Eckert.jpg (101944 bytes)

Eckert Tombstone

Tombstone Inscriptions

of

Baker–Hamlin Cemetery

Cass Township

Hancock County, Ohio

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Baker-Hamlin Cemetery

April 2000

This cemetery is located 3.1 miles west of Arcadia, OH, south 0.75 miles on Township Road 238 at the intersection of Township Road 215. The cemetery name is referred to as Hamlin Cemetery with the alternative name of Baker Cemetery on USGS maps (83° 34' 28.9" W;  41° 05' 53.9" N). Land for the cemetery was donated by James Baker, son of Grafton Baker of Cass Township.

These readings, transcribed from "Tombstone Inscriptions from Cemeteries in Hancock County, Ohio Volume III, 1954 as compiled by Ruth KERNS MATTHEWS and Janice BARBER REDDIN, and as updated in 1989 by the Hancock County Genealogical Society, were verified by the author in conducting a detailed survey of the cemetery in April 2000. Footnotes to the index have been added by the author. Data added to the readings (as researched or calculated by the author) is in italicized magenta text. Rows are numbered from the front of the cemetery nearest County Road 238 to the back.

At the time of the 1954 readings, the cemetery was described as "inactive, but well kept".

In April 2000 the cemetery is still well-kept; the arch entrance referred to in 1948 is gone and the perimeter is defined by a simple chainlink fence. The sign on the cemetery entrance incorrectly identifies it as "Baker-Hanlin Cemetery". Some of the older stones have broken and the pieces are stacked by the more durable granite monuments. Other stones are lying on the ground, partially buried. There has been a recent effort to replace some of the stones to their original locations; however, several of the locations are not in accordance with either the 1954 or 1989 survey.

See the Findlay Republican-Courier newspaper of May 29, 1948 article following the index for an article about the cemetery's creation, history, inhabitants and condition at that time..

This website created by Gary L. Franks of Perrysburg, OH on 03 March 2001. 

Surname

Given Name

Birth Date

Death Date

Inscription 1

Inscription 2

ROW 1
WITHROW Hannah

04 Jun 1855

05 Jun 1855

Dau. of S. & S. Aged 1 d.
WITHROW Alice ----

05 Mar 1858

Dau. of S. & S.

----

WITHROW Rhoda

25 Aug 1852

31 Dec 1853

Dau. of S. & S. Aged 1 yr. 4 mos. 6 ds.
BROCKMAN William 12 Jun 1886

23 Mar 1887

Son of Wm. & S. Aged 9 mos. 11 ds.
ROW 2
BOWERSOCK Marion

20 Sep 1867

21 Sep 1860

Son of D. & E. Aged 3 yrs. 1 d.
SCOTT Rose Anna 03 Aug 1839

27 Aug 1888

----

Aged 49 yrs. 24 ds.
MAUSER Caroline

07 Jan 1851

01 Nov 1886

Wife of F. Aged 35 yrs. 9 mos. 25 ds.
MAUSER

----

----

----

Infant of F. & C.

----

MAUSER ---- ---- ---- Infant of F. & C. ----
BRENNER Mathew

07 Feb 1811

22 Apr 1897

Father Born in Germany
BRENNER Caroline Mauser

26 Mar 1815

23 Aug 1890

Mother Born in Germany
ROW 3
COBB Alonzo H

1809

1847

----

----

BLAIR Jerusha Cobb

1812

1891

---- ----
COBB Angenetta

1843

1844

Dau. of A.H. & J. ----
COBB Charles 15 Dec 1834

20 Jun 1856

Son of A.H. & J. Aged 21 yrs. 6 mos. 5 ds.
DILL Ida

1883

1902

---- ----
COBB Mary A.

06 Aug 1854

08 Aug 1860

Dau. of Foster & Susannah Aged 6 yrs. 2 ds.
COBB Mary 16 Sep 1815

06 Mar 1851

Wife of Foster Aged 35 yrs 5 mos. 20 ds.
COBB ----

----

15 Aug 1843

Infant son of Foster & Mary ----
COBB Ira J. 02 May 1859

25 Feb 1860

Son of Foster & Susannah Aged 9 mos. 23 ds.
COBB Susannah

23 Jul 1815

05 Jan 1860

Wife of Foster Aged 44 yrs. 5 mos. 13 ds.
COBB Foster 15 Jun 1817

21 Jan 1883

---- Aged 65 yrs. 7 mos. 6 ds.
ROW 4
BAKER Lucinda

24 Jun 1844

18 Feb 1865

Dau of A. & C.

----

BAKER Alexander

09 Jan 1815

22 Nov 1849

Father

AlexBaker.jpg (107345 bytes)

#BAKER Catharine

22 Sep 1824

11 Apr 1909

Wife of Alexander
ECKERT John

24 Nov 1798

08 Mar 1866

---- Aged 67 yrs. 3 mos. 14 ds.
ECKERT Winchester 05 Dec 1829

30 Mar 1844

Son of John & Sarah Aged 14 yrs. 3 mos. 25 ds.
ECKERT Sarah 08 Jul 1799

22 Dec 1883

---- Aged 84 yrs. 5 mos. 14 ds.
ROW 5
+BAKER Lemuel

18 Aug 1874

17 Jun 1957

----

----

++BAKER John

1847

1927

Father johnsarah.jpg (8880 bytes)
BAKER Sarah C.

1847

1887

Mother
BAKER Debba J.

