In a message dated 8/30/2001 8:12:07 AM Central Daylight Time,
JRdinius(a)dnr.state.in.us writes:
<< As for locations, do the landowners know they have this on their property?
Does the plan commission know of this? The plan commission (or zoning
office) gives out building permits and can help enforce the no ground
disturbance within 100 ft of these cemeteries. >>
All the more reason not to pursue this. It's one thing to buy land with an
old, previously marked cemetery on it, it's something else to buy a house
that someone lived in 100+ years ago and buried their infant son or daughter
in the yard and now you can't till your garden because someone pointed out to
the Plan Commission that there is a grave there....somewhere. I, too, know
of some burials of this type and I've logged them and forwarded them to the
Historical Society. Due to the lack of information in the article, it would
be hard to pinpoint the exact house anyway, and can someone prove that the
infant wasn't later transferred to a cemetery and is now in an unmarked grave
there? Please don't get me wrong, I'm interested and the preservation and
restoration of cemeteries, but I'm not interested in causing someone
unneccesary grief because I think a baby that died 100 years ago is buried in
their pasture. If I was, I'd be trying to keep the farmer in Montgomery
County that owns my ancestors' old farm from planting his crops since we
believe several members of my family were buried there, and are now being
farmed over. It's not the farmer's fault they chose to do that and not mark
it as a recognizable cemetery. Personally, I'd keep the government out of
this issue and let the historians make note of the information and preserve
it as such.
Kyle D. Conrad