You bring up some interesting points! >From: "Christine West" <cherokee@shelbynet.net> >Reply-To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [INPCRP] Researching Cemeteries >Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 19:55:59 -0600 > >After I find out the Section, Township & Range of a cemetery, I go to the >BLM website (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/search.asp). THere I can >enter the state, county, section, township and range I want and, unless it >is in section 16 (schools) it will tell me the name and purchase date of >the >original landowner. I take that name and flip thru the first 1 or 2 >indexes >to deeds in the Recorder's office. > >If I know where it is on a map, I go to the Auditor's office for the >Auditor's Plat Maps. These are the drawn maps of each section that show >each individual parcel of ground and give each parcel a number which you >can >cross reference in 3-ring binders on shelves in the same office (at least >in >Bartholomew County). Looking here first will show you whether or not the >cemetery is viewed legally as a cemetery by the county. If it is, it will >show up as an individual parcel, regardless of who owns it. Most of the >ones I am finding that are mapped are listed as tax-exempt and the owner is >usually something like "trustees of a cemetery" or "cemetery association" >and these are viewed for the most part as non-existent groups, with no >addresses or contacts. They are pulled from deeds when the GIS department >mapped the area. A lot of them are those mysterious "excepted" pieces of >ground that no one seems to own. > >As for a cemetery on private ground, if it has not been surveyed or >subdivided recently, there is a good chance it will not show up on any >current deed or plat map. That would mean taxes are paid on it. The >recently re-discovered Lewelling graveyard was an "excepted" quarter of an >acre for which taxes were never paid. It first appeared in the transfer of >the land outside of the family around 1870 and the cemetery was in the >middle of the land and only mentioned in the deed as being in the north >part >of the remaining 60 acre tract. It was probably farmed under about 1940 >and >no one today can remember ever seeing it. This made it impossible to place >on the Plat Map, so it wasn't. Looking at those maps alone, you would have >no idea that there was a cemetery there. > >I have also found transfer books at the auditor's office very useful. THey >are the old books that were kept to cross-reference the transaction of land >before spread sheets. >I recently found that a cemetery here, the Mt. Pleasant U.B. cemetery (a >church that was in existence from about 1880 to 1940) was not on the >Auditor's Plat map, but being cared for by the township trustee. THe >current deeds do not contain any mention of it, even though it is a >beautiful cemetery that has probably 50 or more graves in it. I started >with the original landowner and moved forward through the old transfer >books >until I found where he sold 1 acre of ground to the trustees of the Mt. >Pleasant U.B. church. I took the date of the transfer to the recorder's >office and looked in their books and found the deed that described in poles >the outline of the cemetery. It conflicts with the current property lines >and the GIS department is looking into it now. > >You guys are providing the best questions and answers for this topic. I >plan on taking my list of cemeteries back to the commissioners by January >with a list of questions that need answers that a cemetery BOARD should be >there to provide, or else they will have to deal with answering them. So >far these are the ones I have for them: > >1 - Who owns a cemetery that has been "excepted" out of a piece of ground? >Can a landowner claim adverse possession on ground this ground? > >2 - Who owns a cemetery that was deeded to a board of trustees or >association that no longer exists? > >3 - Can the auditor, recorder, surveyor, assessor or plan commission be >held >resonsible from now on for encroachments into the 100 ft. buffer zone of >cemeteries? > >4 - Shouldn't each township trustees have written and clear standards of >maintenance on each cemetery in their care? Shouldn't we, as taxpayers, be >able to hold them up to those standards and wouldn't that be much easier >with a cemetery board that oversees this work? > >5 - Shouldn't the 100 foot buffer zone around a cemetery be surveyed, >mapped >and shown as an easement on each parcel of ground it affects? Wouldn't >that >save the average citizen money and a big headache if they should run into >human remains while building their dream home? > > >Got any more, anyone? > > >Cris West >Columbus, IN > > >==== INPCRP Mailing List ==== >This list is for discussion of topics related to the Indiana Pioneer >Cemeteries Restoration Project only. > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp