James O. Mara

James O. Mara (sometimes listed as James O'Mara) is buried at the cemetery of the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky, Ohio. While his tombstone states that his military unit was Company E of the 16th Kansas Infantry, Mr. Mara's Civil War Pension record, available at Ancestry Library Edition, lists his two Civil War units as Company B of the Second Battalion of the 18th U.S. Infantry, as well as Company E of the 16th Kansas Cavalry.

James O. Mara died at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home on December 26, 1917. He is buried at the Ohio Veterans Home Cemetery. Mr. Mara's obituary, which appeared in the December 27, 1917 issue of the Sandusky Register, reports that he was survived by four children. The article states that James O. Mara was known as "Buckskin Jim" by his comrades at the Veterans Home. It is said that a Native American gave that nickname to James O. Mara when he was a soldier in the western United States many years before.

Recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor Buried at Ohio Veterans Home Cemetery

Two United States Veterans who were the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor were laid to rest at the Ohio Veterans Home Cemetery. William Louis Carr received the China Relief Expedition Congressional Medal of Honor while he was serving as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Boxer Rebellion. Corporal Carr died on April 14, 1921.

James Jardine served in Company F, 53rd Ohio Infantry during the Civil War. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallant service at Vicksburg, Mississippi on May 22, 1863. First Lieutenant Jardine died on December 9, 1922.

A road on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home Cemetery was named in honor of First Lieutenant James Jardine.

Click here to read more about the Ohio Veterans Home in Erie County, Ohio.

Jefferson Riggs

Jefferson Riggs was born in 1846 in Belmont County, Ohio. He served with Company H of the Third West Virginia Cavalry during the Civil War. In 1919, he was residing at the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Grant County, Indiana.














By 1924, Jefferson Riggs was residing at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home in Sandusky, Ohio. He died in Sandusky on June 2, 1924, and is buried in the cemetery at what is now known as the Ohio Veterans Home.

Sundial Presented to the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home in 1933

On September 3, 1933, the Wormen's Relief Corps, McMeens Post No. 48, presented a sundial to the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home as a part of the Home's Golden Jubilee Celebration. At the presentation, Rev. A. J. Funnell of the First Presentation gave the invocation. Miss Etta Mehling sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Speeches were given by Commandant Perry Null, Wilber Phillips, and Major E.T. Thorson. Mrs. Perry Null spoke about "The Significance of Time."

The base of the sundial has an inscription that reads:

Presented by
McMeens Corps No. Forty Eight
Womens Relief Corps
In Grateful Remembrance
To the Grand Army of the Republic
Upon This Our Golden Jubilee
Nineteen Thirty Three

Around the sundial are the words:

Hours Fly
Flowers Die
New Days, New Ways Pass By
Love Stays

The Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, now known as the Ohio Veterans Home, has been home to thousands of honorably discharged United States Veterans since 1888. Also on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home is a cemetery which serves as the final resting place for many men and women who served our country through military service.

Civil War Encampment at Ohio Veterans Home

Now known as the Ohio Veterans Home, the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home welcomed its first seventeen Civil War Veterans on November 19, 1888. An article at Ohio History Central states that by 2005 more than fifty thousand veterans had been residents of the Home. Virtually everyone in Erie County, Ohio has known either a resident, employee, or volunteer at this outstanding facility.

During the weekend of June 15-17, 2012, a Civil War Encampment took place on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home. Re-enactors from both the South and North took part in this event. Pictured below are re-enactors representing the First Ohio Artillery.

















These two gentlemen portrayed soldiers from Taylor's Battery, Co. C, from Virginia.






















Our grandsons were a bit intimidated when an Officer from the 128th Ohio Infantry asked them to enlist!






















Even President Lincoln made an appearance.






















The Heritage Minstrels played "Dixie" so very well!

















The ladies of the Thomas Neill Women's Relief Corps have been active in events which honor Veterans for decades. Thank you ladies for your many years of service to Erie County Ohio's Veterans!

Veterans Monument at North Monroeville Cemetery

This monument at the North Monroeville Cemetery honors those who served in the United States Armed Forces during several wars.

Soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War are: Asaph Cook, Ephram Fish, Joseph Cook, and Benjamin Drake.

