Historic Mentz Church Cemetery, Montezuma NY

The Mentz Church Cemetery is one of seven in the small Town of Montezuma. The original conveyance of the land for the church was from James Weston to John Gilmore and William Bell trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Meeting House Mentz in 1825. The trustees paid $500 for one acre, which back then was a sizeable sum. It is surrounds the Mentz Church on three sides containing approximately 220 graves on the corner of Mentz Church and McDonald Roads. The earliest burial is Harriet Tillotson, Harriet wife of Levi W. Tillotson, died July 1, 1813 at age 20. The latest burial was that of Lucille Bennett who died in 1977.

In the mid 1960’s a group of local historians and members of the Owasco, NY Chapter of the DAR compiled a 10-volume listing of Cayuga County Cemetery records. An "on line" listing of Cayuga County burial records may be viewed at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycayuga/cemetery.htm

The Town of Montezuma does an excellent job of maintaining the cemetery. At the present time the cemetery is closed for further burials.

In November of 2004 there was an unfortunate incidence of cemetery vandalism which damaged more than a dozen stones on the east side of the cemetery. Restitution is being made and the repair work was completed in the Spring 2006.

Below are photos of three generations of the Bell family descendents of William and Mary (Gilmore) Bell who were born in Ireland and are buried in the cemetery. Gary Bell and his son, Andrew (left) from Ann Arbor, Michigan visited the cemetery and church in June 2005. In July, Gary returned with his father, William Bell (right) who stands next to the gravesite of his great-grandfather Colonel William Bell, Jr. (1801-1880).

Contact: cml115@tds.net