At 05:07 PM 11/19/99 -0500, you wrote:
There is no question as to what the stone reads. I read it in 1997 it
is
very clear. It just doesn't match what some other written records have for
Elizabeth Wells, wife of Zachariah.
I would like to point out to everyone that tombstones are not always
correct. I have a 4G grandfather who died in the early 1800's. Some of his
grandchildren bought a new tombstone to replace the fieldstone tombstone on
his grave. This was decades after his death. They recorded incorrect
information on the new tombstone with the consequence that people continue
to cite the erroneous inscription. Original tombstones were often
fieldstones, many had inscriptions carved with a knife, and many were made
of stone that didn't hold up well to weathering. In many cases,
well-meaning descendants replaced the crude tombstones with more modern
ones. A cousin of mine replaced my 3G grandmother's tombstone last year
with a bright, shiny new marble one. He put the old, hand-carved stone in
his basement (without asking any of the other family). In one case (another
grandfather), some descendants fabricated an ancestor's parents on a new
tombstone, because they were ashamed of their true roots (they were
mulatto/melungeons).
I'm not saying Elizabeth Wells' tombstone is incorrect, I'm just saying
that you can't always believe what the tombstone says.
Don