For many years some of my dearest friends have told me the story about a small tombstone they by chance came upon in a rather remote cemetery located deep in the hills, Wayne National Forest, of Morgan County, Ohio, with a unique inscription beneath the dates which indicated that this person’s life was cut short thru some terrible tragic event. The words were brief yet so meaningful, "I have done what I could". Since the late 1980’s, I have heard accounts about the young woman, buried in an old cemetery, usually during our yearly tradition each spring and fall get together to open and close family cottages in Ottawa County and I feel so grateful to be part of this fellowship that has continued unbroken for over 25 years. So, for almost this long I have heard the story of Sadie Love. To say I have a deep interest in cemetery research would be an understatement, I find driving by a cemetery without stopping to investigate, almost impossible. Have thus far transcribed over fifty complete cemeteries and partially read another fifty cemeteries in eight different counties of Ohio. Perhaps because of my interest in genealogy and the realization that cemeteries are rich in genealogical research data, they have become one of my obsessions in life. I have been the volunteer project manager of the USGenweb Ohio Cemetery Photo Project for many years and almost daily (usually in the evening) spend time formatting and writing code to add mine and many other folks donations of images. They come to me through the postal service, emails and online family websites, from folks all over the country that want to include their ancestors on the pages of this free online search project. I have probably already told you more than you wanted to know about what I call "my golf game" mainly my love for cemetery research. My compulsive need to document stones, which I would presently estimate to be in the neighborhood of 20,000 stones, probably came from for the most part being raised by my grandmother. This early influence seems to have given me the values and discipline of a generation earlier than my parents, I was born during World War II, and raised on a quiet farm near Rushville, in Fairfield Co, Ohio. When I started school, there was no kindergarten, I first attended a school building that contained all 12 grade levels, as a child I remember watching high school students practicing their music and maneuvers for marching band. When young, I remember going to cemeteries with my grandmother to plant flowers each spring around the tombstones of family members that had passed away long before I was born. My need to document these stones is just my way of honoring everyone’s ancestors and making sure they are not forgotten. I now realize even more how important this work is becoming as the older stones are suffering from being vandalized, acid rain, and normal weather related deterioration. This is causing much irreplaceable data to be lost forever. During the middle of December in 2003, my friends called me and asked if I would be able to join them for a weekend at the cabin site in Morgan County, and on the December 19, 2003, we all met in Columbus, Ohio, and departed for what turned out to be about a two hour trip east into the beautiful hilly area in Morgan County, south west of McConnelsville, and not far from Ringgold, in an area being part of the Wayne National Forest. We arrived in the early evening at the site and spent an evening cooking under the December stars, the sky began to cloud over and not long afterward snow flakes silently began to fall and soon we had a soft white blanket of fresh snow covering the campsite and ourselves. We were all dressed in warm clothes so the weather was no issue. We were sitting there enjoying a wonderful evening, I was especially grateful to have been invited to be in the company of this group. The evening was memorable, with good food, drink, conversation, music, and the wonderful fellowship of good friends. Corky had a wonderful library of vintage 8-track music in his little red camper, which contained all the conveniences of home. My hat’s off to Geb, Kelly, his brother Bruce and Corky. This in itself was sufficient incentive to be there, and the prospect of visiting the cemetery the next day, that I had heard so much about for years, just put it over the top. With Kelly, Bruce and Corky playing great oldies on their guitars and being accompanied by Geb on spoons, drums, and other ordinary household items turned into percussion instruments, a good time was enjoyed by all. We enjoyed music and conversation until the wee hours. Some of us including myself turned in earlier than others. The next morning I woke up early and took my camera and hiked a short distance from the camp taking pictures and just enjoying the beauty of the snow covered woodland. After breakfast and about mid morning we drove the short distance in Geb’s four-wheel truck on a very slippery winding country road to the old church and cemetery which was only about half mile or less from Corky’s camp site. The old church building was boarded up and looked as though it had not seen paint or repair for many years, but had a quiet rustic dignity and one didn’t have to imagine much to picture it in better days being a beehive of activity with regular Sunday services, church socials and weddings. The accompanying cemetery is located behind the old abandoned East Branch Church of Christ building, on E. Branch Rd. (R15), southwest of SR555. I would estimate the cemetery to be approximately one acre in size, surrounded on all four sides by farm fence in good repair and accessible by a double width gate to the left of the church. The land in this area is rather hilly, but the cemetery is situated on a fairly level & gently rolling area of land. The cemetery appears to have began being used for this purpose about 1830's and recent burials indicated by rather recent dates inscribed on modern stones, indicates it's continued use to present times. The next couple hours went by very quickly, I spent the next few hours dusting the snow off memorials and transcribing and photo documenting as many stones as time would allow. I did find the stone of Sadie Love and respectfully cleaned her memorial and included a photograph of her tombstone with the others. We soon had to leave and return to the campsite, pack our belongings and by early afternoon we were back on the road headed back to civilization