A Rare Chance to See Ely Cemetery

For Veterans Day, the Ely Cemetery was open to the public. Located at the corner of Hillside Avenue and Hillside Terrace, the cemetery is preserved and maintained by the Livingston Historical Society. The Society opens the grounds twice a year, on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

The cemetery is the burial ground of Captain William Ely, an early Livingston settler, and his descendants. According to Livingston Historical Society records, the Ely family arrived in this country in 1660, when Richard Ely emigrated from Plymouth, England.

Captain William Ely, who fought in the Revolution, moved to New Jersey from Lyme, Connecticut. He, his wife, Elizabeth Perkins Ely, and their seven children settled on a farm on Riker Hill. One quarter-acre of that farmland was set aside for a burial ground that is now the southern end of Ely Cemetery.

A small crowd toured the graves, the earliest of which date from 1777, a small family plot where parents and a son, Elizabeth, Frederick, and Benoni, are buried, having died within days of one another. Many of the graves have been repaired, according to Society volunteers. In early 2009, trees from an adjoining property fell into the cemetery, damaging several headstones. The repairs were completed in May, in time for Memorial Day visits.

Visitors to the cemetery remarked on the variety of headstones.

“I always wanted to come and see the place,” said Lisa J. of Livingston. “I was curious about it because I have looked in the gate at the graves and wanted to know more.”

She and her companion, Philip, studied the inscriptions, noting that descendant Smith Ely, who died in 1911, served as Mayor of New York City from 1877 until 1878.

“That’s timely,” said Philip, recalling the mayoral election a week earlier.

Captain Ely and his descendants are buried in the cemetery. Many were prominent in Livingston’s history. Their stories were told by Edwin Augustus Ely, who died in 1927 after serving as unofficial family historian. His papers were given to the New Jersey Historical Society as records of an important family in the greater-Newark area. His book, The Personal Memoirs, is available at the Livingston Public Library. 

The Livingston Historical Society, whose members were in attendance at the cemetery, is the court-appointed trustee of the burial grounds. In the early 1980s, when the cemetery had become overgrown, Society volunteers committed themselves to keeping it open and in good repair. In 1983 and 1984, members gathered each week to clear the grounds and to repair the gate and monuments. An Ely Cemetery Fund has been created by the Society to provide income for future upkeep, and donations are welcome. 

The Ely Cemetery monuments reflect their age not only in condition, but in style and materials. Older headstones are smaller, and closer to the ground, while a 1940s monument reflects an Art Deco influence. The final burial in the Ely Cemetery took place in 1978, when Janet Halsey Olstead, an eighth-generation descendant of Captain Ely, was laid to rest. She left behind a legacy of Livingston history, now open to the public twice each year.