Alice (Wilson) Manchikes was awarded the Boone County Cemetery Preservation Award in May at the annual Historic Preservation Review Board awards ceremony and reception. Alice has been a generous donor for the Johnson-Wilson Cemetery restoration. She is a Member for Life of the Johnson-Wilson Cemetery Stewards Association.

Two important conferences are scheduled for September. On Saturday, September 16, a statewide cemetery preservation conference in scheduled. More information - who,when, and where- will be available soon.

The Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference, scheduled for September 28-30, will be held in Covington. Registration materials will be available in August. Go to the Kentucky Heritage Council site, or try Preservation Kentucky, Inc.

Please note that our countywide cemetery map and brochure is available free of charge just for the asking. 196 Boone County cemeteries are mapped. Unfortunately, we do not have the space on this site to list the specific information; that is, names and dates for each cemetery. We are most willing to answer questions concerning particular surnames and to provide as many details as we can access. Please email Jan Garbett.

We have had a bit of trouble the last two months with our “improved” Insight Broadband service, so please try snail mail if you do not receive a prompt email response or call us at 859-689-2383 and we will return your call as soon as possible. (JWCSA mailing address is 3441 Mary Teal Lane, Burlington, KY 41005). We have no paid staff; we are all volunteers. But we cheerfully reply to all who inquire.

We have had the blessing of establishing a friendship with the newly-formed Fayette County Cemetery Trust. Lisa and Ron Sanden of Lexington are a young, energetic couple who have taken the bull by the horns in Fayette County, Kentucky. Visit their website, and witness their dazzling array of accomplishments (oh, to be young again!).

Our cemetery board members are meeting with the Sandens and others from various counties in central and southern Kentucky on Wednesday evening, July 19th. We invite cemetery preservationists in Northern Kentucky to attend this dinner meeting in Dry Ridge. You do not have to belong to an organization. If you have concerns about Kentucky graveyards and the enforcement of Kentucky cemetery laws and regulations, then please notify us ( see the above email address and phone number) to let us know of your interest. We want to hear from you! Even if you do not live in Kentucky, we want to hear your concerns about Kentucky graveyards. We try hard to live up to our name “Cemetery Stewards”.

Here are a few questions to ponder. Respond as you please:

• Do current laws adequately protect your county’s cemeteries?
• Does your local government have a process in place for grave relocations?
• Has a developer or other entity used an avenue other than the county fiscal court to relocate a cemetery?
• Do you have specific examples where Kentucky laws have been insufficient to protect a burial ground?
• Are cemeteries mapped in your county?
• Would you or others you know be interested in a statewide cemetery preservation organization?

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Countywide Cemetery Map

The publication of a countywide cemetery map/brochure is among one of recently completed projects. 196 Boone County graveyards are located on the map. Many thanks are due Bob Jonas, Dave Geohegan, and Matt Becher of the Planning Commission, and Bridget Striker, JWCSA Vice-President for their expertise and time so generously given on behalf of this project. Funding was provided by the R.C. Durr Foundation. Dave and Bob were recognized at the annual Boone County Historic Preservation Review Board awards in May. To order your free copy or multiple copies, contact Jan Garbett.

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Boone County Graveyards: A Reflection

Historic cemeteries, or graveyards, are outdoor museums - tangible records of the earliest history of a community. The Old Burlington Cemetery on Bullittsville Road is such a museum. It is rich with stories of Boone County war veterans, teachers, business owners, farmers, lawyers, judges, and everyday families. Sometimes, the rest of the story must be sought out through census, tax, and other written records.

The gravestone of James McBurney sits alone in the shadow of a maple tree in the Old Burlington Cemetery. There are no family members near by. When we look upon little James’ gravestone, we think of our infant granddaughter, Emma Faith Barton, whose grave is sheltered by a huge live oak in Mission Park Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas. There is no family close by.

James McBurney was five months and sixteen days old when the Angel of Death stole him away March 16, 1839. His grave is one of the oldest in the cemetery. We had been puzzled by the solitude of his burial site. Were his parents’ grave markers hiding beneath inches of soil in the graveyard? Had their tombstones been vandalized and destroyed? Or did his family move away?

A search of Ancestry.com census data and Boone County marriage records solved the puzzle. James’ parents, William and Catherine McBurney, married in Boone County 16 January, 1834. Their eldest son, Thomas, was born in 1835, James on 30 September, 1838. The family moved from Boone to Carroll County before the 1850 census was taken. That census record places the McBurney family near Ghent. William McBurney, age 41 of Pennsylvania, was listed as a tobacconist. He and his wife, Catherine (Mitchell), age 36 of Virginia, were parents of Thomas J, age 15, William Oliver, age 10, James Henry, age 7 (not the James of Old Burlington Cemetery), Andrew Calvin, age 5, Eleanor, age 3, and Marcellus, born 19 November, 1849. The McBurneys are counted again in the 1860 Carroll County census but do not appear in any 1870 census. We plan to search Carroll County burial records for their death dates and burial sites. (Marcellus and his wife, Lucy, were buried in the Ghent I.O.O.F Cemetery).

