Some of you may remember the stirring and disturbing story in the 2/7/1999
Indianapolis Star-News written by Bill Shaw entitled "Cemetery destruction
burying past, critics say". Bill's story focused on the fact that a sitting
U.S. federal court judge could not stop the disinterment of his ancestors'
remains from a pioneer cemetery in Dubois Co., IN. (That story is currently
available on the Star's website only through its purchase at
http://www.starnews.com/archive for $2.)
I have just received word that the remains of Luther Adams (a Revolutionary
War veteran) and his family members removed from their graves in the Spring of
1998 in order to make way for the construction of a house will be REINTERRED
in a public ceremony at Shiloh Cemetery, Ireland, Dubois Co., Indiana (not far
from Jasper), on Monday, Memorial Day, May 29th.
Luther Adams, David L. Adams and Hester Ann Adams were disinterred from
Wilhoit Cemetery in the spring of 1998. The Wilhoit Cemetery was destroyed.
Some of their remains were found later by the DNR, after it was asked by the
Dubois County Geneology Society to inspect the cemetery . The society had
been informed by a neighbor of the digging. The DNR took the remains to the
University of Indianapolis. The remains have been kept there since. However,
the headstones of the above persons were recovered and the remains are now in
the possession of the nearest of living kin.
The Shiloh Cemetery Association, Inc. of Ireland, Indiana has agreed to
reinter the remains in their cemetery with a respectful ceremony. The
reinterment will be held May 29, 2000 during the annual Memorial day program
at Shiloh.
An appropiate eulogy will be given, followed by a ceremony featuring a Sons of
the American Revolution Color Guard. As a part of the program, the Indiana
State 5th grade DAR essay winner, Darcee Berg, will give her essay. Group and
individual singing will also will be a part of the program.
This is the 73rd consecutive year of annual Memorial Day meetings at Shiloh.
The Gathering will begin at 12 pm EST with a basket dinner. The program will
be held in the Shiloh Meeting House, which was built in 1849. The Meeting
House is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. The program
will begin at 1 pm and conclude at 2 pm. Shiloh is 2 miles southeast of
Ireland on Shiloh Road. The public is invited to attend.
The public outrage in response to the disinterment of the remains from Wilhoit
Cemetery was pivotal in the passage of House Bill 1522 by the 1999 Legislature
and the enactment of that legislation as Public Law 100 (effective 7/1/1999).
While P.L. 100 can't stop this sort of thing from happening in the future
(i.e., the current situation in Sullivan Co. in which a coal company is
petitioning the Superior Court for permission to remove 15 or more persons'
remains from a cemetery it owns), the new legislation did achieve some
important steps which are critical to our future efforts. (See the INPCRP
website for more info on P.L. 100, f/k/a H.B. 1522.)
Lois
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Help save BRAINER CEMETERY in Sullivan Co., IN:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp/HallofShame/brainercem.html
Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp