Monfort Cemetery
Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, New York
Marker Inscription
GRAVESITES OF EARLY SETTLERS BURIED FROM 1737 TO 1892 INCLUDING THE ONDERDONK, HEGEMAN, DODGE, RAPELJE AND SCHENCK FAMILIES.
Erected by William G. Pomeroy Foundation
The Story
This burial ground holds the graves of some of the families who put down the earliest European roots on western Long Island, with interments spanning more than 150 years from 1737 to 1892. Names like Onderdonk, Rapelje, and Schenck echo the Dutch heritage of the region, whose settlers farmed the fields and shorelines of what became North Hempstead long before it was part of Nassau County. A small country cemetery like this one is a quiet ledger of a colonial-era community, recording generations of the same households through independence, nationhood, and the growth of the young republic.
Why it matters
Family graveyards like this preserve the human record of America's colonial Dutch and English settlement, grounding the sweeping story of early Long Island in the names of the people who actually lived and died there.
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Related people
- ¡ Onderdonk family
- ¡ Hegeman family
- ¡ Dodge family
- ¡ Rapelje family
- ¡ Schenck family
Themes & tags
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