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The Society attempts to chronicle the history and development of the
Lower Merion region. History is a collection of biographies of those who
preceded us. To better identify these ancestors, the Society has
compiled a listing of more than 15,500 burial records from some of the older burial
grounds in the region.
This might sound like a straight forward
project, but each cemetery has site specific problems that require
detailed research. For example, since many of the older burial grounds
have lost or incomplete burial records, our researchers had to visit each
burial ground and record from the headstone the name and dates. In some
cases, due to years of wear, the inscriptions were faint and required a
"rubbing" of the headstone to bring out the information. More of a
challenge were those plots that had no headstone. In these situations we
have had to research secondary sources to determine who was buried
where.
Lower Merion's burial sites can be divided into three time
periods, each telling us a story of the area's growth and development.
The three groupings are: the Ancient, the Church Affiliated, and the
Suburban Park.
The Ancient burial sites are the oldest sites. They are the Merion
Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) (1682), and their
surrounding neighbors, Old Haverford Meeting (1683), Radnor Meeting
(1693), and Haverford Meeting (1827). Also included in this grouping are
the small family cemeteries that belonged to the local plantation and
business owners. The sites that can still be identified are the
Llewellyn Family (early 1700's), the Harrison Family (1719), and the Bicking
Family (1782).
The Church Affiliated, as the name implies, are the cemeteries that are
associated with a religious community. These are St. Paul's Evangelical
Lutheran (c1765), Lower Merion Baptist (1808), Gladwyne United Methodist
(1830), Church of the Redeemer (1879), The Independent Order of Odd
Fellows (mid-1880's), Church of St. Asaph (1888), and St. Christopher's
(1950).
The Suburban Park was conceived in the late 19th century.
During this period, cemeteries were located outside of urban areas in
pastoral locations in order to promote a peaceful and undisturbed
resting place. Predominantly non-denominational, they were a place for
the family to visit, to return to nature, to meditate and reflect. These
are West Laurel Hill (1869), Merion Memorial Park (1888), Westminister
(1893), Har Hazaitim (Har Hazaysim) (1896), and Calvary Cemetery (1945).
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Merion Meeting Burial Records - founded 1682 |
