CIVILIAN

 

Johannes Abeel

(1667-1711); Church Grounds       

Second Mayor of Albany (1694), Alderman, Judge, Sheriff, Recorder (1702).  During his term as Mayor, Colonel Pieter Schuyler took the sachems of the five Iroquois tribes to England to meet the Queen.  Re-interred from the South Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Wacheka Albanya

(Sophie HighDog)

(c1890-1900); lot 155 ½, sec 26     

Sioux Indian.  A ward of the Albany Indian Association, originally from South Dakota.  She died of pulmonary tuberculosis.  Age 10.

 

William Alexander

(Lord Stirling)

(1726-1783); Church Ground        

Major General in the Revolutionary War; one of Washington's most trusted generals during the Revolutionary War.  He was an uncle to the original Lord Stirling in Scotland.  A committee in Scotland decided he should be awarded the title ÒLord StirlingÓ but the British House of Lords refused to recognize him.  He was originally buried in the Livingston family vault under the Dutch Church in downtown Albany.  Those interments were later moved to Albany Rural Cemetery. 

 

William Appleton         

(1811-1883); lot 20, sec 19          

Grain merchant, malting, he owned barges on the Hudson, operated between Albany and New York City.  Monument by William Manson ($9,000).

 

Ezra Ames

(1768-1836); lot 1, sec 59            

Portrait painter, painted miniatures and oils of celebrated New Yorkers.  His portraits of George Washington and New York's first governor, George Clinton, hung in the legislative chambers and later the Executive Chamber of the Old Capitol Building.  Today Washington is in the Education Building and Clinton in the present Capitol.  President of Mechanics and Farmers Bank; Grand Master of the Masons.

 

 

 

George I. Amsdell

(1825-1906); lot 20, sec 21          

His father William Amsdell came to America in 1845 and established Amsdell Brewery, one of Albany's largest breweries.  George continued the Amsdell Brewery after his father's death and his brother, Theodore, purchased the Dobler Brewery.  Theodore's son-in-law George C. Hawley continued the Dobler Brewery.  George's home is now the University Club on Washington Avenue.

 

Lawson Annesley

(1795-1865); lot 24, sec 58

He came to Albany in 1802 with his father William Annesley and they opened Annesley's Looking Glass Store.  They also became engaged in the picture framing and art business founding what later became the Albany Art Gallery.  In 1860, his son Isaac became proprietor and, when Isaac died in 1865, his son Richard Lord Annesley succeeded him.  The members of the Albany Art Colony including Addison Durand, Thomas Cole, John F. Kinsett, Frederick E. Church, James McNeil Whistler, William and James Hart, George Boughton, Edward Gay, Frederic Remington, Will Hicok Low, Erastus Dow Palmer, Walter Launt Palmer and later Charles Calverley and Ezra Ames met in the back room of Annesley's store.   The Annesley business was open in Albany for well over 100 years. 

 

Dr.  James H. Armsby

(1810-1875); lot 16, sec 12          

With his father-in-law, Dr. Alden March, he founded Albany Medical College in 1839 and later started the Albany Hospital.  He also was one of the founders of Albany Law School in 1851.  He drew up plans for the organization of the University of Iowa and led a group that established a soldier's home in Albany following the Civil War.  He was a Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  His monument has a medallion by John Hartley.

 

Benjamin Walworth Arnold

(1865-1932); lot 13, sec 30          

Albany ÒLumber Baron.Ó  Logged timber and shipped logs to Albany and then lumber over the Erie Canal westward.  Owned several timber holding companies, lumber manufacturing businesses and three railroads.

 

Chester Alan Arthur

(1829-1886); lot 8, sec 24

President of the United States, Quartermaster General of the New York State Militia during the Civil War; signed the Pendleton Act prohibiting the solicitation of federal employees for political contributions, created the Civil Service Commission, dedicated the Brooklyn Bridge and Washington Monument, dubbed ÒFather of American Navy.Ó  He was a Civil Rights attorney early in his career and participated in several precedent-setting cases. Monument by Ephram Keyser.  (Arthur Drive in Colonie)

 

Ellen Herndon Arthur

(1837-1880); lot 8, sec 24

Wife of President Chester Arthur.  Her father was Captain Lewis Herndon who went down with his ship, the SS Central America in a hurricane. 

 

William Arthur

(1797-1875); lot 8, sec 24

Baptist Minister at Newtonville's First Baptist Church (now a Post Office near Colonie Town Hall), father of the President, antiquarian. (Colonie's Arthur Drive)

 

Jeremiah J. Austin

(c1819-1879); lot 43, sec 21

Steamboat captain and owner of the A&C (Albany & Canal) Towing Line on the Hudson River.  In 1853, he purchased the 197-foot Austin that was custom built as a tow boat at Hoboken, N.J.  In 1855, Austin purchased the passenger steamboat General McDonald and converted her to a tow boat.  His third tow boat, the 218-foot Syracuse, was built as a tow boat in 1857 and was considered to be the most powerful tow boat on the Hudson River.  His fourth steamboat, the Ohio was converted to a tow boat probably in the 1850s.  He also bought the Silas O. Pierce, a transport vessel used to deliver troops and food and evacuate casualties from the battlefields during the Civil War, and used her as a towboat.  His A&C Line of towboats suffered several accidents in the late 1860s and went out-of-business.  Jeremiah J. Austin was also a trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  His grandfather, Benjamin Austin (1758-1844), a Revolutionary War soldier, is also buried here. 

 

Samuel N.  Bacon

(1829-1889); lot 4, sec 20

With Leander Stickney, he was a dealer in coffee and spices; Bacon, Stickney & Co.

 

Daniel Dewey Barnard

(1796-1861); lot 33, sec 56          

U.S. Minister to Prussia, District Attorney for Monroe County, Congressman (1827), Assemblyman (1838), noted Whig politician allied within the party with Millard Fillmore as a conservative Whig (in favor of Henry Clay's slavery compromises of 1850) against Senator William Seward and Thurlow Weed (who strongly opposed slavery).  He supported the removal of Lewis Benedict, a Weed appointee, as Albany Postmaster as retaliation when Weed and Seward passed an anti-slavery resolution as part of the Whig Party platform in 1852.  He delivered the Dedication Address at the opening of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Thurlow Weed Barnes

(1853-1918); lot 3, sec 109

Member of the New York State Republican Committee, he negotiated the Hankow-Canton Contract with the Chinese Government in 1898.  Authored The Life of Thurlow Weed.  Grandson of Thurlow Weed. 

 

William ÒBillyÓ Barnes

(1866-1930); lot 3, sec 109          

Purchased the Albany Morning Express and later the Journal Company, publisher of the Albany Evening Journal; New York State Republican Chairman.  Grandson of Thurlow Weed.

 

Capt. Thomas Bayeux   

(1802-1844); lot 27, sec 16          

Captain and one of the founders of Albany's Burgesses Corps. Monument by James Gazeley

 

Matthew Bender

(1845-1920); lot 2, sec 80            

Worked for his father in the lumber business, joined William Gould law book publishers, started his own business as a legal book editor and bookseller, published the New York Lawyer's Diary.

 

Matthew Bender, Jr.

(1868-1958); lot 2, sec 30            

Along with his brother John, continued the law book publishing business started by their father, expanded worldwide, the business eventually was purchased by the Times-Mirror Co.  (now AOL Time Warner).

 

Lewis Benedict

(c1785-1862); lot 38, sec 3           

Albany merchant, an early 1800s ad in the Albany Evening Journal lists 10,000 cases of cut nails and spikes for sale and lists him as Òagent for the Troy Iron and Nail factory.Ó  Also lists ÒCanal and Boat spikes, Ship spikes, and Rail Road spikes as manufactured in H. Burden's Patent Machines from the best quality of iron.Ó  It also lists Òvarious shovels, spades, crowbars and drills for sale.Ó

 

Also an active anti-slavery Whig, supporter of the Thurlow Weed Ð William Seward faction of the party.  He was removed as Albany Postmaster (a Weed appointment) when Weed and Seward forced an anti-slavery resolution onto the Whig platform in 1852 in opposition to Henry Clay's negotiated Compromise of 1850.  Father of General Lewis Benedict (see ÒMilitaryÓ section).  Monument by William Gray, medallion by Erastus Dow Palmer

 

Samuel O. ÒOne ArmedÓ Berry

(1839-1873); sg 19, tier 9, sec 98  

Partner of Marcellus Jerome Clarke otherwise known as ÒSue Mundy,Ó Confederate soldiers but later guerrillas, murderers and thieves.  Their gangs included Bill Marion, William Quantrill, James Younger and Frank James.  They terrorized the residents of the State of Kentucky during the Civil War, robbing, killing and raping many people.  Berry alone was convicted of 12 counts of murder and 6 counts of robbery although these were probably but a small portion of his crimes.  His sentence to be hanged was commuted to ten years at hard labor at Albany County Jail where he died after serving seven years.

 

Adam Blake

(1773-  ); lot 22, sec 42

Servant at the home of the Van Rensselaer family.  He was educated at the Van Rensselaer Manor and brought up in the Dutch religion.  He served as Òbody servant' to Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer III, and later went on to manage and supervise the staff at the Patroon's home.  He also served as the Master of Ceremonies at Albany's Pinksterfeest, a Dutch-African Spring celebration held annually in Albany. 

 

Adam Blake

(c1829-1881); lot 22, sec 42         

Owner of the Kenmore Hotel and considered to be the most successful Black businessman in the United States.  He was born to parents who were servants in the Van Rensselaer Mansion in Albany.  Together with other Van Rensselaer children, he received a grammar school education at the mansion.  He went on to become a restaurant owner and hotelkeeper.  He owned Congress Hall, one of Albany's most prestigious hotels and residence of many legislators during the Legislative session.  When Congress Hall was taken by the State to build the new Capitol, Blake used the money to build the Kenmore Hotel, which at that time was Albany's most beautiful hotel.   Son of Adam Blake (above).

 

Charles Edward Bleecker

(1826-1873); lot 1, sec 101          

Mayor of Albany (1868), wine merchant, planned Washington Park.  During his term as Mayor, the construction of the Capitol was started; Broadway was paved with wood blocks of Canada pine; and the New York Central and Hudson River Railroads were consolidated, trains could now go from Chicago to Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and New York City.

 

Harmanus Bleecker

(1779-1848); lot 61, sec 3

Congressman (1811), State Assembly (1814), Ambassador to the Netherlands (1837), Regent of State University of New York (1822), one of the signers of a call for a meeting at the Tontine Coffee House in Albany on February 7, 1816 to petition for the construction of the Erie Canal.  He left $80,000 to his wife but upon her death it was to be used to finance improvements for the city of Albany.  When his wife returned to the Netherlands, she released the funds to J.V.L. Pruyn to decide on a proper public project, by then the fund had grown to $130,000.  (Harmanus Bleecker Hall, Harmanus Bleecker Library, Bleecker Stadium, Bleecker Street are named after him or his family).

 

Jan Jansen Bleecker

(1641-1732); lot 1; sec 61

Member of the Provincial Assembly (1698-1701), Mayor (1700), Indian Commissioner, Captain of the Militia during the Indian War (1689), City Recorder, Justice of the Peace, fur trader.  While he was Mayor, 15,241 beaver skins were exported in a single year.  The main issue confronting him was to obtain support from the Iroquois tribes in the struggles against the French in Canada.  After many days of deliberation, the Indian Sachems told him that they would support the group that gave them the most presents and gave them the best trade deals.  Originally interred at the Middle Dutch Church on Hudson Avenue in Albany, he was moved here by his descendents.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Johannes Bleecker, Jr.

(1668-1738); Church Grounds       

Mayor of Albany (1701), carried captive to Canada by French and Indians (1686), returned (1687), member of the Colonial General Assembly (1701), Indian interpreter.  During his term as Mayor, the city wall was strengthened expecting an attack from the French.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Rutger Bleecker

(1675-1756); lot 1, sec 61            

Mayor (1726), son of Jan Jansen Bleecker, brother of Mayor Johannes Bleecker, Jr., first President of the Albany Common Council, merchant.  While Mayor, he enacted laws restricting the sale of intoxicants to the Indians.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Rutger Bleecker

(c1745-1787); lot 1, sec 61

Gunsmith.  He provided much of the armament for the Albany Militia during the Revolutionary War. 

 

Anneke Jans Bogardus

(1605-1671); lot 1, sec 61            

At one time owned 62 acres of downtown Manhattan referred to as Domine's Bouwerie that she inherited from her first husband, Roelof Janszen.  She also inherited a farm of 84 acres called Domine's Hook on the Long Island shore of the East River from her second husband, Domine Everardus Bogardus, Minister of the Dutch Church in New Amsterdam (New York City). 

 

Domine's Bouwerie was sold to British official Francis Lovelace by her heirs, although not all of them participated in the sale.  Lovelace's lands were confiscated by the British and in 1705 given to Trinity Church by Queen Anne.  The legality of the sale was disputed unsuccessfully for years.  Her farm was the origination of the term ÒThe BoweryÓ for this section of New York City.  Originally interred in the ÒOld Dutch ChurchÓ in the intersection of (today's) State and Broadway, she was moved to the Middle Dutch Church on Hudson Avenue in Albany and then to Albany Rural Cemetery by her descendents, the Dudley family.  She was originally buried in a vault under the Dutch Church and later moved to Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Jeptha Richard Boulware

(1820-1887); lot 30, sec 30          

Physician, invented specialized surgical instruments, developed surgical procedures, served in the Civil War (177^th Regiment), principal surgeon at Albany Hospital.  Monument by Charles Calverly.

 

James Boyd

(1762-1839); lot 69, sec 33          

New York Assemblyman (1811), Weighmaster on the Erie Canal.  He was born in County Atrim, Ireland.

 

Herman Bradley

(1908-1998); sg 12, tier7, sec 24

Noted Jazz Drummer during the ÒSwing EraÓ from 1928 to 1950.  He later played with various swing groups until 1988.  During the Swing Era he played in the bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Jimmy Lunceford as well as jazz groups the Savoy Sultans, Savoy Dictators and Herman Bradley's Rhythm Dons which he founded in 1933.  He played in many locations around New York City and also the Apollo Theater in Harlem. 

 

Terrence Brady

(c1840-1869); lot 1, sec 84           

Headstone inscription: ÒKilled on the Susquehanna Railroad, Jan 19, 1869.Ó

 

John Bridgford

(c1819-1898); lot 71, sec 28         

Prominent Albany builder, he supervised the initial phases of the construction of the New York State Capitol.  He built and donated one of the Egyptian style receiving vaults at Albany Rural Cemetery.  He served on the original Washington Park Commission.

 

Arthur John Bright

(c1872-1921); lot 21, sec 36         

Survivor of the sinking of the Titanic.  Bright was a crewman and was assigned to collapsible lifeboat ÒD,Ó the last lifeboat to depart the Titanic.  The last lifeboat contained 25 passengers out of a capacity of 49.  At the time of the sinking Bright lived in Southampton, England, he later moved to 50 Dove Street, Albany.  He was buried in the St. George's Society burial plot.

 

Jesse Buel        

(1778-1839); lot 106, sec 33         

Agriculturist, printer, publisher, founded Albany's Argus newspaper voice of Albany's Democratic Party and counterbalance to Thurlow Weed's Whig and later Republican Albany Evening Journal, Assemblyman, unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1836 against William Marcy.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.  Monument by John Dixon.

 

Rev. Peter Bullions DD

(1791-1864); lot 5, sec 16

Presbyterian minister, scholar and world-renowned author of Bullion's Grammar, or The Principles of English Grammar, a book widely used by American schoolchildren in the 1800s.  An 1800s writer described: ÒBy how many thousands is that name associated with vivid recollections of weary hours and days spent in endeavoring to elucidate grammatical conundrums É it still holds an honored place among the text books of the period.Ó  Published in 1850 it was republished in at least 32 editions.  He was professor of Latin and Greek at Albany Academy from 1824 to 1848.

           

He also authored The Principles of Greek Grammar that had its 42^nd edition published in 1882 and The Principles of Latin Grammar republished at least 22 editions by 1856.

 

Henry Bullions MD

(1832-1858); lot 5, sec 16

Medical doctor, son of Rev. Peter Bullions (above).  He graduated from Union College and Albany Medical College in 1853.  He served as a house surgeon at the Troy Hospital until poor health forced him to move to Honolulu in 1854, where he and Dr. Seth Porter Ford formed the City Hospital at the corner of Kaahumanu and Queen Streets.  By October 1855, he was listed as one of six physicians on the staff of Honolulu Marine Hospital.  In 1856 he returned to Troy where he practiced as a physician but also owned and operated a drug store.  Poor health forced his return to Hawaii at the end of 1857, but as his condition worsened he returned to Troy where he died of consumption (tuberculosis) in 1858 at the age of 26.

 

John G. Burch

(1827-1905); lot 71, sec 44          

Mayor of Albany (1874) appointed to serve during the contested election between George Thacher and Edmund Judson, President of the Common Council, master painter and foreman at the New York Central's West Albany Shops.  He owned a general store selling coal, wood and groceries.  He lived at 2 Watervliet Ave.

 

Henry Burden              

(1791-1871); lot 4, sec 61

Iron mill owner, invented machines to make horseshoes, hook-headed railroad spikes, and rolling iron into cylinders.  His horseshoe machine could make sixty shoes in 1 minute; previously it took 2 men 1 full day to make 60 horseshoes.  He was a leading resident of Troy.  This mausoleum was designed by his widow, Helen Burden, who is also interred here.  Woodside Memorial Church in Troy is also dedicated to Mrs. Burden.

 

Walter R. Bush

(1815-1885): lot 9, sec 28

Partner in Gilbert, Bush & Co. one of the world's largest manufacturer of street cars and later railroad cars.  He succeeded Uri Gilbert as president of the company in 1864.  During the Civil War, the company made about 500 gun carriages for cannon for the Union Army.  The cannon were probably cast at the Watervliet Arsenal.

 

Charles Calverley

(1833-1914); lot 109, sec 107       

Sculptor, executed the Robert Burns statue in Albany's Washington Park, did many busts and medallions including those on the graves of newspaper publisher Horace Greeley and sewing machine inventor Elias Howe in Brooklyn's Greenwood Cemetery; he has several works in Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Lizzie M. Calhoun

(1858-1877); lot 39, sec 65          

An Albany High School student who, on May 31, 1877 while visiting the cemetery with two friends, jumped from a carriage attached to a team of run-away horses and was killed in the cemetery in the ravine behind this gravesite.

 

George Campbell

(1828-1900); lot 45, sec 85

Member of the New York Assembly in 1881.  He was a machinist and constructed many knitting mill machines.  With John Clute, they erected Òa commodious modern blockÓ opposite the Harmony Hotel in Cohoes.

 

Rev. John N. Campbell

(c1798-1864) lot 25, sec 41          

Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Albany for 34 years.  He was also Chaplain to Congress in 1820 and pastor of a church in Washington, D.C.  Regent of the University of the State of New York; he wrote many of their annual reports.

 

William Cassidy

(1817-1867); lot 27, sec 4

President and owner of Albany Argus newspaper, he was on the Board of Park Commissioners that established Washington Park and moved the burial ground to Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Daniel D. T. Charles

(1821-1892); lot 32, sec 34

One of the founders of the Van Heusen - Charles Co. retailers of fine china, silverware, lamps and other furnishings.  In 1897, the Van Heusen - Charles Co. was already listed as the oldest enterprise of its kind in the Eastern United States.  Founded in 1843, the firm lasted into the late 1900s.

 

Norton Chase

(1861-1922); lot 35, sec 4

Member of the N.Y. Assembly in 1885; member of the N.Y. Senate in 1890-1891.  He was an attorney in the firm of Judge Samuel Hand. 

 

Rev.  John Cheshire (Chesshire)

(1821-1881); lot 192, sec 26         

Headstone inscription: ÒReady for Either.Ó

 

Reuel Clapp

(1792-1850); lot 1, sec 6

One of Albany's chief builders and contractors.  For the last 13 years of his life, he was the principal proprietor and manufacturer of Townsend's Sarsaparilla, in its day a most popular and curative medicine.  It was later sold as a soft drink.  His son, Augustus Henly Clapp owned a popular book, stationery and periodical business in Albany. 

 

Edward W. Clark

(c1849-1907); lot 4, sec 102         

Son of Rev. Rufus Clark, he was graduated from Albany Academy (1864) as a student of the famous physicist Joseph Henry (later the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution).  The Emperor of Japan recognized that science was going to become of great importance in the future of civilization and hired Clark to come to Japan and instruct Japanese educators on the design of proper scientific curriculum.  Japan now credits Clark with having started them on the road to preeminence in scientific research.

 

John Mason Clarke LL.D., Ph.D.

(1857-1925); lot 268, sec 105

New York State Paleontologist appointed in 1898 and State Director of Science, Geology and Paleontology in 1904.  He served as a professor of Paleontology, Geology and/or Zoology at Smith College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  He authored more than 200 books on various technical subjects.  He served on many different committees and societies.

 

Frederick Cleveland

(1838-1897); lot 1, sec 108          

Founded and operated the Cleveland Brothers Baking Powder Company in Albany.  He previously owned the Cleveland & Snyder Drug Co. in Chicago, and a baking powder business in Peoria, Ill.

 

General (?) George Cooke

(1788-1873); lot 241, sec 95         

Self-Promoter, General (?), Professor (?), Lawyer (?), Physician (?), sold medicinal elixirs.  In his will he donated a bust of himself, by famous sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer, and $1,000 to the YMCA that was used to purchase books for their library.  Today, the bust is on his headstone.

 

 

 

 

Arnold Cogswell

(1924-2008); lot   , sec

Chairman of Pittsburgh Tube Company, he served as President of Albany Medical Center, Albany Hospital for the Incurables, Wildwood School, Vice Chairman of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, governor and treasurer of Union University.

 

Ledyard Cogswell

(1852-1929); lot 30, sec 29          

President of Townsend Furnace and Machine Shop, President of New York State National Bank, Secretary of Albany Savings Bank, Cashier of First National Bank.

 

Ledyard Cogswell, Jr.

(1878-1954); lot 30, sec 29          

President of New York State National Bank, Chairman of Pittsburgh Tube, President of Albany Lumber and Planing Mill, Director of Albany Insurance Company and Albany Savings Bank.

 

Mason Fitch Cogswell, M.D.

(c1810-1865), lot 19, sec 89

Medical Doctor.  He served as Medical Inspector of troops enlisting at Albany during the Civil War.  He also served on a commission to interview candidates for the positions of surgeon and assistant surgeon treating New York State troops.  Together with Doctors John Swinburne, John V. Lansing, and Sylvester D. Willard, he established a Civil War hospital nicknamed the White House on the Pamunkey River.  He served as a volunteer surgeon with the Army of the Potomac during the peninsular campaign in 1862.  In 1863, he volunteered to serve with the Christian Commission inspecting military hospitals in the west and southwest. 

 

John Cochrane

(1818-1898); lot 15, sec 53          

Ran for Vice-President of the U.S. with John Fremont against Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson in 1864 (Fremont withdrew prior to the election), Congressman (1857), New York Attorney General (1863), Brigadier General during the Civil War.  Declined an appointment by President U.S. Grant to become U.S. Minister to Uruguay and Paraguay in 1869. 

 

Lorenzo D. Collins

(1821-1898); lot 46, sec 5

In 1895 when the Town of Colonie was established, he was elected the first Town Supervisor.  He was re-elected in 1897.  He had previously been a Trustee (1852) of the Village of West Troy (now Watervliet) and in 1853 was President of the same village.  In 1859 and 1860, he was a member of the Assembly and in 1866 was a member of the N.Y. State Senate.  He was President of the N.Y. State Farmer's League and chairman of the executive committee of the N.Y. Farmer's Congress. 

 

Dr. Charles D. Cooper

(1770-1831); lot 15, sec 19          

He was a medical doctor and son-in-law of Judge (later Governor) John Tayler.  The fateful comments uttered by Alexander Hamilton that led to his duel with Aaron Burr were spoken at Tayler's home at a dinner attended by Hamilton and his father-in-law Philip Schuyler and Cooper.   Cooper wrote a letter that was published in the Albany Evening Register newspaper that later appeared in the New York Post reporting what Hamilton had said.  Even though General Schuyler later wrote a separate letter to both newspapers stating that the report was not correct, the duel resulted in Hamilton being killed. 

 

Edwin Corning

(1883-1934); lot 2, sec 31

President of Ludlum Steel (later Allegheny Ludlum, later Altec Steel) producers of stainless and alloy steels; Treasurer of Albany Felt Company; Director of the New York State National Bank, and Albany Savings Bank, managed a large farm at Kenwood.  He was chairman of the Executive Committee of the Albany County Democratic Committee and the New York State Democratic Committee, grandson of Erastus, father of Erastus 2^nd.  He was Lieutenant Governor of New York (1927-1928) under Governor Alfred E. Smith.

 

Elizabeth Platt Corning

(1912-1993); lot 2, sec 31            

Wife of Mayor Erastus Corning 2^nd, noted horticulturist, President of the Garden Club of America.

                                                           

Erastus Corning

(1794-1872); lot 2, sec 31

Founder of the New York Central Railroad, at the time it was founded it was capitalized for $23 million making it the largest corporation in America.  Director of the Michigan Central Railroad and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, owned Albany Ironworks and Rensselaer Ironworks (plates and bars for the Civil War ironclad Monitor were cast and rolled here); State Senator (starting in 1842), Congressman (1857) during the Civil War, Mayor (1834), Regent and Vice Chancellor of the University of New York, President of the Hudson River Bridge Company.  He started in business with Hart & Smith hardware store in Troy, New York.  Later went into business with John Spencer in a hardware store in Albany and later, Corning, Horner & Co. Hardware in Albany at 11-13 South Market Street (South Pearl).  He owned the largest plot in Albany Rural Cemetery. 

 

During his term as Mayor, Albany's Patroon, Stephen Van Rensselaer III split his huge estate in half giving all the land on the east side of the Hudson River to his son William and all the land on the Albany side to his son Stephen IV.  (Corning, New York is named after him.)

 

Erastus Corning Jr.

(1852-1893); lot 2, sec 31

He ran iron mills in Troy, noted collector and horticulturist, President of Albany Rural Cemetery.  Son of Erastus Corning

 

Erastus Corning 2^nd

(1909-1983); lot 2, sec 31

Mayor of Albany for 41 years (1942-1983), Assemblyman, New York Senator, Democratic leader.  Unsuccessful candidate for New York State Lieutenant Governor in 1946 on a Democratic ticket headed by gubernatorial candidate James Mead.  Great-grandson of Erastus Corning. (Corning Preserve Park, Corning Tower).

