Mike --- No, the Harmony church apparently was dismantled and removed sometime following a windstorm that left the cemetery full of downed limbs and deadwood. The best guess is that this occurred in the early 1970's. No one seems to know when the cemetery was cleaned up. The word from C.J. Ellis said that the gravestones were transcribed in the early 1980's, and the cemetery was in moderately bad condition at that time. Here is a quote from Mr. Ellis: "According to Avlyn Conley, the on-line records are inscriptions and were taken from the stones in the cemeteries. This was done by, for the most part, Shirley Haynes, her mother helped sometimes, Dorothy Campbell, and then Rev. Wayne Merrill helped, too. Avlyn Conley retyped them on old mimeograph stencils and they did rest of the publishing. These inscriptions were copied in the 1970s & very early 80s and much has happened to many of these cemeteries since that time. Also, if there was no stone, no inscription, whether there was a burial in that cemetery or not. Shirley was very insistent in reading all stones, even if the stone was turned over. She would "mighty-mouse" that stone up so she could read it (Shirley Haynes has since passed away)." It looks like the cemetery was restored within the past 10 years, but no one has said who was responsible for doing such a great job. Does anyone happen to know? Howard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Flannigan" <mikeflan@swbell.net> To: <MO-CEMETERIES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2001 4:37 PM Subject: [MO-CEM] Re: Cemetery disrepair > > Too bad the church is gone. It was still there ~40 years ago > or so. Maybe it burned down. > > > Mike Flannigan > > > > > Marilyn and List Members--- > > Don't despair! Abandoned cemeteries can be restored! > > > > I recently visited the Harmony Cemetery six miles east of Miami MO. > > This small cemetery formerly sat beside a Presbyterian church of the > > same > > name. In the "History of Saline County, Missouri" (page 39) the > > abandoned > > cemetery is described as "In bad condition, overgrown with brush and > > weeds > > - hard to get into. The church building is also in bad condition. Most > > stones > > are in good state, and can be read." > > > > Imagine my surprise to find the cemetery neat and clean as if new! There > > was > > a new Metal sign reading "Harmony Cemetery - Established 1878" > > The church building had been removed leaving no trace. New trees had > > been > > planted, and stone benches installed at the corners. It took a lot of > > effort and > > time to restore that place. > > > > But the stingiest thing is -- I can not find out who was responsible for > > the great > > job of cleanup. Was it the County? Or the Saline Historical Society? > > Or some > > church from Slater, Miami, or Marshall? I would like to learn who did > > this job, > > and how they were able to organize the work that obviously was required. > > We could learn from them how to clean up other abandoned cemeteries. > > Does anyone out there happen to know about this cleanup? > > Howard Gadberry > > > ==== MO-CEMETERIES Mailing List ==== > NOTICE: Posting of virus warnings, test messages, chain letters, political > announcements, current events, items for sale, personal messages, flames, > etc. (in other words - spam) is NOT ALLOWED and will be grounds for removal. > Consideration for exceptions, contact Kathleen Burnett kburnet@efortress.com > To learn more about my world visit http://dwp.bigplanet.com/kburnett > Vist the Mo-Cemeteries Volunteer and Cemetery List http://www.rootsweb.com/~mocemete/mocem.htm > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history > learning and how-to articles on the Internet. > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library > >