> The following report is a description of the wonderful work being done in > Jessamine County, Ky, in their effort to restore and preserve their > cemeteries. This project was begun only a couple of years ago and immense > progress has been made. > > The Jessamine County Historical and Genealogical Society is spearheading the > project and it is overseen by Ernestine Hamm. If you need more info > Jessamine County's efforts to honor our Kentucky ancestors, feel free to > contact Howard Curry Teater at > [email protected] or Clyde Bunch at [email protected] > > JESSAMINE COUNTY, KY CEMETERY PROJECT REPORT > > As we refLect on the many wars that have been fought, we remember the > many Revolutionary soldiers that made Jessamine County their home after > the war. They lived, died and were buried here. A number of their graves > are unmarked or the stones have been destroyed through years of neglect. > We have ordered three new military stones and expect them in a > few months. At which time we hope to have a nice dedication service for > each, Capt. William Anderson, Frederick Zimmerman and James Irvin. James > Irvin is believed to be the last Revolutionary War soldier to die in > Jessamine County. > > News about the Cemetery > Project. > > We began the year with the Welch Cemetery on Shannon Park. This was a > very large task due to the fact that all the stones had been thrown into > one corner of an area about 11x17ft. with a privacy fence around it. > This cemetery was believed to have been completely lost and took some > time just to locate. The stones were broken in numerous pieces and most > were without bases. However there was one grave that was still marked > with both headstone and foot stone. This was the grave of Revolutionary > War soldier John Welch. Almost every male in this cemetery fought in > either the Revolutionary or the war of 1812. We believe, with the finding > of the John Welch stone, that the bodies have not been disturbed, only the > stones damaged in order to conceal the fact that there was a cemetery > there in order to build a subdivision. The Welch Cemetery was completed > in time for the History Fest and dedication service was held with a > number of family members from several different states attending. A few > months later the Welch family bought a nice chain link fence to replace > the old privacy fence. In November, a new sign was placed marking this > cemetery. This project gave us hope that none of these old cemeteries are > beyond repair. > > The Hezekiah Russell Cemetery, on the corner of U.S.68 and 29 has been > cleared and all the stones repaired and reset. It also received a new > sign marking this as the Hezekiah Russell Cemetery. This cemetery is in > the middle of a cane field and we believe the property is still up for > sale. However the land owner has mowed around the cemetery and as soon as > it is fenced in it will be cleared of all weeds. The stone of Hezekiah > leaned against an old tree for some say 30 years. You can see this > cemetery from the road and there are some nice old stones there. > > The Jewell/Walters Cemetery on Gilispie Lane in Wilmore was very much in > need of attention. It was overgrown and someone had used parts of it for a > dumping spot. It had an old washer, a refrigerator and even a tire from > an old Model T in there! Almost all the stones were down but still in > good condition, the hard part was deciding where to set them. This > cemetery also has a new sign placed there in November. > > My favorite cemetery of the ones that we worked on this year would have > to be the Isaac Shelby Cemetery at the High Point Golf Course. This > cemetery has so much history contained in it and it had almost > disappeared. There are four generations buried here dating back to 1819. > Only one head stone and a few foot stones were standing when we first > visited. It has a rock wall around it and at one time had a wrought iron > fence sitting on top of the rock wall. All that remains is two post that > worked perfectly for us to mount our new sign marking this cemetery as > The Isaac Shelby Cemetery. We found a number of pieces of wrought iron > and Mr. Neal Floyd's class at the West Jessamine High School is going to > weld it together to make a small section of old fence. > > The cemetery restoration project has drawn attention from a number of > groups such as the Social Studies class of Mr. James Botts at the East > Jessamine Middle School. The newly formed Historical Society of Mr. > Tim Weldon at West Jessamine High and the Asbury Seminary class and Mr. > Dave Bodine. > > The Social Studies class of Mr. Botts worked hard on the > Rutherford/Wilmore Cemetery, located on the property of the late Harry > Powell who died earlier this year. This cemetery is a very small area and > Mr. Teater had recorded three graves there. The stones were large marble > ones and all fallen off their bases. After resetting those three, Bo > Spicer one of the students located another stone. It turned out to be the > stone of James Wilmore a perfect match to the stone of Jane Wilinore. > This caused a wave of excitement and after getting this stone reset we > continued to look for other buried stones. We found a nice large base > with a poem on it that sounds like it must be for a female. But by this > time we were exhausted. The ground in this area is very hard to prod > unless it has just rained. This is one of our unfinished projects due to > the fact of it being so hard to schedule the class to work. We do have a > new sign marking this as The Rutherford/Wilmore Cemetery that is to be > set any day and we will look again for the uncovered stone to match our > base. > > The Historical Society was very fortunate to have gained the interest of > the