Ellsworth Cemetery

Directions Website Contact the organization

Ellsworth Cemetery A historic cemetery in Westminster, Maryland They chose to immortalize a white man, Col. The need for financial support continues.

Ellsworth Cemetery was created on December 21, 1876 when seven Black Union Army Veterans filed Maryland Articles of Incorporation to provide a burial place “for the Colored residents of Westminster, Maryland”. Ruben Walker, David Ireland, William Massey, Nelson Edwards, William Adams, Lewis Dorsey and Samuel Bowens, the incorporators, participated in the bloody Civil War Campaigns of 1863, 1864, and 1865. Elmer Ellsworth, a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln who was the first Union Officer to die in the Civil War. The ground on which the Ellsworth Cemetery stands was sold to the group by the Estate of Elias Yingling for the sum of one dollar on June 11th 1894. Through the years, Ellsworth Cemetery has received the remains of Black Carroll Counting, residents of the Carroll County Alms House, Strangers who died in the County with no known family and residents of today’s Westminster Rescue Mission of all races. In the recent past, many groups, The Boy Scouts of America, Maryland State Troopers of the Westminster Barracks, Union Memorial Baptist Church, Pritts Funeral Home and Branch 7014 of the NAACP recruited and organized by Mr. George Murphy have reclaimed and restored many of the two hundred graves. Over the years vandals have damaged or destroyed many of the sometimes simple, sometimes elaborate but always historic head stones. Thanks to a beautifully, hand drawn map in the archives of the Union Memorial Baptist Church many graves have been identified and their markers restored. The Carroll County Historical Societies have been a great help in this process. At present, the graves at Ellsworth Cemetery are being identified, marked and restored. A new sign has been place by the entrance and the entire site has been fenced. Having done this work, the grounds now must be maintained and protected. It is also our intent, as funds allow, to restore and maintain other Historic Black Cemeteries in the County. We shall also work collaboratively with active cemeteries and Churches doing this work. To quote a report made to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development about this project, “A community that respects its history and those who lived it, has the right to call itself civilized”.

Mr. Joseph Squirrel was born in 1862, one of at least 12 children of Mr. John and Eliza Black Squirrel. His father came ...
09/13/2026

Mr. Joseph Squirrel was born in 1862, one of at least 12 children of Mr. John and Eliza Black Squirrel. His father came from a long line of free African Americans in Maryland, going back at least until 1770. Many of the family served in the military through the generations.

Joseph Squirrel married Ms. Laura B. Sherman in the summer of 1885. Ms. Sherman was a native of Virginia. They had two children, Blanche and Arthur. He worked as a laborer all his life.

He lived on Union Street in Westminster, and worked in a local fertilizer plant when he passed away in 1947.

Mr. Squirrel is buried in Ellsworth Cemetery in an unmarked grave.

Mrs. Martha Squirrel Frisby is buried near her family in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.Ms. Squirrel was bo...
09/06/2026

Mrs. Martha Squirrel Frisby is buried near her family in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

Ms. Squirrel was born in 1882, one of many children of Elias and Ellen (Elder) Squirrel. Elias was the son of Benjamin Squirrel, who was the patriarch of a large, free-born African American family in Carroll County.

She would have likely attended school on Union Street, where she learned to read and write. By 1900, Martha was married to Frank Frisby. She also went by the name Maude. Mrs. Frisby kept house for her husband and children, moving to Frostburg, Maryland in the early 1900s. In this coal-mining town, Mr. Frisby worked as a waiter in a hotel dining room, while their eldest son worked in the brickyard, starting as young as 12 years old.

Mrs. Martha/Maude Frisby died in 1929 and was returned to her hometown of Westminster, where she was buried in Ellsworth Cemetery.

Little is known about Mrs. Margaret Lee. She was born in Carroll County, right about the end of the Civil War. The only ...
08/30/2026

Little is known about Mrs. Margaret Lee. She was born in Carroll County, right about the end of the Civil War. The only records we have for her are the 1900 Census, her obituary and her death certificate.

From these sources, we know that she was married to William Lee, about 1883 and had 12 children. Only three children lived to see 1900, and they are Adam, Paul and Mary Lee. She died suddenly of an apparent heart attack while visiting her husband at his workplace. Mrs. Lee was a congregant of the Union Street Church.

Mrs. Margaret Anna Lee is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

08/23/2026

Private William H. Jones is one of many Civil War Veterans buried in Ellsworth Cemetery. We are in the process of obtaining a headstone for him, as his grave is currently both unknown and unmarked.

William Jones was the child of Margaret Clark. His father has yet to be identified.

He was first married to Ritta (possibly Henrietta) Johnson, and she died about 1870. They had two children together, Ida and Alberta Jones.

