Reporter feels strong connection to local rural cemetery with Revolutionary War soldier

Ginny Kropf at 7 or 8 years of age is standing in the road with the Roberts Homestead on the left, with her home down the road on the right and the East Shelby Methodist Church (now East Shelby Community Bible Church) up the hill on the left.

SHELBY – It was with great interest I read about the cemetery tours being offered by the Orleans County Historical Association this past summer.

The tour for Aug. 2 featured Maple Ridge Cemetery, which just happens to be on the property where I grew up. I lived with my uncle and aunt, Murray and Helen Baker, and the cemetery was a favorite place to play for my friend Barbara Boyle (now Schreiber) who lived across the road.

The cemetery was unkept, and weeds were knee-high. There were woodchuck holes which we had to be careful not to step in. We looked at the names on the gravestones, but none of them made any difference to us, other than we did note there was a Revolutionary War soldier buried there. We tried to climb the taller gravestones, and never did any damage. A favorite thing was eating the black caps which grew wild there.

So it was with great joy when nearly two years ago I was able to cover an event in the cemetery honoring a Revolutionary War soldier buried there. How or who discovered the grave I don’t remember. It may have been when his great-great-great-great-grandson James Walker from Pontiac, Michigan discovered the burial location after years of searching for information on his ancestor.

Walker contacted the Sons of the American Legion in Rochester and they secured a marker which was placed on the grave of Benjamin Darling in a ceremony which included members of the Sons from Buffalo and Rochester, a reading by Walker and a firing squad.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) An American and Revolutionary War flag fly in the breeze as a member of the Rochester Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution plays Taps during a ceremony on Oct. 27, 2024 at the grave of Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Darling in Maple Ridge Cemetery. (Right) A firing squad from the Rochester Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution fire a musket salute over the grave of Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Darling in Maple Ridge Cemetery.

During the ceremony it occurred to me that Benjamin had to have lived in the town of Shelby and I asked Walker if he knew where. He said after spending years trying to locate his Revolutionary War relative, he knew nothing else of him, other than the company he served with and where he fought.

I realized that Benjamin belonged to the same company and served in the same battle as my great-great-great grandfather Daniel Roberts. Then I became obsessed to learn where Benjamin had lived. I contacted Catherine Cooper, Orleans County historian. The only thing she could find is that he lived in the sixth house on the east side of East Shelby Road and he had a son who was a master builder and was credited with building many fine structures in the town.

That really piqued my interest, because the Roberts homestead (which was the first house south of East Shelby Community Bible Church and since burned down by vandals) was indeed a very fine structure. It was large and square with an upper balcony and center staircase leading to a sitting room at the top of the stairs.

As a young child growing up in the next house northeast of the mansion, we used to visit our great-aunts who lived there almost every day. A huge woodshed was attached at the back of the house, and an indoor outhouse was attached to that. I can remember clearly going in there in the winter and the wind would be blowing right up through the holes. A Montgomery Ward catalog hooked over a nail was our toilet paper.

They had “running water” in the form of a pump in a sink in the dining room, adjacent to the kitchen. A formal living room on the northeast corner was large and had a Victrola/Gramophone) there. The room was never used as I remember.

Now I am obsessed to learn if Benjamin’s son might have been the builder of that house.

Ginny Kropf, Larry Boyle and Barbara Boyle (Schreiber) in the driveway where I grew up on Maple Ridge Road. The peach orchard is behind us and the Maple Ridge Cemetery is behind the peach orchard.

My oldest son Randy has taken an interest in genealogy, and some months after the cemetery ceremony, I got an e-mail from him with a map from the 1800s showing the four corners in Millville, with location of homes and owners. It shows a Darling lived the last house on the south side of 31A , which begins just past the “Y” in the road where County House Road and 31A begin. Another Darling (which we know was Benjamin) lived six houses south on East Shelby Road, which I assume to be where Meyers lived when I was young and where Mr. Gardner lives now.

But I know of no way to document who built the Roberts Homestead. What a coincidence it would be if it were Benjamin Darling’s son!

I am happy, however, to have been able to provide James Walker with a little more information than he previously knew about his Revolutionary War ancestor.

It should also be noted that a marker designating the name of the cemetery was placed on Maple Ridge Road a few years ago and the town of Shelby has taken over its care. Old bushes and trees have been removed and the grass is kept mowed.

Barbara and I have been planning to go there and walk around.