The Underhill Burying Ground is a cemetery located within the Village of Lattingtown, in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The cemetery has been in continuous operation since the burial of Captain John Underhill in 1672. The Underhill Burying Ground is governed by the Underhill Burying Ground, Inc., a non-profit organization, incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.
Nassau County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2010 census, the county's population was 1,339,532, estimated to have increased to 1,358,343 in 2018. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is the Town of Hempstead.
New York is a state in the Northeastern United States. New York was one of the original thirteen colonies that formed the United States. With an estimated 19.54 million residents in 2018, it is the fourth most populous state. In order to distinguish the state from the city with the same name, it is sometimes referred to as New York State.
John Underhill was an early English settler and soldier in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, where he also served as governor; the New Haven Colony, New Netherland, and later the Province of New York, settling on Long Island. Hired to train militia in New England, he is most noted for leading colonial militia in the Pequot War (1636-1637) and Kieft's War which the colonists mounted against two different groups of Native Americans. He also published an account of the Pequot War.
The Underhill Burying Ground is located upon a portion of approximately 150 acres (0.61km2) that was granted by Lenape Native Americans to English colonist Captain John Underhill in 1667. This area was originally called Matinecock, after the village of one of the Lenape bands. Today it is within the Village of Lattingtown. Captain John Underhill was buried here on his own land in 1672. Family descendants in 1843 created an organization to manage and protect the family burying ground for their continued use.
The Lenape, also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in Canada and the United States. Their historical territory included present-day New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania along the Delaware River watershed, New York City, western Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley. Today, Lenape people belong to the Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma; the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin; and the Munsee-Delaware Nation, Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and Delaware of Six Nations in Ontario.
The Underhill Society of America commissioned an imposing obelisk and monument, which was erected on the burial site of Captain John Underhill on May 18, 1907. The Society paid $6,000 for the monument. They arranged to reinter the "fighting captain" in its foundation. Made of white polished granite, the obelisk is topped by a bronze eagle with extended wings and perched on a bronze ball. On each side of the six-foot (1.8m) square base are four bronze tablets depicting the life of Underhill.[1]
The Underhill Society of America is a non-profit family genealogical society that was organized in Brooklyn, New York, on June 16, 1892. The Society was incorporated in 1903. The purpose of the Underhill Society of America is to perpetuate the memory of Captain John Underhill and his descendants. Captain John Underhill was an important figure in Colonial America, having arrived from England in 1630 to form the colonial militia of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He and his descendants served in important roles in American life from the military, to politics, business, finance, and industry.
Colonel John T. Underhill, then president of the Underhill Society of America, invited President Theodore Roosevelt to attend a formal ceremony to dedicate the monument. A letter from Roosevelt on April 3, 1908, accepted the invitation and agreed to "say a few words." At the dedication ceremony on July 11, 1908, Roosevelt gave an address on "A Good Soldier and a Good Citizen". The President talked about the duties of citizenship as exemplified by the Underhill family. He denounced socialism and expressed his views on the proper regulation of private business fortunes.[2]
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, politician, conservationist, naturalist, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He served as the 25th vice president from March to September 1901 and as the 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. As a leader of the Republican Party, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. His face is depicted on Mount Rushmore alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. He is generally ranked in polls of historians and political scientists as one of the five best presidents.
Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production and workers' self-management, as well as the political theories and movements associated with them. Social ownership can be public, collective or cooperative ownership, or citizen ownership of equity. There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them, with social ownership being the common element shared by its various forms.
President Theodore Roosevelt at the dedication of the Captain John Underhill monument, July 11, 1908.
The main bronze informational plaque on the monument has the following inscription:
Coming to America in 1630, Underhill became prominent in the government of the colonies and achieved a high reputation as a soldier in the war with the Indians. To his memory this monument is erected by the Underhill Society of America as a tribute of respect and esteem to the founder of the family in America, May 18, 1907.
Walter Lispenard Suydam was a prominent member of New York society during the Gilded Age.
Daniel Oscar Underhill was an American banker who served as the President of the Brooklyn Bank. Prior to assuming that role for twelve years he was an assistant cashier of the Chase National Bank, and for thirty-nine years worked for the old Fourth National Bank. Among his other roles and titles including serving as a vice president of the Underhill Society of America.
David Harris Underhill was an American librarian and author. He was a librarian for the St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church in Williamsburgh and the Astor Library. He was librarian in charge of the newspaper room at the New York Public Library. Underhill helped to organize the Underhill Society of America in 1892, and served as Secretary and Family Historian until his death in 1936. He was also an active author, editor, and compiler with several published works to his credit.
