European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine Pennsylvania Tombstone Hunters tracing the past by Tara Bradley Steck associated Pressw Hen lore fat Desantis and Satty ouf lord began looking Lor choir roots in local Pennsylvania cemeteries their curiosity grew into an obsession to record tens of thousands of lives summarized on tombstones. The housewives spent live years copying the Bome limes cryptic messages on More than 100,000 headstones in 160 cemeteries and three More years compiling their findings. They Are sell publishing a 15-volume set for genealogists tracing families from Mercer county on the Pennsylvania Ohio Border. The books 12 of which Are completed and on Sale also Ere in libraries from Seattle Pashto fort Wayne ind., o Tulsa. Okla. Sometimes the Only record that a person Ever lived is his Tombstone says Desantis 54, of Sharon a. That s Why this is so important 1o us. We wanted to Gat the cemetery clones before they disappear so that we can save these records now. Or our generation and Lulu re generations we always had a Lasc Nalion with cemeteries says Dufford 53, of nearby Sharpsville. And i was sure thai some of my ancestors were buried Here in i could just Lind the stones thai s what kept me going. I was so sure that right around this Corner i was going to find my  the women friends Lance grammar school started looking at Tombstone inscriptions in 1978 when they wanted to know More Aboul the maternal great great grandparents they share. The p of acct took on greater proportions after Desantis discovered a Gravestone bearing names of seven ancestors. If that Tombstone had disappeared. I would have Boon stopped at my great grandmother says Kesanlis. Who traced her Lamity to 1634 in the United Stales and to to 13lh Century in England. Ones we Hil something like that and realized How important it is we decided this was a project to should do she said the two women a in add in rough cow pastures Loretta Desantis left Ana Sally Dufford use Chalk to help Gat details Tram old gravestones. Hacked away Briars and Brush and cajoled suspicious landowners in their search. Among the most common names they found in their part of Pennsylvania were uber Garrelt. Milch Ellree Zahniser mattock Titus. So right Lininger Pearson. Perrine Mcmillan and Mccoy. Armed with crowbars the iwo even pried up part of the sidewalk in nearby Greenville when they found h was made of old gravestones irom a Church cemetery that had been moved. In an Indian burial ground they copied the markings on boulders that served As headstones. They also copied gravestones in one Amish cemetery but the elders of another Community would t permit them in their cemetery. They said they knew who they were and they know where they were and anybody who left the Church did t have any business knowing Desantis said. One Small cemetery befuddled them however. They had to re copy the inscriptions several times because they had trouble Reading and sorting their notes Aller going Home. We had bad vibes in that cemetery Desantis says it was a Small one and it look us four or five jays to copy when in should have taken Only one a could never gel it straight. It was the strangest thing. It was almost like the cemetery did t want us to get in copied As we were Reading the stones we realized there were a lol of tragedies there like an in lira family thai had gotten  but at least Ono cemetery Good Hope in Greenville emanated pleasant feelings Desantis says. A cemetery like Good Hope is so peaceful thai you could just sit there Lor the Resl of your life and never care about anything she says. The women both easygoing nevertheless approached their task differently Disantis copied inscriptions without thinking but Dufford Conley placed everything she read i would really Lako re to heart and gel Upsel due Ord says i d just land there and i would Pul All these families together and Loci so bad. This one died and three Days later this Ono  i never got depressed until to did a Veteran s tuesday january 13, 1967 Section in a Cemo Lory in Grovo City Kesanlis says. They were All memorial plaques to the soldiers killed overseas in world War ii so they weren t really there. It was just Stone after Stone Afler Sione of these 1s and 19-year-old boys who never came Home the worst part of the Joo though has been the last three years of sorting indexing and typing the records into the books Dufford says. The work is Lime consuming particularly without the help of a word processor and in is sometimes disquieting. When you live with nothing but death burial Dales night and Day night and Day it s depressing she says. It gets lonely in your mite room with your typewriter and everybody s death  the books consist of hand drawn cemetery maps an Index of last names and Page Aller Page of names dates and any other information that was inscribed on a lomb Slone. Several Hundred copies of each were printed. Volumes 1-7 sell ice $9 each plus $2 for postage and volumes 8-14 Lor $12. Volume 15, when h s finished will be at least $15 because of its size Dufford says. I imagine that when we do them All there May to a Small profit she says but Well never recover our  although they did choir Best to read the inscriptions using wire brushes to clean Tho headstones and powder Chalk or even mud to raise Tho lettering some of Iho older mostly Marble markers gave them problems. If there was doubt Aboul a Date or name nothing was assumed despite More than a decade of research the iwo still Aren t finished filling in the Blanks in their own family tiros. Nobody who s Inlo go geology Ever  Desantis says. There s always one More relative you have to Lind. If you find one you Vegol two More you Havo to find because that one also had iwo  it gets in your blood and you Jusi Havo to know Aboul your ancestors duh Ord says. You Don t Havo to know they were great. In fact you Don t even care in they were great. Jusi that they were Here and they did something ii All helps to make your family  readers May obtain copies of the Geno ology books by writing to Lorella Desantis 337 jul Larson ave. Sharon pa., 16146 the stars and stripes Page 13