Is it legal to sell a Gravestone

[frogpatch]

We seem to have a typo here that is mixing people up. It should be 1874 not 1974. The stones have been in the house since before 1974. Plus that would make the person 98 not two. The chances are good that there is an old local Lutheran Church that may have records as most Germans back then were Lutheran. The Lutheran churches are usually impeccable records keepers.

[Hilltop]

Frogpatch, Good call on the typo. Yes it is 1874 and not 1974.

[KC]

The gravestonestudies site is a great one.  Hope you are able to contact them.

The questions I have are:
1) Why are you wanting to sell them?  Do you need the money that much?
2)  Is there a local museum or historical society that could help figure this out?  That this could be donated to with a tax write off?

[mart]

Frogpatch, Good call on the typo. Yes it is 1874 and not 1974.

Well. I sure didn`t catch that one !! I did think one of your posts about his being two years old was a little strange,, but you said there were two stones so I thought maybe you were talking about the other one !!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Good for you for doing the right thing. The Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS) can help but it may take them a while to get back to you. You can also contact Kurt Riegle and Tina Pabst of One Stone at a Time. They are AGS trained, and they do extremely careful cleaning, resetting, restorations and "detective work". I've hired them several times to clean and restore my New York ancestors stones. Here is the contact info:
(607) 316-0117
riegelkurt@gmail.com
127 Pearl St Bainbridge, New York 13733
https://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Stone-at-a-Time/541567555903969?sk=timeline
Tell them Claire Warren sent you.

[Hilltop]

The gravestonestudies site is a great one.  Hope you are able to contact them.

The questions I have are:
1) Why are you wanting to sell them?  Do you need the money that much?
2)  Is there a local museum or historical society that could help figure this out?  That this could be donated to with a tax write off?

No I don't need the money that much. I have talked with the historical society (I was there for hours). They were helpful but we could not find anything. I did asked them if they wanted them for their museum and they declined. They told me it was thoughtful of me but they didn't want them. I did try.

[KC]

Bravo Hilltop!  Thanks for trying! 

[Hilltop]

I just got an email from a morbid antique place in Ontario Canada. Here is what it said.


Cabinet of Curiosities
To Me
Today at 10:31 AM
Hi Christopher, interesting find. In my experience there aren't any laws stating you can't sell a tombstone assuming they haven't actually been removed from a grave. If discovered in a house barn or field, essentially they were just signage and nothing directly tied legally to a body. Often there were misprints or damaged stones during production.

It was not uncommon in the 19th century or earlier that a family would up and move the entire clan a great distance in many cases they would dig up the family members from a family cemetary and take them with them and take the stones as well.

What you may have is someone moved from a great distance and took at least the gravemarkers with them. Or as the owners of the home said, there used to be a small graveyard on the property in which case records if there were any may have been lost.

In any case, in my "opinion" you're free and clear to sell them. The trick is finding a buyer... most people find them creepy even haunted... everyone finds them heavy. It's an acquired taste for certain.
Where are you located? Are you in New York State?

Cheers
Mark

[KC]

Would love to still see the rubbings and this has drummed up alot of interest.  I know we are all looking to help out!

[Hilltop]

Here are some pics and the scans of the rubbings of the name. I hope this helps. Thank You all for helping me out with this.

[mart]

What county or town were the stones found ?? I found some in NY state that changed the name spelling from Schmidt to Schmitt !! My family did the same thing,, Grandfathers name was Burkhart but the original spelling was Burkhardt !! Someone along the way changed it, dropping the German spelling !!

[TWD]

A bit off topic, but I lived in Germany for a few years, and while taking a hike along the coast one day, we stated finding pieces of marble headstones...and we thought they may be part of a demolished graveyard or some such thing.  But, ran into some other hikers, and this was just an area a local stone maker dumped his mistakes and such...he needed to dump, and they needed fill in a wet area, so he had permission.  It was weird, yet fascinating.  But I love old cemeteries, I have explored them through Europe, Southern USA, Canada, and some small funky old ones in the New England area....just love them!?  But I love a lot of old things!

[Hilltop]

What county or town were the stones found ?? I found some in NY state that changed the name spelling from Schmidt to Schmitt !! My family did the same thing,, Grandfathers name was Burkhart but the original spelling was Burkhardt !! Someone along the way changed it, dropping the German spelling !!

Mart, These are from New York, Town of Tonawanda in Erie County.

[mart]

Just curious but the rubbings were taken from the slab stone weren't they ??  The years written are 1872 and at the bottom 1871 isn`t it ?? Which one was 1874 ?? The cross ??

[Hilltop]

Just curious but the rubbings were taken from the slab stone weren't they ??  The years written are 1872 and at the bottom 1871 isn`t it ?? Which one was 1874 ?? The cross ??

At first look at it, it looks like 1871 but it is 1874. I was hard to see at first. The Cross had a faint Grandson and no dates.