Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Cemetery

Location

2071 County Highway 26, Fly Creek, NY

Lat/Long

42.778981, -74.954786

Grant Recipient

Fly Creek Area Historical Society

The Sprague-Hyde Cemetery, also known as the School House Cemetery, lies within an outcropping of trees that is easy to miss due to its hidden location.  Buried in this cemetery are three early residents of Fly Creek and War of 1812 veterans Jonah Sprague, Ira Hyde and Luther Eddy.

According to the 1878 book, History of Otsego County, New York, by Duane Hamilton Hurd, Jonah Sprague was an early residents of the Town of Otsego, having moved to the area from Rhode Island in the 1790s. Sprague was a member of the New York State militia during the War of 1812.  He passed away in 1820, and was one of the first people to be buried in the cemetery (Findagrave.com, 2019).

According to his headstone, Luther Eddy was born in 1772 and passed away on July 22, 1849. He moved to Otsego County in the early 1800s, per 1820 U.S. Federal Census records. He served as a Captain during the War of 1812 (War of 1812 Service Records, National Archives).

Ira Hyde was born in 1779 and, like Eddy, was recorded in the 1820 Federal Census as a resident of Town of Otsego. He served in the War of 1812 as a private. On January 6, 1813 he was honorably discharged (War of 1812 Pension Records, National Archives). Hyde lived to be 92 years old, passing away on December 1, 1871 (Findagrave.com, 2019).

While the cemetery still remains, no one has been interred there since 1939 (Findagrave, 2019).