Rockingham County Virginia Tombstones by Cemetery

CemeteryBlosser Family Cemetery
LocationDayton, Rockingham County, Virginia. From Harrisonburg take Route 42 South (John Wayland Highway) and travel approx. 2 miles. On the right side of the road you will see a sign "Sunny Slope" which is on the Charles Wampler property. Turn into his driveway & cemetery is located behind the house.
NotesIn a letter to Dr. John W. Wayland from Bishop L. J. Heatwole, he states "This was the first cemetery established & used by Mennonites in this part of Rockingham County." Notes in the "Remarks Column" were provided by Deb Wake & J. Robert Swank. In 1967 Mr. Swank noted "There are apparently a number of unmarked graves in this plot." "July 1944, Mr. Glenn W. Ruebush complied data on the Michael Whitmore family which indicates there are Whitmore's buried in this cemetery." In 1937 WPA (W. A. Byerly) noted "About the year 1752, a Mennonite family of Blossers, consisting of 4 or 5 brothers, came from Switzerland & located in Lancaster Co. PA. Some years later, a part of the family located near Stonyman in Page Co. VA. Still later, 4 brothers of the Page Co. family bought a large tract of land in Rockingham Co., the land, which consisted of several hundred acres, was purchased from the Whitmers & others & about 1818 the first Mennonite community, which still exists, was established in Rockingham Co. There being in this family an old bachelor, Abraham Blosser, & an old maid, Annie Blosser, who together owned a part of the land purchased; these 2 donated & established the theme of this story, the Blosser Graveyard, which was located on their farm. It is now owned by the Wamplers. The graveyard is cared for by the Blosser descendants. While it was donated by the Blossers, it was used as a community burying ground, and now contains about 75 graves among which are members of the Groves, Heatwoles, Suters, Dundores, Wengers and other families. In the northeast corner of the graveyard is the grave of Catharine M. Suter, wife of David Suter, & daughter of A. & S. Grove. She was buried March 19th, 1860, aged 23 years 6 months & 14 days. The first of April, 1934, some unknown person or persons made a partial excavation of this grave & a few days later, on Easter Sunday, or Sunday night, the excavation was continued to the bottom of the grave. The object of this foul deed, or the perpetrators of same, is a mystery unsolved, with no clue, except the finding of a new shovel which was left at the grave & a foreign car with Texas license having been seen several times in the vicinity about the same time of the above named occurrence. This story is authentic from the Blosser family close by, who made a written memorandum of this matter with dates, etc., & Mr. Jonas Blosser, who is the present caretaker, said that he refilled the grave himself. The grave was there to show for itself with the extra pile of dirt. This matter caused no little excitement in the community, and the incident was written up in the county paper. No clue or explanation has ever been found in the matter. In the northwest corner of the graveyard, lies the remains of an unknown tramp who was buried there many years ago; probably before the War Between the States. The tramp was passing through this section and stopped by a farm house for a drink of water, which was given him, and he became suddenly ill and died without any identification of any kind so he was given a permanent lodging in this graveyard. You can see from the inscriptions on the stones that as far back as 1835 the location of this graveyard is a part of the early history of Rockingham Co." In 2002 Deb Wake notes "Jonas (I) & wife Margaret had a son Jonas (II) who is buried in Weaver's Mennonite Church Cemetery. Son Jonas (II) was 15 at the time of the Civil War when Sheridan's army burned their house. He ran to the attic & brought out a crock of apple butter. The stone walls of the house remained and the house was rebuilt. In 1999, the barn was razed to make way for the Super WalMart on Route 42. The stone house remains."
Survey Date and Recorder1. 1937 2. 1967 3. 2002
1. WPA 2. J. Robert Swank 3. Deb Wake

Cemetery Index

Surname Index

Surnames are sorted by section / plot / row / grave - only sections and rows are shown

