Delilah Hanna Ridenour and Her Husband, Elias Ridenour

 

"RIDENOUR

DELILAH, daughter of Henry and Mary Hanna, was born March 13, 1849 and died April 26, 1909, aged 60 years, 1 month and 13 days.

She was the youngest of eight children, all of whom have preceded her to the life beyond, except two sisters, one in Kansas and one in Bryan, Ohio.

She grew to womanhood at the old homestead on Prairie Creek, Washington township, Defiance county, Ohio.

She was educated in the common schools and was married to Elias Ridenour, March 21, 1868. In the same year, she and her husband went to Illinois, where they remained five years and then returned to Ohio, locating on the farm in Mark township, where they lived until her death. She was baptized in 1873 and ever afterwards tried to live, as she believed she should.

She was the mother of six children, one of whom died in infancy, the others, with her husband ,were at her side when the end came. Besides her immediate family, she leaves five grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.

The funeral services on Wednesday afternoon were very largely attended expressive of the high regard in which she was held in the community. The services at the house and the burial services at the Lost Creek Cemetery were conducted by Rev. F. C. Lake, of Hicksville."

from Pioneers of the Northwest, a book of obituaries from the Hicksville area, available in all DPL libraries. The Hicksville Tribune, May 5, 1909.

Elias Ridenour, Delilah's spouse, was well known in Defiance County as he served two terms as the Infirmary Director and was involved in countless other positions in the county. Elias was also a son of George and Catharine Ridenour, a pioneer couple in Defiance County. 

Both Elias and his younger brother, Isaac, enlisted in the Civil War. A former blog post discussed Isaac's troubles with the pension board. 

Elias also had his problems concerning his military service. The Defiance County Republican Express featured this in the edition of October 11, 1890:

"A LETTER.

THAT EXPLAINS ITSELF

The copy of the following letter can be seen by calling at this office. It fully explains the merit that the war department put on an able Democratic candidate's war record:

6838 B.A.G.O.(E.B.) 87.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, APRIL 3, 1888

Mr. Elias Ridenour, Mark Center, Defiance County, Ohio:

Sir: Referred to your application for an original discharge as of Co. F 48, Ohio Vols.

I have the honor to inform you that the plain facts appear to be that after a few month's service only, you, pleading sickness, were sent from the fields at Shiloh on or about April 29th, 1862, to a general hospital, but that instead of going there, you went to your home and never returned, though your command remained in service throughout the war.

Your assertion that the surgeon of St. Lions' hospital advised you to 'take a salt water trip to Cal.' is probably as foundationless as your claim that you were in service almost three years.

There is no merit whatever in your case and the application is denied. Very respectfully your ablest servant,

Tho. Schwan,

Asst. Adgt. General"

Delilah and Elias Ridenour had one child who died at seven months in 1892, and five children who survived. 

Charles E. Ridenour (died 1949)

Nellie May Ridenour CASE (died 1924)

Sadie Bell Ridenour STOTLER (died 1937)

Elsie E. Ridenour HUSTON (died 1964)

Mary C. Ridenour SHARP (died 1982)

Elias died in 1919 at the age of 80, and he is buried with Delilah in Lost Creek Cemetery.

Dianne Kline, Researcher

W. P. A. Cemetery Survey - Lost Creek Cemetery, Farmer Township

In this series, some of the general surveys of Defiance County cemeteries will be shared, transcribed as written on the original W.P.A. reports, with a few punctuation and/or spelling changes for readability.  The surveys were probably done around 1936.

For more up to date information on the cemeteries, check out this chart on our website:
 http://defiancecountygenealogy.org/cemeteries.html)

Lost Creek Cemetery

1. Name of Cemetery:  Lost Creek Cemetery in Farmer Township

2. Location, how reached:

Located in Section #29, Farmer Township, on state route #2, two miles west and two miles south of Farmer Center, also seven miles northeast of Hicksville, Ohio by going northeast on State Route #2 out of Hicksville.  It can be reached on the concrete road.

3. Name and address of caretaker:

Perry Hand, Farmer Center, Ohio, is the caretaker and he also is of the Farmer Center graveyard.

