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F 129 5664 56
ISTORY
ERGREEN . CEMETERY-
SINCLAIRVILLE, NY
----
باقة الورد
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Fing Chant. Copyright Do. Shelf: 339786
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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HISTORY
-OF- -
EVERGREEN CEMETERY
SINCLAIRVILLE, CHAUT. CO., N. Y.,
AND OTHER BURIAL GROUNDS IN ITS VICINITY,
.
-WITH ITS
LAWS, RULES, REGULATIONS, NAMES OF LOT- OWNERS, AND MAP.
/
11013 V
Prepared by Obed Edson, under the direction of the Trustees of Evergreen Cemetery Association. au,
SINCLAIRVILLE, N. Y .: PRESS OF THE COMMERCIAL. 1 890.
F129 .566456
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, BY OBED EDSON, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
7. 3. 1. 196-8-8
INDEX.
Map facing Title Page. Page.
Officers and Trustees for 1890, 3
Trustees and Officers, 4
History, 5
The Pickett Burying Ground,
8
The Sinclairville Burying Ground,
9
The Damon Brothers-Note,
Greenwood, 12
15 15
Burying Ground in District No. 2, Gerry,
17
The Richmond Burying Ground,
IS
The Luce Family Burying Ground,
18
Evergreen Cemetery,
19
Organization, 20 Purchase of Grounds, 20 21
Early Difficulties and Final Success,
Addition to Grounds, 21
Laying Out and Improving the Grounds, 22
Burial Lots,
23
Superintendents of the Ground.
23 2.4 21
Conclusion of the History,
25
Laws, Rules, and Regulations,
28
Respecting Burial Lots and Improvements,
30
Respecting Interments, 32
Respecting Visitors, 32
Section 647 of the Penal Code, 34
List of Lot Owners, 35
Errata, 42
Improvements,
Soldiers' Monument,
Charlotte Center Burying Ground,
Officers and Trustees.
1890. . . ...
PRESIDENT, ALONZO LANGWORTHY.
VICE-PRESIDENT, DANIEL B. DORSETT.
SECRETARY, TREASURER, AND SUPERINTENDENT, HENRY A. KIRK.
: : : TRUSTEES. :
TIMOTHY D. COPP.
HENRY REYNOLDS. DANIEL B. DORSETT. HENRY A. KIRK.
ALONZO LANGWORTHY. OBED EDSON.
Trustees and Officers.
The following are the names of the Trustees and Officers of the Association, from its origin to the present time :
TRUSTEES.
NAME.
ELECTED.
TIME OF SERVICE.
BERNARD W. FIELD, .
June 24, 1862
Until his decease, May 20,'84
TIMOTHY D. COPP, ...
Until the present time.
JOHN DEWEY, ..
6
Until June 20, 1874.
DANIEL R. DORSETT, .
Until the present time.
WILLIAM WAIT,
Until June 18, 1864.
ALONZO LANGWORTHY,
60
Until the present time.
HENRY A. KIRK, .
June 18, 1864 Until the present time.
OBED EDSON, .
June 20, 1874 Until the present time.
HENRY REYNOLDS, ..
June 21, 1884 Until the present time.
OFFICERS.
BERNARD W. FIELD, President from June 24, 1862, until his death, May 20, 1884.
ALONZO LANGWORTHY, President from June 21, 1884, until the present time.
DANIEL B. DORSETT, Vice-President from June 24, 1862, until the present time.
JOHN DEWEY, Secretary from June 24, 1862, until he resigned, February 19, 1870.
ALONZO LANGWORTHY, Secretary from February 19, 1870, until June 17, 1871.
HENRY A. KIRK, Secretary from June 17, 1871, until the pres- ent time.
JOHN DEWEY, Treasurer from June 24, 1862, until he resigned, February 19, 1870.
HENRY A. KIRK, Treasurer from February 19, 1870, until the present time.
BERNARD W. FIELD, Superintendent from May 1, 1863, until his decease, May 20, 1884.
HENRY A. KIRK, Superintendent from May 24, 1884, until the present time.
THOMAS HORNER, Sexton from May 1, 1863, until June IS, 1864.
HISTORY.
