To ensure Civil War veterans buried at the Old City-Woodland Cemetery are not forgotten, the Jefferson City Cemetery Resources Board is accepting donations to purchase tombstones for more than a dozen Union veterans.
Of the 13 tombstones, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs approved five tombstones, and the Cemetery Resources Board recently applied for a tombstone for another veteran believed to be buried at the cemetery.
The board wants to purchase seven tombstones, which will cost approximately $5,250. The board received a $25 donation for the project and would need to fund $5,225.
Not only did the veterans make an "extraordinary contribution" to history, committee member Nancy Thompson last week, but the board doesn't want them to be lost to the past.
"I know that they're there and it's on (the) Find A Grave (website), but unless we put a tombstone there, 25 years from now, no one's going to know that they're there," she said. "Without a stone, people don't remember."
While the Cemetery Resources Board contacted local entities about partnering on the project, Thompson said, they have not received confirmation yet.
Those who want to make donations for the project can address the contribution to the Cemetery Resources Board, to the attention of Jefferson City Environmental Health Manager David Grellner. However, this contribution would not be eligible for a tax deduction, Thompson said.
Individuals who want a tax deduction can donate money to the Historic City of Jefferson, specifying the money is to go toward the Cemetery Resources Board's Civil War veterans project.
The Cemetery Resources Board hopes to hold a dedication ceremony for the project around Memorial Day.
The 13 Union veterans are Henry Carroll, James Monroe Jobe, Julius Caesar Jordan, Tillman Morse, Charles W. Thomas, Sylvester Gordon Emerson, Horace Alexander, Henry Bolton, Andreas Gundelfinger, Adam Hirsch, John Holmes, James Nelson and John F. Roesen.