GGO In The News
2019
This was a very long and hard fought 4 year battle for the citizens of Bluffton to put this cemetery right once more. But their perseverance paid off in the end. And in the end everyone came together, citizens of Bluffton, the village of Bluffton, and organizations that volunteered. These old pioneer cemeteries can be saved in a very reasonable manner when people care and work together.
2019
Spending a day with old friends Dave and Cynthia Nicols helping Western Wayne Heritage with several of their taller monuments. Western Wayne Heritage has done some fantastic preservation work in three years in this cemetery. The Drennen’s made contact with the Nicols in 2017 and became attendees at the 2017 GGO class held in their county. After that they began the preservation of Capitol Hill Cemetery.
THE CLERMONT SUN
Restoration ongoing in Old Calvary Cemetery
September 15th, 2016 Author: Administrator Filed Under: News
From left, former Felicity resident David Nichols and owner of Gravestone Guardians of Ohio Mark Morton work on restoring the Old Calvary Cemetery in Washington Township on Aug. 31, 2016.
By Kelly Cantwell
Editor
After a lot of research by the Washington Township trustees, especially Dennis Cooper, the Old Calvary Cemetery is being restored.
“The cemetery is one of the oldest, if not the oldest cemetery in our area,” said Robin Brewer, assistant administrator.
The founders of the township, the Buchanan family, are buried in the cemetery, so out of respect for them, township officials felt they should work on the cemetery.
“The stones were in deplorable condition,” Brewer said.
Washington Township contacted Mark Morton, owner of Gravestone Guardians of Ohio, late last year for the project. He started about five weeks ago and will spend about another three weeks working, if the weather is good, he said.
“He is just a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the restoration of older cemeteries,” Brewer said.
Morton, who typically works in Ohio, said the highlight of working at Old Calvary has been finding numerous old, roughly carved stones that someone scratched out in their barn or on their porch.
“It’s history to me. I view it just like restoring old buildings,” Morton said.
He is working in the oldest section of the cemetery, where there are mostly tablets in the ground or in a base. The oldest death date he has found so far is from a Revolutionary War veteran who died in 1803.
Sometimes when Morton finds what looks like a stone in the ground, there ends up being a date on that stone. He would not be surprised if he finds a date even earlier than 1803.
“That’s the best part,” Morton said. He feels that he gets to know the people buried in the cemetery by reading their gravestones.
Morton uses D/2 Biological Solution to clean the stones. It is an environmentally friendly solution that does not harm the stones and is recommended by organizations like the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.
“It’s about the best product out there,” Morton said.
The solution kills the bacteria in the stones, which makes the stones whiter.
He also sets up stones that are tipping or have fallen over and he repairs broken stones. The most important thing, Morton said, is that he uses the right methods to do this.
Morton has not been working alone. A former Felicity resident, David Nicols, spent some time helping out in the area he grew up in.
Nicols, who now lives in Connersville, Indiana, was born in Cincinnati and raised in Felicity. He lived in Felicity from 1947 to 1975 and is a Felicity-Franklin High School alumnus. He began working on gravestone restoration after he retired.
Nicols and his wife, Cindy, went to classes by known conservators to learn how to clean and repair gravestones. Now they work on gravestones in Fayette County, Indiana, at pioneer cemeteries, of which there are more than 100 in the county.
“I feel like by working in these pioneer cemeteries I’m giving back somehow to our communities,” Nicols said.
The couple had been working on gravestones for more than four years when they met Morton. He agreed to give a class at one of the cemeteries the couple works on.
When Morton found out he was going to be working in Felicity, he let them know because Nicols had asked to come and help Morton.
Nicols’ mother worked at a bank, his great-grandfather used to be a cobbler and his grandfather worked at a garage, all in Felicity, so Nicols has many ties to the area.
“We have a family plot there in the Felicity Cemetery so me and my wife will be buried there someday,” Nicols said.
The couple spent a day working there a few weeks ago, and then Nicols came back the next week to spend another two days working there.
He hoped to make another trip back to help for another day. It means a lot of Nicols to work on a cemetery in the place he grew up in.
“I drove by there millions and millions of times,” Nicols said, although he never realized how big the old part of the cemetery is because there used to be so many weeds. The township has cleaned it up a lot.
“It’s nice to see that,” Nicols said.
He also enjoys seeing how the gravestones look once they get cleaned up.
“To see something go from tar black to a bright white is really something,” Nicols said.
He added, “It’s very rewarding work.”
In addition to helping out his hometown, this is also important to Nicols, who, along with his wife, is a Vietnam veteran, because some of the people buried in the cemetery are also veterans.
“It’s a way to give back to our veterans,” he said.
Nicols wishes that more people would spend time working in cemeteries, and is happy to pass on anything he has learned.
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 BY TIMES GAZETTE
Veteran gravestones get facelift
Participants hope to get others involved
From left, Jeff Crone, Elaine Hinton, Kathe Chaney, Steph Roland, Lori Leibreich, Jenny Hart and Mark Morton steady the damaged, but no longer lost, gravestone of Revolutionary War veteran Alexander Wright (1759-1819).
