John Brooks is listed under the Luther and Reformed Removals to the Harrisburg Cemetery.
This John Brooks may be connected to my family tree as the second husband of Elizabeth Rittenhouse, mother of William H. Rittenhouse. I have two documents showing a connection between John Brooks and William H. Rittenhouse, but no other information or way of confirming this. If anyone has any information regarding this John Brooks, please contact me.
The next two excerpts are from two different, small books from Akron-Summit County Public Library on the Harrisburg cemetery. One of the books was compiled in 1958.
Three Lost Harrisburg Cemeteries
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, was growing fast in the 1800's. The land in the central part of the city had become too valuable to be "wasted" on cemeteries which were eventually eliminated. The bodies were removed for reburial to what is now the Harrisburg Cemetery, located at 13th and Liberty, in the Hill Section of Harrisburg. The churches are not identified in the lists except by denomination. It is believed that there was a cemetery connected to the Zion Lutheran Church on South Fourth Street, which was also used by the nearby Reformed Church on Chestnut street. We are grateful to Mr. Lesley McCreath, Jr. who made these lists available.
Tombstone Records
Harrisburg Cemetery Association
Harrisburg, PA.
This list of more than 1500 names represents for the most part "removals," prior to the Civil War period, to the cemetery from the church graveyards which formerly occupied the site of the present Pennsylvania Railroad Station and adjacent property.
The majority of these "removals" are on family lots and single grave areas in sections purchased by various church congregations for the reinternment of their dead upon the abandonment of the original burial grounds. Inasmuch as the families and the church organizations made their own arrangements through private contractors for the transfer of these bodies, along with the corresponding headstones and other memorials, no records of these "removals" appeared on the books of the Association.
However, from the fading inscriptions on the gravestones, ledgers, box tombs, and family memorials there was copied considerable data about Harrisburg's early settlers - names and dates, together with some relationships and historical matter. This information, together with the location of the graves, has been transcribed to individual internment cards, diagonally across which is imprinted the words, "Tombstone Record." The burial or "removal" is so designated because the headstone or other type of memorial is the principal or only source of information concerning the deceased.
Many of the "Tombstone Record" burials are, as previously indicated, concentrated on certain sections of land purchased outright by the churches, which in turn issued their own deeds to members of their congregations for family lots. Accordingly, there is a Presbyterian and a Mehtodist section, Lutheran and Reformed sections.
In addition to providing family lots and single graves, it was necessary for the churches to set apart large plots for the mass reinternment of the "unknown dead," as there were evidently many hundreds of unmarked and unidentified graves in the original burial grounds. On one of these "unknown" plots, that of the Lutheran and Reformed Congregations, there is erected a large granite obelisk with the following inscription:
"To the Unknown
Dead
Removed from the
Former Burying Grounds
of the Lutheran and
Reformed Churches
Cor. Fourth and Chestnut Sts.
1857"
While the aforementioned four churches account for the large majority of "Tombstone Record" graves, there were "removals" from other burial grounds to the cemetery from time to time both before and after the Civil War period. For example, there were some remains brought form the Episcopal graveyard on North Front Street and from the Coxestown burial ground in Susquehanna Township, just north of the city. The private burl ground of Henry Herr, around which the Harrisburg Cemetery grew as it acquired more land and which it eventually acquired, contains numerous graves, ten of which are "Tombstone Records." These ten, however, are original burials in contrast to the "removals" from former burial grounds.
Most of the gravestones transferred to the church sections and other portions of the grounds are the simple Colonial upright type. These headstones are of marble, slate, and sandstone, and are possibly best appreciated in the single grave tracts, where hundreds of them stand in long rows, probably not unlike the manner in which they stood in the old churchyards. The majority of them are still in a relatively good state of preservation and the inscriptions on them, including many in old German script, are fairly legible. The oldest gravestone bears the death date of 1778, only three years after the start of the American Revolutionary War. Two other early ones record deaths in 1789.
Among the "Tombstone Records" are soldiers of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War; also persons prominent in state and national life, such as the following:
John A. Hanna - Died 1805 - Revolutionary Soldier; Head of Penna. Militia; Congressman 1795-1805
Andrew Porter - Died 1815 - Member of Washington's Staff, Surveyor-General of Penna.
James Trimble - Died 1836 - 60 Years Deputy Secretary of Penna.
Christian Kunkle - Died 1823 - Revolutionary Soldier; Burgess of Harrisburg in 1786; One of the Founders of Harrisburg's first German church.
William Lehman - Died 1829 - Sponsor of bill fro Penna. Canal.
Joseph Jefferson - Died 1832 - Well-known American Actor.
George Wolf - Died 1840 - 7th Gov. of Penna.; Congressman for 3 terms; Instrumental in giving Penna. its Free School System.
