Carwyn posted asking about early cemetery documentation, and I would like to address that. Thank you Carwyn for your wonderful comments!
Beginning in 1850, as the county was established and cemeteries were developed, there were not any guidelines for cemetery record keeping. After laying out the land to be used, usually a map was created and a log/record book instituted to keep track of the burials. Sadly, over time, these records and maps have all but disappeared. I do not know of any public cemeteries in this county that still possess all of their early original burial records. Some have been lost, while others - even up until recent years - have been taken by persons who had access to those items. Apparently, it never occurred to those individuals that they were stealing public documents and property. For whatever reasons this was done, it has created monumental problems.
This creates a challenge found in almost all historic cemeteries - graves that can not be identified. Sadly, there are depressions in the ground which appear to be graves, but we will never know who is buried there. When "deeds" were given out for lot sales, those deeds were not recorded at the County Recorder's office, and many families no longer possess the original copy. So...with missing records, maps and deeds, an unmarked grave is likely to remain unmarked - - and unknown.
I have a LONG list of persons who were reported deaths in obituaries or family records, but may never find their burial place. This doesn't even include all of those who died in the mining camps, along the rivers, caught in snow storms or many of the other hazards of life experienced by early settlers.
Unmarked graves are up and down the county. Some are buried so deep by mining debris or natural shifting of soil, that no remnants remain of a burial. Some just have rocks marking their grave, with no detectable writing on them. Still others came and died so quickly that no one knew their name, and were unable to mark their burial place. Miners, trappers, traders, and others came and went at an amazing rate in the early years - even before the county was established. Family plots on private property may or may not contain visible names of the deceased - and no written documents will provide information. Persons were buried before the establishment of cemeteries, and most of those graves, too, are lost.
With those things in mind, it is impossible to have COMPLETE records of any of our historic cemeteries or burials. The list of "unknowns" is heart-wrenching and long. But, many people have taken time to research what data is available, to come up with the best documentation possible. The cemetery districts keep up-to-date records, but with so many missing pieces, their records will never be totally accurate. Modern cemeteries keep burial permits, death certificates, and sometimes family genealogy donated to them, as well as pictures, etc.
Some of the cemeteries are not covered under an official cemetery district - these may be on private land. Regardless, they are to remain cemeteries or burial grounds. Some cemeteries have been full for a long time, and since there are no longer active burials going on, they are pretty much abandoned and left to vandalism or overgrowth and decay.
There are laws governing how cemeteries are to be operated - local, state,federal. Many of these laws have come about due to past practices which proved to be detrimental in some way. One of the many areas that have been addressed is better record keeping! (At some point in the future, I will post about some of the laws governing cemeteries.)
Someone who purchases a plot in a historic cemetery - that is still doing active burials - should also be advised that they cannot have a guarantee of being buried in that exact plot. There may be an unmarked/undocumented burial there and this will prevent another burial in that exact location - - - which will not be discovered until the new burial is to take place. This is the risk they take.
I hope this helps. If anyone has any further comments to add, please do so!!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Taking Photographs of Cemeteries - some hints and cautions
Ideally, the light should be that of early morning or late afternoon. You may need to carry a portable light source or reflective surface to photograph headstones in the shade.
Set your digital camera at the highest resolution to make sure you obtain the clearest result possible. When you post it to the internet or email it at a lower resolution, you will still have better clarity.
Take a writing tablet and pencil or pen. These will be used to document everything you see on the stone before taking the photo. There are several reasons for doing this. 1) Perhaps the photo will be unclear and you will need to refer back to it. 2) If you are going to all the trouble to take the photos and save them or publish them to the internet, it will be faster to label them (ie: jones-edward-1836-1852, or jones-edward-closeup). This is a format many sites use to store photos. 3) You will easily be able to create a database of those photos in Word or Excel by transcribing the list you have made. Many researchers are aided by a database to supplement the photographs. 4) It will also help document groupings of family by showing who is buried near whom.
Share the photos on the internet. Someone else will be aided by your work!
CAUTIONS
Do not sell your photographs. (See previous post)
Under no circumstances are you to use chalk, shaving cream, pens, pencils, or other similar items to highlight the engraving on the stones. This causes irreversible damage to the stone and they are private property. Doing any of these is considered vandalism. (Sometimes using plain water will give enough highlight to allow you to read the stone.) Even if you are a descendant of that person, you do not have the right to damage that stone.
If you see any broken pieces laying nearby, do not move them.
