Wyandot Co., OH

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Peter's Cemetery

This cemetery is abandoned and a real mess! Tombstones are broken and laying all over the place. The weeds are grown up making it difficult if not impossible to find all tombstones. Ken and I visited this place and took photos of the stones that were in a mowed area in May 2005. We did not attempt to enter the overgrown area as we were not dressed properly (needed to have long pants on!)
The Groff children have on long stone base upon which were mounted a small stone for each deceased child. Now the base is there but the small stones are off and laying all over the area. The base reads "Children of Joseph H & Leah Groff." The Wilson family plot is overgrown evergreens, where the roots have helped topple stones as much as the vandals.

Wyandot county cemetery locations

Note from Cecelia DeBolt Upper Sandusky:

I had visited Peters Cemetery about 15 yrs ago when I first started seriously researching my family history. John Stewart Methodist Church owned it at that time. I was very concerned about the condition as it had been many many years since the church had maintained it. Mrs. Sammet lived there and said she and her husband (long passed) used to turn the sheep out in the area to keep the overgrowth down. A phone call to the church gave no results. I was told no one claimed any of those people any longer and it was too difficult to access. My gggrandfather is Robert McCleary and his stone is near the front. According to his death certificate I have obtained (Vol. 1, page 16, Wyandot County Record of Deaths) his correct year of death is 1873, not 1877, as the website states. Rush McCleary, a "cousin" in Texas had at one time uprighted the stone and it was standing 15 yrs ago. At that time my son (10 yrs) and I loaded up the push mower and went there and he mowed the area around Robert's grave all summer. Rush also wrote a book which is in the Upper Sandusky Community Library and in it he has pictures and transcription from the stone. My family line in Rush's book ends with Robert McCleary. My line begins with Robert's second wife, who is not included in Rush's book. (I hope to complete an addendum sometime!!) I took a 10 yr or so break from my genealogy and have recently been working on it again. I visited there yesterday and the state of things seems even worse than before. Geena still lives there, and I believe she has a family link to McCleary's altho she may not realize it. I could be wrong. Anyway, Robert's stone is now turned over again. I called John Stewart church to see if they stilled owned it. I talked to Marilyn Geissinger, the minister's wife, and she wasn't sure if the church had turned it over to the Township trustees or not. The church trustees meet in a couple weeks and she will check on that for me and express my concerns for my ancestor's final resting place. It sounds as if she may get the stone uprighted since it has not (yet) been broken. I have even considered removing the stone to the property of one of my kids if it is going to be ignored and destroyed. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, actually, especially since it was a cemetery supposedly under the care of a CHURCH, and I expressed this to her. I will let you know what I find out. I am sending this pic as it was yesterday when I was there. By the way, I am not the only "grandchild" of Robert's still living in Wyandot County. (April 2008)