A Visit to the Prague Jewish Ghetto

 

                                                       Pinkas Synagogue, Wikimedia Commons

In 2013, a friend and I did an extended tour of Eastern Europe.  I found the Pinkas Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery in the Prague Ghetto one of the most impactful places I visited.  The Jewish Museum of Prague administers the synagogue and cemetery.

                                           Detail of the Pinkas Synagogue, courtesy of the author

The Pinkas Synagogue, founded in 1535 by the Horowitz family, was built in a late Gothic Style and is the second oldest building in the Prague Ghetto.  There was originally a house of prayer on the site when Aaron Meshulam Horowitz rebuilt the property.  Builders remodeling the synagogue added Renaissance features, a women's section, and a women's gallery in the mid-seventeenth century.  Floods have damaged several areas in the synagogue, including the names on the walls.  Workers repainted every lost or damaged name.

                                               Interior of Pinkas Synagogue, courtesy of the author

When I visited here on a late summer day, I was mesmerized by the 80,00 names painted onto the walls of this house of prayer.  These were the names of victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia.  The enormity of the crimes committed against humanity was self-evident in this quiet, prayerful place.  I stood in silence, unable to fathom the cruelty of one group of human beings against another. 

                                            Names of Holocaust victims, courtesy of the author

Another synagogue room contained the art of children held prisoner at the Terezin Concentration Camp.  The combination of horror and hope expressed by these dear children brought me to tears.  Terezin was a concentration camp 30 miles from Prague.  The Nazis sent over 150,00 Jews to the camp, including 15,00 children. Terezin was not a death camp, but more than 33,00 people died from disease, lack of medical care, and starvation.  The Gestapo transported many prisoners to extermination camps such as Treblinka and Auschwitz.  Only 17,247 people survived their time at Terezin or the other camps they were sent to.  Ultimately, less than 150 children survived.

                                                        Children's art, Pinkas Synagogue, courtesy of the author

 

The art of the children of Terezin was part of a secret art program organized by the artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis.  Friedl was a prisoner at the camp.  She used art to help the children express themselves, a way for them to develop imagination and emotion.  The Nazis sent Friedl and many children to Auschwitz, but she hid two suitcases filled with 4500 children's drawings before she was sent to the death camp.  After the war, some of the drawings were recovered and sent to the Jewish Museum in Prague.  Many of the drawings are still contained at Terezin.  

                                                            Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Wikimedia Commons

 

Visitors can only access the Old Jewish Cemetery, one of the world's oldest surviving Jewish burial grounds, through the synagogue.  The first burials were interred in the early 1400s.  The last burial was in 1787.  Land for Jewish graves was scarce.  People were buried on top of each other here, with small amounts of dirt between them.  In some places, people were buried ten deep.  There are 12,000 highly personalized headstones in this resting place for many of the original Jewish families of Prague.  People have left pebbles on some stones, which is no longer permissible.  They are often left to keep the soul where it belongs or to indicate the deceased's memory continues to live.

                                                           Old Jewish Cemetery, courtesy of the author

                                                           Old Jewish Cemetery, courtesy of the author

Thank you to Frank Fristensky for communications on children's art at Terezin.

DNA, Oral History, and Genealogy in Abiquiú Pueblo: One Family’s Story

 

                                Santo Tómas, Abiquiu, New Mexico, photograph of the author

Dr. Charles M. Carrillo is an author, santero, and historical archeologist.  Dr. Carrillo describes the term genízaro as used by colonial authorities "to describe an ethnic class as well as a social status of detribalized, Hispanicized, Catholic native peoples."  Abiquiú has long been identified as a genízaro pueblo.  Historical Spanish documents, maps, and more contemporary books describe this group of people in the Abiquiú area.

                                                                            Map of Northern New Mexico

The 2019 results of a study conducted at Abiquiú Pueblo indicate that the subjects involved in their research carried approximately 40% New World or Native American DNA.  According to Miguel A. Torrez and others, the project "offers insight into the historical and contemporary context of the genízaro."  The project examined three kinds of DNA, Y, mtDNA, and autosomal.  It also completed oral histories, ethnographic studies, and a pedigree chart for each subject.  Ten male and ten female community members were the study's focus. These people identified themselves as genízaro or descendants of genízaro, many participants reporting specific tribal heritage.  

