Tefft Cemeteries
What we found...what we couldn't.
During our Homecoming in October 1999, Tefft family members went on a search for the many scattered family cemetery plots that dot the landscape in South Kingstown and its neighboring towns. We were spurred by the discovery in the Pettasquamscutt Historical Library's files of the location of our family founder John Tefft's final resting place. This search and our visit to Rhode Island Cemetery 19, where John's grave is located, left us uneasy about the condition and continued protection of these graves. We realized something has to be done if the headstones and plots are going to survive into the next century and a future generation of Teffts.

What follows is an account of our hunt for John's grave. This narrative and the accompanying photos point to the need for long-term maintenance and care of our ancestors' gravesites.
Revolutionary soldier, Caleb Tetft, is buried in Cemetery 18,
a stone-walled graveyard tucked away from the new homes of Tefft Hill. Although in far better condition than Cemetery 19, where John is buried, it too shows signs of having been forgotten. Most of these graves date from the 1800s. Shown below are family members at  the cemetery.
Teffts at work at the Pettasquamscutt Historical Library where the location of family founder John Tefft's grave was discovered.
On Tuesday, October 19, we set out to find John's grave. Craig said it was located not far from the Pettaquamscutt Historical Library, where some in our group had been doing research that morning. In a caravan of three cars, we drove off expectantly in the direction of Tefft Hill, a pleasant subdivision of custom homes near the Tefft Homestead land, to find John's grave. The hilly subdivision had once been part of the 500-acre dairy farm owned by John and his descendants from the 1670s to 1909 when it was sold.

The first home we stopped at turned out to be one block removed from the cemetery location. When we drove up to the second home, it took us a few minutes to determine if we were in the right spot. For the most part, the family plots are hidden away in brushy vacant places separating the well-tended homes of Tefft Hill. What we found at Cemetery 19 was a thoroughly neglected wedge of property situated between two homes. The state cemetery sign marking the place was so obscurred by growth that we had to hunt for several minutes to find it. A neighborhood compost heap, discarded lumber, and other household debris, had to be overcome in order to look for the graves. One headstone, found lying face down in the dirt, was righted and wiped off. Quickly then, as members of our group worked their way through the tangle of vines and litter, other grave sites were discovered, some 20 or so, in all. There were Lillibridges and other headstones from families associated with the Teffts in the early 1800s still readable. Sadly, search though we did, we were unable to locate a marker for John.
The sign at Cemetery 19, where John's grave is located, was so well hidden by vegetation, that it took us several minutes to find. Headstones were lying on the ground and the plot was littered with neighborhood trash.
At Rhode Island Cemetery 19, where the family's  founder is buried, we found a headstone lying face down in the dirt. It was righted and wiped off, but the inscription was unreadable.
Please contact Darlene Tefft Cobb with your questions or comments at dcobb@antelecom.net.
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