Rockland Room

Tuesday, February 16 program, Grandparents' Rights has been postponed. It will be rescheduled for March 2, 7:30 PM.

The answer to the Trivia Question of January 21 is Lady Smuggler, Molly Sneden. Molly and her husband came to Rockland around 1745, and to support his living as a farmer, Molly operated a ferry service across the river to Dobbs Ferry. Their first home, portions of which date back to 1719, was a stone house near the river. During the Revolution, the Snedens sided with the British and refused to sign the Orangetown Resolutions. For this, they were forbidden to operate the ferry or any other boat on the river. Molly continued to ferry British soldiers across.

If you have roots in England or Wales, you likely have a relative who lived, died, and was buried in London. It is a challenge, as each churchyard, burial ground,cemetery and crematorium kept its own records. There are several online sites to visit but if you Google, GENUKI, this is a directory of cemeteries and crematories in the UK. It is organized by the Cemetery Research Group and is the first directory of its kind in the UK. It covers local areas in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,and each site lists owners. Also, local authorities, parish and towns, community councils, religious denominations and private sector companies are provided when available.

For further reading, Internet Genealogy, December/January 2010 issue offers an excellent review of web sites about the subject.

December's history blog  is about the brick industry of Rockland County. At one time, Haverstraw was one of the greatest brickmaking centers in the East with the entire river front from Haverstraw to Grassy Point dotted with brick yards. In its height, there were 38 yards producing 326,000,000 bricks annually. "For a century and a half" wrote G. Wilson Bartine in the Journal News, "Haverstraw's terrain was cut and slashed and pitted with yawning holes to furnish clay for the manufacturing of bricks, which were then sent up and down the Atlantic seaboard.

Try to imagine the terrain as the rolling hills and level plains were replaced with deep water-filled holes, some of them many acres in extent. The trivia question is:

When did brick making begin in Rockland County?

 a)1770's         b)Early 1810's                c. Mid -1830's

Tune in next week for the answer. For futher informatio the Rockland Room has several books on brick making and there is a short concise history in

Take a look at this informative web site created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. You are able to locate a veteran's grave, obtain a list of national and state veteran cemeteries, order a replacement headstone or learn about burial benefits. The searchable database, The Nationwide Gravesite Locator. includes burial records from numerous sources. Enter a name and your results will include which branch of the military the person served in, birth and death dates, where he or she is buried and contact information for the cemetery. Note, information on burials in private cemeteries prior to 1997 is not available. Finally, there is a link to search for American soldiers buried in foreign cemeteries.

www.cem.va.gov