About Us

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The cemetery’s history can be traced back to its organizational meeting held on November 18, 1872 when Fairview was incorporated as the North Shore Cemetery Association Inc.  

The first elected Board of Trustees included:

• Clarence T. Barrett whose name is memorialized on Barrett Avenue and the Barrett Park Zoo, known now as the Staten Island Zoo.
• Captain Anderson whose wife, Mary A. V. Anderson, was the first recorded interment in the cemetery in May of 1876.  The Anderson’s lived on Lafayette Avenue in Port Richmond.
• Howard R. Miller, the first President, and Theodore A. Thompson, the first Secretary, were the first elected to those positions.
• Elected as Treasurer was William J. Ladd.  His five children were buried at Fairview.  He lost all of his children during a cholera epidemic that struck Staten Island from 1869-1880.  The children ranged in age from two months to one year.
• The remaining trustees were Jeremiah A. Smith, Jeremiah Sandwood, George W. Vroom, John Ingram and Peter C. LaForge.

Approval of the Certificate of Incorporation of Fairview Cemetery of Staten Island, Inc. was made on January 17, 2002.

The Seamen’s Society for Children and Families maintains a large plot at Fairview.  It was originally donated by Mrs. Morton Irving in May of 1895.  The original deed was issued in the name of ‘The Society for the Relief of Destitute Children of Seamen’.  It was for indigent children with serious health problems.  The first buried orphan was 8-year-old Olga Holl who died of influenza in 1895 when New York City was undergoing a crippling outbreak of the disease.  Other plagues, most prominently AIDS, have claimed the lives of children buried in the plot.  In November of 1999, the Society unveiled a granite headstone listing the names of the orphans buried there.

Jack Taylor 1873-1900

John Besson Taylor (“Jack Brewery Taylor”) pitched in major league baseball’s National League from 1891 through the 1899 season.  A West Brighton resident, Jack grew up playing baseball.  In 1891, he pitched a four-hitter for the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.  He also played for the Phillies, the St. Louis Browns and ended his career with the Cincinnati Reds.  He died at the young age of 27 of acute kidney failure.  He is buried beside his mother at Fairview Cemetery.  In 2002, Taylor was inducted into the Staten Island Sports hall of fame.

Mary (Polly) Housman Bodine  -  died July 1892

On Christmas Day in 1943, Captain George Housman’s kitchen in his frame house located in Graniteville had a fire with minimal destruction except for the body of his wife, Emeline, and baby daughter, Ann Eliza, who were found dead with their skulls battered.  Captain Housman hadn’t returned from his trip to Virginia in time for the holiday.  Captain Housman’s widowed sister, Polly Bodine, had spent December 23rd with Emeline who didn’t want to be in the house alone with her baby.  On December 24th, Polly went to breakfast at her parent’s house, and on Christmas Day she took the ferry to New York.  After Captain Housman returned on the 26th, and buried his family on the 27th, rumors started circulating about Polly.  On New Year’s Day in 1844, Polly was arrested and taken to the county jail in Richmond Town.  Most of the evidence against her was circumstantial and Captain Housman was a huge supporter of her innocence.  The first trial in June of 1844 brought large numbers of curious spectators to the Island.  No verdict was reached.  Polly remained in jail another 14 months until her second trial in March of 1845 in Manhattan where the jury found her guilty.  P. T. Barnum installed a wax figure of Polly in his Museum on Broadway near Fulton Street, only a short distance from where Polly was on trial.  He represented her as “The Witch of Staten Island”.  However, the State Supreme Court granted a bill of exceptions and Polly was given a third trial.  This took place in Newburgh, in Orange County in April 1846, hoping to find an impartial jury.  She was found ‘not guilty’ and returned to her little house in Port Richmond.  Upon her death on July 27, 1892, Polly was given a proper, religious burial at Fairview Cemetery.  Her grave was an object of interest to the curious for many years.

John J. Crawford, Jr. – died 1935:

Once described as the dean of Staten Island printers and the father of the Staten Island Advance, John J. Crawford, Jr. arrived in the United States when he was eight years old.  A year later he was hired to learn the printing business at $1/week.  In 1880, he opened a small printery on Henderson Avenue.  Six years later he started his own weekly (the Richmond County Advance).  When he retired in 1916, the Staten Island Advance was printed twice weekly and had moved to Castleton Avenue.  He died in 1935 at the age of 82 and is buried at Fairview Cemetery.

William A. Morris  -  died 1951

William A. Morris was the owner of a West Brighton-based moving and storage company.  He was a founding member of the Staten Island branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  Morris was moved to action when a black Post Office employee, Samuel Browne, and his wife Catherine, a teacher, moved with their four children into what had been an all-white neighborhood in Castleton Corners, starting a fearsome hate campaign.  Morris called his employees and they patrolled the neighborhood in the moving vans.  The police were at the Browne’s house protecting the family, but it was Morris’ actions that kept away those trying to destroy the Browne’s property.  Morris’ children later recalled that it was the district attorney who told their father to get organized.  Morris was elected president of the Staten Island branch on September 27, 1925.  He was laid to rest at Fairview Cemetery on September 1, 1951.

Gerard L. Carter 1970-1998:

Gerard L. Carter was appointed to the New York City police force in 1993 and was assigned to the Housing Police Department in Staten Island in November of 1994.  He had a close and trusted relationship with the public housing residents and was a very positive role model for the children.  He coached youth softball teams in Stapleton and the Park Hill section of Clifton.  In 1995, Carter was honored by the Staten Island Advance for his efforts in nabbing a knife-wielding robber who preyed on senior citizens riding elevators in the Stapleton Houses.  He garnered two Excellent Policy Duty Awards and had a spotless service record.  In July of 1989, tragically Gerard was shot outside the West Brighton Houses.  He was laid to rest at Fairview Cemetery.

June 14, 2002    Flag Day

The trustees of the Cemetery celebrated the 130th anniversary by dedicating the flag of the United States in memory of all those interred at Fairview.  The honor guard from Kells-Grennie Post, American Legion, New Dorp took their place of honor while James W. Smith, President, and Mary Ann Furetti, Treasurer, raised the flag.

October 24, 2009   Civil War veteran Patrick Gorman grave dedication

Patrick Gorman was born in Skibberean, Ireland, one of the areas in Ireland hit hardest by the famine.  In 1859, he left his native home with his wife, Johanna, and emigrated to Staten Island.  In 1862, he enlisted in the 164th New York Volunteers, part of Corcoran’s Irish Legion, an Irish brigade where he served as a sergeant.  He was badly wounded in the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and mustered out of the Union Army.

As a result of his wounds, he died a pauper in the Staten Island Alms house in 1982.  He was originally buried there but then moved to Fairview Cemetery where he had lied since in an unmarked grave.

His great grand-children learned of his situation in 2007 and determined to give him a proper memorial.

On Saturday, October 24th, 2009, at 10:30 am, his grave was remembered with a Celtic cross headstone remembering his place of birth and service in the 164th New York.

Monsignor James Dorney officiated at the rededication.  Patrick’s great-great-grandson played the Irish pipes.  The 14th Brooklyn Co. E, a Civil War Living History Organization served as honor guard, firing a final salute and playing taps.  There are at least 42 Civil War Veterans interred at Fairview Cemetery, and all names were mentioned at the ceremony.