We think of William and Catherine McBurney often and wonder if they returned from time to time to place field daisies upon James’ grave. We cannot help but believe that they did. One baby boy, all alone but living in the hearts of those who loved him.

James is one of forty children under age ten buried in the Old Burlington Cemetery. Another puzzle is John W. Berkshire who died at age eight. His perfectly carved gravestone has been lying on the ground out of its base since 1953 when William and Anne Fitzgerald inventoried the records in this historic cemetery. Several attempts at probing the soil for the gravestone base have proved fruitless.

Alvin and Lucinda (Rice) Berkshire married 16 February, 1843 in Boone County. Lucy Margaret was their firstborn (1844). John followed 23 February, 1846, and after him, Ann E. in 1847.

We have not found Alvin and Lucinda in any census or death records. The 1850 Boone County census lists the three Berkshire children with their maternal grandmother, Margaret Rice of Burlington. John died 27 September, 1854. His sisters, Lucy and Ann, erected his tombstone, so the gravestone states. The girls continued to live with Margaret Rice. Lucy Berkshire married William B. Riddell 1 January, 1862 in Union. (William, son of Madison and Frances Fowler Riddell, died 12 May,1872). Any evidence of Ann Berkshire’s adult life is buried in the annals of Boone County history.

Several Ancestry.com entries name Alvin Berkshire’s parents as John and Felita White of Bourbon County. Two possible birth dates are listed for Alvin- 1815 and 1825. The estimated birth date of Lucinda Rice is 1823, born to William and Margaret “Peggy” (Scott) Rice of Boone County. What happened to Alvin and Lucinda Berkshire? Did some common accident or disease strike them down together? We are searching for the rest of the story.

In an obscure County graveyard stands a metal cross with the simple marking, "Lesley P. Sparrow, 5/27/1944 -10/14/1979". Other burials in this graveyard are uninscribed fieldstones. Lesley Sparrow was not a child when she died. However, through a tragic twist of fate, her life and death have become a part of Boone County history.

Who was Lesley Sparrow and what brought her to Boone County in mid-October, 1979? A photo in The Kentucky Post archives shows a perky blonde with a winning smile. Ms. Sparrow was a petite and vivacious thirty-five year old divorcee` from Louisville, Kentucky. Her Jefferson County neighbors described her as "a doll" - friendly, bubbly, and full of life. Lesley came to the United States from England around 1964. She became a United States citizen, obtained her Social Security card in Mississippi, married young and lived in Atlanta, then divorced and moved to Louisville.

The police theorized that Lesley Sparrow drove from Louisville to Boone County on Friday, October 12, 1979 to meet friends; the group intended to fly to Mesa, Arizona. Medical evidence indicated that on Saturday, October 13, Lesley was brutally murdered, stuffed in the trunk of her Monte Carlo, and left at the Best Western Fountain Inn, Richwood. On Sunday evening, October 14, a motel maid noticed the blood-spattered car in the parking lot and notified the Boone County police.

Lesley was cremated; her remains, buried in an urn, were far removed from her native land. The murder of Lesley Sparrow remains a cold case file in Kentucky State Police records.

Cemeteries are filled with stories. Some tales are of men and women whose long lives were filled with fond memories of hard work and loving family ties. Others are tragedies. Often times, inscribed markers are the only remaining record of a person’s life, particularly in the case of women and children.

With the continuing growth of Boone County, it becomes critically important that our graveyards are respected and carefully documented and preserved. Through ongoing community education for both children and adults, we can work together to keep Boone County’s heritage intact.

Sources:

• Ancestry.com, entry # 18137, Sharon M. Campbell
• Ancestry.com, Online census records for Kentucky, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
• Family Search.org, site sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Ancestral File, International Genealogical Index, Social Security Death Index, and 1880 Kentucky census data.
• The Kentucky Post, articles dated October 15 -18, 1979
  • Front page headline, "Find body of woman in car trunk", Connie Remlinger and David Wecker, KY Post Staff Writers, October 15, 1979 (continued to page 3)
  • "Victim was to catch flight", Connie Remlinger, Kentucky Post Staff Writer, October 16, 1979
  • "Coroner says ‘maniac’ shot woman 6 times", Connie Remlinger, Kentucky Post Staff Writer, October 16, 1979, page 3.
  • "Liked to party...not wild", Jim Dody, Kentucky Post Frankfort Bureau, October 17, 1979, page 16
  • "Murdered woman was outspoken, independent", Kentucky Post staff reporter, October 18, 1979, page 9
• Kentucky Vital Statistics certified death certificate # 25421, for Lesley P. Sparrow, October 14, 1979
• Kentucky Vital Statistics death certificates in public domain:
  • # 23716, Nov. 27, 1922, Marcellus McBurney, Carroll County
  • # 23474, Oct. 11, 1925, Lucy ( Beal) McBurney, Carroll County

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