SHELBY – Christina Yetzer Drain stood at the Oakland Cemetery in front of a field of gravestones; a freshly planted white oak and granite bench to her left, a rusted sword to her right and the family of one of Shelby’s founding members in front of her.
Gathered on behalf of Wreaths Across America, celebrating Veterans Day and America’s 250th birthday, Drain invited the descendants of James Gamble, a Revolutionary War veteran, to honor their ancestor Wednesday night.
Gamble was from Poughkeepsie, New York, and was born 17 years before the nation’s founding in 1776. There isn’t much known about his youth before he joined the fight for American independence as a Revolutionary War corporal.
“He is the oldest veteran resting in Oakland Cemetery,” Drain said. “He served in the war that made us a nation. If ‘Remember Me’ belongs to anyone, it belongs to him.”
Gamble moved to Ohio after his service, along with his wife and some of his 11 children. His sons, John and Hugh, were the first to move into the area that would become Shelby, but James soon followed.
The land would first be known as Gamble’s Mill, before he laid down the first plats and organized Shelby into the city built on industry that it would become. One of his longest lasting contributions is the grist mill, located at what is now 60 W. Main St.
“Lots of times my dad would tell me stories, and I knew that the grist mill was here,” said Traci McQuillen, the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Gamble. “Then, I decided I wanted to find a little bit more about that connection, and I wanted to find more about the man who founded Shelby, Ohio.
“After about three years of working, I figured out that I was the great-great-great-great granddaughter of James Gamble. This year … James Gamble (along with his son Hugh and his family) were all recognized by the First Families of Richland County.”
Drain acknowledged Gamble’s sword from the Revolutionary War – an artifact kept by his family to this day. Gamble’s descendants took the sword to his headstone, resting it alongside a sheaf.
Drain then turned to the tree and bench beside her. The two were new additions to the gravesite, commemorating the cemetery’s oldest veteran. The tree, a white oak, was chosen for it’s strength and reliability, as well as it’s two-to-three-century lifespan.
“This tree, planted in America’s 250th year, may still be standing when the nation turns 500,” Drain said. “Strong, useful, long-lived, and rooted in this Shelby soil, that is a fitting tree for a soldier and town founder.”
Images from James Gamble’s Veterans Day celebration (Credit: Logan Adams)
