Source Information

Ancestry.com. Hamburg, New York, U.S., Prospect Lawn Cemetery Index, 1850-1950 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Prospect Lawn Cemetery, Hamburg, NY, 1850–1950. Hamburg, New York: Cemetery President.

About Hamburg, New York, U.S., Prospect Lawn Cemetery Index, 1850-1950

Contained in this database is a collection of over 6,500 records from the Prospect Lawn Cemetery of Hamburg, New York including Old Village Cemetery records. Prospect Lawn Cemetery was organized in August of 1878 and Old Village Cemetery in 1827; between 1892 and 1893 graves from the old Village Cemetery were moved to Prospect Lawn. Unfortunately, a fire at Froehley’s Funeral Home in the 1920s destroyed many of the records for these cemeteries previous to this time, so the existing records aren’t always complete and do not contain information about the early reinterred burials.

The city of Hamburg, New York, which includes the Village of Hamburg, is located on the west border of New York state along Lake Erie. Interesting individuals buried in the Prospect Lawn Cemetery include a veteran from the Spanish-American war, John F. Jewart, member of the 15th PA Volunteer Infantry, Co. D, and Everette Howard Hunt, a CIA officer who helped organize the Watergate break-in, wrote several spy-tale genre novels, and organized the Bay of Pigs invasion.

A good article to consult in the Learning Center is “Locating People in Cemeteries” by George G. Morgan. The article recommends a methodical approach involving preparation before visiting the cemetery to make sure you are at the correct location. Records like those in this database can be a huge help in this regard as you can be guaranteed that your ancestor is located in the Prospect Lawn Cemetery if they are listed in the database. It is also possible that you will be able to find the location of additional information such as names of relatives if they purchased the grave plot and possible locations of the death certificate for the individual.

Information in this database:

  • Surname
  • Grave location or lot number
  • Death date
  • Date of burial
  • Date lot purchased
  • Residence/address of purchaser