© Harrisonburg - Rockingham Historical Society. All rights reserved. The "Star" is a trademark of HRHS. 
| Cemetery | Blosser Family Cemetery |
| Location | Dayton, Rockingham County, Virginia. From Harrisonburg take Route 42 South (John Wayland Highway) and travel approx. 2 miles. On the right side of the road you will see a sign "Sunny Slope" which is on the Charles Wampler property. Turn into his driveway & cemetery is located behind the house. |
| Notes | In a letter to Dr. John W. Wayland from Bishop L. J. Heatwole, he states "This was the first cemetery established & used by Mennonites in this part of Rockingham County." Notes in the "Remarks Column" were provided by Deb Wake & J. Robert Swank. In 1967 Mr. Swank noted "There are apparently a number of unmarked graves in this plot." "July 1944, Mr. Glenn W. Ruebush complied data on the Michael Whitmore family which indicates there are Whitmore's buried in this cemetery." In 1937 WPA (W. A. Byerly) noted "About the year 1752, a Mennonite family of Blossers, consisting of 4 or 5 brothers, came from Switzerland & located in Lancaster Co. PA. Some years later, a part of the family located near Stonyman in Page Co. VA. Still later, 4 brothers of the Page Co. family bought a large tract of land in Rockingham Co., the land, which consisted of several hundred acres, was purchased from the Whitmers & others & about 1818 the first Mennonite community, which still exists, was established in Rockingham Co. There being in this family an old bachelor, Abraham Blosser, & an old maid, Annie Blosser, who together owned a part of the land purchased; these 2 donated & established the theme of this story, the Blosser Graveyard, which was located on their farm. It is now owned by the Wamplers. The graveyard is cared for by the Blosser descendants. While it was donated by the Blossers, it was used as a community burying ground, and now contains about 75 graves among which are members of the Groves, Heatwoles, Suters, Dundores, Wengers and other families. In the northeast corner of the graveyard is the grave of Catharine M. Suter, wife of David Suter, & daughter of A. & S. Grove. She was buried March 19th, 1860, aged 23 years 6 months & 14 days. The first of April, 1934, some unknown person or persons made a partial excavation of this grave & a few days later, on Easter Sunday, or Sunday night, the excavation was continued to the bottom of the grave. The object of this foul deed, or the perpetrators of same, is a mystery unsolved, with no clue, except the finding of a new shovel which was left at the grave & a foreign car with Texas license having been seen several times in the vicinity about the same time of the above named occurrence. This story is authentic from the Blosser family close by, who made a written memorandum of this matter with dates, etc., & Mr. Jonas Blosser, who is the present caretaker, said that he refilled the grave himself. The grave was there to show for itself with the extra pile of dirt. This matter caused no little excitement in the community, and the incident was written up in the county paper. No clue or explanation has ever been found in the matter. In the northwest corner of the graveyard, lies the remains of an unknown tramp who was buried there many years ago; probably before the War Between the States. The tramp was passing through this section and