Weathered marble headstone of Rebecca Absher (wife of Jacob Abshire), as seen during our March 30, 2025 visit to Abshire Cemetery in Nile Township, Scioto County, Ohio. Spelling differs from her memorial at Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth.
Place
A Cutting Affray on Rocky Fork—Old Man Patton and his Sons in Jail.
“We propose to celebrate.” “There is to be a Christmas tree at the Methodist church Christmas eve at Young station, and one at the Christian Union church at Otway on Christmas night. The new Otway Brass Band is to furnish music for both occasions.” “William Ingles, who was so badly Continue Reading
A Monument to Memory: The Noel Family Headstone at Greenlawn Cemetery
In the historic heart of Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth, Ohio, stands a monument both grand in scale and rich in symbolism. The sandstone marker of Elijah P. Noel (1819–1870) and Amanda M. Noel (1825–1887) rises above the surrounding stones, etched with the grief and faith of a 19th-century Appalachian family. Continue Reading
Cleaning the Headstone of Mary Mershon and Peter Stall
On June 22, 2025, we visited Garvin Cemetery in Union Township, Scioto County, Ohio, to clean the headstones of Mary Ann Mershon (née Shaw) and her grandson Peter Stall. Mary Ann Mershon was born November 11, 1830, in Nile Township and died September 18, 1897. Her monument is a white Continue Reading
Memory in Marble: Cleaning Mershon Family Graves at Garvin Cemetery
On June 22, 2025, we visited Garvin Cemetery in Union Township, Scioto County, Ohio, to clean the headstones of Mary Ann Mershon (née Shaw) and her grandson Peter Stall. Mary Ann Mershon was born November 11, 1830, in Nile Township and died September 18, 1897. Her monument is a white Continue Reading
Portsmouth Sanitarium: Hope for Alcoholic and Other Victims
“Portsmouth is to have a sanitarium, or institute where victims of the liquor habit can be cured by the chloride of gold process. A meeting was held at the Second street reading rooms Tuesday evening to that end, and an organization was effected and officers elected, as follows: President, Captain Continue Reading
1937 Portsmouth, Ohio Flood – Archival Film Digitized for Preservation
This video is a digital transfer of a VHS tape, originally sourced from archival film footage—likely 16mm or possibly 35mm—documenting the catastrophic 1937 Ohio River flood in Portsmouth, Ohio. This local disaster was part of a broader regional crisis that impacted multiple states and remains one of the most significant Continue Reading
Restoring the Forgotten: Mary E. Davis (1876) – Gravestone Cleaning at Friendship Cemetery.
On September 12, 2021, while cleaning a group of headstones at Friendship Cemetery in Nile Township, Scioto County, Ohio, I noticed a heavily blackened marble marker nearby. It belonged to Mary E. Davis, the infant daughter of J.M. & Julia A. Davis, who died June 11, 1876, at only 3 Continue Reading
Dever Historical Cemetery from Above
Vigil of the Four Cedars
Stand here, child, where earth doth take clay;Plant four cedars small and green.East, west, head, and foot we lay—Roots and grief ’mid rows unseen. East sapling: spring in tender root,Whisper kin whose hands e’er tilled.West sapling: hope in hidden shoot,Promise of life yet unfulfilled. Head sapling: lean toward north’s hush,Honor Continue Reading