Above image left to right: Joel Snodgrass (Stewart Preservation Services), Ross Lumpkin (town historian of North Hempstead), William Townsend (descendant), and Howard Kroplick (Roslyn Landmark Society). Courtesy of Greg Oriero.
The Horsfields were early English settlers on Long Island, residing primarily in Manhasset, Searingtown and Herricks. They are related through marriage to other early Long Island settlers including the Townsend, Underhill, Titus and Willis families. The Horsfield and Townsend families were linked on July 24, 1798 by the marriage of Israel Horsfield (1767-1844) and Deborah Townsend (1776-1846) in New York.
Eight members of the Horsfield family are buried in the Townsend Cemetery with seven inscriptions placed on the most prominent marker in the burying ground-the ten-foot tall Horsfield Monument. Freelove T. Horsfield (1807-1808), who died prior to the placement of the Horsfield Monument, has a separate headstone and footstone in the cemetery.
As a result of the June 2022 restoration of the cemetery supported by a grant from the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation, the Horsfield Monument has been cleaned and the seven inscriptions uncovered. These inscriptions combined with profiles from LongIslandsurnames.com provided the following new information on the Townsend Cemetery:
- The monument marks the interments of three of the seven children of Israel Horsfield (1767-1844) and Deborah Townsend (1776-1846):
- Isaac Underhill Horsfield (1798-1823)
- Mary E. Horsfield (1801-1820)
- Dr. Thomas Horsfield (1804-1868) and his family; wife Sarah Ann Peart Horsfield (1802-1890) and three of their children; Timothy Horsfield (1834-1839), Sarah J. Horsfield (1844-1848) and Mary Elizabeth Horsfield (1841-1926).
- As noted in a 1912 survey of the Townsend Cemetery, for over the last 50 years, it was believed that the last interment occurred in 1894. However, with the recent monument inscription restoration, Mary Elizabeth Horsfield (1841-1926) was the last person interred in the burying ground (1926). A marble footstone with her M.E.H. initials was placed in front of the monument, likely in 1926.
3 Comments
Elaine, good catches! Thanks!
Kindly inform the author that marriage between these families was likely not "intermarriage". Also, people are not "INterned" in cemeteries, they are "inTERRED". That said, is there a published history of these families that someone can recommend?
The Horsfields settling mainly in Manhasset & Herricks. Unless you realized this already, Howard & Greg; I believe the property owned up until 1909 by “ I U Horsefield” in Herricks is in relation to Horsfield Family. To maintain access to I U Willets Rd from the Horsefield property, the LIMP organization built a overpass when developing the parkway. Bridge was known as the IU Willets or Horsefield overpass. Horsefield family then sold this property to the Cedar Heights Association, Refer to - www.vanderbiltcupraces.com