A Day Chasing the Dead

We left the house early and after a quick stop for coffee at Tim Horton’s we set out in search of Broomstick Cemetery. Gene had been able to find directions from the internet so it wasn’t a total stab in the dark. We made a wrong turn and ended up in Dresden, the home of Longaberger Baskets. It was early Saturday morning and the streets of this tiny rural Ohio town were already buzzing with basket shoppers. We saw not one but two tour buses pull into town as we were trying to get turned around and back on the right path to the cemetery.

Broomstick Cemetery

Maybe Daniel B. Ashcraft

Literally, over hill and dale we finally found what we were looking for on gravel county route 68. This was the cemetery where Gene’s GGG grandfather is buried, the first Ashcraft to come to Ohio in 1808. We were very disappointed in not finding his gravesite. Many of the tombstones were illegible. We found one that might possibly be him, but we’re not sure. We found his son, Jacob and wife, as well as a grandson, Jesse. I have three photographs of Shelda standing by tombstones, one is an Ashcraft and the other two are McKees. We have not yet been able to locate the cemeteries where these photos were taken. The search never ends.

One of the tombstones that can't be found.

After leaving the cemetery, Gene wanted to continue on route 68. What a stroke of luck that decision was. We eventually came to the junction of route 80 and, would you believe, Ashcraft Rd. In the area we found a young man out in his yard and we ask about cemeteries in the area. He told us that all the land in the area had belonged to the McKee family. (Two McKee boys had married Ashcraft girls and one Ashcraft boy married a McKee girl, so the families are related.) Following Ashcraft Road, we did not find a cemetery, but it was exciting to be on the land of the first Ashcrafts in Ohio.

We stopped again at Frazeysburg Cemetery to double check we hadn’t missed anything there, then home for the day. Our time in Licking County is coming to an end. I may have to save the search for Ashcrafts for another visit.

Tomorrow, we are meeting with Gene’s half-sister, Doris, in Columbus. I will turn my attention to the Curps. Doris is several years older than Gene so she may know something about the Ashcrafts, but I really doubt it. They were mostly dead before she came into the family. We have a fist full of nonAshcraft photos for her attention.