So, you've found a lost cemetery. Now What?

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In October of last year, some friends and I were hiking through the Manasquan Wildlife Management Area ( MWMA ) and we came across an old tombstone. It turned out to be three in fact, after playing in the dirt for a while.
Following our Adventure, we turned to the internet and the library for more information on our find. We found that there had been a family burial ground, near if not exactly where we found the stones. The last survey of the cemetery was in 1953 ( the site was in little better condition then than as we found it).
And lastly. we discovered that where the cemetery has been, is now public land and part of the Manasquan Watershed.
We have contacted the local historical society and the State EPA about preserving the site or, at the very least, returning the markers to their rightful places.
I would welcome some informed ideas on how to continue. Like how to find a grave that has no marker...
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
My firm was peripherally involved with delineating a family plot in Delaware when our survey research indicated the likely presence of the cemetery.

The developer had to hire an archaeological firm who came in and used a combination of ground penetrating radar and tedious excavation to delineate what turned out to be a much larger burial ground. Their research showed that it started as a family plot but the family later started allowing others to use it.

The excavation was advanced slowly, inches at a time, until the outline of the individual graves could be seen in the soil. The graves show against the background native soils because the soils become mixed during the backfill process. As soon as an outline was confirmed, excavation ceased.

The developer had to exclude the cemetery from his subdivision layout and fence the area. I believe they later posted an interpretive sign.
The attached aerial shows the exclusion as a trapezoid in the middle of the image.
 

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jokerman

Explorer
May 29, 2003
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Manasquan
This person looking for gravestones is big trouble. He has been searching for the small, hidden, and vulnerable grave sites in my area. He then feels the desire to remove the headstones to "protect" them. It is against the law to remove ANY headstones from a cemetery and he apparently is clueless (and purposely ignorant) to this fact. The local historical society is a PRIVATE entity and has NO jurisdicton to approve the removal of headstones from family owned cemeteries or any other vandalism to sacred grounds that this guy may enjoy. The law states that if a cemetery is located within a State owned property that the closest relative shall maintain that cemetery. How many cemeteries have you seen pardonned off at developed sites because you aren't allowed to disturb them? The stones he found have been well documented and are not "lost cemeteries" as his thread here tries to imply. If the family wanted to do something with their family's headstones, they would have done so by now. Yes, the family still lives locally and knows about them. They just don't know about him! For me personally, I don't need this guy to go round up my family's markers "to protect them". I'm not sure if he has taken the headstones he found so far but we are going to take action if ANY headstones are taken or moved!

Despite, multiple messages telling him NOT to move the stones, he kept coming up with reasons why he should. They have been there for centuries, unmolested and this guy now thinks he has the right, against the law, to move them. I had to ask him finally if he was looking for some kind of recognition because it seems very obvious that he wants to drag his "kill" home with him. When I found these stones years ago, I felt compelled to keep them a secret, much as we do here with some of the lost grave sites we know of. I'm kinda like that with all vulnerable historic areas. Not this guy. He has Facebook page that is dedicated to showing off the stones and bringing attention to them. He, of course, needed to tell everyone here and god knows where else.

It gets worse though. To bring his all home, he has now announced his great interest in MY family's local graveyard (in Wall Twp.). Someone illegally moved the headstones from this plot some time ago. I know this guy wants to go root around to see if he can find more stones that may be buried, and if he does, he is going to wan to "protect" them. My Mother is beyond upset about this guy's presence and is preparing for legal action against him and anyone else that aids him in any removal of stones. Get this...my Mother contacted this guy and expressed her despair about the headstones being moved to the local historical society and he told her "since you are disabled, it is probably better for you that they are there since you can visit them now". My Mom is a direct descendant to those interred at the cemetery and he had the f**in nerve to decide what is in her best interest for her family's burial site? I can not tell you how pissed off I am at this POS. Can you imagine how unconnected he is to the fact that these are actual burial sites and not GPS caches? He is a threat to what we hold dear. I really hope I bump into him out there soon!

I strenuosly suggest that this person be removed from this site as you can see he is using it to show off his findings and draw attention to himself as a grave robber. If he had found the U. Clay stones and had them all propped up against trees with photos saying "so now what do I do with them?" and diagreed with your opinion to leave them alone I think you would feel as strongly as I do. Don't listen to any BS he is going to lay down after he sees this post because his actions speak much louder.
 
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johnnyb

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Feb 22, 2013
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If another good reason is needed to convince the idiot to leave the stones where they are: in chasing down family histories, the physical locations of the stones can often be a clue as to family relationships. Move them and that data is GONE FOREVER. Incidentally, that holds for written recording of graves in a cemetery; arranging them alphabetically may be convenient but it destroys information on possible relationships.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I have stayed out of this because of the problems we had with the Union Clay graves and I was hoping this all would just end. However, it appears it has not and I fully respect jokerman's concerns.
 
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Ben Ruset

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Site Administrator
Oct 12, 2004
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Monmouth County
www.benruset.com
Okay, well this puts me in an incredibly awkward position.

Nobody should be removing stones from family graveyards without the family's permission. That's theft, plain and simple. No good historical society would want gravestones to be removed from their proper location. That takes them totally out of context and makes the graveyard historically worthless (from an academic perspective.)

So far I don't see anything here that indicates that anybody is looking to take the stones and move them away somewhere else. I think there's obviously a lot of history (no pun intended) involved here that I'm not, nor do I want to be, privy to.

I'm not going to start banning people from this site based on hearsay. I'm also not interested in having the site be used as a vehicle for the destruction of archaeological history.

So I'm going to suggest that you guys duke it out through whatever channels you wish to, as long as the drama does not spill over here. If it does, there will be two people removed from the site.

I highly suggest nobody involved in this debacle send me a private message or email to give me grief about my stance.
 
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