Yes. and this happened in Wayne Co, NC to me. Several years ago - my family - sister and cousins. - were cleaning the grave site where my mothers grandfather was buried as well as her parents, I was told that the owner of the land around the cemetery stated that he was going to destroy the cemetery because he didn't want it in the middle of his field. I had a copy of any old deed that exempt an acre of land for a cemetery when the land was transferred. When he told me that he owned the cemetery - I ask him when he bought it - he gave me the date that he purchased the land around it. I told him that the deed that I had clearly stated that an acre of land was exempt for a cemetery and that if he didn't want trouble he had better leave that cemetery alone. The cemetery is still standing. So I would check the records and go from there. Ruth At 03:07 PM 9/27/00 -0400, you wrote: >I would think the principal of a school is a public official. Our tax >dollars at work. >I thought there was a North Carolina law on the books protecting old and >abandoned cemeteries. Can anyone out there shed some light on whether such a >law exist? > >Steve > > >==== NCWAYNE Mailing List ==== >Wayne County, North Carolina NCGenWeb >http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/ > >============================== >Visit ROOTS-L, the Internet's oldest and largest genealogical >mailing list: >http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/

The reason it isn't enforced is because no one has enough interest to push it. A law is a law!!! Ruth At 10:12 AM 9/27/00 -0400, you wrote: >It is a crime, but not enforced in this state. It is a disgrace. > > >==== NCWAYNE Mailing List ==== >Wayne County, North Carolina NCGenWeb >http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/ > >============================== >Choose from over 19,000 mailing lists at: >http://lists.rootsweb.com/

Try this site for the NC statues concerning cemeteries. Bill has transcribed a lot in the western half of the state. http://www.arch.dcr.state.nc.us/cemetery.htm Sincerely, Cathy Cranford-Ailstock [email protected] http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cranford/cathy1.html ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 3:07 PM Subject: Re: [NCWAYNE] Wayne Co. Grave Destroyed > I would think the principal of a school is a public official. Our tax > dollars at work. > I thought there was a North Carolina law on the books protecting old and > abandoned cemeteries. Can anyone out there shed some light on whether such a > law exist? > > Steve >

There is a law against destroying cemeterys. But first your got to prove who destroyed it. if you can do that then go and report it. Ruth At 07:18 AM 9/27/00 -0400, you wrote: >Is this not a crime? If it is not, then it should be. Maybe the first step is >to make it law and keep it inforced. >Pam > > >==== NCWAYNE Mailing List ==== >Wayne County, North Carolina NCGenWeb >http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/ > >============================== >Ancestry.com Genealogical Databases >http://www.ancestry.com/search >Search over 2500 databases with one easy query!

I would think the principal of a school is a public official. Our tax dollars at work. I thought there was a North Carolina law on the books protecting old and abandoned cemeteries. Can anyone out there shed some light on whether such a law exist? Steve

Then I would report that school system to the police and the media and stir up everything I could on it in Wayne County. I have a lot of family buried there, myself. Pam

It is a crime, but not enforced in this state. It is a disgrace.

I think the situation should be taken to the county commissioners. Letters to the newspapers describing your experiences would be good, too, because that would help to get the public behind you. Until local people care and put pressure on the public officials, nothing will happen. Public officials do respond to local sentiment. A list of county commissioners including the chairman is at http://www.naco.org/counties/counties/county.cfm?id=37191 Diana H. F. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 9:12 AM Subject: Re: [NCWAYNE] Wayne Co. Grave Destroyed > It is a crime, but not enforced in this state. It is a disgrace. > > > ==== NCWAYNE Mailing List ==== > Wayne County, North Carolina NCGenWeb > http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/ > > ============================== > Choose from over 19,000 mailing lists at: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/ > >

Wayne isn't the only North Carolina cemetery being destroyed. I went this summer to Raft Swamp cemetery in Robeson Co. and a lot of the tombstones were broken by vandals in a trailer park next door. Children would climb over the fence and either break them or tip them over. Barbara Justice

