Little White Church Cemetery
Source: Sister Mary Agnes Parrell, Profiles of Dobbs Ferry (Dobbs Ferry: Oceana
Publications, Inc., 1976), pp. 63-68.
Martin Lefurgy bought several acres on the north side of Ashford Avenue from ancestors
of Dirck Storm. He set aside one acre of his land to be used by the community as a free
burying ground. The first deed for a church and cemetery, recorded in the Land Records
of White Plains County Center Office Building, Liber 96, p. 158, was given to the
trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Greenburgh by Martin Lefurgy and his wife, Eliza,
August 28, 1823. According to Mrs. Earl H. Shinn, a second deed, dated February 25,
1842, was generously transferred by Isaac Lefurgy and his wife to the Presbyterian
Church of Greenburgh, and the church took responsibility for supervising internments in
the Little White Cemetery.
Actually, Martin Lefurgy had allowed his land to be used as early as the year 1810. The
first internment seems to be December 28, 1810, with James W. Eisman’s name heading
the list.
On February 25, 1841, the Presbyterian congregation bought an adjoining half acre of
land from Isaac Lefurgy and his wife, Elizabeth. John Storms and a sexton were
appointed in 1848 to attend to the church yard and the surrounding cemetery.
The cemetery was used as a burial ground until 1894. However, after 1870, South
Presbyterian Church was unable to continue the upkeep of the cemetery. The old church
next to the cemetery had continued to be used for funerals until 1883 when it was torn
down and the property sold to Dr. Champion Judson, who built a structure that became
the first hospital in Dobbs Ferry.