Kyle,
I am so glad I saw your post this morning. You really got me thinking about all the
resources we actually have here in Putnam Co. Like Newton County, Putnam County has a
Community Foundation. We also have some very responsive Twp. trustees. Even though most
will tell you they don't have money budgeted for cemeteries, I think we might be able
to persuade some to do something. I will be looking into other options in the near future.
I would be very interested in how you approached these groups. Sheila Morrison
KidClerk(a)aol.com wrote:
L.A. and the list...
I believe I saw YOUR name appear in the Journal and Courier in recent
days.... nice job!
You all know I'm not bashful...
Iroquois, Washington, and Jackson townships in Newton County continue to
have professional restoration done this summer by Helen Wildermuth and Mark
Davis. We recently marked 20 unmarked burials at Riverside Cemetery in Brook
with small, flat burial markers with the names of the deceased and, if known,
their dates. These were determined through our cemetery records along with
death and funeral records and obits. I hope to do 20 more this year. These
were made possible by our Iroquois Township trustee.
I am currently indexing the burials of all civil war veterans buried in
Newton County. I applied for and was awarded a $4000 grant from the Newton
County Community Foundation to purchase new civil war flag holders for those civil
war vets who currently do not have a flag holder. This will purchase 5
confederate and 125 union holders. Washington township offered to pay for
theirs, so that will allow 15 more to be ordered and used elsewhere in the county.
In this process, one unmarked veteran was identified and two more are in the
works. Plans are to mark those with government markers in the future.
We have two cemeteries that are in deplorable condition that need attention.
One in Beaver Township (Bell Cemetery) and one in Jackson Township
(Harris/Ames Cemetery). The problem is that they are both on private property and
the townships are hesitant to do anything without either owning them or having
permanent access to them. The Bell Cemetery has two civil war veterans
buried there. Neither cemetery is near a road. Discussions between the townships
and landowners are ongoing but slow. At least the lines of communications
are open.
Some of you might recall last summer we restored and rededicated three
pioneer burials in two separate but close locations in Iroquois township. A
family journal recently discovered indicates additional burials at one of these
locations and plans are underway to erect a marker with that information in the
near future.
In my township alone, approximately $70,000 has been expended in the past
four years on cemetery and mausoleum restoration, mostly in Riverside Cemetery.
(We have a 200 crypt indoor mausoleum built in 1912 with beautiful stained
glass windows) This does not include what Washington and Jackson townships
have done as well. And this is not limited to gravestone restoration. Flag
poles, veterans memorials, paved driveways, etc. are included in the list of
projects completed. All of which is made possible through landfill tipping
fees generated by our landfill and paid to county, township, and town units of
government for each ton of trash dumped there.
I am fortunate to have at least three trustees who appreciate our cemeteries
and who have chosen to use this money in this manner, along with other
projects they fund with their tipping fees. As far as I'm concerned, they are
role models for all trustees to look to when deciding if our pioneer cemeteries
are worth restoring.
If I sound like I'm bragging about what we're doing in these select
townships...I am. But I'm also pointing out that along with all of the horror
stories we hear, there are good things happening. Yes, we're fortunate to have the
money to do this due to our landfill but there may be other options out
there for some, especially those of you in riverboat casino counties or with
active community foundations.
Keep up the good fight everyone....
Kyle D. Conrad
Brook, IN
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