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Uncovering the past at Merwin Brook Cemetery

Uncovering the past at Merwin Brook Cemetery

After 230 years the Merwin Brook Cemetery has a sign. The post was designed and created by Ryan Blessey of Brookfield.

By Jan Howard

Members of the Historic Cemeteries of Brookfield Association and other volunteers have been working for over a year uncovering tombstones at Merwin Brook Cemetery that have been buried under the earth for up to 90 years or longer.

The town’s second oldest burial ground, the plot was named for the brook that runs through the Gurski Farm property off Obtuse Hill Road. The brook may have been named for the Merwin families, whose homes were located nearby.

At least 50 stones stood here at one time. Unfortunately, many of the stones have been lost over time, through neglect or vandalism. A few stones were standing there until 1918 and about five were visible on the ground through the 1950s.

In Emily Hawley’s book, “Annals of Brookfield,” which was published in 1929, Miss Hawley noted that a Brookfield resident, Harmon S. Lockwood, told her that in his youth 50 stones were visible in this burial ground, and he thought that there were probably additional interments there.

A newspaper article that was written some time between 1882 and 1905 stated that approximately 16 tombstones were visible in the cemetery at that time, plus six pairs of common stones without inscription or initials that appeared to mark as many unknown graves. Some of the stones mentioned in that article are among those recently uncovered. To date, others mentioned in that article have not been located.

In 2003, the town of Brookfield purchased from the late Stanley Gurski and his nephew, Frank Gurski, Jr., the final portion of the Gurski Farm, which included the cemetery. Prior to that, in 1968, the town had purchased 80 acres of the farm for use as open space.

On March 10, 2004, radar imaging was done to approximate the size of the cemetery. In May of 2005 Historic Cemeteries of Brookfield Association members Don Winkley and Bob Brown placed stakes to mark the boundaries, and a split rail fence was installed around the cemetery in 2005.

In August of 2007, association members discussed the need to locate tombstones in the cemetery and how to best preserve them once they were found.

Several work sessions have been held at the cemetery, and, to date, the members have uncovered 13 tombstones and one footstone that is inscribed with the name Merwin. Most of the stones are made of white marble or blue slate.

A new sign was recently installed at the cemetery, the post designed and created by Ryan Blessey of Brookfield, a former member of the Gurski Homestead Commission.

Among Brookfield’s early settlers buried here are Hawleys, Wheelers, Merwins, Northrops, and Baldwins. Two Revolutionary War veterans, Asa Northrop and Samuel Hawley, are buried here. As in other Brookfield cemeteries, American flags will be placed near their tombstones each year for Memorial Day,

The gravestones of some of these early settlers uncovered in Merwin Brook Cemetery are as follows.

Stephen Hawley, son of Samuel Hawley, Sr., of Stratford, and grandson of Joseph Hawley of Stratford, was born in 1695 in Stratford and died September 10, 1780, in Brookfield (then the parish of Newbury). He married 1) Mary deForest, daughter of David deForest, in Stratford. They had six children. His second wife, Hannah was born in 1694 and died in 1778, aged 84. She is buried next to her husband. Her maiden name is unknown.

Stephen Hawley was one of the first settlers of Brookfield (then part of New Milford, Danbury, and Newtown). He left Stratford about 1723, moving first to Newtown, then to New Milford. He owned land, set off to him by Rev. Daniel Boardman, on both sides of the Housatonic River from the Great Falls at Lanesville to Southville. The highway that runs from Longmeadow Hill to New Milford was laid out in 1749 through his land.

He was the recipient of the last deed given by a Native American, the Sachem “Cockshure”, to a white man in this area, in July 1733 and recorded in April 1739. It encompassed approximately 400 acres in Woodbury.

Stephen Hawley was one of 25 petitioners from the Parish of Newbury who requested on May 2, 1743 that the settlement have a church of its own. In 1755 an effort was made to raise a fund for the Newbury parish by donations of undivided lands. He contributed 30 acres and in 1771 gave seven additional acres. According to Emily Hawley’s book, he served in Colonial Wars. His will is on record at Woodbury, then the probate court for New Milford.

Nehemiah Hawley, son of Stephen and Mary deForest Hawley, was born August 24, 1726 and died February 4, 1796 in Brookfield. He was on the committee appointed by the General Assembly for the inspection of provisions for the Revolutionary Army in 1780. His wife Comfort, surname unknown, was born in 1731, possibly in Brookfield, and died on March 4, 1791. Her gravestone lies next to his. They had a daughter, Mary.

Nehemiah Hawley’s name is among those of 214 adult men who presented themselves before the first town clerk, Elijah Starr, when Brookfield was incorporated, for the purpose of recording their “ear marks” (marks on domestic animals that were allowed to roam at large).
He is also on the list of men who participated in the first ecclesiastical church affairs.

Samuel Hawley was born October 8, 1752 and died in October of 1783. He was the son of Hezekiah Hawley and Sarah (Phelps) Hawley and the grandson of Stephen Hawley. According to The Hawley Society, Inc., he was born in Bridgewater.

 He enlisted in May 1775 in the Revolutionary Army and served in the Fifth Regiment, 8th Company.

He received about 30 acres of land in his grandfather’s will, but survived him by only three years.

