History
Mount Vernon Cemetery is situated in the soft, rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania. Dotted with numerous older stately trees and newer flowering trees, the Cemetery has a very picturesque and peaceful atmosphere.
The Board of Trustees believes that burying and commemorating the dead is best done in a beautiful and tranquil natural setting. They also feel that the Cemetery should be a place for the living, with benches, flower gardens and plantings to enhance the natural beauty.
Famous Residents
Mt. Vernon is the final resting place of thousands of distinguished people. Here are a few:
- Catherine Thompson- A full blooded Seneca Indian, who was banished from her tribe for marrying a white man. The mother of 5 children died in childbirth in 1869 at the approximate age of 24 years.
- Eliza M. Graham- Eliza was the first interment in this cemetery. She died as a young girl and the roads to the nearest cemetery were impassable due to the weather at the time of her death. She was buried on a piece of farmland that had been purchased to be developed into a cemetery.
- John L. Laughlin- was former president of Menzie Dairy Co. He had also been Director of Peoples Union Bank and Trust Co. of McKeesport.
- James Lightner- was a civil war veteran who was captured at Lynchburg and imprisoned at the infamous Anderson Prison Camp. He was killed by a train on his way to pick berries with his brother at the age of 76. It seems ironic that he survived one of the most horrible prison camps in United States history only to be killed on his way to pick elderberries.
- William Douglass Mansfield- was probably one of the most influential persons to have lived in the McKeesport area. He was president and editor of the McKeesport Daily News. He was a County Commissioner and State Senator as well as serving as president of the Board of Directors of Mount Vernon Cemetery.
- John T. McLane- was head of the Sun Rubber Co. and the Fredericksburg Potter Co. of Ohio, and the McLane Real Estate Co. and McLane Hardware in this area.
- T. Frank Soles- was an attorney in the McKeesport area. He and Walter Shaw made possible the establishment of the McKeesport YMCA camp, Camp T. Frank Soles, near Somerset. He was best known for his part in the development of the zipper by Talon, Inc of Meadville.
- Dr. Frank R. Bondi- had a long and distinguished career as a physician and surgeon in the McKeesport area. He was also a major influence in the updating of the facilities at Mount Vernon Cemetery.
- Charles E. Peters- was the former president and treasurer of Peters Packing Co. of McKeesport. He lived to be 94 years old.
