New Lindenhurst markers honor Revolutionary War soldier, Breslau Cemetery's Jewish heritage

Two areas in Lindenhurst Village are being officially marked as historic locations just in time for two important anniversaries.

Officials and historians celebrated receiving two new historical markers this past weekend through the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, based in Syracuse, as part of their New York State Historic Marker Grant Program.

One marker honors Jesse Ketcham, one of Long Island’s earliest pioneers, while the other marks the Jewish section of Breslau Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery on Long Island.

The Ketcham name can be found on streets and landmarks across the Island. Ketcham was born in Huntington in 1734 and was a soldier in the French and Indian War, according to Marianne Guglieri, director of the Lindenhurst Museum, and Lynda Distler, trustee for the Lindenhurst Historical Society.

He later married Temperance Brush, and the couple were among the first settlers to build a homestead in 1780 in an area of Lindenhurst known then by its Native American name, Neguntatogue, which historians said translates to “abandoned” or “forsaken land.”

Ketcham served during the American Revolution, participating in the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776. He later became a founding member of the First Presbyterian Church of Islip and Huntington South, also known as the First Church of Babylon, Guglieri and Distler said. He was elected deacon in 1798 and died in 1826.

In line with America's 250th

Babylon Town Historian Mary Cascone said the marker serves as a reminder that people did live in the area — part of what was called Huntington South until the late 1800s — before it was renamed Breslau and then Lindenhurst.

“Just because most people lived in the north part of Huntington doesn’t mean there wasn’t anyone down here,” she said. “This highlights one of those families that then continued to be there for generations.”

Guglieri and Distler said they were determined to get the marker this year, the 250th anniversary of the United States, since Ketcham was an American Revolutionary War veteran.

“He’s truly our link as a community to the country’s anniversary,” Distler said.

The markers, which cost about $2,000 to be made, are given out only after extensive proof is provided to the Pomeroy Foundation. Guglieri said it took her about two years to find all the necessary documents on Ketcham to get the grant money.

“They say it takes a village,” she said of the research, which involved historians from nearby villages. “For this it took three villages, two towns and a couple of congregations.”

The marker will be placed on Wellwood Avenue just north of Montauk Highway.

“I think people will feel more like a part of this 250th anniversary because we actually had someone from this area who fought in that conflict,” Guglieri said.

A Jewish congregation's roots

Another anniversary pushed Brad Kolodny, president of the Jewish Historical Society of Long Island, to get a marker this year. The Jewish section of Breslau Cemetery this month celebrates its 150th anniversary. The roughly half-acre of land was purchased for $135 in 1876 by four Jewish men: Hermann Rosenstein and Simon Spitz, of Lindenhurst; Bernard Jonas, of Wantagh; and Morris Miller, of Freeport.

According to Guglieri, several men buried in the Jewish section of Breslau were Civil War veterans.

Before the Breslau Cemetery, Jewish families on Long Island would have had their burials in Brooklyn and Queens, Kolodny said. Another Jewish cemetery would not be established on Long Island until one in Sag Harbor in 1891, he said.

Rosenstein and Spitz were founding members of a Jewish congregation formed in 1875 in Lindenhurst, which was known as Breslau at the time, Kolodny said. It is the considered the first Jewish congregation on Long Island, Cascone said.

They didn’t have a synagogue, Kolodny said, so they met in various members’ homes and businesses for services. The first synagogue wasn’t built on Long Island until 1896, Kolodny said.

“So, this land in the cemetery is the oldest remnant of Jewish communal life on Long Island,” he said. “These four individuals said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be here for the long term and we want to establish some roots here.’”

The cemetery shows that “you have a Jewish community there and they are looking for their sacred space,” Cascone said.

The cemetery is still used for Jewish burials, Kolodny said, and is now administered by Congregation Beth Ohr in Bellmore.

Kolodny said the marker at Breslau “brings recognition to an area that people might not be familiar with because there’s no longer a synagogue in Lindenhurst.”

The new historical markers bring the total number in the town to 50, Cascone said. Although each marker contains only five lines of text, they can help lead residents to a better understanding of history, she said.

“It’s given us the platform to give explanation to things people never knew or thought they already knew,” she said. “Somebody says, ‘Oh there’s no history here,’ and then they pass by one and you imagine the conversation that then happens around the Thanksgiving table.”