Woodlawn Cemetery - Lima Ohio

11/27/2025

11/20/2025

The mausoleum which serves the Maire family is symmetrical, with the end containing the entrance serving the Maire family, and the windowed north end the Grosjeans. The Maire brothers, Edward and Frank, came to Lima to develop oil interests, bringing with them sisters Julia and Frances. Frances was an artist and Julia a philanthropist. Edward was part of Maire Bros. Oil. Frank was president of the Old National City Bank and had an interest in the Lima Cord, Sole, & Heel Co. Maire Bros. were owners of the Faurot Opera House building, which they had purchased from John D. Rockefeller. Julia died in 1917, Edward in 1927, and Frank in 1938. Pearl (Grosjean) Maire, who had continued Julia's interest in the YWCA, survived until 1958.

11/13/2025

John R. Hughes was a dealer in stoves, furniture and china, as well as Civil War mayor of Lima and one of the incorporators of Woodlawn Cemetery. He built the home at 649 W. Market Street that for many years housed the YWCA. Hughes' first wife, Elizabeth S. Wilcox, died in 1854. Five years later, he married Sarah Ellen Carpenter. Their first child, daughter Laura, was born in 1864 and lived only two months. She wsa named after Sarah's sister, Laura Emily, who was a missionary in china. The child was buried in the Old Lima Cemetery, as was her namesake two years later. The monument on the Hughes family plot at Woodlawn is a tall, narrow shaft. One side is inscribed with a memorial to the missionary: "She being dead, yet she speaks." Mrs. Hughes died in 1905 and her husband in 1921. Also on the site is the family of their daughter Gertrude and her husband, William A. Walter, who had been with the Standard Oil Company and had lived in Rumania, Burma, and in Indian in the early 1900s. Their other Hughes daughter, Florence, was the mother of Ellen (Mead) MacDonell, wife of James A. MacDonell, long-time president of the Allen County Museum and Historical Society.

11/06/2025

Fred C. Herold at one time operated the Shook-Mosier Laundry, and later in his life was a mail carrier. His mausoleum is of classical design. His wife, Addie M. (Koch) Herold, preceded him in death in 1918. Mr. Herold died in 1954.

10/30/2025

The Cunningham family goes back to the beginning of Lima, settling here in January, 1831. William was Lima's first doctor. William and his wife Anna's son, Theodore E. "Doan" Cunningham was a well-known attorney in Lima. His son, "Lou" Cunningham, was manager of the Faurot Opera House in its heyday. William died of typhoid in 1842. Doan died in 1889. Lou survived until 1926. A simple monument adorns their family plot. William and Anna rest in the Old Lima Cemetery section of Woodlawn.

10/27/2025

https://www.hometownstations.com/news/allen_county/runners-race-through-woodlawn-cemetery-for-kiwanis-club-s-howl-oween-trick-or-trot/article_c653989c-a504-4540-b25b-6dc1b600fc00.html

The Lima Kiwanis Club’s annual Howl’oween Trick or Trot brought runners, costumes, and community spirit together to raise funds for local student programs and scholarships.

10/23/2025

James E. Grosjean was a colorful resident of Lima. He had many talents. Grosjean was a funeral director, taxidermist, woodcarver, owner of a shoe store, inventor of cord soles and heels which he also manufactured, and creator of "Noah's Ark" and other unique bird and animal exhibits at the Allen County Museum and Historical Society. His daughter Pearl married oil man Frank Maire. Both Mr. Grosjean and Mr. Maire died in 1938 and were entombed in this mausoleum, which serves both the Grosjean and Maire families.

10/16/2025

Branson P. Holmes, Sr. was the founder of a much-honored Lima family. He died in 1870 and was first buried at the Old Lima Cemetery. Later, his remains, along with his conventional obelisk marker, were removed to the present Holmes plot. Here, too, we find the graves of his grandson, (Branson) Harley Holmes, an attorney licensed to practice in New York and Ohio, and perhaps better known as a musician. Harley was a violinist with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and a local violin instructor as well. Harley's wife, Helen Hope (Burton) Holmes, was also well known on the musical scene and was a colorful figure. He died in 1977 and she in 1976.

10/02/2025

The Cory family interests were in real estate and the Metropolitan Bank (when it was the Metropolitan Block on the corner of Main and North Streets), although when they first came to town, their connections were railroading, as master mechanics, and with the Solar Refinery. Charles H. Cory had been a machinist (d. 1928), and his wife was Mary (Young) Cory. Their family plot is in the older portion of Woodlawn Cemetery. Their children: Charles H., Jr., Lewis, Fred, and James M., and wives rest there with them, along with James' son, Frank L. His other son, Charles H. (d 1976) lies in the old mausoleum with his uncle and aunt.

09/25/2025

The Mackenzie family was associated traditionally with law, real estate and banking. William Holmes Mackenzie was one of the younger members of the family. At his untimely death in 1932, a classical mausoleum was built to contain the crypts for members of the family, which would include himself, wife Edith (Finley) and members of the family of his daughter, Mary F., who married Judson R. Edwards in 1945. The earlier generations of the Mackenzie family are buried elsewhere in Woodlawn Cemetery.

07/31/2025

J.D.S. Neely was one of the Pennsylvania oil men who came to drill for Lima's oil in 1885 and stayed on. He built the mansion at 620 W. Spring Street which much later became the Senior Citizens' Center. He was also president of the Lima Trust Co. in 1911. While on business in Oklahoma, he was shot and killed. An impressive granite monument marks his grave and that of his wife, Elizabeth (Yingling) Neely.