The Canaan Cemeteries

Canaan,

Columbia County,

New York

By Capt. Franklin Ellis³⁴⁸

1878

     The Canaan cemeteries are, with few exceptions, controlled by associations organized under the rural cemetery laws of the State.  One of the oldest is between Canaan Four Corners and the Centre.  The location is favorable and pleasant, the grounds containing about six acres, having an undulating surface.  There are some fine monuments.  Among others is one erected to the memory of Lieutenant Warner, of the United States topographical engineers, who was killed by the Indians while on duty in the Rocky Mountains.

THE CANAAN CEMETERY ASSOCIATION

was organized March 25, 1864, with the following trustees:  L. W. Curtis, Henry J. Whiting, William Spier, William Laurence, John C. Clark, Daniel D. Warner, Chester Brown, Albert Pierson, Edmund Kellogg, Joseph R. Hemingway, Edwin B. Williams, and George B. Kinne.  The present officers are:  President, Joseph R. Hemingway; Secretary, chandler J. Parsons.

     In the western part of the town is a quiet spot of three acres, sacred to the memory of the dead, known as the

WEST CANAAN AND EAST CHATHAM CEMETERY

     The controlling association was formed of fourteen persons, Sept. 1, 1849, and the following trustees elected:  A. Palmer, William Pratt, Weston Kirby, Nicholas Morehouse, Samuel Gifford, A. J. Palmer, Calvin Herrick, Jesse D. Flint, and O. Palmer.  The present officers are:  President, John M. Barnes; Secretary, O. Palmer.

     The cemetery at Flat Brook is under the control of the Baptist society of that place; and the one at Red Rock, near the Christian church, has been cared for by a rural cemetery association, of which J. C. Ford was secretary.  Besides these there are several other small burial-places in the town, and a number of private grounds.