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Old Methodist Cemetery, Deersville, Ohio

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Although established in 1824, it is thought the first burials go back to 1820 or 1822. Deersville was founded in 1815 & sits astride the southern Moravian Trail. A crude path used by the French as a southern route between Fort Duquesne & Fort Detroit, as well as by the Moravian missionaries since the early 1750’s. A hundred or more years before that it linked Indian villages along the southwestern side of the Ohio River.

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4 Church 743

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We began work in the front corner near the cemetery sign & the church.

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These 2 tombstones for a husband & wife were very typical of what needed attention. John’s stone was almost unreadable due to a thick coating of likens. The base had also sunk below grade which helped cause the mortar to erode. Mary’s stone had been covered under a layer of sod & was lying behind her husband’s marker. Her base had apparently crumbled & disappeared long ago. We poured a new base for her at seasons end.

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R.D. & Mary Hines were typical of the smaller 2 & 3 piece monuments that were either toppled over or loose.

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2 months after we completed work on this monument, out of state descendants came to look him up. Noah will stand for at least another 100 yrs.

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Words chains

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One of the many granite monuments that needed to be righted. It was cleaned, re-stacked, & leveled with new monument compound seal.

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William Adams continues to get cleaner by the day.

 

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By the 3rd week we were well under way.

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By the end of the season the front area is ready for spring touch ups to complete this section.

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22 Baker before collage

The upper left corner of this picture gives you an idea of the poor condition of the George & Jane Baker stones.

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We 1st cleaned, re-leveled, & reset George Baker & let his stone whiten over the summer. We searched for Jane’s base & found a crumbling pile of sandstone where her stone originally stood. It was clear we would have to construct a new base.

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By spring Jane’s stone will whiten up & match her husband’s monument. The base we made for Jane is our 1st attempt at “base color matching”. We will tweak it in the spring with some greens & grays to better match her husband’s base.

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Some of the cleanup this section received as we reset both monuments & foot stones.

 

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We also cleaned & reset the cemetery’s only “Woodman of the World” monument.

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27 Tri pod & hoist 450

28 Tri pod example

 

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John Yarnall was the 1st of the toppled granite monuments we took on. It was a related descendant that called us in to look at resetting the Civil War veteran’s stone. This 1 monument is what started an entire cemetery restoration.

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A month earlier we cleaned up the family plot & reset 2 stones with 1 left to undergo specialized restoration. We removed the old crumbling concrete pad & reset this monument on a bed of pea gravel & sand. A concrete pad like the one that was under this monument will only deteriorate & crumble once again. A properly placed bed of gravel & sand will ebb & flow much better with the freeze & thaw cycles & not be resistant like concrete. If the ground is going to shift, the ground is going to shift & concrete pads aren’t going to stop that.

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We were pleased to restore this stone for free to show our appreciation for the work it brought us.

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We had a young & curious visitor for a short time.

 

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Taking weight off the monument to level & straighten the base.

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Disrespect in cemeteries has been going on longer than we think. We found pieces of this child’s stone from 1848 used as shims under a monument that had been placed in the cemetery 40 years later. There are a few Palmer’s buried in the old section of the cemetery. We will enjoy further investigating this mystery.

 

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The Assembly Process.

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No longer hidden by unwanted growth.

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Some small plots are given respect once again as the cemetery gains a neater & cleaner appearance. We probed & excavated twice & were unable to find the doves head.

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It was our great honor to restore the tombstone for one of Deersville’s founding fathers in time for the town’s bicentennial in 2015. Happy Birthday Deersville!

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A great big warm thanks to Robert, Scott, & John for the help with the tri-pod & thousands of pounds of granite monuments.

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19 3 Scott's Co 550.