Cemeteries

CEMETERIES IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY

ACACIA MASONIC MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY – 1880 SOM Center Road in Mayfield Heights – founded 1927.  Records are onsite.

ADAMS STREET CEMETERY aka Old Berea – 94 Adams Street in Berea – first burial 1843, but official founded in 1861.  Records can be found at the City of Berea, the Berea Historical Society, and WRHS.  This was a nondenominational cemetery.  Many buried here were moved to Woodvale Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Historical Marker:

Known as the “village Cemetery,” this was Berea’s main burial ground from 1834 to the 1880s. However, in 1886, the Cleveland Stone Co. purchased quarries adjacent to the cemetery, where Coe Lake is today. Quarrying had already caused flooding and landslides in the area. Local stories say that the company operated too near to the edge of cemetery, causing a landslide in the northwest corner that exposed some graves. Worried families moved their loved ones remains to other cemeteries, including those of five Civil War veterans. Pioneering families, 16 Civil War veterans, 3 mayors of Berea, several quarry owners, and many ordinary people still rest here. Of the original 589 burials 40% were children.  The cemetery accepted burials into the 20th century, including one veteran of the Indian Wars and one of World War I, but it had fallen into disrepair and was used mainly for burial of indigents. One night in March 1930, vandals knocked over and broke many gravestones. In response, American Legion Post 91 repaired the stones. As the 21st century began, citizens recommitted themselves to honoring the cemetery. The City of Berea and many community groups helped fund preservation efforts and American Legion Post 91 decorates veterans’ graves. Baldwin-Wallace College students and faculty have documented burial sites and volunteered many hours to repair broken tombstones.

AGADATH ACHIM CEMETERY – Fremont Street (new Lansing Avenue) at East 57th Street next to Harvard Grove Cemetery – founded 1823-1905.  Abandoned. This cemetery is mentioned in “All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone,” 1897.  Also at this intersection was Kenneth Israel Cemetery and Moses Edelstein Cemetery. 

ALBION CEMETERY aka Old Albion Burial Ground aka Strongsville Baptist Church Cemetery – in the woods behind 11303 Pearl Road in Strongsville – founded 1841.  Abandoned. Many buried here were moved to Strongsville Cemetery.  Records can be found at the city of Strongsville and WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

The Village of Albion was founded in 1834 by Benjamin Northrup.  In 1841, Thaddeus and Betsy Lathrop sold two sublots to the First Baptist Society of Strongsville.  A meeting house was built immediately, and a cemetery was established the next year. In 1873, the church was sold to the board of education of Strongsville, who used the building as a schoolhouse until 1897.  The cemetery was in use in the early 1900s.  It is assumed that Hannah Luther Bosworth (1769-1842) was the first burial, wife of John Bosworth (1760-1845).  The Bosworths were moved to Strongsville Cemetery in 1922.  

From Find-A-Grave:

Also known as the Old Albion Burial Ground. Officially established Feb. 9, 1841 by trustees of the First Baptist Society of Strongsville, though burials for this congregation may have taken place here earlier. 

The cemetery was the primary burial site for members of the Bosworth family and was used into the early 1900's. The majority of the burials here were moved to the Strongsville Cemetery in April 1922 and the cemetery was abandoned in 1959.  Today it sits in a wooded lot behind the building at 11303 Pearl Rd., Strongsville. The property is owned by the City of Strongsville.

ALGER CEMETERY – 16710 Bradgate Avenue just east of Rocky River Drive – founded in 1828 but first burial 1813.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  See Highland Park Cemetery, WRHS and here: 

https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

https://westparkhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/WPT-19a-Settlement-Bicentennial.pdf

Nathan Alger had owned his homestead less than a year when he died, at age 47, on January 21, 1813.  He was buried on the homestead.  His son Henry Alger later donated the acre of land that contained his father's grave to Rockport.  This became known as Alger Cemetery as it expanded to become the area burial ground.  Originally, its entrance was at 16711 Lorain Avenue but was later relocated to 16710 Bradgate Avenue.  Nathan Alger's grave is located in the northwest section of the cemetery.  It can be found by entering from Bradgate Avenue and taking the lane on the left.  The section is readily identified by several old gravestones.  His gravestone, hand ground and hewn, is inscribed, "My friend, I'm here, the first to come, and in this place, for you there's room."  His sons, Henry and Nathan, are buried just north of their father's grave.

ANSEL CEMETERY aka Ansel Road Jewish Cemetery aka Fremont Cemetery aka Lansing Avenue Jewish Cemetery aka Newburgh Cemetery – The cemetery has an address of 5716 Lansing Avenue in Cleveland and is located on the north side of Harvard Avenue between East 55th and East 64th Streets.  The entrance is at 3933 East 57th Street.  Founded 1886-1890.  Ansel Road Cemetery, was not on Ansel Road, but was a subsection of Lansing Cemetery.  The cemetery was previously known as the Fremont Cemetery. Some undertakers referred to the cemetery as the Ansel Cemetery, especially those graves in the OCAS section and perhaps others that are near Lansing Avenue, mostly in the 1911 – 1912 timeframe. Those undertakers using the name Ansel Cemetery were D.H. Rosenstein and Groh. The cemetery is 8 acres in size. The cemetery abuts Harvard Grove Cemetery.  Records are onsite, at WRHS, and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

ANSEL YOUNG FAMILY CEMETERY aka Cutting Cemetery – this cemetery was located under the sidewalk at the northwest corner of Spring and Jennings Roads. Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  It was first owned by Ansel and Elizabeth (Brainard) Young.  Later it sat on a farm owned by Milton and Maggie Cutting.  The Jennings Commons Apartments occupy the rest of the Old Ansel Young place. 

ANSHE CHESED CEMETERY aka Willet Street Cemetery – 2254 Fulton Road between Bailey, Siam, Willet Street (new Fulton Avenue) and West 38th – founded 1840.  This is the oldest Jewish and sectarian cemetery in Cleveland, with many of Cleveland’s prominent Jewish pioneers being buried there.  Before 1840, people of all faiths were buried at Erie Street Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Mentioned in All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records for Willet Street Cemetery can be viewed at Mayfield Cemetery or WRHS or in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

Cleveland’s first Jewish cemetery was established in August of 1840 by the Israelite Society at 99 Willett Street (2254 Fulton Road). The 1.6-acre property consists of two parcels of land. The first parcel was acquired from Josiah Barber. The second parcel, a small lot at the western edge fronting Bailey Avenue, was acquired in 1871 by the Jewish Orphanage Asylum. The Israelite Society would soon become a part of Cleveland’s first incorporated Jewish Congregation, Anshe Chesed. Formed in 1848, Anshe Chesed is now known as Fairmount Temple. Today, the cemetery is well managed by United Jewish Cemeteries Inc., which is a partnership between Anshe Chesed and Tifereth Israel. United Jewish Cemeteries is also responsible for the Mayfield Cemetery in Cleveland Heights.  According to census data and newspaper articles from the day, the Willett Street Cemetery’s longtime caretaker was August Rindfleisch, often referred to as the Sexton of the Cemetery. Arriving from Prussia (now Germany) in 1850, he served in the Civil War, then returned to Cleveland and purchased a home adjacent to the cemetery at the corner of Willett Street and Siam Avenue. In 1866, he sold the home to the cemetery with the agreement that he and his family could live at the site for an undefined period of time.  August would maintain the cemetery until his death in 1905. His son, Henry, would follow in his father’s footsteps until his death in 1936. Henry’s stepson, Ralph Koepke, served as the Superintendent of the Mayfield Road Cemetery (also owned by United Jewish Cemeteries) in the mid-1940s. The Rindfleisch name can also be found at the Anshe Emeth Cemetery at the corner of Richmond Road and Chagrin Boulevard in Beachwood, Ohio. Edward Rindfleisch served as the caretaker for this cemetery, established in 1910, until his death in 1962. His son, Arthur, continued to oversee the cemetery into the 1970s. One might ask, who is the first person of the Jewish faith to be buried in Cleveland? Based on an article in The Israelite (later known as The American Israelite) dated August 20, 1858, written by its editor Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati, the answer to that question would be Alexander Kahnweiler. The burial took place in August of 1840 at the newly established Willett Street Cemetery. Wise wrote that while visiting Cleveland in 1858, he was told of the burial by Simpson Thorman, who was the first Jew to make Cleveland his home. Thorman established residence in Cleveland in 1837 and inspired relatives and friends from his hometown, Unsleben, Bavaria, to immigrate here. Little is known about Kahnweiler. He is thought to have been a peddler, recently arrived from the Rhineland. This first burial took place soon after the land had been acquired by the Israelitic Society, the forerunner of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple. A sign of the congregation’s ongoing commitment to those buried at the Willett Street Cemetery includes the scheduled replacement of Mr. Kahnweiler’s gravestone in the spring of 2024.

ANSHE EMETH JEWISH CEMETERY aka B’nai Abraham aka Fir Street Jewish aka Hungarian Aid Society aka Peach Street Jewish Cemetery – 6015 Fir Avenue in Cleveland between Bayne Court, Fir Avenue (called Peach Street in 1881), West 59th Street and West 61st Street – founded 1865.  The original incorporated name was Fir Street - Hungarian Aid Society.  It is Cleveland’s second oldest Jewish Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

ARNOLD FAMILY CEMETERY aka Lander Road Cemetery – at 4230 Lander Road two houses north of Smithfield Road in Orange – founded about 1829 on the Henry and Mariah Arnold 40-acre farm.  Abandoned.  Graves were moved to Mount Hope Cemetery in 1936.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  It is believed that the Arnold home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. 

ASSUMPTION OF MARY CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka St. Mary of the Assumption – 14900 Brookpark Road in Brookpark – founded 1851.  Records at Holy Cross Cemetery or here:  https://www.clecem.org/

AXTELL STREET CEMETERY aka Old Newburg Cemetery – East 78th near Harvard Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1804.  Abandoned.  Graves were moved to Harvard Grove Cemetery in 1881.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  This link includes the history of Axtell Street Cemetery: http://www.slavicvillagehistory.org/PDF/CAPSULE_HISTORIES/harvard_grove.pdf

BARR ROAD CEMETERY aka Rice Family Cemetery – on Barr Road just south of the parkway in Brecksville.  Records are at WRHS.  It was first called the Rice Family Cemetery.  It is ¾ acre and holds 200 graves.  The cemetery is closed.   https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.htmlSH

BATTLES ROAD CEMETERY aka Russell Family Cemetery – Located at the rear of the property at 500 Battles Road, which is on the west side of Battles Road at its intersection with Timberidge Trail.  This was once the Luther Battle property, one mile northeast of Wilson Mills Road in Gates Mills – founded in the 1830’s.  Abandoned.  Many graves were moved to the Chester Township Cemetery in Chesterland.  Records are at WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

BAXTER JEWISH CEMETERY aka Chewra Kadisha Cemetery – 6615 Baxter Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1878.  The original incorporated name was Bohemian Chewra Kadisha Cemetery.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

BEACHWOOD EAST CEMETERY aka Warrensville East Cemetery – 23001 Haliburton Road in Beachwood – founded before 1840.  Records can be found at WRHS. https://www.beachwoodohio.com/562/Beachwood-Cemetery

BEDFORD CENTER CEMETERY aka Bedford Municipal Cemetery – 66 East Taylor Street in Bedford – founded 1857.  Records are onsite, at the Bedford Historical Society, and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Buried here are:  Mary Davison Godwin (1878-1939), a survivor of the Titanic; Julius Caesar Tibbs (1812-1903) a runaway slave who took refuge in a wooded area on Joseph Burns’ farm in Bedford; and Holsey Gates (1855-1914) grandson of the founder of Gates Mills.

BERGER’S JEWISH CEMETERY – West 54th and Theota in Parma – founded 1921.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here: https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

BET OLAM HOUSE OF ETERNITY JEWISH CEMETERY aka Kinsman Road Cemetery aka Park Synagogue Cemetery aka Warrensville Jewish – 25796 Chagrin Blvd. in Beachwood – founded 1910.  Records are onsite and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

** From 1915-1940’s it was Kinsman Road Cemetery.  Kinsman Road’s name changed to Chagrin Blvd. in 1959.

** From the 1940’s to early 1960’s the cemetery was called Warrensville Cemetery.

** In 1950, when Park Synagogue moved to Cleveland Heights, the cemetery was known as The Park Synagogue Cemetery.

** In 1999 the name was changed to Bet Olam House of Eternity.

BLISS FAMILY CEMETERY – in the front yard between the two homes just to the east of Corrigan-Deighton Funeral Home at 21900 Euclid Avenue – founded 1826.  This was the farm of Aaron Sage Bliss and his wife Harriet Akins. Abandoned.  Some of the graves were moved to Euclid Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

B’NAI ABRAHAM JEWISH CEMETERY aka Anshe Emeth aka Fir Street Jewish Cemetery aka Hungarian Aid Society aka Peach Street Jewish Cemetery – 6015 Fir Avenue in Cleveland between Bayne Court, Fir Avenue (called Peach Street in 1881), West 59th Street and West 61st Street – founded 1865.  The original incorporated name was Fir Street - Hungarian Aid Society.  It is Cleveland’s second oldest Jewish Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

B’NAI JESHURUN HUNGARIAN CONGREGATION CHURCH CEMETERY (their first cemetery) aka Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery – a two-acre cemetery on Shaw Avenue in East Cleveland exactly where the railroad tracks are between East 131st and East 133rd Streets.  It was right next door to the EAST of 13009 Shaw which was the second cemetery of the Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery later known as Glenville Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  The first cemetery was founded in 1883 and closed in 1907.  The western acre of the two acres contained the cemetery, and the eastern acre contained a church.  In 1906, the Cleveland Short Line Railroad wanted to send its tracks right through the middle of the cemetery.  B’nai Jeshurun purchased a five-acre lot directly next door to the west at 13009 Shaw Avenue in Cleveland (the two cemeteries straddled the border of Cleveland and East Cleveland) and moved the graves there between 1906-1907.  A few years later, the church was demolished and the congregation moved farther east and now worships at Temple on the Heights.  Therefore, the 13009 Shaw Avenue cemetery was first known as Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery, and after relocating further east it became known as Glenville Cemetery or Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

B’NAI JESHURUN HUNGARIAN CONGREGATION CHURCH CEMETERY (their second cemetery) aka Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery aka Glenville Cemetery aka Temple on the Heights Cemetery – 13009 Shaw Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1906.  This was a five-acre cemetery immediately to the west of the first Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery which was in East Cleveland.  The two lots straddled the border of Cleveland and East Cleveland.  It was first called Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery, and after the congregation moved further east, it was called Glenville Cemetery or Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  **See both B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery entries for the entire story.  Records in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

BRAINARD CEMETERY aka Broadview Cemetery or Brooklyn Union Burial Ground – 2044 Broadview Road at the corner of Spring Road – Seth and Delilah Brainard established this cemetery in 1852, but the first burial was in 1821.  Some graves moved to Brooklyn Heights Cemetery.  Records at WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground from Historical Society of Old Brooklyn:  http://oldbrooklynhistory.org/BUBG/index.html

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground Inscriptions LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B9S3-1?i=658&cat=355654

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground Index LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B996-Z?i=601&cat=355654

BRECKSVILLE CEMETERY aka Center or Highland Cemetery – 9012 Highland Drive in Brecksville.  When it was founded is unknown, but the City of Brecksville took over ownership in 1941. Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Buried here are brothers, Robert and John Breck.  Brecksville is named after them, though they never lived in Brecksville.  These two brothers inherited land in Brecksville from their father, Robert Breck who died in 1802.  Records at City of Brecksville and WRHS.

https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.html

BROADVIEW CEMETERY aka Brainard Cemetery and Brooklyn Union Burial Ground – 2044 Broadview Road at the corner of Spring Road – Seth and Delilah Brainard established this cemetery in 1852, but the first burial was in 1821.  Some graves moved to Brooklyn Heights Cemetery.  Records at WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground from Historical Society of Old Brooklyn:  http://oldbrooklynhistory.org/BUBG/index.html

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B9S3-1?i=658&cat=355654

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground Index LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B996-Z?i=601&cat=355654

BROOKLYN CEMETERY aka Scranton Road Cemetery aka Fish Farm Cemetery aka German Lutheran Cemetery aka North Brooklyn Cemetery aka Wade Avenue Cemetery – at the southwest corner of Scranton and Wade Avenues – founded 1812 or 1819.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Information below from THE DEFINITIVE book “Scranton Road Cemetery, Cleveland Ohio,” by Cynthia Turk, 2004:

This cemetery had various names over the years:

Brooklyn Cemetery (1849)

Wade Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

Scranton Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery (1884)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1896)

German Lutheran Cemetery (1898, 1912, 1922)

Scranton Road Cemetery (1925)

The City of Cleveland purchased the cemetery in 1945.

There was a chapel on the site as early as 1896.  It was in poor condition in 1946.  It has since been demolished.

Scranton Road Cemetery (2 ½ acres) is located on the southwest corner of Scranton Road and Wade Avenue.  James Fish was the first permanent white settler in the territory that became Brooklyn.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  The fifth burial in this Fish family burying ground, was Mary Wilcox, mother-in-law of James Fish, who was buried in 1816.  This was supposedly on a half-acre lot near the present cemetery on Scranton Road, which was subsequently donated to the township as a public graveyard.  It is assumed that this is the west section of Scranton Cemetery today.  It has been suggested that the four previous graves were obliterated and may be under the current Scranton Road.  Mary Wilcox may have also been in that section and when the road was widened, the Fish family graves were moved to the current location in the west section.  One report in 1946 states that the date of opening of Scranton Road Cemetery was 1819.  A handwritten note in the city law director’s file states “Donated to Brooklyn Township April 28, 1839.”  A cemetery lot owner’s group got together when the township did not take care of the cemetery and called itself the North Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  In April of 1849, it was posted that a meeting would occur to incorporate an association which would call itself The Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  Francis Branch was the chairman and Edward Wade the Clerk of the meeting.  Trustees were appointed:  Martin Kellogg, Diodate Clark, Robert Selden, John Loper, Francis Branch, Benjamin Beavis and Edward VanHousen.  So, we see that this cemetery was first called Brooklyn Cemetery.  In the death records in the 1880s it was called Wade Avenue Cemetery, Scranton Avenue Cemetery, or North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1884, it was called North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery.  In 1896 it was North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1898, 1912, and 1922 it was called German Lutheran Cemetery.  In 1925, it was called Scranton Road Cemetery.  The chapel was seen on a map in 1896 with no roads leading to it.  In 1922 and 1937 there is a road.  The obituary of Andrew Bishop dated December 12, 1911 stated that services would be held in the chapel of Scranton Road Cemetery.  The building was in poor condition in 1946.  There is still an indentation in the ground where it stood.  A newspaper article stated that the cemetery land was given to old North Brooklyn Township by Francis Branch and its management entrusted to the cemetery associations, with the proviso that the back portion of the land be used for the burial of indigent persons.  It seems likely that the west end was Potters Field.  In 1942, the City of Cleveland wanted to acquire the cemetery because of its dilapidated condition.  The cemetery was finally purchased by the City of Cleveland in 1945.  In 1948 the city voted to enclose the cemetery with a chain link fence. 

BROOKLYN CENTRE BURYING GROUND aka Denison Cemetery – 2300 Garden Avenue (old Ellen Alley) – founded 1823.  This is a city-owned cemetery and its records are kept at Highland Park Cemetery. 

Interment Index: https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Denison Cemetery Inscriptions and Map LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B99B-Y?i=591&cat=355654

Denison Cemetery Inscriptions and Burial Register Transcript LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B996-Z?i=601&cat=355654

Denison Cemetery Inscriptions LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B9SM-F?i=622&cat=355654 https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/trans.html

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS CEMETERY - 4700 Broadview – incorporated 1902 and built on land owned by T.W. Brainard.  The Brainard homestead was located at the current site of 4582 State Road, and this building was used as the cemetery office for a while.  It was torn down in 1966.  A privately owned cemetery with records onsite.

https://www.brooklynheightscemetery.com

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/trans.html

BROOKLYN TOWNSHIP CEMETERY aka Monroe Street Cemetery (previously West Side Cemetery) – 3207 Monroe Avenue – founded 1836.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.

Records can be found here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ohio/cuyahoga.htm

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/trans.html

https://mscf1841.org/

Brooklyn Township purchased this land in 1836 from Josiah Barber and Richard Lord.  Barber and Lord stipulated it was to be used forever as a public burying ground.  When Ohio City was incorporated on March 3, 1836, the Brooklyn Township Cemetery became the city cemetery.  The deed was recorded in 1841.  The Ohio City Council legislated rules and regulations, appointed a sexton, platted the lots, and purchased a hearse.  In 1854, Ohio City was annexed to the City of Cleveland, and the cemetery became known as the “West Side Cemetery.”  Eventually it became known as Monroe Street Cemetery.  The gateway arch at the entrance of this cemetery was built in 1874 and is identical to the arch at Erie Street Cemetery.  The gatehouse was built in 1874 and was used for funerals and storage of records. 

BROOKLYN UNION BURIAL GROUND earlier known as Brainard/Broadview Cemetery - 2044 Broadview Road at the corner of Spring Road – Seth and Delilah Brainard established this cemetery in 1852, but the first burial was in 1821.  Some graves moved to Brooklyn Heights Cemetery.  Records at WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground from Historical Society of Old Brooklyn:  http://oldbrooklynhistory.org/BUBG/index.html

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B9S3-1?i=658&cat=355654

Brainard/Broadview/Brooklyn Union Burial Ground Index LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B996-Z?i=601&cat=355654

BROOKMERE CEMETERY - 3615 Broadview west of Pearl Road – founded August 23, 1836, but the first burial was in 1824.  The land was donated by Warren Young.  Mentioned In Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This is a city-owned cemetery and its records are kept at Highland Park Cemetery and here: 

https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B9S3-1?i=658&cat=355654

BURTON STREET CEMETERY aka St. Mary Catholic Cemetery – 2677 West 41st Street in Cleveland – founded 1861.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  The book People of Faith states this cemetery was established in 1861, however a map shows 1855. 

Records are onsite and at Holy Cross Cemetery and here:  https://www.clecem.org/

BUTTERNUT RIDGE CEMETERY – Route 252 and Butternut Ridge Road in North Olmsted – officially founded 1835, but the first burial was Isaac Scales in 1821.    Charles Hyde Olmsted, who owned one-third of what is now North Olmsted, donated the land for this cemetery in 1835.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Records are at Olmsted Historical Society, WRHS, and GenWeb Tombstones here:  http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ohio/cuyahoga.htm

Historical Marker:

Isaac Scales (1786-1821) settled on this site.  At his death, he was buried in his backyard.  A large rock marked his grave.  The land was reclaimed by Charles Olmsted who deeded it to the Township in 1835 for a public burial ground.  Early settlers and veterans, who fought in six American wars, including the Revolutionary, are buried here.  The crypt was built in 1879.

CAHOON CEMETERY aka Lakeside Cemetery – 29014 Lake Road in Bay Village – founded 1814.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Joseph Cahoon was the first settler in the northwest section of Cuyahoga County.  The Cahoons gave a lot of land to the city, as well as a park.  They also started the local library in their home.

Records at Bay Village Historical Society, WRHS and here: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/lakeside.txt

Most burials are shown here:  https://www.bayhistorical.com/lakeside-cemetery/

Historical Marker:

“Laid out in 1814, Lakeside Cemetery became the first public burying ground in Dover Township, an area that now includes Bay Village, Westlake, and the northern portion of North Olmsted. Reuben Osborn (1778-1860) arrived in Dover on October 10, 1810 but returned to New York. He settled on this land with his wife Sarah Johnson Osborn (1779-1856) and family in 1811, later purchasing most of the plot where the cemetery would be established from Philo Taylor. Sarah's sister, Rebecca Porter, and her infant son were the first to be buried here; they were killed when their boat capsized at the mouth of the Rocky River in 1814. Including land purchased in 1877, the cemetery currently spans half an acre. Although not recorded until 1879, there are over 270 known burials. Among those interned here are veterans from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I." 

CALVARY CEMETERY – 10000 Miles Road in Cleveland – founded 1893.  Calvary Cemetery is 330 acres in size, holding 310,000+ graves.  The flu epidemic at the end of World War I was the cause of the largest number of interments in a single day – November 4, 1918, when 81 people were buried.  Notable people buried here are:  Johnny Kilbane, Frank Battisti, Frank Lausche, Stella Walsh, Stanley J. Radwan (the Polish Strong Man), Frankie Yankovic, and the Kotecki Monument family.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Records onsite and at www.clecem.org

The largest cemetery in the Diocese of Cleveland, Calvary Cemetery is the resting place of a number of prominent Catholic industrialists and executives in Cleveland history. Calvary Cemetery is the third oldest cemetery in the Diocese of Cleveland.  Most of Calvary Cemetery lies within the boundaries of the City of Garfield Heights, though its address is in the City of Cleveland.  Leland Farm, located just six miles south of Cleveland Public Square, was purchased in 1893 for the development of Calvary Cemetery because it had long become evident that St. John and St. Joseph Cemeteries on Woodland Ave. were becoming too small for the 90,000 members of the city parishes.  There are 330 acres in Calvary Cemetery.  Calvary Cemetery is the final resting place to over 310,000 loved ones.  Milo Theater once stood across the street from the Miles Avenue entrance to Calvary Cemetery.  The theater opened in 1915 and closed in the 1950’s. The building was destroyed by fire in 2007 and later demolished.

CENTER CEMETERY aka Brecksville Cemetery and Highland Drive Cemetery – 9012 Highland Drive in Brecksville.  When it was founded is unknown, but the City of Brecksville took over ownership in 1941.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Buried here are brothers, Robert and John Breck.  Brecksville is named after them, though they never lived in Brecksville.  These two brothers inherited land in Brecksville from their father, Robert Breck who died in 1802. Records at City of Brecksville and WRHS. 

https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.html

CHESED SHEL-EMETH JEWISH CEMETERY aka Ridge Road #1 Cemetery – 3740 Ridge Road in Brooklyn – founded 1902.  Records in the Jewish Cemetery Database here: https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

CHESTNUT GROVE CEMETERY aka Olmsted Township Cemetery or Turkey Foot Cemetery – 7789 Lewis Road in Olmsted Falls.  Records onsite and at WRHS.

CHEWRA KADISHA CEMETERY aka Baxter Jewish Cemetery – 6615 Baxter Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1878.  The original incorporated name was Bohemian Chewra Kadisha Cemetery.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

CHIPPEWA BURIAL GROUND aka Indian Island aka Dead Man’s Island – on the largest of three islands located at the mouth of the Rocky River.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  The local Chippewa tribe buried their dead here.  In 1907 it was sold to the Lakewood Yacht Club, and in 1913 to the Cleveland Yacht Club, who currently owns the property.  The burial ground was beneath what is today the clubhouse and north parking lot. 

CHRISTIANSON CEMETERY aka Niels Cemetery, Peters Cemetery and Parma Early Settlers Cemetery – at State and Sprague Roads in Parma.  Abandoned.  Records at WRHS and at GenWeb Archives here:  http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/earset.txt

CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD COLUMBARIUM – 23599 Cedar Road in Lyndhurst. 

CLEMENS CEMETERY aka Clemons/Clemans/Clements Cemetery – Cahoon Road in Bay Village – founded 1827.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Evergreen Cemetery in 1878 and 1931.  Records at WRHS.    

One of the first cemeteries to exist in Dover Township (now Bay Village and Westlake.)  It was originally part of a 1,000-acre tract owned by Jedediah Crocker, and eventually was owned by the Eli Clemans family.  Today the site of the Clemans Farm Cemetery is near the southeast corner of the former Five Seasons Family Sports Club at 28105 Clemens Road in Westlake which was bought by Hyland Software in 2013.  The southeast corner of the sports club was on Cahoon Road.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

CLEVELAND CITY INFIRMARY CEMETERY aka Infirmary Cemetery – in the back parking lot at the end of MetroHealth Drive.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci. 

The current Cleveland Metropolitan “Metro” Hospital was first known as the Brooklyn Township Poor Farm.  In 1855, the city built the City Infirmary (also used as the house of correction,) when the original city hospital located at the eastern end of the Erie Street Cemetery closed. In 1889, it finally took the name Cleveland City Hospital, built next to the City Infirmary.  The administration building was built in the 1920s.  City Hospital on Scranton (aka Metro Health) had its own cemetery!  The cemetery was located on the bluff overlooking the Cuyahoga River.  It ran down the hill behind City Hospital toward the river.  It was located under what is today the parking lot at the end of Metro Health Drive.  There were little wooden grave markers placed on the graves.  This cemetery was in operation in the 1860s, and in 1886 people were complaining to City Council that the cemetery was terribly neglected.  Six skeletons were found lying ABOVE ground.  There were skulls, shinbones, and coffins tossed about.  People driving on Jennings Avenue could see the bodies on the hill.  In 1893, Valentine Avenue was being graded, just to the north of this cemetery.  They found many bones just below the level of the street.  In 1901, the city began construction of a new “Pest House”.  That Pest House later became the tuberculosis sanitarium and was on the south end of the City Hospital complex.  Construction workers again found bones, bodies, and coffins.  They were tossed aside.  The hospital had local boys collect the bones and the hospital made them into skeletons for teaching.  It’s really sad how disrespected these remains were.

CLEVELAND MEMORIAL GARDENS CEMETERY – 4324 Green Road in Highland Heights – founded 1999.  A city of Cleveland owned cemetery on Green Road south of Harvard.

CLEVELAND MEMORIAL PARK aka Potters’ Field aka Highland Park – Green Road north of Harvard – founded 1904.  It is included with and attached to Highland Park Cemetery.  This is an indigent section/Potters’ Field, with the entrance located on the West side of Green Road between Chagrin Blvd. and Harvard Avenue.  There are no headstones in this section, however, there is a large boulder with a metal plate on it that says: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 

Records are at Highland Park and at this link under Highland Park:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://foundinohio.com/2023/07/01/clevelands-partially-hidden-potters-field/

CLEVELAND PEST HOUSE BURIAL GROUND – aka West Park Cemetery - at the southern edge of West Park Cemetery – founded 1876.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  The Cleveland City Pest House was a contagious disease hospital.  It was originally built as a two-story brick farmhouse and winery by brothers Christoph and Captain Frederick Silberg on what was then called Shunpike Road.  It consisted of 61 acres of land.  Prior to the winery, which was the largest in the area, Christoph operated the Cuyahoga House, a boardinghouse on the west side of the flats in 1845.  Frederick was an organizer of the German City Guard.  In 1872, Christoph and Frederick, and their wives Wilhelmine and Catherine, sold the farm to the City of Cleveland for $30,000 to be used as a pest house.  The new hospital opened in 1876.  There was a small cemetery on the premises.  The pest house closed in 1898, and patients were transferred to a new pest house at the Cleveland City Infirmary on Scranton Road.  The pest house was burned down in 1898 and the rest of the land cleared.  West Park Cemetery opened on the site in 1899.

CLEVELAND STATE HOSPITAL CEMETERY – Turney Road in Cleveland.  Originally known as the Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum, this was the second of six public asylums established in Ohio in the 1850’s.  In later years it was commonly known as Newburgh State Hospital (due to its location in Newburgh Township) or Turney Tech.  The hospital building was razed in 1977 and the state sold off all the land.

