The Heuss Family

The Heuss Family. Artists of Cemetery Stone. The Adolph Heuss and Sons monument and mausoleum maker sat at the lower entrance of Dale Cemetery on Cemetery Rd. (now Marble Pl.). The angelic sculpture that marks the Heuss family plot is among their many contributions to Dale's beauty, as is the exquisite “Lawrence” vault at the top of this hill. , Born in Germany, Adolph Heuss (1841-1908) emigrated as a child with his family. He studied stonecutting under his father, John Adam Heuss, who opened a monument business at the Lutheran cemetery in Middle Village, Long Island, in 1850. In 1877, at age 30, Adolph moved from Brooklyn to Sing Sing (Ossining) and started his own business making monuments and headstones, although he considered himself to be a sculptor. , Adolph and his wife, Catharina (1843-1925), also from Germany, had nine children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. The youngest surviving son, Chester Arthur, may have been named for the 21st president, who owned a summer house on Havell Street across from the main entrance to Dale. Three of Adolph's sons are buried here, as are his two daughters and their husbands. , Heuss's boys entered the expanding monument and memorial business. Both Adolph Heuss Jr. and William ran operations elsewhere in Westchester. His son Henry worked at the Sing Sing location with his father; he was known for his expertise in carving and lettering. After their father died in 1908, Adolph Jr. and Henry took over the business. Henry, a bachelor who lived with his widowed mother, died in 1916 after being kicked by a horse. Adolph Jr. retired in 1955 and sold the business to his partner, a German immigrant named George Mueller.