Digging Up Your Family

Laura Jean Craft

The other day I had found an interesting bible entry that I felt my Craft cousins might be interested in, but when I went to our group Facebook page I saw that Cousin Ann had posted an obituary for one of our cousin group members, Laura Jean Craft.  I have no clue how I missed this posting, but somehow I did and I feel so terrible.

From The News-Democrat (Humphreys County, Tennessee); October 17, 2014; page 3 (link to issue):

Laura J. Craft

Laura J. Craft, Age 61, entered into eternal rest on Wednesday, September 17, 2014, at Trevecca Healthcare, after an extended illness.

Laura was a very bright and competent employee of Tennessee Division of Forestry for over 39 years.  Some of the things that brought Joy to her over the years were ballroom dancing, photography, reading, genealogy, fishing with her brother Danny, an her love for lighthouses.

Preceded in death by her parents, Albert and Mildred Craft.  Survived by brother, Daniel Craft; and several cousins and other family members.

The Life Celebration service was held on Saturday, September 20, at West Harpeth Funeral Home with interment following at Woodlawn Memorial Park.

West Harpeth Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangement.

With help from Ann, I have been able to use Laura’s notes for her Craft Line. 

Laura Jean Craft (1953-2014)

Albert Lee Craft (1913-1989) m. Mildred Christine Vaden (1913-2008)

William Henry Craft (1866-1926) m. Mary Ann Donegan (1882-1967)

Levi McCollum Craft (1843-1929) m. Amanda Jane Dunnagan (abt. 1845-unk)

J. Franklin Craft (1816-1885) m. Sarah Arrington (1810-1894)

Prestly/Presley Craft (abt 1784-bef 1860 or 1879) m. Mary “Polly” Warf? (abt 1790-aft 1860) (more will be written about Presley and Polly in another post)

Rest in peace, Laura!

(link to Laura’s memorial on Find a Grave)

What’s Going On

In the past month or so I have had a lot going on, and I hope that it will start to calm down after the holidays.  I took 2 months off from school because a) I needed a short break, and b) so I would have time for research.  And research I have been doing, though I have been jumping back and forth between trees.  Anyway, what I have been up to:

1)  I had a mishap a couple of months ago with photographs to post at The Georgia Anna Project.  My son got his hands on some photographs and mixed them up.  So I will need to go back through and separate them all out (currently some of the Pennsylvania photos are mixed in with the Vermont photos, but luckily I remember which group most go in).  Last month I did post new photographs that I purchased from a little shop down the road here and at least one of them is from Brooklyn, New York.  The name of that gentleman is Edward Shields.  Go check it out!

2.  I got started on a new genealogy blog, Beyond the Indian Rolls, dedicated specifically to American Indian heritage and genealogy.  This is a special project that came up due to my Granddaddy’s friend William Hendrix Yernipcut.  I have started researching his family and I have to say it is really interesting!  The information takes a while to compile, but I am really excited about it.

3.  When I get frustrated with my own family tree I find that it is nice to have a different family to work on.  SO, I currently have several trees I started for a few friends.  Some of the surnames include:

- Gorman, Carroll, Morton, Flynn

- Kelly (includes adoption)

- Moreno, Martinez, Escalante

- Rucker, Harris, Windom, Walden, Stonestreet, Head, Cole

- Strange, Henderson, Orr, Bailey

- Nichols, Powell, Salmon, Rickman, Armes, Sullivant

4.  In addition, I am still working on my tree and still trying to solve some mysteries:

- The exact date of death for John Spencer DeMumbrie.  If you remember, I decided that he died sometime between May 1, 1875 and September 4, 1876 (that post is here).  I am still looking to narrow it down!

- Who did Peter McQueen kill?  I had found a newspaper article that listed the murdered man’s last name (that post here) and I set out to figure out who it could possibly be.  Here, you can see an example of my in depth, extremely technical research:

I had come to the conclusion that it must have been John Flowers, b. abt 1814.  Unfortunately, though, it isn’t.  I was able to get in touch with one of his descendants and she confirmed that he didn’t die until 1869, four years after Peter killed the man.  So who was it?  Both her and I have gone through the Flowers families in the area (Choctaw County, Mississippi) and every single male can be accounted for, either through death in other years or appearing on the 1870 census.  Sigh.

