Town of St. Johnsbury,
Caledonia County, Vermont, USA
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Alphabetical Index (with links to sketches/photographs)
Transcription by Lot Number (with links to sketches/photographs)
Numbered Plot Map
To reach cemetery from St. Johnsbury Center, look for the Post Office, Church Street is just a bit north, and cemetery, just a bit up Church Street, on your right, before the church and behind the Post Office.
INTRODUCTION
Of the six cemeteries in town, this is one of the two currently owned by the town.
This cemetery was originally part of the Eleazer Sanger property designated for a burial plot in 1800. The first burial was that of 19-year-old Joseph Vincent Jr in 1801 who lies just behind the Grange Hall with his parents, who lived another quarter century. Among those originally buried here, afterward removed to the new Centervale Cemetery just north of the village, were three revolutionary veterans: Joel Roberts, Simeon Cobb, and Jonas Flint. When E.T. Fairbanks wrote his "Town of St. Johnsbury" in 1914, he reported two graves "marked by flat stones from the field without names" -- there are no such stones here now.
The oldest person here is Elizabeth Stevens who d. Dec 18 1851 AE. 101, outliving her husband (age 83) by 5-1/2 yrs.
Although called the "First Congregational Church Cemetery" on a 1944 town survey, the earliest stone existent in 1914 carried a d.date of 1801; the building was not erected until 1803, the 1st Cong'l Church was not so named until 1809, nor was the building moved here (west edge of cem) until 1845. There were once two other churches bordering this cemetery, Universalist on the northwest corner and Methodist on the southwest corner, but they too were not formed until long after this cemetery had been here. The buildings still stand, but are no longer churches - the NW one has been a store since before 1943 and the SW one a Grange Hall.
Most stones here date from the 1840s & 50s, with several before 1820; and only nine after the new Centervale Cemetery opened in 1865 - all of whom are buried with family members who d. before 1864. The most recent stone is gray-granite with dates of 1853, 1859, & 1914 - it probably replaced his wife's and daughter's stones when he d. in his 90s. The only other gray-granite stone here carries a date of 1863.
TERMS: a "tympanum" is the semi-circular bump on top of slate and soapstone gravestones; "shoulders" are the ledges to the sides of the tympanum, all are "square" in this cemetery, except #1-2, which has "rounded shoulders". A "monolith" is a plain, rectangular stone. A "coped" stone is stone with a low angular top, similar to the gable on a house.