Status Report - Phase I

Below is what the cemetery looked like when we started the restoration on Wednesday 11 September 2013. This page was updated as the work progressed. Dan Allen finished his work and submitted his final report (below) on Thursday 13 November 2013.

Dan's final report appears below. Although this report contains a listing of graves and pictures of grave markers, much more information about those buried in the graves, as well as additional pictures of the grave markers, is contained on the web page identified in the above tabs as "2013 Index of Graves".

You can also view the report by clicking on the green link below at the top of the report. When the report opens in a new tab, click on "Full screen" at the top of the report for best viewing.

We will now be moving into "Phase II" of the restoration. I will report progress with this phase in a new page on this web site entitled "Status Report - Phase II".

Today Dan Allen and his son Danny wrapped up the last items on his restoration contract with the exception of his final report which he says he will finish by the end of the week. When this is done I will pay him his final payment of $1,625.

Dan used his chain saw to cut off all of the stumps inside the cemetery. The pictures below show some of the stumps before they were removed. They don't appear as large in the pictures as they really were, and there were a lot of them.

Dan applied epoxy to the loose stones at the ends of the box tombs to assure that a small child could not remove them and enter the tombs and risk the tombs falling on them.

The work was not done as timely as I would have liked, but all in all, Dan went beyond the expected in restoring the box tombs, table top tomb, and obelisks, most of which had been flat on the ground or broken and buried for over 100 years.

I am particularly pleased with the opening that we were able to cut into the rock wall which will allow descendants to easily enter the cemetery. The closed wall made it difficult for most and impossible for many to enter and view the graves and grave markers.

I have learned much about cemetery preservation and restoration during the time he was in the cemetery and I intend to carry on the restoration work, weather permitting.

The first order of business is the restoration of the tops of the grave markers which were broken off with a hammer or baseball bat in about 1963. The restoration is time consuming, but is rather simple to do. I will be cleaning up the leaves. small pieces of limbs, and dead vegetation that now liters the cemetery. I will continue to search for a tree service that we can afford to trim dead limbs and hopefully remove some of the "trash" trees from the area of the cemetery.

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The weather was good today so I framed and poured the first layer of sand mix in the table-top tomb of Mary Wharton Williams. It's going to be very cold for most of next week so I probably won't be able to do any concrete work until the weather warms.

Weather and other obligations kept me from doing much this week and Dan was recovering from his yellow jacket stings and getting his RV repaired. Dan only lacks a couple of minor jobs and his work will be finished.

I spent time Thursday closing two holes on one of the box tombs that concerned me from a safety standpoint. The holes were large enough for a small child to climb inside and once inside the child might topple the box tomb and injure or kill itself.

I used 1/2" James Hardie paneling to close the holes. I attached the paneling with cement patching material. It turned out well and should serve the purpose and looks like stone as well.

I used the remainder of the James Hardie paneling to form a base on Elizabeth McIver Williams table-top tomb where the top had broken off. I will frame this area up later and pour sand mix to replace the broken off portion just as Dan did on the Elizabeth Norfleet Hunter Williams' box tomb.

I spent time trying to decipher the words on Elizabeth Norfleet Williams box tomb. I used a technique I learned on the web to place aluminum foil over the words and wipe a brush over the foil to bring the words into view. Between what I could see in the foil and with photographs taken at different angles and different light conditions, I was able to make out most, if not all of the words.

I ended up the day repairing the broken top on Martha H. Williams' (1809-1833) tomb stone. In about 1963, sixty years ago, George and Dorothy Bess who live below the cemetery went to Gatlinburg for the weekend with their children. When they returned, someone had broken off most of the tops of the tombstones I the cemetery and had broken some stones completely off. I plan to replace the broken tops with quick-set cement repair mix, as the weather permits.

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Dan borrowed a vehicle from his father and went to the cemetery to move the cut limbs and brush from inside and outside of the wall down to the street where Metro will pick them up soon.

Unfortunately, in moving some big limbs inside the cemetery Dan uncovered a yellow jacket nest and was stung numerous times. He had a bad reaction with swelling and has an appointment with his Doctor Monday and won't be at the cemetery until he is better.