- Where is the death certificate for Eppie Nettie Willhite Craft?  I know from her daughter Cofie’s letters that she was born in August of 1860 and died on January 29, 1938.  I am unsure where she died, though I am VERY confident it was in the state of Tennessee.  Great-aunt Kat remembers that after Eppie’s husband John died (December 3, 1936) Eppie came to live with them for just a little bit.  She doesn’t remember how long, but if we are to believe Henry Corbit Craft on the 1940 census record then it means they were in Houston County, Tennessee at the time.  Kat doesn’t remember where Eppie went when she left their home, though I imagine she would have moved in with one of her children (possibly Cofie?).  Eppie is buried at Double Springs Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Gibson County, Tennessee (again, I know this because of the letters Cofie wrote), the same cemetery that John C Craft, Henry Corbit Craft, Katie Clady Cathey, Louise Craft, Jesse Porter Craft, Wretha Jane Harris, Maggie Nell Craft, and Woodrow Wilson Phillips are buried.

- And speaking of Craft, I have been working on a few Craft cousins’ trees.  Well, I can’t be certain that they are blood Craft cousins, but I can always keep my fingers crossed!  I got some interesting information for Frederick Owen Craft that makes all of the previous research done on him (concerning his parents) suspect.  I need to figure out where the current information about his parents came from, though, before I can determine which path to take during research. 

If anyone has any information about any of this, let me know!  I would love to hear what you have!

Not-So-Wordless-Wednesday: Letters from Cofie Lee Craft

Cofie Lee Craft is the sister of Henry Corbit Craft, my great-grandfather.  Cofie was born in 1888.  She married Joel Rivers in 1906.  Cofie died in 1980.  The following letters document the death of her mother, Eppy, though we still are not sure on her exact name.

To her brother, Henry Corbit Craft, postmarked 1949.

 

Letter to her great-niece Polly, postmarked and dated 1973.

New Information For Eppy Willhite Craft

My mom was talking to a Craft cousin, Polly, and we finally have the death date for Eppy Willhite Craft! 

One of the more amusing aspects of trying to find a death date for Eppy has to do with the spelling of her first name.  We still aren’t sure exactly how it is spelled, or exactly what she went by.  Here are examples, though:

1870 Census: Eppenetus

1880 Census: Epsie/Effie/Effers (the last is what it looks like to me)

No census for 1890.

1900 Census: Epanetes

1910 Census: Epsy/Epsey/Ephy

I haven’t found her in 1920 yet.

1930 Census: Effie P/Eppy P

Her Marriage Record:  Eppy

Her Son’s Death Certificate: Ep

Her Husband’s Death Certificate: Elphnetus

Her Youngest Son’s Delayed Birth Record: Eppy Nedica

Her Oldest Daughter’s Delayed Birth Record: Ellie

First Letter Written By Her Daughter Cofie:  Epie Neties (that’s what Polly said it looked like, but the handwriting is kind of hard to read)

Second Letter Written By Her Daughter Cofie: Eppie

So, from the letter written by Cofie we now know that Eppy died on January 29, 1938 at the age of 77 years, which puts her birth later in the year of 1860 or early in the year of 1861.  According to the census records she was born:

1870 Census: about 1861

1880 Census: about 1861

1900 Census: August 1869 (she shaved a few years off)

1910 Census: about 1864 (she added a few years back on)

1930 Census: about 1862 (added a couple of more years)

My guess is August 1860.

The letter also confirmed that Eppy is buried at Double Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Gibson County, Tennessee. So, it looks as though I will be able to make two more headstones to lay out there for Eppy (after I find her birth date and the spelling of her name) and her husband John C Craft.

Something else I just noticed:  on the 1900 census she says she had 9 children and 8 were still living.  The children I have for her are:

Sarah Ellen Craft 1883-1962

Ivy A Craft 1884-1973

James Lankford Craft 1886-1916

Cofie Lee Craft 1888-1980

Alley I Craft 1891-haven’t found a death date yet, but sometime after the 1920 census was enumerated

Kitty Pearl Craft 1893-1934

Henry Corbit Craft 1895-1971

William Craft 1897-1987

Robert Milton Craft 1900-1992

All of them are accounted for on the 1900 census record.  Sarah Ellen had already married Andrew Armstrong, Alley I is listed and Robert Milton hadn’t been born yet (even though he was born in April of 1900, the enumerator most likely started enumerating the district prior to the June date noted at the top).  If we go by this notation it means that Eppy had a total of 10 children.  I wonder who the other child is?

