Friends (Quaker) Burying Ground

Once located on Oxford Rd.
Town of New Hartford

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