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: {not a subscriber} Re: [NCWAYNE] Need someone to make copies Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 12:00:20 -0700 From: "I am who I have always been." <[email protected]> Reply-To: "I am who I have always been." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> June, Are there any PITMAN or PITTMAN families in the 1850 Wayne County census that you could share with me? I am trying to find the origins of the Wilson County families who lived in eastern Wilson Co in 1860, which was formed in 1855, some of the territory having been in Wayne Co. Thanks, Bev [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PITTMAN DATA BANK: Now 2,210 depositors, and growing! http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bevwmson/pittmandatabank.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life is a one-way trip .. take the detours." CyberBev, Jan 2000 ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 12:36 AM Subject: Re: [NCWAYNE] Need someone to make copies > Ted, > What names are you searching for in Wayne County? I don't know if it is of > any help but I would be willing to send you what you need of 1850 Wayne > County, NC census, and I do have some NC marriages on a CD. No charge. > June

Is this not a crime? If it is not, then it should be. Maybe the first step is to make it law and keep it inforced. Pam

I have had a similar experience with trying to locate some of my ancestors in Wayne County. There was a cemetery near woodland School that had graves of some of my ancestors and the stones are broken and upturned and in general vandalized and a pig pen had been on the site! Sarah Ted Gurley wrote: > Last week I spent four days in the area doing research. I met some great > folks and had a good time in spite of the rains. Thursday was dedicated to > driving the county cemeteries. > > I had a very unique and disturbing experience last Thursday afternoon. I > was driving around the county trying to visit cemeteries and document my > line. I was trying to find one behind the Rosewood High School. It was > listed as cemetery #256 in the Wayne Co. Gravestone book, I was looking for > the stone for my a great uncle, Lewis and his family. I searched and > searched and could not find the place. Finally, I saw a woman who was one > of the groundskeepers and I asked her about some graves behind the > school. She had a perplexed look on her face and said that she remembers > seeing four or five stones this past summer when they were doing some > cleaning behind the school. She took me out to the area on her tractor and > we found one overturned stone that was not the one I was looking for but, > clearly we were in the right spot. Broken stones were being used to prop > up the tongue of a rusted trailer. Other stones had been busted up. She > said she told the workers who were cleaning that one day someone would come > looking for their relatives. > > She called one of her co-workers on the radio who came right over and the > worker related to us that the Principal wanted the area cleared up last > summer and that several of the school employees were working on the area. > She saw several stones loaded on the back of a truck and taken to the > Dudley dump with the other trash from the back area! I was appalled. We > all just shook our heads in disgust. > > I could tell both of the workers were very surprised and almost embarrassed > to realize that less than three months later a 40 year old guy from Texas > would show up looking for these stones. I said my thank you's and left. > > In my opinion, this story should be made public. Just maybe someone at the > dump didn't let these stones get trashed. At the least, new stones should > be set up for all the folks buried in #256 by the Rosewood School > District. I would like for someone at the News-Argus to look into this. > > Please let me know what you feel I should do. > > According to the Wayne Co., NC Cemeteries book p. 253: > > Lewis Gurley b. 5-11-1832 d. 6-24-1905 > Wife Elizabeth Gurley b. 5-4-1848, d. 8-26-1882 > Mack Edwards > Sallie, daughter of Sampson and Clarkey Edwards > Sula, wife of J.S. Edwards > Elizabeth G. wife of A.J. Swinson > Carl Raymond, son of Ad and Lucretia Pierce > two sunken plots and tree infant graves > > ==== NCWAYNE Mailing List ==== > Wayne County, North Carolina NCGenWeb > http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/ > > ============================== > Visit ROOTS-L, the Internet's oldest and largest genealogical > mailing list: > http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/

I will think about doing that. I had not considered that previously. Thank you for that suggestion. ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

I think you should write the local paper yourself and tell the story, just as you did to this list. This way you know for sure that it gets in the paper and others will know about it. I feel that is a awful thing to have done to the families as well as to the county reputation as a whole. Pam

I share your angst. This is not the first Wayne County Cemetery that I know of that has been destroyed in recent years. I saw farmers ploughing over a cemetery some years back. The tombstones that time were knocked down and covered over with dirt. That time it was Daniel's Quarters. My husbands grandparents, some cousins, and I don't know how many others were buried there. It is all gone now though. I hope someone can make the powers that be understand that these old cemeteries need to be preserved. If you have any ideas, perhaps I can help in your efforts. Carolyn C.C. Rowe ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

