Hello All,
In this part, I will cover searching for stones and pieces that may be
buried. Remember, the amount of destruction that has happened to your
project cemetery will determine how hard you need to work at this. In a
cemetery where stones have merely fallen over, chances are they will be
only partially covered, or just below the surface.
Stones become buried in numerous ways. Erosion, freezing & thawing, ground
cover overgrowth, and trampling by livestock, to name the most common.
Marsh Creek Cemetery had been used as a feedlot for cattle, and the farmer
had buried stones, ustd stones to fill ruts, thrown them over a fence into
a ditch, and carried some off, found in a ditch a mile away! Recovering
stones was labor-intensive and time consuming.
THE RULES:
1. Be Gentle. Care must be taken to prevent further damage.
2. Every piece, no matter how small, MAY BE SIGNIFICANT.
3. Map everything you find. It will help in proper placement of stones.
Start by uncovering stones that are partially exposed. It is best to use
small hand tools and trowels, and remove the dirt from around the stone.
Then lift it by hand and fill under it. Prying with shovels is NOT
recommended, as it will most likely scar, if not break the stone. For
larger stones, I used lumber such as 2x4's and plywood scraps to hold the
stones up out of the dirt.
For stones that have merely fallen over or leaned, gently dig around them
and return them to an upright position. Use a level to plumb the stone
and, if possible, align with other stones in the row. Re-pack the dirt
around the stone by tamping, or use sand or pea gravel for fill if the dirt
is soft or muddy.
When lifting a stone from underground, look to see if a deteriorated stone
has "flaked off", leaving a thin layer in the ground. On one stone I
recovered that was face down, a thin layer about 1/4" thick had crumbled
away from the stone, leaving most of the lettering and dates still in the
dirt. The stone was beyond repair, but by gently removing the flakes with
a small hand trowel and turning them over on the stone in the proper place,
I was able to determine the name and dates. If care had not been taken to
salvage the small pieces, the information on who this person was, and their
birth and death dates would have been lost forever. A replacement stone
was ordered by descendants, and placed in the row where the original was
found.
Any piece of stone that has a design, lettering, or numbers on it should be
saved, no matter how small. You may eventually find enough pieces to fit
it together like a puzzle and repair it, or at least record the information.
BASE STONES:
The headstones of the Pioneer days were usually set one of three ways.
Larger, square stones were placed on a large base, usually sandstone, that
was just below the surface. If you encounter a large, sometimes rough-cut
stone, gently clean the top off to se if you can determine if it was used
as a base, You may also encounter stones like these, called "Field
Stones", to mark graves of people who could not afford a headstone.
Flat rectangular stones were sometimes sat in a slot cut in a base stone.
If you encounter a base with a slot, gently clean it to determine if any of
the headstone has broken off in the slot. In Marsh Creek Cemetery, this
was the biggest clue for determining the proper location of the headstones.
Tne pieces that were broken off in the slots were used to find a match to
the proper headstone. In most cases, the bottom of the stone was re-sawed
with a masonary saw, and re-set in the base, losing only 3 or 4 inches of
the original stone. You can also measure a slot to try to match with a
stone of the same size. Many stones are non-standard in size, and the slot
in the base was cut to match the stone.
Some flat rectangular stones were set in the ground without a base,
usually with about 18" underground. If the part above ground was broken
off, you may be able to match a headstone that you have found with the
piece that is still in the ground, usually found standing upright, or
leaning somewhat. These pieces are usually at or very near their original
location.
Footstones usually resemble long brick-shaped stones with initials cut in
one face, and were placed at the foot of the grave facing the opposite
direction of the headstone. You may also find broken off pieces of
footstone still buried underground in the original location. The matching
process can be used to at least determine the initials of the person buried
there, and may help to determine which headstone goes with that grave.
Corner markers, or plot markers also may be encountered, which were usually
square and have a single letter cut in the top, the initial of the last
name of the family that owned the plot.
PROBING.
I used these materials to build a Tee shaped probe to search for buried
objects:
3/4" steel pipe, 18" long. (black pipe works best, for welding)
3/8" steel rod, 42" long.
1/2" steel ball bearing.
Drill a 3/8" hole in the pipe in the center.
Weld the rod in the hole in the pipe, creating the tee handle.
Weld the ball bearing on the bottom end of the rod.
The ball bearing serves two purposes. The round ball is less likely to
damage a stone when you strike it while probing, and the slightly larger
ball reduces friction on the rod, making the probe penetrate the ground
easier.
Develop a system to ensure you have covered the entire area. In larger
cemeteries, you may want to mark off sections or rows with string. I
purchased some small red surveyors flags at a hardware store, and used them
to mark objects that I had found until I was ready to start digging. I
also used them to mark the corners of larger objects, helping to avoid
striking the stone while digging.
In part 4, I will cover cleaning and identification of stones. Part 5 will
cover repairing broken stones and replacing stones beyond repair. I will
also offer suggestions later on determining proper placement of stones that
you found in a location that you are sure was not the original gravesite.
If you need a more detailed explanation on any of these procedures, or have
any questions, you may give me a call at 812-729-7237. Posting questions
or comments to this list is also a good idea, as someone out there may have
better ideas or answers than I.
Ernie