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Dear Jonathan Purdy3 Descendants:
We need your help!
Recently the White Plains Historical Society ("WPHS") contacted me regarding the sale of property on Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains, NY where a Purdy family cemetery is located. About 66 members of Jonathan Purdy’s (1694-1772) family are buried here. (Jonathan3 was the son of Joseph2 Purdy and Elizabeth Ogden. His wife was Mary Hart.) The cemetery, now a tattered and forgotten remnant of the founding family, appeared headed for oblivion last year when its owner began preparations to move the bodies so he could subdivide the land and sell the lots.
The owner, William Wolfram, listed the 3.7-acre site that includes the quarter-acre burial ground for $3.5 million. His real estate broker showed the property to potential buyers and contacted another cemetery across the city to make arrangements to move the bodies there. Offers trickled in, and for a while it looked as though the 247-year-old burial ground would be wiped from history.
Then Purdy cousins Gabriel (1779-1859) and David (1801-1877) interceded.
Digging at the Westchester County Archives in Elmsford through a string of deeds to the land that includes the cemetery, a local historian discovered a restriction the cousins included when they sold the land for $1 in 1828 to Margaret Haviland, the last Purdy to live on it. The covenant "reserves" from the sale the corner of the property "used as a burying place for the issue, descendants and family connections of Jonathan Purdy, Esquire, deceased."
Rob Hoch, president of the White Plains Historical Society, said he found similar covenants in deeds every time the land was sold since 1828, including the deed transferring the land to Wolfram's grandparents when they acquired it from the city for $1,200 at a foreclosure auction in 1949. Hoch said another clause in the newly discovered deeds grants access "to those who may have occasion of any necessary intercourse with said burying ground," which he said allows Purdy descendants and preservationists back into the cemetery after being kept out by the Wolfram family for almost 60 years.
On July 7, 2007, the City of White Plains issued a letter to William Wolfram, informing him that he may not disturb the burial site and must cooperate with the wishes of the Purdy Family, which is very good news; but the threat still remains. The main goal is for descendants of Jonathan3 Purdy (grandson of Francis1) to identify themselves and mail a letter of support for the WPHS to the City of White Plains, copied to the White Plains Historical Society (c/o Jacob Purdy House, 60 Park Avenue, White Plains, NY 10603) a form letter below is available for you to copy and paste into your own word document. In addition, the WPHS is looking for family members with legal or preservation expertise who may be willing to assist the WPHS as they follow the dual track of protecting the Purdy family's legal rights and restoring the burial ground.
Also buried here is Isaac Purdy (1732-1816), a Revolutionary War veteran. If anyone is a member of the DAR or SAR, please contact your local chapter. I know they will be interested.
Please support the WPHS as they are working hard for the community that the Purdy family helped create.
I will keep you informed of any future developments.
Best regards,
Karin Corbeil
Sample Letter to Mayor Delfino:
Hon. Joseph Delfino
Mayor
City of White Plains
255 Main Street
White Plains, NY 10601
Dear Mayor Delfino:
I am a descendant of Jonathan Purdy of White Plains, who is buried along with approximately 66 members of his family in the cemetery located on the west side of Mamaroneck Avenue between Hunting Ridge Road and Saxon Woods Park Drive.
I am writing to express my sincere appreciation to you for refusing to allow the Wolfram Family to disinter the bodies of my ancestors and their relatives from this site. I would also like to thank you for recognizing the right of my family and its designees to enter the burial ground, and to perform repairs on the grounds, headstones and cemetery wall. Your decision has great importance to the Purdy Family and to the people of White Plains.
As a descendant of Jonathan Purdy, I support the efforts of the White Plains Historical Society (WPHS) to restore the Jonathan Purdy Family Cemetery. I grant WPHS permission to act on my behalf in beginning the process of surveying the burial site, planning its restoration, and executing the actual repairs and restoration of the cemetery. I also ask that the City of White Plains recognize and permit those individuals working to restore the cemetery on my behalf, the privilege of free passage and communication along the right-of-way from Mamaroneck Avenue to the north side of the cemetery, which has been a right granted by deed to my family, and those with “any necessary intercourse” with this site, since 1828.
Thank you again for your continued support.
Sincerely,
_______________________
cc. White Plains Historical Society
c/o Jacob Purdy House, 60 Park Avenue, White Plains, NY 10603
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