St Bernards Church- Catholic
page 10
ST. BERNARD'S CEMETERY
[cem1902a.jpg = larger pic]
Most probably on August 31, 1902 when Bishop Henry Gabriels with
7 priests blessed the new addition of cemetery land. Bishop and Priests on
hill in back. Silas LeMaire and Frank Langey carrying banner in honor of Sacred
Heart.
In a quick-claim deed dated October 1, 1879 and
recorded January 5, 1880, the Chateaugay Iron Company conveyed to St. Bernard's
Church of Lyon Mountain approximately one and one-half acres of land to be
used solely for a church, cemetery and parsonage.
On August 31, 1902 on the occasion of the blessing
of the new brick church, Bishop Henry Gabriels blessed the cemetery. One of
the early burials found today on one of the above cemetery stones is that
of Edward Pitre on August 18, 1880. No one seems to know where the early burials
were made about the year 1875. The first recorded burial in the parish records
was that of AntQine Bourquiquon, about 23 years old, on May 26, 1880 near
the church . . . witnesses - Telesphore Decarie and William McCormick; priest
- Father Decarie. However, there is no doubt that St. Bernard's Church,
with the verbal permission of the Chateaugay Iron Company, began to use the
land immediately adjacent to its previous one and one-half acres behind the
church as a burial ground. This will account for the erection of the cemetery
cross and the delayed conveying to St. Bernard's Church of approximately
10.3 acres of property on May 1, 1968 by the Republic Steel Corporation,
who had bought out the Chateaugay Iron Company.
Consequently, the cemetery of St. Bernard's in
Lyon Mountain might probably be older than the parish itself. This fact,
of course, is not known. It wasn't until the pastorship of Father Donald
Gallagher in the 1940's that the cemetery was increased in size and beautified
to what it is at the present time. To get this done, Father Gallagher
had a meeting with the Republic Steel's
distnct manager of Lyon Mountain, Mr. William Linney. Mr. Linney graciously
donated the equipment for the job with two of his men working for Republic
Steel responsible for the equipment. The work got underway with parishioners
from St. Bernard's working during evenings and Saturdays, clearing more
land of trees; filling in gullies; blasting and removing boulders; planting
trees, shrubs and grass. After this work was done, Father Gallagher decided
that we needed a vault to take care of the needs of both Catholic and non-Catholic
people of our community. It was a problem digging graves in the frozen
ground for persons who died during the winter months. Father Gallagher
again went to Mr. Linney and told him the needs of the people in this community.
Again, Mr. Linney gave the orders to his construction crew to build the
vault according to Father Gallagher's specifications-not just for St. Bernard's
parish, but for all peoples in this area. Soon after a field day Mass was
offered and has since been held each year during the month of May. Later,
members of the local American Legion set up a flag pole near the vault.
Plans are now underway to line up all stones in
their proper rows and divide the cemetery into sections, the sections into
lots, and the lots into graves.
(Francis Siskavich)
St. Bernard's Vault with background of candle like Lombardy Poplars.
(August 1950)
Trustees at St. Bernard's - 1975 (left to right)
Mr. Archie Burgoyne, Rev. Howard McCasland Pastor, Mr. Anthony
Golovach
1975 Board Members at St. Bernard's Church, Lyon Mountain, N.Y. (left
to right)
Mrs. Joan Fetzko, Mrs. Anna Chase, Mrs. Lorraine Farrell, Mr. Gerald
Bushey, Mr. Anthony Golovach - Trustee,
Rev. Howard McCasland Pastor, Mr. Archie Burgoyne - Trustee, Mr.
Anthony Shusda, Mr. Bernard Grogan,
Mr. Dan Grogan, Mrs. Shirley Bingel, Mrs. Anna Kowalowski - not present,
Mr. Thomas Kowalowski - not present
(both below)
Thomas Kowalowski Mrs. Anna Kowalowski
- Board Member and Chairwoman of 1975 Cent. dinner
Go to Page 11 of St Bernard's, Page
12 of Mining for Souls.
Back to Page 9 of St. Bernard's
Back to Page 1 of St. Bernard's
Go to Page 1 of Mining for Souls.(cover
page)
Go to Page 1 of The History
of Lyon Mountain.
Rod Bigelow
Box 13 Chazy Lake
Dannemora, N.Y. 12929
rodbigelow@netzero.net 
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