There are no stones in this cemetery, and it appears that it was destroyed
when the Village reservoir was built in 1890 and 1891. The first
reference to this comes from a note in the Cazenovia Republican
stating that several graves had been found during repairs to the reservoir,
and that they were thought to be of the Butin family who once owned the
premises where the burials were found. I have not had the opportunity
to find the original account and do not recall if there were any other
details. In addition to this report there is a statement in a letter
to Roberta L. Hendrix by Gini Gould, of Seattle WA, dated February 23,
1978 (in Caz. Pub. Lib. genealogical files, Butin file), that "Oval (Quist,
of Desmoines, IO) says Jannis Butin bought a farm in Cazenovia and reserved
one corner of it for a cemetery so that is where we will find him if we
can locate the farm."
Butin was a "man of culture
and education." Severance (1884:213-214) notes that Butin (or Butine),
a native of Holland, was among the earliest settlers and owned the farm
west of the village occupied (in 1884) by Walter Jackson (1998 by Ernie
Alther). After the death of the family's parents (Jannis and Johanna)
heirs sold the farm to E.S. Jackson and removed to Ohio. Butin was
an expert in fruit raising and published a book upon these subjects.
It is known that he had four sons and several daughters. Three of
the sons, John, Abram, and Tunis married daughters of Asa Coleman Sr.
A fourth son, Peter, remained single, it is said, there were no more Coleman
sisters to marry. Tunis Butin was a cabinet maker and Severance was
in possession of a desk that he had made.
William Tuttle, in his "10,000
Settlers," also notes that "John A. Beitin" (who must be John A. Butin)
died in Cazenovia in 1807, but the original source of this information
is not known.
The Butin family left Cazenovia
some time after 1821 and before 1825. Jannis Butin had purchased
the large unnumbered lot in the Road Township Reservation later known simply
as the Butin Farm. This lot is situated on the north and south sides
of present Rt. 20 and west of Stone Quarry road and includes the site of
the Village reservoir.
An extensive search of deeds
for this property, and other lots, which were part of the later farm of
Eliphalet S. Jackson yielded no "reserved" cemetery as described by Gould
and Quist.
The following deeds in the
Madison County Clerk's office refer to early transactions of parts of the
Butin Farm lot: G:165, G:166, I:351, N:53, O:84, O:186, O:189, P:201, Q:466,
AE:423, (also Mortgage B:436), but they contained no cemetery information.
The Butin farm deeds indicate that Butin's house was on the south half
of the farm lot, probably where Ernie Alther's house is now located (the
Steele Jackson House "The Maples") and Alther's deed for this property
(644:273) mentions no cemetery. The following Jackson farm deeds
also had no cemetery information: B:176, F:387, G:96, K:287, K:288, N:54,
N:56, P:267, Q:466, R:241, BI:331, BM:102, BM:103, BM:175, BM:373, BM:394A,
BQ:293, BQ:294a, BQ:294b, 100:552, also Chenango County Deed F:136.
The deed from Walter C. Jackson to the Village of Cazenovia for the reservoir
lot (177:378) made no mention of a cemetery.
From genealogical information in the same file, and the unsourced note from Tuttle, it is seen that the following members of the Butin family died in Cazenovia:
Butin, Jacob, died February 16, 1814, age not known.
Butin, Jannis, died April 14, 1813, age 68.
Butin, John A., died 1807, age not known.
Butin, Johanna Hearney, died September 5, 1817, age not known.
Butin, Peter, supposedly buried in Cazenovia, date of death
and age not known.
Hearney, (maiden name), see Johanna Hearney Butin.