About looking for grave sites -- I noticed on TV that there was a way to see the damage to the layers of land when looking for a body. I was very interested not only for your conversation, but to see if there was someone buried next to a marked grave. Now I know about dousing and know there are people that are proficient in the technique. However, I must ask -- how do you know those were current occupied graves or sites where the bodies have been moved. Did you dig and find casket or bones? I think everyone that has done the history of Bexar County know that some of the land around Santa Rosa was the old Campo Santo (Old Spanish Cemetery). The bodies were moved. When they were putting new Houston street however, they continued to uncover bones that I assume were also moved. Now does your dousing only cover old graves or does it actually indicate that there still are remains at the site. If the graves are along the road, then the road did not cover them. Is the dousing different for a grave vs. underground construction of electric lines or wates lines? I realize that most people think that every grave should be marked and I have been involved and seen where people were deeply distrubed when they see graves outside of cemeteries. There are small cemeteries around San Antonio as there are in all parts of the country. The owners of the land removed the old markers (rocks, wood, or limestone) to insure that the property sold and that no one knew of the graves. Where was the changing point in my thinking -- My cousins went to the ancestral town for the history of the NW Bexar Steubing family. They learned that the cemetery had been recently plowed since there were only decades old graves and any markers are worn to the ground. Now there could be new gravesites where more people could be buried in that cemetery. Now if a town can do that to a cemetery, do I need to get excited about a grave that apparently the family did not care enough about. Also the closing of old cemeteries and the authorties in charge are not being very careful in the project-- Bones mixed, left behind, moved to unmarked sites, lists of names of those moved lost. In NW Bexar there was a little cemetery known as Hoffmann's Culebra cemetery on Culebra road. When it became evident that Hoffmann's Ranch would not stay in the family, the graves were dug up and the gravestones and the remains were removed to another cemetery. I was there and remember them counting all the bones to be sure they found them all. Now many people did not move the graves off their ranchland. Some knew there were graves and other sites were lost to history. Again -- should we be concerned if the family did not care enough to see to the permanent markings of the sites. Then there are those individuals that think that it is neat to be buried at sea or have their ashes spread upon the waters or the lands -- how would we mark those sites. As I've mentioned, the older I get and the more things I see have left me at a point where I am no longer concerned as I was before the world educated me. I don't think we should be that concerned. In the mentioned case, it would seem that simply keeping up the area would be sufficient. And are you sure the bodies are there and not only the old remains? I really do want to know since I am missing the places were ancestors were buried. Also there are plots and lots that I want to know if they are occupied to see whether the "lost"are there without a tombstone. I look forward to the point in time when science and equipment progress to a point where it would be reasonible to hire someone to look at pieces of land. It will be wonderful when we can go over cemeteries and locate unmarked graves. But, while those families prayed "gone but not forgotten" they did indeed forget. You note that the county records the purchase of lots -- do they indeed? I didn't think that it was done very often. Where would I go exactly? I don't have time to search for a site that might not exist. Mary Lee Sloan >From: [email protected] (Ross McClain) >To: [email protected] >Subject: Re: Lost graves >Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 19:00:07 -0500 > >If the city bought rightaway for those roads then there should be a list >of the graves below those roads. The City Plaining commission is the >first place I would check. And also County records those grave sites >were bought by some poor soul and there should be deeds for those plots. > > >============================== >Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the >areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. >Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx >

At 19:10 11.06.05 -0600, you wrote: >About looking for grave sites -- I noticed on TV that there was a way to >see the damage to the layers of land when looking for a body. I was very >interested not only for your conversation, but to see if there was someone >buried next to a marked grave. Now I know about dousing and know there >are people that are proficient in the technique. However, I must ask -- >how do you know those were current occupied graves or sites where the >bodies have been moved. Did you dig and find casket or bones? People, there isn't one scintilla of evidence that dowsing for graves is nothing more than simple folk nonsense. There are no people who are proficient at it since there's nothing to be proficient at. Please look at the correct ways to find grave and help restore cemeteries and not waste time on folk magic. Here go learn what you can do which is effective. http://www.savinggraves.org/education/index.htm