OLD BURIAL GROUNDS IN WESTCHESTER CO., N.Y.
By Thomas H. Edsall.
Among my notes, I find the following transcripts of inscriptions on old grave stones, taken in April, 1881, in an ancient and long disused burial place on the Van Cortlandt estate, near the station of that name on the N.Y. City & Northern R.R. I believe this to have been the family burying ground of the families of Betts and Tippett when they owned and occupied the land of which the estate is a part, in the 17th century. The old Van Cortlandt mansion stood about one hundred yards from it until it was torn down about seventy years ago.
On a prostrate, broken marble slab: “In memory of Phebe, wife of John Bashford, who departed this life Sep. 27, 1805, aged 37 years, 9 months, and 7 days.”
On a broken fragment of marble: “In memory of Hannah . . . of John Bashford, who departed this life Sep. 27, 1805, aged 34 years and 10 months.”
On a brown sand stone slab, standing: “In memory of William Ackerman . . .”
On well preserved brown sand stone slabs standing side by side: “In memory of Dorcas Berrian who died February 20, 1794, aged 66 years, 3 months, and 22 days; ” and, “In memory of Samuel Berrian, who died June 26, 1795, aged 75 years, 2 months, and 4 days.”