A century and a half ago, Mark Newman became the first Columbus firefighter to die in the line of duty. On Tuesday, the Columbus Division of Fire and his descendants gathered to honor him with a ceremony and a new headstone.
On Aug. 4, 1870, Newman died while fighting a fire at the Columbus Woolen Mills Factory when a wall collapsed onto him. Newman, who was also a police officer, was buried with honors from both departments but was left in an unmarked grave in Green Lawn Cemetery.
When Columbus firefighter Chris Klein learned that in 2013, he set out to change it.
"His name has been on our rolls for a long time," Newman said. "I have so many of these little mysteries I'm unraveling, but this has been the biggest and the longest one."
With the help of firefighter Steve Cox, backers set up a GoFundMe account and raised over $6,000.
Klein said he initially discovered the grave by using the maps that the cemetery has on file. He was unable to spot it until he noticed a little red heart marking the spot.
Alongside the site of Newman's unmarked grave were other headstones that had obvious signs of recent visitations, such as flowers.
Through research with the cemetery and Ancestry.com, Klein and Cox were able to find living descendants of Newman, who was born in 1825, and they began communicating with them about the gravesite efforts and their goal of raising enough money to dedicate a headstone for Newman on the 150th anniversary of his death.
Mary Harper, who is Newman's great-great-niece, attended with Chris Watts and Patty Perrigo, who are Newman's great-great-great-nieces. For 50 years, the grandparents of Watts and Perrigo have visited the gravestones of their grandparents directly in front of Newman's grave.
"We felt really honored and just very happy that they took the time to do this," Watts said.
A little over a dozen of Newman's other descendants and their relatives joined Columbus firefighters, cemetery employees and others for Tuesday's ceremony, which included a traditional bell ceremony and "Amazing Grace" played on bagpipes by Capt. Aaron Shonkwiler.
Firefighter Doug Wortman said they were able to identify 12 other firefighters who died in the line of duty and are buried in Green Lawn, but Newman was the only one without a headstone. Wortman has helped add plaques and flags to the graves of all of them.
"I appreciate the history as well as (Klein) does," Wortman said. "He told me about this and, I said, 'Well, we gotta do something.'"
Randy Rogers, the president of the Green Lawn Cemetery Association, said Newman's family couldn't afford a gravestone, only a burial. Newman left behind a wife, Susan (1830-1882), and two small children, Grace (died 1876) and Jennie (died 1936).
In addition to being a volunteer firefighter for Station 3 and a police officer, Newman was a manager at a local warehouse and was one of the first firefighters to use a steam pumper fire engine in place of hand pumps and buckets. One of these pumps is drawn on the back of his headstone.
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