Vandemark Cemetery
(aka Shride Cemetery)
(aka Hockman Cemetery)
Madison Township,
Franklin County, Ohio

Gravestone Photographs

Vandemark Cemetery is located on a knoll in the middle of a field that is part of Pickering Ponds Metro Park. There is no road leading to the cemetery and permission from a park ranger is required to visit the cemetery. Unfortunately, the cemetery is inhabited and the residents have done their very best to topple every stone. We frightened off two of the resident gophers, but not until after they caused us a rush of adrenaline. I had no idea they made any kind of noise, but one sure let his mate know that dangerous intruders had entered their domain. After sounding the alarm the groundhog dashed through the nearly knee high grass to join his mate. All we could see was what appeared to be a tiny whirlwind blowing through the cemetery to be joined by a second wind before veering off to make its way out of the cemetery. We spent nearly as much time avoiding gopher holes as we did taking pictures. When we were about half finished photographing the gravestones we startled a deer that had been walking across the field and her noonday stroll became a dash to find a place to hide. So while this cemetery is probably one of the three worst we've photographed the trip was well worth it; we completed a photographic inventory of the stones we were able to find; we learned that gophers do vocalize; and we watched, close up, the sleek beauty of the deer.

The WPA Plat Map gives the name of the cemetery as Hockman Cemetery. According to the infomation on the map, the cemetery covers .13 acre and is part of the original Congressional land patent issued to William Stevenson on May 23, 1810. No veterans are buried in the cemetery. There is room for 120 graves.

Unfortunately, the light coming through the canopy of tree branches made it difficult to get good photos of the stones. Combine the poor light with the age and condition of the stones and the result is not the best photographic inventory. Several of the toppled stones were face down and far too heavy for us to turn without something to lever them. I have combined our photographs with a list of the burials that can be found in, Bareis, George Frederick, comp., History of Madison Township, including Groveport and Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio (Canal Winchester, Ohio, Geo. F. Bareis Publisher, 1902), page 496. We found three stones that didn't appear on the list—they are marked with an asterisk (*).

I have all of the photographs in much higher resolution, which allows the inscriptions to be seem more clearly. I will be happy to send the larger photos to anyone who asks. Write to Leona at .

Facing south

Facing north

Along a row

Gopher hole

Gravestones:

(Click on the underlined name to view the photograph)

• Allgire
  • Mary Jane, wife of Wm. K, died Dec 6, 1866, aged 40 years 11 mo & 5 ds (Enlarged detail)
  • William J. S., son of Wm K and MJ, died 1866, 16 y

• Bowen
  • Charles, died Aug 11, 1831 aged 43 ys 2 mo 20 ds* (Ten year old photo by Jeff Bogda, )
  • In memory of William W., son of Charles & Mary, who died June 29, 1834, aged 1? years 6 months & 8 days
    • Note the second digit in the age looks like a backward "6;" it could be a zero, two, five, or six. Jeff Bogda tells me that the age is 12 years . . .
• Bull, Billingslea, died 1824, 52 y

• Entler, Sarah, died 1835, 32 y
• Evans, Mary, dau of James B and Nancy, died 1839, 1 y

• Harrison
  • Grasey, died 1825, 37 y
  • Losey, died 1831, 4 y
• Hathaway
  • Edward, died 1824 (possibly 1821), 49 y
  • Mary, wife of Eleazor, died 1825, 77 y
• Hopkins
  • In memory of Nicholas, who died Aug 1(?), 1824 in the 26 year of his age
  • Sarah A, dau of Nicholas and Ann, died 1848, 23 y
  • Mary J, dau of Wm S and Hannah J, died 1848, 2 m

• McKelvey
  • George, died 1841, 21 y
  • Jemima, died 1835, 4 y

• Perren, Rachel, died July(?) 4, 1836, aged 60 y 1 m 17 d
  • Note: Bareis spells the surname PERRIN
• Perrin
  • Mary Ann, wife of Wm, died 1848, 34 y
  • Wm, died 1855, 76 y

• Russel, Wm J, son of Stephen S and Eleanor, died 1846, 12 y
• Russell (See also the last two stones and Jeff Bogda's comment in the Unknown list.)
  • James E., son of Stephen S. & Eleanor, died June 13, 1843, aged 2 y 11 days (Enlarged detail)*

• Stevenson
  • Ann B., wife of J S, died ??? 10, 1873, aged [73] years ?? mo 21 ds (Enlarged detail)
  • Catherine, wife of G K, died 1867, 74 y
  • George, son of Rev Geo S and Caroline M, died 1855, 4 y
  • George K., son of Wm L & Rebecca D, died July 23, 1838, aged 2 mo 17 ds
    • Note: Bareis gives his death as 1888, but his mother's death as 1863
  • M. A., died 1871, 54 y
  • Rebecca, wife of Wm L, died 23 Feb 1863, 46 y
  • Sarah, wife of Abram B., died Sept 10, 1847, aged 22 years & 14 ds
  • Sarah E, dau of Wm L and Rebecca, died 10 Feb 1863, 21 y
  • William, died 24 Jan 1863, 49 y

• Taylor
  • Mary, wife of Samuel W, died 1862, 66 y
  • Samuel, died 1842, 53 y

• Vandemark
• Garred, died July 5, 1841, aged 93 years
• Mary, wife of Geo, died 1835, 66y

• Unknown
  • Broken
  • Broken
  • Broken & Illegible
  • Broken & Illegible
  • Broken, looks like - W. J. son of George K & ___ Stevenson, died March(?) 10, 1879(?)
  • Double stone, top right says "Infant;" rest of stone illegible
  • Broken & Illegible
  • Child, died July 4, 1840, aged 2 years ?? mo 4(?) ds
    • Jeff Bogda supplies this: William J. Russell, died July 4, 1840 aged 2y 3m 18d
  • Charles B.   ?  , son of ____ & Ru__, died July(?), 1840, aged 9 months & 7ds*
    • Jeff Bogda supplies this: Charles B. Russell, died July 12, 1840 aged 9m 7d
    • Jeff adds, "I believe there is a fourth Russell child (John A. Russell) who should be buried next to the other three. Unfortunately, you didn't find it either, so it must be buried, broken, upside down, or not there."