New York Headstones

Reed and I made a trip to Palmyra, New York to do volunteer service at the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove during the Hill Cumorah Pageant during July 2010. One day we visited the town of Sodus where the Buys and Walton families lived for a time. Sodus is in upstate New York. It is east of Rochester, a few miles south of Lake Ontario, and about 16 miles north of Palmyra. We visited the village offices to get directions to the Bushnell Cemetery. The cemetery is old, unmarked and just off the roadway. There are seven extended family members buried there, none of which are direct line ancestors. Sarah Buys Walton, great-great-great grandmother to Reed, had a brother and his wife, their son with his three wives, and a young daughter buried there. Sodus is where Reed's great-great grandfather, Darwin Mosier Walton, was born. The spelling of their last name on the headstones, B-U-Y-S, clears up the confusion over what is correct. Sarah and her siblings were born in Galen Township, New York in the early 1800's. I couldn't find any place by that name but Galen County was just east of Wayne County, where Palmyra was. At least we were in the general area. It would have been fun to do more searching.

Reed standing by the family headstones

The writing on the headstones was quite worn and hard to read in some instances. The abbreviations were different than what we use. It's interesting to note that the engravings might tell how old a person was when he/she died right down to his/her age in years, months and days, yet not give a birth or death date.

Daughter of William Ezekiel Buys and 3rd wife, Sarah

Anna was the 2nd wife of William E. Buys. They were married in about 1870, presumably after William's first wife, Adelia, died. The last line on the headstone was hard to read but it supposedly says she died at age 42 years, 7 months and 12 days. That makes her birthdate July 14, 1834. Anna and William did not have children together.

Sarah was the 3rd and last wife of William E. Buys. I found a marriage date of October 2, 1877, which was about 7 1/2 months after William's 2nd wife, Anna, died. It appears that Sarah was 17 years younger than William. They had two children, one of whom was Emma, who died as a little child. Emma's headstone is the first one in this post.

The "E" stands for Ezekiel. I originally figured he must be a polygamist, having three wives. Further searching produced records to suggest otherwise. Each wife died before he married the next.

Adelia House was William's first wife. They married in about 1850. One never knows how accurate the records are, so I don't know how many children they had...at least 3 or 4. It is hard to read the headstone. It says: Adelia, wife of William E. Buys, born Jan. 29, 1829, died Nov. 1, 1870.

Lucy was born in 1806. Her headstone was cracked and had been repaired years ago. The death date is Nov. 4, 1891. She and Jacob had six children. I couldn't completely decipher the inscription at the bottom of her headstone, (especially the 3rd line) but it goes something like this:

Dearest Mother thou hath left us.

And thy loss we deeply feel.

It is God that ?path? ?? us?

He can all our sorrows heal.

Jacob is the husband of Lucy and father of William E. He is also a brother to Sarah, a direct line ancestor. He was 67 years, 4 months and 14 days old when he died. That makes his birthdate July 7, 1805.