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Valentine Family Cemetery
Nassau, Rensselaer County, New York

859 Nassau-Averill Park Rd
or County Route 15
Nassau, NY

The cemetery is located off of the Hammond's driveway (dirt road) on the Arnold Farm - follow the stone wall to an opening and the cemetery is the first right along the dirt road next to the stone wall.

Contributed by Barbara Svetlick, May 2001 [gumba@worldnet.att.net].
Total records = 16.

All persons buried in this cemetery are descendants of John and Amy Brockway Valentine of Nassau, New York.

The cemetery was originally on the land owned by the Valentines and which is now owned by the McEneaney family.

This cemetery was "lost" until the restoration by Laura and Kirsten. It was a Girl Scout Troop 380 project. These Girl Scouts are part of the Hudson Valley Council and the restoration was their Cadette Girl Scout Silver Award. They refer to it as the Hudson Valley Restoration, by Laura McEneaney and Kersten Williams done in the Summer of 2000.

Information comes from the headstones. Some of the headstones were/are unreadable and from records found some are missing or were never given headstones. see notes below

- Barbara Svetlick

??, unreadable headstone
Groft, Charles W., d. Jul 30, 1854, AE 11 mo. 27 Ds, son of John and Jane Groft, And shall we meet him in the sky. So loved and so lamented here. And shall we greet again on high....[broken off]
Traver, Jerusha, d. Apr 26, 1840, aged 31yr 5d., Wife of Israel Wm. Traver
Valantine, Amy, d. Sept 1857 in her 86 year, Wife of John
Valantine, James A., d. Mar 22, 1855, Aged 33 years, 7 mos & 9 ds., s/o Richard & Anna
Valentine, Anna, d. Feb 24, 1841 Aged 42, wife of Richard
Valentine, John W., d. Mar 5 ?? 1854 aged 21 years 7 mos ??, son of Richard and Anna Valentine
Valentine, Richard P., d. ?? 30, 1849, ..ds....young & fair...early doom, son of Hiram and Catherine Valentine

Following are additional research records:

The headstone that can't be read could have been John Valentine's. He died around April 1813 in Nassau from what we believe was an epidemic since his older brother died about the same time. We have not found his gravesite or any stone but believe he is buried in the cemetery since it was originally his farm. It also could be Richard Valentine, his son, who took over the farm after his father died. The possible missing during the years that it was used by the Valentine family are:

John Valentine baptised Feb 28, 1761 in Dutchess County, NY (Arthur M. Kelly, Southeast New York Birth and Baptisms. Patism Records of the Presby. Church in Brickenhofferville Parents: Matthew Valentine) died in 1813. He was married to Amy Brockway December 20, 1790. She was born Jan 1, 1770 in New York and died Sep 18, 1857 (her headstone is in the cemetery)

Richard Valentine (son of John and Amy Brockway Valentine) bap Nov 11, 1795 in Nassau, NY and died after 1850 in Nassau. He married Anna Hoag April 3, 1817 in Rensselear County, Nassau, NY at the Protest. Dutch Church (LDS Records Film #M510951/Serial #0119 and Reformed Protestant Dutch Church at Nassau) Anna's headstone is in the cemetery. They have several children whose gravesites have not been found: two are there.

Valentine, Anna E. , b. 8/31/1816, d. 2/24/1841 (she died the same month as her mother)
Valentine, William H. , b. 8/11/1819, d. 3/1/1820
Valentine, James A. - his headstone is in cemetery
Valentine, John W. - his headstone is in cemetery
Valentine, Alfred, b. 7/31/1834, d. 8/27/1835
Valentine, Henry, b. 7/24/1837, d. 11/28/1837
Valentine, Sylvester, b. 12/8/1838, d. 5/2/1839

All of the headstone found are 1840-1857. The family was in possession of the farm from John Valentine (late 1700s) until the death of Amy Valentine in 1857. No information on what happened after that. It has also been referred to as the Myron Deveraux Farm - but it is believed that owner came after the Valentine family and may have married into the family.

All the children died before their parents except Anna who died a week after her mother - they are probably all buried in this small cemetery

Anna wife of Richard Valentine died Feb 24, 1841 age 42 ?? 5 months & ?? Anna Hoag was baptised on Sep 26, 1799 (LDS Microfilm #0442387 - Salt Lake City)

John W. son of Richard and Anna Valentine. John W. Valentine was baptised Aug 5, 1832. He is listed in the 1850 census records living with the Hoag family which is his mother's family.

Richard P. son of Hiram and Catherine Valentine - we have no other information on him other than the headstone.

Charles W. son of John and Jane Groft. We have no information on him other then the headstone and we're not sure how they are related to the Valentine family yet.