Cemetery

 Blosser Family Cemetery

Location

Dayton, Rockingham County, Virginia. From Harrisonburg take Route 42 South (John Wayland Highway) and travel approx. 2 miles. On the right side of the road you will see a sign "Sunny Slope" which is on the Charles Wampler property. Turn into his driveway & cemetery is located behind the house.
 

Notes

In a letter to Dr. John W. Wayland from Bishop L. J. Heatwole, he states "This was the first cemetery established & used by Mennonites in this part of Rockingham County." Notes in the "Remarks Column" were provided by Deb Wake & J. Robert Swank. In 1967 Mr. Swank noted "There are apparently a number of unmarked graves in this plot." July 1944, Mr. Glenn W. Ruebush complied data on the Michael Whitmore family which indicates there are Whitmore's buried in this cemetery.
In 1937 WPA (W. A. Byerly) noted "About the year 1752, a Mennonite family of Blossers, consisting of 4 or 5 brothers, came from Switzerland & located in Lancaster Co. PA. Some years later, a part of the family located near Stonyman in Page Co. VA. Still later, 4 brothers of the Page Co. family bought a large tract of land in Rockingham Co., the land, which consisted of several hundred acres, was purchased from the Whitmers & others & about 1818 the first Mennonite community, which still exists, was established in Rockingham Co. There being in this family an old bachelor, Abraham Blosser, & an old maid, Annie Blosser, who together owned a part of the land purchased; these 2 donated & established the theme of this story, the Blosser Graveyard, which was located on their farm. It is now owned by the Wamplers. The graveyard is cared for by the Blosser descendants. While it was donated by the Blossers, it was used as a community burying ground, and now contains about 75 graves among which are members of the Groves, Heatwoles, Suters, Dundores, Wengers and other families. In the northeast corner of the graveyard is the grave of Catharine M. Suter, wife of David Suter, & daughter of A.& S. Grove. She was buried March 19th, 1860, aged 23 years 6 months & 14 days. The first of April, 1934, some unknown person or persons made a partial excavation of this grave & a few days later, on Easter Sunday, or Sunday night, the excavation was continued to the bottom of the grave. The object of this foul deed, or the perpetrators of same, is a mystery unsolved, with no clue, except the finding of a new shovel which was left at the grave & a foreign car with Texas license having been seen several times in the vicinity about the same time of the above named occurrence. This story is authentic from the Blosser family close by, who made a written memorandum of this matter with dates, etc., & Mr. Jonas Blosser, who is the present caretaker, said that he refilled the grave himself. The grave was there to show for itself with the extra pile of dirt. This matter caused no little excitement in the community, and the incident was written up in the county paper. No clue or explanation has ever been found in the matter. In the northwest corner of the graveyard, lies the remains of an unknown tramp who was buried there many years ago; probably before the War Between the States. The tramp was passing through this section and stopped by a farm house for a drink of water, which was given him, and he became suddenly ill and died without any identification of any kind so he was given a permanent lodging in this graveyard. You can see from the inscriptions on the stones that as far back as 1835 the location of this graveyard is a part of the early history of Rockingham Co." In 2002 Julia Coffman Schlabach notes "Jonas (I) & wife Margaret had a son Jonas (II) who is buried in Weaver's Mennonite Church Cemetery. Son Jonas (II) was 15 at the time of the Civil War when Sheridan's army burned their house. He ran to the attic & brought out a crock of apple butter. The stone walls of the house remained and the house was rebuilt. In 1999, the barn was razed to make way for the Super WalMart on Route 42. The stone house remains."

Survey Date & Recorder

March 2002 - Deb Wake, 12400 Courtyard Lane, Richmond, VA 23233-2411

Photos

Deb Wake

Row

Surname

Given Name & MI

Birth Date

Death Date

Headstone Notes

Remarks

Images

Blosser

Benjamin

4 Oct 1851

Aged 1y 2m 10d

No visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967; s/David & Frances Funk Blosser

Wenger

Jacob

27 Apr 1835

Aged 2y 11m 19d

No visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967

Wenger

Peter

28 Oct 1858

17 Jun 1860

No visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967

Heatwole

Martha

19 Jul 1836

Aged 1y 13d

No visible marker Feb. 2002; Recorded by WPA in 1937

001

Roadcap

Daniel

16 Oct 1871

Recorded by Deb Wake 2000 & WPA 1937; large flat limestone

Image

001

Roadcap

Frances

4 Sep 1847

Recorded by Deb Wake 2002; large flat limestone

Image

001

Roadcap

Christiana

19 Nov 1849

Recorded by Deb Wake 2000; large flat limestone

Image

002

Harris

Roberg G.

1830

1881

Father

double stone

Image

002

Harris

Jennie P.

1830

1891

Mother

w/Roberg G.

Image

002

Blosser

Isaac

24 Aug 1912

8 Apr 1913

c/Jacob & Minerva Blosser

nee Minerva Showalter

Image

002

Blosser

Rhoda A.

