Tombstone Tuesday - John SCOTT

Center Grove Cemetery

Lincolnville, Wabash, Indiana

John SCOTT was born 26 Jan 1816 in Fayette County, Indiana.  On the 21 April 1833, in Fayette County, he married Abigail Harrell.  They were the parents of nine children:

Moses SCOTT (1834-1865) Died in the Civil War

Phebe Jane SCOTT (1836-1878)

Mehala SCOTT (1839-1881)

Jesse D. SCOTT (1841-1862) Died in the Civil War

Charles SCOTT (1842-1905)

Jacob SCOTT (1845-1864) Died in the Civil War

Matilda SCOTT (1846-1886)

John SCOTT (1848-)

Abigail SCOTT (1850-)

John died on 3 December 1886.  His Find A Grave memorial can be found here.

Tombstone Tuesday - Jonathan SCOTT

Born:  26 Jan 1816, Fayette County, Indiana

Died:  3 Feb 1903, Wabash County, Indiana

Emery Cemetery, La Fontaine, Indiana

Jonathan Scott was born January 26, 1816 in Fayette County, Indiana. On the 4th of January, 1845, he came to the than new and undeveloped wilds of Wabash County, and settled in Liberty Township, where he has since resided.

On the first of November 1840, he was married to Mary Pearson, who was born in Granger County, Tennessee, August 18, 1824. Her father, Mahlon Pearson, is still living in the township, and has already reached advanced years, having been born January 10, 1797.

His father moved to Jefferson County, Tennessee, when he was nine years of age. He himself moved to Wabash County November 9, 1834. He entered the first forty acres of land in Liberty Township, and served on the first grand jury ever impanelled in Wabash County. He was the father of eleven children. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Scott raised a family of three children, two sons, and one daughter. Both sons served in the war of the Rebellion, and the older one died in the service of his country at Otterville, Missouri, December 16, 1861.

Mr. Scott has already passed the prime of life, but is still in the vigorous enjoyment of his faculties, both bodily and mental. He is one of the leading citizens of the township, and is distinguished for his many acts of public spirit.

Source: 1875 Atlas of Wabash County, Indiana page 56

Jonathan's Find A Grave memorial can be found here.

Tombstone Tuesday - CR SCOTT

This is the stone for my G-G-G grandfather, Charles Leonard Lewis Dewise SCOTT, better known as CR Scott or Right Scott.

He was born 16 Jun 1813 in Fayette County, Indiana and died on 11 Feb 1888.  On 26 Jan 1833 in Fayette County he married Mary Ann Chumney and together they had 12 children.

CR is buried in the Old La Fontaine Cemetery in La Fontaine, Wabash, Indiana.  The cemetery is in horrible condition.  The town of La Fontaine should be ashamed.....

Tombstone Tuesday - Jacob SCOTT

(Photo courtesy of  Judy Mayberry Belford)

Jacob SCOTT, born in 1845 in Indiana, is the fourth son of John SCOTT and Abigail HARRELL.  

On 16 Oct 1862 at the age of 17 he married Mary JONES.  

On 25 Mar 1864 at age 19 he enlisted in the 47th Indiana Infantry, Company I.  Just 3 months later he died in St. Louis, MO.

He is buried in Jefferson National Barracks Cemetery in St. Louis.  His name is also on a monument at Center Grove Cemetery in LaFontaine, IN.  His two brothers Moses and Jesse D. are also listed on the monument.  All three brothers lost their lives in the Civil War.

Jacob's Find A Grave memorial can be found here.

Tombstone Tuesday - Terbina Gertrude Hanley Gossett

Terbina HANLEY was born 6 Jul 1908 in Marion, Grant, Indiana to Henry Harry HANLEY and Grace Helen JACKSON.

On 4 Jun 1927 in Grant County, Indiana she married Dillard Jennings GOSSETT.  Together they had at least three daughters.