Dan's camper wouldn't start this morning so Dan wasn't at the cemetery to cut the brush outside of the north end of the wall. So I spent the day cutting down the brush and saplings and stacking them nearby.

George Bess agreed that we could put the brush in front of his house for Metro to pick up. I didn't have my vehicle with a trailer hitch and Dan's trailer was locked anyway. Dan plans to borrow a vehicle from his Dad and Monday morning we'll move the brush down to the street.

Ken Broersma who lives near the cemetery stopped by today. He had earlier volunteered to help with the restoration and ongoing maintenance. He was born in this neighborhood in 1960 and has lived here all of his life. He was not aware of the cemetery until he was news of the restoration on the Bellshire Elementary Alumni Facebook web site. Ken will be checking on the cemetery from time to time and come next spring will mow the cemetery every month as needed. Between now and next spring he volunteered to help with any additional restoration or maintenance work we may need done. It great to have someone in the neighborhood who cares about the cemetery and will help maintain and look after it.

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I installed two signs at the cemetery. The one above gives an overview of the Cemetery and the people buried there. The other sign is a warning sign to deter vandalism.

Dan finished the top of Elizabeth "Betsy" Norfleet Williams' box tomb and almost finished Henry Philips' headstone, both pictured below.

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I helped Danny finish digging around Joseph Philips Williams headstone and straightening it. This headstone is in the ground as deep as it sticks up above the ground. It took several days of digging to loosen it so that it could be straightened.

Dan worked on the box tomb of Elizabeth "Betsy" Norfleet Willliams, framing the portion of the top that is missing and pouring sand mix in the missing areas.

I stumbled on a large piece of this box tomb top early in the day and Dan was able to incorporate it into the top before pouring the sand mix.

I applied herbicide to stumps around the cemetery and to all of the vegetation encroaching on the wall or around the stones on the ground. Vegetation grows between stone pieces and causes them to deteriorate.

Dan has a dental appointment tomorrow and I have to be at home to be with the house painters if it doesn't rain. Dan and I will be back at the cemetery on Wednesday. Thursday, Dan will be working on a one day job at another cemetery, but will return Friday and I expect to join him.

Dan didn't work today because the weather was too cold for him to work with adhesives and cement. Weather permitting, he will return Monday.

I worked most of the day filling in missing stones in the rock wall. In reinforcing the new fence opening, we were able to use all of the large rocks, but there is a very big pile of smaller rocks. The rock fence has many missing rocks and I am using these surplus rocks to fill in for the missing holes

Wednesday we finished the opening in the rock fence. This is a major improvement in the cemetery as it allows visitors to come and go without climbing over the large rock fence.

At the location of the opening we made in the rock fence a large tree over a hundred years old was growing next to the fence on the outside until it fell in 2012. The tree was leaning over the cemetery, but somehow when it fell in a wind storm, it fell outside the fence. The tree had moved the fence as it grew and as a result, the fence was distorted in the area of the tree. In addition, at some time in the past, a large limb had fallen from the tree and severely damaged the fence. Someone had repaired the damage using field rocks and concrete, but the repair was unsightly and unlike the original fence.

We removed most of the visible concrete and straightened the fence as best we could. The large rocks that we removed from the opening were placed on either side of the opening to strengthen the fence in the area of the opening, as seen in the photos below.

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I worked on the opening in the wall to plan how we can move the wall back where it was before the tree fell against it and construct an opening that is safe and attractive.

I moved some of the dirt we excavated from around the buried grave covers of Josiah Frederick Williams and his wife to the area around a headstone that was sunk around the stone.

I took a large number of photos around the cemetery to make sure that I have documentation of the present condition and locations of all of the head stones and other grave markers.

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Dan had a moving sale Friday and was moving to a new location on Monday and Tuesday. Dan won't be working on Wednesday as he has a court appearance scheduled. I'm taking the day off as well. Thursday it rained and Friday Dan will be in Franklin KY bidding on a cemetery restoration there.

I worked Tuesday taking down a 5" diameter tree that grew out of a forked tree against the fence. It was pushing the fence out. After removing the tree I was able to straighten the top of the fence to its original position. I did some additional repair, replacing missing stones in the fence.

