An Unexpected Connection at Green-Wood Cemetery

Have you experienced any strange coincidences in your family tree? By definition, a coincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection. This story is a perfect example of one such circumstance.

In April I wrote an article about my maternal great-grandmother’s sister Ann (Flood) McCulloch. I didn’t know if she had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. My answer was found when the New York City Municipal Archives released 9.3 million historical vital records to the public. Sure enough, I found a marriage record that confirmed that she did and was living in Brooklyn, New York.1

Ann died in February 1967. 2 While I was investigating the details of her life, I was not surprised to find out that she was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. 3 With over 570,000 burials, it is the largest and most popular cemetery in Brooklyn. 4 Green-Wood has an online database where you can find the location of your loved one. Ann is buried in section 4, lot 21072, grave 56. 5 Now that surprised me.

You might be wondering why. Those numbers were very familiar. I went into my database to check the locations of my relatives buried at Green-Wood, and there it was. Valentine Hendrickson, my GGGG uncle, his wife Charlotte (Caywood) Hendrickson, and three children, Alice, Emma, and Charles are buried in section 4, lot 21072 grave 59. 6 They are just three graves away from Ann!

“A coincidence is only an unseen connection. The roots are underground.”

-Charlotte Armstrong

Valentine Hendrickson was a fireman with Engine Company 10/110 with the Brooklyn Fire Department from 1881-1901. 7 He was born on 24 September 1847,  the son of Charles Van Sise Hendrickson and Henrietta Babcock. 8 He married his first cousin (yup) Charlotte Emma Caywood, the daughter of David R. Caywood and Susan Emily Hendrickson sometime about 1876. 9 He and Charlotte had four children; William S. Hendrickson, Charles Hendrickson, Emma Hendrickson, and Alice M. Hendrickson.

Valentine would see his wife and three of his children die many years before himself. The youngest , Emma, died at 10 months old of cholera infantum on 23 June 1883. 10 Daughter Alice died two years later of tuberculosis meningitis on 9 October 1885. 11 Then Charlotte passed away just a few years later on 9 July 1888 of phthisis pulmonalis, also known as pulmonary tuberculosis. 12 At age 40, Valentine was left to raise the two boys, William and Charles, on his own. Just 12 days after his 19th birthday, Valentine’s son Charles died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 28 March 1899. 13

Valentine retired from the Brooklyn Fire Department in 1901. 14 For most of his adult life, he lived in the family home at 97 Carlton Avenue. 15 By 1910 and until the end of his life, he lived with various extended family members in Brooklyn and Queens. 16 On 28 March 1927, exactly 28 years after his son Charles died, Valentine Hendrickson died of bladder cancer at home in Glendale, Queens. 17

I have quite a few relatives buried at Green-Wood Cemetery. All of them are on my father’s side of the family, including my grandparents, great-grandparents, great-grandmother, and my great-great-grandparents. 18 My mother’s relatives are buried in Flushing Cemetery in Queens, including my great-grandmother, Ann’s sister Margaret (Flood) Knowles. 19

What are the chances that Ann (Flood) McCulloch, a maternal ancestor, and Valentine Hendrickson, a paternal ancestor, are buried next to one another in a sea of over 570,000 inhabitants of Green-Wood Cemetery? They did not know one another and were not relatives, neighbors, or friends. The only connection, it seems, is me.

