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From: "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>
Subject: [Genealogy Bits and Pieces] Fw: Article on Cemeteries
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 09:30:40 -0700

Article on Cemeteries
Submitted by: HOST GFS
(downloaded from: http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb
com/gfnews/february03/theme40203.htm)

Our SIG chat recently had a presentation on Preserving Old Cemeteries
Through Surveys. So often now, especially in localities which are spreading
outward toward what used to be considered rural areas, we hear belatedly of
old cemeteries which are being bulldozed and paved over. Make Way for
Progress! While we do need new malls, housing developments, golf courses,
highways and the like, they should not be created at the expense of our
heritage. More than we would like, we even hear of desecration and vandalism
Whew! What ever happened to respect and tolerance?

While we may not be able to prevent their actual destruction and save the
grounds of these old cemeteries, we CAN preserve the fact of their existence
and knowledge about those who were buried there. A Cemetery Survey requires
planning and work, but will save our old cemeteries in a DOCUMENTARY way. It
is up to us as "The Keepers" to be the caretakers of our history, to
preserve the information that can be obtained from old cemeteries, and to
disseminate it for others to learn from about us.

Regardless of your ethnic background, many old cemeteries are/were the
property of now inactive churches. All the old families may have died out,
or moved away once they prospered a bit. In the case of African American
churches, many of these were established at the end of slavery. My old home
church (with its cemetery) was formally established in 1875, although
members met in a brush arbor there before that. I am fortunate in that my
church is still very active, but the city has grown outward and now
surrounds us. This has caused the tax base to move steadily upward, and new
laws on making property improvements, which is scary.

There are many small family cemeteries on land that different families owned
Often this land passed to a series of heirs, before eventually being sold
to persons outside the family. Most of these cemeteries are now abandoned.
This is also true of African American landowners, although we were sometimes
also buried on the land of our slave owners, or beside them in their church
or family plots.

Another type of large cemetery is very common for African Americans,
especially in the Southeast, called the Colored City Cemetery. In my town
there are three of these, two of which were filled before integration
occurred. Most early Catholics who were African American in my town were
buried in 'blessed ground' in one of these, as well as those people who didn
t
belong to a specific church.

Many areas sponsor a Cemetery Survey through either the State Archive,
County Historical Society, or local Cemetery Department. These will already
have a Form for your use in describing the cemetery and another type for
recording the stones/markers. Check to see if there is a Survey set up for
your locality. If not, you can easily create your own forms.

Cemetery Surveys require you make a grid of the cemetery (just like any good
archeological project), and then systematically record each and every
stone/marker, or indentation where a grave seems to be. Try to get some help
with this from the local scout troop, church group, or whomever you can
interest in the project and for goodness sake, stay out of the poison ivy
or oak! Write down exact directions to the cemetery from a known landmark or
crossroad. If you have access to a GPS receiver, find the longitude and
latitude from the center of the cemetery; include it in your description.
Take photos of the entrance, the general layout, and the markers. You may
even be able to get National Historic Landmark status for it, if your
cemetery meets their qualifications. Then disseminate the data by donating
it to the local library, State Archive, County Historical Society, and LDS,
and by publishing it at a 'virtual' Cemetery Project on the Internet.

Download our Chat Log from the Genealogy Forum Library for more details and
tips (currently in New Uploads), and make plans to Save a Cemetery.

Article on Cemeteries - Feb 03
HOST GFS Alva
Sat Eve Afro-Am SIG Chat

(Permission is hereby granted for you to reprint my article on Cemeteries,
which appeared in the Feb Genealogy Forum Newsletter.)

Sally Rolls Pavia
Sun City, AZ

List Owner:
"Without genealogy, the study of history is lifeless."
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