So, I need to find the missing death date of Alley I Craft and where Eppy was in 1920.

What I Have Been Doing Lately

1.  I had purchased several hundred photos on eBay that all turned out to be a family collection.  After hunting around for a while I finally found the family to which they belong.  I scanned roughly 70 of the photographs and mailed those off to the family on Tuesday.  In the coming weeks I will scan the rest of them so I can get those mailed off, too.  I am extremely happy that I found the family, and I am extremely happy that they are getting their precious heirlooms back.  I had started a blog regarding the photos just in case I wasn’t able to find family.  I will be keeping it going so you can check it out here.

 

2.  My mom and I went up to Tennessee to visit with family again.  After picking up Great-Aunt Kat we drove up to Clarksville to visit Grandmother and Granddaddy’s graves.  Then we drove down to Hurricane Mills (our usual spot) and visited with Donny and Bobbie.  We didn’t stay long because Bobbie wasn’t feeling well (luckily she is feeling much better now).  While there we had decided that instead of buying Nan Nan’s fried pies from Cissie Lynn’s store, we would go to Nan Nan’s store and buy them directly from her.  After driving out of our way (you can tell from the start of this that it ended badly) we got to the location only to find out that the location was moved.  The sign (of which I wish I had taken a photo) gave the address of the new location and said to stop in and visit.  So we drove even further out of the way.  Come to find out the new location was the original location:  the owner’s home.  She (I assume Nan Nan, but it might just be named Nan Nan by using her grandmother’s recipe or something) was not pleased to see us.  She seemed to be miffed that we pulled into her driveway.  After telling us she didn’t really have many pies to sell I asked her if she took credit cards.  No, she said, she didn’t even take them at the other location.  By now I was angry.  Their website (which is just their Facebook page from what I can tell) didn’t have the new address listed which caused the looooong drive.  They also didn’t have payment options on the page, so I didn’t know I should have stopped for cash.  But in the end, you know what?  Her attitude ruined the entire thing anyway.  Had she been more pleasant I may have considered driving out to an ATM and getting cash just to buy a fried pie.  Will I ever purchase another Nan Nan’s Homemade Fried Pie again?  Nope.  (I just checked out the Facebook page, and they now have that they don’t accept credit cards and failed to use spell check…ok, that’s just me being bitter and mean)

 

3.  A couple of weeks ago my mom and I got to meet new cousins who live here in Georgia:  Valerie Craft and her mom Ruby!  Valerie has the genealogy blog Begin With Craft, which is chock-full of great information and research tips.  Due to the shared Craft surname we think that may be how we are related.  Through DNA Valerie’s father matches up to Great-Aunt Kat an estimated 4th cousin.  That means to find out how they are related we would need to go back to, at the very least, Prestly Ezekiel Craft’s father.  I think it has been figured out that his name was John Craft (don’t hold me to that because I am not positive).  Kat’s Craft family goes back:

Henry Corbit Craft (1895 TN-1971 TN)

John Craft (1859 TN-1936 TN)

Thomas Craft  (abt 1810 NC-aft 1880 TN)

Prestly Ezekiel Craft (abt 1786 NC-btwn 1850 and 1860 TN)

Several people have that Prestly married his wife Mary Thaxton in Surry County, North Carolina.  I guess I will have to look into that more.

 

4.  My mom and I are getting ready for the Bondurant Family Association Annual Meeting next week.  I’m pretty excited about it!

 

5.  I recently applied to go back to school.  I have thought about it for a while, and now with the imminent closing of the Georgia Archives to the public I decided to just do it!  I applied to American Public University online school for history.  Who knows, maybe I will eventually become an archivist!

 

6.  In my genealogy research I am currently working on (ready for this?  It’s like it is never-ending!):

-Who are Peter McQueen’s parents?  It really is driving me crazy not knowing.  The earliest I can find him is on an 1818 bill of sale for a slave named Daniel.  Peter doesn’t appear on any census record (by name at least) until 1840, though. 

-What happened to Spencer DeMumbrie?  When and where did he die?  Where is he buried?  Why is he being difficult?

-Why am I unable to locate James Franklin Stalls’s grave in Oak Grove Cemetery in Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky?  His obituary says he is there, but there is no record of him as being buried there. 

-Is the research I did on Brett’s Murphy family correct?  It seems perfectly logical to me, but I was presented with something extremely different that is completely illogical to me.

