The citizens of Clarksville should be really excited if they understand how big this is. The exact locations were plugged into a mapping system that has been matched in a database with all available information on the deceased. Missing Link staff were at the cemetery in April using this equipment to plot specific grave locations. Jeff Truitt and Michael Toth wore the GPS backpack gear as they took digital photos to include in the database, which they later created with the information they gathered. Truitt said the mapping system is set up for specific searches.
Some tombstones only give a nickname.
However, he said, this arcane information could help genealogists match it with other records. Truitt said many people might know Clarksville's oldest known grave belongs to Valentine Sevier, who was born in 1747 and died in 1800 during an Indian attack in what is now New Providence. But it's not as widely known that he was a major in the North Carolina Militia and fought in the Revolutionary War. The cemetery will add to the data base with each new burial. Cemetery staff will borrow portable GPS equipment from the Street Department to log new plots and update the map.