The Underhill Burying Ground, Inc. was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 1909.[3]
Myron C. Taylor, a descendant of Captain John Underhill, was instrumental in assuring perpetual maintenance of the Underhill Burying Ground by establishing a fund whose interest is used to maintain the cemetery. Descendants of Captain John Underhill may purchase burial rights by submitting an application to the Secretary of the Underhill Burying Ground, Inc.[3]
Records of burials
The research document Historic Cemeteries of Oyster Bay[4] lists 124 known interments at the Underhill Burying Ground. Surnames with multiple burials follow by order of prevalence: Underhill (42), Feeks (17), Cocks (15), Golden (9), Cox (8), Parish (4), Udall (4), Feekes (3), Latting (3), Fekes (2), Heley (2), Fisher (2), and Secker (2). The following surnames have only one known burial: Cashow, Cock, Cozzens, Dickson, Hicks, Miller, Sweet, Thorne, Weeks, Wilbur, and Wilbus.
The Underhill Burying Ground, Inc. has kept extensive records of all burials. Detailed surveys have also been completed, including one by Mary Jane Layton Lippert in March 1998. The Lippert report documented 310 burials, several of which were listed simply as "Unknown".
The Incorporated Village of Lattingtown is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 1,739 at the 2010 census. This area of marsh along the coast was occupied by a band of Lenape, known as the Matinecock, a name associated with the place.
Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in Nassau County, New York. Locust Valley is an unincorporated area of the Town of Oyster Bay. As of the United States 2010 Census, the CDP population was 3,406. The area is commonly identified with its W.A.S.P and "White Shoe" culture surrounding a group of polo and golf clubs, primarily the secretive Piping Rock Club, as well as the equally prestigious Creek Club, in the neighboring incorporated villages of Matinecock and Lattingtown, respectively. The town is also known for Locust Valley lockjaw.
Oyster Bay is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the North Shore of Long Island in Nassau County in the state of New York, United States. The hamlet is also the site of a station on the Oyster Bay Branch of the Long Island Rail Road and the eastern termination point of that branch of the railroad.
Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Hewes and George Ross. Two more signers are buried at Christ Church just a few blocks away.
The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, that honors American troops who died in Europe during World War II. It is located on the site of the former temporary battlefield cemetery of Saint Laurent, covers 172.5 acres and contains 9,388 burials.
The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, in the United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 293,214.
Henry Townsend (1649–1703) was the son of Henry Townsend, an early settler of the American Colonies.
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park is a park in the hamlet of Oyster Bay, New York, honoring President Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States.
The Theodore Roosevelt Monument Assemblage is a collection of 24 stones and plaque located in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in Oyster Bay, New York. The stones and other objects are meant to each represent a "chapter" and together form a "book" telling the story of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States.
Theodore Roosevelt spent his first summer in Oyster Bay with his family in 1874. Through the ensuing years as he rose to power, Oyster Bay would frequently serve as backdrop and stage on which many of his ambitions were realized. Several places connected to Theodore Roosevelt in his lifetime remain, while others have been lost. A number of efforts to memorialize Roosevelt in Oyster Bay have been made since his death in 1919.
The Oyster Bay History Walk is a path through downtown Oyster Bay, New York that leads the walker to 30 historic sites. It is a 1-mile loop and is the first certified American Heart Association Start! Walking Path on Long Island.
Council Rock is located on Lake Avenue, a hundred yards south of West Main Street in Oyster Bay, New York. It was a Matinecock meeting ground and the location of a sacred council fire. In 1672, George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), gave a sermon there during his visit to America.
Francis Jay Underhill was an author, amateur musician, and American bond broker with two firms, Fisk & Robinson and later with J. & W. Seligman & Co., that played a leading role in the financing and construction of the Panama Canal. Owing to his commercial success, Underhill was a collector of art and musical instruments, including many engravings, etchings, and lithographs of noted European and American artists. Underhill was an amateur musician and acquired an Antonio Stradivari violin of 1732 called the "Red Diamond." Underhill was also 4th President of the Underhill Society of America.
Silas Albertson Underhill was an orthodox Quaker, an attorney, and later an assistant clerk in the New York Supreme Court, Brooklyn. He also served in the Civil War, and later was a member of the Grant Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. As Secretary of the Underhill Society of America, he played an important role in the erection of a monument to honor his ancestor Captain John Underhill at the Underhill Burying Ground.
The Rough Riders Memorial is a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States that commemorates those members of the "Rough Riders" who died in the Spanish–American War in 1898. The grey granite shaft was erected by surviving members of the Rough Riders and their friends and supporters. Although Arlington National Cemetery, a number of secondary sources, and even the bronze plaque on the memorial say the monument was dedicated in 1906 and one source says 1905, contemporary newspaper accounts show the memorial was dedicated on April 12, 1907.
Locust Valley Cemetery is a non-denominational cemetery located in Locust Valley, New York, in Nassau County. The cemetery was founded in the 19th Century and designed by John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., renowned architects of Central Park. They are the sons of the famed landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted. The two brothers were among the founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
