Graves of Unknowns in Gardens of Stone: An Analysis of Infant Anonymity from a Midwestern Cemetery, 1863–1983

• Published in: Illness, crisis, and loss crisis, and loss, 2006-07, Vol.14 (3), p.271-288
• Main Authors: Foster, Gary S., Hendrickson, Darren
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anonymity; Burials; Cemeteries; Ethnicity; Gardens & gardening; Graves; Infants; Personal names; Race; Social identity; Sociodemographics
• ISSN: 1054-1373; 1552-6968
• DOI: 10.1177/105413730601400304

To be named is to be, bestowing individuality and the most cogent dimension of social identity. Anonymity, the absence of a name, nearly defies scholarly consideration because the nameless are rarely located in records and documents. However, cemeteries receive both the named and the unnamed, offering the rare opportunity to examine anonymity. This research examines nameless infant burials for socio-demographic patterns that might explain anonymity. Anonymous cases were selected from a single cemetery of 16,440 interments in Coles County, Illinois. Findings revealed that age was inversely related, significantly, to anonymity, as was decade of death, with anonymity exceeding those named from about 1865 to 1915. Also statistically significant were the relationships between anonymity and a series of familial indicators. Having no significant relationship with anonymity were sex, ethnicity and race.