Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut

Date added: October 05, 2024
General view northeast (2000)

Do you have an update on the current status of this structure? Please tell us about it in the comments below.

The Old Kinne Burying Ground is a family cemetery in the southeastern corner of the Town of Griswold. Initially, Griswold was the North Society of the larger Town of Preston, until 1815 when the Town of Griswold was split off as a separate municipality. In 1711 Samuel Coy erected a corn mill at the falls in the Pachaug River. In due course, a dam created Glasgo Pond, which is visible from the Old Kinne Burying Ground. By the time of the Revolutionary War, the population of the area that was to become the Town of Griswold was 1,000, with agriculture the leading industry, augmented by water-powered mills.

The Old Kinne Burying Ground, one of 18 family cemeteries in Griswold, was established partly on the land of Joseph Kinne, who came from Salem, Massachusetts, in 1704, and partially on the land of Thomas Kinne, who arrived from Salem in 1714. Joseph Kinne was a captain in the colonial wars, while his sons, Jacob Kinne, and Captain Ezra Kinne, served in the Revolutionary War. Jeremiah Kinne participated in the Boston Tea Party. The earliest marked stone now extant in the cemetery is that of Daniel Kinne, who died in 1713. Kinne family members continued to be buried in the cemetery over the centuries. Names such as Stuart, Kennedy, and Cook found on the site are the married names of Kinne daughters. The last burial was that of Clark Robbins Cook, in 1912.

In 1884 the Kinne Historical and Genealogical Society was incorporated by a special act of the Connecticut General Assembly for the purpose, in part, "of enlarging and improving the Kinne Burying ground [sic], so called, in the town of Griswold … " In 1887 the society purchased land adjacent to Glasgo Pond as described by deed recorded in the Griswold Land Records, Volume 11, page 138. Perhaps this was an addition to the cemetery. The boundary description in the deed is difficult to read, but does mention two decipherable boundary line measurements, 168 feet and 170 feet, which do not correspond with measurements shown on a town map of existing conditions. The grantor in the deed is Nathan B. Lewis, who purchased the land in 1857 from an Alexander Stewart, a Kinne family connection. The present owner, according to the Griswold Assessor's records, is Glasgo Cemetery, with mailing address of 32 School Street, Jewett City, which is the address of the town hall. The property is designated as map 78, block 136, lot 3.

Inscriptions on the monuments in the Old Kinne Burying Ground were recorded in the 1930s statewide Works Progress Administration project known as the Hale Index, which was organized by Charles R. Hale, Connecticut State Librarian, and is housed at the Connecticut State Library. The 1934 list consists of inscriptions on 79 stones, 48 of which are for the Kinne (or Kinney) surname. A contemporary study lists the names of 74 people interred in the cemetery, all but three of whom are related by blood or marriage to the Kinnes.

The village of Glasgo was named after Isaac C. Glasko (1776-1861), a blacksmith "of mixed Indian and Negro blood, who developed an extensive business in marine hardware (1806) and furnished whaling implements to all New England ports."

Brown lists Isaac C. Glasko as son of Jacob Glasko, a resident of North Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Jacob Glasko purchased property in Preston in 1806, as documented by Preston Land Records, volume 14, page 281. It appears that father and son came at about the same time to the area that took their name. Jacob died in Griswold in December 1824.

Isaac C. Glasko, who is buried in the cemetery, married Lucy Brayton (1776-1849), daughter of James Brayton of Smithfield, Rhode Island, on December 19th, 1800, according to Brown. The account continues that Isaac C. Glasko came to Connecticut from Cumberland, Rhode Island, by 1807 as documented by the Preston Land Records, volume 15, page 28. Lucy died in Griswold on February 28th, 1849; Isaac died, aged 85, in Norwich while visiting his daughter, on September 7th, 1861. The couple had three children, Azubah, born c. 1810; Isaac M, born c. 1814; and Miranda, born c. 1819.

