This stone currently resides in the River Styx Cemetery in Guilford Township but there is evidence to suggest that it belongs in another cemetery in northern Medina County.
Note that the stone has been broken away from its base. I stood it up and propped it against another tombstone to take this picture but there is no foundation where it usually lays on the ground.
The tombstone is listed in the records for this cemetery but those for the older section were drawn up in recent years and cannot be traced back to a purchase of a burial plot or original ledger. In addition, the name Babcock is one not normally affiliated with Guilford Township but rather with Hinckley Township to the north.
So where is the grave that this headstone used to mark? In 1983 the Medina County Genealogical Society published the book `Tombstone Inscriptions from the Cemeteries in Medina County, Ohio’. It was compiled by members of that group and other volunteers. This tombstone is not found in their listings for River Styx Cemetery but we can, instead, find this suspiciously similar listing in Brown Cemetery in Hinckley Township:
GEORGE, son of D & J Babcock, died June 27, 1842
Same name, same initials for the parents. Same everything except for the month (August). How do we explain this discrepancy? The tombstone inscriptions were recorded on paper and then those sheets were given to someone else to type up for the book. In fact, the man who recorded the inscriptions even typed up his notes (which say June) before turning them over to the MCGS for the book. He stated that he went there late in the day and that it was raining so he didn’t stay long. Given the condition of the Brown Cemetery – overgrown and not maintained – recording inscriptions would not have been done under anything resembling ideal conditions. Finally, I find it interesting that the age of the child at death is not listed either. Just like the headstone in the photo.
So how did this tombstone wander its way from Hinckley to Guilford? We’ll never know but it’s far from rare. Should the tombstone be returned to the Brown Cemetery? If the cemetery is ever restored and maintained in good hands, perhaps that case could be made. Better yet, the matching base may yet exist there and would be undeniable evidence.