JUST WHERE NEW BOWERY ENTERS CHATHAM SQUARE AND SURROUNDED ON 3 SIDES BY UNSIGHTLY TENEMENT HOUSE WALLS IS ALL THAT IS LEFT OF ONE OF THE OLDEST CEMETERIES IN THIS COUNTRY. 
    IT IS THE REMNANT OF THE ORIGINIAL BURYING GROUND OF THE FIRST HEBREW CONGREGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SHEARITH ISREAL. UNITED STATES CONSULTS, JUDGES, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND PEOPLE WHO WERE CONSPICUOUS FIGURES AMONG THOSE WHO MADE THE HISTORY OF NY ARE BURIED HERE. THE ORIGINIAL BOUNDARIES INCLUDED A MUCH GREATER AREA, THROUGH WHICH NOW RUN NEW BOWERY, OLIVER AND A NUMBER OF CROSS STREETS.
THE REMNANT OF THIS CEMETERY NOW CONTAINS ONLY A FEW GRAVES WHOSE TOMBSTONES AND MONUMENTS ARE EITEHR SHATTERED BY THE ACTION OF FROST AND WEATHER, OR ARE COVERED WITH DEBRIS AND GRASS, AND SOILED WITH THE STAINS OF DECAYED VEGETATION. THE INSCRIPTIONS ON THE SLABS, THOUGHT NEARLY DEFACED, ARE IN HEBREW, ENGLISH AND SPANISH. SOME STONES HAVING ALL 3.
     AS FAST AS STREETS WERE CUT THROUGH THE CEMETERY, THE BODIES WERE REMOVED TO THE CEMTERY IN 21ST STREET. AND TO THE PRESENT BURYING GROUND OF THE CONGREGATION ON LONG ISLAND AND ONLY THOSE GREAVES REMAIN WHOSE REMOVAL HAS NOT AS YET BEEN NECESSITATED B Y THE DEMAND ON THE PART OF THE CITY FOR MORE GROUND. IT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE USE OF THE TENEMENT HOUSE CAT, TOMATO CANS AND ALL SORTS OF "THROWAWAYABLE" MATTER. ON ANY DAY OF THE WEEK PASSERSBY CAN SEE HANGING ON PULLEYED ROPES, THE FAMILY WASHINGS, PULLED IN OR OUT OF ONE OF THE TENEMENT WINDOWS BY THE RED BRAWNY ARMS OF AN INMATE.
     YET, NEGLECTED AS IT IS, IT IS INTERESTING AS MARKING THE SPOT WEHRE THE DEAD ARE BURIED OF A POPEL WHO HAVE BEEN AN ENIGMA TO THE WORLD IN ALL AGES AND COUNTRIES, AND WHOSE HISTORY IS THE HISTORY OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN CIVILIZATION.
IN THE YEAR OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA THERE WAS STARTED IN SPAIN A CRUSADE AGAINST ALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT DEVOUT VASSALS OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. ITS VICTIMS WERE THE HIGH AS WELL AS THE LOWLY, AND ON ACCOUNT OF THE VAST POWER WHICH THEIR WEALTH GAVE THEM THE HEBREWS WERE  PERHAPS THE GREATEST SUFFERERS.
      IN ORDER TO WORSHIP AS THEIR FATHERS DID, THEY WERE COMPELLED TO HOLD SUBTERRANEAN, MEETINGS OR CONDUCT SERVICE IN THE INNER ROOMS OF THE PRIVATE HOME OF ONE OF THEIR MEMBERS.
      THESE PERSECUTIONS CONTINUED WITH UNVARYING INTENSITY FOR OVER 200 YRS. SOME OF THEM LEFT THEIR COUNTRY WHEN AMERICA WAS IN A CONDITION TO FURNISH A HOME FOR THOSE WHO WERE TOO DELICATELY REARED TO BRAVE THE HARDSHIPS OF PIONEER LIFE. 
