History of a Cemetery that is Historic Itself!

                                       Grave of Rev. War Vet. Miles Standish ..Yes grandson of Miles Standish!

Sometimes a cemetery is historic for a number of different reasons as well as for the famous people buried in it. One such cemetery is the  Eaton Village Cemetery which occupies a hill outside of the Hamlet of Eaton and contains the remains of many famous and near famous people.

M E Messere

The cemetery itself dates to before 1800, on a piece of property donated by Squire Eldred. It rests on the side of the Old Indian Trail, a recently discovered map shows that the early road was exactly where the current road is. 

M E Messe 

Little care or attention was given the site for a number of years with cattle roaming it and overgrowth covering it, but in 1852, George Morse, grandson of the famous Joseph Morse, bought a piece of property next to the cemetery which started him on a labor of love keeping the grounds for his lifetime.

Morse took care of the grounds planting trees & planting the myrtle that still covers the hill today.  Morse also installed fences to keep the cows that roamed nearby out. Other early pieces of property that added to the cemetery's size belonged to J. T. Whitney.  In 1884 the present Eaton Village Cemetery Association was formed, an association that still cares for the cemetery today.

Buried within its borders are the founding Morse family, the Landon Family members including the famous Eli Perkins (Melville Landon) who is buried at the top of the cemetery steps. There are Chubbucks, including the father of Samuel W. Chubbuck inventor of the camelback key and sounder for Morse’s telegraph and siblings of Emily Chubbuck Judson,  the author and missionary.

Many Civil War veteran's including Col. Henry Bagg Morse of the famous 114th Regiment of NYS Volunteers and relatives of Charles Grandison Finney who once attended school in the one room school house that was located in the cemetery. 

 In a special section lies the first female physician of Madison County Diedamia Button Chase and beside her is her famous daughter, historian Luna Chase Hammond. Near the front of the cemetery lies Allen N. Wood  founder of the world famous Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works, and many more.

So take a short hop on NYS Scenic Highway Route 20, and visit historic Eaton, for a Special Memorial Day Celebration. The Parade starts at 10 AM and it will take you to the Cemetery where there will be a Prayerservice presided over by Rev. Smalley and music by the MECS Band and Chorus.  Back in town there will be a classic truck display, Revolutionary War Display, Gift Shop and White Elephant sale...come join the Celebration!

Memorial Day Monday at the Museum, a Traditional Event!

This is as usual "Eaton Day" or History Day in Eaton .(.in it 28th year)on Monday, Memorial Day.  This year the annual Pie Sale will be postponed a bit,  but festivities include new displays at the Old Town of Eaton Museum with Back Street Mary giving tours. The hours are from 11 until 3pm.  In the afternoon, there will be an ice-cream social.... and hopes are that the weather will cooperate.

The fun is the new displays... that include an intriguing look back at what the original Cobblers (shoemakers) room would have looked like.  A new piece of history, via a diary which proves Sprauge was there making shoes in 1802 is proof of the buildings original use...  Tools and stories of the old building abound and Mary will be there to spin them.

Also on hand for the sale will be newly done etchings of the Congregational Church, now the Community Church, as it looked in 1833 when it was built. Plus all of the books and artifacts of that building.

The new school exhibit has for sale copies of the photo taken for the last graduating class of the Brooklyn Street High School in 1934.  In the picture are so many of the mothers and fathers of current residents as well as grandparents of their children.  So come down ...get a collectable and help support the museum.

There will be refreshments at the museum ...as well as discussion on our upcoming year's exhibits and upcoming Wednesday, Summer Lecture Series, that was such a success last year.

So please come down and support your link to the history of the area.  Monday, Memorial Day from 11-3 pm. In the afternoon our Eaton Revolutionary War Re-Enactors will be at the Gerrit Smith Buildings Cemetery Site to fire the traditional Military Salute for all of the Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried there.  This is a stirring sight...

Eaton Village Cemetery History and a Special Halloween Cemetery Tour!

Sometimes a cemetery is historic for a number of different reasons as well as for the famous people buried in it. One such cemetery is the  Eaton Village Cemetery which occupies a hill outside of the Hamlet of Eaton and contains the remains of many famous and near famous people.  As a special treat we will be holding a fall cemetery tour on Saturday, October 31st....yes Halloween...at 1pm.  The tour is free with a hope that you will donate something to the Cemetery Association and of course...Back street Mary will be giving the tour! The Cemetery is located just off Route 26 in the Hamlet of Eaton.

