Help Save Historic Kerr-Drill Cemeteries

BROKEN TOMBSTONES
BREAK HER HEART

Volunteer who worked for years to restore cemetery finds it vandalized

By Joanne Huist Smith
Dayton Daily News, Page 1, January 10, 2006

DAYTON | The head of the dainty concrete angel lay at the statue's feet, surrounded by other broken, smashed or uprooted headstones.

Lisa O'Hearn tried not to cry on Monday each time she discovered new damage to old grave markers in the adjoining Kerr and Drill pioneer cemeteries, but after years of working to restore them, she couldn't hold back the tears.

"I can't imagine what would bring somebody to want to do this," O'Hearn said. "Where is the reverence?"

O'Hearn helped to organize a clean-up of the cemetery after discovering it while doing a title search a few years ago.

"I saw this tiny piece of land marked 'cemetery' on the map and I was curious," she said.

The two cemeteries encompass little more than an acre tucked behind apartment complexes between Frederick Pike and Northcutt Place just off Needmore Road.

About 30 of the cemetery's 50 gravestones had been intact when volunteers last visited in the fall. But now, nearly all the headstones lay scattered and broken. O'Hearn believes several are missing.

"You'd need a sledge hammer to knock some of these down. I think this had to be planned," she said. "It's so discouraging when things like this happen. You just want to give up, but you can't give up."

The cemetery is so hidden by trees that Dayton Police officers said they didn't know it existed. Lt. M. J. Wilhelm said there was no evidence at the scene to indicate who had vandalized the burial ground used from 1835 to 1874.

"I'll put something out to the troops and let them know it's here. Patrolling is about all we can do," he said.

There are a list of early Montgomery County pioneers buried in the two cemeteries including George Drill, who migrated to Ohio from Maryland in a four-horse wagon and a one-horse carriage called a rockaway. Today, you'll find the family name on Drill hill, off Ridge Avenue.

James and Susanna (Lodge) Ensley, also buried there, too have a Dayton street named for them. The family left Bedford County, Penn., for Ohio in 1818 and would eventually own 300 acres in Montgomery County.

The cemetery clean-up had been an ongoing collaborative effort of ICU...Inspire, Create, Unite, a nonprofit organization founded by O'Hearn that brings together Dayton youth, city workers and neighbors.

The adult and teen volunteers raked, planted flowers, picked up garbage and rubbed flour on the headstones, which highlighted the worn lettering. O'Hearn applied for grants and the group made an effort to maintain the property.

"I'm upset because it took a lot of hard work to fix it up. It's shouldn't be trashed," said Christy Adkins, 18, a Belmont High School senior who helped with the task. "There are people resting there after all."

Dick Rice, president of ICU, first found the cemetery, owned by the city of Dayton, about six years ago while researching his family's genealogy.

"It was like walking into a forest. Basically, it had been ignored," he said.

The discovery of the graves of his great-great-great grandparents James and Rebecca Rice was especially meaningful.

"For me, when you find a headstone, it's like connecting with that family," Rice said. "My first ancestor to set foot here (in the Miami Valley) is buried there. I just wanted to tell them you're not lost. You're not alone."

A hickory tree had separated the Rice's headstones, but over the years, the sapling had grown into a giant and closed the gap between the two grave makers. The stones would not yield, so the tree grew up around them.

But, what nature didn't destroy, man did. One side of Rebecca's tombstone is lodged in the hickory tree, the other side was broken off by the vandals.

"Headstones are part of a person's history, part of their past. That's sacred ground. For someone to go in and destroy this stuff is very disheartening," Rice said.

Rice and O'Hearn aren't sure what their next step will be. With no funding and little help available from the city, they're not sure if the grave makers can be repaired.

"If anyone has any suggestions, please call. We need funding. We need volunteers," she said.

	Home \| Restoration of the Cemeteries \| Cemetery History \| Cemetery Families \| ICU - Inspire, Create, Unite