Contributed by Kathleen Pantano

At New England Historical Genealogical Society, a bound copy of a newspaper article, not dated, was found. My comments are in brackets {}. Lyon Memorial notes are from

"The Lyon Memorial - Families of Connecticut and New Jersey Richard Lyon of Fairfield and Henry Lyon of Fairfield", Editor Sidney Elizabeth Lyon; Associate Editors Louise Lyon Johnson, A. B. Lyons, Press of William Graham, Printing Co. 1907

This is an exact copy of the article, including spellings as in the original.

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Lyons Farms, New Jersey.

Inscriptions on gravestones in the Baptist Churchyard at Lyons Farms, N. J., existing in October, 1900. Copied by Stuart C. Wade, Librarian in charge, Genealogical and Local History Department, New York Public Library, (Lenox Branch.) From the Elizabeth, N. J. Journal (no date given, but page is stamped Nov 28, 1900)

THE GRAVES OF OUR FOREFATHERS.

Old Tombstones in the Graveyard at Lyons Farms.

Nestling in the long grass and luxuriant weeds of a disused graveyard at Lyons Farms are nearly 100 old gravestones. Here sleep the forefathers of the oldest Baptist churches in New Jersey. Many of these heroes in homespun saw and faced the redcoats in their forays through the Jerseys. Fitly, indeed, should their names be preserved in print. An alphabetical list of the gravestones existing in October, 1900, follows

GRAVESTONE INSCRIPTIONS AT LYONS FARMS, N. J., IN BAPTIST CHURCHYARD.

ASWORTH, Charles, son of Robert and Sarah, Aug. 6, 1860, __ mos.

ASHWORTH, John James, May 28, 1861, 4 yrs., 3 mos.

BAKER, John, Feb. 14, 1838, 26 yrs., 11 mos., 20 days.

BENNETT, George, son of William and M. A., 1 yr., 8 mos.

BRYANT, (Elder) Peter, (Pastor), Aug. 28, 1804, 54 yrs.

BRYOUNG, Caleb R., Aug. __ , 1810, 40 yrs.

CAMP, Ann, (broken).

CAMP, Joseph, April 13, 1836, 70 yrs.

CASTELLO, Eugene, (broken).

CASTELLO, Julia, dau. Of Eugene and Mary, Dec. 16, 1852, 7 mos., 11 days.

COOPER, Drusilla S., Feb. 12, 1855, 28 yrs., 4 mos., 15 days.

COOPER, Emma L., daughter of George W. and Drusilla S., Apr. 16, 1854, 5m., 8d.

COOPER, Fanny Ella, dau. Of Geo. W. and Drusilla S., Jan. 29, 1863, 7 yrs., 11 mos., 18 d..

CRANE, Harel, Aug. 2, 1795, 40 yrs.

CRANE, Mary Ann, daughter of Israel and Hannah, Sept. 2, 1816, 1 yr., 7 mos.

CRANE, William, June 13, 1799, 19 yrs.

EARLE, Abby, daughter of Edward and Phebe, June 21, 1833, 56 years.

EARLE, Edward, October 6, 1826, 80 years.

EARLE, Phebe, wife of Edward, Oct. 6, 1821, 67 yrs., 9 mos., 6 days.

FEZLER, Edward, S., son of Jeremiah and Eliza, Aug. 17, 1851, 18 yrs., 10 mo., 24 d.

FEZLER, Eliza, wife of Jeremiah, Sept. 13, 1851, 59 yrs.

FESLER, Stephen, M., Mar. 25, 1859, 45 yrs.

FOSTER, Abraham, Aug. 2, 1815, 47 yrs.

FOSTER, Elizabeth, wife of Jacob, July 13, 1802, 60 yrs.

FOSTER, Elizabeth, widow of Samuel W., Feb. 12, 1857, 81 yrs.

FOSTER, Hannah Elizabeth, daughter Samuel W. and Eliz'th, Jan. 29, 1835, 23 yrs.

