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There are 48 known members of the Postle family buried in the cemetery. Their stories are interwoven with the history of Prairie Township, Franklin County, and Ohio. In 1810, Shadrach and Anna Stacia Postle were among the first settlers of Prairie Township. Their son Job was a veteran of the War of 1812 and later owned the Checker Inn, a popular stopping place on the National Road. In the 1860s, Smith Postle and his son, William Sylvester Postle, were some of the first manufacturers of clay drainage tile in Ohio. Their products improved drainage in farm fields and fostered the growth of the tile industry in the state. Gabriel Postle was the first Postle buried in the cemetery in 1829. Twelve graves are of children under the age of six, which testifies to the hardships endured by the area’s early residents. Other graves include those of John Whitehurst, a freed slave who lived with the family of the Job Postle and John Tracy, a veteran of the Civil War. In 1870, Nancy Postle was the last person buried in the cemetery.
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This 48-acre farm is the last remnant of an agricultural way of life that characterized Parma Township well into the 20th century. The farmhouse, built circa 1855 by Western Reserve settler Lyman Stearns, is representative of the Greek Revival style of architecture popular in this region prior to the Civil War. The “Yankee” style barn predates the house. Suburban development following World War II engulfed virtually all of this area by the 1950s. The Stearns Homestead was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. (continued on other side)
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Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King was born in Lorain, Ohio, on November 23, 1878. He graduated from Lorain High School in 1897 and later attended the United States Naval Academy. King lived by his motto, “Do all that we can with what we have.” Having the full confidence of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, King was eventually promoted to Fleet Admiral and commanded the largest fleet in the history of the United States and the world. Through his career, King held various leadership positions in the United States Navy and was the first man to simultaneously hold the positions of Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations. (continued on other side)
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The Mustill house and store are survivors of Akron’s canal era and date to the 1840s. Joseph and Sarah Mustill moved their family from England to Akron in 1833 and owned the store and Greek Revival house at Lock 15 on the Ohio & Erie Canal. Three generations of Mustills lived and worked the grocery business at Lock 15, first Joseph and Sarah, then their son Fred with his wife Emma, and their children Maria, Frederick, Edwin and Franklin. A popular place to buy or barter goods, the store served canallers, farmers, craftsmen, and neighbors for many years.
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Cora Gaines Carrel was the first woman to serve on a city council in the state of Ohio. Appointed by Mayor Josiah Jordan when the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote, Carrel pioneered city planning and zoning ordinances while on the Willoughby city council from January 1, 1921 until December 31, 1924. A schoolteacher in her youth, she held every local and state office in the Order of the Eastern Star, serving as Grand Worthy Matron in the fraternal organization. Her 1901 book of poems, Buckeye Ballads, hailed Ohio’s centennial. She was president of the Cleveland Press Club and active in the Cleveland Women’s City Club and the suffrage movement. A pioneer in Ohio’s political history, she was described as “A kind and generous woman whose happiness was gained by helping others to be happy.”
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Soldiers from Company F of the 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry died in the explosion of the steamboat Sultana seven miles north of Memphis on the Mississippi River on April 27, 1865. The Sultana reportedly carried more than 2,400 passengers–six times its capacity of 376. The vast majority were Union soldiers recently freed from Southern prisons at the end of the Civil War. Approximately 1,800 passengers and crew died in what is considered the worst maritime disaster in American history. Company F was organized in Stark, Columbiana, and Portage Counties and was mustered into service at Camp Massillon in the fall of 1862. This marker is a memorial to the soldiers of Company F who died as a result of the Sultana tragedy and other war-related causes.
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On July 30, 1816, the year before the establishment of Butler Township, a group of farmers of German background founded the Stillwater Church. The log structure with adjoining cemetery was located on three acres between Dog Leg Road and Frederick Pike. In 1842, the congregation replaced the log building with a brick one. In 1873, they moved the building to the northeast corner of Dog Leg and Little York Roads and renamed it St. Paul Lutheran Church. With a fruitful history of sharing God’s love, St. Paul celebrated it’s 200th anniversary on Sunday, July 31, 2016.
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Prompted by response to his popular lectures, astronomer Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel (1809-1862) founded the Cincinnati Astronomical Society (CAS) in 1842. With CAS funding, Mitchel traveled to Munich, Bavaria, to acquire the optical elements for what became the world’s second largest refractor telescope. In 1843 former president John Quincy Adams laid the cornerstone of the observatory building, located upon the hill since known as Mount Adams. The Cincinnati Observatory was completed and opened for study in 1845. Mitchel, who died in service during the Civil War, was among the first to popularize astronomy in America. The telescope he brought to Cincinnati remains in daily use, the oldest such instrument in the United States.