Butler County MOGenWeb Receives Award

From: "Donna Cooper"  saarisr@sbcglobal.net
To:  mogen@rootsweb.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 2:56 PM
Subject: [MOGEN] Grave Studies

List Readers: I don't know that this will be of any interest to the rest of you or not - but I thought I'd share just in case.

We in Barry County were chosen for the Oakley Award a few days ago. We were selected because we have been restoring cemeteries and photographing all the cemetery stones in the county. We have started adding documentation notes to the data that we collect so that our posted records have creditability and can be depended on for accuracy. We still have some cemeteries left to do - so we aren't finished with the project yet. But some of our hard working volunteers submitted information about our project to the Gravestone Studies Association some time last year for their grave studies award that is to be given in June of this year.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Association of Grave Studies, it is a non-profit association and was founded in 1977 for the purpose of furthering the study and preservation of grave markers of all periods and styles. Through its publications, conferences, workshops, and exhibits AGS promotes the study of gravestones from historical and artistic perspectives, expands public awareness of the significance of historic grave markers and cemeteries, and encourages individuals and groups that have similar interests.

Here is the link to Barry County - http://www.rootsweb.com/~mobarry/index.html

Here is the link to our cemetery pages. The cemeteries with the little camera next to the name are the ones we have finished photographing - many of which were also restored. - http://www.rootsweb.com/~mobarry/cemetery/rschcemtery.htm

Here is a copy of the message that I received yesterday -

"Dear Donna, It is our pleasure to inform you that the Board of Trustees of The Association for Gravestone Studies has selected you to be a recipient of The Oakley Certificate of Merit. This award is given to groups or individuals who ".foster appreciation of the cultural significance of gravestones and burying grounds," and it is in recognition of your contributions in research and recording for the MOGenWeb site, and coordinating cemetery projects in Barry County, Missouri.

Congratulations and best regards, Brenda W. Reynolds, Awards Committee"
www.gravestonestudies.org

Donna Cooper, Barry County

Here is Donna's comments relative to the success in their cemetery project. (Ed.)

It all started back in the early 1970's with a dream when another lady and I founded the Northwest Arkansas Genealogical Society. We began transcribing cemeteries and printed them in book form, sold them - and started a genealogy library that, by the way, is presently a very impressive research center. My dream was to do Barry County cemeteries since that was where my roots were, but since at that time, I was living in Benton Co., AR, I helped them do theirs. But the dream never died and so when I began the coordinator of the Barry County web site the very first week I asked for cemetery photos and for people to take their digital cameras out to the cemetery and to start snapping. I told them that I wanted to record all the cemetery stones in the county with a photo and that I needed their help.

Not long after that I met, over the Internet, a man who had restored one broken down, old deteriorating Barry County cemetery without any financial or physical help. When he ran short on funds he went to the Barry County Genealogical and Historical Society and asked for their help. They started a fund for cemetery repair and set up a committee of three to do the work. And so, through the list mail services of Roots I ask for people to help us restore our old cemeteries and if they had an interest in helping this non-profit organization by making donations for that purpose to contact the society directly. And - they did. The money that was and that is still collected has been used to fence cemeteries that have had cows running in them, to make new foundations for stones that had fallen over and in some cases is used to rebuild a stone that is in several pieces.

We learned pretty early in the project that some stones don't have the correct dates inscribed, so accuracy is stressed by allowing researchers to post notes from documented sources to go with the photos that they submit. Their notes include extractions from old obits, abstracts from new obits, historical newspaper items and death certificate abstracts, which they post into the temporary folders for me to post to the different cemeteries. We try and stay away from hearsay genealogy but occasionally that resource is used when there is nothing else to relay on.

By using the historical newspapers we have learned about Civil War graves and other things that have added to the interest of the project. We have also found abandoned cemeteries and many unmarked graves like that and so we have added more accuracy to the cemetery data by using microfilmed papers from the State Historical Society of MO in Columbia.

The enthusiasm has increased as the project has progressed. Every person that helps is given credit and recognized when their data is posted, and on the list mail they are mentioned as a helper for that day’s work. There are many who don't live in the county but look up records and do other things that contribute toward the end product. Coordinating a project like this takes a lot of helpers.

As for my part, it took about a quart of midnight oil to do all this - we presently have 40,000 plus photos on the web site and over 9,500 pages. Three years ago I started with about 1100 pages. There were people posted in cemeteries that they were not buried in and many other problems that all had to be dealt with so the photos helped straighten out a magnitude of problems.

Like I said all this is probably more than you really cared to know, but since I have blown out all these words I might as well tell you also that for many years I was an Insurance agent and attended seminars on salesmanship and learned early on that any reward that you can give people will bring positive results so I try to reward them with a thank you and recognition for the work that they do publicly on the mailing list and then privately in a personal e-mail. They really do deserve more than that so I created an awards page where I add their names and list what records they contributed. It includes their photo and a short little story that they submit.

My favorite words are thank you for all you do.

Donna Cooper

Experience Shared on the MISSOURI-CEMETERIES Mailing List on RootsWeb
    MO-CEMETERIES MAILING LIST        mo-cemeteries@rootsweb.com

List members,

For the past several days there have been a number of messages concerning the lack of information on burials and tombstones.

