Jerre Hookey sent two pictures of the tombstones that were chalked and left to ruin-- Iley put these up for us, under current events -- I wanted all of you to see what a mess and how it can really can cause unnecessary damage to these old stones take a look please-- this is the web site address http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmario2/ Thank you Iley and Jerre Betty

In reference to pictures are on the current event page of the chalked stones This looks like someone used the block style of carpenters caulk. These colors (red and blue) do not degrade easily, and because this type of chalk is rubbed on ,it is in the pores of the stones(yes stone has pores like your skin) and will be present for some time to come. I don't know of any way to remove this chalk with out further degrading the stones. On the subject of cleaning headstones DON'T is the best policy the old stones were for the most part local stone,and in this part of the world that means sandstone. Sandstone is soft,porous,and easily damaged,and it weathers badly,but it is easily worked because of this. That is why they are slowly fading away. If you just "have too" clean one use your fingers to brush away mosses or lichens,the only tool I carry with me is a tooth brush,and I use it only as a last resort. If the stone is to weathered to photograph,make a tracing. Go to a art store and buy a pad of the large tracing paper,and some "Soft" charcoals, not the pencil type,but the little square ones about the size of your finger. Place the paper on the stone(it helps to have a partner in this) and slide the charcoal across the paper to make the tracing. It takes some practice,and the soft charcoals are messy,but it works better than trying to do it with a pencil type of instrument,and you will not tear the paper. On the subject of photographing tombstones. You can use a mirror to reflect light onto a stone to show the lettering in relief,by setting the mirror at 45 degrees to the stone and the sun,or you can sometimes get better pictures by shading the stone on bright sunny days,because the light reflected off of the stone tends to wash the picture(i.e. it over loads the sensors in the camera).If you camera has the capability go down a couple of stops and bracket your shots,cameras see in two dimensions,not 3 as does the human eye. I doesn't matter how you get the pictures,I use a 35MM and a digital both,the main thing is how you view them. If you have a photo program on a computer ,when you have your film developed get a digital set also,so that you can load them into your computer. There are a lot of photo programs available,most of them will do a decent job of showing or printing your pictures,but not all allow you to manipulate the photos to any great extent. A word of warning do not work on the original picture,always work on a copy. In the photo program you can change the contrast and the brightness of a picture so as to enhance what is shown and reveal details that do not show in commercial prints due to the way their software works.( They go for a tonal average). You may not get the best looking picture in the world that way ,but it will allow you to see what is on the stone. Also if you have a photo program you can scan in the old photos that you have and retouch them and change the contrast (i.e. the fading) and the lighting (dark pictures) and normally you get a picture that looks new. It takes a lot of effort sometimes ,but it is worth it if you want to really see what GG aunt or uncle somebody looked like. I have pictures taken off of tintypes that were so faded that you could not make out the details with naked eye,that look almost new,considering that the tintypes are 110-140 years old. iley ----- Original Message ----- From: "macbetty" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 2:01 PM Subject: [TNMARION] new item on web site > Jerre Hookey sent two pictures of the tombstones that were chalked and left to ruin-- Iley put these up for us, under current events -- > > I wanted all of you to see what a mess and how it can really can cause unnecessary damage to these old stones > take a look please-- this is the web site address http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmario2/ > Thank you Iley and Jerre > Betty > > > > > ==== TNMARION Mailing List ==== > *********************************************************************** > PLEASE NOTE: This list is for queries and replies, comments, > requests for help, and other genealogical related information > that is of interest to researchers having a connection or a > possible connection to Marion County, Tennessee. There is no > soliciting or advertising of any item or service for sale allowed. > Betty McBee - list administrator-- [email protected] . > Marion County Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmario2/ > *********************************************************************** > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx > >