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"cemetery.Restoration.Has.Been.Completed".Article.2002.Breckinridge.PHOT
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"cemetery Restoration Has Been Completed" Article April 3, 2002 
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Breckinridge County Herald-News
Weds., April 3, 2002
---------------------------

Cemetery restoration has been completed

By Francis W. Keenan, Ph.D.
Breckinridge County
Historical Society
---------------------------

In the 1980's, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, undertook a county-wide cemetery survey... 
a daunting task, conducted by Shirley Pile and Jennie Hinton.  The Matthew/Burch Cemetery 
had been listed as "overgrown".  By 1999, a dozen years after the survey of Matthews/Burch 
was completed, it was impenetrable and contained large trees and vines as big as an arm.  
One could not enter it on hands and knees as briars, vines, bushes and nettles were abundant.  
The first burial here was in 1830 when Benjamin Burch, born in Maryland in 1753 and a 
Revolutionary War soldier, was laid to rest.  The last burials were on March 9, 1904, when 
G. N. Lawrence and N. E. Lawrence were interred.  Nearly 100 years had passed and nature had 
taken it's toll.

Following initial clearing efforts by descendants (See:
The Herald-News, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, March 3rd edition), work was continued by 
Geraldine Schneider, Robert Meador, Wayne Meador, and Francis Keenan.  Stumps were removed, 
a dozer cleared the fence lines, weeks were treated and removed, post holes dug and a new 
fence erected.
Railroad ties were donated for corner and gate posts by Robert Meador who also supervised the 
weeding and burning.
Mrs. Zelma Keenan donated 100 locust posts in the name of her deceased husband, Sargent Keenan, 
who had cut them.
Wayne Meador purchased supplies for erecting the new fence and constructed a gate.  Funds had 
been solicited from cemetery benefactors.  Wayne also made a sign which was placed on the new gate.

The cemetery was spiked for sunken tombstones and many were raised.  Broken stones were repaired 
and placed as nearly as possible to their original location.  Also raised were many field stone 
markers.  There are more than 140 graves in this old cemetery.  An oversight committee was estab-
lished to maintain the cemetery in the future.

An inventory of the cemetery, previously listed as the "Simmons Cemetery: but originally dubbed 
the Matthews, was conducted and complete listing was submitted to the Breckinridge County Archives 
in Hardinsburg.  Additional surnames found and recorded include:  Burch, Eskridge, Harl, Lawrence, 
Matthews, Overton, Rhodes, Simmons, Skeggs and Tate. The Matthews/Burch Cemetery is located on the 
Macedonia Baptist Church Road, about a half mile south of the Macedonia Baptist Church which is 
located on Tick Ridge Road at Rock Vale near Falls of Rough, Kentucky.  Some of those buried there 
were early inhabitants of Ohio and Breckinridge counties having migrated from Maryland, Virginia 
and North Carolina.

Descendants of those there interred thank the present owner of the property, the Rev. Freeman Powell, 
for graciously permitting access to the site.  This cemetery now more aptly reflects the respect and 
reverence the team of restoration workers, financial supporters and friends hold for their ancestors.

Submitted by: Dana Brown
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067



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