Land Type: Private
Owner: Black Beauty Coal Company
Cemetery Location
Jackson Township, Sullivan County, Indiana
Description
A small cemetery with very few stones left and they are barely
readable. There is supposedly about 15 Civil War Veterans buried in
there.
Problem
The Coal mine has hired a logging company to log the woods beside
the cemetery. The heavy equipment ran right over the top of the stones
and destroyed them. Now the coal company wants to move the the graves
to another site. According to a legal notice on April 4, 2000 in our
local newspaper the Sullivan Daily Times, heirs have at least 30 days
to challenge the request.
Previous Contacts
Civil War Roundtable of Indiana, Wally King, an investigator for
the Sullivan County Prosecutor's Office. Sullivan County Cemetery
Board, Hymera American Legion, Sullivan County Veterans
Administration
Note by Saving Graves - Contacted the Indiana
Pioneer Cemetery Restoration Project
for assistance.
Current Status
Presently trying to find Indiana protection laws for pioneer
cemeteries. Also trying to find heirs to the people buried there. We
don't have a complete list of burials and do not have any of the Civil
War names.
Submitted by:
name: Donna K. Adams
Email: dadams@sullivan.lib.in.us
UPDATE1 - Read Trying
to keep the peace, from the April 21, 2000 edition of the
Terre Haute Tribune - Star.
UPDATE 2
-The
Black Beauty Coal Co., which alleges it owns clear title to the
cemetery, has petitioned the Sullivan Superior Court for permission to
excavate the remains of 15 or more people buried there so that it can
explore the site for coal.
Due to the damage that has already taken place
at Brainer Cemetery, we know of only one CONFIRMED burial here. The
surname is McCAMISH. We believe there may be PLEWs buried here as
well. There are estimated by the coal company to be at least 15 graves
here.
This sort of legalized cemetery destruction is
nothing new; coal companies do this in Indiana all the time. What's
different in this situation is that we have in place a network of
people who are trying to stop this desecration or, in the alternative,
persuade the Court to compel Black Beauty Coal Co. to simultaneously
disinter and reinter the remains in a respectful manner.
The deadline for filing objections is
Thursday, May 4, 2000. We don't want a repeat of what was done to
Rhoads Cemetery and Wilhoit Cemetery!!!
If you are a descendant of a person believed
to be buried at Brainer Cemetery or if you would like to get involved
in protecting this site in this critical battle, please go to the Brainer
Cemetery page, read the information there, read the Petition filed
by Black Beauty Coal, read the linked newspaper accounts and print out
a "template" for filing your objections with the Sullivan
Superior Court. Remember: Your objections must be received by the
Court no later than Thursday, May 4th.
Thank you!
Lois Mauk
UPDATE3
- For
the most current and up to date information on this situation,
including photos, please visit: http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp/HallofShame/brainercem.html
We have just received word that there will be
a HEARING in Sullivan Superior Court at 9:00 A.M. on MONDAY, JUNE 5,
2000, on Black Beauty Coal's PETITION TO DISINTER the remains of 15+/-
persons buried at this pioneer family cemetery.
I consider this a victory! The Court did NOT
rubber-stamp Black Beauty's request and the matter has been set for a
hearing, which means the Judge will take into consideration the merits
of the company's request and the responses received by the Court from
descendants and the public.
We have a LOT to do in the meantime and this
"reprieve" will be invaluable in allowing us a few extra
weeks to find additional possible descendants of the people buried
here. Our efforts continue to try to identify other names associated
with this cemetery.
At this point in time, the only CONFIRMED
surname that we have identified as being buried here is:
McCAMISH
We suspect that there may be persons named
PLEW buried here as well, as Zilpha McCamish, possibly the first
burial here, is thought to have been a Plew before her marriage to
John McCamish and members of the Plew family lived next door to the
McCamishes in the early 1800s.
The property was owned at one time by a member
of the BRAINER family; hence the name by which it is now known. We do
not know if any persons named BRAINER are buried there.
The damage to the stones and markers here has
been extensive. There are many fragments lying around and only two
bear markings of legible names -- both McCAMISH. (See webpage above
for photos of the stones.)
If you have not already written a letter to
the Court expressing your opinions and concerns about this situation,
please go to the webpage above, read the PETITION TO DISINTER filed by
Black Beauty Coal, look at the pictures of the cemetery, read the
facts set out there and read the newspaper accounts that are linked
there.
Then, print out the template we have provided
on the webpage (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format) to help you write your
own letter to the Court expressing your position. The template is
provided only to give you a starting place for composing your own
thoughts and you are certainly free to add or take away from it as you
see fit to suit your needs.
I suggest you mail your letters to the Court
by Memorial Day weekend, to permit the Clerk sufficient time to post
them all in the file on this matter in preparation for the 6/5/2000
hearing.
Please send a copy of your letter to the
attorney for the Petitioner, at the address provided in the template.
UPDATE 4
“Coal Mine to Go Around Cemetery – Black Beauty
Axes Plans to Disinter Cemetery”
The following is excerpted from the May 31, 2000
edition of the Sullivan Daily Times.
Unfortunately, the story is not available on-line.
Black Beauty Coal on May 31, 2000 cited "rightful
respect" in scratching its plans to relocate 15 to 20 graves at
Braner Cemetery in Jackson Township (Sullivan Co., IN). Company
officials say they took negative [ublic reactions into account.
The Sullivan Superior Court case file includes objections from
purported family members and others from as far away as New Mexico on
legal and moral grounds.
A Black Beauty Coal official said, “Public opposition, coupled
with input from Sullivan Co. Commissioner Jim Pirtle, and Paul Ehret
of the Indiana DNR, led Black Beauty Coal to reconsider its plans for
the cemetery.”
Black Beauty Coal has directed its local legal counsel to withdraw
its Petition.
The company, which owns the property on which the cemetery is
located, also intends to file deed restrictions limiting the land’s
use to cemetery only. The company will maintain a 100-foot
buffer along all sides of the cemetery.
