The Smithfield Cemetery in Squirrel Hill, considered one of Pittsburgh's oldest burial grounds, was recently transferred by its former owner, the Smithfield United Church, located in downtown Pittsburgh.
Smithfield Church (the German Evangelical Protestant Church) with its declining membership, found that the cost of operating and maintaining its historic cemetery was becoming difficult.
The board of directors of neighboring Homewood Cemetery, agreed to purchase Smithfield Cemetery and maintain it. The transfer took place in December 2002, and a new nonprofit corporation was formed to operate the church's former cemetery, now known as the Smithfield East End Cemetery.
Not only does combining the operations of two of the city's historic cemeteries help to curb rising costs, but it also affords the continued existence of Smithfield Cemetery, which traces its founding to 1787, when the William Penn family deeded three tracts of land to three religious institutions in downtown Pittsburgh, which, besides Smithfield, were Trinity Cathedral (Episcopal) and First Presbyterian Church.
Attorney Edward W. Seifert, a board member of Homewood Cemetery, said that the Smithfield Cemetery can be maintained at little added cost to Homewood, with the exception of cutting the grass, which Seifert said was a rather expensive procedure.
"Unlike cutting the grass on a golf course, where you can attach a lawn mower to the back of a vehicle and go up and down the golf course, cutting the grass at a cemetery requires meticulous cutting, often by hand, to work around the markers.
"And there are dozens and dozens of trees to be trimmed and cared for," added Seifert. "The savings will come in sharing equipment, such as using our backhoes to dig graves at both cemeteries and utilizing our maintenance services and some of our administrative functions.
"Smithfield will continue to have its own board of directors and one or more employees," added Seifert.
The Rev. Douglas Patterson, pastor of Smithfield United Church, said that the congregation is pleased that Smithfield Cemetery is part of Homewood.
"It means that we can continue to honor our heritage and yet know that our cemetery will be maintained with dignity," he said.
Although the congregation of Smithfield United totals about 250 members, Patterson said that it is still a very busy and viable congregation, committed to a number of activities. "We still do a number of burials every year," he added.
William S. Heinnickel, chief operating officer at Homewood Cemetery, and a professional who managed large cemeteries in New York and New Jersey, considers Smithfield Cemetery to be a "great community asset."
"Although Smithfield Cemetery is not big enough in these tough economic times to stand alone financially, it will, through our acquisition, remain a viable entity that will continue to serve the congregation of Smithfield United Church for generations to come."
John J. Canning, who for 38 years taught history at Mt. Lebanon High School in Allegheny County and is a member of Smithfield United Church, recalled that in early America the establishment of a church, along with an adjoining cemetery, was deemed to be one of the ways of taming a frontier town.
"Throughout history, the establishment of a church, where its members could be baptized, married and buried was a rule of order," said Canning.
"In 1787, Pittsburgh was still considered by many as a frontier town," said Canning, whose great-grandfather, Frederick Jacob, arrived in Pittsburgh from Prussia in the 1850s to avoid being conscripted into the army.
"My great-grandfather became a member of Smithfield United, which was better known at the time as 'the German Church,' where services and Sunday school classes were in German.
"My great-grandfather, Frederick, and great-grandmother, Fredericka, operated Jacob's Tavern at what is now Market Square," said Canning. "Their customers included many newspaper reporters, including the reporters who wrote for the city's German-language newspapers."
In the ensuing years, as the congregation of the German Evangelical Protestant Church continued to grow and expand, it established a new cemetery on Troy Hill, which at that time was a part of Reserve Township.
And on June 12, 1887, the church made its final move for a permanent burial ground by establishing the Smithfield East End Cemetery in Squirrel Hill, which had as its neighbor Homewood Cemetery located across the street, also on Dallas Avenue.
Where the occupants of Smithfield East End Cemetery are, for the most part, business and store owners, some professionals and many working families - Dimling, Beinhauer, Demmler, Oswald, Werner and Schenck - the occupants of Homewood Cemetery include many of the entrepreneurs who helped establish Pittsburgh as a business, financial, railroad and industrial power.
In the years following the Civil War, as the East End of the city was being developed, the area began to attract many of the city's more prominent families. As they built many of the impressive churches, which dot the East End, the need for a cemetery became apparent.
In 1878, a group of men, which included, industrialists, railroad, coal, oil and gas magnates and legal and banking families - Nimick, Wightman, Childs, Bigelow, Frick, Mellon, Heinz, Murdock and Scaife - purchased 178 acres of land from Judge William Wilkins, whose estate was named Homewood, and created Homewood Cemetery.
Although the first burials were predominately Protestant, the Chinese community in 1901 established a section for their own burials, which have continued and will continue for years to come.
In the 1950s, Greek Orthodox congregants of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, established their section, and in more recent years, Muslim and Jewish sections were established.
Homewood Cemetery in the ensuing years also became the burial ground for such well-known personalities as Jock Sutherland, noted coach of both the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Steelers football teams; pianist Earl Garner; U.S. minister to Luxemburg and suffragist, Perle Mesta; and Pittsburgh suffragists, Alberta Harper Irish, Daisy Adams Lampkin and Rebecca Conner Marchand. Marchand was also a moving force in the Women's Christian Temperance Union.
It was said at the time that Sutherland's funeral was one of the largest funerals to be held at Homewood Cemetery.
Today, the markers, monuments and mausoleums at both cemeteries remain as a testament to a vibrant city that produced the cannon for George Washington's Colonials during the Revolutionary War, provided men and armaments for the Union Army during the Civil War and, during World War II, produced the ships that carried men and supplies into the war zones of Europe.
The historical information for this article was provided by Marilyn Evert and Janet Parker Kettering of Homewood's research, development and writing department, assisted by Nicole Natalie Mancini, public relations coordinator.
