Brownhelm Twp., Lorain Co., Ohio
LAKE ROAD CEMETERY
a.k.a. SHEPARD-JAMES Cemetery
(sometimes referred to as Brown Cemetery).
On Lake Road ("Rt. 6") and just west of Baumhart
Rd., this cemetery was
probably originally two separate (but adjacent) private family burial-grounds,
which
were later combined as a public cemetery in 1836 by pioneer Henry Brown
(and the
deed still remains in his name).
Burials in this cemetery, however, seem to have ceased about the time
of the U.S. Civil War.
Half of the cemetery was eventually permanently lost to commercial
development, and
that lost half probably contains the burial plots for those persons
whose headstones
have also gone missing ( see below ).
The remaining half, although neglected and abused for over a century,
is now being restored.
A very special thanks to my grandmother Helen Plumb and my aunt Rose
Smith, for stopping the
adjacent land-owner from his bulldozing out the rest of the cemetery in about
1992.
Additional thanks to Diane Medina and family, and Ruth Langham and family,
for their volunteer efforts
in cleaning up this cemetery.
remaining headstones:
(click names to see photos)
a footstone with
only the initials J. E. H. (or possibly J. E. K.?) [name unknown].
BELDEN,
Bildad b. 1742 Wethersfield,Conn. d. 4 Aug 1824 ae. 82 (possible Rev.War Soldier; poss. b.1745)
CLAUS,
Philip d.10 Dec 1857 ae. 50y 25d
CLAUS, George...see KLAUS
ENGELBRECHT,
Johannes d. 12 Mch 1855 ae. 51y 6m 17d [ a.k.a. ENGELBRY?]
G.,
C. [footstone only, probably for Charlotte GOODRICH--see below].
GRUNEWALD,
William d. 23 Jan 1859 ae. 6m son of J. & A.
HAHN,
Doredea b. 14 Apr 1799 d. 21 Jan 1853 wife of Peter
HART,
Judah b. 1777 d. 26 Jly 1824 ae. 48y [ His wife, Abigail (BELDEN)
is probably bur. beside him.]
HEUSNER,
Jacob b. 12 Apr 1847 d. 20 Mch 1850 son of J. & E.
JAMES,
Stephen Jr. d. Nov 22 [ 1822 ] ae. 15y
KLAUS,
George b. 6 Jan 1845 d. 24 Mch 1849 son of A. & K.E.
KUCHMAN,
Augusta Magdalena b. 24 Sep1854 d. 1 Aug 1858 dau. of Adam
[ a.k.a. KISHMAN ]
KUHL, Anna
M. b. 28 Nov 1854 d. 14 Jne 1857 dau. of Henry
KUHL, Georg
d. 14 Mch 1862 ae. 5y 2m 11d son of Henry & Anna C.
LEACH, Elisha
d. 2 Mch 1840 ae.58y 27d.
LOTZ (a.k.a.
LUTZ), Gertrude d. 19 Jne 1859 ae. 53y 6m 16d wife of Henry
LOTZ (a.k.a.
LUTZ), Henry d. 28 Sep 1860 ae. 58y 1m 18d
LUTZ, Anna
K. d. 23 Aug 1854 ae. 8y 6m 7d dau. of H & A.K.
MUENSTER,
Anna B. d. 24 Feb 1849 ae. 49y wife of Jacob [ a.k.a.
MINSTER, a.k.a MERTHE? ]
SCHALLHAUS,
Georg b. 11 Apr 1851 d. 20 Jan 1858 [ a.k.a. SCHELLHOUSE ]
son of George
SCHALLHAUS,
Jacob b. 12 Mch 1841 d. 3 Jly 1850 son of George
SCHROEDER,
Henry d. 24 Aug 1841 ae. 39y (compiler
note: his widow Elizabeth probably married George HAHN.)
SLY, Thomas
d. 28 Aug. 1843 ae. 63 [ his wife Zilpah is buried at
Sanders Hill Cem. Henrietta Twp.]
SLY, [?]_
d. 13 Nov 1824 ae.17 -- dau. of [Thos.]_& Zilpah [ stone
broken, names missing].
[ Most of the above headstones had been knocked over by cows while
the cemetery was being
used as a pasture, and eventually some even had become completely buried
and hidden under the sod.
