I have some rather macabre fond memories from my childhood. Touring the back roads with my dad in his “baby”: a 1959 Karmman Ghia he shipped home after his posting in Germany. A favourite part of the outing was taking my father’s hand as we wandered through old, abandoned graveyards, as he told me the stories of the stones.
Even when we travelled between Ontario and Nova Scotia, the only stop worth making was the same: an abandoned graveyard, tilting tombstones, wildflowers, and so many stories to tell. My father loved history and passed this passion along. Included in that was the stories that a graveyard tells.
As a teacher, I lead field trips to local graveyards, teaching the students how to read a tombstone like a primary source document. Just a sampling of questions: Was there a cluster of deaths? The number of children in a family, and how many died within the first year? Who lived longer – men or women? And the inscriptions (and images carved on the stones) which often listed more than simply born and died. Were these stones home made or professional? What images could be associated with a particular era? What did the size, style, and inscription suggest about the person?
Genealogists, historians, sociologists, archeologists, forensic specialists, curious descendants all can find much in the stones. Unfortunately, acid rain and air pollution has quickened the wearing away of information while the fallen and damaged stones aren’t repaired. Our history is slipping away with each splash of rain, each crack and crumble.
So, welcome to Tombstone Thursday. The idea originated when visiting a genealogic web site seeking out my ancestors. Try using Tombstone Tuesday as a search term.
In loving memory of Wallace D. Haughn
Lost at sea Feb. 1, 1924
Aged 56 years
Also his son
Grover Jerome
Enlisted October 1914
Returned May 1919
Lost at sea Feb. 1, 1924
Aged 28 years
And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more
sea. REV 21
I know pieces of this story from the Fort Point Cemetery, La Have, Nova Scotia.
What does this inscription tell you about Wallace and Grover? What story runs between the lines?
See Photographylife.com for a stunningly illustrated article on “Exploring the Beauty of Cemeteries.”
July 26, 2018 at 6:40 pm
this is really cool – and yeah, it is totally fascinating what remains and can be found in reading the stones …. as you’ve mentioned, more than just the words, but all the things that are there, in the details, as well as what is left for us to determine or imagine ….
so is this a particular relative? in this image, or one you just picked – and I like the title – so is this a new feature (as you can) here? LOL – you’ve left out some details and curious minds are well … curious!
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July 26, 2018 at 8:10 pm
I’m thinking of doing it not necessarily weekly but hopefully often, and yes, those are my relatives. On another side of the monument is listed a great-uncle who was lost at Passchendaele during WW1 and in the fields of mud, blood, and water, his body was never found. And, on the other, my great-grandmother who went from horse and buggy to men in space, living to be 92 years old. There are also grave markers for several children who died before the age of one.
I need to find some accessible graveyards around here to take more pictures, or to “borrow” from others who have taken pictures in cemeteries I know and love.
Are curious minds still curious, lol?
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July 26, 2018 at 8:15 pm
ahahha … now this is fascinating … it’s amazing what you can find grouped and bundled, especially when people have settled in one area, more or less – and have come from larger families ….
how fascinating for you to discover
LOL@curious minds still curious ….
satisfied and thank you :)
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July 28, 2018 at 4:49 pm
There are several graveyards that have special meaning and are public access and I’d be surprised if I couldn’t find them on line.
And, I think I’ll get Cathy involved (as my driver) and use the new camera. Still shy about it.
Always be curious, my friend, always, lol.
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July 28, 2018 at 5:16 pm
ohhh new camera?? whooot!
curious again …..
LOL
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July 29, 2018 at 5:45 am
Oh, there was a big sale on cameras and we finally got a digital SLR. My old SLR-type camera was stolen years ago, my little digital one became evil and stopped operating. It needs a smaller camera bag so I can cart it around. I admit — it intimidates me, and I don’t have the softwear, yet, to download the pictures onto my computer. It’s communal property with the O’Henry twist: I thought it would be good if HE used it — he used to like taking pictures and it would be good if he started again; he got it for ME because, like so many things, I expressed an interest in taking proper pictures again. The photoediting softwear on my computer sucks — another gift that went awry; I wanted to use it to put words on the pictures I took. Never happened properly. Another of the I get then get disinterested projects. Sigh.
OMG, this is TMI, lol.
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July 29, 2018 at 8:13 pm
LOL@ the OMG – only if you feel like it is …. ;)
actually – maybe you just need to breathe – step back and take some time to remember, you can and will learn how to use the digi SLR – it’s just a bigger version of the small digital one you had – and hey, if you once knew how to use a film camera (LOL – talk about dating ourselves eh? – then it’s possible;) as for the share and share alike – listen, nothing wrong with playing it both ways, – just don’t let it become a game of “I can’t” because you don’t have all the stuff you need yet, like the proper software etc. As for the other stuff? hey, I know what you mean – especially about losing interest, but remember, you need to put the horse before the cart …. so just take the time to wander about and point and shoot – that’s the beauty about digi – it doesn’t cost you like film! :)
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July 29, 2018 at 8:40 pm
After writing that comment, I took the camera outside and played photographer in the back yard. Now, if I can remember to NOT put my nose on the display screen when I use the view finder, lol.
Practice shots — on auto everything — and this baby has some sort of stabilizer so my pictures don’t “shake.” But I think my hands are steadier with it that with the old digital and certainly than with my funny phone camera.
So I did it — I just went and played. Maybe that should be my approach — playing at being “normal” or an “adult” or “together.” LOL We do forget to play.
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July 29, 2018 at 9:07 pm
LOL – play is a really good thing – we don’t do it enough!
LOL@the nose on the display etc. Always something to fiddle bit in the way ;)
Hey, just enough it – that’s the best approach to learning something new, all this new razzmatazz techie stuff – so auto everything is a more than a good place to start!
As for “normal” or “adult” or “together”??
wtf is normal?
celebrate “weird”
“adult”?
only when necessary
“together”
if it gets you through the roughest moments, then sure …
but remember my friend, just be you – the world will adjust :D
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