Bios for the
​Palenville Cemetery History Walk 2022

Saturday, July 16, 2022
from 4 pm -7 pm
 Can you add to the info that we have? Do you have photos, stories or artifacts that will add to their personal histories?
Overview of Last Year's Event - About 50 people attended the first Cemetery History Walk at the Palenville Cemetery on Saturday, June 19, 2021. Volunteers stood beside featured graves and told stories about the lives of these previous Palenville citizens.  Signs with their names and photos remained in place for two weeks following the event offering a self-guided walk through Palenville's past. Organizer Eva Behr hopes that the History Walk will become an annual event.

Sponsors for the event included: The Bank of Greene County, Palenville Cemetery Board of Directors, Palenville The Hamlet, Inc. and Stewarts Shops. Restoration expertise was provided by The Albany Gravedigger, Christopher White, who was on site completing a repair of a broken gravestone.
2022 Cemetery History Walk - This year, storytelling volunteers and the community will gather in the historic Palenville Cemetery on July 16 from 4pm-7pm to learn about the formation of the Cemetery and hear about the lives of the people from Palenville's past. These stories capture the day-to-day life in Palenville by hearing from homemakers, woodcarvers, day laborers, laundresses and boarding house keepers.
If you'd like to help with this project, click here to email Eva Behr.
Eliza Deyo (the Curtis and Deyo families) - •Eliza’s stone is hand carved by her son, two of her children and several of their children are buried here. She was born in Catskill in 1867 and grew up in the area of Augustine Road. She had 11 children with William Curtis and is rumored to be Native American.  Her children were notable for their antics, and several newspaper articles attest to their notoriety.

Hannah Van De Bogart Palen •Her parents were one of the original founders of Palenville and whose name is on Bogart Road. Hannah's husband died young. She never remarried and raised her seven children and seven grandchildren. Her house was at the entrance to Kaaterskill Clove. Hannah's headstone was restored in 2020.

​Rowland Trumpbour •Rowland was a teamster, quarryman and farmer with family in the area for five generations. His parents ran a general store at the location of the Mountain Melody. His house still stands on Rt. 23 within Palenville. Rowland transported passengers by wagon from Palenville to the top of Kaaterskill Clove. Three generations of family members are in the Trumpbour plot in the Palenville Cemetery.

Jennie Craft •Jennie grew up in Manorville and was the nurse caregiver for the first wife of Rowland Trumpbour, Rachel Wynkoop. When Rachel died, leaving three young daughters, Jennie stayed on to help the family. Jennie and Rowland were married and had two more children who are buried in the Palenville Cemetery.

Eva Trumpbour•Daughter of Rowland and Jennie Trumpbour. Eva was a school teacher, lived in New Jersey and came home on breaks. When she retired, she returned to Palenville. In those days, teachers were not allowed to be married and Eva maintained an active social life in Palenville, swimming in the creek and playing cards with the Holcombs.

Edward and Abraham Londo •Edward was born in Saratoga Springs to a basket maker in an Indian Encampment in Congress Park. Edward and his three siblings learned the art of basketmaking prior to his father’s second marriage, at which point he left the encampment.  Many newspaper articles exist attesting to his guiding two presidents through the wilds of the Adirondacks and explaining his claim to being “The Last of the Mohawks.”  His son, Abraham, attended Rowena School and died of influenza at age 18. Father and son lived on Augustine Rd in Manorville and are both buried in Palenville.

Asa Mower•Long time resident of Palenville and a wood turner, he owned two turning mills and lived on Pine Ave with his wife, Cora Vedder, who was a laundress.  One of his turning mills was located where the Circle W is today. Five generations of Mowers are buried in the Palenville Cemetery.

Lewis Barton•Another woodcarver, his turning mill is still standing on Malden Ave.  Artist George Hall painted Lewis' son, James Demerest Barton, in the turning mill, making souvenirs for the tourists. Three generations of Bartons are in the Barton family plot.

Mary Whitney Mower•Raised by her aunt and uncle who lived next door, Mary married Elmer Mower at age 16 and they moved into a small house that still stands on Pine Ave.  She was a laundress, washing laundry for the boarding houses in the stream and drying and pressing the laundry in a shed that still stands.  She and her husband ran a store, located in their front yard on Pine Ave, where people could purchase groceries and hunting and fishing supplies. People who knew her recall her as kind and generous. 

Elmer Mower•A Palenville legend, Elmer was an Otis Elevated operator, a Rowena school janitor, a Palenville Cemetery caretaker, and ran a convenience store from his home on Pine Ave. •Four generations of Mowers are buried in the Palenville Cemetery.

Victor and Mildred Manning•The Mannings donated the land for much of the cemetery, and facilitated the formation of the Palenville Cemetery Association. Their family lives in Birchwood Park which they helped establish.

Gilbert Palen• Brothers, Gilbert and Jonathan were Palenville tanners.  Their tannery was located at the entrance to the Clove, Palenville was renamed to honor their contributions to the area. When the hemlock trees used in the tanning process were depleted, the family moved on, but a few stayed.

​Sally Travis•As a single mother she owned land, ran a small boarding house, the Myrtle Villa, helped raise her granddaughter, and donated land to build the Gloria Dei church.

Theodore Teale•A boarding house keeper for the Winchelsea. There was also a Teale House at the triangle, Rt.23a and Rt. 32A, where he ran the Palenville Post Office for years. Featured in Beers prominent people, he was politically active and involved in many Palenville organizations.

​Cecelia Palen•Wife of James Palen, a tanner and son of Gilbert and Hannah•James Palen 1810-1846 worked for the Palen tannery business while in Manhattan. Both children, Frances, aged 6 months,  and Phebe, aged 7 years, died on the same day, March 8, 1842 in Manhattan.  Her husband died in 1846 and she died the following year.  All three stones were broken into multiple pieces and have been restored thanks to the preservation efforts of Palenville The Hamlet. 

The Bel Family•In 1954, the Bels moved to Palenville from NYC to run Oak Lodge, a bar/restaurant and cottage resort, still standing on Rt. 32A. Louis Bel was a French chef who brought his culinary skills to the hamlet. His son and his wife continued to run the business until the 1980's.

Thanks to you, their stories live on.
Palenville The Hamlet, Inc
 A 501(c)3 nonprofit charity that promotes local community spirit and sense of place among the people of the Hamlet of Palenville.