Isaac Merwin, son of Samuel and Sarah (Camp) Merwin, was born about 1743 and died January 9, 1810 in Brookfield, aged 68. In 1770, he married Mary Hawley, daughter of Nehemiah and Comfort Hawley and granddaughter of Stephen Hawley. She was born in 1751 in the Parish of Newbury and died September 5, 1797 in Brookfield, aged 46. Her gravestone lies next to his. They lived in the Longmeadow area. They had 13 children, who were all born in the Longmeadow house.

 To date, the gravestone of only one of their children, Esther, has been located at the Merwin Brook Cemetery. She was born in 1782 and died in 1803 at the age of 21. Some of their children are buried with their spouses in other Brookfield cemeteries or in other area towns.

Isaac Merwin is named on the list of 214 adult men who presented themselves for the recording of earmarks in 1788.

Sarah (Hawley) Wheeler, daughter of Hezekiah Hawley and wife of Amos Wheeler, was born May 28, 1754 and died October 24,1804 in Brookfield, at the age of 50. Her gravestone has an inscription similar to that of Henry Baldwin’s (see below).

The gravestone of her three children, born July 20, 1797, died February 24, 1802, lies next to hers.

In her book, Miss. Hawley noted the burial of the three children in Merwin Brook Cemetery and their parents were also probably buried there. Since the gravestones of Sarah (Hawley) Wheeler and her children have been uncovered, it is probable that her husband, Amos, is also buried at Merwin Brook Cemetery, though his stone has not been located. His name is not listed as being buried in any of the other cemeteries in Brookfield.

 Amos Wheeler took the freeman’s oath (loyalty oath) in 1787, according to the book “Newtown’s History and Historian.” He lived in the Parish of Newbury very early and was the agent selected to petition the General Assembly to incorporate the town of Brookfield in 1788. He represented Brookfield in 1793, 1794, 1796, and 1798, was first selectman in 1790-1791, and appears to have been a prominent man in the town. He was a merchant in 1807. His name also appears on the list for recording of earmarks and on the list of those participating in the first ecclesiastical church affairs.
The Wheelers lived in the “Bungalow”, which is opposite the Brookfield Library. The house, which was built about 1740 in Dutch colonial style, was a tavern previous to the Revolutionary War. Since Amos Wheeler owned the house at that time, he may have conducted the tavern.

According to Emily Hawley’s book, Amos Wheeler also induced the town to change the route of the then Obtuse highway (now Winding Road). It was laid out on the north side of the Isaac Lockwood property and joined the village street (now Route 25) by the side of the Bungalow. Previously the Obtuse road passed to the south of the Lockwood residence and following an orchard reached the village street through the garden of Miss Sarah Fairchild. This old road was in reality constructed along the ancient division line between New Milford and Newtown, according to Emily Hawley.

Major Asa Northrop, son of Joshua and Mary (Bennett) Northrop, was born in 1763 in Newtown and died December 13, 1805 in Brookfield. He married Sarah Hubbell on June 15, 1786. Following Asa’s death, she married Colonel Isaac Hawley.

Asa Northrop was active in the Congregational church, and, according to information at the Brookfield Historical Society and Museum, he served as a tithing man in the church. He also participated in the first ecclesiastical church affairs, and his name appears on the list of 214 adult male citizens of Brookfield in 1788

Major Northrop took the freeman’s oath in 1787 and on June 22, 1787 enlisted in the Revolutionary War in Capt. Kimberly’s Company for three years. According to information on file at the Historical Society, he was only 16 years of age when he went to Norwalk in July of 1779 with Capt. Joseph Smith.

Henry Baldwin, who was born in 1776, parents unknown, drowned at the age of 22 on April 4, 1798. His epitaph reads as follows:
“Here lies interred a blooming youth,
He lived in love, and died in truth
Call and behold as you pass by
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now so you must be
Prepare to die and follow me.”
The only reference to Henry Baldwin in “Annals of Brookfield” is on the page listing those buried in Merwin Brook Cemetery.

The gravestone of Lucy Bennett, which was found during the radar imaging in 2004, has been uncovered. Lucy, who was born in 1789, died in 1806 at the age of 17. She, also, is only mentioned on the Merwin Brook Cemetery page in Miss. Hawley’s book. Her parents are unknown.

Further research is needed to learn more about Henry Baldwin and Lucy Bennett. Information for this article was found in Emily Hawley’s “Annals of Brookfield”, “Newtown’s History and Historian”, newspaper articles, and the Internet.

The Historic Cemeteries of Brookfield Association is an ad-hoc committee of the Brookfield Museum and Historical Society. The officers are Jan Howard, president; Robert Brown, vice president; Kim Embree Willis, secretary; and John Scully, treasurer.

The gravestones of Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Hawley and 17-year-old Lucy Bennett are two of the 13 stones that have been located.
Kim Embree Willis, Caroline Miller, and Peter Thompson, members of the Historic Cemeteries of Brookfield Association, take a break during a work session this past summer.	In the Fall of 2007, Kim Embree Willis, Bob Brown, Mark and Jackie Kettunen, and John Furlong stand next to the newly uncovered tombstone of Major Asa Northrop. Members of the Historic Cemeteries of Brookfield Association and other volunteers have been working for the past two years searching for and uncovering gravestones at Merwin Brook Cemetery.