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Subject: Oldest Grave in Mt. Hope Cemetery - Apr 11, 1898
Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2006 12:17:06 EDT

Rochester, Monroe, NY
Democrat & Chronicle
Mon Apr 11, 1898

OLDEST GRAVE IN MT. HOPE CEMETERY

William Carter Was Buried August 19th, 1838
Inscription On Stone
He was Born in 1773 and Was a Native of the State of Connecticut -
The Records Were Kept by the City Sexton, Then.

The oldest thing about Mt. Hope cemetery is Indian Trail avenue, which is no
more nor less than its name indicates, and undoubtedly the oldest grave is
some ab-original tumulus that perhaps disappeared before any white man ever saw
the Genesee river. The lay of the ground and the situation of Mt. Hope
relative to the river, as well as the tradition of early settlers, makes it
certain that for a great period of time along the rise of ground adjacent to the
river the dusky warriors of years ago were wont to carry the furs that they
took to exchange with the early French traders and the fish that they caught in
the waters of the lake and bay. That some of the dusky Iroquois were buried
in the precincts of the present Mt. Hope cemetery seems quite possible.
As to the first interment in the cemetery after it was organized and
laid out, there is no question. August 24, 1837, Alderman David SCOVILLE move a
resolution in the common council for the appointment of a committee to
inquire into the advisability of purchasing the lot of Silas ANDREWS on the east
side of the river, "or any other lot in the city" for a burying ground. The
lot mentioned, containing 53.86 acres, was finally purchased at a hundred
dollars per acre. Additions were afterwards made until the cemetery included 200
acres and the total cost of the land was $63,711.69. The cemetery was
dedicated October 3, 1838. The first known interment in the present grounds was made
about three months earlier.
There used to be a city sexton who kept all the vital statistics and
registered the place of interment of everyone buried in the various cemetery in
and about the city. The records which have been preserved at Mt. Hope only
go back to 1837, but there is a tradition that some earlier records were lost
many years ago. The records of Mt. Hope are complete, however, and there are
in the same books records of interments at St. Patrick's, the Dutch cemetery,
Revolution Hill, Irondequoit, Carthage, Greece, West Brighton, West Main
(where the City Hospital now stands and East Main..
The first interment recorded in the books at Mt. Hope is that of
Stephen BISNETT, a child three months old, that was interred at the West Main
street cemetery. This was in May, 1837, and there were thirteen deaths that month.
In section A, on lot No. 4, however, is the first grave made in Mt.
Hope cemetery. It is that of William CARTER, aged 65 years, who died of fever at
his home on Andrews street. The stone over the grave is a double one, Mr.
CARTER's wife being later buried at the side of her husband. The inscription is
as follows:

WILLIAM CARTER, ESQ.
Born in Killingworth, Conn., October 10, 1773
Died in Rochester, August 17, 1838,
Aged 65 years and 10 months.

He was for more than thirty-two years an esteemed
member of the Baptist Church, and with great consistency
of deportment and integrity of character, fulfilled the duties
of this relation. He died in hopes of a glorious immortality.
He was the first person borne to Mt. Hope for interment.

There have been many transfers of bodies from other cemeteries to Mt. Hope,
so that many of the bodies interred there were originally buried much earlier
than the one child. In 1838 there had been only fifty-eight interments at Mt.
Hope; in 1872 there were 1,204; last year there were 1,340 and the total to
date is 54,230. In 1892, 105 bodies were removed from the Quaker cemetery to
Mt. Hope.
----<>----

Glenda


--
GjS

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