Sources
1 Brooklyn, New York, Marriage Certificate, no. 6694, for Alexander McCullock [McCulloch] and Annie Flood, 27 October 1895; New York City Municipal Archives, “Historical Vital Records,” database with images, NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search : viewed 22 November 2022).
2 New York City privacy laws make death certificates only available to direct descendants. See, Social Security Administration, “U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693 : viewed 22 November 2022), Anne McCulloch (1874–1967), Brooklyn, Kings, New York.
3 Ancestry, Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/218823178/anne-mcculloch : accessed 17 March 2022), memorial 218823178, Anne McCulloch (d. 1967), Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York; photographs contributed by Bob Collins, memorial by Abagail Howard. Gravestone is marked with surname only.
4 The Green-Wood Historic Fund, “Our Story,” Green-Wood (https://www.green-wood.com/about-history : viewed 16 November 2022).
5 The Green-Wood Historic Fund, “Burial Search,” database, Green-Wood (https://www.green-wood.com/burial-search : viewed 16 November 2022) searches for Anne McCulloch, buried 2 February 1967, Alexander McCulloch, buried 26 December 1927, Alexander McCulloch, buried 8 September 1983 and Sadie McCulloch, buried 6 February 1989.
6 The Green-Wood Historic Fund, “Burial Search,” database, Green-Wood (https://www.green-wood.com/burial-search : viewed 16 November 2022) searches for Valentine Hendrickson, buried 31 March 1927, Charlotte E. Hendrickson, buried 12 July 1888, Alice M. Hendrickson, buried 12 July 1888, and Emma E. Hendrickson, buried 12 July 1888. Alice and Emma were moved from another grave when their mother was buried. See death certificates in notes 12 and 13.
7 Firemen: The Official History of the Brooklyn Fire Department, from the First Volunteer to the Latest Appointee, (Brooklyn, New York : 1892), 282.
8 Queens Borough, New York, death certificate no. 1891, Valentine Hendrickson, 28 March 1927; New York City Municipal Archives, “Historical Vital Records,” database with images, NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search : viewed 16 November 2022).
9 Marriages weren’t recorded before 1881 in the State of New York. Approximate date of marriage is based on the approximate date of birth of their first child as recorded in the 1870 census. 1880 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, Brooklyn, enumeration district (ED) 194, pp. 16-17, dwelling 97, family 176, William S. Hendrickson, age 3; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 September 2022); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T9, roll 853.
10 Brooklyn, New York, death certificate no. 6350, “Emmaetta” Hendrickson, 23 June 1883; New York City Municipal Archives, “Historical Vital Records,” database with images, NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search : viewed 22 November 2022).
11 Brooklyn, New York, death certificate no. 12397, Alice M. Hendrickson, 9 October 1885; New York City Municipal Archives, “Historical Vital Records,” database with images, NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search : viewed 22 November 2022).
12 Brooklyn, New York, death certificate no. 9438, Charlotte Emma Hendrickson, 9 July 1888; New York City Municipal Archives, “Historical Vital Records,”database with images, NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search : viewed 22 November 2022).
13 Brooklyn, New York, death certificate no. 5320, Charles H. Hendrickson, 28 March 1899; New York City Municipal Archives, “Historical Vital Records,” database with images, NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search : viewed 22 November 2022).
14 “Fireman is Retired,” Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle, 1 October 1901, p. 2, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 10 May 2020).
15 “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469 : viewed 17 November 2022); Brooklyn, New York City Directory 1873, 338, Valentine Hendrickson. Also, 1875 New York state census, Kings County, population schedule, Brooklyn, 2nd election district, 11th ward, p. 14, dwelling 76, family 126, Valentine Hendricks[on]; accessed as "New York, U.S., State Census, 1875," digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : viewed 17 November 2022); citing New York State Archives, Albany, New York. Also, 1880 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, Brooklyn, enumeration district (ED) 194, pp. 16-17, dwelling 97, family 176, Valentine Hendrickson; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 November 2022); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T9, roll 853. Also, 1892 New York state census, Kings County, Brooklyn, 6th Election Dist., 20th Ward, p. 3, Valentine Hendrickson; accessed as “New York, U.S., State Census, 1892," digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 November 2022); citing “New York State Education Department, Office of Cultural Education. New York State Library, Albany, NY.” And, 1900 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district (ED) 308, election district 4, ward 20, sheet 6A, dwelling 66, family 115, Valentine Hendrickson; imaged at Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : 1 September 2021); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T623, roll 1057.
16 1910 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district (ED) 92, ward 7, sheet 2B, dwelling 13, family 38, Henrietta Dickinson household; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 October 2021); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T624, roll 957. And, 1920 U.S. census, Queens County, New York, population schedule, Glendale, enumeration district (ED) 430, ward 6 A.D., sheet 18A, dwelling 21, family 42, Frederick Traut household; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 September 2021); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T625, roll 1237. And, 1925 New York state census, Queens County, Glendale, election district 41, ward 42, p. 24, lines 24–26, Fred “Traub” [Traut] household; accessed as “New York, U.S., State Census, 1925,” digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : viewed 10 October 2021); citing “New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules."
17 Queens Borough, New York, death certificate no. 1891, Valentine Hendrickson, 28 March 1927; New York City Municipal Archives, “Historical Vital Records,” database with images, NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search : viewed 22 November 2022).
18 The Green-Wood Historic Fund, “Burial Search,” database, Green-Wood (https://www.green-wood.com/burial-search : viewed 16 November 2022) searches for Carlton N. Hendrickson, buried 17 January 1976, Dorothy Hendrickson, buried 7 February 1983, Clark Hendrickson, buried 24 April 1964, Olive Hendrickson buried 3 November 1980, Sarah F. Anderson, buried 25 October 1939, Augusta Bucken, buried 27 April 1877 and William T. Bucken buried 28 September 1867.
19 Flushing Cemetery Association, (Flushing, Queens, New York), to Desiree Hendrickson, email, 15 July 2022, provided cemetery interment card for Margaret Knowles, no. 43199.

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