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Batson Cemetery

 

Batson Cemetery, a pioneer cemetery, is located in southern Wells County on the banks of the Salamonie River just east of State Road 3. You will see the names of some of the old Wells County pioneers on the tombstones. Names like Jones, Batson, Alexander, and Cloud. The last burial was in the late 1950s. Since then the cemetery has been vandalized several times and has suffered from neglect. The current trustee, Marilyn Lieurance, has taken a great interest in supporting restoration efforts in Jackson Township.

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Rhonda Stoffer, head of Indiana History and Genealogy at Marion Public Library, is a descendent of the Jones pioneers buried at Batson. Since the Stoffer family lives near Batson, they were aware of the vandalism and neglected state of the cemetery. When she learned that service learning projects are an integral part of the curriculum at Southern Wells she thought that restoration at Batson Cemetery might be a good project for the fourth grade classes. When people help repair and maintain a cemetery, they learn to appreciate what a cemetery represents. When children help repair and maintain a cemetery, they may be less likely to vandalize one on a spooky Halloween night. Teachers Dawn Allison, Linda Reiff, and Denise Neff were in agreement.

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In September 2002 the yellow buses parked at Batson Cemetery and the kids poured out. As the kids wandered around the graveyard they saw toppled markers, they saw the markers of babies who died more than a hundred years ago, they saw some of the same surnames of their classmates, and they began to understand that these were real people buried here and that they had had families who loved them.

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That first day the students and their teachers made rubbings of some of the markers. They also watched and learned to clean and repair markers from Mark Davis and Stoffer. Already Batson Cemetery looked better.

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During the winter months the fourth grade classes held a couple of fundraisers to earn money to buy cleaning and repair supplies. By selling their own version of trail mix, Graveyard Mix, and Popcorn Hands--plastic gloves fill with popcorn, the classes earned about $400.

    

Finally, on May 19 and 21, 2003 the fourth grade classes at Southern Wells Elementary School could put their hard-earned cleaning and repair supplies to good use. The yellow buses arrived at Batson and the kids poured out again. Under the direction of Davis and Stoffer stones were cleaned, leveled, and repaired.

Before

 After

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Should you ever think that service learning projects are busy work or not important, consider the wide-ranging effects of 76 fourth-grade students cleaning Batson Cemetery in Wells County, Indiana:

  • The burial ground for Hoosier pioneers and veterans and their families has been tended with respect.

  • The tombstones for several veterans have been repaired, cleaned, and now boast American flags.

  • There are 76 children in Wells County who grasp the cultural importance of cemeteries.

  • Those 76 students have learned more about the history of their community and about the people who settled there.

  • Batson Cemetery has often been targeted by vandals but it isn't likely that these 76 kids will participate in that kind of activity.

  • Most of this group talked to their families and friends about what they were doing and learning--so the knowledge spreads in an ever-widening circle.

In the words of Pat Trant, curriculum coordinator at Southern Wells Community Schools, "Most of you have heard the expression that one thing leads to another. Following the 4th grade cemetery project last year, Southern Wells Elementary School applied for another Service Learning Grant for the 2003-2004 school year and received a $6,000 grant. The 4th grade project helped connect us with many community people who will help our students identify real needs in the community such as another cemetery project or other projects. All four of the township trustees along with Mr. Robert Pace, chairperson for the restoration of Five-Points School, have agreed to serve on our Service Learning Committee for this year. Both 4th grade students and their teachers said, 'We really felt like we accomplished a real service when we cleaned the tombstones and worked on cleaning up the cemetery.' We are all looking forward to another project this year."