By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — Mr. John Morse is finally settled into his final resting place — after almost 230 years after he was buried in 1786 at the age of 35.
Sometime after the 1950 map of the old cemetery in Pomfret was created his headstone disappeared.
Last year Killingly resident Becky Lamb found the headstone leaning on a lamp post in her yard, researched it and then called Pomfret first Selectman Maureen Nicholson who brought it back to Pomfret. But the headstone needed some repair and it was uncertain where he belonged in the old cemetery. The Pomfret Historical Society’s researcher extraordinaire, Donna Dufresne, said Mr. Morse was married to a member of the Sharpe family so he should be next to them.
During a Walktober event Oct. 19, Dufresne was joined by experts including preservationist Ruth Chapleigh-Brown of the Connecticut Gravestone Network and carver expert Keegan Day, plus Lisa and Will Cornell of Beyond the Gravestone of Storrs.
The headstone had a pointed bottom and if it had been buried at the proper depth — one-third underground and two-thirds above ground for tablets (headstones without a base) — some of the engraved words would have been buried and it might have been top heavy and fallen over. Enter Lisa and Will Cornell who have a delicate, respectful — and patented — method of preserving the stones and making them stand tall safely.
Lisa Cornell said they’ve restored thousands of headstones since their Storrs company was founded in 2012. The goal is “done but do no harm,” she said. There are sandstone, marble and schist headstones and each has its own issue, she said.
Will Cornell said the company has a patent on the concrete “collars” they use to set headstones right. There are small, medium and large. Mr. Morse’s headstone needed a small one. After it’s produced Cornell sets it in a hole the correct depth, dry fits the tombstone, and then, with a chisel, makes a custom fit for the bottom of the headstone.
Pea stone is added around the collar. It’s self-leveling, he said. The sand that’s added to that makes a firm yet reversible support. Lime mortar, also reversible, is added into the slot.
“Down the road, if there’s a better idea for preservation, all our repairs are reversible,” he said.
Day, an expert on headstone carvers, said Mr. Morse’s headstone was carved by Beza Soule. In the early days, he said, families used fieldstones, with perhaps initials carved into them. By around 1796, when Mr. Morse was buried, about 80 percent of families could afford to hire a carver. He called Mr. Morse’s square-topped headstone “pure Neoclassical” with its urn with tassels and curtains carved at the top.
Also joining the Walktober program were history lessons on the 60 Revolutionary War soldiers buried there, Abington’s history and what life might have been like then. Plus there was instruction on how to properly clean a headstone.
Before the event, sheep from the Easy Acres Gnomeland farm “mowed” the grass — an old solution that became new again.
The headstone says:
In Memory of/ Mr. John Morse / Who died Aug. 1796 / Aged 35 / A wit’s a feather and a chief a rod: / An honest man’s the noblest work of God”
The quote on the headstone was written by Alexander Pope, an English poet, translator and satirist of the Enlightenment ear in Great Britain. One meaning ascribed to the quote is: “It is good to be smart and it is good to be a leader, but it is the best to be an honest person.”

caption:

Left: Dry fitting. Then the slot at the bottom of the collar was customized with a chisel and the headstone was set with pea stone, sand and lime mortar. Bottom left: Mr. Morse's stone is just in front of his family's stones.  Page 1: Donna Dufresne (in green) at the cemetery. More photos on FB: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger. Linda Lemmon photos.


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Timeline for the family by Donna Dufresne:
Timeline Stories Written in Stone in Old Abington Burial Ground
By Donna Dufresne

