Eliza Fonerden (Spingler)

Source of Middle name

Of all of Eliza's direct lines, there is no evidence that any were of the surname <Murray> .

In very high likelyhood, Eliza was Named for Eliza Murray of Murray Hill (notice connection in newspaper article ††. John and Hannah Murray were her neighbors growing up on Bowery Hill, just south of Murray Hill. There may even have been a business connection through her maternal uncles, the Bonsalls. Both the Bonsalls and the Murrays were involved with the shipping trades that made the both families wealthy, even before the Spinglers reached that status.

†† note: In the article: Mary Triglar was Eliza's Aunt; while the Murrays are also ancestors of the deceased.

"Eliza" Spingler was the sole heir to her parents' parcel, once 22 acres (future East and West 14th st. area, Union Square). This property benefitted by having been re-platted by the City commissioners in 1811. The commercial potential allowed for the leasing of property as the city spread northward. Eliza was raised in a then modern new house built by her father that only stood for a few decades at the east end of the property. Her father Henry had it built while married to his first wife Jane Sloo.. She died childless before it was finished.

Eliza lived long enough to see her land developed and incorporated into the City proper. Keep in mind that even in 1836 the 22+ acres lay outside the City proper. (Union Park can be seen in the attached project ).

Her daughter Mary and the daughter's husband, Michael Murray van Beuren, administrated the estate along with her.

By 1836 the City expanded over the Spingler farm. The original farm house stood in the way of progress was moved a bit and was later torn down after a grand replacement street-front style mansion was built at what came to be known as 21 West 14th St.

In later life "Mrs Eliza Fonerden" presided over the construction of The Spingler Institute for young Ladies on the Union Park, now known as Union Square. see newspaper announcement of laying of cornerstone

https://www.newspapers.com/image/468679654/?terms=%22Van%20Beuren%2... = New-York Tribune (New York, New York)18 Dec 1898, SunPage 28

see:

http://images.statemaster.com/images/motw/historical/new_york_1836.jpg

Eliza married at age 18 to James Fonerden {originally Von Erden}, the son of a staunch Methodist abolitionist from Maryland, James' older sister had, nine years earlier, married a sea captain by the name of Englebert van Beuren..... Eliza's daughter would later marry into the same van Beuren family.

James had a sister Martha who married into Eliza's family (Deacon Robert Bonsall...in 1794) This Robert Bonsall was Eliza's mother's nephew.... so the Bonsall and Fonerden families intermingled in several ways.

Robert Bonsall didn't become a deacon until he was assigned to the John St. (New York) Methodist Church. Eliza was a mere child then... her parents having been married in 1791 in New York.

One of the bond between the Fonerdens and the Spingler/van Beurens seems to have been this Methodist faith Eliza's parent's almost certainly met as a consequence of the John Street Methodist Church having been in the same neighborhood as where Henry Spingler (Eliza's father) had a market stall (The Fly Market); also, Eliza's uncle had a hand in introducing her parents. Eliza's mother, Mary, and Mary's cousin were part of the nascent Methodist community in Manhattan while Eliza's husband James' family were Methodists in Baltimore.

Another van Beuren family genealogist {Mitchell} has written that Englebert van Beuren was particularly beloved by the large van Beuren family. This may be because he was connected to so many enthusiastic families who were linked by marriage.

Likely, too, the establishment of Cheever's Church of the Puritan at the corner of 15th st & Union Square west was arranged by Eliza. The real estate on which it stood was this same family property. From that pulpit rained many a sermon condemning slavery.

When the Church was torn down.. it was replaced by Tiffanys, still a leased property by the Spingler family.

There is an etching of Union Park (Square) depicting the Church and the Spingler Institute, a school for young ladies.... all loosely part of the Spingler>Fonerden>van Beuren real estate empire.

More could be written on this. See, for instance, wikipedia on Union Square. Also worth consideration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Manumission_Society

Eliza's influence may have had some consequence with the formation of the Spingler Institute for young ladies: see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorham_Dummer_Abbott van Beuren and Bonsall (cousins) went there. ( see documents )

Is is a coincidence that Eliza's middle name was Murray? "Murray" is not a Spingler or Bonsall surname. I would venture to suggest that it was chosen at her mother's suggestion. The Quaker Murrays of New York were abolitionists as were the Fonerdens; again (all were) staunch abolitionists. The Murrays were a primarily Loyalist family but so powerful that they did not suffer the fate of deportation after the Revolution. As the Eliza's father and the van Beuren were both neutral/Loyal as well, this may have provided the impetus to use the Murray middle name. Neither line has Murray acncestry.

"Merchants Robert Murray and his son, John Murray, Jr., (married to Catherine Bowne), helped found The New York Society for the Manumission of Slaves and the Free School Society. The Free School Society provided the first public school instruction in New York City. John Murray, Jr. was also known for his acts of benevolence. Both of these men are buried in the graveyard in back of the Meeting House (in Flushing)"

Eliza's son-in-law, Michael Murray van Beuren even bears the Murray name without having any Murrays as an ancestor. Such a coincidence cannot be random in my view. (Michael Murray van Beuren, descendant, November 2013)

"Henry Spingler's daughter, Eliza M. Spingler Fonerden (who was married to Lieutenant James Fonerden, the son of Adam Fonerden an abolitionist from Baltimore, MD) selected a plot of this land (Henry's farm) to live on, and had a house built on it, which became the mansion at 21 West 14th Street, where descendants of the family continued to live for generations. Their daughter, Mary Spingler Fonerden married Michael Murray Van Beuren, who was later a Colonel in the in 11th Regiment of the Washington Guard and also managed his wife's property. Their daughter, Mary Louise Van Beuren married Captain John W. Davis, who was the son of Dr. John Davis. Their daughter, Mary Elizabeth Davis, married Cornelius Berrien Mitchell and was the mother of Cornelius von Erden Mitchell." ~ from the Mitchell papers

The building & widening of 14th street eventually necessitated that the Fonerdens move out of the Dutch style farm house into a brownstone they had constructed on the property. Two additional private residences for family members were built but all were torn down by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Eliza's only offspring surviving to adulthood was Mary, born when Eliza was but 17. It was Mary who married an older Michael Murray van Beuren. Indeed, Michael was only 8 years younger than his mother-in-law and 10 years older than Mary. They all lived together with the widowed grandmother Mary née Bonsall in the house††† the Henry Spingler had built right on the Bowery Road in Union Place. This was before the opening of Union Park, later Union Square. It was this opening that necessitated the removal of this house even though it hadn't been in use that long. After the City took this land, the three generation family into the "farmhouse" which dates back to the mid-eighteenth century and the Loyalist Smith family.

Memorial of St. Mark's Church in the Bowery: containing an account of the services for the one-hundredth anniversary (sometime in the 19th century) pew assignment in perpetuity
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