National Archives Microfilm Series, M1845 contains 166,000 entries for Civil War soldiers provided gravesite markers (headstones) between 1879-1903 for use in private cemeteries.
National Archives Microfilm Series M1845 http://archiveseleanor.nara.gov/research_room/genealogy/military/union_vete rans_headstones.html
| Roll # | Name | Regiment | Company | Rank | Cemetery | Location | Grave | Date of Death | Headstone supplied by: |
| 1 | Richard Adams | 3 USCT | A | Hephzibah | Fallowfield | Sheldon & Sons Contract dated 8/21/1888 | |||
| 1 | Richard Adams | 3 USCT | A | Pvt. | Village | Coatesville, Chester, Pa. | Aug. 1882 | Wm Manson, Contract dated 1/21/1883 | |
| 9 | John Henson | Mass. 54th | C | Hephzibah | Fallowfield | Sheldon & Sons; Contract dated 8/21/1888 | |||
| 10 | Isaac Hill | 43 USCT | C | Hephzibah | Fallowfield | Sheldon & Sons; Contract dated 8/21/1888 | |||
| 9 | Lewis J. Henson | Not Found | |||||||
| 3 | James Braxton | Not Found | |||||||
| 5 | Thomas Coursey | Not Found | |||||||
| 6 | James Dickens | Not Found | |||||||
| 12 | George E. Long | Not Found | |||||||
| 14 | John Miller | Not Found | |||||||
| 19 | Edward Spencer | Not Found | |||||||
The additional 9 Civil War soldiers identified in this research but not identified as buried in the cemetery were not found in a search of this microfilm series.
The name of the cemetery, Hephzibah, is curious in that no mention of that is found anywhere in the Pension Files for any of the Civil War soldiers. In addition, the name appears to be mostly related to the Hephzibah Baptist Church although there is also a Hephzibah Hill Road in today's maps. In either case, the location of either the church or the road are not in close proximity to the cemetery. What is the explanation?? One possible theory (and this is only a guess) is that the Hephzibah Baptist Church might have performed all the paper work of applying for the government supplied Civil War gravesite markers for the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church. If they did that, they likely would have used the name of their own cemetery. See the following history which at least verifies the existance of a Hephzibah cemetery.
Church: History of Hephzibah Baptist Church from The History of Chester
County by Futhey and Cope (1881); Chester County, PA
Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Sandra Ferguson
<ferg@intelos.net>.
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From Futhey and Cope's THE HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA (1881)
Hephzibah Baptist church
About 1720, Rev. Owen Thomas, who had come from Wales and settled in Vincent
in 1707, was the first Baptist minister who worked regularly in Newlin Twp. He
preached at John Bentley's house. Richard Buffington, in his will of 1747-8
gave 5 lb to Owen Thomas, minister of the "Annabaptist Society", and 20 lb to
the society. After the death of John Bentley, The meetings were held at the
house of his son Jeffrey Bentley, who in 1752 Gave a lot of ground and built a
meeting-house, at which Rev. Owen Thomas first preached in Oct. 1752. His
ministry ceased in 1759, due to "bodily infirmities", and he was replaced by
Rev. Abel Griffith, who ministered until 1767, when he went on a missionary
tour to New England. Jeffrey Bentley, on the death of his father, was made a
deacon. In 1775, Rev. Griffith returned and resumed his pastorship, but
resigned in 1791 and moved to KY. (at this time, there were 49 members of the
congregation, a bit growth from the original # of 15)! Next came Rev. Joshua
Vaughan, till 1808, and the membership doubled. So the old meeting house became
too small, and a new one was built, where it stands today (1889)...
The first burial in the Hephzibah burial-ground was Rachel Thomas,
April 16, 1793.
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An area called Hephzibah appears to be located south of Modena to the south of Coatesville. It is not clear but this may be a general area referred to in the "cemetery" listing of the National Archives, M1845 microfilm series. Pure speculation.
http://www.chesco.com/~jsgraves/modena/modena.html
The road leading southwest from Modena to Hephzibah
for about a mile follows the valley of a
small rocky stream known as Dennis Run. A short distance west of the point where this
road
crossed Dennis Run, the location of what was once a dam is still clearly evident.
however, the
exact site of the paper mill, which was powered by this dam, has not been found. Maps
of the
period indicate that the mill was close to the dam.
The Mill Under (Joshua B. Broomell, 1854 - 1865)
In 1850 and for a few years thereafter Joshua B.
Broomell operated a general store at
McWilliamtown, today's Hephzibah. The McWilliamstown Post Office was in the store for
many years.