Greensburg Cemetery circa 1838
Greensburg Cemetery is now Green's eighth local landmark! Read more.
Local Landmark Designation Presentation for Historic Preservation Commission Meeting June 20, 2011:
Local Landmark Designation Application:
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Brief Description of Greensburg Cemetery and its Historical Significance
Greensburg Cemetery is located at 4890 Thursby Road. The property owner is the City of Green.
The cemetery includes three parcels in the Southeast Quarter Section of Section 28. Deed research indicates the first parcel was transfer from Peter Thorton to Adam Klinefelter, Henry Swartz, and Peter Thornton as Trustees of the Evangelical Association on November 15, 1838. George Gougler transferred the second parcel to Trustees of Evangelical Church of Greensburgh (Greensburg) on April 1, 1874. Jacob F. Boettler & Emma Boettler transferred the third parcel to Trustees of the Evangelical Association of North America on October 13, 1908.
From the History of Summit County by Perrin, 1892,
“The Evangelical church graveyard, about one half mile west of Greensburg, was started about the year 1836. Peter Thornton states he donated the first piece of this land to the church for cemetery purposes, and that his son, George Thornton, aged about twelve, as the first person buried there. In 1875, an additional acre of land was purchased from George Gougler, and added to this cemetery. Rev. Elias Stoeber was possibly the first person buried in the new addition.”
Note that the Deed transfer from Peter Thornton to the Trustees of the Evangelical Association in 1838 states that the Trustees receiving the property are “…Trustees of a certain meeting house which is about being erected…”
In 1838 a Meeting House was constructed at the front of the cemetery lot. The Church was the first Evangelical Church built in Ohio and also the first Evangelical Church built West of Pennsylvania. The church is described in The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 67 as follows,
“The site of the first Evangelical Church building was three-quarters of a mile west of the village of Greensburg. Here on the west side of the road is located a beautiful cemetery on the hillside, sloping toward the east. Between the road and the cemetery is a vacant lot where the church stood. It was a plain 28x40 “Versammlungshause” (meeting house) without Cornish and with neither tower nor bell. It faced eastward with a double door entrance in the front, a side door opening to the south, and three windows on each side.
The women entered the church from the side door and occupied the pews on the south side. They approached their pews from an aisle along the south wall of the building. The other ends of the pews were closed with a solid board petition along the middle aisle. The pews occupied by the men were fitted against the north wall so that the only entrance was from the central aisle. The men entered from the double front door and there was no intermingling of the sexes during worship services. A stove stood on each side of the room before the front pews near the side wall. There was an “amen corner” on both sides of the front part of the church – on the south for the women and on the north for the men. The rostrum was semi-circular in form; one step high with a railing used for the communion service, and the pulpit stand on a still higher platform.”
After the construction of the first church in Ohio in Greensburg in 1838, the Evangelical Association held its 1838 annual conference in the new Greensburg Emanuel Church. Preachers travelled hundreds of miles through the wilderness to attend the conference. Greensburg became a launching point for Circuit Riders and pioneers heading west.
After the construction of the first church, more Pennsylvania Germans migrated into Greensburg. By 1855, the Evangelical Church followers in Greensburg were so numerous and prosperous that they were able to establish the Greensburg Seminary, a coed, non-denominational school of higher education. Although fundamental in their faith and conservative in their preferred life style, the Evangelicals had progressive ideas about education.
The old church building was moved from the lot in front of the cemetery to Greensburg in 1855 and was then used as a rooming house for students of the Greensburg Cemetery. The old church stood on the north side of the street a little east of the square and was used as a private residence until 1945 when it was replaced by a modern dwelling. This photo shows the church building after being moved into Greensburg and modified as a private residence.
A marker stone was placed at the location of the First Evangelical Church by the Evangelical Association during their Centennial Celebration in 1929. According to The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 331, “A centennial and home-coming was sponsored August 6-11, 1929, under the faithful labors of Merle A. Hayes…. On Saturday a large congregation witnessed the unveiling of a monument erected at the site of the first Evangelical Church building in Ohio.” See pictures in Leedy pages 330-331, showing crowd gathered at Greensburg Cemetery to witness unveiling of the stone marker. Note this pilgrimage also travelled to the site of Greensburg Seminary and the Conrad Dillman home in 1929.
The stone marker on the cemetery lot and the slight change in the appearance of the grass where the old church foundation was filled are the only remaining indication of the first Evangelical Church in Ohio.
The Greensburg Cemetery is also associated with the life and death of one of Green Townships early settlers and his family. Peter Thornton was born in 1798 in Pennsylvania and arrived in Greensburg in 1828. Here he lived, married and raised six children of record. In 1838, Peter Thornton donated one acre from his farm for consideration of $15.00 to the Evangelical Assoc. for the first meeting house (church) in Ohio. This one acre may have also been a burying ground for his son, see Perrin.
