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From: Gary K. Lee< >
Subject: Re: PRESERVATION OF MISSOURI CEMETERIES
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 00:57:33 -0500


Dear Mrs. Heird:

I noticed your posting on the CEMETERY-L discussion list. The following I
quote from pages in a 1990 cemetery book "A Comprehensive Survey of Benton
and Crawford Townships, Osage County, MO" sponsored by the Osage County
Historical Society, PO Box 402, Linn, MO 65051:

>>>>
CEMETERY PRESERVATION LEGISLATION ENACTED INTO MISSOURI LAW

First Regular Session
(Truly agreed to and finally passed)
HOUSE BILL NO. 60
84th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

AN ACT
Relating to certain cemeteries, with penalty provisions.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

Section 1. Every person who shall knowingly destroy,
2 mutilate, disfigure, deface, injure or remove any tomb,
3 monument or gravestone, or other structure placed in any
4 abandoned family cemetery or private burying ground, or
5 any fence, railing, or other work for the protection or
6 ornamentation of any such cemetery or place of burial of
7 any human being, or tomb, monument or gravestone,
8 momento, or memorial, or other structure aforesaid, or of
9 any lot within such cemetery is guilty of a class A mis-
10 demeanor. For the purposes of this section and section 2 of
11 this act, an abandoned family cemetery or private burying
12 ground shall include those cemeteries or burying grounds
13 which have not been deeded to the public as provided in
14 chapter 214, RSMo, and in which no body has been interred
15 for at least twenty-five years.

Section 2. Any person who wishes to visit an aban-
2 doned family cemetery or private burying ground which is
3 completely surrounded by privately owned land, for which
4 no public ingress or egress is available, shall have the right
5 to reasonable ingress or egress for the purpose of visiting
6 such cemetery. This right of access to such cemeteries
7 extends only to visitation during reasonable hours and
8 only for purposes usually associated with cemetery visits.

Section 3. Nothing in this act shall be construed to
2 limit or modify the power or authority of a court in any
3 action of law or equity to order the disinterment and
4 removal or the remains from a cemetery and interment in a
5 suitable location.

>>>>

I hope this text may be helpful although it doesn't completely answer your
question. Your concern is a very important one: a few years ago a small
rural family burial ground of a coworker's spouse (in Illinois) was
discovered to have been destroyed by the neighbor farmer who smashed the
stones, left them in a pile, and plowed the cemetery land for use as farm
land. I was so distressed to hear that and it's not even my family!

Best wishes,
Gary

You wrote:
>Most of my family come from and/or live & die in Missouri. In doing
>research I have found ancestors buried in many private cemeteries.
>Some on deeded and designated cemetery land and many on private farms.
> Do you have any information as to what descendents rights are to
>keep these cemeteries preserved. How do I go about setting up
>Associations, etc. or whatever it takes to keep these intact and
>assured of not being destroyed. One ancestor in particular was born
>in 1776. (He and his wife have plywood signs for headstones) I'm so
>embarrassed. Will do something about that I assure you. Haven't
>found the father as yet.
>
>Would appreciated any information or advise you might have to offer.
>It's very sad to see America's pioneer forgotten this way.

Gary K Lee

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