Headstones - A Valuable Source of Information

I fully intended to have this ready about three to four hours ago, but, as I said, I must spend part of my time looking for employment. I found a job posting today that I have pretty much all of the qualifications for and did the work to submit my cover letter and resume.

Well, it looks like spring is on the way.  We may have a couple more snow storms, but then again, Mother Nature may surprise us and give us an early spring. 

Because of this, some people will want to get out to visit the cemeteries earlier than usual.  However, there are some precautions that you need to take.  You really should wait until the ground is dry before going to the cemetery.  According to one article that I read, walking on the grass before the ground is dry will compact the earth and not allow the roots of the grass to grow.  You will likely get muddy and soaking footwear as well.

A few years ago, a number of people that I know were discussing the cleaning of headstones.  They talked about the methods that had been used in the past and how much damage those methods have caused.  The people who look after the cemeteries don’t have time to look after individual headstones, but I have found some guidelines to follow. 

One of the first guidelines that I found was about doing gravestone rubbings.  It is recommended that you ask permission first.  A lot of cemeteries will no longer allow it.  If it is allowed, there are certain materials that are no longer permitted.  Among these are chalk, shaving cream, and graphite.  If you have difficulty reading the inscriptions, it is suggested that you angle a mirror to direct sunlight across the headstone.  This uses the shadows to help make the inscriptions more visible.

Headstones sometimes need the dirt cleaned from them.    You cannot use just any cleanser.  They can damage the stones.  Quite often, water and a soft-bristled brush are all that you need.  If you need anything stronger, you need to find non-ionic detergents which should be available from conservation, janitorial and photographic suppliers.  The ratio of cleanser to water is 1 ounce of cleanser to 5 gallons of water.

I have found a website that goes into greater detail about cleaning gravestones and I suggest that you look it up.  It also includes a list of tools to use when cleaning and the types of materials used in making headstones.  This website gives a great deal of information about the preservation and maintaining of headstones.  It is as follows:

          http://www.gravestonestudies.org/

          Primarily, I looked at http://www.gravestonestudies.org/faq.htm.

Please go to this website and see what they have to say before heading to the cemetery.

Some people may wonder why people go to cemeteries. There are a number of reasons. Everyone that goes knows why they go. You can “visit” your family who have passed on. Some cemeteries have maintained their grounds so that it has a park-like atmosphere.

Then you have your family historians. They are looking for long lost ancestors or other relatives. Why would they look in a cemetery? Well, most cemeteries have headstones, or grave markers. These usually have some information on them. Those with the least amount of information is usually the deceased’s name and year of death. You might get lucky and it might have the year of birth. Some have much more information. It could have the dates of birth and death. Some will have the date of the couple’s marriage. And others will have a list of their children even if the children aren’t buried there. Yes, a headstone can hold a wealth of information. Then there are the grave markers that were wooden crosses. Obviously, these will not last very long. Usually, they would only hold the minimum of information before the wood rots away. In these cases, you would have to consult the burial records to find who is buried where. Every cemetery has these records. A couple of years ago, I was talking with a clerk to find out information regarding my grandfather’s headstone. At the time, I was unaware that his second wife was also buried there. As the clerk was answering my questions, she also informed me that she was there. As proof, she gave me the date of internment. We all thought that she was buried in Toronto, and not in Waubaushene. What a surprise! I found a few other surprises like that regarding other family members.

One of the things that I would like to be able to do is to find a way of determining the inscriptions on very old headstones, those that date back to the 17^th, 18^th, and early 19^th centuries. These headstones are in the process of crumbling and they either need to have some restoration done or new stones put into place. Most of these stones are in Europe but I wouldn’t be surprised to find some in North America. I personally think that when the headstones crumble like this, the information is not completely lost. I believe that the underlying stone retains an impression of the inscription that was carved into the stone in the first place. I think that, with the right technology, that we would be able to retrieve this information for the coming generations. I would love to be able to prove it, but I do not have the funds or the education to prove or disprove this. I don’t know whether infra-red scans or ultra-violet scans would be the way to go. I would sure love to find out and find a cost effective means of doing this. It could be that the technology is already available and those with that technology never thought of putting it to that use.

Ah, well, I do like to dream. It has been said that it takes a dreamer to come up with the ideas, but a success-driven worker to make the dream work. There’s one of my dreams. How about someone to make it work?