Do not use abrasives or harsh chemicals to clean off stones so that you can read them better - such as wire brush, bleach, etc. - or to make them "look pretty." This also causes irreversible damage to the stone. You do not want to be the reason why 20 years from now someone can not read the stone because it has deteriorated at a very rapid rate from your actions! I would consider these actions to fall under the heading of vandalism, as they do such major damage. Numerous cemeteries I have visited have done these horrendous things to the stones - claiming ignorance or good intentions. That does not excuse the damages done to private property. As a lawyer told me - - ignorance does not constitute a valid excuse for causing damage.
No items on cemetery grounds are to be removed. If you see something lying on the ground, do not remove it. There are laws against this! Trash is another matter - - please leave a site cleaner than you found it.
Set your digital camera at the highest resolution to make sure you obtain the clearest result possible. When you post it to the internet or email it at a lower resolution, you will still have better clarity.
Take a writing tablet and pencil or pen. These will be used to document everything you see on the stone before taking the photo. There are several reasons for doing this. 1) Perhaps the photo will be unclear and you will need to refer back to it. 2) If you are going to all the trouble to take the photos and save them or publish them to the internet, it will be faster to label them (ie: jones-edward-1836-1852, or jones-edward-closeup). This is a format many sites use to store photos. 3) You will easily be able to create a database of those photos in Word or Excel by transcribing the list you have made. Many researchers are aided by a database to supplement the photographs. 4) It will also help document groupings of family by showing who is buried near whom.
Share the photos on the internet. Someone else will be aided by your work!
CAUTIONS
Do not sell your photographs. (See previous post)
Under no circumstances are you to use chalk, shaving cream, pens, pencils, or other similar items to highlight the engraving on the stones. This causes irreversible damage to the stone and they are private property. Doing any of these is considered vandalism. (Sometimes using plain water will give enough highlight to allow you to read the stone.) Even if you are a descendant of that person, you do not have the right to damage that stone.
If you see any broken pieces laying nearby, do not move them.
Do not use abrasives or harsh chemicals to clean off stones so that you can read them better - such as wire brush, bleach, etc. - or to make them "look pretty." This also causes irreversible damage to the stone. You do not want to be the reason why 20 years from now someone can not read the stone because it has deteriorated at a very rapid rate from your actions! I would consider these actions to fall under the heading of vandalism, as they do such major damage. Numerous cemeteries I have visited have done these horrendous things to the stones - claiming ignorance or good intentions. That does not excuse the damages done to private property. As a lawyer told me - - ignorance does not constitute a valid excuse for causing damage.
No items on cemetery grounds are to be removed. If you see something lying on the ground, do not remove it. There are laws against this! Trash is another matter - - please leave a site cleaner than you found it.
Photographing Cemeteries - copyright issues
Thankfully there are many people photographing cemeteries. This is important in helping to preserve history, and also is great value to genealogical researchers. There are numerous sites online that hold repositories of submitted photographs. Some are personal pages, while others are large databases encompassing a county, State, are nationwide, or global. Some have strong ethics, while others seem not to care where their data is obtained.
One site I have had numerous problems with is Find-A-Grave. Some contributors to that site have "harvested" photographs, databases, and other copyrighted data off of my web site - without my permission. Despite correspondence to the individuals, website managers and their domain host, these infringements still continue. This is not only unethical and lazy, but also violates copyright law. Granted, most of the contributors have done their own work, but without any recourse through that website, it appears that those who are allowed to violate the law continue to legally jeopardize that project, as well as significantly reduce the credibility of that site. My work is available for free access to the public, but after spending hours, months and sometimes years, compiling that data, I get more than a little peeved at those who steal my work - or the work of anyone else.
In my years of photographing cemeteries, I have come across lots of people - - some also photographing parts of the same cemetery. I have been amazed at how many persons are not aware of some key issues: 1) The engraving and design of the stonework is copyrighted by the carver. 2) The stones belong to the descendants of that person, so are considered private property. 3) Based on these two facts, photographs of headstones are not to be sold for personal profit.
I would advise you to research laws regarding cemeteries, photographs, websites, etc. before undertaking any work. It could save you a lot of heartache and financial disaster!
One site I have had numerous problems with is Find-A-Grave. Some contributors to that site have "harvested" photographs, databases, and other copyrighted data off of my web site - without my permission. Despite correspondence to the individuals, website managers and their domain host, these infringements still continue. This is not only unethical and lazy, but also violates copyright law. Granted, most of the contributors have done their own work, but without any recourse through that website, it appears that those who are allowed to violate the law continue to legally jeopardize that project, as well as significantly reduce the credibility of that site. My work is available for free access to the public, but after spending hours, months and sometimes years, compiling that data, I get more than a little peeved at those who steal my work - or the work of anyone else.
In my years of photographing cemeteries, I have come across lots of people - - some also photographing parts of the same cemetery. I have been amazed at how many persons are not aware of some key issues: 1) The engraving and design of the stonework is copyrighted by the carver. 2) The stones belong to the descendants of that person, so are considered private property. 3) Based on these two facts, photographs of headstones are not to be sold for personal profit.