Peter’s occupation in the early census was that of a stocking weaver at the age of 72. Peter Thornton died Saturday, June 16, 1888 at 90 years, 3 months, 11 days. Peter Thornton was a long time member and supporter of the Evangelical Association. Several of his children were also members of the Greensburg Congregation of the Evangelical Association. The Thornton, Strawhecker (Peter’s daughter Louisa was married to David Strawhecker) and Semler Families (Peter’s daughter Fannie was married to Albert Semler) are all buried in Greensburg Cemetery.
According to the Cemeteries of Summit Co., OH, Vol. 2, Summit County Chapter OGS, 1979 (inscriptions) , available from Akron-Summit Public Library Special Collections, at page 72:
As of 1979, seventy (70) veterans of the wars of 1812, Mexican, Civil, Spanish, and World War I have been buried in Greensburg Cemetery. More veterans have been laid to rest in Greensburg Cemetery from later wars since 1979. This information is available from the Green Historical Society.
Burial Arrangement - The cemetery graves are positioned east/west. This orientation is common throughout the United States and throughout the world at Christian burial locations. According to The Association for Gravestone Studies,
“(i)n many, but by no means all, early New England burying grounds the graves are positioned east/west. This east/west orientation is the most common orientation in other parts of the country and world as well. The earliest settlers had their feet pointing toward the east and the head of the coffin toward the west, ready to rise up and face the "new day" (the sun) when "the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised" or when Christ would appear and they would be reborn.”
The gravestone art found in the Greensburg Cemetery reflects the Pennsylvania German heritage of the early settlers of Green and the religious beliefs of the Evangelicals in the 1800s.
Many early stones in Greensburg Cemetery are inscribed with an upward pointing hand. On some stones, a flower (usually a rose) is present behind the upward pointing hand.
According to An A to Z Guide to Cemetery Icons by ISIS Publications, 2004-08, upward pointing hands signifies the hand of righteousness (citing Weeden). It also suggests the pathway or ascension and the elevated realms of heaven.
Many of the gravestones also depict shaking hands. Shaking hands are common among married couples; indicating marriage, or farewell.
The time period of significance is at least 1838 through 1938. The time period begins with the construction of the meeting house (church) and first burials and continues through the time of the last burials of our early settlers and veterans and their descendants.
Many other artist stones representing the beliefs and styles contemporary to the time of the burial can be found in Greensburg Cemetery.
The cemetery includes three parcels in the Southeast Quarter Section of Section 28. Deed research indicates the first parcel was transfer from Peter Thorton to Adam Klinefelter, Henry Swartz, and Peter Thornton as Trustees of the Evangelical Association on November 15, 1838. George Gougler transferred the second parcel to Trustees of Evangelical Church of Greensburgh (Greensburg) on April 1, 1874. Jacob F. Boettler & Emma Boettler transferred the third parcel to Trustees of the Evangelical Association of North America on October 13, 1908.
From the History of Summit County by Perrin, 1892,
“The Evangelical church graveyard, about one half mile west of Greensburg, was started about the year 1836. Peter Thornton states he donated the first piece of this land to the church for cemetery purposes, and that his son, George Thornton, aged about twelve, as the first person buried there. In 1875, an additional acre of land was purchased from George Gougler, and added to this cemetery. Rev. Elias Stoeber was possibly the first person buried in the new addition.”
Note that the Deed transfer from Peter Thornton to the Trustees of the Evangelical Association in 1838 states that the Trustees receiving the property are “…Trustees of a certain meeting house which is about being erected…”
In 1838 a Meeting House was constructed at the front of the cemetery lot. The Church was the first Evangelical Church built in Ohio and also the first Evangelical Church built West of Pennsylvania. The church is described in The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 67 as follows,
“The site of the first Evangelical Church building was three-quarters of a mile west of the village of Greensburg. Here on the west side of the road is located a beautiful cemetery on the hillside, sloping toward the east. Between the road and the cemetery is a vacant lot where the church stood. It was a plain 28x40 “Versammlungshause” (meeting house) without Cornish and with neither tower nor bell. It faced eastward with a double door entrance in the front, a side door opening to the south, and three windows on each side.
The women entered the church from the side door and occupied the pews on the south side. They approached their pews from an aisle along the south wall of the building. The other ends of the pews were closed with a solid board petition along the middle aisle. The pews occupied by the men were fitted against the north wall so that the only entrance was from the central aisle. The men entered from the double front door and there was no intermingling of the sexes during worship services. A stove stood on each side of the room before the front pews near the side wall. There was an “amen corner” on both sides of the front part of the church – on the south for the women and on the north for the men. The rostrum was semi-circular in form; one step high with a railing used for the communion service, and the pulpit stand on a still higher platform.”
