Last Thursday, a construction worker, using a jackhammer, was working on the expansion of Green-Wood’s Crematory and Columbarium when he hit something strange in a wall: a metal box. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that this was no ordinary box–it was a time capsule! It turns out that Ken Taylor, Green-Wood’s vice president for … Read more
January 22: On this date in 1854, Patrick O’Donohue, Irish patriot and leader of the Young Irelander Movement, who had been sentenced by a British court to be hung, drawn and quartered for hight treason, then was pardoned, died.
January 21: Major General Fitz John Porter, described as “the most magnificent soldier in the Army of the Potomac,” made the mistake of being a Democrat in a Republican administration; he was court martialed and dismissed from the Army on this date in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, but was restored to the Army in 1886.
January 20: Mob boss Johnny Torrio, now featured in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” was born on this date in 1882. He taught Al Capone the business.
January 19: Alfred Van Derwerken, whose epitaph at Green-Wood simply reads, “He Loved Nature,” died on this date in 1906.
January 18: The only man elected mayor of the Cities of Brooklyn and New York, Seth Low, was born on this date in 1850. He funded the Low Memorial Library, on the campus of Columbia University, in memory of his father.
January 17: “The Spanish Dancer,” Lola Montez, who achieved worldwide fame for her affairs with the rich and famous, died penniless in Queens on this date in 1861.
January 16: Edward Brush Fowler, who led the 14th Brooklyn in battle during the Civil War, and was brevetted a major general “for gallant and meritorious services,” died on this date in 1896. He is memorialized in a heroic bronze that stands at Lafayette Avenue and South Portland Street in Brooklyn.
Marge Raymond has been birding at Green-Wood for years. She also is a tour guide for The Green-Wood Historic Fund, leading tours every Wednesday and two Sundays per month. Marge just has sent this report in about recent bird sightings at Green-Wood: We are having what’s likely to be one of our most exciting winters … Read more
January 15: Daniel Tompkins Van Buren, born on this date in 1826, goes on to graduate from West Point, serve in the Mexican and Civil Wars, and be brevetted a brigadier general for “faithful and meritorious services during the Rebellion.”