The Posthumous Adventures of Dr. Charles Clinton of Montgomery, New York

I became interested in Dr. Clinton after viewing the 1790 census for Montgomery, New York.  He lived just down the street from Joel Campbell, the namesake of this blog.

I became even more excited when I read Ruttenber's  list of the holdings of the George Washington Headquarters Museum.  One of the objects was Dr. Clinton's Daybook from 1765 to 1785.

Surely he had doctored my relatives??  Maybe he had intervened enough that even I owed my life to him?  Ahh...the ponderings of an imaginative genealogist.

I have already written about his Daybook, about his treatment of my 5th great grand uncle's wife, Phoebe, about his treatment of my 1st Cousin 6x removed (Daniel's son, Joseph), and his treatment of a likely relative, James Campbell, the millwright.

The year after the 1790 census was taken, Dr. Clinton died of consumption.  The diagnosis of consumption was associated with a pulmonary infection.  Its symptoms were chronic cough, blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.  In many cases, this infection was the bacterium we call "tuberculosis" today.

Shortly after his death on April 3, 1791 he was laid to rest next to his father, Charles, and sister, Catharine, in the Clinton Family Cemetery.  This cemetery sat on a hill overlooking the Clinton Family homestead.  The elder Clinton had created this plot for his family and neighbors.  In his will he requested,

"It is my will that I be buried in the graveyard on my own farm, beside my daughter. Catharine; and it is my will the said graveyard be made four rods square, and an open road to it at all times, when it shall be necessary; and I nominate and appoint my saidthree sons, Charles, James and George, to see the same executed accordingly; and I order that my said Executors procure a suitable stone to lay over my grave, whereon I would have the time of my death, my age and coat of arms cut. I hope they will indulge me in this last piece of vanity."

Surely his devoted sons fulfilled that request.  James built a gate to the twenty two yard square cemetery.  He offered to build a wall around it, but the subscribers were few so he just erected a wall around the Clinton graves.

In 1876, the year of the United States centennial, a new cemetery was being created in New Windsor, called Woodlawn.  According to Ruttenber:

"....the removal of the [Clinton] relatives from the vicinity left the place [Clinton Family Cemetery] to the care of strangers. The wall and gate becoming broken, and rank weeds and bushes springing up, induced John A. Gray, grandson of Mrs. Mary Gray Clinton, to remove the remains and monuments to Woodlawn Cemetery in 1875." [The best sources say 1876, but others say 1879 as well as this date of 1875.]

The Clintons were reinterred in a section of the Woodlawn cemetery close to the main gate.  They had a prominent place in the center of that section known as the "Gray Plot."

For eighty six years Charles had lain buried atop a small hill in Little Britain. Now he made the journey of about seven miles to another hill that overlooked the Hudson River.  Did his gravestone travel with him?  It appears not, as the stone covering his grave at Woodlawn appears to be custom for that spot.  Were his remains actually found?  His brother James had died sixty four years prior to reinterment (twenty two years less than Charles).  According the Headley's History of Orange County, only James' coffin plate was found. 

Charles was buried next to (or with?) his sister, Catherine.  They share the same illegible horizontal stone.   Catherine, the first wife of Colonel James McClaughry, is fortunate to have a second stone which is very legible.

Horizontal stone shared by Charles Clinton and his sister, Catharine in Woodlawn cemetery, New Windsor.  Catherine's vertical stone sits in front.

Stone of Catharine Clinton McClaghry at Woodlawn Cemetery, New Windsor, NY.  Perhaps this is the one that stood in the Clinton Family Cemetery?  If so, it dates to 1762.

And 

And what remains of the original Clinton Family Cemetery?  Well, this will probably be a blog-post for another day.  Let's just say that the wishes of Charles, the patriarch, only lasted a few generations.  There exists no "open road" to it.  It is unmarked, unmaintained, and virtually lost.  The photo below is probably the remains of the lane to the cemetery.  It is blocked at both ends.  If you wish to explore, it can be accessed from the cul-de-sac at the end of Oak Hill Rd and is approximately at these coordinates:  41.455398, -74.150396 

Possible remains of lane to Clinton Family Cemetery?