Mentor Headlands (Hazeltine - Jordan - Jayne Farm - Christmas Tree) Cemetery

            This quaint secluded little spot is behind the southwest corner of the Jayne property overlooking a ravine that runs down to the east to Zimmerman Trail, 300 yards from both Headlands and Jordan Roads in the northern part of Mentor Township, known as the Headlands.

            The general area known as Tract 14, 911.25 acres, was sold by the Connecticut Land Company to Caleb Atwater December 28, 1803. It was later divided in 6 parts.

            Mrs. Phyllis Williams wrote a research letter in 1977 regarding this cemetery and the family therein. The letter is in the Hazelton genealogy file at Morley Library. I quote parts of that letter here.

The area of Mentor sometimes referred to as North Mentor or Mentor Headlands is the northeastern section of the city near Lake Erie and the Painesville line.

..A booklet of 1840 maps of Lake Co. with an index of landowners.. Shows Martha Hazelton as a landowner in this section. She is the owner of lot 3, tract 14, 60 acres. It also shows an H. Hazelton owning lot 6 tract 4 in Painesville, which is a section not too far from the Mentor line in Painesville. This area, around Grand River and Fairport Harbor is where many ship captains lived.

From the Painesville Telegraph, issue # 20: “Mrs. Martha Hazelton died May 1, 1863 in Mentor at the residence of Capt. R. H. Fountain. She was 80 yrs. old.”

The Garfield Home Library [now Lake County Historical Society] ...has a file of correspondence dated 1962 from Mrs. Henry J. Gilbertson,... asking about the same family. [Helen Kasari did a great deal of research for her] In her letter she asks for the date of death of Lorin Sheppard Hazelton (twin) born April 20, 1852 and died? 1853? She says that an 80 yr. old relative told her the child drowned in Lake Erie. She also says that William Hazelton I was born in England and immigrated to Canada, then to Mentor, that he married Amerika ___ of Scotch descent and has a son, William, born Jan. 21, 1820. She goes on to say that Mary Welch was the daughter of John Welch, a Pennsylvania Dutch Protestant and that William and Mary moved to Sumner, Fillmore Co., Minnesota in 1856; that William I had by then died and William II had left someone taking care of Amerika Hazelton.

I believe from looking at all these records that Martha and Amerika must be the same person.

From the Geauga Co. Land records:

Aug. 8, 1836. Martha Hazelton bought 60 acres in Mentor township 10, range 9, tract 14, lot 3 from Lucy Day. An 1857 map of Lake Co. shows the land ... as being owned by R. H. Fountain.

Checking probate records, we found no will for William Hazelton, but an appraisal of inventory of his estate was entered at the November term of court in 1823.

... from a file on private and abandoned cemeteries in Lake County... The cemetery is 2 acres due south of the Donald Jayne home at 9536 Headlands Rd., Mentor Headlands. The grave site is on the rim of the hill in the area and can also be reached by the nursery curve that goes due east at the curve in Jordan road that changes Jordan road course form north-south to east-west direction. The end of the nursery drive is at the cemetery.

            Other tidbits on this cemetery and family were researched by Mrs. Helen Kasari in 1967.

            A Newspaper Abstract from the Painesville Telegraph July 2, 1823 – “William Hazelton, from near Fairport, drowned in the Grand River last Friday evening [June 27, 1823] when his canoe overturned. He left a wife and five children.” Another mention Nov. 10 1826 stated that land taxes were delinquent of the years of 1824 and 1825. A letter left at the post office for Martha Hazelton was mentioned July 7, 1826.

            Mrs. Kasari also quoted the History of Mentor Headlands and Vicinity (1957) on page 39, “The earliest schools on the headlands were two little log buildings, one near each end of the island. We find no data regarding the location of the one at the west end, but there is a record of a lease to the Mentor school board, dated March 3, 1846, in lot 3, Tract 14, from Martha Hazeltine, and signed by Captain Godfrey Green and William Hazeltine, the Mentor school board trustees, for which they paid $5.00. The property consisted of six square rods (33 by 49 1/12 feet), and lnd leased for $5.00 by school district No. 11, later changed to subdistrict No. 8. The name Hazeltine appears on some of the tombstones in the old cemetery in the woods behind the Donald Jayne home.”

            The letter goes on to talk about the family, other stone readings and census of the family.

            Notes from both 1967 and 1964 state that the stones are both broken. Vandalism and weather have taken a toll on this secluded graveyard.

            It has been published in the paper several times that people believe that victims of the Griffith ship disaster of 1850 who washed ashore in the headlands were buried at this cemetery. Neighbors believe they were in a mass grave down the ravine at the site.

            The land on which the cemetery lies is now owned by Morton International (Morton Salt). The City of Mentor, due to outcry of public, has tried to purchase the land to maintain the cemetery, but Morton does not wish to sell it. A neighbor was told that the area is over the huge salt mine shaft which goes under the lake, and should there be an accident, that would be the area they would dig for an exit.

            Newspaper articles or mentions have been found in the Telegraph May 5, 1979; Oct. 13, 1979 in Exchange column; Oct. 20, 1979; and in the News-Herald March 5, 1983; March 4, 1993; and April 25, 1994 (or 1984?)

Township

Mentor Headlands Cemetery

Read 11 May 1998

Name

Sec- tion

Row

Stone #

Inscription

Symbols

Comments

Hazeltine, Martha

1

1

Martha/ wife of/ Wm. Hazeltine/ Died/ May 1, 1863/ In the 80th year/ of her age/ Her pilgrimage is over without a sigh./ Passed she over death's river to the sky.

poetry from News-Herald article 4 Mar 1993. Broken off and flat.

Hazeltine, Frances C.

Hazeltine, Lorran

1

1

2

[Franc]es C./ Lorran [S./ Died Jan. 22, 1855/ aged 1 yr. and 3 mo./ children of W. and Mary Hazeltine.]

Two small pieces, one with "ES C." and the other with "Lorran". A 1964 reading states that both children (twins) are on the same stone.