Mysterious Headstones Discovered in Montana Backyard

A fire that destroyed part of a Great Falls, Montana house earlier this year led to some much needed renovations - which turned up more than just dirt.

Cindy Torrez's son discovered five five burial headstones in his neighbor's backyard when he was taking out the trash on Thursday. Then another neighbor came forward, saying she found two more in her backyard.

Willard Cook is in charge of the cemetery records for the Great Falls Genealogy Society, and says that the stones look authentic, but are not typical of the era etched on them. He remarked that they look, "...professional. But normally people used monuments back then."

The Genealogy society says there is no indication a cemetery ever existed here, which opens the door to a whole new set of questions: where did these head stones come from, and what could still be lying underneath?

Cook noted, "You would think they would have found something additional."

Can the genealogy society or other genealogists find a bit more information about these people? You can read more at http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=11460818.

Comments

[Phil Hayes]

Did you notice the comment posted by D E Beckstrom at 7:13 PM tonight? Part of the case seems to be solved.

http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=11460818

[Gloria Ishida]

Interesting that these names appear in the Cascade County census, Alfred Beckstrom in 1900, Kibbey Township, correct birthdate, born in Sweden; Jessie Williams in the 1910 census in the same county (1920 in Lewis and Clark County), but birthdate is quite off. Well, a place for the genealogical society to start; maybe they have. Keep a look out for a follow-up story, Dick. Sure is intriguing.

[Robert Leopard]

In Palmyra NY we had a backyard with many broken stones in it. It was once owned by the man who made monuments, headstones, etc.

[Donna]

On the newspaper's webpage is a comment from D E Beckstrom who says
"This is a headstone for my grandfather, who is buried South of town. There is a headstone there (my brother made sure), however it is made of granite. Perhaps the one in the article was replaced by one made of granite. My brother Cecil who lives in Great Falls will try and contact the Genealogy Society."

[Rollin Butler]

I saw a program on HGTV about new people living in older houses, and they found people who lived in the house used to do the chiseling of headstones, and they were rejected by the purchaser due to bad spelling, or couldn't pay for them. Or they were samples that they made.

[Millie Starr]

It is to be hoped that these are the debris left after newer, fancier stones were erected. These stones are very typical of the run of the mill stone put on graves by the less affluent. Many were replaced but in our local cemeteries dating back to the 1860/70s there are thousands of that type of stone. These are not the type likely to be stolen on Halloween. But of course if there were folks disinterred and moved, these would be put in the trash pile too. Sometimes portions of cemeteries are paved over for freways and so those stones too are surplus. Good luck Genealogical Society! in finding a home for these folks if it is neeeded.

[Sharon]

Sad to say, in one of my genealogy trips, I discovered that a small graveyard which had contained the stones of some family members had been stripped of the stones when someone needed stone material for a house foundation. If the house is later torn down, those gravestones might appear along with other debris.