And of course that lead to their burials. And cemeteries. Turns out that one pair of their great-grandparents are buried a few miles from me, and a great-uncle and aunt (a son of their great-grandfather) are in another nearby cemetery. Their grandmother (daughter of the great-grandparents) is also relatively close, but in the opposite direction. Despite inclement weather, I had a mission to locate them all and insure that each was properly logged in Find A Grave - including GPS coordinates and photos. It was a moral imperative.
Nothing like tramping about in a cold rain to make a day special. Good thing I had a good pair of duck boots.
Prudence requires that one does one's research and due diligence prior to setting out on a journey. In this case that means 1) Knowing the basic route to get there, and 2) Knowing the *AREA* you are heading into. These two cemeteries are not in what one would call 'nice areas'.
Great. Br'er is alone in this jaunt. That means he is prepared to fend off wolves, foxes, bears, wild dogs, and every other predator that would like to make a meal from him.
Ol' Br'er is crazy. He ain't stupid.
Up first: The cousin's great-grandparents. Fortunately someone had provided a photo of the headstone so there is something to reference. It is a shared, upright marker with the family name prominently visible. Great! That means that I can scan many markers from any given point rather than being forced into a detailed grid search. This place is HUGE, so I *REALLY* appreciate that advantage.
And that advantage paid off in spades. It only took about 15 minutes to locate the grave. To be honest, had my eyes been sharper when I first arrived I might have spied it immediately. It is only a few feet off the drive lane and I passed it when I pulled in
Mission accomplished, I wander about for a bit just to see what there is to see. There are some 'information' stations set up so I check those out. Turns out the cemetery is considered abandoned. The company that was responsible for it went bankrupt and ceased operations. Several families with relations interred there have started an organization trying to maintain the property. They have managed to set things up to have the grass mowed on a regular basis (at 7-10 acres this is no small feat unto itself). Everything else remains the responsibility of the individual families for the individual graves or plots.
Good for them for stepping up!
But looking about it is obvious that, though abandoned in the legal sense, the cemetery is still active. There are several noted death dates that are after the date the operations ceased officially. Indeed, there is one grave that is obviously only weeks or months old (the bankruptcy was over a decade ago).
This is not a situation I have encountered before and it presents myriad questions. Who knows who owns what sites? And what sites are not in use vs which are unmarked graves? Who is responsible for opening and closing the graves? Just to name a few!
A little research reveals that "it depends". Basically the Organization set up to try and maintain the place has on-going efforts to get and transcribe all the original documents (that story is long and bizarre - at least from my perspective), They have a lot of the data and will help with the requisite research on who is where and what is open. Grave opening and closing, vault purchase and placement, headstone purchase and placement are more complex matters. Many of these services must, by law, be done only be licensed operators. Whether these are coordinated or provided by the funeral home is open to the individual. Some may opt for 'one stop shopping', others for 'a la carte'. And not every funeral home is necessarily willing to deal with these items in an abandoned cemetery.
In retrospect, this should not have been all that surprising. I have come across a number of older, family cemeteries over the years which are on private property and have seen decades between internments. It is just that this is the first time I have encountered a bankrupt cemetery.
Sadly, as much effort is being made to preserve the place, there are many markers that have toppled (due to the ground heaving rather than vandalism) and many that are in danger of vanishing. These all date from internments around the late 1960s and are in the very back of the site.
Casting my eyes further afield I see several interesting markers. Two are for veterans of the Spanish American War mere feet from each other (by and large there are not many markers for these veterans - at least not in Br'er's territory).
Note the bronze marker added at a later date. This is new to me.
It is also worth noting that neither of these two are VA issued markers.
I also was drawn to this monument.
I need to research more to see if I can learn whether this Marine was interred here or on Iwo. And if that latter, whether his remains were later repatriated. It would appear that there was once a portrait on the marker. Sadly it is long since vanished.
In military terms a "retread" is someone who serves a term, is mustered out, and later re-enlists for a second time. Usually the second enlistment is with another branch entirely. I recently learned that the term began as a reference to men who had served in WWI and later ended up also serving in WWII.
This gentleman was a Old School Retread! Only the second or third I have ever encountered!
Something else I noticed several of, and I have often seen before, are monuments for couples where one of the two is missing an date of death.
Grace here being but one example. Yes, she could still be around at ag 112. But it isn't very likely. And there were several others (harder to get a good photo of those) where the individual was born in the latter part of the 19th century. No arguing THEY are still alive and kicking. No way, no how.
Thus the mystery: Is this a case of someone failing to have the stone updated with the date either due to a lapse or refusing to pay to have it done? Or was the individual buried elsewhere? And if so, why? Remarriage? Moved far away? Next of kin did not know of this grave? Or did they simply override the deceased's wishes?
So many questions that can never be answered!
Speaking of unanswered questions, I noted several markers with the same family name as the one I had set out in search of. But I don't have them in my tree. So now I have to flesh out more of this overall branch of the tree to learn if these additional folks are related or not.
So much research. So little time.
Finally it was time to head off in search of the second set of family - a great-uncle of the newly discovered cousins, and a son of the gentleman I set out to find in the first location.
When I pull onto the property I start to wonder if it is abandoned as well. Were it not for there being a couple of cars at what has to be the office I would have been certain it was.
The burglar bars and 'buzz to enter' I encounter on the office don't exactly scream "SAFE AREA!!!"
But the staff was exceedingly nice and helpful. And they did not laugh as the name I asked them to look up.
It is not a name common today. Indeed, I will wager that it was never a 'common' name.
They are even nice enough to provide a map with the grave location highlighted. Such Service!
What they did not prepare me for was a semi-nameless marker.
Had it not had the family name *and* I known his spouse's name I would not have found the grave.