 

Parker Corning

(1874-1943); lot 2, sec 31

One of the founders and President of Albany Felt Company, later Albany International. He was the First Vice-President of Ludlum Steel Company and the New York State National Bank; Director of Mechanics and Farmers' Bank, Albany Insurance Company, and City Safe Deposit Company; Congressman (1923), grandson of Erastus Corning.

 

Edgar Cottrell

(1838-1890); lot 9, sec 11

Tailor, furrier, with Daniel Leonard he started the formal cap and gown rental industry, Cottrell & Leonard.

 

James C. Covert

(1835-1911); lot 10, sec 108         

Founded Covert Manufacturing in Troy, later moved to West Troy (now Watervliet), he had over 50 patents, famous bolt harness snap, various snaps, ropes, halters, ties, chain goods.  Also owned Dr. Bury Medicines including Lung Balsam, Catarrh Snuff, Camphor Ointment.

 

 

John Schuyler Crosby

(1839- 1914); lot 1, sec 14           

Territorial Governor of Montana (1882-1884), U.S. Consul to Florence Italy (1876-1882), First Assistant U.S. Postmaster General (1885-1889), Colonel during the Civil War, later stayed in the regular army serving under General Philip Sheridan and fought in battles with the Plains Indians as aide-de-camp to Sheridan.  Organized big game hunting trips accompanied by President Chester Arthur, Colonel George Armstrong Custer and William F. (ÒBuffalo BillÓ) Cody.  Grandson of General Philip Schuyler and husband of Harriet Van Rensselaer (granddaughter of Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer). 

 

Johannes Cuyler

(c1661-1740), Church Grounds     

Mayor, Alderman, Deacon, Elder in the Dutch Church, Indian Commissioner, trader. Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

William Dalton

(1869-1968); lot 34, sec 21          

Chief Engineer for American Locomotive in Schenectady (ALCO).  Cinerarium by Marcus T. Reynolds.

 

Rev. Henry Darling

(1823-1891); lot 48, sec 30          

Pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, President of Hamilton College from 1863 to 1881.

 

George Dawson

(1813-1883); lot 1, sec 33

Editor (later partner and owner) of the Albany Evening Journal for Thurlow Weed.  Born in Scotland, he started as a printer and later foreman of the paper.  He left to edit papers in Rochester and Detroit, returning as Associate Editor in 1846.  Also wrote books on angling.  His son, Major George S. Dawson of the 2^nd NYVI, who died at Petersburg during the Civil War, is also buried here.  Postmaster of Albany.

 

Amos Dean LL.D.

(c1803-1868); lot 2, sec 52           

Author of History of Civilization, and one of the organizers of the Young Men's Association to foster continuing education.  He was a founder and a member of the first faculty of Albany Medical School in 1839 and Albany Law School when it was started in 1851 (4^th law school in the country).  He was also the first Chancellor of the University of Iowa in 1855.  He authored several books and many lectures including, ÒManual of LawÓ (1838), ÒPhilosophy of Human LifeÓ (1839), ÒMedical JurisprudenceÓ (1854), ÒBryant and Stratton's Commercial LawÓ (1861), and left unfinished a 7-volume elaborate work on the ÒHistory of CivilizationÓ (1869).

 

Archland M. Dederick

(1880-1950); lot 13, sec 29          

Brought the first Òhorseless carriageÓ to Albany on December 26, 1899.  Son  of Peter Kells Dederick.

 

Peter Kells Dederick

(1838-1911); lot 13, sec 29          

Founded Albany Agricultural and Machine Works.  Invented and manufactured hand and power presses to bale hay, cotton, rags, flax, hemp and many other products.  His inventions led to the start of the hay baling industry; he had branches and warehouses in Montreal, Chicago, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Denver and offices in France, Germany, Austria and Russia.  Also manufactured horse-powered hoisting equipmen, and steam-powered hoisting equipment for coal, ore, iron, stone, grain, etc., self-dumping carts, tubs and brick and tile machines.

 

Edward C. Delavan

(1793-1871); lot 10, sec 53          

Owned the Delavan House - Albany's pre-eminent hotel at the time, hosted the Lincoln family, many political and entertainment figures.  He was a noted temperance advocate; President and founder of several of the first temperance organizations.  He traveled extensively promoting temperance including to Rome, Italy where he presented his views to the Pope. On July 4, 1845, he was assigned the first deed in Albany Rural Cemetery (16' x 16' plot for $25).  Monument by T. K. Kenney.

 

Johannes DePeyster

(1694-1789); Church Grounds       

French Huguenot, Mayor (1729), son of J. DePeyster Ð Mayor of New York City, Provincial Assembly, Captain in the Militia Ð participated in the first expedition against Crown Point (French-Indian War), Indian Commissioner, lived on Yonkers Street (State Street).  As Mayor, he purchased Albany's first fire-fighting equipment, ladders and fire-hooks.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Simeon DeWitt 

(1756-1834); lot 30, sec 56          

First Surveyor General of the State of New York.  He held the office for 50 years.  He also served as the second Surveyor General to the Army of the United States of America appointed by George Washington after the death of Robert Erskin.  He founded Ithaca, New York.  He also served in the Continental Army and fought at Saratoga. 

 

DeWitt was originally buried in Ithaca but in 1844 he was moved to a vault in the Old Middle Dutch Church in Albany.  In the 1890s he was moved to Albany Rural.  DeWitt, along with the land commissioners, were responsible for distributing land grants to soldiers who served in the American Revolution.  Many of the Greek and Roman place-names in Central New York were chosen by DeWitt (Aurelius, Camillus, Cicero, Homer, Manlius, Pompey, Rome, Greece).  He also prepared a 1790 map of Albany where he named east-west streets after animals (Deer, Beaver, Elk, Hare, Fox and Lion) and north-south running streets after birds (Eagle, Hawk, Swan, Dove, Lark, Robin, Quail).   He was also a Regent of the State University of New York.

 

Richard Varick DeWitt

(1832-1901); lot 30, sec 56

Grandson of Surveyor General Simeon DeWitt (above) and great-grandson of Continental Army General Richard Varick.  He was Secretary of the Commerce Insurance Company from 1872 to 1890 and Secretary of Albany Insurance Company from 1890 to 1896; President of the Albany Board of Fire Underwriters and a Trustee of Albany Medical College. 

 

William H. DeWitt

(1798-1872); lot 16, sec 4

He built the Church of the Holy Innocents in Albany in memory of his four children who died.  He also installed a monument to them at Albany Rural.  He was a Trustee of the cemetery. 

 

John Alden Dix

(1860-1928); lot 11, sec 41          

Governor of New York (1911-1912).  Dix entered the lumber business with his father and eventually became associated with the paper manufacturing business and several banks.  He was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for New York State Lieutenant Governor in 1908.  Liberal Democrats denied Dix a second term as Governor and replaced him with William Sulzer who was later impeached.  He was State Chairman of the Democratic Party in 1910 and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1904 and 1912, Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  During his term as Governor, the State Capitol Building in Albany burned. 

 

 

 

Margaret (Peg) Doherty

(1926-1997); lot 124, sec 205       

First female Lettercarrier in the United States Post Office in 1943.

 

Volkert Petrus Douw     

(1720-1801); lot 19, sec 52          

Vice-President of the First Provincial Congress (1775), Member of the Colonial Assembly (1759-1766), Mayor of Albany (1761-70), merchant, Alderman (1749), Captain of the Colonial Militia (1775), Presiding Judge of the Albany County Court of Common Pleas (1757-1775), Indian Commissioner (1774), Chairman of the Committee of Safety (1775), First Judge of County Court (1778), Commissary of the Northern Army (1779), New York State Senate. One of the founders and member of the first board of Albany Savings Bank, the second oldest bank in New York.

 

As Mayor, and with the Common Council's permission, he purchased five tickets in the New York lottery Òfor the benefit of the city's fundsÓ which apparently worked out as he proceeded to New York City for the drawing and received 4 pounds 5 shillings on one of the tickets.  The others were losers.  Also during his term, the city purchased James Knox, a bond-servant, for nine pounds to serve as public whipper. Residents of Albany were upset at Britain's passage of the Stamp Act.  Originally interred at Wolven-Hoeck (later Greenbush, later City of Rensselaer), he was moved to Albany Rural.

 

Charles Edward Dudley

 (1780-1841); lot 1, sec 61           

U.S. Senator (1829-31) replacing Martin Van Buren, State Senator (1823-25), Mayor of Albany (1821-4, 1828-9), President of the Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank, President of the Merchants' Insurance Company; merchant.  With Stephen Remsen and Stephen Van Rensselaer and others, he bought the land surrounding the Cohoes Falls and established the Cohoes Company harnessing the power of the Mohawk River.  He was one of the original petitioners to attend a meeting at the Tontine Coffee House in Albany on February 7, 1816 to pressure the State Legislature to build the Erie Canal; while he served in the Senate, he was an important member of the Albany Regency.  His widow, Blandina Bleecker Dudley, donated $105,000 to found the Dudley Observatory. 

 

During Dudley's term as Mayor: the State Legislature reduced the pay of the members from $4 to $3 per day; Martin Van Buren moved his law office from Broadway to 109 State Street; Dr. Alden March instructed 14 young men in medicine in a building on Montgomery Street-the start of Albany Medical College; Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King of Spain visited Albany; newspapers boasted of the speed of the mails when letters mailed in New York City on the 19^th of July reached Rochester on the 23^rd; Thorpe's stagecoach left Utica and made it to his offices at State and Broadway in 9 hours 10 minutes (67 miles Ð 7.4 mph), the stagecoach trip from Schenectady to Albany down the Albany- Schenectady turnpike had taken 67 minutes for 16 miles (14.3 mph); the Albany Basin of the Erie Canal was under construction; the Erie Canal was completed and opened to much fanfare; and the estate of the late Governor DeWitt Clinton was auctioned off by the Albany sheriff to satisfy a judgment.  DeWitt Clinton's body, originally interred with the Spencer family in Albany, was removed to a cemetery in New York City.  (Dudley Heights)

 

Rev. David Dyer

(c1811-c1870) lot 58, sec 3          

Chaplain of the Albany Penitentiary and author of a history on that institution.

 

John Hanbury Dwyer

(c1780-1843); lot 50, sec 41         

Headstone inscription: ÒProfessor of Elocution.  One of the most distinguished actors of his day.  A man of brilliant talent and dedication: an ornament of the British American stage: author of the best Essays on Elocution ever published in this country.  Born in Clonnel, County Tipperary, in 1780, came to America in 1811, died December 14, 1843.Ó  His book, An Essay on Elocution, was first published in Cincinnati in 1824 and a later version was copyrighted in Albany in 1843 and the Weare C. Little Company of Albany published six editions of the 300-page book.

 

Franklin Edson

(1932-1904); lot 16, sec 15          

Mayor of New York City (1883-1884), Congressman (1891) and Secretary to the committee on the Erie Canal.  He was a member of the anti-Tammany Democrats and was chosen by Tammany boss John Kelly as a compromise candidate in 1882 to prevent a split in the party.  He represented the City of New York at the dedication of the Brooklyn Bridge and appointed the committee to create parks in the Bronx that eventually included Van Cortlandt, Bronx, Pelham Bay, Croatan, Claremont and St. Mary's Parks.  Edson supported the construction of the Croton Aqueduct as well as the conversion of Rikers Island to a prison. 

 

Carlton Edwards

(c1829-1862); lot 14, sec 55         

Editor of the Albany Express newspaper.

 

 

 

Egbert Egberts

(1791-1869); lot 22, sec 58          

With Timothy Bailey, he developed the principle of operating knitting mills with waterpower.  He was the owner and founder of Ontario Mills in Cohoes.  By 1886, 25 knitting mills were located there employing 4,000 people and representing 25% of the knit goods manufactured in the U.S. at that time.  He was President of the Bank of Cohoes and founded Cohoes High School.

 

James Eights

(1798-1882); lot 53, sec 56          

Painter, historian, geologist.  Sailed to the South Seas Islands in 1829-1830, prepared papers and drawings on zoology, botany and geology.  He was a participant in the first study of Antarctica.  He also did sketches of early 1800s Albany.

 

Thomas Elkins

(1818-1900) lot 97; sec 100          

A Black doctor in Albany in the mid-1800's.  He was an officer of the Vigilance Committee of the Underground Railroad in Albany.  He was reported to have been a member of the 54^th Massachusetts Infantry in the Civil War.

 

Chesselden Ellis

(1808-1854); ?   

Congressman (1843).  Graduate of Union College; Prosecuting Attorney for Saratoga County.  Reported to be buried at Albany Rural but we have no record.

 

Joseph (Fritz) Kline Emmet       

(1841-1891); lot 19, sec 29          

World-famous performer in the 1860s; developed one of the first musical plays: Fritz our German Cousin.  His home later became Woolfert's Roost Country Club.  (Emmet Street)

 

Ebenezer Emmons

(1799-1863); lot 46, sec 16          

Noted 19^th century geologist and biologist; one of the first professors at the Rensselaer School (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).  He proposed the Taconic System to describe the formation of the Taconic Mountains and rocks of eastern New York and Massachusetts.  He was the first to accurately date the rocks from this area (505 to 540 million years old).  He tried to explain how older rocks were positioned above younger rocks especially in the Mt. Ida Gorge.  His theory of these older rocks being ÒthrustÓ above the younger layer led to this area being named ÒEmmons Thrust.Ó  The idea of one rock layer colliding with and being thrust above another layer later led to the theory of plate tectonics.  His work and that of James Hall and others led to Albany being the center of geologic research in America at that time.  The Association of American Geologists, the parent of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was formed at a meeting held in his house in Albany.

 

Brig. Gen. Addison Farnsworth

(1825-1877); lot 110, sec 18         

During the Mexican War, a company of Albanians, Co. H, 1^st Regiment, Albany Republican Artillery, commanded by Captain Abraham Van Olinda and Lieutenant Addison Farnsworth [later Brevet Brigadier General in the Civil War] went through the Gulf of Mexico to participate in the landing at Vera Cruz under Major General Winfield Scott. 

 

Brig. Gen. John Gosman Farnsworth

(c1832-1895); lot 53, sec 30         

Captain and assistant quartermaster of the Fourth Army Corps under Gen. E.D. Keys in 1861.  Served in the Quartermaster General Corps in 1863 and 1864 during the siege of Chattanooga and at the battles of Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain.  In 1863-1864, he was promoted to colonel and commanded the supply depot at Wheeling, West Virginia.  At the end of the Civil War he was mustered out of service but remained in the New York State Guard eventually being promoted to Adjutant General of the State of New York by Governor Grover Cleveland.   He also volunteered as a Washington Park commissioner and was a Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Fireman's Monument

lot 6, sec 72                              

Erected by members of Tompkins Engine Company No. 8 in 1872, it includes a fireman's hat and speaking trumpet and other fire-fighting medallions.  Erected by W. Manson, stonecutter.

 

Samuel Fisher

(c1792-1840); lot 32, sec 92         

ÒLamp-LighterÓ of the city of Albany.  In 1829, Albany had Ò586 oil lamps, 100 of which held half a pint and the others a gill (of oil).Ó  Each lamp needed to be filled and lit each night.  Headstone inscription: Òwho was drowned by the falling of the bridge crossing from the foot of State Street onto the Pier, August 22, 1840, aged 48 years.Ó  At 5 p.m. on that date, seventy to eighty people and three or four horses and carts fell about twenty feet into twelve feet of water when the bridge over the canal basin collapsed while hundreds were being loaded onto steamboats bound for New York. Twenty-two bodies were recovered. James Hinman, Albany's Constable also buried at this cemetery, died in the same accident.

 

George H. Fitts             

(1851-1909); lot 150, sec 26         

New York Supreme Court Justice.

 

Charles Fort

(1874-1932); lot 8, sec 28

Author of books on unexplained phenomena.  He wrote four books: The Book of the Damned, New Lands, LO! and Wild Talents.  He spent many years thoroughly researching unusual happenings such as raining frogs, UFO's, disappearing telephone poles and spontaneous combustion of human beings.  He questioned almost all accepted scientific principles because he felt that scientists and newspapers only reported things that agreed with what they wanted people to believe.  The Fortean Times, still published monthly in London, England is said to promote his philosophy.

 

Peter Van Vranken Fort

(1821-1891); lot 8, sec 28

Founder and owner of Albany's largest wholesale grocers, P. V. Fort & Co.  During the Civil War, coins became so scarce in Albany that P. V. Fort & Co. and Albert Wing Sons & Co. both wholesale grocers, began minting their own pennies to use for change.  They made each penny worth one pound of flour.  These pennies were distributed and accepted widely and even today are turning up as collector's items all over the country. 

 

Joseph Fry

(c1774-1856); lot 10, sec 8

He was the first publisher of the Albany City Directory.  He worked with Solomon Southwick publishing the Albany Chronicles.

 

Brig. Gen. Henry Stanford Gansevoort

(1834-1871); lot 2, sec 55

A graduate of Harvard and an attorney, he volunteered for service in the Civil War and served with the 7^th regiment.  He later served with the 5^th US Artillery.  He fought in the Peninsular Campaign, Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Mountain and Antietam.  In 1863 he served in the 13^th NY Cavalry which was partly recruited by him.  He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1863.  He was brevetted Brigadier General at the end of the war in 1865 and served at Ft. Monroe in an administrative position.  Returning from Nassau in the Bahamas in 1871, he died on the Day Line steamboat Drew near Rhinebeck, N.Y.  Son of Peter Gansevoort, grandson of General Peter Gansevoort. 

 

 

Leonard Gansevoort

(1751-1810); lot 7, sec 43

Chairman of the Provincial Congress in 1777 which made him the de facto Governor of New York State during the Revolutionary War.  He was a Colonel in the Light Cavalry in the Revolutionary War, Treasurer of the Albany Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War, Member of the Provincial Congress (1778-1779) and Continental Congress (1788), Assemblyman (1787-1788), New York State Senator (1790-1793 and 1796-1802), Judge of the Albany County Court of Common Pleas (1794). 

 

He was Treasurer of Albany's Committee of Safety.  He purchased arms from Dirck Ten Broeck for the Albany Militia.  He was appointed to a committee to prepare a speech for the German Flatts Congress of Indians to explain the situation between America and England.  He also brought the Committee's records to Kingston for safekeeping as the British were advancing on Albany (prior to the battle at Saratoga).  He opposed the Committee's decision to evict the spouse and children of ÒToriesÓ from their homes.

 

After the Revolutionary War he was a member of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, the precursor to the Erie Canal Commission.  On Nov. 17, 1793, a fire started in his stable destroying an entire city block at the northwest corner of what is now State and Broadway.  His brother was Revolutionary War hero General Peter Gansevoort.  (Gansevoort Street)

 

General Peter Gansevoort

(1749-1812); lot 1, sec 55

Commanded the colonial troops during the defense of Fort Stanwix (Rome, New York) in the Revolutionary War, turning St. Ledger's troops back and preventing him from assisting British General Burgoyne at Saratoga. He also served under General Montgomery when Colonial soldiers invaded Canada in 1775.  Maternal grandfather of Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Peter Gansevoort

(1789-1876); lot 2, sec 55

New York Assemblyman (1831), New York State Senator (1833-1836), uncle of author, Herman Melville.  He helped support the Melville family after their father died.  He was son of Revolutionary War General Peter Gansevoort.  Board Member of Albany Rural Cemetery.  He lived at 115 Washington Ave.

 

 

 

 

John Garside

(1838-1918); lot 8, sec 115

Mayor of the City of Cohoes from 1886 Ð 1892.  Associated with the Swifts (Swifts' Packing Company), he was a dealer in beef shipped to Albany from Chicago. 

 

Charles Henry Gaus                 

(1840-1909); lot 23, sec 109         

Pharmacist, Mayor of Albany (1902), State Comptroller, Colonel in the New York State National Guard. 

 

While he was Mayor, Prince Henry of Prussia, younger brother of Emperor William of Germany visited the city and was a guest of the Mayor; Andrew Carnegie offered the city $150,000 for a library but his offer was turned down in a public vote with 7,192 in favor but 12,260 against; Albany author Francis Bret Harte author of two best sellers, The Luck of the Roaring Camp and the Heathen Chinee died; there was a smallpox outbreak at the alms-house and seventeen year locusts appeared; due to a coal strike in Pennsylvania, coal prices rose excessively and coal was rationed in Albany.  Albany's Dr. Arthur G. Root was appointed to head the New York Industrial School at Rochester to which truant school children from all over the state were sent.  In 1903, the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society investigated 10,000 cases of cruelty to children or animals and prosecuted 644 cases.

 

Also the jail behind Albany's City Hall was abandoned for the new one located to the west of Delaware Avenue near today's Veterans Hospital and a serious meat shortage occurred when union butchers went on an extended strike.  The Archbishop of Canterbury and his wife and J. Pierpont Morgan visited Albany and dined with Bishop Doan, and Sarah Bernhardt appeared at Harmanus Bleecker Hall.  Also, on Aug. 8, 1905, the 6-story John G. Myers Department Store collapsed while undergoing renovations.  The roof fell through to the cellar killing 13 clerks.  Trolley drivers, stove-mounters, printers and composers were all on strike in 1905, the second battalion of Albany militia was dispatched to quell a strike at the brickyards in Coeymans and President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed that Nov. 30^th be set apart as a day of Thanksgiving.  On April 20, 1905, Mayor Gaus sent $5,000 raised from Albany residents to survivors of the San Francisco earthquake. On June 3, 1906 young baseball players in Beaver Park were arrested for playing ball on Sunday and spent a week in jail at the request of the clergy of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, and the Barnum & Bailey circus arrived the next day.

 

 

James Gazeley

(1830-1908); lot 25, sec 3

Fabricated and erected many of the monuments in the cemetery in the last half of the 19^th century.  He worked in sandstone, marble and granite.  His principal stone works were at the entrance to the Albany Rural Cemetery with a branch at 163 Madison Avenue.  His 1880 ad mentioned proudly that he had a telephone at the works. 

 

Charles Gibson

(1855-1927); lot 5 sec 109

He was President of Gibson Snow Company, successor to A. McClure Company, and reputed to be the largest drug company in America with branches in Albany, Troy, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo.  They were located at 76 State Street and later Broadway.  He was President of Albany College of Pharmacy and Albany Hospital, Vice President of National Savings Bank, Director of State Bank, Trustee of Albany Medical College, Home for the Aged, Wesleyan University and Union University.

 

Willard Glazier

(1841-1905); lot 26, sec 29          

Civil War soldier, Prisoner of War, author, explorer Ð explored the source of the Mississippi River at a lake he named ÒLake Glazier.Ó  He traveled by horseback from Boston to San Francisco; also traveled to Labrador and South America.  He wrote several best selling books about his adventures.

 

Bernard Gloeckner

(1842-1911); lot 269, sec 107       

Born in Darnstadt, Germany, immigrated to the U.S. and served in the Civil War at age 19.  He was the chairman of the committee to raise funds and build the monument to Civil War General Adolph von Steinwehr at Albany Rural.  He owned Gloeckner Furniture Store at 147 Pearl Street in Albany.

 

Charles Watson Godard

(1817-1883); lot 14, sec 4            

Mayor of Albany (1855), Captain of the Port of New York, agent for lake boats at pier 98.  Godard was appointed Mayor by the Common Council upon the death of Mayor William Parmelee.  A subsequent election resulted in Doctor John Quackenbush, the Republican candidate, garnering 20 more votes than Eli Perry, the Democratic candidate, but Perry contested the election.  The Common Council asserted that the votes of the 7^th and 8^th wards were fraudulent and on April 14^th voted 11 to 9 to elect Perry as Mayor for one year.  However, on May 6, the new Council took office and elected Quackenbush Mayor for one year, resulting in two Albany Mayors serving at the same time in 1856.  The case went to the courts that decided in Quackenbush's favor but the decision came only days before his term ended.

 

James Goold

(c1990-1879); lot 20, sec 58

On April 15, 1813, he started a carriage factory, Goold Carriage Shop, in a building leased from General Peter Gansevoort on the corner of Maiden Lane and Dean Street.  He built horse-drawn carriages and stagecoaches.  He constructed stagecoaches for the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad that they used to run on iron rails pulled by a steam engine named the DeWitt Clinton for America's first passenger railroad which ran from the intersection of Madison and Western Avenues in Albany into downtown Schenectady.   

 

James A. Gray              

(1815-1889); lot 10, sec 18          

Partner in Boardman and Gray Piano Company, the largest of several piano manufacturers in Albany due to Albany's large lumber industry.

 

George E. Gregory

(c1811-1878); lot 49, sec 67         

Headstone inscription: ÒKilled by the cars of TroyÓ (trolley cars).

 

James Hall

(1811-1898); lot 93, sec 18          

Founder of the New York State Museum; State Paleontologist.  State Geologist from the time the New York State Survey was created in 1836 until 1898.  He authored a 4-volume work on paleontology, considered a landmark work.  He published the first Geological Study of the State of New York, the first in the U.S.  He designed the first respected geological chart showing a vertical slice of the earth and the ages and types of rocks that comprised it. 

 

His work, and that of Ebenezer Emmons and others, made Albany the center of geological research in America in the 1800s.  In April 1851, he pushed for the creation of the State University at Albany to bring experts and thinkers from many specialties into close proximity.  This idea was first adopted in 1876 by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  He excavated the Cohoes Mastodon and excavated and brought the ÒCardiff GiantÓ to Albany to be exhibited at Geologic Hall.  James Hall Hall at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was named in his honor.

 

 

 

 

Hendrick Hallenbake (Hallenbeek)

 (c1692-1766); lot 29, sec 73        

Head of a family of early Albany settlers whose remains were originally interred in a family graveyard located at the southwest corner of South Pearl and Hamilton Street in the 1700s.  A group of court appointed Trustees, including Lewis Benedict, sold the land and used part of the proceeds to purchase this plot of 37 graves and move the family here.

 

Andrew Hamilton

(1854-1908); lot 91, sec 28          

Insurance attorney, judge, authored much of the New York Insurance law.  His three daughters were killed in a train wreck while returning from a family funeral at Hartford, Connecticut.  One of his daughters was married to the son of Andrew Brady, wealthy entrepreneur (gas utilities, electric streetcars) and namesake of Albany's Brady Maternity Hospital.  Monument is a Celtic cross designed by Marcus T. Reynolds, executed by John Francis Brines.

