Quantcast
Home | Back

Group to dedicate historic site in Kent; Oldest grave in Pioneer Cemetery gets marker

Share Story:     Share_email E-mail Story    |    Share_print Print Story    |    Comments    |   

August 28, 2008

The community is invited to visit Kent's oldest historic site, the nearly 200-year-old Stow Street Pioneer Cemetery, and join in a special ceremony Sunday honoring Eva Meyers Haymaker, who was Franklin Township's first recorded burial there in October 1810.
A brief program dedicating a new headstone for Mrs. Haymaker will begin at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, with the Rev. Julie Blake Fisher of Kent's Christ Episcopal Church offering a convocation. A special vocal performance by Stephanie DeCapito and Carrie Johnson, both of Kent, will follow.
From 3 to 6 p.m. visitors can tour the cemetery with volunteers from the Pioneer Cemetery Preservation Group, who will answer questions and provide interested residents with historical information and materials. The non-profit preservation group is sponsoring the event, which will be postponed in the event of rain.
It is not known how Eva Meyers Haymaker felt about leaving a comfortable home in Pennsylvania and beginning a new life in the unsettled wilderness of Ohio in 1806. She was about 52 years old, had eight surviving adult children, several grandchildren and was married to an adventurous husband, Jacob.
In the spring of that year Eva and Jacob arrived in Franklin Township. Together with at least three of their children and several grandchildren, they chose a site along the Cuyahoga River near today's Stow Street Bridge, and built the first home in what would soon be known as Franklin Mills and later, Kent.
Eva (also referred to as "Eve" in many early references), died on Oct. 11, 1810, just four years after arriving here. In an early diary her daughter-in-law, Sally Haymaker, described how the family walked along the banks overlooking the Cuyahoga River and chose a quiet spot to bury the matriarch of their family.
About a year later the family deeded two acres of land surrounding Eva's burial site to the township for use as a community cemetery.
More than 230 men and women, including many of Kent's pioneer settlers, and at least 60 children are buried there.
For additional information, call Pioneer Cemetery Preservation Group coordinator Pat Morton at 330-678-5671.




Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. Recordpub.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

Login above or Register to comment.
 0 Total Comments Home | Back