If I leave a Rose, this means that the memorial page is for someone in one of my family trees. Some are 'just' a connection, but they are connected to me somehow!

I have been working on my own Family Tree for about the past 15 years. I know how difficult it is to get information for ancestors when you don't live in the state they did, and don't know where they are buried. Since I found a few extra links for my family on FindAGrave I would like to pay forward to others in the same dilemma. So I decided to pick a nearby cemetery and photograph all the gravestones. When I am done with the first one, I will see if I can't work on another.

10-7-2013 - Already done with, the initial photographs of, one small cemetery of about 300 graves. In the process, I was able to find a few stones that were almost completely buried, and have gently cleaned a few, that were so covered in lichen, they could not be read. Of course I got permission first and only used an extremely soft brush, water, and plenty of scrubbing repetitions. It is so rewarding to be able to read the engraving once again. I tried to make sure to still leave a little of the lichen for age. Now to re-photograph the graves I couldn't read before, and retake those that were not up to my standards.

I am also about a third to halfway through photographing a second cemetery of about 900 graves. It is definitely a process clearing the faces of all those flat gravestones. I have grown to appreciate the upright stones, they are a lot less work.

If I leave a Rose, this means that the memorial page is for someone in one of my family trees. Some are 'just' a connection, but they are connected to me somehow!

I have been working on my own Family Tree for about the past 15 years. I know how difficult it is to get information for ancestors when you don't live in the state they did, and don't know where they are buried. Since I found a few extra links for my family on FindAGrave I would like to pay forward to others in the same dilemma. So I decided to pick a nearby cemetery and photograph all the gravestones. When I am done with the first one, I will see if I can't work on another.

10-7-2013 - Already done with, the initial photographs of, one small cemetery of about 300 graves. In the process, I was able to find a few stones that were almost completely buried, and have gently cleaned a few, that were so covered in lichen, they could not be read. Of course I got permission first and only used an extremely soft brush, water, and plenty of scrubbing repetitions. It is so rewarding to be able to read the engraving once again. I tried to make sure to still leave a little of the lichen for age. Now to re-photograph the graves I couldn't read before, and retake those that were not up to my standards.

I am also about a third to halfway through photographing a second cemetery of about 900 graves. It is definitely a process clearing the faces of all those flat gravestones. I have grown to appreciate the upright stones, they are a lot less work.