Last semester the social research methods class, led by Dr. Sandra Schroer, conducted a study at the secluded Crooked Creek Cemetery in New Concord. The study focused on headstone emblems to possibly suggested hardships that the deceased occupants may have endured during their lifetimes.

Allegedly, the United Presbyterian Church affiliates keep the location of the cemetery confidential so that the deceased people's relatives may avert the presence of vandals. Presbyterian clergy members mandate that people must adhere to certain moral regulations before officials permit families to enter loved ones in the sanctified soil.

"There was a story about a man who was not allowed to be buried in the cemetery because he owned a bar," said senior Nicole Jones.

According to an analysis entitled "Lit Review," students surmised that cholera may have afflicted people during the 1830s and 1840s. Upon completing their examinations of the cemetery, students chronicled their findings in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences database.

"It's a genealogy library that's located at the Muskingum [County] Library," said Associate Professor of Sociology Sandra Schroer. "Students also took that data and looked for trends, such as common dates of conception, birth and death."

Furthermore, the study allowed students to sully their fingers instead of remaining stagnant before computer screens.

"As a class we got to get our hands dirty-literally-and it was great," said Jones. "It was a very creative way to teach a methods class and I think that it helped people to understand it better."

Moreover, students scoured Crooked Creek Cemetery to record information from headstones that might have elicited information about communal developments during particular epochs.

"It's called demographic research," said Schroer. "It's a way of applying research; actually doing it instead of just studying it."

Additionally, several tombstones possessed symbolic crests such as cherubs, interlocking hands, skulls and willows. Originally, masons fashioned the gravestones in geometric or shouldered designs contingent upon the deceased's preferences.

"The data was completed for the final last semester and was presented to faculty and staff during the allotted final period for the class," said Jones.

"The data was cleaned up this semester and was presented to several associations around the community," said Jones.

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