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Battery B Cemetery & Monument - Mount Jackson PA

In 1815 pioneering settler John Nesbit laid out the village of Mount Jackson in North Beaver Township, in what later became Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. He named the settlement in honor of U.S. Army General Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson, a recent hero of the War of 1812 – who later ascended to serve as the President of the United States from 1829-1837. The small village grew with a post office, a school, several stores and mills, and two Presbyterian churches.

I believe a local pioneer named Jacob Bear, who came to North Beaver Township with his family in 1825, started efforts to found a Methodist congregation in the area. In about 1838 the Reverend Rufus Parker, spurred on by Bear, organized the Methodist Episcopal Church and initially held services in private homes. In 1842 the Methodists purchased land from John Nesbit that was located east of the village along the road to New Castle and erected a small wooden frame church. The building was located on a hill and around it the congregation started a cemetery as well.

On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked the Union stronghold of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina, and set off the American Civil War. In the wake of this incident a local artillery unit known as the Mount Jackson Guards was formed and headed up by Capt. Henry T. Danforth, a veteran of the Mexican War. Word was circulated throughout the township and neighboring areas and dozens of men signed up. On June 8 seventy-seven men assembled at the Methodist Church in Mount Jackson and then went off by wagon to Enon Valley where they boarded a train headed to Camp Wright near Pittsburgh.

On June 28, 1861, the unit was inducted into state service. About a month later, on or about July 23, 1861, they were mustered in the U.S. Army as Battery B of the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps. The unit was soon transferred east where it underwent training at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg and then in and around the Washington D.C. area. Danforth was promoted and tasked with transfer to another unit, but soon relinquished his commission to reenlist as a private so he could rejoin Battery B. He was soon promoted to lieutenant but meanwhile Capt. James H. Cooper had assumed command of the boys from North Beaver Township. The battery would have a normal strength of 100-130 men with four-six artillery guns.

On December 20, 1861, the unit, serving with the Army of the Potomac, saw its first action at the Battle of Dranesville in Fairfax County, Virginia. After a quiet winter Battery B was back in action in 1862 at such bloody skirmishes to include Second Bull Run, South Mountain, and Antietam. The unit suffered a great loss on June 30, 1862, during the Seven Days’ Battles near Richmond, Virginia, when former commanding officer Danforth and two other men were killed in action. These three men were later interred in the Westfield Presbyterian Cemetery in Mount Jackson. The unit also experienced its greatest triumph when during the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, it held the line against great odds during a massive Union retreat. For his actions that day Capt. Cooper was called “the bravest man in the Army of the Potomac.”

The unit took part in many historic battles over the next few years including at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. At Gettysburg in early July 1863, the unit suffered three battle deaths but helped repel the famous action known as “Pickett’s Charge.”

Battery B was taking part in the Siege of Petersburg when the Confederate forces surrendered on April 9, 1865. The unit had a proud record taking part in twenty-seven engagements, including such famous battles as Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Antietam, and Second Bull Run. Of the 332 men who eventually saw service with Battery B a total of twenty-one were killed and fifty-two were seriously wounded – an unusually high number of casualties for an artillery unit. The survivors of Battery B, or Cooper’s Battery as it was popularly referred to, were mustered out of service at Harrisburg on June 9, 1865, and returned home to Lawrence County.

In April 1869 the surviving members of Battery B gathered for a reunion in Mount Jackson in what became an annual event. The reunion, usually held on June 8, became a popular event for the community of Mount Jackson and was often attended by other Civil War veterans from around the area. The event – which featured a parade followed by a short veterans meeting and a community picnic – was usually held near the Methodist Church at Nesbit’s Grove, a popular picnic area now located in the Jackson Knolls residential area.

In August 1879 the veterans of the unit erected a small memorial pillar honoring Battery B at Gettysburg, and it was one of the very first monuments to be placed on the historic battlefield. It was placed on East Cemetery Hill, near where the unit held its ground during Pickett’s Charge. The pillar was marked with various inscriptions concerning the unit’s history. A second and much more impressive monument (topped with a carved cannon), its $1,500 cost made possible by state funding, was erected along the smaller monument on September 11, 1889. Another monument, a large stone tablet marking the unit’s position on the first day of action, was erected years later in 1938.

In 1905, during the thirty-six annual reunion, it was first proposed that a monument be erected in Mount Jackson to honor the men of Battery B. Less than a year later Battery B lost its former commander as James H. Cooper passed away in New Castle on March 21, 1906. He was laid to rest in historic Greenwood Cemetery in New Castle. Efforts for the monument continued to gain momentum and fund-raising efforts got underway a few years later.

