Sometime after May 17, 1836, Zebulon Button was buried in the Otisco Valley Cemetery (also called the Spafford Hollow Cemetery) of Onondaga County, New York. He was the husband of Olive and the father of 10 children. He owned land and farmed in Otisco from at least 1811 until his death.

From Grandfather to Grandmother. He was the father of Montgomery Evans Button, the grandfather of Judson Button, the great grandfather of Mary Ellen (Button) Gass. He was the great, great grandfather of Lulu (Gass) Stoney and the great, great, great grandfather of Moiselle (Stoney) Burbidge, my grandmother. He was my fifth great grandfather.

Genealogy Kindness. Below is a photo of his gravestone, which I found on FindAGrave. It was photographed by Harvey Bell, who kindly gave me permission to use the photo @ 4Family-History. Thanks, Harvey, for your work photographing the gravestones, posting them, and sharing them!

 

Transcription:

Willow & Urn Image

Zebulon Button

Died

May 17, 1836

aged 54 years

___________

[unable to read the inscription at the very bottom; seems to be 3 or 4 lines]

The willow and urn were common gravestone images used by the stone carvers beginning in the late 1700’s.  According to Frances Ann Mosconi, the willow and urn imagery are common to many of the Onondaga County gravestones from this time period. Although they still symbolize loss, grief and mourning, the choice away from the stark death imagery of the earlier generations is very evident. Frances Ann discussed this topic in “The Gravestone Gallery: Cemetery Curiosities and Tombstone Tributes,” which is posted on the Onondaga County Genweb site, here.

Genealogically Speaking. Zebulon Button’s gravestone not only marks his burial place, but also provides a direct date for his birth year, when calculated from the information provided on the stone. Now, this date can be compared to the censuses he was probably enumerated in from 1790 through 1830. It will help us to identify his family and birth date more conclusively.

According to FindAGrave.com, the Spofford Hollow Cemetery is an inactive neighborhood cemetery. Thus it was not associated directly with a church. Too bad, because their church affiliation would have been a useful clue to locating more about the family.

Citation:

Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 2 January 2017), memorial 51596954 for Zebulon Button (1782-1836) with gravestone images, Spafford Hollow Cemetery (also known as Otisco Valley Cemetery), Spafford, Onondaga County, New York; gravestone photographed by Harvey Bell. Permission to use photograph granted by Harvey Bell. It should be noted that the cemetery is identified with a sign naming it Spafford Hollow Cemetery but on many maps it is Otisco Valley Cemetery. It should not be confused with Spafford Cemetery.