He enlisted in Company H of the 4th Regiment of the USCI, serving in front of Petersburg, where he was wounded in the left knew. Later one, Private Jones was shot in the right arm at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, in late September 1864. Following this gunshot wound, he was discharged from the US Army.

Upon his return to Westminster after the war, he married Sarah Catherine Lynn. Sarah's first husband, Robert Johns, had deserted her. Sarah and William lived in Westminster, where he worked as a Farm Laborer, along with receiving his disability pension from the Army.

Private William H. Jones died in 1905 in Westminster, at his home on Charles Street.
He is buried in Ellsworth Cemetery, in Westminster, Maryland.

08/16/2026

Among those buried in unmarked graves at Ellsworth Cemetery is Ellen Bowman Hope, a woman who traveled the world.

Ellen Bowman was born in Virginia, where she met her husband, James Hope. The couple worked at the Richmond Theater, supporting Mary Devlin and Edwin Booth. As the famous actors traveled the world, James and Ella likely went with them, across the United States and Europe.

She was a dressmaker for Mrs. Booth, and an actor in her own right. Following the assignation of President by Edwin's young brother, the Hopes settled in Westminster. James Hope ran a barbershop, and Ella continued to work as a dressmaker. The couple staged at least one night of Shakespeare, with James playing Cardinal Richelieu.

Following James' death in 1900, Mrs. Hope continued to live in Westminster. She died about 1905 and is buried in an unmarked grave.

07/12/2026

The sad truth of the early 1900s is that those times were dangerous for children.

Young Goldie Viola Brown was only a month past her 5th birthday when she contracted tuberculosis. Three months later, the disease took her life. A vaccine for TB was still a year away and treatment was decades yet to come.

She was the child of Edward Brown and Rachel Bowens. Her grandfather was Samuel Bowens, a Veteran of the Civil War.

Goldie V. Brown died on January 23, 1905 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

Mr. Nicholas Paroway was born before the United States, lived to be over 110 years old and is buried at Ellsworth Cemete...
07/04/2026

Mr. Nicholas Paroway was born before the United States, lived to be over 110 years old and is buried at Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland. He was the first African American to vote in Carroll County.

In 1766, Mr. Paroway was born enslaved near Baltimore. His original enslaver is not known. When the Declaration of Independence was signed, he was a boy, ten years of age. He would tell stories of seeing large numbers of strangely uniformed soldiers (evidently the French) coming through Baltimore. At the end of the war, the celebrations were held and he would describe them as, 'The biggest illuminations I ever saw!'

By 1820, he was enslaved by Mr. Ludwig Wampler, along with 19 other people. Some of these others were likely his family members. When Mr. Wampler died in 1826, 22 people are listed in the inventory of his personal property. Mr. Paroway was listed as "1 Negro Man, Nick" and had an assigned value of $300. Mr. Wampler willed various parts of his estate to his sons, and it is not clear which child inherited Mr. Paroway.

Whoever it was though, sometime before 1830, Mr. Paroway was manumitted. He is enumerated as free in the 1830 Census with two Black women. They were living in Baltimore. The women may have been his daughters.

Mr. Paroway paid $2.50 to Abraham Shafer on November 3rd, 1854, purchasing a young woman named Honor Paroway. He manumitted her two weeks later. She is likely the same person who is listed on the inventory of Ludwig Wampler's probate in 1826, valued at $250.

We know that Mr. Paroway was married twice. His second wife, Mrs. Grace Paroway, was about 30 years his junior. She is buried near him, in Ellsworth.
Mr. Paroway was the first African American to register to vote in Carroll County. His obituary read, in part, "When enfranchisement came, in deference to his age, he was the first one of his color to register as a voter in the district, and jealous and proud of the privilege he has voted at every election since."

At the time of his death in 1876, he had reached his 110th year. A lengthy obituary was published in local newspapers at the time, and republished as far away as London, England.

06/14/2026

William Edwards is buried in an unmarked grave in Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland.

One of many children of Nelson and Frances (Johnson) Edwards, William grew up on Charles Street in Westminster. William worked for Judge Bond, at least as early as 1892 when he was about 17 years old.

In 1892, the newspapers reported that William and the school teacher were in a relationship. Helena C. Brown was from Baltimore (and it's not clear how old she was), and she attempted su***de by taking poison. William shot himself. Both of the couple survived.

Walter recovered and married Irene Cross. They had one son together. Unfortunately, in 1904, William contracted tuberculosis. He died in December of 1905.

Address

Leidy Road
Westminster, MD
21157

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Ellsworth Cemetery posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Ellsworth Cemetery:

Shortcuts

Share