
If you go to the Cemetery Bios page in this website, you will see that I am researching every "resident' of this graveyard, as I clean each stone.
I started concentrating on Deacon Beecher's life and as always, it is fascinating to me. Abraham was born in Connecticut, but for some reason, he and three of his brothers (Ely, Isaac and Amos) ended up in this region of New York. Ely started in Fish House but then moved up into Edinburg where he started many businesses. Beecher's Creek and Beecher Hollow are named after this brother. Isaac farmed up in Edinburg, as did Amos. Abraham had a farm just over the town border from Fish House. He referred to it as the Sheffield Farm. His farmhouse, that he built in 1803, no longer stands. But it was located on Sinclair Point, near the Roslyn House, which was built in 1919 by the Sinclair's. The chimney of the Roslyn House, has two bricks from the original fireplace of Abraham Beecher's house. One has A.B. on it and the other has 1803.
Abraham, along with Isaac Noyes, were responsible for the construction of a wooden Presbyterian Church in 1814. Abraham was Deacon of this church. The present brick church was built on the same site, in 1860, 15 years after the death of Abraham.
There is a house across the street from the Presbyterian Church, that I refer to as the Beecher House. It was not built by Beechers, but in 1880 it was purchased by the Beecher line. James Fuller Beecher, grandson of Abraham and Lydia Beecher, lived there with his wife Elizabeth and their three daughters. Sadly, just this past summer, a tree fell on the house and I fear it is beyond repair.
The Beecher family has many connections to American history, one main one is Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852.. Abraham Beecher's grandfather, Isaac (1716-1801) was Harriet Beecher Stowe's great grandfather.