Back in the mid-1970's the Benton County Historical Society completed a cemetery listing of all markers found in all known cemeteries in the county at the time, I believe there were either 7 or 11 volumes (each volume consisted of 8-1/2 x 11 lanscape pages, folded in half). The recordings were done by volunteers, if I remember correctly. Does anyone know if there has a more recent project of this nature by any organization? If so, are the books available? cd's? I have attempted to do the Martin Cemetery (on Fairmont Rd), but living so far away, when I go back to check some of the dates (compared to the mid-70's reading) more new graves have been added. Due to vandalism, several markers for the mid-70's are no longer there. Although this is a family cemetery, kept up by donations from family-members of people buried there, recently several non-family members have been buried there since it is one of only a couple in the area that does not have a plot fee/cost. Unfortunately the cemetery in it's current state is running out of land quickly. Any way, back to my original thought....I'm wondering if I'm recreating the wheel in my efforts. If re-recordings have been done, who would you contact to get copies of the listings of the county's cemeteries? Sue

Sue - As long as there are cemeteries in Benton county and the surrounding counties they will be "grave stompers" out recording. With the coming of the digital camera the information is more correct than those of 1973. Also, with large cemeteries it shortens the recording time down. I have found that even the hardest and most weather beaten marker can usually be read by the digital camera and your computer, by adding a little shadow here or more light there, I have found the readings on markers that were not readable by the naked eye. Personally I have the following cemeteries read and up-to-date: Tuck's Chapel; Walnut Hill; Trammel; Wardlaw; Blaylock and Snoderly cemeteries. The genealogical society of this area probably has a few of the books that you mentioned. Mark Thornton of Native American Cemetery Readers has done a more comprehensive reading of Benton County cemeteries than anyone before or after. I or Mark do not use the 1970s books for reference, we went in and started from scratch. Remember, the less you have to copy the internments, the less mistakes will be made. Phil ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue Southard" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 6:16 PM Subject: [ARBENTON] Cemeteries > Back in the mid-1970's the Benton County Historical Society completed a cemetery listing of all markers found in all known cemeteries in the county at the time, I believe there were either 7 or 11 volumes (each volume consisted of 8-1/2 x 11 lanscape pages, folded in half). The recordings were done by volunteers, if I remember correctly. Does anyone know if there has a more recent project of this nature by any organization? If so, are the books available? cd's? > > I have attempted to do the Martin Cemetery (on Fairmont Rd), but living so far away, when I go back to check some of the dates (compared to the mid-70's reading) more new graves have been added. Due to vandalism, several markers for the mid-70's are no longer there. Although this is a family cemetery, kept up by donations from family-members of people buried there, recently several non-family members have been buried there since it is one of only a couple in the area that does not have a plot fee/cost. Unfortunately the cemetery in it's current state is running out of land quickly. > > Any way, back to my original thought....I'm wondering if I'm recreating the wheel in my efforts. If re-recordings have been done, who would you contact to get copies of the listings of the county's cemeteries? > > Sue