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Your best chance to visit the
Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery
is during the
Veterans Memorial Day Services
held the Wednesday prior to Memorial Day.

Please contact one of the local Veteran groups or
IMTT Security at (201) 437-2200
for more information.

       
  The Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery
Many myths and fictitious facts as well as inaccuracies in history books have accumulated over the years since James Van Boskerck founded The Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery in 1854.  The cemetery is often confused and intermingled by stories with the older Van Boskerck Family Burial Grounds that was once located at another section of Constable Hook. 

Ask anyone who knows the cemetery, which is surrounded by property owned by IMTT and its large storage tanks, how many people are interred there, and the reply is generally “a couple hundred”. The at best answers would be “a few hundred”, and actually there has never been a true number associated with the burials at the cemetery until recent. 

An ongoing research project to determine not only how many interments were made at The Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery, but who these people are, has revealed over 1,500 individuals, of which many were Bayonne residents. This research project only covers the time period 1878; when last place of disposition was recorded on death records, to 1907; the year of the last recorded burial, a mere one hundred years ago. A list of interments for the cemetery is available on the web site GraveInfo.com

Previous research done on the now 153-year-old cemetery has not been as in-depth as the current research.  It was believed to be a purchase of burial rights cemetery only, but recently found land deeds are the evidence that show who the original owners of many of the 210 plots are.  Tracing through the generations to know the current owners of the plots is a much more difficult undertaking.

Although many towns and cities take great pride in keeping their old cemeteries alive and well kept, some even claim historical status for them; the City of Bayonne seems to have done nothing for its only remaining cemetery. Until someone steps in to provide a true restoration and upkeep to a place that should be in Bayonne History, Father Time and Mother Nature will be the caretakers of this cemetery.   

For additional information, to submit information or if you believe you have and ancestor interred at the cemetery please contact the chief researcher of The Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery, Bill Hastings at 877-229-4478.