stopped by a farm house for a drink of water, which was given him, and he became suddenly ill and died without any identification of any kind so he was given a permanent lodging in this graveyard. You can see from the inscriptions on the stones that as far back as 1835 the location of this graveyard is a part of the early history of Rockingham Co." In 2002 Deb Wake notes "Jonas (I) & wife Margaret had a son Jonas (II) who is buried in Weaver's Mennonite Church Cemetery. Son Jonas (II) was 15 at the time of the Civil War when Sheridan's army burned their house. He ran to the attic & brought out a crock of apple butter. The stone walls of the house remained and the house was rebuilt. In 1999, the barn was razed to make way for the Super WalMart on Route 42. The stone house remains." |
| Survey Date and Recorder | 1. 1937 2. 1967 3. 2002 1. WPA 2. J. Robert Swank 3. Deb Wake |
Surnames are sorted by section / plot / row / grave - only sections and rows are shown
| Section | Row | Surname | Given Name & MI | Birth Date | Death Date | Headstone Notes | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blosser | Benjamin | 4 Oct 1851 | Aged 1y 2m 10d | No visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967; s/David & Frances Funk Blosser | |||
| Wenger | Jacob | 27 Apr 1835 | Aged 2y 11m 19d | No visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967 | |||
| Wenger | Peter | 28 Oct 1858 | 17 Jun 1860 | No visible marker Feb. 2002; recorded by WPA in 1937 & by Swank in 1967 | |||
| Heatwole | Martha | 19 Jul 1836 | Aged 1y 13d | No visible marker Feb. 2002; Recorded by WPA in 1937 | |||
| 001 | Roadcap | Daniel | 16 Oct 1871 | Recorded by Deb Wake 2000 & WPA 1937; large flat limestone | |||
| 001 | Roadcap | Frances | 4 Sep 1847 | Recorded by Deb Wake 2002; large flat limestone | |||
| 001 | Roadcap | Christiana | 19 Nov 1849 | Recorded by Deb Wake 2000; large flat limestone | |||
| 002 | Harris | Roberg G. | 1830 | 1881 | Father | double stone | |
| 002 | Harris | Jennie P. | 1830 | 1891 | Mother | w/Roberg G. | |
| 002 | Blosser | Isaac | 24 Aug 1912 | 8 Apr 1913 | c/Jacob & Minerva Blosser | nee Minerva Showalter | |
| 002 | Blosser | Rhoda A. | 30 Oct 1915 | 4 Jul 1916 | c/Jacob & Minerva Blosser | nee Minerva Showalter | |
| 002 | Blosser | Margaret | 17 Apr 1895 | Aged 90y 6m 21d; w/Jonas & d/Bishop Peter & Elizabeth Burkholder | Mother nee Elizabeth Coffman | ||
| 002 | Blosser | Jonas | 1 Mar 1873 | Aged 81y 7m 21d | s/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser; b. 11 Jul 1791 in Page Co VA per Deb Wake | ||
| 003 | Blosser | Abraham | 5 Mar 1828 | 9 Sep 1891 | Aged 63y 6m 3d; consort of Sarah | s/Jonas & Margaret Brurkholder Blosser | |
| 003 | Blosser | Isaac | 26 Mar 1865 | 25 Oct 1865 | Aged 6m 30d | s/Abraham & Sarah Brunk Blosser | |
| 003 | Blosser | Eli | 25 Nov 1866 | 21 Mar 1868 | Aged 1y 3m 26d | s/Abraham & Sarah Brunk Blosser | |
| 003 | Wenger | Ephriam | 9 Sep 1815 | 26 Jan 1893 | Aged 77y 4m 17d | s/Rev. Benj & Ann May Mauck Wenger | |
| 003 | Wenger | Susannah | 1859 | In the 36th year of her life | nee Good | ||
| 003 | Wenger | Ephriam | 1 Jan 1851 | 16 Aug 1856 | Aged 5y 7m 15d | s/Ephriam Wenger | |
| 003 | Wenger | Simeon | 18 Jan 1853 | 28 Jan 1855 | Aged 2y 10m | s/Ephriam Wenger | |
| 003 | Wengar | Benjamin | 28 Apr 1781 | 26 Feb 1865 | Aged 83y 9m 26d | Reverend; recorded by WPA in 1937 & Deb Wake in 2000 | |
