OLD ST. LUKES CHURCH BURIAL GROUND & GARDEN Chartiers Valley, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Short Tour - Burial Ground Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by Charles Nixon -- cnixon@email.msn.com Located in Chartiers Valley near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Open for tours, Sundays, 1:30 to 4 P.M., from Memorial Day weekend through September. Group tours by appointment -- 412/531/6541. We welcome you to tour this historic Burial Ground and the new Burial Garden. The serial numbers in the Guide match the wooden pegs beside fifteen selected graves we have highlighted to give you a brief introduction to the stewardship we have for the faithful departed in this holy place. 1. NUTBROWN, Rachel (1884-1960) and Hen (1881-1950) Rachel was the last coffin to be interred here. 2. NIXON, Samuel S. (1811-1892) The son of Thomas and Jane Lea Nixon. He was a carpenter, married to Jane Steel. They had ten children. He owned land on which the Samuel S. Nixon Elementary School, Chartiers Valley School district is built. He was a strong Federalist. 3. NIXON, Emma L (1865-1875) Daughter of Samuel and Jane Nixon. "Her form is missing from its place, And will not come for calling; God only calleth back his own, Why should our tears be falling. The echo of the childish notes, Have ceased their happy ringing, We cannot catch a sound that floats, From where she now is singing." 4. STEEL, David (1749-1819) Rank of Captain. Surveyor from Ft. Pitt, under Gol. Bouquet, commander. Served in the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment. Served under Gen. McIntosh at Ft. Mcintosh (today's Beaver, PA.) to 1778. Laid out Ft. Bedford, and in 1765 the British garrison here, the seeding of St. Luke's Church. He was a member of the Church of England. He attended William and Mary College. He was Deputy Sheriff when this area was Virginia (later Washington County), and then Ensign of Pittsburgh. His wife was Jane Welsh, with three children. Their plantation across the Chartiers Creek was named 'Steel's Discovery. Family members are buried beside his tablestone. The Epitaph reads: "This world's a farce, And all this show it; I once thought so, But now I know it." (From John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.') 5. LEA, Laura (1860-1863) Daughter of D. N. and Ellen Lea. "In silence we left her, To sleep the long sleep; No sound shall awake her, Till the trumpet shall speak." 6. WILLIAMS Jane (1762-1795) This is the earliest recorded burial. Her father, Isaac Williams, Esq., buried nearby, was a law officer. 7. DARNBROUGH, Ellen (1811-1839) The plastic case is added to save the sandstone from collapse due to stratification. 8. LEA, William H. (1737-1802) Rank of Major. He served with Gen. Forbes expedition 1759 to capture Ft.Duquesne. Was commander of Ft. Mingo, and was stationed at Ft. Montour and Ft. Holidays Cove. Was given a King's land grant of 335 acres which he named Summerhill. Was a lay leader of the garrison chapel and St. Luke's Church. He married Dorothy Nelson in 1774, giving birth to Jane Lea, first white child born and Baptized in the Chartiers Valley. In 1802 he bequeathed "ten rods square for the use of the Episcopal Congregation where the Church now stands." Ten rods is 165 feet. Lea Street is nearby the Church. 9. NIXON, Jane Lea (1774-1859) The first daughter of William and Dorathy Lea, the first white child born and Baptized in the Chartiers Valley. She married Thomas Nixon and they had seven children. One son, Thomas, served until the end of the Civil War. Another son, Samuel, married Jane Steel (see above). Jane Nixon's cape and bonnet are part of the memorabilia of Old St. Lukes. Her family still posseses her Church of Ireland Book of Common Prayer. 10. RICHARDSON, James (1721-1805) Private, serving under "Mad Anthony' Wayne. Married Mary Lea (d. 1806)."Death thou hast conqur'd me, I by thy dart am slain; But Christ my Lord hath conqur'd, And I shall rise again." 11. SOUTH, Daniel (1747-1811) Owner of the plantation named "South Hall." The tablestone Epitaph reads: "This spot contains the ashes of the just, Who sought no honor, betray'd no trust; This truth he prov'd in every path he trod, An honest man is the noblest work of God." 12. PAPPAS, Hercules C. (1928-1992) CUTRIGHT, Dale H. (1920-1994) This is the Garden section of the Burial Ground. On the right hand portion cremains following cremation are inurned, with a tombstone. On the left hand portion, inurments will be made but without a tombstone. Applications are received only from annual Members of Old St. Lukes. 13. RIMMEL, Sarah (1813-1852) "As a wife devoted, As a Mother affectionate, As a Friend ever kind and loyal; As Angels watch her sleeping fast, Till Jesus comes to raise the past." 14. DRINKHALL, Sr., John (1835-1897) "Thy hands are clasped upon thy breast, He (hath) kissed thy lovely brow; And in our aching hearts we know, We have no father now." 15. WORGAN, Hanna (1829-1913) "Dearest Mother thou has left us, And thy loss we deeply feel; But 'tis God who hath bereft us, He can all our sorrows heal; Not dead but gone before." (Note the faint engraving of the open gate to Paradise with the sun shining above.) Over the years the tombstones (sandstone, marble or granite) have disappeared, due to the ravages of time or outright vandalism. The total number of missing stones is unknown. It has been said that the graveyard was filled and no new spaces could be found. Tombstones cannot be restored; only conserved or repaired. Two of the graves which cannot be located (perhaps because they are under the present Church building) are: Chnstian LESNETT, (1752-1807), the first resident of today's South Fayette Township area. He married Christianna in 1757, and had two sons. He served with Col. Bouquet in 1763, and in the Whiskey Rebellion, as a farmer he was neutral because of his friendship with John Neville. Lesnett Road, Upper St. Clair, is named for this family. Obadiah HOLMES (1760-1834) was married to Jane Richardson. They had ten daughters and three sons. In the 1782 massacre of Moravian Indians, Obadiah voted against a posse going to Indiana to retaliate for the attack on the Robert Wallace family in Washington County. There are 13 Lea family graves, and 6 Nixon family graves in Old St. Luke's Burial Ground. Local streets named for others in the Burial Ground include Hope Hollow Road for John Hope (1817-1818) and Swallow Hill Road for Sarah Fletcher Swallow (1821-1892). Archival records tell us that the following persons (sumames and year) were buried here, but today, we do not know where their graves are located: Beilby 1901 Blackmore 1856 Chettle 1890 Davis 1908 Johnson 1892 Johnston 1904 Jones 1855 Jones 1890 Lowry 1889 Osborne 1905 Seville 1857 Smith 1898 Stewart 1863 Swallow 1892 Taylor 1908 Wright 1900 Wright 1909. There are six concrete stones, with a painted cross on each, beside the west wall of the Church showing the location of six graves discovered in our 1991 archaeological excavation, done by Dr. Ron Carlyle. This was our first effort to find an area where the new Burial Garden could be placed. The excavation was 24 inches deep, and by the different color of soil we found the grave shafts. Pictures of this are on a cork board display in the Bride's Room. (NOTE: Graves of Revolutionary War soldiers are marked by a flag by the tombstones.) The early burials and the tombstones are oriented toward the east and the sunrise, as a symbol of the Resurrection hope. NOTE: This information was copied from a booklet entitled "Burial Ground Tour--- Old St.Luke's. The Historic Church does not have a congregation, so donations are needed and appreciated for restoration and upkeep of this histocial site.