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, May 30, 2011

All Saints Cemetery - Northfield, Summit County, Ohio


Above are a few photographs taken on Memorial Day, 2011 of veterans' gravestones at All Saints Cemetery.
Click on title to link to All Saints Cemetery memorials on "Find A Grave". 
Currently, 754 memorials are posted for All Saints Cemetery.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Memorial Day Ceremonies in Champaign County, Ohio

Click on title to review the listing of Memorial Day ceremonies planned for cities and villages in Champaign County, Ohio as listed in the May 27th edition of the "Urbana Daily Citizen". 

Photographs needed for Spain Cemetery & Maple Grove Cemetery in North Lewisburg and Woodstock Cemetery in Woodstock, Champaign County, Ohio

**Sharing a new request for assistance from Ralph Lowell Coleman, Jr.**:
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"I am in need of assistance of a sort.
I am beginning a project to gather up copies of old photographs of Spain Cemetery and Maple Grove Cemetery near North Lewisburg, and Woodstock Cemetery, all in Rush Township, Champaign County, Ohio.

What I am looking for are photos of funerals, Memorial Day gatherings, GAR, American Legion, etc. burial honors, ceremonies, or reunions from about 1870 to 1975.

I'll be sending off flyers for posting in North Lewisburg and Woodstock.

Good, clear, black-white/color COPIES should be sent to me at:

Ralph Lowell Coleman, Jr.
1536 Robins Circle
Ogden, Utah 84404-6040.

Donors should include all of the details about the photos (who, what, where, when, why/how, etc) as well as their names and return addresses.

I want to incorporate photos into two projects I'm working on.

Full credit to providers of photos. 
If ORIGINALS are sent, they will be scanned and RETURNED to the owners as long as names and mailing addresses are included.

Please DO NOT write directly on the photos, unless it/they are original notes placed there by someone "once upon a time".

I want to use the photos to help determine tombstone locations, unmarked gravesites, ceremonies honoring the dead, etc.
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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Gethsemani Cemetery & Mausoleums - Lima, Allen County, Ohio - On-line Interment Burial Records

Click on title to search the interment records at the Gethsemani Cemetery and Mausoleums located in Lima, Allen County, Ohio. 



This is a great website that offers much information for any researcher who needs to search for burials at the Gethsemani Cemetery. 
In some cases, even obituaries are provided.  This is a beautiful cemetery and many photos of it are included as well as a cemetery map. 
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Visit Gethsemani

Grounds
Oct - March, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Summer hours, 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Office
Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday
Address
2001 Spencerville Road - Lima, Ohio 45805
tel: 419-223-1651 fax: 419-223-1651

Sharing more interesting titles of Cemetery related books

Thanks to Ralph Lowell Coleman, Jr., I can happily share here more cemetery related books which offer educational and interesting reading:
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The American Resting Place, (Four Hundred Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds), by Marilyn Yalom, Houghton Mifflin Company, NY, 2008, 336 pgs.
Beautiful black & white glossy photos, taken by her son, Reid, included. The book is exceptionally good reading, packed with interesting cemetery information gleaned from their four years or so of crisscrossing the USA. Here's one direct quote, lifted from "Solidarity in the Cemetery," Chapter 3, page 36: "An inspiring project has been taking place in the rural countryside of eastern Texas, at the Love Cemetery, abandoned in the early 1960s. This two-acre burial ground disappeared beneath wisteria vines and wild mustang grapes, and for almost forty years afterward, the people who bought the land wouldn't grant access to the members of the African-American community whose relatives were buried there. After prolonged legal struggles, the descendants were allowed to visit the graveyard, and working with black, white, Native American, and Latino volunteers, they were able to uncover the stones of their ancestors. Using machetes, clippers, and their hands, the volunteers removed the undergrowth and ultimately, in August 2004, reconsecrated the burial ground with an interfaith cemetery. This experience provides a model for the kind of community action that builds bridges across ethnic and religious divisions."

