A cairn-like monument

cairn n. a heap of stones piled up as a memorial or as a landmark

Next to a large maple tree in the back corner of Woodhill Cemetery stands a monument made to look like a pile of stones with a flaming urn on top.

It is not a cairn, but that is what I see when I look at it.

Whatever you see, the monument is an impressive memorial to the family of John N. C. Schenck (b. 1778, d. 1867), the first postmaster of Franklin, Ohio.

J. N. C. SCHENCK,
BORN
JAN. 24, 1778;
DIED
OCT. 26, 1867

SARAH T.
WIFE OF
J. N. C. SCHENCK;
BORN
AUG. 21, 1787;
DIED
JAN. 28, 1842.
Sharing the monument with John and Sarah are several of their children, their inscriptions carved into several of the monument’s “stones.”

 

According to The Historical Marker Database, www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=26549,

John Noble Cumming Schenck, older brother of one of the founders of Franklin, William C. Schenck, established a store here in 1802. In 1805 President Thomas Jefferson appointed John Schenck postmaster of Franklin, a position he held until 1829. Schenck’s store is considered Franklin’s first post office and was one of the first four in Warren County.

Woodhill Cemetery, Warren County, Ohio