• Happy New Year! While it looks like, from the entries on this page, that there hasn't been much going on with the website and WVCPA the past few months, be assured that there has been much activity 'behind the scenes':
  • We've been working on updates on existing pages  (you know those ones that have 'In Progress' on them?), and working on the databases that we have for the photos, obituaries (more on those later this year!), etc.
  • We've also received a flood of emails from folks of late seeking advice on care and restoration of their old family cemeteries, had some interviews with newspaper reporters with future articles in mind, and also gotten literally hundreds of photos of cemeteries and associated readings from across the state that we're working through, slowly but surely.

As the old year comes to a close, and the New Year opens up before us, Joel and I want to wish WVCPA's faithful viewers, and especially our dedicated volunteers and contributors from across the country, a very Blessed New Year. We look forward to continue working with you in 2009 to rescue the precious old burial grounds of West Virginia. Thank you for your loyalty to us and to the mission of the West Virginia Cemetery Preservation Association!

• Added a page for Lafe Meadows Cemetery in Mason County, thanks to the latest photo submissions from Charlotte Iman.

• Added, with permission, several links to cemetery pages created and maintained by the "Parkersburg Nostalgic Gazette". The website is the work of Christy and Jeff Little, and includes readings and photographs from pioneer cemeteries in the Parkersburg area. Other subjects will be added to the website as time goes on. This is an exciting new site, and we will be watching their progress eagerly! We've added a link to the Parkersburg Nostalgic Gazette to the WVCPA "Resources" page, for those doing research in the Wood County region to access as desired. Great work, Christy and Jeff!

• Added a page for the Jackson County Farm Cemetery in Jackson County, thanks to information and photos provided by WVCPA contributor Charlotte Iman. Not much is known of this cemetery's history - if anyone can provide more information to us, we'd appreciate it!
• Added a page for the Mary Somerville Cemetery in Mason County, also thanks to Charlotte 's photographic and cemetery sleuthing work. Thank you, Charlotte!
• Started a page for Ravenswood Cemetery in Jackson County, thanks to the research and photographic efforts of contributor Keith Weekley. This is a large cemetery that is still in active use, so not only will it take quite some time to fully post online, but there may ultimately be a number of names that have inadvertently been excluded from the listing. Since it is so large, we've gone ahead and posted it online and will be adding to it over the coming weeks and months, and you'll be able to see it as we progress. WVCPA thanks Keith for his great work, and we look forward to volunteers stepping forward to assist with provided a complete, up-to-date listing for this cemetery, and hopefully additional tombstone and views from throughout the cemetery from various times of the year. If you or your community or church group are willing to donate your time to providing this service to the community and sending a listing to post here, please contact WVCPA!

• Added a page for Bowles Cemetery in Putnam County. A beautiful little family cemetery on a knoll at the top of Bowles Ridge, a couple miles west of Rt. 34 at Paradise. When Donna visited this cemetery in May 2008, it was very well cared-for, and since then has become one of a number of favorite places of hers for its particularly peaceful and beautiful location. She said she could have sat under that big old oak tree for hours and not wearied of the view!

• Added a page for Mt. Hope Church of God Cemetery in Jackson County thanks to the research and photography of WVCPA contributor Keith Weekley.

• Added a page for Mount Calvary Cemetery in Jackson County thanks to the work of WVCPA contributor Keith Weekley. We've also started a page for the Pine Grove Church Cemetery in Pleasants County (our first for that county!), from photos that Keith sent us. We need a volunteer to complete the reading and photo-documentation of the Pine Grove Church Cemetery - if you're willing and able to help, please contact WVCPA!
• Added a page for Pine Grove-Ludwig Cemetery in Jackson County, this work due as well to the photo documentation of the cemetery by Keith Weekley.
• Added a page for Lanham-Jones Cemetery in Jackson County, from research done by WVCPA contributor Charlotte Iman.

• Added pages for Wise Cogar Cemetery, Amos Cemetery and Selman Cemetery in Webster County thanks to the research and photography of WVCPA contributor Michael Henline.

• Added a page for Peter Cogar Cemetery in Webster County thanks to the research and photography of WVCPA contributor Michael Henline. Michael is also presently helping us to get our cemetery listing and GPS coordinates updated and corrected for Webster County - we sure appreciate your help, Michael!
• Added an entry in the "In The News" page for exciting updates on the Cherry Grove Cemetery in Jackson County - a link to a story aired on WCHS channel 8 in Charleston included! Our thanks to long-time WVCPA contact Robin King for bringing the event to our attention, and to Alice Click for sending us the story link from WCHS.

