Tombstone Tuesday--Arno and Hedwig Voss

On my way to Loyola Hospital I decided to make a brief stop at a local cemetery. For weeks I had seen a specific tombstone from the Eisenhower Expressway and wanted a closer look. The marker in question was one shaped like a tree trunk. Readers of Flipside know that I have a penchant for them.

The cemetery is Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois and what a find it was. Some day I would like to come back and spend days wandering around. The sculptural art is superb.

Today I was able to snap about six markers in the shape of tree trunks. Featured here is one for Arno and Hedwig Voss. Unfortunately, I am not fluent in German; however some research out on ancestry and family search provided me with some dates. Google books was a gold mine as Arno Voss, a local Chicago attorney, Colonel with the 12th Illinois Calvary Regiment in the Civil War and senator in the Illinois General Assembly, has numerous mentions in Chicago history books.

Hedwig Voss has an illuminating paragraph on page 149 of Wendy Hamand Venet's book, "Midwestern Women: Work, Community, Leadership at the Crossroads", found in google books. Hedwig was a writer and active in her community and at the German Old People's Home, where she later lived. She was a conservative voice in her neighborhood and Chicago.


ARNO VOSS
Born
circa 1819
Germany
Died
Looks like March 23, 1888
Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois



HEDWIG VOSS
Born
April, 1827
Germany
Died
October 17, 1905
Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois

Arno Voss letter regarding the German Old Peoples Home, "Altenheim". Hedwig Voss, a widow on the 1900 Illinois Census, is a resident of Altenheim and also listed as the assistant matron.

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