Cemetery Report, Sept 21: I found a triple murder, one body and puff balls...
List user 9/22/2005, 3:50:05 AM 8:20am, Heading west on Route 5 almost to Jordan,(N.Y.) I see on the right up ahead, an apple grove with a herd of cows grazing. Not unusual, until............just passing them, I got a whiff, cow manure and rotten apples isn't a good thing. Hope Ben & Jerry never make it a flavour of the month..........and then to top that, a half mile further on, two freshly flattened skunks.........yum........wait till that cooks in the sun a while.................. 8:49am I pull into a "Expiration Park" just south of Auburn (N.Y.) on Sand Beach Road. There's an old church there Owasco Lake Mennonite Church, the cemetery directly behind it, I would bet has nothing to do with the church. Bet they took over the building from a former tenant................ John Fries died May 16, 1861 aged 50 years. Jacob Bogart died Dec 19, 1822 aged 50 years, 8 months and 1 day. Edward Adriance born April 18, 1814 and died Jan 16, 1884. Anna wife of Levi Walker died July 12, 1837 aged 71 years, 2 months and 26 days. "Redeem'd from earth and pain Oh! when shall we ascend And all in Jesus presence reign With our translated friend." Nyrhema Bame born Sept 29, 1800 and died Sept 22, 1872. Now here is the triple murder.......................a large slab with three inscriptions side by side.......... Sarah Wyckoff wife of John G. Van Nest born April 15, 1816 George Washington Van Nest son of John and Sarah Van Nest born March 17, 1844 John G. Van Nest born Feb 25, 1805 All murdered on the night of March 12, 1846 "Mysterious providence indeed That called us here to lie Here where our souls must remain Until the judgment day But thou art righteous oh our God And doest naught in vain For whilst to us to live was Christ To die in, Christ is again These mangled forms again shall rise At last trumpets sound To dwell forever in the skies Where pain nor death is found Farewell dear parents, children, friends We'll not be parted long May we all meet in heaven again A saved and happy time." (no explanation as to what happened to them) Zipporah Walton died Sept 3, 1827 aged 67 years and 6 months. (would it have been Zippy for short?) Pvt. Elisha Walton,1751-1822, New Hampshire Militia, Revolutionary War, served 1775-1777. Agnes Bump Toohill 1855-1918. Ranam Moe died March 12, 1881 aged 66 years. I walked 2/10ths mile here and picked up one flag, vacated at 9:51am The next town I get to is Fleming (N.Y.), interesting................LOL Pulled into Fleming Rural Cemetery at 10:05am Fidella Gould died Sept 1, 1819 aged 23 years. Luyster P.Oakley born Oct 25, 1808 and died April 20, 1890. In memory of Susan Stephenson daughter of Richard and Sarah Stephenson who died Oct 20, 1835 aged 10 years and 14 days. "Short as my infant died It much resembles thine Thy longer date when one whispered Will seem as short as mine." Winslow Leach died Nov 5, 1840 aged 53 years 3 months and 3 days. Zula Van Liew 1864-1942. Mary Virtue Loveland 1897-1900. Uriah Benedict died April 14, 1877 age 93 years and 7 months. Semi(< pronounced like a truck?) Babbitt born Oct 5, 1788 and died March 26, 1860. "A light is from our household gone A voice we loved is stilled A place is vacant at out heart Which never can be filled" Wheaton S. Leach died Feb 25, 1869 aged 46 years. Druzilla Gildersleeve born July 17, 1810 and died Feb 17, 1854. Electa Case died April 22, 1875 aged 56 years "We miss her loving presence amid life's toilsome drift She left our home so lonely when she went away O' Teach our faith dear Saviour to clasp thy loving home And guide. O guide our footsteps unto that better land." Seth Baker died March 16, 1865 age 71 years, 11 months and 7 days "For what is your life? It is gone in vapour(<vapor) That appeareth for a little time And then vanisheth away." Mary Gaston died Feb 1, 1872 in her 47th year. Orin C. Drin died Sept 29, 1892 aged 6 months. Lawrence Rheubottom died May 7, 1871 aged 81 years. (He had a monument which was open on top but framed by the sides, which enclosed three cast iron bells which I was able to grab and tried ringing them, but none of them had a clapper inside. Probably rotted away, or someone had stolen his clappers............................LOL) Albro Nichols 1825-1912. Robbied Edson 1856-1872. Menzod Mabey 1850-1915. Demmis Crofoot 1848-1927. And this is where I found the body.................. :) James Body died May 6, 1901 age 54 years. I walked 8/10ths mile in this "Window of the Past," picked up one flag and was kind of surprised that the "Grave Garden" didn't yield a single Fleming burial....................... I could be easily seen there have been many repairs to the stones and actually could see some in the process of being restored. So someone is putting some extra effort into this one. I vacated here at 11:33am. Route 