The grave stones here have no names but instead are numbered. At the rear of the cemetery is a monument with brass plates on them. I took pictures of a few of the brass plates and a few of the numbered stones.
The monument at the entrance reads:
THE HISTORY OF THE
OLD ALMS HOUSE CEMETERY
WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THIS CEMETERY LIE MORE THAN
1500 OF ERIE COUNTY'S SONS AND DAUGHTERS
DATING BACK TO THOMAS JEFFERSON'S PRESIDENCY.
WHAT STORIES THEY COULD TELL!
THOSE BURIED HERE CAME FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE, FROM ALL RACES,
AND FROM MANY DIFFERENT RELIGIONS. THEY WERE AS DIFFERENT FROM
ONE ANOTHER AS ARE THE ENUMERABLE SNOWFLAKES YET WHEN THEY
PASSED AWAY - FROM NATURAL AND UNNATURAL CAUSES - THEY
SHARED ONE COMMON FATE
THEY EACH LEFT THIS EARTH AS PENNILESS PAUPERS.
WE WILL PROBABLY NEVER KNOW DETAILS OF THEIR LIVES.
BUT WE DO KNOW THAT MOST WERE EITHER OCCUPANTS OF THE OLD ALMS
HOUSE (POORHOUSE) ONCE LOCATED AT WEST 23RD AND PITTSBURGH AVE.
OR THEIR BODIES WERE SENT HERE
WHEN OFFICIALS COULD NOT FIND NEXT OF KIN.
THIS PAUPER'S CEMETERY, OR POTTER'S FIELD AS IT HAS BEEN KNOWN,
WAS NOT ALWAYS SO KINDLY-REMEMBERED
OR SO CHERISHED AS IT IS TODAY.
IN THE MID-1800'S, BODIES FROM THE POORHOUSE - MANY OF THEM
INFANTS OR YOUNG CHILDREN - WERE BURIED IN UNMARKED GRAVES IN THE
OLD ALMS HOUSE CEMETERY. THE PRACTICE CONTINUED UNTIL DEC. 2, 1920
WHEN A 72-YEAR OLD MAN BECAME THE 690TH PERSON TO BE BURIED
AT THE ALMS HOUSE. THE NEXT ALMS HOUSE DEATH, A 61-YEAR OLD MAN
WAS BURIED AT DOBLER FARM - THE PRESENT LOCATION OF THIS
CEMETERY IN FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP.
OVER THE YEARS, THE ORIGINAL POTTER'S FIELD WAS SIMPLY FORGOTTEN.
BUT IN 1977, WHEN AN INDUSTRIAL PARK WAS PROPOSED FOR THE AREA,
THE ERIE MORNING NEWS USING AN OLD COUNTY MAP DISCOVERED THE
CONSTRUCTION WOULD INTRUDE UPON AND DISTURB
THE GRAVES OF THE 690 LONG-FORGOTTEN PAUPERS.
AS A RESULT ERIE COUNTY CORONER MERLE WOOD, WORKING WITH A
DOWSER OR DIVINER, UNEARTHED THE REMAINS OF 443 PEOPLE.
THE REMAINS OF ANOTHER 247 SOULS, BURIED UNDER UTILITY LINES
AND ROADWAYS, WERE LEFT BEHIND BY COURT ORDER ON SEPT 7, 1977.
SEVEN VAULTS CONTAINING THE REMAINS OF THE 443 WERE INTERRED
HERE AT DOBLER FARM CEMETERY ON BLAIR ROAD WITH
APPROPRIATE RELIGIOUS SERVICES
Here is a website with more information:
(
visit link)