| 003 | Wenger | Ann Mary | 15 Aug 1783 | 17 Dec 1850 | w/Rev. Benjamin; nee Mauck | ||
| 003 | Wenger | Benjamin | 23 May 1811 | 9 Jul 1880 | Aged 69y 1m 16d | s/Rev.Benj & Ann Mary Mauck Wenger | |
| 003 | Wenger | Barbara | 26 Jun 1894 | Aged 84y 22d | w/Benj. Jr.; nee Blosser | ||
| 003 | Grove | David | 26 Mar 1860 | Aged 26y 1m 16d; s/A. & S. Grove | s/Abraham & Sophia Grace Showalter Grove | ||
| 003 | Ritchie | Hannah M. | 18 Aug 1844 | 31 Jan 1883 | Aged 38y 5m 13d; w/Benjamin F. | ||
| 004 | Dundore | Elijah | 9 Sep 1791 | 27 May 1860 | Aged 68y 7m 18d | ||
| 004 | Koontz | Samuel | 20 Oct 1859 | Aged 32y 11m | |||
| 004 | Koontz | Elizabeth | 18 Dec 1854 | Aged 27y 3m 15d; w/Samuel | |||
| 004 | Grove | Sophia | 3 Dec 1809 | 19 Mar 1883 | Aged 73y 3m 16d; Mother; w/Abraham | d/Jacob & Sophia Saufley Showalter | |
| 004 | Grove | Abraham | 5 Apr 1855 | Aged 54y 5m 3d | h/Sophia | ||
| 004 | Suter | Catharine M. | 19 Mar 1860 | Aged 23y 6m 14d; consort of David & d/A. & S. Grove | |||
| 005 | Blosser | Abraham | 5 Apr 1782 | 11 Feb 1868 | Aged 85y 10m 9d | s/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser | |
| 005 | Blosser | Anna | 27 Oct 1785 | 16 Feb 1864 | Aged 78y 3m 20d | d/Peter & Magdalene Baer Blosser | |
| 005 | Blosser | Michael | 10 Mar 1837 | Aged 2y | Roughly carved limestone rock; new marker for him placed in Row 007 | ||
| 005 | Blosser | David | 14 Aug 1855 | Aged 17y 1m 17d | s/Jonas & Margaret Burkholder Blosser | ||
| 005 | Blosser | Solomon | 25 Apr 1855 | Aged 9m 6d | No visible marker Feb. 2002 - recorded by Swank in 1967; s/Joseph & Susanna Blosser per Dr. John Wayland | ||
| 006 | Blosser | Peter | 7 Apr 1835 | Aged 83y 18d | born in York, PA; s/Peter & Barbara Blosser | ||
| 006 | Blosser | Magdalene | 10 Jul 1843 | Aged 92y 9m | w/Peter; d/Blastius & Esther Bear | ||
| 006 | Blosser | Jacob | 13 Oct 1834 | Aged 54y 11m 28d | s/Peter & Magdalene Bear Blosser | ||
| 006 | Blosser | Magdalene | 19 Feb 1859 | Aged 74y 3m 4d | w/Jacob; d/Bishop Henry & Anna Reiff Shank | ||
| 006 | Heatwole | David | 8 Apr 1842 | In the 75th yr of his age | s/Matheus & Miss Haas Heatwole h/Magdalene Weland Heatwole | ||
| 006 | Heatwole | Magdalen | 23 Nov 1810 | In the 75th yr of her age | w/David; nee Weland per Dr. John Wayland | ||
| 006 | Suter | Anna | 12 Mar 1835 | Aged 26y 7m 28d | w/Daniel; d/David Heatwole | ||
| 006 | Heatwole | Nancy | 9 Feb 1842 | 27 Feb 1842 | c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole | ||
| 006 | Heatwole | Mary | 22 Jan 1828 | 19 Jan 1830 | c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole | ||
| 006 | Swank | Mary Showalter | Abt 1768 | Aft 1837 | w/Jacob Swank | d/Daniel & Margaret Saunders Showalter; stone erected 1967 by J. R. Swank | |
| 006 | Heatwole | George M. | 7 Mar 1845 | Aged 3 hrs | c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole | ||
| 006 | Heatwole | John P. | 11 Jul 1844 | Aged 9m 10d | c/John S. & Nancy Swank Heatwole | ||
| 007 | Blosser | Michael | 10 Mar 1837 | Aged 2y 2m 17d | s/Jonas & Marg. Burkholder Blosser; this is 2nd marker for Michael in Row 005 | ||
| 007 | Blosser | Sham | 26 Feb 1844 | Aged 5m 26d | s/Jonas & Margaret Burkholder Blosser |
© Harrisonburg - Rockingham Historical Society. All rights reserved. The "Star" is a trademark of HRHS.