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Archiver > TXBELL > 2001-05 > 0990639528


From: "Vicki Reynolds" <>
Subject: Re: [TXBELL] Bell County Trip Update
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 12:38:48 -0500
References: <20010523044916.23284.cpmta@c000.snv.cp.net>


Hi Joe,
Gee, your really working hard out there & I can't tell you how much I
personally appreciate all the effort you are putting into Bell County. I
will be dropping in the mail at the end of this week the photos of my
Lemmons who are buried in North Belton Cemetery and other photo's of
interest. Thanks a million for all of your hard work.
Vicki in Houston

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Deaver" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2001 11:49 PM
Subject: Re: [TXBELL] Bell County Trip Update


>
> It took all day, but I did make it to all of the cemeteries on my
anticipated list from a couple of weeks ago. (Not counting
Eulogy/Carpenter, since the land owner did not get back with me in time.)
>
> I believe I took 250-300 photos the past few days with my digital camera.
Yesterday, I got several at North Belton Cemetery. (I've also been
contacted by TWO people this week who are ready to send me more photos from
North Belton!) Not sure what my chances are to stop by the cemetery office
when they are actually open tomorrow, but I am going to try so I can ask
about a data source for an online listing.
>
> Today was a whirlwind tour of cemeteries. I managed to forget about
lunch, but had to play the waiting game at a local clinic when I had a minor
injury. (Don't ask...heh.) I photographed the following cemeteries sites
and several graves within: South Belton, East Belton, Hill, Hodge,
Hillcrest, Evergreen (New Hope), a small Mexican cemetery formerly managed
by Hillcrest, Temple Pauper/League, Lancaster, Little Flock, Wedel, and
Antioch Baptist. I stopped by where Ferguson Cemetery is, but could not see
any graves. It appeared to be on private land and the weeds were somewhat
high, so I gave up on that one. (The remote location was not a good risk
factor.)
>
> East Belton was highly overgrown, but I did get a few photos after wading
into the less dense areas. Hill Cemetery was really well hidden off Waco Rd
not far from the Charter Oak Tree and it was high in weeds as well. Hodge
Cemetery, burial place of Bell County pioneer Joseph Dennis, was the most
challenging to find. It's behind (and owned by) an apartment complex in
Temple. It's a wonderful secluded and shaded little cemetery where I
stopped to catch up on my photo files during the afternoon. On the way to
Evergreen (New Hope?), I happened upon a small Mexican cemetery and
photographed it. The coordinator at Hillcrest said they used to maintain
it, but it is now private. Spent a lot of time at massive Hillcrest (more
on this one later) and then Lancaster Cemetery.
>
> Then, I searched for Little Flock Cemetery and finally found it after some
wrong turns. (Lanny Ottosen is working on a nice effort to get that list
online, by the way.) Stopped at Dyess Church Cemetery near Stringtown,
which was recently inventoried by Skye Bobadilla and friend. Winding down,
I stopped at Wedel Cemetery and Antioch Baptish Cemetery (very small) near
Heidenhammer. As I mentioned, I tried Ferguson near Little River without
success.
>
> Now, back to the subject of Hillcrest Cemetery, the enormous location in
Temple. I've had many people ask me when we are going to have the listing
for that one online. Well, I have some good news and some bad news. I
stopped by and talked to the manager of the cemetery. He was very friendly
and showed me around their office and records. Right now, their records are
ALL written, going back to the mid 1800s. The book they have these in would
be almost impossible to photocopy. They don't have a computer. I talked
with him for a little while and he agreed that it would be best to have it
in electronic format, due to all the queries they get that are time
consuming with the current hardcopy (lettered sections, but not
alphabetically sorted within the sections). He definitely would not mind
routing some queries to our website, either.
>
> Right, the only possible idea I can come up with is to have a few local
volunteers drop by the cemetery office occasionally over time to transcribe
a few pages at a time until it is complete. They obviously cannot let the
single master book out of the office. The manager sounds very interested in
a cooperative agreement where we both can use the data files. (Obviously,
we would get this is writing before any effort is initiated.) What do you
think? Any other suggestions? This would be a major resource on our free
TXBELL site, but it's no small task. I'm curious how many local people
would be willing to put in some time to it now and then. I don't live local
to Bell County, so I would have to find someone to coordinate the effort if
it got off the ground.
>
> Well, that's it for now. I hope to start my real vacation time tomorrow
afternoon...heh.
>
> Joe D. Deaver
> TXBELL Coordinator
> http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbell
>
>
>
>
> ==== TXBELL Mailing List ====
> Hosted By The Fine Folks At RootsWeb, For Genealogy
> Bell County Page: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbell
>

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