The mostly buried grave marker of a Revolutionary War soldier was recently uncovered when a group of local community members took part in a recent gravestone restoration and repair class instructed by Mark Morton of Gravestone Guardians of Ohio.
The project was hosted by Support Our Troops Of Highland County in an effort to bring to light the fact that many of Highland County veterans’ and ancestors’ gravestones are in dismay and on the verge of being lost forever.
“I am proud of what we were able to accomplish. I learned a lot of valuable information from this class and am so glad that I decided to be a part of it,” said class attendee Jeff Crone of
New Vienna.
Morton said the class was the second he instructed in less than a month in Highland County.
“It’s very important to me to teach proper cemetery restoration methods to others so we may all continue to save more of our history. And a large part of that training is explaining why some procedures and techniques are damaging to these old tombstones,” Morton said. “Things like bleaches, harsh chemicals, and mechanical cleanings with Nyalox wheels can destroy old stones. A short list of specific fairly inexpensive products is really all anyone needs to properly restore a tombstone. The rest is just procedures and practice.
“The group that showed up for this one-day class learned a lot and have already begun taking this knowledge on to restoring another small cemetery in Adams County. If anyone wishes to see a night and day difference in what can be accomplished by a few dedicated people, please visit the cemetery in Greenfield on the grounds of the Greenfield Historical Society. Scott Andersen would be happy to have you participate on one of the days they work in that cemetery.”
Kathe Chaney, a Support Our Troops Of Highland County member, said, “This class was a very spiritual experience. I felt that those whose time on earth came before mine were happy that we cared enough to make sure their respective headstones were alright, and if not, we are going to try to help get them fixed up.”
Steph Roland, president of Support Our Troops of Highland County, said that most of the many cemeteries in Highland Clounty are maintained, but some are not, and some are even hard to find.
“That’s sad,” Roland said. “I look at it this way. I’m going to be where they’re at now, and even though I’m not a famous or notorious person, I do hope there are caring individuals that are willing to make sure what little bit I can leave here on earth is here for a long, long time, even if it is just a gravestone. And that is what has made this class so very special. We not only learned so many proper procedures for cleaning and repairing several different types of gravestones, but we unexpectedly unearthed a Revolutionary War veteran’s (Alexander Wright, 1759-1819) gravestone that appears to have been almost entirely buried for many, many years. Who knows, it could have eventually ended up never being found again had we not had this class.
“And what is even more special to me is that I am the one that began documenting and placing veteran flags and grave markers here in Fall Creek Cemetery a few years ago when no one else was, other than one or two families of the 13 veterans that are interred there. And because many of the older stones have been unattended for so many years a lot of those respective inscriptions have weathered severely, or become completely covered with lichens, making them illegible at all. I had what now looks to be Mr. Wright’s son marked as the Revolutionary War veteran because all I could read was the name, and that was only because my daughter helped me clarify it by conducting a stone rubbing a couple of years ago by using a piece of sketchpad paper to cover the inscription and then gently rubbing a crayon over top. Had I been able to know back then how to be able and clean this particular stone, we would’ve already known that Mr. Wright’s stone was missing from the grounds, as there are other documents stating his final resting place and veteran status. All in all, it was a great day for everyone that attended and we hope to continue this effort later this fall.”
The class was sponsored Eagle Riders 1161, Peggy Carter, Bill and Marjorie Pike, Barb Vergamini, Letcher Langston, Steve and Kim Witham, KC and Kathe Chaney and J&K Rentals, Ltd.
“Without their help of supporting this effort the class may not have been able to take place,” Roland said.
She said the people who attended the class are interested in starting a Friends of Fall Creek Cemetery group and intend to plan more visits to clean and conduct more restoration work at the cemetery, located on Morrow Road in Liberty Township.
“They hope that their effort can help educate others, as well as get individuals in the community interested and involved in helping preserve history right here at home,” Roland said. “Also, if there are any genealogists in the area that would like to help research these veteran graves, their help would be greatly appreciated.”
For more information on how you can help preserve and maintain gravestones at the final resting areas of those in our community, reach out to one of the following:
Mark Morton, a cemetery conservator trained in the preservation of pre 20th century cemeteries who follows guidelines set forth by the National Park Service, Arlington Cemetery, and best practices in the do no harm methods. He can be reached via his website at gravestoneguardians.com and https://www.facebook.com/Gravestone-Guardians-of-Ohio-538662842826649/.
- Scott Anderson, Greenfield, Old Burying Grounds, can be contacted by email at chunxtm400@yahoo.com.
Elaine Hinton, Friends of Cherry Fork Cemetery, can be reached at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1078801552163318/.
- Roland can be reached via text at 937-763-8164.
For more information about upcoming events pertaining to local veterans and military personnel, follow SOTOHC on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Support-Our-Troops-of-Highland-County-126202454107304/ and also, Highland County Veterans Service Office: https://www.facebook.com/HighlandCountyVeteransOhio/.
Information for this story was provided by Steph Roland, Highland County Veterans Service Office outreach coordinator.