Ensign James Ingalls  (1695 – 1765) & Mary Stevens Ingalls (1761 – 1773)
* James and Mary Ingalls married in Andover Massachusetts in 1719 where the Ingalls family had been well established.
* They Ingalls family had weathered the witch trials in Andover in the 1690’s. They were a wealthy family and James called himself a gentleman on his deed in Pomfret, implying upper class in the old English system.
* After his father died in 1735,  James Ingalls bought land from Captain Goodell and moved his family, including his mother Hannah Abbott Ingalls) to Pomfret. By that time there wasn’t enough land left in Andover on his father’s estate for James to pass on to his sons. The land included hundreds of acres on the west side of the Old Windham Rd. (rt 97). He built a saltbox house and ran a tavern. The house is now the Dyer Homestead.
* In 1747 James bought 120 acres from Seth Paine Jr. expanding his land on the west side of the Old Windham Rd (rt 97) northward to the four corners
(Hartford Providence Tpk/rt 44.)
* James Ingalls’ land spanned from what later became Elliot along the Old Windham Road to the four corners (route 44/97 ). The Inn thrived in the mid eighteenth century supplementing the income from the farm.
* In 1765, James Ingalls gave land for Abington’s Burial Ground described as “a piece of land lying north of my dwelling house known by the name of the Burying Place, containing about three quarters of an acre enclosed by a stone wall.”  The burying ground had been used  for several years. Probably after James’ mother, Hannah died in 1753 since she was buried in the Cady Grow burial ground on Carter Rd. It is believed the Abington Burial Ground was used as a burying place around 1755.
* James gave land to his son, Zebadiah, who built the house known as the Fitzhenry Paine House on Rich Rd.
* Ephraim Ingalls inherited the 120 acres from Rich Rd. to the four corners bought in 1747.
Children of James Ingalls and Mary Stevens Ingalls born in Andover
* James, born August 3, 1720; married Mary Frye
* Deborah, born April 29, 1722; married Benjamin Sharpe, Pomfret,  1751; died April 17, 1753
* Ephraim, born November 26, 1723; died January 19, 1725
* Ephraim, born November 6, 1725; married Mary Sharpe in Pomfret
* Mary, born September 7, 1727; Married Ebenezer Abbott in 1744; died March 30, 1750
* Zebadiah, born November 3, 1729; married Esther Goodell, Pomfret
* Daughter born October 8, 1731
* Simeon, born January 12, 1736, died April 4, 1753, Abington
Ephraim Ingalls (1725 – 1805)  and Mary Sharpe Ingalls
* Built the white house next to the burial ground and ran a tavern there during the Revolutionary War.
* Was the official meat packer during the Revolutionary War in 1774
* First Selectman
* Storer of Grain
* The tavern was a meeting place during for the local militia in the 11th Regiment. The training fields were across the street from the barn.
* Held a certificate for a free Indian woman in 1774
* Church records indicate enslaved man worked for Ephraim: Pompey, Negro servant of Ephraim Ingalls died 1783 age 30  (Revolutionary war?)
Children of Ephraim and Mary Sharpe Ingalls
* Mary Ingalls daughter of Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born December 5, 1752, died October 29, 1764 age 12
* Simeon Ingalls son of Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born May 28, 1754,
* Dorcas Ingalls daughter of Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born November 9, 1755 died October 25, 1764, age 9
* Deborah Ingalls daughter of Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born August 28, 1757
* Rhoda Ingalls daughter to Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born November 28, 1759 died October 15,1764, age 5
* Sarah Ingalls daughter of Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born February 17, 1762
* Ephraim Ingalls son to Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born September 6, 1764
* Molly Ingalls daughter born of Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born January 17, 1766
* Charles Ingalls son to Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born September 16, 1768, died November 21, 1772 age 4
* Edmund Ingalls son to Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born September 7, 1770
* Dorcas Ingalls daughter to Ephraim Ingalls by Mary his wife born April 8, 1772

Captain Zebadiah Ingalls (1729 – 1800) and Esther Goodell Ingalls (1735 – 1778)
* Zebadiah married Esther Goodell (1735 – 1778) in Pomfret February 20, 1755. Esther was the daughter of Zachariah Goodell, (1701 – 1783), of the prominent Goodell family which settled in Abington shortly after the Mashamoquet Purchase.
* Esther died September 30, 1778, after enduring a period of loss and grief in the midst of the War of the Revolution in which her husband, Captain Zebadiah Ingalls was called away for duty in the 11th Regiment. During the Revolutionary War, she lost her son, Silvanus on September 25, 1776, her son John on January 23, 1777, and Zebadiah Junior on September 17, 1777. Silvanus was 17 and Zebadiah Jr. was 21. Both were engaged in their father’s regiment in the Revolutionary War.