-The Craft line (as mentioned above).

-The search for Eppy Willhite Craft’s death record.  I will have to write a whole post for this fun headache.  Let’s just say that no one is actually sure of her first name anymore, and her death cannot be found (and she had to have died unless she’s still alive at the ripe old age of about 150 years-old…which you never know, I guess).

-William Glenn Cathey:  where are you buried exactly?

-Amanda Summers: when, where and how did you die and where are you buried?  Oh, and who exactly is Lizzie’s father?  Or do you not even know?

-And let’s just say many other research subjects, such as who are the parents of John B Smith?  Where exactly was Elizabeth Brownlee from?  Where is the Stalls family from?  And many, many more questions. 

 

I’m going to go watch movies now!

Shannon Cemetery, Hurricane Mills, Tenn.-Willhite, Craft, Baker, Shannon and Pickard

Well, this is one of the more interesting posts I’ve done on a cemetery. When my mom and I were up in Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee with my great-aunt Kat a little over a month ago we were directed to the Shannon Cemetery (also known as the Pleasant Valley Cemetery) by my cousin Ann. We went there to find Crafts, and we ended up finding a lot of Willhites, too. I wasn’t able to take photos of all of the headstones in the cemetery, but I did get all of the Willhites, Crafts and a few others, including Pickards (which tie into my Cathey and Craft lines!).

The following are the photos I was able to get. I can’t wait to go back! I put as much information about the family relations as I could find. Also, if I was able to find a cause of death (from death certificates or records) I added that.

note: my relationship to the Willhite family is:

Me

Virginia Marie Stalls (my mom)

Ruth May Craft (grandmother)

Henry Corbit Craft (great-grandfather)

Eppy (Epanetes) Willhite (gg-grandmother), daughter of William M. Willhite and Mary McGibboney.

 

Jennie Willhite 1892-1909, daughter of William Harrison Willhite and Mary Elizabeth Jones.

Cause of death was consumption.

 

Unknown Child Willhite, born 1896, son of William Harrison Willhite and Mary Elizabeth Jones.

 

James Calvin Willhite, Jr (Buddie) 1926-1931, son of James Calvin Willhite, Sr and Bessie Mae Page.

Cause of death was purulent pericarditis (secondary to pneumonia).

 

Willie Bryan Willhite 1914-1943, son of Christopher Columbus Willhite and Mary Stella Hodge.

Cause of death was lobar pneumonia.

 

Jimmie C. (James Calvin)Willhite (Sr) 1903-1967, son of Christopher Columbus Willhite and Mary Stella Hodge.

 

Bessie Mae Willhite 1910-1968, daughter of Jefferson Nathaniel Page and Adelia Bowman.

 

C.C. (Christopher Columbus) Willhite 1869-1937, son of James E. Willhite and Easter S. Baker.

Cause of death was carcinoma of lower lobe of right lung

 

(Mary) Stella Willhite 1882-1917 (death certificate lists parents as Calaway Hodge and Elline Hodge, but I have yet to find either of those names on a census with Stella, let alone Stella herself in 1900).

Cause of death was tuberculosis of the lungs.

 

Unknown Willhite, died October 1908.

 

Infant Willhite 1906-1906, daughter of Christopher Columbus Willhite and Mary Stella Hodge.

 

Dorris Willhite, born and died June 28, 1927, son of Bell Willhite and Ollie Page.

 

Easter Willhite 1847-1924, daughter of William Baker and Mary Ann Willhite.

Cause of death was scrofula of lungs and old age.

 

James E. Willhite 1839-1912 (there appears to be an issue with who his parents are-there are several James E. Willhites all born about the same time, but no one has actual birth dates for any of them. He was born in White County, according to his death record.)

note: my cousin Ann told me that James E. Willhite's parents are William M. Willhite and his first wife, possibly Jane Bennett (I think I have that right!).

Cause of death was old age.

 

Bell Willhite 1900-1974, son of William Harrison Willhite and Mary Elizabeth Jones.

 

Ollie (Adelia) Page Willhite 1901-1981, daughter of Jefferson Nathaniel Page and Adelia Bowman.

 

Mary E. (Elizabeth) Willhite 1869-1942, daughter of Jimmie Jones and Unknown.

Cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis.

 

W.H. (William Harrison) Willhite 1866-1936, son of James E. Willhite and Easter Baker.

