|
KINGSTON'S OLD CEMETERY.WHERE LIE BURIED THE ANCESTORS OF MANY A FAMOUS FAMILY. Connected with the First Church Built by the Hollanders in 1657--Its First Curate Appointed by Gov. Peter Stuyvesant--Valuable Records Destroyed When the Town Was Burned by the British in 1777--Some Curious Inscriptions.
 Kingston, N. Y.
KINGSTON, N. Y., June 9.--More than two centuries ago, when the site of the beautiful City of Kingston was in the midst of an almost trackless wilderness, a little colony of God-fearing Hollanders settled on the spot and in a short time founded a church. Around this sacred edifice a cemetery gradually sprang up. The primitive church has long since passed away, and in its place one of the finest church buildings in the city lifts its spire toward the clouds; but the graves have been undisturbed.
The other three tablets were erected by the church Consistory, and contain about fifty names, many of which are those of persons prominent in the history of this city and country. The names are still family names in this city. Some of the oldest and most prominent names, with the date of the person's death, are the following: Capt. Tjerick Beekman, 1781; Jacob Ten Broeck, 1793; Garritje Ten Broeck, 1795; John J. Van Gaasbeek, 1790; Rachael Elting, 1775; William Osterhoudt, 1772; Lawrence Salisbury, 1775; Gilbert Livingston, 1746; Cornelia Livingston, 1742; Annatje Van Gaasbeek, 1775. Here lies the body of Col. Gilbert Livingston, born ye 3d day of April, 1690, died ye 25th day of April, 1746, aged 56 years and 22 days.This Col. Livingston, whose body lies beside that of his wife under the church, was one of the earliest members of that famous family. He did not live in Kingston, and it is not known certainly how he and his wife happened to be buried where their bodies now lie. The most interesting part of the cemetery is on the Wall Street side, for here the first stones were erected, and many of them still stand. These earliest relics are irregular slabs of bluestone, with letters rudely and mysteriously cut upon them. Of these curious and ancient markers, the oldest one is that of Andreas De Witt, the founder of the illustrious De Witt family, which has been prominently identified with this country's history since long before America threw off the British yoke. The name was lost on the church records at the great conflagration, but was known by the descendants of the man who lies buried by this stone. As interesting almost as the stone itself is the worn and weather-beaten cedar post which has stood behind and supporting it longer than the memory of man. It is supposed that the post has been there almost as long as the stone. During the war of the rebellion, when the Ulster County regiments were quartered in the armory which then stood across the street, many of the soldiers whittled off chips to keep as souvenirs. The marks of their jackknives may yet be seen on the tip of the old post. There are three of these rude stones bearing the date 1712, but whose death they tell of is not known. The inscriptions are rudely-scratched initials, with the date 1712. They have led to many conjectures as to the names they stand for. Next in order of age to these stones are those bearing the following initials and dates: 1713 W. H. M.; I. V. W. 1717; M. P. 1729; H. K. S. 1737. There are several stones upon which there are initials alone, the date having been left out. Two very peculiar inscriptions on very old stones are: "I E N GOtEIN.-|-N G-|-Aug.-|-2 Begrave." "F AM FTF VAN WyK ANO 1724." Another, which those familiar with Dutch will be able to read, is: "Hier Rust het Lichaem van Cornelius Person geborem d' 24 Octr. 1712 O. S. Overliden d' 10 Aug. 1769 N. S. oud 56 jaar 9 ma en 6 dagen." Among the men prominent in the city and State and in the war of the Revolution who lie buried in this ancient city of the dead are Conrad E. Elmendorf, the first District Attorney of Ulster and adjoining counties, then connected with Ulster, who died in 1817 at the age of fifty-four years; Dirck Wynkoop, a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas in 1783, whose death is recorded in the year 1796; Timothy Treadwell Smith, A. M., Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic in Union College, who died in 1803, aged thirty-five years; Col. Jonathan Elmendorf, who died in 1798; Lieut. Col. Conrad Van Gaasbeek, who died in 1818; Col. Abram Hasbrouck, whose death occurred in 1791; Major James Greer, who died in 1803; Major Thomas De Witt, who died in 1809; Col. Jacobus S. Bruyn, upon whose stone is the inscription, "Died 1823, in the 74th year of his age"; Col. Tjerick De Witt and Col. Andries De Witt, whose deaths occurred in the years 1822 and 1806, respectively. All these men, whose titles show them to have been officers in the army, served their country faithfully in the war with the British. The Rev. Johannes Weckstein, who died in 1687, after serving the church faithfully as pastor for six years, and the Rev. Petrus Vas, a pastor of the church for many years, whose death occurred in 1762, are also among those who lie in the cemetery. Old Petrus Vas died at the ripe age of ninety-six years, and was buried beneath the Elders' seat in the original church. Through his efforts, in 1719, a charter similar to that of the church in New-York was obtained from King George. Interments in the Old Dutch Cemetery, as it is known, ceased in 1830, when the cholera broke out in Kingston. The burying ground was then nearly filled, and, as deaths were occurring so rapidly, the consistory of the church decided against allowing any more graves to be opened. A few burials were made after the dread scourge had finished its work. One of the last, if not the very last, of these interments was that of Julianna Hotaling, daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Romeyn and wife of Teunis I. Hotaling, who died May 8, 1832. The simple faith in God and in His rewards to the just is shown by the epitaphs upon the monuments. The person who had the following words engraved upon the stone of Julianna Hotaling could have had little doubt that her soul would be a welcome guest in the home of the redeemed. Here is the inscription: Another showing the same trust is that on the stone marking the grave of Sally Masten, wife of William Swart, who died in 1704. It is as follows:With heavenly weapons I have fought Felled by Death's fatal sickle, here lies low,This is the epitaph which pays homage to the guiltless soul of Elizabeth McBarney Mairs, an infant: The stone of Levi Jansen, who died in 1824, bears this curious inscription:From adverse storms Jacobus Lowe, when he died, in 1791, evidently had friends who wished him well, for on his tombstone is this epitaph:He met mankind on the level, A record of every inscription on the gravestones in the cemetery was made in 1850 by B. J. Tenney, and it is a book of great value, for already many of the words on the crumbling stones have become effaced. This book, as are all the other records of the church, is in the possession of the Rev. Dr. J. G. Van Slyke, the present pastor of the church. On the flyleaf of this record of the dead are the following words:The summons came,
The moss-grown tombstones 'mid the grass that lean, As curious and interesting as anything connected with the historic spot upon which the church stands are the two brownstone tablets on the front of the church, which bear these inscriptions in the original Dutch:
I have loved the habitation of Thy House. 1729. Isaiah, 56-7. My House shall be called a House of prayer. 1729. These translations are cut into white marble slabs set into the church walls below the originals. The original stones occupied a similar position in the old Nassau Street Dutch Church from its erection in 1729 in New-York City. During the Revolution this church was turned into a prison, and in 1844 it was closed entirely. Soon after it was torn down. The tablets were presented to the Kingston Church some years ago by Gen. George H. Sharpe.
Source: Unknown, "Kingston's Old Cemetery. Where Lie Buried the Ancestors of Many a Famous Family," The New York Times, New York, Sunday, 10 June 1894, p. 24.
|
