THE STAFFORD County
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."
Anyone interested in volunteering for the cemetery committee should contact Dodd by phone at 540/752-9339 or by e-mail at
Email: aldodd4@hotmail.com.
Survey forms for registering grave sites in the county are available at the Stafford County Administration Center and online at the county's Web site, staffordcountyva.gov.
Musselman's book also devotes about 50 pages to Stafford County war veterans. The list begins with the names of militia officers from the late 1600s, and includes veterans of the French and Indian War, the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War I. Dodd said the committee's new project will attempt to update this information, as well.
She predicted it may be five years before the comprehensive new cemetery book is published.
"In some ways, this project will never end," she said, "because we continue to find new cemetery sites all the time."
She also suggested the possibility that some soft-cover updates could be published while information for the book is being gathered. Musselman said he already has compiled about 49 pages of corrections and additions to his original work.
The Stafford Cemetery Committee was formed in 1995 by longtime county resident Charles Price. The group meets on the third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at the Stafford County Administration Center.
Copies of Musselman's book are available at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library headquarters at 1201 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg and at Porter Library in North Stafford.
To reach LEE WOOLF:
Email: lwoolf@freelancestar.com