Connecticut Cemetery Collective / West Cemetery

A record of the people.
A map of the evidence.

West Cemetery · 250 Hanover Street, Meriden, Connecticut
Reconstruction edition · September 28, 2026

2,568Memorial records indexed
1,765Plot or section references
55Memorial GPS records on this map
UnknownAvailable burial spaces
No spaces have been verified available for burial.

The points below locate public memorial references. Areas between points remain unverified. Plot rights, occupancy and the two proposed burial locations require further records and qualified field assessment.

Master register · ExcelMaster register · CSVPrintable map · PDFComplete research package · ZIPSources & recovery priorities

Geographic evidence map

City aerial imagery and assessment boundary, with contributor-supplied grave coordinates. Map numbers identify this edition’s records, not historical lots. Click a point or search a name below.

Drag to move · use + / − to zoom
N
● Contributor GPS, accuracy unverified City assessment boundary
Imagery: City of Meriden, Aerials2024. One coordinate conflict is excluded; shared GPS points do not establish individual grave positions.

This map has no authenticated internal lot boundaries. The historical plan fragment below has not been aligned to this aerial. The map’s extent is recorded in the downloadable georeferencing file.

Working master register

One row per public memorial ID. Memorials can include cenotaphs, duplicate entries or removed burials. This is not a certified count of people interred.

Name / sourceBirth – death (as recorded)Plot / section (as recorded)Location

What the records establish

Land account and individual plot rights

Meriden’s assessment records list WEST CEMETERY ASSOC CEMETERY, with correspondence through the city, for parcel 0112-0053-0003-0000. The account lists 8.22 acres. This does not identify individual burial-rights holders.

The 1910 court opinion describes 588 lots, burial-rights certificates and transfers recorded in the association’s books. It distinguishes those rights from title to the land. Current plot-rights holders remain unknown.

The assessment sales row has placeholder-like book/page values and an inconsistent grantee. The “Exempt Vac” classification does not mean vacant grave spaces.

Property account · 1910 opinion transcription

A surviving fragment of a named-lot plan

A family-history page displays a West Cemetery plot-plan fragment and credits Janis L. Franco, Meriden Public Library. Its highlighted Blessing label appears numbered 713; the reading is tentative.

The same page displays a 1903 Meriden death certificate naming West Cemetery for Henrietta Blessing. The master links it to Caroline Henrietta Thienert Blessing’s memorial, retaining the surname variation.

The plan’s date, section, scale and current validity are unconfirmed. Its labels are not authenticated current ownership records. Recovering the entire original is a priority.

Inspect full plot-plan fragment
Provenance and historical certificate

Next records to recover

  1. The original plan and reference correspondence credited to Janis L. Franco.
  2. Hale volume 26, pages 421–483, cemetery 211-10. Full survey not yet acquired.
  3. The 1910 court file’s trial finding and exhibits showing burial-rights certificates.
  4. Association lot books, transfers, perpetual-care accounts, sexton returns, burial and removal permits.
  5. OPM grant 200PM4604AJ, effective February 17, 2021, including application attachments and maps.

Download specific request drafts · Drafts have not been sent.

Planning the two burials

Each proposed space needs a supported occupancy determination and confirmation of burial rights and authority.

  1. Recover the numbering system and establish measured site control.
  2. Survey visible markers and unmarked features with stable field IDs.
  3. Have qualified specialists assess suitable non-invasive investigation of proposed areas.
  4. Resolve documentary conflicts and record the city’s determination for each space.

No marker, no online entry, or no detected subsurface anomaly is sufficient by itself to establish an available grave. This research does not authorize ground disturbance.

Sources, files and method