# West Cemetery record reconstruction
250 Hanover Street, Meriden, Connecticut. Evidence collected September 28, 2026.

This edition supplies a working master index and geographic evidence for Meriden Parks and Recreation. It is not a complete interment register, a legal title search, a boundary survey, or authorization to open a grave. There are no spaces verified available for the two proposed burials in 2027. That is a statement about the evidence recovered, not a count of actual vacant spaces.

## What was recovered

- 2,568 distinct Find a Grave memorial IDs, captured from all 129 pages of the cemetery's public search. Memorial records are not necessarily distinct burials. One plot field explicitly says cenotaph; further duplicates, removals, and memorial-only entries may exist.
- 1,765 records contain a plot or section reference beyond the literal word “unknown.” Most are section names, not individual lot or grave numbers. Original wording is preserved. A normalized section field helps search; it does not establish section geometry.
- 56 individual contributor-supplied GPS coordinates. Fifty-five fall inside the city's assessment parcel. Leroy Valentine Clough's submitted point lies outside it and is retained as a conflict, excluded from the cemetery map. Several memorials share identical coordinates. Decimal digits do not establish survey accuracy.
- City parcel 0112-0053-0003-0000 (assessor ID 774), its geographic polygon, and the city's Aerials2024 service imagery. These provide geographic context only.
- A photographed fragment of a named-lot plan on a family-history page, credited there to Janis L. Franco, Local History Librarian, Meriden Public Library. The highlighted Blessing label appears to bear number 713. That reading is tentative. The image has no verified date, scale, north arrow, section identification, or chain of custody. It is linked for inspection, not georeferenced or treated as current ownership proof.
- A historical Meriden death-certificate image for Henrietta Blessing on the same page, dated in June 1903 and naming West Cemetery. The associated memorial is Caroline Henrietta Thienert Blessing, 1834–1903. The family-history page uses Theunert. The exact modern grave position remains unknown.
- A public-domain 1910 judicial opinion describing 588 cemetery lots and certificates transferable on the association's books. The opinion expressly mentions exhibits attached to the trial finding. Those exhibits may preserve certificate forms or other records even if the association's books are lost.
- The official Hale cemetery locator: West, Meriden, cemetery 211.10, volume 26, pages 421–483. This is 63 numbered pages inclusive. The full inscription survey has not been obtained. FamilySearch's linked catalog required sign-in; no account access was available in this session. Meriden Public Library lists Hale volumes 26 and 27.

The earlier collection's 48 names and research leads, 18 historical scans, and separate 57,451-row Meriden death index remain available. Twenty-five earlier references link to this master by identical Find a Grave ID. Other names were not automatically merged. A city death-index entry does not establish West Cemetery burial.

## Ownership findings

The city's current assessment card and its Vision property page identify the land account as WEST CEMETERY ASSOC CEMETERY, with correspondence through the City of Meriden. Vision lists 8.22 acres. This identifies an assessment account, not the owners of individual burial rights. The city card itself says its information is not legally binding.

The sales row contains a $0 entry, book 9999/page 999, date 9/9/1999, and ST ANDREWS PARISH CHURCH, inconsistent with the current owner heading. These placeholder-like values require a real land-record instrument before interpretation. The Vision category “Exempt Vac” describes an assessment classification and does not identify vacant grave spaces.

In 1910, the court described 6.5 acres and 588 lots. It distinguished burial rights from legal title to the land and said certificates of proprietorship were transferable on the association's books. That historical account does not establish current lot ownership, current boundaries, or present capacity. No authenticated current individual plot-rights holders were recovered. Names on stones and family plot labels are not title evidence.

## Priority recovery work

1. **Recover the photographed plan's original.** Give Meriden Public Library the exact GreenerPasture page and full image URL below, the Blessing/Thienert/Theunert names, and the credit to Janis L. Franco. Ask about local-history reference correspondence, cemetery files, donated copies, map cabinets, backups, and successor custodians. Seek the entire map, reverse side, legend, date, scale, sections and register explaining its numbers. Authenticate before tracing boundaries.
2. **Obtain the full Hale survey.** Request volume 26, pages 421–483, cemetery 211-10, including section headings, title and any plans or continuation pages. Transcribe every line with page references, distinguish unmarked graves from missing inscriptions, and independently check the transcription. Catalog lead: film 3345 / DGS 7592426, subject to repository verification.
3. **Search the 1910 court file and exhibits.** Ask Connecticut State Library State Archives about the Supreme Court record on appeal and originating Meriden City Court case, City of Meriden v. West Meriden Cemetery Association, 83 Conn. 204, decided June 14, 1910. Request the trial finding, attached exhibits, certificate specimens and any schedules/plans.
4. **Trace association books through custody changes.** Ask Parks and Recreation, the City Clerk, library, historical society, former caretakers and association successors about lot-sale books, duplicate certificates, transfer and perpetual-care accounts, interment and disinterment registers, index cards, sexton notebooks and backups. New England Cemetery Association's public directory names Peter Hazelwood as a West Meriden Cemetery contact. Current role and holdings are unconfirmed; no contact was made.
5. **Follow the state grant file.** OPM's 2022 legislative response lists Meriden's West Cemetery grant 200PM4604AJ, effective February 17, 2021, for $3,332 from the Neglected Cemeteries Account. Request the application, attachments, ownership/care representations, photographs, work plans, invoices, reports and correspondence. The award is a records lead, not proof of legal abandonment or a transfer of title.
6. **Reconstruct burials from municipal returns.** Ask the City Clerk for retained burial permits, permit stubs, interment/removal/disinterment returns, sexton reports and indexes that name West Cemetery. Use death certificates and dated funeral notices as corroboration. The separate city death index is only a candidate-finding aid. Library newspaper microfilm holdings cover 1863–2020.
7. **Rebuild lot rights separately.** Match authenticated lot certificates and transfers to any surviving plan. Trace relevant probate and family papers when necessary. Keep original purchaser, later transfers and current authorized rights holder in separate fields. Land ownership and burial rights require separate evidence.