This John Brooks may be connected to my family tree as the second husband of Elizabeth Rittenhouse, mother of William H. Rittenhouse. I have two documents showing a connection between John Brooks and William H. Rittenhouse, but no other information or way of confirming this. If anyone has any information regarding this John Brooks, please contact me.
The next two excerpts are from two different, small books from Akron-Summit County Public Library on the Harrisburg cemetery. One of the books was compiled in 1958.
Three Lost Harrisburg Cemeteries
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, was growing fast in the 1800's. The land in the central part of the city had become too valuable to be "wasted" on cemeteries which were eventually eliminated. The bodies were removed for reburial to what is now the Harrisburg Cemetery, located at 13th and Liberty, in the Hill Section of Harrisburg. The churches are not identified in the lists except by denomination. It is believed that there was a cemetery connected to the Zion Lutheran Church on South Fourth Street, which was also used by the nearby Reformed Church on Chestnut street. We are grateful to Mr. Lesley McCreath, Jr. who made these lists available.
Tombstone Records
Harrisburg Cemetery Association
Harrisburg, PA.
This list of more than 1500 names represents for the most part "removals," prior to the Civil War period, to the cemetery from the church graveyards which formerly occupied the site of the present Pennsylvania Railroad Station and adjacent property.
The majority of these "removals" are on family lots and single grave areas in sections purchased by various church congregations for the reinternment of their dead upon the abandonment of the original burial grounds. Inasmuch as the families and the church organizations made their own arrangements through private contractors for the transfer of these bodies, along with the corresponding headstones and other memorials, no records of these "removals" appeared on the books of the Association.
However, from the fading inscriptions on the gravestones, ledgers, box tombs, and family memorials there was copied considerable data about Harrisburg's early settlers - names and dates, together with some relationships and historical matter. This information, together with the location of the graves, has been transcribed to individual internment cards, diagonally across which is imprinted the words, "Tombstone Record." The burial or "removal" is so designated because the headstone or other type of memorial is the principal or only source of information concerning the deceased.
Many of the "Tombstone Record" burials are, as previously indicated, concentrated on certain sections of land purchased outright by the churches, which in turn issued their own deeds to members of their congregations for family lots. Accordingly, there is a Presbyterian and a Mehtodist section, Lutheran and Reformed sections.
In addition to providing family lots and single graves, it was necessary for the churches to set apart large plots for the mass reinternment of the "unknown dead," as there were evidently many hundreds of unmarked and unidentified graves in the original burial grounds. On one of these "unknown" plots, that of the Lutheran and Reformed Congregations, there is erected a large granite obelisk with the following inscription:
"To the Unknown
Dead
Removed from the
Former Burying Grounds
of the Lutheran and
Reformed Churches
Cor. Fourth and Chestnut Sts.
1857"
While the aforementioned four churches account for the large majority of "Tombstone Record" graves, there were "removals" from other burial grounds to the cemetery from time to time both before and after the Civil War period. For example, there were some remains brought form the Episcopal graveyard on North Front Street and from the Coxestown burial ground in Susquehanna Township, just north of the city. The private burl ground of Henry Herr, around which the Harrisburg Cemetery grew as it acquired more land and which it eventually acquired, contains numerous graves, ten of which are "Tombstone Records." These ten, however, are original burials in contrast to the "removals" from former burial grounds.
Most of the gravestones transferred to the church sections and other portions of the grounds are the simple Colonial upright type. These headstones are of marble, slate, and sandstone, and are possibly best appreciated in the single grave tracts, where hundreds of them stand in long rows, probably not unlike the manner in which they stood in the old churchyards. The majority of them are still in a relatively good state of preservation and the inscriptions on them, including many in old German script, are fairly legible. The oldest gravestone bears the death date of 1778, only three years after the start of the American Revolutionary War. Two other early ones record deaths in 1789.
Among the "Tombstone Records" are soldiers of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War; also persons prominent in state and national life, such as the following:
John A. Hanna - Died 1805 - Revolutionary Soldier; Head of Penna. Militia; Congressman 1795-1805
Andrew Porter - Died 1815 - Member of Washington's Staff, Surveyor-General of Penna.
James Trimble - Died 1836 - 60 Years Deputy Secretary of Penna.
Christian Kunkle - Died 1823 - Revolutionary Soldier; Burgess of Harrisburg in 1786; One of the Founders of Harrisburg's first German church.
William Lehman - Died 1829 - Sponsor of bill fro Penna. Canal.
Joseph Jefferson - Died 1832 - Well-known American Actor.
George Wolf - Died 1840 - 7th Gov. of Penna.; Congressman for 3 terms; Instrumental in giving Penna. its Free School System.
