It’s inevitable. We are all going die. How do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be buried or cremated? Do you want a tombstone and if so, what kind?

I don’t dwell on this topic, but I do think about it and when I run across interesting grave markers, I take note.

This is a good one!

Elijah Jefferson Bond (1847–1921) was an American lawyer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the ouija board.

Bond was born on January 23, 1847, in Bel Air, Maryland to Charlotte Howard (née Richardson) and William B. Bond. His father was a judge. Bond graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law.

He served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He worked as a lawyer in Baltimore until around 1918.

Although Bond invented and patented items, including a steam boiler, he is best remembered for patenting what became known as the Ouija board. He filed for a United States patent on May 28, 1890. Charles W. Kennard and William H. A. Maupin were listed as assignees. The patent was granted on February 3, 1891. Bond sold the US distribution rights for the Ouija board to the Kennard Novelty Company.

By 1907 Bond had relocated to West Virginia where he established the Swastika Novelty Company. The company produced a knock-off of Bond’s original Ouija board called the “Nirvana”.

Bond was married Mary Peters of Baltimore and they had at least one son, William B. Bond.

Bond died on April 14, 1921, at the home of his son at 3304 Clifton Avenue in Baltimore. He was buried in Baltimore’s Green Mount Cemetery, beneath a marker that resembles an Ouija board.

Rest In Peace, EJ Bond! I enjoyed your invention when I was young!