The Old Herkimer City Cemetery



This list and article appeared in the Herkimer Citizen, Herkimer, NY on Tuesday September 14, 1897 and was sent in by Kathi White of Buffalo, NY. In the past people didn't have as romantic a view of cemeteries as some of us contemporary genealogists do. As the village of Herkimer grew, the people needed a park - and their ancestors were resting on a prime piece of real estate. From the reporters' introduction it's not possible to tell whether some of the headstones were removed with the bodies, i.e. if stones were salvaged when a person had living relatives to re-inter them. Were some people selectively left there? Were some bodies taken away to be placed in unmarked graves?

In the last 100 years the elements have eroded many headstones in Mohawk Valley area cemeteries. This hundred-year-old reading of the Herkimer Cemetery is the earliest cemetery reading posted on this site, thus "fresher" and possibly more accurate than most. Some stones refer to relationships, e.g. "their daughter", but the person referred to is unknown since the stones are not presented in order of burial in the cemetery. Because of it's irregular alphabetizing, tiny type, the fact that this reading was a "rush job", my eyes, as well as wear, tear and creases in the paper, and my typing from a photocopy, accuracy still cannot be guaranteed. I recommend verification of all dates by trying to view another copy of the original article. I have no further information about any specific individuals or families buried in this cemetery. Inquiries should be made of the Herkimer County Historical Society by providing them with the dates from this list.




THE OLD CEMETERY'S DEAD

THE RECORD OF A CENTURY'S INTERMENTS PRESERVED

List of All Those Buried in a Cemetery Which Will Soon Become a Public Park

In a little more than a month the bodies in the cemetery in which Herkimer's dead from the days of its earliest settlement to within twenty years were buried will be removed. The new park will soon be a reality. Two representatives of the CITIZEN spent all day Friday copying the inscriptions and many of the lines of poetry on more than 400 head stones. The list is valuable from the fact that many of the stones will be placed over the graves and covered up when the grading is begun.

Many of the stones have fallen from their foundations, some are broken, others have become illegible from the action of the elements. A good sized tree standing between two graves sugests a line from Bryant's Thanatopsis, "Earth that nourished thee shall claim thy growth. The oak shall send his roots abroad and pierce thy mould."

The people some time ago voted to convert the cemetery into a public park as it is no longer used for burial purposes. The cemetery contains about four acres of land and was given to the village for cemetery purposes about 100 years ago. Situated at the foot of Liberty street in almost the center of the village it is admirably adapted for a public park.

The work of removal and leveling the graves will soon commence and soon the old cemetery will be nothing but a memory.

The need of making some permanent public record of the burials in the cemetery was apparent and the CITIZEN has taken upon itself that duty. It was a long tedious job, but it was thoroughly done and the record so far as it could be made from the tombstones we believe is complete.

The first burial was in 1800 and the last one in 1889. The records as taken from the head stones are arranged in alphabetical order and are as follows:

Continue to Part 2.




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Last Updated: 5/23/98
Copyright © 1998 Martha S. Magill
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