Old St Mary's Cemetery in Minoa
One, Two, Three: One Church, Two Cemeteries, and Three Sites
While there doesn't seem to be much here today,
this cemetery at the crossroads that was once known as Schepp's Corners
has a story all its own...
A tale of an early settlement, church problems, burial problems,
and a grave a Northern Soldier
way too young to die.
But first, Schepp's Corners was the crossroad of what is now Kirkville Rd and Minoa Rd
Minoa as a village did not come into its own for a while.
For a while it was known as Manlius Station (with the coming of the railroad)
and just north of it was Schepp's Corners.
On this map, Minoa is Manlius Depot.
In 1838, the 30 or so Catholic families organized a
church and graveyard known as St Mary's.
And their parish grew!
Families from France...
Adam Uth (Oot) came from Harve de Grace
and others such as
Pancratius Boll (Ball)
Bozel in Baden, in what would later become Germany came and settled here.
Together the families would build a new church across the road,
remove the old church,
(these parch-marks are from the original building)
open a school for their children (an early parochial school)
build a rectory,
and in-fight for the next several decades until the Dioceses
stepped in an brought harmony once again to the congregation.
More about that here:
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyononda/CHURCH/STMARYMI.HTM?fbclid=IwAR3gt2omiD-gnfne8N9C2flzMEXA2Xs1dEx8wyIWiM-LafMZtYP1hYUYzSY
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyononda/CHURCH/STMARYMI.HTM?fbclid=IwAR3gt2omiD-gnfne8N9C2flzMEXA2Xs1dEx8wyIWiM-LafMZtYP1hYUYzSY
By 1867, a new burial ground was needed.
Unlike St Patrick's in Jordan which continued to bury its parishioners in the old churchyard,
St Mary's in Minoa found new land and opened for business.
The school would close around 1900.
The Parish would build a new church building in 1940.
And the rest is history...
...but history always has its way of surfacing in the present.
These are the parch-marks left from the original structure foundation underground
It's not hard to walk the perimeter of the original building
if you know where to look.
Burials are around the outside of the building.
These, the Remlingers, were originally just behind the building.
Here if you look in Find A Grave for the Remlingers,
you find one of the problems that plague
genealogists:
Headstones that are in either too poor condition to be read
or were misread in the first place
when they were first recorded.
So how can we safely read what seems to be lost?
First: NEVER, EVER put chemicals such a bleach, salt, shaving cream,
or any other "hack" on old headstones!
They are too brittle, way too brittle. It will damage them.
So how can we safely try to read old stones?
First: Use old records to compare possibilities of who could be buried there.
Find A Grave and Rootsweb Onondaga have great links and lists of who is buried there.
While not complete, it is a safe place to start.
Second: Do a safe grave rubbing using Aluminum Foil!
You'll need Aluminum Foil, Painter's Tape or Electrical Tape, and a Gentle Brush
Wrap the stone horizontally with foil
Secure the pieces in the back
Gently rub until the print comes through
And now his name was JOHN
son of Wm and Eliza. Walkensburg
And the bonus, is unlike the headstone,
you can take this home or recycle it when you are done.
The third is this nifty light technique
using a mirror!
And here, like others places, you find lives cut short...
...after a day:
Little Oliver
A double child burial;
Little Michael and Annie Toole,
siblings who died days apart
....And young Joseph Seon
(It is spelled Seon, Zion, and Ceon within the family.
His father Stefan Zion died in 1851)
Fighting bravely as a man, he died a young boy.
At 16 years old, he died in the Battle of Chancellorsville
He is buried with his brother Mathias
who outlived him by two years.
His mother outlived them all and was buried in the
new St Mary's
Hers is on the left with similar carving on the top.
But why was this cemetery abandoned?
Why wasn't the mother buried with the rest of the family?
Well, this cemetery and New Orleans have something in common:
Both have high water tables.
They had a hard time digging graves here.
By the time they got a hole dug, it would start filling with water.
New Orleans would go with above ground burials in sarcophaguses.
Here they could take an easier route:
The "new" cemetery was on higher ground.
Right next to St Mary's is the Protestant cemetery:
Minoa Methodist Cemetery
Minoa United Methodist Cemetery
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2151469/minoa-united-methodist-cemetery
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2151469/minoa-united-methodist-cemetery
Here, if you weren't Catholic, is where the rest of village was buried.
But after years and years of disagreement over doctrine,
in the end, both sets of the parishioners,
here in Minoa
in death,
in burial,
they find
common ground.
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