During the reunion on June 8, 1911, on the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, over 1,000 people took part in the festivities at Nesbit’s Grove. A twenty-foot-high monument, to be fashioned in Vermont, was soon authorized. The four sides of the base of the monument would have panels that spelled out the history of the unit. Harry and William Zimmerman of Mount Jackson generously donated a quarter-acre lot on the Mount Jackson-New Castle Road for the monument site. After some investigation, it was determined the site would require work to get in into shape and a more desirable location was selected adjoining the Methodist Church property. This was a more symbolic location anyway as it was where the unit gathered before heading off to war in 1861.

Work on the foundation for the monument began in late May 1912 as the completed obelisk was shipped aboard the Pennsylvania Railroa (PRR) to Bessemer. The original plan was to unload the monument at Mahoningtown, but this plan was abandoned for some reason. From Bessemer, it was loaded onto large wagons and transported to Mount Jackson over the course of several days. The monument was put in place at the bottom of the large hill where the Methodist Church was situated. The annual reunion was delayed a few weeks to allow the work to be completed.

On Friday, June 28, 1912, during the reunion, the monument was dedicated before a large crowd of onlookers. It was unveiled by William E. Porter, a Lawrence County Judge and President of the Battery B Monument Association, and Mary Cooper, the daughter of Capt. James H. Cooper. The monument sat at the bottom of the large hill where the Methodist Church and its cemetery were situated.

Just three years later, on the morning of Monday, July 26, 1915, the Methodist Church was destroyed by a disastrous fire. The seventy-three-year-old church had recently been remodeled and its loss was put at $3,500. Only $1,000 of the damage was recovered in insurance claims. An article in the New Castle News of August 6, 1915, about vagrants spending the night in the nearby Westfield Presbyterian Church, revealed that the Methodist Church fire “…was possibly caused by an intruder, who probably accidentally set fire to the church building.” Efforts were soon underway to erect a new building at the same location, but for some reason, the Methodist Church was never rebuilt.

In April 1923 a Civil War-era cannon, provided by the Raritan Arsenal in New Jersey, was acquired to go on display next to the Battery B Monument in Mount Jackson. The 3-inch gun was believed to be an experimental rifled cannon cast in 1863 at the Harry N. Hooper & Company foundry in Boston, Massachusetts. In the spring of 1926 a campaign was started to relocate the monument and cannon to the top of the hill where the Methodist Church was once located. The cemetery association, which was also officially chartered at about that time, sought to acquire additional properties through several deals.

Ten members of Battery B attended the fiftieth reunion in June 1919 – in the wake of the Great War (World War I) – while at least one other surviving member was unable to attend. The annual reunions continued throughout the 1920s while the surviving members of Battery B slowly dwindled. The last two members were ninety years old when they died. They were George W. Pitzer of New Castle, who passed away on December 13, 1929, and David P. Needler of Edinburg, the last remaining survivor when he died on November 3, 1930.

The annual reunions continued in honor of Battery B until at least 1940 when I believe the developing events of what became World War II began to take precedence. Periodic events, especially on Memorial Day each year, continued to honor the men of Battery B and other local veterans.

Sometime in late 2010-early 2011, the cannon was refurbished and then relocated nearby to the North Beaver Township Municipal Building/Athletic Complex on Mount Jackson Road. In early 2011 local efforts were initiated to replace the original Battery B memorial in Gettysburg, the small pillar erected in 1880, which has weathered to the point that its inscribed panels are unreadable. Local historians are busy trying to scour records to figure out the exact wording of those inscriptions.

The old Methodist Cemetery along Route 108 just east of the heart of Mount Jackson, known more popularly as the Battery B Cemetery, is well maintained and is still in active use today. Among those buried, there are many local pioneers including those of the Bear, Brewster, Duff, Gilmore, Kerr, McClelland, Nesbit, and Shaffer families, a handful of military veterans of Battery B, and the former Assistant Superintendent of County Schools Professor Charles F. Ball.


