Colonial Burials in Wethersfield Connecticut

Gravestone Inscriptions from State's Second Oldest Town

Sep 24, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Records for any of America's first settlements are valuable to genealogists. Here's a source for colonial burials in Wethersfield, CT.

Family researchers look in vain for Edward Tillotson’s 1899 compilation of Wethersfield cemetery inscriptions. Only 350 copies were printed. The good news is that copies of an indexed 1988 reprint can usually be purchased from online booksellers at a reasonable cost.

Wethersfield, Connecticut History

John Oldham and nine other adventurers from Watertown, Massachusetts were welcomed by the Wongunk Indians, anxious to trade beaver pelts. Their 1634 settlement was at a deep bend in the Connecticut River. Marsh hay in the low meadows and the rich alluvial soil soon attracted more settlers who planted their farms on the broad terrace above the River. The neighboring forest provided timber for houses, and the town was laid out with a Common alongside the present Cove. The settlers named the town Wethersfield. It vies with Windsor as the state’s oldest town.

Tombstone Inscriptions Cover 5 Connecticut Towns

The 372-page Wethersfield (CT) Cemetery Inscriptions is billed as a complete record of gravestone inscriptions in five burial places of the ancient town of Wethersfield, Connecticut, which originally was geographically larger than the town is now. Some of these old graveyards were in the current towns of Rocky Hill, Newington and Beckley Quarter (in Berlin). There are also some inscriptions from the oldest cemetery in Glastonbury.

Gravestone Records Are Genealogical Treasures

Gravestone records are considered genealogical gemstones by many family researchers since they not only place an ancestor in a specific location, but also give a definite death date. In addition, they may also indicate when a person was born and sometimes label the deceased as a spouse, parent or child of another person.

Wethersfield Gravestone Inscriptions

All the data Tillotson found on the Wethersfield tombstones more than 100 years ago is given in the 1988 reprint of his book. Many of these tombstones no longer exist. Even the verses are included. Here is a selection:

  • Mabel Griswold, d. 1804, age 19: She was like a morning flower / Cut down and withered in an hour
  • Ephraim Willard, d. 1766, age 58: Let not ye Dead Forgotten Lye / Lest Men Forget that they Must Die.
  • Lyddiah Buck, d. 1726, age 28: The first that was laid in this yard
  • Simon Willard, d. 1726/7, age 66: The first Male laid in this Yard
  • Mary Shepherd, d. 1863, age 80: She was blind from her infancy / but by faith she saw the Lord.
  • Willie M. Stoddard, d. 1857, age 19 months: Budded on earth / to bloom in Heaven.
  • Levi Goodrich, d. 1820, age 45: Praises on tombs are titles vainly spent / A man’s good name is his best monument

Work Names 5,000 Wethersfield Inhabitants

Roughly 5,000 early Wethersfield area inhabitants are named in this work. Extensive genealogical data, including relationships of family members, is given for hundreds of them. Used copies can usually be purchased from online booksellers.

Wethersfield’s “Genealogical and Research Library” is located in the Old Academy at 150 Main Street. It is open year-round, 10 to 4, Tuesday through Friday.

The copyright of the article Colonial Burials in Wethersfield Connecticut in Genealogy is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Colonial Burials in Wethersfield Connecticut in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
18th Century Homes, Wethersfield, CT, Public Domain 18th Century Homes, Wethersfield, CT
   
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