CLEVELAND VILLAGE CEMETERY aka Ontario Street Cemetery – Ontario Street south of Public Square beginning at Prospect Avenue south to Huron Road in Cleveland – founded 1797.  The precursor to Erie Street Cemetery.  Abandoned.  300 graves were moved to Erie Street Cemetery in 1826.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

Cleveland’s first cemetery site was chosen on July 4, 1797 and was located just south of Public Square on what is now roughly the southeast corner of Ontario and Prospect Streets.  The city’s first death had occurred the day before.  A few days previous, Seth Pease and some of his party rowed up the Cuyahoga River.  Others were traveling by land from Conneaut with horses and cattle, among them Amzi Atwater, a surveyor, and David Eldridge, an employee.  Reaching the Grand River, they found no means of crossing but in an old Indian canoe.  Mounting one horse he knew to be a good swimmer; Atwater directed his men to drive the others after him.  Halfway across, he heard a scream.  Looking back, he saw two men struggling in the water.  Their horses had parted from them.  One reached shore, but David Eldridge drowned.  The men built a raft and searched for two hours before they recovered the body.  The body was brought to Cleveland on June 3rd.  The Seth Pease journal of the next day stated: “This morning selected a piece of land for a burying ground, the north parts of Lots 97 and 98.”  Many of those buried here were Cleveland’s original settlers.  The earliest “headstone” in Cuyahoga County was that of Rebekah Carter, a three-year-old daughter of first founder of Cleveland, Major Lorenzo Carter.  She died on August 14, 1803.  Some other notable individuals buried there were:  Peleg Washburn (8/7/1797) and William Andrews (9/7/1797), members of the surveying party; David Clark, pioneer merchant in 1806; Judge Daniel Kelley in 1813; Major Nathan Perry 1813; Judge John Walworth 1812.

If you began at the northeast corner of Ontario and Prospect, the cemetery ran south along the eastern side of Ontario Avenue continuing south to Huron Road.  Prospect Avenue did not exist until 1831, but now runs through what was the northern end of this cemetery.   At the intersection of Ontario and Prospect north of Prospect stood Bailey’s Store and the May Company garage.  South of Prospect Street later stood the Mechanic’s Block building, then Richman Brothers Building.  In 2023, it held the Jack Casino parking garage. 

On December 2, 1825, since land near the center of town was becoming more valuable, one Hiram Hunt, owner of Lots 97 and 98, gave notice that he intended to build on these lots and no further burials would be permitted.  So, in 1826, Leonard Case Sr. purchased just over 10 acres of land on the outskirts of Cleveland Village, and turned that land over to the city for one dollar for the purpose of becoming Erie Street Cemetery at 2291 East 9th Street.  That same year, the remains of nearly 300 early Cleveland residents were moved from Ontario Street Burying Ground to the new Erie Street Cemetery.  There is a concrete slab at Erie Street Cemetery that contains the headstones moved from the Ontario Street Burying Ground. 

A November 1, 1845 Plain Dealer article recalls a man named Abraham Hickox, otherwise referred to as “Uncle Abram.”   He was a blacksmith and sexton, particularly during the memorable seasons of the Cholera.  He was the only man who had the moral courage to discharge the duty of burying the dead.  He removed the occupants of the old graveyard where the Mechanic’s Block was located to the new Erie Street Cemetery.  He had always taken a paternal interest in the arrangement and supervision of the cemeterial grounds. He died October 31, 1845.  He was originally from Connecticut and came to Cleveland in 1807.

COE RIDGE CEMETERY – at Lorain and Walter Roads near Columbia in North Olmsted.  Records at the City of North Olmsted and WRHS.

CROSIER FAMILY CEMETERY – on the east side of old Glen Ridge Road between Euclid Cemetery and Highland Road on the Lt. John and Jason Crosier property across from East 204th Street – founded 1823.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Euclid Cemetery which was directly to the west of Crosier Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

CROSSVIEW CEMETERY – 3091 Rockside Road in Seven Hills – founded 1852.  Abandoned.  Records at City of Seven Hills and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

CUTTING CEMETERY aka Ansel Young Family Cemetery – located under the sidewalk at the northwest corner of Spring and Jennings Roads.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  It was first owned by Ansel and Elizabeth (Brainard) Young.  Later it sat on a farm owned by Milton and Maggie Cutting.  The Jennings Commons Apartments occupy the rest of the Old Ansel Young place. 

DARROW FAMILY CEMETERY – on the south side of Old Rockside Road across from 171 Old Rockside Road near the intersection of Pinnacle Park Drive in Seven Hills – first burial 1860.  Only Darrow family members are buried here.  Mrs. Darrow died along with her twin girls during childbirth.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Records here:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/darrow.html

http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ohio/cuyahoga.htm

https://foundinohio.com/2024/01/10/finding-darrow-family-cemetery/

DAY FAMILY BURYING GROUND – East 166th between St. Clair and Wayside – founded 1840 by Benjamin Day.   Abandoned.  Graves moved to Euclid and East Cleveland Cemeteries.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  For decades the cemetery passed to various family members, until 1904, when they sold it to Ella Dorrance, who wanted to create a subdivision there.  Dorrance Avenue was completed in 1905, and in 1906 it became East 166th Street.   

DEAD MAN’S ISLAND CEMETERY aka Chippewa Burial Ground and Indian Island – on the largest of three islands located at the mouth of the Rocky River.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  The local Chippewa tribe buried their dead here.  In 1907 it was sold to the Lakewood Yacht Club, and in 1913 to the Cleveland Yacht Club, who currently owns the property.  The burial ground was beneath what is today the clubhouse and north parking lot. 

DEMLINE CEMETERY aka Demaline aka McDowell – on the west side of Chagrin River Road 600 feet south of Brigham Road in Gates Mills – founded 1830.  Abandoned.  The majority of burials were members of the Demaline/Dimline/Dimaline, and Demline family.  The stones of those buried here were moved to Gates Mills North Cemetery.  Records at Gates Mills Village Hall and WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci. 

DENISON STREET CEMETERY aka Brooklyn Centre Burying Ground – 2300 Garden Avenue (old Ellen Alley) – founded 1823.  It was taken over by the City of Cleveland after 1894.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Notable people buried here are:  John B. Denison (1799-1857), Alexander Ingham (1763-1858) and Ebenezer Fish (1757-1827), Revolutionary War soldiers, and the following Civil War soldiers:  Newton J. Doolittle, Peter G. Schneider, Edward Sawtell, Simeon Wallace and Crawford Brainard.

Records at Highland Park Cemetery and here:

Interment Index: https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Denison Cemetery Inscriptions and Map LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B99B-Y?i=591&cat=355654

Denison Cemetery Inscriptions and Burial Register Transcript LDS:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B996-Z?i=601&cat=355654

Denison Cemetery Inscriptions LDS: 

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-B9SM-F?i=622&cat=355654

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/trans.html

DeVOE FAMILY CEMETERY aka Johnson Family Cemetery – northeast edge of Russell Avenue Park across from 24830 Russell Avenue in Euclid – founded shortly after 1843.  Abandoned.  Abraham Johnson Jr. was born in Pennsylvania in 1791. He was a Corporal in the War of 1812 in the New York Militia. After the war he married Sarah Ann DeVoe. They arrived in Euclid Ohio in 1827 and established a farm on this property where family members were laid to rest. There are no visible grave markers in this cemetery. Abraham and Sarah relocated to Michigan and are buried there.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

DOAN’S CORNERS CEMETERY – East 105th (old Doan Street) and Euclid Avenue – officially founded in 1823, but the first burial was in 1821. Abandoned.  Doan’s Corners was a community at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Doan Street (now East 105th) named after Nathaniel Doan who came to Cleveland in 1797.  Most of those buried here were moved to East Cleveland Cemetery.  Today this is the location of the northern parking lot of the Ronald McDonald House on the northwest corner of East 105th and Euclid.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

DOVER CENTER CEMETERY aka St. John’s Episcopal Churchyard – on the west side of Dover Center Road behind the third house north of Center Ridge Road – founded 1824.  Abandoned.  This graveyard was primarily the burial site of the Smith and Lilly families who owned land including and surrounding it.  The Smiths were three brothers – Sylvanus, Abner, and Jonathan.  The Lilly brothers – Albinus, Austin, Jesse, and Bethuel, were founders of St. John’s Episcopal Church of Dover in 1837.  The church was between the cemetery lot and Dover Center Road.  By 1850, the congregation had disbanded.  The last burial at the cemetery was in 1875.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

EAST CLEVELAND TOWNSHIP CEMETERY aka Wade Park Cemetery – 1621 East 118th Street – founded 1849.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  The Township of East Cleveland purchased land from the Oumick family for a cemetery.  The land is now in the City of Cleveland.  Notable people buried here are:  Banks Custer, second cousin of General George Custer; Philip Cody, grandfather of Buffalo Bill Cody; Hezekiah Ford and Adonijah Edwards, privates in the Revolutionary War; and Samuel Cozad, who owned the land where CWRU and Lakeview Cemetery now stand, and an Underground Railroad operator.

Records at East Cleveland Service Department, WRHS, and here:  http://www.ectcf.org/information_links/burial_search.aspx

MOSES EDELSTEIN CEMETERY – Fremont Street (new Lansing Avenue) at East 57th Street next to Harvard Grove Cemetery – founded 1823-1905.  Abandoned.  Three burials mentioned in the Plain Dealer in 1900.  This cemetery is mentioned in “All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone,” 1897: “Moses Edelstein Cemetery, adjoining Kenneth Israel Cemetery at the corner of Fremont Avenue and East 57th Street.”  Also at this intersection was Agadath Achim Cemetery.

EDWARDS FAMILY CEMETERY aka Gleason Family Cemetery – 16605 Hilliard Road on the south side of Hilliard Road under the third driveway east of Eldred Ave. in Lakewood – founded mid-1840s, last burial in 1898.  This cemetery was on the property of Jeremiah D. Gleason.  The Edwards connection is through Jeremiah’s daughter, Elizabeth Nancy Gleason, who married Roswell Randall Edwards.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Evergreen Cemetery in Westlake in 1908.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

ENGLE ROAD CEMETERY aka St. Adalbert Catholic Cemetery – 18300 Bagley Road near the northwest corner of Bagley and Engle Roads in Middleburg Heights – founded 1873.  Parish cemetery for St. Adelbert Catholic Church at 66 Adelbert Street, in Berea.  Records are located at the church and at WRHS.

ERIE STREET CEMETERY – 2291 East 9th Street in Cleveland – founded 1826 but oldest burial 1803 (Rebecca Carter who was moved here from Ontario Street Cemetery) – Cleveland’s oldest existing cemetery.  Graves from Cleveland’s first cemetery, Cleveland Village Cemetery aka Ontario Street Cemetery, were moved to Erie Street Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Notable people buried here are:  Lorenzo Carter, Cleveland’s first permanent resident; John Malvin, a freed slave who worked the Underground Railroad; Benjamin Rouse; Chief Joc-O-Sot, a Sauk Indian chief; Chief Thunderwater, an Indian spiritual leader; and those who were buried in Cleveland’s first cemetery, the Ontario Street Burying Ground.Records can be found here: 

Interment Index: https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

Cleveland City Owned Images:  https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Erie Street Burials before 1841 Extract from Gresser’s Book:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/erie1840.html

Erie Street – Burial and Removals from Erie Street Cemetery 1840-1918 by John Gresser from Cleveland Public Library: https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p128201coll0/id/3166/

ERIE STREET CEMETERY

7-20-1940 Cleveland Plain Dealer

REDEDICATING THE ERIE STREET CEMETERY by S.J. Kelly

For all time, the Erie Street Cemetery comes into its own tomorrow.  Restored after 114 years of its existence, during which it has weathered various conditions and met varying fortunes, the historical burial ground will be accepted for the city of Cleveland by Mayor Harold H. Burton – forever to remain in the municipality’s care, undisturbed.  Thomas A. Knight, secretary of the Early Settlers Association, will see completed a project for which he worked and planned with his board of assistants including Leo Weidenthal, publisher of the Jewish Independent, and Chief Thunderwater, representing native Americans in memory of “Joc-O-Sot,” the Indian actor whose resting place will be marked by a new monolith, dedicated with tribal ceremonies.  What is the history of Erie Street Cemetery?  In 1826, Leonard Case and others planned a burial tract far out on a wooded road.  Deeded to the village, it contained 10 ¼ acres and was first called the City Cemetery.  But two acres were laid out in paths and lots.  Choice of this primeval forest land remote from the Public Square was the outcome of a notice served by Hiram Hunt on December 2, 1825, that as owner he intended to occupy the lots of the first Ontario Street burying ground for building purposes, and no further interments would be permitted.  The first burial in Erie Street Cemetery was that of Minerva M. White, infant daughter of Moses and Mary White, in September of 1827.  Although published notices of that year record that Mary White, aged 16, died in the Village of Cleveland on November 6, 1827, they make no mention of the child’s burial.  No list of the sale of lots or burials previous to 1840 are thought to exist, but a decade after the first interment the city sexton’s report for 1837 shows 237 were buried in Cleveland.  Erie Street Cemetery was the only one within the corporation.  The old Ontario Street ground began at the south end of the May Co.’s store and ran along the east side of Ontario Street.  Before Prospect Avenue was cut through in 1831, remains of pioneers were removed to the Erie Street Cemetery, and with the imposing west entrance at the left today is the new memorial marking the graves of Lorenzo and Rebecca Carter, the first permanent white settlers.  The original tombstones are imbedded in concrete with modern bronze tablets.  This restoration was made in 1938 by Mrs. Jessie Carter Martin, 2861 Berkshire Road, great-granddaughter of the first lone residents at the mouth of the Cuyahoga.  Family records show that Daniel Kelley and his wife, Jemima Kelley, were re-interred in Erie Street Cemetery, and a long row of tablets south of the main drive are to the memory of those removed from the older burial ground.  In 1840 the entire Erie Street Cemetery was re-platted in 12 sections with 200 to 300 lots in each.  From that time, a careful record was kept.  All lots were practically sold by 1860.  In 1870, the wooden fence surrounding the spot was replaced by a high iron structure, and in 1871 the impressive Gothic gateway on Erie Street was completed at a cost of $8,296.  With the passing years Ashbel Walworth, Charles R. Giddings, Horace Perry, Seth Doan, Capt. M. Gaylord, Nathan Perry, Peter M. Weddell and Zalmon Fitch were among leaders buried there.  Any day recently you could walk through the cemetery and see the monument of Judge James Kingsbury, the solemn granite shaft of Leonard Case, the dark heavy memorial of Melancthon Barnett, and the low tomb of Joseph Weatherly near the main drive.  At the far eastern end, close to old Brownell (E. 14th Street) you find the family plot of Samuel Dodge, early pioneer, and toward the southeast can be seen the family plot of Judge Thomas Bolton.  Passing over a period of more than 40 years, during which the abandonment of the old cemetery was discussed, many removals were made, and strips taken off the enclosure’s north and south sides. Effacement of the historic burying ground was urged as an advancement in the interest of the city.  But now we come to the rededication of the restored Erie Street Cemetery of today.  A high stone wall now surrounds it, new sidewalks have been laid, all walks re-graveled, and a new entrance erected at East 14th Street, all by the combined efforts of the Early Settlers, the City Planning Commission, the WPA, and others.

EUCLID CEMETERY – 20239 Concordia Drive in Euclid just west of the Crosier Family Cemetery – founded 1864.  Records can be found at the City of Euclid and the Euclid Historical Society and WRHS.

Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

EUCLID STOP 8 CEMETERY aka First Baptist Church & Society Burying Ground – at the rear of 1410 Chardon Road in Euclid – founded 1811.  Abandoned.    It was on the John Wilcox farm.  Graves were moved to Euclid Cemetery and the cemetery was destroyed.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Records can be found at WRHS. 

EUCLID TOWNSHIP CEMETERY aka Old Pelton’s Corners Burial Ground aka Peters Farm Cemetery – 218 Richmond Road near the intersection of Chardon and Richmond Roads in Richmond Heights – first burial 1817.  Abandoned.  Abraham Bishop owned the land and then sold it to Jonathan Pelton.  It then passed through various owners until Jacob and Barbara Peters purchased it in 1880.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Most of the graves were moved to Euclid Cemetery.  Records can be found at WRHS. 

EVERGREEN HILL CEMETERY – 506 South Franklin Street in Chagrin Falls – founded 1863.  Records can be found at Chagrin Falls Library, Chagrin Falls Historical Society, WRHS, and can be searched here:  http://ehcbow.cemeterydata.com/index_html/burial_search

From Chagrin Falls Historical Society:

The Village of Chagrin Falls possesses two historic cemeteries, Grove Hill Cemetery and Evergreen Hill Cemetery. These two cemeteries serve as the burial grounds for a variety of prominent Chagrin residents and war veterans. The first burial was made in Grove Hill during the year Chagrin Falls was founded, in 1833. The Village of Chagrin Falls went on to establish the Evergreen cemetery in 1863 for residents of the village and township. Today, both cemeteries continue to serve as an important reflection of Chagrin’s rich history and past.

EVERGREEN MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY – 5505 Northfield Road in Bedford Heights – founded 1938.  Records are onsite.

EVERGREEN PLACE (the estate of Governor Ruben Hazen Wood) – the southwest corner of Wagar Road and Avalon Drive in Rocky River – first burial 1839.  Evergreen Place was the residence of Ruben Hazen Wood, Ohio’s 21st governor.  He came to Cleveland in 1818.  The first burial was his mother, Lucretia Lockwood in 1839.  Governor Wood died in 1864.  In 1865, their two bodies were moved to Woodland Cemetery and Governor Wood received a new headstone.  Many years later, two tombstones were discovered at Evergreen Place, likely the original tombstones of the Governor and his mother.    Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

EVERGREEN WESTLAKE – 29535 Center Ridge Road in Westlake – founded about 1820.  Records can be found at WRHS.

Historical marker:

Evergreen Cemetery, located on Center Ridge Road in Westlake, just west of Porter Road, was founded about 1820 on land donated by Leverett Johnson and several others.  The cemetery’s approximately 16 acres is the burial place for many of the American pioneers who cleared the land and settled in the area.  They include Asher and Lydia Cooley; Jedediah, Sarah, and Noah Crocker; Daniel Follett; Rial Holden; Leverett and Abigail Johnson; Ebenezer, Aurelia, Nehemiah, Rebekah, Wells and Philena Porter; Abner, Rebecca, Isaac, Betsey, John, and Jonathan Smith; Amos, Dorcas, Hannah, Amos R. and Ruth Sperry; Joseph and Jane Stocking; and Jasher, John, and Abigail Taylor.  Owned and maintained by the city of Westlake, Evergreen Cemetery has had more than 3,800 interments as of 2011.

FAIRVIEW PARK CEMETERY aka Old Rockport Cemetery or Rockport Pioneer Cemetery – 19469 Lorain Road at West 196th Street – founded 1861 – first burial 1830.  Records can be found at WRHS.

https://fairviewparkcemetery.org/

FARR CEMETERY – 22953 Detroit Road between Clague and West 210th Street across from Brickmill Run at Westwood Country Club.  It is behind a partial fence off the parking lot of St. Peregrine Chapel but is not associated with that church.  It is also behind the maintenance garage of the adjacent Westwood Country Club.  Abandoned.  This property was part of a 49-acre farm purchased by Aurelius Farr in 1820.  In 1913, the property was purchased by the Ridge View Land Company, who planned to create a country club there.  Most of the Farr family were re-interred at Butternut Ridge Cemetery in North Olmsted.  The Westwood Country Club took over the property in 1926 and built the golf course.  The northwest corner of the cemetery is today the site of St. Peregrine’s Chapel.  Just beyond the St. Peregrine’s parking lot can be found the tombstones for the Dean and Taylor families who were also buried there.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

FIR STREET JEWISH CEMETERY aka Anshe Emeth aka B’nai Abraham aka Hungarian Aid Society aka Peach Street Jewish Cemetery – 6015 Fir Avenue in Cleveland between Bayne Court, Fir Avenue (called Peach Street in 1881), West 59th Street and West 61st Street – founded 1865.  The original incorporated name was Fir Street - Hungarian Aid Society.  It is Cleveland’s second oldest Jewish Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH & SOCIETY BURYING GROUND aka Euclid Stop 8 Cemetery – at the rear of 1410 Chardon Road in Euclid – founded 1811.  Abandoned. It was on the John Wilcox farm.  Graves were moved to Euclid Cemetery and the cemetery was destroyed.  Records can be found at WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY aka Nelaview Cemetery – 16200 Euclid Avenue between Nela Avenue and Hillsboro Road in East Cleveland – founded 1807.  Records at First Presbyterian Church, 16200 Euclid Avenue and at WRHS.  Andrew McIlrath, who served in the Revolutionary War, donated the land for this cemetery in 1807.  William H. Beecher preached at this church.  He was the son of Rev. Lyman Beecher, and brother of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Buried here are pioneer families by the names of Condit, Cozad, Eddy, McIlrath, Ruple, and Shaw.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

FISH FARM CEMETERY aka Scranton Road Cemetery aka Brooklyn Cemetery aka German Lutheran Cemetery aka North Brooklyn Cemetery aka Wade Avenue Cemetery – at the southwest corner of Scranton and Wade Avenues – founded 1812 or 1819.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Information below from THE DEFINITIVE book “Scranton Road Cemetery, Cleveland Ohio,” by Cynthia Turk, 2004:

This cemetery had various names over the years:

Brooklyn Cemetery (1849)

Wade Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

Scranton Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery (1884)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1896)

German Lutheran Cemetery (1898, 1912, 1922)

Scranton Road Cemetery (1925)

The City of Cleveland purchased the cemetery in 1945.

There was a chapel on the site as early as 1896.  It was in poor condition in 1946.  It has since been demolished.

Scranton Road Cemetery (2 ½ acres) is located on the southwest corner of Scranton Road and Wade Avenue.  James Fish was the first permanent white settler in the territory that became Brooklyn.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  The fifth burial in this Fish family burying ground, was Mary Wilcox, mother-in-law of James Fish, who was buried in 1816.  This was supposedly on a half-acre lot near the present cemetery on Scranton Road, which was subsequently donated to the township as a public graveyard.  It is assumed that this is the west section of Scranton Cemetery today.  It has been suggested that the four previous graves were obliterated and may be under the current Scranton Road.  Mary Wilcox may have also been in that section and when the road was widened, the Fish family graves were moved to the current location in the west section.  One report in 1946 states that the date of opening of Scranton Road Cemetery was 1819.  A handwritten note in the city law director’s file states “Donated to Brooklyn Township April 28, 1839.”  A cemetery lot owner’s group got together when the township did not take care of the cemetery and called itself the North Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  In April of 1849, it was posted that a meeting would occur to incorporate an association which would call itself The Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  Francis Branch was the chairman and Edward Wade the Clerk of the meeting.  Trustees were appointed:  Martin Kellogg, Diodate Clark, Robert Selden, John Loper, Francis Branch, Benjamin Beavis and Edward VanHousen.  So, we see that this cemetery was first called Brooklyn Cemetery.  In the death records in the 1880s it was called Wade Avenue Cemetery, Scranton Avenue Cemetery, or North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1884, it was called North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery.  In 1896 it was North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1898, 1912, and 1922 it was called German Lutheran Cemetery.  In 1925, it was called Scranton Road Cemetery.  The chapel was seen on a map in 1896 with no roads leading to it.  In 1922 and 1937 there is a road.  The obituary of Andrew Bishop dated December 12, 1911 stated that services would be held in the chapel of Scranton Road Cemetery.  The building was in poor condition in 1946.  There is still an indentation in the ground where it stood.  A newspaper article stated that the cemetery land was given to old North Brooklyn Township by Francis Branch and its management entrusted to the cemetery associations, with the proviso that the back portion of the land be used for the burial of indigent persons.  It seems likely that the west end was Potters Field.  In 1942, the City of Cleveland wanted to acquire the cemetery because of its dilapidated condition.  The cemetery was finally purchased by the City of Cleveland in 1945.  In 1948 the city voted to enclose the cemetery with a chain link fence. 

FITZWATER FAMILY PLOT – located on private property near Fitzwater & Riverview Roads in Brecksville, specifically on a ten-foot easement along the east side of 9563 Park Place Drive, 300’ back from the road, which is off Brookview Road, which is off Fitzwater Road – founded 1848.  It was the largest family cemetery in Brecksville.  This cemetery was on John and Sabra Fitzwater’s 103-acre farm in the northeast corner of Brecksville Township.   Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci. https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.html

FOOTE FAMILY PLOT – located at the end of the driveway of 102 East Schaaf Road and is down in the valley - founded 1922 by the Foote family and was on land donated by J.L. Foote. 

MABEL FOOTE & LOUISE WOLF MEMORIAL PARK – located on West 25th Street under the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo sign at the south end of the Brooklyn/Brighton Bridge.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  These ladies were teachers in Parma who were murdered on February 16, 1921.  They are not buried here. 

Louise and Mabel taught at Parma High School which was located at Ridge and Bean Roads (Ridge and Ridgewood today).  On February 16, 1921, they were walking from the school, heading towards State Road and Bean Road to catch a trolley to head home to Old Brooklyn.  They were murdered while walking together.  Either of the women could have run, but they stuck together to fight their attacker.  In 1932 a small park called Foote Park was dedicated to the memory of the two teachers at the south end of the Brookside Bridge (W. 25th and the entrance to Brookside Park aka Wildlife Way).  The memorial reads:  "In Memory of Mabel Foote and Louise Wolf - Died Feb. 16, 1921.  Erected by Cuyahoga County Teachers."   Mabel Foote was buried in her family's private cemetery and it is unknown where Louise Wolf was buried.  The crime was never solved.

TWO WOMEN BEATEN TO DEATH WITH CLUB - Bodies of School Teachers Are Found on a Desolate Road Outside Cleveland. - NO CLUE TO MURDERERS - Marks in Snow Indicate Women Put Up a Desperate Struggle Against Assailants.  (New York Times February 18, 1921) - CLEVELAND - Two school teachers in the Parma High School, near here, Miss Louise Wolf, aged 38, and Miss Mabel Foote, age 24, were found beaten to death early today on a desolate road not far from the school.  Marks in the snow and a piece of bloodstained timber near the bodies indicated that the two women had put up a desperate fight for their lives before they were brutally murdered.  Police dogs were put on the trail of the murderers after deputy sheriffs and detectives had been unable to find any clues.  J.D. Loder, Parma Township Trustee, informed the police that two bareheaded men, whose clothes were spattered with mud, passed his home about 6 o'clock last night.  The bodies were on a path alongside Bean Road.  Nearby was a heavy fence post spattered with blood, with which the heads of the two women were crushed.  The two teachers left the school at 5 p.m. and walked toward State Road to catch a street car there.  There are only a few houses on Bean Road and none where the murder actually took place.  The murderers are believed to have been hiding beside the fence.  Miss Foote hit her assailant with her umbrella, breaking off the point.  Both women used their fists, their knuckles being broken where they had been hit with clubs.  Footprints in the snow indicate that they struggled back and forth along the roadway, crashing into the fence and knocking down posts.  But the blows from the murderers' clubs soon subdued the two women.  The umbrella used by Miss Foote was found beside her body.  About 150 feet away was her wristwatch.  It had stopped at 5:15. The body of Miss Wolf lay face downward.  Her pocketbook was found underneath her body.  One of her rubbers was found beside her body; the other was still on her foot.  A short distance from her was a black handbag which had been carried by Miss Foote.  Its contents, including some garments, were scattered on the ground.  Miss Foote's pocketbook also was on the ground.  Footprints led from the scene of the murder to a real estate allotment nearby.  There they were lost.

A $10,000 reward was offered by the Board of County Commissioners for information that would lead to the arrest of the murderer.  Two hundred farmers, business and professional men living in the vicinity met and pledged to use every effort to run down the murderer.  However, no one was caught.  In 1921, a Fred Gettling confessed to the murders and was sent to Lima State Hospital for the criminal insane.  Then, in December of 1930, the murder case was reopened when private parties turned over new circumstantial evidence which came to nothing.

In the 1910 census Mabel was living with her parents and siblings on Schaaf Road in Brooklyn Heights.  Her parents were Joel and Ella, and her siblings were Milly, Joes Jr., Aaron and Kenneth.   She was also living with her parents and siblings in the 1920 census as well.  Her obituary reads:  Mabel Foote, beloved daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Foote, Brooklyn Heights, suddenly, Wednesday, February 16, age 24 years.  Funeral services at the Pearl Road M.E. church, Saturday, February 19, at 2:30 p.m.   I was unable to find an obituary or burial information for Louise Wolf.

FOSDICK FAMILY CEMETERY aka Green Family Cemetery – 5811 Canal Road at the northeast corner of Fosdick Road in Valley View.  Abandoned.  William and Hepsibeth Green purchased a 40-acre tract in at what is today the northeast corner of Canal and Fosdick Roads in Valley View from Jeremiah Wilcox in 1831 and built a sandstone house there.  There was a burial plot just north of this house and another just south of it.  In 1847, the Green’s daughter, Emily, married Moses Quimby Fosdick, son of Henry Crawford Fosdick of Tuscarawas County.  William Green died in 1865, but Emily and Moses continued to live in the Green house.  The property was sold to Norton Construction Company in 1960 and the sandstone house was torn down that year.  The graves were supposedly moved to Maple Shade Cemetery, but there is no Fosdick monument there.  Today the site of the former burial plots is located on the front lawn of 5811 Canal Road in Valley View.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

FOWLES FAMILY PLOT – 18480 Fowles Road, Middleburg Hts.  Records at WRHS.

FREMONT JEWISH CEMETERY aka Ansel Cemetery aka Ansel Road Jewish Cemetery aka Lansing Avenue Jewish Cemetery aka Newburgh Cemetery – The cemetery has an address of 5716 Lansing Avenue in Cleveland and is located on the north side of Harvard Avenue between East 55th and East 64th Streets.  The entrance is at 3933 East 57th Street.  Founded 1886-1890.  Ansel Road Cemetery, was not on Ansel Road, but was a subsection of Lansing Cemetery.  The cemetery was previously known as the Fremont Cemetery. Some undertakers referred to the cemetery as the Ansel Cemetery, especially those graves in the OCAS section and perhaps others that are near Lansing Avenue, mostly in the 1911 – 1912 timeframe. Those undertakers using the name Ansel Cemetery were D.H. Rosenstein and Groh. The cemetery is 8 acres in size. The cemetery abuts Harvard Grove Cemetery.  Records are onsite, at WRHS, and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

FROELICH FAMILY PLOT – Located on Broadview Road between Chestnut and Hillside Drive between 7001 and 6981 Broadview Road in Seven Hills. 

Records at WRHS and here: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/froeh.html

From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

The Froehlich Family Cemetery is located in Seven Hills, on Broadview Road. This family cemetery is said to have had, at one time, over fifty tombstones. The oldest stone located in the cemetery is dated 1830. The last burial took place in 1891.  Item of note for the history of this cemetery is that the parents of the founder and first Mayor of Seven Hills, Henry Froehlich, are buried here. They were Jacob and Sophia Froehlich. Buried near the rear of the cemetery, is the tombstone of Sgt. Henry Lutz, who was killed in the Civil War.

