Churchill's Guide Through The Albany Rural Cemetery is one of the oldest printed works about the Cemetery. The subtitle notes that it contains "Illustrations of ALL The Principal Monuments, Tombs, Etc." and, in the 1858 second edition, "all" totals about three dozen. Some of the engravings show monuments which are still very recognizable like the
Douw and
Yates vaults or the
Anthony Strong lot. A few are harder to identify now and may no longer exist, having been replaced by a different monument, heavily altered, or torn down to due structural problems.
One recognizable monument depicted is the one shown in the engraving above and identified as belonging to one "G. Kreuder."
This monument still stands, minus the path and fence around it. It is located on the
North Ridge, quite near
the Hallenbeek enclosure and the
Soldiers Lot. From a distance, the design on the main face appears to a chalice or monstrance within an ornate border. Up close, however, it is neither and seems to be a sort of rounded urn.
The names and dates carved on the monument were not cut deeply and are now somewhat difficult to read, but it bears the name of George Kreuder who died on February 5, 1863 at the age of forty-five.
The monument was originally erected by George for his son, Augustus, who died on August 22, 1852. He was twenty years old and drowned when a ferry boat capsized in the Hudson River. The ferry, which carried passengers between the foot of Maiden Lane and the Boston Railroad landing, was said to be overcrowded with some twenty passengers and the intoxicated ferryman insisted it was safe to enough to "take them over, even if it killed him" even though it was reported that the water came within three or four inches of the top of craft. It was also windy and the river was choppy enough to form small whitecaps that day. Halfway from the pier, the water began to flow over one side of the boat and some passengers thought to correct the situation by shifting their weight to the opposite side. Their well-intention actions, however, caused the entire ferry to capsize. All passengers (including women and children) and the ferryman were thrown into the river. The ferryman was among the dead, as was young Augustus Kreuder of 15 Montgomery Street whom the newspaper's casualty list noted had come from Germany and lived here fifteen years.
George Kreuder, born around 1818, was born in Albany. He emigrated to the United States with his wife (Caroline - died of consumption in 1856), his father (John - died 1859 at the age of 71), and two sons (Augustus, and Charles who became a lawyer). Two other children born in Albany died in infancy in the late 1850s and are also buried here. George was listed in the census as a hotel keeper. An 1853 article in the
Albany Evening Journal reported that Kreuder, keeper of a hotel for immigrants on Columbia Street, was arrested for the "gross outrage" of "confining" a party of non-paying customers inside his establishment until they had missed their cars. He was held to bail and given "a good lecture."