Cause of death was cancer of the liver.

 

Ella Willhite 1900-1917, daughter of William Harrison Willhite and Mary Elizabeth Jones.

Cause of death was cerebrospinal fever with typhoid complications.

 

J.J.(Jesse) Boss Willhite 1887-1913, son of William Harrison Willhite and Mary Elizabeth Jones.

 

(John) J.D. Willhite 1855-1894, son of William M. Willhite and Mary McGibboney.

 

Cynthia E. (Ellen) Willhite 1842-1934, daughter of William Harris and Margaret Shannon.

Cause of death was was not listed on her death certificate, but it was probably old age.

 

Mary Craft Smith 1901-1982, daughter of James Monroe Craft and Mary Alice Green.

 

Evie Craft Beecham 1910-2008, daughter of James Monroe Craft and Mary Alice Green.

 

Frances Baker 1885-1915, daughter of Unknown, wife of Perry Baker.

 

Dr. James J. (Joseph) Shannon (Jr) 1862-1929, son of James Joseph Shannon, Sr and Nancy Young.

Cause of death was chronic interstitial nephritis.

Josie B. Shannon 1880-1969, daughter of John D. Willhite and Cynthia Ellen Page.

 

(Henry) Franklin Pickard 1899-1904, son of James David Pickard and Dicey Elizabeth Dunn.

 

Obie Pickard 1899-1901, son of John Franklin Pickard and Elvie Miranda Dunn.

More Family In 1940

I have been searching for my grandmother’s family in the 1940 census since it was released on Monday. I’m about to focus on a different line for a while, though. Tracking Grandmother’s family is a little difficult because they seemed to move a lot.

I remembered that my grandmother worked at the bomb factory in Milan, Gibson County, Tennessee at one point, so I was hoping to find her there (she also married her first husband in Gibson County in 1940). I still haven’t found her, but I did find another one of her sisters!

Maggie Nell Craft married Woodrow Phillips. In 1940 they were living just outside of Milan in Gibson County, Tennessee.

A Few Family Members In 1940

The search is still on (and has been for 4 days) to find my family members in the 1940 US Census. Here’s a few of them!

 

My great-grandmother’s sister Ludie Mae Cathey. She married Cam Daniel. This census shows Ludie, Cam and their children in Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee.

My great-grandmother’s half sister Maggie Smith married Granville Baker. In 1940 Maggie and Granville, along with some of their children, also lived in Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee.

My grandmother’s sister Nettie Sue Craft married Elgie Lewis. In 1940 Nettie Sue, Elgie and their two children (Buddy for some reason is listed as Billie) were living in Nunnelly, Hickman County, Tennessee.

 

The hunt is still on to find everyone else!

Lizzie Was Here (and so was the rest of the family!)

I would like to know what this used to say and what it was…

Last week when my mom and I drove up to Tennessee to place the headstones for the Craft family we also got a chance to see where my great-great-grandmother Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers lived when she was living in Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee.  Donny Baker, my first cousin twice removed, took us to not one, but TWO houses Lizzie lived in!  It was pretty exciting for us and my great-great-aunt Kat. 

I got photos of the houses, but what I thought was pretty neat were the outhouses.  Not because they were outhouses sitting out behind the houses themselves, but because Lizzie, and her children and grandchildren (including my grandmother) had actually sat their behinds on the seats in those outhouses. 

It may seem silly, but knowing that I was seeing a place where people went for privacy just made it special.

This outhouse is from the first house we visited, on the paved end of the road.

 Lizzie’s butt sat here!

 

This is up on the hill behind the second house, which was on the non-paved section of the road.

Lizzie’s butt sat here, too!

Gosh, just think about how each person had to tromp out to these little buildings in the snow and rain just to be alone and read the Sears & Roebuck catalog!

Headstones: History in the Making

Several weeks ago my great-aunt Kat had mentioned to my mom that she had always wanted a headstone for her mother’s grave and was never able to get one, whether due to monetary issues or distance from the cemetery itself.  It was something that I had thought about a few times before, getting a headstone for my great-grandmother, so I started looking around.  And I found that headstones are far, far more expensive than I thought they were.  A basic small headstone was hundreds of dollars.  That wasn’t going to do, so I started looking around again.  Then my mom sent me a link to a website that tells how to make the stones.  It looked easy enough, so we (my mom, my husband and I) started making the stones about three weeks ago.  This past Sunday my mom and I drove up to Tennessee to set the stones.  Aunt Kat got misty.