01 Aug 1870

23 Mar 1877

Dau. of John & S. C. Aged 6 yrs. 7 mos. 22 ds.
BAKER

Allan

13 Jul 1872

28 Mar 1874

Infant of John & S.C. Aged 1 yr. 8 mos. 15 ds.
BAKER ---- 11 Mar 1876

11 Mar 1876

Infant of John & S.C. ----
THRUSH Joseph L.

15 Mar 1856

04 Apr 1858

Son of J. & M.J. Aged 2 yrs. 20 ds.
THRUSH Samuel 16 Jan 1844

06 Mar 1846

Son of J. & O.T. Aged 2 yrs. 1 mo. 21 ds.
THRUSH Oliva T.

30 Nov 1823

19 Jan 1849

Wife of Jacob Aged 25 yrs. 1 mo. 19 ds.
THRUSH ---- ----

02 Sep 1857

Infant son of J. & M.J. ----
ROW 6
+++BAKER John F.

20 Feb 1856

01 Feb 1899

---- JFBaker.jpg (96373 bytes)
BAKER Louisa C.

15 Mar 1856

12 Jan 1921 Wife of John F.
BAKER James

19 May 1816

06 Feb 1865

---- Aged 48 yrs. 8 mos. 18 d.
ROW 7
$ M. C. ---- ---- ----

----

& Mary Catherine Baker Hamblin?

HAMBLIN Wm. J.

03 Aug 1845

07 May 1925

---- ----
HAMBLIN Hester A.

17 Apr 1842

03 May 1915

----

----

HAMBLIN Ida Dell

1883

1902

---- ----
HAMBLIN Verny M.

1878

1898

----

----

$ W. E. ---- ---- ---- ----

Winfield Eckert?

$ L. B.

----

----

----

----

----

$ R. C. W. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
ROW 8
*HAMBLIN Robert E.

01 Oct 1839

10 Jan 1928

----

Co. I 12 Ia. Inf.
HAMBLIN Frank

1874

26 Mar 1942 ---- ----
Footnotes........
#   Daughter of John and Sarah [MOSERE] ECKERT
+   Son of John and Sarah C. [BINGER] BAKER
++ Son of Alexander and Catharine [ECKERT] BAKER
+++ Son of James and Louisa C. BAKER
& Daughter of James and Louisa [SLIGHT] BAKER; burial location of Louisa unknown.
*  Civil War Veteran; His brother Frank[lin] HAMBLIN also enlisted in Co. I 12 Ia. Inf. 
** Son of Robert E. and Mary Catherine [BAKER] Hamblin
$  The four (4) markers having initials only were omitted from the 1989 reading as they were     believed to be footstone markers, not headstones.

The following article about the cemetery appeared in the Findlay, OH Republican-Courier newspaper on Saturday morning May 29, 1948:

"In Honor of the Unknown Dead" reads the lettering on an archway erected just inside the Baker Cemetery in Cass Township, six miles northeast of Findlay. Whether the words refer to the unknown soldier dead or to all the unknown dead of times past is not quite clear, but certainly the thought is particularly appropriate at this time of year. Two G.A.R. flag standards, stuck into the ground beneath the arch, seem to complete the patriotic significance, though there was but one other G.A.R. marker in the cemetery earlier this week, on the grave of Robert E. (Ede) Hamblin, who once owned the farm from which the little cemetery originally was taken.

The cemetery is unique, in that all the marked graves bear the names of scarcely more than a half-dozen families - Baker, Hamblin, Cobb, Eckert, Thrush, Brenner, Mauser - all names long associated with the vicinity, many of them related. Though the cemetery has some of the aspects of a family burying ground, it is publicly owned and it is maintained by the trustees of Cass Township.

There are not more than 50 headstones in all, though there likely are many unmarked graves, for the burying ground has existed for well over 100 years and a number of the thin marble slabs obviously are broken, misplaced and scattered. Some graves are known to have been moved to other cemeteries.

The acre or so of ground contained in the neatly-mowed, fence-enclosed lot appears to have been dedicated as a cemetery and donated to the township by James Baker, who once owned the farm surrounding it, later owned by Robert Hamblin.

The graves of both are in the cemetery. Nearly all the marked graves are in the southeast corner of the area, with only a few scattered markers in other parts of the lot.

The earliest date appearing on a marker in the Baker Cemetery is on the grave of Angenetta Cobb, year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Cobb, who died in 1844. However, Mrs. Amanda Baker Huffman seems to remember that her grandmother, who was an Eckert, once told her that her brother, Winfield Eckert, was the first to be buried there. He was killed by a falling tree when he was just a young boy. He would have been a brother-in-law of the James Baker who gave the land.

The most recent grave is that of Frank Hamblin, who was buried there two years ago.

Separated from most of the graves are the headstones of three children of S. and S. Withrow who died within the space of a year or so in 1857-58.

The name Baker springs from a family that has owned and tilled land in the vicinity for more than a century. Grafton Baker settled there and took up the land about 1840. According to family tradition, Grafton Baker was one of seven brothers who migrated westward from Philadelphia. ***

Lemuel Baker, who lives on part of the farm of his father, the late Squire John Baker, relates that once he was traveling through Arkansas and had a night's lodging with a young farm couple there. The women's maiden name had been Baker. She had come from Nebraska, and she told the same story of the seven brothers who had migrated from Philadelphia. One of them, her ancestor, she had been told, settled in what is now Nebraska.

***According to the author's research, Grafton Baker emigrated to Hancock County from Stark and Harrison Counties (OH) in 1834. Additional evidence indicates the Baker Family originally came west from Maryland, probably through Virginia (now West Virginia) and eastern Ohio.

Back to Baker Family Index Page

Copyright © 1996-2004 by G. L. Franks, PE

All rights reserved.
Revised: 29 Mar 2015