The Garland Cemetery

The Garland Cemetery was first known as the East Clarkson Cemetery. It was the second cemetery to be established in the Town of Clarkson. Ely Hannibal, a farmer and Free Will Baptist preacher, was the founder of the cemetery. He purchased 100 acres for $100 from the Town of Clarkson in 1816 and donated a parcel of this property for the cemetery. The cemetery also received land from Bates, Crary, Freeman, Ferris, and Moore families. Other local farmers donated corners of their adjoining properties to form this final resting place for their families. They all worked together using teams of horses to remove hedges, smooth ground, and create roadways. Thus a proper cemetery was built providing a lasting and meaningful memorial for families to hold onto connections with lost loved ones.

Historical Dates

• March 18, 1868 - cemetery was incorporated as the East Clarkson Cemetery Association
• 1894 - endowment and savings funds were established
• 1903 - a general endowment fund was formed for the permanent maintenance of the cemetery
• 1906 - more ground was purchased to arrange for suitable fences and to beautify the property with gates
• 1910 - the first woman trustee was elected
• August 28, 1928 - a trust agreement was established with Security Trust Co. to act as agents to manage the permanent maintenance funds and the trust continues today with Bank of America
• March 16, 1929 - sixty-three lot owners voted to change the name of the cemetery to the Garland Cemetery Association and raise the number of trustees from three to nine
• June 7, 1940 - the Garland Cemetery Association Inc. received a certificate of reincorporation from the State of New York directed under the Membership Corporation Law of the State

Improvements over the Years

• The vault was built in 1923 and refurbished in 2016
• Road improvements were done in 1924, 1935, 1959, and 2017
• West drive was added in 1964
• Land west of the farthest drive was leveled in 1974 for future burial sites
• Metal barn built in 1973
• Garland Cemetery Monument added to the front of the cemetery in 2007. The Hale Monument Company of Brockport, owned by Maureen Reding at that time, donated the monument
• The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #2890 of Brockport in 2007 donated the flagpole
• The Veterans of Foreign Wars donated the Veterans monument in 2008. Also donating to this monument was the children of WWII veteran Charley Truelson
• The Veterans Association Ladies Auxiliary Unit #379 donated the bench at the Veterans monument in 2010.
• Old pillars and fence removed from the front of the property in 2015 and new pillars and knee walls added to the entrance driveways
• Columbarium installed in 2023