I also worked on straightening Sally Philips footstone. It turned out to be very deep and I did not finish this task on Wednesday. I was able to remove several small tree stumps from the cemetery.

We are very close to finishing this phase of the cemetery restoration, but I estimate that we have at least another five days of work yet to do. By my count, Dan has spent 18 days so far working on this restoration.

When Dan finishes, I plan to spend additional time leveling some of the areas that we disturbed, applying roundup and stump killer to the unwanted vegetation around the cemetery, removing leaves as they fall from the trees, weed-eating to control the areas not treated with roundup, and installing two signs, one explaining the history of the cemetery and the other warning that vandalism is a crime and violators will be prosecuted.

Today Dan continued working on the Elisha William Obelisk and continued pointing markers. He has now done all he is going to do with this obelisk. He said that this is the most deteriorated obelisk he has ever worked on. After he finished, I found a piece of the obelisk with the words "A", "had", and "S" which were part of the inscription "And had Six Children". However, Dan had already filled in the area where these words belonged, so I am saving the piece.

I finished straightening a large headstone for William Williams, son of Wm. P. & Elizabeth Dwyer. The stone was deep in the ground and it took almost a complete day to excavate and straighten it.

I discovered another missing grave, that of Rebecca Philips, a daughter of Joseph Philips and Milbry Horne who was born in NC and died at age two here. According to the book Tennessee Tombstones, she is buried in this cemetery with a stone marker and inscription, but we have been unable to locate her grave.

We keep finding bits of markers. We found some of the missing parts of the headstone for Robert Williams, infant son of Josiah Frederick Williams and his wife Margaret Thomas Philips. We keep finding pieces of the headstone for Henry Horn Philips who died at the age of 19 in 1816. Today we finally found enough to begin assembling the headstone as you can see in the clamped headstone in the photo below.

We also found a piece of the missing headstone of Sarah, infant child of William D. Philips. The inscription started with "SACRED to the memory of ...." and this piece contains the words "SACR" and "he me".

I took a picture of the steeple on the Bellshire Methodist Church which can be seen from the cemetery. The church stands on the location of the Joseph Philips home that stood there from the early 1800s until the church replaced it about 1963. If there was an open field between the house and the cemetery when the house was there, one can imagine the view of the cemetery high on the crest of the nearby hill.

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Dannie cleaned up some of the loose rocks around the cemetery and began working on straightening a tombstone. I also began working on straightening a tombstone.

One of the best records we have of the cemetery comes from Mrs. Katherine W. Ewing who copied information from tombstones in 1930 and gave the information to the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

"Robert, Infant son of J. F. & M. T. Williams". There is a grave with broken head and foot stones close to the graves of Josiah Frederick Williams and his wife Margaret Thomas Philips and next to a grave with the headstone inscription "DAVID D., son of J. F. & M. T. WILLIAMS, born Jan. 11th 1820, died Feby 17, 1829" No doubt this is the grave of Robert Williams.

"(John Felix Demoville, Josephine Demoville)" is listed by Mrs. Ewing, but we have been unable to find either a grave with that marking or an unidentified unmarked grave. John Felix Demoville married William Duncan Philips daughter Mary L. Philips and they had nine children, but none named John Felix DeMoville. They did have a daughter named Josephine Philips Demoville who was born 3 May 1861 and died in 1865 at four years of age. It is entirely possible that she is buried in this cemetery and her inscription is the one copied by Mrs. Ewing in 1930.

Today Dan opened up the fence in the damaged area to provide an opening to enter the cemetery. Over the next few days he will square up the opening and improve it cosmetically and structurally. He continued filling in missing areas in the various grave markers and did additional pointing

He straightened a couple of badly leaning tombstones. A slight tilt is desirable to allow water to run off and not freeze and damage the tops of the stones.

Dan replaced the concrete blocks temporarily used on the two box tombs and the table top tomb with permanent supports. He explained that it was better not to try to duplicate the original missing parts so that everyone will know what the original parts looked like and what was added later for support.

We had hoped to locate the missing half of the top of the table top tomb, but have not been able to do so. This tomb will be left as shown in the photo with a place left for the missing half if it shows up later.

