Submitted by Kevin Kelly
Utica Observer Dispatch, November 26, 1939
FLOWER GARDEN NOW GROWS AND COVERS QUAKER BURYING GROUND:
Concealed beneath a beautiful garden in the
back yard of a New Hartford home is a Quaker burying ground containing
the hidden graves of more than 12 members of the Society of Friends.
It's existence became known the other day
when Walter Myers purchased a plot of ground from William Schram on Oxford
Road. A former owner, Frederick B. Hoyt, Oxford Road, acquired the plot
42 years ago, when it was a little more than a dumping ground, covered
with brush and tin cans, adjoining his home. He paid $25 for a quit claim
deed from the New Hartford Society of Friends which had merged with the
Westmoreland Society. Later the Westmoreland group united with the New
York Society of Friends.
When Hoyt acquired the plot he made an agreement
with the Quakers that he would prepare a map showing the location of each
of the 12 graves and sink the tombstones at least 18 inches below
the surface of the earth. The map is now on file in the County Clerk's
Office.
At the time of the purchase by Hoyt the plot
had a barn at one end, which was used as a meeting place for the Quakers
of New Hartford. Seventeen full grown elm trees stood on the burying ground
when Hoyt acquired title. He cut them down and grubbed out the stumps,
plowing over the land in such a manner that all traces of the cemetery
were ____ from sight. He said the cemetery had been neglected for at least
50 years when he acquired title to the plot. The concealed cemetery is
south of the Hoyt property.
Overacker, Emanuel 1777-1831
Overacker, Elizabeth 1775-1849
Grandy, John 1798-1865
Grandy, Lydia 1804-1858
Grandy, John M. 1851-1851 (5 months)
Newkirk, Emma F. 1843-1845
Hoag, Reuben 1767-1841
Hoag, Rachel 1785-1869
Lason, Ruth 1789-1869
Lason, Amy 1827-1888
Kellogg, Forris 1794-1855
Kellogg, Francis T. 1841-1851
Hunt, Philena October 26, 1834 in 60th year