The Hazelton Cemetery was established in 1857 as a family burial ground when Abraham Hazelton (originally spelled Heazelton) was buried there. Abraham was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1768 and emigrated to America with his wife Sarah Gilpin around 1820. They settled along a tributary of the Wallenpaupack Creek near East Sterling and had nine children, at least two of whom, Edward and Eliza, are also buried in the cemetery. The land remained in the Hazelton family for four generations, and when it passed out of the family, the deed reserved “therefrom a small parcel, one acre, to be used for a cemetery.”
About 25 individuals are buried in the Hazelton Cemetery. The boundary was a stone wall, as noted in the deed, but the original gate was lost when the road was widened. The stone that marks the entrance was installed in 1998 by the great-great-granddaughter of Abraham and Sarah. Volunteers from Historians of Sterling Township have restored the cemetery, including new steps at the entrance. The last two burials in the cemetery were Ella Mae (Hazelton) Akers, great-granddaughter of Abraham and Sarah, in 1964, and Daisy (Hazelton) Akers, granddaughter of Abraham and Sarah, in 1972. The Hazelton Cemetery is maintained by volunteers with the Society’s Adopt-a-Cemetery Program.