Went to an old Cemetery Today

Horse Plains Drifter

We recently discovered one of my wife's ancestors is buried in a country cemetery about an hour away. The fella's name is Noah Packwood, and one of his sisters is my wife's GG Grandmother.


This is an awesome hand made gate. The letters and all the uprights are made of cable. The cemetery has about 60-70 graves I would estimate. Noah's grave is the second oldest burial date at 1914, and the oldest we found was 1912.


The stone reads:
"Noah Packwood
 1841-1917
 Mary M His Wife
 1840-1924"
Noah was three years old when his family left Missouri and traveled in a wagon train across the Oregon Trail in 1844, the second year the trail was open. Noah's father William (Billy) Packwood is the namesake of the town of Packwood, Washington.

Now a question. Should we clean that headstone? If so, what should we use?

mrs102

There are a lot of suggestions on the internet.  Here's an example.

https://dengarden.com/landscaping/How-to-Clean-a-Headstone-the-Proper-Way

mark christian

I'm a huge fan of old cemeteries. When I find one I can spend hours just wandering around the grave sites. There is a lot of history to be learned by reading gravestones. 

mohawk600

I love old cemeteries and ghost towns. I live in Austin on the edge of Cedar Park and believe it or not, in the middle of the city, just a few blocks away from me is an old slave cemetery.

allen griggs

I love going to the old cemetaries.  Here is the grave of my great great great grandfather Norman Lewis.
Sun Prairie Wisconsin.  Norman died in 1860.  His son David Lewis homesteaded in Mina South Dakota in 1882.

Ditch-Runner

when we visit family of friends at a grave yard , I seem to always walk around reading the head stones and the dates and cant help but think of what they were like or the times they lived in and does any one even remember or visit them seems after a generation they are forgotten most of the time 
we have a old family grave yard in Tennessee I am not even sure who all is burred there I know my grandfather and mother on dads side it dads side of the family I was about 12 or so when grandpa passed on but mom staid with us kids in the car at the foot of the mountain so I have never got to visit   . I took may dad before he passed but he did not want to go ( I understood when your about to go you need no reminding ) its Leach mountain and I know a strip mine took it over many years ago except the graves so I ask my oldest son who is also interested to make a trip this summer  to visit my older brother's grave in a small church yard  ( clearfield tnn ) that's close by the other grave yard .

montanajoe

There is a product for cleaning headstones.  Wet and forget it, I believe the name is.  The main thing to remember is have plenty of water with you to thoroughly rinse.  
I was raised that you should keep headstones clean.  It's respectful to the deceased, and also preserves the history and beauty of the cemetery.  

montanajoe

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=sgfCXoS8EsfK-gSRt7jwAg&q=how+to+clean+headstones&oq=how+to+clean+headstones&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeOgUIABCDAVC1EliQd2DLf2gAcAB4AIABXYgB7w6SAQIyM5gBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXo&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwiE3cHPwrzpAhVHpZ4KHZEbDi4Q4dUDCAg&uact=5

spasmcreeksrun

dont clean em..but it is OK to drive over em ..like the stupid woman in texas that  drove across dozens ...but was found by police and no charges brought ????? just a slap on the wrist and pay damages  

pulsarnc

there are three old graveyards on my farm . One dates back far enough that there are no headstones on some of the graves , just remnants of wooden crosses . Others date back into the 1860,s . Last one I have dated is around the 1920’s . None of the names are ones I recognize

Bubba Jr.

Ditch-Runner said:

when we visit family of friends at a grave yard , I seem to always walk around reading the head stones and the dates and cant help but think of what they were like or the times they lived in and does any one even remember or visit them seems after a generation they are forgotten most of the time 
we have a old family grave yard in Tennessee I am not even sure who all is burred there I know my grandfather and mother on dads side it dads side of the family I was about 12 or so when grandpa passed on but mom staid with us kids in the car at the foot of the mountain so I have never got to visit   . I took may dad before he passed but he did not want to go ( I understood when your about to go you need no reminding ) its Leach mountain and I know a strip mine took it over many years ago except the graves so I ask my oldest son who is also interested to make a trip this summer  to visit my older brother's grave in a small church yard  ( clearfield tnn ) that's close by the other grave yard .

Dave there is a site called "find a grave.com" that has listings of almost every cemetary in the US with pictures of the most of the gravestones. You might be able to search your ancestors on that site.

Good Luck

Joe

spasmcreeksrun

might go to the county register of deeds and find cemetery info also if a church is involved....many years ago i did a map of cemeteries and individual gravesites...bet i never got near all of the old ones...farmer southeast of one of the county's small town had some old graves in trees by his home...they were from a group of people heading west in wagons and cholera hit them and they left several there...3-1/4 miles south of me an old man told me in the 1960's there was an old Indian buried by his grandad many years ago on a high spot in the field south of his house...... many around but to many years down the road to locate...i know of one cemetery that has been completely farmed over 

Brookwood

Back in the late 70's I was pheasant hunting with a buddy of mine in north Oakland County near the town of Ortonville Michigan. We were walking through an open field when I nearly tripped over a fallen tombstone.  The grass was pretty tall and we both rambled around and found at least 50. All were flat on the ground but were supposed to be upright.  Many could still be read and the earliest was dated 1788.  