I took a lot of pictures of the cemetery from different angles to document the locations of the various graves. There are still a couple of items that need to be resolved. Rebecca Philips, the daughter of Joseph Philips and Milbry Horne who died in 1792 at two years of age is buried here, but I'm not sure where.

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He straightened a couple of badly leaning tombstones. A slight tilt is desirable to allow water to run off and not freeze and damage the tops of the stones.

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Today Dan continued filling in missing areas in the various grave markers and did additional pointing. These repair areas are very visible now but with time will blend in with the original stone.

A major project today was the leveling of the base of the table top grave marker, replacing the four legs, and the placement of the broken table top which now requires a support in the middle of the base. Concrete blocks were temporarily used. They will be replaced tomorrow with a stack of six stones epoxied together.

There is only one more major job to complete. We will open the fence in the south west end of the southern wall where a large tree fell about two years ago. This will provide an opening in the stone fence for visitors as well as maintenance personnel.

The rest of the work is cosmetic and protective in nature. Some grave markers have to be straightened and some ground moved and leveled. There is a stand of saplings outside the north wall that will be removed. Loose brush, rocks, and roots will be cleaned up and removed.

I will be getting quotes to remove three rough trees that are endangering the rock fence and to trim two large trees with dead limb overhanging the cemetery.

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Today we worked to level the stone over what we believe is the grave of Josiah Frederick Williams. Dan believes these grave markers were originally table tombs with a large slab of Indiana limestone with inscriptions supported by four Indiana limestone posts over each grave.

Sometime in the far distant past both table tops fell over and someone removed the posts and placed the tops over the base after applying cement between the surfaces. Cement wasn't invented until after 1900, so it may have been done about the time of the last Philips reunion in 1903.

The problem with this repair approach is the location of the stones on the ground. Vine and tree roots grew between the stones and freezing and thawing of water captured between the stones caused them to fracture.

I should note that the soil in the cemetery appears to be as much as six inches above where it was in when the cemetery was established. The leaves falling in the cemetery and the decay of vegetation were the source of this soil.

The only thing we could do with these two grave markers was to level Josiah Frederic's stones (his wife's stones were level) and repair and seal them as best we could.

Dan also began "pointing" the cracks in the repaired headstones. This process seals the cracks and restores them to a condition closer to the condition they were in when originally made.

The last picture shows Dan working on the obelisk of Elisha Williams and his wife Sarah Josey. This obelisk requires extensive pointing plus filling the missing areas resulting from years of being buried.

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Today we began by leveling up the large stone marker of the graves of Joseph Philips and his wife Milbry Horne. We had to lift the large stone and remove a large number of rocks that had been placed under the stone to get it level and close to the same position as the other large stone grave marker beside it of the graves of William Duncan Philips and his wife Elizabeth Dwyer. These two stones appear to have been placed here at the same time.

Next we began working to level the stones over what we believe is the grave of Josiah Frederick Williams. We know from historical records of the cemetery that he is buried here and these two ground level tomb covers are the only two unmarked and in the right location near their parents that could be them.

The stones no doubt had inscriptions on the top of them, but they have long since been destroyed as freezing water has broken down the stones, causing them to de-laminate and the top layers to crumble.

"Margaret Thomas, wife of Josiah F. Williams, daughter of Joseph and Milbrey Philips, Sept. 30, 1799-1844. "

"To the memory of Josiah F. Williams; this monument is erected by his children ; he was born on the 2nd day of Feb., 1780, and died on the 29th day of Nov., 1851. His life was characterized by inflexible honesty, sterling ------ the most unpretending"

The first two box tombs we worked on are shown in pictures below. The one nearest the wall is the tomb of John Hudson Sumner and the one furthest from the wall is the tomb of Joseph John Sumner. At the bottom of the inscription on Joseph John' tomb is an addition made at the death of his son William Henry Sumner. It states "My little babe close to my left does lie". At the left side of the tomb is a rough headstone and a rough footstone marking the gravesite as seen in the picture below.

Dan and his son Danny straightened the newest marker in the cemetery which probably dates to about 1900. It states "Father, William P. Harding, Mother, Milberry C. Philips" Normally this would signal the location of an un-named child's burial location, but to our knowledge, none such child existed.

