After dedicating four das to finding gravestones around eastern part and the southern tier New York State, I think my genealogy itch has been scratched.

My daughter and I scrambled up and down the hilly cemeteries in McClure, Deposit, Hambletville, and New York City reservoir land.

The last to me was the most interesting simply because it contains all the graves had been disinterred and reburied to allow the dams and reservoirs to be built to take water to New York City. Two dams were built in the southern tier to back up the water from the east and west branches of the Delaware River.

Land, where people lived, loved, married, had children, went to school and church, farmed, milked cows, ran tractors, sold groceries, medicines, and ice cream, is now under water. In years of drought, foundations of building can be seen in the low water levels.

The newest of the dams is Cannonsville. When I was in high school, many students came from there. If a snow storm which looked like it was going to pile up quickly came, the Cannonsville students would be the first ones dismissed and put on buses to go home. It was the longest of the school bus runs.

In each of the cemeteries we found stones of my grandparents. One pair of stones mark the graves of my third great grandparents( born in 1789 and 1790) and fifth generation great grandparents for my young grandsons.

So for now, I’ve scratched that itch—until the next time.

Pictures: top, Levi Miles Jr., greatgrandfather; middle, Obadiah M. & Mary Ann Culver Neff, greatgrandparents; Ernest C. & Nancy Annette Miles Neff, grandparents.

 

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