BY OBED EDSON.
AVERGREEN CEMETERY lies within the corporate limits of the village of Sinclairville; yet its situation is such as to seclude it from the localities around. It occu- pies a moderate eminence, which terminates a tongue of land that extends nearly across the valley of Mill Creek, crowding the waters of the stream into a narrow passage. A high and precipitous bank forms the southern boundary of the valley, and at the same time fixes the northern limit of the cemetery. Mill Creek, gathered into a pond, extends along the base of the bank, where its waters darkly gleam from out the shade of overhanging elms and willows. A steep bank bounds the. cemetery on the west, along which a race, issuing from the pond, extends to an ancient grist-mill. A sharp declivity sub- stantially marks its southern limit, The cemetery is accessible without hinderance from the east, where a village street lies between it and the pleasant fields beyond.
It would be difficult to choose a burial place so convenient of access, with such interesting surroundings, and at the same time, a place of retirement so well suited to its sober uses. The wild gorge, partly hid by twisted birches and ragged hem- locks; the pond, dimly seen down deep in its shadows; the stream, the bridge that spans it, and the old mill, are pleasing objects, in harmony with the peace and repose that pervades this abode of the dead. On every side are green fields and gently rising hills. As you look northward, through foliage that fringes this border of the cemetery, you have glimpses of the narrow, winding valley of Mill Creek, skirted with leafy
6
HISTORY OF
verdure, leading to the dimly-visible and far-away hills that overlook Lake Erie. Southward, and near at hand, lies the pleasant village; its handsome academy, flanked by church spires; its clean yards and painted houses, among shadows of elms and maples. Beyond the village, are meadows and pas- tures. Here the valley broadens away to the southwest, where the distant Ellery hills bound the view.
In the midst of verdant fields and inviting scenes like these, would we consecrate the spot where the living may meet the dead. We would soothe our grief at the loss of friends by laying them to rest in pleasant places. Respect for the dead is an instinct of our race. With tender care we consign their remains to the earth. Even the erring and fallen, cold in death, command a respect which was denied them when living. The awe with which we behold the lifeless form of man, lately the tenement of exalted powers, the abiding place of an infinite spirit, potent for either good or for evil, is but homage paid to the dignity and nobility of the race. Reverence for the dead continues long after death. We hold the places where they are laid to rest, as hallowed ground. These consecrated acres grow more dear to us as the years go by, for those that once we knew grow less and less. One by one, our friends go to their final rest, and the green hillocks that cover their dust multiply in the burial places.
"Friend after friend departs. Who hath not lost a friend?"
The custom of setting apart burial places for the dead, to be embellished with works of art, is not confined to civilized nations, or to modern times. It grows out of an universal sen- timent, existing in every age among all people. Nearly four thousand years ago, Abraham went to Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and purchased of Ephron, the Hittite, for four hun- dred shekels of silver, a burying place; a field in Machpelah, in which he buried Sarah his wife, who had died there among strangers. More than four thousand years ago, the pyramids of Ghizeh, the mightiest structures ever reared by human hands, were built in Egypt, as sepulchres for kings. Often, the most distinct traces left of the existence of once powerful nations, are elaborate catacombs, containing multitudes of dead; or the
7
EVERGREEN CEMETERY.
remains of mausoleums, built in honor of the great. Races un- known to history, that dwelt in distant corners of the earth, have left as the only evidence of their existence, tumuli erected over the bones of their dead. Even here, near this modern burial place, are the graves of a departed race. When the pioneers came, a crumbling earth-work, that had intrenched an old, forgotten town, encircled what is now the village green. On the same ground where now our youth assemble to practice feats of strength and skill, the young men of an older race once were accustomed to engage in ruder sports. In fields beyond the village, mouldering skeletons mark the spot where their dead were buried. The bones were sometimes found gathered pro- miscuously in one grave, and sometimes the dead were buried side by side at decent intervals, and with marks of care.
These fading traces denote that here were rudely cultivated fields, an ancient village, and a strange and primitive people, who, rough and barbarous as they were, honored the dead.
" But they are gone, With their old forests wide and deep, And we have built our homes upon
Fields where their generations sleep.