 

Tewa people from New Mexico originally migrated to Hopi, living in the First Mesa area after the Pueblo Revolt in 1680.  During the 1730s, some Tewa became dissatisfied and returned to New Mexico.  This group included some pure Tewa and some mixed Hopi-Tewa people.  They moved between ancestral pueblos, including San Juan and Santa Clara, for a few years.  Ultimately, the Spanish awarded a land grant in Abiquiú to a small group of twenty-four returnees.

Hopi Tewa, First Mesa, John K. Hillers, photographer, Wikimedia Commons

 

Settlers constructed modern Abiquiú on the site of an ancient pueblo. Ancestral Puebloans occupied the area from about 1050 until its abandonment in 1200 AD.  In 1754, as a way of protecting frontier New Mexico settlements from marauding groups of natives, Mexico established genízaro communities in several areas, including Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Las Trampas, Belen, Abiquiú, and several of the pueblos. 

                 Detail of part of the original wall at Santa Rosa de Lima Church, Abiquiú, photograph of the author

 

The Spanish established two separate villages in the Abiquiú area.  The first was Santa Rosa de Lima de Abiquiú in 1734.   The original twenty-four Hopi Tewa may have lived in this village or nearby.  By 1754, Governor Tómas Vélez Capauchin, through proclamation, officially established Santo Tómas Apóstol de los Genízaros, the present day genízaro village of Abiquiú.  The Spanish then moved thirty-four more genízaro families there, possibly as Dr. Carrillo suggests, to the upper Moqui Plaza area. 

                                        House detail, Moki Plaza, Abiquiú, courtesy of Charles M. Carrillo

 

At least one Spanish slave trader lived in the lower village on the Plaza de Santo Tómas.  Others may have lived in the area as well.  These villagers, as well as outside slave traders, brought many more native people into Abiquiú over the next 100 years or so.  The enslaved native people often mentioned in historical documents included Kiowa, Pawnee, Comanche, Ute, Piutes, Tewa, Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, Laguna, Sandia, and Isleta.  The records referred to these native people as genízaro. They were considered the lowest in the Spanish caste system.  Spanish documents did not mention Zuni, Tesuque, or Ácoma enslaved people. 

                                            Plaza de Santo Tòmas, taken from Moki Plaza, public domain

                                                   Modern view of Santo Tómas, photograph of the author

 After the New Spain period, census recorders and church officials most often referred to enslaved people as cautivo or captive or, more rarely, Indio.  Later, some census records referred to these people as domestics.  Some Spanish settlers show in sacramental records as baptismal sponsors of the captives.  The settlers held some of them captive while they freed others.  Freed Native people often continued to work in their original homes. 

 

Through time, intermarriage blurred the lines of identity and altered many of the traditions.  Families expressed their identities in many ways that differed from the original settlers, while vestiges of some old ways remained.  Residents and people who trace their backgrounds to Abiquiú and other Hispano communities have, over time, changed the terms they use to describe themselves.  Names have included Spanish, Mexican, Mestizo, Chicano, Indo-Hispano, Hispano, Indio, Coyote, and now for many Genízaro.  Some community members have stories going back generations describing their family heritage.  DNA is now proving deep Native American ancestry as well.

 

One such family is Debbie's.  She did not participate in the study, but some of her family did.  Her story follows a similar route to the study's subjects.  Her mother's roots have a deep history in Abiquiú.  Her grandmother built Debbie's current home many years ago on or near the site of the ancient pueblo abandoned in 1200.  Another house where her great-grandmother lived had a small room attached to the back of it. That room contained three metates built into the floor and three manos of varying grit. These were identical in form and setting to those used for grinding corn and other grains in ancient and modern pueblos.  Dr. Carrillo identified her 3rd great-grandmother as having been a genízaro.  In addition, Dr. Carrillo documented 3 or 4 large cooking stones in village homes resembling traditional ones the Hopis used to cook piki bread. Debbie's family does not currently have any of the stones.

                                                Hopi women grinding corn, Edwards Curtis, public domain.

 

As in many of the genízaro communities, Abiquiú has dances that resemble those held in Native American communities.  Many attribute the dances to their community's mixed heritage.   The dances usually take place the last weekend in November for the feast day of Santo Tómas. Debbie's family has a long history of being associated with the dances.  Her uncle Floyd was the drummer for many years.  His son Dexter is currently the dance leader and drummer.  Generations of women in the family have danced, including Debbie's grandmother, mother, Debbie, her daughter, and her granddaughter. 

