Notes

New York Marble Cemeteries

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Index

There are two non-sectarian 'marble' cemeteries in New York:

The first is the New York Marble Cemetery, created on 13-Jul-1830 by Perkins Nichols as a commercial undertaking, and sitting in the interior of the block bound by E. 2nd and E. 3rd Streets, Second Avenue, and the Bowery in the East Village, Manhattan
It was built in response to fears about yellow fever outbreaks. Recent legislation had outlawed earth graves, so marble vaults the size of small rooms were built ten feet underground in the excavated interior of the block bounded by Second Avenue, Second Street, Third Street and the Bowery.
The first of the 2,000 burials recorded was a child of Dr. Post in 1830.
Click here to visit the NYMC website (and full list of owners/occupants)

NYMC circa 1890

The entrance on 2nd Av.

The brass nameplate over the entrance was stolen so a new plate has been made in GRP

Location in NYC

The 'What3Words' location of the entrance is ///deeply.pots.matter on 2nd Ave.

An aerial view

A closer aerial view

The SE (entrance) corner

The SW ('Dead House') corner

The NE (Post tablet) corner

Despite being a cemetery, all the vaults are 10ft (3m) underground and the cemetry is often used for weddings, photoshoots, parties, etc

Seats for a meeting

Secular usage

Picnic

Wine Party

Wedding

There are 156 underground family vaults the size of small rooms underneath a grass lawn. They are made of Tuckahoe marble, without monuments or markers, laid out in a grid of six columns by 26 rows.
Vaults are in pairs; there are no catacombs or passages connecting them. Access to each pair of barrel vaults is by the removal of a stone slab set well below the grade of the lawn.
Marble tablets mounted in the long north and south walls give the names of the original vault owners - though not the names of burials - and indicate the precise location of each corresponding underground vault

The wall plaques should look like this

These are the plaques for Waldron Post (56), Alison Post (107 and Joel Post (108)

The plaque for Joel Post's vault is rather deteriorated now but it should read "Joel Post / VAULT / No 108"

In this corner ... round to the right as you walk in

The vaults were constructed underground as follows:

The 'Dead House' stood in the Cemetery's far south-west corner (far left as seen from the entrance) for 120 years, until its removal in 1955. It was used for temporary storage of remains awaiting burial or shipment. Its position over the entry shaft for Vaults 51 and 52 enabled Perkins Nichols - the Cemetery's developer and the owner of Vault 51 - easy access. The engraved marble tablets for the Nichols, Hosack, and Parish vaults were set into its facade. This drawing is from an unnamed 1914 newspaper

The following are Posts buried in the New York Marble Cemetery

ID	Name	Vault	Born	Interred	Vault owned by
	Cemetery opened			13 Jul 1830
	Post, Infant of Dr.	108	c 1830	7 Dec 1830
00324	Post, Henry Albertson Van Zo (Joel's son)	108	b 1803	21 Sep 1832
	Post, Elizabeth Kintzing	56	b 1829	21 Jan 1833
	Post, Emma	108	b 1832	28 Dec 1833
	Post, Allison, Jr.	107	b 1832	19 Feb 1835
00332	Post, Joel ^†	108	b 1768	9 Apr 1835
01358	Post, Still-born child of Joel ^††	108		3 Nov 1836
	Post, Gerardus	23	b 1838	2 Sep 1840	Ezra Weeks
	Gibson, Magdalen (née Post)	56	b 1810	29 Jan 1841
00297	Post, Edgar Von	108	b 1842	1 Aug 1842
	Post, Walter Eugene	56	b 1841	13 Oct 1842
00114	Post, Alma Floyd (Joel's wife)	108	b 1794	30 Nov 1843	Joel Post
	Post, Charles William	56	c 1832	1 Jan 1844
	Post, William Floyd	107	b 1814	15 May 1844
	Post, Sarah Madeline	56	b 1824	14 Mar 1845
	Post, Abraham Kintzing	56	b 1817	14 Sep 1845	Waldron B. Post
	Post, Son of A. K.	56	b 1846	12 Jan 1846
	Post, Gerardus, Jr.	23	b 1814	27 Jan 1846
	Allen, Ellen (née Post)	107	c 1827	16 Nov 1847
	Jagger, Mary (née Post)	117	c 1780	6 Jan 1848	Jehiel Jagger
00282	Post, Allison	107	b 1779	18 Mar 1848	Allison Post
00358	Post, Mary Alma (Edward's dau.)	108	b 1847	2 Aug 1849
	Post, Jehiel John	23	b 1849	15 Mar 1850
00299	Post, Edward (Joel's son)	108	b 1823	13 Aug 1851
	Post, Erskine Mason	108	b 1845	19 May 1852
	Post, Waldron Blaau., Jr.	56	b 1821	19 Dec 1858
	Swan, Caroline (née Post)	148	b 1824	11 Mar 1860	Benjamin L. Swan
00323	Post, Henry Albertson	108	b 1835	12 Nov 1861
00355	Post, Mary	107	b 1782	8 Jan 1864
00115	Post, Elizabeth Floyd (Allison's wife)	107	c 1792	6 Apr 1869
00313	Post, George Dominick (Joel's son)	108	b 1801	4 Nov 1869
00308	Post, Frederick Floyd (F A Post's son)	108	b 1873	11 Mar 1874
	Post, Waldron Blaau	56	b 1793	3 Aug 1874
	Morrison, Sarah (née Post)	23	c 1812	20 Nov 1875
	Post, Henry Morgan	56	b 1873	19 Nov 1877

^† "Each vault belongs to the heirs of its 19th century owner and all descendants have the right to burial". [Newsletter, Nov 2010]
(It should be noted however that some vaults were 'sold on' and so the descendants of the original owner no longer have a right to be buried there)
^†† This was after Joel Post's death so it is almost certainly refers to Joel Browne Post - Joel's son. Joel Browne Post married Abby Mauran Church on 7 Jul 1835 and their first surviving son was born on 15 Dec 1837 so it is quite possible that they had a still-born son on 3 Nov 1836.

The second cemetery is the New York City Marble Cemetery, created in 1831 and sitting on 2nd St., between First & Second Avenues

There are 258 burial vaults constructed of Tuckahoe marble.

End of Note.