THE OLD ROGERENE cemetery, site of burials in Quakertown from ca. 1740 to 1903, is located in what is now forest off Pumpkin Hill Road and Red Brook Lane in Ledyard, Connecticut. All grave markers are fieldstones, arranged in rows, some of them carved with roman numerals corresponding to those on a chart which is now lost; a list of people buried in the cemetery remains (see below), but it is not possible with any certainty, in most cases, to match names with gravesites.
The cemetery may be reached thorough a right-of-way that opens onto Red Brook Lane between house numbers seven and nine (see maps below). A trail cleared by Harold Crouch runs through the right-of-way to a stone wall; the cemetery lies directly over the wall. While the cemetery lies on privately owned land, public access is permitted.
At its February 2007 annual meeting, the Ledyard Union Cemetery Association, which administers the Quakertown cemetery located on Col. Ledyard Highway, voted "to take oversight of the old Quaker Cemetery” as a way of “preserving this historic landmark” (Association minutes, Feb. 2007).
Robert W. Merriam writes the following about the old
Rogerene cemetery in “The Rogerenes and Quakertown,” his introduction to Dr.
Clara Hammond McGuigan's book, The Antecedents and Descendants of Noah
Whipple of the Rogerene Community at Quakertown, Connecticut (Ithaca, New
York: John M. Kingsbury, 1971): “The Rogerenes put no stock in pomp and
ceremony and fittingly enough their graves were unmarked. Every stone is a common field stone and
there are no family plots. Burial took
place in rows and sequence according to the chance of time. A record was kept on a paper chart… The last person buried in the old Rogerene
cemetery was Esther Watrous the widow of Alexander Watrous and daughter of
Zephaniah. She was born in the old
meeting house and she died in 1903 at the age of 93. Her stone is the only marked stone and it is marked simply EW.
“The forest has now closed in and there is little evidence of the graveyard except a boulder erected some years ago by Jabez Watrous which bears the inscription ‘Rogerene Cemetery [1740]’” (McGuigan 20).
Clara McGuigan herself remembers Jabez Watrous, 3rd, (1830-1925) as both “a gentleman and a scholar.” He was, she writes, “a great genealogist. He gave me much information for this book. He lived to a great age and his mind was clear and alert to the end of his life” (McGuigan 119).
Ellen Starr Brinton adds the following in her 1943 article “The Rogerenes” (The New England Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 1. [Mar., 1943], pp. 2-19): “Jabez Watrous… was a [great-] grandson of Timothy Waterous, author of The Battle Axe… Jabez was long the cashier of the little community bank at Old Mystic, at the ‘head of the River.’ He lived alone on a small farm about three miles out on the Meeting House Road and walked back and forth to work. His hobby was collecting historic records of the Rogerene community, but at his death they disappeared and none can now be found. Fortunately, Dr. McGuigan copied some of these by hand, including the burial records of the old Rogerene cemetery” (Brinton 13).
Of the cemetery’s proximity to the Rogerene meeting house, Robert Merriam writes: “By 1815 the Quakertown Society of Rogerenes had become so large that the old house of John Waterhouse could no longer hold the entire meeting. They had already planned to build a new meeting house when the great gale of September, 1815, advanced their schedule by blowing the roof off the old Waterhouse place. The new meeting house went up next to the site of the old one on the east side of Meeting House Road (now called Pumpkin Hill Road). In Quakertown the people called the new building the Meeting House of Many Gables. The timber for it was felled by the great gale. Most of it came from the hilltop next to the old Rogerene cemetery. This is one-quarter mile southeasterly across the valley from the meeting house” (McGuigan 19-21).
The Meeting House of Many Gables, which served in the mid-1800s as one of the stations of the Underground Railroad (McGuigan 21), was destroyed by fire during the 1930s.
THE FOLLOWING LIST of people buried in the old Rogerene cemetery appears as an appendix to Antecedents and Descendants of Noah Whipple (269-276). It is preceded there by the observation that “names are not in order of burial probably.”
