Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries Inc.

The Cruser Family Burying Ground: A Most Abandoned Cemetery

by Doris Lane

On February 17, 1997, in the Staten Island Advance, a sidebar to "Resting in peace until now," a welcome article about abandoned cemeteries, contained confused information regarding the Cruser Family burying ground.

The Old Clove [not Cove] Baptist Church was located on the lower hillside overlooking the Clove Road and Richmond Road crossing. This cemetery was ultimately in the path of the Staten Island Expressway. It was never the Cruser Family burying ground, although Hendrick Kruser on November 1, 1831, his wife Margaret Fountain Kruser on April 16, 1829, and their son Henry Kruser on November 2, 1851, were buried there.

It [the Old Clove Cemetery] was discovered by Davis when there were five headstones, some of which were believed to be members of the "prosperous" Cruser family, who were pioneer settlers of the area.

The colonial burying ground of the Cruser family William T. Davis visited in 1889 was at a location then known as the Cove, on the southwestern corner of Richmond Terrace and Bement Avenue. Alexander Rowland in 1901 also found five headstones at the site in West Brighton where the Crusers were indeed pioneer settlers.

Gerrit Dircksen Croesen (pronounced Cruser) was granted an English land patent in 1677 to 160 acres along the Kill Van Kull and into the woods past Castleton Avenue. Gerrit's land was bordered on the west around Broadway by what soon became the Manor of Governor Thomas Dongan. To the east was the property of Peter Jansen (or Johnson) who received a similar land patent on the same day as Gerrit.

Peter Johnson was the brother of Gerrit's wife, Neeltje Jans. Gerrit and Neeltje were the parents of the Voorlezer of Richmondtown, Hendrick Cruser. When Gerrit died in 1680 in the Gowanus colony in Brooklyn, Neeltje remarried and her children settled on the Cruser 1677 Patent on Staten Island. A dispute arose in the 1690s between Hendrick and his brother Dirck over title to the patent lands and the Cruser 1677 Patent was sold in 1701.

Loring McMillen suggested that Hendrick occupied the Voorlezer's House beginning in 1697 partly because of this rift with his brother. In 1699, when Hendrick petitioned the government for his right to his share of the patent lands, Peter Johnson deposed that his nephew Hendrick was then in possession of one half of the patent with his brother Dirck's consent, given after the death of a third brother (Jan). Hendrick had occupied the land at issue since 1687, according to his petition.

The Voorlezer's House in Richmondtown was not used by the Dutch congregation after 1701, the time of the settlement of the dispute over Gerrit's will. Hendrick and his nephew Gerrit were master builders of the first church in Port Richmond completed in 1715. With no minister before Cornelius Van Santvoord arrived from Holland in 1718, Hendrick is thought to have served as unofficial pastor of the Dutch congregation.

Dirck had been implicated in Leisler's Rebellion in the 1690s and like many descendants of Dutch settlers again faced with living under British rule, decided to resettle. He and his wife Elizabeth Cregier and their children were among the early settlers of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

In 1709, Hendrick bought his own homestead farm from George Hoagland, next door to his father's patent on what had been part of the Peter Jansen 1677 Patent. In 1751, Hendrick's son Cornelius and his wife Helena Van Tuyl purchased what had been the Cornelius Van Santvoord farm immediately east of his father's and also on Peter Jansen's original patent. Van Santvoord bought the farm from Peter Johnson's son, known as John Staats, who was both cousin and brother-in-law to Hendrick through his marriage to Cornelia Corsen's sister Catharine.

Van Santvoord moved to Schenectady in 1740 and in 1745 the farm was purchased by Jacob Bergen whose wife Maritje was the voorlezer's daughter. A second daughter, Neeltje, the widow of Denys Van Tuyl, married Joseph Rolph in 1743. She lived west along the Cove of the voorlezer's farmhouse.

Between the two Cruser farms, but on the voorlezer's own property, is where the family burying ground was, just west of Bement Avenue. Burials in the Cruser family took place there until the mid 19th century when it was sold some years after a partition action of Cornelius Cruser's properties in 1832, which by then included both farms and additional lots.

Hendrick buried his firstborn son Garrett there in 1760. The voorlezer himself when he died in 1761 was buried there and his wife Cornelia Corsen was undoubtedly buried there.

The five headstones Davis found memorialized the above mentioned Garrett, son of Hendrick; Garrett's daughter Cornelia in 1760; Garrett's widow Claesje Brinckerhoff in 1787; another Cornelia in 1807; and Belitje De Groot, the wife of Cornelius, Jr., in 1815.

