SMITH-POST-DORT
A GRAVE CONUNDRUM
The Mystery of Titus Dort’s Grave
TITUS DORT, Jr. (1806-1879) Union Chapel Cemetery, Wayne Co., Michigan
My maternal 3rd Great Grandfather’s distant grave has intrigued me for years. Nestled in a family lot within a small cemetery where lilacs once bloomed, Titus Dort’s unique burial plot is unlike any other I have ever seen.
Originally, the large headstone and small footstone (now detached from their bases) were anchor-points, securing the ends of a grave that was inexplicably covered with a metal sheet specially designed for that purpose.
But…for what purpose?
That was my question four years ago when I found two photographs of Titus Dort’s grave that a fellow ancestrydotcom contributor had posted as a tree hint. I have since discovered that the originals were uploaded by a dedicated Find-a-Grave volunteer who has supplied thousands of images and information for the website’s memorials. And, had it not been for the cooperation and interest of such generous family historians, I might never have found myself in such a grave conundrum.
In recent attempts to solve the mystery of my ancestor’s grave covering, I found myself being led down some interesting, but largely unrelated, rabbit holes of discovery. For instance, while searching for “late 19th century metal grave covers,” I found an online article written by Alan Finn for mentalflossdotcom in which he introduces a list of “7 Weird Graveyard Inventions”:
“If necessity is the mother of invention, death is its eccentric aunt. For centuries, humankind has been preoccupied with what happens to our bodies after we die. The result has been a grim procession of inventions intended to make our graves safer, sturdier, and in some cases, easier to flee. Some of these grave innovations are practical, but others border on the bizarre and downright creepy.” (Finn)
Among those “weird graveyard inventions” were things like the Safety Coffin and Escape Coffin, both of which were designed to assuage the morbid pre-Victorian fear of accidently being buried alive. In contrast to inventive means for “getting out” of a coffin, other designs such as the Mortsafe featured iron-clad deterrents against “getting in,” to thwart grave-robbing “body snatchers” during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries who illegally exhumed corpses from fresh graves—all in the name of medical science and profit. Mostly profit. And don’t even get me started on the use of Coffin Torpedoes that booby-trapped graves, a post-Civil War lethal defense against grave robbers.
Although all these inventions were fascinating, (and sometimes wildly creative!) none of them helped me to understand why my great-great-great grandfather had a metal plate covering his grave. Despite the fact that it was badly damaged—undoubtedly age- and weather-related—the cast iron cover had a simple, utilitarian appearance with its rivets, vented dome, and rough finish. It looked like it had been unearthed. To my untrained eye it definitely fit into the “weird” category.
But upon closer inspection, I noticed something. Although the lettering was partially obscured in the photo, it appeared to be a patent mark with a date of JUL[Y]. Not much to go on, I’ll admit, but it was a start. So, with that tiny clue, I set out to discover who created Titus Dort’s grave covering and, more importantly, why.
Fast-forward through lots of rabbit holes, and that little clue led me to other examples of the same design over two other graves in two other cemeteries—one in Illinois and the other in a Michigan county bordering Illinois. Between the two, I could finally confirm both the inventor and the purpose of my ancestor’s unusual grave covering.
The following photo comparison shows the written detail from the Illinois grave cover:
[NOTE PATENT DATE (JULY 13, 1875) ON DIAGRAM]
What Robert Sipes created, however, was something much less weird and much more practical than an Escape Coffin. His patent information explains:
“This invention has relation to improvements in grave-covers, wherein are employed cast-iron boxes for covering the mound, and marble head and foot stones for receiving the inscription.
“The object of the invention is, in the first place, to protect the marble head and foot stones from becoming stained in consequence of the oxidization of the grave-cover, and in the second place to prevent the pins whereby the stones are secured to the grave-cover from being injured by the moisture of the earth. “
A second online source confirms Sipes as the inventor with a photo of a grave that shows the same protective metal design that was used over the grave of Titus Dort. It is a post entitled “Grave Covers” written by Kim Jacobson. In the article she states:
“Robert H. Sipes of Everett, Pennsylvania obtained a patent for a “new and valuable improvement” in grave-covers on July 13, 1875 that was more resilient to northern weather than the Abrams cover. - According to the patent: it is well known that cast-iron grave covers or guards, having the usual box-like form, will not stand the hard freezing of cold climates. The expansion of wet earth when frozen in such covers causes them to crack and become broken. - The Sipes covers included a marble head and foot stone as opposed to the cast-iron Abrams head-plates that typically rusted through and have since disappeared.” [Note: Abrams also invented a protective cast iron grave cover found mostly in the South—much more decorative than Sipes’ design, also much more susceptible to harsh weather conditions.]
After examining all of the information I was able to gather online, I am relieved to know that my great-great-great grandfather’s grave wasn’t weird after all. The abstract of a paper found on academiadotedu suggests that I wasn’t alone in my initial confusion and misunderstanding of the unique type of burial tribute that was chosen to mark my ancestor’s grave. Entitled “The Cast Iron Grave Cover: A Case of Mistaken Identity and Identity Found,” the abstract states:
“An object, tentatively identified as a cast-iron casket lid, appeared to be eroding out of the ground in an east-central Illinois rural cemetery. Appropriate authorities were notified in the anticipation of re-interment, but subsequent research determined that the object was a cast-iron grave cover, a rare and scarcely recognized mortuary accoutrement. The revelation afforded the opportunity to systematically examine a mid-nineteenth century death custom and artifact, and to ultimately reunite the grave cover and its associated grave with its dislocated gravestone.”
SOURCES:
[Terry Lack. Find-a-Grave contributor. Photos of Titus Dort’s grave at findagravedotcom]
[Alan Finn. mentalflossdotcom article “7 Weird Graveyard Inventions,” 18 July 2018 https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59584/7-weird-graveyard-inventions ]
[Faces of the Forgotten. Youtube video 26 Jan 2021]
(BURIED ALIVE - The Grave is Sealed, But There Is A Small Way Out! The Story of the Abel Family.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woPhHiBsz_4 Bellflower, IL (minute 23:36 -close up of patent info “PAT.MAR.9[?] JULY 13, 1875”)
[Kim Jacobson. from online article, Grave Covers, September 26, 2022 “Sipes Metallic Grave-Cover” https://symbolism.magnoliasandpeaches.com/2022/09/grave-covers/ ]
[Naso, Steven Di, and Bill Lovekamp. The Cast Iron Grave Cover: A Case of Mistaken Identity and Identity Found. https://www.academia.edu/14136435/The_Cast_Iron_Grave_Cover_A_Case_of_Mistaken_Identity_and_Identity_Found] ABSTRACT
[Google Patents.“Improvement in grave covers.” R(obert) H. Sipes. https://patents.google.com/patent/US165622A/en U.S. Patent Office]
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