Key West The Newspaper

Mayor Craig Cates, accompanied by City Commissioners Sam Kaufman, Margaret Romero, Clayton Lopez, Billy Wardlow and Richard Payne, cut the ribbon today on the new Sexton House at the Key West Cemetery.

The sexton’s office serves as a vital repository of the city’s history, containing burial records of nearly two centuries of Key West families.

“This project is very dear to my heart,” said Mayor Cates, “as I know it is to many of us. My mother, my father, my grandparents are all here.”

“This is a portal into our history,” said Cemetery Sexton Russell Brittain, “a description of the lives and times of our island. Genealogists and sociologist will attest that jewels of information can be found in cemetery records.”

With the cutting of the ribbon, Brittain noted that the City has begun a project to have all known burial sites marked with GIS to that they will be available on line.