PAYMENTS MADE ON LAWSON MONUMENT/TOMBSTONE

[Angela]

Debbie and I went to see Doug Wall at Wall Monument Company yesterday to look at the Ledger books of payments to Wall Monument Company in 1930 and 1931. We had copies made of the payments made on the Lawson family tombstone as well as two other payments made on something other than the tombstone. We'll start with the tombstone first. On March 28, 1930 someone, no name listed, paid $375.00 on the Lawson monument/tombstone. On May 6, 1931, W. A. Mickle, Register of Deeds made a payment of $250.00 on the Lawson monument/tombstone. It was paid in cash. On April 9, 1930 $4.00 was paid to Wall Monument Company for some photos made of, and I quote: "Lawson job". That had to have been photos taken of the tombstone and grave. No name was given as to who made that payment. On June 28, 1930, Marion Lawson paid $15.00 in cash for "cards". That's the one that intrigues me the most. WHAT CARDS? Wall Monument Company made some cards for Marion Lawson but what were the cards of? It only says "Commercial Printers Lawson cards". I have no idea what kind of cards and neither did Doug Wall. What I wouldn't give to find out. On September 20th Marion Lawson paid Wall Monument Company $5.00 in cash but it doesn't say what the payment was for. On September 16, 1930 Marion Lawson paid by check $14.00 to Wall Monument Company. Here again it does not say what the $14.00 was for. Mr. Wall (Doug) had ledger books of transactions dating as far back as 1905!!! Every entry in every ledger was hand written and some of the handwritten entries were absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately the ledgers generated more questions than answers. I need to go back to Wall Monument Company and search through more of the ledgers. From what I saw yesterday a total of $675.00 (when you include Henry Ashby's payment of $50.00) was paid towards the Lawson Family Monument/tombstone. Was that all it cost or was that all that was paid on it? But my main interest is WHAT CARDS? And how do I find out?

[debbie]

I would like to know what "cards" Marion Lawson had made too. That is a hefty sum of money for 1930, and I'm sure whatever it was for, he more than likely stood to make a profit off of it.

I wonder if those cards were made to pass out at the house tours, or maybe to pass out for the auction of the Lawson's belongings? Those are the only 2 things I can come up with.

[Angela]

The cards couldn't have been made to give out at the auction because the auction was held in February of 1930 and the cards were paid for in June of 1930. Unless of course he had them made in February but didn't actually pay for them until June. However, I just don't feel like the cards were for that. Could they have been funeral cards? Unlikely as the funeral was held 2 days after the murders. Not enough time there. Thank you cards for those who sent flowers or offered condolences? Did they even do that back in 1929 in rural communities? Somehow I doubt it. I'm definitely gonna try to find out though.

[sissy]

I was thinking maybe funeral cards but yeah that would be too late. Maybe business cards? I don't know if anybody can find out it will be you Maria Holmes

[Angela]

LOL Sissy!!! Perhaps the cards had nothing to do with the murders and Charlie's family. Maybe it had something to do with Marion and or his family?

[angel71242]

I was gonna say what Debbie did - that maybe they were cards that were passed out when they opened the cabin to tours. Of course, like you said Maria, the cards might have been something not even related to the Lawson tragedy.

[Angela]

I really think it had to do with the murders, I just can't think what. Perhaps it was the small booklet with 2 photos on the front of it and a poem written about the murders by Lucien Wall, the man who built the tombstone, on the inside of it. I went back and looked at that little card sized booklet and saw that it was copy righted by Marion Lawson and was made in 1930. I think this may well be what it was. Aside from not having proof, I feel 99.9% sure that is what the "cards" were.
Maria HOLMES!!!

[angel71242]

Sounds reasonable to me, and just like Debbie said - it was something he stood to make money off of. Marion was all about making some money. You go Ms. Holmes!!

[Angela]

As soon as I get something solved I find something else new that I want to know the answer to!!! I have 7 pages from Mr. Wall's ledger books and each page has around 20 to 25 entries of payments made, the amount paid. what was paid for and when it was paid. The thing I just noticed is that all of the "amounts" paid show only dollar amounts, no cents. For instance: $250.00....$375.00...$15.00...$4.00...$35.00..etc.etc. No cents for any of them. This implies that the items were tax free. Did Wall Monument Company not charge the people taxes on anything? Even where an entry shows $40.00 that Wall Monument paid to the electric company it only shows a dollar amount...no cents.

[angel71242]

That is weird.

But...I do my checkbook like that. I never enter cents - I just round up or down and enter full dollar amounts. I saw a story once in the Readers Digest that a guy saw his mother doing her checkbook like that and he freaked out and spent 2 days entering amounts correctly (with cents) to see how much she was off. When he was done, the amount she was off.........10 cents.

[Angela]

How much was sales tax in 1930?

[angel71242]

According to the internet............

North Carolina was the second state in the nation to enact a retail sales tax (in 1933) of 3%

[Angela]

So that's why these ledgers show no tax added!!!! There wasn't any. THANKS Angel!!!

[Angela]

I forgot to add that I also received a photograph from Mr. Wall of the Wall Monument Company as it looked when Lucien and J.A. Wall built the Lawson Monument in 1930. Wall Monument Company opened for business in 1905 and has been located in 3 different places. I was glad he had a photo with the address on it of the one in 1929 and 1930.