The Greenwood Union Cemetery is a cemetery in

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

and

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places Australia * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin Canada * Inukjuak, Quebec, or "Port H ...

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...

History

The first

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

on this site was established in 1837 and it was known as "Union Cemetery of Rye". James Parker and David Brooks of

donated of land to

Christ's Church, Rye Christ's Church, Rye (formerly Grace Church), is an Episcopal church in the Diocese of New York, located next to the Boston Post Road (U.S. Route 1) in Rye in Westchester County, New York. Established in 1695, the parish is one of the oldest in ...

, with plots to be reserved for the ministers of the three churches of Rye and their families. Two strips on the eastern and western sides of the grounds were to be used as a public cemetery. In January 1855, the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Rye bought an additional contiguous to the cemetery, and, between 1864 and 1868, they added more than . The total land was then . Methodist Episcopal Church operated the cemetery from 1855 until 1902, when it transferred management to a Rural Cemetery Corporation organized under the

Rural Cemetery Act The Rural Cemetery Act was a law passed by the New York Legislature on April 27, 1847, that authorized commercial burial grounds in rural New York state. The law led to burial of human remains becoming a commercial business for the first time, re ...

of 1847. This arrangement continued from 1902 to 1984, under the leadership of successive generations of the Cowan family, but in 1984 the responsibility of management was turned over to a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

with a volunteer elected

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

whose members are lot owners and local community leaders.

Notable burials

* Bill Bergesch (1921–2011) American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

executive. *

Eddie Eagan Edward Patrick Francis Eagan (April 26, 1897 – June 14, 1967) was an American athlete who won a gold medal as a light-heavyweight boxer at the 1920 Summer Olympics and a gold medal in four-man bobsled at the 1932 Winter Olympics. Few athle ...

(1897–1967) one of only two people to win a gold medal in the Winter and Summer Olympic Games. *

Marta Eggerth Marta Eggerth (17 April 1912 – 26 December 2013) was a Hungarian actress and singer from "The Silver Age of Operetta". Many of the 20th century's most famous operetta composers, including Franz Lehár, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Stolz, Oscar ...

(1912–2013) Hungarian-born singer and actress. *

Marquis James Marquis James (August 29, 1891, Springfield, Missouri – November 19, 1955) was an American author and journalist, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his works ''The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston'' and ''The Life of Andrew Jackson''. Early ...

(1891–1955) American author. *

Elia Kazan Elias Kazantzoglou (, ; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003), known as Elia Kazan ( ), was a Greek-American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the most honored and inf ...

(1909–2003) American film and theatre director. *

Jean Kerr Jean Kerr (born Bridget Jean Collins; July 10, 1922 – January 5, 2003) was an American author and playwright who authored the 1957 bestseller '' Please Don't Eat the Daisies'' and the plays ''King of Hearts'' in 1954 and '' Mary, Mary'' in 196 ...

(1922–2003) American author. * William West Kirkby (1827–1907), Rector of Christ's Church, Rye. * Edward LeMaire (1924–1961) American figure skater. * Charles Frederick Lindauer (c. 1836–1921), New York businessman and criminal. *

John McGillicuddy John Francis McGillicuddy (December 30, 1930 – January 4, 2009) was an American banking industry executive who oversaw the merger between Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Chemical Bank in the early 1990s. McGillicuddy played football for ...

(1930–2009) American banking executive. *

John Motley Morehead III John Motley Morehead III (November 3, 1870 – January 7, 1965) was an American chemist, politician, and diplomat. As a chemist, his work provided much of the foundation for the business of Union Carbide Corporation. The Union Carbide and ...

(1870–1965) former mayor of Rye and US Ambassador to Sweden. * Jared Valentine Peck (1816–1891) US Representative. *

Marvin Pierce Marvin "Monk" Pierce (June 17, 1893 – July 17, 1969) was president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women's magazines ''Redbook'' and ''McCall's''. He was the father of United States first lady Barbara Pierce Bush, the mater ...

(1893–1969), president of

McCall Corporation McCall Corporation was an American publishing company that produced some popular magazines. These included ''Redbook'' for women, ''Blue Book (magazine), Bluebook'' for men, ''McCall's'', the ''Saturday Review (US magazine), Saturday Review'', a ...

and father of

Barbara Bush Barbara Bush (; June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was the first lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of the 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush. She was previously second lady of the United States fr ...

. * Clarine Seymour (1898–1920) American actress. * George Smith (1892–1965) American Major League Baseball pitcher. * Dick Surhoff (1929–1987) American

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player. * Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1864–1945) US Congressman.

References

External links

* [
Greenwood Union Cemetery on Interment.net
* {{Find a Grave cemetery Cemeteries in Westchester County, New York Buildings and structures in Rye, New York Harrison, New York 1837 establishments in New York (state) Cemeteries established in the 1830s