REVOLUTIONARY WAR SITES IN SANDYSTON, NEW JERSEY

METTLER CEMETERY

Sandyston, New Jersey Revolutionary War Sites

Mettler Cemetery
Old Mine Rd.
Map / Directions to the Mettler Cemetery

Mettler Cemetery contains the graves of two Revolutionary War soldiers: [1]

Even Bevans
(December 22,1762 - Apr. 27, 1849)
Drummer boy, then Private - Morris County Militia

Jacob Emery
(November 11, 1759 - April 21, 1824)
Private - Morris County Militia

These gravestone are now hard to read, but are marked with Revolutionary War soldier plaques.

MINISINK / WESTBROOK FAMILY BURIAL GROUND

Minisink / Westbrook Family Burial Ground
Old Mine Road
Map / Directions to Old Mine Road

The Minisink / Westbrook Family Burial Ground dates to 1731. Among the graves is a small monument to soldiers who died at the 1780 Battle of Conneshaugh and are buried here in unmarked graves. The monument was placed here in 1913 by John J. VanSickle, President of the Sussex County Historical Society. Patte Haggerty Frato, President of the Sandyston Township Historical Society, wrote: [2]

"The Battle of Conneshaugh took place on a rainy April morning of 1780. The battle took place just across the Delaware River at Raymondskill, PA. Soldiers from the Sussex Branch of the NJ Militia, along with soldiers from the PA Militia, took battle and in the end 14 soldiers were killed. These soldiers were carried back across the Delaware, carried up a narrow sandy path to the Minisink Burial Ground. 14 soldiers buried with cedar post crosses, yet today not one sign is left as a credit to the lives of those brave men. Only a memorial dedicated to the men lost in that battle of 1780."

One of the fourteen soldiers who died at the Battle of Conneshaugh does have a modern gravesite. The gravestone shown for Captain Peter Westbrook (May 30, 1738 - April 19, 1780) was dedicated at a ceremony on July 18, 2010. An article about the ceremony written by Patte Haggerty Frato, which appeared in the The Sandyston Journal, the newsletter of the Sandyston Township Historical Society, can be read here.

HAINESVILLE CEMETERY

Hainesville Cemetery
Cemetery Rd.
Map / Directions to Hainesville Cemetery

The Hainesville Cemetery contains the graves for two Revolutionary War soldiers:[3]

Benjamin Depue (Depew)
December 14, 1756 - June 1, 1840
Cantine's Regiment - NY Militia

Timothy Shay
(October 26, 1756 - July 18, 1837)
Private - Continental Line

Benjamin Depue and Timothy Shay were two early Sandyston settlers after the Revolutionary War. In 1812, they each gave a portion of their property to create this cemetery. [4]

Source Notes:

1. ^ Information drawn from:
• Gravestones in the cemetery
• Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogical Research System Bevans is Ancestor # A009798, and Emery is Ancestor # A036566
• Patte Haggerty Frato of the Sandyston Township Historical Society, who in an email correspondence on July 7, 2012, supplied the information that Bevans was first a drummer boy

2. ^ The quote from Patte Haggerty Frato, and the information about the Battle of Conneshaugh monument and the Peter Westbrook gravestone were drawn from:
Patte Haggerty Frato, "The Ancient Minisink/Westbrook Family Burial Ground,"The Sandyston Journal, the newsletter of the Sandyston Township Historical Society, Compiled 2011, pages 6-7. Available as a PDF on the Sandyston Township website here

3. ^ • The modern stone for Timothy Shay was dedicated in 2008. The stone was granted by the Department of Veterans Affairs since Shay's original stone was no longer standing. See the article:
Patte Haggerty Frato, "Shay Gravestones Dedicated on Saturday, July 5, 2008,"The Sandyston Journal, the newsletter of the Sandyston Township Historical Society, Compiled 2011, page 3.
Available as a PDF on the Sandyston Township website here

• The modern stone for Benjamin Depue was dedicated on December 28, 2014. The original stone was no longer readable.

4. ^ Information about Benjamin Depue and Timothy Shay and their land was supplied by Patte H. Frato of the Sandyston Township Historical Society, in an email correspondence, July 7, 2012.