Police can't find owner of 1888 gravestone

For nearly a year, Henry Fenske's headstone has sat unclaimed in the Racine Police Department. Apparently unearthed from a cemetery and dropped off in the driveway of a Racine home last April, police haven't been able to find out where the grave marker came from.

Police spokesman Sgt. Marty Pavilonis said the headstone marked the grave of Henry Fenske, who died on Jan. 14, 1888 at the age of 49. It was found on April 18 in the driveway of a home in the 1000 block of Grand Avenue. A neighbour called police and told them he was doing yard work when he spotted the grave marker in the driveway of a nearby house.



"As I further inspected the tombstone it appeared that there was dried dirt on the bottom, leading me to believe that it was removed from the ground," the responding officer noted in his report. The officer said there was green grass under the headstone, indicating it hadn't been there for very long.

The 200-pound marker was removed from the driveway by officers and taken to the police department. Pavilonis said investigators went to the Register of Deeds and state vital records trying to find out who Fenske's descendents are. They've also called all the main cemeteries in the area to see if any of them were missing the headstone. "We've had no luck," Pavilonis said. "We've checked as much as we can."