Speer Cemetery

Speer Cemetery
Details
Established 1600s
Location Jersey City, New Jersey
Country United States

Speer Cemetery is located on Vroom Street between Tuers and Bergen Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Slightly over one acre, the burial ground had been used by the De Mott family, early settlers to Bergen, New Netherland from the 1660s.[1] Although it has been called the "oldest cemetery of European settlers in New Jersey," it is contemporary to that of the nearby Old Bergen Church. The earliest surviving gravemarker in the cemetery is dated 1756.

The cemetery is named for Abraham Speer, an undertaker and acting sexton for the church, who bought the land from the De Mott estate in 1857 and made it a public cemetery, selling burial plots for $16 each.

It was used as a potter's field during the nineteenth century. The absence of records makes it impossible to verify who and how many were buried in the cemetery over the years. Headstones indicate the burial of the veterans of the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War, and the Spanish–American War. Its last interments occurred during World War I.[2][3][4][5][6]

Plans to construct a building on a lot adjacent to the remaining cemetery grounds have been met with opposition, since it is believed that the land being developed was once part of the burial ground and contains human remains, possibly dating back to the 1660s;[7] the developer has been ordered to hire an archeologist to validate that belief.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Townsend, Richard (September 13, 2009). "Follwing [sic] the trails of the Alyea and De Mott families". northjersey.com. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  2. ↑ Sarapin, Janice Kohl, Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey: A Guide, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 0-8135-2111-4
  3. ↑ Harriet Phillips Eaton, Jersey City And Its Historic Sites, 1899
  4. ↑ Kaulessar, Ricardo (May 30, 2004), "Preserving the 'Forgotten Cemetery' Journal Square burial place dates back to the 1600s; city commits funds", Hudson Reporter, retrieved 2011-03-20
  5. ↑ "Speer Burial Ground/DeMott Burial Ground". Jersey City Past and Present. New Jersey City University. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  6. ↑ "Speer Cemetery: Vroom Street - (Speer Burial Ground/DeMott Burial Ground)". Historical Walking Tour. www.destinationjerseycity.com. Retrieved 2011-03-20. The L-shaped cemetery of slightly over one acre had reportedly been used by the De Mott family from the 1660s. Although it has been called the "oldest cemetery of European settlers in New Jersey," the earliest surviving gravemarker in the cemetery is dated 1756. The cemetery is named for Abraham Speer, a Jersey City undertaker, bought the cemetery in 1857 and made it a public cemetery by selling burial plots for $16 each. Headstones indicate the burial of the veterans of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War in the graveyard; its last interments occurred during World War I.
  7. ↑ Ambrosio, John (May 28, 2013). "Jersey City residents fight proposed construction on former burial site". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  8. ↑ http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/06/archaeologist_to_determine_if_jersey_city_construction_site_was_part_of_historic_cemetery.html#/0

Coordinates: 40°43′42″N 74°04′04″W / 40.7284°N 74.0678°W / 40.7284; -74.0678

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