Last week I spent four days in the area doing research. I met some great folks and had a good time in spite of the rains. Thursday was dedicated to driving the county cemeteries. I had a very unique and disturbing experience last Thursday afternoon. I was driving around the county trying to visit cemeteries and document my line. I was trying to find one behind the Rosewood High School. It was listed as cemetery #256 in the Wayne Co. Gravestone book, I was looking for the stone for my a great uncle, Lewis and his family. I searched and searched and could not find the place. Finally, I saw a woman who was one of the groundskeepers and I asked her about some graves behind the school. She had a perplexed look on her face and said that she remembers seeing four or five stones this past summer when they were doing some cleaning behind the school. She took me out to the area on her tractor and we found one overturned stone that was not the one I was looking for but, clearly we were in the right spot. Broken stones were being used to prop up the tongue of a rusted trailer. Other stones had been busted up. She said she told the workers who were cleaning that one day someone would come looking for their relatives. She called one of her co-workers on the radio who came right over and the worker related to us that the Principal wanted the area cleared up last summer and that several of the school employees were working on the area. She saw several stones loaded on the back of a truck and taken to the Dudley dump with the other trash from the back area! I was appalled. We all just shook our heads in disgust. I could tell both of the workers were very surprised and almost embarrassed to realize that less than three months later a 40 year old guy from Texas would show up looking for these stones. I said my thank you's and left. In my opinion, this story should be made public. Just maybe someone at the dump didn't let these stones get trashed. At the least, new stones should be set up for all the folks buried in #256 by the Rosewood School District. I would like for someone at the News-Argus to look into this. Please let me know what you feel I should do. According to the Wayne Co., NC Cemeteries book p. 253: Lewis Gurley b. 5-11-1832 d. 6-24-1905 Wife Elizabeth Gurley b. 5-4-1848, d. 8-26-1882 Mack Edwards Sallie, daughter of Sampson and Clarkey Edwards Sula, wife of J.S. Edwards Elizabeth G. wife of A.J. Swinson Carl Raymond, son of Ad and Lucretia Pierce two sunken plots and tree infant graves

Sorry folks... That wasn't meant for the list but it got away from me. It was a fun poke at my daughter who's been looking for a job recently.

Ooo! Here's some money to be made. I should send Sarah over there... -----Original Message----- From: Ted Gurley [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, September 25, 2000 11:28 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NCWAYNE] Need someone to make copies Greetings Wayne Co. - I need some help, last weekend I spent over seven hours in the Wanye Co. library trying to get some time on the microfilm copier to make copies of obits and marriages from the "Headlight". It was real frustrating. One fellow was at the lone microfilm copy-machine both Friday and Saturday using it to read page by page the census films. I asked several times for 15 or 20 minutes of time, explaining that I was from Dallas and did not know when I could come back. If there is anyone in Wayne Co. that would be willing to try to get a few minutes on the microfilm copier, I will pay for the copying and $20 per hour for your time. I have all the dates and names I need and will gladly send them to you. Thanks, Ted ==== NCWAYNE Mailing List ==== Wayne County, North Carolina NCGenWeb http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/ ============================== Search over 64,000,000 records in the Social Security Death Index: http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/

Do you have any info on Bowden or Grant or Kornegay families. Any help will be appreciated. Ruth At 12:36 AM 9/26/00 -0400, you wrote: >Ted, >What names are you searching for in Wayne County? I don't know if it is of >any help but I would be willing to send you what you need of 1850 Wayne >County, NC census, and I do have some NC marriages on a CD. No charge. > >June > > >==== NCWAYNE Mailing List ==== >Wayne County, North Carolina NCGenWeb >http://www.betterthanmost.com/wayne/ > >============================== >Visit ROOTS-L, the Internet's oldest and largest genealogical >mailing list: >http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/

Ted, What names are you searching for in Wayne County? I don't know if it is of any help but I would be willing to send you what you need of 1850 Wayne County, NC census, and I do have some NC marriages on a CD. No charge. June