Richland
Cemetery is made up of 13 acres of land. Presently
there are close to 16,000 people interred here. It
was once part of the Risher Family property in Mifflin
Township. The original main house and office were
replaced in 1970.
Richland is an all
denomination cemetery and a non-profit
organization. Every person interred here is
important to us, but we also have some very special
people of historical importance.
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Lt.
Charles Oliver was interred here in 1920, in
Section G, Lot 1256. Lt. Oliver was awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor. Here is the
citation: "OLIVER, CHARLES Rank and
organization: Sergeant, Company M, 100th
Pennsylvania Infantry. Place & date: At
Petersburg, VA, 25 March 1865. Entered service
at: Allegheny County, PA. Birth: Allegheny
County, PA. Date of issue: 3 July 1865.
Citation: Capture of flag of 31st Georgia (C.S.A.)
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Private
Edward Pigford, interred in 1932 in Section C,
Lot 568, was with General Custer at the Battle of
the Little Big Horn. He survived because
General Custer sent him back to check on the
location of Major Reno and his reinforcements. The
story of Private Pigford is in the cemetery office.
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Lt. Jabez
Griffiths was interred in Section A, Lot 298 in
1898. Lt. Griffiths was present that fateful
night when President Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington,
D.C. Lt. Griffiths was one of six Union
soldiers who carried the mortally wounded President
out of Ford's Theater and across the street to the
Little Brick House.
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Corporal
David Burton Foster, 43rd Company, 5th Regiment,
US Marine Corps, was interred in 1921 in Section B,
Lot 319. Corporal Foster was killed in action
at Bois-De-Belleau, Chateau Thierry, France, on June
12, 1918, the first soldier from McKeesport to die
in WW I. American Legion Post 380 in
Dravosburg is named for him.
-
We even know
of a Confederate soldier, D.M. Entler, who is interred
in Section G, Lot 1426. He died in 1917, but
no records are known.
FOR
GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION AND RESEARCH PLEASE CONTACT:
McKeesport Heritage Center
1832 Arboretum Drive
McKeesport, PA 15132
Phone: 412-678-1832
Email: mckheritage@yahoo.com
MEMORIAL DAY
services are held by the Dravosburg American Legion on
the Sunday before Memorial Day.
If anyone has
further historical information on the cemetery, please
contact the office. It will be greatly
appreciated. |