Section: First Presbyterian
Material: White marble
Bottom edge of stone is embedded in the ground below the last line of the inscription. Inscription is deeply carved and very legible. Upper portion of the stone features an open book (likely the Bible) with a saw-tooth border above and fan-shaped insets in the upper corners. Some darkening, but decorative carving is generally intact.
Inscription: In memory of Thomas B. Heermans who died April 4 A.D. 1830 aged 33 years 6 months
Heermance was, along with Erastus Corning, Joel Rathbone, and John T. Norton, a partner in a firm which offered hardware and cutlery, as well as stoves and iron sheet work to order. About a month before his death, a notice appeared in the Albany Argus which announced the dissolution of the firm Rathbone, Heermans, & Company by “mutual consent.” The company retained the same name for some time after under the sole leadership of Rathbone.
Onondiyo, known to the Dutch and English at Albany as Captain John, was an Oneida sachem respected as both a fine orator and a warrior who had served as a scout to the Americans during the Revolution. He was described by white contemporaries as “a young Chief of first abilities” in his nation.
Along with Skenandoah (Shenandoah), he was a member of a delegation of Oneida sachems who had traveled to Albany to negotiate a treaty between their nation and New York State. While in Albany, Skenandoah and Onondiyo both fell seriously ill, possibly from smallpox. Skenandoah recovered, but Onondiyo died on September 12, 1795. The Oneida delegation remained in the city to honor him with their own rites according to a September 15 death notice printed by Joel Munsell in Volume 3 of his Annals of Albany.
Capt. John, one of the Oneida sachems, and the principal orator and public speaker of the nation, died and was interred in the Presbyterian cemetery. The deputation of chiefs and sachems of the Oneidas, then in this city, attended the funeral, and performed the solemnities thereof, according to the custom of their nation.
Onondiyo was a Presbyterian convert and, as noted above, buried in that church’s cemetery. The Presbyterians had recently acquired a section of the municipal burial ground just off Eagle Street and immediately south of the present East Capitol Park. The remains in this early municipal cemetery were removed to the State Street Burying Grounds after 1800, and, ultimately, reburied in the Presbyterian portion of the Rural Cemetery’s Church Grounds. Among the many remains interred here without any record or headstone are those of the eloquent Onondiyo.
Below is a chronological list of burials in the vault of the First Dutch Reformed Church which stood on Broadway at the foot of State Street hill until 1806.
Many of these burials were removed to the Second Dutch Reformed Church where they were placed in a vault beneath the bell tower. Later, some were moved to the Madison Avenue Reformed Church and, eventually, to the Church Grounds (see Albany’s Dutch Stones and Not The Right Stones).
See The Book of Burials master post for further details on the list.
Filed under History, People
Location: St. Peter’s Episcopal (both stones)
Material: White marble (both stones)
A matched pair of stones for a husband and wife. Both feature a willow-and-urn motif and oval tablets surrounded by wreaths of foliage. Both feature inscriptions below the tablets and a twisted-rope border near the base. Samuel Hill’s stone has typical darkening. Inscription is deeply carved and very legible. There is a large break at the base on the right side and some wear to the finials, especially on the right. Mary Hill’s stone is in comparable condition.
Inscription: Sacred to the memory of Samuel Hill who departed this life May 12, 1819 in the 52nd year of his age. Friends nor physicians could not save This mortal body from the grave Nor can the grave confine me here When Christ commands me to appear.
Inscription: Sacred to the memory of Mary Hill who departed this life January 15, 1816 in the 44th year of her age. Behold we see while here we look The dearest ties of friendship broke The grief and sorrow pierce the heart The dearest friends we must see part.
Samuel and Mary’s son, Thomas B. Hill, is also buried in the Church Grounds and featured in this post. His headstone also features a willow-and-urn motif, but in a different style, more ornate style.
Samuel Hill was a prominent Albany merchant whose brick mansion (designed by Philip Hooker) still stands as the Fort Orange Club on Washington Avenue. More on Hill can be found here. His wife, Mary, was the daughter of Thomas Barry, an Irish-born merchant whose business contacts included Sir William Johnson and who was a founding member of Albany’s first Catholic Church, St. Mary’s.
This small headstone of black granite stands out among the uneven rows of flat stones in the Church Grounds. It is unusual, not only because it is one of only a few upright stones in this lot, but because it is also much newer. It was not among the scores of old stones brought to Albany Rural Cemetery from the State Street Burying Grounds when the Common Council cleared the old graveyard to make way for Washington Park, but was placed here over twenty years after the massive transfer of remains.
On September 10, 1893, a woman’s hat was found on the edge of Washington Park Lake. A short time later, the body of Tillie Boehm was pulled from the water. She was twenty-three years old and the newspapers reported that no motive could be assigned to her suicide. The papers also noted that she was the adopted daughter of Professor William Boehm. The German-born Professor Boehm was a music teacher, organist at Saint Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Albany’s Ten Broeck neighborhood, and organizer of The Mozart Singing Society, a local musical club.
Tillie was short for Matilda and the 1880 census lists a ten-year old daughter by that name in the household of William and Louisa Boehm. The census lists another daughter, Amelia, as the same age; it is possible that she was Tillie’s twin sister. The other children in the family were listed as William (age five) and Kate (age three). The 1892 census adds another child, Gertrude (age four), but Matildia/Tillie is not listed as residing with the family at this time, but appears on the census for the town of Bethlehem.
The records, unfortunately, give few hints as to why Tillie drowned in the Washington Park Lake or why she was buried among the much older graves in the Church Grounds.
Section: see below
Material: White marble
Inscription: In Memory of Sarah, Wife of John D. Carls, Died March 13, 1845 in the 29th year of her Age. A faithful wife, a loving mother, A Christian true this stone does cover. Patient in suffering, strong in love, Dead to this world, but lives above. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write blessed are the dead with die in the Lord, henceforth, yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labours and their work do follow them.
Misc.: A large, simple stone with only minor chipping. Surface is heavily discolored, but inscription is generally legible (and transcribed on the burial index card at the Cemetery office). Lower portion is partly embedded in the ground.
The Common Council inventory lists Sarah Carls as originally buried in the Baptist section of the State Street Burying Grounds. However, the burial card on file at the Cemetery office lists Garretson Station Methodist Episcopal. The 1855 census shows John D. Carls as an iron worker living in Albany’s 10th Ward with a second wife (unfortunately only identified as “Mrs. J.D.”) and the following children: Emma (age 8), John (age 4), and Charles (age 1). A Lydia Green, age 20, is also listed with the Carls, possibly a servant. None of the children listed is old enough to have been Sarah’s child. Since the stone refers to her as a mother, it is very possible that she had a child who died sometime between 1845 and 1855.