The following is the journey to make the headstones.

The headstones set in Double Springs Presbyterian Cemetery, Humboldt, Gibson County, Tennessee.

 

The website that my mom found was The Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project.  Neal Du Shane of APCRP is so helpful.  I am so grateful for him for being in contact with me and giving me tips and tricks along the way to make the stones successful.

Anyway, here’s how we made the stones.

 

Supplies

2x4s

Long screws

Flat sticks, like 1 1/2” wood trim

Press-in letters (I ordered from Magnetic Poetry, as suggested by APCRP)

Pencil

Very strong plywood boards

Garbage bags or other plastic

Newspaper

Wheelbarrow

Shovel

Quikrete Type S Mason (mortar) Mix 80lbs bag (make sure it’s MORTAR mix)

Water (about 5 liters)

Small hand cement tamper

Hand cement trowel

Rubber mallet

Small bucket of water

Cloth rag or paper towels

Vegetable oil cooking spray

Seal Krete Clear-Seal Gloss Concrete Sealer

Wrought iron accoutrements and nails, if so desired

 

Be sure to make just one stone at a time.  Neal figured out that the time one has from when the mortar is mixed to work with it is roughly 30-45 minutes.  He is not joking.  It’s a short amount of time, so you have to work quickly, but efficiently. All supplies laid out and ready to go!

 

Building the Frames

Each stone was to measure 21”x16”.  My husband Brett cut 2x4s into lengths so that the inside of the frames would measure correctly, then used long screws to put the frames together.

 

Setting the Letters

I started by taping paper together into 21”x16” rectangles.  Then Brett cut the trim pieces of wood into lengths of 23” (which is the measurement of the outside of the frames).  I then laid the ironwork on the paper in the place it would be on the stones and marked the stick.  I then began setting the letters and marking them on the stick to get them as centered as possible. 

 

Set Up

Once the letters were set we were ready to begin making the stones.  We started by setting a strong piece of plywood on a dolly to make it easier to move around.  Plastic was laid on the plywood, followed by several layers of newspaper (it was figured that the newspaper might help absorb some of the moisture from the mortar).  The frame was then placed on top of the newspaper.  Letters and numbers were set out along with a written copy of the exact lettering (just in case I messed it up on the sticks!)

 

Preparing the Mortar

Brett poured the bag of mortar in the wheelbarrow.  When he had the shovel ready I started pouring in water.  I started with about 3 liters, then added until it was, as Neal said, the consistency of peanut butter (for the record, we had a discussion on whether or not Neal meant homemade peanut butter once the oil was poured off or popular name brand like Jiff or Skippy.  We decided that it was probably in between, but more Skippy than homemade…so smooth, but not something that was sloshy and pourable).  Brett put a lot of back work into it to get it mixed.  Once it was mixed up he started shoveling the mix into the frame, while I spread it into the corners to make sure it was distributed evenly.  Once it was all in Brett went to rinse the wheelbarrow and shovel while my mom tamped it all down to break all of the bubbles out and bring the “cream” (as Neal called it) to the top.  We then smacked all around the outside of the frame with the rubber mallet to make sure the mortar got into the corners well and then Brett smoothed the top with the trowel, which brought more “cream” to the top.  Once the top was perfectly smooth we were ready for the ironwork and the lettering. The mortar we used.

My mom tamping out the mortar.

 

Placing the Decoration and Letters

Placing the ironwork was done by eyeballing.  I then laid it in place and smooshed it down as far as I could into the mortar.  I then used the mallet to lightly tap it in a little deeper.  Nails were placed in spots to anchor in the ironwork.  I then placed the stick across the frame in the correct spots and began using my marked guides to press in the letters.  My mom sprayed each letter with the cooking spray to prevent the mortar from sticking.  As each letter was removed from the mortar she would rinse it in the bucket of water and dry to prepare it for it’s next use.  Me laying out the guide stick.

 

Curing the Mortar

When the ironwork and the lettering were in place it was time to let the mortar cure.  Since the stones were on the plywood on the dolly we just had to roll the dolly to the drying location, then pick up the plywood and place it in a dry spot for a few days.  After about 48 hours Brett unscrewed the frame and the stone was moved to set on it’s side leaning on the wall so that air could flow freely around it and finish curing it. 