 

Catherine ÒKateÓ Hamilton

( ? ); lot 23, sec 5                       

In her will, she directed that her tomb be locked and the lock filled with lead and the keys thrown into the Hudson River.  She apparently wanted to be undisturbed but records show that she was moved to Albany Rural from another burial ground in downtown Albany in 1847.  Her dates of birth and death are unknown.

 

Billings Learned Hand 

(1872-1961); lot 14, sec 11          

Known throughout his life as Learned Hand, he was Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York   He wrote the anti-trust decision on Alcoa Aluminum (1944), and was referred to as the Òtenth man on the U.S. Supreme CourtÓ because his decisions were held in such high regard.

 

Samuel Hand

(1833-1886); lot 14, sec 11

Attorney, he served in partnership with J.V.L. Pruyn, later Hill, Cagger & Porter, and still later with his brother-in-law Matthew Hale.   He was one of the premier attorneys of New York State and argued more cases before the Court of Appeals than any other attorney in the ten years before his death.  He also served as Corporation Counsel to the City of Albany and President of the Water Commission.   He served on a Commission to Reform Municipal Government which opposed voting rights for recent immigrants who had been in the country for less than a year, or could not speak English, which incurred the wrath of Tammany Hall that was courting these voters.   In 1878, he accepted an appointment as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals but although he was a strong Democrat his nomination was opposed by Tammany Hall and he did not get nominated for re-election the next year.  Father of Judge Learned Hand. 

 

Johannes Hansen

(1695-1756); Church Grounds       

Mayor (1754), fur trader.  Purchased Albany's first fire engine, a hand operated pump fed by a bucket brigade with water pumped through a leather hose.  While he was Mayor, the French and Indian War began.  He was also Mayor during the ÒAlbany CongressÓ when representatives of the colonies came to Albany and adopted Benjamin Franklin's ÒAlbany PlanÓ precursor to the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution.  He was the son of Mayor Hendrick Hanson. Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Hendrick Hansen                     

(c1670-1724); Church Grounds     

Mayor (1698), Provincial Assemblyman, Alderman, Indian Commissioner, trader, merchant. He lived on the east side of Market Street (Broadway) near Lion (State).  During his term as Mayor the population of the Province of New York was 18,067. Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

J. (John) Palmer Harcourt

(1907-1989); lot 95, sec 126

Assemblyman, attorney. 

 

Carlyle Harris

(1869-1893); lot 11, sec 4            

Convicted of poisoning his wife (Helen Potts), he was the sixth person to be electrocuted in Sing Sing's electric chair on May 8, 1893.

 

Frank Salisbury Harris

(1868-1951); lot 53, sec 116         

Served as temporary Mayor of Albany while Erastus Corning 2^nd served in the U.S. Army during World War II.  He was head of the Treasury Division of the New York State Division of Taxation and Finance.

 

Hamilton Harris

(1820-1900); lot 3, sec 18            

Attorney, Albany County District Attorney (1853), Assemblyman (1850), New York State Senator (1875) where he was chairman of the Finance Committee.  Originally a state Whig Party leader he later became Chairman of the Republican State Committee from 1864 to 1870.  He served as President of the Board of Capitol Commissioners from 1865 to 1875.  In 1855, he was elected a Regent of the University of the State of New York.   He lived at 753 Broadway.  Brother of Senator Ira Harris.

 

Ira Harris        

(1802-1875); lot 3, sec 18

Judge; New York Assemblyman (1845-46); New York State Senator (1847); U.S. Senator (1861-1867); close friend of Abraham Lincoln, President of Union College, founder and President of the University of Rochester, one of the founders and one of three members of the first faculty of Albany Law School.  His daughter, Clara and her fiancŽ Henry Reed Rathbone were in the box at Ford's Theater with the Lincolns when Lincoln was shot.  One of the original founders and Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery, he drafted and proposed the Board resolutions dedicating the plot for Major General Philip Schuyler.  His grandson, Henry Riggs Rathbone was a Congressman from Illinois in 1923.

 

John S. Hartley

(c1786-1864); lot 9, sec 20                       

Artist, sculptor, pupil of Erastus Dow Palmer.

 

Hugh Hastings

(1856-1916); lot 87, sec 26

State Historian.

                       

Hugh J. Hastings

(c1820-1883); lot 1, sec 40           

Editor of Albany's Knickerbocker newspaper that he founded with a total capital of $7.50.  Also later founded the New York Commercial Advertiser. 

 

George C. Hawley

(1860-1928); lot 14, sec 109

He was the son-in-law of Theodore Amsdell and together they owned and operated the Dobler Brewery.  The Dobler Brewery was bordered by Swan and Elm Streets and Myrtle Avenue. 

 

David Henderson

(c1793-1845); lot 5, sec 9

Adirondack prospector; iron ore miner, the Town of North Elba near Lake Placid grew up around his foundry.  He was the son-in-law and partner of Archibald McIntyre.  He was accidentally shot and killed by his own gun at a lake now known as Calamity Lake near North Elba.  He was also involved in the early development of Jersey City, N.J.  Monument by R.E. Launitz of New York City.

 

John V. Henry

(c1767-1829); lot 17, sec 19         

Attorney.  Admitted to the legal bar at Albany in January, 1782, together with Aaron Burr.  He was a member of the Federalist Party, Assemblyman (1800-1802), and New York State Comptroller (1800) appointed by Governor John Jay.

 

D. Cady Herrick

(1846-1926); lot 15, sec 116         

Lawyer, Supreme Court Judge, Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, ran for Governor on the Democratic ticket in 1904.

 

John Hillhouse

(c1817-1882); lot 1, sec 4

Early organizer of Albany Rural Cemetery, his father owned much of the land (42 acres) on which the south ridge of the cemetery is located.  He was also the surveyor and 2^nd superintendent of the cemetery.  He donated funds to build a holding vault.  His father, Thomas Hillhouse was moved to Albany Rural after the cemetery was opened.  John was a graduate of West Point in 1842.  He served as a captain in the Civil War.

 

Thomas Hillhouse

(1816-1897); lot 1, sec 4

Assistant Adjutant General of N.Y., he was in charge of enlistments in New York City under Governor Edwin D. Morgan during the first years of the Civil War.  He was the brother of John (above).  He administered his father's estate and sold the first 100 acres to Albany Rural Cemetery in 1841.

 

George Porter Hilton

(1859-1909); lot 23, sec 29          

Owner of the Hilton Bridge Company.  Built many steel railroad bridges. Built two steel viaducts in Albany, the Hawk Street Viaduct and the Northern Boulevard Bridge.  Monument by Marcus T. Reynolds, bas-relief executed by Oscar Lenz.

 

Frederick Hinckel

(c1832-1881), lot 7, sec 27           

Owner of Albany's largest brewery, Hinckel Brewery.  Died at 49.

 

James Hinman

(c1788-1840); Church Grounds     

Headstone inscription: ÒLost his life by fall of State Street Bridge.Ó Hinman was the Constable of the city of Albany.  Samuel Fisher also died in this accident when the bridge from the foot of State Street over the canal basin to the pier collapsed while hundreds of people were being loaded onto steamboats bound for New York at 5 p.m. on August 22, 1840.  Seventy to eighty persons and three or four horses and carts fell about twenty feet into twelve feet of water.  Twenty-two bodies were recovered.

 

Ernest Hoffman

(1853-1908): lot 135, sec 108

A prominent Albany architect of the late 1800s.  His father, Rev. Ernest Hoffman was the pastor of the German speaking St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church for 25 years.  He designed the contrasting heavy stone Albany Steamer Firehouse #1, the LaDow House on Thurlow Terrace, the Scott Dumont Goodwin House at 331 State Street, the 5-story Nussbaum and Livingston Building on Broadway and the Albany Insurance Company building.  His last notable work was the Carriage House at the Jermain Mansion ÒHedgelawnÓ (592 Broadway, near Watervliet) in about 1904.  He also designed the impressive barns at Albany Rural Cemetery. 

 

Henry Holmes

(1846-1906); lot 41, sec 33

State Librarian.

 

Edward Holland

(1702-?); Church Grounds

First English Mayor, his father was the Commander of the Albany Garrison.  He lived at the corner of Market (Broadway) and Beaver Streets.  He signed a City Ordinance ÒTo prevent Negroes or Indian slaves to appear in the streets after eight at night without a lanthorn and lighted candle in it.Ó  He was buried in St. Peter's Episcopal Church burial ground, which was moved to Albany Rural in 1868. 

 

Philip Hooker                          

(1766-1836); lot 12, sec 49

Church Grounds                         

Noted architect.  Designed the early State Capitol Bldg. (1806), Albany Academy Building (now Board of Education Bldg.), North Dutch Reformed Church (1797), St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church (1829), St. Peter's Episcopal Church (1802), St. Paul's Episcopal Church (1828), Albany City Hall (1829), New York State Arsenal (1799), New York State Bank (1803), Bank of Albany (1809), Mechanics and Farmers Bank (1811), many other banks and municipal buildings.  He also designed many private residences for wealthy Albanians including the Van Rensselaers, Cornings, Pruyn's, Lansings, William James and others.  One mansion, built for Samuel Hill, is now the Fort Orange Club at 110 Washington Avenue.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Lansing Hotaling

(1839-1909); lot 6, sec 36

Attorney and member of the N.Y. Assembly in 1885.  He was a partner of Oliver M. Hungerford and also served as Albany's District Attorney in 1877.  He was a Trustee of Albany County Savings Bank and a Director of Albany County Bank. 

 

George B. Hoyt

(1823-1886) lot 46, sec 107          

Albany coal dealer and member of the Albany Board of Public Instruction.

 

Lt.  Alfred Huested, MD

(1841-1918); lot 59, sec 3

Studied medicine with Drs. Armsby and Pomfret and, in 1862, became hospital steward of the 113^th NYVI, afterwards the 7^th NY Heavy Artillery.   In 1863, he returned to Albany and graduated with an M.D. degree from Albany Medical College and returned to the 7^th NYHA where he served as an assistant surgeon.  He was mustered out of service in 1866 in Denver, Colorado.  In 1867, he started a drug store at the corner of Hudson and Eagle streets and later moved to State and Eagle in 1886.  He became one of Albany's most successful and well-known businessmen.

 

Friend Humphrey

(c1787-1854); lot 51, sec 3           

Mayor of Albany (1843), New York State Senator (1839), successful leather and tanning merchant.  He was prominent in educational and religious work. 

 

While he was Mayor; he closed public markets on Sunday; Governor DeWitt Clinton's remains were moved from the Spencer burial ground on Swan Street in Albany to New York City; the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was extended down through Tivoli Hollow to Maiden Lane adjacent to the ferry; Senator Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams visited Albany; Albany Rural Cemetery was consecrated with a large procession and event; Albany's first telegraph office opened in the Exchange Building; and the Common Council directed that the morning bell be rung at sunrise instead of 8 a.m.; Albany experienced another cholera year (1849 - at least 348 cases and 154 deaths) and on July 12, 1849, firemen rioted while six houses burned on Broad Street.

 

 

 

Henry Hun, M.D.

(1854-1924); lot 14, sec 11          

Medical Doctor, President of the Association of American Physicians and American Neurological Association.  Published many books and was a recognized world authority on the treatment of nervous disorders.

 

Thomas Hun, M.D.

(1808-1896); lot 1, sec 17

Dean of the Faculty of Albany Medical College and President of the staff of Albany Hospital.  In 1861 he served on a commission with Dr. Mason F. Cogswell and Dr. Alden March examining applicants for the position of surgeon and assistant surgeon to serve in the volunteer units from New York during the Civil War.  They interviewed 468 applicants and approved 228.

 

F. Arthur Hunsdorfer

(1891-1965); lot 51, sec 118         

Regional Sales Manager for Carnegie Steel, founded Albany Steel and Iron Supply Company, purchased Claussen Iron (fabricated and erected structural steel for the D&H Plaza and Albany Evening Journal Buildings) and Hannibal Green's Sons of Troy (distributor of Burdens' Iron).

 

Elisha P. Hurlbut

(1807-1889); lot 44, sec 27          

New York Supreme Court Judge, Court of Appeals Judge, large property owner in the southwest section of Albany.  His headstone is carved as a replica of the headboard of his bed. (Hurlbut Street).

 

Thomas Hurst

(1796-1851); lot 5, sec 54

Died when he fell from the railroad bridge over Patroon's Creek on 5/3/1851.

 

Elias H. Ireland

(c1807-1871); lot 11, sec 24

He bought a large farm from the Van Rensselaer family at the intersection of Osborne Road and Loudon Road (Rt. 9) in Watervliet (now Colonie) in 1832.  A post office was established near this intersection in 1850 with Elias H. Ireland as postmaster.   The area served by the post office became known as Ireland's Corners.  In 1871, the area served by this post office was expanded and the name changed to Loudonville. 

 

Henry Lovett Jackson

(c1831-1840); lot 14; sec 49         

Headstone inscription: ÒDrowned, June 11, 1840, 9 years.Ó  Re-interred from the African Methodist Episcopal Church burial ground.

 

Rutger Jacobson

(?); lot 1, sec 61

Early Dutch settler related to the Bleeckers, he laid the cornerstone for the Old Dutch Church in 1656.  He was originally buried in the ÒOld Dutch ChurchÓ then moved to the ÒMiddle Dutch ChurchÓ on Hudson Avenue and finally to Albany Rural by his descendents the Dudley family.

 

William James  

(1771-1832); lot 1, sec 16

Wealthiest Albany merchant; grandfather of renowned authors William and Henry James.  Pioneered the salt industry in the U.S.  He owned large land holdings in Syracuse and New York City.  Townsend Furnace manufactured large kettles that James used to boil down salt mined in the great salt flats under what is now Syracuse, New York.  He was a founder and member of the first board of Albany Savings Bank, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church and Albany Orphan Asylum.  He was also one of the founders of Union College and a member of the Erie Canal Commission.  When he died in 1832, he left an estate valued at $3 million making him the second wealthiest man in America trailing only John Jacob Astor.  (James Street in Albany and in Syracuse)

 

Lemuel Jenkins

(1789-1862); lot 27, sec 12          

Congressman from New York (1823-1825), first District Attorney of Sullivan County (1818), lawyer.  Practiced law in Bloomingburg, New York and later in Albany.

 

James Barclay Jermain

(1809-1897); lot 31, sec 65          

Lawyer, merchant, philanthropist, he donated the buildings for the first YMCA in downtown Albany (site of the first ÒawayÓ basketball game when the team from the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts came to play Albany), Home for Aged Men (Menands Manor), Jermain Presbyterian Church, and The Fairview Home for Friendless Children.  He incorporated the Mohawk-Hudson River Humane Society as a continuation of the Fairview Home for Friendless Children Orphanage.  The orphanage was later merged with the Parson's Home for Children and the Humane Society changed their mission to protecting animals.  His daughters were very active with the orphanage, humane society and the church where they taught Sunday School.  He was a trustee and Vice-President of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

His aunt and her daughter returned to live with him after the aunt's husband died.  Her daughter, Margaret Olivia Slocum, married Russell Sage and upon his death she became, according to the New York Times, Òthe richest woman in America.Ó  She endowed Russell Sage College in Troy, the John Jermain Library in Sag Harbor and the Russell Sage Memorial window in the First Presbyterian Church in Far Rockaway, Long Island Ð one of Tiffany's largest and finest commissions.  (Jermain Street)

 

Sylvanus Jermain

(1784-1869); lot 31, sec 65          

Albany's most successful commission merchant, buying and selling merchandise, grain and animals that traveled along the Erie Canal.  He acted as a buyers' agent, accumulating orders for goods, and then purchasing and reshipping material arriving at Albany.  He was one of the founders and first Secretary of Albany Savings Bank.  Father of James Jermain.

 

Captain John

(?-1795): Church Ground             

Oneida Sachem (Chief).  He was the principal orator and public speaker of the Oneida Nation.  A deputation of chiefs and sachems of the Oneidas attended the funeral in Albany and performed the solemnities according to the custom of their Nation.  He was originally interred in the Presbyterian cemetery.  In 1866, all four Presbyterian cemeteries were moved to Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Andrew B. Jones

(c1840-1909); lot 115, sec 107      

In 1862, during the Civil War, he enlisted in Co. G., 24^th Regiment, New York National Guard.  He served as quartermaster-sergeant and quartermaster of the regiment.  He later became a partner in Hudson Valley Paper Company, wholesale paper dealers.

 

Edmund Lewis Judson

(1830-1890); lot 13, sec 35          

Mayor of Albany (1874), President of the Young Men's Association, Grand Master of New York Masons.  Running as a Republican, he was elected initially in 1874, the election was contested by Democrat George Thacher and the contest dragged through the courts for two years during which time Thacher was allowed to continue serving as Mayor.  Judson was declared the winner only weeks before the re-election that he won in 1874. 

 

During his term as Mayor, the steamboats JB Schuyler and GE Wynants collided at night and the steamboat Dean Richmond ran aground near Van Wie's Point; Albany Medical College was opened; William Cullen Bryant was given a reception by Governor Tilden in Albany; the Albany Railway started operating horse-drawn trolleys on Hamilton, Grand and Beaver Streets; the Washington Park bridge and Lake House was built; the West Albany stockyard reported that 24,937 cattle, 3,507 sheep, 8,455 hogs and 945 horses and 37,844 rail cars had been unloaded during the year, for an average of 103 cars per day; Broadway and Western Avenue were repaved with granite stones. (Judson Street)

 

William Henry Keeler

(1841-1918); lot 41, sec 108

In 1863, he opened Keeler's Oyster House at State and Green Streets which soon became the most popular and famous oyster house in upstate New York.  He sold the oyster house to his brother in 1870.  In 1886, he opened a restaurant at 26 Maiden Lane.  In 1890, he purchased the property from his restaurant through to Broadway and built Keeler's Hotel

 

Robert Kerr

(1755-1824); Church Grounds       

Judge of the Surrogate Court of the Niagara District, Northern Canada.  He also served as surgeon and staff member to British forces.  Re-interred from St. Peter's Episcopal Church burial ground.

 

James Kidd

(1808-1879); lot 4 sec 12             

First President of the Albany Railway (horse drawn streetcars), Postmaster, publisher of the New York State Register, strong supporter of Millard Fillmore's faction of the Republican Party which competed with the Thurlow Weed-William Seward segment of the party.  He donated the property used for the site of the Albany ÒHome for the FriendlessÓ (Albany Orphanage).  He lived at 7 Elk St.

 

Rufus King

(1795-1867); lot 26, sec 32          

Dry goods merchant with his three brothers-in-law, President of Albany Savings Bank, National Savings Bank, and Albany Insurance Company.  The ÒMosesÓ monument and fountain in Albany's Washington Park is dedicated to him.  His father, Rufus King, was one of the first two U.S. Senators from New York after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution (Philip Schuyler was the other).

 

Rufus H. King

(1835-1903); lot 26, sec 32          

Son of Rufus King, Paymaster General of the State of New York during the Civil War.  With his brothers, J. Howard King (President Of New York State National Bank, Albany Savings Bank, State Bank of Albany, Albany Insurance Company), and Colonel Henry L. King (9^th New York, Director of Albany Insurance Co and Watervliet Horse Railroad and Turnpike Co.) and sister, Mrs. Franklin Townsend, were primarily responsible for the execution and installation of the King (Moses) Memorial and fountain in Albany's Washington Park in memory of their father with donations of $30,000.  Lived at 2 Elk Street.

 

Peter Kinnear   

(1826-1913); lot 16, sec 113         

Owner of Kinnear Foundry and Machining Co. manufacturer of many soft metal valves, fittings and pipes for the brewing and steam engine businesses.  He later purchased the Hyatt Manufacturing Company which he named the Albany Billiard Ball Company, the first manufacturer of celluloid billiard balls (a preliminary step toward developing plastic) replacing ivory billiard balls; President of the Scottish ÒSt. Andrew's Society.Ó  Originally a Whig party member he was an early convert to the Republican Party.

 

Benjamin Knower

(c1775-1839); lot 96, sec 62         

An immigrant from Scotland, he was a hatter, part owner of Watervliet Mills (3 mills employing 700 people with $800,000 per year in sales), owner of Roy & Co. manufacturer of woolen shawls, New York State Treasurer, President of Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank, father-in-law of Governor William L. Marcy.  He owned much of the land (78 acres) on which the middle ridge of Albany Rural Cemetery is situated. His farm was almost sold to the state to create the Albany Lunatic Asylum before being purchased by the cemetery.  Medallion executed by Erastus Dow Palmer.

 

Abraham Lansing

(1835-1899); lot 2, sec 55

He was the first Reporter of the Supreme Court in 1869 and published the first seven volumes of Supreme Court decisions.  In 1874, he was appointed by Governor John Dix as Acting State Treasurer.  He was Corporation Counsel of Albany (1876) and State Senator (1882). In the State Senate, he sponsored the measure that created the state park at Niagara Falls.  He was a trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  He served on the boards of the National Commercial Bank, Albany Savings Bank, Albany Park Commissioners, Albany Boys' Academy, Albany Hospital, Albany Medical College, Dudley Observatory and the Fort Orange Club.   His father was attorney Christopher Yates Lansing and his grandfather was Abraham G. Lansing (below).       

 

 

 

Abraham G. Lansing

(1757-1834); lot 6, sec 34

State Treasurer.  He was the brother of Chancellor John Lansing, Jr.

 

Gerrit Yates Lansing

(1783-1862); lot 14, sec 30          

State Supreme Court Judge, Congressman (1831), Clerk of the Assembly (1807), Chancellor of the Board of Regents of the State University (1842), third President of Albany Savings Bank (1854), and President of Albany Insurance Company (1859).  Father-in-law to Robert H. Pruyn.

 

John Lansing, Jr.

(1754-1829); lot 5, sec 77

Delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (1787), Member of the Continental Congress (1785), New York State Constitutional Convention (1788) to ratify the U.S. Constitution, Secretary to General Schuyler (1775-1776), Speaker of the Assembly (1786), Mayor (1786), Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court (1790-1798), Chancellor of the State of New York, Regent of the University of the State of New York.  While Chancellor, he personally financed a topographic and geologic study of the Helderberg and Catskill Mountains by Amos Eaton.

 

During his term as Mayor, the New York Convention ratified the U.S. Constitution by a vote of 30 to 27 with 7 not voting causing a huge celebration to be held at Albany; Albany's royalty streets were changed: King to Washington, Queen to Elk, Duke to Eagle, and Prince to Deer (later State).

 

He disappeared on Dec. 12, 1829 in New York City.  He was last seen by the doorman at City Hotel departing to New York Harbor to post a letter to Albany.  He had an appointment for dinner that night and never appeared. He is not buried at Albany Rural although his family placed his monument (cenotaph) there and his immediate family members, his wife Cornelia Ray Lansing and his daughter, are buried in lot 5, section 77.

 

Cyrus Clark Lathrop

(1862-1931); lot 46, sec 27

He owned a laundry business in Albany and was a Sunday school teacher.  He also volunteered to work at the Albany City Mission where he was placed in charge of the boy's department in 1890.   As an outgrowth of his work at the City Mission, on April 30, 1892, he organized the Albany Boy's Club, one of the most successful institutions of its kind in the country.  He served as its secretary and superintendent.  Under his guidance the Albany Boy's Club ran a reading room, library, gymnasium, an evening school of industrial training, and a savings bank.  It was formally incorporated in November 1896.   Cyrus Clark Lathrop was the father of artists Dorothy and Gertrude Lathrop (below). 

 

Daniel S. Lathrop

(1825-1883); lot 11, sec 29          

Partner of Thacher Carwheel Company, trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  He was a son of Dyer Lathrop, and brother of Jane Lathrop, wife of Leland Stanford.

 

Dorothy Pulis Lathrop

(1891-1980); lot 46, sec 27          

Renowned illustrator of children's books.  Her illustrations for Animals of the Bible won the first Caldecott Medal (1938) for excellence in illustration.  She illustrated The Little Mermaid for Hans Christian Anderson in 1939.  In addition to Animals of the Bible, Dorothy authored The Fairy Circus (1931), The Dog in the Tapestry Garden (1942), Let them Live (1951), Puppies for Keeps (1891), Who Goes There? (1891), The Colt from Moon Mountain (1941), Angel in the Woods (1947), Bouncing Betsy (1936), Little Mouse (1955), Puffy and Seven Leaf Clover (1954), Skittle-Skattle Monkey (1945), Follow the Brook (1960).  She also illustrated Hitty, Her First Hundred Years (1929), The Three MullaMulgars (1919), Hide and Go Seek (1938), Little Lost Boy (1920), Mopsa the Fairy (1927), The Light Princess (1926), The Princess and Curdie (1927), Mr. Bumps and His Monkey (1942), Tales from the Enchanted Isles (1926), Down-A-Down Derry - A Book of Fairy Poems (1922), Crossings (1923), Bells and Grass (1942) and others.  Dorothy had been a teacher of art at Albany High School.

 

Dyer Lathrop

(c1787-1855); lot 21, sec 11         

Albany Merchant, Treasurer of the Albany Orphan Asylum, his daughter Jane married Albanian Leland Stanford (Stanford University, Governor of California, President of the Central Pacific Railroad).  His daughter, Jane, and Leland Stanford erected the monument on this site, the largest monument in the cemetery.          

 

Gertrude Kathryn Lathrop

(1896-1986); lot 46, sec 27          

Accomplished sculptor who sculpted figures of small animals.  She created the commemorative Albany half dollar in 1936 on the 250^th anniversary of the Charter of Albany granted by Governor Dongan in 1686.  She also executed the commemorative coin for the city of Hudson the next year.  She was the sister of Dorothy Pulis Lathrop.  

 

 

Benjamin Lattimore

(1761-?); Church Ground

Burial records for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the church burial grounds moved to Albany Rural from the State Street Burial Ground (today's Washington Park) mentions Benjamin Lattimore and his wife and then after Benjamin's name the notation "A Black Revolutionary Soldier.Ó 

 

William Law Learned

(1821-1904); lot 13, sec 42          

Presiding Judge of the New York Supreme Court appointed to succeed Judge Rufus Peckham who was lost at sea in the sinking of the Ville Du Havre, Trustee and President of Albany Rural Cemetery, President of Albany Law School.  He was also the sixteenth President of the Board of Public Instruction.  He lived at 289 State St.  (Learned Street)

 

Randall James Le Boeuf

(1870-1939); lot 89, sec 108         

State Supreme Court Judge appointed by Governor Charles Evans Hughes, he had previously been a partner in Hughes' law firm.  He drew the incorporation papers forming the city of Rensselaer.