John Brooks is listed under the Luther and Reformed Removals to the Harrisburg Cemetery.
This John Brooks may be connected to my family tree as the second husband of Elizabeth Rittenhouse, mother of William H. Rittenhouse. I have two documents showing a connection between John Brooks and William H. Rittenhouse, but no other information or way of confirming this. If anyone has any information regarding this John Brooks, please contact me.
The next two excerpts are from two different, small books from Akron-Summit County Public Library on the Harrisburg cemetery. One of the books was compiled in 1958.
Three Lost Harrisburg Cemeteries
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, was growing fast in the 1800's. The land in the central part of the city had become too valuable to be "wasted" on cemeteries which were eventually eliminated. The bodies were removed for reburial to what is now the Harrisburg Cemetery, located at 13th and Liberty, in the Hill Section of Harrisburg. The churches are not identified in the lists except by denomination. It is believed that there was a cemetery connected to the Zion Lutheran Church on South Fourth Street, which was also used by the nearby Reformed Church on Chestnut street. We are grateful to Mr. Lesley McCreath, Jr. who made these lists available.
Tombstone Records
Harrisburg Cemetery Association
Harrisburg, PA.
This list of more than 1500 names represents for the most part "removals," prior to the Civil War period, to the cemetery from the church graveyards which formerly occupied the site of the present Pennsylvania Railroad Station and adjacent property.
The majority of these "removals" are on family lots and single grave areas in sections purchased by various church congregations for the reinternment of their dead upon the abandonment of the original burial grounds. Inasmuch as the families and the church organizations made their own arrangements through private contractors for the transfer of these bodies, along with the corresponding headstones and other memorials, no records of these "removals" appeared on the books of the Association.
However, from the fading inscriptions on the gravestones, ledgers, box tombs, and family memorials there was copied considerable data about Harrisburg's early settlers - names and dates, together with some relationships and historical matter. This information, together with the location of the graves, has been transcribed to individual internment cards, diagonally across which is imprinted the words, "Tombstone Record." The burial or "removal" is so designated because the headstone or other type of memorial is the principal or only source of information concerning the deceased.
Many of the "Tombstone Record" burials are, as previously indicated, concentrated on certain sections of land purchased outright by the churches, which in turn issued their own deeds to members of their congregations for family lots. Accordingly, there is a Presbyterian and a Mehtodist section, Lutheran and Reformed sections.
In addition to providing family lots and single graves, it was necessary for the churches to set apart large plots for the mass reinternment of the "unknown dead," as there were evidently many hundreds of unmarked and unidentified graves in the original burial grounds. On one of these "unknown" plots, that of the Lutheran and Reformed Congregations, there is erected a large granite obelisk with the following inscription:
"To the Unknown
Dead
Removed from the
Former Burying Grounds
of the Lutheran and
Reformed Churches
Cor. Fourth and Chestnut Sts.
1857"
While the aforementioned four churches account for the large majority of "Tombstone Record" graves, there were "removals" from other burial grounds to the cemetery from time to time both before and after the Civil War period. For example, there were some remains brought form the Episcopal graveyard on North Front Street and from the Coxestown burial ground in Susquehanna Township, just north of the city. The private burl ground of Henry Herr, around which the Harrisburg Cemetery grew as it acquired more land and which it eventually acquired, contains numerous graves, ten of which are "Tombstone Records." These ten, however, are original burials in contrast to the "removals" from former burial grounds.
Most of the gravestones transferred to the church sections and other portions of the grounds are the simple Colonial upright type. These headstones are of marble, slate, and sandstone, and are possibly best appreciated in the single grave tracts, where hundreds of them stand in long rows, probably not unlike the manner in which they stood in the old churchyards. The majority of them are still in a relatively good state of preservation and the inscriptions on them, including many in old German script, are fairly legible. The oldest gravestone bears the death date of 1778, only three years after the start of the American Revolutionary War. Two other early ones record deaths in 1789.
Among the "Tombstone Records" are soldiers of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War; also persons prominent in state and national life, such as the following:
John A. Hanna - Died 1805 - Revolutionary Soldier; Head of Penna. Militia; Congressman 1795-1805
Andrew Porter - Died 1815 - Member of Washington's Staff, Surveyor-General of Penna.
James Trimble - Died 1836 - 60 Years Deputy Secretary of Penna.
Christian Kunkle - Died 1823 - Revolutionary Soldier; Burgess of Harrisburg in 1786; One of the Founders of Harrisburg's first German church.
William Lehman - Died 1829 - Sponsor of bill fro Penna. Canal.
Joseph Jefferson - Died 1832 - Well-known American Actor.
George Wolf - Died 1840 - 7th Gov. of Penna.; Congressman for 3 terms; Instrumental in giving Penna. its Free School System.
