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May 27, 2007

Visitors should be careful not to damage gravestones

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Sun May 27, 2007, 11:06 PM CDT

By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Genealogy hunters and cemetery visitors could be wearing away the very history they seek out.

Attempts to clean or polish cemetery headstones with bleach or caustic chemicals, and even the practice of chalking stones to do rubbings or take photographs, can erode or damage the stones, preservationists say.

Marjorie Bull, a member of the Jasper County Cemetery Preservation Committee, said she cleaned and repaired some of her family’s gravestones with muriatic acid. “But I also took water with me, and I washed them off good,” she said.

She used liquid concrete to repair some broken stones. “It’s probably been about four or five years ago,” she said. “They still look as good as they did then. They were really old, old stones, but they look just fine.”

A clean slate

But some people aren’t so lucky.

Using bleach to strip stones of moss or lichen, or even ordinary dirt, can discolor soft stones. More harsh chemicals, even those that contain salt, can soak in and eventually break up the stones, experts say.

Richard Green, the office manager of Joplin Granite Co., 1306 S. Main St., said it’s OK to clean marble or limestone, but people should use nothing more harsh than vinegar.

“If they have the lichen, or even black pollution in the unpolished area of a stone, I would use vinegar with a scrub brush,” Green said. “It’s not a real bad acid.”

He said he has seen people damage stones by trying to put a gloss finish on them again.

“Where they’re hurting the stones is they’re trying to refinish marble and limestone markers,” he said. It is best to hire a professional to restore those types of stones, some of which are not intended to look glossy, he said.

A glossy finish is popular now because granite is available. “If it was granite, it will never wear out,” Green said. “But in the old days, granite wasn’t that available.”

Rock of ages

Durability is the reason that Mount Hope Cemetery, where some of the area’s more prosperous mining and entrepreneurial families are buried, has a policy that addresses the materials that can be used for headstones and grave decorations.

“We only allow granite, which is the hardest stone. It is impervious to wear,” said Robert Hosp, cemetery administrator.

“There are a couple of memorials here from the early 1900s that were made of marble, and they do not weather well. Consequently, we do not accept anything but granite or bronze.”

He said the cemetery staff knows how to clean the granite with a mild cleanser and water. The staff also can rejuvenate bronze.

The cemetery also supervises the setting of stones and monuments. “We do not have anything that is not properly set,” Hosp said. “That’s why you don’t see headstones that have fallen over. And we’re a 102-year-old cemetery.”

Marking the move

Repairing broken stones and erecting fallen ones, if done improperly, can cause more breakage. Marble stones are particularly susceptible to water damage if they lie on the ground.

Randall Hornback, a Joplin resident, moved some of his ancestors’ stones from an old, rural cemetery on property that had been sold to someone outside the family. Moving the stones to Fullerton Cemetery in Carthage also made them more accessible to relatives and genealogy hunters, he said. “They were in a remote area where most people didn’t even know where it was,” he said.

But, he didn’t try to make the move himself. He had a monument company do the moving so the stones would be professionally set “because some of these had gotten broken over the years,” and they had to be reassembled and repaired.

He also left a marker for future generations.

“We left a stone out there on the property stating that originally there was a cemetery there,” he said.

Cemetery restoration

Church groups, civic organizations and Boy Scouts looking for volunteer work are sought by the Jasper County Cemetery Preservation Committee to help clear and clean abandoned cemeteries. The committee was appointed by the Jasper County Commission to locate, document and preserve all of the county’s rural and abandoned cemeteries, which are estimated to exceed 60.

To volunteer, people may call (417) 359-1100 and leave a contact name and phone number, according to Marjorie Bull, a member of the committee.