Hartz / Hudsondale Cemetery
at Hudsondale, Carbon Co. Pa.

The Hartz Cemetery, also known as the Hudsondale Cemetery, is on private land deep in the woods outside the village of Hudsondale.  No burials have taken place there in over 100 years, with the earliest known burial taking place in 1813.  Long abandoned and heavily overgrown, the exact location of the cemetery is known to only a few local residents.  This record of the grave stones was taken about 1980, and since that time some of the stones shown here may have fallen victim to time and the elements, becoming illegible.

NAME                            DATES            LOCATION                    NOTES

Hartz, Abby	1818 - 1871	Hartz Plot	D/o Jacob & Barbara
Hartz, Barbara	1778 - 1861	Hartz Plot	Wife of Jacob
Hartz, Elizabeth	1813 - 1891	Hartz Plot	D/o Jacob & Barbara
Hartz, Jacob	1773 - 1848	Hartz Plot	Family patriarch
Hartz, Jonas	1799 - 1856	South of Hartz Plot	S/o Jacob & Barbara
Hartz, Margaret	1806 - 1851	Hartz Plot	D/o Jacob & Barbara
Hartz, Susan	1801 - 1884	Hartz Plot	D/o Jacob & Barbara
Hartz, Susanna	1800 - 1882	South of Hartz Plot	Wife of Jonas
Hartz, William	1828 - 1861	South of Hartz Plot	S/o Jonas & Susanna
Hartz, William	1808 - 1865	Hartz Plot	S/o Jacob & Barbara
Hersh, Reggie	1883 - 1886	West of Hartz Plot
Lentz, George		S.E. of Hartz Plot	No legible dates
Petrin, Maria M.	1787 - 1813	N.E. of Hartz Plot
Steel, Catherine	1782 - 1876	South of Hartz Plot
Steel, Peter	1803 - 1826	South of Hartz Plot
Taylor, Ellen Hartz	1803 - 1884	Hartz Plot	D/o Jacob & Barbara Hartz
W., J.	Died 1850	N.E. of Hartz Plot	Probably a Washburn
Washburn, Joseph	1795 - 1851	N.E. of Hartz Plot
Wetzel, Aaron		S.E. of Hartz Plot	No legible dates
Whitebread, Samuel	1854 - 1856	S.E. of Hartz Plot
Williams, Sallie	1844 - 1873	Hartz Plot	Granddaughter of Jacob Hartz
Young, Caroline	1827 - 1831	S.E. of Hartz Plot	D/o Michael and Esther Young
Young, Esther	1785 - 1866	S.E. of Hartz Plot	Wife of Michael Young
Young, Fanny		West of Hartz Plot	No legible dates, wife of John
Young, Frances	18?? - 1825	West of Hartz Plot	D/o Michael and Esther Young
Young, John	1815 - 1895	West of Hartz Plot	S/o Michael and Esther Young
Young, Michael	1785 - 1850	S.E. of Hartz Plot	Young Family Patriarch
Young, Samuel	1826 - 1871	S.E. of Hartz Plot	S/o Michael and Esther Young

The basic layout of the cemetery is in five rows, running east to west.  About one third of the burials are in the Hartz Plot.  Some of the stones lie far removed from the others.  The stones of Aaron Wetzel and George Lentz in particular, are outside the main burial ground.

Johannes Jacob Hartz was born April 17, 1773 in Salisbury Township., Northampton Co., Pa., the fourth child of Peter and Catherine Barbara (nee Clader) Hartz.  On March 25, 1798 he married Barbara Levan in Exeter Twp., Berks Co., Pa.  About 1805 Jacob moved his family from Berks Co. north to the sparsely settled Quakake Valley.  Not long after, he became known as "Col. Jacob Hartz," most likely from serving  in the War of 1812.  There was a Jacob Hartz who served in 71 Regiment, Hutter's Pa. Militia, and this was probably him.  Originally a clock maker by trade, on arriving in the Quakake Valley he built the first hotel, the Spring Mountain Hotel, located along the north side of the valley.  The hotel, situated along the Lehigh and Susquehanna Turnpike, did good business.  He later sold the Spring Mountain, and constructed another hotel and tavern, the White Swan, at the south side of the valley at the base of Broad Mountain.  The village that sprang up around this hotel became known as Hartz Station.  Many years later, the name was changed to Hudsondale, in honor of Samuel Hudson.
    In 1829 Jacob Hartz ran for and was elected Sheriff of Northampton County, of which the Quakake Valley and all of Carbon County was then a part.  After Jacob's death March 30, 1848, his sons Jonas and William continued to run the White Swan Hotel for many years.  Levi and Peter Hartz, both sons of Jonas, later conducted hotels in Packer Township and Weatherly.
Aaron Wetzel was the eighth child of Johannes Wetzel and Catherine Hinkle.  Though his stone contains no legible dates, other sources put his birth at about 1827.  He married Sybilla Minnig, and it is very likely that Sybilla is buried by Aaron, her grave unmarked.  Aaron and Sybilla had about 7 children, and only their eldest appears to have stayed in the Quakake Valley.  She was Ellen Jane Wetzel, and she first married a Leininger, by whom she had one son, John.  After her husband's death, Ellen married Philip Woodring of Hudsondale, and her son John later took the surname of his adoptive father.

Michael Young (name originally spelled "Jung") was an early settler in the Quakake Valley, arriving between 1800 and 1810.  He was a farmer, and with his wife Esther had at least eight children.  These included Mariana, Ruben, John, Edwin, Elizabeth, Samuel, Carolina and Hannah.  Of these, Ruben, John and Edwin stayed in the Quakake Valley and Weatherly area, raising large families.  Samuel Young, who never married, fought in the Mexican War of 1846-1848, and was a member of the Stockton Artillerists Militia unit, which saw heavy service.

Email: Jack Sterling

Return to The Cemeteries of Carbon County homepage

You are person number

to view this page