QUINCY, Mass. -- Quincy police are faced with a mystery that dates back to the Civil War. Recently, old headstones were found in a city cemetery, but the names didn't match anyone in the records there.
NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Mount Wollaston Cemetery foreman Scott Logan discovered four Civil War-era tombstones in a mound of dirt a week ago. They identify Merinda Lane, the wife of Joseph B. Smith, and two of Smith's daughters. On the fourth gravestone is the name Minnie J., wife of Harvey Freeman.
Lt. Jack Sullivan and Officer Bobby Lingoes of the Quincy Police Department are on the case.
"I think that everyone would agree that they belong somewhere and not abandoned on the side of a road, and we'd like to get them back to where they belong," said Sullivan.
"I'm pretty certain, I'm confident, I have the family involved," said Lingoes.
Lingoes is an expert on the Doe Network, which is dedicated to finding missing persons and identifying the unidentified.
Their research led investigators to Abington, where records show Joseph B. Smith was a farmer with a large family. Records also show he had two young daughters who died in the same week who were buried at Mount Vernon Cemetery.
Lingoes said he scoured Mount Vernon, but he could not find the girls' graves.
"I don't know what's happening here. I don't know where they are," said Lingoes.
"I think at this time of the year people are thinking a lot about families. Hopefully that's the true meaning of Christmas and that's what people are thinking about. And so possibly we could appeal to someone who has information to come forward because hopefully it can put some closure to a family," said Sullivan.
"They mean something. They mean something to me. They mean something to the city of Quincy. We don't just throw tombstones away. Sorry. That's not how we operate in Quincy," said Lingoes.