Area man works to save cemetery
WEST BROWNSVILLE – In the woods just off Route 40 between the California exit and the Mon-Fayette Expressway ramp lies the grave of a 14-year-old boy. Joab Krepps died on Feb. 16, 1819, at the age of 14 years, 5 months and 9 days, according to his tombstone. He was the son of John and Sarah Krepps, according to his tombstone. It is a large stone, covering the entire top of his grave. At one time, he was surrounded by other family members, and may still be, but their tombstones are long gone. Only two small stones, probably stones that had marked the foot of graves, are toppled in the woods about 10 feet away from Joab’s grave.
Most people are unaware of the small family cemetery in West Brownsville, but it drew the attention of Dr. Richard M. Birch in 1968, when he did a report for J. Budd Grebb’s eighth-grade history class in the California Area School District. Birch, who now has a dental practice in California, passes the site every day on his way to work. One day this spring he noticed logging in the area of the old family graveyard.
“When they started the bulldozing, I went up to see if things were being taken care of, and it didn’t seem to be,” Birch said. “It looked like they were going to be bulldozed or lost to history. I just wanted to get some attention so the proper archeological records can be maintained.”
Birch said he has been interested in the cemetery since first seeing it as a child.
“I have gone back there since eighth grade maybe a half-dozen times. I’ve taken my kids up there. A lot of those places are going to be gone. I always thought it was kind of a neat place, with such a large grave stone for a young person,” Birch said.
At one time there were grave markers for other members of the Krepps family, though the record of who they were or exactly where they were buried may now be lost forever. Helen Diamond lived on the old Krepps farm for several years following her marriage. Her mother bought the property in 1941 and it remained in her family until last year.
Diamond recalls her family trying to keep the cemetery in a respectful condition.
“There was a metal fence around it, but people stole it. There were 10 or 12 graves there, big slabs. One was for a little boy,” Diamond recalls.
Diamond also recalled a low ground cover over the cemetery, which can still be found in the area today, though it has been decades since it was cultivated.
Some of the gravestones met the same fate as the metal fence, Diamond said. She recalled them all being for members of the Krepps family.
“My mother and dad and the boys kept the place clear, but the people still stole,” Diamond said. “My mother and dad were from over in Europe and they felt it should be a holy place, so they were mad when people stole from it.”
Diamond’s daughter, Caroline Fecek, said she remembers three gravestones at the site when she was a child, though there is only one present now.
Edgar Harris, the past president of the California Area Historical Society, has used divining rods to locate gravesites in the old cemetery.
“It’s hard to tramp around, but so far I’ve found 21 gravesites,” Harris said. “Supposedly, the mother and father of Joab were buried on either side of him.”
Harris said the divining rods pick up the voids in the earth, allowing him to find the old graves. “Some of the graves were supposedly moved to Redstone Cemetery. I’ve got a theory that the cemetery was bigger and when they relocated Route 40, they moved them then,” Harris said.
According to Valerie Petersen at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 12, which includes Washington County, PennDOT took 12 acres from the 181-acre farm in 1961 for the relocation of Route 40, but the burial grounds were to the north side of the parcel taken and were not touched.
Diamond said there were no graves moved during the period her family owned the land. Redstone Cemetery officials had no record of any graves from Krepps Cemetery being moved to the Brownsville cemetery. The Washington County Recorder of Deeds office, where such information would be recorded, also had no records of graves being moved.
Birch said he contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regarding the cemetery, but found that the agency has no jurisdiction over the site. The Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission (PHMC) has limited involvement with historic burial places.
“We do get involved if these graves are going to be disturbed for development,” said Jane Crawford of the PHMC.
Crawford said remote sensing studies would have to be done to determine if there are any remains on the site.
“If yes, we would ask them to avoid that specific area. If that would not be possible, we would ask that they try to find the descendants and have the graves moved,” Crawford said. “If the graves stay, we would expect them to designate it as a burial site.”
The current property owner, Donald Croftcheck, said he was only aware of the one grave on the property.
“If there was a cemetery up there, it is unmarked and unknown,” Croftcheck said.
The old burial site is not mentioned in deed descriptions of the property.
“All that we found was one plot, and it won’t be disturbed.”
Croftcheck said he would like to develop the land in the future, possibly for housing. There have been rumors in the community that there are plans for a Wal-Mart store on the site.
“Until someone signs on paper, nothing is happening,” Croftcheck said. “I wish something like that would happen.”
Croftcheck said that regardless of how the land is developed in the future, Joab Krepps’ grave will not be disturbed.
“Nothing is going to happen to that little hill up along the highway,” Croftcheck said.