Searching for Jedediah:
The Search for Revolutionary-Era Brewster Ancestor Jedediah Wood
Exploring the outdoors and exploring local history are two of my favorite obsessions. I find them both interesting, and it lets me get my mind off a stressful day job (my other obsession). A subset of exploring local history is interest in local cemeteries. For the last few years, one of my go-to obsessions has been the search for Jedediah Wood’s gravestone and burial site. Now, note that I said gravestone and burial site. As you will see, they are not one and the same.
Jedediah and Nemeniah Jr. Wood were brothers born in 1766. Nemeniah served in the Revolutionary War at the age of 16 while his brother Jedediah stayed home to work the family farm near current-day Brewster village. Legend has it that at some point during the war, the two brothers helped moved sick or wounded soldiers from their farm to a military hospital in Danbury, moving by oxcart down the old Nelson Blvd – the dirt road across from Electrazone Field that is now the first portion of the Putnam County Land Trust’s Diverting Reservoir Trail. Later, after the war, Jedediah served in the militia, and as a captain trained his troops in a nearby field. He was a cabinet maker, rumored to have built his own coffin and wrote his own epitaph, and he chose to be buried on his land alongside his wife Abigail, in a field atop a hill located near the Brewster train station.
First Clues
The first clue about Jedediah came from Army and Marine Corps Veteran Jack Duncan. In either late 2011 or early 2012, we were at the Brewster VFW discussing the Bob Palmer Project. The Bob Palmer Project, which is a whole other article, involves placing new flags every Memorial Day on the gravesite of every Veteran buried in the Town of Southeast. After we listed the 12 marked cemeteries within the town, he talked about the fact that there may be other gravesites from old farms in our area. He then mentioned that some of the Brewster High School cross country students had mentioned seeing a gravesite in the woods between Brewster Village and Nelson Blvd. My ears pricked up. What? Tell me more! I was hooked, and since then I, Jack Duncan and a host of other local residents have been searching for Jedediah.
It just so happened at about the same time (March 2012) I attended a lecture by the Enoch Crosby Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) at Brewster Library. They had recently published the book “Gravestones of Revolutionary War Patriots in Putnam County” which cataloged, with photos, local Revolutionary War Veteran burial sites. My wife had given it to me a few months prior as a Christmas present. Yes, I am that weird.
The presentation was done by Libby Baker, Carol Bailey and Jeanne Marie Perry. After the lecture, I approached the authors to talk shop, and the discussion turned to Jedediah Wood. His burial info was included in their book, but they had been unable to find the exact site to get a current photo of the stone. They gave me the general area that the grave was located in, back in the woods at the end of Nelson Blvd off of Drewville Rd. I also found out that they were in possession of an old photo of the gravestone! Yes, that excites me.
A short time after the meeting, DAR Member Libby Baker emailed me a picture of Mr. Wood’s Gravestone.
She also emailed me a note that had Mr. Wood’s epitaph:
“No doubt my friends and neighbors dear,
you wonder why my body’s here.
Born on this farm and spent my years,
here I will lie until Christ appears.
This is the field and near this place,
Where I first felt his saving grace.
And from this field I hope to rise,
and meet my Savior in the skies.”
Catchy epitaph. As you can see, the photo had power lines in the background, which provides a frame of reference. Our hope was that if we could find the spot where the terrain and the power lines matched what was in the photo, we would find the burial site. Easy peasy, right?
In April 2012, local resident Jane Casagrande put me in touch with the owner of the property believed to host the grave site. Jane emailed me, “Last year Libby, Carol and I tried to find this site, but it is very overgrown up there now….We think the site is behind the horse farm at the top of the hill. Years ago there was a path up there, overgrown now, but I could show you where it was.” I spoke to the property owner and got permission to search for the grave. So, on a Spring weekend in May 2012, my wife and kids and I, along with Jack Duncan, arranged to hunt for the stone.
Tick Tock
When we got there on that sunny spring day, Jack Duncan was already searching. We spent HOURS there. It sounds so easy to line up terrain and power lines, but it’s not so easy in practice. We didn’t find the stone. We could not find a spot that clearly re-created the layout in the old photo. What we did get was covered in ticks – hundreds of them. My wife and kids left to shower, with the kids freaking out the whole way home by sheer number of ticks. If you have kids, you know it is normally a battle to get them to bathe. Not this time. They couldn’t undress and shower fast enough. It still makes me laugh. And to this day, if they give me trouble about showering I just bring up the time they were covered in ticks, and before you know it the memories of those creepy-crawlies has them showering away.
