Indiana stonecarver

Ann Nolan

Biography of Thomas R. Reding (1807-1852) moved from North Carolina to Salem, Indiana, and married Celia A.B. Attkisson in 1829. He was apprenticed as a cabinetmaker, later became a saddler, but became quite famous locally as a stonecutter of gravestones. He began this type of work in the 1830s, and cut many of the gravestones in various of the graveyards in what are now Jackson and Washington Counties, Indiana--also cutting some stones for graveyards in Lawrence and Orange Counties, Indiana. Includes photographs of some of his gravestones, together with a map to the cemeteries, as well as a directional guide to their location.