30 Oct 1915

4 Jul 1916

c/Jacob & Minerva Blosser

nee Minerva Showalter

Image

002

Blosser

Margaret

17 Apr 1895

Aged 90y 6m 21d; w/Jonas & d/Bishop Peter & Elizabeth Burkholder

Mother nee Elizabeth Coffman

Image

002

Blosser

Jonas

1 Mar 1873

Aged 81y 7m 21d

s/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser; b. 11 Jul 1791 in Page Co VA per Deb Wake

Image

003

Blosser

Abraham

5 Mar 1828

9 Sep 1891

Aged 63y 6m 3d; consort of Sarah

s/Jonas & Margaret Brurkholder Blosser

Image

003

Blosser

Isaac

26 Mar 1865

25 Oct 1865

Aged 6m 30d

s/Abraham & Sarah Brunk Blosser

Image

003

Blosser

Eli

25 Nov 1866

21 Mar 1868

Aged 1y 3m 26d

s/Abraham & Sarah Brunk Blosser

Image

003

Wenger

Ephriam

9 Sep 1815

26 Jan 1893

Aged 77y 4m 17d

s/Rev. Benj & Ann May Mauck Wenger

Image

003

Wenger

Susannah

1859

In the 36th year of her life

nee Good

Image

003

Wenger

Ephriam

1 Jan 1851

16 Aug 1856

Aged 5y 7m 15d

s/Ephriam Wenger

Image

003

Wenger

Simeon

18 Jan 1853

28 Jan 1855

Aged 2y 10m

s/Ephriam Wenger

Image

003

Wengar

Benjamin

28 Apr 1781

26 Feb 1865

Aged 83y 9m 26d

Reverend; recorded by WPA in 1937 & Deb Wake in 2000

Image

003

Wenger

Ann Mary

15 Aug 1783

17 Dec 1850

w/Rev. Benjamin; nee Mauck

Image

003

Wenger

Benjamin

23 May 1811

9 Jul 1880

Aged 69y 1m 16d

s/Rev.Benj & Ann Mary Mauck Wenger

Image

003

Wenger

Barbara

26 Jun 1894

Aged 84y 22d

w/Benj. Jr.; nee Blosser

Image

003

Grove

David

26 Mar 1860

Aged 26y 1m 16d; s/A. & S. Grove

s/Abraham & Sophia Grace Showalter Grove

Image

003

Ritchie

Hannah M.

18 Aug 1844

31 Jan 1883

Aged 38y 5m 13d; w/Benjamin F.

Image

004

Dundore

Elijah

9 Sep 1791

27 May 1860

Aged 68y 7m 18d

Image

004

Koontz

Samuel

20 Oct 1859

Aged 32y 11m

Image

004

Koontz

Elizabeth

18 Dec 1854

Aged 27y 3m 15d; w/Samuel

Image

004

Grove

Sophia

3 Dec 1809

19 Mar 1883

Aged 73y 3m 16d; Mother; w/Abraham

d/Jacob & Sophia Saufley Showalter

Image

004

Grove

Abraham

5 Apr 1855

Aged 54y 5m 3d

h/Sophia

Image

004

Suter

Catharine M.

19 Mar 1860

Aged 23y 6m 14d; consort of David & d/A. & S. Grove

Image

005

Blosser

Abraham

5 Apr 1782

11 Feb 1868

Aged 85y 10m 9d

s/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser

Image

005

Blosser

Anna

27 Oct 1785

16 Feb 1864

Aged 78y 3m 20d

d/Peter & Magdalene Baer Blosser

Image

005

Blosser

Michael

10 Mar 1837

Aged 2y

Roughly carved limestone rock; new marker for him placed in Row 007

Image

005

Blosser

David

14 Aug 1855

Aged 17y 1m 17d

s/Jonas & Margaret Burkholder Blosser

Image

005

Blosser

Solomon

25 Apr 1855

Aged 9m 6d

No visible marker Feb. 2002 - recorded by Swank in 1967; s/Joseph & Susanna Blosser per Dr. John Wayland

006

Blosser

Peter

7 Apr 1835

Aged 83y 18d

born in York, PA; s/Peter & Barbara Blosser

Image

006

Blosser

Magdalene

10 Jul 1843

Aged 92y 9m

w/Peter; d/Blastius & Esther Bear

Image

006

Blosser

Jacob

13 Oct 1834

Aged 54y 11m 28d

s/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser

Image

006

Blosser

Magdalene

19 Feb 1859

Aged 74y 3m 4d

w/Jacob; d/Bishop Henry & Anna Reiff Shank

Image

006

Heatwole

David

8 Apr 1842

In the 75th yr of his age

s/Matheus & Miss Haas Heatwole h/Magdalene Weland Heatwole

Image

006

Heatwole

Magdalen

23 Nov 1810

In the 75th yr of her age

w/David; nee Weland per Dr. John Wayland

Image

006

Suter

Anna

12 Mar 1835

Aged 26y 7m 28d

w/Daniel; d/David Heatwole

Image

006

Heatwole

Nancy

9 Feb 1842

27 Feb 1842

c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole

Image

006

Heatwole

Mary

22 Jan 1828

19 Jan 1830

c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole

Image

006

Swank

Mary Showalter

Abt 1768

Aft 1837

w/Jacob Swank

d/Daniel & Margaret Saunders Showalter; stone erected 1967 by J. R. Swank

Image

006

Heatwole

George M.

7 Mar 1845

Aged 3 hrs

c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole

Image

006

Heatwole

John P.

11 Jul 1844

Aged 9m 10d

c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole

Image

007

Blosser

Michael

10 Mar 1837

Aged 2y 2m 17d

s/Jonas & Marg. Burkholder Blosser; this is 2nd marker for Michael in Row 005

Image

007

Blosser

Sham

26 Feb 1844

Aged 5m 26d

s/Jonas & Margaret Burkholder Blosser

Image

Blosser

Children of Jacob & Minerva Blosser

Image