Chelone, the cat's name is Lily, sister (in spirit) to Tiger, an orange male and the coolest cat who ever walked the face of the earth. Lily is more normal cat, Tiger thinks he is a person. He knows more people in the neighborhood than I do, and frequents most of their homes. There is also a third orange long-hair named Molly. Orange cats have the best temperaments IME. Thanks for the compliments - - it's nice to hear after all that sweat I invested! All of the materials used were found on my property except for the stone dust, which I got at a discount through a friend. I have to say right now I actually love the look of the walkway, while I think the patio is just "ok". I do prefer the irregular stones, impractical as they may be. The patio stones are a bit out of line since I was just eyeballing them and then I had friends come in to help finish who weren't as picky as me! As for Poor Martha (as she has come to be known in the neighborhood), my next step if the town historian doesn't call back and take over is to go to the Bureau of Vital Statistics (I think that's what it's called) in Hartford and search for that date of death. If there is a Martha, well, Bingo. If not, and there are one or two other people with that DOD, I can check which cemetery they were buried in and see if they have stones (and whether they are replacement stones). If there is no match that way, I might be out of luck because that means the stone was not local. In that case I would just beg the historical society or a cemetery to take it. The woman from the Connecticut Gravestone Network also said she can search ancestors.com because she has a membership. So we'll see if she comes up with anything. For now Poor Martha has been moved to the patio, where I'm sure she's doing a great job of freaking out the mailman when he walks up to my house everyday. Hopefully he has figured out that she was unearthed during the walkway reno!

When I took the photo of the chop, I lightened the photo, so the chop would show up better. When I look at the bottom the white is actually kind of greenish and I think it is oxidation or patina that has settled into the crevices. I wiped it with damp cloth, but it doesn't come off and I don't want to rub on it or scratch in the crevices. The middle of the chop is actually worn somewhat from it being placed on various surfaces. When I just look at the style, it looks like a more 20th century style piece, say 1920 or 1930, but whoever made it was definitely an expert at bronze. Perhaps it is made in the lost wax method. I don't know. I did find a Asian art site I posted photos on. Members look at art from all centuries and give advice, perhaps I will get some info from them. When I was looking on a chinese character site it said that the characters might give some information as to the name of the piece, where it was made, and the artist, which might help determine more about it. I just got another post from someone who has referred me to several auction houses on the East Coast who deal in Oriental art, I will email them and see what I found out. This person is thinking it is Art Nouveau style made about 1900 - but are curious why an Art Nouveau piece would have a Chinese chop. They will probably have someone who can read the chop at the auction houses and decipher when, who, where, value of the piece. more later...

I love this stuff! Every time one of you Ancestry members comes up with exciting facts from the past, I'm tempted to spring for a membership myself. But it's not as though I have genealogy skills, and it's not as though I'm on top of my other projects. Anyway..... Dbfirewife, I took your good suggestion and linked the three children to their parents this morning. I don't know why I didn't do it when I first put them on FindAGrave; I always link. I've noticed that some memorial managers ignore infants completely, and sometimes other children as well. It's as if the little ones don't count because they didn't produce children of their own. But I feel strongly that the babies deserve mention, and their loving parents who erected the stone would certainly want that for them. Joann, so Eva worked in the Hawley silk mill. I know it well. In fact, I have a connection. The enormous silk mill, which now houses a community college and some boutiques, had on the property a separate building that held about $250,000 worth of cocoons (a princely sum in those days). About 5 years ago the owners of Hawley's best restaurant converted it into an upscale coffee house, and during the planning phase hired my daughter-in-law to manage it. She was the perfect choice......not only does she have a degree in business management, but she and my son have always roasted and ground their coffee beans. :-)

I found the cemetery on USGenWeb and there are Bishop's listed in it but not any of these 3 are listed. Sorry.. I wish they were. I agree with you tho I think It's Hattie, short for Harriett. Have you ever tried doing a foil brushing? It's where you lay a piece of foil over or around the stone and with a soft paint brush dab on it. The foil goes down into the lettering making it easier to read. I have seen photos of it done before that really brought out the lettering.. I tried it once and it didn't work at all for me.