The Daily Journal, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008. BISMARCK - On Saturday morning, in the cold and cloudy weather, 30 volunteers met at the old Dent Cemetery located about a mile southeast of Bismarck on Lake Avalon Road. Long overgrown with vines, brush and trees, stones broken and laying over, the old cemetery is the resting place for many of the earliest settlers in the Bismarck area. The World Changers from Bismarck organized and sponsored the clean-up and were joined by members of the community, local land owners, family members of the settlers, and others who were interested in seeing history and respect restored. For about five hours the volunteers worked, young and old, side by side, with very few breaks, cutting trees, piling brush, mowing, clearing graves and repairing and setting up stones. An enormous amount of work was finished but there are still areas that need to be cleared and graves that need to be cleaned. Plans are being made to schedule another work day in the near future and hopes are that this will generate interest to keep the cemetery clean. Dent Cemetery is a vital part of Bismarck's past and there are many things to be learned about Dent's Settlement, Dent's Station and the early history of the town from the people buried here. Aaron Radford, one of the organizers of the cleanup, said the Devines and the Dents were some of the first settlers in this area. There was a post office located along the tracks and was known as "Dents Station". Radford says the group has obtained an actual ledger with names of the people that lived there and traded at a store owned by the Matkin family, another family that was here early on, in the area ... dating back to 1864. This pre-dates Bismarck which was formed in 1868. There are many members of the Beard, Matkin, Sherrill, Dent and Devine families in the cemetery. There have been recent burial there - as recent as 1997. The World Changers wish to thank everyone who helped with the labor, equipment and food. To find out more about World Changers, contact Radford at 573-518-3393. The group is primarily made up of youth, but adult volunteers also help in the community projects.