>Resent-Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 21:03:46 -0800 (PST) >From: "Lois Mauk" <lawofficeinformationsystem@worldnet.att.net> >Old-To: "INPCRP" <INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com>, > "John Ragle" <jlr@chemserv.chem.umass.edu> >Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 23:20:02 -0500 >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal >X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 >Subject: [INPCRP-L] Re: Hearings on Cemetery Bills >Resent-Message-ID: <"5QlrqD.A.g5.xeQx2"@bl-14.rootsweb.com> >To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >Resent-From: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >Reply-To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >X-Mailing-List: <INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/591 >X-Loop: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >Precedence: list >Resent-Sender: INPCRP-L-request@rootsweb.com >X-UIDL: dc74195ccb58eaf861faa4ea8defa480 > >Dr. John Ragle has given me permission to post this message to the INPCRP >group. > >From: John Ragle <jlr@chemserv.chem.umass.edu> > > >I am not a member of the INPCRP group. You may, of course, forward this >letter. > >In this regard, I have been somewhat active on this matter previously. I >wrote a letter to the Indiana Governor's Office about a year ago, and also >responded to an article in the Indianapolis Star (?I am not sure this is the >right name) about an incident in which remains had been removed by some >forensic arm of the Indiana Government and a cemetery itself had been >blacktopped. > >As I indicated in my first note to you, my concern has been somewhat >heightened by personal experience. My 2nd greatgrandparents were among the >original settlers of Raglesville (Peter Ragle and Margaret Wadsworth Ragle) >when it was platted in 1835 by Ozias Crooke. Ragles of various flavors were >active in this area for many years. I visited the Raglesville cemetery once >in about 1965 and again in 1996. I was aghast at the changes which had >occured . . . willful destruction of headstones (including those of some of >my family), and general lack of maintenance. I phoned all over southern >Indiana trying to locate the actual holders of the deed to this property, >including Ron Beasley who is the local caretaker in Raglesville, and never >found anyone who would admit to ownership. > >Mr. Beasley has a plot plan of the old cemetery. My immediate family has a >family plot in the old section, and I was looking for permission to mount a >small stainless steel plaque or something similar, so that the identities of >these people would not be lost, as they surely will be in another few >decades. Members of my family were co-owners of the first general store, as >well as the first postmaster, and were also very active in bringing the >Methodist Church to the area. The original DePauw Chapel, later moved to >Burns City, was built on land donated by my greatgrandfather and his younger >brother. > >I don't have any photographs which show 'before and after.' All the photos >I have are of individual headstones, taken in 1996. Sorry. I asked Ron >Beasley what had happened to the 'tipped' monuments, and he said that he >just carried them out and piled them in back of the maintenance shed. > >Rather than making an issue of a particular cemetery, I would prefer to >laud the efforts of people like those at the Crane, who took the time to >collect and print listings of the 30-odd old cemeteries inside the >reservation. > >In this modern day, it would be a useful task for someone to walk into the >old cemeteries carrying a GPS receiver. A GPS receiver can pinpoint the >location to within 100 feet or so, for recording purposes. > >In poking around the Elnora/Odon/Raglesville area, we found several >grown-over cemeteries in which the markers are made from the local >limestone and are suffering the effects of acid rain. Although these are >not in danger of being plowed up or paved over, they too will vanish. > >The question is, "how to find and identify these crypto-cemeteries?" There >is no substitute for local involvement...we found that the locals, >especially the oldsters, were quite knowledgeable. But also, people who >have moved away may have knowledge of a family plot. For example, I know of >a Sims family plot in the Odon area which is deep in the woods and >inaccessible except by bushwhacking. The exact location is known to the >descendents of Starlin Sims, a 'country squire' of the Raglesville area in >the years just post-civil war. The counties nowadays have many people who >are formally involved in the general genealogy of the areas, through web >sites, etc. and these people are reachable through email and through the >list servers as well as their web sites. > >Although I reside in Masschusetts, I am concerned about Indiana's pioneer >cemeteries in general, and particularly about the old half of the cemetery >in Raglesville, just south of Odon, in which a number of my ancestors are >interred. Here the problem arises from the fact that the original community >has been displaced almost entirely by a Mennonite community, and they wish >to 'recycle' the old cemetery because they are running out of space. So, >while this is indirectly a result of farming pressure [not wanting to take >land out of service] it is more a matter of "who cares? these people's >descendents have long moved on." > >I believe it is generally 'indifference' rather than 'greed' which motivates >the destruction of pioneer cemeteries. In that case, responses to proposals >to destroy an old cemetery should be sought assiduously from those directly >concerned, with secondary support from state law. Such law could: > >(a) mandate a substantial effort be made to contact descendents, >(b) propose a concrete way to record the information and layout of the >cemetery, and >(c) mandate proper 'archiving' of headstones and remains in a dignified way. > >Such a law would have to carefully define 'substantial effort,' 'concrete >methods of recording,' and 'proper archiving.' > >I would personally be satisfied if the graves from the cemetery mentioned >above were recorded on a permanent plinth or historical marker at the site, >and if a high-quality photographic record of headstones were made, with >exact site description, and provided to concerned descendents and family >archivists. The plot of turf itself is not particularly an issue in my mind. > >I would comment further that amateur cemetery listings exist for many old >plots. Some of these are of excellent quality, e.g. those provided by the >Crane Naval Weapons Depot in Burns City. Others are of poorer quality, taken >by boy scouts or by individuals and held as typewritten sheets in local >libraries. Some considerable field work remains to be done. I know from >personal experience that the cemetery listings for Raglesville held in the >Carnegie Library in Washington, IN contain factual errors. > >The first stage in this project is, therefore, to locate and identify old >cemeteries and to walk the sites carefully and inventory them. The law >should mandate accomplishment of this task by imposing a freeze [with severe >penalties] on destruction of such sites for a reasonable time interval. Much >of this work already exists in various stages of completion, but all should >be reviewed. It should start from 'the grass roots' at the township level, >and funnel into the counties. > >I have a modest genealogy site for the Ragle family mounted at >http://jlragle.chem.umass.edu/index.htm >which includes the [unfinished] text of a family history, as well as a >hypertext family tree for about 4,000 family members. > >Dr. J. L. Ragle ><jlr@chemserv.chem.umass.edu> > > > >==== INPCRP Mailing List ==== >Quote from William Gladstone (1809-1897), three-time Prime Minister of England >and Victorian contemporary of Benjamin Disraeli: > "Show me the manner in which a nation or community > cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical > exactness the tender mercies of its people, their > respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty > to high ideals." > > >