Roots in Stone

11/27/2024

A long overdue trip to the Lanark Highlands yesterday in search of some (quite distant) cousins. Wasn't anticipating it to be such a lovely, well-kept cemetery, but it truly is a little gem. And speaking of little gems, look at the sweet picture of Cinda Love, who sadly died of Whooping Cough at the age of six. Beautiful day for late November, even if it did seem that the sun started setting at 2:30 in the afternoon.

11/16/2024

I wasn’t able to do much stone cleaning in the latter half of the summer, but my cemetery visits and rabbit-hole adventures and subsequent research continued nonetheless.

A few weeks ago, while in Brockville, I decided to explore the cemetery (or rather, cemeteries) on the south side of Hwy 2. What an incredible find! There’s so much history here to delve into when I have more time.

In the Old Anglican section, this cairn immediately caught my eye. It didn’t just lead me down one fascinating path—it opened up several new avenues of research.

One major revelation was learning that Dr. Malloch, commemorated here, was a student and friend of Dr. Joseph Lister—the pioneer of antiseptic surgery, who we should all thank for reducing our risk of dying of puerperal fever during childbirth and from life-threatening infections like sepsis and gangrene from minor wounds. Thanks, Dr. Lister! I'll think of you whenever I gargle!

This discovery made me realize that one of my favourite authors, Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris wrote a book a few years ago, The Butchering Art, which delves into Lister’s life and revolutionary contributions. Needless to say, I’m off to Novel Idea Bookstore to grab a copy!

11/11/2024

07/17/2024

A quick progression post taken over three days. I was cleaning other stones in the vicinity and spotted this one belonging to my first cousin (twice removed) Lawrence Henry and his wife Julia. Thought I should clean it up a little while I was in the area. I rarely post the photos that I take in between the before and after because it tends to be a pretty ugly period while the cleaner really starts eating away at the growth. It's called "blushing" but the name makes it sound better than it looks. That said, this one isn't too bad.

07/17/2024

Another stone from early June. Thanks so much to Mike Palmer for sharing his family's stories (and stones) with me. I feel like I could write an entire book on some of the people I research - reducing their lives to a few captions doesn't really do some of these stories justice.

07/06/2024

A recent and enjoyable cleaning I did for a family group - it was nice to have my stones all lined up like this so that I could work on them assembly line style! Thanks John Parcher and family!

06/29/2024

Another buried treasure -- thank you Mike, for continuing to loan me your family and your stories!

06/26/2024

Another stone cleaned and reclaimed from the soil, thanks to the wonderful grand-daughters of Arvella Wood, who are ensuring their family legacy continues on. There's a bit of a pattern with me digging out stones this summer. It's very satisfying to reveal words that have been hidden for a while.

06/19/2024

Thanks so much to Susan, Sandra and your sister, who've kindly allowed me to post my cleaning of their parents' stone this weekend!