Finding the gravesite of Isaac Burlingame in Utica, NY -- 1998

For decades the whereabouts of Isaac Burlingame's burial site had been lost to history. Gertrude Burlingame had searched for it for many years -- looking at Ceres Cemetery, Sizemore Cemetery, Colegrove Cemetery and elsewhere with no success. In 1998, Philip Burlingame was living in Barneveld, NY just north of Utica, NY. His brother, Michael, called to say that he discovered some information at a library in Fort Wayne, IN indicating that Isaac Burlingame had "removed to Utica, NY" in 1843. Curious about where Isaac Burlingame had been buried, Philip called the oldest cemetery in Utica -- the Forest Hills Cemetery. The woman who answered the phone said there was a box of lot cards that would list graves from the earliest days of that cemetery (including the 1860's) but she could not lift the box from the shelf. A later call back struck gold. There was a lot card indicating that Isaac Burlingame was indeed buried there at Lot 27.A visit to the cemetery the next day found his grave overgrown with weeds. The superintendent stated that only graves with concerned relatives would be maintained due funds shortages. Isaac's grave was cleaned up and Philip and his family planted flowers to commemorate its re-discovery.The information on the stone yielded yet another surprise. At the bottom of Isaac's stone, his second wife, Eliza, was added. History had lost the fact that Isaac had ever remarried. He died at 74 years of age on May 5, 1868, according to his stone. It notes that Eliza died February 4, 1889 aged 80 years.