11 of the above headstones were newly detected in 1993 by members
of the Brownhelm Hist. Assoc.;
and the additional headstones were found/unearthed in 1994 by Ted Reising-Derby
(except the MUENSTER headstone, found by Ted in 2008; excavation by
the Langham family),
and the LEACH and SLY headstones were found/unearthed in 2003 with assistance of Diane Medina and family.]
The following inscriptions were recorded by a D.A.R. survey
about 1936,
but these stones could not be located (1993; 1994; 2003;
2008);
it is likely that these headstones have been removed
and may be unrecoverable:
*BACHMANN,
Charles George d. Dec 1861
(compiler note: son-in-law of Doredea HAHN).
*BACHMANN, Dorothea
b. Feb 1845 d. 30 Sep 1847 (compiler note: grand-dau. of Doredea HAHN).
BARNUM, Leman d. 11 Aug 1827 ae.35y b. Sheffield,Mass.,d. Brownhelm,
son of Telah.
BARNUM, Minor_ies? b. 14 Nov 1808 d. 7 Jne 1830
GOODRICH, Charlotte b. 23 Jne 1801 d. 24 Oct 1822 consort of Ezekiel
L. [and dau.of Henry BROWN].
H.... , J.... E. [or J.E.K.?] [d. estim. betw. 1825/1850][ footstone only;
name unknown. Grave prob. on lost half.]
LATHROP, Jane d. 12 Oct 1834 ae. 17y 5m 15d -- dau. of Elijah &
Eunice
[the above headstone was mistranscribed by D.A.R.,
as "WINTHROP, ___", etc. ].
SMITH, Charles d. 2 Oct 1840 ae. 43y [ footstone "C. S. "
may be his. Grave was prob. on lost half.]
*WAGNER,
Burkhardt d.1862 b.Germany (compiler note: son-in-law of Doredea HAHN).
WELLS, Jason b. 17 Apr 1807 d. 2 Oct 1828 b. Hartford,Conn.
[ * the BACHMAN and WAGNER burials probably never had headstones.
Those three
burials were reported about 1935, by relatives.
The other unrecovered headstones probably originally marked graves
on the
SHEPARD side of the Cemetery. [ Leman BARNUM was probably a brother
to
Mrs. Levi SHEPARD (Sophia BARNUM).]
Thomas SLY and his 17 y.o. daughter probably also were buried on
that lost half,
but their headstones had been moved to the remaining half
of the cemetery,
as well as the footstones for Charles SMITH, Charlotte GOODRICH,
and the unknown "J.E.H.(?)".
Thomas SLY's headstone, the "C.S." footstone and "J.E.H.(?)" footstone
had all been
layed nearby each other, up against the old fence, apparently by the farmer who cleared
the now lost half for plowing.
That lost half was then later bulldozed to make way for a motel about 1955.
A news article appearing in the Vermilion News 12
July 1917, reporting on the
Brownhelm Centennial (1817-1917), mentions this cemetery, and the
following headstone (apparently now also lost):
WALPOLE, David d.1818* ae.31 [*-perhaps this should be
1848, not 1818?];
Perhaps the name "WALPOLE" may be a slight mis-reading of the actual
name on the headstone; no other record has thus far been found on this
family in Brownhelm (which was just beginning to be settled about 1817 ).
Note: although the cemetery itself was established by the "early-American/Yankee" pioneer Brownhelm settler Henry BROWN, but coincidentally the land which adjoins this cemetery, was later owned for many, many years by members of the BRAUN family, who often used the 'BROWN' spelling too, but they were later German-immigrants, therefore should not be confused with the earlier "Yankee" Henry BROWN.
Also note: although the 1980 Lorain County Cemeteries book lists this
cemetery and most of the headstones
(including the currently missing headstones), the persons collecting
data for the 1980 book were denied access to the cemetery at that time,
and thus the book information was apparently retreived from the 1930's
D.A.R. survey. Therefore it is impossible to know if the currently missing
headstones, were still in the cemetery by 1980.
Correspondence by the D.A.R. indicates that additional headstones
were already missing by the 1930's.
Compiled by Ted Reising-Derby
email:
ohiopioneers@yahoo.com
Go back to Brownhelm Township main research page:
www.oocities.org/ohiopioneers/bh
![SLY, [?]_ d. 13 Nov 1824 ae.17 -- dau. of [Thos.]_& Zilpah](http://oocities.com/ohiopioneers/SLY_dau.jpg){kind=link}
