Friends of Popkin Cemetery

06/29/2025

Published today on MLive was an article written by Jen Eberbach about Popkin Cemetery. Unfortunately, it requires a subscription to read it. If anyone has a subscription and would be willing to download and post the article, it would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, here's the link:

Eighteen people have been confirmed to be buried there, and there may be more.

06/29/2025

While researching the Popkin family on Ancestry last week, I came across the Kotler Family Tree, which had James Popkin's death date as August 4, 1847. This got me thinking that maybe the "June" piece that we thought belonged to James actually belongs to William, and the "August" piece belongs to James. That was exactly the case. The two pieces at the bottom left of William's headstone fit perfectly, as does the second piece ("Au") from the bottom left on James' headstone. In the Kotler Family Tree, William's death date was June 5, 1853. I'm assuming these dates to be correct.

06/01/2025

Today, part of a headstone was found that doesn't appear to belong to anyone we know who is buried in Popkin Cemetery. The "D" is identical to the "D" in "DIED" on Thomas Popkin's headstone. The date appears to be August. Thomas died on Nov 22, 1841, so it isn't his. James Popkin's memorial on FindAGrave has a death date of Aug 4, 1847. This is an error, as the date on his headstone is clearly June (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27772513/thomas-popkins). So, who does this headstone belong to?

06/01/2025

The footstones of Phebe, Richard, and Lois Dillon have been cleaned, epoxied (where necessary), and replaced. They're not all complete, but are standing where they should be.

05/15/2025

Getting ready for the ceremony on Sunday. Eber White's headstone was temporarily placed in its slotted base. It still needs to be mortared in, the 2 pieces of the headstone epoxied together, and the crack between them filled in. The sign got a little TLC, so it's legible.

05/15/2025

Lois Dillon's headstone and footstone have been restored. Fortunately, the headstone fit perfectly on the portion remaining in the ground. It is epoxied and hopefully will last a long time. Two pieces of her footstone were epoxied, but the piece below ground has not been found. A new slotted base now holds her footstone.

05/08/2025

Thanks to Scio Township employees Allison, Mike, and Nikolas, along with Murphy and Noah, who are not pictured, for cleaning up the southwest corner. A great improvement! They've also been removing invasive species. Thanks again to Scio Township for their commitment to Popkin Cemetery.

04/22/2025

Sylvester's headstone standing tall and proud.

04/18/2025

The VA headstone of Sylvester Richmond was delivered this morning at Popkin Cemetery by A & H Landscaping. Thank you to Keegan from A & H Landscaping for the delivery. We are 30 days out from the marker dedication of Sylvester Richmond. There are 3 descendants who plan to attend. Date is May 18 at 2pm.