CHAMOIS — Friends of Chamois Cemeteries representative Steve Duncan addressed Chamois aldermen at their Dec. 17 meeting about the possibility of working together to rehabilitate and maintain the city cemeteries.

“Several things have transpired, and with the lack of city staff last year, there were problems, and many volunteers had to step up to help,” said Duncan. “Since then, several things have happened to draw attention to the fact that we, as a community, need to step up and do what we can to rehabilitate and maintain these cemeteries.”

Duncan referenced the recent interest that the Cole County Historical Society has expressed in the grave of Jerry Berry, the last Civil War veteran to be laid to rest in Osage County.

“They’ve done some incredible work already,” Duncan said.

Duncan explained that Paul Stoner, who owns the land to the east of the Catholic Cemetery, is intent on clearing part of the hillside of overgrown trees and brush.

“It used to be the most gorgeous view of the river bottom; it’s still a great view from the top, but Paul is voluntarily taking the timber taken off, starting on Monday,” Duncan said.

He pointed out that the group has done some preliminary work, cutting down brush and trees that are encroaching on the cemetery.

“Probably the biggest thing that has come up is that the city records, as to who is buried where, and where the empty plots are, is a disaster,” said Duncan, quick to point out that the group was not blaming anyone, and that it is a common problem for most city cemeteries. “We have formed a group hoping to institute some restoration on the cemeteries and figure out some way going forward to perpetuate the care of the cemeteries, to include establishing a database of potential donors, and hopefully, begin to raise funds. Some work has been done already.”

He explained that the group contacted a dosser, who has identified additional unmarked graves in the cemetery that are now marked with flags.

Descendants of the Hutchinson family, with 17 graves in the cemetery, have contacted the group with an interest in restoring them over the next several months.

“They are prepared to spend a bunch of money to do that,”  Duncan said.

Friends of the Chamois Cemeteries is proposing to work jointly with the city.

“One of the first things we need to do is to get it mapped and plotted,” Duncan said.

The group has reached out to two companies, one that maps the plots with a drone and another that uses ground-penetrating radar to identify all of the graves, for a combined estimated cost of over $8,000.

Aldermen approved paying for the mapping and plotting of the cemeteries.

Unterrified Democrat Reporter Theresa Brandt asked if the mapping and plotting would be done for the church cemeteries as well.

Duncan said the group thought the churches owned parts of the cemetery.

“Are you planning on plotting and mapping those areas of the cemetery as well?” Brandt asked.

“We probably need to,” Duncan said. “We haven’t had any discussions with them since no one knows where the boundary line is.”

Brandt questioned whether city funds should be going towards mapping and plotting of the church-owned portions of the cemetery.

Mayor Marie Slusser argued that since the donation was going to the Friends of the Chamois Cemeteries, it wouldn’t be an issue.

“Nobody knows who owns what right now,” said Alderman Lacey Garret.

Duncan assured the board that the Friends of the Chamois Cemeteries would not use any of the public funds to plot or map the church cemeteries.

There has been some difficulty in searching through all the legal descriptions to find out who owns what. Friends of the Chamois Cemeteries volunteer Verta Rogers has been trying to trace the deeds, but tracing land transactions is very complicated.

“It’s going to be a lot of work, but we’ve got a lot of people committed to make this work,”  Duncan said.

Currently, the legal boundaries and ownership of the cemeteries are in question.

“We’re not exactly sure where all the boundary lines are,”  Duncan said. “We think the city owns the cemetery.”

“We may be to the point where we need to get things surveyed,” Rogers said.

Duncan told aldermen that a fruitful project would require cooperation. “All cemeteries struggle,” Duncan said. “The ones that are successful are the ones that come up with some sort of private board or group of volunteers that are raising their own money. We think we are going to have to work together.”

Duncan explained that the Cole County Historical Society plans to have a rededication of Jerry Berry’s grave on Memorial Day 2026 and that the group hopes to have made progress with the cemetery by then.

“I’m confident that once the general public is aware of the needs, there are people with families with loved ones buried there that will want to contribute,”  Duncan said. “People care about where their relatives are buried, and it is a very historic cemetery. Long-term, we’d like to get it to where it is not the city’s responsibility.”