Joe Smith has an intriguing theory about Clintonville’s elusive Rathbone Cemetery. I think it’s interesting; what do you think?

From Joe:

I came across some maps that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) did from 1935-1943, as part of FDR’s “New Deal” programs. One Clinton Township map particularly caught my eye. It was named (by them) the “John Rathbone Cemetery.” There’s is a link to that particular map on an Ohio History Connection affiliated website (link here). To date, I have only found two other websites that make reference to that cemetery by name:
dev.clintonvillehistory.org/ website;
FCGHS website.

I have spent the past few days trying to locate this cemetery. It has been confusing, because the WPA listed it at the corner of US-23 and C-93. As you know, today US-23 follows Indianola Avenue starting at Hudson Street. But I believe prior to the 1960s it was actually still North High Street. C-93 is Hudson Street, according to the Franklin County Engineers (link to PDF here). So, using the WPA location (0.9 miles north of Hudson, and 150 feet east of High), we are at Clinton Chapel Cemetery!

I was very impressed by the WPA map drawings, well before computer aided design (CAD) and printers/plotters were available. So, I took their map and made a rough estimate of the dimensions of the “John Rathbone Cemetery,” and it also fits (within an acceptable tolerance) the known dimensions of Clinton Chapel Cemetery! Three of the boundaries are within 5% but the east boundary is off nearly 10%. I think that is due to inaccuracies with the measuring and/or digitization of their maps.

I know everyone likes maps, so I’ve attached the one I created (see above) to support my findings that Clinton Chapel now has at least three alternate names:
North M.E. Cemetery
Armbruster Cemetery
John Rathbone Cemetery

More from Joe:

There were six Clinton Township cemeteries that WPA reported on: Amaranth Abbey Mausoleum, John Rathbone Cemetery, Kempton Cemetery, Mc. Kendree M. E. Church Cemetery, Union Cemetery, and Webster Cemetery. Note, Cooke and Clinton Chapel Cemeteries were not on their list.

Here’s a link to the very cool 1920 Baist Map earlier (it’s here.)

Other general observations:

Both Rathbone and Clinton Chapel cemeteries were of similar orientation, size and shape (0.47 acres vs 0.50 acres). The Clinton acreage is also an estimate. I actually expected Rathbone acreage to be higher, given that each of the borders are slightly larger, but again I think this is more due to issues with precision.

Here is a comparison of the border dimensions (in feet) for each cemetery. The borders for Rathbone were estimated based on pixel counts on the WPA map.

Border	Clinton	Rathbone
North	200.00′	200.00′
South’	196.00′	200.06′
East	97.02′	107.06′
West	124.00′	128.30′

What do you think? Talk about an “identity crisis!” Feel free to comment below.

To be sure, there remain some “unknowns”, such as the fact that Ohio Genealogical Society lists both a Rathbone Cemetery in Sharon Township and a John Rathbone Cemetery in Clinton Township. There may have been a family burial plot for the Rathbone/Wetmore family, graves in which were moved to Greenlawn at an unknown past date. I have no facts to back that up! I’m just leaving this possibility on the table until we can find out more. As Joe states, I mention a Rathbone Cemetery in prior posts. I learned about that from Algy McBride, past president of the Clintonville Historical Society and also of the Franklin County Genealogical Society. Algy passed away in 2015 and is greatly missed.

[This entire entry is courtesy of Joe Smith. Thanks Joe!]