and to our families. I will always hold the memory of this trip as very special for many reasons, and not all of them are that easy for me to put down in the form of text. Christmas and family celebrations filled the next several days and it wasn’t until the days between Christmas and New years that I actually download the images, collected my thoughts and really began to relish the large amount of genealogical data I had accumulated at the cemetery. It took a few days to get the images formatted and online to share with others. Ordinarily this would have been the end of the story, however, almost two years later, on September 23, 2005, I received a wonderful and surprising email inquiry regarding Sadie Love. I received an email that read: " Thank You!, by accident today while playing around on the internet, I found a picture of my paternal grandmother’s tombstone. My father’s mother, Sadie B. Love, daughter of Lewellen J. Love, wife of Z.M. Kirkbride, died within a month after my father was born. I have often wondered where she is buried, and now I know. I hope to visit the cemetery one day in the not too distant future….I believe her mother’s maiden name was Pierce…Thank you for your assistance, and thank you for helping me find my grandmother. Irene. I have continued to correspond with Irene and she has been very kind to send additional information that she remembers her father telling her when she was young. When I first responded to her initial inquiry, I told her the story about how and why I happen to visit this cemetery, and she responded stating that she was pleased to get the quick reply from me and also thanked me for the story. On September 24, 2005, I received a second email from Irene, it contained much detailed information and I think all of you that are close to this story might enjoy the following correspondence: " Sat., Sept. 24, 2005, More about my grandmother. I knew that my grandmother was very young when she died, but I was shocked to learn that she was only 21. She was the mother of three boys. My father was the youngest. He told me that his mother had died in May from complications from childbirth, about a month after he was born on April 12, 1893. I never did understand exactly what the complications were, but he said something about childbirth fever. He also said that she had sat outside on wet steps which he said led to the problem that caused her death. My father’s two brothers were Dorman Kirkbride, born 1887 (about 4 years older than my father) and Lloyd Kirkbride, born July 1888(about 2 years older than my father). My father was Emmons W. Kirkbride, born 12 Apr., 1893, and was raised by a family (Jim Davis) some where in Ohio (I remember Dad saying something about Corning, Ohio). When my father was about 12 years old, Grandpa demanded that the Davis family return my father to him. A bit about my grandfather: I hate to say it, but my grandfather, Zachariah Martin Kirkbride, was not a particularly pleasant man. I do not know what else he had done before, but my Dad told me that he had been a circuit judge. He was a mean, grouchy, old man when I knew him. He died when I was about 9 years old. My father and his two brothers ran away from home when they were teenagers because of Grandpa’s "buggy whip" and supported themselves by working on farms about 25 miles away. Dad and his brothers reconciled with their father when they were grown and out of his jurisdiction. I remember trips to visit him, and frankly, I was afraid of him. He was not the loving, grandfatherly type of person a child enjoys being with. He delighted in frightening me. A bit about myself: I work as a librarian in the Law Library in the local county Courthouse here in Texas, Texas. I help a lot of people with legal research when they cannot afford to hire an attorney. I also do some legal research projects for attorneys from time to time. I worked for years as a legal assistant/legal secretary. I had thought that I would retire by now (I’m 67 years old). My wonderful husband of 37 years died 10 years ago from cancer. Our three children and their families live close by, so I see them frequently. I retired for 6 months a little over 4 years ago, and found that I could not stand staying home by myself. I was lucky to find a job where I can use my legal research and writing skills without having the stress of a lawyer’s office. I am the organist at my church, and I study with a professor at the university here in Texas. I also teach English to Spanish speaking people on my lunch hour and in the evenings. To stay busy, I cram as much into every minute of every day as is humanly possible. If you’re ever in the neighborhood please look me up, I would be happy to meet you. Thank you again for such an interesting story. Keep in touch. Irene " So, this news from Irene adds much insight to the story of Sadie Love, and it’s so heartening to know that Sadie has descendants out there, insuring she will continue to be lovingly remembered. The website may be found by placing this url in your browser: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/oh/tombpics/ and scrolling to Morgan Co., on the index page. I recently received an update from Irene's daughter, that Irene  passed on April 29, 2015. I no longer have contact information for her daughter and have no way to forward any correspondence that might be of genealogical interest to the family.

I dedicate this brief text remembrance to the memory of Sadie Love, and to the person who created her thoughtful epitaph, "I have done what I could". You have to wonder if this might have been a phrase she used during her tragically short life time. Thanks to Kelly for showing me the way, Irene and her daughter Karen for sending wonderful updates on Sadie's descendants. Robert M. Sizelove, Sr., 23 Nov., 2005. There will be an update to this story coming in late 2011. The most recent update to this story, 9 May, 2015, by the kindness of Karen Adams.

This most recent update made on 17 April, 2023. I just attended the memorial of a dear friend yesterday at a funeral home in Worthington, Ohio. It was the memorial for Kelly S. Moody, 24 August, 1948 - 4 April, 2023, he is the dear friend that first introduced me to this story about Sadie Love. He was a teacher, poet, artist of both visual and music. I want to extend my prayers to all his family, loved ones, and friends. This great man will be terribly missed by all who knew him, including me.