Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery

2011 Annual Report

The Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery would like to thank the City of Niles, Niles District Library, Fort St. Joseph Museum, Bob Cooley (BCGS) and the many volunteers who have donated numerous hours of time, talent, and equipment to this effort.

2011 Veterans Flag Pole Project

Councilman Tim Skalla met with our local veterans for their Annual Meeting at the American Legion to present a Flag Pole Project on behalf of the Friends and the city of Niles.

In June of 2011, the Flag Pole Project was launched. Ginny Tyler was the Chairperson for this committee. Local Foundations, citizens and organizations generously donated so that a new Veteran's Service Flag display could be created at Silverbrook Cemetery. This display honors the over 2,000 veterans buried at the city cemetery, and honors all Veterans who have served to keep us free.

In September, this project was completed with the signage in production. The signage will be installed in the spring of 2012 with the dedication event.

The Annual Membership Drive and generous donations made it possible to purchase a 20 FT aluminum flag pole and flag for the grave of Silverbrook's Medal of Honor winner.

Highlights of 2011

The Friends and Bob Cooley (BCGS) held 4 Saturday work sessions with 4 volunteers giving 20 volunteer hours. Restoration repairs were completed on 10 headstones. Bob Cooley
worked alone in the cemetery this summer on days during the week. He has finished almost all current repairs of headstones that were down-broken.

The Friends web-site is maintained and updated by Bob Nightingale, Mary Ellen Drolet and Vicki Caison. We moved to our new provider in March 2011, we've had 61,312 visits to the
friendsofsilverbrook.org compared to 9,028 in 2010. A new feature has been added to the grave search page that links the obit to the photo. We currently have approximately 11,900
photographs and 2,800 obituaries posted for review. The Friends of Silverbrook Facebook page is maintained by Bob Nightengale and currently has 28 Friends.

Guest Speakers at our Monthly Meetings

*Nancy Studebaker, NDL, Book Series Project

*Bob & Nancy Cooley, BCGS, Indexing a Cemetery

*De Beaumont, Regent of the Rebecca Dewey Chapter of Daughters of the Revolution

*Peter & Anita Rodgers, Preserving our Heritage from Stone to Internet

*Barbara Cook, World Trip on the Queen Mary

*Bob Nightingale, Camp Letters: 1942-1945

The Friends participated with Dave Roeder and the Brandywine History Club in the 1st Civil War Walking Tour held in May. A "Living History" tour with re-enactors representing local

Civil War Veterans interred at Silverbrook. Featured soldiers included: Col. Francis Quinn, Capt. Horace Cummings, Lt. Col. David Bacon, Gen. Henry Morrow, Col. Franks Graves and Mrs. Evan J. Bonine.

In November 2011, the Friends filed the application with the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affair for a military grave marker for the unmarked grave of Hiram Chilson (1797-1889), one of the earliest settlers of Niles, who was a veteran of the War of 1812.

Membership

The Annual Membership Drive is held in April of each year. The membership roster currently has 155 Members listed.

Membership Projects Funded in 2011

*Purchase of a 20 FT Aluminum Flag Pole for Medal of Honor Veteran, Joseph Nolan.

*Purchase of 8 gallons black paint for chain link fence in the Garden of Memory.

*Annual Fee for Friends web-site.

*Purchase of cleaning and restoration supplies.

*Printing of Membership letters, Thank You note cards, FOS letterhead, envelopes and brochures.

*Postage for mailings.

Thanks you for your continued support in this endeavor.

Respectfully,


Candace Skalla
President

Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery

2012 Annual Report

Members of the Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery were active in 2012, promoting improvements and involvement in our City Cemetery.

The Friends and Bob Cooley (Berrien County Genealogical Society) held two work sessions with five volunteers, giving twenty hours and completing fifteen headstone repairs during the summer months of 2012.

The Friendsofsilverbrook.org website is maintained and improved upon by web designer, Bob Nightingale, with help from editors Mary Ellen Drolet, Vicki Caison, and Debby Barkman.  From June 2011 to July 2012, the website had over 130,000 visits for over 1.9 million hits.  We now have 4,326 obituaries with 1,493 added in 2012.  Of our 20,699 searches of grave listings online, 10,751 are linked to photographs, and 4,220 are linked to obituaries. Last February, Bob upgraded the photo gallery from Gallery 2 to Google Picasa Web, which allows us to have unlimited growth! S o far we have used only 360MB of our 5GB free space.

Bob Nightingale published two soft bound volumes of A-K and L-Z Index listings of burial-interments at Silverbrook Cemetery.  The new grave marker of Hiram Chilson is featured on the front covers, and they are available for purchase on Amazon.com, linked on our website.

