The Town Clerk in the Town of Paris, Oneida County, NY, can give you the name, address, and telephone number of the lady who keeps/kept the records of the Sauquoit Valley Cemetery. The record keeper lives/lived in another town some miles north of Utica. My written correspondence to her, even when I enclosed a stamped, self-addressed envelope, was never answered. I then tried phoning her in an attempt to make arrangements to visit her and consult the records. I reached her husband, who said she was out shopping. My calls were never returned. I suspect this is a common problem with many older cemeteries. Individuals who serve as custodians of cemetery records are very good at keeping them safe--and private. The records are most likely handwritten, difficult to read, and fragile. Transcribing them so that the information can be shared is a thankless task--few people can spare that kind of time. Inquiries from genealogists are bothersome and time-consuming to handle, and they don't pay anything anyway. Plus, I know of no older ladies living out in the country who would feel comfortable allowing perfect strangers to visit them at home and pore through their priceless historic cemetery records. A record-keeper would perceive her job as keeping these records safe. Many cemetery record-keepers are not familiar with the Internet and remain suspicious of it and of the motives of anyone who might wish to share cemetery records on-line. Record-keepers who charge a fee for research into those records would understandably be reluctant to make them public, since that would result in lost revenue to them. Your best bet may be to ask the Town Clerk to ask the cemetery groundskeeper (who last I knew was the Town Clerk's husband) to look around while he is mowing the grass. But the cemetery is a big enough place, and many of its stones are so old and have become so unreadable, that encouraging a prospective Eagle Scout to organize a cemetery inventory may be the most productive alternative. Joanne Garland ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Lu Keef" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 8:58 PM Subject: [NYONEIDA-L] Sauquoit Valley Cemetery > Would anyone know where I might be able to find the records of the Sauquoit Valley Cemetery? > > Thank you. > Mary Lu Keef > > > ==== NYONEIDA Mailing List ==== > Contact the List Manager at [email protected] > Oneida Co Surname page http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~myplace/oneida.html > List Rules http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~myplace/mailing.html > Oneida Co Genealogical & Historical Site http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyoneida/ >