KING'S LANDING CEMETERY
later
HANFORD'S LANDING CEMETERY
by
A. H. Croughton
For City Manager Storey, which resulted in cleaning up the cemetery.

Dated some time in the 1920s.

King's Landing Cemetery was named for Gideon King who came to the wilderness at the lower falls of the Genesee River in 1796, with Colonel Zadock Granger. Both men were soldiers of the Revolutionary War, from Suffield, Connecticut. They purchased of Mr. Phelps, agent for the Phelps and Gorham estate, 3000 acres of land situated on the west side of the river near the lower falls, and then returned to Connecticut.

The next year, 1797, Gideon King returned to the lower falls, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Daniel Graham, Elijah Kent (another Revolutionary soldier), Eli Granger, son of Zadock Granger, and his own two sons, Thomas and Simon King.

The following year, 1798, that dread disease, Genesee Fever, was the cause of the death of Gideon King, and his two sons, Daniel Graham King, and Bildad, also of Daniel Graham, his brother-in-law. These deaths caused the establishment of King's Landing Cemetery.

The cemetery was just below the house built by Gideon King in 1797, on what is now Lake Avenue. In this neglected little spot are the graves of Revolutionary soldiers, and some of the earliest pioneers of the "wilderness" which is now a part of the city of Rochester. Sbme of these graves are without headstones, and those still standing, are mostly made of river stones.

In l799, Colonel Zadock Granger, who had followed his son to the Genesee Falls, also died of Genesee Fever, and although buried in King's Landing Cemetery, his grave is now unmarked.

In 1910 - 1911 Mrs. Anah B. Yates of Rochester, wrote a series of articles which were published in the Post-Express on genealogy and made a list of stones standing at that time. This list shows that 1798 was the first date of interment in King's Landing Cemetery, and 1887 the last.

Jeremiah Olmsted, in 1790, settled first on his brother-in-law's farm in Scottsville. Ten out of the family, and the help employed on the farm, died of Genesee Fever in the first year. In 1797, Jeremiah removed to the abandoned log cabin of Elisha Farwell, situated then on what is now Lake Avenue, opposite Lorimer street. In 1798 he purchased a farm on the Ridge Road, and was made collector of taxes for Northampton, now the town of Greece. In 1816, he removed to King's Landing, and the following, buried in King's Landing cemetery, are some of his decendants: Zina L. Olmsted, Huldah Olmsted Sexton, and the Pangborns.

In 1809, the seven Hanford Brothers came to the Landing from Rome, NY, and the name was then changed to Hanford's Landing from King's Landing. In January 1810, Frederick Hanford opened a store at the Landing, and his wife Elvira Sexton, was buried in the Hanford Landing Cemetery, at the age of 28 years.

In 1800 when the English traveler Maude, came to the wilderness to see the famed Genesee Falls. He first stopped at the house of Colonel Josiah Fish, but went on to Gideon King's house at the Landing, as it was the only place, he said, where he could find any decent accommodation, or even a stable for his horse. He writes of a nice breakfast he had there of wild pigeons. As Gideon King died in 1798, it is probably one of the sons of Gideon King, who was occupying his father's house he refers to, when he speaks so highly of Mr. King and his home.

Mr. Maude writes of finding twelve families in the township, four of them living at the Landing. He writes of Eli Granger, son of Colonel Zadock Granger, and says: "His nephew, Mr. Greaves, became also a settler, but lived only long enough to erect the frame of a good house, before dying." Probably another victim of the fever whose grave is unmarked. He also says: "The Landing is at present an unhealthy residence, but when the woods get more opened it will no doubt become as healthy as any other part of the Genesee."

At the death of Mrs. Ruth Graham King, wife of Gideon, in 1830, the headstone was put on the grave of Gideon King, and on it was the following inscription:

"The Genesee Fever was mortal to most heads of families in 1798, and prevented further settlements till about 1815."