In 1842 a group of local Methodists, led by the Reverend Rufus Parker, purchased land from John Nesbit just east of the village of Mount Jackson and erected a small wooden frame church (shown above). The church was situated on a hill along the road to New Castle and a small cemetery was also established around it. The Mount Jackson Methodist Episcopal Church was eventually lost to a suspicious fire on Monday, July 26, 1915. Fundraising efforts were initiated but the building was never replaced. (c1909)


This cropped photo depicts Battery B, armed with four 3-inch cannons, during a lull in action at the Seige of Petersburg, Virginia, in June 1864. Famous photographer Mathew B. Brady (1822-1896) is shown standing on a rock near the left of the photo. An assistant of Brady took this photo. (1864) Full Size


This is actually part of the above photograph, showing Battery B during the Seige of Petersburg. (1864) Full Size


Capt. Henry T. Danforth was the man who assembled the local volunteers at Mount Jackson in June 1861 and led them in training. He was soon promoted and assigned elsewhere, but took a reduction in rank to remain with Battery B. He was killed in action near Richmond, Virginia, in June 1862. This cabinet card was produced by the A. W. Phipps studio in New Castle. (c1890)


Capt. James H. Cooper assumed command of the Battery B in the fall of 1861. He led the unit throughout the Civil War and served with great distinction. He passed away in New Castle in 1906 and was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery. (c1895)


Local citizens and military veterans gather for the dedication of the Battery B Monument on Friday, June 28, 1912. It was unveiled by William E. Porter, a Lawrence County Judge and President of the Battery B Monument Association, and Mary Cooper, the daughter of Capt. James H. Cooper. Full Size


Old postcard of the Battery B Monument. (c1915)


The Battery B Monument at its dedication in June 1912.


Services are observed at the Battery B Monument on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 1960. Full Size


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This is me examining the stone of Professor C. F. Ball, a local resident who served as the Assistant and/or Head Superintendent of Lawrence County Schools from 1918 until his death in 1932. (Jan 2012)


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The Battery B Cemetery sits on a hill along Route 108 just east of the village of Mt. Jackson. The yellow arrow marks the location of the Battery B Monument. (c2012) Full Size


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The dedication service of the new Battery B Monument at Gettysburg took place on Saturday, November 23, 2013. Bob Kirby, Superintendent of the Gettysburg National Military Park, prepares for the unveiling. (Thanks to Keith Foote for providing this photograph. The photographer was Nancy Olds) (Nov 2013)


The monument is unveiled. (Thanks to Keith Foote for providing this photograph. The photographer was Nancy Olds) (Nov 2013)


This photo depicts the Monument Committee comprised from left to: Dennis Dewalt, Scott Debo, Keith Foote, Greg Kline and to the far right Carol Schlegel. Barbara Mowery, standing in for Harry Readshaw, State Representative from Pittsburgh, is standing next to Superintendent Bob Kirby. (Photo provided courtesy of Keith Foote. Photographer was Nancy Olds) (Nov 2013) Full Size

Comments

  1. The Mount Jackson Cemetery is also known as the Mount Jackson M.E. Cemetery or the Battery B Cemetery. There was an old Methodist Episcopal Church located on the hill above the monument, which burned on July 26, 1915. It was built in 1843.
    The moument and cannon were placed in memory of the Battery B Troups that fought in the Civil War. The dedication was on June 28,1912.
    Several members of my family are buried there. On a web site they were listed as buried in another cemetery near Mount Jackson, so I did extensive research to correct that problem.

  2. (EDITOR’S NOTE) Thanks for your interest and the info you provided. I should have a writeup for this page up soon. I have so many to do but I love it! What other cemetery were you referring to? Which family members are buried at Mt Jackson? Maybe I’ll get pictures of their stones posted here. Thanks again. Jeff

  3. My ggggrandfather, David Bender is buried here, as are several of his family members. Is there any way to get info on HIS father and mother? Are there family records about those buried here? Thanks

  4. what a great job you did on this site.
    my dad and mom and we kids mowed this cemetery when we were growing up. then my brothers, glenn laughlin and lewis laughlin continued to take care of the cemetery including the grave digging.
    our plot is on the left side of driveway on the west side of the cemetery. my sister, katherine, age 5, was the first to be buried on our plots. she died of leukemia.
    Dad and Mom (R. Glenn and Dortheia Helen Kerr Laughlin are beside Katherine.
    Grandma Kerr and Granddad Kerr are buried next to them and the plot in front of these graves is where Glenn H. and wife,Gail Laughin’s ashes are buried. I have already purchased and placed by tombstone by the drive. I missed the civil war cannon being there. Growingg up, people traveling thru would stop and view the cannon and take pictures.
    I am proud i grew up in Mt. Jackson. My Grandparents, Herman B. and Estella McClymonds lived across the street from Mt. Jackson UP Church. Herman’s mom and dad lived
    in white house across from church, Herman built the brown house( Joe Gibson and wife and family lived here after. the next small house Herman built for him, my dad and aunt ruth after Estella, and childred Mabel and Hermie died of the inflenza in 1913. Estella was one of the prettiest ladies in mt. jackson. she was 33 when she died.
    Then Granddad Laughlin built a house across from the entrance to Knolls and lived there until he passed away. Herman’s parents were Robert Laughlin and Emmaretta Wilson Laughlin.
    Keep up the good work on this website that i just discovered a little while ago june 16, 2012.
    thank you.
    Dortheia J.Laughlin