Another possibility is that this marks the burial location of William who died in 1903. There is an old marker at the other end of the cemetery with "William P. Harding and his wife Millbery C. Philips" that probably dates to her death in 1863. There may not have been room for him there when he died.

Also, below are pictures of a section of the fence that was damaged from the large tree that fell about three years ago. It was located at the south end of the fence toward the west end. After assessing the damage, Dan suggested we open a walkway into the cemetery at this location, making it easier for both maintenance and visitation. It's an excellent idea and we plan to make this opening before we finish.

I took more pictures of the cemetery and Dan and his son Danny worked on restoring the box tomb. The parts were scattered and the tomb had been broken and on and in the ground for many years.

I took pictures of first two box tombs that we worked on. They belong to two Sumner brothers who are sons of Joseph Philips' sister Martha Philips.

I also took pictures of the heavy rock cover over the graves of Joseph Philips and his wife Milbry Horne. We all know that her name appears spelled many different ways over the years, but the spelling of "Milbiry" on the stone is a rare one. It could be due to the stone being prepared and placed when their son Wm. D. Philips' died in 1879, 28 years after she died. His stone and her stones are identical in size and shape.

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I took pictures today of many of the grave markers in the cemetery and typed below the picture the wording that appears on the marker. It's difficult to read some of the markers, while others are very clear.

Dan Allen is pictured re-assembling a broken foot stone that was found in several pieces around the cemetery and pieced back together. The buried part of the foot stone was located about 4 inches below ground and the upper part was attached to it.

Dan began work on the base of a collapsed box grave that belongs to Elizabeth "Betsy" Norfleet Williams who married Evander McIver and died of typhoid fever at 19 years of age, only 12 days after the wedding. She is a daughter of Wm. Williams and Sally Philips.

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Last Thursday and today Dan Allen worked on re-assembling and restoring the obelisk for Elisha Williams and his wife Sara Josey. Dan didn't work here Monday.

Everyone knew that Elisha was buried in this cemetery, but there is no record of his wife being buried there. However, this obelisk leaves little doubt that they are buried here side by side.

Elisha died in 1811 at the age of 62 and was buried here. However, his wife Sara lived until 1851 when she died at the age of 95. Dan Allen tells me that this was about the time that the first obelisks began to appear in cemeteries in the Nashville area. No doubt, this obelisk was erected after the death of Sara to mark the burial places for both Sarah and Elisha.

You can see in the photos below how deteriorated the obelisk was. It has been lying on its side for many years. It was broken in two pieces and two sides had broke in layers with some parts missing.

The obelisk pieces have been epoxied back together and the next step is filling the missing areas with a sand mix and pointing the openings in the surface of the stone with sand mix.

One of the photos below is of a grave marker that was broken into three pieces and contains only the words "Maria sleeps". This has to be the grave of Maria Graham Williams (14 Oct 1826-19 Nov 1853) as it is next to the grave of Evander "Van" McIver Williams (25 May 1829-27 Dec 1855), both children of William Williams and his wife Sarah "Sallie" Philips.

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Below is a folder of pictures I took on Wednesday 18 September 2013 as Dan Allen and I dug up and re-erected the obelisk over the graves of William Williams and his wife Sarah "Sally" Philips.

I believe this obelisk fell over many years ago due to settling of the graves below or possibly due to digging of groundhogs near the monument. In any case, the large base was buried in the soil and required almost one half day to dig down deep enough to bet straps under the base to lift it. It weight about 1,000 pounds.

This is the largest monument in the cemetery. Their is another obelisk nearby that is smaller and will be the next monument re-erected. I had to stay home Thursday and Friday while our house was being roofed and Dan Allen was not able to work Friday or next Monday due to Dr. appointments. However he did work on the nearby obelisk Friday and we should be able to finish that erection next Tuesday.

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Lots of progress today. The two box tombs are as complete as we can make them with the parts we have found. The tomb on the left is missing an end panel while the one on the right is missing the end panel and two corners. The concrete blocks serve as temporary barriers to anyone entering the tombs and causing them to cave in on them.

All of these two box tombs were laying flat on the ground when we started the restoration last Wednesday. It's good to be able to see the restoration taking shape.

