Jeanie Rhodes <J584164(a)aol.com> of Evadale, TX wrote me today about a
situation in Jefferson County, Indiana, involving an abandoned, neglected
cemetery that has been turned into a cow pasture. Believe it or not, the
Township Trustee did not seem particularly concerned about the situation.
By copy of this message, I'm asking Jeanie to send me the name and location
of the cemetery in question, as well as to forward to me as attachments the
photographs she recently took.
Jeanie, I am sending you a copy of this message, which I have sent via an
e-mail discussion group to the members of the INDIANA PIONEER CEMETERY
RESTORATION PROJECT.
Is there a INPCRP member on board who is knowledgeable about or interested
in goings-on in Jefferson County?
This is somewhat out of my "jurisdiction", but I want to see if there is
anything we can do about this situation.
Jeanie, while you are waiting to hear from us again, let me refer you to an
important website:
INPCRP site
http://www.citznet.com/~ssattert/inpcrp/
especially the link to Indiana Cemetery Laws
which will lead you to the Indiana Code regarding
"Care of Cemeteries by Townships" at:
http://www.law.indiana.edu/codes/in/23/ch-23-14-27.html
There you will find the statutes setting forth the Trustee's statutory
responsibility with respect to abandoned cemeteries in his Township; to-wit:
IC 23-14-27-1
Sec. 1.
(a) This chapter applies to each cemetery that:
(1) is without funds for maintenance;
(2) was in existence on February 28, 1939; and
(3) is operated by a nonprofit organization or has no organization.
(b) The trustee of each township shall locate all the cemeteries described
in subsection (a) that are within his township and shall maintain them.
However, a cemetery association claiming assistance under this chapter shall
furnish a verified statement of assets and liabilities to the township trustee.
Sec. 2.
The maintenance of a cemetery includes:
(1) resetting and straightening of all monuments;
(2) leveling and seeding of the ground;
(3) constructing fences where there are none and repairing them; and
(4) destroying and cleaning up detrimental plants (as defined in IC
15-3-4-1), noxious weeds, and rank vegetation.
Sec. 3.
Enough money to provide for the care, repair, and maintenance of the
cemetery shall be appropriated in the same manner as other township
appropriations. The township may levy a township cemetery tax to create a
fund for maintenance of the cemetery, or if a fund has not been provided,
part of the township fund may be used.
Sec. 4.
A township trustee who fails to perform his duties under this chapter
commits a Class C infraction.
Perhaps the Trustee in question needs to be "lovingly and gently" reminded
of the parameters of his responsibility with respect to this site. Rubbing
his nose in this statute will not necessarily result in the site being
protected; however, it is one of the strongest weapons we have.
Sadly, this is not a unique situation. The same thing is happening in every
county in Indiana and, regretably, in every state in the Union. It is only
by applying pressure on those statutorily responsible for the maintenance of
these sites that the problem can be solved for the long-term. Jeanie, if
you and I went up there tomorrow and built a fence and weed-whipped the
cemetery and repaired all the stones, unless the Trustee does his job in the
future, it's going to be in the same sad shape a year from now.
Among other tactics, I suggest you write letters to the Editor of the
Jefferson County newspapers. I also recommend you contact the:
Jefferson County Historical Society
615 W. 1st Street
Madison, IN 47250
Joe Carr, Director
Website at
http://www.seidata.com/~jchs/
and the:
Jefferson County Genealogical Society
c/o Elma Schafer
P.O. Box 4
Canaan, IN 47224
There is also a new Jefferson County, IN e-mail discussion group, which you
can join by sending a one-word message consisting of only the word
"SUBSCRIBE" to:
INJEFFER-L-request(a)rootsweb.com
Once you have subscribed to the list, you can share your concerns with
others interested in preserving Jefferson County, IN local history, family
research, etc.
Also, try checking the Jefferson County USGENWEB site at:
http://www.seidata.com/~bhoggatt/ruth/ingenweb/jeff/county.html
for additional resources.
You will need a lot of grassroots support to make things start to change.
Regards.
Lois
From: <J584164(a)aol.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 09:53:16 EDT
To: LawOfficeInformationSystem(a)worldnet.att.net
Subject: Clark Co., IN Cemeteries
Hi, Pat Mount gave me your name and suggested I write to you.
I am concerned about a cemetery in Jefferson County that has become a pasture.
There are little "cow patties" and footprints among the headstones. I am
sitting here with pictures of four headstones that have dates on them in the
1830's. I also have video of the entire cemetery and the mess the cattle have
made of it.
Enough complaining. I went to the court house in Jefferson County and the one
office I needed was closed. Go figure. I called the trustee and he said "I
know what cemetery you are talking about. (His last name is the same as the
last name of the people who own the land around the cemetery.) I don't know
this man personally but it sounded like he really didn't care one way or
another about this cemetery. All of the people in this cemetery are
grandparents or cousins of mine. They all died before 1860ish so this is an
old cemetery.
What do I do now? I am in South East Texas so I can't just run over to the
courthouse and take care of this. I don't expect to have it mowed every week
but I would like a fence to keep the livestock out. If the cattle are kept
out, I can go once a year to cut the weeds and grass. I would be willing to
come up and reset the headstones if anyone knows how to do repairs.
I've taken enough of your time. If you would like copies of the pictures, I
can send them as attachments or I can mail a copy of the video. HELP!!
Thank you,
Jeanie Rhodes
J584164(a)aol.com