                                                    Dances at Abiquiu, courtesy of Charles M. Carrillo

 

In Abiquiú, one Indita or child's dance is called the dance of Na-ni-ell or Nanillé.  This dance is suspected to have Navajo roots.  Another dance, called El Cautivo, may point to a genízaro origin.  A child from the audience, perhaps the child of a guest or a relative from out of town, is chosen by a dancer.   The captor captures a child from the audience, calling, "Who claims this creature?" After being ransomed by the parent or godparent, the captor will call, "Now you are a child of the pueblo." Dr. Carrillo sees this as perhaps ritualizing captivity and redemption. Dancers attend church at Santo Tómas in dance regalia on the feast day of Santo Tómas.

                                                        Interior of Santo Tómas, photograph of the author

Dr. Carrillo has traced Debbie's family history through sacramental records.  

He has followed one line to an original Hopi Tewa settler of Abiquiú.  The baptismal, marriage, and death records of Abiquiú have been located and transcribed.  The Genealogical Library of Albuquerque, the University of New Mexico, the Pueblo de Abiquiú Library and Cultural Center, and the State Records and Archives Center in Santa Fe have copies of these transcriptions.  Henrietta Martinez Christmas facilitated the donation of an extensive collection of publications, including the sacramental records of Abiquiú, to the Center for Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College.

 

Debbie has had her 78-year-old mother's and her autosomal DNA done by Ancestry. Her mother has a DNA estimate of 37% Native American ancestry, and Debbie has 33%.  Remembering that her grandmother would say cautiously in Spanish, "Soy India de pueblo," she can now confirm the reality of this statement.

Miguel A. Tórrez, Moises Gonzales, Isabel W. Trujillo, El Pueblo to Abiquiú and its Genízaro Identity, New Mexico Genealogist (March 2019):  8-17.

Letters From Home, a World War II Story

Peter Christian Adolph Cramer, my first cousin three times removed, arrived from Denmark in the early 1890s.  Anna Clara Lowe, another first cousin three times removed, arrived from Germany about the same time, becoming a member of the LDS Church.  It was likely they met after coming to the United States.  They probably met in Utah within a few years of their arrival.   They married in Salt Lake City in 1895.  

                                 Region of Germany where the Lowes lived

Anna Clara's family came from a mountainous area of Sachsen, Germany, close to the Czechoslovakian border.  This region of Germany was heavily mined for silver and tin, but most mining had ceased by the late 19th century.  Life was not always easy for many of those who lived there.  As things often were during those times, one child came to the United States, and one stayed at home in Germany.  Anna Clara came to Utah, where her uncle lived, while her brother Emil remained in Germany.  

                    Early Silver Mining in Saxony's Ore Mountains, public domain

Emil and Anna Clara wrote letters back and forth, but only a few of Emil's letters remain for us to examine.  Little did they know, as they corresponded, that their letters would hint at the unimaginable things that would transpire in the world ten years later.  Letters between December 1934 and 1945 highlight a shift in mood exhibited by some Germans pre and post-war.

 

Apologizing for not being able to send financial assistance to his sister Anna Clara, Emil states, "We may not send money out of the country as all is wanted to build up our new empire and pay our debt…  We have been brought down by misgovernment of a gang of international jobbers, robbers, thieves and traitors, who for fourteen years filled their pockets out of our work and savings. "

 

Emil goes on to thank his sister for her words regarding his leader.  In December 1934, he described the leader as the most honest, straightforward man, a hard fighter for the truth and righteousness amongst the nations.  "I showed the letter to some friends and officials, who were so pleased with it, I had to copy it for circulation in all offices, clubs, schools and party organisations.  I decided to send the original to the Fuhrer and received, after 3 days the following reply:" (in translation)

 

"Reichskauzlei:  Dear Mr. E. Lowe

By order of the Fuhrer and Chancellor, I thank you for notice heartily.  The letter of your sister has been taken notice of with great interest as the contents prove, your sister must be an especially brave and religious woman.  To such people the work of the fuhrer cannot but make impression.  The leader requires you to send greetings & best wishes when you write to your sister again.  Heil Hitler!  Dr. Thomson Government Councellor."

 

In 1935 Emil described working conditions at the Wanderer Works factory where a relative worked.   Christmas bonuses and paid days off are given to every man for special occasions such as christenings and weddings, and employers encourage employees to talk about their grievances.  He tells his sister that the factory, which initially employed 2000 workers, now has 5200.  Emil assures his sister that he doesn't understand the concern over the Jews as "not a hair on their heads has been disturbed."

