I am at best, an amateur genealogist. I began my search for information about my family in 1984. I have made many mistakes, learned correct ways to verify and document information, even started over a couple of times. But I still chase the elusive information about my ancestors.
I began my search when I realized that our family only knew the basic information that my great grandfather, William Meredith Brown, was from Jackson County, Tennessee, that he was blind, and he had a younger brother George.
I am happy to say that as of December 2009, I have 'proven' and documented over 750 relations on both my parent's genealogical lines. I have another 800 or so relations to prove as I can find time to work on this project, around life and other interests.
One of these 'other interests' is old cemeteries. On a couple of recent trips to Jackson County, Tennessee, I was disheartened by the condition of the two cemeteries where some of my ancestors were buried. Family has apparently moved away from the local area, and other who live nearby have either forgotten them or are too busy to do anything about the overgrown conditions. Because I live hundreds of miles away, in Texas, I cannot do the work on these cemeteries myself. But I can help rescue the burial grounds of someone else's ancestors.
One such burial ground is Shiloh Cemetery. Shiloh sits along a dusty, dirt road about 5 miles to the north of Richland Springs, Texas, in San Saba County. It is near a farm where my father grew up. He told me about the cemetery and how it was overgrown when he was growing up in the area in the 1940's and 1950's.
In discussions with a few local residents, it appears that no descendants of those buried in Shiloh are living in the area. It appears that on two occasions during the past 30 years, there have been small efforts to clean up the cemetery. When new owners of the ranch land around the cemetery came along, they placed a new barbed wire fence around it to help keep cattle out.
It was reported that another nearby neighbor thought to clear out some of the undergrowth and "trash trees". He decided to bulldoze those areas "where there weren't no graves". It is my fear that several or perhaps many sandstone field stones used to mark the graves were removed during this process.
It appears that someone may cleared more trees and undergrowth in last year or two, as there were debris piles still visible. Sadly, there is evidence of vandalism to some of the markers in the cemetery. It appears that at least on, and probably two cement markers were smashed to bits and only small pieces with cryptic hints to who was buried are all that remains.
The week before Christmas, 2009 I performed a limited search for information regarding any cemetery association or any local individual who might be in charge of Shiloh Cemetery. Many new where it was, but no one knew of anyone responsible for the cemetery. I then recruited the help of my father and mother in clearing the undergrowth of trees, dense briars and chest high native grasses from the hallowed grounds of Shiloh.
On day one, my mother and I walked the throughout the cemetery, placing marker flags at each field stone or formal marker we could find. We then wrote down names from the formal markers and headed to San Saba to do research. We found very little information on Shiloh Cemetery, did find a little information on some of it's residents.
The following day, my father and I began the process of clean up. We raised the canopy of old growth trees, removed saplings and began mowing the grasses and briars. About midway through the work, Roy Shannon, a nearby resident, came to inquire about what we were doing. He indicated that he wanted to do something to help and would return after feeding his cattle. With Roy's help, we managed to clear about 3/4 of the cemetery of 60 years of neglect.
The following day, my parents and I arrived early in the morning and completed the cleanup process. I then began mapping the cemetery, measuring the perimeter and laying out the graves on paper. In all we identified 11 rows of graves encompassing 63 known graves. Three of these were unmarked depressions which are most likely graves. There was a large area void of graves where we were unable to locate markers of any type.
I have put together a book documenting our findings in text and pictures. I will be sending a copy of the book Come Home to Shiloh, to the Rylander Memorial Library in San Saba, the week after Christmas. I am also offering copies of the book, for a minimal charge, through this blog.
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