Every "grave-walkers" dream just came true for us!!!!! We got a phone call that someone had some tombstones & wanted to know if we wanted to take pictures ... yes, yes, yes!!!
This gentlemen had bot 120 acres of land just about 2 miles down the road from where we have our motorhome parked & he found a bunch of tombstones piled near a fence. He's looking over towards where he found them ... but no cemetery in sight. The stones were piled all on top of each other in a jumble. Whoever did that should be arrested!!!!
He put them in his shed, then didn't know what to do with them but didn't want to see them destroyed or left in a pile in his shed either. So he called the Historical Society & they referred him to us. We were so excited to be in on this discovery!!!! There was some paper work that said a cemetery was on that land but just a 6' x 6' plot (enuf for 1, maybe 2 graves) & it was called Hathaway. But no more information on the exact location of it. So someone had gathered up the stones, put them in a pile, then proceded to plow over the cemetery & plant corn! John is so incensed that someone would do that, just for another bushel of corn.
They were all in surprisingly good condition (that means they were readable) ... although most were broken. There were also footstones .
.... a total of 8 stones. After 3 days of "where should they go", we met with the president of the Historical Society, showed him the pictures we took, and he immediately said, "we want them". Since the cemetery itself is unlocatable, it can't be restored and the new home for these stones will be perfect. The Historical Society has bought an old church and intends to reconstruct it on their grounds and they plan to fix these stones & display them as a small country cemetery beside this church. We couldn't be happier!!
The 2 on the left were the oldest ones ... a mother and 3 year old child died in Oct. 1838.
This was the latest ... died in 1860 ... and the most broken up one.
.... a curious bystander!!
This gentlemen had bot 120 acres of land just about 2 miles down the road from where we have our motorhome parked & he found a bunch of tombstones piled near a fence. He's looking over towards where he found them ... but no cemetery in sight. The stones were piled all on top of each other in a jumble. Whoever did that should be arrested!!!!
He put them in his shed, then didn't know what to do with them but didn't want to see them destroyed or left in a pile in his shed either. So he called the Historical Society & they referred him to us. We were so excited to be in on this discovery!!!! There was some paper work that said a cemetery was on that land but just a 6' x 6' plot (enuf for 1, maybe 2 graves) & it was called Hathaway. But no more information on the exact location of it. So someone had gathered up the stones, put them in a pile, then proceded to plow over the cemetery & plant corn! John is so incensed that someone would do that, just for another bushel of corn.
They were all in surprisingly good condition (that means they were readable) ... although most were broken. There were also footstones .
.... a total of 8 stones. After 3 days of "where should they go", we met with the president of the Historical Society, showed him the pictures we took, and he immediately said, "we want them". Since the cemetery itself is unlocatable, it can't be restored and the new home for these stones will be perfect. The Historical Society has bought an old church and intends to reconstruct it on their grounds and they plan to fix these stones & display them as a small country cemetery beside this church. We couldn't be happier!!
The 2 on the left were the oldest ones ... a mother and 3 year old child died in Oct. 1838.
This was the latest ... died in 1860 ... and the most broken up one.
.... a curious bystander!!
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