WOODSFIELD — As part of the Monroe County Bicentennial celebration in 2015, the county recognized its past, present and its future. Commissioner Mick Schumacher began researching county records at that time, in an effort to identify those buried in the county home cemetery.

He said that very few graves have markers today and those with permanent markers are largely those with military service. Fieldstones were commonly used to mark graves. When efforts were taken several years back to level the grounds to make it easier to mow, those stones were removed and no one was able to say for sure how many was buried there.

Schumacher said he has felt the need to identify those souls buried in the county home cemetery in order to validate their contribution to our history and validate their existence.

He said tracking commissioners’ records and infirmary records was difficult as information was redundant and not always accurate or incomplete. 1918 was the first recorded interment listed in infirmary records, however, other records document earlier interments

Schumacher said he found it interesting that the consistent thread was the listing of the township from which each resident originated. He had included this on his listings in an effort for family members to be able to track their relatives.

The only people with documentation of burial, either written or oral, are included in this listing. Schumacher said he is sure there are many more people buried there, but unless the record stated their interment was at the farm cemetery, they were not listed.

Schumacher was able to compile a list of over 90 people that can be provide to be buried in the county home cemetery. In an effort to recognize those individuals buried in the county home cemetery, Ron Gallagher of Gallagher and Sons Monuments has been working on a permanent monument.

The names have been organized in chronological order in groups of decades. When the date of death and age of the resident was all that was available, the birthday was estimated.

Information listed was what was available at the time. Transcriptions of ages and spelling of names was a challenge. Once the monument is completed and set there will be a scheduled dedication.

Schumacher gave thanks to Ron Gallagher and Tony Schumacher for their work on this project and their donation of the monument to the county home cemetery and Monroe County history.