Tombstone Tuesday: Heinrich and Catharina Weidner

*Henrich Widener and Catharina (Moll) Weidener- Tombstones*

These original tombstones for Henrich Weidner and his wife Catharina Moll are in the Newton Historical Museum, Catawba County, North Carolina. They are carved out of soapstone native to the area, and were, of course, hand carved after the deaths of Henrich and Catharina, in 1792 and 1804, respectively. Soapstone is easy to carve, but also deteriorates easily. The Catawba County Weidner family donated the original headstones to the county historical society, to protect them from the elements as well as from vandalism. They have been replaced with copies where the Wideners were originally buried near Jacob’s Fork River.

The person who carved the stones used every inch of the stone, sometimes breaking a word with a few letters placed on the next line. The stones were carved in German, the language Henrich and his family probably spoke much of the time, especially in their early years in the colonies.

Translation of headstones:

Henrich We-

idner was

born in

year 1717 on

19 Octob-

er and is d-

ead in y-

ear 1792 on

31 July an-

d is age wa-

s 75 year-

s and 7 mo-

nths

ATMC= (Unknown)

Catharina We-

idner was b-

orn in ye-ar 1733 on 24 M-

ay and is de-

ad on 26 A-

ugust 1804 and

is age was 7[1]

years 7 months

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Images taken by James Whitener, July 2014, in the Newton Historical Museum, Catawba County, North Carolina.

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

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