Feb 14, 2017 3 min read

Donegal Township officials believe they’ve pieced together the story of how several tombstones wound up in a culvert beside Shaler Road.

But for Supervisor Doug Teagarden, that leaves another unanswered question.

“What’s the proper thing?” he said. “I have no idea how you dispose of a tombstone that’s no longer a tombstone.”

An article that ran in the Observer-Reporter Tuesday described how Shane Moore, who lives nearby, spotted the tombstones Saturday from the vantage as he drove by and later returned with a friend to find the headstones and chunks of road material, prompting inquiries by the township and its police department.

Teargarden said Tuesday two tipsters contacted the township, providing information he credited with shedding more light on the story behind the gravestones.

Jay Dutton, 78, a retired district judge who lives in the township, sent an email to Teagarden in which he linked the gravestones to a cache of damaged, unused or unclaimed markers that were carted off from Simon White’s Sons Monuments Co. after a fire at the Claysville business in 1968.

Dutton, who worked for Wilkie Contracting at the time, said he helped haul stones that were later used in a wall at a Christian church. He recalled township dump trucks also picked gravestones up from there and some were used to help stabilize creek beds.

An email from a Ligonier Township man who said he researches family history as a hobby may have helped township officials clear up another puzzle.

Among the stones Moore and his friend found was one for “G. Duffield Marshall” with the dates 1860-1896.

Dave Kovalcik, the researcher, said in an email to the township late Monday a George Duffield Marshall with birth and death dates that match those years is buried at Valley Cemetery in Imperial, now with a new marker for multiple family members.

Meanwhile, a web search reveals records for a “G. Duffield Marshall” who lived from 1860 to 1895 and is buried at the cemetery. Police Chief John Yancosek believes the discrepancy in dates explains what happened.

“The date of death is wrong,” he said. “I think it was just a miscut … and (the stone) never made it up there.”

Yancosek noted a “good bit” of scrap granite was found in the area. Police don’t suspect vandalism or theft, but reporting the discovery of the gravestones was the right thing to do, he said. He also said he appreciated calls the department received from people in Washington and Allegheny counties who wanted to help.

Teagarden said township officials met Monday and confirmed the markers “have not been put there since any of our road crew guys have been employed with us” – a period spanning the last six to eight years. He said rain had likely uncovered the markers.

Teargarden expected supervisors to discuss the gravestones Thursday during a special meeting already scheduled for unrelated business. He said his opinion was the township should “remove what we can” of the stones and cover the rest over, saying he didn’t want to dig into the toe of the road.

“I don’t think we want disturbance,” he said.

Moore could not be reached for comment Tuesday.