Jefferson County Chapter

Union Cemetery was incorporated not for profit in 1854. It is located at 1720 West Market Street, Steubenville, Ohio. The following is taken from a brochure published by the cemetery dated 1969.

“The History of Union Cemetery”

The first formal burial grounds for the early settlers of Steubenville, were established by Bazaleel Wells who gave ground to the Presbyterians and Methodists. One was located where the Grant School now stands and the other at the intersection of Fourth & Fifth Streets. With the coming of the railroad and the booming river traffic, the bustling little river town began to expand and her commerce flourished. The cemeteries were soon surrounded by residences, which in turn were being replaced with businesses common to those days.

And so it was that in the summer of 1853 that a meeting was held at which time action was taken to relieve the situation. At a great mass meeting a committee on location for a new cemetery was named. The committee was made up of: Dr. Charles Clinton Beatty, Col George W. McCook, Rezin Permar, Frederick Frye, Dr. John Andrews, Alexander Beatty, William McDonald, David McGowan, Joshua Manly, Kinsey Swords, Ambrose Shaw and John McCracken.

The committee reported on December 16, 1853 that the William Huscroft farm west of the city was most suitable.
They met constantly to work out the many details to abandon the old cemeteries and start the new one. The Union Cemetery Association was incorporated with a capital stock of $10,000 on February 25, 1854. First board of trustees was; Colonel James Collier, President; David McGowan, Kinsey Swords, Dr C.C. Beatty, Joshua Manly, Colonel George W.McCook, Dr John Andrews, D.L. Collier, Clerk; and John H. Patterson was appointed treasurer.

The first adult burial was that of William Donaldson, and the removal of George, the infant son of William Donaldson.

The original tract of forty-eight acres was increased by additional purchases until 1877 with a total of one hundred forty-three acres. Records show that during the Civil War no men were available to maintain the cemetery and at one time two hundred sheep were brought in to keep the grass down. In September of 1878, a flash flood occurred and washed out the entire system of gravel roads. During epidemics of small pox and diphtheria, volunteers were used to dig graves around the clock. In the belfry hangs the bell from the first courthouse.

In 1905 the Thompson Farm was purchased which added eighty acres of beautiful rolling ground to the cemetery. In 1909 oil was found and leases were bought and sold and there was a full-blown oil strike boom. Parts of the cemetery were leased to oil interests. During the ensuing years the famous rhododendron groves were planted and miles of roads were hard-surfaced and more acres added to the burial grounds. On August 4, 1930 a tract of ninety-nine acres was sold to the City for a park, leaving one hundred twenty-one acres for cemetery purposes.
In 1951 a portion of the west side was leased for coal stripping purposes. In 1967 twenty-four acres to the cemetery was added. Many of the trees growing in the cemetery are older than the cemetery.

The graves of nine veterans of the Revolutionary War have been identified. The first veteran’s section was established during the Civil War and is known as the Grand Army of the Republic Plot. It is located on the knoll, commonly called the “Mount.” The republic plot generously holds veterans of the Spanish American and World War I as well.
Many languages are to be found on the old stones, also phrases and epitaphs that were common of generations ago.
More than thirty-five thousand burials have been made, yet there are many new developments completed and many under construction.”

In the rear of the brochure it lists all the trees that can be found throughout the cemetery grounds. The last page of the brochure lists all the past trustees beginning in 1854 up to 1969.

Re-interments from old graveyards, downtown Steubenville -
Grant School lot - consisted of 2 acres which was dedicated as a burial ground for many of our earliest ancestors that lived in this area. There are cemetery deeds in the Jefferson County Courthouse Records and Deeds books from the early 1820's and through the early 1850's. People were still purchasing cemetery lot/plot deeds for the downtown cemetery located on south fourth street, where the Grant school was later built. As of January 2008, the Grant school is gone (it was torn down a couple years ago!) and here is an empty lot.. I often wonder, when I drive by that empty lot today, where I attended middle school - how many souls cry out from the ground below. These would be some of our earliest ancestors that were buried in this location.

An even earlier map of Steubenville shows a "white man graveyard" down near the river. I wonder how many of our early pioneers were buried there? I wonder if any of their graves were shoved in the river when their descendants built the first road ways along the river banks...

We also have located a Catholic Church graveyard, on the corner of Fourth and Logan Streets, that by 1830's was large enough to wrap itself around the little brick church.
We have located deeds for various other "downtown" graveyards for almost EVERY church that was built previously to the Union Cemetery beginnings. All those churches and cemeteries - what happened to all of our earliest pioneer's remains?