Towards the end of our search, Jack and I found what looked like a well. It was a plastic pipe, buried standing up, barely poking out of the ground. The inside of the pipe was empty to about two feet down. Could this somehow be the site?
During our conversations with the property owner, she mentioned she was told years ago that the stones had been removed and placed in the care of the Southeast Museum. I figured we should follow up on that lead, so I asked the museum director Amy Campanaro about it, but there was nothing in the museum’s record books.
Concurrent with our physical search, there was also an electronic search for all things “Jedediah Wood”. Jack Duncan found the lion’s share of the online info, along with contributions from Cathy Croft and Lynne Eckardt. Among the findings:
- The October 14, 1927 Putnam County Courier lists Jedediah Wood as a Revolutionary War Veteran on a page one article titled, “War Veterans Corrections & Additions.”
- Jedediah and Nemeniah Wood are listed in the 1820 Census for Putnam County.
- In 1911, the local Boy Scout Troop came across the burial site during a hike. The December 1st Brewster Standard article titled, “Scouts Hike Over Historic Ground” reads, “On Saturday afternoon Nov 2nd Rev MH Gardner led his troop of Boy Scouts on a six mile hike around the new Croton Reservoir and over Mount Semiwaug. The Scouts found to the north of the mountain in the corner of a field they came upon two graves enclosed by four walls. One of the headstone bore the inscription: Abigal Wood, April 1st, 1815 aged 45. The other Jedediah Wood, March 13th 1857, aged 91.”
- Apparently, Jedediah was a big deal in local history on previous occasions. In 1979, the Southeast Museum sponsored a slideshow titled, “Jedediah Wood and the Brady Farm, a Chapter in Local History.” It was held on Friday, August 17th, 1979 at the Old Town Hall. That presentation kicked off the Jedediah Wood Folk Festival Weekend, which was co-sponsored by the museum and the town’s Recreation Department. At one point, this guy has a folk festival named after him!
The Farm
The property that was Jedediah’s was sold in 1860 after his death in 1857 to Charles Everett. He called it the C. Everett Valley View Farm. It was later purchased by Edward Brady and became know as Brady Farm. Brady Farm became known far and wide at one point for the distinctive red paint that adorned it, and is reported to have been featured in calendars and on postcards, though I have never found samples of those artifacts to confirm this.
The daughter of aforementioned Jane Casagrande, Margaret, spent a lot of time on that farm as a youth, and was able to aid in the research. She even trapsed through the woods to see if she could locate the old burial site. In November of 2012 she sent us a series of photos from when she spent time on the old farm. Here are her photos…
Below: The old farm, taken from the area where the grave is located.
Below: Large barn next to the main barn.
Below: The old barn on Brady Farm.
Below: The old Brady Farmhouse.
Below: Pic taken from the main barn. The farmhouse is off in the distance.
In these photos we found lots of inspiration to keep searching, and enjoyed the view into the past, but nothing to tell us the exact location of the burial site.
Timely Gift & Traveling Stone
Sometime during this timeframe, Putnam County Historian Denis Castelli had given me a copy of a handbook done in 1975 for the Old Southeast Cemetery behind the Ski Haus on Route 22. I had taken on the (volunteer) position of Town Historian for the Town of Southeast, so he thought it would be helpful to me. After an initial perusal, it just sat in my research pile.
There was one last item found among the aforementioned online research. A front page story in the May 28, 1981 Brewster Standard, announcing a flag ceremony at Old South Cemetery states,
“A recently mended headstone for colonial settler Jedediah Wood was placed here after being badly broken at its original site on the ‘Brady Farm.'”
I thought this was the “Big Break”. If the gravestone was moved in 1981, and I had the 1975 Old Southeast Cemetery Book and Map of all the graves, and knowing that there are not that many new additions to the cemetery each year, it seemed to me that we could narrow the search down to gravestones that were in that cemetery but not on the map. Plus, we had the old photo of the stone, so we knew its basic size – a tall rectangle. How hard could it be, right!?
In the fall of 2012 I contacted local resident Greg Wunner for two reasons -he was on the Old Southeast Cemetery Committee and, I had heard he knew the area that Jedediah Wood has been laid to rest. He checked the cemetery’s old records and there was no info on Jedediah’s stone being placed there, but he volunteered to go out to the original burial site to help finally determine the location.
