Dear Crawford List, i'm sharing with you an e-mail i received in regard to a cemetery in AR. there is at least one Crawford, Wm. Crawford, who is buried in this cemetery---but even if there were none, we should rally to preserve any historical site that is threatened--especially a cemetery!! Thank You for your concern! judy Dear friends and cousins, This is a copy of messages which sort of explains problems we're having in AR. Would each of you please send an email to the attorney, whose email is at the bottom of this page. Even though you don't have anyone buried there as family researchers we all have an interest in preserving these sites. Thanks for the help. Virginia >I have received some messages from a cousin who lives in ARK who has spent >many months fighting to save OLD LAKE cemetery. It is where our McAlister >and Webb ancestors are buried. > >I will paste some of her messages here. I will put the lawyer name and >email address at the bottom. If you can, send a message to him..along with >the rest of us...I am trying to contact as many as I can. Maybe it will >make a difference. > >Here is what she has wrote: > > >Meredith Burton and Elizabeth Webb are buried there. >Their daughter, Caroline Webb, is the earliest stone that we have found. >She was buried in 1830. William Crawford and Polly McAlister are buried >there also. There is so much Pope County history there and no one seems to >be concerned that it has been tampered with and violated for years. The >Dover High School is built on top of the Jamison Cemetery. They just dozed >the stones off the side of the hill and erected a school. > > >I have even contacted 7 On Your Side, >which are trouble shooters for channel 7 in Little Rock. They told me to >get back with them after we go to court. You see, there are no laws in >Arkansas that protect our cemeteries. I don't know how to get the laws >changed. My husband talked to our state representative and nothing came of >it. I have talked to the attorney for the State Cemetery Board and he can't >help. He is the one who referred me to the state historical society. It >can be made into an historical site but not until the property lines are >established. We have a deed from 1862, where the land for the cemetery was >donated to 5 trustees. But we still don't know who owns the cemetery. ** >> >This is from another researcher who is trying to help: > >Since we are both Webb and McAlister descendants, we should be outraged >that there is even controversy over who owns land deeded to the >cemetery. My daughter uncovered a portion of the WEBB monument, just >enough to make out the "W", but the rest went under the fence to the >bank that was bulldozed to make way for the road to the gas well. It >was in the area where Helen remember seeing it as a young woman >attending decoration days at the cemetery. > Since many of the persons we know are buried there had slaves, and we >know the headstone for one slave was stolen, I feel certain that there >is an area where slaves are buried, as well. Many of the sandstone >markers have been removed throughout the cemetery. > As one of the oldest cemeteries in Arkansas, dating back to before >statehood, for Caroline Webb was buried there in 1830 and statehood did >not occur until 1836, the cemetery should be preserved in its entirity >as a historic place. There are perfectly fitted stone mauseleums above >ground in addition to the marked and unmarked graves. Also, markers >were place in memory of 23 young men from Pope County who lost their >lives in the Civil War. One of these was my grandfather's half-brother >who lost his life in the Civil War. Another is Charles Yancey. Once >the matter of ownership is settled, then I will begin an active campaign >to identify the remaining soldiers and to order memorial markers for >them. > Helen feels that if we can inundate the attorney with a stack of email >messages that support the need to restore cemetery lands to the rightful >owners, i.e. the persons buried on the original land plat in both marked >and unmarked graves. It is disgusting to think that sandstone markers >may have been removed from the part of the original tract that is now >used as pasture. The slaves that persons such as Meredith Webb, Sr. and >Wm. C. McAlister brought or purchased in AR are buried somewhere on that >land within the original land description. > If you would notify everyone on your mailing list and ask them to write >to Mr. Gardner, the attorney, expressing their amazement, disgust [you >supply the appropriate emotion. . ] or whatever they feel about a >cemetery that is fenced so that it is not accessible to the public >through the center of the cemetery land and that cannot be maintined >because there is an injunction against trespassing. > The popular sentiment seems to be that Helen is the only one who cares >about the cemetery, and this could not be further from the truth. The >judge needs to know just how many people there are who do care. A stack >of email messages might let him know about all of us who want the >original cemetery where our loved ones are buried preserved and open to >the public without locked gates. It is the only cemetery in Pope County >that I know of that has gates locked during the daytime. Many >cemeteries are fenced, but the gates are not locked. > > >Not sure if you want to or not...but maybe if you also write...mentioning >your family buried there and such.... it will be one more letter to the >lawyer. > >The name of the attorney is Steve Gardner. His email address is: >scgrwh@cswnet.com Subj: Help- Old Lake Cemetery Date: 09/10/1999 5:35:47 PM Mountain Daylight Time From: ouachita@isc-durant.com (Virginia Cottrell) To: njadams@erinet.com (Norma Adams) CC: lenoral@flash.net (Lenora Williams), JWick@compuserve.com (Judy Wick), hward@netdoor.com (Barbara Ward), debbiet@iss2000.com (Debbie Turner), gstjr@worldnet.att.net (Gary Thompson), brendale@primenet.com (Brenda Thompson), ntaylor@tnns.net (nancy taylor), letaylor@sprynet.com (LaVon Taylor), jtaylo13@ix.netcom.com (Jeanette P. Taylor), joys@fullnet.net (Joy Smith), jackjan@brightok.net (Jackie Sites), fritzee@microusa.net (Paula Simon), shelton@isc-durant.com (Wanda Shelton), kavolscof@junct.com (Connie Schofield), wa6ofz@mpinet.net (Jim Rossiter), Flying60@aol.com (Joyce Amberson Rogers), moonspinner@geocities.com (Don or Nancy Cleere Rodgers), mpressle@uno.edu (Milton Pressley), lpettus@cetlink.net (Louise Pettus), johnthepayne@yahoo.com (John Payne), DonnaParrishmflp@aol.com (Donna Parrish), peggym@abilene.com (Peggy Mosley), mitzi2@ix.netcom.com (Mitzi), smccracken@nti.net (Steve McCracken), Leymer07@aol.com, merri@velocity.net (Merrianne Lang), kirks@vvm.com (Sherry Kirk), rkinner@worldnet.att.net (Ronald Kinner), fredric@ns.net (Fred Kindel), traceroots@aol.com (Brenda Kellow), pmje2@emailmsn.com (P M Johnston), shajohn@iswt.com (Jan Coats Johnson), fhuggins@ivic.net (Fred Huggins), cholder@texoma.net (Charlotte Holder), PHirl@aol.com (Phil Hirl), todd@clarion.korrnet.org (Lisa Henry), bettye@jps.net (Bettye Heinrich), normaj@sabinenet.com (Norma Harder), odguthriejr@mindspring.com (Dan Guthrie), egilliam@dka.com (Elizabeth A. Gilliam), hgibson@ou.edu (Harolda Gibson), shirlgar@fnbnet.net (Shirley A. Garcia), grandman@ptialaska.net (Sharon W. Gabel), bfran02@emory.edu (P. Bailey Francis), JFountain@InfoAve.Net (Jean Fountain), hf@gte.net (Howard Ford), beelae@neumedia.net (Billie Faye Drost), smayhew@flash.net (Sherri Mayhew Dean), transitdan@bigsky.net (Daniel & Mary Sackett), jcombs@mexia.com (Jane Combs), cheek@txsys.net (Harold & Alice Ann Cheek), BurnettJB@aol.com (Jamie Burnett), B.BOLLMAN.JEFFERSON@worldnet.att.net (Bobby Bollman), HUBERT.BAILEY@worldnet.att.net (Hubert Bailey), rbacon@ipa.net (Rose Bacon), sunnyray@pcdiscounters.com (Linda Bacher), Sueard@aol.com ("Connie Ardrey" <)