Article on Cemeteries Submitted by: HOST GFS [email protected] (downloaded from: http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb com/gfnews/february03/theme40203.htm) Our SIG chat recently had a presentation on Preserving Old Cemeteries Through Surveys. So often now, especially in localities which are spreading outward toward what used to be considered rural areas, we hear belatedly of old cemeteries which are being bulldozed and paved over. Make Way for Progress! While we do need new malls, housing developments, golf courses, highways and the like, they should not be created at the expense of our heritage. More than we would like, we even hear of desecration and vandalism Whew! What ever happened to respect and tolerance? While we may not be able to prevent their actual destruction and save the grounds of these old cemeteries, we CAN preserve the fact of their existence and knowledge about those who were buried there. A Cemetery Survey requires planning and work, but will save our old cemeteries in a DOCUMENTARY way. It is up to us as "The Keepers" to be the caretakers of our history, to preserve the information that can be obtained from old cemeteries, and to disseminate it for others to learn from about us. Regardless of your ethnic background, many old cemeteries are/were the property of now inactive churches. All the old families may have died out, or moved away once they prospered a bit. In the case of African American churches, many of these were established at the end of slavery. My old home church (with its cemetery) was formally established in 1875, although members met in a brush arbor there before that. I am fortunate in that my church is still very active, but the city has grown outward and now surrounds us. This has caused the tax base to move steadily upward, and new laws on making property improvements, which is scary. There are many small family cemeteries on land that different families owned Often this land passed to a series of heirs, before eventually being sold to persons outside the family. Most of these cemeteries are now abandoned. This is also true of African American landowners, although we were sometimes also buried on the land of our slave owners, or beside them in their church or family plots. Another type of large cemetery is very common for African Americans, especially in the Southeast, called the Colored City Cemetery. In my town there are three of these, two of which were filled before integration occurred. Most early Catholics who were African American in my town were buried in 'blessed ground' in one of these, as well as those people who didn t belong to a specific church. Many areas sponsor a Cemetery Survey through either the State Archive, County Historical Society, or local Cemetery Department. These will already have a Form for your use in describing the cemetery and another type for recording the stones/markers. Check to see if there is a Survey set up for your locality. If not, you can easily create your own forms. Cemetery Surveys require you make a grid of the cemetery (just like any good archeological project), and then systematically record each and every stone/marker, or indentation where a grave seems to be. Try to get some help with this from the local scout troop, church group, or whomever you can interest in the project … and for goodness sake, stay out of the poison ivy or oak! Write down exact directions to the cemetery from a known landmark or crossroad. If you have access to a GPS receiver, find the longitude and latitude from the center of the cemetery; include it in your description. Take photos of the entrance, the general layout, and the markers. You may even be able to get National Historic Landmark status for it, if your cemetery meets their qualifications. Then disseminate the data by donating it to the local library, State Archive, County Historical Society, and LDS, and by publishing it at a 'virtual' Cemetery Project on the Internet. Download our Chat Log from the Genealogy Forum Library for more details and tips (currently in New Uploads), and make plans to Save a Cemetery. Article on Cemeteries - Feb 03 HOST GFS Alva Sat Eve Afro-Am SIG Chat (Permission is hereby granted for you to reprint my article on Cemeteries, which appeared in the Feb Genealogy Forum Newsletter.) Sally Rolls Pavia Sun City, AZ [email protected] List Owner: [email protected] "Without genealogy, the study of history is lifeless." All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus 2002 .