Granite in My Blood: Another Look at Stewart Hill Cemetery

Another Look at Stewart Hill Cemetery

Photo by Midge Frazel, May 2004

In 2004, I started on a mission to record the gravestones of my ancestors, which very quickly turned into a blog. At least that's how it seems now. Thanks to my parents, my grandparents and my paternal family, I had great notes on the places of rest in my family. Deciding to do this helped me deal with and grieve for the loss of family members. I recommend finding and recording gravestones to other genealogists and to regular people too.

I knew that after the River Bend Cemetery in Westerly, RI, the next visits should be to the Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic, CT. I grew up knowing where family gravestones were located. In my maternal family, I had the Stewart Family Bible to help me with names, dates and places.

Stewart homestead with remodel not complete
just before it was demolished, photo by the author., 2004

I queried the North Stonington Historical Society and Gladys Chase and her invaluable help, I knew where my Stewart family was buried. It became a wonderful adventure which included this small family cemetery located next to the old Stewart Family Homestead to find buried here, my 3rd great grandparents Edward Stewart and Rebecca Noyes. Nested through an overgrown path, is this stone wall with graves enclosed. The family that owns the deed was found after this cemetery appeared endangered from someone who bought the land and legally tore down the house. They never touched the cemetery, thank heavens.

My family in North Stonington, cleaned up the cemetery and repaired the stones. My friend, Brian Zoldak visited and took much better photos of the stones. The neighbor on the other side, has recently moved away but she was wonderful to keep me posted through Facebook on the progress of the land being cleared.

Now it appears that the land immediately next door to the stone wall has been cleared and sold. A distant cousin travels this way frequently and is keeping an eye on this for me. She kindly took photos and sent them to me and is allowing me to post them in my blog. The cemetery looks quite close to the house but it looks safe and protected. It certainly is easier to find. If you look for it at Find a Grave, You see this photo I took with the person's name who took it from my blog, without permission, and posted it there.