This past weekend my husband and I visited friends in the Penn Yan NY area of the Fingerlakes. The area was settled in the late 1790s, early 1800s. The Yates County History Center presented a tour of early settlers in the Benton Rural Cemetery.
It is easy to walk through a cemetery of the early 1800s and ignore the stones. They may have fallen and are slowly becoming part of the earth again, or are still upright, but difficult to read and appreciate their former beauty. Benton has carefully researched its history. Listening to the stories of the ancestors of the town brings these monuments to life again.
I was interested in the Cole family, as that happens to be my middle name, and they came from Litchfield County CT, where my family is buried. On the left is the fallen stone of Sabra Cole Cleaveland, wife of the local doctor. She died in 1855. Husband and wife Nathan and Sarah Cole were married in 1808. He died in 1852 and she preceded him in 1844. Today, they lean against each other in death as they probably did in life.
On the way to Benton we stopped at the Gorham Cemetery, Gorham, NY, about 10 miles from Benton Rural. While covering the same time period, the two cemeteries are quite different in feel. Benton Rural is a small burying ground surrounded by farms. In the distant background is Keuka Lake. Gorham is a larger cemetery on hilly terrain with mature trees.
I was struck by similar modern monument designs in the two cemeteries. I have not seen memorials like these in other cemeteries of the area, though they may exist. These monuments honor Scofield families, one in each cemetery.
Parents and children were often buried together. These stones from the two cemeteries each honor parents and a child.
