The Graveyard At Bupp’s Union

Bupp’s Union cemetery or graveyard is located a short distance west of Loganville in Springfield township, York county. It contains about 200 tombstone inscriptions; the oldest, dated 1779, is for Margaret Glatfelter and the most recent, dated 1984, is for Warren J. Bupp. There are also unmarked graves, obviously the total number of which is not known. The most recent unmarked grave is that of Effie A. Bupp, widow of Warren J., who died in 1995.

The land on which the graveyard rests was originally claimed, in 1762, by Rudolph Yount, or Yunt. He was one of the founders of the Codorus congregation of the Church of the Brethren. In 1777 Yunt sold his holdings at this place to Bernard Bupp, whose son John obtained a patent deed for 200 acres from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1821.

There were no buildings in the immediate vicinity of the graveyard until about 1850, when Springfield township adopted from Pennsylvania public school system, bough a small tract from John Bupp across the road from the graveyard, and built what became known as Bupp’s schoolhouse.

In 1871 members of several denominations (we do not know how many or from what denominations) united to build a meetinghouse about 175 feet north of the schoolhouse. Although the newspaper notice of the dedication called the new structure a union church, it never became the property of an organized congregation. It was used for Sunday school purposes by persons belonging to several nearby churches and as the site of occasional preaching.

During the nineteenth century there were about 100 marked burials in the graveyard. Some were Falkenstines, who were Brethren people; some were Lentzes and Trouts, who were Lutheran; and some were Bupps and Glatfelters, who were Reformed.

For reasons now unknown, on April 20, 1936 ten men living in the general vicinity of the graveyard, none of them named Glatfelter, united to secure from the York county court a charter of incorporation for the Bupp’s Union Cemetery Association. The charter defined the purpose: “to provide and maintain a suitable place for the burial of the dead and to transact the business incident thereto.” The association, it declared, “does not contemplate pecuniary gain or profit, material or otherwise, to its members.” The charter designated five of the ten incorporators members of the board of directors, to serve until “election of their successors.” There is no mention in the charter of the meetinghouse property across the road.

In November 1937, for $1, four men identifying themselves as “trustees Bupp’s Union Church, and unincorporated association” transferred two tracts to the Bupp’s Union Cemetery Association. The courses and distances of the tracts transferred by this deed are those of the present graveyard property. All four of the grantors of this deed were incorporators of the cemetery association the year before.

The arrangement for the care of the graveyard as prescribed in the charter worked reasonably well until about 1990, when declining interest in the Sunday school prompted its officers, who were apparently also directors of the cemetery association, to disband. They first made the meetinghouse available to a small Baptist congregation, which agreed to keep the graveyard mowed. When that congregation moved to another location, these officers in 2002 turned over responsibility for the meetinghouse and graveyard to an independent Catholic congregation, called Resurrection church. There were no written agreements of any kind when this transfer was made. Resurrection congregation no longer uses the meetinghouse.

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From the time of its organization in 1906, members of the Casper Glattfelder Association of America have had an interest in the Bupp’s Union graveyard. The organizers of the first reunion planned to hold it in the meetinghouse and chose an alternate site only when it became evident that much more space was needed. One of the first goals of the founders was to determine where Casper and his wife were buried. Even in 1906 they believed it was probably Bupp’s Union, but they could not find tombstones.

The search went on for more than a third of a century. While no tombstones for Casper and his wife were ever found, the presence of stones in the graveyard for close relatives who accompanied the family to America (especially Henry Walter and Barbara Hildebrand) finally led to the conclusion that Casper was also buried there. In 1954 the association placed a monument to him and both of his wives. In 2005 it placed one to Felix and his wife, between Casper on one side and Philip, son of Felix, who was the third owner of the Glattfelder homestead, on the other.

As responsibility for the continuing proper care of this historic graveyard became increasingly doubtful, during the planning for the centennial reunion in 2005 the historical committee of the Casper Glattfelder Association began discussing what the proper role of the association regarding the graveyard should be. After considerable discussion, our understanding of what this role should be became clear.

The 1936 charter of Bupp’s Union Cemetery Association is still in force. That association no longer has a functioning board of directors. The charter provides a way to reconstitute the board.

The charter states that the membership of the Bupp’s Union Cemetery Association consists of “adult members of the immediate families as well as the descendents of anyone buried upon said burial grounds, such representatives to have but one vote for each person buried upon said burial grounds.”

According to this definition, each member of the historical committee of the Casper Glattfelder Association is also a member of the Bupp’s Union Cemetery Association. Acting in this latter role, we propose to call a meeting of the membership to elect five persons to serve as directors of the cemetery association, who will then assume responsibility for the graveyard on a permanent basis.

11/2/2006

Charles H. Glatfelter

Historical Committee

The Casper Glattfelder

Association of America

This document is a transcription of The Graveyard at Bupp's Union which was scanned from Dr. Charles H. Glatfelter's typed document.