Isaac C. Glasko arrived by 1806 when the population was about 1,400 persons, bought land from Alexander Stewart, a Kinne family member, and operated a blacksmith shop close to the cemetery near the corner of State Route 201 and Jarvis Road, where the remains of a building thought to have been part of his shop still stands. He applied for the right to vote (and was denied). He is buried up the hill beside his wife, Lucy Brayton Glasko (1777-1849), who died a dozen years before him. A third African American is also buried in the cemetery, Martha Moody (d. 1834), who was the wife of Thaddeus Moody (b. 1780), a friend of Isaac's for whom Isaac and Lucy's son, Isaac Moody Glasko (ca. 1814-1877), was named.

In Phillips' version of history, Isaac C. Glasko came from North Northbridge, Massachusetts, in 1806, bought land, and set up a blacksmith shop "in what is now the heart of Glasgo." Phillips continues, "He had a genius in forging iron and steel, and in tempering tools. He harnessed his water power to a trip hammer, and his shop became famous for the farming and carpentry tools which he manufactured," employing ten men.

The Glasko family was recorded in the 1850 United States Census as residents of "dwelling house 33" in Griswold. Isaac C., blacksmith, is listed as Black, born in Rhode Island. His daughter, Miranda, age 31, is Black, born in Connecticut, while a 22-year-old woman (Mary James) not having the Glasko name is also shown as Black. A second Glasko household, that of Isaac M., son of Isaac C., also recorded as Black, is at the top of the next page. The 1790 census of Smithfield, Rhode Island, recorded James Brayton as "Melatto".

Some additional specific information on the activities of Isaac C. Glasko emerges from the Griswold Land Records. The Grantors' index lists 18 entries under his name during the period 1827-1849. Corresponding grantees included Alexander Stewart, Joel Kinney, and Avery Kinne. The coterminous Grantees' index lists Isaac C. Glasko's name for 14 entries, with corresponding grantors including Avery Kinne three times. Several 1841 entries relate to an agreement between Isaac C. Glasko and his creditors. On January 19th, 1841, Avery Kinne's name was the first of three to whom Glasko deeded property in trust for the benefit of all creditors. The property was described as 54 acres with four dwelling houses, sawmill, gristmill, two barns, coal house, and other buildings bounded by lands of others (not by the highway, cemetery, or river but with water privileges). This appears to be a different parcel from that of the Glasko Iron Works, and, if so, increases substantially the indicated magnitude of Isaac C. Glasko's holdings.

The Old Kinne Burying Ground is well-preserved and is a stop on the Connecticut Freedom Trail, which was authorized by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1995 to recognize the importance to Connecticut of numerous sites in the state that are associated with the heritage and movement towards freedom of its African American citizens. Festivities celebrating the cemetery's designation as a site on the Connecticut Freedom Trail were held on September 11th, 1999.

Funerary Art

For New England's deeply religious Puritans of the 17th and 18th centuries, images and symbols were forbidden in daily life. Only in their death rituals did the early settlers indulge in any sort of image-making. Motifs carved into their gravestones carried great impact because they provided a unique opportunity for decorative graphics and sculpture, the only such expressions in Puritan society. Graveyard imagery as abundantly displayed in the Old Kinne Burying Ground was an art of the people, the only art, a traditional vocabulary expressed in a vernacular manner, and significant for that reason. Among the funerary images, the death's head was an early symbol, designed to give a fearsome reality to man's mortality, but it gave way to the winged cherub, found in the Old Kinne Burying Ground, as 19th-century theology, following the teachings of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), came to place more emphasis on immortality and life after death.

Graveyard imagery not being static, it began to reflect the introduction of love as an alternate to reason in the theology associated with Edwards' Great Awakening (c. 1740), which introduced love as an element equal in force to reason. The change became apparent in graveyard images, which continued to be the only imagery in the community. The evolution of the winged cherub came to symbolize man's immortal soul, suggesting life rather than death.

By the beginning of the 19th century, a more intellectual approach to religion and its funerary art evolved, and the stone of choice became marble. Simultaneously, interest in iconographic gravestone art declined. By the mid-19th century sometimes the only carving on stones was lettering.

