![]() Remember the number one rule! Do No Harm. It lists additional on-line resources and helpful books written by experienced cemetery preservationists. The Illinois Historic Cemetery Preservation Handbook: A Guide to Basic Preservation provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to research and document a cemetery, create a management plan, and safely clean gravestones. Work can not begin until you have received a written permit from the Division. In addition, you must demonstrate that you have received proper training in basic cemetery preservation methods before you will be authorized to continue. Basic cemetery preservation work, including probing, exposing, cleaning or repairing headstones, requires a permit from the Division. Please know that in Illinois, it is illegal to probe for buried grave markers. ![]() Their staff will help you locate the property on the county maps and determine the owner’s name and address. If you are uncertain about who owns the land, visit the Recorder of Deeds Office in the county courthouse where the cemetery is located. Landowners may be more agreeable to your project if you have plans to haul away trash and cut vegetation and then follow through with your promise. It is important to have both short- and long-term goals in mind when you visit the landowner so that your level of commitment is clear. You should explain your project to them in order to reach an agreement about cleaning and maintaining the cemetery. A sample landowner permission form is provided here for your use. Research, research, research! Contact the landowner and get their permission. Unfortunately, this is still a problem today. This oversight became problematic as continued urban development disturbed these unmarked graves. Graves left behind were unmarked and the cemetery location was eventually forgotten. These burying grounds or old city cemeteries were gradually abandoned because they were full, had no permanent care funds for their continued maintenance, or were replaced by new city cemeteries organized into park-like settings. Historically, early cemeteries associated with urban areas were typically located away from the city limits. What often occurred is that some of the graves were moved, as well as many or all of the headstones. But it is a common misconception that all of the graves were moved. Urban expansion has forced the removal or relocation of many old cemeteries. After 1990 in Illinois, it became illegal to remove grave markers from a cemetery (20 ILCS 3440). First, the individual graves are no longer marked, and second, the location of the cemetery becomes permanently erased from the surface of the landscape. In more recent decades, some farmers have cleared these areas to increase their farm ground and removed the grave markers from their fields. Sometimes the task of preserving a cemetery is too physically and financially daunting and families simply choose to ignore it.Įconomics Oftentimes rural cemeteries were located on a wooded or grassed ridge at the edge of a plowed field and the area was avoided. Markers become worn and broken, fences fall into disrepair, and trees and brush quickly overtake the cemetery. Time The passage of time and exposure to the elements takes a great toll on cemeteries. However, if an organization, such as a church, owns a cemetery, there is a better likelihood that the cemetery will be maintained. The current landowner may have no personal connection to the cemetery and, therefore, has no interest in maintaining it. If family members have died or moved from the area, there is often no one interested in caring for the cemetery. ![]() Ownership Land ownership is an important factor in preserving cemeteries. As the number of small, rural farms declined and land ownership changed through the decades, the locations of these family plots were lost and ultimately forgotten. ![]() They were often created in the corners of farm fields, along wooded areas, and frequently on hilltops overlooking a stream. These plots were located on private farmland away from the main household. Size and location Small family plots, containing immediate and extended family members, were common in rural communities until the early 1900s. There are any number of reasons why cemeteries become abandoned and the most common of these are discussed here: A cemetery is also considered abandoned when there is no cemetery authority to care for the land ( 60 ILCS 1/130-5 525 ILCS 30/3.01 765 ILCS 835/9-14). In Illinois, a cemetery is considered to be abandoned when there have been no interments for thirty years and the cemetery has been exempt from real estate taxes during that period. We must first define the term abandoned to understand some of the reasons why it occurs. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |