The W.P.A. Cemetery Plat Maps for Shelby County have been added to the right side bar of the blog.

The Shelby County W.P.A. Cemetery Plat Maps have been added to the right sidebar of the blog.  They are .jpg photographs.
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The W.P.A. Cemetery Plat Maps in .PDF form can be found on the Shelby Recorder's website.
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Please note that the Shelby County W.P.A. Cemetery Plats do not contain the names of veterans on their map pages.  Yes, this is a setback for those who are researching Shelby County Ohio veteran burials.  However, all is not lost! 
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Shelby County does have the individual W.P.A. veteran grave cards, however they are not posted on the Recorder's website.  

These grave cards for Shelby County can be found on the website Fold3.  Also, anyone living in Ohio can get a virtual library card from any Ohio public library and research from home. 

I have utilized the Akron - Summit County's Public Library website to link to Fold3.
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For the Seven Day Baptist Cemetery seen above left in the image with the two cemeteries.  Deed Vol 68/517 (1891) and Vol. 124/112 (1935)

Shelby County Ohio Gen Web

Tina Hursh - Copyright 1999

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Van Buren Township.:

Barnett Cemetery

Colored Cemetery.  On west side of Lucas-Gieb Road just north of intersection with State Route 29.

Abandoned

Clinton Cemetery

Colored Cemetery.  In small wooded area about 1000 feet northwest of intersection of State Route 119 & Staley Road.

Abandoned

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Note for the Beechwood Cemetery on Page 3, the "Legend of Wars" box has a typed name and not a handwritten name.  

Also, see notation in the left margin regarding Sections on the Map. 

Beechwood Cemetery

Washington Township

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Hines Cemetery
Located in Van Buren Township located in a field just off the south side of Wells Road.
Cemetery consists of only one marker, that of a colored soldier of the Civil War.
Hines, Wm. D. Aug 6, 1865, 23y4m  Co. G, 9th  O.V.C.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sharing this example of utilizing the individual veteran grave card and its information in relation to the corresponding W.P.A. Cemetery Plat Map of the cemetery that the veteran was buried at.  The Row, Section and Grave number shown on the veteran's grave card should match up with a black coffin symbol for that location on the map image. 

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The Cemetery Grant Program for 2027 launched July 1, 2026 through July 31, 2026 - with significant improvements!

 Starting July 1, 2026 most Active Registered Cemeteries can apply for the Ohio Department of Commerce's Cemetery Grant for 2027. 

AND

Sharing from the "Record Herald" in Washington Court House.: 
  "Ohio Doubles Maximum Grant Funding available for Non-Profit Cemetery Upkeep"
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"Applications must be submitted online at cemeterygrants.com.ohio.gov."
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Video
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Important to read information
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CEMETERY GRANT
The Ohio Department of Commerce Division of
Real Estate and Professional Licensing (REPL)
is pleased to announce the availability
of the FY2027 Cemetery Grant
for qualifying not-for-profit and

local government cemeteries.
Eligible applicants shall
be cemetery operators 
properly registered with REPL,
be a documented not-for-profit
entity under the IRS tax code
and be in compliance with
 any applicable endowment
 and/or preneed cemetery
merchandise and services
trust accounts.

 The REPL Superintendent is
 accepting only online applications.

The Cemetery Grant application
 instructions are being provided
as a worksheet guidance
document only.
This will allow you time to gather all
of the necessary information prior
to submitting the grant application online. 

A link to look up your registration
number is located on the
application page. 

Please gather all information prior
to application entry. 

Once you start the application,

the information entered

cannot be saved and

if you exit out of the application

you will lose all information

previously entered. 

The grant instructions should

help answer any of your questions. 

You can find the grant instructions here.

The application must be answered

 completely to be considered for

 grant funds and submitted

no later than July 31, 2026.

 **NOTICE**

 There is a typo in the

application that is

in the process

 of being corrected. 

"Amount requested

 (up to $2500)"

should instead read: 

"Amount requested

(up to $5000)."

You will be able to enter the

full amount requested. 

If you have questions,

please contact the email below."

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Contact:

CemeteryGrants@com.state.oh.us

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Allowable grant requests include

 those to defray costs of

exceptional cemetery

 maintenance or training cemetery

 personnel in the maintenance

and operation of cemeteries.

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New ways for members to find their way around Find a Grave & Spotlighting the American Revolutionary War Veteran Burials on Find a Grave.

First, sharing this recent email message I received from Find a Grave announcing their discontinuation of the Find a Grave Forums.  (You may have received it as well.):

 
"At Find a Grave, we are continually evolving to meet the needs of our members. 

Our newly released Cemetery Suggest Edits has provided an enhanced and faster method for members to suggest updates to cemetery pages.

Following this rollout, the usage of the Forums has declined to the point that we have decided to retire the Find a Grave Forums. We first introduced the Forums circa 2002 as a way to collaborate with the updates to various administrative processes on the site.

 

Since then we have added simpler ways for Find a Grave to make announcements and for you to contact Find a Grave, find help, submit merges, and suggest edits.

 

As a result, we have made the decision to retire the Forums in August 2026.

 

The Forums will become read-only in July 2026."

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Thus, we'll explore a few of the updated links on Find a Grave - in no particular order.:

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Find a Grave Support

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Try using the "Search Box"

Example:  American Revolutionary War Veterans

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American Revolutionary War Veterans Buried in Ohio

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DISCOVER

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Memorials

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Reporting a Duplicate Cemetery

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Adding Cemetery Boundaries and Sections

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Help

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Contact Us

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I feel, overall, these current updates from Find a Grave are the most extensive that the company has made in recent memory.  

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If you are a long time regular user of Find a Grave, you may find it invaluable to familiarize yourself with these changes as much as possible; particularly those you feel will impact your research.  

You'll be able to move more smoothly through the category links, etc. and make them work for you to achieve your intended results.