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Whos buried in Westports old unmarked cemetery? |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Tuesday, 06 September 2005 |
WESTPORT, RI - Nine months have passed since ELJ Excavating was charged with removing 20 unmarked headstones from the woods off Charlotte White Road. But the town is no closer to finding out who's buried here than it was last fall.
The Massachusetts Historical Commission told those involved in the case that a complete archaeological survey should be conducted on this site, including a review of old documents. The town's attorney, Brian Glennon, wrote to the District Attorney's office in July saying the town doesn't want to consider a settlement with ELJ until the survey is completed.
Sgt. Jeff Majewski, who arrested ELJ's owners after allegedly discovering the unmarked gravestones next to the company's stone crusher, has poured through old cemetery records to no avail. Sgt. Majewski said the state historical commission told him it is most likely a Quaker graveyard. Quakers didn't mark their headstones until the mid-1800s.
Norma Judson, co-chair of the town's Historical Commission, said the burial plot might have belonged to farmers. Ms. Judson said poor farmers of that period often didn't have enough money to engrave headstones.
Wampanoag Indians have visited the site to consider if it is one of theirs. At a meeting of the Westport Historical Society earlier this year, Ken Perry Alves of the Assonet Band of Wampanoag nation said, "There were a lot of joint cemeteries where Quakers and Indians were buried together."
Before it ever broke ground, ELJ was supposed to do a survey of the burial site. According to police, the engineering firm ELJ hired -- and where Christine Matrone, the daughter of ELJ owner Everett Francis, worked -- said it is most likely an old horse cemetery. Ms. Matrone, Mr. Francis, and his son Christopher Francis all face charges of removing headstones with the intent to destroy them.
Clifford Hancock, whose family owned the land for many years, said, "I've never heard of anyone burying horses."
Even if they did, would they bury 20 horses side by side?
"I don't think you'd bury horses three or four feet across," Mr. Hancock said.
Mr. Hancock said his family always walked these woods and they always were told this was an old graveyard. He said they walked around, not through, the old graveyard respectfully.
Old records
Town historians have tried on their own to find out who might be buried here by looking through old land records and deeds, including some at the Registry of Deeds in New Bedford. But the old records are difficult to track down and haven't yielded the answer to who's buried here.
The assumption is the graves date prior to 1851 because Quakers didn't engrave headstones until after the mid 1800s. But the Westport assessor's office doesn't have any maps or detailed records showing property ownership before 1871.
The assessors' 1871 map shows a T. Kirby owning land where the graveyard was found, behind the intersection of Main and Charlotte White roads. James Hancock bought the property from Pardon T. Kirby in 1916.
There is a Kirby family cemetery with engraved headstones on Main Road, not far from the Charlotte White intersection. Among those buried here are Hannah Kirby, who lived from 1821 to 1891; Ephram Kirby, who died in 1855, and Tillinghouse Kirby, who died in 1896. Local historian Anne "Pete".Baker said the T. Kirby marked on the 1871 map may be Tillinghouse.
Eleanor Tripp's history
The Westport Free Public Library has three volumes of historical records compiled by the late Eleanor Tripp. A manuscript attributed to Henry Howland Crapo, written in 1912, mentions an ancestor, Richard Kirby, who "took advantage of the Quaker settlement at Dartmouth to escape the rigor of the law. In 1670, he purchased from Sarah Warren, one half of Thomas Morton's full share in the Dartmouth purchase and afterwards acquired other interests in the Dartmouth lands." Westport was originally part of Dartmouth.
"In 1683, he bought from Zachariah Jenkins of Plymouth a tract of land on the Coakset lying on the easterly side of the road leading to Horseneck near Akin's corner and it was here that he dwelt."
Mr. Crapo said Mr. Kirby evidently did not take any prominent part in the affairs of the town "as his name seldom appears on the records except as having taken the oath of fidelity in 1684 and again in 1686." He died sometime between 1686 and 1688.
According to Mr. Crapo's account, Richard Kirby's daughter, Ruhamah, married John Smith. Their son, Deliverance, was the great-great grandfather of Anne Almy Chase.
The name Kirby crops up in another document where someone who was born in 1819 is mentioned as the son of Jireah and Sarah (Kirby) Brownell. The document notes that he was active in the cause of the Union and in government, having been a state legislator. It also says he was a Universalist and that funeral services were held for him in the Society of Friends meetinghouse.
Although the Richard Kirby mentioned by Mr. Crapo was apparently not active in town affairs, a Richard Kirby was town assessor and served as a selectmen. He is mentioned in records of the first Town Meeting in 1787.
The account of that first town meeting also lists money given to townspeople, apparently for caring for the sick who were perhaps indigent. Susan Dick was reimbursed for keeping Hannah Simon (a black woman) from July 2, 1787, to Nov. 1, 1787. William Almy was reimbursed for providing Ms. Simon's funeral clothes.
That same town meeting passed an article on building a Town House where future such meetings would be held. A Wesson Kirby would help build it. The town meeting notes also mention a Stephen Kirby, saying the Town House could be built on the southwest corner of his land. A later vote placed the Town House on other land, however.
The mention of burying Hannah Simon brings up the question of how did the town bury its poor people? Were they buried in unmarked graves? Would a Quaker of the period or other landholder be generous enough to provide a graveyard for them on unused land?
There are scant other references to Kirbys in Ms. Tripp's documents but a Nathaniel Kirby is mentioned as a pound keeper in the late 1700s. Gladys Gifford Kirby wrote an account of an Old Dartmouth Historical Society outing at Hix Bridge on June 20, 1925. And Addie Kirby was a member of the "Busy Bee Circle" in 1916.
By Peggy Aulisio
SOURCE: eastbayri.com
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