Lost Cemeteries and Discovered Unknown Graves

Yesterday's Evansville Courier & Press ran another interesting story on lost & discovered grave sites that seem to be found by accident by contractors doing some sort of construction/excavating work.  Read the online article at this link:

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/26/there-are-unknown-grave-sites-among-us/

"According to state law, anyone who finds human remains or artifacts must notify the Department of Natural Resources within two days. So when a historic cemetery is unearthed, Jeannie Regan-Dinius hears about it. She is the cemetery registry coordinator at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' division of historic preservation and archaeology."

The article mentions the SHAARD cemetery database - this "database is part of the Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Database, also known as SHAARD. The database is available online at http://bit.ly/WrOp8D. From that page, click the 'Enter SHAARD as a guest' link to access the database."  You will be required to accept their terms and conditions and then on the next page you will select the survey type... select "cemetery registry"  I just entered Vanderburgh County & Perry Township in the search box and got all the cemeteries registered in that township.  One is listed as "Forgotten Cemetery" dubbed by Glenda Trapp when we (TSGS) copied the cemetery in 1983 (that was nearly 30 years ago) by Glenda, Bonnie Fehd and her son Andrew with John G. West.  This was published in the Vanderburgh two-volume set of cemetery inscription books that many TSGS members helped transcribe grave markers in the smaller cemeteries of the county.  These books are for sale and still available.  The page of who is buried there was photocopied from our publication.  There is a military marker possibly from the Civil War in this "forgotten cemetery."

This SHAARD cemetery database is a great registry for Indiana's cemeteries and hopefully will help prevent some from being lost, forgotten or destroyed.

- Compiled by JGWest

"The Burning of a Cemetery"

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Before I tell you about the burning cemetery, I want to tell you about Glenda Trapp working as a Judge of the 4-H Family Tree Projects at the Vanderburgh County 4-H Fair. I have served as the County Superintendent of this project since it began and the second year Carol Lantaff became my Assistant (later, it would be Mary Deutsch). That year Glenda was roped into being a Judge of the 4-H Fair Notebook Exhibits. She was assigned the Clover Division (the youngest age group), these kids were the beginners and Glenda soon set the way these projects would be done and how they would be judged by the judges of the other two divisions. No one ever questioned her leadership in this matter, simply because it made everyone's job a little easier and more consistent year after year. Glenda entertained all of us involved with the judging of these projects with her keen sense of humor and wit as she discovered again and again the funny side of what a kid did or said in the exhibit. She never belittled them, she just saw humor anywhere she looked for it. She was a Judge for at least eight years. No one will ever be able to judge these projects with the intense serious level that she maintained and still point out tons of humor to us all. There is a reason for telling this story before telling the story of the burning cemetery, so now I can go back to it.

Several of us that were working on the Cemetery Committee found ourselves in Union Township again and Glenda was passing out axes, tree trimmers and chain saws to clear out an overgrown cemetery, so we could read the monuments that were hidden in the underbrush and thicket of small trees, briars and ivy. We worked and worked trying to clear all this mess when the farmer who owned the land suggested that we just burn it out. There would be no safety hazard to be concerned with since the cemetery was surrounded by a large concrete wall to protect it from flooding from the Ohio River. So, I was assigned the job to spread the gasoline around and light it to start a blazing fire to burn away the underbrush. Glenda was good at delegating such duties. The fire took off very rapidly, and me and my jug of gasoline quickly retreated to the wall of which I had a little difficulty negotiating my freedom, but as the fire shot up the 20 foot trees and I began to feel the heat of the fire I easily climbed over the wall. There was no doubt about it we were going to always go the extra mile to transcribe the information on these stones. We would probe for buried markers, dig them up, turn them over, chop down brush to get to them and even burn the cemetery down to copy its hidden information. Glenda took hundreds of photos of us doing all these odd tasks of "unearthing" or "burning" out a cemetery's secrets.

One Christmas, the Tri-State Genealogical Society asked Glenda to make a presentation concerning the Cemetery Committee's work. Out came the slide projector and some very interesting slides on what it takes to really do a thorough job of getting this very useful genealogical resource available in book form. For years as the TSGS 4-H Coordinator for the 4-H Family Tree Project TSGS Awards Program, I would invite the Champion 4-H exhibitors and their notebooks to the Christmas meeting. Glenda was aware that these kids and most of their parents all knew me, so she pointed me out in the slides from time to time, showing how involved I was in doing genealogy work. As she concluded her presentation, she wanted to show just one more slide. It was of me with the most outlandish look on my face fleeing from that fire as I was struggling to climb over that wall. That was at least 25 years ago and 4-H'ers and TSGS members are still talking about that slide and they are still laughing about it!!!

