Milford Township, Miami University to complete digital cemetery mapping
If approved, a grant would help finish the township’s effort to preserve and organize burial records across three historic cemeteries.
Milford Township trustee Amy Butterfield is working with Miami University to finish the digital mapping of three township cemeteries.
Through a grant from the Greater Oxford Community Foundation, Butterfield and Milford Township were able to start digitally mapping memorials at the Somerville Cemetery. Now, Butterfield and the township have applied for the W.E. Smith Family Charitable Trust Grant, totaling $11,500, in hopes to finish the mapping project at the Somerville Cemetery.
Milford Township has three cemeteries in Darrtown, Collinsville and Somerville. Each cemetery is partially mapped, and Butterfield believes that if awarded, this grant will help finish the mapping for all three cemeteries.
The initial program that helped map memorials in the Darrtown Cemetery was done in collaboration with Miami University.
Robbyn Abbitt, GIS Coordinator, GISci Certificate Advisor and Associate Director of the Geospatial Analysis Center at Miami University spoke to the Oxford Free Press about the process of mapping projects.
“The first thing we do when mapping a new cemetery is we go out with a drone and we take a high resolution aerial image,” Abbitt said.
Then, Abbitt and her team use this imagery to identify all headstones captured by the drone. The next step is to take photos of each headstone in the cemetery.
“Then, we fill out the database for the headstones,” she said.
On the online database website, users can zoom in on an aerial image of the cemetery and view different markers that are shown on top of each headstone.
When clicking on these headstone markers, specific information about the interred individual is provided, including first and last name, date of birth and death and veteran status, which includes the military rank of the individual.
Abbitt explained that some of these cemeteries are actively managed, which means that individuals can still be buried there after mapping projects are completed. Part of the project allows cemetery administrators to actively manage the database website. If someone is newly buried in the cemetery, all information, photos and data can be added to the website.
Abbitt and her team are looking forward to finishing the Somerville Cemetery mapping project, if the W.E. Smith Family Charitable Trust Grant is given to Milford Township in order to finish the project.
“Somerville Cemetery was a surprise in the vast number of headstones that were out there,” said Abbitt. “There are over 2,000 headstones.”
Abbitt added that there is a management and administrative aspect to the project as well, as having a detailed and organized list of plots, used and open, can help create a smoother and more efficient process when planning for future burials.
Abbitt added that she and her team have a contract to map Concord Cemetery in Dixon Township, located in Preble County, as well as a potential project in Reily Township that would map a closed historical cemetery containing revolutionary war veterans.
Abbitt spoke to the Oxford Free Press about the importance of projects like these and their meaning to a given community.
“It all goes back to our human history of the area,” Abbitt said. “It’s how people are going to find their loved ones that have passed on.”
In the same sentiment, Butterfield stressed the importance of having these records available digitally, as the information can now be safely accessed online without the threat of being lost.
“Milford Township is very proud of our history,” said Butterfield. “So we want to keep accurate records.”
