LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

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Since 2004

Tag: Minerva Arbuckle Ramsey

  • Ramsey Paxton Cemetery improvements still ongoing and wrapping it up in 2022 with a dedication date May 7, 2022

    Ramsey Paxton Cemetery improvements still ongoing and wrapping it up in 2022 with a dedication date May 7, 2022

    by Rob Geiger

    In the last year, it has been a challenging time with serious health diagnoses, treatment, and the looming concerns regarding Covid. Plans were slowed down but our pioneer blood kept forging ahead keeping progress moving ahead. 

    We are winding up the capital improvements to the cemetery and it’s hard to believe the capital fundraising started in 2018 with two big line items completed in 2019 – removal of the dead and dying trees, the old rusted fence, installing the beautiful black aluminum fence, the installation of the one of a kind wrought iron gates in 2020 and two new headstones installed for Lt. Col. Thomas Paxton and Capt. John Ramsey. 

    This past year, 2021, Riverview Monuments came through with their commitment and supplied the cemetery with beautiful black granite remembrance markers for the unknown graves within the confines of the cemetery. Riverview Monuments also sandblasted the death date of Minerva Arbuckle Ramsey on her headstone and is currently working with the Daughters of the American Revolution, Clough Valley Chapter which commissioned bronze plaques to the matching black granite used for the remembrance markers to mark LT. Col. Thomas Paxton and his daughter Isabella Paxton Ramsey’s grave. The Cincinnati Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution is also coming up with their own marker for Captain John Ramsey to be installed in the cemetery. 

    We still could not find a local landscape company to even return phone calls to work on the grounds by leveling it out, planting grass seed, and providing grass management. Hopefully, we can find a company to provide this service in the early fall of 2022. 

    We are looking for volunteers to sand the flagpole and paint or donate a new flag pole in the month of April, 2022. 

    The Ramsey-Paxton Cemetery Association appreciates everyone that made this project a success! We could not even accomplish this task without some very key and instrumental partnerships. A huge “Thank You” to Loveland Magazine-our Media Sponsor, City of Loveland, Rainey Tree Service, Eads Fence Company, Loveland Legacy Foundation, Paxton’s Grill, Ramsey’s Trailside, and Riverview Monuments.    

    With the work coming to the end, we are pleased to announce the dedication of the cemetery in 2022. Please save the date: Saturday, May 7, 2022, at 1 PM at the Ramsey-Paxton Cemetery across from 185 Ramsey Court, Loveland, Ohio. We will have more information in the next couple of weeks. Everyone is invited to attend and celebrate Loveland’s heritage along with the families of Paxton and Ramsey.

    For the ones that are not familiar with the historically significant of this cemetery the biography of Paxton and Ramsey are as follows:

    The Ramsey-Paxton Cemetery originated in 1813 with the burial of Lt. Col. Thomas Paxton, a Revolutionary War Soldier, on land that he received for his military service. Paxton’s original land grant was 1,100 acres generally speaking the Northwest section of Clermont County. In 1795 Paxton and his sons-in-law came to settle the land and a year later sent for their wives and children to join them in their new home. 

    Lt. Col. Paxton (1739-1813) served with George Washington at Valley Forge in 1777 and with General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Lt. Col. Paxton is considered the first permanent settler between the Little Miami River and the Scioto River in the Virginia Military Tract, credited with raising the first crop of corn, and was the founder of Loveland. Paxton’s involvement is quite extensive helping Lytle with surveying lands in Clermont County down to parts of today’s community of Hyde Park, having the first polling place in Clermont County, and helping with the statehood of Ohio.

    Captain John Ramsey, a son-in-law, was buried in the cemetery in 1847, along with other family members until 1913. Captain John Ramsey (1764-1847) was a Revolutionary War Patriot and one of the first settlers of Clermont County with other family members. He was considered a proficient hunter even though his leg was amputated as a result of carrying out military duties.

  • Update on the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery

    Update on the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery

    Maggie Schildmeyer-Mischenko, Riverveiw Monuments with Rob Geiger, President Ramsey Paxton Cemetery Association

    by Rob Geiger

    It’s been almost a year since the work was started on the historical cemetery, Ramsey Paxton Cemetery, located on Ramsey Court in the White Pillars Subdivision.

    To recap the series of events: December, 2018 the city of Loveland reinstalled the Clermont County Bicentennial sign next to the cemetery and cleared trees and brush on city owned property away from the cemetery property line; September, 2019 dead and decaying trees were removed, the old fence taken down by Rainey Tree service; fence was replaced with a new black aluminum spear fence, and May, 2020 the new refurbished antique gates were installed by Eads Fence Company.

    Rob Geiger is the President of the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery Association

    Our next project we have partnered with Riverview Monuments. “This is a privilege and an honor for our company to be involved in this project” stated Maggie Schildmeyer-Mischenko. “We are excited to donate our services to sandblast the death date on Minerva Arbuckle Ramsey who died in 1913 and place a marker on each unknown burial in the cemetery to commemorate the farmhands that lost their lives due to an epidemic that swept through this area sometime between 1910 to 1912.”

    The story was passed down through the years: the farmhands working on farms in the area lost their loved ones during that time due to sickness and since they could not afford to have a proper burial, they asked Minerva Arbuckle Ramsey if they could bury their dead in the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery, to which she agreed. The only reminder of the loved ones are field stones and in some cases a depression in the ground where a person was buried.

    Riverview Monuments also designed the two new headstones that will be added to the two Revolutionary War Soldiers’ graves, Lt. Col. Thomas Paxton (founder of Loveland, and credited as the first permanent white settler in the Virginia Military Track, 1795) and his son-in-law Capt. John Ramsey.

    The original stones have weathered to the point that you cannot read the inscriptions. The new headstones have the same verbiage as the original stones for future generations to know the historical significance of these two men.

    Design of the new headstones for Col. Thomas Paxton for the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery

    The new headstones have been ordered and hopefully will be installed in October with the other work completed before Thanksgiving, 2020.

    “How exciting this project is turning out and knowing Riverview Monuments have collaborated with the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery by preserving this great sacred spot in our hometown of Loveland. Our family business started 180 years ago and has been in Loveland for the last 120 years. We (Riverview Monuments, Tufts Scheildmeyer Funeral Home, and Ramsey Paxton Cemetery Association) share the same passion to preserve, protect, and educate about our historical sites in Loveland, Ohio,” said Schildmeyer-Mischenko

    Design of the new headstones for Capt. John Ramsey for the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery

    The Ramsey Paxton Cemetery has some seed money to buy supplies for getting some much needed ground work completed by leveling out areas in the cemetery, controlling the crabgrass, and planting grass seed in areas of the cemetery. We have been reaching out to some lawn professionals and hope to find a local company that will provide an in-kind donation, literally labor of love, to supply the manpower to accomplish this task before winter sets in.

    If your company would like to help with the project, please contact Rob Geiger at 513-677-3303.

    The Cemetery would like to hold a rededication of the cemetery sometime in the year 2021 or when Covid-19 pandemic is over. Please keep up to date with Loveland Magazine for more information.

    Loveland Magazine is the Media Sponsor for the Ramsey Paxton Cemetery  Restoration Project