In Memoriam: TNMCorps Volunteer RIsailor

It is with so much sadness that I want to report the passing of RIsailor, my partner for documenting Rhode Island cemeteries for TNMCorps. RIsailor passed away some time ago, but I never met his family, so I had no way of contacting them to see if they would mind if I wrote a memorial about him for the USGS newsletter.  But the more I work on Rhode Island cemeteries, the more I realize what a huge contribution he made to The National Map Corps.  Enough time has passed now that I think it’s important to recognize his efforts. 

You may remember from a previous newsletter article that Rhode Island has an unusually high concentration of cemeteries — over 3000 in our tiny state. Most of these are small family cemeteries from the 1700s to early 1900s and were originally established on private farmland. Over time, agriculture declined, and land use changed, leaving many of these cemeteries hidden in heavily wooded areas or stranded in unexpected places, such as in the flower garden of a private family home or on the lawn of an office park. All of this makes verifying Rhode Island cemeteries particularly challenging.   

RIsailor started working on Rhode Island cemeteries a couple of years before I joined TNMCorps.  Most of Rhode Island’s cemeteries were not on the National Map when RIsailor started tackling them. We are fortunate in Rhode Island to have the Rhode Island Historic Cemeteries Commission (RIHCC), which is an authoritative source that maintains an online database of all known Rhode Island cemeteries. RIsailor began with the RIHCC database and worked systematically on a town-by-town basis, attempting to verify each cemetery in the RIHCC database. He performed a very careful study of multiple aerial photos for each cemetery, as well as using Google Street View when possible.  Only when he was convinced that he could verify the cemetery according to the USGS’s standards did he add the cemetery to the National Map Editor.    

When I also started working on Rhode Island cemeteries for TNMC, RIsailor and I teamed up. We developed a partnership where he would focus on cemetery verification through aerial photos, and I would focus on field checking any cemeteries that he couldn’t verify. Usually, this was because the cemetery was in a heavily wooded area and therefore was invisible in aerial photos, or there was contradictory information in the RIHCC database. Once he completed all of the cemeteries in a town, he would send me a spreadsheet with a list of cemeteries that needed field checking.   

RIsailor completed his inventory of all 3000+ Rhode Island cemeteries several months before his death -- a multi-year effort on his part. At the time of his passing, he was engaged in improving the spreadsheets he had previously sent me by adding additional comments and information that would help me locate the remaining cemeteries (hundreds of them) in the field. Although I never had the pleasure of meeting him, we developed a great working relationship. He was meticulous volunteer, and although he was a man of few words, I loved his quiet sense of humor. As I continue to work on Rhode Island cemeteries, the comments he left for me in his spreadsheets often leave me grinning. “Watch out - there’s supposedly a bull in the field next to this cemetery.”  “There’s supposed to be a cemetery here, but all I can see are junk cars.”  Or my favorite: “This cemetery is located in a small grove of pine trees that seems to attract folks of the Wiccan persuasion…..” 

Many of the Rhode Island cemeteries that you see in the map editor are the result of RIsailor’s dedication, and it was my great privilege to team up with him. Working on Rhode Island cemeteries is definitely bittersweet experience for me now, particularly when I come across a funny comment he left for me. I miss him every time I get ready for field checking. But walking through a beautiful stretch of forest in search of a tiny hidden cemetery, well away from any road or trail, I like to think that RIsailor is guiding my footsteps in the right direction.