Volunteers find, map 101 cemeteries and counting

Volunteers find, map 101 cemeteries and counting!

By Peggy Aulisio

Courtesy of Westport Shorelines

January 17, 2008

It has taken two years, but volunteers have mapped out all of the known cemeteries in town, including old family plots and unmarked fieldstones deep in the woods. The total count right now is 101, but Paul Pannoni said, "There may be a few more out there somewhere."

The impetus for their effort was the day developer ELJ, Inc., of Bristol, R.I., created a huge public outcry by removing 20 unmarked fieldstones from the woods off Charlotte White Road. Quakers did not mark headstones prior to 1850. Many farmers and Indians also did not mark headstones back then.

ELJ's owners suggested it was a horse cemetery, but a special probing device used by Public Archaelogy Laboratory found human remains. Betty Slade, who started the cemetery identification group, said PAL thought the remains may have belonged to the Howard family.

The upshot of a settlement arranged with the district attorney was that ELJ had to return the stones and maintain the cemetery. To many, the developer, who never appeared in court, was barely given a slap on the wrist.

"My feeling was that the town lost the case because the cemetery wasn't registered," said Ms. Slade. "The town couldn't prove it was a cemetery so I decided, let's register them."

Ms. Slade said it was confirmed later that the lack of an official registration for the old cemetery was a "big part of the case."

Ms. Slade called for volunteers on the cable access scroll and local media. About 15 volunteers showed up including Andrew Isidoro, a high school student, who worked on the project from beginning to the end.

The group consulted with Judith Lund who wrote a book about the cemeteries in Dartmouth. "She said, 'Don't do a book, do a digital study,'" Ms. Slade said.

Her recommendation was apt and showed foresight. Not long ago, a developer removed stones from an old cemetery in Dartmouth.

Although Ms. Lund had researched the cemetery for her book, the town didn't have the locations marked on any database or geographic information system (GIS). Now Dartmouth town officials are working to rectify that situation, Ms. Slade said.

Westport's cemetery identification group had to learn how to use modern tools in its research.

"It was new tools like digital GPS," Mr. Pannoni said. "I had never done that before."

But he learned. Deep in the woods one day, he used his GPS to mark the locations of fieldstones that were clearly laid out in rows. There was no path leading to the plot; the area was filled with overgrown brush and briars.

The main source in the beginning was the research done by the late Eleanor Tripp, which is kept in a binder at the library. Mrs. Tripp used a book called Westport Vital Records, which lists burial records beginning in 1850. She registered 65 cemeteries with the Massachusetts Historical Commission in April 1979.

Mrs. Tripp used a typewriter to compile her list. Unfortunately, her descriptions were not precise enough to prove that a cemetery she mentioned existed right where ELJ removed fieldstones.

"It was the dark ages for computers," Mr. Pannoni said. "Everything we collected went right on the computer. There was no such thing as sticking it in a yellow folder and forgetting about it."

After getting the word out about their project, the group learned about 36 more cemeteries, for a total of 101. They also have compiled records of 1,250 people who were buried in non-public cemeteries, including whether someone served in the military. The town has no official records of these people, Ms. Slade said.

The group would like to compile a database on people buried in the town's cemeteries, too, because right now, the cemetery department uses 3 x 5 cards, Ms. Slade said. "The hope is the town will do a survey on the public cemeteries and provide software to the cemetery department."

The information the volunteers have recorded is on computer spreadsheets and on Google maps. The goal is for town to put it into its GIS systems in the planning department and assessors' office.

The cemetery identification group is also working on a website, which another volunteer, Garry Harstad, is developing. That way, anyone can easily access the information.

About 61 percent of Westport's cemeteries are out of the public view. They are not close to a road and are difficult to find, even if someone has the address.

That makes it even more important to make sure the cemetery sites are identified on a GIS map in all town offices that deal with developers and builders.

"You gotta be able when a developer comes from out of town and goes into the assessors' office, when they see a red flag on a map or a computer to ask questions," Mr. Pannoni said.

Asked who they identified as the oldest known resident buried here, Ms. Slade said they heard from Richard Gifford of Little Compton, an expert on Quaker cemeteries, that he thought one of his ancestors, Jeremiah Devoll, was buried in what is now referred to as the ELJ cemetery. He died in 1712.

- - - - - - End - - - - - -