Old cemetery

Bart:

I stumbled upon your Rich Hill blog this afternoon and enjoyed the posts
and all the pictures.

My GGG grandfather J.B. Chorette (b. 1799) was an early settler in the
Rich Hill area, founding a mill on the Marais des Cygnes in about 1839.
His son-in-law James E. Bailey (my GG grandfather) continued farming in
the area long after he died. Bailey died in 1928 and is buried in
Greenlawn Cemetery.

J.B. Chorette, his wife, and their daughter are buried in a small
private cemetery just east of the Marais des Cygnes on private land. I
visited the cemetery in 2001 when I visited Bates County (I live in
California), and re-discovered the headstones and markers, almost all of
which had been knocked down by cattle and were down among the weeds.
Since then I've been interested in finding ways to restore the cemetery
and graves, and--most importantly--maintain the cemetery. The land
owner was amenable to restoration, but he didn't want to create an
eyesore if it would get overgrown again without maintenance. I was
unable to make any progress or find any group or individual interested
in local history who could offer maintenance.

Do you have any idea who I could approach about the subject of cemetery
maintenance? My family and I are willing to cover reasonable costs for
headstone repair, fencing, weed removal, etc. provided we can arrange
maintenance afterwards. I'd be grateful if you can think of anyone I
can contact, or even another solution I haven't thought of.

Thanks and best regards,

Jeff Bailey
Scotts Valley, CA
--
Jeff Bailey
rjbailey@fastmail.fm