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Farmingdale Local History: Cemeteries

History of the town of Farmingdale, New York

Town of Oyster Bay Historic Cemeteries

 

A list of historic cemeteries in the Town of Oyster Bay can be found here

Bethpage Cemetery

Located on Quaker Meeting House Road, east of the Quaker Cemetery.

The Bethpage Cemetery is one of three adjacent cemeteries. William Eardeley copied inscriptions of the gravestones in 1898. According to his report, there were 246 stones and many graves without stones.

A list of those buried by Eardseley can be found here (Bethpage is listed under #432) 

Prominent Farmingdale residents buried here:

John Noon: owner of Noon Farm & Noon Hotel, now at Old Bethpage Village Restoration

Archibald McCord: American Legion Post #86 in Bethpage is named after him

Walter Pike: owned an ice cream parlor on Main Street

Fred W. Carman: owned a stationery store on Main Street

To see photos of the graves: Bethpage Cemetery

Cornelius Family Cemetery

Rte 109 and Bernard Street (North side of Fulton Street/109 between Cobb Pl and Doud Street)

The cast iron gate was once marked Jacob Cornelius. There are 19 stones in 1894 with burials dating from 1839. There is approximately 12 other graves, but no stones. The cemetery is maintained by Village of Farmingdale. 

Photographs of the gravestones can be found on Find a Grave

Eastern Parkway (Burch Eastman) Cemetery

Eastern Parkway and Vogel Way

Only four tombstones are in this cemetery. They are for:  Jacob Burch, Gilson Burch, Newbury Burch, and Jonathan Eastman. 

There is a memorial for the others buried there. The names on the memorial are:

Mary E. Bergen, Jacob Burch, Newbury Burch, Jamima Burch, Gilson Burch, Newbury Burch, Newbury Etta Burch, Jeremiah Burch, Rachel Carman, Willet Darby, Sarah Darby, Jonathan Eastman, Hiram Eastman, Edward Eastman, Cordelia Eastman, Mary A. Eastman, Edward Huestis, Judith Huestis, Thomas Ketcham, Jennie Plummer, Infant Plummer, Thomas N. Sares, Sarah Janes Sares, Trem H. Stryker, Clara Stryker, Nettie Stryker, Caroline Stryker, William Stryker, Andres Van Cott, Sarah E. Van Cott, Abraham Van Nostrand, Willett Van Nostrand, Louise Van Nostrand, Willie Van Nostrand, Emma L. Van Nostrand, Lucinda Walters, Burgh Walters, Alfred S. Walters, William H. Walters, Samuel Wood, Sarah Wood, John R. Wood, Experience Wood, Signey Wood, Lydia Wood, Christopher T. Wright, Harriet Wright, Lonzo Wright, John I. Wright, and Alansen Wright.

The cemetery is no longer active; all interments are listed on one large stone. The early development of the Burch farm isn’t clear; evidence suggests that the farm and cemetery were established during the first half of the 19th century. 

A summary of Gilson Burch’s will published in a local newspaper shortly after his death in 1907 read: “The will of Gilson Burch, late of Amityville, leaves $1,500 to keep the cemetery plot in order…The homestead is to be sold within five years reserving a two-rod highway from Nicoll Highway to cemetery, and build a fence on both sides, and reserving one-half acre for cemetery uses, and the balance derived from the sale of the farm is to be divided between relatives.”

Burials listed range in date from the 1830s to the 1910s. 

A 1975 article in The Farmingdale Post refers to the “Gilbert Burch Cemetery” as having been established “in the early 1800s…on the original Gilbert Birch farm.”

Sources:

Gibson, Burch. “Last Will & Testament.” Suffolk County News. 1907

“Memorials in Burch Cemetery.” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2405516/memorial-search?page=1#sr-71038962

 

Lyceum Cemetery

Originally known as the German Methodist Church cemetery

Hempstead Turnpike, Bethpage

Among those buried there: Alfred Walters, Cornelius Walters, and Joseph Whaley.

For a full list:  Lyceum Cemetery

Source:

“Village Honors its Past.” Farmingdale Observer. November 26, 2014

Powell Family Cemetery

Round Swamp Road

To see a list of graves: Powell Cemetery

Active. Run by Powell Cemetery Corp.

