W.P.A. Cemetery Survey - St. Stephen's Graveyard, Highland 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)

St. Stephen's Graveyard

Highland Township

1. Name of Cemetery:

St. Stephens Graveyard on the south ridge road in Highland Township, named after St. Stephens German Lutheran Church which sponsors it.

2. Location, how reached:

This cemetery is located about half a mile south of St. Stephens Church on the South Ridge Road, one half mile from the Henry County line and three and one half miles southeast of Ayresville, on a good gravel road, where it is easily accessible from all directions.

3. Name and address of caretaker:

John Boda, New Bavaria, Ohio, R.F.D. #3

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

This cemetery is along the west side of the South Ridge road, one half mile north of St. Stephen's Church and is enclosed with an iron ornamental fence and has an iron gateway.  There is not a tree or shrub on the place, which is very odd for a graveyard in this community.  There are around two acres in the cemetery and about fifty graves, three of them being world war veterans.  No Civil War veterans are buried here.  The graveyard is new and modern, started in 1898 and it has numerous, fine, granite markers and only a couple old fashioned slabs.

5. Name and date of earliest burial recorded: Johnny Kopp, 1898

John Kopp at www.findagrave.com

6. Names of important persons buried there: 

The Reichmanns,  Gollers and Greenlers are the most known persons buried here, all German farmers of the district.

7. Markers of unusual appearance:

The finest marker is that erected on the Reichman lot.  It is gray granite of Roman type setting in the center of the lot; at each side are granite urns containing flowers, and in front, the head three headstones of the same material.  It is really an expensive memorial to find in a rural cemetery.  

 

Reichmann at www.findagrave.com

There are two other tombstones almost as nice a layout, although these other two, the stones do not match and the urns are different from the monument.

8. Unusual epitaphs:

A few in the German language is all.

9. Is cemetery still used for new burials?

Thsi graveyard is new and modern and is used every day being kept up by the St. Stephens German Lutheran Church.

C. Cadwallader and C. Gish, Reporters

Consultants:

Al. Logan, R.F.D. #6, Defiance, Ohio

Rev. Schroeder, R.F.D. #3, New Bavaria, Ohio

(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.)