 

Daniel Leonard

(1839-1917); lot 43, sec 28          

Partner and son-in-law of J. G. Cottrell (furrier). Cottrell & Leonard revolutionized the graduation cap and gown industry in the U.S. by becoming the first firm to rent graduation apparel.    He was also President of Albany Safe Deposit and Storage Company, Vice President of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company and a Trustee of Mechanics' and Farmers' Savings Bank.

 

Mary Shu-Fan Lin       

(1915-2002); lot 111, sec 123       

Member of Congress in the Republic of China, Taiwan.  Born in Heil Lung Chung Province, China, she fled the Japanese invasion in WWII and escaped Communist occupation fleeing to Taiwan where she was elected to Congress.  She served as a member of the Women's League of National Defense University and a principal of a non-profit kindergarten.

 

Edward Livingston

(1796-1840); lot 48, sec 3

Clerk of the New York State Assembly (1822-24); Albany County District Attorney, (1825-1838) [he was succeeded by Rufus Peckham, Sr.]; Member of the N.Y. Assembly, (1832, 1835, 1837); Speaker of Assembly (1837).  He was the Albany County District Attorney who prosecuted Jesse Strang and Elsie Whipple for the murder of John Whipple at ÒCherry Hill MansionÓ in 1827.  Jesse Strang was the last public hanging in Albany.  Edward Livingston was married to one of John Lansing's daughters.

 

Robert Livingston

(1663-1725); Church Grounds       

Also known as ÒThe NephewÓ or ÒRobert Livingston the Younger,Ó he was the son of Robert Livingston's (1654-1728 - ÒThe Lord of the ManorÓ) older brother James.  He served as a member of the Colonial Assembly, Mayor (1710), City Clerk, alderman and Indian Commissioner.  He negotiated with the six Nations of Iroquois.  He was cousin to Philip Livingston, the second ÒLord of the ManorÓ and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  He was born in Scotland but emigrated first to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and later to America.  He was a merchant and managed many of his uncle's Albany affairs.  He married Margarita, the daughter of Peter Schuyler, first Mayor of Albany.  He was re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.  (Livingston Avenue as named in honor of his family.)

 

Thomas Spencer Lloyd

(c1831-1883); lot 3, sec 39           

Composer of religious hymns.  His music was sung by hundreds of churches in the 1800s.

 

Barrington Lodge

(c1830-1899); lot 52, sec 40

He came to Albany from Dublin, Ireland in 1852 and went to work in the dry goods shop of Sheldon & Co.  In 1861, he formed a partnership selling dry goods with Henry B. Gregory under the name of Lodge, Gregory & Co., which later became Lodge, Wilkins & Co. (1882), and still later B. Lodge & Co. (1887).  He also published several poems.   (Lodge Street)

 

Will Hicock Low          

(1853-1932); lot 45, sec 56          

Artist, painter, author, partner in Low, Hastings & Co. of New York City.  He studied at the Ecole des Beau-Arts in Paris, France where he met Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1877 and helped him complete an altarpiece for a New York church.  He painted a famous oil of Saint Gaudens.  After returning to America, he established himself as an innovative illustrator, decorative painter and eventually as one of America's foremost muralists. 

 

Low worked for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing during the 1890s and created numerous designs for currency including the beautiful engraved Chicago Columbian Exposition Certificate.  He executed a 26' by 34' ceiling mural and 20 panels for the great ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.  He also painted a famous version of Madonna, Christmas Morn, which is located in the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art.  Other works of his are displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Historical Society, Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museum of Quebec. 

 

Low created decorative works for architects John La Farge and H.H. Richardson.  Low executed thirty-two murals in the New York State Education Building (1913-1918) and the Legislative Library in Albany.  His painting Narcissus is in the Louvre in Paris, France.  He was a close friend of author Robert Lewis Stevenson.

 

John A. Luby

(1843-1885); lot 381, sec 56         

Albany Fireman of Steamer Co. No. 2, lost his life fighting a fire at Boardman and Gray Piano Company on North Pearl Street, July 12, 1885, along with Frederick J. Wallen and Daniel Wheeler.

 

John Lundergan

(c1822-1900); lot 25, sec 40

Born in Ireland, he came to America when he was four.  He was fourteen when his mother died and he took a job as a farmhand just north of Albany.  He went to California during the gold rush and accumulated Òthe nucleus of his present fortune.Ó  He invested his money buying land including the extensive fairgrounds situated opposite his home on the Troy Road (now Broadway) in Menands where he engaged in extensive Òmarket gardening.Ó 

 

Mary Arthur McElroy

(1841-1917); lot 5, sec 19

Sister of U.S. President Chester Allan Arthur, she served as First Lady during his administration since his wife, Ellen Herndon, had died.  She also helped raise President Arthur's two children.

 

Daniel Manning

(1831-1887); lot 5, sec 27

Publisher of Albany's Argus newspaper - voice of the Democratic Party, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1885-1887), President of National Commercial Bank and Western National Bank of New York City, New York State Democratic Chairman (1881-1884) and chairman of the National Democratic Party in 1880 when Grover Cleveland was nominated for the Presidency.  His portrait appeared on the $20 U.S. silver certificate from 1890 to about 1919.  (Manning Blvd.)

 

 

 

 

James Hilton Manning

(1854-1925); lot 16, sec 109         

Mayor of Albany (1890), President of Weed-Parsons Printing Company, President of Hudson River Telephone Company, President of National Savings Bank, Major in the 3^rd Brigade of the New York National Guard.  Noted numismatic and autograph collector; son of Daniel Manning. 

 

During his term as Mayor: the Albany Railway Company, operator of most of Albany's trolley's, converted to electric power necessitating the sale of 200 horses at their Central Avenue stables; the Hawk Street Viaduct was constructed by the Hilton Bridge Company; President Benjamin Harrison visited Albany and met with Mayor Manning; Albany's 10^th Battalion was sent to Buffalo to put down the railroad riots; the New York Central's famed ÒEngine 999Ó pulling the ÒEmpire State ExpressÓ hit the world record speed of 112 ½ miles per hour between Albany and New York; Duke De Varuga, reported to be a lineal descendent of Christopher Columbus, was given a public reception by Mrs. James Kidd at 7 Elk Street; the King Fountain with statue of Moses in Washington Park was dedicated as was the new Dudley Observatory and the Robert H. Pruyn telescope and Albany Female Academy. The Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society, combining the society of the same name for the care of maltreated children and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was formed.  The population of Albany was 97,120 and the Albany Rural Cemetery reported 78,081 total interments.

 

William Manson

(1827-1887); lot 31, sec 16          

Partner of John Dixon, later sole owner of Architectural Stone Works, erected the monuments of Col. Mills, Thomas Olcott and William Appleton and many other monuments in the cemetery.  He sculpted mantels and wainscoting in the Capitol and Court of Appeals.  His business was located at 32 Howard Street at the corner of Lodge and also at the entrance to Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Dr. Alden March

(1795-1869); lot 1, sec 52            

With Dr. James Armsby, he founded Albany Medical College.  He served in the Union Army during the Civil War; Professor of Surgery at Albany Medical College, Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  Medallion by Erastus Dow Palmer.

 

 

 

William Learned Marcy

(1786-1857); lot 94, sec 62          

Governor of New York (1833-1838), U.S. Senator; U.S. Secretary of State under President Pierce; U.S. Secretary of War under President Polk during the Mexican War.  He appointed the first State Geologists and Paleontologists in New York.  Mt. Marcy is named after him.  With Martin Van Buren and others, he created the dominant Democratic political machine known as the ÒAlbany Regency.Ó  He later split with Van Buren and headed the ÒHunkerÓ faction of the Democratic Party while Van Buren headed the ÒBarn BurnerÓ faction.

 

He was a Justice of the New York Supreme Court and New York State Comptroller.  He was one of the original founders and Trustees of Albany Rural Cemetery.  His funeral procession was over 2 miles long and included 27 military and 17 fire companies.  His portrait appeared on some U.S. currency.  His monument was designed by Erastus Dow Palmer.

 

John Vernon Marshall

(c1826-1888); lot 13, sec 73

Founded the Marshall & Wendell Piano Forte Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in 1853, one of America's largest piano manufacturers.  The piano company was located at 911 to 923 Broadway.

 

Gen. Selden E. Marvin

(1835-1899); lot 9, sec 29

During the Civil War, he served as adjutant of the 112^th NY Vols. and with Foster's Brigade of the Army of Southern Virginia through the Peninsular and Charleston campaigns when he was appointed paymaster of U.S. Volunteers with the Army of the Potomac.  He served until December 27, 1864 when he was appointed paymaster general of the State of New York and later adjutant general of the State of New York.  He was a representative of Erastus Corning and merged the John A. Griswold & Co. and the Albany Ironworks into a new corporation called the Albany & Rensselaer Iron & Steel Works, where he was elected the secretary-treasurer.  He held many directorships and volunteer positions.  He was married to the daughter of Judge Amasa Parker.

 

Captain Joseph Mather

(1800-1884); lot 6, sec 28

Descendant of the colonial Cotton Mathers, he ran a barge towing business on the Hudson River.  He also managed the New York Central's West Albany Shops.

 

Isaac Mazyck

(c1766-1806); lot 12, sec 49         

Headstone inscription: ÒLate of South Carolina.  Died in Albany while on a journey for benefit of his health.Ó  Re-interred from St. Peter's Episcopal Church burial ground.

 

Jack McAuliffe

(1866-1937); lot 73, sec 15          

World lightweight champion boxer from 1886 to 1894.  He retired undefeated in 1894.  His record was 32-0 with 9 draws and 10 KO's.  One of his fights, against British champion Jem Carney, was declared a draw after 74 rounds.  In another fight, against Billy Myer, ÒMcAuliffe, essaying the pivot punch, permissible in those days, broke his arm on his rival's headÓ but fought on to a draw in 64 rounds.  He was the first officially recognized lightweight champion.

 

Archibald McClure

(1807-1872), lot 11, sec 35          

Manufacturer and seller of ÒDrugs, Medicines, Paint and Chemicals.Ó  His large paint and drug store at 74-76 State Street was consumed by fire on July 23^rd, 1852.  His successor, William J. Walker was thrown from his horse in Washington Park on May 9, 1904 and died instantly.

 

Thomas McCredie                     

(1809-1892); lot 18, sec 40          

An orphan at a young age, he was apprenticed to a carpenter but at the age of 30, he immigrated to America.  He made friends with Peter Ballantine (Ballantine Beer) and became involved in the brewing business.  He worked for Robert Dunlop who had breweries in Albany and Troy and eventually married Dunlop's daughter.  He inherited the Dunlop Malt-House on Clinton Avenue in Albany and eventually operated four large malt houses in Albany and a fifth in Boston, Massachusetts.  Native of Glasgow, Scotland, he donated the monument on the first St. Andrew's Society plot.

 

Joseph McDonough

(c1843-1917); lot 154, sec 112      

Born in Kilkenny, Ireland; his father was a bookseller in Liverpool, England.  Headstone inscription: ÒYe olde Booke Man.  Here lies McDonough, the great bibliopole, shall he be forgot, oh no.  He no promise broke, served no private end, unblamed through life, lamented in the end.  A wise old sage was he, but not severe, his manly sense checked no decent joy.  A graceful looseness he could put on.  Enjoying life's enchanted cup unto the brimÓ Ð Duggan.  His Albany bookstore was at 53 and 55 State Street.

 

James B. McEwan        

(1856-1915); lot 5, sec 113          

Mayor of Albany (1900), Assemblyman, New York Senator, Postmaster.  During his term, the famous aerialist Glen Curtis flew non-stop from Albany to New York City following the Hudson River, the longest recorded flight at the time.  This story was the headline story in the May 29, 1910 New York Times.

 

Eamonn McGirr

(1940-2004); lot NE 1/4-149, sec 127

Irish entertainer and pub owner.  He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland and taught mathematics before becoming a full-time Irish entertainer.  He recorded four Irish songs that made the Irish charts before immigrating to the United States with his wife and daughter around 1980.  He owned Eamonn's Pub on Menand Road.  He regularly entertained on the annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon and, in 1996, set a Guinness Book of World Records mark for endurance singing continuing for 11 days 20 minutes.  Later that same year, a bar stool crumpled beneath him causing him to suffer severe spinal cord injuries that eventually led to his death. 

 

Ezekiel McIntosh

(1806-1855); lot 1, sec 10

Merchant, with Erastus Corning and Russell Sage, he was one of the first directors of the New York Central Railroad.  He owned the Schuyler Mansion, which he purchased from the Schuylers after Philip Schuyler died.  His widow (Caroline) married former President Millard Fillmore at the Schuyler Mansion.  Also, as President of the Albany and Schenectady Turnpike, he placed it on a good financial basis after it fell into financial difficulty after the Erie Canal opened.  His mausoleum is adorned with a winged hourglass (ÒTime FliesÓ).

 

Archibald McIntyre

(1773-1858); lot 5, sec 9              

Merchant, State Comptroller (1806-1821), Assemblyman (1799-1804), Deputy Secretary of State (1801-1806), State Senator (1821-1826), Presidential Elector in 1828 and 1840, for many years he was in charge of the State Lottery; one of the first Trustees of Albany Rural Cemetery.  Together with his son-in-law, David Henderson, he ran iron ore mines in and around North Elba, New York (North Elba Ironworks, McIntyre Mine, Adirondac (no ÒkÓ) Iron Company).  The McIntyre Range of mountains in the Adirondacks is named after him.  He was also involved in the early development of Jersey City, N.J.  His marble sarcophagus was designed and executed by R.E. Launitz.

 

 

 

James McKinney

(1825-1907); lot 49, sec 44

He established Albany's first architectural iron business on Lumber Street.   In 1863, he built a new plant on DeWitt Street and in 1872 built the plant at 925-933 Broadway.  McKinney fabricated the large structural beams and columns for many of Albany's most well-known structures including the ÒOld Federal Post OfficeÓ at the foot of State Street, the Dudley Observatory, the New York State Capitol and the north wing of the D&H Building.  James McKinney & Son also cast many ornamental stairs, gates, railings, elevator enclosures and other decorative wrought iron work. 

 

Mary McPherson

(c1804-1886); lot 26, sec 15         

Left a provision in her will to execute and erect the statue to poet Robert Burns in Albany's Washington Park.  The statue was executed by Charles Calverly.

 

Frank W. Meacham 

(c1856-1909); lot 26, sec 3           

Composer, wrote American Patrol, copyrighted in 1885.  This tune was very popular before WWI.  The first recording was a 2-minute Edison cylinder in 1903.  A version by Glenn Miller was very popular during WWII.  Meacham usually worked as arranger rather than composer for Victor Herbert musicals and Stephen Foster songs.  Joseph Burke and Edgar Leslie wrote lyrics for American Patrol and used it as We Must Be Vigilant in the 1942 musical When Johnny Comes Marching Home.

 

Henry T. Meech

(c1805-1870); lot 24, sec 12         

Proprietor and manager of the ÒOld Albany MuseumÓ located on the northwest corner of Broadway and State Street.  Early ad in the Albany Evening Journal advertised the museum as displaying Ò200,000 curiositiesÓ including Òthe Egyptian Mummy,Ó ÒMogul Elephant,Ó and many species of birds.  The ad went on to state: ÒThe Grand Cosmorama, which is one of the most splendid in this country, is alone worth the price of admission.Ó  Admission was 25¢ but special arrangements could be made for school classes.  The museum also displayed ÒFreaksÓ as part of a show by P.T. Barnum that included Tom Thumb, the Siamese Twins and Joyce Heath promoted as the Òoldest person in America.Ó

 

Allan Melville

(1782-1832); lot 24, sec 40          

Father of Herman Melville author of Moby Dick.  Merchant, imported cloth and clothing and sold it in Albany and New York City.  The father, mother, brother and four sisters of Herman Melville are buried on this lot.

 

Gansevoort Melville

(1816-1846); lot 24, sec 40          

Secretary to the American Legation in London, England.  He took over his father's clothing import business in Albany.  Brother of Herman Melville.

 

Louis Menand              

(1807-1900); lot 19, sec 108         

Horticulturist.  He was said to be Òa commanding figure in horticultural circles for a number of years.  He has been named ÔThe Grand Old Man' of the gardener's craft in this country.Ó  He owned large greenhouses north of Albany that were so popular that a train station was constructed in the mid 1800s to accommodate all of his customers.  The municipality that later grew up around this train station was named the Village of  Menands. 

 

Andrew Meneely

(1802-1851); lot 12, sec 58          

Founder of the famous Meneely Bell Foundry, also known as Meneely & Co., West Troy (Watervliet).  Their bells were known worldwide for their quality and tone.  They cast many carillons including those for the University of Connecticut and Trinity College, Hartford.  The ÒCornell ChimesÓ at Cornell University are Meneely bells donated by Miss Jennie McGraw in 1868. His two older sons Edwin and George ran the foundry after his death.  A third son served in the Civil War and later became the principal in the Clinton H. Meneely Foundry also known as the Meneely Bell Co. They are all buried in this section at Albany Rural. 

 

Dr. William E. Milbank

(1841-1928); lot 1, sec 115          

Owned Albany's first Òhorseless carriageÓ used for business purposes, July, 1902.  He was Chief of Staff of Albany Homeopathic Hospital and City Hospital.  He was appointed by Governor Hill as Commissioner of the State Board of Health where he served from 1885 to 1895.

 

Morris Smith Miller

(1779-1824); ?   

Congressman (1813), lawyer, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.  Reported to be buried at Albany Rural but we have no record.

 

William James Milne, Ph.D., LL.D.

(1843-1914); lot 24, sec 114

In 1889, he succeeded Dr. Waterbury as President of the State Normal School at Albany.  The next year the institute chartered as a college to train teachers.  He authored a series of textbooks on mathematics and was an expert on ancient languages.  He was born in Scotland.  (Milne School)

 

Sarah C. Mink

(c1837-1896); lot 14, sec 7           

National President of the Women's Relief Corps in 1893-1894.  The Women's Relief Corps directed their substantial efforts to caring for veterans of the Civil War and their dependents.  When she was President, she initiated a program calling for educators and legislators to institute a program of patriotic instruction in public schools.  She stressed the importance of displaying an American Flag in every classroom. 

 

Anna Mitchell

(1883-1902); lot 36, sec 100A

She was a 19-year-old girl who was murdered on 11/12/1902 on her way home on Loudonville Road not far from the cemetery. 

 

Maj. Lewis N. Morris

(c1800-1846); lot 12, sec 54         

Died on September 21, 1846 while leading the 3rd regiment, U.S. Army (Albany Republican Artillery) under General Zachary Taylor at Monterrey, Mexico.  He previously had fought in the Black Hawk War in 1832 and the Seminole Indian War in Florida in 1840-1842.  His funeral was probably the largest ever held at Albany Rural Cemetery, the procession was 3 miles long.  His beautiful monument was paid for by donations from the residents of Albany.

 

Dr. Cornelius Duel Mosher

(1829-1890); lot 36, sec 40          

Physician, lover of books and flowers, headstone inscription: ÒGreen be the turf above thee.Ó

 

Dr. Jacob S. Mosher

(1834-1883); lot 14, sec 37          

Surgeon General of the State of New York, deputy health and executive officer of the Port of New York.

 

 

 

Joel Munsell                             

(1808-1880); lot 47, sec 4            

Printer, antiquarian, author, recorded the history of Albany.

 

Samuel Lyman Munson

(1844-1930); lot 30, sec 28          

Manufacturer of linen collars, later shirts and cuffs, in Albany with sales branches in New York City, Boston, and San Francisco and manufacturing branches in Cobleskill and Richmondville, New York.  His company was the first to use an automatic button hole machine on cloth garments.  He employed over 1,000 people. His products were on sale in every state in the Union.  He graduated from Williston Seminary and Bryant & Stratton Commercial College in Albany.  He had been a passenger on the steamship Maidiana that was wrecked in the West Indies on a coral reef at night, 16 miles from shore, because of an inoperative lighthouse (2/10/1903).  He served as President of the Madison Avenue Dutch Reformed Church, Home Savings Bank, and Massasoit Wadding Company of Cohoes.  He was a Director of National Exchange Bank, Albany Chamber of Commerce and a Trustee of Memorial Hospital.  He was also a life member of Masters Lodge of Masons. 

 

John G. Myers

(1831-1901); lot 16, sec 30          

Owner of a popular department store on Pearl Street in Albany.  Once a partner of William M. Whitney in 1866, Myers split off and eventually established a competing dry goods store.  He served on the boards of National Savings Bank, Merchants National Bank, Albany Trust Company and the Commerce Insurance Company.  He was also a Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

After his death, his 6-story store at 39-41 North Pearl Street collapsed (August, 1905) while under renovation, killing 13 clerks.  The store moved temporarily to 69 North Pearl where it completely burned down three months later and it was again relocated to the SE corner of North Pearl and Steuben, the site of the home of Governor DeWitt Clinton, and immediately adjacent to W.M. Whitney's store.  One of Myers' daughters married Charles Porter Hilton (Hilton Bridge Co.) and another daughter married Walter Launt Palmer (landscape painter).  He lived at 240 State St. at the SE corner of State and Swan Streets.

 

Stephen Myers

(1800-1870); lot 2, sec 98            

He was the primary leader of the Vigilance Committee of the Underground Railroad in Albany in the 1850s.  He assisted Black people fleeing slavery from the early 1830s to the Civil War.  He was also a temperance crusader, newspaper publisher, and labor leader.  He pushed for quality education for minorities.

 

John M. Newton

(1798-1867); lot 68, sec 18          

Founder of a brickyard that manufactured firebrick for use in stoves at the junction of Loudon Road and Maxwell Roads, genesis for the hamlet of ÒNewtonville.Ó

 

John C. Nott    

(1835-1890); lot 15, sec 19          

Albany County Court Judge, Police Court Judge, grandson of Reverend Eliphalet Nott (President of Union College for 62 years), nephew of General John Taylor Cooper.

 

Dudley Olcott

(1838-1919); lot 11, sec 53          

Followed his father Thomas as President of Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank, one of the founders and first Treasurer of the Home for Aged Men in Menands (Menands Manor), Park Commissioner on the Board that established Washington Park.  President and Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Thomas Worth Olcott

(1795-1880); lot 11, sec 53          

President of Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank, worked for the bank for 69 years.  Regent of the State University of New York, one of the founders and first Vice-President (later President) of Albany Law School when it was founded in 1851, member of a committee to raise enlistments from the Albany area during the Civil War. 

 

He was a member of the commission to locate the site for the bridge across the Hudson.  He was the first President and a large donor to the Dudley Observatory; President of Albany Agriculture and Arts Association, Albany Female Academy, Albany and West Stockbridge Railroad.  His home was the Ten Broeck Mansion.  His son Thomas owned a home that is today's New York State Governor's Mansion.  He was one of the original founders and President of the Albany Rural Cemetery.  The bronze portrait on his monument is by Erastus Dow Palmer, monument carved by W. Manson.

 

Robert Oliver

(1843-1925); lot 41, sec 85          

Builder, built homes for Robert C. Pruyn, Charles E. Pruyn and John Keeler and many others.  He was a Republican national and local committeeman 1864 Ð 1884.

 

Brig. Gen. Robert Shaw Oliver

(1847-1935); lot 34, sec 60

Appointed U.S. Secretary of War by President Theodore Roosevelt, he continued under President William Taft, serving for ten years.  Although only 17 years old, he received a commission as a second lieutenant and saw action in the Civil War only two weeks after entering the service.  He served with the 26^th Infantry in Texas and the 8^th U.S. Cavalry in California, Oregon and Arizona fighting in various Indian Wars.  After leaving the Army he returned to Albany and served in the N.Y. State Militia where he was promoted to brigadier general and inspector general of New York State forces.   He was employed by Rathbone & Sard Stove Manufacturers.

 

Capt. Niels H. Olsen

(1905-1967); Lot 1, sec 47           

Commander of the military transport USS General Greeley, he located the sinking SS Flying Enterprise in a hurricane on Dec. 29, 1951, 300 miles south of the English Channel.  Although his first attempt to launch a lifeboat met with disaster when it was swamped by 25' waves and sank, he was able to launch lifeboats and retrieve 37 crewmen from the Flying Enterprise who had jumped from the sinking ship and were in the water.  He stood by the Flying Enterprise in hurricane winds, rain and waves for three hours retrieving all but the Captain who refused to abandon ship.  Captain Olsen also received many decorations during WWII, including the Purple Heart, for injuries received when a Japanese Kamikaze plane crashed into his ammunition ship, USS Mayfield Victory, at Okinawa.

 

Erastus Dow Palmer

(1817-1904); lot 15, sec 34          

World-renowned sculptor, his statue of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston is in the Capitol in Washington DC.  Angel of the Sepulchre and others in Albany Rural Cemetery; White Captive is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (gift of Hamilton Fish).  His pieces are displayed at the Boston Athenaeum, New York Historical Society, The Chrysler Museum of Art and the Walters Art Gallery.  He was a Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  His studio was at 3 Columbia St.   Monument by Marcus T. Reynolds.

 

Gen. John Palmer

(1842-1905); lot 38, sec 103

New York Secretary of State and Commander-in-Chief of the New York National Guard (Adjutant General of the State of New York). 

 

 

 

Rev. Ray Palmer

(1808-1887); lot 11, sec 56          

Pastor of the Congregational Church and hymn writer.  His hymn ÒMy faith looks up to TheeÓ was translated into more than 20 languages.  He authored at least 37 other popular hymns.  He authored many articles, poems and books. 

 

Walter Launt Palmer    

(1854-1932); lot 15, sec 34          

Noted landscape painter, studied with Frederick Church (noted Hudson River Artist).  Palmer was noted for his winter scenes; son of Erastus Dow Palmer.

 

Amasa J. Parker

(1807-1890); lot 8, sec 54            

Justice of the New York Court of Appeals, New York State Supreme Court Judge (1846), Assemblyman (1833), Congressman (1837), Regent of the State University (1835), District Attorney of Delaware County (1834), Member of the New York State Constitutional Convention (1867), Twice received the Democratic nomination for Governor (1856 and 1858) but lost both times.  With Ira Harris and Amos Dean, he helped found the Albany Law School in 1851 (the 4^th law school in the country).  He was the judge in several cases involving the anti-rent riots in the 1840s held in Delaware County (ÒPrinceÓ John Van Buren, son of Martin Van Buren was the New York State Attorney General prosecuting the offenders). 

