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Question:My great, great grandmother's tombstone was destroyed and I would like to replace it but I can't find anyone who can make a tombstone that matches my great, great, grandfather's. I need to find one that's made in the style that was used in the 1870's otherwise it will look weird. Does anyone have any ideas as to where to look for one? I already asked at the pioneer cemetary and they had no suggestions.


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: My great, great grandmother's tombstone was destroyed and I would like to replace it but I can't find anyone who can make a tombstone that matches my great, great, grandfather's. I need to find one that's made in the style that was used in the 1870's otherwise it will look weird. Does anyone have any ideas as to where to look for one? I already asked at the pioneer cemetary and they had no suggestions.

Matching it may be hard, but if you have a photo of it then a good stone mason may be able to come up with something pretty close for you. I can't guarantee it will be inexpensive. The reason so many old headstones are gone is that they were made from inexpensive types of stone that don't weather well...or from concrete, which just disintegrates over time.

There are also a couple of companies out there making "vintage-style" headstones and if you go to a good funeral director in your area, they should be able to do the research for you and order it on your behalf. Again, I don't know about cost. But it is possible to find them with a little persistence.

Please take this bit of your family's history to the monument company. Ask them to place (embed) both your grandmother's stone and your grandfather's also into a new tombstone. I think that would really be nice.

Go directly to the tombstone makers (usually near a big cemetery) with a picture of his tombstone. There are some reasons styles have changed (for example limestone or marble was often used, and as a result many tombstones over 75 years old have had the inscriptions worn away by time.).

Also, if you are thinking of having family chip in - contact them now, and give them an estimate of the cost beforehand. Keep in mind some won't have the funds to help.

You need to find a company specializing in CUSTOM monuments! And any cemetery office or funeral home can probably provide you with some suggestions.

Most of the standard sources of tombstones are manufacturers who have an industrial setup and basically provide lines of tombstone styles. Just as Ford has certain cars it can provide. They aren't set up to do custom work.

If you are just looking for a style match, a custom monument company should be able to easily do that. The problem comes if you want MORE than a style match, but an overall match in appearance. This would not only require acquisition of similar base material (granite, marble) but would also require weathering. Being from 1870, it may not be possible to get a close match in overall appearance. But the monument company would be able to tell you all that.

Now understand, as soon as you say the word "Custom", the number of zeros in the price goes up. Sometimes quite substantially.

If money is a problem, another maybe acceptable solution is to replace BOTH headstones - the one that was destroyed as well as the existing 1870s stone. That way they would of course match. If the existing 1870s headstone is really deteriorated, this might be the best route as that stone may be destined for major problems in the forseeable future.

You may have to to go to a reputable monument maker that has been in business for many generations, would think that they would have photos of tombstones from the 1870 era.
Wish you luck, Rich

go on to ask.com and see if that can help you go good luck

You can indeed replace an 1870's tombstone with a like monument but I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the new tombstone will likely be made of better materials and will probably outlast the other tombstone by many, many years. The ornamentation can be duplicated simply by taking a rubbing of the existing stone. There have been many a families who had one spouse die decades before the other one and have had to use this method to get a matching stone.

The bad news is that it can be quite costly depending on the tombstone that you are trying to duplicate. As a previous poster mentioned, you could always get a new double stone and place it, leaving the other stone until it becomes unreadable.

hopefully you can find something reasonable..I know that I'd prefer closest to the original, IF THAT IS an option.
Just to mention something I saw at a local cemetery... the family had what I would call a memorial bench made, to acknowledge close relatives who were buried at unknown location. They *might* be at that same cemetery, but there is no stone to prove that, one way or another. The bench was placed adjacent to the existing stones, in the family plot.
Good luck!