Pittsfield, Otsego County, NY Contributed by Tim Doyle |
This small burial plot is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Dunham Road and County Hwy 49. It appears that there are probably in the range of ten to twenty graves, but only a few stones remain. This cemetery was previously referred to as the "Vaughn Patrick Farm Cemetery" due to it's location on the farm at one time owned by a Mr. Vaughn Patrick. It is currently being referred to as the "Jenison Cemetery" by Jenison family members in the area. It has recently been cleared of brush and the two remaining large stones have been cleaned and repaired. The stones may have been moved and may not be located in their original positions. The remaining four stones are inscribed as follows: HE SLEEPS IN JESUS SELUM JENISON DIED May 5th 1872 aged 59 yrs i mo & 19 DAYS CLARISSA E. daughter of ---PHEN --- BETSEY HOWE died Sept. 29. 18-- aged 2 years 3 MOS. A small stone with the initials "S. J." A small stone with the initials "M. B." TRANSCRIBERS NOTES: The parents of Clarissa E. Howe were Stephen and Betsey, and the death date was Sept. 29, 1861 (The year of death comes from an earlier transcription as well as from the fact that she would have been the stated age in 1861.) Her full name was most likely Clarissa Eleanor Howe, named after her grandmothers Clarissa (Harmon) Howe and Eleanor (-----) Thompson. Some older transcriptions of this stone state the age as being 12 years. This is a definately a misreading of "age 12 years" instead of the actual "aged 2 years". Selum Jenison's children, George and Emma, married brother and sister Mariette and Morris Howe. Their youngest sibling was the Clarissa E. Howe also buried in the plot. Since Clarissa was buried here before Selum, and before the two marriages, I believe that this plot was actually the Howe family plot, and Selum Jenison was buried here only after the two families were joined by the double marriage. I believe that the other graves in this plot are most likely members of the early Howe family. Additional note from Tim Doyle (December 2000): I think I may have figured out who the stone "M.B." is for. Mariette Howe, wife of George Jenison, was the eldest daughter of Stephen Howe and Betsey Thompson. This couple had children: Mariette, Morris, Charles, Lyman, and Clarissa. We've already identified this Clarissa as the one buried in the cemetery. It seems that Betsey Thompson had a sister named Mariette Thompson. This elder Mariette was married to a Mr. Bingham and she died 22 Dec 1862. This is just a year after Clarissa was buried in this cemetery. I believe that the stone for "M.B." belongs to Mariette Bingham, died 22 Dec 1862. Additional note from Tim Doyle (November 2007): This plot is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Dunham Road and County Hwy 49. In reviewing the recently posted land ownership maps for Pittsfield included in the database "Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000" on Ancestry.com, I discovered that "S. Howe" owned this land in 1868. This proves that this was actually the "Howe Family Burial Plot", and that Selum Jenison was buried here probably due to his two children (Emma and George) both having married children of Stephen Howe. I feel that it is almost a certainty that both Stephen and Betsey (Thompson) Howe are also buried here in two of the many unmarked graves.