CEMETERY NAME: 

Hays-Fearon Cemetery

AKA: 

Number of Burials (approximate):  2000

Dates of Activity:  1794 - present

Documentation/Publication:  The Cemeteries of Bald Eagle Township, Beech Creek Township, and Beech Creek Borough (2005)

Directions/GPS: 

In Beech Creek borough, turn off Route 150 onto Maple Avenue.  Follow this road to its intersection with Maple Avenue (T330).  Across the road on the left hand corner is the Hays-Fearon Cemetery.  Do not park in the cemetery, but along the road beside the cemetery.  Note that Bossert Family Cemetery is on the eastern side of Hays-Fearon Cemetery.

N41 04.210 W77 34.209

Landowner / Caretaker:

Hays-Fearon Cemetery

Beech Creek, PA 16822

Condition/Needs: 

Excellent

History: 

Lieutenant James Hays(1740-1817), a veteran of the American Revolution, was among the earliest settlers in what is now Beech Creek Township.  On his land a small burial plot for family and friends was established, as early as 1794, the date on the oldest gravestone found today.  It was informally used as such for a period of approximately twenty years.

On 9 April 1813, James and Sarah Haysdonated 81 perches of land to John Hays, Robert Hays, and William Hays, to hold as trustees and "to be kept in order as a place of deposit or burial ground for the use of the adjacent inhabitants forever, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever."  This plot of ground is Section 2 in the present cemetery. 

Later, around 1860, John T. Fearonlaid out additional burying space adjoining the Hays graveyard, and it eventually became known as Hays-Fearon Cemetery.  This addition would appear to be sections one and three.  A deed dated 5 May 1866 shows that John T. Fearon sold John LeggetLot #1 in the new addition. 

John T. Fearon died on 28 August 1893; his widow, Anna M. Fearon, died 31 Jan 1920.  Apparently they had never formalized their donation, and on 4 August 1945 their heirs, Harry H. Fearon and Ella H. his wife,Edith Fearon,George S. Furst and Margaret C. Furst, released the family's right to the Fearon additions to the Hays-Fearon Cemetery, Inc., for $300.  No record of the incorporation of the cemetery was found, but this 1945 deed states that the cemetery was "chartered under the laws of Clinton County," and that its principal offices were in Beech Creek Borough.

On the same date, the Fearon heirs donated an additional 1.41 acre of ground to expand the cemetery to the West.  This would appear to encompass the present section four of the cemetery.

The cemetery has continued to remain active, with future additions being contemplated at present.  It is the largest cemetery in the area and appears to be the oldest.  The private Bossert Family Cemetery adjoins it to the East.

Some controversy around the name of this cemetery (Hays vs. Hayes) appears to be settled by the fact that the deed is in the name of Hays; the cemetery sign reads Hays-Fearon (as did the previous sign); Linn refers to it as Hays; and the tombstone of the founder spells it Hays.

References:   Linn's History, p 582; Centre County, PA Deed Book E, p 7; Clinton County, PA Deed Book P, p 529; Book 148, p 35.