Constable Hook Cemetery is the name used to refer to two

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

on Constable Hook in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

, the extant Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery and the no longer existing Van Buskerck Family Burial Ground. Both were founded by members of the van Buskirk family, descendants of the cape's first settler,

Pieter Van Buskirk Pieter Van Buskirk ( January 1, 1655 – July 21, 1738), also spelled Boskerck, is considered the first settler in the Constable Hook area of Bayonne, New Jersey. Van Buskirk was the son of Laurens Andriessen Van Buskirk and Jannetje Jans, settle ...

. In 1906 the

Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

purchased the family land to expand their refinery, already the largest in the world at the time. Myths and historical inaccuracies have led to confusion about the two burial grounds.

Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery

James J. Van Buskirk (1791–1856), of the sixth generation of early Dutch settlers in Bayonne, laid out a cemetery in 1849 during a

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic which had struck the area. In 1854 Van Buskirk wrote a will and mentioned of his land situated at Constable Hook off East 22 Street was to be reserved for the cemetery. Many prominent Bayonne residents were buried there. It was later enclosed by oils tanks of

Tide Water Oil Company Tidewater Oil Company (rendered as "Tide Water Oil Company" from 1887 to 1936) was a major petroleum refining company during that period. Tidewater was sold many times during its existence. Brands included Tydol, Flying A, and Veedol. The Veedo ...

. The official name of the cemetery is not known, but it was often referred to in documents as "Hook Cemetery", "Bayonne Cemetery", "Constable Hook" et al. It is currently called "The Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery". Today part of the cemetery still exists due to a restoration project of the 1980s. The cemetery is surrounded by property owned by International Matex Tank Terminal, which owns about 600 acres on the hook. Some remains were relocated to the Moravian Cemetery on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

. There are approximately 140 headstones. Information about the graves prior to the 1880s is incomplete.

Van Buskirk Family Burial Ground

The Van Buskirk Family Burial Ground which has also been known as Constable Hook Cemetery, the old Van Buskirk's Cemetery and the Constable Hook Graveyard was founded by

in about 1736. The cemetery was located on a bluff on the north side of the cape near the homestead and held the remains of early settlers to the region, most of which were disinterred and transferred to other cemeteries. A survey taken in 1903, two or three years before it the cemetery was obliterated, counted 104 headstones. The burial ground became the subject of a court case between Standard Oil and members of the Van Buskirk family, who contended the sale to the oil company by one family member in 1905 was illegal. In 1926 the case was finally settled in favor of the oil company.

References

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External links

Wikimapia
Bayonne, New Jersey Cemeteries in Hudson County, New Jersey 1849 establishments in New Jersey

Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery

Van Buskirk Family Burial Ground

See also

References

External links