Houston County Researchers: There are at least a few old family cemeteries in most counties, which have been abandoned and are now *long forgotten* by most people. Some of these cemeteries were originally a Church cemetery. For those of you who may come across such a cemetery, here is a check list to consider: 1. What is the actual name of the cemetery? 2. If there was a Church, when was this Church in existence? Does anyone remember seeing it, or perhaps even have a photo of it? This will require interviewing some of the elderly folks who still live in the vicinity. 3. Was it a Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or other denominational Church? 4. Has there ever been a listing of the graves at this cemetery compiled? The WPA or the LDS may have compiled a listing during the 1930s thru the 1950s. The LDS Locality Catalog of the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) may contain just such a listing. 5. Who is recorded to be the current *owners* of the land where the cemetery is located? This may take a trip to the Tax Assessors Office, to review the Tax Maps and files. A few questions to those who live in the vicinity of the cemetery, may also help you obtain this info. If you find that someone claims to own the cemetery land, and that they are not agreeable to let you or anyone *trespass* on the land, you may or may not want to continue with your research and cemetery survey. But, a lot of times, no one in the area really *knows* who owns the property now. The reality is, that in most states, the descendants of the people buried at the cemetery, have the right to visit the cemetery, and may even still *own* the property that it is located on. It is usually best to find out what your state laws are concerning cemeteries. If there isn't time to do a full historical research of the Church or cemetery, and the surrounding lands, something needs to be done to protect the graves & tombstones that are *still* at that cemetery. Protective measures should be taken before the possibility of damage to the cemetery arises. The following are suggestions of what could be done: 1. A physical "walk-thru" should be performed to determine if there is evidence of any graves that have been damaged over the years. This may have been done by falling trees, or perhaps even vandalism. 2. If the property near the borders of the cemetery is cleared, this is a good indication of what neighboring owners *consider* the borders of the cemetery to be. You could see just how close the borders are to the nearest visible grave or tombstone. 3. Someone could physically mark the corners of the cemetery with something that will *last* for a while, such as 4-inch treated posts. Once these posts are in position, their actual location on that plot of land will need to be determined somehow. I am only aware of 2 ways to do this, and one of them is to hire a surveyor. Since cost will probably not allow this, you could find a hunter, hiker or other outdoors person who has a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) device. This device will allow you to determine the *exact* coordinates of the corner posts, so that you could prepare a plat. A plat could be drawn (by hand, if necessary) and recorded at the county courthouse by the Clerk of Court. This shouldn't cost much. Then, the Tax Assessor's Office could be advised that a Building Record card should be made so that this property could be tax-exempt. They could also mark this cemetery on their Tax Maps. This procedure may have already been performed, but you can check to be sure. 4. Someone could compile a listing of names of people who say that they have ancestors buried at the cemetery. This listing, along with a detailed description of what has been performed (as far as marking the borders of the cemetery and having it recorded at the courthouse) could be sent in a letter to anyone who claims to have an ancestor buried at the cemetery. 5. Someone could keep an eye on these new borders of this cemetery, to make sure that they don't get knocked over or *disappear*. If necessary, a wire could be attached to the posts. It is vital to keep what remains of our old cemeteries protected. Tomorrow may be too late! Of the county cemetery surveys which were taken in the last few decades, if you compare them to what is now *left*, you would be surprised at how many of those old cemeteries have been destroyed by farmers, contractors, or others. This cycle of letting others force our ancestors' graves into oblivion, must be stopped! A cemetery's existence depends on the descendants of those who are buried there. They are the ones who bring the flowers and the flags to place on the graves of their ancestors. And, they are also the ones who bring their children and grandchildren so that they will know *who came before them*. These sacred burial grounds are tangible links to our past. We need to honor the memory of our ancestors & predecessors by keeping these cemeteries *alive* for present & future generations to visit. William A. Mills Perry, GA [email protected] ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.