 

One case, involved the murder of under-Sheriff Osman N. Steele while trying to collect past due rents from Moses Earle at Andes, Delaware County.  Steele was kidnapped and killed by over 200 men dressed as Indians, resulting in Governor Wright declaring the county of Delaware in a state of insurrection and a battalion of light infantry was dispatched to restore order.  The trial resulted in 240 indictments, 2 convictions of murder (John Van Steenberg and Edward O'Connor), four convictions of felony manslaughter and 13 other felony convictions.  Parker sentenced the two murderers to be executed.  The four convicted of felony manslaughter were sentenced to life imprisonment and the other felony convictions to various sentences in State Prison.  The other 240 indictments were mostly for resisting arrest and some were fined.  Governor Silas Wright commuted the executions to life imprisonment and his successor, Governor John Young, pardoned the other felony convictions. 

 

One of Parker's daughter's married J.V.L. Pruyn and another, Mary, married Erastus Corning, while a third married Selden E. Marvin.  Monument by Robert W. Gibson.

 

 

Amasa J. Parker, Jr.

(1843-1938); lot 8, sec 54            

Assemblyman (1882), New York Senator (1886).  He organized the Union College Zouaves in 1861, but they did not serve in active combat.  After his graduation from Union in 1866, he served in the New York State National Guard as a major on the staff of General John Tayler Cooper.  In 1875, he served as colonel of the 10^th Regiment and from 1886 to 1890, he served as brigadier general of the Third Brigade.  As State Senator he sponsored the appropriations bill to fund the Albany Armory, Hawk Street Viaduct and Northern Boulevard Bridge. He was the editor of Landmarks of Albany County; son of Amasa J. Parker.

 

John G. Parkhurst

(c1840-1887); lot 42, sec 107       

Professor Parkhurst was the Director of the Albany Musical Association from 1879 to 1887.  His large choral group (possibly over 300 members) sang at many public functions and events.

 

Martha Parratt (Parrott)

(1827-1856); lot 128, sec 92         

Her gravesite has a very rare monument with her likeness carved into sandstone, a material rarely used for stone carving.

 

James Russell Parsons, Jr.

(1861-1905); lot 68, sec 30          

Secretary to the New York State Board of Regents.  He was appointed Consul-General to Mexico by President Theodore Roosevelt and was killed in a collision between his vehicle and a train in Mexico City.  Theodore Roosevelt was a childhood friend of Parson's wife, Frances, and corresponded with them frequently.  Twenty-four letters from Roosevelt to James and more to his wife are preserved at the library at Harvard University.  The Parsons lived at 22 Elk Street

 

John D. Parsons

(1815-1900); lot 3, sec 80            

President of Weed, Parsons & Co., printers.

 

John D. Parsons, Jr.

(1847-1904); lot 12, sec 29          

President of National Exchange Bank and the Albany Trust Company.  Accumulated an extensive collection of rare books and autographs.  Monument by Marcus T. Reynolds, Oscar Lenz, sculptor.  Lived at 233 State St.  

 

 

Benjamin F. Payn

(c1821-1881); lot 46, sec 7

Owned and operated a tobacco factory and sales store in Albany.  One of his products, ÒPeter Schuyler Cigars,Ó were named after Albany's first Mayor.  He mounted a large campaign among farmers outside Albany to donate fresh fruits and vegetables for the Union troops during the Civil War.

 

William Paterson          

(1745-1806); lot 1, sec 14

Member of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Member of the N.J. Provincial Congress and the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War, N.J. Attorney General, Delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia.  He signed the U.S. Constitution; Governor of New Jersey; Member of the U. S. Senate.  Paterson, N.J. is named after him.  His daughter was the second wife of Stephen Van Rensselaer, Albany's last ÒPatroon.Ó

 

Rufus Wheeler Peckham

(1809-1873); lot 19, sec 11

New York Supreme Court Judge (1861), New York Court of Appeals Judge, Assemblyman, Congressman (1853), Albany County District Attorney.  He was defeated in his run for New York State Attorney General by ÒPrinceÓ John Van Buren (Martin Van Buren's son) by 1 vote.  He was a member of the Board of Park Commissioners that established Washington Park and moved the burial ground to Albany Rural Cemetery, Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  He and his wife and 226 other people drowned at sea in the sinking of the steamship Ville du Havre on Nov. 22, 1873.  The Ville du Havre was one of the largest and most elegant steamships on the ocean.  It was on its way from New York to Havre, France when it was struck by the Scottish ship Loch Earn and sank in 12 minutes.  Only 87 lives were reported saved.  A cenotaph to his memory is erected on this family plot.

 

Rufus Wheeler Peckham, Jr.

(1838-1909); lot 19, sec 11          

Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court appointed by President Grover Cleveland.  He had previously been a State Court Judge and Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.  Son of Rufus Wheeler Peckham

 

Wheeler Hazard Peckham

(1833-1905); lot 18, sec 11          

Attorney, prosecuted William Marcy ÒBossÓ Tweed when Tweed was convicted.  He was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court but the Senate refused to confirm him when New York's Senators opposed his appointment because he had prosecuted Tweed.  Appointed District Attorney by Governor Grover Cleveland; President of the New York Bar Association.  He was son of Rufus Wheeler Peckham and brother of Rufus Wheeler Peckham, Jr.

 

Eli Perry

(1799-1881); lot 49, sec 5

Congressman (1871), New York Assemblyman (1851), Mayor of Albany five times (1850), cousin of Commodore Perry, ran a tavern, raised cattle and sold meat.  Democratic leader, Vice-President of Albany Savings Bank, Director of Mutual Insurance Company and Albany Gas Company, Inspector of the city penitentiary.

 

While he was Mayor: Albany Law School was organized; Patroon's Creek was dammed to form Tivoli Lakes, laborers on the city waterworks went on strike and got an increase to $1 for 10 hours work; With great fanfare and a large celebration, the first Hudson River Railroad train reached Albany from New York in 3 hours 24 minutes eclipsing the steamboat record of 12 hours; on 1/28/1852 an Òenormous procession of temperance societies [led by Susan B. Anthony] marched on the Capitol;Ó a posse of 22 policemen visited the scene in the Helderbergs where Mr. Fish, the rent collector had been tarred and feathered; the first meeting of the Trustees of the Dudley Observatory was held; the remains of Senator Henry Clay arrived in Albany on the steamship Santa Claus and were escorted to City Hall, where he laid-in-state.

 

On 10/16/1852, General Winfield Scott arrived for a meeting; the steamboat Hendrick Hudson became frozen in the ice at Coeyman's; the New York Central Railroad and Hudson River Railroad merged at Albany; a woman weighing 764 pounds was exhibited at Bleecker Hall; on 3/23/1857, the Albany YMCA was organized; in 1862, Albany's 113^th and 10^th regiments and the Company A, Zouave Cadets departed for the Civil War; Col. Franklin Townsend's 3^rd regiment returned having suffered 358 casualties out of 780 volunteers; on 6/15/1863, a mob of striking dock laborers and New York Central employees with clubs shut down businesses in Albany requiring the call out of the 25^th Regiment; on June 23^rd horse-drawn trolleys began operating on Broadway running between the Lumber District (Clinton Ave.) and the south ferry (Ferry Street); the city Sanitary Fair to aid families of soldiers was held; the printers went on strike because Joel Munsell hired 2 female printers due to the lack of men during the war; and in 1865, Lincoln's body was laid-in-state in the Capitol.

 

John S. Perry   

(1816-1889); lot 8, sec 29            

Cast iron stove manufacturer in Albany, New York City and Chicago Illinois.  Produced 90,000 stoves annually.

 

Nathan B. Perry

(c1830-1903); lot 7, sec 29

Came to Albany in 1864 and became President of the Perry Stove Company, Vice President of National Savings Bank and Director of Commerce Insurance Company.  His son, Edward Rodman Perry was a Trustee of Perry Stove Company and later in 1893 he was secretary and treasurer of the Hilton Bridge Company. 

 

Amos Pilsbury

(1805-1873); lot 1, sec 36            

Keeper of the Albany Penitentiary.

 

Louis D. Pilsbury

(1832-1906); lot 1, sec 36

He was the first Superintendent of New York State Prisons. 

 

Wolcott H. Pitkin

(1839-1917); lot 1, sec 107

He grew up on a farm until his mother died and his father divided up the farm into building lots and sold them, incorporating the village of Woodhaven, N.Y. in the process.   He worked part time in a shoe factory while attending school.   With other family members, he started the East New York Boot, Shoe and Leather Manufacturing Company.  In about 1860, he contracted with the Albany County Penitentiary to employ all 250 inmates manufacturing shoes and set up a manufacturing establishment inside the penitentiary.  His payments to the penitentiary covered most of the costs of running the penitentiary and he also paid the prisoners a small stipend.  He subsequently set up similar establishments in the Providence Rhode Island Reform School and the Rhode Island State Prison.  In 1865, Albany County offered Pitkin 300 more prisoners if he were to move his entire operation to Albany.  Pitkin closed his Rhode Island facilities and set up ten manufacturing work shops in the Albany prison.  He later expanded, building plants on South Broadway and on Hamilton Street, employing about 1,000 people.  Problems arose in the late 1880s when union organizers became unhappy that they could not organize his prison workers and successfully lobbied New York legislators to pass a law prohibiting prisoners from working.  The new law passed in 1889.  Continuing efforts to organize Pitkin's laborers forced the business to close in 1894 and Albany lost 1,000 jobs.

 

Daniel J. Pratt

(1827-1884); lot 27, sec 77

Assistant Secretary of the Board of Regents and the University of the State of New York from 1864 until his death in 1884.  He was the founder and developer of the system of regent's examinations and was the author of Annals of Public Education in the State of New York and Boundaries of the State of New York.  He was Secretary of the New York State Boundary Commission, the New Capitol Commission and the New York State Survey. 

 

George Watson Pratt

(c1830-1862); lot 3, sec 44           

New York State Senator; Colonel during the Civil War.  Died of wounds suffered at the Second Battle of Bull Run.

 

Ezra Parmelee Prentice  

(c1798-1876); lot 16, sec 38         

With his two brothers John H. and Parker Prentice engaged in the wholesale fur business eventually selling out to George C. Treadwell.  He was involved in organizing the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad.  President of National Commercial Bank. 

 

Charles Lansing Pruyn

(1852-1906); lot 1, sec 118          

President of Albany Embossing Company, Albany Forge Company, and many civic organizations.  Albany Embossing Company made many board games using technology developed by John Wesley Hyatt to make cellulose (plastic) billiard balls.  Albany Embossing Company made Dominoes, Checkers and Scrabble.  He was the son of Robert Hewson Pruyn.  He lived at 1 Park Place.

 

John V. L. Pruyn

(1811-1877); lot 1; sec 53            

Congressman (in 1863, he replaced his retiring brother-in-law Erastus Corning), Assemblyman, Chancellor (1868) and Regent of the State University (1844), State Senator (1861), he provided considerable legal expertise and drafted the Consolidation Agreement in combining ten small railroads to form the New York Central (1853).  This agreement was considered the largest asset value agreement drafted at the time that did not involve a government.  The New York Central Railroad was incorporated with a capital value of $23,000,000 making it the largest corporation in America at that time.  He served as general counsel to the railroad until 1866 when control was purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt.

 

Pruyn also represented the Hudson River Bridge Company, which had been chartered by the New York Legislature in 1856 to build a bridge from Albany to Troy.  Troy had always opposed such a bridge thinking that the short span stone bridges of the time would block or hinder water navigation north on the Hudson River to Troy.   Pruyn argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court and won a successful decision for the bridge company.   The stone and steel Upper Bridge at Livingston Avenue, with revolving center section to allow ships to pass, was constructed.  It was this bridge that later allowed railroad traffic and facilitated the merger of the New York Central with the New York and Harlem River Railroad, which ran north and south along the east bank of the Hudson River. 

 

As a State Senator (1861), he donated his salary to the poor of Albany.  He was a Trustee of the State Normal School at Albany, President of the State Board of Charities and the State Survey, Commissioner for the construction of the Capitol Building, laid the cornerstone (1869), and more than a dozen smaller societies.  His son-in-law was William Gorham Rice.

 

Mary Putnam Pruyn                 

(1820-1885); lot 3, sec 24            

Second wife of Samuel Pruyn, following his death, she chose to become a missionary to Japan and in 1871 founded a girls' school, Yokohama Kyoritsu Gakuen, in a culture that had believed that only men warranted an education.  The school celebrated its 130^th anniversary in 2001 and is still in operation.  In 1882, she was sent to China where she founded a similar school in Shanghai. Authored Grandmother's Tales of Japan.

 

Robert Hewson Pruyn

(1815-1882); lot 14, sec 30          

He was the second U.S. Minister to Japan (appointed by Abraham Lincoln), Speaker of the New York Assembly, Adjutant-General of the State of New York, President of the New York State Constitutional Convention.  Unsuccessful Democratic Party candidate for New York Lieutenant Governor in 1866. 

 

His family owned Albany Iron and Saw Works that he inherited and he may have served as President. He was vice-President of Albany Savings Bank, President of National Commercial Bank and Dudley Observatory, a Trustee of Union University, Albany Medical College, the State Normal School, Metropolitan Trust Company and Rutgers College.  His family originally came to Albany in 1665.  His monument is by H. H. Richardson, one of the architects of the Capitol Building and Albany City Hall, and is the only known cemetery monument done by Richardson.

 

Robert C. Pruyn

(1847-1934); lot 1, sec 119          

He served as Secretary to the Minister when his father was Minister to Japan. He was President and Chairman of National Commercial Bank, Chairman of Municipal Gas Company, Director of Mechanics and Metals Bank of New York, Air Reduction Co., Delaware and Hudson Railroad, Consolidated Car Heating Co., Helderberg Cement Co., and Albany Savings Bank.  He owned Santanoni a Great Camp in the Adirondacks.  He was also a Regent of the State University, son of Robert H. Pruyn.

 

Harmon Pumpelly

(1794-1882); lot 104, sec 18         

He was a dealer in lumber, cattle and land, President of Albany Gaslight Company, Albany Savings Bank, National Savings Bank and Albany Insurance Company.

 

John Pye

(1751-1817); lot 66, sec 29          

Owner of a tavern and boardinghouse that was the location of ÒThe Pye Robbery.Ó  The tavern was located just south of the entrance to the Albany Rural Cemetery on the Watervliet Turnpike (later Troy Road and still later Broadway in Menands).  His wife Elizabeth and their bartender, William Nutt are also buried here.  The Pye Hotel, later known as Gil Crane's Hotel, became the favorite hotel and restaurant of race horse owners when the Troy Road from the juncture of Pearl Street to First Street in West Troy (Watervliet) was used as a racetrack.

 

Col. Henry Quackenbush

(c1737-1813); lot 15, sec 9           

Chairman of Albany's Committee of Safety during the French and Indian War.  He Òwas with Lord Amherst at Ticonderoga [French and Indian War] and with General Horatio Gates at [the Revolutionary War Battle of] Saratoga, in the days that tried men's soulsÓ (Inscription on his monument).  In addition to other family members, Òhis servant and faithful slave, NancyÓ is also interred here.

 

Samuel H. Ransom

(1818-1889); lot 14, sec 15          

Started with Rathbone, Sard & Co. and started his own company that became one of the largest stove manufacturers in the U.S.

 

Jared Rathbone

(c1792-1845); lot 27, sec 3           

A merchant, he was senior partner in Rathbone and Chapin, Director of State Bank, Albany Insurance Company, and a member of the Albany Common Council.  First Mayor of Albany elected by popular vote (1838), President of Albany Medical College.  His son, Major Henry Reed Rathbone and Clara Harris were in the box with Lincoln when Lincoln was shot. 

 

During his term as Mayor, General Steven Van Rensselaer died and Express Messenger Dimmick was dispatched to bring the news to New York City.  Dimmick reached the Carlton House in New York in 14 hours and 31 minutes having been forced to swim the Redhook and Fishkill Rivers where the bridges had been swept away by floods. Rathbone's memorial at Albany Rural is considered to be Òa counterpart to the tomb of Scipio.Ó

 

Jared Lawrence Rathbone

(1844- ?); lot 16, sec 3                

Son of Jared Rathbone (above).  He served in the 12th infantry during the Civil War and was appointed Consul General to Paris in 5/18/1887.  He was Major Henry Reed Rathbone's brother. 

 

Joel Rathbone

(c1806-1863); lot 16, sec 3           

Founder of Rathbone, Sard & Co. stove manufacturers, which became the largest stove manufacturer in the world.  Bronze medallion by Erastus Dow Palmer.

 

John Finley Rathbone   

(1819-1901); lot 34, sec 60          

Owned Rathbone, Sard & Co stove manufacturers.  At the time, the largest stove manufacturer in the world.  Brigadier General of the 9^th Brigade in the Civil War, commanded the Albany Depot where he sent 35 regiments to the front, one of the founders and President of the Albany Orphan Asylum, President of the Albany Rural Cemetery, the Mutual Fire Insurance Company and the Albany Academy.  Governor John A. Dix appointed him a Major General and Adjutant General of the State of New York.  He was also a Trustee of the University of Rochester where he contributed $40,000 to establish the Rathbone Library. He was one of the founders and President of the Albany Orphanage and Dudley Observatory and Mutual Fire Insurance Company.  He was a Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery, Albany Academy, and an Albany Park Commissioner. His wife, killed in an automobile accident in Cannes, France on January 27, 1904, is also buried here.  They lived at 119 Washington Ave.

 

Acors Rathbun

(1827-1901); lot 28, sec 28          

ÒLumber Baron,Ó owned extensive hemlock mills at Bradford, Pennsylvania.  He became one of the predominant hardwood dealers in the country.  He lived at 28 Willett Street.

 

Harmon Pumpelly Read

(1860-1925); lot 104, sec 18         

Son of Gen. John Meridith Read, U.S. Consul-General to France and Algeria and first resident U.S. Minister to Greece.  (It is suspected that Gen. John Meridith Reed is also buried in this family crypt.) In 1893, he was appointed Vice-Chairman of an Albany committee to receive the Duke of Veragua, a reported direct descendent of Christopher Columbus.  He hosted the reception and took the Duke on a tour of the ÒNorth WoodsÓ (Adirondacks).  President of the Young Men's Association, regent of the Philip Schuyler Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution.

 

Matthew Read

(c1804-1883); lot 51, sec 5           

Flour and grain trader throughout New England, he owned a line of schooners.  He was President of the Board of Trade of the city of Albany; banker.

 

Henry Rector

(c1795-1878); lot 22, sec 22         

Noted architect and builder.  Constructed many buildings in Albany including the first Capitol Building that was destroyed by fire.

 

William Cox Redfield

 (1858-1932); lot 62, sec 18         

Secretary of Commerce (1913) in Woodrow Wilson's Cabinet during WWI, Congressman (1911), Commissioner of Public Works for the borough of Brooklyn in 1902, unsuccessful candidate for nomination for Vice President of the U.S. in 1912, machinery manufacturer, banker and insurance executive.

 

Cuyler Reynolds

(1886-1934); lot 1, sec 17

Historian, Albany City Historian, author, conducted a study of the frequency of use of each letter of the alphabet and assisted in the design of the keyboard for setting type that was later modeled for the typewriter.  He was a grandson of Marcus Tullius Reynolds.

 

Dexter Reynolds

(1829-1906); lot 1, sec 17            

Attorney, inventor, held over 20 patents in the printing trade including the patent for the automatic positioning of type, he also held patents in the manufacture of steel and iron.  He was a son of Marcus Tullius Reynolds.

 

Marcus Tullius Reynolds

(1789-1864); lot 1, sec 17            

Congressman, Supreme Court Justice, founder and President of three railroad lines.  Albany and Northern became part of the Delaware and Hudson (its tracks still intersect Cemetery Avenue today), Albany and West Stockbridge became part of the New York Central and Utica and Schenectady became part of the Boston and Albany.

                   

Marcus T. Reynolds      

(1869-1937); lot 1, sec 17            

Architect, produced some of the most beautiful buildings in the Northeast, including Albany's D&H Plaza, Albany Trust Company Bank, Henry Manning Sage Estate and many monuments in the cemetery.  He was a grandson of Marcus Tullius Reynolds.  He was also a Board member of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

William Gorham Rice   

(1856-1945); lot 1, sec 53            

Father of the Albany City carillon in Albany City Hall, he raised the funds, bought the carillon and hired the contractors to install it.

 

Rev. Evan Roberts

(c1790-1836); Church Grounds     

Headstone inscription Òof Steuben, Oneida County, New York, who departed this life (his death having been caused, as is supposed, by the hand of an assassin).Ó  Re-interred from St. Peter's Episcopal Church burial ground.

 

Josiah Goodrich Root   

(1801-1883); lot 10, sec 29          

Manager of the Patroon's Tivoli Woolen Mills in 1836, he purchased the mill in 1839 when Patroon Steven Van Rensselaer died.  In about 1855, the city of Albany purchased the water rights to Partoon's Creek for drinking water for city residents and Root was forced to move his mills.  He moved to Cohoes operating his Tivoli Woolen Mills as J. G. Root & Sons, employing 350 people.  He also founded the National Bank of Cohoes.  Mausoleum by James Gazeley.

 

Theophilus G. Roessle

(1811-1890); lot 23, sec 41          

A very prosperous vegetable farmer in the hamlet of Roessleville (named after him), a section of the Town of Colonie.  He specialized in celery and in the 1840s sold over a thousand bunches of celery a day.  He purchased the Delavan House, Albany's most prestigious hotel, in 1849.  He hosted the Lincoln family at the Delevan in February 1861.  He also founded the Fort William Henry Hotel at Caldwell at the head of Lake George and owned the Arlington Hotel in Washington, D.C.

 

Dr. Rudolf Ruedemann

(1864-1956); lot 108, sec 116

Internationally famous geologist and paleontologist.  He was born in Georgenthal, Germany and came to the United States in 1892.  He became New York State Paleontologist in 1926.  He was president of the Paleontological Society of America in 1926 and vice president of the Geological Society of America.  He retired from state service in 1937 at 73 but continued working in the same building until he was 92. 

 

Dean Sage

(1841-1902); lot 67, sec 30          

ÒLumber Baron.Ó  Wealthy lumber merchant of Albany's ÒLumber District,Ó an author of books on angling in America, owner of a valuable Charles Lamb collection of rare editions.  His residence was ÒHillsideÓ in Menands.  He died at his camp at Restigouche, Canada.

 

Henry M. Sage 

(1868-1933); lot 67, sec 30          

New York State Senator, President of the Hudson River Regulating Board, his home was the Sage Estate in Menands.  He was the son of Dean Sage.

 

Samuel Sague

(1809-1860); lot 6, sec 14

The Handbook of Albany Rural Cemetery by Edward Fitzgerald, written in the late 1800s says of Sague:  Ò(He) was an oracle among horsemen, a wit of the first water and a person as extensively known, perhaps, in his day as any similar character.Ó

 

Rollin Brewster Sanford            

(1874-1957); lot 20, sec 114         

Congressman (1915), Prosecuting Attorney (DA) for Albany County in 1908, member of the New York State Board of Law Examiners.

 

John Lawrence Schoolcraft

(1804-1860); lot 57, sec 5

Congressman (1849), produce merchant, President of the Commercial Bank. He was involved in the glass business, also a delegate to the Republican National Convention nominating Abraham Lincoln.  Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Caterina Van Rensselaer Schuyler

(1734-1803); lot 2, sec 29

She was the wife of Revolutionary War General Philip J. Schuyler.  She hosted British General John Burgoyne and his executive staff after Burgoyne's defeat by Colonial troops at Saratoga until they were shipped back to England. 

 

Johannes Schuyler

(1668-1747); Church Grounds       

Member of the Colonial Assembly (1710), Mayor (1741), brother of Peter Schuyler, Indian Commissioner, Captain attached to General Winthrop's army, trader.  He operated river transports.  Monument by William Gray. Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

David Davidse Schuyler

(1669-1715); sec 29        

Mayor (1706), Alderman, Delegate to the Council of the Onondagas, Sheriff, Indian Commissioner.  While he was Mayor, Òfyre-mastersÓ were ordered to inspect chimneys.  Re-interred from Schuyler Flatts.

 

Johannes Schuyler, Jr.

(1697-1746); sec 29        

Mayor (1703), Indian Commissioner, Alderman, son of Mayor Johannes Schuyler, father of Major Gen. Philip Schuyler.  While he was Mayor a law was enacted mandating that each house had to build an 8-foot sidewalk.  Re-interred from Schuyler Flatts.

 

John Cayler Schuyler

(c1801-1882); lot 10, sec 60

Born and lived most of his life at the old Schuyler home at Schuyler Flatts.  He was one of the founders and a 30 year Trustee of the South Park Reformed Church.  He married his cousin Anna Maria Schuyler and they had ten children.  He represented the town of Watervliet on the Albany County Board of Supervisors from 1833 to 1837 and again in 1853.  In 1836 he was elected to the N.Y. State Assembly. 

 

Myndert Schuyler

(1672-1755); Church Grounds       

Member of the Colonial Assembly (1702), Mayor (1723), Church Master, Indian Commissioner, Captain of the Militia, Alderman, merchant.  While he was Mayor, the city constructed houses outside the city walls to house the Indians that came to trade. Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Colonel Peter Schuyler

(1657-1724); sec 29                    

Acting Colonial Governor of New York (1701, 1709, 1719) under English rule.  Known as ÒQuiderÓ to he neighboring Iroquois Tribes (this was the closest they could come to ÒPeterÓ), Colonel Peter (also Pieter) took the five Iroquois Sachems to London (one Sachem died en route) in 1709 in an effort to impress them with the wealth and power of England.  They all met with Queen Anne who had them sit for portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneeler, the court painter.  Peter Schuyler was the first Mayor of Albany after Albany became a city under the Dongan Charter in 1686.  His portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneeler hung over the fireplace at Schuyler Flatts for many years.  Re-interred from Schuyler Flatts.

Col. Philip J. Schuyler              

(c1696-1758): lot 66, sec 29         

Colonel in the Albany Militia in the early 1700s.

