Dear Friends, Great news last Wednesday, and hearty congratulations to Melinda Hunt for her class action suit to allow folks access to the graves of their family members on Hart Island. Since prisoners from Rikers Island bury the dead here, NYC Dept of Corrections had sole access to the island. July 19th is the first day that NYC will offer round trip ferry rides to family members, then escort them to grave sites. Each ferry holds fifty people and reservations are required through the NYC Dept. of Corrections. BACKSTORY...This Bronx County island was purchased by the City of New York on 27 May 1868. It was used as a Union Army POW camp, a psych institution similar to the one on Blackwell's [today's Roosevelt Island], a TB sanatorium, potter's field, 19th c. boys' reformatory and, most recently, Phoenix House drug rehab. The first known interment was that of NYC's Louisa VanSlyke, age 24, DOD 10 April 1869. Hart Island is still active as "City Cemetery." 800,000 buried here since the inception as NYC Potter's Field and almost 65,000 since 1980. This is the largest "known" mass grave site in the world. NYC GENEALOGICAL IMPACT The American term "potter's field" has a Biblical derivation and is traditionally a burial ground for the indigent, "strangers" and unclaimed people. This includes, but is not limited to, our impoverished immigrant ancestors who arrived in NYC after May 1868. Note: Ancestors who were "inmates" at Blackwell's Island* [later Welfare, now Roosevelt] and Wards Island may be interred at Hart Island, no matter what building they lived in. Note: Your ancestor's admission card to Blackwell's may state that he has no living relatives; this was intentionally misleading so that no one was financially responsible for the bill. Note: NYC Death Certificates may state the burial place as "Potter's Field," or "City Cemetery," or "New York City Home--B.I." or just "B.I." I've seen all versions. I especially notice these place names on death certificates found via LDS aka "Family Search." HART ISLAND BURIALS via Find-A-Grave>So far this search engine is for deaths from 1980- PRESENT. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=65710 Earlier burial transcriptions are in the works. HART ISLAND PROJECT https://www.hartisland.net/ NY Times NEWS> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/nyregion/new-york-city-to-allow-visits-to-grave-sites-on-hart-island.html?_r=0 VIDEO of "Secrets of New York" episode featuring Hart Island> http://a002-vod.nyc.gov/html/recent.php?id=2266 * Blackwell's Island= 1st national "lunatic asylum," smallpox hospital, reformatory, prison, almshouse, old age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaUZ8Zxp2Ek I hope this original piece has peaked your interest in The Big Apple. Barb @ 7-10-2015