The Other Froehlich House by Irene D. Toth in the Parma Observer:

https://parmaobserver.com/read/2015/03/01/the-other-froehlich-house

GARDNER FAMILY PLOT aka Fuller Cemetery aka Lovejoy Cemetery – West side of Big Creek Parkway two houses north of Main Street and just before the high-tension power lines, behind the garage of the residence there, just north of the bluff of Baldwin Creek in Middleburg Heights – founded 1836.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Woodvale Union Cemetery at the northeast corner of Engle and Fowles Roads.  Buried here were members of the following families:  Solomon and Syrena Lovejoy, Paul and Isabel Gardner, and Jeremiah and Roxy Fuller.    Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

GATES FAMILY PLOT – It sits just to the north of the last house on the left at the north end of Grant Blvd., behind Middleburg Central Park on Bagley Road in Middleburg Heights – founded 1852.  Abandoned.  This cemetery was on the property of Stephen and Elizabeth Gates.  Graves moved to Woodvale Union Cemetery in 1881.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

GATES MILLS NORTH CEMETERY aka Riverside North – On Chagrin River Road between Sherman and Brigham Roads in Gates Mills – founded 1810.  It was once part of a family farm.  It originally contained 1.25 acres until 1969 when it was expanded to 2.93 acres.  Some graves moved to Woodland Cemetery.  Records at Gates Mills Village Hall and WRHS.

GATES MILLS SOUTH CEMETERY aka Riverside South – On Chagrin River Road just south of Old Mill Road in Gates Mills.  It once served as a private cemetery for the Dean Family.  It originally contained two acres and was increased to three acres in 1957.  Records at Gates Mills Village Hall and WRHS.

GERMAN LUTHERAN CEMETERY aka Parma Public Cemetery aka York Street Cemetery – Pleasant Valley & York Roads in Parma – founded 1835.  Records at Western Reserve Historical Society.  Included within this cemetery is the German Lutheran Cemetery.  York Street Cemetery was founded in 1835 by Levi and Susannah Bartholomew when they buried an infant child on their property at the base of a large maple tree. The cemetery continued to be used until the last two burials, Carl and Hulda Kaiser, were buried there in 1986 and 1987 respectively. Over time the cemetery became neglected and unused until the York Street Cemetery Association was founded in 2000 by Charles K. Jennings, Jr., and Myrtis Litman. The association began taking care of the cemetery and officially made its name York Street Cemetery and placed a sign at the front of the cemetery. No more burials are permitted in the cemetery. 

GERMAN LUTHERAN CEMETERY aka Scranton Road Cemetery aka Brooklyn Cemetery aka Fish Farm Cemetery aka North Brooklyn Cemetery aka Wade Avenue Cemetery – at the southwest corner of Scranton and Wade Avenues – founded 1812 or 1819.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Information below from THE DEFINITIVE book “Scranton Road Cemetery, Cleveland Ohio,” by Cynthia Turk, 2004:

This cemetery had various names over the years:

Brooklyn Cemetery (1849)

Wade Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

Scranton Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery (1884)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1896)

German Lutheran Cemetery (1898, 1912, 1922)

Scranton Road Cemetery (1925)

The City of Cleveland purchased the cemetery in 1945.

There was a chapel on the site as early as 1896.  It was in poor condition in 1946.  It has since been demolished.

Scranton Road Cemetery (2 ½ acres) is located on the southwest corner of Scranton Road and Wade Avenue.  James Fish was the first permanent white settler in the territory that became Brooklyn.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  The fifth burial in this Fish family burying ground, was Mary Wilcox, mother-in-law of James Fish, who was buried in 1816.  This was supposedly on a half-acre lot near the present cemetery on Scranton Road, which was subsequently donated to the township as a public graveyard.  It is assumed that this is the west section of Scranton Cemetery today.  It has been suggested that the four previous graves were obliterated and may be under the current Scranton Road.  Mary Wilcox may have also been in that section and when the road was widened, the Fish family graves were moved to the current location in the west section.  One report in 1946 states that the date of opening of Scranton Road Cemetery was 1819.  A handwritten note in the city law director’s file states “Donated to Brooklyn Township April 28, 1839.”  A cemetery lot owner’s group got together when the township did not take care of the cemetery and called itself the North Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  In April of 1849, it was posted that a meeting would occur to incorporate an association which would call itself The Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  Francis Branch was the chairman and Edward Wade the Clerk of the meeting.  Trustees were appointed:  Martin Kellogg, Diodate Clark, Robert Selden, John Loper, Francis Branch, Benjamin Beavis and Edward VanHousen.  So, we see that this cemetery was first called Brooklyn Cemetery.  In the death records in the 1880s it was called Wade Avenue Cemetery, Scranton Avenue Cemetery, or North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1884, it was called North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery.  In 1896 it was North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1898, 1912, and 1922 it was called German Lutheran Cemetery.  In 1925, it was called Scranton Road Cemetery.  The chapel was seen on a map in 1896 with no roads leading to it.  In 1922 and 1937 there is a road.  The obituary of Andrew Bishop dated December 12, 1911 stated that services would be held in the chapel of Scranton Road Cemetery.  The building was in poor condition in 1946.  There is still an indentation in the ground where it stood.  A newspaper article stated that the cemetery land was given to old North Brooklyn Township by Francis Branch and its management entrusted to the cemetery associations, with the proviso that the back portion of the land be used for the burial of indigent persons.  It seems likely that the west end was Potters Field.  In 1942, the City of Cleveland wanted to acquire the cemetery because of its dilapidated condition.  The cemetery was finally purchased by the City of Cleveland in 1945.  In 1948 the city voted to enclose the cemetery with a chain link fence. 

GERMAN SETTLEMENT CEMETERY aka Immanuel Evangelical Cemetery aka God’s Little Acre Cemetery aka Old Rockport Methodist Cemetery – 4510 West 130th Street on the west side of West 130th Street at the intersection of Longmead Avenue opposite Immanuel United Church of Christ in Cleveland – founded 1852.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  West 130th Street was called Settlement Road when this cemetery, donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Mack, was opened.  In 1852 it was called United German Settlement Cemetery. 

From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

“God’s Little Acre Cemetery" or German Settlement Cemetery Association or Rockport Cemetery or Immanuel Church Cemetery, call it what you wish, has been known by all these names, but what it still is, is that small cemetery located between West End Lumber, and Denison Auto Wrecking, on Settlement Road or West 130th Street, at Longmead Avenue, behind a parking lot that serves both businesses.  The cemetery was intended to be a community cemetery. It was purchased by 40 families at $1 each in 1851. Most stayed and paid a yearly maintenance fee. Immanuel church took over the property in the 1970's due to lack of maintenance. It was sold with the church when they closed. A trust fund is now trying to be raised to maintain the property.  The gravestones were read in 1982 by the Cuyahoga-West Chapter OGS (Cuy-West) and in 1981 by the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century Ohio Society (DAM). The Cemetery Book and Immanuel Church Records (ImUCC) are at the Western Reserve Historical Society. The records for West Side UCC (WSUCC) are still at the church on Bridge Ave.”

Records at Rockport Methodist Church, 3301 Wooster Road, WRHS, and here: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/rockport/index.html

GLEASON FAMILY CEMETERY aka Edwards Family Cemetery – 16605 Hilliard Road on the south side of Hilliard Road under the third driveway east of Eldred Ave. in Lakewood – founded mid-1840s, last burial in 1898.  This cemetery was on the property of Jeremiah D. Gleason.  The Edwards connection is through Jeremiah’s daughter, Elizabeth Nancy Gleason, who married Roswell Randall Edwards.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Evergreen Cemetery in Westlake in 1908.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

GLEESON/GLEASON FAMILY BURIAL SITE aka Little Egypt Burial Mound – Between 6975-7100 Dunham Road on the east side of Dunham Road in Walton Hills, currently part of the Bedford Reservation – founded 1833.   From the early 1800's through 1950, the southwest section of Bedford Township was called Little Egypt. A cluster of several houses, a school, mills, an inn, and two taverns formed the nucleus of the community. Little Egypt got its name from a nearby mound that was a visible landmark on the eastern hillside of present-day Dunham Road, opposite the Astorhurst Golf Course Driving Range. Early settlers probably thought the mound resembled the shape of an Egyptian pyramid. They called the mound Egypt Mound and their community Little Egypt.  The cemetery was on the property of Moses and Polly Gleeson.  Here, in Little Egypt, he operated an inn and stagecoach stop called the World’s End Tavern, which burned to the ground in 1941.  Many who were buried in this cemetery were re-interred in Bedford Cemetery. It is mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

https://foundinohio.com/2023/03/01/the-hidden-grave-on-dunham-rd/

GLENVILLE TEMPLE ON THE HEIGHTS JEWISH CEMETERY – 13009 Shaw Avenue, Cleveland – founded 1880.  Records in the Jewish Cemetery Database here: https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

GLENVILLE CEMETERY aka B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery (their second cemetery) aka Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery aka Temple on the Heights Cemetery – 13009 Shaw Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1906.  This was a five-acre cemetery immediately to the west of the first Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery which was in East Cleveland.  The two lots straddled the border of Cleveland and East Cleveland.  It was first called Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery, and after the congregation moved further east, it was called Glenville Cemetery or Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  **See both B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery entries for the entire story.  Records in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

GOD’S LITTLE ACRE CEMETERY aka Immanuel Evangelical Cemetery aka German Settlement Cemetery aka Old Rockport Methodist Cemetery – 4510 West 130th Street on the west side of West 130th Street at the intersection of Longmead Avenue opposite Immanuel United Church of Christ in Cleveland – founded 1852.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  West 130th Street was called Settlement Road when this cemetery, donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Mack, was opened.  In 1852 it was called United German Settlement Cemetery. 

From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

“God’s Little Acre Cemetery" or German Settlement Cemetery Association or Rockport Cemetery or Immanuel Church Cemetery, call it what you wish, has been known by all these names, but what it still is, is that small cemetery located between West End Lumber, and Denison Auto Wrecking, on Settlement Road or West 130th Street, at Longmead Avenue, behind a parking lot that serves both businesses.  The cemetery was intended to be a community cemetery. It was purchased by 40 families at $1 each in 1851. Most stayed and paid a yearly maintenance fee. Immanuel church took over the property in the 1970's due to lack of maintenance. It was sold with the church when they closed. A trust fund is now trying to be raised to maintain the property.  The gravestones were read in 1982 by the Cuyahoga-West Chapter OGS (Cuy-West) and in 1981 by the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century Ohio Society (DAM). The Cemetery Book and Immanuel Church Records (ImUCC) are at the Western Reserve Historical Society. The records for West Side UCC (WSUCC) are still at the church on Bridge Ave.”

Records at Rockport Methodist Church, 3301 Wooster Road, WRHS, and here: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/rockport/index.html

GREEK ORTHODOX CEMETERY aka Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Cemetery – Cannon Road near Aurora Road in Bedford Heights.  Graves moved to Hillcrest Cemetery about 1990.

GREEN FAMILY CEMETERY aka Fosdick Family Cemetery – 5811 Canal Road at the northeast corner of Fosdick Road in Valley View.  Abandoned.  William and Hepsebeth Green purchased a 40-acre tract in at what is today the northeast corner of Canal and Fosdick Roads in Valley View from Jeremiah Wilcox in 1831 and built a sandstone house there.  There was a burial plot just north of this house and another just south of it.  In 1847, the Green’s daughter, Emily, married Moses Quimby Fosdick, son of Henry Crawford Fosdick of Tuscarawas County.  William and Hepsebeth sold their property in 1863 to daughter Emily Fosdick. William Green died in 1865, but Emily and Moses continued to live in the Green house.  The property was sold to Norton Construction Company in 1960 and the sandstone house was torn down that year.  The graves were supposedly moved to Maple Shade Cemetery, but there is no Fosdick monument there.  Today the site of the former burial plots are located on the front lawn of 5811 Canal Road in Valley View.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

GROVE HILL CEMETERY – North Main Street in Chagrin Falls – first burial 1833.  Many graves moved to Evergreen Cemetery.  Records at Chagrin Falls Library, Chagrin Falls Historical Society and WRHS.

HAHN’S GROVE CEMETERY aka McMahon Cemetery – 22500 Lake Road in Rocky River, the present site of the Beach House condominium just west of Bradstreet’s Landing – founded between 1833-1851.  Abandoned.  This property originally was owned by Michael and Julia Benedict McMahon, and later Charles Hahn, who opened and operated a beachfront resort called Hahn’s Grove.  Graves moved to Alger Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

HARPER CEMETERY aka Harper-McArthur Cemetery aka Old Rockside Cemetery – across from 8777 Old Rockside Road just east of Canal Road in Valley View.  Abandoned.  100 canal builders were buried there.  Records at WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

https://foundinohio.com/2022/02/12/harper-mcarthur-cemetery/

From Find-A-Grave:

Information from Ohio Cemetery Preservation Society (copyright 2003) as recorded by Laura Palcisko:

The cemetery originated as a family plot on land purchased by John I. And Amanda Harper in 1816 as a 110-acre parcel east of the river bank. It was traditionally known as the Harper Family Cemetery or the Old Rockside Cemetery. John I. Harper extended its use to others. From 1825-1827 construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal cut through John I. Harper's property. Local oral tradition stated that canal workers who died of swamp fever were buried there and estimates of up to 100 people may be buried there.  The cemetery was nearly extinct. Floods, erosion, farming and commercial development as well as neglect had taken a heavy toll.  In 2000, with new commercial development unknowingly encroaching on the burial ground, the Village of Valley View, under Mayor Randall Westfall enclosed the burial ground with a split rail fence. On April 26, 2003 the Bicentennial Committee of the Village of Valley View erected a sign and dedicated the Harper-McArthur Cemetery.

From the 2003 Dedication plaque:

The Village of Valley View

Harper/McArthur Cemetery

Dedicated in Association with the Bicentennial of the State of Ohio April 26, 2003

This cemetery on the John I. Harper farm was located on Old Rockside Road.  Beginning in 1816, it was the burial place for the Harper family and early settlers of the area.  It has been said that some of those buried here were workers that died from swamp fever and other causes during the time the Canal was built.  It is also the burial place of Canal Boat Captain Orange McArthur, who departed this land November 13, 1837, aged 26 years and 9 months.

HARVARD GROVE CEMETERY – 6100 Lansing Avenue in Newburg Hts. – founded 1880.  A City of Cleveland owned cemetery.  The property originally belonged to Isaac Reed.  He dammed Burk’s Run and dug a pond for his livestock.  Graves from Axtel Cemetery were transferred here in 1881.  There are six Revolutionary War soldiers buried here:  William Wheeler Williams (1760-1831); Nathan Boughton died 1820; Abner Cochran died 1819; Charles Miles died 1813; Joshua Palmiter died 1839; and Joseph Upson died 1855.  Also buried here is Alonzo Carter (1790-1872) son of first settler of Cleveland, Lorenzo Carter.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.

Records here: 

https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

http://www.slavicvillagehistory.org/PDF/CAPSULE_HISTORIES/harvard_grove.pdf

HARVARD JEWISH CEMETERY aka Ohavei Emmuna Congregation of Russian Israelites Cemetery – 5903 Harvard Avenue in Cleveland next to Harvard Grove Cemetery – founded 1882.  The original incorporated name was Cong. Ohavei Emmuna of Russian Israelites.  Mentioned in All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records in Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

HEMLOCK CEMETERY aka Hemoga/Imoga Cemetery – 6835 Brecksville Road at Hemlock Road in Independence – founded 1852.  From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

Founded in 1852, this burial ground was purchased by the Township of Independence for the price of $15.00. The cemetery itself is "hidden" behind a picket fence on the east side of Brecksville Road, across from Selig Blvd.

Records at WRHS and here:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/hemlock.html

HEPBURN CEMETERY aka Hickox Park Cemetery (the Hickox family plot) – Hepburn Drive at Bagley Road in Middleburg Heights in front of the Regal Cinema – founded 1835, but there are burials there from 1809-1887.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Jared and Rachel Hickox purchased this land in 1809 from Gideon Granger.  Morris Hepburn arrived in Cleveland in 1827 and purchased this land in 1854 from Abijah Bagley.  Records at Berea Historical Society and WRHS.  Some records appear in the records of St. Adelbert Cemetery.

HICKOX PARK CEMETERY (the Hickox family plot) aka Hepburn Cemetery – Hepburn Drive at Bagley Road in Middleburg Heights in front of the Regal Cinema – founded 1835, but there are burials there from 1809-1887.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Jared and Rachel Hickox purchased this land in 1809 from Gideon Granger.  Morris Hepburn arrived in Cleveland in 1827 and purchased this land in 1854 from Abijah Bagley.  Records at Berea Historical Society and WRHS.  Some records appear in the records of St. Adelbert Cemetery. 

HIGHLAND DRIVE CEMETERY aka Center or Brecksville Cemetery – 9012 Highland Drive in Brecksville.  When it was founded is unknown, but the City of Brecksville took over ownership in 1941.    Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Buried here are brothers, Robert and John Breck.  Brecksville is named after them, though they never lived in Brecksville.  These two brothers inherited land in Brecksville from their father, Robert Breck who died in 1802.    Records at City of Brecksville and WRHS.

https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.html

HIGHLAND PARK CEMETERY aka Cleveland Memorial Park aka Potter’s Field – 21400 Chagrin Boulevard in Shaker Heights – founded 1904.  Cleveland Memorial Park indigent section is attached and the records mixed in.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Mayor Tom Johnson established this then remote piece of land in 1904.  It contains the first municipal mausoleum in the United States, built in 1926.  The cemetery has an urn garden, a crematory, and a plot for the indigent.  The cemetery consists of 141 acres. Highland Park keeps its own record, but also those of all City of Cleveland owned cemeteries:  Alger, Brookmere, Denison, Erie, Harvard Grove, Monroe, Scranton, West Park, and Woodland.

Records onsite and at: 

https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

https://foundinohio.com/2023/07/01/clevelands-partially-hidden-potters-field/

HILL CEMETERY – in Bentleyville.

HILLCREST MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY – 26700 Aurora Road in Bedford Heights – founded 1928.  Records onsite.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

https://hillcrest-cemetery.com/

HILLSIDE CEMETERY aka Old Indian Cemetery/Pilgerruh Cemetery/Pioneer Cemetery/South View Cemetery/Terra Vista Cemetery/Tinker’s Creek Cemetery/Valley View Cemetery – located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS. 

Some records here: 

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

HOADLEY CEMETERY aka Riverside Golf Club Cemetery aka Westview Cemetery aka Old Baker Cemetery – at the southeast corner of Columbia (Route 252) one-half mile south of Sprague Road in Olmsted Falls, in the middle of Riverside Golf Club.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Originally located on a family farm.  Those who settled here were part of the Waterbury Land Company who purchased the land in 1807 from the Connecticut Land Company.  The cemetery has burials from at least 1810-1912.  The last burial was Bethia Baker in 1912.  Records are onsite.

HOERTZ ROAD CEMETERY aka Weeks Family Plot – in front of 7841 Hoertz Road on the east side of the street, across from but south of St. Peter & Paul Cemetery on Hoertz Road in Parma.  Records at WRHS.

James Weeks, died 8/11/1867 age 65, Emily T. Weeks, died 10/18/1861 age 41, and Carrie E. Weeks, died 9/25/1864 age five.

From Found in Ohio:

https://foundinohio.com/2024/01/03/the-weeks-family-cemetery/

HOGSBACK HILL CEMETERY aka Orange Cemetery aka South Woodland Cemetery aka River Road Cemetery – 3500 Chagrin River Road or Route 87 and Riverview Road in Orange Township, more specifically ½ mile west of the intersection of State Road 87 and Riverview Road on Route 87 in Orange Township.  A small lane leads from Route 87 north over a curb and through a wooded area.  The cemetery is about ¼ mile from the main road at the end of the lane. 

From Find-A-Grave:

South Woodland Road (Ohio State Route 87) in Moreland Hills, Cuyahoga County, Ohio 44022.  The area was also known as Burnett's Corners.  This small, hidden cemetery is located about a quarter mile west of the intersection of S. Woodland (Rt 87) and Chagrin River Road. A small, hard to spot lane leads from Rt 87 north over the curb and into the woods. The cemetery is about ¼ mile from road. The cemetery was originally the family plot of Serenus Burnett, an early settler in Orange Township. In time, the family graveyard grew to include burials from the entire neighborhood.

From Moreland Hills Historical Society:

“Orange Hogsback Hill Cemetery,” “South Woodland Cemetery” and “River Road Cemetery” are three of the names for the cemetery at 3500 Chagrin River Road.  It is on private property. However, MHHS members Katie Martin and Becky Elliott mapped and copied these grave inscriptions in November 1991.

https://mhhsohio.org/riverroadcemetary/

Records at WRHS and here: https://www.interment.net/data/us/oh/cuyahoga/riverroad/hogsback.htm

And here:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/riverrd/index.html

HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY – 14609 Brookpark Road in Brookpark – founded 1950.  Records onsite and at:

https://www.clecem.org/

https://www.interment.net/data/us/oh/cuyahoga/holycross/index.htm

http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ohio/cuyahoga.htm

HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka St. Joseph Cemetery – 7367 York Road in Parma – founded 1873.  Records onsite and at WRHS and here: https://holyfamparma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/St.-Joseph-Cemetery.pdf

From:  https://holyfamparma.org/cemetery/

St. Joseph Cemetery is located on the Parish grounds facing the south near the Church parking lot and has been owned by Holy Family Parish since 1881. Mr. Conrad Rohrbach donated part of the land adjoining his home to build a church and the present-day cemetery.  The first burial was in 1881 and the last known burial was in 2000.  

HOLY GHOST/HOLY SPIRIT CEMETERY – 5500 West 54th Street in Parma.  Records at Holy Ghost Church on West 14th and Holy Spirit Church on West 54th. http://holyspiritbyzantine.org/Cemetery.asp

HORWEDEL CEMETERY aka Sperry Cemetery – near the intersection of Clague and Center Ridge Roads, or more specifically on the east bank of Sperry Creek (just west of Fallen Oaks Drive today or across from Horseshoe Blvd.) on the south side of Center Ridge Road in Westlake – founded 1818.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Evergreen Cemetery in Dover Township. Amos Sperry came to Dover Township about 1810 and opened a tavern on Center Ridge Road just east of Clague Road.  His wife and daughter were the first buried at this family cemetery.  The property sat on the border of lands owned by the Sperry family and Edward Lawrence Horwedel.  Edward Horwedel’s wife was the great-great-granddaughter of Amos Sperry.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

HUNGARIAN AID SOCIETY CEMETERY aka Anshe Emeth aka B’nai Abraham aka Fir Street Jewish Cemetery aka Peach Street Jewish Cemetery – 6015 Fir Avenue in Cleveland between Bayne Court, Fir Avenue (called Peach Street in 1881), West 59th Street and West 61st Street – founded 1865.  The original incorporated name was Fir Street - Hungarian Aid Society.  It is Cleveland’s second oldest Jewish Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

HUNGARIAN B’NAI JESHURUN CONGREGATION CHURCH CEMETERY (their first cemetery) aka B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery – a two-acre cemetery on Shaw Avenue in East Cleveland exactly where the railroad tracks are between East 131st and East 133rd Streets.  It was right next door to the EAST of 13009 Shaw which was the second cemetery of the Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery later known as Glenville Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  The first cemetery was founded in 1883 and closed in 1907.  The western acre of the two acres contained the cemetery, and the eastern acre contained a church.  In 1906, the Cleveland Short Line Railroad wanted to send its tracks right through the middle of the cemetery.  B’nai Jeshurun purchased a five-acre lot directly next door to the west at 13009 Shaw Avenue in Cleveland (the two cemeteries straddled the border of Cleveland and East Cleveland) and moved the graves there between 1906-1907.  A few years later, the church was demolished and the congregation moved farther east and now worships at Temple on the Heights.  Therefore, the 13009 Shaw Avenue cemetery was first known as Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery, and after relocating further east it became known as Glenville Cemetery or Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

HUNGARIAN B’NAI JESHURUN CONGREGATION CHURCH CEMETERY (their second cemetery) aka B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery aka Glenville Cemetery aka Temple on the Heights Cemetery – 13009 Shaw Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1906.  This was a five-acre cemetery immediately to the west of the first Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery which was in East Cleveland.  The two lots straddled the border of Cleveland and East Cleveland.  It was first called Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery, and after the congregation moved further east, it was called Glenville Cemetery or Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  **See both B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery entries for the entire story.  Records in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CEMETERY aka St. Mary Catholic Cemetery – 4720 East 71st Street in Cuyahoga Heights.  Records at Calvary Cemetery and here: https://www.clecem.org/

And here:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohpgsgc/St.%20Mary's%20Cemetery.pdf

IMMANUEL EVANGELICAL CEMETERY aka German Settlement Cemetery aka God’s Little Acre Cemetery aka Old Rockport Methodist Cemetery – 4510 West 130th Street on the west side of West 130th Street at the intersection of Longmead Avenue opposite Immanuel United Church of Christ in Cleveland – founded 1852.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  West 130th Street was called Settlement Road when this cemetery, donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Mack, was opened.  In 1852 it was called United German Settlement Cemetery. 

From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

“God’s Little Acre Cemetery" or German Settlement Cemetery Association or Rockport Cemetery or Immanuel Church Cemetery, call it what you wish, has been known by all these names, but what it still is, is that small cemetery located between West End Lumber, and Denison Auto Wrecking, on Settlement Road or West 130th Street, at Longmead Avenue, behind a parking lot that serves both businesses.  The cemetery was intended to be a community cemetery. It was purchased by 40 families at $1 each in 1851. Most stayed and paid a yearly maintenance fee. Immanuel church took over the property in the 1970's due to lack of maintenance. It was sold with the church when they closed. A trust fund is now trying to be raised to maintain the property.  The gravestones were read in 1982 by the Cuyahoga-West Chapter OGS (Cuy-West) and in 1981 by the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century Ohio Society (DAM). The Cemetery Book and Immanuel Church Records (ImUCC) are at the Western Reserve Historical Society. The records for West Side UCC (WSUCC) are still at the church on Bridge Ave.”

Records at Rockport Methodist Church, 3301 Wooster Road, WRHS, and here: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/rockport/index.html

INDIAN ISLAND CEMETERY aka Chippewa Burial Ground and Dead Man’s Island – on the largest of three islands located at the mouth of the Rocky River.  Abandoned.  The local Chippewa tribe buried their dead here.  In 1907 it was sold to the Lakewood Yacht Club, and in 1913 to the Cleveland Yacht Club, who currently owns the property.  The burial ground was beneath what is today the clubhouse and north parking lot.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

INFIRMARY CEMETERY Cemetery aka Cleveland City Infirmary Cemetery – in the back parking lot at the end of MetroHealth Drive.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci. 

The current Cleveland Metropolitan “Metro” Hospital was first known as the Brooklyn Township Poor Farm.  In 1855, the city built the City Infirmary (also used as the house of correction,) when the original city hospital located at the eastern end of the Erie Street Cemetery closed. In 1889, it finally took the name Cleveland City Hospital, built next to the City Infirmary.  The administration building was built in the 1920s.  City Hospital on Scranton (aka Metro Health) had its own cemetery!  The cemetery was located on the bluff overlooking the Cuyahoga River.  It ran down the hill behind City Hospital toward the river.  It was located under what is today the parking lot at the end of Metro Health Drive.  There were little wooden grave markers placed on the graves.  This cemetery was in operation in the 1860s, and in 1886 people were complaining to City Council that the cemetery was terribly neglected.  Six skeletons were found lying ABOVE ground.  There were skulls, shinbones, and coffins tossed about.  People driving on Jennings Avenue could see the bodies on the hill.  In 1893, Valentine Avenue was being graded, just to the north of this cemetery.  They found many bones just below the level of the street.  In 1901, the city began construction of a new “Pest House”.  That Pest House later became the tuberculosis sanitarium and was on the south end of the City Hospital complex.  Construction workers again found bones, bodies, and coffins.  They were tossed aside.  The hospital had local boys collect the bones and the hospital made them into skeletons for teaching.  It’s really sad how disrespected these remains were.

IRISH GERMAN CEMETERY - St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery – Depot Street north of Bagley Road in Berea - founded 1852.  This cemetery is owned by St. Mary's Church, 250 Kraft Street, Berea, Ohio. Records are at WRHS.

JACKSON FAMILY PLOT – located in the parking lot of Landerwood Plaza in Pepper Pike – founded 1859 when Raw Jackson was buried there. Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Records at the Local Merchant’s Association and WRHS.   

JESUIT CEMETERY aka St. Stanislaus Cemetery – 5629 State Road in Parma.  This cemetery is located on the farthest eastern part of the property of the Jesuit Retreat House.  Founded in 1898, the Jesuit Retreat Center is the first and longest running location in the United States providing retreats for laypersons, as well as for priests.  In 1893, Jesuits from Saint Ignatius College purchased 20 acres on State Road in Parma for recreational use of the college’s faculty.  In 1896 the first Jesuits were buried in the Jesuit Cemetery at the rear of the property.  In 1898 the property became St. Stanislaus Novitiate, a training center for new Jesuits.  The name was changed to Jesuit Retreat House in 1967, and to Jesuit Retreat Center in 2018.

JOHNSON FAMILY CEMETERY aka DeVoe Family Cemetery – northeast edge of Russell Avenue Park across from 24830 Russell Avenue in Euclid – founded shortly after 1843.  Abandoned.  Abraham Johnson Jr. was born in Pennsylvania in 1791. He was a Corporal in the War of 1812 in the New York Militia. After the war he married Sarah Ann DeVoe. They arrived in Euclid Ohio in 1827 and established a farm on this property where family members were laid to rest. There are no visible grave markers in this cemetery. Abraham and Sarah relocated to Michigan and are buried there.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

SILAS JOHNSON FAMILY CEMETERY – Mayfield Road at Henning Drive just east of Richmond Road in South Euclid.  Abandoned.  The property was owned by Silas and Asenath Johnson from 1836 to 1851.  There are no tombstones remaining.  On a June day in 1927, steam shovel operators working on Mayfield Rd. in South Euclid made a startling discovery. While cutting into the low embankment on the side of the road at Stop 13, one of the steam shovels unearthed a pair of coffins. These were the only graves discovered that day.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci. 

KELLOGG FAMILY CEMETERY – 1534 South Green Road in South Euclid on the north side of the parking lot of the former Hillcrest United Methodist Episcopal Church – first burial 1843.  This property belonged to John and Esther Kellogg.  The Kelloggs sold their farm to M.A. Hart in 1874, with the burial ground being excluded.  It remained in the family until 1898 when it was sold to the Methodist Episcopal Church of South Euclid.  Abandoned.  There is only one marker (a small boulder) to indicate that this was used as a burial ground.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

KIDNEY CEMETERY – 14601 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood – founded 1828.  This is a separate cemetery from Wagar Cemetery, which is directly to the west of Kidney Cemetery.  It was on the land belonging to Israel V. Kidney.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Lakewood Park Cemetery in Rocky River in the 1950s.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

KINSMAN ROAD CEMETERY aka Bet Olam House of Eternity Jewish Cemetery aka Park Synagogue aka Warrensville Jewish Cemetery – 25796 Chagrin Blvd. in Beachwood – founded 1910.  Records are onsite and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

**From 1915-1940’s it was Kinsman Road Cemetery.  Kinsman Road’s name changed to Chagrin Blvd. in 1959.

**From the 1940’s to early 1960’s the cemetery was called Warrensville Cemetery.

**In 1950, when Park Synagogue moved to Cleveland Heights, the cemetery was known as The Park Synagogue Cemetery.

**In 1999 the name was changed to Bet Olam House of Eternity.

KINSMAN ROAD CEMETERY aka Orange Center Cemetery – 33550 Pinetree Road (formerly North Kinsman Road) & SOM Center Roads in Pepper Pike.  Records at WRHS.

