Edward Wood, T.E. McDowell, William Allen, Alpheus Tucker, George Monroe, George H. Moody, ? Wilson, A.W. Campbell, C.B. Rogers, C.P. Brackman, Nepoleon B. Brooks, and William Cue.
      • Stone Cutters of Vernon County, Missouri: J.W. Runyan, George A Miller, J.E. Harris, George B Cary, George Smith, Jas. Welch, Abraham Tidwell, A.R. Boothman, James B. Miller, E.F. Hines, William B. Creach, John Fluke, William Nichols, brother in law of John Fluke, Charles A. Weston, D.R. Austin, Joel T. Downey, James Hughes, George W. Boggs, Alfred Briley, Emanuel (?) Thompson, Charles Kling, Patrick Brophy, Thomas Mims, Alfred Cox, William Cox, John Mims, James Hendricks, Frank Kessinger, H.H. Wilson, Lawrence Daly, George Hartly, Jas. W. Shepherd, Charles A. Weston, Daniel Baily, and Charles Shepperd.
      • Stone Cutters in Other Areas in Western Missouri: Will B. Caton, Sedalia, Pettis County, Missouri; Alvis M. “Brownie” and Elizabeth Davis, Deepwater, Henry County, Missouri; and Charles Gebherdt, Clinton, Henry County, Missouri.
    • Stone Cutters’ Tools:
    • Recipes for Stone Cutters
    • Bibliography
    • Glossary
  • Nancy Coonsman Hahn, St. Louis, Missouri (from Monumental News: Granite, Marble, Stone, Bronze Sculpture, March 1923, Vol. XXX, No. 3, pp. 148)
    What the Sculptors Are Doing: “Mrs. Nancy Coonsman Hahn, sculptress has returned to her home in St. Louis, Missouri, after nine months in Europe, during which she supervised erection of the Missouri State Memorial Monument at Cheppy, France.”
  • William “Scotts” or “Scotch” Johnston (mid-1800s) – The following is from the web site, Alton in the Civil War: Alton and the Underground Railroad:

    • “The man who buried Elijah Lovejoy, William ‘Scotts’ or ‘Scotch’ Johnston, was a free Black stonecutter who did the work on St. Louis’ Old Cathedral.  When Lovejoy was reinterred in 1864, Johnston was the only one who knew where he lay.”

  • Robin Putnam - Carthage, Missouri, Stone Carver - Visit Robin Putnam’s web site to view photographs of many sculptures done in Indiana limestone, Utah Alabaster, and other stones.
  • Tom Schrauth - Cape Fair, Missouri. Article about Tom Schrauth, Stonemason, entitled, “A new Stone Age Tom Schrauth turns marble and limestone into enduring works of art,” by Jeff Joiner. (photographs)

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