Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Buffalo Cemeteries, An Account of the Burial Places of Buffalo From the Earliest Times Read Before the Buffalo Historical Society, February 4, 1879 by WILLIAM HODGE Pub. Bigelow Brothers, Buffalo, N.Y.; 1879 [11-14] FOREST LAWN CEMETERY ------- Forest Lawn Cemetery is unquestionably the finest in this section the state, and under the new organization will doubtless always be a permanent one. It was first laid out under the name above given, by CHARLES E. CLARKE, Esq., in 1849, who purchased, for the purpose, of Rev. JAMES N. GRANGER, and his brother WARREN GRANGER, about 80 acres of land at $150 per acre. The grounds were planned by Mr. CLARKE on a most liberal scale, and with all modern improvements. But it having been deemed desirable that the citizens should more generally be interested in it and that its many interests and rights should not be committed to the care of one individual no matter how trustworthy, an organization was effected in 1864, under the title of the "Buffalo City Cemetery Association," which purchased the rights and privileges of Mr. CLARKE, with all the unsold lots, so as to en- large it to its present size, about 240 acres, being all that will be required for generations. The beautiful name, "Forest Lawn" is there- fore now not its legal, but its popular designation which, however, it will doubtless retain for all time to come. As is well known, this cemetery is located on the CONJOCKETY Creek about two and a half miles from the court house square, or the center of the business part of the city, and between Delaware and Main streets, each of which gives a noble approach. The grounds are divided about equally into forest and lawn, table and broken land, and a suc- cession of knolls running parallel with the creek from southeast to northwest; giving a variety of approach that is not often found in similar places. It is truly by nature a lovely spot; and is exceed- ingly beautiful since laid out and occupied. And the extensive as well as costly improvements that have been and will be made in its vicin- ity, have rendered its surroundings correspondingly beautiful. The great park adjoins it, and next are the extensive grounds of the Insane Asylum; so that a large portion of the territory drained by the CONJOCKETY, from Main street to near the state dam, across the creek, is, and always will be, public ground. The first interment in Forest Lawn was that of JOHN LAY, Jr., who died on the tenth day of July, 1850, aged 60 years. He was a most worthy citizen, who had been at one time distinguished for his great mercantile ability; but he went down in the crash of fortunes of 1836, and ever after lived a retired life. Early in the inception of the improvements at Forest Lawn, he visited the place, and pointed out a certain knoll where he wished to be interred when he should die; when that event occurred, the liberal-hearted proprietor donated that spot to the family. And so it came about that late one summer afternoon, July 12, 1850, the quiet of the place was broken by the entrance of the first funeral train, and at the going down of the sun, as the earth closed over the mortal remains of JOHN LAY, Jr., the peopling commenced of this new Necropolis of the city of the lakes. On that occasion were heard for the first time in this cemetery, the words of the lofty and impressive burial service of the Episcopal church, as Mr. LAY was consigned to his final resting place, under the direction of him who had performed this office for two generations of his fellow citizens; I mean the late Mr. LORING PIERCE, so many years our "City Sexton." Since then, how rapidly has been fulfilled the saying of the good and venerable rector of St. Paul's Cathedral, who officiated at that time, and, as he surveyed the place, bethinking him of its in- tended purpose, exclaimed, "What a flood of grief will here be poured out;" for a continual tide of departed citizens has set thitherward. It is worthy of remark that those who first deemed it too remote and unfavorable a location, are now foremost in beautifying it, and making it a place of attraction, rather than of dread. It is the cemetery of Buffalo; and is especially so for all those who are not attached to the Romish or Jewish faith. To this beautiful spot, the bodies of those interred in the village burying ground on Franklin street, were removed; many by the hands of loving kindred were laid beside others of their families ; while those who were unrecognized, and had none to care for them, were interred in a place apart, and a suitable monument erected over them. Some families have removed their dead from the Mathews and Wilcox and the Delaware and North street grounds, to Forest Lawn; also some who buried on their own lands between the city and the Plains. Of those who interred originally on their own premises, and have had the bodies removed, I mention Col. WILLIAM W. CHAPIN, Judge ERASTUS GRANGER, JOHN COLLINS, WILLIAM HODGE, BENJAMIN HODGE, Sr., BENJAMIN HODGE, Jr., and Mrs. WARD COTTON. Neither the SHERWOODS nor Mrs. RUDOLPH ATKINS' family have removed their dead; those of the latter rest at the "Old Homestead" on the Plains; of the former in a stone vault on the SHERWOOD farm opposite. Forest Lawn contains a number of public remembrancers of the dead, as well as many private monuments and mausoleums. Among the former is a plain obelisk, erected in the center of a large square of ground containing those of the early dead who were removed from Franklin square. On it is a suitable inscription to their memory. A beautiful shaft has also been erected to commemorate our firemen in the new part of the ground near the head of Linwood avenue. In the old part there is a monument for Colonel FAY, an officer prominent in military affairs some thirty years ago; and another to General BIDWELL, an officer killed during the civil war. Not far from them there is a memorial erected by our patriotic townsman Hon. ELBRIDGE G. SPAULDING, commemorating heroes of the Revolutionary war. These various struct- ures are rich in material, and fine specimens of the elaborate work of the architect and sculptor. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access the more of our information about Erie County, N.Y., by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ny/erie/ ===========================================================================