  5. (EDITOR’S NOTE) Dortheia, Thanks so much for your comment about the cemetery. It was very informative and I enjoyed reading it. I will take some photos of the Laughlin/Kerr stones on my next trip and add them to this page. I saw that the cannon had been removed since I photographed it in August 2010. I thought I saw it at the nearby municipal bldg/sports complex recently. Do you know when – and maybe even why – it was moved? Thanks again. Jeff

  6. yes the cannon was moved to municipal bldg. a few years ago. the cannon was refurbished.
    i miss seeing the cannon where it was originally dedicated . . in 1915 they are having 200th birthday celebration. i co chaired the one 25 yrs. ago .
    maybe you can come for the celebration.
    Howard Strohecker, John Lamb, Ken Shiderly are a few that are on the new committee.

    If you get a chance and in mt. jackson, go to the Mt. Jackson UP Cemetery south of mt. jackson. the Church was built there but then they built the church that is used today. My brother, Lewis Laughin, lives in house near battery b and knows about the local cemeteries and who is buried where.
    dortheia

  7. another item came to mind. bob hopper has a picture of the unveiling of the monument and all the people standing in front of it that you might obtain a copy of and add it to this page.
    bob lives on the outskirts of mt. jackson. dortheia
    2015 is 200th birthday for mt. jackson and there are plans for a celebration. hope you can come to it.
    dortheia

  8. My gr-gr-gr grandparents were Jacob and Jane Lucy (Young) Bear. Their son, William Bear married Mary Clark and together they had 6 children. Thank you for posting such an interesting and informative website. I would like to post your story and link to your website on my Ancestry.com page for Jacob Bear along with some of your pictures.

  9. great gr andfather william a kerr and hios wife eliza lived there in about 1825 until p they p assed in the 1870,s my grandfather ira sankey kerr bullt some homes there in the early 1900s in the

  10. I believe my great grandmother Nancy Shaffer is buried in Mt. Jackson Cem. I don’t know about her husband Wm. Shaffer. Her maiden was Pitcher maybe some of her other relatives are buried there also? Any info you could supply would be wonderful. Thanking you in advance.
    Regards,
    Grace Greenwald

  11. searching for burial recrds john hoemeister burial 1914

  12. Great site! Lots of very interesting information. I believe it is possible one of the ancestors I am researching is buried there. Are there burial records available to learn more about individuals?

    Amy Russell

  13. (EDITOR’S NOTE) Amy, Thanks for the compliments. What is the name and approximate date of death of the ancestor that you are looking for? Jeff

  14. (EDITOR’S NOTE) Barbara, I have a list of members of the Bender family buried at the cemetery:

    Jacob BENDER 1818-1910 (husband)
    Mary Weyand BENDER died 1875 (wife)
    David BENDER died 1857 (age 78)
    Lawrence BENDER died 1855 (age 5)
    Henry BENDER 1800-1855
    Abraham BENDER died 1863 (husband)
    Catherine BENDER 1827-1913 (wife)
    Frank BENDER died 1873 (age 20)

    I have a few more details if I know which people you are looking for info on. Hope this helps. Jeff

  15. (EDITOR’S NOTE) Grace, I found quite a few members of the SHAFFER family buried in the cemetery:

    Robert C. SHAFFER died 1854 (age 21)
    Mary Ann SHAFFER died 1855 (age 40)
    Hiram SHAFFER 1877-1941 (husband)
    Luella SHAFFER 1887-1946 (wife)
    Clive SHAFFER 1862-1874
    Frank SHAFFER 1864-1872
    Addie SHAFFER 1859-1866
    Deloss SHAFFER died 1852 (age 1)
    Elizabeth SHAFFER 1797-1857
    Mary E. SHAFFER born 1871
    Mathias SHAFFER 1841-1926 (husband)
    Ellen SHAFFER 1846-1885 (wife 1?)
    Mahala SHAFFER 1854-1916 (wife 2?)
    Elmer SHAFFER 1868-1909
    Willie SHAFFER 1876-1876
    Milo SHAFFER 1842-1891
    Nancy PITZER SHAFFER no info
    Andrew SHAFFER died 1883 (age 73)

