Subscribers for a cemetery fence in Spring Garden Township
Blake Stough recently shared the above image of a document he had purchased on eBay some time ago. It lists subscribers for a fence to be built around "the old burial ground on the premises of Vincent Keesey, Esq." in Spring Garden Township. The document is transcribed below.
There is no date, but, looking at the 19 listed names, I am guessing around 1850 to 1875. The land is probably now in Springettsbury Township, which was formed from Spring Garden Township in 1891. I don't think it refers to the Erb Cemetery, which I discussed earlier--none of the names match up.
The 1876 Pomeroy, Whitman York County atlas shows V. K. Keesey in Spring Garden Township at the southwest corner of East Market Street and what is now Haines Road. The Springettsbury Township history, published to commemorate the township's 100th anniversary, confirms that East York was originally "the Keesey Tract." Some of the names of leading families in that history also match up with the subscribers.
The cemetery was likely somewhere in on near the area known as Old East York, but I don't know where or what happened to it. We have heard tales that there was a cemetery near York Suburban Middle School. That's in the general area. Does anybody know for sure where the cemetery was and what happened to the people buried there and their gravestones?
The document reads:
"We the undersigned citizens of Spring Garden Township and vicinity of York County, consider it necessary and as a duty to erect and enclose the old Burial ground on the premises of Vincent Keesey, Esq. in said township--hopeing therefore all who are interested or have Relations there interd and others will contribute for the purpose of such enclosure.John Spengler
Daniel Heidlebaugh
William Spangler
Samuel Hively
John Hively
Z. K. Laucks
John Cunningham
Daniel Locks
John Sipe
Daniel Diehl
James Fidler
Temest? Hetzler
J. C. Scheffer
John Wise
Samuel Spengler
John Flory
P? Small
John Moyers
Zacharies Spengler"
I'm so glad you were able to date this document. I knew if I researched the names on the list, I could determine an estimated date, but never got around to doing so. Hopefully someone can remember where the cemetery was located, and I will also continue searching.
Unrelated to the discussion of the cemetery, but it is interesting to note how many of the men on this list had filed damage claims with the state back in the 1868 - 1870 time frame to petition for compensation for horses stolen and / or property destroyed or taken by the Confederate forces that occupied Spring Garden Township during the Civil War's Gettysburg Campaign.
Thanks Scott, that helps confirm my guess on the time period of the undated document. It follows too that they were men of property and would be able to contribute toward the fencing of the burial ground.
I am glad someone is trying to save and preserve the cemeteries in and around this area. I feel like that it is a priveledge to honor these pioneer spirits that went before us. Young people now do not look back and see life in the generations before them was like. I too am serching for relatives and have been unable to find some family members.
If someone is looking for a lost family cemetery, my uncle told me of one off Hwy 274 in York County SC. It is on the Harper property that joins my uncle's South 40 Farm. His name is William Timothy Reid. My grandfather bought the farm from the Love family in the 1950's.
Good luck on your quest.
Thanks T. Y. Even if they still exist, those small family cemeteries sometimes have not been recorded. You just never know where you might find the missing link in your family tree.