4. During the winter of 1994, we began cleaning up the cemetery and looking
for Priest Rose’s and other headstones. Failing to find Rose’s headstone, we
asked Town Historian Dave Overton to order a new one.
6. Early in the Spring of 1994, Brookhaven Town Historian David Overton had the Parks Department
install a split-rail fence around the cemetery and do a major cleanup. Priest Rose’s new
headstone would arrive later in the year.
8. Esther Rose, Priest Rose’s daughter, Bershua Rose, Priest Rose’s wife, died in 1784, a
died at the age of 18 in 1789. year after the American Revolution ended. The
family had just returned from exile in Connecticut.
9.
10.
11. Because headstones were not readily available during the early colonial period,
some of the earliest burials used common field stones to mark the grave sites.
12. Photo 1994
Photo 1980
Justice Nathaniel Brewster, who was Brookhaven Town Supervisor circa 1760s, was one of the most influential men in Brookhaven
Town during the middle part of the 18th century. His first marriage was to Gloryana “Tangier” Smith and his second marriage
to Ruth “Bull” Smith, the two most prominent families in the Town. Justice Brewster was killed by one of his slaves.
13. It did not take long for the Town to forget its obligations. This is
how the Southaven Presbyterian Church Cemetery looked in 2006.
14. Joseph Conklin may have been the man who On Nov 5, 1813, the greatest tragedy in Fire Place’s history
built the mill at South Haven in 1740. occurred with the drowning of 11 men at Smith’s, or New Inlet,
today’s Old Inlet. Nehemiah Hand was one of the victims.
20. Sam Carman, Sr., arrived during the Revolution in 1780 and appears to have been a Loyalist. He and his
descendents ran the mill, Inn and general store for the next 100 years.
21. Samuel, Jr., was a Town trustee, circa 1828-1849, and the President of the Board in 1849. He was also a Trustee Overseer
of the Poor and referred to as Capt. Sam Carman because he was a coastal inspector for several years. Samuel Carman, Jr.,
and his wife Kathy had 12 children together.
22. Just a few feet north of the Carman cemetery is the Miller cemetery. It’s possible that there are other headstones in this plot
that we have not uncovered yet. Gilbert Miller, possibly a son, died in 1870, and the Miller estate was sold to the Suffolk Club.
23. John Deitz using the Global Positioning System
to record the Miller cemetery location
25. (1939 description) "Former Homan private graveyard, about 500 feet south of Montauk Highway, (Route 27),
on the east side of an old hedgerow, and about opposite the old homestead of William Osborn, now (1939)
owned by Charles Engelhaupt, South Haven….” This cemetery was about 100’ easterly and opposite of the east
end of today’s Old South Country Road, directly south of telephone pole 122, in Wertheim Refuge. The
headstones were moved sometime between 1902 and 1939 to the Oaklawn Cemetery, picture above, except for
William and Philothea Corwin, whose headstones were moved to the South Haven Presbyterian Cemetery. It is
said that the bodies were not disinterred.
26. Although only 14 headstones are still
visible, 23 were visible in 1939. Most of the
others, if not all, are believed to still exist,
but have fallen and become buried.
Revolutionary War veterans Thomas Rose
and Captain Nathan Rose are buried here.
27. Will Rose Home, built late 1700s Home of William Rose, born 1807. He sold the old Rose
homestead and much property to J. L. Ireland in 1841.
Brewster Rose family, 339 Beaver Dam Road
Senator John Rose home
28. Thomas Rose, believed to be the first permanent white settler in Fire Place Neck, was perhaps buried here in 1729,
probably using a field stone marker (headstones were not readily available in Brookhaven at the time). Ear mark for his
cattle at Fire Place was recorded on Oct 12, 1700. Two of first-settler Thomas Rose’s grandsons (above) fought in the
American Revolution. Its possible that Lieutenant Thomas Rose was killed in action, given the 1780 date of his death.
