Brian, you need to get yourself registered for a Spring restoration workshop
in Indy to learn how to repair these stones properly. Overtime you will
surely run into more you would like to save and this is what this group is
all about. If you feel this is not your calling we can give you names of
folks that will charge you a fee to come and repair them. Can you tell
where the cemetery is? What state, county, name on marker, did you add the
photo to Find a Grave? Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: inpcrp-bounces(a)rootsweb.com [mailto:inpcrp-bounces@rootsweb.com] On
Behalf Of Brian Capouch
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 6:29 AM
To: inpcrp(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [INPCRP] Marker Protocol Question
I am on a jag of taking pictures of geotagged grave markers in local
cemeteries.
I have a question about whether or not an "intervention" is appropriate
in a case like this. Please forgive my lack of knowledge about
technical terms, for which I compensate with over-verbosity.
There is a grave in a local cemetery ca 1870s a flat carved stone tablet
perhaps 4' tall 3' wide, curved top. It broke roughly in half and the
two pieces were jammed together touching in the middle half-buried into
the ground. The part showing was unreadable.
The merest of tugs brought the two pieces out of their socket and
together they make a perfect mating back to the original. The topmost
part was turned upside down when the join was done, and the stone
carving on it is exquisitely original. The part that was sticking out
above ground is horribly weathered, and the lettering on it was only
readable once I figured it out from what was on the top, pristine, part.
I put them back as closely as possible to where they were, and can
easily return to amend them upon expert counsel.
Is it OK that they stay jammed together like that? I worry about water
settling between the layers and spalling the stone.
Thanks in advance for any advice, including telling me that I shouldn't
have brought the stones out for the snapshot, which parenthetically is
of great historical value. The person in question was one of the very
first settlers of the county.