      ACCORDINGLY IN 1644, WHEN THESE INTERMITTEN CRUSADES BROKE OUT A FRESH, SMALL COMPANY OF HEBREWS REPRESENTING SOME OF THE BEST AND WEALTHIEST FAMILIES AMONG THEM HASTILY GATHERED UP WHAT PERSONAL PROPERTY THEY COULD CARRY AWAY WITH THEM AND CAME TO AMERICA.
     SOME LANDED IN SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, SOME CAME TO NEWPORT AND NY AND SOME WENT TO BRAZIL, WHICH WAS A COLONY OF PORTUGAL. IN 1654 27 PEOPLE OF BOTH SEXES LEFT PORTUGALTO ESCAPE THE FURY OF THE INQUISITION THERE, AND LANDED ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL.
     FINDING THERE A PREJUDICE AGAINST THIR RACE TOO STRONG, FOR THE REALIZATIONOF THEIR HOPES, THEY TOOK PASSAGE ON THE BRAZILIAN BARK SAN CATRINA BOUND FOR NEW AMSTERDAM AND COMMANDED BY JACQUES DE LA MOTTA.
AMONG THESES PILGRIMS WERE ISAAC LEVI, ABRAM DE LA SIMON, ISAAC MEZA, DANIEL ISREAL, MOSES AMBRASIAS, SALVATOR D' ANDRADA,JOSEPH DE COSTA, JACOB BARSUNSON, ABRAHAM DE LUCENA, DAVID FIERA AND JACOB HENRIQUE. WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT NEW AMSTERDAY GOVERNOR STUYVESANT, ON LEARNING THAT THEY WERE HEBREWS, REFUSED AT FIRST TO LET THEM LAND AND ON COMPLAINT OF THE COMMANDER OF THE BARK, SEIZED THEIR BAGGAGE AND HELD IT UNTIL THEIR PASSAGE WAS PAID, AND PART OF THEIR NUMBER WERE HELD BY THE FIERY DUTCH GOVERNOR AS HOSTAGES UNTIL THE DEMANDS OF THE MASTER OF THE BARK WERE SATISFIED.
      ALTHOUGH THE HEBREWS WERE RECEIVED MUCH MORE KINDLY BY THE DUTCH IN THE MOTHER COUNTRY AND HER COLONIES, STILL THESE PEOPLE ENCOUNTERED A GREAT DEAL OF HOSTILE PREJUDICE AT THE HANDS OF THE INHABITANTS OF 
NEW AMSTERDAM.
     GOV. STUYVESANT WROTE TO HOLLAND FOR ADVICE AS TO WHAT HE SHOULD DO WITH THESE PEOPLE. THE REPLY FROM THE HOME GOV. MUST HAVE BEEN FAVORABLE TO THE HEBREWS, FOR WE FIND THAT THEY HAD LANDED, AND HAD ESTABLISHED A CONGREGATION AND A DEFINATE PLACE OF WORSHIP, WITH SAMUEL BROWN AND ABRAM DE LUCENA THE LATER ONE OF THE SAN CATRINA PASSENGERS AS THEIR FRIST MINISTERS. 
     IN 1690 THEY BEGAN TO MEET IN EACH OTEHR'S HOUSES FOR WORSHIP. PREVIOUS TO THIS TIME THEY WERE UNABLE TO WORSHIP PUBLICLY , AND 5  YEARS LATER THEY BUILT THE FIRST SYNAGOGUE IN MISS STREET. WHICH RAN OUT OF BROAD IN A CURVE TO SOUTH WILLIAM STREET. THE STREET WAS WIPED OUT BY THE GREAT FIRE OF 1835. IN 1729 THE SYNAGOGUE WAS REBUILT WITH THE REV. JOSEPH JASURUM PINOT AS MINSTER OF THE CONGREGATION. THIS BUILDING STOOD UNTIL 1818.
