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Welcome to the Official Tenney Family Association.

Dedicated to the preservation of our proud Tenney legacy and committed to sustaining the Tenney family name and heritage through education

OBBG

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OBBG Headstone Restoration Project

Summer 2019

June 1st and the subsequent week was AWESOME!!! We had 17 attendees for the Stone Cleaning Class on a beautiful Spring day. Beyond the Gravestone lead us through the of  proper methods of cleaning stones – that D2 stuff is amazing! And as an added bonus, showed us the process of resetting stones – very interesting, but don’t try this at home! Following the class, we spread out through OBBG and cleaned 9 (or maybe 11) stones using the tips and tricks we learned. It was a great day of camaraderie and productivity! Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Below is an example of our success!

Stone #678 – Mary (?) Kimball, 2nd wife of Ephraim Kimball – Cleaning & Reset.
Images (L) 2009 BBG Website, (M) Before Cleaning 2019, (R) After Cleaning 2019

Following the class, Beyond the Gravestone (BTG) spent the following week resetting and restoring the 11 stones selected in Proposal #288. Pretty amazing watching the transformations! Below is an example of  BTG’s success!

Stone #659 – Sarah (Boynton) Tenney – Restoration
Images (L) 2009 BBG website; (M) Before Repair 2017; (R) After Repair 2019

While at the Class, I had the opportunity to meet three wonderful ladies from Methuen Historical Society who are very interested in assisting us in participating in the Historical Society’s Festival of Trees grant program. I also had the pleasure of meeting a member of the Kimball Family Assoc. We had the opportunity to identify the shattered footstone of Mrs. Lucretia Kimball, review the many Kimball stones in OBBG, and enthusiastically discuss project, genealogical and reunion collaborations between our Associations.

We have LOTS of photos of the Phase I work done that we are organizing for presenting at this year’s reunion and in the Archives. The images included in this issue show what the stones looked like way back in 2009 taken as part of the GPR and, ultimately the NHPR project; the middle image shows what the stones looked like prior to starting our Phase I work AND the last image shows what the stones look like now!

Phase I consisted of 57 stones reset by Peterson Landscaping, 11 stones repaired or restored by Beyond the Gravestone and 11 stones cleaned by class participants – a whopping 79 stones saved for another 100+ years!!!!!

Stone #175 – Shubael & Martha (Noyes) Tenney, Sr. Family Monument. Repaired, Cleaned, Reset, Restored.
Images (L ) 009 BBG website,;(Second & Third) Before Cleaning & Repair 2019; (R) After Cleaning & Repair 2019

Thanks to so many people pitching in and the generosity of TFA members, Phase 1 of our Special Project is completed! Anyone interested in this project are encouraged to stop by to see what your generous donations have produced. But wait – we are not done!

We have already begun selecting additional candidate stones for inclusion in Phase II. There are currently 3 stones needing replacement and 3 stones needing the transcriptions redone. We also found an ugly stain on the TFA monument that Atwood Memorial is going to try to remove. Details will be forthcoming.

We are well on our way towards funding Phase II already! Your generous support for the continuation of this very important project is very much appreciated! Please continue to encourage family & friends, even other members to open their hearts and checkbooks to save more OBBG stones! Inquiries AND donations are encouraged by contacting the TFA at our website www.tenneyfamily.org CONTACT US.