    I believe Nancy PITZER SHAFFER and Andrew SHAFFER are buried side by side. Perhaps husband and wife? Hope this helps. Jeff

  16. (EDITOR’S NOTE) John, I found a reference to John Hofmeister, who died in Edinburg at the age of 78 on 09Jan1914, being buried in the Mount Jackson Cemetery. A quick check of various available records reveals no matches for any people named “HOFMEISTER” buried in the Battery B Cemetery. I’m going to guess he was probably interred in the Presbyterian burial ground nearby that is usually called the “Mount Jackson Cemetery.” Hope this helps. Jeff

  17. Congrats for your efforts on this web site. Glad to see someone take the time to do things like this. I am distantly connected to these Nesbit’s that first settled in Mt. Jackson. They came from Cumberland Co, PA where they settled during the 1730’s. Tom Nesbitt (Nesbitt Society)

  18. Thank you so much for this site and the list of Shaffer names – beautiful photos! We have a facebook page for the Sippy Family whose daughter was the Elizabeth Shaffer you mention, wife of Christopher Shaffer. The Shaffer’s are all related. Thank you so much as this is wonderful help to our families genealogists!

    Is there any way to obtain photos of their specific tombstones?

  19. Hi, Jeff! Thanks for your website. My g-g-g-grandfather was Corporal Joseph Reed of Battery B. He was a schoolteacher before and after the war and later became Justice of the Peace in Mt. Jackson.

    My family has been attending Remembrance Day at Gettysburg for many years, and we are great friends with the Cooper’s Battery Reenactors. We were present at the unveiling of the monument capstone, and we would like to think that the Old Boys were smiling down on us that day.

    In June 2012, the monument in Mt. Jackson was 200 years old. About 30 folks came to pay their respects, and to hear about the ceremony that took place on that same spot, in broiling heat, to honor, not just Battery B, but all those who fought in the Civil War from the surrounding area. A portion of a speech from Battery member Daniel Webster Taylor (who is buried in that cemetery), was read to emphasize the strong feelings the men held for this piece of ground, “This Mount,” where in the Methodist Church, many of them had made the decision to sign up for “three years or during the war.” And, this is why they all returned to that sacred spot each year from 1869 till about 1930 when the last local member, David Needler from Edinburg passed away.

    You asked about the cannon. To be honest, this is still a sore subject. It is a long story, but it boils down to the fact that, for some reason, the Army did not know about the cannon, and because it was not on public land, but on Cemetery property, they wanted it to be moved and secured, because of a law that was made that stated that artillery pieces had to be on display in a public place. Some efforts were made to transfer the small piece of land to the township, but the township already had their minds made up, and in their words, their hands were tied. Some of still feel that the cannon should have stayed where it was, where the Battery Boys intended for it to be, and we are striving to stay sacred to their memory. They certainly deserve our respect and devotion for their
    sacrifice during the war and their many contributions to the Mount Jackson area for decades afterward. Thanks again for your interest in Battery B.

  20. Hi! I wanted to make a correction to my former entry. The monument was 100 years old in 2012, and the town of Mount Jackson will be celebrating 200 years on August 8, 2015. We hope everyone will be able to join us for a Parade and festivities throughout the day! Thanks!

  21. I believe your two photos of the Battery are actually the same photo divided in half. It was taken June 21, 1864 before Petersburg, VA and not Gettysburg. It is often said that it is the only photo taken during the Civil War of an artillery battery engaged and under fire but that is questionable as the confederate lines were over a mile away at the time. The photographer was Mathew Brady and staff and there were two photos. The one exhibited here Brady himself is in the photo so it was taken by an associate. Brady is the gentleman standing behind the cannon and to it left with his hands either in his pockets or on his hips. It appears that he is standing on a rectangle shaped rock. Your second photo is the left hand portion of the full photograph. In the full photograph what appears to be the commanding office or an officer of the battery is standing in front of Brady between the two cannon but is cut out of both portions of the photo shown in your exhibit. The second photo is taken at a greater distance showing the full battery.

