Thumbs up to Mr. Mize and his work. Mary Glenn
------- Original Message -------
From : terry like[mailto:terrylike@yahoo.com]
Sent :
6/6/2010 7:45:21 PM
To : inknox(a)rootsweb.com
Cc :
Subject : RE: Re: [INKNOX] Helderman Cemetery?
Ind. official works to uncover
forgotten cemetery
By JENNY PETER
Vincennes Sun-Commercial
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VINCENNES, Ind. (AP) -- It was a cemetery long forgotten, the resting place of war
veterans
hidden behind dense
vegetation.
And Don Mize, the Harrison
Township trustee, couldn't stand it anymore.
Helderman Cemetery is unknown to most. Until recently, its aged tombstones were
buried in a small cluster of trees just off Indiana 61 outside Monroe
City.
When Mize learned of its existence, all
that could be seen was an old wooden sign marking its location. He vowed to uncover it by
Memorial Day to honor the veterans that lay beneath
the stones.
"Out of respect for our vets and
the people who have loved ones buried here," he said. "These graves
haven't been visible for years."
Buried in
Helderman Cemetery, according to a plot done in 1940, are at least eight veterans,
dispersed
amongst dozens of graves. The names and dates on
their grave markers are faded and worn, many not visible at all.
According to those documents, buried there are two
Civil War veterans, J.L. Hewitt and John Meyers, along with two American Revolutionary War
veterans, Alvin Perkins and Jonathan Weton.
At least four other veterans are said to be buried
there, but their identities aren't known, Mize said.
Mize is treating every tombstone with care, slowing
cutting away the trees and vegetation that's hidden it for years.
But he's not doing it alone.
He's enlisted the help of the Knox County Jail inmate work force. Crews have been
weed-eating,
cutting down trees, raking and removing brush. And after several days of work, tombstones
have
emerged and the dense vegetation is now in piles several feet high, waiting to
be removed from the area forever.
Once the
entire cemetery is revealed, Mize said it will be his mission to keep it that way. He also
plans
to repair some of the headstones that are
broken, straighten some that are toppled and attempt to figure out the
identities of those buried there. Many, he said, are from the 1800s.
"There are babies, elderly people, and some are
even from the 1700s," he said. "People have fathers, mothers, brothers,
grandparents, great-grandparents buried here, and they've not been able
to visit their graves."
The project wouldn't
have been possible, Mize said, without the inmate work force. Their
work, he said, has been "extraordinary," completing in just a matter of
days what Mize thought would take weeks.
And
the men seem to appreciate the work.
"They
feel like these people are lost," Mize said. "And they want to give them back
their resting
place."
Torrance Johnston, 37, a member of the work force, said he enjoyed doing something with
"some historical value."
"We can be proud of
what we're doing here," he said during a brief break.
Fellow worker Jeff Johnson said he enjoyed the
opportunity to "do right instead of wrong."
"We've got more pride in this," added Jason Bradford, 30. "People can
now come to see these
things that were hidden before."
Using the inmate work force has reduced the cost of the project by about
$3,500, something that "saves the taxpayers a lot of money," Mize said.
When it's completed, Mize said, it will have cost the county only
$2,000.
And as far as Mize is concerned, it's
$2,000 very well spent.
"We're giving these
people back their resting places," Mize said.
________________________________
never mind, i did not read this message...claw(a)charter.net
----- Original Message -----
i can give coordinates or directions after i get home its just outside
of
monoe city heading toward wilson creek church its in the back yard of the
Gardners home (they are nice just announce yourself before going back) i
plan to go again real soon as id like to get there before the weeds get to
high
i have a lot of interest in this actual cemetary wish there was a way to
have someone maintain it.
used to be called ralph ray farm
which surname are you in search of?
McGeesGirl(a)aol.com wrote:
Thank you so much Becky!
You are a huge help!
Dianne.
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