The cemeteries that I am speaking of, were old family cemeteries located on family farms which at some point were sold when the original family died out or moved west, what ever. Sometimes the next family would continue to bury family members there some times not when a church cemetery came into existance. In some cases, descendants of the original family returned to replace the crude stone marker with the more traditional stones, but often field stones were used and people discounted the fact that this really was a burial ground simply because it does not contain traditional stones. Over growth of trees and grasses often obscure their locations. Or perhaps the house and barn are gone so the location becomes lost. Many of these family farms were later purchased by large corporations, town homes, golf courses and the old family cemeteries were in the way of expansion. That being said, unless the deed contained mention of the cemeteries existence the buyer might not kno! w or realized it existed. But in Montgomery Twp. Somerset Co., the historical society has always been ahead of the game in their watch dog observations to ensure that no one removed or damaged a family cemetery. They have done a great job. I must say, that I had quite a go around with the farmer on the Dorland farm, now a re-habit unit for women, who swore up and down that no cemetery existed. However, the marker erected in 1940's still stood as did a few of the non-traditional stones so he had to back down. I don't know what its future is, however. We are all growing older, and there does not seem to be younger family members interested or willing to step in and keep an eye out. Not only that but regarding deeds, for the most part only the mortgages exist for the early years in that part of NJ, people were not required to register or record deeds until the latter part of the 1700's or so and most families did not do so. Wills might contain that kind of information,! if one was left, if not, family histories are often the only ! way to g et any information on them, although of course many early maps did record their existance. So as I said, when people quite taking trips by car, which in many cases included stopping to check out the old family cemeteries, it really impacted on their existence. Our family trips always included these stops along the way, and usually some kind of relationship sprung up between my parents and those who owned the land on which they existed, my husband and I also did the same thing. Today everyone flies so I have to say, that is probably one of the major reasons no one is checking up on these cemeteries. When you drove, it was part of the trip. Judy Oct 12, 2010 07:29:49 PM, [email protected] wrote: =========================================== cassidy. don't deeds count when property is destroyd. how about suing the destructor > >George S. Van Dorn have a good day > > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the >body of the message >