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.)

Clean Up News about the Rowland Cemetery in Canton, OH

From the NE Ohio Ghost Society:

We will be getting the cemetery ready for the 4th of July. We need mowers and trimmers and a chain saw. A few of us will be working on the back side of the cemetery to uncover about 10 head stones that have gotten lost to mother nature. This event is going out to all the members of the group, if you're out of state no need to comment telling me you're out of state.

Canton, Stark County, Ohio - TV News Story about mystery gravestone

Click on title to link to a news story and short video featured on Cleveland/Akron TV station WKYC about a Canton couple who turned over a sidewalk stone in their back yard only to discover it is actually a broken headstone for someone who died June 26, 1852.  The person's age looks to have been 51 years, 4 months and 7 days (birthdate calculated - February 19, 1801).   

It is thought that the stone could have once been part of a small cemetery for the Shorb family who lived in the area. 

In the book, "Ohio Cemeteries - 1803 - 2003" published by the Ohio Genealogical Society, on page 606, is listed: 

"Shorb - Location: West of Saint Johns Church.  Between McKinley Avenue and High Avenue.  Stones 2." 

The 1850 U. S. Federal Census shows several Shorb family members living in Canton, Ohio, but I could not locate any that were listed with a birth year of or close to 1801. 

My thanks to friend and neighbor, Rick, for bringing this story to my attention.  

"Clean up at Rowland Cemetery" - Canton, Stark County, Ohio - Saturday, May 22, 2010

Above is link to the map location for Rowland Cemetery

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Time: 8:00am - 12:00pm

Location: Canton OH

"As background, the Rowland Cemetery is a non-profit entity located in the SE end of Canton. The Cemetery is the final resting place of many of Canton's early families with names like Trump, Sherrick and Reifsnyder among the many others. The Cemetery covers virtually a city block and has a very meager endowment fund from which the interest is used to pay taxes, utilities, insurance and ground maintenance. That being said, interest rates are so low that the returns on our CD are insufficient to allow us to hire someone to cut the grass.

With Memorial Day rapidly approaching, we are calling on anyone who has a little free time to bring your mower, blower, rake or weed-eater and come on down. We had a large turnout from our friends at Anheuser-Busch a few years back and were able to clean up everything in 4 hours.

The clean-up has been scheduled for Saturday May 22, 2010 beginning at 8 AM. And will continue as long as needed.

Please check your schedule and RSVP if you can find the time to help out. I will be trying to get the word out through the radio/newspaper as well.

Thank you for caring.......and feel free to forward this as you deem necessary.

The NEOGS will be helping out throughout the season. We are also going to try and put as many headstones back on their bases. If anyone knows someone that could lend us a hand with the heavy headstones, we need something that is able to lift at least 5000 pounds. The picture I am using is one of the monument stones that we want to get uprighted. Also we are in need of a tree service that would like to donate its time.

To find the address of the cemetery go to google and type in Rowland Cemetery, Canton, OH and it will bring up mapquest with the location.

If anyone has questions or can help us with uprighting headstones please email me. haunthunter2000@gmail.com"