4 Aug 2011

Hi folks,

The day before yesterday I took a fast trip from my home in Pennsylvania up to Westchester County, NY.  I had two objectives:

1 -  Try to catch up on some of the Pound Ridge Averys research already done by Kathy, Karen and Sharilyn by visiting the Westchester County Historical Society and Archives.  I didn't really expect to break any new ground beyond where they have been working for years - and I didn't; but I did get the satisfaction of walking through some of their footsteps and seeing some of the same resources which they has collected.

2 - Try to eliminate some of my confusion concerning how many cemeteries there are for these Averys and also Benjamin Green.

All I want to tell you today is about the cemeteries.  I've heard about the Avery cemetery, the Green cemetery, the Avery/Green cemetery, the Col. Enoch Green burying Ground, the Col Enoch Green Private cemetery.  I wasn't sure how many actual cemeteries there were, where they were located, nor who was in them.

My conclusion is that there are only two cemeteries of immediate importance - and I visited them both.

1 - I'll call the first one the "Avery/Green cemetery".  This has Averys, Greens and several other families buried there.

It is located in woods on private ground, about 200 ft. west of a spot on Rt. 121, the spot being about 300 ft. north of the intersection of Rt 121 and Honey Hollow Rd.  This area is to the west of the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Westchester Co., NY.  It is accessed, with permission of the owner, by a short walk along, what may have been a road at one time, but is now little more than a path.  Curiously, the road/path seems to have a name on Google Maps, "Gridle Ridge Road".  The cemetery is in reasonable condition with several flags placed in honor of several individuals, Revolutionary War service - perhaps by the DAR.  There is a picture of the cemetery attached to this message.

On 6 April 2011, Richard Raftery of the Westchester County Historical Society sent to Sharilyn Whitaker a list of names of people buried in the "Avery Family Yard at Cross River".  Sharilyn sent the list to me.  This is that same cemetery.  Among other people, this is the cemetery where Benjamin Green (d. 4 Apr 1812 at age 71) is buried.  His original headstone is not visible, but a replacement stone has been erected.  A picture of the replacement stone is also attached to this message.  There is also a stone for "Sarah, wife of Benj. Green: died Jan 17, 1817 AE 71".

I'll hold off discussing the Averys in that cemetery until I assimilate more of the information I collected on this trip and understand better where they fit in.   I spent a little time with Mr Raftery, he is the local cemetery expert and author of several books on the subject.  The list of names that he sent to Sharilyn were pages from a typed manuscript entitled "Bedford West Chester (sic) Co., New York Inscriptions copied from Gravestones arranged with Genealogical Notes" by Francis Ferdinand Spies in 1933.  I made copies of several more pages from that manuscript as well as some of the actual handwritten pages from which the manuscript was typed.

2 - I'll call the second one the (Col. Enoch) "Avery Cemetery" because that is the name on the recent interpretive marker at the cemetery.  This is the cemetery which has also been referred to as the "Col. Enoch Avery Burying Ground" and "Col Enoch Avery Private Cemetery".  It is easy to understand why the cemetery was known thusly; the gravestones of Col. Enoch Avery (d. 29 Mar 1884, age 86) and his wife Lucy J. (d. 20 Sep 1853, age 53) are especially prominent.

This cemetery is located within the boundaries of the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Westchester Co., NY.  It is found by walking about 200 ft. south along School House Rd (which is unmarked, gated, and closed to vehicular traffic but shown on Google Maps) from the County Park Office/Museum/Restroom building (which appears to be unstaffed) at the intersection of Bountonville Rd. and Reservation Rd. Standing in the front of, and looking at the building, the gated entrance is visible to the left.

The "Find a Grave" website at:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GSvcid=75416&CRid=1541934&pt=Col.%20Enoch%20Avery%20Cemetery&
calls this the "Col. Enoch Avery Cemetery" and shows a photograph of the site as well a good list of 149 interments in the cemetery, some with headstone photographs and genealogical information.  Many of the Pound Ridge Averys are recorded as being buried with gravestones in this cemetery.

One of the gravestone photographs on this website, the one which may be for Elisha (The Elder) Avery, was contributed by Kathy.  Thank you Kathy.

The Westchester County Archives webpage at:
http://web044.westchestergov.com:2009/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/vetcards&CISOPTR=1934&CISOBOX=1&REC=6
calls this the "Col. Enoch Avery Private Cemetery - Lewisboro, NY" but the drawing on that web page is clearly the layout of what I call the (Col. Enoch) Avery Cemetery.  The drawing identifies each gravesite by a number but is missing the correlation of gravesite numbers to names.

I'm attaching a photograph of the interpretive marker for this cemetery to this message.  Viewed at high resolution, you can read the names and grid locations for all the inventoried headstones.

There is at least one remaining issue: One online site associated with the Westchester County Archives:
http://web044.westchestergov.com:2009/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/vetcards&CISOPTR=3196&CISOBOX=1&REC=9
identifies a Benjamin Green (b. 1746 d 17 Jan 1817) as being buried in the "Col. Enoch Avery Burying Gr.".  I could not find a gravestone for this individual in what I call the (Col. Enoch) "Avery Cemetery" nor is he listed on the interpretive marker nor is he listed on the "Find a Grave" website above.  I don't know how to resolve this inconsistency.

Some of this may be old hat to other researchers, but this trip was able to resolve a lot of my personal confusion.

Happy Hunting!  - Jon