This 200 year-old graveyard is located on Cleveland-Massillon Road next to a strip mall in Norton.  Norton Center was an old hamlet that later became part of Norton Township in 1818.  Several Revolutionary War veterans are buried here, along with Norton's founders, who arrived here after the War of 1812.  The earliest known burial dates back to 1802.  There is even a black plague section in the back of the cemetery.

 

 

The entrance to the cemetery.  The gravel pathway is still partially visible under the grass.

 

Given the cemetery's age, it was not unusual to
find many gravestones worn away, such as these
to the right.  Hidden inside the bush are two
more markers.

 

Time and the elements have erased the identity of this grave from the face of the tombstone.

 

Dr. Levi Clark (front), who died on June 6, 1842 at the age of 64, and his son, Osmer (age and date of death are unknown as the rest of the inscription is below ground).  The marker directly behind Dr. Clark belongs to his other son, Homer, who died in 1830 at the age of 14.

 

These illegible tombstones were found in mulch under some trees in the southeast corner of the cemetery.
 

 

This cluster of tombstones belong to the Bates family.  Only the center stone is still legible, belonging to Mary Elizabeth Bates (age and date of death unknown).

 
A view of the northwest portion of the cemetery.

 
William Blakely, who died in 1835 at the age of 68.

 

Henry Van Hyning and his second wife, Hannah. 

Henry was a Revolutionary War veteran who left New York with Hannah and settled here in 1805.  He later became Norton's first Justice of the Peace.  He is also one of Norton's oldest citizens--he was 102 years old when he died on Christmas Eve in 1840, outliving three wives.

His first wife died in New York.  Hannah died about 16 years before Henry, in 1824, at the age of 62.  Henry then remarried, this time to Prudence, who is buried nearby.  Prudence died in 1834 at the age of 67.

 
Sylvester Van Hyning, who died on July 1, 1885 at the age of 80.

 

Four small sandstone pillars mark what's left of the Hurlbut family plot.  The two remaining tombstones belong to Charles and his wife, Sarah.  Charles died in 1826, and Sarah died one year later in 1827.

 

 
The Hoffman family--John (1816 to 1896), his wife, 
Mary (1832-1898), and their son, William (age and
date of death unknown).

 

This well-preserved tombstone is that of Col. Talcott Bates, who died September 4, 1829 at the age of 42.  The rest of the inscription reads as follows:

Green be the turf above thee
Friend of my better days
None knew/know thee but to love thee
None nam’d thee but to praise
Tears fell when thou were dying
From eyes uns’d to weep
And often where thou art lying
Will tears thy green bed sleep

 
One of many sunken graves.

 
More sunken graves to the rear of the cemetery.

 

The Black Plague section.  The three markers on right were moved here from a small, private cemetery in 1990.  The bodies were not reinterred here and presumably lay unmarked at the old Bauer farm.
 



 

 

 Left: Abraham Brown, who died of the plague in 1844 at the age of 86.

 

Right:  Close-up of the plaque marking the plague section.

Right:  Abigail Barnes, wife of Phineas Barnes.  Coincidentally, she died the same year--and at the same age--as Abraham Brown.

Left:  Two Barnes children who also died of the plague.  Charles was 1 year old when he died on August 25, 1856.  His 3 year-old sister, Mary, died 4 days later.