Sadly, on 9 Jun 1943 in Grant County Terbina died of kidney failure at the young age of 34.  She is buried in Grant Memorial Park, Marion, Indiana along side her parents.

Tombstone Tuesday - Never Use Concrete to Repair a Tombstone!

This story is a PERFECT example of why you should NEVER use concrete to repair a tombstone.

I have been working along with my mother and my cousin Dee Dee to repair tombstones in an old cemetery in the woods in Wabash County, Indiana.  On our last trip we were resetting stones and making repairs to those that had broken.

This stone is one we have wondered about for awhile:

It just seemed like an awful large stone to have sunk so far into the ground.....then my cousin had one of those "ah ha" moments!  Months before we had found part of a stone further in the woods.  She thought maybe the markings on that piece matched this stone.  She and her friend went into the woods and brought the large stone out and set it next to this one.

A perfect match!

We were so excited!  My husband got a shovel and began to carefully dig around the set stone so we could repair the break and make the stone whole again!  But he quickly ran into a problem....the stone in the ground had been rest in concrete.

There is no way to repair this stone now without doing further damage.  My heart sank.

The person who set the stone in concrete believed they were doing the right thing.  I'm sure they thought the other part of the stone was lost forever.  If only they had just reset the stone in pea gravel and dirt.

When making repairs please be sure that all repairs you make are reversible.  The products we use can all be removed in the future without doing any damage to the stones.  If they fall over again they will break in the same place and not cause further breaks.  The epoxy can be carefully scraped off and replaced with new.

William Spradling's stone was from 1852.  How I wish we could have made it whole again.....

Tombstone Tuesday - Lillian Grace Hanley Sutton

Lillian Grace Hanley SUTTON is the daughter of Henry Harry HANLEY and Grace Helen Jackson HANLEY.  The oldest daughter of 4 children, Lillian was born in Marion, Grant, Indiana.  On 3 Sep 1927 in Grant County, Lillian married James Richard SUTTON.  

She and Richard are buried in Grant Memorial Park in Marion, Indiana.  

Tombstone Tuesday - Charles Augustus Hanley

Charles Augustus HANLEY

Charles, oldest child of Henry and Mary Jessie Patterson HANLEY, was born 30 May 1887 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  In 1894, at age 7,  Charles immigrated to the United States along with his parents and siblings.  

He married Anna Elizabeth PURTEE circa 1907.  In 1908 son Howard Samuel was born and in 1910 daughter Lucille Evelyn joined the family.

12 Apr 1935 at the age of 47, Charles died in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan.  He is buried in Estates of Serenity Cemetery in Marion, Grant, Indiana. 

Tombstone Tuesday - Hezekiah's Stone Is Repaired!

Well, mostly......
Here is the before:

And here is the after:

We still have to return in the Spring to fill in the cracks.  But we were so excited to see it cleaned up and standing on it's own again!

Here are a few photos of the process:

First we had to remove the old adhesive from a previous repair.

Here is my cousin Dee Dee with the stone soon after the new epoxy was applied.

Waiting for the epoxy to set.  It took awhile because it was COLD out!

Here, again, is the after.  Once we had the stone cleaned we could see all the beautiful details on it!

Hezekiah RINEARSON was born in 1832 in Indiana.  He married Susan Stephens on 16 Apr 1855 in Huntington County, IN.  They had four children, one daughter, Lucinda and three sons, Solomon, Erasmus and Marshall.

Hezekiah enlisted in the 47th Indiana Infantry and fought in the Civil War.  He died on 16 Aug 1863 leaving Susan a widow with four young children. Sadly, 6 months after Hezekiah's death 17 month old Marshall died.  He is buried with his father in America Cemetery, La Fontaine, Indiana.

 

Tombstone Tuesday - Cemetery Restoration Training

I have had so many wonderful comments on my post Tombstone Tuesday - Genealogy Serendipity regarding the restoration of Rebecca CAROTHER's gravestone.  Along with those comments came some questions as to how I was allowed to do this type of restoration in a cemetery in Indiana.  Great question!  I'd love to share the answer here.

