210 Pages, 8700 Names, Cemetery Map, Name and Place Indexes

Now available from Sleeper Books at www.sleeperco.com

Pine Hill Cemetery was dedicated on 16 October 1861, with William A. Burnett as the first superintendent. Later the name was changed to Evergreen Cemetery. Walkways, a tomb, a front wall, and a gateway of marble were constructed, as well as seven fountains, one of which is still in use in the newest section.

William H. Thayer was the first recorded burial in the cemetery on 17 September 1861. The notes add: "Member of Rutland Light Guard & went with the Co. on the call of the Pres. Lincoln - buried with full military honors of the light guard." The record shows that William was buried in section 29, born in Acworth, NH, died age 19 years, 11 months, 22 days, lived in West Rutland and died of bilious typhoid fever, son of Joseph & Merinda [Fenn] Thayer.

The record book provides columns for all of the above information for each burial. Please note it is the date of burial, not the death date. For interments from other cemeteries, it is the date of reinterment. However, in some cases, the death date was given in the remarks including the name of the cemetery of the original interment.

There are many misspellings in the records, and many partial listings, particularly in the 1890s, when the section was not given and many parents' names were omitted. Several women were listed only as Mrs. -?-. Dawn Hence has added many names and dates, some from Swan & Swan Early Families of Rutland; other data are from her vast knowledge of the early residents of the area. Some information has been added from the extant gravestones as shown in my Rutland Cemetery Inscriptions, 1995. The records are particularly deficient on interments moved in from other cemeteries. Unfortunately, in too many cases, the names of the parents - very important information for genealogists - were omitted. Frozen ground prevented winter interments, so that many winter deaths were stored in the vault for later burial, and many of those so listed do not have extant stones. The information in these records is only as good as the information given to the cemetery secretary and recorded.

This project was made possible by Lawrence Kelley of Rutland. Some of his relatives were not listed in the Rutland cemetery inscription book, and he wished to find just where they were buried. The cemetery staff pulled the first book of records and found the location of the burial. Larry then received permission from Gordon Holden, superintendent, to take the book to make copies of all of the pages. Because of the size of the book, each page was copied in three sections on 11" x 17" paper. These copies were used to compile this book. Besides an every name index, all places of birth or death, other than Rutland, have been indexed.