Stories From The Cemetery - Mifflinburg Pa

Stories From The Cemetery - Mifflinburg, Pa

 Old Mifflinburg Cemetery, also known as Fairview Cemetery & Woodlawn Cemetery, is located on the west side of Rt. 304. The cemetery was established no later than 1817 but was likely utilized for about 20 years prior to that.  Several mausoleums in this section are built into the hill, like small caves.

View from the hill in the cemetery, November 2024.

The old Elias Church is the yellow building to the right.

There are a great number of Revolutionary War soldiers buried in this section.  Many of the stone are no longer readable.

 

Standing behind the front row of mausoleums

View from the mausoleums on the hill

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The Mausoleums

	Dr. Jacob Henry Hassenplug 1827-1899 DR. HASSENPLUG DEAD A Native of Union County and Highly Successful Physician Dr. J. H. Hassenplug, one of Philadelphia's oldest and most honored physicians, died yesterday afternoon at his residence, 611 North h Sixteenth street, of pneumonia, after an illness of only one week. Dr. Hassenplug was born in Miffinburg, Union county, Pa., November 25, 1827, and received his early education there, supplementing it with medical studies in this city and elsewhere. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1850, when he began practicing his profession in his native town. Dr. Hassenplug served in the Civil War for three years as surgeon in the 109th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and for the last thirty-Ave years was a resident of Philadelphia. Three sons, all physicians, and three daughters survive him. For many years he was identified with the Masonic fraternity and was a member of Potter Lodge, No. 441. He was also one of the oldest members of Trinity M. E. Church. Interment will be in the family vault, Mifflinburg, Pa.
	"Death of James  Cardwell at Chester. A Chester dispatch of the 16th inst. says: James E. Cardwell died to-day, aged 52 years, from heart trouble. For many years he conducted one of the largest furniture stores in this city, and yesterday closed negotiations for the sale of the building for $20,000 to Philadelphia parties, who will open a department store, having decided to retire from business and go South for his health. Mr. Cardwell was a son-in-law of Mr. Wm. B.and Mary Agnes Barber, late of Miffinburg, dec'd, having been joined in marriage with their daughter, Henrietta C., Dec. 26, 1889. After marriage they located in Chester, where he conducted a furniture store very successfully. a He was a fine gentlemany friends there and in this place and vicinity. Appropriate services were held at his late home on Wednesday, being largely attended, and on Thursday the remains arrived in this place, accompanied by his bereaved wife and a number of other relatives and friends, the body being taken to the home of Miss Sarah F. Barber, where, in the afternoon of said day services were held, conducted by Rev. M. H. Calkins, D. D. The body was placed temporarily in the vault of Mr. H. Strunk in Fairview cemetery. [James died in 1906.  The year on the mausoleum is 1906 - so it's likely the body was placed "temporarily" while this mausoleum was built?]

One of the mausoleums was broken into on April 26th 1990.

A skull was stolen.  It was later recovered, and placed back in the mausoleum by Terry Willow.

"he was asked to return a skull stolen by a couple of kids from a Mifflinburg mausoleum.  No one else wanted to do it, not even the cemetery's caretakers.  When he did, he caught a glimpse of the skeleton before he placed the skull in it's rightful position.  He didn't bother taking the skull out of the bag it was kept in."  - The Daily Item

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More Gutelius Graves

Frederick & Lydia Gutelius

Frederick Gutelius 17 Mar 1797 14 Feb 1866

Although marked as a Revolutionary War grave, Frederick, born in 1797, served in the war of 1812, not the Revolution. Frederick Gutelius Jr., son of Frederick Gutelius who owned the house, [today the Gutelius House Museum]  at the corner of  5th & Green streets, became known for his hand woven fabrics and coverlets as well as the dyes he grew. The son of Frederick Adam Gutelius & Anna Catherine Bistel

Lydia Crotzer wife of Frederick Gutelius Born May 10 1804 Died Jan 5 1894 Aged 89 yrs 7 mo & 25 Days

Lydia Crotzer Gutelius, was, at the time of her death in 1894, the oldest native citizen of Mifflinburg.  "Her life compassed the entire history of Mifflinburg, from its founding to its present." The Lewisburg Chronicle published her genealogy along with her obituary.   The daughter of Jacob & Elizabeth Crotzer, she was born in Mifflinburg on May 10 1804.  She had four brothesr and one sister - John, Jacob, Thomas, William, and Catherine. Lydia married Frederick Gutelius, the son of Frederick And Catheriner Gutelius,on June 6 1822.  They had 12 children, all of whom are listed, along with their spouses and children, in the article.   One son, Joseph S. Gutelius, was killed in the battle of Gettysburg on July 1 1863.

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Abraham Huddleston Confederate Soldier

Harry Schoch 1883-1895 Died in Sledding Accident at Bucknell Son of Elmer Schoch, publisher of the Lewisburg Chronicle

Samuel S. Barber 1819-1880 Emeline [Forster] Barber Wife of Samuel 8 Sep 1820 - 14 Jan 1898	Samuel broke his knee cap, and within a week he had died.  Note the line "The injury will cripple Mr. B. for life in all probability because he is pretty well advanced in years".  He was 61.
Benjamin W. Thompson 4 June 1814 - 14 Jan 1887 Isabella [Maize] Thompson 1 Nov 1819 - 17 Jun 1890	In the census records, Benjamin W. Thompson of Chestnut Street in Mifflinburg was listed as an undertaker and marble cutter.

