Can anyone tell me who I would contact, if indeed there is any such agency, to "register" an old private graveyard with the State or County to keep it from being plowed under one day by the current owners of the land ? My family the Slanes started a graveyard on what was their property from about 1835 until maybe 1860 or so. At that point, it belonged to the family of one of the Slane wives, the LaFollettes, who owned it up until about 2001. Now, I'm concerned that the current owners might not honor their obligation to keep it intact and allow access. The "Slane" cemetery is located just off Route 8 about 4 miles West of Edwards Illinois. It's also about 1/2 mile Southwest of Combs Cemetery across the Kickapoo Creek in Rosefield Township, Peoria County, Illinois. It's fenced in currently because of major damage that was done by a farmer in the 1960s. It's in overgrown condition with only two graves (3 people) current visible (the remainder of the gravestones were pretty much destroyed in the 60s incident) One of the gravestones is a double sided stone for my grgr-gr-gr-grandfather Benjamin F Slane (1798-1875) and his wife Delilah Cheshire Slane (1800-1839) and the other is for the last Slane land owner Samuel Slane (1810-1852). Family records indicate at least 16 people were buried there, with the possibility of 6-10 more. Some of the family names buried there in addition to SLANE are LAFOLLETTE, RACE, GILLHAM and SNYDER for sure and possibly BINNEGAR. Mel Slane Peoria, IL

I don't think they can do that under current Illinois law. The person in charge of cemeteries is the Comptroller. I'm having a lot of trouble with state web pages today as new people take over. The Illinois Cemetery Care Act is 55 ILCS 65 which you should be able to download at http://www.comptroller.state.il.us/office/cemeterycare/cemcare.html I think you are looking for the Cemetery Protection Act which is part of that download [although not at the page numbers indicated on the front page]. Cheryl Rothwell logancty@mindspring.com Logan County, IL, Coordinator, ILGenWeb Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas et al

I know of an old private family cemetary in a county near Peoria that got bulldozed a few years back after the farm changed ownership. It is not supposed to happen, but it does happen. There had been no burials since pre-1900 and the farm had changed ownership multiple times before the newest owners took over. I suspect only 3 or 4 or 5 people even knew it existed. So ... if you know of an old cemetary that might be in peril, don't assume it is safe. Make the proper authorities in the county aware of the cemetary and get it listed, registered or whatever. Lobby for a fence around it and even a sign to be posted at the entrance. Bob