• Added over 80 new photos to the page for Parkins (a.k.a. Paradise) Cemetery in Putnam County from a survey done in May of this year by WVCPA staff.
• Added a page for Flatwoods United Methodist Church Cemetery in Jackson County, thanks to the assistance of WVCPA contributor Keith Weekley.
• Continuing work on the large number of cemetery photos and readings submitted over the past few weeks and months by WVCPA contributors

• Added a page for the Deal Cemetery in Putnam County, thanks to the recent reading and photographing of the cemetery by WVCPA contributor Pam Backus. Thanks Pam!

• Added a page for the Boice/Armstrong Cemetery in Jackson County, thanks to information and photos from WVCPA contributor Keith Weekley and his aunt Dorothy Ankrum Weekley. Keith has sent us many other photos from Jackson County cemeteries that we hope to add to the site over the coming weeks. Thank you for your help, Keith!

• Added a page for the Bruce Chapel Cemetery in Mason County, thanks to information and photos from long-time WVCPA volunteer Lois Downour.

• WVCPA has recently changed its provider for online credit/debit card donation processing:  we are no longer using PayPal, having now switched over to Google Checkout™. We feel that this is a better, more cost-effective service than what we were experiencing with PayPal, and have been very pleased with the relationship we have with Google online services in other areas, such as the GoodSearch search engine. If you would like to try out this new service with your next financial contribution towards the support of WVCPA, visit our "Contribute" page or see the link at the bottom of the "WV Cemeteries" page. 

• Added pages for Roberts Cemetery, Ford Point Cemetery, and Grass Family Cemetery in Lincoln County, thanks to readings and background information provided by WVCPA contributors Bryan and Melissa Conley.

• Added a page for the Parkins Family Cemetery in Putnam County.

• Added new articles on the "In The News" page - one on a 'rescued' tombstone from West Virginia, another on one of our dear volunteers in Marion Co., Gena Wagaman and the wonderful cemetery work she's a part of in the Fairmont area (thank you for letting us know of your new book, Gena!).
• Added a page for the Falls Cemetery in Greenbrier County, thanks to information provided by WVCPA contributor Bruce Chase. A current reading from this cemetery (and photos) are still being sought by WVCPA - if you can help with this, please contact us!
• Added a page for the Johnson Cemetery in Putnam County, thanks to the photography and information provided by WVCPA contributor Penn Markham. Thank you, Penn!
• Added a page for the Hambrick Chapel Cemetery in Mason County, thanks to information provided by WVCPA volunteer Angela Harkins - as always, thank you Angela!
• Added a page for the Akers Cemetery in Wayne County, thanks to information provided by family researcher Jeanne Howell - thanks Jeanne!
  
• WOULD YOU HELP US? - On several of our county pages listing cemetery locations and readings, there are links to "non-WVCPA sites" - many of which point to USGenWeb readings for the various counties so even where we don't have the information, we can direct you to where we know there IS information. Well, not too long back, the web addresses for these sites changed, and we're pretty sure we don't have all our links pointing to the new locations. Our web site tools don't pick up on the fact that these links are 'broken', since the old links take the viewer to a RootsWeb error page. How can you help? Well, if you find that a link to one of these "non-WVCPA sites" isn't going where it should be going, try to find the correct location for us and email us with the correction - telling us both which county and cemetery our broken link is associated with, and what the correct web address is. It's that simple, and it helps us (and your fellow WVCPA site visitors) get to all the best WV cemetery information on the Web.
• We're also looking for someone to do a current reading of the Pete Meadows Cemetery in Mason County - we've added a page to the site for this cemetery, and we'd love to give someone the credit for sharing a reading and photos with our community of family researchers and local historians. Contact us if you'd be willing to help!

• Added a page for Marion Cemetery in Jackson County, thanks to information and photos provided by WVCPA contributors Steve and Charlotte Iman.
• We're working on several other cemetery pages and photos - more to come soon!

