Historic Columbia Cemetery- Topic of Discussion

Driving through the heart of historic Columbia Pennsylvania one can’t miss the Mount Bethel cemetery.   While Columbia has 25 other cemeteries Mount Bethel is one of the bigger ones covering 10 acres with over ten thousand interments that represent the rich and diverse history of the Columbia area such as several members of the Wright family as well as Lloyd Mifflin, Sam Blunston, and Robert Barbor. A more recent burial was that of the famed Lancaster historian and author, Jack W.W. Loose. Mount Bethel cemetery dates back to the 1720’s before the formal creation of the Borough by Samuel Wright in 1788. It is the oldest burial ground in continual use in the Columbia area. It also contains more than 600 veteran’s graves from every conflict from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam including 24 African-American veterans of the Civil War. A couple of notable veterans were Thomas Boude who served as a Major in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later became a US Congressman and also Thomas Welsh who was a Civil War Union Brigadier General.

Genealogy has become more popular with TV shows such as the PBS series “Finding Your Roots” Before the internet, genealogy study meant spending countless hours in historical societies, courthouse achieves, cemeteries and libraries sifting through records searching for information. With the advent of the internet and such websites as Ancestry.com and Find A Grave.com , genealogy research can now be done from the comforts of home. But how does all this information get on the internet? It’s done by researchers such as Ron Mable who converts all that information into searchable data bases that can be shared with others over the internet.

As a child Ron Mable grew up near the Mount Bethel cemetery and by watching the men who worked in the cemetery he learned a respect for maintaining cemeteries. Ron is now a Board Member and Superintendent of Mount Bethel cemetery and also helps with the Locust Street cemetery. Ron graduated from Columbia Junior/Senior High School in 1953 and later became a teacher and retired as principal of Lancaster’s Wheatland Middle School in 1992.   Ron does volunteer work throughout the year but since 1998 he spends his winters in Florida where he also does volunteer work. Mary Ellen Wright, Correspondent TownNews.comwith Lancaster Newspapers did an article on Ron Mable in 2012 where he revealed his life’s interest and his love of history.

Grave Concern is a Lancaster based non-profit organization that promotes cemetery preservation. Each year they host four free public meetings to provide information on various cemetery and history related topics. In the past year they had speakers talking about the Underground Railroad in Columbia and also the historical cemeteries of Marietta and Lancaster.

On November 19^th Grave Concern will be hosting Ron Mable giving a public presentation on the work he has done with the Mount Bethel cemetery.   The meeting will be held at the Lancaster County Mennonite Historical Society starting at 7:00 PM.

To learn more about Mount Bethel cemetery please visit their website at www.mtbethelcemetery.com