On Saturday, Nov. 10th, 2012 (The Marine Corps Birthday, by the way) a group of us – my wife, kids, sister, dog and me – armed with a backpack of maps and a long mirror (You can use a mirror to make an illegible stone amazingly readable. It is remarkable when you see it done), headed to the Old Southeast Cemetery to search for Mr. Wood’s mended gravesite. We ran into local resident Christine Arnold and her daughter Gina who were placing flags on veterans graves (Hey, the Bob Palmer Project again!) as part of Gina’s Girl Scout Gold Award. Christine made a point that stuck with me – if the stone had been repaired, perhaps it was not as tall as what it used to be. We checked every stone we could find, but came up empty handed.
The next day, November 11th, 2012, which was Veterans Day, Greg Wunner and a friend, who remembered the gravesites from childhood adventures, went looking for the old burial site. He sent me the GPS coordinates, along with some pictures of the spot he believes they are buried – the spot with the pipes that Jack Duncan and I had found!
Synchronicity & Jedediah’s Family
In July of 2013, I received an email from Amy Campanaro, the director of the Southeast Museum. In a show of Jungian synchronicity, the 4th great-granddaughter of Jedediah Wood, Betty Holt d’Esterhazy, had contacted the museum to say she was planning to visit Southeast and wanted some assistance visiting the old gravesite. What are the odds??!! The Museum director put her in touch with me since at the time I was still serving as historian for the town of Southeast. In my conversations with Jedediah’s decendent, I learned a number of key things: One, Betty had been to the burial site and felt she could find it again. It was near a long stone wall, next to big oak stump, and at one point in the past had an iron fence surrounding the graves. Two, she had seen the stone when it was moved to Old Southeast Cemetery for safekeeping. She remembered it being very close to the road. Three, she and other family members had done a large amount of research on her ancestors, and was willing to share what she had.
Once again, I thought we had the key to finally unlocking the mystery. She even sent me another picture of the burial site while the stone was still in place – this one from 1974, taken from a different angle than the photo we already had – as well as other typed family-history documents.
One of the family’s documents, an essay by Audette Teachman Bower, had a handwritten addendum regarding the location of Jedediah’s stone. It is unclear, though, as to when the note was added. In the section where it lists Jedediah and Abigail Wood’s burial site and “family plot Brewster, N.Y”, the words “family plot” are crossed out, and a note reads, “Jedediah’s stone has been placed in the Old Southeast Church Cemetery – Abigail’s stone was destroyed.”
So before the family arrived, I went back to Old Southeast Cemetery to look for the stone along the edge of the cemetery closest to Route 22, hoping I would be able to tell the family it has been located. I still didn’t find it. I even called Betty while in cemetery for additional clues. No luck.
When Jedediah’s family came to visit, we scoured Old Southeast Cemetery. We then went to the original burial site, which was now a construction site for a new home. Alas, we all learned that nature and time can do amazing things to a landscape, and that memories are fallible. Our confidence in finding the exact burial site waned quickly, but we had a general idea of where it was.
On Novmber 17, 2013, Jack Duncan and I went to the burial site once again. Armed now with two pictures of the stone from different angles and times, the info from Margaret Casagrande and Greg Wunner, and the other info from the family, we hoped to finally pinpoint the exact location. While not certain, we basically agreed the burial site sits close to the site of the new house. Before leaving, we talked with the couple building their home. I know I am probably in the minority on this, but I am jealous that they have a Revolution-era Veteran buried a stone’s throw from their front door.
At this point, I was sad that we didn’t find it. I had visions of a public-access trail to the site, with a refurbished stone and memorial marker, and a great local story.
The Family’s Deeds
There was more interesting info in the family’s genealogical research. A Jedediah Wood descendant, Audette Teachman Bower, researched and wrote about her ancestors in 1979: “Jedediah Wood and Abigail Ganung Wood are buried on the Wood farm. The small plot is legally reserved in all land deeds. I visited this spot with my mother and Arthur Dean Wood in 1957 or 1958 and found a lovely corn field centered with a huge Oak tree beneath which was the grave and stones of Jedediah Wood and his wife Abigail, and I believe fenced in. How sad we were in 1974 to find it unprotected – the tree had been cut down, Abigail’s stone had been knocked down and partially taken away. It stood in barren land. Jedediah’s stone was still standing but seemed to be in heavily traveled territory. The horses appear to use this area as they are exercised and there is nothing to prevent a horse from coming upon the stones suddenly and kicking them in an effort to get over or around. We talked with a boy from the ranch and learned that a group from a local historical society had visited the site a few months previously. I wrote the Putnam Co. Historical Society. They led me to the Landmarks Preservation Committee at the Southeast Museum, Brewster, N.Y. The Committee is as concerned as I am for the preservation of this spot and plans are now underway to enclose and landscape the area. This is to be followed by a re-dedication and museum program. Mr. David McLane is in charge. Mrs. Paul R. Fitchen has been a leading light.”
