Oakwood Cemetery1
763 Portage Road
Niagara Falls, New York
Significance: In 1852, Letitia Porter, daughter of Niagara Falls founder Augustus Porter donated land for Oakwood
Cemetery. Designed originally by Theodore Dehone Judah, mapmaker, surveyor, and chief engineer of the first
transcontinental railroad its plan was further developed in 1882 by Drake Whitney. As a community cemetery, Oakwood
Cemetery holds both prominent and ordinary citizens of Niagara Falls, both African Americans and European
Americans.
Oakwood Cemetery Gates, August 2011
Oakwood Cemetery, Samuel Geil, Niagara Falls (1853)
Site description from Survey of Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life in Niagara
Falls and Surrounding Area, 1820-1880, by Judith Wellman, Ph.D., April 2012, pp. 118-121. Prepared by New York
Historical Research Associates for edr Companies and the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Area
Commission. The complete historic resources survey report is available at www.niagarafallsundergroundrailroad.org.
1
Description: Oakwood Cemetery has been the main cemetery for the village and city of Niagara Falls since it was
established in 1852 on land donated by Lavinia Porter, daughter of Niagara Falls founder Augustus Porter. Designed
originally by T.D. Judah, it was enhanced in 1882 by civil engineer Drake Whitney. The marble mausoleum, designed by
Green and Wicks of Buffalo, New York, is faced with gray Vermont marble and incorporates two stained glass windows,
one by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Part of the cemetery is dedicated to veterans of the Civil War.2
“Oakwood would become the final resting place for families whose names are associated with the growth and
development of Niagara Falls as a great industrial city and a world-renowned tourist attraction,” notes the Oakwood
Cemetery website. Oakwood also includes many families, both African American and European American, related to the
story of slavery, freedom, and African American life in Niagara Falls. These include European Americans such as the
Porter, Whitney, Childs, and Townsend families and African Americans such as the Pattersons and Jacksons (Lot 97),
Hamiltons, and Lees. Inscriptions on Porter family graves were published in The Sun, August 2, 1891. For more
information about all of these families, see relevant site descriptions.3
Edward and Mary Sarsnett are also buried in Oakwood. Edward Sarsnett was a grandson of John Sarsnett,
brought in slavery from Maryland to Lyons, New York, in 1797. Edward was a Civil War veteran, and his wife Mary was
active in the Grand Army of the Republic.4
Gravestone of Peter A. Porter
2
“Oakwood Cemetery,” myoakwoodcemetery.com/our-history/.
3
Thanks to Michelle Kratts and Pete Ames for locating these graves in Oakwood Cemetery; The Sun, August 2, 1891.
Thanks to Michelle Kratts for finding this article.
4
Marjorie Allen Perez, “John and Ann Sarsnett: African American Residents of Lyons, Wayne County, New York, and
Phelps, Ontario County, New York,” unpublished manuscript, 2011.
Augustus Porter Plot
Hamilton Family Graves
Photo by Michelle Kratts