Family Cemeteries

The Vande(r)mark Family Cemetery, NY

In the years of my research, I discovered that there are quite a few family cemeteries, some of them 'abaondoned'.  There is one in my family.

First, the story of how my immediate family discovered ours.  I've undoubtedly told this before and it may be in a past post.

My nephew, in high school, I think, was on a trek with a conservation group.  They were being "taught", more like indoctrinated, about the idea of wasted land; in this case, cemeteries.  The idea.  And, more about that below.  There were visiting rural cemeteries and happened to be standing in one in Debruce, Sullivan County, NY.  I wonder if they also stopped in the Henry Cemetery which is on the road below our family cemetery.  Ours required a short walk up a hill from the Henry Cemetery.  

My nephew turned around and there were 3 headstones with family surnames on them.  He came home, told his mother, my sister and his grandmother, our mother.  My mother called me and asked me to come up, I lived elsewhere, so we could go to the cemetery together.  There were reports of "coy dogs" in the area.  My mother didn't want to go alone.  I can't remember if my sister went with us but my nephew did so I assume she did as well.  

The cemetery is on what was originally family land, now owned by the State.  As already mentioned the Henry family cemetery is on the road.  The lot next to the Henry Cemetery is privately owned.  The road up to the Vandermark Family Cemetery is on private land.  The last time I was there, it was necessary to step over the log blocking that road to walk up to our cemetery.  A relative of some kind told me she regularly moved the log and drove up.  Since I'm not from the area, I chose to just walk up.

We visited the cemetery and my mother was in tears.  There, in front of her was the grave of her favorite uncle who, after some discussion and revelations, seemed to have had a fondness for her, having given her a few very nice gifts over the years.  My mother had not known about the cemetery.

Just an aside:  I find it interesting, in families, how some people are quite interested in some aspects of the family and not others and some people show very little interest at all.

If memory serves me, I'm quite sure that you can stand at one spot in the cemetery and see the surnames of the 3 original families on headstones in front of you.

Since the State took the land and the family lost it, the cemetery, over time was abandoned; it becomes officially so designated.  The land is part of the local water shed and protected.  Up the road is a State Fish Hatchery.  Interestingly, under eminent domain which is the legal instrument through which the State seized the land, they were required to pay market price, at the time, for the land to the last name on the deed.  I don't know if that was ever done.  As far as I know, having taken a quick look through the records with no experience or instruction, the last person holding the deed was NettieWinner Beismer.  Everyone else seemed to have died or moved away.  The joint families owned a substantial chunk of land surrounding the cemetery.  It's quite a disappointment to see what was and what is now there.

Once considered abandoned, anybody can be buried in the cemetery for nothing more than the cost of digging the hole.  So, there are graves of unrelated people gradually filling our family cemetery.  

I learned, by accident, that a family cemetery association can be formed around a family cemetery controlling and protecting the cemetery just for the family.  There are papers to file with the state and local officials have to be informed.  The maintenance of the cemetery is then the responsibility of the association.

Looking, just now, at the NYS web site, it looks like, as in many things, the laws pertaining to cemeteries have become more complicated, which is why a board is required to maintain the cemetery and to comply with state and local regulations.  I've downloaded the manual.  I've also contacted the NYS Association of Cemeteries which is composed mostly of regular cemetery boards but I'll see what they can tell me.

If anyone in the Hogancamp, Beismer or Vandermark families is interested in pursuing this, with me, please email me at familytracker@yahoo.com.   

Thank you.

Green Burials and Cemetery Preserves:

A few years ago, I went to a nearby local green fair.  Yes, I try to be environmental conscious.

There I learned about green burials and cemetery preserves.  I was pleasantly surprised.

A green burial is one in which all the chemicals and various procedures are very different.  One can have the usual full body burial without embalming, without all the overpriced and over-the-top burial "furniture" one usually has to decide about.  One can be cremated and buried.  One can be cremated and scattered.  And several other choices.  The point to is remove all the environmentally questionable past practices of the treatment of the dead.

The more interesting aspect, to me, is the establishment of cemetery preserves.  Instead of the formal layout of a cemetery where plots are full of large grave sites, a cemetery preserve again has a variety of layouts but all are left to return to nature.  The land is preserved as a cemetery site with restricted use as far as development and, in effect, becomes open land, a nature park.  Some are quite beautifully designed with trails, planted with wildflowers and native trees, are protected for local wildlife and birds.  The policies on public use differ according to the individual cemetery preserve.

In the case of our family cemetery, it would mean the land would be preserved as a cemetery and as a natural place that can be visited as such.