Historical cemetery in Westmoreland, where Revolutionary War hero rests, launches effort to restore fallen tombstones

At St. James Lutheran Cemetery, one of Bell Township’s oldest graveyards, more than 40 tombstones have fallen over. The patina and names have faded. The cursive writing engraved on some of the oldest stones is there but barely visible.

Some stones are so old, they have been wiped clean of history or identification.

A community group is mounting a public campaign to help preserve parts of the northern Westmoreland County cemetery — which counts a key Revolutionary War figure among its residents.

Established in about 1803, the cemetery along St. James Church Road is the burial ground mainly for residents born in the 1700s who died in the 1800s.

The St. James Cemetery Association hopes to raise $20,000 to pour footers and reset the fallen tombstones. Township supervisors, the Bell Township Historical Preservation Society and contractors are huddling to find a way to pay for it and get the project off the ground.

Recently, a landscaping team from Allegheny Township removed more than 300 yucca plants that invaded the cemetery and made it impossible to mow in some sections. Dozens of toppled stones were found, said Lee Schumaker, who owns J&L Lawncare with his son Justin.

Washington’s wagon-wheel maker

The Daughters of the American Revolution installed a new headstone in 1928 for one of the most prominent burial sites — Mathias Ringle, (1742-1811), wagon builder for George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

He was a survivor of the Continental Army’s brutal winter encampment at Valley Forge from 1777 to 1778.

Ringle, originally from eastern Pennsylvania, served under Washington from 1776 to 1783.

He returned to Pennsylvania as an accomplished blacksmith. In 1797, Ringle bought 400 acres in Hempfield and built a large and spectacular home completed in 1803, said Dolores Colledge, 91, of Avonmore. Colledge is the last remaining board member of the Bell Township Historic Preservation Society.

According to accounts on the genealogy websites, Ringle married twice and raised 17 children.

John Ringle, 72, of Vandergrift grew up in Bell a mile from the cemetery. He estimates that Mathias Ringle is his fifth-great-grandfather. He and some friends reset Ringle’s original tombstone around 1970 after vandals toppled stones throughout the cemetery.

“I hope that future generations of the family take their kids there,” he said. “Like me, they need to pass the word down and show them: this is it.”

Descendants of Ringle have visited the cemetery through the years.

St. James is home to some of the families who were the earliest settlers in the township, according to Colledge.

Longtime township families such as the Ringles, Yockeys and Fennels were related to Colledge’s late husband, Robert Colledge.

The Colledges have hosted Ringle family members from across the country, then received their Christmas cards from Colorado, New Mexico and other states.

“You were related to everyone in the neighborhood,” Colledge said of her husband’s lineage.

“The cemetery is where all of them wound up. It is one of the oldest cemeteries around. And if this is not preserved, the history will get lost.”

Preservation isn’t easy

Bell Township supervisors are limited in how much they can help, but are exploring possibilities.

“The cemetery is part of the community,” said Supervisor John Bowman. “A lot of people who lived in Bell Township are here as well as those who served in the armed forces.”

While the historical importance of the cemetery is undeniable, officials say there isn’t a clear path forward to preserve it or the church next to it.

St. James Lutheran Church was established about 1803. It closed in 1972 when it merged with St. John’s in Saltsburg and reorganized as Sons of Zebedee Lutheran Church, according to Lyman Tickle, 64, of Bell, president of the St. James Cemetery Association.

Tickle grew up near the cemetery and church. He remembers the strawberry festivals held there in the early fall.

“They prepared really good food that was always well received by the community,” he said.

Preservation efforts for the church were thwarted by a fire. The empty and boarded-up church is privately owned, Tickle said.

But the cemetery has endured.

At about 4.5 acres, the burial ground is “pretty full,” Tickle said. He doesn’t have a lot count.

Some burial plots have just an inch of stone sticking out of the ground, he added.

Although there are still some spots available, Lyman said that in his 20 years of being on the association’s board, he has sold about six lots.

There has been an endowment yielding interest payments used for grass mowing but, Tickle said, “the interest rates are peanuts.”

The mowing expense has been digging into the principal, he said. “It’s difficult to keep up.”