FLATBUSH CHURCH, FOR YEARS AN OLD LANDMARK, HAS A REMARKABLE HISTORY
24 June 1906 Brooklyn Standard Union MANY INTERESTING EPITAPHS ON ANCIENT HEADSTONES IN CHURCH GRAVEYARD A familiar landmark is the First Reformed Church, of Flatbush, Venerable, and with an aspect of dignified comfort, the church stands at the corner of Church and Flatbush avenues, where two hundred and fifty years ago, by an order of Gov. STUYVESANT, the original edifice was erected. STUYVESANT, who seems to have exercised a controlling power in ecclesiastical as well as in civil and military affairs, directed that the church be sixty or sixty-two feet long and twenty-eight feet wide and should be built in the form of a cross, and that the rear should be reserved for the minister's dwelling. When the building was finished, about 1660, those who had charge reported that the cost had been 4,637 guilders, or about $1,800. Among the names of those who assisted in the liquidation of this debt we find those of Gov. STUYVESANT and the East India Company. Forty years later this church proved too small for the congregation which assembled for worship, so a larger church was built on the same spot. It was a stone edifice, this second one, with a large double arched door in the centre, and was still standing at the time of the Revolution. After the battle of Long Island the wounded soldiers were carried into this church, and it was used as a temporary hospital. Afterward, when other provision was made for the sick and wounded, it was taken possession of by the British troops, who thoroughly ransacked it; some artillery men even stabled their horses in the pews and fed them there. It outlasted this desecration, however, and was used as a place of worship until the present edifice was erected in 1796 on the site of the former churches. This last church was three years in building, and was most substantially made, as one can see for himself. Most of the stones for the walls were quarried at Hurigate, N.Y., and the brownstone used in the construction was broken from the rocky ridge of hills dividing Flatbush from Brooklyn. The cost of the building was $12,000, and it was consecrated early in 1797 by Dominie SCHOONMAKER. All the ministers who died after 1701 were interred in the church, and such members as could afford it were also allowed this privilege. This accounts for the fact that there are not more old tombstones in the churchyard. In that portion of the burying ground which apparently has no graves in it, rest the bodies of those who died in the battle of Flatbush. They were gathered from the woods and hills in the route of the invading army, and as they were hastily interred, without coffin or tombstone, that part of this old graveyard where they lie was never used afterwards. Close to this spot where the patriots are buried, the visitor comes upon a grave covered by a huge flat stone. The storms of a century have well-nigh washed away the inscription, but with a good deal of labor one can make out that the grave is that of John VANDERBILT, who died in 1796. This is the testimony that the old stone bears to his worth: "He was a merchant of distinguished probity, a real patriot, an affectionate relative, a sincere friend and a worthy man. Blessed with affluence, he displayed a spirit of munificence in promoting the welfare of his country, of religion and virtue. The moderation and conciliatory disposition which accompanied and conducted his virtues, secured him through life an esteem almost unrivalled, and rendered his death a great loss to the public and to his family irreparable." It was John VANDERBILT who gave the bell which still sounds forth the hours from the steeple. VANDERBILT had the bell imported from Holland, and the vessel upon which it was shipped was captured by the British and taken to Halifax, and from the fact that the bell had on it this inscription, "Presented to the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush, by John VANDERBILT," it was presumed that both vessel and cargo belonged to a Dutch merchant, and everything was on the point of being confiscated, when a relative of VANDERBILT went to Halifax and testified that he was a citizen of the United States. It is a remarkable fact that almost the first time this bell was used was on the occasion of the funeral of its donor. There are no monuments in this graveyard expressive of a desire for ostentatious display, and no inflated epitaphs exaggerating the virtues of the deceased. There is a solemnity about the old Dutch words which the visitor sees carved on the venerable brown headstones, a dignity that is impressive, it may be the reflection of the graves which they overshadow, or it may be that the silence of the long years since they were the written or spoken language invests them with the sombre grace and tenderness which characterizes that which has forever passed away. On many of the tombstones are the words "Hier leyt begraven" ("Here lies buried"), followed by the name, age and date of death; "Hier leyt het stoffelyk____" (Here lies the earthly remains of ___") is sometimes the wording, and very often it is this: "In den Heere ontslapen" (Sleeping in the Lord"). "Gedachtnis," in remembrance, is also a word which frequently appears on the headstones. The birth and death of a young girl are thus expressed, in Dutch: "She came into the world (date)"; she removed to another home (date)"; while over the grave of an infant are the lines: "Happy the babe who, pivileged by fate To shorter labors and a lighter weight, Received but yesterday the gift of breath Ordered to-morrow to return to death." The ugly skeletons and crossbones which are found in some old graveyards are not found here but, instead, upon nearly every stone is carved a head and wings, supposed to represent a cherub; more crude and grotesque representations it would be hard to find. One of the graves attracts the visitor's notice. It is that of Henry SUYDAM, who died in 1805. SUYDAM was very active in the military operations of the Continental Army around New York, and his house, still standing on Evergreen avenue, was the