She must have been very beloved, and her family must have been rather wealthy to afford such an elaborate tombstone. 3 Aves for the repose of the soul of Rosetta Kirkland.

I looked up this family.  Genealogy is a hobby of sorts.

George A. Kirkland was an attorney, born in Indiana to Irish parents.  

He married the Miss Rosa Kane, daughter of Thomas and Bridget Kane of Ireland.

The beloved Rosa left behind also an infant son named Charles Michael.  He was born on August 19, 1882 and was just over 1 year old when his mother died, along with his brother.

Charles went on to have a long military history and died in 1965.

Hope this helps put a story of sorts to your beloved Rosetta.

You made a couple of boo-boos here:


"This frail  monumental  memorial is the sentinel of my grave
        Pass it not in dumb forgetfulness of me
        Linger here a moment in silent hope and prayer
        That in aftertime another may pay like tribute to  f  thee."


RosettaKirkland3.png
And this section has a lot of lichen or dirt stuck to the stone:

There is an elysian home beyond this setting alloy (?)
Where hope becomes real and life an endless joy
Beauty never fades in Heaven's fair face,
And the ----ous are endeared to the angels' grace


The -s- in setting, the -A- in And and the -g- in grace are cropped off the
left side - was there more width to this photo that got lost somehow?


I thought it might be some famous poetry, but can't find anything
close using a search engine.  A lot of Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley and
the like comes up, but only scattered words.  The engraver seems to
have had a hard time with pockets of hard crystals in the stone, so
he shifted his cuts to avoid them, and the letters do not have a
very consistent spacing or shape, which makes it more challenging.
The tail of the -y- is not the same length in each case, for example.
This was probably carved without the benefit of carbide or diamond
drills, so a very hard pocket of quartz or carborundum may have had
an effect on the shape of the various letters.

The two words you had the most trouble with, following "There is"
seem to be "an elysian.."  The key to this puzzle is to look for the
other places where an a is engraved.  All of the a's are shaped like
a -c- with the body of an -i- without the dot:   a slight point on the
top of the body.  Realizing this common feature, you can discern the
-a- in the first word and the second word, "an elysian."  The -y- in
elysian does not look like other y's in this engraving, but it is obscured
by some stain, as well as having been carved irregularly in the first
place. Also, there is a black mark above the -an- in "elysian" that makes
these two letters appear as -cm- but not very convincingly.  Keep
in mind that all the -a's- here are like a -c- smunched to a dotless -i-
and you can readily see it is -an-, not -cm-.  Context is invaluable in
these kinds of interpretations.  That is, don't just look at the thing or
the word you can't figure out; then you'll be stuck in a rut!  Look all
around it as well, and try to make the whole adhere together in
context, in all its particulars.  That's the way it was likely made:  as
a unified whole, not as a mish-mash of components (unless, that is,
there were two or more engravers working on this one project, which
is possible, but not very likely).

The word "elysian" was not easy to read.  But it fits the context very
well, as it is defined as a place of paradise, or land of bliss.  Once you
think of this word being the one that is there, it's practically
impossible to imagine that it could have been something else.

Sorry, in the last line I cannot make out the word ----ous.  Perhaps
using these clues I have provided you can go back there and pick
out the lichen from the grooves and bring a toothbrush with some
water or a little bleach (5%) so you can clean up the word.  If you
take another picture, use a sidelight or flash from a different angle,
like have someone hold a flashlight on the right and you take the
photo straight on, then have the flashlight on the left and take
another straight-on photo.

I find it most poignant that you will miss the cemetery so much - how charitable you are to plead for the Church Suffering.  God bless you for your goodness.

Wow, Neil,
 :applause:
I, for one, am impressed. You are quite the detective.
 :detective:

One more thing, sspxbvm:  

It comes to my attention that you took two front photos of the memorial, one
of which is a close-up, and then you took a close-up of the reverse (back)
which has "This frail memorial is the sentinel of my grave...," then you took and
show one more close-up, and it was of the right side, which has: "There is an
elysian home beyond this ebbing alloy..."  The shadows and highlights of the
shots reveal the direction the camera was facing for each photo.

My question to you is, do you have another close-up that's of the LEFT side
of the memorial?  I find it odd that the front would be so elaborately engraved,
and then the back and right side with such meet and unique verse, if it were
true that the left side should be left unadorned entirely.  Your third upload,
RosettaKirkland4.png, shows the top fragments of prominent relief block
letters, of all caps: KIRKLAN, obviously her last name, without the uppermost
shred of the D showing.  But as the chamfer above reveals the limits of the
right side (actually "left" if viewed from the front), there is just enough room
there for the D, so it must be there in reality, just not visible in the photo.

These classic standing monuments frequently show the last name on the
reverse side, but not on the right or left.  

Your upload file names are missing RosettaKirkland2.png - could that be the
missing close-up?  Also, it would be nice to see a closeup of that bas-relief
carving in the circle, in front, right about eye level.  That was probably the
most expensive feature of all the engraving work on this monument.  And
then, directly above that there appears to be an oak tree, with leafy
foliage that rises all the way to the top of the column.  Is that an illusion?
Or, is the trunk of the oak tree carved into the stone, and the stone above
has weathered to appear as leaves on an impressionist canvas?  Certainly
paint would not have lasted 129 years.  The engraver would have to have
been thinking WAY ahead to anticipate what the stone surface would look
like after 5 quarter-centuries had passed!!  When this monument was first
erected those evergreen trees in the background had yet been no more
than mere saplings!



All this attention Rosetta Kirkland is getting:  her husband literally put a lot of
effort into making sure she would have a chance to be remembered.  They
would never have guessed their memorial would circle the world a thousand
times via the Internet!  Whatever expense George put forth to achieve it is
finally paying off!  But I have another question:  was their 7-hour old son
baptized?  If so, he is a saint in heaven!  If he had been baptized, he would
have had a name, for that is part of baptism:  "I baptize thee Charles Michael,
in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."  That
would have been for his big brother.  The infant who died would have been
baptized during his 7 hour lifetime, after his birth.  So there should be a
baptismal record at the local parish for Sept. 24th or 25th, 1883.  If so, that
would also reveal what his name is, and would be the name of another saint
to whom we could pray for his intercession!  How many of those there must
be:  saints in heaven that nobody ever asks for graces, because they are
forgotten!

Try the Kansas Historical Society.  They have a lot of records from the Jesuits.

Here's a link for the microfilm number for the Jesuits records, including baptism registers.

If you scroll down, you will see the film # and section for the Baptism register from 1871-1872.  Then there is another for 1883-1895.

If you have time, you can go down to the Society in Topeka and ask to look at the registers.  

If the Baptism register gives you no clues, try the one for interments and funerals.

Oh, I hope you can do this!  I just love a good genealogical search!