Millard Fillmore - Forest Lawn Cemetery - Buffalo, New York

Forest Lawn Cemetery is an historic rural cemetery founded in 1849 by Charles E. Clarke.  It covers over 269 acres and over 152,000 are buried there including President Millard Fillmore.  Over the years we have tried to visit every presidential gravesite and President Fillmore was eluding us so here we were.

Since its inception, Forest Lawn has served as a cemetery, park, arboretum, crematory and outdoor museum.  

We found our way to Millard Fillmore to pay our respects.

Millard Fillmore was elected as the 12th vice president in 1848 and succeeded to the presidency in July, 1850 upon the death of U.S. President Zachary Taylor and was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House.  Fillmore was instrumental in the passing of the Compromise of 1850, a bargain that led to a brief truce in the battle over the expansion of slavery.  He failed to win the Whig nomination for president in 1852 but gained the endorsement of the Know Nothing Party four years later and finished third in the 1856 presidential election behind James Buchanan and John C. Fremont.

Plenty of family members were in the family plot, including both of his wives - Abigail Powers (m. 1826, died 1853) and Caroline McIntosh (m. 1858, died 1881).

These were the original head stones for President Fillmore and Caroline McIntosh Fillmore.

As we walked away we were scouring the cemetery web site to try to find other notable people interred there when we heard someone say "can I help you find something?"  Coincidentally, Laura was walking the cemetery as she prepared for a tour she was giving the following day.  And she was a WEALTH of information.  So based on our learnings, we set out to see some of the notables she told us about.

E.G. Spaulding was an American lawyer, banker, and Republican party politician.  He opposed slavery and supported the idea for the first U.S. currency not backed by gold or silver, thus helping to keep the Union's economy afloat during the Civil War.

Ely S. Parker was a Seneca Indian born in 1828 in Western New York.  Ely turned his attention to engineering and his work dealt largely with the construction and maintenance of canals.  He received an appointment to superintend the construction of a custom house and marine hospital in Galena, Illinois.  It was during this time that he became acquainted with Ulysses S. Grant.  By 1863, two years into the Civil War, Parker found himself on Grant's personal staff.  A year later he became Grant's military secretary and served at the General's side until Appomattox, where he copied the terms of surrender given to Robert E. Lee.

Red Jacket (1750-1830) was a Seneca orator and chief of the Wolf clan, based in Western New York.  On behalf of his nation, he negotiated with the new United States after the Revolutionary War, when the Seneca as British allies were forced to cede much land following the defeat of the British; he signed the Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794.  He helped secure some Seneca territory in New York state, although most of his people had migrated to Canada for resettlement after the Paris Treaty.

The first sculpture of Seneca Indian chief Red Jacket was erected in 1851.  Red Jacket is depicted wearing the richly embroidered scarlet coat presented to him by a British officer, while on his chest is displayed the large silver peace medal awarded to him by President George Washington.

Across the road were some beautiful bells with, as it turns out, quite a history.

1865: Rev. John Timon ordered 28 bell carillon to enhance worship at St. Joseph Cathedral.  15 more bells were ordered shortly thereafter, bringing the total to 43.

1866: Bells are manufactured in Mans, France.

1867: Bishop Timon died never having heard the bells ring at the cathedral.

1869: The bells arrive in Buffalo, at the time they are the largest carillon in the United States and the third largest in the world.

1870: The bells are installed in St. Joseph Cathedral.  

Tolling was delayed.  The tower of St. Joseph Cathedral was not designed for a carillon.  The confined space made it difficult to hang the bells properly so the bells went unused.

1913: The diocese of Buffalo constructed a new cathedral.

1915: The St. Joseph Cathedral carillon was installed in the twin spires of St. Joseph "new" Cathedral.

Structural problems with the new cathedral quickly became evident as the cathedral spires could not support the weight of the carillon.

1922: The bells had to be removed from the spires and stored in the cathedral's basement where they sat for more than 50 years.  During this time in storage, all but eight of the bells were stolen from the cathedral's basement.

1975: A local scrap dealer purchased the eight remaining bells from the diocese.  Patricia Oishei Colby acquired the largest of the eight bells from the scrap dealer and donated it to Forest Lawn in memory of her father.  Since that time, it has tolled whenever a funeral procession enters the gates of Forest Lawn.

1987: The seven remaining bells from the original St. Joseph's 43 bells from the carillon were donated to Forest Lawn by the Lancaster Steel Service Company.  They were placed in storage as opportunities for their eventual use were explored.

2020: The bells were removed from storage at Forest Lawn and restored.  The St. Joseph Carillon at Forest Lawn was constructed and dedicated.  At last the bells tolled.  

It's funny when you look at something in front of you and have no idea where it came from and what had to be done for it to get there.  This was an interesting story about what it took to get these bells to this spot at this time.

As we stood there and as if on queue, the bells started to toll.  What a beautiful sound!