The writer's facts make me sound a heck of a lot older than I am! :) George was the brother of my ancestor John Hilleary--which makes George my 5th great grand uncle. They were descended from the original ancestor, Thomas Hilleary, who came to Maryland in the mid-to-late 1600s and established a family that is still alive and well in Maryland today--with ties to some other prominent old families--the Berrys, the Wilsons, the Smiths, the Bealls, the Magruders and the Claggetts. Not only that, but our ancestors' fortunes were made on the backs of unnamed African slaves and their descendents, who were buried alongside their "owners" without so much as a marker. I was quite certain that slaves were buried there at Moore's Plains, and the excavations have borne this out. They deserve an honored resting place as much, if not more, than my own ancestors.

Maryland's history is really quite brief, when we think of it. I cannot understand why we are so eager to erase what little evidence we have of our past and replace it with strip malls and chain stores. And I'm unhappy that "city hall" was as unresponsive as it was.

How did they choose the one family member to give consent when other family members clearly didn't agree?

So if 100 family members say no and one says yes, that's all it takes?

Apparently so. The developer was just lucky enough to find one that said yes--out of county, I might add--before calling anyone else.

I think it is a disgrace for the powers to be to not remove the other graves to the church. The slaves were just as important in our history as the original families. And since our govt does not feel the slaves were important enough, the developer should step forward & do something to honor these other graves with the history noted. If we cannot show respect to our graves & the history of the persons in the grave - we are not honoring our roots & our history or being respectful of it. It is a slap in the descendants face who should be proud of their history whether it involved slavery or not. It is our history. I am very sad about this. If the church site could not hold the graves, then that developer should step up to the plate & honor them somehow. Otherwise I sure wont visit or shop at any developing he does. That is how strongly I feel about lack of respect.

I wasn't aware that the other remains were NOT relocated to the church--and if they are not, I would be doubly upset. Perhaps the Patch can look into this?

I disagree with County staff that there was nothing they could have done. The MHT and MNCPPC historic review was done 20+ years ago and the County has dramatically altered its interpretation of historic interpretation and preservation efforts. In review of the County's Historic Sites and Districts Plan (found here http://www.mncppcapps.org/planning/publications/Publication_download.cfm?FilePath=http://www.mncppcapps.org/planning/Publications/PDFs/235/Approved Historic Sites and Districts Plan.pdf ) much of what was reported is contradicted either in stated goals or existing exceptions. The normal interpretation for burial sites being included in PG are typically a contributing element to a designated historic church or building but as the Plan discloses there are departures from this including the Steed Family Cemetary and Skinner Family Cemetery (81B-001 and 86B-004 respectfully). I disagree with MHT's conclusion that the site fails to qualify just because of who was buried there. The National Registry lists out 6 discrete criteria that are connected by an "OR" not an "AND" indicating any of the 6 would qualify. One of those is "age of the burials." I suspect that County Policy in regards to the collection of oral history of the cemetary was not followed. This is specifically important to identify and preserve unmarked slave and African-American burial grounds. Shame on all of us for letting this happen.

In the future remember to tell anyone you know that is considering moving there that the place is built over a burial ground. I'll write the first Yelp review!

It's too late for this particular graveyard--but PG County is large, with many tracts of land still preserved and undeveloped, and I am sure there are many graves, marked and unmarked, that remain intact. I hope that in the future, the County will think twice before granting permission to developers--and you can be sure as a result of this, many of us will be a little more vigilant about future development plans.

I would like to know why the remains are being studied? To me, respectfully moving them does not include disturbing the remains in this way.

All this disrespect and disgrace for what? Another CVS, nail salon, and Chinese carry out, not to mention empty stores. I hope those people that were "moved" come back and haunt everything and everyone involved. History, we just wipe out any of it that's left, what a damn shame!

Thank you, for the researched info, Sonia! According to this article, the state's attorney office granted permission for the houston-based developer to move graves with consent from one family member. That sounds like the process to alter.

Thank you, Cecily, for trying to make them let graves rest besides moving them to make way for another economic development project. Thank you for sharing your story.

"Another CVS, nail salon, and Chinese carry out, not to mention empty stores." My goodness, what (or whom) could you be referring to?

I used to live in Upper Marlbor, and still receive the news for this area. This is the first time I have heard about this very sad story. I am sure, what is being left out, is that the one family member was PAID OFF by the developer to give his consent. I too, was mystified about why and who needed to "study" the remains. Good lord, let them rest already. And next, the family should be contacting their local delegates and congressment to CHANGE that law immediately. They are getting ready to go into session and this needs to be one of the laws that definiately changes.

I'm referring to the fact that everywhere you look is a strip mall with the same tenants, nail salon, carry out, and empty store fronts. This should have never happened and I sure hope it doesn't happen again.

Over 9 remains were accounted for according to the original report and someone said there has been over a dozen + more found

Oh, this makes me ill to read, J Carter. I could tell from my and others' research that there had to be very many more graves than just George Hilleary and his wife Rebecca Magruder. And yes--studying the remains to see whether they had "diseases" or not? I'd wager they want to do DNA to determine who should be buried where. Unless someone would care to prove me wrong.