Their fountains slake our thirst at noon;
Upon their fields our harvest waves; Our lovers woo beneath their moon-
Then let us spare, at least, their graves!"
History gives little account of this people, and we but dimly see their shadowy forms through the mists of years. A ven- erable forest has grown above their village and burial place since they vanished from view. The forest remained long un- visited, save by occasional wanderers of the tribes that suc- ceeded them, and the wild beasts that held dominion there, until at length the white man came to break the silence that had so long hung over it.
The border line of settlement had been steadily moving westward, until the first year of the present century, when it reached the County of Chautauqua. In the spring of 1809, a few families commenced the first settlement of the town of Charlotte, in the northwest part, since known as the "Pickett Neighborhood." It was not long after these settlers had begun to rear their cabins there, and clear away the wilderness, that
8
HISTORY OF
death entered their midst. In the summer of 1810, the wife of Joseph Arnold, and her sister, Jerusha Barras, were taken sick with a fever. Not long after, in September of that year, Mrs. Arnold died, and on the day following, her sister also died. These were the first deaths that occurred in the town of Char- lotte.
Mrs. Arnold and her sister were buried in one grave, on the land where they lived, now the farm owned by Chauncey Pier- pont. Their grave is still to be seen, and should be marked with an appropriate headstone. Short and simple were the funeral rites that attended this burial in the wilderness. No clergyman ministered to sorrowing friends; no church bell tolled for the march to the grave; the simple obsequies were performed amid the silence of the woods-among the tall and graceful forest trees. The lavish hand of Nature adorned their wilderness grave with the beautiful foliage of autumn, and the wild flowers of the woods. No ground had at that time been set apart for the burial of the dead. The sad and peculiar circumstances of the first deaths impressed upon the settlers the need of such a place.
THE PICKETT BURYING GROUND.
The Pickett Burying Ground was the first to be dedicated as a resting-place for the dead in the town of Charlotte. In the year 1812, about one-fourth of an acre, on Lot 60, was set apart from the farm of John Pickett for that purpose. It is situated at the southeast corner of the four corners in School District No. I, and opposite the school house, in the " Pickett Neighborhood." It has now been in use for over seventy-seven years. Samuel, the father of John Pickett, and the ancestor of the Pickett and Cleland families of Charlotte, came to the town in 1811. He died December 19, 1812, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and he is believed to have been the first person buried there .**
The oldest head-stone erected in the town is here, at the grave of Polly Anderson. She died December 23, 1813, in the *So says Darius Cleland, the oldest resident of that part of the town of Charlotte.
9
EVERGREEN CEMETERY.
forty-seventh year of her age. The grave-stone is the work of no mean artist, though made of rough material, quarried from the natural ledges of the county. The following lines are in- scribed upon it :
"Withdraw my friends, Dry up your tears, For here I lie, Till Christ appears."
Here lies buried Clarinda Atkins, who died December 20, 1815. She was the wife of Amos Atkins. He and Stephen Jones were the first settlers in the town of Gerry. Two soldiers of the Revolution are interred in this ground-John Cleland, Sr., who died February 16, 1827, and Caleb Clark, who died May 17, 1837. They were the ancestors of the Cleland and Clark families of Charlotte. John Pickett and John Cleland, Jr., well-known pioneers of the town, are also buried herc. In all, about fifty-five persons are interred in this burial place. February 26, 1867, John Pickett, nearly fifty-five years after he dedicated it to the public, first executed a deed to "The com- munity of School District Number One, in the Town of Char- lotte, and ail others living in the surrounding towns wishing to use the same for burying purposes." It is designated in this deed as the " Pickett Burying Ground." Before the execution of the deed, at a town meeting held March 7, 1848, Eliakim Bar- num, John Pickett, and Robert P. Robertson had been elected trustees by the inhabitants of the town, to have charge of the ground.
THE SINCLAIRVILLE BURYING GROUND.
The Sinclairville Burying Ground was the second place of interment set apart in the town of Charlotte.
