West Ave. 5 East Ave. County Line 2 West Sweden Gleason Erie Canal Canal A Fourth Section White Capen 4 Ladue WEST SWEDEN Redman SWEDEN CENTER B R O C K P O R T Main St. Lake 19 Beadle Reed High St. 8 9 6 7 3 Shumway Colby St. Swamp 1 Gardner Town of Sweden Cemeteries with start dates and alternative names 1 East Lake (1815) East Sweden 2 Locust Hill (~1818?) Polly, Locust 3 Beach Ridge (1828) 4 West Sweden (~1844?) 5 St. Mary s (1856) Old Catholic (NO ACCESS) 6 Brockport Rural (1882) 7 Lakeview (1891) 8 Mount Olivet (1892) 9 Brockport (1893) High Street Owens Brockport - Spencerport Covell Root Canal Whittier Euler Sweden - Walker Gordon Campbell Salmon Creek Town Line TofS 2015 NJFrisch Gallup Allen Gallup N Key: Abandoned Roads M O N R O E C O U N T Y New York T O W N S ROC Fig. 1. (above) Map showing known Town of Sweden cemeteries and (right) close up showing the Brockport Cemetery (#8) located off High Street in the Village. p. 1 of 5
Early burial practices [The following was found in a history of the neighboring Town of Clarkson. Tthe author suggests the practices were widespread in this area. ed.] In Clarkson at an early day, as in other communities, there were births, deaths and marriages, and provision had to be made for these important occurrences. We have told how the carpenter made the cradle for the infant and the coffin for the dead. Burial places had to be provided, and before graveyards had been established, and sometimes afterward, a little place on the homestead was set aside for the interment of members of the family. These little family burial places may be seen all through the State and throughout New England, from whence most of the early settlers came. There are some of them in Clarkson, to which reference will be made in connection with personal sketches. In the early times there were no cemetery sextons, no undertakers, and no bearers. When a person died the neighborhood carpenter made a coffin, some person was employed to dig the grave, and when the funeral was held the corpse encoffined was carried in a lumber wagon or lumber sleigh from the place of death to the graveyard, and then the coffin was let down into the grave by the aid of ropes. No outside box was used to encase the coffin. Usually some straw was thrown on top of the coffin, and then the earth on the straw. It was all plain, simple and inexpensive, and void of ostentation. At first all of the public graveyards were free for the use of all persons requiring a burial place, and each family selected any part of a ground not previously occupied. It was not until along in the forties that graveyards were incorporated in Western New York, after which lots were sold at a small price, usually from $5 to $10. In many of the graveyards biers were kept for the use in conveying the coffins from the street to the graves. There was one in the Blossom cemetery but a few years ago. These oldentime biers have been embalmed in hymns, and in former times were the subject of pathetic reference. Grave stones did not come into use in this section until about 1825, and those before 1830 are now exceedingly rare. The first stones used were quite thin, and many of them have been broken and disappeared. There were burials at Brockport, where the Baptist church stands, as early as 1812. When the present church was built the remains there were disinterred and placed in the present cemetery, and the grave stones were reset there. Now the oldest date to be found in the cemetery in July, 1824 recording the date of the death of a child of William Mead. There was a stone with an older date, but it appears to have been removed. (1890) 1 Earliest Brockport burial sites? Reference to burial sites that existed before the eight cemeteries recognized in the Town of Sweden as of 2015 have been made. The First Baptist Church of Brockport was organized April 28, 1828, in an old school-house which stood on the corner of Main and Holley streets. It was built of brick, forty-five by sixty feet in size. It stood on a hill back from and elevated above the street, on the site of an old burial-ground. (1877) 2 The First Baptist Church was organized April 28, 1828 in an old schoolhouse which stood at the present site. Legend has it that an old cemetery was once on this location as traces were found in subsequent excavations, when the high knoll was reduced. In 1830 the schoolhouse was removed and a church 45 by 60 feet was constructed. (1964) 3 CEMETERIES Lake View and Beach Ridge Cemeteries adjoin but they are separate associations. High Street Cemetery is commonly known as the village cemetery. Both of these have soldiers plots, reserved for military veterans. Mt. Olivet is a Catholic Cemetery operated by the local parish. The Brockport Rural Cemetery surrounding the Soldiers Monument is no longer in use. There are three others, little known and neglected: Locust Cemetery on the County Line Road, West Sweden Cemetery and the East Lake Cemetery on the Sweden-Walker Road. (1964) 4 Saint Mary s Catholic Cemetery (Also known as the Old Catholic Cemetery ) is located north off of East Avenue, between Glendale Road and Havenwood Drive, in the Town of Clarkson. A brief history: In 1856 Fr. Edward McGowan purchased 1.8 acres of land off of East Ave to be used for a Catholic Cemetery. In 1862 Nativity became part of the Diocese of Rochester. Between 1868 and 1890 the diocese records show that 246 people were buried in the cemetery (122 Adults, 124 children). In 1892 Mt. Olivet was formed and no more burials were done in St. Mary s. Some time in the 1950 s continued on p. 5 p. 2 of 5