- Reported by Indiana Bones

Cemetery Records Published by TSGS

From Don Counts

This is my wife, Betty Neale Counts family cemetery.

NEALE KING CEMETERY

I found the site while searching for the Mt Sinai cemetery and noticed the occupants were not listed: 

http://www.ingenweb.org/invanderburgh/cemeteries/nealekingcem.htm

Neale - King Cemetery

Old Henderson Road, 3.3 miles S. of Deusner Road

Union Township, Vanderburgh County, IN

If you have any further information on "occupants" in this cemetery, please send it in.

"This cemetery is located in Union Twp., Vanderburgh Co., Indiana. It is on the Old Henderson Rd. 3.3 miles south of Deusner Road. It is next to a red barn and is enclosed in a small concrete wall. Most of the stones were buried and very difficult to locate. The entire cemetery was overgrown by a wide-blade grass that had died and fallen over and covered the stones. Copied Nov. 13, 1983 by Andrew J. Fehd, Bonnie S. Fehd, Scott W. Fehd, Glenda K. Trapp and John G. West." 

Source

1. Lantaff, Carol A. and Trapp, Glenda K. Cemetery Records of Vanderburgh County, Indiana Volume 2. Owensboro, Ky.: Cook-McDowell Publications, 1986.  Published and Copyrighted by the Tri-State Genealogical Society.  The information contained in this publication is prohibited for any use without the explicit written permission of the Tri-State Genealogical Society.

TSGS Presents 4-H Award

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TSGS makes 4-H Award presentation...

TSGS 4-H Coordinator John G. West & Becky West attended the Posey County, Indiana 4-H Awards Dinner on Nov. 1st. to present the TSGS Glenda K. Trapp Memorial Award Certificate to Morgan Zoch for her achievement and activities in the 4-H Genealogy Project.

The Tri-State Genealogical Society is pleased to recognize 4-H youth and encourage them to research their family histories. The 4-H project demands a lot from the 4-H'er to learn the proper way to document their history and to maintain copies of the documents and photographs. The society congratulates Morgan on her involvement in genealogy!

4-H Genealogy Project

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I am currently judging 4-H exhibits for area county fairs... something I have done now for almost 30 years and enjoy doing. It is an honor for me to contribute to 4-H Youth by judging the 4-H Genealogy Fair Notebooks for 3-5 local counties each year and for the last 3 years at the Indiana State Fair.

Over 30 years ago, I asked the Tri-State Genealogical Society to sponsor an Achievement Award for the Genealogy Project. The Executive Board agreed to sponsor the award. Edna Kasper was working at a print shop and she helped me to design a very nice 4-H Certificate and we created the TSGS Certificates of Appreciation, as well. Over the years, I have re-designed the 4-H Certificate. Marti Williams, at one point, after Glenda Trapp's death, suggested that we make the Certificate a Memorial to her. So, now we have the Glenda Trapp Memorial Award Certificate for 4-H Youth.

County 4-H Fairs will be popping up all over the tri-state, in fact several are going on right now. I have found links to the dates for county fairs in the three states of IL, IN & KY if you would like to attend one of the local county fairs... many will have genealogy fair exhibits on display. Check them out and let me know what you find. Not all states or even counties have the 4-H genealogy project... each state's projects vary. If your local 4-H program has the genealogy project, see what you can do to help.

Here are those fair lists:
http://www.agr.state.il.us/fair/countyfairssched.php
http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/downloads/new/10%20County%20Fairs.pdf
http://www.kyagr.com/marketing/fair/lclagfairs.htm

- Compiled by JGWest

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG –TSGS News

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Boonville, IN:
Warrick County 4-H Achievement Program...

The Tri-State Genealogical Society announced the 2010 winner of the Glenda K. Trapp Memorial Award Certificate for Achievement in the 4-H Genealogy Project. The winner was Tyler Kroeger! Tyler was also last year's winner. TSGS President John G. West & TSGS Board Director Becky West made the presentation Saturday night at the Warrick County 4-H Center at the annual achievement program. TSGS has proudly presented this award to 4-H members in several southwestern Indiana counties for over 25 years.

[Click photo to enlarge image]

I am wearing my Sons of the American Revolution uniform because I also present the Indiana Society SAR Outstanding Citizenship Award with this year's winner being Ellen Gore who could not attend the program.

