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Archiver > INPCRP > 2001-06 > 0991506471


From: "Sue Silver" <>
Subject: Re: [INPCRP] Status of the Lewellyn Graveyard in Bartholomew County, Indiana
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2001 11:27:51 -0700
References: <002001c0eb0e$31ea92e0$0400a8c0@christine> <006201c0eb72$1ca442a0$d08727d8@oz.net>


Hi all,

In California, the state has provided that when the title to property, real
or personal, fails for want of a legal heir or next of kin, the property
reverts to the people - the State, or presumably one of the state's inferior
subdivisions - the county in which the land is located.

Check your Government Codes or other real property codes. You might be
surprised to find that many states established this right of property in the
people...

Sue Silver
CA
----- Original Message -----
From: Andi MacDonald <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2001 7:41 AM
Subject: Re: [INPCRP] Status of the Lewellyn Graveyard in Bartholomew
County, Indiana


> Christine wrote:
> > FOUR: Do they Legally have the right to the quarter of an acre that has
> been excepted out of the deed for over a century? They purchased the
> ground with the full knowledge of how the deed read. It is not their
fault
> a farmer 100 years ago decided his need for farm ground out-weighed his
> conscience and plowed it under. However, I have always heard it said we
> should learn from our past mistakes so we don't repeat them. Developing
> this property carefully and "keeping an eye out" for remains will not
> justify when that last house is built on that last lot in the parcel,
> taking up all 60 acres and wiping out all traces of a once-sacred site.
> They have mentioned before of all the park area they will have in this
> planned community. That is wonderful, but a cemetery ought to be a
> cemetery, not down-graded to a memorial park.
>
> Hello Christine and all,
> you ask if the new owner has a right to the cemetery property. If it was
> "deeded out" as you say, then someone should take the old deed and the new
> deed and see an attorney and ask him this question. A brief synopsis
about
> deeds and cemeteries in Washington state, and probably true in each
> state....
>
> 1. In 1910 Sam Smith had 160 acres. Sam decided to set aside 2.5 acres
> for a cemetery and give it to the local Masons. Sam's deed would now say
> "except that portion set aside for cemetery purposes, an area 2.5 acres in
> size."
> 2. The Masons would now have a new deed which might say "a parcel of land
> 2.5 acres in size, set aside for cemetery purposes." From then on, there
> are two deeds.
> 3. Now, if the Masons group went belly up, and they did not deed the 2.5
> acres over to someone, then the cemetery is considered "abandoned" (as in
> abandoned property).
> 4. Just because the cemetery is abandoned (the owner dies or goes belly
up
> without the property being willed and/or probated, or deeded to someone
> else) does not mean that Sam Smith gets to take over the property again.
> 5. Someone must file a Quiet Title action in a Superior Court in the
> county where the property is and have the property awarded to them by the
> judge.
> 6. Anyone can file the Quiet Title action.
>
> So, to know for sure if the cemetery property is owned by the Crossmann
> group, someone needs to do a title search. If you visit a local title
> company and tell them what is going on and mention that a Pioneer cemetery
> is involved, they may look in their records to see who legally owns the
> cemetery property, for free. Any title company can look in their
> records--it's all on computer and they have easy access--not even the
> county has the easy access a title company may have. Please note that
just
> because a title company says one thing, doesn't mean it's true--especially
> where a cemetery is concerned. They have never been fully tracked as
other
> properties and so the information may not be 100% correct.
>
> You could also go to the courthouse and do a "title search" yourself. It
> takes many hours to do, but if you are serious about this cemetery, you
may
> decide it is worth it. As always--my disclaimer--see an attorney for
> legal advice.
> --------------
> Andrea D. MacDonald "Andi"
>
>
> Washington State Cemetery Association
> http://www.rootsweb.com/~wapsgs/
> Join our maillist for more information on Washington state cemeteries
> subscribe by sending a blank e-mail to:
>
>
> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can
change
> the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ==== INPCRP Mailing List ====
> THIS IS A CEMETERY -----
> "Lives are commemorated - deaths are recorded - families
> are reunited - memories are made tangible - and love is
> undisguised. This is a cemetery.
> "Communities accord respect, families bestow reverence,
> historians seek information and our heritage is thereby enriched.
> "Testimonies of devotion, pride and remembrance are carved
> in stone to pay warm tribute to accomplishments and to the life -
> not the death - of a loved one. The cemetery is homeland for family
> memorials that are a sustaining source of comfort to the living.
> "A cemetery is a history of people - a perpetual record of
> yesterday and sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery
> exists because every life is worth loving and remembering - always."
> --Author unknown -- Seen at a monument dealer in West Union, IA
>
>
>

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