KNESETH ISRAEL CEMETERY – Fremont Street (new Lansing Avenue) at East 57th Street next to Harvard Grove Cemetery– founded 1823-1905.  Abandoned. This cemetery is mentioned in “All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone,” 1897:   Also at this intersection was Agadath Achim Cemetery and Moses Edelstein Cemetery. 

KNOLLWOOD CEMETERY – 1678 SOM Center Road in Mayfield Heights – founded 1909.  Records ARE onsite.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Notable people buried here are:  Marilyn Reese Sheppard, supposedly murdered by her husband, Dr. Sam Sheppard in 1954.  He was convicted then later acquitted of the charges.  https://knollwoodcemetery.net/

Excellent history here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knollwood_Cemetery

LAKESIDE CEMETERY aka Cahoon Cemetery – 29014 Lake Road in Bay Village – founded 1814.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Joseph Cahoon was the first settler in the northwest section of Cuyahoga County.  The Cahoons gave a lot of land to the city, as well as a park.  They also started the local library in their home.

Records at Bay Village Historical Society, WRHS and here: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/lakeside.txt

Most burials are shown here:  https://www.bayhistorical.com/lakeside-cemetery/

Historical Marker:

“Laid out in 1814, Lakeside Cemetery became the first public burying ground in Dover Township, an area that now includes Bay Village, Westlake, and the northern portion of North Olmsted. Reuben Osborn (1778-1860) arrived in Dover on October 10, 1810 but returned to New York. He settled on this land with his wife Sarah Johnson Osborn (1779-1856) and family in 1811, later purchasing most of the plot where the cemetery would be established from Philo Taylor. Sarah's sister, Rebecca Porter, and her infant son were the first to be buried here; they were killed when their boat capsized at the mouth of the Rocky River in 1814. Including land purchased in 1877, the cemetery currently spans half an acre. Although not recorded until 1879, there are over 270 known burials. Among those interned here are veterans from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I."

LAKE VIEW CEMETERY – 12316 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1869.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This cemetery is composed of 285 acres with 9 miles of roads and contains the largest concrete-poured dam in the United States east of the Mississippi.

For an excellent history of the cemetery see its Wikipedia entry at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_View_Cemetery

Records onsite, at WRHS, and here:   https://www.lakeviewcemetery.com/search-burials

LAKEWOOD PARK CEMETERY – 22025 Detroit Road in Rocky River – founded 1912.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Lakewood Park Cemetery was founded in 1912 as a non-denominational cemetery located on 45 acres. The cemetery burial options include a large mausoleum built in 1921 which houses both crypts and niches, an exterior garden mausoleum and exterior niches as well as traditional ground burials. It is one of the best-kept cemeteries in the Cleveland area with meticulous groundskeeping and beautiful mature plantings.  The remains from the old Wagar Cemetery at Detroit Road and St. Charles Street were placed in Section 1.  In 1957, the remains from Kidney Cemetery were placed in Section 2.  Notable people buried here are:  Sammy Kaye (1910-1987); Louis B. Seltzer (1895-1980), editor of the Cleeland Press; Vernon Stouffer (1901-1974) of Stouffer Frozen Foods and Stouffer Hotels; Nev Chandler (1946-1994), sportscaster; and David Jacobs (1921-1992), who with his brother Richard “Dick” Jacobs, succeeded at the Galleria, and owned the Cleveland Indians, thus the name Jacobs’ Field.

Records onsite, at WRHS, and here:

http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ohio/cuyahoga.htm

https://burialsearch.com/227/Lakewood_Park_Cemetery_-_Rocky_River

LANDER ROAD CEMETERY aka Arnold Family Cemetery – at 4230 Lander Road two houses north of Smithfield Road in Orange – founded about 1829 on the Henry and Mariah Arnold 40-acre farm.  It is believed that the Arnold home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.  Abandoned.  Those buried here were moved to Mount Hope Cemetery in 1936.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

LANSING AVENUE JEWISH CEMETERY aka Ansel Cemetery aka Ansel Road Jewish Cemetery aka Fremont Cemetery aka Newburgh Cemetery – The cemetery has an address of 5716 Lansing Avenue in Cleveland and is located on the north side of Harvard Avenue between East 55th and East 64th Streets.  The entrance is at 3933 East 57th Street.  Founded 1886-1890.  Ansel Road Cemetery, was not on Ansel Road, but was a subsection of Lansing Cemetery.  The cemetery was previously known as the Fremont Cemetery. Some undertakers referred to the cemetery as the Ansel Cemetery, especially those graves in the OCAS section and perhaps others that are near Lansing Avenue, mostly in the 1911 – 1912 timeframe. Those undertakers using the name Ansel Cemetery were D.H. Rosenstein and Groh. The cemetery is 8 acres in size. The cemetery abuts Harvard Grove Cemetery.  Records are onsite, at WRHS, and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

LEWIS FAMILY PLOT – southwest corner of Euclid and Rosemont in East Cleveland.  Abandoned.  This burial ground was found in 1902 during the excavations for the new East Cleveland Baptist Church.  A coffin was found dated 1860.  Chittenden Lewis owned the property from 1856-1864.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

LINCOLN ROAD JEWISH CEMETERY aka Workmen’s Circle Cemetery – 5100 Theota Avenue between West 54th and West 50th Streets in Parma – founded 1920.  Records in Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

Lincoln Cemetery is comprised of 3 sections including: Workmen's Circle, Independent Mizreich Aid and Warrensville Cemetery.  Details are sketchy, but previous caretakers claim the cemetery was called Lincoln because that was the name of the street, before it became West 54th Street; and the cemetery was founded in December 1920. At that time, Lincoln Road was unpaved and on rainy days it was impassable for horses bearing a hearse. men had to carry the caskets down State Road to Lincoln Road and into the cemetery. Even in 1987 mention was made to drawbacks to burials – being there was no road connecting Theota Avenue to the cemetery entrance 1,000 yards away. The cemetery expanded since then. Workman's Circle Cemetery is an outgrowth of the efforts by Cleveland's Workman's Circle organization to provide for its membership. Rooted in social justice, Cleveland's founding chapter was organized in 1904. Its mission was to help Cleveland's Jewish community by uniting its skilled labor force under an umbrella organization, by providing education, and preservation of Jewish cultural identification. This was independent of national labor unions. Land for this cemetery - at one time referred to as "Lincoln Cemetery" - was purchased in 1920. In addition to traditional Jewish burials, the cemetery also was one of the first to offer interfaith plots for families of multiple religious backgrounds. Though on Cleveland's west side, the cemetery is administrated by the Cleveland chapter of Workman's Circle in South Euclid, Ohio. 

LITTLE EGYPT BURIAL MOUND aka Gleeson/Gleason Family Burial Site – Between 6975-7100 Dunham Road on the east side of Dunham Road in Walton Hills, currently part of the Bedford Reservation – founded 1833.   Many who were buried in this cemetery were re-interred in Bedford Cemetery.  From the early 1800's through 1950, the southwest section of Bedford Township was called Little Egypt. A cluster of several houses, a school, mills, an inn, and two taverns formed the nucleus of the community. Little Egypt got its name from a nearby mound that was a visible landmark on the eastern hillside of present-day Dunham Road, opposite the Astorhurst Golf Course Driving Range. Early settlers probably thought the mound resembled the shape of an Egyptian pyramid. They called the mound Egypt Mound and their community Little Egypt.  The cemetery was on the property of Moses and Polly Gleeson.  Here, in Little Egypt, he operated an inn and stagecoach stop called the World’s End Tavern, which burned to the ground in 1941.  It is mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

https://foundinohio.com/2023/03/01/the-hidden-grave-on-dunham-rd/

LORAIN HEIGHTS PROPOSED CEMETERY aka West Side Proposed Cemetery – (West Side Proposed Cemetery became West Park Cemetery.)  Both of these names for this cemetery are mentioned in “All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia:  The Cleveland Cicerone,” a publication dated 1897.  The Lorain Heights Cemetery entry states: “This is located on the south side of Lorain Street, one mile west of the city limits.  It contains 97 acres, was purchased in 1896 at a cost of $50,000, and over $10,000 has already been spent in improving it.”  The West Side Cemetery entry states: “This burial field was purchased by the city in 1895 at a cost of $50,000 and contains 100 acres.  It is located in Rockport Township at the junction of Lorain and Settlement Roads.”  Property deeds show that on September 30, 1895, Belden Seymour sold 98.3 acres of land on the SOUTH side of Lorain Avenue at the intersection of Dutch Settlement Road to the City of Cleveland for $50,000.  Today, this plot of 98 acres is where Jefferson Park is on Lorain Avenue just west of West 130th Street.  An Auditor’s report in June of 1899 clarifies the name and size of the cemetery: “On September 11, 1895, city council adopted a resolution authorizing the purchase of 98.3 acres of land on Lorain Street at a point known as Lorain Heights, for the purpose of establishing thereon a new West Side Cemetery, with the purchase price being $50,000 paid to Belden Seymour.”   

Quite a few Cleveland Plain Dealer articles between 1893-1899 tell the entire story. An 1893 ad appeared in the Plain Dealer showing a map drawing for the Lorain Heights Development on the north side of Lorain Avenue, across from this later proposed cemetery.  It was bounded by Highland Terrace (Triskett) on the north and Lorain Street on the south, across from Settlement Road, extending west and east from that intersection.  The September 12, 1895 Plain Dealer had the following: “New West Side Cemetery – Mr. Belden Seymour carried probably the largest check drawn in Cleveland yesterday.  It was for $50,000 and was given by the city for the West Side cemetery property recently acquired by the municipal authorities.”  The deed was recorded, as mentioned earlier, on September 30, 1895.  The April 8, 1896 Plain Dealer reported that the new West Side Cemetery was being surveyed, that it would take some time, and that three creeks ran through the grounds.  On September 20, 1896, the Plain Dealer reported that when the city bought the property, city council originally appropriated $30,000 for grading and laying out of the grounds.  That was cut down to $20,000, and later the entire amount was stricken out, and so the work had been suspended for lack of funds.  A September 19, 1896 article talked about the indignation of the residents on the west side over nothing being done to ready the cemetery site for burials, since Monroe Cemetery was sold out and gave a little history of the project, explaining: The West Side Improvement Association was in charge of finding a suitable site for this cemetery, and settled on a piece of ground on Lorain Street, known as the old Case School property.  It was high and dry with plenty of gravel to make a pretty cemetery.  The sellers wanted too much money, so this idea was abandoned.  They continued their search and settled on the property mentioned above on the south side of Lorain.  However, it was considered a poor location, being of clay, springy and wet, and not a desirable place to bury the dead.  The residents were perturbed that the city was trying to make circling roads, building a lake, and it would have been better had they fixed up the land as a place where people could be buried.  In the 1897 Cicerone, the West Side Cemetery and Lorain Heights Cemetery entries mentioned above appear, even though there was still no cemetery on the site. 

On August 24, 1897, Mayor McKisson of Cleveland recommended that a Reform School for boys be placed on the Lorain Street property and that a different site be purchased for the West Side Cemetery at the then location of the Pest House Farm, which today is where West Park Cemetery is on Ridge Road.  He spoke about how a boulevard had recently been planned which would pass by the Pest House Farm, between South Brooklyn and Linndale.  His other arguments for this change of sites were that the Lorain Street land would have to be under drained, water mains would have to be extended two miles, the land was poor clay, and all the material to build roads and fertilize must be hauled three miles by team.  The Pest House Farm, he said, was exceptionally well adapted for cemetery purposes, being two miles nearer to the West and South Sides, and two miles nearer to Brooklyn.  It was a picturesque piece of land.  The shale material was present for making roadways, and gravel could be obtained cheaply by railroad.  The drainage was good and a supply of water was nearby, with a clear running stream within its boundaries.  All the trees needed for planting were on the farm already, and the soil would not need enriching.  It already looked like a beautiful park, whereas the Lorain Street property was a barren, flat piece of land without trees. And so, he proposed the exchange of sites for the cemetery.  City Council agreed with the mayor, and they voted on September 27, 1897 to transfer the cemetery to the Pest House Farm site.  Three days later, names for the cemetery on the Pest House site were suggested – the favorites being “West Park Cemetery,” “Boulevard Cemetery,” and “Brookside Cemetery.”  The June 29, 1899 Plain Dealer reported that the cemetery was still not open, and improvements to the land had already cost the city an immense amount of money, specifically $129,722.  Specifically, the Lorain Street land cost $50,000; improvements of that land were $13,000; $30,000 to purchase the Pest House farm; $1,900 for land purchased from Fred Silberg; $4,753 for land bought from William Harrison; $10,000 for special payrolls for labor; $13,500 for a contract to get the Pest House land into shape; $800 to tear down the old Pest House; and there were other expenditures as well forming a grand total of $129,722.  Ten acres were seeded for grass, and 150 forest trees were moved from the creek to the upper land, but all but a dozen died.  Two-hundred and fifty evergreen trees were purchased, but all but 25 were killed by an overdose of fertilizer.  The auditor recommended that the Lorain Street property be sold to fund the Pest House Cemetery.  Eventually some of the land on Lorain Street was sold and subdivided into individual lots, but a large portion became the still existent Jefferson Park.  The Pest House site already had its own small burial ground since 1876.   The pest house was closed in 1898, and patients were transferred to a new pest house at the Cleveland City Infirmary on Scranton Road.  The pest house was burned down in 1898 and the rest of the land cleared.  West Park Cemetery opened on the site in 1899 and remains open today.  See the Cleveland Pest House Burial Ground for its earlier history.

LOVEJOY FAMILY PLOT aka Fuller Cemetery aka Gardner Cemetery – West side of Big Creek Parkway two houses north of Main Street and just before the high-tension power lines, behind the garage of the residence there, just north of the bluff of Baldwin Creek in Middleburg Heights – founded 1836.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Woodvale Union Cemetery at the northeast corner of Engle and Fowles Roads.  Buried here were members of the following families:  Solomon and Syrena Lovejoy, Paul and Isabel Gardner, and Jeremiah and Roxy Fuller.    Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

LOWELL FAMILY BURIAL GROUND aka Thompson Cemetery – southwest corner of Spencer & Center Ridge Roads in Rocky River – founded about 1835.  This property was owned by Sidney Lowell and his wife, Mary Ann Whitney.  Also buried there are Enos Brainard (1781-1848) and his wife Sally (1779-1844).  They first lived in Cleveland, then Brooklyn and Strongsville, before settling in Rockport in 1835.  Sally’s tombstone was discovered in 1994, when excavation began for the development of Nantucket Row.  This cemetery is also known as Thompson Cemetery, as the Thompson Gardening Company owned the property throughout the 1920s.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

LUTHERAN CEMETERY - 4574 Pearl Road – founded 1894.  This is a privately owned cemetery.  In 1894 several Lutheran Congregations formed to purchase land for a cemetery.  These congregations were Christ Lutheran, Immanuel (on Scranton), St. Matthew and Trinity Lutheran.  By 1903, they were joined by St. Luke's, St. Mark's and Redeemer Lutheran Church.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  The people at Lutheran Cemetery are very helpful regarding research. 

Records onsite and at:

Lutheran Original Site:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/lutheran/names.html

Lutheran from Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20100729145248/http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/lutheran/names.html

JOHN MACK CEMETERY – between McGowan and Erwin Avenues and behind 4563 and 4583 West 130th Street in Cleveland.  Abandoned.  This was the property of Johannes Mack and his wife, Rachel Minier.  John Mack purchased his 52.144-acre farm on German Settlement Road (now West 130th Street) in Rockport Township in 1849.  He also owned the land that now contains God’s Little Acre Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

MANX CEMETERY aka Warrensville West Cemetery aka Shaker Cemetery – 2110 Lee Road in Shaker Heights – founded 1811.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This cemetery contains the Manx Settlers (from the Isle of Man and often called Old Manx Cemetery), and the common grave of the North Union Shakers that were moved here from the Shaker Burial ground at 16740 South Park Blvd. in Shaker Heights in 1905.  Warrensville Township is named after Moses Warren.  Daniel and Margaret Warren’s daughter, Lovisa, who died in 1811, was the reason the cemetery was founded.

Records at Shaker Historical Society. History at:  https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/423#.Ukm-UYasiSo

MAPLE RIDGE CEMETERY – at Maple Ridge and Columbia Road on the east side of Columbia Road between Westwood Road and Hall Drive in Westlake.  Records at Evergreen Westlake Cemetery, 29535 Center Ridge Road in Westlake, at WRHS and here:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/mapleridge/index.html

MAPLE SHADE CEMETERY – at Rockside and Brecksville Roads in Independence – founded 1865. 

Records at: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/maple/index.html

From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

Independence Township trustees purchased a plot of land approximately 4 acres in size in 1865 to establish the first "burial ground" at the corner of Rockside and Brecksville Roads. Later, in 1946, additional land was purchased to increase the size of the cemetery, bringing the total size of the cemetery to 15.66 acres.  There are two buildings left standing, from days gone by. One was used for the storage of bodies of loved ones that died when the ground was frozen and could not be buried. It now stands empty, save for the memories of loved ones gone before. The other, made of wood, was once used to store the glass sided hearse that was used to carry the bodies to the cemetery for burial.

MAYFIELD JEWISH CEMETERY – 2749 Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights – founded 1887.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Simpson Thorman (1811-1881) a fur trapper, is the oldest death in this cemetery.  He was first buried at Willet Street Cemetery, but was reinterred here in 1916.  Also buried here is Sam Gerber, coroner from 1937-1986. 

Records onsite and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

MAYFIELD UNION CEMETERY – Across from 6535 Wilson Mills Road in Mayfield Village – founded 1843. 

Records at WRHS and Mayfield Historical Society.  A fire in the 1950s at the Mayfield United Methodist Church destroyed some of the cemetery records.  The Mayfield Township Historical Society worked on gathering information from grave markers and family members.  Those records are at the historical society’s genealogical library at the Bennett Van-Curen Historical Museum, 606 SOM Center Road, Mayfield Village.  This cemetery was established for the four communities of Gates Mills, Highland Heights, Mayfield Heights and Mayfield Village, with these four communities then united as Mayfield Township.  A map from 1982 showed that there were 470 graves.  This cemetery originally sold plots in groups of six for $5 each.  Graves include those of the Brainard family, for whom the main road running through the Hillcrest area was named, and one-time blacksmith, George A. Bennett (1847-1941).  Bennett’s house, once situated on the site of 6675 Wilson Mills Road, was acquired later and moved in 1987 to 606 SOM Center Road, where it is the home of the Mayfield Township Historical Society.  A small area in the cemetery’s southwest corner has no markers, and some have said it was once a potter’s field. 

McDOWELL CEMETERY aka Demline/Demaline – on the west side of Chagrin River Road 600 feet south of Brigham Road in Gates Mills – founded 1830.  Abandoned.  Records at Gates Mills Village Hall and WRHS.  The majority of burials were members of the Demaline/Dimline/Dimaline, and Demline family.  The stones of those buried here were moved to Gates Mills North Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci. 

McMAHON CEMETERY aka Hahn’s Grove Cemetery – 22500 Lake Road in Rocky River, the present site of the Beach House condominium just west of Bradstreet’s Landing – founded between 1833-1851.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Alger Cemetery.  This property originally was owned by Michael and Julia Benedict McMahon, and later Charles Hahn, who opened and operated a beachfront resort called Hahn’s Grove.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

METROPOLITAN PARK CEMETERY aka Benjamin Waite Gravesite – 9367 Brecksville Road on the Metroparks property on the east side of Brecksville Road, south of Royalton Road, about 250 feet north of the intersection of Oakes Road, and about 425 feet north of the Squire Rich Museum in Brecksville – founded 1814.  Holds one grave of Private Benjamin J.  Waite II (1759-1814).  He was a private in Mosley’s Mass. Regt. in the Revolutionary War.  He and his son Charles built the third log cabin in Brecksville.  Benjamin died February 5, 1814 shortly after moving here and is buried on this land that belonged to his family.  He was the first adult buried in Brecksville.  Park at the Brecksville Historical Society building and walk across the footbridge into the park to see his grave.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

MONROE STREET CEMETERY aka Brooklyn Township Cemetery (previously West Side Cemetery) – 3207 Monroe Avenue – founded 1836.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.

Records can be found here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ohio/cuyahoga.htm

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/trans.html

Brooklyn Township purchased this land in 1836 from Josiah Barber and Richard Lord.  Barber and Lord stipulated it was to be used forever as a public burying ground.  When Ohio City was incorporated on March 3, 1836, the Brooklyn Township Cemetery became the city cemetery.  The deed was recorded in 1841.  The Ohio City Council legislated rules and regulations, appointed a sexton, platted the lots, and purchased a hearse.  In 1854, Ohio City was annexed to the City of Cleveland, and the cemetery became known as the “West Side Cemetery.”  Eventually it became known as Monroe Street Cemetery.  The gateway arch at the entrance of this cemetery was built in 1874 and is identical to the arch at Erie Street Cemetery.  The gatehouse was built in 1874 and was used for funerals and storage of records.  For more information see:  https://mscf1841.org/

MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY aka North Solon Cemetery – 30000 Miles Road at Harper Road in Solon.

MOUNT OLIVE JEWISH CEMETERY – 27855 Aurora Road in Solon – founded 1921.  Records onsite.

MOUNT SINAI JEWISH CEMETERY – 6576 White Road in Mayfield Village – founded 1934.  Records onsite and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here: https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

NELAVIEW CEMETERY aka First Presbyterian Cemetery – 16200 Euclid Avenue between Nela Avenue and Hillsboro Road in East Cleveland – founded 1807.  Records at First Presbyterian Church, 16200 Euclid Avenue and at WRHS.  Andrew McIlrath, who served in the Revolutionary War, donated the land for this cemetery in 1807.  William H. Beecher preached at this church.  He was the son of Rev. Lyman Beecher, and brother of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Buried here are pioneer families by the names of Condit, Cozad, Eddy, McIlrath, Ruple, and Shaw.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

NEWBURGH CEMETERY aka Ansel Cemetery aka Ansel Road Jewish Cemetery aka Fremont Cemetery aka Lansing Avenue Jewish Cemetery – The cemetery has an address of 5716 Lansing Avenue in Cleveland and is located on the north side of Harvard Avenue between East 55th and East 64th Streets.  The entrance is at 3933 East 57th Street.  Founded 1886-1890.  Ansel Road Cemetery, was not on Ansel Road, but was a subsection of Lansing Cemetery.  The cemetery was previously known as the Fremont Cemetery. Some undertakers referred to the cemetery as the Ansel Cemetery, especially those graves in the OCAS section and perhaps others that are near Lansing Avenue, mostly in the 1911 – 1912 timeframe. Those undertakers using the name Ansel Cemetery were D.H. Rosenstein and Groh. The cemetery is 8 acres in size. The cemetery abuts Harvard Grove Cemetery.  Records are onsite, at WRHS, and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

NIELS CEMETERY aka Christianson Cemetery, Peters Cemetery and Parma Early Settlers Cemetery – at State and Sprague Roads in Parma.  Abandoned.  Records at WRHS and at GenWeb Archives here:  http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/earset.txt

NORTH BROOKLYN CEMETERY aka Scranton Road Cemetery aka Brooklyn Cemetery aka Fish Farm Cemetery aka German Lutheran Cemetery aka Wade Avenue Cemetery – at the southwest corner of Scranton and Wade Avenues – founded 1812 or 1819.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Information below from THE DEFINITIVE book “Scranton Road Cemetery, Cleveland Ohio,” by Cynthia Turk, 2004:

This cemetery had various names over the years:

Brooklyn Cemetery (1849)

Wade Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

Scranton Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery (1884)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1896)

German Lutheran Cemetery (1898, 1912, 1922)

Scranton Road Cemetery (1925)

The City of Cleveland purchased the cemetery in 1945.

There was a chapel on the site as early as 1896.  It was in poor condition in 1946.  It has since been demolished.

Scranton Road Cemetery (2 ½ acres) is located on the southwest corner of Scranton Road and Wade Avenue.  James Fish was the first permanent white settler in the territory that became Brooklyn.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  The fifth burial in this Fish family burying ground, was Mary Wilcox, mother-in-law of James Fish, who was buried in 1816.  This was supposedly on a half-acre lot near the present cemetery on Scranton Road, which was subsequently donated to the township as a public graveyard.  It is assumed that this is the west section of Scranton Cemetery today.  It has been suggested that the four previous graves were obliterated and may be under the current Scranton Road.  Mary Wilcox may have also been in that section and when the road was widened, the Fish family graves were moved to the current location in the west section.  One report in 1946 states that the date of opening of Scranton Road Cemetery was 1819.  A handwritten note in the city law director’s file states “Donated to Brooklyn Township April 28, 1839.”  A cemetery lot owner’s group got together when the township did not take care of the cemetery and called itself the North Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  In April of 1849, it was posted that a meeting would occur to incorporate an association which would call itself The Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  Francis Branch was the chairman and Edward Wade the Clerk of the meeting.  Trustees were appointed:  Martin Kellogg, Diodate Clark, Robert Selden, John Loper, Francis Branch, Benjamin Beavis and Edward VanHousen.  So, we see that this cemetery was first called Brooklyn Cemetery.  In the death records in the 1880s it was called Wade Avenue Cemetery, Scranton Avenue Cemetery, or North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1884, it was called North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery.  In 1896 it was North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1898, 1912, and 1922 it was called German Lutheran Cemetery.  In 1925, it was called Scranton Road Cemetery.  The chapel was seen on a map in 1896 with no roads leading to it.  In 1922 and 1937 there is a road.  The obituary of Andrew Bishop dated December 12, 1911 stated that services would be held in the chapel of Scranton Road Cemetery.  The building was in poor condition in 1946.  There is still an indentation in the ground where it stood.  A newspaper article stated that the cemetery land was given to old North Brooklyn Township by Francis Branch and its management entrusted to the cemetery associations, with the proviso that the back portion of the land be used for the burial of indigent persons.  It seems likely that the west end was Potters Field.  In 1942, the City of Cleveland wanted to acquire the cemetery because of its dilapidated condition.  The cemetery was finally purchased by the City of Cleveland in 1945.  In 1948 the city voted to enclose the cemetery with a chain link fence. 

NORTH ROYALTON CEMETERY – 6170 Royalton Road in North Royalton – founded 1866.  Records onsite, at WRHS, and North Royalton Historical Society.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Royalton Township’s original cemetery was on the village green in the center of town.  Most of the graves were moved to this new cemetery called North Royalton Cemetery that was founded in 1866.  The building to the west of the cemetery was built in 1879 to hold bodies during the winter months until burial was possible.  Five soldiers from the Revolutionary War are buried here:  Elias Keyes (1763-1849), John Miner/Minor (1762-1847), John Hall (1763-1836), John Shephard (1729-1847); and Samuel Stewart (1749-1827).  https://www.northroyalton.org/departments/cemetery/index.php

NORTH SOLON CEMETERY aka Mount Hope Cemetery – 30000 Miles Road at Harper Road in Solon.  Records at WRHS.

NORTH UNION SHAKER CEMETERY aka Shaker Burial Ground aka Jacob Russell Memorial aka South Park Cemetery – 16740 South Park Blvd. just west of Lee Road in Shaker Heights – founded 1859.  Jacob Russell is the only remaining burial. The rest are buried in a common grave at Warrensville West Cemetery.  Records at Shaker Historical Society in Shaker Heights and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Shakers were originally English Quakers who, in 1747, formed a separate sect.  The Shaker Community of North Union was formed in the area that is now Shaker Heights in 1822.  Ralph Russell was the founder and donated this land in 1859 for use as a cemetery. In 1892 the property was sold to the Shaker Heights Land Company.  South Park Blvd. was laid out in 1895.  At that time, Jacob Russell’s headstone (1746-1821) was found (father of Ralph Russell).  The property was sold to the Van Sweringen brothers in 1905. Records show 137 burials at this original site, but with the expansion and development of the area, 89 of the 137 remains were moved in 1909.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11365603/remains_of_north_union_shaker_society-unknown

OHAVEI EMMUNA CONGREGATION OF RUSSIAN ISRAELITES CEMETERY aka Harvard Jewish Cemetery – 5903 Harvard Avenue in Cleveland next to Harvard Grove Cemetery – founded 1882.  The original incorporated name was Cong. Ohavei Emmuna of Russian Israelites.  Mentioned in All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records in Jewish Cemetery Database here: https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

OHIO CITY BURIAL GROUND – Bordered by Lorain Avenue, Gehring, Abbey and Columbus Road – founded before 1820.   It has been said that it was originally a Native American burial ground.  It was the first west side cemetery.  Graves from here were moved to Monroe Cemetery in 1837. Abandoned.  Ohio City Volunteer Firehouse No. 2 was built on this property in 1851 and burned down in 1860.  Volunteer Engine House No. 10 was completed in 1861, and in 1867 the name was changed to Engine House No. 6.  It was torn down in 1904.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci – a few excerpts of his is below:

"This cemetery predates, by many years, the one located in Ohio City on Monroe Street, which was first established in January of 1836. According to those who remembered its existence, it was originally a Native American burial ground that the first white settlers of Ohio City used to inter their dead.  The property upon which it sat was first owned by the Lord family and was part of a 490-acre tract. It was sold on August 1, 1820 to Josiah Barber, Richard Lord's brother-in-law, and entered the possession of the Lord and Barber Realty Company shortly thereafter. The little triangle of land at the western end of the cemetery lot, where Abbey Street met Lorain Street, was dedicated by Barber and Lord to Ohio City in 1836 to be used for park purposes. Just around this time, they had deeded the land for Monroe Street Cemetery to the trustees of Brooklyn Township; a replacement for the old burial ground. Ohio City ordered the rest of the cemetery to be closed and burials there to cease.  The following year, the burials that could be located were moved from this cemetery to Monroe to make room for the ever-growing community of Ohio City.  Previous mentions of Monroe Street Cemetery claim that burials took place there as early as 1818, but this is not the case, as the Monroe Street lot was in the middle of a farm field until the early 1830's when the street was laid out. Tombstones that predate 1836 were moved from the old Ohio City Burial Ground." 