However - knowing there were "many" graveyards in downtown Steubenville, even a Catholic Cemetery up on the top of Market Street hill (as late as 1902) and records reflect the remains from the downtown Catholic Church were re-interred to the new church cemetery located on Market Street Hill. Then later, the remains were moved to Mt Calvary and other existing cemeteries. So, some of our ancestors remains and tombstones were re-interred 3 or more times.
We have not located re-interments of our early ancestors from records of the Steubenville Union Cemetery or any others, including Mt. Calvary, etc. We also know there was a large graveyard where the infirmary was located (currently where the Jefferson Community College stands) and the cemetery was located right where the tennis court was built, near the water tower. We have no records to all of these re-interments. Union Cemetery has a few references to early pioneer graveyard "removals" that can be found listed in the index of our chapter's Tombstone Inscription book, by author Esther Powell. (For purchasing information, click services and then on publications).

You as a reader at this point can see how difficult it is to prove an early ancestor was buried here in Jefferson County, especially if they died prior to 1854. If they died before 1854, and were buried in Steubenville, the chances of the records or tombstones are unlikely to be found.

If your ancestor lived outside of Steubenville in a remote area, your ancestor's burial ground may have had a better chance of surviving industrial progress UNTIL the logging and mining projects sprung in many of our remotest locations throughout our county!

Two other events in our history affected our county cemeteries. One was the Depression Era. We've heard stories where grave robbers were everywhere and when they didn't find something to take from the grave, sometimes they would take the tombstone home as a trophy and sit it in their yard or even on their mantels!

Then during the 1960's pride for our country was at an all time low with the Vietnam War effort and many of our pioneer cemeteries were not cared for, vandalized, totally neglected and forgotten. Roadways were springing up all over the county and many of the cemeteries that still survived were along or near the Ohio river banks. We heard stories that many were just shoved in to the river.

So, the moral to this story - just because you don't locate a record or a tombstone on your ancestor and you think or know they had to be buried in Jefferson County somewhere - they probably were!

We also have located a Catholic Church graveyard, on the corner of Fourth and Logan Streets, that by 1830's was large enough to wrap itself around the little brick church.

We have located deeds for various other "downtown" graveyards for almost EVERY church that was built previously to the Union Cemetery beginnings. All those churches and cemeteries - what happened to all of our earliest pioneer's remains?

However - knowing there were "many" graveyards in downtown Steubenville, even a Catholic Cemetery up on the top of Market Street hill (as late as 1902) and records reflect the remains from the downtown Catholic Church were re-interred to the new church cemetery located on Market Street Hill. Then later, the remains were moved to Mt Calvary and other existing cemeteries. So, some of our ancestors remains and tombstones were re-interred 3 or more times.

We have in no way located any re-interments of those early ancestors in the records of the Steubenville Union Cemetery or any others, including Mt. Calvary etc. We also know there was a large graveyard where the infirmary was located (currently where the Jefferson County Community College stands) and the cemetery was located right where the tennis court was built, near the water tower. We have no records to all of these re-interments. Union Cemetery has a few references to early pioneer graveyard "removals" listed in our Esther Powell's Inscription Publication (sold on our homepage under, service and then click on publications). However, we know there had to be many more early pioneers that we haven't been able to locate their graves, sadly.

You as a reader at this point can see how difficult it is to prove an early ancestor was buried here in Jefferson County, especially if they died prior to 1854. If they died before 1854, and were buried in Steubenville, somewhere the chances of the records or tombstones are unlikely to be located.

If your ancestor lived outside of Steubenville in a remote area, your ancestor's burial ground may have had a better chance of surviving industrial progress UNTIL the logging and mining projects sprung in many of our remotest locations throughout our county!

Two other events in our history affected our county cemeteries. One was the Depression Era. We've heard stories where grave robbers were everywhere and when they didn't find something to take from the grave, sometimes they would take the tombstone home as a trophy and sit it in their yard or even on their mantels!

Then during the 1960's pride for our country was at an all time low with the Vietnam War effort and many of our pioneer cemeteries were not cared for, vandalized, totally neglected and forgotten. Roadways were springing up all over the county and many of the cemeteries that still survived were along or near the Ohio river banks. We heard stories that many were just shoved in to the river.

So, the moral to this story - just because you don't locate a record or a tombstone on your ancestor and you think or know they had to be buried in Jefferson County somewhere - they probably were!