Historic Cemeteries Spark Community Interest

Since Blair County Genealogical Society President Jim Snyder began documenting the cemeteries of Blair County years ago, he has stirred up much community interest in the many historic burial sites in the area. The project was started by fellow society member Don Feathers in 2007, and the team, which includes several other volunteers, has since documented approximately 240 cemeteries. Snyder says that they are still finding more.

The society's Facebook page receives approximately 18,000 views per month, and services many people with family ties to Blair County during its in-person library hours, Snyder said.

Last year, Snyder presented "Lost Cemeteries of Blair County" at the society, spreading awareness of the project. About 75 people attended.

Before the documentation project started, the society had lists of grave sites, but not one simple, comprehensive list. So, every Friday, volunteers would visit a different part of the county to document and photograph cemeteries. The new, more comprehensive, cemetery list includes not only the deceased's names and birth/death dates (when available), but also GPS coordinates and driving directions. The team also tries to list the entries on findagrave.com, a free service anyone can use to search cemeteries and names of relatives or people of interest. If one is just using a service like Ancestry, Snyder said, you can find death certificates searching by name, but you cannot search by cemetery. Also, findagrave users can contact society members via their name and email "tag" on the gravesite entries. The society's project adds another level of searchability to the county, and its residents', histories.

As the team has worked to document each cemetery, members have searched newspapers, church records, and other sources to document graves both with and without headstones or markers. They've found that at least 10 percent of gravesites have people but no stones, Snyder said. One cemetery in Antis Township was found to have 600 people buried there without markers, he added.

Once the team can confirm burials, and only after confirmation, the cemeteries and plots are added to the project spreadsheet, he said.

There are five laws concerning the preservation of cemeteries. The 1994 Historic Burial Places Preservation Act in PA makes it illegal to destroy a historic cemetery, or one that has been a burial place for 100 years without any burials for at least 50 and where there won't be any future burials.

When land is privately owned, cemeteries aren't deeded to descendants, and often markers and records are missing, Snyder said, things become a little grayer.

"If it's not deeded, how do you know it's there?" he said.

He's had numerous phone calls and visits from people who say they've heard family cemeteries exist at specific locations, and he has helped several people recover access to the sites via deed and historical research. So many cemeteries end up in disrepair, sometimes because there aren't enough family members to take care of the sites, sometimes because there is no one to pay perpetual care, and sometimes because nature just leaves them forgotten.

Though the work can be time consuming and complex, he believes it is important for the future of genealogical research and area history, though.

"It's somebody's family," he said. "Someone is looking for those people."

Cove Native Works to

Rediscover the Forgotten

Allen Edwards is a native of Huston Township and lifetime resident. A retired farmer and truck driver, he is also likely a descendant of the Dilling family. When he discovered that the Dilling Family Cemetery had been forgotten and uncovered again, he made it a personal goal to restore it.

The history of the Dilling family, and the Huston Township area, is close to his heart. He recalls many events of his childhood that others would also remember, like the burning of the Smithfield School when his sister was a student. Later, he took a metal detector to the site and found a piece of an old desk.

"You don't realize how much history we drive by every day [in the Cove]," he said.

The cemetery exists on a privately owned farm, and the owners have given Edwards permission to restore it. By what Edwards called "dumb luck," the area of land containing the once forgotten cemetery hadn't been farmed while it was unnoticed. The people who were farming the area for some time didn't know and just saw a rock ledge, he said.

He added that he's gotten several calls about the Dilling family history and had many interesting conversations since starting the project.

"People want to look for ancestors, it's a reflection on the communities. It'd be tough to go [back to find] family and see they're gone," he said.

There are thought to be nine people buried in the cemetery, and so far Edwards has been able to ascertain seven definitive names. He's hoping perhaps more stones will be found as the site is worked on. Often, oblong stones like one found at the cemetery denoted two grave sites, he said. Snyder has also helped him with defining and documenting those buried in the Dilling Cemetery.

His goal is to level the existing stones, use clear paint to preserve them, and build a fence around the site. His goal is a fall 2024 completion.

In future memorials, he thinks adding something like white crosses to simply mark gravesites would be beneficial, "so people aren't completely forgotten," he said.

Edwards is always grateful for individual or group volunteers to assist with his project. He can be reached at (814) 832-3574.