By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Little is known about the gray headstone with the name of veteran Michael Shearn carved into it at the Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery in Okarche.
Tom Schaefer believes the grave is that of the oldest veteran in the cemetery. Shearn is the only known Civil War veteran there.
Schaefer, treasurer of the Local Knights of Columbus, said he doesn’t think anyone is alive in Okarche today who would know much about Shearn, who died in 1892, or Catharine Shearn, who died in 1939.
She lies at rest beside him.
“I know nothing about them. It is just unusual they are buried here,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer and other members of the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, Father Stanley Rother Assembly, will put the flags on all the veterans’ graves for Veterans Day.
“We put the flags on the veterans’ graves on Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day, that is one of our projects,” said, Schaefer, 74, who has lived in Okarche all of his life. He joined the Knights of Columbus in 1977. “We’ll put American flags on all the veterans’ graves of those who are buried in this cemetery,” Schaefer said. He is related to some.
“When you live in a small town you’re related to a lot of people so yes, definitely some of them are my cousins and distant relatives who are veterans of course,” Schaefer said.
Michael Shearn’s headstone states he was born May 15, 1847 and died May 22, 1892. He was 45 years-
old.
The headstones are hard to read. They were made of marble.
Wayne Ludwig, a member of the Knight of Columbus, said he believes Shearn may be one of the first to be buried at the cemetery, but he may have not been originally buried there.
“He must have been buried someplace else,” Ludwig said. The Maschino family is also one of the oldest families buried there, he said.
The Holy Trinity Catholic Parish was founded in 1893.
At the top of the headstone, centered in a half-circle spelling out Michael Shearn reads, “Co. L 3 KY.
Cav.” This translates to Company “L” 3rd Kentucky Cavalry.
The 3rd Kentucky Cavalry was a volunteer regiment in the Union Army organized at Calhoun, Kentucky
and McLean County Dec. 13, 1861, according to military records. The volunteer regiment was at the Siege of Savannah, Georgia during Gen. William T. Sherman’s Civil March to the Sea.
Shearn died a year before the Holy Trinity Parish opened, Schaefer said.
This year, Knights of Columbus members will call for volunteers to set out the flags this year a few days before Thursday, Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
Ludwig said there will be about 180 flags out for veterans. He said there are many graves of people and
it is not known for certain if they are veterans or not. He said the church may not have any records of the Shearn family.
Ludwig said his great grandfather from German Herman J. Ludwig, who is buried at the Holy Trinity
Cemetery. Herman Ludwig immigrated to the United States through New Orleans and moved to
Okarche about 1900 where he farmed and had a saloon and hardware store.
