In case you haven't heard, I wanted to share some sad news. About a month ago, I received phone calls from the Asbury Park Press. Our Hendricks(on) family 300-year-old private cemetery in Holmdel, Monmouth County, NJ was completely destroyed on the orders of the Board of Directors of the Beau Ridge Homeowners Assocation (HOA). Even though this is a private, one acre lot on the old Daniel Hendrickson farm restricted by will as a cemetery, the Board had most of the cemetery stones removed and destroyed around August 24, 2010. Apparently, one of the Beau Ridge Board members did not like looking at a cemetery from her 2nd floor condo window. The whole Monmouth County community is outraged by the destruction of the Hendricks(on) Cemetery. This is the same cemetery that some of you visited with me on a bus tour during our 1999 Hendricks and Hendrickson Family Reunion to celebrate the 300th Anniversary of Old Brick Church. Our family members William Hendricks(on) and his brother, Daniel, are buried in the cemetery. They were among the first settlers in Monmouth County, NJ in 1693 and were among the founders of Old Brick Church in Marlboro, NJ (also known as Dutch Reformed Church of the Navesink later Dutch Reformed Church of Freehold and Middletown. Attached are two front page Asbury Park Press articles: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20109120350 http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20109070344 Apparently, NJ does not have laws which protect private cemeteries, only public cemeteries. I am planning a Hendricks and Hendrickson Family Association meeting on a Saturday, November 13, 2010. We will have a luncheon / picnic between 3-4 PM at Old Brick Church in Marlboro, NJ. This will be followed by a lecture from 5- 6 PM on New Netherland and the recent discovery of the Origins of the Hendricks(on) family of Monmouth County, NJ. We will then have a family meeting from 6 PM onward to discuss what to do about the destruction of the cemetery. The President of the Holmdel Historical Society, George Joynson, believes that the cemetery can be replicated based on photos and prevous studies of the cemetery. I hope you will be able make this meeting. A church service at Old Brick Church will follow the next day on Sunday, November 14th at 10 PM. A formal invitation will follow. Anyone interested in the Hendrickson Cemetery is invited.. Andrew A. Hendricks, MD President, Hendricks and Hendrickson Family Association of Monmouth County, NJ