Augie; Is this on your property or your father’s?
Looks a little different than the pictures you have posted of the house and garden.
The cemetery is located on the old Fortney family homestead farm about 15 miles southwest of my place. It’s just down the road and around the corner from the homestead farm where Pops grew up.
The cemetery is its own entity - it is deeded separately from the farm that surrounds it. A distant cousin who currently resides in California has been managing the finances for the cemetery association, but at this point the cemetery association consists of that cousin (she’s pushing 90 now), my 85yo Aunt who lives in Virginia, 83yo Pops, a few other elderly cousins, and myself. We get the occasional enquiry from folks doing genealogical research, and a bit of money trickles in from far-flung cousins for grounds maintenance. It would be nice to get some of the younger cousins involved with the upkeep, but none of them live close enough for that to be practical.
The farm the cemetery is located on has been donated to the Missouri Dept of Natural Resources, with use/possession reserved for the duration of the owner’s life. It borders Rock Bridge State Park and will become part of the park when the owner passes. The owner is a distant cousin, in her late 70s, and wonderful to work with, so we’ve been working hard to get the cemetery back to 100% condition before the DNR takes over the surroundings.
The cemetery was platted in 1830 - less than ten years after Missouri became a state - on land donated by John and Kizza Fortney. John and Kizza were both born in Kentucky in the 1790s - both passed prior to the Civil War. Unfortunately we don’t possess an official record of internments, if such a thing was ever created. I expect most of the burials were recorded in family bibles. Quite a few of the graves don’t have quarried marker stones - just big pieces of native limestone as markers.
The lower part of the cemetery, down the hill back in the cedar trees, was where the slaves/freed blacks were buried. Lore states that it was almost expected that a native American burial would be disturbed while digging in that lower section of the plot. If anyone were still alive to ask, I expect we’d learn that the Native burial ground being there is the reason that particular location was chosen for use as the family cemetery.
Mrs. Augie and I took the dogs over there yesterday. The dogs had a wonderful time exploring while Mrs. Augie and I placed marker stones. We set foot stones on 44 graves that didn’t previously have them, and head/foot stones on three graves that were not marked at all. My back isn’t happy with me today, but I’m happy to have completed that task.
As with most private cemeteries that are off the beaten path, vandals have damaged a few of the head stones over the years. Three or four of the stones are missing the little ornamental ball that sets on top. I expect I can source those with little difficulty at a local monument company. I also need to build a new arch for the cemetery gate. The original gate arch was stolen sometime back in the 1950s. Pops said his Grandpap commented after the theft was discovered, “Well, it’s hanging on the wall in a frat house at Mizzou now.”