 

 

Quaker Meeting House Cemetery

There are over 120 existing tombstones in the cemetery, but many of the graves are unmarked. It has been used as a cemetery since the 1700s.

Prominent Farmingdale residents buried here:

Jesse Merritt: Nassau County, Town of Oyster Bay, and Farmingdale Historian.

Richard S. Powell: He was the great-great-grandson of Thomas Powell. His home is the Powell farmhouse at Old Bethpage Village Restoration.

Meeting house was built 1743 according to Nassau County Historian Jesse Merritt. Burials in this guide were extracted from Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. It is an active cemetery.

Eardeley Transcriptions

 

Source:

Valerie Smith, Jericho Friends Meeting House Clerk

Van Cott Family Cemetery

Located at the NE Corner of Rose St. and Grant Ave.

There are 15 gravestones there marked between 1849 and 1891. The cemetery is maintained by the Village of Farmingdale. Cemetery near the Water Witch Engine House. There are 15 stones standing; and a few graves without stones.

Farmingdale resident Vicki Gruber traced the lineage of the family after spotting the cemetery. She discovered that eight of the people buried there are descendants of Claes Cornelissen Van Cats (the surname was later changed to Van Cott). She approached the Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society about funding a marker that would be erected in the cemetery. In 2014, the memorial stone with a bronze plaque was unveiled.

  1. ALLEN, George Monroe, son of John ALLEN & Mary (-----), d. 19 Mar 1864, ae 1 yr, 1 mo, 21 dys
  2. ALLEN, Mary Ellen, daughter of John & Mary ALLEN, d. 26 Sep 1862, ae 1 yr, 11 mos 
  3. JAISLE, John E., d. 5 Mar 1864, ae 1 yr, 5 mos, 4 dys 
  4. JAISLE, Christiana, d. 2 Mar 1864, ae 2 yrs, 1 mos, 10 dys 
  5. PILKINGTON, Henry, d. 30 Dec 1855, ae 48 yrs 
  6. TURNER, Rosanna Allen, daughter of John TURNER & Martha (----), d. 10 Nov 1861, ae 2 yrs, 9 mos, 14 dys 
  7. VAN COTT, George, d. 20 Jun 1874, ae 83 yrs, 6 dys; Note:-- he was a son of Tunis VAN COTT & Ann (BRO_N), not a son, as some claim, of Cornelius VAN COTT & Abigail (POWELL)
  8. VAN COTT, Elizabeth, wife of George VAN COTT, d. 12 Aug 1887, ae 90 yrs, 10 mos; Note:-- she was Elizabeth NOSTRAND, daughter of Peter NOSTRAND & Martha (VAN COTT) 
  9. VAN COTT, Tunis, b. 21 Oct 1821, d. 25 Jan 1890; Note:-- son of George & Elizabeth VAN COTT
  10. VAN COTT, Mary, wife of Tunis VAN COTT, b. 25 Dec 1822, d. 22 Aug 1865; Note:-- she was born Mary OAKLEY 
  11. VAN COTT, Sydney, infant son of Tunis & Mary VAN COTT, d. 22 Aug 1849, ae 9 mos, 24 dys
  12. VAN COTT, Adrianah, daughter of Tunis & Mary VAN COTT, b. 9 Oct 1851, d. 1 Sep 1865
  13. VAN COTT, Elizabeth, daughter of Tunis & Mary VAN COTT, b. 28 Mar 1859, d. 4 Nov 1863 
  14. VAN NOSTRAND, Peter, d. 5 Feb 1855, ae 86 yrs; Note:-- he was a son of Peter VAN NOSTRAND & Elizabeth (AMBERMAN), see the manuscript Amberman Genealogy by William A. Eardeley
  15. VAN NOSTRAND, Martha, wife of Peter VAN NOSTRAND, d. 20 Dec 1860, ae 62 yrs; Note:-- she was born Martha (VAN COTT)

Photos of most of the graves can be found on Find a Grave

Source:

“Village Honors its Past.” Farmingdale Observer. November 26, 2014