Gravestone of the Day: Abigail Hobard

Abigail Hobard, 1757, Windham Center, CT

In Memory of

Mrs. Abigail

hobard wife

of Mr. Joseph

Hobard who

died Decr 8th

1757 in ye 79th

Year of her age

Carved by Gershom Bartlett.

The Lost Art of Surveying

Over the first decade of the 18th century, the town of Windham, CT was divided into several towns, a process which involved repeated surveys of the land and placement of boundary markers. The town meeting minutes are full of delightful surveying reports on town boundaries (a tear in the paper has destroyed a few words at the beginning):

as followeth beginning att a white oak neer . . . the mouth of hop river and running . . . thenc neer southeast and by south to an oak stump marked . . . stons Layed against it standing on the top of the first high hill and from thenc the same corse to a whit oak marked and stons Layed against it standing on the southernmost high roks Lying against the upper end of the falls and from thenc to a heap of stons neer walnut tree marked on the northeast end of a hill by the vilage of windhm & from thenc to a heap of stons upon the top of bare hill on the south end of waguebatuck and from thenc to a wt oak tree that is the northeast Corner of deacon Hues & Mr Clark which stand in Low Land on the west sad of John Wests meado and from then to a heap of stons neer petter prats meado which we supose to be the bound mark in norwich Line

It would be impossible to walk these boundaries today, given that only a few of the landmarks endure, but the 18th-century inhabitants found the description satisfactory. There are several similar reports in the town meeting records for this decade.

Town of Windham Records

Birth Records, Windham, CT (Pic taken before I asked about pic policy, which disallows all photography, even without flash, but allows scanning, so who the heck knows. Even Harvard will let you photograph manuscripts w/o flash.)

I went home for a few days this week to attend my youngest brother's high school graduation (congrats, Wheeler!). While there, I stopped in at town hall to see if the town had any records relating to the Windham Center burying ground. It took a little while to find exactly what I was looking for, but I was not disappointed.

Windham, Connecticut was formally incorporated in 1692, but the oldest record I found in the town clerk's vault was a proposal for establishing a plantation on land "bequeathed . . . by Joshua Sachem sonne of Uncas," dated February 17, 1682.

The town has done a pretty good job of conserving its records. The 17th- and 18th-century vital records and town meeting minutes are enclosed in plastic sheets and bound into sturdy, red leather volumes. The bindings are a bit too tight, so the records don't lie flat when the pages are turned, but the plastic sheets are thick and hardy, so I don't think there's too much danger to the original records.

I found some good information about the burying ground, which was officially established in 1707. I haven't read through all of the 18th-century town meeting minutes yet, but I can always go back next time I'm in town.

While I was there, I also peeked at the vital records books. Page 173 of the ledger records the births, deaths, and marriages of some of Windham's enslaved residents (Job Hale, his wife Blosom, their children, Patience and Phineas; Hager and her daughter Dinah; Jenne and her daughter, Tamer):

In the 1850s, someone went through the old ledgers and compiled an alphabetical index for all of the vital records. This index became part of the Barbour Collection at the Connecticut State Library, but has not been digitized.

I've been forming a plan to see if I can get some Windham High students to work on a digitization project if I can wrangle some deal with the school to give them credit. It isn't hard work — the handwriting in the 19th-century index is beautiful and clear, so they wouldn't have to deal with the original records directly (though not all of the info from the originals made it into the index — for example, Jobe Hale and his family are listed, but their designation as "negro servants" is not). Then, we could scan the originals and make them accessible online. These records are not central to my dissertation in a way that would allow me to devote 6 months to working on them, but I could certainly direct the production of an online archive.

Gravestone of the Day: Elizebth Huntington

Elizebth Huntington, 1729, Windham Center, CT

Here lies ye Body of that

Graciou Saint of Christ

Mrs Elizebth Huntington

Wife to Capt Thomas

Huntington Esqr & after

She had liued A pios life

fell Alep in jesus Decembr

29 1729 Ageed 59 yrs

This stone was carved by Obadiah Wheeler. I generally find his carvings charming and expressive — that poor little soul effigy looks rather nervous perched atop those scary, staring eyes. But then there's a little heart to soften the whole thing.

Gravestone of the Day: Abel Harvey or Whatever

Abel Harvey, 1773, Windham Ctr., CT

Someone seems to have been a bit shaky on the details here. I wonder if the family objected to the carver's first go and made him cut out mistakes and try again.

Here Lies ye Body of

Mr Abel Harvey

he Departed this Life

Marc ye 22nd 1773 in ye

39th year of his Age

The Memory of ye

Just is Blessed.

Watson's Corner

I live in an area of Cambridge that used to be called "Watson's Corner." There's an historical marker near my house that tells the story of four local men who were killed by retreating British soldiers after Lexington and Concord.

Genealogical Information Gone Wild

When Mary Alleine (or Allen) died in 1727, Obadiah Wheeler carved an extensive genealogy on her gravestone. Whether by design, oversight, or lack of space, he neglected to mention Mary's death date (September 18, 1727) and her age.

Here lies ye body of mrs

Mary Alleine ye wife

of mr joshua Alleine

of Mansfield by whom

she had seven Sons & thre

daughters john joshua

Geideon Yalberton [?] Samuel

George Eleazar Miriam

Mary Sary After he dyed 

she married mr william

Moore of Windham

William Moore's stone exhibits a similar commitment to naming as many people as possible.

A nearby footstone reiterates some of this information:

Mrs Mary Alleine

Aleios Moore she

had ben ye wife of

Mr joshua Alleine

& then of Mr Wm

Moore Dye

172

Mary Alleine, Windham Center, CT, 1727

carved by Obadiah Wheeler

Windham Center Cemetery

Here are some random pictures of my hometown cemetery in Windham, Connecticut.

One of things I love about the burying ground in Windham Center is the high mica of content of the local stone. When the sun hits them just right, they sparkle.