←Warren Miller

Lewis C. Near & Rebecca Maria Hoffman Near

Lewis: Born 1806 Died Dec 19, 1844 ; Rebecca Born 1812 Died Mar 8, 1872

Red Hook Methodist Cemetery. ME Cemetery Map: 41 A, tall monument with sphere in a cup topper, three blank sides, western side.

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Lewis Near’s was one of the first burials in the cemetery, but it is possible that he rests elsewhere. There is also a marker in the Red Hook Lutheran Cemetery for him in the Frederick A. Martin plot that reads “Lewis C. Near 1806–1844 also son Charles ae 6 months”. Next to his marker is “Rebecca M. Hoffman, wife of Lewis C. Near 1812–1872.” Also in the Lutheran Cemetery plot are three of Lewis’s daughters. The Martin monument is fancy, tall, and capped with a nearly-to-scale statue of a Civil War soldier. Frederick Martin and his brother-in-law Beekman R. Near enlisted and served together in the Civil War in Company I of the 115th New York Regiment of infantry. There is more information about Frederick Martin’s family posted under the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church section.

Lewis died in 1844, and he and Rebecca have a rather large monument in this cemetery with a lovely, embossed shield motif surrounding both their names and dates. Why then do they also have markers in the Lutheran cemetery? Are they just being memorialized or were they exhumed in order to be closer to their children? Lewis’s parents are unknown, but his date of birth would lead one to suspect that he was a grandson of Carl Neher (1747– 1794), Palatine descendant and progenitor of many of the local Neher/Near families in the area. Carl’s son Jeremiah married two of his daughters to Peter and Jacob Lewis, so perhaps there is a family connection to the name “Lewis.”

Lewis’ wife Rebecca was the daughter of George C. Hoffman and Lydia Beekman and had perhaps six children: Charles (who died at six months of age), Lydia (1829–1910, married Gilbert B. VanZandt), Frances (1831–1910, married Amzy F. Doolittle) Beekman R. (c.1835–1884), Sarah (born c.1837), and Susan (1848–1899, married Frederick A. Martin). Rebecca died at Greenbush in Rensselaer County, NY, at 60 years of age where she was living with her daughter Susan and her husband Frederick Martin.