Reclaiming Lost Relatives Gravesites

As I begin to wind down my projects at Albany Rural Cemetery with rehabbing my ancestors gravesites that have fallen into disrepair; today I had ambitions of reclaiming 5 gravestones of my ancestors in Section 100. Today, my father and I retrieved 2 out of 5 stones. My relatives and their accompanying gravestones were previously located in the old Gibbonsville Cemetery in Watervliet on what is now property of the Watervliet arsenal. In 1918, the cemetery property was sold to the United States government. The cemetery was overgrown and not taken care of and at the same time the arsenal wished to expand its grounds. It would appear to be a win - win situation for the city of Watervliet and for the arsenal. After the cemetery property was sold, the interments and gravestones were removed to a section of Albany Rural Cemetery for re-burial. Over the past 97 years gravity has worked its wonders and the gravestones have sunken into the ground upwards of almost 10 inches.

Below are a series of photos of the work in progress. The first stone that I recovered was of Amanda Hitchcock, daughter of Capt. John Hitchcock and Harriet Palmer. John was an older brother of Samuel Hitchcock, my gggggg grandfather. The photo of Amanda's stone was after the project was completed.

Amanda Hitchcock 

The next few photos are from the recovering efforts of Louisa Martel Hitchcock's gravestone. Louisa was an adopted daughter of Alexander Hitchcock and Abigail Irena Hanks. Alexander was a younger brother to my gggg grandfather, Aistroppe Robinson Hitchcock.


Below is a photo of excavating the stone. It was almost 10 inches deep.

The next two photos are of my father cleaning the mud off the stones after they were removed from the ground.

The ground, refilled, tamped down, and leveled; awaiting placement of the gravestone in the exact spot where it was previously located; only now raised to the surface.

Louisa's gravestone placed, leveled, and surrounding area re-graded.

Project done! Three more gravestones to reclaim.

Gibbonsville Burying Grounds

The Gibbonsville or Arsenal Burying Grounds were originally located on property now owned by the Watervliet Arsenal.  From viewing old maps of West Troy, I believe that this cemetery was located just north of the present day Valente's Restaurant which is just south of the Arsenal, today.

An early settler of that area, James Gibbons, sold a parcel of land to the United States government for the creation of the Arsenal in 1813; to support the fight against the British during the War of 1812. As time passed the Arsenal grew in size and as they needed more land the Arsenal acquired the land on which the "old burying grounds" were located.

The grave stones and bodies were removed and re-buried in section 100 of the Albany Rural Cemetery. Approximately 300 bodies were re-interned around 1918.  The majority of the stones were laid flat on the ground with only a handful being re-installed upright.  Over the years the ground has reclaimed just about all of the stones that were laid flat.  They have sunk into the ground and have been covered with dirt, grass, and leaves over the years.

About twenty years ago my wife and I took it upon ourselves to locate the grave site of one of my ancestors, Samuel Hitchcock, who was originally buried in the Arsenal Burying Grounds.  All of the stones were buried over with grass but with using a plot map from the cemetery we were able to pull the sod up and locate the grave stones.

Site of Samuel & Mary Hitchcock's gravestones

I recently went back to Albany Rural Cemetery with a plan to reclaim my ancestor's grave stone.  After twenty years, the ground again had covered the grave stones.  Twenty years ago is quite a while and my memory did not let me recall how deep the grave stones had actually sunk into the earth.  The lower part of them were at least six to seven inches deep.

Initial excavation of grave stones

It would be unsafe for the stones and for anyone walking over them in the condition that were.  Unlevel and with a huge divot missing from the ground.  Therefore I decided to completely remove the stones and place the earth which was on top of them underneath them.  I also brought out some leveling sand to make sure that the were level. The stones were placed back into the ground so that they were about 3/4" of an inch below the grade level.

Cleaned, raised, and leveled grave stones

As time passes, they will again be covered over with dirt but not to the extent that they were previously. The stones were cleaned with D/2 cleaning solution and rinsed with water.  The stones look almost brand new considering they are from the late 1820s & early 1830s.

Samuel & Mary Hitchcock

On an ending note, in between the time that I did the initial excavation of the stones and re-laid them, which was 3 days.  Someone came with the same intentions that I had regarding uncovering a stone.  The only difference was they left clumps of sod all over the place.  It looked terrible and I am sure that the cemetery would not be appreciative of their efforts.  I removed and disposed the sod that was left.  Anyone who attempts a project such as this, please make sure that the grounds are in the same condition as before you started.