Palenville Village Cemetery, 48 State Tour, 2020
Hannah Bogart was the daughter of Hannah Van de Bogart (Bogard) and Peter Van de Bogard (Bogart), who married Gilbert Ezekiel Palen in 1803. Gilbert and his brother, Jonathan, ran a tannery and are the namesakes of our hamlet, Palenville. Hannah had a daughter, Harriet Palen, in 1821. When the rest of the Palen family moved on to Pennsylvania in pursuit of more hemlock trees to supply the tanning business, Hannah remained here. Her husband died in 1822, leaving her with a one year old child. Her daughter died at 21 years of age in 1843, and Hannah remained in the area until her death at age 70 in 1857. All three are buried here in Palenville. As Hannah has no direct descendants and her in-laws are scattered throughout Pennsylvania, no one has tended her grave. Her story is not unique.
The Palenville Cemetery began as the Palen family cemetery, with eleven Palens buried here between 1822 and 1857. The oldest marked burial is Gilbert Ezekiel Palen (1822). Numerous settlers of the original patent (1803) are buried here as people purchased small plots of land near the existing Palen burials to inter their own loved ones. Through years of deed research I have discovered several of these purchases, but certainly not enough to piece together a solid history of the cemetery.
In the 1960s a large tract of land which included the burials was purchased with the intention of creating a housing development. The new owners deeded the burial ground to the hamlet of Palenville and the Palenville Cemetery Board was created to oversee it. A new section has been developed and detailed records of sales and burials are now kept, however, nothing like this exists for the old section. The last of the Mohawks and veterans of the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and World Wars I & II are buried here.
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Green County Historical Society
For more specific questions or concerns regarding the event at Palenville Village Cemetery please contact Eva Behr at evabehr2@gmail.com.