Subject: neglected, dirty family tomstones.
Time: a Saturday morning in May.
Location: St Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Waterford NY.
Weather: Sunny with thunderstorms in the forecast.
Invitees: 2 cousins, a wife and a friend.
Material: 1 gallon of D2, several spray bottles of H2O, soft brushes, a few rags, rubber gloves and a funnel which was forgotten.
First Specimen: Headstone of Ida Mailloux, first wife of Emile Rivet. It wasn't easy to make out the words and that wasn't just because they were in French. We took out our gloves and poured to D2 into spray bottles. Twenty minutes later we took those soft brushes and gently scrubbed. The fungus and grime of 100 years literally fell off!
 |
| Gloves are important |
 |
| BEFORE |
 |
| AFTER |
Here's another before and after of the simple stone of Emile Rivet and his third wife, Malvina Hamel.
We are not certain where Marie Louise Lacasse, 2nd wife of Emile Rivet and mother of Claire, Albert & Ray, is buried in St. Joe's. There are several Lacasse headstones located in different sections. We found one with quite a lot of fungus adhering to it and sprayed it with D2. We didn't scrub it but will try the "let it alone" method and we'll check it out in a few weeks to see if it cleaned itself.
While walking around, we came across another stone with an interesting inscription because it was another family who came from St Jacques de l'Achigan where Emile Rivet was born and baptized. Seraphin Jean Vaine was born in St Jacques de l'Achigan in September 1841 and died in Cohoes in 1900. It was quite a nice stone by St Joe's standards.
Lastly, we stopped to check on Aunt Claire and Uncle Walker Yetto and felt glad to see the dates for Aunt Claire were completed and inscribed.
No comments:
Post a Comment