Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Here's something that doesn't happen every day...


From the Daily News:

The 153-year-old tombstone of famed abolitionist Wilson Rantus has mysteriously turned up in the backyard of a Queens College professor’s home, The News has learned.

Allan and Elaine Ludman returned from Peru last month to find the 200-pound marble slab in the backyard of their Flushing home — more than 150 years after the headstone was planted at Rantus’ one-time family estate a mile away.

“This is a piece of history that has to be preserved,” said Allan Ludman, a professor at the school’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science, who said he was puzzled why someone hauled the headstone over his 4-foot fence.

Rantus was buried in a family plot near Queens College until 1952, when his remains were moved to Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn after descendants sold the property.

Evergreens historian Donato Daddario said Rantus and his family appear to be buried in an unmarked grave at the cemetery, but on Monday that plot had not been identified.

The Ludmans have been keeping the stone secure in their home while seeking out historians to help them restore it and return the slab to a proper, dignified burial site.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone must have known this guy to put it in his backyard. They must have known that he would take care of it. I mean what are the odds that it would show up in his backyard specifically?

georgetheatheist said...

Put it on eBay.

Anonymous said...

Instead of eBay, why not use the internet to find his descendants, and give it to them?

Queens Crapper said...

It's going to his grave in Evergreen Cemetery.

Anonymous said...

Even better.

Anonymous said...

It's nice that Evergreen Cemetery will reunite the gravestone with its honoree, but with rain and pollution, I fear that words on this grave marker will continue to gradually fade. I hope that Evergreen will apply preservation materials to the grave stone.