29. One source, Huson, lists Scudder Ketcham as a
Revolutionary War veteran. However, on file at
the Town Historian’s Office is a note saying that
the DAR has no record of Scudder Ketcham as
having served.
30. This is the second Rose family cemetery site, begun in the early part of
the 19th century, belonging to “Senator” John Rose and his
descendants. James Post bought this property in the 1920s to donate for
our library, and had the graves and headstones moved to Oaklawn.
31. Pictured are some of the headstones that were moved from the library gravesite to
Oaklawn Cemetery.
32. King David Hulse Cemetery is located on Fire Place Neck Road opposite the Brookhaven Elementary
School. The name “King” David is said to come from the fact that David O. Hulse was known for constantly
quoting from the Old Testament.
33. Little is known about our most visible cemetery,
the Hulse cemetery.
From a 1735 petition to have Beaver Dam Road
built, we know who the owners of the 12 Long
Lots were, including three members of the
Hulse family: Thomas, Richard and John Hulse.
They may not have lived here but only used the
meadow lots for their cattle. The Nehemiah
Hulse family, including son David, may have
been the first of the Hulses to live at The Fire
Place.
However, in this 1858 map, no house is shown
on the property where the cemetery is located.
David H. Hulse was the last to be buried here in
1914. He is said to have lived in Bellport.
34. This is from George P. Morse’s circa 1945 scrapbook. It is the only reference to the Hulse family
having lived here at today’s 255 Beaver Dam Road. Nehemiah Hulse was David O. Hulse’s father.
37. Dr Miller’s
medical chest
In 1849, Dr Miller was a member of the New
York State Assembly.
38.
39. The first of Dr Miller’s nine children was Nathaniel, born in 1815 at the Brook
Store (Dr. Miller’s house was still being built). Nathaniel became a 49er
during the California gold rush and made a fortune operating a merchandise
store. During his time in California, he was shot with an arrow by Geronimo.
He returned in 1853, married Ellen Carman, took over the operation of the
Miller farm and became Town Supervisor during the Civil War. Of their nine
children, only three would survive him, with Clinton and George continuing to
run the farm until the mid-20th century.
41. Pictured are Nathaniel Miller, Jr.’s, two sons, George and N. Clinton. George ran the farm for more
than 50 years while his brother Clinton, who had his own home on a section of the farm entered via
today’s Library Lane, was the elected Town Receiver of Taxes, though for many years he listed his
occupation as “none” – except once, when he said that he sold bait at Smith’s Point.
43. Richard Corwin was a
Revolutionary War veteran
who was present at the battle
of Yorktown, and at the
surrender of Cornwallis.
Washington once tested his
fidelity as a guard by
attempting to pass him in the
night, but Corwin would not
allow Washington to pass, and
afterward received
commendations for his
fidelity.
45. Corwin
cemetery
Like his neighbors the Millers, Richard Corwin appears to have owned two adjoining cross lots.
These lots extended all the way from Beaver Dam Creek to Little Neck Run, the creek that runs
parallel along the east side of Old Stump Road.
46. The Nathaniel Hawkins Cemetery, lying on the east side of
Little Neck Run about 500 feet south of Montauk
Highway, has been totally vandalized. There were at least
11 interments here, including two that are Revolutionary
War veterans, Richard Terry and Nathaniel Hawkins.
One source records that Nathaniel Hawkins’ father,
Zachariah Hawkins, also a Revolutionary War veteran, is
also buried here.
47. The Nathaniel Hawkins cemetery is the oldest of the three Hawkins cemeteries at Fire Place. Fortunately, David
Carter's stone was moved to the old Brookfield Cemetery in Manorville by his family, and the three headstones of
Samuel, Mehitable and their son David Hawkins were moved to Baiting Hollow by family members.
48. Picture:David Hawkins cemetery, 1994. David Hawkins
was the son of Revolutionary War veteran Nathaniel
Hawkins. They had adjoining farms; this cemetery is about
a 1/4-mile east of the Nathaniel Hawkins cemetery.
49. It took Faith and I two years to locate the David Hawkins cemetery, deep in the woods of the 2,600-acre Wertheim Refuge.
50.
51. The arrows show location of the unmarked gave of one of
America’s
greatest civil engineers, Erastus Corning Hawkins. His greatest
achievement was the building of the White Pass and Yukon Railway
in 1898, which has been designated a national Historic Engineering
Site by both the Canadian and the American Civil Engineering
Societies.
52.
53. Mattie Hawkins was the last of this branch of the family to live and
to be buried here. She had many of the badly deteriorated
headstones replaced sometime after her husband Emmett died in
1922. They had no children and, unfortunately, no one to put the
date of her death on her gravestone.
54. The Barteau, or Fire Place, Cemetery is the largest of the private family cemeteries in The
Fire Place, with 38 known gravesites, the oldest headstone being 1805 and the newest 1974.
There are eight other families besides Barteau in this cemetery; only 16 of the graves are
Barteaus. Francis Barteau was one of the earliest settlers at Fire Place, arriving in 1741,
but his gravesite, as well as that of his wife and nine children, is unknown. The cemetery
seems to have begun with one of his grandchildren, Nathan Rose Barteau.
55.
56. QuickTime™ and a QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture. are needed to see this picture.
Francis Barteau’s daughter Temperance had a child, apparently out of wedlock, with Nathan Rose, of Revolutionary
War fame, and their son, Nathan Rose Jr, took the surname Bartow (Barteau). Nathan Rose Barteau, his wife Abigail,
four of their seven children and many grandchildren are buried here under the name Barteau.
57. John Deitz has found that at least three of
the original interments at the Barteau
Cemetery were verifiably Revolutionary
War veterans – Isaac Homan (since
removed to the Yaphank, NY, cemetery),
David Hulse (since removed to the Cedar
Hill Cemetery, Port Jefferson, NY), and
Barnabas F. Rider, gravestone at left.
Harry W. Huson in Revolutionary War
Patriots Buried in the Town Of Brookhaven
(Brookhaven Town Bicentennial
Committee, 1976) records that
Revolutionary War soldier Daniel Terry
was also interred in this cemetery, but a
record of his gravestone has not been
found.
58. Based on a Chase 1858 map, this is the house (2635 Montauk Highway) where
several generations of Barteaus lived, beginning with Nathan Rose Barteau. The
Barteau family owned land on both sides of South Country Road, mostly on the east
side of Little Neck west of Yaphank Creek. The cemetery is northwest of this house.
60. Although the last of William Snow’s family was buried here in 1878, many Brookhaven Hamlet old-
timers still refer to the intersection of Yaphank Ave. and Montauk Highway as “Snow’s Corner.”
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67. This is the “Senator” John Rose family plot at Oaklawn that had been moved from
the Brookhaven Library site. There are 11 verifiable headstones in this section, but
others may be missing. The John Smith Rose family plot, which most likely was
also moved from the library site, lies across the away from this.
75. The Greenfield Cemetery is located near the In 1939, Town Historian Osborne
Beaver Dam Creek, behind 338 South Shaw reported that there were eight
Country Country Road. other unmarked graves besides
Greenfield’s headstone.
76. "In Memory of Betsey, Wife of
Davis Rowland, Died 23 Feby 1846,
Aged 44 yrs 7 mos 23 days."
The Rowland Grave is located next
to Bruce and Dory Tooker’s house
at 314 South Country Road. It is
said that another stone was here but
can no longer be found.
77. Azel Hawkins Cemetery, which we will visit in a few minutes. Faith McCutcheon and I
counted 16 headstones here in 2002. Azel Hawkins is said to have built many of the houses
along Beaver Dam Road during the early part of the nineteenth century.
