YOUNGSTOWN — An interest in local history led Boardman High School senior Jacob Reese to an unlikely place — Oak Hill Cemetery on the city’s South Side.

Reese, 19, is the newest and youngest member of the Oak Hill Cemetery Volunteer Research Team, which is headed by local historian and researcher Steffon Jones. He has been collecting data on prominent people buried at the cemetery since he joined a year ago and will continue with his research and survey work this spring and summer.

Reese said he has always been interested in history, especially of the Youngstown area and its people, events and buildings. He said one of his favorite classes at school is history.

“The cemeteries are interesting. Everyone buried there has an interesting story,” Reese said, noting people are buried there from as far back as the Revolutionary War.

He said gathering information and doing research on different people is like a full-time job.

Reese compiled information on Edith Morgan and John Orr, who are both buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. He said Orr was a wounded Civil War veteran, carpenter and funeral director. As a carpenter, he made many of the coffins for people buried at the cemetery and also was the embalmer.

Reese said Morgan worked with Dr. Crile, who started the Cleveland Clinic. She also took volunteers to work in Europe and met the king and queen of England.

The information Reese compiled will be placed in cabinets in a history room at the cemetery superintendent’s office / chapel at Oak Hill. Information compiled by the research team is placed there for the public to view.

The cabinets contain more than 13 binders on different people. Reese also has started gathering information on John “Bonesetter” Reese, who was a chiropractor.

“I was at the cemetery and saw the marker and wondered if he was related to me. I wanted to find more details about him,” he said.

Reese said he learned that “Bonesetter” Reese helped baseball players such as Ty Cobb.

Paul Reese, Jacob’s father, also is part of the research team.

“These are people who did something that added value to Youngstown. We are trying to document as many people at the cemetery as we can. It is a long process. There are more than 25,000 people at the cemetery,” Paul Reese said.

The father and son have ventured to many cemeteries nationwide to see where past presidents are buried, including Theodore Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

RESEARCH TEAM

Jones said the Oak Hill Cemetery Volunteer Research Team began in June 1995. He said he and Bill Broadhead started by gathering information on veterans buried at the cemetery and placing flags on their markers.

“We have been around for almost 29 years and have worked with various superintendents at the cemetery,”Jones said, noting they work with current superintendent Rich Marsteller.

In addition to the research and survey work, the team also has been doing veterans’ headstone replacement.

He said there are 28 volunteers on the team, but more are always welcome.

“We have our meetings here,” Jones said, referring to the Oak Hill Cemetery chapel, which has displays of historic local people on its walls.

The room is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and Saturdays by appointment.