Restoring history

EDEN TWP. — Rock Run Cemetery is getting a facelift — or maybe stone-lift — to repair tombstones and replace stones fallen into disrepair in the last 100 years or so. Local historian Stephen Hartzell and cemetery repair specialist Steve Coffman, both from Tiffin, are working with Eden Township trustees to restore the old cemetery by lifting tombstones that have sunk into the ground through the years and repair those that have been broken. They're also using a biological cleaner called D/2 to clean the stones and make them read-able again. The cemetery, on Old Morrison Road beside Rock Creek, once was part of the grounds of Rock Run Methodist Episcopal Church, which operated from 1831-1896, Hartzell said. The years of known burials range from 1825-1938. "Ever since I can remember we visited here every year on Memorial Day," Hartzell said. "We always had an ingrained respect for our ancestors and their burial places." Getting started While Hartzell has been researching the cemetery as a historian for many years, he said renovation work began in early October. "The biggest key was linking up to Steve Coffman because he has great knowledge of how to preserve and rehabilitate grave sites the right way," Hartzell said. "Using the wrong products can actually damage the stone." Coffman, a licensed professional tombstone repairman, is the owner of Monumental Task Cemetery Preservation LLC. Coffman said he and Hartzell connected after an article in The Advertiser-Tribune about storm damage to Woodlawn Cemetery. They met at Rock Run Cemetery in May with Eden Township Trustee Vern Morter and Joe Hartzell, commander of the Tiffin VFW Post. Coffman, who works full time at the Seneca County Jail, suggested using the jail work crew to assist with the project. But he said getting on the work crew schedule took some time. "Their calendar was full, but we scheduled a few days in June, which didn't work because other things came up," he said. "We ended up pushing it all the way back into early October." A few weeks ago, Coffman trained two prisoners to straighten stones properly. "Those two guys did most of the physical work," he said. They straightened 46 stones in 10 hours of the total 250-plus stones that need repair. "Once they knew what they were doing, it went pretty quick," he said. While they were straightening stones, Coffman worked on putting together pieces of other stones that had broken. "I was trying to figure out if all the pieces were there, and trying to put them back together," he said. Coffman said he uses a "marble infill" to cover the gaps in broken stones and a special epoxy to glue them back together. Time of season Work is at a standstill until spring when overnight temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees. The epoxy needs fairly warm temperatures to do its job. "You have to be careful using it," Coffman said. "It can break the stone again, which kind of defeats the purpose." Work this month also included spraying D/2 on the stones of veterans buried at Rock Run. "D/2 is amazing," Coffman said. "It's expensive, but you can just spray it on and walk away. In a year, you'd be amazed." Working with tombstones D/2 is the only product he recommends for tombstone upkeep. While there are others such as Wet & Forget, he said they sometimes cause more damage. "The problem with that is it has not been tested over time to not be detrimental to the stone," he said. But D/2 can be pricy — $45 per gallon. "On the positive side, with average-size tablet stones a gallon clean 20-25 stones," he said. "It comes out to a couple dollars a stone, which is not terrible." In addition, Coffman said the epoxy he uses is $80 for 450 grams, but it can repair 30-40 breaks. "That also comes out to $3 to $4 per stone," he said. Coffman said there are only about a dozen people in Ohio licensed to repair cemeteries professionally, and there are about 11,000 cemeteries for people of European ancestry in Ohio. And that doesn't include Native American burial grounds or cemeteries for people of African descent. "That's a lot of cemeteries for a very few people," he said. Before tryingto make repairs to old family stones, he said, it's important to do some research. He suggested contacting him or watching YouTube videos from the National Center for Preservation Technology & Training. For cemetery information, he recommended videos from Jason Church or Jonathan Appell. Coffman said he is planning to conduct a training workshop next spring at little to no cost for people interested in learning about tombstone preservation. "I want to get people out to show them what to do and how to do it," he said. "It all comes down to 'Do No Harm," he said. "The stones are irreplaceable. If you mess it up, you're done." Also, he said stones can be heavy and people should be careful not injure themselves. "There's still a lot of people that think you should use chalk or flour or something on the stone (to make it more legible)," he said. "No, no, no." Because the "dirt" on the stones that make them illegible is mostly biological organisms such as lichens, he said organic substances provide food for the organisms causing the problem. "It does make the wording stand out, but in the process it destroys the stone," he said. Rubbings can be made, he said, but people must be careful not to damage the stone. Cheap aluminum foil and a paintbrush can work, but his recommendation is to buy an inexpensive mirror and use sunlight to reflect the wording. "You can get really good pictures of engravings on tombstones using sunlight," he said. "It goes back to 'do no harm.'" Coffman said power washers or mechanical tools should not be used to clean stones. "A handheld garden sprayer is the highest pressure that should ever be used," he said. Only family graves Coffman said he started by cleaning his ancestors' gravestones about two years ago. One of the stones was broken, so he researched how to repair it. In the process