In about 1833 the small village of Coontown was laid out north of Wampum in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. It was later known by its Post Office name of Irish Ripple and then later yet as Newport. A small burial ground was established in the coming years. It seems it may have originally been a family cemetery for the Noggle/Naugle family of Newport, as there are at least thirty stones marked with those surnames. I found one stone with a burial date dating back to 1852, but it seems the interments were more regular beginning in the 1870’s. It was sometime after this point that it became known as the Newport Cemetery. In May 1907 a group of local citizens, including W.E. Naugle, George Naugle, Allen Naugle, Clark Hunter, Joseph Veon, Carrie Hogue, and Samuel Coon, filed an application to form a corporation known as the Newport Cemetery Association to maintain the property. Many of the original settlers of Newport are buried in the cemetery and among the more popular surnames you will find on the stones – aside from Noggle/Naugle – are Caldwell, Freed, Hunter, Leonard, Ulrich, Veon, and Yoho. The cemetery, located off of Route 18 just west of the Newport Road in New Beaver Boro, is in decent condition. I do not believe any burials have taken place there for many years. The last documented burial I can find was that of eighty-six-year-old Walter H. Ulrich, a longtime resident of Wampum who died in November 1969.
 Newport Cemetery is a small burial ground located along Route 18 just north of Wampum. (c2012) |
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Comments
Bill Veon #
Hi Jeff,
I happened upon your site while researching the Newport Cemetery regarding the interment of a great-grandfather, Edward Doherty. You are to be commended for your selfless effort to promote local history. Your site is impressive.
Another great-grandfather, Joseph Veon [Jr], is correctly identified in your Newport Cemetery article as one of the “founders” of the Newport Cemetery Association. Edward Doherty was elected to the treasurer position of this association in 1937, per the New Castle News. Thus, the reason for my assumption of his potential interment therein. Also, Joseph was married to Mary Helen Freed. So I have a number of ancestors reportedly buried at Newport.
Although I was born in Beaver Falls and was raised in New Brighton, I have resided in Florida for the last 29 years. I have never visited the Newport Cemetery (but hope to do so soon), and did not even know I had any Lawrence County ancestors until I joined ancestry.com almost two years ago. Now I know my 2nd great-grandfather, Joseph Veon, Sr, was one of Lawrence County’s first residents/land-owners – without having to move. He had bought and resided on a farm (with his family) in northern Beaver County prior to Lawrence County being carved out of northern Beaver and southern Mercer counties.
I also noticed one of the headstone pictures on your Newport Cemetery page is for Cynthia French. She is my 2nd great-grand-aunt – her parents are my 3rd great-grandparents. Her surname is Hall, and she was married to David Miller then Calvin Cook prior to marrying William French in 1879. Cynthia had 7 children with Miller and 2 with Cook. She outlived all of her husbands. (I hope you do not mind my brief history of the person associated with the headstone.)
Anyway, keep up the good work, and please let me know if you have ever run across an Edward Doherty headstone in the Newport Cemetery.
Thanks,
Bill Veon
Tampa, FL
Jeff Bales Jr #
(EDITOR’S NOTE) Bill, thanks so much for the great posting. Very informative! I love learning more about the people whose headstones I’ve photographed. I really appreciate it. Next time I’m up at Newport Cemetery I’ll see if I can locate a Doherty stone. Thanks again. Jeff
Tom Weber #
Jeff, I am doung research for a friend in the Reinhard family. What records does the cemetery have regarding who is buried there? The 2 surnames I am searching are Reinhard (various spellings) and Coon/Kuhn. Thanks. The site is wonderful. I copied a photo you have on here of John Coon’s headstone.
Phyllis Rasavage #
Hi: For years I have been trying to locate the grave of Andrew Thompson, older brother of my Grandfather Robert C. Thompson. I have reason to believe Andrew died in Wampum in 1878 (info on family stone in Jefferson County, PA stating he is “interred in Mt Vernon Cemetery). Have had no luck finding any cemetery with records of that death—one cemetery being near Pittsburgh. Since the family seems to have lived in Wampum at the time of his death, transportation being limited, I assumed he was buried nearby. The family seems to have been Presbyterian. I searched in New Castle at the courthouse, made a trip to Wampum (in the mid 90s), have been on line at cemeteries.com and many other sources. I have concluded that the cemetery could have been on church property in the Wampum or nearby area and possibly has been abandoned or name changed. The parents names were Andrew and Mary Thompson (sometimes without the “p”). Andrew was a 7th son and likely some of his family had settled in Wampum to work in the mines, railroad, etc. An old map of Wampum from the 1870s lists a Thompson living on a street in the town. Robert’s son was born in Wampum in 1906. I see Thompson burials in the area but they are not familiar names but they could be one of the older brothers of George and he could have come to that area with Mary (his wife) and son Andrew around 1874 or 1875. They were married in a Presbyterian Church in England but originally were from Scotland. Maybe you can be of some help and I would appreciate anything you can uncover. I do know that the census shows the family as residing in Mercer County in 1880 and moving to near Anita, PA in Jefferson County in the late 1880s. The Thompson family is interred at Mt Tabor Cemetery near Anita, PA with the information about Andrew Thompson being on the center family marker. I live in Mt Vernon, Washington and am working mostly online to try to glean information to complete my family history records to pass on to the family. Husband died in 2012 (retired Lt Col, USMC) and we are both from Punxsutawney. Thanks for any information you may be aware of—this is a really interesting challenge but I am running out of time as I will be 80 this year. Phyllis Rasavage
Harry Veon #
Jeff,
It’s good to know that someone is recording these old sites. As a kid I would cut the grass here using an old reel type push mower and a pair of squeeze grass sheers for a quarter (.25) a cut. The blisters would barely heal before the next cut was needed.
There was an iron fence around it then with beautiful evergreens and shrubs. Some of pictures are of familiar grave sites and others are not. It’s been 60 years or more. Highway 18 was new then and most of the current wooded areas were open fields.
Your work is much appreciated.
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