CINCINNATI — The books are bound together with string. And before Louise Stevenson even gets them off the shelf, she puts on white gloves.
The covers fell off years ago.
“This is a very sacred and secure place,” Stevenson said.
At Union Baptist Church, in a room most people aren't allowed to visit, she shows me documents from the 1800s. This is where church leaders keep handwritten records from all three of their cemeteries, including the first Black cemetery in Cincinnati.
“This is from 1884,” Stevenson said. “Wow.”
She’s working to help the church document and record all of the information inside.
“I have to be careful,” Stevenson said. “They’re very fragile.”
It’s why Michelle Wherry is here. Even if she’s not allowed to touch anything.
Go inside the search for a Revolutionary War veteran in the video below:
“This is a gold mine,” Wherry said. “We don’t have the records that you all have.”
She’s a member of a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and she’s looking for information about a man she doesn’t know. His name is Presley Gregory. He was born in Virginia, and he died in Cincinnati in 1853.
She doesn't know much else.
“Presley Gregory is a wonderful work in progress,” Wherry said.
An obituary says he was a Revolutionary War soldier who served under George Washington, but Wherry is focusing on finding other evidence that backs that claim up.
“It’s one thing to say he was a Revolutionary soldier,” Wherry said. “But it has to be proven.”
That can be difficult because of slavery and years of systemic racism that prevented Black people from obtaining the kind of records Wherry is looking for.
“So much of history has basically ignored the contributions of Blacks and Native Americans,” Wherry said.
That’s why she’s here.
“Part of my journey is to give back that dignity,” Wherry said. “(Because) so much of it was taken during that time period.”
She laughs and shakes her head.
“It’s a journey," Wherry said. "It is a journey."
That journey that took her to United Colored American Cemetery, the first Black cemetery in Cincinnati, according to local researchers.
“It’s a sacred place,” said Chris Hanlin, a historian who’s helped document grave sites around Cincinnati. “There are so many stories here.”
On a hot day at the cemetery, Wherry grabs a wreath out of her car. Hanlin walks her up to Gregory’s grave.
“We want to recognize that story,” Wherry said.
Because it’s a story about history — even if you can’t find it in a history book. It’s a story about the impact Black people had on our country — even during slavery. It’s a story about the truth — whatever that looks like.
Wherry puts her hand on the old headstone, on which Gregory's name can barely be read, and we wait for someone to cut the grass. The sun is beating down on us. Wherry sits down.
She apologizes and then drinks water from a mason jar originally meant for the flowers on the wreath.
“What a day,” Wherry said.
She didn't solve any mysteries today. She didn't find anything new that will prove Gregory's story. But sitting in the grass in front of his grave, she promises to keep trying.
“Telling the truth is important,” Wherry said.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can find more Homefront stories here.