Based on her comment about the site being in the deed, I started some side research looking through old county records to see if could find the deed protections. Maybe there would be a description of the location of the gravesites. As of yet, I haven’t found anything.
Abigail, Abigail, where art thou?
As far as I can tell, Abigail’s stone disappeared between 1972 and 1979. But even in 1972, it was illegible. In 1972 Reverend Floyd Fisher published “They All Rest Together” that inventoried the burial sites of early settlers of Putnam and Dutchess counties. He identifies only Jedediah’s stone, remarking, “Second Stone probably his wife. It has been broken and can not be read.” By 1979 when the Landmarks Preservation Society of Southeast tried to save Jedediah’s stone, there was nothing left to save of Abigail’s – or perhaps it was buried by rotting vegetation and soil. Someday, perhaps someone will find the remnants of her stone.
The Search Continues
Thinking perhaps it was possible that the stone never made it into Old Southeast Cemetery, I wondered if it had been stored or moved to an individual’s house in anticipation of placing in Old Southeast Cemetery or returning it to its original site. Since Paul and Eleanor Fitchen seemed to be instrumental in the communications between the family and the Landmarks Preservation Society, I contact the current owners of the Fitchen’s old house in April 2014. Perhaps the current owners of Eleanor’s house had found the stone, or remnants of it, in the basement, shed, etc. It was a dead end.
In April of 2014, Jack Duncan found a letter on LPSS letterhead discussing the project, and indicating that a NYSEG permit was obtained to restore the burying ground. This was significant because it meant that (1) perhaps there was a paper trail and map in NYSEG’s files that showed the exact location of the burial site, and (2) that LPSS was in control of the headstone in 1981. Cathy Croft put me in touch with Kathleen Abels who worked for NYSEG, but had also served as chairperson of the Historic Sites Commission. Luke Mangels from NYSEG got back to me within 24 hours to let me know that, while NYSEG keeps very accurate, detailed records of old permits, there is nothing in their files that indicates there was any sort of permit for the property off of Nelson Blvd. He said they may be able to grant permission to access property if NYSEG owns it (vs an easement) and if we provide a 1mm liability policy.
I also contacted the Landmarks Preservation Society of Southeast (LPSS) to see if they had any info in their records. In their meeting minutes from June 8, 1981 it stated that the stone was indeed placed in Old Southeast Cemetery, and that the stone has been repaired by a Mr. Corsi. It also stated that the burial ground was on electric company property.
LPSS also found two photos from Memorial Day 1981. One is a close-up of Jedediah’s headstone. It has a very visible repaired crack across the face, with the ground around it appearing freshly disturbed. Was this taken in Old Southeast Cemetery? I have no way of knowing based on the content of the photo.
But there was with a second photo of two boys standing in Old Southeast Cemetery. Jedediah’s stone is not in the photo, but I thought maybe it would be nearby. I had spent so much time in Old Southeast Cemetery that I recognized the tree, so we went to that spot. No Jedediah.
Funny side story: Later that day, I tell my boys, “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s go take the same photo in the same spot. It will be cool. And then, in another 40 years you guys can take the same photo again.” William, my youngest son who is way too quick-witted for his young age, says, “40 years dad?! That’s a long time. You’re gonna need to write that down for me.” That kid cracks me up.
In April 2015, Jack Duncan, through his Boy Scouting contacts, was able to identify the Scout. Dave Sambora’s son Mathew Sambora identified him as Matthew Wilson. I never did get in touch with Matthew, but it turned out I didn’t have to.
The Find
A year later, April 30th, 2016 was Bob Palmer Day once again. At 9am we were at Milltown Cemetery replacing flags. We then had to be at Old Southeast Cemetery by 10:30am. My wife’s and daughter’s Girl Scout Troop had taken over from Girl Scout Gina Arnold the responsibility of replacing the Veterans’ flags in that cemetery. Being obsessive, I once again started scouring the bushes along the edges of the cemetery, especially along the road since Jedediah’s family member recalled the stone being close to the road, and it seemed to me like a logical place to put it. Of course, I found nothing.