OLD ALBION BURIAL GROUND aka Albion Cemetery aka Strongsville Baptist Church Cemetery – in the woods behind 11303 Pearl Road in Strongsville – founded 1841.  Abandoned. Many buried here were moved to Strongsville Cemetery.   Records can be found at the city of Strongsville and WRHS.  The Village of Albion was founded in 1834 by Benjamin Northrup.  In 1841, Thaddeus and Betsy Lathrop sold two sublots to the First Baptist Society of Strongsville.  A meeting house was built immediately, and a cemetery was established the next year. In 1873, the church was sold to the board of education of Strongsville, who used the building as a schoolhouse until 1897.  The cemetery was in use in the early 1900s.  It is assumed that Hannah Luther Bosworth (1769-1842) was the first burial, wife of John Bosworth (1760-1845).  The Bosworths were moved to Strongsville Cemetery in 1922.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

From Find-A-Grave:

Also known as the Old Albion Burial Ground. Officially established Feb. 9, 1841 by trustees of the First Baptist Society of Strongsville, though burials for this congregation may have taken place here earlier.  The cemetery was the primary burial site for members of the Bosworth family and was used into the early 1900's. The majority of the burials here were moved to the Strongsville Cemetery in April 1922 and the cemetery was abandoned in 1959.  Today it sits in a wooded lot behind the building at 11303 Pearl Rd., Strongsville. The property is owned by the City of Strongsville.

OLD BAKER CEMETERY aka Riverside Golf Club Cemetery aka Westview Cemetery aka Hoadley Cemetery – at the southeast corner of Columbia (Route 252) one-half mile south of Sprague Road in Olmsted Falls, in the middle of Riverside Golf Club.  Records onsite.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Originally located on a family farm.  Those who settled here were part of the Waterbury Land Company who purchased the land in 1807 from the Connecticut Land Company.  The cemetery has burials from at least 1810-1912.  The last burial was Bethia Baker in 1912.

OLD BEDFORD CEMETERY – at 29 East Taylor Road on the north side of East Taylor between Washington and the north entrance to Bedford Cemetery – founded 1808.  Abandoned.  In 1881, the land of the cemetery was being leveled off.  Three persons were exhumed – one being a woman who had been buried alive.  Her body was turned over in her coffin and contorted.  The remains of most who were buried here were moved across the street to Bedford Cemetery. The Connotton Valley Railroad came through, directly across the cemetery.    Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

OLD BEREA CEMETERY aka Adams Street Cemetery – 94 Adams Street in Berea – first burial 1843, but official founded in 1861.  Records can be found at the City of Berea, the Berea Historical Society, and WRHS.  This was a nondenominational cemetery.  Many buried here were moved to Woodvale Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Historical Marker:

Known as the “village Cemetery,” this was Berea’s main burial ground from 1834 to the 1880s. However, in 1886, the Cleveland Stone Co. purchased quarries adjacent to the cemetery, where Coe Lake is today. Quarrying had already caused flooding and landslides in the area. Local stories say that the company operated too near to the edge of cemetery, causing a landslide in the northwest corner that exposed some graves. Worried families moved their loved ones remains to other cemeteries, including those of five Civil War veterans. Pioneering families, 16 Civil War veterans, 3 mayors of Berea, several quarry owners, and many ordinary people still rest here. Of the original 589 burials 40% were children.  The cemetery accepted burials into the 20th century, including one veteran of the Indian Wars and one of World War I, but it had fallen into disrepair and was used mainly for burial of indigents. One night in March 1930, vandals knocked over and broke many gravestones. In response, American Legion Post 91 repaired the stones. As the 21st century began, citizens recommitted themselves to honoring the cemetery. The City of Berea and many community groups helped fund preservation efforts and American Legion Post 91 decorates veterans’ graves. Baldwin-Wallace College students and faculty have documented burial sites and volunteered many hours to repair broken tombstones.

OLD (BROOKLYN) BURYING GROUND – 4200 Pearl Road at the northwest corner of Pearl Road and Memphis Avenue where St. Luke’s Church and Pearl Road United Methodist Church are today – founded about 1819.  This cemetery is rumored to have been an Indian burial ground.  It was the first cemetery in what is Old Brooklyn today, originally part of Warren Young’s farm.  This cemetery was in operation as early as 1819 per obituaries, Find-A-Grave, and reinterment records at Brookmere Cemetery.  This cemetery closed in 1836 when Brookmere Cemetery officially opened on August 23, 1836.  Most of those buried here were moved to Brookmere Cemetery.

OLD GLENVILLE CEMETERY – on the south side of the intersection of St. Clair and East 112th Street.  Today it is the northern end of the parking lot for Glenville High School – founded 1815 on land belonging to Dr. Smith Inglehart.  By the 1870s it was full and became abandoned and overgrown.  In 1904, six headstones remained and Glenville passed legislation declaring the cemetery a nuisance.  It closed in 1904.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

OLD INDIAN CEMETERY aka Hillside Cemetery/Pilgerruh Cemetery/Pioneer Cemetery/South View Cemetery/Terra Vista Cemetery/Tinker’s Creek Cemetery/Valley View Cemetery – located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.   Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS. 

Some records here: 

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

OLD NEWBURG CEMETERY aka Axtell Street Cemetery – East 78th near Harvard Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1804.  Abandoned.  Graves were moved to Harvard Grove Cemetery in 1881.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  This link includes the history of Axtell Street Cemetery:   http://www.slavicvillagehistory.org/PDF/CAPSULE_HISTORIES/harvard_grove.pdf

Today much of this abandoned cemetery sits on the site of Jemison Demsey Metals.  The western edge of the cemetery lies along the Morgana Run Trail (the former route of the Connotton Valley Railroad) between Marble Avenue and Aetna Road.  The most notable person buried here was Alonzo Carter, the oldest child of Major Lorenzo Carter, who sold the land for the cemetery to the township.  Those buried there were moved to Harvard Grove Cemetery in 1881.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

OLD PELTON’S CORNERS BURIAL GROUND aka Euclid Township Cemetery aka Peters Farm Cemetery – 218 Richmond Road near the intersection of Chardon and Richmond Roads in Richmond Heights – first burial 1817.  Abraham Bishop owned the land and then sold it to Jonathan Pelton.  It then passed through various owners until Jacob and Barbara Peters purchased it in 1880.  Abandoned.  Most of the graves were moved to Euclid Cemetery.  Records can be found at WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci. 

OLD ROCKPORT CEMETERY or Rockport Pioneer Cemetery aka Fairview Park Cemetery – 19469 Lorain Road at West 196th Street – founded 1861 – first burial 1811.  Records can be found at WRHS.

From https://fairviewparkcemetery.org/

On December 28, 1861, Francis Granger granted Henry B. Spencer eighteen acres of land, reserving one acre to be transferred to Rockport Township to be used as a cemetery.  Burials took place as early as 1830 before this land was recognized as a town cemetery; burials on private property were common practice for that time period.  Known by different names over the years, this little patch of land was first named Rockport Cemetery, at times also referred to as Rockport Pioneer Cemetery. There were three cemeteries in Rockport Township, all referred to as Rockport Cemetery (how confusing that must have been). When this area of Rockport Township became Fairview Village, the cemetery was then referred to as Fairview Cemetery. Since the cemetery is located in Fairview Park, the name was again changed and now known as Fairview Park Cemetery.  Many Fairview Park early families are buried in this cemetery, Spencer, Mastick, Wood, Jordan, Potter, and Lewis, to name just a few.  There are many tombstones with last names not as commonly known as the founding families. These less familiar names are often the last name of a married daughter or granddaughter of one of the founding families.  In 1889 a small building was built over unoccupied plots in Section C and referred to as a vault.  This building was used to store the deceased when the ground was too frozen, and a grave could not be hand dug.  This building was not designed to be used as a mausoleum or crypt. Today, this is the oldest historical structure owned by The City of Fairview Park. The cemetery actually extended further north than it does today. When Lorain Road was widened, the front sections of the cemetery were paved over. Records identify occupied graves and where the deceased were moved within the cemetery.  Today, as you enter from Lorain Road, north is to your back, Section A is on the west side, and Section D is on the east side. Along the back of the cemetery is Section C on the west side, and on the east side is Section H. Not all graves are marked; many are without a headstone/tombstone.

OLD ROCKPORT CEMETERY aka Rockport Cemetery aka Wagar Cemetery – on the Mars Wagar farm, called Mapleside, between St. Charles and Belle Avenues on the south side of Detroit Avenue in Lakewood – first burial 1826, officially founded 1828.  The final burial was in the 1890s.  A Lakewood ordinance in 1951 declared it a public nuisance.  Fifty-four bodies were exhumed in 1957 and moved to Lakewood Park Cemetery in Rocky River.  Abandoned.  Records at WRHS.

From Cleveland Historical:  https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/265

OLD ROCKPORT METHODIST CEMETERY aka Immanuel Evangelical Cemetery aka German Settlement Cemetery aka God’s Little Acre Cemetery – 4510 West 130th Street on the west side of West 130th Street at the intersection of Longmead Avenue opposite Immanuel United Church of Christ in Cleveland – founded 1852.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  West 130th Street was called Settlement Road when this cemetery, donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Mack, was opened.  In 1852 it was called United German Settlement Cemetery. 

From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

“God’s Little Acre Cemetery" or German Settlement Cemetery Association or Rockport Cemetery or Immanuel Church Cemetery, call it what you wish, has been known by all these names, but what it still is, is that small cemetery located between West End Lumber, and Denison Auto Wrecking, on Settlement Road or West 130th Street, at Longmead Avenue, behind a parking lot that serves both businesses.  The cemetery was intended to be a community cemetery. It was purchased by 40 families at $1 each in 1851. Most stayed and paid a yearly maintenance fee. Immanuel church took over the property in the 1970's due to lack of maintenance. It was sold with the church when they closed. A trust fund is now trying to be raised to maintain the property.  The gravestones were read in 1982 by the Cuyahoga-West Chapter OGS (Cuy-West) and in 1981 by the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century Ohio Society (DAM). The Cemetery Book and Immanuel Church Records (ImUCC) are at the Western Reserve Historical Society. The records for West Side UCC (WSUCC) are still at the church on Bridge Ave.”

Records at Rockport Methodist Church, 3301 Wooster Road, WRHS, and here: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/rockport/index.html

OLD ROCKSIDE CEMETERY aka Harper Cemetery aka Harper-McArthur Cemetery – across from 8777 Old Rockside Road just east of Canal Road in Valley View.  Abandoned.  100 canal builders were buried there.  Records at WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

https://foundinohio.com/2022/02/12/harper-mcarthur-cemetery/

From Find-A-Grave:

Information from Ohio Cemetery Preservation Society (copyright 2003) as recorded by Laura Palcisko:

The cemetery originated as a family plot on land purchased by John I. And Amanda Harper in 1816 as a 110-acre parcel east of the river bank. It was traditionally known as the Harper Family Cemetery or the Old Rockside Cemetery. John I. Harper extended its use to others. From 1825-1827 construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal cut through John I. Harper's property. Local oral tradition stated that canal workers who died of swamp fever were buried there and estimates of up to 100 people may be buried there.  The cemetery was nearly extinct. Floods, erosion, farming and commercial development as well as neglect had taken a heavy toll.  In 2000, with new commercial development unknowingly encroaching on the burial ground, the Village of Valley View, under Mayor Randall Westfall enclosed the burial ground with a split rail fence. On April 26, 2003 the Bicentennial Committee of the Village of Valley View erected a sign and dedicated the Harper-McArthur Cemetery.

From the 2003 Dedication plaque:

The Village of Valley View

Harper/McArthur Cemetery

Dedicated in Association with the Bicentennial of the State of Ohio April 26, 2003

This cemetery on the John I. Harper farm was located on Old Rockside Road.  Beginning in 1816, it was the burial place for the Harper family and early settlers of the area.  It has been said that some of those buried here were workers that died from swamp fever and other causes during the time the Canal was built.  It is also the burial place of Canal Boat Captain Orange McArthur, who departed this land November 13, 1837, aged 26 years and 9 months.

OLD ROYALTON CEMETERY – at the white gazebo in the southeast part of the village green – founded 1825.  Abandoned.  This cemetery was on the land of John and Beulah Watkins.  In 1825, they deeded five acres of land to Royalton Township for a burial ground and other public buildings.  However, the first burial was in 1822.  Buried here is John Shepherd, who fought in the French and Indian War alongside George Washington.  He died at the age of 117.  In 1880, legislation was passed allowing the township to move the graves to the new North Royalton Cemetery just to the east of this cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

OLMSTED TOWNSHIP CEMETERY aka Chestnut Grove/Turkey Foot – 7789 Lewis Road in Olmsted Falls.  Records onsite and at WRHS.

CLEVELAND'S FIRST TWO CEMETERIES - ONTARIO STREET BURIAL GROUND AND ERIE STREET CEMETERY

Ontario Street south of Public Square beginning at Prospect Avenue south to Huron Road in Cleveland – founded 1797.  The precursor to Erie Street Cemetery.  Abandoned.  300 graves were moved to Erie Street Cemetery in 1826.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

Cleveland’s first cemetery site was chosen on July 4, 1797 and was located just south of Public Square on what is now roughly the southeast corner of Ontario and Prospect Streets.  The city’s first death had occurred the day before.  A few days previous, Seth Pease and some of his party rowed up the Cuyahoga River.  Others were traveling by land from Conneaut with horses and cattle, among them Amzi Atwater, a surveyor, and David Eldridge, an employee.  Reaching the Grand River, they found no means of crossing but in an old Indian canoe.  Mounting one horse he knew to be a good swimmer; Atwater directed his men to drive the others after him.  Halfway across, he heard a scream.  Looking back, he saw two men struggling in the water.  Their horses had parted from them.  One reached shore, but David Eldridge drowned.  The men built a raft and searched for two hours before they recovered the body.  The body was brought to Cleveland on June 3rd.  The Seth Pease journal of the next day stated: “This morning selected a piece of land for a burying ground, the north parts of Lots 97 and 98.”  Many of those buried here were Cleveland’s original settlers.  The earliest “headstone” in Cuyahoga County was that of Rebekah Carter, a three-year-old daughter of first founder of Cleveland, Major Lorenzo Carter.  She died on August 14, 1803.  Some other notable individuals buried there were:  Peleg Washburn (8/7/1797) and William Andrews (9/7/1797), members of the surveying party; David Clark, pioneer merchant in 1806; Judge Daniel Kelley in 1813; Major Nathan Perry 1813; Judge John Walworth 1812.

If you began at the northeast corner of Ontario and Prospect, the cemetery ran south along the eastern side of Ontario Avenue continuing south to Huron Road.  Prospect Avenue did not exist until 1831, but now runs through what was the northern end of this cemetery.   At the intersection of Ontario and Prospect north of Prospect stood Bailey’s Store and the May Company garage.  South of Prospect Street later stood the Mechanic’s Block building, then Richman Brothers Building.  In 2023, it held the Jack Casino parking garage. 

On December 2, 1825, since land near the center of town was becoming more valuable, one Hiram Hunt, owner of Lots 97 and 98, gave notice that he intended to build on these lots and no further burials would be permitted.  So, in 1826, Leonard Case Sr. purchased just over 10 acres of land on the outskirts of Cleveland Village, and turned that land over to the city for one dollar for the purpose of becoming Erie Street Cemetery at 2291 East 9th Street.  That same year, the remains of nearly 300 early Cleveland residents were moved from Ontario Street Burying Ground to the new Erie Street Cemetery.  There is a concrete slab at Erie Street Cemetery that contains the headstones moved from the Ontario Street Burying Ground. 

A November 1, 1845 Plain Dealer article recalls a man named Abraham Hickox, otherwise referred to as “Uncle Abram.”   He was a blacksmith and sexton, particularly during the memorable seasons of the Cholera.  He was the only man who had the moral courage to discharge the duty of burying the dead.  He removed the occupants of the old graveyard where the Mechanic’s Block was located to the new Erie Street Cemetery.  He had always taken a paternal interest in the arrangement and supervision of the cemeterial grounds. He died October 31, 1845.  He was originally from Connecticut and came to Cleveland in 1807.

4-11-1939 Cleveland Plain Dealer

THE FIRST CEMETERY OF CLEVELAND, by S.J. Kelly

One Cleveland history declares that Lorenzo Carter died in 1814 and was buried in Erie Street Cemetery.  This is untrue since the cemetery did not exist at the time.  The first interment there took place fully 13 years after Carter’s death.  He was laid to rest in the Ontario Street Cemetery, and later the body was moved to Erie Street. 

On July 4, 1797, the site was chosen for Cleveland’s first burying ground.  The city’s first death had occurred the day before.  A few days previous, Seth Pease and some of his party rowed up the Cuyahoga River.  Others were traveling by land from Conneaut with horses and cattle, among them Amzi Atwater, a surveyor, and David Eldridge, an employee.  Reaching the Grand River, they found no means of crossing but in an old Indian canoe.  Fifty-three years later, Atwater wrote the story of what happened.  Mounting one horse that he knew to be a good swimmer; Atwater directed his men to drive the others after him.  Halfway across, he heard a scream.  Looking back, he saw two men struggling in the water.  Their horses had parted from them.  One reached shore, but David Eldridge drowned.  Building a raft, the men searched for two hours before they recovered the body.  More boats came and the body was brought to Cleveland on June 3rd.  The Seth Pease journal of the next day stated: “This morning selected a piece of land for a burying ground, the northern parts of Lots 97 and 98,” and attended the funeral of the deceased with as much decency and solemnity as could possibly be expected.  Mr. Hart read the church service.  Alonzo Carter assisted as a boy and tells how they fenced the grave.

Cemetery Lot 97 ran along the east side of Ontario Street. The northern corner was the exact site of the Bailey Co.  The frontage extended south to Huron Road. Lot 98 ran beside it on the east.  Each was 132 feet wide.  A portion of the south ends of the Bailey and May Co. stores are on the old burying ground.  Prospect Avenue, cut through years later, is supposed to run directly across it.  Bushes and blackberry briars surrounded it while outside of these, west, south, and east, extended the virgin forest.  Cleeland’s only cemetery for nearly 30 years, noted pioneers and early residents of the village were buried there.

Cleveland’s second recorded death occurred August 6, 1797, when Peleg Washburn, an apprentice, died and was buried the same evening.  On September 7, William Andrews died and was interred the next day.  Both were members of that year’s surveying party and were laid to rest in this cemetery.

By investigation, I discovered that with Carter, who first was buried there, was the body of his infant daughter, Rebecca, who died in 1803.  Others laid there were David Clark, pioneer merchant, in 1806; Judge Daniel Kelley, early village president, in 1813; his wife, Jemima Kelley, and their son, Daniel, in 1815.  Records cease for a time, but in 1825, village trustees ordered burials there to cease. But until that time, Major Nathan Perry died in 1813; his daughter, Sophia, in 1823; Judge John Walworth in 1812; as well as some of the Merwins and a little sister of Judge Henry Clay White.  Anna Spafford, who married John Craw, died in 1807.  Where were they buried if not there?  Where were Stephen Gilbert and Adolphus Spafford buried, whose drowning in Lake Erie caused Anna Spafford’s death.”

Hiram Hunt, owner of Lots 97 and 98, gave notice on December 2, 1825, that he intended to build on them, and no further burials would be permitted.  Removals slowly began to the new Erie Cemetery in the woods, secured by the village in 1826.  I recently saw a row of tombstones, flat on the ground, marking the graves of removals from Ontario Cemetery.  With a cold wind blowing, I copied the inscriptions.

“Deming Brainerd died August 28, 1824; Horace L. Pitkin of East Hartford, Connecticut died December 30, 1822; Stephen King died March 6, 1813; William Prout died August 22, 1819 in the 27th year of his age; Eliakim Nash died December 28, 1812 of malignant fever; Julia, daughter of Hezekiah Polly, died 1813; In memory of Amy Lewis, wife of Reuben Lewis; James, their son, who died May 2, 1813 at 13 years of age; and their daughter, Anna who died 1829; Anne and Thadeus Lacey, Anne died in 1805 and Thadeus August 21, 1805; In memory of Stephen Gilbert aged 31 years; and Adolphus Spafford, 16 years old, who both were drowned in Lake Erie April 19, 1808.”  Looking about I saw other tombstones.  Their early dates marked graves of those who had been removed from the Ontario Street Cemetery.

11-1-1845 Cleveland Plain Dealer

Uncle Abram (Hickox), though independent in his views and feelings, and somewhat peculiar and eccentric, deserves to be remembered with respect, not only as a useful citizen and one of the ancient fathers of the town, but especially for his benevolent services for many years as sexton, particularly during the memorable seasons of the Cholera, when he was the only man to be found who had the oral courage to discharge the duty of burying the dead.  He may be said to have served both the dead and the living.  He removed the occupants of the old graveyard where the Mechanics’ Block now is, to the new Cemetery; and has always taken a paternal interest in the arrangement and supervision of the present cemeterial grounds.  He had even marked out, some years ago, a spot for his on grave, by placing two unobtrusive stones in the ground with initials.  (Abraham Hickox was originally from Connecticut, came to Cleveland in 1807, and was a blacksmith and sexton.)

Lot 97 - History of The Mechanics’ Block – Previously Ontario Street Burying Ground

The Mechanics’ Block building was located on what had previously been the site of the first cemetery in Cleveland, known as Cleveland Village Cemetery or the Ontario Street Burying Ground.  It was located just south of Public Square on what is now roughly the southeast corner of Ontario and Prospect Streets.   The Mechanics’ Block was built in 1832.  In 1837 it was called the Mechanics’ Block in the city directory, located at the southeast corner of Ontario and Prospect, across the street from the Farmers’ Block on the northeast corner.  In 1972, Maxine Goodman Levin, Thomas Campbell, and Olive Deany Tabor met to discuss the rapid demolition of many of Cleveland’s historic buildings, specifically the Mechanics’ Block.  The Cleveland Restoration Society was thus formed.  Their website states that the Mechanics’ Block served as part of the Underground Railroad.  We reached out to the Cleveland Restoration Society to find what documentation they had for this claim, but have not heard back.  However, it is reasonable to assume that the claim pertains to Cleveland University classes taking place in this building owned by abolitionist, William Slade Jr.

If you began at the northeast corner of Ontario and Prospect, the cemetery ran south along the eastern side of Ontario Avenue continuing south to Huron Road.  Prospect Avenue did not exist until 1831, but now runs through what was the northern end of this cemetery.   At the intersection of Ontario and Prospect, north of Prospect, stood Bailey’s Store and the May Company garage.  South of Prospect Street later stood the Mechanics’ Block building, then the Richman Brothers Building.  In 2024, it was the Jack Casino parking garage. 

On December 2, 1825, with land near the center of town becoming more valuable, one Hiram Hunt, owner of Lots 97 and 98, gave notice that he intended to build on these lots and no further burials would be permitted.  So, in 1826, Leonard Case Sr. purchased just over 10 acres of land on the outskirts of Cleveland Village, and turned that land over to the city for one dollar for the purpose of becoming the Erie Street Cemetery at 2291 East 9th Street.  That same year, the remains of nearly 300 early Cleveland residents were moved from Ontario Street Burying Ground to the new Erie Street Cemetery.  There is a concrete slab at Erie Street Cemetery that contains the headstones moved from the Ontario Street Burying Ground. 

It's not clear what Hiram Hunt built on Lot 97 in approximately 1825, but on May 31, 1844, James K. Hitchcock, Master of Chancery, deeded Lot 97, land and tenements (so there was a building there in 1844) to Jacob Medary of Columbus and Charles Willis of Bedford.  This deed was in response to a lawsuit between Leonard Case and Fanny Willes/Willis, the complainants, vs. James Clarke, J.W. Willey, and A.W. Walworth.  The property and building were appraised at $5,000.

There were three more sales of a part of Lot 97 on May 23, 1851.  The first was from Henry & Caroline Slosson to C.S. Willes and M.L. Medary.  The second was from Charles S. Willes to William Slade Jr. for $4,500 for half of Lot 97.  The third was from Fanny Willes to C.S. Willes and M.L. Medary.  On March 27, 1852, Maria L. Medary sold more of Lot 97 to William Slade Jr. for $2,135.  This deed was Maria selling as guardian of her daughter (as heir/daughter of Jacob Medary).  On the same day, Maria sold more of Lot 97 (her widow’s portion) to William Slade Jr. for $2,165.  Maria Louisa Medary was the daughter of Luther Willes and Frances Willey.  Frances Willey was the sister of John Willey, the first Mayor of Cleveland.  On May 25, 1865, Maria L. Medary sold half of Lot 97 to Fanny Willes for $5.00.  Jacob Medary was the brother of, Samuel Medary.  Together, Jacob and Samuel owned and operated the “Ohio Stateman” newspaper in Columbus from 1838-1857, with Samuel being the editor. 

Site of the earlier Ontario Street Burying Ground

ERIE STREET CEMETERY

7-20-1940 Cleveland Plain Dealer

REDEDICATING THE ERIE STREET CEMETERY by S.J. Kelly

For all time, the Erie Street Cemetery comes into its own tomorrow.  Restored after 114 years of its existence, during which it has weathered various conditions and met varying fortunes, the historical burial ground will be accepted for the city of Cleveland by Mayor Harold H. Burton – forever to remain in the municipality’s care, undisturbed.  Thomas A. Knight, secretary of the Early Settlers Association, will see completed a project for which he worked and planned with his board of assistants including Leo Weidenthal, publisher of the Jewish Independent, and Chief Thunderwater, representing native Americans in memory of “Joc-O-Sot,” the Indian actor whose resting place will be marked by a new monolith, dedicated with tribal ceremonies.  What is the history of Erie Street Cemetery?  In 1826, Leonard Case and others planned a burial tract far out on a wooded road.  Deeded to the village, it contained 10 ¼ acres and was first called the City Cemetery.  But two acres were laid out in paths and lots.  Choice of this primeval forest land remote from the Public Square was the outcome of a notice served by Hiram Hunt on December 2, 1825, that as owner he intended to occupy the lots of the first Ontario Street burying ground for building purposes, and no further interments would be permitted.  The first burial in Erie Street Cemetery was that of Minerva M. White, infant daughter of Moses and Mary White, in September of 1827.  Although published notices of that year record that Mary White, aged 16, died in the Village of Cleveland on November 6, 1827, they make no mention of the child’s burial.  No list of the sale of lots or burials previous to 1840 are thought to exist, but a decade after the first interment the city sexton’s report for 1837 shows 237 were buried in Cleveland.  Erie Street Cemetery was the only one within the corporation.  The old Ontario Street ground began at the south end of the May Co.’s store and ran along the east side of Ontario Street.  Before Prospect Avenue was cut through in 1831, remains of pioneers were removed to the Erie Street Cemetery, and with the imposing west entrance at the left today is the new memorial marking the graves of Lorenzo and Rebecca Carter, the first permanent white settlers.  The original tombstones are imbedded in concrete with modern bronze tablets.  This restoration was made in 1938 by Mrs. Jessie Carter Martin, 2861 Berkshire Road, great-granddaughter of the first lone residents at the mouth of the Cuyahoga.  Family records show that Daniel Kelley and his wife, Jemima Kelley, were re-interred in Erie Street Cemetery, and a long row of tablets south of the main drive are to the memory of those removed from the older burial ground.  In 1840 the entire Erie Street Cemetery was re-platted in 12 sections with 200 to 300 lots in each.  From that time, a careful record was kept.  All lots were practically sold by 1860.  In 1870, the wooden fence surrounding the spot was replaced by a high iron structure, and in 1871 the impressive Gothic gateway on Erie Street was completed at a cost of $8,296.  With the passing years Ashbel Walworth, Charles R. Giddings, Horace Perry, Seth Doan, Capt. M. Gaylord, Nathan Perry, Peter M. Weddell and Zalmon Fitch were among leaders buried there.  Any day recently you could walk through the cemetery and see the monument of Judge James Kingsbury, the solemn granite shaft of Leonard Case, the dark heavy memorial of Melancthon Barnett, and the low tomb of Joseph Weatherly near the main drive.  At the far eastern end, close to old Brownell (E. 14th Street) you find the family plot of Samuel Dodge, early pioneer, and toward the southeast can be seen the family plot of Judge Thomas Bolton.  Passing over a period of more than 40 years, during which the abandonment of the old cemetery was discussed, many removals were made, and strips taken off the enclosure’s north and south sides. Effacement of the historic burying ground was urged as an advancement in the interest of the city.  But now we come to the rededication of the restored Erie Street Cemetery of today.  A high stone wall now surrounds it, new sidewalks have been laid, all walks re-graveled, and a new entrance erected at East 14th Street, all by the combined efforts of the Early Settlers, the City Planning Commission, the WPA, and others.

ORANGE CEMETERY aka Hogsback Hill Cemetery aka South Woodland Cemetery aka River Road Cemetery – 3500 Chagrin River Road or Route 87 and Riverview Road in Orange Township, more specifically ½ mile west of the intersection of State Road 87 and Riverview Road on Route 87 in Orange Township.  A small lane leads from Route 87 north over a curb and through a wooded area.  The cemetery is about ¼ mile from the main road at the end of the lane. 

From Find-A-Grave:

South Woodland Road (Ohio State Route 87) in Moreland Hills, Cuyahoga County, Ohio 44022

The area was also known as Burnett's Corners.  This small, hidden cemetery is located about a quarter mile west of the intersection of S. Woodland (Rt 87) and Chagrin River Road. A small, hard to spot lane leads from Rt 87 north over the curb and into the woods. The cemetery is about ¼ mile from road. The cemetery was originally the family plot of Serenus Burnett, an early settler in Orange Township. In time, the family graveyard grew to include burials from the entire neighborhood.

From Moreland Hills Historical Society:

“Orange Hogsback Hill Cemetery,” “South Woodland Cemetery” and “River Road Cemetery” are three of the names for the cemetery at 3500 Chagrin River Road.  It is on private property. However, MHHS members Katie Martin and Becky Elliott mapped and copied these grave inscriptions in November 1991.

https://mhhsohio.org/riverroadcemetary/

Records at WRHS and here:  https://www.interment.net/data/us/oh/cuyahoga/riverroad/hogsback.htm

And here:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/riverrd/index.html

ORANGE CENTER CEMETERY aka Kinsman Road Cemetery – 33550 Pinetree Road (formerly North Kinsman Road) & SOM Center Roads in Pepper Pike.  Records at WRHS.

ORANGE HILL FARM CEMETERY – Fairmount & SOM Center Roads in Hunting Valley.  Records at WRHS.

PARK SYNAGOGUE CEMETERY aka Bet Olam House of Eternity Jewish Cemetery aka Kinsman Road Cemetery aka Warrensville Jewish Cemetery – 25796 Chagrin Blvd. in Beachwood – founded 1910.  Records are onsite and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

**From 1915-1940’s it was Kinsman Road Cemetery.  Kinsman Road’s name changed to Chagrin Blvd. in 1959.

**From the 1940’s to early 1960’s the cemetery was called Warrensville Cemetery.

**In 1950, when Park Synagogue moved to Cleveland Heights, the cemetery was known as The Park Synagogue Cemetery.

**In 1999 the name was changed to Bet Olam House of Eternity.

PARMA EARLY SETTLERS CEMETERY aka Christianson Cemetery, Niels Cemetery, Peters Cemetery – at State and Sprague Roads in Parma.  Abandoned.  Records at WRHS and at GenWeb Archives here:  http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/earset.txt

PARMA HEIGHTS CEMETERY – Reservoir Road and Pearl Road in Parma Heights – founded 1892.  Records at Parma Area Historical Society, Parma Heights Historical Society and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Buried here are Benajah Fay (1785-1860) and Ruth Fay (1781-1831) who came to Parma in 1816 with their ten children.  They would have three more children, with the eldest of those three being the first white child born in Parma.  Benajah operated “B. Fay’s Inn” on the old stage road.  Fay Junior High School in Parma was named after him.  Within the cemetery is a plaque on a boulder which reads: “On this site in 1826 was built a log house that served as Parma’s first school building, church, and public meeting place.  It stood here until 1841.”

