St. Paul’s

Lutheran And Reformed Church

Cemetery

In Franklin Twp., Carbon Co., Pa.

This church was erected on land of John and Susanna Solt in 1841, the cemetery had been in use at least 40 years before that, probably starting as a cemetery for the Solt, Walck and other local families. The earliest legible gravestone is that of a son of Solomon and Elizabeth Walck, buried there in 1811. It is a good guess that there may be many burials that occurred before that and the stones are no longer legible. Located along Big Creek (also known as the Pohopoco Creek), today the cemetery and church sit not far below the breast of the Beltzville Dam in the east end of Franklin Twp. It is a well maintained cemetery, the grass neatly cut and any stones damaged by time or the elements are repaired and righted. Four of the graves, including the Walck child, were filled prior to the founding of the church.

Many of the stones are very small, with no dates and only the initials of those interred there. Some of these stones are probably the footstones adjacent to the larger main stone in the plot. But I believe the majority of them are the graves of infants and young children. I’ve left these out of the online posting because no real info can be taken from these stones.

Beginning in the spring of 2000, genealogist Joan (Markley) Krotz, originally of Parryville and now of Coopersburg began recording the graves of this cemetery. I provided moral support, helped with proofing, and fought off the skeeters. Joan is descended from the Walck and Markley families, her roots in Franklin run deep, right back to the pioneer settlers. Many of these stones are very worn, and needed some real detective work to decipher. Then there are those stones in old German script. Joan has become fluent in “Gravestone German” through her work here.

The cemetery was divided into sections, and the graves recorded by rows in those sections, making it fairly easy to find a particular grave if someone wishes to. The accompanying plot map shows the cemetery sections in relation to the church and rest of the cemetery. Inscriptions are recorded, and all veteran’s stones are specified.