On the 20th of June, 1809, John Pickett, of the Pickett Set- tlement, piloted a party of pioneers down Mill Creek, and along the grounds afterwards selected for burial purposes at Sinclairville, to Cassadaga Creek. Here he felled a tree to en- able the party to cross. After pointing out the way that led through the woods to the Smiley Settlement in Ellery, he returned to his home. No white man that we have any account of had visited the place now occupied by Sinclairville
10
HISTORY OF
prior to Mr. Pickett, except the surveyors of the Holland Land Company. They, in 1808, ran the northern line of Lot 41, which passed very near to the northern limits of the village burying ground and cemetery.
In March, 1810, Major Sinclair, William Berry and his fam- ily, and some others arrived at Sinclairville, completed and occupied the first building erected in the village-a log house that had been commenced the fall before. The first clearing made here in this wilderness, was a tract of two or three acres that lay east and adjacent to the burying ground, which in June following was planted to corn. In the summer of 1810, a dam was thrown across Mill Creek, and a saw-mill built northwest of the cemetery, not a stone's throw from its western limits. It thus happens that the first openings in the forest at Sinclair- ville, and the first settlement of the village, were made close around this burial place.
A little later, and improvements were commenced further away. Clearings began to be made, and buildings to be erected, on and near Main street, and along what is now Railroad ave- nue. The barren character of the soil where the burying ground and cemetery are located was undoubtedly the cause of its not having been selected for improvement, so that the thick forest and undergrowth of hemlocks, for several years after the settlement of the village, remained undisturbed, the natural habitation of rabbits and conies, which even to this day haunt the locality.
No spot for burial purposes was allotted to the public for some time after the settlement of the village. The first settlers were hardy and vigorous people. But few died during the early years. The first death that occurred within the corporate limits of the village was that of Elisha Winsor, an infant son of Abraham Winsor, who then lived on Railroad avenue, just north of the town line. He died in 1814, four or five years after the settlement of the village. He was buried on the bank or hill, that rises a little west of the iron bridge over Mill creek, on Railroad avenue. Hiram Sinclair, an infant son of Major Sinclair, died in March, 1818. He was buried in a little grove of plum trees which then grew a few feet northwest of the hotel, near the east line of the village lot now owned by James A. Clark. One or two other young children may have
II
EVERGREEN CEMETERY.
died in the village, and been buried without the limits of what afterwards became the burial ground.
About the year 1818, Mr. Sinclair set apart for the use of the public for burial purposes, two acres of land, substantially what is known as the Old Burying Ground. It occupies the southeasterly portion of the lands enclosed and improved as Evergreen Cemetery. It is not certainly known who was the first interred here. Many years ago, a young traveler on his arrival at Sinclairville, was prostrated by sickness. He was well cared for by Mrs. Sinclair at the tavern, and at the house of Dr. Sargent, but died after a lingering illness, and was buried in the Old Burying Ground. His grave was long known as the "Stranger's Grave." Upon a rude, unfinished head-stone, near the central and western part of the Old Burying Ground, is carved in distinct and well-formed letters, the following words, "Febr'y 28 1818." This is the oldest inscription in the grave-yard, and may mark the stranger's grave, and per- haps the place of the first burial. A few feet from it, is an old, uncut headstone without inscription, while a little way in another direction is a rude headstone, on which are cut the letters, "S. W." In the vicinity of these old stones are a number of unmarked graves, while others near them have at the head undressed stones, evidently gathered from the creeks and fields around, upon which usually there is no inscription. These undoubtedly are the oldest graves in the burial place, made before grave-stones, finished by workmen skilled in the business, could be readily procured. The first well authenticated burial made in this ground was that of two infant children of Sylvanus L. and Hannah Hender- son. They died January 26, 1820, and were buried in the Old Burying Ground when it was nearly covered with forest trees. The remains of these children were afterwards removed to the lot of W. W. Henderson in the new cemetery. Among the oldest graves is that of the infant son of Samuel Brunson, who died No- vember 21, 1821. In a conspicuous place, not far from the center of this old burial ground, is the grave of Major Samuel Sinclear, the founder of the village, and the person from whom it derives its name. He belonged to a distinguished family of New Hampshire. He was a near kins- man of Joseph Cilly, formerly United States Senator from New