I would advise you to research laws regarding cemeteries, photographs, websites, etc. before undertaking any work. It could save you a lot of heartache and financial disaster!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Holidays Are For Remembering...and other thoughts...
Now that the holiday season is upon us, my mind goes to the cemeteries I pass by in my travels. This time of year, we see graves dotted with plastic holiday flowers, poinsettias in pots, and other items adorning the graves of loved ones. These are visual reminders that someone still cares and comes to visit the grave of a loved one. Still...there are many graves where no one can travel to pay their respects - - or other reasons why graves will not be decorated this holiday. But....you can pay your respects and leave no trace that you were there!
At the cemeteries where I have spent extensive time doing clean up, documentation, and a myriad of other projects, I begin to feel like the residents are family to me. I've researched their lives, deaths, cleaned off their graves, and vow they will not be forgotten. It's always a special treat to me when one of their descendants contact me and shares even more about their ancestor, and I am able to help them find answers to their questions.
As I was transcribing some newspaper articles today for my website (www.yubaroots.com), there was a portion about Marysville that was written by a correspondent in 1897, which put into words how I feel - - and can pertain to any area on the globe: "Her glory, her fame, her trials, triumphs and vicissitudes will pass as history into other hands for safekeeping. Let them not be unworthy of the trust." And let us remember that it is people who make history.
At the cemeteries where I have spent extensive time doing clean up, documentation, and a myriad of other projects, I begin to feel like the residents are family to me. I've researched their lives, deaths, cleaned off their graves, and vow they will not be forgotten. It's always a special treat to me when one of their descendants contact me and shares even more about their ancestor, and I am able to help them find answers to their questions.
As I was transcribing some newspaper articles today for my website (www.yubaroots.com), there was a portion about Marysville that was written by a correspondent in 1897, which put into words how I feel - - and can pertain to any area on the globe: "Her glory, her fame, her trials, triumphs and vicissitudes will pass as history into other hands for safekeeping. Let them not be unworthy of the trust." And let us remember that it is people who make history.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Some cemeteries
Here is a partial list:
Browns Valley
Brownsville (Evergreen)
Cabbage Patch (Waldo)
Calvary (Lopes)
Camp Far West
Camptonville
Clayton Ranch
Dobbins Keystone (Indiana Ranch)
Dobbins Sacred Heart Catholic
Forest Ranch
Foss
Godfrey Ranch
Hanson
Khord
Kuster
Lofton
Long Bar
Marysville City
Marysville Jewish
McGanney
Methuen
Peoria
Scales
Sierra View
Smartsville Catholic
Smartsville Fraternal
Smartsville Pioneer
St. Joseph Catholic
Strawberry Valley
Timbuctoo
Vineyard
Wheatland
Browns Valley
Brownsville (Evergreen)
Cabbage Patch (Waldo)
Calvary (Lopes)
Camp Far West
Camptonville
Clayton Ranch
Dobbins Keystone (Indiana Ranch)
Dobbins Sacred Heart Catholic
Forest Ranch
Foss
Godfrey Ranch
Hanson
Khord
Kuster
Lofton
Long Bar
Marysville City
Marysville Jewish
McGanney
Methuen
Peoria
Scales
Sierra View
Smartsville Catholic
Smartsville Fraternal
Smartsville Pioneer
St. Joseph Catholic
Strawberry Valley
Timbuctoo
Vineyard
Wheatland
Welcome!
It seems that a love for cemeteries can be cultivated as a natural byproduct of researching your family ties. For some, it's also the quiet solitude that can be found by walking among the beautiful works of art that were created over time, which mark the final resting place of those who have lived, loved, and made their unique footprint on this earth. I can't help but wonder about the lives of those who are now forever silent, and the stories that lay quietly beneath the ground. Even more intriguing to me are the bare patches, where there is no stone to indicate the end of that person's journey. Those, who, for various reasons, do not have a stone placed above their head, but who are just as important as all of those who have one. I strive to make sure that none of them are truly forgotten.
Have you read the poem, "The Dash" by Linda Ellis? If not, I recommend it.
This love of cemeteries and respect for those who no longer have a voice, has led many to want to get involved in cleaning and repairing headstones, restoring the grounds, and tidying things up a bit. With the best of intentions in mind, unfortunately, there were irreversible damages done. Without stopping to research and find credible sources, stones have been bleached or marred - "repairs" have been done that only serve to cause further damage. Stones have been moved away from the original gravesite, and countless other well-intentioned, but ill-informed acts, have led more to destruction than preservation. People have taken records that are not theirs to take, making documentation another nightmare.