Old Center Cemetery
6) AARON CADWELL (1802): Married to Lucy Woodruff of Farmington, Aaron Cadwell had at least two children predecease him. One was stillborn and the other scalded. His gravestone, made of marble, is adorned with an urn and willow motif, a symbol of commemoration, and is typical of the secularization that occurred in the nineteenth century. The phrase "here lies the remains" suggests that only the body of the deceased remains and that the soul has gone to heaven.
7) ZACHEUS BUTLER (1791): Butler owned a cider mill and shop in the North end of the West Division, which he inherited from his uncle Jonathan Cadwell (buried next to him). Aside from cider, the mill sold products such as butter, candles, shoes, and brandy. After his death, his son, Jonathan, carried on the business.
8) EBENEZER WELLS (1766): Accidents were not uncommon in the West Division’s farming community. Ebenezer Wells died at the age of one after drowning in a tub of wort, or unfermented beer. He is one of the youngest individuals buried here.
9) TIMOTHY GOODMAN (1786): Although he married twice, Timothy Goodman has a marker next to his first wife, Joanna; his second wife, Elizabeth Wadsworth, does not have a stone in the burying yard. Goodman owned a slave named George. In 1747 he deeded to the West Division a parcel of land to be used for "a place of parade forever." This still exists today (on a reduced scale) on the northwest corner of Farmington Avenue and is known as Goodman Green.
10) JOHN WATSON, SENIOR (1725): A farmer, John Watson had six children. One son, John Jr., was one of the original members of the West Division's Congregational Church. John Sr.'s marker is one of the earliest in the burying yard. The uppercase lettering, rosettes on the shoulders, and use of floating punctuation between words suggests that it was the work of the Stancliff Shop of Middletown. The Stancliff Shop began as early as 1710 and was the first in the Connecticut Valley to produce tombstone-shaped markers. This shop introduced and popularized the use of rosettes on the shoulders of stones.
