WEST CEMETERY, MERIDEN — RECORD RECOVERY ARCHIVE
Initial recovery edition | 2026-09-08

HOW TO SEARCH
1. Download the ZIP and extract it completely (double-click on a Mac; Extract All on Windows).
2. Open START_HERE.html in Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox.
3. Search a name, date, section or keyword; choose the relevant collection.
Search works offline. Source links require an internet connection.

INCLUDED
• 48 person-level West Cemetery burial references and research leads, each with a source and evidence label.
• 57,451 Meriden rows from Connecticut’s 1897–2001 death index, in a separate reference collection. These are death-index rows, NOT 57,451 West Cemetery burials.
• Original selected 1902 and 1906 historical-book page scans, including a printed portrait of Bela Carter; searchable PDF and OCR text.
• An editable Excel cemetery-reference index; source catalog; local full-text search database.
• A factual abstract and link for Nellie Shaw Baker’s 1936 newspaper notice transcription.
• A recovery guide, plot-reconstruction rules and five ready-to-use records-request drafts. No requests have been sent.

NOT YET RECOVERED
Original death certificates: 0. Original burial permits/certificates: 0.
Complete Hale 211-10 inscription survey: not acquired.
Authenticated internal plot/lot map: not acquired.
Verified gravestone photograph collection: not acquired.
Original newspaper clipping images: not acquired.
This is not a complete list of everyone buried at West Cemetery.

STRONGEST NEXT STEP
Ask Meriden Public Library for the COMPLETE Hale 211-10 survey within its 1934 Meriden volumes 26 and 27, including all pages and any maps. Selected extracts identify Lynn C. Webber, October 5, 1934, printed page 421 onward. Ask the City Clerk simultaneously for surviving cemetery-specific burial returns and permit registers before buying individual certificates. See guides/Records_Request_Drafts.txt.

DATA CAUTIONS
The memorial website reports roughly 2,570 memorials; this is not a verified burial count. FamilySearch/Find a Grave/WikiTree source-page access was restricted or unavailable here, so indexed leads are labeled accordingly. Meriden death records can relate to burials anywhere. Surviving headstones may commemorate people interred elsewhere. Original survey section labels are clues and have not been georeferenced.

No purchases, messages to custodians, submissions or paid orders were made.
