Genealogy Road Trip | Gopher Hill Cemetery

My sister Courtney joined me for a three-day genealogy road trip in June 2012. I am writing a series of posts that shared the stories and sights of our adventure. This is Part 13.

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Click on image above to view a larger photo size.

We made it to Warren County, Indiana in the early afternoon. Unlike our first few stops, we were easily able to navigate to our next stop using the map on our phones. There were so many roads and turns that I'm glad we had a bit of extra guidance as we drove past fields and farms.

The Gopher Hill Cemetery was not only the smallest cemetery we had visited on this trip, but also the most rural. Considering the size of the cemetery, we thought we would have more luck in finding the headstone of our 4th great-grandfather, Cephas Lindley.

As per usual, Courtney and I split the cemetery in two and started our search for Cephas. Not long after we started, it seemed that we both came up empty hanged. We quickly narrowed our search to an older section of stones that were broken (some were even stacked).

It was in those broken stones that we found the VERY weathered stone that belonged to Cephas.  His stone was broken in half right along the line where his name was carved over a hundred years ago. The only way I could verify that it was his, was by tracing the fading letters with my fingers (I've confirmed this with some images of a distant cousins). I was shocked by the state of his stone considering that the stones of his parents and grandparents are still standing and in excellent condition. Pictures of the stone can be seen below:

Click on image above to view a larger photo size.

Click on image above to view a larger photo size.

I'm not sure what can be done to repair Cephas's stone, even if it can be salvaged. If not, I wonder if there is something that can be done to this type of stone to stop further damage. Anyone of you genea-bloggers have any ideas?