CALIFORNIA SAVING GRAVES

I am a California Native of 44 years and counting. I will probably be buried in one these Cemeteries one of the decades and I would love to help your cause, especially if I end up in one of them one of these days. I now reside in Contra Costa County for the past 25 years.

I appreciate that you are doing this. Its important work and long overdue.

I also am a Californian and so were my ancestor's on my Mother's side.

Thank you
Jean H.

I am 5th generation California on one side. Humboldt County, San Diego
County. Luckily my ancestors are buried in big graveyards.

The other side is in Washington State, Clallam County. I appreciate what
you are doing. I have ancestors buried in a small church graveyard in
Clallam County, now owned? by (or has rights to) Weyerhaeuser company. They
clear cut the cemetery 10-15 years ago due to a concern of "blow down". I
have never been to that graveyard, and reports say the fences were strewn
about wooden crosses everywhere, and now the undergrowth is such that I may
never see that graveyard in my lifetime. It will take another 20 years for
the trees to grow and shade the undergrowth so the graveyard is approachable
again. The graveyard is marked on the most recent USGS map, but not many
people are aware of it, and certainly in the shape of it now, people
wouldn't know it is there.

I wish there was a group such as yours who minded the store in Washington
State!

Patty R. in So Cal

There is terrific group working in Washington State. Check out Washington State Cemetery Association. Sue Silver

I agree with you 100%, as we need to do something about saving these burial grounds. How do I help, I lived in California all my life, just recently moved to Arizona; however many of my ancestors & siblings are buried in CA.
I know in other states, where my Ancestors are, many graves only have rocks to be placement of a grave stone, some have nothing; in those days also they were afraid to mark the graves for fear the Indians would dig the graves up.
How do we help
Ivy F. in Arizona

Dear Sue,
I could not agree more with your eloquent words. Thank you for alerting me to this.
I appreciate you writing to all of us!
Pauline E.
Madera County, CA

FROM NEW YORK...

We here in the Eastern part of the USA, mainly New York ,New Jersey, Staten Island, NY, are acutely aware of the problems all of us face with the dereliction of our cemetery's in general.

There is nothing more hurtful to one to make a trek to a gravesite and find it and the surrounding area to be a dumping ground for all sorts of garbage and litter.

Too many of our hallowed grounds have been the victim of vandals and crime.

Genealogically speaking, these gravesites are treasure troves of information in finding long lost relatives.this information legally belongs to us, we the people of these United States,and if we do not act to publicize the plight of these grounds, then we are a sorry lot of people.

We have organizations of caring listers here in Staten Island that go about and target cemeteries in need of clean up and 20 to 30 people gather there on a weekend to clean up and set upright stones that have been vandalized. some of these cemeteries are in some nasty sections, making it harder for our seniors to visit. so on these cleanup days they invite the oldsters along so they have some protection while they visit.

Just a suggestion peoples, try something like this out there, it truly is
GENEALOGY in the truest form.
Good luck to all
Norm C.

Thanks for the announcement. I had a chance to visit your new website. It is very impressive. I have placed a link to your homepage.

Your work is bringing attention to a serious problem in our state. You are educating us all in the state of our cemeteries. This alone is very valuable. But you don't stop there, you also have given us form letters to lobby against bad laws that will harm the resting place of our ancestors.

What a wonder crusader you are! Thank you for guiding us.

Nancy Pratt Melton
Sacramento County Coordinator
CA GenWeb Project
http://cagenweb.com/~sacramen/

Thanks for sending the link for the California Saving Graves website. I
have enjoyed perusing it. I have family buried in both El Dorado and
Amador County pioneer cemeteries, my husband has family in old Placer
and Butte County cemeteries. We have been thankful that we have been
able to visit these places and feel the connection when visiting these
great great great grandparents and others. There are still some we are
hoping to locate.

This cause is an important one and we thank you for all your hard work.

Valerie
Familiy Names: Ekel, Whitacre, Clifton, Rohlfing (mine) and Hedge, Nash,
(his)

Congratulations on your position. I am still trying to find the burial of my GGGrandfather in CA. He was a goldminer near North Yuba (river). I 'spoke' with you before about him. Joseph Enos 1851.

Marge Yetzke
MI
"Life is not a dress rehearsal
Live it before the road runs out of bricks"

You are just so busy! What a challenge. Well good news looks
like things are moving with our house and we should be back in California
soon. Hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things with the
Cemetery Committee etc. and helping out around Sac County as I can. Looks
like we will be back in mid June. So if there's anything I can help you with
on Saving Graves, please let me know.

I hope I can get our Sloughhouse area folks motivated so that we can save
some graves around there! :)

Take care,
Mary

Very nice web page. Like the different colors that set off different sections. All very well done and shows lots of planning and work.

Good job. I'm so glad to see the activity on the historical cemeteries. If I were younger and in the Sacramento area, I'd do what I could to help. This is so important.

Please keep me on your e-mail mailing list.

Billie Harris
[Billie's work recording tombstones at cemeteries in Sacramento County have been posted to the Sloughhouse Genealogical Society website. Her hours of devotion to recording the graves in those historic cemeteries is evident by the volumes she produced./ss.]

I have enjoyed reading your emails ever since I joined the list. You have a rare insight, and a gift for expressing what all the rest of us are thinking in a most eloquent manner. Thank you for sharing a part of your life with us today. I understand about change, pain and heartache. Your letter touched me in a profound way, and I just want you to know that I think of you often, and look forward to your postings in the INPCRP, always knowing that they will be filled with insight, spitfire, and dignity. You have made such a difference in the way people think of the dead, and that is all most of us want to do.....make a difference. That seems to be my mantra. However small, always make a difference. Please remember that we all consider you a friend, however far away you may be, and if you should ever get to the "Hoosier" state, I would surely love to meet you.

Thanks for keeping us all posted on the legislation-it never fails, leave the government alone for a minute and they screw up everything...lol
Thanks again-

Well done! Although we do not currently live in California, our research is focused there with my husband's ancestor's immigration during the Gold Rush.

Thank you and others in your organization for your efforts.

Bonnie M.

I find your posts interesting and although I have no one buried in Pacheco I have family living across the street from it and am concerned. I keep the Solano County Genealogical Society pages at rootsweb http://www.rootsweb.com/~cascgsi/ and have several cemeteries on line including Silveyville which is a public cemetery that could be in the line of fire. Keep up the good work and keep us informed. Thank you for your hard work.

Thank you, Sue. I appreciate your efforts. I, too, have experienced the profoundness of gazing at an ancestor's headstone. And the Knowledge these headstones provide is irreplaceable.