Local Volunteers Urge County Help to Digitize Cemetery Records; Commissioners Suggest Options

Heather Etheridge, president of West Plains and Centerville Cemetery, told the commission on Oct. 6 that hundreds of cemetery deeds and paper maps across Bourbon County are at risk as volunteer caretakers age and records remain decentralized. She urged the county to consider a centralized, searchable digital system to track plots, owners and burial status.

Etheridge said Centerville alone has about 1,500 headstones and that many smaller rural cemeteries lack up-to-date computerized records; she estimated there are roughly 100 cemeteries countywide. She recommended a system where each cemetery would have its own page, with plots marked as occupied or available and the ability to note cremations or multiple interments per lot. Etheridge said she would be willing to support the effort and said she uses her own time and resources to respond to genealogical inquiries.

Commission members and others suggested practical next steps. One commissioner recommended contacting the National Cemetery program and local county staff said Allen County uses a courthouse-based coordinator to maintain records; a county official suggested using Find a Grave as a reference while noting it is not as comprehensive as a full county database. Etheridge said plot prices at her cemeteries are $300 and emphasized that records should prevent mistaken re-use of plots.

No formal county action was taken but commissioners encouraged discussion among cemetery boards and offered to assist where multiple cemetery organizations agreed to centralized management or data sharing.