Joseph and Sarah Curtis Hall came to East Rockport from Chatteris, England in the 1830s and settled in a stone house on Detroit Avenue at Marlowe. They were originally buried in Wagar Cemetery, where this photograph was taken in 1930. The gravestones that exist from the Wagar Cemetery are gentle reminders of not only the hardships of pioneer life, but also the lost art of stone cutting. Unfortunately, not many stones remain. The movement to preserve the cemetery in the 1920s ended in a dispute between the Wagar descendants and the city of Lakewood. Since no agreement could be reached on the potential "fate" of the burial site, the graves and markers slowly made their way into obscurity amid the surrounding flora and silently served as a backdrop to neighborhood diners, billboards, and a sandbank. This stone, belonging to Joseph Hall is one of the few remaining stones now resting (without their owner's bodies) in an herb garden behind the Lakewood Historical Society in Lakewood Park. | Date: 1930 | Source: Cleveland State Library Special CollectionsDownload Original File