William Piper Montelius 23 Jan 1842 16 June 1865 [aged 23] Graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, PA 1864; Valedictorian; candidate for the ministry; died at Mifflinburg Although there is a Civil War Marker at this stone, I found no record of William, nor his father, serving in the war. [That doesn't mean they didn't, merely that I didn't find a record of it] Also on the stone are his parents: Charles Montelius 15 Dec 1811 18 Jan 1882 Rebecca Howard [Piper] Montelius 1816-1866

================== Obituary for Charles Montelius Shopkeeper, Milliner, Mifflinburg Pa

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Rev. War Soldiers

[NOT a complete list.  Not even close to complete!]

Many of these stones were applied for in 1939, by then president of the Union County Historical Society, C.M. Steese.  The stones were shipped by railroad to the Mifflinburg P.R.R. station.

Information from the U.S. Headstone application form states: Daniel Campbell Unit 1st. Penna. Regt Company Capt. James Parr Enlistment Date 20 Aug 1776 Discharge Date 1780 Death Date 22 Apr 1793 Cemetery Mifflinburg PA

A quick search did not turn up any information on a Daniel Campbell in Mifflinburg.   One genealogist lists Daniel as the son of  Capt. Laughlin Campbell of North Carolina.  There is also another find a grave entry for a Daniel Campbell who died in 1834.  It's interesting that he is also listed as the Daniel Campbell that served in under Capt.  James Parr.   Daniel was a Revolutionary War patriot who served as a Private in the 1st Regiment of the Continental line of PA under Capt. James Parr and Capt. James Wilson.Source: PA Archives, 5th Series, Vol. 2, pp. 648-649

Name John Reasner Unit Frontier Rangers Northumberland Co. Company Geo, Overmeyer's Co Enlistment Date 1780 Discharge Date 1781 Death Date 1801 Cemetery Mifflinburg

John Reasner  owned  one hundred acres of land in West Buffalo, Twp.  On 8 Mar 1786 he transferred that land to his son, John Reasner II.

Conrad Auble 1758 - 1845 'Served as a dragoon in Count Pulaski's legion' Hessian Soldier

"Conrad Auble or Aubel was born in 1758 in Hessel Castel, Germany. Conrad Aubel and his brother were among the Hessian German Soldiers, who's services were sold to King George III of England, by the Prince of Hess, and were sent to America to fight for the English Army in the Revolutionary War. During the battle of Trent, N. J., Conrad was captured by the Americans, after that he swore allegiance to America and fought against England. Conrad served with Count Pulaskie's Legion as a Dragoon on the American side. He was wounded sometime during his service in the Revolutionary War. He served as a bodyguard for Washington. It was learned he was receiving a U. S. Government pension of $45 a month when he died. Legend has it that his brother Frank was two years older than Conrad and after the war settled in Hirkimer, New York and that a third brother went to Canada in the area of Nova Scotia. There is no accurate record of either one. Conrad began his school teaching career in 1785 in Pennsylvania Twp Northumberland, Union Co., now Snyder Co., Pa. He taught in a German school for a number of years. In his History of Mifflinburg Richard V. B. Lincoln states that Conrad Auble taught school in 1809 and 1814 and for some years afterward. He belonged to the Elias Youngman German Lutheran Church. With his wife Barbara he located in Buffalo Valley, Union Co., at an early date. Barbara Seebold Auble was blind for some years before her death, at the time of their death, the Aubles lived in Mifflinburg, they are both buried in old part of Mifflinburg Cemetery. Conrad  passed away in 1845 and is buried Mifflinburg Cemetery, Mifflinburg, Union County, Pennsylvania."

John Kleckner Died Sept 21, 1839 AGED: 89Y 1M & 9D Anna Barbara [Koch] Kleckner Aged 89 years, 1 month, 24 days.  Wife of John Kleckner

PA Militia Name John Kleckner Birth Date 12 Aug 1750 Age 89 Death Date 21 Sep 1839 Military Branch Army Veteran of Which War Revolutionary War Registration County Union Cemetery Name Old Mifflinburg So 5th Street Mifflinburg Cemetery Location Pennsylvania

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Mifflinburg Cemetery, as it is commonly known, is actually a combination of two cemeteries.  Old Mifflinburg Cemetery, also known as Fairview Cemetery & Woodlawn Cemetery, is located on the west side of Rt. 304. The cemetery was established no later than 1817 but was likely utilized for about 20 years prior to that. The grounds on both sides are well maintained although many of the stones in the oldest part of the combined cemetery, behind the old Elias Church, are very difficult, if not impossible, to read.

The Mifflinburg Cemetery Association, with the interment records archived at the Mifflinburg Bank and Trust Company, maintains the cemetery. The cemetery is still active. To get to the cemetery, turn south on Route 304 (South 4th Street) from Route 45 in Mifflinburg.