Dake Cemetery - Shelby Co., Indiana

    I had seen photos and video of two other researchers but they didn't
cover the Cemetery very well and left me with a lot of unanswered questions.
Even the researchers couldn't answer or remember a lot of the details but
gave me a feeling for what to expect and where to find the Cemetery. 

    During the 4th of July holiday of 1998 I drove from Southern Wisconsin, 
where I have lived for the past 22 years, to Shelby Co., IN.  The cemetery 
is on private property about 1/8 mile into a corn field from an abandoned 
county road.  I checked-in with the nearest neighbor, which is a good idea
when operating alone in an isolated rural area, and found that they were 
related to the Dakes and one old building on their place is the original log 
cabin of John Dake's neighbor and traveling companions the Fanslers.  The 
cemetery has long since been abandoned and is overgrown with brush much like 
the land must have been when the first settlers arrived.  I packed my gear 
(4 cameras, mosquito repellent, ax, ropes & hoists, food, etc.) into the site 
and began mapping the plots, video taping for perspective and setting up or 
turning over stones that were lying face down.

	Some stones had fallen over due to settling of the soil, some had been
knocked over or broken by falling dead trees, but many had been knocked over,
broken or moved by vandals. In talking with a neighbor I learned that someone
(kids?) had been coming in from the south with 4 wheel drive vehicles across
a creek and railroad track at night and vandalizing the cemetery.  Several
stones shown in the other researchers photos and video were either moved or
completely missing.  The first day was clear but the wooded lot was so dense
I had trouble getting good photographs.  The second day was cloudy and
raining and was even darker.  I used foam to enhance the readability of many
stones as can be seen in some of the photos.  I have a combination of slides,
prints and 8 mm video which I have combined and computer enhanced for the
best images I could produce.  I had intended the video only for perspective
but found that many of the pictures turned out so poorly that the video is
my best data. Also some video & scanned images are from other family members. 

    In the Cemetery listing one can determine what my original data source
was as follows:

Digital Capture - means it came from video or another researchers photograph
Ph####          - means it came from a print
SLd ####        - means it came from a slide

In the cases where I have more than one picture or digital capture they are
probably foam enhanced or just duplicates as I was trying to insure that I
didn't have to go back and do it again.  I spent 2 1/2 days there and still
am not satisfied with the results so I may go back some day.  I attempted to
draw a map from memory, the video and pictures and may have it available at
some time although it is not to scale it does not necessarily contain
accurate information.  The Cemetery needs to be surveyed and properly mapped
if I ever publish the data.  The County didn't even know it existed (Private
land) and of coarse didn't have any records.  They directed me to the
Township Trustee who claimed the records had been turned over to the County.
I'm sure records were kept at one time and may still be in the family
somewhere.

-- Owen C. Dake - March 1999


Update October, 2005

A group of descendents of those interred at the cemetery have been meeting
one weekend a month to cleanup brush and repair vandalized grave markers.

A cleanup day was scheduled from 9:00am to 1:00pm on Saturday, October 29, 2005.
Rita and I arrived at the cemetery about 8:00 am. It was rather cool this morning so
we started a fire immediately and started piling on brush that had already been cut
and piled.  Many stumps from previous cleanup cuttings about 8-10 inches high were
scattered throughout the cemetery.  These are real trip hazards and part of todays 
task is to cut them off nearer ground level (see photo 6278o and others).  There
were several dead trees standing throughout the cemetery and some had tipped over
already.  I started cutting up a large brush pile and felling the smaller dead 
trees.  The larger trunk sections were left for someone to take for firewood while
the smaller limbs were added to the fire.

About 9:00am others started arriving and introductions were made.  It was very pleasant
day and much progress was made.  Rita and I stayed later and continued to burn brush and
I rephotographed ALL of the grave markers and took several overview photos as well.

The land owner, Jim Tolen, came by and chatted for about a half hour.  He has provided 
an access path across his field for us to get to the cemetery and allowed us to cut
and burn brush and perform other tasks to facilitate the restoration effort.
In addition to vandalism problems in the past he has concerns about crop damage by
those of us working there.

Rita and I wrapped up for the day and returned to Wisconsin on Sunday, October, 30th.

Numbered pictures in the range 6227-6426 are from this trip.  Those with an 'o' (oh) 
extension (i.e. 6237o.jpg) are "Overview" photos.  Those with an 'f' extension 
(i.e. 6241f.jpg) are foamed stones (Shaving cream is used for foam).  Those with 'c' 
extension are computer enhanced for readability.  Those with an 'xl' extension are
"extra large" for better resolution.  Photos with a '-zoom' extension are physically
"Close-up" shots to improve readability.

-- Owen C. Dake - November 2005