The Warren County WPA Cemetery Plat Maps have now been added to the right sidebar of the blog.
Presently, there are 146 Warren County Cemeteries listed on Find A Grave.
A link to the Warren County Cemeteries on the website of "Genealogy Trails"
Please keep in mind that these WPA Cemetery Plat Maps were drawn up during the years of the Great Depression; during the 1930s. The latest war at that time was World War I.
The Morrow County W.P.A. Cemetery Plat Maps Collection on FLICKR
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These 1930s era W.P.A. cemetery plat maps were part of The Works Progress Administration that was later re-named the Works Projects Administration.
This project was undertaken throughout Ohio and resulted in bound albums of cemetery map drawings for a county identifying the city or township where each cemetery is situated.
Regarding Morrow County, as what has been noted with W.P.A. Cemetery Plat Maps in other Ohio counties, the project itself has a Title Page which is normally Page 1. That page is followed by an Index of Cemeteries for the entire county on Page 2. Referencing the index while working on this project was quite helpful for keeping track of the map pages that were accessed, revised, named, and saved.
The larger cemeteries (most are in larger cities such as county seats) have several sections and require more than one page. Thus, these cemeteries may also have their own Title Page and a "Key Map" showing a cemetery's Sections or Blocks; in whatever system of naming them that was adopted.:
Sharing this spotlight article covering the most recent restoration session held at the small and obscure Brown's Lake Road Cemetery in Brownhelm Township - published online - March 20, 2021 Lorain "MorningJournal" by Richard Payerchin - entitled: "Brownhelm Historical Association restoring early cemetery"
Below are additional links of information about the Brown's Lake Road Cemetery.:
Brownhelm Historical Association website
Brownhelm Historical Association on Facebook
Brown's Lake Road Cemetery on Find A Grave
Lorain County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society website for the Brown's Lake Road Cemetery
Effective Date April 12, 2021
Page 13
Sub. H.B. 444 133rd G.A.
Sec. 517.27. (A) When a public cemetery in a township is not under the control of a municipal corporation, and the title or control thereof is vested in an association or the its board of
trustees thereof, or is vested in a religious society, whether incorporated or not, or in the its board of
trustees thereof, and such cemetery is used exclusively for cemetery purposes, such association,
society, or the board of trustees thereof may convey such grounds to the board of township trustees and
its successors in office. Subject Except as provided in division (B) of this section, and subject to
the
rights of the original grantor, his the original grantor's heirs or assigns,
the board of township
trustees shall accept and take possession of such the grounds, and take care of, keep in repair, hold, treat,
and manage them in all respects as required
by sections 517.01 to 517.32,
inclusive, of the
Revised
Code.
(B) A board of township trustees is not required to accept and take possession of the grounds of a public cemetery,
or to take care of,
keep in repair, hold,
treat, or manage the grounds as described in division (A) of this section, if, as a result of the conveyance, any parcel abutting the cemetery grounds or from which the grounds were partitioned or subdivided satisfies any of the following conditions:
(1) The parcel is owned by the association or its trustees or the religious society that onveyed the cemetery grounds or by an association, its trustees, or a religious society that is a successor to the association, trustees, or religious society that conveyed the cemetery grounds.
(2) Any part of the parcel, including any building or structure situated on the parcel, is used for social, educational, recreational, or religious activities
of the association or religious society or of an association or religious society that is a successor to the association, trustees, or religious society that conveyed the
cemetery grounds.
(3) Any part of the parcel, including any building or structure situated on the parcel, is exempted from property taxation under section 5709.07 or 5709.14 of the Revised Code, or under division (B) of section 5709.12 of the Revised Code on the basis of being used exclusively for charitable purposes by the association or religious society that conveyed the cemetery grounds.
(C) When a cemetery association or religious society conveys a cemetery under this section, all cemetery records and funds shall be transferred to the township. Transferred funds shall be used exclusively for cemetery purposes as set forth in section 1721.06 of the Revised Code and any other similar provisions of the Revised Code that require funds to be held in trust for cemetery purposes.
The WPA Cemetery Plat Maps for Crawford County, Ohio have now been posted on FLICKR as a collection. The link to the collection can be found on the right side column of this blog.
Crawford County is well represented with a diversity of sizes and types of cemeteries. It wouldn't take a visitor long to realize there is much history to discover during visits to both the rural area cemeteries as well as those situated in the cities.
I enjoyed viewing and arranging the map pages. Almost all of them are in good readable condition.
The album of Multiple Townships / Smaller Cemeteries numbers 26 pages. I think that is about the most I have seen thus far for any Ohio county. There are some pages with four cemeteries. Among those in this album that I found quite interesting is the Monnett Chapel Cemetery.
The Monnett Chapel WPA Cemetery map was added to the Find A Grave memorial for Ephriam Guy Monnett. His name appears on the page with his gravesite location noted on the map. He served in the Spanish American War. His obituary is included on his Find A Grave memorial. Indeed it is a tragic one to read. The writings about him were so poignantly composed and properly pay tribute to him and his short life.
Enjoy viewing and referencing these useful map pages drawn in the 1930s during the years of the Great Depression. They served a purpose then just as they do now. These map pages should be preserved for the future. Their historical value will endure if shared with others who will be conducting their burial research in the years ahead.
