On Saturday September 26th, a group of volunteers took it upon themselves to spend the day restoring the Colonel Miles Vernon Cemetery. The group consisted of members from the Lebanon/Laclede County Historical Museum and Society, David Franks with GraveClean Services, and descendants of Colonel Vernon.
David Franks, the owner of GraveClean Services, became interested in the grave cleaning process after learning how to clean his parent’s gravestones. He started his business in September of 2025 and runs it almost exclusively out of pocket. What he does earn from some jobs, he said, goes right back into supplies for future restorations.
Franks explained the process of fixing Colonel Vernon’s gravestone. The upright tablet part of Vernon’s gravestone had completely separated from the base and was lying behind the grave.
Franks and the volunteers constructed a chain and pulley system to lift the heavy stone and adhere it back to the base with a limestone mixture. Franks then cleaned the stone using a specific solution that is gentle and effective, scrubbed and rinsed it, and then reapplied it. He said after he reapplies the solution, he leaves it on, and every time it rains, the water reactivates the solution and re-cleans the stone.
Franks said he finds the entire process relaxing. “It’s self-satisfying to see the stone brought back up where it’s not on the ground anymore, and stop the deterioration of the stone,” he said.
More details of the grave cleaning process can be found on Franks’ GraveClean Services Facebook page, along with before and after pictures.
Noah Smothers, the founder of the current Laclede County Historical Society, which was established in 2016, shared some history about Colonel Miles Hicks Vernon, according to records they could piece together.
Miles Vernon was born in Virginia in 1786, ten years after the United States was founded, and moved to Tennessee with his family during as a child.
He married his first wife, Ann Atchley in 1804, and had either ten or eleven children. Vernon served under Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812 in New Orleans, and later served as a wagon master along the northern route of the Trail of Tears during the Cherokee removal. He served two terms as a Tennessee state senator.
Around 1840, Vernon moved his family to Laclede County, Missouri after passing through the area on the Trail of Tears. In the 1850s, he served as a Missouri state senator for three terms, and Vernon County was named in his honor. Vernon remarried around 1857 to Martha Atchley Wyatt after the death of Ann Atchley.
During the Civil War era, Colonel Vernon left Missouri to serve with the Confederate army under General Price and died in the Rolla area in 1866 to pneumonia. The Vernon home in Laclede County served as a military hospital for years before it completely burned down.
Smothers said that before the group of volunteers took on the cemetery restoration project, a lot of individuals were upset about the project because Vernon was a slave owner. “The thing about history is that you can’t change it,” Smothers said. “We can cover it up, we can hide it, but we don’t benefit from doing that. We actually benefit from bringing it back and learning from the history.”
To Smothers, the most important thing about the Historical Society is to keep learning the history of Laclede County. “All these people [buried here] have a history to the people that live here now, and we’re trying to preserve that as much as we can,” he said.
Smothers hopes more people will become interested in the Historical Society and said the best way for people to get involved, is to reach out to the Lebanon/Laclede County Historical Museum and Society website or Facebook page. “The more members we have, the more people will step up and share their history.”
The Historical Society and David Franks will be continuing the cemetery restoration process, and hope to have it completed soon.
