Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega explains what a cenotaph is, and why a grave marker in a cemetery does not necessarily mean your ancestor is buried there. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

You are visiting a cemetery. You see grave markers. You assume that where there is a grave marker, there is a burial. But is that always the case?

The simple answer is “no.” Just because you see a grave marker doesn’t mean it marks a burial. Why?

Cenotaphs

Not every grave marker marks a final resting place in a cemetery. In some cases, you might find what appears to be a burial place, but it is only a memorial. When the deceased is not buried there, that marker is a cenotaph.

A cenotaph is defined as “an empty tomb or monument to honor an individual or group of people.” A cenotaph isn’t always obvious. It may look like an ordinary grave marker. Careful research may need to be undertaken to determine whether or not that grave marker, statue or monument marks a grave.

Here is the monument to Mary Hazard Swain located in the Cayucos-Morro Bay District Cemetery in California.

Look closely at the inscription on this monument for Mary Hazard Swain.

Along with Mary’s birth and death dates, this inscription has the line “Gone but not forgotten.” Underneath that is this line: “Intered [sic] elsewhere.”

So why would your ancestor have a cenotaph? Various reasons exist, including:

• A burial plot and/or marker was purchased but never used because the person moved, died while traveling, or they or their family chose to bury them elsewhere. This may have to do with cost (for example if they died far away and the cost was too great to transport them to their preferred burial place).

One example is this rather large pyramid marker in San Luis Obispo, California.

Because of its shape and size, it’s become rather infamous. The Dorn pyramid mausoleum holds Cora Russell Dorn (1868-1905) and her newborn son Fred Adolphus Dorn Jr. (1905). Cora’s husband and Fred’s father was understandably grief stricken when he commissioned this large mausoleum in their honor.

He added his name and birth date to the marker, Fred Adolphus Dorn (8-30-1865), planning for the day he would join them in this forever home (and have his death date added to the marker). However, life had other plans. Fred remarried and moved to California’s Bay Area where he died in 1940 and was buried. Although his name is inscribed on this mausoleum in San Luis Obispo, he is not buried there.

So, in his case, this pyramid is a cenotaph.* It’s an example of how someone might pre-plan a final resting place but end up not using it.

Other reasons for a cenotaph:

• The body was not recovered. Maybe the person died at sea or in a place where their body could not be recovered, so a marker was erected to honor them.
• To memorialize an individual or group. For example, a military memorial for a group but the individuals are buried elsewhere.

• A cenotaph might be erected when the actual burial place is unknown.
• To honor the person.

A famous example of a cenotaph is located at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in California for Gone with the Wind actress Hattie McDaniel. When she died in 1952, she requested that she be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery – but at that time they didn’t allow African American burials, so instead she was buried at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. In 1999, under new ownership, Hollywood Forever Cemetery honored her request and a cenotaph was placed in her memory.

Not All Markers Indicate a Burial

Even with the identification of a grave marker, there’s no guarantee that the deceased’s body is there unless you have records of a burial. Seeking out various records for the cemetery and the burial can help you learn the entire story.

* This is a longer story and includes some suspicions that his ashes were possibly added to the mausoleum. One of the places to find the story of the Dorn pyramid is at “Why Is a 25-Foot-Tall Pyramid in SLO? Here’s the Story Behind This Graveyard Mystery,” Tribune (https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article210713204.html)

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Note on the header image: Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island. Credit: Matt H. Wade; Wikimedia Commons.