Medina accepting applications for new group of ‘Hometown Hero’ banners

File photos by Ginny Kropf: Village of Medina DPW worker Scott Petry removes some of the Hometown Hero banners last Nov. 18.

MEDINA – Mary Woodruff has reason to be excited about the 2025 Hometown Heroes program she started in 2019.

For the first time this year, there will be soldiers from the Revolutionary War and another from the Civil War.

Pvt. Daniel Roberts served in the 7th Co. 8th Regiment of Connecticut troops during five years from 1776 to 1780.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Mary Woodruff, who started the Hometown Heroes banners in 2019 in Medina, is ready to accept applications for 2025.

While the application says veterans who have a banner must live or have lived in Orleans County, Woodruff has made an exception for Roberts for two reasons. Daniel Roberts is said to have served five years and nine months in the Revolutionary War in Connecticut. Woodruff previously did not have a Revolutionary War soldier represented and Roberts has a strong connection to Orleans County. Daniel’s grandson Ziba Roberts Jr., who served in the Civil War, lived in a stately homestead on East Shelby Road, just south of what is now East Shelby Community Bible Church.

Daniel’s and Ziba’s ancestors include Virginia Kropf and Norma Fisher of Medina, their deceased siblings Eugene Baker and Mildred Green and a host of descendants of the late Orren and Lee Roberts of Medina.

After making the decision to allow Daniel to have a banner, the announcement came out about a Revolutionary War soldier who lived in the town of Shelby and is buried on the Maple Ridge Road Cemetery, located on farmland owned by the late Murray Baker, just west of Millville. Baker is Virginia Kropf’s uncle, with whom she lived from the time she was 12. She and the former Barbara Boyle, who lived across the street, spent hours playing in that cemetery.

Last fall, the Sons of the American Revolution were notified about the grave of Benjamin Darling and a ceremony was held there to place a marker on his grave. It is presumed Darling and Roberts quite possibly served in the same regiment. It is documented they both served in Connecticut.

Darling’s great-great-great-great-grandson James Walker from Michigan came for the ceremony, and upon learning about the Home Town Heroes banners, he indicated a desire to have one for his relative. He has spent years researching his family ancestry and although he located his relative’s grave in Shelby, he has been unable to find a picture or information on where Darling lived in the town of Shelby.

Benjamin Darling was born July 6, 1758 in Lunenburg, Mass. He served with the 7th Connecticut Regiment and saw action at the Battle of Monmouth, N.J. and Germantown, Pa. before his regiment moved to Valley Forge, where they spent the cold winter of 1777. He died Feb. 7, 1841 at the age of 82.

Orleans County historian Catherine Cooper was able to find reference to Darling having lived on the east side of East Shelby Road, but it is not known if his home was near the Roberts homestead. She also learned Darling had a son who was a master builder and is credited with building at least 60 structures in the town of Shelby. This now leads to the speculation, could he possibly have built the Roberts homestead where Ziba Jr. lived?

Ziba Roberts Jr. will have a banner this year for his service during the Civil War. Ziba Jr. was born July 31, 1840 and died Dec. 22, 1898. He was captured May 23, 1862 near Lynchburg, Va., and held prisoner for a time in the caverns, where they caught rats to eat.

This is the sixth year for the Home Town Heroes banners, and Woodruff can’t believe how it has grown every year. The first year there were 38 and the next year 78. By the fourth year, it had hit 120. That’s when DPW head Jason Watts told Woodruff they were running out of poles to put them on.

“So many people have been patiently waiting for the 2025 banners,” Woodruff said. “And they are already calling for next year.”

Although the printing company has raised the price of banners by $5, Woodruff is keeping the price at $200 for new banners, because of the generosity of people who have sent her donations.

This past year saw 80 new banners added. A new banner is hung for three years and then it is offered to the family. New ones are put up on Main Street and East and West Center, stretching outward from the four corners downtown. The bulk have been World War II, Vietnam War and Korean Conflict veterans, Woodruff said. Recently, more National Guard people have been submitted and a new category, Space Force allows for banners for any veteran who is employed in any capacity in the space program. A category for Revolutionary War soldiers has also been added.

If a banner has hung for three years and the family wants to continue it, there is a $120 charge to get a new banner for another three years. The families must make out a new application, however, which can be printed from the website www.heroesofmedina.com. Donations or payments should be mailed to village clerk Jada Burgess at 119 Park Ave., Medina, NY 14103 and marked “for Home Town Heroes.”