Center Church Crypt, New Haven

This project identifies Geni Profiles for the New Haven Crypt. The Crypt contains the identified remains of about 137 people, and the likely remains of over 1,000 that are unidentified known crypt inhabitants, list uploaded as a Project document or on this link: New Haven Crypt Names

Please join us as a collaborator, add your ancestor's profile, and if possible, link the profile in the "overview" so we can complete the entire list.

Tales from the Crypt

from Center Church Crypt

This place is wicked cool. So wicked cool that I’ve used the pure New Englandism: “wicked” – because old cemeteries are pure New England.

First, above ground: New Haven’s Center Church on-the-Green is a right lovely church built in 1813 – the 4th since the inception. New Haven’s green has been around since white people in New Haven. The church was founded in 1638 by the Reverend John Davenport and Theopilus Eaton; a couple of Puritans from Boston. The current building has a Tiffany window that cost $10,000 in 1893 which is just insane. Mr. Cotton Gin Eli Whitney was a church regular; Daniel Webster, Presidents Hayes and Monroe all visited – on and on the history goes.

History

from New Haven Crypt - An ancient cemetery with gravestones from 1687-1812, New Haven, Connecticut

In 1813, The First Church of Christ in New Haven, Center Church on the Green, was built over a small portion of the town's burial ground. All the remains are gravestones were left in their original positions to be protected by the church's foundation where the crypt was created. Historically, the New Haven Crypt is one of the exceptional colonial burial grounds to endure untouched. The Crypt is a rich source of information on the early days of New Haven and a resource for understanding what makes the city of New Haven unique today.

Many of the stones, in spite of the deterioration of others, are as sharp and clear as if they were carved yesterday.

Profiles

• Mary (Porter) Edwards -- one of New Haven's most tragic deaths; wife of famed minister
• Sarah (Rutherford) Trowbridge -- oldest surviving stone in the Crypt
• Capt. Joseph Whiting -- the Treasurer of the Connecticut colony's estate was in arrears

Links

• "Tales from the Crypt" Wordpress page: http://ctcryptkeeper.wordpress.com/
• New Haven Crypt - An ancient cemetery with gravestones from 1687-1812, New Haven, Connecticut
• "Saga of the Silver - Ancient and precious possessions of the First Church of Christ, New Haven CT"
• New Haven Church Architecture
• Tales From the Crypt Center Church Crypt, New Haven
• "Stone of the Week" Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/centerchurchcrypt