FOSTER, Jacob, Aug. 5, 1805, 63 yrs.

FOSTER, Joanna, daughter Jacob and Elizabeth, Jan. 12, 1815, 43 yrs., 11 mos., 4 d.

FOSTER, Samuel W., Jan. 17, 1825, 52 yrs.

FRAZEE, Hannah, widow of George, Sept. 6, 1843, 87 yrs.

GARDNER, Stephen E., June 11, 1859, 34 yrs., 10 mos.

GOFF, Phebe, wife of (Elder) Isaac C., June 18, 1845, 34 yrs.

GRUMMAN, Aaron, Aug. 20, 1801, 45 yrs.

GRUMMAN, Abigail, widow of Aaron, Sep. 4, 1828, 67 yrs.

GRUMMAN, Hannah, widow of Ichabod, Feb. 13, 1835, 79 yrs.

GRUMMAN, Ichabod, Oct. 29, 1794, 49 yrs.

GRUMMAN, Sarah, dau. of Ichabod and Hannah, Jan. 26, 1843, 57 yrs.

HAND, Emma I., dau. of Moses and Susan A., Jan. 27, 1862, 5 mos., 9 d.

HARRISON, Abraham, Aug. 30, 1832, 81 years, (Revolutionary soldier).

HARRISON, Abraham, Jr., Oct. 10, 1801, 19 yrs., 1 mo., 8 d.

HARRISON, Charles William, son of Jabez and Rebecca, Sept. 18, 1835, 31 yrs.

HARRISON, George E., son of Jabez and Rebecca, d. Mt. Pleasant Lasell (LaSalle) county, Illinois, 1844, 38 yrs.

HARRISON, Jabez, died at North Farms, Aug. 20, 1828, 49 yrs., 8 mos.

HARRISON, Mary, (Crane), wife of Abraham, Aug. 37, 1801, 53 yrs.

HAYWARD, Sarah, Nov. 21, 1849, 67 years.

HOLTON, Hull, March 6, 1849, 58 years, 4 mos., 4 days.

HOLTON, Mary, daughter of Hull and Rachel, Sept. 19, 1844, 24 yrs., 6 mos., 14 days.

HOOKER, Charlotte, June 1, 1835, 43 yrs.

JEFFREY, John W., (died at Sonora, California), Feb. 10, 1853, 30 years.

LYON, Amos, Dec. 28, 1823, 49 years. {Lyon Memorial states b. Sept. 28, 1775, 2 death dates - Dec. 28, 1823 and Jan. 8, 1824}

LYON, Amelia, dau. of Zophar and Rachel, May 18, 1824, 8 years.

LYON, George J., son of Henry and Sarah, June 6, 1825, 6 yrs., 2 mos., 21 days.

LYON, Hannah, dau. of Zophar and Rachel, Aug. 16, 1815, 3 years.

LYON, Hannah, wife of Henry, Aug. 8, 1864, 68 yrs. {Lyon Memorial states 2nd wife of Henry below, dates agree}

LYON, Henry, April 16, 1865, 67 yrs., 3 mos. {Lyon Memorial states d. Apr. 3, 1868}

LYON, James, Feb. 24, 1824, 24 yrs., 1 mo., 13 days.

LYON, Jonathan, Aug. 18, 1852, 88 yrs. {Lyon Memorial states b. March 1764, d. Aug. 8, 1852}

LYON, Margaret, wife of Jonathan, May 3, 1841, 51 yrs. {Lyon Memorial states she is second wife, Margaret FRAZER, b. 1791}

LYON, Rachel (wife of Zophar), May 19, 1850, 76 years.

LYON, Sarah, wife of Henry, Feb. 20, 1827, 27 years, 10 mos., 16 days. {Lyon Memorial states 1st wife of Henry above, Sarah SEVERAL b. 1799, d. Feb. 2, 1827}

LYON, Zophar, June 30, 1844, 75 years.

LUM, Elizabeth, wife of Stephen M., March 6, 1847, 50 yrs.

