YUBA COUNTY CEMETERIES
Marysville City Cemetery
New Stones To Be Going In
I have been working as much as I can lately to get more graves identified. This Memorial Day (2006), there will be 42 "temporary" markers placed on and near the GAR plot for the veterans that will one day hopefully have headstones marking their site of burial. After the ceremony on May 29th of this year, I will be presenting Mr. Chuck Carver with the paperwork necessary to order military headstones for three soldiers buried in the GAR plot. Mr. Carver is the Vice-Chairman of the Marysville City Cemetery Commission, as well as a member (and Past Post Commander) of the local VFW Post.
This is just the beginning! Once I am able to obtain copies of all of the materials and documentation for the cemetery that the Chairman of the commission has, I look forward to putting together my research with those materials and then begin to start notifying her of many more stones that can be obtained to mark the places of "unknown" burials. I have been compiling as much research as I can, walking the cemetery plot by plot to document which markers are still in existence and cross-reference those with other information I have and will obtain. Until then.....this is a start! (See below for challenges in this project.)
If you have any information that may assist me in identifying unknown graves at this cemetery, information on any of the burials located here, or correct places of burial for stones that have been moved through vandalism, please contact me! Kathy
I have put together a page on one of the people I have listed as a Civil War veteran asking for your help in identifying which one of his aliases was his true name!!!
(More below...)
Above: 34 of the 42 temporary "markers" that will hopefully one day be replaced by military stones in the Marysville City Cemetery in their appropriate places.
Each stake and card signify a veteran whom I have identified as having been buried in this cemetery and does not yet have a headstone.
Below are more that were placed in the GAR plot - 5 on the right and 3 on the left.
The Challenges
I have completed (as much as physically possible) walking the cemetery and correcting/verifying the map from 1924, and am finishing up the photos of all existing markers. (I will be making a new map in the future and cross-referencing names to the map.)
This cemetery presents some incredible challenges. 1) There are only about 1/5 of the burials marked with headstones. 2) Not all numbers are included on the map which are contained in the burial book. 3) Numbers on the map and grave numbers in the burial book do not match many times. 4) Many of the concrete markers which had grave numbers on them have been broken off or removed from the ground. (I was told that was to make grounds-keeping "easier".) 5) Every single brick marker that used to have a metal plate with a number embossed in it are now missing all of the metal number plates. They appear to have been removed either from the brick and/or the site by someone. 6) This cemetery has fallen into such a state of neglect and disrepair that missing pieces of stones are lying all over or in piles - previous vandalism and neglect has left many parts of monuments lying all about the ground. 7) Numerous loose stones are in incorrect places and have been left there. 8) Large pieces of monuments, possibly markers, and posts for graves are lying on the outside of the north fence in bushes and poison-oak with only a few being retrieved - the rest have been left there. They were reportedly bulldozed over the ledge and left. 9) Graves have been vandalized in numerous ways, but vandalism is not the sole cause of many things I see.
In the four years I have been working on documenting this cemetery, I have seen it "prettied up" with flowers and weeds mowed down, but the rest has gone unrepaired as far as the condition of stones and most plots. As of recently, I was unable to access some plots because the weeds are so overgrown, and with the risk of snakes there, I am hesitant to look for markers!
I have extensively researched the missing book of records for this cemetery (1850-1870). It appears that the missing burial book may not hamper much of my compilation of a database for this cemetery. So, all of that research, and now there appears to be duplicate records after all !!
Meanwhile, a large historic cemetery - in a condition such as this one for records, stones, etc. - can be documented and something done. I'm proving that. One person is all it takes to get the job done. Patience, perseverance, determination, and lots of time. It costs nothing but time and gas. What has slowed me down is working on numerous other projects and severe health problems. It will get done though. This is a HUGE part of our history here. It deserves to be nurtured, respected and taken care of. When I became greatly disturbed by the lack of documentation, recording and researching, along with the condition of the stones and their being in wrong locations, I decided to fill that gap and take the bull by the horns!! Anyone can do this, and I hope with all my heart others of you out there will be motivated to do the same with historic or neglected places in your neighborhood.
© Kathy Sedler, 2006
Kathy -
Due
to the large amount of spam I receive, I have added my contact email as an
image. It is not as a link, so you will need to type this address into
your email before sending. Thank you.