The Judge's Corner: The Proprietors of the New Burial Ground In Greenwich Hold 99th Annual Meeting

The Judge's Corner: "The Proprietors of the New Burial Ground in Greenwich" Hold Their 99th Annual Meeting-The History of the Cemetery Adjoining the Second Congregational Church.
Greenwich New and Graphic, 1932. 
By Frederick A. Hubbard

#210

Recently "The Proprietors of the New Burial Ground in Greenwich" held its annual meeting. It sounds new but it is scarcely that, as this was the 99th annual meeting. And yet perhaps after a few more centuries have been checked off those then in being may look back upon it as now the days of its infancy.

It lies just west of the Second Congregational Church and by many is considered as the cemetery of that church. But it is as separate from that institution as is Putnam Cemetery. Created by an act of the general assembly an 1833, it sold lots without regard to ecclesiastical denomination. Unlike many pieces of Greenwich real estate it can boast of no long string of individual owners.

In 1697 it was included in the patent of the Colonial General Court and the leading patentee was Angell Husted. His name stands at the head of the list. He was a resident of Greenwich, old town. The nickname of Horseneck did not appear 'till after the ecclesiastical division in 1705. But it was a significant fact that when he acquired what is now the cemetery and other land he had picked one of the choicest house lots on the "Westchester path."

The old Second Congregational Church (right) before the establishment of the New Burial Grounds Association.
By Mary Mason. 

He knew where the meeting house was to be located and possibly that fact had an influence on his selection. To go to meeting required no equestrian transportation. Here town meetings and religious services will be held and a saddle for himself and a pillion for his wife were not necessary. In these days it would be termed a convenient location. And here Angell Husted located his farm house and building with many acres extending north.

*****************

Angell Husted was a leading man in the new settlement. His name appears frequently in the public records. He was one of the first 52 taxpayers. He bought and sold land. Town meetings appointed him to positions of trust. He and two brothers and 1715 laid out the site for the grist mill and the road along the north side of Horseneck brook, just south of the Greencourt Inn. But our interest is in his homestead on the hill. It is easy to imagine how it looked with its leanto in the rear, its graceful front porch and the stone horse block from which he mounted his horse. The well sweep and the oaken bucket must have been near the back door located at what is now the center of the cemetery.

*****************

A feature of the old place was the stone wall in front, laid up dry, and the wall is still standing. The records of the cemetery show that the parcel was enclosed on all sides by stonewalls. It was voted to remove the one on the east side "next to the meeting house yard" and to rebuild the ones on the north and west sides, "adjoining Miss Cornelia Graham's garden." But no mention was made of the stone wall in front except to the east and west stone gate posts, from which certain measurements were made and it was voted to procure an iron gate with "oval-top" which gate is still in use.

The gate to the New Burial Grounds Association Cemetery. Image July, 2014. 

This gate has been examined by William Gasparrini of the Post Road Ironworks on the top of Tollgate hill.

And in fact the iron worker's shop stands on the identical spot occupied by the Tollgate house which was removed in 1899. Mr. Gasparrini says that the gate of wrought iron was probably made by the village smithy. And he adds, "Keep it painted and it is good for more centuries to come."

It is safe, therefore, to say that the front fence is more than 200 years old. Pioneers built stone fences. Angell Husted was not a young man when he moved to Horseneck but he was not beyond the fence building age. And besides he had husky sons, and in those days everybody, including father, worked.

*****************

The old record book of this corporation is itself a curiosity. Mahlon Day of 876 Pearl Street sold the book. He also carried a stock of quills and it is probable that all of the first few pages of the record books were written with a quill pen, for steel pens were not in common use until the middle of the 19th century. The chirography is clear and distinct, the words being well apart and the letters carefully formed. The act of incorporation occupies two and one-half pages and has a copy of the seal of the state and the signature of Thomas Day, its secretary. But the paper is course and unglazed and the ready absorption of the ink accounts for the unfaded pages.

The Second Congregational Church of Greenwich, Connecticut as seen from the cemetery. 

