Maki Monument Co History
Around 1905, my great-grandfather, Andrew Maki, came to the United States from Finland to settle in West Barnstable. He was just 17 years old. Lots of Finnish people were settling in West Barnstable at that time, and to this day, West Barnstable is also known as Finn Town. As a teenager, he was a laborer. He worked for the Makepeace family on their cranberry bogs. He also earned money clamming on the flats in Barnstable Village.
In 1911, he married a Finnish girl named Mary Elizabeth Syriala. They bought a house and a barn on Route 6A in West Barnstable. In 1928, Andrew began doing work for the Town of Barnstable, digging graves by hand and making burial vaults. This was a very labor-intensive job. But it was also year-round work, and he was glad to have it. My great-grandfather and a small crew worked out of his barn making the burial vaults. To mix the cement, they would carry water in buckets from a small swamp to the barn.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Mary were raising a family. As a young boy, my grandfather, Frank A. Maki, Sr. spent a lot of time watching and helping his dad. Following in his dad’s footsteps, he joined the family business, and together, he and his father worked providing cemetery services throughout Cape Cod. My grandfather eventually became the superintendent of the Barnstable Cemeteries, a position he held for many years before retiring at age 77.
My father, Frank A. Maki, Jr., also grew up wanting to be a part of the family business. He began to expand the business in 1973, purchasing his first dump truck, and a tractor to dig the graves.
When he was 21, he married a local Finnish girl named Susan Ann Wiinikainen, my mother. My family had always thought that someone in the family should sell monuments, since we worked in all the cemeteries and we had become so familiar with all the different types. Susan started that business, Maki Monument Company, more than 40 years ago now. (Susan says, “It took a Wiinikainen to do it!”)
Susan started the company by seeing customers in our family home office in West Barnstable. They had three young children at the time, including me, so they soon decided to move to a better work location down the street, on Route 6A, where we are still located today.
Although our family has since retired from the grave digging and vault companies, Maki Monument Company, Inc. remains a family owned and operated business. I, Kimberli, daughter of Frank and Susan, have been working with my parents for the last 20 years and have recently taken over after their retirement. I help guide families who are choosing their memorial for a loved one with sensitivity and care. My brothers, Jed and Brady, work with me to dig and pour foundations and install the stones.
At Maki Monument, we pride ourselves on being a family run and operated business for four generations. It is our dedication to providing excellent customer service, together with our compassion, and our commitment to offering the highest quality products, that has allowed us to become one of the leading companies in this industry in Massachusetts.
We appreciate your interest in our company, and we hope that we can assist you in creating a loving memorial.
- Kimberli Maki-Smith
