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RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 18 Jul 2002 8:22AM GMT
Classification: Cemetery
Surnames: LEY; WOLFERTH
My cousin (who lives in Wilmington) and I (I'm from San Diego) are trying to locate our grandparents' graves.

She remembers visiting our grandmother's grave in Riverview Cemetery (Katherine Wolferth Ley). She believes our grandfather (Rudolph Ley) died from alcohol abuse and was living at a boarding house at the time, and she THINKS that he was buried at Riverview Cemetery. The two graves may not be together.

She just wrote me that Riverview Cemetery is now listed as "abandoned" and she does not know how to get a list of the people buried there.

I have not called the Riverview Cemetery Co., but will try to get hold of them. I would hope they still have records of who is buried there, "abandoned" or not.

If anyone happens to be doing research in Riverview Cemetery and stumbles across the gravestones of my grandparents, could you let me know?

Thanks very much. Ruth O'Donnell

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 21 Aug 2002 1:04AM GMT
Classification: Query
I think that Riverview Cemetery is still active. The phone number in the local phone book is (302) 764-2632.

Good Luck
Bill Woznicki

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Ruth (View posts)
Posted: 21 Aug 2002 2:39AM GMT
Classification: Cemetery
Thanks, Bill -- Unfortunately, the cemetery has been legally abandoned and what you get at that phone number is a voice saying it's been disconnected.

There have been a number of recent articles about the situation in the Wilmington Journal and one of the reporters is actually planning to tell the story in a book. For a while there, they were burying people and not keeping records at all, and people started suing them because they'd lost their very recently dearly departed (for which I can't blame them).

My cousin from Wilmington and I tried to telephone or e-mail every single person involved, from the lawyer for the owners to the man who is still officially director of the cemetery, and we could not get hold of anyone. I guess lots have people have been trying to get hold of the records to find out where people are buried. Nobody can even find out where the records are because these guys who were involved are no longer answering their phones or mail.

My cousin's son did a walk-through and found my grandmother's grave. We still haven't found my grandfather's grave, though "Riverview Cemetery" is indicated as place of burial on his death certificate. We suspect our great-grandfather is buried there too. We just have to keep looking for the gravestones.

A member of the City Council has gotten the City to have the cemetery cleaned up (landscaped) in the spring before Mother's Day for the last two years by prisoners in the County jail, I believe, but I'm told the grounds look pretty shabby now.

But thanks for responding to my e-mail!

Ruth

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 29 Aug 2002 5:08PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 16 Nov 2004 1:34PM GMT
There may be someone working on transcribing that cemetery. Check on Rootsweb.com for updates. However, you're right about the problems. Here's a recap:
*People are buried on top of each other.
*Records are lost.
*People are buried and headstones removed.
*People are buried and a parking lot was placed over the graves.
*NO ONE HAS A CLUE! But some caring people are trying to figure it all out.

If I see anything on this, I'll post.

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 29 Aug 2002 5:14PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thanks, Deborah!

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 12 Sep 2002 3:04AM GMT
Classification: Query
Ruth, I am planning on going to the Riverview Cemetery tomorrow to look for Ley relatives. The names you mention do not sound familiar to me, but I am new to searching this line. My husbands Grandparents had plots in that cemetery, but were not buried there. However, I believe his Grandfather's parents were buried in Riverview.

The names I am looking for are:
Herold (?) Ley (?-1915)
Mary V (Yaeger) Ley (1875-?)

I'll let you know if I find anything!

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Ruth O'Donnell (View posts)
Posted: 12 Sep 2002 4:19PM GMT
Classification: Cemetery
Surnames: LEY
Kimberly --

Thank you so much for your response!

Mary V. Yaegher Ley is a question mark in our family tree and so I was very excited to get your reply and to see she's a relative of your husband's!

My cousin Barbara (who lives in Wilmington) and I thought that perhaps her husband was Carl Ley, my grandfather's brother, but we could find no record of him at all. She is listed in the 1920 census as being a widow, with two children. Barbara remembers meeting Albert Ley, her son, when she was a teenager.

I'd like to correspond with you directly if you wouldn't mind writing me at my personal e-mail address: ruthiek@telocity.com.

As for my grandparent's graves in Riverview, Barbara's son found Catherine Ley's grave, but not Rudolph Ley's.

Rudolph had two siblings: Carl Ley and Lina Ley.

We know that Rudolph's sister, Lina, married Charles Yaegher. We have sent for the death certificate of "Lena Yeagher," but don't know yet if it's our great-aunt. The only Charles Yaegher I could discover through the social security death index died in Florida and Barbara doesn't remember her Aunt Lina ever moving to Florida.

According to his death certificate, my great-grandfather, David Ley, is also buried in Riverview.

I mention the names Carl Ley, Lina Ley Yeagher and David Ley, just in case you happen to see the names in the cemetery while you're looking for your husband's grandparents' graves (or know anything about them from your research into your husband's family tree).

My cousins in Wilmington will be very excited to learn we have distant cousins still living in Delaware!

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Ruth

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 15 Oct 2002 4:53PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 17 Jan 2005 9:35PM GMT
Hi Ruth,
Yes, Riverview is a mess. I am from De. My husband and I have been to Riverview about 3 times this year, looking for his grandparents. We found his Aunt, but not his grandparents who are suppose to be buried by her side, she has a headstone, but his grandparents, we can't find.The office said she doesn't have one, but we told them that she did. She died around 1953, so it will be hard to find out now for sure, all we have is their word that she didn't have a stone. We are going to Delaware Archives this Friday to see what we can find out.
Joanne
E-Mail me at
sixgrandchildren@AOL.com

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 15 Oct 2002 5:24PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 17 Jan 2005 9:35PM GMT
Ruth,
I forgot to put my husband's grandparents name down in case anyone is going to Riverview Caem. The name were Joseph Thomas Varell, Sr. and his wife Emma Pellish Varell.
They are suppose to in lot # 93. Section 17. We e-Mailed the person from Riverview , they said we didn't have the right #, but as I said, we found his Aunt Myrtle Varell(Sassome)
Try this on the computer, we did and got thru.
Riverview Cemetery@cs.com
Carrie Perryman
Riverview Cemetery District. if not try calling the Wilmington News Journal, they have been doing quite a bit of stories in the cemetery.
I hope you have better luck than we are having, but as I said earlier, we going to De Aechives this Fri.

Re: RIVERVIEW CEMETERY, WILMINGTON, DE

Posted: 10 Mar 2004 10:18PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 4 Apr 2004 1:22AM GMT
Surnames: Slawter, Traub, Bell, McNeal
Hello everyone connected to Riverview Cemetery. A Dr. Lee
Anderson is doing a book about the people in Riverview and their life story. I gave her what I knew about my relatives. She said it would be a couple of years before she was finished with the book. That was a year ago.
My grandfather and his first wife and child are buried there but they have no gravestone. I am glad I went up there to find them before all the controversy started. I know which plot they are in but that's all. Their last names were Slawter.
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