Richmond Historic Cemeteries

10/19/2025

We had a huge amount of work done yesterday! Tons of bigger trees we have needed to remove were removed and hauled off!

A HUGE shout out to Robert with Tiger Contracting (link in comments) for coming out and helping us take them out! Thank you also to Princess and her family and Steven and James! None of this would be possible without the continued efforts of the volunteers!

These are the BIG permanent projects we are working on and getting done to make the maintenance stuff easier!

Mowing happening this week! Also stay tuned for some exciting things happening this winter!

“Progress is not perfection, but a step in the right direction.” - unknown

08/15/2025

Due to the extreme heat wave we are having, the work day for tomorrow is canceled. We will pick back up in September when Mother Nature has herself back in check.

07/08/2025

I wanted to jump on and let everyone know that we are on the schedule at the Commissioners office for this Wednesday, July 9th. I know it is a late post, but I have been swamped and forgot to let everyone know sooner.

I openly welcome anyone that has been at the work days, has questions or is just curious about the direction of the cemetery and any potential involvement from the county to come on up!

Megan P.

06/21/2025

We got so much done today!!

Here’s some before and after of Shotwell cemetery. We are no where near done but progress was made!

We had around 15 total volunteers and a lot of cleanup continued progressing on the Richmond Cemetery side of the fence as well!

Thank you to all the volunteers who showed up and worked through the heat with us today. It is so appreciated.

06/17/2025

When I talk about hours of research, it also includes hours of actual feet on the ground at the cemetery research as well.

There are a lot of issues with possible grave locations, obituaries and cross referencing death certificates and POSSIBLY cross referencing those with plot deeds at the recorders office.

For example, I was doing just some computer work on lunch and discovered that the Schoolings have either been listed as buried in Sunny Slope or according to one record (I need to verify) another Schooling has been exhumed and moved to KS but the stone is still here. So with this, I will have to go to their location in the cemetery, assess them to the boundary and then do more digging if they are on the line.

These are just some of the things that will take time to research and confirm. And no, Find A Grave is not a reliable source of research and information.

06/16/2025

There has been discussion about mapping of both cemeteries. So lets talk mapping.

Prior to any mapping being done, we HAVE to get them under control from the over growth and w**ds. Which has been our primary focus in the publics eye. Remember there are things going on behind the scenes to tackle the other issues such as the wall.

I have books. Specifically, 2 books of nothing but burials and their plot number. Done sometime in the 1970s-1980s. And added to since. However, the only maps that it came with was an overview of how the Richmond Cemetery was laid out.

The mapping is something that is going to take time and patience. LOTs of both. It will ideally be a winter project as I have stated numerous times because the grass needs to be dead and short.

I am going to attach what we have found and the main overview. most of this still needs to be deciphered and located against the over view as is does not match up 100%.

I am putting this out here so that everyone can see that there are multiple things going on behind the scenes. With these books and the book from the Historical society, I am building an online database. Again, ahead of the current newspaper talk. With this database, I am hoping to be able to by next spring have a baseline mapping done so people are able to quickly locate their loved ones without having to walk all over the cemetery. Both cemeteries to be exact, though Shotwell thankfully isn't huge and everything is easy to find there.

I also want to clarify that pretty much all of the original documentation was destroyed in the fire. So all I have is hours of research on find a grave, the neighboring cemeteries and hours at the recorder of deeds office. And there’s still more hours to go up there to truly know.

06/13/2025

Did you know since taking over and cleaning up the cemetery, we have found over 30 missing headstones?!

Some of which are military stones. Once was a solider in the US Colored Infantry! It was found in a ton of the overgrowth at the bottom of the hill in the back! Section F to be exact which is part of the colored section of the cemetery!

*** I wanted to add that a dear friend who researches colored military members also found out that John Smith was born in Pennsylvania and sold as a slave here in Richmond! He was 26 when he enlisted! He was part of the major failed battle at Fort Blakely Alabama and he was severely injured in his right shoulder. She is working on finding more information about him and his pension.

06/09/2025

Work Day Information:

June 21st from 9-11am

As I mentioned in May to some others and on my previous post, the plan is to attack Shotwell.

With the news article that came out, people have taken it upon themselves to already start so I MAY reassess what needs to be done that Friday. While this is frustrating as I should be notified first, it’s a battle I’m not willing to fight at the moment.

I will be up spraying this week for poison ivy in there in preparation. I will be up this Saturday pending rain to mow it and start on Richmond again but there is rain in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.

