Add cemetery photos

Worthington Cemetery

Also known as African American Cemetery

Highland Township, Defiance County, Ohio, USA

About

  • Get directions Bowman Road (County Road 12)
    Highland Township, Ohio 43512 United States
    Coordinates: 41.22719, -84.33185
  • Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

Advertisement

Photos

WORTHINGTON CEMETERY
(AKA: Worthington Colored Cemetery, or ‘The Old Negro Cemetery')
It was one of the first ‘Colored' cemeteries in northwest ‘Ohio Country', and the only colored cemetery in Defiance County Ohio.
Worthington Cemetery was founded by and named after Archibald Worthington, a pioneer, man of color who — even before the Civil War — owned a section of land in Highland Township. The Cemetery was built by him, on his land, for ‘his' people; no one but colored persons were ever buried there.
Most interments were purportedly slaves who'd been freed before the War. Interments began ~1855, before the Civil War, and continued until the 1890's, after the death of Worthington. Most of the white slab markers are buried in the ground and farmed over. Only a dozen or so remain above ground of the 50 or more original graves.
The land is currently owned by Ayeresville Water & Sewer.

LOCATION: 1/4-mile east of State Route 15 on a mud road, 2 miles south of the city limits of Defiance, Ohio; in Section 7 of Highland Township; 40 rods back off the mud road to the north, almost in the center of a wheat field.

The cemetery is located in Highland Township, Defiance County, Ohio, and is # 2832 (African American Cemetery / Worthington Cemetery) in "Ohio Cemeteries 1803-2003", compiled by the Ohio Genealogical Society.



An 1866 county plat map shows that A. Worthington owned the SE quadrant of Section 17 in Highland Township. The cemetery map location is approximate.










WORTHINGTON CEMETERY
(AKA: Worthington Colored Cemetery, or ‘The Old Negro Cemetery')
It was one of the first ‘Colored' cemeteries in northwest ‘Ohio Country', and the only colored cemetery in Defiance County Ohio.
Worthington Cemetery was founded by and named after Archibald Worthington, a pioneer, man of color who — even before the Civil War — owned a section of land in Highland Township. The Cemetery was built by him, on his land, for ‘his' people; no one but colored persons were ever buried there.
Most interments were purportedly slaves who'd been freed before the War. Interments began ~1855, before the Civil War, and continued until the 1890's, after the death of Worthington. Most of the white slab markers are buried in the ground and farmed over. Only a dozen or so remain above ground of the 50 or more original graves.
The land is currently owned by Ayeresville Water & Sewer.

LOCATION: 1/4-mile east of State Route 15 on a mud road, 2 miles south of the city limits of Defiance, Ohio; in Section 7 of Highland Township; 40 rods back off the mud road to the north, almost in the center of a wheat field.

The cemetery is located in Highland Township, Defiance County, Ohio, and is # 2832 (African American Cemetery / Worthington Cemetery) in "Ohio Cemeteries 1803-2003", compiled by the Ohio Genealogical Society.



An 1866 county plat map shows that A. Worthington owned the SE quadrant of Section 17 in Highland Township. The cemetery map location is approximate.










Nearby cemeteries

Myers Cemetery

Highland Township, Defiance County, Ohio, USA

  • 467
  • 88%
  • 13%
0.7 mi
Hale-Wellman Cemetery

Ayersville, Defiance County, Ohio, USA

  • 5
  • 60%
  • 0%
1 mi
Taylor Cemetery

Defiance Township, Defiance County, Ohio, USA

  • 157
  • 76%
  • 31%
1.6 mi
Hoeltzel-Moon Cemetery

Ayersville, Defiance County, Ohio, USA

  • 9
  • 78%
  • 0%
1.8 mi
  • Added: 14 May 2019
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2684953