This will be in the August 8 edition of The Eatonton Messenger Eileen The Historic Cemeteries of Putnam County You can find Putnam history in many old documents, buildings, artifacts and memories of citizens but few of these offer the stark physical evidence of cemeteries. How many cemeteries are there in Putnam County? Most people I asked gave an answer in the 25-50 range. A number in this range makes sense if you count the church and public cemeteries plus a few family plots. Actually the number is 157 that are known (the total is probably even higher but many old forgotten family cemeteries have been covered by foliage in the woods for years and are hard to find). The reason that the known number is so high (and growing) is because of the super sleuth of historic Putnam cemeteries, Lamar Griffin. Lamar estimates he has located 60-70 cemeteries previously thought lost. He searched old records and talked to residents with a long family history here about possible lost family plots. He purchased a GPS locator in order to precisely pinpoint gravesites and is currently plotting the! locations on a Putnam Map. One source of records was the Putnam County Probate Court and Lamar received substantial help from Judge Pat Howard s Chief Clerk, Pauline Carter, who has catalogued all the data. (The historic data available at the offices of the Probate Court is a story unto itself and will be covered in another column. They have demanding jobs there but always seem to have time to be friendly and helpful to family genealogists and others.) Graves include black, white, prominent, ordinary and down-on-their-luck citizens, all with their own history, as well as soldiers from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and the World Wars of the twentieth century. Lamar became interested in Putnam s historic cemeteries 13 years ago when he began searching for his own family burial ground, which was a ten year journey itself. This hit home to me because after many years I finally found a great great grandfather s grave in an unrelated family s back yard in a heavily populated section of Gwinnett County, Georgia. Lamar s detective work, however, took him to remote, overgrown areas of Putnam where graves may have no identifying marker. I had the good fortune of traveling with Lamar to visit some historic cemeteries, a few of which had long been abandoned (many families died out or left Putnam years ago with family plots in time becoming forgotten). One abandoned site in the Rockville community contained the grave of the Revolutionary War veteran, John Hicks Bass (see photo in article to be published). The Bass Cemetery was also interesting in that it was contained by a two foot thick wall made from field stones, using no mortar, that w! ere so well crafted that you could not slide a piece of paper between most of the joints. Two other sites are known to contain Revolutionary War soldiers. As we visited other family sites (some with over 100 graves), Lamar related the history of the families, stating some proud moments and some not for publication. Lamar has an interesting laugh as he tells some of these stories--there is a place for humor at some historic cemeteries. About 100 of the 157 total cemeteries contain Confederate Veterans. A March 2, 1923 article in the Eatonton Messenger estimated that over 600 soldiers were furnished by Putnam to the Civil War effort and after reviewing today s records it appears that well over 300 are buried here. A series of articles appeared in the Messenger in 1923 encouraging descendants to locate, mark and decorate veterans graves. Lamar Griffin is a veteran himself having seen action in Sicily and Northern Africa during World War II. Putnam has so much unrecorded history (sometimes disjointed) but much of it could be captured with recorded interviews with many long time residents and some serious detective work. The good work of the Putnam-Eatonton Historical Society and the initiation of recording stories by the planners of the new visitors center (the Old School Story Project of the Museum Committee) are great starts but they need help from all of you to capture our unrecorded history. The Scenic Byway Committee needs people to help with historic preservation and display and will utilize some of Lamar s work. . We need a few more Lamar Griffins. Call me (485-1234) and I can put you in touch with people who will help make you life more interesting while you help today s and tomorrow s Putnam County and Oconee Valley.