Our Historical Society's 15 Minutes of Fame! Bentleyville Historical Society looking for assistance with mysterious graveyard

Bentleyville Mayor Tim Jansante, Bentleyville Area Historical Society Vice President Randi Marodi & President Connie Gettings

Bentleyville has roots that go all the way back to 1777 when founder Sheshbazzar Bentley purchased 1,077 acres on Pigeon Creek to build a mill.

To start a village, Bentley rented, in 1790, 26 lots near the mill, located where Fox’s Pizza stands today. But it wasn’t until 1816 that his son, also named Sheshbazzar, established a village known initially as Bentleysville (sic).

Since then, numerous generations of residents have come and gone, often leaving gaps in the historical record and questions that continue to baffle the local historical society.

One such question concerns a small plot of land along Main Street in the middle of town that many current residents know little about. It’s a small plot of land currently confounding the Bentleyville Area Historical Society members, including that of the town’s mayor, Tim Jansante.

The issue came to light when, in the mid-1990s, society vice-president, Randi Ross Marodi, found a copy of Caldwell’s Atlas of 1876 that included a map of Bentleyville that listed a cemetery near the Methodist Church at 614 Main St. Ironically, it was located near Sheshbazzar Bentley’s original homestead at 607-613 Main St., which remains to this day, though somewhat altered in appearance.

“When I asked around, no one seemed to know anything about a cemetery located in the middle of town,” Marodi wrote on her blog mountainlaurelandcoal.blogspot.com. “When I finally talked to someone who knew about it, they dismissed it by saying it was probably for ‘paupers.’”

“I thought the cemetery had been paved over or something had been built on top of it, and this was upsetting, to say the least,” she continues. “I really didn’t know how to figure out what had happened to the cemetery, and, to be honest, I kind of forgot about it.”

Things changed last summer when Marodi and her daughter, Abby, attended an antique fair at the Wild Things Stadium parking lot in Washington and found another copy of Caldwell’s Atlas map of Bentleyville. She immediately bought it, took it home and saw the same cemetery location listed as before.

A few months ago, while taking her dog for a ride through town, she stopped by the Methodist Church to look around. It seemed to her that the cemetery should be located near the church, judging by the location identified on the map.

While exploring the area, one of the neighbors pointed her toward a small grassy area behind the dentist’s office at 614 Main St., the address identified as the cemetery location in Caldwell’s Atlas. The informant told Marodi the previous property owner told her about the cemetery, then showed her a rough-hewn stone that might be a grave marker at the site. Other than that, Marodi said there was nothing else there.

Mayor Tim Jansante and his daughter Brittany Brettell

“My research eventually led me to the Washington County Tax Claim office, where I discovered an unclaimed lot behind 614 Main St. in Bentleyville that’s listed as the Mitchell Cemetery,” she said. “In addition to being listed on the 1876 map, the cemetery was also listed on an 1888 deed of Isaac Mitchell. The tax assessor said the property is now an orphaned lot without a current deed, and Washington County is listed as the contact. He also suggested hiring a title searcher to determine ownership and said it’s likely an heir of Isaac Mitchell owns the property.”

After doing a quick search of the Mitchell family on Ancestry.com, Marodi couldn’t find any local Mitchells who might be the owners. She also discovered that most of the Mitchells related to Isaac are buried in Pigeon Creek Cemetery in nearby Somerset Township.

As the historical society’s vice president, Marodi took her findings to a meeting and discussed them with members.

“We are now actively looking for the owners of the cemetery and trying to find out who’s buried there,” she said. “Eventually, we would like to place a marker at the cemetery so it isn’t lost in time again. I also created a listing for the Mitchell Cemetery on Find A Grave, hoping that someone with a connection might find it there.”

The historical society hopes to find someone willing to do a title search on the property free of charge. The members are also looking for someone with archaeological experience and ground penetration radar equipment to determine if there are bodies there.

The society is requesting that anyone related to the Mitchells or who has information pertinent to the family or the cemetery come forward and share it with them.

“We’d like to know who might be buried there and if the bodies are still there or have been relocated,” Mayor Jansante said. “If we can determine that the property is a forgotten cemetery, we’d like to erect a sign to memorialize those buried there.”

To contact members of the society by email, go to tjansante@yahoo.com or randileeross@gmail.com.

Published Sept. 22, 2023 in the Observer-Reporter and written by David Zuchowski