Annual Membership Meeting

The annual membership meeting of the Johnson-Wilson Cemetery Stewards was held Monday, July 19, 2004 at the Lents Branch of the Boone County Public Library. Members in attendance were Barbara and James Wilson, Alice Wilson Manchikes, Shawn W. Masters, Lara Weisenberger, Jenna Rogers, and Jannes Garbett. The annual election of the Board of Directors was held. The current slate of directors was re-elected. The board members are Bridget Striker, Jenna Rogers, Shawn Masters, Lara Weisenberger, and Jannes Garbett.

President Jan Garbett reported on the Eagle Scout project that Travis Richards completed in the fall of 2003. Travis worked under the supervision of Bridget Striker in mapping each stone in the graveyard. He also cleaned gravestones and began the work of resetting gravestone bases. Travis submitted a typed report with photographs. His Scout Court of Honor was held in February, 2004.Travis deserves several rounds of applause!

JWCSA sponsored the first Boone County Family Cemeteries Reunion, held at the Dinsmore Homestead on June 6, 2004. The reunion was for all Boone County cemeteries. Bridget Striker took charge of the genealogy tent. She guided visitors to sources of information on ancestry. The Rabbit Hash String Band provided pickin' and grinnin' all afternoon while Wilson descendant, Nigel Garbett, served hot dogs off the grill. Lara Weisenberger and Jenna Rogers set up and operated the attic sale tent. Family artist Caroline Wilson painted a watercolor of the old cabin that once sat on the farm of Lucy and Christopher Wilson. Caroline donated the painting as a silent auction item to help JWCSA raise money. Through the kindness and selfless efforts of Marty McDonald, Dinsmore's executive director, Jordan O'Rylee the education coordinator, and Cathy Collopy, research coordinator, the cemetery reunion ran smoothly.

The Johnson-Wilson Cemetery Stewards took a public stand against the recent relocation of graves at South Fork Christian Church Cemetery, Verona. As many as seventeen graves were moved from their original site by the old church to two mass burial plots on the church grounds. The historic church structure was demolished in late 2003, several months after the graves had been moved. JWCSA had reason to believe that at least four graves were moved without permits and that written permission was not obtained from the same class of next of kin of those persons whose graves were relocated. Jan Garbett and Bridget Striker appeared before Fiscal Court to ask for support to avoid similar relocations in the future and to express concern that these relocations seemed unsupervised and appeared to be improperly completed. The family names of those graves disinterred were Brown, McCandless, Ross, West, Roberts, Black, Moore, Asbell, and Carroll. JWCSA did not know of the relocations until Debra Kaye, a descendant of the McCandless family, raised the issue in the summer of 2004. She had gone to the South Fork Cemetery during the Memorial Day weekend of 2004, to place flowers on the graves of her ancestors, only to find that those graves were nowhere to be found. Eventually, JWCSA and Debra connected. Debra also spoke before the Fiscal Court in late September to express her dismay that the relocations were allowed to occur. A complaint was filed with the Kentucky Department of Vital Statistics but no official statement has been issued yet by the Legal Counsel for the state Vital Statistics.

Upcoming Johnson-Wilson reunion

The first Johnson-Wilson reunion will be held in late summer of 2005. Descendants of Benjamin and Winney Johnson, Christopher and Lucy (Johnson) Wilson, Mills and Lucy Wilks, Edward and Lucy Thomas, and Benjamin and Elizabeth ( Johnson) Love will be invited to this event. By then, the Johnson-Wilson Cemetery should be in prime condition for visitors.

Speaking of which– tree removal was completed in the graveyard on September 29 , 2004. Now the fun can begin. Dislocated gravestones will be repaired and reset. More undergrowth will be cleared. Fencing will be erected and landscaping installed. Park benches will complete the tranquil setting. An education kiosk will be established at the edge of the cemetery grounds.

Additions to the website have been discussed. Coming features are "Member of the Month", "Volunteer of the Year", and a descendants' section. The website is slowly but surely receiving responses from the public.

Fundraising remains an on-going issue. JWCSA is still struggling to raise the matching funds for the Cemetery Preservation grant but progress has been made. All of the required match for tree removal was raised. About $6,000 more needs to be raised so that the grant projects can be completed. We did recently receive a generous contribution from R.C. Durr - $2,000- as matching funds for the Boone County cemetery brochure. Now we are working on completing the match for fencing and for signage and relocation plaques for other small family cemeteries. Three spring fund raisers are planned, dates and places to be announced. One of these will be a dinner and silent auction with Kathy Groob as the keynote speaker.

Please contact Jan Garbett.

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Cemetery Workshop

The Boone County Historic Preservation Review Board held a cemetery workshop on July 24, 2004 in the Old Burlington Cemetery. The Dinsmore Homestead and the Johnson-Wilson Stewards lent moral support to this endeavor. Matt Becher, HPRB staff ( who also doubles as the county Rural/Open Space Planner) coordinated the workshop with his usual unruffled efficiency. Ann Johnson of the Kentucky Historical Society demonstrated the cleaning of gravestones. It was amazing to see the difference wrought by elbow grease and water. Jerry Garbett of JWCSA showed the techniques for repairing a mortise and tenon; he also repaired a gravestone that had broken in half. Both gravesites were burials of children– Mary Stevenson and John McCay Riddell.

Newspaper coverage was phenomenal for the workshop. Four local papers covered the event. The weather was perfect, a sunny summer Saturday with low humidity and temperatures in the seventies. Perhaps the perfect weather could be bottled and kept for a repeat performance next year.