 

Maj. Gen. Philip John Schuyler 

(1733-1804); lot 2, sec 29            

First of two U.S. Senators from New York (1789-91) (Rufus King was the other); founded the Federalist Party with his son-in-law Alexander Hamilton; Major General in the Revolutionary War (one of the first 4), Colonel in the French-Indian War, Member of the Continental Congress (1775, 1777, 1779-80); New York Assembly (1768); New York State Senator (1780-4, 1786-90).  He ran a lumber and timber operation from his Schuylerville home, where he harvested timber and ran a sawmill.  He built the first flax-mill in the United States.  His family also ran a farm at the Schuyler Heights section of Colonie and at his residence in downtown Albany.  Originally interred in a private crypt near the Schuyler Mansion in downtown Albany, he was later moved to the crypt behind the Ten Broeck Mansion and then later moved to Albany Rural.

 

He was widely considered the ÒFatherÓ of New York's canal system serving as the first President of the Northern Inland Lock and Navigation Company, the precursor to the Erie Canal Commission (his other son-in-law, Steven Van Rensselaer, Albany's Patroon was the largest stockholder).  His residence was the Schuyler Mansion where George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Gen. John Burgoyne and the Marquis de Lafayette were guests.  (Philip Street, Schuyler Street and Catherine Street - named after his wife.)  His son Philip Jeremiah Schuyler served in the U.S. Congress (1817-1819); his grandson, William Stephen Hamilton (son of Alexander Hamilton) was a colonel in the U.S. Army during the Black Hawk War.  William Stephen Hamilton served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature and went to California during the Gold Rush where he died in 1850.

 

Col. Philip P. Schuyler

(1736-1808); Lot 66, sec 29         

Served in the Albany Militia during the French & Indian War.  During the Revolutionary War he commanded troops reporting to Lake George on April 30, 1777 as Burgoyne invaded.

 

Samuel Schuyler

(1781-1841); lot 66, sec 59          

Ship Captain, one of Albany's wealthiest and most prominent Black residents in the mid-1800s.  He and his wife, Mary Martin-Morin (listed in the City Directory as a mulatto woman) lived at 204 South Pearl Street.  He owned and operated Samuel Schuyler & Company a shipping company on the Hudson River.  Monument by William Belden. 

 

Samuel Schuyler

(1812-1894); lot 33, sec 32          

Son of Captain Samuel Schuyler (above).  He was also known as Captain Samuel Schuyler and operated a steamboat towing company called the Schuyler Steam Towboat Company operating on the Hudson River.  From 1848-1894, he lived at 2 Ashgrove Place, one of Albany's most picturesque residences crowned by a large belvedere that provided a 180-degree view of the city and river. 

 

Col. Stephen J. Schuyler

(1737-1820); lot 70, sec 92

Son of Johannes Schuyler Jr.  (Albany Mayor), brother of Major General Phillip Schuyler.  Stephen was a 1st Lieutenant in the Albany Militia (1755), Captain in the Provincial Army (1756), Colonel in the 6th Regiment Albany County Militia during the American Revolution.  He is buried next to his wife Helena Ten Broeck

 

Maj. Stephen Schuyler

(?-1798); lot 66, sec 29    

Officer in the Albany Militia.  He attended a German Flatts Congress of Indians to explain the situation between America and England.  Fought at Saratoga.

 

John A. Scott

(1876-1939): lot 85, sec 130         

First Mayor of the Village of Menands, dentist.  His Citizens' Party dominated Menands for his entire term of office.  He was elected nine times to one-year terms and had been nominated for a tenth at the time he died.  Also served as Assemblyman in 1933.

 

James Bentley (ÒCyÓ) Seymour

(1878-1919); lot 46, sec 15          

Professional baseball player.  In 1905, he led the National League, and all of professional baseball, in batting with a .377 average, hits with 219 and runs-batted-in with 121 with the Cincinnati Reds.  He also played for the Baltimore Orioles and New York Giants.

 

Ronald Sharpe

(1940-2004); Crypt C-47, sec O    

Retired Police Commissioner for the State of Pennsylvania.

 

 

William S. Shepard

(c1797-1876); lot 79, sec 121

Assemblyman in 1850.

                                               

Horace B. Silliman

(1825-1910); lot 1, sec 34            

He was a graduate of Union College and very successful businessman in Cohoes.  He owned a drug store, later made axes and stoves and still later started a newspaper in Cohoes.  He was also a stockholder in several mills in Cohoes. 

 

He participated in the establishment of a school district in Cohoes and worked to provide relief to the poor by constructing a soup kitchen.  He was very active in soldiers' relief during the Civil War.  He helped to purchase a fire engine, start the Cohoes Waterworks, and run the church Sunday school.  Church services were held in the Silliman home until he built and donated the huge sprawling Romanesque Revival Silliman Memorial Church at Remsen and Factory Streets (demolished 1998).

 

In 1857 he donated a $20,000 YMCA building to Hamilton College together with a check for $1,000 to maintain the building.  The building was named Silliman Hall.

 

He also gave the American Presbyterian Board a grant to found a small boys' school in the Philippines.  Silliman University in Dumaguete City, province of Negros Oriental, Philippines, started by missionary couple Dr. and Mrs. David S Hibbard in 1901 is today one of the country's foremost engineering schools.

 

Noel E. Sisson

(1821-1904); lot 11, sec 13

In 1845, Sisson entered into the infant business of taking photographs in a studio at the corner of Maiden Lane and Broadway in Albany.   In 1859, he financed a partnership with Donald MacDonald manufacturing gas meters in a large factory employing over 200 people located on a complete city block between Lancaster and Chestnut streets in Albany.   He was a Director of First National Bank and Commerce Insurance Company of Albany and President of the Gas Light Company of Bath, Steuben County. 

 

Roger Skinner

(1773-1825); lot 34, sec 62          

Law partner of Martin Van Buren.  In 1811, he was appointed a member of a 5-man commission to study and make recommendations for a common (public) school system in New York.  He is interred in a plot purchased and owned by President Van Buren.

 

Henry H. Slingerland

(1808-1899); lot 6, sec 22

His great, great, great grandfather was Teunis Cornelise Slingerland who came to Beverwyck (Albany) in about 1650 and purchased about 10,000 acres from the Indians southwest of Beverwyck.  Henry H. owned a large wholesale and retail grocery located at 86 and 88 Washington Avenue and 73 South Swan Street.  He was later succeeded by his sons John B. and DeWitt Chester Slingerland.

 

Alexander Smith

(c1780-1829); lot 203, sec 92       

Tombstone engraving: ÒThe GRAVE of Alexander Smith of the city of Hudson, who was drowned in the Albany Basin on the night of the 4^th day of April A.D. 1829, aged 49 Years.Ó

 

B. F. Smith

(1828-1900): lot 11, sec 59

He was said to be a Òcelebrated architect of Albany.  Furnished designs for many of the large and costly monuments here.Ó  

 

Charles H. Smith, M.D.

(!830-1914); lot 33, sec 65

Graduated from Albany Medical College in 1854 and immediately was pressed into service to treat the cholera patients in Albany's Alms House.   The last reported case of cholera at the Alms House was his, but he survived.  He served as assistant surgeon at Albany's Ira Harris General Hospital during the Civil War.   After the war he owned a drug store at 246 Washington Avenue.

 

John F. Smyth

(1827-1887); lot 21, sec 27

State Superintendent of Insurance in 1875.

 

Henry F. Snyder

(1850-1921); lot 237, sec 121       

Mayor of Albany (1909), grocer and real estate agent, Postmaster of Albany.

 

Soldiers Plot

lot 7, sec 75      

On June 17, 1862, the Board of Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery set aside a large plot to inter remains of Union Soldiers; 149 are interred in this plot; 648 residents of Albany who died in action are named on the monument; many of them are buried throughout the cemetery.  The tablets on the monument were cast from a melted-down Civil War cannon obtained by Congressman Eli Perry.

 

George Newell Southwick          

(1863-1912); lot 23, sec 39          

Congressman (1895), Managing Editor of the Albany Evening Journal and Albany Morning Express (1889). He was Chairman of the Republican State Convention (1896).

 

Solomon Southwick

(1773-1839); lot 72, sec 14          

Journalist, he moved from Rhode Island and published the Democratic Albany Register from 1808 to 1818.  He founded a circulating library, organized the New York Senate and Assembly Libraries.  He was the State Printer, Regent of State University, and first President of Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank.  He became involved in a dispute between Ambrose Spencer and Martin Van Buren and lost favor within the Democratic Party.  He was a candidate for Governor in 1822 and 1828 for the Anti-Masonic Party.

 

Gilbert R. ÒDocÓ Spalding

(1812-1880); lot 98, sec 62          

Circus owner.  He owned a drug store in Albany when he took over the Sam H. Nichols Circus and the bankrupt Albany Museum and went into show business.  Starting in the 1840s as a wagon show, he built the Floating Palace, a deluxe riverboat designed as a floating arena in which circus performances were given on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in the 1850s.  In the 1850s, he was the first to move a circus show on a railroad.  Strangely, the Floating Palace caught fire and burned to the water line in 1865 at New Albany (Indiana).  At times he had as many as four full circuses and floating showboats operating. 

 

Ambrose Spencer

(1765-1848); lot 1, sec 45

Attorney, New York Attorney General (1802), Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court (1819), New York Assemblyman (1794), New York State Senate (1795-1804), Mayor (1824), Member of the New York State Constitutional Convention (1821).  His wife was the sister of Governor DeWitt Clinton (she is also buried on this site.).  Also New York State Chairman of the Democratic Party.

 

While he was Mayor, General Lafayette visited Albany; the first meetings were held discussing the construction of a railroad to Schenectady; the new Albany pier with room for 1000 canal boats and 50 larger vessels was constructed; 21 steamboats were now running daily between Albany and New York.  Also, while Mayor, he rode the canal boat Seneca Chief on the first ride down the Erie Canal in 1824.  Monument by William Gray.

 

John Canfield Spencer 

(1788-1855); lot 1; sec 45            

U.S. Secretary of War (1841) and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1843) under President Tyler, Secretary of State of New York (1839) and Superintendent of Schools, Congressman (1817-1819), New York Senator (1824), New York Assemblyman (1819-1821, 1831, 1833), Speaker of the Assembly (1819-1820).  Special Prosecutor in the trial of the murderer of William Morgan an ex-Mason who authored a book criticizing the group. He was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Tyler but rejected by the Senate, due to the Senate's displeasure with Tyler.  He was the son of Ambrose Spencer.

 

Brig. Gen. John Titcomb Sprague         

(1810-1878); lot 25, sec 13          

Adjutant General of the State of New York during the Civil War, Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and later Colonel in the U.S. Army; served in the war against Seminole Indians (1836-1846); served in Texas and Florida; served in the 7^th U.S. Infantry during the Civil War; Military Governor of Florida and head of the Freedman's Bureau during Reconstruction (1866-1868).

 

Dr. William B. Sprague DD

(1795-1876); lot 24, sec 3            

Pastor of the 2^nd Presbyterian Church in Albany for 40 years.  Author of a nine-volume work entitled ÒThe Annals of the American Pulpit.Ó  He authored more than 100 published sermons, memoirs, addresses, books, etc.  He was a very popular speaker and was invited to give addresses and sermons all over the Northeast including addresses at Harvard, Yale and Princeton.  He delivered and published a series of lectures for young adults.  In one of his addresses to seminarians he warned of the temptations of a big city telling them the story of a seminarian who spent too much time in the city and Òforfeited his calling to serve God to pursue a career as a common tumbler in a circus.Ó  He collected nearly 100,000 autographs, probably the largest private collection in the world, which he donated to the New York State Library.

 

Barent Philip Staats

(1796-1871); lot 42, sec 33          

Mayor of Albany, Assemblyman, Physician.  During his term as Mayor, a dispute apparently occurred between the Common Council and the members of Fire Engine Company Number 9.  The minutes show that ÒEngine Company Number 9, which at a recent fire dragged its engine up the hill and left it standing in front of City Hall because of certain remarks by the previous Common Council.Ó  The Common Council subsequently created the office of Fire Chief at $600 per year.  Also, the Patroon's Century Plant said to bloom only once each 100 years, flowered at his estate in Albany and was sent to New York City to be put on exhibit for benefit of the Albany Orphanage.

 

Ellis J. Staley

(1877-1943); lot 25, sec 109

New York Supreme Court Justice and close associate of William Barnes (noted Republican leader and grandson of Thurlow Weed).  He served two terms in the New York State Assembly and served as New York State Conservation Commissioner in 1921-1922.  He was an Albany County Surrogate Court Judge (1918-1922) when he became a Supreme Court Judge.  He was also a principal sponsor of the creation of the John Boyd Thacher State Park. 

 

Ellis J. Staley, Jr.

(1914-1987); lot 25, sec 109

New York Supreme Court Judge.  He served on the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller.  He also served as Albany County Republican Party Chairman.  He served on the boards of Albany Felt Company, Consolidated Car Heating Company, Albany Exchange Savings Bank, Albany Law School, Albany Medical College, Albany College of Pharmacy, Albany Academy, First Presbyterian Church and St. Agnes School.  He also served as a professor at Albany Law School.   Son of Judge Ellis J. Staley, above. 

 

Stanford Family

Josiah (1795-1862), and Elizabeth  (1791-1873),

lot 105, sec 18   

Parents of Leland Stanford, Governor of California, President of the Central Pacific Railroad.  He drove the golden spike to join the Central Pacific Railroad to the Union Pacific Railroad and unite the East Coast with the West Coast.  Leland and his wife, Jane Lathrop, founded Stanford University in honor of their son. 

 

Josiah Stanford was a farmer and road and railroad builder.  He participated in the construction of the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike.  He was one of the contractors who built the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad between Albany and Schenectady, the first passenger railroad in the United States.  He probably participated as a contractor in the construction of the Erie Canal.  He owned a farm and tavern on the west end of the AlbanyÐSchenectady Turnpike (State Road and later Central Avenue) in the Lisha Kill section of the Town of Colonie and later a tavern at the east end of the same road near today's Vatrano Road. 

 

Charles Stanford

(1818-1885); lot 105, sec 18         

New York State Senator, publisher, road builder and farmer.  He contracted with the city of Albany to fill in the Rutten Kill ravine.  He employed 60 teams of oxen with carts from 1844 to 1847 to complete this project.  Hudson Avenue is constructed over this ravine.  He departed for California during the 1849 Gold Rush and became very wealthy as a merchant in California.  He returned to Albany in 1859 and became the purchasing agent for his brothers' hardware stores and publisher of the Schenectady Union newspaper.  He also owned a 300-acre farm and home (ÒLocust GroveÓ) on the west end of the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike near the tollbooth that was near Ballltown Road.  Brother of Leland Stanford. 

 

George W. Stedman

(1864-1954); lot 4, sec 118

Attorney.  He graduated from Albany Academy, Rochester University and Albany Law School.  He practiced law in a firm with his father George L. Stedman.  George L. Stedman drafted the law that established the Town of Colonie and separated it from the city of Watervliet.  When drafting the law, the committee in charge left the choice of a name for the new municipality to George L. and he picked the name ÒColonieÓ after the Colony of Rensselaerwyck, of which it had been part.  His son, George W. became the town's first Justice of the Peace and a member of the first Town Board on June 7, 1895.

 

Lemuel Steele

(1787-1853); lot 61, sec 5

Chief Engineer for the Albany Fire Department, Democratic committeeman, Director of Mechanics and Farmers Bank.

 

James Stevenson

(1788-1852); lot 31, sec 56          

Mayor of Albany (1826), Governor of Albany City Hospital, Trustee of Albany Academy, lawyer.  While Mayor, construction was started on the first passenger train in the U.S. to run from the intersection of Madison and Western Avenues in Albany into downtown Schenectady; the city purchased land adjacent to Steamboat Square from the Dutch Church to allow cattle to be watered before being loaded on boats for New York; the Common Council also purchased a steam driven ferry to replace the ferry operated by a horse drawn treadle; a large celebration was held in Albany on the effective date of the emancipation of slaves in New York (7/4/1827).     

 

 

 

Joseph W. Stevens

(1846-1930); lot 138, sec 108       

Mayor of Albany (1914), served in 43^rd Regiment of the Union Army during the Civil War; tobacco merchant.

 

Leander Stickney

(c1816-1883); lot 11, sec 25         

Dealer in coffee and spices with Samuel Bacon in Bacon, Stickney & Co.

 

Dr. William Olin Stillman         

(1856-1924); lot 107, sec 109       

Physician; surgeon, philanthropist.  A successful medical doctor practicing with Drs. James H. Armsby and Samuel B. Ward.   He proposed the establishment of a loan exhibition in 1886 to mark the bi-centennial of Albany's city charter.  From that exhibition he conceived the idea of a permanent museum and, mainly owing to his initiative, the Albany Historical and Art Association was incorporated.  He purchased the home of General William Goram Rice and converted it into the first home of the American Humane Association.  He was one of the founders and President of the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society for 36 years and later President of the American Humane Association for 20 years.  Under his leadership the American Humane Association grew from one employee to 35.  He founded the Albany School for Nurses.  He was Director of the Fairview Home for Friendless Children, Trustee of the Albany Historical and Art Society, physician to the Open Door Mission, the Hospital for the Incurables, the Babies Nursery at the Lathrop Memorial at the Albany Orphanage and the Dominican Monastery.  He was a member of several medical societies, the American Society for the Advancement of Science and the Albany Institute.  He gave many lectures and published works on cholera and ÒThe Mineral Springs of Saratoga.Ó

 

Kate Stoneman 

(1841-1925); lot 28, sec 56          

Attorney, first female admitted to the Bar in New York State (5/22/1886), first female graduate of Albany Law School.  Her first application for admittance to the Bar was rejected, necessitating a change in New York law.  Upon her admission, the Albany Law Journal ran an article that included the following, ÒWe humbly advise her to have just as few women clients as possible.  They are troublesome.Ó

 

David Strain

(1823-1844); lot 46, sec 76          

First interment in Albany Rural Cemetery (May, 1845), age 21.  He died of Consumption (Tuberculosis).  Monument by John Dixon.

 

Alfred Billings Street

(1811-1881); lot 23, sec 37          

He was a lawyer, New York State Poet, librarian and author.  He edited a literary magazine Northern Light.  Director of the New York State Library, he published The Burning of Schenectady, Frontenac, and others.

 

Samuel Stringer

(1735-1817); lot 9, sec 40

Albany's most prominent physician in the 1700s.  In 1775, he was appointed by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts to the medical unit of the British Army.  He served at Ticonderoga in the Revolutionary War, appointed chief medical officer by Schuyler but his appointment was opposed by Gates.  First Master of the Masons' Lodge in 1768. First interred in a vault on Swan Street near Washington Avenue in Albany and later moved to Albany Rural.

 

Elnathan Sweet

(1837-1903); lot 7, sec 107

State Engineer.  He had extensive experience in the construction and renovation of railroads and the New York State canal system.  He served as President and a Trustee of the Hilton Bridge Construction Company.   He developed many improvements in the design of movable bridges and bridges of long spans.  His most notable design was the combination of the arch and cantilever bridge used for the construction of the Hawk Street Viaduct running from the Capitol building to Arbor Hill in Albany.  That design was extensively copied in both Europe and the United States.

 

John Swinburne           

(1820-1889); lot 11, sec 30          

Physician, served in the Civil War, Medical Director of New York Harbor; Mayor (1883), Congressman, Albany's Almshouse Physician, Professor at Albany Medical College.  He ran American Ambulance (trauma hospital) in Paris, France during the Franco-Prussian War (1870).  Originally elected Mayor running as a Republican on May 2, 1882, his election was contested by the Democrats (as had 2 other mayoral elections previously) and he was not seated until the decision was rendered on June 25, 1883, near the end of his term.  Founded the Swinburne Dispensary where medical treatment was provided for free with Swinburne financing the undertaking.

 

While Mayor, electric streetlights were installed in Albany; Lord Chief Justice Coleridge of England visited Albany and dined at the Fort Orange Club; 2-cent postage for first class mail was inaugurated; world record holding trotting horse Jay-Eye-See raced at Island Park in Menands and turned in a time only 3 seconds off his world record; new ÒStandard TimeÓ was adopted.  Also during his term the first bobsled racing began in Albany and was recorded on Madison Avenue in winter of 1885.  This was the first record of bobsled racing anywhere in the world.  (Swinburne Park)

 

John Tayler

(1742-1829); lot 15, sec 19          

Governor of New York in 1817 when the previous Governor, Daniel D. Tompkins was elected Vice-President of the U.S.  The fateful comments uttered by Alexander Hamilton that led to his duel with Aaron Burr were spoken at Tayler's home at a dinner attended by Hamilton and his father-in-law Philip Schuyler and Tayler's son-in-law, Dr. Charles D. Cooper.  He was Lieutenant Governor of New York under DeWitt Clinton when the bill authorizing the Erie Canal was passed, Assemblyman (1777-1787), New York Senator (1801-1802), one of the first Trustees of the newly formed New York State Library in Albany in 1819 (the third public state library in the country after Pennsylvania in 1816 and Ohio in 1817).

 

In 1760, he opened a provision business at Lake George to supply the military during the French and Indian War.  During the Revolutionary War he served as commanding officer of the 1^st New York Regiment and was entrusted by General Philip Schuyler with an important mission to Canada.  He served as a representative of ÒSaraghtogaÓ on Albany's Committee of Safety.  He was a member of the Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company the precursor to the Erie Canal Commission.  He served on Albany's Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War.  He collected the Sir William Johnson papers and donated them to the New York State Library. 

 

John Taylor

(1797-1863); lot 1, sec 57

Mayor of Albany (1846), born in Chester, England, ran a tallow chandler business, later ran a brewery, noted for his generosity to the poor. 

 

While he was Mayor: two large fires, one at State and Green, and the other at Westerlo and Dallius, destroyed 40 buildings on April 24, 1848; David E. Frost's provision store on Madison and Swan burned to the ground while rival firemen engaged in a pitched battle at State and Pearl Streets; all windows of the neighborhood were broken by rocks; Thomas Mahar, 8 years old, drowned in the Foxenkill pond at the head of Canal Street (Sheridan Avenue), the 6^th fatality there in two years; August 19^th saw another firemen's riot, James Hanley, a fireman, was shot and killed; a train arrived from Buffalo in the record time of 17 hours breaking the previous record of 24 hours; on Nov. 27, the Common Council organized a professional fire department and the next day the previous firemen held an ÒindignationÓ meeting at the Capitol; on 1/13/1849 the Albany California Company, gold seekers, afterward known as the ÒAlbany Forty-Niners,Ó sailed from New York.

 

Marshall Tebbutt

(c1820-1885); Lot 1, sec 19

Born in Bedford, England, he came to America in 1852.  He engaged in the undertaking business under the name of Tebbutt and Vail.  He was a deacon of Emanuel Baptist Church, a 32^nd degree Mason and Knight Templar, and a member of Cypress Temple and Mystic Shrine. 

 

Mary ÒMinnieÓ Temple

(1846-1870); lot 1, sec 16

Buried in the James Family plot, this 24-year-old-girl, who died on March 8, 1870, is the famous Minnie Temple, a very out-going and independent young woman who was the model for the heroine in at least three major novels written by her cousin, Henry James.  Minnie was the inspiration for Isabel Archer in Portrait of a Lady, Daisy Miller in Daisy Miller and Milly Theale in The Wings of the Dove.  Originally interred in New Rochelle, N.Y., she was moved to Albany Rural in 1910.  She died of tuberculosis.  In the movie Portrait of a Lady, Isabel Archer was portrayed by Nicole Kidman.  In the movie Daisy Miller, Daisy Miller was portrayed by Cybill Shepherd. 

 

Abraham Ten Broeck

(1734-1810); lot 2, sec 29

As President-Chairman of the State Provincial Congress in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, he would have served as de facto Governor of New York.  Member of the Colonial Assembly (1760-1775), Member of the Provincial Congress (1775-1777), Delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia (1775), General in the Colonial Militia (1775-1781), Mayor (1779), State Senator (1780-1783), Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (1781-1794), President of the Bank of Albany (1792-1798), trustee of Union College (1795), merchant.  Colonel of the Albany Militia during the French & Indian War.  General in the Colonial Militia during the Revolutionary War (1775).  He trained and led the Albany Militia (Òall men between the ages of 16 and 60Ó) to Saratoga for the famous battle in 1777 one of the turning points of the war.  The Albany Militia was at the point of attack at the second and decisive engagement.  Appointed to a committee to prepare a speech for the German Flatts Congress of Indians to explain the situation between America and England. 

 

He was the son of Dirck Ten Broeck and Margarita Cuyler, uncle and appointed guardian of Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer after the death of Van Rensselaer's father.  He built the Ten Broeck Mansion. 

 

During his first term as Mayor, Elizabeth, the daughter of Philip Schuyler married Alexander Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion [George Washington would be the godfather for their first child]; Aaron Burr opened a law practice on Norton Street near South Pearl; Tories and Indians attempted to kidnap Gen. Schuyler at his home in Albany, Albany was made the capital of New York and whipping posts were abolished in the city.  Originally interred in a private vault in the rear of the Ten Broeck Mansion, he was moved to Albany Rural Cemetery.  (Ten Broeck Street)

 

Dirck Ten Broeck

(1686-1751); Church Grounds       

Mayor (appointed Mayor by George II, King of England in 1746), Inspector of Skins (furs), Deacon in the Dutch Church, Alderman, Indian Commissioner, City Recorder, Coroner.  During his term as Mayor, the French and Indian War was starting and residents flooded into the fort. Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Dirck Ten Broeck

(1765-1832); Church Grounds

Served in the N.Y. Assembly from 1796 to 1802 and served as Speaker from 1798 to 1802.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.  Son of Abraham Ten Broeck. 

 

Jacob Coenraedt Ten Eyck        

(1705-1793); lot 11, sec 60          

Mayor (1748), Indian Commissioner, silversmith, judge.  He was a member of Albany's Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War.

 

Jacob H. Ten Eyck

(1833-1898); lot 15, sec 8

Dry goods merchant in Albany.  President of the Great Western Turnpike Company, Director of the Albany Insurance Company, Albany City Homeopathic Hospital.  President of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Albany and Director of Albany Savings Bank.  He was elected alderman of the 7^th Ward and was a founder of the Fort Orange Club.  He was a member of Albany's volunteer fire department and the Albany Burgesses Corps.  He also raised Company G of the 3^rd New York Volunteers and served as its Captain (later promoted to Major) in the Civil War.  He was a descendant of Coenraedt Ten Eyck, a tanner, who came from Amsterdam, Holland in 1650. 