* Children of Zebadiah and Esther Ingalls
* Lemuel (1755 – 1839)
* Olive (1757 – 1760) age 3
* Zebadiah (1757 – 1778) age 21
* Sylvanus (1759 – 1776) age 17
* James (1760 – 1813)
* Esther (1762 – 1851) age 9
* Allis (1764 -)
* Oliver (1770 – 1815)
* John (1776 – 1777) age 1

Military Service
* Zebadiah served in the 8th company in the 11th regiment at the Lexington Alarm. The 11th Regiment originally formed in 1739 as a local militia group composed of companies from Woodstock, Pomfret, and Killingly. Many of the soldiers served in the French Indian wars. In 1773 the regiment formed a cavalry, or “Troop of Horse” which was commanded by Captain Samuel McClellan of Woodstock and reorganized in 1776 as the 4th Regiment of Connecticut Light Horse commanded by Major Ebenezer Backus.
* As a member of Company 8, Zebadiah would have fought in Putnam’s 3rd Connecticut Regiment at Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston during 1775. He was a Captain and fought for 9 days.
* The list of Captain Zebadiah Ingalls Company in the 11th Regiment gives a snapshot of the Abington Parish neighborhood of the Ingalls. Many of the names are familiar from business and land transactions, births, and marriages. Details of the musters and payrolls can be found in a book published by the New York Historical Society in 1914,  Muster and Payrolls of the War of the Revolution 1775 -1783.

Dr. Elisha Lord (1733 – 1809) and Alethea Ripley Lord (1738 0 1762)
* Dr. Elisha Lord was the first resident physician in Abington.
* In 1760 he bought 3 acres of land with a hip-roof house from Nathaniel Rogers, a housewright who had built similar houses in Abington including the Warner Tavern across the street, and the Osgood house on rt 44.
* The house was just south of the lane to the Abington Burial Ground where the Gratton house stands today.
* He married Alethea Ripley, daughter of Rev. Ripley in 1759.
* The original house contained four rooms, 17 ft square. Later, he added 4 more rooms to the west.
* Elisha and Alethea had one son, Elisha, before she died in 1762.
* He married Tamasin Kimball Coit, a widow, in 1763. They had six children: Experience, Hezekiah, Alletheiah, Sarah, Mary, and Pamlia.
* Dr. Lord was a patriot and was the examining doctor for volunteers in the 11th Regiment. He and Israel Putnam were elected to represent the town of Pomfret in the General Assembly of CT and in 1777 took the oath of fidelity.
* His son, known as Captain Elisha Lord and later, Deacon, married  Lucy Danielson and they had a daughter, Alathea, who was the first librarian of the Ladies Library of Abington. Alathea  kept a large flower garden and kept the beautiful gardens that the Lord house was known for.
* Captain Elisha Lord was  voted to be the chorister to set the psalm at the Abington Congregational Church. He was also a member of the social library and led the Anti-slavery Society at Abington Congregational Church. In 1843 he was elected as a delegate to represent Windham Anti-slavery Society in the state convention in New Haven.
* In 1915 when Mary Osgood wrote her article about the Lord Family and Homestead, there were still people alive who remembered Captain Elisha Lord as a kind neighbor, a man of sensitive and refined nature, moral courage, and a studious turn of mind.


Captain Peter (1750 – 1827) & Elizabeth Pierpont Cunningham (1760 – 1837)
* Peter and Elizabeth Cunningham were married in 1779 in Pomfret after she inherited hundreds of acres from her grandfather, Thomas Morey, one of the original proprietors of Mashamoquet Purchase.
* Elizabeth came from a very wealthy Boston family. Peter was a retired sea captain.
* They lived in a house overlooking what is now Taft Pond and Taft Pond Rd. while building their large mansion house which was named Mashamoquet Meadows on the corner of what is now Rt. 97 and North Rd.
* Elizabeth (Betsy) had expensive carriages and gowns. In the Early 1800’s they entertained the community. Ebenezer Grosvenor wrote in his diary that he attended dances at “Cunninghams” and also wrote about meetings which took place there during the War of 1812. It appears they may have run a tavern.
* A piece of one of Betsy’s silk embroidered gowns is framed in the vault of the Town Hall.
* Although Peter and Betsy lived a long life, only four of their 16 children survived into adulthood. Most died within hours or days after of birth (see birth chart).

