The OES visited Parkinson & Babcock Cemetery on August 14, 2007. Parkinson & Babcock Cemetery is situated on the north side of the US Route 40, about two miles west of Kirkersville in Etna Township, Licking County. The cemetery had a newly installed fence and seemed to be well maintained. According to Raitz and Thompson in their book, A Guide to the National Road, “The National Road here ran inside the cemetery and just north of US 40. The earliest grave is dated 1811.” On our visit, no graves dating that far back could be found. Unfortunately, due to age and quite possibly abuse, many of the tombstones were damaged and illegible. The oldest standing tombstone we found was from 1832. The most recent burial seems to have occurred in 1899. A short obituary regarding this burial can be found in the Newark Daily Advocate newspaper on January 11, 1899: “Kirkersville: Mrs. Abraham Frideger formerly of this place and late of Columbus, O., was buried at Parkinson Cemetery on the pike Wednesday morning. She was a sister of Jacob Keckley, of this place.”
Location Information: Inactive Cemetery [Safe]
Parkinson & Babcock Cemetery is on the north side of US Route 40, two miles west of Kirkersville; Licking County.
Photographs
The worn sign at the entrance of Parkinson & Babcock Cemetery.
The cemetery was on a hillside. Many of the tombstones remained standing.
The tombstone of Magdaline Frideger, wife of John. She died on February 27, 1847.
Joseph Melenbarner's tombstone had been damaged but had been repaired. Joseph died on July 25, 1842 just before his 69th birthday.
The tombstone of Jacob (1796-1872) and Anna (1799-1893) Rickley is in the foreground. John (d. 1873) and Elizabeth (d. 1869) Frendiger's tombstone was directly behind the Rickleys.
This tombstone belonged to a wife, but it was too weathered to read.
The three white tombstones belonged to Joseph Wells (1775-1863), Mary Wells (1785-1847) and Elizabeth Kummer (d. 1890). The brown stone could not be read.
George Lighty's tombstone. George died on March 6, 1863 at 37-years-old.
John D. Shank Jr.'s tombstone. He died April 5, 1855 at 25.
This smaller stone belonged to Uriah Shank, who died five days after his first birthday in 1835.
This stone dated to November 30, 1832, but we aren't sure who it belonged to.
The tombstone of Revolutionary War veteran George Loyd. George served with Berry's Company 8 Virginia Regiment during the war. Born February 4, 1758, George died on January 29, 1853.
Our last look at Parkinson & Babcock Cemetery from the top of the hill.
