Posted: 12:00 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015

Repairs on the horizon at historic cemetery

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

    A unique piece of Middletown history may finally have the funding needed for a critical repair.

    For years, a plastic tarp has served as a makeshift roof for the 135-year-old stone vault at Middletown Cemetery, where many of the city’s founding families are buried.

    The Middletown Cemetery Board — a volunteer group of five residents — would like the vault to be used as a museum and learning center at the historic cemetery on First Avenue, said Steve Bohannon, cemetery board chairman.

    To see that idea come to fruition, the Middletown Cemetery Board has spent years applying for grants and gathering private donations and has raised nearly $21,000 for the project.

    The city is expected Jan. 20 to approve an ordinance that will provide a portion of funding needed to complete the nearly $27,000 roof project.

    The city’s portion of funding for the repairs will come from leftover 2014 Community Revitalization funding, according to a report by City Manager Doug Adkins.

    “This is a long term distraction that can now be completed, allowing us to move on to other projects,” he said in his report.

    In that report, Adkins also noted that the roof has been covered with a tarp for a number of years, which is a violation of the city’s property management code.

    Bohannon said the tarp has been replaced a couple of times, with the latest replacement in 2014.

    The restoration of the roof to historical standards requires specialized work with slate and copper, according to Adkins.    Two bids for the work were solicited from contractors qualified to complete this type of work with the lowest bid from Bayless Roofing & Sheet Metal for $26,755.

    Bohannon said the board is hoping to have the roof repaired by April.

    “We’re very pleased that we could work together on this project to get it finalized so we can move forward to other projects needed (at the cemetery),” Bohannon said.

    The Victorian-style vault was originally built as an open-air shelter with a patio around 1880.

    The Middletown Cemetery Association, which owned the cemetery, decided to close off the windows with bricks and installed shelves to store bodies during the winter until gravediggers could resume their work after the spring thaw.

     Many families moved their loved ones from Middletown Cemetery to Woodside Cemetery when it opened in 1891.

    The city took over ownership of Middletown Cemetery in 1947, but there was little funding for maintenance. The cemetery remains active with some older families who still own plots there.

    Since Bohannon joined the board in 2010, he said there have been two burials in Middletown Cemetery.

    The board, which was created in October 2012 to advise council on the cemetery’s needs, has worked to acquire grants in addition to private donations several volunteers to help maintain the historic cemetery.

    Before the electronic gate was installed a couple of years ago, workers at neighboring Denny Lumber would unlock and lock the gate during the week while board members handled the task on weekends and holidays. The new gate automatically opens at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. seven days a week.

    More than $70,000 in private donations and grants was raised by the board to keep the vault standing by securing the stone work so it would not be torn down, Bohannon said.

    A Middletown Community Foundation grant helped to restore 100 broken and damaged tombstones. Numerous diseased trees have been removed in the past few years by Duke Energy and the Middletown Tree Commission.

    Community and school groups have continued to volunteer by planting flower pots by the vault, cleaning up the Doty family plot, and picking up trash and leaves along the cemetery’s fence lines. Local Scout troops have also placed flags on the 238 graves of veterans who served from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam War.

MIDDLETOWN HISTORICAL PIONEER CEMETERY

Opened: May 30, 1827

Size: The original cemetery was four acres but grew to 11 acres by 1869. Thirteen lots were originally set aside for a potters field.

Number of graves: There are about 7,000 graves, including 238 graves of veterans who served from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War. It remains an active cemetery.

Who’s buried there? Daniel Doty, a founder of Middletown, is buried there, as is Stephen Vail. Many other founding families are there as well, including Lefferson, Tytus, Sutphin and Bowman.

Ownership: The city of Middletown has owned the cemetery since 1947 after the Middletown Cemetery Association experienced financial difficulties.

By Deb Morrison-I am Thrilled!!! 
Wonderful News this is.... The Middletown Cemetery Board did a wonderful Job in the last five years as a board in raising awareness and in raising over $75,000.00 through private donations, and grants from Middletown Community Foundation, area businesses,volunteers and the final amount from the City of Middletown to make sure this vault was not torn down and to get this Vault roof completed. Did I say I was THRILLED!!!!

By Deb Morrison -Everyone keep throwing your DIGS out there at the Board and at the City. All I know is We, THE BOARD, have for the last 5 years raised Money and Raised Awareness to get this Vault Done and that was all done without Ms. Moon. The Walls are still standing and the new roof will be put on this spring. I agree with you that Ms. Moon is the most knowledgeable person about this cemetery and I commend her for all that she did and all the difficulties she had from the City from 2005 to 2010. I am sorry that the City removed all the flowers that she planted because they were beautiful. I fought with the city from 1995 to 2000 only getting a few things taken care of in the cemetery. As for giving Credit where credit is due. That Credit goes to all of us that have fought to get this Vault completed, please don't make it sound like Vivian did all this on her own because as of 2009. She has not been allowed to have anything to do with the Cemetery. As for "Late Comers", I have been involved with this Cemetery since 1995 long before Ms. Gilliland, long before a cemetery board and long before Ms. Moon So you all say what you will but, since I am on the Cemetery Board that is all I will say about! that..

