Hezekiah Joslyn Grave Site
8534 Brewerton Road, Cicero, New York | Officially Marked Monument
Hezekiah Joslyn (1757–1865) was a physician, a nationally known abolitionist, and the father of woman’s rights leader Matilda Joslyn Gage. (Nineteenth-century practice was to use the singular, woman's, when referring to women as a class; later practice was to use the plural, women's).
Joslyn died on October 30, 1865, at the Fayetteville home of his daughter. He was buried in Cicero, New York, where his family had lived from 1823 to 1850, and where Matilda was born in 1826.
The hillside graveyard is located less than a thousand feet from the site of his Cicero home. His imposing grave marker was inscribed: “AN EARLY ABOLITIONIST.” Among all his achievements, that was the one of which Hezekiah Joslyn was most proud.
Hezekia Joslyn
Hezekiah Joslyn. Image courtesy Matilda Joslyn Gage Center.
Joslyn headstone
Gravestone of Hezekiah Joslyn in a hillside cemetery less than a thousand feet from the site of his longtime Cicero home.
Gravestone detail
Detail of the gravestone showing the inscription of Joslyn's surname.
Gravestone detail 2
Though severely weathered, this side of Joslyn's gravestone bears the date of his death and the inscription: "AN EARLY ABOLITIONIST."
Finding the grave
The old cemetery is reached by a driveway that cuts through a storage lot between two large Brewerton Road RV dealerships (Caps & Campers and Burdick's RV). At the tree line is a gate, normally unlocked in daylight hours. Proceed uphill. Hezekiah Joslyn's grave lies four rows forward from the back (highest point) of the cemetery, to the left of the central path if you are facing uphill.
Associated Causes
Those Involved
Associated Historical Events
Death of Hezekiah Joslyn
October 30, 1865