PARMA PUBLIC CEMETERY aka German Lutheran Cemetery aka York Street Cemetery – Pleasant Valley & York Roads in Parma – founded 1835.  Records at WRHS.  Included within this cemetery is the German Lutheran Cemetery.  York Street Cemetery was founded in 1835 by Levi and Susannah Bartholomew when they buried an infant child on their property at the base of a large maple tree. The cemetery continued to be used until the last two burials, Carl and Hulda Kaiser, were buried there in 1986 and 1987 respectively. Over time the cemetery became neglected and unused until the York Street Cemetery Association was founded in 2000 by Charles K. Jennings, Jr., and Myrtis Litman. The association began taking care of the cemetery and officially made its name York Street Cemetery and placed a sign at the front of the cemetery. No more burials are permitted in the cemetery. 

PAYNE FAMILY CEMETERY – today a grassy field just to the east of a wooded lot on the north side of Euclid Avenue across from Beverly Hills Drive in Euclid, Ohio – first burial 1821.  Abandoned.  Some of the graves were moved to Euclid Cemetery.  This property belonged to Amasa Harvey Payne and Chloe (Hopson) Payne. There is no trace of the cemetery whatsoever.    Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

PEACH STREET JEWISH CEMETERY aka Anshe Emeth aka B’nai Abraham aka Fir Street Jewish Cemetery aka Hungarian Aid Society Cemetery – 6015 Fir Avenue in Cleveland between Bayne Court, Fir Avenue (called Peach Street in 1881), West 59th Street and West 61st Street – founded 1865.  The original incorporated name was Fir Street - Hungarian Aid Society.  It is Cleveland’s second oldest Jewish Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records can be found in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

PETERS FARM CEMETERY aka Euclid Township Cemetery aka Old Pelton’s Corners Burial Ground – 218 Richmond Road near the intersection of Chardon and Richmond Roads in Richmond Heights – first burial 1817.  Abraham Bishop owned the land and then sold it to Jonathan Pelton.  It then passed through various owners until Jacob and Barbara Peters purchased it in 1880.  Abandoned.  Most of the graves were moved to Euclid Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Records at WRHS. 

PETERS CEMETERY aka Christianson Cemetery, Niels Cemetery, Parma Early Settlers Cemetery – at State and Sprague Roads in Parma.  Abandoned.  Records at WRHS.  Records at GenWeb Archives here:  http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/earset.txt

PILGERRUH CEMETERY aka Hillside Cemetery/Old Indian Cemetery/Pioneer Cemetery/South View Cemetery/Terra Vista Cemetery/Tinker’s Creek Cemetery/Valley View Cemetery - located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.   Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS. 

Some records here:  http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

PIONEER CEMETERY aka Hillside Cemetery/Old Indian Cemetery/Pilgerruh Cemetery/South View Cemetery/Terra Vista Cemetery/Tinker’s Creek Cemetery/Valley View Cemetery – located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS. 

Some records here: 

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

POLISH NATIONAL CATHOLIC CEMETERY – West 54th Street and Theota in Parma – founded 1914.  Records at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 14660 Alexander Road.

POTTER’S FIELD aka Cleveland Memorial Park aka Highland Park – Green Road north of Harvard – founded 1904.  It is included with and attached to Highland Park Cemetery.  This is an indigent section/Potters’ Field, with the entrance located on the West side of Green Road between Chagrin Blvd. and Harvard Avenue.  There are no headstones in this section, however, there is a large boulder with a metal plate on it that says: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 

Records are at Highland Park and at this link under Highland Park:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://foundinohio.com/2023/07/01/clevelands-partially-hidden-potters-field/

PRITCHARD CEMETERY aka Royalton Township Cemetery – 9354 Edgerton Road in North Royalton – first burial 1818.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This cemetery began as a family cemetery and then grew to neighbors.  Knight Sprague sold Thomas Pritchard this land in 1841.  Abandoned.  Records at North Royalton Historical Society. 

PROPHET ELIAS GREEK ORTHODOX CEMETERY aka Greek Orthodox Cemetery - Cannon Road near Aurora Road in Bedford Heights.  Graves moved to Hillcrest Cemetery about 1990.

RICE FAMILY CEMETERY aka Barr Road Cemetery – on Barr Road just south of the parkway in Brecksville.  It was first called the Rice Family Cemetery.  It is ¾ acre and holds 200 graves and is closed. Records are at WRHS.  https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.htmlSH

RICHMOND CEMETERY – west side of Richmond Road near Highland Road just north of Richmond Heights Post Office and Claribel Creek – founded 1825.  This cemetery was on the property of Elihu and Betsey Richmond, whose log cabin still stands at 25625 Highland Road in Richmond Heights.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Euclid Cemetery. 

RIDGE ROAD #1 JEWISH CEMETERY aka Chesed Shel-Emeth Jewish Cemetery – 3740 Ridge Road in Brooklyn – founded 1905.  Records in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

RIDGE ROAD #2 JEWISH CEMETERY – 3824 Ridge Road in Brooklyn – founded 1907.  Records onsite and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

RIVER ROAD CEMETERY aka Hogsback Hill Cemetery aka Orange Cemetery aka South Woodland Cemetery – 3500 Chagrin River Road or Route 87 and Riverview Road in Orange Township, more specifically ½ mile west of the intersection of State Road 87 and Riverview Road on Route 87 in Orange Township.  A small lane leads from Route 87 north over a curb and through a wooded area.  The cemetery is about ¼ mile from the main road at the end of the lane. 

From Find-A-Grave:

South Woodland Road (Ohio State Route 87) in Moreland Hills, Cuyahoga County, Ohio 44022

The area was also known as Burnett's Corners.  This small, hidden cemetery is located about a quarter mile west of the intersection of S. Woodland (Rt 87) and Chagrin River Road. A small, hard to spot lane leads from Rt 87 north over the curb and into the woods. The cemetery is about ¼ mile from road. The cemetery was originally the family plot of Serenus Burnett, an early settler in Orange Township. In time, the family graveyard grew to include burials from the entire neighborhood.

From Moreland Hills Historical Society:

“Orange Hogsback Hill Cemetery,” “South Woodland Cemetery” and “River Road Cemetery” are three of the names for the cemetery at 3500 Chagrin River Road.  It is on private property. However, MHHS members Katie Martin and Becky Elliott mapped and copied these grave inscriptions in November 1991.

https://mhhsohio.org/riverroadcemetary/

Records at WRHS and here:  https://www.interment.net/data/us/oh/cuyahoga/riverroad/hogsback.htm

And here:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/riverrd/index.html

RIVERSIDE CEMETERY - 3607 Pearl Road – founded 1876.  This is a privately owned cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  The employees at Riverside Cemetery are very helpful with genealogical research.  http://www.riversidecemeterycleveland.org/

Records onsite & here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/riverside/index.html

The land for this cemetery was purchased from the original Asa Brainard farm.  Buried here are the well-known local families - Brainard, Lamson, Sessions, Rhodes, Jones, Schlather, among others.  Josiah Barter Sr. is the oldest burial (1842) moved from Monroe Cemetery.  The first burial was Margaret Taylor in 1876.  Originally, this cemetery encompassed 102.5 acres, but that has been reduced to 90 acres by freeway and other development.  Notable people buried here are:  Josiah Barber Sr. (1771-1842), first mayor of Ohio City; Dr. Carl Gerstacker (1885-1945) chairman of Dow Chemical; William Jacob Astrup (1845-1915) founder of Astrup Awning Company; Linda Anne Eastman (1867-1963), teacher and Cleveland Public Library librarian; John M. Richardson (1837-1902), architect; George V. Muth (1834-1899), head of Star Brewery; Isaac Leisy (1838-1892) of Leisy Brewery; Carlos Jones (1827-1897) founder of the Hones Home for Children; Diodate Clark (1798-1876), whom Clark Avenue was named after; Omar Mueller (1881-1946) head of Cleveland Home Brewery; Samuel Sessions (1824-1902), Isaac Lamson (1832-1912), and Thomas Lamson (1827-1882), heads of Lamson & Sessions Co.; Frederick Pelton (1827-1902), mayor of Cleveland; James Ford Rhodes (1848-1927), Rhodes High School named after him; Charles Gehring (1830-1893), a brewer; James McClure Coffinberry (1818-1891), common pleas judge; Avery Hopwood (1883-1928) a playwright; and Leonard Schlather (1835-1918), head of Schlather Brewery (his home stood where St. Ignatius football field is today).

RIVERSIDE CEMETERY – from an article in the Riverside Cemetery Newsletter in March, 2010:

In the division of the Western Reserve during the early 1800’s, a land development partnership called Lords and Barber acquired all the land from the Cuyahoga River to what is now West 117th St., and from Lake Erie to the present Brookpark Rd. in 1807.  The only exception was the Alfred Kelley Farm already established on St. Clair Ave.  Richard and Samuel Lord and Josiah Barber Sr. then proceeded to subdivide and sell the property to interested parties. One problem in those early years was the influx of some squatters who unlawfully established themselves on unpaid lands.  In the case of the area where we are located, a Canadian father and son squatter team named Granger staked a small settlement on a slope overlooking the Cuyahoga River and calling it Granger Hill (no connection to the present-day roadway of the same name).  In 1814, a man named Asa Brainard, together with three brothers, traveled from Chatham, CT with their families in a six-wagon train drawn by 10 horse and 6 oxen teams.  Asa purchased 140 acres in our location, including the Granger’s improvements.  The latter then departed and left the area.  In November 1875, the grandson of Asa Titus Brainard, agreed to sell 102.5 acres of the family farm to the search committee formed to secure land for establishing the first major-sized, garden-type Cemetery on the west side of the Cuyahoga.  The Brainard farm in rural Brooklyn Centre was the setting preferred by the Committee whose intent was to “choose a site in rural retirement where the peace and seclusion of country prevailed.”  Since it overlooked the Cuyahoga River to the southeast, the name of Riverside was most probably suggested and adopted.  Obviously, that rural setting has become more urbanized, but one can still experience a sense of country solitude when he drives or walks through our very scenic grounds.  And, we are often called a rural oasis within an urban environment.

5-10-1895 Plain Dealer

THE CEMETERIES

Beautiful Riverside Cemetery is the main place of sepulcher west of the Cuyahoga River.  Its entrance is on Pearl Street, not far from Brooklyn, and it lies on the high bluff above the flats.  When purchased for a cemetery in 1875, it was in almost a state of primeval nature.  In addition to shrubbery and trees, the 100 acres included wooded dells and clear rivulets and lakes.  A landscape architect saw the possibility for improvement, and under his direction graveled walks and drives were laid out, rustic bridges constructed, trees planted, sod converted into lawns and the wooded dells made accessible by cutting out the thick shrubbery.  The dedicatory services were held in the fall of 1876.  By many persons Riverside is considered the most beautiful burial ground in Cuyahoga County.  In addition to its beauty, it has a historic interest.  In 1833, when the officers of the U.S. Army were on their way to Washington with the Indian warrior, Black Hawk, a day was spent on the South Side to enable their captive to launch a canoe and glide up to one of the high bluffs within the present limits of Riverside Cemetery.  Black Hawk pointed to the high bluff and plateau where the river approaches nearest to the easterly side of the grounds.  That was the exact place where stood the wigwam in which he was born, and not far from the site of the wigwam was the grave of his mother.  He was given the privilege of remaining on the spot alone, and for over an hour he lingered at the place which, in the estimation of his race, had become consecrated ground.  When he returned to the party of officers it was noticed that his breast heaved with emotion, for though an Indian warrior, there was a touch of nature in his heart.  In another respect Riverside has a historic interest.  When James Fish, the first permanent white settler on the western shore of the Cuyahoga, arrived he found a man named Granger and his two sons living on land now within the confines of the present Riverside Cemetery.  This man had built a log house on a high bluff, still known as “Granger Hill.”  As far as known this was the first house on the West Side.  Many handsome monuments have been erected in Riverside to mark the resting places of the dead of prominent South and West Side families.  Some of the most striking granite structures are the Rhodes, Pelton, Lamson and Sessions, Wood, McGregor, Cowle, Rowley, Kellogg and Branch monuments, and the Cartwright, Brainard and Schlather vaults. 

9-29-1990 Plain Dealer:

WEST SIDE CEMETERY RICH WITH HISTORY

On November 15, 1875, a group of prominent West Side citizens organized the Riverside Cemetery Association.  They had watched the founding of the Lake View Cemetery on the eastern edge of Cleveland in 1870, and concluded that the community to the west of the Cuyahoga River needed its own prestigious cemetery.  The few cemeteries already there were deemed too small, and the Monroe Street Cemetery was the only municipal facility there until the 1890s.  Riverside Cemetery eventually would become the major cemetery on the West Side, but would be open to humble as well as prominent local figures. It and its gatehouse are designated Cleveland landmarks and are on the National Register of Historic Places.  The cemetery was formed when members of the new association – whose 20 trustees included well-known businessmen and public officials such as Josiah Barber, the first mayor of Ohio City; Judge James M. Coffinberry; S.W. Sessions of Lamson & Sessions; and Nicholas Meyer – contracted to purchase Titus N. Brainard’s 102.5-acre farm overlooking the Cuyahoga River, at a cost of $1,000 per acre, over a 12-year period.  The farm was at what is now 3607 Pearl Road, the southern border of an Interstate 71 exit ramp emptying onto what is now West 25th Street to the north and Pearl to the south.  It featured a breathtaking view of the Cuyahoga River at its rear.  The cemetery was planned out by E.O. Schwaegerl, a landscape architect and engineer.  When laid out, the cemetery contained more than five miles of roads, six acres of lakes and four rustic bridges.  Groundbreaking was April 4, 1876, when the first body, that of Margaret Taylor, was buried.  The cemetery was formally dedicated at a ceremony on November 11, 1876.  One speaker was then-governor of Ohio and President-elect, Rutherford B. Hayes, who planted the first of nearly 100 trees put in that day by community leaders and businessmen.  At that time, the cemetery had a small wooden office near the street, a residence, and a stone chapel.  Today, only the chapel remains of the original buildings.  The current gatehouse, a Romanesque, two-story structure near the cemetery’s main entrance, was built in 1896.  It was designed by architect C.W. Hopkinson.  Among those buried in the cemetery are Barber; Brainard; Carlos Jones, founder of the nearby Jones Home for Children; Leonard Schlather, one of three prominent German brewers buried there; the entire family of historian James Ford Rhodes; Thomas H. Lamson; and Avery Hopwood, a Cleveland native who became a well-known playwright and producer before he drowned on the French Riviera in 1928.  The cemetery is owned by the association, which is non-profit, non-sectarian, and comprised of people who own plots there.  It is managed privately and governed by a nine-member board of volunteer trustees.  Cemetery General Manager, William R. Halley, said the facility is one of the few that still permit individual landscaping, including the elevation of graves, in the European tradition.  There are 40,600 graves and five mausoleums in the cemetery, which now has about 90 acres.  Plenty of land remains for future graves.  The lakes have been drained and the ravines filled in, creating relatively even, rolling grounds.  The stone chapel, used for funeral services and to receive and store caskets during cold weather for 77 years, was closed in the mid-1950s and has fallen into disrepair.  The trustees want to restore the building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, but the association can’t afford to use its operating funds to do so.  A campaign has begun to raise the $150,000 needed.  About $40,000 is needed to shore up the damaged exterior of the building.  A Friends-of-Riverside account has been established at Ameritrust Bank for contributions. 

RIVERSIDE GOLF CLUB CEMETERY aka Westview Cemetery, Hoadley Cemetery, Old Baker Cemetery – at the southeast corner of Columbia (Route 252) one-half mile south of Sprague Road in Olmsted Falls, in the middle of Riverside Golf Club.  Records onsite.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Originally located on a family farm.  Those who settled here were part of the Waterbury Land Company who purchased the land in 1807 from the Connecticut Land Company.  The cemetery has burials from at least 1810-1912.  The last burial was Bethia Baker in 1912.

RIVERSIDE NORTH CEMETERY aka Gates Mills North Cemetery – On Chagrin River Road between Sherman and Brigham Roads in Gates Mills – founded 1810.  It was once part of a family farm.  It originally contained 1.25 acres until 1969 when it was expanded to 2.93 acres.  Some graves moved to Woodland Cemetery.  Records at Gates Mills Village Hall and WRHS. 

RIVERSIDE SOUTH CEMETERY aka Gates Mills South Cemetery – On Chagrin River Road just south of Old Mill Road in Gates Mills.  It once served as a private cemetery for the Dean Family.  It originally contained two acres and was increased to three acres in 1957.  Records at Gates Mills Village Hall and WRHS.

RIVERVIEW CEMETERY – 8789 Riverview Road just north of Route 82 in Brecksville.  It was first called River Cemetery, then Riverside Cemetery, and finally Riverview Cemetery.  It has been closed since the 1950s, is 1.5 acres, and has about 500 graves.  Records at WRHS.  https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.html

ROCKPORT CEMETERY aka Old Rockport Cemetery aka Wagar Cemetery – on the Mars Wagar farm, called Mapleside, between St. Charles and Belle Avenues on the south side of Detroit Avenue in Lakewood – first burial 1826, officially founded 1828.  The final burial was in the 1890s.  A Lakewood ordinance in 1951 declared it a public nuisance.  Fifty-four bodies were exhumed in 1957 and moved to Lakewood Park Cemetery in Rocky River.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Abandoned.  Records at WRHS. 

From Cleveland Historical:  https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/265

ROCKPORT PIONEER CEMETERY aka Old Rockport Cemetery aka Fairview Park Cemetery – 19469 Lorain Road at West 196th Street – founded 1861 – first burial 1811.  Records can be found at WRHS.

From https://fairviewparkcemetery.org/

On December 28, 1861, Francis Granger granted Henry B. Spencer eighteen acres of land, reserving one acre to be transferred to Rockport Township to be used as a cemetery.  Burials took place as early as 1830 before this land was recognized as a town cemetery; burials on private property were common practice for that time period.  Known by different names over the years, this little patch of land was first named Rockport Cemetery, at times also referred to as Rockport Pioneer Cemetery. There were three cemeteries in Rockport Township, all referred to as Rockport Cemetery (how confusing that must have been). When this area of Rockport Township became Fairview Village, the cemetery was then referred to as Fairview Cemetery. Since the cemetery is located in Fairview Park, the name was again changed and now known as Fairview Park Cemetery.  Many Fairview Park early families are buried in this cemetery, Spencer, Mastick, Wood, Jordan, Potter, and Lewis, to name just a few.  There are many tombstones with last names not as commonly known as the founding families. These less familiar names are often the last name of a married daughter or granddaughter of one of the founding families.  In 1889 a small building was built over unoccupied plots in Section C and referred to as a vault.  This building was used to store the deceased when the ground was too frozen, and a grave could not be hand dug.  This building was not designed to be used as a mausoleum or crypt. Today, this is the oldest historical structure owned by The City of Fairview Park. The cemetery actually extended further north than it does today. When Lorain Road was widened, the front sections of the cemetery were paved over. Records identify occupied graves and where the deceased were moved within the cemetery.  Today, as you enter from Lorain Road, north is to your back, Section A is on the west side, and Section D is on the east side. Along the back of the cemetery is Section C on the west side, and on the east side is Section H. Not all graves are marked; many are without a headstone/tombstone.

ROCKPORT TOWNSHIP GRAVEYARD (The very first one) – Edanola Ave. and Riverside Dr. in Lakewood – founded 1813.  Abandoned.  Most graves moved to Alger Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci which explains that Nathan Alger died on January 21, 1813, and was the first person buried here.  The second burial here was Daniel Miner who died in February of 1813.  This cemetery is the burial location of many other early pioneers and a number of sailors who drowned off the point in 1812.  For many years this burial ground sat unnoticed and out of the way on what was known as Clifton Park.  The graves were left undisturbed until a hotel and tavern were built on the site.  The Cliff House was officially opened on Christmas Eve 1868 at the end of a dummy rail line called the Rocky River Railroad.  Joseph H. Murch purchased the hotel during the 1870s, and operated it as the Murch House before the name was changed back to the Cliff House.  When this facility was built, the graves were moved to other cemeteries, most ending up at Alger Cemetery.  The Cliff House operated until Halloween 1883, when it burned to the ground. 

ROCKPORT TUMULUS BURIAL MOUND – northwest corner of Sloane and Detroit Avenue just east of the Rocky River Bridge in Lakewood – founded before 1820.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Though it was first thought that this was a Native American burial site, Jared Potter Kirtland’s research found something different.  He examined the bones and found they were the remains of males between early adulthood and middle age, and they were all Anglo-Saxon.  The tumulus contained around 70 bodies.  Kirtland theorized that these were the bodies of those involved in a maritime disaster in the early 1760s.  Those buried here were most likely from the wreck in the Fall of 1763 of Major John Wilkins of the Royal Americans Sixtieth Foot.  Seventy men and three officers, including their surgeon, Dr. Williams of the Eightieth British Regulars lost their life.

ROSELAWN CEMETERY – 32725 Solon Road near SOM Center Road in Solon – founded 1828.  Interred here are Abram and Eliza Ballou Garfield, parents of U.S. President James A. Garfield.  Records at WRHS and here:  http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/roselawn.txt

ROYALTON TOWNSHIP CEMETERY aka Pritchard Cemetery – 9354 Edgerton Road in North Royalton – first burial 1818.  This cemetery began as a family cemetery and then grew to neighbors.  Knight Sprague sold Thomas Pritchard this land in 1841.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. Abandoned.  Records at North Royalton Historical Society. 

RUSSELL CEMETERY aka Thompson Cemetery aka Zeman Cemetery aka Union Cemetery – on the east side of Liberty Road about 900 feet south of its intersection with Solon Road in Bentleyville Village – officially founded 1859. Records for this cemetery are at Shaker Historical Society and WRHS.  In 1812, Ralph Russell (1789-1866), a native of Windsor Locks, CT, was a pioneer settler to Warrensville Township, Ohio in the Connecticut Western Reserve.  He also served in the War of 1812.  Ralph married his childhood sweetheart, Laura Ellsworth (1795-1858), and they had three sons:  Ralph Ellsworth Russell, Jacob Von Huffman Russell, and Hezikiah Loomis Russell.  In 1822, Ralph persuaded his eight siblings, their families, and nearby neighbors to convert to the Shaker religion which followed the three C’s – confession of sins, communal ownership of property, and celibacy.  Under Ralph’s leadership, the new converts confessed their sins and donated 1, 393 acres of land in Warrensville Township to establish North Union Shaker Village (now known as Shaker Heights, Ohio.)  In 1828, Ralph decided not to sign the Shaker Covenant.  Instead, Ralph, Laura, their three sons, and Ralph’s widowed mother, Esther, moved to Aurora Township.  In 1831, Ralph bought land on both sides of the Chagrin River, including Lot 23 in Griffithsburg (now Bentleyville), then part of Solon Township.  Laura and Ralph had four more children:  Andrew Jackson Russell, Gershom Sheldon Russell, Joseph Pelton Russell, and Laura Josephine Russell.  In 1839, Ralph was a trustee of Solon Township.  From 1845-1852 he was a trustee of Chagrin Falls after the portion of Solon Township where he lived was annexed to Chagrin Falls.  In 1859, the Union Cemetery Association was formed, and Ralph conveyed the .33-acre Russell family graveyard to the Union Cemetery Association.  The graveyard was bounded on the west by Liberty Road, and on all three other sides by the 65.67 acres owned by the Russell family.  Ralph died in 1866 at the age of 77.  He is buried in grave #5 to the far right of his wife, Laura and his mother, Esther.  Nearby is his six-year-old daughter, Laura Josephine.  There were as many as 21 members of the Russell family buried here along with three members of the George Niece family, Mr. and Mrs. Orlin Kennedy, the infant son of Stephan and Frances Smith, and the one-and-a-half-year-old son of Henry Martin.  The Village of Bentleyville separated from Chagrin Falls in 1928 and assumed responsibility for Union Cemetery. 

RUSSELL FAMILY CEMETERY aka Battles Road Cemetery – at the rear of the property at 500 Battles Road, which is on the west side of Battles Road at its intersection with Timberidge Trail.  This was once the Luther Battle property, one mile northeast of Wilson Mills Road in Gates Mills – founded in the 1830’s.  This cemetery is abandoned.  Many graves were moved to the Chester Township Cemetery in Chesterland.  Records are at WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

RUSSELL (JACOB) MEMORIAL aka Shaker Burial Ground aka North Union Shaker Cemetery aka South Park Cemetery – 16740 South Park Blvd. just west of Lee Road in Shaker Heights – founded 1859.  Jacob Russell is the only remaining burial. The rest are buried in a common grave at Warrensville West Cemetery.  Records at Shaker Historical Society in Shaker Heights and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Shakers were originally English Quakers who, in 1747, formed a separate sect.  The Shaker Community of North Union was formed in the area that is now Shaker Heights in 1822.  Ralph Russell was the founder and donated this land in 1859 for use as a cemetery. In 1892 the property was sold to the Shaker Heights Land Company.  South Park Blvd. was laid out in 1895.  At that time, Jacob Russell’s headstone (1746-1821) was found (father of Ralph Russell).  The property was sold to the Van Sweringen brothers in 1905. Records show 137 burials at this original site, but with the expansion and development of the area, 89 of the 137 remains were moved in 1909.

SANDERSON’S CORNER CEMETERY – on the east side of a creek and 400 feet north of Drake Road across from Hunt Road in Strongsville – founded 1820-1830.  This cemetery was on the property of Apollos Southworth.  Two of his granddaughters were buried there, daughters of Deborah Southworth and Samuel Sanderson.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Abandoned.  Most graves moved to Bennett’s Corners Cemetery. 

SARLES FAMILY PLOT – on the west side of State Road 630 feet north of the county line in North Royalton – first burial 1834.  This cemetery was on the property of Jonathan and Elizabeth Sarles.  The last known burial took place in 1864.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to North Royalton Cemetery. 

SCRANTON ROAD CEMETERY aka Brooklyn Cemetery aka Fish Farm Cemetery aka German Lutheran Cemetery aka North Brooklyn Cemetery aka Wade Avenue Cemetery – at the southwest corner of Scranton and Wade Avenues – founded 1812 or 1819.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Information below from THE DEFINITIVE book “Scranton Road Cemetery, Cleveland Ohio,” by Cynthia Turk, 2004:

This cemetery had various names over the years:

Brooklyn Cemetery (1849)

Wade Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

Scranton Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery (1884)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1896)

German Lutheran Cemetery (1898, 1912, 1922)

Scranton Road Cemetery (1925)

The City of Cleveland purchased the cemetery in 1945.

There was a chapel on the site as early as 1896.  It was in poor condition in 1946.  It has since been demolished.

Scranton Road Cemetery (2 ½ acres) is located on the southwest corner of Scranton Road and Wade Avenue.  James Fish was the first permanent white settler in the territory that became Brooklyn.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  The fifth burial in this Fish family burying ground, was Mary Wilcox, mother-in-law of James Fish, who was buried in 1816.  This was supposedly on a half-acre lot near the present cemetery on Scranton Road, which was subsequently donated to the township as a public graveyard.  It is assumed that this is the west section of Scranton Cemetery today.  It has been suggested that the four previous graves were obliterated and may be under the current Scranton Road.  Mary Wilcox may have also been in that section and when the road was widened, the Fish family graves were moved to the current location in the west section.  One report in 1946 states that the date of opening of Scranton Road Cemetery was 1819.  A handwritten note in the city law director’s file states “Donated to Brooklyn Township April 28, 1839.”  A cemetery lot owner’s group got together when the township did not take care of the cemetery and called itself the North Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  In April of 1849, it was posted that a meeting would occur to incorporate an association which would call itself The Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  Francis Branch was the chairman and Edward Wade the Clerk of the meeting.  Trustees were appointed:  Martin Kellogg, Diodate Clark, Robert Selden, John Loper, Francis Branch, Benjamin Beavis and Edward VanHousen.  So, we see that this cemetery was first called Brooklyn Cemetery.  In the death records in the 1880s it was called Wade Avenue Cemetery, Scranton Avenue Cemetery, or North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1884, it was called North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery.  In 1896 it was North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1898, 1912, and 1922 it was called German Lutheran Cemetery.  In 1925, it was called Scranton Road Cemetery.  The chapel was seen on a map in 1896 with no roads leading to it.  In 1922 and 1937 there is a road.  The obituary of Andrew Bishop dated December 12, 1911 stated that services would be held in the chapel of Scranton Road Cemetery.  The building was in poor condition in 1946.  There is still an indentation in the ground where it stood.  A newspaper article stated that the cemetery land was given to old North Brooklyn Township by Francis Branch and its management entrusted to the cemetery associations, with the proviso that the back portion of the land be used for the burial of indigent persons.  It seems likely that the west end was Potters Field.  In 1942, the City of Cleveland wanted to acquire the cemetery because of its dilapidated condition.  The cemetery was finally purchased by the City of Cleveland in 1945.  In 1948 the city voted to enclose the cemetery with a chain link fence. 

SHAKER CEMETERY aka Manx Cemetery aka Warrensville West Cemetery – 2110 Lee Road in Shaker Heights – founded 1811.  Records at Shaker Historical Society. History at:  https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/423#.Ukm-UYasiSo

https://www.shakerhistory.org/preserve/warrensville-west-cemetery

https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/408

https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/423

Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This cemetery contains the Manx Settlers (from the Isle of Man and often called Old Manx Cemetery), and the common grave of the North Union Shakers that were moved here from the Shaker Burial ground at 16740 South Park Blvd. in Shaker Heights in 1905.  Warrensville Township is named after Moses Warren.  Daniel and Margaret Warren’s daughter, Lovisa, who died in 1811, was the reason the cemetery was founded.

SHAKER BURIAL GROUND aka North Union Shaker Cemetery aka Jacob Russell Memorial aka South Park Cemetery – 16740 South Park Blvd. just west of Lee Road in Shaker Heights – founded 1859.  Jacob Russell is the only remaining burial. The rest are buried in a common grave at Warrensville West Cemetery.  Records at Shaker Historical Society in Shaker Heights and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil, and in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Shakers were originally English Quakers who, in 1747, formed a separate sect.  The Shaker Community of North Union was formed in the area that is now Shaker Heights in 1822.  Ralph Russell was the founder and donated this land in 1859 for use as a cemetery. In 1892 the property was sold to the Shaker Heights Land Company.  South Park Blvd. was laid out in 1895.  At that time, Jacob Russell’s headstone (1746-1821) was found (father of Ralph Russell).  The property was sold to the Van Sweringen brothers in 1905. Records show 137 burials at this original site, but with the expansion and development of the area, 89 of the 137 remains were moved in 1909. Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

SOUTH KINSMAN CEMETERY & CHAGRIN RIVER CEMETERY – at Kinsman & Chagrin River Road in Chagrin Falls.  Records at WRHS.