McNEIL, James, native of Scotland, June 23, 1849, 45 yrs.

MEEKER, Mary, widow of Captain Obediah, formerly widow of Israel CRANE, Feb. 25, 1831, 71 yrs., 8 mos., 10 days.

PULLIS, Theadotta, wife of John, June 30, 1837, 76 years, 9 mos., 15 days. Church member 40 years.

REYNOLDS, Catherine, wife of Col. Micajah, Dec. 24, 1851, 58 years.

REYNOLDS, Col. Micajah, of New York, Aug. 11, 1856, 65 yrs., 10 mos., 20 d.

ROCKWELL, Comfort, April 20, 1846, 55 yrs., 6 mos.

SLAIGHT, Jeannett Lyon, wife of Rev. B., dau. of H. and Sarah G. LYON, b. July 14, 1822, d. Mar. 8, 1865. {Lyon Memorial states STRAIGHT, NOT SLAIGHT}

SPARKS, James Horace, son of Peter and Julia, b. Apr. 30, 1822, d. Oct. 1, 1831.

THOMPSON, George W., Apr. 6, 1845 {1843?}, 9 weeks.

THOMPSON, Nathaniel, Nov. 25, 1847, 83 {?} yrs.

THOMPSON, Thomas, June 10, 1829, 77 years.

VALENTINE, Betsy W., daughter of Daniel and Rachel, Oct. 3, 1804, 5 years.

WALTER, Amanda, daughter of Elder Isaac N. and Lydia, July 28, 1836, 6 years, 3 mos.

WILSON, Abby, wife of Joseph, daughter of Ichabod and Hannah GRUMMAN, Nov. 7, 1811, 31 yrs.

WILSON, Henrietta, daughter of John and Nancy, Oct. 5, 1851, 3 yrs., 7 mos., 21 days.

WILSON, Joseph, Nov. 1, 1854, 75 years, 9 mos., 4 days.

WILSON, Margaret, daughter of Joseph and Abby, July 21, 1836, 32 years.

WINANS, Jonathan D., son of Jonathan and Eliza, Sept. 22, 1837, 4 yrs., 10 mos., 10 days.

WINANS, Nathaniel, June 22, 1826, 62 years, 5 mos., 22 days.

WINANS, Sarah, relict of Nathaniel, Aug. 21, 1855, 86 years, 6 mos., 25 days.

WOOD, Abigail, wife of Christopher, Dec. 31, 1815, 52 yrs.

WOOD, Christopher, Dec. 23, 1827, 64 yrs.

WOODRUFF, Calvin, March 20, 1822, 32 {82?} yrs., 2 mos., 21 days.

WOODRUFF, Israel, C., son of Seth and Sally, b. Sept. 27, 1801, d. May 3, 1815.

WOODRUFF, Mary, wife of Calvin, May 10, 1826, 55 yrs., 9 mos., 21 days.

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From James Brengle:

For genealogists reviewing Kathleen Pantanno's submission of Stuart Wade's "take" on the reading of these tombstones in 1900, I offer the following with respect to one of the tombstones listed:CRANE, Harel, Aug. 2, 1795, 40 yrs.

NB: This can be a reference to none other than "Israel" Crane, Jr., but the letters were obviously illegible as of the year 1900, when librarian Stuart Wade read the gravestone for the purpose of recording its information in the Journal. Here is what the name probably looked like when first engraved: “Isræl.” Given the grammatical correctness in those days of the use of the dipthong “æ,” and the “long s” [see below--plagiarized by me from I can't remember where], it is not hard to imagine after a hundred five years, that the letters on the stone were eroded and blurred, so as to suggest visibly a word which, to someone surprisingly inattentive to such usage, appeared to be “Harel.”

NB : The long, medial or descending “s” () is a form of the miniscule letter “s” formerly used where “s" occurred in the middle or at the beginning of a word, for example, “ _infulne_s” ("sinfulness"). The modern letterform abandons this grammatical rule in favor of universal use of the terminal or short “s.”)