Still Saving Shannon Cemetery in Bluffton, Ohio Despite Any Setbacks!

Despite the setbacks faced by the "Friends of Shannon Cemetery Committee" throughout their protracted fight to have gravestones returned to their rightful gravesites, this steadfast group of descendants, concerned residents, and many other people and groups who have worked together for this cause, have accomplished important progress to save their small pioneer cemetery in Bluffton, Ohio. 

They are making a progress that others can learn from as well.  The steps they have taken serve to inspire those with cemeteries of concern of their own that face the same or similar issues where too much history has already been lost, and they recognize that what is left needs to be saved and preserved.   

The latest news report from "The Courier" in Findlay regarding the Shannon Cemetery lists the recommendations for its future. They are clear and concise.  Now, the Village of Bluffton needs to work as a partner with the "Friends of Shannon Cemetery" to see that they are properly implemented to ensure that the Shannon Cemetery stays a cemetery. 

The "Friends of Shannon Cemetery" have come a long way to save their beloved burial ground from being turned into a "cemetery park" where no gravestones would stand over their proper gravesites.  It doesn't have to end that way!
  

"Shannon Cemetery Future Remains Uncertain" -- The Latest Update from the "Lima News" about the Shannon Cemetery in Bluffton, Allen County, Ohio

****Please Leave a Comment in Support of the Friends of Shannon Cemetery in the Comment Section that follows the Story in the Link Below****: 

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"Shannon Cemetery future remains uncertain"

First Posted: 9:38 pm - April 4th, 2016

By Craig Kelly - ckelly@civitasmedia.com

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Please visit the Friends of Shannon Cemetery's website and Facebook Pages:

Friends of Shannon Cemetery Website

Friends of Shannon Cemetery Facebook Page

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Below are some of the Letters of Support Received by the Friends of Shannon Cemetery Committee:

Bluffton Ohio Councilman Warren tells man to “shut up & sit down”

Please listen to how this man is treated by Bluffton, Ohio Village councilman Warren at 2:50.

Private citizen Ray was trying to get to the bottom of the runaround The Save Shannon Cemetery group has received for the last year by the Village of Bluffton Ohio, concerning the destruction of a cemetery his ancestors are buried in.  After the village appointed a handpicked cemetery commission that unanimously voted to put the cemetery back as it was and in a state of preservation, the village is now playing political games of tabling and not tabling the recommendation and parts of it. 

Tell Bluffton Village what you think of their BS, lies, intimidation, & destructiveness.

Roger Warren

warrenr@bluffton-ohio.com

Current Term Expires Dec. 31, 2017

2016 Committees: Utilities

Sharing the Ground Penetrating Radar News Story - Shannon Cemetery, Bluffton, Ohio

The front page of the "Bluffton News" today:  "Graves Scanned at Shannon Cemetery" by Paula McGibben. 

The Shannon Cemetery on Find A Grave.

Sharing the Documented Surnames of People Buried at the Shannon Cemetery in Bluffton, Allen County, Ohio

Thanking Mr. Ray Mumma of  "Save Shannon Cemetery" for the information listed below:

"Here is a list of 70 plus names and surnames we have documented, sources not listed, of some of those buried in Shannon Cemetery Bluffton, Ohio. 

We have since May 2015, and still are researching names for, those buried there.

Why is it that the Village and or it's agent not made public ALL the names they have researched in the 15 years they say they have worked on this project.

We have sources documenting 12 rows of graves. We have documented the location by row and plot number of 41 known individuals. Of the 42 stones the Village removed, we have the location by row and plot number for 27 of those stones.

We can reestablish the 12 rows and place 27 of those stones back on their graves. The Village is worried about Liability, where was this concern when they removed the 42 stones?
                         If anyone has an ancestor with a listed name, please contact us at:
                         saveshannon@outlook.com


SHANNON CEMETERY SURNAMES AND NAMES:

Anderson, William; Arnold;
 
Battels; Battels, Caroline; Battels, John; Bentley; Berry, John; Boedicker, Martin; Bryan, Tabatha; Bryan, Wesley; Bufford;

Casey; Clifford, A.B.; Clifford, J.H.; Clifford, M.F.; Clifford, Rosann; Clifford, S.E.; Clifford, S.M.; Commer, Hannanh; Commer, Issac; Conkle, Lydia S.P.; Connell, Mary;

Dearth, Daniel; Dearth, Nancy; DeFord, Joseph – Government Issued Gravestone; Drumm, Emma Belle Clemings; Dunlap, Caroline; Dunlap, Eli;

Easton; Edder; Elder; Elizabeth Hoffman; Ewing, Elizabeth Clemmens; Ewing, John Henry;

