Two students from Albion Middle School used part of their summer vacation to research a former Civil War soldier believed to be buried in Orleans County.
Eighth-graders Kendall Peruzzini and Mary McCormick spent time with both Sarah Basinait, Town of Albion Clerk, and Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian, scouring century-old records in hopes of proving the soldier's burial site - an unmarked grave at the former Almshouse Cemetery on West County House Rd.
Eventually, they applied for a headstone from the National Cemetery Administration and hope to hear back soon. In 2011, Service Learning students joined the county in cleaning up the long forgotten cemetery out of respect for those buried under the simple, sandstone markers etched only with a number. About 75 stones exist and the vast majority of the approximate 200 burials there have no headstone.
Once school begins, their fellow Social Studies classmates will join in the Service Learning effort.
