Sullivan Township, Tioga County, Pennsylvania Written by Joyce M .Tice Wood Cemetery Photo by Joyce M. Tice Summer 1998 |
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Known and Rumored Lost and Unmarked Burial Places in Sullivan Township
Baker Burial Ground - Located on a small knoll to the north of Route 6 near the Bradford County line, this cemetery was visible even twenty or thirty years ago. Neighborhood talk says that the farmer bulldozed the remaining stones into the hedgerow where fragments could be found until recent times. In October 1998, Kelsey Jones and I visited the area and found only one marble corner in the hedgerow. I know of the location of a stone which says Isaac on it and it is probably a fragment from the stone of Isaac Baker. In about 2000 a house was built on the property, at least some of the outbuildings covering the burial ground.
Robbins Burial Ground. Neighborhood rumor says that this burial ground was cleared by a neighbor many years ago - early in twentieth century or even late in nineteenth century. Some stones were removed to the border of the ground. It is also rumored that the Ephraim Smith house east of Mainesburg has tombstones in the foundation. I don’t know if this is just an old ghost story or whether or not it has been confirmed. In any case, since it was Ephraim, whom tradition tells us moved the pioneer Robbins out of his way, these could be part of that. These two old rumors do have some consistency in that they both involve Ephraim Smith, but are entirely unconfirmed. The 1855 Sally BURMAN Andrus stone that Kelsey Jones discovered in 1983, may be a remainder of this cemetery. He and I were unable to locate any remnants in that location in 1998. This is south of Route 6, east of Mainesburg, near the crossroads of Robbins Hill Road AND Aumick Road.
John C. Sherman / Dianna Jones Burials. Family tradition indicates that John C. Sherman and Dianna Jones were buried on their homestead on John C.. Sherman Road in the eastern part of Sullivan north of the Austinville to Elk Run Road. This would be just north of Sugar Branch Lake. John C. died in 1922 and no death date is available for Dianna. People who used their abandoned house as a play house in the 1930s remember no evidence of burials. It seems to me more likely that they were buried in unmarked graves in the neighborhood's Wood Cemetery which was in use until 1926. It is just further up the hill. Neither theory is provable at this time.
York Infants - Stillborn infants and small children of the York Family were buried behind the house near a cherry tree on the York Homestead on Hulslander Road (Formerly called the North Road.) I do not know how many burials are present, but it is a very small number.
Smith Burials on Hill - Behind the now Warren and Velma Nash house there are supposedly some burials with stones that have disappeared. Warren and others remember playing by them as a child. They are located well up the hill between two lilac bushes. In October 1998 Kelsey Jones and I were able to locate the lilac bushes, but the area between them was all brambles and we did not have probing tools with us. I am not aware of any "missing" burials of members of the Smith families who once lived there. That is, known family members are buried in the local cemetery, many at Gray Valley Cemetery, and I know of none who are unaccounted for. This is on the hill, east of Gray Valley Road (Now called Elk Run Road) that runs north from Route 6 at Gray Valley to Elk Run.
Sally Gray and James McConnell - These early Sullivan pioneers are reputedly buried on the hill behind what was their homestead on the road now called Scouten Hill (Scouten Hill used to be the road now called Seymour Hill. This is the result of PA DOT renaming roads without the proper knowledge base to do so).
Stillborn Baby Tice - In 1946, my parents had a stillborn baby boy. He is buried on the property that was my grandfather's at the time. This is on the property where I now live. The burial is on the hill (Roundtop east of the house) at the front of a stand of evergreens. There are two kinds of evergreens in the stand, and the burial is where the two join. The field stone marker that was once there no longer is.
Bakerburg Area Burials - Dec 2002 - John A. Tice tells me that back in the 1930s-40s, Hulslanders got a new tractor and in plowing their garden deeper than previously, they unearthed tombstones. This was in the area of the old Bakerburg School (See 1875 Atlas location) He is going to go there with me to show me exact location.
Dodge Burial Ground - Off North Road, it was bulldozed in the 1950s by CB. Stones pushed to the hedgerow. I intend to go there Spring 2004 to see if I can locate any. The people who farm it now mow the area but do not plow it.
Louise McConnell's cremains are scattered on the westernmost field of
the McConnell property, on the south side of the road (Pa DOT now calls that
Ashley Hill Road though it is an extension of what used to be Ashley Hill Road.
It is just to the east of Soper's Corners - a name now known only to a few)
OBITUARY - LOUISE M. MILOTA Louise McConnell Milota, 47, died
in Leominster, Mass., on April 19, 1994. She was the oldest daughter of Joseph
and Susan McConnell of Bungy, Sullivan Township. Her family roots trace back
through her grandparents, James A. and Lois McConnell, her great-grandparents,
Joseph B. and Elisabeth Weaver McConnell, and her great-great-grandparents,
James and Alma Bryant McConnell, all lifetime or part-time residents of the
family farm which was purchased in 1850 from the Bingham Estates. In addition to
her parents, she is survived by her husband, one daughter, one stepson, one
granddaughter, and one brother.
I am sure that there are many other lost burial locations in the township. If you know of any, please let me know and if you know of any from other townships in the Tri-County area, please inform me.
