SPRING VALLEY CEMETERY, FORT BENJAMIN HARRISON
File: 1SVInstructions.doc (Microsoft Word )
The ‘Combined’ document/file is compiled from the 1898 Plat, the1940 Walk-Through, the 1997 Anthropological Survey (Photographs and Alphabetical list), and available burial permits. Some questioned items (?) have been included. The original Plat information is often difficult to read and photocopies are used because of the original’s fragile condition.
Spring Valley Cemetery
West fence / North fence / Post Road
LOCATING GRAVES: Graves are most easily located by Row number – not by Lot code and number. Many are separated by the E-W walkways but not consecutively numbered.. Use the full-page map along with the Combined Alphabetical listing for specific lot locations. Once the general area (Row) is located, look for a specific headstone or a known, nearby stone. See the instructions below or the detailed map when looking for a specific lot or grave. Many burials do not have grave markers but their general location is known.
Spring Valley Cemetery - Rows
West fence / North fence / Post Road
Row #
21 <-- 15 / 14 <-- 9 / 8 <-- 1
40 <-- 36 / 35 <-- 30 / 29 <-- 22
61 <-- 55 / 54 <-- 49 / 48 <-- 41
South fence
Lot numbers. Here 1/1 is the first entry identifying the first row and the first photo. This row reference was set up for the Anthropological Surface Survey in 1997. Each row consists of two or more lots running north and south across a Section. The second column has NER 1 for the first lot in the North/ East/Right group. The other lot in this row is NEL 9 at the driveway.
PHOTOGRAPHS: There may be one or several numbers after the Row number. The number after the / is the number of the photograph with the photo numbers starting on the north end of each row. For example: Row 6 has photos of its 18 gravestones numbered from 6/50 to 6/67. Gravestone 6/50 is the first stone on the north end of the row, while 6/67 is at the far south end of Row 6. The next headstone number is in the next row, 7/68 and is the first one at the north end of the 7th row. The grave marker photos are numbered consecutively from /1 to /479 from the north-east corner to the south-west corner. They are not available on a computer file. Individual scanned copies may be made available on request.
SURFACE LOCATIONS: After you locate burials of interest, make a copy of the Cemetery Map and the Quick Navigation pages to take with you for surface navigation. After 170 years and many supervisors, the walkways, crosswalks, and lots are blurred.
LOCATION BY ROWS: Walking into the cemetery from Post Road on the North Drive, Row 1
is the first row and runs along the Post Road fence, east of the massive oak tree. Walking to the back of the cemetery there are 21 rows in the North Section ending at the west fence.
The Center Section continues the row numbers starting at Post Road with Rows 22 to 40. Row 40 is more indefinite than the other rows. There are three to five lots in each row.
The South Section again numbers from Post Road. The row numbers are from 41 to 61. Here there are only two lots in each row.
EXAMPLE OF LOCATIONS:
1/1NER 1
Speece?, ElizabethMarker broken
1/2NER 1 or NEL 9marker between
Speece, Layfayette-6/24/1844NER 1 & NEL 9
LOCATION BY LOT: The other location system dates from the making of the current plat about 1898. This system gives a more exact location of an individual lot and uses the walkways as separators. Unless you are familiar with the cemetery and have a map it is best to start to locate a grave from the Row number. In the example of the grave designated 1/1 in the first column, the second column reads NER 1. The location is North Section, East Part, Right Division, Lot #1.
Each section (North, Center, South) is divided by two north/south grass crosswalks. They may be hard to see but the second letter in NER represents East, the part between Post Road and the first Crosswalk. The other letters are M - Middle between the Crosswalks and W – West for the part west of the second Crosswalk extending to the west fence.
Each Section has an east/west grass walkway, which gives the third letter of the location. In NER this is the Right Division. You may determine this by facing the cemetery from Post Road and L is on the left or south side of the Walkway and R is on the north side. The lot number NER 1 designates the first lot in the cemetery. This is in the far northeast corner along the north fence and the Post Road fence.
The west ends of the North and Center Sections have been further divided into short lots so that an A (south area) or B (north area) may appear on these locations. The Center Section, all
along the South Drive has a series of very short lots that are not really the A area and with no logical numbering
Each lot has a unique letter designation but there are more than one lot of a given number. For example there are four lots #22. There are graves in lot CWRB 22…Center West Right A designates that this lot 22 is in Row 36 on the south side of the North Drive just west of the west crosswalk. CML 22 is in Row 33, Center Section Middle Part, Left of the walkway and extends almost (but not quite) to the South Drive. Lot CWLA 22 (or *) is a very short lot at the south end of Row 39 that is on the north side of the South drive. The last Lot 22 is SEL 22 in the south/east corner at Post Road and the south fence in Row 41.
The cemetery apparently grew over the years with the current ‘supervisor’ deciding how lot numbers should run. There is a kind of weird sense to the numbering system but it is not consistent and the use of a map is essential even for persons familiar with the cemetery. This is why the Anthropology Surface Survey went to row numbers. They find the right general area to start a surface search.
Headstones missing since 1940 will not have a photo number but usually have information from the missing stone.
To find a grave or lot:
1. Locate the target name. The Quick-Search Alphabetical List will tell you if a person or family are present in the cemetery and the row or rows where they are located. The long Alphabetical Listing document gives more information including birth & death, headstone numbers, and relationships (where available).
2. Write down Name and Row number. You will need a Lot number if no headstone is listed. If there is a headstone there will be a number after the row number (example: 3/10). Three is the row number and 10 is the photo number of the headstone.
If no headstone number is given, use the longer Alphabetical Listing document for the Lot designation. Any Headstones missing since the 1940 record will not have a photo number but usually will have information from the missing stone. You can still locate the lot and other family stones if desired.
3. Copy the Spring Valley Cemetery Map and the Spring Valley Quick Navigation documents.
4. Follow the instructions on the Navigation document.
5. Remember: Lot numbers and Row numbers are not the same! You can find a headstone using the Navigation instructions. You must use the Map to find a particular Lot.
6. Lot sizes: The limits of a particular lot can often be determined by using the Quick-Search ‘Nearby Gravestone’ Listing. If the nearby stones in the same row have different letter/number designations, they are in the adjoining lot.