Is by any chance the new owner of this cemetery Rick Mattingly?
At 01:16 AM 05/29/2003 -0400, you wrote:
Dear Ernie:
This situation seems to mirror the ones in Princeton.
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:nwayman@RNetinc.net>nwayman
To: <mailto:loismauk@usa.net>LOIS MAUK
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 12:20 PM
Subject: Re: Union Cemetery, Clark Co., IN
Lois:
I'm sure glad you're still online. I have a slight problem, or should I
say, "we" in Daviess Co., have a slight problem here:
THE PROBLEM: Many of my ancestors, including my parents, are buried in
Oakgrove Cemetery, here in Daviess Co. The cemetery used to be owned by
the I.O.O.F. "Odd Fellows", but since has changed hands several times
since before 1988, including recently.
My sister and some cousins just happened to be at this cemetery on
Saturday, last week, and again on Memorial
Day, Monday, when we were all approached by some scroungy young men,
handing out papers. The papers
said they were going to start charging a $25.00 perpetual care fee for all
graves at this cemetery.
The real problem is, that many of these people who are buried there,
including my maternal line, purchased these
sites, and are buried here, some scattered throughout the property, but
purchased this ground with the understanding that perpetual care was
included with their purchase of their lots, and not have to burden their
children.
As these deceased families have scattered, most cannot be located, if
still living; are aware of this problem?
Many of these deceased families may still live in Daviess Co., and are not
aware of the problem, and even like
our family cannot afford to pay this fee, nor do many of us have the means
to transport equipment to and from
the cemetery, to take care of the sites, let alone, many of us are getting
older, and can't physically take care of
our loved ones. It was enough to have to deal with their deaths, let
alone 50 yrs later to have to take care of them
now.
For those of us still living, we don't need to carry on this burden to our
children, and their children.
This $25. was just including 8 gravesites, that are together per family
name. Shoot, I have 3 family names in one
area, then my granpaw's parents are buried next to the road on the
backside of the cemetery, and his father is
buried across the road in a different spot altogether. They said they'd
pro-rate the spots, but some of the descendents from this single grave are
also buried in another area, and none of their children live around here.
One of their children lives now in Pike Co. IN, and another of my uncles,
their children live in Indianapolis,
and yet another uncles children, all live in Michigan. Now tell me, how
they expect any of those descendents to
take care of their families graves sites. Most of them do not correspond
with each other, let alone keep in contact
with any of us in the hometown, where we all mostly originated from.
LIke I said, I'm sure our ancestors, thought they'd be taken care of for
eternity by the cemetery people without
their children having to pay more money on their care of their graves.
It's like robbing the dead!!!!!!!!!
What do we do? Do you know?
I talked with an attorney today, here locally, and they want us to get an
appt., and talk to them, to see what we all
can do., but my family don't have the money to hire an attorney.
Should I contact the Attorney General's office, would they be able to do
something, or maybe a cemetery board?
A many years ago, my parents & grandparents purchased an extra lot at this
same cemetery. I was there doing
research, and one of the new owners told me that they were going thru the
cemetery, checking unclaimed lots.
They wanted to resell the unused lots. Those lots have already been sold
to the previous families, now deceased,
and are just waiting on a family member to use them. Perhaps some
families don't realize they own these lots,
forturnately our family knew this, and staked our claim; but many families
don't know this either!
There aren't that many empty lots there, within family locations, they
should realize those lots are sold, and
someday someone is going to need them, and they won't be available.
Melanie Wayman
LOIS MAUK wrote:
> >From the Jeffersonville Evening News on 5/20/2003:
>
>The Ladies Union Club of Prather will sponsor a Memorial Day Observance and
>pitch-in luncheon on Sunday, May 25, 2003 at 1:00 P.M. [Eastern DAYLIGHT
>Time]
>at the Clara Brown Community Center in Prather, Indiana (near Charlestown).
>
>The Community Center is the old one-room schoolhouse at Prather, on
>Charlestown Pike, just west of the junction with Highway 62. Here is a link
>to a map of the location:
>
><http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?size=big&mapdata=IMy2jjoKxlnCDpCbrOkq9xOw5h1rYjbHBSs3sm61nVhRVGf5YP89zKSq8fWARc3g09UTVJ%2faB%2f9yY%2bs8LMRZf%2b1yRTAwXNo%2fn0OR2IJypCriG7JHsgxhzrtXBXM81xm7k0Orj0c4xf2ByD%2bjKo%2fTrNIghYvhuXKlClIvL2Wan6BzGSfeMNNUpsgbvjRvgfbHnSZlhTDQY6QKqY5CfNzhzuVddGLgKnoDkiherw36G6cDtniQXzTrYw4CVa1lLsdSLpWqlUTKwF50SyxfYXpCnhLjD49cx%2b5V>http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?size=big&mapdata=IMy2jjoKxlnCDpCbrOkq9xOw5h1rYjbHBSs3sm61nVhRVGf5YP89zKSq8fWARc3g09UTVJ%2faB%2f9yY%2bs8LMRZf%2b1yRTAwXNo%2fn0OR2IJypCriG7JHsgxhzrtXBXM81xm7k0Orj0c4xf2ByD%2bjKo%2fTrNIghYvhuXKlClIvL2Wan6BzGSfeMNNUpsgbvjRvgfbHnSZlhTDQY6QKqY5CfNzhzuVddGLgKnoDkiherw36G6cDtniQXzTrYw4CVa1lLsdSLpWqlUTKwF50SyxfYXpCnhLjD49cx%2b5V
>
>Following lunch, a program will be held including a trustees meeting and a
>tour of Union Cemetery inside the old Ammunition Plant. See:
>
><http://www.rootsweb.com/~incccpc/unioncem.html>http://www.rootsweb.com/~incccpc/unioncem.html
>
>for more information on Union Cemetery.
>
>Lois
>
>==============================
>To join
Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records,
>go to:
><http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237>http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237