History
In 1892, Wooldridge lost the last of his sisters, leaving him with no immediate family; he was a lifelong bachelor. This prompted him to buy a lot at Maplewood Cemetery.
The monuments were gaining attention even in Wooldridge's lifetime, as represented in the November 7, 1897 issue of Republic. Stories told of the monuments include the Minnie statue actually representing a childhood sweetheart whose early death due to horse riding prompted Wooldridge's bachelorhood (family records say it was of a niece) and that Wooldridge was such a miser that money was buried with him in his tomb.
Read more about this topic: Wooldridge Monuments
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“All things are moral. That soul, which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.”
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—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)