In the state of Indiana there are laws regarding what you can and cannot do in a cemetery.  I assume each state has its own set of rules but I will just be dealing with Indiana law in this post. To read the complete list of laws for Indiana click here.

Here is a list of some things that aren't against the law but I really wish you wouldn't do!
 - Take rubbings of any kind on an old stone
 - Use chalk or shaving cream to try and read a stone better
 - Use bleach or any other household cleaner in an attempt to clean a stone

In order to do the work I did in Boundary Line I had to complete the following requirements:

1.  I had to take the Beginning Restoration class in Indianapolis in May.  This was a two day class taught in conjunction with the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Indiana Historical Society.  Since I am located in South Bend I had to pay not only for the class but also for hotel, food and travel expenses.  But the value of that class is priceless!  And to meet others also interested in cemetery preservation was so much fun!

2.  I had to return to Indianapolis in August to take the Advanced Restoration class which provided us with hands on experience in repairing, locating and resetting stones in an old, historical cemetery.

3.  I had to get permission from the cemetery owner to do the work.  In this case it was Boundary Line Church.  However, I will be back in Wabash County in October in another cemetery which is owned by Liberty Township.  In that case I had to get permission from the Township Trustee.

4.  I had to get permission from the private land owner.  This, again, was Boundary Line Church.  However, for October it is the farmer whose property that cemetery is located on.

5.  Once I had completed the above steps, I had to file for a permit with the Director of Special Initiatives, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Department of Natural Resources, DNR.  They reviewed my training and the permissions I had obtained and issued a permit.  I must carry that permit on me while performing the work in order to be in compliance with Indiana law.

So, you see, there was a lot of work done before I was ever able to receive the permit!  But it was all worth it to fix Rebecca's stone.  And not only would I do it again but I will be in October!  This time in  America Cemetery, La Fontaine, Indiana.  Joining me on that adventure will, once again, be my husband, mom, dad and my "cousin" Dee Dee.  The focus of our work that day will be this stone:

Hezekiah Rinearson served in the Civil War with the 47th Indiana Infantry, Company G.  He died at home on 16 Aug 1863 at the age of 31.   His stone certainly needs to be repaired.  Who knows what serendipity may come our way!

Tombstone Tuesday - Genealogy Serendipity Strikes Again!

This is the stone for my relative Albert O. SCOTT.  It is located in Boundary Line Cemetery in La Fontaine, IN and is, as you can see, in great need of repair.

Saturday morning I traveled with my husband and parents 2 hours south to attempt to fix Albert's stone.  We planned ahead bringing a car full of tools to tackle the cleaning and resetting.

When we arrived at the cemetery we quickly realized that while we could clean his stone, we would not be able to reset it like we planned.  We will need to construct a new base first which we were not prepared to do on Saturday.

Not wanting to waste the mix we brought with us we turned our attention to this stone:

This stone is for Rebecca CAROTHERS.  Rebecca is not a relative of ours but since we had what we needed to fix her stone we decided to go ahead and clean and reset her marker.

Here she is looking good again!  I just knew Rebecca was sending us her thanks!

Once we accomplished this task and cleaned a couple of other relatives stones we headed to the BP Station for lunch.  One thing to note about Boundary Line Cemetery is that it is located in a rural area.  Very rural!  The BP Station is the only place in town to wash up and grab something to eat.

After lunch we returned to the cemetery to complete our work for the day.  Just as we were packing up a van pulled up to the cemetery.  We all stopped to stare as having any vehicle pass by was a rarity much less to have one stop!

Out jumps a couple who ask "Is this Boundary Line Cemetery"?  My mom replied "Yes".  "Oh good"! They said....".we are from Oregon and made this detour on our travels to try and locate my Great - Grandmothers headstone."  "What is her name"? my mother asked.  Their reply?

Rebecca CAROTHERS.........

