An estimated 7,000 Revolutionary War veterans were buried in Ohio, but there’s been no centralized database of their graves – until now.
A first-of-its-kind crowdsourced map will be unveiled this weekend as part of Ohio's celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
Over the past year, more than 500 people across the state collected the data, said Krista Horrocks, project manager for the America 250-Ohio Revolutionary War Veterans Graves project.
“The goal of this was really to create that clearinghouse,” Horrocks said. “It’s a one-stop shop, that you can go in, anyone from the public can go in, and look at veteran information in your area.”
Contributors ended up identifying more than 4,000 graves across the state, she said. Once they found a grave, they entered information about the veteran and the grave’s location into an app, now displayed on a live dashboard.
After the war, soldiers received land grants to receive property and build homes, she said. Many soldiers settled, and were subsequently later buried in Ohio.
“It’s highly likely that outside of … the original 13 colonies, we probably are one of the states with the most gravesites,” Horrocks said, adding that many of the graves have deteriorated or even been forgotten over time.
Those who worked on the project used old records provided by groups like Sons of the American Revolution to identify gravesites and names.
“We really need to do documentation because that is what lives on,” Horrocks said. “Markers disappear over time, just like gravestones disappear over time.”
Documenting this history is important, she said, because many of these veterans founded or helped create dozens of local communities across Ohio. Every veteran has a story, she noted.
“That can really just help us feel pride in our local communities and understand our local community history, where it came from, and really how much these veterans played in to those stories,” Horrocks said.
Many graves were found in the greater Youngstown area, Horrocks added, likely because the soldiers moved out of neighboring Pennsylvania to settle in what is now Ohio.
Though the finalized database is being unveiled, the project isn’t over. Horrocks anticipates hundreds more graves may still be out there to discover, and she hopes the new database will inspire people to document them.
“Sometimes, a gravestone is the only way we know somebody ever existed,” Horrocks said. “That’s what makes this so important … knowing and remembering these people. So many people are lost in history.”
The project was conducted by America 250-Ohio, in partnership with The Ohio History Connection.