In 2011, the Friends filed an application with the US Department of Veteran's Affair for a military grave marker for the previously unmarked grave of Hiram Chilson (1796-1889), one of the earliest settlers of Niles, who was a veteran of the War of 1812.  The headstone was received in April 2012 and was installed by cemetery superintendent Neal Mikel.  The Rebecca Dewey Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) sponsored a program and ceremony in May to dedicate the new marker.  Dee Beaumont, Regent, and Mary Ellen Drolet led the program, with family member Debby Barkman sharing Hiram's family history.

Martin's Super Market and Pepsico provided us with a $500.00 grant to be used to honor veterans, and we purchased a set of six service flags, two Medal of Honor flags and fifteen flag holders with their donation. We are grateful for their yearly support.

Thank you, also, to Dick Kujawa and Custom Fence of Niles for designing, manufacturing, and installing new gates at the Silverbrook Avenue entrance in May.

We cherish the donation of the two Norwood Maple trees, which were planted in front of the Silverbrook Abbey, in loving memory of Friends member Fred Cramer, by his wife Sue, and the Cramer family.

The Friends submitted four "Silverbrook Legacy" articles written by Kathie Hempel in the Niles Daily Star. Kathie spoke at our annual open house meeting, along with Katie Rohman of Leader Publications.  Also providing monthly meeting presentations were Laura Holister of the Niles District Library on the Tree Climbing Genealogy Group, and Debby Barkman on the Horace Cummings-Henderson family history. Victor Gutchenritter led a tour of St. Joseph Catholic Mission Cemetery, Bertrand, and detailed current restorations efforts there.

The Friends participated in various community programs:

• The Niles District Library History Day event concluded with a second annual Civil War tour at the cemetery, complete with reenactors marching from the library to the cemetery in May.
• The Friends hosted a tour of City Hall Chapin Mansion for the "If You Grew Up in Southwest Michigan" Facebook group.
• Friends member Bob Nightingale was a guest speaker at the Niles District Library on the topic of his book, Camp Letters.
• Silverbrook was also represented at the Four Flags Players production of "Our Town" and at the Lake Michigan College Niles History Day by members of our group.

The Annual Membership Drive is held in April of each year.  The membership Roster currently has 168 members.

Membership Projects Funded in 2012:

• Purchase of 2 American Flags for the cemetery.
• Purchase of 2 new powder coat 10 foot chain link fencing gates.
• Purchase of 13 gallons of black high gloss paint for ongoing fence maintenance and paint supplies.
• Purchase of outdoor faucet repair kits for the water lines in the Bond and Garden of Memory sections.
• Purchase of landscape plants and mulch for cemetery grounds.
• Signage for veteran and tree project.
• Purchase of cemetery marker cleaning supplies.
• Purchase of twenty-five 48-inch Ultaflect driveway marker rods.
• Printing of membership letters, thank you notes, large cemetery maps, and postage.
• The annual fee for the website and post office box.

Thank you for your continued support in this endeavor.

Respectfully Submitted,
Candace Skalla, President

Many of the Friends of Silverbrook are involved in genealogy.  At the January 2012 meeting of the Tree Climbers, the grave search database on www.friendsofsilverbrook.org was helpful in finding attendees' family members buried at Silverbrook Cemetery.  See www.nileslibrary.com for more information.

The Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery work with local history and genealogy groups.  Here are some upcoming events that you might be interested in attending.

From www.southbendtribune.com:

Genealogy series to begin Dec 3

The Local History and Genealogy Department of Niles District Library will host a series of gatherings for the beginning genealogist on the first Saturday of every month,  beginning from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dec 3. Staff will provide a brief demonstration of how to use an aspect of the collection, each month highlighting a different resource. In addition, the community Room will be available for discussion. Experienced genealogist are also encouraged to participate in a mentoring role. Laptops and a projector will be available upon request. More information can be found at www.nileslibrary.com or by calling the Niles District Library information desk at 269.683.8545, ext 112. As always, any program or event at the Niles District Library is free to the public.

From www.southbendtribune.com:

German traditions topic of Dec. 7 talk

Carol Bainbridge, executive director of the Fort St. Joseph Museum in Niles, will discuss German Christmas customs at a gathering at 1:30 p.m. at the Center for History, 808 W. Washington Street, South Bend, IN. The "Insights in History" event will focus on German decorations, foods and other traditions. The program will include a guided tour of the first floor of Copshaholm, the Oliver family mansion. The house is decorated for the holidays. Admission is $3 per person or $1 for members. Reservation are required by Dec 5 by calling 574.235.9664.