Delicacy
Ancient headstones can never be replaced. They may be the
only historical documents remaining from that time and place. Many headstones are so worn as to be completely unreadable - or so they appear to the unaided eye! The "Magic Mirror" technique throws the writing into sharp relief. The words quite literally jump out at you!
The Magic Mirror is a "green" technique. It does not risk any harm to the headstone. All we do is shine sun light across the face of the inscription!
Throughout this tutorial, click on each deviation for full view and explanation.These two photographs are of the same headstone! Can you see how the writing appears and disappears? This headstone looked exactly the same to the naked eye. We needed the Magic Mirror to read the inscription.
N.B. You can find all photographs used in this tutorial in my gallery folder Magic Mirror. Clubs listed in this journal have permission to use the article and/or photographs. A Walk Through The Park
Please excuse me if I get too chatty in this little tutorial! I will take you along with me, to look over my shoulder, as I show Magic Mirror examples. I hope you enjoy the trip.
If you are in a hurry, just glance through the thumbnails. You've got the idea, and you can take it from there! If you're not in such a hurry, you might like to know that there is a careful description for each deviation, intended to help you along as part of this essay.
The Kingdom Of Callaway
Wayne Johnson of the
Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society arranged for us to visit numerous cemeteries on private land, and personally conducted us around the county. We soon realized that the War Between The States is
always relevant to any history within Callaway County.
If you studied U.S. History, you will recall that
The Missouri Compromise of 1820, allowed Missouri to become a State of the Union in 1821. Missouri was a slave state, and specifically kept the balance between Slave states and Free states. Years later, during the War Between The States (i.e., The Civil War), Missouri remained a Union state - it was never part of the southern Confederacy. However, the Southern-leaning residents of Callaway County refused to choose a side. Instead, they declared their independence and became a small kingdom.
Left to right, Flag of the Kingdom of Callaway; Portrait of Eliza Carrington; Wayne Johnson and Rex Carrington transcribing Nathan and Eliza Carrington's headstone; Wayne Johnson pointing out the original Nathan Carrington headstone In the third photo above, Wayne Johnson is kneeling, holding his Magic Mirror. He constructed a hinged "A frame" or easel for it out of plastic pipes. That way he can position it to stand on its own while he photographs the headstone. In the fourth photo above, you can see the Magic Mirror from the front.
Making The Magic Mirror
My own Magic Mirror is far less elaborate - just a 12" by 12" square mirror tile left over from creating a mirror wall in the house. Wayne can shine sunlight on the entire headstone at once, whereas I usually require several photos to bring out the entire inscription.
Here is part of my cemetery kit. Left side, tick spray. Center, bottom to top, 12" ruler for scale, the magic mirror, dowsing rods, soil probe, surveyor flags, trowels, carrying crate. Right side, green tape, pure corn starch with pad, contact-me note, baggies for note.
I make up small notes with my contact information, saying basically that if you are related to this person I would like to hear from you, place the note in the small plastic bag, and tape it to the back or base of the headstone.
To create my Magic Mirror, I cut out the cardboard from the side of a box, making it slightly larger than the size of the mirror. I edged the whole thing with green duct tape. I figured that green duct tape would look slightly less tacky than gray duct tape. The Magic Mirror size has turned out to be quite handy. It travels well, not being too bulky, and I carry it under my arm as I walk the cemeteries. It has lasted through many thousands of headstone photos.
The mirror itself is a wall tile from the local Home Improvement store. It is stiff, not flexible, which means I can hold it with one hand without it bending out of shape.
The right-hand photo above shows how to use the Magic Mirror. Click on the deviation for a full view so you can see exactly what I mean. We are shining the sunlight
across the inscription. The incised writing then appears as shadows, bringing the text into bold relief. The sun is to the left, the mirror is to the right. You can see the reflected sunlight hitting the side of the headstone, and shining across the face.
The trick is to move the mirror so it is practically behind the headstone, so that the sunlight just
barely shines across the face. All texture in the stone then appears as shadows. In fact, in full view, you can see some sort of vertical design to the left and right of the writing. No way would you even suspect that without the Magic Mirror!
In the photo, "Joseph Day 1886-1904" and "Truman Day" are visible. Truman's birth and death year are
far more difficult to make out. Yet they are
exactly as visible as the highlighted text. The Magic Mirror is the entire difference!
The Swipe
Note the powder puff in a dish, at the center right of the "Cemetery Tool Kit" photo above. I filled the dish with pure corn starch (and keep a box of corn starch available for refills).
Anything touching a headstone can cause irreparable damage. Read the text below! Use this technique VERY carefully, lest you cause additional damage to headstones that can NEVER be replaced. I rub off moss with my bare hand - never anything more abrasive, or more protective such as a glove. For these photos we did a swipe with the powder puff dipped in pure corn starch. It brought out the otherwise-invisible writing. The corn starch should wash off with the next rainfall.
