Cemetery Preservation
While surveying and photographing Titus County cemeteries, we have been frankly appalled at the deteriorated condition some are in. These are mostly small family cemeteries with no perpetual care fund and whose family members apparently have all passed on or are not aware of the shoddy condition of the burial places of their ancestors. Some are overgrown with brush and vegetation. Livestock is damaging others by knocking over and breaking the monuments due to lack of a fence.
We feel the cemeteries' run-down condition and the damage done to them reflects very poorly on the descendents of the people buried there, if any still live in the area, the land owners who have allowed livestock to destroy monuments by not repairing fences around the cemeteries, and the people of Titus County in general for not providing some level of care for the cemeteries who may not have others to care for them.
Titus Cemetery Search is interested in building a core group of people from the community who are willing to donate some spare time, services, materials, and funds to help preserve some of the smaller cemeteries that do not have a board or perpetual care fund and are being damaged by livestock or are in danger of being overtaken by undergrowth and lost.
We are compiling a list of endangered cemeteries from observations we made when we photographed them for this website and are prioritizing them for preservation work based on immediate needs to prevent further damage, followed by less urgent needs like cleaning.
If we can obtain sufficient community interest, we would like to organize a program to coordinate efforts between volunteers, local government officials, donors, and land owners to form a loose organization of concerned citizens to preserve the endangered cemeteries and maintain them.
This effort will take some time to organize and the results won't happen tomorrow, but if someone doesn't act now the cemeteries will be needlessly damaged beyond repair or lost altogether.
We realize that we cannot expect to maintain them in a pristine state like well-funded cemeteries with perpetual care funds, but hope that enough people are interested to be able to at least preserve them in a state that they will be better cared for than they are now and will not be lost due to lack of interest.
You can help preserve Titus County's small cemeteries that do not have a cemetery association or perpetual care fund to provide for their needs.
Cemetery Preservation involves several things. Please take a few minutes to browse this section to learn more about cemetery preservation and how you can help.
Then take an active part to help save Titus County's small cemeteries before they disappear due to lack of care.
Click a link below or on the menu above to learn more about Cemetery Preservation.