 

Later, in a letter from 1939, Emil reminds his sister of how difficult life had been in this part of Germany only 10 years before, with unemployment, foreign debt, strikes, and too many political parties.  He feels that by 1939, all who can 

work are working and that conditions are vastly improved. The single-party control of the government, in his view as played a part in this improvement.  He states, "I wish I could write a book about the lovely wonderful time we experienced since our great leader has taken over the government."  

 

In an undated letter after the end of  World War II to other family members in the United States, Emil describes the results of the war.  "We have gone through a terrible war.  Most of our cities are smashed and burned down to a great extent. At the boundery of our place the soldiers made the last hopeless stand for 3 weeks.  During the air raid I had my hip damaged and was laid up for 6 weeks."

 

Few could have foreseen the changes the post-war world would see with the horrors of the extermination of the Jews, the defeat of German armies, the trials at Nuremberg, and the Marshall Plan.  In letter after letter, we see the world tumbling inextricably towards the abyss of war, though Emil did not let on or see this was happening. For many of those who lived then, some things were just unimaginable. From our historical perspective, we can see what had been unfolding.

      Peter Cramer and Anna Clara Lowe and Family, courtesy of the author

Emil died in 1955, and Anna died in 1940 before America joined the war.  Emil continued to communicate with family in the United States through the 1950s.

                                 Obituary for Anna Clara Lowe, Newspaper Archives

 

Emil Lowe Letters, Cramer Connections, The Cramer Family Newsletter, Editor David B. Oswald, Layton, Utah.

Originally published in Generations, a newsletter of the Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheelbarrow Johnny, A Gold Rush Tale

                                                                    Blacksmith's Shop, Public Domain

John Mohler Studebaker was born in 1833 in Adams County, Pennsylvania.  As a young boy, he moved with his family to Ohio.  An 1850 Federal Census for Montgomery Township, Ashland County, Ohio, shows a 16-year-old boy named Mohler in the household of John Studebaker.  John, 51, and Henry, 23 (same family) both list their occupations as blacksmiths, while Mohler is listed as a laborer.  

                                                    1850 US Federal Census for John Mohler Studebaker

 

John Mohler decided sometime in 1853 to take a wagon of either his own making or his father's and join a wagon train to the gold fields of California.  John arrived in Placerville on the last day of August 1853.  He went there to search for gold but took a job in a blacksmith's shop at 543 Main Street.  He began a five-year professional relationship with the blacksmith H.L. Hinds.  John worked repairing miners' tools and stagecoaches but soon learned to make wheelbarrows.  John was making ten dollars a wheelbarrow by 1855 and had saved considerable money.    

       

      John Mohler Studebaker's Wheelbarrow, El Dorado County Historical Museum, Courtesy of Stephen Studebaker

There are numerous historical references to John Mohler or "Wheelbarrow Johnny" as he became known.  San Joaquin County Biographies records the biography of a man named David R. Reynolds.  Mr. Reynolds indicates meeting John in 1853 and developing a long-lasting friendship.  The Sacramento Daily Union, 7 February 1854, has an advertisement for unclaimed mail for a Jno M. Studebaker.  A California historical marker commemorating Wheelbarrow Johnny is located in Placerville, and during annual festivities, there are wheelbarrow races to celebrate Johnny.  The Studebaker Family reunions hold wheelbarrow races as well.

Stephen Studebaker with Historical Marker for John Mohler Studebaker, Courtesy of Stephen Studebaker

                    

                        Historical Marker for John Mohler Studebaker, Courtesy of Stephen Studebaker

In 1858, John returned east to South Bend, Indiana, where his family now lived.  He came by water through the port of New York.  John saw many heavy wagons and elegant carriages in New York and thought his family wagon-making business might be interested in manufacturing similar vehicles.  When he returned to South Bend, he had $8,000 to invest in the family business, which ultimately became the factory that made wagons and, eventually, the famous Studebaker cars. The Studebakers were one of a handful of wagon makers for the Oregon Trail.

                     

                         Studebaker Wagons, El Dorado County Historical Museum, Courtesy of Stephen Studebaker

John Mohler Studebaker became the co-founder and president of the Studebaker Corporation.  He built a beautiful home in South Bend, Indiana.  He called the home Sunnyside. 

                                   Sunnyside, J. M. Studebaker home, photo taken in 1901.  Public Domain.

                                      John Mohler Studebaker (seated far right), courtesy of Stephen Studebaker

John Mohler Studebaker is my husband Stephen Studebaker's 3^rd cousin, 4x removed.

