We presume that many of you have done your share of cemetery-stomping but perhaps you weren't aware of the distinction between "perpetual care" and "private" cemeteries. Perpetual care cemeteries are usually licensed by the State, records are maintained, caretakers are available, and the internments are usually in the 1900's, etc.

Prior to the State supervision, so-called private (and church) cemeteries were the norm. Thus they are older (1700-1900) and maintained, if at all, by family members. Many can be found today in pastures where cattle are kept, the stones have been trampled and broken or are missing, and often headstones have been vandalised. Oftentimes they can only be recognized by "sinks" in the middle of a vacant field. "Sinks" are created by the rotting and deterioration of the wooden casket, thereby creating a significent depression in the ground.

A few years ago, while coordinating the Nellis Family History Project, Russ and Boots Safford, their children and others abstracted Nellis citations from cemeteries in Herkimer and Montgomery as well as other counties. The list below was provided to us by Kathleen McLaughlin, who notes that all cemeteries include members of the Nellis family. Most of these cemeteries fall in the category of "private" cemeteries. If you plan to visit any of these locations, out of consideration to those whose private property now contain these cemeteries, please ask for permission to enter first.

Van Hornesville Cemetery
Van Hornesville, NY
Location: on Cemetery Rd. off R.80, about 1/4 mile on the left of the little Methodist Church
Dates from the late 1700's-1900's

Old City Cemetery
Manheim, NY
Location: at East Creek
Dates from 1813-1908

Beardsley-Wakeman-Brayton Cemetery(private)
Herkimer, NY
Location: on Eatonville Rd., 1.8 miles off of Small's Bush Rd.
Dates from 1825-1862

Kringsbush Cemetery

North Bush Church Cemetery

Smalls Bush Rd. Cemetery

Myers Park Cemetery
Herkimer, NY

Dolgeville Cemetery
Dolgeville, NY

Middleville Cemetery
Middleville, NY

Salisbury Center Cemetery
Salisbury Center, NY

Little Falls Cemetery
Little Falls, NY

Cold Brook Cemetery
Cold Brook, NY

Klock's Church Burying Ground
St. Johnsville, NY
Located on Rt. 5, 1/2 mile east of village

#7 Cemetery
St. Johnsville, NY
Location: Take the main Turnpike Rd. about 2 milesfrom St. Johnsville, turn on the road to Ephratah. Cemetery is in the 3rd field on the left, just west of Fort Klock Stock and Dairy Farm

Klock Family Cemetery(private)
Location: off Rt. 5-East, turn left toward New Turnpike Rd., then left on Klock Rd about 1/4 mile. This cemetery is difficult to find and cannot be seen from the road. In very poor condition in 1989

Nellis Cemetery
Nelliston, NY
Location: no further directions

Baum Road Cemetery
St. Johnsville, NY
Location: off Kringsbush Rd.
Only one stone is intact

Stone Arabia Lutheran Churchyard
Palatine Bridge, NY
Route #10

Stone Arabia Reformed Churchyard
Palatine Bridge, NY
Route #10

St. Johnsville Cemetery (Prospect View Cemetery)
St. Johnsville, NY
Organized in 1857. Hand-written records are available at the Margaret Reaney Memorial Library in St. Johnsville

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