SKANEATELES — The Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as “Quakers,” came to Skaneateles about 1812. They settled mostly on the west side of the lake.
They began as a proto-evangelical, Christian movement in England in the mid 17th century. They got the term “Quakers” as they were said they “tremble in the way of the Lord.”
They rejected elaborate religious ceremonies, rejected sacraments, didn’t have an official clergy, and believed in the spiritual equality for men and women. They held meetings where any member could speak. (President Richard Nixon, Joan Baez, Annie Oakley and Daniel Boone were Quakers.)
According to Historian “Humphrey’s Diaries” there was a tier of noble farms reaching to Mandana mostly occupied by them. The finest of farms, the most complete farm buildings and the largest and handsomest farm-houses…owned by the families of Frost, Willetts, Thorne, Lawton, Haight, Irish, Dorland, Gaylord Arnold, Shotwell and Barrow. While in the Village, the Tallcotts, Fullers, and Slades occupied some of the most stately residences.
In 1827 there was “The Great Split” within the group. There were the “Hicksites” who followed the doctrines of Jericho, Long Island leader Elias Hicks. The other group was labeled Orthodox Quakers. This situation separated friends, neighbors, families and generated bitter feelings between the two groups here in Skaneateles that would last for years.
The orthodox segment had a meeting house at 72 W. Lake St., then at 35 W. Elizabeth St., and finally in 1873 a larger meeting house was built at 37 W. Genesee St. which in 1924 was sold to the Lutheran Church.
The Hicksites being the larger of the two retained the original meeting house located on the corner of Benson Road and West Lake Road, approximately across from the present day Octagon School House.
It was said “it was of ample dimensions with a long row of carriage sheds.”
It had a quaint cemetery in the rear yard. The property was originally sold to The Friends in December of 1825 for $232 from Silas Gaylord, Jacob Willetts, and Arthur Mott via Quit Claim Deed filed with the county clerk’s office in February of 1826.
Stewart Title Company of Syracuse was able to locate a copy of this deed and copies are now available locally for viewing.
The rapidly declining numbers of converts to The Society were of concern, and in 1895 the Hicksites stopped holding meetings (services) at the Benson Road meeting house. A few years later the meeting house was taken down. Some of the bodies in the cemetery were removed to a space set aside by James Canning Fuller, in the village cemetery (now Lake View) called “The Friend’s Plat.”
The triangular shaped Benson Road cemetery has 229 feet of road frontage and is about 1.06 acres. According to cemetery historian Karen Richards Anklin, “Unfortunately no burial records exist for this cemetery. The early Quakers in Skaneateles erected no monuments, for their religion forbade such a vain and empty display of erecting gravestones and recommended that the dead should be buried in rows, with adults and children being separated, and without the distinction of families or relatives. The Quaker cemetery on Benson Road followed these customs.”
This practice was not strictly followed as there are 38 marked graves on the western portion of the site. Half the stones have their inscription facing west while the other half face east. One stone for John Dibble is in the farthest western corner of the triangular cemetery, quite near the road. It is believed that the remainder of the cemetery does have many unmarked graves. The Cemetery Board has said that no new burials, except for two, have been allowed for fear of hitting a grave. The exception was Gordon Henry in 1985 and wife Ruth in 1995.
There was little talk and less action about this cemetery until 1923 when the “Friends Cemetery Fund” was started to clean up the cemetery. In a report issued by John Bockes, Leonard Haight, and Frederick Lawton said “Under Henry Evans and the men whom he has employed to work with him, all of the dead trees have been dug out and the dead limbs cut from the trees remaining; the underbrush, which had grown up to almost obscure the markers for the graves, has been dug up and the eastern portion of the cemetery graded and seeded; all of the tombstones have been straightened and reset in cement, and a neat woven wire fence with angle iron posts set each eight feet, has been built around the entire property, with barbed wire on the top. The fence was built in perfect alignment, and the whole work is something to be proud of.”
March 29, 1935, John Bockes and Leonard Haight executed an agreement with the Commissioners of the Village’s Lake View Cemetery, Joseph Holben, Irving Smith, and Thomas Spearing, for the care and maintenance of the Hicksite Cemetery Plot for $700 from which the income from such sum to be used for the mowing of the grass twice a year. The village still does this maintenance today.
The minutes of the June 28, 1968 Village Cemetery Board states that Mr. A.S. Wikstrom has requested a burial plot in the Benson Road Quaker Cemetery. Mr. Wikstrom will contribute $2,000 in American Telephone stock and help maintain the cemetery. On advice from a financial attorney, Wikstrom was asked to make this $2,000 straight donation, rather than the stock. He asked for a 20 foot by 20 foot site which would be delineated by an 18 inch high wall made of local stone.
A July 28, 1968 letter from Village Mayor James Marshall acknowledged the receipt of the $2,000. He also said that he accepts the “assistance in maintenance of the cemetery for as long as you are alive and a resident of Skaneateles.” Wikstrom died in 1976.
In the closing of this letter, Mayor Marshall says “…as this cemetery is outside the Village limits, we prefer not to attempt to issue a deed or in any other manner give you title to this particular plot. You may be assured, however, that the Village of Skaneateles recognizes its responsibility in this connection and we assure you that barring any unforeseen legal action, you and your family may have perpetual use of the plot referred to.” There are two grave markers within he stone walls – Arve S. Wikstrom 1907 – 1976 and Helen Louise Wikstrom 1906 – 1968.
The present Village Cemetery Board considers the Benson Road Quaker Cemetery closed, and is not approving any new burials. The only exception would be in the Wikstrom plot, for Wikstrom family members.
By Jorge Batlle
Skaneateles Village Historian
