Volunteer group to survey Stafford County burial sites

Date published: 3/28/2006

THE STAFFORD County Cemetery Committee is seeking reinforcements for its latest project. Anyone with an interest in county history or genealogical research is welcome.

And volunteers can expect to be busy.

"This is a massive project," said chairwoman Anita Dodd in describing the committee's back-to-basics plan to revisit all of the graves in all of Stafford County's cemeteries.

The goal is to publish an update of a 500-page book compiled by local historian and committee member Homer Musselman in 1994 titled "Stafford County Virginia Veterans and Cemeteries."

"We also want to create a Web site for Stafford cemeteries that will be linked to the county Web site," said Dodd. "That will make all of our information available online for people researching their genealogy."

Musselman's book lists more than 200 Stafford cemeteries, with directions, the names of those interred and their birth and death dates.

"We now have identified more than 400 cemeteries in Stafford--almost double the number in the first book," said Dodd. "And we have new forms that will require more information than was recorded before."

The plan is for committee volunteers to visit each cemetery and gather new data.

Dodd said the sites will be photographed and notes will be taken on the condition of each cemetery. In addition, the global positioning coordinates will be recorded so the site can be accurately pinpointed on county maps. And all of the information on headstones will be documented.

"Our previous survey noted just the dates of birth and death," said Dodd. "This time we will document all of the family relationships, quotations and verses we might find on any grave marker."

Dodd said the committee's work is more difficult because about 90 percent of Stafford's cemeteries are small family graveyards that are scattered in woods and fields throughout the county.

"But in most cases, immediate family members have moved and the old home sites are gone," she said. "With all the development in the county, we want to make sure that these sites aren't lost and that they are treated respectfully."

Dodd said the committee also is seeking to expand its adopt-a-cemetery program.

"There are a lot of cemeteries out there that need TLC and long-term management," she said. "We welcome any individuals or groups that would like to help."

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Date published: 3/28/2006