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St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church CemeteryThe cemetery is located adjacent to the church in Douglassville, Amity Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The burial ground seems to have been appropriated by common consent by nearby residences and opened without restriction to any family wishing to use it. There are no deeds to the grounds and no established limits. It is believed that the present church buildings and some of the nearby residences are built upon sites of former graves. Until the middle of the 19th century, no formal plans were followed in opening graves and no definite grave locations were recorded. Even today when the earth is opened, unmarked remains are found occasionally. According to revised records and current plans, there are about four hundred graves now occupied and about four hundred sites available for burials. The oldest stones marking graves in the cemetery were quarried from nearby areas of white and red sandstone. Many of these have succumbed to the elements and their inscriptions have disappeared. The oldest tombstone is that of Andrew Robeson, who died in 1719. His footstone still bears the popular skull, crossbones, and the hourglass of the times. His family name was given to Robeson Township in Berks County. Another stone bears the name of Marcus Hullings, one of the original worshipers of the Swedish Morlatton church. He was a well-known Indian interpreter. William Bird, founder of Birdsboro and owner of the iron works there, lies at rest here with others of his family. Eight of the George Douglas family, after whom Douglassville was named, are buried here with the oldest Douglas tombstone bearing the date of 1766. Two of the earliest households of this area were those of the Jones and Yocum families. In the cemetery lie fifty-two members of nine generations of the Jones family and fifty-one members of the Yocum family. To view Cemetery Records click here
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