Rest In Peace (A History of American Cemeteries) by Meg Greene, Twenty-First Century Books, Minneapolis, 2008, 110 pgs.
Thin, graphically appealing, well-written book. from "Epilogue: Saving the American Cemetery, 1960-Present," pg. 84. "
Benjamin Franklin once said, 'Show me your cemeteries, and I will tell you what kind of people you have.'

and finally, a book which everyone who intends to die should read:

The Funeral Book (An Insider Reveals How to Save Money and Reduce Stress While Planning A Funeral) by Clarence W. Miller, Robert D. Reed Publishers, San Francisco, 1994, 75 pgs.
With conviction, some humor, and facts this guy "tells it like it is" when it comes to planning for your demise on a budget. He makes some very valid points, while grinding his personal axes. Chapter 5 was very interesting: "What Happens At the Cemetery Before You Get There and After You Leave." Here's an example from pg. 32: "People have always heard of being buried under six feet of earth. Think again. Most cemeteries have only 18 inches of earth over the top of the burial receptacle. Some are known to have even less..."

I didn't know researching could be such fun!

Got to rush back to it.

Ralph

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Cleveland Catholic Cemeteries Association - Cemetery Maps Page

Click on title to link to the page on the website of the Cleveland Catholic Cemeteries Association that displays the cemeteries names, addresses, and phone numbers as well as a 'download button' to download copies of the cemetery maps for each cemetery.

The office hours and visiting hours for the Cleveland Catholic Cemeteries are also provided on the main page.  A "Click For Holiday Schedule" button is provided to view more details.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Spotlighting the Marion Cemetery in Marion, Ohio

Click on title to link to the Marion Cemetery Association's website. 
This is a wonderful and unique cemetery website which also includes fascinating information about Peter Viyuk under the title: "Ukrainian Immigrant’s Renderings of the Dead are for the Living". 
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I'm sure you will enjoy viewing some of his marvelous life-like etchings in granite.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Update on Sugar Grove (Methodist) Cemetery - Perry Township - Fayette County, Ohio

My thanks to Mr. Sam Bowers, a Perry Township Trustee, for the following update about the maintenance of the Sugar Grove (Methodist) Cemetery in Perry Township, Fayette County, Ohio:
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"Hi Linda, The Prosecuting Attorney’s office called me and they traced the deed to the Sugar Creek cemetery all the way back to 1850 and the church does own the cemetery. This makes it a private cemetery due to the fact that they own it and they are responsible for maintaining the cemetery. The Prosecuting Attorney’s office did not find any info as to when or why the trustee’s started taking care of the cemetery."
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Click on title to access the memorials posted for Sugar Grove (Methodist) Cemetery on "Find A Grave".  Currently, 27 memorials are posted.  Obviously, there are many more burials at Sugar Grove (Methodist) Cemetery that are in need of posting on "Find A Grave".

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

"Cannon Balls stolen from South Charleston Cemetery" - Greenlawn Cemetery - South Charleston, Clark County, Ohio

Click on title to read a story from the "Springfield News-Sun" published on May 3, 2011 of the recent theft of nine Civil War era cannon balls that were part of a memorial to veterans at the Greenlawn Cemetery located in South Charleston, Clark County, Ohio.

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My thanks to my neighbor and friend, Rick Luciano, who alerted me to this story which is also posted in part on "Cleveland.com."
It is quite sad to see this type of theft at a cemetery's veterans memorial that honors the area's soldiers who served our country. 
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The Greenlawn Cemetery is posted on "Find A Grave" currently with 3,197 memorials.   

"Living Among The Headstones" - Book By Shannon Applegate

I wish to thank my friend, Ralph Lowell Coleman, Jr., for contacting me about a wonderful book he found entitled: 
"Living Among Headstones:  Life In A Country Cemetery" 

Below is an excerpt of his note to me about it:
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"Living Among Headstones: Life In A Country Cemetery" is an interesting book by Shannon Applegate. A previously published autor, she took over as the voluntary sexton of her family's public 5-acre cemetery in Yoncolla, Oregon - a small, logging community - in 1997. She took seven years to write of her experiences there."

"It's published (2005) by Thunder's Mouth Press, (Avalon Publishing Group, Inc), 245 West 17th St, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10011, ISBN 1-56025-677-X. It retails for $24.95, but perhaps your local library has it on its shelves, or you can get it through an inter-library loan.
It's worth the read!"
"It would seem from the title of the book that it would deal primarily with her residing in or in close proximity to the cemetery. In point-of-fact, however, she goes deeper into the cemetery's relationship with the surrounding community. She presents little tidbits of information which are quite interesting, including some humorous incidents involving funeral homes and local Native American shamans."
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Here is NPR's interview with Shannon Applegate, the authorhttp://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=4652336&m=4652876
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The book is also available from Amazon.com: