Tombstones

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 46  (Nov 15-21)
Prompt: Tombstones
#52ancestors

Time takes its toll on tombstones.  About thirty years ago, I was researching Charles M. McCurley and his family in Smith County, Texas. A visit to the local library led me to Dean Baptist Cemetery where Charles and his wife, Ann Matilda Hines were buried.

 This was before GPS, but I was lucky enough to find a librarian who knew where the cemetery was located.  She gave me detailed instructions. Even with the instructions, I felt lost before we finally arrived at the small country church with the cemetery. It was on a Saturday so there was no one at the church. We carefully opened the gate and begin to look for their tombstones.  As we went down each row, occasionally a car would slow down and check to see what we were doing. I’m sure the locals were looking out for vandals.

 In the very last row, near the back fence we found their tombstones. They were made from what looked like sandstone or some other soft rock. The names were hand chiseled and were very sparing of letters. There were no dates.  Just C McCurley on one stone, and A McCurley on the other stone.  They both had footstones that had no legible information if there was any at one time. The next grave over was J M which I assume was James McCarley their son. 

Photo on the right taken by David Cook.

I haven’t been back to the cemetery in a long time, but a more recent picture taken by David Cook has been posted on FindAGrave.  The picture below shows that time has eroded the stone even more. The stone is laying on the ground either due to vandalism or weather.