New Garden Historical Commission - Cemeteries in New Garden Township

<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#990099" > <table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" bgcolor="#999999"> <tr> <td><p align="center"><img src="../lyceum/lyceum.jpg" width="200" height="114"></p> </td> <td align="center"> <h1><font color=black>New Garden Historical Commission</font></h1> <p><a href="../index.htm" target="_top"><font color=black>Click here</font></a> <font color=black> to return to the home page and links to other articles</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p align="center"><font size="4"><strong>New Garden Cemeteries</strong></font></p> <p>The two cemeteries in New Garden Township are both are associated with the Friends (Quaker) Meeting in New Garden Village. The larger Upper cemetery (approximately 1750 tombstones) has been in use since the early eighteenth century when the original Friends Meeting was established there. The smaller Lower cemetery (approximately 200 tombstones) was established in the early nineteenth century when Friends across the country divided into Hicksite and Orthodox factions. Most Quakers in New Garden Township aligned with the Hicksites and they continued to occupy the original Upper Meeting House. The Orthodox constructed a new Lower Meeting House a quarter mile to the south. The two factions reunited in the early twentieth century and the Lower Meeting House was sold for use as a residence. Burials still occur in both cemeteries.</p> <p>For more information on the history of the New Garden Friends Meeting, see <a href="../once_upon_a_time/swnn001v.htm" >Ann Hagertys article</a> from her book <u>Once Upon A Time</u>.</p> <p align="center"><img src="cemetery_locations_map.jpg" width="300" height="575"></p> <p>The New Garden Historical Commission has assembled lists of people buried in both cemeteries. To the extent records are available, we have attempted to make the lists as complete as possible through the year 2000. Although the cemetery has been in use since the early 18th century, we have been unable to locate comprehensive records prior to the 1830's, and only a half dozen burials before 1830 are documented. Although some burials after 2000 are recorded, no effort is being made to record burials after that date.</p> <p>Most of our information was obtained from the tombstones. Many variations in the spellings of family names were found. Early Quakers considered tombstones immodest and did not erect them. The tombstones that do exist in the earliest portions of the cemetery were usually erected many years later by descendants, but by then the spellings of family names may have changed. Many of the tombstones are weathered, so some of our information is questionable or missing. We attempted to cross-check information from the more weathered stones with the written cemetery records, however, some of these records were also illegible, and sometimes the person recording the name seemed to have only a vague idea of how the persons name was actually spelled. For these reasons our lists are cannot be considered completely reliable.</p> <p>To assist those wishing to locate a particular tombstone or burial location within one of the cemeteries, we provide the following resources:</p> <p>Upper Cemetery:</p> <ul> <li>A <a href="swnn002j.htm" >list of burials alphabetized by surname</a>.</li> <li><a href="swnn002k.htm" >Interactive map software</a> to locate a particular burial location within the cemetery.</li> </ul> <p>Lower Cemetery:</p> <ul> <li>A <a href="swnn002l.htm" >list of burials alphabetized by surname</a>.</li> <li>A <a href="swnn002m.htm" >list of burials in row order</a>.</li> </ul> <p>The interactive map and the list of burials in row order may provide some clues for family relationships when burials are in the same vicinity.</p> </body>