The box tomb closest to the wall has several missing pieces as can be seen in the pictures above and below. As a result, it's taking longer to restore them than anticipated. We'll keep looking for the missing parts in the dirt around the cemetery and if we don't find them, we'll have to replace them with new parts.

The Indiana limestone slabs that make up these two box tombs are massive. The tops weigh about 900 pounds. Some of the sides and ends are broken into many fragments. Hopefully, we have located all of the fragments which you can see assembled above.

Today, Friday, Dan Allen made a lot of progress as you can see from the below picture taken at the end of the day. Monday, he hopes to begin cementing the broken pieces together and completing the assembly of the two box tombs. However, he is still missing two of the support legs for the second box tomb. He can erect the rest of the box tomb without the corners, but if they aren't found before he finishes the restoration of the cemetery, one solution is to have replacements made.

A major project is the restoration of two large box tombs located in the south east corner of the cemetery. The two box tombs were held together with iron staples which rusted away years ago causing them to collapse. Some of the sides are broken into many pieces, but the two box tombs will be re-assembled with new stainless steel staples and mortar. Today was spent looking for pieces, assembling the scaffolding for the wench and re-setting the base of the first box tomb.

The start of the restoration is later than anticipated, but I am happy to report that I spent today with Dan Allen watching as he worked. He will be working full time on the cemetery until the restoration is complete. Hopefully, there won't be any further delays.

After getting the vegetation down to the ground cover, he spent most of the day locating the various pieces of the tombstones and laying them out so that they can be restored and re-assembled into their original configuration.

Below is a picture of two box tombs that had collapsed and were in a pile until Dan dug them up and laid them out around the two graves. The large stones weigh several hundred pounds. Tomorrow he will bring his scaffold and winch to allow him to move the pieces around.

The various pieces of the box tombs were held together with iron staples which have long ago rusted away. They will be replaced with stainless steel staples which will last a very long time.

Almost all of the tombstones have some damage, with the below example being one that has suffered multiple breaks, but all the pieces are still there, making it possible to put them back together in one piece. The bottom of this tombstone is still buried in the ground.

"The amount of rainfall this summer is severely hampering progress. Wet stone is very dangerous and almost impossible to work with safely. Despite the rain, I am very close to finished with the Robertson Cemetery in Dickson County and will be on Sylvan Hall full time once finished. I see no problem with being finished by the end of September as I was actually hoping to be finished well before then."

The watercolor painting that Gerri Williams donated and auctioned off was purchased by my brother Steve Feldhaus for $250. Her contribution of the painting is appreciated.

We now have sufficient funds to pay the second installment due to Dan Allen when he finishes his cemetery project. Thanks to everyone for your assistance in this long overdue project to restore the Philips Sylvan Hall Cemetery to a condition worthy of those who sleep there.

I am happy to report that Dan Allen was at the cemetery today clearing away brush and weeds. He is winding up a couple of other projects, but expects to meet me at the cemetery next week to remove a tree limb that has fallen in the cemetery and begin locating all of the gravestones.

The weather has been unusually wet lately and that has resulted in his being behind schedule at this point. Unfortunately, it continues to rain and we could see further delays, but I am pleased to report that the restoration project is started

I have received $3,250 in donations which were used as a deposit to initiate the work. I have commitments for some of the additional $3,250, but still need a considerable amount of that money to pay the final bill which won't be due until the project is complete in August or September when three draft copies of the final technical report will be delivered.

Be aware that any check made out to Dan Allen that I have not received as of 30 May won't be cashed until the final report is received. If you want me to cash your check and hold the funds until the final report, make the check out to Larry Feldhaus for the Philips' Sylvan Hall Cemetery.

I am posting the names of those who's checks I have received to provide the appropriate recognition as well as to account for the funds received.

One of the things that Dan will do is probe the soil in hopes of being able to discover buried headstones. I am hopeful that he will be able to locate the headstone of Elisha Williams wife Sara Josey. Elisha died on 17 Aug 1811 and is buried in the cemetery. His wife Sarah Josey didn't die until 26 Feb 1851 at the age of 96 (40 years later) and her name is not listed in any of the records of those buried in the cemetery.