 On Tuesday, August 22nd, we began work on the restoration of the memorials of Samuel Lynes Senior and Elizabeth Lynes. The respective numbers for these memorials are SJGC – 0026 and SJGC – 0024. (from the Ford Survey)  Upon excavation the headstone of Elizabeth Lynes measured 57 &3/4 “. Her headstone was laid to the side in a careful fashion to avoid stress on the stone.  We dug very deep down along its sides and down its face. We exposed both bottom corners and eventually the entire face of the stone. The total height of the headstone measured 77 &1/2”, well over 6 feet. We removed about one dozen bricks as we excavated both of these memorials. The bricks were later repurposed in resetting.  In order to really get the elevations right of all four stones we had to go ahead and remove the marble base of Lizzie Lynes which was in the way of our line. After doing this we were then able to finish excavation on Samuel Lynes Senior and begin to reset. The bricks we had unearthed were used to provide lateral support as the weight of the stone continued to prove a challenge. We were able to raise it a little bit at a time until we got the low point above grade and the stone level.  We then poured the correct concrete around the headstone. We had to check the level and plumb quite a few times throughout this process and use cinder blocks to hold it in place while the concrete set up. We put over 300 pounds of granite and concrete around this headstone. We then began to reset Elizabeth Lynes’ memorial. We removed any soil that was in between the two headstones. The same method was implemented in resetting this stone as was used with Sarah J. Lynes. The stone was tall enough to compact the crushed granite, set the stone and back fill with crushed stone.  We then set out to work on the footstones. Upon excavation both measured around 30". Elizabeth Lynes' footstone was fractured in two pieces; which I pinned and glued and grouted and left in a clamp.   On Wednesday, August 22nd, 2018 we picked our third truck load of crushed granite. We needed to finish back filling Samuel Senior and Elizabeth Lynes headstones. We then cleaned both of these stones and their footstones. All work, narrative, and photos by Joshua Samuel Hiller 2018 |  We excavated the headstone of Elizabeth Lynes first. The soil composition was very sandy and we found only smaller feeder roots to cut through.    We then replaced all the soil we had displaced with crushed granite and used the remaining bricks to surround the stone in a similar fashion as the Rev. Samuel Lynes.  A fair amount of thought had to go into the finish height of Elizabeth Lynes headstone as I wanted to ensure that the elevations were as close as possible to George and Lizze Lynes. We set Elizabeth Lyne’s headstone 1.5” higher than Sarah J. Lynes to make sure everything worked out right.  Samuel Lynes Senior was extremely brittle and fragile. It was partially fractured when we excavated it. It was getting to be the end of the day. When we went to reset it, the footstone broke with only little movement. I put the footstone back together and reset it.  |
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