OTTAWA COUNTY — All 88 counties in Ohio are participating in a massive history project that will help all of us learn about the people who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Ohio was not one of the original 13 colonies during the Revolutionary War, but it was the site of battles and became home to many veterans in the years after they served.
Now, there's a push to find where those veterans are all buried.
It's believed there are around 7,000 veterans from the Revolutionary War buried in Ohio.
Todd Kleismit is the executive director for America 250 Ohio. The organization is working to learn as much as it can about these veterans before the nation's 250th anniversary next year, and he believes most of the help can come from Ohioans.
“We are asking for the public who is interested in helping make contributions to this effort. We know that there are 1700 cemeteries around the state that are known to have at least one American Revolutionary War veteran there. Many of them at the time of their service in the American Revolution they were teenagers, and then they ended up in Ohio some years later. So, there's some interesting stories there with those veterans,” said Kleismit.
People can input information about where the Revolutionary War veteran is buried and any additional facts about their lives into the America 250 database, located on their website.
“To have people throughout the state come and see where they are and have a digital map where they can come up and take a look at all of these individuals is powerful,” said Ottawa County Historical Society Vice President, Linda Huber.
In Ottawa County, they have already been able to locate five Revolutionary War veterans, including Benajah Wolcott, who enlisted at the age of 14. Wolcott would go on to be appointed by former president James Monroe as the Marblehead lighthouse's first lighthouse keeper in 1822.
Just a few minutes away from his home is his final resting place that holds decades of history waiting to be shared.
“We're going to learn a lot more about these veterans and their stories, so that's really the point of all of this. It’s not to simply add names and information to a database, but to really give life to these veterans,” said Kleismit.