I also had with me again the 1975 map of the cemetery, and I was helping the Scouts and parents locate various graves. As I walked through an open area of the property with no stones shown on the map – and far removed from the road front, I saw a stone, buried flat and about two inches below grade, with the grass creeping over it so that only a circle two feet in diameter was showing. Now, remember, at this point I’ve stared at those old photos of Jedediah’s stone for about four years now. And this stone just looked ‘familiar’. The coloring looked right, so I began removing the grass. Then…the crack. I saw the crack. I knew Jedediah’s stone had a crack in it from staring at the old photos so many times, and this crack looked like it could be about right, though backwards, as if I was looking at the back of the stone. So I unearthed more. The top edge was square – another good sign. And the more I uncovered the crack the more it looked right. I dug out the top edge to shove my fingers in the earth and under the stone. It moved a bit. I cleared more grass and dirt. I lifted.
As I lifted, I expected disappointment, and that the mystery would not be ending. But then I saw the letters – W.O.O.D. I had to do a self-check. Was it wishful thinking? No it said Wood, Jedediah Wood. I was looking at the actual stone I had looked at photos of so many times. And the epitaph!
I yelled to my wife in a voice that comes out rarely, only when the adrenaline is pumping – like in the aftermath of a car accident while shouting instructions, or the time when I walked out on a bear in my backyard a few years ago. Man, was I happy. I called Jack Duncan to give him the good news. And of course I let Jedediah’s 4th great-granddaughter know.
And, yes, I know it’s kinda silly. Jedediah is not my relative. He is not an important historical figure. My find did not come with a big, fat check.
As the Girl Scouts and parents that were helping out at the cemetery gathered around to see what was going on, I realized that to an outsider it may see a little weird to be so excited to find a headstone, and to spend so much time doing it. But you know what? I had a good time searching for this thing on and off for the past four years. I exercised my brain and my body. I spent time with my wife and kids outdoors, and talked about things like family, community, history, and life. Maybe I taught my kids something about perseverance. I had fun along the way working with local folks, as wells as descendants of Mr. Wood from many miles away. We didn’t solve world hunger, or the plight of homeless Veterans, or the National Debt. In this day and age of short attention spans, sound bites and throw-away consumer culture, we took the time and hunted down a 2ft by 4ft piece of stone that was carved 159 years ago, then vandalized, repaired and moved 35 years ago, and then subsequently swallowed up by Mother Earth. And we found it. Kinda cool. And we enriched our local history.
Sources:
Gravestones of Revolutionary War Patriots in Putnam County, NY by Enoch Crosby Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
War Veterans Corrections & Additions. Putnam County Courier. Oct., 14, 1927. Vol. 86. No. 24. Page 1.
Slide Show Aug. 7 by Dave McLane. The Brewster Standard. July 19, 1979. Page 6.
Flag Day Ceremonies May 31 at Old Southeast Cemetery. The Brewster Standard. May 28, 1981. Vol. CVII. No. 46.
Captain Wood Add to Early Local History. The Brewster Standard. November 18, 1925. Page 1.
Folk Festival Weekend in Southeast. The Brewster Standard. August 2, 1979. Page 1.
Scouts Hike Over Historic Ground. The Brewster Standard. December 1, 1911.
Jedediah Wood and the Brady Farm, a Chapter in Local History. Flyer for slide show presentation held at the Southeast Museum in August 17, 1979.
Jedediah Wood and the Brady Farm, Near Marvin Mountain. The Brewster Standard. Thursday, August 16, 1979. Page 8.
Jack Duncan. Personal visits and emails, various dates.
Jimmy Duncan’s research files, as Troop Historian for Brewster Troop 1 Boy Scouts.
Personal visits to area of gravesite. Various dates.
Susan Fisher, personal interviews, various dates.
Michael XXXX, personal interviews, various dates.
Greg Wunner, various emails and phone conversations.
Amy Campanaro, various emails and phone conversations.
Margaret Casagrande, personal interviews via email, various dates. She also supplied many photos of the old Brady Farm.
Jane Casagrande, various emails and personal interviews, various dates.
Carol Bailey, various emails and personal interviews, various dates.
Libby Baker, including photo of gravestone. Various dates.
Betty Holt d’Esterhazy, 4th great-granddaughter of Jedediah Wood. Site visits, provided photos, interviews, and family genealogy write up. Various dates.
Wood Family Genealogy. Written by Audette Teachman Bower, 1979. Provided by Betty Holt d’Esterhazy.
They All Rest Together – Burial Sites of the Early Settlers Southern Dutchess and Putnam Counties by Rev. Floyd Fisher, 1972.
www.genforum.genealogy.com. Accessed 2/17/2014.
Landmarks Preservation Society of Southeast. Archive photos from 1981 Memorial Day, meeting minutes. Various dates.