The Photograph Andrew County Tombstones (PACT) Project

Welcome!

The picture is of Woodcock Cemetery, and shows how our volunteers aren't just photographing, but are actually finding the tombstones sometimes. In the picture you can see three stones which have been literally dug up, and some of the holes they came from, plus the shovel. I would like to show people how dedicated our volunteers are, and how much exciting information is going to be available as a result. Woodcock was an uncatalogued cemetery, and we have found 23 legible stones, representing over 25 people. ~ Monica, in the early days of the project. The mission of this website is to provide pictures of every known tombstone in Andrew County, Missouri. Much research and field work has gone into finding the known cemeteries and then locating and photographing the stones, but we are always eager to make updates or corrections. Please contact us if you know of other cemeteries or tombstones, or of corrections to the information provided.

We stopped regularly photographing tombstones around 2006. A few volunteers have gone back since then and taken some newer pictures, but for the most part, there aren't pictures of markers placed after our original surveys. We try to add to the "Also reportedly buried here" lists from obituaries and other sources, but this is by no means complete information.

In the first stage of this site, we provided a list of each and every existing tombstone in each and every cemetery in Andrew County, Missouri. For ease of research, the lists are alphabetical. We realize that this doesn't give a full true transcription of the cemetery, because most people would like to know which other markers are beside and around any given stone. We later provided information, through row tables, on the location of each stone, and its relationship to other markers.

The photograph number will usually give you some idea of proximity to other stones. For instance, a picture numbered 114 shows a marker that probably is between the markers in picture number 113 and picture number 115. (There are some numbering exceptions.)

We would like to post historic photographs (before 1950) of Andrew County churches and cemeteries. If you have pictures which you would share, please contact us. See the Bethel Baptist Cemetery for a wonderful example.

Privacy Policy

We purposely have not posted transcriptions of anyone living, or of any tombstone with a death date uncarved, which could belong to someone one hundred years old or less. The information after a living person is marked [private]. However, the links still work to the photograph of the tombstone. If any individual or family member wishes to have the working link removed, it will be done immediately.

To have a link removed, please contact Kris.

February 2015 Update

After over ten years of hard work and devotion to PACT, Monica is handing over the management of the website to Kris who, among other things, is the County Coordinator for several USGenWeb projects.

If you find broken links, or have questions, comments or updates, please use the cousin.collector@gmail.com email address to submit them.

The PACT project has been an invaluable resource for anyone with family connections in Andrew County or its neighbors because of Monica's determination, and that of all the volunteers who helped her make it happen. (SNAKES! ACK!) It's extremely humbling to be entrusted with "her baby!"

The Volunteers

This project could not have happened without its volunteers. Some inspired us. Some shared information and expertise. Some donated funds for postage and supplies. Some pointed. Some braved poison ivy, over-friendly dogs, unfriendly cattle, snakes, electric fences, heat, cold, traffic, bad directions and buried stones. They have done all of this without financial compensation, in order to preserve this part of the history of Andrew County, Missouri. A heartfelt "Thank you!" to these volunteers.

* Linked articles © The Savannah Reporter and used with permission.

Some Words about THE Transcriptions

The transcriptions of the tombstones are ultimately mine. Whenever possible, I have checked the information against obituaries, census records, death records, Bible records or any other information available.

Often, someone in the cemetery itself can read a stone that just isn't legible in even the best photograph. Betty Halvorsen and Nadine Taylor were invaluable with this difficult work, and Nadine also did independent research from other sources. So I could not have done most of these transcriptions without them. Hence, "THE Transcriptions," for Taylor, Halvorsen and Eshelman.

There are misspellings and other errors on stones. I have left these as they appear.

If you find any discrepancies or errors in a transcription, please let me know. I will do my best to make corrections as quickly as possible so that bad information is not spread.

You are free to use these transcriptions in your personal or historical research. It is against the principles of this project, however, for anyone to sell the transcriptions.

Monica Schirmer Eshelman

Legal Stuff

The volunteers who photographed these cemeteries have agreed that their work can be used by you for your personal research. This means that you can save them, add them to your family tree, and you can also upload them to Find A Grave memorials, with proper credit and attribution to The Photograph Andrew County Tombstones (PACT) Project, and the original photographer, if known.

What you can't do is copy the transcriptions for your own website or publication. You also do not have permission to reproduce, duplicate or compile the photos for sale or profit.

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