I've lived in New Jersey for more than 40 years, but I'll never be a real New Jersey girl. I grew up in Pennsylvania where there was lots of snow, one traffic light in town, and 90 kids in my grade--from kindergarten through graduation. I didn't know anything about The Shore, or baked ziti, or Chanukah until I came to Jersey. But, I've come to love all of that and much more--especially the history. I now know about the Jersey Dutch, strawberry baskets, railroad suburbs, the bridge that saved a nation, and so much more. I've learned that to tell the local stories about regular people I need to read wills, estate files, census records, pension applications, letters, tombstones, newspapers, and anything else I can find. So, that's some of what I want to share with you!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Fieldstone Grave Markers



I posted the following information on the Dutch-Colonies rootsweb listserv in response to a post by Judy Cassidy, "Early Dutch cemeteries with fieldstone markers."  See here for the thread.   
There are fieldstones in the Reformed and old family burial grounds in Bergen County, New Jersey.  I am familiar with the ones in the Old Paramus Reformed Churchyard Cemetery (Ridgewood, NJ) 


and the Zabriskie Hopper Burial Ground (Paramus, NJ). 
 Both also have photos posted on findagrave.com.  The Zabriskie Hopper burial ground is on private property and not open to the public.  However, I have just completed a review of existing lists and photos (by Jackie Jensen and Pete Evans) and the updates have been posted on findagrave by (Rich H.).  Of the dated markers 28 (or about 1/3) are prior to 1800 and most of those are probably fieldstones.  There are extant photos of seven fieldstones.  One, that of James A. Bogart (1785) is shaped:
 
Photo:  Jackie Jensen
The rest appear to be their natural shapes.  There are no long, narrow post shapes as at Dorland Cemetery, Montgomery Township, NJ or Magagkamack Cemetery in Orange County, NY.  The fieldstones, especially some of those at the Paramus Churchyard cemetery seem to be broken, but looking at the placement of the writing reveals that, in many cases, this is their natural shape and size. 
There is an excellent article, "New Netherland's Gravestone Legacy" by Brandon Richards in Markers, 1997, v. XXIV, p. 24.  (It can be viewed or downloaded from University of Massachusetts Amherst Special Collections.) In it he describes the early post-type markers noted by Judy in the Dorland Cemetery and the pointed and natural fieldstones in the other cemeteries.  In Ackerman and Goff's transcription of the Zabriskie Hopper Cemetery in 1946 he mentions that there are "numerous fieldstones without marks."  Many of the earliest markers were probably used to indicate sites of burials (so as not to re-use them) and for a generation, or so, people knew who was buried where.  Eventually, marking with initials and dates became a practical necessity.  The markings are described as "non-artisanal" by Richards; that is, they were made by an untrained or inexperienced hand.  The lettering ranges from very crude scratching to beautiful, well-laid-out lettering.  In the Paramus Churchyard there is at least one fieldstone in Dutch. 

(To display the fieldstones in the ZH Cemetery:  At findagrave.com, search by "Cemetery" for Zabriskie.  Select filter "Names with grave photo."  Fieldstones are James A. Bogart 1785, ASH 1777, AAM 1774, WAW 1796, AZ 1781, and HZ MZ 1786.)  
The next issue of In Bergen's Attic (Bergen County Historical Society), will have an article on the Zabriskie Hopper Burial Ground.
Photos are mine, unless otherwise noted.
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