Other Duties as Assigned
Lisa Allgood, Executive Presbyter
March 9, 2026

Long blog ahead – fair warning. Hope you like history that twists and turns with coincidences… or are they?

Other Duties as Assigned. This phrase has always been a bit of a fun reminder to me that my “job” description has never been all-encompassing.  I’ve used this phrase as a joking catch-all for everything from taking out the office trash, to taking photos at a Gathering, to moving the Presbytery office three times in 8 years – which included building furniture, installing printers and computers, packing boxes and boxes and boxes, and schlepping historical records to Philadelphia for storage.

But this month two “other duties as assigned” collided, with the joy and delight and surprises that only God can arrange.

When I first started this position 8 years ago, I was told “don’t worry about the cemetery – we donated it to Hamilton County Parks.”  Awesome!  We had a cemetery? (yes, Pioneer Cemetery near Lunken airport, as old as our oldest churches, dating back to the 1790s). 

Three years ago, the VFW in Hyde Park called out of the blue and asked if I wanted to donate the 3 cemeteries the Presbytery owned to them so they could manage them.  Wait, what…?  Sure enough, there were 3 more cemeteries near Lunken that we – according to the Hamilton County auditor – still owned. Columbia Presbyterian Churchyard, Fulton Cemetery, Fulton Mechaniks (sic) Cemetery. They’re listed in Wikipedia. And on the National Register of Historic places.  Apparently, people had forgotten… so, why, yes, I’d love to donate those to you…!  And so we did.  One gentleman from the VFW has kept me informed of their progress in cleaning them up, and I’ve visited (but bring bug spray) – it’s a beautiful, peaceful place.

Going back to that same time 8 years ago, we sold and moved from the original Presbytery office building in Walnut Hills, and at the time Janis Adams (then the recently retired stated clerk) told me “don’t forget the tombstones in the basement”.  Wait, what…? Sure enough, there were two tombstones, one cracked and broken so the name was not fully readable, both Revolutionary-War-era. They are heavy. So, I wrapped them up and, yes, you guessed it – I have moved them 3 times.

Until a week ago. When I finally unwrapped them and started to look up where they might go.  There were many possibilities – those 4 original cemeteries, but also the one near Red Oak Presbyterian, or one in Springdale at the site of the original Springdale Presbyterian Church, which no longer exists – but the cemetery (and original church foundation) is still there, beautifully tended by the township.  I’d been told there were 12 Revolutionary War veterans buried there but only 10 headstones… Aha!

But – no.

Ephraim Baker, died 1795. Buried in Fulton Cemetery, Cincinnati.

Hermanus Taulman (this was the name I had to piece together), died 1796. Buried in Fulton Cemetery, Cincinnati.

One of the cemeteries we’d donated.

“An elder son of Ephraim Baker and Ruth Baker, Ephraim Baker was born in Essex (now Union) County, New Jersey in 1740. According to the records of the Presbyterian Church in Westfield, New Jersey (a place I knew well when I worked at Merck), Ephraim Baker married Jane Osborn in 1762. Ephraim Baker was one of the earliest pioneers of Ohio, settling with family in Columbia, one of Cincinnati’s first settlements. Ephraim died on February 25, 1795, and is buried at the Historic Columbia Presbyterian Cemetery (also known as the Fulton-Presbyterian Cemetery).”

So Ephraim came from New Jersey – the same state I grew up in, and in a part of New Jersey I’d worked for several years. 

And Hermanus? Once I pieced together Hermanus’ name and confirmed it from the date of death, I looked him up – he was born in the town in New Jersey right next to where I grew up. He was baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church just over the state line in New York that I passed every day; one I actually showed to Ed Goode and Deb Uchtman when we were there for the Growth Network event last fall.  The church where Major John Andre’s trial was held, where he was convicted of treason, when he’d conspired with Benedict Arnold to take West Point (only about 30 miles north). His grandfather named the mountain on the Hudson that was always one of my favorite places to hike.  And after his death in Columbia Ohio, Hermanus’ children moved north to Montgomery – the town I live in now; there is still a Taulman historic house here on Cooper Road.

“Hermanus (Harmanus) Taulman was born in 1731 in Closter, NJ. He married his second wife, Catherine Blauvelt (a common name in the area), in 1774. He was a private in Second Regiment NY Orange County Militia, Commanded by Col. Ann Hawkes Hay, and was understood to have been imprisoned by the British in New York (or Jersey Prison Ship) for 11 months until his escape.  He emigrated to Ohio and farmed, then died January 22, 1796, in Hamilton County and is buried in Columbia Presbyterian Cemetery. He left a widow, his third wife Ann, and several children.”

Hermanus’ children were members of Hopewell Presbyterian Church (I couldn’t tell if Hermanus ever was).  Hopewell Presbyterian became Montgomery Presbyterian – became Evergreen Presbyterian.

Other Duties as Assigned aren’t always fun. This week – they made me smile.