ESTHER (CULVER) WATERHOUSE, wife of John Waterhouse, born June 5, 1695, died ----, daughter of John Culver and perhaps Sarah Winthrop.
TIMOTHY WATERHOUSE, born June 19, 1740, son of John and Esther Waterhouse, died Sept., 1814. He succeeded his father as leader of the Rogerenes.
CONTENT (WHIPPLE) WATERHOUSE, wife of Timothy Waterhouse, born Mar. 27, 1743, died about 1830, daughter of Zachariah and Elizabeth (Rogers) Whipple.
TIMOTHY WATROUS, JR., born May 26, 1765, died Apr. 6, 1820. He succeeded his father as leader of the Rogerenes.
HANNAH (WILCOX) WATROUS, wife of Timothy Watrous, Jr., born May 25, 1766, died Apr. 6, 1851, daughter of Stephen Wilcox.
ZEPHANIAH WATROUS, born Apr. 23, 1785, died about 1860, son of Timothy and Content (Whipple) Watrous. He succeeded his brother Timothy and was the leader of the Rogerenes many years.
SARAH (SALLY) (ROGERS) WATROUS, wife of Zephaniah Watrous, born Apr. 26, 1783, daughter of Alexander and Rachel (Larrabee) Rogers.
AMOS WATROUS, born 1753, died 1834, son of John and Esther (Colver) Watrous.
REBECCA (MANN) WATROUS, wife of Amos Watrous, born Feb. 13, 1754, died Oct. 13, 1814.
RACHEL LARRABEE ROGERS, born Mar. 1, 1755, widow of Alexander Rogers.
JOHN WATROUS, born Feb. 10, 1778, died June 11, 1820, son of Timothy and Content (Whipple) Watrous.
ZACHARIAH WATROUS, born Aug. 30, 1767, died Feb. 17, 1809, son of Timothy and Content (Whipple) Watrous.
JABESH WATROUS, born Mar. 2, 1774, died May 31, 1820, son of Timothy and Content (Whipple) Watrous.
WILLIAM CROUCH, born Nov. 7, 1770, died Oct., 1840.
JOHN CROUCH, born about 1780, died
ELIZABETH (WATROUS) CROUCH, born Apr. 5, 1780, died ----, (living in 1862), wife of John Crouch; daughter of Timothy and Content (Whipple) Watrous.
CONTENT (WATROUS) CROUCH, wife of Wm. Crouch, born Nov. 15, 1769, died Oct. 4, 1853, daughter of Timothy and Content (Whipple) Watrous
PHEBE E. CROUCH, born Feb. 16, 1865, died May 11, 1868.
COURTLAND CROUCH, born Jan. 10, 1855, died Oct. 14, 1859, son of Timothy and Betsy (Whipple) Crouch.
ELLEN SCOTT CROUCH, wife of John Crouch, Jr., born Sept. 24, 1830, died May 17, 1877, daughter of David and Lydia (Watrous) Scott.
HANNAH CROUCH, wife of Joel Crouch, born 1811, died about 1835, daughter of Wm. and Content (Watrous) Crouch.
JOEL CROUCH, her husband, probably buried there, son of John and Elizabeth (Watrous) Crouch.
SAMUEL CHAPMAN, JR., born Jan. 30, 1806, died ----, son of Samuel Chapman and Abiah Watrous.
ABIAH (CROUCH) CHAPMAN, wife of Samuel Chapman, Jr., born Sept. 8, 1804, died Nov. 21, 1871, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Watrous) Crouch.
MARY CHAPMAN, born July 20, 1836, died Nov. 5, 1879, daughter of Samuel and Abiah (Crouch) Chapman.
SAMUEL CHAPMAN, born July 27, 1838, died Apr. 8, 1862, son of Samuel and Abiah (Crouch) Chapman.
MARY (WATROUS) CHAPMAN, wife of Nathan Chapman, born June 17, 1811, died 1845, daughter of Zephaniah and Sarah (Rogers) Watrous.
