History of Blake Street Cemetery
by Ben Ross, First Unitarian Universalist Society
The First Unitarian Universalist Society New Haven worship committee invites you to hear our guest speaker Sherill Baldwin on June 8, 2025. The service begins at 10:30 a.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of New Haven, 608 Whitney Avenue, New Haven.
Family historian and genealogist Sherill Baldwin will share her research on the history of Blake Street Cemetery and some of the people buried there. Blake Street is a small “paupers’ cemetery” for indigent burials adjacent to the larger Westville and Mishkan Israel Cemeteries. Over 2100 people were buried at Blake Street from about 1881 to 1931. For the last year Sherill has been uncovering and sharing the stories of New Haveners buried at Blake Street online at her website “Buried Stories,” including the fascinating stories of John Bray, Edward Ditymus, Matilda Fitch, and Charles P. Geyer, Jr. Also buried at Blake Street Cemetery is Lois Tritton, a formerly enslaved woman who was sold in the last known auction of enslaved people ever to happen in New Haven (and possibly the state of CT) on March 8, 1825 on the Green.
If you cannot join us in person, here is our link: bit.ly/43g4fym.