Something on someone's blog reminded me of Trinity Church in Manhattan, NY, for some reason. I did a little searching, and discovered a wonderful website of photos from the Church website. Those of you who are history buffs of genealogy researchers may find the slideshows of great interest. You can see the Trinity Church site here. Look to the right and scroll down for audio slideshows. The ones at the bottom are terrific! I enjoyed "Trinity Church: A Historical Tour," and "The Real Treasures of Trinity Church."

I have a special interest in this area of Manhattan, because my ancestors claimed to be descended from Annikja Jans Bogardus, a Dutch landowner who had once owned this property with her first husband (surname Jans-- after Jans died, she moved Upstate to Albany and married Dominic Bogardus, a Dutch Reformed Minister of the First Church of Albany).

Jans owned that land, and it is reputed that her descendants leased the property to the builders of Trinity Church (with a decree by Queen Anne to build an edifice for the glory of God there). Over great lengths of time, deaths of the lease-holders, and a vested interest in the valuable land there, Jans' descendants sued the Church for the rights to the land. They lost, and more suits were filed and lost. I have a very old newspaper clipping from the 1920s, from my great-grandmother who claimed to be related to the group suing the Church, that gave details of the suit and the claimants. My relatives lost that legal battle, and I do not think there has been any new suit since. Quite odd, all of it.

And even odder, Trinity Church was one of the last few buildings remaining on Ground Zero after the September 11 tragedy. I found it stunning that 35 year-old buildings crumbled to dust, yet this 300+ year-old building still stands. Utterly remarkable. And the story behind that is another very long post itself!

All this, after searching for photos of Trinity Church!