Hettie Ten Eyck

Today was a beautiful day in Albany. The sun was radiant, the few clouds withheld rain, and a swift breeze cooled the air... a perfect day for a walk through Albany Rural Cemetery.

Many times, I have tried to photograph entire sections of the cemetery. Today, however, I wandered through taking photos of Celtic crosses and checking here and there for headstones that haven't been added to Find-a-Grave. There are many of both.


One memorial in particular caught my eye today... a unique carving of stones, draped with roses and calla lilies, topped with a cross and anchor. It belonged to a young woman named Hettie Ten Eyck. The Ten Eyck name always catches my eye because that was the surname of the woman who worked in the communication office at FUMC Grapevine before me. That, in combination with the stunning headstone and the fact that she died on my birth date (87 years earlier), made me curious about Hettie and the life she led.


I thought the anchor was interesting and wondered if her family had a maritime connection. I found, however, that it is an early symbol of Christianity that is often found on headstones. It is also a Masonic symbol of hope.

Hettie's real name was Hester, and she was the daughter of Clinton Ten Eyck and Catherine Wilson. I believe the E. to be Elizabeth, but I'm not sure on that. Hettie is buried in the Wilson family plot, owned by James Alexander Wilson, Hettie's maternal grandfather. She died of consumption (what we now know as tuberculosis) at the heart-breaking age of 24. She was introduced as a school teacher in the newspaper in April of 1887, before she died in June. She was well-liked by friends, as is evidenced by the fact that she stood as a bridesmaid in multiple weddings, also reported in the newspaper. I was not able to find an obituary for Hettie; June 1887 has been elusive in the archives. But I imagine that many in the community mourned her loss.

Hettie's father was a businessman, a maker of candles and soaps. He owned a shop on the corner of Chapel and Canal Streets. Chapel is so named because St. Mary's Catholic Church (the earliest one in Albany) was on that street. Canal had many names over the years, but at the time of Hettie's death it was called Canal, after the Erie Canal. Today, it is Sheridan. There is now a Hampton Inn where the Ten Eyck family had their shop.


I love the logo that Clinton used for his advertisements. Do you see it? He used the Roman numeral X for "Ten" and spelled the rest of his name (Eyck) around that central X. Clever!

Both the Wilson and Ten Eyck families lived on Broadway near the downtown area where the shop was. Today, that area of Broadway has been replaced with freeways.

Another point of interest that I found when searching for more information about Hettie was that her maternal grandfather (James A. Wilson) was the son of Sarah Fonda. You might immediately recognize the Fonda name. It is, in fact, the same Fonda family. The Fondas immigrated to New York in the Dutch colonial era. A Fonda family history site explains, "The Fonda Family was one of eighty-two distinct family groups representing the settler population of Albany at the end of the so-called Dutch period (1624-1686)." There is a little town called Fonda about 30 miles west of Albany.

Although one might assume that Hettie was named after her father's mother, Hester Gansevoort, the Fonda connection also lends the name. One of the early Fonda immigrants was Hester Janse Fonda. (A side-note: Jane Seymour Fonda is an alumna of the Emma Willard School, where I'll be working soon.)

What an interesting web of lives and names and histories are intertwined in Miss Hettie Ten Eyck, whose life was cut short in her prime.

Comments

Very, very interesting!!