Smith Family Graves at Riverside Cemetery in Troy, Ohio

About a week ago I headed to Riverside Cemetery in Troy, Ohio with my wife and son. I wanted to look at (and take pictures of!) some graves of my ancestors.

The particular graves I was looking for were the graves of my great-grandfather H. Robert Smith and Thelma Smith, his wife (but not my biological great-grandfather).

The reason I wanted to visit the graves for these two people was two-fold: I knew them when they were still alive, and I had visited the graves many years ago when I was still a teenager.

There was just one issue last week when we visited: I didn’t know exactly where the graves where! With over 16,000 memorials, at least according to the Riverside Cemetery on Find A Grave, finding the exact sites seemed impossible.

From what I remember when I visited as a teen (keep in mind I’m 35 now, so this is at least 15 years ago) is that the site was next to a road - perhaps one of the internal roads?

So we drove around the cemetery looking at the graves. Curiously, even though Smith is supposed to be a common name, we didn’t see any tombstones with Smith on them.

So, we were making one last pass through the cemetery when I noticed this huge marker:

Smith Headstone

In case someone else wants to find these plots, here’s there approximate location on a map of Riverside Cemetery:

The Location of the Smith Headstone

I found the following gravesites around the larger Smith Headstone:

• Howard Robert Smith, my great-grandfather
• Thelma M Smith, my step-great-grandmother
• Benjamin Franklin Smith, my great-great-great-grandfather
• Alice C Smith, my great-great-great-grandmother
• Murray Smith, my great-great-great-uncle
• Cory E Smith, my great-great-great-uncle
• Anne R Smith, the wife of Cory E Smith

Not to disappoint, I did take pictures of each headstone. I uploaded the photos to Find A Grave (you can see them on the photo section of my user profile), but I’ll also display them here:

Thelma M (1915 - ) and H Robert Smith (1909 - 1992)

Thelma died in 2008. I asked my mom if she was buried here. My mom wasn’t sure since Thelma was cremated, but she said she thought the ashes were buried here.

Murray Smith 1891 - 1955

Cory E Smith 1892 - 1972

B F Smith 1855 - 1931

“B F” stands for Benjamin Franklin. There are actually a few people named “Benjamin Franklin Smith” in my family tree, all in close relation.

Anne R Smith 1892 - 1961

Alice C Smith 1859 - 1936

If you’re wondering how exactly all these people are related to me, here’s a little diagram I made:

How everyone buried here is related to me.

There are other people in this cemetery that I am related to - namely the Genslingers and additional Smiths.

I’ll have to head back sometime to see if I can figure out where their graves are located.

If you’re searching for headstones in Troy, Ohio, check out Stoltz Memorials.