Woodmen of the World

The marker of Houston Monk at the Lee Cemetery

in Benton, Saline County, Arkansas

is an excellent example of a Woodmen of the World gravemarker. 

One of the more fascinating types of gravestones here in the mid-South are those belonging to the Woodmen of the World (WOW).  The Woodmen of the World and the older Modern Woodmen of the World are both mutual benefit societies founded by a man named Joseph Cullen Root.  Mutual benefit societies were very popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and included such organizations as the International Organization of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) and the Freemasons.  They were created to assist members during times of hardship.  One of the early benefits of the Woodmen and Modern Woodmen was a gravemarker, often shaped like a tree, so that "No woodmen shall rest in an unmarked grave." 

I had always assumed that because they were called the Woodmen and I saw a large number of the stones in cemeteries in timber producing regions that most of the Woodmen were timbermen, but I have since learned that timbermen were excluded from membership as their profession was too dangerous.  Originally Root limited membership to white males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, from the twelve healthiest states, and restricted those in hazardous professions like timberman, bartender, gunpowder factory employee, and even professional baseball players. 

At first the Woodmen supplied matching tombstones but when that proved too expensive they allowed each local craver to design their own marker resulting in a wide array of beautiful crafted stones.  Natural designs were popular during this time and the tree markers are some of the best examples. 

Another nice example of a Woodmen marker at the Lee Cemetery.  

It contains several of the common Woodmen symbols

including the hatchet, maul, wedge, and dove.