SectionRowSurnameGiven Name & MIBirth DateDeath DateHeadstone NotesRemarks
BlosserBenjamin4 Oct 2024Aged 1y 2m 10dNo visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967; s/David & Frances Funk Blosser
WengerJacob27 Apr 2024Aged 2y 11m 19dNo visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967
WengerPeter28 Oct 202417 Jun 2024No visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967
HeatwoleMartha19 Jul 2024Aged 1y 13dNo visible marker Feb. 2002; Recorded by WPA in 1937
001RoadcapDaniel16 Oct 2024Recorded by Deb Wake 2000 & WPA 1937; large flat limestone
001RoadcapFrances4 Sep 2024Recorded by Deb Wake 2002; large flat limestone
001RoadcapChristiana19 Nov 2024Recorded by Deb Wake 2000; large flat limestone
002HarrisRoberg G.18301881Fatherdouble stone
002HarrisJennie P.18301891Motherw/Roberg G.
002BlosserIsaac24 Aug 20248 Apr 2024c/Jacob & Minerva Blossernee Minerva Showalter
002BlosserRhoda A.30 Oct 20244 Jul 2024c/Jacob & Minerva Blossernee Minerva Showalter
002BlosserMargaret17 Apr 2024Aged 90y 6m 21d; w/Jonas & d/Bishop Peter & Elizabeth BurkholderMother nee Elizabeth Coffman
002BlosserJonas1 Mar 2025Aged 81y 7m 21ds/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser; b. 11 Jul 2024 in Page Co VA per Deb Wake
003BlosserAbraham5 Mar 20259 Sep 2024Aged 63y 6m 3d; consort of Sarahs/Jonas & Margaret Brurkholder Blosser
003BlosserIsaac26 Mar 202425 Oct 2024Aged 6m 30ds/Abraham & Sarah Brunk Blosser
003BlosserEli25 Nov 202421 Mar 2024Aged 1y 3m 26ds/Abraham & Sarah Brunk Blosser
003WengerEphriam9 Sep 202426 Jan 2025Aged 77y 4m 17ds/Rev. Benj & Ann May Mauck Wenger
003WengerSusannah1859In the 36th year of her lifenee Good
003WengerEphriam1 Jan 202516 Aug 2024Aged 5y 7m 15ds/Ephriam Wenger
003WengerSimeon18 Jan 202528 Jan 2025Aged 2y 10ms/Ephriam Wenger
003WengarBenjamin28 Apr 202426 Feb 2025Aged 83y 9m 26dReverend; recorded by WPA in 1937 & Deb Wake in 2000
003WengerAnn Mary15 Aug 202417 Dec 2024w/Rev. Benjamin; nee Mauck
003WengerBenjamin23 May 20249 Jul 2024Aged 69y 1m 16ds/Rev.Benj & Ann Mary Mauck Wenger
003WengerBarbara26 Jun 2024Aged 84y 22dw/Benj. Jr.; nee Blosser
003GroveDavid26 Mar 2024Aged 26y 1m 16d; s/A. & S. Groves/Abraham & Sophia Grace Showalter Grove
003RitchieHannah M.18 Aug 202431 Jan 2025Aged 38y 5m 13d; w/Benjamin F.
004DundoreElijah9 Sep 202427 May 2024Aged 68y 7m 18d
004KoontzSamuel20 Oct 2024Aged 32y 11m
004KoontzElizabeth18 Dec 2024Aged 27y 3m 15d; w/Samuel
004GroveSophia3 Dec 202419 Mar 2024Aged 73y 3m 16d; Mother; w/Abrahamd/Jacob & Sophia Saufley Showalter
004GroveAbraham5 Apr 2024Aged 54y 5m 3dh/Sophia
004SuterCatharine M.19 Mar 2024Aged 23y 6m 14d; consort of David & d/A. & S. Grove
005BlosserAbraham5 Apr 202411 Feb 2025Aged 85y 10m 9ds/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser
005BlosserAnna27 Oct 202416 Feb 2025Aged 78y 3m 20dd/Peter & Magdalene Baer Blosser
005BlosserMichael10 Mar 2024Aged 2yRoughly carved limestone rock; new marker for him placed in Row 007
005BlosserDavid14 Aug 2024Aged 17y 1m 17ds/Jonas & Margaret Burkholder Blosser
005BlosserSolomon25 Apr 2024Aged 9m 6dNo visible marker Feb. 2002 - recorded by Swank in 1967; s/Joseph & Susanna Blosser per Dr. John Wayland
006BlosserPeter7 Apr 2024Aged 83y 18dborn in York, PA; s/Peter & Barbara Blosser
006BlosserMagdalene10 Jul 2024Aged 92y 9mw/Peter; d/Blastius & Esther Bear
006BlosserJacob13 Oct 2024Aged 54y 11m 28ds/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser
006BlosserMagdalene19 Feb 2025Aged 74y 3m 4dw/Jacob; d/Bishop Henry & Anna Reiff Shank
006HeatwoleDavid8 Apr 2024In the 75th yr of his ages/Matheus & Miss Haas Heatwole h/Magdalene Weland Heatwole
006HeatwoleMagdalen23 Nov 2024In the 75th yr of her agew/David; nee Weland per Dr. John Wayland
006SuterAnna12 Mar 2024Aged 26y 7m 28dw/Daniel; d/David Heatwole
006HeatwoleNancy9 Feb 202527 Feb 2025c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole
006HeatwoleMary22 Jan 202519 Jan 2025c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole
006SwankMary ShowalterAbt 1768Aft 1837w/Jacob Swankd/Daniel & Margaret Saunders Showalter; stone erected 1967 by J. R. Swank
006HeatwoleGeorge M.7 Mar 2024Aged 3 hrsc/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole
006HeatwoleJohn P.11 Jul 2024Aged 9m 10dc/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole
007BlosserMichael10 Mar 2024Aged 2y 2m 17ds/Jonas & Marg. Burkholder Blosser; this is 2nd marker for Michael in Row 005
007BlosserSham26 Feb 2025Aged 5m 26ds/Jonas & Margaret Burkholder Blosser

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