Tanner Cemetery
Available documentation indicates that this cemetery, once situated on the farm of Samuel Northrop Tanner, started as a small family burial ground with the interment of William Tanner in 1831. Two men buried within the limits of this cemetery, Jedidiah Phelps and William Tanner, are both veterans of the American Revolution and their graves are marked appropriately.
William Tanner was born May 9, 1751 at South Kingstown, Rhode Island to Francis Tanner and Elizabeth Sheldon. He married Ruth Brown on February 16, 1771, and six children were born to the couple:
William Brown Tanner – October 13, 1772
Anstis Tanner – April 19, 1776
Ruth Tanner – August 18, 1778
Susannah Tanner – May 30, 1786
Francis Brown Tanner – April 14, 1793
According to the Tanner Genealogy, compiled by the Rev. George C. Tanner, William Tanner (1751) was paid 9 pounds in March of 1781 for service as a private with the 9th Regiment of Foot, U.S. Service with Col. Crary commanding. This notation also indicates that Tanner was wounded during his service, carrying a scar for the remainder of his life.
Tanner relocated to the town of Ridgeway, then a part of Genesee County, sometime after 1800 and worked as a shoemaker. His grandson, Samuel Northrop Tanner, purchased the farm north of Mount Albion Cemetery sometime in 1819 and his father, William Brown Tanner and grandfather followed him to the area shortly after.
Ruth Tanner died May 4, 1825 and William on September 23, 1831. After the death of William Brown Tanner on January 5, 1858, he was interred on the family farm to the north of his father where his body remains today. William Tanner’s youngest son, Francis Brown Tanner, was a noted minister in the Freewill Baptist Church. In 1807, “he became the subject of divine grace” during a religious revival near Floyd, New York. At the age of fifteen, he started holding religious meetings and became known as “the boy preacher.” When his brother and father relocated to the Albion area, he settled near Gaines (then part of Genesee County) and preached in the area for approximately 12 years before relocating to Chautauqua County.
Also buried in this cemetery is Sgt. Jedidiah Phelps, born April 23, 1753 and a member of the Connecticut Militia during the American Revolution. He married Deborah Cromwell on September 10, 1777 before relocating to central New York. He became one of the first white settlers in the area now known as Rome, New York and in 1793 he settled at Steuben, New York where he became the first town clerk. Around 1819 he settled in Barre (then part of Genesee County) and was active in establishing the Presbyterian Church in Albion. He was a silversmith by trade and died on February 9, 1848.
Also buried within the cemetery are neighbors of the Tanner farm, including Benjamin Green who purchased approximately 50 acres from Samuel N. Tanner, Amanda Bloss Jaquith (first wife of Cyrus Jaquith), and Percy Bloss Jaquith (second wife of Cyrus Jaquith). For many years this cemetery went without care and on numerous occasions was cleaned of overgrowth. In the 1980s the cemetery was annexed to the Village of Albion for care by the Superintendent of Mt. Albion Cemetery.
