This Saturday, I am excited to take part in the annual tour of Union Cemetery in Steubenville as hosted by the Friends of Beatty Park. The event begins at 10 a.m. and will feature many speakers including historians Jeff Evans and Flora VerStraten-Merrin. There will be musical selections and lots of great history to be shared. Flora did a wonderful job planning the event and putting it all together.

During the last few years I have participated, attendees went from grave to grave learning about the many notable people that are interred there. This year, however, we are just going to stay put for the majority of the program and that gives us an opportunity to talk about the many folks buried there that we couldn’t walk to.

This year, my selections are those who I have spoken about before, but since they are so important to the history of our area, I thought it was appropriate to revisit them. Union Cemetery is a gem in our area. It was dedicated in 1854 as a garden cemetery, that is, it was created not only for the dead, but for the living, as well. Many who like to visit the cemetery know that it is really a picturesque environment. It is filled now with large trees, winding paths and monuments that are really works of art. The cemetery was essentially a public park where visitors could, and often did, come to spend time as a family while honoring their deceased loved one. Visitors could walk, have a picnic and enjoy a dedicated space for nature and remembrance. We do the same thing today at Union, but I haven’t heard of anyone bringing a picnic lunch there recently. I remember in the weeks leading up to my daughter’s birth, we walked there a lot. The winding paths and shady trees are always a welcome place to visit.

One of the folks I plan to talk about on Saturday is David Weir. David is someone who has always been a heavy hitter in the history of the area. He was the brother of E.T. Weir, founder of Weirton and of Weirton Steel. He was with E.T. coming from Clarksburg, W.Va., when the mill relocated to the area in 1908. David was instrumental in the founding of the company, but did not live long enough to see its full potential. David passed away in 1929 at his home in Steubenville at the age of 48 from pneumonia. I can recall two well-known pictures of David, one is of him sitting on the steps of the Weirton Steel office building, and another is a painting of him by well-known Western Pennsylvania artist Malcolm Parcell that now hangs in the Weirton Museum. I remember the painting coming to the museum, I picked it up from someplace with the late Victor Greco.

Parcell is a personality who is extremely fascinating to me. He painted many important industrialists and business folks from the Pittsburgh region. In my office at Historic Fort Steuben, I had a print of his that showed explorers crossing the mountains and entering our area … but I digress.

Speaking of painting, Union Cemetery holds many an accomplished artist. My favorite one to talk about would certainly be Eliphalet Andrews. Andrews was born in 1835 in Steubenville and was one of the most famous artists to come from our valley. Andrews had a fascinating life and his connections with the who’s who in the later half of the 19th century is endlessly fascinating to me. Andrews studied at Marietta College and had the opportunity to travel to Europe and study in Germany and Paris during the Civil War. He returned to Steubenville and had a studio at the corner of Fourth and Slack streets. When Hayes became president of the United States, Andrews, who was a friend of Hayes, relocated to Washington, D.C. While there, Andrews became the director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, a post he held until 1902. Andrews painted prolifically and his works are in major museums in our country. His most well-known painting is that of Martha Washington, which is considered her official portrait. This painting hangs in the White House. When Andrews passed away in 1915, his remains were brought home to Steubenville and laid to rest at Union Cemetery with those of his first wife, Mary Emma Stewart, who passed away in 1889.

In 1915, Steubenville lost Andrews and another Steubenville native, Dohrman Sinclair. Sinclair was killed tragically at the LaBelle Iron Works when he was trapped by a train in the yard. Dohrman worked tirelessly to promote the city of Steubenville and our area. Without his foresight in promoting the area, the Weir and Follansbee brothers may not have been brought here. In addition, Dohrman was responsible for the Steubenville waterworks, many business enterprises and finally the Market Street bridge, the vital link across the Ohio River.

Truly, Union Cemetery holds the remains of so many people who made a huge difference in the history of our area. I am proud to talk about these and others on Saturday.

(Zuros is a historian and Ohio Valley native)