Reconstruction

 Dr. Andrew Hendricks, a Hendrickson descendant and head of the family association, filed a formal complaint with the local police for the desecration of his ancestor’s cemetery and a Cease and Desist Order was placed. A meeting of the Hendricks and Hendrickson Family Association was held to discuss the destruction and how to proceed. Officers of the association were elected to pursue legal action in the hope of being able to reconstruct the cemetery. Those present realized the significance of the destruction as they remembered that some of the 300-year-old destroyed headstones were museum quality and carved by a prominent and well-known English monument carver, William Valentine.

Because there were no photos taken of the monuments or records made of those interred in the burial ground at the time of the destruction, the officers of the Hendricks(on) Family Association reached out to the Monmouth County Historical Association and others for assistance. Joseph W. Hammond gathered five different sets of tombstone transcriptions. These were:

  • Stillwell, Dr. John E., Historical And Genealogical Miscellany, Vol. 2, (New York: Printed Privately, 1906), p. 339 – 340.
    http://ia600407.us.archive.org/20/items/historicalgeneal02stil/historicalgeneal02stil.pdf.
  • McLean, Henry C., Hendrickson Cemetery Transcriptions, Typescript, May 2, 1946.
  • Hendrickson, Eugene L., editor.  Hendrickson Family Cemetery, Holmdel, New Jersey , ca. 1999.  Eugene visited the Hendrickson Burial Ground on September 14, 1999. The original transcriber is unknown. (The Hendricks(on) Family Association believes this information was taken from a list of transcriptions made by a Boy Scouts of America troop.)
  • Joynson, George, Web Site (http://www.gjoynson.com/hendrickson.htm). This Information was derived from Eugene L. Hendrickson. Last Updated 2011.
  •  Beekman, George C., Early Dutch Settlers of Monmouth County, New Jersey, Second Edition, (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, Publishers, 1915).

More photos and information were gathered by the officers of the Hendricks(on) Family Association. From 2010 to 2015, these family members worked diligently to compile a best list from which to reconstruct the cemetery monuments.