Driving up to the farm it was located on we found no one around so we drove to the next farm and found someone who knew where the graveyard was, he also said that it wouldn't be a problem for us to go there to take photos.
I entered the coordinates that Google Earth gave me in to the GPS and we stopped where it told us to. Either the GPS will not leave the road or I entered the coordinates a bit wrong as we had to cross the fields to find it. Bob went one way and I went another, Bob found it just over the rise. There were still a handful of stones left standing, but a few originally listed by Holdcraft were missing. Unfortunately many of the stones are from the mid 1800s and are badly worn, though by piecing together some bits of information I could figure out what stones were left.
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| Stull Family Cemetery |
I next had planned on going to Millers Bridge to find a few cemeteries there. When we came to Good Intent Road Bob asked if there were some down there and I said there are. He suggested that we try and find those. There are two cemeteries listed near Good Intent Road and Simpsons Mill Road, the Roop family cemetery, [115] and the Smith family cemetery, [116].
We stopped at the first house and the woman that answered knew nothing of either cemetery. We stopped at the next couple of houses but no one was home. Then we got lucky and the next house knew right where the Roop cemetery was.It was on the farm of one of the houses we had visited but no one was home. He said his deer stand was there and it wouldn't be a problem for us to go there. The cemetery was over grown and a few of the stones are missing, though it's possible that they are still there but covered.
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| Roop Family cemetery |
Holdcraft describes the Smith cemetery as being right across the street from the Roop cemetery, we had to drive around the entire street until we were able to figure out which driveway we needed. The woman that lived there said she knew nothing of the cemetery and he family had owned it since the 70s. She did say that this was the old Bernard Keefer farm so we had the proper place. I plan to go back in the spring and look some more, she did say there was one place it could have been but it was covered in snow.
Our next stop was the Millers bridge area, which contains three cemeteries: Ott family cemetery, [056], Valentine family cemetery, [055], and the Pittenger family cemetery, [057]. At the first house we stopped at we were informed that she knew nothing of any family cemeteries in the area and that all of the homes right there are rented. We stopped across the street and the man who answered showed us right where the Ott cemetery was. We needed to go next door to photograph the cemetery but it was no problem for the owner to let us in. She knew were the Pittenger cemetery was but not the Valentine. As with most family cemeteries this one was missing a few stones and a few were broken and on the ground. They do keep care of what's left however.
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| Ott Family cemetery |
Lastly we went to find the Pittenger cemetery since we had a good idea as to where it was. The land owner however, didn't want people on his property. We stopped at his neighbor's home and he confirmed that the cemetery was on his land. I left my contact information with the neighbor and hopefully will be able to go back and photo graph the cemetery at a later date.
Over all it was a good weekend for cemeteries. Finding nine cemeteries goes a long way in trying to find all of the known family cemeteries in the county.
Those photos are something...just some old, crooked and practically unrecognizable head stones in a field or among some trees...forgotten by almost everyone - except you and Bob!
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