Strang Cemetery, Greenwich, Connecticut

Strang Cemetery Plaque

408-26 [p] 175

Strang Cemetery

Copied by Earle F. Kepler & Philip Palmer

center>Dec. 10, 1934

Vail, Samuel, died Dec. 15, 1833 age 77yrs. 20das.
Vail, Margaret, wife of Samuel, died Jan. 18, 1841 age 48yrs. 1mo. 11das.
Strang, Lanah, wife of Jared, died May 18, 1827 age 65yrs. 7mos. 16das.
Strang, Jared, died Apr. 25, 1837 age 74yrs. 9mos.
Strang, William, died Aug. 18, 1840 age 45yrs. 7mos. 23das.
Strang, Mary, died Sept. 27, 1863 age 62yrs. 8mos. 4das.
Strang, Catherine, died Sept. 25, 1864 age 60yrs. 3mos. 12das.
Craft, Ann Eliza, wife of William H., died Feb. 17, 1855 age 30yrs.
Craft, Daniel S., son of William & Ann E., died Aug. 13, 1855 age 9mos. 27das.
Craft, Elmer H., son of John S. & Mary E., died Feb. 25, 1869 age 5mos. 13das.
Craft, Walter E., son of John S., & Mary E., born June 18, 1877 died Aug. 8, 1880.
Craft, Arthur L., born Aug. 16, 1879 died Aug. 24, 1880.
Strang, Daniel, died Sept. 25, 1792 age 78yrs.
Strang, Hester, died Sept. 3, 1843 age 78yrs. 9mos. 21das.
Strang, Betsey, broken stone 1811.
Strang, Galpin, died Apr. 12, 1809 age 18yrs. 6mos.
T.L. rough stone 1788.
Lain, Thomas, died Dec. 4, 1839 age 81yrs. 8mos. 4das.
Lane, Jemima, wife of Thomas, died Nov. 5, 1853 age 88yrs. 7mos.^[1]

GREENWICH -- New England legends tell stories of families who fled the persecution of Europe to make a new life among the rugged and as-yet unspoiled wilds of this continent.
Next month, descendants, historians and other keepers of the flame will gather at a Greenwich burial ground to honor and remember just such a family and mark the restoration of the family cemetery.
Colonial patriarch Daniel Streing is believed to have been the first of a Huguenot family laid to rest in the Strang family burial ground just off King Street.
Allen Strang, an eighth generation Strang, emphasizes the importance of gathering the family -- including his teenage son and daughter.
"Even though the Strangs weren't a close-knit family," explained the self-described history buff, "there is a certain continuity to be gained by learning about your history."
"What follows is a sense of tradition. And that helps you develop the kind of pride that gives you family values,: said Strang, who lives in Trumbull.
A French immigrant seeking the religious freedom denied Protestants in France during the time, Streing became one of seven businessmen who sailed from London to purchase the provincial land that was eventually founded as New Rochelle, according to descendant Charles Strange of Milford. The spelling of the family name has undergone several changes since Colonial times.
At least two generations of descendants and in-laws are believed to lie within the small family plot, along with the original American Streing. The burial grounds are nestled near the New York state border behind the Baptist Cemetery in Greenwich, just north of the Merritt Parkway.
The Aug. 5 dedication of a memorial plaque mounted in the cemetery, which fell into extreme disrepair after the family sold its farmland and moved from the area, is expected to draw at least 20 descendants and their families from all over the country.
Financial support for the cemetery's restoration, which Strange says has been funded entirely by the family, has come from as far west as California and as far south as Florida, and includes a handful of Midwesterners.
But Strange asserts that the significance of the Strang burial ground extends beyond genealogical lines.
"Daniel Streing may have been the only original Huguenot to settle in that area," he explained.
Strange, a retired engineer, is the record-keeper for the Huguenot Society of Connecticut. Huguenot was the name given to the French followers of John Calvin, a Protestant. Because their religious beliefs were not well tolerated in France, they fled the country between 1520 and 1787.
Thousands of Huguenot descendants maintain membership in Huguenot societies across the country.
The Streing farm covered much of the Port Chester area of New York, reaching slightly into Connecticut. The family placed the burial ground on a high area of the farm, for custom and drainage reasons. Only years later, when surveying work was being done, did they realize the gravesites lay over the border in the colony of Connecticut.

"Daniel wrote his will on 16 December 1706, and it was proved 11 February 1707 . . . According to the family manuscript, he was buried in Grace Churchyard, which adjoined his Post Road property. . . . Charlotte lived on until 1723, her will being probated on 31 January 1723. All of the graves have been removed from the churchyard, or obliterated, and no trace remains of any of the Streings buried therein. " Perhaps Daniel and Charlotte were reinterred in the Strang Cemetery. Perhaps they are still in their original resting place.

Strang Cemetery 2005

Bibliography

• Find-A-Grave contributors. "Anderson Cemetery." Find A Grave, World's largest gravesite collection. Accessed 31 Mar 2020.

• Hale Collection of Connecticut Cemetery Records Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut State Library. 408-26, p 175, Strang Cemetery, Town of Greenwich, Fairfield, CT; Greenwich [map], p 471.

• Strange, Charles Alfred. "The Strangs of Westchester". The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1870-), Vol. 98, Oct 1967, p 204.

• Straub, L.D. "Monuments to history: Family marks link to Colonial-era cemetery". The Advocate. Stamford, CT: William J. Rowe Publisher. Friday, 7 Jul 1995, p A3, Local News.