John Morse and Sarah Sharpe Morse
* John Morse was born in Holliston in 1760 to Benjamin and Sarah Clark Morse. He had two sisters, Sarah & Hannah.
* He bought the tailor shop across the street from the burial ground in 1793 with his business partner, John Phipps who appears to have been a cousin. The land was 8 rods and included a small building which had been owned by a dressmaker and then a tailor. Morse & Phipps set up a mercantile shop which included many fabrics as well as dry goods, paints and pigments, spices, tea, China, and household items.
* Had married Sally  (Sarah) Sharpe on March 15, 1795. They had an infant son, but he died in February 1796.
* 1796 – John Morse was a customer at Nathaniel Ayers’ Fulling Mill
* John Morse died in April of 1796
* In 1797 Sarah Morse was a customer at Nathaniel Ayers’ Fulling Mill
* There was no will and he died insolvent, owing more money than the estate was worth. His sisters sued the widow, Sarah, because they believed that the widow’s thirds were excessive. John’s partner, John Phipps, joined in the suit. He borrowed more money to pay $200 to John Morse’s sister, Sarah Richardson, and eventually had to claim bankruptcy and sell the business back to the tailor, John Maguire. John Maguire also went bankrupt and John Holbrook who lived in the big house next door got the building cheap from the execution in the bankruptcy. He turned it into his law office.
* The settling of the Morse estate was complicated by the lawsuit against his widow. The Widow Sarah Morse married David Day of Killingly in October of 1798. She and her husband sold her Widow’s Dower back to John and Francis Maguire on December 7, 1798. In October of 1798 John Phipps paid Sarah Morse Richardson and her husband 200 lbs. in a quitclaim to relinquish the title to the property with the shop which they must have been granted in the lawsuit. By 1799 the debts accrued by the lawsuit caught up with the little shop, and John Phipps, who likely borrowed money to pay the debts, lost the shop and property by execution to John Holbrook, a lawyer who lived in the large house (later known as the Warner Tavern) next door. After that, the shop became Holbrook’s law office and was absorbed into his house lot until it was once again subdivided in 1977 with a shared driveway and well.

Oliver Ingalls (1770 – 1815) and Betsey Abbott Ingalls  (1786 – 1839)
* Oliver Ingalls was just 8 years old when his mother, Esther Ingalls died.
* His father, Zebadiah was captain of the 11th regiment during the Revolutionary War and two of his older brothers were killed in the war.
* Oliver appears to have spent time at sea as a young man, perhaps as a captain on merchant ships in the West Indies Trade in the 1790’s. His inventory upon his death included a sea writing desk, gauges, charts, Spanish and French grammar books, and navigation books. On one of his voyages he brought back a young boy named Neptune who had been born in Africa. Neptune lived with Oliver’s family and shows up on the 1810 Pomfret census as a free black.
* In 1803, Oliver Married Betsy Abbott in Providence, Rhode Island. They settled in Pomfret where all their children were born.
Children born in Pomfret
* Gerard – 1804 – 1812
* Esther -  1807
* James – 1809 – 1828
* William 1811
* Zebediah – 1813
 
* Oliver’s oldest brother, Lemuel may have set him up in business as an apprentis to a blacksmith.

* In 1810, Oliver bought land from William Brayton which included the Brayton gristmill, linseed oil mill, and a fulling mill on Mashamoquet, complete with a store and blacksmith shop.

* Tragedy struck in 1812 when Gerard drowned in the millpond.

* Around 1814 Oliver began to make plans for the Pomfret Wool Manufacturing Company downstream from the gristmill. He acquired investors and a board of directors which included many of the prominent men of Abington. By 1815 the mill was in operation producing cloth from start to finish under one roof.

* On April 10, 1815, Oliver Ingalls was coming home from Dresser’s Store late at night. Perhaps he had been at a meeting. Perhaps it was a rainy or foggy night. Somehow, he missed the road at the bridge and fell into the millpond.  Betsy recalled that their Newfundland dog barked at something but she couldn’t see anything when she opened the door.

* Lemuel was executor of Oliver’s estate. It took several years to settle the estate. Eventually, the mill complex was sold to the Marcy’s. The Pomfret Manufacturing Company was destroyed in a flood.

* Betsy moved back to Providence where her father owned a store. Their two youngest sons, William and Zebediah became wealthy merchants in New York City,