Captain Richard Dusenberry

This headstone was another elusive one, due in part to the fact that I had the 1912 lot map backward on my first attempt to locate the gravestone of this veteran of the Revolutionary War.  This time, I plotted the location based on the adjacent family lots, which included the Campbell and Ira Harris monuments.

There is fairly little information on Captain Richard Dusenberry, apart from what this headstone tells us.  Given the variations in spelling common on old records, it's possible that this was the same man referred to as " "Richd Deusenbury" in the 1810 census (as a resident of the town of Colonie) or "Richard Duzenbery" in the 1820 census (which lists him at Albany).  In 1817, city directories list him at 143 Market Street where he was involved in the "lumber yard wood/furniture/carriage trades(s)."

Richard Dusenberry was first interred in the Dutch Reformed section of the State Street Burying Grounds and moved here around 1869.  He appears in the inventory of graves compiled by the city's Common Council in advance of the removal.  Since he was not among those in the mass reburial in the Church Grounds, his remains must have been removed to this lot by family.

Before its removal from the old Burying Grounds, this stone had a lower portion with an epitaph.  Only the upper half of the stone survives, but publisher and history buff Joel Munsell published the complete inscription in his multi-volume Annal of Albany.

Capt. Richard Dusenberry, a patriot of the American Revolution, who departed this Oct. 8, 1830, aged 71 years, 1 month, and 9 days.  The great, the wise, and dreadful God, hath snatched our dearest friends away, Not all their riches could procure Their souls a short reprieve, Nor save from death one guilty hour, Or let our cheerful parents live.  Also, their three infant children.  Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, Rev. XIV chap. 13 verse.