Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice Riverside Cemetery , Towanda Borough, Bradford County, Pennsylvania

Riverside Cemetery New Section Towanda Borough, Bradford County PA This page is part of the Tri-County Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice No Unauthorized Commercial Use may Be Made of This Material A-B C-D-E F-G-H I-J-K-L M-N-O-P R-S T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z Old Section  (in process) Riverside Cemetery Obituaries

Joyce's Search Tip - December 2007 - Do You Know that you can search just the Bradford County Cemetery Records on the site by using the Cemeteries -Bradford button in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current What's New Page? If you use that partition follow these steps to search just one cemetery.  1. Choose Cemeteries - Bradford.  2. Enter part of the cemetery name [ie Ballard or Berrytown] AND a surname. 3. Choose the Find ALL Words option. Then it will find just the pages with that surname in the one cemetery you indicated.  See also - Bradford County Cemetery Addresses

Joyce, I know you have been very busy with cemeteries, but here is one more to add to your list. I have split the Riverside Cemetery in two parts, new and old section. The L.D.S. Boy Scout Troop of Towanda Ward, Church of Jesus Christ, L.D.S., family and friends have extracted this Cemetery. Due to the age of this cemetery, records from the Bradford County Courthouse were used to determine the former military personnel buried there. Also old extraction lists were used to be sure all were accounted for that possibly could be. Many will not have a burial place when the remaining section is posted as it is unknown where some are
buried. There are many broken, smashed stones due to the vadilism this cemetery suffers. Many other stones are unreadable due to their age. I have sorted this list first by the last name, then the lot number, then the first name. If you prefer a different sort, let me know and I will change it. The older section is all typed. I cannot walk safely in the cemeteries anymore alone, so the man who posed this project to the scouts has taken the list and is checking one last time. It should be ready shortly as I will only have to put in any lot numbers he comes up with or additional names, but I do not expect many. I hope others will derive as much information from this list as I have. Bonnie Isaacs e-mail Isaacspaul@cyber-quest.com

"Riverside Cemetery Ravaged By Vandals," by L. A. Merrill, Dec. 1981. "Extensive desecration of Riverside Cemetery, Towanda's oldest burial grounds, was reported recently by the sexton, George Coleman, and an informal check on Saturday revealed that approximately 30 headstones and monuments have been overturned some of the monuments, obelisk in shape,were broken when they struck the ground.  Looking out from the superintendent's house at the south end of the cemetery, George Coleman noted five headstones overturned. This started the investigation. The headstones for graves in the lower, or older, portion of the cemetery that were overturned were located at the east side of the cemetery, next to the river. This would indicate that the vandals wanted to keep out of the sight of people living along William Street or driving on it. However, many other headstones and monuments that were tipped over are in the middle section of the
cemetery and at the upper, or Walnut Street, end. During an informal check of the vandalism, it was impossible to ascertain the names of 80 many of the headstones. However, one stone bore the name of M. T. Carrier, another Badger and still another Mabee. Two of the overturned headstones bore the name of Pratt and still another bore the name of Henry Carey who died in 1873.
 OTHER DESECRATED (sic) headstones and monuments bore the names of Esenwine, Felton; Helen May, wife of H.C. Mercur; Harris; Gerote N. Nerithew; Myron W. Coolbaugh and wife, Emily; James A. Shores and wife Louella; Ezra Strope and wife, Estella. Ezra was a Civil War veteran, but that made no difference to the vandals. His headstone went over. The resting places of other war veterans were also vandalized.  Still other names on overturned monuments:  James Cash and wife Louise; Wood; Russell; George J. Smith; Fred Carman; Charles Bennett and wife, Lorain.
     George Coleman, who has been caretaker at Riverside Cemetery for a good many years, is heartsick at the vandalism he has uncovered. His care of the old cemetery has been excellent and on each Memorial Day he has it sparkling. He says he just cannot understand why anyone would want to go in the cemetery and push over the monuments, breaking some of them. 'Some of those stones were heavy and well placed and it took a lot of strength to push them off their bases.'
George has reported the matter to the police but has received no response, as yet." (Those monuments and stones which were salvagable have since been repaired. The Strope monument was tipped over again during the summer of 1997 by a prankster on a 4-wheeler all-terrain recreational vehicle. Descendants are in the process of making arrangements for its repair.) Just as our ancestor, Sebastian, went looking for the Iroquois Indian, Nicholas; I am looking for the
driver of that 4-wheeler!
     Submitted by:  Bonnie Strope  <WSWQ34A@prodigy.com>

Published On Tri-Counties Site On 09/24/1999  By Joyce M. Tice Email: Joyce M. Tice You are the visitor since the counter was installed on  27 JAN 2005