Minor, 1911.
By Chéye Roberson
Sentinel Correspondent
The town of Greenwich is in the process of acquiring a cluster of abandoned burial grounds that include the Byram Cemetery, Lyon Cemetery, and the Byram African-American Cemetery to protect and maintain as historical landmarks.
“The Byram Cemetery is historically significant based on its age, dating from the Byram community’s original late 1600’s, early 1700’s settlement,” said Anne Young, a board member of the Greenwich Preservation Trust. “Written evidence concerning the cemetery’s origins is scant, so examination must focus on physical evidence—i.e., inscriptions on the cemetery’s headstones.”
With the passing of time, it has become difficult to identify the people who are laid to rest in the cemeteries. The Greenwich Preservation Trust, the Greenwich Historical Society, and the Greenwich Conservation Commission are working together to identify decedents of those who may have a connection to the cemetery.
Proper identification can take a little detective work.
“The earliest date on a tombstone in the Byram Cemetery is Sept. 18, 1717, accompanied by the initials ‘M.B.,’” said Young. “This information was derived from a newspaper article in the Greenwich Graphic dated May 17, 1931 and confirmed via on-site inspection by Jeffrey Mead in 1989, who located the tombstone and verified the inscription, adding that the inscription was barely legible. As such, this tombstone is the oldest inscribed headstone in the town of Greenwich, pushing back the date of the cemetery itself to at least 1717.”
More clues can be found that point to a connection with the Lyon family.
“Lyon family tradition describes Thomas Lyon, Sr., as supposedly being buried there, which may date the cemetery back to 1689 or 1690, his death, but documentation supporting this has yet to be discovered,” said Young.
Neighbors of the cemetery have taken it upon themselves to look after the groundskeeping.
According to Denise Savageau, director of the Greenwich Conservation Commission, “The state archeologist recommended that the town of Greenwich become the owner” of the cemeteries. Savageau said the conservation commission will be working closely with Probate Court as it moves forward with the acquisition.
Savageau also pointed out that there are conflicting maps on file regarding the Byram Cemetery.
“One map shows the cemetery as all one parcel,” said Savageau, while another map shows the Bryam, Lyon, and Byram African-American cemetery as three separate parcels.
Savageau said that sometimes towns had a public burial place used by everyone who lived there, without any established owner. This may have been the case with the Byram cemeteries.
Another complication is that the number of people buried in the cemetery remains unknown.
“As no documentation exists of the burying ground having a formed association or religious oversight, it is impossible to determine the exact number of persons who are buried,” Young said.
“An inventory in 1989 yielded 67 names. More recently there have been references relating to 89 burials. While some burials have marked stones, other plots have stone markers, some with only initials, and some have simple unmarked smaller stones. The last burial in the cemetery was in 1903.”
But our present computer age may be able to provide a way to reveal more connections to local families.
“But for those who have performed genealogy research using Ancestry.com, there is the ability to locate family members who have appeared on various cemetery surveys to see whether or not they were laid to rest in Byram Cemetery,” Young said. “So there is the ability to connect to those buried in the cemetery.”
After the town has formally acquired the Byram cemeteries, the Conservation Commission will look toward forming partnerships that will help preserve other little-documented cemeteries in town.
“We are in the process of doing an inventory to see what other cemeteries are abandoned,” said Savageau, “and we are looking into forming a public and private partnership to preserve future cultural resources.”
