Harold,
I realize yours is a very early county and I'm way over in Western, NY. But I have a few ideas. I have done the abandoned cemeteries in my town as well as a few in surrounding counties for others. I'm an abstractor in my real job so I know a lot of land issues that helps me research cemeteries. With that said, I'll say the following generally on cemeteries, and a theory on your cemetery below that........
I don't think the tombstones would necessarily face the road. The old tombstones in my town face the west, no matter what direction the cemetery faces along the road. It wasn't until the 1900s that they seem to start facing the road.
I don't have any Lutheran Churches in my area. BUT most of the church had their cemeteries near the church. The Baptists, I have found through deeds and other things, seem to have their cemetery a distance from the church. Sometimes a 100 ft. to 1/4 mile down the road. I'm not positive why that is yet. I've done quite a few of them, and that always seems to be the case. One reason is that, in some cases, they buy the land for the cemetery, before they buy the land to build the church. I have had gaps between them as much as 15 years. So depending on church growth, maybe they change their mind to build the church in a more central location.
I've also found that sometimes burials start on one of their ministers land, then they buy the land for the church, then the cemetery.
It really does make sense. If you have a following you need to bury your people somewhere, even if meetings are being conducted in the school for example, because you don't have enough money to build yet. Because of that I usually find a deed for a religious cemetery. It is usually conveyed by someone in the religious group for a very low sum of money.
Just to get familiar with your area I looked up Bern under Albany Co. in the in the Gazetteer of NYS. It said a German settlement began in 1750. "In 1777 a company of 85 militia were raised in this town, of which the captain and 63 men joined the British and the remainer the Americans. Bernville, then called Beaver Dam, was fortified during the war and centenials were posted at night to prevent surprise by Indians. The place at one time became a rendezvous for tories." Footnote to that: "The family of Johannes Deitz, consisting of eight persons, were murdered by the Indians." and "Cornelius Schermerhorn kept a tory rendezvous, and at one time an abscounding paymaster from Burgoyne's army is said to be murdered at his house."(I see the Deitz surname at your website, but not Johannes name, or early dates for the other 7 or Mr. Schermerhorn.)
So based on the 1877 date for that, and the 1877 beginning date for your tombstones, could these burials be from any of the conflicts? Be it with Indians or how the town was divided politically? And is it possible because of the conflicts, they purposely buried them very far back so the stones could not be seen from the road? I could then conclude when they built the church, they did it in that location because the cemetery was across the road.
Any of that possible do you think?
--
Cindy Amrhein
Town of Alabama Historian
in Genesee Co., NY
Experience the Town of Alabama in Genesee County, NY.
http://www2.pcom.net/cinjod/historian/
APHNYS (Association of Public Historians of New York State)
http://www.tier.net/aphnys
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