For many years, there was a great debate amongst family members, particularly the genealogists in the family as to where Patrick Trainer was buried.  Some, such as Opal Danner plan to visit Jackson, Ohio to tease this out.  Unfortunately, she was never able to make that trip.

None of the research that people made revealed a cemetery that he could have been buried at.  The Trainer family did not have a lot of money, nor did they have a great deal of resources or prestige in the community.  Patrick was a laborer in the coal mines.  His health after the Civil War was not good.  It was presumed at his death in Franklin Valley in 1875 that he was buried on the farm he lived upon— which was owned by the Claar family.

It was sheer serendipity that my research uncovered a news article from the Jackson Standard newspaper, dated 12 June 1884.  That story finally revealed the truth–and solved the mystery!  The text of the article is as follows:

 

Decoration at the Catholic Cemetery!

When the graves of soldiers were decorated here on the 30th, a committee was to have been sent to the Catholic Cemetery some three miles from town, to decorate the graves of soldiers buried there but this was neglected for some cause, and last Sunday was fixed is the time for the ceremonies at that place.

At 1 o’clock on Sunday a delegation of the G.  A.  R.  under the command of T.  W.  Patterson, and headed by the Jackson Band, took up the lines of the march from town.  The “boys” were in full uniform, with flags and guns.  Arrived near the cemetery a shortcut was made across the fields, and as the soldiers broke ranks and clambered over the fence and started up the hillside, it bore a striking resemblance to the picture many of us saw in the long ago— the only lacking feature being the absence of a sullen firing from the enemy on the neighboring Hill.

The usual ceremony was gone through with at the graveyard.  There were five graves decorated— those of James O’Connor, 36th Regiment: John Mahoney, Mexican War: Tommy Ryan, 53rd Regiment: Bernard Carrigan, 53rd Regiment: Patrick Trainer, 53rd Regiment.

Three rounds were fired by the soldiers, the firing on this occasion being in good time, and uniform.  After the ceremonies the boys took up their line of march for the town again.  The day was warm, and the men perspired freely, but they looked as though they still had a good deal of the old time toughness in them, and the gun-squad on this occasion would be tough customers to encounter in an open field fight quite a few number of the ladies accompanied the procession.

So there it was.  It is unknown at this time whether Dulcena his wife was buried alongside him.  Her death was no more than months after his, of ‘dropsy.’  She was not a Catholic.  Further research, now that we know the cemetery in which he was buried will make this more clear.  Without an account of things, or ‘eyes on’ now, it is quite likely he was buried with a simple wooden cross that has long been perished…

This cemetery is now known as the Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery, in Jackson, Ohio (https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/42282/mount-olivet-cemetery)

At some point in the future this writer will make a visit to this cemetery–the grave of his great-great grandfather and namesake, and determine whether Dulcena is buried alongside him.  If there is no stone marking his grave, a request will be made to the Veterans Administration’s Marker Program to provide a military headstone commemorating his service during the Civil War.