by David Flint
David Kirsimagi has taken on the ambitious project of restoring the Denison burial ground in North Stephentown. David, 15, a Stephentown resident and sophomore at LaSalle Institute, is a Life Scout in Nassau Troop #166 working toward the rank of Eagle Scout. Last fall he proposed for his Eagle Scout service project, “To the best of my ability to restore the Denison Cemetery located on East Road in Stephentown, NY, including removal of unwanted brush and trees, photographing and logging individual gravestones, acquiring and erecting an appropriate sign.”
Revolutionary War Veterans
The Denison Cemetery contains the gravestones of at least three Revolutionary War veterans, among them is Captain James Denison who commanded a company of the 4th Regiment, Albany County Militia under Colonel Kilian Van Rensselaer. His brother, Daniel Denison, Jr., is said by a descendant to have
served in the same regiment with the rank of Sergeant. Another relative, James Jones, the husband of Captain Denison’s niece, was commissioned an Ensign in Captain Denison’s company. He was in the Battle of Bennington and later achieved the rank of Major. Captain Stephen Arnold, 1739-1810 is also buried here. Nothing could be found of his military record, but he is a great grandfather of Stephen Arnold Douglas who lost the Presidential election of 1860 to Abraham Lincoln following a series of debates in which slavery was a dominant topic. Despite the history here, the graveyard had become so overgrown with trees and brush that passersby would not know that the patch of woods contained a historical treasure trove.
David received the approval and support of the Stephentown Historical Society and of the landowner, Craig Chittenden, and is now midway toward completing the project. He has been to the site a number of times doing some preliminary clearing work with family and friends and getting some on site advice and guidance from gravestone restoration expert Joseph Ferrannini. David also attended recently a workshop conducted by Ferrannini on the proper restoration of cemeteries and gravestones. Prior to doing any heavy duty clearing of trees and brush, this group, which included David’s parents Phil and Heather, spent some time locating and flagging all the gravestones and possible gravestones. There are some large-sized gravestones and monuments in the burial ground, but many of the markers are just pieces of slate barely poking out of the ground. Unless you know what you are looking for, you wouldn’t know they were grave markers.
The 1990 Historical Society publication “Epitaphs In The Only Stephentown On Earth” indicated there were 56 known graves in the Denison Cemetery. So far, David and his crew are pretty sure they have located 91 gravestones.
On Saturday, June 4, David organized a work party that included his Scoutmasters, nine fellow scouts and 12 family members who volunteered to help. This very industrious crew spent a good part of the day trimming and cutting trees, clearing brush and tall grass and removing the wood and debris from the site. David said he will have at least one more work party before he sets about photographing the stones with a GPS equipped digital camera. The photographs and other relevant information will be placed on the cemetery database on the Stephentown Historical Society website (Stephentown-historical.org).
David has also helped to design and has arranged to purchase a sign to be constructed by the Montauk Sign Co. of Stephentown. For this he has been soliciting donations from town businesses and organizations as well as neighbors living near the cemetery. Kevin Doherty of Montauk Signs has agreed to provide the sign at minimal cost and install it free of charge.
Scoutmaster Randie Sanford is proud of his Eagle Scout candidate. “He is one of our better Scouts,” he said, “He has a good attitude and is always ready to take initiative on his own. And that’s what Scouting is all about.” Sanford said David has a few more merit badges he must earn along with the Eagle Rank requirements, but he expects that David should attain the coveted rank within a year.
