The third time was a charm. Thanks to Bruce and Connie Rova who picked up the heavy equipment needed to clear the waist-high brush and their non-stop effort to complete the whole cemetery before the equipment was due back, we now have the entire Muscogee Cemetery once again cleared to ground level. Through the entire morning Bruce pushed the heavy machinery back and forth across the uneven terrain, avoiding damage to hidden gravesites as he stumbled across them. Several stones were unearthed and set upright again as we discovered them. You can review the pictures of some of today's effort at http://home.mchsi.com/~jerrym151/Continued/Restoration/20311222.htm Maurice Johnson and Connie helped Bruce clear the cut brush away so that he could keep cutting without stopping. You had to see it to appreciate it. I can't say enough for this. It was a make or break part of the restoration effort. It's now done. On the leisurely side, Elsie, Helen, Ron and Jerry continued the survey effort and managed to complete the entire SE quadrant. We recorded and mapped 80 graves here that were still visible. Other areas that had scattered stones half-covered by sediment were merely marked as suspected graves. Since one quarter of the cemetery is now plotted, it appears there will be in the neighborhood of 300 or more graves in the cemetery. When we started this effort, I thought there were probably about one to two hundred at most. With the entire cemetery now cleared, we are ready to field two survey teams if we can find the volunteers. Two teams should be able to complete the remainder in three more efforts. It will be important to get this done before the new growth starts in the spring. After that, we'll begin to try to repair some of the damage inflicted on the cemetery over the years. At this point, we need people interested in coordinating with the forestry service to get a controlled burn early next year. There is a lot of piled up brush after today's cutting. Anyone with connections to the local government and law enforcement are needed really badly, too. If we can't get the cemetery declared off limits after dark and patrols to enforce the curfew, our follow-on restoration efforts to try to repair the damage already done will be for nothing. We will probably have the fourth restoration effort on the second Saturday of January 2004. I'll get an e-mail out several weeks ahead for planning purposes. This is a break in the every-two-week schedule we have been following but December is a busy month for the volunteers plus they deserve a well-earned rest. Jerry Merritt

Jerry, I'm very impressed with the efforts of you and your team of hearty volunteers, and enjoyed the pics! I spent quite a number of days up there on that hill myself, with a few of volunteers, surveying that cemetery ourselves, about...I don't remember, but a number of years ago! This is the survey that ended up in our book "Gravestone Registry of Esc Co." I'm glad to see someone else had the nerve to tackle a job like this---even though its a task that most couldn't appreciate, nor will they benefit from it. The ones who will, through the years, will be rewarded immensely for your work. Keep us posted on the dates you will be meeting for the actual surveying--- if I have the days free, I would be glad to participate. Let us know the dates and times. Evan R. STROHL WFGS Jerry Merritt <jerrym151@mchsi.com> wrote: The third time

Hi Evan, Thanks for the encouragement. The main problem we have run into is the removal/destruction of headstones since you completed your survey. From your survey we know the names of those who are in the cemetery but can no long identify which graves are theirs. In your notes from your earlier survey is there any indication of who was buried in particular graves - either by description of the grave or by order of being listed? Such a list would allow us to re-match names to graves on the map we are producing. Once that is done, future genealogists will be able to re-located the lost graves from the map regardless of whether a headstone remains. Jerry ----- Original Message ----- From: "EVAN STROHL" <estrohl@prodigy.net> To: <FLESCAMB-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 8:25 PM Subject: Re: [FLESCAMB] Third Muscogee Cemetery Restoration Effort Completed > Jerry, > I'm very impressed with the efforts of you and your team of hearty volunteers, > and enjoyed the pics! I spent quite a number of days up there on that hill > myself, with a few of volunteers, surveying that cemetery ourselves, > about...I don't remember, but a number of years ago! This is the survey > that ended up in our book "Gravestone Registry of Esc Co." > > I'm glad to see someone else had the nerve to tackle a job like this---even though > its a task that most couldn't appreciate, nor will they benefit from it. The > ones who will, through the years, will be rewarded immensely for your work. > > Keep us posted on the dates you will be meeting for the actual surveying--- > if I have the days free, I would be glad to participate. Let us know the > dates and times. > > Evan R. STROHL > WFGS > > > > Jerry Merritt <jerrym151@mchsi.com> wrote: > The third time > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >