Hello Judy & the list. I seen your request for someone to take photos of this tombstone for you & I have a GREAT tip/suggestion for whoever lives near there willing to try this for Judy on that tombstone that is hard to read. it will turn out better than any photo you can take. I just did a program for My local Genealogy Society called a "Sunset Tour of our local Cemetery" in Western OKla & I found this tip for the handout I was preparing for our tour. For doing a tombstone rubbings using Pellon Interfacing. You should always ask permission of the cemtery office if rubbings are allowed & on stones that are crumbling would not be good to try this on. Soft non-fusible Pellon interfacing material is perfect for tombstone rubbings. It folds neatly in a bag without wrinkles, takes crayon beautifully and can even be ironed when you get back home to melt the wax into the fabric and preserve the rubbing for years to come. It is readily available from your local fabric store. Be sure to get the non-fusible variety. use the side that isn't fuzzy. Use masking tape (not duct tape) to hold it in place on the stone while you rub the wax crayon across it gently. You iron it by placing a old towel on top of the rubbing & apply the iron down directly on the towel & don't use a side to side motion when ironing so it won't smear the wax. Use the older wax crayons. I'm not sure if the new washable crayons would work on this. We tried it on a 1905 tombstone that you could no longer read & it came out wonderful. The lady buried there was murdered & a local bridge bears the name of Dead Woman's Crossing. makes for a good ghost story around halloween. <G> I've also have wonderful success with a special blue paper from the monument company for rubbings they use to make a sketch when they need to add new dates or info to a stone. but it wrinkles easy. You just use a soft rag to rub over the paper to get the indentions of the writing. I sent some to a distant cousin from near Wash co. PA who did a rubbing of one of our early Joseph Ralston's who died in 1843. 3 Different cemetery readings we had gathered reported he was 28 yrs old but we have his will & he had over 16 kids (2 wifes) & knew the age was wrong on the cemetery readings. With the blue paper the real age shows he was 78 yrs old. It worked wonderful too. I cut strips of this blue paper for the kids on our tour to do rubbings & they had so much fun. Our Sunset tour started at 6 & ran about 1 hour, we read over obits & family stories on several of those buried there who were present in 1900 census here & info on the Civil war soldiers & early founders of the town. We had a huge crowd both nights we did the program. We think it was a hugh success & going to do it again next year. Hope this might work for you too. Kim Ralston Dresser Okla. > From: "J.A. Florian" <[email protected]> > Subject: [PAWASHIN] Mystery in Convalescence > I wondered if someone who lives down in/near Washpa could go out before > the > weather turns colder and take some more pictures for me-- and take many > photos from as many angles as you can? Also, I need the person who goes > to > really look at the "shield" area and footer of the stone to see if it > possibly has more recent (1950s to 1990s) graffiti overlapping the > original > engraving on the stone. The shield outline is very distinctive-- just > think > of one of the PA Interstate signs and it's a similar shape as what's on > the > stone. > > If someone does go to take photos, Lola's directions to the location are > on > the WashPAGenWeb with the cemeteries. This one is in Cooke Burial Ground. > The basic location is: The sign in the cemetery is visible from > Interstate > 79 north before the Meadowlands exit. From intersection at Rt. 19 South at > Washington Mall/Home Depot, make right onto Oak Springs Road. At end of > Oak > Springs Rd. at intersection, make a right onto Locust Ave. Travel a few > hundred feet and make a left onto Country Club Rd. (Proceed to Enterprise > Rd. a short ways past Fairway Drive.) Make left onto Enterprise Road. The > cemetery is over the hill behind the Washington Country Club Clubhouse. > It's in a thicket-- i.e. a path goes through an opening of trees. > > Like I said, I'm getting stubborn with trying to "read" this stone from > the > photo. Since it has the PA Shield (from the PA State Seal), it's likely a > soldier's grave so I'd really like to ID him. The tombstone is in the > center of the cemetery near Hon. Isaac Leet who died June 1844-- but I'm > pretty sure it does NOT have the name Leet on it. The graves at Cook > aren't > my family, but-- I guess I love a challenge. LOL > > Thank you in advance if you go out to do the photos. > > Judy > -- > -- > WASHINGTON COUNTY PA WEBSITES::: > http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.com/~florian/ > Coordinator of the Washington County PAGenWeb: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~pawashin/ >