quarters of several Hessian troops, whose filthy habits have ever rendered an unsavory memory of those days in 1776 when the British wintered in New York and its vicinity. Nearby is the grave of Abraham LOTT, who died in 1754. LOTT was a member of the Assembly from 1737 to 1750, and his son, who lies not far away, was clerk of the Assembly from 1751 to 1767. The crumbling tombstones bear the names of many families of old Dutch stock, whose members played leading parts in city, State and National affairs; LEFFERTS, DITMAS, VANDERVEER, MARTENSE, OVERLEDEN, DEVENTER, STRYKER, and so on. Marking the grave of Philip NAGLE, one time a member of the Provincial Congress, is a stone which thus admonishes the reader: "Behold and see as you pass by, As you are now, so once was I; As I am now you soon will be, Prepare for death and follow me." Along the western fence of the cemetery is the grave of one Richard ALSOP, a resident of Middletown, Conn. The noticeable thing about the grave is that the epitaph, neatly carved on the headstone, is repeated word for word upon a ghastly coffin-shaped slab which completely covers the grave. Just beyond the western boundary of the graveyard, and separated by a high fence, is a small enclosure, not much larger than the grave itself, where lies buried a colored woman by the name of Flora, who lived to a great age in a Flatbush family. There are two other domestics, fellow servants of Flora, who are buried in this same plot. In the southern extension of the graveyard is a rubbish pile, upon which are several forgotten memorial stones. Poking the weeds away from one of them the visitor reads that: "Little Tommy was our darling, Pride of all our hearts at home; But the angels floating lightly Came and whispered Tommy home." There is no clue as to who is responsible for this verse, nor can any trace of "Tommy's" grave be found. Near the rubbish heap is the well-kept grave of Charity HART, whose epitaph states: "A soul prepared needs no delay, The summons comes, the saints obey. Swift was her flight, short was the road, She closed her eyes and saw her God; The dust rests here till Jesus comes To claim the treasure from the tomb." Near the close of the eighteenth century some of the graves had been disturbed in this and neighboring villages, and in consequence great excitement had prevailed; and an act of the Legislature was passed in 1796, authorizing the inhabitants of Flatbush to establish a night watch. For this reason a building was erected on the northern boundary of the graveyard, in which watch was kept for a time over newly-made graves. After a time all causes for alarm in this direction abated; the guardhouse was then diverted from the purpose for which it was originally constructed, and used to store the bier on which the coffins were carried. Some aged, colored people who were supported by the town, were at one time allowed to live in this building there being no almshouse in Flatbush until 1830. It would seem a melancholy fate, indeed, to live in a churchyard with a bier in the house. Subsequently, however, the building was constructed into an engine house for the protection of the first Flatbush fire engine, long before the present house of the company was built. While the old Dutchmen of Flatbush did not indulge in wakes, yet they nevertheless had a custom which formed a part of the funeral preparations, and which was closely akin to the Irish custom. This was the feast provided by the family of the deceased at the time of a funeral, when a great amount of liquor was consumed. In those early days, when the country was thinly settled, and friends and relatives came from a distance to pay the last tribute of affection to the dead, some refreshment was necessary for them, and thence arose the custom of setting a table and preparing a bountiful supply of provision for such as lived at a long distance. Here is an exact copy of a bill of certain funeral expenses of a wealthy and highly respected resident of Flatbush, whose death occurred in 1789. "An account of the funeral expenses of P.L. esq. twenty gallons of good wine, two gallons spirits, one large loaf of lump sugar, one-half dozen nutmegs, one-half gross long pipes, four pounds tobacco, one and one-half of black silk handkerchiefs, six loaves of bread." A hundred years ago there was no undertaker prepared to furnish all the requisites for the funeral. The cabinet maker was called on to make a coffin, and he came to measure the dead for that purpose. Some woman in the neighborhood was expected to make the shroud; if it was not in the house, ready made years before; and most people were far-sighted enough to have their shrouds ready. Funerals were seldom held in the church, the general custom being to hold the services in the house of the deceased, and then the body was carried to the grave upon a bier when the funeral was not too far from the village churchyard. It is within the memory of those now living that all the looking glasses were carefully covered at the time of a death in the family, a custom which has survived in its practice among the negroes in this neighborhood at the present day. It has been said also that a coffin was never placed before a mirror, but this may have been an individual rather than a general superstition. There has been only one interment in the old cemetery since the Civil War, and that was of an aged, maiden lady, a member of one of the old Flatbush families, who died some twenty years since; indeed, with this exception and that of a soldier who fell on a Southern field of battle, there has not been a grave made later than fifty years ago. The records graven on the stones are fast disappearing. Time has set his strongest workmen here; the rain drops lodge in the crevices, and the hammer of the frost enters after them. These monuments will not much longer withstand the defacement; they are yielding to time, the conqueror, more slowly, but none the less surely, than those whose names they vainly strive to commemorate. Transcribed for the Brooklyn Information Pages by Mary Musco Back To WORSHIP Main Back To BROOKLYN Main