http://www.royalprovincial.com/military/musters/4njv/njvvallen1.htm

~• seems to have had his Bergen County property confiscated from him (see doc.)

~• added to the Swamp Lutheran Church project not because he was buried there but rather because of the Van Buskirk family association with that parish

See the

Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society

"Colonel Abraham Van Buskirk, of Bergen County, who commaded a regiment of New Jersey Loyalists during the Revoltion"

• Col. Abraham4 Van Buskirk (Jacobus3, Thomas2, Laurens Andriessen1) was born 1735 in Bergen Co., NJ, and died June 06, 1799 in Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, Canada. He married (1) Sophia Van Dam November 22, 1760 in Hackensack, Bergen Co., NJ. She was born 1740 in Bergen Co., NJ, and died Bef. 1770. He married (2) Jane Dey April 05, 1770 in Albany, NY. She was born March 16, 1749/50 in Preakness, NJ, and died February 26, 1789 in Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Notes for Col. Abraham Van Buskirk:

Abraham Van Buskirk was a physician, surgeon and apothecary at Hackensack, NJ and owned a farm at Paramus, NJ. On November 16, 1776 he was commissioned Lt. Colonel of 3rd Battallion of NJ Volunteers and later was a Colonel commanding the 4th Battallion of NJ Volunteers. He was active in the Revolutionary War until September 15, 1783 when he and his battallion were evacuated to Nova Scotia from New York. There are many reports of his activities in NJ and NY records. None of them are complimentary. He was blamed for burning the Elizabethtown, NJ church in 1780.

George Washington wrote a letter to Congress on May 16, 1777 in which he reports an attack by Col. V. Buskirk and 300 Tory levies from Bergen on the morning of the 13th. There are other letters to and from George Washington referring to Abraham Van Buskirk prior to that.

see also:
The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley (Adrian C. Leiby) 1962 ISBN 0-8135-0898-3

has numerous details of Abraham and family during the Revolution

William S. Stryer's account (1887)

"A party of New Jersey Volunteers of the First and Third Battalions — in all one hundred and thirty-two men — under Lieutenant Van Buskirk, with twelve British dragoons under command of Lieutenant Stuart, made a raid on Elizabeth Town on the evening of January 25th, 1780, and carried off five officers and forty-seven soldiers. They also burned the Presbyterian Church, the Court House and the School House. Captain Cornelius Hatfield, Jr., was the guide of the tory troops on this occasion, and the incendiary work was ascribed to the discredit of this malicious man, whose father was, at that very time, an elder in the church destroyed by his wanton conduct." http://archives.gnb.ca/exhibits/forthavoc/html/NJVols.aspx?culture=... "ABRAHAM VAN BUSKIRK — He entered the service November 16th, 1776, with the rank of major, and in 1778 he was in commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Battalion. In 1782 and in 1783 he was in command of the Third Battalion. He distinguished himself, with his battalion, at the attack on Fort Griswold, in the harbour of New London, Connecticut, and in the massacre which followed, and is spoken of in report by Arnold with applause for his great services. He did not remain in the United States after the war, but removed immediately to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, and became mayor of the city."

"I have the Governor's Warrant to lay out unto Laurens Van Buskirk, Garret Van Buskirk, Abraham Van Buskirk, Henry Van Buskirk, John Van Buskirk and Garret Ackerson, each a plantation containing 200 acres 1,200 acres in the whole which you will lay out for them on Wilmott mountains adjoining the lands granted the sons of General Ruggles, provided the land is not laid out to others. . . . They paying you for your trouble, as Government will not be at any further expense for such surveys." (page 231) Calnek's History of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia

Children of Abraham Van Buskirk and Sophia Van Dam

1. Jacobus5 Van Buskirk, born 1762 in Bergen Co., NJ; died November 27, 1834 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.
2. Sophia Van Buskirk, born 1763 in NJ; died Unknown.

Children of Abraham Van Buskirk and Jane Dey

1. Maria Van Buskirk, born 1771; died December 08, 1796.
2. Mary Van Buskirk, born Unknown; died Unknown.
3. Anne Van Buskirk, born 1773; died Unknown. She married James McMasters October 09, 1794; born Unknown; died Unknown.
4. John Van Buskirk, born Unknown; died Unknown. He married Mary Phillips; born Unknown; died Unknown.
5. Elizabeth Van Buskirk, born Bef. December 26, 1777.
6. Cornelius Van Buskirk, born Unknown; died Unknown.

Calnek's History of the County of Annapolis (Nova Scotia) page 617