Gravestones

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Remarks from: Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, collected and edited by J. Wilson Poucher, M.D. and Helen Wilkinson Reynolds (Collections of the Dutchess County Historical Society)

The present edifice occupied by the Presbyterian Church of New Hamburgh stands west of the tracks of the New York Central Railroad, but the burying ground on the hill to the east marks the site of the first church building. The Church was organized about 1809 and on June 26 of that year the trustees took title to the land on the hill (see Dutchess County deeds, Liber 39, page 199). One of the four trustees was George Washington Clinton, son of George Clinton sometime Governor of New York and Vice-President of the United States. The Clinton residence was near the bank of the Hudson not far north of New Hamburgh.

65. Clinton. "George Washington Clinton, son of (the first Governor of New York) and Vice President George Clinton; died March 27, 1813, aged 34 years and 6 months."

Note: This inscription is at the grave of a son of Governor George Clinton. The grave is marked by a table tomb--the most ambitious memorial found in Dutchess County for the period to which it belongs. Four marble pillars support the four corners of a marble slab which bears the long inscription. A large part of the inscription is illegible, due partly to the scaling of the stone and partly to the fact that at some time the slab broke in a line stretching diagonally across the center. The slab was later propped up by a fifth pillar placed for its support under its center.

There is some reason for thinking that Governor Clinton's wife was buried in this yard as well as his son. If she were, her grave is now unmarked.

Benjamin Dearin. "March 2, 1848. Aged 35 yrs. 10 mo & 9 d's."