It's likely I picked up the term via the Association for Gravestone Studies, the Maine Old Cemeteries Association, the New Hampshire Old Graveyards Association, or the Wisconsin State Old Cemetery Society in the early 1980s. I'd been an active member of MOCA since the mid-1970s.

thanato = pertaining to death
litho   = stone
ologist = studier of a science or branch of knowledge

I'm interested primarily in New England slate markers from around 1650 to about 1825-ish (most willows-and-urns make my eyes glaze over), ligatures on gravestones, and the carver John Just Geyer who was the son of carver Henry Christian Geyer.

But I'm also interested in a LOT of peripheral stuff -- including the fact that John Baskerville, type founder, also cut a couple of gravestones.

Slate done badly is "carved" -- carved slate is shallow and dead (excuse the term). Letterforms are CUT (with chisel and mallet) into slate, leaving a much cleaner and precise letter.

There was a book about 20 years ago entitled, "The Tombstone Tourist: Musicians" which was an interesting book (though the typos drove me to distraction) but included no folk music-related markers. The closest the authors came was Woody Guthrie. (The book was heavy on blues and jazz.)

I've locate Francis James Child's marker in the Sedgwick Pie in back of the cemetery in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. And, with the help of the Anne and Frank Warner Collection, Michael Cooney's directions, the assistance of the tourist office on the Mass Pike, my darlin' husband Tom Hall and good friend, Jeri, found Timothy Myrick's marker in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He was the guy who got bit by the rattlesnake in the song, "Springfield Mountain".

Peter Amberley's marker is located in Boiestown, New Brunswick, Canada, but I haven't been there yet.

Linn