From Town of Sheldon Historian, Jeanne Mest
It has been almost 50 years since I first set foot in the Town of Sheldon. I came here as a young bride, working in an office job and then on the dairy farm I shared with my husband. After our three children grew up, I suddenly found I had time to pursue other interests for the first time, and that's when my interest in history began.
It Started in the Cemetery
The Hedges Cemetery, that is! For some people, cemeteries bring sad memories to mind; others may think of them as being haunted; but for me, the cemetery was just a special place we visited frequently, to remember those who had gone before. From an early age, I remember planting flowers in big clay pots to decorate the graves for Memorial Day. The lilacs were always in bloom then and we would pick them & put them in a mason jar full of water, with stones to keep them from tipping over. It is still an impressive sight when you see all the flags flying over the headstones, honoring our country’s veterans. Years ago it was not unusual for whole families to go to the cemetery together on a holiday, such as Mother’s Day. Someone told me they used to pack a lunch basket & take the train to Forest Lawn, for a picnic. Once I saw a young bride who came to the cemetery in her wedding gown, with her new husband, to stop for a moment on her wedding day at the grave of someone dear. So many stories…you are surrounded by them at a cemetery, and you know that many of them will never be told. Just reading the names and dates on the stones gets you wondering; especially when you see a young mother, or several children, and you wonder what happened to them. Living in our modern world, it is hard to imagine a time when people didn’t have the medical care we do today, but it wasn’t that long ago.
So it was a cemetery that first sparked my interest in family history; found in a place that I had never given much thought to. That is, until one day in late winter, when I was walking my dog and something caught my eye. I had never really paid attention to the large headstone that was jutting out of the tiny cemetery in the field across the road. Most of the year it was hidden by brambles, but it really stood out on this bleak, frozen day. Suddenly I realized I didn’t even know who was buried there, even after living here so many years. My questions started me on a search that took me to the Sheldon historical museum. I was on a quest to learn and record whatever I could, for future generations.
But for some reason, this tiny cemetery across the road and the family buried there continued to intrigue me. It was hard to imagine all those houses and families, and I kept wondering what happened to them all. There is something special about Sheldon, the way families have remained here for so many generations. Maybe that is why it just bothered me so, to think that a family had completely disappeared and no one seemed to know anything about them. So when spring came, I headed to the Sheldon Schoolhouse.
My first trip to the Sheldon Schoolhouse Museum was in 2008, the year of Sheldon’s Bicentennial. I was greeted by the curators, Marilyn Smithley, Betty Reisdorf and Mary Ann Metzger, all wearing caps and colonial garb. Charlie Perl was there too, in a Tricorn Hat! They helped me with my family history and opened up a whole new world for me. Soon I was a member of the Sheldon Historical Society and helping out in the office, which turned into the job of archival curator. When I retired, I was asked by the Town Board to serve as Historian, which brings me here to this page.
The support of the town board and members of the society encouraged me to take on the challenge of applying to the William J. Pomeroy Foundation for one of their historic roadside markers. The first was easy, a Legends & Lore sign about an old tale in which Saloma Stryker thrust her riding crop into the ground in the middle of Strykersville, and it grew an enormous willow tree which was there many generations. The Pomeroy Foundation is very particular about historic accuracy, except with Legends. My next attempt was an application over 100 pages long, describing the Strykersville Pioneer Cemetery and why it should have a special roadside marker. Everything stated on a Pomeroy sign has to be completely true, accurate and well documented. Here is that story.
Strykersville Pioneer Cemetery - The Public Burying Ground
Over 200 years ago, pioneers began to arrive in the town of Sheldon and founded the village of Strykersville. The first road in Sheldon was laid out in 1803, and ran from Geneseo, New York to Lake Erie. Known as Big Tree Road (now Route 20A), it was an old Indian trail and the entire area was solid forest, which had to be cut through and burned in order to clear the land.
Soon after the Holland Land Company had surveyed the area, settlers began to arrive in what would become the town of Sheldon, in Wyoming County, New York. (It was actually considered Genesee County until 1840) Many of the first pioneers here were from New England and other states along the east coast. These settlers were responsible for establishing the first farms, mills, stores, churches, schools and cemeteries. Often the men were veterans of the Revolutionary War who brought their families west for a fresh start after the horrors of war. Members of this small community went to church together, then to school together and many of them went together to their final resting place in the same cemetery. The same names appear in the records from the churches, schools and cemeteries.
Among the first pioneers to arrive in Sheldon were Lemuel Chipman and Roswell Turner, who settled near Big Tree Road. It must have taken some time to cut a road through the woods all the way to the southwest part of Sheldon, which became Strykersville. Garret Stryker, William Richardson and Philo Stevens were the first to purchase land there in Lots 33 and 25. Strykersville’s earliest residents probably did not think of themselves as pioneers. When it was time to start a cemetery, they referred to it as “The Public Burying Ground”.
The Strykersville Pioneer Cemetery is located on Perry Road, just north of the intersection of Perry and Route 78. It was first opened for burials in 1811 and was active until 1867, when a new one opened on the other side of town.
The first available land record shows that sometime before 1826, Philo Stevens set aside 100 rods, deeded to Joseph Buttrick, Supervisor of the Town of Sheldon, for a Burying Ground. Later, in 1851, John Dumas deeds some more land, to the cemetery trustees: “This Indenture made the 26th day of September in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-One, between John B. Dumas of the Town of Sheldon in the County of Wyoming in the State of New York, party of the first part, and Joseph Emery of the Town of Wales in the County of Erie and the State of New York, Milo Warner of the Town of Java in the County of Wyoming and the State of New York, Curtiss L. Plant, Harry S. Turner and Nelson Arnold of the Town of Sheldon and the County of Wyoming and the State of New York, Trustees of the Public Burying Ground of Strykersville in the said Town of Sheldon.”