After the construction of the first church in Ohio in Greensburg in 1838, the Evangelical Association held its 1838 annual conference in the new Greensburg Emanuel Church. Preachers travelled hundreds of miles through the wilderness to attend the conference. Greensburg became a launching point for Circuit Riders and pioneers heading west.
After the construction of the first church, more Pennsylvania Germans migrated into Greensburg. By 1855, the Evangelical Church followers in Greensburg were so numerous and prosperous that they were able to establish the Greensburg Seminary, a coed, non-denominational school of higher education. Although fundamental in their faith and conservative in their preferred life style, the Evangelicals had progressive ideas about education.
The old church building was moved from the lot in front of the cemetery to Greensburg in 1855 and was then used as a rooming house for students of the Greensburg Cemetery. The old church stood on the north side of the street a little east of the square and was used as a private residence until 1945 when it was replaced by a modern dwelling. This photo shows the church building after being moved into Greensburg and modified as a private residence.
A marker stone was placed at the location of the First Evangelical Church by the Evangelical Association during their Centennial Celebration in 1929. According to The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 331, “A centennial and home-coming was sponsored August 6-11, 1929, under the faithful labors of Merle A. Hayes…. On Saturday a large congregation witnessed the unveiling of a monument erected at the site of the first Evangelical Church building in Ohio.” See pictures in Leedy pages 330-331, showing crowd gathered at Greensburg Cemetery to witness unveiling of the stone marker. Note this pilgrimage also travelled to the site of Greensburg Seminary and the Conrad Dillman home in 1929.
The stone marker on the cemetery lot and the slight change in the appearance of the grass where the old church foundation was filled are the only remaining indication of the first Evangelical Church in Ohio.
The Greensburg Cemetery is also associated with the life and death of one of Green Townships early settlers and his family. Peter Thornton was born in 1798 in Pennsylvania and arrived in Greensburg in 1828. Here he lived, married and raised six children of record. In 1838, Peter Thornton donated one acre from his farm for consideration of $15.00 to the Evangelical Assoc. for the first meeting house (church) in Ohio. This one acre may have also been a burying ground for his son, see Perrin.
Peter’s occupation in the early census was that of a stocking weaver at the age of 72. Peter Thornton died Saturday, June 16, 1888 at 90 years, 3 months, 11 days. Peter Thornton was a long time member and supporter of the Evangelical Association. Several of his children were also members of the Greensburg Congregation of the Evangelical Association. The Thornton, Strawhecker (Peter’s daughter Louisa was married to David Strawhecker) and Semler Families (Peter’s daughter Fannie was married to Albert Semler) are all buried in Greensburg Cemetery.
According to the Cemeteries of Summit Co., OH, Vol. 2, Summit County Chapter OGS, 1979 (inscriptions) , available from Akron-Summit Public Library Special Collections, at page 72:
As of 1979, seventy (70) veterans of the wars of 1812, Mexican, Civil, Spanish, and World War I have been buried in Greensburg Cemetery. More veterans have been laid to rest in Greensburg Cemetery from later wars since 1979. This information is available from the Green Historical Society.
Burial Arrangement - The cemetery graves are positioned east/west. This orientation is common throughout the United States and throughout the world at Christian burial locations. According to The Association for Gravestone Studies,
“(i)n many, but by no means all, early New England burying grounds the graves are positioned east/west. This east/west orientation is the most common orientation in other parts of the country and world as well. The earliest settlers had their feet pointing toward the east and the head of the coffin toward the west, ready to rise up and face the "new day" (the sun) when "the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised" or when Christ would appear and they would be reborn.”
The gravestone art found in the Greensburg Cemetery reflects the Pennsylvania German heritage of the early settlers of Green and the religious beliefs of the Evangelicals in the 1800s.
Many early stones in Greensburg Cemetery are inscribed with an upward pointing hand. On some stones, a flower (usually a rose) is present behind the upward pointing hand.
According to An A to Z Guide to Cemetery Icons by ISIS Publications, 2004-08, upward pointing hands signifies the hand of righteousness (citing Weeden). It also suggests the pathway or ascension and the elevated realms of heaven.
Many of the gravestones also depict shaking hands. Shaking hands are common among married couples; indicating marriage, or farewell.
The time period of significance is at least 1838 through 1938. The time period begins with the construction of the meeting house (church) and first burials and continues through the time of the last burials of our early settlers and veterans and their descendants.
Many other artist stones representing the beliefs and styles contemporary to the time of the burial can be found in Greensburg Cemetery.