Cruser descendants may well be buried at the Fresh Kill and Eltingville Roads junction, but that was not the property purchased by the abolitionist Daniel Pelton. Pelton bought the now landmarked Kreuzer-Pelton House on Richmond Terrace around the bend from the burying ground. This house was built in part by Cornelius Van Santvoord, in part by Cornelius Cruser, and in part by Daniel Pelton. Hendrick Cruser's own farmhouse was torn down in the 19th century and eventually the Staten Island Athletic Club occupied the site.

WHAT WE DID AND WHAT WE PLAN TO DO

by Fred Crane and Richard Dickenson

*aka Rossville, Sleight and/or Seguine

Fred Crane, Vice President & Secretary

Marjorie Johnson, Treasurer

Lenny Robusto Counsel/Membership

Doris Lane, Associate Editor

Book Notice

Cemeteries hold a special significance in African American Culture because they provide an important and elusive link in tracing African heritage--a practice made even more difficult by the institution of slavery. This book aids in locating 300 representative cemeteries in the U.S. and Canada. It provides a unique glimpse into some of the oldest and most fundamental values of African American culture, many of which are preserved only in cemeteries. This is a rich and relevant source for anyone interested in cultural history, genealogy, biography and folklore.

QUERIES

Tombstone Touring

Cemetery records in the collections of the Klyne Esopus Historical Society Museum include:

• Beaver Cemetery
• Eddyville Cemetery
• Kingston Old Dutch Church Cemetery
• Saint Remy Cemetery
• Terpening Family Cemeteries, Pell Estate
• Wiltwyck Cemetery
• Freer Cemetery
• Sawkill Cemetery
• Pleasant View Cemetery

For more information: (914) 338-8109; karlwick at mhv dot com

Princeton Cemetery is owned by the Nassau Presbyterian Church and was established in the mid 18th century. From the start, Nassau Presbyterian made plots available by purchase to anyone regardless of religion, race or ethnicity.

To read more about the Princeton Cemetery: If Tombstones Could Talk: The History and Intrigue of the Princeton Cemetery; Priscilla E. Hayes.

He said, "The state of the Jewish cemetery at Boot Hill moved me deeply. A burial place is sacred to my people, and I wanted this place to be treated with the respect it once had. In honoring my Jewish brothers I feel I am also honoring the lost and forgotten bones of my own people who lay where they fell when the west was being settled."

Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to the Tombstone Historical Jewish Graveyard, Inc., 564 Corpino de Pecho, Green Valley, AZ 85614.

====================

Annals of Staten Island, John J. Clute, 1877 (Reprinted 1986, Heart of Lakes Publishing, Interlaken NY,)

"The Cruser-Pelton House and its Owners," William T. Davis - Proceedings of the Staten Island Institution of Arts and Sciences, vol. 7 October 1932-May 1933, Parts 1-2

"The History of the Staten Island Athletic Club," Charles E. Clay, 1888

"Inscriptions on The Homestead Graves of Staten Island," William T. Davis, Proceedings of the Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences, Special #9, December 1889

Legends, Stories & Folklore of Old Staten Island; Part One, The North Shore, Charles G. Hine and William T. Davis, 1925, Staten Island NY

"Memorandum of Title of the Cruser Property at West New Brighton, New York 1677 to 1830," Alexander Rowland, 1946

New York (State) Secretary of State: Calendar of New York Colonial Manuscripts: Indorsed Land Papers in the Office of the Secretary of State of New York 1643-1803, E.B. O'Callaghan (Revised Reprint, 1987, Harbor Hill Books, Harrison NY)

Staten Island 1524-1898, Henry G. Steinmeyer, 1950 (Revised Edition, Staten Island Historical Society, Staten Island NY, 1987)

"The Voorlezer," Loring McMillen, Staten Island Historical Society 1939 No. 2 Historical Pamphlets

The Voorlezer's House: An Illustrated Guide, Richmondtown Restoration, Staten Island Historical Society, 1985.

"The Widow Cruser," Alexander Rowland, The Staten Island Historian, vol. IX #1 Jan-Mar 1948

Prep Work: Use the soft brush to remove dirt and debris from the surface. Be gentle and respectful. If it looks like you might scratch the tombstone, move on.

Once most of the dirt is off the stone, spray it with the bottle and wipe it with the rag. Let the tombstone become perfectly dry. Cut the paper larger than the stone itself and wrap it tightly around the stone. Tape it very securely so that it does not move.

Etiquette: Ask permission. Tombstones can be delicate; treat the one you are working on as if it is your mother's. Be sure to clean off all marks accidently left on the stone. Leave the site clean.

ARE THESE YOUR ANCESTORS?