The first recorded burial in 1811 was for Nancy Stryker, age 3, followed by her 12-year-old sister Betsy in 1815. They were daughters of Garret and Saloma Stryker, who came from Richfield, NY, bringing their eight children with them. The hamlet of Strykersville was named after the Strykers. It seems fitting that they were honored this way. They were the first family that settled here and dealt with the hardships of pioneer life, and had to bury three of their children at a young age in the cemetery.
.
There are at least 125 known burials of early pioneers in this “Public Burying Ground”. Many of them were members of the Strykersville Baptist Church, which was formed in 1808. This historic cemetery is an important part of our town’s history.
After the new cemetery opened, the Strykersville Pioneer Cemetery was eventually abandoned, and it had been mostly forgotten for the last 150 years. No one seemed to remember the pioneers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 who were interred there, with their graves fallen and obscured by the overgrowth of weeds and brush.
Clean-up Crew; : Paul, Jeanne, Steve, Taina, Laury, Paul, Bob, Cheryl, Joe, Barb, Tony, Judie, Clarence, Jim, Reed, Kate, Josh, Wayne, Mike.
It desperately needed some care, and thanks to volunteers from the town, that is what it received. Jim Fontaine brought his equipment and took down some very dangerous old trees. Members of the Lions, the Legion and the Historical Society turned out one morning in April and did an amazing job of cleaning up this old Public Burying Ground. Pomeroy had accepted our application and given us the sign!
We knew there were a few soldier’s graves there, but what we found was truly amazing. There are at least five soldiers of the American Revolutionary War and five from the War of 1812 buried there. On May 20, 2023, Armed Forces Day, we held a special program to dedicate this sign and honor these patriots, most of whom were long forgotten. But not really; it turned out there are still descendants in our town of some of these men. Some had come for the cleanup and some made financial donations.
The Honor Guard of the American Legion Six Star Post #637 came that day and put on a program, in the pouring rain. It didn’t stop those intrepid men from honoring these soldiers and town founders. The best part was when they told us, the following year our Pioneer Cemetery would be added to the list of cemeteries where the Legion visits every Memorial Day. How exciting, for our cemetery to go from abandoned to receiving this honor!
We now have a cemetery committee who have spent hours digging around the old headstones, finding them, cleaning them and recording what they have found. A cemetery restoration fund has been established, due to the many generous donations and a recent quilt raffle, some headstones have already been restored, with plans to do more next Spring.
Stryker headstones in 2018 and restored today Betty, wife of Samuel Kelsey, restored
Discovering Omri Warner's headstone; now restored
Heroes of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 from Sheldon
Joseph Barber was born June 3, 1744 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He married Lydia Miller and had eight children. Joseph was a Private in the Continental Line, Revolutionary War, and came to Strykersville in his old age. On Sept. 17, 1823, he left Massachusetts with his son, Joseph Jr., wife and 10 children, bound for Java. Joseph Jr. drove a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, carrying his family and 3500 lbs. of household goods. The wagon had a cover of sole leather, costing $40, which he used later to make boots and shoes. Another wagon, drawn by a single horse, carried his aged father, 79 years old and totally blind. He died a few months later, on Jan. 17, 1824. (From the Biography of Lester Barber)
Jacob Turner came to Sheldon before 1814, with his wife Sally and son William. He was a Private in the NY Regiment, Rev. War, and died at Sheldon in 1820. He is mentioned in the History of Wyoming Co. as having built the first sawmill, with Calvin Rogers, in 1814.
Omri Warner was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1762 and served as a Private in Brewer’s Regt., Massachusetts Line. He married Prudence Hollister and had 10 children before she died in Vermont in 1822. He came to Sheldon with his second wife, Catherine Warner. Prudence and her sister Betty were daughters of Captain Francis Hollister, a sea captain who died at Havana in 1777. Betty married Samuel Kelsey, and came to Strykersville, where she was buried in 1831.
Samuel Kelsey was born in New Hartford, CT, where he was a Private in the Connecticut Militia. He was an early settler in Strykersville, having bought land in Lot 35, died and was buried in 1838 in the Pioneer Cemetery. His tombstone has not been found, although that of his wife Betty is still visible. Their daughter Candace married Jeremiah Waterman, another early settler, who died in 1827.
Jacob Franciseus was a Private in the PA Line. He was one of the earliest settlers in Sheldon and died in 1833.
His son, Jacob Franciseus Jr., was killed at Niagara in the War of 1812. Jacob Sr. became the heir of his son’s land grant.
Benjamin Hicks was born in 1789 in Pittstown, NY, married Cynthia Ward and served in the War of 1812 at Sackett’s Harbor, before coming to Sheldon.
Israel Smith Geer, Corporal, War of 1812, Adams Regt., NY Volunteers
Welcome Moore, 1876-1831, Private, War of 1812, and his wife, Susannah Robinson Moore
Garrett Stryker marched to the defense of his neighbors on the Niagara Frontier, when the Sheldon Militia was called into active duty in the War of 1812. For years after the war the family preserved a cannon ball which Stryker picked up at Buffalo the time it burned. He saw it rolling on the ground, it having been shot over from Canada. Garrett is buried with his wife, Saloma, and at least three of their children.
All of the above are laid to rest in the Pioneer Cemetery.
Having these veterans of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 is something people need to know and can be proud of.