34 brings me to Cromwell Cemetery out in the middle of a farmers field. There were about 60 stones showing. Heres a sampling of what was there.............. Ebenezer Chiver died Oct 29, 1841 aged 78 years and 5 months. Jemima Cornwell died Feb 25, 1831 age 1 year and 12 days. Phebe Jane Mott died Jan 23, 1845 age 26 years and 25 days. Arenius Olney died May 28, 1843 age 28 years, 4 months and 17 days. Charity Wadams died June 1, 1840 aged 44 years. Reliance Marsh died July 16, 1845 aged 53 years, 8 months and 17 days. In memory of Elizabeth Hill died May 26, 1814 age 52 years, 9 months and 14 days. Lina Tallman died Jan 28, 1840 aged 17 years and 10 months. Minor Dickinson who departed this life May 20, 1825 aged 19 years and 11 months. I walked 3 /10ths mile in this "Memorial Patch," picked up one flag and vacated at 12:17pm. Scipio Rural Cemetery at 12:21pm is next, it was established 1861. Elizabeth Vanliew died Dec 20, 1845(< she cheated as the cemetery hadn't been established yet...............) aged 21 years, 2 months and 10 days. "She who on earth high here (< should be HEAR) the song of praise Has left her tenement below, to join in heavenly days." Philo Sperry died May 31, 1873 aged 89 and wife Mehitable died Oct 16, 1870 aged 81 years and 10 months. Theodore Jump(< how high?) born Feb 22, 1823 and died July 15, 1884( I wonder if he got a jump start on life?). Adaresta Fox 1843-1915. Selah Helm 1804-1848. Mrs. Amanda Pappino died July 19, 1868 aged 68 years and 3 months. Julia Lull died April 11, 1866 age 29 years.(<when she died, did they sing her a lull-a-bye ?) Capt. George Whitfield 1789-1882 War of 1812. Electy Ide(< did she have to carry a I. D. card?) died Oct 20, 1873 age 67 years, 9 months and 24 days. "Our darling we miss you Each day more and more Yes ! Miss you so sadly That our hearts are all sore Yet our hope is to greet you When life's storms are all O'er And our prayer is to meet you On that ever green shore."(< is heaven Irish?) Anna Rose Pierce died Sept 3, 1885. May Bishop died Oct 24, 1834 aged 35 years "She is not dead, but sleepeth" Philander West died July 25, 1838 aged 36 years and 8 days. 3/10ths mile was walked in this "Departure Zone" and picked up 3 flags and vacated at 1:11pm. Poplar Ridge Cemetery on Route 34B was next and there was nothing remarkable here. Most of the burials were of the Otis family and there was less then 75 showing. Did 1 /10th mile here and vacated at 1:38pm. 1:42pm arrived at a Quaker Cemetery on Poplar Ridge Road. Apparently, by a marker, there had been a Friends Meeting House on the site from 1810-1912, only graves now. And, big puff balls throughout the "Deadly Landscape," bigger than basketballs. And I really hate to say this, really not a pun, this place smelled like someone died/in the state of putrefaction. I saw nothing around that would account for the awful smell. Makes me think the cow manure, rotted apples and skunk earlier wasn't bad after all in comparison. I was sure I'd stumble across something above ground dead in here, but didn't. Jonathan Greene of Jamestown, Conanicut(< thought they may have been trying to say Connecticut at first), Rhode Island 1755-1843. Abigail Earle of Newport, Rhode Island 1769-1843. Susanna Lightfoot of Pikeland, Chester County, Pennsylvania, wife of Isaac Jacobs 1786-1873. Kezia Boucher born Oct 4, 1801 and died March 7, 1891. and husband Thomas Boucher died May 10, 1859 age 80 years. Thaddeus Boughton born Ridgefield, Connecticut May 2, 1777 and died June 14, 1861. "We shall go to her, she shall not return to us." Augusta Hinckley died June 7, 1857 age 13 years, 11 months. I vacated this "Death Row Underground" at 2:10pm and walked 1/10th mile and breathed way to much stench in here................... 3:00pm brings me to Cayuga, N.Y. and Lakeview Cemetery on Lake Street. Eugene F. Hutchinson MD born Sept 15, 1823 died in New York City March 2, 1848 of Typhus Fever contracted in the performance of his profession. "And God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall by My son." Edwin H. Lamb born Feb 15, 1844 and died March 19, 1919. A. S. Cummings MD 1817-1893. Sevellon Alden Brown 1844-1895. Hallet Hamblin died April 18, 1862 age 68 years, 2 months and 10 days. "How many hopes lie burried(<buried) here?" Catharine Hollihan died May 27, 1860 aged 1 year and 5 months. Uri Foot died Jan 31, 1841 aged 72 years, 9 months and 18 days. Dr. Jonathan Whitney, pioneer physician of Cayuga County, for over 50 years. Located in Cayuga, N.Y. 1798. Born in Otis, Massachusetts 1768 and died in Cayuga 1851. His wife Dolly Smith born in Haddam, Connecticut 1782 and died in Cayuga 1845. Parents of 5 daughters and 4 sons. Walked 5/10th mile in this "Skeleton Closet" and vacated at 4:21pm. Arrived home at 5:20pm. Had a nice cool breeze all day :) Best Bill
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