So while we thought we were coming to fix up Albert's stone, Ms. Rebecca had others plans for us that day.  She wanted to be clean and standing tall for her relatives who were coming to visit her that afternoon!

Glad we could be of assistance Rebecca.

Here is Rebecca with her Great - Grandson and his wife.

And another story for Genealogy Serendipity is in the books!

Tombstone Tuesday - Julia A. Armstrong MCPHERSON

Julia A. Armstrong MCPHERSON

Julia was born 17 Jul 1855, daughter of Joseph ARMSTRONG and Cynthia A. THOMPSON.  On the 17 Feb 1870, at the age of 14 she married Walter Francis MCPHERSON.

On 1 Feb 1871 Julia gave birth to her son Claude MCPHERSON.  On 1 Mar 1871 Claude died at the age of 1 month.  One day later on 2 Mar 1871 Julia died at the age of 15.

They are buried together in Boundary Line Cemetery, La Fontaine, Indiana.  Julia's Find A Grave memorial can be found here.

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary Jessie Patterson HANLEY

(This photo was in a relatives papers)

Mary Jessie Patterson HANLEY is my great-great grandmother. She was born 24 May 1870 in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada.  Her mother was Elizabeth and her father is unknown.

On 17 May 1886 at the age of 16 she married Henry Harry HANLEY in Hamilton.  Over the next 16 years she gave birth to 13 children.  "Jessie" tragically died on 23 Oct 1902 at the age of 32 in Alexandria, Madison, Indiana.  Henry took her body back to Canada and she is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Burlington, Canada.

Jessie's Find a Grave memorial can be found here.

*Please refrain from chalking tombstones.  It does not wash away with the next rain and can cause irreparable damage to the stone. 

Tombstone Tuesday - Cemetery Preservation Workshop

Saturday I traveled to Indianapolis to attend the Advanced Hands-On Cemetery Preservation Workshop sponsored by the Indiana Historical Society and the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, DNR. 

We spent the day learning about how to reset stones, repair broken stones and how to find the original location of moved stones.  And, as only a fellow graveyard rabbit would understand, I had a BLAST!!

First of all the presenters, Walt, Micki, D.B and Bird, are so much fun to learn from.  They are passionate about cemetery restoration and eager to share their knowledge so that others can learn how to restore and preserve our cemeteries, and most importantly how to do no harm.  I love the quote from Walt "It don't take a rocket scientist to do this, but it does take a heart. And I got one of them."

Walt, who owns, Graveyard Groomer, is what you might call....a character!  Here he is below at the start of the morning explaining to the group the agenda for the day.

The first thing we learned was how to reset Stacked Monument/Oblelisks.

This is the stone Walt, D.B and Bird would be resetting.  Notice the name SMITH on the bottom?  Well, it is facing east.  Also the husband's name is facing east and the wife's in on the other side facing west.  Walt tells us that this is a sign that this monument has fallen in the past and someone has tried to repair it.  How did he know that?  Because it is stacked wrong!  According to Walt, the name SMITH would have been facing West as people at this time were buried facing west so that when judgment day came they would be facing in the correct direction.  If we looked around the cemetery we could see that that was true!  Also, the husband's information should be on the left side of the monument and the wife's on the right.  This is because the preacher "buried them as he married them".  In addition to repairing the loose stone, they would be putting them back in their proper orientation.

The first step is to lift the top stone off.  This is done using a tripod and a series of chains and straps all designed to do no damage to the stones.

Once the stone was removed we could see that, indeed, someone had tried to repair the stone in the past.  They has used concrete but it had not adhered properly allowing the stone to "walk" off it's base.  Most likely this was due to not cleaning or wetting the surface before using the concrete.  Step one of repairing this was to remove the concrete and clean the surface.  Here is Bird chiseling off the old concrete.  It came off easily and quickly.

After cleaning the surface of both stones, they applied a stacking mix and monument setting compound and restacked the stones.  Here is the finished product.  (With the stones in the correct orientation)!

