I have gotten more off-list response from this mailing list than any other, about 'my' cemetery as well as ones you are concerned about, so I thought I would pass along emails that would be pertinent and help others in their battles. Feel free to use any of my letters as examples for your own, and good luck! ----- Original Message ----- From: Sarah To: Annette Bethke [email protected] Virginia Nicholas [email protected] Cc: Jan Cortez Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 11:47 AM Subject: Re: CHC for Bexar County? Thank you so much. I'm trying to get the sadly neglected Alamo Masonic Cemetery cleaned up. I have done a great deal of research on the residents with the help of the genealogists on Rootsweb, and want to pass this on to y'all as I complete them. I want to apply for a Historical Cemetery marker, I'm willing to pay for the marker itself once the cemetery is cleaned up. We need markers for individuals too, and maybe could pay for them out of the $150,000 Cemetery fund the Masons are turning over to the Parks Department, when/if they deed the property over. The Masons are NOT making any attempts now to clean up the cemetery. So far we know of the following...more every day...plus about 50 CSA vets... Fisk (served in the Army of Texas from 1836 to 1837) Frost (bank) Menger (hotel & soap factory) Meusebach (Mr. Meusebach founded Fredericksburg and made the peace treaty with the Indians) Onderdonk (famous regional artist) Cotton, Smith, Schmeltzer, Jenkins (all members of Terry's Texas Rangers) Newcomb (Texas Secretary of State) Van Riper (Texas Ranger) Ham (came to Texas with Jim and Rezin Bowie) Huth (involved in the colonization of Castroville) Smith (daughter of Erastus "Deaf" Smith) and with their own markers: Sinclair (wrote "The Eyes of Texas") Driscoll (saved the Alamo for goodness sake!) I have a presentation on Powerpoint, and these will be on the website at www.rootsweb.com/~txbexar2/alamomasonic.html . That was posted May 9. After I appeared on TV, the grass was partially cut Saturday May 14th. Now that the grass is cut, you can see damaged and broken tombstones everywhere. The Masons met with the City on May 23, and the Parks Dept has agreed to take it over when the Masons deed it over and give them the $150,000 in the cemetery fund. Let's hope that happens soon. The Masons are doing NOTHING to clean it up now. Oh, there was a State Historical Marker for the cemetery, but it was stolen. Once a fence gets put up (Tom Frost has been trying to donate one for years but the Masons have ignored him) and peripheral brush is cleared, theft should not be a problem. This is the ONLY neglected Cemetery in the Eastside Cemetery complex. Sincerely, Sarah Reveley San Antonio 842-9696 ----- Original Message ----- From: Annette Bethke To: Sarah Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 8:42 AM Subject: RE: CHC for Bexar County? The chairperson for Bexar County Historical Commission is: Virginia S Nicholas 117 Stanford San Antonio TX 78212-2009 210/826-7136 [email protected] Annette Bethke Texas Historical Commission History Programs 512/463-1305 [email protected] From: Sarah [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 9:22 PM To: Annette Bethke Subject: CHC for Bexar County? Importance: High Can you please tell me who the County Historic Commission is for Bexar County? Thanks, Sarah Reveley San Antonio