Longanbach Family donates history markers at two rural cemeteries
About 35 members of the Longanbach Family Association held two dedications May 10 at two small township cemeteries in Sandusky County to honor pioneers in Sandusky and Rice townships.
The family association completed its recent preservation project while honoring the pioneer families in Rice and Sandusky townships with bronze historical markers at Binkley and Greenwood cemeteries.
Association member Julie Otermat, originally of Fremont and now of Texas, said the association raised nearly $11,000 in donations to purchase the plaques installed this month at the two cemeteries. The association has more than 200 members.
A bronze historical marker commemorating the Longanbach and Engler families was placed at the Binkley Cemetery. The Greenwood Cemetery project consisted of installing a bronze historical marker to honor early pioneer families who settled in the area in the 1830s and 1840s, along with repairing and restoring 17 gravestones, including three large monuments.
To restore headstones and monuments at Greenwood Cemetery, the association members received training from Gravestone Restoration Services by Kate and Jane in Marblehead, Ohio, Otermat said.
"In dedication to the Longanbach and Engler families are buried on these grounds," the Binkley plaque read. "These families were among several who in the 1830s bravely immigrated from their homes in the German Confederation and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to North America for better opportunities. They became some of the early pioneer farmers in Sandusky County."
The plaque at Greenwood also acknowledges the family's pioneer history: "Beginning in the 1830s and 1840s, the surrounding area experienced a health influx of hearty German-speaking immigrants, some named Engler, Longanbach, Otermat and Smith, whose daily grueling efforts were instrumental in developing the highly productive farmlands you see today."
Both plaques note how the pioneers encountered the swampy region and forests in the 1800s. The Greenwood Cemetery plaque noted how those pioneers cleared the land and dug the deep ditches needed to drain the fields for their homes and farms. Those pioneers also were charter members of Trinity Lutheran Church that stood in the township.
Otermat said she has found five generations of her family buried at Greenwood Cemetery at 3077 CR 170, Fremont.
For the dedications this month, association members attending were mainly local and regional residents, but others like Otermat traveled to come back for the event. "We're nationwide," she said of the family association.
The Longanbach descendants will be back in Sandusky County later this summer.
The Longanbach Family Association has been meeting annually in Sandusky County since 1920 and will celebrate their 106th reunion on Aug. 3.
By restoring weathered tombstones and erecting markers, the Longanbach Family Association seeks to preserve invaluable cultural and familial history for generations to come.
All future projects will continue to be focused on the mission of preservation, research and education. For more information on the association, contact Mike Longanbach at longanbach.m@gmail.com.
rbrooks@gannett.com
419-334-1059
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Family association dedicates plaques to honor pioneers of the 1830s, 1840s
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