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Archiver > NJHUNTER > 2001-09 > 1001445693


From: "Jacqueline Lubinski" <>
Subject: RE: [NJHUNTER] Cemetery Rules
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 15:21:33 -0400
In-Reply-To: <102.97571e1.28e207d0@aol.com>


Hi Richard and Mary,

I had something similar in regards to a cemetery on a piece of land near me
developed by a mega-mansion developer last year. If the cemetery is
unincorporated (ie: private burial ground for family and/or friends on
farmland) the builder owns the land and can do just about what he wants with
it unfortunately. If it was a cemetery where people purchased plots, then
the descendents own the plots and he would have to make an active search for
them to get permission to remove the remains. In my situation I made a pest
of myself at the board meetings and sent out messages on various sites with
the names that were on the headstones searching for any descendents. I was
able to locate one and it turned out that he had written a book on the
family. I took pictures of the cemetery before they touched it and made the
planning board aware that I and the descendent knew exactly how many
headstones were there and we expected to see all of them still there after
the development was done.

With so many people doing genealogy searches these days developers don't
want bad press in regards to what they do with these cemeteries.
Unfortunately with unincorporated ones if there is no one to bring up at the
planning board meetings when the developer goes for his subdivision that
there is a cemetery on the site, many of these just get "moved" to another
location or just flat out bulldozed over. This particular developer had
tried to do just that on another location and luckily someone spilled the
beans on him when they dug up bones and he was forced to change his plans as
the site was found to be an historic site and had to be excavated first.
The callous attitude of the developer's lawyer in regards to the situation
with the cemetery near me was appalling. Luckily we had a good group of
people on our planning board and they made them agree to many stipulations
if they wanted to get the subdivision.

My advice is to take pictures of where the cemetery was and what is on it
now, especially if there is a house or another structure in the exact
location. If she has pictures of the cemetery when she was there before
that is even better. Stop by the developer's trailer\model house and ask to
speak to a representative of the company in regards to the cemetery that was
there and what happened to it. If she doesn't get a good enough response,
send a letter to the developer "Certified Return Receipt Requested" stating
that she is a relative of the people that were in the cemetery, she came by
to pay her respects, and saw that where her relatives were is now someone's
garage and she wants to know where her relative's remains are now. Let them
know that she has pictures of before and after. Send a copy to the planning
board that ok'd the subdivision and ask if it was even brought up that there
was a cemetery on the property and if so what provisions were made provide
for the remains. If all else fails, notify the local paper as to what
happened. That is how the developer in my instance was made to stop
building in the first situation.

Unfortunately as more farmland is bought and dug up for "McMansions" in NJ
this has become a common occurrence. Up until the late 1800's many people
were buried on their own property and
many were marked by either small stones or limestone or shale headstones
which weather badly. Add weeds, trees, debris and you have a situation
where a cemetery disappears, especially if there are no family members
around anymore to know where they are. A developer may not even be aware of
a cemetery on the property and if in the course of excavating one is found,
many times they try to hide it so as to not hold up the building process.

Jackie Wells Lubinski
(researching Dorland/Cray/Van Cleef/Van
Arsdale/Probasco/Amerman/Post/Ludlow/Rapalje)


-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 12:16 PM
To:
Subject: [NJHUNTER] Cemetery Rules


What are the NJ laws concerning private family cemeteries?

When a farm is sold can the buyer just start excavating and building houses
with no regard to family cemeteries that may be on the land, even though
they
may be in bad shape?
A 'cousin' told me about visiting a private WILLIAMSON/WILLEMSEN family
cemetery-she was there in the fall apparently, because she described riding
in a pickup through a corn stubble field to get to the cemetery.
When she went back a few years later to take pictures, she could hardly
recognized the place. They were building houses on it.

Richard & Mary
Tucson, AZ




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