| While I was helping Tom Homan and others clean up the
Hardin Pioneer (Carey) Cemetery again last year, he asked about the record of the original
work of 1980, and suggested that it be transcribed to digital media. Gene Mozley had
graciously typed my notes back then, when few personal computers were around. Now it would
only take some evening efforts to make the information more available and easy to handle. Going
back over the journal kept in 1980 brought back memories. That first Carey Cemetery
project was begun after a series of news articles and letters appeared in the Sidney
Daily News in late 1980, telling of the longstanding neglect of this historical site.
I hadn’t known before there even was a cemetery in that familiar woodlot. The chance
presented itself for some hard but enjoyable work in the outdoors. A service could be done
and some interesting things learned, so we went to it — my family and I, our young
friend Doug Richards, and even my father when he came to visit.
Preliminary arrangements made, son Greg and I went on August 13 to lay out our plan and
begin work, but a bad storm came up before we got much done. The next evening, we started
again in the northeast corner, clearing an area and probing with pitchforks and a tile
finder, to get a place where brush could be piled. The site was heavily covered with
grapevines, hawthorns, multiflora, raspberries, poison ivy, and other brush. The first
headstone was unearthed, having been covered with sod and with rubbish that was dumped
over it long ago. It was that of a child who had died in 1853 on August 13, the same day
of the year we had started work! It was also the first of many we were to find that were
not in the records.
The old gate on the north side was rusted beyond hope, along with the posts, so we had
to forget about that, and went on with the task of clearing brush and probing every square
foot. Most markers on the north side were found 2-3 inches under the sod. Their heavy
bases, into which mortises were cut for insertion of the headstones, had to be pried up
and leveled by placing stone underneath.
Theft, Dumping, Vandalism
In one area, many bases were missing, probably having been stolen for building
purposes. Another area was hard to probe because old bricks had been dumped there. Signs
of vandalism were common.
As we moved along, the work got harder, with the roots thick over the stones, some of
which were down nearly a foot deep, one on top of another in a few places. The weather
became very hot and humid at one point. One evening fog settled in and we became so sweaty
we couldn’t hold on to the tools.
More and more previously unlisted markers were located, and it was found that, in
checking old records, some were erroneous or short on information actually there. Many
stones, although recorded earlier, were buried under the sod now, along with those which
had been unknown.
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