In the left-hand photo, the headstone has been re-set in concrete, with the repair preserving the original description. In the background you can see a well-preserved headstone dating to 1840. When they are that well preserved, it often means the headstone had fallen over and was underground - the ground covering saved it from destruction due to acid rain.
In the center photo, the Magic Mirror would have worked as well - if the sun had been out! I force the flash to be used for all headstone photos; they generally come out more legible that way regardless of sunlight conditions. I take most photos from a sharp angle to help bring the writing into relief, and avoid the flash reflection.
The third photo is what is left of the John Herring (1798-1864) headstone. You can make out the name "John Herring" in curved writing at the top of the center section. We found no trace of his wife Lucy's headstone, but the arrangement of the burial depressions in this abandoned cemetery, plus courthouse records research, indicate she is beside him.
The right photo is Pitcher General Store, a few yards down the road from the John and Lucy Herring cemetery, and the model is a descendant of this couple. Eliza S. (Herring) Carrington, whose portrait is above, is their grand-daughter. Eliza's parents rest beside John and Lucy.
Careful Examination
For this trip we were lucky enough to have a professional archaeologist with us! The photos below are from the same John and Lucy Herring abandoned cemetery (officially "Herring #2 Cemetery" of Callaway County, Missouri, USA).
Additional headstones in the John and Lucy Herring cemetery The left photo is of a partially-excavated headstone. You can see the severe weathering on the upper part of the headstone, whereas the lower portion is quite well preserved. This grandchild of John and Lucy Herring died as a 9-month-old infant. We used the flat trowel shown in the Cemetery Tool Kit, and our bare fingers, to excavate. The flat trowel allowed us to dig down without risking scratching the headstone itself.
When headstones are knocked over and buried underground, they are nearly always laying with the writing face up. Thus if you are probing the ground looking for headstones, be
very careful that your probe does not indelibly scratch the headstone on contact!
The second photo is of a natural stone marker. While examining the cemetery, we placed survey markers to note what we had found. This natural stone marker has no writing. Slave burials in family cemeteries were often marked this way. However, most burials in this county prior to about 1840 were with natural stone markers - no inscriptions.
The third photo shows the general condition of the John and Lucy Herring cemetery. There was lots of underbrush, ticks, and potentially copperhead snakes! You can see a headstone and base to the right. To the lower left is a natural stone (uninscribed) marker. There is another natural stone marker to the upper left of the photo.
Cemetery Portraits
Cemetery portraits are cool, to be sure! Let me feature a few in light of the above perspective. The models in these photos
are careful and respectful, or I would not feature them here. This is not criticism by any means!
When you have models climbing all over, and leaning against, ancient headstones, please do be careful! I see at least one headstone that is leaning, and at least one that has been broken and re-set. I respectfully suggest placing the model in such a way that does not place any stress on the headstone.
People and Portraits: Climbing on Headstones Please remember that unlike all other monuments, ancient headstones are usually the
only remaining historical document telling us of that time, that place, that family, that person's entire life.
Walking Tour
Let's continue our walk around Callaway County. Here we have supporting evidence, sadness, and a touch of humor with people's names.
Left to right, Meng Cemetery, Fletcher-Hill Cemetery, Richland Baptist Church Cemetery, Carrington Baptist Church Cemetery; all of Callaway County, Missouri, USA In the left photo, do you see the "G." as Wiley Tatum's middle initial? This helped strengthen the evidence for a family mystery. We made a special trip to the cemetery, on behalf of someone else, to see whether it was a "C" or "G." It is a "G," which lent strength to our theory that he is in fact son of Gravett Tatum. Ironically enough, a patch of moss is trying to make that "C" look like a "G." I carefully traced it with my finger at the time, to make absolutely sure it was a "G!"
The second photo is Fletcher-Hill Cemetery. It is an abandoned family cemetery on private property. Wayne Johnson obtained permission for our visit. The land owner allows livestock to roam freely through the cemetery area, knocking down and crushing the remaining headstones.
When I see an obelisk in the Midwestern USA, it almost always indicates a burial in the 1880s. The Reverend Noah Flood died in 1873, which doesn't quite fit with my observation - anomalies like that can provide clues for investigation! In fact, though, we were already familiar with his name because he appeared in countless marriage records, and because his wife is a blood relative.
The name "Noah Flood," of course, jumps right out at you as being humorous. That Noah Flood was a preacher, is priceless. But there is more! Noah Flood is buried on the highest ground in that cemetery. How cool is that! It took me another year to realize the final piece of humor... by looking at the cemetery name, I realized that Noah Flood was a Baptist.
The fourth photo is a bit of unfair speculation. The Carrington cemetery contains both Hook family burials, and Crook family burials. I can't help but speculate that there is an unwed mother in there, by Hook or by Crook.