- News released by JGWest

- Photo taken by George Lewis

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG –TSGS News

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4-H Genealogy Project Awards...

The Glenda K. Trapp Memorial Award Certificate was awarded to two 4-H'ers this week by TSGS President John G. West & Board Director Becky West. This award was created over 25 years ago by TSGS to recognize the achievements in the 4-H Genealogy Project for the area county 4-H programs. Becky & I are dressed in Revolutionary War/Colonial period dress, since I also presented an Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Outstanding Citizenship Award in each county. I serve as the Indiana Society SAR 4-H Award Program State Chair.

(I apologize for the quality of the photos... my little camera is just not up to par... click on photos to get a larger image.)
Above is photo of the Posey County 4-H winner: Morgan Zoch presented at the Posey County Fairgrounds (04 Nov 2009).

These two photos were taken at the Vanderburgh County 4-H Center (06 Nov 2009). The 2009 Winner is Sean Armstrong.

Congratulations to these two young family tree historians!

John G. West, TSGS President (4-H Coordinator)

“TSGS 4-H Genealogy Project Award”

(click on photos to enlarge)

Last night Becky & I went to Boonville, Indiana to present the TSGS “Glenda K. Trapp Memorial Award” (photo above – click on photos to enlarge) at the Warrick County 4-H Achievement Banquet. The county has a committee that selects winners in a lot of different categories based on their 4-H participation and other activities in the community, school and other organizations.


In the above photo I am presenting the award certificate to this year's winner, Tyler Kroeger. She happen to be the Division 2 County Champion last year and received a Special Merit Award for her notebook exhibit at the Indiana State Fair. I judged her exhibit on the county level and thought it was excellent. I judged Division 3 exhibits at the State Fair and was pleased to see how well she had done at the state.


The above photo is a posed photo after the banquet to get a nice keepsake photo for our regular TSGS web page and for her (and her mother) to keep. TSGS has been presenting this award to several southwest Indiana county 4-H members over the last 25 years. I encouraged TSGS to provide this award and I have served as the TSGS 4-H Coordinator ever since... a job that I enjoy and feel it is an honor to get to meet and recognize these outstanding 4-H members.


This last photo is for another award that I present to 4-H members from the Indiana Society Sons of the American Revolution. I serve as the State Chair of the 4-H Youth Awards Committee. This young lady, Jean Ann Scarafia, won the SAR Outstanding Citizenship Award Pin. I am wearing the SAR member's badge on the neck ribbon and on my tie I am also wearing my “I Love Genealogy” pin and to even things out I wore my Indiana State Fair Judge Pin. - Compiled by JGWest

Photos taken by: Certificate - JGWest, Award Presentation - Dale Downey, TSGS Award Winner - Tyler's brother, SAR Award Winner - Tom Neeley.

"The Great Pitchfork Incident"

If you do research in Vanderburgh County, IN, then you must have looked at the two volumes of the county's smaller cemeteries compiled by Carol Lantaff and Glenda Trapp. When you worked with Glenda in the cemeteries transcribing tombstone records you were either crazy with a boring life or you came along to do some important work and have a good time doing it. Glenda was extremely meticulous in getting the stones read accurately and would often return to a cemetery numerous times to ensure its accuracy. She was perhaps the best there was in being able to cipher out the impossible to read markers. She would amaze us all when she would tell us what a blank stone had cleverly hidden from us at first glance. She would outline the letters and suddenly, like magic the names and dates would seem to jump out at us. She had fun doing this work, but she took it seriously. She would have us probe the top soil with rods looking for covered fallen stones, and when we found one the work began to dig it up and usually lift it up to be read.

I remember one time in particular when we were working in Union Township in an old cemetery that was flooded often each year by the Ohio River. We were probing for the covered markers. I was busy digging up a found marker and Bonnie Fehd, Glenda's sister-in-law, and Glenda was working behind me. Bonnie was working hard using a pitchfork to probe the topsoil. She was finding tombstones faster than we could dig them up, the pitchfork really worked well. Suddenly I heard this scream!!! I turned around and Bonnie was white with shock. She had accidently plunged the pitchfork into Glenda's sneakers (shoe). One of the tines went through the top of her canvass shoe and through the sole of the shoe and several inches into the ground. Glenda did not know what had happened until she tried to move her foot. It seems the tine went right between her toes without even a scratch. After we realized that Glenda was alright we laughed until tears came to our eyes. I mentioned that something had happened with a pitchfork in a cemetery in one of my President's columns of the Packet years ago, but never told what happened, so TSGS members now you know the rest of the story!