Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-09-30
OIL KINGS BURIAL PLOT
Features OF Rockefeller's Final
Resting Place In Cleveland.
ALWAYS KEPT IN SPLENDID ORDER
situated on n Hin overiooLing Lake
Erie, Tn. Plot 4. Large Enough 90
Bury Twenty Ordinary Families In.
Trust Magnate's Tombstone a COST
~ Monument.

Bury Twenty Ordinary Families In.
Trust Magnate's Tombstone n Cost
~ Monument.
When John ID. Rockefeller is done
with his immense fortune, with Stand
ard Oil combinations Of capital and
with everything else that gives him
vast power over his fellowmen. his
final resting place will be In Cleveland,
o., says the New York Press. one OF
the most exclusive clubs he ever be-
longed to will have the honor of dig
ging his grave.
In the later years of his life Mrs.
Rockefeller. who was Cleveland girl,
never has been able 10 persuade her
husband to remain in Cleveland for
any length of time she never got him
into the city but he became possessed
of an unconquerable desire 10 get out
of ii again. When her daughters were
unmarried Mrs. Rockefeller frequent
ly visited her girlhoOd home without
her husband She does still, but less
frequently.
The trust king never went into de-
tails, even with his wife. in giving
reasons for his dislike of Cleveland.
His intimate friends understand that
he is annoyed because every incident
of his business life lie did not care TO
have published was given out by per-
sons who knew him during his early
business struggles in Ohio.
Long before John ID. Rockefeller had
climbed into the multimillionaire class
Mrs. Rockefeller made up her mind
that the family burial plot was going
to be in Cleveland. If she could not
remain in the surroundings of her girl
hood while she lived she was deter
mined that nothing should prevent ii
after she was dead. When the Lake
View Cemetery association was start
ed, while Mrs. Rockefeller was still
bringing up her family in Cleveland
she went 10 look at fine plot on Il
hill overlooking Lake Erie. One of her
relatives died soon afterward, and she
persuaded Mr.. Rockefeller to buy the
| plot. 1t is large enough 10 bury twenty
ordinary families in.
| From the outset the Lake View GEM
etery was not organized for profit. II
| is very exclusive, as cemeteries go
There is no stock or dividends Tie
organization is precisely like that of g
| select church or club. Lot holders are
| admitted by vote. Anybody who oh
| tainS lot becomes member of the
association. If he decides not to die
! or to move away from the United
| States he cannot sell his lot to whom
he chooses He must be guided by The
| wishes of the association. Severa
prominent persons who wished to b,
buried in Lake View have been black
balled, so TO speak.
But Mr.. Rockefeller was not. He go
his fine lot and paid large price fol
| it. Neither he nor the cemetery man
ayers will tell how much. The hand
come mausoleum for the martyreC
President Garfield is not far from tht
Rockefeller plot. Harry Garfield. til,
| presidents son, is one of the trustee:
of the cemetery Mr.. Rockefeller Is
another trustee Marcus A. Hanna
was one of the latest of the pr0minon
men to buy plot in Lake View. II i,
some distance from the Standard Oil
magnate's stately shaft. Mrs. Hanna
intends to erect a mauso!eum on hel
plot. Secretary of State John Hay
also owns a lot in Lake View His sol
Adelbert, who was killed by fan il
New Haven, is buried there Genera
NJ. D. Leggett is another prominent
plot holder.
During the past summer the Stand
ard Oil king spent considerable sun
of money identifying his cemetery
plot. Mrs. Rockefeller sees that it i,
always kept in magnificent order. Ev
cry time she goes TO Cleveland sh,
spends many hours there and cover:
the graves of her dead with flowers
The white granite Rockefeller monu
ment is a wonder of its kind. Tn,
shaft is tifty-one feet high from til,
base of the die and is said to be tn,
largest monolith ever taken from f.;
quarry in this country. Mr.. Rockefellel
sent agents all over New England Il
find suitable quarry from which t
take it and finally selected one IA
Barre, Vt. With its two bottoms. di'
and Shaft the monument is within ;
few inches of seventy feet high, which
Is the same height as the obelisk il
Central park. But its prominence oil
hilltop makes it look much tale
than the obelisk.
The total cost of the Rockefelle
monument, the design for which wa
selected by Mrs. Rockefeller, is yer.
nearly 100000.