Wm. Duke, Jr.

Lawyer

Baldwin Block

Wellsville, NY

May 15, 1937

The First Trust Company

Trust Department

Wellsville, N.Y.

Gentlemen:

     The situation in regard to the Johnson Cemetery located on Genesee Street in the Village of Wellsville, the title to which is in the First Trust Company, is as follows:

     Nathaniel Johnson laid out this cemetery in 1854 and filed a map of same in the office of the Allegany County Cler.  He apparently made some arrangement about burials there but no one knows what that was nor was there any record made of the various lots.  This cemetery was used as the principal burying ground in Wellsville for a time but no record kept of the lot owners nor burials.   After the opening of the Farnum Cemetery which is now the Woodlawn Cemetery, practically all burials were made there and after the death of Mr. Johnson there was no one who either owned or controlled this Johnson Cemetery.  At various times by contributions the cemetery was mowed but never kept in any kind of shape though quite a number of burials have been made there and several lots were owned by families who were then the prominent families of Wellsville including the Johnsons, Yorks and Reesers (the Reesers being the parents of the wife of the late David A. Howe).

     A few years ago a number of Wellsville people became interested in doing something to preserve this cemetery and I located the heirs of National Johnson and secured from them a deed to The First Trust Company of the property subject, of course, to any burials which had been made therein.  This put the title to the property in The Trust Company and in shape so that lots and burial places could be sold.  Since that time I have given it such supervision as was necessary.

     We have established a price of $30.00 for an 8 x 16 lot which is large enough for four burials or $8.00 for a single burial.  We have sold several lots to Allegany County and they use it for burial of people who have to be buried at the expense of the County.  The money from the sale of these lots has been deposited in a special deposit or interest account at the Bank and the interest on this can be used toward the maintenance of the cemetery.  About the time that the cemetery was deeded to the Trust Company Edward York gave to the Trust Company $1500.00 in trust, the income to be used for the maintenance of the cemetery.  Under the Town Law the Town of Wellsville is permitted to pay $50.00 a year toward the maintenance of such cemeteries.  The income from the York trust and the $50.00 from the Town has been sufficient to keep the property mowed and in a fairly good condition.

     There is in my office a map of the cemetery showing the various lots and I have marked on it the names of the owners of the various lots as far as they could be learned from the monuments and markers and from other data which I have been able to accumulate.  Mr. Rowe, the Village Engineer, made a new map from this one from which several prints have been made and in the event of the loss of any of these prints the original is filed in the Village Engineer's Office so that in the future prints can be available from that.

     In the will of Mr. Johnson $1000 was left to the Wellsville Chapter R.A.M.  The income from this money can be used by the Chapter for the maintenance of the fence around the cemetery so that the funds from the York trust and other moneys which are available for the maintenance of the cemetery need not be used for the maintenance of the fence but this should be taken care of by the Chapter.

     This letter is written in order that it may become a permanent part of your trust records as I am about the only person who knows the full history and situation in regard to this cemetery.

     Yours very truly, (Signed)Wm Duke Jr.

(This letter is a copy of Original in the Safe Kept Files of Johnson Cemetery at the Town Clerk's Office, Town of Wellsville, New York.)