"Old Cemetery in Unkempt State is Brought to Light in Milbrook (Davis Plot, 1937)

Source: Greenwich News Graphic
Thursday, May 6, 1937

*See also this piece on the Davis family burying ground at The Writings of Jeffrey Bingham Mead.

Recent investigation has brought to light, in an unsettled corner of the land owned by the Millbrook Holding Company, a family burial ground referred to in histories of Greenwich as "the Davis Plot at White Bridge."

Excerpted from Judge Hubbard's book Other Days in Greenwich.

It is called the Davis plot after the line of Davises who settled in Greenwich in the early days and became active in the life of the town. White Bridge was the name given to the railroad bridge over Brother's Creek is it flowed toward the Sound and the historic Davis Mill near the bridge over the dam in Bruce Park.

The old grist mill was built by Thomas Davis in 1689 for his sons, Elisha and Stephen. It stood for more than 200 years. During the Revolution, Elisha was found guilty of selling grain to the Tories and was obliged to leave Greenwich. His brother was allowed to continue the operation. Thomas Davis died in 1774.

Today the small burying ground is in unkempt condition. Leaves and trees have introduced themselves upon the scene. Most of the tombstones have fallen over, while some have disappeared. Refuse has been thrown carelessly around the stones.

From Historian Spencer P. Mead's Abstract of Greenwich Connecticut Tombstones. 

The names on the graves are those three families – Ryker, Davis and Hubbard. The majority are those of the Ryker family. Those of this family still legible are as follows: Henry, son of John and Esther Ryker, who died June 16, 1829, age 25 years; Elizabeth Anne, twin daughter of John and Esther Ryker, died March 29, 1834, aged 18 years; John Ryker, who died July 15, 1835, age 56 years, and James V. Ryker, died Feb. 3, 1862, aged 54 years.

There is another tombstone for two other Ryker children, James and Eliza Anne, son and daughter of John and Esther. James died in 1801, aged 17 days, while Eliza Anne died in 1814, aged eight months.

Only one Davis inscription can be seen today, that of Josiah T. Davis, son of Stephen and Mary Davis, who died Aug. 5, 1794, in his 27th year. This stone is the oldest in the cemetery. Josiah was the grandson of the builder of the mill and the son of him whom the settlers here allowed to run the mill after his brother was forced to leave town.

The Davis Plot as it appears in 2014 (fenced-in area). 

The Hubbard family has one stone in the cemetery, bearing the inscription, "In memory of Julia, daughter of Butler and Clarissa Hubbard, age 28 years, 1829."

In the tombstone records presented to the town by the historian, the late Spencer P. Mead, and at present in the town clerk's office, the cemetery is called "the Davis Plot at White Bridge, north of the east end of Railroad Avenue, Borough of Greenwich."

When Mr. Mead collected his data, he found ten stones and inscriptions. The stone bearing the name of Elisha Davis who died in 1813 cannot be found today. Another grave which is also disappeared was that of John Ryker, who died in 1854, aged 72 years. Otherwise, the stones that Mr. Mead examined are still intact today.

According to Arthur D. Benson of New York, descendent of the Davis family, the first stone of the old Greenwich Graphic was taken from the cemetery. Mr. Benson was told this by his grandmother, Mrs. Emeline J. Benson. He does not know whether the stone it was a Davis headstone or that of one of the other branches of the family.

Near the grist mill was the Davis homestead, later the home of Mr. Davis' grandmother. Mr. Benson further writes that the Davises of Greenwich married into the Hubbard family, Bush family and others, explaining why only one stone bears the inscription of Davis.