By Emily Chapin, Pratt School of Information Intern
Title: Deeds for Land Acquired by Green-Wood, 1852-1897
Extent: 2.0 Boxes
Arrangement: The collection is arranged chronologically by transaction date to illustrate the passage of land from its original owners to Green-Wood Cemetery.
Subjects: Brooklyn--New York, N.Y., Cemeteries--New York (State)--New York--History, Conveyancing, Deeds, Degrauw, James A., Green-Wood Cemetery--New York, N.Y., Henry Evelyn Pierrepont, Land Sales contracts, Martense, George, Martense Family, McClellan, Christopher R.
Brooklyn--New York, N.Y.
Cemeteries--New York (State)--New York--History
Conveyancing
Deeds
Degrauw, James A.
Green-Wood Cemetery--New York, N.Y.
Henry Evelyn Pierrepont
Land Sales contracts
Martense, George
Martense Family
McClellan, Christopher R.
Henry E. Pierrepont, inspired by established rural cemeteries such as Mount Auburn and Père-Lachaise, helped to found Green-Wood in 1838 with the acquisition of 178 acres in Brooklyn. As the cemetery’s popularity grew, the grounds needed to expand as well. In his Green-Wood Cemetery: A History of the Institution, Nehemiah Cleaveland describes 1852 as a memorable year for the cemetery, “it witnessed the largest accession that had been made to its territory…The addition was one which had been regarded as desirable from the first. It consisted of a densely wooded strip, hemming in the eastern border of the cemetery, and extending from Martense’s Lane to the foot of Ocean Hill. The land belonged to several individuals, and some of it had been in the same families for two hundred years. This valuable annexation added 85 acres to the ground, and cost from $500 to $600 the acre.” This was followed by an accession of 23 acres from the heirs of George Martense in 1859, and another large tract from Robert Martin in 1862. The cemetery, with the help of Pierrepont, continued to acquire land into the 1890s.
Much of the land acquired by Pierrepont and Green-Wood originally belonged to the Martense family. The Martenses were descendants of Dutch settlers, who had been granted land in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn by Peter Stuyvesant and the Council of the New Netherlands. The Martenses owned one of the largest farms in Flatbush, part of which was inherited by George Martense in 1817. Eventually the land was split up, some sold by the family to Green-Wood, and some sold to fellow Brooklyn-ites. Much of the land ended up as part of Green-Wood, and descendants of the Martense family, some of whom are named in the deeds in this series, are buried in the cemetery.
The folders in this collection are labeled with the names of the involved parties, land lot numbers, and date of transaction. The collection is anchored by two major conveyances from Pierrepont to Green-Wood in June and October of 1875, and one describes each section of land and names its original owners.
