This is a PRIVATE website owned by John Skakel. Contact us HERE
Cemeteries Office Staff have asked that users NOT contact them with questions directly.
News Coverage Regarding the Project
Coverage re restoration of the Eberts Monument
Please click the link for news coverage of the Eberts Monument Repairs.
[http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2614271]
Initial News Coverage of Preservation Project
A news write up below by Chatham Daily News about the Preservation project when it was in it's early stages.
Three babies who died nearly 150 years ago are finally at rest.
The small limestone grave of the Miller children -- John, 2, Sarah, one day, and Sarrai, nine months -- now sits in the shade of a tree in Maple Leaf Cemetery.
For decades the stone was buried almost two-feet underground near the base of the tree, forgotten by time.
The grave marker is one of the most poignant finds made by volunteers with the cemetery restoration committee.
Bruce Warwick wonders who the children were, where they lived and what happened to their family.
Similar questions are raised as he looks around the cemetery's old Ward B at the 115 graves the group has managed to uncover this summer.
"The people we're unearthing essentially have been forgotten," Warwick said. "It's our responsibility not to let our citizens be forgotten with their cemetery stones sunk into the ground."
He said the group's original plan to restore damaged stones around the municipality got sidetracked when members discovered that more than 300 people were buried in an area where only two monuments were visible.
They started searching for the stones, many of which marked the resting place of people moved from a cemetery on Water Street in 1871.
"Over time, they disappeared into the ground," Warwick said of the stones.
Approximately an acre-and-a-half of land near the old mausoleum has been cordoned off and small red flags mark the spots where stones have been discovered.
Volunteer John Skakel said the group is digging up the stones, many of which are cracked and broken, and setting them on a bed of gravel. Only ones in the best condition, like that of the Miller children, can actually be placed upright again, he said.
Skakel is known in the group as the best grave finder -- he has painstakingly prodded Ward B, moving 18 inches at a time in a grid formation.
He said the hard work pays off when he finds a stone lost in the ground for decades.
The oldest monument found in the area dates back to 1845.
Skakel said the makers of the stones, which are hand carved, often signed their work.
"You've got to have an interest in history," he said of why he volunteers. He said the job is a way to preserve this area's past and respect the dead.
Warwick said the group is desperate for more volunteers as there is still so much work to be done.
And, the area of Ward B they are working in is not the only spot where century-old graves have disappeared into the ground.
"If we worked for the rest of our lives we wouldn't get this one cemetery finished," Warwick said. "We need all the volunteers we can get."
Warwick's daughter Katie, 15, has been volunteering to help out this summer.
She loves the work and has a passion for the project.
"To me, it seems like every time you unearth a stone and bring it up, you are uncovering a piece of history," she said. "All these stones were forgotten and there's so many more out there that haven't been found yet."
Katie wishes more people her age would volunteer and noted that the time counts towards volunteer hours for high school.
Warwick said the group is necessary because there's no funding in the municipal cemetery budget to do the work.
He'd like to see that change.
"It's up to the city councillors to recognize they've been given a responsibility by the community to be custodians for these cemetery stones and that means there should be money allotted annually for uprighting and repairing stones," he said.
He noted that local cemetery officials have been providing the gravel the group is using to prop up the unearthed stones.
Greg Kett, supervisor of cemetery operations with the municipality, said no money is budgeted directly for repairs or restoration of private, personal monuments.
However, he said under the Cemeteries Act, municipality's must keep the property safe so workers sometimes disassemble memorials that are ready to fall.
"Most of the memorials that need work have been in the cemetery for well over 100 years," he said, adding that makes family hard to find.
Kett praised the work of the group, calling it important.
"The information found on these markers is like the life story of these people," he said. "Look at all the history of those people that is now available again."
Later Writeup by Chatham Daily News on the Preservation Project
Thanks to volunteers and financial help from a family member, a 130-year-old monument is being restored at Maple Leaf Cemetery.
The Eberts monument or crypt contains the remains of three family members who died in the 1800s -- William Duncan Eberts, who died in 1892, Mary Bell Eberts, who died in 1899 and Dr. Duncan Eberts, who died in 1888.
Dr. Bruce Warwick of Chatham heads up a small group of volunteers known as the cemetery restoration group.
"We were willing to take on this project even though it exceed the mandate of what we have been restoring, said Warwick. "The monument has been deteriorating rapidly.
Warwick said a family member in Toronto offered to pay the labour for a brick layer and Smyth Memorial of Chatham offered to remove the 10-foot by five-foot marble top on the crypt and replace it once the repairs have been completed.
Warwick described it as a big project, but worth the effort.
He said the monument is the last major eyesore in the older section of the cemetery.
"We have restored and repaired everything else around the Ebert's monument during the past six weeks,'' he said.
Trish Nigh of Chatham, one of the volunteers, said Tuesday she was pleased to see the restoration work being carried out.
"I will be glad when it's finished and the marble top can be placed back on top of the crypt,'' she said.
Nigh and her colleagues have managed to dig up dozens of old grave markers buried two to three feet below ground.
She said steel rods are used to locate the markers and then they are carefully dug up, cleaned and stood upright.
The group of volunteers also includes Dennis Zink, Paul Thorpe and John Skakel & Peggy O'Rourke, Trish Nigh.
"The Eberts monument restoration has been an interesting project, said Nigh. "It's one of only a few crypts in the old section of the cemetery.
Antonio DaCosta and his son, Paul of Chatham, were hired to carry out the brick work on the crypt.
Zink said the group is planning to turn its attention to the dozens of headstones that were vandalized earlier this year.
"We hope to begin the process of uprighting the grave markers in a few weeks, he said. "It's going to require a great deal of work as many of the toppled markers are huge and stand five-to- seven-feet tall.
bboughner@chathamdailynews.ca Article ID# 2614271