By Patrick Crowley
A group of Cincinnati pastors and ministers are working to identify family members who have or may have loved ones buried at the historic African American burial site in Madisonville.
As part of an effort to restore the cemetery, the pastors are inviting family members to the cemetery this Saturday, Nov. 25, from 10 a.m. to noon to learn more about the restoration effort and to potentially find gravestones or markers of their loved ones.
The goal of the event is to help an effort to build a census of those buried on the historic site.
Founded in 1883, the cemetery includes many graves moved from an earlier cemetery in Avondale, including a tombstone from as far back as 1832. The grounds were laid out by prominent landscape architect Adolph Strauch, who also designed Spring Grove Cemetery.
Union American Cemetery is the resting place of Underground Railroad figures as well as writers, politicians, businesspeople, artists, Civil Rights leaders, and many military veterans, including at least 55 African American veterans of the Civil War.
The cemetery was founded by the United Colored American Association, but by 1968, the original cemetery association no longer existed. At the request of Councilman Charles P. Taft, ownership was transferred to the Union Baptist Church.
Churches involved in the effort include:
鈥 Union Baptist.
鈥 New Mission Missionary Baptist Church.
鈥 Greater Liberty Missionary Baptist Church.
鈥 Gaines United Methodist Church.
鈥 First Baptist Church of Oakley.
鈥 Trinity Missionary Baptist Church.
United American Cemetery is located at 4732 Duck Creek Rd., Cincinnati, 45227.