Do you know the way to philanthropist Cornelius Heeney’s Cobble Hill grave?

Eye On Real Estate

February 28, 2018 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

This is St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, the Cobble Hill house of worship where early 19th-century philanthropist Cornelius Heeney is buried. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan

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An Irish immigrant who donated the land where St. Patrick’s Cathedral stands is buried at a church — but not the world-famous one on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

The mortal remains of early 19th-century philanthropist Cornelius Heeney rest in the back garden of St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church on Court Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

We were reading about Heeney the other day in “An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn,” Francis Morrone’s informative work.

It made us really want to see Heeney’s burial place — because Heeney’s story is a reminder that uncountable numbers of immigrants have made great contributions to life in America.

Heeney, who died in 1848, came to the United States from Ireland as an adult. He worked as a bookkeeper for the same Manhattan furrier who employed John Jacob Astor, Morrone writes.

According to “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” the furrier retired and left the business to Heeney and Astor. After several years, Heeney and Astor split up. Heeney continued in the fur trade and got rich.

Heeney was one of the first Catholics to hold public office in New York, “The Catholic Encyclopedia” notes. He served five terms in the State Assembly.

This memorial marker for Cornelius Heeney is in St. Paul's church yard in Cobble Hill.

Final resting place outside a Court Street church

Heeney focused intensely on philanthropy.

He was a founder of St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street in Manhattan and gave money to build St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mott Street.

And, as we mentioned at the outset of this story, Heeney and Andrew Morris purchased the land where the famous Fifth Avenue house of worship, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was built.

Morris was another early 19th-century Irish immigrant who settled in New York and served in the State Assembly.

The construction of St. Patrick’s Cathedral started many years after Heeney’s death.

Heeney also founded the Brooklyn Benevolent Society and funded it with a bequest.

In “A History of the City of Brooklyn,” which was published in the 19th century, author Henry Reed Stiles spells out the terms of Heeney’s bequest.

The Brooklyn Benevolent Society’s annual income was to be spent on fuel to heat poor people’s homes, winter clothing for impoverished school children, a salary for the poor children’s teacher and “the maintenance and education of poor orphan children from four to 14 years of age,” Stiles notes.

Also, Heeney donated the land where St. Paul’s was built — namely the Brooklyn church where he was buried.

It is located on what is now the corner of Court and Congress streets in the Cobble Hill Historic District.

The landmarked church was initially constructed in 1838 as a Greek Revival-style brick building, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation report about the Cobble Hill Historic District says.

St. Paul’s was altered in the 1860s to make it look Gothic, the report notes. Brownstone veneering was added in the late 1880s.

A pathway along the side of the church at 180-192 Court St. leads to a small burial ground with a handsome memorial marker for Heeney.

A handful of other people including nuns from the Sisters of Charity are also interred in St. Paul’s church yard. It is peaceful and serene though it’s just steps away from the cars on busy Court Street.

This religious statue stands on the Congress Street side of St. Paul's.