Civil War veteran receives headstone
BAKERSVILLE – In Bakersville Cemetery, located just west of the village, lies a Civil War soldier who, up until last week, didn’t have a headstone. Pvt. John Horn of the 85th Indiana Volunteer Infantry served his country in the Civil War and died in September 1907. His body was respectfully laid to rest in Bakersville Cemetery with a field stone placed at his head, which has since been lost. Last week, he finally received the recognition he deserves, thanks to his great-great-granddaughter.
Marlene Carson was looking for her great-grandmother when she and her cousin Nancy Mitchem of Warsaw came across her daughter’s diary.
“I didn’t even know about him,” said Carson. “My cousin Nancy and I were looking for our great-grandmother’s grave. My cousin had some of our grandmother’s stuff and we found her diary. We found out through that that John was our great-grandmother’s father.”
It was Ada Corbett Eckelberry’s diary that led Carson and Mitchem on a search to find Horn’s grave. The four and a half month search to find Horn’s information needed to issue a headstone for his grave started at the Coshocton Library where Carson and Mitchem found a list of everybody buried in Bakersville Cemetery. Horn’s name was on the list with GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) listed beside his name, signifying him as a Civil War veteran.
Her search also took her to Mt. Vernon Library and she remembers spending hours in libraries doing research on her great-great-grandfather. She eventually joined the Ohio Genealogical Society.
Carson knew she wanted to mark the grave of her great-great-grandfather, but all the work gathering information to submit to the St. Louis Veteran’s Service for approval was anything but easy. Carson had to prove Horn was buried in Bakersville, which she did through information found at the Coshocton Library, his birth and death, his years of service, what division he fought with, and his rank.
“It took four and a half months to get all the information,” she said. “The day we found out what division he was in, and that was the last thing I needed to find, and Larry [Stahl] called me and said I found it, I could have jumped up and down and screamed. I was so thrilled. I was starting to get discouraged that we wouldn’t find all the information we needed. It’s awakened an interest in me in the genealogy of my family.”
She found that her great-great-grandfather was born in February 1831 and served in Company I 85th Indiana Volunteer Infantry only because he was in Indiana tending to a family sickness when he signed up to serve in the war. He served from 1862 – 1865 and came home from the war with sore eyes and a sprained hip joint. He died of dropsy, which was congestive heart failure.
The stone bearing Horn’s name has been in West Lafayette in storage since February and has been waiting for good weather to be installed. It was installed just last week in Bakersville Cemetery.
“That man has lain there all these years with no marker, so I want to do all I can for him,” said Carson. “He’s finally going to be honored.”
The family is having a graveside dedication ceremony on Saturday, May 19 at 1 p.m. in honor of Horn. The Coshocton County Honor Guard will be performing military rites and the Sons of the Union will perform a ceremony similar to one that would have been performed in the Civil War era when burying their dead. Steve and Lisa Ball will provide musical entertainment.
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Category: People & Places
