Historic 1777 Cemetery In Essex County Opens For Just 2 Hours On Veterans Day

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Ely Cemetery in Livingston has the graves of one of Livingston's earliest families, a family that, through intermarriage, had ties to many area notables.

The Ely Cemetery is usually closed, but it will be open to the public for Veterans Day, Saturday, Nov. 11, from 2-4 p.m. (In case of inclement weather updates will be posted on the Livingston Historical Society’s website.)

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 moved to New Jersey from Lyme, Conn. 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.

Captain Ely and his descendants are buried in the cemetery. The earliest of the graves date back to 1777 in the family plot where parents and a son, Elizabeth, Frederick, and Benoni Jones, are buried, having died within days of one another. (The Historical Society is not sure of the exact cause of deaths, but believes they were from a disease such as smallpox.)

Many family members 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 book, The Personal Memoirs of Edwin A. Ely, is available at the Livingston Public Library.

It is the private burial ground of generations of Elys and other prominent families with whom they intermarried such as the Vanderpoel, Dow, Goddard and Halsey families.

Notable internments include the monuments of Smith Ely, Jr. who served as mayor of New York City in 1877-1878, as well as two terms as a US Congressman, and socialite Julia Smylie Dow, widow of Major Charles A. Smylie of New York. Mr. Smylie was a veteran of the Spanish American War and President of the Young and Smylie Company (Y&S) Company manufacturer of Twizzler’s licorice candy.

The Livingston Historical Society is the court-appointed trustee of the burial grounds. Any donations made when visiting the cemetery will go towards the maintenance and upkeep of the grounds. More recently, the Livingston Department of Public Works has helped to maintain the lawn and fallen trees surrounding the cemetery wall.

In August, the Livingston Historical Society hired Marcelli Construction Co, Inc. to repair the outer wall surrounding the cemetery.

A suggested donation of $5 per person to help with the upkeep of this historical landmark are gratefully accepted. See more information on the Livingston Historical Society’s website.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CEMETERY HERE: Death And Twizzlers