"Jackson lining up extra help to cover workload at cemetery - Telegram News"

Jackson lining up extra help to cover workload at cemetery - Telegram News

Virtual Cemetery Tour: Buckeye Cemetery from "Wandering Appalachia"

Buckeye Cemetery, Jackson County, Ohio on Find A Grave

"Native American bones stolen from Ohio grave to be reburied"

"Native American Bones Stolen from Ohio Grave to be Reburied" 

"Jackson County Men Sentenced for Digging Up Native American Human Remains"

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From Dave Snyder of the Ohio History Connection 

dsnyder@ohiohistory.org

David Snyder, Ph.D. | Archaeology Reviews Manager, State Historic Preservation Office

Ohio History Connection | 800 E. 17th Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43211

p. 614.298.2000 | f. 614.298.2037 | dsnyder@ohiohistory.org

January 21, 2016 10:10 AM

  

"From my understanding of how to apply Ohio laws to protect burials I have found that both 25 years and 125 years are important numbers.  That is, both of you are correct. 

There are different kinds of protection provided for under state laws with different state agencies having authority under different laws.  For a cemetery that is active there are specific requirements for registration and maintenance. 

The focal point for these requirements is at Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4747 where responsibility is assigned to the Ohio State Department of Commerce, Division of Real Estate and Professional Licenses.  The Ohio Cemetery Law Task Force recommended a number of changes that I believe take a constructive step to strengthen the Division’s authority to ensure appropriate care of graves in active cemeteries (including markers of veterans graves). 
There is much more to do in Ohio to protect graves in active cemeteries, but from where I sit, I see this as a positive step forward.

Protecting graves in cemeteries that are not active is quite a different matter.  As you have noted in your blogs there is very much for Ohio to do to make sure that graves in abandoned cemeteries are protected.  Cemetery registration requirements convey the standard that after 25 years without an interment a cemetery is to be considered abandoned.

And in addition, there are many unmarked graves in Ohio, and most of these are places where American Indians were buried.  And here is where the law in Ohio brings in the 125 year standard.  Attached is a pdf of one of the court cases that upheld and strengthened this 125 year standard.  Although the 125 year standard applies to almost all unmarked American Indian burials, it also applies to all graves that are older than 125 years, even in active cemeteries.  The cemetery registration requirements provide for some protection of cemeteries and their markers, but do not provide much protection for the remains of the deceased.

Most people find grave robbing and grave desecration deplorable and repulsive.  Ohio’s law basically states that you have to be able to recognize the remains as the deceased in order to apply the laws prohibiting grave desecration.  That is, the laws protect the corpse of a recent burial, but after some time, when the corpse is no longer recognizable it is no longer a corpse and cannot be protected under Ohio laws.  Don’t get me wrong, I want to see the laws strengthened to better protect human remains and prevent the abuse of a corpse, but I also want to extend the laws in Ohio to protect human remains regardless of whether the remains can be defined under law as a corpse.

So, Ohio law does not protect American Indian burials – they are not corpses as defined under Ohio law, and  they are not in marked graves in active or abandoned cemeteries as defined under Ohio law.  Ohio law prohibits trespass and vandalism – thus it isn’t a violation of the law to dig up American Indian burials, but it might be a minor violation if you trespass on property where you didn’t have permission to go and you vandalize a place where you didn’t have permission to dig.  In the latter 19th century the Ohio courts were asked to define and clarify when a recent burial had so decomposed that it was no longer a corpse, and the courts came back with the 125 year standard.  But the problem is not just that this leaves graves of American Indians without protection, now this applies to graves of many, almost all, veterans of the Civil War.  It is now OK under Ohio law to dig up graves of Civil War veterans to take buttons and such as long as you don’t trespass or vandalize.  Putting all of this together, this is why so many of us are very much concerned by the 125 year standard and are working to get this changed and fixed.  But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t also concerned about caring for abandoned cemeteries and the problems that the 25 year standard brings to these issues.

I hope this is helpful in answering your question.

I very much appreciate your blogs and your advocacy for the protection of cemeteries."

The James Cemetery Restoration Project - Jackson, Ohio

The Ohio Genealogical Society is not only a statewide genealogical society in of itself with its own headquarters and library, but it is comprised of member chapters from almost all of Ohio's 88 counties. Several O.G.S. Chapters have engaged in actively participating in their county's cemetery issues, whether by compiling and publishing tombstone transcription books, hands-on restoration of markers, or general clean-up of the grounds.

Anyone wishing to advance their cause and further their opportunities with cemetery preservation in Ohio should not only consult with the Ohio Genealogical Society itself via its website of http://www.ogs.org/, but, more specifically, the cemetery portion of this site:

http://www.ogs.org/cemeteries/index.php

Be sure to check out the website of the county chapter for your area of interest to learn if there are cemetery preservation activities going on there. Contact them with questions or for assistance. The support and involvement of residents and local governments where your "cemetery of concern" is situated are vital resources if you are to succeed with your planned improvement goals !

One example of O.G.S. Chapter participation is highlighted here with the focus on the advancements made with the restoration of the James Cemetery Restoration Project conducted by the Jackson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.

The information offered on this site is detailed with photographs coloring in the visual of this success story.