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Royalton Cemeteries

DAR Unpublished Cemetery Records of Niagara County 1969

Since the 1910s, the Daughters of the American Revolution have been transcribing unpublished records to help preserve them. They then publish these as part of the Genealogical Record Committee (GRC) Reports.

To learn more about these reports, you can read my blog: https://jeanettesgenealogy.com/dar-grc-reports-part-1-of-3-background/.

One of the GRC Reports is a 208-page volume (#317 of the Cemetery, Church, and Town Record Reports) from the DAR Niagara Falls Chapter (of which I am a member) of records that were copied from the Niagara County Historian’s Office.

The report lists the name of the person that was buried, born, died, and the name of the cemetery.

Here is the FamilySearch link to the volume (#317): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSS9-J4SZ-S?.

Multiple volumes were put on the same microfilm reel. Here is the breakdown of the images:

  • Image 532 of 901 – Book Cover
  • Images 533-546 of 901 – Surname Index
  • Images 547-551 of 901 – Title Page and Front Matter
  • Images 552-700 of 901 – Alphabetical List of Burials in Niagara County Cemeteries
  • Images 701-748 of 901 – Alphabetical Addenda List of Burials in Niagara County Cemeteries

Many cemeteries were listed as being represented in the volume:

Cambria

  • #1 Pekin Pioneer Cemetery (aka Old Pekin)
  • #2 Mount View Cemetery
  • #4 North Ridge Cemetery
  • #6 Northeast Cambria Union Cemetery (aka Budd Road)
  • #7 Molyneaux Cemetery
  • Warren-Forsyth Cemetery (mistyped in the cemetery list as Warners Corners and Warner’s Private)
  • #15 Pomeroy Cemetery

Hartland

  • #1 Saint Patrick Cemetery
  • #2 LeValley Cemetery (aka Pearson Road)
  • #4 Hartland Central Cemetery

Lewiston

  • #1 Dickersonville Cemetery
  • #2 First Presbyterian Church Cemetery (aka Lewiston Village)

Lockport

  • #4 Stahler Cemetery (mistyped in the book as Stabler)
  • #5 Shaeffer Cemetery
  • #8 Cold Springs Cemetery
  • #11 Glenwood Cemetery
  • #14 Chestnut Ridge Cemetery

Newfane

  • #1 West Lake Road Cemetery (aka Olcott)
  • #2 Lakeview Cemetery
  • #3 Hess Road Cemetery
  • #6 Corwin Cemetery
  • #9 Wisner Cemetery

Niagara & Niagara Falls

  • #2 Oakwood Cemetery
  • #5 Witmer Cemetery

North Tonawanda & Wheatfield

  • #1 Ward Cemetery
  • #4 Saint Mark Lutheran Cemetery
  • #10 Sweeney Cemetery (aka City Cemetery)
  • #15 Wheatfield Cemetery

Pendleton

  • #3 Good Shepherd Cemetery
  • #5 Bear Ridge Cemetery
  • #8 Poole Cemetery (aka Beach Ridge)

Porter

  • #2 Old Fort Niagara Cemetery (1812 Fort Niagara Cemetery)
  • #3 Oakland Rural Cemetery (aka Hosmer Cemetery)
  • #5 Filmore-Halstead Cemetery
  • #6 Ransomville Cemetery
  • #9 Universal Presbyterian Cemetery

Royalton

  • #1 Orangeport Union Cemetery
  • #4 Royalton Union Cemetery (aka Dysinger Baptist)
  • #5 Gilbert Cemetery
  • #8 Ketchum Cemetery (aka Griswold Street Cemetery)
  • #9 Mount Ridge Cemetery
  • #10 Mabee Cemetery

Wilson

  • #1 Greenwood Cemetery

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Some News Articles about Middleport Cemetery, Royalton

NEW YORK CULLINGS

Middleport. – The location of the new high school building on the present site of the Middleport cemetery is being seriously considered. It is planned to remove the bodies from the cemetery to Mountain Ridge and utilize that high and central plot of ground for school purposes.1


REMOVING BODIES FROM CEMETERY

The 400 bodies in the Middleport cemetery which adjoins the New York Central railroad in that village, and which has been an eyesore for years, are being removed to the other cemeteries. The land will be sold to the highest bidder. The first interments in this cemetery date back to 1812.2

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An Act to Remove the Middleport Cemetery, Royalton

A New York State statute was passed in 1915 to remove the cemetery in Middleport. Below is a transcription of the law that can be found at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4375328&seq=469

Chap. 676

AN ACT to provide for the removal of the Middleport cemetery, now located in the village of Middleport, Niagara county, New York.

Became a law May 22, 1915, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. The cemetery known as the Middleport cemetery, situate of the east side of Maple avenue and on the south side of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in the village of Middleport, Niagara county, new York, known as the Middleport cemetery, consisting of about four acres of land, having ceased to be used for burial purposes and all the funds and property heretofore used for maintaining and caring of said cemetery having been wholly expended and having become dangerous to public health be reason of the growth of said village and the building of dwelling houses in the immediate vicinity, the burial of the dean in said cemetery is hereafter prohibited.