I do have the Shotwell wall being assessed this evening and will be presented to a boys scout group as a possible service project. Something that’s been in the works for awhile, prior to the news article as well.

At this point, we will continue forward with the plans that have been discussed behind the scenes to tackle both cemeteries. We will not stop our efforts due to negativity.

As always, feel free to reach out if you have ANY QUESTIONS or want to know what the plans are as we continue forward. My cell is (816) 392-7275.

Megan Pendleton.

06/07/2025

This is going to be a very long post. But I want to clear the air on something’s that have recently come out in an article written locally.

1. Yes I worked with the previous commission to take over both cemeteries. They offered them to me. They were a DISASTER. Worse than they are now. This was due to lack of care for 3+ years before I had anything to do with them. The commission wanted nothing to do with them. They had less than $300 between them.

2. At the moment, I am not doing a fundraising. I am working through the legalities of all that and the best way and what type of fundraiser to do. I do take donations and that turns around and goes right back into when I mow and clean up days and that’s about it.

3. There will still continue to be volunteer days. Those will not stop. Prior to ANY of the misinformation posted, the plan for the June date is to start tackling the Shotwell cemetery. I will be up spraying next week prior to the work day as it’s over run with poison ivy.

4. My phone number is plastered every where and in the commissioners email. Not once has anyone reached out to me. I would think if you provided on your platform that wanting to restore the cemeteries was a priority, “Tracy recalled telling someone shortly after taking office that fixing the cemetery would be a priority.,“ you would have reached out sooner than words in the local paper. I sure haven’t seen any one of them offering to help or show up to the very publicly posted volunteer days.

5. The funding from the state. There is MINIMAL. Like practically non-existent. I have been trying for state funding since the fall of 2022 for just Shotwell. Are they historical? To Ray County yes. To the State of Missouri no. Not in the aspect that would gain funding. I have tried that angle as well.

6. There was no pile of brush behind Bob Ford prior to Memorial Day UNLESS someone went up and cut brush and did not remove it. We had all but 1 pile completely picked up the weekend before Memorial Day. There is overgrowth yes. But if you can’t see how much has been removed, I will gladly go way back and find pictures from before I started on them and we got volunteers. That isn’t new and is actually cut back quite a lot from where it was just 2 years ago.

7. The elephant in the room. The Shotwell wall. I have had 2 recent quotes of $25,000-$35,000 to fix it. Surprise, surprise misinformation in the paper on that cost. It’s not going to cost $100,000. Due to lack of funding and interest, I have reached out and am working on volunteer projects for it with proper guidance. I have also spoke with a Boy Scout leader and it possibly being a service project.

8. The graves in that area are far enough back, the shifting would be minuscule. Another thing I am 30 steps ahead of the commissioners on finding out. The possibility of damage to graves is unlikely as the depth backwards to fix the wall needs to only be about 4’ and the closest grave is 10+ feet. I will need to work with a local funeral home (I already have 2 willing to be on stand by) should some arise that was unexpected.

9. The lack of knowledge on cemetery work and thinking the caretaker has to have signatures to work on anything is incorrect. If due diligence has been made to attempt to contact relatives and you can not track any down, then you do not need them. And even then, it’s immediate family only (direct children, grand children, brothers, sister, parents). Many of these burials do not have these direct relatives.

10. The discouragement from families over the state of the cemeteries is 100% agreeable. Because they were allowed to be that way for so long prior to someone finally stepping in.

Here is my proposition to Richmond residents and our commissioners: If you are willing to spend your time at the commissioners meetings and writing letters to the Mayor, feel free to put the time to good use volunteering or helping those of us out here trying to restore it accomplish it. Come see what we are actually doing and speak with those of us out there all the time with feet on the ground. I promise we don’t bite and your help would be welcome with open arms. If you want to help with funding, I will gladly work with you!

Our next work day is June 21st from 9am to 11am.

To the Richmond Daily News, a simple phone call to the other side would have clarified a LOT of false information that has now been spread by the people in charge. Because their knowledge isn’t in cemeteries and the caretaker and upkeep. Nor the preservation of them.

Sincerely,
Megan Pendleton

And for anyone wanting to call me, my cell is (816) 392-7275. I’m pretty easy to get ahold of and talk to.

05/26/2025

05/18/2025

We had an amazing work day yesterday!!! Thank you for EVERYTHING!!!

I think 15-20 total showed up and helped knock out a lot of mowing and w**d eating and picking up more brush!

I will be up trying to finish mowing the last of the front section. The middle section is having the majority of the w**d eating done today.

We may run out of time to get all of the cemetery ready for Memorial Day, but we will have over half!