Small Cemeteries

Town of Charleston

Montgomery County, NY

Can anyone confirm the location of the small Town of Charleston cemeteries listed below and if they are still in existence? All of the lists were collected in the early 1920s by Edith (Van Heusen) Becker and Melvin W. Lethbridge. Notes indicate ownership of land in 1923 so they were read at least by that date. Transcripts of the Jamison and Hughes, Frances Vunk, Clayton, Herrick-Vosseler, Kimball and Old Union Church Cemeteries were contributed by Sandi Burns back in 1997.

4/16/99 A new reading of a cemetery is always of interest, showing if a cemetery survived and, in the case of the Vunk/Vunck Cemetery, if stones are still there and legible some 75 years after the last reading. Three of the persons buried in this secluded family plot lived through the Revolution, their graves remaining undisturbed over 150 years after their passing. The stone on the ground in the new reading is probably Elizabeth Johnson's. Clarence Putman recently rediscovered the 4-stone Frances Vunk Cemetery and provided an immediate update and location.

"I recently stumbled across a small well hidden cemetery near the old Bell cemetery in the town of Charleston. It is located just east of Goewey Road about 1/2 mile before the Bell Cemetery. The cemetery is on a small knoll in a spruce plantation."

Vunck Cemetery
Town of Charleston

Henry Vunck
Died Nov 28, 1840
Aged 83 years 8 mo 22 days

Chestinah wife of Henry Vunck
Died March 11, 1840
in the 79 year of her age

Francis Vunck
born Jan 5, 1798
died Sept 30, 1828
_____ by his son Francis Vunck

One Stone lying on ground unreadable

Several field stones

Clarence Putman

"I've just recently found out about John Jr. and Polly Clayton as the parents of Marcia, mother of my grandfather William Henry Filkins. I have a lady in Schenectady trying to locate where William is buried, and another lady in Charleston looking to confirm whether or not Marcia Clayton was married to someone else first before marrying my g-grandfather Benjamin Filkins. There were several children of John and Polly listed on 1855 census and also 1860 census. I'll let you know names as soon as the lady in Charleston confirms what the lady in Schenectady found out." Larry Filkins 3/25/98

October 21, 2008

"We just got back from a research trip to Charleston, Montgomery, NY. We remembered seeing Old Union on our last trip when looking for the Kimball Cemetery. The site lists both as "location unknown" although I have always believed that both Kimball and Old Union were at the same location or very close. There were no Kimballs listed in the 1920's reading as being in the "Kimball Cemetery" but quite a few in Old Union. Some of the locals we spoke with last year, including the town historian, refer to "Kimball" as the Fero-Smith Cemetery although no one is sure where it was.

Old Union Cemetery in Charleston is located at the SW corner of Brand Rd. at the intersection of Brand Rd., Fox Street and Esperance (131). If you take 30A and turn west on Esperance (131) the graveyard can be seen at the intersection, just past the Fox St. sign. Many of the stones have fallen over or are missing but most of the Kimballs are still there. I also have found 2 sets of GPS coordinates which I believe refer to the locations of the Old Union Cemetery and possibly the Kimball Cemetery. They are 42.8094N, -74.3597W and 42.8095189N, -74.3592996W. Perhaps someone who understands GPS better than I could determine just how close these 2 locations would be. I have attached a photo of the cemetery. The large monument on the right is the Kimball family. It looks like someone put many of the names of family members who had been buried there on the monument."

Regards,
Sherry Golem

Old Union Cemetery

The reader(s) noted that "this Union Church was moved over 40 years ago to the first farm north of the corners and is now used as a wagon house." The church referred to would have been moved sometime in the 1880s. A Union Church is not specifically mentioned in Beers' 1878 History of Montgomery County. Could the corners referred to be Rider's Corners or Charleston Four Corners? Men named Nathan and David Kimball, probably ancestors of the Kimball family in this cemetery, were listed in Beers' History as being early settlers prior to the Revolutionary War.

11/16/2016   Findagrave has a larger list for this cemetery. Their listing has quite a few more people, and a name variant - "Kimball Cemetery (Fero - Lewis - Smith)". Included is a photo of the cemetery overall from a distance, as well as some location information.

10/4/98   From: Christine Wand [4/15/2001 - mail comes back undeliverable from Christine's address so link has been removed]

Concerning the Van Dorn gravestones. Christian Van Dorn was born in 1757 to William Van Doren and Catherine Hoff (or Huff) in Middlebush, New Jersey. Christian lived near Lamington, New Jersey for a time. Christian served in the Revolution from 1776 until the end of the war in the New Jersey Militia, after which he moved to Montgomery County. His revolutionary record:

"Served sundry tours from Spring of 1776 to end of the war, in companies commanded by Captains Jacob Ten Eyck, First Battalion, Somerset County, Coonrad Ten Eyck, Second Battalion, Somerset County, Philip Fulkerson, Second Battalion, Somerset County, William Logan, First Battalion, Somerset County, and Nathaniel Porter, First Battalion, Somerset County New Jersey Militia."

His wife, the next gravestone (broken) was Nuel Suydam. She was born 12/31/1761. They left nine children.

Yes, the broken piece of gravestone does belong to Christian and Nuel.

Their children included:

William 1781-1868
Abraham 1783-1852
Catherine 1785-1817
Jacob Christian 1788-1872
Joseph Christian 1791-1863
Sarah 1794-1887
Isaac Christian 1797-1821
Benjamin 1800-1834 (the next grave on the list)
Cornelius 1802-1822

All were born at Charlestown.

Christine Wands
Cincinnati, Ohio

4/15/01 Correction from Dave Van Doren - "Nuel Van Dorn was not the former Nuel Suydam as given by A. Van Doren Honeyman in "The Van Doren Family in Holland and America 1088-1908", but was the daughter of Abraham and Sally Brittain as dictated by herself in a Revolutionary War pension request per Virgil D. White's "Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files"."

Information from Sherry Golem, contributed in April 12, 2009:"

We just returned from Charleston, Montgomery county and while looking for some lost graves we came upon this one. It reads: "In Memory of Alice Kimball wife of Nathan who died April 13, 1795 in the 28th year of her age".

It is located across the street from the Town of Charleston Municipal Bldg. on the south side of Corbin Hill Rd. between Brand Rd. & 131 and can be clearly seen just behind the wire fence.

Alice's stone is all by itself close to the road. That land that it's on is state forest property and the fence that is there probably has protected the stone all these years from vandals. It was just luck that there were people in the town's municipal bldg. on a Saturday morning. Someone pointed out the grave to us and said it was always by itself. (apparently since 1795)

11/16/2016   This single Kimbal/Kimball grave, with a location, is indexed on findagrave.

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