A Brief Look at Ohio Revised Code - Title V - Chapter 517 - Cemeteries

The Ohio Revised Codes contain laws that affect the Buckeye State's Cemeteries whether they be active, inactive, or abandoned.  

Townships in Ohio have a significant number of cemeteries; some are active and registered while many cemeteries fall into the categories of inactive (and thus not registered) or abandoned.  

Title V - Townships - Chapter 517 - Cemeteries of the Ohio Revised Codes  (ORC) contains the codes that affect township cemeteries in various ways, including some new provisions that have gone into effect on September 28, 2016:

517.03 [Effective 9/28/2016] Levy and taxes for expenses.

"To defray the expenses of the purchase or appropriation, and the enclosing, care, supervision, repair, and improving of lands for cemetery purposes, and of maintaining and improving entombments, including mausoleums, columbariums, and other interment rights, the board of township trustees may levy a tax sufficient for that purpose."

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 413, §1, eff. 9/28/2016.

Effective Date: 11-21-1973

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517.07 Sale of Cemetery Lots updated September 28, 2016

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517.073 Authority for Reentry for Unused Plots or Rights updated September 28, 2016

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517.03 Expenditures of Proceeds - Exception updated September 28, 2016

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517.11 Care of Cemetery updated September 28, 2016

"The board of township trustees shall provide for the protection and preservation of cemeteries under its jurisdiction, and shall prohibit interments therein when new grounds have been procured for township cemeteries or burial grounds. Where such old cemeteries are in or near village plats, and the public health is liable to be injured by further interments therein, the board shall institute suits to recover possession thereof, remove trespassers therefrom, and may recover damages for injuries thereto or any part thereof, or to any fence or hedge enclosing them, or to any tomb or monument therein.

The board may enclose cemeteries under its jurisdiction with a substantial fence or hedge, and shall keep any such fence or hedge in good repair. It may re-erect any fallen tombstones, regardless of the cause of the falling, in such cemeteries. The board, as it considers necessary, may purchase, maintain, and improve entombments, including mausoleums, columbariums, and other interment rights. The board may levy a tax to meet any costs incurred for these purposes, not to exceed one-half mill in any one year, upon all the taxable property of the township."

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 413, §1, eff. 9/28/2016.

Effective Date: 07-24-1986

Sharing Photos of Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Lorain, Ohio

Sharing a few photographs from my recent short visit to Lorain's Calvary Catholic Cemetery where many of my Zagorsky and Szczepankiewicz relatives are buried.  

Calvary Cemetery has a nice new shiny black granite marker bearing its name and address standing at its entrance driveway with a defining border of large size rocks encircling it.  The marker is so much more welcoming to visitors than the old one that stood for so long. That old one reminded me of a sign at a logging site that had been crudely created from an old piece of wood by someone using a jagged saw.  It was suspended between two metal poles and just didn't do justice to this beautiful cemetery!  

So, I congratulate the Cleveland Catholic Diocese for replacing that old Calvary Cemetery sign!  

 

 

 

Sharing My Thoughts about the NPS #48 Preservation Brief: "Preserving Grave Markers in Historic Cemeteries"

This is my short commentary on the NPS #48 Preservation Brief: "Preserving Grave Markers in Historic Cemeteries" 

I definitely agree about cemeteries being deemed to be in the category of "historic" in their nature.  

Many of us who visit what most would consider to be pioneer cemeteries, or the older sections of newer cemeteries, can attest that these are the burial grounds where those who were the creators of the area's earliest history rest -- hopefully in peace, yet the cemetery 'lives' on in the community in the midst of modern day structures standing as neighbors to folks like you and me. 

We sometimes walk past them, in some cases not even realizing they are there if they have been neglected for years.  Some are tucked away on side streets or off township roads, but they occupy land that holds the remains of those who came before us.  

These ancestors learned that they had to be hardy souls; and they walked more than they rode, they worked with their hands and hearts, they started the villages that grew and thrived, or in some cases remained the small towns we have come to know and love today.   

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Adhering to the proper Do No Harm practices of cleaning gravestones, and choosing an individual or company to hire who will adhere to them, are key decisions that profoundly affect a gravestone's quality of existence for many years to come.

This #48 Preservation Brief addresses many issues and helps us make wiser decisions that will best benefit the gravestones, gravesites, and cemeteries in our communities.   Early gravestones are fragile, one-of-a-kind historic artifacts that also mark the resting places of those whom we should remember, honor, and respect for their contributions and sacrifices.  

We must do our part to keep their gravesites as intact and presentable as we possibly can so those who come after us can show their proper respect as well.