Probate Court hearing scheduled regarding former Litchford cemetery site

During a hearing on March 12, 2026, at 9:30 a.m., the Franklin County Probate Court (located at 373 S. High Street, 22nd Floor, Columbus, Ohio, 43215) will consider a request to approve the disposition of unidentified remains discovered in 2020 at the site of a former cemetery on the grounds of Upper Arlington High School.

The remains were left behind in the 1950s when dozens of bodies were exhumed from the site of the Litchford Family Cemetery and moved to other locations to make way for the construction of a high school building.  In 2020, as Upper Arlington City Schools prepared to open a new high school building on the same site, archeologists discovered remains that were not moved in the 1950s.  These include bones and bone fragments from three different individuals and a full set of skeletal remains from one individual, thought to be a 9 to 10 year old girl.

Upper Arlington Schools has worked with DNA experts but has been unable to identify the individuals. Their names and relationship - familiar or otherwise - to Pleasant Litchford remain unknown.   

In collaboration with several descendants of Pleasant Litchford, a plan has been developed to respectfully rebury these remains.  The bones and bone fragments belong to unidentified individuals who were moved to unmarked graves at Union Cemetery in the 1950s. As such, these remains will be cremated and reburied at Union.  Because the young girl is unidentified and the location of her relatives is unknown, the school district and Litchford family members feel it would be most respectful to return her remains to the site selected as her final resting place by her loved ones at the time of her death.  She will be cremated and reburied at the site of the Litchford Family Cemetery, which is now known as the Litchford Memorial Garden and sits just to the south of Upper Arlington High School.

The Litchford Memorial Garden is a landscaped area designed for peace and reflection.  In the coming months, an Ohio State Historical Marker and informational signage will be installed that honors the cemetery site and the life and legacy of Pleasant Litchford, who became one of the largest landowners in the area after being enslaved in Virginia in the 1800s. (To learn more about Pleasant Litchford please visit www.uaschools.org/litchford.)

Any objections to the plans for these remains shall be filed with the Franklin County Probate court on or before February 26, 2026.  Objections must include evidence of the person’s relationship to Pleasant Litchford or to the unidentified remains.