The History of the Land of which the Old Baptist Cemetery came from
The List of this Cemetery's Names
The cemetery has had several names and titles over the years, such as the Bryant Cemetery, Baptist Burial Grounds, the Old Baptist Cemetery, and the Charles Johnson Farm Cemetery to anoint the most common names. On records, the cemetery is listed as "First Baptist Bryant/Burial Ground Charles Johnson Farm." Therefore, for clarity purposes, on this website, the cemetery will be referred to as mostly the Old Baptist Cemetery since that name is what the cemetery is most commonly referred to.
The land of the cemetery has been owned by several proprietors. The land of the cemetery was once the Spear Farm, owned by the Spear family of Macedon that included Lemuel Spear, and his family who are buried in the cemetery around an original cast iron fence.
Where the Land Came from...
The Native Americans
The area where the Old Baptist Cemetery is located was first long owned by the Native Americans, specifically the Seneca people, who were one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Between 1783 and 1794, treaties were signed by pioneers and Native Americans to transfer the name of land from the Iroquois Confederacy to the Colonists. This took effect through several land treaties. The deed of land on which the Old Baptist Cemetery is located was made with the Seneca Indians and was witnessed by Rev. Samuel Kirkland and many others, and approved by Rev. Kirkland as a superintendent. There is a statement made by Rev. Samuel Kirkland regarding how the land was traded to the Native Americans.
“Pursuant to a resolution of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, passed March 30, 1788, I have attended a full and general treaty of the Five Nations of Indians, at the chief village in their territory, on the Buffalo Creek, alias Teyoheghscolea, when the foregoing instrument or deed of conveyance, made to the Hon. Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps, esquires, of a certain part of lands belonging to the said Five Nations, the description and boundaries thereof being particularly specified in the same, was duly executed, signed, sealed and delivered in my presence, by the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the above mentioned Five Nations, being fairly and properly understood and transacted by all the parties of Indians concerned, and declared to be done to their universal satisfaction and content; and I do therefore certify and approve of the same.”
After the treaties were signed, the Native Americans we sentenced to live on land reservations.
The Settlers
First, how the settlers obtained most of any land in New England was the Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps Purchase. The purchase was responsible for the settlers obtaining most of New England's land from the Native Americans. On April 1, 1788, Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps's purchase was approved to gain 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km2) of land in what is now western New York State, paid for by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $1,000,000. It was approximately two cents per acre. A group formed by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham bought rights to the 9,600-square-mile (25,000 km2) parcel which was larger than six present U.S. states: Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island - in New York, west of Seneca Lake between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania border, from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Nathaniel Gorham
Nathaniel Gorham & Oliver Phelps
Nathaniel Gorham
"Nathaniel Gorham (May 27, 1738 – June 11, 1796; sometimes spelled Nathanial) was an American Founding Father, merchant, and politician from Massachusetts. He was a delegate from the Bay Colony to the Continental Congress and for six months served as the presiding officer of that body under the Articles of Confederation. He also attended the Constitutional Convention, served on its Committee of Detail, and signed the United States Constitution."
Oliver Phelps
"At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Phelps joined the Continental Army and fought in the Battle of Lexington. He supplied troops and received commendation from General George Washington for his efforts. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1778 to 1780 and a member of the Federal Constitutional Convention in 1779 and 1780. After the war ended, he became a prominent businessman and was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1785 and served on the Governor's council in 1786. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1803, to March 3, 1805, and ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1804 on the ticket headed by Aaron Burr."
Below is a map from the early 1800s of the Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps Purchase.
Oliver Phelps
In the late summer or early fall of 1788, the whole territory of the Phelp's and Gorham purchase was divided into “divers tracts or townships,” which is how in 1789, the County of Ontario was formed.
In 1823, the land west of Palmyra became the town of Macedon, both towns now part of Wayne County. However, before the land where the Old Baptist Cemetery is now, in September 1790, John Swift purchased land from Phelps & Gorham and became the first pioneer of Palmyra, Ontario County, New York.
John Swift
John Swift is an extremely influential person in the town of Macedon and even more so in the town of Palmyra.
On the left of the screen (computer view) is a blue and yellow historical marker, which is in front of his and his wife's house that still stands today. He has another historical marker where he is buried, an old cemetery on Church St, and a park in Palmyra named after him, called "Swift Landing Park". It should be remembered that the land of Macedon used to be a part of Palmyra before splitting off into the town of Macedon in 1823.
Swift moved to the area in 1790, but before becoming the founder of Palmyra/pre-Macedon, and one of the first settlers of Palmyra, who was sent to the area to investigate the territory gained from the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, Swift was an American military officer during the Revolutionary War. Later in the War of 1812 he was a Brigadier General and served at the Niagara Frontier. It was a battle in the War of 1812 where Swift died in battle.
John Swift's military jacket can be seen in the Military room at the Wayne County Museum in Lyons, while other artifacts can be seen at the Historical Museum in Palmyra.
Pioneers of Macedon/Palmyra
Several pioneers who first settled the Macedon/Palmyra area are buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery. Such confirmed settlers include Webb Harwood's wife, Hannah Harwood, who traveled with her husband, Israel Delano, Barnabas Brown, Jacob Gannet, and Abner Hill—also some of the wives and children of these men.
A lot of these pioneers were buried so long ago, that they had no headstones, their headstones are extremely worn, and/or there are very few, sometimes no records of their death or burial, so it is difficult to place where some are buried. For example, Abner Hill has no known headstone at this time (August 2024) but there are luckily documents giving evidence of him being buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery.
It is a probability, that more of the original pioneers are buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery.
Text/photo above from Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Miscellaneous Directories labeled: Gazetteer_&_Business_Directory_Wayne_County_1867-1868.pdf
After John Swift purchased the land, Swift sold the land to Lemuel Spear, a Revolutionary soldier, who is now buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery. Abraham Spear, Son of Lemuel Spear acquired 200 acres of the land from his father.
In 1806 the first burial in the cemetery was recorded. (More on the first burial in the Old Baptist Cemetery, listed further down on this page.) Somewhere in this timeline, Webb Harwood owned the land.
Abraham then sold the land to Mr. Beers. Next, Mr. Beers sold the land to A.P. Crandall, who then sold the land to Ira Clark. Clark then sold the land to John Rannie, who was born in Scotland. John Rannie then sold the land to his son-in-law, Alexander Grieves. This is where records have the land the cemetery is on, sometimes referred to as the "Rannie Farm".
Grieves then sold the land to Charles. H. Johnson, where the title of the Cemetery, "The Charles. H. Johnson Farm Cemetery" derived from.
After Johnson, a portion of the land was sold to the "Concrete Company" and the cemetery land became owned by the town.
Where the name, Bryant came into play is up to speculation. There is a Bryant buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery, Mehitabel Bryant Bower. Her maiden name was Bryant; however she died with the last name of her husband, Elisha Bowen.
(Photo of the Old Baptist Cemetery taken by Deanne Newcombe)
To Recap The Land's Ownership
1. Native Americans'
2. Phelps & Gorman
3. John Swift
4. Lemuel Spear
5. Abraham Spear
6. (Webb Harwood at one point)
7. Mr. Beers
8. A.P Crandall
9. Ira Clark
10. John Rannie
11. Alexander Grieves
12. Charles H. Johnson
13. Macedon Town Council -(Present)
(Exact Years are difficult to pinpoint due to the age of the records. If you would like to conduct your own research on the land where the Old baptist Cemetery Originated, check out the sources to write this page, listed at the bottom of the page.)
Cemetery Timeline
The Old Baptist Cemetery is the first recorded burial ground in Macedon, but second in the "Palmyra area". The cemetery is located on the grounds of the First Baptist Church, later retitled the First Baptist Church of Macedon. Even after the First Baptist Church of Macedon was moved in 1835, dozens of burials continued on the grounds.
Much original information on the Baptist Cemetery has been lost to time, but according to second-hand accounts in documents, the original amount of land of the cemetery was 2.88 acres. Today the cemetery is fenced in and maintained at less than .5 acres. The original perimeters of the cemetery when it was 2.88 acres, have been lost so there may be more burials around the cemetery where the land is not fenced in.
According to a documented tilted, The Charles Johnson/Bryant Burial Ground, the Old Baptist Cemetery had its first recorded burial in 1806 under the name Elizabeth Harland, the wife of James Harland. As of July 2024, Elizabeth's headstone is currently missing and there are no photos of it on record. Sadly, it is more than likely Elizabeth's headstone will never be found due to time and the elements.
In 1813, a committee was appointed to build a fence around the cemetery. Since then a new wire fence has been constructed by the Boy Scouts in the 1990s and still stands today.
The last burial in the Old Baptist Cemetery with a definite name is Althea Sutphin who is recorded to have died in 1867 at the age of fifty-eight. Althea's headstone was found in pieces but was finally repaired in the Summer of 2024 and is now placed in the original burial spot she was buried. Her headstone is located along the fence near, Betsey Brister.
Althea's headstone is important because it is one of the few headstones placed in the correct location of a burial. Prior to 2021, most of the headstones in the cemetery were placed at random. (There is no record of when this happened.)
Pieces of Althea's broken headstone
Althea's headstone fixed (Picture from 2024)
Sources for this page (Sources are not listed in order of usage)