Asbury Seminary and Mr. Dave Bodine. He and a number of fellow > students helped restore the Thompson cemetery on US 29 in > Wilmore. This was a very old cemetery with the earliest burial in 1845 > and the latest in 1909. Samuel B. Ryley a Civil War soldier is buried > there with a military stone. He was a Seargent with the 6th Ky. Calvary. > This cemetery had no fence so the cattle had knocked most of the stones > over, fortunately there were few broken. The ground hogs had also > dislodged the bases for these stones. With the help of the class from > Asbury and our home folks we were able to clear the area, repair and > reset the stones, run three strands of barb ware to protect from cattle > and place our sign marking the Thompson Cemetery all in one day. We > were very proud!! The Lexington Herald did a feature on this project, > learning, first hand, that a lot of hard work goes in to one of > these projects. The Asbury class is ready for more!!! We greatly > appreciate their interest in the cemetery restoration. project. > > The West Jessamine High class of Mr. Tim Weldon helped work on the old > Peter Nave Cemetery located on highway 29 on the Routt Farm. There were > only two stones recorded here. We were able to locate one stone broken > right at ground level and this helped us decide where the cemetery > originally was. The two Nave stones had been resting against a tree for > at least ten years. Unfortunately, for the class, we did not find any > mysterious or unidentified persons. They did however find a salamander, > which went home with one of them. We did stabilize the stones of Peter > and Mary Nave and hope to place a sign marking this as the Nave Cemetery > in the near Future. > > We have two unfinished projects for this year that the approaching winter > weather caused us to put on hold. The Ferrell Cemetery on Sugar Creek is > about an I/2 acre. The old fence line was unbelievably overgrown with any > kind of thorn that you can imagine, wild rose, black berries and thorn > trees. This made it almost impossible to get inside. After clearing about > 10 wagon loads, just to make a 6ft. entrance in the back side, we decided > that, without help, we would not be able to complete this project. Mr. Ray > Clark came to our rescue with a back hoe and in no time you could stand > anywhere in that cemetery and be able to see outside! Mr. Tommy Bell not > only let us use his tractor and wagon on days that he could not be there,but > he also put in a number of days and evenings himself. He has a small > bobcat that was used to clear the sides of the cemetery. The ground in > this area is mostly clay and it has a vein of iron ore running through > it. Don Vickers decided that his tractor with a post hole digger would > make this job easier and it did. The ground was still so hard > that we would dig a while, pour water in the hole, let it set till after > lunch or overnight, then finish the hole. After the holes were dug the > fencing part went real smooth. Mr. Vickers seemed to have a real knack > for this job and we learned some tricks from him that will help us on > future projects. Let me stop here and say that, no, the Historical Society > still can not afford to do fencing. The wire, post and gate were all paid > for by family members. Most of the ones that worked to help put up the > barb wire had no direct family members buried there. We had a great > turnout of workers everyday we worked, Mr. Howard Teater, Bill & lnez > Russell, Ray & Sue Clark her brother Bruner, Don & Anna Vickers, her > nephew, Junior, Tom Bell and also Charlie and myself. As I stated, this is > an unfinished project. We still have to repair and reset the stones in the > spring and do some weed control. We went ahead and placed our new Ferrell > Cemetery sign with a nice crowd of visitors. You can see the cemetery > from the road, so if you are not up to a trip all the way back to the > cemetery > drive by and take a look. This is surely the first time, in many years, > that it is visible from the road. We appreciate Mr. & Mrs. Joe Jennet for > the confidence they placed in us allowing us to have a key to this > property while we worked. Also for allowing us to dispose of the brush > there on the property, saving us a lot of work hauling it to another site. > > Our other unfinished project is a very small area on US27 behind Sargent > Greenleaf. It is called the Wake Cemetery and is one of the oldest in the > city limits. According to Bennett Young, Alexander Wake was the first > judge of Jessamine Co. under the Constitution of 1850. He was born 1797 > and died 1867. His wife and son John are buried in the Wake Cemetery. It > is not known if Alexander himself is buried there also. There is one > large stone covering the grave of Sarah and we have repaired it this > year. There are other unreadable stones that need to be located. We are > hoping for the property owners to fence this area to establish a > boundary. At that point we will weed eat and place a marker to identify > this as the Wake Cemetery. > > I hope you have enjoyed reading about the work that has been done in 2001 > and we look forward to a prosperous New Year in 2002. Thanks for all your > donations, for without them we would not be able to do any of this work. We > greatly appreciate the donation from the Jessamine Fiscal Court. With > this year's donations, we were able to do the needed repairs on these > cemeteries, but also to purchase the new signs to mark each one. We also > purchased the material to build a tripod that will be used to lift > these very heavy stones, making our work much easier. > > Thanks for your support. > > Ernestine Hamm > Jessamine County, Ky Historical and Genealogical Society > > Thanks, > Shelia Bruner-Ramos