Grave undertaking
HARMONY — The borough's historic preservation group has launched a fundraising campaign for upkeep and long-needed repairs at the Harmony Mennonite cemetery.
Historic Harmony, which operates the Harmony Museum and has been the caretakers of the cemetery since the mid-1970s, is establishing a fund to support the ongoing care of the cemetery and the Harmony Mennonite meetinghouse, both on Wise Road.
Kathy Luek, Harmony Museum administrator, said few people were buried in the cemetery after the 1900s, which makes it difficult to find descendants who traditionally help with the upkeep of their family's plots.
The group hopes a fundraising campaign will encourage more of the descendants of Harmony's 19th century Mennonites and others to help preserve the cemetery grounds and its grave markers.
"It would be nice if we could find more descendants," she said.
John Ruch, president of Historic Harmony, said maintenance of the cemetery has been a challenge. Because of the proximity of the headstones and their fragile nature, the lawn cannot be mowed easily or quickly by volunteers charged with the task.
Ruch pointed out that for several years, Historic Harmony contracted with a landscaping company to do the lawn care at the cemetery. However, the group could not afford to continue the services when annual costs began to rise.
"While there's been no local congregation for more than a century, many people throughout Butler County, northern Beaver County and far beyond the area count the Harmony Mennonites among their ancestors," Ruch said. "We hope they and of course anyone who is interested in preserving this important historical site will help us build a fund to assure continued proper care for this historic cemetery.
"It is the most difficult of our protected properties to maintain, and unfortunately we've never had the benefit of a dedicated fund for its maintenance."
Ruch said donations by local descendants in the 1900s paid for the repair or replacement of markers on ancestors' graves, but many other markers remain in need of repair. In addition, Historic Harmony has done extensive meetinghouse restoration and maintenance and plans to continue that work.
The history of the cemetery is intertwined with the foundations of Harmony.
The borough was founded in 1804 by German Lutheran Separatists. When they moved to Indiana, their 9,000 acres were bought in 1815 by Abraham Ziegler of Lehigh County.
His and other Mennonite families including Boyer, Moyer, Rice, Schontz, Stauffer and Weisz/Wise, resettled the area.
They established a burial ground that year immediately north of Harmony and in 1825, erected the meetinghouse, the oldest Mennonite church west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Among those buried there are Ziegler, Harmony's second founder, as well as many members of his and other Mennonite families. Three of the congregation's bishops, John Boyer, Abraham Tinstman and Joseph Ziegler, Abraham's youngest son, also are buried in the cemetery.
Others interred there are veterans of the War of 1812 and Civil War, including gunsmith Charles Flowers.
The cemetery contains about 600 graves. Most date from the 19th century, although a number of burials occurred in the first third of the 20th century. Its most recent grave was in 1955.
The oldest marked grave is that of Solomon Funk, who died in September 1815.
The stone and brick meetinghouse was closed in 1902. Its congregation by then was in serious decline. Care of the site was later assumed by the Mennonite Memorial Church and Cemetery Association, a descendants group that ceased to exist after giving the property to Historic Harmony in 1977.
Contributions for the ongoing care, restoration and maintenance of the Harmony Mennonite cemetery and meetinghouse can be sent to Historic Harmony, c/o Mennonite Cemetery Fund, Box 524, Harmony, PA 16037. For more information, call the Harmony Museum at 724-452-7341.
