Area cemetery spruced up

SMITHFIELD — If it’s true that you can judge a town or village by its cemetery, the village will take on new respect when the project put together by the Ohio Genealogical Society of Jefferson County is completed late Friday afternoon.

The weeklong project is led by Flora VerStraten, chairman of the genealogical group, and John Borkowski, co-chairman. Neither reside in the village, but VerStraten has relatives who are buried there. Borkowski, who lives in Kirtland, has lived outside of the the village for more than 25 years.

After putting Rehobeth Cemetery near Adena in order and making plans for a dedication May 17, the officers, along with Tammy and Terry Hosenfeld as part of the executive committee, set about working on Northern Cemetery, where numerous Civil War soldiers are buried in the Old Settlers section.

VerStraten said more than 30 volunteers, village employees, a student from Franciscan University of Steubenville and inmates granted permission by Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla were working Monday, the first day of the endeavor.

“We have four crews, those cutting down trees, probing, picking up fallen grave stones and leveling them on their base and doing grave stone inscription readings,” Borkowski said of the work in progress Tuesday.

“The cemetery is divided into seven sections: the memorial section that goes up to state Route 151, the newer section; Sections C, B and A; Copes I and 2; and the Old Settler sections, in that order, going from right to left,” Borkowski said.

“I am amazed at what is going on here. The inmates are doing an excellent job and we are pleased with the help of the volunteers,” said Paul Greene, Northern Cemetery board clerk.

“The three workers I have brought out have been cutting down trees, helping with base leveling and putting up section signs. They will be working with tire recycling for the Jefferson County Solid Waste District next,” Sgt. Bucky Argentine said of his team of workers.

“There have been $900 in donations collected for the equipment and products to be used. A woman from Texas contributed $200 because she has relatives buried in the cemetery. Organizations and other individuals have donated and the society put up $100 as well,” Borkoswski said.

Randy Gallagher, owner of a monument business, will be adding the date of death on 25 stones, as it was found the date of death is sometimes overlooked by relatives. He contributed materials for repairing the monuments as well.

“The next project will be cleaning the mausoleum, built around 1898 and still in good shape. It will be conducted in June. The marble floor needs a good cleaning, as there is mold growing where moisture leaked in from a high window. We need to paint and work on the markers, too,” VerStraten said, pointing out some of the vaults had not been used yet and some bodies were removed and buried on the grounds.

“Workers will be needed for this project,” she said.

“I encountered a touching sight when I spoke with a woman tidying up her husband’s grave. He died in December and was a military veteran. She was concerned about the grave stone not being installed yet and was in need of the bronze marker indicating a World War II veteran. I’m going to look into having the stone in by Memorial Day and Tony Phillippi will check on the military marker,” she said.

“Since her very young baby was buried with the husband, we will be putting the baby’s burial in the records. It was not recorded before,” she said.

The work will continue from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. Those with a relative buried in the cemetery are encouraged to help with the project.

(McCoy can be contacted at emccoy@heraldstaronline.com)