Nondescript downtown churchyard is little-noticed final resting place for patriots of the American Revolution

The graves of four patriots of the American Revolution lie beneath weather-worn marble slabs in the old burial grounds tucked away in a Main Street churchyard in downtown Riverhead.

Most days, the old church cemetery, its 18th and 19th century grave markers lying flat in the ground, is easily mistaken for an expanse of lawn adjacent to the graceful church building on the corner of East Main Street and East Avenue. On the Sunday before Memorial Day each year, four grave sites are decorated with small American flags, placed in brass markers depicting a wreath, a star and the words “US REVOLUTIONARY WAR VETERAN.”

For Memorial Day each year, Suffolk Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution conducts a grave-marking ceremony outside the Riverhead United Methodist Church so that these four local patriots whose actions more than two centuries ago helped birth a nation, will not be forgotten.

A prayer is offered, a brief biography of each man is read aloud and the flag is placed on each grave by members of the Suffolk DAR.

“We do this so that future generations can physically see the connection between the founding of our country and the sacrifices of many men and women,” said Suffolk DAR vice regent Ann Otten of Wading River.

The Revolutionary War veterans buried in the Methodist church cemetery all survived the war. Robert Hinchman, Samuel Griffing, John Griffing and Peter Vail, residents of what was then the western portion of Southold Town — the Town of Riverhead was not established until 1792 by an act of the State Legislature granting its secession — all fled to Connecticut to escape the British occupation of Long Island after it was surrendered on Aug. 29, 1776. They refused to swear an an oath of allegiance to the British crown, required by the British governor under threat of imprisonment and banishment:

“I do swear upon the evangelist of Almighty God, that I hold true and faithful allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third of Great Britain, his heirs
and successors; and hold an utter abhorrence of congresses rebellions etc., and do promise never to be concerned in any manner with his Majesty’s
rebellious subjects in America. So help me God.”

Hinchman, born in 1750, was an innkeeper and a signatory of the Brookhaven Association, one of a number of such groups formed in 1775 to show support of the Continental Congress. The Form of Association, sent to every county in the New York province, declared that its signatories resolved “never to become slaves” and pledged to execute “whatever Measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress” for the purpose of preserving the continental constitution and “opposing the Execution of several arbitrary, and oppressive Acts of the British Parliament.” He died on Jan. 9 1806.

“Samuel Griffing’s life is a mystery,” according to Riverhead Town Historian Georgette Case, corresponding secretary of Suffolk DAR. “We do not know what his profession was. What we do know is that he married Phebe Wells who is buried alongside him here in the church cemetery,” she said.

Griffing signed the Associations at the County Hall in May 1775 and became a soldier in Capt. Caleb Clark’s 8th Militia in 1776. He died July 10, 1811.

His father was John Griffing, Jr., who is also buried in the Methodist cemetery.

John Griffing Jr. was born Sept. 16, 1737. He married Deborah Wells on March 2, 1758.

He was an enlisted man in the First Regiment of Minute Men of Suffolk County, in Captain Paul Reeve’s Company. John Griffing also signed the Brookhaven Associations in 1775. He died on Jan. 17, 1822.

Peter Vail was born Sept. 14, 1752, the third of nine children. When he was 18 years old, his parents died of smallpox; his oldest sibling was 23 and the youngest 3.

Driven from their home by British forces, Peter and probably members of his family fled to Middletown, Connecticut where they lived for seven years. During those years he became a soldier in the American Revolution, a member of Lt. Lee’s Guilford Company under Captain Worthington’s 7th Militia in Connecticut. He is also listed as a lieutenant aboard the four-ton ship named “Hawk,” which trolled the Sound seeking to capture British ships.

In 1780, at age 28, Vail married Thankful Griffing, sister of John Griffing, Jr.

“They had nine children, all of who reached majority, an amazing thing in those days,” according to the town historian.

The service of all four men is documented in the 1913 book by Frederic Gregory Mather, “Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut.”

Vail died in 1796.

The gravestones are today so worn the words inscribed in their surfaces are no longer legible. But the legacy of the men whose graves they mark lives on thanks to the efforts of the members of DAR Suffolk.

“It’s been an honor for Suffolk Chapter DAR to join with your congregation each year to mark the graves of the Revolutionary War soldiers who are buried here on church grounds,” Otten told a small crowd of congregants outside the church Sunday morning, following its weekly worship service.

“We gather here to remember and pay homage to these men,” she said, before offering a prayer and beginning the grave-marking ceremony.

Suffolk DAR also marks the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers at Aquebogue, Jamesport and Baiting Hollow, Otten said.

“This is our history,” Otten said. “As our country gets older, the beginning of our history gets older. It’s important for young people today to realize that all the freedoms we have are because of these people,” she said, gesturing toward the graves.

“It’s amazing to be able to stand here and look down at these gravestones and know that here lie people who helped make our lives and our liberty possible,” she said. “It’s imperative that we remember them and what they did and to make sure the next generation remembers, too.”

Editor’s note:  Biographical information provided by Riverhead Town Historian Georgette Case

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti