So, the story of my interest in genealogy began with these pictures. They were in one of many notebooks assembled by Walter Lee Kauffman, my great uncle, back in the 1930s. Uncle Walt in his later years, became an avid genealogist and the Coover Farm Cemetery or Barbace was where his grandparents and great grandparents were buried. His book included these pictures, a cemetery, a tree that had grown into some headstones, and another picture sometime later showing the tree cut down. It caught my attention. But I had other things on my mind, a wife, a family, a business and other interests.
The second event that pulled me into genealogy was a letter from Harriet Armstrong. Harriet was the granddaughter of Susan Long, one of the five Coover daughters. I was the great grandson of Anne Elizabeth Kauffman, another of the Coover daughters. Her letter told me of her recent trip back to Mechanicsburg and how she could not find the cemetery, that she feared it was gone, lost to the advancing civilization. That led to my contacting an attorney, wasting some money, then eventually finding the cemetery, And last, and most important, a visit to Mechanicsburg to actually “see” the cemetery.
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This picture is from 2012, some 10 years later. You can see the shape the cemetery is in. Clearly it needed some help. But there were a lot of question. Who owned the cemetery? And how can you get it cleaned up? Last, what about long term?
Well, the first thing I discovered was that Uncle Walt had wrestled with this issue for years. He had actually purchased a right-of-way from Brandy Lane back to the cemetery. Back in 1929, he had the land surveyed. And he purchased it from Ellen Hummel. She was the daughter of Marianne Hummel, yet another of the Coover sisters.
Uncle Walt’s correspondence, all carefully preserved in his notebooks, went to the families and other interested parties in an effort to restore and maintain the cemetery, all to no avail. So, as I grew older, I began to undertake the process of uncovering those questions and putting together a plan for Barbace.
- Establishing a trust for the ownership, restoration and ongoing maintenance of the cemetery.
- Determining ownership of the cemetery and adjacent properties.
- Acquiring the properties on behalf of the trust.
- Protecting the cemetery thru the PA State Historical Preservation Office.
- Setting up a funding mechanism for the cemetery.
- Restoration of the cemetery.
As of this date, May 2021, we have accomplished bits and pieces of this plan. We know who owns the properties. We have cleaned up the cemetery to a minimally acceptable level. We have begun the process of registering the cemetery with the state. We are investigating the establishment of the trust. We have some momentum.
Take a moment to look further into Barbace. I have included herein some interesting pieces.
- The Coover Farm Cemetery. Who is buried there and where.
- The Reinternment of the Coover’s. When, why and how?
- The Theft of the Coover Headstone. Who did it and why?
- The Cleanup of the Cemetery. Who led that effort?
- The Ownership. Who owns the cemetery and how can you prove it?
- Advocates. Uncle Walt, Julia Getter and others. What did they do over the years?
- The Coover Farm Cemetery Trust.