Going... going... soon gone

Last month I quoted Leona Gustafson from a 2002 article in The Columbus Dispatch, speaking about the impermanence gravestones, “Every one of them, eventually, will be gone.”

Even in a well maintained cemetery, Mother Nature (sometimes aided by vandals) exerts a powerful force. Do not doubt that the markers you see today will surely be gone someday.

The lesson here is obvious: If you have photos of gravestones in your family history collection, remember to record and share the inscriptions. Consider sharing the photos and the inscriptions on findagrave.com or your state’s USGenWeb tombstone transcription page.

Family historians like you, today’s and tomorrow’s, will thank you.

Photo of unknown grave, Powell Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio.