Owahgena Cemetery, Town of Cazenovia, Madison County, NY  (aka Peck Hill, west of head of lake, Foot of Cazenovia Lake) Field Check by Daniel H. Weiskotten, April 13, 1994  MNI = c.65, names = c.35, 1808 - 1897   (old lists include: Gallup newspaper list of 1951; Hendrix August 27, 1977) (need to find Gallup full transcript of 1948) posted 7/19/1999   Click here to go back to the CAZENOVIA, FENNER, and NELSON ROOTSWEB Main Page  Click here to go back to the CAZENOVIA CEMETERY Main Page Comments or Questions??? - CONTACT ME  
        This cemetery has been described by William Tuttle, in his Names and Sketches of the Pioneer Settlers of Madison, (also known as "Tuttle's 10,000 Names") as being located at the Foot of Cazenovia Lake - this is very much in error and has sent many researchers astray as it is located at the head of Cazenovia Lake, 5 miles from the foot of the lake!
        The Owahgena Cemetery is moderately well kept but has been much abused over the years.  Many of the stones had been moved from their spot, in several instances five to eight feet, apparently by persons looking at the stones and repeatedly flipping or rolling them in order to read the inscriptions and then place them face down again for preservation.
        There are very few stones still standing and many of those that are fallen are broken.  A large number of burials marked only by field stones or small boulders are to be seen throughout the cemetery and the MNI noted above includes a close but not perfect accounting of them.  Some unmarked sunken areas indicating graves are noted, but there are few.  Near the east side an area that appears to have had several bodies exhumed can be seen as the graves do not appear to have been filled in and a series of holes can be seen.  A broken stone found within one part of the pits and a foot stone with "M.A.M." which had been moved around indicate that this may have been the graves of the Morse family.
        Clezzie Gallup had made a list of the stones in this cemetery in 1948 and this was rechecked by Roberta Hendrix in 1977.  Gallup's original list has not been found but a summary of what she found in this cemetery is presented in the Cazenovia Republican of September 6, 1951.  Hendrix did not find several stones noted by Gallup: Sally Adams, Charlotte Hayes, Mary Hayes, Wesley Hayes, Esther Hitchcock, George Hitchcock, Nathan Adelbert Hitchcock (may be Nancy A. Hitchcock), Ives Hotchkiss (may be Eunice Hotchkiss), Charles Phillips, "R.Y.C.", someone who died in 1857, and "three Hotchkiss Infants."  Two of these infants may be on the Hendrix list and only one was found in 1994, but I found three infants of the Morse family and I wonder if Gallup was in error with the surname.
        Since Hendrix carried over only the data that she found in 1977 it will be necessary to locate the original Gallup list to get the complete data on these missing tombstones.  The frequency of errors on Gallup's lists necessitates a warning about the validity of the data that is not confirmed by other sources.  Two stones have disappeared in the time between 1977 and when I did my survey in 1994: infant Hotchkiss and Hannah Vosburg.
        In 1994 I found three additional stones which had been missed by both Gallup and Hendrix: Philip Hayes, David Miller, and __________ Morse.  Two footstones had initials that did not match any of the names on extant headstones, but from their association with other stones they can be seen to be for the graves of E.A. Hitchcock ("E.A.H.") and M.C. Hayes ("M.C.H."), and are probably all that is left to mark the graves of Esther Hitchcock and Mary Hayes whose head stones disappeared between 1948 and 1977.
  Those buried in the Owahgena Cemetery include:  
Adams, Sally, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list).
Brewster, Charles, died May 13, 1851, age 30 years.
Burdick, Emelia, died July 14, 1857, age 69 years (this stone similar to Susan Burdick's, but the surname is broken off).
Burdick, Susan, wife of William Burdick, died August 22, 1865, age 56 years.
Cole, George S., died November 24, 1824, age 25, (with a base made for two stones).
Fox, Abbie C., daughter of E. and S.B. Fox, died May 24, 1865, age 23 years 7 months.
Fox, Albert E., born 1847, died 1880, age not given, (monument and stone).
Fox, Catherine Young, wife (1) of Ehle Fox, born 1809, died August 10, 1839, age 33 years 4 months, (monument and stone)
Fox, Ehle, born 1809, died 1897, age not given.
Fox, Sarah B. Van Riper, wife (2) of Ehle Fox, born 1802, died 1865, age not given, (Hendrix notes that Sarah Van Riper Fox probably died July 22, 1877 as her name and this date is on the Van Riper monument in Evergreen cemetery.  The Evergreen Cemetery books indicate that she was buried elsewhere.  The 1865 date appears to be an error - this is her daughter Abby's death date).
Fox, William Morgan, son of William and Sabrina Fox, died January 17, 1848, age 16 years 7 days.
Hayes, Charlotte, died 1810, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list).
Hayes, Philip, died August 25, 1831, age 87 years.
Hayes, Mary, died 1834, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list), (may be represented by footstone "M.C.H." found in center of cemetery near Samuel Hayes).
Hays, Samuel S., died November 9, 1847, age 69 years.
Hayes, Wesley, died 1847, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list).
Hitchcock, Esther, died 1840, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list), (may be represented by footstone "E.A.H." found between Frederick and Lovina Hitchcock).
Hitchcock, Frederick, died July 10, 1881, age 77 years 10 months.
Hitchcock, Esther, died 1818?, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list).
Hitchcock, Hervey, died October 8, 1839, age 73 years 6 months.
Hitchcock, Leverett, died February 5, 1883, age 86 years 9 months.
Hitchcock, Lovina, wife of Frederick Hitchcock, born May 9, 1806, died May 9, 1855, age 49 years.
Hitchcock, Lovisa, died September 17, 1861, age 68 years.
Hitchcock, Nancy A., wife of Leverett Hitchcock, died January 22, 1868, age 68 years.
Hitchcock, Nathan Adelbert, died 1838, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list, may be Nancy A. Hitchcock).
Hitchcock, Zilpha, wife of Hervey Hitchcock, died January 26, 1860, age 92 years.
Hopkins, Lebbeus, died January 30, 1813, age 37 years 2 months.
Hopkins, Rachel, died September 8, 1828, age 51 years.
Hotchkiss, ______, infant, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list, see Bertha, Olive, and Olivia Morse).
Hotchkiss, ______, infant, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list, see Lucy Maria Hotchkiss, see also Bertha, Olive, and Olivia Morse).
Hotchkiss, ______, infant, son of Alva and Huldah Hotchkiss, died September 20, 1813, age 5 days, (stone not found in 1994, data from Hendrix 1977 list).
Hotchkiss, Asa, died February 6, 1833, age 68 years.
Hotchkiss, Eunice, wife of Waitstill Hotchkiss, died November 28, 1819, age 74 years.
Hotchkiss, Ives, died 1819, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list, may be Eunice Hotchkiss).
Hotchkiss, Lucy, wife (1) of Alvah Hotchkiss, died October 12, 1808, age 24 years.
Hotchkiss, Lucy Maria, daughter of Alva and Huldah Hotchkiss, died December 16, 1816, age 9 months.
Hotchkiss, Waitstill, died June 16, 1824, age 84 years.
Mead, ______, died May 20, 1868, age 10 years 9 days, (top broken off).
Miller, David, died May 3, 1866, age 50 years.
Morse, ______ (M.A.?), died April 2, 1830, age 16 years, (this stone lies in the north end of what appears to be a series of exhumed graves, foot stone "M.A.M." is nearby).
Morse, Bertha A. daughter of Levi A. and Elizabeth Morse, died September 28, 1862, age 2 years 4 months.
Morse, Olive, twin daughter of Levi A. and Elizabeth Morse, sister of Olivia Morse, died May 14, 1859, age 17 days.
Morse, Olivia, twin daughter of Levi A. and Elizabeth Morse, sister of Olive Morse, died May 14, 1859, age 17 days.
Phillips, Charles, died 1830, (stone not found in 1994, data from Gallup newspaper list).
Thompson, James, born May 16, 1787, died December 25, 1837, age 50 years 7 months 9 days.
Van Riper, (maiden name), see Sarah B. Van Riper Fox.
Vosburg, Hannah, wife of Mathew Vosburg, died August 8 (?), 1853, age 63 years 2 months, (stone not found in 1994, data from Hendrix 1977 list).
Young, (maiden name), see Catherine Young Fox.
   END of Owahgena Cemetery list by Daniel H. Weiskotten