Sep 24, 2002 3 min read

On Sept. 2, Rev. Travis Deans and I journeyed to one of the five communities in the Ohio that bears the name Mt. Pleasant.

We were hoping to take pictures of the grave of Quaker Henry Beeson, the founder of Uniontown (Beesontown), for an illustrated history of Uniontown upon which we are currently working. We soon learned that by the grace of God, we had chosen the right Mt. Pleasant where a Quaker meeting house still stands pastored by Rev. Jim Ogden.

One mile out of town, we found the Short Creek Friends’ Cemetery, but after looking at every older stone there, we had found none with the Beeson name so we headed back into Mt. Pleasant, a small community well named.

Mrs. Jean Thompson and Rev. Lloyd Smith, who are associated with the local museum there, were soon taking the time to find the cemetery records of us, which had just been packed away in preparation of the relocation of the museum.

And sure enough – Henry Beeson, his wife Mary (Maria) and their daughter Ann were all listed as being buried in the cemetery.

It was explained to us that when Henry died in 1819, the Quakers had a restriction on placing engraved markers in the cemetery.

Soon after, this policy was changed, but because of its having been in effect at the time, the body of the founder of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, lays awaiting the resurrection morn in an unmarked grave.

We are organizing a meeting for all interested persons and certainly any of our local groups committed to the preservation of our history to discuss the possibility of the citizens of Uniontown erecting a marker in the cemetery to remember the brave pioneer couple who came over the mountains with baby Jesse in 1768 and gave Uniontown its hard-fought birth.

We would certainly appreciate any input from the living descendants of Henry Beeson who have just cause to be proud of their ancestor and what he did for us. Mrs. Thompson and Rev. Smith referred us to stones that were erected years after the burials when the ban on markers had been lifted. The records unfortunately do not provide the exact plot where Henry was buried, but does indicate the hillside.

A meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Teens For Christ Youth Center, 14 Morgantown St., Uniontown (next to Johnston the Florist).

Uniontown has given well-deserved recognition to one of its sons who became a five star general as well as held several other lofty positions of state.

Is it not fitting that we also do something at the resting site of our founder’s mortal remains?

I should add that Henry’s brother Jacob was also one of Uniontown’s co-founders.

Rev. Peter A. Malik

Uniontown

Clergy ‘get meaning’ of taxes

The Aug. 29 edition of the Herald-Standard included a letter by Jim Lilley of Markleysburg which contained these words, “Once those living free of property tax problems, the rabbis, ministers and priests living in church-sponsored homes and estates are no longer exempt from paying their fair share of property taxes, the rates can be lowered.”

He needs to know the facts before shooting from the hip. If he did, he would know that, indeed, we do pay taxes on my rectory where I live.

Maybe he would like to pay them for us, city, county and school taxes – get my meaning?

Fr. Frank Lesniowski

St. Rita Church

Connellsville