November 9 – WESTERN – In the manicured grounds of the River Bend Cemetery on Beach Street lies a large square patch of short-mown grass, long thought to be empty except for a single upright marker and three flat headstones.
But on that lawn, labeled in the city archives as the Old Town Lot, lay dozens of secrets that remained hidden for decades, not by some nefarious conspiracy, but rather by a combination of time and ignorance.
On Saturday, residents, city officials and others stood solemnly in the crisp autumn breeze as a new memorial stone was unveiled, its jet-black marble etched with the names – or at least identifying names – of the 172 souls buried in the plot. already 151 years ago.
The dead of the Old City Plot were not wealthy people and the stone reflected that status. Several were identified as ‘unknown male’ or as stillborn babies. The last two memorial entries mention a person “found on the beach” in 2010 and “unknown hand bones” discovered on November 22, 2019.
The discovery of the plot and its contents came about through the efforts of a former military intelligence officer with a penchant for genealogy and a bedridden former cemetery worker with a razor-sharp memory.
A fruitless search for a grave reveals a mystery
James Wolfe, 63, moved to Westerly with his wife about 2½ years ago, capping a 31-year career that included stints as an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Army and the National Security Agency.
Once he retired, he put his honed research skills to work with the volunteer group Find a Grave, which answers requests from people seeking information about deceased persons and their final resting places.
“In the spring of 2023, I received a call from Florida from an individual looking for a grave marker for William Braman in Lot 56 of the River Bend Cemetery,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe walked the property but found no trace of Braman’s grave. But he did see a large grassy area just below where Braman would be buried.
“I asked the cemetery people about that area, but they had no record and suggested I contact the city clerk,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe, in his element as a researcher, spent months talking to city workers and searching through archival documents, with no success.
“I finally asked if they knew anyone who worked at the cemetery, and they gave me the name Celia Grossomanides, who worked at the cemetery office for 50 years,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe left a note on Grossomanides’ son’s door and was soon on the phone with the 95-year-old former cemetery office manager. Although age had confined her to bed, the memory of Grossomanides remained untouched.
“She knew exactly what I was talking about and directed me to a brown folder in a metal desk with two drawers near a door in the cemetery office,” Wolfe said.
The document, which had been moved from its original location during recent office renovations, was quickly tracked down by cemetery officials and passed on to Wolfe.
Solving a mystery and honoring the forgotten
That file showed that the mound – the lot in the old town – was purchased by the city in 1860 for $250 and used as a pauper’s grave for people who had no other option.
The folder also contained a list of 172 names or descriptions that now adorn the plot’s new commemorative marker.
“Thirteen people have been marked as ‘unknown,’ including one identified only as ‘foreigner,’” Wolfe said. “A group of eight bodies were found washed ashore, probably after a shipwreck, and there were others who were probably victims of the 1918 Spanish flu.”
The lists also contain notes of 26 buried children, some of them stillborn.
The plot, Wolfe discovered after additional research, contains the remains of Frederick J. Dunscomb – he is the only standing marker at the site – a gunner in the Newport Flotilla during the War of 1812.
“When many of these people were buried, there were no funerals or marching bands, just a few funeral directors who buried them without caskets,” Wolfe said. “In many cases, there was no one to acknowledge the deaths of these people who had nothing. The seriousness of this is that there are so many people here who are not recognized.”
Wolfe, determined to bring back a little respect to the forgotten dead, and with the support of local veterans and historical groups, contacted City Manager Shawn Lacey requesting that the parcel’s residents be honored with a memorial .
Lacey, a West native who grew up two blocks from the cemetery, was stunned by Wolfe’s revelation about the Old Town Plot.
“I’ve been to that cemetery thousands of times, biked the trails and climbed the trees as a kid, but had no idea what was there,” he said.
Lacey quickly asked the City Council to approve a $14,800 appropriation for the 3-foot-tall, 6-foot-long marker that was delivered to the cemetery Oct. 31 and dedicated Saturday.
On the night the credit expired, Wolfe went home and re-examined the plot’s burial list.
“I saw the third name listed, the first listed as ‘unknown,’ and was buried on June 17, 1874, exactly 150 years to the day the council approved the monument,” Wolfe said.
Lacey said the city plans to add an information sign directing visitors to the stone and cemetery it overlooks.
“I want people to come here, see the stone and know the beautiful reason why it is here,” he said.
Wolfe also hoped the monument would serve as a long-awaited tribute to 172 people who lay unrecognized beneath the earth of Westerly for far too long.
“I want people to stop and see this,” he said, waving his hand at the dark, reflective stone covered in names and dates. “It gives them immortality.”
j.penney@theday.com
