At Brinckerhoff Cemetery, unmarked graves haunt community activists

Driving through our noble borough yesterday, we were reminded that Queens is home not just to the living, but to many of the city’s dead.

We have St. Michael’s Cemetery, Saint John’s Cemetery, Mt. Olivet, Calvary Cemetery, Mt. Zion Cemetery, Mt. Hebron, Cedar Grove–the list seems to go on and on. According to the Newtown Historical Society, there is another cemetery called Brinckerhoff, named for a family that may have as many of 77 descendants buried there in unmarked graves.

Insert ghost noises here.

The plots are located at  69-65 182 St. in Fresh Meadows, and though the space was sold to a developer, the Newtown Historical Society is asking that it be preserved and restored. Someone has even created an online memorial to one of the men said to be buried there, and concerned people (who are surely not friends of the deceased, as he passed in 1886) have left heartfelt comments.

The man they remember is named Nicholas, he was an elevator mechanic who fell 40 feet to his demise. The most interesting part of all this controversy may be his obituary, published in a Queens paper years ago:

In memory of Nicholas Klein, Age: 44 years old, Long Island NY Daily Star March 3, 1886,

Killed While at Work

Mr. Nicholas Klein, an old and well known resident of Astoria met with a shocking death while at work at his place of business, a wholesale grocery store on Front Street, New York City on Tuesday. Mr. Klein was employed in rigging, hoisting tackle in the elevator shaft for the purpose of hauling up a cutter to the top floor of the building. He had arranged everything satisfactority, as he approached, and taking hold of the ropes, swung himself off the floor and into the shaft to test the strength of the ropes. The spectators were horrified to see the ropes give way beneath the unfortunate man’s weight and he fell to the cellar beneath, a distance of forty feet. He was quite insensible when picked up and it was evident to even the most casual observer that he had received fatal injuries. An ambulance was summoned and he was removed to the Chambers Street Hospital, where it was found that his collar bone was broken, his right leg fractured in two pieces and his right arm was broken. He had also sustained internal injuries of the most terrible character and his recovery was hopeless.The dying man’s family, who reside at 148 Broadway, Astoria, were notified, and Mrs. Klein went to the hospital, but her husband died before her arrival. The deceased, who leaves a large family to mourn his loss, had many friends in Astoria, and his sad untimely death will be deeply and sincerely regretted.

Klein’s descendants have come forward and written letters against the development of the cemetery.  New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a public hearing regarding the matter on May 15 at 9 a.m. at 1 Centre St. It should be entertaining– who knows which ghosts will show up.