Transcription and collation by Sharon Palmateer.
Athens
Rural
Cemetery
Transcription and collation by Sharon Palmateer.
Athens Rural Cemetery - Headstone Inventory
Athens, Greene County, New York
This inventory was documented in the Summer of 2000 by Sharon L. Palmateer with the cooperation of Edward Mickle of the Athens Rural Cemetery Association. The Athens Rural Cemetery had been last documented in 1933 by Minnie Cohen. Since that time, many of the marble stones have deteriorated to such a degree that they are no longer legible. Whenever possible, the information has been retrieved directly from the stone but if dates were illegible, information from the 1933 inventory has been used.
Today there are seven sections to the original portion of the Athens Rural Cemetery. The oldest portion sits on a slight rise farthest from the Church and contains stones that are virtually unreadable. All of the information in this section has been copied from the 1933 inventory. Section 1A is located to the right of the Dutch Reformed Church and borders on the corner of Church and Market Streets. Section 1B is directly behind this section and borders on Market Street. Section 2A is the small portion directly behind the Church. Section 2B is behind section 2A with section 1B on the right, section 3B on the left. Section 3A is bordered on the left by First Street, with section 2A on the right. Section 3B is directly behind section 3A bordered on the left by First St., right by section 2B and in front of the oldest portion of the cemetery. This document also contains a section where the names, dates and location of the individuals within the 1933 document would indicate that these stones would be located outside of the Oldest Portion of the Cemetery. These stones are no longer in the cemetery. Since some stones are missing today, the 1933 listing has been included as documentation only.
The New Athens Rural Cemetery is NOT documented here. Cemetery records have improved greatly and, if you need information about someone interred in Section 4 or above or someone that has passed away after 1999, please contact the Athens Rural Cemetery Association directly. Graves are still being used in the old portion but no plots are available for sale.
This inventory includes some information from the Athens Rural Cemetery records themselves. The columns for Cemetery Death Record and Location are based on this information and is useful when information is lacking on the stone. Information in parenthesis was derived from cemetery records, not from the stone itself.
The ‘Stone’ column indicates what the stone is made of: B=Bronze, C=Concrete, G=Granite, M=Marble and S=Slate. This will aide you in verifying the accuracy of the data.
Families have recorded several members on a single stone and, frequently, in the 1800s and early 1900s, individual stones would be placed, as well. The individual stone is connected to the name of the individual on the family stone when possible. Occasionally, an individual stone appears in a family group that is not listed on the family stone. These are listed with ‘<Unknown>’ as the Surname. ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ are particularly difficult to coordinate. Relationships are recorded from the headstones. ‘Wife of’ is used when the ‘Wife’ is listed directly after her husband or information indicates who the husband is. ‘Son or Daughter of’ is used when that information is available.
Maps of the stone locations were hand-drawn and given to the Athens Cemetery Association. Locations are subjective and approximate at best but the Section, Row and Plot columns should help you pinpoint the actual location of a gravesite. Apparently, people have been buried and headstones have not been purchased or family stones cover several plots. Cemetery information not corresponding to stones has NOT been included.
Two indexes have been included - a Surname index and a Maiden name index. Maiden names were included only if they appeared on the headstone or, in parenthesis if in Cemetery Records. (Note - use the site search engine to undertake your search of these on-line records - SH)
Notes indicating (Married <date> First Reformed Church, Athens) were retrieved from First Reformed Church Athens, NY Marriages 1826-1901 available on the website https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nygreen2/athens_reformed_marriages.htm through the organizations efforts of Sylvia Hasenkopf and transcription efforts of Ann Clapper, February 2001.
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