Walnut Grove Cemetery
The Titles that Matter
Tucked away on Onondaga Hill is a cemetery
that hold a treasure trove of
service to our country.
Onondaga Hill was the seat of county government when
the area was divided up into military tracts.
In 1829, the population of this area rivaled the newly formed Village of Syracuse.
This would rapidly change as the canal caused the
small crossroads of Bogardus Corners to expand rapidly
in population due to the opportunities along the canal.
In 1830, the County Seat moved to Syracuse where industrialists
used access to the turnpikes, canals, and later railroads
to get the goods of this region to market.
Onondaga Hill continued on as a farming community.
Walnut Grove is a common name given to cemeteries.
There are al least 163 of them across the US.
This cemetery already long active,
is present on the 1859 map
This has the oldest section of the cemetery
and on the 1875 map.
There are the ordinary citizens who lived and
died on Onondaga Hill...
Mary Frances Young who died young of typhoid,
the first telegraphy office operator in Syracuse
who is buried with his family ,
Farnum Smith on the left
A rich man whose death caused people
Farnum Smith on the left
to come out of the woodwork to claim a piece,
....a family crypt that looks like a burial mound
Archibald Hays and Family
that was broken into 40 years ago
A mother who probably died in childbirth
of her infant son who died as well
her husband who was a sea captain,
Charles Hutchinson
And John Weeks who appears to be still living until
You research the records....
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54973338/john-m-weeks
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54973338/john-m-weeks
....and a man who survived being struck by lightening as as
young boy but lived to 90!
But there is also a trove of Military Veterans buried here
including:
Justus Johnson
(~John Shuck, Find A Grave)
Justus Johnson
and Jonathan Strong
And the tragic tale of James Beebe,
a Revolutionary War Veteran,
who died on the cusp of the War of 1812...
who died on the cusp of the War of 1812...
And the Civil War Vets who made it home...
Brothers: George and Edwin Fryer
John Holland Johnson, Jr
And Francis Goodman
whose inscription throws
"In memory of Francis C. only son of C. & L. Goodman who died July 9, 1865 in Carver military Hospital Washington D. C. aged 34 yrs 9 mo & 13 days.
A victim of the late slave holders rebellion."
But a closer look at his monument reveals something else:
A large crack in the marble!
Our weather, gravity and time cause damage to these monuments.
The sheer weight of marble over time has caused
the marble to fracture along the
grain line of the rock.
The bird finial over time on Harriet Hutchinson's monument,
the thinnest part of the marble cracked and fell off.
It now sits beside the funerary urn that it once graced.
As the ground heaves and settles, gravestones are either
heaved out of the ground or sent askew even in the best
maintained cemeteries.
What can be done?
We don't want monuments falling on people!
The solution is that New York State provides grants to cemeteries
The solution is that New York State provides grants to cemeteries
for monuments over 3ft tall to be restored and reset to help
preserve the history of the dead and the lives of the living.
Walnut Grove Cemetery on Onondaga Hill recently had the state come in and flag
all the headstones eligible so that,
after the paperwork and funds are distributed,
these monuments flagged with tape
can be safely reset.
This grant is a lifesaver for the grave keepers in our communities
who have limited funds and do their very best to just keep the lawn mowed,
often by volunteers,
such as the man who was mowing the day this was taken.
He doesn't get paid.
The Don Marsh Insurance Agency helps pay for gas.
It's a community effort to honor those who have come before us.
It's a community effort to honor those who have come before us.
Volunteerism:
A trait that runs deep in our area
Thank you!
And in the end, who you are and what you care about is what lasts.
That part of you that goes on long after you are gone.
One of the sweetest monuments
Gen E. Wilson
His daughter chose to remember
His daughter chose to remember
on his headstone
that he was married to her mother Bulah
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59397610/bulah-wilson
and
and
that he a General and
fought in the War of 1812.
But the sweetest thing by far,
she chose to be remembered with her parents
and that in the end,
while his military credentials
and accolades
gave him provenance with his community,
to her,
he was just
"My Father"
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