Van Cortlandt Family Burial Ground

May 24, 2011 Mary French 1 Comment

In 1694, Jacobus Van Cortlandt acquired a tract of land in “Lower Yonkers” that became the nucleus of what is now Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Jacobus was the youngest son of Oloff Van Cortlandt, a wealthy Dutch merchant who founded the Van Cortlandt dynasty that was influential in New York from the colonial period into the 19^th century. Jacobus added to his estate throughout his lifetime and in 1732 acquired the tract upon which his son Frederick built a family home in 1748-49. Frederick fell ill and died during completion of the house in 1749, and his will directed that he be buried in “a Family Vault which I intend to Build on my plantation on a little Hill which lies to the Northeastward of Tuttle Brook.” This burial vault was completed shortly after Frederick’s death and was used as a family burial ground until the Van Cortlandt estate was acquired for a city park in 1888.

The Van Cortlandt burial vault is situated atop a steep ridge that became known as Vault Hill. The site gained renown in 1776 when Augustus Van Cortlandt, Frederick’s son who was then New York City Clerk, hid the city records in the family burial vault to protect them from destruction during the British occupation of New York in the American Revolution. A fieldstone wall surrounds the burial ground but most of the headstones and markers were removed when the site was vandalized in the 1960s.

VCPMap_VaultHill — Location of the Van Cortlandt Family Burial Ground within Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

VCBurialGround_ca1895 — A view of the Van Cortlandt Family Burial Ground ca. 1895 (Museum of the City of NY)

VCBurialGround_ca1915 — A view of the Van Cortlandt Family Burial Ground ca. 1915 (Museum of the City of NY)

VCBurialGround — The Van Corltandt Family Burial Ground today (Mary French)

Sources: T he Story of the Bronx (Jenkins 1912), 301-302; “Van Cortlandt of Lower Yonkers,“ New York Genealogical & Biographical Record 5(4):168-171; “Indian Fields Now a Park,” New York Herald, Sept 29, 1895; “City’s Last Colonial Estate to be Sold,” New York Times, Sept 21, 1919; “Van Cortlandt’s Plot Neglect,” New York Times, Oct 1, 1962; Van Cortlandt House Museum; New York City Parks Dept.; Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy; Museum of the City of New York.

Bronx, family burial grounds

Kingsbridge Burial Ground

May 18, 2011 Mary French Leave a comment

In 1732, when Jacobus Van Cortlandt acquired the tract of present-day Van Cortlandt Park on which the Van Cortlandt House Museum now stands, George Tippett, who sold the property to Van Cortlandt, stipulated that a cemetery included in the tract should be reserved as a burying ground for Tippett and his heirs. This same cemetery is referred to in a 1717 document wherein George Tippett granted the Betts family the continued use of the site that had been “used as a burying ground for a great many years by the families of Betts and Tippitt.” The tract had been connected to these families since 1668, when William Betts and George Tippett (grandfather of the George Tippett mentioned above) purchased the property.

The cemetery has been known by a number of names over the years, including the Kingsbridge Burial Ground, the Tippett Family Cemetery, and the Berrian-Bashford Burying Ground. When local historian Thomas H. Edsall visited the burial ground in the 1880s, he found that most of the graves were marked by fieldstones containing no inscriptions or only the initials of the deceased. Five inscribed headstones were present. These dated from 1794 to 1808 and marked the graves of members of the Berrian, Bashford, and Ackerman families that were descendants of the Betts and Tippetts. Today, this burial ground is situated east of the Van Cortlandt House and just west of the southern part of Van Cortlandt Lake. All of the grave markers are now gone and a stand of trees has grown up in their place. The site is enclosed by an iron pipe rail fence.

VCPMap_Kingsbridge — Location of the Kingsbridge Burial Ground within Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Kingsbridge_MCNY — A view of the Kingsbridge Burial Ground, ca. 1910 (Museum of the City of NY)

Kingsbridge1 — The Kingsbridge Burial Ground site today (Mary French)

Sources: The Story of the Bronx (Jenkins 1912), 301; 1914 NYC Parks Dept Annual Report (Part 3), 213; “Notes & Queries,” New York Genealogical & Biographical Record 14(3):144; “Notes & Queries,” New York Genealogical & Biographical Record 14(4):191; “The Tibbitts or Tibbetts Family. Descendants of George Tippett of Yonkers, NY,” New York Genealogical & Biographical Record 50(4):363; Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy; Museum of the City of New York

corporate cemeteries, Queens

Cedar Grove Cemetery & Mount Hebron Cemetery

May 2, 2011 Mary French 1 Comment

In 1893, Cedar Grove Cemetery Association acquired the 250-acre Durkee farm in South Flushing, Queens, to establish a nonsectarian burial ground. A portion of the property had formerly been the Spring Hill estate of colonial politician Cadwallader Colden, whose 1763 home was used as the cemetery’s offices until it was demolished in 1930. Colden is believed to have been buried in the 18^th century Willett Family Burial Ground that was near Colden’s home on the Spring Hill estate.

Hyde-1913-Pl-19 — Cedar Grove Cemetery in 1913 (Hyde 1913)

4a06953r — A view of Cedar Grove Cemetery, ca. 1905 (Library of Congress).

colden_house_1925 — A 1925 view of the Spring Hill home of Cadwallader Colden. Built in 1763, Colden’s home served as an office building for Cedar Grove Cemetery until it was demolished in 1930 (NYPL)

When Union Cemetery in Brooklyn was sold in 1897, the remains of approximately 30,000 individuals were reinterred in a 10-acre plot at Cedar Grove Cemetery. In 1909, some of Cedar Grove’s property was used to establish a separate cemetery for the Jewish community, Mount Hebron, which grew to occupy much of Cedar Grove’s original grounds. Now comprising 50 acres, Cedar Grove is a multi-ethnic cemetery that is the final resting place for over 65,000 individuals of diverse nationalities and religions. Mount Hebron, with over 217,000 interments and 200 acres, has become one of New York City’s largest Jewish cemeteries. It is home to a number of famous figures, including photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt, comedian Alan King, and mob boss Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, and the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance is among the hundreds of Jewish societies who have burial grounds there. Mount Hebron is also the intended resting place of entertainer Barbra Streisand, who built a family mausoleum there in the 1990s.