Examples of many of the changes in gravestone sculpture outlined above are found in the Old Kinne Burying Ground. The earliest marked stone, that of Daniel Kinne, who died in 1713, is in a simple curved-top shape, with lettering of the name its only carving. Joseph Kinne's stone is another similar example. The simplicity of these monuments may indicate the non-availability locally of skilled carvers. There are also about 80 fieldstones in the cemetery of this general shape and material without carving or identification of any kind. The material is gneiss that has lost sharp edges and smooth surfaces to deterioration. Under one interpretation, these unmarked stones were used as monuments before carved stones of schist and sandstone came into use, or were available for use in rural areas, because there were no skilled carvers locally. An alternative suggestion is that the modest carving originally in place has substantially worn away, but its earlier presence might be indicated by close mirror examination. In any event, such stones are not unique in Griswold to the Old Kinne Burying Ground; Slater notes the presence, of 125 similar rounded stones, "most without designs or lettering," in the nearby Pachaug Burying Ground.

Captain Joseph Kinney's stone began to show more conventional lettering, as well as the suggestion of shoulders to form the traditional tombstone profile.

The Deacon Thomas Kinne marker displays a cherub rather than death's head, as might be expected for its date of 1756, but still shows a serious visage. The design includes the standard vertical borders of foliated curves. The carving is attributed to Richard Kimball, one of three generations of the Kimball family to whom stones in the cemetery are attributed.

The stone of Jeremiah Kinne, 1798, facing west in the center of the cemetery, displays a more peaceful facial expression, small classical angels, and trumpets, all of which are indicative of the transition to heavenly existence, as well as traditional decorative side borders. Moreover, by then the status of stone carver had assumed sufficient importance so that, far from being anonymous, the work is signed, with the engraver identifying himself, in accordance with the custom of the times, as sculptor, "J/Jotham Warren, Sculpt.". It was rare in the 18th century for an engraver or carver to sign his work; this is only the third Jotham Warren (1760-1852) signed stone known to exist. (The other two are in Plainfield and Preston.) It is the only signed stone in the cemetery from the 18th century. Four slate stones with his characteristic angels blowing trumpets are attributed to Jotham Warren, who lived in Plainfield until about 1801, then moved to Lisbon where he lived until his death.

In the Captain Ezra Kinne stone, 1795, the lettering is much deeper and sharper, more professional, and the shoulders more pronounced, but the arched top is missing and the vertical motifs under the shoulders consist only of incised quarter-round beads. The design forecasts the upcoming 19th-century return to classicism and simplicity, although it is still in brownstone, not yet the marble so widely adapted only a few years later.

By comparison, 19th-century monument design is restrained, with some use of urn and willow motifs, or free of decorative carving other than lettering, executed in marble, and almost rectangular shape. Both examples cited here are also repaired, re-assembled stones.

Other stones in the Old Kinne Burying Ground attributed to known carvers include:

The marker for Aaron Kinne's son, 1757, by Lebbeus Kimball
Two more examples of the work of Jotham Warren
A schist stone to Jonas Kinne by Josiah Manning of Windham
Lydia Kinne's memorial (Dorothy Edwards on back) by Peter Barker
John Kennedy monument by a Mr. Huntington of Lebanon

Three marble monuments for
Betsey Kinne by E. Marston of Mystic Bridge
Thomas Stewart, 1834, by O. Doty of Stonington
Alexander Stewart, 1849, by O. Doty of Stonington

Carved stones in the Old Kinne Burying Ground record the development of funerary art from the early 18th century to mid-19th century, as typically found in Eastern Connecticut graveyards, in a well-preserved site, which, as do the stones, enjoys a high degree of integrity. In addition, the interment in this family cemetery of Isaac C. Glasko, Black entrepreneur whose place of business was next door and who was a confrere in several well-documented transactions with members of the family, represents a significant relationship in local history.

