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Grave of Mary Livingston Ingersoll Located - Freethought Trail - New York
<!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-Y49RKSZGSG"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments)}; gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-Y49RKSZGSG'); </script> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no"> <title>Grave of Mary Livingston Ingersoll Located - Freethought Trail - New York</title> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/assets/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/assets/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/assets/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"> <link rel="manifest" href="/assets/manifest.json"> <link rel="mask-icon" href="/assets/safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#800d0d"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/assets/favicon.ico"> <meta name="msapplication-config" content="/assets/browserconfig.xml"> <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> <link href="/assets/css/combined.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> </head> <body> <nav class="navbar fixed-top app-navbar app-red-bg-gradient"> <a class="sr-only sr-only-focusable" href="#app-page">Skip to main content</a> <div class="container"> <a class="navbar-brand" href="/" title="Freethought Trail" aria-roll="button" aria-label="Freethought Trail"><i class="sprite-logo "></i></a> <button class="navbar-toggler " type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown" aria-controls="navbarNavDropdown" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation"> <span class="navbar-toggler-icon "></span> </button> <div class="w-100 mt-auto app-nav"> <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNavDropdown"> <div class="text-center text-uppercase app-secondary-font-stack app-styled-nav"> <div class="px-3"> <img class="img-fluid mb-3" src="/assets/img/default/nav-line-top.png" srcset="/assets/img/default/nav-line-top.png 1x,/assets/img/default/nav-line-top@2x.png 2x" alt=""><br /> <a href="/trail-map/" class="app-styled-font-size-1">Trail Map</a><br /> <a href="/plan-your-journey/" class="app-styled-font-size-2">Plan Your Journey</a><br /> <a href="/our-history/" class="app-styled-font-size-3">Our History</a><br /> <a href="/latest-news/" class="app-styled-font-size-4">Latest News</a><br /> <a href="/partner-links-and-credits" class="app-styled-font-size-5">Partner Links & Credits</a><br /> <img class="img-fluid mt-3" src="/assets/img/default/nav-line-bottom.png" srcset="/assets/img/default/nav-line-bottom.png 1x,/assets/img/default/nav-line-bottom@2x.png 2x" alt=""> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="app-page"> <div class="app-red-bg"> <div class="container"> <div id="carousel" class="carousel slide" data-ride="carousel"> <div class="carousel-inner" role="listbox"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <img class="d-block d-md-none img-fluid" src="/cache/images/5fad668cfe7081a6ee862f65865fbd29.jpg" srcset="/cache/images/5fad668cfe7081a6ee862f65865fbd29.jpg 1x, /cache/images/eb1a7c4f7de03b65f00f40754ed1ca88.jpg 2x" alt="Grave of Mary Livingston Ingersoll Located"> <img class="d-none d-md-block img-fluid" src="/cache/images/cd56a990cc1db07c4a4e041ae28bfc82.jpg" srcset="/cache/images/cd56a990cc1db07c4a4e041ae28bfc82.jpg 1x, /cache/images/cee116a059cb13434b9647ea8bdc7d6c.jpg 2x" alt="Grave of Mary Livingston Ingersoll Located"> <div class="carousel-image-overlay app-red-carousel-gradient"></div> <div class="carousel-caption carousel-caption-internal"> <div class="app-center"> <h1 class="mt-5 mt-sm-0">Grave of Mary Livingston Ingersoll Located</h1> <p>December 23, 2015</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="app-white-bg app-box-shadow"> <div class="container"> <div class="row py-5"> <div class="col-12 app-links"> <p>In 2014, the Robert Green Ingersoll Memorial Committee, custodian of the <a href="/regions/region:dresden/">Ingersoll Birthplace Museum</a>, reached out to local historians in <a href="/regions/region:cazenovia/">Cazenovia, New York</a>, in hopes of finding <a href="/trail-map/location:mary-livingston-ingersoll-grave-site/">the grave of Mary Livingston Ingersoll</a>, <a href="/profiles/profile:ingersoll-robert-green/">Robert Green Ingersoll</a>'s mother.</p> <p>Two years after Robert Ingersoll's birth in 1833, his father, the <a href="/causes/cause:abolition/">abolitionist</a> minister Rev. John Ingersoll, took an ill-paid position as a preacher in Cazenovia. Mary, John's wife and Robert’s mother, died on December 2, 1835. Rev. Ingersoll could not afford a proper burial. <a href="http://madisoncountynewyork.com/roots/MyrickLutherRev.htm">Luther Myrick</a>, a fellow abolitionist preacher at the Free Church, offered a grave site on his family plot in South Cemetery, then a private graveyard. Mary Livingston was buried in an unmarked grave. In March 1836, Rev. Ingersoll and his four children moved on to another liberal church, the Congregational church at Hampton (now <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westmoreland,_New_York">Westmoreland</a>, in Oneida County). With time, knowledge of the location of Mary’s grave was lost.</p> <p>Examination of old records revealed the role of Myrick, whose family plot lay due west of a large, unmarked potters field. (The cemetery, located on Number Nine Road about two miles south of the <a href="http://villageofcazenovia.com/">Village of Cazenovia</a>, is now owned and operated by the <a href="https://towncazenovia.digitaltowpath.org:10079/content/">Town of Cazenovia</a>.)