What is This World Coming Too?

I had an interesting discussion the other day at an all day gathering of my Spinning Guild. (Spinning as in yarn, not exercise.)
Inspired by a disturbing local news story of a missing child that apparently died and was dumped into a trash bin and possibly incinerated, we got on the the theme of cremation and cemeteries. I started paying more attention to the topic and slightly less to my yarn.
One friend mentioned that she had told her family to "toast her and toss her", feeling that there is no reason to have a place dedicated to her remains when she wasn't going to really be there.
I can understand the line of thinking, so many of the up and coming generation cannot be bothered with planting flowers (hence the silk and plastic now found in cemeteries.) I only have one son, out o9f two, who probably knows where HIS grandparents lie, but beyond that, his eyes glaze over when I mention other locations. It does bother me when I hear that gramps is sitting in a mason jar in the garage, because no one knows what to do with him. At least we have a plot, that my Hubby's parents bought, so I know where I will be planted.
So my question that after mulling over our discussion Saturday is this. Why, if people do not want a grave, a place to decorate and to remember and honor a deceased loved one.... Why oh why do they persist in making memorials along the sides of roads where someone died? Let's make a traffic hazard, by causing gawkers where so-and-so died. They get weather beaten, bedraggled and look a mess. (Plus I see future genealogists pulling their hair out, trying to figure out where these ancestors are.)
Are these mourners just too cheap to pay for a cemetery plot? Let's have a memorial to Joe Blow in a muddy ditch. It just makes no sense to me. Maybe I'm being too hard on them, but it does drive me crazy.
I have given my family explicit orders that if I ever die in a car accident, NOT to put a cross by the road.
If they do, I promise to haunt them.

Cement Stones

That may seem like a contradiction--cement stones--but I have noticed many home-made stones around.
On last weeks posting on our sister blog, the Cemetery Divas I mentioned now odd it was there there were so many cement tombstones there.
First there was my paternal great-grandfathers. It is well made, with curved corners and strong enough to stand upright, but the letters appear to have been carved in with a nail or something similar. Another unusual feature of Grampa Jesse's stone is that it was painted silver. I really cannot give you any history of the stone. Since he had divorced his wife, my Great Grandma Carrie, my grandmother/his daughter wouldn't have much to do with him. He is buried in Curtice Cemetery and is in the northern part of the county and while far from my branch of the family, there were some other Crosses in the area.
The puzzling thing though was that there were other stones of similar shape and size as GGrampa Jesse's. Another almost identical, also painted silver but with molded letters. In the picture below, the more ornate stone for "Thomas" also apears to be cement and painted silver.
There were several others, some pictured on the other blog from last week that also appear to be cement.

Is this a widely used means of making stones? Can anyone tell if they have seen a lot of them in the same area? Especially as well done as the Thomas stone. It has the embossed symbol below the name and is very well made. I wondered if it could be just because the area where this cemetery is located was near a community (now abandoned) that made cement, being near marl pits and sand.

Of course, there are other reasons for cement stones. This is a stone made by my father for his aunt. She was Uncle Bert's second wife, and the surviving son never did get around to putting a stone on her grave, just leaving the little aluminum marker. So Dad made her this one.
This was a much simpler stone, although Dad did find wooden letters and inlaid them into the cement. Although they have mostly rotted away, you can still pretty much make out the date as well as the years 1895 to 1981.

Revenge will be sweet Linda Dear!

Oh my where did my dear friend find this photo? You know what they say about paybacks!
My foot was a little more damaged than originally thought so I will be off from work at least another 6 weeks. I will start blogging again as soon as I am feeling a little more up to it. Having the medicine wear off may also make better blogging. Please excuse my typing the darn letters keep moving on my keyboard.

Posting Note

Just a note to followers:
Sandy, who manages this blog, is having surgery today. It is repairing work on her ankle and tendons that were broken a year ago. She will be off work for some time, as well as heavily medicated.So for a while at least posts will be few and far between from her. And if you see one from her that looks a little loopy. Well, for the time being, we can blame the medication.
Knowing that she will inflict great bodily harm on me if she sees this picture here, if you see or correspond with her, tell her you only noticed her baby Sheba.

Sadness of Cemeteries

I just finished my weekly posting on our sister blog The Cemetery Divas about Culp Cemetery in Newaygo County. It is almost an abandoned cemetery aside from the fact that it has been mowed and maintained that way.
But it looks so empty and barren. As you can see above the lone standing slab looks fairly fresh and strong. But around it are stones flat on their back, and open areas with no stones.
Judging from the conditions of many of the stones, it appears this cemetery was abused and mistreated in the past. The stones on the left appear to be from at 3 different graves. The lighter stones on the right, while somewhat readable, still were broken.
It is so sad when these final resting places are forgotten. Just as with the Indian mounds that are in the area, when those who buried the people are gone, to often others don't care and think it "doesn't matter" with they churn up these places.

Indian Burial Mounds

Sorry I haven't written lately I have had computer issues at work and at home.

As I have said I would write about Native American Burial mounds in Newaygo County. There isn't a week that goes by that we don't get a patron coming in or calling about them in the area. They want to know if they could be on their land, where they are located, If you dig them up what would you find?

I have a tendency to get on my soap box on this subject. Some day I will have a Patron get upset with me but I feel it is wrong to dig these up or show disrespect for any reason. It is sacrilegious to dig them up or in anyway deface them.

Newaygo County has 234 lakes and 356 miles of rivers and streams that has a rich history along their shores of Native American villages, hunting and fishing grounds. Many of the mounds are also in the woodlands and prairies in the county. There were literally thousands but sadly the numbers are shrinking every year. I do have to give credit to Consumer's Energy Company here in the county that actually have fenced in several mounds and protect them along a river bank.

I am unsure what we can do about saving them. I have worked with the Native American Council a few years ago to research, count and preserve some mounds that was "in the way" of development. Fortunately we preserved them but for how long? The council did open a couple up with a blessing from a shaman and was re buried with the proper prayers and respect. They did not allow anyone there except Native American Shamans and the researchers from the Council who were all of Native American blood. They did share the information that there were signs of shells, bones and not much else. So please people realize this is someones ancestor! Would you like it if someone dug up your ancestors out of curiosity? Your not going to gain great riches or find artifacts for your mantle. Let the dead remain buried where they are.