bear creek cemetery celebrates
brenda kellow
march 30, 2014
The Cemetery Restoration Committee invites everyone to come see the beautiful job they have done at this Texas Historic Cemetery that had been neglected for such a long time. Bear Creek Cemetery was designated a Texas Historical Cemetery in 2005 at which time it was mapped and all of the grave markers photographed.
You are invited to attend the Bear Creek Cemetery Reception on April 6 from 2-4 p.m. to celebrate the completion of new improvements to the cemetery thanks to being awarded five grants from the Collin County Historical Commission. The grant money was used to install an iron fence with walk-through and drive-through gates and level and repair many grave markers.
These markers were very damaged and many were lying flat on the ground. Four men from the Empire Masonic Lodge 586, Shawn Sutherland, David Stanfield, Earl Price, Joe Wetzel, and Joe's six- year-old son, along with members of Boy Scout Troop 1814 from Nevada dug up the bases that support the grave markers, and prepared the sites for each of the markers to be repaired and leveled. They also cleared a large quantity of fallen branches from the winter ice storms. All the markers were repaired by Texas Cemetery Restoration LLC.
The Boy Scout leaders and boys who did such an excellent job are Neal Michael, Claude Michael, Duncan Michael, Holden Michael, Richard Caldwell, Hayden Caldwell, Gary Chappell, Joe Chappell, Walter Barr, James McDaniel, and Dyllan Bramlett.
Future projects include fencing the west and north sides of the cemetery, repairing more grave markers, using GPR (ground penetrating radar) to locate unmarked graves, leveling the dirt where graves have collapsed and where animals have dug holes, improving the driveway, pruning trees and installing a flag pole.
To read or download a PDF of this invitation, with a picture of one of the repaired headstones, go to www.txbobsc.com/bccf/2014BCCFInvitation.pdf.
Please consider attending the reception, joining the foundation, doing volunteer work, or making a donation to continue the care of this very old cemetery.
The committee is in the process of writing a book about the cemetery. If you have any pictures or information of people buried at Bear Creek Cemetery, or have any questions, please contact Bob Sander-Cederlof at [email protected], or call him at 972-463-7523.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES CLOSES SEVERAL FACILITIES: The National Archives is making some budget considerations that affect Anchorage, Philadelphia, and Fort Worth. The Anchorage facility will close permanently this year and the holdings will move to the Archives in Seattle where they will be digitized and available online. Of the records center and the archives in Philadelphia, the records center will close this year and holdings moved to the Archives facility on Townsend Road. There are two facilities in Fort Worth: the combined records center and archives on John Burgess Drive and a storefront facility in Montgomery Plaza. Montgomery Plaza will close permanently in 2016. This information is from the Archive press release at www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2014/nr14-41.html.
GENEALOGICAL STANDARDS UPDATED: The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) categorized the genealogical standards in 2000 in their publication The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual. The book was recently reorganized, expanded and clarified in an updated publication. If you want to compare the old standards with the new ones, it has been done for you in two pdf charts. I saved them to my computer and on my smart phone so that I can compare them my next trip to the Genealogy Center. Download the chart comparing the old versus the new standards at www.bcgcertification.org/brochures/ConversionOldtoNew.pdf. To compare the new standards to the old ones, go to www.bcgcertification.org/brochures/ConversionNewtoOld.pdf.
STUDYING DNA: Are you still looking for an explanation that explains DNA research? This explanation from Ancestry.com may help. It is at http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/03/05/understanding-patterns-of-inheirtance-where-did-my-dna-come-from-and-why-it-matters/?sf2050032=1. It helped me a little bit.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].