Those who served in the War of 1812 are: Charles L. Cook, John Hoyt, John Fish, Willard Jefferson, and Chauncey Cook.

Veterans of the Civil War include: Judson Willard, Harness Conyer, Fred Jefferson, Thomas Earl, Norman Gregory, George Young, George Lamoreux, John F. Miller, Newell B. Salisbury, Benjamin F. Drake, Henry Smith, Daniel Webster, Henry Thompson, William B. Horton, Victor Monroe, James Fish, John Holly, Charles Stimson, Charles Skaden, John Pinder, William St. John, Benjamin Frooman, M.R. Pierce, Youngs Gregory, Herman Webster, and Michael Freumd.

Those who lost their lives in the Civil War are: Judson Willard, Harness Conyer, Henry Thompson, George Young, William E. Horton, Thomas Carl, Benjamin F. Drake, Fred Jeffereson, Jorn F. Miller, Newell ____, Norman ____, Daniel ____. Some other veterans' names appear on the monument, but are no longer legible.


Those who served in the Spanish American War: Nicholas Fleming. World War One Veterans include George Scheid, Richard Turner Hort, and George O, Mara. John Turner fought in World War Two.

Thank you to those who served their country!

Ohio Veterans Home Museum

A Museum and Library is housed in the Mack Building on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home, formerly known as the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. Separate rooms are devoted to Americans who served in wars from the Civil War to the present. Elias Laughlin is just one of the many thousands of Veterans who once resided at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. Elias Laughlin is buried in the Cemetery on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home.

During the month of December, the Ohio Veterans Home Museum has Christmas trees decorated from a variety of different historical time frames.

Hundreds of historical photographs, documents, and military weapons and other memorabilia can be seen throughout the Ohio Veterans Home Museum. Admittance to the museum is free, and hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday through Wednesday.

Click here to view a brochure about the Ohio Veterans Home Museum.

Cemetery at Ohio Veterans Home to Obtain Improvements

Click here to read a news article from the Sandusky Register, which discusses upcoming improvements to be made at the Cemetery at the Ohio Veterans Home.

Over four thousand United States Veterans are buried at the Ohio Veterans Home, which used to be known as the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. Read about the history of the Ohio Veterans Home at Ohio History Central, an online encyclopedia of Ohio History.

I. F. Mack

Isaac F. Mack was the longtime editor of the Sandusky Register, having been associated with the newspaper from 1869 until 1909. He was a Civil War Veteran, and was very influential in securing Erie County as the location for the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home, now the Ohio Veterans Home.


In 1892 Mack was elected Commander of the Ohio Department of the Grand Army of the Republic. Isaac F. Mack was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.




Mr. Mack was very opinionated, and expressed his views often in his newspaper. Charles E. Frohman wrote a biography of I. F. Mack entitled SANDUSY’S EDITOR. I. F. Mack died in April 1912, and he is buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

Ohio Veterans Home Cemetery

There is a large cemetery on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky, Ohio. The facility was formerly known as the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. The institution was built between 1886 and 1887, primarily as a result of the members of the G.A.R.'s concern for the well being of Ohio's aging Civil War veterans. On November 19, 1888, the first seventeen residents arrived at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home; all were Civil War veterans. Originally, the home provided the veterans with housing and food services. Beginning in 1950, the Home began providing nursing home care as well.

Honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who served the U.S. government in any of its wars and reside in the state of Ohio qualify for admission to the home. Fees for residents of the Ohio Veterans Home are based on income. In 2003 a second Ohio Veterans Home was opened in Georgetown, Ohio. Both facilities are run by the Ohio Veterans Home Agency.

A search of the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System retrieved the name of Royal W. Lane who served in Co. B. of the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.












Edwin T. Thorson served as a sergeant in the 15th Minnesota Infantry during the Spanish American War.



















Several photographs of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, taken by Ernst Niebergall, are available to view at Lake Erie's Yesterdays. Death records of the veterans who died at the Ohio Veterans' Home between 1889 and 1983 are available at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library.

As I viewed the hundreds of tombstones which represent the lives of so many who served our country, I was filled with gratitude for the sacrifices of the men and women of our Armed Forces.