Yes, Jean, I agree, this is serious business. When the rich developers want land, they'll go to any length to get it, including taking over a cemetery. You're right, the government would not have the means or the time and resources to trace descendents. My grandparents had 11 children who had from 3 to 8 children of their own. How in the world could they possibly trace the rightful owner of a cemetery plot? They couldn't and wouldn't. They'd place an insignificant ad in the classified section of a local newspaper and hope no one spots it. Then they'd take it to a Judge and say that they attempted to find the rightful owner and there wasn't any. They did all they could. Case dismissed, plow it under! In Georgia, they have laws against plowing under a cemetery, but when the developers "accidentally" find small family burial grounds, they get plowed under because nobody is there to watch them. This needs to be stopped before it starts, once it starts, there is no stopping THEM! Ken > This is not really a laughing matter. If we as owners or descendants let > this occur these cities and or states will take whatever they want > irregardless of whether they find a descendant or not. Like I said I hold > title to plots in three different cemeteries in Michigan and not one of them > know that I am the owner as the descendant of my great grandparents, > grandparents, parents and they wouldn't know where to begin looking for me. > > When my stepfather passed away a year ago I was having him buried in the > space that my mother will occupy and the person who is supposed to know > about the ownership of these plots told me I would need permission from my > brothers, sister, cousins and grandchildren of my mother before they would > allow me, the owner, to bury this man's ashes. When I questioned her on it > and informed her that I am the legal owner of these plots she said it didn't > matter because I wasn't the origianl purchaser. I said that didn't matter > as I am legally the owner and hold title to these lots. She was determined > that I didn't have a say in this matter even though I showed proof of > ownership. Finally I said to her what or who do I talk to who knows more > about this than her. She gets her manager and when I explained what I was > wanting to do she asked me one question. Did I hold title to the plots and > I said yes and that was all it took. They didn't need to get permission > from anyone else but me. Since I hold title they had to abide by my wishes > with regards to how I wanted my step father to be buried. Since I legally > owned these plots they cannot deny my instructions without my permission. > These cemeteries cannot take these lots from the original and or family > owners just because they didn't fill the graves. These graves belong to the > family and or the descendants of this family, not the City, not the State of > Michigan or anyone else. I do not think that the city, counties, states are > going to do a thorough search to locate descendants without a great cost to > the taxpayers. They don't have enough money to run their governments now > and to try to do this without permission from the Cemetery plot owners > families I would believe they would stand to lose a lot more in a law suit > than what they would get in reselling these empty graves. > > If we allow these cities, towns, counties and States to do this what will > they do next, dig up the bones of our ancestors and just toss them into a > pile and then resell the lots all over again to new buyers. yes, some > countries do this. They lack land to purchase for new cemeteries. The > people when they bought into these cemeteries already knew that this was a > part of the deal. I don't think there is a cemetery here in the United > States that would let this happen let alone the descendants of the family > members who are buried in these cemeteries. That is why it is important for > all of us to step up to front row and speak up and let these so-called > government officials know that we won't stand for this type of event to > occur. > > My suggestion to each and everyone on this list is to check out where your > ancestors are buried and find out if there are empty grave sites and find > out who is entitled to ownership of these sites and not let any government > come in and take them away from the families who paid for them to begin > with. I also believe that in Michigan there are laws that cover cemeteries > that once it is designated as a cemetery they cannot remove or resell empty > sites in any cemetery and can only remove all bodies to a new cemetery so > designated as a cemetery with approval from the State Cemetery Boards. > > I also remember that in the City of Detroit, the City wanted to enlarge the > City Airport which would have had to remove monuments and grave sites from > the Mount Olivet Cemetery and people got up in arms over it and it was soon > dropped. There were a couple of other cemeteries that they wanted to dig up > and remove the bodies to another cemetery and the people arose once again > and pitched such a stink about it it was easier to close the roads off > around the cemeteries involved. Elmwood Cemetery and Lafayette Cemetery was > going to be chopped up because the City of Detroit wanted to widen Lafayette > Street and when the Jewish family members found out what was planned there > was a very large stink made about it because the City of Detroit was going > to dig up 500 bodies and move them to another cemetery and just dig a large > hole and dump the bodies in and then put up one marker with all of the names > of the people who were there. That never came about either. > > So people check out your local cemeteries and find out what their rules and > regulations are. Don't let the Cities, Towns, Counties and States come in > and mess with our ancesotrs final resting places. These cemeteries are all > a part of our families and we need to stand up and protect them from > polititicians who don't know how to keep their government coffers filled > with our tax dollars. Don't let them rob our cemteries just to fill their > pockets. > Jean Payton > > > > ==== MIOAKLAN Mailing List ==== > You can contact the listowner at Judy@BirdGenealogy.org > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >

Maybe I misunderstood the purpose of government, but I thought it was just to locate the extra unused plots so that they can be used by someone else. I am sure that there are many large plots bought years ago in which the family has now has no living descendents or they have moved and have no more use for them. This makes sense to me--use the empty spots and save expanding the cemetary unnecessarily. Subject: Re: [MIOAKLAN] Re: What Michigan Government wants to do with our historic Cemeteries Date sent: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 22:22:57 -0400 To: MIOAKLAN-L@rootsweb.com Forwarded by: MIOAKLAN-L@rootsweb.com > > Yes, Jean, I agree, this is serious business. > When the rich developers want land, they'll go to any length to get > it, including taking over a cemetery. > Reply to: marlu@tir.com