Lois,
In California we would call what the Church has done "Greed." They saw an
opportunity and they're taking it. They're not "hoping" to re-coup the
costs, they've already cut the deal with the developer.
This is truly a sad state of affairs. In California, the Catholic Church
has abandoned many gold rush town cemeteries or turned those consecrated
Catholic burying grounds over to others.
I know we shouldn't trust the government. But now we can't trust the
churches?
Every historic cemetery lost is a lost piece of our heritage - individually
as states and collectively as a nation. If we had a ton of money
(literally), we probably could not stop it for there are seemingly more of
"them" out there than "us."
We do the very best we can. That's all anyone can expect from us, ourselves
included.
God bless,
Sue Silver
El Dorado County
----- Original Message -----
From: Lois Mauk <LoisMauk(a)home.com>
To: <INPCRP-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2001 8:05 PM
Subject: [INPCRP] Whoops! There goes ANOTHER one!
Well, we've lost ANOTHER pioneer family cemetery!!!!!
I've uploaded to
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp/Disinter.html a copy of:
(1) Verified Petition for Judgment Authorizing the Removal and Reinterment
of
the Remains of One or More Deceased Humans from One Cemetery to
Another
Cemetery, filed in Clark Superior Court on February 6, 2001.
(2) Judgment Authorizing the Removal and Reinterment of the Remains of One
or
More Deceased Humans From One Cemetery to Another Cemetery, entered
as a
rubber-stamped Judgment of the Court on February 6, 2001 (the same date
the
Petition was filed).
(3) Indiana State Department of Health Permit to Disinter, Remove and
Reinter
Human Remains (No. 2001-16), dated February 15, 2001.
Attached to the above Petition is a copy of the Warranty Deed dated June
7,
1890, from William Adams and Eliza E. Adams, his wife, conveying to
the
Trustees of New Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church "the grave yard situated
on
the real estate now owned by said William Adams in said County of
Clark,
being
a part of Survey No. Six (6) of the Illinois Grant, bounded thus:
Beginning
at a stake in the original line dividing Surveys No. Five (5) and Six
(6)
of
said Grant, said stake is 5.6 rods from the corner stone at the
corner of
Surveys 5, 6 and 13 of said Grant, thence N. 52 degrees 13 minutes East
6.44
rods to a stake; thence S. 37 degrees 30 minutes East 7.44 rods to a
stake;
thence S. 52 degrees 13 minutes W. 6.44 rods to a stake on the
original
line
dividing said Surveys No. 5 and 6; thence, N. 37 degrees 30 minutes W
7.44
rods on the said original line dividing said Surveys No. 5 and 6 to the
place
of beginning. SAID REAL ESTATE IS TO BE KEPT AS A GRAVE YARD."
[Emphasis
added.]
==========================
Ladies and Gentlemen of the INPCRP:
I received word of the planned disinterment of Adams Family Cemetery at
about
8:15 this morning (Thursday, 3/29/2001). I have been absolutely
distraught
all day long. At lunch, I went to the Courthouse in Jeffersonville
to
obtain
a copy of the Petition and Judgment. On the way back to the office,
I
could
not bring myself to read it. Walking from the garage to my office, I
read
the
documents. I started sobbing in the elevator, went to the ladies
room to
throw up and reeled down the hall, crying.
I first learned of the existence of the Adams Family Cemetery on December
29,
1999. When we first visited the site, it was completely overgrown
and had
not
been tended in years, possibly decades.
In the Spring of 2000, we obtained permission from New Chapel Church (the
deeded owner, but several miles away) to use inmate labor provided by our
County Sheriff to clear the Cemetery. For pictures and more details about
our
investigation, see:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~incccpc/AdamsFamilyCem.html
The bottom line is that we found NO conventional "markers" at Adams Family
Cemetery, though we did find numerous unmarked depressions in a
north-south
line and one unique stone I'm convinced is a gravemarker.
Today, I learned that Adams Family Cemetery is joining that painfully long
list of portable cemeteries in Indiana.
If you don't believe that this can happen to a cemetery or cemeteries that
you
are involved with, consider this:
Jack Briles has FOUR cemeteries in tiny Floyd Co. that either have already
been moved or will likely be moved in the next month or so, now that nicer
weather is upon us.
I've got ONE cemetery here in Clark Co. that is absolutely going to be
moved
any day now and ANOTHER ONE apparently in the works.
I've thought for some time now that cemetery relocations were relatively
rare
events.
According the State Permit referenced above, as of FEBRUARY 15, 2001,
there
had been at least SIXTEEN APPLICATIONS made to relocate human
remains. I
can't wait to find out how high that number is today, three whole months
into
the new year. (I don't know how many of those applications were
actually
granted.) Also interesting will be the gross number of cemetery
disinterment
permits granted in the whole year of 2000. I'm sure the number
will be
staggering.
Please, I urge you -- Don't be naive like me!!! I don't know how we can
be
any more vigilant than we already are, but for heaven's sake,
keep your
eyes
and ears open!
I thought Adams Family Cemetery was one of the "safe ones". The owner of
the
surrounding property was developing it into high-density houses and
a
miniwarehouse storage facility, but the Cemetery itself was ostensibly
"PROTECTED" by an 1890 DEED. The Cemetery was owned by a very old, well
respected Church. The Church representative's last words to me last Fall
were
that the Church was going to build a fence around the cemetery to
protect
it
as the surrounding property was developed. A presumed descendant of
the
persons buried here (can't be confirmed since the graves are apparently
not
marked or the stones are so deep they can be found) was involved in
our
initial visits to the cemetery and congratulated us on organizing its
clean-up.
Then, this morning, a friend of mine in the Sheriff's office (the man who
supervised the inmates who cleared the Cemetery last spring and who kept
the
weeds whipped in the cemetery all summer long) called and said,
"Did you
know
they are moving Adams Cemetery?"
The living (presumed) descendants are not opposed to the graves being
relocated and the plan is to bury them in the same plot as other Adams
family
members of the same era at New Chapel Cemetery.
After the relocation of the remains, the Church hopes to sell the property
to
the developer to recoup some of its expense in disintering and
reinterring
the
remains.
A huge cloud of depression and despair has now encased me. I can see
light at
this tunnel, but it is apparently an oncoming train.
While I was truly sympathetic last year when Black Beauty Coal tried to
disinter Braner Cemetery in Sullivan County and was totally sympathetic to
Jack Briles' anger and frustration in finding four "portable" cemeteries
in
Floyd Co., I am just too depressed to deal with this mess any more,
certainly
not tonight. God willing, I'll bounce back tomorrow.
But, take caution, our pioneer family cemeteries are literally vanishing
before our very eyes and there is apparently not a darned thing in the
world
we can do to stop it.
Good night.
Lois
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