7) Our historic records are not 100% accurate. Over the years and for various reasons, some of the burials were not recorded.
We correct the database as we detect errors, but more are constantly being found.

8) We have found errors in the records of sales. That is, we have records showing lots sold where the lot
does not actually exist. We make are making corrections as necessary.

9) There are no detected errors in the 2005 section.

10) There are a few known errors in the 1950 section, i.e. recorded lot sales to locations that do not exist.

11) There are many errors, unknowns and mysteries in the 1850 section. Most of problem comes from the way that the cemetery was originally plotted. It was never plotted for individual lots, but divided into 18 family lots. The lots vary in width from 15.5' to 18'. Length varies from 71' to 73'. Enough for approximately 30 burials if they were carefully spaced, which they were not. Some were subdivided. Management of the lots was left to the families and burial locations were recorded only as within the family lot. Also, the lot width of 15.5 to 18 feet is adequate for two casket burials, but not enough for modern burial vaults. The Masterman name is on 4 of these large family lots.

12) Reclamation. In 1998 the Rutherford board of directors decided that some of the original family lots could be reclaimed by the cemetery as many of the original owner families were gone and relatives could not be found. Through some legal process a search was carried out and when no relatives could be found, ownership of these lots reverted to Rutherford Cemetery. Some of these reclaimed lots were subsequently sold without resolving how to convert an 8' long lot to 10' which is the modern standard to accommodate burial vaults.

13) The reclaimed 1850 lots and original owners.:
Lot #2 Harvey Masterman
Lot #5 North 1/2 John M. Keene
Lot #8 John B. Taft
Lot 9 North 1/2 Frank Webster
Lot 9 South 1/2 Joseph N. Fairbanks
Lot #18 J. N. Masterman

14) At some time the Rutherford directors also decided that there was enough open space between the 1850 section and the 2005 section that two more large lots ( 18A and 1A ) could be added to the 1850 section without proper documentation or maps. Some of these have subsequently been sold with burials.

15) In all 3 sections, there were no individual lot markers, only the corners of larger areas. This requires a lot of work and is error prone when marking a new burial, especially in winter. Starting in 2017 I began marking individual lots focusing on the active area in the 2005 section and some areas in the other sections as burials occur. A lot of marking remains to be done. Burials that are not properly located run the risk of digging into a neighboring burial or cause the neighboring lot to be unusable because the misplaced burial occupies parts of several lots. We have one burial that is positioned such that it occupies parts of 4 lots. The other 3 lots then cannot be sold.

16) Due to all of these issues, we have not recently sold any lots in the 1950 or 1850 sections. Some of these lots could still be used, but not until after the lots are properly marked. Some will be unavailable due to trees, misplaced burials. Etc.

17) The Columbarium has 4 columns by 7 rows of niches, 28 on each side and total of 56 niches.

18) The Columbarium has 27 niches sold, 14 people in 11 niches and 13 Outstanding Burial Commitments.

19) 18 Nov 2022

	Lot Count	Sold	Burial	Available	Outstanding Burial Commitments
2005	687	158	74	529	84
1950	208	178	130	30	48
1850	674	90	52	584	38
Total	1569	426	256	?	170

 

20) The 2005 Section survey laid out 1051 lots, some of which are east of the driveway and currently unusable. The
lot count for 2005 section ( 687) reflects only the lots West of the driveway, the currently active area.

21) The lot counts suggest that a lot of lots are available in the 2005 section ( 529 ), but this is a little misleading. Some lots are unavailable due to trees, etc. and the lots north of the driveway, especially near Manning Ave may be difficult to sell. A better estimate might be half of that number.

22) Lot Sales by year

Year	Lots	Columbarium	Total
2015	11	0	11
2016	20	1	21
2017	6	0	6
2018	13	6	19
2019	15	3	18
2020	15	3	18
2021	34	5	39
2022	16	4	20
			(as of 18Nov 2022)