Historians record nearly forgotten WA cemeteries

Chuck Haviland walks through a nearly forgotten cemetery in Union, ready to tell the story of some of its most famous residents. Most people, even some locals, would be hard pressed to even locate the plat, hidden in the woods with no sign at the entry. But for Haviland, the cemetery (owned by the Masonic Lodge) is a piece of local history that needs to be told - and he hopes that's exactly what he's been able to achieve.

Take Myron Eells, for example. A well-known missionary, writer and linguist, who published numerous cultural works, and has his own section at the University of Washington library as well as his collection of works at Whitman College. "Nobody knows today who Myron Eels was except his grandson, but he's such a popular person if you start looking online," Haviland says.

Eels was buried at the cemetery in Union (referred to sometimes as the Union Pioneer Cemetery), and his story, along with those of other significant local families, are part of a "book" Haviland has assembled for the cemetery. In addition to newspaper clippings and other varied information, it contains a detailed inventory, complete with names and photographs, of every tombstone there (about 30 in total).

Haviland has worked for hours, among trees and the occasional visit from deer, to document this two-acre final resting place. And it's only one of 18 cemeteries in Mason County, and countless others in several counties, that he has documented.

When he gets started, many tombstones are dilapidated and difficult to read. With permission and for a token fee of $5 per marker, he cleans them using a method he found after talking with several tombstone manufacturers. Using a sponge and a non-acidic, non-oxygenated agent, he meticulously cleans every letter and crevice of the tombstone's face - work that takes him, on average, about an hour per grave. "It's pure joy to see the marble come out, and you can read the name," he says.

Haviland, who lives in Spanaway and has a cabin in the Union area, has been retired for 10 years, a former surveyor. For two years, he worked on his family's genealogy, tracing it to 1100 A.D.

"After I did that, I needed something to do," he says.

Haviland compiles the photos and hours of research from cemeteries into what he calls a book. He sells the home-assembled booklets for as little as $15 and as much as $500 each, depending on the number of tombstone records it contains. He markets these books to historical societies, cemetery organizations, genealogists and others interested in history, and says selling them helps recover his costs.

"My goal is to get people interested in cemeteries," he says. "After I make a book, often time people become interested again."

Researching the family histories helps preserve their legacies, he says. "I find it fascinating and interesting - I find out what those people did in life, what they accomplished, and what their legacy is," he says.

Eels is one of those whose legacies have impressed him, despite lack of modern-day notoriety. "He was quite a man," he says, adding that he was one of the most fascinating historic figures he's found while working on the many cemetery projects.

For a while, Haviland posted his research online through a community called USGenWeb - a free genealogy research Web site that includes, among other resources, a "tombstone transcription project." Volunteers around the country have walked local cemeteries and documented tombstones via photographs and transcription, and the information is made available for free on the site.

The site lists 21 cemeteries for Mason County, with most of them having photos, transcriptions, or both, available - and Haviland listed as the volunteer for many of them.

Pauline Dawes and her sister, Pat Ramsey, are two volunteers from the Richland, Wash., area who have documented cemeteries around the region, including Twin Firs in Belfair, where they photographed the tombstones and shared their archives with the Web site. The pair was in the area for a funeral about three years ago, with several hours to spare, so they decided to detour to the cemetery.

The sisters say they have documented more than a hundred cemeteries, and what originally caught their interest was a cemetery in Baker City where gold miners were buried. Many of the tombstones had interesting inscriptions, but they were threatened to be lost because the ground was sinking. "I think that sparked our interest as much as anything, knowing that this information may be gone," Ramsey says.

The women say some people get upset thinking this work disturbs the peace, but many others are thankful to be able to track down ancestors. They've received e-mails from people in other states expressing their gratitude. "We are very respectful at the graves," Dawes says. "We want to preserve this history."

And that is one of the reasons why Haviland keeps on. He says he would love to get more attention for his book, but he starts a project never knowing whether it would attract someone's interest.

In some instances, no one even knows that a spot hides a cemetery - which, by Haviland's definition, could contain even a single grave and still be called a cemetery. One such example in Mason County is the Liliwaup Cemetery, neglected for years and hidden in thick brush. He found it by following a deer into the underbrush, and personally "adopted" this site, providing the caretaking. "It was obvious (the site) would become lost, and I didn't want that to happen to it," he says.

One of his most interesting discoveries has to do with the Tahuya (Tombstone Territory) Cemetery. Haviland says the sign post and the wooden grave marker are not marking the actual grave site. He says that it is probably the second-oldest cemetery in the county, and thinks the actual gravesites were buried by the construction of the county road.

"There is always a story buried somewhere. It's not always as it seems at the surface," he says.

As long as those discoveries entice him, he plans to keep up the work. "I am preserving the history (of a community)," he says. "It if wasn't for me, a lot of these things would be lost."

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Information from: Kitsap Sun, http://www.kitsapsun.com/