A Family's History Told in Tombstones (Davis Family Burying Ground)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time. Looking Back: January 16, 1994

The Davis family burial ground, at the end of East Bruce Park Ave., is a small plot bordered by a chain-link fence and shaded by dogwoods and other trees. The gravestones here are all carved from marble and brownstone. All are lying flat; this was done years ago, the work of vandals who toppled the gravestones.

Back of the years before the Revolutionary War, Davis Avenue was the main route to the old grist mill at Davis Landing (in what today is Bruce Park). Scores of Greenwich residents brought their grain to be mashed here for almost 200 years.

The Old Mill at Davis Landing. Image credit: Other Days in Greenwich, by Frederick Hubbard. Page 301. 

Thomas Davis came to town from Oyster Bay, Long Island. He purchased the mill on April 23, 1761. By 1761, the mill was taken over by his sons Elisha and Stephen.

Thomas died around 1780 and was buried in the family plot in an unmarked grave.

During the Revolutionary War, Elisha was caught selling flour to the British off the Greenwich coast using a small sloop named Miller's Damsel. He was declared a Tory who joined the enemies of United States. As such, Elisha's share of the mill was confiscated by the state government, then acquired by his brother, who remained loyal to the new republic. Stephen died in 1797 and, like his father, was buried in an unmarked plot. His son, Josiah Davis, had died earlier, in 1794, and his grave is designated by brownstone marker.

Elisha returned to Greenwich in 1802 and purchase the mill from Stephen's heirs. He died on March 29, 1818 at the age of 76. His stone was stolen or removed years ago. A beautiful homestead near the millsite was built by him at Indian Harbor.

Esther, daughter of Elisha Davis, married John Ryker of New York and died in 1854 at age 76. The Ryker name, incidentally, is the same associated with Rikers Island in New York City. Nearby Esther's plot is the grave of Julia Hubbard, granddaughter of Elisha Davis, who died in 1828 at the youthful age of 21.

One of the epitaphs found here is inscribed on the tombstone of James Ryker, 54, who died Feb. 3, 1862:

In this long grave so deep and cold 

Doth my husband's form infold 

His spirit far away has flown 

And I am left on earth alone.

The Davis Mill, itself, was an interesting structure. It was made from timber harvested and hewn from native forests. At low tide, the stone foundations of the old mill are still visible.

The old mill deteriorated over the years and was demolished in 1889. But the millstones were saved and exist today as a monumental nearby. It was dedicated on Sept. 17, 1938 by the local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

The site of the Davis Burying Ground. Image credit: ShowMyStreet.com

The area around the Davis Burying Ground today includes a condominium complex and family residences. The railroad and Interstate 95 separate the family plot and Brother's Brook, the mill site at Davis Landing and the homestead.

It's easy to visualize this historic spot, the gentle waters of Long Island Sound nearby and the north shore of Long Island from where the Davis clan came.


Jeffrey Bingham Mead, who lives in Greenwich, is a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the town. He is a free-lance writer and a member of the Greenwich Historical Society.