Photography by Lo Kuehmeier
David B. H. Stewart was the name on the lichen-stained gravestone. Years of weather had softened the etchings in the block, and a small lamb resting atop the marker signified a child laid beneath it. Or, rather, had once laid beneath it.
When Stevens Park Village neighbor Van Johnson came across the gravestone, it had been tossed into a friend’s yard. The friend collected antiques and had purchased the contents of a hoarder’s house.
The stone had come with it.
“Part of the deal is you have to take everything,” Johnson says. “I said, ‘Someday I’m gonna find out where that goes and get that back where it belongs.”
Johnson spent 35 years as a banker and “dreams in Excel sheets.” But his gentle demeanor juxtaposes the 1’s and 0’s and lends itself to his love of gardening. When the Western Heights Cemetery on Fort Worth Avenue received a grant for habitat development, volunteers called up Johnson, “the plant guy.”
Working at Western Heights, he realized how many stones are missing from the cemetery.
Volunteers use the 1992 Dallas Genealogical Society survey to track the historic stones. In some instances, Johnson has uncovered grave markers that have been buried for at least 32 years and were not included in the survey. And in other cases, the survey is used to show where a headstone no longer stands.
“So the next time I was at (my friend’s) house I realized ‘Oh, well, that may be one of the tombstones we’re missing,” Johnson says.
The Stewart headstone was not included in the survey, so he turned to www.findagrave.com. A database tracking over 238 million memorials across the world, the website is used by historians, those curious about their genealogy and cemetery enthusiasts to browse cemeteries and grave records.
When Johnson searched for a David B. H. Stewart, he was stunned by the first result: a photo of a gravestone’s base that had been uploaded in 2014 and perfectly matched the marker in his possession.
He realized the stone belonged to the McAdams Cemetery, only seven miles south of Western Heights in Wynnewood.
The child, David, died at nine months old in 1893.
Parents Elizebeth and Marcus Stewart are also buried in McAdams Cemetery. An older sister, Mary Stewart Powers, died in 1972 and is buried just east of Wolf Creek.
“When I contacted (McAdams Cemetery) they were like ‘Oh my god, I’ve been looking for that for years,’” Johnson says.
Johnson is leaving the handling and restoration of the Stewart gravestone in the hands of McAdams Cemetery, but solving the mystery of the broken stone has fueled an enthusiasm for cemeteries that he inherited from his mother.
“My mother, when she was younger, liked to drive around old backcountry roads looking for abandoned farmhouses and cemeteries. She’s been driving me to cemeteries since I was a kid,” Johnson says. “It’s a lifelong hobby that I am now able to devote more time to.”
Johnson runs three different Facebook pages dedicated to the Western Heights Cemetery. Each focuses on one of his passions: History, nature and art.
“The history people want to talk about the history and the nature people want to talk about habitat restoration,” he says.
Eventually, he hopes to memorize the names, dates of birth and death, and stories behind every tombstone in the cemetery. He’s willing to “give a tour whenever someone wants one,” to share everything he already knows about gravestones. The type of stone, the artwork engraved, the difference between a cenotaph and a tombstone, all of it has meaning that is constantly swirling through Johnson’s head.
And while it “isn’t too common,” to come across a headstone via antique collection, Johnson says continuing to track down and restore graves that have gone missing — or may just be buried — is a priority for the Western Heights Cemetery.
“We’re going to be very methodical about looking for more stones,” Johnson says. “If I see people who are walking around for a while or they’ll ask me directions, I’ll tell them about the stones and say ‘For what it’s worth, I’ll give you a tour of the whole thing.’”
