Cornelius Bogert served as a private in the 1st Regiment of the New Jersey Militia during the Revolutionary War.

When he died in 1825, he was buried in the French Huguenot–Demarest Cemetery in New Milford. That is where he was honored Friday evening during the borough's annual flag ceremony, when flags were placed near the graves of some the people interred there.

Local officials, members of a Lion Scout troop, and history buffs attended the ceremony, which Nancy Varettoni, chairperson of the New Milford Historic Preservation Commission, said "sets the tone for the Memorial Day weekend," culminating with the borough's annual observance of Memorial Day on Monday.

The Lion Scouts helped Darlene Minko of the New Milford HPC put flags on the graves of three Revolutionary War and one Civil War soldier in the cemetery. The fourth Revolutionary War soldier's grave, Bogert, received a flag from a long-lost relative.

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Terry McQuillin traveled with her husband Lee from Branchville in Sussex County to take a look at the final resting place for Bogert in the cemetery founded by the Demarest family in 1677, considered one of the oldest in Bergen County.

McQuillin, who grew up in Hawthorne, said she wanted to see Bogert's grave as she is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization for women directly descended from someone involved in the Revolutionary War.

"It is very moving. My grandmother always talked about the relatives, and she was in the DAR," McQuillin said. "He was our patriot, you have to have a patriot to be in the DAR. And here's the proof that he was a person. He is here."

And as it turns out, she is related to 13 people buried in the cemetery including Bogert, based on research done by her husband. They include members of the Demarest family, descendants of David Demarest, the French Huguenot settler of northern New Jersey, who founded New Milford.

For McQuillin or anyone else to be standing in the cemetery is not a common occurrence. Varettoni, one of the organizers of the flag ceremony for the last 17 years, said the cemetery was usually closed to the public due to the age of the tombstones, as many are at least two centuries old. The cemetery, located on Patrolman Raymond Woods Drive, a block away from Borough Hall, is only open once a year for the ceremony.

Previously owned by the Demarest Foundation, the cemetery is now in the possession of the borough after it was acquired in May 2018 for $1. Varettoni said there are over 150 people buried there, based on an inventory done in 2002 by local Girl Scouts.

The Preservation Commission has received a certificate of eligibility from the state in the past year that will enable it to apply for grants to create a preservation plan that will include restoration work of tombstones, Varettoni said. Another goal, she said, is to open the cemetery more often for educational programs and other events.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com

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