Subject: [TriCounty] Tri-County Bad News Resent-Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 13:46:10 -0700 Resent-From: PABRADFO-L@rootsweb.com(this is Chemung Co. NY, Bradford Co.& Tioga Co. ,Penn.) Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 16:45:28 EDT From: JoyceTice@aol.com To: PABRADFO-L@rootsweb.com Hi All, In Sullivan Township there is an old burial ground of the Baker family on Route 6 just west of the Bradford County/Tioga County boundary. At one time it contained about 30 to 40 tombstones, never recorded. Some years (decades) back the landowner bulldozed the stones into the hedge row where they have been picked off over time. Yesterday I went by and to my horror saw that a house is being built directly on the burial ground. Its foundation has penetrated the cemetery and without doubt disentombed some of the burials. I called a couple of the township officials this morning. They, of course, had no knowledge that this was a burial ground and are as distressed as any of us. I am sure the persons building the house are also not aware that they are on top of, actually in, a cemetery. I doubt anything can be done. But my purpose is only to remark on the tragedy. I did point out to the township officials that a listing of the lost and unmarked burials of Sullivan Township is on my site. This is probably incomplete but was done to the best of my knowledge on unmarked burials. Now they will print it out and look at it. But the horse is out of the barn - or rather the graves are out of the ground. This same thing should be done for every township and the responsible authorities made aware before another such disaster occurs. Joyce M. Tice <A HREF=" http://www.rootsweb.com/~srgp/jmtindex.htm "> Tri-Counties Genealogy & History Sites of Joyce M. Tice</A>

Absolutely incredible -- it makes one wonder how such a thing can happen -- you mean to say township officials were not aware that it was a cemetery? I would think that title to the land would have had some information, unless it was a family site and then subdivided or something. And why were the stones moved in the first place? My brother has a farm in upstate NY and he had a stone walkway to his house where some of the stones came loose and when turned over -- were seen to be gravestones. When and how this happened to become the walkway is unknown. The barn is from the late 1700's and there even was a dirt floor in parts of the house when he bought it. Maybe it was a means of recycling? In Europe graves are recycled every 25 years -- I don't know what happens to the burial bodies (in some cases I've heard of caves or buildings - where the bones are removed to) -- but this is due to scarcity of land. The stones are removed and family contacted to pick up if they want. In some cases, the stones are mounted in church yards, but I would think these are for patrons of the church. Claire ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Van Riper" <kingclutter@earthlink.net> To: <NJHUDSON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, October 06, 2000 10:31 AM Subject: [NJHUDSON-L] Fowarded Cemetery Story | Subject: | [TriCounty] Tri-County Bad News | Resent-Date: | Thu, 5 Oct 2000 13:46:10 -0700 | Resent-From: | PABRADFO-L@rootsweb.com(this is Chemung Co. NY, Bradford | Co.& Tioga Co. ,Penn.) | Date: | Thu, 5 Oct 2000 16:45:28 EDT | From: | JoyceTice@aol.com | To: | PABRADFO-L@rootsweb.com | | | | | Hi All, In Sullivan Township there is an old burial ground of the Baker | family on Route 6 just west of the Bradford County/Tioga County | boundary. At one time it contained about 30 to 40 tombstones, | never recorded. Some years (decades) back the landowner bulldozed | the stones into the hedge row where they have been picked off over time. | | Yesterday I went by and to my horror saw that a house is being built | directly on the burial ground. Its foundation has penetrated the | cemetery and | without doubt disentombed some of the burials. I called a couple of the | township | officials this morning. They, of course, had no knowledge that this was | a burial ground and are as distressed as any of us. I am sure the | persons | building the house are also not aware that they are on top of, actually | in, a cemetery. | | I doubt anything can be done. But my purpose is only to remark on the | tragedy. I did point out to the township officials that a listing of the | | lost and unmarked burials of Sullivan Township is on my site. This is | probably incomplete but was done to the best of my knowledge on | unmarked burials. | Now they will print it out and look at it. But the horse is out of the | barn | - or | rather the graves are out of the ground. This same thing should be done | | for every township and the responsible authorities made aware before | another | such disaster occurs. | | Joyce M. Tice <A HREF=" http://www.rootsweb.com/~srgp/jmtindex.htm "> | Tri-Counties Genealogy & History Sites of Joyce M. Tice</A> | | | | | | | | ==== NJHUDSON Mailing List ==== | Your donations to RootsWeb makes NJHUDSON possible. | RootsWeb Gen. Data Coop. Box 6798 Frazier Park, CA 93222 | http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html | |