## Field work needed for the proposed burials

Parks and Recreation should first identify the proposed location using an authenticated plan or a surveyor's site control. Record every visible marker, footstone, monument base, enclosure and depression with photographs and measured coordinates, including unreadable or apparently unmarked locations. Use stable field IDs that do not impersonate historical lot numbers.

Qualified cemetery archaeologists/geophysical practitioners can design non-invasive investigation of the proposed areas and advise whether ground-penetrating radar or other methods are suitable. A lack of a detected anomaly does not itself prove that a space is empty. Investigate documentary conflicts and possible removals. No invasive probing, excavation, or marker movement is authorized by this research.

For each proposed grave, the city needs both a supported occupancy determination and confirmation of burial rights/authority. Record who made each determination, the evidence, date and limitations. Keep status “unknown” until those requirements are met. This edition does not select or clear either proposed burial space.

## Sources and direct record locations

- Find a Grave cemetery 103804: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/103804/west-cemetery
- Complete memorial search: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/103804/memorial-search
- Individual citations are retained in every master row. Facts were extracted; photographs and biographies were not copied.
- City assessment card: https://gis.meridenct.gov/meridenportal/PrintAssessorCard.aspx?sql=774&PIN=0112-0053-0003-0000&CardNumber=1&BuildingID=773
- Vision account: https://gis.vgsi.com/meridenct/Parcel.aspx?Pid=774
- City parcel service: https://gis.meridenct.gov/server/rest/services/Parcels1/MapServer/1
- City aerial service: https://gis.meridenct.gov/server/rest/services/Aerials2024/MapServer
- City GIS metadata: https://gis.meridenct.gov/meridenportal/Documents.aspx
- City 1868 historical map: https://gis.meridenct.gov/website/historicmaps/map1868b.pdf (context map, not an authenticated internal lot plan)
- Plot-plan provenance and certificate page: https://greenerpasture.com/Places/ShowNews/2439
- Full plot-plan image: https://greenerpasture.com/Content/ancestorimages/theunert_5415_grave_plot.jpg
- Historical certificate image: https://greenerpasture.com/Content/ancestorimages/theinert_5415_death_cert.jpg
- Public-domain court opinion: https://law.co/app/cases/500319/the-city-of-meriden-et-al-vs-the-west-meriden-cemetery-association
- Hale locator: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DECD/Historic-Preservation/01_Programs_Services/Hurricane-Sandy/Cemeteries/Copy-of-HaleCemeteries_Master_Table.pdf
- Library holdings: https://www.meridenlibrary.org/services/history-genealogy
- FamilySearch catalog: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/koha:18917
- Ancestry Hale collection: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2900/
- NECA directory: https://newenglandcemetery.org/neca-members/west-meriden-cemetery/
- OPM grant response: https://www.cga.ct.gov/app/related/20230213_2022%20Subcommittee%20Documents/20220202_2022%20General%20Government%20B%20Subcommittee%20Work%20Session%20Documents/OPM%20Appropriations%20Work%20Session%20-QandA%20to%20OFA%20-%203-4-22.pdf
- Meriden City Clerk vital statistics: https://www.meridenct.gov/government/departments/city-clerk/vital-statistics/
- Earlier archive and source scans: https://ctcemeterycollective.org/collections/west-cemetery

## Data method and file meanings

The master contains one row per public memorial ID. Dates and plot wording are preserved as source text because partial and unknown dates must not become fabricated full dates. Section references are a search aid derived from the explicit section text. No inferred grave grid or section polygon was created. Individual coordinates were read from memorial detail pages, not copied from the cemetery center. Original coordinates, including the rejected outlier, remain in the GIS export.

The city parcel is EPSG:4326 longitude/latitude GeoJSON. The aerial export extent is recorded in Web Mercator (EPSG:3857). The interactive map uses that returned extent to align the image, parcel and points. GPS map numbers are this edition's reference numbers, not historical lot or grave numbers. Several records can share one point. The area around and between points remains unknown.

Public source names, dates, identifiers and location facts are attributed row by row. Third-party photographs, biographies and the plan-fragment image are linked at their source. Original city map, locator and public-domain opinion files accompany the research. Raw extraction page hashes and quality checks are preserved in acquisition-audit.json. Review this edition against original registers and field measurements before upgrading any evidence status.