Remains From the Onondaga (New York) County Poorhouse Cemetery Reburied

The following teaser is from an article posted in the September 26, 2012 edition of Syracuse.com:

Onondaga, NY: The remains of 80 bodies first laid to rest more than 150 years ago were reburied today as part of renovations by Onondaga Community College.

The bodies of homeless adults and children were buried from 1826 to 1840 near the former Onondaga County Poorhouse on Onondaga Hill, said archaeologist Daniel Seib, who supervised the transfer of the remains.

Only three children, ages 2, 4 and 7, have been identified among the remains. They were siblings of the Kingman family, and died in April and May of 1832, said genealogist Nancy Maliwesky.

When the archaeology team began digging in the winter of 2010, they found bones, rusty nails, coffin wood and some hardware, including metal handles, Seib said.
“The coffins were almost non-existent,” he said. “We found coffin wood on the underside and horribly rusted nails. The first thing we found were bones.”

Read the full article.

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

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