SOUTH PARK CEMETERY aka Shaker Burial Ground aka North Union Shaker Cemetery aka Jacob Russell Memorial – 16740 South Park Blvd. just west of Lee Road in Shaker Heights – founded 1859.  Jacob Russell is the only remaining burial. The rest are buried in a common grave at Warrensville West Cemetery.  Records at Shaker Historical Society in Shaker Heights and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil and in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Shakers were originally English Quakers who, in 1747, formed a separate sect.  The Shaker Community of North Union was formed in the area that is now Shaker Heights in 1822.  Ralph Russell was the founder and donated this land in 1859 for use as a cemetery. In 1892 the property was sold to the Shaker Heights Land Company.  South Park Blvd. was laid out in 1895.  At that time, Jacob Russell’s headstone (1746-1821) was found (father of Ralph Russell).  The property was sold to the Van Sweringen brothers in 1905. Records show 137 burials at this original site, but with the expansion and development of the area, 89 of the 137 remains were moved in 1909.

SOUTH VIEW CEMETERY aka Hillside Cemetery/Old Indian Cemetery/Pilgerruh Cemetery/Pioneer Cemetery/Terra Vista Cemetery/Tinker’s Creek Cemetery/Valley View Cemetery – located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.  Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Some records here: 

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

SOUTH WOODLAND CEMETERY aka Hogsback Hill Cemetery aka Orange Cemetery aka River Road Cemetery – 3500 Chagrin River Road or Route 87 and Riverview Road in Orange Township, more specifically ½ mile west of the intersection of State Road 87 and Riverview Road on Route 87 in Orange Township.  A small lane leads from Route 87 north over a curb and through a wooded area.  The cemetery is about ¼ mile from the main road at the end of the lane. 

From Find-A-Grave:

South Woodland Road (Ohio State Route 87) in Moreland Hills, Cuyahoga County, Ohio 44022

The area was also known as Burnett's Corners.  This small, hidden cemetery is located about a quarter mile west of the intersection of S. Woodland (Rt 87) and Chagrin River Road. A small, hard to spot lane leads from Rt 87 north over the curb and into the woods. The cemetery is about ¼ mile from road. The cemetery was originally the family plot of Serenus Burnett, an early settler in Orange Township. In time, the family graveyard grew to include burials from the entire neighborhood.

From Moreland Hills Historical Society:

“Orange Hogsback Hill Cemetery,” “South Woodland Cemetery” and “River Road Cemetery” are three of the names for the cemetery at 3500 Chagrin River Road.  It is on private property. However, MHHS members Katie Martin and Becky Elliott mapped and copied these grave inscriptions in November 1991.

https://mhhsohio.org/riverroadcemetary/

Records at WRHS and here:  https://www.interment.net/data/us/oh/cuyahoga/riverroad/hogsback.htm

And here:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/riverrd/index.html

SPERRY CEMETERY aka Horwedel Cemetery – near the intersection of Clague and Center Ridge Roads, or more specifically on the east bank of Sperry Creek (just west of Fallen Oaks Drive today or across from Horseshoe Blvd.) on the south side of Center Ridge Road in Westlake – founded 1818.  Amos Sperry came to Dover Township about 1810 and opened a tavern on Center Ridge Road just east of Clague Road.  His wife and daughter were the first buried at this family cemetery.  The property sat on the border of lands owned by the Sperry family and Edward Lawrence Horwedel.  Edward Horwedel’s wife was the great-great-granddaughter of Amos Sperry.    Abandoned.  Graves moved to Evergreen Cemetery in Dover Township.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

SPRING FAMILY CEMETERY – 25309 Highland Road in Richmond Heights – founded 1850.  This cemetery was on the Virgil and Mary (Richmond) Spring property.  Today it is the Redstone Run Highland Reserve. Abandoned.  Graves moved to Euclid Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

ST. ADALBERT CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka Engle Road Cemetery – 18300 Bagley Road near the northwest corner of Bagley and Engle Roads in Middleburg Heights – founded 1873.  Records are located at the church and at WRHS.  This was the parish cemetery for St. Adelbert Catholic Church at 66 Adelbert Street, in Berea. 

ST. ANDREW UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka Sts. Peter and Paul aka St. Josaphat of Parma Eparchial Cemetery – 7700 Hoertz Road in Parma.  Records onsite.  https://www.standrewucc.org/

ST. JOHN CATHOLIC CEMETERY – 7000 Woodland Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1856.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This cemetery was established for St. John’s parish.  The land was purchased from Norman and Mary Baldwin in 1855, but the cemetery did not open until 1858.  However, the first burial was in 1856.  Most of the pioneer priests of Cleveland are buried here.  Records at Calvary Cemetery and Diocese of Cleveland and here:  https://www.clecem.org/

ST. JOHN EPISCOPAL CHURCHYARD aka Dover Center Cemetery – on the west side of Dover Center Road behind the third house north of Center Ridge Road – founded 1824.  Abandoned.  This graveyard was primarily the burial site of the Smith and Lilly families who owned land including and surrounding it.  The Smiths were three brothers – Sylvanus, Abner, and Jonathan.  The Lilly brothers – Albinus, Austin, Jesse, and Bethuel, were founders of St. John’s Episcopal Church of Dover in 1837.  The church was between the cemetery lot and Dover Center Road.  By 1850, the congregation had disbanded.  The last burial at the cemetery was in 1875.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CEMETERY – 4386 Mayfield Road in South Euclid – founded 1854.  Records onsite.

https://www.stjohnsoutheuclid.org/gallery-1

ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CEMETERY – 11333 Granger Road in Garfield Heights.  Records at St. John Lutheran Church.

German Corners -The intersection of Turney and Granger Roads, called German Corners in the 1800s, later became known as South Newburgh Centre. At its earliest Turney Road was known as State Road and then Fisher Road. Finally, it was named for Joseph Turney, area resident and two-term treasurer of the state of Ohio. Granger Road was named after John Albert Granger, a major pioneer landowner in the area and the third son of Gideon Granger, an original investor in the Connecticut Land Company and U. S. Postmaster General under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Located here are St. John Lutheran Church, school and cemetery, established by German settlers that settled this farm community. Nearby is the Garfield Heights Historical Society Museum in a house built in 1890 for the German teachers.

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church - In January 1854, a German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of St. John was organized in Independence Township. The majority of the men who organized the congregation were immigrants from northwestern Germany who came to Cleveland and later moved to outlying townships, including Independence. The site chosen for the first church was located on the southeast corner of the present-day Turney and Granger Road intersection on land that was purchased from John Henry Weber, who bought it in 1852 from John Albert Granger. The church was dedicated on October 14, 1854 with Reverend John Strieter as the first pastor. Within a week of the first sermon a school was organized.

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST CATHEDRAL – 1007 Superior Avenue – founded 1877.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Marble covered crypts of the former bishops of the Diocese of Cleveland are buried here.  The first burial was Bishop Amadeus Rappe in 1877.  St. Christine’s relics (a third-century martyr) are under the altar of the Mortuary Chapel.

ST. JOSAPHAT OF PARMA EPARCHIAL CEMETERY aka St. Andrew Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery aka Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery – 7700 Hoertz Road in Parma.  Records onsite.  https://www.standrewucc.org/

ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CEMETERY – 7916 Woodland Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1849.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemetery by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This is the oldest Catholic cemetery in Cleveland, founded to serve the St. Joseph parish at East 21st Street and Woodland Avenue.  Like St. John Cemetery, the land was purchased from Norman and Mary Baldwin in 1849.  Members of the Sisters of Notre Dame and Sisters of the Good Shepherd are buried here, with their vaults built into the hillside.  Records at Calvary Cemetery, Diocese of Cleveland, and here:  https://www.clecem.org/

ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka Holy Family Catholic Cemetery – 7367 York Road in Parma – founded 1873.  Records onsite and at WRHS and here: https://holyfamparma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/St.-Joseph-Cemetery.pdf

From:  https://holyfamparma.org/cemetery/

St. Joseph Cemetery is located on the Parish grounds facing the south near the Church parking lot and has been owned by Holy Family Parish since 1881. Mr. Conrad Rohrbach donated part of the land adjoining his home to build a church and the present-day cemetery.  The first burial was in 1881 and the last known burial was in 2000.  

ST. LAWRENCE CATHOLIC CEMETERY – 4613-4729 Rockside Road in Independence – founded 1851.  Records at St. Michael Catholic Church, 6912 Chestnut Road or 6540 Brecksville Road in Independence and here: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/lawrence/index.html

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/lawrenc.txt

From Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Genealogy and History:

St. Lawrence Cemetery is located on the north side of Rockside Road, west of Interstate 77 and West Creek Road. The cemetery got its name from the small church that was, at one time, in the middle of the cemetery. The original church was made of wood, and when it burned down, it was replaced by a stone church. Later, as the congregation grew, a new church was built at 6912 Chestnut Road and was named St. Michael's.  The old St. Lawrence church was used as the cemetery chapel until it was torn down.

ST. MARY CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka Burton Street Cemetery – 2677 West 41st Street in Cleveland – founded 1855-1861.  The book People of Faith states this cemetery was established in 1861, however a map shows 1855.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Records onsite and at Holy Cross Cemetery and here: https://www.clecem.org/

ST. MARY CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka Immaculate Heart of Mary Cemetery – 4720 East 71st Street in Cuyahoga Heights.  Records at Calvary Cemetery and here: https://www.clecem.org/

And here:  https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohpgsgc/St.%20Mary's%20Cemetery.pdf

ST. MARY CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka Irish German Cemetery – Depot Street north of Bagley Road in Berea - founded 1852.  This cemetery is owned by St. Mary's Catholic Church, 250 Kraft Street, Berea, Ohio. Records are at WRHS.

ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION CATHOLIC CEMETERY aka Assumption of Mary – 14900 Brookpark Road, Cleveland – founded 1851.  Records here: https://www.clecem.org/

ST. MARY OF THE FALLS CATHOLIC CEMETERY – 1260 West Bagley Road east of Columbia Road in Berea – founded 1856.  Records at St. Mary’s of the Falls Church, 25615 Bagley Road in Olmsted Falls, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brookpark, and here:  https://www.clecem.org/

ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC CEMETERY – 4427 Rocky River Drive in Cleveland – founded 1856.  Records onsite at St. Patrick’s Church.

ST. PAUL CATHOLIC CEMETERY – 1231 Chardon Road in Euclid – founded 1860.  Records onsite at the church.

ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CEMETERY – 6630 Eastland Road 300 feet south of Sheldon Road in Middleburg Heights – founded 1800s.  Records at St. Paul Church. http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/stpaulluth.txt

ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CEMETERY – 27992 Detroit Road in Westlake.  Records at St. Paul Church.

https://www.stpaulwestlake.org/

ST. PAUL PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CEMETERY – northwest corner of Euclid Avenue and Allandale in East Cleveland – founded 1845, but the first burial was in 1830.  Abandoned.  Graves moved to Lake View Cemetery and East Cleveland Cemetery.  Primarily, the families buried here were:  Strong, Ogram, Sawtell, Adams, Van Tine, and Foote. In 1923, a new parish hall and school were completed on the land that was the cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

ST. PETER UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST CEMETERY – 125 East Ridgewood Drive in Seven Hills.  Travel up the small paved road found in the rear left corner of St. Peter’s parking lot.  The cemetery is not visible from the street.  Records here:  http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemetery/stpeters.txt

STS. PETER AND PAUL CEMETERY aka St. Andrew Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery aka St. Josaphat of Parma Eparchial Cemetery – 7700 Hoertz Road in Parma.  Records onsite.  https://www.standrewucc.org/

ST. SAVA SERBIAN ORTHODOX CEMETERY – 2151 West Wallings Road in Broadview Heights – founded 1984.

ST. STANISLAUS CEMETERY aka Jesuit Cemetery – 5629 State Road in Parma.  This cemetery is located on the farthest eastern part of the property of the Jesuit Retreat House.  Founded in 1898, the Jesuit Retreat Center is the first and longest running location in the United States providing retreats for laypersons, as well as for priests.  In 1893, Jesuits from Saint Ignatius College purchased 20 acres on State Road in Parma for recreational use of the college’s faculty.  In 1896 the first Jesuits were buried in the Jesuit Cemetery at the rear of the property.  In 1898 the property became St. Stanislaus Novitiate, a training center for new Jesuits.  The name was changed to Jesuit Retreat House in 1967, and to Jesuit Retreat Center in 2018.

ST. THEODOSIUS RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CEMETERY – 8200 Biddulph Road at the northeast corner of Roadoan Road in Brooklyn – founded 1902.  Records onsite.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemetery by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Buried here are Father Jason Kappanadze (1875-1962) and his wife.  Father Kappanadze came to Cleveland in 1902.  He returned to Russia in 1908, then escaped Russia in 1921 and returned to Cleeland as pastor at St. Theodosius Church, where he served from 1922-1957. 

STRONGSVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY aka Old Albion Burial Ground aka Albion Cemetery – in the woods behind 11303 Pearl Road in Strongsville – founded 1841.  Abandoned. Many buried here were moved to Strongsville Cemetery.   The Village of Albion was founded in 1834 by Benjamin Northrup.  In 1841, Thaddeus and Betsy Lathrop sold two sublots to the First Baptist Society of Strongsville.  A meeting house was built immediately, and a cemetery was established the next year. In 1873, the church was sold to the board of education of Strongsville, who used the building as a schoolhouse until 1897.  The cemetery was in use in the early 1900s.  It is assumed that Hannah Luther Bosworth (1769-1842) was the first burial, wife of John Bosworth (1760-1845).  The Bosworths were moved to Strongsville Cemetery in 1922.  Records can be found at the city of Strongsville and WRHS.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

From Find-A-Grave:

Also known as the Old Albion Burial Ground. Officially established Feb. 9, 1841 by trustees of the First Baptist Society of Strongsville, though burials for this congregation may have taken place here earlier.  The cemetery was the primary burial site for members of the Bosworth family and was used into the early 1900's. The majority of the burials here were moved to the Strongsville Cemetery in April 1922 and the cemetery was abandoned in 1959.  Today it sits in a wooded lot behind the building at 11303 Pearl Rd., Strongsville. The property is owned by the City of Strongsville.

STRONGSVILLE CEMETERY – 13123 Pearl Road in Strongsville – founded 1822.  Records at Strongsville Historical Society located next to the cemetery or at WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  “In 1822, John S. Strong transferred land to establish a cemetery for the inhabitants of Strongsville.  The land was to be used as a burying yard so long as wood grows and water runs, provided the inhabitants keep the same fenced with a good and lawful fence, reserving to me, the said John S. Strong, the privilege of feeding the same with small cattle or sheep.”  The following Revolutionary War soldiers are buried here:  Joseph Myrick (1756-1842); James Nichols (1755-1829); Benjamin Whitney (1741-1833); Joshua Hudson (1760-1842); John Bosworth (1760-1865); William Pierce (died 1875); and likely William Fuller.

SUNSET MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY – 6265 Columbia Road in North Olmsted – founded between 1929 - 1935.  Records onsite.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This is a 165-acre privately owned cemetery.  When it first opened, concerts were held there.  https://www.sunsetfuneralandcemetery.com/

TEMPLE ON THE HEIGHTS CEMETERY aka Glenville Cemetery aka B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery (their second cemetery) aka Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery – 13009 Shaw Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1906.  Records in the Jewish Cemetery Database here: https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

This was a five-acre cemetery immediately to the west of the first Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery which was in East Cleveland.  The two lots straddled the border of Cleveland and East Cleveland.  It was first called Hungarian B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Church Cemetery, and after the congregation moved further east, it was called Glenville Cemetery or Temple on the Heights Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  **See both B’nai Jeshurun Hungarian Congregation Church Cemetery entries for the entire story. 

TERRA VISTA CEMETERY aka Hillside Cemetery/Old Indian Cemetery/Pilgerruh Cemetery/Pioneer Cemetery/South View Cemetery/Tinker’s Creek Cemetery/Valley View Cemetery – located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.  Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Some records here: 

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

THOMPSON CEMETERY aka Lowell Family Burial Ground – southwest corner of Spencer & Center Ridge Roads in Rocky River – founded about 1835.  This property was owned by Sidney Lowell and his wife, Mary Ann Whitney.  Also buried there are Enos Brainard (1781-1848) and his wife Sally (1779-1844).  They first lived in Cleveland, then Brooklyn and Strongsville, before settling in Rockport in 1835.  Sally’s tombstone was discovered in 1994, when excavation began for the development of Nantucket Row.  This cemetery is also known as Thompson Cemetery, as the Thompson Gardening Company owned the property throughout the 1920s.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

THOMPSON CEMETERY aka Russell/Zeman/Union – on the east side of Liberty Road about 900 feet south of its intersection with Solon Road in Bentleyville Village – founded 1859.  Records for this cemetery are at Shaker Historical Society and WRHS.  In 1812, Ralph Russell (1789-1866), a native of Windsor Locks, CT, was a pioneer settler to Warrensville Township, Ohio in the Connecticut Western Reserve.  He also served in the War of 1812.  Ralph married his childhood sweetheart, Laura Ellsworth (1795-1858), and they had three sons:  Ralph Ellsworth Russell, Jacob Von Huffman Russell, and Hezikiah Loomis Russell.  In 1822, Ralph persuaded his eight siblings, their families, and nearby neighbors to convert to the Shaker religion which followed the three C’s – confession of sins, communal ownership of property, and celibacy.  Under Ralph’s leadership, the new converts confessed their sins and donated 1, 393 acres of land in Warrensville Township to establish North Union Shaker Village (now known as Shaker Heights, Ohio.)  In 1828, Ralph decided not to sign the Shaker Covenant.  Instead, Ralph, Laura, their three sons, and Ralph’s widowed mother, Esther, moved to Aurora Township.  In 1831, Ralph bought land on both sides of the Chagrin River, including Lot 23 in Griffithsburg (now Bentleyville), then part of Solon Township.  Laura and Ralph had four more children:  Andrew Jackson Russell, Gershom Sheldon Russell, Joseph Pelton Russell, and Laura Josephine Russell.  In 1839, Ralph was a trustee of Solon Township.  From 1845-1852 he was a trustee of Chagrin Falls after the portion of Solon Township where he lived was annexed to Chagrin Falls.  In 1859, the Union Cemetery Association was formed, and Ralph conveyed the .33-acre Russell family graveyard to the Union Cemetery Association.  The graveyard was bounded on the west by Liberty Road, and on all three other sides by the 65.67 acres owned by the Russell family.  Ralph died in 1866 at the age of 77.  He is buried in grave #5 to the far right of his wife, Laura and his mother, Esther.  Nearby is his six-year-old daughter, Laura Josephine.  There were as many as 21 members of the Russell family buried here along with three members of the George Niece family, Mr. and Mrs. Orlin Kennedy, the infant son of Stephan and Frances Smith, and the one-and-a-half-year-old son of Henry Martin.  The Village of Bentleyville separated from Chagrin Falls in 1928 and assumed responsibility for Union Cemetery. 

TINKER’S CREEK CEMETERY aka Hillside Cemetery/Old Indian Cemetery/Pilgerruh Cemetery/Pioneer Cemetery/South View Cemetery/Terra Vista Cemetery/Valley View Cemetery – located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.  Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Some records here: 

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

TURKEY FOOT CEMETERY aka Chestnut Grove/Olmsted Township Cemetery – 7789 Lewis Road in Olmsted Falls.  Records onsite and at WRHS.

UNION CEMETERY aka Russell/Thompson/Zeman – on the east side of Liberty Road about 900 feet south of its intersection with Solon Road in Bentleyville Village – founded 1859.  Records for this cemetery are at Shaker Historical Society and WRHS.  In 1812, Ralph Russell (1789-1866), a native of Windsor Locks, CT, was a pioneer settler to Warrensville Township, Ohio in the Connecticut Western Reserve.  He also served in the War of 1812.  Ralph married his childhood sweetheart, Laura Ellsworth (1795-1858), and they had three sons:  Ralph Ellsworth Russell, Jacob Von Huffman Russell, and Hezikiah Loomis Russell.  In 1822, Ralph persuaded his eight siblings, their families, and nearby neighbors to convert to the Shaker religion which followed the three C’s – confession of sins, communal ownership of property, and celibacy.  Under Ralph’s leadership, the new converts confessed their sins and donated 1, 393 acres of land in Warrensville Township to establish North Union Shaker Village (now known as Shaker Heights, Ohio.)  In 1828, Ralph decided not to sign the Shaker Covenant.  Instead, Ralph, Laura, their three sons, and Ralph’s widowed mother, Esther, moved to Aurora Township.  In 1831, Ralph bought land on both sides of the Chagrin River, including Lot 23 in Griffithsburg (now Bentleyville), then part of Solon Township.  Laura and Ralph had four more children:  Andrew Jackson Russell, Gershom Sheldon Russell, Joseph Pelton Russell, and Laura Josephine Russell.  In 1839, Ralph was a trustee of Solon Township.  From 1845-1852 he was a trustee of Chagrin Falls after the portion of Solon Township where he lived was annexed to Chagrin Falls.  In 1859, the Union Cemetery Association was formed, and Ralph conveyed the .33-acre Russell family graveyard to the Union Cemetery Association.  The graveyard was bounded on the west by Liberty Road, and on all three other sides by the 65.67 acres owned by the Russell family.  Ralph died in 1866 at the age of 77.  He is buried in grave #5 to the far right of his wife, Laura and his mother, Esther.  Nearby is his six-year-old daughter, Laura Josephine.  There were as many as 21 members of the Russell family buried here along with three members of the George Niece family, Mr. and Mrs. Orlin Kennedy, the infant son of Stephan and Frances Smith, and the one-and-a-half-year-old son of Henry Martin.  The Village of Bentleyville separated from Chagrin Falls in 1928 and assumed responsibility for Union Cemetery. 

VALLEY VIEW CEMETERY aka Tinker’s Creek Cemetery aka Hillside Cemetery/Old Indian Cemetery/Pilgerruh Cemetery/Pioneer Cemetery/South View Cemetery/Terra Vista Cemetery/ – located on Tinker’s Creek Road off Canal Road in Valley View – founded 1810.  To find this cemetery you’ll have to park your car on the turn-off for Terra Vista Nature Study Area and climb the abandoned gravel and dirt road to the top of a hill.  Go around the second bend and you’ll see a small pathway cut through the trees and shrubs, and you’ll reach the cemetery.  Records at Bedford Historical Society and WRHS.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Pilgerruh, meaning Pilgrim’s Rest,” refers to the original settlers in the area.  In 1786, Moravian missionaries established a settlement near here, but abandoned it 10 months later.  There was discord between local Indians and hostile white inhabitants, something that the pacifist Moravians found intolerable.  They moved out in 1787.  Buried here are Fitch Comstock (died 1810) and his brother George Comstock (died 1824).  Also, buried here are Zephania and Silence Hathaway.  Silence was the great-great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden who came on the Mayflower.  Silence’s headstone reads: “Remember me as you pass by, For as you are so once was I, And as I am so must you be, Therefore prepare to follow me.  Several workers on the Ohio and Erie Canal who died from malaria are buried here as well.  The last burial was in 1925.

Some records here: 

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/terravis19cm.txt

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/23/the-hidden-and-slightly-creepy-tinkers-creek-cemetery/

WADE AVENUE CEMETERY aka Scranton Road Cemetery aka Brooklyn Cemetery aka Fish Farm Cemetery aka German Lutheran Cemetery aka North Brooklyn Cemetery – at the southwest corner of Scranton and Wade Avenues – founded 1812 or 1819.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil. 

Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

Information below from THE DEFINITIVE book “Scranton Road Cemetery, Cleveland Ohio,” by Cynthia Turk, 2004:

This cemetery had various names over the years:

Brooklyn Cemetery (1849)

Wade Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

Scranton Avenue Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1880s)

North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery (1884)

North Brooklyn Cemetery (1896)

German Lutheran Cemetery (1898, 1912, 1922)

Scranton Road Cemetery (1925)

The City of Cleveland purchased the cemetery in 1945.

There was a chapel on the site as early as 1896.  It was in poor condition in 1946.  It has since been demolished.

Scranton Road Cemetery (2 ½ acres) is located on the southwest corner of Scranton Road and Wade Avenue.  James Fish was the first permanent white settler in the territory that became Brooklyn.  William Ganson Rose stated in the 1812 section of his book that the Fish Family burial lot became the first public cemetery west of the Cuyahoga River.  The fifth burial in this Fish family burying ground, was Mary Wilcox, mother-in-law of James Fish, who was buried in 1816.  This was supposedly on a half-acre lot near the present cemetery on Scranton Road, which was subsequently donated to the township as a public graveyard.  It is assumed that this is the west section of Scranton Cemetery today.  It has been suggested that the four previous graves were obliterated and may be under the current Scranton Road.  Mary Wilcox may have also been in that section and when the road was widened, the Fish family graves were moved to the current location in the west section.  One report in 1946 states that the date of opening of Scranton Road Cemetery was 1819.  A handwritten note in the city law director’s file states “Donated to Brooklyn Township April 28, 1839.”  A cemetery lot owner’s group got together when the township did not take care of the cemetery and called itself the North Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  In April of 1849, it was posted that a meeting would occur to incorporate an association which would call itself The Brooklyn Cemetery Association.  Francis Branch was the chairman and Edward Wade the Clerk of the meeting.  Trustees were appointed:  Martin Kellogg, Diodate Clark, Robert Selden, John Loper, Francis Branch, Benjamin Beavis and Edward VanHousen.  So, we see that this cemetery was first called Brooklyn Cemetery.  In the death records in the 1880s it was called Wade Avenue Cemetery, Scranton Avenue Cemetery, or North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1884, it was called North Brooklyn Protestant Cemetery.  In 1896 it was North Brooklyn Cemetery.  In 1898, 1912, and 1922 it was called German Lutheran Cemetery.  In 1925, it was called Scranton Road Cemetery.  The chapel was seen on a map in 1896 with no roads leading to it.  In 1922 and 1937 there is a road.  The obituary of Andrew Bishop dated December 12, 1911 stated that services would be held in the chapel of Scranton Road Cemetery.  The building was in poor condition in 1946.  There is still an indentation in the ground where it stood.  A newspaper article stated that the cemetery land was given to old North Brooklyn Township by Francis Branch and its management entrusted to the cemetery associations, with the proviso that the back portion of the land be used for the burial of indigent persons.  It seems likely that the west end was Potters Field.  In 1942, the City of Cleveland wanted to acquire the cemetery because of its dilapidated condition.  The cemetery was finally purchased by the City of Cleveland in 1945.  In 1948 the city voted to enclose the cemetery with a chain link fence. 

WAGAR CEMETERY aka Rockport Cemetery aka Old Rockport Cemetery – on the Mars Wagar farm, called Mapleside, between St. Charles and Belle Avenues on the south side of Detroit Avenue in Lakewood – first burial 1826, officially founded 1828.  The final burial was in the 1890s.  A Lakewood ordinance in 1951 declared it a public nuisance.  Fifty-four bodies were exhumed in 1957 and moved to Lakewood Park Cemetery in Rocky River.  Abandoned.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.  Records at WRHS. 

From Cleveland Historical:  https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/265

BENJAMIN WAITE GRAVESITE aka Metropolitan Park Cemetery – 9367 Brecksville Road on the Metroparks property on the east side of Brecksville Road, south of Royalton Road, about 250 feet north of the intersection of Oakes Road, and about 425 feet north of the Squire Rich Museum in Brecksville – founded 1814.  Holds one grave of Private Benjamin J.  Waite II (1759-1814).  He was a private in Mosley’s Mass. Regt. in the Revolutionary War.  He and his son Charles built the third log cabin in Brecksville.  Benjamin died February 5, 1814 shortly after moving here and is buried on this land that belonged to his family.  He was the first adult buried in Brecksville.  Park at the Brecksville Historical Society building and walk across the footbridge into the park to see his grave.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.

https://www.brecksville.oh.us/Cemeteries/cemeteries.html

https://foundinohio.com/2023/03/13/a-single-gravesite-on-brecksville-rd/

WARRENSVILLE JEWISH CEMETERY aka Bet Olam House of the Eternity Cemetery aka Kinsman Road Cemetery aka Park Synagogue – 25796 Chagrin Blvd. in Beachwood – founded 1910.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Records are onsite and in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

**From 1915-1940’s it was Kinsman Road Cemetery.  Kinsman Road’s name changed to Chagrin Blvd. in 1959.

**From the 1940’s to early 1960’s the cemetery was called Warrensville Cemetery.

**In 1950, when Park Synagogue moved to Cleveland Heights, the cemetery was known as The Park Synagogue Cemetery.

**In 1999 the name was changed to Bet Olam House of Eternity.

WARRENSVILLE EAST CEMETERY aka Beachwood East Cemetery – 23001 Haliburton Road in Beachwood – founded before 1840.  Records at WRHS.  https://www.beachwoodohio.com/562/Beachwood-Cemetery

WARRENSVILLE WEST CEMETERY aka Shaker Cemetery aka Manx Cemetery – 2110 Lee Road in Shaker Heights – founded 1811.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  This cemetery contains the Manx Settlers (from the Isle of Man and often called Old Manx Cemetery), and the common grave of the North Union Shakers that were moved here from the Shaker Burial ground at 16740 South Park Blvd. in Shaker Heights in 1905.  Warrensville Township is named after Moses Warren.  Daniel and Margaret Warren’s daughter, Lovisa, who died in 1811, was the reason the cemetery was founded. 

Records at Shaker Historical Society.   

History at:  https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/423#.Ukm-UYasiSo

https://www.shakerhistory.org/preserve/warrensville-west-cemetery

https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/408

https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/423

WEEKS FAMILY PLOT aka Hoertz Road Cemetery – in front of 7841 Hoertz Road on the east side of the street, across from but south of St. Peter & Paul Cemetery on Hoertz Road in Parma.  Records at WRHS.

James Weeks, died 8/11/1867 age 65, Emily T. Weeks, died 10/18/1861 age 41, and Carrie E. Weeks, died 9/25/1864 age five.

From Found in Ohio:  https://foundinohio.com/2024/01/03/the-weeks-family-cemetery/

WEST FAMILY PLOT – Located about 200 yards north of Rockside Road on Rockside Woods Blvd., adjacent to Interstate 77 in Independence.  The cemetery is located on the original West Family Homestead. Nearby West Creek Drive is named for this family.  The cemetery is mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Abandoned.  Records here: 

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/independence/west.html

From Found in Ohio:

https://foundinohio.com/2023/05/16/hidden-in-plain-sight-the-west-family-cemetery-in-independence/

WEST PARK CEMETERY - aka West Side Cemetery on the old Pest House site (first proposed as Lorain Heights Cemetery at Lorain Street and West 130th) – 3942 Ridge Road in Cleveland – founded 1899.  Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/WestParkNumberLocations.html

The names LORAIN HEIGHTS CEMETERY AND WEST SIDE CEMETERY are mentioned in “All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia:  The Cleveland Cicerone,” a publication dated 1897.  The Lorain Heights Cemetery entry states: “This is located on the south side of Lorain Street, one mile west of the city limits.  It contains 97 acres, was purchased in 1896 at a cost of $50,000, and over $10,000 has already been spent in improving it.”  The West Side Cemetery entry states: “This burial field was purchased by the city in 1895 at a cost of $50,000 and contains 100 acres.  It is located in Rockport Township at the junction of Lorain and Settlement Roads.”  Property deeds show that on September 30, 1895, Belden Seymour sold 98.3 acres of land on the SOUTH side of Lorain Avenue at the intersection of Dutch Settlement Road to the City of Cleveland for $50,000.  Today, this plot of 98 acres is where Jefferson Park is on Lorain Avenue just west of West 130th Street.  An Auditor’s report in June of 1899 clarifies the name and size of the cemetery: “On September 11, 1895, city council adopted a resolution authorizing the purchase of 98.3 acres of land on Lorain Street at a point known as Lorain Heights, for the purpose of establishing thereon a new West Side Cemetery, with the purchase price being $50,000 paid to Belden Seymour.”

