The Ladd Family GraveSite
Field Notes: Mt. Hope Cemetery
Mt. Hope Cemetery
791 Mt. Hope Avenue
Rochester, New YorkFriends of Mt. Hope
Epitaph - Friends of Mt. Hope Newsletter
VintageViews.org - More history, and photos
Speaking Stones - Gravestones and funerary architecture in Mt. Hope Cemetery
Opened in 1836, Mt Hope is the oldest Municipal Victorian Cemetery in America. The 196 acre cemetery requires over 14 1/2 miles of roads to reach it's 370,000 permanent residents. Famous for it's glacial deposits and picturesque, park like setting. The terrain in the older section of the cemetery is very irregular and was formed about 13,000 years ago during the last Ice Age when the continental glacier stalled here and started to melt. Debris that was trapped in the ice was carried along by melt water and dumped here at the glacier's edge. A series of interconnected hills, some nearly 300 feet high, created a ridge that pass through the cemetery, and continue almost three miles to the east. This collection of oddly shaped gravel piles is what makes this cemetery so beautiful. As you walk up, down and around the wooded hills you are constantly seeing new vistas... a primary concern of the Victorian designers. The cemetery is really a beautiful park. The Victorians left the terrain as it was, and landscaped it so that everything looked natural. During that period, Rochester had more flower and tree nurseries than the rest of the United States combined, and the largest of these nurseries was located across the Mt. Hope Avenue. Dozens of unique specimen trees were planted in the cemetery, and now those trees are over 150 years old, and they are absolutely spectacular.
A group of active volunteers, of which I am a member, The Friends of Mount Hope, erect fallen monuments, rebuild roads, maintain gardens and provide free tours on the weekends. They also help with genealogical research from cemetery records.
Mt. Hope Cemetery is located a short distance from my home and I have spent many hours there photographing headstones for use on my other websites. I have a more complete history of the cemetery and my research on Victorian Cemetery Symbolism here.
After two years of studying the cemetery, and literally walking every row of monuments, I was surprised to learn that Ladd family member were buried here. The Ladd graves are in the oldest part of the cemetery, about 30 yards from the earliest burial, which dates from 1838.
The cemetery records indicate that on March 9, 1839, Nehemiah B. Northrop purchased adjoining Lots 50 & 52. Buried in Lot 52 are John Langdon, his wife Charlotte Ladd, and four of their children; Harriet Oliva Langdon, Caroline E. Langdon, Charlotte L. A. Langdon, and Mary E. Langdon. Also buried here are; Thomas Hartwell, 1836, Eliza Hartwell, 1834, John Hartwell, 1828, and Israel Smith, 1843. The dates of the Heartwell's deaths indicate that they died before the opening of the cemetery, and are removals from other cemeteries. I do not have any information on Israel Smith.
During this era many of the smaller cemeteries were filled after outbreaks of smallpox and other epidemics. Mt. Hope was planned as large cemetery, two miles from the city, able to safely receive the removals from these small cemeteries. Plus the acreage from these smaller cemeteries was desperately needed for construction of schools and hospitals for the explosively expanding city. The older bodies were placed in mass graves, and the newer burials were placed in individual plots, sometimes with the headstones. The dates of the Heartwell's deaths indicate that they died before the opening of the cemetery, and were removals from some other cemetery.
Buried in Lot 50 are Nehemiah B. Northrop, and his wife Louisa Hartwell. Louisa died March 2, 1839, the week before Nehemiah purchased the lots. Buried behind the couple are their children; Charles Beach Northrop, George H. Northrop, and Louisa H. Northrop.
Buried to the right of Mr. Northrop is his second wife, Elizabeth Chauncy Langdon, daughter of John and Charlotte Ladd Langdon. I have found no evidence of children for this couple.
Further investigation has determined the relevance of the Hartwell graves in Lot 52. The monuments in Lot 52 state that John and Eliza Hartwell were married, and Thomas was their son. Although not verified, it appears that the are the parents, and brother of Louisa.
Cemetery Records on Ladd burials
Cemetery Records - from Frank Gillespie, Friends of Mt. Hope researcher
Photo Gallery
Mt. Hope Cemetery - Views of the cemetery grounds
Mt. Hope Cemetery - Prominent Permanent Residents
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| Biographical Notes: John Langdon | Biographical Notes: N. B. Northrop |