Another mystery: Why was his name plate never installed? Is it another lapse? Another case of too cheap to buy it? What? Aarrrgghhh!
Still, I updated Find A Grave with the photo (there was not one yet) and updated the GPS location before I called it a day.
I saved the cousins's grandmother's grave hunt for another day.
Prudence requires that one does one's research and due diligence prior to setting out on a journey. In this case that means 1) Knowing the basic route to get there, and 2) Knowing the *AREA* you are heading into. These two cemeteries are not in what one would call 'nice areas'.
Great. Br'er is alone in this jaunt. That means he is prepared to fend off wolves, foxes, bears, wild dogs, and every other predator that would like to make a meal from him.
Ol' Br'er is crazy. He ain't stupid.
Up first: The cousin's great-grandparents. Fortunately someone had provided a photo of the headstone so there is something to reference. It is a shared, upright marker with the family name prominently visible. Great! That means that I can scan many markers from any given point rather than being forced into a detailed grid search. This place is HUGE, so I *REALLY* appreciate that advantage.
And that advantage paid off in spades. It only took about 15 minutes to locate the grave. To be honest, had my eyes been sharper when I first arrived I might have spied it immediately. It is only a few feet off the drive lane and I passed it when I pulled in
Mission accomplished, I wander about for a bit just to see what there is to see. There are some 'information' stations set up so I check those out. Turns out the cemetery is considered abandoned. The company that was responsible for it went bankrupt and ceased operations. Several families with relations interred there have started an organization trying to maintain the property. They have managed to set things up to have the grass mowed on a regular basis (at 7-10 acres this is no small feat unto itself). Everything else remains the responsibility of the individual families for the individual graves or plots.
Good for them for stepping up!
But looking about it is obvious that, though abandoned in the legal sense, the cemetery is still active. There are several noted death dates that are after the date the operations ceased officially. Indeed, there is one grave that is obviously only weeks or months old (the bankruptcy was over a decade ago).
This is not a situation I have encountered before and it presents myriad questions. Who knows who owns what sites? And what sites are not in use vs which are unmarked graves? Who is responsible for opening and closing the graves? Just to name a few!
A little research reveals that "it depends". Basically the Organization set up to try and maintain the place has on-going efforts to get and transcribe all the original documents (that story is long and bizarre - at least from my perspective), They have a lot of the data and will help with the requisite research on who is where and what is open. Grave opening and closing, vault purchase and placement, headstone purchase and placement are more complex matters. Many of these services must, by law, be done only be licensed operators. Whether these are coordinated or provided by the funeral home is open to the individual. Some may opt for 'one stop shopping', others for 'a la carte'. And not every funeral home is necessarily willing to deal with these items in an abandoned cemetery.
In retrospect, this should not have been all that surprising. I have come across a number of older, family cemeteries over the years which are on private property and have seen decades between internments. It is just that this is the first time I have encountered a bankrupt cemetery.
Sadly, as much effort is being made to preserve the place, there are many markers that have toppled (due to the ground heaving rather than vandalism) and many that are in danger of vanishing. These all date from internments around the late 1960s and are in the very back of the site.
Casting my eyes further afield I see several interesting markers. Two are for veterans of the Spanish American War mere feet from each other (by and large there are not many markers for these veterans - at least not in Br'er's territory).
Note the bronze marker added at a later date. This is new to me.
It is also worth noting that neither of these two are VA issued markers.
I also was drawn to this monument.
I need to research more to see if I can learn whether this Marine was interred here or on Iwo. And if that latter, whether his remains were later repatriated. It would appear that there was once a portrait on the marker. Sadly it is long since vanished.
In military terms a "retread" is someone who serves a term, is mustered out, and later re-enlists for a second time. Usually the second enlistment is with another branch entirely. I recently learned that the term began as a reference to men who had served in WWI and later ended up also serving in WWII.
This gentleman was a Old School Retread! Only the second or third I have ever encountered!
Something else I noticed several of, and I have often seen before, are monuments for couples where one of the two is missing an date of death.
Grace here being but one example. Yes, she could still be around at ag 112. But it isn't very likely. And there were several others (harder to get a good photo of those) where the individual was born in the latter part of the 19th century. No arguing THEY are still alive and kicking. No way, no how.
Thus the mystery: Is this a case of someone failing to have the stone updated with the date either due to a lapse or refusing to pay to have it done? Or was the individual buried elsewhere? And if so, why? Remarriage? Moved far away? Next of kin did not know of this grave? Or did they simply override the deceased's wishes?
So many questions that can never be answered!
Speaking of unanswered questions, I noted several markers with the same family name as the one I had set out in search of. But I don't have them in my tree. So now I have to flesh out more of this overall branch of the tree to learn if these additional folks are related or not.
So much research. So little time.
Finally it was time to head off in search of the second set of family - a great-uncle of the newly discovered cousins, and a son of the gentleman I set out to find in the first location.
When I pull onto the property I start to wonder if it is abandoned as well. Were it not for there being a couple of cars at what has to be the office I would have been certain it was.
The burglar bars and 'buzz to enter' I encounter on the office don't exactly scream "SAFE AREA!!!"
But the staff was exceedingly nice and helpful. And they did not laugh as the name I asked them to look up.
It is not a name common today. Indeed, I will wager that it was never a 'common' name.
They are even nice enough to provide a map with the grave location highlighted. Such Service!
What they did not prepare me for was a semi-nameless marker.
Had it not had the family name *and* I known his spouse's name I would not have found the grave.
Another mystery: Why was his name plate never installed? Is it another lapse? Another case of too cheap to buy it? What? Aarrrgghhh!
Still, I updated Find A Grave with the photo (there was not one yet) and updated the GPS location before I called it a day.
I saved the cousins's grandmother's grave hunt for another day.