I have mentioned this in the past but apparently there are many new members. Some basic information about cemeteries, concerns tombstones.

Only about 60 -70 percent of burials are covered by a tombstone!. Why? They cost a pile of money and years ago many families couldn't afford them. I believe you will find many homemade tombstones, particularly in rural cemeteries. Then here in St. Louis you will find cemeteries where tombstones have been removed because they were damaged, some were toppled over and left on the ground and eventually covered over by dirt. I have relatives who were buried in one cemetery where the cemetery removed the stones because the family hadn't paid the Endowed/Perpetual Care. The there are the vandal damaged cemeteries, this is when many will find that it is the family's responsibility to either repair, replace or abandon the tombstone to the landfill.

Then there are those instances where there is a MEMORIAL Stone, there is no burial. At Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery there are several of these in areas where no burials can be made due to the ground conditions, rock. Every veteran is authorized a tombstone, even those men and women lost at sea, or MIA and POW. For the lost grandfather, chances are he is buried right next to his wife and won't be found unless you open the grave, why not install the double headstone to at least acknowledge his existence? Of course there are cemeteries where this isn't always the case. St. Rose in St. Rose Illinois is an example. They follow the rule that you are buried as you die, in sequence, spouses will be found separated in this cemetery.

When we removed the burials at Washington Park Cemetery, the tombstones were relocated to the new cemetery, if they weren't damaged, but they were not reset in an upright position, that cost too much money and the relocation effort was already costly, so the new cemetery laid the stone on the ground over the grave. These mass relocations were done at basically two cemeteries in the St. Louis area, both religious affiliated. The old tombstones were destroyed and dumped into landfills. There were some rather expensive tombstones destroyed because they had chips along the edges, some of these had photo images that were also destroyed. This could start another thread, but let me say at this point there are no laws to cover tombstones. There are cemetery rules, i.e. if damaged they can removed and destroyed. Should a VA stone be place in a non-VA cemetery the family will frequently pay the installation fee, if this stone is later destroyed in this non-VA cemetery the VA is to be called and they will either pick up the stone or tell the cemetery to destroy it, they will not normally provide a replacement stone. But at the VA cemetery they will install a new stone at government expense.

You must also remember that tombstones frequently contain wrong information. Frequently this is the only place you have for information on the persons birth, however, treat it with some suspicion until you find some information closer to his birth. The best rule of thumb is to use the information closest to the event. For example, Death Certificates are not always correct when it comes to the Date of Birth, nor where the person or their parents were born. I have one family with 8 children. The father is listed a JOHN HERMAN, HERMAN JOHN, JOHN H., H. JOHN and HERMAN HENRY then HENRY HERMAN. His name was found to be JOHN HERMAN HENRY, Germans used all names, Given, Baptismal, Confirmation and then finally Surname. Naturally they can all be found misspelled, because the person providing the information couldn't read or write.

My method of madness is: Tombstone
Obit
Death Certificate
Wedding License, remember in Europe there may be two of these one Civil
and one Religious.
Baptismal Record
Birth Record, remember in Europe there may be two of these one Civil and one Religious.

Lest I forget Middle names are frequently found on Baptismal Records that even the parents weren't aware of. If the parents didn't provide the name of a saint the priest often used Mary for girls and Joseph for the boys.

Use hard evidence, but remember that paper records were frequently destroyed by fire, it almost seems that many of the court houses had fires in 1890. Then the registration of births wasn't really required in Missouri until the late 1900 decade, if memory serves me right about 1907.

Another bit of information you might keep in the back of your mind. In Missouri, it is the responsibility of the Funeral Director to fill out the Death Certificate. He does this by talking with the family and hospital. The Doctor is the one that signs the Death Certificate. Then again another problem. can enter here. My brother-in-law died at 11:00 PM. on a given date, but the on duty doctor didn't pronounce him dead unto 3:00 am the next day, guess what date is on his death certificate. I have a neighbor who was born in Illinois, the midwife who delivered him didn't like Illinois so she registered his birth in St. Louis County, Missouri.

You will find in St. Louis several births recorded as: DePaul Hospital, St. Louis, City, Missouri and DePaul Hospital, Bridgeton, St. Louis County, Missouri. Both are correct the hospital moved. St. Luke's Hospital, St. John's Mercy and The Christian Hospitals have all relocated to the county area. Many people will say they were born in St. Louis, at St. Mary's Hospital, when they were really born in St. Louis County. This may sound picky, but it is a fact.

Obituaries are another source of data, however, they are not always correct, they aren't free and yes I know some of you will say the funeral home pays for them. I ask you who pays the funeral home? Funeral Homes are a business and this is a subject for another time.

It seems that many on this list ask about where a particular cemetery is located since they can't find it. GNIS is out there and doesn't contain a listing of all the cemeteries and darn few associated with churches. If you can't find the cemetery, look for the church. In the areas you are searching you will frequently find that the church was built in the middle of the churches cemetery, they also keep the records. In Linn Missouri St. George Cemetery was opened a few years back, not all the bodies were moved to the new cemetery the tombstones were and are now located in the back part of the new cemetery, the bodies are under the parking lot behind the church.

Hey guys cemeteries are interesting, historical treasurers and should be taken care of forever. In the olden days people would have family picnics in them.

Bill Buchholz
kimbuc4@juno.com