 

 

 

Jacob Lansing Ten Eyck

(1864-1942); lot 80, sec 122

Attorney, N.Y. Assemblyman (1895), Chairman of the Democratic City Committee (1900).        

 

James Ten Eyck

(1840-1910); lot 56, sec 76          

After the death of Mr. Bacon, he was a partner in Bacon, Stickney & Co., dealer in spices.   He was a renowned numismatist.  Grand Master of the Masons, 80,000 members at the time.  He erected the Masonic Temple at Maiden Lane and Lodge Street, the site of the first Masonic Temple in the United States, purchased in 1766 by Doctor Samuel Stringer.  Ten Eyck officiated at the laying of the cornerstones of the State Armory, Harmanus Bleecker Hall, the Albany Masonic Burial Plot at Albany Rural Cemetery and the dedication of the Robert Burns Monument in Albany's Washington Park.

 

Peter Gansevoort Ten Eyck        

(1873-1944); lot 16, sec 122         

Congressman (1913), Graduate of Albany Academy and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he was a civil engineer and served as  General Manager and Chief Engineer of the Federal Railway Signal Company (1903), Director of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway; National Commercial Bank, Albany City Savings Institution, Albany County Farm Bureau, Vice-President of Albany Homeopathic Hospital.

 

Edwin T. (Ebby) Thacher

(1896-1966); lot 24, sec 56

He was credited by Bill Wilson for being Wilson's sponsor in an alcohol remediation program.  Wilson went on to become the Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. 

 

George Hornell Thacher

(c1818-1887); lot 24, sec 56         

Mayor of Albany for four non-consecutive terms beginning in 1860. He hosted the Lincoln family on their visit to Albany on the way to the White House (2/18/1861), hosted an abolitionist convention (2/4/1861) headed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglas, Lucretia Mott and others; owned Thacher Carwheel Co. 

 

During his term as Mayor: the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) visited Albany; Albany's 25^th Regiment including the Albany Republican Artillery and Albany Burgesses Corps left to defend Washington (4/22/1861) only days after the attack on Fort Sumter. Mayor Thacher presided over the Albany Army Relief Bazaar and many other humanitarian efforts during the Civil War, also during his term, the first Internal Revenue Service office was opened in Albany.  A mastodon was found in a pit at Harmony Mills in Cohoes, the size of the city would be reduced from the 16 miles westward granted by the Dongan Charter to 4¼ miles, and the first train crossed the Maiden Lane Railroad Bridge to Rensselaer County.  Following the war, Thacher called up troops to quell the ÒAnti-rent wars.Ó  (Thacher Street)

 

John Boyd Thacher      

(1847-1909); lot 33, sec 29          

Owned Thacher Carwheel Co. founded by his father, Mayor of Albany (1886), New York State Senator, donated the land for Thacher State Park, noted collector; author.  He was a recognized authority on Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America, the French Revolution and William Shakespeare.  He had an extensive collection of autographs including the autographs of every signer of the Declaration of Independence.

 

He was nominated by the Democratic Party for New York State Governor in 1896 but a letter he had written that was critical of the Party's Free Silver platform was released and he was forced to step down.

 

While Mayor, bi-centennial festivities were celebrated on July 18, 1886 with Mayor Thacher accompanied by a band of visiting Caughnawaga Indians and the Jackson Corps, they all attended religious services at Saint Mary's Catholic Church, festivities were also held at St. Peter's Church and the Reformed Dutch Church; civic ceremonies were held the next day with a large parade and fireworks; Johnny Conway, a 5 year old, was kidnapped and held for $3,000 ransom by Joseph Hardy (an uncle) and H.G. Blake; Mayor Thacher offered a $500 reward; Conway was rescued by Albany police. Also, Jermain Hall, the home of the Albany YMCA built with a donation from James Jermain was dedicated.  Son of George Thacher, Trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery.  (Thacher Park)

 

John Boyd Thacher II

(1882-1957); lot 6, sec 125          

Mayor of Albany for 14 years (1926), developed ÒCamp ThacherÓ for children. Attorney and banker, Judge of Children's Court, nephew of John Boyd Thacher (above).  During his term he hosted Charles Lindberg at a large Albany reception (7/27/1927) celebrating Lindberg's flight across the Atlantic.  He also led a contingent of Albanians to the New York City World's Fair in 1939 to help celebrate ÒAlbany DayÓ at the fair.  He and Mrs. Thacher visited the Bell Telephone Exhibit where he Òlistened in on a demonstration of long distance calls to various parts of the country.Ó  (Camp Thacher)

 

Burton A. Thomas

(1809-1880) lot 24, sec 38

The engineer of the Albany Rural Cemetery for 32 years from 1848-1879. He built most of the dams, bridges, roads and ponds in the cemetery.  Supervised interments.

 

William Topp

(1813-1857); lot 25, sec 12          

A Black tailor in Albany, he was a key member of Albany's Vigilance Committee of the Underground Railroad in the 1850's.

 

Robert H. Torrence

(1808-1841); Church Grounds       

Headstone inscription: Òborn in Conn.; killed in Albany.  Death is a debt by nature due, which I have paid and so must you.Ó  Albany Evening Journal: ÒDROWNED - Hugh Torrence, a hackman, in attempting to jump from the dock to the steam-boat Troy as she was coming along side last evening, fell into the river and was drowned.Ó  The steamboat Troy was a ship of Albany's Night Line (Peoples Line) to New York City.  Re-interred from the Methodist Episcopal Church burial ground.

 

Mary Ann Torrey

(1814-1845); Church Grounds       

Tombstone inscription: Òa teacher in Cedar Hill Female Seminary; member of the Presbyterian Church in Mt. Joy, Pa; one of the victims of the wreck of the steamboat Swallow.Ó  On April 7, 1845, the Albany Night Line steamship Swallow drifted off course and crashed into a rock island in the Hudson River opposite the city of Hudson.  The boat broke into three parts and the rear most part, housing the ladies cabin and the rear section of the enclosed main deck, flooded and sank.  Re-interred from St. Peter's Episcopal Church burial ground.

 

Gen. Franklin Townsend

(1821-1898); lot 3, sec 45

Mayor of Albany (1850), Adjutant General of the State of New York, Assemblyman, President of New York State National Bank, Vice-President of Albany Savings Bank, Townsend Furnace, son of Isaiah.  While he was Mayor, the 10-year-old New York State Fair was held for the second time at the fair grounds on Broadway in the northern part of Albany (now Menands) with festivities held at the adjacent Bull's Head Tavern, 40,000 attended; Black residents met at City Hall to discuss the new Fugitive Slave Law passed as part of Senator Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850; Reuben Dunbar was convicted of the mysterious and brutal murder of the two Lester boys in the woods at Westerlo and was hung in the Albany jail; and the Anti-Renters convened at Beardsley's Hotel.   (Townsend Park)

 

Gen. Frederick Townsend                     

(1825-1897); lot 3, sec 45

Civil War General, commanded the 3^rd NYVI.  He studied law in the firm of J.V.L. Pruyn and Henry Martin and was admitted to the bar in 1849.  He left Albany in 1849 for the gold fields of California and then went to Europe before returning home in 1854 and returning to a new law firm.  He studied military tactics and was made captain of Company B of the Albany Washington Continentals.  He later organized and became colonel of the 76^th regiment NYS vols. and later captain of Co. A, 10^th Battalion, Albany Zouave Cadets.  In 1857 he was appointed Adjutant General of the State of New York.  During the Civil War, he served as Colonel of the 3^rd NYVI, Major of the 8^th U.S. Infantry, and subsequently Lieut. Colonel, Colonel and Brig. General.  After the war he served in California and Arizona until 1867 when he returned to Albany.   He served on the boards of New York State National Bank, Albany and Bethlehem Turnpike Company, Albany Orphan Asylum, Dudley Observatory, Albany Academy, Vassar College and Union College.  In 1878 he was again appointed Adjutant General of the State of New York. 

 

Isaiah Townsend

(1777-1838); lot 4, sec 45

Owned Townsend Furnace, his father, Peter Townsend founded Townsend Furnace as Sterling Iron Works.  Sterling cast and fabricated the chain that was stretched across the Hudson River at West Point to prevent the British from proceeding up the river (4/30/1778).  Links were 2 1/2Ó thick, 30Ó long.  The chain was 1700 feet long.  Townsend Furnace was located at the corner of Hawk and Elk in Albany.  Townsend also cast plow blades, sleigh shoes and various tools.  Brother of John Townsend, father of Franklin.

 

John Townsend

(1783-1854); lot 2, sec 45

Mayor of Albany (1829), partner with his brother Isaiah in the I & J Townsend Co (at Hawk and Elk Streets), organized the Albany Insurance Company, President of National Commercial Bank, President of the old Albany Exchange and Albany Exchange Bank, President of the Water Commission, the Albany Pier Company and Townsend Furnace.  Second President of Albany Savings Bank after Stephen Van Rensselaer.  He was one of the first Directors of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad when it made the first passenger trip in the U.S.  He laid the cornerstone for Albany's Old City Hall in 1829 (destroyed by fire 1880).  He was married to a daughter of Ambrose Spencer, Chief Justice of New York's Supreme Court.

 

During his term as Mayor, an ordinance was enacted that Òhogs captured roaming the streets that were not ringed, be captured and taken to the alms-house.Ó  The almshouse reported Ò420 inmates.Ó  Also during his term, residents of Albany were called on to burn tar to ward off the cholera plague.  This was unsuccessful as 1147 cases and 401 deaths were reported in two months.  Monument by William Gray.

 

Captain Robert Townsend

(c1820-1866); lot 4, sec 45           

Isaiah's son, he died in the U.S. Navy at Chin Kiang, China while in command of USS Wachusett (1866); he served in the Mexican War (1846) on the brig Porpoise and in the Civil War in command of the Miami (1861-1863) and the Essex (1863-1864).

 

Theodore Townsend

(c1826-1905); lot 3, sec 45

Son of John Townsend, he ran Townsend Foundry with his cousins Franklin and Frederick Townsend before retiring and joining with Lewis Rathbone and Joseph P. Sanford manufacturing stoves.  In 1862, he was appointed Albany's first Collector of Internal Revenue by President Abraham Lincoln.  He collected and paid over $20,000,000 in revenue and another $500,000 in commutation money from drafted men not able or willing to serve.  He was President of Albany Insurance Company, the second oldest insurance company in the state.

 

Janet G. Travell (Powell), MD

(1901-1997); lot 2, sec 113          

First female and first civilian appointed Physician to the President.  She served as physician to President John F. Kennedy from January 1961 until his death in 1963.  She continued to serve as physician to President Lyndon B. Johnson until April 1965.  Her professional activities concentrated on internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, neurology, pharmacology and muscular-skeletal pain.  She also served as Clinical Professor of Medicine at George Washington University.  Authored several books.

 

Col. George Curtis Treadwell

(1872-1932); lot 33, sec 3

He was the founder of one of the largest fur houses in the United States.

 

Lyman Tremain

(1819-1878); lot 12, sec 35          

Congressman, State Court Judge, Assemblyman (1866), Speaker of the Assembly, New York Attorney General (1858), Superintendent of the town of Durham (1842), Greene County District Attorney and Judge.  He and Wheeler Hazard Peckham were the chief prosecutors in the second trial of William Marcy ÒBossÓ Tweed when Tweed was convicted.  He was the unsuccessful Republican Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1862.  His son was Lieutenant Colonel Frederick L. Tremain who served under General Philip Sheridan in the Civil War and was killed at Hatcher's Run, Virginia and is also buried at Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Gilbert M. Tucker

(1880-1968); lot 9, sec 19

Survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, great grandson of Luther Tucker, publisher of the Country Gentleman Magazine and author.

 

Luther Tucker              

(c1802-1873); lot 9, sec 19           

Founder of the Rochester Advertiser (1826) that later became the Rochester Union and Advertiser newspaper, the first daily newspaper published west of Albany.  He also published the Genesee Farmer (1831).  In 1840, he purchased the Cultivator that had been formed in 1834 as a publication of the State Agricultural Society by Jesse Buel in Albany.   The Genesee Farmer and Cultivator later became Albany's Country Gentleman magazine the first strictly agricultural periodical in the U.S.  Farmers from mid-New York State to the furthest settlements of the Midwest relied on Albany's Country Gentleman to determine grain and livestock prices available in their major market at Albany.  Luther Tucker was succeeded by his son Luther H. Tucker (1834-1897) and then his grandsons Luther H. Tucker, Jr. and then great grandsons Luther and Gilbert Tucker. 

 

Willis G. Tucker, M.D.

(1849-1922); lot 11, sec 19

One of the principal founders of Albany College of Pharmacy in 1881.  He taught chemistry and medicine at Albany Medical College, St. Agnes School, Albany Academy, Albany Female Academy and Albany High School.  He was the Director of the laboratory of the State Board of Health.  Son of Luther Tucker.

 

John Tweedle   

(c1798-1875); lot 52, sec 5           

Blacksmith and wheelwright, he bought and operated a brewery, President of Merchants' Bank, donated the chimes to St. Peter's Church.  Tweedle Hall and the Tweedle Building were owned by him.  He was a Presidential elector in 1864 electing Abraham Lincoln to his second term.

 

 

Asa Weston Twitchell    

(1820-1904); lot 54, sec 3

Portrait painter, he also painted landscapes. His studio was over Annesley & Co's art store at 57 North Pearl St.

 

C. Jordan Vail

(1926-2006); lot 108, sec 114

President of Albany Linoleum and Custom Carpeting, Co.  He served on the Board of Trustees of Albany Rural Cemetery for 26 years. 

 

Adam Van Allen

(1813-1884); lot 1, sec 18            

President of First National Bank, manufactured fire brick and pottery, ran a lumber business, Director of the Schuyler Shipping Line and Albany Gaslight Company, President of Commerce Insurance Company, Assemblyman, Treasurer of Albany County.

 

Adam Van Allen

(1870-1927); lot 1, sec 18

Manufactured fire brick and stoneware, later a lumber merchant, banker, President of Albany Gaslight Co., Vice President of Commerce Insurance Company, grandson of Adam Van Allen (above).

 

Garret A. Van Allen

(1835-1909); lot 1, sec 122          

President of Commerce Insurance Company, Member of the Executive Committee of the National Board of Fire Underwriters.  Founder and President of the First National Bank, Treasurer of Capital City Malleable Iron Company.  Oldest son of Adam Van Allen (1813-1884).

 

Thomas Jefferson Van Alstyne

(1827-1903); lot 11, sec 28          

Congressman (1883), State Supreme Court Judge, Mayor (1898), Lawyer, Major in the Civil War.  While he was Mayor, Albanians were shocked at the news of the blowing up of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor with Albany Captain Charles Dwight Singlesbee in command; the U.S. purchased the protected cruiser USS Albany built at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England; Albany Chemical Company on Broadway doubled its capacity and ran 24 hours a day producing ingredients for gunpowder; President McKinley delayed declaring war on Spain until gunpowder was procured; Companies A, B, C, and D of Albany's 10^th Battalion joined the First Regiment at Long Island in preparation for the war with Spain but were discharged when the war ended quickly; and the first Albany water filtration plant was built in North Albany.

 

Obadiah R. Van Benthuysen     

(1787-1845); lot 80, sec 5

Printer, book publisher.  He invented the steam-powered printing press.  Published and printed many books.  Representatives of six generations of the family are buried at Albany Rural Cemetery including his son, Charles who was New York State and United States Printer.  He also was Secretary and a member of the board of Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Pieter Van Brugh

(1666-1740); Church Grounds       

Mayor of Albany (1699), grandson of Anneke Jans Bogardus, Holland trader.   During his term as Mayor, Governor Coote visited Albany and reported to the British Lord of Trade that one of the Indian women from Canada had been taught witchcraft by the Jesuits and his meeting with the Indian Sachems was the Ògreatest fatigueÓ of his life.  He complained that the Indians were liberally covered with bear grease and continually smoked and drank but he thought he had won them over.  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Ellen King James Van Buren

(1823-1849); lot 1, sec 16

She was the first wife of Smith Thompson Van Buren, youngest son of President Martin Van Buren.  She was also the daughter of Albany's most successful merchant in the early 1800s, William James.  Her nephews were the authors William and Henry James.  Her son, Edward L. Van Buren (1848-1873) is buried next to her.

 

ÒPrinceÓ John Van Buren         

(1810-1866); lot 28, sec 62          

Lawyer, New York Attorney General (1845-6), son of President Martin Van Buren; influential in organizing the ÒBarnburnersÓ Democrat political group.  Denounced Lincoln and supported McClellan.  Died at sea two days before reaching New York on the steamer Scotia.  He was returning from a tour in Scotland where he had been on a trip for the benefit of his health, which had been failing for a long time.

 

Albert Vander Veer, M.D.

(1841-1929); lot 22, sec 30

Dean of the faculty of Albany Medical College, Member of the Board of Regents of the State of New York, Vice President of the Holland Society.  He was a student at Albany Medical College and practiced with Dr. John Swinburne when the Civil War broke out and he enlisted as a United States Medical cadet and served at Columbia College Hospital in Washington, DC.  After December 1862, he was commissioned assistant surgeon with the 66^th Regiment NYSV and treated wounded soldiers during the battle of Chancellorsville.  He served with his regiment as a Colonel until the end of the war when he was mustered out in September 1865.

 

Machtilde Van Der Wart

(1866-1917); lot 235, sec 121

Headstone inscription: ÒFirst Director of Albany's Playgrounds.Ó

 

Henry H. Van Dyke

(1810-1888) lot 32, sec 40

New York State Superintendent of Public Instruction (1857-1861).  He was born in Kinderhook and died in Brooklyn but is buried at Albany Rural with several other family members.

 

Walter H. Van Guysling

(1877-1927); lot 312, sec 26         

Architect, designed a whimsical building for the Hudson River Day Line office on Broadway next to the D&H Plaza.  Also designed the R. B. Wing Building, School 14, St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Rensselaer, the steeple for St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Albany and many other buildings in Schenectady, Glens Falls and Lake George.  His cause of death was reported as Òsleeping sicknessÓ (probably cancer).

 

Dr. S. O. Vanderpoel

(c1824-1886); lot 1, sec 9

Surgeon General of the State of New York at the start of the Civil War.  Inspector of hospitals for the sanitary commission and for eight years the Health Officer of the Port of New York.

 

Theodore V. Van Heusen

(1818-1893); lot 48, sec 4

One of the founders of the Van Heusen - Charles Co. retailers of fine china, silverware, lamps and other furnishings.  In 1897, the Van Heusen - Charles Co. was already listed as the oldest enterprise of its kind in the Eastern United States.  Founded in 1843, the firm lasted into the late 1900s.

 

Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer

(1808-1860); lot 40, sec 41          

Missionary to the slaves in Virginia and Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Education.

 

Jeremiah Van Rensselaer

(1738-1810); Church Ground        

Member of the first U.S. Congress representing New York (1789) elected immediately after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, he voted to adopt the Bill of Rights, Lieutenant Governor of New York (1801-1804), New York Assemblyman (1788), member of the Albany Committee of Safety, Director and later President of the Bank of Albany (1798-1806). Graduate of Princeton; father of Solomon Van Rensselaer.  Originally interred in the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

Solomon Van Rensselaer

(1774-1852); lot 65, sec 56          

Soldier, served under ÒMad AnthonyÓ Wayne in the ÒMiamiÓ campaign, fought Indians at Maumee Rapids (1794), Adjutant General of the State of New York 1801,1810,1813, aide-de-camp to General Stephen Van Rensselaer during the invasion of Queenstown, Canada during the War of 1812.  Federalist Congressman (1819-1821) and Albany Postmaster (1822-1839).  Lived at Cherry Hill.  (See ÒMilitaryÓ section.)  Re-interred from a private vault.

 

Philip Van Rensselaer

(c1748-1798); lot 65, sec 56

Revolutionary War officer and soldier.

 

General Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer

(1766-1824); lot 1, sec 14

Grandson of Philip Livingston (signer of the Declaration of Independence), brother of the ÒPatroonÓ Steven Van Rensselaer III, President of the Bank of Albany, Mayor of Albany for 19 years (1799), longest mayoral term until Erastus Corning 2^nd (41 years).  He fought at Sacketts Harbor in the War of 1812. 

 

During his term as Mayor: the Capitol was ordered built; the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike Company was formed; the Albany Waterworks company was formed to install wooden pipes to conduct water; a bass weighing 55 pounds was caught in the Hudson opposite Albany; a stage line run was inaugurated to New York City for $8 per passenger; Robert Fulton's steamboat ÒClermontÓ arrived in Albany on its first voyage; Schenectady County was created and broken off from Albany; and the War of 1812 created hardships for many Albanians as troops were again housed in Albany.   The Pinksterfest was prohibited due to public drunkenness and rioting and the effort to build a bridge across the Hudson was opposed by Troy.

 

 

Stephen Van Rensselaer III       

(1764-1839); lot 1, sec 14

Albany's last Dutch Patroon, U.S. Congressman (1822-29), Lieutenant Governor (1795-1801), New York Assemblyman (1789-1790, 1808-1820), New York State Senator (1790-1795).  Unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1801 (lost to George Clinton) and 1813 (lost to Daniel Tompkins).

 

He was the largest investor in the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad; chairman of the first Erie Canal commission; he hired Amos Eaton to conduct the first area-wide geologic studies (Albany and Rensselaer Counties) and plot the path for the Erie Canal; he donated the land for the Dudley Observatory; he was one of the first passengers on the first passenger train ride in the U.S.; he founded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; he was the largest shareholder in the Albany Schenectady Turnpike Company; commanded New York Militia during War of 1812, invaded Canada; he cast the deciding vote for President John Quincy Adams in the New York caucus making Adams' election certain; founder and first President of Albany Savings Bank.  His father-in-law was William Paterson.  Monument by William Gray.  (Van Rensselaer Blvd.)

 

William Bayard Van Rensselaer

(1856-1909); lot 1, sec 14

Great grandson of Stephen Van Rensselaer III.  He would have been the ninth Patroon if the right to the title had been continued.  His father was Bayard Van Rensselaer, son of Stephen IV and his mother was Laura, daughter of Judge Marcus Tulius Reynolds.  William Bayard Van Rensselaer was an attorney and replaced Charles Van Zandt as manager of the Van Rensselaer estate and manager of the Van Rensselaer Land Company upon Van Zandt's death.  He was also President of the Watervliet Turnpike Co. and supervised its conversion from horse-drawn to electric in 1889.

 

Commodore Alfred Van Santvoord         

(1819-1901); lot 15, sec 9

President of the Hudson River Day Line that ran daily paddle-wheel steamboat trips between Albany and New York City for many years.  He died aboard his yacht Clermont that brought his body to Albany for interment in Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Col. Gosen Van Schaick

(1736-1789); lot 5 sec 3   

Served in the French & Indian War; commanded Fort Orange during the Revolutionary War.  He supervised the Tory prison at the Albany fort and led a campaign against the Onondaga Indians when they fought beside the British.  He sounded the Hudson River for the installation of the ÒChain across the HudsonÓ near West Point during the Revolutionary War. (He was moved here from family burial grounds in Court Street.)

 

John W. Van Valkenburgh

(1826-1904); lot 5, sec 30

Member of the Assembly from Albany County (1878), member of the Assembly from Columbia County (1866), 1^st lieut. 128^th Regiment NYSV during the Civil War.  He was also the Superintendent of the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad in 1868.  His father, James Van Valkenburgh, also buried here, fought at Plattsburgh during the War of 1812.

 

Abraham Van Vechten

(1762-1837); lot 4, sec 36

Attorney, State Senator (1798), Assemblyman (1806), New York Attorney General (1810), Recorder of Albany (1797-1808), Member of the Constitutional Convention of 1821, Regent of the State University starting in 1797.  He was primarily a practicing attorney and handled legal matters for many of Albany's most prestigious families including the will of Abraham Ten Broeck, matters for Martha Bradstreet who was known to have pursued land promised to her father Colonel John Bradstreet, a lawsuit between John R. Livingston and the North River Steamboat Company, issues involving the construction of the Erie Canal, the North Dutch Church and the Episcopal Church, and many legal matters for the Schuylers, Van Rensselaers, Abraham Staats, Union College, and others.  He was the first lawyer admitted to practice after the adoption of the New York State Constitution.  He declined an appointment to the New York Supreme Court offered by Governor John Jay.  He was married to Catherina Schuyler, daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler, with whom he had 15 children.  His son, Abraham Van Vechten, was a trustee of Albany Rural Cemetery. 

 

Teunis Van Vechten

(c1786-1859); lot 3, sec 47           

Attorney, Mayor of Albany (1837) for 4 terms, President of Albany Insurance Company.  He represented the patroon (Van Rensselaer) on legal matters including some controversial matters involving the Òrent strikes.Ó  During his term as Mayor, the first Circus Parade in the United States was held as circus animals marched from Albany's train station to the circus grounds, the Bank of Albany recovered from a recent panic and was again issuing its own paper money printed from new plates, the first locomotive arrived from Boston in 32 hours but passengers had to deport in Greenbush (Rensselaer) and cross the Hudson by ferry since there was no bridge

 

The Albany Evening Journal and Albany Argus started their 50 year policy of exchanging an eagle-decorated masthead.  If the Governor was a Whig, or later Republican, the Journal had the eagle on its masthead.  If the Governor was a Democrat the Argus displayed the eagle.  O.M. Coleman, a local engineer, displayed his invention of an automaton Ð a female figure playing a musical instrument; and the telegraph was invented by Samuel Morse using the intensity magnet (electro-magnet) invented by Professor Joseph Henry at Albany Academy.  Monument by V. Casoni of New York City.

 

Charles Van Zandt

(1818-1881); lot 15, sec 73          

Business Manager of Van Rensselaer Manor for the Van Rensselaers.  After Stephen Van Rensselaer died, the Van Rensselaer Land Company was founded to manage and sell Van Rensselaer holdings.  Upon his death, he was replaced as General Manager and Treasurer of the Van Rensselaer Land Company by William Bayard Van Rensselaer. 

 

Violet

(1745-1845); Church Ground

A removal from the African Methodist Episcopal Church section of Albany's State Street Burial Ground (today's Washington Park) is that of ÒVioletÓ who was born in 1745 and died in 1845, 100 years old, undoubtedly a former slave.

