Blog posts by Adrienne Lang

POTW: A Grave Tale: Roswell Graves, Jr. and the Cemetery of the Evergreens

Adrienne Lang

Cedar Knoll, from map 161, Cemetery of Evergreens: [by Robert] Graves, surveyor, Robert Graves, 1860; B A-1860.Fl; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Among other things, Roswell (Robert) Graves, Jr. was a civil engineer, New York City Surveyor, real estate developer, and not-so-honest businessman. In 1849 he was one of six trustees to incorporate the Cemetery of the Evergreens (also known as Evergreens Cemetery) on the Brooklyn Queens border, part of what’s now known as the Queens Cemetery Belt.Prior to the 19th century, New Yorkers were buried in small cemeteries in churchyards or…

Finding your Brooklyn Roots in Brooklyn Historical Society's Beginnings

Adrienne Lang

With its "Finding Your Brooklyn Roots" initiative, BHS invites its followers to submit questions about their Brooklyn ancestors. In this post, we share one of our recent discoveries based on one of your inquiries. When a patron wrote to us hoping to learn more about her family roots in Brooklyn, she didn’t expect that we would be able to trace her ancestors back to Brooklyn Historical Society. We were just as surprised to find out that her second and third-great grandfathers, Julian and John Hooper, were not only early members of the Society, but made several contributions to our collections…