Elmwood Cemetery has many fascinating and beautiful monuments, but few are as intriguing as the stunning granite obelisk dedicated to former Memphian Granville Garth. “Born in Memphis” it says, and then “Lost at Sea,” and anyone who reads that inscription has to wonder what happened.
Since we’re really not that close to the sea, you understand.
The carving at the base of the monument tells cemetery visitors that Granville was the son of Horace and Alice Garth. He was born in Memphis on August 11, 1863, and he met his fate 40 years later on Christmas Day, 1903.
So what happened to this poor fellow?