Quite a few Cleveland Plain Dealer articles between 1893-1899 tell the entire story. An 1893 ad appeared in the Plain Dealer showing a map drawing for the Lorain Heights Development on the north side of Lorain Avenue, across from this later proposed cemetery.  It was bounded by Highland Terrace (Triskett) on the north and Lorain Street on the south, across from Settlement Road, extending west and east from that intersection.  The September 12, 1895 Plain Dealer had the following: “New West Side Cemetery – Mr. Belden Seymour carried probably the largest check drawn in Cleveland yesterday.  It was for $50,000 and was given by the city for the West Side cemetery property recently acquired by the municipal authorities.”  The deed was recorded, as mentioned earlier, on September 30, 1895.  The April 8, 1896 Plain Dealer reported that the new West Side Cemetery was being surveyed, that it would take some time, and that three creeks ran through the grounds.  On September 20, 1896, the Plain Dealer reported that when the city bought the property, city council originally appropriated $30,000 for grading and laying out of the grounds.  That was cut down to $20,000, and later the entire amount was stricken out, and so the work had been suspended for lack of funds.  A September 19, 1896 article talked about the indignation of the residents on the west side over nothing being done to ready the cemetery site for burials, since Monroe Cemetery was sold out and gave a little history of the project, explaining: The West Side Improvement Association was in charge of finding a suitable site for this cemetery, and settled on a piece of ground on Lorain Street, known as the old Case School property.  It was high and dry with plenty of gravel to make a pretty cemetery.  The sellers wanted too much money, so this idea was abandoned.  They continued their search and settled on the property mentioned above on the south side of Lorain.  However, it was considered a poor location, being of clay, springy and wet, and not a desirable place to bury the dead.  The residents were perturbed that the city was trying to make circling roads, building a lake, and it would have been better had they fixed up the land as a place where people could be buried.  In the 1897 Cicerone, the West Side Cemetery and Lorain Heights Cemetery entries mentioned above appear, even though there was still no cemetery on the site. 

On August 24, 1897, Mayor McKisson of Cleveland recommended that a Reform School for boys be placed on the Lorain Street property and that a different site be purchased for the West Side Cemetery at the then location of the Pest House Farm, which today is where West Park Cemetery is on Ridge Road.   

He spoke about how a boulevard had recently been planned which would pass by the Pest House Farm, between South Brooklyn and Linndale.  His other arguments for this change of sites were that the Lorain Street land would have to be under drained, water mains would have to be extended two miles, the land was poor clay, and all the material to build roads and fertilize must be hauled three miles by team.  The Pest House Farm, he said, was exceptionally well adapted for cemetery purposes, being two miles nearer to the West and South Sides, and two miles nearer to Brooklyn.  It was a picturesque piece of land.  The shale material was present for making roadways, and gravel could be obtained cheaply by railroad.  The drainage was good and a supply of water was nearby, with a clear running stream within its boundaries.  All the trees needed for planting were on the farm already, and the soil would not need enriching.  It already looked like a beautiful park, whereas the Lorain Street property was a barren, flat piece of land without trees. And so, he proposed the exchange of sites for the cemetery.  City Council agreed with the mayor, and they voted on September 27, 1897 to transfer the cemetery to the Pest House Farm site.  Three days later, names for the cemetery on the Pest House site were suggested – the favorites being “West Park Cemetery,” “Boulevard Cemetery,” and “Brookside Cemetery.”  The June 29, 1899 Plain Dealer reported that the cemetery was still not open, and improvements to the land had already cost the city an immense amount of money, specifically $129,722.  Specifically, the Lorain Street land cost $50,000; improvements of that land were $13,000; $30,000 to purchase the Pest House farm; $1,900 for land purchased from Fred Silberg; $4,753 for land bought from William Harrison; $10,000 for special payrolls for labor; $13,500 for a contract to get the Pest House land into shape; $800 to tear down the old Pest House; and there were other expenditures as well forming a grand total of $129,722.  Ten acres were seeded for grass, and 150 forest trees were moved from the creek to the upper land, but all but a dozen died.  Two-hundred and fifty evergreen trees were purchased, but all but 25 were killed by an overdose of fertilizer.  The auditor recommended that the Lorain Street property be sold to fund the Pest House Cemetery.  Eventually some of the land on Lorain Street was sold and subdivided into individual lots, but a large portion became the still existent Jefferson Park.  The Pest House site already had its own small burial ground since 1876.   The pest house was closed in 1898, and patients were transferred to a new pest house at the Cleveland City Infirmary on Scranton Road.  The pest house was burned down in 1898 and the rest of the land cleared.  West Park Cemetery opened on the site in 1899 and remains open today.  See the Cleveland Pest House Burial Ground for its earlier history.

WEST SIDE CEMETERY - aka West Park Cemetery on the old Pest House site (first proposed as Lorain Heights Cemetery at Lorain Street and West 130th) – 3942 Ridge Road in Cleveland – founded 1899.  Records here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/WestParkNumberLocations.html

The names LORAIN HEIGHTS CEMETERY AND WEST SIDE CEMETERY are mentioned in “All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia:  The Cleveland Cicerone,” a publication dated 1897.  The Lorain Heights Cemetery entry states: “This is located on the south side of Lorain Street, one mile west of the city limits.  It contains 97 acres, was purchased in 1896 at a cost of $50,000, and over $10,000 has already been spent in improving it.”  The West Side Cemetery entry states: “This burial field was purchased by the city in 1895 at a cost of $50,000 and contains 100 acres.  It is located in Rockport Township at the junction of Lorain and Settlement Roads.”  Property deeds show that on September 30, 1895, Belden Seymour sold 98.3 acres of land on the SOUTH side of Lorain Avenue at the intersection of Dutch Settlement Road to the City of Cleveland for $50,000.  Today, this plot of 98 acres is where Jefferson Park is on Lorain Avenue just west of West 130th Street.  An Auditor’s report in June of 1899 clarifies the name and size of the cemetery: “On September 11, 1895, city council adopted a resolution authorizing the purchase of 98.3 acres of land on Lorain Street at a point known as Lorain Heights, for the purpose of establishing thereon a new West Side Cemetery, with the purchase price being $50,000 paid to Belden Seymour.”   

Quite a few Cleveland Plain Dealer articles between 1893-1899 tell the entire story. An 1893 ad appeared in the Plain Dealer showing a map drawing for the Lorain Heights Development on the north side of Lorain Avenue, across from this later proposed cemetery.  It was bounded by Highland Terrace (Triskett) on the north and Lorain Street on the south, across from Settlement Road, extending west and east from that intersection.  The September 12, 1895 Plain Dealer had the following: “New West Side Cemetery – Mr. Belden Seymour carried probably the largest check drawn in Cleveland yesterday.  It was for $50,000 and was given by the city for the West Side cemetery property recently acquired by the municipal authorities.”  The deed was recorded, as mentioned earlier, on September 30, 1895.  The April 8, 1896 Plain Dealer reported that the new West Side Cemetery was being surveyed, that it would take some time, and that three creeks ran through the grounds.  On September 20, 1896, the Plain Dealer reported that when the city bought the property, city council originally appropriated $30,000 for grading and laying out of the grounds.  That was cut down to $20,000, and later the entire amount was stricken out, and so the work had been suspended for lack of funds.  A September 19, 1896 article talked about the indignation of the residents on the west side over nothing being done to ready the cemetery site for burials, since Monroe Cemetery was sold out and gave a little history of the project, explaining: The West Side Improvement Association was in charge of finding a suitable site for this cemetery, and settled on a piece of ground on Lorain Street, known as the old Case School property.  It was high and dry with plenty of gravel to make a pretty cemetery.  The sellers wanted too much money, so this idea was abandoned.  They continued their search and settled on the property mentioned above on the south side of Lorain.  However, it was considered a poor location, being of clay, springy and wet, and not a desirable place to bury the dead.  The residents were perturbed that the city was trying to make circling roads, building a lake, and it would have been better had they fixed up the land as a place where people could be buried.  In the 1897 Cicerone, the West Side Cemetery and Lorain Heights Cemetery entries mentioned above appear, even though there was still no cemetery on the site. 

On August 24, 1897, Mayor McKisson of Cleveland recommended that a Reform School for boys be placed on the Lorain Street property and that a different site be purchased for the West Side Cemetery at the then location of the Pest House Farm, which today is where West Park Cemetery is on Ridge Road.

He spoke about how a boulevard had recently been planned which would pass by the Pest House Farm, between South Brooklyn and Linndale.  His other arguments for this change of sites were that the Lorain Street land would have to be under drained, water mains would have to be extended two miles, the land was poor clay, and all the material to build roads and fertilize must be hauled three miles by team.  The Pest House Farm, he said, was exceptionally well adapted for cemetery purposes, being two miles nearer to the West and South Sides, and two miles nearer to Brooklyn.  It was a picturesque piece of land.  The shale material was present for making roadways, and gravel could be obtained cheaply by railroad.  The drainage was good and a supply of water was nearby, with a clear running stream within its boundaries.  All the trees needed for planting were on the farm already, and the soil would not need enriching.  It already looked like a beautiful park, whereas the Lorain Street property was a barren, flat piece of land without trees. And so, he proposed the exchange of sites for the cemetery.  City Council agreed with the mayor, and they voted on September 27, 1897 to transfer the cemetery to the Pest House Farm site.  Three days later, names for the cemetery on the Pest House site were suggested – the favorites being “West Park Cemetery,” “Boulevard Cemetery,” and “Brookside Cemetery.”  The June 29, 1899 Plain Dealer reported that the cemetery was still not open, and improvements to the land had already cost the city an immense amount of money, specifically $129,722.  Specifically, the Lorain Street land cost $50,000; improvements of that land were $13,000; $30,000 to purchase the Pest House farm; $1,900 for land purchased from Fred Silberg; $4,753 for land bought from William Harrison; $10,000 for special payrolls for labor; $13,500 for a contract to get the Pest House land into shape; $800 to tear down the old Pest House; and there were other expenditures as well forming a grand total of $129,722.  Ten acres were seeded for grass, and 150 forest trees were moved from the creek to the upper land, but all but a dozen died.  Two-hundred and fifty evergreen trees were purchased, but all but 25 were killed by an overdose of fertilizer.  The auditor recommended that the Lorain Street property be sold to fund the Pest House Cemetery.  Eventually some of the land on Lorain Street was sold and subdivided into individual lots, but a large portion became the still existent Jefferson Park.  The Pest House site already had its own small burial ground since 1876.   The pest house was closed in 1898, and patients were transferred to a new pest house at the Cleveland City Infirmary on Scranton Road.  The pest house was burned down in 1898 and the rest of the land cleared.  West Park Cemetery opened on the site in 1899 and remains open today.  See the Cleveland Pest House Burial Ground for its earlier history.

WEST SIDE CEMETERY aka Monroe Street Cemetery aka Brooklyn Township Cemetery – 3207 Monroe Avenue – founded 1836.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.

Records can be found here:  https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ohio/cuyahoga.htm

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/trans.html

https://mscf1841.org/

Brooklyn Township purchased this land in 1836 from Josiah Barber and Richard Lord.  Barber and Lord stipulated it was to be used forever as a public burying ground.  When Ohio City was incorporated on March 3, 1836, the Brooklyn Township Cemetery became the city cemetery.  The deed was recorded in 1841.  The Ohio City Council legislated rules and regulations, appointed a sexton, platted the lots, and purchased a hearse.  In 1854, Ohio City was annexed to the City of Cleveland, and the cemetery became known as the “West Side Cemetery.”  Eventually it became known as Monroe Street Cemetery.  The gateway arch at the entrance of this cemetery was built in 1874 and is identical to the arch at Erie Street Cemetery.  The gatehouse was built in 1874 and was used for funerals and storage of records. 

WESTVIEW CEMETERY aka Riverside Golf Club Cemetery aka Hoadley Cemetery, aka Old Baker Cemetery - at the southeast corner of Columbia (Route 252) one-half mile south of Sprague Road in Olmsted Falls, in the middle of Riverside Golf Club.  Records onsite.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Originally located on a family farm.  Those who settled here were part of the Waterbury Land Company who purchased the land in 1807 from the Connecticut Land Company.  The cemetery has burials from at least 1810-1912.  The last burial was Bethia Baker in 1912.

WHIPPOORWILL VILLA (the estate of Professor Jared Potter Kirtland) – Whippoorwill Villa was Kirtland’s 150-acre estate which extended from Madison Avenue to Lake Erie.  The home itself was located near the corner of Madison Avenue and Bunts Road. He was named a land agent to the Connecticut Land Company and brought surveyors and settlers to Cleveland.  He first lived in Mahoning County, Ohio, then moved to Cleveland in 1837.  In 1839 he settled in East Rockport, now Lakewood, Ohio, where he built Whippoorwill Villa.  He was a physician, naturalist, co-founder of University Hospital and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  He died in 1877 and was buried in a small family cemetery that sat behind his home.  Other family members were buried there, and in 1883, his son-in-law had all the remains moved to Lake View Cemetery.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

WHITEHAEN MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY – 615 SOM Center Road just north of Wilson Mills Road in Mayfield Village.  Records onsite. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/ohio/mayfield-village/whitehaven-memorial-park/0636

WILLET STREET JEWISH CEMETERY aka Anshe Chesed Cemetery – 2254 Fulton Road between Bailey, Siam, Willet Street (new Fulton Avenue) and West 38th – founded 1840.  This is the oldest Jewish and sectarian cemetery in Cleveland, with many of Cleveland’s prominent Jewish pioneers being buried there.  Before 1840, people of all faiths were buried at Erie Street Cemetery.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Mentioned in All About Cleveland, a City Cyclopedia: The Cleveland Cicerone.  Records for Willet Street Cemetery can be viewed at Mayfield Cemetery or WRHS or in the Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

Cleveland’s first Jewish cemetery was established in August of 1840 by the Israelite Society at 99 Willett Street (2254 Fulton Road). The 1.6-acre property consists of two parcels of land. The first parcel was acquired from Josiah Barber. The second parcel, a small lot at the western edge fronting Bailey Avenue, was acquired in 1871 by the Jewish Orphanage Asylum. The Israelite Society would soon become a part of Cleveland’s first incorporated Jewish Congregation, Anshe Chesed. Formed in 1848, Anshe Chesed is now known as Fairmount Temple. Today, the cemetery is well managed by United Jewish Cemeteries Inc., which is a partnership between Anshe Chesed and Tifereth Israel. United Jewish Cemeteries is also responsible for the Mayfield Cemetery in Cleveland Heights.  According to census data and newspaper articles from the day, the Willett Street Cemetery’s longtime caretaker was August Rindfleisch, often referred to as the Sexton of the Cemetery. Arriving from Prussia (now Germany) in 1850, he served in the Civil War, then returned to Cleveland and purchased a home adjacent to the cemetery at the corner of Willett Street and Siam Avenue. In 1866, he sold the home to the cemetery with the agreement that he and his family could live at the site for an undefined period of time.  August would maintain the cemetery until his death in 1905. His son, Henry, would follow in his father’s footsteps until his death in 1936. Henry’s stepson, Ralph Koepke, served as the Superintendent of the Mayfield Road Cemetery (also owned by United Jewish Cemeteries) in the mid-1940s. The Rindfleisch name can also be found at the Anshe Emeth Cemetery at the corner of Richmond Road and Chagrin Boulevard in Beachwood, Ohio. Edward Rindfleisch served as the caretaker for this cemetery, established in 1910, until his death in 1962. His son, Arthur, continued to oversee the cemetery into the 1970s. One might ask, who is the first person of the Jewish faith to be buried in Cleveland? Based on an article in The Israelite (later known as The American Israelite) dated August 20, 1858, written by its editor Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati, the answer to that question would be Alexander Kahnweiler. The burial took place in August of 1840 at the newly established Willett Street Cemetery. Wise wrote that while visiting Cleveland in 1858, he was told of the burial by Simpson Thorman, who was the first Jew to make Cleveland his home. Thorman established residence in Cleveland in 1837 and inspired relatives and friends from his hometown, Unsleben, Bavaria, to immigrate here. Little is known about Kahnweiler. He is thought to have been a peddler, recently arrived from the Rhineland. This first burial took place soon after the land had been acquired by the Israelitic Society, the forerunner of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple. A sign of the congregation’s ongoing commitment to those buried at the Willett Street Cemetery includes the scheduled replacement of Mr. Kahnweiler’s gravestone in the spring of 2024.

LOUISE WOLF & MABEL FOOTE MEMORIAL PARK – located on West 25th Street under the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo sign at the south end of the Brooklyn/Brighton Bridge.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  These ladies were teachers in Parma who were murdered on February 16, 1921.  They are not buried here.   

Louise and Mabel taught at Parma High School which was located at Ridge and Bean Roads (Ridge and Ridgewood today).  On February 16, 1921, they were walking from the school, heading towards State Road and Bean Road to catch a trolley to head home to Old Brooklyn.  They were murdered while walking together.  Either of the women could have run, but they stuck together to fight their attacker.  In 1932 a small park called Foote Park was dedicated to the memory of the two teachers at the south end of the Brookside Bridge (W. 25th and the entrance to Brookside Park aka Wildlife Way).  The memorial reads:  "In Memory of Mabel Foote and Louise Wolf - Died Feb. 16, 1921.  Erected by Cuyahoga County Teachers."   Mabel Foote was buried in her family's private cemetery and it is unknown where Louise Wolf was buried.  The crime was never solved.

TWO WOMEN BEATEN TO DEATH WITH CLUB - Bodies of School Teachers Are Found on a Desolate Road Outside Cleveland. - NO CLUE TO MURDERERS - Marks in Snow Indicate Women Put Up a Desperate Struggle Against Assailants.  (New York Times February 18, 1921) - CLEVELAND - Two school teachers in the Parma High School, near here, Miss Louise Wolf, aged 38, and Miss Mabel Foote, age 24, were found beaten to death early today on a desolate road not far from the school.  Marks in the snow and a piece of bloodstained timber near the bodies indicated that the two women had put up a desperate fight for their lives before they were brutally murdered.  Police dogs were put on the trail of the murderers after deputy sheriffs and detectives had been unable to find any clues.  J.D. Loder, Parma Township Trustee, informed the police that two bareheaded men, whose clothes were spattered with mud, passed his home about 6 o'clock last night.  The bodies were on a path alongside Bean Road.  Nearby was a heavy fence post spattered with blood, with which the heads of the two women were crushed.  The two teachers left the school at 5 p.m. and walked toward State Road to catch a street car there.  There are only a few houses on Bean Road and none where the murder actually took place.  The murderers are believed to have been hiding beside the fence.  Miss Foote hit her assailant with her umbrella, breaking off the point.  Both women used their fists, their knuckles being broken where they had been hit with clubs.  Footprints in the snow indicate that they struggled back and forth along the roadway, crashing into the fence and knocking down posts.  But the blows from the murderers' clubs soon subdued the two women.  The umbrella used by Miss Foote was found beside her body.  About 150 feet away was her wristwatch.  It had stopped at 5:15. The body of Miss Wolf lay face downward.  Her pocketbook was found underneath her body.  One of her rubbers was found beside her body; the other was still on her foot.  A short distance from her was a black handbag which had been carried by Miss Foote.  Its contents, including some garments, were scattered on the ground.  Miss Foote's pocketbook also was on the ground.  Footprints led from the scene of the murder to a real estate allotment nearby.  There they were lost.

A $10,000 reward was offered by the Board of County Commissioners for information that would lead to the arrest of the murderer.  Two hundred farmers, business and professional men living in the vicinity met and pledged to use every effort to run down the murderer.  However, no one was caught.  In 1921, a Fred Gettling confessed to the murders and was sent to Lima State Hospital for the criminal insane.  Then, in December of 1930, the murder case was reopened when private parties turned over new circumstantial evidence which came to nothing.

In the 1910 census Mabel was living with her parents and siblings on Schaaf Road in Brooklyn Heights.  Her parents were Joel and Ella, and her siblings were Milly, Joes Jr., Aaron and Kenneth.   She was also living with her parents and siblings in the 1920 census as well.  Her obituary reads:  Mabel Foote, beloved daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Foote, Brooklyn Heights, suddenly, Wednesday, February 16, age 24 years.  Funeral services at the Pearl Road M.E. church, Saturday, February 19, at 2:30 p.m.   I was unable to find an obituary or burial information for Louise Wolf.

WOODLAND CEMETERY – 6901 Woodland Avenue in Cleveland – founded 1849.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.

Records here: 

https://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/00dexfind.html

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ohio,_Cleveland_Cemetery_Interment_Records_Digital_Folder_Number_List

http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/cuyahoga/cemeteries/woodland.txt

http://www.wcfcle.org/welcome/

OHIO HISTORICAL MARKER

Marker Text (Side One)

Howard Daniels, who lived from 1815-1863, was a noted architect and landscape gardener. Over the course of his life, he designed six Ohio and New York cemeteries, including Woodland that began in 1852 when he laid out 20 of its 60 acres into fashionable “rural cemetery” style. Later acreage in the cemetery adapted his curvilinear design. “As beautifully prepared for a burial place as fancy and taste could desire,” Woodland was dedicated on June 14, 1853, and became Cleveland’s primary cemetery. An ornate gatehouse, chapel, and fountains came later. Generations of Clevelanders, pioneering and prominent, as well as veterans onward from the War of 1812, are buried here. For more than a century, Woodland, in its original and newly-platted sections, has embraced people from every race, the rich and poor, natives and immigrants, and the famous and obscure. It has truly become a community cemetery.

Marker Text (Side Two)

Woodland Cemetery’s first burial, which occurred on June 23, 1853, was 15-month-old Fanny Langshaw. Two Ohio governors, Reuben Wood (1850-1853) and John Brough (1864-1865), are here as are several nineteenth-century Cleveland mayors. Other notables include John P. Green and William H. Clifford, African American legislators; Joseph Briggs, developer of free city mail delivery and national postal superintendent; Levi Johnson, ship and house builder; J. Milton Dyer, Cleveland City Hall’s architect; and Eliza Bryant, founder of the Cleveland Home of Aged Colored People. Groups that have plots for their members here are the Old Stone, Trinity and Woodland Avenue Presbyterian congregations; Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, and Cleveland Firemen’s Relief Association. Woodland Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and was designated a Cleveland Landmark in 2008.

WOODVALE CEMETERY – 7535 Engle Road in Middleburg Heights – founded 1858.  Mentioned in Cleveland Cemeteries by Vicki Blum Vigil.  Records onsite and at WRHS.  Search burials here:  https://woodvalecemetery.discovereverafter.com/

History at:  https://woodvalecemetery.com/history/

Woodvale Cemetery Historical Marker:

Woodvale Cemetery was established in the mid-1800s, in Middleburgh Township, Ohio. The oldest marked grave holds Fred G. Klink (1835-1858), whose family donated a half-acre of land for burials. In 1876, Frank M. Stearns (1832-1911) suggested the unnamed cemetery be called Woodvale, after the wooded vale beside it. In 1908, a fire destroyed the caretaker’s house and many cemetery records. Woodvale became a non-profit, union cemetery in 1931, owned by Berea and the Village of Middleburg Hts. and covering 35 acres at 7535 Engle Road. Pioneer families buried here: Fowles, Kraft, Lovejoy, Sprague, and Stearns. Also buried here: John Baldwin (1799-1884) founder of Baldwin University and James Wallace (1878-1953) founder of German Wallace College (merged in 1913 to become Baldwin Wallace College)  Other notable burials here include William Engle (1814-1897), a constable, township trustee and school director who built the township’s first log house in 1848; Veterans of every U.S. war and some conflicts including Second Lt. Albert E. Baesel (1890-1918), a WW I soldier from the 148th Infantry Division who received the Congressional Medal of Honor; Children from Berea’s “Home for Children,” as far back as 1890. Graves were dug by hand by caretakers, including one-armed Fred Beavis (1907-1989), until equipment was used in 1955. In 2010, Woodvale covered 50 acres, bordered by Cleveland Metroparks, Big Creek Pkwy., Fowles and Engle Roads. A Board of Trustees of both cities governs the Cemetery.

WORKMEN’S CIRCLE CEMETERY aka Lincoln Road Jewish Cemetery – 5100 Theota Avenue between West 54th and West 50th Streets in Parma – founded 1920.  Lincoln Cemetery is comprised of 3 sections including: Workmen's Circle, Independent Mizreich Aid and Warrensville Cemetery.  Details are sketchy, but previous caretakers claim the cemetery was called Lincoln because that was the name of the street, before it became West 54th Street; and the cemetery was founded in December 1920. At that time, Lincoln Road was unpaved and on rainy days it was impassable for horses bearing a hearse. Men had to carry the caskets down State Road to Lincoln Road and into the cemetery. Even in 1987 mention was made to drawbacks to burials – being there was no road connecting Theota Avenue to the cemetery entrance 1,000 yards away. The cemetery expanded since then. Workman's Circle Cemetery is an outgrowth of the efforts by Cleveland's Workman's Circle organization to provide for its membership. Rooted in social justice, Cleveland's founding chapter was organized in 1904. Its mission was to help Cleveland's Jewish community by uniting its skilled labor force under an umbrella organization, by providing education, and preservation of Jewish cultural identification. This was independent of national labor unions. Land for this cemetery - at one time referred to as "Lincoln Cemetery" - was purchased in 1920. In addition to traditional Jewish burials, the cemetery also was one of the first to offer interfaith plots for families of multiple religious backgrounds. Though on Cleveland's west side, the cemetery is administrated by the Cleveland chapter of Workman's Circle in South Euclid, Ohio. 

Records in Jewish Cemetery Database here:  https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

WRIGHT FAMILY CEMETERY – Detroit Road between Prospect and Wright Avenues in Rocky River, covered by the southeast corner of the parking lot of the former Rocky River Post Office – founded 1848.  Abandoned.  This cemetery was the burial location of Captain Rufus Wright and his wife, Hepsibath St. John, and their sons Philip and Abraham.  Rufus arrived in Granger Village in Rockport Township in 1816.  He operated Wright’s Tavern on the western bluff overlooking the Rocky River.  He constructed the first bridge to span the Rocky River, which was beneath the present Detroit Avenue Bridge.  Rufus’ son, Frederick purchased a 204-acre tract of land and built a house on what is today Detroit Road between Prospect and Wright Avenues in Rocky River.  The cemetery was just southeast of this house, four feet north of an old milking barn.  In the late 1950s, the City of Rocky River purchased the land that contained the cemetery.  In 1959, the Rocky River Post Office opened there, and during construction of the parking lot, the graves were discovered.  The cemetery was relocated in 1977.  The old milking barn still stands on the site.  A grocery store was built on the lost just to the east.  More stones were discovered and ended up in the possession of the city but were lost over time.  Mentioned in Buried Beneath Cleveland by William Krejci.

YORK STREET CEMETERY aka Parma Public Cemetery aka German Lutheran Cemetery – Pleasant Valley & York Roads in Parma – founded 1835.  Records at WRHS.  Included within this cemetery is the German Lutheran Cemetery.  York Street Cemetery was founded in 1835 by Levi and Susannah Bartholomew when they buried an infant child on their property at the base of a large maple tree. The cemetery continued to be used until the last two burials, Carl and Hulda Kaiser, were buried there in 1986 and 1987 respectively. Over time the cemetery became neglected and unused until the York Street Cemetery Association was founded in 2000 by Charles K. Jennings, Jr., and Myrtis Litman. The association began taking care of the cemetery and officially made its name York Street Cemetery and placed a sign at the front of the cemetery. No more burials are permitted in the cemetery. 

ZEMAN CEMETERY aka Russell/Thompson/Union – on the east side of Liberty Road about 900 feet south of its intersection with Solon Road in Bentleyville Village – founded 1859.  Records for this cemetery are at Shaker Historical Society and WRHS.  In 1812, Ralph Russell (1789-1866), a native of Windsor Locks, CT, was a pioneer settler to Warrensville Township, Ohio in the Connecticut Western Reserve.  He also served in the War of 1812.  Ralph married his childhood sweetheart, Laura Ellsworth (1795-1858), and they had three sons:  Ralph Ellsworth Russell, Jacob Von Huffman Russell, and Hezikiah Loomis Russell.  In 1822, Ralph persuaded his eight siblings, their families, and nearby neighbors to convert to the Shaker religion which followed the three C’s – confession of sins, communal ownership of property, and celibacy.  Under Ralph’s leadership, the new converts confessed their sins and donated 1, 393 acres of land in Warrensville Township to establish North Union Shaker Village (now known as Shaker Heights, Ohio.)  In 1828, Ralph decided not to sign the Shaker Covenant.  Instead, Ralph, Laura, their three sons, and Ralph’s widowed mother, Esther, moved to Aurora Township.  In 1831, Ralph bought land on both sides of the Chagrin River, including Lot 23 in Griffithsburg (now Bentleyville), then part of Solon Township.  Laura and Ralph had four more children:  Andrew Jackson Russell, Gershom Sheldon Russell, Joseph Pelton Russell, and Laura Josephine Russell.  In 1839, Ralph was a trustee of Solon Township.  From 1845-1852 he was a trustee of Chagrin Falls after the portion of Solon Township where he lived was annexed to Chagrin Falls.  In 1859, the Union Cemetery Association was formed, and Ralph conveyed the .33-acre Russell family graveyard to the Union Cemetery Association.  The graveyard was bounded on the west by Liberty Road, and on all three other sides by the 65.67 acres owned by the Russell family.  Ralph died in 1866 at the age of 77.  He is buried in grave #5 to the far right of his wife, Laura and his mother, Esther.  Nearby is his six-year-old daughter, Laura Josephine.  There were as many as 21 members of the Russell family buried here along with three members of the George Niece family, Mr. and Mrs. Orlin Kennedy, the infant son of Stephan and Frances Smith, and the one-and-a-half-year-old son of Henry Martin.  The Village of Bentleyville separated from Chagrin Falls in 1928 and assumed responsibility for Union Cemetery. 

ZION LUTHERAN CEMETERY – at Dunham and Rockside Roads in Maple Heights.  Records were at Zion Lutheran Church, 5780 Dunham Road, but that church closed permanently.

ZION MEMORIAL PARK JEWISH CEMETERY – 5461 Northfield Road in Bedford Heights – founded 1948.  Records onsite or in the Jewish Cemetery Database here: https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/ancestry-cemeteries/

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See a listing of all Cuyahoga Cemeteries in table format here:  http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/index.html

See other Cemetery links here:  https://sites.google.com/site/faqcuyahogactyresearch/frequently-asked-questions/helpful-websites?authuser=0

Updated December 13, 2024