Pleasant Valley Cemetery
Also known as Herbst Farm Cemetery , Jerusalem Lutheran Cemetery
Princeton, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, USA
German immigrants in the township began conducting Lutheran services, usually in private homes, as far back as the early 1800's. It was not until a log cabin-style church was built in about 1825 that the congregation of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded. In 1862, in the midst of the American Civil War, the congregation was reorganized under the Reverend A.H. Waters as the Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
A new church was built to the west and closer to the village of Princeton, a settlement founded by John Randolph in 1841 and named after his father's hometown of Princeton, New Jersey. It was built on property deeded to the church from local resident George Herbst on December 27, 1934. The new brick church opened in 1868 and the surrounding grounds began to be utilized as a burial ground for the parishioners. Oddly enough, by an oversight, it was not until October 1905 that the old deed for the property was actually filed with the Lawrence County court.
In July 1920, for whatever reason, a charter was filed with the Lawrence County court to incorporate the Pleasant Valley Cemetery Association to manage the affairs of the small cemetery surrounding the church. Perhaps the church did so to open the cemetery up for profit or just sold it off outright? It's at the time that the name Pleasant Valley first becomes commonly associated with the cemetery.
Meanwhile, the little church continued to thrive and had its own Sunday school and a missionary society. The congregation celebrated its centennial anniversary with an afternoon picnic and service at the church on Thursday, September 24, 1925. The church remained in use until about 1943, when the dwindling congregation was probably merged into another Lutheran church. The exact fate of the church seems difficult to determine but it was torn down at some later date.
The small cemetery, located alongside Mill Bridge Road and overshadowed by a large limestone mining quarry operated by Quality Aggregates Inc., is well kept and still in use to this day. Among those buried there are William Allison (1833-1925), Jacob Boyer (1834-1919), and Thomas Taylor (1846-1931), three Civil War veterans that served with the distinguished 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment – commonly known as the "Roundheads.""
German immigrants in the township began conducting Lutheran services, usually in private homes, as far back as the early 1800's. It was not until a log cabin-style church was built in about 1825 that the congregation of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded. In 1862, in the midst of the American Civil War, the congregation was reorganized under the Reverend A.H. Waters as the Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
A new church was built to the west and closer to the village of Princeton, a settlement founded by John Randolph in 1841 and named after his father's hometown of Princeton, New Jersey. It was built on property deeded to the church from local resident George Herbst on December 27, 1934. The new brick church opened in 1868 and the surrounding grounds began to be utilized as a burial ground for the parishioners. Oddly enough, by an oversight, it was not until October 1905 that the old deed for the property was actually filed with the Lawrence County court.
In July 1920, for whatever reason, a charter was filed with the Lawrence County court to incorporate the Pleasant Valley Cemetery Association to manage the affairs of the small cemetery surrounding the church. Perhaps the church did so to open the cemetery up for profit or just sold it off outright? It's at the time that the name Pleasant Valley first becomes commonly associated with the cemetery.
Meanwhile, the little church continued to thrive and had its own Sunday school and a missionary society. The congregation celebrated its centennial anniversary with an afternoon picnic and service at the church on Thursday, September 24, 1925. The church remained in use until about 1943, when the dwindling congregation was probably merged into another Lutheran church. The exact fate of the church seems difficult to determine but it was torn down at some later date.
The small cemetery, located alongside Mill Bridge Road and overshadowed by a large limestone mining quarry operated by Quality Aggregates Inc., is well kept and still in use to this day. Among those buried there are William Allison (1833-1925), Jacob Boyer (1834-1919), and Thomas Taylor (1846-1931), three Civil War veterans that served with the distinguished 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment – commonly known as the "Roundheads.""
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Princeton, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, USA
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- Added: 5 Oct 2006
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2191709
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