An Unusual Death, A Darker Side of My Family Tree

 

Richard O. Allen and Charlotte Golden are my 2nd great-grandparents.  It took me years to know their story, though mysteries about Charlotte remain.  They spent much of their adult life in southwestern Indiana.  Richard was a farmer, having come there with his parents from Mason County, Kentucky, between 1816 and 1820.

                                           Wheat Field in Daviess County, Indiana.  Public Domain.

 

Charlotte was born in Ohio.  She moved to Daviess County, Indiana, with her parents between 1817 and 1821.   I didn’t know her parent’s names, and because of this, I did not know much else beyond her marriage to Richard. 

 

I soon learned that she had a previous family, as did Richard.  She was first married as a seventeen-year-old to Robert Akester, with whom she had 7 children.  Robert died in 1845, and by 1848 she had married Richard.  Richard had 3 daughters with his first wife.  These children appear on the 1840 census with him and his first wife but disappeared from any further census documents.

 

Many of Charlotte’s children from her first marriage would go on to live with Richard and Charlotte after their 1848 marriage.  Court documents show Richard as their guardian.  They had 3 children, one of whom died as a 7-year-old child.  My great-grandfather, William, was born to the couple in 1848.

                                       Marriage License of Richard O. Allen and Charlotte Golden

At some point, through communication with other researchers, I identified her family line.  Her father and stepmother met in Ohio and married.  Charlotte’s mother was Elizabeth Lynch.  Her family came to South Carolina from Ireland.  They had several indigo plantations along the Saluda River.  Elizabeth’s parents lived in central South Carolina.  Her father struggled with slavery.  He started attending a Quaker meeting house, though he never became a Quaker.  When his wife died, he married a Quaker woman.  They decided to take Elizabeth and her sibling to Ohio, a free state.  

 

Charlotte’s father came from Virginia to Ohio sometime before his 21^st birthday.  He married her mother, Elizabeth, in 1811.  Not much is known about Elizabeth’s paternal grandparents, except they were in Ohio by 1809.

 

The story is a classic tale of families looking for new opportunities, seeking opening lands and the fertile soil of the Midwest.  Families who worked the land raised their children and died quiet deaths in their homes.  What I found instead is a much more profound and disturbing tale.  

 

By 1888, Richard and Charlotte were an elderly couple living on their farm, attended to by servants.  All the children were out of the home, most with their own families.  In 1887, my great-grandfather, William, was visiting his parents.  He died while there at the young age of forty-one.  He left a wife and 5 children living in southeastern Kentucky.

 

 A few months ago, a woman contacted me with questions about Richard’s first family.  She had also found a rather shocking newspaper article indicating that Richard had committed suicide by tying himself to a tree and slitting his own throat.  The article was unbelievable, but with further research, I found several other articles that shed light on the story.  

                                                Death Thought to be a Suicide.  Newspaper Archives.

 

One article reported on the coroner’s inquest.  The coroner believed Richard was somewhat feeble-minded and distressed because he had been accused of selling his vote in the November election.  The coroner thought he had committed suicide.  The final article, written months later, revealed the true story of what happened to Richard.  Charlotte had murdered her husband.  She described the entire circumstances first to her servants and then apparently to the police.   Charlotte recounted that because of an argument about their property, she drugged him, dragged him to a tree, tied him up, and finally slit his throat. 

                                              Confession Leads to a Story of Murder.  Newspaper archives.

 

I found no further articles.  Charlotte died in 1894, years after the murder.  She is buried in the cemetery with Richard, her son William, and many other family members.  I don’t know what happened to Charlotte after her confession.  She was seventy-seven years old when she murdered Richard.  I am also curious about William’s death.  He was in his early forties when he died.   Is there a story there?  I looked for any news articles about his death and found nothing.  The next step is to locate court records about the murder and perhaps information about William’s death.

                                                           Richard O. Allen Headstone.  Find a Grave

Originally published in Generations, a newsletter of the Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society.

Durango’s Endangered Historic Animas City Cemetery

                                        

 

Durango, Colorado, has an endangered historic cemetery overlooking old Animas City.  The Animas City Cemetery is one hundred and forty-seven years old and predates the town of Durango.  It was initially threatened simply because of its remoteness and its age.  Little was known about any of the burials in the cemetery.  As the years passed, the cemetery was neglected and almost forgotten.  Interest in the cemetery has increased over the past 25 years.  Now, it is threatened by development.