This John Brooks may be connected to my family tree as the second husband of Elizabeth Rittenhouse, mother of William H. Rittenhouse. I have two documents showing a connection between John Brooks and William H. Rittenhouse, but no other information or way of confirming this. If anyone has any information regarding this John Brooks, please contact me.
The next two excerpts are from two different, small books from Akron-Summit County Public Library on the Harrisburg cemetery. One of the books was compiled in 1958.
Three Lost Harrisburg Cemeteries
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, was growing fast in the 1800's. The land in the central part of the city had become too valuable to be "wasted" on cemeteries which were eventually eliminated. The bodies were removed for reburial to what is now the Harrisburg Cemetery, located at 13th and Liberty, in the Hill Section of Harrisburg. The churches are not identified in the lists except by denomination. It is believed that there was a cemetery connected to the Zion Lutheran Church on South Fourth Street, which was also used by the nearby Reformed Church on Chestnut street. We are grateful to Mr. Lesley McCreath, Jr. who made these lists available.
Tombstone Records
Harrisburg Cemetery Association
Harrisburg, PA.
This list of more than 1500 names represents for the most part "removals," prior to the Civil War period, to the cemetery from the church graveyards which formerly occupied the site of the present Pennsylvania Railroad Station and adjacent property.
The majority of these "removals" are on family lots and single grave areas in sections purchased by various church congregations for the reinternment of their dead upon the abandonment of the original burial grounds. Inasmuch as the families and the church organizations made their own arrangements through private contractors for the transfer of these bodies, along with the corresponding headstones and other memorials, no records of these "removals" appeared on the books of the Association.
However, from the fading inscriptions on the gravestones, ledgers, box tombs, and family memorials there was copied considerable data about Harrisburg's early settlers - names and dates, together with some relationships and historical matter. This information, together with the location of the graves, has been transcribed to individual internment cards, diagonally across which is imprinted the words, "Tombstone Record." The burial or "removal" is so designated because the headstone or other type of memorial is the principal or only source of information concerning the deceased.
Many of the "Tombstone Record" burials are, as previously indicated, concentrated on certain sections of land purchased outright by the churches, which in turn issued their own deeds to members of their congregations for family lots. Accordingly, there is a Presbyterian and a Mehtodist section, Lutheran and Reformed sections.
In addition to providing family lots and single graves, it was necessary for the churches to set apart large plots for the mass reinternment of the "unknown dead," as there were evidently many hundreds of unmarked and unidentified graves in the original burial grounds. On one of these "unknown" plots, that of the Lutheran and Reformed Congregations, there is erected a large granite obelisk with the following inscription:
"To the Unknown
Dead
Removed from the
Former Burying Grounds
of the Lutheran and
Reformed Churches
Cor. Fourth and Chestnut Sts.
1857"
While the aforementioned four churches account for the large majority of "Tombstone Record" graves, there were "removals" from other burial grounds to the cemetery from time to time both before and after the Civil War period. For example, there were some remains brought form the Episcopal graveyard on North Front Street and from the Coxestown burial ground in Susquehanna Township, just north of the city. The private burl ground of Henry Herr, around which the Harrisburg Cemetery grew as it acquired more land and which it eventually acquired, contains numerous graves, ten of which are "Tombstone Records." These ten, however, are original burials in contrast to the "removals" from former burial grounds.
Most of the gravestones transferred to the church sections and other portions of the grounds are the simple Colonial upright type. These headstones are of marble, slate, and sandstone, and are possibly best appreciated in the single grave tracts, where hundreds of them stand in long rows, probably not unlike the manner in which they stood in the old churchyards. The majority of them are still in a relatively good state of preservation and the inscriptions on them, including many in old German script, are fairly legible. The oldest gravestone bears the death date of 1778, only three years after the start of the American Revolutionary War. Two other early ones record deaths in 1789.
Among the "Tombstone Records" are soldiers of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War; also persons prominent in state and national life, such as the following:
John A. Hanna - Died 1805 - Revolutionary Soldier; Head of Penna. Militia; Congressman 1795-1805
Andrew Porter - Died 1815 - Member of Washington's Staff, Surveyor-General of Penna.
James Trimble - Died 1836 - 60 Years Deputy Secretary of Penna.
Christian Kunkle - Died 1823 - Revolutionary Soldier; Burgess of Harrisburg in 1786; One of the Founders of Harrisburg's first German church.
William Lehman - Died 1829 - Sponsor of bill fro Penna. Canal.
Joseph Jefferson - Died 1832 - Well-known American Actor.
George Wolf - Died 1840 - 7th Gov. of Penna.; Congressman for 3 terms; Instrumental in giving Penna. its Free School System.
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