How to you prep for a visit to a Cemetery?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joyce Garrott on July 12, 2009 at 11:03am

Yes, Russ I do try to do that, sometimes I do not make it., but if I can find a obit to go with the memorial then I send it to the requestor then I also send it to the person who created the memorial to see if they would update the memorial. That sometimes sparks new requests in either the same cemetery or local area. Oh yes also I try to take pictures of any other graves in the area which has the same surname on it.

I normally also try to pick a certain cemetery and record the whole cemetery if time permits and then add them to Find a Grave as time permits even if it means creating a memorial for them if one is not already done.

Joyce

Russ Worthington said:

Thank you ALL for your replies to this question. You all have added to my list.

Let me expand the question to:

Do you take any information from the Find-A-Grave website?.

For example: You are responding to and have claimed a Photo Request, do you pull any more information for that Cemetery?

Thank you,

Russ

Permalink Reply by Karen Struve on July 12, 2009 at 12:54pm

I always take a spray bottle of water, roll of paper towels. reflective sun visor for car windows to deflect or reflect the sun on the stone should it be in the shade.They fold up neatly into themselves for storage. I also take a small kneeling pad and electric clippers. I have a bunch of artifical flowers I place on unmarked graves for photos. Be sure to take a photo of the signage for the cemetery and always clean up any trash in the vicinity and take it with you. Make notes and photos of surrounding stones; you may learn later that they were also in your family.

Permalink Reply by fizzbomb on July 13, 2009 at 6:05am

"This man actually tried to catch it and of coarse he got bitten. He was taken to the local cemetery in time, thanks to cell phones."

Didn't you mean "hospital"?? :-D

Permalink Reply by fizzbomb on July 13, 2009 at 6:07am

Russ, I have to say
Sheets of paper and charcoal
really bothered me. No rubbings, ever.

Permalink Reply by fizzbomb on July 13, 2009 at 6:15am

Russ Worthington said:

Do you take any information from the Find-A-Grave website?.

For example: You are responding to and have claimed a Photo Request, do you pull any more information for that Cemetery?

If the cemetery on FAG has quite a few memorials entered, I take all the information available for that cemetery so I can be sure to photograph those markers that have a memorial but no photo entered yet (request or not).

If the cemetery on FAG only has a few memorials set up, I take my transcription forms to record those stones that don't photograph well. Many of the cemeteries local to me have been transcribed for another site but the transcriptions are error-laden (some as high as 28%) so I'll take those lists to verify/correct.

Permalink Reply by deborah on July 24, 2009 at 8:29am

Tennis sneakers, Sunglasses, Hat, Extra batteries, Skin So Soft spray, Little note book, my flower arrangments (I have attached an arrangments of flowers to a stick, so when I take pictures all of the pictures will have flowers). I know it sounds crazy, but it works.

Permalink Reply by Joyce Garrott on July 24, 2009 at 1:06pm

My question is, what is the best way to make old stone more readable without damaging the stones other than etching?

Permalink Reply by Russ Worthington on July 24, 2009 at 1:34pm

Joyce - I do it, in many cases, with a Camera, using shadows and lighting and angles. That is probably not the right answer and I hope some one who knows how, will reply. -- Russ

Permalink Reply by Joyce Garrott on July 24, 2009 at 1:38pm

Thanks Russ, where I do a lot of my pictures are in LBL (Land Between The Lakes in KY) and there are only a few cemeteries that are still active. Most of the stones are from 70+ yrs old to back in the 1800's so a lot of them are very unreadable.

Permalink Reply by Headstone seeker on July 24, 2009 at 1:31pm

I make sure I have plenty of silk flowers(I put them on each headstone, so I know I already took that photo)...plenty of flour for rubbing onto the stone that are hard to read... a light paint brush for wiping off the excess flour and cocoa......and plenty of cocoa powder, to do the same on the light stones....bug spray, umbrella( for blocking the light on bright days) Extra batteries......and a microcasette player for recording what I know will be hard to make out once I get it uploaded to the computer.

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