FOURTH STREET CEMETERY
301 E. 4th Street
Dover, Ohio 44622
330.343.0011
Established: circa 1810
Acres: Unknown
No Official Website
Bella Morte Rating: 1 Tombstone
Fourth Street Cemetery holds the distinction of being the oldest burial ground in the city of Dover, Ohio.
Probably the most interesting physical feature of Fourth Street is its location. It is surrounded on all sides by the simple, unassuming houses of the middle-class working people who call the small town home. Though the grounds are well-maintained, the stones themselves are being allowed to disintegrate. Most have markings that are no longer legible. Located near the cemetery’s eastern border, an old, ivy-covered receiving vault, its entrance long-ago bricked and sealed, slowly crumbles.
Dover’s founder, Christian Deardorff lies within the borders of this extremely tiny cemetery; however, its most famous resident is a man named William Clark Quantrill. In this case, his fame was earned in a reprehensible manner and, though we certainly wish him peace in any sort of afterlife there might be, we cannot look with favour upon the activities that occupied his later years. After starting a career as a teacher, Quantrill moved to Kansas and, at the outset of the Civil War, joined the Confederate army. After most of the Southern contingent left Kansas following their defeat at the hands of the Union, Quantrill remained and formed a group which included among its members Frank James, brother of the famous outlaw, Jesse. This band of rebels was responsible for a savage attack on the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas which left 150 innocent people dead and the town burned and heavily looted. This massacre and carnage was carried out under Quantrill’s shouted command, to “Kill every man and burn every house.”
Quantrill and his group continued such activity, though on a smaller scale, for the next four years until they were, at last, discovered hiding in a Kentucky barn by a detachment of Union Cavalrymen. Quantrill was wounded by gunfire as he attempted to flee. The shot left him paralyzed from the waist down.
During the next month, he was transferred to several medical facilities, the last of which was a Catholic hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Sensing his approaching death, Quantrill made his final confession to a priest. He then requested that his confessor purchase a plot and stone for him in nearby St. Mary’s Cemetery. Although the priest did buy the plot, he was afraid vandals, upon reading the stone’s engraving, and knowing of Quantrill’s foul deeds, would desecrate the body below. Thus, he had Quantrill buried, but left the grave itself unmarked.
And so it remained for 20 years until Quantrill’s mother and a friend from his boyhood came to claim the remains. Having had her request for disinterment denied, she arranged to have her son’s friend retrieve the skull for inspection. Upon being presented with the macabre relic, Quantrill’s mother identified it as belonging to her son based on the distinctive appearance of a chipped tooth. Later that night, under orders from Quantrill’s mother, and with darkness providing cover, all of the remains were secretly exhumed with the intention of burying them in the family plot in Dover’s Fourth Street Cemetery.
Unfortunately for Mrs. Quantrill, her son’s friend was not trustworthy. For reasons lost to time, but probably mercenary in nature, he kept a few of the bones for himself. Some of these found their way to the Kansas State Historical Society. Still others were eventually buried in the Old Confederate Veteran’s Home Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri. Today, all but one arm, a shinbone, some ribs and his spine lie in the family plot in Dover.
The cemetery’s last burial took place in 1976.
There is no real reason to trouble oneself to visit this quant burying ground unless you happen to find yourself in Dover, Ohio. If that is the case, you would be far better served to skip Fourth Street and go, instead, to nearby Maple Grove if time is of the essence. But if you are inclined toward the quirky, Fourth Street Cemetery, with its neighbourhood location, could be worth a few minutes of exploration.
[F]
301 E. 4th Street
Dover, Ohio 44622
330.343.0011
Established: circa 1810
Acres: Unknown
No Official Website
Bella Morte Rating: 1 Tombstone
Fourth Street Cemetery holds the distinction of being the oldest burial ground in the city of Dover, Ohio.
Probably the most interesting physical feature of Fourth Street is its location. It is surrounded on all sides by the simple, unassuming houses of the middle-class working people who call the small town home. Though the grounds are well-maintained, the stones themselves are being allowed to disintegrate. Most have markings that are no longer legible. Located near the cemetery’s eastern border, an old, ivy-covered receiving vault, its entrance long-ago bricked and sealed, slowly crumbles.
Dover’s founder, Christian Deardorff lies within the borders of this extremely tiny cemetery; however, its most famous resident is a man named William Clark Quantrill. In this case, his fame was earned in a reprehensible manner and, though we certainly wish him peace in any sort of afterlife there might be, we cannot look with favour upon the activities that occupied his later years. After starting a career as a teacher, Quantrill moved to Kansas and, at the outset of the Civil War, joined the Confederate army. After most of the Southern contingent left Kansas following their defeat at the hands of the Union, Quantrill remained and formed a group which included among its members Frank James, brother of the famous outlaw, Jesse. This band of rebels was responsible for a savage attack on the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas which left 150 innocent people dead and the town burned and heavily looted. This massacre and carnage was carried out under Quantrill’s shouted command, to “Kill every man and burn every house.”
Quantrill and his group continued such activity, though on a smaller scale, for the next four years until they were, at last, discovered hiding in a Kentucky barn by a detachment of Union Cavalrymen. Quantrill was wounded by gunfire as he attempted to flee. The shot left him paralyzed from the waist down.
During the next month, he was transferred to several medical facilities, the last of which was a Catholic hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Sensing his approaching death, Quantrill made his final confession to a priest. He then requested that his confessor purchase a plot and stone for him in nearby St. Mary’s Cemetery. Although the priest did buy the plot, he was afraid vandals, upon reading the stone’s engraving, and knowing of Quantrill’s foul deeds, would desecrate the body below. Thus, he had Quantrill buried, but left the grave itself unmarked.
And so it remained for 20 years until Quantrill’s mother and a friend from his boyhood came to claim the remains. Having had her request for disinterment denied, she arranged to have her son’s friend retrieve the skull for inspection. Upon being presented with the macabre relic, Quantrill’s mother identified it as belonging to her son based on the distinctive appearance of a chipped tooth. Later that night, under orders from Quantrill’s mother, and with darkness providing cover, all of the remains were secretly exhumed with the intention of burying them in the family plot in Dover’s Fourth Street Cemetery.
Unfortunately for Mrs. Quantrill, her son’s friend was not trustworthy. For reasons lost to time, but probably mercenary in nature, he kept a few of the bones for himself. Some of these found their way to the Kansas State Historical Society. Still others were eventually buried in the Old Confederate Veteran’s Home Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri. Today, all but one arm, a shinbone, some ribs and his spine lie in the family plot in Dover.
The cemetery’s last burial took place in 1976.
There is no real reason to trouble oneself to visit this quant burying ground unless you happen to find yourself in Dover, Ohio. If that is the case, you would be far better served to skip Fourth Street and go, instead, to nearby Maple Grove if time is of the essence. But if you are inclined toward the quirky, Fourth Street Cemetery, with its neighbourhood location, could be worth a few minutes of exploration.
[F]
