Two eighth-graders from Albion Middle School, Mary McCormick and Kendall Peruzzini, have been approved to pursue a headstone for a Civil War veteran buried at the Orleans County Poor House cemetery.
McCormick and Peruzzini began investigating Daniel Walterhouse, a Civil War veteran, after learning from Tim Archer, ACS Service Learning liaison that the soldier could be buried at the cemetery.
“The girls did some research this summer to help verify his [the soldier’s] burial there,” Archer said. " Their classmates will continue their work this fall."
Working alongside Sarah Basinait, Town of Albion Clerk, and Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian, the students’ goal was to identify the soldier and verify Walterhouse was buried in the cemetery.
“We searched through old death record ledgers from 1910 to verify Mr. [Daniel] Walterhouse’s death at the Orleans County Poor House and his burial at the Poor House Cemetery,” Peruzzini said. “It was confirmed that he was buried there.”
After this confirmation, McCormick says they visited Cooper in her offices at the Court House Square.
“She [Cooper] provided us with several old books that recorded residents at the Poor House by year,” McCormick explained. “Mr. Walterhouse was listed in the documents for several years prior to his death... We learned a lot about our county’s past by looking through these documents.”
On Tuesday, September 24, the students gave a brief presentation explaining their research process and requesting permission from the Orleans County legislature to pursue the headstone.
Now approved, they will be applying for a Civil War-style headstone through the Department of Veterans Affairs. These are provided free of charge with proper documentation. If the marker is received, they plan to hold a community ceremony in the spring to honor Mr. Walterhouse.
“Our hope is that, in some way, our recognizing him these many years later will also honor the many forgotten who lived at the Poor House in obscurity,” McCormick said.