Gravestones found when I was a kid someone destroyed them

[civil_war22]

Went back up to my uncle's property where I found the Chinese coin and Indian Head today. When I lived there as a kid my brother and I found a set of headstones that belonged to two baby girls that were cousins who died in the 1880's. Go up today looking for them and some moron hit them with a brushhog. I picked them back up and tried my best to fix them back but am going to have to wash them off and epoxy them back together so they will stand back up. My wife and I are contemplating getting new headstones for them we just haven't decided on which way to go yet. These two little girls are descendents of my great grandma's family and the road that goes by there is named after a old chapel that had their last name as well. I am going to tell my uncle the person who cut the grass up there ended up running them over and see if I can just put up a iron fence around it so it doesn't happen in the future (especially if I replace them). I try not to get too religious anywhere I go cause you never know how some people will act but when I put them back together I said a little prayer for the two babies and kissed their headstones before I got back to detecting on the other side of the hill. Thanks for looking everyone have a good day.

 

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[kingskid1611]

Good looking out.

 

[Rogue Relic Hunter]

good for you. yes, replace the headstones so they are remembered. a fence will help also. eventually that happens to all graves. i see it even in the larger graveyards. no one visits anymore as prob all relatives are dead or have moved, they eventually crumble. "all we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see, all we are is dust in the wind!"

 

[civil_war22]

Yep. We moved away and my uncle still owns it so when he comes in from San Diego and runs his business down here he usually has it all mowed his self and knows where the tombstones are at and usually mows and weedeat around them but this other person clearly wasn't paying attention. I saw the guy today who brushhog it. He's a 16 yr old driving a 100HP New Holland with a cab and batwing mower. I am going to call the monument place and see how much it is going to cost. I don't really want to involve anyone else knowing my luck someone would throw a fit about there being two occupied graves on a piece of property and not kept up or my luck some archy with the university would come up there and really aggravate my uncle

 

[Rogue Relic Hunter]

best of luck with it. back then you could bury on your property so i dont think the law can do anything about it now. when i visit my father's gave, i always fix up the ones around him that need it. just feels like the right thing to do!

 

[Limitool]

best of luck with it. back then you could bury on your property so i dont think the law can do anything about it now. when i visit my father's gave, i always fix up the ones around him that need it. just feels like the right thing to do!

Your damn right it's the right thing to do.... Good for you guy. You have my respect as I would do the same also.... Brad

 

[Doubter in MD]

They were possibly hit accidentally depending on how overgrown the area was. You mentioned that you thought they were damaged by a brush hog so it is possible they didn't even know the head stones were there.

Regardless of whether you try to repair or replace the stones I would recommend that you treat the area with weed killer, put down some weed block, and some inexpensive garden fencing. It won't last more than a year or two but I think it is the best you can do.

Good luck.

 

[civil_war22]

I always do that. No matter family or not. My wife and I visit cemetaries quite often and I'm always fixing them. Funny you mentioned that cause last week we went to one of the oldest cemetaries in the area and two confederate headstones were knocked over due to soil giving away. I picked up some surrounding rocks and put them in the hole and buried them back and stepped around it to seat the dirt in for good. I don't think I've visited a cemetary I've not had to replace a stone or a wreath or something else. I know I would want it done for mine. Today I just felt compelled to do more for the two babies. Not just because they are family but the dead deserves to rest in peace and be respected even in death.

 

[civil_war22]

They were possibly hit accidentally depending on how overgrown the area was. You mentioned that you thought they were damaged by a brush hog so it is possible they didn't even know the head stones were there.

Regardless of whether you try to repair or replace the stones I would recommend that you treat the area with weed killer, put down some weed block, and some inexpensive garden fencing. It won't last more than a year or two but I think it is the best you can do.

Good luck.

I'm sure it was an accident. The 16 yr old had never been over the cut it before but his dad had and it wasn't overgrown because my uncle had just left about 2 weeks ago he possibly just wasn't paying attention either way if I cant clean these up and get them back together like I want and I tend to be a perfectionist for the deceased especially twould baby girls then I'll just replace them

 

[Brother Al]

Good morning CW22. I am an artisan and a perfectionist. When I first read that you were considering replacing the markers something inside me rebelled/ twitched..... I dunno. Just my opinion. If you really want to honor these girls? Maybe, Google/ YouTube limestone/ cement repairs.... I can see myself building a form....for support.... using whatever epoxy or product that the professionals recommend. Please do not take my response as ANY form of criticism whatever. I applaud your concern. It's just me.....the perfectionist artisan who would want to also honor and preserve the original intention of whomever placed the Original markers.
God bless you and keep you for your caring about the memory.....Al.

 

[civil_war22]

Yea I've already started building a for to put them on once I get the bonding agent on the broken pieces. Only reason I was going to replace one of them is there are several pieces missing from the badly broken one but I have pictures of what it looked like years ago and what all it said

 

[boogeyman]

Yep. We moved away and my uncle still owns it so when he comes in from San Diego and runs his business down here he usually has it all mowed his self and knows where the tombstones are at and usually mows and weedeat around them but this other person clearly wasn't paying attention. I saw the guy today who brushhog it. He's a 16 yr old driving a 100HP New Holland with a cab and batwing mower. I am going to call the monument place and see how much it is going to cost. I don't really want to involve anyone else knowing my luck someone would throw a fit about there being two occupied graves on a piece of property and not kept up or my luck some archy with the university would come up there and really aggravate my uncle

Got that right! Have you thought of casting something yourself? You could make casts of the originals, spiffy em up so they're clearly readable then place them over the originals. The archies can't say you altered the gravesite. There's a historical outfit in Arizona that's been doing this for historical graves that have missing or damaged headstones.