Mystery gravestone’s rightful location identified
By Brian Stanley bstanley@stmedianetwork.com October 31, 2012 3:08PM
An 1891 gravestone of Hattie J. Prescott found in Crete Township has been traced to the Prescott family plot in Winding Hill Cemetery in Aroostook County, Maine. | Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 2, 2012 2:11PM
The mystery surrounding a 120-year-old headstone found last year near railroad tracks in Crete Township has been solved.
Numerous tips about the headstone’s rightful location were provided to the Will County sheriff’s police after a story about the gravestone of Hattie J. Prescott was published Wednesday in the SouthtownStar and The Herald-News of Joliet.
Prescott was 1 year, 8 months and 8 days old when she died on June 18, 1891. Genealogists used the Internet to determine Prescott’s headstone belonged in the family plot in Winding Hill Cemetery in Aroostook County, Maine.
“Now we’re wondering how the stone got here all the way from Maine,” Lt. Mark Rojkowski said. “We’ve gotten about 20 tips for it and we are very appreciative. That’s why we wanted it (the story) out there.”
John Dean, of Hack Funeral Home in Beecher, was working with the sheriff’s office and had custody of the stone. He was attempting Wednesday to contact Winding Hill’s caretaker.
Richard Stone found the gravestone last year under a utility pole while he was walking near the railroad tracks west of Balmoral Park Racetrack near Crete-Monee Road.
