Remains discovery triggers probate process in Steubenville
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STEUBENVILLE -- Just one day after skeletal remains were uncovered in the abandoned cemetery atop Washington Street Hill, city officials said Tuesday that Woda Cooper Companies plans to file a disinterment petition in Jefferson County Probate Court before any human remains are removed from the site.
Steubenville Law Director Costa Mastros said Woda’s attorney informed him a petition outlining the next steps in the process would be filed soon.
“He’s going to be filing something in probate court for the next steps for removal. That’s a process,” Mastros said.
“But I will receive a courtesy copy of it. And he’s going to reach out to the other parties involved, the diocese that was here when this initially went down. It’s my understanding it will be filed either this week or very early next week.”
The cemetery -- referred to in historical newspaper accounts as the “Catholic Cemetery” or “Jacksonville Cemetery” -- was abandoned when Mount Calvary Cemetery opened in 1883. Woda Cooper Companies purchased the property with plans to build a 50-unit senior housing complex.
Although some longtime residents recalled knowing it was a cemetery while sledding on the hillside as children, the burial ground had largely been forgotten until April. Construction crews preparing the site uncovered six grave markers protruding from the ground, including at least two marking the graves of young children.
Steubenville’s code enforcement department halted site work while officials attempted to determine whether all remains had been exhumed and reinterred at Mount Calvary Cemetery or another burial site.
Ground-penetrating radar later detected numerous subsurface anomalies that the developer acknowledged indicated the ground had been disturbed, prompting the hiring of Ohio-based archaeological consulting firm ASC to conduct a more detailed investigation.
That investigation began Monday.
Within hours, city officials were called to document the discovery of a jawbone, several teeth and what officials described as the outline of a casket, including one of its handles, at the first suspected grave shaft examined.
City officials said ASC plans to investigate nearly 100 potential grave shafts identified during the radar survey. A source not affiliated with the city said the archaeological crew planned to excavate two suspected graves Monday.
Although officials have not confirmed which locations were examined, the mini-excavator being used at the site appeared to be working near the area where gravestones bearing the names of Patrick and Bridget Hargrove were uncovered earlier this year. Patrick Hargrove, an Irish immigrant, died in the 1860s, with his wife dying several years later.
City Manager Mike Johnson said the city has repeatedly requested Woda’s Human Remains Treatment Plan but has not yet received it.
Johnson said he expects the archaeological investigation to take time.
“Logically, I would guess they’d have to almost go dig at every anomaly,” Johnson said. He added he “was not surprised” when human remains were found.
“I always thought there were going to be human remains,” he said. “Maybe the richer people back in the 1800s got moved to Mt. Calvary but the poor people (probably) did not.”
City officials also said they have been unable to locate burial records for the cemetery.
The burials predate the creation of the Diocese of Steubenville in 1944. Before then, the area was part of the Diocese of Cincinnati until 1868, when it became part of the Diocese of Columbus.
Whether burial records exist in diocesan archives remains unknown.
Officials at Mount Calvary previously said they have no records indicating how many, if any, remains were transferred from the former Catholic cemetery, though it is known at least two priests were reinterred there. Local genealogists also told city officials they found no record of Patrick or Bridget Hargrove among Mount Calvary’s interment records.
Johnson said city code enforcement officials have regularly monitored the property to ensure no excavation occurred before the archaeological investigation began.
Mayor Ralph Petrella said the situation requires close oversight.
“This isn’t as much a city issue as it is a state and private developer issue, but it is within the city,” Petrella said. “There’s very specific ORC that the developer and archeologist need to be following and I have faith in them to do the most ethical thing.”
“As far as a timeline or anything, I think it’d be unwise to speculate as to when that process will start or how long this will take. We’re going to ask for patience from our citizens and we’ll continue to be very transparent about this. These are human remains, possible human remains, and we want to make sure they’re treated with dignity.”
At a City Council meeting several months ago, Woda founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Woda and Plat Communities developer Tom Simons told Flora VerStraten-Merrin, president of the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, she would be allowed to document any grave markers and human remains uncovered during the archaeological investigation.
VerStraten-Merrin said Tuesday she intends to hold the developers to that commitment.
“I, personally, would like them to hold true to what their statements were,” Johnson said. “I think that would speak to their character. I know Mr. Woda is a local guy with roots in the Ohio Valley, and I believe ethically he’ll do the right thing.”