![]() | Part #1 of 12 (so far): NYCHS presents excerpts from The Rikers: Their Island, Homes, Cemetery and Early Genealogy in Queens County, NY by permission of its author, an 11th generation Abraham Rijcken vanLent descendant, Edgar Alan Nutt. | ![]() |
Ever since its publication in 1852 James Riker’s
The Annals of Newtown [D. Fanshaw, Publisher New York. 1852] has
been the prime source of early information about the Riker family even
though its treatment in the book, other than the genealogy, is only
incidental, and even though its Riker genealogy is but one among the many
included genealogies.
That genealogy is somewhat frustrating because of
its format which makes difficult both the locating of individuals and the
ready identification of relationships and interrelationships.
This difficulty provided one incentive for the
recasting of the genealogy in this present work. The new genealogy is
based upon that of James Riker and in essence is limited to it; therefore
the reliance upon his work and the debt to him cannot be overstated.
Consequently no attempt to bring the genealogy down to the present or to
follow every line has been made . . . . Two additional major sources of information relate
to the Riker Cemetery close to the Lent-Rapelye Homestead at Bowery Bay.
The first is a survey of the cemetery made in 1919 in which each
gravestone is located and numbered, and the second is a listing made in
1932 and edited by Alice H. Meigs [Description of Private and Family
Cemeteries in the Borough of Queens, Alice H. Meigs, Editor; pp.
17-23; Queens Borough Public Library, Jamaica, New York; 1932] in which
the inscription, or lack of it, on each gravestone is recorded and
identified by the 1919 assigned numbers.
Although there have been burials in the cemetery
between 1919 and 1932 and also since 1932, they are very few and notice of
them is not included in the chapter dealing with the cemetery. The Meigs
listing provided the identifications of many of the persons buried, and it
is the basis of an expanded listing with additional identifications and
with relationships with other persons in the cemetery as well as in the
genealogy. . . . In addition to the above-cited major sources, others
include my own family papers relating to Riker’s Island, documents copied
from the law practice records of John L. Riker in the archives of the
Greater Ridgewood Historical Society, family data and other help from many
Riker cousins of various degrees including principally Dorothy A. Braun,
and encouragement from my sister, Dr. Elizabeth N Barnes, and from Thomas
McCarthy, Historian of the New York City Correctional Department.
My thanks are hereby extended, and my indebtedness
is hereby acknowledged, to all who have been of assistance, whether named
herein or not, The inevitable errors and omissions, typographical or
factual, however, are entirely mine and for them I apologize.
While this work does not represent an attempt to
include a comprehensive Riker history and genealogy, it is hoped that it
will clarify the available data and information pertaining to the early
generations and will increase descendants’ appreciation of our Riker
ancestors in the area of the family’s early settlement and growth in what
is now the area of New York City. Edgar Alan Nutt February, 2004
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Correction History Society |
Queens Historical Society |
Island was 'Camp Astor' |
Astoria Historical Society |
Ridgewood Historical Society |
Rikers Island's role in NY correction history warrants our providing material on its "pre-Correction" background that is so bound up with Rikers family history. Bishop Nutt's book serves as an excellent vehicle for doing that. His approach is not exclusively or narrowly genealogical. More than simply tracing lineage, he places his family history in wider chronological and geographic contexts through which his exhaustive research tracked it, thus reflecting much other history -- of the island, county, city and country. Strictly genealogical citations, notes, and codes in the printed book have been reduced or dropped in these excerpts. This presentation includes a book print copy information page. NYCHS retains and reserves all rights to images of photos it took during the June 5, 2005 homestead tour and the September 1998 Samuel Perry Center dedication and their captions as well as captions of inserted images not taken from the printed book. |