Cemetery Report: Feb 2009 "How Many Kinds of Cemeteries are There?"
List user 2/19/2009, 12:57:59 PM Well, I didn't go out the big door, nor did I head anywhere. I don't know the temperature this time and it doesn't matter what time it is. This isn't a real cemetery report. The snows to deep and physically its out of the question. But, it doesn't make me stop thinking of Spring...................and recuperation time. I was asked how many kinds of cemeteries there are out there, regarding one of my earlier Cemetery Reports. Well, probably lots more than you can think of. But its probably also true that the whole world is a cemetery. What most of us are used to are the Village, City and Town cemeteries that exist in most places. The only real difference is they vary in size according to the area they represent. But they can be specialized. It could be religious, so, as a Catholic only cemetery, a Jewish cemetery or a Quaker cemetery and so on. But don't limit your thought that, for example, a Catholic cemetery has on Catholics in it. Example, in Ogdensburg, N.Y. I could point out a Jewish burial in Notre Dame Cemetery. I could point out a Methodist burial in Notre Dame cemetery also. Predominantly a Catholic cemetery is for Catholics, but there are exceptions, usually due to a spouse is of another religion and or children. Course there are Catholics buried in nondenominational cemeteries also. Many veterans in Ogdensburg are buried in the city cemetery where the veterans memorial is, its not a religious thing, its a Veterans thing. I know some of those Vets are Catholic. So, don't draw a line with religion when dealing with cemeteries. There's always exceptions as there are with all things. 'Ya still have Churchyard cemeteries in existence. Just meaning they are buried right alongside of any denomination church. This is an older practice and the yards are pretty filled up, so in general, you don't see new burials in these. Example, Cornwall, Ontario has an old Methodist church in they're center city with the burials all around the old church. Kingston, Ontario has an old inner city Methodist church with extremely old burials in it and it hasn't had a burial in well over 100 years. But here's an exception, being a Catholic church in Osceola, N.Y that I visited this past summer. The church is surrounded by old and new burials. Church burials, in and under. Ever here of Moosonee, Ontario? Well, I was there about 15 years ago and they had a Anglican church on an island close to there that had burials in the church(common European practice also). I don't remember his whole name but the first Rev. of that church was a Fleming. But in some places along the wall, people were buried in the wall and had a cap stone giving their names and dates. They also had some burials in the sub-flooring in the aisle and under pews. Again they had a cap stone giving names and dates. Here they had no under or in the basement burials due to the water table............................and there's nothing worse than having a dead body wash up unto your water table............................. But, take for example Notre Dame in Montreal and Notre Dame in Quebec City. They have, in the wall, under the pews and in the basement burials. But this is an older practice again not the thing of today's practice other then for clergy. I know today they still bury Priests and the Cardinals in the basement of the Cathedral in Syracuse, N.Y. As for non clergy in church burials, it might have been who you were and who you knew to get it. Or you were famous, a big monetary donor to the church, a high ranking military officer or in some cases you were just at the right spot at the right time. Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec has my 6th great grandfather buried in a tomb in the church basement. He was sort of poor. So he might have been an exception.............................there was lots of burials in the basement when I was there maybe 20 years ago.......................................... But wait, there's lots more. The above are the ones you are probably most acquainted with, let me tell you of all the others. According to most books and dictionaries, a cemetery is a place where one or more bodies are buried. But they're not always buried today...................... Lets not forget if its a Catholic church, imbeded in the alter somewhere, is a relic of a Saint. I guess most of the whole Saints are in Europe, but the rest get parts. They may have a finger, a leg or some other part of the body. I would have to call that at least a partial burial. Russian Orthodox, Polish National Catholic and Greek Orthodox & Old Roman Catholic have the same tradition and there may be others. Hate to forget any parts........................................................... How about the Old Folks Home as they were called. Or the County Home, the Alms House, Old Age Homes. They're general practice, they had their own burial grounds. Course most of the tenants were poor so there would not be any sort of headstone as in a normal cemetery. Usually what they had were little round flat brass markers flush with the ground. Once in a while an exception afterwards a family might eventually replace that brass marker with a normal headstone. Example, in Rome , N.Y. where I found the County Home on Floyd Ave, I eventually found their burial ground far behind the old facility, back in the woods and I found one headstone. But when I was examining that stone then I started to see the hundreds of other brass markers flush to the ground that I could have easily missed. They only have numbers on them which would relate to a certain person who is buried there. But at the time of death, if there was family, they had a right to have the person placed in their own cemetery and not that of the facility. Then there are the Provence & State & County Mental Asylums. They had their own burial grounds also. Unless their family had the patients buried elsewhere.(Note here. I checked out the State Phsyco Hospital Institution in Ogdensburg, N.Y. maybe 15 years ago for information.) The day I walked in all the patients were unattended and walking around with plastic bags full of their medications. Think I could find someone who actually worked there?...............I took the elevator upstairs and found someone in an office and learned what I wanted from her. Even though it had been set up for mental patients back when it started, they kept a separate wing for the old, homeless and dying. So you didn't have to be a mental case back then to be bedded down in there. .................see, exceptions and in this case, I would say, a kindly exception for the poor. But this Institution had their own cemetery. Its located on Rt 37, Ogdensburg, actually in the vicinity of the hospital but you would never know it, least last time I went by. Its just an open field, you only would know if you walked through it and saw the brass markers flush with the ground. But there's more...................... Don't forget all those orphanages that used to be out