Flinn/Casey Cemetery
This is a copy of the pamphlet handed out by the landowner at a dedication ceremony on October 6, 2002.
Restoration of the Flinn-Casey Cemetery began about four years ago, and has been a work in progress. We will consider it complete when we have it properly fenced. Originally, there was a wrought iron fence around it, but it was broken up and taken. On two of the corner posts, there are original patterns of pieces found. Motorized equipment could not be used to work on this site for fear of damaging the head and footstones, and also because of the large tree stumps, some of which are fifty two inches in diameter. All restoration was done with hand tools, ground sifted for any artifacts, and none of value were found. All work has been documented by photographs, and literally measuring every direction of work. Nothing was moved, except to put stones back in their proper places. The ground was excavated only six to ten inches, simply to locate all the graves, by headstones and footstones. The graves were not entered. Nancy Rule's grave had been completely dug up and it's bricks and stone were piled on the grave of Mary Rule. The resulting hole was approximately seven feet long, five feet wide, and seven feet deep. We assumed that the base to her tombstone was in the bottom of the hole, which had about four feet of water in it. It was pumped dry and excavated another twelve inches, but nothing but a few bricks. There was no trace of a casket or remains, it appeared that the whole grave had been moved. Cuba Flinn's tombstone, leaning at about forty-five degrees, was the only one standing in the Flinn section of the cemetery, and was used as the guide for aligning all the others. What is interesting is that the faces of the tombstones in the Flinn section face west, and in the Casey section they face east. Some of the tombstones were found as far away as seventy five fee, some broken, and |
under six to twelve inches underground. There are six provable, unmarked graves in the Casey section, and we made blank tombstones from concrete. George Morris's tombstone was broken in half and the lost half was not located for two years. The obelisk on the Casey girls, and Addie Morris's headstone was close to the base, and was under about two inches of dirt. All the broken headstones and footstones were repaired with a mastic and that is used in acid proof construction. This material is difficult to work with, but it worked very well. The brick columns that mark all the corners of both cemeteries were constructed from bricks remaining after all the graves were back in place. The birdbath base, the statue base, the planter, and the cannon base were made from excess brick also. The walkway entrance to the Flinn Cemetery was added as was the benches, their bases, and the flag poles. Seven headstone bases could not be located and concrete bases were made, so the headstones could be located and anchored properly. A metal detector was of no use, because there was pieces of the original fence scattered throughout. All of the stones have been cleaned about three times in the past four years, with a mild solution of bleach and water, or swimming pool cleaner. It seems to have a caustic effect on the stone, and we are currently looking for another method of cleaning. Some of the stains of the stone appear to be permanent. We have enjoyed our project and continue to "fuss" with and trying to keep in mind that "history ignored is history lost forever". We feel that maybe our unknowns are probably members of the Morris family. We welcome any information that any have. |
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List of known graves.
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Flynn/Casey Cemetery
Flynn/Casey Cemetery
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