12
HISTORY OF
Hampshire, and of Jonathan Cilly, who while a member of Congress from Maine, was killed in the celebrated duel with Graves of Kentucky. He was a kinsman of Gov. Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts. In his youth Major Sinclear was a soldier of the Revolution, in the regiment of his uncle, Col. Joseph Cilly, a distinguished officer of that war. Mr. Sinclear was in the battles at Saratoga that immediately preceded the surrender of Burgoyne. He was in the battle of Monmouth, and at Valley Forge. He served in the campaign against the Indians under Sullivan. At his grave is an ancient, but fine headstone, carved from the quarry stones of the county, and finished with skill and taste, scarcely equaled by any other in the burial ground .*
On the same lot is buried his wife, Fanny Sinclear, and her mother, Thankful Bigalow, who died in the year 1839, at the age of 96 years, 11 months, and 8 days. Pioneers of the county lie buried here, in graves without head-stones, who have many descendants living in the locality of the burying ground. Among the earliest residents buried here, whose graves are marked, are Nathaniel Johnson, and Sylvanus L. Henderson
*This, and several other fine grave-stones, in the Old Burying Ground, were made by the Damon brothers. The parents of the Damons came to the town of Pomfret in Chautauqua County, in the year 1816, with their four sons, Stephen, Martin, Joseph, and North. The sons were rough, in- temperate men. They lived upon a farm in the south part of Pomfret, near the residence of the late Elisha Norton, on the Old Chautauqua Road. Little is known about Stephen. He was a half-brother of the others. Mar- tin was a stone-cutter, and fashioned many of the grave-stones that are so numerously seen in the early burial places of the county, particu- larly the old cemetery at Fredonia. These grave-stones are readily reeog- nized by the style of the work, as well as the material out of which they are made. They are usually in a good state of preservation, and gre valu- able as fine specimens of early skill. Martin carried on his business for a short time in a shop at, or near, the village of Fredonia. He was the most respectable of the family, and his work proves him to have been a man of ability in his business, possessing skill and taste. There is an unique and almost grotesque specimen of his work in the old cemetery at Fredonia. Upon an ancient stone, set at the grave of Capt. Thomas Abell, who died in 1814, he has represented the Day of Judgment. The angel Gabriel is seated on a great cloud, with a trumpet nearly as long as his body, out of which issues the words, " Ye dead arise," " Come to judgment." Other angels are seated on the cloud, hiding their faces in their hands, as if weeping. Be- neath them, tombstones are represented as falling into confusion, and the dead, with bald heads, and curious, chubby faces, appear to be ascending out of opening graves. The execution of this rather remarkable design is fine, much of the work being in high relief. The stone is fast going to de- cay. It would be well worth the trouble for those having the cemetery in
G
13
EVERGREEN CEMETERY.
his son-in-law, Abraham Reynodls, Samuel Hurley, Warren Dingley, John M. Brunson, Justus Torrey, John Sinclair, David Cobb, Melzer Sylvester, Lemira Camp, William M. Wagoner, Hannah Wagoner, and John McAlister, who died at the age of 8S. He was the founder of the Baptist church in Sinclairville, and grand-father of Gen. John McAlister Schofield, the general highest in rank in the armies of the United States. Here are buried the Rev. Chester W. Carpenter, Rev. N. H. Barnes, and Rev. J. B. Gale, esteemed pastors of the Congregational Church in Sinclairville; Dr. Gilbert Richmond, and also Henry B. Hedges, young and skillful physicians-over the remains of the latter stands the first monument erected in the town; Al- bert Richmond and Elezer M. Peck, well known lawyers of Sin- clairville; Jarvis B. Rice, once Sheriff of Chautauqua, and John M. Edson, a well known citizen, formerly a judge. He camc to Sinclairville in 1810, with the family of Major Sinclear, his step-father. He was prominent among the pioneers of the county. Among other well known persons buried here are James Williams, John Reed, Ulysses Tracy, David Sinclear, Henry Kirk, Elizabeth Hedges, Jonathan Hedges, Asa Dunbar, William Strong, Ebenezer Skinner, Caleb J. Allen, David Sack- ett, John Thorn, Ebenezer and Erasmus Brown, Anna Brunson,
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