CLARK COUNTY HOME INFIRMARY CEMETERY Traditional Cache
lab: Unfortunately vandals did this one in.
CLARK COUNTY HOME INFIRMARY CEMETERY
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Size: 
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Yes! There really was such a thing as a Poorhouse! It was not just something your parents made up, like a boogeyman, to frighten you into saving your money and spending carefully and to discourage you from making excessive, greedy demands on the family budget. County Poorhouses dotted the United States throughout most of the 1800s.
CLARK COUNTY HOME INFIRMARY CEMETERY
This cemetery is located on Snider Road, a short distance behind the old county home near the intersection of Valley Pike. It used to be beautifully tended and neatly manicured by the occupants of the county home. Only the inital, surname, and single date are all that are cut into each marker with no clue to sex or age. There are other burials which are unmarked. This website lists the known gaves: (visit link)
The Ohio General Assembly authorized boards of county commissioners to construct a county poor house for the care of paupers and to appoint a seven member board of directors to oversee its management, and to appoint a superintendent. The expenses were to be paid by the county. In 1831, the number of board members was reduced to three, and the board was empowered to remove paupers to their legal places of residence, if outside the county. In addition, the board could reject the application for admission of any pauper, who would then be turned over to the township overseers of the poor.
The Poor House in 1850 became the county infirmary through legislative enactment, the name reflecting its change in emphasis. Now besides caring for the adult poor, the county infirmary served as a place of confinement for the needy sick, the mentally ill, and epileptics. In 1884, the General Assembly prohibited housing children in the infirmary who were eligible for admission to children's homes, unless separated from adult inmates. Fourteen years later, it became unlawful to confine the insane and epileptic there. Finally, in 1913, the board of infirmary directors was abolished, and their powers were transferred to the county commissioners.
In 1919, the name was changed again for the final time. Now termed the county home, its new name indicated its new emphasis on care for the county poor, aged, and infirm that required institutionalization. The board of county commissioners today appoints a county home superintendent who is required to keep a record of inmates, submit an annual report, and may require inmates to perform such labor without compensation as may be suited to their age and strength. The commissioners are required to make inspection of the home including an examination into the care and treatment of patients.
(visit link)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur oehfu cvyr.