Volunteers Clean up Minturn Family Cemetery

By Jennifer O’Connor

On a beautiful Spring day on Sat., Apr. 24, volunteers brought their rakes and garden tools to help Jim Baird clean up a small, family cemetery on his property on Denton Ln., located off Ackerman Rd. in Warwick.       Organized by the Warwick Historical Society, volunteers pulled weeds, picked up sticks and raked leaves. Baird, grateful for the help, pitched in by carting the debris out of the cemetery and onto his farm. 

      In the 1800s the farm belonged to the Minturn family. Members of the Minturn family are buried in the cemetery. John Minturn, whose grandfather’s great-grandfather is buried on the family plot, gave a brief history about his family. 

     He said Joseph Sr. was the owner of the Minthorn farm which was eventually changed to Minturn. Joseph Sr. divided his property in half for his two sons, Joseph Jr. and John, to have as their own farms. John owned the property where the cemetery is located while Joseph Jr. owned the farm on the corner of East Ridge Rd. and Minturn Rd. 

    In 1847 both Joseph Sr. and Joseph Jr. died. John lived until the 1860s. After John passed away his farm was no longer in the Minturn family name. 

     Since Baird has owned the property he has maintained the cemetery. To help property owners with the task, the Warwick Historical Society has started an infinity group called the Cemetery Preservation Group.  

 The group was formed after Ryan Muehlbauer approached WHS Director Nora Gurvich with the idea of preserving small cemeteries. Muehlbauer, who rides his bicycle throughout the country roads of Warwick, took notice of the many family plots in the Town. 

     “The Town has a list of the family cemeteries. Many people don’t even know that the cemeteries exist on their own property. Oftentimes, headstones fall down and people forget they are there,” said Muehlbauer.

     The Cemetery Preservation Group plans to clean up cemeteries every other month. For more information or to volunteer, call the WHS at 986-3236.

Organized by the Warwick Historical Society, volunteers spruced up the Minturn family cemetery on Denton Ln. in Warwick. 

Jim Baird carts away tree branches & sticks that had fallen on a cemetery located on his farm. 

A group of volunteers gather for a photo during a clean up of a cemetery on Denton Ln. in Warwick.