Balser Hess Family Graves
Mary Rodgers, President of the Clintonville Historical Society, did some wonderful research on the Balser Hess family graves at Union Cemetery, in response to a reader’s inquiry about this post. Apparently the reader believed that Balser Hess’s wife is not buried in this location despite the tombstone.
From Mary Rodgers:
There are lots of burials on the Hess property prior to the establishment of the Union Cemetery Association in 1847. The Association purchased the Hess burial ground in 1862. The only known records of the early burials are the tombstones. Unfortunately, there are lots of illegible and missing stones.
Union Cemetery and the Historical Society believe Balser to be the earliest burial. The family arrived in Ohio around 1799. They had a child (John) born in Hopetown in 1799. He lived to adulthood. Attached is a family history that was done many years ago by Frank Hess. It states that Balser was the first burial on the family farm. I confirmed that John was the last of George’s children; she didn’t find any grandchildren prior to his death in 1806.
Balser’s wife (Mary Eva) is represented on the tombstone. We have no reason to believe that she is not buried at Union. The property was still in the family’s control at the time of her death. The tombstone that is in the cemetery is not the original. It was lost to the test of time and replaced by the family.
John was the last child to be born to Balser and Mary Eve. No mention of “lost infants” for that couple.
The only child of Balser who married prior to his death was his daughter Mary Ann. She married Henry Cryder before the Hesses moved to Franklinton. She and Henry ultimately moved to Delaware, OH (then to Illinois) but I don’t see anything that would suggest they had a child that would have been buried on the family homestead in Franklin Co. prior to her father’s death. At that time, they lived in New Hope, OH.
[Images courtesy of Mary Rodgers]
Tags: Union Cemetery