March at the Grand Trunk Cemetery in 2023

Grand Trunk Cemetery Update     

Monday was a good day to go over to the Grand Trunk Cemetery. I wanted to check on the condition of the site now that it's warmer. Crocuses are up and daffodils are starting to poke their heads up. The school project looks like it's nearly done. The building project in what was the wooded area adjacent to the Cemetery is also, almost completed.

    Unfortunately, we found three grocery carts that someone managed to bring up from the Portland Food Co Op on Congress Street. One was in the Cemetery and the other two tossed over by the old railroad furnace. Joel picked up one, along with the spent wreaths and other trash.

    He went back to pickup the grocery carts with his truck and returned them to the Portland Food Co Op. We also spoke with a staff member from the school about a mattress and box spring that was left in the school wooded area. It's too bad people can sometimes be so disrespectful of sites like schools and cemeteries.

    None-the-less, the cemetery looks in good shape, but for the large and small tree branches that broke off the ancient trees.. No surprise, given the strong winds we have had with nearly every storm this season.

This stone was placed here in 2014, to remember
all the souls; known and unknown
interred in this sacred place.

Yellow, purple and white crocuses in bloom
in one of the small gardens.

Daffodils peeking up in Zoe's garden.

The interpretive sign looks good and ready for visitors.

The new addition to the Presumpscot School

If you look carefully, you will see there are two grocery carts by the fence.

Our Grand Trunk Cemetery Veterans Memorial

     There were seven deaths and burials during the month of March in the little village . Since I have previously written about each of these individuals in this blog, I invite readers to look for their stories in the pages of this work. For now, I will honor them by bringing forward their names and a few facts about them.

    Warren Small, who was the oldest of several children born to James, (1773-1845) and Lydia Howard Small, (1752 - 1834) in Limerick, York County Maine on April 21st, 1804, and died before his 20th birthday, on March 1st, 1824. He was 19 years old.

    His death noticed published on Tuesday, March 9, 1824 in the Weekly Eastern Argus, Vol XXI, Issue 1097 on page 3 reads as follows: 

DIED: In Westbrook, Mr. Warren Small, aged 18 years , and ten months.

    It appears the newspaper made a mistake with his age. The old death records do not indicate how or why Warren died as such a young man.

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    Three individuals from the Graves family died in the month of March: a father, Lieut. Crispus Graves, (1742 -March 14, 1818), his oldest daughter, Abigail Graves Sawyer, August 13, 1765 - March 10, 1848, and his grandson and namesake, Crispus Graves, (the younger) (1816 - March 15, 1879.

    Lieut. Crispus Graves was the son of William, (1693 - 1790) and Elizabeth Bean Graves, (1704 - 1732). There seems to be some controversy over whether his father is William or John Graves.

     However, the baptismal records from the First Church of Falmouth indicate this:

    "Graves of William and Elizabeth, Joseph, May 1730, Charles Johnson,March 28, 1732, John, 1735, Joanna, 1737, John, 1739, Crispus, 1742."

 

    The baptismal records also show this entry:

  

    "Graves of Crispus, Abigail, October 19, 1766.  Tabitha, December 28, 1767."

    

    Andrew Graves, the third child was not born until 1774, and by this time, changes were made to the parish, and the second parish was formed. 

    At the age of 23, Crispus Graves married Susannah Merrill , (1745 - 1793), on May 2, 1765.  They were married for 28 years until Susannah's death  at the age of 48.

    Four years before his death, Crispus Graves married Isabella Hutchinson, a widow in 1814.  Shortly after his death, Isabella conveyed the bulk of her deceased husband's estate of real and personal property to his children Abigail Graves Sawyer, Tabitha Graves Sawyer, Andrew Graves, and their heirs.

    Crispus Graves served in the 18 Regiment, Continental Troops and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, a field appointment, in  1776.  

    We also know he was received land grants for his service in the Revolutionary War.  He purchased and  owned land from the banks of the Presumpscot River in Westbrook and, we believe , owned a mill in Yarmouth.

    Lieut. Crispus Graves  died at the age of 76 years old on March 14, 1818.

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    Abigail Graves Sawyer, the oldest child and daughter

of Lieut. Crispus ,(1742 - 1818) and Susanna Merrill Graves, (1745 - 1800), was born August 13, 1765 in Falmouth, now Portland. 

     On April 22, 1790, at the age of 24, she married John Sawyer, (1760 - 1842.)  Over the course of twelve years, Abigail gave birth to five children.  Three daughters and one son died as very youmg children: 

 Susanna, 1794 - January 16, 1800, aet. 6 years.

Nabby, 1796 - January 25, 1800, aet. 4 years

John, July 1801 - October 2, 1802. aet. 1 year, 3 months.

Dorcus, December 1806 - March 5, 1807, aet/ 3 months, 8 days.

   In all probability, these four children are buried near their grandparents, and their parents, in graves, now unmarked, but included among the 197 burials that took place at the Presumpscot, Grand Trunk Cemetery.

