Mary Ellis (spinster)

Grave of Mary Ellis (1750-1827) in 2003

Mary Ellis (1750 – 1827) was an American spinster whose grave now sits 7 feet (2.1 m) above a parking lot in New Brunswick, New Jersey.^[1]

Biography

She was born in 1750. According to oral tradition, she was seduced by a sea captain who vowed to return to marry her. He never returned and she would come to the spot where her grave now stands, each day, to look for his ship in the Raritan River in New Brunswick.^[2]

Her family home eventually became the site for the Route 1 Flea Market, and later the Loews Theatre. Her grave now sits in what became the parking lot, and now rests about seven feet above the level of the parking lot.^[2][3] She died in 1827.

Legacy

The song "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by the New Jersey band Looking Glass may have been inspired by the Mary Ellis story.^[3] The lyrics include the lines: "Brandy, you're a fine girl. What a good wife you would be. But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea."

References

1. ^ Martin, Antoinette (November 6, 2005). "A Sentimental Developer Saves a Grave". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/realestate/06njzo.html?ex=1189051200&en=98081903261a922d&ei=5070. Retrieved 2007-08-21. "This story concerns real estate in the 21st century, but it starts with a long-ago romance. Sometime in the 1790s, a woman named Mary Ellis arrived in New Brunswick and fell in love with a sea captain who had been an officer in the Revolutionary War. The captain soon put out to sea again, heading down the Raritan River toward New York Harbor, but he left behind his trusty horse - and a promise to marry Mary when he returned. The graves of Mary Ellis and two others are to be moved to a site closer to the Raritan River if the Raritan Heights development is built. Every day for years after, as local legend has it, Mary rode her sweetheart's steed to the riverbanks, waiting for her beloved to reappear. In 1813, she purchased a piece of property overlooking the river from which she maintained the daily watch - until she died, her love unrequited, in 1826." 
2. ^ ^{a b} Sarapin, Janice Kohl (2002). Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813521114. http://books.google.com/books?id=uDfIJt5RFWgC&dq=&pg=PP1&ots=auks4TKY6W&sig=SZl5W1s0xzASDS2kY9a9srYICb0&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3DOld%2BBurial%2BGrounds%2Bof%2BNew%2BJersey%26sourceid%3Dnavclient-ff%26ie%3DUTF-8%26rls%3DGGGL,GGGL:2006-11,GGGL:en&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title. "Back in the 1790s, Mary Ellis came to New Brunswick to stay with her younger sister, Margaret, and her husband, Colonel Anthony White. ..." 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Mary Ellis". Weird NJ. Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20070703015712/http://weirdnj.com/stories/_cemetery04.asp. Retrieved 2007-08-21. "As the legend goes, Mary Ellis came to New Brunswick in the 1790's to stay with her younger sister Margaret. It was around this time that she met and fell in love with a man who was a sea captain, and former Revolutionary War officer. The Captain sailed down the Raritan and out to sea one day, vowing that when he returned he and Mary would be wed. He even left her his beloved horse to look after in his absence. Every day after her captain's departure, Mary would ride his horse from her sister's house, on what is now Livingston Avenue, down to the banks of the river to eagerly await a glimpse of her lover's returning ship. ..." 

Coordinates: 40°29′21.27″N 74°24′59.53″W / 40.4892417°N 74.4165361°W / 40.4892417; -74.4165361

Persondata
Name	Ellis, Mary
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1750
Place of birth
Date of death	1827
Place of death