News Item - Cemetery Restoration



Submitted by: Jack Fly

Cemetery restoration effort underway

Cassville Democrat - April 12, 2007

By Lisa Schlichtman
Thursday, April 12, 2007 11:10 AM CDT
Tucked away beside a dirt road on a piece of pasture northwest of Exeter lies a Civil War-era cemetery that offers interesting evidence of Barry County's past. This cemetery is not surrounded by a fancy wrought-iron fence but instead is bordered by twisted strands of barbed wire.

Once covered with vines and thorny overgrowth, weathered tombstones and crumbling grave markers are now exposed. Names and dates of death chiseled into stone have been worn down by wind and rain and are sometimes barely readable. Some of the grave sites are unmarked while others are tagged by badly broken or buried stones.

This long neglected cemetery is now getting the attention it deserves as dedicated volunteers with the newly formed Barry County Cemetery Restoration and Preservation Committee work to save the site from further decay.

Last week, Jack Fly, one of the Committee's founders, and Ted Roller, an avid local historian and committee member, were busy clearing more brush from the site of the old Packwood Cemetery.

The land where the cemetery lies was originally purchased from the United States government by John Packwood in the 1850s under a U.S. land patent. The property is now owned by the Senters family.

Fly and Roller spoke as if they had discovered buried treasure as they explained the history of some of the gravesites they had uncovered.

In particular, Fly described the thrill he felt when he found a stone inscribed with the name of Elias Price, lying in two pieces in a back portion of the cemetery. Fly said the discovery supported a historical account he had read describing the grizzly murders of four Southern sympathizers by the Union Home Guard.

According to a report written by Capt. Joseph G. Peevy with Company B of the Hunter's Regiment of the Missouri Infantry and dated April 17, 1863, Robert H. Christian, a first lieutenant of the Missouri Militia, committed a vile act that Peevy described as "one of the most diabolical, cold-blooded murders that I heard of during my trip."

Peevy reported that Lt. Christian shot and killed four "old" citizens living west of Cassville. Their names were Elias Price, Asa Chilcutt, Thomas Dilworth and Lee Chilcutt.

Another account of these killings, found by Fly, described the crime in more vivid detail. Thomas Sallee, of Exeter, was interviewed in 1931 and said all four men were shot in the right eye and their brains were taken out, put in their hats and set beside their bodies, which were all “buried in one large grave in the old Packwood Cemetery."

The discovery of a grave stone bearing Price's name confirmed those reports and helped uncover more of Barry County's Civil War past.

“Cemeteries are many things to many people," said Fly. “To me, they're not only the resting places of our county's pioneer families but a large history book."

It was Fly's passion for restoring old cemeteries that sparked the beginning of the Barry County cemetery restoration project.

As a child growing up in Monett, Fly remembers taking Sunday drives to the Corsicana Cemetery with his family. Upon his move back to the area in February of 2005, one of Fly's first stops was to the family cemetery located northwest of Purdy.

“I found it in shambles," said Fly. “The cemetery was mowed but stones were broken and knocked over.

“After repairing nine family stones I decided it just wasn't right to leave the other 40 or so broken," said Fly. “I decided to repair and reset all the stone, and after repairing about 35 stones, my personal funds for the project were running low."

At that point, Fly said he made a presentation about his project to the Barry County Genealogical and Historical Society and got a very positive response.

“They were impressed with the efforts and decided to provide funding for the materials needed to continue the work at Corsicana," Fly said.

An official Cemetery Restoration and Preservation Committee was appointed in October of 2005 with Fly, Roller and Jay Trace making up the committee membership.

The goal of the cemetery restoration committee is to locate, record, photograph, and where feasible, restore all the abandoned cemeteries and grave sites in Barry County. So far, the group has focused its efforts on the Corsicana, Ferguson and Packwood cemeteries.

“A number of single or small family grave sites have been cleaned up and stones repaired and reset at these cemeteries," said Fly.

The work required at each cemetery varies, ranging from minimal clean-up to combatting overwhelming neglect.

Once brush is cleared, volunteers conduct a thorough search of the area, looking for stones that are standing, knocked over or buried. A record is made of all the stones found. These stones are also photographed and their location recorded. If at all possible, broken stones are repaired and reset.

Right now, Fly has 15 pieces of a grave stone out of the Purdy Cemetery lying on his kitchen table, waiting to be reset in a concrete form that matches the original stone's shape.

In order to continue the goals of the Barry County Cemetery Restoration and Preservation Committee, the group needs donations of time and money. The Committee is also asking for information pertaining to the location of other abandoned cemeteries or grave sites that need to be restored.

The group is willing to work at any location as long as it is fenced in some way to protect from future damage.

“There's no sense in restoring the cemetery and letting cows run over it again," said Fly.

Individuals interested in becoming involved in this ongoing project can contact Fly at 271-3868.

Corsicana Cemetery Restoration Project

The Corsicana Cemetery (AKA: Old Fly Cemetery) was established in the 1840's when the community of Gadfly was forming. It's located on a hilltop overlooking Joys Creek just north of where the town once stood. The oldest marked grave surviving in 2005 belongs to Elizabeth Stone, wife of John Stone, born March 2, 1799 and died November 18, 1845, aged 46 years 8 months. Time has not been kind to the old cemetery and through the years it has suffered damage from neglect, cattle, vandals and the elements themselves.

I made a trip to the cemetery with my father in 1966. I was just a kid and had never seen a "country cemetery". I was used to driving by the town cemeteries where all the stones were upright and in good repair. I remember how shocked I was at the site of broken stones, stones knocked off the bases and in a state of complete neglect. I remember asking my father why it was like this. He said that probably the families were all gone or moved away and that "nobody cared". That statement "nobody cared" stuck with me for years. So in February of 2005 I decided that since no repairs had made in the past 39 years it was safe to say no one was going to make any. I decided, "I cared" and set out to make repairs to the stones in Corsicana.

In 2005 over fifty stones were repaired, or reset, or straighten and cleaned. There is probably that many more that require some attention. A work crew consisting of Ted Roller, Jeremy Fly and Jerry Morton have lent a hand as needed in this task. Running low on funds for the project I approached the Barry County Genealogy and Historical Society in October of 2005 to secure financial help. The Society graciously backed future repairs there so that work can be completed at Corsicana in 2006.

Anyone who would like to help financially with the cemetery project can send a donation to the Barry County Genealogy and Historical Society, P.O. Box 291, Cassville, MO 65625. Please designate your donation to the cemetery fund.

Owners are Mike and Mary Fenske and they have taken on the task mowing the cemetery so cemetery donations go the M. Fenske, Rt. 1, Box 229A, Purdy, MO 65734.

The gate to the cemetery is keep locked in an attempt try to discourage vandalism. For access to the cemetery you should call Mike or Mary at 417-442-3882 to make arrangements for a visit.

Submitted by: Jack Fly