The following children of Nathan and Mary (Watrous) Chapman died in infancy: 36-28 NATHAN CHAPMAN, born Dec. 29, 1829, died Aug. 23, 1830
MARY CHAPMAN, born Jan. 24, 1831, died July 5, 18 36-30
PHEBE CHAPMAN, born Nov. 6, 1832, died Apr. 16, 1833.
MARY CHAPMAN, born Feb. 8, died Sept. 27 1834.
MARTHA CHAPMAN, born Aug. 9, 1835, died Mar. 17, 1836.
SARAH CHAPMAN, born Jan. 5, died Dec. 2, 1837.
NATHAN CHAPMAN, born Oct. 8, 1838, died Mar. 15, 1845.
LEVI CHAPMAN, born Apr. 19, died Nov. 20, 1843
PHEBE CHAPMAN, born Feb. 5, died May 3, 1845.
MARY CHAPMAN, born Mar. 3, 1841, died Nov. 16, 1925, daughter of Nathan and Mary (Watrous) Chapman.
ELATHER WATROUS, born 1833, died June 1868, wife of John Crouch Chapman and daughter of Alexander and Esther (Watrous) Watrous.
ABIAH WATROUS, born May 1872, died ----, wife of Samuel CHAPMAN and daughter of Timothy and Content (Whipple) WATROUS.
ABIAH DRISCOLL.
BETSY (CHAPMAN) DRISCOLL, wife of Luther Driscoll, probably son of Asa and Martha (Geer) Driscoll.
AMY (WATROUS) ROGERS, wife of Henry Rogers, born July 3, 1815. 36-43
SARAH (WATROUS) ROGERS, wife of Henry Rogers, born May 22, 1808. Amy and Sarah were daughters of Zephaniah and Sarah (Rogers) Watrous.
MARY (POLLY) WATROUS, wife of Orlando Rogers, born Sept. 16, 1825, died Aug. 15, 1848, daughter of Silas and Mary (Crouch) Watrous.
LYDIA (WATROUS) SCOTT, wife of David Scott, born ----, died Jan. 12, 1870, daughter of Zachariah and Sarah (Adams) Watrous.
LYDIA SCOTT, born June 26, 1826, died 1844 (burned to death), daughter of David and Lydia (Watrous) Scott.
SUSANNA (SCOTT) THOMPSON, wife of Henry Thompson, born Apr. 18, 1849, died ----, daughter of David and Lydia (Watrous) Scott.
ADALINE WILLIAMS.
TIMOTHY WATROUS, 3rd., born Sept. 21, 1788, died Sept. 5, 1821.
RACHEL (ROGERS) WATROUS, wife of Timothy, 3rd., born Feb. 22, 1787, died Mar. 17, 182 1.
Children of Timothy and Rachel (Rogers) Watrous: 36-51
TIMOTHY, 4th
DESIRE
RACHEL
LUCY
JOHN WATROUS, JR., born 1821, died Sept. 5, 1849.
REBECCA (WATROUS) WATROUS, born Nov. 22, 1822, daughter of Joseph and Rebecca (Watrous) Watrous.
LOUISA WATROUS, daughter of John and Rebecca (Watrous) Watrous.
JESSIE WATROUS, son of Amos and Rebecca Watrous.
DESIRE (ROGERS) WATROUS, wife of John Watrous, born July 20, 1780, died Mar. 12, 1821, daughter of Alexander and Rachel (Larrabee) Rogers.
SARAH (SALLY) WATROUS, wife of Zachariah Watrous.
WILLIAM WATROUS, born Mar. 30, 1790, died Oct. 21, 183 1.
CLARA CUSHMAN, born Apr. 9, 1792, died Oct. 10, 1823.
LEONARD WATROUS, born Nov. 23, 1827.
Children of Timothy and Hannah (Wilcox) Watrous:
JAMES
NATHAN
HANNAH
Children of John-and Desire (Rogers) Watrous:
JOHN, born 1801, died June 15, 1802.
DESIRE, born 1802, died June 3, 1820.
