Public Service Information for Veterans of Highland County, Ohio - Announcing the First Annual Veterans Outreach - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 9:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. - 135 N. High Street, Hillsboro, Ohio

Please Note: To obtain free flags for veterans' gravesites for Memorial Day:  

Contact Robin at the Highland County Veterans Service ahead of time with your information and the number of flags you need for your veterans' graves in Highland County, Ohio, you can pick up the free flags the same day as the Outreach.

  Email: highlandcountyvso@yahoo.com

Telephone: (937) 393-8686

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Posting as a public service announcement for veterans of Highland County, Ohio: 

"First Annual Veterans Outreach" - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 9:a.m. to 4:00p.m. - 135 N. High Street, Hillsboro, Ohio

"Stop by and see what your County Veterans Service Officer can do for you!  Bring your DD-214 and let's check out what you may qualify for!! 

Come check out our new Veterans friendly lobby with free computer access for our Veterans who are job hunting!  Also, the VA Mobile Center will be here to provide readjustment and transition assistance." 

Outreach Highlights: 
Dayton VA Mobile Vet Center
Chillicothe VA Medical Center, and
AM Vets Career Resource Center.

We are doing this outreach on the same day we are distributing the flags and markers for the veterans graves. 

We thought it was fitting to tie everything together since most people do not know that we even provide the service of helping to take care of our Veterans graves.

It's an all day event so folks can show up anytime they are available to do so." 

v/r
Robin

Highland County Veterans Service Commission
135 N. High Street, Suite 134
Hillsboro, Ohio 45133
Email: highlandcountyvso@yahoo.com
Telephone: (937) 393-8686
Facsimile: (937) 393-8738

Announcing Cemetery Clean Up for Rowland Cemetery - Canton, Stark County, Ohio - May 12, 2012 - 9:30a.m. to 1:30p.m.

Announcing a Cemetery Clean Up scheduled for Rowland Cemetery being held by the N.E. Ohio Ghost Society on Saturday May 12, 2012 from 9:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. 

Excerpted from the N.E. Ohio Ghost Society's Facebook Page:

"We are starting our cemetery mowing details again, plus we will continue to restore it as we go. 

This cemetery is huge and we need all the help we can get, also lawn mowers and weed wackers." 

 Rowland Cemetery Map

(Click on title to link to Rowland Cemetery on Find A Grave where 1,154 interments are currently listed.)

How Twenty-First Century Technology Transforms "Silent" Tombstones into "Talkies"

Click on title to link to a story appearing in today's Cleveland "Plain Dealer" and offered online at "Cleveland.com" written by Mr. James Ewinger of the "Plain Dealer" newspaper.  

It is a well-written story about how the advancements in technology have reached the tombstones stage; to affix QR codes on tombstones which can be read by today's 'smartphones.'

I have added my 'two-cents worth' comment which appears after the article. 

If nothing else, reading news stories about these types of advancements reminds me that we all need to do what we can to document the lives of our relatives and loved ones whether we actually knew them or not.  

We simply cannot know at what point in history someone from a now distant future generation will search for information about them.  Being able to do that should be becoming easier, not more complicated.  

Keeping up with the advancements in technology also reminds us that the ability to 'read'  the information is also dependent upon having the appropriate device to do so.  All we have to do is consider the floppy disk, cassette tape or VHS tape, to realize how quickly outdated our technology has become in our own lifetime.  If current technology is not compatible with the source that means we can no longer view text or listen to music without some ability to convert it; which can be cost prohibitive for many of us.  

Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe not only in backing up the back ups, but making and keeping the time honored hard copy stored in as safe of a place as possible (backed up off-site of course!) is the best way to go.  One way to back up information off-site is to also share it with others so the history of our ancestors' lives is almost guaranteed not to be lost as the years march by to different drummers.  

Crawford County Ohio - Three Free Cemetery Walks are Scheduled - April 22, July 29 and September 30, 2012

Click on title to read an on-line story of April 15, 2012 from "MansfieldNewsJournal.com" about three upcoming cemetery walks planned at Crawford County, Ohio cemeteries.  

The first one is to be at the Fairview Cemetery on Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 2:00p.m. in Galion, Ohio

The second one is scheduled for July 29, 2012 in Bucyrus, and the third cemetery walk is planned for September 30, 2012 in Crestline, Ohio. 

The cemetery walks are part of the "Crawford 20/20 Project."

Currently,  Fairview Cemetery in Galion has 1,871 memorials posted for it on "Find A Grave."

Spotlighting a Website Dedicated to the 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

This website includes some gravestone photos and miscellaneous biographical information for some soldiers who served in the 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.  

Even though this is not a complete listing for the Regiment, it still may be worth a look if you are researching a soldier who served in the 89th O.V.I.

Gravestones and information for surnames A through M.

Gravestones and information for surnames N through Z.

Spotlighting the Butcher (AKA Walnut Grove) Cemetery and the Friends (Quaker) Cemetery in North Lewisburg, Champaign County, Ohio

Click on title to link to the Butcher Cemetery on "Find A Grave" where 99 known burials are listed.

The Friends (Quaker) Cemetery has 53 burials listed on "Find A Grave."

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Also, the website of the Village of North Lewisburg has burial records and other information for both the Friends and Butcher Cemeteries.

 The Village of North Lewisburg is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of both cemeteries.

Partial 1874 Maps of North Lewisburg:

 Map directly below:

"Cemetery" on Cemetery Avenue (now Tallman Street) is the Butcher (AKA Walnut Grove) Cemetery. 