• Added a page for Larck Cemetery in Putnam County, thanks to Larck descendant, Brenda Larck Cooper, who brought it to our attention. The Larck family is actively seeking a local person to help them maintain this small family graveyard, and welcome any volunteers. If you can help, please contact WVCPA at and we will pass your contact information on to Mrs. Cooper

• Added a page for Whitman Cemetery in Logan County, thanks to the photographs and information provided by local family researcher and WVCPA contributor, Tiffany D. Miller. The Whitman Cemetery is in pretty bad shape, and Tiffany is working hard to get some restoration work underway on it before it gets any worse. If you have any additional information about this cemetery, those buried there, or have the ability and willingness to help Tiffany and other local volunteers to clean up this cemetery this spring/early summer, please contact WVCPA and we'll get you connected up with her!

• Thank you to all who sent notes and cards to us during this difficult time - Joel and I appreciate all of your prayers and well-wishes for us and our family. We are getting back up to speed with WVCPA activities and are working now on our plans for our next trip to WV which will be barely one month from now. We will do our best to reply to as many emails and promised phone calls over the next week. Thank you for your patience!

• Because of a death in the immediate family (Donna's mom), email replies and updates on the website will not take place until the last half of April at the earliest. Please keep Joel & Donna and their family in your prayers, and thank you for your patience.

• Added full photo survey of the Morgan Cemetery in Mason County.

• Added a page for Long Hollow Baptist Church in Jackson County, thanks to photos and background information from founding member descendant, Mary Jane Swartz, with additional photos by WVCPA volunteers Alice & Karl Click. 
• Also set up a page for the church cemetery, Long Hollow Cemetery, located on the hillside above the church building. No photos are currently available for the cemetery, but a listing based on research has been established.

• Added a page for Boggess Cemetery from Fisher Ridge in Jackson County.
• Added photos to the Apple Grove Memory Gardens page in Mason County.

• Added a page for Curtin Cemetery in Nicholas County, thanks to the research done by WVCPA contributors Paul & Richard Greathouse.

• Added several photos, updates and a cemetery history page for the Given Cemetery in Jackson County, thanks to the research and photography of WVCPA contributor Maxine Landfried and the Given Cemetery Association. Thank you, Maxine!
• Completed page for Eddy Chapel Cemetery in Mason County.

• Completed page for Middleton Cemetery in Putnam County, thanks to the research and exploration efforts of our faithful volunteer, Terry McCallister. This cemetery is in sore need of clean-up and restoration, lest it become a temptation for vandalism - particularly with the new housing development going in adjacent to it. If you are willing and able to help on such a weekend project this winter/spring, please contact WVCPA and we'll get you in touch with Terry who is coordinating the cemetery rescue with one of the descendants.
• Completed updates on the Judson Baptist Church Cemetery in Putnam County, as well as set up a preliminary historic church page for Judson Baptist Church itself. Additional historic information needed on the church, and more old photos could be added if available. If you can help in this effort, please contact us. Terry McCallister is working with us on this as well.

• As we see the close of 2007 and the dawn of 2008 just a few days away, the WVCPA staff and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting us in 2007, and wish you all a blessed New Year!
• As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, WVCPA receives all of its income to cover operating expenses and be able to pass along gifts for selected cemetery rescue efforts in the state of West Virginia from donations from faithful donors and philanthropists across the United States.  WVCPA makes it a point to NOT charge for any of the services it provides on the internet, in person, or via email, nor do we inundate our volunteers and business contacts with spam email, soliciting donations throughout the year. In fact, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we are greatly restricted by the Internal Revenue Service in how we raise funds that are not given as freewill gifts. So, once a year around this time, we strive to remind our friends and visitors of the opportunity that they have to further the work of WVCPA through their financial gifts and potentially gain deductions on their own taxes in the process.
• Remember, too, as we enter 2008 to continue make use of the GoodSearch search engine at www.goodsearch.com, specifying "WVCPA" as your designated charity.  GoodSearch is a search engine with a unique social mission. It’s powered by Yahoo, so you get the same great search results. GoodSearch donates 50% of their advertising revenue to the nonprofits and schools selected by their users. This past week, WVCPA received a check for $38.05 from GoodSearch as a direct result of your use of the search engine in 2007! Now you, our supporters, can make a difference in the work of WVCPA, or any nonprofit charity of their choice that is included among the registered organizations on the GoodSearch site, simply by changing the way they search the Internet!  Anytime anyone uses the GoodSearch site to search on the Internet and specifies WVCPA as their favorite charity, GoodSearch will set aside a portion of their revenue to contribute WVCPA (an average of $.013 per search the past two years). Over the years, many of you have expressed the desire to donate to WVCPA, but have not had the means - now you can without it costing you a penny!  Check out GoodSearch for details, and tell your friends and family so they can help contribute as well!