Ohio's WPA Cemetery Plat Maps -- Some are Still Elusive Whereas Others Exist Online

In the past few years, more Ohio counties have scanned images of their WPA Cemetery Plat Maps, including the Title Pages, and placed them on their websites where they can be viewed by anyone.  

  At last count, there are 12 Ohio counties with WPA Cemetery Plat Maps posted on the websites where they exist. 

County names and links are listed below where WPA Cemetery Plat Maps exist online.   

We express our appreciation to those who put forth the time and effort necessary to bring these images to us! 

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Ohio Counties with WPA Cemetery Plat Maps that are available on the Internet to view online.:

1.  Clinton County:

http://www.clintoncountyohgis.org/Maps/MapsIndex/Pages/MapsC/Cemeteries.htm

2.  Coshocton County:

http://www.coshoctoncounty.net/taxmap/cemeteries/

3.  Guernsey County:

http://www.guernseycountymaps.org/guernsey-maps/cemetery-maps

4.  Hamilton County:

http://recordersoffice.hamilton-co.org/helpful_information/cemetery_locations.html

5.  Knox County:

http://www.co.knox.oh.us/offices/taxmap/cemetery.asp

6.  Logan County:

http://loganco.co.logan.oh.us/engineer/Maproom%20Website/Map%20Room/Z-Files/Veterans%20Graves%20Registration/

7.  Lorain County:

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AC3ohJEO4iWygXg&id=E6CE903A761248DA%211646&cid=E6CE903A761248DA

8.  Muskingum County:

http://www.mceo.org/Scans/Cemeteries/Veterans/

9.  Trumbull County:

http://www.archives.co.trumbull.oh.us/micro_resources.html

http://www.archives.co.trumbull.oh.us/Maps/Cemetery%20Plats%20No%201%201800-1930.pdf

http://www.archives.co.trumbull.oh.us/Maps/Cemetery%20Plats%20No%202%201800-1930.pdf

10.  Union County:

Link below to Union County WPA Cemetery Plat Maps online through the Union County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society (OGS):

http://www.uccogs.org/unionwpamaps.htm

11.  Warren County:

Warren County Genealogical Society’s “Warren County, Ohio Virtual Cemetery Project”:

            http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohwarren/Cemetery/burial.htm

            Click on the link above, and scroll down the page.

            After the heading: “Information about Warren County Burials”, scroll down to the listing of individual cemeteries (See table with headings: Cemetery, Township, Coordinates, Location

            Next, click on an individual cemetery name.

            Next, click on “Links” and look for “WPA Plat Map of Cemetery #..

            Please note, not every cemetery listed has a WPA Cemetery Plat Map:

12.  Williams County:

http://williamscountyrecorder.com/wpa-veterans-graves/

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CONVERSELY,

OHIO COUNTIES WHERE WPA CEMTERY PLAT MAPS HAVE NOT BEEN LOCATED TO DATE:

1.  ADAMS COUNTY

2.  CARROLL COUNTY 

3.  GALLIA COUNTY 

4.  HIGHLAND COUNTY 

5.  JACKSON COUNTY 

6.  MAHONING COUNTY 

7.  MEIGS COUNTY OHIO

8  MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

9.  NOBLE COUNTY 

10.  OTTAWA COUNTY 

11.  PREBLE COUNTY 

12.  PUTNAM COUNTY 

13.  SENECA COUNTY 

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Ohio's WPA Cemetery Plat Maps -- Then and Now

Sharing a personal experience gleaned from my research conducted during the Summer of the rather recent year of 2013.  However, part of me cannot fully comprehend the reality that it has actually been four years since I devoted so much of my free time during those warm summer months trying to track down the current locations of  WPA Cemetery Plat Maps in each of Ohio's 88 counties. 

This county-by-county research required daily phone calls and/or emails to Recorder or other county offices, county archives, libraries, genealogical and historical societies, etc. and note taking and typing up my results at the end of each day's work. 

For some counties, follow-up contacts were necessary for various reasons, not the least of which was to communicate with someone else who might know what I was asking about.  

I soon learned that these maps were not often requested.  Sadly, I was mistakenly too hopeful because I knew genealogists who referred to these maps during their research of veteran burials.  I knew of at least two Chapters of the Ohio Genealogical Society that had painstakingly reduced the size of these large maps (often bound in heavy books) and had the pages reproduced in smaller size booklets.  The chapters offered them to some libraries and sold them to members and others who were interested.  I purchased both Champaign County and Fayette County WPA Cemetery Plat maps booklets and have referred to them several times.

So, I'll fast forward to these waning days of the Summer of 2017 as I find myself re-visiting the process of contacting some Ohio Counties about their WPA Cemetery Plat Maps.  

Now I am requesting these maps to help others seeking to identify where soldiers were buried at a specific cemetery.  In order to be of help, I started my new research by referring to my 2013 records.  

In some counties due to personnel changes that have occurred, I received a reply from someone who was not my initial contact person.  

Changes can bring good surprises!  

Such is the case in Clermont County where Nick Hoover, who is the current Deputy Recorder, replied to my email requesting for help locating a map for "The Old Bapist" Cemetery in Newtonsville.  He was able to locate it under another name: "The Nazarene Cemetery" and he sent me a scanned image of it.  Nick also provided the 1930s era Clermont County Cemetery Index, and a full County Map that denotes cemetery locations by numbers corresponding to the page number of the WPA Cemetery plat maps and the Map Index.  It was such a pleasure to correspond with Nick!  

Re-visiting these WPA Cemetery Plat Maps has offered me reassurance that they are not as obscure as they once were.  I feel more people are learning about them and realizing their unique historic value they hold to help folks learn more about their county of interest.

These maps also give us a glimpse into the thinking of those who lived during the years of the Great Depression.   What the U.S. Government considered important to preserve for future generations.  Among the work was transcriptions of church records, and visiting cemeteries to document veteran burials on grave cards and maps -- and so much more -- all was deemed important enough to pay and train people who needed the work because unemployment was so high.   

In Ohio, only the names of known veterans, up to and including World War I, are listed with their burial locations identified.  In Iowa, however, the listings were compiled for all burials in their cemeteries.  

As with any written record, there are errors and omissions, so we keep these thoughts in mind when researching the WPA Cemetery Plat Maps.  They can be your starting point of research, or your last step that provides the final piece to a puzzle that you thought you would never find!  

Upcoming Hands-On Cemetery Preservation Workshop Scheduled to be held at Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio - Saturday, September 9, 2017 - 9 a.m. to Noon - Hosted by Custom GraveSite Care of Central Ohio

"We are less than two weeks away from our workshop and training at Green Lawn Cemetery. We have one "definite" response and twenty one "interested". 

To help us to be prepared I ask that those who are interested choose "definite" or "not attending". We are looking forward to meeting you!"

"Register for this inexpensive class with Custom Gravesite Care of Central Ohio to learn how to clean stone markers without causing damage or decreasing their life span - and as an exciting bonus - you will be working on the markers of a very prominent (dare I say "Presidential"?) Green Lawn family!"

"Would you like to learn the proper way to clean and maintain your loved one's headstone? 

Join us for a "hands on" workshop. Meet in the cemetery office parking lot at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Maximum class size is twenty (20) people. 

Registration fee: $10.00 cash/check/money order (payable the day of training)"

Recommended items to bring:

Work gloves

Hat

Knee pads or a garden kneeler

Bug spray

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Link to Cemetery Preservation Workshop Event

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Green Lawn Cemetery on "Find A Grave"