New grave marker placed for local Civil War veteran

This new marker at Franklin Square Cemetery chronicles the Civil War service of John M. James of Leetonia. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

LEETONIA — A new grave marker at Franklin Square Cemetery this Memorial Day honors the service of Leetonia area Civil War veteran and Union infantry soldier John M. James — nearly 150 years after his death.

“He was kind of forgotten,” Salem Township Trustee Bill Heston said.

A veteran himself, serving with the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, Heston took on the project of securing the new grave marker for James. He oversees the four cemeteries that are the responsibility of the Salem Township trustees, so he’s very familiar with the graves.

“I always felt it was sad that he didn’t have a stone. You didn’t know what outfit he was from,” Heston explained.

The research journey to find the information necessary to apply for a new free military marker from the U.S. government for James took nearly two years. The grave for James was marked with a Civil War standard with his name on it to hold a flag, but his stone was small and broken and there was no information about his unit or rank.

Heston credited his discoveries about James to a lot of help from the volunteers at the Columbiana County Archives and Research Center in Lisbon and Veterans Service Officer Lance Ritchie of the Columbiana County Veterans Service Office in Lisbon.

As it turns out, there were many soldiers named John James from Ohio and Pennsylvania, making the search difficult, but not impossible. Heston shared the story about James that he was able to put together.

Born in 1834 in Wampum, Pennsylvania, James enlisted in the Union Army on March 20, 1863 and served until his discharge in 1866. He served in the infantry with the rank of private and during the war, his E5 company was stationed in the New Mexico Territory.

“When he came back from the war, he was living in Leetonia,” Heston said.

He had a wife, Kate, and a son named Robert and worked as a coal digger. He died on Feb. 28, 1875 from what was described as “hemm of lungs” and was buried at what’s now known as the Franklin Square Cemetery in Salem Township off of Salem Grange Road. There was a record that his wife applied for Widows of Union Benefits in 1890. He was only 41 when he passed.

Once his military information was confirmed, Ritchie was able to order the grave marker. The concrete base was purchased at Richardson Monuments and personnel from Salem Township installed the base and marker.

According to Heston, the cemetery serves as the final resting place for several Civil War veterans. At the McCracken Road cemetery, he said there’s a Revolutionary War veteran and one from the War of 1812. Other cemeteries cared for by the trustees include the Hart Cemetery on state Route 45 before what’s known as the ski slope between Salem and Lisbon and the Burger Cemetery on Lisbon-Canfield Road.

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