Kerry, We finished clearing trees, burning, building a NEW fence and getting the existing modern stones reset at the McLean Cemetery. I was able to get a regular monument company to reset the larger modern stones. He indicated he was afraid to do much with the older stones as they were very brittle. I encouraged him to set up some of them and his point was proven when a 3" piece "flaked" off the side of a 8" x 8" x 24" stone he was resetting. He was handling it extremely carefully and touching it only with his bare hands. His advice was to do almost nothing to the old stones. Even standing them upright could result in a fracture. Replacement with modern materials seems to be the only realistic solution if only an economical way is found to do it. Ken In a message dated 1/8/2006 10:16:57 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, ciarrai4378@mchsi.com writes: Ken and others: There could be a connection between the two James Duncans. I do not know much about the family. Regarding the story and photographs, if you cannot find descendents, donating them to the Christian County Library would insure that both descendents and all researchers would have access. Just a suggestion, I work for a State Historical Society so I am biased toward public archives. There are many cemeteries in Christian County in need of maintence and rehabiltation. The Casebolt and Hyde in far eastern Christian County are two of great interest to me. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago there was a flurry of discussion about doing rehabilitation. I do know an sculpture/stone mason in Kansas City who could direct and instruct. Would you be interested in joining forces to work on several cemeteries this coming summer? Kerry McGrath office: Iowa Historic Preservation Office State Historical Society of Iowa kerry.mcgrath@iowa.gov 515-281-6826 home: ciarrai4378@mchsi.com ==== MOCHRIST Mailing List ==== Donations and volunteers being accepted now. See http://www.rootsweb.com/~mochrist/ for more details ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx