Palentown Cemetery is located in Ulster County, New York. When I visited with my mother and my aunt in May of 2002, it was heavy overcast with intermittent misting and occasional light drizzle. This is one reason why the recent photos below are not very well lit, although I have been at some of them with Paint Shop Pro to try to improve the contrast a bit. Several stones also have water stains on them from the wet weather which also makes the inscriptions hard to read.
Click here for Google map. The cemetery is not labeled on the map, but is located on the south side of Palentown road. The unlabeled white road that comes off the south side of Palentown Road and appears to turn east into the woods toward Solveig Lane is the cemetery road.
Clicking a small photo will open a large photo. Clicking a name will open a web page on that individual's family branch.
The cemetery sign on the road that runs past the cemetery.
I believe that both of these photos were taken in October of 1990. They clearly show the wonderful view of the mountains you can get in good weather.
A May 2002 view showing some Van Kleecks, Barringers, and a couple other names.
This is NOT a complete listing of all the stones in the cemetery, just the ones that I happen to have photographs of. Most of the photos on this page were taken in May of 2002.
BARRINGER monument. Arthur Barringer's father was a first cousin of my great great grandfather, Freeman Swartout Barringer. Roena (Van Kleeck) Barringer was the half-sister of my great grandfather Abram Van Kleeck.
BARRINGER, Asa, 1874 - 1946
BEESMER, Rachel, his wife, 1878 - 1966
BARRINGER monument. Irving Barringer was the second cousin of my great grandmother Bertha (Barringer) Van Kleeck (daughter of Freeman Swartout Barringer).
Irving and Sylvia's son Frank and his family are on the other side of the same stone.
BARRINGER stone. Lorin was the son of Otis Barringer and his wife Wilma Beesmer (below).
Lorin O., 1923 - 1989
BARRINGER monument. Otis Barringer was the brother of Irving Barringer (above) and the son of Zadock Barringer (on the other side of the same stone).
Otis' parents Zadock and Samantha are buried on the other side of this stone. The grave marker of Zadock's son Arthur Barringer and his wife Roena Van Kleeck is visible in the background. Zadock was the nephew of my great great great grandfather, Frederick William Barringer.
Side 1
Side 2
"Their children"
BARRINGER monument. This stone is not easy to read. Mom put some chalk on part of it, which helped make the lettering stand out better. William E. Barringer was the brother of Zadock Barringer (see above).
BEESMER family monument (generously provided by a correspondent).
WHIPPLE, Lorilda, his wife, 1853 - 1878. (photo generously provided by a correspondent shows Lorilda with her first husband William Miller)
"Their Children"
The correspondent that submitted the photos of the above monument submitted the following story:
"We believe that Lorilda (Joseph's second wife) was brought up in the same Whipple household, but may not have been an actual sister of Agness. The story goes that Lorilda might have been an Indian child (or at least a child in the possession of an Indian family). Apparently she was left with the Whipples as an infant, when the Indian family went on a hunting trip and never returned. The families must have been good friends or maybe even related. We are still trying to get info on the Whipple family that raised Agness and Lorilda. So far, no luck."
Alfred Collins and his second wife Mary Markle were the parents of Sylvia Collins, who married Irving Barringer (see above). The gravestone photos on the left were submitted by a descendant of Alfred Collins and his first wife, Mary Jane Shufeldt. The date these photos were taken is unknown. The gravestone photos on the right were taken by me in May of 2002.
COLLINS, Alfred, died Sept. 9, 1905, aged 72 yrs, 10 mos.
MARKLE, Mary, wife of Alfred COLLINS, 1851 - 1919.A correspondent writes:
"In the Palentown Cementery next to Mary Markle's head stone is an almost unreadable headstone for Martin Markle who I believe is her father. Hannah C. Barringer is then buried in another plot with his headstone also next to it and I believe she is Mary Markle's mother. The stones are so old you can hardly make them out."
DAVIS monument. This is enlarged from the background of another photo and the names are only partially legible here. The husband's first name appears to start with "C" or "G" and the wife's first name is readable as "Zenia". There appear to be flowers left on the other side of the stone - possibly more family members listed there. I have no information on this family.
DYMOND monument. This is enlarged from the dark background of the photo of Ralph VAN KLEECK's marker (see below) and I am amazed anything is visible on it, much less readable. Alice Barringer is probably a relative, but I have no further information on her.
EVERY stone. There are several AVERY / EVERY individuals on my family tree, but I don't know where William fits in if he is a relative.
KROM monument. This is enlarged from another photo. I have no further information on these people.
"sleeping sweetly sleeping"
OSTERHOUDT plot. Abraham Osterhoudt is marked both by the old marble slab and again on the newer granite monument with (I assume) his sons. There are several Osterhouts on my mother's side of the family, but I don't know how or if these are related.
PALEN stone.
SHURTER plot. Harry Shurter's wife, Reba Van Kleeck, was the daughter of Henry Van Kleeck (see below) and Julia Barringer (daughter of Zadock Barringer above).
SHURTER, Harry. Marble military marker reads as follows:
A newer granite stone for both Harry SHURTER and his wife Reba VAN KLEECK.
VAN KLEECK, Chency, son of Willis & Hannah Van Kleeck, died March 23, 1887, aged 1 mo. & 7 d's. I can make out that there are a couple of lines of verse on the bottom of this stone, but I can't decipher what they say. Chency was the son of Willis and Hannah Van Kleeck and the brother of Hardy Van Kleeck (see listing immediately below this one).
VAN KLEEK, Hannah and Hardy. This is an odd stone - apparently uncarved (unless it's on the other side). The names and dates are painted on the stone. I saw a few plain flat fieldstone grave markers in various cemeteries while I was in New York - were they perhaps also painted at one time?Hannah was the wife of Willis Van Kleeck, son of Barnard/Bernard and Hannah Van Kleeck who are buried in Bushkill Cemetery.
VAN KLEECK plot. I blurred Mom out of the photo to protect her privacy.
side of the monument with Rachel and children
side of the monument with David and Adaline
VAN KLEEK, David, Co. B., 120 Reg. N.Y. (V?), Feb. 21, 1839, July 23, 1902
side of the monument with David and Adaline's son George and his wife
VAN KLEECK monument. Henry Van Kleeck was the son of David Van Kleeck above and his first wife Rachel Osterhout. Henry's brother Abram was my great grandfather. Henry's wife Julia Barringer, was the cousin of Abram's wife Bertha Barringer. Henry and Julia's daughter Reba married Harry SHURTER (see above).
Henry and Julia's son Ralph and his wife Gladys Wells are on the other side of the same stone.
VAN KLEECK, Jeremiah, 1805 - 1885. The older snapshot on the left was probably taken in the 1970s. Jeremiah Van Kleeck and his wife Sally were the parents of David Van Kleek above. Jeremiah and Sally were also originally buried elsewhere and had to be moved when the Ashokan Reservoir was constructed.
EVERY, Sally, wife of Jeremiah VAN KLEECK, died May 15, 1872, aged 63 yrs, 5 mos, & 14 d's. The older snapshot on the left was probably taken in the 1970s.
VAN KLEECK monument. Jeremiah David Van Kleeck was one of the sons of David Van Kleeck and Adaline Van Leuvan above.
VAN LUVAN, Daniel, died Mar. 7, 1870, aged 45 years, 3 mos, & 5 d's
ALTHISER, Phoebe, wife of Daniel E? or P? VAN LUVEN, died Dec. 13, 18?7, aged 67 yrs, 6 mos, & ? d's. "??? angels ??? her".
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