Fig. 2. Facing north from just inside the front of the cemetery. East Lake (also known as East Sweden Cemetery 6 ) Sweden-Walker Road Established 1815 (from monument sign, left) Fig. 3. Facing east from east shoulder of Monroe-Orleans County Line Road. Locust Hill (also known as Locust, or Polly Cemetery 6 ) Monroe-Orleans County Line Road Established (Oldest date listed: Goold, Chauncey d. 1818) 7 South of, and adjacent to, Lakeview Cemetery. No separate sign. Beach Ridge Lake Road South (Rt.19) Begun 1828 6 Status: Fig. 4. Facing east from east shoulder of West Sweden Road. West Sweden West Sweden Road Established (Oldest date listed: Reynolds, Maria d. 1844) 8 p. 3 of 5
Near Soldiers Monument. No cemetery sign. Brockport Rural Owens Road Incorporated 1882 9 Fig. 5. Facing southeast from east shoulder of Lake Road, north of Farmers Museum. Lakeview (Older spelling: Lake View 10 ) Lake Road South (Rt.19) Established 1891 (from monument sign, left) Fig. 6. Facing south from south shoulder of Canal Road east. Mount Olivet Canal Road East Formed 1892 4 Fig. 7. Facing east from just inside High Street entrance. Brockport Cemetery Association (currently known as the High Street Cemetery) High Street, off Park Avenue Incorporated July 3, 1893 (1914 Rules and Regulations Booklet) p. 4 of 5
continued from p. 2 work occurred in the cemetery under the direction of Fr. Lintz that involved bulldozing. Some graves were moved to Mt. Olivet and other cemeteries. After this period the remaining stones were no longer in their original places, but scattered, stacked and buried in the west hedgerow.... 5 Brockport Cemeteries The turn of the century was also the occasion for founding Brockport cemeteries. The first graveyard in the village was located where local tradition says an Indian burial ground had been, and was replaced, first by the village s first schoolhouse, then by the First Baptist Church. In 1829, the bodies were removed from there to the Brockport Cemetery on High Street, which remains the only graveyard in the village. Five cemeteries had been founded in the Town of Sweden outside the village limits by 1880. In 1882 a Brockport Rural Cemetery Assn. was incorporated and created a graveyard intended mainly for Civil War veterans. In 1894, a 52-foot Soldiers Memorial Tower was erected at that site. However, very few soldiers were buried there and the cemetery was pretty much abandoned after the Lake View Cemetery Assn. was organized in 1891 on the hill south of the village and a new Catholic cemetery was founded east of the village in 1892. (2015) 11 Other web resource sites: Cemeteries of Monroe County http://mcnygenealogy.com/cem/index.htm Specifically: http://mcnygenealogy.com/cem/index.htm#swe (Various maps, tombstone photos, records, etc.) Find a Grave http://www.findagrave.com/ Specifically: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cs (type in the name of the cemetery) Note that links are not always 100% accurate or complete. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / LINKS 1 History of Clarkson, 1803-1890. Volume 1 & 2, p. 19 & 20. Transcribed and compiled by Stanley D. Soules, March 1983, from articles printed in 1890 in the Brockport Republic, Brockport, Monroe County, New York by Editor Beach. http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/local_books/15 2 Everts, Ensign & Everts, History of Monroe County NY: Village of Brockport, p. 162 (1877). http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/local_books/9 3 Town of Sweden Sesqui-centennial Celebration 1814-1964, p. 32 (1964) 4 Town of Sweden Sesqui-centennial Celebration 1814-1964, p. 112 (1964) 5 Town of Clarkson web site as of June 27, 2015 p. 1, 2 The majority of this information has been reproduced from Mary E. Smith s Tombstone Inscriptions in Area Cemeteries Brockport, Sweden, Clarkson, Hamlin, Morton & Murray, 1977, revised 1986, 1997 The content has been edited and revised by Lisa Jackson, 2008 With research assistance from John Toal http://www.clarksonny.org/pdf/history/burials-catholic-cemetery.pdf 6 Monroe County Cemeteries http://mcnygenealogy.com/cem/index.htm#swe 2011-2014 Richard T. Halsey; updated 22 Jan. 2014 7 Locust Hill Cemetery http://www.mcnygenealogy.com/cem/locust.htm 2000 Richard T. Halsey 8 West Sweden Cemetery http://mcnygenealogy.com/cem/w-sweden.htm 1999, 2003 Richard T. Halsey 9 Town of Sweden Sesqui-centennial Celebration 1814-1964, p. 53 (1964) 10 Town of Sweden Sesqui-centennial Celebration 1814-1964, p. 112 (1964) 11 Village of Brockport web site as of June 27, 2015 http://www.brockportny.org/about/history IMAGE SOURCES Figures 1-7 2015 Norm Frisch p. 5 of 5