Cuyahoga Falls to unveil monument at graves of former slaves

Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal
·6 min read
Photographer Laurel James took this 19th century image of Cuyahoga Falls resident John Hansparker, a former Virginia slave, reciting with a young girl in the late 1800s. Hansparker learned to read and write in Ohio and practiced reading books with schoolchildren.
Photographer Laurel James took this 19th century image of Cuyahoga Falls resident John Hansparker, a former Virginia slave, reciting with a young girl in the late 1800s. Hansparker learned to read and write in Ohio and practiced reading books with schoolchildren.

Their graves have gone unmarked for more than a century.

This weekend, that will change.

The Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society will unveil a granite monument at Oakwood Cemetery to honor the memory of former slaves John and Emily Hansparker and their adopted daughter Helen Hurley.

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The public is invited to attend “Speak My Name: A Commemoration & Celebration of the Lives and Legacy of the Hansparkers” at 11 a.m. Saturday at First Christian Church, 230 Stow Ave., Cuyahoga Falls.

Researchers plan to reveal new findings about the family.

At 12:30 p.m., a procession will form to walk two blocks to the cemetery at 2420 Oakwood Drive for the unveiling of the marker. The Hansparkers are buried in Section B, Lot 621.

The event coincides with Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates the date that Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger told a group of African Americans on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, that they had been freed from slavery.

Last year, the historical society raised more than $6,000 to buy a grave marker for the family.

Former slaves lived in Cuyahoga Falls

Born in 1836, John Hansparker was an emancipated slave from Virginia who moved to Ohio after the Civil War. In captivity, he had been forbidden to learn how to read or write, but he picked up the skills here, practicing with Cuyahoga Falls children and reading to them from books.

In Cuyahoga Falls, Hansparker met Emeline “Emily” Hopp, a formerly enslaved woman who was born in Missouri in 1847. They married in Cuyahoga Falls on Nov. 19, 1867.

They lived in a small cabin on Front Street on a site that today serves as a parking lot for the Sheraton Suites. Emily worked as a laundress and John was employed at the Falls Rivet Works and as a groundskeeper at the Prior family estate on Front Street.

The couple adopted Helen, a Hudson native who had been orphaned at a young age. The family was well known in Summit County.

All three passed away during a 15-month span in the early 20th century. Helen was 28 when she died June 7, 1906. She is buried between John, who died May 5, 1907, and Emily, who died Sept. 12, 1907. He was about 71 and she was 60.

Kenyona "Sunny" Matthews stands next to the site of the unmarked graves of former slaves John Hansparker and his wife, Emily, and their daughter Helen at Oakwood Cemetery on June 10, 2021, in Cuyahoga Falls. A grave marker will be unveiled at the cemetery.
Kenyona "Sunny" Matthews stands next to the site of the unmarked graves of former slaves John Hansparker and his wife, Emily, and their daughter Helen at Oakwood Cemetery on June 10, 2021, in Cuyahoga Falls. A grave marker will be unveiled at the cemetery.

University of Akron Law School graduate Kenyona “Sunny” Matthews, a motivational speaker focusing on diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, is on a Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society committee that has been working on the Hansparker project.

“For me, it’s been quite moving,” she said. “As an African American, I can’t say, ‘These are my ancestors. These are my people.’ But in some ways, I CAN say, ‘These are my ancestors. These are my people.’

“It’s been great to know that I can honor them in this way. We’ve been able to learn so much about them.”

Matthews said it’s important to celebrate the lives of the Hansparkers and recognize that they mattered.

“We wouldn’t be here without them,” she said. “If they had not been able to survive what they had survived, we wouldn’t be here.”

Chestnut Hill helps design marker

Shawn Andrews, researcher and secretary for the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society & Museum, thanked Jim Brearley from Chestnut Hill Memorial Park and Sherrie Nehrenz from the Cuyahoga Falls cemetery office for their involvement in the project.

“They’re amazing human beings,” she said. “They’re the kind of people you’d want to be working with when you come across a difficult moment in life where you’ve lost a loved one. They’re the kind of people being the change you wish to see in the world.”

Brearley helped the historical society design the monument and keep the project on schedule, which was a challenge because of supply chain issues and spiraling costs of materials.

Even after raising more than $6,000, the project fell short of cash.

“The Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society kicked in some money and then Chestnut Hill kicked in a good chunk of money as well,” Andrews said. “So we’re really blessed that everyone has been so amazing and gracious in this whole process.”

Nehrenz worked out the logistics at Oakwood Cemetery and made sure that the monument’s foundation was poured early enough to be ready for the ceremony. She also was instrumental in getting the city to donate the cost of the foundation, Andrews said.

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Andrews said the stone monument will stand upright and have a vase, but she didn’t want to give away too much before the unveiling. The stone looks sharp and will stand out, she said.

“It’s beautiful,” Matthews agreed.

The memorial will incorporate 21st century technology with the inclusion of a QR code for smartphones.

“People can scan when they visit the graves and a website will pop up that has information about the Hansparkers,” Matthews said.

She said the public is welcome to bring floral tributes for the unveiling.

“We will invite people to offer their flowers,” she said. “We’re going to leave them right in front of the stone.”

People unable to walk in the procession from the church can drive to the cemetery and join the gathering there, Andrews said.

Through her research, Andrews has unearthed new information about the Hansparkers that she’s eager to share at Saturday’s event. We won’t spoil it here.

“I definitely go down a lot of rabbit holes when I’m looking,” Andrews said. “You have to kind of go off on the branches when you can’t just go down the main road.”

Andrews has learned that there are other Black people who were buried a century ago in unmarked graves at the cemetery.

Perhaps the Hansparker project will lead to other monuments.

Stay tuned.

The Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society is at 2083 Cook St. For more information, visit the group’s Facebook page or call 330-510-1162.

Cuyahoga Falls resident John Hansparker works as a caretaker in the late 1800s.
Cuyahoga Falls resident John Hansparker works as a caretaker in the late 1800s.

Connections to anti-slavery past

Through the historical society, Matthews has learned about Cuyahoga Falls connections to the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery movement. One stop on the trail to Canada was in the basement at Pilgrim United Church of Christ on Broad Boulevard.

During a program last year, Matthews and her daughter stood in that space and reflected on what the safe haven must have meant to people who had escaped slavery.

“It’s been nice to connect to that history and recognize that we’ve come so far when it comes to race and racism and the way which we interact with each other,” she said.

“We have so much more work to do. If we’ve done that work, we can do this work. We just have to do it.”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Former slaves’ graves to be marked in Cuyahoga Falls