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by Ed Spannaus

After visiting Nancy's mother in Cincinnati a few weeks ago, we took a slight detour on the way back to go through Preble and Darke Counties. I had grabbed some of the materials from Faith and Aunt Sis before leaving, so I had some idea where to look for cemeteries. We found the following, all within a fairly close radius around Greenville in Darke County.

Hillgrove Cemetery -- this is along Route 571, almost to Union City (OH,IN). Without much effort, we found a big "Loy" headstone, and individual markers for Michael Loy (1827-1916) and Abigail (1824?-1893). Michael Loy's marker does not reflect his Civil War service, but the markers are immediately in front of a marker for "W. L. Lambert, 152 OVI, Co. D" -- the 152d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company D, in which Michael Loy also served.

Teegarten Cemetery, Ansonia -- this is reached by following Rt. 47 north and east; the cemetery is reached before town of Ansonia. On the left side of the Congregational Church, Loy and Wise markers are prominent. There is a marker for Isaac N. Loy (1849-1932)
(son of Michael Loy), and for his second wife, Ida C. (1873-1948). Nearby is a marker for Solomon D. Hart -- written up in Faith's recent "Descendants of Michael Loy and Abigail Evans Loy."

Greenlawn Cemetery, Versailles -- this is reached by continuing along Rt. 47 east. Faith's writeup says that Matilda Ann Stuck (Isaac Loy's first wife), and Bertha Abigail Loy (her daugher, and wife of George Franklin Wise) are buried here side by side. We were unable to find their markers; this is a large cemetery, and probably with more time, they could be located.

Stelvideo Cemetery -- this is between Versailles and Greenville, about a quarter-mile off of Rt 121. We found it sort of by guesswork, looking at an 1875 plat that Faith had passed along. Here we found the markers for Benjamin L. Wise (1843-1902) and his wife
Anna Marie Coppess (1849-1895). I don't think that Benjamin's marker reflects his Civil War service, although he served in the 40th OVI. Their markers are next to markers for Josiah Coppess and family.

After this, we went back to Greenville and quickly toured the Garst Museum of the Darke County Historical Society. It is quite impressive, with recreations of storefronts and businesses of the 19th century, plus of course an Annie Oakley room. She was raised just north of Greenville, possibly closer to Ansonia. (Her mother, of course, was a Wise.)

So that was our quickie tour of Darke County.