Warren County Genealogical Society Warren County, Ohio Chapter of Ohio Genealogical Society Cemetery Description & Codes
(513) 695-1144	406 Justice Drive, Lebanon, Ohio 45036 Hours: 9 AM-4 PM Monday through Friday Driving Directions	wcgs@co.warren.oh.us

The Warren County Genealogical Society is in the process of taking digital pictures of every headstones at each cemetery in this County. Click here to see the status of this project. This is a huge project and will need many volunteers. These digitized tombstones pictures will be posted on Arne Trelvik's Warren County OHGenWeb site. If you would like to help, please email the Warren County Genealogical Society.  If you would like further information on anyone listed in any of our online indexes, please contact our research department. If you have pictures of headstones in any of these cemeteries and would like to make it available for others to view, please click here.

This page explains the codes used on the cemetery pages of our website and published books.  Many of the cemeteries in Warren County are listed under multiple names.  The main name is listed first followed by other variations sometimes used.  The status code identifies what condition the cemetery is currently in.  Cemeteries listed as ACTIVE are usually in good to excellent condition, still having bodies interred.  They are maintained privately or by the township as listed.  INACTIVE cemeteries have not had any recent burials.  These range from poor to good condition and are maintained by the respective township unless otherwise noted.  Cemeteries listed as ABANDONED are usually in poor or very poor condition.  They are not being maintained and are usually located on private property.  When possible the property address has been noted.  Those cemeteries listed as EXTINCT existed at one time, but nothing currently remains.  The bodies and stones have either been moved to other cemeteries or have been destroyed due to neglect or vandalism as noted.  We would appreciate any information on people buried in these cemeteries as records for these cemeteries are greatly lacking.  There are a few cemeteries that have been INCORPORATED into bigger usually active cemeteries.  They are uncommon but a few do exist as noted.  Their condition varies but it is usually maintained. 

WCGS has tried to determine the date the cemetery was established or at least the first burial date.  The establishment date usually refers to the date of the deed.  WCGS is in the process of obtaining copies of these deeds if they exist.  This has been difficult because many of the abandoned cemeteries have little if any information remaining.  The first burial date or establishment information has been listed to the best of our knowledge.  Please contact us if you have any additional information.

The condition of the cemetery refers to the maintenance of the cemetery as follows:

• Highly Maintained: well kept and mowed on an ongoing basis

• Average Maintenance: well kept and mowed and maintained on at least an annual basis

• Low Maintenance: rarely maintained, at least every 5 years but not on an annual basis

• Neglected: Slowly disappearing due to lack of maintenance.  Not cleaned or restored in last 10 years or more.

• Endangered: Might be maintained but on verge of being destroyed due to vandalism, trampled by livestock or agricultural plowing, mining, road building or construction. 

• Destroyed: Overtly destroyed due to human or livestock activity.  Remains might still exist. 

• Restored: Has been restored at some point in time.  Cemetery usually considered inactive. 

• Gone: Disappeared for unknown reasons. Remains may exist but no tombstones present. 

• Extinct: Cemetery has been destroyed with no chance of remains or monuments being found including excavations due to land stripping, road building or building construction. 

• Moved: Cemetery has been moved either partially or totally to other cemeteries.  Reason for removal often stated in interment records.  Description and coordinates are for actual original cemetery site not new site location. 

The tombstone condition is as follows:

• Excellent: No broken stones, usually only refers to the newer cemeteries

• Very Good: few if any broken stones

• Good: Some broken stones

• Fair: about half the stones broken

• Poor: about 3/4 the stones broken

• Very Poor: almost all the stones broken or need resetting

The OGS cemetery reference number to their cemetery book has been listed for easier reference.  One of the WCGS projects is to take digital photographs of all the tombstones in our county.  Many cemeteries are already completed.  Detailed description on the location, Section-Township-Range or military district number, coordinates and Warren County Auditor’s property account and parcel ID have been listed to help identify exactly where the cemetery is currently situated.  Some of these cemeteries are located on private property.  If you plan on visiting one of these cemeteries, please make sure to obtain permission first. WCGS also has detailed maps on many of these cemeteries currently located in the applicable cemetery file folder.

 

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This page was created on 10 December 2009 last updated on 27 August 2010