Old Taugwonk Cemetery - in Stonington, Conn.

Old Taugwonk Cemetery - Pequot Trail Rd. in Stonington, Conn.

Located between South Anguilla Road (east) and Farmholme Rd (west)
in a farmers field on Pequote Trail Rd.
There is a Stone archway very close to the road located across the street from a gated field.
Very close by is another gate and the farmers tractor lane.

Taugwonk is refered to as the Minor graveyard, #25 in Stonington Graveyards - A guide - printed by the Stonington Historical Society. This grave site is an easy walk down a gated farm lane, with low stone walls on both sides. When the lane ends and opens on to the field, turn and look to your right. The graves are loacted in the back right corner of the field. Its boundries are contained within a small rope of linked chain. It was VERY overgrown with Goldenrod,some Poison Ivy, and a few but not many berry canes. I was there in early autumn, with the hayfield mowed, so the grave site's loaction was not hard to miss. Along with Dr. Joseph and Joseph, jr. Minor, you will find George jr. and Mercy (Gorham) Denison, Sarah (Minor) Denison, Joseph Denison.
Joseph & Lucy (Chesebrough) Denison's son George, married Bethiah Crandall, and moved to NY state after the Revolution. They are buried in Brookfield NY.

The books says there are 60-70 graves in this yard and that it is mowed once a year by the town. It was not hard to breakdown the Goldenrod, only time consuming. There was a small path that led to the graves of Joseph Minor and George Denison jr. and this area was a bit cleaned out. Except for these few graves it was work to find others. Bring clipers, water and a lunch. This could be a great site to visit in the winter.

Note: Also found near by were some Frinks. It is mentioned in some of the NY Histories that some of that name came with and settled in Brookfield with the Denisons.

Images have links to 100 dpi jpgs, with very little compression. Most are abt. 640 wide or 480 high depending on orientation. They should print fine on most desktop color printers.

The Yard from the middle of the field The Minors and Denisons are to the right in the shaded area.	The Minor stone markers - poking out of the Golden Rod. You can see that the weeds are a bit thinner around the oldest graves in the back.

Dr. Joseph Minor Sr. - Born Aug. 25, 1644 in Hingham Mass. - Died Jan. 31, 1711 in Stonington Conn. He married Mary Avery Oct. 23, 1668 in New London, Conn. He is the son of Thomas Minor and Grace Palmer. After Mary's death he remarried to Mrs. Bridget (Chesebrough) Thompson. Her husband was William.	Mary (Avery) Minor - Born Feb 19,1648 in Gloucester Mass. - Died Feb. 2, 1708 in Stonington Conn. Mary is the daug. of Capt. James Avery and Joanna Greenslade.
Joseph Minor Jr. -Esquire - head stone Joseph was the son of of Dr. Joseph and Mary Avery Minor. Most of the the information I have found (in the History of Stonington, & LDS) says he was born Sept. 19, 1669. His marker says he was 71 when he died. His death date says Feb. 8 and then it can be read as either 1739 or 59 with a /0 after it. Its one of those types of markers that have extra lines on it. His foot marker seen below, is clearly marked 1759. This would put his year of birth in 1688.	Sarah Tracy Minor - head stone She married Joseph Minor jr., June 18, 1700. She was born Dec. 17, 1677 and died Nov. 24 175? Her stone says she was in her 82 year when she died. LDS says she died in 1785, but the 175 is very clear so, their date is unlikly. The last number could be a 3 or 8 as they are roundy shapes remaining. The last 2 numbers could have been reversed when entered. Using these dates her birth year could be 1671 or 1676.
Joseph Minor - Jr. foot stone
Sarah Minor Denison- head stone Sarah was the daug. of Joseph & Sarah Tracy Minor. She was born Feb. 23, 1702 and married George Denison III, on Sept. 28, 1721. He was the son of George II and Mercy Gorham and though Mercy comes our Mayflower descent. Sarah died Sept. 27, 1724, in the 25th year of her age. George remarried to Joaanna Hinckley May 10, 1727. He died Jan. 16, 1737. I did not find his grave among those in the area that we cleared. Maybe on another trip, with weedwacker in hand, we'll find him.	Sarah Minor Denison- foot stone
Joseph Denison - head stone Joseph Dension was the son of George and Mercy Gorham Denison. He was bapt. in 1683. His head stone says that he died Feb. 18, 1724, aged 42. He was married to Prudence Minor Feb. 7, 1705, daug. of Joseph and Mary Avery Minor.	This head stone probably belongs to Prudence Minor Denison. Bapt. May 6, 1668, d. May 26, 1726 in her 68yr She was the dau. of Dr. Joseph and Mary Avery and was married to Joseph Denison. The stone is very worn but you can make out some letters and numbers, May and Dension seem very readble. This stone is next to Joseph, Denison's. Note: The dates, names and marrige and family reltationships information comes from the History of Stonington family genelogy section.
Joseph Denison - foot stone