Next we learned how to repair and reset a broken stone.  Here is the stone they would be demonstrating with.  (It had already been cleaned to save time in the demonstration).

When repairing a broken stone the first step is always to dry fit the pieces first.  This is to be sure that you have all the missing pieces.  Next you need to clean the surfaces where the breaks are and then epoxy them together.  Once the epoxy is dry and the stone reset it needs to be cleaned.  Walt recommends a mixture of ammonia and water and a nylon brush.  As you can see in the example, the stone cleaned back to a brillant white limestone.  It's important to clean the stone before filling in any voids and cracks so that you can match the void mix to the color of the stone. 

The last step is to mix your mortar and fill in the voids and cracks.  This is where you can really see the great work Walt and his team do.  Look at the finished product!  You can barely see the crack and the mortar is not even dry yet!

Tomorrows posting, "Wednesday's Child", will focus on the stone myself, my mom and my "cousin" DeeDee repaired with our own hands.  It was the stone of a 6 year old boy that was found in 3 pieces buried in the corner of the cemetery.  We were able to repair it and reset it back in its original location.  What a great feeling that gave us!

Tombstone Tuesday - Carrie Virginia Botkin Rexrode

Bodkin Cemetery

Pendleton County, West Virginia

(Photo courtesy of Raderfarm)

Born:  9 May 1890, Highland County, Virginia

Died:  10 Jan 1930, Highland County, Virginia

Carrie is the daugher of Elias Botkin and Ida May Sims.  She married George Henry Rexrode and was the mother of at least two sons, Elbert and Paul.

Tombstone Tuesday - Verna Bowser

Blue Creek Cemetery

Haviland, Ohio

(Photo Courtesy of Brent Turner)

Verna Bowser

15 Aug 1886

1 Oct 1890

Age 4 Years, 1 Month, 16 Days

Daughter of Jonathan Bowser and Mary Watt Bowser.  Inscription reads:

VERNA

Dau of

J&M BOWSER

Died Oct. 1, 1890

Aged

4 Y 1 Mo 16 D

Weep not father and mother for me

For I am waiting in glory for thee.

Tombstone Tuesday - Knute Rockne

Highland Cemetery

South Bend, Indiana



Tombstone Tuesday - The Coomler Children

Barbury Ellen Coomler

Age 4

Born:  29 Dec 1843

Died:  19 May 1848

Daniel Jacob Coomler

Age 2

Born:  22 Mar 1846

Died: 10 Jun 1848

Joseph F. Coomler

Age 14 months

Born:  2 Jun 1857

Died: 27 Aug 1858

George Broderick Coomler

Age 11

Born:  16 Feb 1851

Died: 16 Feb 1862

All are children of Jacob and Mary Hoffman COOMLER.  All buried in America Cemetery, LaFontaine, Wabash, Indiana.

Tombstone Tuesday - Theodosius Botkin

Bellefontaine City Cemetery

Bellefontaine, Logan, Ohio

 

(Photo Courtesy of Deb Allison, FAG volunteer)

Theodosius BOTKIN

25 Jun 1846 - 17 May 1918

Civil War Soldier: 1861 - 1865

Mound City, Kansas Probate Judge: 1875 - ?

Judge of the 32nd District Court Stevens County, Kansas: 1889 - 1892

Elected to the Kansas House of Representatives: 1896

Spanish-American War Soldier: 1898

U.S. Consul at Campbellton, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia: 1918

Tombstone Tuesday - Rebecca Ann Botkin Brane

Rebecca Ann Botkin BRANE

b: Dec 1857 in Wabash County, Indiana

d:  1925 in Wabash County, Indiana

Rebecca is the daugher of Isaac and Caroline Minnear BOTKIN.  On the 8 Sep 1880 she married William Henry BRANE in Wabash County, Indiana.  They were the parents of one daughter, Florence S. BRANE.

Rebecca is buried along with William and Florence in the LaFontaine IOOF Cemetery, LaFontaine, Indiana.  Her FAG memorial can be found here.