Tombstone Tuesday Ancestral Magnets?

This Christmas Santa brought me these unusual magnets made from tombstone art of a member of my family tree. Mary Munroe (daughter of John Ball and Elizabeth Pierce) was born about 1651 and died in August 1692 in Lexington, Massachusetts.  She was the second wife (of three!) of William Munroe, a Scots prisoner of war captured at the Battle of Worcester and sentenced to forced indentured servitude in Boston.  They had ten children together.  I descend from William's first wife, Martha George.   I also descend from Mary's brother, John Ball, who married Sarah Bullard.  See the link below for my blog post on the BALL family. 

These details are 3D prints of details taken from the tombstone of Mary Ball Munroe. 

HEART AND SOUL

This small hearn adorns the gravestone of Mary Munroo

symbolizing the heart as the seat of the soul. Her sould was

released for its flight to Heaven upon her death

August 12, 1692 at the age of 41.  she is buried in the

Old Burial Ground, Lexington, Massachusetts.

This piece of historic cemetery art is cast

directly from the face of an old New England gravestone.

It is completely handmade and finished. Item #0110

MUNROO '92

A windged skull adorns the gravestone of Mary Munroo

as symbol of her sould flying to Heaven; the goal for

Colonists of her era.  She served 41 years and hoped

for eternal life when she died August 12, 1692.  She is 

buried in the Old Burial Ground, Lexington, Massachusetts.

This piece of historic cemetery art is cast

directly from the face of an old New England gravestone.

It is comepletely handmade and finished. Item #0109

These magnets were created by "The Gravestone Girls" who I have met at many genealogy conferences, and heard their cemetery lectures at many historical societies and libraries.  I have several other art pieces from ancestor's graves made by the Gracestone Girls.  There is a link to their website below where you can find a schedule of their events, and shop for art objects made from copies of New England gravestones. 

For the truly curious:

The Gravestone Girls website:   https://www.gravestonegirls.com/#/  

My original 2011 "Tombstone Tuesday" blog post on the gravestones of Mary Munroo and her husband William in Lexington, Massachusetts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/munroes-in-lexington-ma-tombstone.html  

My Surname Saturday blog post on the BALL family:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/11/surname-saturday-ball-of-watertown.html

My Surname Saturday blog post on the MUNROE family of Lexington, Massachusetts:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/surname-saturday-munroe-of-lexington.html  

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday Ancestral Magnets?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 30, 2025, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/12/tombstone-tuesday-ancestral-magnets.html: accessed [access date]).