  

Below:

"Cemetery" on the corner of Elm and Winder Streets is the Friends (AKA Quaker) Cemetery

March 2012 update on the Akey/Supler (United Brethern in Christ) Cemetery - Zane Township, Logan County, Ohio

From the Logan County Genealogical Society's website:

To all:  March 2012

Hello!

"Some of you may be aware of the "saga" I have been going through for the past like 6 years (seems longer than that!) for the Akey/Supler (United Brethren in Christ) Cemetery where the remains of our Henry Bolen still rest.  (Trying to reason with the owners to search out the cemtery, trying to buy it, trying to help the township get it, trying to help the township once they got permission to place a SMALL monument in a SMALL area in the very corner AWAY from the cemetery grounds, etc.)  

At any rate, at long last, friends of ours were able to purchase the ground including the cemetery and, in keeping a promise they made to me if they ever got possession, I have been granted permission to "search" out the cemetery.

Having worked on several cemetery restoration projects in different counties in Ohio, we are VERY excited about this prospect!  The current owners want to farm the surrounding land but are VERY interested in maintaining the integrity of the cemetery!

So, as we begin our "search" on the cemetery, I would greatly appreciate the forwarding to me of any information (not matter how small) that you may have relating to the cemetery....I and another lady in the township had worked to gather info for the township when they were trying to get possession of it and I will have that complete file but I am working to make sure that I have any and all information possible as we work on this project.

During the upcoming work time, we will keep everyone updated and if you live in the area or will be visiting the area and want to help, please contact me and we will work it out!!!!!!

937-935-2291 (me) 937-935-2583 (Matt - my husband)

937-666-5002 (home) m.wilson@2access.net (Matt's e-mail)

s.wilson@2access.net (my e-mail)

THANKS &; I hope you are all as excited about this as I am!!!!!!!"

Shawndel

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On "Find A Grave" the Akey/Supler (United
Brethren in Christ) Cemetery is shown as Akey Cemetery
with 7 burials.

Spotlighting Ridgeway Cemetery and Hale Cemetery in Hale Township, Hardin County, Ohio

Hale and Ridgeway Cemeteries on "Find A Grave"

Ridgeway Cemetery - Hale Township, Hardin County, Ohio

Hale Cemetery - Hale Township, Hardin County, Ohio

Spotlighting the History of Sheep Pen (AKA Gustin or Limes) Cemetery - Highland County, Ohio

Scott Andersen standing by restored original Pvt. Samuel Crooks stone - September, 2011

Sheep Pen Cemetery - Highland County Ohio

Sheep Pen Cemetery is an early southern Ohio burying ground long known by various names since its earliest burials beginning in the 1830s. Its multiple identities have continued into the present.

Fayette County records support calling it “Limes” or “Old Limes” Cemetery, however, recent Highland County maps give it the name “Gustin Cemetery.” But it is the cemetery’s own newer bright green metal marker bolted securely to the front fence that unmistakably proclaims it to be: “Sheep – Pen Cemetery Madison Twp Greenfield, OH.” Like a child’s given name on an official birth certificate, “Sheep – Pen” should be considered true and valid as the identity for this cemetery sometimes referred to as “Limes” or “Gustin” (as much as I would love to see it always be known as “Limes” – my maiden name!)

According to the book Cemetery Inscriptions of Highland County, Ohio, compiled by David N. and Jane N. McBride, copyright 1954, on page 361, under the cemetery name “Gustin”: “This name is very unusual and residents of the vicinity say that the name was acquired because sheep were often placed there to graze.” This clue tells us that “Sheep Pen” was a casual type moniker that became popular by residents living on both sides of the county boundary line.

The sloping Sheep - Pen Cemetery straddles the Fayette/Highland County, Ohio boundary line. It sits southeast off a short semi-circular paved entrance that connects to the Greenfield-Sabina Road (County Highway 5 in Fayette County and becomes County Highway 98 in Highland County) with coordinates of Latitude 39.3767304 and Longitude -83.4246385, per the website: hometownlocator.com.

Quoting from the cemetery’s introduction paragraph in Cemetery Inscriptions of Highland County, Ohio, page 361: "On October 24, 1828, in Original Book "R", page 123, Highland County Deed Records, William Gustin and Hannah his wife deeded to William Collins and Henry Limes of the County of Fayette and William Pierson, Thomas G. Collins of the County of Highland, Trustees, one and one-eighth acre situated in Madison Township, Highland County, Ohio."

The document further states: “… that they shall build or cause to be erected and built thereon a house or place of worship for the use of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church…”

The location is described as “…part of a tract of 1466 2/3 acres numbered as survey 6938 and granted to Samuel McKee assignee of James Gilmore by patent bearing date April 13, 1812.”

However, on December 20, 1900, (Original Book 94, page 210), ownership of this property was turned over to both Highland County’s Madison Township and Fayette County’s Perry Township Trustees for the sole purpose of burials.

To date, no record of the construction of an actual church structure on the grounds of the Sheep – Pen Cemetery have been found.

Surnames of individuals buried at the Sheep – Pen Cemetery:

Aber, Barkley, Beals, Bennett, Best, Boyd, Brock, Crooks, Daugherty (Dougherty), Dorman, Geller, Goodwin, Irwin, Kelley (Kelly), Limes, McVey (McVay), McWilliams, Penwell, Rogers, Roosa, Shepherd, and Yohn.

"Old Limes" Cemetery as it appears in the Fayette County Plat Map Book