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Archiver > INWARRIC > 1999-03 > 0921927817


From: Brenda Hay <>
Subject: Re: Epworth United Methodist Church Cemetery
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 05:03:37 -0600


This is an outrage! I hate to hear stories like this. Please let me know the
outcome of this if discovered.
Thanks,
Brenda

Lois Mauk wrote:

> As you may know, I am the State Coordinator for the Indiana Pioneer
> Cemeteries Restoration Project (see http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp for more
> info).
>
> Can anyone on the Warrick County list give me an update or additional
> information on Epworth United Methodist Church Cemetery at Epworth and
> Newburgh Roads?
>
> The site was previously owned by the Salem Baptist Church. In 1956, the
> Methodist Church obtained a Court Order to move the old graves to build a
> new sanctuary. I understand that the graves themselves were, in fact, NOT
> moved and that the Methodist Church was given permission to build the
> sanctuary on top of the graves, so long as excavation did not go more than
> four feet deep. The consensus of those involved in 1956 apparently was,
> because these graves were so old, there was nothing left to move, so the
> remains were not exhumed. There was apparently also a presumption then that
> this would always be church property.
>
> I am advised that the gravestones (but not the graves) were moved to another
> area of church property. About 30 years later (circa 1986), the stones were
> moved again, this time to an area behind the parsonage.
>
> In 1987, C&S Inc. of Tell City, Ind., bought the Methodist Church property
> and set about constructing the Circle S convenience store, gasoline station
> and carwash.
>
> It is my understanding that in September of 1995, there were 60 +/- people
> buried there, including 13 Civil War veterans. It was apparently then that
> headstones from Epworth were moved from behind the church's old parsonage
> and taken to Rose Hill Cemetery, north of Newburgh. Those stones were
> reported deposited at Rose Hill in a pile, some of them damaged. This was
> apparently done without the knowledge or permission of Rose Hill.
>
> The cemetery asked the church to remove the stones from the cemetery
> property. Instead, some family members retrieved their ancestors' stones
> from Rose Hill. At least one descendant arranged for the construction of a
> family memorial at Rose Hill. Several bronze veterans' plaques were
> returned to the government.
>
> There was talk a couple of years ago about erecting a memorial at the
> convenience store site or at Rose Hill and of erecting the veterans' markers
> in a "mock cemetery" at the American Legion Hall.
>
> My question is: "What is the status of this situation?" The information
> provided to me is somewhat dated, in that I have a copy of a January 21,
> 1996 newspaper article written by Patrick W. Wathen, an Evansville Courier
> staff writer. It's been three years since this article ran and I'm curious
> as to what's happened since that time.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Lois Mauk

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