Church and Cemetery: Methodist Protestants and the Union Cemeteries of Brooklyn (1844-1894)

Editor's note: Since this article was published, the NYG&B has published this collection, Methodist Protestants and the Union Cemeteries of Brooklyn (1844-1894) in our eLibrary. 

This winter The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society will publish a CD of the burials in the Union Cemeteries of Brooklyn and the two Methodist Protestant churches that owned those cemeteries.

Long time dissension within nineteenth century Methodism led to separation and the formation of a new denomination in 1830. The chosen name, likely an expression of opposition to the power wielded by the bishops, was Methodist Protestant (M.P.). In 1939, 109 years later, the M.P. and another denomination rejoined what had been the main denomination, the Methodist Episcopal Church (M.E.), to form what is known today as the United Methodist Church. Modifying bishopric authority, i.e., giving more voice to the laity to provide a more democratic organization, was considered the M.P.'s chief contribution to American Methodism. During its existence the M.P. was always small in comparison to the M.E. and, within the M.P. itself, New York City had few churches and few members.

The CD focuses on the two churches that owned Union Cemetery. One was originally on New York's Lower East Side, and the other a ferryboat ride away in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. However, the CD also briefly covers another, early, short-lived New York church. The two M.P. churches appear to have cooperated in cemetery management and jointly participated in other activities. In 1873, however, the city congregation left Manhattan and moved close to the church in Williamsburg. Although Williamsburg grew rapidly, the available pool of those interested in Methodist Protestanism didn't seem to increase appreciably, and the resulting competition for members led to (sometimes amusing) conflicts between the two, to the benefit of neither. Several reasons led to both going out of existence during the 1890s. (Pictures of both the NYC church, and its most noteworthy minister are included with this CD.)

All church records of these churches are likely lost. However, from other sources, principally newspapers, a history was reconstructed. Additionally, a substantial list of members of the churches mentioned was amassed and alphabetized, along with various bits of information including some birth, death, and marriage records. Marriages performed by Rev. Wm. Johnson, a founding Williamsburg church minister, who also served for a time as Williamsburg City Missionary, are separately listed. "A Church Year" (section) gives a sense of church life through some of their activities. Annual Sunday School parade numbers enable an estimate of the memberships of the two churches.

The jointly-owned old Union Cemetery (1844-51), just two acres near the Williamsburg church, became a brief resting place, largely for members. The CD provides an impression of the village, still quaintly rural, although "the city" was beginning to advance toward them, as gleaned primarily from articles found in Williamsburg newspapers. The names of 89 cemetery lot owners come from documents found at the Brooklyn City Register. In 1851, the churches agreed to surrender their vested rights in return for a lot in the new cemetery of "twice the dimensions" and immediate removal of ". . . the dead bodies or human remains now buried in said ground to the new cemetery grounds in Bushwick . . ."

The new Union Cemetery (U.C.) (1851-94), which was about 10 acres in size, was in Brooklyn, near the Queens County border. There were about 30,000 interments prior to sale of the land and removal of remains to Cedar Grove Cemetery (C.G.) in Flushing, Queens, at the end of 1897.

The CD exhibits an 1852 deed for a private lot. The back opens, map-like, to reveal a 1851 cemetery survey done by Thomas Field. Border streets don't appear because at the time there were none. Lots are shown in detail: the number and location of every lot is shown on the survey map. Therefore, once a researcher finds an ancestor's name and lot number, the lot's location within the U.C., as well as those of adjoining lots, can be determined. This work includes part of an 1880s map that names the cemetery streets as Palmetto, Irving, Putnam, and Knickerbocker. The CD also displays two photographs from 1897. These show Palmetto and the cemetery entrance. A glimpse of the graves beyond nestled among the trees invites the viewer in.

Research uncovered a nonsectarian cemetery of roughly two parts. The larger "public grounds" received mainly interments of children. These were probably in large part German, perhaps the little ones of those who had come across the Atlantic during the first great wave of immigration that began in the 1840s, settling in communities such as "Kleindeutschland" of the lower east-side. The other part, the "private lot" sections, received interments of families from the two churches as well as others who had sought a convenient, reasonably priced family plot. These included at least one black individual, a tailor, as well as one black association, the U.C. trustees ostensibly having a policy of nondiscrimination.

This work has additional cemetery information including "Cemetery Stories," a collection of newspaper articles connected in some way to the U.C. For example, in 1854, a distraught man shot himself over the grave of his wife yet detailed monies owed him on a note in his pocket.

Most of this CD is taken up by the "Book of Removal" contents. That book was created towards the end of 1897. C.G. authorities publicly vowed to recreate the U.C. on a 10-acre portion of their grounds. The Book recorded the U.C. layout along with pertinent information for each known burial, undoubtedly gathered from the U.C. records themselves, which sometime afterwards were either lost or destroyed.

The book was divided into 33 sections. The first 31 sections recorded the layout of the "public grounds," section by section, row by row, grave by grave. The earliest recorded interment was for 1851. Thus, if remains were carried over from the old cemetery, the date of original interment was not used or otherwise given in the book. When known, entries included 1. Name of Interred, 2. Age, 3. Date Interred, 4. Location. Perhaps the most valuable information is found when a grave held more than one interment. Consider the following example from Section 1:

For public ground interments, there is no other helpful information.

Section 33, the Vaults, unlike the first 31, is a chronological list. Entries include 1. Name of Interred, 2. Age, 3. Date Interred. For almost all entries, the "Age" column simply shows "stillborn." In those cases, it is often unclear, but name of interred is likely that of a parent rather than the stillborn. Date order only begins with a December 1879 interment. If the vaults were used before 1879, there is no record. No other helpful information is available.

Section 32, the private lots, is also a chronological list. Entries include 1. Name of Interred, 2. Age, 3. Date Interred, 4. Lot Number. Date order only begins with a June 1879 interment; no record is extant for the prior years. A separate second table relists and groups the Section 32 interments in lot number order. Thus, for that table, searching for a particular lot number will bring up all interments for that lot.

By my estimate, there were 3,500 unrecorded lot interments. However, unlike the other sections, there is some additional help, although sometimes only by inference, namely through title recordings. Lot holders were vested with land rights and thus could record ownership. Many did. Entries with the Brooklyn City Register include 1. Name(s); 2. Lot number; 3. Purchase date. If the plot was bought from other than cemetery trustees, or was later sold, transaction information was included as well. Entries are listed in two separately ordered tables: first by lot number, and secondly by owner name.

In 1897/98, at the time of transfer to Cedar Grove, lot holders were given a new lot of the same size as well as a new lot number. The present-day Cedar Grove/Mt. Hebron Cemetery has a ledger in which entries include 1. Cedar Grove lot number; 2. Union Cemetery lot number; 3. original owner name. These title recordings are more complete than those found in Brooklyn. Entries are listed in two separately ordered tables: first, by U.C. lot number (followed by the corresponding C.G. lot number) and, secondly, by owner name.

Some of the new C.G. lots received interments, some didn't. Of those that did, interments could extend occasionally as late as into the 1940s. This CD does not include records of C.G. interments. However, table entries include a symbol indicating whether or not a C.G. lot received interments. When such occurred, the researcher may contact Cedar Grove for additional information. In every case, a one-page photocopy will provide all interment information.

The "Miscellaneous" section towards the end may interest researchers and thoughtful others. There is also an extensive "References" section allowing anyone interested in a matter to pursue it back to the source. The last item on the CD is the small "Symbols" section; however, not so many symbols are used throughout this work as would leave the family historian in the dark without it.

by Frank A. Biebel

Originally published in The New York Researcher, Fall 2006

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