Is Michael Grubaugh (1752-1844) your ancestor? If you are related in any way to Grubaughs, Crobaughs, or Crubaughs, then Michael Grubaugh is your ancestor.

This fund raiser is to reimburse cemetery preservationist, Ronny Echelberger, for his materials and fantastic work restoring and preserving the grave markers of Michael Grubaugh, his second wife, Susanna, and their great grandson, William Kearns, who died at age seven. They are all buried at Bunker Hill Cemetery in Richland County, Ohio, near Butler.

Michael Grubaugh is my 5th great grandfather. The stones pictured on Findagrave.com looked very dirty, and I asked Ronny if he could clean them. He discovered that the stones were flat on the ground and had damage on the top corners, probably from the cemetery lawnmower. The tablets should sit in slotted rectangular base stones that hold them upright. The base for Michael’s tablet was in many pieces, and Susanna’s base was broken but repairable. Ronny worked his magic and cobbled together the stones for Michael’s base which he glued and mortared together (last picture). He repaired Susanna’s base, then cleaned the tablets and reinserted them into their bases on a bed of gravel. They look great!

He then discovered the badly damaged stone for William Kearns, also flat on the ground partially buried, beside the Grubaughs. The top was broken off in its base. Why was he buried here?

Some research in my Grubaugh family tree showed that William was the son of John and Margaret Grubaugh Kearns. Margaret was the daughter of George Grubaugh (Michael’s first son) and his second wife, Sally Friend, from Jefferson County, Ohio. William is the great grandson of Michael. William appears as a three-year-old with his family (shown as “Carnes”) on the 1850 census for Worthington Township, Richland County, Ohio. The dates on the stone are hard to read, but we believe they list a death date of 27 Jan 1855 which gives a calculated birthdate of 11 May 1847. Ronny pieced together the fragments of stone, glued and mortared them together and placed the stone in its base beside the Grubaughs.

The cover picture shows the completed work. All three stones now stand proud, honoring our rugged pioneer ancestors.

Please contribute to this fund to reimburse Ronny for his materials and many hours of hard work. Any donation will be greatly appreciated and will be given to him! Thank you.