Oak Bluff Cemetery in Berlin Township

Oak Bluff Cemetery is located in the northern portion of Berlin Township of Erie County, Ohio. Other names for this cemetery include "Ruggles Beach Cemetery" and "Cranberry Creek Cemetery." Just east of Oak Bluff Cemetery is Ruggles Beach, which used to be a summer resort area. Ruggles Beach was named for Almon Ruggles, an early resident of this region, and a surveyor of the Firelands.







An early burial at Oak Bluff Cemetery was an unknown soldier. According to Erie County Cemetery Records, compiled by Marjorie Loomis Cherry, when the sailor's body washed ashore in 1813, shortly after the Battle of Lake Erie, the sailor's remains were buried by Almon Ruggles. The original stone was replaced by the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the mid 1930's.





















To drive to Oak Bluff Cemetery, take U.S. Route 2 east. Exit at Route 61 and travel north. Turn right at Cleveland Road East. The Oak Bluff Cemetery is located on the left side of the road, just before the Cranberry Creek Marina. Lake Erie will be visible to the north of the cemetery.

Image from Google Maps.

Dr. Usher Parsons, Acting Surgeon During the Battle of Lake Erie

Dr. Usher Parsons was the Acting Surgeon aboard the Brig Niagara during the Battle of Lake Erie, which took place on September 10, 1813, during the War of 1812. Click here to read an account of how Dr. Parsons provided medical care to ninety-six wounded men aboard the Lawrence, Niagara, and another smaller vessel during the Battle of Lake Erie. In A TREATISE ON MILITARY SURGERY AND HYGIENE, by Frank Hastings Hamilton, published by the Baillière Brother in 1865, we read how Dr. Parsons managed men with compound and simple fractures, severe lacerations, and injuries which resulted in several amputations. There were only three deaths of the wounded men under Parsons' care. (Of course there were numerous battle casualties for both the British and United States during the Battle of Lake Erie.) You can read more about Dr. Usher Parsons at the Rhode Island Historical Society's website. Visit FindaGrave to view an image of the tombstone of Dr. Usher Parsons at the Swan Point Cemetery. Dr. Parsons died on December 19, 1868, after having lived a full life as a physician, historian, and genealogist.

Note: Image of Dr. Parsons from Wikipedia.

Unknown Sailor Buried at Oak Bluff Cemetery

The inscription on the tombstone of an unknown person buried along the shore of Lake Erie reads:

Unknown
U.S. Sailor
1813

In 1935, the U.S. Government provided a granite marker for this unknown sailor, buried at the Oak Bluff Cemetery, located between Huron and Vermilion, in Erie County, Ohio. In the mid 1930's, members of the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution researched several Veterans of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and were successful in obtaining grave markers for several Erie County veterans.

An article in the February 3, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that members of the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Ross Cherry and Mrs. George Doerzbach, met with Charles Ruggles, the son of Almon Ruggles, who was an early surveyor of the Firelands. Charles Ruggles said that on a fall day in 1813 his father was walking along the beach, when he came across the body of a man dressed in a United States naval uniform. Almon Ruggles was sure that the body was that of a man who had served with Commodore Perry in the recent Battle of Lake Erie. The elder Mr. Ruggles purchased a coffin for the sailor, and saw that a Christian burial service was held for the unknown man. The sailor was given a tombstone in 1813, but by 1935, only one letter was legible on the badly worn marker.

Later in the summer of 1935, the unknown sailor received the U.S. Government issued granite tombstone. This took place due to the efforts of the D.A.R. ladies, who according to the newspaper article worked with "indefatigable patriotic zeal."