there.And there are still some today. Yep, they had their own burial ground also. Conversion cemetery, as I'll call it. A place in the Finger Lake region of N.Y. State was once called Willard State Hospital,over looking Seneca Lake, it was a mental asylum. It was established in the 1800's. Course they had their own cemetery, but they kind of went out of business. But the facility was eventually turned into a type of jail of a lower priority and is today being used to house drug addicts of all kinds. But they are right on the site of the old mental facility. And after some research I found out that the original facility, as an Asylum had a cemetery consisting of over 5,700 burials including many Civil War vets. I am hoping to go there later this year and see if I can be allowed in to see the cemetery.???????? If they are adding to the original or if they have their own planting ground today, I don't know. This one should be interesting. Seems from reading the papers over the years. swamps, canals, bridge abutments with lots of cement, foundations of exceptionally large buildings, dams and cinder block burials in the water are of a special ethnic group which claim they don't exist. Well, whatever, these are known as Mafia burials, usually in unknown places and of unknown people, but still , they are your unique type burials. Ask you local Don for more specifics.......................................... The Mother House/Large Convents for Nuns. I've been to a couple and are they ever neat. Some of the best kept cemeteries you'll ever want to see. I had a couple cousins that were Nuns of different orders and these cemeteries are just very peaceful and great places to visit and there's always a Nun willing to help if you need to find someone. Now here's one you probably never thought of. "Life Saving Stations". These mainly existed on the Great Lakes and parts of the St Lawrence River of years gone by. They eventually became what is called today the U.S. Coast Guard & The Canadian Coast Guard. They were small groups of men and a building or two for they're living facilities and boat storage and for life saving equipment. The rescued people in distress on the water. Ships that were sinking etc. They saved 1000's of people lives, but they also retrieved 1000's of drowned bodies. If they were unclaimed, unknowns etc, the life saving stations had they're own cemetery near they're buildings. Most of the buildings are gone today, but many of the coastal Life Saving Station cemeteries still exist. Then you got your plain old prison cemeteries. Most older established prisons have they're own cemetery. The burials are marked by the usual brass marker, flush to the ground and only has a number inscribed on it. As in the past ,such as the prohibition days or maybe infamous bank robbers & killers, somewhere in all those prison cemeteries you have some infamous, bad boy, historical people. Check your local prison for details, I've never had any experience with any of them. Be interesting to know if you would be allowed to visit one of the cemeteries in a prison and what would you be allowed to know if anything concerning the numbers on those makers. Seems like they put numbers on the markers for people not to know.................................. Hey, all this applies to both north and south of the border.................................. :) How about the old Forts. They all had burial grounds, don't forget the soldiers and their families. Indian Burials grounds, which my first one was my last one, least so far. I remember that super-sized humongous Indian that told me to leave...................... Lets not forget Davie Jones Locker. Well, get your snorkel out and see what you can find. 1000's of them out there and they are still being added to. Towards the end here are the "Today" odd burials where you can end up just about anywhere. You can get cremated which isn't new but where you go sometimes afterwards could be anywhere. You might get a jar, a special little box,an urn, you might sit on a shelf, or in a closet. You still might get put in a cemetery and buried, or you get a wall planting, or a nook or cranny memorial of some sort regardless of what they call them. But you got those "Green" burials now, see that flowering shrub, that could be part of Aunt Harriet and that old gnarly Oak tree back there, could be Uncle Bart, see all that great looking dirt around those flower shrubs, that could be lots of ashes from many different folks. Are you getting that tickling feeling in your nose from the wind that just whipped up and maybe picked up a couple ashes from cousin Shirley that you just sneezed out your nose and continue to blow around in the air???????????? Hey, its possible. You may have relatives ashes sent to the moon or outer space on an endless journey. Oooooooooooh, isn't that a big diamond ring your wife is wearing. Nah! That's her former deceased husband that she had burned up into carbon and pressed with tons of pressure into and honest to goodness diamond that she now wears on her finger. A few years back a member of the Rolling Stones had his father cremated and then snorted part of his fathers ashes up his nose. They could mix your ashes in water for a cool refreshing drink or just throw you in the public dump. Yep, there is legal and illegal but it still happens. If like a few years ago, the crematorium down south guy, got tired of doing his job and just buried them all in his back yard. He handed out ashes from a furnace instead.........................."Ya never know watcha' goin ta get" Basically, your remains could go just about anywhere at anytime. Your ashes could be mixed with paint. Hey, doesn't my father look great on these walls in puce???????????????? One other place for a legal cemetery anyway is Military Academies, West Point would be the first that comes to mind. I do plan on a trip there sometime in the future. The old farmstead burials exist by the 1000's and with special permission it occasionally still happens today. But most have gone for regular cemetery burial. One other odd long thin cemetery are Rail Road tracks. Its been said my endless amounts or authors and historians that there is a body buried under or alongside the tracks, at least one per mile. Many in the early days being foreign labourers such as the Chinese. Also, but we don't deal much with Royalty this side of the ocean, individual family chapels are also places for burials. But, then again, we did have the King, Elvis....................... Then you still have what's called "Secret Burial". This is done to prevent desecration of the remains, prevent grave robbing, or vandalism of a grave site. Most often used for infamous/notorious people. And to prevent such burials as becoming a tourist attraction. False names come into play here so you wouldn't know, after all, its a secret and I cant tell you anymore. So...........................there may be a few more places for you to look for some out of the way burials and cemeteries. Best Bill
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