Family Cemetery Locations
Classical Christian Music Midi's
I have visited most of my family cemeteries in eastern Indiana and western Ohio. A variety of thoughts flash through my mind as
I wander around the old cemeteries walking in ancestor footsteps. Past the grave sites someone in the family may have dug by hand.
Caskets built and lowered into the ground by family and friends. Tombstones ordered and set in place, where family stopped, cried
and relived family memories. Knowing the old funerals, like their birth and often deaths, were in the family home, where the children
and the visitors would have said their last goodbyes. Families would make a day of it visiting the deceased in cemeteries often
packing a picnic lunch. They planted flowers, told stories, reminisced and introduced the young to relatives they never knew. They
might have walked, rode in a horse drawn buggy or wagon, Model A or T, while today we arrive in modern automobiles.
Originally I photographed just my direct ancestor tombstones and their families, but now I try to identify siblings and children
before visiting. Many families are buried in family plots in early burials then close by in later burials. My earliest original
tombstones so far date from 1825, 1828 and 1837 in southwestern Ohio. In some respects they are in better shape than some tombstones
dating from 50 to a 100 years later. If time ever permits I may include some tombstone photographs on the web site. If you can
visit any of the other cemeteries and supply photos of relative tombstones please contact me.
Horror stories of farmers allowing pigs and cattle to graze in enclosed cemeteries with the destruction of the brittle old
tombstones is not uncommon. In 2005 I was told how neighbor kids on four-wheelers destroyed an Ohio pioneer cemetery across the
street. The broken tombstones are now in disorganized piles. An old hand drawn map at the Brookville Historical Society confirms
that at one time they had been in orderly rows. Web sites and cemetery records have stories of farmers plowing over tombstones,
burying tombstones in ponds to expand their acreage or lining the floors of their barns or foundations with tombstones. I was told
about someone using tombstones as stepping stones to their mobile home. Fortunately in Indiana it is now a felony to damage grave
sites, now if they would just enforce those laws.
I recently visited an Ohio ancestor's family cemetery that is falling into the creek with the spring floods eroding and destroying
the pioneer graves. Several have already fallen into the creek and been lost. I pulled one tombstone out of the creek and I am
planning a return visit to further investigate and determine what if any government intervention should be requested.
Sadly, many well intended people have used concrete to "restore" old cemeteries. Unfortunately, concrete freezes and thaws at
a different temperature than old white marble tombstones of the 18th century and many tombstones have been destroyed. The worst
part is they hide age information that gives ages by year, month, and day. I discuss this on my Cemetery Restoration
page. Several of my ancestors tombstones have suffered these misguided restorations including great-great-great-great-great-grandmother Barbara MEYER HECKMAN
of Preble County, Ohio, and great-great-great-grandfather Edmund TIMMONS of Delphos,
Van Wert County, Ohio.
I found a 1912 newspaper article in The Columbia City Post which described grave yard thieves as ghouls who were stealing the
3 to 5 pounds of lead that was originally used to seal the tombstones to their base. A lot of old cemeteries were surrounded by
heavy iron fences with gates to keep out animals. As farmers changed from keeping animals to mostly growing grain the need for
fences declined. Rare is the old cemetery that still has intact the original iron fence. I have found a few in Indiana and
Ohio. The old Auburn, Indiana cemetery and Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort Wayne, Indiana still have their late 1880's iron fence. A
1961 Columbia City Post newspaper article describes the Broxon Cemetery fence being sold for scrap. The fence had originally
enclosed the county jail until 1902.
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State Cemeteries Where Relatives Are Buried
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Internet Links |
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