</p> <p>The Myrick family plot was carefully surveyed and staked. On December 23, 2015, the plot was examined using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-penetrating_radar">ground-penetrating radar</a>. Alongside the parallel graves of two of Luther Myrick's sons, a third, unmarked burial, was located.</p> <p>Presumably, the exact resting place of Mrs. Ingersoll had been found.</p> <p>On Memorial Day (May 30), 2016, a newly commissioned gravestone was dedicated on the site. Mary Livingston Ingersoll’s resting place bore a proper memorial for the first time in 181 years.</p> <p>The Freethought Trail thanks Cazenovia town historian Sara Chevako, Cazenovia highway superintendent and South Cemetery sexton Timothy Hunt, Cazenovia town clerk Connie Sunderman, and Mark Manzari of New York Leak Detection, which donated use of the radar equipment.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="app-tan-bg"> <div class="container"> <div class="row py-5"> <div class="col-12"> <h4>Associated Causes</h4> </div> <div class="col-6 col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-lg-3 mb-5"> <a href="/causes/cause:freethought-atheism-secular-humanism/" class="app-item"> <img class="d-block img-fluid w-100 " src="/cache/images/27aabec993ace73d7bf98b4065273141.jpg" srcset="/cache/images/27aabec993ace73d7bf98b4065273141.jpg 1x, /cache/images/f9be28a654e87c7f8c610cf2332b24c6.jpg 2x" alt="Freethought / Atheism / Secular Humanism"> <div class="app-dark-gray-bg-b-gradient"> <div class="p-3"> <h4 class="app-white-text">Freethought / Atheism / Secular Humanism</h4> </div> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="app-tan-bg"> <div class="container"> <div class="row py-5"> <div class="col-12"> <h4>Associated Sites</h4> </div> <div class="col-6 col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-lg-3 mb-5"> <a href="/trail-map/location:mary-livingston-ingersoll-grave-site/" class="app-item"> <img class="d-block img-fluid w-100 " src="/cache/images/d4598b571728ced8712ac8e2d37698c2.jpg" srcset="/cache/images/d4598b571728ced8712ac8e2d37698c2.jpg 1x, /cache/images/00f039f9f8a3b7feef04f7d04a73f037.jpg 2x" alt="Mary Livingston Ingersoll Grave Site"> <div class="app-dark-gray-bg-b-gradient"> <div class="p-3"> <h4 class="app-white-text">Mary Livingston Ingersoll Grave Site</h4> </div> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="app-tan-bg"> <div class="container"> <div class="row py-5"> <div class="col-12"> <h4>Those Involved</h4> </div> <div class="col-6 col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-lg-3 mb-5"> <a href="/profiles/profile:ingersoll-robert-green/" class="app-item"> <img class="d-block img-fluid w-100 " src="/cache/images/0a03cd0f4936358cb4ed9b121c4605c9.jpg" srcset="/cache/images/0a03cd0f4936358cb4ed9b121c4605c9.jpg 1x, /cache/images/c6187ce06172d3039905d445091ea848.jpg 2x" alt="Ingersoll, Robert Green"> <div class="app-dark-gray-bg-b-gradient"> <div class="p-3"> <h4 class="app-white-text">Ingersoll, Robert Green</h4> </div> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="app-red-bg app-white-text"> <div class="container"> <div class="row py-5"> <div class="col-12 col-md-8"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 mb-3"> <h3>Browse Historical Sites</h3> </div> </div> <div class="row text-uppercase"> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6"> <h4><a href="/causes/" class="d-block py-3 app-white-text app-border-bottom app-border-top">By Cause <i class="far fa-long-arrow-alt-right float-right"></i></a></h4> </div> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6"> <h4><a href="/profiles/" class="d-block py-3 app-white-text app-border-bottom app-border-top app-no-border-top">By Those Involved <i class="far fa-long-arrow-alt-right float-right"></i></a></h4> </div> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6"> <h4><a href="/regions/" class="d-block py-3 app-white-text app-border-bottom">By Location <i class="far fa-long-arrow-alt-right float-right"></i></a></h4> </div> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6"> <h4><a href="/historical-events/" class="d-block py-3 app-white-text app-border-bottom">By Event <i class="far fa-long-arrow-alt-right float-right"></i></a></h4> </div> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6"> <h4><a href="/types/" class="d-block py-3 app-white-text app-border-bottom">By Type <i class="far fa-long-arrow-alt-right float-right"></i></a></h4> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-12 col-md-4 mt-5 mt-md-0"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 mb-3"> <h3>Sign Up for our Newsletter</h3> </div> <div class="col-12 mb-3"> <p><a href="https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/store_example/product/become-a-friend-of-the-ingersoll-birthplace-museum" class="btn btn-lg btn-block rounded-0 app-white-bg app-red-text">Sign Up</a></p> </div> <div class="col-12 mb-3"> <h3 class="">Follow our sponsor on</h3> </div> <div class="col-6"> <p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/centerforinquiry/" class="mr-3 app-white-text"><i class="fab fa-fw fa-facebook-f"></i> Facebook</a></p> </div> <div class="col-6"> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/center4inquiry" class="mr-3 app-white-text"><i class="fab fa-fw fa-twitter"></i> Twitter</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer class="app-dark-gray-bg"> <div class="container"> <div class="row py-5"> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6 app-gray-text"> <p class="m-0">© 2025 Freethought Trail. 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