The Ludwig Memorial.
Founded in 1876, Toledo's Woodlawn Cemetery epitomizes the rural cemetery movement. Today, historic Woodlawn is the final resting place for more than 65,000 people, including many of Toledo's most prominent families. It still includes 47 acres of undeveloped land and continues to be an active cemetery with more than ample space for continuing service. I usually include Woodlawn on local history tours and I always take time to provide the story behind the most asked-about memorial in this beautiful park.
Situated in Section 2 near the entrance gates of Woodlawn, the Ludwig monument was erected for oil tycoon Leroy M. Ludwig. Standing at a height of 57 feet, it is the tallest monument in the area and comprises 13 sections of Vermont granite, weighing a hefty 185 tons. Legend has it that Leroy desired the monument to be visible from the Old West End where the Ludwig family resided on Parkwood. The monument features a remarkable granite easy chair at its center, believed by some to be a tribute to Ludwig's second wife, Bessie. According to a story, she spent 25 years sleeping upright in a chair after her husband's passing, refusing to lie down to prevent a similar fate. Despite being an intriguing tale, it is entirely fictional.
Actually, this unique monument was constructed, chair and all, in 1900, nearly 30 years before Bessie Ludwig's death. In fact, the chair is a tribute to Ludwig's first wife, Samantha. She died in 1899 after an extended illness left her confined to an easy chair. The Local History Department at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library has a series of photos documenting the erection of the monument. There are also notes from the Lloyd Brothers Monument Company that mention the original plan was to have a marble effigy of Samantha sitting on the chair but the family decided that was too personal. The monument was patterned after the Prince Albert monument that Queen Victoria had erected in Kensington Gardens. That monument does features a 14-foot-tall gilded statue of Prince Albert sitting on a chair and holding a catalog of the 1851 Great Exhibition.
The Ludwig monument is carved from granite quarried in Vermont. Upon its completion, it was packed and shipped by rail to Toledo and transported to the gates of Woodlawn by a specially-modified trolley car. Toledo's Lloyd Brothers handled the installation. They had to lay track into the cemetery and bring in a special derrick to assemble the monument.
That's enough about the monument, what about the woman it honors? Samantha Ludwig was born Samantha Sherman in 1853 in Kirby, Ohio which is a few miles west of Upper Sandusky in Wyandot County. Her father was from Virginia and her mother was from Maryland.
Samantha married Leroy Ludwig in October of 1870. She was 17. The couple made their home in Belmore, in Putnam County and raised three children, Nancy was born in 1870, the same year as the couple’s marriage, and Ted was born three years later.
Leroy and Samantha were very successful. His work as a pioneer of the oil fields of Sistersville, West Virginia made them a fortune. Sadly, Samantha endured a long illness and spent much of her final years in her favorite armchair before passing away in 1899. The magnificent monument her husband built in her memory reflects just how significant Samantha was to their happiness and success.