Dear Community and those who love History,

My name is James (but everyone calls me Jimmy) Sheehan. I’m 93 years old, and I have been the caretaker of the Lawrence Family Cemetery for over six decades now. The first resident of this historical cemetery dates back to 1703. There are almost 100 ancestors of the Lawrence family; prominent descendants of early New York and Queens who slumber inside these crumbling walls. My lovely wife’s father was the cemetery's caretaker before me as he had inherited it from Ruth Lawrence. When my father-in-law passed, he bequeathed it on to me.

My promise to him? I gave him my word that I would take good care of the cemetery, and I have tried to honor this oath and the deceased for all these years. I am rich with the love of a family, but monetarily I am a humble man of humble means. As time passes, it becomes harder to take care of the property. The community where I have lived and raised my family doesn’t seem to honor the history or the quiet residents of this plot.

A truck carelessly backed into the retaining wall, and I received a summons for this careless act of someone else. The wall crumbles, and I have been quoted that it will cost over $60,000 to repair this wall. A contractor took money as a large down payment to fix the wall and will not return my calls for the last three years. I barely had enough money to scrape up for the summons that the city issued me for the carelessness act of a careless driver. People use the collapsing wall as a place to urinate, do drugs, and around the corner from the damaged wall: a tiny portion of sidewalk owned by a neighbor on the southeast corner has become a dumping ground for construction waste, human and dog waste, needles, etc.

No matter how often the NYC Department of Sanitation has been alerted to the tiny sidewalk not being my property, they write the fines out to me. Penalties that I should not have to pay.

I am an American veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, and I am trying to honor the many buried in the property that fought in the American Revolution and their loved ones. This cemetery is New York history in Astoria’s backyard.

I would love to have the wall fixed and help preserve this chronicle of New York City. I would also love the funds to restore the cemetery with flore and fauna that I was able to maintain and keep beautiful in the past. A multitude of birds, bees, and butterflies reside here and coexist in harmony with the Lawrence family; it is a bit of peace and serenity here in Astoria, Queens.

To sum up, not only do I need help with:

a) permits and the cost of fixing the wall,

b)I humbly respect assistance in having the city not penalize me for garbage that is the responsibility of the valid owner of the sidewalk.

c) I also respectfully seek help with the maintenance of the grounds;

d) perhaps grant-writers that have experience with procuring funds for historical landmarks,

e) perhaps some New York archeologists to help preserve the decaying headstones

f) some active interest and assistance from the SDAR (Sons & Daughters of the American Revolution),

g) maybe some city bee-keepers to help plant indigenous perennials and put up some bee-hives to create a harmonious mini-ecosystem.

Please help me preserve this history.

Respectfully and Appreciatively,

Jimmy Sheehan

P.S. I was recently featured on NY1 morning news and Huffington Post. Check out the link above for the story!

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/05/01/caretaker-treats-astoria-graveyard-with-dignity#

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/astoria-characters-the-ca_2_b_915833