 

Adolph von Steinwehr

(1822-1877); lot 13, sec 106         

Adolph Wilhelm August Fredrich Garon von Steinwehr was born in Blankenburg in the Duchy of Brunswick (now Germany).  He was a Civil War General commanding Union troops of German descent.  He played a critical role in preparing defenses before the Battle of Gettysburg.  After the war, he was a geographer and cartographer, taught at Yale (see ÒMilitaryÓ section).  One of the main streets in Gettysburg PA, running in front of the Visitor's Center, is named Steinwehr Avenue in his honor. 

 

John Walker 

(1779-1832), Church Ground        

Member of the New York State Assembly from the County of Clinton.

 

John M. Walker

(1838-1919); lot 35, sec 30

He was educated at Springfield Academy and at the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted in Co. F., 2^nd Conn. Vols.   After the war, in 1865, he became a traveling salesman for Milton, Bradley & Co. Publishers.  In 1875, he founded the Hudson Valley Paper Company with Andrew Jones as his partner. 

 

 

Frederick J. Wallen

(1837-1885); lot 6, sec 107          

Albany Fireman of Steamer No. 2.  Lost his life fighting a fire at Boardman and Gray Piano Company on Pearl Street on July 12, 1885.

 

Dr. Samuel B. Ward

(1842-1915); lot 10, sec 28

Graduated from Columbia College in 1861 and joined the firm of Dr. Willard Parker and began training to become a medical doctor.  His training was interrupted by the Civil War when he enlisted as a medical cadet and served at hospitals around Washington.  In 1863 he was promoted to assistant surgeon.  After the war he returned to Albany and served in Albany Hospital and St. Peter's Hospital and in 1872 served part time as a captain and assistant surgeon with the 7^th Regiment NYS National Guard.

 

Walter E. Ward

(1853-1922); lot 252, sec 26         

Lawyer and Assemblyman (1890), he specialized in patents, trademarks and copyrights.

 

Dr. Edward P. Waterbury

(1831-1889); lot 24, sec 70          

President of the State Normal School (later New York State Teachers' College, later State University of New York at Albany).

 

James R. Watt

(1869-1941); lot 74, sec 109         

Mayor of Albany (1918), President of the United Construction Company.

 

Charles R. Webster

(1762-1834); lot 2, sec 8  

Founder of the publishing company that published the Albany Gazette from 1782 until 1817 when the Gazette merged with the Daily Advertiser.  Charles and his twin brother, George, owned the three buildings on State Street just west of the intersection with Pearl (ÒOld Elm CornerÓ).  These buildings were the office and two homes of the Webster brothers who also ran the first book printing company in Albany.  This section of State above Pearl was called ÒWebster's Corner.Ó  They also published and distributed cartloads of Noah Webster's spelling books all over the northeast. 

 

 

 

 

Christian Weeber

(1872-1932); lot 52, sec 107

Coming from a bicycle manufacturing and repair family, Weeber built Albany's first gasoline engine automobile in 1898.  In 1905, he opened Albany's first automobile service station and Ford dealership at 170 Central Avenue.  He patented an early shock absorber and tire chains. 

 

Sarah Weed

(1826-1851); lot 3, sec 16

Subject of Sarah and Her Babe (story appearing in an 1800s pocket-sized paperback novel).  Monument by William Gray.

 

Thurlow Weed 

(1797-1882); lot 1, sec 109          

One of the founders, and probably the principal founder, of the Republican Party; Editor of the Albany Evening Journal; Chairman of the Whig Party in New York, Chairman of the Republican Party, New York Assemblyman; Trent Affair Ð At the start of the Civil War, after the seizure of British mail ship Trent and removal of Confederate officials, he was sent to Britain and France by Abraham Lincoln to urge against their support of the Confederacy.  He was a close associate of William Seward and they met daily when Seward was Governor of New York and communicated almost daily when Seward was Secretary of State.  Weed was also a close associate of Abraham Lincoln and communicated with him almost daily during the Civil War.  Weed retired from the Albany Evening Journal on January 27, 1863 and was replaced by George Dawson.  (Thurlow Terrace)

 

Rev. Bartholomew T. Welch DD

(c1794-1870); lot 50, sec 3           

Baptist minister, Pastor of Albany's First Baptist Church.  Founder and first President of the Albany Cemetery Association, strong anti-slavery activist.

 

Dr. Peter Wendell

(1786-1849); lot 1, sec 9  

Medical Doctor, Chancellor of the Board of Regents of the University of New York.

 

Rensselaer Westerlo                   

(1776-1851); lot 5, sec 77

Federalist Congressman (1817), attorney. (Westerlo Street).

 

 

 

Seth Wheeler, Sr.

(1838-1925); lot 6, sec 11

He was President and founder of Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company.  In 1877, he invented rolled, perforated toilet paper, as we know it today.  The Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company (APW Paper Co.) had plants in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Canada, London, Berlin, Paris, Cologne and Switzerland.  After succeeding his father as President of Wheeler, Melick & Co., Seth also formed the Wheeler Heat and Power Company of which he was President.  He was Vice-President of the Cheney Piano Action Company of Castleton, President of Albany County Savings Bank and Director of the State Bank.  Wheeler was issued, at home and abroad, nearly one hundred patents, covering machinery and paper products and other inventions.

 

John Whipple

(1793-1827), lot 22, sec 83      

On 7/27/1827, Jesse Strang was found guilty of the murder of John Whipple at Cherry Hill Mansion in the southern part of Albany.  Strang was publicly hanged (8/24/1827) at the Albany hanging ground in the Hudson Avenue ravine above Eagle Street.  Thousands of people turned out to watch the hanging.  An estimated 1,200 came from counties outside Albany.  Whipple's wife, Elsie D. Lansing Whipple, sister-in-law of Philip Van Rensselaer, was also tried as it was felt that she had had an affair with Strang and had assisted him in the murder of Whipple.  She was found Ònot guiltyÓ following an apparent plea bargain.  Attorney Abraham Van Vechten represented Mrs. Whipple.  Edward Livingston (1796-1840) was the District Attorney.  Whipple was re-interred from St. Peter's Church burial ground.         

           

Squire Whipple            

(1804-1888); lot 19, sec 41          

Engineer, invented the iron truss bridge, Chief Engineer of the Erie Canal and later, the New York Central Railroad.

 

Hugh White                             

(1798-1870); lot 15, sec 35          

Attorney, Congressman (1845), involved in building the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroads.  He ran Rosendale Cement Works in Cohoes.  He was a Congressman at a difficult time, as new territories were joining the U.S. as states and the slavery issue was coming to a head.

 

 

 

 

 

William Whitesides

(1802-1821), Church Grounds       

Headstone marker: ÒErected by Captain James Gibbons in testimony of the respect he bore to William Whitesides, a member of his command.  19 years, 3 months, 22 days.Ó

 

William M. Whitney

(1827-1905); lot 93, sec 28          

Owner of a popular department store that operated on Pearl Street in Albany for almost 100 years; the first building in Albany to have electricity.  The original business was owned by Ubsdull & Pearson in 1859 at the same location.  It was taken over by James T. Lenox in 1864 and then William M. Whitney and John G. Myers as Whitney & Myers in 1866 before Myers split off on his own. Whitney lived at 158 Washington Avenue at Dove St.

 

Sylvester D. Willard

(c1825-1865); lot 9, sec 4

Surgeon General of the State of New York, he died of Typhoid Fever.

 

James A. Wilson

(1808-1869); lot 3, sec 31

Prominent Albany merchant, first manufacturer of globes in the U.S.  Monument by Launitz.

 

Oren Elbridge Wilson

(1844-1917); Lot 132, sec 107      

Mayor of Albany (1894), President of the Board of Education, Chief Accountant for Whitney's Dry Goods Company.  During his term as Mayor, Judge Herrick ruled against Sunday baseball at Riverside Park (in Menands); Mrs. J.V.L. Pruyn and Bishop Doan headed an organization opposed to women suffragist agitators, the Delavan House Hotel burned down with 7 dead; and golf was introduced into Albany.

 

Charles M. Winchester

(1867-1949); lot 16, sec 116         

President and later Chairman of the Board of J.B. Lyons Printing Company (later Williams Press).  Ran for Congress in 1921 but was defeated by Parker Corning.

 

Albert J. Wing

(1859-1887); lot 1, sec 27

Graduated from Cornell University and joined his father's Albany firm of Albert Wing, Sons & Co. Wholesale Grocers founded on Quay Street in 1841.  During the Civil War, coins became so scarce in Albany that Albert Wing & Co. and P. V. Fort & Co., both wholesale grocers in Albany, began issuing their own pennies redeemable for one pound bags of flour.  These pennies were widely distributed and accepted by many businesses as change and are collectable items today.  

 

William B. Winne

(c1760-c1820); Church Grounds    

Albany's ÒPenny Postman,Ó Chairman of Albany's Committee of Safety.  Winne was born into a family of tanners living and working on Fox Creek in Albany (later Canal Street, Sheridan Avenue).  Re-interred from the Dutch Church burial ground.

 

John Flack Winslow                 

(1810-1892); lot 1, sec 71

Managed Albany Ironworks for Erastus Corning, partner with Corning; met with President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells to convince them to build the first Union iron-clad ship, the Monitor.  He bought the Bessemer patents to manufacture steel from England, becoming the first U.S. producer of structural steel.

 

Bradford Ripley Wood

(1800-1889); lot 92, sec 18          

Minister to Denmark (1861), Congressman (1845), Chancellor of the Court of Chancery (1830), President of the Young Men's Temperance Society, Trustee of Williams College, Union College and Albany Law School, member of the Albany County Board of Supervisors, one of the founders of the Republican Party in New York, founder of the First Congregational Church in Albany, member of the first Board of Albany Medical College.

 

Darius S. Wood

(1822-1881); lot 20, sec 35          

Locomotive engineer, he ran the first locomotive on the Albany and Boston RR, Superintendent of New York Central's West Albany Shops (appointed by Erastus Corning), owned Malleable Iron Works in Albany.  He founded a brewery which eventually became Dobler Brewery.

 

Edwin Dean Worcester

(1828-1904); lot 57, sec 40          

For 50 years he was an official of the New York Central Railroad.  He assisted with the consolidation of the many small lines to form the New York Central under Erastus Corning. He stayed on with the railroad after its takeover by Cornelius Vanderbilt and consolidation with the Harlem & Hudson River Railroad.  He served as Secretary of the Vanderbilt system.

           

Anna M. Edson Worden

(1848-1872); lot 16, sec 15          

Wife of Army Lieut. John Lorimer Worden Jr. - son of Navy Rear Admiral John Lorimer Worden, first commander of the USS Monitor.  On April 13, 1871, Lieut. John Lorimer Worden Jr. married Anna Edson at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Albany.  They lived at 52 North Pearl Street, Albany.  On February 5, 1872, Anna died in childbirth and she and the unborn child are buried on the Edson family plot.  Her husband later committed suicide. 

 

Goram A. Worth

(1782-1856); lot 33, sec 60          

Cashier of the United States Bank in Cincinnati, President of New York City Bank, he was the first teller in Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Albany, author of Random Recollections of Albany from 1800 to 1808 (1866).

 

Rev. Theodore Frelinghuysen Wyckoff

(c1820-1855); lot 16, sec 19         

Died as a missionary in the West Indies in 1855, age 34.

 

Abraham Yates, Jr.

 (1724-1796); lot 6, sec 34           

As President-Chairman of the New York Provincial Congress in 1776, he served as de facto Governor of New York.  He was a member of the Continental Congress (1787-1788).  One of the signers of the April 19, 1775 Albany resolution opposing the Òseveral arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British ParliamentÓ sent to the Committee at Boston to show Albany's support at the start of the Revolutionary War. 

 

He was the first chairman of Albany's Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War.  He was sent by the Committee of Safety to try to reconcile a hostile situation that occurred when a Tory sheriff of Tyron County tried to arrest a Colonial supporter.  While a delegate to the Provincial Congress he, together with his nephew Robert Yates and Matthew Adgate, sent a letter dated 7/14/1776 to Albany, enclosing a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was ordered published and read at 11 am, 7/19/1776 from the steps of Albany's City Hall.  He was also a New York Senator and Mayor of Albany (1790).   He headed the convention that drafted New York State's first Constitution.  He was an Anti-Federalist and opposed the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.    

 

He was Albany's first Postmaster, Sheriff in 1755, founder and one of the first Trustees of Union College (1795).  While he was Mayor, the counties of Saratoga and Rensselaer were carved from Albany; the Albany Bank, Albany Library and the Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company were founded, and oil street lamps installed.  Also, 84-year-old Samuel Cook was hung for forgery and four slaves, three of them female, were hung for starting a fire that burned down an entire city block.  Copies of the male slave's confession were sold for two cents at No. 2 North Pearl Street.

 

John Van Ness Yates

(1779-1839); lot 1, sec 8  

Lawyer, New York Secretary of State. He edited William Smith's History of New York, son of Robert Yates.

 

Robert Yates

(1738-1801); lot 1, sec 8  

Revolutionary Patriot, Chief Judge of the New York State Supreme Court, Member of the New York Provincial Congress.  As a member of the New York Provincial Congress, he received a copy of the Declaration of Independence and sent it on to Albany.  He was a member of the committee that drafted New York State's first constitution and an Anti-Federalist supporter of the Clintons.  Together with his uncle, Abraham, Jr., Philip Schuyler, Gerrit Lansing and Abraham Cuyler, composed Albany's Committee of Correspondence that adopted a resolution supporting the Boston Committee following the Battle at Lexington and also received a message from Ethan Allen on 5/12/1776 notifying them that he had captured Ticonderoga.  He was the unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1789 (lost to George Clinton) and 1795 (lost to John Jay).

 

A delegate to the first U.S. Constitutional Convention with Alexander Hamilton and John Lansing, after the negotiations were nearly complete and the Constitution drafted, he withdrew on the grounds that the committee was exceeding its power.  He was recognized as the leader of the Anti-Federalists and opposed the adoption of the Constitution.  His Anti-Federalist paper #84 authored under the name ÒBrutus,Ó proposed that the Constitution not be adopted unless it contained a Bill of Rights.  Attorney and surveyor, he prepared a 1770 map of Albany.

 

John Young

(c1623-1730); lot 3, sec 55           

Headstone (cenotaph) inscription: ÒHere lyes interd the remains of John Young who was born in the isl of Bert near Londonderry in the Kingdom of Ireland.  He departed this life June 20, 1730 age 107.Ó  Nearby lies his son, David Young who died at 94.

 

Truman Giles Younglove

(1815-1882); lot 225, sec 26         

Speaker of the N.Y. Assembly in 1869.  He was the official at Harmony Mills in Cohoes who was in charge of excavating for an addition to the mill and discovered a Ògreat potholeÓ at the foot of Cohoes Falls and Òa large jawbone of some unknown beastÓ leading to the discovery of the Cohoes Mastodon.

 

 

 

MILITARY

 

Names without lot and section numbers were persons who died in Albany and were buried in Albany cemeteries that were later moved to Albany Rural but no specific interment record can be found at Albany Rural.  They are probably buried in the Church Ground Section.

 

French & Indian War

 

Capt. Volkert Petrus Douw        

(1720-1801); lot 19, sec 52          

See Civilian Section.

 

Capt.  Johannes DePeyster

(1694-1789); Church Grounds       

See Civilian Section

 

Col. Henry Quackenbush

(c1737-1813); lot 15, sec 9           

See Civilian Section.

 

Maj. Gen. Philip J. Schuyler

(1733-1804); lot 2, sec 29

See Civilian Section.

 

Col. Philip J. Schuyler              

(c1696-1758): lot 66, sec 29         

See Civilian Section.

 

Col. Philip P. Schuyler

(1736-1808); lot 66, sec 29          

See Civilian Section.

 

 

Capt. Stephen Schuyler

(? Ð 1798); lot 66, sec 29

See Civilian Section

 

Gen. Abraham Ten Broeck

(1734-1810); lot 2, sec 29

See Civilian Section.

 

Abraham Ten Broeck, Jr.

 

Col. Gosen Van Schaick

(1736-1789); lot 5 sec 3   

See Civilian Section.

 

 

 

Revolutionary War Soldiers and Officials

(They were members of the Albany Militia unless otherwise indicated)

 

 

John J. Abbot

(1726-1810); lot 12, sec 49          

Clockmaker.  Ordered to Òkeep the town clock in proper repairÓ as Albany was threatened by the invading General Burgoyne.          

 

John Bleecker

(c1731-1811); lot 1, sec 49           

Fur Trader.  Member of the Committee of Safety.  Directed along with his brother Henry, to meet with Mohawk Chief ÒLittle AbramÓ to calm Indian concern, May 22, 1775.

 

John N. Bleecker

(1739-1825); lot 9, sec 32

Attended a German Flatts Congress of Indians to explain the situation between America and England.

 

Rutger Bleecker

(1745-1787), lot 1, sec 61

Member of the Committee of Safety, representative of Albany's Second Ward.  He was a gunsmith and later Mayor of Albany. See Civilian Section.

 

 

 

Henry I. Bogert

(1729-1821); lot 6, sec 32            

Representative of Albany's First Ward on the Committee of Safety.  He sounded the Hudson River for the installation of the ÒChain across the Hudson.Ó

 

Jacob Cuyler

(c1742-1804); lot 8, sec 32           

Member of the Committee of Safety.  Appointed to a committee to prepare a speech for the German Flatts Congress of Indians to explain the situation between America and England.  Served on the Provincial Congress during the war.

 

Capt. Volkert Petrus Douw

(1720-1801); lot 19, sec 52          

See Civilian Section.

 

Brig. Gen. Peter Gansevoort                  

(1749-1812); lot 1 sec 55 

See Civilian Section.

 

Leonard Gansevoort

(1751-1810); lot 7, sec 43

See Civilian Section.

 

Jacob Lansing

Chairman of Albany's Committee of Safety prior to 1774.  There are fifteen Jacob Lansing and Jacob Lansinghs at Albany Rural from this period. 

 

Col. Jacob Lansing Jr.

(c1715-1791); lot 1, sec 49           

Commanded troops reporting to Lake George on April 30, 1777 as Burgoyne invaded.

 

Jacob Lansingh

Member of the Albany Committee of Safety.  Appointed to a committee directed to collect ÒDonations for the Poor of the Town of BostonÓ following the blockade by the British.

 

Enoch Leonard

(1755-1810); lot 7, sec 38

Assistant Commissary General.

 

John S. Phelps

(c1759-1812); lot 5, sec 40           

Gravestone inscription: Òa soldier of the Revolution, born in Hebron, Connecticut, August 10, 1759, died Jan. 15, 1812; his wife born in Coxsackie, November 11, 1761, died April 27, 1841.Ó

 

Col. Henry Quackenbush

(c1737-1813); lot 15, sec 9           

See Civilian Section

 

Maj. Peter P. Schuyler

(1748-1792); lot 66, sec 29          

Attended a German Flatts Congress of Indians to explain the situation between America and England.

 

Maj. Gen. Philip J. Schuyler

(1733-1804); lot 2, sec 29

 See Civilian Section.

 

Col. Philip P. Schuyler

(1736-1808); Lot 66, sec 29         

See Civilian Section. 

 

Maj. Stephen Schuyler

(?-1798); lot 66, sec 29    

See Civilian Section.

 

Dr. Samuel Stringer

(1735-1817); lot 9, sec 40

See Civilian Section.

 

John Tayler

(1742-1829); lot 15, sec 19          

See Civilian Section.

 

Gen. Abraham Ten Broeck

(1734-1810); lot 2, sec 29

See Civilian Section.

 

 

 

 

 

Dirck Ten Broeck

(?-1810); church grounds  

Gunsmith.  The Albany Militia purchased 200 small arms from him on May 4, 1775 and inspected and ordered repaired another 450 on May 18^th.  Later served as an Assemblyman.

 

John Ten Broeck

Member of the Committee of Safety.  Ordered to intercept and read all mail intended for Canada.  Sounded the Hudson River for installation of the ÒChain across the Hudson.Ó  There are four John Ten Broecks at Albany Rural from this period.

 

Jacob C. Ten Eyck

(c1705-1793);  lot 11, sec 60        

Member of Albany's Committee of Safety.  Appointed to a committee to collect ÒDonations for the Poor at the Town of BostonÓ following British blockade.  (see Civilian Section)

 

John Ten Eyck

Fur Trader. Member of the Committee of Safety.  Directed to meet with Mohawk Chief ÒLittle AbramÓ to calm Indian concern, May 22, 1775.  Appointed to a committee to prepare a speech for the German Flatts Congress of Indians to explain the situation between America and England.  There are seven John Ten Eycks from this period at Albany Rural. 

 

Jeremiah Van Rensselaer

(1738-1810); Churchground                      

Served with the Albany Militia.

 

Nicholas B. Van Rensselaer       

Fought at the storming of Quebec, Ticonderoga, Fort Miller, Fort Ann, and Bemis Heights (Saratoga).  Brought news of Burgoyne's surrender to Albany.

 

Philip Van Rensselaer

(c1748-1798); lot 65, sec 56

Commissary for General Philip Schuyler's Northern Army.  He issued the order to remove all glass from the windows of Albany and remove the lead frames and immediately send them to the Patroon's foundry to be melted down into musket balls and shipped to Saratoga.

 

 

 

 

Col. Gosen Van Schaick

(1736-1789); lot 5 sec 3   

He sounded the Hudson River for the installation of the ÒChain across the Hudson.Ó  See Civilian Section.

 

Teunis Van Vechten

(c1740-1817); lot 3, sec 47                                   

Attorney, officer in the Albany Militia.

 

ÒWidowÓ Eve Vernor

(1730-1776); lot 19, sec 74          

Her home was the meeting place for the Committee of Safety just prior to the Revolutionary War when the meetings had to be kept secret.

 

Lt. Abraham Yates, Jr.

(c1724-1796); lot 6, sec 34           

See Civilian Section.  Officer of the Albany Militia.  Ordered to take a party and apprehend John McComb Òa Person highly inimical to the Cause.Ó

 

Col. Christopher Yates

(c1738-1809); lot 15, sec 77

Commanded Ft. George on Lake George when Burgoyne invaded.  Conducted a Òscorched earthÓ policy as he retreated toward Van Schaick Island.  Later fought at Saratoga.

 

Robert Yates

(1738-1801); lot 1, sec 8  

See Civilian Section.

 

War of 1812

 

Harmanus Bleecker

(1779-1848); lot 61, sec 3

See Civilian Section.

 

Lt. Peter Gansevoort

(1789-1876); lot 2, sec 55

Son of General Peter Gansevoort.  See Civilian Section. 

 

Ensign William L. Marcy                                  

(1786-1857); lot 94, sec 62          

See Civilian Section. 

 

Col. John Mills

(1782-1813); lot 106, sec 73         

Died while commanding the Albany Republican Artillery on May 29, 1813 while repulsing the British at Sacketts Harbor.  He organized the Albany Republican Artillery (Gen. Philip Van Rensselaer's independent artillery unit) in 1809 (Albany's first artillery company was formed in 1798). Originally interred in Watertown, his remains were moved to Capitol Park and later to Albany Rural Cemetery.  Colonel Mills' body was reportedly draped in the regimental flag, the earliest flag in the New York battle collection. 

 

John Pruyn

(1790-1862); lot 90, sec 76

 

Ambrose Spencer Jr.

(1765-1848); lot 1, sec 45

Son of Ambrose Spencer.  See Civilian Section.

 

John Canfield Spencer 

(1788-1855); lot 1; sec 45

Son of Ambrose Spencer.  See Civilian Section.

 

Gen. Philip Van Rensselaer

(1766-1824); lot 1, sec 14

See ÒCivilian Section.Ó

 

Maj. Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer

(1764-1839); lot 1, sec 14

See Civilian Section.

 

Gen. Solomon Van Rensselaer   

(1774-1852); lot 65, sec 56          

See Civilian Section.

 

James Van Valkenburgh

(  ); lot 5, sec 30

Fought at Plattsburgh. 

 

Thurlow Weed

(1797-1882); lot 1, sec 109

See Civilian Section.

 

 

 

Mexican War

 

Lt. Addison Farnsworth

(1825-1877); lot 110, sec 18

A company of Albanians, Co. H, 1^st Regiment, Albany Republican Artillery, commanded by Captain Abraham Van Olinda and Lieutenant Addison Farnsworth [later Brevet Brigadier General in the Civil War] went through the Gulf of Mexico to participate in the landing at Vera Cruz under Major General Winfield Scott.  See Civilian Section         

 

Jacob Griffin

(c1822-1850); lot 52, sec 65         

Headstone inscription: ÒDied July 16, 1850 in his 29^th year.  As an officer in the Army denoted for his bravery in the defense of their country in the late war with Mexico.  He distinguished himself ably for his humanity and courage in the faithful discharge of every duty.Ó  (Griffin died by drowning.)

 

Maj. Lewis N. Morris

(c1800-1846); lot 12, sec 54

Died on September 21, 1846 while leading the 3rd regiment, U.S. Army (Albany Republican Artillery) under General Zachary Taylor at Monterrey, Mexico.  He previously had fought in the Black Hawk War in 1832 and the Seminole Indian War in Florida in 1840-1842.  His funeral was probably the largest ever held at Albany Rural Cemetery, the procession was 3 miles long.  His beautiful monument was paid for by donations from the residents of Albany.  See Civilian Section.

 

Col.  Robert Emmet Temple

(1808-1854); lot 1, sec 16

He was a Colonel in the New York Tenth Regiment that was raised in Albany.  He married a daughter of Albany's most successful merchant, William James.  His daughter was the famous Mary ÒMinnieÓ Temple used as a model for several main characters in novels written by her cousin, Henry James.  Temple's regiment joined General Zachary Taylor's forces.   He was later a member of Albany's first Water Commission in 1850.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Civil War

 

See separate Civil War List (approx. 850 entries) in the Civil War Book

 

 

 

Other Military

 

Gen.  John G. Farnsworth

(c1832-1895); lot 53, sec 30         

Adjutant General of the United States under President Grover Cleveland later Trustee, Albany Rural Cemetery.

 

Capt. Robert Townsend

(c1820-1866); lot 4, sec 45           

Died in the U.S. Navy at Chin Kiang, China while in command of the SS Wachusett.  Also served in the Mexican War and the Civil War.