M E Messere

The cemetery itself dates to before 1800, on a piece of property donated by Squire Eldred. It rests on the side of the Old Indian Trail and a recently discovered map shows that the early road was exactly where the current road is. Also open at 1pm is the Historic Eaton Museum on River Road!

Little care or attention was given the site for a number of years with cattle roaming it and overgrowth covering it, but in 1852, George Morse grandson of the famous Joseph Morse, bought a piece of property next to the cemetery which started him on a labor of love keeping the grounds for his lifetime.

Morse took care of the grounds planting trees & planting the myrtle that still covers the hill today.  Morse also installed fences to keep the cows that roamed nearby out. Other early pieces of property that added to the cemetery's size belonged to J. T. Whitney.  In 1884 the present Eaton Village Cemetery Association was formed, an association that still cares for the cemetery today.

Buried within its borders are the founding Morse family, the Landon Family members including the famous Eli Perkins (Melville Landon) who is buried at the top of the cemetery steps. There are Chubbucks, including the father of Samuel W. Chubbuck inventor of the camelback key and sounder for Morse’s telegraph and siblings of Emily Chubbuck Judson,  the author and missionary.

Many Civil War veteran's includingCol. Henry Bagg Morse of the famous 114th Regiment of NYS Volunteers and relatives of Charles Grandison Finney who once attended school in the one room school house that was located in the cemetery.  In a special section lies the first female physician of Madison County Diedamia Button Chase and beside her is her famous daughter, historian Luna Chase Hammond. Near the front of the cemetery lies Allen N. Wood  founder of the world famous Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works, and many more.

So take a short hop on the NYS Scenic Highway Route 20, and visit the historic Eaton Cemetery. For more informatio on the cemetery or to tour the Old Town of Eaton Museum you can email backstreetmary@yahoo.com.

Memorial Day, historians, cemeteries and their history of communities!

Working in a cemetery can be a wonderful experience.  The quite of the surroundings… trees rustling in the wind that almost seeming to whisper past secrets to you.  The "town’s"  history lies in its cemetery.  Many times I can feel it as I walk along the rows of markers.  After having lived in this little area for 30 years (and being the curator of its museum) I actually know many of the people buried beneath the ground even though I never met them.  I guess it’s a historian thing.

The Historic Eaton Cemetery has an unbelievable wealth of history attached to it from its early roots 200 years ago, as it is located on the Old Indian Trail that brought settlers west from Albany and south from Bainbridge.  That path then became the Skaneateles-Hamilton Turnpike.   It once had the early Eaton school house on its grounds right where the flag pole sits today.  Luminaries like Ellis Morse and the Evangelist Charles Grandison Finney went to school in this little log building.  (I have the early handwritten schoolbook in the Eaton Museum).

The cemetery is also the resting place of many of the men who fought in every war starting with the American Revolution, those marked with flags every Memorial Day.  We even have some woman veterans buried here - two of which will be honored this year.

The old white stones shinning in the sun also reveal the names of some of the earliest settlers including Chad Brown whose family started Brown University, Miles Standish III who was the direct descendant (third in line) from that famous Puritan Miles Standish.  Also Mrs. Deiadamia Button Chase and her brood of historians (Luna Hammond and Julius Hammond) and seven  . MD’s…yes.. seven... of course she was the first female Doctor in Madison county.

People’s whose names made the news in the 1800’s like Andrew Bigelow Morse the young missionary to Siam and Chaplain of the Treasury Department during the Civil War, a friend of Lincoln’s.  His brother Col. Henry Bagg Morse of the 114^th Regiment of NYS Volunteers who became a beloved Grand Circuit Judge in Arkansas after the war.  

Just so many names… so much history.  I love the special stones… one woman has marked on the back of her stone her oft quoted phrase… “I am not perfect. But I am consistently adequate!”   Another is so sad... it reads… “How many hopes lie buried here?”

I have just put together a book on the cemetery for the anniversary of the incorporation of the Eaton Village Cemetery Association.  They are going to sell it as a fundraiser at our Eaton Day Event… I hope you will join us for this special day, will visit the cemetery, and take the free self-guided tour. I am confident that you will

feel the history at your feet!