New Paltz Rural Free Cemetery - A Field Trip

This past weekend, while visiting family back in the Catskill/Hudson Valley region of New York, I took time to return to the New Paltz Rural Free Cemetery in search of some elusive headstones.

Before my trip, I had called up the cemetery to find out in which section several McEntee or MacEntee headstones were located. I also ran a custom report on Family Tree Maker 16 and was able to sort out those names in my database buried at this particular cemetery.

On Monday, July 14th, we stopped at the cemetery again and proceeded to the left rear section as directed. With high temperatures and even higher humidity, your persevering author thought that he would right melt. And there was no place near for a restorative cocktail (let alone the time being 10:30 am). As well, the conditions along with a hoard of gnats kept me from using Jott to transcribe the headstone details as I had planned.

After 30 minutes of wandering through almost the entire left section of the cemetery, I finally came upon these gems:



Headstone of Edward McEntee and Ann (Antje) Freer. Photograph. July 14, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Edward McEntee was my 3rd great-grandfather and is buried with his wife Ann (Antje) Freer. She descends from my Freer line, one of the founding Hugenot families that settled in New Paltz, New York at the end of the 17th century. Edward is the oldest McEntee/MacEntee ancestor that I can positively identify at this time.





Headstone of Mathew McEntee and Elnora Deyo. Photograph. July 14, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Mathew McEntee was my 2nd great-granduncle and the son of Edward McEntee and Ann Freer. He married Elnora Deyo who also descends from one of the founding Hugenot families.





Headstone of Charles McEntee. Photograph. July 14, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Charles, another son of Edward McEntee and Ann Freer, was also my 2nd great-granduncle who died at the age of 25 years.





Headstone of John W. McEntee. Photograph. July 14, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.



Headstone of Elmira Wood, wife of John W. McEntee. Photograph. July 14, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

John W. McEntee was my 2nd great-grandfather who married Elmira Wood when he was 34. Despite her being 11 years younger, she died in 1882 more than 25 years before his death in 1918.




Headstone of Elmer A. McEntee and Margaret DeGroodt. Photograph. July 14, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Finally, and most importantly, is the headstone for my great-grandfather, Elmer A. McEntee. This is the ancestor who for some reason added the "A" to make McEntee into MacEntee. Obviously the change didn't always "take" during his lifetime or even in death as the headstone clearly omits the "A."

So I finally have some of the evidence I need to prove that the current line of MacEntees that lived in Ulster and Orange counties of New York are in fact descended from a McEntee line. I believe that one "family urban legend" stating that there was a family feud which caused one member to add the "A" can be traced back to this:



Headstone of Elmer J. McEntee. Photograph. March 10, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Elmer J. MacEntee is actually Elmer McEntee, Jr., son of Elmer A. and is buried in a separate section of the same cemetery as other McEntees. Census records from 1900 show Elmer A. as a "McEntee" yet beginning in 1910 he is listed as a MacEntee as are all 11 of his children.

In the next few days I will add another chapter to my serial posts Two Roads: Do McEntee and MacEntee Converge or Fork?