After months of discussion, a disagreement over a headstone that bears the name of a Revolutionary War veteran from Franklin County has been resolved.

On Wednesday, Roanoke antiques dealer Rick Long allowed a representative of the Franklin County Historical Society to collect from him a gravestone marked "Martel LeSueur."

The debate between Long and LeSueur's relatives, with the support of the historical society, has been ongoing since last spring.

Long, who operates Finder's Antiques and Collectibles on Williamson Road, has for three decades possessed a grave marker with LeSueur's name and birth and death dates.

He said he bought it from a group of construction workers off the back of their truck in Northwest Roanoke in 1971.

The relatives, led by fifth-generation descendant Pete Hamilton of Rockbridge County, wanted Long to turn the stone over to them.

Long, however, questioned the authenticity of the stone -- the exact location of LeSueur's plot is not known -- and in July he told the family he would sell it to them or give it to them for free if they could prove the whereabouts of LeSueur's plot.

"To put a price on it is to demean it," Hamilton said in July, and the family began investigating legal and genealogical resolutions.

Linda Stanley, a coordinator for the historical society, contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office in Roanoke about the laws governing markers. Long said he got a call from the office over the summer, but said he never received information they had promised to send him nor has he heard from them again.

In July, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Winn said she could not discuss the matter.

"I'm not sure what happened with that," Stanley said. "They were very supportive."

Family members continued to search records. They and the historical society believed LeSueur was buried in the Prillaman-Turner Cemetery, about 15 miles outside Rocky Mount. The cemetery borders LeSueur's original 132 acres and holds the graves of some of his relatives and neighbors.

Fourth-generation descendent Jim Self, of North Carolina, discovered documents in July in the National Archives; they described the purchase of and arrangements for a headstone bought for LeSueur long after his death by the veteran's great-great-grandson. The documents indicated that a stone was purchased by Walter LeSueur Turner of Roanoke in 1928, and that Thomas Prillaman of Henry County agreed to accept a stone and place it in "Prillaman Cemetery" the following year.

Self said he's "100 percent certain" the papers refer to the stone in question and that "we're happier also to find the cemetery. We've been looking for that before we ever even knew there was a tombstone."

"They presented enough evidence to convince me," Long said. "I'm tired of wrestling with it."

He said representatives of the historical society came unannounced to pick it up Wednesday while he was in Bedford. His wife, Diane, oversaw the transfer.

"I'd have liked to have seen them take it out. I didn't even get to say goodbye to it," Rick Long said, but added, "I think it worked out for the best."

Stanley, who took possession of the stone, said, "We're delighted that Mr. Long took care of it all these years."

She declined to say where it was Friday, explaining only, "It's safe. It's safely stored."

She said she plans to continue to search for LeSueur's actual gravesite and said a planting of the stone in the Prillaman-Turner Cemetery is scheduled for November.

Asked what LeSueur might make of the controversy, Self said, "I think he'd think it was pretty good. We stuck with it till we got it back."