MO-CEMETERIES-L Archives

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Subject: [MO-CEM] Sent to Cemetery Restoration site
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:16:48 EST

I thought this site might like to read this also. This was written in
response to input on another list.
I have read so much in this column about care in obtaining information from
stones. I will tell you it is important to leave the stones in good shape,
but the awful truth is that transcription and publication of that information
is the best way to insure the dead will not be forgotten. I have been
involved in the restoration of many of my ancestors stones but the best part
of that was the transcription of the information for records.
Bill and Dorothy Williams of Morgan County, Missouri spent some three years
of their retirement transcribing the whole county and the transcription is
one of the most noble contributions to genealogy that I have witnessed. We
need more researchers like them.
Some stones that are lying on the ground will be lost in time and they need
to be cleaned and restored with an angle iron process that surrounds the
stone with iron attached with iron bolts. I have had this done to one whole
family cemetery from the early 1800s and also other stones in small
cemeteries where my direct ancestors are buried. Some born in the 1700s. Care
and interest is the main thing. Be gentle with researchers and encourage them
to publish their findings for those that will never find that grave in the
middle of a cow pasture. We are all after the same thing and that is to honor
our dead ancestors and connect to them in some small way.

It is a a good thing to donate a few dollars to the upkeep of old cemeteries
or restoration of old stones. By doing that you are ensuring that the next
generation of genealogists will be able to see their ancestors stones. When I
donate I think of it as a birthday or Christmas gift to the ancestor that
made my life possible.

Merry Christmas to all of the volunteers in Morgan County. Thank you for all
your hard work on behalf of those of us who research there. I appreciate all
of you!!!

Bonnie Morris Conrad

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