York Town Square

This memorial at Lebanon Cemetery in North York honors the many military veterans buried there. On the hillside behind the monument, American flags mark the resting spots of many of the vets. Also of interest: All black history posts from the start and Lenny Moore has strong links to York and A short test of your York black history knowledge.

Walk through North York’s Lebanon Cemetery, and the American flags marking the burial sites of African American military veterans abound.
Some of these vets were be remembered at an upcoming evening (see below) to observe this black cemetery and others around York County, as well as those buried there… .

These entries in the York County Heritage Trust’s role of those buried in Lebanon Cemetery in 1935 designates two veterans, perhaps Civil War veterans. The Trust’s library has lists of those buried in the hundreds of York County cemeteries in 1935.
A 1935 listing, found at the York County Heritage Trust, of those buried at the cemetery in its first 75 years points to more than 31 military veterans. And that doesn’t count vets from World War II and those who died in the subsequent 75 years.
An interesting point about the list of veterans in Lebanon in 1935: Their names represent black families from York in the 1800s, before the large presence of rural black families from the South arrived in the 1920s to work in York’s booming factories.
Veterans buried in Lebanon Cemetery in 1935, according to York County Heritage Trust records:
William F. Boley
John W. Bowie
Jordan Johnson
Henry Jacobs
Louis King
William Carpenter
James Condor
Charles E. Webster
George W. Freeland
Vincent H. Christy
Will Simpson
Walter Cunningham
Richard Wilson
Daniel L. Fisher
Lewis M. Smith
George Young
J.E. Boyer
Samuel Little
William Williams
Moses Melontree
David Young
John T. Mayers
Cyrus Johnson
James E. Adams
John Bryant
Robert A. Payne
George Berry
Joseph Howard
The Rev. John H. Hector
John Robey
Elias Patrick
Also of interest
See June Lloyd’s column about: African American cemeteries in York County
If you go
What: Voices Remembered: A Journey through Local African American Cemeteries with Dr. Dorothy King, Jim McClure, Ray Crenshaw and Vernon Bracey.
When: 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: York County Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market St.
Archives:
– All York Town Square posts from the start. Then use “find” function on browser to search for keywords.
– Of course, you can always search for York Town Square posts on Google. For example, when you search for yorktownsquare and black history, you get this.