Judy's response leads to me to tell you about the cemetery which I own and how that came about. In the late 1860s my 4th great-grandparents reserved a quarter of an acre apparently to be used as a cemetery and it was gifted to a church. When the church congregation disbanded, the quarter of an acre was sold back to surviving members of the family. This eventually wound up in the hands of a 90+ year old woman without children. When she died I did some investigating and discovered that it, being the cemetery, was back in her private hands instead of being set aside as originally intended. The estate intended to abandon the cemetery as being of no intrinsic value. I petitioned the court and stopped settlement of the estate until a decision could be made about the cemetery. I eventually was given a deed to this quarter acre as being the only person who had an interest in it. (not really--that's just the way the paperwork reads) A farmer had been using the land for 20 years or more and considered it to be his. I had the surveyor go out and survey the quarter acre, and set the survey posts in cement. Only then did I find out that the graves I was trying to preserve (4th great grandparents) weren't even on the quarter acre; they're about 10 feet west. Attempts to ameliorate the situation by an equitable exchange of land were fruitless. So they are still buried on the farmer's land, but he can't, according to law, keep me crossing his land to care for the gravesites. In the meantime I can be reasonably sure that he won't tear down the fence and turn the stones under. Why? Because that part of the county was Knauer "country" and his neighbors are up at arms with his behavior. No, there is no intrinsic value but the sentimental value is priceless. Jacob and Ann Knauer and their five children crossed the country from Pennsylvania to Indiana in a Conestoga Wagon c 1838. I won't let anyone or anything disturb their resting place. Sharon ---------- > From: judith murphy <jmurphy@erinet.com> > To: INGEN-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: Indiana Cemetary Removal Laws > Date: Sunday, November 22, 1998 11:11 AM > > Sharon sure has a point -- with as many genealogists as there are in the > state we should be able to get some type of law passed. > > What confuses me is that I was always under the understanding that Indiana > had the same types of laws as many of the other states and that in order for > a person to even be allowed to be buried in the ground (anywhere in the > state) that it had to be a state-approved and health-dept approved area even > going back to the early 1900's and that this land (even though it is on > private property) was protected and it was because of this that allows the > township and counties to even support and take care of these cemeteries with > tax dollars as well as being charted on the county maps, etc.. Others who > have owned the property previously usually has "given" this land to the > church, county, state, etc. to be used for burial purposes too and even > though there is a new owner it would be the same as a lien on that piece of > property. And usually there is some type of document showing this gift. I > understand that many of the title companies will only go back so far and it > is because of this reason that title insurance is obtained by the owners > because oftentimes they will have a lawsuit on their hands because the title > company did not go back far enough and someone comes up with documents > showing the land was not part of the sale so many years ago, etc. I bet if > someone checked really hard they would find each cemetery in the state of > Indiana has been given to the state, county, township or a church at some > time or other. But, maybe my understanding is faulty (according to what I > read here) -- but it still seems that there is probably a document SOMEWHERE > showing that this is no longer the sale with the property. > > The second thing I would like to point out and wonder about too is if this > (way described here) is the law, then WHY are so many of the cemeteries > moved to other sites when the state or township or county makes roads, > builds dams and lakes, and other things??? As penny-pinching as most of > these government agencies are it seems that they would have taken this same > way out as this one property owner -- dig up, destroy tombstones, etc. -- > but yet they DO relocate entire cemeteries. So WHY wasn't this done in this > instance? > > But, Sharon has a good point -- we really DO need to contact someone -- seem > if historic buildings can be preserved that we can also preserve cemeteries > and their stones. > > Just my 2cents worth. <BTW - did you know the cent mark isn't on your > keyboard anymore? I have checked over 100 keyboards of all makes and models > and can't find one of the computer ones with it on it -- you can use the > ascii codes to make it, but not just hit a key -- just something I noticed > recently> > > Judy M. > >As long as a piece of land has not been removed from the tax books and > >reserved as a cemetery, there's nothing we can do about it. > > > >My friend is a member of the Putnam County Cemetery Board and she advised > >me that the state law says that if the cemetery is on private property, the > >owner of that property may do with it as he pleases. > > > >You want to stop this? WRITE OR CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN > > > >Sharon Bryant > >cc Putnam County > > > >---------- > >