Photo from www.findagrave.com

4. General description, size, appearance, denomination, fencing, etc.:

This beautiful cemetery is one of the oldest and in it is buried some of the most distinguished people in the district.  It sets on a small knoll across the road from the old Evangelical Church.  It is fenced in with an ornamental wire fence, has numerous fine and stately markers.  It is dotted with many fine, old trees of pine and maple and has two tall arborvita trees.  Its shrubbery is well trimmed, the grass mowed and the graves and markers kept up perfectly.  

It contains five acres, and is one of the best known cemeteries in Defiance County.  It is kept up by the trustees of Farmer Township.  Although it was formerly attached to the Evangelical Church which stands across the road, but is not now used.     

5. Name and date of first burial recorded:

John Bercaw, who died in 1844, is the earliest tombstone.  It was the first graveyard in the western part of Defiance County.  Many of the markers date back into the 1840s and may more into the 1850s.

John Bercaw at www.findagrave.com

6. Names of important persons buried there, for what noted:

Henry Wonderly at www.findagrave.com

 Henry Wonderly, pioneer sheriff of Defiance County, 1863 - 1871, he was one of the youngest sheriffs Defiance County ever had and used to ride horseback from this district to Defiance, thirty miles to the southeast.

 Miller Arrowsmith, 1808 - 1893, first surveyor of this district and first surveyor of Defiance and Williams counties.  He was mentioned in the History of Defiance County, along with Hon. A. P. Edgerton in the writeup about Hicksille.

 George Ridenour, founder of Ney, Ohio, born in 1812 and died in 1891, is also buried here.

 Peter Tracht, 1803 - 1898, one of the rich land owners and saw mill men of the county and his father,  John Tracht. 

Ira Brown at www.findagrave.com

  

Ira Brown, 1804 - 1905, the oldest man to live in Defiance County, being seven months past one hundred years of age when he died.

Rev. Peter J. Spangler, 1815 - 1895, one of the old pioneer circuit preachers of the county who traveled from community to community on horseback.

Jared Hulbert, 1798 - 1877, another pioneer settler of this western part of the county and Johnathan Waldron, 1790 - 1867.

All of the above mentioned persons settled in this district when it was still Williams County, county seat at Defiance, Ohio.  

Rev. Peter Spangler on www.facebook.com

The above sketch is taken directly from the tombstones in the cemetery.  Some of it is also recorded in Beers History. 
(*No sketch was attached.)

Another important fact is the markers of the five Huber children buried side by side who died in July of 1890.  Children of Herman Huber.  

Herman Huber, wife and children at www.findagrave.com

7. Markers of unusual appearance:

The markers in this graveyard give more explanations of the people than any I have found yet.

There are very old, white, faded slabs and some very modern granite ones.

The Ridenour family seem to have the most expensive ones, also the Ensign marker is fine, of red granite of the heavy modern type.  

There is also quite a few of the stately pedestal type with the obelisk shafts.  

All these markers are kept clean.  I did not find a dirty or muddy one in the  whole graveyard

8. Unusual epitaphs:

The readings on these markers, especially the older ones, is mostly biographies of the persons buried here, in memory to them.  There is very few verses and such like on the stones.

9. Is cemetery used for new burials?

Yes, this cemetery is still used.  In recent years it seems to have been renovated and replanted with shrubbery.  It is historic in that it is the oldest in the west end of the county and because it has many and more than usual its quota of famous settlers.  However, another fact might be mentioned - there are very few Civil War veterans buried here, as there are in most other cemeteries of this age.  

Most of its early burials were of older men, born in the late 1700s and the early 1800s, too old for the Civil War.  This is due to the fact that for about twenty years - between 1905 and 1925 - the graveyard was not used very much.  But now today again, it is used as much as any other rural cemetery.

C. Cadwallader and C. Gish, Reporters

Consultants: Harry Metz, R.R. #2, Hicksville, Ohio and Perry Hand, Farmer, Ohio

Bibliography: Beers History of Defiance County, 1883 and Readings on the Markers.      

(The Works Progress Administration was formed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in reaction to the Great Depression as a means of employing Americans and stimulating the economy.  Established in 1935, one of the projects of the W.P.A. was to conduct Historical Records Surveys, one of which included finding information on cemeteries and the graves of veterans.  The W.P.A. was disbanded in 1943, but the historical information provided on these surveys continue to be of interest and are, thankfully, preserved.)

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