Fitzgerald, Martha Linn Goble; Fenton, Delia; Fenton, Robert; Ford; Foreman; Gardner, Samuel – stone reads: Gardener; Gaskill, John E.;Gaskill, Katherine; Gaskill, Minerva; Gaskill, Moses; Gaskil, Phoebe McHenry; Gatter; Goble, Daniel C.; Gufford; Gutman, Jacob;

Harberhauer; Hipsher, Samuel – Government Issued Stone; Hipsher, Wm. (William) – Government Issued Stone; Huber, Barbara; Huber, Jacob L.; Hurter; Husher;

Iden, Rosanna Clemings; Kipfer;

Long, William; Long, Rachel A.; McDowell, Alonzo;

McHenry, Eliza; Murray; Murray, George W.;

Owens, Infant; Owens, James K.; Owens, Martha J.;

Phillips;

Smith; Stratton, Daniel; Stratton, J.;

Wilson, Montgomery; Wilson, Susan; ????, Sarah; ????, Rosann."

Sharing the Petition to Save Shannon Cemetery of Bluffton, Ohio on "Change.org"

Click HERE for the Save Shannon Cemetery Petition on "Change.org."

Sharing an Update from the Members of "Save the Shannon Cemetery" - Bluffton, Allen County, Ohio

Sharing some of the latest information from the "Save Shannon Cemetery" committee in Bluffton, Allen County, Ohio.  

The "Save Shannon Cemetery"organization has been working tirelessly during this past year to ensure that gravestones will be returned to their rightful gravesites at the Shannon Cemetery following their removal that was permitted by the leaders of the village of Bluffton.  

(There are 44 burials listed for the Shannon Cemetery on Find A Grave.)

Recommendations sent to the Commander In Chief and Council of Administrations of the Sons Of Union Veterans of the Civil War by Bruce D. Frail, PDC, National Graves Registration Officer SUVCW. Copies were sent to us and Mayor Augsburger.


Office of the National Graves Registration Officer
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
19 Briar Point Avenue, Coventry, Rhode Island 02816
401-464-2119/suvcw_ngro@suvcwdb.org

To: Commander-In Chief & Council of Administration
Date: 12 October 2015
Re: Report on Shannon Cemetery and proposed plan

Dear Brothers,

      I have been in contact with all parties involved with the Shannon Cemetery issue, who would return my emails or phone calls. The issue that was brought to our attention on 24 August 2015 by Mr. Ray Mumma thru the SUVCW Executive Directors Office is stated as follows.

      The cemetery was determined to be an eyesore to the incoming visitors coming from Rte 75 and plans were made to remove the headstones and create a park/picnic area over the graves, which are not planned to be removed and relocated. This action has caused a desecration to the graves of all of those who had their headstones removed, but I will center my concerns the two graves of two brothers who gave their all during the American Civil War, William and Samuel Hipster.

      The brothers are buried in Row 8, Plots 05 & 04 respectfully and are not in an unknown location as the Mayor states in her conversation and emails; she also stated to me that the man Dick Boehr who started this whole problem logged the locations of the headstones as he removed them. Then, she has also stated that no one knows for sure where they really go, that they could have been moved before but she didn’t go into any detail.

      The people who have started the Friends of Shannon Cemetery/Save Shannon Cemetery Facebook group and contacted the SUVCW have their documents in order and offer them to all that wish to learn more about the desecration that is being committed by the Village of Bluffton in regards to Shannon Cemetery. I have talked with several other groups that support the Friends of Shannon Cemetery/Save Shannon Cemetery Facebook group and their plan to restore the cemetery to its original condition. I throw my support to them as well. They have been straight forward with their plan and haven’t attempted to deceive me in any way.

      I have an email from the Mayor to prevent meetings of the Commission in which members of the Friends of Shannon Cemetery/Save Shannon Cemetery Facebook group would be allowed to speak and to try to delay the Commission that she put in place, until after the election in November, in which she is running for office as Mayor. This is not a reelection as she was appointed by members of the council. The Shannon Cemetery Commission which was appointed by Mayor Augsburger consists of the following members: John Murray, Evan Skilliter, Fred Rodabaugh, Bob Amstutz, Nathan Ulrey, Sammuel Diller, Richard Boehr (the man who committed the desecration), Harriett Moyer, Jesse Blackburn (this man holds village employment at the pleasure of the Mayor and the council), David Steiner (the mayor’s former boss and current council president) and the mayor, the commission recorder is Paula Scott, the Commission has no representation from the Friends of Shannon Cemetery/Save Shannon Cemetery Facebook group. 

