P. O. Box 756
Clarkson, NY 14430
About Header Image

New Marker Image The Garland Cemetery located on the south side of Ridge Road in Clarkson, NY was first known as the East Clarkson Cemetery. It is believed to be the second cemetery in the Town of Clarkson.

Articles we have found show Ely Hannibal as the founder of the cemetery. Ely was a farmer and a Free Will Baptist preacher. He bought 100 acres for $100 from the Town of Clarkson in 1816 and donated a parcel of this property for a cemetery. The cemetery also received land from Bates, Crary and Freeman families. Ferris and Moore are other families mentioned in early articles written about the cemetery. Other local farmers seeking a place to bury their departed loved ones, 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 that provides a lasting and meaningful memorial for families to hold onto connections with lost loved ones.

The East Clarkson Cemetery was incorporated on March 18, 1868 as the East Clarkson Cemetery Association. The corporation started with three trustees James Warren, George Crippen, and Henry Moore. Trustees would serve for a three-year term and elections would take place at the annual New Flag Pole 
			Image meeting. A tax levy was established on each sold lot and was to be paid yearly to the association. An annual meeting was to be held on the first Monday of April each year for all lot owners. A notice of this meeting was to be advertised in the local paper. In 1894 endowment and savings funds were established. In 1903 a general endowment fund was formed for the permanent maintenance of the cemetery. A number of memorials have been left to the cemetery. In 1906 more ground was purchased to arrange for suitable fences and to beautify the property with gates. The fences and gates have since been replaced. In 1910 the first woman trustee was elected. On 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. On 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. Certificates were issued for these changes. On 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.

Over the years many improvements have been done to the cemetery.
  • 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
Tombstone Image