Deb Morrison
I would strongly suggest you check your facts before you come on this forum and discuss what Vivian Moon has and has not done for the Middletown Cemetery over the past ten years. The above statements are inaccurate.
And just for your information…I continue to work on researching and correcting the records for the Middletown Cemetery and Woodside Cemetery about 4 hours every day. My web site is the most accurate official record of those buried at the Middletown Cemetery.
As a member of the Middletown Cemetery Board your actions and comments are unprofessional.

The Middletown Cemetery has 7,000 stories to tell and I hope to live long enough to tell each and every one of them. They came from all over the world to Middletown with hopes and dreams of making a better life for their families and now rest quietly within the grounds of this cemetery.
A meandering stroll through the Middletown Cemetery is like walking through the pages of our community’s history and therefore I believe it should be treated with respect and cared for like a rare history book.
These are the people that made our country, our state and Middletown great and they deserve not only our respect but our protection.
This is part of the research that I just completed on the BLAIR – McLEAN Scottish families that are buried at the Middletown Cemetery.
                         
Memoirs of the Miami Valley
Published in 1919

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John L. Blair, who is widely and favorably known in commercial circles of Middletown as the proprietor of a thriving grocery on South Clinton street, and who has also performed capably and conscientiously the duties pertaining to several public offices, belongs to a family which has been connected with the business history of this community for sixty-eight years. He was born at Middletown, June 22, 1864, a son of John and Barbara (McLean) Blair, and a grandson of John and Janet (Barr) Blair, who met and were married at Campbelltown, near Glasgow, Scotland. The Blair family is traced back to the old Romans in Britain. In the second century, history relates, the Romans in Perthshire, Scotland, according to their reckoning, gained a great victory over the Caledonians, the scene of the decisive battle being known as Blair's Hill, which would indicate that Blair was a familiar name even at that early date. Among ancient castles of Scottish chiefs was Blair Castle, the stronghold of the Montrose clan in 1644, which was stormed by Cromwell about ten years later. In 1690 it was practically a ruin, but 200 years later was restored, and at present is the seat of the Duke of Athole. The home of the Drummonds of Perthshire is called Blair-Drummond house. In the new world, a famous old Blair home is that of the late Judge John Blair of Williamsburg, Va., which is still one of the early colonial landmarks. American branches of the Blair family trace back to Scotland through John Blair, of Virginia, an early colonist, and one Alexander Blair was a forefather also in the Old Dominion. One of the New England forefathers was David Blair, of Massachusetts, whose son, Robert, married Hannah Thompson. James Blair of Virginia was the founder of William and Mary college and its first president, and too was a contemporary of three governors of Virginia, Spottiswood, Gooch and Dinwiddie. Like them, he was of Scotch birth. The statesmen of the Blair family have included Senator Henry Blair of the New England family and Judge Montgomery Blair, of Kentucky. Senator Francis Preston Blair of Kentucky, who was born in Virginia after the close of

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the Revolutionary war, was a son of James Blair, attorney general of Kentucky. Montgomery Blair and Francis Blair, Sr., were brothers. The family of President James K. Polk was allied with the Blairs. "Like Angels' Visits, short and far between," is a line from one of the poems of Robert Blair, who was born in Edinburg, Scotland, and one of whose sons became lord president of the Court of Sessions. Hugh Blair, another relative, was born in Edinburg. His volume of sermons so pleased King George III that he granted him a pension, and the success of his lectures on literature led to the foundation of a chair of belles lettres at Edinburgh University. The Blair coat-of-arms is blazoned argent on a saltier sable nine, nine mascles voided sable. Crest: A stay lodged proper. Motto: "Amo probos (I love the virtuous)." This is the coat-of-arms of the Blairs of Scottish birth. There is a similar blazon of arms for the Blairs born in Ireland, only the number of mascles is five and there are crescents, mullets and garbs, symbolizing sincerity, loyalty and constancy. The parents of John L. Blair were young people when they came to the United States from their native land of Scotland, and were married at Middletown in 1854. They came to Middletown, where John Blair became one of this city's first paper manufacturers, being superintendent of the old Barnitz Paper company. Later he embarked in the grocery business, with which he was connected until the time of his retirement in 1900. His death occurred June 14, 1906, and that of his wife in 1908. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church for a period of forty years, and he and his wife were the parents of four children: John L.; Anna, the wife of W. H. Ely, of Middletown; Miss Isabel Edna, of this city; and Jennie, the wife of J. F. Winton, of Philadelphia. John L. Blair was educated in the public schools of Middletown, and when he was still a youth began to be associated with his father in the conduct of the grocery business. At the time of his father's retirement, in 1900, he assumed the management, and at the present time is sole owner of the business, which is located at 316 Clinton street and enjoys an excellent patronage. Recognized as one of Middletown's premier business men, progressive and enterprising, Mr. Blair has also served his community well and energetically in offices of public importance having been president of the school board for two years, a member of the city council one year and a member of the board of public service for six years and eight months, during two years of which time he was president of that body. As a fraternalist he belongs to the Masons and his religious connection is with the Presbyterian church. January 15, 1891, Mr. Blair married Bertha Rebecca Thompson, who came from Belfast, Ireland, and whose father died November 2, 1906, her mother passing away in Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Blair are the parents of six children: Hugh Thompson, Charles, Agnes Lucile, John Milton, Vincent Paul and Eugene.