From News and Sentinel.com: Group uncovers soldier’s grave: Benoni Goldsmith
FEARING TWP. - The local Sons of the American Revolution chapter is working to make sure the grave site of a Revolutionary War soldier doesn't have to be rediscovered again.
The final resting place of Benoni Goldsmith was recorded by local historian and author Owen Hawley in 1971. But when two members of the SAR's Marietta chapter attempted to find it this summer on the Fearing Township farm of David Spindler, they were initially unsuccessful.
"We spent all afternoon ... probing around and we couldn't locate it," said David White, vice president of the chapter.White and Jean Yost, chapter president, knew from Hawley's account that Goldsmith's marker and two others had been located on a point in the field but the landmark used was a large elm tree that was no longer there. It was Dean Zimmer, who lives nearby, that recalled the general spot overlooking Duck Creek where the markers had once stood, they said.
Plunging pointed sticks into the ground, White and Yost located about half a dozen large pieces and several smaller fragments of the markers and unearthed them. Only a single letter, "G," was legible on one of the pieces. White said it was likely that cattle or farm equipment had knocked the stones over and then they were covered with grass. According to Hawley's account, Goldsmith's stone and his wife Angelina's stood at the site, along with a third one that was illegible. White said he expects they will be able to find more fragments in the area.
"We'll try to reap as much information here as we can," he said.
