Chester Grave Hunters Pay Tribute to Revolutionary War Soldiers
Chester Township resident George Zehnder has spent the past four years raising history from the grave.
Chester Township resident George Zehnder has spent the past four years raising history from the grave.
The retired pastor and Vietnam War veteran founded the Chester Grave Hunters, a group of people who share stories of Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Chester Township’s cemeteries.
“The idea is to get, basically, get the story out of who’s buried in our cemeteries,” Zehnder said in a May 20 interview.
Zehnder did not know much about the history of the eight Revolutionary War soldiers who are buried in Chester until he read, “The Raccoon Brigade: Soldiers of the Revolution in Geauga County,” by the late local historian and genealogist Jeannette Grosvenor.
Her book inspired him to create the Chester Grave Hunters group.
“I came up with (the name),” Zehnder said. “It sounds sort of exciting — grave hunters — because we do have to hunt them.”
The group, currently comprising about eight people, began with them sharing stories about the Revolutionary War soldiers in Chester and adding signs around their tombstones, he said, adding last year, they began cleaning the tombstones, as well.
“We meet together and we clean tombstones, so we are a little weird, I guess, at that point,” he quipped.
Last summer, Jon Appell, of Atlas Preservation in Connecticut, provided a clinic for the grave hunters on how to restore old tombstones with a special cleaning solution called D/2 Headstone Cleaner, which costs about $45.95 per gallon.
“Now, my goal is trying to get the township to start putting some money into refurbishing these stones,” Zehnder said, adding while the gravestones are the property of the soldiers’ family members, many do not have much family left.
To clean the stones, you have to apply the D/2 cleaner, specifically on a day where it’s expected to rain a few days later, and then let it sit, he said.
In some cases, mold and other debris have to be scraped off carefully. It can take anywhere from a week to a month for the D/2 to work, Zehnder said.
He believes it’s important to showcase the stories of people who may not necessarily be prominent historical figures.
“We always talk here about Thomas Jefferson or George Washington, Patrick Henry and all these people, but sometimes, (it’s the stories) of the people at the lower ground I can relate to,” he said. “That’s what Memorial Day is about, the guys who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
Zehnder is hoping to coordinate the Toledo Air National Guard to fly over Chester with an F-16 fighter jet Monday at 10 a.m. for Memorial Day celebrations.
“We’re trying to tell the story of these soldiers and also … letting their tombstones do the talking,” he said. “We want their stories out so people can understand, so a cemetery is not just some scary place to go, but it’s really about history.”