    I also grew up in Mt. Jackson and my family were among the earliest settlers in the area of which most are buried at The Bethel Church Cemetery, my parents at Mt. Jackson UP Cemetery, others in the old Methodist Church Cemetery in Hillsville, and the Westfield and Poland Cemeteries.

    Mt. Jackson was a wonderful place to grow up!

  22. Jeff: Mr. Paden is correct regarding the location of the Battery B photos. There were two panoramics taken that day. The one pictured is cut into two and suprisingly enough, Capt. Cooper is cut out. The first part of the image above actually shows Matthew Brady (with his hand in his pockets).
    According to a 1912 newspaper article “the date was June 24, 1864 [although I have seen the June 21st date elsewhere] and the scene was before Petersburg. The members of Battery B, First Pennsylvania artillery had lined up in battle array against the Confederates in one of the closing struggles of the great Civil War. The ten-pound rifles of Batter B had shot tons of bursting steel into the range of the enemy. Their work had been effective and their guns were still in good shape, haven suffered little from the fire of the rebels. There was a lull. Then Matthew Brady, the noted Civil war photographer, asked the members of this famous fighting squad to line up and be “shot”, but in a different way than they had been accustomed to in the four bitter years of this war. Brady was the man who went through the entire war with a photograph outfit, braved death a score of times and secured pictures of this struggle that are now immortal. The men of the battery lined up and above is presented this picture that Brady took. The minute after the camera had been snapped, the Battery again went into action. This is the second picture that Brady took of the Battery, the first not being nearly as good as this one. [The photo that appeared with the newspaper article is not the one shown here, but that one showed Capt. Cooper leaning on his sword and James A. Gardner sighting a gun. Gardner was at the time of the article was written the New Castle City Solicitor. ]

  23. I just love reading all your history!! I also was born and raised in Mt. Jackson and as kids we loved the canon. My husband and I went to Gettysburg a few years back and did all the tours, we came across an area that talked about the “Battery” I spoke to the guide afterwards about Mt. Jackson and the Battery B but he could give me no information even after doing some investigating. I got so much more from your info than at Gettysburg!! Keep up the GREAT work!!

  24. Thank You, I buried some of my family at Mt. Jackson. You included some of their markers in your Oct, 2012 photos.
    Last time I was there was about 2005 with my wife and 2 grandsons. I put a date tag on my mother’s marker and reset 4 stones & markers. A cousin from Boston forwarded your site to me. Norm

  25. This is such an informative site, and I thank you for collecting and sharing this information about Mt. Jackson and Lawrence County. I have some photos, taken by my grandfather in and around Mt. Jackson (1905?), of several places visited by my grandparents in the summer. As my cousin posted, we have family graves at the Battery B Cemetery. I am happy to share the photos, if they will copy. If you’d like them, I would need a little help on posting procedure.
    Photos include: Lick Run School House; the Hamilton House in Lawrence county; the family home of Elm Grove.
    Nancy

  26. For Nancy Parsons, Thank you so very much for contacting me through my email! I am so happy to hear from you, Cousin. I absolutely would love pictures. email again: honestwoman4u2002@yahoo.com. Regards, Jade

  27. I have pictures of a good many of those Shaffer tombstones. My son and daughter-in-law and I took them in the autumn rain in 2010. They are available on Ancestry.com, and I’d be glad to share them. If anyone has a photo of the old Shaffer homestead off McClelland Road (I think), I’d cherish a copy. Thank you.

  28. My Grandfather Harry E Wilison was born in MT Jackson in 1871 to John T Wilison and Sara Daly Wilison. I don’t know much about them. I believe they are both buried there. If anyone out could help me I would greatly appreciate it.I’d love to make a research trip just see what I could find in your historical city.
    Thank you

  29. Thank you so much for the information on the Shaffer tombstones. I came and looked around in 2014 but couldn’t really find any of them. I can tell you that Andrew Shaffer and Nancy Pitzer Shaffer are man and wife. Also, you assumed correctly that Ellen Bashore and Mahala Bashore were both married to Mathias Shaffer. Elizabeth Shaffer was married to Christopher or Christian Shaffer. Those are the only ones I recognize. I love the info and photographs.

    Do you accept donations? Is there anything I can do to help you?

  30. (EDITOR’S NOTE), Lynn S, Thank you for your comments, compliments, and donation offer. I really appreciate your support. If you haven’t already please find my facebook page for “Lawrence County Memoirs” and like it. You’ll be able to get updates and see lots of photos there as well. Thanks again! Jeff

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