Derek Kruk moved into his college home, hoping to learn some vital skills in school. Little did he know that the home itself would lead him on a voyage of discovery.
Anyone who has attended college and lived off-campus will tell you that student housing can contain some strange surprises.
But Derek Kruk’s discovery must be the strangest of them all.
One day, he went down to his home’s basement and noticed something unusual.
Part of the floor appeared to have something written into it.
So he brushed aside the dust and was in disbelief over what he discovered.
Set into the basement floor was a gravestone.
The grave was for a person called Jabez Harden. The grave said that he was born in 1796 and that he passed away in 1879. But that was all.
Naturally, Kruk was amazed and puzzled. How did someone’s gravestone end up in his basement?
Was this person’s body underneath the home? Who was Jabez Harden?
So he called up the college town’s clerk, Marylee Hunt, and told her what he had discovered.
Hunt was intrigued and looked up the name in some of her local history books. Then she learned the truth.
Jabez Harden was an American Army veteran. He served in the War of 1812 and reached the rank of captain.
She then learned that Harden was not buried in Kruk’s home. Instead, he was buried with his other family members in a local cemetery.
Additionally, Harden’s son, Benjamin was buried there. He was also a veteran who fought in the Civil War.
So how did the grave end up in Derek Kruk’s home?
It appears that when a new grave was installed on his burial site, the old stone was given away and ended up being used as building materials.
Apparently, this is a more common occurrence than many people think.
It sounds a little morbid, but Harden and others did get replacement stones, so it’s not like their graves were desecrated. And in this instance, reusing Harden’s original gravestone in a home led to more people learning about who he was.
But there was still one thing to do. Harden and his son’s graves did not have veteran medallions.
Luckily, the people that Kruk had contacted managed to arrange for them to be installed.
Some people may think that it’s silly to honor a veteran who passed almost 150 years ago.
But there are plenty of others who know that Harden and his son should be recognized for what they went through.
Events like the War of 1812 and the Civil War can seem like ancient history.
But the event wasn’t all that long ago, and there’s still plenty to be learned. Thanks to the medallions being added to the Hardens’ graves, a little piece of history has been recognized.
You may think that there’s nothing you can do to bring history to life and honor our heroes, but Kruk’s discovery shows that we may get the opportunity to do so at the strangest of times.
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