NANCY
RACHEL, born May 9, 1806, died Mar. 7, 1826
ALEXANDER, born about 1809, died 1836.
JOHN, born 1821, died Sept. 5, 1849.
Children of Zephaniah and Sarah (Sally) (Rogers) Watrous:
TIMOTHY
REUBEN, born Dec. 17, 1812.
RACHEL
STEPHEN, born Nov. 19, 1819.
STEPHEN, born Nov. 16, 1820.
ZEPHANIAH WATROUS, born Oct. 30, 1806, died June 10, 1868.
ABIAH (CHAPMAN) WATROUS, born Oct. 18, 1808, died May 8, 1899, wife of Zephaniah Watrous.
Children of Zephaniah and Abiah (Chapman) Watrous:
ZEPHANIAH, born Jan. 20, died May 8, 1829.
ABIAH, born Jan. 2, 1831, died Sept. 24, 1836.
ZEPHANIAH, born Dec. 11, 1835, died July 22, 1836.
ZEPHANIAH, born Aug. 4, 1839, died Dec. 3, 1861.
WILLIAM, born Dec. 29, 1841, died July 5, 1842.
SARAH ELVIRA, born July 3, 1843, died July 26, 1872.
NATHAN ALEXANDER, born May 17, 1846, died June 17, 1860.
MARY ELIZABETH, born Apr. 16, 1849, died May 7, 1860. 36-88
MIRA CROUCH
HANNAH CROUCH
ESTHER CROUCH
SOLOMON CROUCH
DANIEL
NANCY
JOHN CROUCH, JR., born May 19, 1800, son of John and Elizabeth (Watrous) Crouch.
RACHEL (WATROUS) CROUCH, wife of John Crouch, Jr., born May 9, 1806, died Mar. 7, 1826, daughter of John and Desire (Rogers) Watrous.
JOHN CROUCH, 3rd., born May 29, 1822, died Sept. 29, 1839, son of John and Rachel (Watrous) Crouch.
(JABEZ CROUCH, born Oct. 7, 1807, but burial here doubtful).
ANNIE CROUCH, wife of Jabez Crouch, born 1808, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Watrous) Crouch.
DANIEL CROUCH, born Sept. 19, 1834, died Feb. 26, 1865, son of Jabez and Annie (Crouch) Crouch.
MIRA CROUCH, born 1844, daughter of Jabez and Annie (Crouch) Crouch.
JOHN CROUCH, born 1840, son of Jabez and Annie (Crouch) Crouch.
TIMOTHY CROUCH, born 1797, probably died in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
GEORGE ELVIN CROUCH, born Mar. 5, 1858, died May l, 1858, son of Daniel and Desire (Watrous) Crouch.
WILLIAM CROUCH, died in New York, not Connecticut.
MARY WATROUS, born Jan. 16, 1797, died ----, first wife of William Crouch, Jr., daughter of Timothy, Jr., and Hannah (Wilcox) Watrous.
FRANKLIN P. CROUCH, born Jan. 8, 1861; died Mar. 24, 1862, son of Timothy and Betsy (Whipple) Crouch.
EDWIN CROUCH, born Nov. 22, 1836, died Aug. 10, 1864, son of Timothy and Betsy (Whipple) Crouch.
ANSON CROUCH.
Children of Zachariah and Sarah Watrous:
ZACHARIAH
SALLY
CONTENT
Children of Jabez and Mary (Polly) Watrous:
JANE, born Sept. 15, 1805, died Apr. 25, 1838.
CYRUS, born Aug. 13, 1816, died May 25, 1820.
Children of Silas and Mary Watrous:
NATHAN, born Mar. 12, died Nov. 28, 1828.
CHARLES, born Oct. 13, 1831, died June 6, 1832.
CHARLES, born June 11, 1834, died July 4, 1835.
Eighth SON, born July 8, 1843, died unnamed.
ESTHER WATROUS, widow of Alexander, born Nov. 29, 1809, died Apr. 1903; last person to be buried in this cemetery, "E. W." on her stone.
One hundred twenty-one burials recorded.
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