Yesterday, I headed for the Manchester Cemetery -- with the expert directions Janet Jelsma gave to me.. I have a feeling she knows more about Decatur County than we are aware of.. (She seems to be pretty quiet... smile ..) Again, you can see the location of this cemetery on the Decatur Co. Maps; Eden Township, on the Decatur Co. website. The weather was not all that pleasant, having just had rain and the wind was blowing, with temps in the high 50s.. Of course, that does not deter me in the least. This cemetery is fenced and mowed, however, it is in very poor and declining condition. I took pictures of all the stones I could find (a couple I couldn't lift) and put them on the Iowa Gravestone Photos for Stacey to approve.. While I'm on the subject of the cemetery condition, I would be happy to forward some of the pictures to anyone who might want to see them.. I continue to try to share these things with others on the List, but am getting little or no response, which also disappoints me.. When I left Manchester Cemetery, I went on over to Meek to take the remaining headstone pictures I didn't get when I was there the other day. The lane leading to Meek is interesting and a bit difficult to navigate because of rain and deep ruts -- but, onward!!! I, then, decided to find Chastain Cemetery, which is just on down the way and sits back on one of the large farms there.. Not seeing any way to enter the cemetery, I stopped at the farm and talked with the owner, his son and a couple of other area farmers.. One thing about it, they have a sense of humor when they see an old lady in white sneakers who wants to walk over to the cemetery.... The young fellow said, "well, you'll have to walk in mud." I said, "how much mud?" Of course, what he was saying translates to -- "And just how much cow manure do you want to trudge through?" ha... Well, seeing as how I hadn't brought my 'hog boots' with me (and, yes, I do have them) I told them I'd come back later.. I can go through the white iron gates whenever I want.. They were busy -- but I think the young fellow would have taken me for a ride on/in his 'gator' thing over to the cemetery. I will go back soon!! They said it doesn't dry out until August.. while they all grinned..... The farm owner said he has to pay taxes on all six cemeteries in Eden Township -- he is also a trustee. I didn't want to take up anymore of their time, so we didn't really discuss anything else.. The ticks were out in record numbers..Of course there are always a couple that come home with me. So, I make another note of 'things to take when going to old cemeteries' -- camera, extra batteries, single handle tire iron witching wires, chalk, water to drink and wash my hands with, toilet paper, paper towels, snacks & coffee or coke, -- and -- HOG BOOTS.. Well, just an update from the 'cemetery gypsy'.... Nancee

Nancee, I appreciate your hard work very much. Am enjoying the stories too. Wish Elk Chapel was on the list of Gravestone photos. Busy here teaching outreach classes for a Community College and that keeps me on my toes and not much time for anything else throught July. Keep up the good work, Another old, gray haired woman. Smile Jackie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nancee Seifert" <iggy29@grm.net> To: <IADECATU@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2010 10:19 AM Subject: [IADECATU] MANCHESTER CEMETERY > Yesterday, I headed for the Manchester Cemetery -- with the expert > directions Janet Jelsma gave to me.. I have a feeling she knows more about > Decatur County than we are aware of.. (She seems to be pretty quiet... > smile > www.iagenweb.org/decatur > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IADECATU-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

The farm the Chastain Cemetery is on used to be the Walton farm. I believe Mennonites own it now....not sure though. You probably won't need your "hog boots" in August but you will need a big fan and lots of water to drink!!! ' Jna