Hey all, thanks for the discussion, as we find out more, I'll continue to update the story: The most recent story was published last night— Archaelogists Say 15 Buried in Hilleary Cemetery— http://patch.com/A-yrTB

I agree with the comments about tearing down a historic site to have yet another strip mall which in all likelihood will be half empty in a year or 2. There are strip malls, shopping centers, vacant sites which have had businesses in the past all over this area; why is it necessary to uproot a site like this, to tear down the few wooded areas we have left, just so some developer can make a few bucks? A quick example - across from PG Plaza, the Mall at Prince Georges, whatever it's being called this week; all of that development, all those restaurants, etc., opened and now? Pretty much a ghost town. There's Hanks, Carolina Kitchen, a few other places, but a lot of the storefronts are vacant and I understand that the company which did the building is in financial straits. Disgusting.

And Upper Marlboro has flooding problems now. Keep paving. Things can only get worse.

Jerome C. Gray
This story is very very SAD. If the Ryko Development had information that this was a family grave site. They should have search for another location to built a shopping center. If it was their family, would they want to dig up their family members? What happen to REST IN PEACE!!!!!!!!!!! The family members that were remove from their graves, should be returned ASAP! They have the right to REST IN PEACE! Shame on the Ryko Development. Do you remember the Three Sister Bridge Project on the Potomac River in Washington, DC and what happen!

Sadly here again money wins out over respect. One should not be surprised by the developers lack of a social conscience,however we now know that our local officals
lack the same thing. The saying rest for an eternity and not until someone wants to make money is what most of us would like to think. Remember it could be your beloved ancestors next if the laws are not changed. The persons who were burried there were part of the very early colonial families of Maryland.Read up on them in
the book "Colonial Families of the U.S.A, Volume I issue. When our historial sites and grave yards are not preserved our history is lost forever.

Has no one watched Poltergeist or similar stories?

I am someone who also grew up in this area really close they also need to look very close around the old tobacco barn I do remember finding what we (my 3 siblings and myself ) believe was an old Indian grave sight. I am so sorry for what they are doing but it shows they are more interested in trying to make a buck then to save the proof of where our history lies.

This happen in Glen Cove,L.I.,NY a quaker burial ground was paved over for a parking lot

Ghoulishness ! Developers remind me of vivisectionists. Wow ! Another shopping center ? The windshield wipers from hell. I hope the place is haunted like the Beltway Plaza.

A similar thing happened in Parkville. A number of years ago, 17th century graves were removed from to make way for a small house to be built. The grave yard, located along Acton Road, belonged to the Hiss family. The Hiss Mansion is one street over on Willoughby Ave next to Hiss Ave. My friends, who volunteered their time, used to take care of the graves and cut the grass. One day when they came to do regular landscaping, a backhoe was digging the graves up. A lot of human remains didn't make it to the new location. Many bones ended up in the dump truck headed to the landfill.

It is very sad and I believe some of the government employees involved in the process are also upset and saddened that more development in Prince George's County is causing the destruction of the cemetery. However, those that live in Prince George's County elect the pathetic government officials (aka Jack Johnson and others) who make the decisions on letting development take the county over. Maybe the family members that sold the property in the first place should have made accommodations for the cemetery in the agreements with the developers they sold to. Personally, I would have done whatever I could to ensure that my loved ones would remain where they were buried. I find it sad everyone wants to blame everyone and say there's more they could do when the officials you elect are, when it comes down to it, the ones to blame.

The house ended eventually passed on to Effie Gwynn Bowie, who was the county's historian/biographer and author of "Across the Years in PG County." It remained in the Bowie family until the 1980s. In 1987 it sold to developers. This has been pending for many, many years, unbeknownst to many of us. I find it hard to believe they would have wanted the graveyard to go--that's a decision that appears to have rested entirely with the developer(s), though for the life of me I cannot see why the graveyard, as close to the road as it was and resting in a small copse of woods, would have interfered at all with the building of a shopping center. There seems to be plenty of land there--for the living and the dead.

Update to all who are concerned! All of the 15 remains are not reinterred. I go by the cemetery almost everyday and nothing has been done. They moved quickly when word got out aboutan Preservationist and family fighting to keep the cemetery intact. But now they are moving slowly to put these people back to rest. Well to all the Belts, Hodges, Hillearys, Smiths, Bowies,Moores, please look into lost loveones who are not showing up in other cemeterys. They might be in this one. On This Plantation there were about a hundred or so of slaves over a period of time and guess what. No slave grave has showed up after all the houses , club house, community house and big golfcourse has been built. Crazy HUH! Well This has been going on all over the county. There is a site right now that sitting in the woods on a homeowers lot that is clearly a slave-exslave built house that a developer has built all around in Bowie. I searched through the developers development records and he clearly left it out of the record. and the county didn't say or do anything about it in the record. See ! The biggest county of slaves owners at one time and just a piece or two of record about us. A chapel here and a house there. Crazy! There should be Sites all over the place! because We have aerial maps from the early 1930s and satellits photos that show plantation layouts still in the 1960-1990s. Wake-up and get active on sites in maryland.ASK QUESTIONS ! Peace and Love
From MACK