Cemetery Indexes

Available Indexes

Benshoff Hill Cemetery Indexes

This index was compiled by volunteer Shelby McHenry. It is the property of the Cambria County Library and cannot be downloaded or reproduced elsewhere without the library’s written permission.

Benshoff Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Middle Taylor Township, Cambria County. The cemetery has been in existence since the 19th century and contains over 2500 burials. The indexes included contain a master list of all burials, compiled from the cemetery’s grave digging books, and includes the first and last name of the deceased, the date of interment, the lot number for the individual’s cemetery plot, the book and page number where the information is located, and any notes if given, as well as a list of burials specifically on 1st and 2nd Avenues of the cemetery. The cemetery’s office can be reached at 814-535-3633.

Benshoff_Hill_1st_and_2nd_Ave_Alpha.xlsx

Benshoff_Hill_Alpha.xlsx  

Headrick Union Cemetery Indexes

This index was provided to us from the Board of Headrick Cemetery. Contact the cemetery for more information.

Headrick Union Cemetery is a cemetery located in East Taylor Township, Cambria County. The cemetery has been in existence since the 19th century and contains over 4800 burials. This index was created by Shelby McHenry with the assistance of the cemetery’s office, and lists the lot number for an individual’s cemetery plot, their first and last name, their date of death, and any additional notes if given.

Headrick_Union_Cemetery_List_Master.xlsx  

Sandyvale Cemetery Burial Indexes

These indexes were completed in June 2019 by volunteer Shelby McHenry. It is the property of the Cambria County Library and cannot be downloaded or reproduced elsewhere without the library’s written permission.                  

Sandyvale Cemetery is a cemetery located in the city of Johnstown and has been in existence since the 19th century.  The city’s floods have destroyed many of its tombstones, so efforts have been made to reconstruct the burials there as much as is possible.                    

Pennsylvania started recording death certificates on a statewide level on January 1, 1906 and they are available online on Ancestry.com and through the Pennsylvania State Archives through 1967. Before then, records came from church records, local newspapers, obituaries, funeral home records and Veteran Grave Registration records. This report will include information from all of these sources.

As with any genealogy record, multiple verifying sources are ideal. With this in mind, an attempt was made to research the names in the death registration for verification. In doing so it was necessary to divide the index into sections. The first section includes names where an obituary was found stating that they were interred in Sandyvale Cemetery. The second section includes names where there is no obituary found but Sandyvale is listed as the burial cemetery on the death record. The third section includes names where there was an obituary but the cemetery listed was not Sandyvale. The fourth section includes names where there was an obituary but no cemetery is named.

Indexing handwritten records can be challenging, so the following items are of note:

  • Any information that includes data in parentheses signifies that the information differed in the sources such as the spelling of the name or a difference in the dates.
  • In some cases, the last name of the deceased, especially a child, is recorded, but only the first name of the mother and father, for whatever reason.
  • A few of the records do not have a volume and page number listed. In these cases the information was found in newspaper obituaries or articles while researching. For example, a reference in a wife’s obituary that said her husband had died years ago and he was buried at Sandyvale Cemetery.
  • There is a book in the library, Sandyvale Cemetery, 1850-1906, ISBN #0-933227-72-8, by Phyllis Oyler, copyright 1986. Some of the information in the death registration records is in this book so the information is not included in the report, to avoid double records.
  • The actual record can be viewed at the library and includes more information than is listed in this report. Additional information includes the cause of death and the dates of internment and when the information was recorded.

The next section of indexes includes information gleaned from records of funeral homes in the area. The first recorded plot deed for Sandyvale was in 1856 and the last burial was in 1977. Thank you to Pickings, Moskal-Reid and Ozog funeral homes for sharing their records and those in their possession from funeral homes now closed. The information in these records is very complete. Mother’s maiden names are listed in these reports, as well as the country of birth of both parents, making these records rich in genealogical information.

The final section of indexes consists of an index of Cambria County veterans buried in Sandyvale that was compiled from the Veteran Grave Registration books in the VA office in the courthouse in Ebensburg, PA. Once again, in trying to verify this information, the VA records are in 2 sections. The first section includes information recorded in the VA Grave Registration books as well as in the Pennsylvania Veteran’s Burial records. The second section includes those names found only in the VA Grave Registration books.

Sandyvale_Blimmel_Trexler_Records_5.xlsx

Sandyvale_Death_Rec_and_Obit_1.xlsx

Sandyvale_In_Death_Rec_No_Obit_2.xlsx

Sandyvale_In_Death_Rec_Obit_Says_Other_3.xlsx

Sandyvale_Moskal_Reid_Records_7.xlsx

Sandyvale_Pentrack_Records_6.xlsx

Sandyvale_Pickings_Records_8.xlsx

Sandyvale_Reinterrment_10.xlsx

Sandyvale_VA_Records_9.xlsx

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