On page 26 of
the Harwinton Town Records titled East & West Harwinton
is the following:
".....then We laid out a burying place 30 rods
square butting East on Daniel Messengers 20 acres West
on the Highway North on ye Country Road the above written
work finished & Completed by us May 17 as Witness
our hands. Zach Seymour Danl Messinger Samuel Catling,
Committee
Recorded June 28, 1733 George
Wyllys, Clerk"
This was apparently
a committee appointed to lay out the last of the home
lots in East Harwinton and this was the last lot to
be established. It was on the south side of Burlington
Road and the east side of Terryville Road.
We hear nothing
more on this land for seventy-five years, and then in
1808 the following deed was recorded:
"To all men
to whom these Presents shall come: Greeting
Know ye that we Timothy Clark & Daniel Holt &
Jonathan Rossetter Selectmen of the Town of Harwinton
in Litchfield County for the consideration of Forty
Dollars received to our full satisfaction of Frederick
Phelps of said Harwinton Do give, grant, bargain, sell
and confirm unto the said Frederick Phelps his heirs
and assigns forever one certain piece of Land lying
in Harwinton laid out for a burying ground and a strip
for a Highway on the North Side of said Phelps land
of two rods in width Bounding North on the turnpike
road and running West from the West end of Josiah Phelps
Cowhouse to the said Burying Ground butted as follows.
North on the Turnpike Road the South by the highway
to said Phelps land and South of the brook for a burying
ground when wanted in the most convenient Place for
that use......
In witness whereof we have set our hands and seals the
3rd day of October 1808.
Daniel Holt
Jonathan Rossetter
Selectmen"
By what authority
they sold this land I am unable to find. They were elected
Selectmen on March 18, 1807 but I was unable to find
any record of a vote to sell the land.
Thirty six years
later, at a Town Meeting on April 1, 1844, it was "Voted
to appoint a Committee to take the subject of a new
burying ground into consideration & report their
doings to the annual Town meeting next. Sheldon Osborn,
Augustus L. Johnson & Gardner Preston are appointed
said Committee."
Then at another
Town Meeting held on October 7, 1844, it was "Voted
to inspect the ground used for a burying ground near
Mrs. Fredrick Phelps & if it is found suitable for
a burying ground & the Town has title to the land,
to enclose it with a suitable fence."
Then at still
another Town Meeting held on October 6, 1845, it was
"Voted that the present Committee of Burying grounds
keep the subject under consideration & report their
doings to the adjourned town meeting on the first Monday
of April next."
It appears, however,
that they did not wait until the meeting the following
April, three weeks later this appeared in the Town Clerk's
record:
"Report of
the Selectmen on Burying ground on the Phelps farm-"
"The under
signed Selectmen of the town of Harwinton pursuant to
a vote of said Harwinton at the annual meeting held
at town hall on the 7th day of October 1844 & also
on the 6th day of October 1845 have proceeded to examine
the records of the town for a reserve of land made for
a burying ground: and we do find that by referring to
the records of 1733 a burying ground of 30 rods square
was then laid out - and on the 3rd of October 1808 it
appears further from records that the Selectmen of the
town sold the above mentioned ground except one acre
and one half which they reserved for a Burying ground
& for a more aprticular description we would refer
to the above mentioned records - On the 27th day of
October 1845 we repaired to the above mentioned grounds
& laid out & made the following survey for a
Burying ground."
