The German Reformed Burial Grounds

The German Reformed Burial Grounds was affiliated with the First Reformed Church located on North 3rd St. At the time of its start, North 5th St. was the “outskirts” of Easton. This cemetery was one of the oldest in Easton. 

 Although the other sites (for a library) that were being considered by the School Board are not mentioned, one “Small Taxpayer” wrote to the Easton Express and thought the property at Fourth and Ferry Streets, next to St. John’s Lutheran Church, was a fine site to build the library. 

In 1897 for well over a year, Dr. Charles M. Colmar had been trying to secure a public park for Easton in a central portion of the city. He thought the German Reformed Burying Grounds were ideal. 

Interments in this cemetery had been prohibited by ordinance and condemned many years before and numerous people buried there had been taken to resting places in other cemeteries, most of them to the Easton Cemetery. By 1891 the need for another cemetery was needed and so the Easton Heights Cemetery was started. 

Rev. Condit really thought the most fitting place for a monument honoring William Parsons was in the Circle, he was behind the plans to remove William Parsons from the German Reformed Burying Grounds and build an appropriate monument at the new Easton Heights Cemetery in honor of his memory. The officers in charge of the old burying grounds denied the removal, stating that what little “dust” remained of him should stay with his surrounding loved ones. They also consulted doctors who told them that the remains of Easton’s “father” should not be removed, for the very good reason; that no remains would be left. The doctors said not a particle of bone or the coffin would be found.* They compared this to George Taylor who when some years before had been exhumed (at St. John’s Lutheran Church) and when removed to Easton Cemetery, hardly a trace, even of the coffin, could be found. Taylor died in 1781 and Parsons died 24 years before. Additionally in 1891, “A Lady” wrote in to the Easton Express and expressed the idea of instead of a monument, why not build a library and name it after Parsons? “It would seem that a man like William Parsons would feel himself more highly honored by the erection of such a library bearing his name and given through him, as it were, to the Easton of today than by the costliest marble a sculptor might chisel.” This would not have been an unusual idea as William Parsons was the first Librarian in Philadelphia in 1734. The Philadelphia library was known as The Library Company of Philadelphia. This library is still in existence.

 *In October 1903, William Parsons grave was the only one undisturbed as the library was being built, however, when completion was nearing, it was necessary to sink the grave deeper. The slab covering the grave was removed and preserved. Parsons body had been interred for 146 years and ironically, the skeleton was found to be in a fairly good state of preservation. No coffin, no clothing remained, only a few nails and the coffin handles were found. The bones were carefully gathered together and placed in a box and were carried into the library building until the grave slab was restored. Afterwards the box containing the remains were put back into the ground and the heavy slab was put on top and has been there to this day. 

One of the main reasons this cemetery was being considered for a park and a library was its deplorable condition. The cemetery, described in a letter written to the Easton Daily Free Press on June 4, 1898 as a “jungle of weeds and briars and Easton’s standing disgrace.” This person mentioned how neglected the burial grounds were for the “resting place of the founders of the city.” Those included were the distinguished William Parsons “the founder and father of Easton”, Revolutionary War soldiers, “Father” Rev. Pomp (we find that he had been removed years before and his tombstone was left behind) and more. The writer blamed the First Reformed Church for the neglect and poor condition of the graveyard and the tumbling stone walls that surrounded it.  On June 6, 1898, someone from the First Reform Church Consistory responded to the paper, followed by Rev. Kieffer (from this church) responding on June 7. Both vehemently denying it was the church’s responsibility to keep up the graveyard and that it was strictly the plot holders and their families that were responsible for the maintenance of plots.

 

Photo by Reuben Knecht November 1870

 

 On October 9, 1901, the removing of the bodies from this site had already commenced. Jacob Rafferty, a stone mason and contractor, was chosen to oversee the project. Some of the remains were transferred to Easton Cemetery, Easton Heights Cemetery and if unclaimed, put into the vault that the cemetery had already. Depending on what newspaper you read in Easton, one in particular, described the exhuming of the bodies as reckless and devoid of any sentiment. Another news article said the removal of the bodies was done with the upmost respect.

 Some interesting notes. The editor of the Sunday Call did not approve the location of the library, calling it undesirable, and described the finished building as a piece of monumental ugliness. 

 A notice was put in the Easton papers to come and remove your “loved ones”. Once construction started, only the remains that were in the area of the Carnegie building were moved to the vault. The remaining bodies were left as- is, on the yard, minus the tombstones. They remained to the east of the Carnegie building until the addition was started in 1966. A group of men were hired to take the remains that were uncovered and put them into the exposed old cemetery vault.

 The construction crew may have used the tombstones as part of the foundation. Some exposed stones in the front look to be tombstones. 

In July 1903, it was in the newspaper that “strange lights and ghosts were seen in the new library”. 

There is correspondence between Dr. Field and a woman from Philadelphia. She wanted to have her parents and brother remains. Supposedly, they were in the vault, but since she had waited too long, the names that were put on the boxes of remains had melted and they were illegible.