 

Sealing the Headstones

After a week of curing it was time to seal the headstones.  We took them outside and began using a very hard rock to smooth the edges and corners of the stone.  After they were dusted off I used a small roller brush to apply a very thin coat of sealer.  I allowed it to dry for about an hour, then applied more.  I made sure to get a lot of sealer around the ironwork (to prevent staining from rust) and I made sure to coat the inside of all of the lettering.  Then I let the sealer cure in the sun for a while, moving it to a dry place (the garage) to finishing curing for a week. Sealer drying on the bottom of the stones.

 

Placing the Headstones

My mom and I drove the headstones up to Tennessee for placing.  And the way the stones are placed all depends on the cemetery.  Some want rebar and all to be used, some just want pea gravel.  I was told pea gravel, but when we got there the Rust family said to place them in the spots and they would do the permanent placing with concrete for us. 

 

And that’s how Kat’s family got their stones!

A few notes concerning the stones:

• I can’t actually tell you how much water we used, but it was more than 5 liters.  When I measured out the 5 liters it left a lot of dry mortar.  So I would start with that, but add more if needed.
• Neal said that he found an easier way to get the mortar in the corners and get the bubbles out (and bring the “cream” to the top):  use bladeless saws on the sides to vibrate the frame!
• The “cream” actually leaves a very shiny coat to the top of the stone.  The reason we used a sealer was because the cemetery required us to do it, but you don’t actually have to do it (unless you want to, I suppose).
• We actually did one stone, Porter’s, as a tester.  And his came out very well.  When we first did Katie’s stone I wasn’t happy with it at all, so we pried the ironwork off it and started over again.
• They are very heavy.  One 80lb bag of mortar makes one headstone.  So the headstones are 80lbs each.

 

The approximate cost to make five headstones (assuming you already have basic tools such as screws, mallet, trowel, nails, wheelbarrow, shovel, garbage bags, newspaper, cooking spray and rags):

• 2x4s = about $16
• 1 1/2” flat trim = about $6
• Press-in Letters = $12.95 plus shipping, so we will just say about $13
• Plywood boards = about $10
• 5 bags of Quikrete = about $30
• Sealer = a gallon can is about $24 and we used roughly 1/4 gallon, so about $6
• Accoutrements = Hobby Lobby has a large selection of wrought iron pieces for about $5 each, so about $25
• Total approximate cost to make five headstones is about $106.  That may seem like a lot, but as you can see here one single basic granite marker has a starting cost of $147. 

The five we made are not perfect.  Letters are slightly wonky, some edges aren’t perfectly straight (from the smoothing process).  But these stones will last for hundreds of years.  And they were handmade with love.  Each epitaph was carefully selected for the person on who’s stone they were placed.

I am really glad that we were able to do this.  And knowing that my family is pleased makes it all the better.

Betty Rust (helps oversee the cemetery), JJ Rust (carried the stones from the car to the gravesites), Billy Rust (helps oversee the cemetery), my son in his stroller, my mom, my 2nd cousin Polly, my great-aunt Kat, Polly’s husband James.

 

HENRY C.C. CRAFT

MAY 4, 1895

DECEMBER 27, 1971

IN JESUS’ NAME,

AMEN

(note:  I asked Kat about her father’s middle name and it is Corbit.  I thought it was Corbett since I had seen it spelled that way on certain records, but it is for certain Corbit.  He went by CC or Corb, so CC seemed appropriate for his headstone.  Henry CC Craft is my great-grandfather)

 

KATIE CLADY CATHEY CRAFT

DEC. 18, 1897

NOV. 25, 1935

HER MEMORY IS

ENSHRINED IN OUR

HEARTS FOREVER

(note:  Katie Clady Cathey Craft is my great-grandmother)

 

JESSE PORTER

CRAFT

MARCH 11, 1929

APRIL 27, 1941

SAY A PRAYER

WHEN PASSING

(note:  Jesse Porter Craft, known as Porter in the family, is my great-uncle)

 

LOUIS CRAFT HARRIS

DEC 12 1919

JAN 2 1949

BLESSED ARE THE

PURE IN HEART

(note:  Louise Craft Harris is my great-aunt)

 

WRETHA JANE HARRIS

JAN. 26 1939

MAR. 7 1939

IN LOVING MEMORY

(note: Wretha Jane Harris is Louise’s daughter.  She is my first cousin once removed)