One historian says, that about twenty graves were made about this time 1798, at King's Landing, for people who had succumbed to the Genesee Fever. This is borne out by the History of Phelps and Gorham Purchase which says that Bradford and Moses King, Dr. stone, and four brothers, Ebenezer, Daniel, Abel, and Asa Rowe came to King's Landing in 1798, and says further: "These new settlers began to make farms, but encountered sickness and death enough to discourage the less resolute. Several heads of families died in the first few years. Asa Rowe died soon after coming in, as did Daniel Graham, and the father of the brothers King, and Elijah Kent... The other brothers (Rowe) left the country as soon as they had recovered, and returned to Oneida County. In a few years however, Daniel and Abel returned, bringing with them another brother, Frederick, and settled on the Ridge Road."

As the list made by Mrs. Yates does not mention the names of Graham, Rowe, Kent, or stone, they are undoubtedly in some of the unmarked graves on the cemetery.

Another very important, but unmarked grave, is that of Colonel Josiah Fish, a Revolutionary soldier, who first came to what is now Rochester in 1793 and although he was also attacked by Genesee Fever, recovered, and liked the "wilderness" so well that he returned with his family in 1795, buying a farm of Captain Williamson, the agent for the Pulteney estate. The farm was situated on Black Creek. Captain Wiiliamson, later, engaged him to take charge of the Allan Mill (Indian Allan's),and it was there in 1800, that his son John was born, and who has since been proved to be the first white child born in Rochester, although there are many claimants for that honor. (See Vol. VI, Publication Fund Series, of The Rochester Historical Society.) Libbeus, elder brother of John, is authority for the statement that his father, Colonel Josiah Fish, died in the year 1811, and was buried in King's Landing Cemetery.

RECENT HISTORY OF HANFORD's LANDING CEMETERY
by
Richard T. Halsey
May 1987

By the late 1920's, the Hanford's Landing Cemetery was becoming very overgrown and residents of the area asked that the City of Rochester make the cemetery a memorial park so that the grass and trees would be cut. This did not happen and the cemetery was left to deteriorate.

In 1954 the cemetery was threatened when the City of Rochester wanted to extend Maplewood Drive to meet Lake Ave. at Eastman Avenue. To do this a wedged-shaped parcel of land, with 40 feet frontage on Lake Avenue would be needed from the cemetery lot. An investigation by the city determined that no remains were in that portion of the cemetery and the road was built. It seems very possible that even though there were no stones in that part of the cemetery, there still might be some burials that would now be under the pavement of the Maplewood extension.

The next threat to the cemetery carne from an unlikely source, the Veterans Memorial and Executive Council. Made up of members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, and Spanish-American War Veterans, they wanted to move abandoned veterans graves from the Rapids Cem., Charlotte Cem. and Hanford's Landing Cem. to a new plot in Riverside Cemetery. The qraves they wanted to move from the Hanford's Cem. were that of Gideon King, Col. Josiah Fish, Col. Zadock Granger and Elijah Kent. Among the persons objecting to the move were Miss Ada and George King. They were the great-grandchildren of Gideon King. Also objecting to the plan to move the graves was Mrs. Sanford G. Slocum, a great-great-granddaughter of Gideon King. The King descendants maintained that the cemetery was not abandoned but neglected by the City of Rochester. After a hearing on May 16, 1956 in Monroe County Court, the veterans group decided that they would not press for removal of the bodies, as descendants were so opposed. But the cemetery still remained overgrown. The solution for upkeep of the cemetery came from an unlikely source. In the early 1970's, Eastman Kodak wanted property adjoining the cemetery and in a deal with the city they got the land they wanted but they have to maintain the grounds of the cemetery. The cemetery grounds are now maintained but past neglect has taken its toll. Many of the tombstones are now broken and only a few are still legible.

Although it is said that Col. Zadock Granger is buried in Hanford's Landing Cemetery, there is a tombstone for him in Mt. Hope Cem. in the southern part of Rochester. Dates on the stone say born 1736; died 1799. Mt. Hope was begun in 1838 and it is impossible to tell if Zadock Granger was moved from the Handford's Landing Cemetery or not.