    A son, Joel Sawyer, was born in 1805 and survived to the age of 69.  He died in 1874.

    Abigail Graves Sawyer, died at the age of 82 years, on March 10, 1848.  She and her husband John Sawyer were married for 52 years.  During her long life, she maintained a close relationship with her sister, Tabitha Graves Sawyer, wife of William Sawyer and her brother, Andrew Graves and his wife, Tobitha Graves.  

    The families resided on farms near one another, and bounded by land owned by the Noyce and Morse families, and Simon Davis, deceased, according to several deeds.  ( An aside: Simon Davis purchased the farm belonging to Anthony Sawyer in 1804, and died shortly after that in 1810.)

    The Tuesday, March 14 th, 1848 edition of the Portland Weekly Advertiser list this death notice:

    In Westbrook, 10th inst; Mrs. Abigail Sawyer, widow of Mr. John Sawyer, aged 82 years.

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    Crispus Graves, the younger, and namesake of the Lieutenant, was born in 1816 to Andrew, (1774 -1860) and Tobitha Cutter Graves, (1782 - 1849), the second of four children: 

    Ebenezer (Eben) C. Graves, (1812 - 1884)

    Crispus, (1816 - 1879)

    Andrew M. , (1819 - ?)

    Susan M., (1829 - ?)

    

This man, Crispus Graves,  was undoubtably a character, but his story is worth reading in the annals of this blog.  I refer to him as a Hermit and Batchelor Farmer.  He was, it seems, incredibly kind and generous.  He left his estate to the schools in Falmouth and there is a building which once was an elementary school named for him.  He took care of his parents until their deaths, and administered his father's will, providing for his brothers and sister.

THE GRAVES SCHOOL

    Crispus Graves died at the age of 63 years and 3 months, on March 15, 1879.  For many years, graduates of the school in Falmouth were given a small gift of money in remembrance of this gentleman.  The remainder of the trust was given  to the Falmouth Historical Society.

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    Simon Davis was born on September 2nd, 1765 in Paxton, Worcester County to Deacon David Davis,  (1739 -1824) and Abigail Brown Davis, (1743 - 1795).  He was one of seven children.

    On February 25, 1789, in Sterling, Massachusetts, Simon married Persis Temple Newton, (1767 - 1810 ?) the daughter of Silas Newton (1744 - 1816) and Deliverance Delia Howe Newton, (1748 - 1783).

     

    The couple produced six children from 1790 to 1807.  They are as follows:

    Addison, born February 12, 1790, died December 1839.

    Ezra, born March 17, 1792, died December 9, 1796.

    Matilda, born September 24, 1796, died September 23, 1880.

    John Adams, born December 15, 1798

    Persis Newton, born July 20, 1800, died on May 19, 1849.

    Julia Temple, born February 17, 1807, died September 14, 1869.

    Readers will find Simon Davis's story interesting as he is a veteran of the Revolutionary War, a land owner, and the grandfather of a Massachusetts governor. The story was published February 17, 2015 in this blog.

    Simon Davis died on March 17, 1810 aet. 44 years.  His tombstone is worn and damaged but still retains some of its original beauty.  The inscription is taken  from a hymn by Isaac Watts:

My flesh shall slumber in the ground.
T'll the last trumpet's awful sound;
Then burst the chains with
sweet surprise.

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    Elizabeth Ann Sawyer Frank was the daughter of Zebulon, (1778 - 1832) and Rebecca Ford Sawyer, (1780 - ?) born c. 1820.

    At the age of 20, she married Isaiah L. Frank, (1809 - 1894.) on November 15, 1840.

     The couple resided on Ocean Street, near

 Lunt's Corner for many years.  They had four children born between 1845 and 1853:

    Seward , (1845 - 1918)

    Albert H., (1848 - 1929)

    Orin, (1850 - 1881)

    Mary  E., (1853 - 1931)

Elizabeth Ann Sawyer Frank died on March 14, 1890.  Although her old death record indicates she was interred at Eastern Cemetery, her name is not recorded there; I checked.

    Since Elizabeth Ann Frank died in East Deering, and both her husband, Isaiah Frank and her brother, Benjamin Sawyer are interred at the Presumpscot, East Deering, Grand Trunk Cemetery, we presume her to also be interred here, possibly moved here.

     The old death record lists Elizabeth Ann Frank's cause of death as 'old age' and the undertaker services were conducted by the Illsley Brothers.

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  The final entry for the month of March is that of Nancy Merrill, born c. 1801 and died at the age of 23 years old on March 25, 1824.  It seems that there once existed a tombstone from which this information was recorded.

  Undoubtably, someone, perhaps a family member, cared enough to errect a monument to honor her.  Unfortunately, despite an exhaustive search over the course of 12 years, nothing of any substance has brought to light anything about this young woman and her relationship to any of the other souls interred here.

    None-the-less, I choose to remember her in some small way with this poem:

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    As the month of March ends, and the promise of Spring is upon us, I wish you warmer days and sunshine, good health and best wishes to all.