Private Cemeteries

While working on an Ancestry tree, I came across an interesting comment made by a tree owner (jimmype181) in which he talks about a private cemetery being maintained by a private family. I guess they have been doing it for years. (see below for full comment)

My first thought was “who will keep it up when that family is gone?” So I went on FaceBook and posted a plea to genealogy members across the full spectrum of FB group pages, asking them for advise on how we all could set up a fund for private cemeteries.

My post is this:

Genealogy – If all the genealogy people just on FaceBook pitched in to a fund we could make sure all the private cemeteries have enough funds to last for a couple of generations. Maybe one of you who is also a wiz at computer stuff can come up with a fund that people can pitch into and that private cemeteries can borrow from when they get short on funds. That way the PC (private cemetery) Bank will always have funds to help the families that are now maintaining the thousands of private cemeteries around the country. I came across this one:

Pettis Cemetery

Posted 17 Oct 2007 by jimmype181

“Mary Ann (Pettis) Chappell is buried in the Pettis Cemetery – Newburgh Township, Pike County, Illinois along with many other relatives.

This is a private cemetery only funded by donations for upkeep and etc. Douglas Ringhausen of Hardin, Illinois and family have been taking care of this cemetery for years and have been using their own funds.

If you are a family member please help with your donation. Web site is Pettis Cemetery Pike County, Illinois. Thank you.”

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So there is a need for a central place where private cemeteries can go for help. Maybe there is already an organization that does this kind of work? I am sure out of the thousand’s of eyes on this one of you will know the answers. – #munozcollection –

Thank You.

Once I attached the post to as many FB genealogy groups as I could find I figured I would send this out to a larger audience and post this on my blog.

If one of you (my readers) knows of an existing program for private cemeteries please let us know.

I will do my part and search out possible private cemetery site on the web and I will all the information to this post.

Thank You

Jose from Clarkston, Michigan, USA

Here are some items I’ve found on the web:

How to Preserve Historic Cemeteries and Burial Grounds

https://savingplaces.org/stories/how-to-preserve-historic-cemeteries-and-burial-grounds

Private Cemetery Law and Legal Definition

https://definitions.uslegal.com/p/private-cemetery/#:~:text=A%20private%20cemetery%20is%20one%20used%20only%20by,statutory%20provisions%20which%20apply%20to%20privately%20operated%20cemeteries.