Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in the Great State of Ohio

Dedicated to cemetery preservation in the great state of Ohio


"A cemetery may be considered as abandoned when all or practically all of the bodies have been Removed therefrom and no bodies have been buried therein for a great many years, and the cemetery has been so long neglected as entirely to lose its identity as such, and is no longer known, recognized and respected by the public as a cemetery. 1953 OAG 2978."

Monday, September 6, 2010

Spotlighting - "Along Spain Creek" Blog - Ralph Lowell Coleman, Jr.

Click on title to access Ralph Lowell Coleman, Jr.'s blog, "Along Spain Creek" - specifically the section which offers links to both Maple Grove and Woodstock Cemeteries in Champaign County, Ohio. 

The burials for both are linked to the website of "Find A Grave" and Ralph has that link posted for the researcher's convenience in searching for burials at these two cemeteries offered on the site.

Ralph has done extensive work researching burials, both marked and unmarked, at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Rush Township, just outside the city limits of the Village of North Lewisburg in Champaign County. 

From Ralph:
"There are approximately 20 LOTS of the nearly 968 LOTS in Maple Grove Cemetery (appoximately 2%) which have more than four burials recorded in the original record book.

However, these lots generally contain the remains of a baby, (or babies), an infant, or the buried cremains of someone who was cremated. In some cases, the walkway areas adjacent to the lots were purchased and used as burial plots. It would have been very difficult to "squeeze" in five adults, complete with burial vaults, into the space allotted to individual lots within the squares. The lots were measured by length and width when the cemetery was laid out. Adjustments have also been made over the years for the placement of the roadways, and trees which have grown up in some of the lots, making some of the lots within individual squares unsuitable for burials.
One extreme exception to the "four graves per lot" rule of thumb, (and one of the lots referred to in my paragraph 1 above),
Square 83, Lot 1 contains SEVEN burials: George Holycross (baby), Annabelle Holycross, Thomas E. Holycross, Bertha Holycross, Alonzo Holycross, Annis Holycross, and Fred Holycross."