what does the skull and crossbones mean on and old gravestone

[enrique10]

[lil75]

Hmm not certain, but it could be someone who served in the marines or something like that....could be a pirate lol!

[4getmenot]

Its meant they were a freemason

[lil75]

Ahh new it was somthing like that 4get!

[caththecrazy]

On very old tombstones it meant that they were members of the Knights Templar (the forfathers of Masons I believe as 4getmenot says)

Also used to symbolise peopel had died of an infectious disease

[Lil O'lady]

It is simply a reflection on fashion at the time the gravestone was made. In the 1600s and 1700s the subject of death and dying was often accompanied by skulls and bones. In the later 1800s this gave way to roses, urns and angels.
I wouldn't read too much into symbolism beyond that because much of what is written is not based on anything more than supposition.

[smudge]

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080716115929AAdXMMR

[Lil O'lady]

Smudge, I don't think the Yahoo thread amounts to much in terms of evidence, but simply repeats suppositions.

[smudge]

Oooo, okay Lil O'Lady.

It may be of interest to others though!

[jno]

like LOL says, it was common to decorate gravestones with a memento mori - a reminder of death. If you go to old graveyards in the colonial USA, all the tombstones are like that. Eventually tastes changed and religion because a bit less austere, and other more gentle decorations came into use.