History contributed by Mrs. Janet Senne, November, 2006.
The first cemetery in the township was established in 1817 when Elizabeth, the daughter of John and Mary Beatty, died at the age of eighteen. This was two years after the Beatty family had settled in the township. This cemetery, which was located on the north end of their property which later was marked by the large stone house just east of the corner of Milan and Bogart Roads, was used by other families from the “Yankee Settlement” as that area and Taylor Road was known.
It was called the Old Stone Place Cemetery.
In 1830 the Methodist Episcopal Church was built at the crossing of Taylor Road and Columbus Avenue and a cemetery was established behind it to the west of Columbus Avenue which became Perkins Cemetery. This church burned and was replaced by the large brick church in 1854 on the opposite corner.
There were other cemeteries on family farms, particularly on Campbell Street south of Bogart where the German families settled. Some still there belonged to the Baum and Fischer families and one north of the Route 2 Bypass is the Wittmer plot. A Knauer cemetery was near Route 4.
In 1854, the Jewish population of the area formed a congregation, chose a place to worship and bought land for a cemetery. This is between Woodlawn and DeWitt Avenues and opens to Columbus Avenue. When the County Infirmary was founded on Columbus Avenue in 1855, a cemetery was established, also between DeWitt and Woodlawn. It was fenced and monument erected in 1998.
The cemetery by the church served the township until 1941, when the United States government bought 9000 acres of township land and established the Plum Brook Ordinance Works. The Trojan Power Works was brought in and the area declared off-limits to the public. Therefore the cemetery had to be removed.
The original Stone House area was not used because over the years of neglect and removal of stones it was impossible to know which plots were available. The Beatty family had all been removed to Oakland Cemetery in 1894. A road was left along this area and the new cemetery developed to the south. An area was set aside for the burial of veterans. Pine trees were planted along the roads, a maintenance building was built and in 1947 a road was opened to Milan Road.
In 1992 a tornado went through Perkins Township and the cemetery and destroyed all the trees and the building. The Lutheran Brotherhood donated eight pear trees to be planted along the main road and the shed was rebuilt. The township put trees along the other drives and throughout the cemetery. Services are held at the cemetery each Memorial Day.
In 2003, an Ohio Historical Marker was placed at the entrance to the cemetery telling its story thanks to a senior project by a Huron High School student and the sponsorship of Friends of Perkins Cemetery and the Ohio Historical Society.
The township trustees decided to purchase the land to the south of the Old Stone Place Cemetery which could be reached by Beatty Lane from Bogart Road. It was a sad Memorial Day observance when the families visited their loved ones in the cemetery for the last time. After the gate clanged closed behind them, the firm from Fremont who had been hired to move the bodies went to work. There were 460 graves to be moved. The bodies were disinterred and reburied in the same order they had been before, but by some error, they were placed opposite hand – southwest was northeast etc.
