My study of the Center Cemetery and the Butterfield Cemetery in Farmington is focused on the history of Farmington (Center Village), not genealogy. The registries I could find on them were compiled by genealogy researchers; they didn't list children or those who "died without issue." Some names were missing for reasons I can't fathom.
So I set aside the registries and grabbed my video camera (thanks, Heather!). Center Cemetery is practically my front yard, so it was a simple matter to just make a walking video for each row. These videos proved to be real time-savers. Just walk slowly, pause a moment for each headstone, and keep going. Because I'm mapping the locations of the headstones, I would keep the camera rolling while I crossed the empty spaces. If the headstone is especially large or tall, I do a slow scan from top to bottom before moving on. For each video I began on the same side, the parking lot by Church St. and walked down each row to Anson St. For the larger Section B, I used the headstone of James Turner, 1851, as a benchmark.
The best way to read worn headstones is with a bright flashlight in twilight (don't go into cemeteries after dark, it's illegal). Shine the beam across the row of letters for greater highlight and contrast. I would dictate the names and dates into a digital recorder for later review. Surprisingly, LED flashlights, although brighter, don't work as well as the filament bulbs--not focused enough I guess.
One iron-clad rule I have is leave it as it is. It's tempting to scrape or try to clean the headstones, but that usually does more harm than help. One of the headstones is slate, and the top layer has "scaled" or separated, so the letters seem to run like wax. Cleaning it would destroy it. And it's tempting to repair/restore damage from vandalism and prop up broken chunks. But my primary task is to observe and record, not restore. So I lift up a fallen headstone enough to read it, and then put lower back again to where it was.
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