*****************

All authorities agree that at the close of the Revolutionary war Angell Husted's homestead occupied what is now the cemetery plot. Between that time and 1833 – over 50 years – a later built house may have stood on the same site, but that is not probable. The purchase price of $500 paid to Soloman Mead shows that no buildings were then on the premises.

And it is not unlikely that Mr. Mead had filled the old cellar hole and cultivated land for a number of years before he sold it. The record shows that $440 was paid to Church & Henderson for improvements, which without doubt included the restoration of the stone walls mentioned above. We have never seen any other mention of this firm of contractors. Their work has outlived their memories.

*****************

The organization of this cemetery 99 years ago was a great event, for all the prominent people of the town were interested in it. And they individually signed the old record book. Some of the names have been handed down through succeeding generations.

It may be of interest to give them in the order of their signing as follows: Isaac Mead, Esbon Husted, Nehemiah Howe, Isaac Holly, Ebenezer Mead, Rachel Mead, Alma Mead, Elizabeth Knapp, Jonathan Mead, Samuel Peck, John Packett, Amy Mead, Ephm Marshall, Jabez Mead, Azra Banks, Zopher Mead, Stepen Waring, Jane S. Waring, Gilbert P. Finch, William A. Husted, Ephriam Lane, Thomas Funston, William Funston, Charles Smith, Augustus Mead, Drake Husted, Robert Clark, Augustus Lyon, Caleb Holmes, Lewis Lyon, Allen R. Knapp.

*****************

The act of incorporation, said to have been prepared by that eminent lawyer, Charles Hawley, includes many details and created some laws that never could have been enforced. It specifies that the "first meeting of the proprietors" shall be held at the Inn of Augustus Lyon on the first Monday of July, 1833, with Darius Mead, Jr., in the chair and Allan Mead recording.

This meeting was adjourned to the house of Alvan Mead on Sept. 2, 1833, when it was voted to accept the charter. Jonas Mead was elected moderator, Dr. Mead apparently being absent and Jonas Mead chosen moderator in his place. Sanford Mead was elected collector. The act of incorporation gave authority to tax the lot owners each year for the maintenance at the cemetery.

In one instance $200 was voted to be charged proportionately against them but the collection of the tax was not easily accomplished. This duty finally devolved upon the secretary, Alvan Mead, who held that office until his death in 1883. The lots were priced at $28 each and Darius Mead, Jr., Zaccheus Mead and Alvan Mead were appointed a committee of sale and at the same meeting it was voted: 

"that the money arising from the sales shall be paid to the treasurer shall be applied to the payment of the debt now standing against the company and to the payment of such expenses as may be necessary to complete the burial ground, and the remainder should be paid in equal sums to the following person, viz., Shadrach Mead, Jonas Mead, Daniel Merritt, Darius Mead, Jr., Alvan Mead, Thomas A. Mead, Sanford Mead, Zaccheus Mead, Jr., Solomon Mead and Edward Mead, their heirs and assigns as an indemnification to them for expenses incurred by them in the purchase and preparation of the burial ground." 

This shows who were the creditors and how they had loyally advanced money out of their own resources. It was probably several years before a sufficient number of lots were sold to reimburse the promoters.

*****************

For more than 40 years the cemetery has been maintained by voluntary subscriptions. Some of the plots have been provided with a fund for perpetual care. The question has sometimes been raised as to whether the cemetery will not before many years be discontinued. An attempt was once made to throw it into the discard by the passage of a special act of the general assembly that no burials could be made in the Borough of Greenwich after July 1, 1884. Any attempt that may of been made to enforce the law utterly failed because of its legally created inception and the vested rights of plot owners.

The cemetery is as permanent as Trinity or St. Paul's of New York or the old granary burial ground on Tremont St., Boston. Like that cemetery, visited daily by people from all parts of the world, our cemetery is a point of interest attractive to many visitors. The headstones reveal the names of those sturdy old pioneers who had the responsibility of molding the character of their children and in shaping the progress of this old New England town. The cemetery is governed by six managers with Oliver D. Mead, president.

Frederick a Hubbard.