Watertown Burial Ground

The Marietta Times, November 4, 1869

Two miles and a half to the north west of Watertown village, in the township of Watertown, is one of the oldest burial places in Ohio. It is on the road from Watertown to Waterford. This graveyard is not properly taken care of. The fence is down, and several of the tombstones are broken, most likely by stray cattle. It is said that one of the pioneers was buried here as early as 1795, but no stone or other memorial attests the fact. The earliest inscription, so far as we could ascertain, is this:

"In memory of Giles Ford, who died, Sept. the 5th, 1797, in the 25th year of his age.

"How loved, how valued once, avails thee not,

To whom related, or by whom begot;

A heap of dust alone remains of thee;

'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be."

He perished early in the pioneer struggles of this western country. Near his grave is another, inscribed:

"In memory of Catharine Ford, wife of Capt. William Ford, who died Sept. 21, 1802, in the 54th year of her age."

Next, side by side, are the graves of the early settlers who bore that family name:

"Elizabeth Ford, wife of Capt. William Ford, died, August 16, 1819, aged 64."

"William Ford, Senr., died, October 9, 1823, aged 78 years."

"William Ford, Jr., died Sept. 15, 1823, in the 52d year of his age."

"Nancy Ford, wife of Judah Ford, died, March 6, 1809, in the 20th year of her age."

Capt. William Ford must have been nearly or quite fifty years old when he came to the West. He was thirty when the war of the Revolution began. William Ford, Jr., was born in 1770, and was grown up to manhood at the time of the settlement of Waterford. Father and son died within four weeks of each other in that fatal year, 1823. The period from 1821 to 1823 seems to have been remarkable for the mortal sickness, as the dates on the gravestones show.

"In memory of John Waterman, a native of Connecticut and one of the early settlers of Ohio, who departed this life, Sept. 1, 1834, in the 67th year of his age."

The grave of John Waterman is on the northeast side of the burying ground. Below are the graves of his children: Oliver (by his first wife, Margaret) died October 16, 1823, aged 1 year, 10 months; an infant daughter (by his second wife, Rachael) born 1826; one grave with rough and unmarked head an foot stones, that of a child probably; and, "Toulmin (son of John and Margaret Waterman) who died August 5, 1822, aged 3 years, 11 months."

The graves of John Waterman's first wife and second wife are at the end of this row: "Margaret, wife of John Waterman and relict of Stephen Potts, died August 28, 1823, aged 49 years." "Rachael, wife of John Waterman, died Nov. 9, 1833, aged 47 years."

Flavius Waterman was, we conjecture, the head of the first family of the name in the new settlement. There is now no stone over his grave, though one was set up long ago. He perished soon after coming to the West and was buried here, it is thought, as early as 1796 or 1797.

"Lydia Collins, wife of Charles Collins, and formerly wife of Flavius Waterman, died October 3, 1813, aged 70 years."

"Polly, wife of Ferrand Waterman, died July 18, 1852, in the 78th year of her age."

Born in 1774, Mrs. Polly Waterman must have lived through wondrous changes in her protracted life. She felt sorrow, too, for near her grave is that of a daughter, Polly, who died forty-three years before the mother, aged one year and three months.

The tombstone over the remains of David B. Waterman is one "with uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked:

"In Memory of David B. Waterman.

Died Aug the 21 1819

In the 45 year of his Age.

Behold my friends as you pass

By as you are now so once

was I as I am now you must be

Prepare for death and follow me."

Not far from David B. Waterman's grave rest the remains of Joseph Arnold who died on the 21st of August, 1868, at the remarkable age of 89. His wife (the daughter of Captain Reuben Stearns of R.I.) died twenty years before her husband, April 7, 1848, aged 66 years.

We had made other notes of the graves in this old burial ground, but we cannot now lay our hands on them. Of the individuals who rest here, or their families, the writer knows very little, but he supposes that they were of the bold, hardy, adventurous stock which furnishes the pioneers of every settlement.