Volunteers Preserve Worthington Cemetery in Defiance County

A volunteer group is working to preserve Worthington Cemetery in Defiance County, WTVG reported Sept. 18.

The site is connected to Archibald Worthington, who was born enslaved in Virginia and later settled in the Defiance area. The station described his role in establishing a school and church for a community of formerly enslaved people.

Defiance Public Library local history specialist Sarah Marshall researched the cemetery during the pandemic. That work helped bring attention to the site, where an Ohio Historical Marker now stands.

Jay Budde, president of Friends of Worthington Cemetery, told WTVG that the Ayersville Water and Sewer District transferred the cemetery property to the group earlier this year. He said the group paid for a survey and received an acre of land and an access lane.