Family Burial Grounds - What are they?

View of the Moore Family Cemetery in Deleware Township, Sussex County, New Jersey

A Family Burying Ground is usually found on private property. It is a resting place for members of a particular family. Unlike a public cemetery, it is not incorporated, and no new burials are taking place there. Most are quite small, although some can hold as many as 150 graves or more. The important thing to remember is that it is completely dependent on the good will of its owners, and after a century or so, those owners no longer have any family connection with the people who are buried there.

We know these graveyards are vulnerable. So it’s a good idea to understand just why they are important and worth saving.

I am going to "recount" a personal story that a "fellow researcher/friend" of mine shared back in 2015 as it relates to my family tree that being the Green and Wright families.

When she moved to the area, she had no idea that she had any relatives there. But she was to discover that Samuel Green, one of the earliest settlers in Amwell Twp. who married his 3rd wife, Hannah Wright, abt 1738 lived there before moving north to Warren Co., New Jersey.

Hannah’s father was John Wright. When he wrote his Will he stated that he lived in Amwell Township. But exactly where was a mystery ...

A while later, my friend was visited a private family burying ground in Prallsville, known as the Rittenhouse Cemetery. The oldest stone in the cemetery was totally mysterious, being only a series of initials and the date 1732. which was a pretty early for that vicinity, so she figured it must have belonged to one of the Howell families, who were some of the earliest settlers there.

My friend was asked to do a "house history" for a property on Route 523 a little north of Prallsville. It turned out to be the home of John Wright, who moved there in 1727. And that Will she spoke about ...  was also written and recorded in 1732.

Then it clicked. The initials on that mysterious gravestone were “I W”, the “I” being the old way of writing “J”. My friend had not only foundJohn Wright’s home, but also his burial place.
What a of discovery, which can happen in any type of old cemetery, but somehow—in the case of family burying grounds—it is a special experience, since those cemeteries are so much harder to find, and seem far more personal

OF NOTE: I learned from my friend that Samuel Green's wife "Hannah Wright" aka Annatie Wright (1716 – 1808), was the daughter of John (Jan) Wright (Reyt) and Orcha Bras (variants of the Wright surname spelling. Good to know when researching old documents/resources! 

John (Jan) Wright (Reyt)'s oldest headstone in Rittenhouse Cemetery