I went back to that area probably 10 years later and someone had up righted all the markers and restored the place back into an acceptable cemetery.

bustedknee

Photographing cemeteries is one of my hobbies.  I'm a member of Find-A-Grave and make photos of local graves when people request them.

Cemeteries give me strong conflicting emotions.  Extreme sadness for those lost and those forgotten. 

But I also find them uplifting, knowing they are the final statement for us all.

Chattanooga National Cemetery 2019

Brookwood

Todays trends are making earth burial of human remains a thing of the past.  As the high prices for funerals soar, the percentages of families going with cremation followed by spreading the ashes in a loved ones favorite place is most popular in my area.  

Missouri Mule K30

bustedknee said:

Photographing cemeteries is one of my hobbies.  I'm a member of Find-A-Grave and make photos of local graves when people request them.

Cemeteries give me strong conflicting emotions.  Extreme sadness for those lost and those forgotten. 

But I also find them uplifting, knowing they are the final statement for us all.

Chattanooga National Cemetery 2019

Thank You Sir

You do Great Service for the Living and the Dead

Missouri Mule K30

Having ancestors in the New World from 1642, Old Somerset Md. to now 14 generations later I have seen OLD Gravestones. Most that have legible markers you would not touch from being nothing more than standing rock. Old Churches that have a recorded record of plots are good places to find ancestral information. However most records have been lost from many reasons. Some end up in County Seats or State Capitals, Archives. Family Bibles, Well I could talk for hours about genealogy.

I do want to answer the thread, If you see a Headstone about to be lost and you feel that something can be done to either extend life to the stone by $tonecutter or I have also done and seen, replacing with new $tone where practicable then have at it.

When as a teenager my Pop told me of where the Family Cemetery was in the County that we had the Homestead from 1800, before the Missouri Territory, the Louisiana Territory. I visited mid 70's and was amazed that their were some legible stones to be seen but the cemetery was a recovered prairie and pine trees. Forgotten till about 15 years ago and the Historical Society has been regular visitors donating time.

What I think is that we Live in a Free Country still. And if you want to Honor your Kin by restore, replace Headstone then do it, or not. But talk to the owner of the perpetual care Trust and see what is allowed, or not.

gearheaddad

Old Cemeteries are very cool. My Grandparents are buried in a very old cemetery not far from home. I stop quite often and usually find myself wandering around and reading all the old stones.
I was in Prague a couple years ago and Kimi hooked me up with some family history and the tiny village where my Great Grandfather came from. We spent half a day in an extremely old cemetery looking for relatives headstones. It was a very special day.......

TRAP55

us55840 said:

Flying Clay Disk said:

Oh, and NO, do NOT touch that headstone!!  Do NOT try to clean it, just leave it alone!

If you want to do anything; take a large sheet of paper and use a charcoal pencil to create a relief of the headstone for your records.  Pictures are good too.

Please do NOT try to clean the headstone (not to mention how bad luck it is)!!

ETA - <----Old West historian (and writer) here.  Myself and Whiteclouder had many discussions about the old west.  Please ask others about WC if you don't know him.

Please explain this thing about never cleaning a headstone as I've never heard of it before.  thanks.

Read the link that Joe posted above. Some of the old stones were sandstone, and cleaning did more harm than good. Old granite stones in areas with winter freezes can have unseen cracks and chips, until you start cleaning, and they come apart.

truthful

Removing the age-earned finish from anything removes a lot of its history. You'll never sell that gravestone, so you won't have to worry about cutting the value in half like you would with an old gun, or antique furniture, but you will be removing something that took 100+ years to create. What do you gain by doing so?

bustedknee

I forgot to mention:

Chattanooga National Cemetery is the final resting place of Desmond Doss, the first noncombatant to earn (I said, "earn" not "win") the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Last summer when my grand sons visited, I asked what they wanted to do. The 12-year old said, "Visit Desmond Doss' grave."

He had seen the movie, Hacksaw Ridge, and was touched by the story. 

12-years old!

In a Veterans' Cemetery, Spouses may be buried with the Vet.

spasmcreeksrun

there is an old cemetery hidden in a draw about 4 miles east of our lake house in eastern Kansas...old stones weathered down and almost gone....someone still mows it ....last i was there 2 big dead pine trees stood sentinel and one gets an odd feeling after driving down to it and walking in........

roswellnative

Gravestones should be treated like a Winchester. Clean them of debis and wipe it down. Don’t change the patina

kimi

In loving memory of my namesake who died in a Japanese POW camp during WW II in the Philippines...plus six Confederate soldiers, four of whom were my great grandfathers and two 
Missourians.

Cling2myguns

mark christian said:

I'm a huge fan of old cemeteries. When I find one I can spend hours just wandering around the grave sites. There is a lot of history to be learned by reading gravestones. 

The land I bought in NE TN has a pioneer family cemetery on it, I think it is fascinating, We are going to make it as nice as possible and plant flowers etc. We shall be buried there as well.

chme

The most absolutely heart rending gravestone I have ever seen is in Williamsburg VA.
Here sleeps in Jesus united to Him by Faith and the Graces of a Christian life, all that was Mortal of Ms Ann Burges one the tender and affectionate wife of the Rev Henry John Burges of the Isle of Wight. She died 25 Dec 1771 in giving birth to an infant daugher: who refts (rest) in her arms; She here waits the tranfporting moment when the Trump of God fhall call her forth to Glory. Honour y Immortality Oh Death where is thy Sting? Oh Grave where is thy Victory.