Please note: all of the WPA - Works Progress Administration Cemetery Plat Maps for Logan County, Ohio have been uploaded to FLICKR in a public album and are available on this blog in the right-hand column as a collection of the maps for the entire county.
Note also that those map pages that have two or more cemeteries on them that also have different townships on one page are grouped together in their own photo album in the collection. There are 24 such pages.
Please keep in mind that these cemeteries were read in the 1930s during the years of the Great Depression. Thus, names of cemeteries during that time may be changed now. Several of the smaller cemeteries had the name "farm" in them, meaning there is a strong possibility that they are defunct today.
Sharing a link to Logan County's cemeteries as they are currently listed on Find A Grave.
The maps have been converted from PDF format to JPG format.
Following are pages listing the children and descendants of the Robert V. Abrams and Margaret Coe Abrams family that were created for the 50th anniversary family reunion that was held in 1960 in Marysville, Ohio.
The father of Robert V. Abrams was Daniel C. Abraham. Daniel Abraham's father appears to have been William Abraham who was born in Ireland. At some point, and for whatever reason, for some family members the surname changed from Abraham to Abrams.
The family information appears to have been compiled and shared by Esther Westlake, 7 East 14th Avenue, Columbus 1, Ohio.
Locations where some of these family members lived in Ohio were: Jefferson County, Champaign County, and Union County.
These images were shared by a descendant, Mr. Gordon McClung.
Focusing on Martha Matilda Abrams McClung, who died on November 20, 1873 at about age 27, was a daughter of Robert V. Abrams and his wife Margaret Coe Abrams. Martha's final resting place was at the Butcher (AKA Walnut Grove Cemetery) in North Lewisburg, Champaign County, Ohio.
Martha's husband was Isaac C. McClung, Jr.. He outlived Martha by about 43 years and was buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Rush Township near North Lewisburg, also in Champaign County in 1917.
This year Ohio held its Statehood Day on March 1 outlining its legislative priorities touching upon various topics. The theme was "Strengthening Ohio through Heritage." Once again there was an emphasis on Ohio's early burial grounds, and learning what can be done to better protect and preserve them.
"Request: Establish an Ohio Burial Grounds Law Task Force to develop recommendations to modify Ohio law relating to unmarked, inactive, and abandoned burial grounds."
Note paragraphs in the right column that are enclosed within a red outlined box.:
From:
Kelly Lizarraga, Advocacy Coordinator
Coalition for American Heritage
Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC
Email address:
kellyl@culturalheritagepartners.com
Direct/Text: 703-913-4818
www.heritagecoalition.org
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" Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) are preparing to introduce the African American Burial Ground Network Study in the U.S. Senate -- possibly as early as tomorrow. Will your group sign the attached letter of support for this legislation?
Please respond by email ASAP so that we may include your group in the press materials announcing the introduction of the bill. We'd like to include as many groups as possible to demonstrate the breadth of support for this legislation. We invite you to share this email with other groups who might want to add their names in support as well.
For those who signed the support letter last year, please note that this bill differs somewhat from the legislation that was introduced in the last Congress and passed by the Senate in December 2020. This bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to study how to identify, interpret, and preserve historic African American burial grounds.
It authorizes $2.5 million to conduct the study and requires the results to be presented to Congress within three years of the money being made available. I have attached a copy of the revised legislation for your review."
We are thrilled that this bill is being introduced, and grateful to Senators Brown and Scott for their leadership and commitment to this important issue. Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support of these efforts.
If you have any questions, or if you'd like to discuss the bill further, please feel free to call or email Kelly Lizarraga 703-913-4818 or KellyL@culturalheritagepartners.com at the Coalition for American Heritage.
The "always a work in progress project" - since 2013 - of initially locating and subsequently sharing the WPA Cemetery Plat Maps for Ohio's counties continues with the recent additions of FLICKR map collections of images of cemeteries in Logan County and Erie County They are a work in progress themselves, however; I am still excited to share this news about them.
These 1930s era cemetery plat maps have deteriorated over these many decades. Some to the point where the names and dates are fading and have become difficult to read due to their darkened condition.
The original map pages are quite large. These pages were placed in hardbound binders and given to county recorder's offices in Ohio. As we have become aware, some county's maps are missing and unaccounted for, while others have been moved to various local facilities for storage. Fortunately, a few have been posted online in various formats.
Sadly, though, some originals have been sitting unnoticed on top of cabinets gathering dust. Also, they might be kept in less than ideal indoor climate conditions. The negative effectives of which are hastening their deterioration.
On a brighter note, however, I wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to Mr. John Kolb for his help in enhancing and cleaning up the pages for the Bellefontaine Cemetery in Logan County, and the Ohio Soldiers & Sailors Home Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.
The enhancements John applied to these map pages improved their appearance greatly making the details more clear and readable.
Below is a sample of a "before enhancement" and "after enhancement" of the same WPA Cemetery Map page.:
So, please check back for more additions to the collections of Ohio county WPA Cemetery Plat Maps listed on the right sidebar of the blog.
Hopefully, some of these maps will be of help to those who are searching for veteran burials at Ohio's cemeteries!