he discovered a new vocation. He earned his license in April and started his business. He stressed that people should work only on tombstones of family members. "If it's not your family, you're not allowed to do anything with the tombstone," he said. "You have to get permission from the cemetery association or township trustees, whoever takes care of it." Even if he works on family stones, he said he gets permission to avoid potential conflict. Working on a family stone can mean hiring a professional such as Coffman to repair it. He said he received $250 from a veterans group to repair veteran stones in Crawford and Wyandot counties. There's 11,500 known veterans' graves in just those two counties, he said. The money made "a dent" in the need, he said, but it "gets some awareness out there, not only of my business but that this can be done." At Rock Run Cemetery, Coffman said the project is about 20% complete and there are at least 300 man-hours of leveling work still to do. "We really need to have volunteers who know how to operate a shovel and put stone down," he said. While the physical work of repairing the cemetery has begun recently, Hartzell said he's been conducting research on the people buried there for a few years. His research shows 16-17 veterans are buried there, all predating World War I. At least five of them served in the War of 1812. One of them is Henry Wolf, who died in 1825. Research is ongoing to find the grave of John Henry Frees, who fought in the Revolutionary War. He said stone work has concentrated so far on the tombstones of veterans. "Veterans are that important. Period," he said. "It is important that we never forget what they did." In all, Hartzell said there are 266 known graves. "Eleven of those are in there, but we don't know where they are, and I'm sure there are a lot more," he said. He said many of the earliest residents of Eden and southern Clinton townships are buried there. "Knowing as much as I do about the place, I can see its historical value," Hartzell said. "So many early settlers are in there, and those people all have stories." In some cases, he said gravestones are the only record of a person. "No one would know that person ever existed," he said. "The ones before censuses and before good records were kept." Earlier burial mounds Long before records were kept, other people were buried on the property. There's a Native American burial ground on the property near Rock Creek, which was disturbed in the 1880s when Old Morrison Road was regraded near Rock Creek. "Originally, the road just simply followed the natural grade of the land," Hartzell said. "It was regraded in the 1880s to make it more gradual down to the bridge." During the digging, he said bones were unearthed, which led to a visit from personnel from the Smithsonian Institution at that time who concluded there were people still buried there. Hartzell said a future part of the project is to mark the burial mounds and invite tribal leaders to a ceremony honoring the native people buried there. Also, Hartzell speculates that the regrade of the road made the church difficult to get to, which caused it to stop being used. "Once the church closed up, which was right about 1894, then a cemetery association was formed," he said. "Eventually, through the years it just fizzled out." State law required townships to take over ownership and maintenance if there is no cemetery association. Eden Township Trustee Vern Morter said the defunct cemetery falls to the township for maintenance. "I couldn't tell you what year that was," he said. "It's been with the township ever since I can remember." Because the township has limited resources for its maintenance duties, he said mowing and other activities take precedence over cemetery upkeep. "We really don't get any money to do any upkeep so all of that comes out of our general fund," he said. "Sometimes that barely covers the mowing." He said the township hires people to mow the five cemeteries it oversees once or twice a month, depending on need, but there's no time or money for stone maintenance. "It's unfortunate they get that way, but it's very time consuming and we don't have time to do it," he said. He's glad Hartzell and Coffman have stepped up and are willing to help. Morter said the township is supplying the stone needed to straighten stones, and plans to buy a supply of D/2. "It's an old cemetery. A lot of 1800s stones in there," he said. "If it wasn't for Steve and Steve it would still look like it did." Morter said future plans include using D/2 to clean stones in other township cemeteries as well. He said the township puts flags out for veterans each Memorial Day and sometimes it's hard to find all the graves of veterans. "I'm glad to see it a little more upkeep," he said. "There's a lot to do but it'll all get done." Research and donations Hartzell said he has updated records on the Find a Grave website, www.findagrave.com/cemetery-browse/USA/Ohio/Seneca-County?id=county_2113. "No sooner did I get that done than a flood of relatives were adding information on those people," he said. Find A Grave is an online database put together by volunteers, mainly to assist with genealogy research. "It's just virtual cemetery," he said. Also, Hartzell created a Facebook page to keep people up to date on the project and he has recorded his research on his Tiffin-Seneca County History Notebook at www.historynotebook.com/Rockrun.htm. Hartzell and the renovation team are seeking donations for the project. A $54 donation can pay for a gallon of D-2, the chemical that cleans gravestones without causing damage, or it can help purchase other supplies. An $85 donation can pay for a package of epoxy for repairing broken stones. Any donation amount is welcome. Make checks payable to "Eden Twp. Rock Run Cemetery Fund" with "For repair and restoration" in the notes section. Mail checks to Eden Township, c/o Julie Vogel, Fiscal Officer, 4826 E. CR 6, Tiffin, Ohio 44883.