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Warner P. Lord
141 WildcatRoad
Madison, CT 06443
Jeremiah Lord
(1768)
Jeremiah's oldest son, Jeremiah, Jr. stayed in Old Saybrook and married Mary (Polly) Hayden October 21 1795 at the age of 29. Mary was born in 1771 in Old Saybrook and died there at the age of 68 November 17, 1838. Jeremiah, Jr. died October 9, 1855 at the age of 89. Cause of death - old age and fever. The Old Saybrook records tell a sad tale of Jeremiah's family. The baptismal records show the following:
Eliza baptized August 1 1802
Polly Baptized August 31, 1806
Sarah baptized April 3, 1810
William baptized November 10, 1799
William age 6 died October 22, 1805 of dysentery
William died age 3 weeks February 1807 of convulsions
William baptized March 10, 1808
Jeremiah's first son William died at age 6 of dysentery. Two years later his second son William died after three weeks. A third son William is born in 1808. This William creates a mystery for in Jeremiah's small family plot in the Junction Cemetery near the railroad station in Old Saybrook there is a worn stone inscribed "William died February, 1808 aged 8." The mystery deepens when we realise that our ancestor, William John Lord, son of Jeremiah, was born in Old Saybrook May 13, 1814.
If William 3 died in 1807 it is easy to understand William 4 being born and baptized a year later in 1808, but what of the stone marking the death of William in 1808 at age 8. And where is recorded the birth and baptism of William John Lord in 1814? The evidence suggests several of Jeremiah's died at an early age until finally one survived.
The small Lord plot in the Junction Cemetery is the earliest physical evidence of the Lord family line. Jeremiah and Polly are here as are several of their children. Polly H. Lord died June 12, 1876 aged 69 having been born in 1797. Was it she who was baptized in 1806 when she was 9 years old?
Jeremiah's stone has a lovely verse now dimmed by time. The presently legible part of the verse reads "Till the last trumpets joyful sound/shall call them to the sky". I have tried to decipher the two lines that come before these but with only partial success. I do remember seeing somewhere amongst some old family stuff the complete verse that someone like Aunt Isabel had copied from the stone. Let's look for it.
Other stones in the plot are marked as follows:
William Lord, son of Jeremiah and Polly d. 22 Oct 1806 age 6 years
William Lord 2nd son of Jeremiah and Polly d. 1 Feb age 3 weeks
John died .......1810 age 6 years
Sally H. Lord died Feb. 15 1876 aged 66
Polly H. Lord died June 12 1876 aged 69
Were Sally and Polly two unmarried daughters who died within 4 months of each other? And what of John who died when he as 6 years old? Or was he another William John Lord?
Jeremiah's family seems a tangled web of changing names, and early deaths. Perhaps we can unravel the mystery with some deeper digging into the records.
Updated February 25, 2001