Dear Researchers, Published in last Sunday's Omaha World Herald was the following article that I believe should be read around the country. Perhaps it is time that we as genealogists and citizens should ask our legislators to enact a law requiring the upkeep and documentation of ALL cemeteries. Charlene Turner Smith Published Sunday July 27, 2003 Senator calls for full registry of state cemeteries HENDERSON, Neb. (AP) - Mary Kaily and her son Otto died during the blizzard of 1873. Marion Littlefield, a 21-year-old trapper, was killed in a skirmish with the Sioux Indians in Pebble Creek in 1874. Perry Reed served as both a state representative and senator from 1917 to 1933, before Nebraska changed to a unicameral Legislature. All these people are buried in a small but distinguished cemetery off a dirt road, past a sign that says "Dead End Ahead," just south of Henderson. "You gotta get lost to find it," Larry Carlson says of the Farmers Valley Cemetery that includes dozens of his relatives, including the one-time state lawmaker. "It's off the beaten path, it really is," he said. No one knows how many other cemeteries are like it in Nebraska because no one is required to keep track or count the burial grounds. The state has no central registry of cemeteries, although each of the 93 counties keeps some records of cemeteries in their jurisdictions, said Mike Hutchinson, president of the Nebraska State Cemetery Association. "There's a lot of mystery behind some of these old cemeteries," he said. Sen. Ray Janssen of Nickerson has asked for a legislative study this year on the logistics of creating an official registry of cemeteries in Nebraska. It is slated to be examined by the Legislature's General Affairs Committee. Creating a central database would help preserve history and would be a valuable resource for families researching their genealogy, said Hutchinson, who runs Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln. If Nebraska did create an official registry, it would be the first of its kind in the country, said Susan Loving, managing editor of the magazine published by the International Cemetery & Funeral Association in Reston, Va. Creating an official list of all cemeteries in the state is one thing, but finding the resources to preserve and restore the sites is another, said Bob Puschendorf, a preservation officer with the State Historic Preservation Office. "Any kind of centralized oversight of cemeteries for care and maintenance would just be a major undertaking for any one organization," he said. Creating the list, covering hundreds of individual sites, family plots, church cemeteries and active locations, also would be a massive job, he said. However, much of the work may have already been done by volunteers with an interest in family history. The Nebraska State Genealogical Society contacted all the counties and put together a two-volume book seven years ago listing them, said Trish Collister, the group's president. That is probably the most comprehensive list that's out there, she said, assuming the counties had records for all the cemeteries within their boundaries. The book did not list who is buried at each cemetery. In addition to that book, several volunteer grave-tracking endeavors are using the Internet to gather and distribute information. One site, www.rootsweb.com, lists scores of cemeteries and graves throughout Nebraska. Several lists of cemeteries and burial grounds have been compiled by a variety of public and private organizations across the country, but none is all inclusive, said Bob Fells, attorney for the International Cemetery & Funeral Association. A registry of cemeteries, where people interested in tracing their genealogy could easily locate ancestors, may lead to preservation of more neglected burial sites, said Bob Hunt. Hunt, 79, of Littleton, Colo., has been working for about four years to preserve the little-known Youst Cemetery near Hampton started by his great-grandfather in 1870. About 45 people are buried there, with the last one buried in 1934. "Over the years the gravestones have fallen over and broken," Hunt said. "It's all been neglected." Erecting a fence and building a memorial for those whose gravestones have disappeared or broken is estimated to cost $10,000, he said. Soliciting donations may be easier if more people knew about the cemetery, he said. "When I die, who's going to look after it?" Hunt said. Carlson and his wife, Karen, are working to make sure the Farmers Valley Cemetery doesn't become lost to history. Their goal is to prepare about another acre of adjacent land so it can be used to bury as many as 500 more people. No new burials are planned on the current site because Carlson said they don't know where all the bodies are because many headstones are missing. Many of the remaining headstones are cracked, leaning or broken. The crooked and cracked headstone of the cemetery founder, John Brown, rests under a towering oak tree. Keeping up with mowing the grass, trimming the trees and generally maintaining the cemetery can be a full-time job, said Carlson, who operates Sandhills Cattle Feeding Inc. in Bassett. He or his wife try to visit the cemetery about once or twice a week, even though it's a 200-mile drive from home. They have placed flowers on many of the graves, and they hope to erect a new fence and restore damaged gravestones. Even though the cemetery is marked by a state historical plaque, Carlson said getting it listed on a state registry of cemeteries might lead to even more interest and financial support. "There's just a lot of work that needs to be done," he said.