Joe Liddell has a briefcase filled with papers and maps -- products of his one-man quest to preserve unmarked cemeteries and the history of early Erda.

Liddell would like to discover the location of his ancestors and other pioneers who were buried in the area, mark the graves with memorials and restore any graves that can be restored.

"The community needs to depict its origins," Liddell said. "It's an emotional and educational experience that they're missing out on their own identity as a community. Certainly the people who settled the place deserve such recognition."

Liddell, 84, moved to Erda from Stockton when he was 4 months old. He lived there until 1941, when he moved to Tooele. As a child, he lived on his family's farm with his four brothers, two sisters and parents. He is a fifth-generation descendant of the founder of Erda, Ormus Ephraim Bates.

He began his search into Erda's past in January 2006 after hearing the LDS Church planned to build a monument honoring the pioneers buried in three unmarked cemeteries in the area. After doing a considerable amount of research -- at the family history center, state archives, county vault and national archives -- for the names of those buried and a general location of the cemeteries, he said he doesn't think the church monument, located on Erda Way and dedicated in July, is enough.

"The monument is terribly vague. It names no one," he said. "And what's in our history books is good and colorful, but it lacks specifics."

The graves Liddell wants to preserve are no longer above ground and their exact locations are unknown. However, he's hoping somebody will take notice and eventually pin down the locations. He said ideally it would be nice to see a modern-day cemetery along with the restored graves and a monument erected in a fenced area.

The largest of the burial sites is the Bates Cemetery, which includes at least 18 graves. It is on the former Liddell family farm, now owned by the LDS Church.

Liddell's sister, who was stillborn, is buried in the Bates Cemetery.

"As a boy, I used to walk up to her grave and lay cut flowers on it," he said.

Walking up to it now, he said, the grave is covered over by fields of alfalfa and wheat.

Another site in Erda contains the graves of two smallpox victims located on property owned by Charley Warr just west of Rabbit Lane.

"We've never been able to identify where exactly the graves are," Warr said, adding that research has shown they are buried on one of the hills just southeast of the old Peter Baird home, where Warr's son now has a home.

Liddell is concerned that development in the future will unknowingly disturb these graves.

"There should be a marker up somewhere so that when developers come in there building subdivisions -- which is only a matter of time -- there will be some kind of designation to show they'd better watch where they're digging," he said.

A cemetery north of Bryan Road holds three graves, although Liddell said they are likely already disturbed because of new development in the area.

Liddell said he is astounded that many people aren't aware of the history of Erda, and he would like to see people embrace that past. He said working and playing in Erda as a child, he was unaware of all the history that took place there.

"It took a lifetime after that to figure out that's where it began," he said.

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com