Volume I of Joel Munsell’s Annals of Albany includes a list of over 1,700 burials from the Dutch Reformed Church. The list includes interments in the churchyard just off South Pearl Street (later the site of the Second Dutch Reformed Church), the vault beneath the old church at Sate and Broadway, as well as those buried on their own property, in the burial ground at “Papskinee” (near Schodack), The Flatts, and other locations, as well as several individuals buried at the Episcopal and Lutheran churches. The list is arranged by year. Often, only a surname is given for married women or young children, such as “Child of Abram Yates” or “Child of Abram Yates.” The list was compiled from a “Book of Burials” kept by Barent Brat and which passed to Harmanus Bleecker. Munsell also gives some details on the cost of burials and other related information which will be dealt with in future posts. These burials can be found on-line on various genealogy sites, typically sorted alphabetically by surname. Sorting the list by date and burial location, however, reveals some interesting patterns. For example, in 1731-2, there is an extreme increase in deaths, especially among children. This increase can be linked to an epidemic (possibly smallpox) that struck the city and claimed over seventy lives. One of the victims was profiled here. Another pattern appears in the location of burials; in 1746, burials in the church’s vault stop and, at the same time, burials described as “in the church” increase. It is possible that there was no longer room in the old vault and those individuals who still wished to be interred within the church were buried beneath the floor. The burial list will be posted here in chronological order by location, beginning with the vault interments.
The Vault
In The Church
The Churchyard
At The Flatts
At The English Church
At Papskinee (Papscanee Island)