Kulkel Burrs and Sticky Burr Grass

Kulkel burrs are
Painful to remove!

It is common to find Kulkel burr grass in older cemeteries in Southeast Missouri.  On my trip to Sikeston two weekends ago, I visited my parents' graves, as usual.  I then drove to the old Sikeston City Cemetery to visit my grandparents, an aunt, my great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother's graves.  Almost immediately upon exiting my car, it felt like something bit my leg.  When I looked down, I saw three Kulkel burrs attached to my sock.  By the time I was through in the cemetery, both of my feet were covered in Kulkel burrs, as shown in the above photo.   Removing these stickers is painful. It jolted me back in time to when I toured many sandy cemeteries and wrote about them between 1998 and 2006.  These sticky burrs are not something I miss about Sikeston or Scott County.  They grow best in poor soil of sand and earth.

The oldest grave in the Cline Family Plot within the Sikeston City Cemetery is my great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Cornelia Tickell-Jones-Moore-Blount-Mosier.  She was born 9 Mar 1811 on the Virginia-North Carolina border, and she died in New Madrid, Missouri on 20 Feb 1892.  The other burials inside the plot are her daughter, Anna Eliza Blount Kline, her granddaughter Lena Kline Cline, and her husband William Henry Cline, their infant son Henry Webster Cline who died at the age of thirteen months, on 21 December 1893.  Then many years later, Henry and Lena Cline's daughter Vera Daughterty Cline Johnson had her cremated remains placed there in 1995.  Vera's husband, Edward Johnson, was the inventor of the hydraulic brake mechanism applicable to the landing gear of airplanes.  He received Patent Number US 1, 870,289 on August 8, 1931.  

Ed Johnson was on the Pennsylvania railroad’s The Spirit of St. Louis passenger train testing a new invention.  He was seriously injured when the car he was riding in broke loose and rammed the locomotive of a stationary passenger train of the same line in the Columbus (Ohio) Union station yards at 9:35 o’clock on June 7, 1948.  Police and firemen identified ten seriously injured.  Most critically injured was E. D. Johnson, 45, of Jennings, Missouri, a mechanical engineer with the Wagner Electric Corporation of St. Louis.  He suffered fractures of both legs and a severe laceration of the lower abdomen.  He was taken to St. Frances Hospital.  Johnson was en route to Allentown, Pa., on business.   Edward Johnson died on June 19, 1948.  He asked to be buried in Falconer, Chautauqua County, New York with the Johnson family.  Vera and their two daughters, Ruth and Martha Johnson remained in the St. Louis area.  At the time of Vera's death, she requested to be buried near her parents and grandmothers in Sikeston, Missouri, the same as her husband had done forty-five year before her.

Vera and her husband Edward Johnson had a wonderful life up until the fatal train wreck.  Life presents us with many joys, but like kulkel burrs, sometimes painful things happen that pierces our heart.  Vera Cline Johnson never got over the loss of her bright husband and remained single the rest of her life.  When you walk through a cemetery, you will see beautiful works of art incorporated into headstones and many sad stories of people being taken too quickly.   Just remember, it is the painful parts of life that make us appreciate the minor and significant joys for which we are blessed.

Photographing Headstones Can Be a Challenge and a Delight

Like most genealogist, I enjoy visiting cemeteries.  In addition to photographing headstone, cemeteries are calm, serene, and provoke a sense of history.  I produce clear, readable photographs of the headstone I shoot.  I have been asked many times how I get such good shots.  Here are a few tips for visiting cemeteries and producing good pictures of your, and other people’s, ancestors.

1.     Always be aware of your surroundings.  This fact should be obvious, but there are undesirable elements in cemeteries, from snakes, to homeless people, to vagrants.  Take a long look at the area surrounding the section of the cemetery where you will be working before locking your car.  If someone make you feel uncomfortable, leave and come back later.

2.     Take time to enjoy the beauty of the cemetery.  Depending on the covenant or regulations in a given cemetery, many have beautiful artwork or sculpture work as part of headstones.  After you finish your work, take a walk to view the artwork and architecture or layout of the cemetery.

3.     Be respectful of the graves.  Do not step or sit on the stones. Walk, do not run, while visiting or working in cemeteries, and be respectfully quiet.  Do not disturb flowers or other mementos family members left on the grave.

4.     Use the sun. Taking shots at a slight angle can often make an unreadable stone suddenly come to life when the shadow cast in the etched names,  that is unreadable when viewed looking at it directly.  Of course, take photos with the sun at your back.  Cloudy days are better than sunny days at producing good headstone shots, and I avoid taking photos at noon-time because the pictures lack contrast.

5.     Problematic Flowers on Headstones.  Cemeteries or funeral homes often put the flower holder on headstones in a way that they block the view of the name.  When this happens, first take the full headstone shot.  Then, where possible, I temporarily remove the flowers from obstructing the view and take a close up of the name and date.  If it is not feasible to remove the flowers, gently hold the flowers aside long enough to take a photo.  Always return the flowers where you found them

.6.     Focus before you click.  Take a few extra seconds to make sure the picture is in focus before you take your photograph.  If you are using a cell phone to take the picture, two or three extra seconds can make a big difference in the readability of a headstone.  If a photo is out-of-focus, you have wasted your time in photographing a given headstone.

7.     Get out of the shot before you click.  Look critically at your proposed photo before you click.  Is it in focus, and is there anything showing in the picture that should not be there? Is there a shadow on the headstone making it difficult to read?  If anything is disruptive in the shot, move and try different angles. 

8.     Photograph the entrance to the cemetery. Other relatives may want to visit the cemetery, based on your photographs.  By take a picture of the entrance of the cemetery you do two things.  First, you have identified the name, in case you forget it, and second, you have given others a landmark to look for when they visit.

9.     Who is buried nearby?  Chances are that if one of your relatives is buried in a cemetery, then others are too. Take a walk down the row you were photographing, then go over two or three in each direction to see if you see a name with whom you are familiar.  If you do, take a picture while you are there.  Even if it is not an exact match to your family, it can be delete later and you took pro-active steps, just in case it was a match in the future. 

Other Items of Consideration

Set Your Quality of Photo High.   I use Adobe Elements, or like software, to enhance and organize most of my photographs. I adjust the quality on “high” and my Format to “Baseline Optimized,” and adjust the quality of the picture to 600 DPI resolution.

Don’t put off taking photos – I read somewhere that a photo today is worth more than a photo tomorrow.  This statement is true for three reasons.

  ·       Headstones age and with every year they are harder to read. I have a soft whisk broom I use to sweep away debris before photographing the headstone.  It is also better to shoot at a slight angle for readability and aesthetics.

  ·     Everything from vandalism, sink holes, storms than down trees, and more occur and your headstone may not be there a year from now.

  ·    Encroachment of new construction into areas where cemeteries exist. Often cemeteries are buried, without contacting anyone, to make way for new residential or commercial “progress.”

I strongly recommend that you photograph any and every headstone related to your family as soon as possible when good lighting circumstance is available.  Tomorrow may be too late.

        Margaret Cline Harmon lives in Zachary, Louisiana and can be contacted atmcharmon1@gmail.com.