      The mayor told me in a telephone conversation that there was no approved project for any work at Shannon Cemetery, than about a week later she said in an email that the Shannon project was approved in 2013. She has also stated that there is no relevance to the cemetery project towards political issues, but as stated above she doesn’t think there will be a Commission meeting until after the election because of interruptions and outbursts from the public, personally, I don’t see how there is a difference in how to control a meeting whether it is held before or after a election. If there are no political issues tied to the cemetery project why can’t it be held prior to an election? The mayor has gone from someone who wishes to work with others to correct the issue to being defensive and paranoid over my use of information she was providing me as well as towards other groups that support Ray Mumma. She went from praising me for contacting her to get both sides to stating that she thinks I am feeding her answers to the Save Shannon Cemetery Facebook group, or Ray Mumma in particular because of my use of the word “desecration”.

      I informed her that I was not forwarding her answers to anyone and that her answers would only be used for the purpose of this report to the Council of Administration and that I would forward her a copy and I would do the same for Ray Mumma in the interest of fairness to both parties. I did reach out to Nathan Ulrey who was appointed the Chairman of the Shannon Cemetery Commission by the mayor, he choose not to reply to my attempts to hear the commission’s view.

      With the above background, I have the honor to submit my report and recommendations to the Commander-in-Chief and the Council of Administration of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

1. That the SUVCW draft a letter of support for the Friends of Shannon Cemetery/Save Shannon Cemetery Facebook group’s plan, as their plan will end the current desecration of the graves of Shannon Cemetery that have been striped of their headstone and return the proper identification to the graves within the cemetery.

2. That the SUVCW draft letters against the Village of Bluffton’s park project and the four groups that have been mentioned to be in support of this desecration, by Fred Steiner in his letter to local clergy dated 6 Oct 2015, to their National components, the four groups are as follows: Bluffton American Legion, Bluffton Boy Scouts, Bluffton Tree Commission and the Bluffton Chamber (the Chamber of Commerce has gone as far as to create an award to give to Dick Boehr for in part and as listed, “currently working developing Jefferson Street-Shannon Cemetery into a park” They gave this man an award for desecrating graves, how wrong is that.

3. Release a statement to the local and national press detailing this desecration and those who are pushing for its completion.

4. That the SUVCW file a written complaint with the Department of Veteran’s Affair’s of this disregard of their VA policy on the mis-use and removal of government headstones that has occurred at Shannon Cemetery, by the removal of three veteran’s headstone, two (2) Civil War and one (1) Rev War who was also a village founder.

      I am unaware of the true reason Dick Boehr has chosen to commit this unthinkable act of desecration or why the mayor and some other members of the community have also taken part, but I am against it and I believe the SUVCW should voice to our membership and to the general public, that this type of desecration will not be accepted. 

In Fraternity, Charity & Loyalty,
Bruce D. Frail, PDC
National Graves Registration Officer
SUVCW
Veteran USMC

Update: The "Friends of Save Shannon Cemetery" are Making Significant Strides Thanks to Support from the S.A.R. and G.P.S.

The "Friends of Save Shannon Cemetery" continue to forge ahead with their plans to have gravestones that were removed from original gravesites returned to them, among resolving other outstanding issues that have loomed large that would significantly alter Bluffton's pioneer cemetery into becoming something it never was -- a village park with gravestones set in concrete in a central location elsewhere on the property that would create a "headstone display" rather than being put back where they belong -- at their rightful places, over their proper original gravesites at the Shannon Cemetery.   

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You can also read about the plans and goals of the Friends of the Save Shannon Cemetery HERE.  

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"Update on Shannon Cemetery Burials: 

"The Friends of Shannon Cemetery have documented 70 names, from various documented sources, of those buried at Shannon Cemetery. 41 of these names identified with row and plot numbers. 43 graves stones we have been told are in storage. Four of those stones are from Veterans, one militia captain, two civil war veterans and an American Revolutionary War veteran. We also have a letter which was in the Boehr file that states that another civil war veteran who served with his great grandfather's civil war unit is buried in Shannon, still looking for more confirmation and research on that name. We have the G.P.S. coordinates of 43 stones, we have identified 16 graves and 6 rows with a sample Ground Penetrating Radar Scan. We have known burials in all 12 rows, we can reestablish the 12 rows, A full G.P.R. scan of the cemetery is proposed. Its time that these pioneers, veterans, founders of the Shannon community and all those buried in Shannon Cemetery get the respect they earned and deserve. Bring these grave stones back to the cemetery and put them back on their graves. Why would anyone want anything less?"

The Shannon Cemetery on "Find A Grave"