OSTRANDER FAMILY BURYING GROUND

The other day I received an inquiry about the Ostrander Cemetery - which I prefer to call the Ostrander Farm Burying Ground since it was on the old Ostrander farm and was for the burial of members of the Ostrander family. (A cemetery is a burial ground for multiple families and is on ground that is not privately owned by a single family.) Actually there are two primary families buried there: Ostrander and Dutcher; I have not yet found the relationship between the two families.


The Ostrander Family Burying Ground is in the northeast corner of Town of Knox on Bozie Hollow Road. It is on the old Ostrander farm settled before 1800 by Jacob Ostrander (1773 - 1861) and his wife Catherine Kenter Ostrander (1775 - 1855) . The earliest readable inscribed stone is that of their 16-year old son James who died in 1839.


Records of early burial places on the farms in the town of Guilderland, N.Y. and surrounding towns were Compiled by WILLIAM A. BRINKMAN, HISTORIAN
Town of Guilderland, Altamont NY RD1, 1940.

Jacob Ostrander, died August 30, 1861 aged 88 years and 2 months

Catharine, his wife, died February 17, 1855 aged 80 years, 6 months

Michael Shrader, died April 1, 1855 aged 72 years and 9 months

Jemima Ostrander, wife, died September 24, 1860 aged 77 years, 8 months

Charles Ostrander, died 1872 aged 72 years

Elizabeth Schrader, wife, died ------

William Ostrander, born August 5, 1828 died December 22, 1897

Margaret Jane Ostrander, wife, born September 1, 1833 died March 26, 1895

Mary, their daughter, born August 26, 1871 died June 11, 1890

Laura, their daughter, died October 18, 1880 aged 3 years and 6 months

Grant, their son, died September 4, 1871 aged 3 years and 5 months

Peter J. Ostrander, died March 9, 1862 aged 65 years and 6 months

Hannah, wife, died September 2, 1864 aged 65 years, 1 month

James, their son, died November 4, 1839 aged 16 years and 5 months

John Ostrander, died November 18, 1862 aged 63 years

Jacob Dutcher, born 1818 died 1907

Mary Auchampaugh, wife, born 1823 died 1877

Walter Dutcher, their son, born 1865 died October 14, 1871 aged 6 years, and 6 months

Edwin Dutcher, born 1851 died 1891

Mary Brumachim, wife, born 1853 died ----------

Frederick Bradt, born 1853 died 1881

Elizabeth Dutcher, wife, born 1851 died 1899

Jacob Dutcher born ------- died ---------

Emmett Dutcher Dutcher, born -------- died --------

Charles Hyser, born ---------- died January 7, 1897 aged 49 years
He was a soldier in Co. I, 142 New York Volumteers, Civil War.

Some are buried here without stones.

Pictures of some of the stones are posted at http://www.newyorkgravestones.org/

DUNBAR'S OF DUNBAR HOLLOW, WESTERLO

The murder of Calvin Finkle - Anti-Renter

Although this blog is mainly about the families of Berne, I also research the history and families of surrounding towns - and include them in the Berne Families Genealogy.

This past week I have been helping a descendant of Calvin Finkle find his grave. Finkle, a stubborn Anti-Renter, was shot and killed Oct. 9, 1874 in Greenbush, Rensselaer County, by a Deputy Sheriff who had been sent to collect the rent. His wife was Eleanor Dunbar; he was buried in the Dunbar Farm Burying Ground in Dunbar Hollow, Westerlo.

I found a Dutch Settlers Society Yearbook listing of 15 stones in the cemetery transcribed by Mr.and Mrs. William VanDerpool Hannay, July,1927. It gives the following directions: "turn right from Ravena-Westerlo road at the foot of the Dormansville hill, and proceed 1.5 miles, turn to the right then the next left to the end of the road, and go to the next house. Cemetery north of the house."

I am told that the cemetery is also called the Dunbar Hollow Cemetery, and that it is at the south end of Dunbar Hollow Road. If anyone can tell me whose property it is on, or who to contact to find it, I would be very grateful.


Dunbar Hollow Murders

While researching the Dunbar family, I found a number of newspaper article on the tragic murders of brothers David and Stephen V. Lester, ages 9 and 7, in Westerlo on the 28th of Sept. 1850. After the death of their father, they went to live with their uncle David Lester. On the fateful day the boy's uncle left home on a sixteen mile round trip to Brigg's mill at Stephensville, the present-day Alcove. The boys were left in charge of his stepson, twenty year-old Reuben Dunbar. When David returned home that night the boys were missing. Reuben say that they had wanted to gather butternuts or go fishing and that he told them they had better not. No search was made for them that night, but the next day Lester, Reuben an neighbors started looking for Davy and Stephen. Their bodies were found a few days later deep in the woods hidden under rocks and branches.

Reuben A. Dunbar was tried and found guilty. He was sentenced to death, and was hanged on the 31st of January 1851 for the murder of his two young nephews.

The boys were reportedly buried in the Dunbar Hollow Cemetery but they are not on the list of stones transcribed by the Hannays. It may be that not all of the stones were readable.

Follow-up: Thanks to a comment by anonymous I continued my search and found Reuben, Reuben's father, Alexander, and the two murdered sons of George H. and Patience Lester buried together, the only four burials in the Wickham Farm Burying Ground, Dunbar Hollow, Dormansville.

Further reading:

The Hudson River Magazine for April, 1939, contains an article "Murder in Dunbar Hollow" by Ray Mower.

New York Folklore Quarterly - Page 33
by New York Folklore Society - Folklore - 1958
Cuyler, Jacob C., Trial of Reuben Dunbar for the Murder of Stephen V. Lester ...