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Gowdy Cemetery was sold by James Gowdy to the Associate Reformed Church in 1820 for 50 cents. After Xenia’s Woodland Cemetery was chartered in 1845, Gowdy fell into disuse. Its last burial was James Gowdy in 1853. Gowdy Associate Reformed Cemetery is the resting place for many prominent citizens that brought mercantile and economic growth to Xenia and Greene County. Gravesites include:
- Revolutionary War veteran Robert Kendall (1751-1842);
- War of 1812 veterans James (1777-1853) and Robert Gowdy (1732-1831);
- James and Samuel Gowdy (1780-1851), who opened Xenia’s first permanent store in 1806.
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The Bunker Hill Society was organized about 1845 and fellowshipped in 1854. A frame meeting house, capable of seating 300, was dedicated in 1855. Thirty people united with the church during teh 1859 Annual Meeting. The membership suffered greatly during the Civil War, many enlisting in the Union Army. Some members, Like John G. Agnew, were Peace Democrats (Copperheads). Agnew withdrew from the church on July 5, 1863 saying, “I feel the course I am and have been pursuing does not comport with the Christian character. Nor do I think that I can be better while this war lasts. I do not wish to be a reproach upon the church.” The church was re-fellowshipped in 1900. The last sermon was delivered October 23, 1910. Fire destroyed the building May 8, 1924.
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Warren Cushman was a respected painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, and inventor. He created the towering Cushman monument in Woodstock’s Rush Township cemetery and is believed to have shown his painting “Spanish Dancing Girls” at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Warren was born to Franklin and Susan (Gifford) Cushman on January 17, 1845 in Woodstock and had three siblings, Julius, Charles and Lucy. (Continued on other side)
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The Indian Creek Regular Baptist Church was established in 1810 as an arm of the Little Cedar Creek Church of Brookville, Indiana. The congregation purchased three acres of land for a burial ground and church and built a log structure here in 1811. Members voted in 1812 that they would receive no person who believed in the principles of slavery. By 1829, membership had reached 150 and the present brick meeting house was built. In the 1840s, membership declined due to conflict over mission activity The congregation dissolved in 1879 and the land was deeded to the Indian Creek Cemetery Association in 1880. The county park system received the property in 1960 through and with the cooperation of the Butler County Historical Society and the Cemetery Association.
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Almon Ruggles (1771-1840) came to Ohio from Connecticut in 1805 and led survey teams that divided the Firelands section of the Connecticut Western Reserve into townships. The Firelands was territory granted to Connecticut residents whose property was destroyed by the British during the Revolutionary War. Ruggles purchased a lakeshore section of this surveyed land for one dollar per acre, which is now known as Ruggles Beach. After settling permanently in Ohio in 1810, he established a farm, built gristmills, and worked for different Connecticut land proprietors. Ruggles also served in the Ohio Senate, the Ohio House, and was briefly appointed as associate judge of Huron County. Upon his death, his ashes were buried on part of his property, now known as Oak Bluff Cemetery.
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In 1805, a burial ground was dedicated to Champaign County at the intersection of Ward and Kenton Streets, which was then at Urbana’s town limits. It remained open until 1856. Among those interred there was Elizabeth Kenton, eight-year-old daughter of Simon Kenton. When she died in 1810, Kenton, the county jailer, was forbidden from crossing out of the town limits due to his unpaid debts. After following the funeral procession as far as he could, he watched Elizabeth’s burial from across the street. Also buried there were unknown soldiers from the War of 1812; Captain Arthur Thomas and son, who were killed by Native Americans in August 1813; four Bell children, who died in the tornado of March 22, 1830; and numerous early settlers of Champaign County. Many, but not all, were reinterred and rest in Oak Dale Cemetery.
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William Graves Sharp lived at this location before and after his tenure as Ambassador to France during World War I. He was born to George Sharp and Mahala Graves Sharp in Mount Gilead, Ohio, on March 14, 1859. As children, Sharp and his twin brother George moved to Elyria with their mother and grandparents, William and Ephra Graves. An Elyria High School graduate, Sharp earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1881. He was a journalist, lawyer, industrialist, and Lorain County Prosecutor. Serving three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sharp introduced the first legislation providing for airmail service. Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson named Sharp as ambassador to France. He served from December 4, 1914, to April 14, 1919. (Continued on other side)
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Warren Gard (1873-1929), son of Samuel Z. Gard and Mary Duke, was born in Hamilton, Ohio. He established his practice in Hamilton after graduating from Cincinnati Law School and being admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1894. Gard served as Butler County Prosecuting Attorney from 1898-1903, and as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas from 1907-1912. In 1910, he married Pearl Zuver Woods (1875-1946). In 1912, he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1913-1921. Gard delivered a eulogy for his friend, Warren G. Harding, on August 8, 1923, the national day of mourning for the deceased president. Gard had been a 35-year member of the bar when he died. He is buried next to his wife in the Gard plot in Greenwood Cemetery. (Continued on other side)
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