Burton Township Cemetery Sexton – Katie O’Neill
Administration Building
14821 Rapids Road
Burton, Oh 44021
Office – 440-834-1500
Fax – 440-834-0422
Home Phone – 330-671-0121
Email: Katie.BurtonTownship@gmail.com
Located on the east side of Rt. 700, on the boundary line between Burton and Troy Townships. The cemetery is located on a hill overlooking beautiful countryside.
Sections of the cemetery date back to the late 1700’s.
Slitor Cemetery was a private cemetery, only for the family name of SLITOR. Their first original owner was a farmer and he designated this to be a private cemetery.
Glenn Slitor was born in Garrettsville, Ohio and attended Hiram College. He took over the cost of maintenance of the cemetery. When Glenn died, his spinster sister Zelma Slitor took his place and maintained the grounds. She also was from Garrettsville.
As time went on, and friends and neighbors passed on, Zelma was generous enough to let them be buried on the grounds. When she could no longer handle this task, she agreed to turn the Slitor Cemetery over to Burton Township, and anyone could be buried on the grounds.
Located on the south side of Butternut Rd., just east of the intersection of Aquilla and Butternut Roads. Pleasant Hill is an active cemetery only to those who already own lots.
The original residents of Butternut Road originally owned the cemetery before turning it over to Burton Township.
Burials in this cemetery date back to the Revolutionary War.
The Wilson Family is buried under a peaceful, dripping old pine tree, on the south side of Pleasant Hill Cemetery. These days, there are no more burials within the south side of Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Too many unmarked graves, is the reason. Those that sleep there now, in truth, rest in eternal peace.
The Wilson Family plot is one of those marked. It has metal markers. Fan shaped with the raised names. There is one marker at the head of each grave. We are told there is a possibility that two markers, and names are missing.
At one time, the family plot had an iron fence around it. A beautiful ornamental waist-high fence. It completely enclosed the plot. Caretakers in the cemetery found it necessary to reluctantly move this fence. It was difficult to keep the grass cover neat and trim on the burial spot. Weeds, brambles, hedges within the confines were destroying the identity of the Wilson graves.
There are the five markers.
We sought a possible explanation of this sorrowful tragedy from Mrs. Frances Osmond of Butternut Road. Her father and her family always embraced a special closeness with this cemetery.
This is the story that Mrs. Osmond recalled. Mr. Wilson lost his ENTIRE family within one month…diphtheria. A word of horror in those days. We understand there are seven graves, but just the five markers can be located. The grieving father saw to it that his beloved had proper burial, proper markers, and their resting place beautifully fenced in.
Located on the west side of Claridon-Troy Road, about ½ mile south of the intersection of Claridon-Troy and Butternut Roads, north of the Village of Burton.
The cemetery has been closed for any new burials for over 70 years. This cemetery consists of 1.48 acres of land.
Memorial Road turns off (to the west) of Rt. 168 south of the village of Burton.
Memorial Cemetery has also been known as Valley, Lower, Pioneer and Fox through the years.
The 1880 Pioneer and General History of Geauga County book describe burials there as “Sleeping near the river.”
Page 505 states: When the burial ground was located for the town, the bodies from the first spot were transferred to the new location, and was noted, “On this sand knoll, by the river, sleep many of the original settlers of Burton.”
Page 504 claims Hugh Sharon, was the first person to be buried in the town cemetery.
There are 27 persons buried in this cemetery which have no stones, nor lot designations, as found in the Cemetery Record Book. A survey and index was done by John Molnar in 1970 of this cemetery to earn a Boy Scout Merit Badge.
Buried in Memorial Cemetery are the UMBERFIELDS. Thomas and his wife Lydia Umberfield were the first family settlers in Burton. Thomas was born in 1754, died December 21, 1850 at the age of 96. Lydia, born in 1756, and died on March 25, 1849, at the age of 93. The name Umberfield was first written as Umberville.
The proprietors surveyed a five mile square township, now known as Burton in 1796. This band of people came in the spring of 1798. Thomas Umberville and family were one of them. Lydia being the first white woman in town was given 60 acres of land as a gift in recognitions of her being first. (Pages 419&425)
Burton was the first of the sixteen Geauga Townships to be settled; the first arrival was in June 1798.
The Lower Cemetery or Fox Cemetery in Burton has government stones for fourteen soldiers of the Revolution which were dedicated by the Samual Huntington Chapter for S.A.R. on May 30, 1987. By that day, the gravel foundations had been prepared by Jeff Handley of Mentor, who chose this project on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout.
The granite stones had been ordered in November 1986, but none had arrived in time for the ceremony. The first batch of eight arrived in July, five more came in September and these thirteen stones were placed September 26. The final stone was set on October 12.
Revolutionary War veterans Amos Beard, David Brooks, Marimon Cook, John Ford, Caleb Fowler, James Goff, Moses Hutchins, Benjamin Johnson, and Nathan Parks had all previously been recognized.
Research had added the names of David Dayton, Andrew Durant, Mathias Fox, Seth Hayes, and Lebbeus Herrick.
Marimon Cook lived to be 97. His house, built in 1806 and the oldest in Geauga County was known as the Missionary House and was located on the site of the Geauga Campus of Kent State University. It was moved to the grounds of the Geauga Historical Society. After extensive restoration, it was opened for tours in June 1980.
Seth Hayes, his wife, and three of their children died in an epidemic during the winter of 1815/1816. They were buried on private property, but a stone for Seth was placed in Lower Cemetery.