Constable Hook Cemetery

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title: "Constable Hook Cemetery" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["bayonne,-new-jersey", "cemeteries-in-hudson-county,-new-jersey", "1849-establishments-in-new-jersey"] description: "Cemetery in Bayonne, New Jersey, US" topic_path: "general/bayonne-new-jersey" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constable_Hook_Cemetery" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Cemetery in Bayonne, New Jersey, US ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox cemetery"]

Field	Value
name	Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery
image	Constable Hook Cemetery.tiff
established	1849
country	United States
location	East 22nd Street,
Bayonne, New Jersey
coordinates
type	Private
size	2 acres
findagraveid	1259914
::

|name = Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery |image = Constable Hook Cemetery.tiff |imagesize = |caption = |established = 1849 |country = United States |location = East 22nd Street, Bayonne, New Jersey |coordinates = |type = Private |owner = |size = 2 acres |graves= |website = | findagraveid=1259914

Constable Hook Cemetery is the name used to refer to two cemeteries on Constable Hook in Bayonne, New Jersey, the extant Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery and the no longer existing Van Buskerck Family Burial Ground. Both were founded by members of the van Buskirk family, descendants of the cape's first settler, Pieter Van Buskirk. In 1906 the Standard Oil Company purchased the family land to expand their refinery, already the largest in the world at the time. Myths and historical inaccuracies have led to confusion about the two burial grounds.

Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery

James J. Van Buskirk (1791–1856), of the sixth generation of early Dutch settlers in Bayonne, laid out a cemetery in 1849 during a cholera epidemic which had struck the area. In 1854 Van Buskirk wrote a will and mentioned 2 acre of his land situated at Constable Hook off East 22 Street was to be reserved for the cemetery. Many prominent Bayonne residents were buried there. It was later enclosed by oils tanks of Tide Water Oil Company.

The official name of the cemetery is not known, but it was often referred to in documents as "Hook Cemetery", "Bayonne Cemetery", "Constable Hook" et al. It is currently called "The Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery".

Today part of the cemetery still exists due to a restoration project of the 1980s. The cemetery is surrounded by property owned by International Matex Tank Terminal, which owns about 600 acres on the hook. Some remains were relocated to the Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island. There are approximately 140 headstones.

Van Buskirk Family Burial Ground

The Van Buskirk Family Burial Ground which has also been known as Constable Hook Cemetery, the old Van Buskirk's Cemetery and the Constable Hook Graveyard was founded by Pieter Van Buskirk in about 1736. The cemetery was located on a bluff on the north side of the cape near the homestead and held the remains of early settlers to the region, most of which were disinterred and transferred to other cemeteries. A survey taken in 1903, two or three years before it the cemetery was obliterated, counted 104 headstones. The burial ground became the subject of a court case between Standard Oil and members of the Van Buskirk family, who contended the sale to the oil company by one family member in 1905 was illegal. In 1926 the case was finally settled in favor of the oil company.

References

References

1. (March 28, 1902). "Texas Oil in Bayonne. Rival of Standard Oil Company Buys Site for a Big Refinery". [[The New York Times]].
2. "Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery". www.graveinfo.com.
3. Middleton, Kathleen M. (2000). "Bayonne Passages". Arcadia Press.
4. (May 23, 1996). "Memorial Day, Observed Early". The New York Times.
5. "Home".
6. Journal, The Jersey. (Jun 4, 2012). "Biox reaches deal for new plant in Bayonne".
7. "Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery – Burial List".
8. "Once located in the yard at the rear of the Van Buskirk Homestead located at Constable Hook, Van Buskirk's Point (Van Boskerck) and Birds Point Bayonne City (est. 1869), Hudson County, New Jersey.". www.graveinfo.com.
9. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/First_history_of_Bayonne%2C_New_Jersey_%28IA_firsthistoryofba00whitco%29.pdf {{Bare URL PDF. (September 2022)
10. "Timeline for the Founding and History of the City of Bayonne". City of Bayonne.
11. Rosenberg, Bernie. (August 14, 2010). "History starts at Constable Hook". The Jersey Journal.
12. (October 19, 1926). "Standard Oil Wins Title to Burial Plot in Midst of Constable Hook Tanks Court of Errors Reverses Chancery Decision". Bayonne Evening News.
13. "Constable Hook Grave yard". usgwarchives.net.

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