Elmsford, New York and the NYGBS

From Sleepy Hollow we made a quick drive to the Westchester County Archives at Elmsford, New York. Even with the GPS this building was a bit difficult to find. When we finally found the place we attended a seminar about the archives arranged by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, of which we are members. The tour was great and they talked about the kinds of records they had on hand. While the tour was interesting we had come there expecting some lectures on the types of records and how to use them.

The Westchester County Historical Society has its collection in the same building and the description of their record collection was quite interesting. We did look in the Historical Society card catalogue for Kip and Kipp. All of the items they have I have seen or have copies on hand. I can't see that we will need to return to this location for further research.

The next day after staying the night at Fishkill, New York we headed to home sweet home. Enough traveling for a while!

Sleepy Hollow, NY

On the final day of our trip we made a visit to Sleepy Hollow, New York, where the Philipsburg Manor and the Old Dutch Church are located. We had visited The Manor last year and this time I wanted to walk around the Church and see the attached cemetery. The Old Dutch Church dates from at least 1685 with repairs made by 1837. The church was built by Frederick Philipse, who is buried with his family in the crypt. It fell into a period of disuse during the Revolution. Attached to the church is the old burying ground. The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery extends well out beyond the church and the old burying ground. All of these places are just above Tarrytown, New York. Very close to NYC.

A map and booklet are now available, which made it easier for us to find the two plots of Kip/Kipp burials we were looking for. The map includes street names as well as numbered burial areas. So once we were into the cemetery we were able to drive easily to the areas we wanted to visit. As it turned out they were very close to each other.

Area 10 contained Kipp-Halstead plot
Area 1 contained the Kip-Carpenter family plot
I took photographs of all of the stones in these two plots.
All of these people are listed on the Find A Grave website.

Close to the two Kipp/Kip plots there is an Revolutionary War Monument which was erected in 1894. Three of the sides contain names of those soldiers and officers of the Revolution who by their valor sustained the cause of Liberty and Independence.

We also stopped at the Irving family plot and had a look at the tombstone for Washington Irving.

Also located in this cemetery are Mausoleums for some of the richer American families such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Chrysler. The mausoleum for Rockefeller was probably two, three or more times the size of our house!