     THE GRAVES WICH ARE STILL IN THE CEMETERY IN NEW BOWERY ARE AMONG THE OLDEST BELONGING TO THE CONGREGATION SHERITH ISREAL, AND INCLUDE THOSE OF ALEXANDER RAPHAEL ZUNTZ, WHO CAME OVER H ERE IN 1777 WITH THE HESSIANS WHO WERE THE ALLIES OF ENGLAND DURING THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. HE WAS COMISSIONER AND ADJUTANT TO THE GENERAL STAFF AND WAS ENGAGES IN THE BATTLE AT TRENTON. URIAH HENDRICKS WHO WAS BURIED HERE IN 1798, WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE PRESENT OHOUSE OF HENDRICKS BROTHERS, NO 49 CLIFF STREET. 
     THIS HOUSE SAID TO BE THE OLDEST COMMERICAL HOUSE INT HE UNITED STATES. HERE ALSO IS THE GRAVE OF GRESHOM MENDEX SEIXAS, WHO WAS MINISTER OF THE CONGREGATION FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS, AND A TRUSTEE OF COLUMIA COLLEGE FROM 1787-1815, AND THE GRANDFATHER OF JACOB HART LAZARUS, THE CELEBRATED PAINTER, WHO HAS RECENTLY PAINTED PORTRAITS OF THE ASTORS FOR THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. ALSO MANUEL NOAH'S GRAVE IS HERE.
     HIS SON, MORDECAI M. NOAH, WAS IN UNITES CONSULT TO TUNIS AND TRIPOLI UNTIL 1815, WHEN HE RESIGNED. HE WAS ALSO SURVEYOR OF THE PORT OF NY IN 1825 AND SHERIFF OF NY COUNTY IN 1822. HE WAS ALSO JUDGE OF THE COURT OF SESSIONS IN THIS CITY AND FOUNDER OF NOAH'S SUNDAY TIMES AND MESSENGER, A WEEKLY PAPER WHICH STILL EXISTS, HE WAS ALSO CONNECTED WITH THE NY COURIER AND ENQUIRER AND AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH WAS A MEMBER OF THE NY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. JONAS PHILLIPS GRAVE IS HERE ALSO.
     HE WAS A MEMEBER OF CONGRESS FROM PHILADELPHIA DURING THE WAR. HIS FATHER, ZELIGMAN PHILIPS WAS CONSIDERED THE MOST CELEBRATED CRIMINAL LAWYER OF HIS TIME.
     ISAAC PHILLIPS SON OF JONAS PHILLIPS GRANDSON'S WAS A COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION OF THIS CITY AND WAS THE FIRST HEBREW WHO EVER HELD THE OFFICE OF GRAND MASTER OF THE GRAND LODGE OF FREE MASONS OF THE STATE OF NY.
HE WAS ALSO APPRAISER OF THE PORT OF NY. THE FATHER OF SEIXAS NATHAN WHO WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF NY STOCK EXCHANGE, IS BURIED HERE.
     HERE ALSO IS THE GRAVE JACOB HAYS , WHO WAS CONSTABLE OF NY ABOUT REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.
     THE OTEHR GRAVES ARE THOSE OF HAYMAN LEVY, A MERCHANGE IN NY , WHO WAS THE MAN FOR WHOM THE FIRST JOHN JACOB ASTOR BEAT FURS AT $1 A DAY. THE GRANDMOTHER OF CONTROLLER MYERS IS BURIED HERE.
     BENJAMIN MENDEX SEIXAS, GRANDFATHER OF THE LATE BENJAMIN F. PEIXOTT IS ALSO BURIED HERE.  THE LATTER WAS UNITED STATES CONSUL AT ROMANIA AND ALSO AT LYONS FRANCE. HAVING BEEN APPOINTED TO LATTER PLACE BY PRESIDENT HAYNES IN 1877.
     HE WAS ALSO THE FOUNDER OF THE INDEPENDENT ORDER BENAI BERITH.
     THE OLDEST STONE IN THE GRAVEYARD MARKS THE GRAVE OF BENJAMIN BUENO MESQUITA. IT BEARS THE DATE 1683.