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Manayunk /
Roxborough Cemeteries  BETHANY GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCHYARD: the seventh oldest burial
ground in the ward, opened 1849 on Martin Street west of Pechin, site of the original
church edifice now demolished. The first burial occurred on October 14,
1849.’ It is Roxborough’s smallest burial ground. According to church
officials, no churchyard records have survived. Parish Registers kept by the
clergy [now held at the Archives Center of the Lutheran Theological Seminary,
Mt. Airy] contain burial information, i.e. name, date of interment, age, etc.
of those buried in this churchyard. Location of graves is not provided. A
knowledge of the German language and of German script (handwriting) is
essential in using these registers. FOURTH REFORMED CHURCHYARD: opened circa 1827 with the completion of a church
building at the corner of Wood (Silverwood) and Cotton Streets. Burial
capacity was 400 bodies amongst 253 lots. The churchyard was bounded by
Grape, Silverwood, and Cotton Streets. Interments ceased in 1901
with the sale of the property to a Polish Roman Catholic congregation and
disinterment under the direction of Undertaker I.T. Ryan was begun on March
20, to make way for a parochial school building fronting on Grape Street. All
bodies were removed to a common grave in Westminster Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.2 The churchyard interment
records were taken to Fourth Reformed Church’s new location at Manayunk and Monastery
Avenues where they remained until the church was closed in 1969. At that time
the records were transferred to Talmage Reformed Church at Pechin and Rector
Streets where they remained fifteen years. In 1984 Talmage Church was closed.
From there the records were taken to Faith Reformed Church, Levittown, Pa.
Records of this churchyard have been microfilmed by the Genealogical Society
of Pennsylvania. LEVERINGTON CEMETERY: located at Ridge & Lyceum Avenues in
Roxborough, was originally the burial ground of the Levering (Loewering)
Family as early as 1745. In that year Wigard Levering (the founder of
Roxborough) was interred there. Sometime after this date the cemetery became
known as “the Roxborough Burial Ground” even though it had become a part of
the Roxborough Baptist Churchyard to which it is adjacent. In 1857, its
connections with the Roxborough Baptist Church were severed and a Board of
Trustees created which incorporated as the “Leverington Cemetery Company.”
The office of this cemetery was located in the old Lyceum Building at Ridge &
Lyceum Avenues. In 1966 a fire destroyed this building fragmenting the
records of the~ cemetery in the process. Those records surviving, were
removed to the private residence of one of the trustees. The Roxborough
Edwardian Society has indexed the interments in this cemetery from 1860-1880 and this index
is on microfilm at the Philadelphia City Archives, and the Genealogical
Society of Pennsylvania. ROXBOROUGH BAPTIST CHURCHYARD: The church was organized in 1789. A lot in front of the old Roxborough
Burial Ground was purchased from Nathen and Sarah Levering in 1783)1
Additional land was acquired in 1804. The church was incorporated in 1812.~
Another lot was purchased on the east side of, the churchyard road in 1818)
The churchyard was opened in 18196 and closed in 1983 by decree. Surviving
records are on microfilm at the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. ROXBOROUGH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHYARD: began as the Hagy family
farm burial plot. In 1835 the congregation of the newly-formed Roxborough
Dutch Reformed Church erected a church and laid out a churchyard at its rear.
In the year 1854, after many appeals to the Classis in New York to send a
clergyman to fill a long vacant pulpit, this congregation disestablished
themselves, from the Dutch Reformed Church and joined the Presbyterian Church
in Philadelphia. Records have been indexed
by the Roxborough Edwardian Society and this index has been microfilmed by
the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia City Archives, and the
Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. ST. DAVID’S CHURCHYARD (Protestant Episcopal): opened in 1833 at Centre
(Dupont) and Wabash (Smick) Streets in Manayunk. St. David’s is the fifth
oldest cemetery in Philadelphia’s Twenty-first Ward and as such, many of its
tombstones have been removed due to age and vandalism. While original
churchyard records have been lost, surviving Rectorial Interment Records,
1833-1919 have been indexed by the Roxborough Edwardlian Society and this
index has been microfilmed by the Free Library of Philadlelphia, the
Philadelphia City Archives, and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCHYARD (Irish Roman Catholic): opened circa
1832 at Tower &
Rector Streets in Manayunk. St. John’s is the fourth oldest cemetery in the
area. Records are held at the church rectory. ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION
CHURCHYARDS (German
Roman Catholic): The first churchyard was opened circa 1850
on Oak (now Conarroe) Street west of Silverwood, Manayunk next to the parish
church. In 1872 a large tract of ground was purchased on Prospect (now
Lemonte) Street in Roxborough for use as a second churchyard. Its
consecration occurred on July 13, 1873.~ Records are held at the church
rectory. ST. TIMOTHY’S CHURCHYARD (Protestant Episcopal): The section just south of
the parish church was opened in 1863 and consecrated on May 27, 1882. The
first burial occurred on November 27, 1863. St. Timothy’s Churchyard was
enlarged in 1920 through the acquisition of the land just north of the parish
church, bounded by Ridge Avenue, Pensdale, and Merrick Streets. Complete
records are held by the church, indexed by the Roxborough Edwardian Society,
and both church records and the R.E.S. index have been microfilmed by the
Free Library of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia City Archives, and the
Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. |