Experts try to solve mystery of where Norwich abolitionist was buried

Norwich - It looked like Debbie Surabian and Marybeth Holer were mowing the already low-cropped grass in a plot in the Yantic Cemetery Wednesday afternoon, pushing a small square machine slowly across the ground making sure to follow the taut rope line they used as a guide.

But Surabian, a technician at the National Resources Conservation Service, and Holer, a volunteer for Earth Team, instead were taking shortwave radio readings of objects below the ground in the Ruggles family plot. It's part of an effort to determine whether noted 19th century abolitionist David Ruggles is buried here in his hometown.

When Ruggles left Norwich, he worked as a printer, writer and publisher in New York, where he founded the Committee of Vigilance. Biographer Graham Russell Gao Hodges credited Ruggles with helping more than 600 slaves to freedom, including famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Ruggles died at age 39 in 1849, and Norwich historian Dale Plummer said his death was noteworthy enough to have been reported in newspapers. Records indicate Ruggles' body was returned to Norwich for burial.

But the Ruggles family plot in the Yantic Cemetery on Lafayette Street contains only three headstones - for David's mother, Nancy Ruggles, who died April 20, 1855; his brother, Felix, who died at age 15 in 1862, and a niece, Sarah Ruggles, who died in 1850. The plot is large enough for other unmarked graves.

So a local committee working to get Norwich designated as a location along the Freedom Trail contacted State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni to investigate the family plot.

Bellantoni enlisted Surabian and the NRCS. Bellantoni said the unobtrusive scan won't say "David Ruggles is buried here," but it could show whether other burials are in the plot. The machine scans down to about 10 feet, reading things such as rocks, coffins - if they haven't disintegrated - and soil compaction associated with a grave shaft.

Surabian's scans, which resemble lines on a topographical map, clearly showed ripples behind the three headstones. She also saw signs of something underground in other areas of the family plot but couldn't say what they might be without computer analysis.

Members of the Norwich NAACP branch, the Freedom Trail Committee and Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom watched with interest. Along with an effort to get Norwich recognized on the Freedom Trail, city Historian Dale Plummer is working on a nomination form to place the Yantic Cemetery on the National Register of Historic Places.

In a related effort, the city has established the Emancipation Proclamation Committee to plan a celebration on Jan. 1, 2013, the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's proclamation that declared slaves in the rebellious states free.

Plummer and committee member Shiela Hayes could not attend Wednesday's cemetery examination because they were on a train headed to Colonial Williamsburg to watch the casting of a bell for that community. Norwich hopes to raise money to cast and erect the nation's first Emancipation Proclamation Bell.

"For a community with the history we have here in Norwich, it's a wonderful way for us to engage others from outside in that history," Nystrom said of the Freedom Trail designation.

c.bessette@theday.com