Site Description

The Old Kinne Burying Ground is an 18th- and 19th-century family cemetery of about 0.8 acre located on a hill in the village of Glasgo in the southeastern corner of the Town of Griswold. The cemetery is approached by foot via a right-of-way from the intersection of State Road 201 and Jarvis Road to an elevated site above the Pachaug River and its Glasgo Pond. The approximately 150 monuments in the graveyard include 72 carved stones which are representative of funerary art of their period, one of them signed, others attributed to known carvers. In addition, there are about 80 unmarked stones. All monuments are upright and the premises are well cared for. Set back about 700 feet up the hill from State Route 201, the site has a sense of remoteness occasioned by the presence of water to the north and west, and by the fact that the burying ground is surrounded on all four sides by trees and spaces. No sense of the waterpower development with its historic paper mill nearby on the Pachaug River is immediately apparent at the cemetery.

The entrance to the cemetery at the top of the right-of-way is marked by a low stone wall. Inside to the left (west) stands the new sign erected on the occasion of re-dedication of the burial ground on October 24th, 1999. After 20 feet or so of open ground, the gravestones lie to the north and east, with a concentration of the older specimens toward the northeast corner. The irregular terrain is dotted with trees, most of which appear to be of 20th-century growth.

The markers are primarily headstones and footstones, almost uniformly modest in size. Bold square or rectangular monuments of large to massive size, such as sarcophagi and obelisks, number only a handful. The earliest examples, probably dating from before 1725, are fieldstones, primarily gneiss, many without inscriptions, of small size in simple rounded shape, some with modest inscriptions. More distinctively carved inscriptions and designs developed with characteristic later 18th-century work (Photographs 10, 11, 13). The usual description became a design with rounded top, shoulders, winged cherub, sometimes with flanking angels in the rounded top, and foliate or non-representational panels down the edges below the shoulders. The stone materials include, in addition to gneiss, schist, sandstone, slate, marble, and granite.

19th-century gravestones in the cemetery, as compared with their predecessors, make greater use of marble and are carved in simpler designs embellished with contemporary motifs, such as willow tree and urn. These stones tend to be larger, and to have rectangular or near-rectangular shapes.

The markers are roughly aligned in a semi-orderly arrangement of random regular rows, generally facing west. About three dozen have been re-assembled from broken parts.

In the late 20th century, the Old Kinne Burying Ground became neglected, vandalized, and unkempt, with many stones broken and/or lying flat on the ground. A group of young people worked long hours for a year starting in November 1998 removing debris and leaves accumulated over time, setting the stones upright after excavating for the bases, and fastening broken parts together with epoxy and concrete. Cleaning was accomplished by use only of water and a soft brush. The project was recognized by the town through erection of a suitable sign and by a well-attended rededication ceremony on October 24th, 1999. The stone of Isaac C. Glasko was also repaired during this time period.

The Old Kinne Burying Ground is a quiet enclave tucked away at the top of a hill in what continues to be primarily a rural environment. It is distinct, clearly identified, free of intrusions, relatively little visited, and in a good state of maintenance.

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Wall at top of right-of-way (2000)
Wall at top of right-of-way (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Sign (1999)
Sign (1999)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut General view from inside wall and sign (2000)
General view from inside wall and sign (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Isaac C. Glasko stone (2000)
Isaac C. Glasko stone (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Daniel Kinne stone (2000)
Daniel Kinne stone (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Joseph Kinne stone (2000)
Joseph Kinne stone (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut General view northeast (2000)
General view northeast (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut View north (2000)
View north (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Joseph Kinne stone (2000)
Joseph Kinne stone (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Capt. Ezra Kinne stone (2000)
Capt. Ezra Kinne stone (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Jeremiah Kinne stone (2000)
Jeremiah Kinne stone (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut J. Warren, Sculpture (2000)
J. Warren, Sculpture (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Thomas Kinne stone (2000)
Thomas Kinne stone (2000)

Kinne Cemetery, Griswold Connecticut Alexander Stewart stone (2000)
Alexander Stewart stone (2000)