OURING CEMETERIES … Denver Henderson, Programming Manager for the Williams County Public Library is your tour guide for all 63 cemeteries in Williams County in their series “Lay Me Down to Rest-The Cemeteries of Williams County.” New episodes every Tuesday at 3pm on the Libraries Facebook and YouTube.
By: Jeremy Scott
Some spooky history is unfolding on the Williams County Public Library YouTube and Facebook accounts. A continuing series of cemeteries are currently being highlighted every week encompassing all 63 known cemeteries in Williams County.
The series, titled “Lay Me Down to Rest-The Cemeteries of Williams County” stars Library Programming Manager Denver Henderson.
Mr. Henderson began this journey by doing tours of Bryan’s Fountain Grove Cemetery, and thought it would be a good idea to feature all of the cemeteries of the county.
According to Mr. Henderson the series shows “Just the History. Interesting people, interesting tombstones, and also trying to get a permanent record because there are cemeteries that have disappeared.”
Some of these we all know, others are small and reclusive. Mr. Henderson said there are some smaller plots that only have 5 permanent residents.
“Who knows, in ten years those tombstones may be gone, and that cemetery disappeared and my little gab fest may be the only thing to tell you it was there,” say Denver.
In speaking with Mr. Henderson, I asked him what were his top three interesting facts he has learned while doing this series. He commented that Maple Grove Cemetery in Edgerton is actually two cemeteries. There is a small section that is the Catholic Cemetery.
He also finds it interesting how many of the cemeteries had been bigger before bodies were exhumed and reburied in other cemeteries. There are many reasons for this, such as moving to larger cemeteries, due to family requests, etc.
However, Mr. Henderson’s most interesting fact is that is in Lockport Cemetery there is a woman buried there named Julia Rumsey. Ms. Rumsey was aboard the Pewabic which was a steam ship on Lake Huron that sank in 1865. It is considered one of the top ten Great Lakes tragedies.
Her body washed ashore in Canada and her brother John collected her body and had her buried in Lockport. Crazily enough, the remainder of her family was buried in St Louis where they are from, and her brother is buried in Stryker.
As for tombstones Mr. Henderson stated the most interesting one he has seen is “shaped like a Saturn 5 Rocket in Oakwood Cemetery in Stryker.” The man who has the tombstone is still alive and currently works for NASA.
The series is being recorded by Township. St. Joe, Pulaski, Springfield, and all but one in Brady Townships have been completed so far, which accounts for 14 of the 63 cemeteries to be highlighted.
Denver stated, “We haven’t done Center Township yet because two of the cemeteries are so isolated we have to wait for the township to actually mow so we can get back to them.”
Mr. Henderson would like to give a big hand to Tyson Horton for being the cameraman, and editor for the series. New episodes of “Lay Me Down To Rest” are available on the Libraries Facebook and YouTube channel at 3:00pm every Tuesday.
Jeremy can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com