Since 1856, Cincinnati Friends had been burying their dead at their cemetery in Cumminsville. However, by 1875, there was growing concern that the city was encroaching on this area, and might prohibit further burials there. The Burial Committee was tasked with evaluating the situation and determining the commercial value of the property should the need arise to sell it.

Upon further investigation, the committee discovered that the sexton, George Ziegler, who lived in the house at the cemetery, was doing more than just tending the property and digging the graves. He had planted a large garden in an area not currently used for burials and was selling the produce from it. As a result, in 1870, the land had been assessed for taxation. Two years later, a portion was sold to pay those taxes without the knowledge of the Burial Committee or trustees. Fortunately, the trustees were able to buy the property back, and “obtained the release of all the ground from taxation on condition that no part shall be used for occupancy or culture.”

As it turned out, the Meeting did continue to allow the house and two acres of the cemetery to be occupied (and taxed), although no longer by George Ziegler. Instead, it was rented to Anthony Rebel for $100 per year. “It is further agreed that the said Rebel is to take charge of the property, and keep the same in good order, keeping the grounds clear from weeds, briars, etc. and neatly mowed, making all necessary repairs on fences and house at his own expense, without cost to the Society,” noted the minutes. “As a further consideration, said Rebel is to dig and fill up all graves that may be required by the Society, for which service he shall be entitled to receive from the Society the sum of two (2) dollars for each grave dug. No burials are to be permitted except by written order from the Burial Committee and no expense to the Society of any nature to be incurred except by a written order from the Trustees.”

The flood of 1883 necessitated some repairs to the burial ground, which prompted Cincinnati Friends to again reconsider the advisability of disposing of the Cumminsville cemetery. That November, they decided to sell all the property not used for burial, except for some unoccupied space north of the existing graves and the access road. “We also recommend the grounds containing the dead and for like purposes be enclosed with a suitable fence as well protected as can be,” reported the minutes, “and that the Meeting should as soon as practicable provide a suitable burial place for its members elsewhere.”

That suitable burial place ended up being Spring Grove Cemetery. In 1884, the Meeting sold the unused portion of the Cumminsville burial ground for $3,500 and purchased twenty-four lots—just under a quarter acre—in Spring Grove for $2,534.40.

Over the next twenty years, Cincinnati Friends and other relatives of the deceased were encouraged to have the remaining bodies removed from the Cumminsville burial ground and reinterred in either Spring Grove Cemetery or elsewhere.

Among the bodies relocated were those of Levi and Catherine Coffin. When Levi died in 1877, numerous members of the African American community in Cincinnati held fundraisers for a memorial for him. No action appeared to have been taken at that time, but in 1901, the meeting was informed that “persons not in membership with us desire to erect a monument to the late Levi Coffin on our lot in Spring Grove Cemetery.”

The matter was referred to the trustees and Burial Committee, who gave it careful consideration. Although the Discipline used at that time did not address how graves should be marked, there was a longstanding Quaker tradition in favor of simplicity. The Discipline of 1864 had included the following guidelines:

Our religious Society has a sound Christian testimony to bear against the erection of monuments, as well as against all inscriptions of a eulogistic character over the graves of deceased Friends; but Friends are left at liberty to place over or beside a grave, a plain stone, the inscription on which is confined to a simple record of the name, age, and date of decease of the individual interred. The object in this instance is simply to define the position of the grave, with a view to the satisfaction of surviving relations, and the preventing of its premature re-opening. It being distinctly understood in all cases, they are to be provided and put down under the direction of the Monthly Meeting, so that in each particular burial ground, such an entire uniformity may be preserved in respect to the materials, size and form of the stones, as well as in the mode of placing them, as may effectually guard against any distinction being made between the rich and the poor.

Nevertheless, the trustees and Burial Committee relented in this case, granting their permission to erect a monument to Coffin as long as they approved of the inscription. The six-foot marker, which still stands in Spring Grove, was unveiled at a Decoration Day ceremony on May 30, 1902. The monument carries the following words:

Levi Coffin
Died 9th Mo. 16, 1877
In His 79th Year
A Christian
Philanthropist
Catherine Coffin
Died 5th Mo. 22, 1881
In Her 78th Year
Her Work Well Done
Noble Benefactors
Aiding Thousands
To Gain Freedom
A Tribute From
The Colored People
Of Cincinnati

By 1904, the Burial Committee recommended selling the rest of the Cumminsville graveyard. “For many years, no interments have been made there,” reported the Committee, “[it] being no longer a suitable place to bury the dead.” The remaining bodies were exhumed, some for the second or third time, having been originally buried at the Fifth Street meetinghouse or the Poplar Street burial ground. By 1905, the move to their final resting place was complete.

Although the dead were now at peace, the same could not always be said for the living. Several years after the lots at Spring Grove were purchased, the meeting reiterated its historical stance that “the use of our burial lots be limited to members of the Society of Friends, or where not members, it shall be to those who by marriage to a member, or some claim may be recognized as being suitable to allow.” Over the years, various individuals who were not Friends asked to be buried with their relatives in the Quaker lot, or asked to have portions of the burial ground relinquished to the control of the Spring Grove trustees, only to be turned down. In 1913, Cincinnati Friends recorded the following minute to reinforce their position:

This Meeting has received requests from parties not members of the Religious Society of Friends requesting after their demise to be buried in Friends’ Lot in Spring Grove Cemetery. These requests were carefully and sympathetically considered by the Meeting. As no requests of this nature have been granted since 1896, it does not appear to the Meeting that exceptions should be made at this time.

Currently, each member of Cincinnati Friends Meeting who has been active in the life of the meeting has the privilege of requesting a single surveyed space in the Cincinnati Friends Meeting section of Spring Grove Cemetery. A member may share a single space with a non-member spouse, burying either two cremains or one full body and one cremains in the same space. The person making the burial arrangements should contact the Clerk of the Burial Committee, who can facilitate contact between individuals and Spring Grove officials. If the Burial Committee has a concern about the eligibility of an individual, the Burial Committee may request a called meeting of Ministry & Counsel to determine whether an individual can be given a space.