Several weeks ago I met a couple cleaning a granite monument near the Harding section of Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth, Ohio. As I had some time and the right equipment on hand I asked if I could help. After a little D/2, water, and time, the granite marker of their ancestor looked great. They also were hoping to locate Abraham Coriell, and upon looking at FindAGrave noticed that it was not currently GPS-located. While many of Greenlawn’s burials are available online, the assistance of Greenlawn’s sexton, who can expeditiously read plats and locate lots, is a time-saver for any visiting researcher or descendent. In course, I pointed the visitors from Arizona to the cemetery office to locate the sexton and offered to GPS-mark Abraham’s grave if I came across it.
After finishing up cleaning the headstone of Charlie Duduit I took a walk around in search of other markers that needed attention and came across Abraham’s granite block-style marker and that of his wife. Immediately adjacent to Abraham was the government-issued marker of his son, Ira Francis “Frank” Coriell, who during the Civil War, served with Company E, 140th Ohio National Guard Infantry Regiment. And while Abraham’s marker was in suitable condition, the marbler marker of his son required attention in preparation for the upcoming Memorial Day. After photographing and GPS-marking the Coriell markers we set about cleaning Frank’s individual marker.
Below is both a time-lapse video of the cleaning and a side-by-side comparison of the marker before cleaning and immediately afterward. The marker will continue to lighten over time due to the use of the NCPTT (National Center for Preservation Technology and Training)-approved D/2 Biological Solution.
