Local Boy Scout Discovers Tombstones Dating Back To 1700s
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
MONROE TOWNSHIP - Tombstones dating back to the 1700s that have been covered for years by weeds and tree limbs recently were discovered by a local Boy Scout.
The tombstones were found in Abbott Cemetery, one of two cemeteries in Monroe Township. The cemetery is southeast of the intersection of CRs 300E and 600S. The other cemetery in the township is Circle Cemetery.Chris Checketts, Troop 776 Boy Scout, Warsaw, discovered the tombstones this month while completing a project to become an Eagle Scout. Checketts, 17, is a senior at Warsaw Community High School.
To become an Eagle Scout, a Boy Scout is required to organize a project with a minimum of 80 man hours. Before beginning the project, he met with the Kosciusko County Historical Society and Monroe Township board. The Kosciusko County Historical Society assigned him the project to clear brush and fallen tree limbs in the cemetery.
He had 30 volunteers from his church, Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, Warsaw, and seven Boy Scouts from his troop who completed three hours of service each, totaling 90 man hours. Checketts worked Aug. 6 for three hours with the volunteers to clear brush from the cemetery site.
"I wanted to do the project because I am interested in history and want to be a history teacher someday," Checketts said.
He said he hopes the cemetery will continue to be maintained, and feels it is important to preserve the past.
Jay Bolduc, Troop 776 Scoutmaster, said he was pleased with the project.
"Chris did a great job organizing the project and getting the volunteers together," Bolduc said.
Sandy Fiedeke, Monroe Township trustee, has overseen the cemetery since 1991 when she became trustee. She said it has been hard for the township to clean up the cemetery due to lack of funding.
"I am glad the Boy Scouts took the initiative to clean up the cemetery," Fiedeke said.
The Boy Scouts and church members used six weed whackers, two chain saws, shovels, rakes and hedge clippers to clear the weeds and shrubs.
The volunteers found approximately 37 tombstones that were buried under shrubbery. The oldest tombstone Checketts discovered was dated 1772 and was covered by brush.
"Only about five tombstones were visible at first, but then we began hauling trees and clearing brush. We discovered more tombstones, some where grass had grown over them," Checketts said.
The volunteers discovered some of the tombstones were broken and fallen over.
Checketts worked with the other volunteers to take photos of the tombstones to assist the Kosciusko County Historical Society with a project they are working on. The Boy Scouts are in the process of creating an aerial map to visually locate the tombstones.
Neal Carlson, Kosciusko County Historical Society board member, said it is the society's goal to have a Web site that would be searchable by people to find their ancestors buried in all the cemeteries in Kosciusko County. There are 82 cemeteries in Kosciusko County, according to Carlson.
"It is important to do projects like these to preserve history for now and the future," Carlson said.
Bill Holder, Kosciusko County geographic information system director, said he is interested in working to put a global positioning system online that will allow people to search for their ancestors. He said there is currently a listing of Kosciusko County cemeteries online, but not a global positions system that locates specific tombstones in each of the cemeteries.
Marge Warren, Kosciusko County Historical Society board member, said she was pleased with the work done at Abbott Cemetery.
"The cemetery is a sacred place, and we need to protect these places," Warren said.
She said she hopes the photos the volunteers took of the tombstones will help the society develop the searchable site for people to trace their ancestors.
A book at the Kosciusko County Historical Society, written by Lester H. Binnie, Albion, was published in the 1970s highlighting cemeteries in Monroe Township.
Binnie wrote in the book that the cemetery has several graves marked by field stones and others are broken and scattered about. The book listed the birth and death dates of those buried in the cemetery with names where the volunteers found tombstones that matched up to the names and dates.
