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.
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
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