 

Animas City was founded in 1876, the same year Colorado obtained statehood.  Durango was founded in September 1880.  The earliest three burials in the Animas City Cemetery were in 1877, James Henry Tilghman, a traveling preacher, Shepard Clark, and Isaac Doty, sheep herders murdered near Pagosa Springs.  The final burial was of the Rev. William Henry Folsom Jr., a minister at the Free Methodist Church in Durango.  He was buried in 1966 but was exhumed in 1976 and moved to Greenmount Cemetery.

                                                James Henry Tilghman Courtesy of Julie Pickett

 

The total number of probable burials in the cemetery is currently believed to be 156.  During the first eight years of the cemetery, at least 92 individuals were buried there.  Over time, burials dropped off.  Ninety-three of the total burials were of individuals born in the United States.  The remaining 15 individuals were European-born.  At least 37% of the total burials in the cemetery were children; 26% of these were children between the ages of zero and four.  Several Civil War veterans are buried there, as well as Ike Stockton, a local outlaw.  Many of Durango's pioneer families have family members buried in this cemetery.

 

The cemetery contains a variety of headstones, monuments, fieldstones, enclosures, and plantings, as well as other historic artifacts.  It is wild, overgrown, and generally unmaintained.  Currently, it is accessible by a primitive trail from the bottom of the hill or by a route through a resident's backyard that requires permission from the landowner before entry.  Neither of these choices is ideal.  

 

The Daughters of the American Revolution recorded some headstones in the 1950s.  The Boy Scouts were involved in a cleanup of the cemetery after a 1985 fire.  For more than a decade, Henry Ninde, a volunteer from the La Plata Historical Society, photographed the cemetery.  In 2002 and 2004, Fort Lewis College Archeological Field School surface mapped and investigated the suitability for remote sensing.  

                                   Empty Enclosure Stabilization, Courtesy of Julie Pickett

 

Julie Picket and Ruth Lambert, both members of the Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society and Friends of the Animas City Cemetery, have been involved in archeological survey and mapping, extensive historical research, photography, documentation workshops, and several other follow-up projects.  Volunteer cleanups, a repair project of some enclosures, and periodic tours have occurred.
 

Durango is a small town, and developers have fewer and fewer places within the city to build.  However, out-of-state developers have discovered several parcels of land below the Animas City Cemetery, where they plan to develop over 200 high-density apartment units and parking spaces.  A gym, outdoor swimming pool, and access road will be built feet from the cemetery's boundary.  The road will have a five-foot "buffer" from the cemetery boundary.  The road and the clubhouse cannot be moved away from the cemetery boundary because of a steep slope to the northeast. 

 

While the cemetery is a designated Durango Historic Landmark, under the auspices of the Parks and Recreation Department, little has been done to preserve and protect this historic cemetery.  In 2010, the city assisted with mapping it, and after volunteer cleanup projects, the department sent trucks and workers to pick up the waste materials.  The last volunteer cleanup was in 2015.

 

If construction goes as planned, pedestrian traffic from the apartment units and elsewhere will increase the threat to unstable headstones and enclosures.  Children from the proposed development will undoubtedly use the cemetery as a playground.  This could have dangerous consequences.   Children have died after accidents involving falling headstones in other cemeteries around the country. 

                             Listing Headstones, courtesy of Stephen Studebaker
  

 

To protect the cemetery, a survey using ground penetrating radar and magnetometer must be completed along the cemetery's perimeter.  This needs to extend at least 20 feet beyond the boundary.  Depending on the results of these surveys, the area may need to be extended to the entire bench.  A fence must be built around the cemetery, and a gate and appropriate signage must be constructed.  Headstones and enclosures must be stabilized, and plants threatening historic markers and enclosures must be pruned or removed.  The Animas City Cemetery is a treasure to be protected and visited perpetually.

                    View of Upper Animas Valley from Lambert Enclosure, courtesy of Julie Pickett

 

Update:  The City of Durango Planning Commission met to discuss the project.  Many interested parties attended the meeting virtually.  All speakers expressed concerns about the project.  The Planning Commission decided not to support the project and ultimately advised the builder and architect to not take the project to the City Council.  The builder has agreed to rework the project and take it to the City Council.  As of June 8th, 2023, the developer has pulled out of the project.  The property is still for sale.  The community will stay vigilant.  The Parks and Recreation Commission has set aside money in its budget for remote sensing of the areas outside the current cemetery boundaries.

Originally published in Generations, a newsletter of the Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society.