§ 2. Thomas W. Jackson, Truman Jennings, Edgar Knapp, Frederick W. Crook, Charles B. Shafer and Arza G. Sherwood, now residing in or near the village of Middleport, Niagara county, New York, and they are hereby created commissioners for the purpose of acquiring title to and taking possession of said cemetery for the purpose of exhuming and removing from said cemetery the fuman remains now interred therein and re-interring the same in such other cemeteries in the vicinity of the village of Middleport as in their judgment they deem proper.

§ 3. Said commissioners are hereby authorized and empowered to take and acquire and hereby are given and granted the title to said cemetery lands until all the bodies now interred therein shall be removed therefrom, provided a majority of the trustees now in office of the Middleport Cemetery Association shall make and file with said commissioners a written consent, consenting to the removal of the human remains now interred in said cemetery and consenting that the title to the lands of said cemetery shall vest in said commissioners at such time as said removal shall be accomplished. Said commissioners shall also have power to acquire, receive, take and hold by devise, bequest, gift, grant or purchase, any property, real or personal, adapted to the objects and purposes of this act and to receive, accumulate and hold in trust any funds or investments which it may accrue and to lease, sell, transfer, mortgage and convey any of its property which it shall acquire and use the proceeds thereof for the uses and objects for which they are hereby created. Said commissioners shall also have power to remove human remains from said cemetery in said village and rebury the same in other cemeteries after consulting the surviving relatives of the deceased, if any there be, and in conformity with the wishes of said relatives so far as practicable, but the consent of said relatives shall not be required if in the opinion of a majority of said commissioners the public interest shall otherwise require.

§ 4. The cost of removing said human remains, pursuant to the provisions of this act, shall be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of the property which shall be acquired by said commissioners and when the title to said property shall vest in said commissioners, pursuant to the terms of this act, the same may be sold by said commissioners upon an order of the supreme court upon such notice as the court may prescribe to persons interested, granting leave to sell the property from which such bodies shall have been removed and to apply the proceeds thereof toward the expenses for removal and the court may make an order to that effect and to the further effect that said lands may be sold and the title be in conformity herewith.

§ 5. The affairs and business of such commissioners shall be conducted and managed by such commissioners, a majority of whom shall be necessary to form a quorum for the transaction of business except that for the purpose of filling vacancies in said commission the majority of the surviving members shall constitute a quorum. Vacancies in said commission caused by death, resignation or otherwise, shall be filled immediately by ballot by the remaining commissioners at a meeting called by any member on at least five days’ notice. Said commissioners may provide for the election of a chairman, secretary and treasurer and prescribe their powers and duties. None of the commissioners hereby appointed shall receive any compensation for their services.

§ 6. This act shall take effect immediately.

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LeValley Cemetery Tombstone Reading, Hartland

One of the items that were microfilmed from the Town of Hartland (and available on FamilySearch) includes a list of those buried at the LeValley Cemetery.

FamilySearch DGS 7900330: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/1440

You can find these images beginning at image 9 at: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4L-D7RY-W?lang=en&i=8

Images:

  • Image 9 of 210 is a transcript of the recorded deed for the cemetery
  • Image 10 of 210 is a description of the cemetery rows and that Rows “A” & “B” were the bodies that were transferred around 1910 from the Middleport Cemetery
  • Image 11 of 210 includes a copy of a burial permit and then an alphabetical listing of families by row & page number
  • Images 12-38 of 210 are tombstone readings (and some burial permit info) that must have been completed before 1984 as that is when the pages were microfilmed.

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Middleport Cemetery, Royalton

Middleport used to have a cemetery that is shown on the 1908 map above. The map above is the New Century Atlas of Niagara County and is available at the Library of Congress (image 50 of 84) at: https://www.loc.gov/resource/gmdatlases.2005631776/?st=gallery

The cemetery is no longer there. Most of the bodies and stones were removed from Middleport and placed at LeValley Cemetery, Hartland after a law was passed in 1915.

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St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Burials, North Tonawanda

One of the FamilySearch microfilms that has been digitized is the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church records. Included in the records is a section titled “Burials” in which there is a chronological listing of deceased members. Information includes:

  • Day
  • Date
  • Number [a count of those added into this register]
  • Names
  • Age
  • B. C. C.
  • Residence
  • Date of death
  • Cause of death
  • Place of burial
  • Signature of Clergyman

In Volume 1 there were less than 100 burials recorded between August 1869 and July 1886. Images 60-62 of 276 can be found at: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3WH-V9WV-L?i=59&cat=52640.

Volume 2 burials begin September 1883 and end October 1903. Images 149-154 of 276 can be found at: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3WH-V947-G?i=148&cat=52640.

The burials in Volume 3 begin February 1904 and end April 1939. Images 240-249 of 276 can be found at: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3WH-V9WF-B?i=239&cat=52640.

Of the burial listings, the following Niagara County cemeteries were found:

  • Cambria
  • Hartland
    • Hartland Central – Skeel’s
    • LeValley
  • Lewiston
    • Village Cemetery
  • Lockport
    • Cold Springs
    • Glenwood
  • Newfane
    • Wright’s Corners
  • Niagara Falls
    • Oakwood
  • North Tonawanda
    • Fairmount
    • Sweeney
    • Ward
  • Pendleton
    • Acacia Park
    • Bear Ridge
  • Royalton

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