Visit to the Family Cemetery

 Visited the Vandermark Family Cemetery in Debruce, New York, this past Sunday.  I was accompanied by Judie Smith who is a relative of a relative.  

I was very happy to see that the town has erected a gate and sign so there is no longer a dispute with the neighbor.  

Judie tells me it's a good idea to keep up a chatter because of bears in the area.

It was fortunate weather for the visit; not too hot.

We made the rounds of the cemetery.  I took pictures and notes but I had forgotten my cleaning kit so I wasn't able to clean the stones.  Judie scraped some moss off some of them.

There are some broken stones; some fallen stones, some long ago; stones gradually slipping off their bases; so, much work to be done.  a lot of stones are darkened, some have lichens and moss.  Shale stones are gradually losing their imprinting and are becoming difficult to read.

There are quite a few older graves that have caved in; more than half a dozen, and a few graves that feel they may be next.

This is where I want to be buried so Judie, who is on the board of several cemetery associations, is looking into what I need to do to insure that.  Because the cemetery is considered an abandoned family cemetery, the town has taken responsibility for it and keeps it mowed and allows burials there, whether or not there's a relationship.

NOTE:  I'm going to have to abandon the idea of forming a family cemetery association to protect this cemetery and to preserve it as an historic family cemetery.  It requires quite a few people to assist with its management: someone to keep records, someone to work with the town to maintain it, someone to visit from time to time to ensure it's protected (although I think the town is doing a good job).  So far, it's just me.  Most of my elders in the three original families have left this life and cannot assist, and younger relatives don't seem interested.

Right now, the best thing to do for the cemetery would be to x-ray the area inside the stone wall to determine how many unmarked graves there are, fix the broken stones, cut some over-hanging tree branches, determine a way to mark unmarked graves.

Taken in the cemetery:

Found on the headstone of Hannah Vandermark, wife of Josiah, a soldier of the War of 1812.  It's a newly emerged cicada resting on its old carcass.  Hannah's maiden name was Bush.

We also saw two different varieties of toad.  I hadn't seen a toad in ages.

Judie gave me a new perspective of the custom of leaving visiting stones on the headstones, a custom I like very much.  She pointed out that the stones can be a problem for the mowers, if the stones fall from the headstones.  That's why talking to people who have more experience with any particular thing is a good idea, because they have more, closer knowledge of that thing.  If you've never ridden a horse, it's a good idea to talk to someone who has; otherwise, good luck to you and to the horse.  I still like the idea of leaving a sign that someone has remembered and visited a gravesite.