It was Just a Matter of Time...

On my meandering drive through Ohio back in September 2009, I stopped at the Strickland Cemetery in Vermillion Township, Ashland County where Jonathan and Elizabeth Hazlett are buried. They may be my 5th great-grandparents. I haven't been able to prove the connection yet but they are really the only candidates that I've found thus far. I'll have more on them in a future post.

A previous visit to the cemetery in October 1999 had resulted in rather poor non-digital photographs of their gravestones, which appeared to be very worn and not very legible. Pouring a little water on the stones brought out the engravings somewhat – enough to verify the transcriptions that had been previously published.

Since I had been to the cemetery before, I knew that their gravestones faced west and timed my visit so that the sun would be in an advantageous position. But I got there a little too soon.

The photo above was taken at 11:39 am. The inscriptions are barely noticeable. The stone on the left is for Elizabeth and the one on the right is for Jonathan. Since time was not an issue, and it was a beautiful day, I walked around the cemetery a bit then fixed a sandwich and had lunch while waiting for the sun to move a little further west.

Taken at 12:15 pm, the inscription on Elizabeth's stone is starting to appear.

I was amazed when, 18 minutes later (at 12:33 pm) the inscriptions were completely visible and could easily be read. All it took was some time and a little patience...

ELIZABETH

Wife of

JONATHAN HAZLETT

DIED

March 3, 1848

Aged 86 Years

JONATHAN HAZLETT

DIED

Sept. 16, 1853

AGED

82 Ys. 1 Mo. 1 D.

Photographs were taken September 18, 2009 at Strickland Cemetery in Vermillion Township, Ashland County, Ohio.

Did you notice anything unusual with the inscriptions?

Elizabeth appears to have been about nine years older than Jonathan!