HIstory of St. Helena Cemetery in Letchworth.....Like most communities, the GHOST TOWN OF ST HELENDA's in Letchworth once had its own burial ground. Located on the west bank of the Genesee just north of the community, the cemetery was used from the 1840's to perhaps the 1890's.
Long after the last residents left the Valley, the cemetery remained, overgrown and all but forgotten until the 1950's. When the Mt. Morris Dam was completed, it became necessary to move the cemetery out of the Valley.
The State of New York ordered that the bodies be moved. The work fell to a firm from Niagara Falls which carefully exhumed the bodies. Although there were only eight monuments standing in the cemetery, workers found total of ninety-two bodies, many being infants and children. The remains were placed in small wooden boxes measuring 1' X 2' X 2 1/2', made at a local lumber mill.
Among the bodies was one that appeared to be a Native American. Mildred Anderson wrote "there was some speculation as to whether the body could be that of Jesse Jemison, son of Mary Jemison "The White Woman of the Genesee". According to Mary Jemison's life story, her son Jesse was killed in a drunken brawl by his brother John, while engaged in logging operations for Robert Whaley, near Tea Table Rock, at Wolf Creek. Burial was made after the manner of the white people. The fact that this occurred about 1812, while the land at St. Helena was not sold until 1823, would cause some doubt as to the possibility of the remains being those of Jesse Jemison" (Anderson, St Helena, p 45)
The remains and the few markers were reinterred at Castile's Grace Cemetery
Posted Coords will take you to the St. Helena's Plot in Grace Cemetery.
For the Final North Coords
--- take the total # of worded lines on the PLOT stone, subtract 2. Add that number to the posted North coords, this will give you the FINAL NORTH COORDS
For the Final West Coords
--Add 35 to the # of WORDS in the last line. Subtract that from the Posted West coords, this will give you the FINAL WEST COORDS.
Final is a short walk away.