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In October and November of 1995, Joan Roming and Madeline Stevenson spent two hours each Tuesday night for six weeks cataloging and indexing the contents of the basement of the Unity Town Office. During this process they discovered (working) maps of all but two of the seven cemeteries in Unity. At that time they decided there was a need for the cemetery indexes to be updated. The need for the updates became even more evident when people looking for ancestors had difficulty, or were unable to find them entirely. By updating the cemetery indexes, it will simplify the processing. The decision was made to start with Unity Pond Cemetery, which is the largest of the cemeteries. The cemeteries were originally indexed by Edith Frost in the 1950s. In the mid-1970s, a CETA project mapped the cemeteries and made index cards which are currently housed in the Town Office. This project was overseen by Dana Stevenson. Stones we were unable to find are marked with an *. This was planned as a very thorough cataloging of the cemeteries. In addition to basic information such as name, birth and death dates, spouses and/or children, this project includes information regarding second spouses, inscriptions, individual head/foot stones, fences and the general condition of the grave sites. Due to the age of the stones and the rate of deterioration, it was felt that an extremely comprehensive recording of the information is necessary to preserve the information for future generations. When this project was finished, a complete set of indexes and maps was given to the Town Office. In addition, the College library was also given a set. The original indexes and maps, as well as the individual sheets, were added to the Research Library at the Historical Society building. The Historical Society project began on October 22, 1995, with students from Unity College, overseen by Professor Larry Farnsworth and Professor Ann Reading, in conjunction with a Cadet Program run by the Waldo County Sheriffs Office. This is a program in which teens who have been in trouble can work off their debt by performing community service. College students were paired off with the teens. Historical Society members Betty Rogers, Joan Roming and Madeline Stevenson supervised the gathering of information in the first part of the "old section" at the Pond Cemetery. The information on each stone was hand-copied onto individual sheets; with one team member reading the inscription and the other member writing. On one occasion only one teen showed up, so each person present copied the information onto the separate sheets. One very artistic student even illustrated her sheets with designs found on some of the markers. The teens, students and members worked on the project for three successive Sundays, with the work session generally lasting until noon. The project was put on hold due to winter setting in. [It should be noted that quite a few stones are missing since the first survey was done.] Over the winter, the information gathered was transferred onto the computer on individual sheets by Lori Roming. Several inaccuracies were found were be checked out when the weather permited. In the meantime, Joan Roming indexed the other cemeteries according to the Frost information. She also redrew the maps (on loan from the Town Office) in a smaller format. Michelle Braley was drawing a new map of the Pond Cemetery from larger maps but this map was never finished. Joan will redraw the map in two sections (old and new) for easier reading. In April 1996 Betty Rogers and Joan Roming indexed and mapped the Douglass Yard and began the indexing of the Quaker Hill Yard. Quaker Hill has been completed and a map drawn. In 1997 the project continued. It had been delayed because of snow, rain, black flies and mosquitos and lack of time of the participants. By May the index for the right side of Pond Cemetery had been completed and individual sheets done. However, we decided to make a tentative list of indexes so that some genealogy work could be done. A copy of the indexes only was given to the Town Office and Unity College Library in its incomplete form. As the cemeteries are completed the Town and College book will be upgraded. Boulter cemetery was finished with Joan, Betty and Lisa Nason helping. Lisa also entered a lot of the stones on the computer for the Pond cemetery right side.. The map for the Pond Cemetery is finished . Farwell and Boulter Cemetery maps have been upgraded and are complete. Since neither yard is frequently used, we felt that any map would be of some help even with errors. Betty Rogers, Barbara Finnemore and Madeline Stevenson were a great help and Betty and Barbara even started on their own while I was on vacation. Farwell cemetery was completed in October 1997 and had to be checked three times on the map. I am not sure the map is entirely accurate but it will probably help. Finally, the cemetery project leg work was completed in October 1997 including maps. The inscriptions will be typed over the winter. The total count in all the cemeteries is as follows: Boulter 216, Douglass 40, Farwell 340, Fowler 237, Unity Pond I 1062, Unity Pond II 499, Quaker Hill 239, Village 66, for a grand total of 2699. We have lived with this project for two years and although we are glad to finish we will miss those brisk, sunny days and especially the colorful fall My thanks again to all my faithful co- workers. May we all rest in peace!!! Joan Roming 1997
Unity Historical Society
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